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1.The Gathering (Man Booker Prize) by: Anne Enright September 10, 2007
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: $14.00 Off The Bookshelf's Price: $11.20 You Save: $2.80 (20%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $1.84
`The Gathering' happens because Liam Hegarty dies suddenly. Through the words of his beloved sister Veronica who collects his body and organizes the funeral, we learn the tale of the Hegarty family and a terrible secret from the distant past which she shares with Liam. Collecting her thoughts, feelings and memories hopping through three generations I suppose reflects an intrinsic quality, a certain originality in this novel, but it still did not satisfy me. The display of thoughts and situations that flow and scatter chasing each other in almost every page is often too disjointed for my liking. This probably conveys Veronica's pain and state of mind in an authentic way -facing the irreversible past and struggling with grief, seeking redemption- but I found that past and present ... Read More

2.Divisadero (Vintage International) by: Michael Ondaatje April 22, 2008
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: $13.95 Off The Bookshelf's Price: $11.16 You Save: $2.79 (20%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $2.88
Divisadero consists of two separate stories connected by the slenderest of threads. The first story, told in the first half of the book, is about two sisters, Anna and Claire, raised by a widowed farmer in Northern California. Their father has also taken in Coop, the orphaned son of some neighbors. When the girls are sixteen and Coop nineteen, an event occurs that shatters the family into separate pieces. We follow Coop and Claire into their adult lives, where their stories simply peter out. Anna becomes a scholar, and journeys to rural France to research the life of an obscure writer, Lucien Segura. There she meets Rafael, a gypsy who when he was a little boy knew Segura as an old man. Anna then fades into the background as the story reels backward, into Segura's youth, his experience ... Read More

3.Falling Man: A Novel by: Don DeLillo June 03, 2008
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: $14.00 Off The Bookshelf's Price: $11.20 You Save: $2.80 (20%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $3.95
The author's description of the events of 9/11 are quite good and put you in the buildings and the horror of the area around the WTC during and after the attack. The story he wraps around it is halting and discombobulated (for lack of a better word). He makes no attempt to emotionally connect you with his main characters. In fact you grow to dislike the hero increasingly. Had he spent more time with the tragic character "The Falling Man" and that of the wife, the author might have had something. DeLillo's writing style is frustrating and dulling.

4.The Yiddish Policemen's Union: A Novel (P.S.) by: Michael Chabon April 29, 2008
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: $15.95 Off The Bookshelf's Price: $10.85 You Save: $5.10 (32%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $3.93
When earlier in the year on NPR I heard about Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union, I immediately knew I wanted to read it, yet within twenty pages I began to suspect I'd made a mistake in buying what was far more a film noir sort of tale than the sociological one I'd been hoping for. So, yes, I was disappointed in this book. It starts off with a scenario sure to whet curiosity, this Jewish colony existing and thriving in Alaska, but whereas I wanted the novel to be an exploration of this intriguing concept, it was a crime story instead. I admit it wasn't a bad detective novel and I did stick around to see how it came out, but I'm not a big fan of that genre as much as I am one of alternate history, and I wanted to see more concentration on this hypothetical Yiddish culture atop the Pacific than Chabon gave it. I guess ... Read More

5.The Maytrees: A Novel by: Annie Dillard June 12, 2007
Average Rating: >>More Details		Used Price: $8.59
This was a "share" book, given to me by someone who loved it. That was all right because an earlier share book was "Eat,Pray, Love," which turned out to be very compelling. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about "The Maytrees." I found it irritating from the start, with a reliance on poetic language that was so self-conscious I was embarrassed for the author. The characters seem to be drawn out of the mists (perhaps that is appropriate to the landscape of Cape Cod), and as a result "there is no there there." I would not call this a novel, but an extended selection of poetic moments. Anyway, authors should always go back and check Dickens' before sending in their latest works for publication. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Grab your reader from Line One. Prose is its own poetry.

6.The Gravedigger's Daughter: A Novel (P.S.) by: Joyce Carol Oates April 01, 2008
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: $15.95 Off The Bookshelf's Price: $10.85 You Save: $5.10 (32%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $3.98
This book was repetitive and downright frustrating to read. The only reason why I bothered to finish reading it was because I bought this book when it first came out, in the expensive hardback format! I felt like the author just gave up towards the end of the book, it ended so abruptly and impersonally. Check this book out from your local library if you must, but don't bother wasting your money on it.

7.Atonement by: Ian McEwan November 27, 2007
Average Rating: >>More Details		Off The Bookshelf's Price: $7.99 Prices subject to change. Used Price: $0.19
Atonement is an extremely beautiful story about how differing perceptions of a single event can affect the lives of those involved, whether negatively or positively. This book is told in three parts and each part is from three different perspectives. The story begins in 1935 and is told from the viewpoint of the 13 year old Briony. Briony witnesses an event involving her older sister, Cecile, and the gardener, Robbie, that her young brain does not understand. Briony decides that Cecile would never commit such an indecent act of her own accord; therefore, Robbie must have forced Cecile into the situation. Briony later witnesses an assault on her cousin and names the lewd Robbie as the perpetrator. Briony is unwaveringly believed in her account of the tale and Robbie is imprisoned. Part two of the ... Read More

8.Bridge of Sighs: A Novel (Vintage Contemporaries) by: Richard Russo August 12, 2008
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: $14.95 Off The Bookshelf's Price: $10.17 You Save: $4.78 (32%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $5.98
As a Richard Russo fan (I've read everything he's written), I was dumbfounded by this book at times. Unlike Empire Falls, the Bridge of Sighs takes long, rambling detours through story and emotion. I found myself at times saying, "Okay, already. Get on with it." I also found myself absolutely intrigued by Russo's descriptions of the characters' interior lives and his incisive connections between the seemingly disconnected and mundane goings on in everyone's lives. I finished the book a week ago but I'm still haunted. An amazing book. Russo keeps the reader on his toes by going from first-person present tense, first-person past tense, third-person present tense, and third-person past tense. And he intertwines them closely enough at times that I had to stop and think about where I was in time. A fabulous read. ... Read More

9.Out Stealing Horses: A Novel by: Per Petterson April 29, 2008
Average Rating: >>More Details		List Price: $14.00 Off The Bookshelf's Price: $11.20 You Save: $2.80 (20%) Prices subject to change. Used Price: $7.71
I don't read as much as I would like and that is usually my fault. Sometimes it is the book's fault for not pulling me in. This one had no trouble and the sparse prose is perfectly descriptive of the state of mind of both the man and boy in this novel. I felt I could almost smell the air in the book with barely a word to describe it, but somehow it comes across. The writing is simple yet leaves you touched by this character's experience. It is like wandering into a room you used to inhabit as a child. You can pinpoint the exact smell but something pulls a flood of emotion back into your consciousness that has been lost somewhere. This book feels like that throughout and is one of the best books I have read since "East of Eden". Like life, it is neither happy nor sad, but simply is what we make of it.

10.Run by: Ann Patchett September 25, 2007
Average Rating: >>More Details		Used Price: $6.16
I really enjoyed Patron Saint of Liars and Bel Canto. This book was interesting and I liked the potential of the characters. I found Uncle Sullivan tedious at times and Tip too when he'd go on and on about fishes - but there are people like that - I just don't want to read a detailed account of his obsession. I still enjoyed the book. I liked Kenya, Teddy, and Tennessee. While some coincidence is fine, this book seemed ridiculously full of them. The book was fairly fast-paced and I wouldn't rave about it but it was still worth the time.

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