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Reviews by Rory A. (Henderson, NV)

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Widowland: Widowland #1
by C. J. Carey
Sobering what-if (6/2/2022)
How far did we come to the precipice? What if we hadn't made it through and fell back into a dark world such as the one presented in "Widowland"? Rose Ransom is an interesting view into a society where great novels are edited so as to prevent individual thought, but theremore
At the Chinese Table: A Memoir with Recipes
by Carolyn Phillips
A delightful memoir (6/21/2021)
"At the Chinese Table" is really something wonderful, and it's not only because of the food that Carolyn Phillips has experienced and now expressed to readers so poetically. It's the history behind it, her family history, which takes a bit of time to get into, much like amore
Crossing the River: Seven Stories That Saved My Life, A Memoir
by Carol Smith
We Are All In This Together (2/3/2021)
"Crossing the River" is a sober, hopeful reminder that we're not all as separate as we sometimes think. What we've been through, somebody else has been through.

Eminent reporter and scholar of the heart Carol Smith unearths that realization not only to further address hermore
The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation
by Anna Malaika Tubbs
Men Have Never Been the Only Ones to Make History, and It's Finally Time to See the Light! (11/27/2020)
History in the present day is about finally illuminating what has always been pushed into dark corners and completely ignored. Anna Malaika Tubbs is one of the great many leading the charge, with this in-depth chronicle of the lives of Alberta King, Louise Little, andmore
The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir
by Sara Seager
Grief Among the Stars (6/24/2020)
"The Smallest Lights in the Universe" is an object lesson to those struggling not to drown in overwhelming grief: You are not alone. You have never been alone.

Support groups could very well feature this in a book club, and there are vast, fascinating questions of themore
I Want You to Know We're Still Here: A Post-Holocaust Memoir
by Esther Safran Foer
The Search for Clear Memories (11/30/2019)
This stunning, heartfelt, soul-soaring memoir is a testament to what dedication in family research can do, as Esther Safran Foer seeks to fill in the Holocaust-laden memories that her mother would not reveal. Too painful, too much.

What follows Foer's initial determinationmore
The Seine: The River that Made Paris
by Elaine Sciolino
A delightful treasure hunt (9/11/2019)
This is one of those books that you approach if you know a little something about the Seine as it is in Paris, but never thought about it much beyond that, curious about what you might not know. It becomes a treasure hunt with a wonderful tour guide, with Elaine Scolinomore
American Princess: A Novel of First Daughter Alice Roosevelt
by Stephanie Marie Thornton
Go Ask Alice. She'll answer! (11/7/2018)
I always like it when authors and novelists take our national monuments, such as the Roosevelts and Abraham Lincoln, and make them accessible, so to speak, to us mere mortals. Generally, they acknowledge the enormity of the events that these figures are known for, butmore
Eternal Life
by Dara Horn
Sit back and stare into one incredible universe. (11/21/2017)
One of the reasons we read is for those moments in which we sit back with a book and think, "Where did this come from?! Where has this author been in life and in the imagination?"

Dara Horn's latest novel, "Eternal Life" is exactly like that. At one time or another, we allmore
The Garden of Small Beginnings
by Abbi Waxman
Laughter on every page (4/30/2017)
"The Garden of Small Beginnings" is an unexpected, welcome delight with chuckles, guffaws, and outright loud laughter on every page. There's something for everyone to relate to here, from widows to beginning gardeners, to even dogs wanting fallen chicken nuggets and havingmore
The Half Wives
by Stacia Pelletier
You are the main character (1/4/2017)
The only other times I've encountered the second person is in the heartbreaking short story collection "The Music of Your Life" by John Rowell (the title story contained it) and "Sous Chef: 24 Hours on the Line" by Michael Gibney, who sought to immerse readers in themore
Mercies in Disguise: A Story of Hope, a Family's Genetic Destiny, and the Science That Rescued Them
by Gina Kolata
Putlizer Prize-worthy (11/25/2016)
An expertly-crafted, deeply affecting, empathetic, evenhanded, science-driven and family-driven masterwork that should be on the shortlist for the Pulitzer Prize. It will almost certainly make one clamor for even more books by Gina Kolata, and more books just like it,more
The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko
by Scott Stambach
Deeply Affecting (7/26/2016)
A deeply affecting look into the life of one young man with a boundless spirit within the confines of so many boundaries. A surprise for summer reading, for sure, and most welcome.
Tuesday Nights in 1980
by Molly Prentiss
Just try to breathe while reading this novel! (1/10/2016)
"Tuesday Nights in 1980" is a luminous wonderland of a first novel, a headlong tumble into the beginning of the New York City art world in the 1980s that makes me remember my art teacher in college, and while she was as good as this novel is great, she wasn't asmore
Every Anxious Wave
by Mo Daviau
Better than copious caffeine at 6:30 in the morning! (10/17/2015)
Read "Every Anxious Wave" in disbelief. Read it in amazement. Read it in stunned silence, but please just read it and know that science fiction can be not only still accessible, but also one invigorating head trip that kicks out the usual boundaries of science fiction andmore
Still Life Las Vegas
by James Sie
Las Vegas partly as I know it (5/12/2015)
As a resident of Henderson, Nevada, close enough to Las Vegas that I always end up there somewhere, either in errands or occasionally on the Strip, I can say that James Sie's "Still Life Las Vegas" is partly accurate with its puzzling structure. This story of Walter Stahlmore
Her Name Is Rose
by Christine Breen
A decent first effort (3/8/2015)
Despite the seemingly endless descriptions of flowers that bog down the story in many instances, this is a decent first effort that shows some promise to come in the future. Christine Breen is working her way through character creation and maintaining interest, and Iris atmore
Irritable Hearts: A PTSD Love Story
by Mac McClelland
Astonishing (1/2/2015)
Irritable Hearts is a searing, emotionally land-mined journey into not only what it means to have PTSD, but to live with it, to try to get through it in such a way that it doesn't completely implode one's life. But to get to that point, wow. Mac McClelland has been throughmore
Backyard
by Norman Draper
A Great Gardening Book, Not a Novel (10/12/2014)
"Backyard" could very well be heaven for devoted gardeners, with delightful, knowledgeable descriptions of all kinds of flowers and weeds, as well as the designs of various backyard gardens, and those who eat, sleep, drink, and breathe those gardens.

However, the delightmore
Juliet's Nurse
by Lois Leveen
Verona Unplugged (7/18/2014)
Lois Leveen is a grand, sweeping storyteller, whose passion for the 1300s, particularly the late 1300s in Juliet's Nurse, makes her seem like a time traveler who stayed in Verona for the three years in Part One, and then traveled to the fateful year that makes up Part Two,more
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