A Word About Awards

ANOTHER BROOKLYN By Jacqueline Woodson   Nominations: Carnegie Longlist 2017, Dublin Longlist 2018, National Book Finalist 2016   Date Read: August 29, 2020   Another Brooklyn is a beautiful novel about the struggles and speedbumps of growing up – not just growing up, but growing up black, where the color of your skin represents all that you are or will ever be. Woodson’s prose reads like a poem, dripping with meaning and intent. I am in love!   Woodson describes how friendships can erase family history and expectation and lavish each participant in sweet acceptance. These friendships insulate these girls from the labels that are foisted upon them, from the crusty men lurking in obvious and not-so-obvious places, and from the expectations of horny teenagers, providing courage to resist. That is, until secrets begin to take over and the reality of life seeps into this sweet world.     The labels that Sophie’s dad levels these girls with are horrific and so incredibly limiting. As a whit

ROOM by Emma Donoghue   Nomination: Booker Finalist 2010, Orange Prize Finalist 2011   Date Read: August 23, 2020   When Room first came out, I had no interest in reading it, believing it would rip my heart out. Either I’m becoming more callous or Donoghue did such a brilliant job of making it not as a graphic and horrific as it could have been. Instead, well over half the book focuses on their recovery and becoming people in the world.   Ma does an incredible job of shielding Jack from the horrors that are happening right under his nose. She nurtures him, protects him, educates him, and loves him with a fierceness not all mothers are capable of, particularly under such stressful circumstances. While Ma wants desperately to leave, Room is Jack’s sanctuary and place he feels snuggly.    I didn’t believe that Ma’s plan for escape would work but Jack pulled it off. This is when the real work begins. Ma has to deal with her own individuality out in the world, face the trauma she has suffer

  A SUMMONS TO MEMPHIS By Peter Taylor   Award: Pulitzer Winner 1987   Nominations: LA Times Finalist 1987, National Book Finalist 1986, National Book Critics Circle Finalist 1986   Dates Read: July 22, 2007 & August 22, 2020   A Summons to Memphis does not have a hard-driving plot, nor does it have a tremendous amount of action. What it does have is a quietude so soft that it allows you to reimagine what life was like if it had been paused decades ago. Every passage harks back to a way of life that is almost unimaginable now.   The protagonist, Philip, explores how his life and those of his family were forever changed when they moved from Nashville to Memphis during his early teen years. This single event was a formidable experience for everyone involved and the family was never quite the same. While I was reading, it occurred to me that everyone must have been so delicate to have this event, neither comedy nor tragedy, the single inflection point for their fractious family existe

THE GHOST WRITER By Philip Roth   Nominations: National Book Finalist 1980, National Book Critics Circle Finalist 1979, NY Times Finalist 1979, Pulitzer Finalist 1980   Date Read: August 16, 2020   The Ghost Writer is one of the most interesting pieces by Roth that I have read to date. A young writer, Zuckerman, enamored and in awe of his idol, E.I. Lonoff, is invited to Lonoff’s home for an evening of discussion and food. Due to bad weather, Zuckerman is forced to stay overnight and the additional time allows him to see his mentor, Lonoff’s wife, Hope, and the young woman staying with them in an intimate and uncomfortable entente. Add in Zuckerman’s remarkable imagination and this innocent pilgrimage becomes an evening not easily forgotten.   Zuckerman is taken with the young student, Amy, and imagines many ways in which to put the two of them in closer proximity throughout the evening and morning. After overhearing a conversation between Amy and Lonoff, Zuckerman’s imagination runs w

BREATHING LESSONS by Anne Tyler   Award: Pulitzer 1989   Nomination: National Book 1988   Dates Read: October 5, 2013 & August 13, 2020   Breathing Lessons, I have to assume, has to refer to Ira, the husband of Maggie, and the patience required to live with her and her botched manipulations. Maggie strives for the reunion of her son, Jesse, and his ex-wife, Fiona. Yet, it was Maggie’s string pulling that resulted in their mismatched marriage in the first place. Just about everything Maggie does is to recapture how she thinks the world ought to be, not what’s in the best interests of those involved.    Breathing Lessons begins with the funeral of her best friend’s husband. The funeral reminds both Maggie and Serena of a time when marriage was the biggest thing a girl could do. Jobs and social engagements were just a weigh-station on a girl's trip down the aisle. Decisions about marriage were hasty and the resulting years very, very long. This is exactly what Maggie bristles agai

THE LAY OF THE LAND by Richard Ford Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2008, National Book Critics Circle Finalist 2006, NY Times Finalist 2006 Date Read: August 6, 2020 The Lay of the Land finds Frank Bascombe maturing into his Permanent Period. For a man of only 55, he seems incredibly old to me, rapidly losing his vitality. While The Sportswriter and Independence Day enthralled me, this novel, the third in the series, was tedious, overly verbose and, frankly, boring. I'm impressed with myself for making it through. How quickly things change! Bascombe remains one of the most self-involved characters I have encountered. Then again, I suppose we all are to some extent. But Frank has a unique ability to only contemplate his sphere of influence and the happenings in the world that affect him. He doesn't really consider other's circumstances, suffering or experiences. He walks through the world with blinders on. Again, we all do this to some extent but Bascombe seems to be an extrem