Sunny's bookshelf
Sunny's bookshelf photo by Judy Solomon

Online book reviews since 2011, the very best in reviewing – connecting good readers with equally good writers

Reviews

The Exiles
Fiction
Ann Ronald

The Exiles

The Exiles – The incarceration of women from 19th century Australia to 21st century California. Christina Baker Kline’s story proves that the more the world

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The Opposite of Fate
Family relationships
Ann Ronald

The Opposite of Fate

The Opposite of Fate – Rape, a resulting pregnancy, and a 16-year coma. Alison McGhee stretches the reader’s emotional imagination in profound ways. Alison McGhee’s

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Wonder Dogs
Animal stories
Sunny Solomon

Wonder Dogs

Wonder Dogs – Maureen Maurer’s memoir about the business of training assistance dogs and True Stories of Extraordinary Assistance Dogs. Wonder Dogs is both a

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When the Stars Go Dark
Crime
Ann Ronald

When the Stars Go Dark

When The Stars Go Dark: superb writing with fascinating characters is enough to make a reluctant reader recommend this novel. As a matter of personal

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The Word is Murder
British Authors
Ann Ronald

The Word is Murder

The Word is Murder – the author as a character? Horowitz muses about murder mystery writing and more. When it comes to writing murder mysteries,

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El Deafo
Children's graphic novels
Sunny Solomon

El Deafo

El Deafo – Cece Bell’s superhero, airborne with a red cape and, do our eyes deceive us, wearing a hearing aid? This is a graphic

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Windswept
Autobiography/Memoir
Ann Ronald

Windswept

Windswept, Walking the Paths of Trail Blazing Women. Author Annabel Abbs walks the same paths as 19th and early 20th-century trail blazing literary women. To

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Rodham
Fiction
Ann Ronald

Rodham

Rodham – Historical fiction, a reimagining of Hillary Clinton’s life with and without Bill. Longtime readers of “Bookin’ with Sunny” know my fondness for historical

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The Phantom Tollbooth
Children’s early and middle readers
Sunny Solomon

The Phantom Tollbooth

The Phantom Tollbooth – You are never too old to read and love Norton Juster’s 1961 novel marketed for children. How is it possible to

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Bound for Gold
Books on books
Ann Ronald

Bound for Gold

Bound for Gold, William Martin’s sixth Peter Fallon novel. This one is a West Coast page-turner as tasty as it is mysterious, both in the

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The Beekeeper of Aleppo
British Authors
Sunny Solomon

The Beekeeper of Aleppo

The Beekeeper of Aleppo gives voice to asylum seekers with compassion and complexity. People whose troubles we only thought we knew. Christy Lefteri’s novel The

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Carnegie's Maid
Reviews
Ann Ronald

Carnegie’s Maid

Carnegie’s Maid – Marie Benedict’s insightful and creative imagining of a non-factual character in a thoroughly factual historical fiction. In her conversational comments at the

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Children of the land
Immigration
Ann Ronald

Children of the Land

Children of the Land – Merciless Politics & Personal Pain merge to describe the treatment of illegal immigrants on both sides of the Mexican/American Border.

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Yellow Bird
History
Ann Ronald

Yellow Bird

Yellow Bird, Oil, Murder, and a Woman’s Search for Justice in Indian Country – is freelance journalist Sierra Crane Murdoch’s deep dive into Native American

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