nomadreader

The backstory: Elizabeth Crane is the lone author who has had a place on my list of favorite writers without writing a novel. Until now. I've read and adored all three of her short story collections: When the Messenger Is Hot, All This Heavenly Glory , and  You Must Be This Happy to Enter ( my review ). The basics: We Only Know So Much  is the story of the Copeland family: 98-year-old Vivian; her son Theodore, whose memory is quickly fading; his son Gordon, who incessantly quotes Wikipedia; his wife, Jean, who is having an affair with a man in her book club; their daughter Priscilla, who is a self-absorbed teenager who dreams of being on reality tv; and their son Otis, who is nine and smart beyond his years. These four generations of Copelands all live in the same house. They share little else besides their obliviousness for one another. My thoughts: As a reader, I often hear others exclaim, "the book was so good I didn't want it to end!" I've rarely shared th...

The backstory: After reading and loving Alafair Burke's stand alone novel, Long Gone  ( my review ), I knew I wanted to read all of her novels. The basics: Judgment Calls is the first in Burke's Samantha Kincaid series. Kincaid is a prosecutor in Portland, Oregon, as Burke was when she wrote this novel. My thoughts: This novel begins as a legal procedural. As someone fascinated by the law and its differences, hearing about the legal system in Portland, Oregon was intriguing. Burke shared details to enhance the reader's understanding of the law, and these details added depth and nuance to the mysteries at the center of this novel: "The law requires mandatory minimum sentences for the most violent felonies. Not surprisingly, once Measure 11 defendants figured out they were facing long minimum sentences upon conviction, whether they pled out or not, they stopped pleading guilty and started rolling the dice at trial. As a result, the DA's office stopped filing ch...

The backstory: Island of Wings , the debut novel by Karin Altenberg, was on the 2012 Orange Prize longlist. The basics: Neil Mackenzie, a young minister, and his new wife Lizzie move to the remote island of St. Kilda in 1830. This passage from the first few pages sets the stage beautifully: "Mr. Bethune said gleefully. 'There is no other place in the Empire as remote as St. Kilda, and the inhabitant are as savage as the naked blacks in the King's territories in Australia. I know nothing of their faith, but I tell you this: I'm happy as long as they pay their taxes so that my Lord of the Isles can sleep well in a feather bed.'" My thoughts: On days like this one, when the temperature will be near 100 degrees, I often joke I would not make a good pioneer woman. Thanks to Island of Wings , I can now also say, I would not make a good minister's wife in 1830's St. Kilda. Fiction transports us to different times and places, but I found with this novel, ...

The backstory: After reading and enjoying the first Stewart O'Nan novel I read, The Odds: A Love Story  ( my review ), I knew I wanted to read more of his work. When Ti at Book Chatter reviewed this one , it jumped to the top of my pile. The basics: It's the last night this Red Lobster next to a mall in Connecticut will be open. Christmas is a few days away, it's snowing heavily, and only five of the employees are coming with Manny, the general manager, as he transitions to assistant manager at the Olive Garden in nearby Bristol. My thoughts: I spent five years working full-time in restaurants and nearly as many working part-time in restaurants. Mr. Nomadreader and I met while we working at the same restaurant ( Murphy's , a winebar in Atlanta for those who are interested.) During my too-long stint in the corporate chain restaurant world, I managed to hold just about every job in the restaurant except, blessedly, the salad bar attendant. I didn't work in the Dar...

The backstory: Two years ago I read and enjoyed The Financial Lives of Poets  by Jess Walter ( my review. ) When I was at the American Library Association's Midwinter conference in January, the fantastic ladies of Harper Collins' library marketing department alerted me to this new novel, which is dramatically different from The Financial Lives of Poets. The basics: Spanning from Italy in the 1960's to present day Los Angeles , the story in Beautiful Ruins  begins on the film set of Cleopatra  in Rome. Young American actress Dee Moray arrives at the isolated Italian city of Portovergogna and at The Hotel Adequate View, a small inn run by Pasquale, a young Italian man whose father has just died. Fast forward fifty years to Los Angeles and Claire is a production assistant for Michael Deane, an aging Hollywood producer. My thoughts: It would be too simple to say this novel gets better the farther you get in it, but that is partially true. As it did in The Financial Live...

The backstory: An Unmarked Grave  is the fourth title in the Bess Crawford historical mystery series by mother and son writing team Charles Todd. I've reviewed the first three titles in this series: A Duty to the Dead , An Impartial Witness , and A Bitter Truth . The basics: The novel opens in France in the spring of 1918 when the Spanish influenza is killing many on the front lines. When a private discovers an extra body in the shed, Bess once again finds herself in the middle of a murder mystery. My thoughts: One of the things I love most about this series is the character of Bess Crawford. She is both innocent and experienced. She's confident and bold, yet her behavior conforms to the societal norms of her times. Despite being mysteries set in the war, there is a gentleness to this series as Bess is a nurse not a constable. In many ways, then, An Unmarked Grave  surprised me. Almost all of the action takes place in France, where both the front lines and Spanish influe...

The backstory: Gone Girl  is Gillian Flynn's third novel. Update: it was longlisted for the 2013 Women's Prize for Fiction . The basics: Nick and Amy are unhappily married. On the morning of their fifth anniversary, Amy disappears. Flynn tells their story in alternating chapters of Nick's reaction to Amy's disappearance, and his role as a suspect, and sections from Amy's diary stretching from their meeting to present day. My thoughts: Gone Girl  is a novel best enjoyed when you read it knowing little. Watching this story unfold was as thrilling as the story itself. As suspenseful and intriguing as the plot was, I was also enamored with Flynn's writing. She masterfully builds these characters as both deeply flawed and understandable. Telling the story in alternating voices, but in different times, provided the reader with historical perspective on the couple, a sense of their today, and insight into both of them and the different ways they viewed their marria...

Happy June! I am coming off an incredibly satisfying reading month in terms of total books read: I managed to finish  fourteen(!)  books in May, which leaves me one short of fifty books for the year. I'm hoping to finish Gillian Flynn's  Gone Girl  tonight. Here's how my reading panned out: The excellent (rated 4.5 stars and higher): Run  by Ann Patchett ( my review ) I Am Forbidden  by Anouk Markovits ( my review ) New Finnish Grammar  by Diego Marani ( my review ) I Wish I Had a Red Dress  by Pearl Cleage ( my review) Long Gone  by Alafair Burke ( my review ) The good (rated 4 stars): Half Blood Blues  by Esi Edugyan ( my review ) The Sealed Letter  by Emma Donoghue ( my review ) Perla  by Carolina De Robertis ( my review ) Alice  by Judith Hermann ( my review ) The Flying Man  by Roopa Farooki ( my review ) The disappointing (rated less than 4 stars): Tides of War  by Stella T...