Do you see anything you like on this section of my bookshelf above? I’m on a bit of a reading tear lately, and I’m looking for people to share some great books with. Watch for regular updates on “what I’m reading” here on Trend Watch.
Do you like books about dysfunctional families and how they cope with reality, like “The Corrections” by Jonathan Franzan?
Are you a fan of smart, dry, black humour writing like Jonathan Tropper’s “One Last Thing Before I Go”?
Does the same story told from two very different viewpoints like Gillian Flynn’s “Gone Girl” keep you up at night?
Looking for a novel that keeps you turning pages late, late, late into the night like “Before I Go to Sleep”, by S.J. Watson?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, I’ve got a great book recommendation for you. It’s “Mother Mother” by fist time novelist Koren Zailckas. The author of the iconic memoir SMASHED has just released this first novel about a family torn apart by a matriarch who makes Joan Crawford look like June Cleaver.
Jacqueline Hurst is the mother who seems to have it all together; from the outside she’s got full control of her family, but an eldest daughter’s act of rebellion, a middle daughter’s struggle with drugs and her youngest son’s Asperger’s diagnosis starts to expose the cracks in her “perfect family”. Follow along through the twists and turns of her younger children’s perspectives as the reader starts to understand just how twisted Jacqueline is.
I devoured my copy in days and found myself swinging from wanting to race to the final page to see just where the truth lay in this story told from different viewpoints, to wanting to stretch the reading experience as long as I could.
This book is a terrifying look at a mother’s love that has turned a dark corner, and what the repercussions mean to her husband and her children. As a bonus, this book left me feeling like Mother of the Year.
What’s the last book that you couldn’t wait to recommend to all of your book loving friends?
Jen! I have a copy of “The Corrections” sitting atop an armoire since the summer, just waiting to be cracked open, and I’m about to finish “One Last Thing Before I Go”. EEEERIEEEEE!! If you enjoyed this pick, then it sounds like a winner for me, too.
I got sucked into a trashy novel-set I’m too embarrassed to mention aloud, but had I known it was a series, I would never have started it. DAMNED SERIES!! *shakes angry fist at sky*
I can’t think of the last novel I implored my friends to read… too much trash… oy.
I’ve gotta know, @grumblegirl:disqus , was the series you were reading the Outlander series, because if so ask me about a funny story the next time you see me (you’ll need to ply me with a bottle of wine to get all the details!)
Lady, I wish it was as “highbrow” as The Outlander series… you will have to ply me with a bottle of wine also, in order to get me to confess.
(Oh, who am I kidding… I’ll tell you on Facebook later. *snort*)