Contemporary Books - Page 4

Home: A Novel

Marilynne Robinson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Hundreds of thousands were enthralled by the luminous voice of John Ames in Gilead, Marilynne Robinson’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel. Home is an entirely independent, deeply affecting novel that takes place concurrently in the same locale, this time in the household of Reverend Robert Boughton, Ames’s closest friend. Glory Boughton, aged thirty-eight, has returned to Gilead to care for her dying father. Soon her brother, Jack—the prodigal son of the family, gone for twenty years—comes home too, looking for refuge and trying to make peace with a past littered with tormenting trouble and pain. Jack is one of the great characters in recent literature. A bad boy from childhood, an alcoholic who cannot hold a job, he is perpetually at odds with his surroundings and with his traditionalist father, though he remains Boughton’s most beloved child. Brilliant, lovable, and wayward, Jack forges an intense bond with Glory and engages painfully with Ames, his godfather and namesake. Home is a moving and healing book about families, family secrets, and the passing of the generations, about love and death and faith. It is Robinson’s greatest work, an unforgettable embodiment of the deepest and most universal emotions.

The Book Thief

Markus Zusak

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 417 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Fresh concept, honest characters 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I read the first few pages of this book standing in line at the bookstore. The beginning was mysterious, but started to paint a picture of a narrator that seemed defeated. The narrator turns out to be Death, speaking to us from the Nazi Germany during WW2. Death, ironically, is afraid of humans. This set the book off with a delightfully fresh concept.

The story is not meant to be a complex one, though there are a number of complex themes in the book. It involves Death, who comes to us during a busy time for him in world history--the Second World War. He follows the story of a young girl who goes to live with a foster family. The simplicity of following her development, her friends, her foster parents, and her time in the Hitler Youth make this book very honest. Though there is a clear plot, revealed partially in the beginning and unfolded properly by the end of the book, the characters that are established are what I particularly enjoyed.

Some of the themes of this book are Death (obviously) and the human reaction to it (Him?) and words--Hitler is known to be a master of words and propaganda and the girl followed in the book learns to read and write through (mostly) stolen books. She shows a parallel power of words as Death learns her story mostly through the book she wrote.

The book is tragic at times, but still ends without leaving the reader feeling empty. If you read this book, don't expect Heaven and Earth to be moved. Read it to meet the characters and, possibly, grow to care for them. I had never heard of it before I saw it in the bookstore. I read it because the first few pages drew me in. I only found out about the hype after the fact. No expectations and reading just to enjoy it are the way to go with this book. It is simple, subtle, and astonishingly good.

American Wife: A Novel

Curtis Sittenfeld

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 62 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

On what might become one of the most significant days in her husband’s presidency, Alice Blackwell considers the strange and unlikely path that has led her to the White House–and the repercussions of a life lived, as she puts it, “almost in opposition to itself.”

A kind, bookish only child born in the 1940s, Alice learned the virtues of politeness early on from her stolid parents and small Wisconsin hometown. But a tragic accident when she was seventeen shattered her identity and made her understand the fragility of life and the tenuousness of luck. So more than a decade later, when she met boisterous, charismatic Charlie Blackwell, she hardly gave him a second look: She was serious and thoughtful, and he would rather crack a joke than offer a real insight; he was the wealthy son of a bastion family of the Republican party, and she was a school librarian and registered Democrat. Comfortable in her quiet and unassuming life, she felt inured to his charms. And then, much to her surprise, Alice fell for Charlie.

As Alice learns to make her way amid the clannish energy and smug confidence of the Blackwell family, navigating the strange rituals of their country club and summer estate, she remains uneasy with her newfound good fortune. And when Charlie eventually becomes President, Alice is thrust into a position she did not seek–one of power and influence, privilege and responsibility. As Charlie’s tumultuous and controversial second term in the White House wears on, Alice must face contradictions years in the making: How can she both love and fundamentally disagree with her husband? How complicit has she been in the trajectory of her own life? What should she do when her private beliefs run against her public persona?

In Alice Blackwell, New York Times bestselling author Curtis Sittenfeld has created her most dynamic and complex heroine yet. American Wife is a gorgeously written novel that weaves class, wealth, race, and the exigencies of fate into a brilliant tapestry–a novel in which the unexpected becomes inevitable, and the pleasures and pain of intimacy and love are laid bare.


Praise for American Wife

“Curtis Sittenfeld is an amazing writer, and American Wife is a brave and moving novel about the intersection of private and public life in America. Ambitious and humble at the same time, Sittenfeld refuses to trivialize or simplify people, whether real or imagined.”
–Richard Russo

“What a remarkable (and brave) thing: a compassionate, illuminating, and beautifully rendered portrait of a fictional Republican first lady with a life and husband very much like our actual Republican first lady’s. Curtis Sittenfeld has written a novel as impressive as it is improbable.”
–Kurt Andersen

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Khaled Hosseini

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1296 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

After 103 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and with four million copies of The Kite Runner shipped, Khaled Hosseini returns with a beautiful, riveting, and haunting novel that confirms his place as one of the most important literary writers today.

