Thoughts on books, editing, story craft, and the reader's life — from a copy editor and developmental editor who lives inside stories every single day.
I failed…
Crossroads has been on my list for forever so when I decided to jump on the 12 Recommended challenge and @ka recommend it, I was pumped.
Summary - Crossroads follows Russ and Marion Hildebrandt, whose marriage is close to collapse, and their four children, Clem, Becky, Perry, and Judson. Each chapter is told from the perspective of one of the Hildebrandts, and most are set in the fictional New Prospect Township of suburban Chicago.
Continue reading…you have to use your failures as stepping stones to success. You have to maintain a fine balance between hope and despair. In the end its all a question of balance.
Summary - The time is 1975. The place is an unnamed city by the sea. The government has just declared a State of Emergency, in whose upheavals four strangers–a spirited widow, a young student uprooted from his i hill station, and two tailors who have fled the caste violence of their native village–will be thrust together, forced to share one cramped apartment and an uncertain future.
Continue readingStarting another #hubb
These bud reads with my husband have been really fun! Here’s what we’ve done so far:
11/22/63 - both really enjoyed Matterhorn - both pretty meh but John enjoyed it more Rea Player One - both loved, fun experience too The Storyteller - both enjoyed, husband is a huge fan so he enjoyed it a little more
Now we’ve started Recursion and it is super promising. Often what is lacking in scifi is a female perspective/voice and Recursion alternates between a male cop and a female scientist so that is a plus!
Continue reading“Margaret used to think this was normal, that all families were made up of so many sad stories. But as she got older, it seemed only Indians, Mtis, who had sorrow built into their bones, who exchanged despair as ordinarily as recipes, who had devastation after devastation after dismissal after denial woven into their skin. As if sad stories were the only heirloom they had to pass on.”
Summary - Cedar has nearly forgotten what her family looks like. Phoenix has nearly forgotten how freedom feels. And Elsie has nearly given up hope. Nearly. These are the Strangers, each haunted in her own way. The Strangers is a searing exploration of race, class, inherited trauma, and matrilineal bonds thatdespite everythingrefuse to be broken.
Continue readingSo many anticipated books this month…
The way I choose books for the #read groups is by vote! I pick out three or four books and have the current group choose the next month’s book. Sometimes it’s a landslide and sometimes it’s neck and neck (voting day is one of my favorite days of the month ). I often put books back on the vote that were close seconds. The Family Tree was a book that kept coming in second, so close each time. I had a feeling it would make a great book to discuss. The desire to read it won so I finally read this much anticipated book!
Continue reading“Ill survive this. Ill live. But theres a hole in me, never to be filled. Maybe thats why people die of old age. Maybe we could live forever if we didnt love so completely. But we do. And by the time old age comes, were filled with holes, so many that its too hard to breathe. So many that our insides arent even ours anymore. Were just one big empty space, waiting to be filled by the darkness. Waiting to be free.”
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Wrapping up our McFadden project…
Glorious was the last on our McFadden list. We fell in love with her writing when we read Sugar last year, so much so that we unanimously decided to read through her backlist.
Summary - Glorious is set against the backdrops of the Jim Crow South, the Harlem Renaissance, and the civil rights era. Blending the truth of American history with the fruits of Bernice L. McFaddens rich imagination, this is the story of Easter Venetta Bartlett, a fictional Harlem Renaissance writer whose tumultuous path to success, ruin, and revival offers a candid portrait of the American experience in all its beauty and cruelty.
Continue readingWhat a hilarious bud read…
I don’t know if I would have picked up this book on my own but when Juani told Sandra and I that it was her pick for her birthday month bud read we knew it would be a fun one
Summary - Lyla has always believed that life is a game she is destined to win, but her husband, Graham, takes the game to dangerous levels. The wealthy couple invites self-made success stories to live in their guesthouse and then conspires to ruin their lives.
Continue readingThree-star-meh-book streak broken!
I was saving Abby Jimenez’s new book Part of Your World for the perfect moment and after my millionth 3-star book I knew it was time…and it worked, I loved it!
Summary - After a wild bet, gourmet grilled-cheese sandwich, and cuddle with a baby goat, Alexis Montgomery has had her world turned upside down. The cause: Daniel Grant, a ridiculously hot carpenter who’s ten years younger than her and as casual as they comethe complete opposite of sophisticated city-girl Alexis.
Continue readingPeach Blossom Spring
“Within every misfortune there is a blessing and within every blessing, the seeds of misfortune, and so it goes, until the end of time.”
Summary - A beautifully novel about war, migration, and the power of telling our stories, Peach Blossom Spring follows three generations of a Chinese family on their search for a place to call home.
Beautiful doesn’t begin to describe this book. First you follow Meilin and she and her son Renshu are forced to flee their home due to war. Then you follow Renshu on his journey to and in America. Then you follow Lily, Renshu’s daughter try to navigate in a world that she isn’t sure where fits. The timeline moves quickly but it is done in a way that flows seamlessly. Having a book span as many years as this allows the reader to see the big picture of how families take root, how they acclimate, and what they hold on to. This is truly a special book, I highly recommend it.
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