Hello,

Our latest First Impressions read, Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray, illuminates the public and possible private life of Frances Perkins, a workers' rights advocate and the first American woman to serve as a cabinet secretary.

In Editor's Choice, we bring you award-winning Bolivian writer Liliana Colanzi's English-language debut, the environmental dystopian short story collection You Glow in the Dark.

We also hope you enjoy our brief history of the police procedural, a "beyond the book" article accompanying our review of Robert Jackson Bennett's speculative mystery The Tainted Cup, complete with relevant reading old and new.

Plus, we have more reading lists to explore, free books for members to request, and current and upcoming discussions.

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.

"Frances Perkins was the first woman who was appointed to a cabinet position, under Franklin Roosevelt...She faced many of the obstacles that women still face today but managed to change society towards helping those less fortunate and the elderly...Good read!" —Janet T. (Westford, MA)

"A book worth reading for your personal illumination as well as one destined for book clubs and the many different directions the conversations can flow." —Carole A. (Denver, CO)

"A very private person, Perkins did not leave much information about her emotional life; author Stephanie Dray does a fine job of using what records remain, including love letters and poems, to describe what Perkins may have experienced as she fought against misogyny and elitism to protect vulnerable people at all levels of society." —Deborah C. (Highland Park, NJ)

Members! This month's First Impressions and Book Club books are now available to request. Offer closes end of Saturday, March 16.

Books are provided free of charge to BookBrowse members resident in the U.S. with the understanding that they'll do their best to either write a short review or take part in an online discussion forum (depending on whether the book is assigned for First Impressions or the Book Club). Members who choose to take part generally receive a book about every three months.

Not yet a member? Free books are one of the many benefits of a BookBrowse membership, for just $3.75/month! Join by this Saturday to be able to request books from this month's offer. Don't wait!

Somewhere Ray Bradbury is smiling. With this beautiful and brutal collection, translated from the Spanish by Chris Andrews, Liliana Colanzi cements her well-deserved place in the world of dystopian science fiction. Each story explores the devastation that can be wreaked on a world through environmental and manmade disasters. Colanzi approaches dark, harrowing subjects — the appalling effects of radiation poisoning, dangers of unchecked technological advancement, systemic oppression and poverty — with the deft hand of a poet, showing the reader unexpected beauty in even the ugliest parts of humanity.

There is a propulsiveness to Colanzi's writing, infusing both characters and setting with a sense of chaotic urgency. The lush jungles are full of bugs and diseases. Magnificent rainforests hide killer animals. Skies are described as "electric," "scandalous" rain falls, and lightning is a frequently repeated image. But there is often a bright spot of hope that creeps in through the cracks. ... continued

Robert Jackson Bennett's book The Tainted Cup can be considered a police procedural mystery (a subset of the detective genre) where the action is portrayed from the point of view of someone in law enforcement. This differs from the type of detective novel in which the lead is a private or amateur detective, and which frequently portrays police as inept, corrupt or ignorant. In police procedurals, the police are traditionally more perceptive and savvy, and solving the mystery is generally grounded in realistic investigative techniques. Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone (1868) is often considered one of the earliest police procedurals, though the narrative doesn't fit squarely in the genre.

In 1945 Lawrence Treat published V as in Victim, which established the police procedural as a distinct mystery subgenre. It was immediately popular, which caused the advent of not only similar novels but radio dramas and, later, TV shows as well. ... continued

In addition to customized searches covering genre, time period, setting and a wide range of themes, BookBrowse offers specialized reading lists in our "beyond the book" Articles section.

Along with our piece on police procedurals above, here are just a few examples for you to peruse in our Reading Lists category.

Members can view our complete selection of reading lists, while nonmembers can view a limited number of lists.

Discussions are open to all, so do join us!

Currently, we're discussing Costanza Casati's Clytemnestra, among other books. Parini Shroff's The Bandit Queens opens this week, and we feature Nadine Bjursten's Half a Cup of Sand and Sky starting March 28.

If you would like to receive a message when a particular discussion opens, you can sign up for a one-time notification.

BookBrowse Highlights is one of our four free newsletters. We also offer Publishing This Week every Sunday, and Book Club News and Librarian News monthly.

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