Book Reviews

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

A

A Common Pornography by Kevin Sampsell

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

After the Fire: A True Story of Friendship and Survival by Robin Gaby Fisher

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Altared edited by Colleen Curran

American Music by Jane Mendelsohn

American Nerd: The Story of My People by Benjamin Nugent

American Rust by Philipp Meyer

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson (Banned Books Week Spotlight)

The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Annie’s Ghosts: A Journey Into a Family Secret by Steve Luxenberg

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell (audiobook)

Assisted Loving: True Tales of Double Dating with my Dad by Bob Morris

Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon

B

Bad Marie by Marcy Dermansky

Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace by Ayelet Waldman

Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell

Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel

The Believers by Zoe Heller (book club breakdown)

Beowulf on the Beach: What to Love and What to Skip in Literature’s 50 Greatest Hits by Jack Murnighan

Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie

Bitter Sweets by Roopa Farooki

Blood Work by Holly Tucker

The Blue Notebook by James Levine

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (Banned Books Week Spotlight)

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Bossypants by Tina Fey

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo–read but not reviewed…it was just too wonderful for words.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America by Barbara Ehrenreich

The Brightest Moon of the Century by Christopher Meeks

C

Callisto by Torsten Krol

Captain Freedom by G. Xavier Robillard

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (Banned Books Week Spotlight)

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

The Chairs Are Where the People Go by Misha Glouberman

Charlatan by Pope Brock

Chow Hounds by Ernie Ward, DVM

Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein

The City and The City by China Mieville

Click: When We Knew We Were Feminists edited by Courtney E. Martin and J. Courtney Sullivan

College Girl by Patricia Weitz (Sunday Salon mini-review)

Corner Shop by Roopa Farooki

Cowboys Are My Weakness: Stories by Pam Houston

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

Crazy: Notes On and Off the Couch by Rob Dobrenski

The Crying Tree by Naseem Rakha

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Curtains: Adventures of an Undertake-in-Training by Tom Jokinen

The Customer is Always Wrong: The Retail Chronicles edited by Jeff Martin

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

D

David Sedaris: Live for Your Listening Pleasure (audiobook)

Day for Night by Frederick Reiken

Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles

Dearly Devote Dexter by Jeff Lindsay (audiobook)

Decoding The Lost Symbol by Simon Cox

Descartes’ Bones: A Skeletal History of the Conflict Between Faith and Reason by Russell Shorto

The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession by David Grann

Don’t Quit Your Day Job edited by Sonny Brewer

Double Take: A Memoir by Kevin Michael Connolly

Down Around Midnight by Robert Sabbag

E

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

The Emperor of all Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Enough About Love by Herve LeTellier

Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King

F

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (Banned Books Week Spotlight)

The Fates Will Find Their Way by Hannah Pittard

F ‘Em: Goo Goo, Gaga, and Some Thoughts on Balls by Jennifer Baumgardner

Finny by Justin Kramon

First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria: How a Peace Corps Poster Boy Won My Heart and a Third World Adventure Changed My Life by Eve Brown-Waite

A First-Rate Madness by Nassir Ghaemi

Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History by Scott Andrew Selby and Greg Campbell

Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation by Elissa Stein and Susan Kim

Forever by Judy Blume

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

For Keeps: Women Tell the Truth About Their Bodies, Growing Older, and Acceptance edited by Victoria Zackheim

G

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

Get Me Out : A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank by Randi Hutter Epstein, M.D.

The Giver by Lois Lowry (Banned Books Week Spotlight)

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway (book preview)

The Good Good Pig by Sy Montgomery

Gossip of the Starlings by Nina De Gramont (book club breakdown)

Greasy Rider: Two Dudes, One Fry-Oil-Powered Car, and a Cross-Country Search for a Greener Future by Greg Melville

Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love by Andrew Shaffer

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

It’s Pefectly Normal by Robie Harris (Banned Books Week spotlight)

J

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Just Don’t Fall by Josh Sundquist

K

Kraken by Wendy Williams

L

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

Ladies and Gentlemen: Stories by Adam Ross

Laid: Young People’s Experiences with Sex in an Easy-Access Culture edited by Shannon T. Boodram

Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks (completed for the Horrible Dare Challenge)

The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan

Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith by Martha Beck

The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta

Letter to My Daughter by Maya Angelou

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson

The Lifespan of a Fact by John D’Agata and Jim Fingal

Life’s That Way: A Memoir by Jim Beaver

The List: 100 Ways to Shake Up Your Life by Gail Belsky

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robison

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Love and Other Natural Disasters by Holly Shumas

