THE GOOD DAUGHTERS by Joyce Maynard

THE GOOD DAUGHTERS is about two girls, Dana Dickerson and Ruth Plank. They are called “birthday sisters” because they were born in the same hospital on the same day, almost nine months to the day after the great hurricane of 1949. Because of this connection, their families stay in touch as the girls are growing up. Usually they visit one another once or twice a year. The Planks own a large farm in New Hampshire that has been in their family for generations. The Dickersons are never in one place for very long.

August 24, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: Contemporary, NE & New York, Reading Guide

RED HOOK ROAD by Ayelet Waldman

Without much ado, let me state that I think this book is brilliant. It took my breath away and grabbed me by my heart from the first page till its stunning coda. Without being maudlin or histrionic, Ayelet Waldman’s RED HOOK ROAD examines the impact of loss and grief on two families, each as different as day and night. In the first chapter of the book, the reader is spectator to a profound tragedy. A young couple, married for about one hour, die in a car accident on the way to their own wedding reception.

July 12, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , , ,  Â· Posted in: Contemporary, Family Matters, Literary, NE & New York, Reading Guide

THE NOBODIES ALBUM by Carolyn Parkhurst

THE NOBODIES ALBUM is about pondering those things said that might have been stated differently. Specifically, the protagonist, Octavia Frost, is a prolific author who is rewriting the last chapters of all her novels. Each final chapter – the original one and the rewritten one – tells us more about the writer’s life and her spectacular griefs and losses. We enter a free-fall with her and watch her life wash away before our eyes.

July 2, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: ,  Â· Posted in: 2010 Favorites, California, Contemporary, Family Matters, Reading Guide, Unique Narrative

HOW TO PAINT A DEAD MAN by Sarah Hall

Sometimes one is privileged to read a book that is so brilliant we hope it never ends. Such is the case with HOW TO PAINT A DEAD MAN by Sarah Hall. This is Ms. Hall’s fourth book. Her second book, THE ELECTRIC MICHELANGELO, was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize.

May 15, 2010 · Judi Clark · One Comment
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: 2010 Favorites, Contemporary, Literary, Unique Narrative, y Award Winning Author

UNFORGIVABLE by Philippe Djian

UNFORGIVABLE is narrated by 60-year-old Francis, a famous author who’s beginning to look like a has-been. His latest novel is going nowhere and his much younger wife, real-estate agent Judith is growing increasingly distant. These troubling elements in Francis’s life are superceded, however, by the disappearance of his daughter Alice.

April 24, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: ,  Â· Posted in: 2010 Favorites, France, Translated, World Lit, y Award Winning Author

THE LAKE SHORE LIMITED by Sue Miller

I have been a fan of Sue Miller since her first novel, THE GOOD MOTHER. Her newest novel, THE LAKE SHORE LIMITED, is original and transformative. It is a novel within novels, a story of a play that tells the story of this novel alongside the main narratives of the characters as they unfold.

The novel is told from the vantage points of four characters: Billy, Rafe, Leslie, and Sam. Each of them is connected by at least one degree of separation from each other. Billy is a playwright who has written a play about a terrorist bombing of a railroad. In real life, she has lost her lover, Gus, to the tragedies of 9/11. As we read this book, we are gradually allowed to see how much of her play is truly about her as well as her many personal aspects of self. Like all of us, Billy uses “masks” to protect her privacy. Her work as a playwright gives her additional means and artistic license within which to conceal or expose herself.

April 8, 2010 · Judi Clark · One Comment
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: 2011 Favorites, Contemporary, Reading Guide