Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan - second reading.

First reading was July, 2013, and is on this blog. Book Club selection for May, 2016.

I enjoyed this just as much the second time. The gist of the story- the relationship between sisters- starts on page 134-141.

The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney ***

I only bought this because it was a "Heather's Pick" and was on sale for $15, although I had read several quite positive reviews.  It was a lighter read than "The Corrections" by Jonathan Franzen, but it is similar in that it's modern fiction, modern themes, and modern family dysfunction. 

The Nest is an amount of money a wealthy father extends to each of his four children, a fairly substantial amount each of them will receive when the youngest, Melody, turns 40. However, Dad has died, and their flaky Mom, dips into The Nest to pay  damages to Leo, the reprobate oldest son, who gets into a car accident and his passenger suffers extensive injuries. So the rest of the family are all trying to figure out how to get their full share back into The Nest. Most of the four have already set aside some financial goal, counting on The Nest to see them through, and Melody is about to turn 40!

For a first novel, this was well- written, and I think I would have liked it more if I'd read more intensively for the first 100 pages, because I only read a little every day, and kind of lost my focus.

Nora Webster by Colm Toibin ***

I could only give this 3 stars, despite what the critics said. It was a story of a grieving widow, and I recognized Nora's struggle to adjust to a new life, but the story didn't seem to go anywhere. Even when her daughter goes missing, Nora carries on pretty much  as usual- I expected more emotion from her. Anyway, I'm going to try and copy a review of the novel from the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/05/books/review/nora-webster-by-colm-toibin.html

It worked!