nomadreader

The basics:  "This vivid graphic novel delves into his pioneering physical approach to making art, highlights the key characters surrounding the New York mid-century art scene, and reveals the intriguing relationship between Pollock's painting and the covert activities of the Cold War."--publisher My thoughts: I majored in Art History in college (and Journalism and Women's Studies), and I have a particular fondness for Abstract Expressionism and Jackson Pollock. I will never forget the feeling of seeing my first Pollock in person. The scope and scale and texture took my breath away and made me understand art in new ways. I was curious to see how this graphic novel (it is fiction, albeit very closely tied--for the most part--to history) told his story. I read this fascinating graphic novel in a single sitting. It has it all: history, art, drama, romance, politics, spies, and death. The visuals are stunning and capture the scale of Abstract Expressionism well. It...

The backstory:  I bought this audiobook in 2014 when it was a Daily Deal, but like so many of the Daily Deals I buy, it never rose to the top of my audiobook TBR. On Litsy, CareBear hosted a low stakes read-a-long: read the book in February and discuss it at the end of the month. I'm so glad that I read this book but also that I had people to discuss it with because there is SO MUCH to discuss. The basics: This novel is set in a country house West Hall, Vermont in 1908 and the present day. The town has had quite a few strange disappearances and deaths over the years. In 1908, Sarah Harrison Shea, who is struggling with the death of her daughter, Gertie, and writing in a diary. Her husband and doctor confuse her grief with psychosis. In present day, 19-year-old Ruthie and her little sister Fawn live in Sarah's house, and their mother is missing. When looking for clues, they find Sarah's diary. My thoughts: If I'm being honest, if I knew I was reading a paranormal gho...

Dear Taylor Jenkins Reid, I'm so glad Daisy's publication day is here and the world will get to enjoy it. I was lucky enough to get a galley of it last June and instead of saving it , I read it compulsively in a single day. I had high expectations, as The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo  was my favorite read of 2017 . I've been recommending it to a lot of people the past two years. And since June, I've been saying, "you read Evelyn Hugo , right? Her new book is even better. Pre-order it." I did too. I pre-ordered the audiobook because the cast is incredible: Jennifer Beals, Benjamin Bratt, Judy Greer, Pablo Schreiber, and more. I also chose it as my Book of the Month because I want a hardcover copy. I'm in good company, as Reese Witherspoon   picked it for the Hello Sunshine book clu b this month. Plus she's making my dreams come true and making it a tv show . Daisy Jones & the Six  is a book I want to read and listen to over and over and over. ...

Dear Caroline Preston, You hold a special place in my heart. I've always been a reader, but before I started blogging, I wasn't nearly as aware of all the new release books . When I was in high school, I discovered your first novel, Jackie by Josie , on the new release shelf at my local public library and checked it out. I loved it. I'm still drawn to fictional depictions of real women, and I loved that as much as the book was about Jackie O, it was more about Josie and her research. Your second novel, Lucy Crocker 2.0 , about a woman who designs video games despite having no knowledge of technology, lived on my shelves for years (and moved a few times) before I finally stayed up late to read it at my mother-in-law's house the week Mr. Nomadreader and I moved to New York in 2008. I love when books stick in my mind so clearly I remember where I was when I read it. When The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt  came out in 2011, I read it immediately and loved it . I gave my mo...

The backstory:  Little Deaths , Emma Flint's first novel, is on the 2017  Baileys Prize  longlist. The basics:   "It's 1965 in a tight-knit working-class neighborhood in Queens, New York, and Ruth Malone--a single mother who works long hours as a cocktail waitress--wakes to discover her two small children, Frankie Jr. and Cindy, have gone missing. Later that day, Cindy's body is found in a derelict lot a half mile from her home, strangled. Ten days later, Frankie Jr.'s decomposing body is found. Immediately, all fingers point to Ruth." My thoughts:  When the Baileys Prize longlist was announced, the title I was most excited to see was  Little Deaths . It got a lot of pre-publication buzz, and it was billed as feminist literary crime fiction based on a true story. I love all of those things. It was the first longlist title I picked up, and as eager as I was to read it, I found the pace very slow. The title alerts us that Frankie and Cindy die, yet the...

