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 50 Reviewer on Amazon.com who also contributes 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. Mary has reviewed the following for MostlyFiction.com:

NOTE: This is an old page. To see all of Mary Whipple's book reviews, go here.

2009

• 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: 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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