Category: FICTION

April 23, 2010

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon **** (of 4)

Christopher Boone has Asperger’s Syndrome and Haddon’s book is the best portrayal of what goes through the mind of a young teen who is simultaneously...

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April 23, 2010

Crabwalk by Gunter Grass

A slow, intelligent, patient novel I listened to on tape about how three generations of Germans relate to Nazis. The central theme is the sinking...

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April 23, 2010

Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres **** (of 4)

On its surface it is a story of the Italian occupation of the Greek island of Cefalonia during WWII. Captain Corelli, of the Italian armed...

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April 23, 2010

The Coffee Trader by David Liss *** (of 4)

A Jewish escapee from the Spanish Inquisition makes his living on the Amsterdam stock market, where shrewd trading skills run up to the border of...

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April 23, 2010

City of God by E.L. Doctorow

Stream of consciousness, not very good, especially when compared to his other books. It’s like he wrote this one as an experiment or wrote it...

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April 23, 2010

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

What a masterful, entertaining (if one can use such a word for such despicable deeds), and unique way of telling the story of Trujillo’s dictatorial...

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April 23, 2010

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak **** (of 4)

Death narrates the story of Liesel Meminger, abandoned, nine-year-old daughter of a communist, who escapes death’s grasp during WWII in the German city of Molching....

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April 23, 2010

Birds without Wings by Louis DeBerniere

I tried. I read 100 pages but could get no further. An excessively detailed description of the disintegration of a town of Turks (Muslims) and...

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April 22, 2010

Betrothed by S.Y. Agnon

A wonderful little novella that I listened to on tape about a botanist who arrives in Palestine in 1909 (I think) is quickly surrounded by...

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April 22, 2010

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

About a Peruvian hostage crisis and a love affair between two hostages, one of whom is an extraordinary opera singer. My father, mother, and sister-in-law...

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