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The courage to love
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson WE MUST BE BRAVE. By Frances Liardet. Penguin Audio. Read by Jayne Entwistle and Juliet Mills. 16 hours; 13 CDs. $66. Also available in print from G. P. Putnam’s Sons. This beautiful, moving novel is the first to be published in America by Frances Liardet, a British writer and translator, […]
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Stephanie Plum’s latest adventure is delicious
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson LOOK ALIVE TWENTY-FIVE. By Janet Evanovich. Penguin Audio. 7 hours; 6 CDs. Read by Lorelei King. $32. Also available in print from G.P. Putnam’s Sons. Stephanie Plum, the not-very-intrepid bounty hunter in Trenton, N.J., somehow finds new ways to career more or less unscathed through her zany, dangerous and outrageous […]
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Franklin Roosevelt, meeting the challenges
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT: A Political Life. By Robert Dallek. Penguin Audio. Read by Rick Adamson. 30 hours; 24 CDs. $79. Also available in print from Viking. 704 pages, $40. Robert Dallek’s new book about Franklin Roosevelt, published in November, has earned well-deserved spots on more than one “best book of […]
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A mad and maddening world
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE GOLDEN HOUSE. By Salman Rushdie. Read by Vikas Adam. Random House Audio. 14 ½ hours. 12 CDs. 45. Salman Rushdie’s new novel captures this moment in time in America in a brilliant and disturbing way. Yes, The Golden House is frenetic, hyperbolic, often over the top and sometimes confusing […]
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A wreck, a murder, a mystery
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson A STRANGER IN THE HOUSE. By Shari Lapena. Penguin Audio. Read by Tavia Gilbert. 9 hours; 7 CDs. $47. If Shari Lapena’s first suspense novel, The Couple Next Door, was as good as most people seemed to think it was, then she’s suffering from sophomore slump with A Stranger in […]
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The sins of the past…
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson Y IS FOR YESTERDAY. By Sue Grafton. Random House Audio. Read by Judy Kaye. 17 hours; 14 CDs. $45. Also available in print from Putnam. You know how in stadiums after the rows of seats have been through the alphabet, the designation starts over with double letters – AA, BB, […]
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While you were sleeping
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE SLEEPWALKER. By Chris Bohjalian. Read by Cady McClain and Grace Experience. Random House Audio. 9 ½ hours; 8 CDs. $47. A new novel from Chris Bohjalian is always cause for celebration. It’s not just that he is a fine writer. He also is brave and inquisitive enough to tackle […]
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X is for ….
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson X. By Sue Grafton. Read by Judy Kaye. Random House Audio. 11 CDS, 13 ½ hours. $45. Also available in print from Putnam. So much for speculation about what Sue Grafton would make “X” stand for in her long-running series of alphabet-named detective stories, dating back to A Is for […]
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Frankly, my dear
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson A TOUCH OF STARDUST. By Kate Alcott. Random House Audio. Read by Cassandra Campbell. 11 hours; 9 CDs. $40. Also available in hardback from Doubleday. Kate Alcott has done it again. She’s written another historical novel that’s a romance – the adventures and travails of one fictional young woman – […]
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100 years later, Lusitania’s story is still gripping
I was already riveted by the early chapters of Dead Wake when Paul O’Connor emailed to tell me he was listening to the book, and it was terrific. I deferred to Paul for the writing of the review because he reads more historical nonfiction than I do – and because he finished first. I say […]