Synopsis:
Now married to her beloved Erlend Niklausson, Kristin takes up her new life as the mistress of Husaby, fearful that the child that grows inside her will expose her secret shame and cause her father to reject her.
Review:
I didn’t think it was going to be possible for Undset to outdo her achievement The Wreath, book [...]

Popularity: 47% [?]

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Synopsis:
Gypsy teamster Ki agrees to ferry a most disagreeable boy to another town, and discovers a world of trouble when she and her companions find themselves in the middle of an uprising.
Review:
Luck of the Wheels, the fourth and final installment in the Ki and Vandien Quartet, is the best Lindholm I’ve read so far. [...]

Popularity: 34% [?]

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Synopsis:
One girl with four personalities at war for dominance, and her only hope is the doctor who is growing to loathe her.
Review:
I swear this has never happened to me–I could have sworn I read The Bird’s Nest when I went through my Shirley Jackson phase back in 1998. I found this awesome woman in [...]

Popularity: 23% [?]

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Synopsis:
After her husband and children are brutally murdered by a god-like Harpy, Ki undertakes an act of vengeance that severs her ties with her husband’s people, and sends her on a dangerous journey up an icy mountain overseen by a malevolent force.
Review:
Megan Lindholm is Robin Hobb, whom I love. Harpy’s Flight is the first [...]

Popularity: 22% [?]

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Synopsis:
An illiterate housekeeper’s resentment of the privileged family she serves boils over into a murderous rage.
Review:
Judgement in Stone was turned into an incredible movie called La Ceremonie by Claude Chabrol, starring Sandrine Bonnaire as Eunice, the “stone” of the title, and the marvelous Isabelle Huppert as Joan, the local postmistress who fans the flames of [...]

Popularity: 37% [?]

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Synopsis:
The tale of a society woman and her unconventional love affair contrasts with that of a landowner struggling with faith and duty.
Review:
Anna Karenina. The very words have struck me with fear and awe ever since a disastrous Russian History class in 12th grade, where I discovered my superpower’s limits for the first time. [...]

Popularity: 32% [?]

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Synopsis:
The best way to learn to write is by the close reading of great literature.
Review:
I wish I could get Francine Prose to tell me about every book I read. She is so astute and insightful about the craft of writing, and equally tuned into the joys that reading has to offer the lover of [...]

Popularity: 16% [?]

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Synopsis:
The strange adventure of magic-possessed soldier son Nevare continue, as he finds himself expelled from military academy when his weight skyrockets after a bout of the Speck plague.
Review:
Forest Mage is the second book in Robin Hobb’s Soldier Son trilogy begun in Shaman’s Crossing. Interestingly, I found echoes of Orson Scott Card’s Speaker for the [...]

Popularity: 23% [?]

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Synopsis:
A young man’s military training is threatened by his seeming possession by a creature in thrall to an evil forest goddess.
Review:
Shaman’s Crossing is the first book in Robin Hobb’s newest trilogy, Soldier Son, and I ate it up with a spoon, thanks to a very long train ride to Canada. The world of Soldier [...]

Popularity: 30% [?]

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Synopsis:
A brainy high school senior narrates the events that led to the death of her charismatic and disturbed teacher.
Review:
I stayed up until 1:30 am last night blazing through the last 200 pages of the book, in a state of amazement (and not a little jealousy) over the superb plotting Pessl married to her delicious prose [...]

Popularity: 23% [?]

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