The Lit Lounge Book Club


Showing 1 - 20 of 123  There are a total of 123 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "Abundance"
Star rating for Abundance
Average Rating:
1.5 stars
Description:
For Henry and his 8-year-old son, Junior, days are measured in dollars and cents. Evicted from their trailer, they now call Henry's F-250 home. Today is Junior's birthday; tomorrow Henry has a job interview. To celebrate, they have a fast food dinner and spend the night at a cheap motel. But when Henry has an altercation in the parking lot and Junior falls ill with a fever, can they make it through to the day to come? -- adapted from back cover and...
Book cover for "The accusation"
Star rating for The accusation
Author:
Description:
"The Accusation is a deeply moving and eye-opening work of fiction that paints a powerful portrait of life under the North Korean regime. Set during the period of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il's leadership, the seven stories that make up The Accusation give voice to people living under this most bizarre and horrifying of dictatorships. The characters of these compelling stories come from a wide variety of backgrounds, from a young mother living among...
Book cover for "The affairs of the Falcóns"
Star rating for The affairs of the Falcóns
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
Ana Falcón, along with her husband Lucho and their two young children, has fled the economic and political strife of Peru for a chance at a new life in New York City in the 1990s. Being undocumented, however, has significantly curtailed the family's opportunities: Ana is indebted to a loan shark who calls herself Mama, and is stretched thin by unceasing shifts at her factory job. To make matters worse, Ana must also battle both criticism from Lucho's...
Book cover for "Against the loveless world"
Star rating for Against the loveless world
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
"A sweeping and lyrical novel that follows a young Palestinian refugee as she slowly becomes radicalized while searching for a better life for her family throughout the Middle East ... As Nahr sits, locked away in solitary confinement, she spends her days reflecting on the dramatic events that landed her in prison in a country she barely knows. Born in Kuwait in the 70s to Palestinian refugees, she dreamed of falling in love with the perfect man,...
Book cover for "All this could be different"
Star rating for All this could be different
Average Rating:
2.5 stars
Description:
"Graduating into the long maw of an American recession, Sneha is one of the fortunate ones. She's moved to Milwaukee for an entry-level corporate job that, gruelling as it may be, is the key that unlocks every door: she can pick up the tab at dinner with her new friend Tig, get her college buddy Thom hired alongside her, and send money to her parents back in India. She begins dating women--soon developing a burning crush on Marina, a beguiling and...
Book cover for "America is not the heart"
Star rating for America is not the heart
Description:
"How many lives fit in a lifetime? When Hero De Vera arrives in America--haunted by the political upheaval in the Philippines and disowned by her parents--she's already on her third. Her uncle gives her a fresh start in the Bay Area, and he doesn't ask about her past. His younger wife knows enough about the might and secrecy of the De Vera family to keep her head down. But their daughter--the first American-born daughter in the family--can't resist...
Book cover for "An American marriage"
Star rating for An American marriage
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn't commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft...
Book cover for "Anita de Monte laughs last"
Star rating for Anita de Monte laughs last
Average Rating:
3.3 stars
Description:
"Who gets to leave a legacy? 1985. Anita de Monte, a rising star in the art world, is found dead in New York City; her tragic death is the talk of the town. Until it isn't. By 1998 Anita's name has been all but forgotten--certainly by the time Raquel, a third-year art history student is preparing her final thesis. On College Hill, surrounded by progeny of film producers, C-Suite executives, and international art-dealers, most of whom float through...
Book cover for "The arsonists' city"
Star rating for The arsonists' city
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"A rich family story, a personal look at the legacy of war in the Middle East, and an indelible rendering of how we hold on to the people and places we call home The Nasr family is spread across the globe--Beirut, Brooklyn, Austin, the California desert. A Syrian mother, a Lebanese father, and three American children: all have lived a life of migration. Still, they've always had their ancestral home in Beirut--a constant touchstone--and the complicated,...
Book cover for "The beadworkers"
Star rating for The beadworkers
Description:
"Beth Piatote's luminous debut collection opens with a feast, grounding its stories in the landscapes and lifeworlds of the Native Northwest, exploring the inventive and unforgettable pattern of Native American life in the contemporary world." --
Book cover for "The beekeeper of Aleppo"
Star rating for The beekeeper of Aleppo
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Description:
