Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Book Reviews (sorted alphabetically by title)

A - B

A Better Angel (4/5) by Chris Adrian

A Case of Exploding Mangoes (4.5/5) by Mohammed Hanif

A Country Called Home (4.5/5) by Kim Barnes

A Dangerous Affair (3/5) by Caro Peacock

A Golden Age (4/5) by Tahmima Anam

A Mercy (3.5/5) by Toni Morrison

A Stingray Bit My Nipple! (4/5) by Erik Torkells

A Visit from the Goon Squad (3/5) by Jennifer Egan


The Abstinence Teacher (1.5/5) by Tom Perrotta

After the Fire, a Still Small Voice (3.5/5) by Evie Wyld

America America (4/5) by Ethan Canin

American Wife (3.5/5) by Curtis Sittenfeld

AM/PM (4/5) by Amelia Gray

An Alphabetical Life (3/5) by Wendy Werris

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (4.5/5) by Barbara Kingsolver

The Aviary Gate (3/5) by Katie Hickman

Await Your Reply (4/5) by Dan Chaon

Be a Nose (3/5) by Art Spiegelman

Beg, Borrow, Steal (4/5) by Michael Greenberg

Between the Assassinations (3.5/5) by Aravind Adiga

Bikeman (2.5/5) by Thomas Flynn

Bleeding Heart Square (3/5) by Andrew Taylor

The Boat (3.5/5) by Nam Lee

The Book of Unholy Mischief (2.5/5) by Elle Newmark

The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart (3/5) by Mathias Malzieu

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (4/5) by Junot Diaz

Bright Shiny Morning (2/5) by James Frey

Brooklyn (4/5) by Colm Toibin

By Nightfall (4/5) by Michael Cunningham

C - D

C (4.5/5) by Tom McCarthy

Castaway Kid (1/5) by R.B. Mitchell

The Clothes on Their Backs (2.5/5) by Linda Grant

The Collector of Worlds (4.5/5) by Iliya Troyanov

The Commoner (1.5/5) by John Burnham Schwartz

The Confessions of Edward Day (4/5) by Valerie Martin

Conscience Point (3/5) by Erica Abeel

Crossing the Hudson (3.5/5) by Peter Stephan Jungk

Curiosities of Literature (2/5) by John Sutherland

Dali & I (3/5) by Stan Lauryssens

Dangerous Laughter (2.5/5) by Steven Millhauser

Darkmans (3/5) by Nicola Barker

Death in Spring (5/5) by Mercè Rodoreda

Dervishes (4.5/5) by Beth Helms

The Development (3.5/5) by John Barth

Diary of a Bad Year (4.5/5) by J.M. Coetzee

Disquiet (4/5) by Julis Leigh

Dom Casmurro (4/5) by Machado de Assis

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight (3.5/5) by Alexandra Fuller

Down to a Sunless Sea (3.5/5) by Mathias Freese

Dragon House (3/5) by John Shors

E - F

Eat, Pray, Love (2.5/5) by Elizabeth Gilbert

Effigy (4.5/5) by Alissa York

The Elegance of the Hedgehog (3.5/5) by Muriel Barbery

The Elephant’s Journey (4/5) by Jose Saramago

Emily Post (3.5/5) by Laura Claridge

Enough About Love (4.5/5) by Herve Le Tellier

Etta (2.5/5) by Gerald Kolpan

Everything Matters! (4/5) by Ron Currie, Jr.

