The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl
http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides_P/poe_shadow1.asp
If you have any interest in Edgar Allen Poe, this is a book to add to your collection.
When Poe died, he was considered a second-rate writer and a drunk. He was to be forgotten as quickly as possible. Mr. Pearl has an altogether different take on the situation.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
1491
1491 by Charles C. Mann
http://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm?book_number=1649
I cannot vouch for the absolute truth of every word in this book, but I can guarantee it will make you look at both the past and future differently.
What was America really like before 1492? Mr. Mann has some very interesting ideas that you never heard in school.
The Friday Night Knitting Club
The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
One of those light, easy books that leaves you feeling good and reminds you that sometimes life does give you second chances.
One of those light, easy books that leaves you feeling good and reminds you that sometimes life does give you second chances.
The Help
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
www.kathrynstockett.com/book/
Three women - one white, two black, Mississippi, early '60s.
Their lives are as different as their skin color, but their stories intermingle and make for us a fascinating book. The lessons we learn are all based on the never ending plea to look inside a person rather than to the color of their skin before making judgments. There is not a single dull page in this book.
www.kathrynstockett.com/book/
Three women - one white, two black, Mississippi, early '60s.
Their lives are as different as their skin color, but their stories intermingle and make for us a fascinating book. The lessons we learn are all based on the never ending plea to look inside a person rather than to the color of their skin before making judgments. There is not a single dull page in this book.
And the Heart Says Whatever
And the Heart Says Whatever by Emily Gould
Looking up this book on Google produced page after page of reviews, discussions, interviews. It puts the search for Faulkner to shame.
The book is a collection of essays about a twenty-something in 21st century New York City. Her experiences, her frustrations, her relationships.
I met the author at a picnic this summer and found her to be a gregarious, charming young woman. I read her book and thought I had learned something about the trials of being young in today's world.
In the end, I was troubled. I didn't think she had learned anything. I didn't think she wanted to learn anything. I believe she saw her behavior as perfectly acceptable. I suppose my inclination to think her behavior wasn't so acceptable marks me as the old woman I am quickly becoming.
I still think she's charming.
Looking up this book on Google produced page after page of reviews, discussions, interviews. It puts the search for Faulkner to shame.
The book is a collection of essays about a twenty-something in 21st century New York City. Her experiences, her frustrations, her relationships.
I met the author at a picnic this summer and found her to be a gregarious, charming young woman. I read her book and thought I had learned something about the trials of being young in today's world.
In the end, I was troubled. I didn't think she had learned anything. I didn't think she wanted to learn anything. I believe she saw her behavior as perfectly acceptable. I suppose my inclination to think her behavior wasn't so acceptable marks me as the old woman I am quickly becoming.
I still think she's charming.
Kings of the Earth
Kings of the Earth by Jon Clinch
http://www.jonclinch.com/Resources/KingsRGGb.pdf
There isn't very much pretty about this novel. It is set on the edge of civilization. It is raw, brutal. It deals with disfunctional family issues, death, suspicion, and the child who escaped and made a life for herself outside the realm of the kings.
Powerful stuff - not for the faint of heart.
http://www.jonclinch.com/Resources/KingsRGGb.pdf
There isn't very much pretty about this novel. It is set on the edge of civilization. It is raw, brutal. It deals with disfunctional family issues, death, suspicion, and the child who escaped and made a life for herself outside the realm of the kings.
Powerful stuff - not for the faint of heart.
The Lacuna
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
http://www.litlovers.com/guide_lacuna.html
I loved this book. It had two things going for it from the beginning: it was by Barbara Kingsolver and it featured two of my favorite artists.
The author follows a young boy as he makes his way through adolescence and into adulthood in the Mexico populated by the likes of Diego Rivera, Frieda Kohl, and Leon Trotsky. She draws wonderful pictures with her words, provides a background brimming with detail, and recreates her characters with integrity.
http://www.litlovers.com/guide_lacuna.html
I loved this book. It had two things going for it from the beginning: it was by Barbara Kingsolver and it featured two of my favorite artists.
The author follows a young boy as he makes his way through adolescence and into adulthood in the Mexico populated by the likes of Diego Rivera, Frieda Kohl, and Leon Trotsky. She draws wonderful pictures with her words, provides a background brimming with detail, and recreates her characters with integrity.
