Reviewed by L.D.Y. Hardcover (available in trade), 364 pages, 2005 Rating: 9/10 Reason for Reading: I had no idea until I saw this book that Carolyn Keene was a pseudonym, so curiosity made me pick up Girl Sleuth to see who was behind a series I often read when I was younger. Synopsis: While the […]

Reviewed by L.D.Y. Hardcover, 212 pages, 2002 Rating: 8/10 Reason for Reading: I’ve read a handful of Dickens’s novels, but I read them sheerly for enjoyment, without concern for his influence on the world of writing; and I knew next-to-nothing about him as a person. The Penguin Lives series is nice for brief and somewhat […]

Reviewed by L.D.Y. Hardcover (available in trade), 343 pages, 2003 Rating: 9/10 Reason for Reading: A buzz book. Synopsis: In Reading Lolita, Nafisi chronicles her life in Iran as a university professor during a time of war and repression. In order to have a chance to speak more freely about English literature, she starts up […]

Reviewed by L.D.Y. Hardcover (available in mass market), 348 pages, 2004 Rating: 7/10 Reason for Reading: I saw Codex while browsing through an Amazon Hot 100 List. Synopsis: Edward Wozny is supposed to on a two-week vacation before he’s transfered from NYC to another investment banking firm in England, but at the request of an […]

Reviewed by L.D.Y. Hardcover, 195 pages, 2000 Rating: 9/10 Reason for Reading: I adore Virgina Woolf. Synopsis: Nicolson, the son of Vita Sackville-West, Woolf’s occasional lover, gives us a short biography of Woolf’s life, including her rough childhood, marriage, friendships, writings, and struggles with insanity.

Reviewed by L.D.Y. Trade, 287 pages, 2003 Rating: 8/10 Reason for Reading: People talking about it at BookCrazy. Even more book recommendations? Yes, please. Synopsis: Pearl, a librarian, breaks Book Lust into categories of books (e.g. Historical Fiction Around the World; Astronomical Ideas; 100 Good Reads, Decade by Decade), in which she recommends books that […]

Reviewed by L.D.Y. Hardcover (available in trade), 278 pages, 2002 Rating: 7/10 Reason for Reading: Loved The Corrections and happened to walk by How to be Alone at the library. Synopsis: In this collection of thirteen essays, Franzen gives his opinion on a variety of aspects of modern life that lead to a more isolated […]

Reviewed by L.D.Y. Hardcover (available in trade), 97 pages, 1970 Rating: 9/10 Reason for Reading: Raves at BookCrazy. Synopsis: New Yorker Helene Hanff begins twenty years of correspondence when she writes to a bookstore in London, asking them to find (cheap) used books for her. Soon Hanff is sending them packages, as they can’t find […]