Mary Daniels Brown

Mary Daniels Brown learned at an early age how to read people, and she’s been doing that ever since. Combining advanced education in both literature and psychology, she reads and reviews novels that explore identity, the search for meaning and purpose in life, and the varieties of human experience. She’s been blogging about books at Notes in the Margin for more than 25 years. Mary believes that her focus on Life Stories in Literature has made her both a more astute reader and a happier, more human person.

The Best Books I Read in 2003

Listed alphabetically by author Atwood, Margaret. The Blind Assassin Card, Orson Scott. Ender’s Game Connelly, Michael. Lost Light Kidd, Sue Monk. The Secret Life of Bees Kidd, Sue Monk. The Dance of the Dissident Daughter McCafferty, Jane. Thank You for the Music McEwan, Ian. Atonement Philbrick, Nathaniel. In the Heart of the Sea Sebold, Alice. […]

The Best Books I Read in 2003 Read More »

book review

“Lucky: A Memoir” by Alice Sebold

Review: Lucky: A Memoir Sebold, Alice. Lucky: A Memoir Scribner, 1999Hardcover, 251 pagesISBN 0-684-85782-0 Simon & Schuster Audio, narrated by Alice Sebold In the tunnel where I was raped, a tunnel that was once an underground entry to an amphitheater, a place where actors burst forth from underneath the seats of a crowd, a girl had been

“Lucky: A Memoir” by Alice Sebold Read More »

“The Dance of the Dissident Daughter” by Sue Monk Kidd

Kidd, Sue Monk. The Dance of the Dissident Daughter (1996)  HarperCollins, 238 pages, $12.95 trade paperback    ISBN 0-06-064589-X Highly Recommended Long before Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Secret Life of Bees hit the bestseller lists, Kidd was an established Christian inspirational writer and speaker. Then suddenly one day an incident involving her teenage daughter

“The Dance of the Dissident Daughter” by Sue Monk Kidd Read More »

book review

“In the Heart of the Sea” by Nathaniel Philbrick

Philbrick, Nathaniel. In the Heart of the Sea Viking, 2000Hardcover, 289 pagesISBN 0-670-89157-6 Recommended At the beginning of the nineteenth century the American whaling industry centered around Nantucket Island. Young boys of Nantucket were taught to “idolize the form of a ship” and grew up anticipating the day when they, too, would join a whaling crew:

“In the Heart of the Sea” by Nathaniel Philbrick Read More »

“The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd

Kidd, Sue Monk. The Secret Life of Bees (2002)   Penguin, 302 pages, $14.00 trade paperback   ISBN 0-14-200174-0 Highly Recommended Everyone is buzzing over The Secret Life of Bees. Every time I ask people if they’ve read any good books lately, I get the same answer: The Secret Life of Bees. “This book is

“The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd Read More »

“No Second Chance” by Harlan Coben

Coben, Harlan. No Second Chance (2003)   Dutton, 338 pages, $24.95 hardcover ISBN 0-525-94729-9 “Can you ever do the wrong thing for the right reason?” That’s the question Harlan Coben addresses in his latest thriller, No Second Chance. As we’ve come to expect from Coben, the novel grabs us with its opening line: “When the

“No Second Chance” by Harlan Coben Read More »

The Best Books I Read in 2002

Listed alphabetically by author Brooks, Geraldine. Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague Connelly, Michael. The Last Coyote Dallas, Sandra. Alice’s Tulips Diamant, Anita. The Red Tent Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee. Sister of My Heart Hillenbrand, Laura. Seabiscuit: An American Legend Mason, Richard. The Drowning People McDermid, Val. A Place of Execution Pears, Iain. An

The Best Books I Read in 2002 Read More »

“Mystic River” by Dennis Lehane

Lehane, Dennis. Mystic River (2001)   HarperCollins, 448 pages, $7.99 mass market paperback   ISBN 0 380 73185 1      Highly Recommended Dennis Lehane takes a break from Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro of Dorchester to tell the story of three boys from the fictional East Buckingham, a working-class district just west of downtown.

“Mystic River” by Dennis Lehane Read More »

“The Dark Room” by Minette Walters

Walters, Minette. The Dark Room (1996)    Penguin Putnam, 339 pages, $7.99 mass market paperback   ISBN 0-515-12045-6 Jinx Kingsley, a London photographer and daughter of a millionaire father with reputed underworld connections, wakes up in a private hospital. She has no recollection of how or why she got there. But she does have flashes

“The Dark Room” by Minette Walters Read More »

“A Place of Execution” by Val McDermid

McDermid, Val. A Place of Execution (1999)St. Martin’s, 465 pages, $6.99 mass market paperback    ISBN 0-312-97953-3  Recommended     British writer Catherine Heathcote has nearly finished her book about a famous case, the disappearance of 13-year-old Alison Carter 25 years earlier. Although Heathcote has interviewed all the people still living who were involved in

“A Place of Execution” by Val McDermid Read More »

Scroll to Top