Wednesday, February 4, 2009

A Really Great Read

This is not a book review blog, but I felt I had to make an exception for this particular novel.  

I first heard about Elizabeth Strout's "Olive Kitteridge" on the radio station KCRW.  The author Pam Houston (a wonderful writer in her own right) was waxing rhapsodic about the book.  She said she got so into the characters, she didn't want to betray their secrets by talking about them. She turned out to be 100 correct; this is a killer book.

The whole book is like a series of vignettes based in a small town in Maine.  Every vignette includes the character Olive, who's impossible and irascible (and not usually in such a charming way).  It's beautifully written but not overwritten.  And it crosses gender lines; this is NOT chick lit.

I highly highly recommend this book for any reader on your gift list.  It'll give them a wonderful few hours of both escape and contemplation.  You can find it at www.amazon.com, or in bookstores everywhere.  And my apologies for the lack of a photo.

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