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: 61% [?]

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My Name is Number 4: A True Story from the Cultural Revolution by Ting-Xing Ye
Pages: 230
Finished: Oct. 26, 2008
First Published: September 2008
Genre: YA, memoir
Rating: 4/5
Reason for Reading: Received a Review Copy from the publisher. Also qualifies for the Canadian Challenge.
First sentence:
The morning of my exile to the prison farm arrived, a characteristic November day in […]

Popularity: 28% [?]

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These were adults with too much time on their hands. And didn’t they know that the projector, sound system, and speakers were all Japanese? Their dancing shoes were probably from Mexico or China. America’s jobs were going elsewhere and Americans were just dressing up and playing like kids. Gas prices were high. General Motors […]

Popularity: 26% [?]

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Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
Pages: 324
First Published: March, 2008
Genre: southern fiction, historical fictionRating: 5/5
First sentence:
Henry and I dug the hole seven feet deep.
Comments: A story of 1940s Mississippi. A tale of two families; one black, the other white. Henry McAllen moves from the city with his wife, two young daughters and his cantankerous, racist father to […]

Popularity: 28% [?]

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Wonderful Southern Fiction
In 1939, at 31 years old, spinster, Laura meets Henry McAllen. After a bit of dating, they get married and start a family. Henry works for the Army Corps of Engineers, they’re in the city. This is great, because Laura is a city woman through and through.
One day Henry comes home with news, […]

Popularity: 27% [?]

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Rich Details and Decadence of 17th-Century Court
This is the story of real life Louise de la Vallière, mistress to France’s King Louis XIV, also known as the Sun King. At a young age, Louise, lovingly nicknamed Petite by her father, uses bone magic to tame a wild stallion.
Though of minor nobility, her family doesn’t have […]

Popularity: 27% [?]

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Mosquito
Roma Tearne
299 pages
Life in this paradise, he felt, was exactly as the beautiful mosquito that lived here, composed in equal parts of loveliness and deadliness. (p. 284)
Theo Samarajeeva is a successful Sri Lankan writer, who returned from London to his homeland after his wife’s sudden death. He spends long, languorous days in his beach house, […]

Popularity: 21% [?]

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Admiral Zheng stops and extends his arm. A Vice admiral places a scroll in his outstretched hand. He turns his attention to it, unrolls it, and reads aloud: “‘All ships moored are ordered back to the capital, and all goods on the ships are to be turned over to the Department of Internal Affairs and […]

Popularity: 20% [?]

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Mr. Fooster Traveling on a Whim: A Visual Novel by Tom Corwin
Illustrated by Craig Frazier
Pages: 101
Finished: July 18, 2008
First Published: June, 2008
Genre: graphic novel, fantasy, magical realism
Rating: 4/5
First sentence:
Mr. Fooster has a long list of things he likes to do.
Comments: Rather than starting this review with a summary of the plot I will be starting […]

Popularity: 23% [?]

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Made in the U.S.A. by Billie Letts
Contemporary Fiction
2008 Grand Central Publishing
Finished on 6/29/08
Rating: 2.5/5 (Fair)
Fate sometimes thought that God was looking out for him and Lutie. The notes left for them, and the food they found on the hood of the car and in the library. All of that came from someone. And if it […]

Popularity: 23% [?]

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