Hi all,
Multiple links to full-length professional reviews of the following
books released in the US have been added to http://www.reviewsofbooks.com
in the last week:
"The Maytrees" by Annie Dillard - "The Maytrees" of Annie Dillard's
novel are Lou and Toby Maytree. Toby is a poet in his local
Provincetown on Cape Cod, mixing with other artists and
intellectuals. He's 30 when he first meets Lou, and is immediately
captivated by her. They marry and have a son, living in the house Lou
inherited from her mother. It's a simple life bounded by friends,
beauty, art, and the sea. Their friend Deary helps watch their son,
and their idyllic life begins to fall apart with Toby realizes he's
falling for Deary. "The Maytrees" has received positive reviews with
USA Today saying, "'The Maytrees' has elegant, evocative language. It
describes nature in a way that would enchant the most hardened city
dweller. And it captures the mystery of love, maternal as well as
romantic. This novel is a treasure."
Excerpt and all reviews are at:
http://www.reviewsofbooks.com/maytrees
"Bangkok Haunts" by John Burdett - "Bangkok Haunts" brings back Thai
detective and devout Buddhist, Sonchai Jitpleecheep, first introduced
in John Burdett's "Bangkok 8" and "Bangkok Tattoo." Sonchai gets a
video tape in the mail that shows a snuff film, and the woman being
murdered is one of his past lovers, Damrong. As Sonchai investigates
the case, he finds himself longing for his past love while sleeping
next to his newly pregnant wife. Sonchai again is forced to delve
into the seedier side of Bangkok, where *** is bought and sold amid an
exclusive men's club, while Sonchai's Captain Vikorn continues to see
things from a pragmatic and business perspective. This case, though,
leaves Sonchai haunted. "Bangkok Haunts" has received positive
reviews with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch saying, "Full of his usual
insights into the subculture for which Thailand is known, 'Bangkok
Haunts' is Burdett's best mystery yet in the series."
Excerpt and all reviews are at:
http://www.reviewsofbooks.com/bangkok_haunts
"Stalin's Ghost" by Martin Cruz Smith - "Stalin's Ghost" brings back
Arkady Renko once again. He's the classic outsider, unliked even in
the Moscow prosecutor's office. When people start seeing Stalin's
ghost in a Moscow subway station, they see it as an excuse to get
Arkady out of their hair. Arkady has also lost his girlfriend to a
detective who's a veteran of the Chechen wars, and his investigation
of the ghost sightings appears to be connected to a group of Chechen
veterans. In a case that turn increasingly personal, Arkady must deal
with conflicting parts of Russian life, from the new millionaires and
throngs of poor of Putin's Russia to nationalists who yearn for a
return to the Soviet days. Martin Cruz Smith's novel has received
positive reviews with the Rocky Mountain News saying, "In his
remarkable new tale, the history lessons are not dogmatic or strident
but suspenseful and, unlike the majority of sequels you read and soon
forget, utterly enthralling."
Excerpt and all reviews are at:
http://www.reviewsofbooks.com/stalins_ghost
"The Shadow Catcher" by Marianne Wiggins - "The Shadow Catcher" tells
two different stories set in two different times. The first is about
famed Western photographer Edward S. Curtis. It's told by his wife,
who finally divorced him after bearing his children and suffering his
neglect. He preferred the open skies of the outdoors to family life.
The second story is told by a writer named Marianne Wiggins, who is
writing a novel about Curtis. She's also investigating the man who
stole her father's identity, a man who committed suicide years
earlier. As the writer digs deeper into both stories, she finds that
they intersect. "The Shadow Catcher" has received mixed reviews with
the San Francisco Chronicle saying, "Wiggins' net effect is
vertiginously enjoyable, a rambunctious puzzle-box that rewards dives
into murky interpretive waters: The more effort you devote to thinking
the book through, the greater its rewards."
Excerpt and all reviews are at:
http://www.reviewsofbooks.com/shadow_catcher
Happy reading!
Bill - administrator of http://www.reviewsofbooks.com
|
