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Reviews by Cathryn Conroy

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Gilead: A Novel
by Marilynne Robinson
Read This Book Because It's a Literary Masterpiece, But Don't Expect a Pager-Turner of a Story (4/16/2023)
This is a short novel that is eloquently written, but it's a very slow, almost abstract read. It is a deeply profound and philosophical book that tackles the big questions, such as the meaning of life, the importance of love and family, the significance of God, the impactmore
The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court
by Jeffrey Toobin
A Highly Readable (Translation: No Law Degree Needed) and Fascinating Inside Look at the Supremes (4/16/2023)
Typically, we learn a lot about and frequently see in the news Supreme Court justices only when they are nominated and subsequently confirmed by the Senate after a series of hearings, some of which can be quite confrontational and even belligerent. Then they seeminglymore
The Vanishing Half: A Novel
by Brit Bennett
A Richly Imagined Story That Is a Brilliant Reflection on Race, Racism, and the Essence of Identity (4/16/2023)
Who are you…really? And can you ever escape your past to create a completely different future? When do lies become the truth? These are the central questions that gently guide the characters and plot of this engaging book by Brit Bennett.

Desiree and Stella are identicalmore
Stories from Suffragette City
by M.J. Rose, Fiona Davis
A Highly Creative and Original Short Story Collection: A Literary Celebration of Women's Suffrage (4/16/2023)
This is a highly creative and original collection of short stories celebrating the 100th anniversary of women's right to vote in the United States.

Written by a celebrity lineup of some of our country's best living writers—Paula McLain, Christina Baker Kline, Jamie Ford,more
Gone Girl: A Novel
by Gillian Flynn
Exhilarating, Roller Coaster Plot With Lots of Twists and Turns…and a VERY Disappointing Ending (4/16/2023)
If you're the type of reader who stops reading a book early on because it doesn't grab you right away, don't even bother with this one. The first half of this bestselling thriller by Gillian Flynn is so slow, it's almost boring. It's one very long set-up. And then aboutmore
Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style
by Benjamin Dreyer
Who Knew Grammar Books Could Be Fun? This One Is Smart, Sassy, and Hilarious (4/16/2023)
Who knew grammar books could be FUN!?! And FUNNY!?! This one is both.

STOP right there.

What I just did with the exclamation points and question marks is absolutely NEVER DONE. That's the definitive word from copyeditor extraordinaire Benjamin Dreyer, the author of thismore
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
by Yuval Noah Harari
I Don't Agree with Everything Posited Here, But the Book Made Me THINK—And That's a Power of Reading (4/16/2023)
This is not the kind of book I could read in the winter while curled up in front of a blazing fire or in the summer lazing poolside. This is the kind of book I felt I should read sitting up straight in my desk chair. This book is work! But like anything that demands fullmore
The Pull of the Stars
by Emma Donoghue
A Soaring Story of Love and Survival…But Beware the Extensive Graphically Gruesome Medical Details (4/16/2023)
Have you ever watched a horror movie with your hands covering your eyes, but your fingers weren't actually touching-- just so you could see through them a little? Yeah, that's this book.

Let's back up a bit.

Written by Emma Donoghue, this is the story of Julia Power, amore
The Book of V.
by Anna Solomon
This Is a Fierce and Smart Book and I Can't Stop Thinking About It (4/16/2023)
This book is brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Written by Anna Solomon, it is the story of three women from vastly different times, and when their separate stories merge into one, it is creative genius.

The three stories:
• Lily: It's 2016, and Lily and Adam and theirmore
Deacon King Kong
by James McBride
A Masterpiece! The Writing Is So Extraordinary, It's a Powerful Force Field of Its Own (4/16/2023)
This remarkable, heartwarming book by James McBride is truly an original. It's a masterpiece of a story that is unlike anything I have ever read. It's funny. It's tragic. And it's nearly perfect.

