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Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania 61 reviews
Andy Behrman
Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2003
A ripple of hope
The best book on manic depressive episodes with light towards the end of the tunnel. If you or a close relative or friend is in the throes of this terrible predicament, almost a life sentence of sorts, you should read this book. Its not an undertone of pessimism or another will-bring-tears type of ...
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The Glass Castle: A Memoir 1136 reviews
Jeannette Walls
Scribner, 2006
Best Book all year
+ an amazing story of courage and perserverance.
+ Cant put it down!!!!
+ Read it against my better judgement ... and LOVED it!
+ One heckuva great book
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The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel 1419 reviews
Barbara Kingsolver
HarperTorch, 2003
A Gem of Postcolonial Literature
+ An Eye Opener
+ A book for the Colonialists, not the colonised: for Westerners, not Africans
+ The Poisonwood bible
+ A Retrospective
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Mutant Message Down Under, Tenth Anniversary Edition312 reviews
Marlo Morgan
Harper Paperbacks, 2004
Mutant message down under
+ Love this book
+ Unexpected self discovery, so far and yet so near....
+ Timeless Message
+ Honest review with no axe to grind
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Midnight Blue: Sonja Blue Collection49 reviews
Nancy Collins
White Wolf Publishing, 1995
A 'Dark' Read....
+ Interesting....
+ Dark but pleasing.
+ wow . . . perfect in every way
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Outlander1365 reviews
Diana Gabaldon
Dell, 1992
Outstanding, excellent, outlandish
+ "All good things come to he who waits"
+ Absorbing and Heartwarming
Outlander is absolutely stunning. My great thanks go once again to the contributors on the PNR community boards where I heard first of this book and series.
I believe it is very well written. I love the genre crossings: romance, science-fiction, history. DG has an outstanding ability to delve ...
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Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: A Novel728 reviews
Susanna Clarke, Portia Rosenberg
Bloomsbury USA, 2004
Instant Classic
+ Wonderfully Clever Book
+ The Line Between the Mystical and the Physical
This evocative tale of English magicians who become associates and eventual rivals/enemies is one of the most impressive literary debut-novels in any genre, ever. Every atmospheric detail is rich and crucial; there is nothing that is not essential to this mesmerizing, often frightening tale. ...
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Madness: A Bipolar Life41 reviews
Marya Hornbacher
Houghton Mifflin, 2008
Excellent Book
+ Bipolars... Hear me out
+ Madness: A Bipolar Life
Hornbacher's book is an excellent portrayal of bipolar disorder. She has done all of us with bipolar disease a favor by publishing her story. Unlike some of the books out there, her story is both compelling and honest, not merely a bid for attention. Well done, Marya!
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The Meaning of Night: A Confession76 reviews
Michael Cox
W. W. Norton, 2007
A must read! A+++
+ A Review - The Meaning of Night by Stephens James
+ great read
+ The Talented Mr. Glyver
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Crooked10 reviews
Louisa Luna
MTV, 2002
Astounding
+ Good read, but kind of depressing
+ Crooked
This is a tightly written, sharply visualised novel -- really a work of literature, which might explain some of the disappointed reviews I've seen elsewhere from people who may have been expecting another link from the great sausage-factory of Music Television Books. Ms. Luna has created, in ...
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Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir27 reviews
Janice Erlbaum
Villard, 2007
Loved it!
+ second one first
+ so much better than expected
Taken through the teenage life of the author in the 1980's Regan-era it was interesting to read what it was like to live in a homeless shelter during that time - especially since being homeless was just coming into the public eye as a real problem in America.
Janice writes a thought-provoking ...
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The Liars' Club: A Memoir143 reviews
Mary Karr
Penguin (Non-Classics), 1998
This Book is Brilliant
+ Wonderful example of the genre - well written, entertaining, and meaningful
+ Is it any wonder?
Mary Karr's writing is beautifully poetic, simple, yet amazingly eloquent. This book is a treasure. Not only because it's so well-written, but because of the personal nature of it.
Karr doesn't allow me to feel like I'm imposing on her private memories. She is only being open and true to those ...
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Running with Scissors: A Memoir821 reviews
Augusten Burroughs
Picador, 2003
Wonderful read for good laughs
+ A Childhood Undesired: A Review of Running with Scissors
+ A humorous romp through an unusual childhood
+ Liked the Movie Better
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Bastard Out of Carolina156 reviews
Dorothy Allison
Plume, 1993
Great books that deal with real issues
+ Tragedy mixed with Misery
+ Parental Failure Seems not to Trump Childhood Innocence [33]
+ Awesome..
+ Heartbreaking and Brilliant
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A Parchment of Leaves (Ballantine Reader's Circle) 40 reviews
Silas House
Ballantine Books, 2003
A Parchment of Leaves by Silas House
+ An outstanding example of Eastern Kentucky literature
+ WOW
+ Wonderfully written sensory experience
+ Wonderful...
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The Nature of Monsters19 reviews
Clare Clark
Harcourt, 2007
How to make a monster
Clare Clark has to be one the bravest contemporary fiction writers around. Two years ago, she debuted with "The Great Stink" and if anyone thinks that was unsavory enough, Clark returns with "The Nature of Monsters," a gothic horror that will test your tolerance of the macabre with some of the ...
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The Crimson Petal and the White483 reviews
Michel Faber
Harvest Books, 2003
Memorable and lush...
+ For the Love of Miss Sugar
+ At over 800 pages, this book still was not long enough
It has been many years since I read this, and I still occasionally think on the characters as if they were people I once knew and wonder what's become of them. Often graphic, often disturbing, always consuming. Highly recommended.
If you find endings which are even remotely ambiguous to be ...
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The Historian1422 reviews
Elizabeth Kostova, 2005
Brilliant
+ The Historian
+ Angieville: THE HISTORIAN
+ This is how The Da Vinci Code should have been written
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Drop City115 reviews
T.C. Boyle
Viking Adult, 2003
A searing vision, & first-rate, high or straight
+ Dystopian Corrective to Free Love 60's Myth- Weird anachronisms though
+ Read On and Drop Out!
Already a clear-cut five-star, even before I finish, TC Boyle's ripe and agitated revisit to the hippie extremes of the late '60s offers both a celebration and a slam. DROP CITY is the first novel of his I've tasted in a while; for years I'd sampled only the sharply-cornered ironies, their ...
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More, Now, Again: A Memoir of Addiction52 reviews
Elizabeth Wurtzel
Simon & Schuster, 2002
"Ritalin and Cocaine Nation"
+ A Portrait Of Addiction
+ a must-read for the recovering addict
"More, Now, Again" is a sequel of sorts to Wurtzel's generation-defining "Prozac Nation." After receiving a six-figure advance for her second book of non-fiction, Wurtzel became addicted to Ritalin and cocaine. This memoir, like her first book, is honest, moving, and funny. If you want a realistic ...
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