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Reviews by Cathryn Conroy

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A Certain Age: A Novel
by Beatriz Williams

Delicious! Delectable! Daring! Oh, Dahling...You Simply Must Read This! (4/22/2023)

Delicious! Delectable! Daring! Oh, dahling...you simply must read this. Great literature it is not, but it is so much fun. So between Joyce Carol Oates, Jane Austen and Anne Tyler (all of whom I highly recommend), read this sinfully delightful book by Beatriz Williams.

It's …more

Ordinary Grace
by William Kent Krueger

Ordinary Life, Extraordinary Story (4/22/2023)

It's summer 1961 in New Breman, Minnesota. JFK is president. It is a time of innocence. Kids wander everywhere in this small town--in the fields, down by the river, on the railroad tracks. But this idyllic town is rocked by five deaths--accidents, suicide, homicide--in just …more

The Lady of the Rivers: A Novel (The Cousins' War)
by Philippa Gregory

Read With Caution (You Will Be Hooked--and It's the First of a Six-Part Series!) (4/22/2023)

If you read this book, do so with caution! Why? It's really good. And it's the first in a series of six books (with a seventh reportedly in the works). I read the second in the series, "The White Queen," first, and it's even better than this one.

Written by Philippa Gregory, …more

Midwives
by Chris Bohjalian

A Not-to-Be-Missed Story of Tragedy and Consequences--and Love (4/22/2023)

I don't know what most impresses me about author Chris Bohjalian's writing in this book:
--He wrote from a woman's perspective.
--He wrote with the knowledge of a physician.
--He wrote with the knowledge of an attorney.

And he pulled it off expertly!

When a woman giving birth …more

The Fortunes
by Peter Ho Davies

A Work of Literary Genius (4/22/2023)

Plain and simple: This is a work of literary genius.

But this is what it is not:
• It is not an easy read. Don't even think of taking it to the beach.
• Even though it is billed as a "multigenerational novel," it is not. It is four novellas about four people spanning 100 …more

Vinegar Girl: Hogarth Shakespeare Series
by Anne Tyler

Laugh-Out-Loud Funny! (4/22/2023)

If just the thought of reading Shakespeare is enough to make you groan, grunt or growl, this is just the book for you!

As part of the Hogarth Shakespeare project in which the Bard's plays are retold for a modern audience by some of today's best-selling authors, the …more

Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey
by Alison Weir

Mesmerizing! (4/22/2023)

Even students of British history who know how this story ends will find this fictionalized version (that is solidly based on historical facts) a riveting and even mesmerizing read. Author Alison Weir masterfully tells the life story of Jane Grey, known as the nine-day queen …more

Big Little Lies
by Liane Moriarty

Delicious and Gossipy--But With a Vitally Important Message (4/22/2023)

This is one of those rare books: A delicious, gossipy, laugh-out-loud funny, escapist read with an intricate "can't-put-it-down" plot with a message that is quite profound. And while there is a murder--we are told that at the beginning--it's not a classic style murder …more

Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic
by Sam Quinones

This Should Be Required Reading--For Everyone (4/22/2023)

This should be required reading--for everyone.

"Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic" is the tragic, frightening and prescient story of the heroin and opiate epidemic in the United States. And if you think none of this applies to you, that is all the more …more reason to read this book. Although it's especially corrosive in the heartland of Ohio, this is a nationwide problem, and we all need to be educated.

Reading more like a novel or a detective story, this cross between journalism and storytelling traces the "perfect storm" that led so many people--from professionals to prostitutes, teachers to cheerleaders--to became hooked on painkillers. Occurring in tandem was the uptick in heroin addictions, led primarily from high-quality "black tar heroin" from Mexico with dealers following business models that rival the nation's best-run corporations and delivery methods as efficient as your favorite pizza parlor. And then all hell broke loose when the paths of opiates and heroin crossed.

For five years author Sam Quinones did prodigious on-the-ground research to write this book that is on the one hand the most fascinating tale I have read in ages and on the other scarier than anything Stephen King could dream up--because this is real. And it's in your community. Find out how young men from Xalisco, Nayarit, a tiny village on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, became heroin entrepreneurs in the United States using methods that confused and confounded local law enforcement. Find out how Big Pharma embraced nefarious marketing methods for painkillers, especially OxyCotin, to convince family doctors to write millions of prescriptions. Find out how doctors, who were taught in medical school to be wary of prescribing addictive painkillers, found their hospitals' accreditation was at risk if patients were not aggressively treated for pain. Find out about quack MDs, who set up pill mills in hard-hit communities in southern Ohio and eastern Kentucky, became extremely wealthy off the residents' addictions. Find out how Walmart became an unwitting accomplice in the scourge of opiate addiction.

