Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

Mudbound
My cousin has been begging me to read this book for a year or more, so a digital version went with me to Ireland on the iPad.  I know totally understand her urging!  Mudbound is a Southern saga, told through alternating narrators, of post WWII racism as a black and a white war hero return to the Jim Crow South.  The reviewers that compare Hillary Jordan to Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor are right.  This is a heart-wrenchingly beautiful book - but it is also an importantly moral book. 

The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison

The Very Thought of You: A Novel
I received an advanced copy of this novel about the time I decided I needed a paperback for the plane trip to Ireland.  I almost never travel with a book I haven't at least read a chapter or two of before departing, in case I want to throw the book into an airport dumpster before the flight departs.  The beginning of this WWII love story intrigued me enough to make the cut.  Anna Sands is a young girl evacuated from London and placed in a make-shift school aI got To Be Sung Under Water from the library after reading so many favorable reviews.  Anna Sands is a young girl evacuated from London to a make-shift school on  the estate of Thomas and Elizabeth Ashton.  Thomas is confined to a wheel-chair, Elizabeth can't get pregnant, Anna is a very observant youth.  Do you see the trajectory of this love story?  I did too and was a little let down - especially since the book was short-listed for the Orange Prize last year in the UK. A little too melodramatic.

McCarthy's Bar: A Journey of Discovery in Ireland by Pete McCarthy

McCarthy's Bar: A Journey of Discovery In Ireland
Such a hoot I don't know where to begin. The last of the Irish books, I finished this just days before our trip began. It is the true story of Pete McCarthy's quest to visit any pub called McCarthy that he came upon in Ireland. As I was reading this book, I laughed aloud at the crazy folks and situations the author described, all the while thinking this cannot be an accurate depiction of authentic Irish pubs and locals. Guess what - it was and it is and it should be a must-read for anyone planning a trip to Ireland. Plus - we saw it proudly displayed in several pubs we visited.

To Be Sung Underwater by Tom McNeal

To Be Sung Underwater: A Novel
I got To Be Sung Under Water from the library after reading so many favorable reviews.  It is a story of adult loss and longing.  Judith has an established life with her husband and daughter in LA where she works editing film.  The nagging "what if" of her life surfaces when she suspects her husband's infidelity and decides to return to Nebraska to find Willy Blunt, the wild-child love of her youth.   It will sweep you under.

State of Wonder by Ann Pachett

State of Wonder

I got this book from the library because I was prepared to be disappointed as I was with Pachett's last novel, Run, but challenged myself to read it because it has been described as a modern day Heart of Darkness. And that it was. Dr. Marina Singh works as a researcher for a pharmaceutical company and is sent to the Amazon the unravel the mystery behind a co-worker's apparent death. Once she gets there, she learns the secret of "the work" that has been going on for years. Passages of it are very reminiscent of HOD, as we call it in AP class, but the book was predictable, laden with heavy handed imagery and an ending that is just plain corny.

The Dork of Cork by Chet Raymo

The Dork of Cork


As I began to wind down the Irish Books Challenge, I decided to get a used copy of The Dork of Cork from Amazon.  When the dog eared paperback arrived, the cover didn't suggest a novel of any promise.  The central character is 43 year old Frank Bois who is a soon-to-be-published author - and a dwarf!  Isolated by his perceived ugliness, Frank nonetheless communicate his love of beauty - of beautiful women who he admires from afar and of the stars.  In the end I was glad I made the effort to find and read this little gem.

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

Brooklyn: A Novel

Keeping with the Irish books challenge just a while longer, I finished Brooklyn by Colm Toibin. It is a nice story - that seems to be the best word - just nice. Young Eilis Lacey from Enniscorthy, Ireland finds herself following the promise of a job and a new life in America. Her adventure is fraught with the stereotypical obstacles - a manipulative landlady, various gentleman courters, and alarming news that sends her back to Ireland where everything seems - is it too cliche to say, greener! Aside from the fact that her last name is a letter off from mine and I now must find Enniscorthy on the map, it was just a pleasure read.

The Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier

The Illumination: A Novel

I am a big fan of Carmichael's independent bookstore in Louisville, KY.  Every year when we go to Louisville to do AP grading, we make a stop at Carmichael's and, since I certainly don't need any books, I only buy one if the store employee can convince me to buy a title I have never heard of.  This year's suggestion from Jenn Watson, the Carmichael's clerk, was The Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier.  The book is a series of inter-locking stories connected by a mysterious outbreak of physical pain made visible called "the Illumination" and the talisman seems to be a journal of daily love notes left behind after it's owner perishes in a car accident.  As the journal falls into different hands, various character's lives are changed. The book is a subtle celebration of the connectedness of our lives.

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

Let the Great World Spin: A Novel/a>

Confession. David and I started this book last summer on our long road trip to Vermont, and although we were both enjoying it at the time, I didn't rush to complete it UNTIL I realized that it qualifies as another Irish challenge book. I shouldn't have waited so long. Let the Great World Spin is a series of interrelated observer viewpoints of the famous tightrope walk between the Twin Tower by Phillipe Petit in August of 1974. Each story is compelling - the Irish priest who befriends a group of local prostitutes, a group of women meeting to mourn sons lost to the senselessness of war, a hippy artist couple, some cell-wave hacking techies and a New York city judge. More compelling is the kinetic thread of connection between them. Frank McCourt - the Irish literary hero of recent tines - reviewed the book with the promise that this is a book you will take off your bookshelf to revisit time and again. I agree.

The Solitude of Prime Numbers by Paolo Giordano

The Solitude of Prime Numbers: A Novel

This book reminded me a little of last summer's read, One Day, in the way that Mattia and Alice connect as teenagers but live apart - as prime numbers - destined to be alone.  I suppose some of the mathematical metaphor was wasted on me, but I love the prose and Giordano's tenderness toward his fragile and flawed characters.

The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai

The Borrower: A Novel

After the long week of scoring AP essays, I can usually barely get my eyes to focus on the page, let alone read for pleasure, but I had started Rebecca Makkai's The Borrower while my students were testing on the last day of finals and I couldn't wait to get back to it. It is a literary kidnapping novel. Lucy Hull, a 26 year old librarian takes Ian Drake, 10 year old, book-craving library patron on a spontaneous road trip when he runs away from home and she finds him hiding in the library. The writing is clever, the references to beloved children's literature are plentiful, the story is sweet and it can't be the best book I read this summer already - but I have a feeling it might be.

Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee

Although I'm seriously behind on writing my review blurbs - this will be corrected when school ends next week - I have to give my shout out to an awesome book store we visited while in Milwaukee this weekend for the wedding of a former student. Boswell Book Company is on a cool street that was worth the short drive from our hotel. Stacie William's short story book display caught David's eye, and although we once again had promised we were not there to buy books, Stacie's recommendations sent us home with Volt, a story collection by Alan Heathcock that David started on the plane. Check out their Boswell's book blog.

Senior Tribute First Period

First Period Senior Slideshow

Senior Tribute Third Period

AP English Third Period Senior Slideshow

Citrus County by John Brandon

Citrus County (McSweeney's Rectangulars)

This one took me by surprise. I ran out and got Citrus County from the library when I read that John Brandon had been named one of New York Public Library's Young Lion Award winners and novel is published by McSweeney's. An awkward middle school boy named Toby is the protagonist at the center of this equally hilarious and disturbing tale. I want other readers to have the same reaction I had when I got to the end of the first chapter and realized this book would be a wild ride.

The Uncoupling by Meg Wollitzer

The Uncoupling
Meg Wollitzer loves to tackle the awkwardness of sexual relationships. Her new novel is about a high school whose production of Lysistrata causes a spell to be cast over the whole suburban neighborhood. Suddenly wives and girlfriends lose interest in sex! Amusing premise and clever characters, especially the husband/wife English teacher team, kept me chuckling through this novel.

No Permanent Scars by Michael Hemery

No Permanent Scars
Michael Hemery is a former student and very good friend, so unbiased praise for his memoir about growing up in the same town where I teach and live is impossible. Sorry! But I enthusiastically recommend it to any one interested in reliving a lazy summer day of bicycle riding in the suburbs, or the agony of a poorly timed allergic reaction, or the wrath of an evil music teacher. Mike's combination of nostalgia and coming-of-age experiences vividly recreate not only his childhood, but the childhood of any one blessed enough to grow up the only child of loving parents who never sugar coated life's lessons. Perhaps because I am also an only child, the book rings true. The cover photograph only shows the hands of Mike's dad, whose memory the book is dedicated to, and whose wisdom and frankness permeate the vignettes.

