FINISHED:

Oates, Joyce Carol. (1996). We were the Mulvaneys. New York: Dutton/Penguin.

[When I thought about reading a Joyce Carol Oates novel and decided to read this one, I had no idea, until now when I Googled it, that it had once been an Oprah's Book Club selection (and, oh, how difficult it was to find a jacket image without the Oprah logo...). Thinking about it, though, I can see how this one would fit that bill pretty well. Reading it, I kinda saw it as a more sophisticated, denser Anne Tyler novel (who I quite enjoy, by the way - our cat Macon is named after one of her characters...), what with it being about the goings-on of an American family. Oates's novel is a wonderful, fully-fleshed depiction of the dissolution of a typical American family in the 1970's - a successful father, devoted and quirky mother, all-American athlete oldest brother, brainy middle brother, pretty and popular cheerleader daughter, and youngest boy who narrates the tale, all the while trying to find his place in it all. Though it frequently takes its time, the rewards are many: stunning descriptions, dropped hints of important events that are then more fully realized later, and characters that are so fully examined that you can truly understand their motivations. Having been reading SO MUCH children's and YA literature these days, I had forgotten how rich and involving a novel can actually be.]

STARTED:
Hooper, Mary. (2008). Newes from the dead. New York: Roaring Brook.

[Reading for ACL.]

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