Sunday Caught My Interest

Our beautiful fall weather has turned to rain here but the drippy stuff held off so we could watch the GSL JV/Frosh Cross Country Championships yesterday.  It is so good to see the hard work these young people put into this sport come to fruition.  Youngest didn’t run – he will run next Saturday at Regionals. Eldest came home to celebrate his 21st birthday, eat some home cooking, and recharge his batteries.  And my library stack is dwindling – I am starting to get that slight, oh my what will I read next feeling which is silly as I have plenty to read and adding to the list each Sunday.

Let’s Take the Long Way Home, by Gail Caldwell, sounds like a great memoir to read and after reading S. Krisna’s review I went to check availability at the library.  Their copy is an MP3 CD and seeing as I am technologically challenged I will have to figure out just how to use it before ordering.  Darn!  A well written book about two writers who become friends and then one of them dies – a book of friendship and loss – sounds so good.

Jen at Devourer of Books discusses the debut novel of Christina Henriquez, The World in Half, about a young woman who slowly losing her mother to early onset Alzheimer’s disease.  While tending her, she discovers a secret about her father, a Panamanian man who supposedly abandoned her mother.  Miraflores travels to Panama in order to find out more about her father and her heritage.

I love the randomness of the internet.  I was reading an interview with Publisher Judith Gurewich of The Other Press which led me to their website and the description of The Wrong Blood which takes place in Northern Spain just before, during, and after the civil war.  The war’s impact on two women and a local doctor are revealed slowly when a grandson of one of the woman spends a summer in the area. Unfortunately it is not yet in the library system so it has to go on the TBR list.

For short story lovers, comes Reasons For and Advantages  of Breathing by Lydia Peele and mentioned by Beth Fish Reads. These eight stories, which include three prize winners, are focused on the conflict of the more simpler past and the more technologically complex present.  Beth writes “he southern setting, the exploration of how technology can change our lives, the lingering days of the innocence of childhood . . . these factors alone would make this a must-read book.”  In reviews, Peele is mentioned alongside of such greats as Flannory O’Connor and Alice Munro- auspicious company to be among.  Large Hearted Boy also has a brief interview with Peele as well as a playlist here.

Finally, I am trying to not even look at Giller short list reviews until I have finished the Booker Prize list but I am unsuccessful.  Kevin from Canada writes a wonderful view of Joan Thomas’ Curiosity an historical novel based on the real life of Mary Anning, a curiosity seller and self-taught paleontologist in the 1820’s.  It is not yet available in the United States but Kevin is an excellent reviewer and his comments on the book were enjoyable to read.

Happy reading.