novel

Call and Answer

Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman

February 23, 2019 by Nannerbears 1 Comment

What a lovely read. The language was lovely, almost lyrical. Very little actually happens but the author takes us on such a journey that we believe so much has happened. This is a relatively short review, simply to resist giving away the pieces of the book you should enjoy by reading it yourself. Elio is a young man falling for an older man who is visiting his house over the summer. The story slowly builds into an obsession. The tension is built through everything that is thought but never happens. Like any good story, eventually the tension is released. There […]

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Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman

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2/23/2019 | Nannerbears's CBR11 Review No:2 |

Close the Book

Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

May 25, 2018 by Tragic Sandwich Leave a Comment

So I’m back to my “British women in peril” theme, apparently, and this entry is . . . not good. It’s gripping; I definitely wanted to know what was going to happen. And (a) there’s a denouement, and (b) some really key information was missing that would make me feel the level of dread I was supposed to. The heroine of B.A. Paris’s Behind Closed Doors is given a backstory that is emotionally traumatic, but she doesn’t seem to recognize it as trauma, and seems to have no awareness of how that trauma informs her actions and decisions. She’s positioned […]

5/25/2018 Tragic Sandwich's CBR10 Review No:7 |

Delightful, feel-good space opera

A Closed and Common Orbit. by Becky Chambers

March 30, 2018 by tillie Leave a Comment

A closed and common orbit is the sequel to The Long way to a Small Angry Planet, so… A Closed and Common Orbit follows Lovelace the AI after she’s been downloaded into a kit resembling a human body. Pepper takes care of her and brings her back to her home planet. Lovelace changes her name to Sidra, a human-name, and tries to adjust to life with different senses in a strange place. She is no longer a ship with a camera in every room, she is a body and bodies don’t know what happens behind them. Interspersed in this […]

3/30/2018 tillie's CBR10 Review No:7 |

Not the Thrill I Was Hoping For

The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney

February 22, 2018 by Tragic Sandwich Leave a Comment

My latest read was actually an Audible listen. I’ve realized recently that I’m a sucker for an English thriller featuring a 20- to 30-something woman. Also, I often like books that tell a story in two time periods. So J.P. Delaney’s The Girl Before would seem to be a match for me. Two Londoners–Emma (then) and Jane (now)–each rent the same austere house. Each sees it as the solution to her problems. Each follows a path that leads to jeopardy. Also on that path is the same man, a man they find irresistible, a man whose appeal I find incomprehensible. […]

2/22/2018 Tragic Sandwich's CBR10 Review No:3 |

Pity Poor Mrs. Popper

Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater

January 3, 2018 by Tragic Sandwich Leave a Comment

We’ve started reading chapter books to Baguette at bedtime. Our first was The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White. Neither Mr. Sandwich nor I had read that as children, and we’re continuing that with our next selection: Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater. On its surface, the story is cute enough. A seasonally unemployed house painter unexpectedly takes delivery of a penguin, and hijinks ensue. There is a second penguin, and then little penguins, and more hijinks. Baguette is enjoying the story, and that’s really the point. But as an adult, I can’t help but be struck […]

1/3/2018 Tragic Sandwich's CBR10 Review No:1 |

“Look at this progressive-ass devil. Literally.”

The Summer That Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel

December 2, 2016 by NTE 1 Comment

That title is from my Kindle notes as I was reading this story, in response to the main character, who is supposedly the devil, who says things like “Homosexuality is not flammable. You can’t burn by it alone.”, and therefore makes him approximately 9000% less devilish than many humans I know. I wasn’t sure what to make of the synopsis Net Galley provided for this book before I received it; “Fielding Bliss has never forgotten the summer of 1984: the year a heat wave scorched Breathed, Ohio. The year he became friends with the devil.” And that’s just what happens […]

12/2/2016 NTE's CBR8 Review No:13 |

What Is Hidden In Snow Is Revealed At Thaw

Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekback

February 26, 2015 by SavageCats 2 Comments

“As if on Blackåsen, there was no God. As if Blackåsen belonged to someone else.” In the summer of 1717, a settler family—a husband, wife, and two daughters—arrives on the fictional Blackåsen Mountain. Before they can so much as settle in, their daughters discover the body of a murdered man. What follows is a winter of secrets, mysteries, and ghosts. Read the rest at Pop Culture Penalty Box. [Photo is mine, and is of Alta, Utah, not Sweden.]

2/26/2015 SavageCats's CBR7 Review No:6 |

An insightful take on the American Dream

The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henríquez

November 21, 2014 by Sara Habein Leave a Comment

(This post originally appeared on Persephone Magazine.) Cristina Henríquez’s newly published The Book of Unknown Americans, is not about immigrants’ relationship to white people. Ideally, this would not be unusual in a novel, but in a literary landscape that is still struggling with diversity, it’s refreshing to read her insightful take on the American Dream. And what is the “American Dream,” anyway? Different economic classes might answer in specific ways, but at the root of every response is the wish, “Can life be a little easier?” The goal posts keep changing, and Henríquez writes about the struggles and victories experienced […]

11/21/2014 Sara Habein's CBR6 Review No:11 |

emmalita on Choose Your Own Austin AdventureI liked this one a lot too.
Classic on August Bingo Check In – The Game is AfootHope he gets better soon!
Carriejay on A Sequel That Is Even Better Than The First NovelI loved these books! I also hadn't realised Strange wasn't a standalone til I was near the end and I felt a bit miffed that...
badkittyuno on As our eyes met I saw that she had spoken in earnest.I had such a similar reaction to this book, and I never ended up getting through it. I tried 2x on audio book (thought maybe...
Jen K on “All the innocent crime seemed alright at the time”Too bad. You know sometimes you have those books that devote each part to a different person - since she did so well with the...

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