Category: Historical Literature & Fiction

Book Review by Dinh.

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Review:

Eleanor Oliphant Is Comletely Fine by Gail Honeyman has been on my to read list for ages and I am glad that we decided to read it for our monthly read.

Everyone I know who has read it has only high praises for it, so going in I was expecting it to be great. Some have compared it to A Man Called Ove by Federik Backman, but a female version of it. I absolutely loved Backman’s debut novel so I was super excited to dig in Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine.

Where The Crawdads Sing: Book review by Dinh.

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Review:

I read some great reviews for Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. It’s always nice to hear good hype about a book and hope that it will meet or beat the hype.

So going in I had expected it to be good. Did it meet my expectations? Yes, it did!

Tony’s Wife: Book Review By Dinh.

Find Adriana Trigiani: Website | Twitter |Facebook

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Review:

Let me just say that I just love the cover of Tony’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani. The physical aspects of the book was nicely done, from the cover to the inside look of the chapters.

The Address: Book Review by Arlene.

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Review:

The Address by Fiona Davis, opens in London 1884. Sara Smythe, at the age of 30, after toiling as a maid, has worked her way up to being the head housekeeper at London’s Langham Hotel only a month prior to obtaining the position of housekeeper. In the position of head housekeeper, Sara was in charge of many tasks and she was also in charge of all the maids in the large London hotel. Sara was called and was known as Mrs. Smythe. I felt this was an interesting tidbit of information of the time period in England’s history that no head housekeeper could be called a Miss. That was not proper!!

Continue reading “The Address Book Review” →

The Secrets Between Us: Book Review by Dinh.

Synopsis:

Poor and illiterate, Bhima had faithfully worked for the Dubash family, an upper-middle-class Parsi household, for more than twenty years. Yet after courageously speaking the truth about a heinous crime perpetrated against her own family, the devoted servant was cruelly fired. The sting of that dismissal was made more painful coming from Sera Dubash, the temperamental employer who had long been Bhima’s only confidante. A woman who has endured despair and loss with stoicism, Bhima must now find some other way to support herself and her granddaughter, Maya. Continue reading “The Secrets Between Us Book Review” →

The Mars Room: Book Review By Dinh.

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Find Rachel Kushner: Website| Facebook |

Review:

I am so glad that we chose to read The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner for our book club monthly read. It is not my usual type of read and it’s nice to go outside the comfort zone once in a while.

I have not read any of Rachel Kushner’s work. She is known for her best selling book The Flamethrowers (2013), which was a finalist in the 2013 National Book Award and a NY Times top 10 books of 2013. Her works also include the short stories in The Strange Case of Rachel K (2015), and Telex From Cuba (2008). Continue reading “The Mars Room Book Review” →

Little Fires Everywhere: Book Review by Dinh.

Synopsis:

In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned – from the layout of the winding roads, to the colors of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.

Enter Mia Warren – an enigmatic artist and single mother – who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community. Continue reading “Little Fires Everywhere Book Review” →

The Great Alone: Book Review by Dinh.

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Find Kristin Hannah: Website| Facebook|

Review:

I was so excited to read Kristin Hannah’s latest book The Great Alone for our book club. Hannah is the author of the best selling novel The Nightingale, now a major motion picture.

Hannah is a prolific writer and her other works include Firefly Lane, Fly Away,True Colors Home Front, Night Road, Winter Garden, Magic Hour, Comfort and Joy, The Things We Do For Love, Between Sisters, Summer Island, Distance Shores, Angel Falls, and On Mystic Lake.

I went into the book with high expectations knowing full well the best selling author’s reputation and I was not disappointed with it. Continue reading “The Great Alone Book Review” →

I’ll See You in Paris: Book Review By Arlene.

Review:

I’ll See You In Paris is a perfect, interesting, and fun summertime read for on the beach, laying by the pool or sitting on your deck chair under the umbrella…wherever you choose to pick up that one good book that will entertain and possibly educate you along the way.

It is an historical fiction novel, about a real person, the mysterious Duchess of Marlborough who turns out to be quite the unusual, quacky woman to say the least but who also lived a very interesting life and did it her way!! She will keep you laughing or wondering if this could be real all throughout the book. I think, in the end, you will get her and possibly like and understand her… Continue reading “I’ll See You in Paris Book Review” →

Before We Were Yours: Book review by Dinh.

Synopsis:

Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge—until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents—but they quickly realize that the truth is much darker. At the mercy of the facility’s cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together—in a world of danger and uncertainty. Continue reading “Before We Were Yours Book Review” →