Fiction Addiction

The Bird House

2012-02-04T09:41:00.000-08:00

The Bird House
Kelly Simmons
Washington Square Press, 2011

Ann Biddle is 70 years old and a widow who has started to forget things. It may be little things, like the location of her purse or a lunch date with a friend, but despite her best efforts, she can’t forget things that happened forty years ago. Her grandchild, Ellie, has a school assignment about her family history that renews Ann’s relationship with her only grandchild, her son, and his wife, Tinsley. Tinsley is overprotective of Ellie, perhaps more so because she knows that Ann’s daughter died many years ago when she was only four years old. Ann has always blamed herself for her death.

Prompted by Ellie’s questions about the past, Ann is forced to relive some of the life-changing events that occurred when she was a young mother: a breast cancer diagnosis and treatment; a school reunion that reconnected her with an old boyfriend; and her struggle to deal with a difficult child. When she told Ellie about the cancer recurring, Tinsley objected to the disclosure and started limiting their visits. Meanwhile Ellie has been sharing her observations about Tinsley’s special friendship with another man, and Ann decides to use that knowledge as leverage to see her granddaughter. Then Ann’s old boyfriend reconnects after many years, and she struggles with the idea of pursuing a relationship with him now that she has been alone for so long.

Although the cover of this book may cause readers to assume it is a heartwarming story of an elderly woman and her family, it is anything but. Ann is a mean and manipulative woman who threatens her daughter-in-law in order to get what she wants – a relationship with her granddaughter. And yet, after learning about her past sorrows and hardships, perhaps we can understand how she came to be this way. Her husband was not the most sympathetic of men; her daughter who died obviously had some emotional issues; and her approaching dementia could explain some of her personality changes. I found this book to be deceptively complex, thought-provoking and disturbing to read. At first I was sympathetic to Ann’s problems, but the more I got into the story the more I suspected that Ann’s issues probably stemmed from her own unhappiness with her marriage and role as a stay-at-home mother. It was hard to like Ann, but I still admired her courage and daring in order to finally get what she wanted while she still had the mental and physical abilities to enjoy them.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
Standing Still (2008)

Other titles you may enjoy:

The Little House by Philippa Gregory (1996)
Giving up her job as a reporter for a mediocre radio station, Ruth Cleary becomes pregnant and moves to Bath, only to become lonely and depressed and find that her mother-in-law is beginning to control and manipulate her life.

Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah (2010)
Reunited when their beloved father falls ill, sisters Meredith and Nina find themselves under the shadow of their disapproving mother, whose painful history is hidden behind her rendition of a Russian fairy tale told to the sisters in childhood.

Life’s a Beach by Claire Cook (2007)
Dreaming of becoming an artist while living above her parents' garage, forty-one-year-old Ginger pursues a relationship with a commitment-phobic man and babysits her sister's kids while overseeing her eccentric family's descent into dysfunctional chaos.

The Art of Fielding

2012-02-01T06:26:00.000-08:00

The Art of Fielding
Chad Harbach
Little, Brown, 2011

When Henry Skrimshander is recruited by Mike Schwartz to play baseball at Westish College, no one, least of all Mike, would fully appreciate or understand how much one person could change the lives of five other people, including Mike himself. Henry is a shortstop of phenomenal ability, but he is a social misfit who understands his own failings and is refreshingly modest about his talent. Mike is his mentor and his coach, but Henry’s bible for all things in baseball as well as life is a book called The Art of Fielding. The Art of Fielding is more than a book about baseball; Henry finds that its wise philosophy addresses most problems off the field as well as on it.

Unfortunately, Henry’s book has little to offer him when a routine throw goes off course and wounds Henry’s roommate, causing Henry to have a confidence crisis of epic proportions. The college team is in the middle of a championship season, and major team scouts have been nosing around at the games. Rumor has it that they are interested in Henry, but his bad throw has him spooked and his performance is not good. Meanwhile, Henry’s roommate’s injury has been the catalyst that allows the college president to finally act on his infatuation that he has been indulging himself with for the past several months. The president’s estranged daughter, Pella, shows up unexpectedly during these events with the news that she is divorcing her husband; then she and Mike find themselves in a complicated on again-off again relationship that confuses them both.

If this sounds complicated, it is, but in a thoroughly delightful way. You know a book is totally captivating when you think about it constantly; you pine for it when you aren’t reading it; and you totally wish you could just climb into the world the author has created and actually live the story along with the characters. I wanted to put my arm around Henry and be there for him as he suffered through his estrangement from Mike and his team; I wanted to tell President Affenlight that he was behaving in a self-destructive manner that would only hurt those he loved; I wanted Mike and Pella to be open and honest with each other and fall in love. I wanted the Westish College world to be my world – but I had to be happy with my all too brief time as an observer of these fragile, brave and loveable people.

Rating:

This is the author’s first novel.

Other titles you may enjoy:

The Chosen by Chaim Potok (1967)
A baseball game between Jewish schools is the catalyst that starts a bitter rivalry between two boys and their fathers.

Battle Creek by Scott Lasser (1999)
A man who has spent his adult life juggling the roles of coach to an amateur baseball team, father to his estranged son, and caretaker to his own disapproving father, finds his life coming apart at the seams when, during one single season, his pitcher loses his arm, his son drifts further away, and he learns his father is dying of cancer.

A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989)
Owen Meany hits a foul ball while playing baseball in the summer of 1953 that kills his best friend's mother, an accident that Owen is sure is the result of divine intervention.

The Forgotten Waltz

2012-01-17T10:00:00.000-08:00

The Forgotten Waltz
Anne Enright
Norton, 2011

Gina is 32 years old and married to a sweet if slightly clueless husband. No doubt she is bored with her life when she meets the older and also married Sean at a party, or maybe she is just caught unaware in the immediate attraction she feels for him. Through a series of events she carefully orchestrates, she and Sean have an affair that eventually causes both their marriages to fail, even though by the end of the novel, Sean is just separated from his wife and hasn’t fully committed himself either way. Evie is Sean’s preadolescent daughter who figures prominently in the story – both because of the strange relationship she and her father have as well as her basic oddness that distances herself from others, especially Gina.

The setting is contemporary Ireland. Gina tells the story of her affair during a rare snowstorm during which she is stuck at home, which is now the former house of her mother. Because of the dire economic situation, the house hasn’t sold, but during most of the affair, the money flowed freely and may have caused some of Sean’s reluctance to leave his wife since he could have lost much of his net worth. Now that things have spiraled downward, however, he seems more willing to talk about their future, which, of course, must include Evie. This quiet, contemplative book moves back and forth through time quite a bit, much like a person’s thoughts as they reminisce about the past. The writing is memorable; it has a lyrical and melancholy style that is absolutely beautiful..

I wish I could have warmed up more to this novel. I had trouble identifying with Gina or caring very much about the circumstances of her affair. I admired the writing style and found myself rereading several sentences just to enjoy them a second time, but this did not redeem the novel for me. The child was portrayed so strangely that I kept expecting her to do something sinister to sabotage the lovers, but nothing ever really happened. As usual, all the reviewers absolutely loved this novel, but I was mostly lukewarm about it.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
What Are You Like (2000)
The Gathering (2006)

Other titles you may enjoy:

A Small Hotel by Robert Olen Butler (2011)
A tale set in reverse chronicles the failing marriage of New Orleans residents Michael and Kelly Hayes, who, on the day their divorce becomes final, revisit their shared history to evaluate the insecurities and inabilities that have driven them apart.

