On Wednesday we officially hit the midwinter mark. Hurray! I’m halfway through my first Midwestern winter and it’s not so bad. Of course, by saying that I’m just asking for trouble. Unfortunately, while the weather has been cooperating, my reading has not. I’ve finished a number of books I discussed on my episode of Sarah’s podcast and in my own Winter Preview post and the ... Read More...
Tomato Girl by Jayne Pupek
Ellie’s life has never been what you’d call normal. Her mother is unusually high strung, enough so that having people over to the house or going out as a family is not feasible. But her father is the best father in the world. He works in the general store nearby and 11-year-old Ellie goes by every day after school to help him. When her mother gets pregnant everyone is happy. ... Read More...
The Van Apfel Girls are Gone
I’ve recently learned something about my reading taste—which is kind of awesome after seven years of writing reviews. Here it is: I enjoy ambiguity but not in anything purported to have a mystery component. I can be even more specific. If young girls disappearing are the principle premise of the story, then I need to know, for better or worse, what happened to them. Don’t give ... Read More...
A People’s History of Heaven
It’s funny, being a girl. That thing that’s supposed to push you down, defeat you, shove you back, back, and further back still? Turn it the right way, and it’ll push you forward instead. A People’s History of Heaven was one of my winter picks. It’s set in a 30-year-old slum called Heaven in Bangalore, India and centers around the lives of five young girls: Banu, Padma, Joy, ... Read More...
Sugar Run by Mesha Maren
Jodi has dealt with feeling unwanted and out of place for most of her life. As a little girl her parents decided she was best off being raised by her grandmother on a remote farm in the Appalachians of West Virginia. Later, as a teen she fell deeply in love with a woman who had a knack for playing poker and dangerous behavior. There’s passion, but the feeling is never quite ... Read More...
The Current by Tim Johnston
What begins as a novel about a car going into a frigid river and only one of the occupants making it out alive turns into a multi-layered story about a small Minnesota town and how the past doesn’t always stay in the past. Audrey is the girl who survives the crash that killed her friend, but she is still faced with seeing her father in his final days as he’s dying of cancer. A ... Read More...
