Reviews by Norma R. (Secaucus, NJ)

Order Reviews by:
The Naming Song
The Naming Song
by Jedediah Berry
The Naming Song (6/23/2024)
Where words create reality and danger lurks in the nameless worlds. Novel takes place in a dystopian world of committees, couriers, ghosts, monsters, namers. Population is scattered and many living in poverty. There is a general amnesia that prevents people from speaking …more
The Witches at the End of the World
The Witches at the End of the World
by Chelsea Iversen
Witches (8/18/2023)
This debut novel is a tale of witches set in 1677 Norway. Sisters Minna and Kaija have seem their mother burn and must escape their village and flee to live in isolation in the middle of the woods. They learn to be self-sufficient, but Kaija yearns to return to a life …more
The September House
The September House
by Carissa Orlando
The September House (5/21/2023)
Hal and Margaret buy their dream house. But the house has a scary history, violent deaths have occurred there. At first the couple is very happy but then strange things start happening. Is the house haunted? Hal and Margaret have very different ideas about how to deal with …more
Scatterlings
Scatterlings: A Novel
by Resoketswe Martha Manenzhe
Scattered (10/15/2022)
Scatterings is a novel set in 1927 South Africa. The Immorality Act has just been passed, it prohibits sexual intercourse between people of different races. Abram and Alisa are an interracial couple with two children. Now their entire existence is threatened. Displacement …more
The Family Izquierdo
The Family Izquierdo: A Novel
by Rubén Degollado
The Family (8/5/2022)
The Family Izquierdo is a collection of short stories about a Mexican American family that lives in McAllen Texas. The stories are each told by one member of the three generations. The family is held together by both love and a strong belief that they have been cursed by a …more
Fruiting Bodies
Fruiting Bodies: Stories
by Kathryn Harlan
Mushrooms (5/15/2022)
Fruiting Bodies is a collection of eight short stories by Kathryn Harlan. I place this in the genre of speculative fiction. Most of the stories center on queer women and their relationships. The two stories I enjoyed most were "Fiddler, Fool Pair" and "Fruiting Bodies". …more
The Sunset Route
The Sunset Route: Freight Trains, Forgiveness, and Freedom on the Rails in the American West
by Carrot Quinn
The Sunset Route (7/11/2021)
The Sunset Route: Freight Trains, Forgiveness, and Freedom on the Rails in the American West

The subtitle of this memoir is an accurate description, it tells you what to expect when reading this memoir. The memoir flips back forth between the author's childhood and her life …more
Palace of the Drowned
Palace of the Drowned
by Christine Mangan
Palace of the Drowned (3/19/2021)
This novel is both a character study and a dark tale. Story is set in 1966 and the central character is writer Frankie Croy. Locations switch between London and Venice. Frankie is in Venice recovering from a very public meltdown and severe writer's block. She meets an …more
Piranesi
Piranesi
by Susanna Clarke
Piranesi (8/25/2020)
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke is a novel set in a dreamlike alternative reality. Piranesi, the main character, lives in a infinite stone castle with room after room of statues and skeletons. Tides often flood part of the castle. Piranesi is an unreliable narrator who keeps …more
Ruthie Fear
Ruthie Fear: A Novel
by Maxim Loskutoff
Ruthie Fear (6/10/2020)
Ruthie Fear is both the title of the novel as well as the name of the main character. Set in beautiful Bitterroot Valley Montana Ruthie grows up poor with her survivalist father. The natural beauty of the area is resulting in new development. This feeds on a culture of guns, …more
Courting Mr. Lincoln
Courting Mr. Lincoln
by Louis Bayard
Communicaton is key (2/19/2019)
This is a novel that is centered on Abraham Lincoln's young adult life in Springfield Illinois. It focuses on Lincoln, his future wife Mary Todd and his close friend Joshua Speed. The novel delves into the personalities of all three. Lincoln is very closed off emotionally, …more
Red, White, Blue
Red, White, Blue
by Lea Carpenter
Red, White and Blue (7/11/2018)
Red White and Blue is novel told from two alternating points of view. The narrators take turn telling two parallel stories. This creates a fast paced read. The main character Anna has a loving father she knows very little about and a mother who left when she was a young …more
Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions
Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions
by Mario Giordano
Aunt Poldi (12/30/2017)
Aunt Poldi and the Sicilian Lions by Mario Giordano is a fun detective story set in Sicily. The protagonist, Aunt Poldi is a quirky amateur detective. The residents of her small town harbor decades long secrets and grudges. She investigates a murder with the help of her …more
If We Were Villains
If We Were Villains
by M. L. Rio
Thespians (4/2/2017)
Shakespeare comes to life in this suspense novel that takes place at an elite arts college. The story moves back and forth between the events at the school and ten years forward. The novel centers on seven fourth year theater students and the murder of one of them. The …more
The Typewriter's Tale
The Typewriter's Tale
by Michiel Heyns
A book about books (1/2/2017)
A book about books

This is a interesting novel about the novelist Henry James and his typewriter. Set in the early 1900s the term typewriter referred both to the machine and the person who did the transcribing. The story is a mixture of actual historical events and people …more
The Book That Matters Most
The Book That Matters Most: A Novel
by Ann Hood
Book club meets real life (6/8/2016)
If you are a book lover and/or someone who likes reading about books, this book is for you. It tells the story of a book club with selective membership in Providence RI. The members become close; they must each choose a "book that matters most" that the club will read and …more
  • Page
  • 1

BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    Real Americans
    by Rachel Khong
    From the author of Goodbye, Vitamin, a novel exploring family, identity, and the shaping of destiny.
1
2
3
4
5
PrevNext

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Happy Land
    by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

    From the New York Times bestselling author, a novel about a family's secret ties to a vanished American Kingdom.

    Read the Reviews
Who Said...

Everywhere I go, I am asked if I think the university stifles writers...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

T B S of T F

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.