"Every morning, Nuri the beekeeper rises early to hear the call to prayer before driving to his hives in the countryside. On weekends, his wife Afra, a gifted artist, sells her paintings at the open-air market in the square. They live simply, rich in family and friends, in the hills of the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo -- until the unthinkable happens. When all they love is destroyed by war, Nuri knows they have no choice except to leave their home....
Book cover for "Before the mango ripens"
Star rating for Before the mango ripens
Description:
In Rabata, everyone has secrets--especially since the arrival of the white American missionaries. Twenty-year-old Jummai is a beautiful and unassuming house girl whose dreams of escaping her home life are disrupted when an unexpected pregnancy forces her to hide her lover's identity. Tebeya, an ambitious Dublin-educated doctor, has left prestigious opportunities abroad to return to the small town of her birth, and discovers a painful betrayal when...
Book cover for "Bewilderment"
Star rating for Bewilderment
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
"A heartrending new novel from the Pulitzer Prize-winning and #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Overstory. "Richard Powers, whose novels combine the wonders of science with the marvels of art, astonishes us in different ways with each new book." -Heller McAlpin, NPR Books. The astrobiologist Theo Byrne searches for life throughout the cosmos while single-handedly raising his unusual nine-year-old, Robin, following the death of his wife....
Book cover for "Bewilderness"
Star rating for Bewilderness
Description:
A lonely nineteen-year-old working at a local pool hall accepts an invitation from her charismatic coworker to take revenge on a creepy customer, leading to an amazing friendship but also an introduction to pills and hustling to maintain the high. Rural North Carolina. Irene works long nights at the local pool hall, serving pitchers and dodging drunks. One evening magnetic coworker Luce invites her on a joy ride through the mountains to take revenge...
Book cover for "Black Moses"
Star rating for Black Moses
Description:
"A rollicking new novel described as "Oliver Twist in 1970s Africa" (Les Inrockuptibles) by the finalist for the Man International Booker Prize It's not easy being Tokumisa Nzambe po Mose yamoyindo abotami namboka ya Bakoko. There's that long name of his for a start, which means, "Let us thank God, the black Moses is born on the lands of the ancestors." Most people just call him Moses. Then there's the orphanage where he lives, run by a malicious...
Book cover for "Black Sunday"
Star rating for Black Sunday
Description:
"Twin sisters Bibike and Ariyike are enjoying a relatively comfortable life in Lagos in 1996. Then their mother loses her job due to political strife, and the family, facing poverty, becomes drawn into the New Church, an institution led by a charismatic pastor who is not shy about worshipping earthly wealth. Soon Bibike and Ariyike's father wagers the family home on a 'sure bet' that evaporates like smoke. As their parents' marriage collapses in the...
Book cover for "The boat people"
Star rating for The boat people
Author:
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"For readers of Khaled Hosseini and Chris Cleave, The Boat People is an extraordinary novel about a group of refugees who survive a perilous ocean voyage only to face the threat of deportation amid accusations of terrorism When a rusty cargo ship carrying Mahindan and five hundred fellow refugees from Sri Lanka's bloody civil war reaches Vancouver's shores, the young father thinks he and his six-year-old son can finally start a new life. Instead,...
Book cover for "Bring out the dog"
Star rating for Bring out the dog
Author:
Description:
"In the tradition of Redeployment, a short story collection from a decorated U.S. Navy veteran who served several combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan--a powerful depiction of life on the front lines of today's warfare. A mesmerizing debut collection that reveals what it is like to be a member of an elite special operations team, when so many missions take place behind night vision, ancient credos, and layers of secrecy. Told without a trace of bravado,...

19. Brother

Book cover for "Brother"
Star rating for Brother
Description:
"A heartbreaking and profound story about the love that exists between brothers and the senseless loss of lives cut short with the shot of a gun. Michael and Francis are the bright, ambitious sons of Trinidadian immigrants. Coming of age in The Park, a cluster of houses and towers in the disparaged outskirts of a sprawling city, the brothers battle against the careless prejudices and low expectations that confront them on a daily basis. While Francis...
Book cover for "Calling for a blanket dance"
Star rating for Calling for a blanket dance
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Description:
"A young Native American boy in a splintering family grasps for stability and love, making all the wrong choices until he finds a space of his own"-- Oscar Hokeah's electric debut takes us into the life of Ever Geimausaddle, whose family--part Mexican, part Native American--is determined to hold on to their community despite obstacles everywhere they turn. Ever's father is injured at the hands of corrupt police on the border when he goes to visit...