BookBrowse | Book Reviews and Recommendations

Reviews by Lisa G. (Riverwoods, IL)

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Golden Boy
by Abigail Tarttelin

Golden Boy by Abigail Tartellin (12/26/2012)

I was ready to put this book down after 20 pages since I found it disturbing but decided to forge ahead and was glad I did and ended up reading it in one day. It is not a book for everyone, I would not recommend it to my book club or the friends I share book recommendations …more

With or Without You: A Memoir
by Domenica Ruta

With or Without You (11/15/2012)

Anyone who thinks her life is bad should read this book. I have no doubt the incidents described are true but I found myself getting angry as the author followed more and more in her mother's footsteps. Although I knew that the author's life would ultimately improve enough …more

The Age of Miracles: A Novel
by Karen Thompson Walker

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker (5/14/2012)

I would characterize this book as a Twilight Zone episode meeting a contemporary coming of age story. Life as we know it unravels just as a house of cards collapses, as real timers clash with clock timers as the earth slows on its axis. There is an optimism that breaks …more

Oxford Messed Up
by Andrea Kayne Kaufman

Oxford Messed Up (3/3/2012)

Being from Chicago, Jewish and having lived in the UK and treated for an anxiety disorder with CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy) while living there I felt particularly attuned to this book. I alternated feeling that the OCD aspects were very accurate to being incensed about …more

Arcadia: A Novel
by Lauren Groff

Arcadia by Lauren Groff (12/2/2011)

I felt this book was mediocre at best and would have put it down after 50 pages had I not been committed to reviewing it. The main characters did not engage me at all nor did the descriptions of Arcadia, the Utopian community in NY where Bit and his parents lived. The story …more

Wayward Saints
by Suzzy Roche

Wayward Saints by Suzzy Roche (10/30/2011)

From the first page to the last I was enthralled with this quirky fun read. There was some symbolism that was immediately obvious, aka the book's title, the main character's first and last name, Mary Saint, and some not as obvious, as the location Swallow, NY and how " …more

Proof of Heaven: A Novel
by Mary Curran Hackett

Proof of Heaven...Lifetime movie? (8/24/2011)

I found this book disturbing on many levels. I did not believe that a young child would have that much insight into God and heaven and wanted to shake the mother and say wake up, your son is DYING. I found it creepy that the author named the main character after her son …more

Heat Wave: A Novel
by Nancy Thayer

Another Winner from Nancy Thayer (4/25/2011)

Nancy Thayer has done it again with a wonderful story bringing Nantucket to life. A perfect read for a lazy afternoon this book addresses friendships, loss, infidelity and guilt. This is the kind of book I enjoy as respite after a particularly heavy duty book group read. I …more

Outside Wonderland: A Novel
by Lorna Jane Cook

Outside Wonderland by Lorna Jane Cook (2/2/2011)

This book is about a family that has no idea their deceased parents watch everything they do, kind of like Lovely Bones meets Touched by an Angel. The plot is a bit trite but it was an enjoyable story and I liked the character development. The story kept my interest and it …more

Minding Ben: A Novel
by Victoria Brown

Minding Ben by Victoria Brown (12/31/2010)

Customs, dreams, losses and relationships make this book a very good choice for book groups. At 16 Grace finds her way into a life she would have never imagined when arriving in NY from Trinidad She becomes a nanny to Ben who much to his mother's consternation, loves Grace …more

The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul: A Novel
by Deborah Rodriguez

A Cup of Tea: A Novel or Kabul Beauty School redux (10/27/2010)

I enjoyed the book for what it was and tried not to think about all the accusations of Rodriguez's personal gain after The Kabul Beauty School. It basically tells the same story with a fictional cast of characters and is an easy read. However, if a book group has discussed …more

The Stuff That Never Happened
by Maddie Dawson

The Stuff That Never Happens (8/19/2010)

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. Love, lust and adoration are very different things with relationships being built or falling apart based on perceptions, not truth. I am of similar age as present-day Annabelle and know people in relationships like …more

Ten Minutes from Home: A Memoir
by Beth Greenfield

Ten Minutes from Home by Beth Greenfield (4/13/2010)

This memoir is only the beginning of the process for this writer and should rightfully be part one of a longer publication. Most of the book deals with the weeks and months after the author loses her brother and best friend and only the last part deals with her life several …more

The Secret of Everything
by Barbara O'Neal

Secrets and Everything Else (10/27/2009)

It was refreshing to find a new author in the genre of my favorites, Robyn Carr, Sherryl Woods and Susan Wiggs.This novel, set in New Mexico, combines the author's interest in food with mystery, second chances and of course the requisite love story. I could have done …more

Something Like Beautiful: One Single Mother's Story
by Asha Bandele

Something Like Beautiful (11/25/2008)

The subtitle of the book, One Single Mother's Story described her life as a Black woman poet after marrying a prisoner, having his baby, moving on with her life and finally realizing that she suffered from post traumatic stress disorder and depression, things she thinks …more

How Far Is the Ocean from Here: A Novel
by Amy Shearn

First Novel a Triple Success (5/26/2008)

Things happen in threes for a reason and the relationship between Susannah, Julian and Kit is only the tip of the iceberg. The story unfolds as triads form, meeting, overlapping and blending, one into the other, much like the collections of three that Susannah keeps in her …more

Skeletons at the Feast
by Chris Bohjalian

Skeleton at the Feast (5/7/2008)

As an avid reader of Holocaust themed literature this book was a departure for me. Its central characters are not the victims of the Nazis but victims who are Germans fleeing from the advancing Russian army. Having been in Nuremburg in 2006 I heard for the first time how …more

The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak

Not what I expected (9/20/2007)

Although it took me a while to get into the rhythm of the book I liked the way it was structured and found myself drawn into the many relationships between the people who lived on and visited Himmel Street. Once you get past the fact that Death is the narrator and realize …more

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