by Gloria M (San Jose): I LOVE reading books! However, I usually first borrow books from the library (occasionally from family/friends) and then if I feel the novel deserves five stars AND I would happily re-read it, I will purchase it for my own collection.  This is primarily because I have limited space and limited funds. Occasionally I do buy a work of fiction immediately-when it is part of a series I already have or it is just so intriguing I am 100 confident it meets my criteria. I was surprised by how quickly I became engrossed in Leigh Bardugo's latest book, "The Fam ..read more

by Anthony Conty (Parkville, MD): "Prophet Song" by Paul Lynch would seem like a novel stunt if many award-winning Irish books did not seem similar. There are not many paragraph breaks and quotation marks here. You get the point of dystopian suffering even when unsure what is happening. Although this is fiction, it echoes the complicated fears of the Irish today. Eilish Stack is a typical Irish wife and mother. Still, her husband is a trade unionist for the country's workers, a controversial position that results in his sudden capture and eerie interrogation. Ireland descends into chaos and co ..read more

by She Treads Softly: Extinction by Douglas Preston combines a compelling murder mystery and cutting-edge science in a Michael Crichton-esque plot. This excellent mind-blowing thriller is very highly recommended. One of the best! The exclusive Erebus Resort is located in a hundred-thousand acre valley of in the mountains of Colorado. Through genetic manipulation Erebus specializes in the "de-extinction" of Pleistocene megafauna, like woolly mammoths, giant ground sloths, Irish Elk, giant armadillos, and the indricothere. These prehistoric animals have had their genes for aggression removed for ..read more

by Cathryn Conroy (Gaithersburg, Maryland): This is a sneaky book. It starts off at a crawl with the characters and plot unraveling at a slow, deliberate, and measured pace…until wham! At about the halfway point, the book just grabbed me in an intense, haunting, and almost disturbing way. I was sucked into it like quicksand. At first it was nothing, and then it wouldn't let go. And I couldn't stop reading. Written by Lily King, this is award-winning literary fiction that is a diamond in the rough. It's the early 1930s. American Nell Stone and Brit Schuyler Fenwick, known as Fen, are married an ..read more

by Cathryn Conroy (Gaithersburg, Maryland): In a word: brilliant! This is a book about Vietnam in the very early days of the war, a story you've never heard before. This is a book about the women, the wives of the important men—diplomats, engineers, intelligence officers, attorneys, and military brass. These bright young men were sent to Saigon in the early '60s to do mostly secret work while their pretty little wives threw garden parties and cocktail parties with local servants doing all the work. This is a book about two of those women, who didn't exactly fit the mold. Written 60 years later ..read more

by Cloggie Downunder (Wollongong): And Then She Fell is the first novel by award-winning, best-selling Canadian Mohawk editor and author, Alicia Elliott. At twenty-six, Haudenosaunee woman Alice Dostator is married to Steve Macdonald, a white man, has a six-week-old daughter, Dawn, is living off reservation in the city of Toronto, and is still grieving the loss of her mother, when she once again begins hearing voices. It's not the first time, but as a teen, she blocked them out with alcohol and pot. Now, she's having difficulty connecting with her baby, is getting very little sleep, and is exp ..read more

by Anthony Conty (Parkville, MD): "The House of Doors" by Tan Twan Eng tells interconnected tales about characters within the same realm. A married couple, Lesley and Robert, allow a famous writer and his assistant to live with them in a time of personal trouble. Secrets about their marriage arise, and drama they did not expect arises. Malaysia serves as the backdrop. What was going on in China at the time significantly affected the day-to-day life of this young family. Gender politics are the main struggle when Lesley's closest female friend shockingly murders her alleged attempted rapist, an ..read more

by Katherine Pond: Having thought the caste system has been outlawed in India, it was surprising to find this tale set in current time. Still, the system is so very confusing, not the basis necessarily, but the strange differences in economic situations that can exist in the various levels--a Brahmin, the highest caste can grow up with no money, starving, dependent upon others, while a Dalit, an untouchable can be quite affluent. Besides the caste system there are differences in the culture of Muslim Indians and Hindu Indians that are very significant. A Hindu widow for example cannot remarry ..read more

by Anthony Conty (Parkville, MD): "Let Us Descend" by Jezmyn Ward requires a strong stomach, like most novels about slavery. The reader wants realism, then reads about rape and technical incest and wishes for less. The protagonist, Annis, takes us on a journey inspired by Dante's Inferno when her Sire (father) cruelly sends her mother away. "Magical Realism," one of the suspicious genres assigned to this intense book by Goodreads, is my kryptonite. I get lost if I struggle to transition from the real to the fantastical. When Annis meets spirits, however, she thoroughly introduces us to them. H ..read more

by Janine S (Wyoming, MI): I was given this book in order to participate in a March 2024 on-line book discussion. And, I am so honored to have received it because this is a beautiful, captivating and well written book that deals with themes of love, purpose, and self-discovery set during the period of political upheaval in Iran as well as tackling the subject of nuclear proliferation. This is pretty heavy stuff, but the author handles it beautifully and, in the process, we are treated to an extraordinary story of one woman's coming of age in these turbulent times. Spanning the years between 19 ..read more