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Lincoln Journal Star Book Reviews – 2020
Every Saturday and Sunday morning issue of the Lincoln Journal Star newspaper includes the “The (402) 411” section. Included in that section of the paper each week are regular author profiles and book reviews, by both local reviewers and national review services. Due to the regular popularity of the titles reviewed in the paper, we’ve designed this page of the Lincoln City Libraries’ Web site as a simple listing of the books recently reviewed in the Lincoln Journal Star, with links into the library’s holdings for all the listed books which are currently in the collection. If a title below is not hotlinked, this is an indication that the library does not currently own that book, but you may consider requesting the title through the services of our Interlibrary Loan department, or suggesting that we purchase it via our on-line Suggest-a-Title form.
Note: Although the Lincoln Journal Star is reviewing fewer books in the print edition of the paper, they are including many more syndicated book reviews (from outside sources) on their website. This index on BookGuide is primarily to the reviews that have appeared in the print edition of the Lincoln Journal Star newspaper — UPDATE: Starting in May 2019, we now also provide a list of the titles reviewed by the LJS only on their website as well.
— Book by a Nebraska author
last updated January 10, 2021
2020 Selections
Books reviewed in December
The Speed Game: My Fast Times in Basketball
by Paul Westhead
Non-Fiction – [ not currently in the Lincoln City Libraries’ collection ]
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (December 21-26):
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander (From Bill Gates’ recommendation)
- Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein (From Bill Gates’ recommendation)
- The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson (From Bill Gates’ recommendation)
- Breath from Salt: A Deadly Genetic Disease, a New Era in Science, and the Patients and Families Who Changed Medicine by Bijal P. Trivedi (From Bill Gates’ recommendation)
- The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War by Ben Macintyre (From Bill Gates’ recommendation)
- Murder in Old Bombay by Nev March
- Why Fish Don’t Exist by Lulu Miller
- Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
- The Art of Soul by Pixar
A Song for the Dark Times
by Ian Rankin
Fiction – Rankin
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (December 14-19):
- Facade by Melody Saleh
- Amora by Grant Hallstrom
- A Palm Beach Scandal by Susannah Marren
- Paradise Rising: The Gifted Ones Trilogy, Book One by P.G. Shriver
- Love in the Late Edition by Reg Henry
- Matthew Henson and the Ice Temple of Harlem by Gary Phillips
- Chicago’s Great Fire: The Destruction and Resurrection of an Iconic American City by Carl Smith
- Broken Glass: Mies van der Rohe, Edith Farnsworth, and the Fight Over a Modernist Masterpiece by Alex Beam
- Modern in the Middle: Chicago Houses 1929-1975 by Susan S. Benjamin and Michelangelo Sabatino
- Studio Gang: Architecture by Studio Gang
- Evanston’s Design Heritage: Architects, Designers & Planners by Design Evanston
The Saddest Words: William Faulkner’s Civil War
by Michael Gorra
Non-Fiction – 813 FauYg
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (December 7-12):
- Sometimes You Have to Lie: The Life and Times of Louise Fitzhugh by Leslie Brody
Miss Benson’s Beetle
by Rachel Joyce
Fiction – Joyce
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (November 30-December 5):
- Step It Up And Go: The Story of North Carolina Popular Music by David Menconi
- World of Wonders: In Praise of Firelies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
- Singular Sensation: The Triumph of Broadway by Michael Riedel
Books reviewed in November
The Book of Lamps and Banners
by Elizabeth Hand
Fiction – French
Mad at the World: A Life of John Steinbeck
by William Souder
Non-Fiction – Biography Steinbeck
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (November 16-21):
- A Promised Land by Barack Obama
Field Notes From an Unintentional Birder
by Julia Zarankin
Non-Fiction – Biography Zarankin
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (November 9-14):
- Cobble Hill by Cecily Von Ziegesar
No local book review appeared in the physical November 8, 2020 issue of the paper.
