nomadreader

The basics: The Epilogue  is a photographic and mixed media exploration of Cammy Robinson's life and death from bulimia, as well as how her family handles their grief at her death. My thoughts: The Epilogue  is unlike any book I've ever read. At first glance, it's a big, beautiful book. The cover is (intentionally) creepy, but as I turned each page, I was fascinated by its contents and how photographer Laia Abril chose to tell Cammy's story. Inserted between some of this book's glossy pages are reproductions (that look real) of artifacts from Cammy's life, including report cards, letters, and hospital records. These objects, along with the photographs provide a mesmerizing reading experience. I didn't know what to expect when I started The Epilogue . It looked interesting and unique, but as I turned the first page, I didn't stop until I finished. I soaked this book up in a single sitting, simultaneously enjoying the reading experience and processin...

The backstory: 10:04, the second novel by poet Ben Lerner, is a 2014 New York Times  Notable Book . The basics: Told in five sections, 10:04  is an exploration of time and life through the eyes of our unnamed narrator, a poet and novelist living in Brooklyn. My thoughts: Ben Lerner grew up in Topeka, Kansas. He's one year older than I am, and we have a lot of mutual real-life Topeka friends. He then went on to Brown University, where a lot of my high school went to college. He now lives in Brooklyn, where a lot of my high school friends live. All of this is to say, this novel is somewhat autobiographical and straddles the lines between fiction and memoir. Some of my enjoyment of it can likely be traced to the descriptions of life in Topeka in the mid-1980's, when I too lived there. Even if I didn't share such experiences, however, I would love this novel. I adore the way Lerner writes. He has a poet's precision of language that is breathtaking. He writes with in...

The backstory: The Road to Wanting  was longlisted for the 2011 Orange Prize . The basics: The Road to Wanting  is the story of Na Ga, who was born in Burma but left as a child. She's now on a journey back, but she isn't going by her choice, for reasons that slowly unfold along with how she left Burma and got to where she is. My thoughts: Near the end of The Road to Wanting , I told Mr. Nomadreader it might be the most depressing book I've ever read. I'm not one to avoid depressing novels, but this one is harrowing. How many horrible things can happen to one person? Yet despite how depressing this book is, it's most depressing because Na Ga's story isn't unique. Although fictional in this sense, there are many women who endure the things she does. As I read, I learned a lot about Burma, an area about which I knew very little. There is a large Burmese refugee population in Des Moines, and I appreciated this insight into modern Burmese history. Fa...

Happy Holidays! This time of year is typically my favorite. I adore Christmas and the New Year, and I cherish the two weeks off working in academia affords me. But this year, I never really got into Christmas. I can't quite believe it's already over, and it never even felt like Christmas to me. I am enjoying my time off of work, but spending all day with Hawthorne cuts into my typical end-of-year binge reading time (he's worth it though!) One of the highlights of having a baby is dressing him (or her) up in silly outfits, right? I had fun dressing up our little Santa on Christmas morning: The photo shoot dragged on a little long for his taste: But once dressed in his festive daywear, all was right with his world again: Sadly, I did not manage to get a good picture of his shirt before he spit up, as his feet are the most interesting things in the world. It also featured a reindeer and the tagline "no mistletoe required."  2014 Book Buck...

The basics: Set on a wintry day in an unnamed eastern European city, The Apartment  is the story of an American expat looking for an apartment with the help of local Saskia. My thoughts: The Apartment  has so much I love: a European setting, a mysterious expat, a narrator who is clearly withholding information, and a setting of a single day in the life (with a length making it possible to read in a single setting.) And Beth loved it . Sadly, I didn't. I had trouble connecting to the narrative and I never quite bought in to the novel itself. It felt forced. When the narrator withheld information, I wanted to be wowed as the truths were slowly revealed. Instead of feeling mysterious, I felt Baxter trying too hard behind the scenes. Instead of feeling like I was exploring this city along with the narrator and Saskia, I never felt they were real people. I found the character of Saskia particularly troubling, as she felt like a caricature of a person rather than a real person....

