A Word About Awards

THE BUTCHER BOY by Andrew McCabe   Nomination: Booker Finalist 1992   Date Read: March 31, 2022   The Butcher Boy follows Francis Brady’s descent into madness. And it’s not hard to see why. With a family situation that is just one step above horrific, Francis has no parental guidance, sense of home or safety. Mary, his mother, is teetering on the edge of sanity herself and ends up taking her own life. His father, Benny, hasn’t seen a sober day in Francis’ entire life. And his father treats his mother like utter shite. A recipe for disaster. But it leaves readers to wonder if even his home situation were more stable, would his family history of mental illness present as drastically.   Joe is the only friend Francis really has. When the Nugent family moves into town, Francis immediately becomes wary of Philipp, who Francis feels is trying to steal Joe’s friendship. One day Francis breaks into the Nugent house, writes on the walls and poops on their floor, all in a psychotic episode of hi

FAITHFUL ARE THE WOUNDS by May Sarton   Nomination: National Book Finalist 1956   Date Read: March 25, 2022   The setting is Harvard during the 1950s, what would have been an idyllic setting for a professor with strongly held political beliefs. Edward Cavan has been fighting the good fight his entire life, standing by his principles and never wavering from his beliefs. But he sees those around him wavering, if not abandoning, their principles due to pressure from every direction – faculty, government, society at large.   Under this realization, an overall depressive personality and the perception that his idealism is slipping away, Edward commits suicide one day, horrifically throwing himself under a train. His death has ripple effects throughout Harvard and his entire circle of friends. Although he has always kept to himself, a loner in modern terms, his life has an impact on his students and those who share his political beliefs.   Isabel, Edward’s sister, flies to Boston from Califo

AHAB’S WIFE by Sena Jeter Naslund   Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2001, Women's Longlist 2001   Date Read: March 23, 2022   Ahab’s Wife is the tale of what kind of wife Ahab might take should Melville have ever provided him one. Una is cut from a different cloth from other 19 th  century women. She is learned and smart, quick on her feet and has the heart of an adventurer. Unable to commit herself to her father’s religious views and often a the mercy of his violence, Una’s mother sends her away to live with her sister, who is the wife of a lighthouse keeper. It is here that Una first gets a taste of the sea.   This sweeping saga portrays a fearless woman who survives so many obstacles and losses, they are nearly too numerous to count. She has the audacity to join a whaling ship, presenting herself as a cabin boy and hoping no one finds out. She survives the sinking of the whaling ship Sussex and survives by cannibalism. She marries a crazy man and has the strength to let him go and

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA by Gabriel Garcia Marquez   Awards: LA Times Winner 1988, Nobel Prize Winner 1998 Nominations: NY Times Finalist 1988, Oprah Book Club 2007   Date Read: March 16, 2022   Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a master. His writing is so seductive, sensual and beguiling. I want more, more, more. Every time. Always. His Nobel Prize is well-deserved.   Love In The Time Of Cholera is about longing. It is about love that doesn’t waver and that is everlasting. As a young boy, Florentino Ariza is captivated by the even younger Fermina Daza. She inspires in him a love so passionate that flows from his pen in pages and pages of love letters that leave Fermina breathless. She is slowly won over by his ardor and they begin an exchange of love letters - sometimes through acquaintances, others by hiding them throughout the city – that would leave seasoned lovers heaving.   But Florentino is not the man Lorenzo Daza, Fermina’s wayward father, has in mind for her. He moved her to the c

KLARA & THE SUN by Kazuo Ishiguro   Award: Nobel Winner 2021   Nominations: Booker Longlist 2021, Carnegie Longlist 2022, Dublin Longlist 2022   Date Read: March 9, 2022   I love that Kazuo Ishiguro is willing to create new realities and perspectives from which to view humanity. Such as the character of Klara, and Artificial Friend whose sole purpose is to serve as a friend to a child/teenager. Klara, however, is more observant than most AFs and is able to marvel at the uniqueness of the human experience and all the emotions that come with that.   From the very moment Josie sees Klara in the store window, she knows Klara is for her. Josie is a “lifted” or genetically enhanced child that suffers a sickness that accompanies being lifted. Some of these children survive and others do not. Klara survives by solar absorption, elevating the Sun in her life to almost that of a god. But from her store window she can see what it can do first hand.   Despite Josie’s mother’s misgivings, Klara

BAND OF ANGELS by Robert Penn Warren   Nomination: National Book Finalist 1956   Date Read: March 6, 2022   Band Of Angels follows the life of Manty Starr, considered a slave because her mother was a slave. The only thing is she can pass as white and had done so up until her father’s untimely death. She didn’t know the full truth until she went back south for his funeral and the sheriff showed up to arrest her for back debt her father owed. She was utterly gobsmacked, not having a clue.   A complete mind-shift occurs now understanding herself to be “owned.” Although she was against slavery previously, she now had a front-row seat as to how it actually felt to be sold on the auction block and having no say about her future or whereabouts. Being as white skinned as she was, however, she never experienced the truly brutal truths of slavery as others did. Nevertheless, being sold to Hamish Bond, a slave-owner with a kinder heart than most owners, was still a humiliating and degrading exper