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Reviews by Susan S. (Lafayette, CA)

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Underground Airlines
Underground Airlines
by Ben H. Winters
A thought-provoking thriller (9/1/2016)
As I was reading this book, I was at first thinking 'there is no way this could actually happen in the 21st century'. But as I continued to read, I realized how many parallels there were to things that actually are happening, and I changed my mind. And that makes the book …more
The Life of the World to Come
The Life of the World to Come
by Dan Cluchey
A great premise (4/23/2016)
This author can really write, in that the book is full of wonderful individual sentences. I liked the premise, I loved the beginning, and I was delighted by the ending. I am giving this four stars rather than five, though, because for me it bogged down a little bit in the middle.
The Sound of Gravel
The Sound of Gravel: A Memoir
by Ruth Wariner
A fascinating look at hidden world (11/15/2015)
To say I "enjoyed' this book does a disservice to its subject matter, but it was thoroughly engrossing, and horrifying, from start to finish. Ruth Wariner presents us with a memoir that takes us from her young childhood into her teenage years, at all times presenting her …more
Make Your Home Among Strangers
Make Your Home Among Strangers
by Jennine Capó Crucet
An eye-opener and a good read (4/30/2015)
This is an extremely entertaining and smart book about a young woman from Miami, the daughter of Cuban immigrants, who is the first person in her family to go to college and also the first person from her public high school to apply to and be accepted at the fictional Ivy …more
A Kim Jong-Il Production
A Kim Jong-Il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator's Rise to Power
by Paul Fischer
Life and Movie-making in the worst country on earth (12/21/2014)
I highly recommend this. It was hard to put down. North Korea is so strange and horrible that I actually think it's pretty difficult for a book about it not to be interesting and this was no exception to that. Aside from the fascinating (and horrific) details about the cult …more
The Book of Strange New Things
The Book of Strange New Things: A Novel
by Michel Faber
A wonderful, strange book (8/31/2014)
I really liked this book. I am a fan of speculative fiction, and technically I guess you would say it falls into that genre. But as others have pointed out, it is not easily categorized – it's also a love story: it's also a fish out of water story; it's also something of a …more
How the Light Gets In
How the Light Gets In: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel, #9
by Louise Penny
A page-turner (mostly) (7/19/2013)
It's hard to review any Louise Penny mystery without reviewing the whole series. One could read her latest book as a stand-alone mystery, but I think it suffers if you do because there is so much in it that refers to people and events from previous books and so much of the …more
The Good House
The Good House
by Ann Leary
A classic unreliable narrator (12/5/2012)
I became delighted with this book about 20 pages in when I realized that Hildy Good, the main character, is a classic unreliable narrator. She seems to have a pretty accurate take on those around her, but is utterly deluded about herself. The story is witty, insightful, and …more
The Mark Inside
The Mark Inside: A Perfect Swindle, a Cunning Revenge, and a Small History of the Big Con
by Amy Reading
A disappointingly slow read (6/28/2012)
I was very disappointed with this book. The topic of cons and con men to me is inherently fascinating, yet I found the book very difficult to get through. The author focused immediately, in minute detail, on someone I had never heard of, and then continued to make him the …more
The Red Book
The Red Book: A Novel
by Deborah Copaken Kogan
An intelligent page-turner (2/15/2012)
I loved this book. It's witty, intelligent, insightful, and a page-turner. The transformations the various characters had gone through and were continuing to go through were believable, and so were the characters themselves. And though there were a lot of happy endings, not …more
The Leftovers
The Leftovers: A Novel
by Tom Perrotta
Another page-turner from Tom Perotta (7/10/2011)
I love this author. He has the rare gift of being satirical but warm at the same time, with underlying humor that never veers over into parody. His characters feel real. This is perhaps his best book yet, and also his most ambitious. All of his imaginings of the various …more
Radio Shangri-La
Radio Shangri-La: What I Learned in Bhutan, the Happiest Kingdom on Earth
by Lisa Napoli
Bhutan in transition (2/15/2011)
If you are looking for another Eat, Pray, Love, this book is not it. For me, that was a major plus. While it seems to be billed as another “travel to find myself” book, I found that where it was its most interesting was the look it gave us at modern Bhutanese life (and it …more
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
by Amy Chua
Not at all what I expected (11/4/2010)
Wow! This was definitely not what I expected, but definitely fascinating, and not like any other parenting memoir I have ever seen. From the way the book started I was expecting self-deprecating humor; what I got instead was a story of what the author refers to as Chinese- …more
Your Republic Is Calling You
Your Republic Is Calling You
by Young-ha Kim
A glimpse of a world we rarely see (7/11/2010)
I loved this book. It has a mystery running through it – who has sent the ‘Order 4’ e-mail to the main character, Ki-Yong? - but more than that it is a fascinating look at life in South Korea and the changes that have taken place there over the last 20 years, as well as the …more
Stash
Stash
by David Matthew Klein
A well-written page-turner (5/7/2010)
'Stash' was extremely entertaining, fast-paced, and well-written. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I love the way the viewpoint shifts back and forth among numerous different characters, and as events spin out of control we see many of them through the eyes of more than one person, …more
Arcadia Falls
Arcadia Falls
by Carol Goodman
A haunting mystery (1/4/2010)
Arcadia Falls is a haunting mystery set during winter months at a remote boarding school in upstate New York. The author does a wonderful job with the sense of place and climate – you can feel the isolation and the oppressiveness of the cold, foggy weather and short days …more
A Short History of Women
A Short History of Women: A Novel
by Kate Walbert
Disappointing (5/24/2009)
This book has a great opening phrase - "Mum starved herself for suffrage" are the first five words - giving me high hopes for the book, but it did not fulfill them. Overall, I found it slow and hard to finish. I did not mind the structure, which jumps around in time among …more
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