If Herman Koch is the master at writing all the unpleasant things we might think about our fellow man, then Maria Semple is the heart behind the tough things we think about ourselves. In her newest novel, Today Will Be Different, that angst is directed at not being nice enough and not being present in life. Every day. All day. It’s a tall order, but one Eleanor Flood is ... Read More...
Invincible Summer
Less than a quarter of the way into Invincible Summer and I realize why the novel feels so comfortable—I’ve superimposed the characters from Four Weddings and Funeral over the ones Alice Adams creates. This is not a bad thing because the story is not derivative, but you do have a small, tightly knit, British group of friends who get together once a year, not for ... Read More...
Imagine Me Gone
Imagine Me Gone is a novel of family, characters, beginning with a woman who marries a man she knows has a problem she can’t fix or help him overcome. In 1963 Margaret marries John, despite his having been hospitalized for a severe depressive episode shortly before their marriage. With prose that is wondrously intelligent, funny and painful Adam Haslett traverses one ... Read More...
A God in Ruins
In her new novel, A God in Ruins, Kate Atkinson answers the question that arises when one is spared from death but others are not: Is my life worth it? In her previous novel Life After Life Ursula Todd is reborn back into her life for second and third chances to change history in World War II but rather than doing so on a global scale she opts for the life that allows ... Read More...
It’s Not You, It’s Me: Mini-Reviews
This month's It's Not You, It's Me is especially true because I am not really liking, much loving, anything I've read. In fact I DNFed (did not finish) 3 books in a row, which is a first for me. There are any number of bloggers who have blamed this syndrome on the novel A Little Life, which I did read and which is an incredible piece of writing that still haunts me, but I’m not ... Read More...
Midmonth Mini-Reviews
February is more than halfway gone but for the sake of brevity let's just call these midmonth mini-reviews. Three quick hits of books I've read while being waylaid with this season's mega-cold. I hope you're all reading this from a place of warmth and comfort and not the huddled against records levels of snow and below zero temperatures. Her by Harriet Lane: This ... Read More...
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