Sunday, January 27, 2013

New Genre - Baby Boomer lit


If you have not checked out “Goodreads,” please do so.  It is a site for people who love to read or write books, poems, short stories, memoirs, etc.  Read other’s reviews and comments while discovering new books and sharing ones you’ve read.  You’ll find new, as well as, seasoned authors.
Other exciting news is that a new genre, called Baby Boomer Lit, is now making news.  With the number of  baby boomers increasing every day,  it’s about time we started putting out quality reading that reflects our interests and have choices in contemporary literature without having to wade through books and movies laden with filthy words and pornography. 
The Baby Boomer Lit Facebook page is also up and running   If you’re not on Facebook yet, it will be worth it just to be able to access Goodreads Facebook page.  
This month Goodreads (Baby Boomer Lit)  is spotlighting author,  Duncan Whitehead and his debut novel, The Gordonston Ladies Dog Walking Club.   It is an entertaining piece of satire that chronicles a period in the boomer years of four women living in Gordonston, a suburb of Savannah, Georgia.  Revenge, jealousy, envy and vanity are the overriding themes from which the female boomers characters emanate.  The misquoted line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “Vanity, thy name is woman,” surely applies here to Cindy and Carla while Heidi seeks retribution for her perception of misdeeds that happened over 60 years ago.  The fourth character, Thelma, is dying at the beginning of the story, but her zest for life is the antithesis of her three friends. 
 The juxtapositions of their various stories create coincidences that are oftentimes comical and at other times, serious.  In this debut novel the author has done a masterful job of creating characters that we want to see again.