Lori's All-Time Favorites
Ducks, Newburyport
By
Lucy Ellmann
How fitting that Lucy Ellmann’s revelatory and groundbreaking novel, Ducks, Newburyport is arriving on the centennial of Sherwood Anderson’s famous Winesburg, Ohio. Not only are both novels keenly perceptive in exploring the daily lives of “very common people” in rural Ohio, but Ellmann’s modernist masterpiece is primed to be as influential for the future of fiction as Winesburg was in its time. Ducks’ innovative style works wholly in its favor--the novel is accessible, heartfelt, and absorbing as it portrays the mind of a middle-aged mother who tries to manage the hectic demands of family and household, all the while constantly assailed by her own memories, guilt, and second-guessing. Ellmann’s protagonist worries about it all, from gun violence, Trump, and polluted drinking water, to soft boiling eggs, cleaning behind the refrigerator, and perfecting a lemon drizzle cake recipe. If it sounds quotidian, it is. But it is also brilliant, real and very much alive.
How fitting that Lucy Ellmann’s revelatory and groundbreaking novel, Ducks, Newburyport is arriving on the centennial of Sherwood Anderson’s famous Winesburg, Ohio. Not only are both novels keenly perceptive in exploring the daily lives of “very common people” in rural Ohio, but Ellmann’s modernist masterpiece is primed to be as influential for the future of fiction as Winesburg was in its time. Ducks’ innovative style works wholly in its favor--the novel is accessible, heartfelt, and absorbing as it portrays the mind of a middle-aged mother who tries to manage the hectic demands of family and household, all the while constantly assailed by her own memories, guilt, and second-guessing. Ellmann’s protagonist worries about it all, from gun violence, Trump, and polluted drinking water, to soft boiling eggs, cleaning behind the refrigerator, and perfecting a lemon drizzle cake recipe. If it sounds quotidian, it is. But it is also brilliant, real and very much alive.
How fitting that Lucy Ellmann’s revelatory and groundbreaking novel, Ducks, Newburyport is arriving on the centennial of Sherwood Anderson’s famous Winesburg, Ohio. Not only are both novels keenly perceptive in exploring the daily lives of “very common people” in rural Ohio, but Ellmann’s modernist masterpiece is primed to be as influential for the future of fiction as Winesburg was in its time. Ducks’ innovative style works wholly in its favor--the novel is accessible, heartfelt, and absorbing as it portrays the mind of a middle-aged mother who tries to manage the hectic demands of family and household, all the while constantly assailed by her own memories, guilt, and second-guessing. Ellmann’s protagonist worries about it all, from gun violence, Trump, and polluted drinking water, to soft boiling eggs, cleaning behind the refrigerator, and perfecting a lemon drizzle cake recipe. If it sounds quotidian, it is. But it is also brilliant, real and very much alive.
Agaat
By
Marlene Van Niekerk, Michiel Heyns, Mary Gaitskill
Out of Stock Indefinitely
A South African novel that delves into the intense, decades-long relationship between two women—Milla, an affluent Afrikaans landowner and Agaat, a black orphan who Milla rescues from a certain life of abuse and poverty. Milla sees herself as Agaat’s savior; her at times loving but often harsh education of the girl--her Christian duty. For seven years Milla and Agaat are inseparable despite the community’s disapproval and the outright hostility of Jak, Milla’s husband. Later, without explanation, Milla relegates twelve-year old Agaat to the role of house servant. When Milla and Jak have a child of their own it is Agaat, not Milla who forms a maternal bond with the boy. The author exposes the nuances of Milla and Agaat’s fraught, volatile relationship with writing that is raw and uncommonly beautiful. A masterpiece.
