nomadreader

Last week I held a contest for an ARC of The Leftovers  by Tom Perrotta, and Melissa from The Avid Reader's Musings is the lucky winner! Contest closed: Congratulations to Joanna from A Worn Path ! Didn't win? You can still buy the  book  ( Kindle version ) or audiobook , you can do that too. Look back for my review on August 29; The Leftovers  comes out August 30. As an affiliate, I receive a very, very small commission when you make a purchase through any of the above links. Thank you for helping to support my book habits that bring more content to this blog!

The backstory: I first read City of Fire in the summer of 2007 and fell in love with it. I went on to read its sequel, The Lost Witness , as soon as it was released in February of 2009. When word broke of a third book , Murder Season , in this fantastic series, I knew I wanted to re-read the first two before Murder Season comes out in December. The basics: Lena Gamble, a Los Angeles homicide detective, still mourns the loss of her older brother, a musician, five years ago. His murder remains unsolved, but Lena is busy trying to solve a new string of grisly murders. My thoughts: When I sat down to reread City of Fire , I was curious how it would go. I don't often re-read novels, and I thought I remembered what happened. I soon found myself gripped with this tightly-wound narrative and thoroughly enjoying its intricacies. Robert Ellis is a masterful plotter, pacer and storyteller. I knew what happened, and I was still on the edge of my seat. What I soon discovered was that al...

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine to highlight an upcoming release we can't wait to read. My pick this week is The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst. I was already eagerly awaiting its publication, but when the Booker longlist was announced last week, I became even more excited to get my hands on a copy. Here's how the publisher describes it: "Alan Hollinghurst’s first novel in seven years is a magnificent, century-spanning saga about a love triangle that spawns a myth—and a family mystery—across generations. In 1913, George Sawle brings charming, handsome Cecil Valance to his family’s modest home outside London for a summer weekend. George is enthralled by his Cambridge schoolmate, and soon his sixteen-year-old sister, Daphne, is equally besotted by both Cecil and the stories he tells about Corley Court, the country estate he is heir to. But what Cecil writes in Daphne’s autograph album will change their and their fam...

The backstory: Pigeon English was longlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize . The basics: Harri, the 11-year-old narrator, is a Ghanan immigrant living in a housing project in London with his mother and sister. When a boy a little older than Harri is murdered, he finds himself taking up the investigation CSI-style. My thoughts: Despite a strong premise, Pigeon English  never really took off for me. The biggest hindrance was Harri's stilted narration. While I appreciated the point-of-view of an 11-year-old, I found it limiting rather than illuminating. Harri tells his story boastfully and assumed the reader is ignorant, as he often addresses the reader directly through parentheses. While these parenthetical statements were sometimes illuminating, it limited the authenticity for me. For some inexplicable reason, each time Harri used "Asweh," which was frequently, I heard Cartman from South Park  as Harri. It drove be a little bit crazy. I did, however, enjoy the way H...

The basics: When Lauren Mahdian is six years old, her father murders her mother. She remembers very little about that night, but her older brother Alex has always maintained their father is innocent. My thoughts: Close Your Eyes  is a gripping thriller from beginning to end. What sets it apart from other thrillers, however, is the lack of imminent danger. It is a character-driven  thriller, and I could not put it down. I was drawn into Lauren's world; she now lives in Austin with her boyfriend and works as a real estate agent, but she still struggles with her memories (or lack thereof) of the evening of her mother's death. I won't share much more because this short novel is best experienced by reading it not reading about it. Favorite passage: "My older brother filled me--always--with a sense of bafflement, irritation , and gratitude." The verdict: Close Your Eyes  captivated me from beginning to end. I read it in a single day and thoroughly enjoyed the stor...

Giveaway is closed. Congratulations to Melissa from The Avid Reader's Musings ! It's no secret I'm a HUGE fan of Tom Perrotta and have been eagerly awaiting his latest novel, The Leftovers , which comes out August 30, 2011 . I was fortunate enough to snag an early copy and have been spending a heavenly weekend with it. I'm not the kind of lady to rub it in your face that I have a copy of this book when you, my lovely readers, do not.  The wonderful folks at St. Martin's want to give a copy to one lucky reader. That's right: you too can read The Leftovers before you can buy it. Awesome, right? Here are the details: you have until midnight (Des Moines time) next Sunday, August 7, 2011 to fill out the following form. When the contest ends, I'll randomly pick a winner, email the lucky person to let them know, and St. Martin's will send the book to the winner. Good luck! If you'd rather buy the book ( Kindle version ), you can do that too. L...

Happy Sunday, everyone! At the beginning of the month, I laid out my reading goals for July . How did I do? Pretty well! This month, I read 13 books. The Excellent (rated 4.5 stars or more): Next to Love by Ellen Feldman (5 stars) City of Fire by Robert Ellis (5 stars) -- reread --  review coming soon The Privileges by Jonathan Dee (4.5 stars) Comedy in a Minor Key by Hans Keilson (4.5 stars) You Know When the Men Are Gone  by Siobhan Fallon (4.5 stars) The Good (Rated 4 or 4.25 stars): Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear (4.25 stars) Close Your Eyes  by Amanda Eyre Ward (4 stars) -- review coming tomorrow A Good Hard Look by Ann Napolitano (4 stars) French Lessons by Ellen Sussman (4 stars) The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (4 stars) The Somewhat Disappointing (rated 3.5 stars or less): The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht (3.5 stars) I Curse the River of Time by Per Petterson (3 stars) Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman...