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Two Lives: Gertrude and Alice 9 reviews
Janet Malcolm
Yale University Press, 2007
Are you looking for a conventional biography?
+ I Actually Want to Read Gertrude Stein Now (Though I Probably Won't)
+ the author inserts herself
Then don't read Janet Malcolm. Malcolm is not the kind of biographer who delivers more than you ever wanted to know about a subject. But if you want to know how biographers do their sleuth work, how one wrong date can determine whether we think Stein horrid or not, and how the personalities of ...
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The Septembers of Shiraz: A Novel (P.S.) 54 reviews
Dalia Sofer
Harper Perennial, 2008
Exquisite
+ Interesting and very informative
This story seemed too perfect to be made up. Either this writer is a prodigy, or the book autobiographical. Either way, you will not find a more incisively written, detail oriented depiction of what life was like in Iran after the Shah left.
The details of prison life were painful to read, and ...
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Throw Like A Girl: Stories 8 reviews
Jean Thompson
Simon & Schuster, 2007
Stories That Strike The Right Notes
+ The wit and black humor of the title are splendidly sinister
+ An Excellent Read
It's difficult to write a short story collection that captures attention. Alice Munro, Jhumpa Lahari, Margaret Atwood, Peter Ho Davies are a few writers that come to mind who do it well. Now I can add another one -- Jean Thompson.
Her stories are about women (not "phenomenal women", like ...
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Winterton Blue: A Novel 3 reviews
Trezza Azzopardi
Grove Press, 2007
Love in a fog
If disfunctional families are your thing, Winterton Blue, beautifully written, is the book for you. If you can imagine Azzopardi writing a love story in a dark, dank cellar in England, then you won't be surprized that the characters reek of uncertaintly, distrust, violence, and tiny hints of joy.
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Down the Nile: Alone in a Fisherman's Skiff23 reviews
Rosemary Mahoney
Little, Brown and Company, 2007
What A Brave Lady!
+ Amazing
+ Highly Recommended
+ Loved it!
+ A beautiful and thoughtful book.
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Speak, Bird, Speak Again: Palestinian Arab Folktales3 reviews
Ibrahim Muhawi
Univ of California Pr, 1989
Wonderful Collection of Fairy Tales
+ Wonderful Collection of Fairy Tales
+ Symbolism
This wonderful book introduces Palestinian culture to the world. In the footsteps of the brothers Grimm, Ibrahim Muhawi and Sharif Kanaana roamed all over Palestine collecting folktales from the old people. The major difference setting this work aside is highly methodical approach of its authors ...
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Peony in Love: A Novel101 reviews
Lisa See
Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2008
Favorite Summer Fiction Read
+ Loved this book.
Such a wonderful love story. I wanted to be there and in the moment. It felt so real at times. I wanted to believe in the story so much....that all of it was really possible.
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The Painted Drum: A Novel (P.S.)25 reviews
Louise Erdrich
Harper Perennial, 2006
One of the best Erdrich novels
+ Pleasantly surprised
+ Another great novel from Erdrich
+ I Enjoyed This Audiobook Very Much!
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The Plague of Doves: A Novel34 reviews
Louise Erdrich
Harper, 2008
Erdrich has outdone even herself
+ Magnificent
+ The Ways We Need Each Other
+ Disjointed, but still Pretty Good
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A Thousand Splendid Suns1299 reviews
Khaled Hosseini
Riverhead, 2007
Lives up to the hype...
+ A very powerful book
+ I am thankful to be an American female
+ Almost as good as Kite Runner.
+ One of the Few Bestsellers that Deseves the Hype
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Easter Everywhere: A Memoir13 reviews
Darcey Steinke
Bloomsbury USA, 2007
Star-struck
+ A humble telling
+ Interview with Darcey Steinke
I was fortunate enough to meet Darcy at a reading done at the College of St.Rose in Albany, NY tonight. She also came and spoke to my English class. While all this is beside the point, I was privy to a closer glimpse of the person behind this engaging memoir and I was very much impressed. I was ...
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Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter40 reviews
Phoebe Damrosch
William Morrow, 2007
not what I expected
ok i got this book becauce of the place the author worked and the chef she worked for. What I got was a book more about here personal love life which in the brief time she worked there was sev diff coworkers including a secret relationship with a managerial level employee. SO the amount of the book ...
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Mayada, Daughter of Iraq: One Woman's Survival Under Saddam Hussein70 reviews
Jean Sasson
NAL Trade, 2004
The tip of the iceberg
+ Eyewitness Account...needs editing
+ very important read
Mayada Al Askari was born in Iraq, in 1955, to a prominent Iraqi family, and is the granddaughter of Jido Sati, an important Iraqi politician and statesman in the first half of the 20th century, and of former Iraqi Prime Minister Jafar al-Askari.
This biography tells of her experiences growing up ...
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DESERT ROYAL28 reviews
JEAN P. SASSON
DOUBLEDAY, 1999
Comments......
+ For a different perspective
You also have to remember that this is a life story, I don't think when someone tells there life experience that it means that everyones life will be the same, just like we can't generalized everyone in a country or religion by only one experience.
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Sunstroke and Other Stories4 reviews
Tessa Hadley
Picador, 2007
Excellent, Surprising Stories
+ These are great short stories!
+ Terrific Short Fiction
Tessa Hadley's Sunstroke is a marvelous collection of short stories. I can't tell you how many times I pick up a book of stories and just can't get through it for a variety of reasons. Sunstroke was the opposite. These stories are terrific, well-written, witty and thought-provoking. Perhaps the ...
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The Maytrees: A Novel53 reviews
Annie Dillard
Harper Perennial, 2008
One of my Favorite Books Ever
+ Is is possible to have a love/hate relationship with a book?
+ A Poetic Essay on Love
This novel is right up there among my favorites, along with Gilead and Housekeeping, both by Marilynne Robinson. I love Annie Dillard's spare and lyrical style. Each sentence is lovingly crafted to say exactly what it means to say in such a beautiful way. I plan to keep this book in the glove ...
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The Other Boleyn Girl (Movie Tie-In) (Boleyn)820 reviews
Philippa Gregory
Touchstone, 2008
It's fiction, brilliant FICTION
+ Great Read
+ Good Historical Novel
+ Simply Fiction
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Helen of Troy64 reviews
Margaret George
Viking Adult, 2006
Another great book from Margaret George
+ Beautifully done...LOVED it!!
+ Helen of Troy--historical fiction at its finest.
+ A wonderful book!
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Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh, The: A Woman in World History
Linda Colley
HarperPerennial, 2008
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Princess Sultana's Daughters84 reviews
Jean Sasson
Windsor-Brooke Books, 2001
Princess Series
+ Unspeakable horrors
+ Not as good as the first book..
+ Life in a gilded cage
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