This Is How
This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery,...
Three Cups of Decei...
Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way, by Jon Krakauer. Anchor (2011) 96...
The Wave
The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean, by Susan Casey. Doubleday (2010), 318...
Tales of a Female N...
Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World, by Rita Golden Gelman. Three Rivers Press (2001), 306...
Bonobo Handshake
Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo, by Vanessa Woods. Gotham Books (2010), 278...
The Idle Parent
The Idle Parent: Why Laid-back Parents Raise Happier and Healthier Kids, by Tom Hodgkinson. Jeremy P....
Enduring Grace
Enduring Grace: Living Portraits of Seven Women Mystics, by Carol Lee Flinders. HarperOne (1993), 272...
Committed
Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage, by Elizabeth Gilbert. Viking (2010), 285 pages. The movie...
Finding Oz
Finding Oz: How L. Frank Baum Discovered the Great American Story, by Evan I. Schwartz. Houghton Mifflin...
The Professor and t...
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, by...
You Are Not a Gadge...
You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto, by Jaron Lanier. Alfred A. Knopf (2010), 209 pages. This is a very...
The Best Dog in the...
The Best Dog in the World, by Donna Long. Ten Speed Press (2007), 128 pages. This charming and informative...
Manhood for Amateur...
Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son, by Michael Chabon....
The Lost City of Z
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon, by David Grann. Doubleday (2009), 313...
Don’t Dump th...
Don’t Dump the Dog: Outrageous Stories and Simple Solutions to Your Worst Dog Behavior Problems, by Randy...
Neither Here nor Th...
Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe, by Bill Bryson. Perennial (1992), 235 pages. This was a gift from...
Tokyo Vice
Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan, by Jake Adelstein. Pantheon Books (2009), 335...
The Great Mortality
The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time, by John...
The Devil’s T...
The Devil’s Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America’s Great White Sharks, by...
Factory Girls
Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China, by Leslie T. Chang. Spiegel & Grau (2009), 436...
The Elephant Whispe...
The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild, by Lawrence Anthony. Thomas Dunne Books...
Bright-Sided
Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America, by Barbara...
The Children’...
The Children’s Blizzard, by David Laskin. HarperCollins (2004), 318 pages. From On the Banks of Plum...
Strength in What Re...
Strength in What Remains, by Tracy Kidder. Random House (2009), 277 pages. Kidder tells the story...
The Captured
The Captured: A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Frontier, by Scott Zesch. St. Martin’s...
How to Raise the Pe...
How to Raise the Perfect Dog: Through Puppyhood and Beyond, by Cesar Millan. Harmony Books (2009), 303...
The Snakehead
The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream, by Patrick Radden Keefe....
A Beginner’s ...
A Beginner’s Guide to Tibetan Buddism: Notes from a Practitioner’s Journey, by Bruce Newman....
Bonding with Your D...
Bonding with Your Dog: A Trainer’s Secrets for Building a Better Relationship, by Victoria Schade....
A Land So Strange
A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca: The Extraordinary Tale of a Shipwrecked Spaniard Who...
Listening to Whales
Listening to Whales: What the Orcas Have Taught Us, by Alexandra Morton. Ballantine Books (2002), 314...
Eye of My Heart
Eye of My Heart: 27 Writers Reveal the Hidden Pleasures and Perils of Being a Grandmother, Barbara Graham,...
Nine Parts of Desir...
Nine Parts of Desire, by Geraldine Brooks. Doubleday (1994), 255 pages. Before writing Year of Wonders,...
Fruitless Fall
Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis, by Rowan Jacobsen....
The Big Year
The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession, by Mark Obmascik. Free Press (2005), 288...
Animals Make Us Hum...
Animals Make Us Human, by Temple Grandin. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2009), 352 pages. Temple Grandin...
Pot Bellies and oth...
Pot Bellies and other Miniature Pigs, by Pat Storer. Barron’s Educational Series (1992), 64...
Introduction to Tan...
Introduction to Tantra: The Transformation of Desire, by Lama Yeshe, Jonathan Landaw, ed. Wisdom...
The Golden Spruce
The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness and Greed, by John Vaillant. W.W. Norton (2005), 255...
In Defense of Food
In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan. Penguin Press (2008), 256 pages. Though I am a huge fan of The...
The End of the Line
The End of the Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World and What We Eat, by Charles Clover. The New...
The Omnivore’...
The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan. Penguin Press (2006), 450 pages. I was prepared to wade...
Love Is a Four-Lett...
Love Is a Four-Letter Word: True Stories of Breakups, Bad Relationships, and Broken Hearts, Michael Taeckens,...
The Zookeeper’...
The Zookeeper’s Wife, by Diane Ackerman. W.W. Norton & Company (2007), 348 pages. Commemorations are...
Dog Man
Dog Man: An Uncommon Life on a Faraway Mountain, by Martha Sherrill. Penguin Press (2008), 256 pages. This...
Under the Banner of...
Under the Banner of Heaven, by Jon Krakauer. Doubleday (2003), 372 pages. One of the exceptional things...
About Us
The Book Shark began as an independent book review website created by Cindy Pinto and Donna Long in 2002.
From the beginning our goal was not only to write great reviews, but also to recognize the most well-written books we read each year with an award...
Gustine Awards
The Gustine Awards were named in honor of the main character in one of our favorite books—The Dress Lodger, by Sheri Holman. Awards have been given out yearly since 2002 in three categories: fiction, nonfiction, and memoir...
Cover Art
A book’s cover is as important as the writing within it. Yes, I really just said that. I am aware that this is a highly offensive statement to many authors who have toiled for years on their books and believe their words are the only thing that matters...
Reader Reviews
What’s the best or worst book you’ve ever read? What’s the most recent book that you’ve had a strong reaction to? Send us your thoughts, and we’ll post them in this spot.
Fiction
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The Murder of the Century
27 Feb 2013
The Murder of the Century, by Paul Collins. Broadway Paperbacks (2011), 325 pages. Nostalgia for the past, ....
Nonfiction
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This Is How
25 May 2012
This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More ....
Memoir
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Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa
11 May 2012
Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa, by Peter Godwin. Grove Press (1996), 418 pages. “I think I ....
Opinions
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Throw This Book Away
12 Jun 2012
Time to toss your copy of Zeitoun in your curbside recycling bin; it can land on top of Three Cups ....