The Kindness, Polly Samson, Bloomsbury Publishing 2015 — British author Polly Samson’s “The Kindness,” is not a compelling novel but rather a dramatized, ages-old story about a love relationship gone bad. Like a fisherman dangling a worm, the author teases the reader with a promise of an intriguing story yet to come.
Lord Fear, Lucas Mann, Pantheon — Lucas Mann’s memoir, “Lord Fear,” takes a different twist: Rather than relating his own personal life, Mann collates fragments about his drug-addicted brother’s life from interviews with family and friends along with the brother’s journal entries to fashion a haunting narrative.
The Book of Aron, Jim Shepard, Random House — Fiction is a world of imagination, yet Jim Shepard’s haunting novel, “The Book of Aron,” evolves around a real-world experience. In this case, Shepard retells the familiar horrors of Hitler’s genocide against Jewish people via invented personal experiences of a young boy, so vividly, the book is an agonizing read.
Motorcycles I’ve Loved Lilly Brooks-Dalton Riverhead Books 2015 ISBN 978-1-59463-321-8 Buy This Book www.amazon.com ". . . a joyful story." A young woman whizzing down the road on a motorcycle is no doubt a dangerous thrill, a challenge I’ve desired,...
Safekeeping Jessamyn Hope Fig Tree Books 2014 ISBN 978-1-941493-06-9 Buy This Book www.amazon.com ". . . offers up intriguing insights . . . " Jessamyn Hope’s intriguing debut novel, “Safekeeping,”evolves around a medieval brooch once owned by a Jewish...
Leaving Before the Rains Come Alexandra Fuller Penguin Press 2014 Hardback ISBN: 978-1-59420-586-6 Buy This Book www.amazon.com "It's where we are that really counts. " Alexandra Fuller says she writes “because the urge to do so collected the fuel of...
There Once Lived A Mother Who Loved Her Children, Until They Moved Back In Ludmilla Petrushevskaya Translated by Anna Summers Penguin Random House 2014 Paperback ISBN 978-0-14-312166-4 Buy This Book www.amazon.com ". . . disturbing and depressing, yet...
House of Coates Brad Zellar Coffee House Press Minneapolis 2014 paperback ISBN:978-1-56689-370-1 Buy This Book www.amazon.com ". . . a well-written narrative laced with suspense, humor . . . " Journalist Brad Zeller and photographer Alec Soth have...
The Idealist Nina Munk Anchor Books 2014 ISBN 978-0-7679-2942 Buy This Book www.amazon.com ". . . an engrossing account of how good intentions can breed more problems. . . " Can we end poverty if we just toss enough money at the problem? Jeffery Sachs,...
The Tumble Inn William Loizeaux Syracuse University Press 2014 ISBN:978-0-8156-1042-7 Buy This Book www.amazon.com "Although the book is fiction, it reads like a memoir. . . " William Loizeaux’s passionate novel, “The Tumble Inn,” chronicles the lives...