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (November 2-7):
- Black Sunday by Tola Rotimi Abraham
- To Be a Man by Nicole Krauss
- White Ivy by Suzy Yang
- How Life Imitates Sports: A Sportswriter Recounts, Relives, and Reckons with 50 Years on the Sports Beat by Ira Berkow
The Searcher
by Tana French
Fiction – French
Books reviewed in October
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (October 26-31):
- Memorial by Brian Washington
- A Small Farm Future: Making the Case for a Society Built Around Local Economies, Self-Provisioning Agricultural Diversity and a Shared Earth by Chris Smaje
- Do You Feel Like I Do? by Peter Frampton
- The Sentinel by Lee Child and Andrew Child
- Our Last Season: A Writer, a Fan, a Friendship by Harvey Araton
Red Stilts
by Ted Kooser
Non-Fiction – 811 Koo
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (October 19-24):
- Cary Grant: A Brilliant Disguise by Scott Eyman
Killing Crazy Horse: The Merciless Indian Wars in America
by Bill O’Reilly
Non-Fiction – 970.1 Ore
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (October 12-17):
- No Stopping Us Now: The Adventures of Older Women in American History by Gail Collins
- The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman
- Underland: A Deep Time Journey by Robert Macfarlane
- Grand Union by Zadie Smith
- Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
- Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self Delusion by Jia Tolentino
- Dirt by Bill Buford
- The Riches of This Land: The Untold, True Story of America’s Middle Class by Jim Tankersley
- The Book of Lamps and Banners by Elizabeth Hand
- Field Notes From an Unintentional Birder by Julia Zarankin
- A Song for the Dark Times by Ian Rankin
- Goodnight Beautiful by Aimee Molloy
No local book review appeared in the physical October 11, 2020 issue of the paper.
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (October 5-10):
- Squeeze Me by Carl Hiaasen
- The Searcher by Tana French
- Missionaries by Phil Klay
- Hush by Dylan Farrow
No local book review appeared in the physical October 4, 2020 issue of the paper.
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (September 28 – October 3):
- These Women by Ivy Pochoda
- Cross of Snow by Nicholas Basbane
- Wagnerism by Alec Ross
- Ties That Tether by Jane Igharo
- Just Like You by Nick Hornby
- Sigh, Gone: A Misfit’s Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In by Phuc Tran
- Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep
- Sontag: Her Life and Work by Benjamin Moser
- Elements of Fiction by Walter Mosley
- Year of the Monkey by Patti Smith
- The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke by Jeffrey C. Stewart
- One Day: The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary 24 Hours in America by Gene Weingarten
Books reviewed in September
No local book review appeared in the physical September 27, 2020 issue of the paper.
On Distant Service: The Life of the First U.S. Foreign Service Officer to be Assassinated
by Susan M. Stein
Non-Fiction – Biography Imbrie
No local book review appeared in the physical September 13, 2020 issue of the paper.
No local book review appeared in the physical September 6, 2020 issue of the paper.
Books reviewed in August
Demagogue: The Life and Long Shadow of Senator Joe McCarthy
by Larry Tye
Non-Fiction – Biography McCarthy
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (August 24-29):
- Shadows of the Dead by Spencer Kope
Stealing Home: Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between
by Eric Nusbaum
Non-Fiction – 796.357 Nus
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (August 17-22):
- Soul Full of Coal Dust: A Fight for Breath and Justice in Appalachia by Chris Hamby
- The Dilemma by B.A. Paris
- Dead West by Matt Goldman
The Case of the Vanishing Blonde: And Other True Crime Stories
by Mark Bowden
Non-Fiction – 364.109 Bow
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (August 10-15):
- A Dangerous Breed by Glen Erik Hamilton
- We Are All the Same in the Dark by Julia Heaberlin
- A Private Cathedral by James Lee Burke
- The Wolf’s Trail: An Ojibwe Story, Told by Wolves by Thomas D. Peacock
- The Story of Gardening by Penelope Hobhouse and Ambra Edwards
- After the Last Border: Two Families and the Story of Refuge in America by Jessica Goudeau
Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars
by Joyce Carol Oates
Fiction – Oates
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (August 3-8):
- A Saint From Texas by Edmund White
- Find Me by Andre Aciman
- Fleischman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
- Deep River by Karl Marlantes
- The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa
- Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey by Kathleen Rooney
- The Order of the Day by Eric Vuillard
- Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World’s Largest Owl by Jonathan S. Slaght
- Rules of the Road by Ciara Geraghty
- The Safe Place by Anna Downes
- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
- The Hollow Ones: The Blackwood Tapes, Vol. 1 by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan
- The First to Lie by Hank Phillippi Ryan
The Last Tourist
by Olen Steinhauer
Fiction – Steinhauer
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (July 27-August 1):
- Hamnet: A Novel of the Plague by Maggie O’Farrell
- Far Out Man by Eric Utne
- To Start a War: How the Bush Administration Took America Into Iraq by Robert Draper
- Once You Go This Far by Kristen Lepionka
- The Yellow House by Sarah Broom
- Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha
- A Better Man by Louise Penny
- Middle England by Jonathan Coe
- How We Fight For Our Lives: A Memoir by Saeed Jones
- Three Women by Lisa Tadeo
- Strong From the Heart by Jon Land
Books reviewed in July
Inge’s War: A German Woman’s Story of Family, Secrets and Survival Under Hitler
by Svenja O’Donnell
Non-Fiction – Biography Irmen
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (July 20-25):
- Rockaway by Diane Cardwell
- The King of Confidence: A Tale of Utopian Dreamers, Frontier Schemers, True Believers, False Prophets and the Murder of an American Monarch by Miles Harvey
- Never Ask Me by Jeff Abbott
- Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier
- Malorie by Josh Malerman
- The Shadow Girl by Misty Mount
- Median Gray by Bill Mesce Jr.