The Face on Your Plate (2/5) by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

Fall of Frost (4/5) by Brian Hall

The Finkler Question (3.5/5) by Howard Jacobson

The Fireman's Wife (3.5/5) by Jack Riggs

The Flying Troutmans (3.5/5) by Miriam Toews

Foreign Bodies (4/5) by Cynthia Ozick

The Foreigner (4/5) by Francie Lin

The Forever War (4/5) by Dexter Filkins

Franklin and Lucy (4.5/5) by Joseph Persico

Freeman Walker (3.5/5) by David Allan Cates

From A to X (3/5) by John Berger

Fun with Problems (4/5) by Robert Stone

G - H

The Gargoyle (3.5/5) by Andrew Davidson

Gasoline (4/5) by Quim Monzo

The Gathering (2/5) by Anne Enright

Genius and Heroin (3.5/5) by Michael Largo

Gentlemen of the Road (2/5) by Michael Chabon

The German Mujahid (4/5) by Boualem Sansal

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (3.5/5) by Stieg Larsson

The Glassblower of Murano (2.5/5) by Marina Fiorato

The Golden Calf (4/5) by Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov

Gold of Kings (3/5) by Davis Bunn

The Good Thief (3/5) by Hannah Tinti

The Good Wife (3.5/5) by Stewart O'Nan

Gourmet Rhapsody (2.5/5) by Muriel Barbery

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2.5/5) by Mary Ann Shaffer (and Annie Barrows)

The Halfway House (4/5) by Guillermo Rosales

Handing One Another Along: Literature and Social Reflection (4/5) by Robert Coles

A Happy Marriage (4/5) by Rafael Yglesias

The Heretic's Daughter (4/5) by Kathleen Kent

Hiding in the Spotlight (4/5) by Greg Dawson

His Illegal Self (3/5) by Peter Carey

Home (4/5) by Marilynne Robinson

Homer and Langley (4/5) by E.L. Doctorow

Honolulu (3/5) by Alan Brennert

The Housekeeper and the Professor (4/5) by Yoko Ogawa

I - J

The Immortal (2.5/5) by Traci Slatton

The Imperfectionists (4/5) by Tom Rachman

In a Strange Room (4/5) by Damon Galgut

In the Land of Invisible Women (3.5/5) by Qanta Ahmed

In the Wake of the Boatman (3.5/5) by Jonathon Scott Fuqua

Indignation (4/5) by Philip Roth

Inherent Vice (4.5/5) by Thomas Pynchon

John the Revelator (3.5/5) by Peter Murphy

K - L

Last Night at the Lobster (4/5) by Stewart O'Nan

The Last Bridge (3.5/5) by Teri Coyne

The Last War (4/5) by Ana Menendez

The Lazarus Project (4/5) by Aleksandar Hemon

Let the Great World Spin (4/5) by Colum McCann

Libation, a Bitter Alchemy (3.5/5) by Deirdre Heekin

The Lieutenant (4/5) by Kate Grenville

Little Bee (5/5) by Chris Cleave

Little Fingers (4/5) by Filip Florian

Little Heathens (1/5) by Mildred Armstrong Kalish

The Little Stranger (4.5/5) by Sarah Waters

The Locust and the Bird (2.5/5) by Hanan Al-Shaykh

Love and Summer (5/5) by William Trevor

Love or Something Like It (3.5/5) by Deirdre Shaw

Loving Frank (4/5) by Nancy Horan

Lush Life (3/5) by Richard Price

Lying with the Dead (3/5) by Michael Mewshaw

M - N

Man in the Dark (3.5/5) by Paul Auster

The Man Who Ate the World (3/5) by Jay Rayner

The Marchesa (2/5) by Simonetta Agnello Hornby

The Marriage Artist (4/5) by Andrew Winer

Matrimony (4.5/5) by Joshua Henkin

The Master Bedroom (4.5/5) by Tessa Hadley

Memories of the Future (4/5) by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky

