Close My Eyes

Close My Eyes

by Sophie McKenzie

Genre: Mystery

Review: This novel had an interesting premise. An unknown woman knocks on Gen’s door to tell her that her stillborn baby Beth is still alive. The novel is compelling for awhile. There were probably 100 more pages than necessary; by the end I was skimming just to find out what happened. To create a more suspenseful novel, the writing should have been tightened. Often ideas were repeated; the main characters doubts if she should trust Art, her husband, or Lorcan, a handsome stranger, were stated and restated.

Final thoughts: The novel was hailed as similar to Gone Girl, but it was not quite there. If you are desperate for a new mystery, you might want to read it, but for me it wasn’t a true thriller. As I read, I wished I had a Laura Lippman book, with fast-paced, clean prose, in my hand. 

Seating Arrangements

Seating Arrangements

by Maggie Shipstead

Seating Arrangements was the "book of the summer" in 2012, but I read it last month :)

Genre: Literary Fiction

Review: As the book begins, Winn Van Meter is headed to a Nantucket-like island, his summer house, and his older daughter Daphne's wedding. When he arrives, daughters, bridesmaids, wife, and sister-in-law have taken over his home. The book submerges you into the world of the WASPs. The novel's told from the perspective of Winn, who is sometimes sympathetic, other times just annoying. He is not the most likable character, and sometimes I got bored with him and it was hard to read, yet the writing itself is exquisite and the characters well-drawn. Livia, the younger daughter getting over a heartbreak and merely tolerating the wedding, was most interesting to me. 

Extras: Shipstead won a prestigious International Dylan Thomas Writing Prize as a result of this book.
 I watched part of this author discussion which mentions the book's genesis. 
I also appreciated the interview which noted Shipstead was aware that readers might be turned off by Winn's "first-world problems" of golf club waiting lists and such. 

**Out of her two books, I would recommend Astonish Me over this one.**

The Lost Sisterhood

The Lost Sisterhood

by Anne Fortier

Genre: Fiction

Review: While this book is long, it was definitely worth it. It follows Diana, a young Oxford academic who studies the origin of Amazon women. She is asked to go on a mysterious mission and can't resist tracking her beloved Amazons and trying to show that they really did exist, they aren't just mythology. Along the way there are adventures, vivid setting descriptions, and romantic moments. 

The novel's other thread follows Myrina and her sister throughout the ancient world from North Africa to Greece to the Troy of myth. 

I really liked the strong female characters and learning some history as well!

There is an interesting interview at the website on the homepage: http://www.annefortier.com/

She talks about how her next book is set in Paris!

Astonish Me

Astonish Me

by Maggie Shipstead

I loved this book--surely it will win best novel of the year awards!

Genre: Literary Fiction

Review: The novel opens the doors into the minds, the doubts, the fears, and the joys of aspiring ballerinas. If you enjoy entering the minds of the artists and reading poetic prose, check out this book.

Joan falls in love with principal dancer Arslan, a celebrated Russian defector but knows she is only meant to be a Corps dancer, so she is secretly happy when she finds she is pregnant. 

The story cuts between the 1970s through 2000s and follows Joan, Arslan, Joan's son Harry and his best friend Chloe, and Joan's friend Elaine. There is almost no way to describe the story, the writing style, the characters--just read it!

Author website: http://www.maggieshipstead.com/ 

Still Life with Bread Crumbs

Still Life with Bread Crumbs

by Anna Quindlen

If you want to feel like you are in a log cabin, cozy by a fire, read this book. Picking up another Anna Quindlen novel is like that. 

Genre: Fiction

Review: This is a novel by an author who is comfortable with her powers and her style, but not relaxed. She reveals truths about the human condition, about loneliness and love--she doesn't shy away from tragedy, but doesn't make it about tragedy, but about living. 

 Still Life with Bread Crumbs follows Rebecca Winter, a photographer, once famous, in a precarious financial situation. She moves to a cabin in upstate New York and she's just scraping by. Hiking in the woods, she searches for new inspiration as an artist.

A world away from life in Manhattan, she learns new things about herself and gives herself another chance at life after sixty. 

Want to read more? Rise and Shine and Every Last One are both searingly powerful novels, blended with a sense of humor and the meaning of family.

The Invention of Wings

The Invention of Wings

by Sue Monk Kidd

Go read this book. Drop any of the other books you are reading and GO!

Genre: Historical fiction

Review: The Invention of Wings is a window into the early women's movement and the abolition movement. Hetty "Handful" is a house slave in the home of the Grimke family in Charleston, South Carolina. She and her mother are expert seamstresses and truly artists. At a young age, Handful is "given" as a birthday gift to 11-year-old Sarah. The trouble begins when Sarah Grimke teaches Handful to read. Their difficult and powerful friendship will change Sarah's life. The book is complex and provides no easy answers. It fictionalizes the lives of two sisters who existed but are not well-known in history, who later become feminists and abolitionists, Sarah and her sister Angelina Grimke. 

The characterizations are lovely and heartbreaking. This book will be a classic.

I read all of the articles on Oprah.com about Sue Monk Kidd and her writing process. Check this one out

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

Lean In 

by Sheryl Sandberg

Genre: Nonfiction 

Recently, my book club read this book, and it was one of our best discussions of the past two years!

Before I started reading this book, I wondered: would it be relevant to me if I don' t care about moving up the corporate ladder? Were the criticisms I'd read in news articles valid?

Review: The book was relevant to me, and most criticism that I'd read before was unfounded. Sandberg qualifies many of her statements, states her advice is not intended for everyone, and notes her faults. The book is well-researched yet accessible with contributions by a sociologist and expert on gender and work.

 The text includes easy-to-digest advice, like "sit at the table" and "Don't leave before you leave," and interesting anecdotes from Sandberg's life. 

A major idea that resonated: men and women both deserve true choices. Men should be able to stay home with children, and women should have a true choice between working in the home vs. in the workplace, instead of having two jobs. 

Read it, discuss it, live it!

http://leanin.org/