Interesting article

For those of you that may have missed it, there was an interesting article in the NYTimes this week about President Obama's relationship with books and reading.  Check it out!

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/16/books/obamas-secret-to-surviving-the-white-house-years-books.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=photo-spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

For those of you that love to read, this time of year if often the best.  With the close of the year comes the lists of "Best Books of 2016."  Believe it or not, I LOVE these lists.  I scour them for titles that I haven't read yet.  The lists for children and young adults often give us a glimpse into which books are in contention for major book awards.  With that being said, not all lists are "created equal."  Amazon and Barnes and Noble lists are fun, and show what is most popular but with an eye toward sales.  NYT lists are great, but I find some of the books a little inaccessible.  One of my favorite is NPR's Book Concierge Best Books of 2016.  It includes adult, young adult, and children's books, with summaries and reviews.  Looking for your next book to read? This is the place to visit.  You might even find some suggestions for your holiday shopping list!  Have a safe and joyous holiday season, and happy reading!

NPR's Book Concierge 

Election Recovery

Following the excitement/turmoil of the recent election season, one thing has become quite clear:  there is a deep divide in our nation  The election results show it.  As a recent NPR segment pointed out, one way to see the "other side" is to read a book that isn't about you/your experience.  I thought I would use this months entry to link to the article, and to suggest that you read both books.  They are on my list for the next month.  Let me know what you think.

http://www.npr.org/2016/11/14/501975656/one-way-to-bridge-the-political-divide-read-the-book-thats-not-for-you?live=1&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=2042

News of the World

Recently the finalists for the National Book Award were announced.  I look forward to this list every year.  It contains a nice mix of fiction, nonfiction, and young adult works that appeal to wide range of readers.  I was pleased to see that News of the World is a finalist this year.  I had just finished reading this Paulette Jiles novel last week.  This book does not fall into a category of literature that I normally enjoy - historical fiction set in the American wild west post-Civil War.  However, I found the characters in the book to be oddly compelling and sympathetic.  The "good guys" and "bad guys" are abundantly clear as they always are in a Western, but that did not diminish the story for me.  If you are looking for an interesting read, or enjoy this genre of fiction take the time to read this!

Summary - From the Back Cover

It is 1870 and Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels through northern Texas, giving live readings to paying audiences hungry for news of the world. An elderly widower who has lived through three wars and fought in two of them, the captain enjoys his rootless, solitary existence.

In Wichita Falls, he is offered a $50 gold piece to deliver a young orphan to her relatives in San Antonio. Four years earlier, a band of Kiowa raiders killed Johanna’s parents and sister; sparing the little girl, they raised her as one of their own. Recently rescued by the U.S. army, the ten-year-old has once again been torn away from the only home she knows.

Their 400-mile journey south through unsettled territory and unforgiving terrain proves difficult and at times dangerous. Johanna has forgotten the English language, tries to escape at every opportunity, throws away her shoes, and refuses to act “civilized.” Yet as the miles pass, the two lonely survivors tentatively begin to trust each other, forging a bond that marks the difference between life and death in this treacherous land.

Arriving in San Antonio, the reunion is neither happy nor welcome. The captain must hand Johanna over to an aunt and uncle she does not remember—strangers who regard her as an unwanted burden. A respectable man, Captain Kidd is faced with a terrible choice: abandon the girl to her fate or become—in the eyes of the law—a kidnapper himself. Exquisitely rendered and morally complex, News of the World is a brilliant work of historical fiction that explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honor, and trust.

Welcome Back!

Welcome back to school!  It is going to be a great year in the library, and I am excited to work with your children. I have lots of books to share over the next couple of months, and some great resources for encouraging your children to read more, so make sure to check back periodically.

For this month, rather than a book review, I want to encourage everyone to visit the Morristown Festival of Books next weekend, September 30 - October 1.  They have a GREAT line up of visiting authors, but I am particularly excited about the addition of "Kidfest," a great event highlighting children's books authors.  Some of our students favorite authors will be there, including Nick Bruel, R.L. Stine, Dan Gutman and many more.  The day will include book readings, author signings, activities, arts and crafts, and live music.  This portion of the program is being offered October 1 from 10:00am-4:00pm at the Presbyterian Church Parish House, located at 65 South Street.  I am planning on attending with my family and I hope to see many of you there.

