Mary Whipple
Mary Whipple worked for many years as an English teacher and International Student Advisor at a Massachusetts college, where she worked to promote international understanding and bridge the gaps between American culture and other cultures from around the world. She is a Top 10 Reviewer on Amazon.com who also has contributed to www.desijournal.com, a web site for Indian-Americans in the United States. Her interest in authors from other cultures is broad, and many of her reviews reflect that interest. Â Mary has recently gathered together all her reviews… and adding more every week… at her own site: Seeing the World Through Books.
Mary has reviewed the following for MostlyFiction.com:
2009 (Top Picks)
- Cairo Modern by Naguib Mahfouz (12-28-09)
- Fly By Wire: The Geese, The Glide, The Miracle on the Hudson by William Langewiesch (11-10-09)
- Box 21 by Anders Roslund and Börge Hellström (10-16-09)
- The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly (10-13-09)
- Blood Safari by Deon Meyer (10-3-09)
- Twisted Tree by Kent Meyers (9-24-09)
- The Age of Orphans by Laleh Khadivi (9-20-09)
- The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville (9-7-09)
- Child’s Play by Carmen Posada (9-2-09)
- The Siege by Stephen White (8-23-09)
- Galahad at Blandings by P.G. Wodehouse (8-11-09)
- Morning and Evening Talk by Naguib Mahfouz (8-7-09)
- The House without a Key by Earl Derr Biggers (8-3-09)
- House Secrets by Michael Lawson (7-19-09)
- The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany (7-16-09)
- A Short History of Women by Kate Walbert (7-9-09)
- Censoring An Iranian Love Story by Shahriar Mandanipour (6-17-09)
- The Downhill Lie by Carl Hiaasen (6-8-09)
- Wonderful World by Javier Calvo (5-31-09)
- Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith (5-27-09)
- Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead (5-23-09)
- Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards by Robert Boswell (5-17-09)
- Nobody Move by Denis Johnson (5-10-09)
- Wanting by Richard Flanagan (5-5-09)
- All the Living by C. E. Morgan (4-29-09)
- The Winter Vault by Anne Michaels (4-21-09)
- Rhyming Life and Death by Amos Oz (4-19-09)
- My Michael by Amos Oz (4-19-09)
- Darling Jim by Christian Moerk (4-11-09)
- Out of My Skin by John Haskell (3-31-09)
- The Tourist by Olen Steinhauer (3-27-09)
- The Accordionist’s Son by Bernardo Atxaga (3-18-09)
- Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear (3-9-09)
- First Execution by Domenico Starnone (3-4-09)
- The Women by T.C. Boyle (2-24-09)
- August by Gerard Woodward (2-17-09)
- Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck (2-17-09)
- Fool by Christopher Moore (2-09-09)
- Esther’s Inheritance by Sándor Márai (2-7-09)
- Dirty Water: A Red Sox Mystery by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith & Jere Smith (1-30-09)
- A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn (1-22-09)
- Rumpole Misbehaves by John Mortimer (1-16-09)
- Tokyo Fiancée by Amelie Nothomb (1-14-09)
- The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent (1-9-09)
- Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth (1-4-09)
2008
- Karnak Cafe by Naguib Mahfouz (12-29-08)
- The World According to Bertie by Alexander McCall Smith (12-26-08)
- Friendly Fire by A. B. Yehoshua (12-22-08)
- Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio by Amara Lakhous (12-19-08)
- The Enchantress of Florence by Salmon Rushdie (12-17-08)
- Indignation by Philip Roth (12-7-08)
- Widows of Eastwick by John Updike (12-7-08)
- Rancid Pansies by James Hamilton-Paterson (11-25-08)
- A Mercy by Toni Morrison (11-11-08)
- Sea of Poppies by Amitov Ghosh (10-22-08)