Midwife of the Blue Ridge (2.5/5) by Christine Blevins

Monsieur Pain (3.5/5) by Roberto Bolaño

My Life in France (4/5) by Julia Child

My Mistress's Sparrow is Dead (4.5/5) by Jeffrey Eugenides

Nada (3/5) by Carmen Laforet

Netherland (4/5) by Joseph O'Neill

The Nine (3.5/5) by Jeffrey Toobin

The 19th Wife (3.5/5) by David Ebershoff

Nobody's Home (4/5) by Dubravka Ugresic

O - P

One More Year (4.5/5) by Sana Krasikov

Outcasts United (3/5) by Warren St. John

Out Stealing Horses (5/5) by Per Petterson

The Painted Veil (4/5) by W. Somerset Maugham

Parrot and Olivier in America (4.5/5) by Peter Carey

Passing Strange (4/5) by Martha Sandweiss

The Passive Vampire (4/5) by Ghérasim Luca

The Patience Stone (4/5) by Atiq Rahimi

The Patron Saint of Used Cars and Second Chances (3.5/5) by Mark Millhone

People of the Book (3.5/5) by Geraldine Brooks

The Philosophical Breakfast Club (4/5) by Laura Snyder

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane (3/5) by Katherine Howe

Pigeon Post (4/5) by Dumitru Tsepeneag

Play it as it Lays (4/5) by Joan Dideon

The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work (4/5) by Alain de Botton

The Privileges (3.5/5) by Jonathan Dee

Q - R

Red April (3.5/5) by Santiago Roncagliolo

Rex (4/5) by José Manuel Prieto

Rhyming Life & Death (3/5) by Amos Oz

Rocket Man (3/5) by William Elliot Hazelgrove

Room (4/5) by Emma Donoghue

Rupert (4.5/5) by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer

S - T

The Salt Smugglers (3.5/5) by Gérard de Nerval

The Savage Detectives (2/5) by Roberto Bolano

The Secret Scripture (4/5) by Sebastian Barry

The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet (4/5) by Reif Larsen

Shadow Tag (3.5/5) by Louise Erdrich

Skippy Dies (4/5) by Paul Murray

Solar (4/5) by Ian McEwan

The Solitude of Prime Numbers (4.5/5) by Paolo Giordano

Some Dream for Fools (2/5) by Faïza Guène

Some of the Dead are Still Breathing (3/5) by Charles Bowden

Songs for the Missing (4.5/5) by Stewart O'Nan

Steppenwolf (4/5) by Hermann Hesse

The Story of a Marriage (4.5/5) by Andrew Sean Greer

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (4.5/5) by David Wroblewski

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher (3.5/5) by Kate Summerscale

Sweeping Up Glass (3.5/5) by Carolyn Wall

The Taker and Other Stories (4.5/5) by Rubem Fonseca

Telex from Cuba (3.5/5) by Rachel Kushner

Tell Me Where it Hurts (2/5) by Nick Trout

Theft (4.5/5) by Peter Carey

Then We Came to the End (3/5) by Joshua Ferris

The Theory of Light & Matter (4/5) by Andrew Porter

This is Where I Leave You (3/5) by Jonathan Tropper

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (4.5/5) by David Mitchell

The Toss of a Lemon (4/5) by Padma Viswanathan

Trespass (4/5) by Rose Tremain

The Triumph of Deborah (3/5) by Eva Etzioni-Halevy

Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth (3/5) by Xiaolu Guo

U - V

Unaccustomed Earth (4.5/5) by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Unit (3.5/5) by Ninni Holmqvist

The Unfortunates (5/5) by B.S. Johnson

Vacation (4/5) by Deb Olin Unferth

The Vampire of Ropraz (3.5/5) by Jacques Chessex

Vilnius Poker (4/5) by Ricardas Gavelis

W - X

The Walking People (4/5) by Mary Beth Keane

War on the Margins (3/5) by Libby Cone

The Watercooler Effect (2/5) by Nicholas DiFonzo

The Way We Eat (4/5) by Peter Singer (and Jim Mason)

When Wanderers Cease to Roam (4/5) by Vivian Swift

Where We Know: New Orleans as Home (4/5) by David Rutledge

The White Tiger (4/5) by Aravind Adiga

Wish Her Safe at Home (4/5) by Stephen Benatar

World and Town (4.5/5) by Gish Jen

Writing in the Dark (5/5) by David Grossman

Y - Z

You Know When the Men Are Gone (4/5) by Siobhan Fallon

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