Crow Lake - Mary Lawson

I finished this book last night and can still remember it today, even after I started reading another book. The story is a sad one - four children struggle to grow up after their parents are killed in a car accident - but it sure made for a good story! The narrator, Kate, looked up to her brother Matt most of their lives until a shocking event turned Kate's world upside down. The story moves between present and past and it takes over half the book to reveal that event that sent Kate's world into a tailspin.

The story takes place in Ontario, Canada, and I think this is one of the very few - or maybe the only - book I've ever read from this region. I'm sure much is different between the United States and Canada, but looking at the education system and small-town farming communities presented in Crow Lake, it doesn't seem all that much different.

This book was a Today Show book club and author Mary Lawson's debut novel.

Oprah's book club

I'm almost halfway through Crow Lake by Mary Lawson; and so far I'm liking it. It was a book club pick on the Today Show, but I've heard very conflicting reviews of the book.

If you noticed on my list of 101 books, I do have a few older and more recent picks from Oprah's book club on my list. I'm a faithful viewer of her show, and when she announced her new pick on the January 30th episode - A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle - I wasn't sure if I wanted to read it. Then I thought well, I really wanted to challenge myself this year, so I picked up the book today, and I already joined the online class that she and the book's author, Eckhart Tolle, will be teaching on Mondays beginning March 3. I must say, her choices are getting more and more eclectic, but that's okay. I really think people should step outside of their normal genre every now and then and really challenge themselves. Will anyone else be reading this pick and joining the online class?