nomadreader

narrated by Tavia Gilbert The backstory: Girl Through Glass  is on the 2016 First Novel Prize longlist. The basics: Told in alternating chapters, Girl Through Glass  is the story of a young girl's coming of age at the highest levels of New York City ballet in the late 1970's, and where she is now, a dance history professor somewhere in Ohio. While it appears to be a simple narrative at first, it soon becomes clear there are many mysteries between the 1970's and today for the reader to discover. My thoughts: Over the years I find myself less drawn to traditional coming of age stories, so I was excited to see this one offered two timelines, a narrative technique I enjoy. As is often the case with such a structure, I find myself trying to fit the pieces together as I read. The biggest challenge of dual narratives are what to revela when, and while I took issue with a few of Wilson's choices as I read, I admit I can't come up with a better way to tell this st...

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 basics: When Olive receives a letter saying her only brother James and his wife are dead, she sets off from Philadelphia to Spencer, Ohio to gather their two children, Mary and John. She intends to take them back to Philadelphia with her, but there is much about life in Spencer and the life her brother led to surprise Olive. My thoughts: Historical romance is not typically a genre I'm drawn to, but this novel featured so many things I am drawn to that I couldn't resist. Olive is a spinster and a librarian. She's a relatively privileged city woman, yet she must voyage to the Midwest in the 1890's, a fascinating time in U.S. history. Yet as the title suggests, the emphasis of this novel is more on the romance than the history. The story is the relationship between Olive and Jacob, the younger widower who took in Mary and John. While it's rooted in small-town Midwestern life at that time, the story is not firmly rooted in Southern Ohio in the 1890's. Bus...