The Sea by John Banville (2005)
Following the death of his wife, Max Morden retreats to the seaside town of his childhood summers, where his own life becomes inextricably entwined with the members of the vacationing Grace family.
The Love of My Youth by Mary Gordon (2011)

The Love of My Youth by Mary Gordon (2011)

Having not seen each other for more than 40 years, Miranda and Adam unexpectedly reunite in Rome--where they once spent a summer deeply in love--and agree to spend the Italian afternoons taking walks together, experiencing the city, bringing each other up to date--and reviewing the betrayal that drove them.

2012-01-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

The Cat’s Table

Michael Ondaatje
Knopf, 2011

From mesalibrary.org:

In the early 1950s, an eleven-year-old boy in Colombo boards a ship bound for England. At mealtimes he is seated at the "cat's table"--as far from the Captain's Table as can be--with a ragtag group of "insignificant" adults and two other boys, Cassius and Ramadhin. As the ship makes its way across the Indian Ocean, through the Suez Canal, into the Mediterranean, the boys tumble from one adventure to another, bursting all over the place like freed mercury. But there are other diversions as well: one man talks with them about jazz and women, another opens the door to the world of literature. The narrator's elusive, beautiful cousin Emily becomes his confidante, allowing him to see himself "with a distant eye" for the first time, and to feel the first stirring of desire. Another Cat's Table denizen, the shadowy Miss Lasqueti, is perhaps more than what she seems. And very late every night, the boys spy on a shackled prisoner, his crime and his fate a galvanizing mystery that will haunt them forever. As the narrative moves between the decks and holds of the ship and the boy's adult years, it tells a spellbinding story--by turns poignant and electrifying--about the magical, often forbidden, discoveries of childhood and a lifelong journey that begins unexpectedly with a spectacular sea voyage.

All I can say is: BORING!

Okay, I lied. I can say more than that, but nothing good. I enjoyed the first bit, where the three boys are aboard the boat and their adventures. Things started getting boring about the time that the book moved back and forth in time and the narrator became more reflective about his past and his friends and his wife and well, you get the idea. There is a lot of description, which really slowed the action down --when there was action, which became less and less as the book went on. And on.

As usual, all the book reviews LOVE a book that I can’t even finish. There must be something wrong with me.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
The English Patient (1992)
Anal’s Ghost (2000)

Other titles you might enjoy:

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2002)
Possessing encyclopedia-like intelligence, unusual zookeeper's son Pi Patel sets sail for America, but when the ship sinks, he escapes on a life boat and is lost at sea with a dwindling number of animals until only he and a hungry Bengal tiger remain.

Rites of Passage by William Golding (1980)
Edmund Talbot recounts his voyage from England to the Antipodes, and the humiliating confrontation between the stern Captain Anderson and the nervous parson, James Colley, which leads to the latter's death.

The Reivers by William Faulkner (1962)
Boon Hogganbeck persuades Lucius Priest, 11, to borrow his grandfather's car in 1905, and after they arrive at a bordello, the black Ned McCaslin trades the car for a horse.

What Alice Forgot

2012-01-07T09:45:00.000-08:00

What Alice Forgot
Liane Moriarty
Amy Einhorn Books, 2011

When Alice falls off her exercise bike during a spinning class, her return to consciousness is missing one thing: the last ten years of her life. She tells the paramedics she is 29 and pregnant and is astonished when her husband is rude to her on the phone. Imagine her shock when her sister, who is acting oddly, (why does everyone keep looking at her strangely?) tells Alice that she and Nick are separated and fighting for custody of their three children. THREE children, she thinks? How on earth did she even raise one baby, let alone three? And what happened to the relationship she shared with Elizabeth, who used to be her closest friend and ally? But the thing she just can’t get over is the problem with her marriage. Nick is the best thing that ever happened to her; she is madly in love with him and can’t even bear the thought of not being married. She doesn’t know what happened (does it involve this Gina that everyone keeps asking her about?) but she knows if she just can talk to him, everything will be fine.

As Alice relearns her 39-year-old self, she discovers that she has mastered several new skills in the past ten years: purchase and apply expensive make-up; remodel and lavishly decorate the old house she and Nick bought ten years ago; lead a large volunteer corps; exercise religiously; and that she has a new boyfriend. She also has become very thin, apparently by not eating anything of substance. She has to be introduced to her children, who quickly take advantage of her lack of knowledge and experience by telling her that they normally stay up all hours watching television and eating junk food. Nick, meanwhile, is not quite as receptive to her old charms as she thought, but he’s warming a little to the idea of a new Alice. Meanwhile, at some point in the past she somehow started to organized a giant event that everyone keeps pestering her about – the world’s biggest lemon meringue pie – and she has no idea what to do and isn't sure she really cares all that much anyway.

While at first glance you may think this novel is light and frivolous, it is anything but. Alice has turned into quite a hardened and bitter woman at age 39 – and a person that the 29-year-old Alice really doesn’t care for much. Neither does anyone else, apparently. In fact, the reader will quite like the “new” Alice and hope that she never regains her memory if it means her and Nick won’t get back together. And yet, she has lost so much of her past that she really misses, like the birth of her three children and all that was involved in their growing up. And what happened with this Gina, who must have once been her best friend. How could she not even remember her?

I was entranced with this book. I couldn’t stop reading it. I had to know what happened to Alice and Nick in the past to destroy their marriage, whether they would get back together, what happened with Gina, her relationship with the three children, and Elizabeth (I can’t forget Elizabeth!). Written with humor and sensitivity, this novel succeeds on every level and is thoroughly satisfying.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
Three Wishes (2004)
The Last Anniversary (2005)

Other titles you may enjoy:
Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella (2008)
Awakening in the hospital after a car crash believing that she is a single, twenty-five-year-old sales associate, Lexi discovers that she has lost three years in her life and she is married to a handsome millionaire, but her perfect new life soon begins to go awry.

Waking Up in Dixie by Haywood Smith (2010)
Trapped in a loveless marriage thirty years after escaping her unpromising small hometown, Elizabeth is shocked when her greedy husband is profoundly transformed by a stroke that compels him to correct his ways by blackmailing their community's bad guys.

Noah’s Compass by Anne Tyler (2009)
Preparing to retire early from an unfulfilling teaching job, Liam Pennywell struggles to recall missing memories of the night before he awoke in the hospital with a head injury, an effort that leads to unexpected discoveries.

Salvage the Bones

2012-01-03T14:08:00.000-08:00

Salvage the Bones
Jesmyn Ward
Bloomsbury, 2011

The Batiste family lives in a rural area in Mississippi. The children, four boys and a girl, live with their father. The main character, a fourteen year-old girl named Esch (Esch?) is pregnant. Their mother died soon after the birth of the youngest child, Junior, now eight. The three older children look after each other and Junior, but all are neglected, usually hungry, and alone except for a few friends who usually end up having sex with Esch. As Hurricane Katrina approaches the coast, the father is preparing the house by boarding the windows and fixing the truck in hopes of making money during the clean-up, while Skeet tries to help his dog’s puppies survive their new harsh world, much like the Batiste children are. Meanwhile, Esch worries how to tell the baby’s father and her own that she is pregnant.

