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How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water - Angie Cruz - ★★★

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AUTHOR: Angie Cruz NARRATORS: Kimberly M. Wetherell & Rossmery Almonte GENRE: Contemporary Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: September 13, 2022 RATING: 3 stars. In a Nutshell: A contemporary fiction presented in a creative interview-style structure. If you are tired of reading about Asian aunties, here’s a book with a South American "auntie". 😁 Interesting story and lead character, excellent OwnVoices authenticity (Dominican Republic). Starts off excellently, but gets a little bit repetitive and OTT after a while. If you want to read this, audio is the way to go. Plot Preview: Fifty-six-year-old Cara Romero, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, used to work at a factory but ever since its closure two years ago, she’s been jobless. Cara is now set up to meet with a job counsellor. Over a course of twelve sessions where the counsellor is supposed to evaluate Cara’s suitability as an employee and the industry where she might fit best, Cara ends up telling the counsellor abou...
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Twice - Mitch Albom - ★★.½

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AUTHOR & NARRATOR: Mitch Albom GENRE: Magical Realism PUBLICATION DATE: October 7, 2025 RATING: 2.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A magical realism novel about a man who gets two chances at everything in his life. Intriguing storyline, decent exploration of human psychology. Flawed lead character, too many plot holes. Needs much suspension of disbelief. Not sure if I can recommend this with gusto, though it will certainly work for many readers. This is an outlier review. Plot Preview: When senior citizen Alfie Logan is apprehended in the Bahamas for allegedly cheating at a casino and winning a huge amount, Casino Detective Vincent LaPorta isn't prepared for Alfie’s explanation that he gets a second chance at everything in life. The detective obviously doesn’t buy such a nonsensical explanation, but Alfie is determined to prove his claim, handing the detective a composition book that tells the story of his life, and of how he simply needs to think of a past time and say the word “Twice...
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The Bone People - Keri Hulme - ★.½

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AUTHOR: Keri Hulme GENRE: Literary Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: January 1, 1984 RATING: 1.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A literary fiction about three broken people and their intersecting paths. Enjoyed the setting and the glimpses into indigenous Māori culture. Character-oriented and slow, which was fine for me. Stream of consciousness writing, poetic prose, surrealism, and extreme scenes of corporal abuse against a child, none of which work for me. Not my kind of book. Plot Preview: Kerewin Holmes: A reclusive artist who prefers staying in solitude in her “Tower”. Simon: A mute boy who breaks into her home and somehow makes himself a regular presence in Kerewin’s life. Joe: Simon’s foster father who is a strange mixture of tenderness and aggressiveness. Once Simon and Joe become regulars in Kerewin’s life, we learn more about the trio and their complex personalities through their interactions. The story is written in their perspectives shifting between first and third person at random. Take...
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Mother Mary Comes to Me - Arundhati Roy - ★★★★.½

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AUTHOR & NARRATOR: Arundhati Roy GENRE: Memoir PUBLICATION DATE: September 2, 2025 RATING: 4.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A memoir written by one of India’s most eloquent writers. I picked it up for her writing and was rewarded richly with her thoughts and words. Her deeds aren’t always my cup of tea, but I judge memoirs by their content and not by their authors’ life choices. This was an easy winner in that regard. Much recommended. I am not a big fan of memoirs. I find most of them fake and pretentious and even indulging in humble-bragging. Celebrity memoirs are even worse because they all sound the same ( probably because most of them are ghostwritten by the same ghostwriters who went to the same kind of creative writing courses .) I also am not a big fan of the new trend in memoirs wherein dirty family linen is washed in public, sometimes after the death of the “antagonist”. Given all this, I shouldn’t even have picked this book up, forget about reading it. But there was one key dif...
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Winter Stories - Ingvild H. Rishøi - ★★★.¼

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AUTHOR: Ingvild H. Rishøi TRANSLATOR: Diane Oatley GENRE: Short Story Collection PUBLICATION DATE: December 2, 2025 RATING: 3.2 stars. In a Nutshell: A collection of three stories set in the Scandinavian winter. Compelling but also frustrating. I liked the character-oriented writing, but the frequent flashbacks and overload of introspection affected my enjoyment. More suited to literary fiction readers. This collection was first published in Norway under the title "Vinternoveller" in 2014. It was translated from Norwegian to English in 2019 by Diane Oatley. The same translation is now available under a new publisher in December 2025. I had first experienced Norwegian author’s Ingvild H. Rishøi’s writing in the novella ‘Brightly Shining’ , the first of her books to be translated to English. While the ending left me a bit befuddled, I had fond memories of the rest of the work. This is why I decided to give this collection a go. A foolhardy decision, considering how short storie...
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