Ash's Book Reviews

The Sell-Your-Novel Toolkit: Everything You Need to Know About Queries, Synopses, Marketing & Breaking in

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By Elizabeth Lyon
Published by on
pages
On bookshelves: read, non-fiction, books-on-writing

So you've written, rewritten, and rewritten. You've workshopped your manuscript at a conference. You've joined a writer's group and gotten feedback. You've let your manuscript cool off and rewritten it again. Now you think you're ready to sell it. This book is a crash course on getting an agent and more. Don't start querying until you've read i

Everything is Illuminated

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By Jonathan Safran Foer
Published by Harper Perennial on November 1, 2003
276 pages
On bookshelves: read, adult-fiction

Funny, tragic, beautiful. A book that makes you feel new things about Holocaust experiences. Superior to Foer's more recent novel, EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE.

A Fine Balance

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By Rohinton Mistry
Published by Vintage on December 30, 2001
603 pages
On bookshelves: read, minority-voices

A beautiful book that shows an odd mix of characters becoming a family--for a brief spell--and ultimately having that joy systematically dismantled by the vagaries of life under a highly corrupt Indian government.

Once Was Lost

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By Sara Zarr
Published by Listening Library (Audio) on December 13, 2009
224 pages
On bookshelves: read, young-adult

zarr wins again with a convincing portrait of a pastor's daughter who sees brokenness every where. I found the revival of faith toward the end less persuasive than the lower-key role of Christianity in Story of a Girl.

No Safety In Numbers

By Dayna Lorentz
Published by Dial on November 29, 2012
263 pages
On bookshelves: read, young-adult

strong plotting and interesting premise. characters--and their worries, commitments, and choices--were less compelling.

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