- Sentinels by L.C. Conn
- Broken Promises by Anne Willow
- The Answer is…Reflections on My Life by Alex Trebek
Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original
by Mitchell Nathanson
Non-Fiction – Biography Bouton
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (July 13-18):
- The Revelators by Ace Atkins
- A Most Beautiful Thing: The True Story of America’s First All-Black High School Rowing Team by Arshay Cooper
- The Case of the Vanishing Blonde by Mark Bowden
- Becoming Duchess Goldblatt by Anonymous
- Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby
- White Fragility by Robin J. DiAngelo
In Our Other Lives
by Theodore Wheeler
Fiction – Sittenfeld
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (July 6-11):
- The Color of Water by James McBride
- This is Happiness by Niall Williams
- Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight
- The Plague by Albert Camus
- The Dutch House by Ann Patchett (a 2020 One Book – One Lincoln finalist!)
- Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips
- Bright Precious Thing by Gail Caldwell
- Weaver on Strategy: The Classic Work on the Art of Managing a Baseball Team by Earl Weaver
- Of Bears and Ballots: An Alaskan Adventure in Small-Town Politics by Heather Lende
- True Love by Sarah Gerard
- The Mountains Wild by Sarah Stewart Taylor
- A Most Wicked Conspiracy: The Last Great Swindle of the Gilded Age by Paul Starobin
- Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days that Changed the World by Chris Wallace and Mitch Weiss
No local book review appeared in the physical July 5, 2020 issue of the paper.
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (June 29-July 4):
- In the Land of Good Living: A Journey to the Heart of Florida by Kent Russell
- Outside In by Deborah Underwood
- Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang
- The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins
- Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow
- Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman
- The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
- One Last Lie by Paul Doiron
Books reviewed in June
This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Medical Resident
by Adam Kay
Non-Fiction – Libraries only own in E-book format
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (June 22-27):
- Sorry for Your Trouble: Stories by Richard Ford
- The Language of Butterflies: How Thieves, Hoarders, Scientists, and Other Obsessives Unlocked the Secrets of the World’s Favorite Insect by Wendy Williams
- Love by Roddy Doyle
- The Wife Stalker by Liv Constantine
- Yogi: A Life Behind the Mask by Jon Pessah
- Fall; or, Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson
- Ordinary Girls: A Memoir by Jaquira Diaz
- The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
- Seven Years of Darkness by You-Jeong Jeong
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (June 15-20):
No local book review appeared in the physical June 21, 2020 issue of the paper.