For more information visit  http://morristownbooks.org/#/ms-1/1

Memories

It is amazing how our memories of the past can creep in when you least expect them, and how memory loss can rob us of our sense of self.  Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper, is a study in memory, love, and loss.  I found this book to be beautifully written.  The characters is fully developed, with rich detail and relatable voices.  Each chapter is written from a different characters point of view, and weaves between the present and the past.  This is not a story that comes to a neat and happy ending, but that would not of fit with the rest of the book.  Below you will find a complete summary. I hope that everyone has a restful break, and filled with lots of great books to read!

From the Publisher

This "poetic, poignant" (US Weekly) debut features last great adventures, unlikely heroes, and a "sweet, disarming story of lasting love" (The New York Times Book Review).

Eighty-three-year-old Etta has never seen the ocean. So early one morning she takes a rifle, some chocolate, and her best boots and begins walking the 3,232 kilometers from rural Saskatchewan, Canada eastward to the sea. As Etta walks further toward the crashing waves, the lines among memory, illusion, and reality blur.

Otto wakes to a note left on the kitchen table. "I will try to remember to come back," Etta writes to her husband. Otto has seen the ocean, having crossed the Atlantic years ago to fight in a far-away war. He understands. But with Etta gone, the memories come crowding in and Otto struggles to keep them at bay. Meanwhile, their neighbor Russell has spent his whole life trying to keep up with Otto and loving Etta from afar. Russell insists on finding Etta, wherever she's gone. Leaving his own farm will be the first act of defiance in his life.

Moving from the hot and dry present of a quiet Canadian farm to a dusty, burnt past of hunger, war, and passion, from trying to remember to trying to forget, Etta and Otto and Russell and James is an astounding literary debut "of deep longing, for reinvention and self-discovery, as well as for the past and for love and for the boundless unknown" (San Francisco Chronicle). "In this haunting debut, set in a starkly beautiful landscape, Hooper delineates the stories of Etta and the men she loved (Otto and Russell) as they intertwine through youth and wartime and into old age. It's a lovely book you'll want to linger over" (People).

Book Sale and "Creepy" Reading

Did everyone have a chance to attend the Morristown Festival of Books?  What a truly inspirational celebration of reading.  Just a reminder that the PA Fall Book Sale is coming up!  Make sure to visit the sale, hosted in the Higgins Library, October 26-30.  Lisa Safron, author and mother of Peck alum Renee, will be on hand to sign copies of her new book Cut, Paste, Gone.  A summary of the book is available on my blog of Upper School students Peck Reads!

With October comes Halloween, and for some reason I feel compelled to read books with a creepy edge, for instance the books from this October/November blog entry three years ago.  While I can't read "hard core" horror, like Steven King (I don't think I slept for two weeks after I read The Shining), I do enjoy a darker fantasy novel and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs fits the bill.  This book falls in the YA category, but is totally entertaining for an adult audience.  Using a combination of clever storytelling and photographs, Riggs will suck you into this spine-tingling thriller.  I am looking forward to reading the next two books (Hollow City and Library of Souls) later this month.  Happy Halloween and Creepy Reading!

From School Library Journal (June 1, 2011)

Sixteen-year-old Jacob, traumatized by his grandfather's sudden, violent death, travels with his father to a remote island off the coast of Wales to find the orphanage where his grandfather was sent to live to escape Nazi persecution in Poland. When he arrives, he finds much more than he bargained for: the children from his grandfather's stories are still at the orphanage, living in a time loop in 1940. The monsters that killed Jacob's grandfather are hunting for "peculiar" children, those with special talents, and the group at the orphanage is in danger. Jacob must face the possibility that he, too, has certain traits that the monsters are after and that he is being stalked by adults he trusted. This complex and suspenseful story incorporates eerie photographs of children with seemingly impossible attributes and abilities, many of whom appear as characters in the story. The mysterious photographs add to the bizarre and slightly creepy tone of the book. 

Welcome back!