A Reliable Wife
A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides_r/a_reliable_wife1.asp
I really don't think this book deserved all the high praise it has received, but I do think it has some lessons to teach:
1. Be careful when choosing friends and lovers. They may not be all they appear to be. Or they may be ever so much more!
2. What goes around, comes around.
http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides_r/a_reliable_wife1.asp
I really don't think this book deserved all the high praise it has received, but I do think it has some lessons to teach:
1. Be careful when choosing friends and lovers. They may not be all they appear to be. Or they may be ever so much more!
2. What goes around, comes around.
The Walking Drum
The Walking Drum by Louis L'Amour
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walking_Drum
I did not want to read this book and would have never picked it up had it not been selected by a book club I admire and sometimes attend. After the first 50 pages, I was still baffled by their selection and without the encouragement of a friend I would have put it down without reading another page. She promised me that if I would just persevere, I would enjoy it. Yeah, right! Well, she was right.
In the end, I had more highlights in this book than in any novel I had read in many years.
Some of my favorites:
"It is only the ignorant who can be positive, only the ignorant who can become fanatics, for the more I learned the more I became aware that there are shadings and relationships in all things."
" . . . all things are timeless, and whatever lies before is only a page in what lies before that and before that."
"There is no cause worth dying for that is not better served by living."
" . . . a problem clearly defined is already half solved . . . "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walking_Drum
I did not want to read this book and would have never picked it up had it not been selected by a book club I admire and sometimes attend. After the first 50 pages, I was still baffled by their selection and without the encouragement of a friend I would have put it down without reading another page. She promised me that if I would just persevere, I would enjoy it. Yeah, right! Well, she was right.
In the end, I had more highlights in this book than in any novel I had read in many years.
Some of my favorites:
"It is only the ignorant who can be positive, only the ignorant who can become fanatics, for the more I learned the more I became aware that there are shadings and relationships in all things."
" . . . all things are timeless, and whatever lies before is only a page in what lies before that and before that."
"There is no cause worth dying for that is not better served by living."
" . . . a problem clearly defined is already half solved . . . "
Monday, August 30, 2010
The Imperfectionists
The Imperfectionists: A Novel by Tom Rachman
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/printers-row/2010/07/editors-choice-the-imperfectionists-a-novel-by-tom-rachman.html
A love story set around a struggling English language newspaper in Rome. An easy, comfortable read.
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/printers-row/2010/07/editors-choice-the-imperfectionists-a-novel-by-tom-rachman.html
A love story set around a struggling English language newspaper in Rome. An easy, comfortable read.
Half the Sky
Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
http://www.pajiba.com/book_reviews/half-the-sky-by-nicholas-d-kristof-and-sheryl-wudunn.php
Now, this was a life-changing book. I warn you that within two days of finishing the book, I had researched various charity groups working with women in Africa and made $500 donations to two of them. It will touch your heart.
http://www.pajiba.com/book_reviews/half-the-sky-by-nicholas-d-kristof-and-sheryl-wudunn.php
Now, this was a life-changing book. I warn you that within two days of finishing the book, I had researched various charity groups working with women in Africa and made $500 donations to two of them. It will touch your heart.
Going Away Shoes
Going Away Shoes by Jill McCorkle
http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v6n2/fiction/mccorkle_j/going_shoes.htm
I have a friend who writes a blog called Too Many Shoes. I thought of her when I read the first story in this collection of short stories. The mother has a closet full of dyed-to-match shoes including a pair that matched the going away dress at her wedding. She wants to be buried in them. What's not to love? The stories just get better and better.
http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v6n2/fiction/mccorkle_j/going_shoes.htm
I have a friend who writes a blog called Too Many Shoes. I thought of her when I read the first story in this collection of short stories. The mother has a closet full of dyed-to-match shoes including a pair that matched the going away dress at her wedding. She wants to be buried in them. What's not to love? The stories just get better and better.
