These stories are grim, authentic, elegant, spare. They will stay with you: I belatedly (one page in) recognized one that was previously published thrThese stories are grim, authentic, elegant, spare. They will stay with you: I belatedly (one page in) recognized one that was previously published three years ago. I'd read it once, recalled it vividly, and now that I've read it twice it'll undoubtedly be with me for a lifetime. Totally worth it for writing this good. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to find someone who loves me and get him to hold me. Now.
Speaking as the mom of a mildly autistic child, I'm recommending this book as a valuable emotional resource for any parent of a child with differencesSpeaking as the mom of a mildly autistic child, I'm recommending this book as a valuable emotional resource for any parent of a child with differences from the norm. (Whatever the heck "norm" is.)
I am not a perfect parent. I yell, I swear, and worst of all, I have to blink and think twice before defending my child from random blatant unfairnesses the world visits upon her. I hate that I hesitate.
For example, when a teacher assigned my daughter Tater a failing grade for not eating in class as a component of a major-grade project. I defended Tater after it all went to hell, and we got her points back for her, but I'm still embarrassed I didn't declare war from the first minute I heard about the assignment.
And that's just one instance from my child's life, and one tame enough that I can stand to share. Parents of exceptional children spend much energy trying to anticipate where that next fire is going to spring up, and still we're pulled up short. Just like "normal" kids' parents. Just way, way more often.
In This Is How It Always Is, Rosie and Penn, the parents of Claude, who is transgender, are nearly perfect parents. They listen to Claude, they don't judge her, and they never, ever swear. They admit when they don't know answers, and they search for new, creative, and fair solutions. And still it's not enough, not really. Claude's life does not run smoothly because it can't. Life, especially exceptional-kid life, is way too complicated for that. For kids with differences that go against the grain in our culture, ugly surprises drop from a clear blue sky, and are then frequently followed by even uglier consequences.
So, perhaps oddly, I found it enormously comforting that even fictional super-parents couldn't fix everything. But it didn't mean they ever stopped trying.
And now I need the world's longest charm bracelet so I can have all my favorite quotes from this book engraved on a few hundred little hearts that I can jingle whenever I get the least bit scared, sad, or worried. Or confused. Or when anyone *else* does. What a lovely book about the human condition which is, of course, change.
Signed lucky little cat who attended her exceptional daughter's first day of college right along with her today...more
Mesmerizing. Heartfelt Irish mythology-packed yarn pays homage to Playboy of the Western World, but has a knockabout charm all its own.
keywords: sometMesmerizing. Heartfelt Irish mythology-packed yarn pays homage to Playboy of the Western World, but has a knockabout charm all its own.
keywords: something wicked stalks the woods; stirring spirits; ghost hounds; it isn't even past; hoist an elbow; beware inventive spinsters; surely I've lost him; rich eccentric old actresses never die; you had me at Mahony...more
Dear Xan Brooks, Thank you for the beautifully written book about maimed WWI veterans, poor London orphans, and other quirky misfits circa 1923.
Dear Xan Brooks, Thank you for the beautifully written book about maimed WWI veterans, poor London orphans, and other quirky misfits circa 1923.
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They're all barely scraping by in vivid contrast to the novel's high-living Jazz Age aristocrats, and the two groups are pretty clearly on a collision course from the outset.
I'd be angry with you for breaking my heart, except you've done it so eloquently and stylishly that it was entirely worth it. And the poetic parallels to The Wizard of Oz are just exquisite. All is forgiven. Please write again soon....more
If Ireland ever vanishes, open this book to summon it all back. A rocky island community weathers the worst times of two twenty-something sisters, oneIf Ireland ever vanishes, open this book to summon it all back. A rocky island community weathers the worst times of two twenty-something sisters, one sunny, the other damaged, tetched and morose. So morose that her mere touch sucks all joy and hope from any neighbor hapless enough to let her come close enough for touching in the first place.
This is Emer, curst and cursing in 1959, redeemed only by her young, optimistic (but also lightly fairy-tetched) son Niall, and her boundlessly loyal and protective sister, Rose. Everyone on the island loves Rose. No one aside from Rose and Niall loves Emer.
Add to the mix casually unfaithful husbands, bonfires, hard work at sea, waters blessed by saints both pagan and holy, an inadvisable pet pig, Gaelic tunes, angry bees, gossiping neighbors, AND the arrival of Brigid, the single surviving descendant of the witchiest family of the island. And wouldn't you know she'd turns out to be capable, American, and indispensibly blessed with healing hands. She's more than a match for Emer.
