nomadreader

Dear Taylor Jenkins Reid, I'm so glad Daisy's publication day is here and the world will get to enjoy it. I was lucky enough to get a galley of it last June and instead of saving it , I read it compulsively in a single day. I had high expectations, as The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo  was my favorite read of 2017 . I've been recommending it to a lot of people the past two years. And since June, I've been saying, "you read Evelyn Hugo , right? Her new book is even better. Pre-order it." I did too. I pre-ordered the audiobook because the cast is incredible: Jennifer Beals, Benjamin Bratt, Judy Greer, Pablo Schreiber, and more. I also chose it as my Book of the Month because I want a hardcover copy. I'm in good company, as Reese Witherspoon   picked it for the Hello Sunshine book clu b this month. Plus she's making my dreams come true and making it a tv show . Daisy Jones & the Six  is a book I want to read and listen to over and over and over. ...

Dear Chloe, You probably don't remember me, but I was first in line for your galley signing of The Immortalists  at the American Library Association conference last summer. When you got there, you were surprised and excited to see so many people in line for you, a relatively unknown author who was already garnering serious  buzz about your sophomore novel six months before its publication. I admit, at the time, I thought it was your first novel because I didn't remember hearing about you. I'm sorry. I've requested your first novel, which was longlisted for a prize I follow very closely , from the library. I can't wait to read it. I didn't pick up The Immortalists  until December because I like to read books about a month before they're published. From the very first pages, I knew I was in good hands. I'm writing this letter because I want to thank you for writing the best book I've read in the last two and a half years. It's a really big deal...

The backstory: The Shore  was longlisted for the 2015 Baileys Prize . The basics: Stretching from 1876 to 2143, this non-linear novel is the story of generations of a poor family, principally its women, who live on the titular shore of small, isolated, Virginia islands. My thoughts: I first heard about The Shore  when it appeared on several blogger's Baileys Prize prediction lists. The UK cover is very different, and when I saw the U.S. cover, I thought The Shore  would be a family beach saga. And it is, but it's as far from WASPs as you can get. When you look closely at the house on the U.S. cover, it's clear the house is dilapidated. The novel opens in 1995, and the first chapter sets the dark tone of this novel beautifully. It's haunting. The second chapter is set in 1933, and slowly a picture of how the family we meet in 1993 came to be. The concept of this novel is great. I squealed when I saw the table of contents. I love a novel that can be historical fi...

The backstory: When I read the essay collection  Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York last year, Elisa Albert's essay was among my favorites. When I heard her new novel, After Birth , was a feminist, foul-mouthed novel about childbirth and early motherhood, I knew I had to read it. The basics: Ari, mom to 1-year-old Walker with her older, professorial husband, is still coming to terms with her traumatic c-section. She's unhappily living in fictional Utrecht, New York, a town near Albany, where Albert actually lives with her professorial husband and young son. My thoughts: Ari describes herself as "a little obsessed with [Mina Morris], by which I mean a lot, which I guess is what obsessed means." After reading After Birth,  I feel the same way about Ari. And perhaps about Albert herself. This books speaks  to me in both expected and surprising ways. I have a six-month old son, and as an intelligent, feminist, academic realist, I have some c...

The backstory: I discovered These Days Are Ours  when Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review  and said "What differentiates the book from similar fables with young protagonists able to afford endless rounds of drinks in hipster bars is Hailey’s sense of self and her thoughtful inner life; the shopping and club crawls of her privileged life are just a backdrop, not the story." I immediately pre-ordered it for my Kindle, where I foolishly let it languish for nine months before reading it. The basics: These Days Are Ours  follows Hailey, a recent college graduate, in New York City in the spring of 2002. She and her privileged high school friends are in various states of employment, but they're also all still processing 9/11 and expecting another terrorist attack at any time. Hailey searches for a job, a life, a sense of belonging, and a sense of purpose. My thoughts: As I said  the last time I rated a book 6 stars out of 5 , "About once a year, I encounter a...

The backstory: I've been eagerly awaiting State of Wonder  since I first heard about it, even though I had not read any of Ann Patchett's other novels (I'll be reading her Orange Prize-winning novel  Bel Canto  soon.) The basics: Scientist Marina Singh faces the heart-wrenching task of relaying the death of Anders, her colleague and friend, to his wife and three sons. When both his widow Karen and the head of the drug company she works for ask her to go to the Amazon to find out more about his death and check the progress of the top-secret drug development Anders went down to check on, she feels she must go, despite her reservations. My thoughts: About once a year, I encounter a book that works for me on every level. Since I began blogging, there are two books I've rated six stars (out of a possible five): American Wife  by Curtis Sittenfeld and Room  by Emma Donoghue. State of Wonder  is the third. It's a novel I immediately wanted to stick in peopl...

The backstory: I first heard about Room at Book Expo America, but when I heard it was longlisted for this year's Booker Prize (and now shortlisted), I was excited to have an excuse to read it sooner rather than later. (Update: Room has now been longlisted  shortlisted for the 2011 Orange Prize too!) The basics: Room  is the story of Jack, a five-year-old boy who has never left Room. He loves his Ma and he loves his life. He doesn't realize there's a world outside of room and that he and his mother are locked in Room without means of escape. If you're prone to visuals, Picador has a fantastic floor plan of Room . My thoughts: I'd like to introduce you to my new all-time favorite book . I hope this review makes me you read this marvelous novel, so I won't spend much time on the plot and particulars. I want you to experience them for yourselves as I was so fortunate to do. With that in mind, prepare for some gushing. Admittedly, the subject matter of this ...

Sentence(s) worth writing down: "It provided him with a way to structure his behavior, and a way to explain that behavior, both past and present, to himself. Perhaps fiction has, for me, served a similar purpose--what is a narrative arc if not the imposition of order on disparate events?--and perhaps it is my avid reading that has been my faith along." -Alice, on her husband's fundamentalist Christianity My thoughts: I've been wanting to read Curtis Sittenfeld for quite some time, and I'm so glad I finally did. As most are aware, American Wife is a fictionalization of Laura Bush's life. It's set in Wisconsin instead of Texas, which the Midwesterner in me loves even more. Several details are imagined and more are rearranged, but the crux of many characters is immensely recognizable . I admit, I don't know much about Laura Bush. I know she's a librarian, and I knew she was a Democrat until her wedding day, but I never even gave her much th...