Incarceration report

During the 6-7 weeks of my broken-footedness and healing thereof, I read a bunch of novels. Here are the highlights of a few of them.

“Empire Falls” by Richard Russo. I’d tried reading this one a couple times before, but just couldn’t get into it. This time, I did. And it was great. It’s about life in a small town in Maine which lost its zing when a manufacturing plant closed. Excellent.

“The Bright Side of Disaster” by Katherine Center. A young woman discovers she’s pregnant, her fiance skips out. Mostly the protagonist just annoyed me.

And I finished a book that I started last spring, about a Nebraska family whose mother was stolen by a tornado, “Sing Them Home” by Stephanie Kallos.  The story takes place years after the tornado- telling about the lives of the three kids who have now become adults. It started out OK, but then seemed to drag – but maybe that’s because I put the book on hold for so long and didn’t get back to it.

“While I’m Falling” by Laura Moriarty. Set in Lawrence/KU. A young woman is going to school; meanwhile her family of origin falls apart. A good story, well told. I liked this very much, but not as much as her previous book “The Rest of Her Life,” which was very powerful.

“That Old Cape Magic” by Richard Russo. Since I loved “Empire Falls,” I thought I’d enjoy Russo’s newest book. But, wow, I kept reading it, waiting for it not to be depressing. It’s another family-falling-apart story, but it just bummed me out. None of the characters were likable.

“The Double Bind” by Chris Bohjalian. This is the first novel of his that I’ve read. I enjoy his weekly columns “Idyll Banter” in the Burlington, Vermont newspaper. The “Double Bind” is an incredible story.

Now I’m reading a fascinating book of short stories by Steven Millhauser, “Dangerous Laughter.”