Book reviews and more!

You are browsing the archive for October2011

WENDY AND THE LOST BOYS, by Julie Salamon

October 31, 2011

BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN BIO of Pulitzer-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein is hampered by its subject’s reserve.

Grade: SOLID B

WENDY AND THE LOST BOYS: THE UNCOMMON LIFE OF WENDY WASSERSTEIN
Penguin
2011

Tags: , , , , ,

PINCH ME, by Adena Halpern

October 30, 2011

AMUSING CHICK-LIT FLUFF about a family whose women are cursed with romantic disaster never quite takes off.

Grade: SOLID B

PINCH ME
Touchstone
2011

Tags: , ,

SALVAGE THE BONES, by Jesmyn Ward

October 29, 2011

UNFORGETTABLE, VIVID, POETIC tale of a teenage girl’s hardscrabble Mississippi life as Hurricane Katrina hits.

Grade: A MINUS

SALVAGE THE BONES
Bloomsbury
2011

Tags: , , ,

STAGESTRUCK, by Peter Lovesey

October 28, 2011

A TOUGH OLD DETECTIVE surrounded by over-the-top theater types and murders in an historic Bath playhouse. Fun!

Grade: SOLID B

STAGESTRUCK: A PETER DIAMOND INVESTIGATION
Soho Crime
2011

Tags: , ,

RAT ISLAND, by William Stolzenburg

October 27, 2011

FASCINATING REAL-LIFE ADVENTURE follows conservation biologists fighting invasive species on remote islands.

Grade: B PLUS

RAT ISLAND: PREDATORS IN PARADISE AND THE WORLD'S GREATEST WILDLIFE RESCUE
Bloomsbury
2011

Tags: , , ,

YOUR VOICE IN MY HEAD, by Emma Forrest

October 26, 2011

A WRITER’S LOVE LETTER to the psychiatrist who saved her life is quirkily touching, if a bit chaotic.

Grade: SOLID B

YOUR VOICE IN MY HEAD: A MEMOIR
Other Press
2011

Tags: , , , ,

THE BLOOD ROYAL, by Barbara Cleverly

October 25, 2011

LONDON’S HIGH SOCIETY, titled Russian expatriates, and complex murders add up to a snazzy 1922-set procedural!

Grade: B PLUS

THE BLOOD ROYAL: A JOE SANDILANDS MURDER MYSTERY
Soho/Constable
2011

Tags: , , ,

SHINE, by Lauren Myracle

October 24, 2011

INTENSE, SENSITIVE, EVOCATIVE story of the impact of a hate crime in a small town; YA that resonates for adults.

Grade: B PLUS

SHINE
Amulet
2011

Tags: , , ,

THE SOURCE OF ALL THINGS, by Tracy Ross

October 23, 2011

SEARING AND ELOQUENT memoir of child sexual abuse, family dysfunction, and the healing power of nature.

Grade: SOLID B

THE SOURCE OF ALL THINGS: A MEMOIR
Free Press
2011

Tags: , , , , ,

THE VAULT, by Ruth Rendell

October 22, 2011

RUTH RENDELL’S WEXFORD, now retired, shines in his first case as a London consultant. Complex and well-wrought.

Grade: B PLUS

THE VAULT
Scribner
2011

Tags: , ,