A good book

 

 

How would we get through the long dreary winter without good books? 

I've really been looking forward to "Crossroads," Jonathan Frazen's newest novel. I splurged and bought it on evil Amazon to read slowly (600 pages) then share around. No one writes about American family dynamics like Frazen. Every paragraph is a gem. There's another black sheep son in this story, similar to "The Corrections," his first novel and a big hit in 2001.

Before that, something I picked up from a little lending library because I liked the cover. "Juliet's Nurse" is a retelling of the Romeo and Juliet story from the perspective of the nurse-- with a few twists in the plot.

And before that, another escapist novel called "Red Lotus." A tad violent, but one of those books where you can really lose yourself in the characters and foreign culture.

And before that, "The Hearts of Horses" by Molly Gloss. It's a lovely story about a woman who gentles young horses in Eastern Oregon in the era of WWI. One of the best descriptions of natural horse behavior and patient training, written by someone who truly loves and understands them in a realistic way. An original  "horse whisperer” story without all that sappy, over-emotionalized nonsense.

And last but not least, "After River" another book I fished from a lending library on one of my walks. A poignant story about the Vietnam War years, and an American deserter who lives with a family on a dairy farm in British Columbia.