Tracy Marie's reading list

[everydayxangels]

August
10th After the Wreck, I picked myself up, spread my wings, and flew away By Joyce Carol Oates
12th Breakable You by Brian Morton

September
3rd Hot and Bothered by Annie Downey
24th Becoming Anna by Anna Michener
30th Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen

October
16th Horns and Wrinkles by Joseph Helgerson
19th For One More Day by Mitch Alboom
25th The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

November
2nd Finding Noel by Richard Paul Evans
9th The Handmaid and the Carpenter by Elizabeth Berg
22nd Overture by Yael Goldstein

December
24th Astrid and Veronika by Linda Olsson

To Be Read:

Charming Billy by Alice McDermott
Evidence of Things Unseen by Marianne Wiggins
Never Let me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
March by Geraldine Brooks
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Light From Heaven by Jan Karon
Gilead by Marilynn Robinson
The Photograph by Penelope Lively

The Sense of Paper by Taylor Holden
Returning to Earth by Jim Harrison
The Sisters Mortland by Sally Beauman
The Kommandant's girl by Pam Jenoff
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
The Far Country by Mason
You Don't Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem
April in Paris by Michael Wallner
Like Trees Walking by Ravi Howard
The Color of a Dog Running Away by Richard Gwyn
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
The Beautiful Things that Heaven bears by Dinaw Mengestu
Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Vannora Bennet
The Gravediggers Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates

[Acesare*]

Hi Tracy Marie, welcome to the forum. Would you mind popping over to the Introductions thread and telling us a bit about yourself? :)

[Liz]

Hi Tracy Marie :wave:

What is Breakable You by Brian Morton about and what was it like? I haven't really heard much about it, but someone told me to give it a go.

- Liz -

[everydayxangels]

Hi Tracy Marie :wave:

What is Breakable You by Brian Morton about and what was it like? I haven't really heard much about it, but someone told me to give it a go.

- Liz -

True, Breakable You has not recieved much talk, though it is wonderful.
Each Character is haunted and tested by something of their past.

Eleanor, a recently divorced older woman, is feeling resented and sorry for herself, as her ex-husband has a purely physical fling with a twenty-something. In the novel, you never really get the sense that she is in her own, but she grows to put her needs first at the end of the book. You see her as a title, none of which include: "woman". She is a mother and guide to her daughter, a therapist, and a bitter ex-wife.

Maud, Eleanor's thirty-something daughter, highly intellegent, teaches philosiphy at a local university, and full of life and energy. Though, when she was in college, she had two breakdowns which are noted (not very clear why they were in there though). She then meet's Samir, and they both change eachothers lives in many many ways.

Samir, and Arab-American (Maud a Jew) lost his daughter when she was three to a blood disorder. He hates life and everything apart of it. But slowly and surely, Maud in a way, wakens him up. After six months of Maud and Samir being together, Maud realizes she is pregnant. After both being having heavy religious background, they keep the baby. and Just when you think Samir is making wonderful progress, tragic hits. With Maud to take care of the baby on her own, she nearly has another breakdown.

Adam, a successful Jewish American author, who had a few great books in his time, he is way past his prime. Though, recently divorced, with no shame on that, is dating a 20-something beauty. his role importancy is the following; he had a more sucessful rival and friend author Cantor, has a secret manuscript of an unknown and unpublished novel, only to the knowledge of Adam and his recently deceased wife. He takes the novel and publishes it as his own to rekindle his career.


The novel doesn't finish tragically, but there is no wonderful happy ending. Morton leaves things unfinished, and loose ends loose for ones imagination. A very fine ending.

[Liz]

:) Thanks Tracy Marie. Seems like it could be a rather good book. I'll have to keep a lookout for it.

[everydayxangels]

So I finished Becoming Anna by Anna Michener, and I moved onto Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen (she currently has Rise and Shine out). It's about domestic violence and how this woman Fran and her son Robert move away from her husband Bobby.
It's about what they endure and the painful move they make away from Bobby with the help of a woman named Patty and her organization to help battered women get away.
She creates a new life and a new identity, as well as her son, so they aren't traced by Bobby.

