Washington Square

by Henry James
4 Stars
Classic, Historical Fiction
Setting: New York
240 pages
Published 1880

Ellie's Review
I really liked this book and look forward to reading other Henry James works (this was my first read). He's a male Jane Austen.

Book Summary
The shy and sweet daughter of a well-to-do physician, Catherine Sloper seems destined for lifelong spinsterhood until the sudden appearance of a dashing suitor who proposes marriage. Her adored father suspects the would-be fiance of fortune-hunting and threatens her with disinheritance, forcing Catherine to choose between lover and father.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

by Katherine Howe
4 Stars
Historical Fiction, Witches
Setting: Massachusetts
371 pages
Published 2009

Ellie's Review
This is a captivating modern-day novel that flashes back to the Salem witch trials. Were those charged really innocent? If you enjoy historical fiction surrounding the Salem witch trials, I think you would like this book as it has a bit of a different twist on what happened.

Book Summary
Interweaving two narratives, one set in 1991 and one set three centuries earlier, Katherine Howe's debut novel is a marvel of invention and historical reconstruction. The author employs her training as a historian to vividly depict the realities of 17th-century Salem, dramatizing the plight of the unfortunate victims as they fall prey to the mania of their accusers. But it is the leap of imagination by which she connects Connie to to that distant past that turns The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane into a bewitching reading experience.

Stardust

by Neil Gaiman
4 stars
Fantasy
250 pages
Published 1999

Ellie's Review
Great story! Even though I saw the movie a couple years ago, I really enjoyed this book. I listened to the audiobook, which was actually read by Neil Gaiman - his British accent and pronunciation of all the funky names added a lovely dimension to the story. Stardust was a fun way to get into the Halloween mood.

Book Summary
Stardust is an utterly charming fairy tale in the tradition of The Princess Bride and The Neverending Story. Neil Gaiman, creator of the darkly elegant Sandman comics and author of The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, tells the story of young Tristran Thorn and his adventures in the land of Faerie. One fateful night, Tristran promises his beloved that he will retrieve a fallen star for her from beyond the Wall that stands between their rural English town (called, appropriately, Wall) and the Faerie realm. No one ever ventures beyond the Wall except to attend an enchanted flea market that is held every nine years (and during which, unbeknownst to him, Tristran was conceived). But Tristran bravely sets out to fetch the fallen star and thus win the hand of his love. His adventures in the magical land will keep you turning pages as fast as you can--he and the star escape evil old witches, deadly clutching trees, goblin press-gangs, and the scheming sons of the dead Lord of Stormhold. The story is by turns thrillingly scary and very funny. You'll love goofy, earnest Tristran and the talking animals, gnomes, magic trees, and other irresistible denizens of Faerie that he encounters in his travels. Stardust is a perfect read-aloud book, a brand-new fairy tale you'll want to share with a kid, or maybe hoard for yourself. (If you read it to kids, watch out for a couple of spicy sex bits and one epithet.) --Therese Littleton

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

by Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
4 Stars
Historical Fiction, WWII
Setting: Guernsey
274 pages
Published 2008

Ellie's Review
This was a delightful read - the authors did a great job with creating a novel solely from letters amongst the characters. I learned new things about what Europe went through in World War II.

Book Summary
January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb….

Authors' Information
Mary Ann Shaffer worked as an editor, a librarian, and in bookshops. Her life-long dream was to someday write her own book and publish it. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was her first novel. Unfortunately, she became very ill with cancer and so she asked her niece, Annie Barrows, the author of the children’s series Ivy and Bean, as well as The Magic Half, to help her finish the book. Mary Ann Shaffer died in February 2008, a few months before her first novel was published.

Shanghai Girls

by Lisa See
4 Stars
Historical Fiction
Setting: China, California
309 pages
Published 2009

Ellie's Review
Shanghai Girls had a great plot mixed with interesting Chinese traditions and history. I learned a lot while being hooked on the story. This is my favorite Chinese historical fiction book I've read so far!

Book Summary
In 1937, Shanghai is the Paris of Asia, a city of great wealth and glamour, the home of millionaires and beggars, gangsters and gamblers, patriots and revolutionaries, artists and warlords. Thanks to the financial security and material comforts provided by their father’s prosperous rickshaw business, twenty-one-year-old Pearl Chin and her younger sister, May, are having the time of their lives. Though both sisters wave off authority and tradition, they couldn’t be more different: Pearl is a Dragon sign, strong and stubborn, while May is a true Sheep, adorable and placid. Both are beautiful, modern, and carefree . . . until the day their father tells them that he has gambled away their wealth and that in order to repay his debts he must sell the girls as wives to suitors who have traveled from California to find Chinese brides.

Bitter is the New Black

by Jen Lancaster
3 stars
Nonfiction: Memoir
Setting: Chicago
398 pages
Published 2006

Ellie's Review
Jen Lancaster is a really great writer! I almost gave this 4 stars. It is very entertaining, and she did a great job of poking fun at herself.

Book Summary
This is the smart-mouthed, soul-searching story of a woman trying to figure out what happens next when she's gone from six figures to unemployment checks and she stops to reconsider some of the less-than-rosy attitudes and values she thought she'd never have to answer for when times were good.

Inkheart (Inkheart #1)

by Cornelia Funke
3 stars
Children's, Fantasy
Setting: Italy
548 pages
Published 2003

Ellie's Review
I was excited about the book in the beginning and the middle, but by the end I was ready for my next book. It was nice, but I don't think I'll read the others in the trilogy.

Book Summary
Twelve-year-old Meggie learns that her father, who repairs and binds books for a living, can "read" fictional characters to life when one of those characters abducts them and tries to force him into service.