nomadreader

As the Mockalong enters its second week, I found myself finishing up Part One of To Kill a Mockingbird. which my Kindle tells me is 40% done. I've been reading quietly the last couple of days, as I haven't had many thoughts about the novel to tweet. Yet as I read I find myself trying to articulate some coherent thoughts about the book so I'm prepared if and when people ask me how my Mockalong reading is going. Minor spoilers about Part One follow. If you haven't read the book, proceed at your own risk. Better yet, buy a copy from Amazon ( Kindle version--only $3.99! ) and read with me! 1. Overall, I don't have a lot of opinions yet. I don't love it. I don't hate it. I wouldn't say I'm underwhelmed, as I'm still not sure I have a sense of what the book is or what it's trying to be. It's fine, but it seems quite ordinary to me so far. It has some nice moments, but as I finished Part One, the two loudest thoughts I had were: 1. I'm...

narrated by Campbell Scott translated by Carol Brown Janeway The backstory: The Reader  is one of the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die . The basics: Narrated by Michael, whom we meet as a fifteen-year-old, The Reader  is the story of his life and the relationship he develops with Hanna, a 36-year-old train director he meets at the beginning of the novel, as well as the reverberating impacts of that relationship on his life. My thoughts: I've known about The Reader  since its release in the United States almost twenty years ago, yet I never realized it was about the love affair of a teenage boy and an adult woman. It's about much more than that too, but the first part of the book surprised me. As I kept reading, I marveled at how many storyline Schlink weaves into this slim novel. I was particularly entertained with Michael. Campbell Scott's narration often had an urgency to it. He read the novel as though Michael was seeking to explain, or perhaps seeking som...

With the announcement of this year's Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction coming Monday, March 10th, I decided to revive the tradition of predicting the longlist. Eligibility The Baileys Prize is given to a novel written by a woman, originally in English, and published in the UK between April 1 of the last year and March 31 of the year the prize is awarded. Only the UK publishing date matters. This year, books had to be published between April 1, 2014 and March 31, 2015. My predictions As always, there are far more than twenty novels I think could (and/or should) be longlisted. There were some tough decisions to make, and I certainly don't envy the judges! I chose a mix of debuts, books already listed for other prizes, books that seem to be under the radar, and books from former winners, shortlisted, and longlisted authors. Here are my selections, alphabetically by title: All My Puny Sorrows  by Miriam Toews (longlisted in 2009 for The Flying Troutmans) The Countr...

The basics: Law of Attraction  introduces Anna Curtis, a driven, bright young lawyer whose dark family history in Michigan causes her to prosecute domestic violence crimes in D.C. My thoughts: I gravitate to mystery series about female lawyers written by female lawyers (see: Alafair Burke , Linda Fairstein , and Marcia Clark . I've read all of their books.) Like Anna, Leotta worked as a federal prosecutor handling domestic violence in D.C. Anna is new to her job, and the reader gets to learn about it along with her. She's also new to D.C., and I appreciated her realistically humble apartment and utter lack of work-life balance. I found Anna to be a particularly interesting character because she isn't perfect. She makes mistakes. She makes tough choices. She doubts herself in realistic ways rather than in annoying ones. She's flawed but still inspiring, and I found myself both rooting for her and wanting to be her friend. Law of Attraction  balances introducing and...

The backstory: After loving The Lotus Eaters  ( my review ) and enjoying  The Forgetting Tree  ( my review ), Tatjana Soli's two previous novels, I was eager to read her most recent novel, The Last Good Paradise. The basics: Set on a small, isolated island in the South Pacific, The Last Good Paradise  is primarily the story of Ann and Richard, a couple from Los Angeles seeking respite from near financial ruin. Ann, an attorney who dreams of being an artist, and Richard, a chef with complicated issues around eating animals, escape to this island, where they encounter a quirky cast of characters. My thoughts: I tend to enjoy novels about people living in or visiting far away places (as my Internet moniker is nomadreader, after all.) And Soli offers a fascinating exploration of an unnamed island in the South Pacific in The Last Good Paradise . Admittedly, the thought of having the means and opportunity to leave reality behind sounds amazing to me, but I wouldn't o...

Welcome to the Mockalong! This month I'm correcting a literary embarrassment: I'm finally reading To Kill a Mockingbird . Whether you're read it before or not, you're welcome to join me. All you have to do is read To Kill a Mockingbird  sometime in March. Every Monday, I'll be posting here, and you're welcome to join the discussion in the comments here, post to your blog, and chatting on Twitter using the #Mockalong hashtag . This isn't a formal read-a-long . We're all reading or listening at our own pace. Grab a copy at the library, buy it for Kindle (only $3.99 !), or listen to it on audio (I hear the Sissy Spacek narration is amazing.) For those who want to break it up into pieces, there are 31 chapters. You could read a chapter a day in March. I'll likely read it all at once. I'm also planning to watch the film, so if others are interested, I'm happy to arrange a virtual viewing party. To get us started: why and how are you readin...

My NPR Books podcast subscription continues to delight. I've picked up new titles because of it, but this week, I've felt ahead of the time as they interviewed two authors whose books I read this month: Elisa Albert and G. Willow Wilson. Last week I raved about After Birth by Elisa Albert , and I've been enjoying how much press the book is getting. Yesterday, Elisa Albert was on All Things Considered , and it's a really great interview. G. Willow Wilson was also on NPR talking about the new all-female Marvel Universe . Although I'm not traditionally a superhero comic book fan, I recently read Ms. Marvel , which G. Willow wrote (review coming soon!) She's one of the keynote speakers at the ACRL conference next month, and I'm even more excited to see her after this interview. Give it a listen too. As an affiliate, I receive a small commission when you make a purchase through any of the above links. Thank you for helping to support my book habits ...