Archive for June, 2010

THE LOVERS by Vendela Vida

Vendela Vida’s relatively short novel, THE LOVERS, packs a big wallop. It is a multi-layered story about Yvonne, a widow, who returns to Turkey where she and her husband once honeymooned. She believes that by returning to the same place where they had been together early in her marriage, she will feel closer to him. Her husband Peter was recently killed in a hit and run car accident in their hometown of Burlington, Vermont. Yvonne has rented a large home, sight unseen, for a couple of weeks until she is scheduled to meet up with her son and daughter and their partners on a boating trip.

June 24, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: Contemporary, Family Matters, Turkey, y Award Winning Author

BROKEN by Karin Slaughter

Karin Slaughter brings together some of her most memorable characters in BROKEN, her latest thriller. Twenty-one year old Allison Spooner is at the end of her rope. She is short of money, her boyfriend has disappointed her, and her rusted-out hulk of a car is on its last legs. She is struggling to keep up with her college classes at Georgia’s Grant Tech while earning a pittance as a waitress in a diner. Sadly, her dream of escaping her tedious life are shattered when she is attacked and killed by an unknown assailant.

June 23, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: ,  Â· Posted in: Sleuths Series, US South

LEARNING TO LOSE by David Trueba

David Trueba has written an interesting intergenerational family saga translated from the Spanish by Mara Lethem. At nearly 600 pages, this book is truly a tome. LEARNING TO LOSE follows the adventures of 16-year-old Sylvia, a high school student, her father Lorenzo, and her paternal grandfather, Leandro. The book is also about a professional soccer player named Ariel. The story is told in chapters that alternate between the perspectives of these four characters

June 22, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , , ,  Â· Posted in: Coming-of-Age, Family Matters, Reading Guide, Spain, Translated

IN THE COMPANY OF ANGELS by Thomas E. Kennedy

IN THE COMPANY OF ANGELS is an important book, elegantly written, that shattered my heart into little pieces and then offered me the power of redemption. It is one of those rare books that is transformative.

June 21, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: ,  Â· Posted in: 2010 Favorites, Literary, World Lit, y Award Winning Author

THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy

What is Pulitzer Prize winning THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy really about? The plot is easily summarised as a man and his young boy moving south on foot through a post-apocalyptic North America towards southern shores, in hope of better chances of survival. The core reasons for the novel’s existence may be a little harder to grasp.

June 20, 2010 · Judi Clark · One Comment
Tags:  Â· Posted in: 2009 Favorites, Literary, Pulitzer Prize, Speculative (Beyond Reality), United States, y Award Winning Author

ZEN AND NOW by Mark Richardson

Equal parts road trip, biography, philosophy and travelogue, ZEN AND NOW: ON THE TRAIL OF ROBERT PIRSIG AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE is an entertaining, educational and illuminating look at an American literary phenomenon and its creator.

June 19, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: Non-fiction, United States