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Reviews by Kate G. (Bronx, NY)

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The Midnight Watch: A Novel of the Titanic and the Californian
by David Dyer

The Midnight Watch (2/26/2016)

I was eager to read this as my oldest son was quite the Titanic aficionado when he was young and I spent 2 years listening to all things Titanic. I enjoyed this novel about the California's lack of response the night of the tragedy. I knew nothing about this aspect of the …more

The Swans of Fifth Avenue
by Melanie Benjamin

They are not like us (10/23/2015)

I read and loved The Aviator's Wife and was interested in this new novel by Melanie Benjamin. I grew up in the Bronx and read Liz Smith starting around age 7, so I knew of all these characters. As an adult, I was just not interested in them or their self-absorbed world. …more

The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs
by Matthew Dicks

Comeback or Go Ahead (6/12/2015)

When Caroline Jacobs utters a 4 letter word directed at the PTO president, she seems to come unstuck from 25 years of passivity. She has always been unable to speak her mind and has carried wounds and slights with her since high school. After her daughter gets in trouble at …more

The Fortune Hunter
by Daisy Goodwin

The Aristocrats at Play (4/27/2014)

Daisy Godwin has written a novel about English aristocracy in the1870s. Charlotte Baird is an orphan who will come into her very healthy inheritance at the age of 25. She has taken up the new form of media, photography as a hobby as she finds parts of her life suffocating, …more

The Last Enchantments
by Charles Finch

Escape to Oxford (11/15/2013)

The Last Enchantments is the story of Will Baker who flees New York for a year of studying George Orwell at Oxford. It really depicts well the insularity of academic life where daily routine and interactions can be disproportionally important compared to the outside world. …more

Lost Luggage
by Jordi Punti

4 Christophers! (8/31/2013)

Lost Luggage, the award winning novel is translated from Catalan and tells the story of Gabriel Delacruz and his life as a mover in Europe. Raised in an orphanage, he grows up and with his best friend, Bundo joins an international moving company in Barcelona. This offers …more

One Minus One: Nancy Pearl's Book Lust Rediscoveries
by Ruth Doan MacDougall

Trying to be a Plus One Again (4/14/2013)

First published in 1971, Ruth Doan MacDougall's novel One Minus One is the story of Emily, newly divorced from her high school sweetheart, trying to make a new life for herself, while remaining desperately in love with David her ex-husband. Even though he had an affair with …more

Indiscretion
by Charles Dubow

An excellent debut novel... (10/26/2012)

While this debut novel has some commonality with "The Great Gatsby" (and the narrator acknowledges as much early on), this is a very different story. Taking place in modern day New York City and its environs, Indiscretion is the story of a successful author and his almost …more

The Mark Inside: A Perfect Swindle, a Cunning Revenge, and a Small History of the Big Con
by Amy Reading

It's All About the Con (7/3/2012)

Amy Reading has written an interesting history of con artists and swindles in the 1920s alongside the personal history of a Texan named J. Frank Norfleet who was the victim of a con. While the history of the con and swindlers can be a bit dry, Norfleet's story of revenge is …more

Beneath the Shadows
by Sara Foster

What Happened? (5/20/2012)

This mystery is set in the northern wilds of England. Grace's husband disappeared a year prior while out walking their infant. The baby was returned unharmed in her carriage, but her father never came back. While Grace is trying to find some answers, she discovers she may …more

Oxford Messed Up
by Andrea Kayne Kaufman

Not Really an "Issues" Book! (3/8/2012)

Even though both main characters in Andrea Kayne Kaufman's Oxford Messed Up have medical and psychosocial disorders, this book is so much more than that. The story of Gloria Zimmerman going to Oxford to study dead feminist poets and meeting Henry Stone under awkward …more

Three Weeks in December
by Audrey Schulman

Africa in 2 Centuries (1/4/2012)

The author wrote an ambitious novel about The Congo during the month of December in 1899 and 2000, utilizing two different protagonists from the same family. The stories involving Africa were interesting on their own, but the addition of the main characters personal issues …more

Wayward Saints
by Suzzy Roche

Rock Star Returns Home (11/29/2011)

Not being familiar with Suzzy Roche's music, I had no idea what to expect going into this novel. Mary Saint was the front person for Sliced Ham, a band which played and wrote controversial songs, clearly meant for angry, young fans. She is now older and wiser and tring to …more

A Trick of the Light: Armand Gamache Series #7
by Louise Penny

Another great visit to Three Pines (7/12/2011)

A Trick of the Light is the seventh in the Three Pines/Armand Gamache series of mysteries and is as well written and as enjoyable as the first book in the series. After the opening of artist Clara Morrow's solo show at the Musee in Montreal the villagers from Three Pines …more

A Good Hard Look: A Novel
by Ann Napolitano

A Look at Small Town Life (4/13/2011)

Flannery O'Connor was a Southern novelist and short story writer who had moved up North to live and write. She returns home to her mother in this novel, as she has become chronically ill with lupus and can no longer stay alone. As told through the eyes of several of …more

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Daughters of Shandong
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Based on the author’s family story, comes an extraordinary novel about a mother and her daughters’ escape from Taiwan.

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The Lilac People
by Milo Todd

For fans of All the Light We Cannot See, a poignant tale of a trans man’s survival in Nazi Germany and postwar Berlin.

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