You are browsing the archive for September2012
September 20, 2012
A CHINESE EXPATRIATE in wartime Saigon seeks security and a safe future for his son. Exquisite, touching novel.
Grade: A MINUS
THE HEADMASTER'S WAGER
Crown
2012
Tags: A Minus Reviews, Historical Fiction, Novels, Vietnam
September 19, 2012
THE STRENGTH (AND WEAKNESS) of Augusten Burroughs’s meta-self-help book is its no-nonsense candor. Also, wit!
Grade: SOLID B
THIS IS HOW: PROVEN AID IN OVERCOMING...
St. Martin's Press
2012
Tags: Addiction and Recovery, Memoirs, Mental Health and Illness, Non-Fiction, Self-Help, Solid B Reviews
September 18, 2012
INSIDE A BALLET DANCER’S crisis of career burnout and family dysfunction. Lots of vivid backstage ballet detail!
Grade: B PLUS
THE CRANES DANCE
Vintage
2012
Tags: B Plus Reviews, Novels
September 17, 2012
A NAIVE AMERICAN COUPLE face the complexities of oil-company politics in 1967 Saudi Arabia. Evocative in parts.
Grade: SOLID B
IN THE KINGDOM OF MEN
Knopf Doubleday
2012
Tags: Historical Fiction, Novels, Saudi Arabia, Solid B Reviews
September 16, 2012
AN INSPIRING MEMOIR follows a man’s search for his birth parents, brothers and sister. Touching and direct!
Grade: SOLID B
A CHANCE IN THE WORLD: AN ORPHAN BOY, A MYSTERIOUS PAST, AND HOW HE FOUND A PLACE CALLED HOME
Thomas Nelson
2012
Tags: African American Writers, Black Writers, Memoirs, Non-Fiction, Solid B Reviews
September 15, 2012
ATMOSPHERIC HISTORICAL MYSTERY set in a stately English manor haunted by World War I–and by family secrets.
Grade: SOLID B
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-strange-fate-of-kitty-easton-elizabeth-speller/1104512941?ean=9780547547527
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
2012
Tags: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Solid B Reviews
September 14, 2012
MARIE ANTOINETTE’S LOVER, Swedish diplomat Axel von Fersen, is brought to life in a complex fictional memoir.
Grade: SOLID B
THE QUEEN'S LOVER
Penguin
2012
Tags: France, Historical Fiction, Novels, Solid B Reviews
September 13, 2012
TENSE, SPLENDIDLY BLEAK psychological mystery about the twisted bonds among a coach and her high school team.
Grade: B PLUS
DARE ME
Little, Brown/Reagan Arthur Books
2012
Tags: B Plus Reviews, Mystery, Novels
September 12, 2012
A US EXPATRIATE’S COMPELLING memoir of how his fascination with antique opium paraphernalia led to addiction.
Grade: SOLID B
OPIUM FIEND: A 21ST CENTURY SLAVE TO A 19TH CENTURY TRADITION
Random House
2012
Tags: Addiction and Recovery, Art History, Memoirs, Mental Health and Illness, Solid B Reviews, Thailand
September 11, 2012
A YOUNG WOMAN’S BATTLE with bipolar disorder, related in parallel with her mother’s caregiving story. Touching.
Grade: SOLID B
PERFECT CHAOS: A DAUGHTER'S JOURNEY TO SURVIVE BIPOLAR, A MOTHER'S STRUGGLE TO SAVE HER
St. Martin's Press
2012
Tags: Memoirs, Mental Health and Illness, Non-Fiction, Parenting, Solid B Reviews