Hello!  I hope that all of you had a wonderful, restful, and fun summer with your children.  My family and I went on a long road trip this summer, and I had an opportunity to read a lot of great books for adults and children that I will be sharing in the next couple of months.  I do want to draw your attention to a great event for book lovers, happening right here in Morristown in two weeks!  The Morristown Festival of Books will be taking place this year October 2-3.  If you had a chance to attend any of the events last year, you know what a spectacular event this is.  If you did not attend last year, or you are new to the area make sure to take advantage of this wonderful event.  They have a great lineup of authors attending, and it is a wonderful celebration of the written word.  I hope to see you all there.  For more information visit http://morristownfestivalofbooks.org/

Finally, feel free to visit the blog that I write for our Upper School students to check out what I am recommending for your kids each month!  http://peckreads.blogspot.com/

Library Summer Programs

Looking for ways to keep you kids engaged reading this summer?  Check out your local public library for some inspiring programs.  Here are a few more suggestions from some great librarians!

Encourage a Love of Reading Throughout the Summer

Summer Reading has arrived!

It is so hard to believe that the school year is nearly over.  Thank you so much for another great year in the library.  It has been a pleasure to work with your children and to see their growth over the last 9 months.  Enjoy the time with your family this summer, and the extra time for reading!  On the right of this page you will find my reading lists for the summer.  Keep in mind that the age suggestions are general and your child can read books from any of the lists that you feel are appropriate for them.  I have also provided a list for young adults, which contain subject matter that might not be suitable for kids under 14.  You might be looking for something to read as well, so I have assembled a list of the top 10 adult books to read this summer.  If you need more then 10, I came across this great list from NPR this morning with some less known books that should be on everyone's lists too.  I have only read The Revolutions from that list, and it was an interesting steampunk/sci-fi work.

http://www.npr.org/2015/05/22/408523960/beyond-the-bestsellers-nancy-pearl-recommends-under-the-radar-reads?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20150522

Have a great summer and happy reading!
-MKM

Reading really is good for you!

We all know that reading to young children is a good thing, and a new study shows us an interesting insight into a child's brain while being read to.

MRI shows association between reading to young children and brain activity

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150425215617.htm

Angel of Losses

This is a book for those whole love fairy tales, family dynamics, history, and a good love story.  I did enjoy this book, but it took me longer to read it then I thought it would, hence the posting for April in May.  I sometimes found the organization of the book a little odd, and confusing (perhaps an editing issue?) but overall an interesting tale.  Enjoy the book, and I will post my summer reading lists next week!

From the Back Cover

The Tiger's Wife meets The History of Love in this inventive, lushly imagined debut novel that explores the intersections of family secrets, Jewish myths, the legacy of war and history, and the bonds between sisters.
When Eli Burke dies, he leaves behind a mysterious notebook full of stories about a miracle worker named the White Rebbe and the enigmatic Angel of Losses, both protectors of things gone astray and guardians of the lost letter of the alphabet, which completes the secret name of God.
Years later, when Eli's granddaughter Marjorie stumbles upon his notebook, everything she thought she knew about her grandfather—and her family—comes undone. To learn the truth about Eli's origins and unlock the secrets he kept, Marjorie embarks on an odyssey that takes her deep into the past, from the medieval Holy Land to eighteenth-century Venice and Nazi-occupied Lithuania. What she finds leads her back to present-day New York City and her estranged sister, Holly, whom she must save from the consequences of Eli's past.
Interweaving history, theology, and both real and imagined Jewish folktales, The Angel of Losses is a family story of what lasts, and of what we can—and cannot—escape.

Brightly

I wanted to take a moment to share with all of you a great new website from Penguin Random House Publishers.  "Brightly" was introduced by the company as a resource for parents to help raise readers. The site contains some great articles on encouraging reluctant readers, guided reading by age/stage, audiobook resources, and even books for "grown up readers" too!  Take a moment to check it out!

http://www.readbrightly.com/

The Museum of Extraordinary Things

Wow, February and March were months of crazy weather and Spring Break, but I am happy to be back into the school routine.  Over the Spring Break I had the opportunity to read The Museum of Extraordinary Things.  This book was recommended to me by a Peck parent, and I loved it.  In my conversations with others, that feeling does not seem to apply to everyone.  It is safe to say that it is a book that will not appeal to everyone.  Alice Hoffman (The Dovekeepers) is an imaginative story teller, and the story is filled with interesting characters.  This book feels like a fairy tale to me, and that may be the issue that some folks had with it.  I will leave the decision up to you.  Happy Reading!

