Hi all,
Multiple links to full-length professional reviews of the following
books released in the US have been added to http://www.reviewsofbooks.com
in the last week:
"The House on Fortune Street" by Margot Livesey - "The House on
Fortune Street" is owned by Abigail Taylor and her best friend from
their days together at St. Andrews University, Dara, rents the
basement apartment from her. Abigail, who owns her own theater
company, has been popular with men. Her current lover, Sean, left his
wife for her, but their relation****p is collapsing. Dara has been
distant with men, unable to trust a man since her father, Cameron,
left without word when she was a child. Cameron comes to the house on
Fortune Street, wi****ng to explain why he had to leave. The novel is
told from each character's perspective, as they try to explain the
relation****ps, personal failings, and lies that ultimately lead to
tragedy. Margot Livesey's novel has received positive reviews with
the Raleigh News & Observer saying, "'The House on Fortune Street' is
stunningly ambitious. In its exploration of these lives, intricately
entangled and richly imagined, in its deep and wise comprehension of
human possibility, and in the gorgeousness of its vision, it is not
just a superb book and not just a trans****ting one. It is luminous."
Excerpt and all reviews are at:
http://www.reviewsofbooks.com/house_on_fortune_street
Amazon.com link:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0061451525/?tag=3Dreviewsofbooks8-20
"The Garden of Last Days" by Andre Dubus III - "The Garden of Last
Days" is set just before 9/11 at the Puma Club for Men in Florida.
April is a single mom who is perhaps the club's most popular dancer.
She usually has reliable child care, but for just one day, she's
brought her daughter to work with her. AJ Carey is one of the club's
regulars, but he's reeling from a really bad day where his wife has
taken out a restraining order against him because he hit her. Bassam
al-Jizani is an Islamic terrorist and religious fanatic who looks
forward to bringing death and destruction to the infidels on 9/11, but
he comes to the club because he has a weakness for forbidden
pleasures. Their hopes, dreams, and weaknesses will all intertwine as
they all struggle with their roles in life. Andre Dubus' novel has
received positive reviews with the Boston Globe saying, "'The Garden
of Last Days' is storytelling of the finest kind: unforgettable and
desperate characters caught up in a plot thundering toward
catastrophe. Maybe the end of the novel is rushed, or maybe I think it
is because I wanted to read another hundred pages. Take your toddler
to a strip club? What were you thinking? Murder thousands of
innocents? Kidnap a child? Why on earth do people do the unthinkable?
Dubus knows that you may not make sense out of the incomprehensible,
but you can make art. He has done just that in this incandescent and
absorbing novel."
Excerpt and all reviews are at:
http://www.reviewsofbooks.com/garden_of_last_days
Amazon.com link:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0393041654/?tag=3Dreviewsofbooks8-20
"When You Are Engulfed in Flames" by David Sedaris - "When You Are
Engulfed in Flames" is the latest set of essays from David Sedaris,
and like his previous books, they come from different stages of his
life. He recalls episodes of trying to buy drugs when he was young,
social faux pas while traveling on an airplane, and his attempt to
give up smoking, which he's done for most of his life. He and his
partner, Hugh, move to Tokyo for three months while he tries to give
up cigarettes, and his attempts to learn Japanese don't go much better
than when he tried to learn French (which was a disaster). "When You
Are Engulfed in Flames" has received mostly positive reviews with the
Raleigh News & Observer saying, "Geniuses have impossibly high
standards to meet: their own. Sedaris might be slightly off his game
with this new collection, but should you read it? Of course. Overall,
it's great. It's David Sedaris."
Excerpt and all reviews are at:
http://www.reviewsofbooks.com/when_you_are_engulfed_in_flames
Amazon.com link:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0316143472/?tag=3Dreviewsofbooks8-20
"The Downhill Lie: A Hacker's Return to a Ruinous S****t" by Carl
Hiaasen - With "The Downhill Lie," Carl Hiaasen turns from fiction to
memoir, telling of his return to playing golf after a 32-year hiatus.
He remembers playing golf to bond with his father, and now he wants to
do the same with his son. Golf, or more precisely, golf technology
has changed over the decades, but Hiaasen throws himself into this
seemingly new adventure. He soon discovers, though, that it's the
same frustrating and maddening game he played when he was younger, but
he recounts this in his inimitable humorous style. "The Downhill Lie"
has received mixed reviews with BookRe****ter.com saying, "'The
Downhill Lie' is a perfect Father=92s Day gift for your golfing dad, or
the book to take along on your next golfing trip. Those who have never
suffered through golf hell will not understand Hiaasen's anguish, but
the rest of us have a wonderful reminder that there are many out there
equally frustrated and tortured by the game invented by drunken
Scotsmen."
Excerpt and all reviews are at:
http://www.reviewsofbooks.com/downhill_lie
Amazon.com link:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0307266532/?tag=3Dreviewsofbooks8-20
Multiple links to full-length professional reviews of the following
books released in the UK have been added to http://www.reviewsofbooks.com
in the last week:
"The Gone-Away World" by Nick Harkaway - "The Gone-Away World" is set
in a dystopian future where humans struggle for survival along the
Jorgmund Pipe, which straddles the world pumping out a substance that
makes the land for a few miles alongside it the only place habitable
for mankind. The unnamed narrator is one of the truckers sent to put
out a fire along the pipeline, and he tells of the unforeseen
consequences of the Go Away Bomb let loose during a world war. He
also tells of his best friend, Gonzo, an ex-military hero who is
leading the group that will put out the fire. Any straying from the
pipeline leads to a world where real monsters live. This debut novel
from Nick Harkaway (son of John le Carre) has received positive
reviews with The Independent saying, "This is only a hint of what "The
Gone-Away World" is about. There are profound meditations on war,
commercialism and the nature of humanity, and there are also hugely
entertaining passages featuring pirate monks, ninjas, mime artists,
ridiculous military escapades and much more. It should be made clear
that it is also very often arse-kickingly funny. Throw in some
perfectly plotted revelations, an unforgettable finale and a life-
affirming and thought-provoking denouement, and you've got a tale
which will live long in the memory, and a writer destined for great
things, famous dad or not."
All reviews are at:
http://www.reviewsofbooks.com/gone_away_world
Amazon.co.uk link:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0434018422/?tag=3Dbookreviews-21
"Glister" by John Burnside - "Glister" is set in Innertown, where a
defunct chemical plant has poisoned the environment and its populace.
It's a place where the adults are lifeless or despised, but someone is
murdering the children. Morrison is the local cop who is forced to
cover up the murders, but he secretly creates a shrine to the
victims. Leonard, a 15-year-old boy, leads a local gang, but he is
perhaps the only person with enough vision and energy to appreciate
Innertown and he sets out to find the serial killer. Yet in a town
where life is apathetic, does anyone care? John Burnside's novel has
received positive reviews with The Guardian saying, "'Glister' sits a
million miles away from the mass-entertainment police procedural yarns
that line the bookstore shelves, and is one of the most original and
exhilarating reads of the year. Continually subverting reader
expectations by changing point of view and thematic emphasis, this
sophisticated tale becomes a deliberation on post-industrialisation,
the nature of storytelling and the darker extremities of human
psychological experience."
All reviews are at:
http://www.reviewsofbooks.com/glister
Amazon.co.uk link:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0224080741/?tag=3Dbookreviews-21
Happy reading!
Bill - administrator of http://www.reviewsofbooks.com
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