Propelled by the same superb instinct for storytelling that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once an incredible chronicle of thirty years of Afghan history and a deeply moving story of family, friendship, faith, and the salvation to be found in love.

Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them-in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul-they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense, Hosseini shows how a woman's love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice, and that in the end it is love, or even the memory of love, that is often the key to survival.

A stunning accomplishment, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a haunting, heartbreaking, compelling story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love.

Divine Justice

David Baldacci

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Editorial Review:

Following the instant # 1 New York Times bestseller Stone Cold, Oliver Stone and the Camel Club return in David Baldacci's most surprising thriller yet . . .


Known by his alias, "Oliver Stone," John Carr is the most wanted man in America. With two pulls of the trigger, the men who destroyed Stone's life and kept him in the shadows were finally silenced.

But his freedom comes at a steep price: The assassinations he carried out prompt the highest levels of the U.S. government to unleash a massive manhunt. Behind the scenes, master spy Macklin Hayes is playing a very personal game of cat and mouse. He, more than anyone, wants Stone dead.

With their friend and unofficial leader in hiding, the members of the Camel Club risk everything to save him. Now, as the hunters close in, Stone's flight from the demons of his past will take him from the power corridors of Washington, D.C., to the small, isolated coal-mining town of Divine, Virginia-and into a world every bit as lethal as the one he left behind.

The Pillars of the Earth (Deluxe Edition) (Oprah's Book Club)

Ken Follett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1279 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Not even worthy of tv drama 1 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I couldn't believe how uncreative this story was. After hearing gushing praise from you know who I expected something better...much better. I found this story boring and predictable. I'm offended when an author can't create drama in a female story line other than repeatedly raping her. It doesn't pass as depth, drama or creative...and it doesn't get a free pass from this reader. Don't bother waiting for it to get better.

Great story 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I'm only part way into reading this book - but it's one of those that I can't put down. Not only is it well written, but it is also a fascinating study of the period and a well developed cast of characters. I'm thoroughly enjoying Pillars of the Earth.

Enticing novel indeed 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

When I finally came to the conclusion that I was to read the Pillars of the Earth for my summer reading, I was rather skeptical that a near thousand page book, dealing with the construction of a cathedral could keep me inspired enough to read it. I was ineffably mistaken.

Ken Follet introduces the book in a scene that feels abruptly tossed at us, but is nevertheless a phenomenal foundation to the plot. Follet chooses to write the chapters, deviating from character to character. By the time you finish the first chapter, your enticed by one of the main characters, Tom. You simply cannot wait to know what follows the end of chapter, so naturally you'll eagerly begin to read the subsequent chapter and notice that the perspective has changed to another character. "What's this?" I couldn't help thinking angrily. I continued turning the pages, impatiently waiting for mention of the character that I just formed a bond with, and to my surprise, I quickly realized the current character is just as eloquent written and genuinely admirable as the previous. Follet uses this tactic throughout the novel that you ultimately come to understand and appreciate all the characters on some deep level, from Tom to Prior Phillip, William of Hamley, Aliena, Jack, Richard, Ellen, and Waleran Bigod.

The plot also becomes as gratifying in its authenticity as it's characters. The beautifully vivid world of 12th Century England becomes as genuine as today's society is to us. After reading a copious number of pages, it takes some effort to snap back to our 21th century society. Follet balances, although some may argue, the unfortunate events and the elations of the novel perfectly. It's the sorrows that characters experience that give us such powerful, jovial feeling when something finally goes right. Although it stands as the basis of the novel, the Cathedral of Kingsbridge stands for so much more. It's what continuously caused admiration and despair, till Jack's motivational ardor constructed the most magnificent cathedral in all of England.

The only negative thing that I can bring up about the novel is the incessant malevolent acts Bishop Waleran commits. His never ending plots to destroy Prior Phillip, although understandable to some level, become tiring by the last 20 pages of the book. I understand it as his personality, but it's terribly infuriating when the man simply won't quit. All the better I suppose, for the satisfaction of the conclusion.

Far from the trite novel that I was expecting, The Pillars of the Earth has actually given me insight on certain inscrutable things about life. I will inevitably, I'd think, always admire the characters and words descended me within another world. This truly is epic.

Editorial Review:

A spellbinding epic tale of ambition, anarchy, and absolute power set against the sprawling medieval canvas of twelfth-century England, this is Ken Follett's historical masterpiece.

Abridged edition read by John Lee

The Pagan Stone: The Sign of Seven Trilogy

Nora Roberts

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Editorial Review:

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Blood Brothers and The Hollow—the conclusion to the electrifying trilogy of three men and three women who join forces—and hearts—to battle the ultimate evil.

Great Crash 1929, the (Penguin Business)

John Kenneth Galbraith

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 44 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Human Nature: Economy and. 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Given the recent turmoil in world financial markets, it is hardly surprising that, from the rubble, an army of economic pundits has arisen, replete with historical parallels and a cookbook of remedies for the mess. Being of a cynical disposition, I favor those pundits who reinforce my own certainties that perfidy, greed, speculation, lack of regulatory oversight and failed government policies are at fault for the current debacle. I found validation in "The Great Crash, 1929".

