| | | Hello Readers! | According to our First Impressions reviewers, you've never seen Marilyn Monroe quite like she is in Lynn Cullen's fictionalized story of her friendship with photographer Eve Arnold, When We Were Brilliant. | Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë's enduring tale of miserable, passionate love, is the subject of a review in our latest Deep Reading issue and our Editor's Choice pick this week. We also bring you a close reading "beyond the book" essay on the experience of "hometown anxiety" in Naima Coster's Halsey Street. | Plus, stave off the cold by cozying up with some February previews and a new Wordplay! | Thanks for reading, | The BookBrowse Team | | | Each month, we share books with BookBrowse members to read and review. Here are their opinions on one recently released title. | | When We Were Brilliant by Lynn Cullen | "When We Were Brilliant allows us to view Marilyn Monroe through an entirely different lens and will change forever what you thought you knew about the cultural icon of the 1950s. Though a novel, the book is impeccably researched and gives the reader a detailed look at the wonderful friendship and collaboration that developed between Marilyn and Eve Arnold, a documentary photographer. This book will remind the reader of those written by Marie Benedict and Patti Callahan and would make an excellent book club selection." —Linda M. (Ocala, FL) |
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| "This book is about much more than two famous women. It is a look at female friendship, the difficulties faced by women who desired a career in the 1950s and '60s, and the big stories of that time period. I will definitely be checking out Cullen's other works." —Joanne S. (Haddonfield, NJ) | "This book did an exemplary job of turning my opinion of Marilyn Monroe on its head. I have seen many of her films, and have heard and have read the usual summary of her life, but this novel really made me think of her in a completely different way." —Peggy H. (Erie, PA) |
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| | | | This Deep Reading backlist issue of The BookBrowse Review contains reviews and "beyond the book" articles for 16 titles, including Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, Halsey Street by Naima Coster, and Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan. | We also bring you new paperbacks, author interviews, book club recommendations, and more. | Not Yet a Member? Do you love to spend your reading hours immersed in captivating storytelling and intriguing ideas? |
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| 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 $5.00/month! Join Today! | | | Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë | It is a commonly held belief that there are two types of people in the world: Jane Eyre people and Wuthering Heights people. Which is to say, if you consider Charlotte Brontë's most famous novel, a staid and straightforward romance in which the heroine gets her man, to be one of your favorites, you are probably less impressed by her sister Emily's chaotic story of passionate but miserable people loving and dying passionately. In case it isn't already clear, I fall into the latter camp. | Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights share a gothic atmosphere and brooding leading man, but the former has very little of the latter's desperate, clinging, needy desire. … continued | Review by Lisa Butts |
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| | | | Hometown Anxiety in Naima Coster's Halsey Street | Quite a few years ago my mother and I drove to Chicago for a wedding she was hired to officiate; she is an Episcopal priest. It was a four-hour road trip with most of it laughing and joking and singing to old school R&B (hip-hop horrifies my mother). But I noticed a change in her as we entered Chicago. Was she transferring the rage of her father into this present space? He was denied employment in Chicago because they didn't hire black engineers at the time. | Fictional character Penelope Grand doesn't have regional angst. The Bed-Stuy neighborhood that raised her was tight-knit, intimate, and freeing. It gave her a sense of place, but Penelope's woes center around her detached mother Mirella. |
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| Their relationship is documented in the remarkable novel Halsey Street by Naima Coster and what is apparent to me is that Penelope—a daughter returning home to take care of her father—can't shake the malignancy of abandonment in the same way my mother can't shake the wounds of racism. … continued | Article by Valerie Morales | | | | We know it can be tough to keep up with all the new books coming out every month, so we do the hard work for you. | We've carefully selected 100+ of the most noteworthy books publishing in February and are continually updating our selections—check them out and get yourself on the library waitlist ahead of the crowd! BookBrowse members can see, sort, and download the full list of previews for all months. Non-subscribers can view books up to the current month and a limited selection of future months. |
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| If you don't already, you may also wish to subscribe to our Publishing This Week newsletter. | | | | Solve our Wordplay puzzle to reveal a well-known expression, and be entered to win a one-year membership to BookBrowse! | "H to M" | | Click for the answer to the last Wordplay (J the S), and a detailed breakdown of its meaning and history. | | |
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