Reviews

Winter’s Bone

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Winter’s Bone

By Daniel Woodrell

Review by Pam Blittersdorf

Author Daniel Woodrell creates a memorable heroine in 16 year old Ree Dolly. Ree desparately wants to escape the poverty of her Ozark community and enlist in the Army (“where you got to travel with a gun and they make everybody help keep things clean”), but she feels duty-bound to her family. Her meth-cooking dad has posted the family home as collateral, then jumped bail. To save her younger brothers and mentally ill mother, Ree has to ask some tough questions about her father’s fate. The folks with the answers to those questions don’t take kindly to being asked. The language of the novel is gritty, genuine and suspenseful. Ree’s grim humor and determination are certain to catch you up in her story. Continue reading →

You

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You

By: Caroline Kepnes

Review by Lois Plale

Guinevere Beck (“Beck” to her friends) is an aspiring author, who drops into a bookstore run by Joe Goldberg, who immediately believes she is The One for him.  After she makes a purchase and leaves, he Googles her name from her credit card and discovers she is on both Facebook and Twitter.  Joe finds out everything he needs to know about her and gradually and obsessively takes control of her life – convincing her that he is the perfect man for her.  He sets up and orchestrates a series of events to make sure she falls for him, removing anything and anyone who gets in his way – even if he has to kill to do it.  Continue reading →

Eileen

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Eileen book coverEileen

By Ottessa Moshfegh

Review by Jonathan Trice

As a former bartender I have had more than a few patrons share stories that were extremely personal, many seemingly too personal to share with a server you met only an hour ago.  You don’t have to be tending bar to experience this, there have probably been times at parties or on a flight where a conversation with a stranger reveals more about themselves than you’re comfortable hearing.  Remember that feeling and you will understand how I felt while reading the novel Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh. Continue reading →

The Westing Game

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The Westing Game.Puffin Modern ClassicThe Westing Game

By Ellen Raskin

Review by Kate Shaw

Perfect for anyone with an interest in reading a classic, a Newbery Winner, and a frequently challenged book! Young readers looking for an introduction to mystery novels need look no further than The Westing Game. Additionally, seasoned mystery lovers will also delight in this complex tale. The novel revolves around the last will and testament of a wealthy man named Samuel W. Westing. Sixteen people attend the reading and learn they could become millionaires if they can win a game created by Mr. Westing. Paired off and given differing sets of clues, the potential heirs hunt to find the solution to a game they don’t really understand. No one knows why Mr. Westing would choose these people as his heirs; a group that includes a possible murderer! Continue reading →

Everything I Never Told You

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Everything I Never Told YouEverything I Never Told You

By Celeste Ng

Review by Zoey Mills

I was recommended Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng based on my enjoyment of Arundhati Roy’s God of Small Things. While both novels are arguably different, Celeste Ng cited Roy’s 1997 work as inspiration—and I quickly picked up on subtle similarities. In Everything I Never Told You we follow the story of Lydia Lee, the events leading up to and after her sudden, gruesome death, and how her family copes with their loss. The novel seems almost as though it were written backwards, by beginning with Lydia’s death and then jumping to the beginnings of the Lee family. Ng, like Roy, jumps around on the timeline of the story and explores how the family’s past and present influenced the events leading up to Lydia’s death. I’m not much of a mystery reader, but Ng had me instantly hooked and I finished the book in two days (despite my finals desperately begging for attention). Continue reading →

Sister

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SisterSister

By Rosamund Lupton

Review by Gretchen Chamberlin

This debut novel by British author, Rosamund Lupton, is a mystery which builds incrementally, relentlessly and brilliantly to its well plotted and harrowing conclusion!

At the opening of the book, I was slightly disoriented as Lupton plunges the reader headlong into the story. But, in short order, you come to understand that Bee’s younger sister, Tess, has gone missing and is later found dead. Was it a suicide as the police surmise, or was it a murder? Bee flies from New York to London and tries to uncover what happened. Continue reading →

11.22.63

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11/22/63

By: Stephen King

Review by Jonathan Trice

When it comes to reading for fun I tend to get in a rut. I devoted eighteen months to the works of Neil Gaiman, another six months straight of Edward W. Robertson novels and the past year has seen a heavy rotation of Stephen King.  When it was time for a new book, I chose 11/22/63 because it is the first work of historical fiction for Stephen King and I was still in a rut.  Continue reading →

Scrappy Little Nobody

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Scrappy Little NobodyScrappy Little Nobody

E-Audiobook by Anna Kendrick

Review by Stephanie Bragg

Anna Kendrick, star of Pitch Perfect and Up in the Air, has written a book.  Her autobiography starts in her young childhood through her rise to stardom and all the awkwardness in between.  Enter Anna’s brain and follow along with her completely honest and charming tales from her middle school double life through personal relationships to what it’s like to pick out a butt double. Continue reading →

Delicious

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DeliciousDelicious

by Sherry Thomas

Review by Michele Bolay

Delicious is one of the best-written historical romances that I have ever read, and I read a LOT of them. Thomas has such a talent with plot, SETTING, language, and characterization. Her stories and her characters are complex and compelling, and the late Victorian setting is a nice change from the Regency period, and offers up so many more possibilities for the female characters.

I rarely give 5-star reviews, but I could not put this one down and I know I will remember it long after. I do agree with some reviewers who said that the ending was a bit too tidy, but it’s a minor quibble. This IS still formula fiction, after all. So glad I have discovered Sherry Thomas!

Check availability on Delicious

About the reviewer: Michele Bolay has worked at the library for more than 25 years. She loves art, romance literature & working with community theatre. Visit her in our children’s department!

Woman of God

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Woman of God

by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

Review By Angie Andre

Commuting can be a long and tiresome experience but listening to audio books makes the long drive more enjoyable.  I have always enjoyed James Patterson so I happily checked out Woman of God with the expectation that it would be an entertaining listen. It ended up being much, much more. Continue reading →