nomadreader

The backstory: The Hopeful  is Tracy O'Neill's debut novel. It was longlisted for the 2015 First Novel Prize and named a National Book Award 5 Under 35 pick. The basics:  "A figure skating prodigy, sixteen-year old Alivopro Doyle is one of a few "hopefuls" racing against nature's clock to try and jump and spin their way into the Olympics. But when a disastrous fall fractures two vertebrae, [it leaves] Ali addicted to painkillers and ultimately institutionalized." (publisher) My thoughts: The Hopeful  is one of those novels I love a little bit more because I discovered it through the First Novel prize longlist. Somehow, I'd never heard of it, even though it's fantastic, so I hope this review will introduce many more readers to it. Of course, while I was reading it, Fiona Maazel picked it as a National Book Award 5 Under 35 pick. That will probably help too. But back to The Hopeful  and why you should read it. On the surface, there...

narrated by Xe Sands The backstory: The Art Forger  is one of my book club's picks for January (we meet every other month and read two books.) The basics: Claire Roth is an accomplished painter who creates and sells reproductions (legal) of famous paintings. Twenty-five years ago, there was an art heist at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (the heist happened in real life). Now an art dealer brings one of the stolen paintings to Claire to ask her to forge (illegal) it. My thoughts:    The Art Forger  had been on my TBR since it came out, so when my book club picked it, I was excited to finally read it. I opted to listen to it on audio, and the experience was a great one. I know a fair amount about art history, so I particularly loved this exploration into the art world, both historically through the heist paintings and Claire's reproduction work, and into the contemporary art world, where she struggled to find fame. Shapiro goes in depth into the detai...

narrated by Cassandra Campbell The basics: Nora Eldridge, an aspiring artist and third-grade teacher in Cambridge, Massachusetts, tells the story of the year her utterly ordinary life becomes something more. The Shahid family, Skandar, a Lebanese visiting scholar, his wife Sirena, an Italian artist, and their son, Reza, arrive in town, and Nora finds herself drawn to all three of them. She shares a studio space with Sirena, teaches Reza, and looks forward to long talks with Skandar. My thoughts: Nora narrates this story from the future. She's a few years removed from the action, yet her storytelling is still filled with emotion. Her rage often seems just below the surface, and the pain is so fresh. The rawness of these emotions brings an air of mystery to this story. There's a haunting urgency to Nora's story, as though she's begging the reader to believe and understand her actions and emotions, even as she reflects on how some of her choices were not the best. ...

The backstory: After liking J. Courtney Sullivan's first novel, Commencement ( my review ), I finally got around to reading her second novel, Maine.  The basics: Maine  traces the story of the Kelleher family one summer at their Maine beachhouse. Four women share narration: Alice, the matriarch, whose husband Daniel, died ten years ago; Alice's daughter  Kathleen, who lives with her boyfriend and runs a worm farm in California; Alice's daughter-in-law Anne Marie, who has become obsessed with dollhouses; and Kathleen's daughter Maggie, who is thirty-two, unmarried and pregnant. My thoughts: In recent years I've realized how much I enjoy family sagas. I've always enjoyed multiple narrators, so Maine  was right up my alley. I love the way Sullivan writes, and she's grew as a writer between Commencement and Maine . There's a maturity to Maine  and its characters that I quite enjoyed. While Maine takes place over the span of a little over a month, the a...

The basics: An Uncommon Education, Elizabeth Percer's first novel, is a coming of age novel centered around Naomi Feinstein. My thoughts: As An Uncommon Education  opens, Naomi Feinstein is a peculiar girl with a big intellect and no friends, yet her tale isn't one of sadness. There's a matter-of-factness to Naomi and her honest narration. She writes both of the time in which she's living and with a maturity of observation: "For entertainment I was given such things as Infamous Women  coloring book; Shakespeare's plays in comic book fro; my own miniature Torah, the scroll of which was covered in wavy black lines; historically correct figures of Clara Barton and Abigail Adams; math games made pretty with glass marbles; and a jump rope with a booklet of illustrated counting rhymes to accompany it. In addition to our regular visits to the Kennedy home, every April 19th we drove to Lexington before dawn to witness the reenactment of the Battle of Lexington an...

