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Reviews by Cathryn Conroy

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Girl in Hyacinth Blue
by Susan Vreeland
Imaginative and Impressive: A Historical Novel of Short Stories That Weaves a Tale of a Painting's Owners (1/30/2025)
Oh, how clever and creative! Written by Susan Vreeland, this is the story of a painting—ostensibly by the renowned Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer—and all the people who have owned it over the decades since it was painted sometime in the 1600s. Even though this is a novel,more
Love Begins in Winter: Five Stories
by Simon Van Booy
Five Unusual Stories About the Pain of Loneliness and the Salvation of Love: Witty, Wise, and Tender (1/23/2025)
This beautifully written book of just five short love stories captured my heart. Each is very different from the others, as each one focuses on a different kind of love in poignant, almost visceral ways. But they have one thing in common: They are all about the pain ofmore
The Marriage of Opposites
by Alice Hoffman
A Creative and Provocative Story of Forbidden Love: Steamy and Smart, Enchanting and Entertaining (1/21/2025)
This profound book of historical fiction by Alice Hoffman has it all: In addition to fascinating characters, lush descriptions, and meaningful dialogue, this is an intriguing story of forbidden, scandalous love on a tropical island.

Taking place in the 1800s on verdant St.more
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
by Isabel Wilkerson
A Captivating History Book That Is as Riveting and Compelling as the Best Novels (1/17/2025)
I am in awe.

I am in awe of author Isabel Wilkerson and her masterful ability to write this impressive epic account.
I am in awe of this remarkable book. If all history books were written like this one, everyone would read history—and love it.
I am in awe of all those who mademore
Crying in H Mart
by Michelle Zauner
A Tender and Transformative Memoir About a Daughter's Love, Guilt, and Grief for Her Mother (1/16/2025)
If you're a daughter who has lost her mother, this is a must-read. And while much of the focus of this very well-written and intimate memoir is on Korean-American culture and food (lots and lots of food!), the underlying themes of love, guilt, grief, and the often tetchymore
Perestroika in Paris: A novel
by Jane Smiley
Charming, Delightful, and Endearing: An Animal Fantasy Tale About the Importance of Freedom (1/11/2025)
This is a charming, delightful, and highly imaginative novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jane Smiley. This sweet and endearing bit of fantasy is ideal for animal lovers, as the three main "characters"—a winning thoroughbred racehorse named Perestroika, an elegantmore
Boy, Snow, Bird: A Novel
by Helen Oyeyemi
Imaginative and Unconventional Twist on (1/8/2025)
This highly unconventional twist on "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a thought-provoking and beguiling examination of beauty, race, stereotypes, and prejudice told from the evil stepmother's point of view—minus the dwarfs, poisoned apple, and awakening kiss.

But moremore
Zeitoun
by Dave Eggers
Riveting and Compelling: A Haunting, Provocative Account of One Family's Survival After Hurricane Katrina (12/14/2024)
Wow! Wow! Wow! This is a tale that everyone should read. It is important, but it's also so riveting and compelling that I could barely stop reading. Oh, and it's nonfiction.

Written by Dave Eggers, this is the astounding, heartbreaking, and rage-inducing story of one family'more
Time of the Child
by Niall Williams
A Literary Treasure: Exquisite Writing and a Heart-Wrenching Plot (12/10/2024)
Oh, the writing. Oh, the language. The words alone will transport you to December 1962 in rainy, windy, and cold Faha in the far west of Ireland. Read a few pages, and you'll want to snuggle under a blanket just to warm up. To heck with the story, the book should win anmore
Intermezzo: A Novel
by Sally Rooney
A Profound Literary Novel: A Philosophical Study in Grief and Forgiveness (11/30/2024)
This novel cast some kind of spell over me. This is literary fiction at its finest with parts unfolding in ways that seared my soul. It is a philosophical study in grief for what might have been and will never be again, but it is also a study in forgiveness even when themore
Hello Beautiful: A Novel
by Ann Napolitano
A Fierce, Insightful and Wise Salute to Little Women: It's a Nearly Perfect Novel (11/29/2024)
Because I read a lot of books, I am often asked, "What is your favorite book?" Well, that is an impossible question! Who is my favorite child? But I do have a list of my top 10 favorite books, and this one just catapulted onto it. In addition to good old-fashionedmore
The Most
by Jessica Anthony
A Fierce Little Book That Is a Real Literary Treasure (11/24/2024)
Oh, the travails of marrying the wrong person.

