Good Book Fairy | Best Book Reviews by Lauren Margolin

Freud’s Sister

Jan 10, 2013 | Historical Fiction, Holocaust, Philosophical, Year 2013

Freud’s Sister: A novel by Coge Smilevski -262 pages Book Blurb: Vienna, 1938: With the Nazis closing in, Sigmund Freud is granted an exit visa and allowed to list the names of people to take with him. He lists his doctor and maids, his dog and his wife’s sister, but...

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore

Jan 10, 2013 | California, Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Year 2013

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan -288 pages Book Blurb: The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon out of his life as a San Francisco Web-design drone—and serendipity, sheer curiosity, and the ability to climb a ladder like a monkey has landed him a...

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Jan 1, 2013 | Book Club, Fantasy, Favorites, Fiction, Magical Realism / Dreams, Year 2012

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey -386 pages Book Blurb: Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from...

The Dog Stars

Dec 26, 2012 | Animals, Dystopian, Fiction, Science Fiction, Year 2012

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller-320 pages Book Blurb: Hig survived the flu that killed everyone he knows. His wife is gone, his friends are dead, he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, his only neighbor a gun-toting misanthrope. In his 1956...

The Memory Thief

Dec 21, 2012 | Chick Lit / Women's Fiction, Fiction, Paranormal, Year 2012

The Memory Thief by Emily Colin -417 pages Book Blurb: When Madeleine Kimble’s husband Aiden dies in a mountain climbing accident, Maddie can only think of his earnest promise to return to her and their young son. Aiden’s best friend J.C. feels great remorse over his...

The People Of Forever Are Not Afraid

Dec 18, 2012 | Coming Of Age, Fiction, Friendship, Israel, Year 2012

The People Of Forever Are Not Afraid by Shani Bioanjiu-336 pages ARC from Random House Book Blurb: Yael, Avishag, and Lea grow up together in a tiny, dusty Israeli village, attending a high school made up of caravan classrooms, passing notes to each other to alleviate...

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Dec 11, 2012 | Family, Favorites, Fiction, Made to Movie, Medical, Year 2012

Still Alice by Lisa Genova-292 pages Book Blurb: Alice Howland - Harvard professor, gifted researcher and lecturer, wife, and mother of three grown children - sets out for a run and soon realizes she has no idea how to find her way home. She has taken the route for...

Love Anthony by Lisa Genova

Dec 10, 2012 | Beach Read, Chick Lit / Women's Fiction, Fiction, Friendship, Year 2012

Love Anthony by Lisa Genova-303 pages Book Blurb: Two women, each cast adrift by unforeseen events in their lives, meet by accident on a Nantucket beach and are drawn into a friendship. Olivia is a young mother whose eight-year-old severely autistic son has recently...

The Round House

Dec 10, 2012 | Coming Of Age, Fiction, Mystery, Native American, Year 2012

The Round House by Louise Erdrich -336 pages Book Blurb: One Sunday in the spring of 1988, a woman living on a reservation in North Dakota is attacked. The details of the crime are slow to surface as Geraldine Coutts is traumatized and reluctant to relive or reveal...

2012 Best Books

Dec 3, 2012 | Favorites, Lists, Year 2012

Here it is folks, my best reads of 2012 list. An an FYI, this also means they were published in 2012. Goodness knows, there were lots of books that I read and reviewed this year that came out before 2012 that I both adored and abhorred. Check out the 2012 books read...