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (June 15-20):
- The Room Where it Happened: A White House Memoir by John Bolton
- The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
- Perfectly Famous by Emily Liebert
- Miss Austen by Gill Hornby
- Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh
Rodham
by Curtis Sittenfeld
Fiction – Sittenfeld
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (June 8-13):
- L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Collection #36 by various
- Big Sky by Kate Atkinson
- Ordinary Girls: A Memoir by Jaquira Diaz
- A Pilgrimage to Eternity: From Canterbury to Rome in Search of a Faith by Timothy Egan
- Seven Years of Darkness by You-Jeong Jeong
- The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
- Fall; or, Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson
- Enemy of All Mankind: A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History’s First Global Manhunt by Steven Johnson
- Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars by Joyce Carol Oates
- How the Dead Speak by Val McDermid
- Thin Girls by Diane Clarke
Tombstone: The Earp Brothers, Doc Holliday, and the Vendetta Ride from Hell
by Tom Clavin
Non-Fiction – 978.02 Cla
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (June 1-6):
- The Vanishing Half by AUTHOR
- The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder that Shocked Jazz-Age America by Karen Abbott
- Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
- Tiny Imperfections by Alli Frank and Asha Youmans
- The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz
- Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination by Brian Jay Jones
- The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware
- The Second Life of Tiger Woods by Michael Bamberger
- Dirt: Adventures in Lyon as a Chef in Training, Father, and Sleuth Looking for the Secret of French Cooking by Bill Buford
- The Big Goodbye: ‘Chinatown’ and the Last Years of Hollywood by Sam Wasson
- The Book of Rosy: A Mother’s Story of Separation at the Border by Rosayra Pablo Cruz and Julie Schwietert Collazo
Books reviewed in May
The Sentence is Death
by Anthony Horowitz
Fiction – Horowitz
Read Scott S.’s review of the audiobook of The Sentence is Death in the July 2019 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide
Trust Exercise
by Susan Choi
Non-Fiction – 123.3 Coh
Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination
by Brian Jay Jones
Non-Fiction – Biography Seuss
The Hot Hand: The Mystery and Science of Streaks
by Ben Cohen
Non-Fiction – 123.3 Coh
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (May 25-30):
- The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
- Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski
- Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson
- One Tough Out by Rod Carew, with Jaime Aaron
- American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics and the Birth of American CSI by Kate Winkler Dawson
- No Man’s Land: The Trailblazing Women Who Ran Britain’s Most Extraordinary Military Hospital During World War I by Wendy Moore
- Fair Warning by Michael Connelly
- All My Mother’s Lovers by Ilana Masad
- Hideaway by Nora Roberts
- Red Dress in Black & White by Elliot Ackerman
No Place I Would Rather Be: Roger Angell and a Life in Baseball Writing
by Joe Bonomo
Non-Fiction [ not currently in the Lincoln City Libraries’ collection ]
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (May 18-23):
- The Choice by Dr. Edith Eva Eger
- Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
- The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger
- The Great Influenza by John M. Barry
- Good Economics for Hard Times by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo
- Dirt: Adventures in Lyon as a Chef in Training, Father, and Sleuth Looking for the Secret of French Cooking by Bill Buford
- The Motion of the Body Through Space by Lionel Shriver
- Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld
War Fever: Boston, Baseball, and America in the Shadow of the Great War
by Randy Roberts and Johnny Smith
Non-Fiction – 974.461 Rob
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (May 11-16):
- The End of October by Lawrence Wright
- The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia by Emma Copley Eisenberg
- All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
- The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
- The Victorian and the Romantic by Nell Stevens
- The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
- Afterlife by Julia Alvarez
- Lou Gehrig: The Lost Memoir by Alan D. Gaff
- Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
No local book review appeared in the physical May 10, 2020 issue of the paper.
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (May 4-9):
- Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner
- Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler
- The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
- The Absolution by Yrsa Sigurdardottir
Redhead by the Side of the Road
by Anne Tyler
Fiction – Tyler
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (April 27-May 2):
- Spring by Ali Smith
- Miracle Creek by Angie Kim
- Serving the Servant: Remembering Kurt Cobain by Danny Goldberg
- City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
- The Night Fire by Michael Connelly
- American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race by Douglas Brinkley
- The End of October by Lawrence Wright
- The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- The Hot Hand: The Mystery and Science of Streaks by Ben Cohen
- This Is All I Got: A New Mother’s Search for Home by Lauren Sandler
- Inge’s War by Svenja O’Donnell
- How to Feed a Dictator by Withold Szablowski
- The following 40+ titles were from a syndicated article about the books used as research for the TV mini-series “Mrs. America”:
- Sweetheart of the Silent Majority by Carol Felsenthal
- Divided We Stand: The Battle Over Women’s Rights and Family Values That Polarized American Politics by Marjorie J. Spruill
- Bella Abzug: How One Tough Broad From the Bronx Fought Jim Crow and Joe McCarthy, Pissed Off Jimmy Carter, Battled for the Rights of Women and Workers, Rallied Against War and for the Planet, and Shook Up Politics Along the Way by Suzanne Braun Levine and Mary Thom
- The Education of a Woman: The Life of Gloria Steinem by Carolyn F. Heilbrun
- Florynce ‘Flo’ Kennedy: The Life of a Black Feminist Radical by Sherie M. Randolph
- Interviews With Betty Friedan edited by Janann Sherman
- The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan
- Phyllis Schlafly and Grassroots Conservatism: A Woman’s Crusade by Donald T. Critchlow
- The Republican War Against Women: An Insider’s Report From Behind the Lines by Tanya Melich
- Bella!: Ms. Abzug Goes to Washington by Bella S. Abzug
- Color Me Flo: My Hard Life and Times by Flo Kennedy
- The Good Fight by Shirley Chisholm
- It Changed My Life: Writings on the Women’s Movement by Betty Friedan
- Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellion by Gloria Steinem
- My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem
- The Power of the Positive Woman by Phyllis Schlafly
Books reviewed in April
No local book review appeared in the physical April 26, 2020 issue of the paper.