From the Publisher: 

Mesmerizing and illuminating, Alice Hoffman's The Museum of Extraordinary Things is the story of an electric and impassioned love between two vastly different souls in New York during the volatile first decades of the twentieth century.

Coralie Sardie is the daughter of the sinister impresario behind The Museum of Extraordinary Things, a Coney Island boardwalk freak show that thrills the masses. An exceptional swimmer, Coralie appears as the Mermaid in her father's "museum," alongside performers like the Wolfman, the Butterfly Girl, and a one-hundred-year-old turtle. One night Coralie stumbles upon a striking young man taking pictures of moonlit trees in the woods off the Hudson River.

The dashing photographer is Eddie Cohen, a Russian immigrant who has run away from his father's Lower East Side Orthodox community and his job as a tailor's apprentice. When Eddie photographs the devastation on the streets of New York following the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, he becomes embroiled in the suspicious mystery behind a young woman's disappearance and ignites the heart of Coralie.

With its colorful crowds of bootleggers, heiresses, thugs, and idealists, New York itself becomes a riveting character as Hoffman weaves her trademark magic, romance, and masterful storytelling to unite Coralie and Eddie in a sizzling, tender, and moving story of young love in tumultuous times. The Museum of Extraordinary Things is Alice Hoffman at her most spellbinding.

Mac Barnett TEDx Talk

My book review for the month will be published next week, but first I wanted to share a TEDx Talk with all of you from one of my very favorite authors of children's books, Mac Barnett.  If you haven't had a chance to read one of his books, please take the time.  They are full of incredible imagination, and are a great example of excellence in writing for children.  In this talk, he shares his thoughts on the nature of fiction, art, and reality, and why children are the greatest readers of fiction.  Enjoy.

Empty Mansions

I have always been fascinated by American history.  I majored in history in college, and continue to read a great deal on the subject.  Therefore it was surprising that W.A. Clark was not a name that I had come across nearly as often as his contemporaries Rockefeller and Carnegie.  He was, at times, more wealthy then both of these men, and this wealth was passed on to his daughter Huguette Clark.  This nonfiction work is the result of a partnership between journalist Bill Dedman and Huguette Clark's cousin Paul Clark Newell, Jr.  Very little is known a Huguette's life, as she was notoriously shy, and later in life, agoraphobic.  It is a fascinating look what happens behind the doors of the most wealthy of the gilded age families. 

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY
Janet Maslin, The New York Times * St. Louis Post-Dispatch
When Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bill Dedman noticed in 2009 a grand home for sale, unoccupied for nearly sixty years, he stumbled through a surprising portal into American history. Empty Mansions is a rich mystery of wealth and loss, connecting the Gilded Age opulence of the nineteenth century with a twenty-first-century battle over a $300 million inheritance. At its heart is a reclusive heiress named Huguette Clark, a woman so secretive that, at the time of her death at age 104, no new photograph of her had been seen in decades. Though she owned palatial homes in California, New York, and Connecticut, why had she lived for twenty years in a simple hospital room, despite being in excellent health? Why were her valuables being sold off? Was she in control of her fortune, or controlled by those

managing her money?

Dedman has collaborated with Huguette Clark's cousin, Paul Clark Newell, Jr., one of the few relatives to have frequent conversations with her. Dedman and Newell tell a fairy tale in reverse: the bright, talented daughter, born into a family of extreme wealth and privilege, who secrets herself away from the outside world.

Huguette was the daughter of self-made copper industrialist W. A. Clark, nearly as rich as Rockefeller in his day, a controversial senator, railroad builder, and founder of Las Vegas. She grew up in the largest house in New York City, a remarkable dwelling with 121 rooms for a family of four. She owned paintings by Degas and Renoir, a world-renowned Stradivarius violin, a vast collection of antique dolls. But wanting more than treasures, she devoted her wealth to buying gifts for friends and strangers alike, to quietly pursuing her own work as an artist, and to guarding the privacy she valued above all else.

