|
This week, you can check out our First Impressions reviewers' comments on Ruthvika Rao's impressive debut The Fertile Earth, which sets an enduring love story against a fraught period in India's history.
In Editor's Choice, we cover Pink Slime, a newly translated novel from acclaimed Uruguayan author Fernanda Trías, which despite its dystopian backdrop is largely a finely wrought story of one woman and her life. Plus, browse 100+ more recommended books set in Central and South America, Mexico, or the Caribbean.
We also bring you a "beyond the book" article about the source material for recent Hugo Award winner T. Kingfisher's A Sorceress Comes to Call. Learn about the Grimm brothers' tale "The Goose Girl," its origins, and this new delightfully dark adaptation.
And be sure to take a look at our current book club discussion lineup!
| |
With best wishes,
The BookBrowse Team
| |
Each month, we share books with BookBrowse members to read and review. Here are their opinions on one recently released title. | |
|
The Fertile Earth
by Ruthvika Rao
"Ruthvika Rao's sweeping debut novel, The Fertile Earth, chronicles a tense and emotional Romeo-and-Juliet-esque saga that begins with a childhood infatuation and plays out over years of separation, hardships, miscommunication and joy. All this against the backdrop of ongoing family dramas and roiling political and social changes in India during the 1960s and '70s." —Linda A. (Sherman Oaks, CA)
"Rao has an amazing talent for description, of both characters and setting. The mental images stayed with me for weeks after I finished the book. The descriptions of a face, the crease in a shirt, the raised bump of a vicious scar were so vivid that her characters seemed real." —Patricia G. (Washington, DC)
"The storyline, based on actual historic events, will keep you mesmerized until the very last page. This would be an excellent selection for book clubs." —Ellie B. (Mount Airy, MD)
| |
|
This issue of The BookBrowse Review contains reviews and "beyond the book" articles for 16 titles, including Liars by Sarah Manguso, A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher, and A Passionate Mind in Relentless Pursuit by Noliwe Rooks.
We also bring you the latest book news, previews, a giveaway, and much more.
Not Yet a Member? Do you love to spend your reading hours immersed in captivating storytelling and intriguing ideas?
Then a BookBrowse membership is for you! What you see on BookBrowse for free and in this newsletter is just a small part of what is available to members—for just $3.75/month! Join Today!
| |
|
Pink Slime
by Fernanda Trías
Trías's setting is more peri-apocalyptic than post; life in the unnamed coastal city hasn't ended with a bang, but instead weathers a long, drawn-out death rattle. People go stubbornly about their business, but it's been some time since the last bird was seen in the sky, and even longer since the ocean's last fish washed up dead on the shore. An unexplained crimson algae has poisoned the sea and rivers, and its deadly fumes—rumored to be noxious enough to flay a person down to the muscle—periodically send the city into lockdown when they blow in from the coast.
Far inland, safe from this ominous "red wind," an emboldened Ministry of Health governs the country through an Orwellian combination of opacity and slogans. ("Every life is unique," they repeatedly proclaim as justification for their ever-harsher measures.) To save the population from food shortages, the Ministry has inaugurated a new food-processing plant. Its star product is an "insipid, colorless, odorless" protein paste called Meatrite; those who produce it, however, know it simply as pink slime.
An unnamed narrator guides the reader through this reality—albeit obliquely. A woman of 40, recently divorced and newly out of work, she takes the end of the world as just another of her daily struggles. ... continued
| |
"The Goose Girl," Dorothea Viehmann, and the Brothers Grimm | |
"The Goose Girl" tells the story of a princess who is sent by her mother to a faraway land to marry. The queen gives her daughter a magical talking horse and talisman, telling her to care for both, as they will protect her from harm.
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm heard this story, one of more than forty, in 1813 from Dorothea Viehmann, who lived in the German town of Hesse. They included a dedication to her in their second edition of stories, in which they described her as poor, perhaps somewhat bizarrely believing that if they presented her as an uneducated woman from a humble background the stories would sell better or carry more validity. Dorothea was in truth an innkeeper's daughter who spoke French in addition to German and had heard many stories over the years from her father's guests. She had been single-handedly raising seven children by selling produce from her garden at the local market when the Grimms met her. Despite this attempt at altering her identity, they were clearly grateful for Dorothea's contributions, accompanying their dedication with a beautiful frontispiece portrait created by their brother Ludwig.
Interestingly, identity is a major theme that runs through the story, and through Kingfisher's adaptation A Sorceress Comes to Call. ... continued
| |
Central & South America, Mexico, Caribbean | |
|
Pink Slime by Fernanda Trías, featured above, is one of 100+ books in our Central and South America, Mexico, Caribbean category. Head over to find more recommendations, both fiction and nonfiction, set in locations across Latin America and neighboring regions.
This is one of 100+ themed categories you can explore on BookBrowse to find the perfect read for your book club or yourself. Members can access all categories and filters to narrow their browsing, while non-members have limited access.
| |
|
Discussions are open to all, so please join us! If you would like to receive a message when a particular discussion opens, you can sign up for a one-time notification. You can also find inspiration for your book club among our more than 200 past discussions.
We're currently discussing Rhys Bowen's The Rose Arbor and Evie Woods' The Story Collector, among other books.
| |
With so many new books published every month, it's difficult to find the standouts, the ones that are really worth your time. This is why hundreds of thousands of readers rely on BookBrowse to do the hard work of sifting through the multitude of titles to find the most promising new books, with a focus on books that entertain, engage, and enlighten. | |
BookBrowse Highlights is just one of our free newsletters. We also offer Publishing This Week every Sunday, and Book Club News and Librarian News monthly. We send out Genre Specific Emails occasionally. | | | | |
