A Word About Awards

THE CORRECTIONS by Jonathan Franzen Award: James Tait Black Winner 2002, National Book Winner 2001 Nominations: Dublin Finalist 2003, LA Times Finalist 2001, National Book Critics Circle Finalist 2001, NY Times Finalist 2001, Oprah Book Club 2001, PEN/Faulkner Finalist 2002, Pulitzer Finalist 2002 Dates Read: May 28, 2006 & February 17, 2020 The Corrections is a difficult read for me because Franzen so skillfully lays bare the brutal details of the human existence. I don't find much about the human experience to celebrate here. I am left to watch a very flawed family muddle through the intricacies of life, making poor decisions along the way and culminating in a disastrous Christmas reunion that collides each of these imperfect humans' needs. On the positive side, Franzen is a master narrator of the nuances of relationships, behavior and inner turmoil that just about anyone can relate to and simultaneously made me absolutely terrified of growing old. Well done, ...

TEN NORTH FREDERICK by John O'Hara Award: National Book Award 1956 Date Read: February 10, 2020 I had looked forward to this book on my list for quite some time because I love O'Hara's work. I'll be honest that this one took me a while to slog through. I found vast amounts of it boring, particularly the political machinations of a small town striver. In the end, though, I fell in love with Joe Chapin and the entire Chapin family. We know at the beginning that Joe has passed and the respect and reverence that Gibbsville society shows at his funeral reveals Joe was no trivial man and was highly regarded by nearly everyone in this community. Although Joe never made it as a politician, he made several allies, and a few enemies, along the way in his ambitions. His wife, Edith, and children, Joe Jr. and Ann, help to portray the humanity of Joe as a husband and father. His ultimate sacrifice becomes honoring these roles above his own changing happiness when he mee...

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 wro...

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...

THE CIRCUS OF DR. LAO by Charles Finney Award: National Book Winner 1935 Date Read: November 19, 2019 The Circus of Dr. Lao is unlike any other novel I have read. Set in a fictional, rural town in Arizona, this circus mysteriously arrives in town neither by road nor rail. The circus is comprised of mythical creatures such as a mermaid, sphinx, chimera, medusa, etc. As the towns people are drawn to this circus, they fail to be impressed and never question the origins or facts about these creatures. The big finale is the show under the big top in which a pagan ritual is performed and a virgin ultimately sacrificed. In what is a stroke of genius, the book ends with a cast of characters and questions that identify plot holes that the readers may not have known to even ponder, let alone ask. While I prefer a novel that is more character driven, this is a truly singular work and I doubt anyone could ever duplicate it. Apparently a movie was made loosely b...

LORD GRIZZLY by Frederick Manfred Nomination: National Book Finalist 1955 Date Read: November 11, 2019 Lord Grizzly is not a fun book. To me, it's a survival book in that I survived reading it. Hugh Glass is, without a doubt, an incredible character full of grit, piss, steel bolts and razor wire. The life he leads is astounding in that he actually survives his life choices. Hugh lives in early U.S. settlement days when the white man was actively stealing Indian land and paying the just price for these actions. In some situations there was peace and, often, in others there was violence. In an early expedition of Hugh's, he is attacked by a grizzly and left to die on the plains. His friends sew him together as best they can and flee. Hugh succeeds in crawling with his wounds and a broken leg back to his wife for care and recuperation  He then spends the remainder of the novel seeking revenge for his friends who left him there to die. What becomes quickly a...