Carole Barrowman, retired, but still reading and writing. Author of Hollow Earth series and reviewer. Today she has book with an emotional bang.
Here are three that Carole recently read.
I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger (Grove Atlantic)
This is already one of my favorite books of the year (I predict it will be on many readers’ lists). I was in awe from its first pages, so much so I slowed down my reading so I wouldn’t finish it quickly. Set in America in the near future, Enger tells the story of a musician (who is a rockstar of a narrator, cheerfully refusing to despair despite his circumstances) on a quest around Lake Superior after a personal tragedy. All the emotions, humor, compassion, sadness, wisdom, and, most of all, a deep appreciation for humanity despite our flaws illuminates every single page. Don’t miss this book.
Agony Hill by Sarah Stewart Taylor (Minotaur)
This accomplished traditional mystery focuses on a series of fires and deaths that happen in rural Vermont in the 1960s. I was completely enthralled by the main characters, especially Frank Warren, the small town detective with a tragedy in his past, and his older neighbor, Alice Bellows with a garden full of secrets. I also was gripped by the author’s evocative prose of the rural landscape and the way of life that is about to change dramatically from an interstate coming through the area.
Cue The Sun: The Invention of Reality TV by Emily Nussbaum (Random House)
This book will push your buttons. If you’re a fan, you’ll love the people and the stories Nussbaum, a Pulitzer prize-winning writer tells us about in her the history of the genre. If you’re not a fan, you’ll still enjoy understanding more about how the genre changed TV forever. I’m not a fan of the genre, and I really enjoyed learning about all the visionaries and the villains that have given reality TV a “peculiar power.” Also, did you know a serial killer once won The Dating Game in the 70s?