Out of Stock Indefinitely
A South African novel that delves into the intense, decades-long relationship between two women—Milla, an affluent Afrikaans landowner and Agaat, a black orphan who Milla rescues from a certain life of abuse and poverty. Milla sees herself as Agaat’s savior; her at times loving but often harsh education of the girl--her Christian duty. For seven years Milla and Agaat are inseparable despite the community’s disapproval and the outright hostility of Jak, Milla’s husband. Later, without explanation, Milla relegates twelve-year old Agaat to the role of house servant. When Milla and Jak have a child of their own it is Agaat, not Milla who forms a maternal bond with the boy. The author exposes the nuances of Milla and Agaat’s fraught, volatile relationship with writing that is raw and uncommonly beautiful. A masterpiece.
A South African novel that delves into the intense, decades-long relationship between two women—Milla, an affluent Afrikaans landowner and Agaat, a black orphan who Milla rescues from a certain life of abuse and poverty. Milla sees herself as Agaat’s savior; her at times loving but often harsh education of the girl--her Christian duty. For seven years Milla and Agaat are inseparable despite the community’s disapproval and the outright hostility of Jak, Milla’s husband. Later, without explanation, Milla relegates twelve-year old Agaat to the role of house servant. When Milla and Jak have a child of their own it is Agaat, not Milla who forms a maternal bond with the boy. The author exposes the nuances of Milla and Agaat’s fraught, volatile relationship with writing that is raw and uncommonly beautiful. A masterpiece.
Milkman: A Novel
By
Anna Burns
Reading Anna Burns’ Milkman is a singular experience. It is a novel that is as original in its presentation as it is profound in its exposition of the familiar and not so familiar terrors that daily assail its hero-- a young woman coming of age in Belfast during “the Troubles.” Here sectarian violence distorts every day existence: ordinary objects become signifiers of personal allegiance, being surveilled is commonplace, and innocent comments are weighted with hidden meaning. The narrator evades assimilating this coded and dangerous world by immersing herself in nineteenth century novels as she ambles among the bombed-out buildings and colorless streets of her district. Yet for all of its weighty themes there is a lightness to Milkman. The novel is funny and full of warmth, and Burns’ characters are wonderfully original in their idiosyncrasies. In this big, sprawling and brilliant novel Anna Burns brings us into a world hostage to misunderstanding and fear but where the human spirit and one young woman’s resilience shine through.
Reading Anna Burns’ Milkman is a singular experience. It is a novel that is as original in its presentation as it is profound in its exposition of the familiar and not so familiar terrors that daily assail its hero-- a young woman coming of age in Belfast during “the Troubles.” Here sectarian violence distorts every day existence: ordinary objects become signifiers of personal allegiance, being surveilled is commonplace, and innocent comments are weighted with hidden meaning. The narrator evades assimilating this coded and dangerous world by immersing herself in nineteenth century novels as she ambles among the bombed-out buildings and colorless streets of her district. Yet for all of its weighty themes there is a lightness to Milkman. The novel is funny and full of warmth, and Burns’ characters are wonderfully original in their idiosyncrasies. In this big, sprawling and brilliant novel Anna Burns brings us into a world hostage to misunderstanding and fear but where the human spirit and one young woman’s resilience shine through.
Reading Anna Burns’ Milkman is a singular experience. It is a novel that is as original in its presentation as it is profound in its exposition of the familiar and not so familiar terrors that daily assail its hero-- a young woman coming of age in Belfast during “the Troubles.” Here sectarian violence distorts every day existence: ordinary objects become signifiers of personal allegiance, being surveilled is commonplace, and innocent comments are weighted with hidden meaning. The narrator evades assimilating this coded and dangerous world by immersing herself in nineteenth century novels as she ambles among the bombed-out buildings and colorless streets of her district. Yet for all of its weighty themes there is a lightness to Milkman. The novel is funny and full of warmth, and Burns’ characters are wonderfully original in their idiosyncrasies. In this big, sprawling and brilliant novel Anna Burns brings us into a world hostage to misunderstanding and fear but where the human spirit and one young woman’s resilience shine through.