John Kenneth Galbraith, is a "giant" in the field. In this book, he identified five salient weaknesses of the 1920s economy that appear to me to be strangely evocative of the current financial crises. These are: 1). Gross inequalities in income distribution, with a tiny fraction of the
population owning the vast majority of the wealth. The level of CEO compensation nicely illustrates this point (it's nearly 350 times that of the average "prole"), 2). Flawed corporate structure, one in which, "American enterprise in the twenties had opened its hospitable arms to an exceptional number of promoters, grafters, swindlers, impostors and frauds". The analogy to the present is perhaps to hedge fund managers, short-sellers, leveraged traders, purveyors of derivatives and "sub-prime" mortgages and real estate speculators, some of whom appear to share these characteristics, 3). Bad banking structure, enabled, in part, by Congress rescinding Depression-era legislation separating commercial from investment banks and by allowing unregulated investment activity on a large scale. Other components extend to failure of the SEC to regulate mortgage instruments, "naked" short selling, government-mandated requirements for the use of "fair value accounting". I'm sure there are others., 4). "Dubious" state of foreign balance. Now (in a reverse of the situation in the 1920s), the US is the chief borrower nation, with the preponderance of debt held by foreign governments (chiefly Asian and increasingly Middle Eastern) and, 5). The poor state of economic intelligence. In the present crisis, I take "intelligence" to mean "smarts", rather than access to accurate and timely data. It might also be taken to mean "responsibility". An example of lack of "smarts" might be E. Stan O'Neal of Merrill Lynch who blandly asserted his lack of understanding of "derivatives" as an excuse for his firm's demise, while allowing their purchase and sale. Dick Fuld of Lehman is a nice illustration of lack of responsibility. His activities destroyed a perfectly goodfirm, yet, he still serves as Lehman CEO (note: the current Lehman is a 14 year-old company, spun off from American Express, so don't wax too nostalgic about the demise of a "150 year-old firm").

Yes, it seems obvious that regulation will be required as, left to their own devices, the "masters of the universe" will continue to refine and evolve their penchant for making lots of money by devising new financial instruments, which will lie outside the latest regulatory umbrella. Yes, people will live beyond their means, if given the option and easy credit is an enabler. This all seems to be part of human nature. Yes, it's a mess. However, it is unlikely to be "a national disaster for the United States". It's just business. However, you never know...

Editorial Review:

Widely and admiringly reviewed as a bestseller in 1955, John Galbraith's "skilled chronicle and analysis of the causes of that most memorable year in our economic history, 1929," (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) put the past in perspective. Now with a new introduction, it has become even more timely in the aftermath of the 1987 stock market crash.

The Kite Runner

Khaled Hosseini

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Total reviews: 2507 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

“I sat on a bench near a willow tree and watched a pair of kites soaring in the sky. I thought about something Rahim Khan said just before he hung up, almost as an afterthought, ‘There is a way to be good again.’”

Now in paperback, one of the year’s international literary sensations -- a shattering story of betrayal and redemption set in war-torn Afghanistan.

Amir and Hassan are childhood friends in the alleys and orchards of Kabul in the sunny days before the invasion of the Soviet army and Afghanistan’s decent into fanaticism. Both motherless, they grow up as close as brothers, but their fates, they know, are to be different. Amir’s father is a wealthy merchant; Hassan’s father is his manservant. Amir belongs to the ruling caste of Pashtuns, Hassan to the despised Hazaras.

This fragile idyll is broken by the mounting ethnic, religious, and political tensions that begin to tear Afghanistan apart. An unspeakable assault on Hassan by a gang of local boys tears the friends apart; Amir has witnessed his friend’s torment, but is too afraid to intercede. Plunged into self-loathing, Amir conspires to have Hassan and his father turned out of the household.

When the Soviets invade Afghanistan, Amir and his father flee to San Francisco, leaving Hassan and his father to a pitiless fate. Only years later will Amir have an opportunity to redeem himself by returning to Afghanistan to begin to repay the debt long owed to the man who should have been his brother.

Compelling, heartrending, and etched with details of a history never before told in fiction, The Kite Runner is a story of the ways in which we’re damned by our moral failures, and of the extravagant cost of redemption.

The Alchemist

Paulo Coelho

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Total reviews: 1278 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

My Heart Is Afraid that it will have to suffer," the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky."Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams."

Every few decades a book is published that changes the lives of its readers forever. The Alchemist is such a book. With over a million and a half copies sold around the world, The Alchemist has already established itself as a modern classic, universally admired. Paulo Coelho's charming fable, now available in English for the first time, will enchant and inspire an even wider audience of readers for generations to come.

The Alchemist is the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found. From his home in Spain he journeys to the markets of Tangiers and across the Egyptian desert to a fateful encounter with the alchemist.

The story of the treasures Santiago finds along the way teaches us, as only a few stories have done, about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, above all, following our dreams.