Novels Now

He first came to the Iris one day just before the beginning of the summer season.
I was really excited when I received Hotel Iris from Picador in the mail. I hadn’t requested it, but because I loved The Housekeeper and the Professor so much last year, I knew I would want to read this one. The [...]

The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon comes out today (June 16th).  If you’d like an advance reader’s copy of this book, enter in the comments below by telling us the best book published in 2009 that you’ve read so far.  If you haven’t read any 2009 books, just state the 2009 book that you’re [...]

‘Math has proven the existence of God, because it is absolute and without contradiction; but the devil must exist as well, because we cannot prove it.’
Absolutely wonderful — I loved this book!!
Have you seen the movie 50 First Dates? It’s one of my favorite movies, and a very similar situation occurs in this book. [...]

Even before I emerged from my mother’s womb in 1953, people began warning my mother that the infant she carried was going to be huge.

I really enjoyed this debut novel — particularly the first 3/4 of it. Tiffany Baker has created a very extraordinary character in Truly Plaice. First called a ‘little giant’ by her teacher Miss Sparrow, Truly is the exact opposite of her very petite, pretty, and perfect sister Serena Jane. Teased and humiliated by her classmates and community, Truly actually copes fairly well with her large size. Her [...]

Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell is being released today. Would you like a copy? Just comment with your #1 favorite book and your #1 worst book of 2008. Drawing will be held Saturday. Limited to North America.

Good luck!

Eclipse by Richard North Patterson was released today. Would you like a copy? Just comment with your #1 favorite book and your #1 worst book of 2008. Drawing will be held Saturday. North America only.

Good luck!

I’m sort of at a loss when it comes to writing about Toni Morrison’s books.  There’s always that element of genius in her work — I would say she’s a very worthy Nobel laureate.  Somehow, though, her books always make me very uncomfortable.  I guess they’re meant to do that.  I always seem to absorb [...]

Did you know it was Jewish Book Month? I didn’t, but when I found out, I wanted to read a title from a Jewish author. Lara Vapnyar won the 2004 Goldberg Prize for Jewish Fiction by Emerging Writers for There Are Jews in my House. She emigrated from Russia in 1994 when [...]

There are times in life — not many — when you can see, with dizzying clarity, the fatal fork in the road represented by one small act, the catastrophe that lurks behind a trivial decision.
A few weeks ago I posted about the literature in translation I had read so far this year and was surprised [...]

I pressed my hands to my heart. I felt dizzy again, as I always do when I step out of the shadow world of pointless watching and waiting and come face-to-face with reality. How much simpler reality is!

Just as in Embers, the crux of the novel is a confrontation. Esther is in her mid 40’s and lives only with a female relative. It seems that she (and much of her family) have been ripped off (in the nicest way possible) by Lajos the Liar. Now, several years later, he’s come back to visit, and we get the expected confrontation between them[...]

Hans van den Broek and his wife Rachel are living and dealing with post-9/11 New York City. Hans is a banker and originally from the Netherlands, while Rachel is a British attorney. Rachel believes New York has become too unsafe and leaves for London, taking the couple’s son with them.
With his new-found spare [...]

Tomato Girl is a heartbreaking novel of love, desire, and madness.

Ellie is a little in love with her father Rupert and just adores him. She loves spending time with him — especially when she can help him in the store he manages. Not only does Ellie’s father takes care of her when her mother is unable to, he also manages and cares for Ellie’s mother when she is in one of her ‘moods.’

Although Rupert loves his daughter dearly, he is also falling in love with the girl who brings in the tomatoes at his store. This has severe repercussions for everyone involved, not only leaving poor Ellie caught in the middle but also worsening her mother’s mental condition.

Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman
I didn’t even know who Chuck Klosterman was when I picked up this book, but after listening to just a few minutes of Downtown Owl, I had to check to see who he was and if he went to high school with me. He didn’t — as he’s from North [...]

When I first accepted this book for review, I was under the impression that it was mostly about adoption and told through the thoughts and feelings of Willa Golding, a teenager who was adopted as a baby by wealthy parents. It’s not. Although Willa’s point of view certainly comes into the story, [...]

Hillary Jordan has written a very good debut novel that speaks on war, racism, marriage, and living off the land. The story is told by various narrators throughout the book. Henry and Laura are a white married couple who move to the Mississippi delta to raise cotton. Henry loves the land, but [...]

I just love Neil Gaiman (not to mention that his looks remind me of a close friend I had in college). Well, I love his books, too, and this one was no exception. It’s my third Gaiman, and although I still think I liked Coraline a tiny bit better, I loved The Graveyard [...]

The winner of So Long at the Fair by Christina Schwarz is Sunny, of That Book Addiction.
Congratulations!

The White Tiger
by Aravind Adiga
2008 Booker Prize winner
2008, 276 pp.

Hmmm, well, I happened to get this book from the library on the Saturday before the Booker Prize was announced “just in case.” When The White Tiger was revealed as the winner, I was really surprised. Not only did it have the longest [...]

Atmospheric Disturbances
by Rivka Galchen
Starred Reviews: Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, Library Journal, and Kirkus
2008, 240 pp.

It’s rare that a book gets starred reviews from all four major review publications. Was this book that good; does it really deserve that much attention? Yes, absolutely. I really, really loved it; so much, in fact, that [...]