nomadreader

The backstory: Every Fifteen Minutes , a stand-alone thriller from the prolific Lisa Scottoline, was one of my book club picks this fall. The basics:  "Dr. Eric Parrish is the Chief of the Psychiatric Unit at Havemeyer General Hospital outside of Philadelphia. Recently separated from his wife Alice, he is doing his best as a single Dad to his seven-year-old daughter Hannah. His work seems to be going better than his home life, however. His unit at the hospital has just been named number two in the country and Eric has a devoted staff of doctors and nurses who are as caring as Eric is. But when he takes on a new patient, Eric's entire world begins to crumble." My thoughts: From the description, Eric sounds like a smart, admirable person, right? Unfortunately, both at work and at home, his actions fail to show intelligence. This disconnect was incredibly distracting and made me lose faith in the narrative very early on. I can tolerate a frustratingly stupid narrato...

The backstory: Slow Dancing with a Stranger: Lost and Found in the Age of Alzheimer's  was one of my book club's picks in March. The basics: Veteran journalist Meryl Comer tells the story of her husband and mother dealing with Alzheimer's and advocates for change in how we care for those afflicted with Alzheimer's. My thoughts: I was really excited to read this memoir, as Alzheimer's runs in my family, even though I was sure it would depress me as it's such a horrible disease. Instead, I soon found myself hating this book and rolled my eyes through most of it. I like memoirs. I often call the memoirists I most enjoy brave because they bare their souls and show their weaknesses. They tell truths that aren't always told. They are honest about their faults. They share the moments of which they're proud and of those they aren't. Unfortunately, Meryl Comer does not do any of those things in this book. It's hard to even call it a memoir, as it ...

My book club met last night and had a great discussion about both The Art Forger  by B.A. Shapiro   and The Secret Sister  by Diane Chamberlain . We meet every other month and read two books.This year, we're trying a new way to pick books, and each member gets a chance to pick a book. I'm curious to see how our reading will play out. We have two very different (from each other) picks for our March meeting. We'll be reading  Slow Dancing With a Stranger: Lost and Found in the Age of Alzheimer's  by Meryl Comer and The Rosie Project  by Graeme Simsion. I know many of you have loved The Rosie Project , and I'm looking forward to reading it. I'm not familiar with the Comer title, but Alzheimer's is a vicious disease, and while I'm intrigued by it, I imagine it may be difficult for me to read. My book club rarely reads nonfiction, so I am definitely looking forward to some more variety. Now tell me: have you read either of these titles? What did y...

The backstory: The Silent Sister  is one of my book club's picks for January (we meet every other month and read two books.) The other pick is The Art Forger . The basics: Riley MacPherson has a complicated relationship with her family. When her father dies, she's left to pack up his house. Her veteran brother, who still lives in the small town of New Bern, refuses to help. And her older sister committed suicide when Riley was very young. While going through her father's things, Riley begins doubting some of her family history and sets out to separate fact from fiction. My thoughts: It was challenging to write the description of this novel without spoiling too much. It's challenging to talk about this book much at all without spoiling too much, so this review will remain more vague than I would perhaps like (and I am so looking forward to discussing this one with my book club!) The Silent Sister  is a book I would almost classify as a mystery or a thriller because...

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...

The backstory: Still Life with Bread Crumbs  was longlisted for the 2014 Baileys Prize for Women's Fiction . It's also one of my book club's selections for May (we meet every other month and read two books.) The basics: Rebecca Winter is a famous photographer who was once also rich. Now she finds herself forced to sublet the Manhattan apartment she loves and rent a quaint cottage upstate. My thoughts: I've previously read two of Quindlen's novels: Rise and Shine  and Every Last One.  I read Rise and Shine  when it was first released and before I started blogging, but I loved it. I had decidedly mixed feelings about her last novel, Every Last One , and admittedly I was hesitant to pick up this novel until it was longlisted for the Baileys Prize. For me, this novel falls somewhere between the other two. Rebecca Winter is a wonderfully honest character. Quindlen deftly introduces her to the reader as both the public persona and the private person: "Ta...

