A Word About Awards

THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST by Anne Tyler Awards: National Book Critics Circle Winner 1985 Nomination: LA Times Finalist 1986, Pulitzer Finalist 1986 Date Read: December 30, 2019 The Accidental Tourist is the kind of novel I absolutely love because it reveals a character that is stuck in his unique way and through the course of his life and circumstance is forced to change. Macon and Sarah have tragically lost their son, Ethan, and they are fumbling through their lives, going through the motions but are not really living.  After separating, Macon goes through the routines of living, creating ever narrower ways of interacting with the world and daily chores, that his life has become so small, he hardly recognizes it himself. Breaking his leg sets off a chain reaction that unleashes a waterfall of opportunities to grow and expand his world. Enter Muriel, a hot mess of a woman with a sickly son and a mouth that never seems to stop speaking. She is entirely wrong, yet entirely ri

GREENWILLOW by B.J. Chute Nomination: National Book Finalist 1957 Date Read: December 3, 2019 Greenwillow is an absolutely charming novel about a simpler time in the small, fictitious town of Greenwillow. This novel found me at a time when this type of narrative was sorely needed. Chute skillfully paints a portrait of a town where pies bake in the oven, two preachers fight over the salvation of souls, a cow kneeling at Christmas is considered a mystical sign and young romance is held at bay by one's destiny. Upon finishing this novel, I learned that Anthony Hopkins starred in the Broadway adaptation and I would give just about anything to have seen it.  Gideon, where much of this novel is centered, is a gem of a character. He holds in his heart a profound love of his family land but knows as his father's first-born son, he destined to a life of wandering just like his absent father. Every son in his family's history has been called and he continuousl

THE THIRD CHOICE by Elizabeth Janeway Nomination: National Book Finalist 1960 Date Read: November 30, 2019 The Third Choice starts incredibly slow and introduces two related women who seem to be living somewhat parallel lives. The younger, Lorraine, is the mother of two young children and trapped in a loveless marriage that continually causes her to question her sanity. The elder woman, Lorraine's aunt, is stuck in a hospital after breaking her leg and we watch her fight against her new limitations while struggling to come to terms with her past. Both women make choices in their lives that cause them to question how to move forward. The Third Choice, in Janeway's telling, refers to an option that opens up during the impossible, when you can't go forward but you can't go back, an impossible third choice is revealed that allows life to go on. At the novel's conclusion, readers aren't quite sure what the future will hold for either. Diana, the aunt, is se