- When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson (9-27-08)
- The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (9-18-08)
- Man in the Dark by Paul Auster (8-29-08)
- A Manuscript of Ashes by Antonio Munoz Molina (8-23-08)
- The People of Privilege Hill by Jane Gardam (8-14-08)
- A Curious Earth by Gerard Woodward (8-07-08)
- Secrets of the Sea by Nicholas Shakespeare (8-2-08)
- Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva (7-23-08)
- The Legal Limit by Martin Clark (7-13-08)
- Swan Peak by James Lee Burke (7-9-08)
- Four Days in November by Vincent Bugliosi (7-4-08)
- Little Criminals by Gene Kerrigan (7-1-08)
- The Garden of Last Days by Andre Dubus III (6-21-08)
- Death Rites by Alicia Giméz-Bartlett (6-15-08)
- Breath by Tim Winton (6-9-08)
- Sorry by Gail Jones (6-2-08)
- The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer (5-30-08)
- Exiles by Ron Hansen (5-19-08)
- The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich (5-11-08)
- The Blue Door by David Fulmer (5-5-08)
- Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith (4-29-08)
- The Lost Luggage Porter by Andrew Martin (4-22-08)
- The Descendents by Kaui Hart Hemmings (3-19-08)
- Lush Life by Richard Price (3-24-08)
- God’s Spy by Juan Gómez-Jurado (3-14-08)
- The Silver Swan by Benjamin Black (3-4-08)
- Between Two Seas by Carmen Abate (2-28-08)
- The Konkans by Tony D’Souza (2-19-08)
- Captivity by Debbie Lee Wesselmann (2-8-08)
- Wise Children by Angela Carter (2-5-08)
- Red Moon Rising by Matthew Brzezinski (1-21-08)
- Saturday’s Child by Ray Banks (1-11-08)
- Salt River by James Sallis (1-6-08)
- Born Standing Up by Steve Martin (1-1-08)
2007
- The Pirate’s Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson (12-26-07)
- Bethlehem Road Murder by Batya Gur (12-19-07)
- Death of a Murderer by Rupert Thomson (12-15-07)
- The Unforeseen by Christian Oster (12-7-07)
- Broken Colors by Michele Zackheim (11-27-07)
- On Kingdom Mountain by Howard Frank Mosher (11-23-07)
- The Girl on Via Flaminia by Alfred Hayes (11-17-07)
- The Quiet Girl by Peter Hoeg (11-17-07)
- Work Shirts for Madmen by George Singleton (11-12-07)
- Engleby by Sebastian Faulks (11-7-07)
- The Bad Girl by Mario Vargas Llosa (11-3-07)
- The Queen of the Tambourine by Jane Gardam (10-27-07)
- Grub by Elise Blackwell (10-21-07)
- Tomorrow by Graham Swift (10-14-07)
- Orpheus Lost by Janette Turner Hospital (10-8-07)
- A Season of Fire and Ice by Lloyd Zimpel (10-6-07)
- Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday (9-30-07)
- I Served the King of England by Bohumil Hrabil (9-26-07)
- Lions at the Lamb House by Edwin M. Yoder (09-19-07)
- The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (9-14-07)
- Turing’s Delirium by Edmundo Paz Soldan (08-13-07)
- The Tortoises by Veza Canetti (08-8-07)
- Prime Time Suspect by Alicia Gimenez-Bartlett (7-26-07)
- Written Lives by Javier Marias (07-23-07)
- Facing the Bridge by Yoko Tawada (7-9-07)
- Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino (06-28-07)
- The Midnight Choir by Gene Kerrigan (6-16-07)
- Sudoku books reviewed (6-12-07)
- Matters of Honor by Louis Begley (6-5-07)
- The Husband by Dean Koontz (5-27-07)
- This Human Season by Louise Dean (05-17-07)
- The New Woman by Jon Hassler (05-13-07)
- Death Comes for the Fat Man by Reginald Hill (5-3-07)
- How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman (04-23-07)
- Paula Spencer by Roddy Doyle (04-16-07)
- The Palestinian Lover by Sélim Nassib (04-12-07)
- Christine Falls by Benjamin Black (4-03-07)
- Unnatural History of Cypress Parish by Elise Blackwell (03-20-07)
- Margherita Dolce Vita by Stefano Benni (02-28-07)