But there is hope. A lot of hope. The book ends on a positive note about all that is being done--finally--to fight the opiate epidemic, especially in southern Ohio.

"Dreamland" is compelling , riveting and eye-opening because it is not only the story of what has happened, but also the tale of the people--the individual lives--who got caught up in it. I gave this book five stars, but I would give it 10 if I could. (less)

The House Girl
by Tara Conklin

A Magnificent Book (4/22/2023)

This book is two disparate stories with loose threads that bind them together, and first-time author Tara Conklin brilliantly succeeds in weaving this tale of Josephine Bell, a slave on a Virginia plantation in the mid-1800s, with the modern-day story of Lina Sparrow, a …more

The Little Stranger
by Sarah Waters

A Good Ghost Story, But Way Too Longwinded (4/22/2023)

Imagine "Downton Abbey" meets "Rebecca." Well, a downtrodden, shabby, dilapidated Downton Abbey, that is. This gothic ghost story set on a crumbling and decaying English estate just after World War I tells the story of a small family--Mrs. Ayres and her two grown children, …more

We Are Not Ourselves
by Matthew Thomas

This Book Is Profound. And It's Also a Great Disappointment. (4/22/2023)

This book is profound. But it is also a great disappointment.

This is the story of Eileen, an Irish-American from a working class family in Queens, who marries Ed. Together they have a child, Connell. This is the story of their lives--Eileen's determined quest for a large …more

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race
by Margot Lee Shetterly

They Helped Break the Color Barrier as They Helped Break the Sound Barrier (4/22/2023)

You don't know this story. This is almost a secret story. Not because it was kept secret on purpose; it was just not deemed to be worth telling. But it is not a secret any longer. Thanks to this book and the movie with an all-star cast we are now privy to the extraordinary-- …more

My Name Is Lucy Barton: Amgash Series #1
by Elizabeth Strout

As Nearly Perfect as a Novel Can Ever Be (4/22/2023)

This is a story about the human condition. Of happiness. And sadness. Of love. And hate. This is a story of life--childhood, marriage, motherhood. It's all here in a very short book that will grab your heart and not let go. It is a simple story written in exquisite prose …more

Anything Is Possible: Amgash Series #2
by Elizabeth Strout

Elizabeth Strout Is My New Favorite Author (4/22/2023)

I just want to say this first: Elizabeth Strout is my new favorite author. She consistently writes with an empathetic and wise compassion of the human condition. Her books touch my heart.

"Anything Is Possible" is a continuation--not a sequel--to "My Name Is Lucy Barton." Do …more

House of Names
by Colm Toibin

A Chilling and Dramatic Page-Turner (4/22/2023)

If you think Greek mythology is boring, dull and ancient, think again. "House of Names" by Colm Tóibín is an exciting, thrilling and imaginative retelling of the story of Clytemnestra's murder of her husband, Agamemnon, after he brutally sacrificed their 16-year-old …more

The Sleepwalker
by Chris Bohjalian

Brilliant! This Book Will Give You Goosebumps (4/22/2023)

Imagine a mountain. A boulder is on the top. The wind and rain eventually--but slowly--push the boulder inch by inch to the crest. And then gradually it begins to tumble down that mountain...ever so slowly at first and then it picks up an inexorable amount of speed until it …more

A Gentleman in Moscow
by Amor Towles

An Extraordinary and Charming Book (4/22/2023)

In 1922, Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov is declared by the new-to-power Bolsheviks of being a Former Person and is sentenced to house arrest. It just so happens that the good count, a highly-educated, well-read aristocrat who has never worked a day in his life, has lived for …more

The Leavers
by Lisa Ko

Heartbreaking and Emotionally Raw--But Oh So Important to Read (4/22/2023)

This book will leave you emotionally raw and potentially bruised, but it's worth the psychic pain because the story--illegal immigration and its consequences big and small--is vitally important, perhaps more so now than ever.

After a seesaw life of ups and downs in China, …more

The Nix
by Nathan Hill

This Is Genius! A Must-Read Book Worth 10 Stars (4/22/2023)

Wow! (Sigh.) Wow! (Sigh.) Oh, wait. This is a book review. I should use real words to describe it. Let's see...Genius. Astounding. Mind-boggling. An absolute must-read. I would give it 10 stars if I could.

The title of the book comes from a Norwegian superstition about the …more

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket — Lessons in Chemistry
by Bonnie Garmus

Praised by *Parade* and *The New York Times Book Review*, this debut features a 1960s scientist turned TV cooking star.

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