Hi all. How’s your week been? Things are ramping up now with spring and the nice weather. I am in California for a long weekend for a celebration of my parents today. I’ve been walking around and biking. It’s nice to see people swimming in the Pacific even after 5 p.m. when this photo was taken, but so far I have not stuck my toes in yet. It’s too cold and the waves have been a little too rambunctious, lol. I am waiting for a warmer, calmer day.
In book news, you might have seen that Percival Everett’s novel James won again … this time for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction last week. I admired the novel last year when I read it, which also won the National Book Award in the fall. It’s one of the rare novels that have won both awards. Here are the eight other novels that have won both the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award:
The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Rabbit is Rich by John Updike
The Fixer by Bernard Malamud
A Fable by William Faulkner
Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter
What do you think — have you read any of these? I have read The Shipping News and The Color Purple, which I admired quite a long time ago. I’m not sure why I never got to The Underground Railroad, but there’s still time to read others on this list. Meanwhile congrats to Percival Everett once again for his novel James.
And now I will leave you with a couple reviews of what I finished lately.
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy / Flatiron / 320 pages / 2025
4.0 stars. There’s plenty of drama, trauma, and eco-concerns amid the backdrop of a beautiful wild island in this novel set in the remote southwest Pacific Ocean. Dominic Salt and his three kids whose mother has died are caretakers on Shearwater Island that holds a seed vault to regrow plants in case of the apocalypse. A group of researchers used to be there too studying plants and creatures, but they’ve since left as the waters are rising and storms are wreaking havoc.
Soon Dominic and his family will be leaving as well after eight years or so … but before that happens an injured woman (Rowan) washes up from a shipwreck. Over time they become more attached to her and she to them, but both sides have secrets that they aren’t sharing about what’s up.
It crossed my mind that the plot seemed a bit contrived but I went along with it. It’s fairly entertaining and visual as you begin to latch on to Rowan and what her deal is coming to the island. Her husband Hank used to be a researcher there so it appears she’s trying to find out where he is or went. But there’s some graves on the island that need explaining among other things. I thought the story was alluring in its mysteriousness and the setting on the remote island with all the elements, and Dominic’s three kids too make for enticing characters you come to know, though the story turns a bit crazy towards the end and a late twist seemed to stretch its believability.
I’ve finished all three of McConaghy’s novels (2 by audios, one in print) and have liked them for their eco-settings and concerns about the planet and wildlife and for being visual, adventure plots. Her books often have broken people as the main characters living in a world with more intense climate change, ones who’ve suffered hard traumas or much loss. And this one was no exception. Rowan and Dominic’s family have had their share of heartbreak and adversity. While sympathetic, I tire at times a bit of this aspect … so I thought the tale had some hits and misses for me. Still I was entertained enough traveling to Shearwater Island. Of McConaghy’s, I think I liked her first novel Migrations best … maybe because it was a bit new and potent back then. But they all share some similarities. I plan to keep reading her.
First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston / Pamela Dorman / 352 pages / 2024
3.75 stars. This author has written a clever plot line that features a sharp protagonist in Evie Porter, aka Lucca Marino and enough twists and turns to make for a topsy-turvy experience, but did I hang on for the ride? Just barely. I got lost a couple times — no fault of the audiobook, but I retraced my tracks to get back onboard. Lucca is doing illegal missions for her mysterious boss Mr. Smith in which she always gets a new identity and needs to assimilate into a new neighborhood. But then she gets introduced to a woman who has her own name and must figure out if her boss is setting her up, or if the woman is trying to expose her and why.
When something happens to the woman and Evie’s later arrested on an outstanding warrant for a mission that happened years ago, Evie has to decide whether to trust the boyfriend she’s taken up with whom she’s been investigating — along with her techie friend Devon to help her get out of the situation. It’s a bit convoluted, but I was mostly onboard with what Lucca has to unravel. Still I was thoroughly exhausted by the end. I know a lot love these cat-and mouse kinds of benders … but I think I’ll need to leave town if ever a Evie Porter or Lucca Marino moves to my neighborhood.
That’s all for now. What about you — have you read these and what did you think?
Susan, first of all, glad you are walking and biking on your trip. I hope that it will provide you some peace after your loss. OK, your review is the first I’ve seen of Wild Dark Shore. I had noticed the book and thought about trying it. We’ll see. I do like to read about extreme locations – not that I want to visit them – ha! First Lie Wins is on my TBR partly because our mystery book group is reading it for our November meeting. I had already seen it around and wondered about it. I’m planning on reading it probably in the early fall. Take care!
Great post and beautiful picture of Pacific Ocean. I am glad James won the Pulitzer. It’s such an important award because it gives a book an immortality it otherwise might not have had. I did read The Underground Railroad which was excellent. Haven’t checked out the others. Nervous about Faulkner. Read The Sound and The Fury and I was lost through most of the book.