Mike Hemery's website

The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To by D.C. Pierson

The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To (Vintage Contemporaries)

Love and Summer by William Trevor

Love and Summer: A Novel

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

Swamplandia! (See all Contemporary Literature)

Because I am a huge fan of Karen Russell's story "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves", I anxiously anticipated this novel and wanted to love it and rave about it to my friends. Developed from a short story, "Ave Wrestles the Alligator", Swamplandia is the story of an alligator wrestling family that manages the Swamplandia theme park. The plot is quirky, the characters are less than believable and the best I can say is I'm glad I read it but would unenthusiastically recommend it to a friend.

Another Cool Independent Bookstore

Glad to have found Park Road Books today. Although I walked in saying I didn't need any more books, the great recommendations of Sally Brewster had me walking out with three new ones to add to the to-be-read pile.

Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran

Pomegranate Soup: A Novel
- book #3 in the Irish Book Challenge - was a delightful read for a snow day in February. Appropriately described on the cover as reminiscent of Chocolat and Under the Tuscan Sun, the book tells the story of the Aminpour sisters, who have fled Iran and opened the Babylon Cafe in Ballinacroagh Ireland. Each chapter of the novel begins with a recipe that figures into the plot of the chapter somehow. At first I thought the book was going to be a fluffed up romance, but the emotional baggage that the sisters have brought along with them makes the book more complex, weaving in the history of the Iranian Revolution. I am tempted to try a recipe or two - especially fessenjoon - a chicken, walnut, pomegranate dish. Also, one of the characters climbs Croagh Patrick in the novel, as did the author, who is married to Irish American.

Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

Skippy Dies: A Novel
- Book #2 of my Irish book challenge - was worth every minute of the time it took to read the 661 pages of Skippy Dies. I would loosely describe it as Harry Potter meets Animal House meets Dead Poet's Society. The setting is Dublin's Seabrook College for boys, and the title delivers it's promise early when 14 year old Daniel "Skippy" Juster dies on the floor of Ed's Doughnut Shop during a doughnut eating contest with his pudgy science-geek roommate, Ruprecht Van Doren. The book, which is sometimes sold under three separate covers, flashes back through the first two books, Hopeland and Heartland, to give readers the background into Skippy's demise - which includes drug-dealers, deluded and corrupt educators and young hormone-racing love. The final section, Ghostland, finds teenages trying to deal with the loss of a friend and sort out the mysteries of death. But the absolute joy of this entertaining story was the literary richness that it offers as well. Robert Graves, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Frost and some engaging history lessons mingle with some beautifully written passages about the redeeming qualities of story-telling to make this a book I won't stop talking about for a long time!

The Outside Boy by Jeanine Cummins

So as a way to spice up my already over-active reading goals, I have decided to take Laura Miller's suggestion and enter into a reading challenge for 2011. Since we have been talking about making a trip to Ireland, I chose the Irish Reading Challenge and decided on The Outside Boy: A Novel
as my first read because my cousin Martha had been trying to get me to read this book last summer. What a great novel to begin with. Set in Ireland in 1959, it is the story of 12 year old Christy Hurley's quest to determine the real story of his mother's life. He has been told by his father that his mother died giving birth to him - that they only shared 7 minutes on this earth. The story is sweet and engaging but also very informative as I knew nothing about the Pavee culture. Reading this novel led me to research these nomadic Irish travelers who are largely tinkers and constitute 0.5 percent of Ireland's population today.

Deadline

I have long been a Chris Crutcher fan and bought this book when it came out back on 2009 but hadn't gotten around to reading it until now, when I have to decide which novel to use with my Junior students 2nd semester. This book has everything that high school kids would love, and is a pretty quick and easy read. The premise is a bit far-fetched. Ben Wolf discovers that he has leukemia just before the start of his senior year and decides to tell no one. He spends his year going after the affections of a hotttie girl, trying his hand at football, befriending the local drunk and arguing with his history teacher. The book touches on pretty strong issues - sexual abuse, pedophilia, drinking and drug abuse. I'm going to recommend it to students but not teach it this year. It is a great high school book.