Book reviews and more!

SAVING RUTH, by Zoe Fishman

June 23, 2012

A COLLEGE STUDENT’S SUMMER vacation centers on family and personal crises in this smart, thoughtful novel.

Grade: SOLID B

SAVING RUTH
William Morrow
2012

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PARIS, I LOVE YOU BUT YOU’RE BRINGING ME DOWN, by Rosecrans Baldwin

June 22, 2012

AN AMERICAN WRITER’S love affair with Paris becomes more complex the longer he lives there. Delightful memoir!

Grade: B PLUS

PARIS, I LOVE YOU BUT YOU'RE BRINGING ME DOWN
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
2012

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GIRLCHILD, by Tupelo Hassman

June 21, 2012

LYRICAL, TROUBLING NOVEL follows a girl dreaming of escape from generations of grueling poverty and abuse.

Grade: A MINUS

GIRLCHILD
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
2012

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THE ISLANDERS, by Christopher Priest

June 20, 2012

COMPLEX, BORGESIAN TALE told in the form of a tour guide to another world has spooky, dreamlike charm to offer.

Grade: SOLID B

THE ISLANDERS
Gollancz
2012

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LET’S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED, by Jenny Lawson

June 19, 2012

QUIRKY, FUNNY, OFFBEAT memoir from Internet celebrity “The Bloggess” delivers laughs (and raised eyebrows!)

Grade: B PLUS

LET'S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED (A MOSTLY TRUE MEMOIR)
Berkley
2012

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AFTER THE FALL, BEFORE THE FALL, DURING THE FALL, by Nancy Kress

June 18, 2012

POST-APOCALYPTIC TIME TRAVELERS, aliens, and ecocatastrophe weave together in a thought-provoking SF tale.

Grade: B PLUS

AFTER THE FALL, BEFORE THE FALL, DURING THE FALL
Tachyon Press
2012

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THE GARDEN INTRIGUE, by Lauren Willig

June 17, 2012

ENGLISH AND AMERICAN SPIES at Napoleon’s court vie, flirt, work together in this delightful Regency fluff.

Grade: SOLID B

THE GARDEN INTRIGUE
Dutton
2012

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CURES FOR HUNGER, by Denis Y. Béchard

June 16, 2012

POIGNANT, ROUGH-HEWN MEMOIR from a writer trying to make sense of his troubled parents and their lives.

Grade: SOLID B

CURES FOR HUNGER: A MEMOIR
Milkweed Editions
2012

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PEOPLE WHO EAT DARKNESS, by Richard Lloyd Parry

June 15, 2012

THE HEADLINE-GRABBING ABDUCTION OF a young Englishwoman in Tokyo in 2000, explored in thoughtful complexity.

Grade: SOLID B

PEOPLE WHO EAT DARKNESS: THE TRUE STORY OF A YOUNG WOMAN WHO VANISHED FROM THE STREETS OF TOKYO--AND THE EVIL THAT SWALLOWED HER UP
Farrar, Straus and Giroux/FSG Originals
2012

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FORGOTTEN COUNTRY, by Catherine Chung

June 14, 2012

AN EMIGRE FAMILY RETURNS to South Korea from the US at a time of medical crisis. Luminous and deeply moving.

Grade: A MINUS

FORGOTTEN COUNTRY
Riverhead Books
2012

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