Coraline by Neil Gaiman

After hearing the Gaiman had won the Newberry Award, I became intrigued by the awesome reviews I was reading of the movie Coraline in 3D. Of course, I figured I needed to read the book before seeing the movie. Coraline is

The Soloist by Steve Lopez

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The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker

The Dying Animal by Philip Roth

After reading two very long books back to back, I decided to finish off Christmas break with a short one. I had never really read any Philip Roth, and, against my best judgement, I had bought this one with the movie-tie-in cover a while back, wanting to read the book before seeing the movie. It is a very erotic story of 60 plus year old professor who repeatedly falls for young women he teaches. But last woman, Consuela Castillo, is the one who nearly undoes him.

The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb

This was a gift from David for Christmas, and I started in on it on the 26th, my favorite reading day of the year. At first I was not comfortable in the details of the lives of the narrator and his wife, both employees at Columbine High School at the time of the shooting. I had to let myself get through those early pages to realize the greater subject of loss and post-traumatic stress that Lamb was addressing. It is a very ambitious book -- almost too much so.

My Christmas Break Reading 2008 - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

I had read all of the advance buzz when this book was released for the first time in America in October after experiencing international success. I bought it right away, read the first (slow) chapters, and because of its length, set it aside for Christmas break. I'm so glad I did. Once I let myself into the murder mystery and tangle of similarly named Swedish characters, I loved the intrigue and ruthlessness of the investigation. I recommend it and wait for the next book which is due out in August.

Requiem Mass. by John Dufresne

I am a huge fan of Dufresne's humor, so when I happened upon an autographed copy of his new book in a bookstore in Amherst, Mass, I felt the connection. Unfortunately, this book was tougher to get through, which characters more pitiful than laughable.

Goldengrove by Francine Prose

This tender novel is narrated by a thirteen year old girl named Niko whose older sister, Margaret, drowns in pond as the book opens. The title comes from Gerard Manley Hopkins's Spring and Fall (which begins Margaret, are you grieving/ Over Goldengrove unleaving?) Niko and Margaret's father is a bookseller, which makes the connection even more interesting when Niko finds the poem in a book in his shop and tries to use it to explain her pain and loss.

A Mercy by Toni Morrison

This slender Morrison novel reminded me of Beloved more than any other novel since. I have read all of Morrison's novels and the last several didn't hold me. This one did.

Salvatore Scibona Nominated for National Book Award

National Book Award Site

Ms. Hempel Chronicles by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum

A great collection of interlocking stories about Beatrice Hempel, middle school English teacher. This book was a gift from Salvatore Scibona, who thought I would enjoy the humor and honesty of the classroom that Bynum perfectly paints.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

In October, our book club read Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. This cautionary tale would pair well with Brave New World, since both deal with the intersection between scientific experimentation and human rights.

Home by Marilyn Robinson

David bought me Home for my birthday since I am a big Marilyn Robinson fan. This new novel revisits Gilead and follows three characters, Glory, Jack and Rev. Boughton, as they putter around the house contemplating the true definitions of faith and family. I am reading slowly and enjoying her lovely sentences.

How Far is the Ocean From Here by Amy Shearn

I have been recommending this book to my students as the anti-Juno. Protagonist Susannah Prue has agreed to be the surrogate mother for a young couple, but as the due date approaches she flees to the Texas-New Mexico border and stays at the Thunder Lodge. There she meets the rest of the cast of oddball characters, two of whom she kidnaps and takes on the rest of her pilgrimage to the ocean. Madcap and dangerous - I liked it well enough to call it a great end of the summer read.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

This little epistolary novel tells the story of an author who travels to Guernsey to meet the member of the Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It was entertaining, but not quite as "delightful" as other readers suggested. I did enjoy the history lesson about the German occupation of Guernsey in the 1940s.

Currently Recommending - The End by Salvatore Scibona

The End by Salvatore Scibona is an introspective stroll through the “old neighborhood”. I predict this novel will quickly be featured by independent bookstores, added to university reading lists, discussed by book clubs, and eventually join the canon of great literature articulating the American Dream. It may well be the next Pulitzer Prize winner. Of course, I am totally biased, since Scibona is a former student of mine. He was a high school prodigy and a college wordsmith. Since his time at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, his energy has been channeled into crafting the characters – a 93 year old widow, Mrs. Marini, the baker Rocco LaGrassa and the other residents of Elephant Park. The End is a character driven examination of the growing tensions in Little Italy – the Cleveland neighborhood of Scibona’s grandparents’. In fact, the neighborhood itself is a character, bucking under the pressures of racial tensions and the unwelcome evolution of tradition taking place in immigrant communities all over America in the mid 1950s. Clevelanders will hear the strains of the paper-rags man hawking in the streets and smell the bakery sweets prepared for the annual Feast of the Assumption, the culminating event of the novel. Universally, readers will empathize with the haunting sense of loss propelling each character to his or her inevitable end. I celebrate Salvatore Scibona’s talent and recommend placing The End at the top of your summer reading list.


website for The End

How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life by Mameve Medwed

This clever little novel was full of literary references. The protagonist is an antiques dealer who believes she owns Elizabeth Barrett Browning's chamber pot and has that authenticity confirmed on Antiques Road Show.

Made in the U.S.A. by Billie Letts

It isn't the new Where the Heart Is but it is pretty close. The story follows teenage Lutie and her aptly named brother, Fate, who begin their journey in Las Vegas where they believe they will find the father who abandoned them. They end in Oklahoma, taken in by a circus family that welcomes them into their crazy family circle. The book reads a bit like Letts opened the police blotter in any given city and incorporated all of deviants she found there - thugs, drug dealers, rapists, pornographers, homeless shelter regulars, as well as those kind folks who always look out for the good will of the innocents. It was a mindless read for a hot August night.

Someday This Pain Will be Useful to You by Peter Cameron

A great read about a frustrated teen in a messed up adult world.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

http://www.edgarsawtelle.com/
Website for the Novel
Best read of the summer so far - This modern day Hamlet deserves its high standing on the New York Times Bestsellers List.

Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer

This slender novel's beauty took me by surprised. It traces the 1953 love story of childhood sweethearts, Pearlie and Holland Cook, whose marriage is interrupted when Buzz Drummond emerges from Holland's past. Behind every consideration of the secrets of marriage, shines the light of the racial and political tensions of the 1950s.

Beginner's Greek by James Collins

I had reserved Beginner's Greek from the library earlier in the year and decided to leave it for summer reading. Good choice. It made for a quick and frivolous beach read. The best description I can give is to quote the blurb on the back of the novel written by I Love You, Beth Cooper author, Larry Doyle. He called the book an "incisive romantic comedy" and said, "James Collins is the new Jane Austen, only taller."

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

Lahiri's The Namesake was brilliant, and I just watched the equally beautiful film adaptation last week. The connected stories in her new collection, Unaccustomed Earth, do not disappoint. An Indian character struggling in some way with American identity is central to each story. I especially loved the final three stories and was taken by surprise at the end of the trilogy.

Netherland by Joseph O'Neill

After reading several reviews linking Netherland with The Great Gatsby, I had to see for myself. The narrator is Dutchman Hans van den Broek, who travels to New York City for work and is befriended by mysterious and entrepreneurial, Chuck Ramkissoon, who envisions a Brooklyn cricket stadium as a post 9/11 cure for the city.