narrated by Nancy Wu The backstory: A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding was longlisted for the 2016 Baileys Prize . The basics:  "When Amaterasu Takahashi opens the door of her Philadelphia home to a badly scarred man claiming to be her grandson, she doesn’t believe him. Her grandson and her daughter, Yuko, perished nearly forty years ago during the bombing of Nagasaki. But the man carries with him a collection of sealed private letters that open a Pandora’s Box of family secrets Ama had sworn to leave behind when she fled Japan."--publisher My thoughts: I started this book on audio but switched to print about half way through.The reader, Nancy Wu, was good, and I appreciated her pronunciations of the Japanese names and words, but she read relatively slowly. The book is less than 300 pages, but the audio is over 11 hours. I reached a point where I wanted to finish more quickly than the audio would allow. It's rare for me to listen to half of a book and read the o...

The basics:  "It’s 2010 and Natasha, a half Russian, half Sudanese professor of history, is researching the life of Imam Shamil, the 19th century Muslim leader who led the anti-Russian resistance in the Caucasian War. When shy, single Natasha discovers that her star student, Oz, is not only descended from the warrior but also possesses Shamil’s priceless sword, the Imam’s story comes vividly to life." My thoughts: The novel opens with the character of Natasha, and I connected immediately with her. Admittedly, I'm drawn to female academics, but she was richly drawn and mysterious: "I preferred the distant past, centuries that were over and done with, ghosts that posed no direct threat. History could be milked for this cause or that. We observed it always with hindsight, projecting onto it our modern convictions and anxieties." I wasn't particularly surprised when this novel jumps into the past, as Natasha is a professor of history, but it took me much l...

The basics: Academy Street  is the life story of Tess Cohen. It spans her entire life, from her childhood in Ireland to her emigration to the United States and the rest of her life here. My thoughts: I am drawn to slim novels that cover a lot of ground, so I was quite intrigued by Academy Street , which has only 160 pages but covers Tess's entire life. As I read, I was enchanted, both by Tess and by Costello's writing and narrative choices. To cover a life in such a slim volume, it's obvious many things are left out. Costello emphasizes some times more than others and manages to write away years in a single sentence without feeling anything is lost. For most of Academy Street , it works. Aren't most years of our lives utterly ordinary? That's exactly what drew me to the character of Tess. Without divulging exactly what or how, there is a major synchronous event that stripped much of my enjoyment out of this story. As I pondered why this choice of Costello...

The backstory: Nora Webster  was on the 2014 Folio Prize shortlist, a 2015 Carnegie Medal finalist, and a 2014 New York Times  Notable book. I previously liked The Testament of Mary  by Toibin. The basics: Nora Webster's husband dies, leaving her a young widow with four children, no job, and financial challenges in 1960's Ireland. My thoughts: It's the second book I've read by Toibin, and only in hindsight did I realize both feature strong, conflicted female narrators. Nora Webster is a fascinating woman. As I think about it, my mind is filled with cliches to describe it: quiet, haunting, evocative. It is all of those things. It's a book I appreciated perhaps more than I enjoyed. There's a timeless, classic quality to it. It's set mostly in the 1960's, and Toibin captures the essence of the time and place so beautifully one might think it was written at that time. Nora Webster  is a character-driven novel. It's one I enjoyed the time I spe...

narrated by Karen Cass The backstory: Crooked Heart  was longlisted for the 2015 Baileys Prize . The basics:  "When Noel Bostock – aged ten, no family - is evacuated from London to escape the Blitz, he ends up living in St Albans with Vera Sedge - thirty-six and drowning in debts and dependents. Always desperate for money, she's unscrupulous about how she gets it. Noel's mourning his godmother, Mattie, a former suffragette. Brought up to share her disdain for authority and eclectic approach to education, he has little in common with other children and even less with Vee."--publisher My thoughts: Now that I spend almost as much time listening to audiobooks as I do reading print books, I often find myself wondering how much the format impacts my reaction. As I listened to Crooked Heart , I found myself thinking something I can't recall ever thinking while reading: I'd rather watch this story on screen. As in, I would gladly put down this book and watc...

