You are browsing the archive for February2013
February 18, 2013
WHIMSICAL WOMEN’S FICTION features vivid local (Anchorage, Alaska!) color, a memorable single-mom heroine.
Grade: SOLID B
DOLLS BEHAVING BADLY
Grand Central
2013
Tags: Novels, Solid B Reviews, Women's Fiction
February 17, 2013
COMPELLING, DEEPLY RESEARCHED history of racial segregation and integration in the US military. Eye-opening!
Grade: B PLUS
THE DOUBLE V: HOW WARS, PROTEST, AND HARRY TRUMAN DESEGREGATED AMERICA'S MILITARY
Bloomsbury USA
2013
Tags: African American Writers, B Plus Reviews, Black History, History, Military History, Non-Fiction, Social and Cultural Commentary, United States
February 16, 2013
COZY WWII-ERA MYSTERY set in rural Georgia features a spunky old-maid schoolteacher as sleuth. Nicely done.
Grade: SOLID B
MISS DIMPLE SUSPECTS
St. Martin's Press
2013
Tags: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Novels, Solid B Reviews, World War II
February 15, 2013
ENTERTAINING COLLECTION OF Jon Ronson’s diffident-gonzo interviews with unusual types, from robots to psychics.
Grade: B PLUS
LOST AT SEA: THE JON RONSON MYSTERIES
Penguin
2012
Tags: B Plus Reviews, Journalism, Non-Fiction, Science Writing, Social and Cultural Commentary, Travel Writing
February 14, 2013
IN A FLORIDA TOWN haunted by a savage 1930s crime, family histories are revealed and redemptions sought.
Grade: SOLID B
AMERICAN GHOST
Scribner
2012
Tags: Novels, Solid B Reviews
February 13, 2013
ENGAGING BIOGRAPHY OF architect, artist, antiquarian Sarah Losh, whose 1840s church in Wreay still delights.
Grade: B PLUS
THE PINECONE: THE STORY OF SARAH LOSH, FORGOTTEN ROMANTIC HEROINE---ANTIQUARIAN, ARCHITECT, AND VISIONARY
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
2013
Tags: Architecture, Art History, B Plus Reviews, Biography, England, History, Non-Fiction, Visual Arts, Women's Issues
February 12, 2013
SHOCKING, TOUCHING, SALTY memoir from singer Bettye LaVette follows the highs and lows of her career and life.
Grade: SOLID B
A WOMAN LIKE ME
Penguin/Blue Rider Press
2012
Tags: African American Writers, Detroit, Memoirs, Music, Non-Fiction, Rhythm and Blues Music, Solid B Reviews
February 11, 2013
MEMORABLY RESOURCEFUL HEROINE needs every bit of her fierceness to make her way in Victorian England. Engaging!
Grade: B PLUS
THE TYPEWRITER GIRL
Simon and Schuster/Gallery
2013
Tags: B Plus Reviews, Historical Fiction, Novels, Women's Fiction
February 10, 2013
FIVE STORIES, CONNECTED by big themes like luck, love, and identity, each deftly handled by Sebastian Faulks.
Grade: B PLUS
A POSSIBLE LIFE: A NOVEL IN FIVE PARTS
Henry Holt
2012
Tags: B Plus Reviews, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Novellas, Novels, Science Fiction, Short Fiction
February 9, 2013
QUIRKY, LAID-BACK HISTORY of gene research has lots of wacky examples of how the building blocks of life work.
Grade: B PLUS
THE VIOLINIST'S THUMB: AND OTHER LOST TALES OF LOVE, WAR, AND GENIUS, AS WRITTEN BY OUR GENETIC CODE
Little, Brown
2012
Tags: B Plus Reviews, History of Science, Non-Fiction, Science Writing