Dear Bookclub,
Titles are the window to a book's soul. Distinct: "Barkskins", "A Constellation of Vital Phenomena", "Dr. Zhivago". Unforgettable: "We Need to Talk About Kevin", "The Boys in the Boat", "All the Light You Cannot See", "The Poisonwood Bible". Descriptive: "Dead Wake", "The Door", "Little Women". Unfortunate: "Heat & Light", "Some Luck", "Home Leave", "Art of Power", "Art of the Deal", "Art of Racing in the Rain".
Jennifer Haigh's latest book, "Heat & Light" was labeled to have a "not helpful" title in the NY Times April 28, 2016. Unfortunate.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/28/books/review-with-heat-and-light-jennifer-haigh-drills-below-the-surface.html
I was actually thrilled when I reached the point in the book when the title was revealed; hidden in a school report about the benefits of petroleum being heat and light. Still does not carry the weight of the memories this book will leave with me. This is a truly enjoyable ...... dare I say it..... intelligent soap opera/horror story. Horrific because of the environmental truths and the human weaknesses. Enjoyable because the deft writing brings rich characters to the extremes of emotion, tragedy, consequences.
Hope you are also enjoying it! Look forward to discussing at TG's this Wednesday.
Advance notice of TG's suggestions for an upcoming read:
"Last Bus to Wisdom: A Novel" by Ian Doig
'The Symphathizer: A Novel" by Viet Thanh Nguyen
"Everyone Brave is Forgiven" by Chris Cleve
Happy reading,
LK
PS I lived in Export, PA from 1964-1970. A coal mining town long before the suburban neighborhood sprouted kickball, Barbies, swim team, big Catholic families etc. There was always a distant shadow of the history settled into the dingy black dust in our school-girl white socks and the 'taverns' on Main St. with seemingly unemployed flocking. The candy counter at McHughes Variety Store was awesome.
Our school bus drove past an abandoned and much dilapidated version of this daily:
Shockingly, I just googled 'fracking in Export PA' and got this link to a fracking company... very odd actually. Turns out I could google Rancho Bernardo fracking and get another version of the same thing!
Weasels!
PPS: Our little December read(note how little and cute this book is):
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