Saturday, May 2, 2009

Challenge Update

I finished reading Everyman by Philip Roth. One down, ninety-nine to go. It won the PEN/Faulkner Award in 2007.

The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is a national prize which honors the best published works of fiction by American citizens in a calendar year. Three judges, chosen annually by the directors of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, select five books from among the more than 300 works submitted, making this the largest peer-juried award in the country.
My quick review of it--short, kind of depressing, sometimes very weird, but I still sort of liked it. My rating (see rating system in sidebar):

Read the first chapter here.



Up next for me is The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields.

Saturday Spotlight


Today's author is Chris Bohjalian.

Quick Facts:

1. He was born in White Plains, NY, and now lives in Lincoln, VT with his wife and daughter.
2. He writes a weekly newspaper column for The Burlington Free Press called "Idyll Banter."
3. His first novel, A Killing in the Real World, was published in 1988.
4. He became a very popular author in 1998 after Oprah chose his novel Midwives as a book club selection.


5. He won the New England Book Award in 2002.

Some of his other books...




Are you a Chris Bohjalian fan? Did you read Midwives when Oprah selected it for her book club?







I read Midwives and loved it, but I never read any of his other books. I think I'll put a couple of them on my to-read list.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Buy Indie Day


May 1st is Buy Indie Day. The idea: buy one book—paperback, hardcover, whatever you want—at an independent bookstore.

Pudd'n Head Books is in Webster Groves, The Book House is on Manchester, Left Bank Books is in the CWE.

May Monthly Must-Read


Have you heard of Kristin Hannah? Her newest book, True Colors, came out recently.

"True Colors is New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah’s most provocative, compelling, and heart-wrenching story yet. With the luminous writing and unforgettable characters that are her trademarks, she tells the story of three sisters whose once-solid world is broken apart by jealousy, betrayal, and the kind of passion that rarely comes along.

The Grey sisters have always been close. After their mother’s death, the girls banded together, becoming best friends. Their stern, disapproving father cares less about his children than about his reputation. To Henry Grey, appearances are everything, and years later, he still demands that his daughters reflect his standing in the community.

Winona, the oldest, needs her father’s approval most of all. An overweight bookworm who never felt at home on the sprawling horse ranch that has been in her family for three generations, she knows that she doesn’t have the qualities her father values. But as the best lawyer in town, she’s determined to someday find a way to prove her worth to him.

Aurora, the middle sister, is the family peacemaker. She brokers every dispute and tries to keep them all happy, even as she hides her own secret pain.

Vivi Ann is the undisputed star of the family. A stunningly beautiful dreamer with a heart as big as the ocean in front of her house, she is adored by all who know her. Everything comes easily for Vivi Ann, until a stranger comes to town...

In a matter of moments, everything will change. The Grey sisters will be pitted against one another in ways that none could have imagined. Loyalties will be tested and secrets revealed, and a terrible, shocking crime will shatter both their family and their beloved town.

With breathtaking pace and penetrating emotional insight, True Colors is an unforgettable novel about sisters, rivalry, forgiveness, redemption--and ultimately, what it means to be a family."

Some of Kristin Hannah's other books include Firefly Lane, On Mystic Lake, and Magic Hour. Have you read any of them? Do you think you'll read True Colors? You can read a preview here if you're interested.

Scroll down for Feature Fridays.

Feature Fridays


The Friday Feature for today is A Separate Peace (1959) by John Knowles.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Set at a boys' boarding school in New England during the early years of World War II, A Separate Peace is a harrowing and luminous parable of the dark side of adolescence. Gene is a lonely, introverted intellectual. Phineas is a handsome, taunting, daredevil athlete. What happens between the two friends one summer, like the war itself, banishes the innocence of these boys and their world.

A bestseller for more than thirty years, A Separate Peace is John Knowles's crowning achievement and an undisputed American classic.

I think A Separate Peace is still under copyright, so I couldn't find a site where you can read it for free online. You can get a copy for $0.01 on Amazon.

Did you know that A Separate Peace is a bildungsroman? Have you read it?

I read A Separate Peace in high school. I think we read it in freshman English with Sr. Denis. We read a lot of books in that class!
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