Does anyone still read the Sunday papers? (We just cancelled ours.) I have news to share about some things they wouldn’t tell you there. After a successful inaugural year, the Independent Literary Awards are poised for growth in their 2011 edition with the addition of three new categories. The genres and panels for this year’s awards were announced a few days ago. Many of the 2010 panel members are returning to serve again, and the […]
At Home: A Short History of Private Life Bill Bryson Doubleday (2010), Edition: First Edition, Hardcover (ISBN 0767919386 / 9780767919388) Nonfiction (reference/domestic life), 512 pages Source: purchased (e-book for Amazon Kindle: ASIN: B003F3FJGY) Reason for reading: Independent Literary Awards non-fiction short list Opening Lines: “In the autumn of 1850, in Hyde Park in London, there arose a most extraordinary structure: a giant iron-and-glass greenhouse covering nineteen acres of ground and containing within its airy vastness […]
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Rebecca Skloot Crown (2010), Edition: First Edition, Hardcover (ISBN 1400052173 / 9781400052172) Nonfiction (science/history), 384 pages Source: personal copy (gift) Reason for reading: Independent Literary Awards Non-Fiction short list (runner-up) Opening Lines: “There’s a photo on my wall of a woman I’ve never met, its left corner torn and patched together with tape. She looks straight into the camera and smiles, hands on hips, dress suit neatly pressed, lips […]
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration Isabel Wilkerson Random House (2010), Hardcover (ISBN 0679444327 / 9780679444329) Nonfiction/History, 640 pages Source: purchased (e-book for Amazon Kindle: ASIN B003EY7JGM) Reason for reading: Independent Literary Awards Non-Fiction short list (WINNER) Opening Lines: “The night clouds were closing in on the salt licks east of the oxbow lakes along the folds in the earth beyond the Yalobusha River. The cotton was at last […]
Let’s Take the Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship Gail Caldwell Random House (2010), Hardcover (ISBN 1400067383 / 9781400067381) Nonfiction/memoir, 208 pages Source: purchased (e-book for Amazon Kindle: ASIN B003E8AIHU) Reason for reading: Independent Literary Awards non-fiction short list Opening Lines (Chapter 1): “I can still see her standing on the shore, a towel around her neck and a post-workout cigarette in her hand—half Gidget and half splendid splinter, her rower’s arms in defiant […]
