BookBrowse | Book Reviews and Recommendations

Reviews by Barbara O. (Maryland Heights, MO)

Power Reviewer

The Waters: A Novel
by Bonnie Jo Campbell

A treat for the senses! (11/7/2023)

"The Waters" by Bonnie Jo Campbell starts out slow but gradually the reader finds themselves sucked into the lives of Hermine (Herself) Zook and her three daughters just like the swamp that surrounds their island.
Although the geographic location is northern Michigan it …more

The Wren, the Wren: A Novel
by Anne Enright

The Collateral Damage of a Failed Marriage (8/7/2023)

Anne Enright's latest book, "The Wren, the Wren" is filled with beautiful prose with gorgeous sentences and descriptions of the landscape, flowers and birds. It's also a generational story told by mother and daughter in styles reflective of their personalities and the …more

Homestead: A Novel
by Melinda Moustakis

An Ode to Alaska (1/15/2023)

I couldn’t put this book down. Melinda Moustakis wrote a love story, Alaskan style. “Homestead” tells the story of Alaska in the 1950’s pre-Statehood and a newly met and wedded couple carving a dream out of the Alaskan wilderness. In beautiful spare language, the story …more

Ghost Season: A Novel
by Fatin Abbas

What a Read! (12/6/2022)

Remember her name, Fatin Abbas. "Ghost Season" is her debut novel but I anticipate more stories to follow. I could visualize Saraaya, smell the dust, hear the noise of the crowded marketplace and imagine the people. Fatin Abbas's five main characters introduce the reader to …more

The Immortal King Rao: A Novel
by Vauhini Vara

Brilliant Read (4/23/2022)

I'm not usually drawn to dystopian settings but this book is so much more than that. It's a brilliant story about Indian family culture and the rise of a young Dalit child to world reknown in the computer age. The author cleverly reveals past and present in her storytelling …more

Flesh & Blood: Reflections on Infertility, Family, and Creating a Bountiful Life: A Memoir
by N. West Moss

A Must Read for All Women (8/14/2021)

I loved the language in "Flesh and Blood" Infertility with its pain, both physical and emotional, is frankly discussed with sadness, reflection and wit. This book deals with the reality of the physical symptoms of heavy and ongoing menstrual bleeding. Something usually not …more

Everybody: A Book about Freedom
by Olivia Laing

Brilliant Writing (5/18/2021)

Olivia Laing has taken a unique approach exploring the human body and it's freedom from the points of view of several controversial figures from the late 30's through the 70's. From Freud and Wilhelm Reich, prominent writers and activists the author writes how …more

The Blind Light: A Novel
by Stuart Evers

Nuclear Fallout (10/13/2020)

Stuart Evers novel "The Blind Light, " offers the reader an intriguing story of two men from different classes bonded by their common shared national service at "Doom Town". The effects of the aftermath of a nuclear strike are the background for their relationship and their …more

The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir
by Sara Seager

Room for All in the Universe (7/7/2020)

"The Smallest Lights in the Universe" a memoir by Sara Seager is a thoughtful read. Sara, an astrophysicist, discovers her life's passion for stars as a child on her first camping trip. Despite a challenging childhood, shuttled between two different and less than ideal …more

The Last Train to Key West
by Chanel Cleeton

The Last Train to Key West (3/21/2020)

A book to read with a pot of tea at your side in a comfy chair. "The Last Train to Key West" is the story of three very different women at a crossroads in their lives each challenged in a unique way to survive a natural weather disaster. The storm's magnitude and it's …more

Creatures
by Crissy Van Meter

Creatures in Depth (10/9/2019)

The deeper I got into the book, the more I liked "Creatures" and it's deeply flawed characters. It's a powerful story about love. Not the romantic kind, not the kind with a fairy tale ending but the messy kind. Loving someone despite their flaws, their inability to parent …more

