Sunday Caught My Interest

For the first time, I forgot to include a book on my monthly recap. And its doubly odd because this book haunted me while I read it and continues to haunt me. So much so that I have asked my one book group to read it in March, my mother is reading it, and I want to ask my friend Erin to read it as well as my niece Jessica. It was a hard book to read and I am still unsure about my overall reaction but it is also an important book to read – Hiroshima in the Morning by Rahna Reiko Rizzuto. I have edited my recap post and hope to have a formal review done once the book stops peculating in my head.

On the home front – youngest breathed a big sigh of relief yesterday when his acceptance to The Ohio State came in the mail. Now we just have to wait for feedback from running coaches and financial information to come in and decisions can be made. And oldest breathed a  big sigh of relief when he was offered a permanent job – part-time but permanent so he is well on the way to being more settled.

Here is what has caught my interest this week:

From Bob Einstein’s Literary Equations a collection of short stories by Lindsay Hunter called Daddy’s. This collection sounds like it lays everything out there and is not for the faint of heart. Surreal, sinister, shocking are the words that come to mind. It sounds like there is a lot of sex in these stories but I get the impression that the sex isn’t just for the sake of sex or exploitation. Instead, from the reviews I have read, the author is quite deliberate in everything she does – from action, voice, to word choice. The word that seems consistent with all these reviews is “powerful”. I think I will keep this one in mind for when I want something deliciously different.

Megan from Bookdwarf reviews a book that comes out on Tuesday – Wrecker: A Novel by Summer Wood. I read the first few pages and was hooked into this story of a lost little three year old nicknamed Wrecker because he has a tendency to destroy things. When Wrecker’s mom is sent to prison for a long time he goes to live with his Uncle Len on the lost coast of Northern California. Len has his on troubles with a wife who isn’t all there. Three women who live in a neighborly commune become involved in raising this complex child. I love stories about families consisting of more than just blood relations and this sounds like a good one.

I must still be in a science fiction mood after reading all those short stories last month because Page 247 got me thinking about reading a sci-fi novel – a short one but a novel all the same: The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chaing. I don’t quite know how to describe the plot other than it is about artificial intelligence and how these constructs start to happen in our society. It all sounds very plausible leading to ethical questions about what exactly is “life” and what are our responsibilities when we create it. I also see that Chaing’s Hugo- and Nebula-winning The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate is in Himself’s second collection he received for Christmas. I might have to sneak the book out of his backpack to read the story.

Tom from A Common Reader reviews Naming the Bones by Louise Welch saying it, “successfully combines elements of a classic thriller with some fascinating literary detective work.” An English Professor goes on sabbatical to research an obscure young Scottish poet who died tragically thirty years before. Along with the search for information, the author gives details about Professor Watson’s back story. I have to wonder if the name was chosen deliberately. My library doesn’t have a copy so I think I will search the used bookstores when I visit Salem later this month.

As if I don’t have enough to read, I still get a little thrill when I come across an author I have never heard of and all of his work sounds interesting. And a quick search shows me my library has three of his works including the one reviewed by Kim of Reading Matters – Annie Dunne by Sebastian Barry. Set in1959  Ireland, Annie Dunne is a 59 year old spinster who spends the summer looking after her nephew’s children age four and six. Kim calls it a quiet, eloquent read about a woman with a rich interior life at a time of great change both for herself and the world around her.

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