Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. With all of the best books of 2008 lists floating around the internet, I've had a ton of books on my library list. When I saw this one, and a brief synopsis, I thought it would be short stories centered around an eccentric old lady, a character like Grandma Mazur. (Not sure where I got this idea, I guess I just made it up.) Boy was I suprised! This was an excellent collection of thirteen stories, all somehow involving Olive Kitteridge (however loosely), a grade school math teacher in the small town of Crosby, Maine.
The stories are touching, small glimpses of lives. Many of the stories are about aging or the affects of life changing moments. Not all stories are directly about Olive, in fact, she is only just mentioned in one of the stories. Elizabeth Strout writes beautifully, and often had me in tears I was so moved. In the first story, surrounding Olive's husband Henry, you get a feel for Olive through Henry's eyes. She comes across as a cold, harsh wife, and as a reader, I started to wonder why these stories were all surrounding such an unlikeable character. As I read on, you get to know Olive, and see what an amazing woman she is, dispite what some of the town's inhabitants may think of her. I don't want to give anything away, but I can see why this was on some of the several top books of 2008 lists I read. A truly amazing book.
Up next on my reading list: The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed. Winner of the 2008 National Book Award for Nonfiction. With all this reading, I'm not getting much knitting done!
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