As much as these stories focus on solitary characters who observe, from the margins, they long for something else; Walt and Mr. Jones are ultimately preoccupied with relationships. Goose Lane Editions, 2014 Margaret Sweatman's Mr. Jones openly confronts duplicity. "His life had been contrary, a series of duplications: two homes; a father who’d
In discussing the different kinds of love which the Vietnamese language distinguishes between, Kim Thúy's Ru lists thích, which means "to love by taste". Random House Canada, 2014 (One may also love without being in love (thuong), love passionately (yêu), love ecstatically (mê), love blindly (mù quáng), or love gratefully (tình nghīa)
Khaled Hosseini's And the Mountains Echoed and Maurice Mierau's Detachment: An Adoption Memoir are a perfect pair. Penguin Random House, 2014 And the Mountains Echoed begins with a story, told by a father to his son and his daughter. "Father never felt more present to Abdullah, more vibrant, revealed,
The reader moves onto the floor with great excitement, turning the initial pages of a debut novel, heartbeat slightly accelerated, hopes and expectations heightened. It is a dance: this movement between reader and story. Alice Simpson's Ballroom takes that connection seriously. HarperCollins, 2014 The very structure of the
Although I always have a small stack of books underway, I have carried to extremes this act of multi-booking this summer. Yesterday I finished Michael Crummey’s new novel (Sweetland), Alison Wearing’s memoir (Confessions of a Fairy’s Daughter), Jan Zwicky’s poetry collection, the second volume in the Fruits Basket manga series,