The backstory: The Other Typist  is one of my book club's March picks (we meet every other month and read two books.) The basics: Rose Baker is an orphan who works as a typist at a Lower East Side police precinct in the 1920's. When Odalie joins the precinct as the titular other typist, she and Rose develop a friendship, but their lives seem fraught with peril and obsession. Warning: this review contains some vague spoilers. My thoughts: Rose narrates from the future, and it's clear from the beginning that she isn't always telling the reader everything. Her narration is concerned with what to tell and when. I don't think it's a stretch to say there are many clues she is not the most reliable narrator. I'm a huge fan of unreliable narrators, and as I read I savored the clues Rose doles out. I wouldn't go so far as to say the novel reads like a thriller, but I expected a big reveal of some sort for the reader to finally piece together the validi...

The backstory: Don't Ever Get Old , the first mystery novel by Daniel Friedman, was one of my book club's July picks. The basics: Buck Schatz is 88 and a retired Memphis cop. When one of his old war friends dies, he learns his enemy from the war may have escaped Germany with a significant amount of gold. He and his grandson set off to find the man and steal the gold. My thoughts: Buck is a unique character. He's getting old, as he tells the reader frequently. He lacks a filter, which made this novel amusing, if sometimes crass.Initially, I appreciated and enjoyed Buck's perspective: "I’ve been around eighty-eight years, Detective, and I’ve found that it’s always a good time to be a wiseass." As the novel went on, however, his memory problems, aversion to technology and medical ailments became trite and annoying. I'm of two minds about this novel, as I did enjoy the experience of reading most of it. Hearing Buck's stories about the war were in...

My book club met this week to discuss One for the Money  ( my review ) and Cleopatra , which I managed to read all of 6 pages of (I do want to read it, but I'm thinking of doing a chapter a week read-a-long after A People's Read-a-long is over because it is a dense book.) We had some nice discussions at a local coffee house. I most enjoyed the Cleopatra  discussion, even though I had not read most of it. One interesting tidbit: we all agreed we'd never thought of Cleopatra as a mother before, but we were surprised it hadn't occurred to us that she had children. As is often the case, we spend as much time talking about what else we're reading and what we want to read for next time as we do the books selected. We had so much fun this time, in fact, that we picked three books for March! Room by Emma Donoghue ( my review ): Room  was my favorite read of 2010, so I'm thrilled someone else suggested it.  Secret Daughter  by Shilpi Somaya Gowda ...

The backstory: One for the Money  was one of my book club's selections for January. The basics: The first in Janet Evanovich's wildly popular Stephanie Plum series, One for the Money  introduces Stephanie, who was recently laid off by the lingerie company she worked for as an orderer. With bills piling up, Stephanie decides to try working for her cousin, a bounty hunter, to locate an old fling, Joe Morelli, an ex-cop and current fugitive wanted for murder, so she can collect the $10,000. My thoughts: Originally written in 1994, One for the Money  is starting to show its age somewhat. Stephanie's clothes are horribly dated. At one point she bemoans being down to her last pair of bicycle shorts. Fashion quibbles aside, I'm always fascinated to read mysteries set in earlier technological times. Car phones abound in this novel. For me, a technophile, the thought of chasing bad guys without a cell phone or car phone is truly terrifying, and in this novel the lack of acc...

What we read: Unbroken  by Laura Hillenbrand Winter Garden  by Kristin Hanah ( my review ) State of Wonder  by Ann Patchett ( my review ) What we ate We opted to meet at a local bookstore, which was lovely, but they don't offer food or drink. One intrepid member brought some Trader Joe's dark chocolate peppermint bark, so we had a little something to nibble on! The consensus In the true holiday spirit, none of us managed to read all three books! Most of us read two of them, and we had some nice discussions. We all enjoyed Winter Garden , but it was nice to see one member point out some continuity inconsistencies. After hearing them, I was shocked I hadn't noticed them, but I was so wrapped up in the emotions of the story, I perhaps wasn't reading with an editor's eye. We did all agree that all three books were worth reading, so I do hope to make time for Unbroken . (Thanks to Heather's awesome review at Raging Bibliomania , I could still part...