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (April 20-25):
- The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
- Strike Me Down by Mindy Mejia
- Active Measures by Thomas Rid
Bruce Dern: A Memoir
by Bruce Dern with Christopher Fryer and Robert Crane
Non-Fiction [ not currently in the Lincoln City Libraries’ collection ]
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (April 13-18):
- Where We Come From by Oscar Casares
- Circe by Madeline Miller
- Conviction by Denise Mina
- Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips
- Everything in Its Place: First Loves and Last Tales by Oliver Sacks
- American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson
- Fins: A Sharks Incorporated Novel by Randy Wayne White
- Masked Prey by John Sandford
- Confessions of a Bookseller by Shawn Bythell
No local book review appeared in the physical April 12, 2020 issue of the paper.
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (April 6-11):
- Hid From Our Eyes by Julia Spencer-Fleming
- Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler
- The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia by Emma Copley Eisenberg
- The Big Lie by James Grippando
- Hill Women: Finding Family and a Way Forward in the Appalachian Mountains by Cassie Chambers
- Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker
- Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore
- Broken by Don Winslow
Rust: A Memoir of Steel and Grit
by Eliese Colette Goldbach
Non-Fiction [ only available as a digital audiobook, via Hoopla from the libraries ]
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (March 29-April 4):
- The following 40+ titles were from a syndicated article asking Seattle sports writers about their favorite “sports books”:
- Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete by William C. Rhoden
- Days of Grace: A Memoir by Arthur Ashe and Arnold Rampersad
- The Great Book of Seattle Sports Lists by Art Thiel, Mike Gastineau and Steve Rudman
- The Golden Boys by Cameron Stauth
- Golf for Dummies by Gary McCord
- The Game by Ken Dryden
- You Gotta Play Hurt by Dan Jenkins
- Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis
- Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO and the Steroid Scandal That Rocked Professional Sports by Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada
- They Call Me Assassin by Jack Tatum with Bill Kushner
- The Contender by Robert Lipsyte
- The Punch: One Night, Two Lives and the Fight That Changed Basketball Forever by John Feinstein
- The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown
- The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis
- Born to Run by Christoper McDougall
- Play Their Hearts Out by George Dohrmann
- Flashing Before My Eyes by Dick Schaap
- The Life of Reilly by Rick Reilly
- When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi by David Maraniss
- I Can’t Wait Until Tomorrow (cause I get better looking every day) by Joe Namath
- What’s Happenin’? by Blaine Johnson
- The Breaks of the Game by David Halberstam
- The Year the Mets Lost Last Place by Dick Schaap and Paul Zimmerman
- Beyond the Game by Gary Smith
- Fab Five by Mitch Albom
- Friday Night Lights by Buzz Bissinger
- The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America’s Innocence by Jane Leavy
- The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Industry of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports by Jeff Passen
- A Hard Road To Glory: A History of the African-American Athletes by Arthur R. Ashe Jr.