The Glass Castle: A Memoir
The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls
http://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm?book_number=1560/The-Glass-Castle
This is a book to make you grateful for your own family no matter how weird you might think they are. Jeannette Walls wins at least one of the prizes for the family most complicated, most eccentric, and closest to the edge.
http://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm?book_number=1560/The-Glass-Castle
This is a book to make you grateful for your own family no matter how weird you might think they are. Jeannette Walls wins at least one of the prizes for the family most complicated, most eccentric, and closest to the edge.
The Devil in the White City
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/devilinthewhitecity/home.html
I have always loved Chicago and I was blessed with a father who well remembered the Chicago World's Fair, but I knew nothing of this particular slice of history until I read this book. Fascinating.
http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/devilinthewhitecity/home.html
I have always loved Chicago and I was blessed with a father who well remembered the Chicago World's Fair, but I knew nothing of this particular slice of history until I read this book. Fascinating.
Cutting for Stone
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/books/review/Wagner-t.html
http://www.thebookladysblog.com/2009/02/06/book-review-cutting-for-stone-by-abraham-verghese/
This is one of my very favorite books. I love family sagas and this is one of the best. Twins with a preternatural connection, a mother who dies in childbirth, an absent father, a shared fascination with medicine, Ethiopia, New York, revolution, power in oh so many forms, and intimacy in just as many. Powerful. I promise it will make you think!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/books/review/Wagner-t.html
http://www.thebookladysblog.com/2009/02/06/book-review-cutting-for-stone-by-abraham-verghese/
This is one of my very favorite books. I love family sagas and this is one of the best. Twins with a preternatural connection, a mother who dies in childbirth, an absent father, a shared fascination with medicine, Ethiopia, New York, revolution, power in oh so many forms, and intimacy in just as many. Powerful. I promise it will make you think!
Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility
Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility by Ellen J. Langer
http://wisdomresearch.org/blogs/publications/archive/2009/05/08/counterclockwise-mindful-health-and-the-power-of-possibility.aspx
Instead of dwelling on the impossible, consider what could be possible - if only we believed. Fascinating read!
http://wisdomresearch.org/blogs/publications/archive/2009/05/08/counterclockwise-mindful-health-and-the-power-of-possibility.aspx
Instead of dwelling on the impossible, consider what could be possible - if only we believed. Fascinating read!
Cane River
Cane River by Lalita Tademy
http://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm?book_number=803
What a disappointment. This book could have been so much more. I understand the book is based on the author's family history, but it could have been so much more compelling and life changing. I wish she would rewrite the book.
http://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm?book_number=803
What a disappointment. This book could have been so much more. I understand the book is based on the author's family history, but it could have been so much more compelling and life changing. I wish she would rewrite the book.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brief_Wondrous_Life_of_Oscar_Wao
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/297673.The_Brief_Wondrous_Life_of_Oscar_Wao
One weird book. Oscar is weird. His family is weird. They have this weird fuku curse that follows them everywhere they go, placing insurmountable obstacles in their path. Weird or not, I learned a lot about Dominican-American history and about the will to survive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brief_Wondrous_Life_of_Oscar_Wao
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/297673.The_Brief_Wondrous_Life_of_Oscar_Wao
One weird book. Oscar is weird. His family is weird. They have this weird fuku curse that follows them everywhere they go, placing insurmountable obstacles in their path. Weird or not, I learned a lot about Dominican-American history and about the will to survive.
Born to Run
Born to Run by Christopher Mcdougall
http://knopf.knopfdoubleday.com/2009/05/05/born-to-run-by-chris/
I am not a runner. For Heaven's sake, I'm barely a walker. However, my brother who is a runner and knows I am not recommended the book and told me I would enjoy it even if I couldn't stand up. I found the book fascinating. It brought home with a powerful punch how easy it is to misread our history, our development as a species, even our own bodies.
This book should be of special interest to anyone interested in the Tarahumara Indians.
http://knopf.knopfdoubleday.com/2009/05/05/born-to-run-by-chris/
I am not a runner. For Heaven's sake, I'm barely a walker. However, my brother who is a runner and knows I am not recommended the book and told me I would enjoy it even if I couldn't stand up. I found the book fascinating. It brought home with a powerful punch how easy it is to misread our history, our development as a species, even our own bodies.
This book should be of special interest to anyone interested in the Tarahumara Indians.
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