It has been an odd week around here – I spent more time reading then blogging because I wasn’t feeling well so the couch, books, and a very large orange cat looked better to me then the office. Youngest went off to the Spokane International Film Festival twice – love the fact that he and his friends like to go see non-typical stuff. And on Friday I got to sneak into a workshop himself was taking on writing for the academic market. It was very interesting because it all boils down to the same thing – good writing is good writing regardless of the subject: pay attention to sentences, clarity is your best friend and read good stuff.
On that note – here is what caught my interest this week:
Susan Salter Reynolds raves about The Still Point a debut novel by Amy Sackville in a review found here at the LA Times. The Still Point alternates describing the last days of Arctic explorer Edward Mackley and a day in the life of his niece, Emily 100 years later as she shifts through lifetimes of memorabilia in the family home she has inherited. I cannot describe this book any better than the reviewer whose opening follows below. I was so impressed with the review I looked Reynolds up. She writes frequently for the Times as well as other sites on the internet. I can only hope that someday she comes out with a collection of her own work.
Many novels explore the sliding planes, the archaeology of past, present and future and the still points where the fabric of time is rent and characters slip through. This is a lot to juggle, especially in a debut novel, but Amy Sackville pulls it off — thrillingly, seductively, dreamily. Not only do all the moving parts hold together, but a new fictional voice emerges here as well; not harsh, brash and shiny, not overly self-conscious and sentimental — somewhere between the calm beauty we expect from novels that invoke Victorian England and the raw edges of modern life. (Susan Salter Reynolds, LA Times, February 6, 2011)
Swapna Krisna reviews These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf – the story of 21 year old Allison Glenn who has just been released from prison after serving time for an unspecific, horrible crime. She is released to a halfway house in her hometown and has to face and hostile reception from the town, a sister who hates her, and indifferent parents. I read Gudenkauf’s first book The Weight of Silence and generally liked it. I felt she was very good a capturing the character’s voices and this one seems like it might also be a good read.
Kevin From Canada reviews Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick which has long been on my to read list. The publishing blurb of this book and other reviews mentions that it is a retrace of Henry James The Ambassadors (only reversed) so I was putting off reading the novel so I could read The Ambassadors first. Kevin feels that while James served as a model, Foreign Bodies stands well enough on its own – so I might just have to move it up on my list. Beatrice (love this name – it is the name of my 6th grade teacher) Nightingale is planning on a trip to Paris in 1952. Her brother asks her to look for his son who has taken up residence in the city. Ozick is an accomplished short story writer having won four O Henry Awards and she has also been short listed for the Booker Prize. This seems like it will be a complex read but well worth the effort.
And because Valentine’s Day is coming up here at Devourer of Books is a review of 13, rue Therese: A Novel by Elena Mauli Shapiro. Trevor is a young American scholar working in Paris when he finds a box of memorabilia. The box, left by his secretary to test his romantic worthiness, contains items from the life of Louise Brunet dating back to WWI. Trevor becomes fascinated with the box and fantasizes about Louisa’s life. The author frames the novel with illustrations of actual memorabilia.
West of Here by Jonathon Evison mentioned by Beth of Beth Fish Reads is a novel set in a small town in Western Washington. With two storyline, one set in 2006 and the other a hundred years earlier, this novel explores the actions of ancestors on the people in the present . The publisher’s blurb calls this “storytelling on the grandest scale”. I love books where the echos of the past reverberate in the present so I am going to keep my eye out for this one.
Finally, Bookstack‘s new Facebook page led me to this NY Times article A Reading List for the Egypt Crisis. Oldest child was just telling me that he and his friends were discussing Egypt. It is a topic on many people’s mind so some of you may find this list useful.
Reflections from the Hinterland 
So glad that my spotlight on West of Here caught your eye. Both my husband and I are still reading it . . . loving it.
Someone in my book group was also interested in it. Our library has ordered a copy and it is being cataloged. I predict it will be well read here in the Hinterland.