The Clark family story spans nearly all of American history in three generations, from a log cabin in Pennsylvania to mining camps in the Montana gold rush, from backdoor politics in Washington to a distress call from an elegant Fifth Avenue apartment. The same Huguette who was touched by the terror attacks of 9/11 held a ticket nine decades earlier for a first-class stateroom on the second voyage of the Titanic.

Empty Mansions reveals a complex portrait of the mysterious Huguette and her intimate circle. We meet her extravagant father, her publicity-shy mother, her star-crossed sister, her French boyfriend, her nurse who received more than $30 million in gifts, and the relatives fighting to inherit Huguette's copper fortune. Richly illustrated with more than seventy photographs, Empty Mansions is an enthralling story of an eccentric of the highest order, a last jewel of the Gilded Age who lived life on her own terms.

Two for One

I hope that everyone had a great transition back into school this year, and an exciting Halloween.  I realized this morning, that I had forgotten to post my review in October, so I am going to give you two book reviews this month!

Her Fearful Symmetry

The Time Travelers Wife  is one of my favorite books, so when I found out that Audrey Niffenegger had written another book I was so excited to read it.  I was going to review this book in October for Halloween, because ghosts are at the center of this story.  The language in this book is beautiful, and the quirky characters are well developed.  Even if the storyline seems a little forced at times, you will not be able to put this book down.  I also found the surprise ending so shocking and upsetting, that it kept me awake for a number of nights afterward!  Enjoy this "haunting" read!  :)

Amazon Best of the Month, September 2009: Following her breakout bestseller, The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger returns with Her Fearful Symmetry, a haunting tale about the complications of love, identity, and sibling rivalry. The novel opens with the death of Elspeth Noblin, who bequeaths her London flat and its contents to the twin daughters of her estranged twin sister back in Chicago. These 20-year-old dilettantes, Julie and Valentina, move to London, eager to try on a new experience like one of their obsessively matched outfits. Historic Highgate Cemetery, which borders Elspeth's home, serves as an inspired setting as the twins become entwined in the lives of their neighbors: Elspeth's former lover, Robert; Martin, an agoraphobic crossword-puzzle creator; and the ethereal Elspeth herself, struggling to adjust to the afterlife. Niffenegger brings these quirky, troubled characters to marvelous life, but readers may need their own supernatural suspension of disbelief as the story winds to its twisty conclusion. --Brad Thomas Parsons

The Secret Keeper

 

Families can have very complicated relationships, and when members of the family hold secrets the complications can be even greater.  I love the slow build of this storyline, while for some it might feel rather slow paced. Through out the story you can feel the tension in the characters.  This story does a nice job of blending past and present, and you know that in the end the characters will all find a sort of closure.   If you enjoy this book you might also like The Forgotten Garden.  Enjoy!

From Booklist

Australian Morton’s (The Distant Hours, 2010) latest will appeal to fans of Daphne du Maurier, Susanna Kearsley, and Audrey Niffenegger with its immensely relatable characters, passion, mystery, and twist ending. Laurel Nicholson is a teenager when she witnesses a shocking crime: her gentle, kind mother, Dorothy, kills a man. It becomes a family secret that Laurel never divulges or tries to fathom until five decades later, when Dorothy is on her deathbed, and Laurel finds a photograph of her mother with an old friend, snapped back in 1941, when Dorothy was barely out of her teens. As Laurel begins to dig, her burning questions become, Who was Vivien Jenkins, and why was she once so important to Dorothy? With the narrative shifting between Laurel, Dorothy, Vivien, and Jimmy, a man who also profoundly affected Dorothy’s life long ago, both reader and Laurel breathlessly hurtle into an astounding family secret that unfolds slowly and temptingly. Despite some loose threads and rather too leisurely pacing, this is likely to keep readers reading into the wee hours. --Julie Trevelyan --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Welcome Back!

I hope that everyone had a lovely summer break, and had a chance to do some reading.  We have a couple of very interesting events this month to promote reading, and I would like to take a minute to highlight them both. 

