nomadreader

The book I'm most excited about in 2018 is the new novel by Hannah Pittard, Visible Empire . I've loved two of her earlier novels, Reunion  ( my review ) and Listen to Me. Like me, Pittard grew up in Atlanta and now lives in the Midwest. I'd be excited about any new novel by Hannah Pittard, but the premise of this one took my breath away:  "an epic novel—based on true events—of wealth, race, grief, and love, charting one sweltering summer in Atlanta that left no one unchanged. It’s a humid summer day when the phones begin to ring: disaster has struck. Air France Flight 007, which had been chartered to ferry home more than one hundred of Atlanta’s cultural leaders following a luxurious arts-oriented tour of Europe, crashed shortly after takeoff in Paris. In one fell swoop, most of the city’s wealthiest residents perished." How, I marveled, did I manage to grow up in Atlanta and not know about a plane crash that killed 132 people? As I began my quest to know more ab...

The basics: Reunion  is the story of Chicago screenwriter Kate Pulaski and her brother and sister. The titular reunion happens in Atlanta when their estranged father dies, leaving behind their many half-siblings and ex-stem moms. Kate is shocked her siblings want to go to the funeral, but she begrudgingly joins them. My thoughts: Not very far into Reunion , I looked up Hannah Pittard's biography because I figured she had to be from the same part of Atlanta in which I grew up. She nails the details of geography and attitude of the city in a way only someone who shares my love/hate relationship with it can. As I read, I was simultaneously homesick for Atlanta and reminded of why I left. Kate certainly shares my ambivalence of Atlanta: "It's that it reminds me of all that is fake about the sweetness of the South." As much as I enjoyed the setting of this novel, I would have loved it if it were set anywhere. Reunion  is far from a feel-good family story. The Pulaskis...

The backstory: I raced through the first two Keye Street mystery novels by Amanda Kyle Williams last fall and loved them both (see my reviews of The Stranger You Seek  and Stranger in the Room .) When I visited Atlanta, where the series is set, in February, I treated myself and read the galley on my trip (y'all know I love to read books in the city in which they're set!) The basics: When the Hitichi County sheriff calls Atlanta FBI profiler turned private investigator Keye Street about a possible serial killer, she travels to the lakeside, rural Georgia town to try to solve the murders of two thirteen-year-old girls killed ten years apart and discovered in the same grave in a wooded area. My thoughts: The further along writers get in series, the harder it can be to keep things fresh. In this third installment of the Keye Street series, the first thirty pages are so are a glimpse into Keye's personal and professional life. The reader is treated to her current living si...

The backstory:   Longtime readers know Pearl Cleage is my absolute favorite author. See my raves about her novels: What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day , I Wish I Had a Red Dress ,  Some Things I Never Thought I'd Do ,  Babylon Sisters ,  Baby Brother's Blues ,   Seen It All and Done the Rest ,  and  Til You Hear From Me . Any new writing from Pearl is a cause for celebration. The basics: Things I Should Have Told My Daughter  is a curated collection of diary entries from the 1970's and 1980's Cleage includes an introduction and a brief final commentary, but this memoir is essentially twenty years of diary entries. My thoughts: It's incredibly intimate to read diary entries, particularly from someone I have admired for nearly twenty years. At times, reading these entries broke my heart. While Cleage is now incredibly successful, these entries go back before she was famous, and reading her self-doubt was haunting. I couldn't help but wonder...

Happy Sunday! I'm writing this morning from Atlanta, the town in which I grew up. I flew in yesterday and spent the afternoon drinking ginger beer with my brother on his front patio (heavenly!), followed by hanging out with our cousins, and a wonderful dinner with my brother and sister-in-law at Gunshow , the new restaurant from Top Che f 7 alumnus Kevin Gillespie (also heavenly!) Today is the baptism of the daughter of one of my best friends. The rest of the weekend is filled with more time with friends, family, and meeting several babies born since the last time I was here, plus eating at more restaurants that are old favorites and discovering new ones. It's hard to believe it's been almost six years since I moved away from Atlanta (probably for good this time). It still feels likes home, even with so much changing over the years. The thought that the next time I'll be here, I'll have a baby is also hard to believe. All in all, the 60 degrees and sunny weather is ...

