nomadreader

The basics: When Regina Gottlieb begins a graduate program in English at a prestigious upstate New York university, she was familiar with the rumors about Professor Nicholas Brodeur. When she accepts a job as his teaching assistant, the novel takes off. Note: This review references some minor spoilers. All spoilers discussed are mentioned in the publisher's summary, which means some may not consider them spoilers, but as I reader, I did. My thoughts: I have somewhat complicated thoughts about My Education . I adore novels about higher education, and this one started off thoroughly enmeshed in the culture of both the university and a town that sound very much like Cornell and Ithaca, New York to me. Regina is a fascinating enough character, and as Choi makes her intentions clear, my interest was certainly piqued. As a reader, I was surprised the first twist of sorts was soon followed by my own disengagement with the characters. The middle of My Education  was at times tough-...

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: Commencement  was one of my book club's July picks. The basics: Commencement  tells the story of four friends, Celia, Sally, Bree and April, who met at Smith College and remained best friends as life took them in different directions after graduation. The four meet again at Smith for Sally's wedding and the novel unfolds in the present, as well as through flashbacks of their time at Smith. My thoughts: There's a feeling I get sometimes when I read that the writer gets me.  I don't only read to not feel alone in this world, but I celebrate when I come across a book that leaves me internally shouting, "yes!" in reaction to a character or a passage of writing. I lost count of how many times I felt affirmed by both her writing and her characters. J. Courtney Sullivan is one of those writers I celebrate, and although Commencement  is not a perfect novel, it was an utterly delightful reading experience from its first pages: "It was a hab...