Keep Reading January 2017
We have just about finished the first month of this year. Here in New England the weather has been a bit milder than usual. We are wondering what February will bring.
January was a good reading month for me. I had lots of cozy time by the fire to let my mind wander. Here are some of my favorites.
I had been searching for Pulitzer Prize winners from days gone by. This is one of my most delightful ways to search for books because they seem to always be warm and well represent their time. One Of Ours is one of those special books full of loving characters and great place descriptions. Written by Willa Cather this book won the Pulitzer Prize in eaither 1922 or 1923. Starting on a farm outside a small town in Nebraska, you are introduced to a young man who can’t quite be satisfied with his quiet life. He escapes to France during the First World War and discovers who he really is.
I was introduced to a new author by someone who suggested a book I might like. When I looked for this book I found an earlier book and decided to read it first. America America by Ethan Canin captivated me right from the start. In upstate New York during the 70s, a wealthy family befriends a plumber’s son and gives him the gift of a good education. The young man becomes wrapped up in the family and their politics. I really loved this book and I am looking forward to Doubter’s Almanac the next book I will read next month.
Diva by Daniel Odier is the first in a series of four books translated from French. So far I have only found this one and the second one in the series. I read them both this Month. The second book in Nana and I like the first one much better. Diva was a movie in the 80s, I believe. My husband says it was one of his all-time favorite movies. Diva is much shorter than you would like it to be. The characters are all a bit over the top doing over the top crazy, not quite legal things. Have fun with this book and see if you can find the movie.
Here is my nonfiction choice for this month.
My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me; a Black woman discovers her family’s Nazi past
This is one of those books that shows you truth is often stranger than fiction. I will just copy the description from NLS on this one.
Jennifer Teece and Nikola Sellmair teamed up to write this book
A German Nigerian woman recounts learning that her grandfather was Amon Goeth, the brutal Nazi commandant depicted in Thomas Keneally’s Schindler’s List Teege details how she grappled with her family’s past. Journalist Sellmair supplies historical context in an interwoven narrative. Originally published in German.