- The Hill Road by Patrick O’Keeffe (02-19-07)
- When the Devil Holds a Candle by Karin Fossum (2-5-07)
- He Who Fears the Wolf by Karin Fossum (2-5-07)
- The Ruby in Her Navel by Barry Unsworth (01-28-07)
- Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl (01-22-07)
- Troubling Love by Elena Ferrante (01-17-07)
- One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson (01-08-07)
- Breakable You by Brian Morton (01-05-07)
2006
- A Woman in Jerusalem by A. B. Yehoshua (12-28-06)
- Angel and Apostle by Deborah Noyes (11-16-06)
- Old Filth by Jane Gardam (11-16-06)
- 54 by Wu Ming (11-16-06)
- Restless by William Boyd (11-16-06)
- Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear (11-16-06)
- Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear (11-16-06)
- Golden Country by Jennifer Gilmore (9-30-06)
- The Emporer’s Children by Claire Messud (9-30-06)
- Cellophane by Marie Arana (9-30-06)
- Drive by James Sallis (9-30-06)
- Theft: A Love Story by Peter Carey (8-26-06)
- Wolves of Memory by Bill James (8-26-06)
- It’s Getting Later All the Time by Antonio Tabucchi (8-26-06)
- The Shoe Tester of Frankfort by William Genazino (8-26-06)
- A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore (6-4-06)
- Mohr by Frederick Reuss (6-4-06)
- Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas (6-4-06)
- Departure Lounge by Chad Taylor (6-4-06)
- Explorers of the New Century by Magnus Mills (6-4-06)
- Embracing Family by Nobuio Kojima (5-1-06)
- Cripple Creek by James Sallis (5-1-06)
- Aftermath by Brian Shawver (5-1-06)
- Rainaldi Quartet by Paul Adam (5-1-06)
- Where the Truth Lies by Rupert Holmes (5-1-06)
- The Blindfold Game by Dana Stabenow (5-1-06)
- If You Could See Me Now by Michael Mewshaw (5-1-06)
- The Best Light Recipe by Cook’s Illustrated (5-1-06)
- The Amalgamation Polka by Stephen Wright (3-20-06)
- Passion by Jude Morgan (3-22-06)
- House of Many Gods by Kiana Davenport (3-22-06)
- The House of Paper by Carlos Maria Dominguez (3-22-06)
- The Devil of Nanking by Mo Hayder (3-22-06)
- The Sea by John Banville (1-29-06)
- The Conjurer’s Bird by Martin Davies (1-29-06)
- The Tyrant’s Novel by Thomas Keneally (1-29-06)
- Kinshu: Autumn Brocade by Teru Miyamoto (1-29-06)
- Gotz and Meyer by David Albahari (1-29-06)
- Comrades in Miami by Jose Latour (1-29-06)
2005
- The Work of Wolves by Kent Meyers (12-12-05)
- The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly (12-12-05)
- Ash and Bone by John Harvey (12-12-05)
- Lord Byron’s Novel:Â The Evening Song by John Crowley (12-12-05)
- Florida by Christine Schutt (12-12-05)
- A Zoo in My Luggage by Gerald Durrell (12-12-05)
- The March by E. L. Doctorow (10-30-05)
- Joplin’s Ghost by Tananarive Due (10-30-05)
- The Matter of Desire by Edmundo Paz Soldán (06-12-05)
- Half Broken Things by Morag Joss (10-30-05)
- The Ghost Writer by John Harwood (10-30-05)
- The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich (10-30-05)
- Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie (10-30-05)
- The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyemi (9-5-05)
- The Swimmer by Zsuzsa Bank (9-5-05)
- Desertion by Abdulrazak Gurnah (9-5-05)
- No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy (9-5-05)
- Dead at Daybreak by Deon Meyer (9-5-05)
- Dark Harbor by David Hosp (9-5-05)
- A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullin (7-15-05)
- The Optimists by Andrew Miller (7-15-05)
- Natives and Exotics by Jane Alison (7-15-05)
- Acts of Faith by Philip Caputo (7-15-05)
- The Dragon Scroll by I.J. Parker (7-15-05)
- In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith (06-12-05)
- Alibi by Joseph Kanon (06-12-05)
