Category: Contemporary Novels
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Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones
I heard about this book back in July when Tayari Jones was at a local bookstore for an appearance (that I didn’t attend, but now wish I had!). The premise intrigued me at the time, but there was a long waiting list for it and I decided to wait until a more opportune time to…
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Possession by A.S. Byatt
Possession is a novel that strongly captured my imagination and my heart when I first read it as a teenager. I loved the dense, layered, symbol-filled narrative that neatly weaves together the tale of two Victorian poets and their forbidden love with a group of contemporary academics and their search for groundbreaking evidence of that…
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When She Woke by Hillary Jordan
I have a very fond association with The Scarlet Letter after having read it in college and so am open to any re-interpretations of the novel, though I have yet to read Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. When She Woke is also a futuristic take on the Hawthorne novel, set sometime in America’s future after…
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This Beautiful Life by Helen Schulman
I opened my email and she was there, exposed in the raw – not just her body but her emotions Overwhelmed with awe I had to share the video with someone else and my best friend was the one I trusted I didn’t think, I didn’t think, I didn’t think …
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Blood Harvest by S.J. Bolton
Reading Blood Harvest was like a breath of fresh, though unpure, air after my recent struggle with The Night Circus. Fast-paced, economically written and never losing my interest for a minute – it was just the book I needed after the density of my previous read. Trying to describe this novel would involve too many…
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The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Creating a world unto itself that entices, enchants and beckons you inside its caramel-scented lair is the forte of The Night Circus. This fanciful novel excels at begetting a secretive and illusive environment that is mirrored by the invention of Le Cirque des Reves, the circus of the novel, that only opens at night and…
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Affinity by Sarah Waters
Well, Sarah Waters has done it again. She’s completely hijacked my life with one of her engrossing, agonizing novels. I’ve previously read Fingersmith and The Little Stranger and loved them both so turned to Affinity with much anticipation. I bought a copy of it about a year ago and just couldn’t work up any interest…
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The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog, and of His Friend Marilyn Monroe by Andrew O’Hagan
I suppose it’s not very auspicious to start a post telling you that I had very high hopes for this book because it indicates that perhaps my hopes were dashed. I’m afraid to say that they were! What doesn’t sound appealing about a story told by Marilyn Monroe’s dog, Maf? You may be intrigued; I…
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A Brief History of Montmaray by Michelle Cooper
Sophie FitzOsborne lives on the island of Montmaray with her sister Henry, cousin Veronica, Uncle John and their housekeeper Rebecca. Sophie has just turned 16 and suffers the usual self-doubt and anxiety about her looks and skills that many young girls have. She shares a loyal friendship with Veronica and suffers her sister’s eccentricities and…
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Snowdrops by A.D. Miller
Snowdrops is the kind of vicious, cynical little book that I usually avoid because I find it hard to read a book in which none of the characters are sympathetic or valiant, though I know that this probably reflects true life more than I like to believe. Moscow in the 2000’s – drunken, corrupt, violent…
A Certain Fondness 