- Out of Left Field: How the Mariners Made Baseball Fly in Seattle by Art Thiel
- Pacific Northwest Hiking: The Complete Guide to 1,000 of the Best Hikes in Washington and Oregon by Ron C. Judd and Dan A. Nelson
- Strong Women, Deep Closets: Lesbians and Homophobia in Sport by Pat Griffin
- Sounders FC: Authentic Masterpiece by Mike Gastineau
- Ball Four by Jim Bouton
- The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn
- Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy by Jane Leavy
- Open by Andre Agassi with J.R. Moehringer
- Edgar by Larry Stone
- Ghosts of Manila: The Fateful Blood Feud Between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier by Mark Kram
- A Season on the Brink: A Year With Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers by John Feinstein
- Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby
- The Cost of These Dreams: Sports Stories and Other Serious Business by Wright Thompson
- This Bloody Mary is the Last Thing I Own: A Journey to the End of Boxing by Jonathan Rendall
- Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory by Claudio Saunt
- Thief River Falls by Brian Freeman
- In the Shadow of Vesuvius by Tasha Alexander
- It’s Not All Downhill From Here by Terry McMillan
- Providence by Max Barry
- Devoted by Dean Koontz
- The Familiar Dark by Amy Engel
- Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby
Books reviewed in March
The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family and Defiance During the Blitz
by Erik Larson
Non-Fiction – 940.54 Lar
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (March 23-28):
- My Sister: How One Sibling’s Transition Changed Us Both by Selenis Leyva and Marizol Leyva
- Kilo: Inside the Deadliest Cocaine Cartels – From the Jungles to the Streets by Toby Muse
- The Last Odyssey by James Rollins
- In Our Prime: How Older Women are Reinventing the Road Ahead by Susan R. Douglas
- The K Team by David Rosenfelt
- Deacon King Kong by James McBride
- K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches by Tyler Kepner
- Autumn Light: Season of Fire and Farewells by Pico Iyer
- The Other Americans by Laila Lalami
- After Me Comes the Flood by Sarah Perry
- A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell
- Lot: Stories by Bryan Washington
- The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai
- Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump by Rick Reilly
- A Star is Dead by Elaine Viets
- The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
- The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James
- The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s: An Oral History by Andy Greene
No local book review appeared in the physical March 22, 2020 issue of the paper.
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (March 16-21):
- Village of Scoundrels by Margi Preus
- The Boy From The Woods by Harlan Coben
- Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel
- Murder Off the Page by Con Lehane
- The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel
- Where You’re All Going by Joan Frank
- Rebel Cinderella: Rose Pastor Stokes: Sweatshop Immigrant, Aristocrat’s Wife, Socialist Crusader by Adam Hochschild
- Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara
The City Game: Triumph, Scandal, and a Legendary Basketball Team
by Matthew Goodman
Non-Fiction – 796.323 Goo
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (March 9-14):
- Bubble in the Sun: The Florida Boom of the 1920s and How It Brought on the Great Depression by Christopher Knowlton
- Pharma: Greed, Lies, and the Poisoning of America by Gerald Posner
- The Unexpected Spy: From the CIA to the FBI, My Secret Life Taking Down Some of the World’s Most Notorious Terrorists by Tracy Walder with Jessica Anya Blau
- In Pursuit of Disobedient Women by Dionne Searcey
- What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays by Damon Young
- Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi
- The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick by Mallory O’Meara
- Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan
- Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
- A Divided Loyalty by Charles Todd
- Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli
- The Scent Keeper by Erica Bauermeister
- The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring Stories from Those Who Have Overcome the Unforgivable by Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt
- The Operator by Gretchen Berg
- Shakespeare in a Divided America by James Shapiro
- Cinema ’62: The Greatest Year at the Movies by Stephen Farber and Michael McClellan
- Journey of the Pharoahs by Clive Cussler and Graham Brown
No local book review appeared in the physical March 8, 2020 issue of the paper.
