For me to pick up a book of short stories to read -- when it hasn’t been selected by one or another of my book clubs -- is unusual, to say the least. I must have received some sort of silent signal that this collection was going to knock my socks off. Curtis Sittenfeld wrote the books Prep andEligible, both great reads. I share with you now that she also writes great short stories.
H Is for Hawk appeared on many “best books of the year” lists for 2015 and it’s been on my “must read” list since then. I want to spare all of you any further delay: pick up this book today and read it. It is an absolute treasure! I can honestly state that I’ve never read anything quite like it.
Unbelievable was recommended to me by a friend and frankly, I wasn’t sure I wanted to read it. Don’t get me wrong. I happily spend many an evening glued to MSNBC, following Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow. But, the idea of using my leisure time reading about Donald Trump’s successful presidential campaign run seemed potentially anxiety-producing, rather than pleasant. I decided to try it though, and I am delighted that I did.
I found it funny how many people, when they saw the cover of American Pastoral over the weeks that I was reading it, stopped me and said, ‘Oh, that is one of my favorite books!’ It sparked a great conversation about other Roth books with my mom, in which I realized I have only read one other,Indignation.
I know I am a bit late to the party, but I LOVED this book! Honestly, all this time it’s been on my to-read list, I thought it was non-fiction. So I was thrilled to discover a smart, funny novel so full of love and thoughtfulness.
If I weren’t a member of the Boston area Bates College Alumna Book Club, I might never have found One Goal, a true gem. Written by a Bates alumna, One Goal tells the story of the Lewiston High School men’s soccer team’s quest for a 2015 state championship with a team composed mainly of Somali immigrants that had settled in the Maine town.
Neither my mom nor I read, or review much non-fiction, and for me part of my avoidance is that when I read non-fiction, I feel like I’m going to be tested. I get stressed like I have to remember all the facts and figures being thrown at me. But this book is incredible, and never once did I feel lost in a sea of statistics.
Anne Tyler has written more than 20 novels and after reading Clock Dance, I’m wondering why I haven’t read more of them. This is a quick and easy read with a really good story line.
For me The Alchemist is the perfect example of that category of books—super famous, oft-quoted but that I only pretend to have read. Embarrassing confession: I actually read a passage from The Alchemist at my brother and sister-in-law’s wedding without having read the book. But now I have and I need hide my ignorance no longer!
In reading a first lady’s memoir you might expect descriptions, perhaps some even heartfelt, about what it was really like spending four, or maybe eight, years in the White House. Michelle Obama delivers that, hands down. But, in addition she offers her readers much, much more.
One gauge of a great book, I believe, is how long it stays with you after you’ve finished reading it. Another is how many excerpts you read out loud to your significant other. A third is how many times you talk about it with everyone you know who likes to read. A fourth is how many times you recommend it to your friends and family. By all these standards, Lab Girl is a great read.
If you are looking for an absorbing read about lives falling apart, look no further. Set in a small town in Connecticut, the book begins with a beloved teacher and town hero being accused of sexual misconduct by several of his teenage students. He is arrested and held without bail until his trial.
Stephen King is not one of my go-to authors. I read The Shining way back when I was in college and decided that scaring myself silly wasn’t really my idea of a good read. That probably explains why I was totally unaware that King had published a prize-winning novel of a different sort that puts a man in the position to alter history by traveling back to 1963 and trying to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
One good thing about having a long reading list, is sometimes by the time I get around to reading a book, the buzz has subsided and I can’t remember what all the fuss was about. I feel like I came to Go Set A Watchman with almost no preconceived notions except that I remembered that Harper Lee had written To Kill A Mockingbird, which I haven’t read since I was 12.
I read this book before my daughter Charlotte was born, and it was and remains one of my top two favorite books on parenting. I know I enjoyed it in part because there is a narrative. Rather than being an endless list of charts and data, Druckerman tells her own story about raising her three children. But she is a journalist, and so she supplements her experience with interviews and data, and even a few charts!
Unsheltered is the best book I’ve read in a very long time! I can’t recommend it highly enough. Barbara Kingsolver is a master storyteller who creates sympathetic characters. Her dialogue is as realistic and believable as any I’ve ever read.
Psychological thriller is not a genre I gravitate toward with any regularity. So when my Bates Boston Alumna book club selected The Woman in the Windowas one of our reads, I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy it. Well, it is a page-turner and a book that you will have a very hard time putting down until you’ve figured out all the story’s twists and turns.
I know I review a lot of historical fiction, and I am currently pushing myself to read The Emperor of All Maladies (a tome about cancer) because I couldn’t remember the last non-fiction, non-memoir I had read. However, I couldn’t notreview The Marriage of Opposites, because I LOVED it!
At the other end of the spectrum of writing, this suspenseful beach read will keep you turning the pages with ease.
Continuing this month’s theme (for me) of books that ended up surprising me, I heartily recommend News of The World. From the opening pages, I loved Jiles’ writing style. In fact, the author description on the jacket lists her first as a poet, second as a memoirist and third as a novelist. Her use of language is gorgeous--very poetic and very cinematic. The pace of the novel was where I had difficulty.
