Archive for the ‘Character Driven’ Category
THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS by Elizabeth Gilbert
From the opening pages, it is evident that Gilbert can write with lyricism, confidence, and substance. I was afraid that her mass popularity would lead to a dumbed down book with pandering social/political agendas or telegraphed notions. I am thrilled to conclude that this was not the case. Gilbert is a superb writer who allows her main characters to spring forth as organically as the natural world that they live in.
December 5, 2013
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Judi Clark · 
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Tags: 19th-Century, 2013 - authors with books coming out in 2013, Elizabeth Gilbert' · Posted in: Character Driven, Facing History, Family Matters, Nature, Reading Guide, Time Period Fiction, United States, US Mid-Atlantic
MURDER AS A FINE ART by David Morrell
MURDER AS A FINE ART by David Morrell is one of the best mystery books I’ve read this year. It is historically based, taking place in the nineteenth century. As some of you may know, Morrell is best-known for his book, First Blood, upon which the the Rambo movies are based. Murder as a Fine Art is very different from his first writings. It is literary fiction and page-turning at its best.
December 3, 2013
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: 2013 - authors with books coming out in 2013, Historical, Literary, Mulholland · Posted in: Character Driven, Facing History, Literary, Mystery/Suspense, Real Event Fiction, Real People Fiction, Time Period Fiction
LAMB by Bonnie Nadzam
David Lamb has the emotional life of a Rubik’s Cube. All the pieces are there but it seems impossible at times to get his emotional life organized, put together, and working well. He’s like a chess game played by one person, every piece under his dominion, tutelage and control. Only he can checkmate his own self. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t.
October 12, 2011
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: Contemporary, Other Press · Posted in: Character Driven, Contemporary, Debut Novel, Literary, Mid-Life Crisis, US Frontier West, US Midwest
YOU DESERVE NOTHING by Alexander Maksik
Part school story, part existentialism primer, YOU DESERVE NOTHING, is a deftly told and absorbing debut. Ostensibly, the story of a troubled teacher who goes too far, YOU DESERVE NOTHING is also a thoughtful examination of moral education, of the ways in which we learn to navigate the minefield between duty and freedom, courage and cowardice, the self and the persona.
September 26, 2011
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: 2011 Favorites, 2011 PB Release, 2013 - authors with books coming out in 2013, Boarding School, Contemporary, Courage, Literary, Philosophical · Posted in: 2011 Favorites, Character Driven, Contemporary, Debut Novel, Identity, Life Choices, Literary, Morality, Writing Life
THE VAULT by Ruth Rendell
The brilliant and prolific Ruth Rendell continues to entertain us with her latest Inspector Wexford novel, The Vault. Although he is retired and has no official standing, Wexford, the former Chief Inspector of Kingsmarkham, is delighted when Detective Superintendent Thomas Ede asks for his advice concerning a puzzling case. The scene of the crime(s) is a two-hundred year old house in London, Orcadia Cottage. The current residents are Martin and Anne Rokeby, who bought the property for one and a half million pounds. One day, Martin decides to lift a manhole cover in the “paved yard at the back of the house,” curious to know what, if anything, is down there. Little does he realize that this deed would end up “wrecking his life for a long time to come.”
September 25, 2011
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: 2012 - authors with books published this year, 2012 PB Release, 2013 - authors with books coming out in 2013, Foreign Detective, London, murder mystery, Ruth Rendell · Posted in: Award Winning Author, Character Driven, Family Matters, Mystery/Suspense, United Kingdom
LIGHTNING PEOPLE by Christopher Bollen
LIGHTNING PEOPLE is an electrifying book, a high voltage tightrope of five 30-something characters that are walking the edge in the post 9/11 New York City. It’s a book about true connections, missed connections and downright parasitic connections. Its energy strikes and surges randomly, briefly illuminating, sometimes plunging back into the darkness. And by the end, it leaves the reader rubbing eyes as he or she emerges back into a transformed light.
September 19, 2011
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: 2011 Favorites, 21st-Century, Contemporary, post 9/11, soft skull · Posted in: 2011 Favorites, Character Driven, Contemporary, Debut Novel, Life's Moments, New York City
