| This week, you can check out our First Impressions reviewers' comments on Everything We Never Knew, a dazzling, heartwarming novel from Emmy Award winner Julianne Hough and Rule author Ellen Goodlett.
In Editor's Choice, we feature Elif Shafak's latest novel There Are Rivers in the Sky, which spans storylines belonging to three human characters as well as the perspective of a sentient drop of water.
We also have a reading list of speculative fiction with themes of displacement and migration accompanying our review of Ruben Reyes Jr.'s debut story collection There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven.
Plus, enjoy some of our latest reader reviews (and maybe write your own), along with a new Wordplay! | | With best wishes,
The BookBrowse Team
| | We've created a brief subscriber survey so that you can provide feedback and help make BookBrowse even better. The survey consists of 10 optional questions, should take 5-10 minutes to fill out, and one winner will receive a $25 gift card to a bookstore of their choice, or a $25 library donation. Members received a similar survey yesterday, but are welcome to submit this survey as well. | | Each month, we share books with BookBrowse members to read and review. Here are their opinions on one recently released title.re | | | Everything We Never Knew by Julianne Hough and Ellen Goodlett
"This book was difficult to put down...The author draws you in with such clear connections to the characters, and you feel you are right there with them. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking to explore different types of connections in life." —Kathleen Q. (Quincy, MA)
"This book captivated me immediately. The descriptions were beautiful. The plot moved along quickly. I found the premise intriguing though a bit out of my realm of understanding. I enjoyed seeing how it was all going to play out. The character Bea was a riot! I loved how she evoked so much emotion from each of the other characters." —Laura G. (Buffalo, NY)
"I wasn't sure what to expect as I used to watch the author as a professional dancer on Dancing with the Stars. I realized just because she's a wonderful dancer doesn't mean she can't write a good book. I was happy to find out she can." —Karen G. (Norfolk, MA) | | | There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
Elif Shafak's novel There Are Rivers in the Sky follows three disparate individuals separated by time and location. Arthur Smyth (whose full name is "King Arthur of the Sewers and Slums") is born in the stinking muck along the Thames River in 1840. Narin is a nine-year-old Yazidi girl growing up on the banks of the Tigris River in 2014, shepherded by her grandmother. And thirty-year-old Zaleekah Clarke is a hydrologist living on a houseboat in London in 2018, trying to move beyond her failed marriage. As the characters' lives unfold on the pages of this remarkable book, readers gradually learn how they're tied together, with the last pieces falling into place at the very end of the story.
Shafak begins her tale with a sentient drop of water falling on King Ashurbanipal of Ninevah (reigned 669–631 BCE). This tiny observer appears throughout the novel, present at various times in history (the same drop appears at Arthur's birth, and later makes up one of Zaleekah's tears). Indeed, the variability yet permanence of water is a major theme. ... continued | | | This issue of The BookBrowse Review contains reviews and "beyond the book" articles for 14 titles, including There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak, There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven by Ruben Reyes Jr., and Colored Television by Danzy Senna.
We also bring you previews of upcoming September releases, a giveaway of Afabwaje Kurian's Before the Mango Ripens, and much more.
Not Yet a Member? Do you love to spend your reading hours immersed in captivating storytelling and intriguing ideas?
Then a BookBrowse membership is for you! What you see on BookBrowse for free and in this newsletter is just a small part of what is available to members—for just $3.75/month! Join Today! | | Displacement and Migration in Speculative Fiction | | In Ruben Reyes Jr.'s short story collection There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven, speculative fiction is a way to rediscover the experiences of first- and second-generation Latinx immigrants. Alternative history might commemorate the devastating effects of genocide or alienation while at the same time offering imaginative escape from them. Other authors of speculative fiction, such as Zen Cho, Ken Liu, and Brenda Peynado, use similar strategies to shed fresh light on racism and migrants' sense of exile. We spotlight a few more examples here. ... continued | | | Want to review books on BookBrowse?
While members receive free books from our First Impressions program in exchange for an honest review, all visitors can leave a reader review from any book page — if it's approved, we'll publish it!
You can also check out our Best Recent Reader Reviews to see what other people are saying about books they've read. Below are a few excerpts from recent high-quality reviews. | | | It is July 1962. Joe is six years old. Ruthie is four. They are part of the Mi'kmaq tribe and live in Nova Scotia, Canada. Every summer, the family—mom, dad, and the five kids—come to Maine to work as blueberry pickers. But this summer is different. This summer Ruthie disappears…and Joe is the last one to see her. This emotionally searing book by Amanda Peters follows Joe and Ruthie through a lifetime of guilt and confusion, of fleeting memories and unforgiving thoughts of what could have been vs. what is. Considering the storyline, one would think this book would be all about the plot. Interestingly, it's not. Instead, this novel is built on character development. It is all about Joe and Norma/Ruthie, a chilling psychological study of two lives that were forever changed in a heartbeat. (Cathryn Conroy) | | | A debut set in early 20th century El Salvador. Graciela and her four friends live a simple life along with their mothers on a volcano in a community of indigenous women indentured to a coffee plantation. Graciela’s father, who was second-in-command and spiritual advisor to the general, El Gran Pendejo, has died. This story spans decades and follows two sisters and their quest to flee the genocide in El Salvador, under the rule of El Gran Pendejo. The novel is cleverly narrated by the four childhood friends beyond the grave. I was pleasantly impressed by this author's debut and style of writing. A novel of resistance, survival, sisterhood, political history, lyrical and mythical. I will definitely be following her to see what she does next. (Jill) | | | At Bard College, Melina Green’s professor encourages her to enter into a collegiate playwriting competition something that will make her feel vulnerable. But the savaging meted out by the young NYT theatre critic judging the entrants ruins her prospects and dampens her creative enthusiasm. Ten years on, she’s had only minor successes when her dad mentions an ancestor on her mother’s side who lived in Elizabethan times and was the first published female poet in England. Melina is intrigued. The more she reads, the more certain she becomes that Emilia Bassano was not only the first published female poet in England. She might very well have been a playwright, too. The playwright, actually. The most famous one in history. Picoult gives the reader a fabulous collision of reality and imagination, interweaving fact with fiction, all of it rich in historical detail, and featuring a marvelously diverse cast of real people and fictional characters. (Cloggie Downunder) | | | Solve our Wordplay puzzle to reveal a well-known expression, and be entered to win a one-year membership to BookBrowse!
"K U with T J" | | | The answer to the last Wordplay: The A O M E
"The apple of my eye"
Meaning: The apple of one's eye is something or someone that's cherished.
Originally the "apple of the eye" was an anatomical term, referring literally to the eye's aperture, aka the pupil. It's believed the word derives from the Anglo-Saxon "arppel," which meant both apple and pupil. At the time the pupil was thought to be a round, solid object like an apple, hence the connection.
The phrase is one of the older ones still popular today, dating back at least 1400 years. ... continued | | With so many new books published every month, it's difficult to find the standouts, the ones that are really worth your time. This is why hundreds of thousands of readers rely on BookBrowse to do the hard work of sifting through the multitude of titles to find the most promising new books, with a focus on books that entertain, engage, and enlighten. | | BookBrowse Highlights is just one of our free newsletters. We also offer Publishing This Week every Sunday, and Book Club News and Librarian News monthly. We send out Genre Specific Emails occasionally. | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Keep a civil tongue.