Left Neglected

After a car crash leaves  successful, overachieving  Sarah Nickerson with a traumatic brain injury and an obscure neurological syndrome called Left Neglect , she faces a long and uncertain recovery. This story personalizes the struggles and insights of a rare and unusual brain condition and the redemptive power of family love and support. Author and neuroscientist, Lisa Genova, once again delves into the world of disabling brain disease and creates a book of moving fiction. Her first novel, Still Alice, dealt with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

Thursday’s Child

Tin was born on a Thursday, and so was fated to wandering.  His older sister, seven-year-old Harper, can hardly blame him for wanting to escape: the family is mired in poverty, their land is barren, the new baby cries all the time.  Tin burrows into the earth to get away from it all, digging elaborate subterranean tunnels, his eccentricity tolerated—even overshadowed—by his family’s larger problems.  In lyrical, heartbreaking prose, Harper weaves her family’s struggle and Tin’s surreal underground existence together into a dark and dreamy tale.

The Red Garden

200 years of history of the small, rural town of Blackwell, Massachsetts, begins with the arrival of the first settlers and moves forward in linked stories following a wide range of characters. The red garden, a small plot of land that eventually takes on the air of the sacred becomes a connecting element for the town history along with the women who play a role in the growth and change of the town. Beautifully written with an ethereal realism – a novel that bridges both history and human connections beautifully.

Emily, Alone

Emily Maxwell, is an 80 year old widow who is dealing with the emotional and physical issues of growing old and, “being alone.” Although the story consists primarily of Emily’s daily routine, the story is much more than that. As Emily reflects about her life with her husband, children, grandchildren, friends and neighbors and even her beloved aging dog Rufus, the reader is reminded how regrets, setbacks and hopes of an ordinary life are a part of everyone’s life. There are moments of humor and sadness throughout the book. The story begins with Emily and her sister-in-law Arlene driving to the Eat ‘n Park’s two-for-one breakfast buffet, a weekly tradition. After Arlene suffers a stroke at the buffet, Emily begins to become more independent but at the same time realizes that she needs to rely on others more and more. Emily, with her quirks and habits, may be someone you will recognize, a friend, an aunt, neighbor or even yourself. If you like books that are plot driven, this is not the book for you. If you liked books that are character driven, I think you would enjoy this book. I give it five stars.

Going Bovine

When Cameron is admitted to the hospital following his diagnosis of Mad Cow Disease, things start to get really weird for him. With the help of his roommate, Gonzo (a neurotic, asthmatic dwarf), they escape for Cameron’s final road trip. The comedy becomes more absurd as the miles click by, with the pair picking up an ancient Norse god (cursed to appear as a lawn gnome), staying with a smoothie-loving cult at the Church of Everlasting Satisfaction and Snack ‘N’ Bowl, and falling in love with an angel on the way to Disney World. Going Bovine won the 2010 Printz medal for excellence in teen literature.

Talking to Girls About Duran Duran

The title immediately grabbed my attention, having coming of age at the same time as the author and having been a big Duran Duran fan.  Although published after Love is a Mix Tape, the book could serve as a prequel as it chronicles the author’s life and coming of age experiences during the 80s. The book is not about Duran Duran, but they do serve as the ultimate example of the music of the times and what those songs, bands and videos meant as we came of age.  Extremely humorous, and I loved how the author cleverly wove lines of popular 80s songs into his prose in such a subtle manner that it would be very easy to miss for those who don’t know their 80s music. A wonderful trip down memory lane, I was sorry when it ended!

If you liked Talking to Girls About Duran Duran you will also enjoy the 80s nostalgia in But Enough About Me and Don’t You Forget About Me by Jancee Dunn, who like Sheffield is a former contributor to Rolling Stone.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Louis (Louie) Zamperini’s life reads like the most fantastical drama you’ve ever known and yet every word of this amazing life story is true and well documented in history. Louie went from being a troublemaking California youngster to an Olympic runner in the 1936 Olympics in Germany. Then WWII came along and sent him to the Pacific as an Army Air Corpsman only to end up with his plane crashed and clinging to a tiny raft with two other men floating for weeks fighting starvation, sharks, weather and attacks by Japanese bombers. Sounds like a challenge? That’s only the beginning of this incredible biography. Louis Zamperini is still alive today and reading this book inspired me to research further this man who seemed to have an almost limitless determination to survive whatever life could throw his way. One of the best biographies I have ever read – highly recommended.

If you love English history, you will love Showtime’s The Tudors, if you can initially get past the fact that Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who portrays King Henry VIII, looks nothing like the King he was cast to portray. But Rhys Meyers was born to play a tyrannical king, and does so passionately and convincingly, and the acting is stellar across the board in this historical drama. I especially loved Jeremy Northam as Thomas More, Sam Neil as Cardinal Wolsey and Natalie Dormer as Anne Boleyn. The costumes, scenery and even the music is beautiful in this production. The end of each episode sent me to the Internet to look up the people and events of the time to see how much was accurate. Despite a few glaring inaccuracies, I was surprised to find how much was actually true, right down to the words spoken in the series, often gleaned from letters and accounts of the time. Both at times racy and exceedingly violent, make sure the kids are sound asleep before popping it into your DVD player.

The Unnamed
by Joshua Ferris

Tim walks. For no discernible reason, he walks. He’s taken by the compulsion to walk, to keep going, to not break stride for any reason–it doesn’t matter if he’s in conversation, if he’s tired, if he wants to stop to buy a sandwich. At the end of his walks, he calls his wife for a ride home from wherever his body took him this time. Doctors and psychologists are baffled by his condition and can find no evidence that it’s even happening. His wife tells him that it’s okay, that she’ll always come get him, but it still takes an incredible toll on her, on their daughter, on their whole family. It’s a novel of a thousand small betrayals of one’s own body and mind, starting with a straightforward presentation and then meandering, taking tangents and revisiting old topics seemingly at random, paralleling Tim’s worsening condition. _The Unnamed_ explores the impact of an inexplicable, incomprehensible illness on a family as a whole and a man in particular as his is pulled out from under him.

Loving Frank
by Nancy Horan

This novel is a fictionalized account of the scandalous affair between Mamah Borthwick Cheney and Frank Lloyd Wright. Mamah is an educated and independent woman who feels trapped in her marriage and constrained by social restrictions until she meets and falls in love with the vibrant and flamboyant Frank Lloyd Wright. Mamah struggles with making the choice to be true to herself and her maternal responsibility. I thought the author did a good job creating a compelling story about a famous historical figure while making Frank Lloyd Wright the secondary character and his mistress the center of the story. I also enjoyed reading about the personality of Frank Lloyd Wright and his creative genius which was part of his confident and self absorbed ego. The tragic ending to the novel confirms that truth is stranger than fiction.