Harvey Freedenberg
@harvf.bsky.social
Reader and writer for BookPage, Bookreporter, Shelf Awareness & Kirkus Reviews. Also meditator, golfer, Dickinson College & University of Michigan Law School alum. I care about our democracy, too.
From @readbookpage.bsky.social my review of former Google employee Claire Stapleton’s DON’T BE EVIL: Bad Bosses, Fake Promises, and My Escape from Big Tech: www.bookpage.com/reviews/dont...
Book review of Don’t Be Evil by Claire Stapleton
Claire Stapleton organized the 2018 Google Walkout. In Don’t Be Evil, she addresses the chasm that separates Google from the reality of life.
bookpage.com
From @bookreporter.bsky.social my review of Matthew Quick’s memoir, DAD, LOVE, ME: www.bookreporter.com/reviews/dad-... @avidreaderpress.bsky.social
Dad, Love, Me: A Memoir | Bookreporter.com
Matthew Quick traveled all over the world advocating for mental health awareness, standing before crowds as a success story. But secretly, he was depressed. And some days, he didn’t want to live. Year...
bookreporter.com
From @shelf-awareness.com my starred review of Lydia Millett’s FAIR ONES: A Double Novel: www.shelf-awareness.com/theshelf/202...
Starred Review: Fair Ones: A Double Novel
It's been said that friends are the family one chooses. Lydia Millet's Fair Ones perfectly encapsulates that sentiment. In this emotionally
shelf-awareness.com
Hernan Diaz won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel TRUST. Here’s my review of his latest novel, PLY: www.shelf-awareness.com/theshelf/202...
Review: Ply
Ply, Hernan Diaz's first novel since his Pulitzer Prize-winning Trust, is both a touching story of a young woman's struggle to find security
shelf-awareness.com
From @bookreporter.bsky.social my review of Daniel Mason’s charming comic novel, COUNTRY PEOPLE: www.bookreporter.com/reviews/coun...
Country People | Bookreporter.com
Miles Krzelewski is a devoted husband, a doting father beloved for his outlandish bedtime stories, and the proud owner of a truffle-hunting dog in a land with no truffles. He is also a bit lost, 12 ye...
bookreporter.com
Every crime family needs a mob lawyer. Meet Donald Trump's.
“It’s all so sordid, and yet so normal, that for a few minutes you grapple with the realization that we’ve made ugliness into our way of life and spread it everywhere.” Lydia Millett, FAIR ONES #sundaysentence
From @readbookpage.bsky.social my review of @joellawriting.bsky.social‘s novel THE TOP OF THE WORLD: www.bookpage.com/reviews/top-...
Book review of The Top of the World by Ethan Joella
Through languid days and firefly-lit nights, Ethan Joella’s The Top of the World leaves memories as vivid as a cherished vacation snapshot.
bookpage.com
From @bookreporter.bsky.social my review of RASPUTIN SWIMS THE POTOMAC, Ben Fountain’s sendup of our chaotic, reality show political world: www.bookreporter.com/reviews/rasp...
Rasputin Swims the Potomac | Bookreporter.com
Reporter Clarence Thomas Jr. is looking for a great story, former country music teen star Faith Spack has parlayed her fame into a job at the White House, and the two-term incumbent president is campa...
bookreporter.com
From @shelf-awareness.com my review of Emily Wilson’s CROSSING THE WINE-DARK SEA: Journeys Through Ancient Literature: www.shelf-awareness.com/theshelf/202...
Review: Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea: Journeys Through Ancient Literature
University of Pennsylvania classical studies professor Emily Wilson received considerable critical praise and popular attention for her translations
shelf-awareness.com
#booksky Well, @harvf.bsky.social did it again. His review makes me want to read Russo's new book right now. www.shelf-awareness.com/theshelf/202...
Review: Under the Falls
Homecomings, especially long-delayed ones, can be hard. Unresolved emotions and buried secrets sometimes bubble to the surface when the wanderer
shelf-awareness.com
From @shelf-awareness.com my review of Welsh writer Liam Higginson’s terrifying debut novel, THE HILL IN THE DARK GROVE: www.shelf-awareness.com/theshelf/202...
