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Reviews by Cathryn Conroy

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Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket
by Hilma Wolitzer
Fabulous Collection of Short Stories That Resonate with Insight and Wisdom (And a Delight to Read!) (10/5/2024)
Okay, I admit it. I bought this book for the title, which should win an award for being so clever and evocative. And while the eponymous short story in this collection of 13 stories by Hilma Wolitzer (mother of novelist Meg Wolitzer, in case you wondered about the same lastmore
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
by Atul Gawande
A Must-Read Book on a Terrifying Topic: Aging and Dying (10/1/2024)
This is a frightening book to read—so frightening that most people will avoid it. The terrifying topic? Aging. And dying.

Most of us envision living a long life. What most of us avoid thinking about is getting old, frail, and dependent on others. The hard truth is that wemore
Bury Your Dead: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel, #6
by Louise Penny
Every Louise Penny Book Is a Delight to Read, but This One Is Especially Outstanding (9/21/2024)
Louise Penny's incredible 20-book (and counting?) series of Chief Inspector Gamache mystery novels are a reader's delight, and I think this may be the best one yet. I say that having read just six of them because THEY MUST BE READ IN ORDER, so I reserve the right to changemore
The Secret History
by Donna Tartt
This Psychological Thriller Is Everything a Novel Should Be: Great Literature and a Page-Turner (9/16/2024)
This psychological thriller is everything a novel should be: great literature and a page-turner that will keep you up past your bedtime.

Written by Donna Tartt, this is the story of six college students in the 1980s who attend the small (fictional) Hampden College in Hampden,more
The Spinning Heart: A Novel
by Donal Ryan
A Short and Powerful Novel: A Brilliant Story About Real Life in Contemporary Rural Ireland (9/10/2024)
This is a short but powerful novel—so powerful that I had to occasionally stop reading and just breathe. It's a story about real life in rural Ireland around 2010 when the economy collapsed in a severe recession. Jobs were hard to come by, making money tight and livesmore
Homecoming: A Novel
by Kate Morton
A Compelling and Complicated Mystery, but Not as Good as Kate Morton's Previous Novels (9/7/2024)
I was weirdly disappointed in this book, the seventh novel written by Australian Kate Morton. Don't get me wrong. This is a good book—and parts of it are really good—but it's not a great book and not up to the same quality as Morton's previous novels.

This is a murdermore
The Berry Pickers: A Novel
by Amanda Peters
A Chilling Psychological Study of Two Lives Forever Changed in a Heartbeat and a Love That Never Ends (8/22/2024)
It is July 1962. Joe is six years old. Ruthie is four. They are the part of the Mi’kmaq tribe and live in Nova Scotia, Canada. Every summer, the family—mom, dad, and the five kids—come to Maine to work as blueberry pickers. But this summer is different. This summer Ruthiemore
Demon Copperhead: A Novel
by Barbara Kingsolver
A Remarkable Literary Achievement: A Must-Read Book That Is Heartbreaking and Emotionally Searing (8/18/2024)
This is one of those rare novels that I read on two levels seemingly at the same time:

--First, I was captivated with the plot, as sad and tragic as it is. Those pages almost turned themselves.

--Second, I was mesmerized following the story that was lurking in the shadowsmore
The God of the Woods: A Novel
by Liz Moore
Don't Go in the Woods! A Perfect Summer Novel—Missing Person Mystery Wrapped in a Domestic Drama (8/16/2024)
This may be the perfect summer novel. It's a multilayered mystery about a missing 13-year-old girl at a summer camp nestled deep in the Adirondacks and wrapped around a horrifying domestic drama. And secrets! So many secrets being closely guarded by so many people.

But it'smore
Romantic Comedy: A Novel
by Curtis Sittenfeld
This Is the Best Love Story! Bonus Points: It's Witty, Intelligent, and Funny, Too (8/3/2024)
Oh, this is the best love story! Bonus points: It's witty, intelligent, and funny, too.

Written by Curtis Sittenfeld, this is a rom-com novel with a clever plot: It's 2018. Sally Milz is a longtime writer for "The Night Owls," a not-so-subtle spoof of "Saturday Night Live"more
On Chesil Beach: A Novel
by Ian McEwan
A Heartbreaking and Wrenching Novel, but It's a Tough One to Like (8/3/2024)
This is a heartbreaking and wrenching novel.

