TSS Books Read This Week

A very bad week for me in all regards but one-reading. I couldn't even put a sentence together, thus the lack of posts. But here's what I read:

Sunday Salon can be found here.

We Need to Talk About Kevin***** by Lionel Shriver

Fiction, HC 400 pgs.

The best thing I've read this year. Before you scoff, I've read fifteen books so far and all but two are four or five star reads. I expect this story to be among my top three of the year. I resisted reading it because of the subject matter but I was mistaken. A woman whose son has killed schoolmates in a shooting spree writes to her husband after the trial is over. Her feelings as a mother and about their marriage as well as everyone's reactions toward her are discussed in those letters. This story is one of a kind and should not be missed. Don't read full reviews of it or talk about it with those who've read it until after you have yourself. Trust me and get thee to a library.

And I now want to read more of this author's work. Lionel Shriver is a woman by the way.

The Seamstress****+ by Frances de Pontes Peebles

Historical fiction, HC 646 pgs.

This was recommended to me by Kaye at Pudgy Penguin Perusals as a very good read and she was right. It's a terrific story, set in Brazil in the 1920s and 1930s. Women lives in many different situations are dealt with; poor, orphaned, disabled, marriageable or unmarriageable and why, widows, seamstresses, rich, or rebels, they are all here and so are the societal restrictions and demands put upon them in this culture and time. Richly detailed, the writing is good and the characters as real as they get. Highly recommended. Thank you Kaye.

I really have to join the chunkster challenge now, as this is the second 600 page book I've read this year.

The Bird of Night**** by Susan Hill

Fiction, HC 186 pgs.

This is the author who wrote such books as Mrs. De Winter, the sequel to Daphne DuMaurier's Rebecca; I'm The King of The Castle, studied in UK schools, The Woman in Black, and the Simon Serailler mystery series, of which I've read the current four novels. I've also followed her lit blog since reading the first one. The Bird of Night tells the story of a poet who has serious bouts of mental illness and the man he meets who takes care of him through it all, and tries to protect him from others. The close relationship between intense creativity and insanity are never easy to describe but Hill does a very good job of it. Told with intensity but also with empathy it is a story you won't soon forget.

Full reviews with giveaways to come:

A Mercy by Toni Morrison HC 167pgs.
Jenford: A Short History of Upland by Henrik E. Sadi

Winner of Letters Between Us by Linda Rader Overman announced tomorrow.

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I have several books I am willing to give to anyone who will write a guest review for me when you are finished reading it, preferrably within six weeks of receiving it. Just name the book you're willing to read and review in the comments (so people know it's taken) and email me your mailing address. Just a few sentences on your opinion of the book, as long or short as you like. First come, first served.

From A to X by John Berger PB (TAKEN)
Ex-Cottagers in Love by J.M. Kearns PB (TAKEN)
Pursuit of Light by Sandra Brewer non-fiction HC
The Magician's Notebook by Laura Miller HC (TAKEN)
The Museum Guard by Howard Norman PB (TAKEN)