READIN

🦋 Appalachia, Lusitania

Three books I read this summer that I wanted to write about but didn't much of substance. Either of the first two would be great by itself, it was a real treat to read them both in succession.

• Stranger Here Below by Joyce Hinnefeld. This is Hinnefeld's second novel and seems like a real breakthrough. I liked In Hovering Flight a lot but it did not seem like a "masterpiece" the way I can picture talking about this book (once I get around to/figure out what to post about it).
• Out of the Mountains by Meredith Sue Willis.

  I talk to Vashie on the phone and visit occasionally, but I never run her errands. I don't drive her to the doctor, and I don't pick up her groceries.

  Her daughter Ruth doesn't either, but Ruth is a classic agoraphobic, a direct result of having Vashie as a mother, in my opinion. Vashie was even worse as a mother than as a third grade teacher. We're all widows now, Vashie, Ruth, me, and my friend Ursula Rose, who was having the tag sale in front of her late husband's mansion the day Vashie came lurching toward us on her walker, pausing to rest when she thought we were watching.

  -- "The Scandalous Roy Critchfield"

  Such a clear, genuine voice.
• The Elephant's Journey by José Saramago. This book seems almost the equal of Balthazar and Blimunda to me but I'm not sure how to back this up -- my plan was to write a review of it to submit to Quarterly Conversation or similar, but I got stuck on recommending it rather then writing about it. Really a sheer pleasure to read.

  posted evening of Sunday, November 21st, 2010
  ➳ More posts about Out of the Mountains
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  ➳ More posts about Stranger Here Below
  ➳ More posts about Joyce Hinnefeld
  ➳ More posts about In Hovering Flight
  ➳ More posts about The Elephant's Journey
  ➳ More posts about José Saramago
  ➳ More posts about Baltasar and Blimunda

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