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

Women

Not Weakness, Navigating the Culture of Chronic Pain
Health
Sunny Solomon

Not Weakness

Not Weakness, Navigating the Culture of Chronic Pain – Francesca Grossman’s book is more than memoir or self-help. It is an honest exploration of the

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Sisters in Arms
Authors of color
Ann Ronald

Sisters in Arms

  Sisters in Arms – Kaia Alderson introduces a subset of a distinct group of WWII women deployed overseas during the war. Welcome to the

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The Sisters of Versailles
Fiction
Ann Ronald

The Sisters of Versailles

The Sisters of Versailles – Sally Christie’s fictional telling of the Mailly-Nesle sisters who became part of the life of eighteenth-century France’s King Louis XV.

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Oh Willianm
Fiction
Ann Ronald

Oh William!

Oh William! – Strout’s Lucy Barton is back in a stand-alone novel of depth and texture, drawing the reader into a compelling story of past

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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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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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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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Animal Bodies
Autobiography/Memoir
Sunny Solomon

Animal Bodies

Animal Bodies, On Death, Desire, and other Difficulties – a bravely written book for very brave readers. Animal Bodies, on Death, Desire, and Other Difficulties

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All The Ways We Say Goodbye
Fiction
Ann Ronald

All The Ways We Said Goodbye

All The Ways We Said Goodbye – Team W (Williams, Willig, and White) have done it again! One historical romance written by three talented writers.

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Lost Roses
Historical Fiction
Ann Ronald

Lost Roses

Lost Roses – The American Ferriday women (of the Lilac Girls) are again involved in helping women and families displaced by the devastation of war.

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Her Last Flight
Fiction
Ann Ronald

Her Last Flight

Her Last Flight – Beatriz Williams, once again, takes her creative imagination to new heights in this historical novel of women and aviation. I have

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Flight of The Sparrow
Fiction
Ann Ronald

Flight of The Sparrow

Flight of The Sparrow, Amy Belding Brown’s fresh and non-puritanical retelling of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson’s 1682 published narrative of her abduction by “savages.” Mary Rowlandson,

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Beheld
Fiction
Ann Ronald

Beheld

    Beheld – a novel of the first settlers of the Plymouth Colony and the complex domestic constraints under which the women lived. When

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Vox
Fiction
Ann Ronald

Vox

Vox, Christina Dalcher’s novel makes use of Atwood’s template for modern feminist dystopian novels, placing it squarely in the United States. Not quite dystopian, eh?

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