In fact, high school is where we are first introduced to the basic existential question of life: How is it possible to exist in a place that sucks so bad? I downloaded Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl from the library a few weeks ago. It’s the “other book” about kids with cancer and hasn’t been discussed with quite as much fervor or passion as The Book. Confession time: I still haven’t read The Fault in our Stars. I love you, John Greene, but I […]
How to achieve “closure” with great “finesse”
I downloaded Mockingbird from the library the other day, not really realizing that it was a YA book – actually it’s a middle grade book – until I was in to it, and by then, I was in to it, and couldn’t put it down. In fact, I finished it within a couple of days, even sneaking in a few minutes here and there at work. It grabbed me from the first page and didn’t let go. It also broke my heart. Ten year old […]
Not Exactly Irresistible
Sometimes, a girl just needs a trashy romance novel on a rainy night, but I’m not sure this was the trashy romance novel I needed. The storyline was okay, I suppose. Young, fiercely independent single mom Elissa Towers lives with her young daughter Zoe, making it on her own with no family to help, save for her elderly neighbor, who helps watch Zoe while Elissa works. Elissa has sworn off men until Zoe is out of the house, but then former U.S. Marine Walker Buchanan […]
Empire Falls Lite
I read Richard Russo’s Empire Falls a few years ago and described it as a slow burn. I put it down several times, thinking I was bored with it, but after a few days, I found myself thinking about the characters and then devouring 150 pages at a time. Mohawk had the same effect on me, only reduced by about 50%. Set in Mohawk, NY, a dying northern industrial town, Mohawk is very much like Empire Falls in that it’s not really about anything other […]
Relatively Charming
Charming Billy is a quiet little novel that takes place over the course of one day at Billy Lynch’s wake. Our narrator is the adult daughter of Billy’s best friend Dennis, and she is telling the story to her husband, who isn’t at the funeral. It’s an unusual narration, and one that took me quite awhile to figure out, but it works within the context of the story. The story begins at a bar after the funeral, where approximately fifty mourners have gathered to eat […]
BUY THIS BOOK IMMEDIATELY
Thorn arrived in my mailbox for the Kid for her birthday from my friend who lives in Alaska. Her wife went to college with Intisar Khanani, and so they sent her a signed copy and a note that maybe I should read it first. And since I was in a slump, and she had a book report due on something else, I snagged it, not expecting a whole lot, which just goes to show you about expectations, because this book blew me away. Thorn is […]
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