The Seine: The River that Made Paris
by Elaine Sciolino

History, Geography and Travelogue of the Seine (9/21/2019)

An homage to Paris and the river that flows through its heart. Elaine Sciolino writes a wonderful book about the Seine and how it became so closely identified with the City of Romance. Readers will discover lots of well researched facts and interesting historical anecdotes …more

D-Day Girls: The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win World War II
by Sarah Rose

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary courage, these Women answered that Call (3/14/2019)

Sarah Rose reveals the back story of the D-Day Girls and the secret organization they worked for, the SOE. The extraordinary decision (for the time) to recruit women to act as spies and saboteurs, to send them behind enemy lines was born out of necessity and a terrible …more

House of Stone
by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma

A Mystery set against History (12/17/2018)

Reading House of Stone was a challenge. The author uses the mystery of the missing son, Bukhosi, against the backdrop of the fall of Rhodesia and the bloody birth of Zimbabwe. Zamani, a foster son of Agnes and Abednego will do whatever it takes to learn the family history …more

Paris Echo
by Sebastian Faulks

Journeying Paris through the wonders of the Metro (8/6/2018)

Beautiful language echoing two different life journeys for two very different individuals both in Paris seeking similar resolutions. Hannah, researching women's lives in World War II and Tariq, drawn to Paris to learn more about his mother's roots. Two different paths, …more

Vox
by Christina Dalcher

Speechless! (5/3/2018)

I read Christina Dalcher's book "Vox" in one sitting. This dystopian novel relates an eerily believable story of how women and girls lose their right to speak. Although a work of fiction, the author creates an environment, born in a time of conflicting values that results …more

A Place for Us
by Fatima Farheen Mirza

A Modern Family (3/18/2018)

It's a lovely treat meeting the family in this book. "A Place For Us" is the story of an American Indian Muslim family replete with all the typical problems raising a family can bring in today's world. It's a wonderful insight to a Muslim family, devoted to raising their …more

The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After
by Elizabeth Weil, Clemantine Wamariya

A Powerful Story with a Beautiful Message "I Am Me" (2/6/2018)

Reading "The Girl Who Smiled Beads" hurt my heart. How does a 6 year old even have the vocabulary to describe the nightmare world she experienced? This book is a must read, beautifully written, disturbing and eye opening. We all need to know, on a personal level, what …more

Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions
by Mario Giordano

A Different Kind of Detective Story (1/4/2018)

A fun read but sometimes a bit too filled with geographical facts that distract from the flow of the story. Auntie Poldi is an eccentric "Auntie Mame" like character, larger than life and bent on solving a crime. The story was entertaining and I would recommend it as a good …more

Force of Nature: Aaron Falk Mystery #2
by Jane Harper

Indeed A Force! (10/11/2017)

Loved the writing style of Jane Harper, moving back and forth, slowly revealing the story. Ms Harper creates strong characters juxtapositioned with a harsh and unforgiving landscape. Readers will keep turning the pages until the end. A wonderful storyteller, the author uses …more

BookBrowse Book Club

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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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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Girl Falling
by Hayley Scrivenor

The USA Today bestselling author of Dirt Creek returns with a story of grief and truth.

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Jane and Dan at the End of the World
by Colleen Oakley

Date Night meets Bel Canto in this hilarious tale.

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The Dream Hotel
by Laila Lalami

A Read with Jenna pick. A riveting novel about one woman's fight for freedom, set in a near future where even dreams are under surveillance.

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The Antidote
by Karen Russell

A gripping dust bowl epic about five characters whose fates become entangled after a storm ravages their small Nebraskan town.

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Fagin the Thief
by Allison Epstein

A thrilling reimagining of the world of Charles Dickens, as seen through the eyes of the infamous Jacob Fagin, London's most gifted pickpocket, liar, and rogue.

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Raising Hare
by Chloe Dalton

A moving and fascinating meditation on freedom, trust, and loss through one woman's friendship with a wild hare.

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