Review: The Hill in the Dark Grove
In a January 2026 blog post, Welsh author Liam Higginson cited Shirley Jackson and Stephen King as two of his main literary influences. While
shelf-awareness.com
From @bookreporter.bsky.social my review of CHECKMATE: Genius, Lies, Ambition, and the Biggest Scandal in Chess: www.bookreporter.com/reviews/chec... @grandcentralpub.bsky.social
Checkmate: Genius, Lies, Ambition, and the Biggest Scandal in Chess | Bookreporter.com
In September 2022, the unthinkable happened: 19-year-old American chess prodigy Hans Niemann defeated world champion Magnus Carlsen in a stunning face-to-face match. Within days, Carlsen accused Niema...
bookreporter.com
From @shelf-awareness.com my review of Lee Kuhnle and Nathan Radke’s valuable study, UNCOVER UP: How to Think Clearly in an Age of Conspiracies: www.shelf-awareness.com/theshelf/202... @ecwpress.bsky.social
Review: Uncover Up: How to Think Clearly in an Age of Conspiracies
Ever since humans began living in groups, conspiracy theories have been a fact of social life, but since the rise of the Internet and the birth
shelf-awareness.com
“The subject hardened into a public posture, like a pigeon- stained statue of a forgotten general.” Ian McEwan, WHAT WE CAN KNOW #sundaysentence
From @bookreporter.bsky.social my review of Tom Coyne’s A COURSE CALLED HOME: Adventures of an Accidental Golf Course Owner: www.bookreporter.com/reviews/a-co... @avidreaderpress.bsky.social
A Course Called Home: Adventures of an Accidental Golf Course Owner | Bookreporter.com
Tom Coyne, the New York Times bestselling author of A COURSE CALLED AMERICA and numerous other contemporary classics of golf literature, has spent his career traveling the world and playing legendary ...
bookreporter.com
From @readbookpage.bsky.social my review of @matthaig.bsky.social’s latest novel, THE MIDNIGHT TRAIN: www.bookpage.com/reviews/the-...
Book review of The Midnight Train by Matt Haig
The Midnight Train poses questions about what it means to live a good life through the heartfelt story of one man’s failures and successes
bookpage.com
“He was an up-for-anything character who wore his life like a loose-fitting shirt, very much like the baggy white T-shirt he was donning today that read: I CAME, I SAW, I SAT DOWN. Tom Coyne, A COURSE CALLED HOME: Adventures of an Accidental Golf Course Owner #sundaysentence
From @shelf-awareness.com my review of the astonishing CATCH THE DEVIL: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast: www.shelf-awareness.com/theshelf/202... by @pamelacolloff.bsky.social @aaknopf.bsky.social
shelf-awareness.com
"I must drag my ignorance around on my back like a wet coat." Helen Garner, "A Thousand Miles from the Ocean." STORIES #sundaysentence
From @bookreporter.bsky.social my review of Siri Hustvedt’s memoir of her husband Paul Auster, GHOST STORIES: www.bookreporter.com/reviews/ghos...
Ghost Stories: A Memoir | Bookreporter.com
GHOST STORIES is an intimate meditation on grief, memory and enduring love, written after the death of Siri Hustvedt’s husband, Paul Auster. The book includes personal, never-before-seen writing by Au...
bookreporter.com
“We are earmarked, each and all of us, she thought, for the great slaughterhouse of time, and know no more than these poor beasts do when or where or how the killing blow will fall.” Liam Higginson, THE HILL IN THE DARK GROVE #sundaysentence
Donald Trump every single day: "Here's a definitive statement that contradicts my definitive statement from yesterday and which won't be true tomorrow. Also, it's a lie."
From @BookPage my review of Booker Prize winner (SHUGGIE BAIN) Douglas Stuart’s new novel, JOHN OF JOHN: www.bookpage.com/reviews/john... @groveatlantic.bsky.social
Book review of John of John by Douglas Stuart
Douglas Stuart’s carefully carved sentences, which brim with acute observations and occasional sharp humor, make John of John a joy to read.
bookpage.com
“We all die, but only some of us know our lives could end soon.” Siri Hustvedt, GHOST STORIES: A Memoir #sundaysentence
From @bookreporter.bsky.social my review of Tom Perrotta’s latest novel, GHOST TOWN: www.bookreporter.com/reviews/ghos... @scribnerbooks.bsky.social
bookreporter.com
“If all stories are fiction, fiction can be true—not in detail or fact, but in some transformed version of feeling.” Jayne Anne Phillips, SMALL TOWN GIRLS #sundaysentence
If we’re talking about expelling people from government for sexual assault there’s an important one that needs to go…
