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Reviews by Cathryn Conroy

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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 themore
Before We Were Yours: A Novel
by Lisa Wingate
A Tragic, Riveting Tale Based on Historical Facts (4/22/2023)
Although it's very sloooow in getting started (Hang in there! It's worth it!), this becomes a can't-put-it-down book that tells a heartbreaking tale based on historical facts. From the 1920s to 1950 in Tennessee, wealthy couples were able to adopt babies and children whomore
Bridge of Sighs
by Richard Russo
Genius. Pure Genius (4/21/2023)
I read the first sentence and thought: "Oooh! This is going to be a good book."
I read the second sentence and thought: "I adore Richard Russo. Such a good author."
I read the third sentence and thought: "Hmmm...this might be a five-star book."
I read the fourth sentence andmore
Bittersweet
by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
This Is the Quintessential Page-Turner (READ IT!) (4/21/2023)
Warning: Do not start reading this book unless you have hours and hours to read. It will suck you in and not let go, and your planned schedule will fly out the window.

Girl No. 1, Genevra (Ev for short), comes from a New York family that is wildly wealthy in money, realmore
The Witches: Salem, 1692
by Stacy Schiff
Serious Nonfiction Ideal for the History Buff (4/21/2023)
The 1692 Salem, Massachusetts witch trials and executions can be considered America's first true-crime story. And a helluva story it is! Mass hysteria turned the idle chatter and bizarre accusations of several bored little girls into mass hangings of innocent people. Itmore
Charming Billy
by Alice McDermott
This Is an Irish Catholic Wake--In Written Form (4/21/2023)
This is a novel about life. About death. About memories. About the future. About faith. And the loss of it. About truth. And lies. And secrets. And most of all about the relationships that bind us to one another.

This book is essentially the written form of an Irish Catholicmore
A Piece of the World: A Novel
by Christina Baker Kline
Beautifully Haunting and Lyrical: A Must-Read (4/21/2023)
You know the painting. It's called "Christina's World." Painted by Andrew Wyeth, it depicts a young woman crawling up a hill toward a home. (Google it. You'll recognize it!) This magnificent book by Christina Baker Kline tells the story of Christina Olsen, the real-lifemore
Sacred Hearts: A Novel
by Sarah Dunant
Oooh! Oooh! I Loved This Book! (4/21/2023)
Oooh! Oooh! I loved this book! Set in 16th century Northern Italy, this is the story of a 16-year-old novice entering a convent--absolutely against her will. In this time, women of good birth had one of two choices: marry or become a nun. And neither one was really hermore
The House at Tyneford: A Novel
by Natasha Solomons
Excellent Book That Grabbed My Heart—And Wouldn't Let Go (4/21/2023)
This book grabbed my heart and wouldn't let go! By turns quite humorous and bring-out-a-tissue heartrending, this book by Natasha Solomons is the story of Elise Landau, a 19-year-old in Vienna, Austria in 1938. She has lived a life of luxury in an upper-class world. But hermore
Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality
by Jacob Tomsky
Wait…WHAT?!? People Really Do THAT in Hotels? (4/21/2023)
If you plan on ever staying in a hotel again, read this book first. Author Jacob Tomsky, who has worked in a variety of jobs in two luxury hotels in New Orleans and New York City, gives the inside scoop on how to get the most from your stay. And while most of it is legal,more
Americanah
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This Is a Book to Be Cherished (4/21/2023)
I just have to say this first: I LOVED this book! And I also have to say that it was a little out of my comfort zone. Written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, this is a book about Nigeria. And Nigerians. And Nigerians who move to the United States. And England. And then movemore
Wishin' and Hopin': A Christmas Story
by Wally Lamb
Laugh, Love and Be Joyful! This Book Is Perfect (4/21/2023)
If you read this book in a public place, such as a crowded commuter train or on an airplane, beware! Parts of it are so laugh-out-loud funny that I had to stop reading to wipe the tears from my eyes.

Written by genius Wally Lamb, this is the story of Felix Funicello, who ismore
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
by Lisa See
Gripping and Endearing (and a Great Ending!) (4/21/2023)
This novel does what no other book I have read does: It is 75 percent (or so) fiction and 25 percent (or so) nonfiction. And it works! The story focuses on a Li-yan, a young Chinese woman from the minority Akha tribe in the mountains of Yunnan Province. She violates themore
In the Midst of Winter
by Isabel Allende
A Heartrending Tale for Our Times (4/21/2023)
A monster blizzard has shut down New York City in January 2016, and in the process three very different people are brought together—and their lives will forever change because of it. Their stories unfold: Evelyn, a 20-something undocumented immigrant who somehow survivedmore
A Land More Kind Than Home: A Novel
by Wiley Cash
All I Can Say Is This: Read It! (4/21/2023)
This book is intense. Very intense. I found I couldn't read it for more than an hour at a time because it just tore my heart in two. Masterfully written by Wiley Cash, this is the story of two brothers, Stump (Christopher) and Jess, who live on a tobacco farm in a valley ofmore
Clara and Mr. Tiffany: A Novel
by Susan Vreeland
Fascinating in Parts, Loses Its Oomph in Others (4/21/2023)
Colors. Lots of colors. Colors galore--from emerald green to peacock blue to daffodil yellow to ruby red. Author Susan Vreeland describes colors in this book, which is about Louis Comfort Tiffany, in a way that will make you almost see the colors pop off the page.

Tiffanymore
The Monsters of Templeton: A Novel
by Lauren Groff
Amazing, Creative and Original! A Perfect Novel (4/21/2023)
What an amazing, creative and outright original book! (And it was Lauren Groff's first novel, too.) This is a two-dimensional story; one part takes place in the present day, while the other takes place some 200 years ago.

Wilhelmina Sunshine Upton, who goes by Willie, is 28more
The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: And Other Small Acts of Liberation
by Elizabeth Berg
Hilarious and Heartbreaking! A Must-Read (4/21/2023)
This is a book about food. More precisely, this is a book about eating food—or not eating it. It is a hymn to food. It is a testament to our relationship with food and how that relationship sometimes goes wrong. Very wrong. It is both hilarious and heartbreaking.

It is alsomore
Pachinko
by Min Jin Lee
Extraordinary Writing, Extraordinary Book (4/21/2023)
This four-generation family saga of poverty-stricken Koreans who are essentially forced in exile to Japan is everything a reader wants in a novel: characters so real they pop off the page, a plot that keeps you reading past your bedtime, and an ending that both breaks yourmore

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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    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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    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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    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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