Picks of the Week

THE CURSE OF THE GOOD GIRL, by Rachel Simmons

(originally posted on October 8, 2009)

Although I wish that Simmons hadn't only used examples from the Girls Leadership Institute (which she founded) THE CURSE OF THE GOOD GIRL is still a brilliant look at why adolescents are spiraling down the wrong path of stunted emotional intelligence and shoddy interpersonal skills if they stick with stereotypes - and how to break free of these psychological shackles so that the same bad traits don't repeat themselves in adulthood. Mothers, daughters, fathers, brothers and single people of many age will find something that resonates here.

THE LOST HONOR OF KATHARINA BLUM, by Heinrich Boll

(originally posted on October 8, 2009)

Just reissued (again) by Penguin Classics, Boll's slim volume of a young woman whose interpersonal choices lead to victimization at the hands of a feeding-frenzy media may be more applicable today than it was when first published 35 years ago. No wonder Richard Flanagan used the book as a template for his excellent THE UNKNOWN TERRORIST, and why so many - now, including me - have been floored by its social commentary and perfect (if devastating) conclusion.

BLAME, by Michelle Huneven

(originally posted on October 8, 2009)

Patsy MacLemoore's life changes when the world goes dark and she wakes up, hung over, confused, and bewildered over whether she killed someone. For more than two decades, the answer appears to be yes, and Huneven shows how Patsy bears the blame, does the time and tries her damndest to forge a good and noble life for herself. And then, one day, the answer isn't yes, and the shaky foundation built over those decades disappears. There is no judgment, no slant, only compassion in Huneven's tale, which could have easily stuck to more thriller-like tropes but instead tweaks them with additional purpose. Even when no one is to blame, that may be the worst news of all.

GENEROSITY: AN ENHANCEMENT, by Richard Powers

(originally posted on October 8, 2009)

I can't really do justice to everything that Powers covers, dissects, and comments on in his newest novel, but so far, even multiple-thousand-word reviews haven't quite done so, either. So know this: I love the direction he has taken his version of the "novel of ideas" with GENEROSITY, merging multiple narratives, questions about ethics, the prospect of happiness as a discrete characteristic that can be bottled and mass-produced, the fallacy of creative non-fiction, and the truth and lies that stories of all stripes tell. Frankly, I feel privileged to have engaged with this book and look forward to doing so again very soon.

SWEEPING UP GLASS, by Carolyn Wall

(originally posted on October 8, 2009)

What a gorgeous, moving, heartbreaking book, and it might be hard to believe that it's Wall's debut novel, but it is. Olivia Harker is tough but very much a woman, struggling to raise her baby grandson, care for a mother who never much loved her, come to grips with how little love she has had at all. But a series of events force her to realize that she does, in fact, have a measure of control over calamities and doesn't have to stave them off. But will she take that stand? Here lies the power of Wall's prose, making the reader care desperately about Olivia's fate.