LOST by Alice Lichtenstein

LOST, by Alice Lichtenstein, is a beautiful, literary and profoundly poetic novel. It will appeal to anyone who has ever known or loved a person with Alzheimer’s or has lost someone they loved. The descriptions of loss and grief are profound and the book keeps on getting better with each page.

March 10, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: 2010 Favorites, Contemporary, Family Matters, NE & New York, Reading Guide

HURRY DOWN SUNSHINE by Michael Greenberg

Michael Greenberg’s brilliant and mesmerizing memoir, HURRY DOWN SUNSHINRE, of his daughter’s madness is a poignant and terrifying book about the depths and peaks of mania and the desperate struggle that a loved one will go to in order to bring someone back from the world of psychosis.

When Greenberg’s daughter, Sally, first becomes psychotic, he thinks it is more her creativity than anything else. He is slow to recognize her manic state. But then, who would first assume that someone they love has gone to a place of madness. “But how does one tell the difference between Plato’s “divine madness” and gibberish? Between enthousiasmos (literally, to be inspired by a god) and lunacy? Between the prophet and the “medically mad.”

February 17, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: Non-fiction, Reading Guide

BLOODROOT by Amy Greene

Somewhere, in the darkest and most remote part of Tennessee, lie hollers, ridges, and knolls. Set among them is a place named Bloodroot Mountain, home to Myra and her granny. The mountain gets its name from the bloodroot flowers that grow there. These flowers are so toxic that they can cause death. They are also so curative that they have amazing healing powers

January 21, 2010 · Judi Clark · One Comment
Tags: , , , , , , ,  Â· Posted in: Contemporary, Debut Novel, Family Matters, Literary, US South

THE SEMANTICS OF MURDER by Aifric Campbell

Therapists make fascinating fictional characters–just consider the raw material. They listen to the secrets of others all day long, but where do those secrets go? It’s assumed that therapists are rational, ethical, well-balanced individuals. But what if they’re not? This brings me to THE SEMANTICS OF MURDER, the first novel from Irish author Aifric Campbell, recently published by Serpent’s Tail Press.

January 7, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: 2009 Favorites, California, Debut Novel, Facing History, Mystery/Suspense, United Kingdom

THE LITTLE STRANGER by Sarah Waters

With THE LITTLE STRANGER author Sarah Waters departs from the settings, characters and style of her first three historical novels, TIPPING THE VELVET, AFFINITY, and FINGERSMITH, all set in Victorian England. Nor is this book like her more recent THE NIGHT WATCH, a sensitive and passionate love story set in wartime England. THE LITTLE STRANGER is a sinister, Hitchcockian-like tale of a haunted house, ghosts and madness. It provides a most chilling, unputdownable read.

December 19, 2009 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: Class - Race - Gender, Facing History, Horror, Man Booker Nominee, Speculative (Beyond Reality), United Kingdom, y Award Winning Author

THE GARGOYLE by Andrew Davidson

THE GARGOYLE is one of the most gripping novels I have ever read. I am not one to usually read books more than once and I can probably count on two hands those novels that I’ve read two or three times. This is my second reading of THE GARGOLYE and it is even better the second time around.

November 21, 2009 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , , ,  Â· Posted in: 2009 Favorites, Horror, Psychological Suspense, Speculative (Beyond Reality)