I Love Yous Are for White People
Rating: I Love Yous Are for White People, by Lac Su. Harper Perennial (2009), 249 pages. Lac Su has a compelling story to tell in this memoir: As a five-year-old he escaped Vietnam under gunfire with his parents and little sister, they began life in America...
Don’t Dump the Dog
Rating: Don’t Dump the Dog: Outrageous Stories and Simple Solutions to Your Worst Dog Behavior Problems, by Randy Grim. Skyhorse Publishing (2009), 216 pages. This book on dog training is an unusual addition to the category. Instead of the conventional...
Little Bee
Rating: Little Bee, by Chris Cleave. Simon Schuster (2009), 288 pages. Little Bee is a fourteen-year-old girl from Nigeria who is living in England in a detention center for illegal immigrants. She shares the narration of this novel with a woman named...
What Was She Thinking?
(This review first appeared in August 2007) Rating: What Was She Thinking?: Notes on a Scandal, by Zoe Heller. Henry Holt and Co (2003), 272 pages. Barbara Covett, the narrator of Heller’s novel, appears to be an opinionated but harmless, even kindly,...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.