Coming of Age in Mississippi
Rating: Coming of Age in Mississippi, by Anne Moody. Random House (1968), 432 pages. I saw this for sale in the textbook section of a university bookstore and bought it because (apart from the obvious reason that that it’s a coming-of-age memoir from the...
The God of Animals
Rating: The God of Animals, by Aryn Kyle. Scribner (2007), 305 pages. This was another one of those serendipitously happy discoveries in which the book isn’t yours and you don’t mean to give it serious consideration; you only picked it up because you...
As Hot As It Was You Ought to Thank Me
(This review first appeared in February 2005) Rating: As Hot As It Was You Ought to Thank Me, by Nanci Kincaid. Back Bay Books (2005), 384 pages. Many literary fiction readers undoubtedly missed out on this book due to the unwieldy chick-lit like title and...
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Rating: The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery, translated by Alison Anderson. Europa Editions (2008), 325 pages. There were problems with this book up until the end–an end that was powerful and sad and, yes, elegant. But I’m not sure...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. We are aware that this may offend some 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.