Sunday Caught My Interest

After Eva Peron died, what happened to her body?  Nonsuch reviews a 1997 book by Tomas Eloy Martinez called Santa Evita that asks just that.  How could I resist a book that has a quote like this “As you said, it’s a novel,” I explained. “In novels, what is true is also false.  Authors rebuild at night the same myths they’ve destroyed in the morning.” This one isn’t at the library so I am hoping Eastern has a copy.  Sounds like a good curl up on a cold day read.

Nonsuch also posts about a new Ford Maddox Ford website called Page99Test quoting from his piece in the Guardian:

“Ford Madox Ford recommended instead that readers “open the book to page ninety-nine and the quality of the whole will be revealed to you”. A new website, page99test.com, launches next month to test that premise. It will offer (courageous) authors and aspiring authors the chance to upload the 99th pages of their works and invite readers to comment on whether they would buy, or like to read, the rest.”

The Washington Post reviews Tom Franklin’s Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter saying “If you’re looking for a smart, thoughtful novel that sinks deep into a Southern hamlet of the American psyche, Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter is your next book.”  I love southern fiction and this one sounds great.

S Krishna has found a debut novel by an Indian Poet named Tishani Doshi called The Pleasure Seekers – lyrical writing, exploring the idea of being away from the familiar, being lost all sounds like a great combination.

And here she reviews Red Hook Road which is already on my TBR list.  It is the story of a newly married couple who die going between their wedding and reception.  A depressing topic to say the least, but reviews of the book mention Ayelet Walsman’s lyrical writing and the tender care she takes of her characters in this exploration of loss and grief.

I was going to wait on thinking about the Giller List but Kevin from Canada speaks very highly about a short story collection Light Lifting by Alexander Macleod – it sounds so good it has gone on the TBR list.

Devourer of Books has come across an interesting read: The Tricking of Freya by Christina Sunley.  The novel is already going on her re-read list a sure sign of a good book.  It is a coming of age story with language, “Iceland history, culture and lore” and a family secret.  Luckily for me, the library has a copy.

Tom, from A Common Reader, has come across a book from an author I have never heard of – Lindsay Clarke’s The Water Theatre and he compares it to Susan Howatch’s Glittering Images.  I told my mom about this one – she liked Glittering Images and the Water Theatre sounds like a good read.

Kevin from Canada and The Mookse and the Gripes continue to discuss the Giller Prize long list (scroll through the posts to see the reviews.  The one that sounds the most intriguing to me is a short story collection, Light Lifting  by Alexander MacLeod.  I really enjoyed both the reviews I have read about this collection.

This past week has reinforced for me what a wonderful tool the internet is: from being able to goggle snippets of quotes and poetry, to reading such thoughtful reviews as are listed above.  Happy reading!

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