This was my last of the Julia Glass novels, having read them out of published order. Glass' first title, Three Junes, and her latest, The Widower's Tale, undoubtedly make up the better half of her oeuvre. I See You Everywhere and Whole World land on...
Here's the most remarkable detail about this debut novel: Nigerian-born, London-raised Helen Oyeyemi wrote this book in seven weeks (!) just before she turned 19, in the midst of studying for her A-level exams (Britain's upper level, pre-university standardized tests). Both endeavors proved highly successful:...
Tahmima Anam continues her outstanding Bengal Trilogy, which began with A Golden Age, her glowing 2008 debut that propelled Anam into a privileged literary circle filled with international accolades. From Rehana Haque, the protagonist mother in Age, Anam shifts her focus to the grown Haque...
No matter what you ultimately think of the story here, reading this book will no doubt elicit strong lasting emotions. As I'm convinced the less you know about Judy Blundell’s 2008 National Book Award for Young People's Literature winner, the better your own reading will be, you might...
Just sigh with me a moment. Deep breath in, deep breath out ...
Truth: if not for Sunil Malhotra, I would never have finished Abraham Verghese's bestselling first novel, Cutting for Stone. Immediately opened upon receipt more than two years ago, for some reason, my bookmark never moved beyond the first few chapters ...
Born and raised in a small Pennsylvania town, the only connection 14-year-old Grace has to her Cambodian heritage are her mother and her grandmother. While these three generations of women clearly need and love one another, they are uncertain as to how to truly know each...
Warning: NO NO NO! This is NOT to share with your kiddies, at least not until they're much older ...
Here are a few new things I learned from Junot Díaz's 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winner that many of you already read long ago ...
I admit it: more than a few pages now have drying leftover droplets. Elizabeth Partridge, whose last title was the multi-award-winning Marching for Freedom, sure knows how to make a jaded old reader go sniff, sniff. On the last day of seventh grade, best friends Tracy and Stargazer...
You thought Amy Chua was the ultimate Tiger Mother??!! Ha! Chua looks like a mewling cub next to Gracie Ching, the ranting, manipulative, so-called traditional Chinese mother whose idea of tough love includes beating your daughter ...
National Book Award-finalist Gene Luen Yang's latest title is a collaboration with a fellow high school teacher Thien Pham: their obviously convivial partnership is evident even before their comic begins. "Dedicated to our brothers Jon and Thinh, both of whom work in the medical field,...
Confession: Every once in a while, I do actually read mass-market bestsellers. I'll even admit this is my second Dan Brown – had to see what all the hubbub about The Da Vinci Code was about! Am still rolling my eyes over that one (egads! as if names...
Having read Luis Alberto Urrea's unforgettable Border Trilogy, I began the audible version of this novel that highlights illegal immigration with some trepidation. Alas, Urrea doesn't narrate this title; and although it's read with effective gusto by Susan Ericksen, I've gotten used to Urrea's flow, having...
In case you were unsure, that’s Jenny Han as in “Han Solo,” not Han as in “hand.” Befitting of the bestselling young adult author that she is, she can recite all the dialogue from the cult film Clueless, and she gladly admits her adoration for...
Leave it to master storyteller Louis Sachar (National Book Award and Newbery Medalist for his phenomenally successful Holes) to make bridge (yes, bridge! – as in the card game!) heart-thumping fun! Listening to Sachar himself read the audible version is definitely an added bonus, not to mention you get to...
Room will leave you speechless. Listening to the audible version, pitch-perfectly performed by Michal Friedman, Ellen Archer, Robert Petkoff, and Suzanne Toren, is a chillingly addictive experience; even after you've turned off your device, you won't be able to stop Jack from haunting you. In spite...
If I hadn't had Luis Alberto Urrea himself read the majority of his novel to me via iPod, I would never have known the proper pronunciation of Parangarícutirimícuaro, not to mention a few choice insults! Good thing I also bought the book, because I wouldn't...
"More than anything, I wished that my mother and my daughter could have known and loved each other," Maya Soetoro-Ng writes in her "Author's Note," mourning her late mother (anthropologist S. Ann Dunham), who died a decade before her granddaughter Suhaila was born. Through the infinite...
Contrary as I am, I find I must start with this book backwards. The final entry in this important title by one of Palestine's literary icons is not only the collection's highlight, but it is undoubtedly one of those haunting 'what-if' situations that you'll find...
