Friday, July 12, 2013

The Pressure Is Mounting

Well, we're coming up on two months since my last post.  Ugh!  What this really means is that the pace of my reading has slowed down tremendously.  Why, oh why?  Can you say Bejeweled, Papa Pear Saga, and Facebook?  Not entirely to blame, but close.  You would think that I'd be more diligent in my reading since I belong to what I consider a pretty great book club - the Maine Readers' Choice Award.  While we're waiting for Mainers to read our 2013 finalists and vote in September, I have the opportunity to read some great books for next year's award.  Time to get my act together.

I've already recommended a few books for "The List."  Elizabeth Strout's "The Burgess Boys" is the story of a young Maine man whose hate crime causes ripples throughout his family.  Herman Koch's "The Dinner" is another story of a family affected by a heinous criminal act. Even though I'm just about 2/3 of the way through it, Colm McCann's "Transatlantic" deserves a recommendation.  This novel centers around Ireland and spans more than 100 years - from a visit by freed slave Frederick Douglass to the efforts of Maine Senator George Mitchell to negotiate peace in Northern Ireland.  And, it looks like Claire Messud's "The Woman Upstairs" is on it way to a recommendation.  A lonely middle-aged teacher becomes overly attached to a family living in her building.  This looks like it's heading for a disasterous ending - stay tuned.

In the meantime, it's back to reading (after one more game of Papa Pear Saga).  What you can do is check out the Maine Readers' Choice Award at www.mainereaderschoiceaward.org.