The backstory: Winter Garden  is one of the picks for my new book club this month. (We meet every other month and read two picks, but this month we chose three!) The basics: Sisters Nina, an award-winning photojournalist, and Meredith, who stayed home to take over the family's orchard, are quite different. They've both struggled with their mother's emotional distance throughout their lives and relished their father's affection. My thoughts: If not for my book club, I would likely not have made time to read Winter Garden . I foolishly dismissed it as fluffy, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how emotionally affecting this novel is. It is safe to say I first identified more with Nina, the roaming photojournalist who doesn't want to settle down, than with Meredith, who has a struggling marriage and two daughters in college. Nina describes her "yearning to see everything, no matter how terrible, to know everything."  Despite my initial preference for ...

Remember when I was really excited to join the read-a-long for Anna Karenina ? And then I only managed to post once about it? Anna, it's not you. It's me. In all seriousness, I was enjoying reading Anna Karenina,  which surprised me somewhat. What I was surprised to find, however, is that despite my love of sharing the reading experience, I don't like read-a-longs. I didn't like having arbitrary places to stop each week. I found myself focusing on the ending points more than the book itself. I had trouble forming my thoughts for weekly blog posts. When I read, I want to be swept away at the pace that feels right. Reading a set number of pages each week was unsatisfying. I do love discussing books once I've read them, and I think that's one reason I so enjoy my new book club . For book club discussions, count me in. For read-a-longs, however, I think I'll pass until the final discussion. I'm already starting to think about my 2012 reading goals, ...

After a failed attempt to start a book club in Albany (we managed to meet twice before admitting defeat ), I hoped to find a book club rather than start my own. I was thrilled to hear one of chapters of P.E.O. (Philanthropic Educational Organization) I was invited to visit also has a book club. The book club meets every other month and reads two books. What we read The September picks were Sister  by Rosamund Lupton ( my review ) and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society  by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows ( my review ). While I liked one much more than the other, they both made great books for discussion. As many so often say, discussions of books you don't like are sometimes more enjoyable. What we ate I admit, I didn't quite know what to expect when it came to food and drink. I was delighted to see a smorgasbord of mini-wrap sandwiches, cheese and crackers, fresh fruit, nuts, and brownies. Plus, there were four bottles of wine. I was in heaven: snac...

The backstory: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society  was one of the two selections for my new book club last month. I reviewed Sister , the other selection, yesterday. Tomorrow I'll opine about our joint discussion of the books, dish on my new book club, and tell you what we're reading for next month. The basics:  "As London is emerging from the shadow of World War II, writer Juliet Ahston discovers her next subject in a book club on Guernsey--a club born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi after its members are discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island." (I liked this description from my library's catalog .) My thoughts:  It's true, I never would have read this book if not for book club. I'm not quite sure why I have such a bias against it, but I did sit down expecting to enjoy it, as I adore epistolary novels. I quite enjoyed the beginning of this novel. Julia is a delightful narrator, and the history of Guernsey was in...

The backstory:   Sister was one of the two selections for my new book club last month. I'll review the other selection, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society , tomorrow. Thursday I'll opine about our joint discussion of the books, dish on my new book club, and tell you what we're reading for next month. The basics:  As Sister begins, Bee learns her pregnant younger sister Tess is missing. Bee immediately flees her fiance, job and life in New York to return to London to find her sister. My thoughts:  Thriller isn't a genre term I often use, as mystery typically seems more appropriate for the things I read. When I think of thrillers, I think of pop fiction and admit to dismissing the genre too quickly as 'person in peril.'  Sister , however, is a bona fide, character-driven, literary thriller. And it's creepy. The novel is written as Bee's letter to Tess, and it is as much about Bee as it is about Tess. Soon after Bee returns to London, T...

The backstory: After mixed reactions to April's pick, Olive Kitteridge   ( recap ), the 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner, we chose The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao  by Junot Diaz, which won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize. Our intention is not to read all of the Pulitzer winners, but we did make the choice the day the 2010 winners were announced. One of the members read Oscar Wao  years ago and enjoyed it. It also won the 2008 Dayton Literary Peace Prize . The basics: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao  is essentially the story of Oscar Wao, a young, obese, comic book-loving nerd who is the son of Dominican immigrants. The book is divided into large sections, and if Oscar weren't the title character, I'm not sure I would call him the main character. The narrator is not a family member, but different sections tell the stories of Oscar's mother, his grandparents and his sister. The verdict: While I was reading it, I loved this book. Diaz's writing is fresh, young and...