It's an unseasonably warm and sunny day on Sunday, November 3, 1957 in Newark, Delaware. The Russians have launched Sputnik 2, and the news is buzzing with it. When Kathleen and Virgil Beckett awaken, she tells him she doesn'tmore
A Cloud in the Shape of a Girl
by Jean Thompson
Written with Great Emotional Insight: A Sad Book About the Inexorable Ties of Mothers and Daughters (11/23/2024)
Oh, this is a sad book. But it's also a book about real life, and some of real life IS sad. Very sad. Author Jean Thompson has written a magnificent story about mothers and daughters over three generations that will resonate with virtually every woman.

The novel, which takesmore
The Armor of Light: A Novel (Kingsbridge)
by Ken Follett
Filled with Intrigue, Violence, and Sex, This Is an Engrossing Historical Novel (11/13/2024)
When it comes to life, the one thing you can be sure of is change. This novel by Ken Follett, the fifth in the incredible Kingsbridge series of historical fiction, embraces this adage as the primary theme of the 750-page book.

Taking place from 1792 to 1824 in the fictionalmore
Tell Me Everything: A Novel
by Elizabeth Strout
An Extraordinary and Brilliant Book About Life, Love, and Hope (10/31/2024)
Oh, I just want to hug this book.

It is a book about nothing. And at the same time, it's a book about everything. It is a book about what people think and say and do. It is a book about how they treat one another in good times and bad. It is a deeply perceptive book aboutmore
Reading Genesis
by Marilynne Robinson
Examining Genesis as Literature: Not an Easy Read but a Profound One (10/29/2024)
What this book is: Literary criticism of the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible.
What this book is not: A theological or religious analysis of the Book of Genesis.

Every student of literature, no matter that person's religion or lack thereof, should read the Bible—more
The History of Love
by Nicole Krauss
Strange and Confounding: Imaginative Artistic Literature That's Different from Mainstream Fiction (10/26/2024)
This is a strange book. It gets big points for originality, but it's also confusing and confounding. About halfway through, I was so bewildered, I did something I rarely do: I got online to figure out what the heck it was I was reading.

Written by Nicole Krauss, this is amore
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
by David Grann
A History Book That Is Also a Page-Turner and Will Keep You Reading Long Past Your Bedtime (10/24/2024)
This is a history book. I had to keep reminding myself of that because it reads like a mystery novel. But it's all true. All factual. And that makes it all the more horrifying.

Written by David Grann, this is the story of the brutal murders of hundreds of people, many in themore
Weyward: A Novel
by Emilia Hart
It's REALLY Good! A Powerful, Ingenious and Captivating Story with a Riveting Twisty-Turny Plot (10/23/2024)
Oh, this book is good. Really, really, really good. As in, once I got into it—about three chapters in—I could barely put it down. It just consumed me with its creative and electrifying twisty-turny plot.

Infused with a touch of magical realism, this is a suspenseful novelmore
Yellowface: A Novel
by R. F Kuang
A Can't-Put-It-Down Satirical Literary Thriller That Is Also an Uneasy, Stomach-Churning Read (10/5/2024)
This is a can't-put-it-down satirical literary thriller that is also an uneasy, stomach-churning read that left me twitchy and nervous, but anxious to keep turning those pages. This book should come with a bottle of aspirin.

Written by R.F. Kuang, this is the story ofmore

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    Let's Call Her Barbie
    by Renée Rosen
    She was only eleven-and-a-half inches tall, but she would change the world. Barbie is born in this bold new novel by USA Today bestselling author Renée Rosen.
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Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman

From the best-selling author of The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. comes a funny, eye-opening tale of work in contemporary America.

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    The Secret History of the Rape Kit
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    The story of the woman who kicked off a feminist revolution in forensics, and then vanished into obscurity.

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    Beast of the North Woods
    by Annelise Ryan

    When a local fisherman is mauled to death, it seems like the only possible cause is a mythical creature.

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    Going Home
    by Tom Lamont

    Going Home is a sparkling, funny, bighearted story of family and what happens when three men take charge of a toddler following an unexpected loss.

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