The backstory: The sequel to The Midwife's Daughter , Aren't We Sisters?  was longlisted for the 2015 Baileys Prize , but I wanted to read this one first. The basics: The Midwife's Daughter  is the story of Violet Diamond, a midwife in pre-World War I England. When she visits the orphange her twin sister works at and spots a young orphan who bears a striking resemblance to her dead daughter, Violet adopts the girl and names her Grace. The key difference, as the cover indicates, is that Grace is black. My thoughts: The Midwife's Daughter  is a lovely piece of historical fiction. It is a character driven story featuring fully formed people, but it's also a fascinating insight into midwifery at a critical point in its history, as the advances in medicine are making fewer use midwives. As World War I looms, there is even more uncertainty for these characters and their lives. Ferguson tackles a lot of themes in this novel. She is a trained nurse and midwife, and ...

The backstory: After loving both of Lauren Groff's other novels, Arcadia  and Fates and Furies , I finally made time to read her debut novel, which was a finalist for the 2009 Orange Award for New Writers . The basics: Willie Upton, a direct descendant of the founding family of Templeton, New York (based on Cooperstown, New York, where Groff grew up), returns home after having an affair with her married archaeology professor while on a digging trip. She's surprised to find her hippie mother, Vi, has become a conservative Christian. She's even more surprised to learn her mother has lied to her about her father's identity all her life, so she puts her academic research skills to the test to figure out his identity. My thoughts: I spent a magical summer in Cooperstown, New York in 2009 when I interned at the Baseball Hall of Fame's Research Library. The town remains one of my favorite places in the world, and while visiting for an all-intern reunion earlier thi...

The backstory: Mislaid, Nell Zink's second novel, was on the 2015 National Book Award longlist. I previously enjoyed her first novel, The Wallcreeper . The basics:  "Stillwater College in Virginia, 1966: Freshman Peggy, an ingénue with literary pretensions, falls under the spell of Lee, a blue-blooded poet and professor, and they begin an ill-advised affair that results in an unplanned pregnancy and marriage. The couple are mismatched from the start—she’s a lesbian, he’s gay—but it takes a decade of emotional erosion before Peggy runs off with their three-year-old daughter, leaving their nine-year-old son behind." (from the publisher) My thoughts: That description sets up the novel well, but it's somewhat impossible to discuss the novel without giving away a bit more plot than I normally. But Mislaid  is not a novel one reads for the plot. Once Peggy takes her daughter, they begin living under assumed identities. She dresses like a man, and she procures the ...

narrated by Tavia Gilbert The backstory: After loving Jami Attenberg's last novel, The Middlesteins , I was excited to read her new one. The basics: Set in Jazz Age New York City's Bowery neighborhood and based upon a real person, Saint Mazie  is the story of Mazie Phillips, a young woman who loves to party. When the Depression hits, Mazie can't help but help. My thoughts: The premise of this novel checks so many of my boxes, yet as I listened, Mazie never quite came alive for me. I think it's a combination of Attenberg's structure and Gilbert's narration style. The novel is structured as a documentary film, so there are numerous excerpts from Mazie's diaries, as well as interviews with descendants of those she knew. Perhaps especially on audio, this structure made the narrative feel fractured. I really wanted to love this book, but over all, I feel mostly 'meh' about it. It's such a great concept, and Attenberg is a great writer. This bo...

narrated by Lorelei King The backstory: Early Warning  is the second installment in Jane Smiley's Langdon family trilogy. I enjoyed the first installment, Some Luck . The basics: Each of these novels cover thirty-three years, with each chapter covering a year. Early Warning begins in 1953 and ends in the 1980's. My thoughts: I really enjoyed Some Luck , but I didn't always love King's narration. I planned to read this one instead of listen to it, but I'm so glad I decided to listen instead. King's narration improved in this installment, and her different voices helped me re-acclimate to this large family. I'm often leery of audiobooks longer than twelve hours, but I breezed through this one. On a personal note, there's something enchanting about listening to an Iowa family saga while driving around Iowa with my baby in the car. One character in this volume lives very near Hawthorne's day care. It took me a few chapters to get re-invested in...