A Ghost in the Throat
By
Doireann Ní Ghríofa
It's impossible to exaggerate my excitement for Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s unclassifiable, bewitching book, A Ghost in the Throat. It begins with a simple declaration: “This is a female text,” and builds into a fascinating exploration of the historical and cultural erasure of women’s agency and perspectives. Ghost is narrated by a contemporary, overworked wife and mother haunted by an eighteenth-century Irish poem, Eibhlín Dubh’s lament for her murdered husband. The narrator is seized with the unsatiable need to resurrect Dubh, to capture her essence as a means of restoring Dubh for posterity. But more than Dubh’s, this is the narrator’s story—a captivating account of a woman who finds purpose in nurturing her children, but who also longs to reconstruct meaning for Dubh’s life through her own research and art. Enthralling and beautifully written, Ghost is a stunning achievement.
It's impossible to exaggerate my excitement for Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s unclassifiable, bewitching book, A Ghost in the Throat. It begins with a simple declaration: “This is a female text,” and builds into a fascinating exploration of the historical and cultural erasure of women’s agency and perspectives. Ghost is narrated by a contemporary, overworked wife and mother haunted by an eighteenth-century Irish poem, Eibhlín Dubh’s lament for her murdered husband. The narrator is seized with the unsatiable need to resurrect Dubh, to capture her essence as a means of restoring Dubh for posterity. But more than Dubh’s, this is the narrator’s story—a captivating account of a woman who finds purpose in nurturing her children, but who also longs to reconstruct meaning for Dubh’s life through her own research and art. Enthralling and beautifully written, Ghost is a stunning achievement.
It's impossible to exaggerate my excitement for Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s unclassifiable, bewitching book, A Ghost in the Throat. It begins with a simple declaration: “This is a female text,” and builds into a fascinating exploration of the historical and cultural erasure of women’s agency and perspectives. Ghost is narrated by a contemporary, overworked wife and mother haunted by an eighteenth-century Irish poem, Eibhlín Dubh’s lament for her murdered husband. The narrator is seized with the unsatiable need to resurrect Dubh, to capture her essence as a means of restoring Dubh for posterity. But more than Dubh’s, this is the narrator’s story—a captivating account of a woman who finds purpose in nurturing her children, but who also longs to reconstruct meaning for Dubh’s life through her own research and art. Enthralling and beautifully written, Ghost is a stunning achievement.
Beneficence
By
Meredith Hall
I have placed BENEFICIENCE by Meredith Hall in so many customers hands, and there is no other book that they have returned to thank me for as much. It’s easy to see why Beneficence so profoundly moves readers and satisfies what they want in fiction. Hall’s story is universal, one of family loyalty and the different ways we process grief. It depicts the miraculous beauty of the natural world, and a family’s love of the land and the life they have labored to build on it. But more than anything it is Hall’s eloquent, resonant writing that uplifts readers and demonstrates how fiction can give new perspective and meaning to our own relationships and circumstances.
I have placed BENEFICIENCE by Meredith Hall in so many customers hands, and there is no other book that they have returned to thank me for as much. It’s easy to see why Beneficence so profoundly moves readers and satisfies what they want in fiction. Hall’s story is universal, one of family loyalty and the different ways we process grief. It depicts the miraculous beauty of the natural world, and a family’s love of the land and the life they have labored to build on it. But more than anything it is Hall’s eloquent, resonant writing that uplifts readers and demonstrates how fiction can give new perspective and meaning to our own relationships and circumstances.
I have placed BENEFICIENCE by Meredith Hall in so many customers hands, and there is no other book that they have returned to thank me for as much. It’s easy to see why Beneficence so profoundly moves readers and satisfies what they want in fiction. Hall’s story is universal, one of family loyalty and the different ways we process grief. It depicts the miraculous beauty of the natural world, and a family’s love of the land and the life they have labored to build on it. But more than anything it is Hall’s eloquent, resonant writing that uplifts readers and demonstrates how fiction can give new perspective and meaning to our own relationships and circumstances.