March Madness

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

Boy Novak runs away and lands in a small Massachusetts town. She marries a local widower and becomes stepmother to his daughter, Snow. After the birth of Boy’s daughter, Bird, she becomes a wicked step-mother. I can’t say I loved this book, but it was weirdly enchanting. ♥♥

Carthage by Joyce Carol Oates

The Mayfield’s missing 19-year-old daughter, Cressida, is feared dead in the Adirondack woods. Most people in the town of Carthage suspect she was beaten to death and dumped in the Black River by her older sister’s ex-fiancé, Brett Kincaid, a decorated Iraqi War vet. The case spans nearly seven years, and Joyce Carol Oates make it seem like nearly everyone in the town could have been responsible for the crime. ♥♥♥

Mermaid by Eileen Cronin

Eileen Cronin’s memoir is pretty incredible – she was born without legs. Her Catholic family accepts it as “God’s will,” and she “squiddled” through their 1960s Cincinnati home. As she grew older, Cronin wondered if her mother had taken the drug thalidomide. ♥

The Bear by Claire Cameron

Five-year-old Anna manages to get her brother into the family’s canoe and away from the three hundred pound Black Bear that attacked and killed her parents. Out in the middle of nowhere, they must battle hunger, and a wilderness full of danger. ♥

The Anatomy Lesson by Nina Siegal

Set in 1632, the story is about an anatomy lesson given in Amsterdam with the historical fiction take on Rembrandt's first great work of art. Told by many characters, from a curio dealer who collects bodies for medical dissection, to Rembrandt, and finally the lover of the man who is to be dissected. ♥♥

The Boys of My Youth by Jo Ann Beard

This memoir received much acclaim. I liked it, but without much acclaim. ♥