BookBrowse | Book Reviews and Recommendations

Reviews by Audrey M. (Overland Park, KS)

The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman: A Novel
by Julietta Henderson

The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman (3/20/2021)

Just what I needed during covid. A book about off beat people having an off beat adventure that ends well.

Loved all the characters. Would like to meet all of them. they were all pretty strong and caring about each other. In their own skewed way.

Welcome to the Pine Away Motel and Cabins
by Katarina Bivald

Pine Away Motel and Cabins (1/11/2020)

The premise reminded me of Lovely Bones but for some reason I could not totally emotionally connect with the premise.

Travelers: A Novel
by Helon Habila

Travelers (6/30/2019)

I was blown away by this book. The author points out the trials and tribulations of newly arrived immigrants from Africa in Europe. The language. The sense of dislocation, the change in climate, the racism, the sense of being caught between the old and the new and in most cases not being able to find a support network in place to help them make this transition. It is heart breaking. I think single men have the most difficult time since they do not have the support of a family to go through these tribulations.

Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions
by Mario Giordano

Auntie Podi and the Sicilian Lions (3/10/2018)

I thought this book was average. There is nothing that really stood out for me.

Seven Days of Us: A Novel
by Francesca Hornak

Learning and Understanding (6/6/2017)

I really liked the book. I felt like I got to know all the characters. Each character changed and grew in their understanding of the others as the book progressed.
Each of the characters learned to accommodate the others and accept the others. Although this is fiction, I hope Emma makes it. It was one of my favorite reads of the year

I have recommended to my book club.

The Typewriter's Tale
by Michiel Heyns

Much Ado About Not Much (1/16/2017)

I had a hard time caring about the characters. I am not sure the author made me care much about whether Frieda found the letters or not. I was really ambivalent about the book.

The Girl Before
by JP Delaney

Sex Gets in the way (11/6/2016)

I was turned off by the explicit sex scenes in the book. I did not feel the graphic details of those scenes added anything to the flow of the story and became repetitive and just turned me off. Were they added for shock value?

News of the World
by Paulette Jiles

News of the World (8/29/2016)

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I was caught up in the relationship between Johanna and the Captain. The book brought the era and location to life. I plan to recommend it to others.

If I Forget You
by Thomas Christopher Greene

If I Forget you (4/26/2016)

There were a number of things that I liked about this book:
1. I liked the technique of shifting back and forth between Margot and Henry. It allowed me keep touch with what both of them were thinking.
2. I think that both Margot and Henry were well written characters. I felt I understood who they were at each point of the story.
3. I think that both Margot and Henry made choices that were logical for the people they were.
4. I highly recommend this book.

Shocking Paris: Soutine, Chagall and the Outsiders of Montparnasse
by Stanley Meisler

Outsiders in Paris (2/4/2015)

I was fascinated by this book. The artists who were profiled are among my favorite of the 20th Century. I was particularly interested in how the issue of antisemitism in France affected each of them. In many ways, their Jewishness made them outsiders in the community of artists in Paris at the time, and had a profound effect on their views of the world and their art.

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