I had problems with this novel, one of which is Medea mythology story that Esch reads and identifies with. I just didn’t get it. It felt to me like the author wanted to create a deeper character in Esch – one who had higher aspirations in life that she was probably going to have, being as how she’s pregnant at age 14. I also had some distaste for the dog in the story – which Esch also seemed to identify with in some ways since she had her puppies to care for, much like Esch would have a baby to care for. So I felt like I was being hit over the head with symbolism and “meaning,” but in reality, this book was just depressing. And sad. I think the part that saved it from a 1 or 2 cupcake rating is the love that the siblings felt and eventually showed one another.

Sometimes I think that some authors are just a little too “literary for” my tastes.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
Where the Line Bleeds (2008)

Other titles you may enjoy:

Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell (2006)
Reaching her sixteenth year in the harsh Ozarks while caring for her poverty-stricken family, Ree Dolly learns that they will lose their house unless her bail-skipping father can be found and made to appear at an upcoming court date.

Fay by Larry Brown (2000)
This is the saga of 17-year-old Fay Jones, who leaves her family's squalid home with three dollars to hitchhike to Biloxi, Mississippi. Along the way she is befriended by a variety of people whose lives she affects in unpredictable ways, finally becoming the catalyst in a chain reaction of desire and violence.

Sap Rising by Christine Lincoln (2001)
Set against the backdrop of the rural American South, this story captures the lives of a group of struggling young African Americans whose dreams are tempered by their difficult circumstances.

Joy for Beginners

2011-12-24T12:55:00.000-08:00

Joy for Beginners
Erica Bauermeister
Putnam, 2011

When Kate was ill with cancer, six women joined forces to help her in various ways as she underwent surgery and treatment. When she was given a clean bill of health, she invited the women for dinner, where she shared her fears about a river rafting trip through the Grand Canyon with her daughter. When the group urged her to go despite her misgivings, Kate issued each of them a challenge: if she does the one thing that has always terrified her, each of them will also do one that that they would find difficult. Even though some of the tasks seem slight, easy or inconsequential, Kate’s wisdom in the assignments become apparent as each woman attempts to do the one thing that, it turns out, proves to be the most difficult.

Each chapter is each woman’s story of doing the assigned task. They range from the simplest (learning to bake bread) to the most difficult (taking a trip overseas). As each woman attempts to do what Kate has asked, they learn something of themselves that enables them to move past whatever event or situation has stopped them from learning and growing as human beings. Kate herself goes on the river trip with her daughter, and finds the experience to be even more life-changing than the cancer was.

Some might think this novel to be overly sentimental and simplistic, but it actually proved to me to be uplifting and refreshing. It is not dreary or sad, as many cancer stories are. Instead, it shows the power and rewarding benefits of friendship among women. Who else but a close friend can see us as we really are, and in fact, confront us about our own issues in a loving and accepting way? This book will remind you to call your best friend and have a good chat about things that aren’t really important, or things that are, just because you can. And if you can’t – it will make you miss her with all your heart even more than you did before.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
The School of Essential Ingredients (2009)

Other titles you may also enjoy:

Talk before Sleep by Elizabeth Berg (1994)
Ann Stanley, an unhappily married nurse, narrates this story of Ruth Thomas, a woman dying from cancer who has left her husband, even though it means leaving her son, too.

Always and Forever by Kathy Kelly (2007)
Their satisfying lives compromised by such challenges as career changes, parenting responsibilities, and difficult relationships with men, three Irish women gather at a spa and receive assistance from a fourth woman who helps them to rethink their priorities.

Colony by Anne Rivers Siddons (1993)
Looking back on her ninety years of life while waiting for the arrival of her children and grandchildren at the family summer home, Maude Chambliss recalls a life of wealth, friendship, love, and loss.

Birds of Paradise

2011-12-19T10:00:00.000-08:00

Birds of Paradise
Diana Abu-Jaber
W.W. Norton, 2011

Teenage runaway Felice has called her mother, Avis, to arrange a meeting. Avis is a self-employed pastry chef who uses the opportunity to create her daughter’s favorite cookie, a confection that takes hours to make. Felice’s father Brian disapproves of his wife agreeing to this meeting, to making the cookies, to getting her hopes up, again, after so many disappointments. Felice has not lived at home since she was 13 years old.

Told in alternating chapters, this is the story of a damaged family. The setting is pre-economic downturn Miami, when money flowed easily and real estate was king. From our standpoint of looking back from the future, however, we know that the financial good times will soon come to an end, causing as much havoc and turmoil as the hurricane that is fast approaching the city. Felice is soon to be 18, a legal adult, and she realizes that it may be time to grow up and take ownership of her emotional problems instead of running away from them. Meanwhile, Stanley, the older son and brother who has been neglected ever since her sister first ran away, is struggling himself, but he has trouble asking his parents for help. In fact, he has given up on asking his parents for much of anything.

As the storm approaches Miami, the family struggles to connect, both physically and emotionally. Avis is on the verge of a breakdown, Brian considers an extra-marital affair, Stanley feels powerless to help himself or his business, and Felice discovers love while almost losing her own life. And yet, through all the drama, I could not warm up to any of these characters. Felice’s reasons for running away, not revealed until almost the end, just didn’t add up. Avis and Brian have real pain, but Avis just can’t let go and Brian has totally given up. Stanley was the only one I could sympathize with – he was a true victim of the situation.

Sometimes I feel uplifted after reading a good story; other times the story doesn’t move me. This is one of those times that I am left shrugging my shoulders, feeling neither good nor bad about the plot, characters, setting, or tone of this title. It was just okay – not memorable but not horrible either.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
Crescent (2003)
Origin (2007)

Other titles you may enjoy:

The Dearly Departed by Elinor Lipman (2001)
The untimely death of her single mother, Margaret Batten, brings Sunny back to small-town King George, New Hampshire, the scene of her unhappy adolescence, where she discovers old family secrets and a possible half-brother she never knew she had.

Trespass by Valerie Martin (2007)
Chloe Dales's growing dislike of her college-age son Toby's romantic relationship with Salome Drago, a Croatian refugee who is a seductive but somehow toxic blend of the old world and the new, threatens to alienate her from her tolerant husband and besotted son.

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards (2005)
In a tale spanning twenty-five years, a doctor delivers his newborn twins during a snowstorm and, rashly deciding to protect his wife from their baby daughter's affliction with Down Syndrome, turns her over to a nurse, who secretly raises the child.

The Story of Beautiful Girl

2011-12-15T12:44:00.000-08:00

The Story of Beautiful Girl
Rachel Simon
Grand Central, 2011

Lynnie Goldberg and Homan Wilson, escapees from the School for the Incurable and Feebleminded, are on the run. It is 1968 and Lynnie has just given birth to a baby girl in the pouring rain. Not knowing where else to go, they knock on the door of Martha’s farmhouse, hoping for shelter. Martha is a retired schoolteacher and widow and lives alone. Even though Lynnie and Homan are unable to communicate with Martha, she is quick to comprehend two things right away: they need shelter and they care deeply about each other. She can tell by the gentle way Homan takes care of Lynnie and the baby and their caring glances at one another that they are in love. When the authorities finally track them down, Homan manages to escape but Lynnie is tied up and taken away. Lynnie, who hasn’t spoken in years, manages to whisper just two words into Martha’s ear as they take her away: “Hide her.”
Martha understands the concern and hides the child. Not knowing what else to do, she goes on the run herself, first to friends and then to former students. As the child grows, manages to sell the farmhouse and establish alternate identities for her and the baby. Homan, meanwhile, finds himself far away from the School as he eludes capture, with no idea how to find his way back to Lynnie. Lynnie misses Homan and waits patiently for him to come back to her, but as the years go by, she starts to lose hope.
This heartbreakingly sad and affecting story will stay with you long after you finish the last page. First of all, it is a tragedy that our nation’s developmentally disabled and hearing impaired children, men and women, were incarcerated in state run institutions. Secondly, the abuse they suffered at the hands of the hired staff was unforgiveable. Third, the love demonstrated between Lynnie and Homan, two people who could not talk to each other, is remarkable and touching. They never give up searching for each other despite all the miles and years that came between them. Their story illustrates that true love and compassion is not about the words we say – it is communicated in our looks, our actions and our hearts.
Rating:

This is the author’s first novel.

Other titles you may enjoy:

Deafening by Frances Itani (2003)
Left profoundly deaf from scarlet fever, Grania O'Neill grows up protected from the hearing world and learning sign language, but her life changes when she falls in love with Jim Lloyd, a hearing man, on the eve of the Great War.

Lottery by Patricia Wood (2007)
Having learned essential life skills from his grandmother that helped him overcome his low IQ, Perry finds himself without a caregiver at the age of thirty-one and wins a fortune by playing the lottery, a windfall that brings him more family than he ever wanted.

Eventide by Kent Haruf (2004)
A novel of small-town life in the high plains region around Holt, Colorado, follows the challenges, emotional upheaval, tragedies, and intertwined destinies of the local inhabitants as they cope with the changes they encounter.

Then Came You

2011-12-13T13:08:00.000-08:00

Then Came You
Jennifer Weiner
Atria, 2011

The plans of four women are thrown together when an aging second wife, surgically enhanced and carefully falsified, fails to get pregnant for her rich husband. India, not her real name, has been attempting pregnancy through in-vitro procedures even though she suspects she’s too old at 43 (not her real age) to get pregnant. Marcus, her truly generous and nice husband, will do anything to make her happy, so they decide to hire a surrogate to have the baby for them.

Jules is a senior at Princeton. Beautiful and smart, she is willing to donate her eggs so that she can pay for her addict father to finally get the help he needs at an in-patient facility known for their success rates. But Jules still finds herself wondering about any babies that her eggs have produced, especially after she discovers true love with her best friend.

Annie is the mother of two little boys. She and her husband own an old farmhouse out in the country badly in need of repairs. Frank, her husband, does what he can to provide for the family but his TSA job just doesn’t pay enough to cover all the bills. Annie decides to become a surrogate in order to help the household, but Frank doesn’t want to accept help if it means he has to watch his wife carry someone else’s baby.

Bettina is Marcus’s grown daughter who suspects that her father’s new wife is not all she pretends to be. She hires a private detective to investigate India, but when she discovers how rampant the lies are, she finds herself reluctant to break her father’s heart again. Bettina’s mother was the one to leave the marriage, and Bettina misses her terribly now that she has moved to Arizona to join a cult. Not knowing what else to do, she holds onto the information that the detective discovered, and soon discovers a new relationship herself.

When Marcus, the soon to be father, has a heart attack, India panics and flees the country. She only wanted the baby in order to bind Marcus to her and provide a little insurance policy – she can’t be a single parent. Bettina is shocked to discover that she is now the baby’s guardian in the absence of both father and mother. Annie finds that she misses the baby she carried for nine months, so she helps when she can. And Annie, the egg donor, also becomes involved in caring for the child, who Bettina names Aurora. In this situation, it truly takes a village to raise a child.

Despite my initial worries that Jennifer Weiner was trying to channel Jodi Picoult with this story straight out of the newspaper, I enjoyed this book. I’ve always loved Weiner’s writing, from the very first (and best!) novel. I love her humor, her strong female characters, and the very real conflicts they face. This book is no different, except that there isn’t quite as much humor as her first (and best!) novel. The plot may have been plucked from the headlines, but the characters have real life struggles, make mistakes, and try to fix them in the end.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
Good in Bed (2001)
In Her Shoes (2002)
Little Earthquakes (2004)
Goodnight, Nobody (2005)
Certain Girls (2008)
Best Friends Forever (2009)
Fly Away Home (2010)

Other titles you may enjoy:

Watermelon by Marion Keyes (1998)
When her husband, James, leaves her after she delivers her first child, Claire retires to her family in Dublin, where she slowly recovers from the experience, giving James a big surprise when he shows up again.

Get Lucky by Katherine Center (2010)
After an inappropriate email causes Sarah Harper to lose her job, she goes home to Houston to spend Thanksgiving with her sister, Mackie. After years of trying, Mackie has given up on having children. As Mackie prepares to sell the nursery on eBay, Sarah gets an idea that may fix everyone's problems.

Wives Behaving Badly by Elizabeth Buchan (2006)
Minty Lloyd is now the second wife to her husband, Nathan--but she is shunned by his friends, despised by his grown children, and haunted by her very much alive, and quite reborn, predecessor Rose. Yet after a shocking phone call, Minty finds herself united with an unexpected ally--the woman she once betrayed.

The Sisters Brothers

2011-12-05T11:09:00.000-08:00

The Sisters Brothers
Patrick DeWitt
Ecco, 2011

Eli and Charlie Sisters are hired gunmen who have been commissioned to find and kill Hermann Kermit Warm, with Charlie as lead man for the first time in their history together. Eli, the younger brother, does not much care for this turn of events, especially when they run into problems along the way. As the brothers deal with an attacking red-heared bear with a bounty on its head, a double crossing saloon owner and his murderous cohorts, a contact that vanished, plus various characters who thwart their progress along the way, Eli and Charlie come to some conclusions about their chosen lifestyle.

The rough and tumble Old West comes to life in this darkly comic, sometimes gruesome and often violent western novel. Poor Eli has decided during this job that he lost the taste for killing. Charlie has his work cut out for him to keep Eli to task, but he knows what to say to fire Elie up to killing. Charlie, on the other hand, has a taste for brandy that often derails their schedule, so Eli has time to spend with a local woman or with his broken down horse. There's a sadness and wistfulness to Eli and Charlie's story, an unspoken wish that their lives had taken a different route but it's just too late to make any changes. As we learn, however, it's never too late to choose differerently, especially when things don't go exactly as planned. As you can tell, this is a different kind of Western novel. It may appeal to those of us who don't normally pick one up.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
Ablutions: notes for a novel (2009)

Other titles you may enjoy:

Appaloosa by Robert Parker (2005)
Arriving in a small nineteenth-century western town where the sheriff has been killed and the residents are at the mercy of a renegade rancher, lawmen Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch face an adversary who works by playing psychological games.

The Hot Kid by Elmore Leonard (2005)
Having made his name by killing notorious bank robber Emmet Long, Deputy U.S. Marshal Carl Webster embarks on a dangerous search for Jack Belmont, the son of an oil millionaire who dreams of becoming Public Enemy Number One.

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (1985)
Former Texas Rangers leave their unsuccessful cattle business when they hear of good opportunities in newly opened territory.

The Buddha in the Attic

2011-12-02T11:32:00.000-08:00

The Buddha in the Attic
Julie Otsuka
Knopf, 2011

This is the story of some Japanese women who came to the United States in the early 1900s as mail order brides for Japanese men. Some of the men were laborers, some were shop keepers. Some of the men were rich, some were poor. Some treated their new wives with love and respect, others were abusive and demanding. Some of the new husbands and wives deceived each other with their pictures and letters sent before marriage, and so were disappointed when they met. Some had open and honest relationships. Most had children who grew up to reject their ancestry and history and heritage. Almost all found themselves classified as the enemy after the events at Pearl Harbor. A few disappeared, never heard from again. Many lost their homes and their businesses when they were relocated to the camps.

Told in beautiful and descriptive language that combines the experiences of many women into one voice, this novella may perhaps be more accurately described as a prose poem. Interestingly, it is full of contradictions. It is one story, yet it describes many women’s experiences. It is an emotional and painful account of the suffering and disappointment that the women experienced, yet the overall tone is detached and impersonal. There are very few names and no specific characters mentioned, yet the author gives the impression that the women know each other and have relationships as the years go by. As readers, we don’t get to know any of the women very well, yet we learn a great deal about the lives of the immigrants through their voices gathered together.

This is a very remarkable book that I highly recommend, especially if you enjoy the power of a perfectly chosen word. I was particularly impressed with the unique voice of the collective Japanese women and the skill that Otsuka used to create one narrative voice with many characters. It is mesmerizing and memorable.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
When the Emperor was Divine (2002)

Other titles you may enjoy:

The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford (2009)
When artifacts from Japanese families sent to internment camps during World War II are uncovered during renovations at a Seattle hotel, Henry Lee embarks on a quest that leads to memories of growing up Chinese in a city rife with anti-Japanese sentiment.

How to be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway (2010)
Entreated to visit her ancestral family in Japan in place of her ailing mother, Sue uncovers family secrets that influence her life in unforeseen ways, offer insight into her mother's marriage to an American GI, and reveal the role of tradition in shaping personal choice.

My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki (1998)
Strange things happen in the love lives of two women--one a Japanese-American filmmaker from New York, the other a Japanese housewife--linked by a Japanese television show sponsored by an American meat exporter.

The Family Fang

2011-11-28T10:00:00.000-08:00

The Family Fang
Kevin Wilson
Ecco, 2011

For as long as Buster and Annie can remember, their parents have been weird. They could have coped if their parents had been the normal kind of weird that most kids complain about. You know, like wearing black socks with sandals or arguing in public. Instead they were stuck with the kind of weird parents called public performing artists who created mayhem and chaos in public places just to watch other people’s reactions and record it as art. Which was fine when it was just Caleb and Camille Fang creating public scenes, but it seemed that the only reason they had their children was just to use them as props their parents’ performance pieces? Or at least, that’s the way Buster and Annie felt.

For as long as they can remember, the children starred in their parents' madcap pieces, but now that they are adults, they are having a hard time coping in a normal world. When Annie and Buster make a series of bad decisions that affect their careers and their lives, they have nowhere to go but home, where they discover that Caleb and Camille are planning one last performance – whether the kids want to help or not. Can Annie and Buster cope with what they see as the ultimate betrayal, or will they understand that for their parents, art is more important than they are?

If you like to squirm uncomfortably while reading your novels, then this book is for you. Chapters alternate between the circumstances surrounding the past performance pieces, where young Annie and Buster are reluctant and sometimes resistant participants, to current situations involving adult Annie and Buster, who find themselves still reluctant and resistant to playing the same game with their parents. This odd and compelling novel will leave you with a lot of conflicted feelings and moral questions about parental love and damaged children. And yet, it has an odd appeal – maybe because we can all identify with having fairly odd parents to some degree.

Rating:

This is the author’s first novel.

Other titles you may enjoy:

The Ghost at the Table by Suzanne Berne (2006)
Thanksgiving at the New England home of the second of three sisters marks a reunion between the three Fiske sisters and their long-estranged father, in a portrait of the unraveling of a family.

The Field Guide to Burying Your Parents by Liza Palmer (2009)
As a child, Grace Hawkes was abandoned by her father; as an adult, she feels abandoned when her mother dies unexpectedly. Not knowing what to do, Grace runs away. Five years later she reunites with her siblings at her father's deathbed and confronts her past.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (2010)
The idyllic lives of civic-minded environmentalists Patty and Walter Berglund come into question when their son moves in with aggressive Republican neighbors, green lawyer Walter takes a job in the coal industry, and go-getter Patty becomes increasingly unstable and enraged.

This Beautiful Life

2011-11-26T10:00:00.000-08:00

This Beautiful Life
Helen Schulman
Harper Collins, 2011

When 15-year-old Jake rejects the sexual advances of an eighth grader, then forwards a pornographic video she made for him to his friend, the beautiful life that his mother Liz and his father Richard created for him and his younger sister disappears. As expected, the video goes viral and immediately puts Jake’s future in jeopardy as well as disrupting the family’s well-being. Jake and his friends are questioned by the police and suspended from school; Liz has a breakdown of sorts; and Richard’s new job in New York is up in the air. If only, Liz laments, they had never left their idyllic life in Ithaca. If only, Richard wishes, he had made more time for Jake. If only, Jake thinks repeatedly, he had deleted that email without even watching it.

Set in a pre-9/11 Manhattan full of excessive wealth and a strange kind of innocence, this story could happen to anyone, which is what makes it so compelling. Liz and Richard make lots of mistakes along the way, not the least is their lack of parenting to their older child in order to concentrate all their time and energy with the younger one, who, ironically, becomes ignored during the family crisis. Still, it is hard to watch this unraveling of what seems like a perfectly happy family, who will never the same after this event. Readers expecting a happy ending will want to read something else, because this is a sobering, thought-provoking and somewhat depressing story.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
P.S. (2001)
A Day at the Beach (2007)

Other titles you may enjoy:

Before You Know Kindness by Chris Bohjalian (2004)
After a decade of spending a delightful summer week at their country house in New Hampshire, the members of the extended Seton family are confronted by a terrible accident, testing the values and relationships that hold them together.

The Summer Guest by Justin Cronin (2004)
Nearing the end of his life, financier Harry Wainwright journeys to a rustic fishing camp in Maine and leaves a profound legacy for a haunted young man, a Vietnam draft evader, and a spirited young woman who holds a key to the past.

Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry (2002)
In mid-1990s Bombay, Nariman Vakeel lives in a crumbling apartment with his two middle-aged stepchildren--the mild-mannered Jal and his domineering sister, Coomy, who plots to turn over the care of her stepfather to her younger sister, Roxana.

Sister

2011-11-23T10:00:00.000-08:00

Sister
Rosamund Lupton
Crown, 2011

Beatrice and her sister Tess have always been close, so when Beatrice doesn’t hear from Tess for several days she begins to worry. It turns out that Beatrice is right to worry. Tess, who is single and pregnant, is officially missing. Beatrice quickly travels home to London to find out what happened, and she is shocked to learn that Tess’ baby died several weeks earlier. Not only that, but Tess had been stalked by someone who left frightening messages on her phone and watched her through her windows at night. Then, when Tess is found dead of an apparent suicide, Beatrice starts to investigate on her own, convinced that Tess would never take her own life.

Part psychological drama, part medical thriller, and part mystery, this fast-paced suspense story will keep you alert and interested in the outcome. Beatrice seems driven by a combination of guilt over moving away from her sister in London and determination to prove the police wrong about her sister’s death. When Tess’ therapist tells the police that Tess suffered from hallucinations brought on by illicit drug use, Beatrice works even harder to prove that she was murdered. She feels so close to a motive, but every turn seems to result in a dead end. Could it be that Beatrice is starting to lose her own grip on reality? Everyone else seems to think so.

If there is such a thing as a quiet suspense story, this would be it. The book’s structure has alternating chapters between a letter that Beatrice narrates to her sister and an interview that Beatrice has with an attorney explaining her every step to solve the mystery. While I was not as riveted to the book as others were, I found the story compelling and the premise intriguing enough to keep reading. A surprise twist at the end, however, left me feeling a bit betrayed and disappointed.

Rating:

This is the author's first novel.

Other titles you may enjoy:

The Water’s Lovely by Ruth Rendell (2006)
A decade after the killing of her stepfather, Ismay is still haunted by nightmares of his murder and of seeing his naked body floating in the bathtub and her sister, Heather, standing over him.

The Vanishing of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell (2007)
Iris Lockhart receives news that her great-aunt Esme is being released from Cauldstone Hospital, where she has been confined for more than sixty years, and soon discovers that Esme holds the key to long-hidden family secrets that could change her life forever.

The Secret Smile by Nicci French (2004)
Discovering that her sister has become involved with a deceptive man whom she herself dumped weeks earlier, Miranda becomes increasingly apprehensive when her sister begs Miranda to let them both live with her while they find a place of their own.

The Dovekeepers

2011-11-19T15:38:00.000-08:00

The Dovekeepers
Alice Hoffman
Scribner, 2011

This fictionalized account of the first century massacre at Masada unfolds through the voices of four women: Yael, the hated daughter of an assassin; Revka, a baker’s wife determined to protect her orphaned grandsons; a girl who fights battles disguised as a warrior; and her mother, a woman of mysterious powers. What unites all these women in this community is their assigned duty as dove keepers, where they learn to forgive each other in order to survive in an increasingly hostile time.

Hoffman fans may struggle through this massive volume, because it is a significant departure in style and content from many of her previous works. She spent a great deal of time researching the history behind the event, and this shows through the extensive detail and background that accompanies each character’s story. However, the long paragraphs and slow plot make this a tedious work to get through. Some may find it rewarding – but others may elect to just give up. After finishing it myself, I’m not sure it’s worth the long, hard slog to the end.

By the way, isn't the cover fantastic? It makes me wish I liked the book more!

Rating:

Alice Hoffman has numerous novels to her name. Check them out at mesalibrary.org!

Other titles you may enjoy:

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley (2010)
Carrie settles into the shadow of Slains Castle in Scotland, creates a heroine named for one of her own ancestors, and starts to write about the Jacobite invasion of 1708. When she can no longer tell the difference between today and centuries ago, is she dealing with an ancestral memory-- a memory that might destroy her?

Innocent Traitor by Allison Weir (2006)
A fictional portrait of Lady Jane Grey, the great-niece of Henry VIII, follows her turbulent life against the backdrop of Tudor power politics and religious upheaval, from her youth, to her nine-day reign as Queen of England, to its tragic aftermath.

Madame Bovary’s Daughter by Linda Urbach (2011)
A continuation of Flaubert's classic finds twelve-year-old Berthe cast off by society in the aftermath of her mother's suicide and sent to live with her impoverished grandmother, from where she eventually rises through the ranks of Charles Worth's famed fashion empire.

Lost Memory of Skin

2011-11-14T10:00:00.000-08:00

Lost Memory of Skin
Russell Banks
Ecco Press, 2011

The Kid is a young sex offender who has no choice but to live with other outcasts in a makeshift homeless camp under a south Florida freeway. He and the other sex offenders are required to live outside society because of a law which restricts them from going within 2500 feet from any school, church, daycare, or virtually any other place that children or teens may frequent – which pretty much rules out every place except the underpass.

The Kid has a job, a bicycle, and a tent, so he can get by. He and the other ex-cons have figured out ways to charge their ankle bracelets with a generator (for a fee, of course); they know the best locations to dumpster dive for groceries; they have learned how to survive in a society that has only contempt and disgust for them. The Kid, who was kicked out of the army, had a troubled upbringing but he doesn’t blame his mother for leaving him alone for long periods of time. Although some people would accuse her of neglect so profound it could be considered abusive, The Kid figures she was doing the best she could, and it wasn’t her fault he discovered online pornography at a young age, which led to his subsequent downfall and current situation. If anything, The Kid was so naïve and trusting and desperate for human contact, that he did a stupid thing that he will pay for the rest of his life. He knows the score.

When the Professor shows up, the Kid is naturally suspicious and does not let his guard down for even a minute. The Professor teaches sociology and thinks he can rehabilitate The Kid as a social experiment. He gives The Kid money and counseling sessions, but the Professor is not everything he seems and his past starts to haunt him. He enlists The Kid to help him, which he does despite his misgivings, and the two men develop a relationship based on trust and friendship – something The Kid has never before experienced in his life.

I never thought I would feel such compassion and caring for a character like The Kid. He is definitely a victim of his own mistakes, and while I certainly would never condone his choices, I kind of understand why he made them. Many lonely people survive in this sad world without resorting to doing wrong. In fact, The Kid makes no excuses for himself. He doesn’t expect any special favors, nor does he bemoan his condition, but he does get tired of living in a tent under the freeway with other lowlifes like himself. This book is not a feel-good story: it raises many questions about rehabilitation and sexual predators and societal pressures. It will make you wonder about sex offenders trying to survive in a world that hates them and what, if anything, we should do about that. But it’s The Kid -- a young man who finally learns how to love someone else -- who will stay with you long after the book ends.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
Affliction (1989)
Rule of the Bone (1995)
Cloudsplitter (1998)
The Darling (2004)
The Reserve (2008)
Outer Banks: three early novels (2008)

Other titles you may enjoy:

The Echo Maker by Richard Powers (2006)
Twenty-seven-year-old Mark Schluter, suffering from a rare brain disorder that causes him to believe his sister to be an impostor, endeavors to discover the cause of the motor vehicle accident that resulted in his head injury.

Invisible by Paul Auster (2009)
Poet and student Adam Walker meets the enigmatic Frenchman Rudolf Born and his silent, seductive girlfriend, Margot, sending Adam into a perverse triangle that leads to a shocking act of violence that will alter his life.

Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee (1999)
In a novel set in post-apartheid South Africa, a fifty-two-year-old college professor who has lost his job for sleeping with a student tries to relate to his daughter, Lucy, who works with an ambitious African farmer.

Faith

2011-11-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

Faith

Jennifer Haigh
Harper, 2011

When her older brother Art--a Catholic priest and the popular pastor of a large suburban parish--finds himself at the center of a scandal, his younger sister Sheila McGann returns to Boston to help the family and fight for Art’s reputation. The problem is: Sheila isn’t absolutely convinced that Art is innocent of any wrongdoing.

Sheila has been estranged from her Catholic family for years, but she has always been close to her brother, Art. She and her younger brother Mike have tried to keep in touch, but Mike’s wife made it clear that she didn’t approve of Sheila, so she kept her distance. As Art struggles with his immediate ouster from the parish and relocation to a dismal apartment, Mike communicates his distrust of Art, and warns him to stay away from their family home. Gossip, innuendo, and outright lies run rampant, and Sheila despairs of every learning the truth until Mike decides to take matters into his own hands with disastrous results.

