Tag: G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Books

Book 869: The Guncle – Steven Rowley

Geoff W

Book cover of "The Guncle" with Amazon Affiliate link

I had to wait a few weeks for this book to come in at the library, but when it did I immediately slotted it into my upcoming books to read. I did this not so much out of an OMG I have to read this but more out of an OMG I need to read this before it goes back to the library because the wait list exploded and I’d never get it back again!

The book is a lot more serious than the cover and the characters really make you think it is. It covers death and grief and growing from both of those things at different ages and life stages. It talks about substance abuse and  sibling rivalries. And it highlights dysfunctional adult sibling relationships. Rowley really did a great job of bringing humor and lightness to some really serious topics.

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Books

Book 805: The Prophets – Robert Jones, Jr.

Geoff W

Book cover of "The Prophets" with Amazon Affiliate linkThis was a stunning debut novel. Jones (re)created a world that draws you in and takes you on an emotional journey. There were so many side/back stories that I wanted to know so much more about! It’s amazing he got as much into the story as he did, I can’t fathom trying to cut back or reign in the story.

The real problem is my digital copy was due back before I finished typing up my response so I can’t actually use characters names for those side stories/back stories so I’m just going to have to gloss over them—booo.

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Books

Book 581: The Jane Austen Book Club – Karen Joy Fowler

Geoff W

The last time I read this a good friend loaned it to me and we were still living in the dorms in undergrad! (So a really long time ago.) I don’t even know where this copy came from that I picked up, but it was a pleasure to revisit. I can’t believe it’s been FOUR YEARS basically since my friends and I did our own JABC.

Re-reading this was like visiting an old friend. They made a pretty true-to-the-book film adaptation in 2007 (IMDb link) that makes it feel like it hasn’t been almost a decade-and-a-half since I last read this.

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ARC, Books

Book 521: The Luster of Lost Things – Sophie Chen Keller

Geoff W

When the publisher reached out to me with a copy of this book they compared it to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.* I read it before I started this blog and I recently (well back in July), saw the stage adaptation of it, and this lived up to the billing. I hate doing the comparison thing, but when the shoe fits…I found this to be an interesting cross between Curious Incident and Joanne Harris’ Chocolat. Seriously, if two books could have a love child, those two books would have this one.

Unfortunately, I didn’t blog about this immediately when I finished the book. This is a good thing, I get to talk about the things that have stuck with me over the past two months, and a bad thing, some of the details are a bit fuzzy.

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ARC, Books

Book 440: Jane Steele – Lyndsay Faye

Geoff W

Faye, Lyndsay - Jane SteeleThis was incredibly entertaining and fascinatingly fun to read, but it wasn’t at all what I expected. I think perhaps I’ve read too many Austen fan-fiction novels that fit into one of two molds: modern retelling or prequel/sequel. There are the occasional paranormal/sci-fi mash-ups but mostly they fit within those first two molds. This novel was completely different.

I knew it would be different because the Brontë’s are such different writers, but I wasn’t aware how different it would be in terms of fan-fiction. I’ve only read a few Brontë fan-fiction works, 50% or more of which made me want better stories or better writing. When I reached out to the publisher, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, for a review copy I didn’t quite know what I was getting into, but I’m definitely glad I requested it!*

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