narrated by Cassandra Campbell The backstory: Everything I Never Told You , Celeste Ng's first novel, is a 2014 New York Times  Notable Book . My thoughts: I had an e-galley of this book that I didn't get to this summer (when I was very, very pregnant.) When Amazon named it the best book of 2014, I knew I had to start it immediately. Thankfully, the week before, Ford had picked it for the next free audiobook in the Ford Audiobook Club (If you're on GoodReads and haven't joined this group--do. A free audiobook about once a month? So fun! The current pick, Tim Curry's narration of A Christmas Carol , is next in my audio queue.) I ended up listening to this one rather than reading it, and I'm so glad I did (although it's probably also lovely in print.) Beginning with the lines "Lydia is dead. But they don't know this yet..." firmly entrenches the reader in the narrative of this family. As the title indicates, they have their share of thin...

The backstory: May We Be Forgiven  won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2013. The basics: May We Be Forgiven is the story of the very dysfunctional Silver family. Its main character is Harold, a Nixon scholar and adjunct professor. His brother George has an enviable career, life and family. My thoughts: The opening pages of May We Be Forgiven  are a literary tour de force. Homes packs so much into its first fifty pages, and I was reading with delight, shock and awe. 'If this much has already happened,' I mused, 'where will the next 400 pages take me'? Sadly, Homes did not capitalize enough on the momentum she creates in the novel's first section. I read this novel relatively quickly and excitedly, but as I neared to the last 100 pages or so, I just wanted it to be over. I was no longer enjoying the story, which seemed by then to be an unnecessary sequel of a hit. Over all, May We Be Forgiven  is a curious book. It is unquestionably brilliant at times....

The basics: Texts from Jane Eyre: And Other Conversations with Your Favorite Literary Characters  is a humorous take on classic literature. Ortberg humorously imagines interactions between classic characters through text message. My thoughts: I have not read many classics, but I am moderately familiar with many, many classics. And even with the classics I was not as familiar (ahem, Daisy Miller), it was still easy enough to get the jokes. I found this book best to read in short spurts because I find text speak annoying and intolerable in large doses. Yes, I use complete sentences and proper punctuation in text messages, but I have fallen hard for emojis. And it is funny. It's sometimes silly funny and sometimes smart funny. It stretches from ancient Greece ( Medea ) to modern childhood favorites ( The Baby-Sitters Club  and Sweet Valley High ). Reading it made me feel super smart, because I almost always got the jokes. The verdict: Texts From Jane Eyre  is a fun...

The backstory: Keeping Up with Magda , Isla Dewar's first novel, was longlisted for the Orange Prize (now Bailey's Prize) in 1996. The basics: Jessie Tate walks away from her life and husband in Edinburgh. She ends up in Mareth, a small Scottish fishing village, and stays. She rents an apartment above The Ocean Cafe, which is run by the titular Magda. My thoughts: I'm quite drawn to tales of small town life, as well as stories of characters, particularly women, traveling to a town and starting a new life. So Keeping Up with Magda  was right up my alley, yet it was so much more than I expected. While at times it is a quiet novel about a town and its inhabitants, it also was much deeper and darker than I expected. Jessie's journey to Mareth is not one of a woman searching for something new because she can; her journey begins because of a devastating event in her life. While I laughed and smiled as I read, I also winced. Dewar's characters are flawed people wh...

The backstory: I've read and loved all of Alafair Burke's mysteries , so I was eager to read The Cinderella Murder, her first collaboration (and first in a new series) with Mary Higgins Clark, a prolific mystery author whose work I have never read. The basics: The Cinderella Murder  is the first in a new series entitled Under Suspicion. Under Suspicion is a news special focused on unsolved cold cases. Although this is the first in the series, the production crew characters were featured in Higgins Clark's previous novel, I've Got You Under My Skin . This review, and the book itself, contains spoilers from I've Got You Under My Skin. My thoughts: There are two main storylines in this mystery: the murder of Susan Dempsey twenty years ago and Laurie Moran's continued recovery after her husband's death and the death of his killer. Perhaps because I had not read I've Got You Under My Skin , I enjoyed Laurie's personal storyline much less. I didn...

