Now that it is near the end of the year what one book have you read this year that maybe didn't make the best-seller list, perhaps didn't win a big name award but still made such a big difference in your reading life that you will always remember it and probably return to it from time to time?
In my case it is ON KINGDOM MOUNTAIN by Frank Mosher. Unforgettable characters whisk you away to the Vermont of the 1930’s. As one character says, “The best stories are about love.” We found this novel to be one of the best of such love stories. The character of Miss Jane, in her fifties, coping with life as almost her family's caretaker of Kingdom Mountain is certainly one of the most well-drawn characterizations I have read. Then, when a biplane crashes onto her lake and she meets the dark, handsome aviator (and perhaps ex-bank robber) who thus tumbles into her life -- well, it is a moment in literature I feel should be shared.
Be happy to answer any questions about it here! I also invite anyone to read my feature review of it on this month's site update at the address below. I'd post the whole thing here but it's a little long.
Neil Shapiro
neil@bookhobby.com
www.bookhobby.com
http://feeds.feedburner.com/bookhobbycom
"Books Are More Precious Than Gold"
Super Sleeper
The book that immediately comes to mind for 07 is The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu. Published under a different title in the UK. Debut novel...actually did end up winning a prize for debut fiction earlier this year, so maybe it shouldn't count. Still, it's really sharp and polished work that stays with you for a long time.
I have one!
I read "The Mercy of Thin Air" by Ronlyn Domingue after seeing a recommendation somewhere (can't remember the source!) and absolutely loved it. It was my favorite read of 2007. Here's a link to my review:
http://bookcrossing.com/journal/4594531
A treasure
A wonderful but overlooked book is Homestead by Rosina Lippi. I reread the book this year, and I make it a rule not to reread! It takes place in a small mountain village in Austria, starting at about 1900. Each chapter moves ahead five or ten years, and covers different villagers and their stories. I sent this book to a cousin who was headed for an Austrian vacation, and she loved it, held herself back from reading too fast, trying to prolong the experience! She says it enriched her vacation.
The lives of peasant women were the same for hundreds of years. This book shows the role women played, the hard work they did, the love they craved, how their life changed if their husband died and they had to cede the farm to a male relative. I make it sound dull here, but it isn't. Read it.. The book is so moving and real. And you'll feel such respect for your female ancestors who, in any country on earth, led lives like this until very recently...