I think Lisa Genova is a fascinating author. With a PhD in neuroscience, she writes novels with characters who suffer from some form of brain disease. Her breakthrough novel was Still Alice, and if you haven’t read it (even if you have seen the movie), I highly recommend that you read it.
Every once in a while, I like to read a classic novel that I feel I should have read, but haven’t. Especially when I can pick it up for a few bucks at a library sale! And although I enjoyed my trip to Victorian-era New York, I was expecting more from the first novel by a woman ever to win the Pulitzer Prize. For example, that it might have a female protagonist…
After recently reading the wonderful Jane Austen Book Club, I decided to re-read (or read for the first time) all of Jane Austen’s books. Critics agree that one of the reasons for Austen’s continued popularity is her stunning ability to accurately portray the manners of her time. I think that Anna Quindlen has a similar ability.
Having read about this National Book Award winner, I knew it was the story of a family making a road trip to pick up their father as he is released from prison. What I didn’t know is that the book is set in Mississippi, the mother is a young black woman, the inmate is a young white man and their two children and her best friend make the long road trip with her. The writing is gorgeous.
It wasn’t until I got to the end of this book that I realized how it came to be. My assumption was that Goodwin wrote the novel and then was asked to turn it into a mini-series. Come to find out, she was writing the mini-series when someone suggested to her that she should novelize her scripts and sell that too. I mention this because, if you have seen the BBC/PBS mini-series, you probably don’t need to bother reading the book.
This debut novel by a young Cree woman was the first I’ve read by a First Nations author. It has been widely praised and publicized in Canada, and has been on my reading list for quite some time. I think, if you are open to her writing style, and a more metaphorical subject matter, this book might just break your heart and give you hope.
My wonderful husband gave me The Vineyard for Christmas based on the fact that we both love all things wine-related, and the back of the book mentions a love story. And although these qualifications are more than enough for me to read something (as a youngster I would pick anything with a pink cover), neither the vineyard nor the love story showed up until the final third of the book. That warning aside, I enjoyed The Vineyard, though it took a while for me to warm up to it.
Anyone who has read Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In knows that she writes well and has a compelling story to tell. Anyone who has read Adam Grant’sOriginals or Give and Take knows that he also has an interesting set of beliefs and is able to articulate them clearly. When these two successful authors teamed up to write Option B, it’s no wonder the resulting book is a real knock-out.
This was a fascinating book to read while eight months pregnant, though I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t be captivated by such a compact and beautiful narrative. The central topic is a young woman desperate for a child, and all that ensues as she struggles to conceive.
I saw Andrew Forsthoefel speak at Wellesley College last year at one of their semi-annual Authors on Stage presentations – where three authors talk about their latest books – always a treat! He held me captivated as he explained the genesis of the idea of walking across the US (and then writing his book): a combination of graduating from college without being sure what direction he wanted to take in life and looking for more meaning in the life he led.
This was my first Zadie Smith experience, and I plan to read as much of her as I can as soon as possible! Her books are split almost evenly between fiction and essays which is unusual, and makes me even more eager to get inside her mind.
The Sellout has been on my reading list for a while now, not only by recommendation, but also because it won Beatty the Man Booker Prize, the first time an American had done so. I began with high expectations and was nearly stopped in my tracks by the prologue. Here Beatty’s roots as a slam poet are on full display, and without much plot to grab onto, the reader is thrown hundreds of references in a giant swirl of politics.
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane will transport you to another place and time. The novel opens in a remote, tiny village in a mountainous part of China, where extended families live in community with their neighbors, all of whom pick, dry and sell tea just as their ancestors did. Li-yan, our adolescent main character, introduces us to her people’s way of life – their customs, rituals and beliefs.
After reading Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng's second novel, I have officially added her to my "must read any new book" list. I so enjoyed her first novel, Everything I Never Told You, that I was excited to see if her sophomore work could measure up. And it does! This book is wonderful!
This book is disturbing, I am not going to sugar-coat it. That said, I highly recommend it. Told from an ever-changing perspective, All The Ugly And Wonderful Things drops you into life in the rural southwest, and introduces you to a world where morals, rules and even laws depend on who is speaking and to whom.
David Litt’s Thanks, Obama will charm and entertain you from start to finish. With his self-deprecating humor, Litt relates his amazing story of becoming one of the youngest White House speechwriters in history.
As most of my family know, I have made it my goal since moving to Canada almost three years ago, to read more Canadian fiction. I like getting a sense of the country’s history without actually having to read a history book. So I was excited to receive Clara Callan, a winner of the Governor Generals Award, for Christmas this year.
What goodness for Claire Messud, who consistently writes fabulous novels. Her latest, The Burning Girl, is no exception. In fact, I’m not sure how I managed to omit her from my list in December’s L & L Review of authors who I race to read whenever they publish new books.
I loved this book and am so grateful to my friend Jane for recommending it! Described as having the atmosphere of a “noir thriller,” Manhattan Beach follows the life of Anna Kerrigan, from when she is a little girl and tagging along with her beloved father on some questionable business deals, through his disappearance when she is 12-years-old.
I don’t read a lot of memoirs, and although we have about a million cookbooks on our shelves, I don’t spend a lot of time reading them either. But Stir manages to combine the two genres effectively and engagingly to create this quick-read book about healing, home and how our food defines us.
