September 2013 Reads

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Sep	70	Death of a Nightingale	Lene Kaaberbol & Agnete Friis
	71	The Return	Michael Gruber
	72	Man Alive	Mary Kay Zuravleff
	73	Plain Song	Wright Morris
	74	Accidents Happen	Louise Millar
	75	Queen Sugar	Natalie Baszile
	76	Necessary Lies	Diane Chamberlain
	77	Human Remains	Elizabeth Haynes
	78	Strong Rain Falling	Jon Land
	79	A Dangerous Fiction	Barbara Rogan
	80	Rivers	Michael Farris Smith

Another good month of reading.  Eleven books completed, two started and cast into the donation pile.
I'd be very hard pressed to pick a favorite this month.  My three way tie would by Rivers, The Return and Strong Rain Falling.

I don't purchase a lot of books, only two of this month's reads, the rest arrive in the post from the publishers.  One of the books I purchased this month is Rivers by Smith.  This is a debut fiction and I loved it.  Here's an example of Smith's writing.  "It had been raining for weeks. Maybe months. He had forgotten the last day that it hadn't rained, when the storms gave way to the pale blue of the Gulf sky, when the birds flew and the clouds were white and sunshine glistened across the drenched land."   To further convince you to read Rivers, this is what James Lee Burke had do say about Micheal Farris Smith: “Every once in a while an author comes along who’s in love with art and the written language and image and literary experiment and the complexity of his characters and the great mysteries that lie just on the other side of the physical world, writers like William Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy and Annie Proulx. You can add Michael Farris Smith’s name to the list.”

The Return by Gruber and Strong Rain Falling by Land were both action packed thrillers and both crossed the border into Mexico.  I swear, as I was reading The Return, I could hear the voices of the characters.  I love when that happens.  I think both The Return and Strong Rain Falling should be candidates for movies.  Strong Rain Falling is the most recent of a series, but I haven't read any of the prior installments, but I think I will.

 Man Alive by Zuravleff is a smart, warm and funny family tale.  Families are strange and the Lerner's get even stranger when the head of the family gets struck by lightening.  This is a novel that you need to pay attention to, it's not a light read, but it's a very good read.

Queen Sugar is outstanding.  I loved every word, Baszile is a great wordsmith.  Now, I'm going to quote. "Penguin has a rich tradition of publishing strong Southern debut fiction—from Sue Monk Kidd to Kathryn Stockett to Beth Hoffman. In Queen Sugar, we now have a debut from the African American point of view. Stirring in its storytelling of one woman against the odds and intimate in its exploration of the complexities of contemporary southern life, Queen Sugar is an unforgettable tale of endurance and hope."  Queen Sugar will be published in Feb. 2014, put it on your list.

A Dangerous Fiction by Rogan is an intriguing mystery, set in the publishing world.  It was a fun read, and I recommend it.

What are you reading?