| This week in First Impressions, we feature a strange yet satisfying read that will leave you plenty to ponder. Kay Chronister's The Bog Wife, a modern eco-gothic thriller, follows an isolated West Virginia family carrying out age-old traditions in a cranberry bog.
In Editor's Choice, Elizabeth Strout's Tell Me Everything brings back familiar faces (Olive Kitteridge, Bob Burgess, and Lucy Barton among them) and examines these ordinary characters in an extraordinary light.
We share a "beyond the book" article on Willie Reed, key witness to Emmett Till's murder — in connection with our review of Wright Thompson's significant new nonfiction account The Barn.
You can also explore our blog post on examples of good book reviews, and check out our fantastic upcoming discussions for November.
| | With best wishes,
The BookBrowse Team
| | Each month, we share books with BookBrowse members to read and review. Here are their opinions on one recently released title. | | | The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister
"The Bog Wife is a haunting, twisted, modern-day gothic novel set in a cranberry bog in West Virginia, owned by the Haddesley family. As the book opens, it seems as if the narrative takes place sometime in the mid-nineteenth century. Only the sons are educated beyond simple basics and three of the adult children have never been beyond the family property line. Suddenly everything the reader has begun to piece together is upended, as is everything the siblings think they know about themselves and their family history." —Patricia G. (Washington, DC)
"Part eco-gothic thriller and part coming-of-age, this story is very weird, but in a good way! I loved the story, the characters are interesting and the writing is well done, especially the visceral descriptions about the harmonious nature of bogs, and the not-so-harmonious relationships between humans among themselves and with nature. For those who like to discuss books there is a lot to ponder here. I enjoyed this storyline, it put me in mind of Andrew Krivak's book The Bear and Lauren Groff's The Vaster Wilds." —Jo S. (Tonganoxie, KS)
"This is definitely not my normal genre, but I found this book very intriguing and creepy and strange...This would be a great book club book because there are so many things to discuss!" —Becky S. (Springfield, MO) | | | This issue of The BookBrowse Review contains reviews and "beyond the book" articles for 14 titles, including Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout, Women's Hotel by Daniel M. Lavery, and The Barn by Wright Thompson.
We also bring you the latest book news, book club recommendations, previews of upcoming releases, and 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! | | | Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
Elizabeth Strout's Tell Me Everything picks up where her previous book Lucy by the Sea (2022) left off. Author Lucy Barton is now living full-time with her ex-husband, William, in the small town of Crosby, Maine. The 90-year-old Olive Kitteridge lives there as well, and asks their common friend Bob Burgess to send Lucy to her; she has a story to tell that may interest a writer. As Lucy and Olive become friends, they trade tales of "unrecorded lives" — unremarkable people who nevertheless strike the pair as extraordinary.
At the same time, Bob is trying to be the calm eye of the storm as crises whirl around him. His nature is to help people (Lucy calls him a "sin-eater"), but he's on the verge of being overwhelmed by the problems of others. One of these others is Matt Beach, a strange, solitary man suspected of murdering his mother, who Bob, in his capacity as a lawyer, agrees to represent. Bob's only solace is his weekly walk with Lucy, but as the two become closer even this begins to add to his growing pile of stressors.
While these varied plotlines sustain the forward momentum, they almost seem like an afterthought, a loose scaffolding on which to build something simultaneously simpler yet somehow grander. But that's what makes each of Strout's books something to celebrate... continued
Review by Kim Kovacs | | | Willie Reed: The Witness Who Returned Home
The plan had to be executed perfectly by Willie Reed, an eighteen-year-old native of the Mississippi Delta. He had to walk into the darkness by himself making sure his bearings were correct. He had in his possession a coat and another pair of pants. He had to walk six miles on rural roads absent of all light. That would protect him, the inky night. The Drew-Cleveland Road was close to the edge of the Dockery Farms. Willie Reed kept walking.
"If someone wanted to kill you, there would be nobody to hear you scream. If someone approached, there would be no place to hide. The road was by far Reed's safest option, lined with poor black families," explains Wright Thompson in his stunning book The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi.
Willie had limited options. The Drew-Merigold Road would have cut through white farmers' land. Catastrophe. The downtown section of the town of Drew would have been deadly. So he walked the 6.6 miles from his house. He passed his girlfriend's house without saying goodbye. ... continued
Article by Valerie Morales | | Examples of Good Book Reviews | | | What makes a good book review? With the growth of reader reviews like those on Amazon or Goodreads alongside dedicated book review sites (like BookBrowse), there are more book reviewers and would-be book reviewers than ever. Maybe you're one of them, contributing your opinions on your own blog, on a consensus site, or to a publication. Maybe you want to support the reading community, enjoy reviewing books in exchange for receiving them gratis, or have aspirations to review professionally. Or maybe, as an invested reader of books and book reviews, you just like thinking about aspects of criticism and analysis. No matter your level of interest in reviews or the reasons behind it, you may find it enriching to consider good examples of book reviews written by others. With this in mind, we've put together some excerpts from our own reviewers' work that demonstrate what certain worthwhile elements of a review can look like. We hope you find them helpful. ... continued | | | Discussions are open to all, so please join us! If you would like to receive a message when a particular discussion opens, you can sign up for a one-time notification. You can also find inspiration for your book club among our more than 200 past discussions.
In November, we feature discussions for Amanda Peters' The Berry Pickers as well as Nancy Jensen's In Our Midst. | | 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.