The backstory: When Mystical Creatures Attack! won the Iowa Short Fiction Award and is 2014 New York Times Notable book . The basics:  "Told through high school class assignments, letters, emails, private journal entries, school literary magazine submissions, advice column blog posts, and psychiatric wellness reports, the 25 linked stories in this debut collection beautifully sketch the lives of residents of a small South Texas town."- Publishers Weekly My thoughts: First: whoever called this book a short story collection has a very, very narrow view of what a novel is. To me, linked stories may share characters and settings, either across some stories or all. When Mystical Creatures Attack! has three main characters, and one of each is the main character in each story (I would say chapter.) It's certainly not a traditional novel, as the description indicates. It doesn't unfold in a chronological narrative. But, to me, it's definitely a novel, even if man...

The nomadbaby turned four months old yesterday. Four months! All three of us are very excited by this development, even if the littlest one less understands the milestone than that he can do so many more things than he could at three months. And that everything around him is Just. So. Exciting. The near constant delight he expresses is awesome to watch. His more and more epic meltdowns as he fights sleep to keep experiencing things are less awesome, but he is still a baby after all. Even if he thinks he can stand up tall: The Holidays We are gearing up for a low-key Christmas in town. I have one more week of work, then two relaxing weeks off. If only Mr. Nomadreader worked in academia too--that would be glorious! Hawthorne and I are flying to Atlanta to celebrate the New Year. If you have tips for traveling (alone) with four-and-a-half-month olds, especially those who only drink from bottles, please share . I am immensely grateful for best friends with tons of airline miles...

I keep running across articles this week that have me frantically adding to my TBR. It's such a great time of year for Internet writing. Here are some of the things that caught my eye this week. I share them here to both remind myself of them and to make sure you saw them too. The Millions Year in Reading is perhaps my favorite end of the year round up, and this year seems especially good. Yelena Akhtiorskaya's entry   achieved the rare trifecta. After I finished, I tracked down copies of both books she mentions, neither of which I had ever heard of, The Princess of 72nd Street  by Elaine Kraf and Zoo, or Letters Not About Love  by Victor Shklovsky, via my library and moved her debut novel, Panic in a Suitcase  up my TBR. It was recently named a 2014 New York Times  Notable Book , and I'm even more excited to read it now. It was already one of my favorite covers of the year, even though I try to wait to evaluate covers after I've read the book. Great...

The backstory: When the Emperor Was Divine , Julie Otsuka's first novel, was longlisted for the 2003 Orange Prize (now known as the Bailey's Prize.) I previously enjoyed Otsuka's second novel, The Buddha in the Attic . The basics: Set during World War II, When The Emperor Was Divine  is the story of a Japanese-American family living in Berkeley, California. The novel begins with the mother reading a notice about Japanese internment camp, and she begins packing her possessions, and those of her children. My thoughts: Julie Otsuka's prose is sparse and haunting. She manages the ultimate storytelling: she shows more than she tells. You won't find lengthy descriptions of people's feelings here. You won't even find the word interment camp. Otsuka dumps the reader immediately into the story without providing many orienting details. In this sense, the reader shares the confusion of the children, Those who are familiar with this time period will clearly know ...