It's a credit to Carey's sheer talent that none of this emerges as twee. Instead, we come to understand the characters and we fear for them: their environment is menacing on every level.
I'm oversimplifying this gorgeously written tale that is at once modern(ish); steeped in folklore; and gently, ironically comic in the grand tradition of Irish storytelling. Read it; you won't be disappointed.
I could not put this book down, even though I don't usually read historical fiction. Entertaining and moving account of two dirt-poor Irish potato-famI could not put this book down, even though I don't usually read historical fiction. Entertaining and moving account of two dirt-poor Irish potato-famine orphans who, after meeting in America "under a hedge" have outrageous adventures and ultimately (view spoiler)[have a contented life together. (At least for a while. ) (hide spoiler)] Barry skillfully makes the outrageous completely plausible: we follow John and Thomas through their stint as dancing girls (really!), enlistment, Indian-fighting (reluctantly), Civil War battles, confinement in the notoriously grim Andersonville prisoner-of-war camp, and beyond. Thomas's period dialect is pitch-perfect: homespun, poetic, and wry. (The elided verbs, e.g. "he mine," particularly sound like my Arkansas grandaddy, born in the 1800s.) And Barry uses that dialect to convincingly ground Thomas's descriptions of his own gender identity--Thomas's exuberant certainties as well as his more tentative thoughts.
And all of this has been copiously researched and beautifully written. It reads like a long-lost journal from an attic.
From the author of the delightful novel 2 a.m. at the Cat's Pajamas, this is another of those lyrical story collections written by a poet-turned-
From the author of the delightful novel 2 a.m. at the Cat's Pajamas, this is another of those lyrical story collections written by a poet-turned-
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Looking for a few Good Boys
fabulous-fictioneer. And I mean that purely as a compliment.
How else to explain the story where a young woman's old college flame announces his presence by sending a flock of hummingbirds to dive-bomb her obnoxious new husband? The story of R.E.M.-loving rebels stuck attending Vanilla University, where the prized monument to blandness is Saint Vanilla Cathedral? The story "Carry Me Home, Sisters of Saint Joseph" where a 24-karat smartass finds her rightful niche among nuns? Really.
And consider a few of my favorite snippets of dialogue:
“You rewarded him for being bad.” “I certainly understand,” I say, “how you could see it that way.”
Corrina rescinded Marigold’s nickname when things were dire. [She calls him by his "real" name, Samuel, only as a punishment.]
. . . A mall paramedic demand[s] to know what year it is, who is president, what my husband’s name is, what my name is. My husband’s name is Ian, I say. It is the wrong answer; their faces make this clear.
In the backseat on an underweight ham sleeps Stanley, the world’s least identifiable dog.
That last one is because everyone in the narrator's life who sees Stanley (her brand-new, rather nice dachshund) immediately and reproachfully asks "What's that?" To which our narrator imagines answering, "Duh, a dog."...more
I'd set this luminous reworking of the fairy tale "Snow White and Rose Red" on the shelf beside Terry Pratchett's wonderful fable Nation,
[imageI'd set this luminous reworking of the fairy tale "Snow White and Rose Red" on the shelf beside Terry Pratchett's wonderful fable Nation,
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except this book is much angrier and might scorch Nation's cover a bit.
For readers who like their fairy tales and feminism well-muscled and well-thought-out. Margo Lanagan here reiterates her status as a Force for Good in the World and focuses her retelling on what happens next. Her heroines refuse to stay victims, and her heroes reveal themselves as reluctant but sincere masters of empathy.
Only the fabulous Lanagan would include psychological insights on what it's like to actually be a boy transformed into a bear, and how you might later miss bear life and need to seek solance among other former bears.
This book was marketed as YA and won a Printz YA honor award on publication. But that's misleading: if you base your reading list on trigger warnings, you should probably pass this one by for its frank but lovely scenes (view spoiler)[ of near-seduction. (hide spoiler)] More troubling (and meant to be) are the scenes of (view spoiler)[rape, incest, bear mauling, and occasional violent punishment (but the punishments are also stylish, entirely warranted, and cathartic). (hide spoiler)] The book's darkness is more than redeemed by its optimism and its characters' resilience. Although not everyone gets a happy ending. ...more
Was came out in 1992 when an HIV/AIDS diagnosis meant imminent death. The book's hero, Jonathan, is a veteran character actor whose two greatest passiWas came out in 1992 when an HIV/AIDS diagnosis meant imminent death. The book's hero, Jonathan, is a veteran character actor whose two greatest passions
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are historical site preservation and L. Frank Baum's Oz. Jonathan's also good company: imaginative, empathetic, generous and philosophical.
