BookBrowse | Book Reviews and Recommendations

The Little Italian Hotel: A Novel
by Phaedra Patrick

The Little Italian Hotel (4/26/2023)

Ginny Splinter was determined to spend the vacation she had planned to celebrate her 25th wedding anniversary in Italy, even though her husband told her he couldn’t take the time off from work and wanted a divorce. She found four other people who were also dealing with a form of heartache to go with her, and they all found friendship and healing in that little Italian hotel. This is a lovely book, and I enjoyed it very much.

Margot: A Novel
by Wendell Steavenson

Margot (12/28/2022)

I found Margot interesting because I grew up during the same time period as she did, although my life experiences were very different from hers. It was interesting to see how the events that shaped my life affected her. I enjoyed the book and think it would be a good book club read, especially for people of a similar age to see how their memories of that time period would compare.

The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise
by Colleen Oakley

Road trip! (10/27/2022)

I really enjoyed Tanner and Louise's story. At the beginning, it was hard to imagine that they would get along with each other at all. When they were forced to hit the road together, however, they made a very good team. This was a fun, light-hearted read, although there were serious aspects to it, and I would highly recommend it.

Metropolis: A Novel
by B. A. Shapiro

Unusual setting (3/27/2022)

This was a first for me! I am quite sure that I have never yet read a book that was set in a series of storage units. Metropolis is a very creative and unusual book and I enjoyed reading it. The characters were varied and interesting, and they may have led very separate lives, but in a time of need they came together to help each other in the way that they could.

The Fields: A Novel
by Erin Young

Lots of atmosphere (11/11/2021)

The Fields is very atmospheric. You can almost hear the insects buzzing, feel the heat and humidity, and watch the corn growing in that heat. There is a lot going on, besides the investigation into the murders of three women—big business trying to run out family farms, illegal distribution of drugs, politicians trying anything and everything to win elections. It's a lot to untangle, and the author has left threads hanging at the end to carry through into a series revolving around Sergeant Riley Fisher and the Black Hawk County Sheriff's office. It will be interesting to see where they lead.

A Theater for Dreamers
by Polly Samson

Escape to a Greek island (3/19/2021)

I had a hard time getting into this book. I was confused by all the characters, and couldn't keep them straight. The author's descriptions of the island itself are beautiful, and it seemed like a lovely place, but I don't think I would have wanted to live there in 1960.

Stories from Suffragette City
by M.J. Rose, Fiona Davis

Votes for Women (11/2/2020)

I don't read short stories very often, but I really enjoyed this collection. There was a lot of variety in the people who were included in them, but they were tied together very well by the focus of the suffragette's parade. I also enjoyed the appearance of Grace, Miss Suffragette City, in several of them. It's hard to recognize all the changes that have taken place in women's lives since 1915, until reading something like these stories that remind one of how different things were only a little more than one hundred years ago.

The Last Train to Key West
by Chanel Cleeton

Last Train to Key West (4/6/2020)

This is the third book by Chanel Cleeton that I have read, and I have enjoyed all of them. Each time I have felt that I am learning something about history at the same time that I am enjoying a great read about people that I would like to know. Her characters are well developed and believable. I look forward to reading and enjoying many more of her books.

Cartier's Hope: A Novel
by M. J. Rose

Luck may not be real, but hope is. (9/19/2019)

I enjoyed this book very much. There was so much to it! The story line was entertaining, but there was also information about the plight of women journalists and women in general in the early 20th century, the history of the Hope Diamond and the stories of other precious gems. I learned a lot by reading this book, and will certainly look for other books by this author, who was new to me.

The Last Romantics
by Tara Conklin

The Last Romantics (1/1/2019)

The Last Romantics spans the years from 1981 when the narrator, Fiona Skinner, was four years old until 2079. Fiona and her siblings survived a traumatic childhood after the death of their father, when their mother virtually ignored them for several years. This is the story of those years and their growth into adulthood.

Clock Dance: A Novel
by Anne Tyler

Vintage Anne Tyler (7/31/2018)

Like the other books by Anne Tyler that I've read, Clock Dance is a story about ordinary people living mostly very ordinary lives, but told in a way that makes them interesting enough for the reader to keep turning pages and then not wanting the book to end. I enjoyed Willa's story very much, and have spent quite a bit of time since finishing it, wondering what the next chapter of her life would hold.

