Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Best of 2024 ezine!

Reviews by Kathy

If you'd like to be able to easily share your reviews with others, please join BookBrowse.
Order Reviews by:
Glitter and Glue: A Memoir
by Kelly Corrigan
Ready for More Kelly Corrigan! (12/22/2013)
Glitter and Glue by Kelly Corrigan was a quick, easy, interesting read. A couple of times, I had to re-read the back cover to remind myself this is a memoir; not fiction. I, like Kelly, never had a "best girlfriend" relationship with my mother and often disagreed with her rules and ideals. Throughout the story, you learn of Kelly's relationship with her mother, how it evolves over time (solely through Kelly's maturation), and how Kelly eventually finds herself emulating her mother while working as a nanny. I believe most mothers are the "glue" of families and that children, later in life, find themselves acting exactly like their mother. I am anxious to read the other books written by Kelly Corrigan.
Once We Were Brothers
by Ronald H. Balson
Great historical fiction (10/18/2013)
What an exciting, heart-wrenching book! I have read many books about the Holocaust and enjoyed the perspective of this story that begins with the lives of Jews in Poland before the Nazi invasion. This was a well written book containing lots of interesting history. I would recommend this to anyone that is interested in this period of time and who enjoys a legal thriller.
The Signature of All Things
by Elizabeth Gilbert
Many interesting subjects (10/18/2013)
This is a story about Alma, growing up in Philadelphia in the 1800's with her father who is a self-made man with his domain in botany; her brilliant, no-nonsense mother who came from a family of botanists; her Dutch nanny; her reclusive adopted sister, Prudence; and, the many scientists and botanists who were frequent guests at the family home, White Acres. Alma, a homely girl, grows up with a love of botany and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge of everything. Alma develops the “Theory of Competitive Alteration” which she based on her study of mosses and tried to apply to the evolution of all living things. This theory just as easily could have applied to Alma and how she herself altered as a result of many life-changing and heart-breaking events. This moving novel deals with so many issues: life in Philadelphia in the 1800s; the travel and trade of plants and trees in the development of gardens, greenhouses, and medicine; abolitionists; Darwin and like-scientists; life in Tahiti; sexuality; and, two sisters who were “doomed to love” men that they “could not possess” yet still carried on. I find myself, days later, still dwelling on aspects of the story.
Enon
by Paul Harding
Sad, sad story (10/18/2013)
What a sad, sad book. Having lost a much older child in a tragic accident, I could identify with Charlie’s loss, pain, and lack of will to continue living. However, unlike Charlie, I had the love and support of my husband, other children, family, and friends. This is a heart-wrenching story about poor Charlie, who makes his daughter, Kate, his life. When she is killed, he has no boundaries; no job; no apparent friends; his wife leaves him; he has nothing left to define his life; turns to drugs and alcohol; and, “lives” in the past and dreams. Many times, I was hoping in the next chapter that Charlie would finally reach the depths of his despair and pull himself back together. A sad, sad tale.
The Collini Case: A Novel
by Ferdinand von Schirach
Interesting legal thriller (10/18/2013)
The Collini Case by Ferdinand Von Schirach is a well written book about the first defense case for young Caspar Leinen representing the 67 year old Italian, Collini who admits to the murder of 85 year old Hans Meyer but refuses to give a motive. Through his investigation and trial preparation, readers learn of the history of Caspar, Collini, and Meyer. This was an interesting glimpse of the legal system in Germany, a partial evolution of its Criminal Code, and how the law was interpreted while prosecuting Nazis. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading courtroom procedural dramas or WW II historical fiction.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: A Novel
by Rachel Joyce
An ordinary man's extraordinary journey (10/18/2013)
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is the beautifully written story of an
ordinary man's extraordinary cross-country walk to make amends with an old
friend. During Harold's journey, I found myself wishing and praying
that Harold finds his way, in more ways than one.

This is a heart-warming tale that you will tell friends and family
they must read.
  • Page
  • 1

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Small Rain
    Small Rain
    by Garth Greenwell
    At the beginning of Garth Greenwell's novel Small Rain, the protagonist, an unnamed poet in his ...
  • Book Jacket: Daughters of Shandong
    Daughters of Shandong
    by Eve J. Chung
    Daughters of Shandong is the debut novel of Eve J. Chung, a human rights lawyer living in New York. ...
  • Book Jacket: The Women
    The Women
    by Kristin Hannah
    Kristin Hannah's latest historical epic, The Women, is a story of how a war shaped a generation ...
  • Book Jacket: The Wide Wide Sea
    The Wide Wide Sea
    by Hampton Sides
    By 1775, 48-year-old Captain James Cook had completed two highly successful voyages of discovery and...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
In Our Midst
by Nancy Jensen
In Our Midst follows a German immigrant family’s fight for freedom after their internment post–Pearl Harbor.
Who Said...

Great political questions stir the deepest nature of one-half the nation, but they pass far above and over the ...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Big Holiday Wordplay 2024

Enter Now

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.