Book Reviews

Best Books of The Year

• The Best of 2012 (by category/genre)
• Top 14 of 2011
• Top 10 of 2010
• Favorites of 2009 (by genre)
• The pre-blog All Time Favorites

Book Reviews by Author
A
Abbott, Megan

• Die a Little
• The End of Everything
• Dare Me

Acosta, Carlos

• No Way Home

Alger, Cristina

• The Darlings

Ali, Monica

• Untold Story

Alison, Jane

• The Sisters Antipodes

Alison, Rosie

• The Very Thought of You

Allende, Isabel

• Daughter of Fortune

Altenberg, Karin

• Island of Wings

Anderson, Laurie Halse

• Wintergirls

Ansay, A. Manette

• Good Things I Wish You

Anshaw, Carol

• Carry the One

Anthony, Joelle

• Restoring Harmony

Appanah, Nathacha

• The Last Brother

Arsenault, Emily

• Miss Me When I'm Gone

Attenberg, Jami

• The Middlesteins

Auel, Jean M.

• The Clan of the Cave Bear

B
Barnes, Julian

• The Sense of an Ending

Barry, Rebecca

• Later, at the Bar

Bazell, Josh

• Beat the Reaper

Benaron, Naomi

• Running the Rift

Berne, Suzanne

• A Crime in the Neighborhood

Braunstein, Sarah

• The Sweet Relief of Missing Children

Braver, Adam

• Misfit

Brown, Dan

• The Lost Symbol

Brown, T.J.

• Summerset Abbey

Bruce-Benjamin, Samantha

• The Art of Devotion

Burke, Alafair

• Long Gone
• Judgment Calls
• Missing Justice
• Close Case
• Dead Connection
• Angel's Tip
• 212
• Never Tell
• If You Were Here

Bush, Holly

• Romancing Olive

C
Cain, Chelsea

• Heartsick
• Sweetheart
• Evil at Heart
• The Night Season
• Kill You Twice

Campbell, Aifric

• On the Floor

Chevalier, Tracy

• Remarkable Creatures
• The Last Runaway

Clark, Clare

• Beautiful Lies

Cleage, Pearl

• What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day
• I Wish I Had a Red Dress
• Some Things I Never Thought I'd Do
• Babylon Sisters
• Baby Brother's Blues
• Seen It All and Done the Rest
• Til You Hear From Me
• Just Wanna Testify

Close, Jennifer

• Girls in White Dresses

Clowes, Daniel

• Wilson

Coehlo, Paulo 

• The Alchemist (graphic novel)

Cohen, Leah Hager

• The Grief of Others

Cohen, Paula Marantz

• Much Ado About Jessie Kaplan

Cohen, Tish

• The Truth About Delilah Blue

Collins, Suzanne

• The Hunger Games
• Catching Fire
• Mockingjay

Coplin, Amanda

• The Orchardist

Crane, Caprice

• Family Affair

Crane, Elizabeth

• You Must Be This Happy to Enter
• We Only Know So Much

Cristofano, David

• The Girl She Used to Be

Cross, Amanda

• In the Last Analysis

D
Daniel, Susanna

• Stiltsville

Dave, Laura

• The Divorce Party
• London is the Best City in America
• The First Husband

Davis-Gardner, Angela

• Butterfly's Child

Dawson, Maddie

• The Stuff That Never Happened

Dee, Jonathan

• The Privileges
• A Thousand Pardons

Dermansky, Marcy

• Bad Marie

deWitt, Patrick

• The Sisters Brothers 

Diamond, Dustin

• Behind the Bell

Diaz, Junot

• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
• This Is How You Lose Her

DiCamillo, Kate

• The Magician's Elephant

Dickens, Charles

• A Christmas Carol

Donoghue, Emma

• Room
• The Sealed Letter
• Astray

Dubow, Charles

• Indiscretion

Dubus III, Andre

• The Garden of Last Days

Dunmore, Helen

• The Betrayal
• The Siege
• A Spell of Winter

E
Eaves, Elisabeth

• Wanderlust

Edugyan, Esi

• Half Blood Blues

Egan, Jennifer

• A Visit from the Goon Squad

Ellinwood, Sheryl

• Empowered

Ellis, Robert

• Access to Power
• The Lost Witness
• City of Fire (re-read)
• Murder Season

Enright, Anne

• The Forgotten Waltz

Erdrich, Louise

• Shadow Tag

Esquivel, Laura

• Like Water for Chocolate

Eugenides, Jeffrey

• The Marriage Plot

Evanovich, Janet

• One for the Money

F
Fairstein, Linda

• Final Jeopardy
• Likely to Die
• Cold Hit
• Lethal Legacy
• Hell Gate
• Silent Mercy
• Night Watch

