You are browsing the archive for November2012
November 10, 2012
DELICATELY CRAFTED, GRIM little tales about a rural German town haunted by ghosts, by cruelty, and by the past.
Grade: B PLUS
YOUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE, YOUR CHILDREN ALL GONE
Penguin
2012
Tags: B Plus Reviews, Germany, Novels, Paranormal
November 9, 2012
GORGEOUS LITTLE ART book is a collage of impressions–in photos and text–of the owner of a lost address book.
Grade: B PLUS
THE ADDRESS BOOK
Siglio
2012
Tags: B Plus Reviews, Biography, Fiction, France, Non-Fiction, Photography
November 8, 2012
BACK TO THE TUDORS with Carolly Erickson for a lively novel about Catherine Howard, the 5th Mrs. Henry VIII.
Grade: SOLID B
THE UNFAITHFUL QUEEN: A NOVEL OF HENRY VIII'S FIFTH WIFE
St. Martin's
2012
Tags: Catherine Howard, England, Henry VIII, Historical Fiction, Novels, Solid B Reviews
November 7, 2012
A SURPRISING DEATH in a North Wales town is investigated by a manicurist sleuth. Interesting cozy, setting.
Grade: SOLID B
A SMALL HILL TO DIE ON: A PENNY BRANNIGAN MYSTERY
St. Martin's/Minotaur
2012
Tags: Mystery, Novels, Solid B Reviews, Wales
November 6, 2012
LOVELY, SPARE PROSE tells the story of a gay Moroccan man wrestling with the ideas of Arab identity, culture.
Grade: B PLUS
AN ARAB MELANCHOLIA
Semiotext(e)/Smart Art
2012
Tags: B Plus Reviews, Egypt, LGBTQ Interest, Middle East, Morocco, Novels
November 5, 2012
THE DEEP BOND BETWEEN humans and horses, and the beauty of Wyoming’s open spaces, both captured eloquently.
Grade: SOLID B
BOLETO
Graywolf Press
2012
Tags: Novels, Solid B Reviews
November 4, 2012
GRANDLY SPRAWLING HISTORICAL novel follows the abdication of Edward VIII from both “upstairs” and “downstairs”.
Grade: SOLID B
ABDICATION
Atria
2012
Tags: England, Historical Fiction, Novels, Solid B Reviews
November 3, 2012
MURDER AND COURT INTRIGUE play out against a vivid backdrop of feudal Japan; well-crafted historical whodunit.
Grade: SOLID B
THE INCENSE GAME: A NOVEL OF FEUDAL JAPAN
St. Martin's/Minotaur
2012
Tags: Historical Fiction, Japan, Mystery, Novels, Solid B Reviews
November 2, 2012
A YOUNG US WRITER’S memoir of three pilgrimages (including the famed Camino de Santiago) has wit, lacks oomph.
Grade: B MINUS
A SENSE OF DIRECTION: PILGRIMAGE FOR THE RESTLESS AND THE HOPEFUL
Penguin
2012
Tags: B Minus Reviews, France, Japan, Memoirs, Non-Fiction, Religion and Spirituality, Social and Cultural Commentary, Spain, Travel Writing, Ukraine
November 1, 2012
THE HARDSCRABBLE WORLD of Pakistan’s “untouchable” Christians is the setting for this vividly imagined novel.
Grade: SOLID B
OUR LADY OF ALICE BHATTI
Knopf Doubleday
2012
Tags: Novels, Pakistan, Pakistani Writers, Religion and Spirituality, Solid B Reviews