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

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

EVERY LAST ONE by Anna Quindlen

I have read every one of Anna Quindlen’s novels. EVERY LAST ONE is, by far, the most compelling and beautifully written of any she’s written. It is the story of one family that is impacted by a horrific act of violence. Their resultant grief and struggle to survive is told with great empathy and insight. Quindlen’s language is poetic and languorous. The book is a page-turner but the reader is never rushed. We are there with the characters and we face what they face, in their own time and in their own way.

May 1, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags:  Â· Posted in: 2010 Favorites, Contemporary, Family Matters

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