The backstory: Leaving Atlanta  is the first novel by Tayari Jones. After adoring her most recent novel, Silver Sparrow  ( my review ), I finally got around to reading this one ("finally getting around to reading" was the theme of much of my holiday break binge-reading!) The basics: Told in three parts from the perspective of three black middle school students in southwest Atlanta, Leaving Atlanta  takes place at the time of the notorious Atlanta Child Murders. My thoughts: I spent almost half my life in Atlanta (although I'm getting farther away from that every year!) Regardless, I've lived more years in Atlanta than in any other city, and I've been fascinated by the Atlanta Child Murders since I first heard of them. Jones introduces the reader to this time through three different child narrators. Each of the three takes one section, although the sections frequently reference the other narrators. I have mixed reactions to this storytelling approach. Typical...

The backstory: Someone Else's Love Story  is the November SheReads Book Club selection . The basics: Shandi Pierce, a twenty-one-year-old college student raising three-year-old genius Natty, meets William Ashe, a man devastated by the loss of his wife and daughter, when they're both in a Circle K when it's robbed. This strong, shared connection lingers as they navigate My thoughts: I've heard so many of you singing the praises of Joshilyn Jackson for years, so I was excited the SheReads Book Club finally forced me to read one of her novels. I picked it up knowing nothing about it, and I particularly appreciated the novels surprises because they were unexpected. Shandi and William take turns narrating the story, and I enjoyed seeing their shared experiences through both of their eyes. Initially, the pace felt slow. I longed for the first part, when they're held hostage in the Circle K, to end. I could sense the entire novel wouldn't take place in the Circle...

March: Book One  by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin & Nate Powell The basics: Civil rights icon and long-serving Congressional Representative John Lewis recounts his life in this graphic memoir, the first in a planned trilogy. Book One  covers his childhood through the Nashville Student Movement, as well as flashbacks of a young family visiting Lewis's DC office today. My thoughts: I was proud to live in Lewis's Congressional district in Atlanta for many years, and I have long been fascinated by his life, both past and present. (And, yes, I still wish everyday I still had him as a Representative.) The events in March: Book One  will be familiar to anyone with a passing knowledge of Lewis (and the second half to those who have seen Stanley Nelson's excellent documentary Freedom Riders .) What March  does best is provide context for the omnipresent and harrowing racism. By having two children asking questions (there visit poetically coincides with Barack Obama's inau...

The backstory: Stranger in the Room  is the second in the Keye Street series. I raved about the first, The Stranger You Seek, last week .  The basics: Miki, Keye Street's globe-trotting photographer cousin, comes home to see a man in her house and bolts. She's felt someone watching her off and on for years, but given her history of drug use and psychiatric hospitals, the police may not have followed up properly. Meanwhile, Rouse is investigating the death of a thirteen-year-old whose body was left in plain sight. Keye is also keeping busy with her P.I. business and treks to North Georgia to investigate a crematorium. My thoughts: I tend to approach the second novel in a series with trepidation. As a reader, I seek out series partly for elements of the familiar, but I also seek them out with a desire to keep being surprised. If the structure and end are too similar, I fear other books will only include more of the same. Delightfully, Stranger in the Room  is a very ...

The backstory: The Stranger You Seek  is the first novel in Amanda Kyle Williams' Keye Street series. The basics: Set in Atlanta, The Stranger You Seek introduces Keye Street, a former behavioral analyst for the FBI and current private investigator. Street, an Asian-American adopted by a white couple (who later adopted a black boy, who turns out to be gay), witnessed the murders of her grandparents as a child. After years of being a functioning alcoholic, she's sober, divorced and trying to build her business. When a serial killer begins terrorizing Atlanta, her longtime friend (and head of homicide), Rauser, calls Keye in to consult. My thoughts: If I have a quibble about first in a series mystery novels, it's that the main character is always far too close to the action. Here: it works. The Wishbone killer is savage brutal, and he's exactly the kind of person who would reach out to those working the case and amp up the fun and challenge. I also have a soft spot fo...

