oops, review of book
Like the author of this breakthrough debut novel, Amal is an Australian-born, Muslim Palestinian "whacked with some seriously confusing identity hyphens." At 16, she loves shopping, watches Sex and the City, and IMs her friends about her crush on a classmate. She also wants to wear the hijab, to be strong enough to show a badge of her deeply held faith, even if she confronts insults from some at her snotty prep school, and she is refused a part-time job in the food court (she is "not hygienic"). Her open-minded observant physician parents support her and so do her friends, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, secular. Her favorite teacher finds her a private space to pray. The first-person present-tense narrative is hilarious about the diversity, and sometimes heartbreaking.
Amy's suggestions
Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo (he is the one who wrote Empire Falls which we read)
Six years after the bestselling, Pulitzer Prize—winning Empire Falls, Richard Russo returns with a novel that expands even further his widely heralded achievement. Louis Charles (“Lucy”) Lynch has spent all his sixty years in upstate Thomaston, New York, married to the same woman, Sarah, for forty of them, their son now a grown man. Like his late, beloved father, Lucy is an optimist, though he’s had plenty of reasons not to be–chief among them his mother, still indomitably alive. Yet it was her shrewdness, combined with that Lynch optimism, that had propelled them years ago to the right side of the tracks and created an “empire” of convenience stores about to be passed on to the next generation. Lucy and Sarah are also preparing for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Italy, where his oldest friend, a renowned painter, has exiled himself far from anything they’d known in childhood. In fact, the exact nature of their friendship is one of the many mysteries Lucy hopes to untangle in the “history” he’s writing of his hometown and family. And with his story interspersed with that of Noonan, the native son who’d fled so long ago, the destinies building up around both of them (and Sarah, too) are relentless, constantly surprising, and utterly revealing. (From the publisher.)
Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
I have been standing on the side of life, watching it float by. I want to swim in the river. I want to feel the current.So writes Mamah Borthwick Cheney in her diary as she struggles to justify her clandestine love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright. Four years earlier, in 1903, Mamah and her husband, Edwin, had commissioned the renowned architect to design a new home for them. During the construction of the house, a powerful attraction developed between Mamah and Frank, and in time the lovers, each married with children, embarked on a course that would shock Chicago society and forever change their lives.In this groundbreaking historical novel, fact and fiction blend together brilliantly. While scholars have largely relegated Mamah to a footnote in the life of America's greatest architect, author Nancy Horan gives full weight to their dramatic love story and illuminates Mamah's profound influence on Wright.Drawing on years of research, Horan weaves little-known facts into a compelling narrative, vividly portraying the conflicts and struggles of a woman forced to choose between the roles of mother, wife, lover, and intellectual. Horan's Mamah is a woman seeking to find her own place, her own creative calling in the world, and her unforgettable journey, marked by choices that reshape her notions of love and responsibility, leads inexorably to this novel's stunning conclusion. (From the
Six years after the bestselling, Pulitzer Prize—winning Empire Falls, Richard Russo returns with a novel that expands even further his widely heralded achievement. Louis Charles (“Lucy”) Lynch has spent all his sixty years in upstate Thomaston, New York, married to the same woman, Sarah, for forty of them, their son now a grown man. Like his late, beloved father, Lucy is an optimist, though he’s had plenty of reasons not to be–chief among them his mother, still indomitably alive. Yet it was her shrewdness, combined with that Lynch optimism, that had propelled them years ago to the right side of the tracks and created an “empire” of convenience stores about to be passed on to the next generation. Lucy and Sarah are also preparing for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Italy, where his oldest friend, a renowned painter, has exiled himself far from anything they’d known in childhood. In fact, the exact nature of their friendship is one of the many mysteries Lucy hopes to untangle in the “history” he’s writing of his hometown and family. And with his story interspersed with that of Noonan, the native son who’d fled so long ago, the destinies building up around both of them (and Sarah, too) are relentless, constantly surprising, and utterly revealing. (From the publisher.)
Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
I have been standing on the side of life, watching it float by. I want to swim in the river. I want to feel the current.So writes Mamah Borthwick Cheney in her diary as she struggles to justify her clandestine love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright. Four years earlier, in 1903, Mamah and her husband, Edwin, had commissioned the renowned architect to design a new home for them. During the construction of the house, a powerful attraction developed between Mamah and Frank, and in time the lovers, each married with children, embarked on a course that would shock Chicago society and forever change their lives.In this groundbreaking historical novel, fact and fiction blend together brilliantly. While scholars have largely relegated Mamah to a footnote in the life of America's greatest architect, author Nancy Horan gives full weight to their dramatic love story and illuminates Mamah's profound influence on Wright.Drawing on years of research, Horan weaves little-known facts into a compelling narrative, vividly portraying the conflicts and struggles of a woman forced to choose between the roles of mother, wife, lover, and intellectual. Horan's Mamah is a woman seeking to find her own place, her own creative calling in the world, and her unforgettable journey, marked by choices that reshape her notions of love and responsibility, leads inexorably to this novel's stunning conclusion. (From the
Deb's first suggestion
Does My Head Look Big In This? (Paperback)by Randa Abdel-Fattah
from Amazon's description: Product Description
Sixteen-year-old Amal makes the decision to start wearing the hijab full-time and everyone has a reaction. Her parents, her teachers, her friends, people on the street. But she stands by her decision to embrace her faith and all that it is, even if it does make her a little different from everyone else.
Can she handle the taunts of "towel head," the prejudice of her classmates, and still attract the cutest boy in school? Brilliantly funny and poignant, Randa Abdel-Fattah's debut novel will strike a chord in all teenage readers, no matter what their beliefs.
It's a young adult novel, so it's a quick read and a great, light-hearted contrast to the last book we read.
Highlands Ranch Library has several copies, no holds.
Deb
from Amazon's description: Product Description
Sixteen-year-old Amal makes the decision to start wearing the hijab full-time and everyone has a reaction. Her parents, her teachers, her friends, people on the street. But she stands by her decision to embrace her faith and all that it is, even if it does make her a little different from everyone else.
Can she handle the taunts of "towel head," the prejudice of her classmates, and still attract the cutest boy in school? Brilliantly funny and poignant, Randa Abdel-Fattah's debut novel will strike a chord in all teenage readers, no matter what their beliefs.
It's a young adult novel, so it's a quick read and a great, light-hearted contrast to the last book we read.
Highlands Ranch Library has several copies, no holds.
Deb
some more ideas
Books people have recommended to me recently:
The Glass Castle – Jeannette Wells
People of the Book – Geraldine Brooks
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Annie Barrows
Books I’ve been wanting to read:
Guns, Germs and Steel – Jared Diamond
Omnivore’s Dilemma – Michael Pollan
Animal, Vegetable, Mineral – Barbara Kingsolver
Hi Friends!
Welcome to our new blog! I'm a little confused on where to click and how to organize, but I believe once you log in, you will all be administrators and can add whatever you like!
Didn't think I'd do it - did ya! :)
Joanie
Didn't think I'd do it - did ya! :)
Joanie
From Lisa's bookclub list:
The Highest Tide, by Jim Lynch
The Swallows of Kabul, by Yasmna Khadra
Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
From random scraps of paper:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larson(?)
Nine Parts of Desire
Blindness
A Scream Goes Through the House
Love My Rifle More Than You
Ava's Man
Clear Light of Day, by Desai(?)
Gorilla, My Love, by Bambara(?)
Award Winners
Light-Skinn-ed Girl, by Heidi W. Durrow
Mudbound, by HIllary Jordan
Correcting the Landscape, by Marjorie Kowalski Cole
From Sara's bookclub:
Love Walked In, by Marisa de los Santos
The Highest Tide, by Jim Lynch
The Swallows of Kabul, by Yasmna Khadra
Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
From random scraps of paper:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larson(?)
Nine Parts of Desire
Blindness
A Scream Goes Through the House
Love My Rifle More Than You
Ava's Man
Clear Light of Day, by Desai(?)
Gorilla, My Love, by Bambara(?)
Award Winners
Light-Skinn-ed Girl, by Heidi W. Durrow
Mudbound, by HIllary Jordan
Correcting the Landscape, by Marjorie Kowalski Cole
From Sara's bookclub:
Love Walked In, by Marisa de los Santos
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