The book is a character-driven roller-coaster ride through a bleak, poverty-more
Skipping Christmas: A Fable
by John Grisham
Bah Humbug! This Book Turned Me into Scrooge. Don't Skip Christmas, But Do Skip This Book (4/16/2023)
Bah humbug! Reading this book—and even though it's very short, I still had to force myself to finish it—is turning me into Scrooge. Author John Grisham should stick to writing legal thrillers.

I bought this book several years ago, but never read it. The title made it seemmore
If You Ask Me: (And of Course You Won't)
by Betty White
Hilarious and Heartwarming: A Conversational Tone, Fast to Read, and Lots of Fun Photos (4/16/2023)
This very short, light book is hilarious! And it's also heartwarming. I laughed. I teared up. I loved it. But what's not to love about the author, Betty White?

Published in 2012 soon after Betty White's unlikely career resurgence following that classic Snickers ad that airedmore
The Night Watchman
by Louise Erdrich
This Is a Masterpiece I Will Long Remember with Its Extraordinary Writing and Riveting Storylines (4/16/2023)
This book consumed me. Often, I would look up after reading and like waking from a deep sleep, I wondered where I was. Or my husband would talk to me while I was reading, and all I wanted to do was tell him what had happened—not because I wanted to tell him about the book,more
Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family
by Robert Kolker
Imminently Readable, This Powerful Book Left Me Gasping in Anguish but Also Filled with Hope (4/16/2023)
This is a true horror story. It is impossible to read this book and not feel blessed—no matter what you're dealing with in your life.

This is the story of the Galvin family. Mimi and Don Galvin had 12 children—born from 1945 to 1965. Ten boys, two girls. Six of the boysmore
Stella Bain
by Anita Shreve
An Eloquent and Moving Novel About the Emotional Nuances of Memory, Loss, and Love (4/16/2023)
It all started with a lie. It was a spiteful, cruel lie that a vindictive man convinced his young daughter to tell against the father's hated rival. This remarkable novel by Anita Shreve is a lot of things—a psychological tale, a historical novel, a love story—but most ofmore
America America: A Novel
by Ethan Canin
A 10-Star Book in a 5-Star World: Superb Novel About the Intersection of Life's Dreams with Reality (4/16/2023)
This is a 10-star book in a five-star world. This exceptionally well-written novel by Ethan Canin has it all: a compelling plot, fully-developed characters that just pop off the page, and a wise philosophical message about how we reconcile our life's dreams and hopes withmore
The End of the Point
by Elizabeth Graver
A Superb Book. It Didn't Keep Me Reading Past My Bedtime, But It Did Dance in My Dreams (4/16/2023)
Chances are, this book won't grab you on page one. It took quite a bit longer than that to pull me into the heart of what is really a simple story and the souls of what are actually quite complex characters. It was definitely worth the wait.

Written by Elizabeth Graver, thismore
The Book of Longings
by Sue Monk Kidd
I Resisted Reading This Book, and I Was So Wrong to Do So. It Is Truly Extraordinary and Reverential (4/16/2023)
Oh, I was so wrong about this book.

Multiple times I resisted buying this book by Sue Monk Kidd, even though I have read her previous three novels and loved them. But there was something about the plot description that made me recoil. ANOTHER book about Jesus's nonexistentmore
You Play the Girl: On Playboy Bunnies, Stepford Wives, Train Wrecks, & Other Mixed Messages
by Carina Chocano
Smart, Sassy, and Imminently Readable Essays. But Beware! They Are Also Emotionally-Charged (4/16/2023)
When actress Isla Fisher did an interview to promote the movie "Wedding Crashers," she was asked how her appearance in it had changed her career. She said it hadn't, acknowledging there weren't many comic opportunities for women in Hollywood. "All the scripts are for menmore
The Snow Child: A Novel
by Eowyn Ivey
A Delightful Story of Magical Realism That Is Ideal Reading on a Cold Winter Night (4/16/2023)
I first read this magnificent book by Eowyn Ivey in 2014 and reread it now for my book club. It's even better the second time around!

This is a delightful tale mixed in equal parts with fantasy and realism--so much so that it's hard to tell which is which. A childless manmore

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