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Reviews by Cathryn Conroy

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The House of Broken Angels
by Luis Alberto Urrea
Wow! This Book Expanded My World View (4/20/2023)
One of the greatest joys of reading is being transported to places I could otherwise never go. While I could easily travel to San Diego or La Paz, the primary locations of this book by Luis Alberto Urrea, there is no way other than reading that I could become (albeitmore
The Summer Wives
by Beatriz Williams
Beautifully Written and Brilliantly Plotted (4/20/2023)
While this may not win an influential literary prize, this book by Beatriz Williams is incredibly entertaining and will likely keep you up reading well past your bedtime. Beautifully written and brilliantly plotted, this is one of those books that will stay with you longmore
See What Can Be Done: Essays, Criticism, and Commentary
by Lorrie Moore
Erudite Literary Criticism: Mostly a Delight, Sometimes a Slog (4/20/2023)
From Shakespeare to Stephen Sondheim and Amos Oz to Joyce Carol Oates, this scholarly collection of more than 50 essays, mostly erudite literary criticism, is at times a delight to read and at other times a real slog.

Author Lorrie Moore has assembled essays inmore
A Column of Fire: A Kingsbridge Novel
by Ken Follett
A Spellbinding, Gripping Thriller (Bonus: You'll Learn History Painlessly!) (4/20/2023)
This is a work of fiction that is masquerading as nonfiction. Beware! You will learn quite a bit of history while being utterly absorbed in a spellbinding tale. It is the literary equivalent of tricking us into eating our vegetables.

Author Ken Follett has crafted anmore
The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper
by Phaedra Patrick
An 18-Carat Gold Charm of a Book: What a Delight! (4/20/2023)
This captivating story of dear Arthur Pepper, grieving widower, discombobulated father and disgruntled neighbor, is a lot like a soft, warm shawl. It will wrap its way around you, and you won't want to let it go. It is a tale about life, love and loneliness—and themore
March
by Geraldine Brooks
An Original, Imaginative and Inspired Masterpiece (But Do Read (4/20/2023)
This is a masterpiece—an original, imaginative, inspired masterpiece. That is the only way to describe this extraordinary Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Geraldine Brooks.

Published 137 years after Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women," this is the story of Mr. March, who wasmore
A Book of American Martyrs
by Joyce Carol Oates
Intense, Heartbreaking and Utterly Engaging. Truly a Book for Our Times (4/20/2023)
This is a creative and philosophical masterpiece. And it is also a really good book—as in sometimes it's hard to do anything but read.

Author extraordinaire Joyce Carol Oates has done the seemingly impossible: She has written a book about abortion from both sides of thismore
Ohio
by Stephen Markley
Genius. Pure Genius. Not an Easy Book to Read—But an Important and Compelling One (4/20/2023)
Genius. Pure genius. I will only say that once (well, twice). Because if I don't make that pledge now, I will pepper my review of this extraordinary literary fiction masterpiece with the word "genius." (Okay, three times.)

That said, this is a challenging book to read onmore
The Sense of an Ending: A Novel
by Julian Barnes
Reminded Me of (4/20/2023)
What is ordinary, everyday time? How do our memories of the past shape our reality of the present? Author Julian Barnes explores these and other existential questions in this Man Booker Prize-winning two-chapter novel that is short enough to be read in one sitting, but wasmore
A Place for Us
by Fatima Farheen Mirza
A Must-Read! Profound, Heartbreaking Family Saga (4/20/2023)
Is love alone enough to heal a fractured family? That is the essential question of this truly magnificent novel by Fatima Farheen Mirza that unerringly examines the joys and sorrows children and their parents wrest upon one another—intentionally or not. It is a timelessmore
The Boleyn Inheritance
by Philippa Gregory
A Riveting Story Written With a Touch of Literary Genius (4/20/2023)
When it comes to historical fiction, I do think the most fascinating time period is the reign of King Henry VIII during the first half of the 16th century. Why? It was such a soap opera! Everything was done to excess—eating, drinking, gossiping, playing and most of allmore
Shadow Child
by Rahna Reiko Rizzuto
Emotionally Searing, but This Is Great Literature (4/20/2023)
The best way I can describe this book by Rahna Reiko Rizzuto is emotionally searing. It is profound, deeply moving and it will break your heart. That said, I also think this may very well be great literature.

Ingeniously plotted, this structurally complex book is essentiallymore
Rise and Shine
by Anna Quindlen
A Vividly Imagined, Engaging Book. Read It! (4/20/2023)
She was America's sweetheart. She was living the perfect life. And that perfect life suddenly cracked open like a rotten egg when Meghan Fitzmaurice, the lead anchor of America's top-rated morning talk show didn't realize her mic was on and said two words that one mustmore
The Stars Are Fire
by Anita Shreve
It's Really, Really Good! A Fast and Captivating Read (4/20/2023)
The plot premise of this book is truly the stuff of nightmares and, tragically, real news headlines: What if a ravaging, uncontrollable wildfire burned not only everything you own, but also destroyed your entire town?

It is 1947. Gene and Grace Holland live a simple life inmore
Becoming
by Michelle Obama
Charming, Heartbreaking and Hilarious! This Is SO Much More Than a Memoir (4/20/2023)
This is so much more than a memoir. It is also a sermon of sorts--but the good kind of preaching that doesn't shout, scold and threaten, but rather the kind that warmly draws you in and offers extraordinary hope, real optimism and awestruck inspiration.

Written with candormore
Circe
by Madeline Miller
Treasure This Book! Mythology Becomes a Feminist Tale (4/20/2023)
This is a daring, audacious and imminently readable retelling of the story of the goddess Circe from her own point of view. While she was a relatively minor character in Greek mythology, her tale of life, love and redemption becomes something much larger in the talentedmore
The Story of Arthur Truluv: A Novel
by Elizabeth Berg
A 10-Star Book in a Five-Star World! This Is Honey for the Soul (4/20/2023)
Oh, this is a wonderful, wonderful book! This is a 10-star book in a five-star world.

Written in a similar style as "The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper" and (to some extent) "Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine," this heartwarming—but not sappy!—book by Elizabeth Berg ismore
Educated: A Memoir
by Tara Westover
The Best Way to Describe This Book: Shock and Awe (4/20/2023)
This is the best way to describe how I feel about this book: Shock and awe!

Author Tara Westover's life in the mountains of Idaho as the youngest child of a Mormon survivalist who shunned formal education—be it in a public school or homeschooling—shocked and angered me. Andmore
The Woman in the Window: A Novel
by A. Finn
Beware Reading This Book! You WILL Read Past Your Bedtime (4/19/2023)
I gave this book five stars for one simple reason: It's really, really good. That said, this is not great literature. But so what? It's a gripping, captivating story, and even the snobbiest (er, most selective) readers occasionally need a totally plot-driven, page-turningmore
The Twelve-Mile Straight: A Novel
by Eleanor Henderson
Beautifully Written with Empathy and Wisdom—But Not an Easy Book to Read (4/19/2023)
This is an extraordinary book that will transport you to a time and place of which you probably have little or no knowledge: rural Georgia at the start of the Great Depression. You will feel it. You will smell it. You will taste it. Yes, that is how exceptionally well thismore

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