- Borges and the Eternal Orangutans by Luis Fernando Verissimo (06-12-05)
- The History of Love by Nicole Kraus (06-12-05)
- The Portrait by Iain Pears (06-12-05)
- Mobita’s Tattoos by Mira Kamdar (06-12-05)
- Paris Trout by Pete Dexter (06-12-05)
- Lighthousekeeping by Jeannette Winterson (05-07-05)
- Small Island by Andrea Levy (05-07-05)
- Rebels of Babylon by Owen Parry (05-07-05)
- Eleanor Rigby by Douglas Coupland (05-07-05)
- Altered Light by Jens Christian Grondahl (05-07-05)
- Death in Danzig by Stefan Chwin (3-27-05)
- Saturday by Ian McEwan (3-27-05)
- April Fool’s Day by Josip Novakovich (3-27-05)
- War Trash by Ha Jin (3-27-05)
- The Staggerford Murders by Jon Hassler (3-27-05)
- Prince of Fire by Daniel Silva (3-27-05)
- Case Histories by Kate Atkinson (2-17-05)
- Valley of Bones by Michael Gruber (2-17-05)
- Scream Queens of the Dead Sea by Gilad Elbom (2-17-05)
- Casanova in Bolzano by Sandor Marai (2-17-05)
- Kreutzer Sonata by Margriet de Moor (2-17-05)
- The Red and the Green by Iris Murdoch (1-22-05)
- Big Breasts & Wide Hips by Mo Yan (1-16-05)
- The Persistence of Memory by Tony Eprile (1-16-05)
- Hedwig and Berti by Frieda Arkin (1-16-05)
- The Snow Fox by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer (1-10-05)
2004
- The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore (12-19-04)
- East Side Story by Louis Auchincloss (12-19-04)
- The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble (12-19-04)
- The Double by Jose Saramago (12-19-04)
- The Story of My Baldness by Marek vand de Jagt (11-7-04)
- A Window Across the River by Brian Morton (11-7-04)
- The Queen of the South by Arturo Perez Reverte (11-7-04)
- Lovers of Algeria by Anouar Benmalek (11-7-04)
- A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz (11-7-04)
- Snowleg by Nicholas Shakespeare (10-12-04)
- The In-Between World of Vikram Lall by M.G. Vassanji (10-12-04)
- Bitch Creek by William Tapply (10-12-04)
- Boyos by Richard Marinick (10-12-04)
- The Love Wife by Gish Jen (10-12-04)
- Heir to a Glimmering World by Cynthia Ozick (09-16-04)
- Havoc, in Its Third Year by Ronan Bennett (09-16-04)
- Snow by Orhan Pamuk (09-16-04)
- The Master by Colm Toibin (09-16-04)
- Pyro by Earl Emerson (09-16-04)
- Waiting for Teddy Williams by Howard Frank Mosher (08-22-04)
- The Ptolemies by Duncan Sprott (08-22-04)
- Strange But True by John Searles (08-22-04)
- The London Pigeon Wars by Patrick Neate (08-22-04)
- A Son of War by Melvyn Bragg (08-22-04)
- The Sari Shop by Rupa Bajwa (08-22-04)
- The Madman’s Tale by John Katzenbach (07-24-04)
- The Shunra and the Schmetterling by Yoel Hoffman (07-24-04)
- You Have to Be Careful in the Home of the Free by James Kelman (07-24-04)
- One Last Look by Susanna Moore (07-24-04)
- The Last Day of the War by Judith Claire Mitchell (07-10-04)
- No Ordinary Matter by Jenny McPhee (07-03-04)
- Siege of Salt Cove by Anthony Weller (07-03-04)
- The Secret Life of Lobsters by Trevor Corson (07-03-04)
- Q by Luther Blissett (07-03-04)
- Shadow of Death by William G. Tapply (07-03-04)
- Transmission by Hari Kunzru (06-01-04)
- Marrying Mozart by Stephanie Cowell (06-01-04)
- Brother and Sister by Joanna Trollope (06-01-04)
- The Enemy by Lee Child (06-01-04)
- Waiting for an Angel by Helon Habila (06-01-04)
- Plain Heathen Mischief by Martin Clark (05-15-04)
- The Half Brother by Lars Christensen (05-15-04)
- Eventide by Kent Haruf (05-15-04)
- Some Great Thing by Colin McAdam (05-15-04)
- The Shadow of the Wind by Zafon Carlos Ruiz (05-15-04)
- The Madonna of Excelsior by Zakes Mda (04-23-04)
- Links by Naruddin Farah (04-23-04)
- The Hell Screen by I. J. Parker (04-23-04)
- The Heartsnatcher by Boris Vian (04-04-04)
- Fanny by Edmund White (04-04-04)
