The 19th Wife – David Ebershoff

Similar to Sarah’s Key, The 19th Wife was an airport grab – this time in Orlando. The similarities don’t end there – The 19th Wife is a historical novel, with some basis in truth. The 19th Wife also follows the same style of Sarah’s Key, where a story taking place now is woven into a related story that [...]

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Sarah’s Key – Tatiana de Rosnay

I was stuck in the Charlotte airport and was browsing in the bookstore and saw one lonely copy of Sarah’s Key. I had heard from a few people it was a really good book, so I picked it up. (Airports are one of the few places where I’ll buy new books). Sarah’s Key is a [...]

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The Imperfectionists – Tom Rachman

The Imperfectionists was a book club read. The story is focused on a struggling English-speaking (writing?) newspaper based in Rome. Each chapter of the book provides a quick snapshot of someone working at the newspaper – the obituary writer, the editor in chief, the owner, a copy editor, and some foreign stringers, among others. Each character [...]

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All Families Are Psychotic – Douglas Coupland

My boyfriend is a big Douglas Coupland fan, so he often passes his books along to me. I’ve read Coupland’s most well-known book, Generation X, as well as a few others. This is the third or fourth book I’ve read by him and I’ve come to expect a certain style – his novels tend to feature [...]

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The Book Thief – Markus Zusak

I heard about this book on Amazon when I was poking through their different book lists and readers’ reviews. A number of people described it as the best book they had read about life in World War II Germany. After reading it, I’m inclined to agree – The Book Thief does a great job capturing [...]

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Her Fearful Symmetry – Audrey Niffenegger

In all honesty, my expectations for this book may have been unfairly high because Niffenegger’s first book, The Time Traveler’s Wife, was so great, but unfair or not, Her Fearful Symmetry definitely didn’t live up to them. The story is based around two sets of twins: Twins 1.0: Edie and Elspeth. They’re in their 40‘s [...]

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The Help – Kathryn Stockett

I got this book as a birthday gift. It wasn’t something I asked for, and to be honest, even though I saw or heard something about it every time I turned around, I put off reading it for awhile because the story seemed a little cliched. Three women in the south in the 60’s trying [...]

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Every Man Dies Alone – Hans Fallada

Every Man Dies Alone was an interesting book. It is based on a true story of a fairly nondescript German couple, the Quangels, who attempted to resist the Nazi regime by dropping subversive postcards around Berlin. They realize their act of rebellion is small, but are convinced they are saying what others are thinking and assume it is [...]

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