Book reviews and more!
You are browsing the archive for December2013
RAW, BRILLIANT ESSAYS by Kiese Laymon (with notes from family and friends) unfold a black American experience. B PLUS
Grade: B PLUS
HOW TO SLOWLY KILL YOURSELF AND OTHERS IN AMERICA
Agate Bolden
2013
Tags: African American Writers, African Diaspora, B Plus Reviews, Black History, Black Writers, Non-Fiction, Politics, Social and Cultural Commentary
AN ENTERTAINING MISCELLANY OF impostors and hoaxsters through the ages. Lots of information, never boring! SOLID B
Grade: SOLID B
THE ULTIMATE BOOK OF IMPOSTORS: OVER 100 TRUE STORIES OF THE GREATEST PHONIES AND FRAUDS
Sourcebooks
2013
Tags: History, Humor, Non-Fiction, Solid B Reviews, True Crime
A SAVVY AND SLY memoir of life in the trenches at a big-city fast food restaurant. Not always appetizing! SOLID B
Grade: SOLID B
CONFESSIONS OF A FAST FOOD WORKER (PART 1)
George Dwight
2013
Tags: Memoirs, Non-Fiction, Self-Publisher Sundays, Social and Cultural Commentary, Solid B Reviews
THE WILD, DREAMLIKE WORLDS of M. John Harrison span galaxies and centuries, woven with science and magic. SOLID B
Grade: SOLID B
EMPTY SPACE: A HAUNTING
Night Shade Books
2013
Tags: Novels, Science Fiction, Solid B Reviews
A SPRAWLING EXISTENTIAL DETECTIVE novel that only Thomas Pynchon could have written. Wonderful and baffling. B PLUS
Grade: B PLUS
BLEEDING EDGE
Penguin
2013
Tags: B Plus Reviews, Novels
THE LASTING IMPACT OF WAR on four generations of an English family; everyday tragedies shown with compassion. SOLID B
HOME FIRES
Bloomsbury USA
2013
Grade: SOLID B
Tags: Historical Fiction, Novels, Solid B Reviews, World War I
THE GLOBAL RECYCLING INDUSTRY, explored in unexpectedly entertaining depth. Informative, but never dry! B PLUS
JUNKYARD PLANET: TRAVELS IN THE BILLION-DOLLAR TRASH TRADE
Bloomsbury Press
2013
Grade: B PLUS
Tags: B Plus Reviews, Business, China, Environmentalism, Non-Fiction, Public Policy
APPEALING NEW YORK cozy mystery draws on the publishing world and the city’s old-money elite for color. SOLID B
ALMOST TRUE CONFESSIONS : CLOSET SLEUTH SPILLS ALL
William Morrow & Company
2013
Grade: SOLID B
Tags: Mystery, Novels, Solid B Reviews, Women's Fiction
SEXUAL POLITICS IN the Arab world, presented in depth (via years of interviews), with compassion, with wit. B PLUS
SEX AND THE CITADEL
Pantheon
2013
Grade: B PLUS
Tags: B Plus Reviews, Egypt, Feminism and Womanism, Middle East, Non-Fiction, Politics, Public Policy, Sexuality, Social and Cultural Commentary
TAUT, FAST-PACED THRILLER combines non-stop action, a gripping plot, and plenty of local Boston detail. B PLUS
BROTHERS AND BONES
James Hankins
2012
Grade: B PLUS
Tags: B Plus Reviews, Mystery, Novels, Self-Publisher Sundays, Suspense