Written by Ian McEwan, this is the story of Edward and Florence, whom we meet on their wedding night in their hotel suite as they are being served a dinner of roast beef by two waiters. It's the summer of 1962 in Great Britain,more
This Strange Eventful History: A Novel
by Claire Messud
An Ambitious Family Saga Based on Fact, Embellished by Imagination (8/1/2024)
Who among us hasn't thought that our family story would be perfect for a novel? Claire Messud has written that novel about her family. This bighearted, cosmopolitan family saga begins in 1940 at the start of World War II and continues for three generations until 2010.

Whilemore
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store: A Novel
by James McBride
A Masterpiece of Genius: A Story About the Bonds of Community and the Grace of Diversity (7/30/2024)
This book by James McBride is a masterpiece of genius, a story about the bonds of community, the grace of diversity, and the blessings of caring for one another.

That said, it is not an easy book to read, especially in the beginning. There are a lot of characters. There is amore
Clear: A Novel
by Carys Davies
A Polished and Eloquent Novel with a Most Unexpected Ending That Hit Me Like a Thunderbolt (7/29/2024)
This is a perceptive, emotionally powerful novel about the agonies of change, the depths of our humanity, and the transformative power of love. And the ending? It hit me like a thunderbolt.

Masterfully written by Carys Davies, this is the story of The Rev. John Ferguson andmore
The End of the World Is a Cul de Sac: Stories
by Louise Kennedy
An Unflinching, Emotionally Complex, and Brilliantly Perceptive Collection of 15 Short Stories (7/23/2024)
Wow. Just that…wow. This is an unflinching, emotionally complex, and brilliantly perceptive collection of 15 short stories by Irish writer Louise Kennedy.

All take place in small towns and villages in Ireland with beautiful, lyrical descriptions of the countryside andmore
The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
by Erik Larson
A Highly Readable History Book: Deep Dive into the People, Places, and Events That Caused the Civil War (7/21/2024)
Why did the Civil War happen? How did it start? I'm not talking about who fired the first shots at and from Fort Sumter off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina, although that is an important and fascinating part of this book. I'm talking about the actions, misdeeds,more
Real Americans: A Novel
by Rachel Khong
A Thoughtful, Ingeniously Plotted Novel About the Choices We Make with the Life We've Been Given (7/21/2024)
This is a multigenerational saga about a Chinese-American family that will take you from the 1950s rice paddies in the southern basin of China's Yangtze River to Mao's 1960s Cultural Revolution to 9/11 in New York City to the hot-shot San Francisco tech scene of the 2020s.more
North Woods: A Novel
by Daniel Mason
Extraordinary. Brilliant. Masterful. Exceptional. I Adored This Book! (7/7/2024)
Extraordinary. Brilliant. Masterful. Exceptional. Yes, I adored this book. It has to be THE most imaginative novel I have ever read.

The genius of the book is in the structure. Beginning in the 1600s in Puritan New England and extending for almost four centuries, the novel'more
Sandwich: A Novel
by Catherine Newman
It's an OK Book, but Not a Great One: Ideal Audience Is Menopausal Women (or You Might Not Get the Jokes) (7/6/2024)
This book has a narrow ideal audience: Menopausal women. Otherwise, you might not get the jokes.

The opening chapters are bland, beach ChickLit—disappointing. But if you're part of the ideal audience, stick with it because the story morphs into something with a bit moremore
Wellness: A Novel
by Nathan Hill
An Epic Love Story About a Modern Marriage: Brilliant, Introspective, and Richly Imagined (6/21/2024)
This is a love story. An epic love story about a modern marriage and the bonds that hold couples together and sometimes tear them apart. And what a doozie of a love story it is! This novel is about the stories we tell ourselves and each other and how those stories—true andmore

BookBrowse Book Club

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    The Wager
    by David Grann
    From the bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a gripping story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth.
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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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    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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    The Secret History of the Rape Kit
    by Pagan Kennedy

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

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