The backstory: You may noticed I'm quite enamored with Downton Abbey  and have let my love of the show inform several of my reading choices this year. When I heard about Wendy Wax's new novel, about characters who are watching the show themselves, I immediately wanted to read it. The basics: Set in The Alexander, a chic condo building in Atlanta, While We Were Watching Downton Abbey  is the story of its inhabitants who forge unlikely friendships once building concierge Edward, whose ancestor was a British country house butler, begins screening Downton Abbey  on Sunday evenings. My thoughts: Going into While We Were Watching Downton Abbey , I wasn't quite sure what to expect. It was my first experience with Wendy Wax, but she's an author with whom I was already familiar. As both a big fan of Downton Abbey  and the city of Atlanta, where I spent almost half of my life (and met Mr. Nomadreader), I was curious to see how Wax used both the city and the show as backdro...

The backstory: Just Wanna Testify  is the sixth novel in Pearl Cleage's West End series (my reviews of  Some Things I Never Thought I'd Do ,  Babylon Sisters ,  Baby Brother's Blues ,   Seen It All and Done the Rest , and Til You Hear From Me .) The basics: As always, Cleage combines a mix of familiar West End faces with new characters. In this case, the Too Fine Five, a group of tall, skinny supermodels seek Blue Hamilton's blessing to do business in the West End neighborhood this week. Note: this review contains spoilers of the plot and the ending. Proceed at your own risk. My thoughts: When I sat down to read the last West End novel, I was filled with happiness and sadness. I've re-read and read all of Pearl Cleage's novels in 2012. I sought the comfort of the familiar: characters, social justice, and people working to change the world. I got that, but I also got something I absolutely didn't expect: vampires. I appreciated Regina's pondering...

The backstory: Til You Hear From Me  is the fifth novel in Pearl Cleage's West End series (my reviews of  Some Things I Never Thought I'd Do ,  Babylon Sisters ,  Baby Brother's Blues , and Seen It All and Done the Rest .) The basics: Fresh off working on Obama's 2008 campaign, Ida B. Wells Dunbar is losing hope she'll be offered a job in the administration. Meanwhile, her father, Rev. Dunbar, a famous African-American preacher and civil rights icon is still irked with Obama about the Rev. Wright fallout, is making headlines with his some unfortunate statements. At the pleading of familiar West End face Miss Iona, Ida B. comes to Atlanta to check on her father. My thoughts: I adore Pearl Cleage and her work, but I'll be honest: Til You Hear From Me  started a little rough. The story felt rushed, the writing felt either too flat or too flowery, and one character, Wes, felt flat: "Wes liked women. He didn’t consider them his equals, although like most...

The backstory: Seen It All and Done the Rest  is the fourth novel in Pearl Cleage's West End series (my reviews of Some Things I Never Thought I'd Do , Babylon Sisters , and Baby Brother's Blues .) The basics: Like all the books in this series, Atlanta's West End neighborhood is the main character. The people who live, work, and love in this neighborhood appear in major and minor roles throughout these novels. In Seen It All and Done the Rest , actress Josephine Evans returns to Atlanta after thirty years in Amsterdam to visit her granddaughter, Zora, a pivotal character in Baby Brother's Blues , and check on the duplex she inherited. ( note: Zora's story contains major spoilers from Baby Brother's Blues .) My thoughts:   It's no secret Pearl Cleage is among my favorite authors, and this novel has many of her trademarks: themes of social justice, community empowerment, and the nature of home. What's new about Seen It All and Done the Rest , how...