Farmer, Joyce

• Special Exits

Farooki, Roopa

• The Flying Man

Faulks, Sebastian

• A Possible Life

Feldman, Ellen

• Scottsboro
• Next to Love

Ferris, Joshua

• The Unnamed

Fey, Tina

• Bossypants

Fforde, Katie

• Practically Perfect
• Wedding Season 

Flynn, Gillian

• Gone Girl

Forman, Gayle

• If I Stay

Forna, Aminatta

• The Memory of Love

Fortes, Susanna

• Waiting for Robert Capa

Fountain, Ben

• Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

Franzen, Jonathan

• Freedom

Freeman, John

• The Tyranny of Email

Friedman, Daniel

• Don't Ever Get Old

Funder, Anna

• All That I Am

G
Gaiman, Neil

• The Graveyard Book

Galgut, Damon

• In a Strange Room

Giffin, Emily

• Baby Proof
• Heart of the Matter
• Love the One You're With

Gilbert, Elizabeth

• Committed

Glidden, Sarah

• How to Understand Israel in Sixty Days or Less

Govier, Katherine

• The Printmaker's Daughter

Gowda, Shilpi Somaya

• Secret Daughter

Grant, Linda

• When I Lived in Modern Times
• We Had It So Good

Graver, Elizabeth

• The End of the Point

Groff, Lauren

• Arcadia

Grunwald, Lisa

• The Irresistible Henry House

Gunning, Sally

• The Rebellion of Jane Clarke

H
Haigh, Jennifer

• Faith

Haimoff, Michelle

• These Days Are Ours

Hale, Shannon

• Austenland

Hamilton, Jane

• Laura Rider's Masterpiece

Hannah, Kristin

• Winter Garden

Harbach, Chad

• The Art of Fielding

Harding, Georgina

• Painter of Silence

Harding, Paul

• Tinkers

Harris, Charlene

• Dead Until Dark
• Living Dead in Dallas
• Club Dead
• Dead to the World

Harvey, Michael

• The Chicago Way

Haynes, Elizabeth

• Dark Tide

Hemon, Aleksandar

• The Lazarus Project

Henkin, Joshua

• The World Without You

Herman, Judith

• Alice

Hoffman, Alice

• Practical Magic

Hollowell, Jenny

• Everything Lovely, Effortless, Safe

Hoose, Phillip

• Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice

Hoover, Michelle

• The Quickening

Hunt, Samantha

• The Seas

I
Indridason, Arnaldur

• Silence of the Grave

J
Jacobs, Kate

• Friday Night Knitting Club

Jennings, Ken

• Maphead

John, David

• Flight from Berlin

Johnson, Denis

• Nobody Move
• Train Dreams

Johnson, Maureen

• Suite Scarlett

Jones, Sadie

• Small Wars
• The Uninvited Guests

Jones, Tayari

• Silver Sparrow

Joyce, Rachel

• The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

K
Kavenna, Joanna

• The Birth of Love

Kay, Francesca

• The Translation of the Bones

Kelman, Stephen

• Pigeon English

Kephart, Beth

• The Heart is Not a Size
• You Are My Only

Kielson, Hans

• Comedy in a Minor Key

Kingsolver, Barbara

• The Lacuna

Knisley, Lucy

• French Milk
• Relish

Koslow, Sally

• The Late, Lamented Molly Marx
• Little Pink Slips

Kowalski Cole, Marjorie

• Correcting the Landscape

Krauss, Nicole

• The History of Love
• Great House

Krivak, Andrew

• The Sojourn

L
LaCava, Stephanie

• An Extraordinary Theory of Objects

Lawrenson, Deborah

• The Lantern

Levitt, Steven

• Superfreakonomics

Levy, Andrea

• The Long Song

Levy, Deborah

• Swimming Home

Lippman, Laura

• I'd Know You Anywhere
• Life Sentences

Littlefield, Sophie

• A Bad Day for Sorry

Littman, Sarah Darer

