Library Journal Archives - Page 12 of 17

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth [in Library Journal]

20 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Chinese American, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Angela Duckworth (psychology, Univ. of Pennsylvania) grew up hearing, "You know, you're no genius!" from her own father; she didn't even qualify for the gifted and talented program in third grade. In 2013, the MacArthur Foundation overturned her father's judgment, awarding her one of...

Life Reimagined: The Science, Art, and Opportunity of Midlife by Barbara Bradley Hagerty [in Library Journal]

19 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW At the risk of sounding utterly selfish, thank goodness Barbara Bradley Hagerty (Fingerprints of God) recovered from her excruciating throat injury to narrate her latest title. Her conspiratorial, gregarious recitation, a skill that clearly contributed to her two-decade, award-winning NPR career, instantly convinces listeners...

Vaseline Budda by Jung Young Moon, translated by Yewon Jung [in Library Journal]

15 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Repost, Translation

As narratives go, little happens in Jung Young Moon's latest translated-into-English title: unable to sleep, the protagonist considers writing a story, but not before he prevents a possible robbery. The unknown fate of the fallen thief sparks his imagination to cite memories (a break-up, a...

Rich and Pretty by Rumaan Alam [in Library Journal]

26 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Bangladeshi American, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, South Asian American

Best friends since age 11, Sarah and Lauren have gone from inseparable sleepovers and postcollege cohabitation to months without even seeing each other once they're in their 30s. Casually labeled by a high school admirer as "rich and pretty," the monikers have stuck: Sarah remains...

Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy’s Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard by Mawi Asgedom [in Library Journal]

25 Aug, by SIBookDragon in African, Audio, Black/African American, Memoir, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

At 4, Mawi Asgedom fled the civil war cleaving Eritrea and Ethiopia, spending three years in a Sudanese refugee camp. In 1983, assisted by World Relief, the family settled in a Chicago suburb. Their new life wasn't easy: Asgedom's father, once a respected community leader and...

Eleven Hours by Pamela Erens [in Library Journal]

24 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Caribbean American, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW In a Manhattan hospital, two women are each pregnant – one obviously, the other not yet visibly. Lore arrives with no partner, no friends, and no support, but she is armed with a several-page birth plan with which she expects to control the...

The Golden Son by Shilpi Somaya Gowda [in Library Journal]

22 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Indian, Indian American, Repost, South Asian, South Asian American

In a tiny Indian village, Anil and Leena are constant childhood companions in spite of their vastly different backgrounds. Anil, a member of the farming community's most important family, is destined for a prestigious medical residency in Dallas. Leena, the only daughter of a modest...

The Widow by Fiona Barton [in Library Journal]

09 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

While the titular widow is the character around which all others circle, she’s certainly not alone in holding secrets. Jean Taylor (read with unnerving control by Hannah Curtis) stood by her husband, Glen, through the heinous accusations leveled against him, until a week ago when...

Everyone Brave Is Forgiven by Chris Cleave [in Library Journal]

05 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Fiction, Repost

Inspired by his grandparents' love story, meticulously recorded in his grandfather's extant letters (his grandmother's replies were sunk), Chris Cleave’s latest feels like his gentlest – in spite of the backdrop of World War II. At the novel's core is privileged, headstrong Mary North, who signs...

A Greater Music by Bae Suah, translated by Deborah Smith [in Library Journal]

04 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, European, Fiction, Repost, Translation

Out on a January walk in Berlin, the unnamed Korean narrator falls into a river. As she struggles to breathe, her experience gives way to both "conventional memories" of what has led her to this icy trap dovetailed with tenuous endeavors to comprehend and explicate...

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi [in Library Journal]

03 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, African, Audio, Black/African American, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW Two hundred fifty years ago in what is modern-day Ghana, two half-sisters are each given a special stone by their mother. Effia marries an Englishman and lives in the ignominiously named Castle, the center of the African Gold Coast slavery trade. Esi is temporarily...

Shylock Is My Name [Hogarth Shakespeare] by Howard Jacobson [in Library Journal]

02 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Fiction, Jewish, Repost

The Hogarth Shakespeare series—“Shakespeare’s plays reimagined by some of today’s bestselling and most celebrated writers” – continues with three additional releases in 2016: Jacobson’s take on The Merchant of Venice, Anne Tyler’s reimagining of The Taming of the Shrew in June’s Vinegar Girl, and Margaret...

The Boat Rocker by Ha Jin [in Library Journal]

01 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Chinese, Chinese American, Fiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW When Fen Danlin first landed in New York to join his wife, Yan Haili, she delivered him to a "seedy" Chinatown inn with $500 and instructions to stay – alone – within walking distance of an arranged restaurant job. She returned the next day...

And Again by Jessica Chiarella [in Library Journal]

29 Jul, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

Gifted artist Hannah was supposed to die of lung cancer, Congressman-for-sale David of brain cancer, has-been actor Connie of AIDS, and housewife and mother Linda trapped by immobility forever. Yet this quartet comprise the first SUBlife cases, and some of their brains – the parts...

A Midsummer’s Equation [Detective Galileo 3] by Keigo Higashino, translated by Alexander O. Smith [in Library Journal]

07 Jul, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation

The third installment of Keigo Higashino's Japan-set Detective Galileo series (after Salvation of a Saint) lands stateside, with plenty of didn't-see-that-coming surprises to keep listeners entranced straight to the end. Brilliant and eccentric physicist Manabu Yukawa – called Detective Galileo because of the sharp, unexpected...

A Poet of the Invisible World by Michael Golding [in Library Journal]

05 Jul, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Jewish, Persian, Repost

To get her four-eared infant to safety, Nouri Ahmad Mohammad ibn Mahsoud al-Morad's mother gave first her body, then her life. In 13th-century Persia, a child so different would require divine intervention to survive, and Nouri literally falls into the arms of a gentle, crippled...

Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman, translated by Henning Koch [in Library Journal]

03 Jul, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, European, Fiction, Repost, Swedish, Translation

One Monday in January, 63-year-old Britt-Marie enters an unemployment office, having last worked as a waitress in 1978. After decades of fastidious living – perfect cutlery drawers, coasters under every drink, dinner at six, beds disinfected with baking soda – Britt-Marie needs a job. She's left...

She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan [in Library Journal]

30 Jun, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Audio, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Originally published in 2003, Jennifer Finney Boylan’s groundbreaking memoir chronicling her transition from James to Jenny was updated in 2013: "Man, what you don't know could fill a book. I'm unique, however, in that the book filled with the things I don't know is...

An Unrestored Woman by Shobha Rao [in Library Journal]

27 Jun, by SIBookDragon in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Indian, Indian American, Repost, Short Stories, South Asian, South Asian American

*STARRED REVIEW Presenting her dozen stories in six interlinked pairs, Shobha Rao uses the savage 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan as her narrative center, with reverberations moving outward beyond borders, cultures, countries, and generations. A 13-year-old's would-be widowhood spent in a refugee camp is the best...

The Hundred-Year Walk: An Armenian Odyssey by Dawn Anahid MacKeen [in Library Journal]

23 Jun, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Armenian American, Audio, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

"[A]s a reporter, I was spending my life telling other people's stories and ignoring my own family's incredible one," Dawn Anahid MacKeen realized at 35. Her 78-year-old Armenian mother was aging, and MacKeen could no longer ignore her calls to "come home." In 2006, MacKeen left...

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