Wednesday, January 23, 2013

What is Nicholas Montemarano reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Nicholas Montemarano, author of The Book of Why.

His entry begins:
By now I’m afraid that people think I’m related to Richard Ford or on his payroll—that’s how often and with such enthusiasm I’ve been telling everyone to read Ford’s latest novel, Canada, the best book I read in 2012 and one of the best novels I’ve ever read. I keep it on my desk along with other favorites just so I can look at its spine and be inspired.

Listen to this: “First, I’ll tell about the robbery our parents committed. Then about the murders, which happened later. The robbery is the more important part, since it served to set my and my sister’s lives on courses they eventually followed. Nothing would make complete sense without that being told first.”

From this first brief paragraph, just four sentences, I was hooked. The narrator gives away plot points many novelists would not in the first few sentences, but in doing so he raises other, more compelling questions: Why did his parents commit a robbery? Where? What murders, and how are they related to the robbery? What courses did his and his sister’s lives follow?

And then there’s...[read on]
About The Book of Why, from the publisher:
A deeply moving story about a self-help author confronting life's ultimate question: can love survive anything? Even death?

A novel about an unforgettable love, THE BOOK OF WHY asks big questions: Is there meaning in signs? Do coincidences matter? Does love ever really have to die?

The answers to these questions are within you-at least that's what writer Eric Newborn said in his mega-bestselling books and speeches. But the loss of his wife has left Eric with a failed belief system. In the wake of that trauma, Eric has become a recluse in his home on Martha's Vineyard.

A fan who tracks Eric down brings him back to memories of his wife, leading him closer to her than he'd dreamed he could ever get again. With a breathtaking twist at its end, THE BOOK OF WHY is a perfect, unforgettable love story in the tradition of Nicholas Sparks and Julie Orringer.
Learn more about the book and author at Nicholas Montemarano's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

The Page 69 Test: The Book of Why.

Writers Read: Nicholas Montemarano.

--Marshal Zeringue