Overbooked: Starred Review Lists

All Stars 2008

Page Modified: June 25, 2009

Seeing Stars

Lists of (mostly) hardcover books which received at least one starred review (indicating a work of unusual merit) from the following review sources: Booklist , Publisher's Weekly (PW), Kirkus and Library Journal (LJ).

The review journal assigns the star.

Fiction titles which received three or more starred reviews from major review sources.

• A Golden Age
  Author: Anam, Tahmima
  Publisher: HarperCollins $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780061478741 Date: 2008
  PW Kirkus Booklist
  In her deeply moving debut novel, Anam tells the story of a young widow who becomes embroiled in the violent political turmoil in 1971 that transforms a brutal Pakistani civil war into a fight for the death for Bangladeshi independence.
  Suggested Reading: Debuts
  Updated 11.19.07
  
• Johnny One-Eye: A Tale of the American Revolution
  Author: Charyn, Jerome
  Publisher: Norton $ 25.95 ISBN: 9780393064971 Date: 2008
  PW LJ Booklist
  This comic masterpiece reimagines the American Revolution with a one-eyed spy, a heroic whorehouse madam, and a cunning George Washington.
  Updated 1.30.08
  
• The Plague of Doves
  Author: Erdrich, Louise
  Publisher: HarperCollins $ 25.95 ISBN: 9780060515126 Date: 2008
  PW Booklist LJ
  In this multigenerational tour-de-force of sin, redemption, murder, and vengeance ("Publishers Weekly"), a senseless and horrific crime in 1911 forever changes the lives of several families living in and around Pluto, North Dakota, a white town on the far western edge of an Ojibwe reservation.
  Updated 2.26.08
  
• The Outcast
  Author: Jones, Sadie
  Publisher: HarperCollins $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780061374036 Date: 2008
  PW Booklist Kirkus
  In this brilliant debut, Jones tells the story of a boy who refuses to accept the polite lies of a tightly knit community that rejects love in favor of appearances. Written with nail-biting suspense, The Outcast is an emotionally powerful testament to the powers of love and understanding.
  Suggested Reading: Debuts
  Updated 1.31.08
  
• Lavinia
  Author: Le Guin, Ursula K.
  Publisher: Harcourt $ 24 ISBN: 9780151014248 Date: 2008
  PW Kirkus LJ
  In "The Aeneid," Vergil's hero fights to claim the king's daughter, Lavinia, with whom he is destined to found an empire. Le Guin gives Lavinia a voice in a this novel set in the half-wild world of ancient Italy, when Rome was a muddy village near seven hills.
  Updated 3.3.08
  
• Killing Rommel
  Author: Pressfield, Steven
  Publisher: Doubleday $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780385519700 Date: 2008
  LJ Kirkus PW
  Hitler's legions have swept across Europe, leaving Churchill and the English isolated. In North Africa, Rommel and his Panzers have routed the British Eighth Army and stand poised to overrun Egypt, Suez, and the oil fields of the Middle East, in Pressfield's latest riveting historical novel.
  Updated 2.26.08
  
• Lush Life
  Author: Price, Richard
  Publisher: FSG $ 26 ISBN: 9780374299255 Date: 2008
  Booklist Kirkus PW LJ
  In Lush Life, Price tears the shiny veneer off the "new" New York to show the underground networks of control and violence beneath the glamour, in this novel that reads like a movie in prose" ("New York Times").
  Updated 3.3.08
  
• Three Girls and Their Brother
  Author: Rebeck, Theresa
  Publisher: Crown $ 23.95 ISBN: 9780307394149 Date: 2008
  Kirkus Booklist LJ
  In this sharp-edged drama that unfolds in New York's celebrity fast lane, it takes an awful incident with a famous movie star to blast three famous girls--and their brother--out of their self-destructive spiral.
  Updated 2.26.08
  
• Olive Kitteridge: A Novel in Stories
  Author: Strout, Elizabeth
  Publisher: Random $ 25 ISBN: 9781400062089 Date: 2008
  PW Booklist Kirkus
  "New York Times" bestselling author Strout binds together 13 rich, luminous narratives through the presence of one larger-than-life, unforgettable character: Olive Kitteridge, who offers profound insights into the human condition.
  Updated 2.26.08