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (March 2-7):
- Staring Down the Wolf: 7 Leadership Commitments That Forge Elite Teams by Mark Divine
- Legendary Children: The First Decade of RuPaul’s Drag Race and the Last Century of Queer Life by Tom Fitzgerald and Lorenzo Marquez
- Hide Away by Jason Pinter
- The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward
- Deacon King Kong by James McBride
- Daisy Cooper’s Rules for Living by Tamsin Keily
- The Lost Family: How DNA Testing is Upending Who We Are by Libby Copeland
- The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
- Columbus Noir edited by Andrew Welsh-Huggins
- This Town Sleeps by Dennis E. Staples
- The Last Passenger by Charles Finch
- The Chill by Scott Carson
- Rust: A Memoir of Steel and Grit by Eliese Colette Goldbach
- Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson
- Writers & Lovers by Lily King
- Long Range by C.J. Box
- Rebel Cinderella: Rose Pastor Stokes: Sweatshop Immigrant, Aristocrat’s Wife, Socialist Crusader by Adam Hochschild
- Blackwood by Michael Ferris Smith
Canyon Dreams: A Basketball Season on the Navajo Nation
by Michael Powell
Non-Fiction – 796.323 Pow
Books reviewed in February
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (February 24-29):
- Abandoned: America’s Lost Youth and the Crisis of Disconnection by Anne Kim
- Strung Out: One Last Hit and Other Lies That Nearly Killed Me: A Memoir by Erin Khan
- On the Bright Side: Stories About Friendship, Love, and Being True to Yourself by Melanie Shankle
- Amnesty by Aravind Adiga
- Oona Out of Order by Margarita Mortimore
- Apartment by Teddy Wayne
- Scratched: A Memoir of Perfectionism by Elizabeth Tallent
- Trouble is What I Do by Walter Mosley
- The Dark Corners of the Night by Meg Gardiner
- The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson
- Normal People by Sally Rooney
- Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli
- Good Riddance by Elinor Lipman
- Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
- The Scent Keeper by Erica Bauermeister
- The Cactus League by Emily Nemens
- 90s Bitch: Media, Culture and the Failed Promise of Gender Equality by Allison Yarrow
- Hitting a Straight Lick With a Crooked Stick by Zora Neale Hurston
- Village of Scoundrels by Margi Preus
- You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
- Pretty as a Picture by Elizabeth Little
- Broken Faith: Inside the Word of Faith Fellowship, One of America’s Most Dangerous Cults by Mitch Weiss and Holbrook Mohr
- Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights by Gretchen Sorin
- The Warsaw Protocol by Steve Berry
- Race Against Time: A Reporter Reopens the Unsolved Murder Cases of the Civil Rights Era by Jerry Mitchell
- These Fevered Days by Martha Ackmann
Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers: The Texas Victory That Changed American History
by Elaine Sciolino
Non-Fiction – 944.36 Sci
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (February 17-22):
- Been There, Married That by Gigi Levangie
- The Committee by Sterling Watson
- Golden Gates by Conor Dougherty
- The Boston Massacre: A Family History by Serena Zabin
- The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James
- No Bad Deed by Heather Chavez
- The Second Chance Club: Hardship and Hope After Prison by Jason Hardy
The Seine: The River That Made Paris
by Brian Kilmeade
Non-Fiction – 976.4 Kil
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (February 10-15):
- Salt River by Randy Wayne White
- You Can Only Yell at Me For One Thing at a Time by Roz Chast and Patricia Marx
- Night Theater by Dr. Vikram Paralkar
- Chanel’s Riviera by Anne DeCourey
- In the Land of Men: A Memoir by Adrienne Miller
- Love, Unscripted by Owen Nicholls
- Been There, Married That by Gigi Levangie
- All the Best Lies by Joanna Schauffhausen
- The Burn by Kathleen Kent
- Dead to Her by Sarah Pinsborough
- The Only Child by Mi-ae Seo
- Nobody Does It Better: The Complete Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of James Bond edited by Marl Altman and Edward Gross
No local book review appeared in the physical February 9, 2020 issue of the paper.
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (February 3-8):
- Holding Smoke by Steph Post
- The Other Mrs. by Mary Kubica
- Minor Dramas & Other Catastrophes by Kathleen West
- Olympic Pride, American Prejudice: The Untold Story of 18 African Americans Who Defied Jim Crow and Adolf Hitler to Compete in the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Deborah Riley Draper and Travis Thrasher
- Golden in Death by J.D. Robb
- The Good Killer by Harry Dolan
- A Cold Trail by Robert Dugoni
- The Big Goodbye: ‘Chinatown’ and the Last Years of Hollywood by Sam Watson
- The Bomb: Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War by Fred Kaplan
No local book review appeared in the physical February 2, 2020 issue of the paper.
