Novels Now

Hillary Jordan has written a very good debut novel that speaks on war, racism, marriage, and living off the land. The story is told by various narrators throughout the book. Henry and Laura are a white married couple who move to the Mississippi delta to raise cotton. Henry loves the land, but […]

Popularity: 64% [?]

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I just love Neil Gaiman (not to mention that his looks remind me of a close friend I had in college). Well, I love his books, too, and this one was no exception. It’s my third Gaiman, and although I still think I liked Coraline a tiny bit better, I loved The Graveyard […]

Popularity: 58% [?]

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The White Tiger
by Aravind Adiga
2008 Booker Prize winner
2008, 276 pp.

Hmmm, well, I happened to get this book from the library on the Saturday before the Booker Prize was announced “just in case.” When The White Tiger was revealed as the winner, I was really surprised. Not only did it have the longest […]

Popularity: 27% [?]

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Atmospheric Disturbances
by Rivka Galchen
Starred Reviews: Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, Library Journal, and Kirkus
2008, 240 pp.

It’s rare that a book gets starred reviews from all four major review publications. Was this book that good; does it really deserve that much attention? Yes, absolutely. I really, really loved it; so much, in fact, that […]

Popularity: 23% [?]

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Breath by Tim Winton
2008, 218 pp.
Ugh. I thought this was about a teen boy surfing in Australia. I wanted it to be about a teen boy surfing in Australia. And it was, for about 150 pages, then it goes off into a weird and extreme area that I will not mention here. […]

Popularity: 24% [?]

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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
by Stieg Larsson
2008, 465 pp.

The original Swedish title of this book means Men Who Hated Women, and that title is an excellent forewarning about what the book is about. If you like gritty crime novels or shows like CSI, you’ll probably love the book. My eyes and […]

Popularity: 25% [?]

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The Story of a Marriage
by Andrew Sean Greer
2008, 195 pp.
Rating: 1/5
It seems this story has polarized readers. Some love it, while others intensely dislike the book. I fall into the latter camp. I thought I was really going to like it initially, but then the story went way over the top into unbelievability for me. […]

Popularity: 28% [?]

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The Secret Scripture
by Sebastian Barry
2008, 300 pp.
Booker Prize Shortlist
I’d be happy if this book won the Booker Prize. Yeah, I would, and I haven’t read any of the other contenders yet! Sebastian Barry is a magnificent writer, and I will definitely be reading more of his work.
Roseanne McNulty is almost 100 years old, […]

Popularity: 27% [?]

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I was first introduced to Clyde Edgerton when I read and enjoyed Walking Across Egypt (4 stars) last year, so I was really looking forward to reading this book.  Henry Dampier is a young man determined to make his fortune by door-to-door Bible selling; although, truth be told, he gets the Bibles for free.  Still, […]

Popularity: 24% [?]

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The undiscover’d country, from whose bourn
No traveler returns,  – HAMLET
Lin Enger’s debut novel is a modern take on Hamlet, but with a few differences from the original. Even though I’m very familiar with the play, I found that Undiscovered Country surprisingly kept me in suspense throughout. There were just enough differences to keep […]

Popularity: 32% [?]

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