The Invisible Mountain

by Donna | Jan 19, 2012 | Fiction

Rating:   The Invisible Mountain, by Carolina De Robertis. Vintage Books (2009), 424 pages. This is a book that will make you want to fly to Uruguay and walk the streets of the first village you come to, knocking on doors and asking if you might come in to...

Three Cups of Deceit

by Donna | Oct 12, 2011 | Angry, Other

Rating:  Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way, by Jon Krakauer. Anchor (2011) 96 pages. Vindication!  I read Three Cups of Tea a couple of years ago, well before the scandal broke (via the April 17 episode of 60 Minutes),...

Broken Glass Park

by Donna | Sep 16, 2011 | Fiction

Rating:  Broken Glass Park, by Alina Bronsky. Translated from German by Tim Mohr. Europa Editions (2010), 211 pages. Broken Glass Park is a coming of age novel originally published in Germany (so I suppose I should properly refer to it as a Bildungsroman). ...

Formerly Favorite Authors Suffer Simultaneous Brain Damage

by Donna | Jul 2, 2011 | Fiction, Merely Impassioned

Rating:  What a disheartening year it’s been for those of us who want to believe that an author’s subsequent book will be as good as the one that preceded it. Such a string of much-anticipated follow-ups that have fallen flat on their face…we at The Book...

The Wave

by Donna | Feb 15, 2011 | Environment, Nonfiction

Rating:  The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean, by Susan Casey. Doubleday (2010), 318 pages. Oh, Susan. I’m so embarrassed for you. Aren’t you embarrassed? Must all your books become a paean to your unbridled lust for one of the...