And when Jonathan says he is dying, readers in 1992 knew to believe him. The novel requires readers to understand his timeline's urgency. In his critical final stages, Jonathan slips away from his friends and his husband. He's on a solo quest. Call it the Search for the Historical Dorothy.
The rest of the book is oddly satisfying. Chapters alternate among multiple characters, all related in ways that are not immediately obvious. For example, we move from a chapter where strangers respond compassionately to the visibly ill Jonathan to a frontier Kansas scene where Auntie Em scrubs Dorothy Gael raw following the child's exposure to diphtheria.
Ryman captures all the different historical ages beautifully, and he trusts us to keep up.
It's a book that feels true all the way through. ...more
womanizers or delicate, disillusioned alcoholics. In this collection of nine stories and one novella, only one story is actually (mostly) positive. And yet each and every story has uplifting moments, all of them refreshingly original.
An ex-stepmother-in-law (yeah, you heard me) comes through to rescue her favorite former stepdaughter-in-law one more time. An at-risk teen girl finds a supportive mentor (and expert culinary instructor) in her father's mistress. The very few bossy women in the mix are admirably self-aware, for example Cara, who recognizes when she has alienated another woman "which was not an uncommon thing to happen after Cara opened her mouth."
In every story the generations clash, sometimes surprisingly gently, and the results are almost always unpredictable. I kept wanting to put the book down, but I couldn't until I'd read the whole darned thing.
p.s. Be apprised that only one of the tales has anything resembling a resolved ending. The others drop off, peter out, or otherwise end too abruptly. But somehow, the sum total of these non-endings leaves the reader with something that feels a lot like hope. ...more
I bought, read, and loved this back when the paperback version came out in the U.S. in 1995, and the book still holds up beautifully now.
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I bought, read, and loved this back when the paperback version came out in the U.S. in 1995, and the book still holds up beautifully now.
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Author Tim Pears must have scribbled madly to get down on paper what village life was like for Devon farm families during the 1980s, the last gasp of the family farm era. Here's the life: live-in grandparents, a succession of sheepdogs, a gorgeous horsy girl next door, one farmer brother who's a beast, and another who's a genius who dresses like a 19th century artisan for his nights on the town. Grandma can easily lay hands on a paraffin lamp to carry about while checking on her sleeping family. Teenager Alison's only friend is the son of the local laird, and she teaches him to dive in the quarry pond. The village priest shows silent film comedies--Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy--at communal pox parties for the kids. And all of it's bathed in nostalgic, golden light. Read it: you won't be sorry. ...more
Creepy, eerie, gorgeous, indelible. Emily Carroll clearly read all the fairy tales, and decided none were truly unsettling enough. [image] In this briefCreepy, eerie, gorgeous, indelible. Emily Carroll clearly read all the fairy tales, and decided none were truly unsettling enough. [image] In this brief (and cheap!) collection of five stories, she moves beyond tradition to create heroines who think and act for themselves. Whether that works out for them or not....more
Wow, this is a book that rewards rereading. Fledgling Dublin investigators Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox's (view spoiler)[mistakes (hide spoiler)] loom lWow, this is a book that rewards rereading. Fledgling Dublin investigators Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox's (view spoiler)[mistakes (hide spoiler)] loom large. You want to tell them "Don't drink that vodka" and "Don't be so (view spoiler)[
young(hide spoiler)], dammit."
keywords: Ireland ferever; dynamic duo; Vespa chick; caution empath at work; bump in the night; "not intriguing, fucked-up"; shades of the West Memphis Three; doomed little dancer...more
Mild spoilers ahead. Every Tana French fan picks a different one of her novels as favorite, and this is mine.
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(view spoiler)[NMild spoilers ahead. Every Tana French fan picks a different one of her novels as favorite, and this is mine.
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(view spoiler)[No, it could never really happen. But don't let that stop you from enjoying this amazingly twisty (and smart) followup to In the Woods. This time Rob Ryan's lost soulmate Cassie Maddox is on the case, and she's got some hard questions to answer. What if you found where you truly belonged? What if the price was too high, but you were seriously considering it anyway? (hide spoiler)]
lucky little cat
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