nomadreader

The backstory: Killer Ambition  is the third mystery in Marcia Clark's Rachel Knight series. I've already enjoyed and reviewed Guilt by Association   and Guilt by Degrees . The basics: When a famous Hollywood director's daughter is murdered, in what seems to be a kidnapping gone wrong, D.A. Rachel Knight and her best friend, detective Bailey Keller, catch the case and the spotlight. Of course, things are never quite what they seem in a Marcia Clark novel, and the actual mystery is much more complicated than a simple whodunit. My thoughts: After starting this series in December (the week I found out I was pregnant and only wanted to lose myself in mysteries), I read all three books back-to-back-to-back in a single week. I've spaced out my reviews so as not to delude you all at once, but I am so in love with this series and these characters. Overall, this mystery wasn't quite as compelling as the one in Guilt by Degrees , but I enjoyed reading it just as much. T...

The backstory: Dirty Wars  is one of the five films nominated for the Best Documentary Academy Award this year. The basics: Jeremy Scahill, a foreign correspondent for The Nation,  investigates the unseen wars the U.S. is fighting. My thoughts: Jeremy Scahill, best known for exposing Blackwater, sets his sights on uncovering the stories behind the NATO reports. He's first drawn to Gardez, Afghanistan, where civilians and an Afghan police chief trained by the U.S. are killed. Throughout the film, Scahill manages to get impressive access to both government officials and locals in the war zones. The film isn't necessarily a marvel of visual filmmaking, but it is a marvel of documentary film as an information resource. The emphasis here isn't style; it's relaying critical information. By taking the viewer along on Scahill's journey, this film watches like an unfolding mystery. Although Scahill didn't know how this story (or stories) was end, I'm thankful...

The basics: Hildy Good is a real estate agent near Salem, Massachusetts. She went to rehab at the behest of her two grown daughters, but she's not an alcoholic. My thoughts: The Good House  is one of those books many were quietly raving about most of 2013, but yet it never seemed to really get much attention. I'm pretty sure I checked it out of the library in January when it came out and finally read it in the final days of 2013 (I know, I am a library book hoarder.) I was instantly entranced with this novel. Hildy is a dynamic narrator. I'm tempted to call her an unreliable narrator, but I'm not convinced that's completely accurate. Hildy's unreliability comes in two forms: first, she is not always forthcoming with the reader. She doesn't necessarily lie, but she carefully chooses how to share and when. In reality, this behavior is what we all do. We don't lead with the faults others find with us that we don't quite believe, yet when Hildy first ...

Hysteria  by Tanya Wexler I really wanted to love this film. Hugh Dancy and Maggie Gyllenhaal in a historic feminist comedy? It should be right up my alley. The tone of the film overall is somewhat bizarre. At times it feels like a comedy, but at times it was much more serious. The actors often seemed as though they were acting in different films. Ultimately, I don't think the film's direction was clear enough. I've seen Sarah Ruhl's fabulous play In the Next Room , which also focuses on the invention of the vibrator, and perhaps the excellence of that play negatively impacted my enjoyment of Hysteria . There were some wonderful moments in this film, but overall, I was pretty disappointed this story and this cast only made a mediocre film. Rating: 3 out of 5 Availability: dvd Lee Daniels' The Butler by Lee Daniels Based very loosely on the true story of an African-American butler who served from Eisenhower to Reagan and lived to see Obama's presidenc...

The backstory: I previously adored Valerie Martin's Orange Prize -winning novel Property . The basics: The Mary Celeste  was found abandoned in 1872. The ship was in tact, there were no signs of a struggle, but the crew was gone. Arthur Conan Doyle writes a soon-to-be-famou short story about what happened. Meanwhile, medium Violet Petra, who can communicate with the dead, exemplifies the growing fascination with ghosts and unexplained. My thoughts: I was not familiar with the mystery of the Mary Celeste  before reading this book, but I was instantly intrigued by it. Martin does not structure this novel in a straight-forward way, which mimics the mystery of the ship itself. Characters come and go throughout the novel, and the reader is left to piece together how these parts fit together. This passage about a third of the way into the novel illustrates Martin's craftiness: "Though most of its critics recognized Jephson's "Statement" as fiction and placed...

First, thank you all so much for your kind and celebratory words here on the blog, on Instagram, on Facebook, and on Twitter about our little announcement . I've been diligently adding all of your book selections to my reading list too. It's so nice to finally  have my pregnancy completely out in the open, and I'm celebrating by writing a Sunday Salon in which I can actually tell you about my week. Reading I've been reading The Secret of Magic by Deborah Johnson for over a week now, which is much more of an indication of my need to sleep 12-14 hours a day than it is of how much I'm enjoying it. Regardless, I'm determined to finish it today. It's also a positive indication, however, of how well my New Yorker  reading is going. I have found that during the week I don't like to start a new book because I'd rather devote my meager awake reading time to it, and I'm right on track with my 2014 goal of reading all issues. I have no idea which book ...

When I shared my goals for 2014 with you, I could have shared one more: read as many books as possible for the nomadbaby arrives (on or around) August 9th. Followed quickly by: read as many books as possible while on maternity leave. Mr. Nomadreader and I are excited and terrified (but mostly excited.) I've said many times lately "pregnancy isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be." Which is true, but I think I was unreasonably terrified of it. Mostly, I'm tired (really tired.) And I have little to no appetite. What I want to eat is very specific--it's that or nothing. And it is impossible to drink enough water. But I am well, and the nomadbaby is well, so we are making do. In terms of reading, I've slowed down somewhat because I go to bed so early (and sleep so much over all.) My attention span is perfect for a 90-120 minute film, so I've been watching more of those. And my attention span also loves The New Yorker , so I'm following through...