It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Stewart O'Nan's.
Check out my reviews of  "Snow Angels," "A Prayer for the Dying"and "The Good Wife."

My latest foray into his works was with "Emily, Alone," the sequel to "Wish You Were Here."

We follow the widowed Emily Maxwell, whose grown children are far away, who feels unconnected to her grandchildren, whose comfortable routine is shaken up when her sister-in-law has a health scare.

It's very much a slice of life. A life shared no doubt by countless widows.

But what struck me is how beautifully he has captured the voice of an older, widowed mother and grandmother.

As Emily ruminates while looking for a photo: "The question of how she should be remembered was not one she wanted to contemplate. Her life had been happy, for the most part, her disappointments mild, common, yet when she recalled herself, she did so with a mix of self-righteousness and shame, holding up her worst moments against her best intentions. She would never forget the names she'd flung at Henry in her rages, or the times she's made her mother cry."

Or this as Emily thinks about her relationship with her daughter-in-law: "Emily likes to think she didn't need anything from Lisa, yet Lisa held the ultimate power over her - the ability to deprive Emily of time with Kenneth and her grandchildren. Even Margaret at her worst understood that family trumpeted their personal battles."

Or as she visits her husband's grave: "The slope was steeper than it appeared, and shadeless. Wanting to look nice for him, she'd worn the wrong shoes, and had to be careful, taking little mincing steps, carrying the cosmos out before her with both hands as if it were a hot casserole."

It strikes me as a pretty uncommon gift, this ability to masterfully craft characters of the opposite gender.

When I think back upon those characters who have really stuck with me for the most part they are women created by women or men created by men. There's Mrs de Winter in Daphne du Maurier's "Rebecca;" there's Pip in Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations; " E.L. Doctorow's "Homer & Langley;" Anna in Jodi Picoult's "My Sister's Keeper;" ... I could go on and on.

It was more difficult to think of the reverse. I got Hester Prynne in Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter."(Most likely because my son just read the book and the tale is fresh in my mind.)

I must just be trying to think too hard.

I'm sure I'm forgetting scads of favorite characters. Who can you remind me of?

- Tricia Ambrose 

Follow me on Twitter @triciaambrose

My admiration for Stewart O'Nan continues to grow.

Our relationship got off to a rocky start, but I can't tell you how glad I am to have kept at it.

My most recent encounter  was with "A Prayer for the Dying." Again O'Nan tackles some heady issues. The story itself enthralls and gets you thinking; his usage of language is masterful.
At the center of Dying is Jacob Hansen, smalltown Wisconsin sheriff just after the Civil War. A plague is descending on the town; what should be done?
Hansen grapples with the decision to cordon off the town (but should he get his wife out first?) Hansen, who doubles as the undertaker, is advised to not drain the deceased of blood (but can he send his friends and neighbors on without doing his best by them?)
And what about the religious group on the edge of town, have they been right all along?
"Sin is in the heart. Now you would flee what you must do, when for so long you've lorded it over others. Your goodness, your generosity. You fear that, in this, all your protestations of faith will come to nothing."

Any other O'Nan fans out there? Which of his works should I pick up next?

A shout out to my co-worker Janet Podolak who loaned me "March" by Geraldine Brooks. This story of the father absent in Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women" was recently discussed by her book club. As a huge fan of Little Women, I'm anxious to delve into this story and see how my view stacks up to that of her fellow clubbers.

- Tricia Ambrose

I was readying a post about Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, but Tricia blew it up with the idea of character soundtracks.

Like it, love it, want to play.

For the characters in Rebecca:

Rebecca — "Poison" by Bell Biv Devoe. "Cold Hard Bitch" by Jet would be fun theme music, also.

Maxim — "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails (or Johnny Cash, if you prefer); "Beast of Burden" by The Rolling Stones.

Mrs. deWinter — "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga. Kidding, kidding... then again... eh, never mind. Let’s say "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" by Poison.

Mrs. Danvers — I appreciate Tricia’s suggestion of "Evil Woman," but I’ll take a more sympathetic tact and suggest Billie Holiday’s "Left Alone."

All right, Tricia, what would be the soundtracks for Anna Fitzgerald, Lucie Manette and Edward Rochester?

Bonus points if you can make an unnecessary Wu-Tang Clan reference.

By the way, Tricia, we now have another preferred author in common. I been loved me some Stewart O’Nan.

In my review of Snow Angels, I wrote, “O’Nan is Monet with a pen. He has the eye. He sees (and writes) little details that make every scene real. Nerdy girls do not become beauty queens when they take off their glasses. Children cry when they spill milk and cry harder when told to stop. People slowly destroy themselves and can’t change even when they realize what they are doing.”

(Yes, I know it’s overwrought. I wrote it in 2008. It was a different time.)

-Jason Lea, JLea@News-Herald.com

I gave Stewart O'Nan another try over the weekend.

I had some issues with "Songs for the Missing." All mine, not his.

So I picked up "The Good Wife," admittedly because I am a big fan of the TV series by that name.

He's now on my list of favored authors.

From the opening line, O'Nan has the reader hooked on the story of Patty Dickerson.

His description of the moments before this pregnant woman receives the phone call that will change her life is phenomenal. The idea that if she had just left the phone off the hook perhaps things would have been different ... who hasn't played that game in their mind? "If only I had done X, Y would not have happened."

But the phone does ring. And so begins the saga of her husband's 28-year incarceration. And the 28 years she struggles to raise their son and remain a good wife.

So much wasted time.

Even while I wanted to shaker her silly, I felt I understood why she waited. That's an author developing a character well.

- Tricia Ambrose

P.S. Last night, the Friends of the Library in Euclid kicked off its summer concert in the gardens series. I'm sorry we couldn't stay longer to listen to the Rockfile Band. The folks gathered on the lawn certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Every Tuesday in July a different style of music will be featured. Next week, it's the Erie Heights Brass Ensemble, followed by J Blues on July 20 and the Swinging Bavarian Band on the 27th.