Book reviews and more!

You are browsing the archive for January2010

HATER by David Moody

January 31, 2010

GRIM, ABSORBING, concise novel depicts a quiet and unstoppable apocalypse. Terrifying in its matter-of-factness. B PLUS

HATER
St. Martin’s Press
2009

Grade: B PLUS

Tags:

THE LITTLE GIANT OF ABERDEEN COUNTY by Tiffany Baker

January 30, 2010

FOLKSY FABLE of family secrets in upstate New York recalls early John Irving, Carolyn Chute but lacks oomph. SOLID B

THE LITTLE GIANT OF ABERDEEN COUNTY
Grand Central Publishing
2010

Grade: SOLID B

Tags:

GUTSHOT STRAIGHT by Lou Berney

January 29, 2010

ZIPPY CAPER NOVEL combines salty characters, snappy dialogue, tight plot. Fast-paced Elmore Leonard-esque fun! A MINUS

GUTSHOT STRAIGHT
William Morrow
2010

Grade: A MINUS

Tags:

THE PATTERN IN THE CARPET by Margaret Drabble

January 28, 2010

ODDLY CHARMING little book from Margaret Drabble combines family memoir with a history of jigsaw puzzles. B PLUS

THE PATTERN IN THE CARPET: A PERSONAL HISTORY WITH JIGSAWS
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
2009

Grade: B PLUS

Tags:

BLACKLANDS by Belinda Bauer

January 27, 2010

INTENSE, CHILLING, brilliant novel about a young boy obsessed with his uncle’s murder by a serial child-killer. A MINUS

BLACKLANDS
Simon & Schuster
2010

Grade: A MINUS

Tags:

WICKED PLANTS by Amy Stewart

January 26, 2010

ZANY AND INFORMATIVE little guide to “wicked plants”: the poisonous, carnivorous, invasive and/or illegal kind. B PLUS

WICKED PLANTS: THE WEED THAT KILLED LINCOLN’S MOTHER AND OTHER BOTANICAL ATROCITIES
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
2009

Grade: B PLUS

Tags:

DREAMING IN HINDI by Katherine Russell Rich

January 25, 2010

DREAMY, IDIOSYNCRATIC, and often very funny memoir of a US writer’s year spent studying Hindi in India. B PLUS

DREAMING IN HINDI
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
2009

Grade: B PLUS

Tags:

DIE FOR YOU by Lisa Unger

January 24, 2010

PREPOSTEROUS, YET COMPULSIVELY READABLE thriller about a writer who discovers her husband’s deadly secrets. SOLID B

DIE FOR YOU
Shaye Areheart Books
2009

Grade: SOLID B

Tags:

THE VENUS FIXERS by Ilaria Dagnini Brey

January 23, 2010

ENTHRALLING TRUE STORY of the Allied troops who worked to save Italy’s art and architectural treasures in WWII. A MINUS

THE VENUS FIXERS: THE REMARKABLE STORY OF THE ALLIED SOLDIERS WHO SAVED ITALY’S ART DURING WORLD WAR II
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
2009

Grade: A MINUS

Tags:

THE MAKEDOWN by Gitty Daneshvari

January 22, 2010

SNARKY, MEAN-SPIRITED chickfic about an ugly-duckling-turned-swan making her handsome, flirty boyfriend ugly. C PLUS

THE MAKEDOWN
5 Spot
2009

Grade: C PLUS

Tags: