false 135680 231768 0380732718 9780380732715 4 <![CDATA[Hyssop]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172939478m/231768.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172939478s/231768.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/231768.Hyssop 4.44 25 Kevin McIlvoy's Hyssop is a remarkable novel filled with kindness, truth, and magic--a story that celebrates friendship and love while exploring the complexities of a simple faith that enriches materially impoverished lives. It is a gorgeous patchwork of memory lovingly sewn together by Red Greetaltruistic petty thief and guileless grifter-who has spent many days of his eighty-seven years behind bars in Las Almas, New Mexico. Twice married-the second time, while in jail, to his lifelong love Recita Holguin-Red has sampled pleasures available only to those capable of embracing life and its temptations without shame or fear. But his sins have been as memorable as his adventures-transgressions he shares freely with Bishop Francisco Velasco, Red's lifelong best friend and confessor, and his one-time rival for the affections of his first wife, Cecilia. In telling how he has loved and been loved, in confessing how he has sinned and inspired others to sin, Red Greet seeks hyssop, the substance that might wash his soul clean.

 

]]> 135680 4.21 67 10 1998 231771 1555974139 9781555974138 4 <![CDATA[The Complete History of New Mexico: Stories]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172939479m/231771.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172939479s/231771.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/231771.The_Complete_History_of_New_Mexico_Stories 4.27 26 “Compelling and complex . . . Strange and wonderful.”
—The New York Times Book Review, in praise of McIlvoy’s previous fiction

I am going to write about the state of New Mexico and put in some maps and stuff from the encyclopedia. My theme is the Don Juan Onate trail and the Jornada Del Muerto. But I might write some other important things which as it turns out my stepmother got angry about and said she wouldn’t type this until my Dad said “Dammit now it is history” and told her maybe there weren’t commas in those days.

“The Complete History of New Mexico” is no ordinary research paper, and this is no ordinary collection of short stories. Eleven-year-old Chum’s “history” unfolds over three distinctive and increasingly disturbing sections. He writes that “Coronado explored around and found Santa Fe in 1610”; that “William Becknell was tracking wagons over everyplace in 1821”; and that every day his best friend, Daniel, is afraid to go home.

Kevin McIlvoy intersperses the title novella with equally distinctive stories set in New Mexico. Laura, a plain, overweight nurse, encounters a terrified young man on his way to the Vietnam War and takes matters into her own hands. Zach spends time with his “white-trash” relatives and finds love’s terrible and true face.

The Complete History of New Mexico is a stunningly original collection that will further McIlvoy’s growing reputation.
</div>]]> 135680 4.21 67 10 2005 276272 0380814765 9780380814763 1 <![CDATA[Little Peg]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173341398m/276272.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173341398s/276272.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/276272.Little_Peg 3.14 7 Peg O'Crerieh is a wife, mother, creative writing instructor, and occasional resident of the Everview Residential Treatment Center, which she is once again preparing to leave. Awaiting Peg at home are her devoted family; the normal pressures of daily life; and, most important, the students in her Nontraditional English class, where the assignment is always to write about Peg.

As Peg Struggles to find her place in the outside world, she finds herself drawn into her student's stories. Usurping their material , revising their facts, Peg slowly inches toward the truth until she is finally able to leave behind.  By turns brilliantly comic and achingly sad, Little Peg, is a portrait of a single woman, in extremis and in exultation, and of a life transformed by the retrospective powers of a gifted writer.

]]> 135680 4.21 67 10 1991 231772 0020346220 9780020346227 1 <![CDATA[The Fifth Station]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/231772.The_Fifth_Station 4.75 4 135680 4.21 67 10 1989 3895199 0912697768 9780912697765 0 <![CDATA[The Fifth Station: A Novel]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3895199.The_Fifth_Station_A_Novel 4.00 2 135680 4.21 67 10 1988 231770 0899240321 9780899240329 0 <![CDATA[A Waltz]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/231770.A_Waltz 3.00 1 135680 4.21 67 10 1981