The Summer Wives
by Beatriz Williams

Summer on Winthrop Island (5/1/2018)

I have read several of Beatriz Williams' books and enjoyed them all. I enjoyed this one as well, although it took a while to get into it, with the jumps from one time period to another and the number of characters that were introduced. Eventually, things came together and it was easier to understand the connections between the summer families and the full-time residents of the island. From the outside looking in, Winthrop Island may have seemed idyllic, but it harbored a lot of secrets and resentments that festered for many years.

Other People's Houses
by Abbi Waxman

Behind closed doors (12/20/2017)

We never really know what goes on behind the closed doors of our friends and neighbors. This book allows us a glimpse into the lives of four families who live on the same street and whose children all ride in the carpool that Frances drives every day, because she has a kid at every school and she is the only parent who isn't "working." The story is told from different viewpoints, so we can see how spouses can see the same thing in two ways and children can understand events in a completely different way from their parents. I enjoyed the book very much, and now wonder about the closed doors of my neighbors and what is happening behind them.

Next Year in Havana
by Chanel Cleeton

A Toast to Next Year in Havana (10/19/2017)

I had a hard time putting this book down. The interwoven stories of Elisa and her granddaughter kept me enthralled and yet I felt as if I was learning a great deal of history about the lives of the Cuban people over the decades. It is a beautiful book, and I enjoyed it very much.

Young Jane Young
by Gabrielle Zevin

Fresh, Unusual (7/10/2017)

This story is told from several different viewpoints, and uses unusual formats—one section is composed of a teenager's emails to her pen pal in Indonesia. That provides a fresh feel to a plot that might seem to have been used too often recently—a young woman has an affair with an older, married man and has to change her name and move to a different part of the country to escape the scandal that has caused. I had some trouble getting into the book at the beginning, but found it to be an entertaining read altogether and would recommend it.

The Book of Summer
by Michelle Gable

Not just a beach read (3/11/2017)

The cover of this books calls it a "perfect escape," but I think it is more than that. It is set on Nantucket, where Cliff House, which has been the summer home for Bess Codman's family for almost 100 years, is about to slide into the ocean. Bess's mother, Cissy, refuses to believe that the house is doomed, and keeps trying one method after another to save it. There is another storyline that runs through the book, that of Bess's grandmother Ruby and her generation who stayed at the house during the years just before and during World War II. I enjoyed the book and found it much more than just a light summer beach read.

Home Sweet Home
by April Smith

Disturbing, But Very Worthwhile (12/28/2016)

This book is a fictionalized retelling of events in the lives of a family who moved from the East Coast to the State of Washington during the 1950s, when the fear of Communism was rampant in the United States. The author has written her own version of the story, but it is a powerful recollection of the hatred that was instilled in people at that time, and the continuation of that hatred through the generations since. I found the book disturbing, but am very glad that I read it.

Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk
by Kathleen Rooney

A Very Long Walk (9/20/2016)

I enjoyed this book very much. Lillian Boxfish is based on Margaret Fishback, who was the highest-paid female advertising copywriter in the 1930s. The entire book takes place on New Year's Eve in 1984 when Lillian sets out to walk from her apartment to the restaurant where she is planning to eat dinner. She thinks back on her career, her family, and the people she has known over the years during the walk which takes her through a large part of Manhattan, visiting many of the locations that have been important to her throughout her life.

I think book clubs would find much to enjoy and discuss, and highly recommend Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk.

The Children
by Ann Leary

Summer at the Lake (5/11/2016)

I enjoyed this book. The setting seemed idyllic--a cottage on a lake in Connecticut just as summer was beginning. The characters were interesting, and kept me reading because I wanted to learn what would happen to them. I could not have guessed or anticipated what that would be. I am looking forward now to reading Ms. Leary's other books.

A Certain Age: A Novel
by Beatriz Williams

A Bygone Age (3/18/2016)

I enjoyed this book very much. I thought it portrayed the lifestyle of the wealthy in New York City in the early 1920s vividly, with their summer homes on Long Island, the speakeasies where they drank bootleg gin and danced to the new jazz, and the lavish parties where the foyer might transform into an Amazonian jungle and the drawing room become Rio de Janeiro. The mystery provided by the newspaper gossip columns scattered through the book kept me reading when I should have been doing other things, because I was anxious to find out what brought about the murder trial they were describing. All in all, a very enjoyable book, and one I would highly recommend.

Reviews by Chris D.

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