The Big Year
Rating: The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession, by Mark Obmascik. Free Press (2005), 288 pages. The topic of the “big year” (a competition in which birders throughout the world compete to see who can spot the most species of birds within...
Animals Make Us Human
Rating: Animals Make Us Human, by Temple Grandin. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2009), 352 pages. Temple Grandin believes her autism gives her a unique perspective on the ways animals perceive and experience the world. With her book Animals Make Us Human...
Pot Bellies and other Miniature Pigs
Rating: Pot Bellies and other Miniature Pigs, by Pat Storer. Barron’s Educational Series (1992), 64 pages. This book was a huge disappointment. I was looking for some basic information on pot bellies—what it’s like to live with them, how to...
Dog Man
Rating: Dog Man: An Uncommon Life on a Faraway Mountain, by Martha Sherrill. Penguin Press (2008), 256 pages. This is the kind of dog book that describes a particular breed—Akitas—so beautifully and with such love, I felt a sudden urgent need to go find...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.