The backstory: Rage Against the Dying  is Becky Masterman's first mystery. It introduces former FBI agent Brigid Quinn. It was a finalist for almost every mystery award last year: Edgar (Best First Novel), Macavity (Best First Mystery), Barry (Best First Novel), Anthony  (Best First Novel), and CWA Dagger ( Gold Dagger shortlist and John Creasey Dagger longlist ). The basics: Brigid Quinn is fifty-nine. She was forced into early retirement from the FBI and now lives with her husband, from whom she hides as much as possible about her FBI life, and their two dogs, in Tucson. When a man confesses to the unsolved murder of Brigid's protegee, the current case agent brings her back in to consult on the case. My thoughts: It's a well-known trope that the first mystery in a series will feature a case very close to the main character. Too often this trope is met with too many coincidences, but in Rage Against the Dying , it doesn't feel like a trope at all. Because the...

The basics: Sous Chef: 24 Hours on the Line  is Michael Gibney's memoir of sorts. It's a window into the world as a sous chef in a high-end Manhattan restaurant kitchen. As the title indicates, Gibney tells the story as though it's a single twenty-four hours. My thoughts: I spent many years working in restaurants, as a server and a bartender. I worked at chain restaurants and midscale local restaurants. Mr. Nomadreader and I met when we were both servers at Murphy's , a fabulous Atlanta neighborhood wine bar. Part of me still misses the restaurant life. I learned so much about food, wine, beer, and booze working in restaurants. I learned about cooking. I met fabulous people, both customers and my fellow workers. So while I'm always intrigued by books about the restaurant business, I've read enough clunkers to know I'm not the desired audience for books that shine a light on the business. Sous Chef  does shine a light on the restaurant business, particu...

The backstory: Curtis Sittenfeld may be my favorite writer. She's definitely my soul sister. American Wife , her third novel, is my favorite novel . It's the first one I gave 6 stars out of 5 to (it's that good.) Her most recent novel, Sisterland , was one of my favorite reads of 2013 . What to do in the absence of a new Curtis Sittenfeld novel than to read her earlier works? The basics: The Man of My Dreams  is the story of Hannah, a somewhat awkward and troubled young woman. The story begins in 1991, when Hannah is 14, and it stretches to 2005. My thoughts: I avoided reading The Man of My Dreams  for many years. It seems to have a reputation as Curtis Sittenfeld's bad book. It was her sophomore slump. It's the book about which my reading friends say "I loved all her books but that one." Finally, I said, "enough is enough." I want to see for myself, and I'm so glad I did. I absolutely adored it, and I so wish I would have read it in ...

The backstory: A History of the Present Illness  was longlisted for the 2014 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize . The basics: A History of Present Ilness  is a collection of short stories, some very loosely linked with characters, that examines different aspects of the contemporary health system in San Francisco. Louise Aronson has both an M.D. (from Harvard) and an M.F.A. My thoughts: Regular readers know I am not a huge fan of short stories, but when I read them, I prefer collections to be thematically linked. Thus, the premise of A History of the Present Illness  excited me. Through these stories, Aronson beautifully explores humanity. As I read, I found myself stopping after most stories to ponder them. Aronson manages to explore many themes in these stories, and her variety was a pleasant surprise. The collection's second story, "An American Problem," tells the story of a family of Cambodian immigrants and firmly establishes the ambition of this collection: “In ...

The basics: Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina  is Misty Copeland's memoir about her surprising journey to the American Ballet Theater, where she is the first African-American soloist is twenty years (and only the third over all.) My thoughts: Despite having no dancing ability, I am a big fan of dance. Arguably the most famous current ballet dancer, and I was eager to read her memoir. Her life story is an inspiring one, but if I read it in a novel I'd dismiss it as unbelievable and hokey. Copeland famously took her first ballet class when she was thirteen, which is really late in ballet years. She discovered ballet in an unlikely place: the Boys and Girls Club. I knew those details, but I didn't realize how many other improbabilities Copeland faced. Life in Motion  is inspiring, but it's also a very sad book. Copeland doesn't shy away from the lingering racism in ballet. She opens up about the complications, financially and otherwise, of her childhood. I kn...

