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The Amazon reviews were mixed | ||
The Thread's Must-Read | ||
| "Rabbit Cake" by Annie Hartnett Buy this book This is the first book I've fallen in page-over-bookmark in love with this year — and it's all about the narrator. “Rabbit Cake” a is weird, dark, grab-your-heart story of a family clawing its way out of grief. It’s narrated by 11-year-old Elvis Babbitt, whose life is upturned when her sleepwalking, sleep-swimming mother drowns in the river running through Freedom, Ala. The school counselor tells Elvis that grief is a process. She even draws her a calendar: She’s supposed to feel better in 18 months. But that 18 months stretches on in one long emotional disaster, as her father starts wandering around the house in her mother’s old bathrobe, and her older sister — also a sleepwalker — takes to devouring everything in the fridge while unconscious. Elvis becomes convinced that there’s more to her mother’s death than drowning, and buries herself in the investigation. Hartnett isn’t afraid to go weird — weird like parrots that use the voices of the dead, weird like a Guinness World Record for cake baking, weird like delving into the sleep habits of giraffes. The book is an unpredictable ride through the darkest moments in life. Read it for the narrator alone, if the voice catches you: Elvis is one of my favorite characters in years. She feels like a mix of Scout Finch and Harriet the Spy, pushed to the edge by loneliness and an obsession with animals. Embrace the quirk. -Tracy Mumford P.S. Tell us what you're reading on Twitter @TheThreadMPR. | ||
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| This Week on The Thread | ||
| Louise Erdrich wins National Book Critics Circle prize for fiction Louise Erdrich's "LaRose" has won the National Book Critics Circle prize for fiction, an honor she first received more than 30 years ago for her debut novel, "Love Medicine." See the full winner's list. More | ||
| A blank book, "Reasons to Vote for Democrats," is Amazon's No. 1 best-seller The book by Michael J. Knowles is 266 pages, and almost entirely blank. More | ||
| An ace detective with a crack shot, a quick wit and a good story "Celine" by Peter Heller Buy this book Peter Heller's detective novel is a romp — complete with a taking-names heroine, action-packed adventures, and a sense that you've known these characters for years. More | ||
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| Blending folk tales with Southern history "The Vine That Ate the South" by J.D. Wilkes Buy this book Rockabilly singer J.D. Wilkes hints at supernatural happenings in his novel about an unbelievable adventure through a kudzu-infested forest in western Kentucky. More | ||
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| To mark Douglas Adams' 65th birthday, pick up "The Hitchhiker's Guide" "Douglas Adams managed, in a humorous way, to tell universal truths," bookseller David Shuman said of the classic space romp. More | ||
| How lemonade helped Paris fend off the plague, and other surprising food fights "Food Fights and Culture Wars" by Tom Nealon Buy this book Tom Nealon's new book searches through patchy historical records to trace subjects like how chocolate helped lead to war in the Caribbean, or the role a grain fungus played in the Crusades. More | ||
| Cheech Marin on how his famed comic collaboration was like Chicano art "Cheech" by Cheech Marin Buy this book Marin, who has been collecting Chicano art for years, writes about the art of Cheech and Chong's comedy in "Cheech is Not My Real Name ... But Don't Call Me Chong!" More | ||
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| Mapping a teen boy's complicated mind "The Inexplicable Logic of My Life" by Benjamin Alire Saenz Buy this book "Inexplicable Logic" is as much a doorstopper as any young adult fantasy novel, but the world it builds is inside the head of teenaged Sal, who's struggling with difficult new emotions. More | ||
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| Author, "Modern Love" essayist Amy Krouse Rosenthal dies at 51 Rosenthal won hearts with her children's book and memoirs — and broke them with her essay announcing her terminal illness, a "Modern Love" piece called "You May Want To Marry My Husband." More | ||
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