The backstory: After loving State of Wonder  ( my review ), I set out to read all of Ann Patchett's books. The basics: Run  is the story of the Doyle family: Bernard, an Irish Catholic ex-mayor of Boston, his deceased wife Bernadette, their adult son Sullivan, and their two adopted college ages sons, Tip and Teddy, who are biological brothers. My thoughts: I'm beginning to think Ann Patchett is my soul sister. Her writing reaches me deeply, and I've adored everything she's written. It was a special treat to read Run , the novel of hers I knew the least about going in. Although I had the framework of two of her novels and one memoir, I didn't know what to expect. Run  isn't as universally loved as some of her other works, so I was particularly curious to see how it measured up. Admittedly, Run  started off slowly for me. It took two chapters to really get into the heart of the story, but once it happened, I was hooked. One of the things I love most about ...

The backstory: Binocular Vision: New and Collected Stories  is a finalist for the 2011 National Book Award . The basics: This collection of short stories is not connected by a common theme. The stories dart through history and feature numerous locations worldwide. Most stories do, however, feature Judaism or take place in Boston, and sometimes both. My thoughts: Mr. Nomadreader and I are huge fans of The Next Iron Chef,  the reality competition show to pick the next Iron Chef. (Stay with me here.) A recurring theme on the show is the danger of making duos and triples with the secret ingredient because it allows the judges to judge you against yourself rather than your competitors. As the only short story collection to be a finalist for the National Book Award, at times it felt Edith Pearlman is competing against herself, and it wasn't always successful for me. Pearlman is a brilliant writer and storyteller, yet my lack of fondness for short stories came th...

The backstory: In my pre-blogging days, I read Mrs. Kimble  by Jennifer Haigh and really enjoyed it. I didn't track my reading in my early post-college days, but it's one of those novels I remember specific scenes from, so I was eager to read Haigh's latest novel, Faith . My thoughts: Faith  puts a very human face on the issue of priest abuse. We hear about Art, who is accused of abusing a young boy, through his sister Sheila. It's an interesting narrative device to hear Art's story through someone else, but I appreciated it. It's a powerful narrative device and questions the very nature of story and how the storyteller shapes the audience's perceptions and knowledge. I also appreciated sharing the journey with Sheila. She shared my desire to know what happened. At some point, however, my desire as a reader shifted and the why became so much more important than the what. The verdict:  I adored  Faith , and it's a tribute to Haigh's writing and sc...

The backstory: Many people recommended Bound , one of Sally Gunning's previous novels to me, but I never got around to reading it because I seem to favor newly released books . When the chance to read Gunning's latest novel appeared, however, I eagerly said, yes please! The basics: Jane Clarke is an intrepid young woman in 1769 in Satucket (Cape Cod), Massachusetts. Her rebellion begins when she decides not to marry the man her father wants her to. Her father sends her to Boston to take care of her aunt, and Jane finds herself in the midst of a political battle. My thoughts: This book could just as easily be called The Rebellions of Jane Clarke  or  The Rebellious Jane Clarke  because there are indeed several rebellions depending on one's perspective. To a modern reader, however, the title suits because her rebellion exists in the context of her world. Jane is an interesting character. She lives a rather isolated life, in both Satucket and Boston. The first fifty page...

The basics: Nina, A retired ballerina originally from Russia who now lives in Boston is selling her jewels to benefit the Boston Ballet. Soon an anonymous donor comes forward with a piece that appears to be from the same collection. Soon more questions arise and a historical mystery arises. My thoughts: This novel started off quite slowly for me; it took me about fifty pages to get into the storyline and characters. Once I did, I was somewhat entranced with the different characters and storylines. Nina's story is told in two different times: the past and present. She's certainly the focus of the story, but she was my least favorite character. I was most drawn to Drew, the library-loving young woman who is researching and running the auction. I quickly found myself enjoying her scenes most and looking forward to them. As Drew researched and probed for answers to the book's mysteries, she acts as a stand-in for the reader. Part of my trouble with modern Nina was her secr...