Category: Book Reviews

July 23, 2013

Paris to the Pyranees by David Downie * (of 4)

So much promise, so little delivery. David Downie sets his mind to walking the old pilgrim trail of Saint James. He’s trying to recover from...

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July 14, 2013

The Missing File by D.A. Mishani *** (of 4)

Why are so many contemporary detectives so depressed? Here’s another: Detective Avraham Avraham, a lonely, single, self-doubting Israeli detective slogging into a job that utterly...

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June 21, 2013

Calico Joe by John Grisham *** (of 4)

Warren Tracy, a journeyman pitcher for the 1973 New York Mets, beans Joe Castle of the Chicago Cubs during the August run at the National...

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June 21, 2013

Sugar in the Blood by Andrea Stuart ** (of 4)

While investigating her genealogy, the author, Andrea Stuart, learns she is the descendent of both a slave owner and a slave. She gets all the...

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June 1, 2013

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra **** (of 4)

Half a dozen fully realized characters intertwine as the Russian empire disintegrates in the early 2000s and the Republic of Chechnya is obliterated by two...

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May 24, 2013

A Foreign Country by Charles Cumming *** (of 4)

An Mi-6 spook, Thomas Kell, on involuntary leave for perhaps roughing up an Afghan captive in Kabul is called back into service when the incoming...

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May 21, 2013

Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden *** (of 4)

Shin Dong Hyuk was born into slavery in Prison Camp 14 in North Korea. He is also the only person to have survived an escape...

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May 20, 2013

That Old Ace in the Hole by Annie Proulx *** (of 4)

Proulx spins a tall Texas tale about a loner named Bob Dollar sent to the mythical panhandle town of Wooly Bucket. His objective is to...

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May 14, 2013

The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Biography ** (of 4)

In the 1940s a Bedouin searching caves above the western shore of the Dead Sea discovered urns with scrolls inside. He knew right away they...

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May 9, 2013

Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon *** (of 4)

Four horse races are run at a bottom-of-the-barrel track inWest Virginia. The horses are knock-kneed, belligerent, over-the-hill, lazy, or used-up. So are the people that...

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