[Sofia]

I have Black and Blue on my TBR list....and welcome!

[everydayxangels]

I finished Black and Blue, and pretty quickly too. I enjoyed it, it was a good book. But of all the books I have read on that list, it's my least favorite. Which maybe isn't saying that much. But it was good. There are just much much better books

Now I'm reading On Beauty by Zadie Smith. I'm reading this one really slow. Only on the 34th page after three days of reading. I've had almost no time to read. Has anyone read it or planning on reading it?

[Liz]

Now I'm reading On Beauty by Zadie Smith. Has anyone read it or planning on reading it?

I've been thinking about it. I have heard some good reviews of it, but I'm not sure whether to give it a go or not. Let us know what it's like when you've read it.

[everydayxangels]

I dropped yet another book, On Beauty by Zadie Smith was pretty slow, and a mediocre book. I couldn't get into the plot, even on 80th page. and to think there's about 360 more pages of this? too much.

And I've added 5 more books to my TBR pile, and have started Horns and Wrinkes, which is, so far, a wonderful kids book about present day somewhere in Amerca, with some magic twisted into it, and I am enjoying it very much! I am expected to be done with it by sometime Tuesday at the latest.

[everydayxangels]

Finished Horns & Wrinkes. I thought it was a wonderful kids fantasy book, and i found it to go in somewhat tedious repetitiveness, which I guess, if you're a kid, that's a good thing.

knocked one down and feeling rather proud. :)

Next I'm going to start For One More Day by Mitch Albom. anyone read this?

[everydayxangels]

Finished For one More Day

Have now started, and in the middle of The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. Very very interesting so far. I am loving it.

I took home some more pre-pubs. that pile is at 17 books and after The History of Love, I start Singing with the Top Down

[everydayxangels]

I finished The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, and an transitioning to Finding Noel Richard Paul Evans. :)

[everydayxangels]

knocked another book off. In a rather quick pace.

Finding Noel by Richard Paul Evans was HORRIBLE! the story moved at such a quick pace that for one, I was quite confused, two it just bad story writing. It's as if Evans had no idea what he wanted to write about, so he just scrambled for everything with details. there was no good detail. this was just a poorly poorly written book. glad it's OVER.

Now I am moving on to the Blue Sky by Galsan Tschinag. It's a slim read, but looks really good.

[everydayxangels]

I am about fifty pages until I am finished with The Handmaid and the Carpenter. It's a novel about Mary and Joseph and the birth of baby Jesus. I am really really enjoying it very much. :)

[everydayxangels]

I finished The Handmaid and the Carpenter, and I personally thought it was a wonderful book. Currently only in Hardcover, though I think it would be very worth it

I am now Reading Overture by Yael Goldstein, which is set to be released on January 16th. It's about a famous violinist, and tells the story of her young adulthood, her college career, and then follws her to the present. It begins with an interview of this woman, named Natasha, and then she has a flashback to her childhood and how she started the violin. i'm only 75 pages into it, but it is wonderful so far.

[everydayxangels]

So I was away for a while, but now I'm Back :)
I read only one book in December, and I believe I dropped quite a few. It was Astrid & Veronika by Linda Olsson, and it was VERY good. :D It will be coming out in paperback (not being released in hardcover), In either February or March. I personally can't wait.
Right now, I'm reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. I've heard only wonderful things about it. It's good, but i feel very dark about it. It brings you so far into Lily's and Snow Flowers world, that it just makes me feel so sad. Because of the foot-bindings and the way females are treated, and such.
:) So that's all I've been up to, as far as reading.

[Kell]

Good to have you back!

I've just had a look at Snow Flower & the Secret Fan on Amazon & it looks really interesting - I shall add it to my wish list right away!