Auel, Jean M. The Shelters of Stone Book five: very good.
The Valley of Horses Book 2 – good!
The Mammoth Hunters Book 3 – good!
Cadwalladr, Carole The Family Tree Rebecca languishes in her marriage to a nonromantic geneticist and remembers growing up in her English family in the 70s. Muses over the complex legacy of the women who came before her. Well-written; not very happy, but somewhat hopeful.
King, Dave The Ha-Ha
Lisick, Beth Everybody Into the Pool: true tales Memoirs from a Sister Spit performer. Sounds like half my SF friends: grew up safe in the Midwest and is now doing crazy art, wearing hideous thrift clothes and living in a cheap warehouse in the bad part of town. (First, let me explain -- Greetings from our special bubble -- Ladies' luncheon -- Didn't I almost have it all? -- Nuns in trouble -- My way or the bi-way -- Alternative cyber-column -- The one -- A bed and a breakfast -- Brokeley -- Circling the wagons -- The lowly hustle -- Skippin' over the ocean like a stone -- Little bundle of entropy). Hilarious (although occasionally she is so fond of her own descriptive powers that she overdoes the messed-up metaphors).
Martel, Yann Life of Pi Breathtaking. Given two ways to look at life: which is the better story? God or no god? Tiger or no tiger?
McCafferty, Megan Sloppy Firsts Told in the snarky, smart, angsty voice of H.S. sophomore Jessica. Her best friend Hope has moved away following the drug death of her brother; her remaining friends irritate the crap out of her; and the local notorious druggie Casanova keeps messing with her head. Funny, foul-mouthed, sharply observant of the mores of H.S. life—really.
McCafferty, Megan Second Helpings Senior year. Still snarky, still enjoyable. Irritating how long it takes her to realize the guy from before (Marcus) is great. Also he seems to do all the talking in their conversations. Still, Jessica comes more into her own.
Moore, Christopher A Dirty Job Charlie, a San Francisco thrift-store owner, Beta Male, new father and new widower, is handed the job of Death Merchant, someone who finds “soul vessels” (random objects people’s souls migrate to when they die) and shepherds them into the hands of the right new person needing a soul. Plenty of cheap and tawdry jokes, but occasionally pretty funny. Good goth-girl character, a teen who works in the shop and is incredibly surly and jealous of Charlie’s job.
Niffenegger, Audrey The Time Traveler’s Wife Amazing, poignant love story.
Niffenegger, Audrey The Three Incestuous Sisters Totally weird, Edward-Gorey-esque story in aquatints (kind of like engravings) of 3 sisters, one loved by the lighthouse keeper’s son, one jealous, one crazy magical. The lover dies, her baby has wings, reunion at the end.
Peters, Elizabeth Crocodile on the Sandbank
Perrotta, Tom Little Children Read on the rec of Patricia. Didn’t like it much. Bored young mom of a toddler strikes up an affair with a dad from the playground; meanwhile a forcibly retired cop obsessively stalks a child molester in the ‘hood. Doomed and suburban. Bleak.
Reichl, Ruth Comfort Me with Apples (continuing memoir - good)
Reichl, Ruth Garlic and Sapphires: the secret life of a critic in disguise When Ruth becomes the NYT food critic she creates disguises with complete personae to sneak into restaurants undetected.
Scheeres, Julia Jesus Land: a memoir Horrible memories of a white girl growing up with two black brothers outside Lafayette, Indiana. Racism, incest, beatings from their parents, rape -- couldn’t finish it. I didn’t even get as far as the scary Christian reform school in the Dominican RepublicJulia & brother David get sent to.
Sedaris, David Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim Childhood stories including lisping; living in Paris;
Sedaris, David Me Talk Pretty One Day Childhood stories including lisping; living in Paris; learning French; family stories. Acerbic and surprisingly-written.
Smith, Alexander McCall Tears of a Giraffe
Smith, Alexander McCall Morality for Beautiful Girls
Smith, Alexander McCall The Kalahari Typing School for Men
Smith, Alexander McCall The Full Cupboard of Life Somehow Mma Potokwani has determined that Mr J.L.B. Matekoni will do a fundraising parachute jump for the orphan farm. And will he ever marry Mma Ramotswe?
Smith, Alexander McCall In the Company of Cheerful Ladies Mma Potokwani takes dance lessons; Mma Ramotswe bumps a man on a bicycle, hears his sad story and hires him to work in the garage and agency; and bad-news Note Makoti is back in town.
Smith, Alexander McCall Blue Shoes and Happiness
Trudeau, G. B. various Doonesbury books: What is it, Tink, is Pan in Trouble?: Quality Time on Highway 1; Dude: the Big Book of Zonker; The Bundled Doonesbury; Heckuva Job, Bushie!; The War Years…
Vaughan Y: The Last Man. Vol. 1: Unmanned
Willingham FABLES: Legends in Exile Graphic novel: characters of fairy tale now exiled to NYC. Rose Red appears to have been murdered; “Bigby” Wolf is the hard-boiled detective; Snow White (Red’s sister) the frosty assistant for Mayor-for-life and politico King Cole.
Yang, Geen Luen American Born Chinese Three stories spiral around one another in this excellent graphic novel for teens and adults, all touching on what it means to be Asian-American. The interlocking tales include: the fable of the Monkey King; the story of Jin, the only Chinese-American student at his new high school; and the story of Chin-Kee, the ultimate Chinese stereotype and cousin of the horrified Danny.
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.