Pace Setter : July 2018

Books to Read After Running

Sally Drake's Books to Read After Running

There There by Tommy Orange

This debut novel is about Native Americans living in Oakland, California. Told from the perspective of inter-linked characters whose lives collide in one of the most dramatic literary scenes I’ve ever read, this novel is groundbreaking, brilliant and powerful. Identity, dislocation, searching, myth and storytelling are all themes this novel explores through the often broken but extremely human lives of its characters. The city of Oakland is a character in and of itself, a pulsing, complex place that the characters in this book are both running from and to just as they are from their personal struggles. This novel is fast-paced and often thrilling, and it takes focus to keep track of the many characters moving swiftly through dramatic situations. It also tells a very important and very uniquely American story about urban life, cultural tradition and change, identity and place.

My Ex-Life by Stephen McCauley

This funny and sweet novel is about a gay man who leaves San Francisco to reunite with his estranged former wife and her troubled teenage daughter on the north shore of Massachusetts and help them manage a serious financial crisis. Together, they draw upon the strength of a shared past and loving connection to face their pretty significant problems. Families come in all shape and sizes--what this story shows is how the strongest families are between people who simply care about one another. A poignant novel (and not without some heavy plot twists) with great scenery and characters you root for.

You Think It, I’ll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld

If you are a 40-something year old woman you will identify with every story in this great collection by one of the great chroniclers of my generation. Smart and astute, these stories are pitch-perfect about the work, family and love lives of middle-age, professional and academic women. Sittenfeld is not sentimental--she writes about real women and the real political, social issues we face in addition to the angst and ennui that practically defines midlife. Some characters you like, some you don’t. Some you hope you resemble, some you fear you do. These stories are perceptive and very well written.

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Mark Mindel's Books to Read After Running

A five star selection! CANDICE FOX IS a can't miss author! This up-and-coming Aussie sure knows how to weave a tale of suspense as she portrays 3 or possibly 4 separate crime stories into one! Our hero Ted, a Sydney detective thrown to the wolves, or should we say crocodiles, when falsely accused and tried for a crime where he was in the wrong place and time for, moves up into the Northern territory of Australia, about an hour North of Cairns, to get away from it all and hooks up with private eye and former juvenile murderess, Amanda (released for good behavior for a crime she didn't commit?). The partners try solving the mysterious disappearance of famous author, Jake Skully, while secretly looking into each other's former 'crimes'...and it all makes for many interesting twists. Throw in two gestapo-like cops, the media still chasing Ted after his case was suddenly dismissed from lack of concrete evidence after spending months in prison, and some interesting town folks and you have yourself a fun read! Fox has already completed the sequel, Redemption Point, due out soon in the US of A! Can't wait.

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Aaron Hernandez was a college All-American who became the youngest player in the NFL and later reached the Super Bowl. His every move as a tight end with the New England Patriots played out the headlines, yet he led a secret life--one that ended in a maximum-security prison and ultimately suicide. What drove him to go so wrong, so fast?
Between the summers of 2012 and 2013, not long after Hernandez made his first Pro Bowl, he was linked to a series of violent incidents culminating in the death of Odin Lloyd, a semi-pro football player who dated the sister of Hernandez's fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins.
All-American Murder is the first book to investigate Aaron Hernandez's first-degree murder conviction and the mystery of his own shocking and untimely death.

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A fascinating read in the style of Edgar Allan Poe. The narrator is a likeable professor attending his mother's second marriage in his hometown of Richmond VA (ironically the birthplace of Poe!)...but there's more questions than answers mixed in with romance and craziness in this bizarre thriller that's hard to put down.

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