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All tagged Midwest
Recommendation Tuesday started as a joke and is now an official thing. Basically, this is my way of making Tuesday a little more awesome. If you've got a book to recommend on this or any Tuesday, tweet me at @FullShelves and I'll help spread the word.
View all of the past recommendations over here.
The Story Guy’s main character is Carrie, a midwestern librarian who lives a good life. She has a career she loves, parents with whom she’s close and friends she adores. Despite all this warmth, however, Carrie’s life is also lonely, as everyone around her has a partner and a rich home life.
One of Carrie's favorite distractions is reading the personal ads on a City Paper-type website. (Who hasn't done that, am I right?) These ads are usually pretty sketchy and Carrie finds them refreshingly authentic--these people aren’t playing games, they’re saying exactly what they want out of a relationship. One morning she comes across an intriguing request for a standing Wednesday rendezvous in a public park for “kissing only” and impulsively answers it before she can stop herself.
The following Wednesday, Carrie meets this stranger, Brian, and it sets in motion a radical change in both their lives.
And look at me: My mother gave me a punk-rock name, but my spirit is composed of elevator music: Tra-la-la-la./Don’t mind me./I’m a nice girl./I have good manners./I’ll not bother you./Tra-la-LA!
Mary O’Connell’s The Sharp Time is a unique, quiet novel that sneaked up on me.
I credit Trish Doller with my discovery of The Sharp Time, as she posted about it on her (fabulous, must-follow) Tumblr, and since I adored Trish’s book (my review will be published closer to the book’s release date), I figured that The Sharp Time was worth the read based on her recommendation.
The Sharp Time begins shortly after ADD-afflicted 18-year-old Sandinista Jones—her free spirit mother named her after the Clash album—has left school following a bizarre conflict with a teacher. Sandinista’s mother has recently died in a fluke accident and the incident at school was the last straw. She’s lonely and angry and lost, wrestling with violent urges.
