Gena's Reads

The Invisible Mountain is an epic debut novel by Caroilina de Robertis. Although it is fiction, it is based on factual accounts of Uruguay’s history. It is the family saga of three generations of Uruguayan women, spanning the 20th century. Pajarita, the grandmother, Eva, her daughter and Salome her grandaughter. These are all strong women living in difficult times in Uruguay, often in the midst of poverty and oppression, war, revolution and prison. But the spirit of all 3 women miraculously…

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I loved The Outside Boy by Jeanne Cummins. This is a wonderful novel about Irish Travellers or Pavees, often referred to as Tinkers.  The book is about their nomadic culture that is rapidly coming to an end in Ireland. These are people who have lived this way for centuries, but are now on the fringes of society and looked down upon by settled “buffers.” The story is told by 11 year old Christy, a Pavee gypsy roaming with his father and…

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I absolutely loved this memoir-Just Kids by Patti Smith. It probably helps to start off as a big fan of Patti Smith or Robert Mapplethorpe, but in the end I’m not sure if that even matters. I saw Patti Smith about 20 years ago, reading her poetry and playing her songs on just an acoustic guitar with no back up. She was hypnotic. Someone in the audience behind me kept yelling “Tell us about Mapplethorpe!” and I know she heard…

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The new novel Claude & Camille- A novel of Monet, by Stephanie Cowell is my favorite type of historical fiction. Cowell has taken us on a journey with Claude Monet during his early years as a struggling artist in Paris. Here he meets the lovely Camille Doncieux who comes from an upper class family, but decides to go against her family’s wishes to live a poor, bohemian lifestyle with Monet and his friends. This is such a creatively rich time in Paris…

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I love historical fiction, especially when it is based on strong women, so I was really looking forward to reading Good Things I Wish You by A. Manette Ansay. This is the story of Clara Schumann, wife of composer Robert Schumann, and her relationship with Johannes Brahms. Clara was a much more accomplished pianist than her husband and toured all over the world playing concerts in the 1850’s, while raising eight children. However, after reading the book, I don’t feel like I…

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A Thread of Sky is a beautiful debut novel by Deanna Fei. This is the story of six very strong Chinese and Chinese/American women-three sisters, their mother, aunt and grandmother all travelling on a tour of China together to find a connection that has been lost between them. It is a different journey for each of them, yet they are all united in a way they never have been before. The sisters are each struggling with their own issues after the death…

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I generally enjoy reading Elizabeth Berg’s novels. Many are like reading a good issue of People magazine from cover to cover and being fully engrossed in the stories as I read, then forgetting them the second I finish the magazine. Her latest novel, The Last Time I Saw You, is much the same. This is the story of a group of people reuniting at their 40th high school reunion. Some have led happy lives, others less so. I won’t go…

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I’ve gotta stop reading depressing books set in small towns on the seacoast of Maine. That pretty much sums up Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. To be fair, I will say that I enjoyed Strout’s writing style- a novel set in stories, revolving around her main character, Olive Kitteridge. I think she is a talented writer and I enjoyed the format. However, the first story, Pharmacy, was my favorite and it went downhill from there. Henry, Olive’s husband was my…

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