narrated by Mozhan Marno The backstory: A few months ago, I listened to Chris Pavone's debut thriller, The Expats , and loved it. When I saw his follow-up was also narrated by Mozhan Marno, it moved to the top of my audiobook queue. The basics: Featuring some of the same characters as The Expats, The Accident  is the story of an anonymous manuscript of the same name. The manuscript implicates many famous people and its release could have devastating consequences. The narrative begins with a publisher receiving a copy of the manuscript. Pavone intersperses key sections of the manuscript itself as the novel's events unfold. My thoughts: As a reader, book blogger and librarian, I'm pretty tuned into the business side of publishing, but The Accident  takes the reader deep into the publishing business, and it was a fascinating subplot. It's actually hard to decide which plots are subplots in this novel. There are many characters and locations, but the narrative never...

The basics: Sally Heathcote, Suffragette  tells the story of the British suffrage movement through the story of (fictional) Sally Heathcoate, who begins this graphic novel as a maid for the (real) Pankhursts. My thoughts: I have long had a fascination with the U.S. and British women's suffrage movements, and I was excited to see the British suffrage movement depicted in a graphic novel. Perhaps because I was so familiar with the key public moments depicted in this graphic novel, I was quite drawn to its art. There's a beautiful intentionality to Charlesworth's use of color. As depicted on the cover, Sally's red hair is often one of the few bursts of color in early panes. Yet as the story develops, and the different groups fighting for suffrage argue, their different colors shine brightly in the often otherwise black and white panels. The ruse of inserting a fictional character into an otherwise factual tale is typically a device I adore. In this case, Sally's ...

The basics: Unspeakable: And Other Subjects of Discussion  is a collection of essays, all written for this specific collection, that explores life and our reactions to its events. From the introduction: "I wanted to look at why we so often feel guilty or even ashamed when we don’t feel the way we’re “supposed to feel” about the big (and sometimes even small) events of our lives. I wanted to examine the ways in which so many aspects of contemporary American life—where we live, who we love, when or if we choose to settle down with a partner, what we eat, why we appreciate the art and music and literature that we do, how we expect to die and what we expect of the dying—seem to come shrink-wrapped in a layer of bathos." My thoughts:  2014 is the year I realized how much I love personal essays. Meghan Daum is an author I've followed for years, and I've always enjoyed the essays I've read in collections and periodicals. Why in the world did it take me so long to di...

Last year at Thanksgiving, I had a lot to be thankful for . But I was also somewhat frustrated and bitter. Mr. Nomadreader and I had been trying to get pregnant since April. I couldn't believe it still hadn't happened, and the holidays were imposing that sadness. We spent the year before we started trying to get pregnant enjoying "one last" everything. It was a wonderful year, and I loved every minute of it. I did not imagine I would face another Thanksgiving without a baby on the way, but there I was. "Fuck it," I said. "I wish I were pregnant, but I'm not, so let's get drunk." And I did. It was not the Thanksgiving I wanted, but it sure was fun. And little did I know then that less than two weeks later, I would take a pregnancy test, certain I wasn't pregnant, and discover I was. And this year I got to celebrate the first Thanksgiving with the nomadbaby. What a difference a year makes. Happy Thanksgiving!

I kind of love that no  hardly any books are published in December. The fall always feel rushed and chaotic, with work and life, and I never manage to read all the new releases I intend too (not that I do in any season, but it's especially noticeable in the fall.) December is my catch-up month. I get invigorated to read as many books as I can before the year ends. And as I work in academia, I get almost two weeks off for the Christmas and New Year holidays, so there is a lot of time to read (even with a baby.) I started making my list of books I really want to read before the end of the year, and it is impossibly long. Then I cut it down to twenty. Twenty. Instead of feeling defeated, however, I rallied to make my bucket list to help prioritize reading the books I most want to read and that have been on my TBR for longer. Of course, I also want to read some of the 2014 releases I haven't yet. And I want to start reading 2015 releases. But rather than prescribe all my reading f...