Love Is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield

M

The Magicians and The Magician King by Lev Grossman

Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan

Making an Exit by Sarah Murray

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett

Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son by Michael Chabon

Matrimony by Joshua Henkin

Mattaponi Queen by Belle Boggs

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen (audiobook)

A Mercy by Toni Morrison

The Mighty Queens of Freeville: A Mother, A Daughter, and the People Who Raised Them by Amy Dickinson

Miss Entropia and the Adam Bomb by George Rabasa

The Mistress Contract by She and He

Moondogs by Alexander Yates

Months and Seasons: Stories by Christopher Meeks

Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross

Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English by Natasha Solomons

Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks

My Little Red Book edited by Rachel Kauder Nalebuff

N

Naked by David Sedaris (audiobook)

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst

Nothing Daunted by Dorothy Wickenden

Nothing Left to Burn by Jay Varner

O

Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Other People We Married: Stories by Emma Straub

The Other Woman: Twenty-One Wives, Lovers, and Others Talk Openly About Sex, Deception, Love, and Betrayal edited by Victoria Zackheim

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

P

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach

The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell

The Passage by Justin Cronin

The Patron Saint of Used Cars and Second Chances by Mark Millhone

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (Banned Books Week spotlight)

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

Pink Boots and a Machete by Mireya Mayor

Possible Side Effects by Augusten Burroughs

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

The Pun Also Rises by John Pollack

Purge: Rehab Diaries by Nicole Johns

The Purity Myth: How America’s Obsession with Virginity Is Hurting Young Women by Jessica Valenti

Q

Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot

The Queen of Palmyra by Minrose Gwin

Queen of the Road: The True Tale of 47 States, 22,000 Miles, 200 Shoes, 2 Cats, 1 Poodle, a Husband, and a Bus with a Will of Its Own by Doreen Orion

Queer Questions Straight Talk by Abby Dees

R

Reading Lips: A Memoir in Kisses by Claudia Sternbach

Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages by Ammon Shea

Reading Women by Stephanie Staal

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Reservoir by John Milliken Thompson

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

The Rookie Voter Handbook by James E. Turner

S

Safe from the Sea by Peter Geye

Safer: A Novel of Suspense by Sean Doolittle

Salvation on Sand Mountain by Dennis Covington

Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent

Say Her Name by Francisco Goldman

The Senator’s Wife by Sue Miller

The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J. Maarten Troost

Sex on Six Legs by Marlene Zuk

The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner

Shiny Objects by James Roberts

Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbott

The Singer’s Gun by Emily St. John Mandel

Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

So Much Pretty by Cara Hoffman

Soldier’s Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point by Elizabeth D. Samet

Stalking Irish Madness: Searching for the Roots of My Family’s Schizophrenia by Patrick Tracey

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

Sugar in My Bowl edited by Erica Jong

Supergirls Speak Out: Inside the Secret Crisis of Overachieving Girls by Liz Funk

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

T

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

Taroko Gorge by Jacob Ritari

Testimony by Anita Shreve

That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo

Things the Grandchildren Should Know by Mark Oliver Everett

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien (Banned Books Week Spotlight)

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

This Will Kill You: A Guide to the Ways in Which We Go by H.P. Newquist and Rich Maloof

Three Stages of Amazement by Carol Edgarian

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Touch and Go by Thad Nodine

Trespassers Will Be Baptized by Elizabeth Emerson Hancock

The Tricking of Freya by Christina Sunley

True Confessions edited by Susan Gubar

Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante

Two is Enough: A Couple’s Guide to Living Childless by Choice by Laura S. Scott

The Typist by Michael Knight

U

The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer

Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell

Unless It Moves the Human Heart: The Art and Craft of Writing by Roger Rosenblatt

The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest University by Kevin Roose

The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris

V

Vera and the Ambassador: Escape and Return by Vera and Donald Blinken

Voluntary Madness: My Year Lost and Found in the Loony Bin by Norah Vincent

W

Waiting for Columbus by Thomas Trofimuk

Wake by Lisa McMann

We the Animals by Justin Torres

West of Here by Jonathan Evison

What It Is Like To Go To War by Karl Marlantes

What’s Up Down There? by Lissa Rankin

What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us by Laura van den Berg

When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson

Where the God of Love Hangs Out by Amy Bloom

Where’s My Wand? by Eric Poole

Who By Fire by Diana Spechler

Who is Mark Twain? A collection by Harper Studio

Why We Hate Us: American Discontent in the New Millennium by Dick Meyer

Winging It: A Memoir of Caring for a Vengeful Parrot Who’s Determined to Kill Me by Jenny Gardiner

The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell

X

Y

You Had Me at Woof by Julie Klam

You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon

Your Voice In My Head by Emma Forrest

Z