Archive for September, 2009

THE CONFESSION OF EDWARD DAY by Valerie Martin

With THE CONFESSIONS OF EDWARD DAY, the Orange Prize award winning author Valerie Martin has created an engrossing fictional memoir. The title character guides the reader through his adventures as he strives for professional success on the stage in New York, while also fighting his personal demons.

September 30, 2009 · Judi Clark · Comments Closed
Tags: , , , ,  Â· Posted in: Contemporary, Facing History, Reading Guide, US Mid-Atlantic, y Award Winning Author

ATLAS OF UNKNOWNS by Tania James

At its heart, ATLAS OF UNKNOWNS is a story about family, especially the relationship between two sisters. Linno and her younger sister, Anju, grew up with their father and grandmother in Kerala, India. Their mother’s apparent suicide is alluded to but not discussed although her death haunts both girls in different ways. At age 13, Linno, a budding artist, loses her hand in an accident with a firecracker.

September 29, 2009 · Judi Clark · Comments Closed
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: Family Matters, India-Pakistan, New York City

A CHANGE IN ALTITUDE by Anita Shreve

In Anita Shreve’s A CHANGE IN ALTITUDE, twenty-eight year old Patrick and Margaret McCoglan have been together for two years and married for five months. In the late 1970’s, they are expatriate Americans living in Nairobi, Kenya, where Patrick, a physician, is completing a fellowship on equatorial medicine and treating patients at free clinics around the country. Although Margaret was a photojournalist in her native Massachusetts, she does not currently have a job and she misses the stimulation and excitement of her profession. One day, Patrick announces that he would like Margaret to accompany him, their landlord, Arthur, and his wife, Diana, on a climb to the summit of Mount Kenya

September 28, 2009 · Judi Clark · Comments Closed
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: 2009 Favorites, Africa, Contemporary, Family Matters, Reading Guide

BLAME by Michelle Huneven

Michelle Huneven’s new novel, BLAME, has one of the best prologues to come along in a long time. Here, we are introduced to Joey Hawthorne, a preteen struggling with the impending death of her mother to breast cancer. One day tall, handsome uncle Brice shows up to pick her up from summer typing lessons and she immediately suspects something is wrong—her mother will die shortly thereafter. Through Brice, Joey is introduced to his temperamental girlfriend, Patsy MacLemoore.

September 27, 2009 · Judi Clark · Comments Closed
Tags: , , , ,  Â· Posted in: Contemporary, Literary, y Award Winning Author

DISTURBANCES IN THE FIELD by Lynn Sharon Schwartz

DISTURBANCES IN THE FIELD is a deep novel and book of philosophy in one. It opens up very slowly, developing characterization and heading very slowly towards a tragedy. What, you might ask, is a disturbance in the field?

September 27, 2009 · Judi Clark · Comments Closed
Tags: ,  Â· Posted in: 2009 Favorites, Classic, Contemporary, Literary, NE & New York

A RIVER CALLED TIME by Mia Couto

In 2003 following the invasion of Iraq, Couto–understanding the first hand results of the devastating effects of civil war on innocents–wrote an open letter to President Bush criticizing American foreign policy. With that information in mind, it should come as no surprise that Couto is a writer whose novels carry global, social significance. Couto is a writer who cares about the world humans tend to trash, and he’s a writer who believes in taking a stand.

September 26, 2009 · Judi Clark · Comments Closed
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: Africa, Family Matters, Mystery/Suspense, Translated, World Lit, y Award Winning Author