Sheila narrates a story that could be taken directly from the Boston headlines a few years ago. Her detached writing style is hard to warm up to, however, and left me only mildly interested in discovering the “truth” about Art and his accusers. We suspect, rightly, that there is more to the story than meets the eye, and while I didn’t quite guess the exact ending to the drama, I was correct in some of my assumptions. I would classify this one as mildly interesting, only somewhat compelling, and while not entirely forgettable, not something I enthusiastically recommend, either.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
Baker Towers (2005)
Mrs. Kimble (2006)
The Condition (2008)

Other titles you may enjoy:

The Priestly Sins by Andrew Greeley (2004)
Assigned to his first parish, Father Herman Hoffman witnesses child abuse in the parish rectory and reveals the situation to the local pastor, only to discover the fate of a whistle-blower.

An Act of Love by Nancy Thayer (1997)
When Linda McFarland's daughter attempts suicide and then accuses Owen McFarland's son (her stepbrother) of raping her, the happily married couple find their lives torn apart at the seams.

The Astral by Kate Christensen (2011)
The Astral is a huge apartment building in Brooklyn, which has been the happy home of the poet Harry Quick and his wife, Luz, who raised two children in their rambling top-floor apartment. However, the aging Astral's glory is beginning to fade- and as the building crumbles around him, a series of events forces Harry to face the reality of his own fractured family.

Everything Happens Today

2011-11-07T10:00:00.000-08:00

Everything Happens Today

Jesse Browner
Europa, 2011

Wes is a seventeen-year-old who lives in Greenwich Village in a dilapidated town house with his terminally ill mother, remote has-been author father and precocious younger sister. This novel is the record of what happens to Wes In the course of one day: he accidentally loses his virginity to the wrong girl; he tries to rewrite an English paper on War and Peace , and he prepares an elaborate dinner for his mother. As Wes struggles with his conflicting feelings about the girl he hooked up with the night before, he juggles grocery shopping, texting his friends, taking his sister to a movie, and doing his homework while contemplating such issues as sex, love, song lyrics, innocence, friendship, God and French cuisine.

Long sentences and longer paragraphs provide a stream of conscience approach to the atypical brain of a bright young man who seems overwhelmed with too many responsibilities for a teenager. No doubt Wes has a lot on his mind, but most readers would be questioning why Wes is the one who has to the caregiver of both his mom and his little sister. Where is his father? And why hasn’t anyone called Protective Services? These issues are not addressed, however, and then, frankly, I stopped caring. Although I felt sorry for Wes, I really didn’t care to read his every passing thought and detail of every minute of his one day. Yes, a lot happened to Wes today, but much of it did not make compelling reading and in fact, was a little boring and more than a little forgettable.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
The Uncertain Hour (2007)

Other titles you may enjoy:

The Dearly Departed by Elinor Lipman (2001)
The untimely death of her single mother, Margaret Batten, brings Sunny back to small-town King George, New Hampshire, the scene of her unhappy adolescence, where she discovers old family secrets and a possible half-brother she never knew she had.

Trepass by Valerie Martin (2007)
Chloe Dales's growing dislike of her college-age son Toby's romantic relationship with Salome Drago, a Croatian refugee who is a seductive but somehow toxic blend of the old world and the new, threatens to alienate her from her tolerant husband and besotted son.

A Multitude of Sins by Richard Ford (2002)
A collection of short stories that explores the theme of love and intimacy looks inside the relationships between men and women--both in and out of marriage--and the sense of right and wrong.

The Night Circus

2011-11-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Night Circus

Erin Morgenstern
Doubleday, 2011

The Night Circus opens at midnight and closes at dawn. It travels around the world and there has never been anything like it. Spanning a time period from 1973 to 1903, this complicated and ambitious story is about a competition between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood to compete in "a game," in which each must use their powers of illusion to best the other. Their battling arena is the Night Circus, a world renown magical place that inspires a cult following. Unbeknownst to them, this game is a duel to the death, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will.

Celia’s father is Prospero, a famous magician. When she turns up after the death of her mother, he is amazed and delighted to see she was gifted with certain talents that he could develop and use in the competition. Marco was an orphan, picked up by Prospero’s opponent, in order to be trained as a worthy adversary. Marco’s job was to manage the circus, carefully and unobtrusively manipulating the people, acts, and illusions in order to attract – and then overpower – his opponent. As the two battle each other within the elements of the circus, they grow to care about each other in ways their mentors never expected.

This novel is extremely unusual, sometimes confusing, and may be too complicated for some. It alternates between characters’ perspectives and time periods for each chapter, which meant I was doing a lot of paging back and forth to keep track of the timeline and plot. Rave reviews of this fantasy make it worth reading; just be prepared for an intense journey that requires much brain power to keep everything straight. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it as much as I appreciated the author’s skill in keeping all the balls in the air at the same time.

Rating:

This is the author’s first novel.

Other titles you may enjoy:

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (2004)
In nineteenth-century England, all is going well for rich, reclusive Mr Norell, who has regained some of the power of England's magicians from the past, until a rival magician, Jonathan Strange, appears and becomes Mr Norrell's pupil.

Mister B. Gone by Clive Barker (2007)
A medieval devil speaks directly to the reader, his tone murderous one moment, seductive the next, in a memoir allegedly penned in the year 1438. The demon has embedded himself in the very words of this tale of terror, turning the book itself into a dangerous object, laced with menace only too ready to break free and exert its power.

Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal (2010)
In a Jane Austen-inspired alternate universe, two sisters, one beautiful and the other skilled in the glamour arts, test the limits of their gifts on an unscrupulous suitor.

Turn of Mind

2011-10-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

Turn of Mind
Alice LaPlante
Atlantic Monthly Press, 2011

Jennifer White is a brilliant retired surgeon who has dementia. Every day is a struggle for her to remember the simplest of things: her adult children’s names, that she needs to wear clothes when she goes outside, or even that her best friend and neighbor was murdered. In order to help remember the details of her life, she keeps a notebook where family members and her caregiver keep a record of her daily activities, and also where Dr. White can summarize events for future reference. As we read Dr. White’s journal, however, we come to believe that she may have been involved in the death of her best friend because Dr. White starts to implicate herself by revealing past events that may have provided a motive for the murder. In fact, the police are also very interested in Dr. White as a person of interest, despite the fact (or perhaps because of it) that Dr. White keeps forgetting that her friend is dead and speaks of past conflicts between the two as though they just occurred – conflicts that could prove very damaging to Dr. White and her family. As the doctor loses herself more and more to the disease, we can start to see evidence that the others around her don’t always have her best interests at heart.

This intriguing premise is sure to please readers who enjoy literary mysteries as well as those who are interested in the effects a catastrophic illness can have on a proudly independent medical professional. Dr. White (never Jenny or Jen) was not a warm person to her patients or very maternal to her children. She didn’t seem worried about her husband’s infidelities, nor was she very friendly with coworkers. She was dedicated to medicine and her work, however, and this defined her life so much that she had trouble separating herself from it upon retirement. Dr. White’s distant yet dedicated personality is what makes the slow unraveling of her life all the more remarkable – especially when the reader is confronted with her inexplicable actions at the end of the novel.

This is definitely a book worthy of more contemplation.

Rating:

This is the author’s first novel.

Other novels you may enjoy:

Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson (2011)
Without her husband's knowledge, Christine, whose memory is damaged by a long-ago accident, is treated by a neurologist who helps her to remember her former self through journal entries until inconsistencies begin to emerge, raising disturbing questions.