The backstory: All the Light We Cannot See  won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize , was a finalist for the 2014 National Book Award , was named one of the top five books of 2014 by The New York Times , and won the 2015 Carnegie Medal . Update: It was also the 2015 runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize . The basics: Set during World War II, All the Light We Cannot See  tells the interwoven stories of Marie-Laure, a young Parisian girl going blind whose father works at the Museum of Natural History, and Werner, a young German teenager growing up in an orphanage, where he develops a fascination with radios. My thoughts: Over the years, I've grown weary of World War II tales. I find it a fascinating time in history, but I've read so many great novels about the time and so many good novels about the time that most new WWII novels have a hard time sticking out. Admittedly, if I read this one several years ago, I might have enjoyed it even more than I did. What makes All the ...

The backstory: The Moor's Account  is on the 2015 Booker Prize longlist, was a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize , and was a 2014 New York Times  Notable book. The basics: The Moor's Account is "the imagined memoirs of the first black explorer of America—a Moroccan slave whose testimony was left out of the official record. In 1527, the conquistador Pánfilo de Narváez sailed from the port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda with a crew of six hundred men and nearly a hundred horses. His goal was to claim what is now the Gulf Coast of the United States for the Spanish crown and, in the process, become as wealthy and famous as Hernán Cortés." (from the publisher) My thoughts:  Lalami uses language to differentiate our narrator from his captors: "How strange, I remember thinking, how utterly strange were the ways of the Castilians—just by saying that something was so, they believed that it was. I know now that these conquerors, like many others before them, and no...

The backstory: Lila  is the third novel in Marilynne Robinson's Gilead trilogy. I did not like Gilead  ( my review ), which won the Pulitzer Prize . So far, Lila  has won the National Book Critics Circle award , been shortlisted for the National Book Award , longlisted for the Booker Prize , and named a New York Times  Notable book . The basics: Lila  is the story of Ames's wife Lila, from her troubled girlhood to her unlikely marriage to the much older pastor. Readers will find the characters and many of the events familiar. *spoiler* unpopular opinion ahead! My thoughts:  Despite not liking Gilead , I was somewhat excited to read Lila. One of the biggest issues I took with Gilead  was the believability of the marriage of Lila and Ames. I hoped seeing things from Lila's perspective would even make me appreciate Gilead  more. Near the end of this novel there is what I presume is intended to be a poignant religious scene, yet I rolled m...

The backstory: When the publication of Go Set a Watchman  was announced, I finally read To Kill a Mockingbird , which I didn't love , but I still hoped to enjoy Go Set a Watchman  more, and I did. The basics: Jean Louise Finch returns to Maycomb from New York City for her annual two-week visit. My thoughts: Going into Go Set a Watchman , I admit I was reading it in multiple ways. I was reading it as though it were a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird , which it sort of is. I was also reading it as a first draft of To Kill a Mockingbird, which it also sort of it. But both of these readings exist with To Kill a Mockingbird  as a known book. Much as I tried to identify what it would be like to read this novel without having read that book, I couldn't. While I both enjoyed Go Set a Watchman  more and think it's a better book, I'm not sure it would stand on its own as well as it stands next to To Kill a Mockingbird. My issues with To Kill a Mockingbird  were ...

The backstory: The Shore  was longlisted for the 2015 Baileys Prize . The basics: Stretching from 1876 to 2143, this non-linear novel is the story of generations of a poor family, principally its women, who live on the titular shore of small, isolated, Virginia islands. My thoughts: I first heard about The Shore  when it appeared on several blogger's Baileys Prize prediction lists. The UK cover is very different, and when I saw the U.S. cover, I thought The Shore  would be a family beach saga. And it is, but it's as far from WASPs as you can get. When you look closely at the house on the U.S. cover, it's clear the house is dilapidated. The novel opens in 1995, and the first chapter sets the dark tone of this novel beautifully. It's haunting. The second chapter is set in 1933, and slowly a picture of how the family we meet in 1993 came to be. The concept of this novel is great. I squealed when I saw the table of contents. I love a novel that can be historical fi...