September 23rd will be the first meeting of the Parent's Association Book Club.  The meeting will be held at 8:00 in the Lindenwold library.  The first book to be discussed with be The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais.  Make sure to read this wonderful book BEFORE you see the movie!

September 26th-27th Morristown will host the first annual Festival of Books.  What an exciting event!  I hope that you had a chance to read The Price of Silence by William Cohan from my suggested summer reading list, as he will be the keynote speaker on Friday.  Jane O'Conner author of one of my FAVORITE series Fancy Nancy will also be in attendance.  Please take a moment to visit the website for more information and a complete schedule of events/authors.  I am looking forward to seeing many of you there!  http://www.morristownfestivalofbooks.org/

I had a chance to read a number of very good books this summer, and I have a great selection of websites to share with all of you this year!  Look for my first reviews beginning in October. Happy reading!

Summer Reading Resources

Wow, summer is nearly here!  I would like to thank all of you for following the blog this school year and provide you with some reading resources for the summer months.  The Peck Library will be closed, but I would encourage everyone to explore your local public libraries this summer.  In addition to books, nearly all public libraries offer special summer programing.  Theater/puppet shows, book clubs, movie nights, classes in art and writing, crafts and storytimes, and special art exhibits are all part of summer public library programing, and available for free.  Below is a list of links to local county library systems to visit for more information.  I have also posted my updated summer reading lists on the right side bar of this blog.  In addition to reading suggestions for K-8 children, I have provided lists for young adults and adults in response to requests from parents.

Enjoy your summer, and I look forward to sharing with all of you some of the great books I read this summer!

Links to local public library systems:

Morris County
Somerset County
Bergen County
Passaic and Essex Counties
Hunterdon County
Sussex County
Union County
Warren County

Middlesex: A Novel

I will admit that I was hesitant to pick up this story, given its rather sensitive subject matter.  However, I loved Jeffery Eugenides' other book The Virgin Suicides, so I decided to give it a try.  There is no doubt about it, Eugenides is a brilliant story teller.  The opening line of the book gives you a taste of where this story is going:

"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day of January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of l974. . . My birth certificate lists my name as Calliope Helen Stephanides. My most recent driver’s license...records my first name simply as Cal."

This book is much more then just the story of a hermaphrodite.  This sweeping story details a medical mystery, the immigrant experience, the race riots of the 1960s, family histories, in addition to how we continue to struggle with the definition of gender.  Many may find this book upsetting or disturbing, but I think it well worth the time to read.

From Publishers Weekly

As the Age of the Genome begins to dawn, we will, perhaps, expect our fictional protagonists to know as much about the chemical details of their ancestry as Victorian heroes knew about their estates. If so, Eugenides (The Virgin Suicides) is ahead of the game. His beautifully written novel begins: "Specialized readers may have come across me in Dr. Peter Luce's study, 'Gender Identity in 5-Alpha-Reductase Pseudohermaphrodites.' " The "me" of that sentence, "Cal" Stephanides, narrates his story of sexual shifts with exemplary tact, beginning with his immigrant grandparents, Desdemona and Lefty. On board the ship taking them from war-torn Turkey to America, they married-but they were brother and sister. Eugenides spends the book's first half recreating, with a fine-grained density, the Detroit of the 1920s and '30s where the immigrants settled: Ford car factories and the tiny, incipient sect of Black Muslims. Then comes Cal's story, which is necessarily interwoven with his parents' upward social trajectory. Milton, his father, takes an insurance windfall and parlays it into a fast-food hotdog empire. Meanwhile, Tessie, his wife, gives birth to a son and then a daughter-or at least, what seems to be a female baby. Genetics meets medical incompetence meets history, and Callie is left to think of her "crocus" as simply unusually long-until she reaches the age of 14. Eugenides, like Rick Moody, has an extraordinary sensitivity to the mores of our leafier suburbs, and Cal's gender confusion is blended with the story of her first love, Milton's growing political resentments and the general shedding of ethnic habits. Perhaps the most wonderful thing about this book is Eugenides's ability to feel his way into the girl, Callie, and the man, Cal. It's difficult to imagine any serious male writer of earlier eras so effortlessly transcending the stereotypes of gender. This is one determinedly literary novel that should also appeal to a large, general audience.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.