a collection of tried and true
A man in his mid-40’s has recently lost his job, is about to go bancrupt and lose his over mortgaged house and is pretty sure his wife is having an affair with him. He then accidentally becomes a drug dealer to try to maked ends meet and it all comes apart.
PJH rating: ***1/2
The middle aged Burgess brothers help their sister whose teenage son is accused of a hate crime in a small town in Maine. The novel explores the intertwined lives of the depressed siblings through their viewpoints as well as through other family members and friends. While I didn’t enjoy it as much as Strout’s other novels, it still is a wonderfully written book with the author’s recurrent themes of loneliness, and the redemptive qualities of family members who are just awful on the outside. She is definitely one of my new favorite authors.
PJH rating: ****
The third in his series of Holt, Colorado small town stories, the story of “Dad”, a 90 year old’s last month as he is dying and the lives of his family and neighbors. Simple, ordinary, very touching. I love the last paragraph.
PJH rating: ****1/2
A collection of short stories of down and unlucky men on the west coast, mostly in Portland. Written by the author of Beautiful Ruins, one of my favorite books in a while, a diverse, interesting and at time times funny group of stories.
PJH rating: ****
Different stories of people in New York City in early 1970’s. All the stories connect, in amazingly ways, to the true story of the a man walking a tightrope across the soon to be completed World Trade Center Towers. A brilliant book!
PJH rating: ****1/2
Set immediately after WW2 an English journalist/author learns through chance of the plight of the people who lived on Guernsey, an Island in the English Channel between France and England. Told completely through letters, the novel (?) tells the story of the author, her family, her romantic interests and the people of Guernsey. Great stuff.
PJH Rating: **** 1/2 and 3/4
Courtney has been trying to get me to read this forever as she thought I would like it. I was always turned off by the title as it sound like one of those chic lit southern novels that I’m not too fond of. As usual Courtney was right… I loved it and it wasn’t anything close to what I thought it was. This is one of those books that I couldn’t put down, I read it straight through after work for the past two nights totally wrapped up in it and wanting to stay home to finish it. It is so sad to read the author died, this was her first novel, just before the book was published and her niece (Annie Barrows – a children’s fiction author – she wrote Ivy and Bean – one of our favs) finished it up. So sad to think what other great stories she would have come up with. Makes me SO HAPPY to be reading good stuff instead of watching the crap on TV – although I feel so out of it that I don’t know any of the details of all the craziness going on in Cleveland news these days that is all anyone is talking about wherever we go… rambling.
Amy, a a quiet, shy 15 year old, gets romantically involved with one of her teachers. Isabelle’s boss, Isabelle is Amy’s mother, discovers the relationship and tells her mom. Although a simple story on the surface, the novel is beautifully written, delving into the emotions of all the characters. I really enjoy Elizabeth Strout’s style of writing and looking forward to reading her new book that just came out.
****
Novel goes back and forth between a young German woman who had an illegitimate child from a Jewish father during WW2 and her struggles during the war and the aforementioned daughter in modern times who doesn’t know her background but is getting to know her mother.
PJH Rating: ***1/2
A group of short stories set in a small town in Maine spread out over thirty years. Olive Kitteridge is the main character in some stories, just an incidental character in others, but the powerful central force of the book. Olive is truly an awful woman although I sympathized with her a bit towards the end… just a bit. I feel that many might say this book is terribly depressing but I really loved it. The writing is wonderful. You really are drawn into each character. The last page or two is the best ending I think I have ever read in a book.
PJH Rating: ****1/2
An 18 years old orphan girl ages out of the group home she is forced to live in and strikes it out on her own in San Francisco finding work in a flower shop. Going back and forth between foster homes and the present the story tells how she learned the “language of flowers”. A great story that draws you in right away. One of those books you don’t want to end.
PJH Rating: ****1/2
Eat On Edgecliff 