Mom's Day Reading - May 10,2014

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and as a mother and daughter and daughter-in-law, I will be celebrating heavily.  The book I review today is probably not the best example of motherhood but it is a beautifully written book about living through life’s hard parts.

Currently Reading:

• The Bohemians: Mark Twain and the San Francisco Writers who Reinvented American Literature by Ben Tarnoff
• Goldfinch by Donna Tartt      
• We Were Liars by e. lockhart (received through the publisher)
• Natchez Burning by Greg Iles (received through the publisher)
• The Most Dangerous Book by Kevin Birmingham (received through the publisher)
• I am the Weapon: The Unknown Assassin Book 1 by Allen Zadoff (received through NetGalley)

On Deck:

• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
• Colonel Roosevelt by Edmund Morris
• Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
• The Angry Years: The Rise and Fall of the Angry Young Men by Colin Wilson (received through NetGalley)

 

Recent Reviews:

The Hollow Ground by Natalie Harnett (received through NetGalley)

5 stars

Brigid begins this book as an eleven year old girl living in the 1960’s on the hollowed out ground above the mines of Pennsylvania.  I actually had to do a little additional research to discover that the mines of this region did “catch fire” and force the evacuation of many people.  The almost apocalyptical setting provides the darkness that envelopes this book.  It includes a multi-generational curse, a mystery set in a deep mine and extremely complicated familial relationships.  I can’t say this was an entirely happy or hopeful book but beautiful writing abounds and it ranks as one of the top books that I have read this year.  I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.