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Reviews by Diane S.

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Astray
Astray
by Emma Donoghue
Astray (11/11/2012)
Old newspaper articles, snippets of interest, places visited, all become fodder for these amazing stories by Donoghue. Usually when reading a book of short stories there are always some that are my favorites, some I don't like and some I just don't get, but in this book I …more
Flight Behavior
Flight Behavior
by Barbara Kingsolver
Flight (11/9/2012)
It is so very welcome to once again have Kingsolver write about the rural and mountain areas that have produced some of my favorite novels of hers. The character of Dellarobia and her children, wonderful and so earnest little Preston, the situations she found herself in as …more
The End of Your Life Book Club
The End of Your Life Book Club
by Will Schwalbe
The End of your lilfe book club (11/2/2012)
A book about a dying woman could be extremely melancholy and I will admit to having teary eyes at various points in this book. Yet, this book is so much more, it is a celebration of a life that was lived well, a life that helped other people, the love of a son for his …more
The Casual Vacancy
The Casual Vacancy
by J.K. (Joanne) Rowling
Not a happy little town (10/25/2012)
An unhappy little town filled with unhappy, unlikable people but somehow rather addicting nonetheless. Great characterizations, wonderfully dark, tongue in cheek writing, actually kind of reminded me of the town I live in and our relations with the town just to the North. …more
The Forgetting Tree
The Forgetting Tree: A Novel
by Tatjana Soli
Love this author (10/25/2012)
This was the ideal book for me at a time when I am recovering from a serious illness and hospital stay. A truly complex novel that can be read in many ways, with an extremely strong woman character who pushes things to the limits and beyond. What it means to love the land, …more
The Bloodletter's Daughter
The Bloodletter's Daughter: A Novel of Old Bohemia
by Linda Lafferty
The Bloodletter's Daughter (10/24/2012)
Love the fact that this book is written about a time and place that has not been written about much. The writing style is very reader friendly and I really liked Marketa, felt very bad for her and limited choices. Also liked that so much of this book is based on historical …more
San Miguel
San Miguel
by T.C. Boyle
San Miguel (9/18/2012)
I love the clarity of this author's prose, his Drop City is one of my favorite books. This one did not disappoint as I loved the history behind the story. The first half of the novel was rather grim and bleak, the island and the house barely habitable. I always know an …more
The Orchardist
The Orchardist: A Novel
by Amanda Coplin
The Orchardist (9/14/2012)
I loved absolutely everything about this book: the cover, the setting, the prose and the characters. That this is a first novel is staggering. Talmadge has lived alone for forty years, after the death of his mother and the disappearance of his sister, tending his orchards …more
The Virgin Cure
The Virgin Cure: A Novel
by Ami McKay
The Virgin Cure (8/18/2012)
In 1870 over thirty thousand children lived on the streets in New York, and at the age of twelve Moth, the main character becomes one such child, if only for a short time. Had no idea the numbers were so large and that what happened to these children so heartbreaking. This …more
The Sandcastle Girls
The Sandcastle Girls: A Novel
by Chris Bohjalian
The Sandcastle Girls (8/18/2012)
This book was incredibly difficult for me to read, and yet without books like these horrific events and the people who survived them would be forgotten. The Armenian genocide of 1915, is not something we learned in school and Bohjalian does a masterful job of presenting it …more
The Headmaster's Wager
The Headmaster's Wager: A Novel
by Vincent Lam
The Headmaster's wager (8/15/2012)
This was an amazing and original take on a historical novel because it is told from the viewpoint of a Chinese schoolteacher in Vietnam. Percival is a gambler, a womanizer, oblivious and frustratingly obtuse, yet I could not quite dislike him because he was also loyal. He …more
The Age of Desire
The Age of Desire: A Novel
by Jennie Fields
The Age of Desire (8/13/2012)
I loved the setting, tone and descriptive writing in this book. The descriptions of the homes that Wharton and her husband owned were fascinating. I enjoyed reading about the friendship between Edith and her assistant/friend, the trouble is I actually liked the friend much …more
The Prophet
The Prophet
by Michael Koryta
The Prophet (8/7/2012)
A small town in Ohio, once the home of steel, now dying, population decreasing and a very good high school football team that means much to the people who haven't left. Two brother, taking different paths after the murder of their sister and someone who wants to test one of …more
In the Shadow of the Banyan
In the Shadow of the Banyan: A Novel
by Vaddey Ratner
In the Shadow of the Banyon (7/29/2012)
This book is beautifully written, my only question is would a seven and eight yr. old have the capacity to relate all these things she had seen? I decided that what she didn't understand at the beginning, after everything she sees and experiences, she would have grown up …more
In the Kingdom of Men
In the Kingdom of Men: A Novel
by Kim Barnes
In the Kingdom of Men (6/14/2012)
Lawrence of Arabia, Arabian nights, I remember reading so much history centering on Arabia that when I saw this book I knew it was one I had to read.

In the 1960's Gin McPhee finds herself, with her husband in Saudi Arabia when her husband finds work with the Saudi American …more
Gold
Gold
by Chris Cleave
Gold (6/11/2012)
What an emotionally intense and powerful read I found this to be, who knew? When I first started reading this novel I thought "Super, a book about Olympic caliber cyclists" which was for me of interest in and of itself. Yet this book was so much more, Cleave has an unusual …more
Broken Harbor
Broken Harbor: A Novel
by Tana French
Broken Harbor (6/10/2012)
I love Tana French and her twisty psychological novels and in this one the psychological is played up in a very big way. Veteran detective, Scorcher and his new partner, Richie are called to Briantown, an estate that the builders have pretty much abandoned.There most of a …more
The Secrets of Mary Bowser
The Secrets of Mary Bowser
by Lois Leveen
The Secrets of Mary Bowser (6/4/2012)
I have read many novels about slavery and the Civil War but what sets this novel apart from others is that it encompasses so much and so it so well. That Mary was an actual person and that the letters and newspaper articles were factual just adds to the wonderful telling of …more
Heading Out to Wonderful
Heading Out to Wonderful: A Novel
by Robert Goolrick
Heading out to wonderful (5/29/2012)
As I started reading this novel I kept picturing the black and white movies I used to watch with my grandfather, the ones starring Bette Davis or June Allyson because that is the feeling and the tone that this novel sets. It opens with a chapter narrated by an man in his …more
The Year of the Gadfly
The Year of the Gadfly: A Novel
by Jennifer Miller
The Year of the Gadfly (5/26/2012)
I have to say I am drawn to any book with an academic setting and this book took me right back to high school days. Iris is not quite your ordinary 14 yr. old, as she seriously wants to become a journalist, and her hero is Edward Murrow, who she talks to quite often. Yes, …more

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