Category: Novels Set in America
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I Finished A Few Books
Since I last wrote I made a bit of progress on my yearly reading challenge and finished a few titles. One by a new favorite author, one I picked up on a whim and one for book club. As the summer wears on (and on and on…) I am getting back into a reading routine…
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Fabulous Fall Reads
Last Saturday, my friend and colleague Melissa and I gave our “Fabulous Fall Reads” presentation at my library. We talked about the books we think people would love to read over the next three months. We had another great turnout, similar to our Sizzlin’ Summer Reads attendance, and plan to do it again for spring…
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The Girls by Emma Cline
“I looked up because of the laughter, and kept looking because of the girls.” I had quite a struggle within myself when deciding whether I wanted to read The Girls or not. On the one hand I love reading about the sixties, the Manson murders are such a defining moment of that era and I…
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Book Club: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
My book club has been meeting for almost 3 full years now and for much of that time I’ve lobbied to get Gilead on our schedule with no success – until last month! Since this year we took turns choosing the books I knew this would finally be the year we read it (since I’d…
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Someone by Alice McDermott
At my book club’s April meeting I presented three books for the group to choose from and the overwhelming vote was for Someone by Alice McDermott – because it is quite short! However, I was pleased with the choice as this is a novel I’ve contemplated reading for quite a while now and Sunday over…
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Willa Cather Reading Week: A Lost Lady
I was so happy to read Willa Cather this week – to be back in the West, in the beautiful landscape of Nebraska, in the small railroad towns and among the pioneers who are rough yet cultured in their own way. I always feel that reading Cather is the closest I get to reading about…
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The Easter Parade by Richard Yates
After reading Revolutionary Road last summer I felt great interest in reading more of Richard Yates’ startling novels. However, as these things go, it has taken me almost a year to read The Easter Parade, my second of his books. Just like Revolutionary Road, The Easter Parade sucks you into the hyper-realistic world of a dysfunctional…
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Pulitzer Project: The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson
In looking for a place to start with American women writers I decided the best place to begin would be to read the books from my own shelves (which I will do), however I also thought it would be interesting to read all of the Pulitzer Prize winning novels or short story collections written by women.…
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The Sea of Grass by Conrad Richter
This was one of the two books I completed in April (only two!) and I chose it partly for its slim profile. I bought it last year after coming home from a trip to Colorado with a desire to read about the Southwest then promptly stuck it in the book case, where it stayed…
A Certain Fondness 