Finny is a dramatic character-driven novel that follows Delphine “Finny" Short's life from early childhood well into adulthood. It's sort of a coming-of-age novel, not ending with young adulthood, but continuing through each phase of Finny's life. Calling it a dramatic novel doesn’t really do it justice, because it’s funny as well. It’s another of those books that had me laughing out loud making people around me look over to see what I was reading. And I wanted to tell them. In fact, I wanted to do more than that. I wanted to read them the scene that made me laugh, and how completely delightful I found this book. And I usually did. Not only did I want to talk to others around me about this book, but I found myself shouting ...
Category Archives: Literary
Secret Daughter
Shilpi Somaya Gowda's first book is excellent. I'm already looking forward to her second. Her writing is rich and descriptive and beautiful -- yet not overly flowery at all. Secret Daughter is a lovely story that takes place in two countries -- U.S. (San Francisco) and India -- and spans 25 years. Kavita and Jasu are living in a small Indian village. Girl babies are expensive since they have to be married off with a dowry, and they can't help with the farming, so they are highly undesirable. Kavita's first pregnancy is a girl, which her husband takes away to be disposed of. When she has her 2nd daughter, she is determined to save her by taking her to the orphanage. Somer and Krishna are both doctors -- he an emigrant from India ...
On Reading: Reading Transforms
After I closed A Thousand Splendid Suns, I sat speechless, trying to come to terms with what I'd just read. "This is the reason books exist," I realized. By turns, this story of two women living against the backdrop of the last 40 years of Afghanistan's turbulent history horrified me, inspired me, informed me, and broke my heart. In a few spots, I felt physically sick with tension. Once, around 100 pages short of the conclusion, I gave in and read the last page. A few times, I wept. Khaled Hosseini knows how to tell a story, and this one is worth every second of the pain that it brings. The plight of Mariam and Laila parallels the plight of Afghanistan itself. Both women have a unique beauty and value that's either missed entirely, or brutally mistreated, by the men ...
On Reading: Seg-book-gation
When I (Jennifer) received this email in our 5 Minutes for Books mailbox, it was something that I wanted to share with all of you, and I asked if the author if I could share it in full with you. I hope you'll share your own thoughts or experiences in the comments after reading her thoughts: Dear Book Lover: You may not know me, or my novels, because I am a member of a growing band of African-American writers of literary fiction who are slowly disappearing. And not because I am lacking in talent and credentials; in fact I have already published a number of books with major publishing houses and have been reviewed by national newspapers and well-respected literary journals, and have received critical acclaim and awards for my efforts. My work has been hailed as vivid, thought provoking and brilliant. I have been compared to Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Zora ...
Rooftops of Tehran Bookclub
I've reprinted my original review here, and will link up my answers to some of the discussion questions on my blog. Please join in by linking up your thoughts below, or within the comment section if you don't have a blog. Originally posted here on May 29, 2009: This was a lovely lovely book. Seventeen-year old Pasha and his best friend Ahmed spend the summer exploring life and love and the unfairness of the totalitarian regime of 1973 Iran. The characterization of a young man's journey from his late teens into adulthood is perfect -- first loves, first stands on issues, hellos, goodbyes. The language is beautiful, the story is strong, the characters are dear, and it's suspenseful, so it pulled me right along. Parts of the story are told in flashbacks, so the reader is brought ...
Rooftops of Tehran Discussion Questions
If you haven't picked up Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji yet, you still have time! Read it and then link up your own thoughts to our bookclub post on Tuesday October 6. Want to know more about it? Read my review, and the author's guest post On Reading. If you have read it (or are in progress), I hope you are enjoying it. When you write your bookclub post (or join us in the comments if you are not a blogger), you can use one or all of these questions to guide you, or you can simply post your own review. The end of the book also includes some discussion questions, and you are free to use these as well. If you are a member of a bookclub, feel free to use these questions as a springboard for ...
The Promised World
As much as I love to read a second or third novel by an author I know I'll enjoy, there's something about that first seduction of words and characters and literary devices the first time around. The Promised World introduced me to author Lisa Tucker, and I was pulled in -- head over heels; hook, line, and sinker. This novel is a great example of my made-up genre "character-driven suspense." I enjoy character-driven fiction, and when a story unfolds as beautifully and with such dramatic tension as this one, it's a page-turning combination that can't be beat. Lila is bereft when her twin brother Billy commits suicide. Her life as she knew it -- the promised world of the normal storybook-perfect life that her brother created -- begins to unravel. After his death, she finds out things about her brother's homelife ...
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Jennifer Donovan
Managing Editor -
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