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (January 27 – Feb 1):
- The Look-Alike by Erica Spindler
- Cartier’s Hope by M.J. Rose
- Into the Fire by Greg Hurwitz
- When You See Me by Lisa Gardner
- Crooked River by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
- The New Iberia Blues by James Lee Burke
- Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight
- Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing by Robert Caro
- The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo
- A Game of Birds and Wolves: The Ingenious Young Women Whose Secret Board Game Helped Win World War II by Simon Parkin
- Fight of the Century: Writers Reflect on 100 Years of Landmark ACLU Cases edited by Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman
- Consider This: Moments in My Writing Life After Which Everything Was Different by Chuck Palahniuk
- Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
- Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive by Stephanie Land
- Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? by Bill McKibben
- The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches and Meditations by Toni Morrison
- Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro
- All the Lives We Ever Lived: Seeking Solace in Virginia Woolf by Katharine Smyth
- The Other People by C.J. Tudor
- The Empty Bed by Nina Sadowsky
- Run Me to Earth by Paul Yoon
Books reviewed in January
Naked Came the Florida Man
by Tim Dorsey
Fiction – Dorsey
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (January 20-25):
- The Age of Entitlement: America Since the Sixties by Christopher Caldwell
- The Words I Never Wrote by Jane Thynne
- Sidney Lumet: A Life by Maura Spiegel
- Ian McKellan: A Biography by Gary O’Connor
- Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown
- House on Fire by Joseph Finder
- The Blaze by Chad Dundas
- Hope & Heartbreak: Beyond the Numbers of the Opioid Epidemic by Scott Brown
- The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
- Suitable Accommodations: The Letters of J.F. Powers 1942-1963 by J.F. Powers
- The Street by Ann Petry
- Cheer Up, Mr. Widdicombe by Evan James
- Churchill: Walking With Destiny by Andrew Roberts
- Murder, Inc.: The CIA Under John F. Kennedy by James H. Johnston
- A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabell Allende
- American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
Why We Can’t Sleep
by Ada Calhoun
Non-Fiction – Hoopla ebook only
The Seine: The River That Made Paris
by Elaine Sciolino
Non-Fiction – 944.36 Sci
Bone Chalk
by Jim Reese
Fiction [ not currently in the Lincoln City Libraries’ collection ]
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (January 13-18):
- Dead Astronauts by Jeff Vandermeer
- Crack: Rock Cocaine, Street Capitalism, and the Decade of Greed by David Farber
- The Longer Fall by Charlaine Harris
- Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight
- The New Iberia Blues by James Lee Burke
- Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing by Robert Caro
- The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo
- The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin
- The Lost Man by Jane Harper
- How Quickly She Disappears by Raymond Fleischmann
- Never Tell by Lisa Gardner
- Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin’s Russia by Tim Duggan
- The Poison Garden by Alex Marwood
- The Better Liar by Tanen Jones
- The Hollows by Jess Montgomery
No local book review appeared in the physical January 12, 2020 issue of the paper.
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (January 6-11):
- All This Could Be Yours by Jamie Attenberg
- Naked Came the Florida Man by Tim Dorsey
- Why We Can’t Sleep by Ada Calhoun (libraries have Hoopla ebook only)
- The Seine: The River That Made Paris by Elaine Sciolino ( On Order )
- The Book of Science and Antiquities by Thomas Keneally
- SAM: One Robot, a Dozen Engineers, and the Race to Revolutionize the Way We Build by Jonathan Waldman ( On Order )
- Roaring Reptiles, Bountiful Citrus, and Neon Pies: An Unofficial Guide To Florida’s Official Symbols by Mark Lane
- Mr. Nobody by Catherine Steadman
- Hill Women: Finding Family and a Way Forward in the Appalachian Mountains by Cassie Chambers
- Long Bright River by Liz Moore
- Lost Hills by Lee Goldberg
No local book review appeared in the physical January 5, 2020 issue of the paper.
Between the Sundays: Syndicated book reviews published by the Journal Star only on their website (December 30 – January 4):
- Naked Came the Florida Man by Tim Dorsey
- Layover by David Bell
- Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre-Esprit Radisson by Mark Bourrie (libraries have Hoopla ebook only)
- The Courage to Be Happy: Discover the Power of Positive Psychology and Choose to Be Happy Every Day by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga
- Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge by Sheila Weller
- Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison
- A Small Town by Thomas Perry
Past Years: Click here to return to the current year’s reviews page and an ongoing index to previous years’ listings
— Book by a Nebraska author