The backstory: Baby Brother's Blues  is the third title in Pearl Cleage's West End series (my reviews of Some Things I Never Thought I'd Do  and Babylon Sisters .) The series takes place in the West End neighborhood in Atlanta and features recurring characters, but it isn't a series you necessarily need to read in order. The basics: Blue and Regina Hamilton shift to main characters again in Baby Brother's Blues . Regina is pregnant and growing concerned with the number of women seeking haven in West End. Regina's friend Aretha is considering her husband Kwame's pleas to leave West End for Midtown to strengthen their marriage. Meanwhile, Baby Brother, a U.S. soldier serving in Iraq who has a brief bereavement leave, arrives in Atlanta angry at the world and with no intentions of going back to Iraq. My thoughts: While Regina and Blue return to the spotlight in Baby Brother's Blues , Cleage works wonders with a large number of narrators. These seeming...

The backstory: Babylon Sisters  is the second novel in Pearl Cleage's West End series. Although this book isn't a sequel to Some Things I Never Thought I'd Do  ( my review ), the main characters from Some Things  do pop up a few times here, which will delight readers who enjoyed the first novel. I first read Babylon Sisters  soon after it came out, and I'm re-reading and reading all of her novels this year. As I re-read it, I was amazed how many of the details I recalled. The basics: Babylon Sisters  focuses on Catherine, who describes her work perfectly in this passage: "What I do is coordinate and integrate services for programs assisting female refugees and immigrants. Atlanta is a magnet for people trying to make a new start in a new country, and even though the town’s natives still think in terms of black and white, in reality we’re looking more and more like the Rainbow Coalition." She's also a single mother to a smart, confident seventeen-year-...

The backstory: Pearl Cleage is one of my favorite authors , and this year, I'm re-reading (and then reading) all of her novels. Some Things I Never Thought I'd Do  is her third novel and the first in the West End series. My reviews of her first two novels: What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day  and I Wish I Had a Red Dress . The basics: Regina Burns has turned her life back around. She's out of rehab, but her poor decisions have left her home, the home her mother and grandmother grew up in, in danger of being taken by the bank. She sets off for Atlanta to work for her former boss, inspirational speaker Beth Davis, to organize the paper's of her late son, Son Davis, to whom Regina was engaged. My thoughts: I remember reading Some Things I Never Thought I'd Do  shortly after it came out nearly ten years ago. As I re-read it, I was surprised how much of the story I remembered, even the little details. It's a unique novel. Still present are Pearl Cleage'...

The backstory:   Silver Sparrow, the third novel by Tayari Jones,   is the winner of this year's Indie Lit Awards  for Fiction. It is such a joy to finally tell you all how much I loved this novel. As a judge for the Indie Lit Awards, I've been under a gag order until the winner was announced, and it was killing me to not share this novel with you, even before we all voted it the winner. Also, for the first time in my organized reading life, the novel I wanted to win from the shortlist won. It's a nice feeling. The basics: This novel tells the story of James Witherspoon's family in 1980's Atlanta. Witherspoon is a bigamist with two wives who each have one daughter. My thoughts: I adored this novel from the beginning. It begins with Dana narrating. Dana's mother married James when she became pregnant, even though she knew he was already married. Dana has always known of her father's first wife and first daughter, Chaurisse. As a teenager, she has to wait ...

  After reading Nicholas Kristof's intriguing New York Times column about this book, I knew I wanted to read it. Kristof's column provides a lovely introduction to the book. The story is a fascinating one. This family decided to sell their house, buy a smaller one (at half the price) and give the difference to charity. The book tells the story of how this family came to this decision and how they chose where to give their money. It's not a touchy feely, over the top, inspiring book. It is inspiring, but it's inspiring in such an attainable way. The Salwens are quite honest about their finances. They were living in a $2 million home. They downsized their family of four into a $900,000 home in the same neighborhood. Sacrifice is a very personal thing. The Salwens recognize simultaneously how much and how little they did. It was a crazy idea, but they also talk about how easy it was to do (except for actually finding a buyer for their home). I enjoyed this book...