• Life, After

Locke, Attica

• Black Water Rising
• The Cutting Season

Lowry, Lois

• The Birthday Ball
• Gathering Blue
• The Giver

Lupton, Rosamund

• Sister
• Afterwards

Lynch, Paul

• Red Sky in Morning

M
Malladi, Amulya

• The Sound of Language

Marani, Diego

• New Finnish Grammar

Markovits, Anouk

• I Am Forbidden

Marsh, Katherine

• The Night Tourist

Martin, Valerie

• Property

May, Peter

• The Blackhouse

Mazetti, Katarina

• Benny and Shrimp

McCafferty, Megan

• Sloppy Firsts
• Second Helpings
• Charmed Thirds
• Fourth Comings
• Perfect Fifths

McCarthy, Tom

• C

McCracken, Elizabeth

• The Giant's House

McCreight, Kimberly

• Reconstructing Amelia

McKay, Ami

• The Virgin Cure

McLaughlin, Emma & Nicola Kraus

• Nanny Returns

McMann, Lisa

• Wake
• Fade

Mendelsohn, Jane

• I Was Amelia Earhart

Menendez, Ana

• The Last War
• Loving Che

Meyer, Stephenie

• Twilight

Michaels, Anne

• Fugitive Pieces

Miller, A.D.

• Snowdrops

Miller, Madeline

• The Song of Achilles

Millet, Lydia

• Love in Infant Monkeys

Mills, Kyle

• Lords of Corruption

Mitchard, Jacquelyn

• Deep End of the Ocean
• No Time to Wave Goodbye

Moore, Alan

• Watchmen

Moore, Lisa

• February

Moore, Lorrie

• A Gate at the Stairs

Morrell, David

• Murder as a Fine Art

Morrison, Toni

• Home

Mueenuddin, Daniyal

• In Other Rooms, Other Wonders

N
Nadzam, Bonnie

• Lamb

Napoli, Lisa

• Radio Shangri-La

Napolitano, Ann

• A Good Hard Look

Neches, Karen

• Earthly Pleasures

Nichols, David

• One Day

Nichols, Lee

• Deception

Niffenegger, Audrey

• The Adventuress
• Her Fearful Symmetry
• The Three Incestuous Sisters
• The Night Bookmobile

O
O'Connor McNees, Kelly

• The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott
• In Need of a Good Wife

O'Donnell, Lisa

• The Death of Bees

O'Donohue, Clare

• Missing Persons
• Life Without Parole

O'Nan, Stewart

• The Odds: A Love Story
• Last Night at the Lobster

Obreht, Tea

• The Tiger's Wife

Oliver, Lauren

• Before I Fall

Orenstein, Peggy

• Cinderella Ate My Daughter

Orringer, Julie

• The Invisible Bridge

Otsuka, Julie

• The Buddha in the Attic

Ozick, Cynthia

• Foreign Bodies

P
Patchett, Ann

• The Magician's Assistant
• Bel Canto
• Run
• State of Wonder

Patron, Susan

• The Higher Power of Lucky

Patterson, James

• 8th Confession

Pearlman, Edith

• Binocular Vision: New and Selected Stories

Percer, Elizabeth

• An Uncommon Education

Perrotta, Tom

• The Leftovers

Petterson, Per

• I Curse the River of Time

Piele, Anna

• Repeat It Today With Tears

Phillips, Christi

• The Rossetti Letter
• The Devlin Diary

Picoult, Jodi

• Handle With Care
• My Sister's Keeper
• Sing You Home

Powell, Margaret

• Below Stairs

Powers, Kevin

• The Yellow Birds

Preston, Caroline

• The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt

Proulx, E. Annie

• Accordion Crimes

Q
Quindlen, Anna

• Every Last One

R
Reents, Stephanie

• The Kissing List

Riley, Jess

• Driving Sideways

Roberts, Nora

• Vision in White
• Bed of Roses

Robinson, Marilynne

• Gilead

Roffey, Monique

• White Woman on the Green Bicycle

Rowell, David

• The Train of Small Mercies

Rowling, J.K.

• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Rubenhold, Hallie

• Mistress of My Fate

Runholt, Susan

• The Mystery of the Third Lucretia
• Rescuing Seneca Crane

Russell, Karen

• Swamplandia!

S
Sandell, Laurie

• The Imposter's Daughter

Satrapi, Marjane

• The Complete Persepolis

Schaffer, Mary Ann, and Barrows, Annie

• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Schmidt, Gary D.

• The Wednesday Wars

Seidel, Kathleen Gilles

• Keep Your Mouth Shut and Wear Beige

Semple, Maria

• This One is Mine
• Where'd You Go, Bernadette?

Shapiro, Dani

• Devotion

Sheene, Lynn

• The Last Time I Saw Paris

Shields, Carol

• Larry's Party

Shin, Kyung-Sook

• Please Look After Mom

Shoneyin, Lola

• The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives

Shreve, Anita

• A Change in Altitude

Shriver, Lionel

• So Much for That
• We Need to Talk About Kevin
• The New Republic
• Big Brother

Sis, Peter

• The Wall

Sittenfeld, Curtis

• American Wife

Skibsrud, Johanna

• The Sentimentalists

Small, David

• Stitches

Smiley, Jane

• Moo

Smith, Ali

• There but for the

Soli, Tatjana

• The Lotus Eaters
• The Forgetting Tree

Sosesi, Natsume

• The Tower of London

Southgate, Martha

• The Fall of Rome
• The Taste of Salt

Spelling, Tori

• Mommywood

Stead, Rebecca

• When You Reach Me

Stiefvater, Maggie

• Shiver

Stockett, Kathryn

• The Help

Stothard, Anna

• The Pink Hotel

Strauss, Alix

• Based Upon Availability

Strayed, Cheryl

• Wild

Strout, Elizabeth

• Olive Kitteridge
• The Burgess Boys

Sullivan, J. Courtney

• Commencement

Sussman, Ellen

• French Lessons

Swarup, Vikas

• Q&A

T
Thomas, Sam

• The Midwife's Tale

Thompson, Craig

• Habibi

Thompson, Sam

• Communion Town

Thompson-Walker, Karen

• The Age of Miracles

Tillyard, Stella

• Tides of War

Todd, Charles

• A Duty to the Dead
• An Impartial Witness
• A Bitter Truth
• An Unmarked Grave

Tremain, Rose

• Trespass

Trigiani, Adriana

• Big Stone Gap
• Very Valentine

Trollope, Anthony

• The Warden

Turgeon, Carolyn

• Godmother

Tyler, Anne

• The Beginner's Goodbye

U
Umrigar, Thrity

• The World We Found

V
Vanderbes, Jennifer

• Strangers at the Feast

Venditti, Robert

• The Surrogates

Vida, Vendela

• The Lovers

W
Waldman, Amy

• The Submission

Waldman, Ayelet

• Red Hook Road

Walter, Jess

• The Financial Lives of Poets
• Beautiful Ruins

Ward, Amanda Eyre

• Close Your Eyes

Ward, Jesmyn

• Salvage the Bones

Warwick, Sarah

• Upstairs & Downstairs: An Illustrated Guide to the Real World of Downton Abbey

Watrous, Malena

• If You Follow Me

Watson, S.J.

• Before I Go to Sleep

Wax, Wendy

• While We Were Watching Downton Abbey

Weisgarber, Ann

• The Personal History of Rachel DuPree

Wilhelm, Kate

• Death of an Artist

Williams, Ann Joslin

• Down from Cascom Mountain

Winder, Elizabeth

• Pain, Parties, Work: Sylvia Plath in New York City, 1953

Winman, Sarah

• When God Was a Rabbit

Winspear, Jacqueline

• Maisie Dobbs
• Birds of a Feather
  
• Pardonable Lies
• Messenger of Truth
• An Incomplete Revenge
• Among the Mad
• The Mapping of Love and Death
• A Lesson in Secrets
• Elegy for Eddie
• Leaving Everything Most Loved

Wolf, Dick

• The Intercept

Wolitzer, Meg

• The Ten-Year Nap
• The Uncoupling

Wroblewski, David

• The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Y
Yanique, Tiphanie

• How to Escape from a Leper Colony