a collection of tried and true
A young woman in southern Tennessee is on her way to cheat on her husband but instead encounters a flock of butterflies than changes her life. Barbara Kingsolver, one of my favorite authors, takes it all on in this novel: religion, environmentalism, sexism, marriage…but her great storytelling and beautiful prose, as usual, all come together to make it a great novel.
PJH Rating: ****1/2
One of my goals for 2012 was to read 40 books. I finished 42. Hurray. My goal this year is to read 45. I read a lot of good ones this year so it was really tough to just pick five. You can see the whole list here on my blog.
My top 5 in no particular order:
A couple of other 2012 top books lists to check out:
A guy who has been married 8 times by the time he is 40 years old meets and proposes to the ninth. Novel goes back and forth between him and his future ninth wife.
PJH Rating: ***
A 12 year old girl living in California is going through the trials and tribulations of all 6th graders, but this time set in the near future where Earth’s magnetic field has shifted causing days and nights to become longer and longer leading to the possible end of the world. An interesting novel, sort of like watching disasters unfold on the news, that I found hard to put down.
PJH rating: ****
A ten year old boy who was born with extreme facial abnormalities starts school for the first time going into fifth grade after being home schooled. The book chronicles his year at school with the point of view going back and forth between different people. While the end was a bit over the top hokey, and I’m not quite sure how it ended up in my overdrive queue, I did enjoy this book written for tweens.
PJH Rating: ***1/2
Memoir written by an editor and writer about his mother who is dying of pancreatic cancer. They form a two person book club during their visits to the hospital. Great book about death and dying, the amazing life and attitude of the author’s mother and also about the love of reading with lots of great book recommendations. Another great book.
PJH Rating: ****1/2
A 13 year old boy growing up on an Indian Reservation’s mother is raped. The boy and his father are involved in the investigation and eventual result. A great story that is very suspenseful at times and is beautifully written. I have read and enjoyed most of Louise Erdrich’s novels over the years and this one is especially good. This novel won the National Book Award for Fiction just this week while I was reading it.
PJH Rating: ****1/2
Famous Brooklyn bank robber Willie Sutton is released from prison after spending twenty years behind bars. A journalist and a photographer bring him around his old haunts where the novel goes back and forth between past and present. Fictional biography I guess this would be. An interesting read but not too exiting.
PJH rating: ***1/2
An orchardist in Washington State in the early 20th century grows apples and apricots on his large farm. Two teenaged pregnant sisters show up on his property and change his way of life. I liked the language, pace and atmosphere of this novel.
PJH Rating: ****
Brown University early 1980’s: Boy loves girl; girl loves different boy; different boy is crazy. Same old story. I wanted so much to like this novel but couldn’t get into it at all. It took me forever. Blah blah blah. Sadly not as brilliant as his other novels.
PJH Rating: ***
Eat On Edgecliff 