Monday, May 13, 2013
Kelly Thunstrom, editor/publisher of 1776books.net, reviews 'The Beach Club,' by Elin Hilderbrand.
The past few years have seen books trending towards the psychological thriller. Some, such as William Landay’s Defending Jacob and S.J. Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep are like giant puzzles, just begging for the reader to put them together. Others, like Gillian Flynn’s phenomenally successful Gone Girl, practically make the reader feel queasy inside and want to take a shower at the end. Herman Koch’s international bestseller The Dinner is a hybrid of the two styles. We start off with Paul and Claire, a husband and wife, getting ready for to go to an exorbitantly expensive restaurant with Paul’s brother and sister-in-law, Serge and Babette. As Paul is the narrator (and he becomes an increasingly unreliable one at that as The …
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Montco Mommy's family has shared a box set of books for three generations now.
When I was little, I wanted to be Laura Ingalls Wilder. I read all of her books, and most days, I’d trade any of my modern day luxuries to be that little girl on the prairie. These days, when I’m sitting in thick Philadelphia traffic or watching my MacBook spin the “pinwheel of death,” I sometimes dream of the same thing. Sometimes, I wouldn’t mind giving up cable TV, electricity and laundry machines for the feeling of wide open spaces, working for the simplicity of survival and skipping out on all of our modern-day challenges. When I was little, my mom handed down her tattered and torn copies of all of Wilder’s books. She had a box set when she was a kid. I still remember the perfect penmanship scripted in pencil with her name on the …
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Kelly Thunstrom, editor/publisher of 1776books.net, reviews "Mary Coin", by Marisa Silver.
The Depression era photo of a woman with a hand on her face surrounded by her children is one of the most famous images ever taken. Snapped by photographer Dorothea Lange in 1936, Migrant Mother shows a woman by the name of Florence Owens Thompson and is stunning in its stark simplicity. In Marisa Silver's equally stunning novel Mary Coin, she reimagines the lives of the woman in the famous image and the photographer who took it. Silver's story follows three fictional characters, Mary Coin, Vera Dare, and Walker Dodge. Coin is a mother several times over who is just trying to do the best she can by her children during one of the darkest periods in American history. Dare is having an equally hard time, attempting to reconcile her job of…
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Kelly Thunstrom, editor/publisher of 1776books.net, reviews "The Clover House", by Henriette Lazaridis Power.
The Clover House, Henriette Lazaridis Power's debut novel, has been listed in the "If you liked Tatiana de Rosnay's Sarah's Key, then you'll love..." recommendation column. However, with the exception of both being historical fiction books about World War II, I found little comparison. WhileSarah's Key is gripping and heartbreaking, holding your attention until the very end,The Clover House does so only in waves. However, wartime Greece is thoroughly researched by Ms. Power to deliver a multi-generational, textured story. Callie is a Greek American living in Boston with her fiance, Jonah. She grew up in the United States, but her mother, Clio, took the first opportunity to move back to Greece after her husband passed away. When Clio …
Friday, April 12, 2013
Kelly Thunstrom, editor/publisher of 1776books.net, reviews "Life After Life", by Kate Atkinson.
I was excited to devour Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life as the latest selection in my book club. It got a lot of buzz in the media, but reviews were very mixed, as it seemed like people either absolutely loved it or…didn’t love it. While I applaud Atkinson for the monumental effort that writing a novel like this entails, I unfortunately was in the latter category. The title of Life After Life could not be more perfect. Atkinson raises the question we all sometimes wish we could answer. How would you live your life over if you had a do-over? In Ursula, the main character’s case, she has many do-overs, constantly reliving the same periods in her very British life with changes (sometimes major and sometimes subtle). At the very …
Friday, March 22, 2013
Kelly Thunstrom, editor/publisher of 1776books.net, reviews "Flora", by Gail Godwin.
Have you ever read a book waiting with bated breath for something to happen, and when something happens, EVERYTHING happens? Such is the case with Gail Godwin’s Flora. The title character is a simple-hearted but overly emotional woman who is asked to stay with a young girl, Helen, during the summer while Helen’s father goes off to do a job. All we know at the beginning is that this job is somehow related to World War II, which is when this novel is set. Helen is not keen at all on this, having just lost her beloved grandmother. To make matters worse, her father forbids Flora from letting Helen see any friends or go anywhere due to a polio outbreak. Helen is prone to jealousy and normal “tween” feelings, especially when the local …
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Kelly Thunstrom, editor/publisher of 1776books.net, reviews "Schroder", by Amity Gaige.
Amity Gaige’s Schroder is an exquisitely written novel that takes the reader completely inside a confession to the main character’s wife. From the beginning, you know that the confessor, Erik Schroder, is a very unreliable narrator, so from that point forward, you don’t know whether to believe anything he says. The novel begins with Erik as a young boy living in Boston, having recently immigrated into the country from Germany with his father. On a whim, he impulsively changes his name to Eric Kennedy on a summer camp application, and from that point on, that alias is what he is known by (unbeknownst to his father). He grows up, gets married to Laura, and eventually they have a daughter, Meadow. The family is happy for awhile, but as …
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Kelly Thunstrom, editor/publisher of 1776books.net, reviews "The Storyteller", by Jodi Picoult.
I look forward to the yearly release of Jodi Picoult's books the way some people look forward to Christmas. To me, getting her new novel fresh off the presses is more exciting than opening up a nicely wrapped gift. I literally jumped up and down when The Storyteller arrived on my doorstep (I know...seriously). Rarely does a Picoult book not make you think because she is not afraid in the least to tackle controversial issues. Just as rarely does the Picoult book come along that I don't like (Unfortunately, I'm looking at you Sing You Home!). Usually, I know I am looking at an automatic rating of 5 because Picoult does not just tell her stories...she involves the reader in ways that I've never before seen in a novelist. I am not afraid…
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Kelly Thunstrom, editor/publisher of 1776books.net, reviews 'A Dual Inheritance,' by Joanna Hershon. This book is not available until May 7.
Because I read and write for various mediums, I tend to have 5-6 books waiting for me in the "queue." I usually need to read 2-3 at a time just to keep up, so when it was time for A Dual Inheritance, I booted up my Kindle and began. As I started Joanna Hershon's story, I found myself not wanting to change to one of the other books I was reading. This novel is layered beautifully, covers multiple generations, and begs to answer the question "Why do we let perceived slights keep us from holding onto relationships we were meant to have?". Ed Cantowicz and Hugh Shipley are two schoolmates from opposite sides of the track who quickly become friends. When Hugh's ex-girlfriend, Helen, re-enters the picture, Ed understandably is the third …
Monday, February 11, 2013
Kelly Thunstrom, editor/publisher of 1776books.net, reviews "The Comfort of Lies", by Randy Susan Meyers.
If you're looking for a novel for your book club, Randy Susan Meyers's The Comfort of Lies is one that will offer fascinating discussions. It revolves around four flawed and oh-so-real adults (Caroline, Tia, Juliette, Nathan) and one innocent little girl. Nathan (who is married to Juliette) have an affair that results in a child. Once Nathan finds out about the pregnancy, he wants nothing to do with Tia or the child, and resolves to tell Juliette about his infidelity. After Tia gives birth, Caroline and her husband, Peter, adopt the child, and Tia tries to pick up the pieces of her life after her obsession with Nathan. Juliette obviously has serious trust issues after learning the news of Nathan's affair and only finds out about the …
Cindy Carroll
11:46 am on Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Any similar books a little boy would love? more ›