BookBrowse Highlights: Drama in the Empire State

BookBrowse Highlights

Hello,

This week, we explore two novels that find characters trying to alter their circumstances for a better life, for love or for survival.

Our First Impressions readers share their thoughts on Roxana Robinson's Leaving, which Oprah Daily describes as "an impassioned portrayal of desire and loyalty, of romantic love and family duty, and an exploration into what we owe to each other—and to ourselves."

In Editor's Choice, Daniel Lefferts' Ways and Means follows a driven New York college student whose mysterious well-paying job has put him in danger.

You can also browse many more recommended books in our New York State category, our reading list of fiction imagining life on Mars, and current and upcoming discussions.

With best wishes,

The BookBrowse Team

First Impressions

Each month, we share books with BookBrowse members to read and review. Here are their opinions on one recently released title.

Leaving

by Roxana Robinson

"Sarah and Warren were young lovers who split when Sarah objected to Warren's adventurous plans for their future. Decades later, a chance encounter at the opera brings them together. Sarah is long divorced, Warren is married to a woman he tolerates, but does not love. They quickly fall in love again, and begin to plan a future together... Leaving is most impressive in uncannily illuminating a complete personality in just a few short scenes. Warren's daughter Katrina and Sarah's daughter Meg are fully realized characters despite their relatively brief appearances in the book." —Laurie B. (Santa Monica, CA)

"Fans of Edith Wharton and Henry James will find this novel's central conflict particularly appealing as it plays out in a contemporary framework. Book clubs, too, will find grist for spirited exchanges on the merits of choosing personal happiness over 'doing the right thing.'" —Teresa R. (Colorado)

"The author keeps the sequence of events so real that it is impossible to guess the final outcome before the end of the book. This is a book to treasure and reread." —Shirley T. (Comfort, TX)

Free Books to Request

Members! This month's First Impressions and Book Club books are now available to request. Offer closes end of Saturday, February 17.

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!

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Editor's Choice

Ways and Means

by Daniel Lefferts

At the beginning of Ways and Means, we learn that ambitious NYU student Alistair McCabe is on the run for his life. What we don't know is why. The only facts revealed at this point are that Alistair is in the final year of his finance degree, that he's sleeping with Elijah and Mark, a couple in their early thirties who are on the verge of breaking up, and that the job they connected him with has gone horribly awry. This captivating novel explores the risks Alistair took to reach this point, and how far he'll go to save himself.

Alistair was raised by a single mother in Binghamton, New York, and attended a private Catholic school thanks to a fund set up by his father's employer in the wake of his tragic death. Alistair realizes, in retrospect, that his classmates were not super elites, but rather the children of doctors, lawyers and mid-level executives. But at the time, these kids with their Lacoste polos and their parents' BMWs might as well have been from another world…and it was a world he was desperate to join. He made it his mission to become wealthy and buy himself and his mother the desirable lifestyle they never had. ... continued

New York State

Leaving by Roxana Robinson and Ways and Means by Daniel Lefferts, featured above, will take you to the Empire State. Discover 300+ more books set in the Big Apple or upstate, both fiction and non-fiction, in our New York State category.

This is one of 100+ themed categories you can explore on BookBrowse to find the perfect read for your book club or yourself. Members can access all categories and filters to narrow their browsing, while non-members have limited access.

Go to Category

Life on Mars

Kelly and Zach Weinersmith's A City on Mars discusses what a space colony on that planet might look like. Science fiction authors, though, have been imagining life on the Red Planet for well over a century (some coming closer to reality than others).

The concept of intelligent life on Mars was likely sparked in the late 19th century. Improved telescopes allowed scientists to notice long, straight lines on its surface (first described by Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli in 1877). Some speculated that these channels or canals were engineered by some sort of native creature. Although this notion was debunked in the early 20th century, it triggered the idea that there could be intelligent life on Mars, which over the ensuing decades became a staple of science fiction. ... continued

Discussions

Discussions are open to all, so do join us!

Currently, we're discussing Lynda Rutledge's Mockingbird Summer, among other books. We will feature Costanza Casati's Clytemnestra starting February 29, and Parini Shroff's The Bandit Queens opens on March 14.

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