- A Death in Vienna by Daniel Silva (04-04-04)
- Priestly Sins by Andrew M. Greeley (04-04-04)
- The Last Crossing by Guy Vanderhaeghe (03-09-04)
- Aloft by Chang-rae Lee (3-9-04)
- The Hound in the Left-Hand Corner by Giles Waterfield (2-22-04)
- Havana World Series by Jose Latour (2-22-04)
- Bold Sons of Erin by Owen Parry (2-22-04)
- The Cutting Room by Laurence Klavan (2-22-04)
- The Yellow Rain by Julio Llamazares (1-25-04)
- Shipwreck by Louis Begly (1-25-04)
- Call Me the Breeze by Patrick McCabe (1-11-04)
- The Calligrapher by Edward Docx (1-11-04)
- Moloka’i by Alan Brennert (1-11-04)
- Last Car to Elysian Fields by James Lee Burke (1-11-04)
2003
- Garbo Laughs by Elizabeth Hay (11-30-03)
- A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali by Gil Courtemanche (11-30-03)
- Old School by Tobias Wolff (11-30-03)
- War Torn by John Marks (11-30-03)
- Walking into the Night by Olaf Olafsson (11-11-03)
- The Scarlet Letters b y Louis Auchincloss (11-11-03)
- That Old Ace in the Hole by Annie Proulx (11-1-03)
- Deafening by Frances Itani (10-21-03)
- Winner of the National Book Award by Jincy Willett (10-21-03)
- The Fox’s Walk by Annabel Davis-Goff (10-21-03)
- Train by Pete Dexter (10-05-03)
- Harvard Yard by William Martin 10-05-03)
- I Was Howard Hughes by Steven Carter (9-24-03)
- The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem (9-7-03)
- Brick Lane by Monica Ali (9-7-03)
- Orchard by Larry Watson (9-7-03)
- Secret Father by James Carroll (8-30-03)
- Crabwalk by Gunter Grass (8-24-03)
- Screwball by David Ferrell (8-23-03)
- The Bielsky Brothers by Peter Duffy (8-22-03)
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (8-3-03)
- Native Dancer by John Eisenberg (8-3-03)
- Due Preparation for the Plague by Janette Turner Hospital (8-3-03)
- The Point of Return by Siddhartha Deb (7-8-03)
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (6-30-03)
- The Genius of the Sea by Naeem Murr (6-30-03)
- Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore (6-18-03)
- The Lamplighter by Anthony O’Neill (6-18-03)
- Hunger by Elise Blackwell (6-18-03)
- Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (5-28-03)
- Teammates by David Halberstam (5-28-03)
- When Boston Won the World Series by Bob Ryan (5-28-03)
- Star of the Sea by Joseph O’Connor (5-13-03)
- Flash House by Aimee Liu (5-13-03)
- Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde (4-20-03)
- Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane (4-20-03)
- Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux (4-20-03)
- Shroud by John Banville (3-31-03)
- Clara by Janice Galloway (3-31-03)
- Solomon Time by Will Randall (3-31-03)
- Office of Innocence by Thomas Keneally (03-16-03)
- Samurai William by Giles Milton (03-16-03)
- The Voyage of Destiny by Robert Nye (03-16-03)
- The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa (03-16-03)
- The Commissariat of Enlightenment by Ken Kalfus (03-03-03)
- Michelangelo & the Pope’s Ceiling by Ross King (03-03-03)
- Wintering: A Novel of Slyvia Plath by Kate Moses (2-22-03)
- Troubles by J. G. Farrell (2-10-03)
- Plundering Paradise by Michael D’Orso (2-10-03)
- Any Human Heart by William Boyd (2-10-03)
- Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz (2-1-03)
- Martin Sloane by Michael Redhill (1-29-03)
- Ruled Britannia by Harry Turtledove (1-29-03)
- The Fall by Simon Mawer (1-20-03)
- Nowhere Man by Aleksandar Hemon (1-20-03)
- Atonement by Ian McEwan (1-20-03)
- Dancer by Colum McCann (1-9-03)
- The Justification of Johann Gutenberg by Blake Morrison (1-9-03)
- The Resurrectionists by Michael Collins (1-2-03)
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