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Reviews by Louise J

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Tiger, Tiger: A Memoir
by Margaux Fragoso

Sad & Devastating! (4/24/2011)

Margaux Fragoso had a sexual relationship for 15 years with a pedophile. She was only 7-years-old when she first met Peter Curran. Margaux says she was: “...Peter’s religion”. He had 22 photo albums full of pictures of Margaux.

spoilers removed

This is just an overview of the …more

The Solitude of Prime Numbers: A Novel
by Paolo Giordano

Sad Yet Beautiful (4/14/2011)

The story centers around three main characters: Alice, Michela, and Mattia. Alice lives with her parents and has always defied them in some way. When she was younger she hated attending ski school and at age fifteen she wanted a tattoo but her father told her “no”, that …more

Pictures of You
by Caroline Leavitt

Riveting (4/11/2011)

Thirty-six-year-old Isabelle is leaving Cape Cod, her husband Luke, has a baby with his new girlfriend. All Isabelle is leaving with is: her cameras, one small suitcase of clothing, and money from the bank. She is heading for New York where she has a cheap, illegal sublet …more

Everything Asian: A Novel
by Sung J. Woo

Beautiful, Gentle & Sweet!! (4/9/2011)

I loved this story!! Young David Kim immigrates to the United States from Korea in the 1980’s with his mother and sister. Their father has already been in America for the past five years trying to build a business and getting some money behind him before his family re- …more

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand: A Novel
by Helen Simonson

Slow Going (4/5/2011)

Wow, this is a really hard book for me to review because I’m not quite sure I enjoyed it all that much. It was very hard to get through as it’s long-winded in detail which I find very mundane. The meeting of Major Pettigrew and Mrs. Ali in their late 60’s and 50’s, …more

The Red Thread: A Novel
by Ann Hood

Awesome Read! (3/27/2011)

The Red Thread contained a lot of characters which sometimes can become confusing, but Ms. Hood laid the story out so well that the characters were easy to keep separated in your mind.

The story is about several families who want to adopt Chinese babies with the help of ‘The …more

A Free Life
by Ha Jin

Inspirational (3/24/2011)

Ha Jin does a wonderful job of bringing the awareness of immigration to the forefront in this novel. Each day, immigrants often have to deal with the process of identity change and racism due to their colour.

Pingping and Nan immigrated to the United States and their six- …more

The Other Side of the Sky: A Memoir
by Farah Ahmedi, Tamim Ansary

An Inspirational Memoir for Everyone! (3/22/2011)

Farah was seven-years-old and had overslept one morning. Worried that she was late for school she decided to take a short cut through a field, saving her two or three minutes but little did Farah know that decision would turn out to be the worst of her life.

(spoilers …more

Willow Run
by Patricia Reilly Giff

Excellent!! (3/20/2011)

Margaret “Meggie” Dillion lives in Rockaway, New York with her mother, father and grandfather. Her old brother, Eddie, has enlisted to fight in the war and everyone is having a difficult time coping with Eddie’s absence.

Meggie’s Grampa is German and she’s heard rumours …more

Comfort: A Journey Through Grief
by Ann Hood

Beautiful Yet Sad (3/19/2011)

This is a beautiful yet very sad memoir about the sudden death of Ann’s five-year-old daughter, Grace, from an aggressive form of strep throat. Told with integrity and honesty, Ann reveals just how tough it was and still is for her, four years later, to cope with her great …more

Every Last Cuckoo: A Novel
by Kate Maloy

The Uniqueness of Family... (3/19/2011)

Sarah is seventy-five years old and thought her life was settled and like a lot of elderly assumed that she and her husband, Charles, would live out their old age together in their rural Vermont home. Sarah is an amazing character and has a wonderful relationship with her …more

The Final Confession of Mabel Stark: A Novel (An Evergreen book)
by Robert Hough

Welcome to the Circus! (3/18/2011)

Written as a fictional autobiography in the first person, 'The Final Confession of Mabel Stark' is a true-life historical account of Mabel Stark who made a name for herself by becoming the world's greatest female tiger trainer during the early to mid-1900's when the circus …more

The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul: A Novel
by Deborah Rodriguez

A Sweet Story!! (3/15/2011)

I’d read Deborah’s first book, a debut memoir titled: “The Kabul Beauty School” so of course I’ve been anxious to read this one, her first debut work of fiction “A Cup of Friendship”.

The novel is centered around the “Kabul Coffee House” in Afghanistan right in the middle of …more

How to Be an American Housewife: A Novel
by Margaret Dilloway

A Great First Novel!!! (3/13/2011)

How to Be An American Housewife is a beautiful Japanese/American story of a family who fell out of favour with some relatives in Japan. For forty-years Taro, and his older sister, Shoko did not speak to each other or communicate in any way. Shoko married an American Navy …more

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt: A Novel
by Beth Hoffman

5-Star...Delicious Winner!! (3/12/2011)

Oh, I absolutely LOVED this novel!!! For a debut novel it really belongs up there with the season author’s. Beth Hoffman’s first novel is adorable, sweet, tear-jerking, heart-tugging, wise, and speaks to the wonderful hospitality, etiquette and good manners of people in the …more

Raising Wrecker: A Novel
by Summer Wood

Amazing Story! (3/12/2011)

I absolutely loved this book!! Wrecker is the story of a little three-year-old boy who was abandoned by his mother after she was put in jail with a 30 year sentence. He was raised by three very different women: Melody, Ruth and Willow. Melody was his “mother” and the other …more

The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise: A Novel
by Julia Stuart

What A Hoot!! (3/9/2011)

The engrossing story of a Beefeater, otherwise known as Yeoman Warder Balthazar Jones. He lives in the Tower of London with his wife, Hebe, but they are grieving over Milo, the son they lost and their own marriage which is falling apart. The other occupants of the Tower …more

The Case of the Missing Servant: A Vish Puri Mystery
by Tarquin Hall

Great Read! (3/8/2011)

Private Investigator Vish Puri is also the managing director of ‘Most Private Investigators Ltd. A well respected and honest public litigator has been accused of killing Mary, his maidservant. Vish must also investigate a second case involving a potential bridegroom.

Vish’s …more

Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil
by Deborah Rodriguez, Kristin Ohlson

Kabul Beauty School (3/6/2011)

Deborah Rodriguez was a hairdresser from Michigan with a degree in cosmetology who decided to move to Afghanistan and teach the women of Kabul how to be beauticians. As she was working out the details of how her hairdressing school would be run, she heard of Mary MacMakin …more

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating: A True Story
by Elisabeth Tova Bailey

An Unusual Memoir!! (3/5/2011)

Elisabeth Tova Bailey is bedridden with a mysterious disease that has left her paralyzed but she finds meaning in her life through observing a small woodland snail!! The snail served as her entertainment, her connection to a world beyond her own suffering and gave her hope …more

BookBrowse Book Club

The Jackal's Mistress
by Chris Bohjalian

From the New York Times bestselling author of Hour of the Witch, a Civil War love story of a Confederate wife and a wounded Yankee.

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Dream Count
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

A searing new novel from the bestselling author of Americanah and We Should All Be Feminists, exploring four women's desires.

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