Run, by Ann Patchett (audiobook)

This book was given to me by a Bookcrossing friend, a surprise gift sent in the mail! (Thanks again, Captivated Reader!) It is an audiobook. I am not in the habit of listening to books; I usually prefer to hold and read them, but as it happened, husband and I made several long auto trips in the last month, and we both enjoyed listening to the book in the car.
We got caught up in the story: a retired mayor of Boston, Mass. has taken his two adult adopted sons to a lecture by Jesse Jackson. As they were leaving, his older son stepped off the curb into the path of a SUV. A stranger pushed him out of the way, and was herself seriously injured. She was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, leaving her 11 year old daughter alone on the street. The mayor and his sons persuade her come to their house. As it happens, the mayor's adopted sons are African-American, and so are the mother and daughter. As the story develops, long-hidden family secrets are slowly revealed and mysteries appear.
I never did quite understand older, natural born brother Sullivan's hidden past. Perhaps my thoughts wandered a little while that bit was explained, but I didn't want to listen to it all over again, just to find it. Otherwise, the story was quite enjoyable, but tied up a little too neatly and quickly at the end. Also, the bit about Tennessee's deceased friend mysteriously appearing in her hospital room seemed very strange, even surreal.
I did think that Peter Francis James did an excellent job narrating the story. His range of voices was spot on, from Boston Irish Catholic accents to Jamaican, Asian Indian, and perfect renditions of Jesse Jackson and of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (as heard on a radio in the story). Every one was distinct and well done, even the young girl, without resorting to the use of falsetto.

The Gentleman from Indianapolis: A Treasury of Booth Tarkington by John (editor) Beecroft, Booth Tarkington (Author), John Alan Maxwell (Illustrator)

An old book of my mother's, an anthology of short stories and novels by Booth Tarkington. I never have finished reading all the stories, but I read and reviewed one for LibraryThing in February, 2014.


I found this volume in my mother's home after her death and decided to keep it. It's in fairly good condition with the exception of the dust jacket, which I threw away keeping the end notes (blurbs).

Alice Adams (complete novel)
Reading from a 21st century perspective, I found the 1920s characters of Alice Adams and her mother very annoying and harmful to their family. The mother was constantly nagging her husband to better himself by leaving his secure if lowly position in a company to start a new business. Alice was a very cheerful person who seemed to get along happily with everyone, but she pretended to be of a social class higher than she was. She had been popular in high school, and thought that popularity alone could get her through adulthood. I found it strange that a 22 year old woman whose family's finances were almost stretched to the limit (partly because of hers and her mother's demands) would not be earning her own way.

I finally got through the novel, just to see how it would turn out, but it has put me off wanting to read the others in this volume: The Magnificent Ambersons and Penrod. I will give them a try though.

The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton

Read, reviewed, and released in April, 2009

It was a difficult book to get through; Mrs. Wharton's writing style is very tedious. Of course, she was writing for a much different audience, people who had more time to read, but even so, I enjoy Jane Austen and Charles Dickens more.

Lily Bart first struck me as a spoiled, selfish, heedless, and arrogant young woman. She tried unsuccessfully to keep up with "Society" of 1890s New York City, spending more money than she had to impress the "upper crust." She did show strength of character in that, even though she was accused of sexual immorality, and ostracized because of the rumors, and living in extreme poverty, she never succumbed to it. She made many foolish decisions, which slowly but surely led to her downfall.