nomadreader

narrated by Rita Moreno The basics: Sonia Sotomayor, the newest U.S. Supreme Court justice, writes about her life until she became a judge. My thoughts: I didn't know much about Sonia Sotomayor going into this memoir. I knew her appointment to the Supreme Court was historic because she was the first Hispanic on the Court, as well as only the third woman. Something you may not know about me: when I was younger, I wanted to be a judge. I was convinced I could tolerate a few years as a lawyer if I had to, but I was destined for being a judge. Clearly, that didn't happen, but I delighted in Sotomayor's childhood dream of becoming a judge too. She has perseverance I don't, and I appreciated her methodical approach to everything. She's unbelievably driven and inspiring. Favorite passage:  "You cannot value dreams according to their odds of coming true. Their real value is in stirring within us the will to aspire. That will, wherever it finally leads, does at ...

The backstory: I've previously enjoyed Emma Straub's short story collection, Other People We Married , which apparently I never reviewed, but the story "Fly Over State" remains one of my all-time favorites. Her debut novel, Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures , was a delightful audio experience , and I was eager to see what she would do next. Once again, it's something quite different from her previously published work. The basics: The Post family are off to spend two weeks in Mallorca. Franny and Jim are celebrating thirty-five years of marriage, but it may be coming to an end. Jim has also lost his job. Their daughter Sylvia is off to Brown in the fall. Their son, Bobby, and his older girlfriend, Carmen, live in Miami. Franny's best friend, Charles, and his husband, Lawrence, also join them. My thoughts: The Vacationers  is one of those books that enchanted me from its opening pages. It's the perfect combination of so many factors, and reading it g...

The backstory: I've read and enjoyed all of Emma Straub's books . All Adults Here  is one of the novels I was most excited for in 2020. I'm thrilled to see it's the May Read with Jenna pick . The basics:  "When Astrid Strick witnesses a school bus accident in the center of town, it jostles loose a repressed memory from her young parenting days decades earlier. Suddenly, Astrid realizes she was not quite the parent she thought she'd been to her three, now-grown children. But to what consequence?"--publisher My thoughts: I have realized, particularly since I had a child, how much I appreciate the writing of women around my age who also have children around the age of my kid. The experience of parenthood changes so much day to day and week to week and month to month, that there is a particular kind of comfort for those who can articulate the experience that aligns with mine. Emma Straub and I were born the same year, and Hawthorne is half-way in betwee...

February, despite being the shortest month of the year, was an even better reading month than January . I read twelve books in February, including four 5-star reads. The Ones I Didn't Love The Scent Keeper  by Erica Bauermeister I admit: this book did not appeal to me at all, but I picked it up when Reese Witherspoon picked it as the February book club pick . I have a very poor sense of smell, so it's not terribly surprising that a book all about smells might not be for me. I also found the story problematic in many ways. I enjoyed the second half more, but I'm not the right reader for this book. (2 stars) Island of the Lost  by Joan Druett This exploration of a crew shipwrecked on the Auckland Islands had all the makings of gripping nonfiction. While the story is fascinating, the execution was underwhelming. I listened to the audio, so it's hard to know if it was the writing or narration (or maybe both) that made it hard to engage with this book. It was intere...

Good morning, y'all! Have I mentioned lately how grateful I am to live in an era with air conditioning? I am hating this hot, hot, humid weather. Thankfully it's supposed to cool down later in the week, when I head to Chicago for the ALA (American Library Association, as most all of you know) Annual Conference. I'm so excited to be in Chicago, a favorite city of mine, and I'm even more excited to have what looks like reasonable weather for the second year in a row. (ALA has a tendency to hold its conference in places that are not seasonably desirable, so we breathe a sigh of relief each time temperatures are "only" in the 80s.) If you're going to be in Chicago this weekend, do let me know, and I've love to meet up. I arrive Thursday afternoon and depart Monday afternoon, so next week's Salon will come from Chicago. What I'm reading today I'm utterly immersed in Kate Atkinson's Life After Life , which was shortlisted for the Orange...

2016 wasn't my most productive year of reading, but I did manage to read 104 books, which averages out to two a week, and I'm pleased with that. I didn't review most of those, so this post is not full of linked reviews as in years past ,  but I did rate eight of them 5 stars. 19 more were 4.5 star reads. The books I loved were incredibly diverse in genre, so this year, instead of ranking them, I offer my favorites by categories. Dig in! (Pictures take you to Amazon and linked titles take you to my reviews--if I actually wrote one.) Best Comic (tie) Something New  by Lucy Knisley &  Roller Girl  by Victoria Jamieson Best Nonfiction All the Single Ladies  by Rebecca Traister Best Short Story Collection American Housewife  by Helen Ellis Runner Up: Almost Famous Women  by Megan Mayhew Bergman Best Mystery (standalone) Dodgers by Bill Beverly Runner Up: The Kind Worth Killing  by Peter Swanson Best New My...