sophronisba's reviews
2493 reviews

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I think this is Sally Rooney's best book yet -- the portrayal of the brothers' relationship is stellar, and all of the characters feel vital and specific. I'm docking it a quarter star because the ending felt too neat. But it's still easily one of my top fiction reads this year.

Courting Mr. Lincoln by Louis Bayard

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a weird little book, in which honestly not a ton happens, but I enjoyed it anyway. We don't know enough about Joshua Speed to know if he is anything like the way he was portrayed in the book, but it's an interesting thought exercise.

How to Leave the House by Nathan Newman

funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Eh. Lighthearted and quirky, if a bit more explicit than ideal. But utterly forgettable.

Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church by Eliza Griswold

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

There's a lot to like in this story of a liberal church grappling with tacial tensions.  You understand where everyone is coming from, and their pain as they try to  hold their church together feels real and understandable. Still, the book annoyed me a bit, perhaps because I'm permanently allergic to the goal of persuading everyone on earth that they have to believe the way that you do -- and that's what this church's project boils down to in the end.

Keeping the Faith: God, Democracy, and the Trial That Riveted a Nation by Brenda Wineapple

hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Brenda Wineapple serves up another of her approachable nineteenth-century histories. This isn't my favorite of her books -- that would be her Emily Dickinson book, White Heat -- but it remains a readable account of a pivotal moment in history, filled with fascinating characters. And, like the best histories, it will also provoke some thoughts about the time we live in now.

Private Revolutions: Coming of Age in a New China by Yuan Yang

informative inspiring medium-paced

4.25

Compelling account of the lives of four ordinary young women in China. 

A Wilder Shore: The Romantic Odyssey of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson by Camille Peri

adventurous emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

Fascinating dual biography of Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife Fanny. It should perhaps come as no surprise that Fanny turns out to be vastly more interesting than her more famous husband. Highly recommended if you fancy a romp across two continents with a pair of engaging(if extra) companions.

A Voyage Around the Queen by Craig Brown

informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

4.75

Much like Brown's previous book about Princess Margaret, this is  not a conventional biography but an engaging and whimsical collection of vignettes about the late QEII, assembled in roughly chronological order. It reminded me of Olive Kitteridge in the sense that although the Queen is present in each chapter, she is sometimes just a side character, more of a presence than a person. The book does leave you wondering what the Queen made of her own life in the end.

Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

dark funny reflective relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Witty and entertaining but also an ultimately thoughtful consideration of wealth and class and the ways in which you never quite escape your upbringing even when (maybe especially when) you are desperate to flee it.

Venice: A New History by Thomas F. Madden

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

Madden is excessively forgiving of the medieval Venetian oligarchy -- at one point I wondered whether anyone had ever seen Madden and Ross Douthat in the same room -- but this book remains an engaging and lively one-volume history of Venice.