books: a novel of

books: a novel of

books:

A novel of

Dennis Lehane

William Morrow, 2008

THE Great American Novel is a master work!
I love this book. I won't do a synopsis here as others have done so, but I have to say, I am blown away by this book. The eerie similarities of those times and our times shows how history repeats itself. Politics, big money, and mob mentality never seem to change. ...

The Brass Verdict: A Novel

Michael Connelly

Little, Brown and Company, 2008

"A trial is a contest of lies. And everybody in the courtroom knows this."
This terrific follow-up to The Lincoln Lawyer, featuring troubled defense lawyer Mickey Haller, also includes famed police detective Hieronymous (Harry) Bosch, who has been a hero in thirteen previous Connelly mysteries. Though Haller and Bosch work on opposite sides ...

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Stieg Larsson

Knopf, 2008

Excellent
While it took close to one hundred pages to get into this book, I am so very glad that I stuck with it. Yes, translations can be clunky, yes, the cast of characters was huge, yes, it was long. It was worth every one of those minor faults and more. It took all those ...

Loving Frank: A Novel

Nancy Horan

Ballantine Books, 2008

Loving This
Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studio in Oak Park is on a spacious street that boasts several of his houses, two blocks from where I grew up. That street never loses its charm, though I've walked down it many times. Next door to my family lived a Frank Lloyd Wright ...

A Most Wanted Man

John le Carre

Scribner, 2008

Culture Clash
A beggar, Issa, a supposed medical student, seeks to live at Melik's family's house in Germany. Melik, a boxer, is annoyed. The women pity Issa. He speaks Turkish with a Russian accent. After the Cold war ended many people believed that this author lost his ...

Watchmen

Alan Moore

DC Comics, 1995

Watchman paperback review
This book is a phenomenal read. I had a really hard time putting it down from the moment I got it and finished it in two days. I highly recommend this book, both for its graphic style and for its story. It's a little eerie how this cold war era book rings true today, ...

The Shack

William P. Young

Windblown Media, 2008

A must read!.
Whatever your spiritual bent may be, or the religious affiliation of your choice, this little book answers the questions posed by -- why do bad things happen to good people? Or: does God make these things happen, does he allow them to happen, or is He just an observer ...

Dead as a Doornail (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 5)

Charlaine Harris

Ace, 2006

Another Fabulous Installment
I am surprised that this series just gets better and better as you read it. This book makes a shift to focus more on werewolfes and shapeshifters and of course, most of them accept her. We also see a little more from the fairies. The book picks up on the storyline ...

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel (Oprah Book Club #62)

David Wroblewski

Ecco, 2008

Not a huge fane, but the book was decent enough.
I like to grab a best-seller here and there just to keep me from staying on the computer 24/7, this book had a lot of hype behind it that it didn't meet in my opinion. Not bad though!

The Other Queen: A Novel

Philippa Gregory

Touchstone, 2008

Not her best foray
This is by no means Gregory's best foray into Tudor-era historical fiction (that honor is still reserved for The Other Boleyn Girl), nevertheless, I would recommend this book to fans of her other works. It gives a decent fictional insight into the lives of two other ...

Water for Elephants: A Novel

Sara Gruen

Algonquin Books, 2007

I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is one of my favorite books of all time! It's about 90 (or 93)-year-old Jacob Jankowski remembering his life when he was young. The story starts with his parents dying in a car crash, and him having no money. He stumbles upon a circus in town, and gets hired as ...

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Khaled Hosseini

Riverhead, 2007

Overwhelming
I first listened to CD's of this book on a very long and boring car trip. Of course I had already read and immensely enjoyed The Kite Runner. Well, this is even better, although somewhat more harrowing. It shares the same elegance of writing style, surprising, when one ...

Home: A Novel

Marilynne Robinson

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008

Can You Go Home Again?
When Glory Boughton returns home to Gilead to care for her ailing father, she carries with her the regrets and fantasies of a life of her own - now abandoned. But soon after her return to the old homestead, her prodigal brother Jack writes a letter, announcing that ...

Seduce Me at Sunrise (The Hathaways, Book 2)

Lisa Kleypas

St. Martin's Paperbacks, 2008

What a fantastic story...*sigh*
After I read this book I went back and re-read my favorite parts. It was great! I loved the characters of Merripen and Win and I just wanted their story to go on and on forever. My only complaint is that the epilogue didn't go further into the future. Merripen has that ...

Tsar: A Thriller

Ted Bell

Atria, 2008

5 star in the genre
This novel is as good as it gets in this genre. It is the best of James Bond moved to the 21st century. Hawke is Bond reincarnated in many ways. He is suave, sophisticated, a chic magnet, looks great in white tie and a great spy. But in many ways he is more than ...