Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The Family Man (2009)

The Family Man The Family Man by Elinor Lipman


My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ever since I reviewed Inn at Lake Devine for a Reader's Advisory Workshop, I have been hooked on Elinor Lipman's charming comedy-of manner tales. Some might consider her stories fluff but I disagree. She is the Jane Austen of her time. Language, dialogue and sentences are precise and exactly right. And you will want to be friends with all her characters. She deals with what could be uncomfortable topics that are part of our lives in a way that makes them palatable.

My only complaint is that I can read (devour) an Elinor Lipman novel more quickly than she can write them.


View all my reviews.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Banned Books


Here's an interesting story about a kid keeping a locker full of banned books at school who wants to know if it is illegal. The comments are great to read too.

Check it out here.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

A Reliable Wife (2009)

A Reliable Wife A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick


My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
A cinematic, mesmerizing and fascinating study of passion and life and what we do to get what we think we need set in the cold and barren wilderness of Wisconsin in the early 1900s. Mysterious and wonderful and unexpected. Can't wait for the movie.


View all my reviews.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Sing Them Home (2008)

Sing Them Home Sing Them Home by Stephanie Kallos


My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
What caught my attention was the portrait of an overweight college professor, unsure of her talents in the world. What happened was that I was drawn into the community portrait of a small town with all its meanness and kindness and how a unique family negotiates the world they received there. Charming and moving and beautifully written. Stephanie Kallos writes lovely sentences.


View all my reviews.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Another Quote from Sing Them Home

"The more restricted one's view, the more one is compelled to give meaning to what is available. It's how we rise to the challenge. We elevate the mundane. We sanctify the ordinary."

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Elinor Lipman Has a New Book Out!


A number of years ago, when I was still doing Readers' Advisory Workshops, I stumbled on Elinor Lipman's works and fell in love. My first read was The Inn at Lake Devine, which I shared with my audience and I've been hooked ever since.

Entertainment Weekly, my source of all things wonderful, gave an 'A' review The Family Man (2009), a "sparkling, sprightly comedy". Here's the blurb from Ms. Lipman's website, "A hysterical phone call from Henry Archer's ex-wife and a familiar face in a photograph upend his well-ordered life and bring him back into contact with the child he adored, a short-term stepdaughter from a misbegotten marriage long ago." Comedy-of-manners, social comedy, whatever you want to call it, Elinor Lipman writes engaging stories with people you wish were your friends.

I put The Family Man on reserve at the library! Can't wait!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Sing Them Home (2008)

I am just barely into Stephanie Kallos' latest title, Sing Them Home, and already I had to write down a quote to remember.

". . . the most reliable place to find someone who is not here but surely somewhere is in the realm of memory."

What Have We Become? May 15, 2006


Take a look at what Nicholas Galanin has done with books by clicking HERE.

He has created sculptures of faces among other inspirations.

"What Have We Become confronts stereotypical notions and the construction of a conservative native art form. In this investigation the art form is that of the Tlingit people of Alaska."

His website is HERE.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Eclipse (Twilight, #3) Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer


My review


rating: 3 of 5 stars
Another exciting entry in the Twilight Series. Bella does get a little tiresome but the author knows how to spin a tale.


View all my reviews.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Trip to Philadelphia

On my recent trip to Philadelphia, I took along a book but had so many wonderful opportunities to reconnect with old friends and to visit favorite places in the city that I never picked it up the entire time.

When I got home, I picked up the third book in the Twilight series (Eclipse) again and am more than halfway through. There is an enormous stack of books waiting for me to read including A Reliable Wife (Robert Goolrick) and Sing Them Home (Stephanie Kallos).

(Picture is Ann and Ann eating a Philly Cheese Steak at D'Alessandros in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia.)