Tuesday, January 25, 2011

What is Caroline Leavitt reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Caroline Leavitt, author of Pictures of You.

Her entry begins:
The Sweet Relief of Missing Children by Sarah Braunstein popped in my door and though I know you can’t tell a book by its cover, this cover image haunted me so much, that I was sure that what was inside was going to be as spectacular as what was outside. A polite-looking little girl stands with her back towards us, the grass green as any suburb. And, of course, there is that title! I wanted to read Braunstein because her novel is really about all my favorite themes: reinvention, running away, vanishing into another life, all issues that circle like a hamster wheel in my head. For me, the ...[read on]
Among the early praise for Pictures of You:
“A magically written, heartbreakingly honest snapshot of the people we leave behind and those we can’t let go ... Caroline Leavitt is one of those fabulous, incisive writers you read and then ask yourself, Where has she been all my life?”
--Jodi Picoult

"I found it impossible to put this book down ... [it’s] as complicated, crushing, and joyous as life itself.”
--Robb Forman Dew

“A splendid writer at the peak of her powers.”
--Robert Olen Butler

"Heartbreaking, suspenseful, and moving, Pictures of You contains all the elements I long for in a great story.”--
Diana Abu-Jaber

"I have long admired Caroline Leavitt’s pobing insight into people, her wit and compassion, her ability to find humor in dark situations, and conversely, her tenderness toward characters other writers might merely satirize.”
--Dan Chaon

"Caroline Leavitt is a masterful storyteller ... this is a beautiful book.”
--Dani Shapiro

“An enthralling amalgamation of a literary mystery and the story of one woman’s search for self-fulfillment.”
--Binnie Kirshenbaum
Visit Caroline Leavitt's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: Pictures of You.

My Book, the Movie: Pictures of You.

Writers Read: Caroline Leavitt.

--Marshal Zeringue