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Ellen's Bookshelf
I haven't been reading quite as much as usual lately, because I've been so caught up in writing my new book. But I can add a few new favorites to my list...
(Click on underlined authors' names to visit their websites.)
The Wednesday Sisters
A group of young mothers in the 1960s form a writing group. A story of the power of women's friendships, with great historical details. I couldn't put it down!
Wild Nights!
Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates is my hero. I thought this collection of five short stories -- each concerning one great master of literature (Poe, Dickinson, Hemingway, Twain, and James) -- was utterly brilliant.
Sister Mine
I was in the mood for a fun read that still had substance and was well written, and this tale set in the coal mining town of Jolly Mount, Pennsylvania, fit the bill perfectly. The first sentence on the jacket hooked me -- "Shae-Lynn Penrose drives a cab in a town where no one needs a cab—but plenty of people need rides" -- and I couldn't put it down from there. Lots of engaging plot twists and interesting characters!
Kabul Beauty School
Deborah Rodriguez
This is a memoir written by a hairdresser from Holland, Michigan, who traveled to Afghanistan and began a beauty school for Afghan women, giving her students a chance at economic independence. I picked it up intending to read "just a couple of pages," but I couldn't put it down. The descriptions of life in Afghanistan and the stories of the women of the beauty school are riveting, and I found myself amazed and inspired by the author's courage and her experiences. Everyone should read this book!
Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home
Another memoir, this one is the story of a woman who, at the age of three, was abandoned at a South Korean market. Adopted by a young American couple, she grew up in New Orleans, later studying abroad and falling in love with a French business mogul, who supplied her with a luxurious life in Provence. Throughout all her travels, though, Sunee was haunted by a sense of homelessness. Food -- cooking -- was the other constant in her life. This story of Sunee's "search for home" is not only a page turner, but it's beautifully written, and includes fabulous recipes from places the author has lived and traveled.
The Senator's Wife
Sue Miller
Two couples living side by side in adjacent townhouses -- one newly married, the other unconventionally married for many years -- find their lives intersecting in unexpected ways as wives and husbands navigate their relationships and discover themselves. Read this for the gorgeous writing and the masterful ending.
The Florist's Daughter
Reading this memoir by a daughter looking back at her parents' lives while her mother is dying will probably change your life. Gorgeously done.
The River Wife
Jonis Agee
This was one of those books where I couldn't wait to find out what happened next, but I also wanted to slow myself down to savor the beautiful language. It's a sort of a family saga, about four generations of women whose lives are influenced by a man named Jacques and a place he founded called Jacques' Landing.
The Kindness of Strangers
I absolutely couldn't put this book down until I'd finished it. It's a devastating story of a woman who finds out the unthinkable about her neighbors, and watches the effects of what they've done play out in her own life.
Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict
Laurie Viera Rigler
Laurie Viera Rigler evokes the Jane Austen period masterfully, along with the perplexity of a 21st century L.A. woman, Courtney Stone, who lands unexpectedly in the body of a 19th century British woman in a world of chamber pots, chaperones, and different rules about finding true love. Courtney's navigation of the delicate 19th century social scene and her attempts to figure out how to get back to her "real" 21st century life make for a hilarious and affecting, all-around wonderful read.
