nomadreader

The backstory:   Sea State  is the debut by Scottish journalist Tabitha Lasley My thoughts:  This gorgeous book, part memoir and part journalism, is difficult to describe. It is both deeply personal, raw, and honest about life, love, and the passion and reality of an affair. It's also a fascinating exploration of the work and home lives of the men who work on oil rigs off the coast of Northern Scotland. How do men, Lasley wonders, act when there are no women around? The writing is extraordinary. Favorite passage: "I couldn't say  what I wanted, because what I wanted resided deep down, in a place under language, a register that lost everything in translation." Rating: 4.5/5 Length: 220 pages Publication date: December 7, 2021 Source: my local public library Want to read for yourself? Buy Sea State from an independent bookstore , Bookshop.org or Amazon (if you must), or find a copy at your local library .   As an affiliate, I receive a small commission whe...

Dear Friends Who Think I Should Read More Classics, You'll be pleased to hear the first book I read in 2018 was a classic. You will be disappointed to hear I did not like it. At all. I admit, I was a little disappointed too. I had been meaning to read The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie  for years. It sounded like a classic I actually would  like. It's very short (132 pages). It's written by a woman. It's about girls coming of age. What could go wrong? I found it annoyingly dated and quite dull. I can understand why it would have been a powerful, moving novel when it was written. At that time, a character like Miss Jean Brodie might have been a revelation. In 2018, she's not. Or at least, she's not to me, because I'm drawn to portrayals of complicated women in fiction. I know it's not fair to blame the book for being of its time. I'm not blaming the book or Muriel Spark. This reading experience perfectly illustrates why I don't typically read class...

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 Third Rail  by Michael Harvey The first two novels in Michael Harvey's Michael Kelly mystery series, The Chicago Way  and The Fifth Floor , were both 5-star reads. By those standards, The Third Rail  fell a little short, but it is still an excellent mystery. Michael Kelly finds himself at the right place at the right time (or perhaps the wrong place at the wrong time) when a sniper kills a woman on the L. It soon becomes clear the killers have far bigger plans to terrify Chicago, and they want Michael Kelly along for the ride. Harvey lets the bad guys share narration in this novel, and the insight into their actions wasn't as compelling of the rest of the mystery. The ending, however, is delightfully ambiguous. Rating: 4 out of 5 Source: library We All Fall Down  by Michael Harvey What I thought was a delightfully ambiguous ending to The Third Rail  turned out to be a cliffhanger, as We All Fall Down  picks up immediately after it left off. T...

The backstory:  The Blackhouse  is the first mystery novel in Peter May's Lewis trilogy. May is also the author of two other mystery series: The Enzo Files and The China Thrillers. The basics: One month after the death of his son, Fin Macleod is not eager to get back to work as a detective in Edinburgh. When a man is murdered on the Isle of Lewis, Fin's remote home village, the grisly crime scene details are similar to a murder Fin worked in Edinburgh, he's ordered back to the Isle of Lewis, where he hasn't visited in twenty years. My thoughts: The Blackhouse  is satisfying in two very different ways. First, it's a compelling police procedural, a genre of which I'm particularly fond. Second, it's a fascinating character study of both Fin Macleod and the residents of the Isle of Lewis. May masterfully interweaves both storylines and timelines in a way that enhances both elements. As a reader, I was always eager to uncover clues to both Fin's past,...