The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey by Walter Mosley (2010)
Ptolemy Grey is a 91-year-old man, suffering from dementia and living as a recluse in his Los Angeles apartment. Then Robyn Small, a 17-year-old family friend, appears and helps clean up his apartment and straighten out his life. A reinvigorated Ptolemy volunteers for an experimental medical program that restores his mind, and he uses his last days--shortened now by the medical experiment--to delve into the mystery of the recent drive-by shooting death of his great-nephew,

The Bird House by Kelly Simmons (2011)
Eight-year-old Ellie finds herself in dark territory when her dementia-ridden grandmother begins using her as a sounding board for the family's most forbidden secrets.

Promise Not to Tell

2011-10-29T11:15:00.000-07:00

Promise Not to Tell

Jennifer McMahon
Harper, 2007

Kate Cypher is forced to relive the murder of her childhood friend when she returns home to Vermont to care for her mother who's afflicted with Alzheimer's. On the night she arrives, a young girl is murdered - a horrific crime that eerily mirrors the brutal murder three decades earlier of Del, Kate’s dirt poor friend who was shunned and bullied by the other children. Nicknamed “Potato Girl,” the victim has since achieved immortality in local legends and ghost stories, but her killer was never found. Because her mother was seen wandering around the woods the same night the second girl was murdered, Kate must do some investigation of her own in order to clear her mother’s – and now her own – name.

Told in alternating chapters, this story is eerie, compelling, and suspenseful. Strangely enough, the paranormal developments are skillfully woven into the story so that it is very believable and frightening. It is hard to stop reading because the reader learns early in the book that Kate feels guilty over her treatment of Del when they are children, and, in addition, feels as though she contributed to an incident that led to her murder – but we don’t find out what that incident is until towards the satisfying and predictable ending. Nevertheless, this is a quick and undemanding reading experience that will please most readers, even if you wouldn’t normally pick up a ghost story like this one.

Rating:

This is the author’s first novel.

Other novels you may enjoy:

Body Surfing by Dale Peck (2009)
While a typical teen gradually realizes that a dark force has taken over the body of his best friend, prompting the latter's dangerous and reckless behavior, a member of an elite and secret organization of hunters investigates the sinister activities of human-possessing demons.

Tick Tock by Dean Koontz (1997)
After stumbling upon a mysterious rag doll on his doorstep, Tommy Phan finds himself hunted in his own home, as the doll begins to grow into a monster that is determined to kill him.

The Ethical Assassin by David Liss (2006)
Working as a door-to-door salesman in a South Florida trailer park, teenager Lem Altick witnesses the murders of two of his would-be customers and is forced into an alliance with the assassin, an extremist dedicated to animal rights.

The Gin Closet

2011-10-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Gin Closet
Leslie Jamison
Free Press, 2010

Stella is at a crossroads after her grandmother dies. She has a crappy job in New York but feels on edge. When her mother refuses to tell Stella's aunt about their mother's death, Stella feels an obligation to seek her out and tell her in person. Her brother thinks she is crazy but agrees to accompany her to Nevada anyway.

On the edge of dying from alcoholism after running away from home when she was a teen, Tilly Rudolph's life changes with the arrival of her niece Stella. Living in a crappy trailor, she has virtually no contact with the outside world and much prefers her life drinking in a small closet. When Stella arrives, she is at first resistant to Stella's attempts to help her, but she becomes more optimistic about things when Stella convinces her to move to San Francisco to reunite with Tilly's son.

Reviewers loved this book but I could barely force myself to finish it. It may have poetic and moving language, but I felt the writing was lost on the depressing plot and sad characters. I found myself caring very little what happened to Stella and Tilly as each page slowly unfolded into another boring and pitiful day for them. In fact, I highly recommend a good gin and tonic for any reader who finds him or herself assigned to read this book -- you will need some help to get to the predictably sad end.

This is the author’s first novel.

Rating:

Other titles you may enjoy (more than this one):

Blue Shoe by Anne Lamott (2002)
When she stumbles upon a small blue shoe and other small items left behind in her deceased father's car, Mattie Ryder, a divorced mother of two, and her brother struggle to uncover the truth about their dysfunctional upbringing.

Men and Dogs by Katie Crouch (2010)
After the loss of her business and her husband sets her adrift, Hannah Legare is compelled to try to solve the mystery behind her father's disappearance when she was 11, an endeavor that hinges on her ability to unlock secrets long held by her brother and ex-boyfriend. .

Paradise by A.L. Kennedy (2005)
Hannah Luckraft finds an escape from her sales job, her strained relations with her younger brother, and her lonely and difficult life in her growing relationship with alcoholic Robert, as she looks to find happiness in an ultimate altered state.

Engleby

2011-10-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

Engleby
Sebastian Faulks

Doubleday, 2007

Mike may be highly intelligent and seem normal to his classmates, but something is not quite right. When he becomes fixated on a classmate named Jennifer Arkland and she goes missing, the reader is left wondering if Michael Engleby may have had something to do with it.

We first meet Engleby when he at university, but as he reveals more about his past abuse at the hands of others, we realize that he is a very unreliable narrator and start to mistrust his version of events. As he grows up, finding a job and even a girlfriend in London, Mike only becomes increasingly detached from those around him; it seems that he would prefer to observe and record his version of events instead of becoming a part of them. His inability to relate to others mixed with his frequent black-out episodes cause the reader to suspect that Engleby is not to be trusted and in fact, could be considered quite dangerous to others. Or, is he?

Reviewers were mixed about this book and I can understand why. I am fascinated with the premise of a narrator that can’t be trusted and admire any author’s ability to successfully portray the subtle nuances required to give this impression. We guess pretty quickly that Engleby is the prime suspect in the murder, but he seems to lack the necessary mental illness required to be a killer. This doubt on the reader’s part is the tension that carries the story through to an unpredictable ending. While the middle part dragged on a bit too long for me, I kept with the story because I wanted to find out whether Mike actually was a murderer or not. And I was not disappointed.

This title would make a good book group choice.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
The Girl at the Lion D’or (1989)
Birdsong (1993)
Charlotte Gray (1998)
On Green Dolphin Street (2001)
Human Traces (2005)
Devil May Care (2008)
A Week in December (2009)

Other titles you may enjoy:

Enduring Love by Ian McEwan (1998)
Joe and Clarissa Rose's spring idyll in the park is cut short when Joe helps rescue a child from a balloon accident, one man is killed, and Joe becomes the target of suspicion and ultimately an assassination attempt.

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (1985)
The members of a Southern family contribute their individual tribulations to this encompassing impression of rural poverty.

Drood by Dan Simmons (2009)
A tale inspired by the mysterious final years of Charles Dickens finds the fifty-three-year-old literary master irrevocably changed when a train journey with his mistress ends in violence.

The Missing

2011-10-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Missing
Sarah Langan
Harper, 2007

“When schoolteacher Lois Larkin takes her third grade class on a trip to Bedford, a town destroyed by an environmental catastrophe, one of the children unearths an ancient, contagious plague that transforms its victims into something violent, inhuman, and hungry.”

Horror is not my favorite genre, but when I needed to find a supernatural horror title for a work book discussion group, I picked this title because it got a favorable review. Actually, to be more accurate, I picked her first novel, The Keeper, but I couldn’t get into it. It felt like it was the sequel to another book, so I decided to start with The Missing instead. Then, when I was about halfway into The Missing, I realized that I should have read The Keeper first, but it was too late. I wasn’t going to force myself to read another miserable horror novel if I didn’t have to.

Reviewers love Sarah Langan, and to be fair, she is probably a great horror novelist if you like that sort of thing – and I don’t. However, I feel that I could be objective enough to recognize a good story if I read one, even if it did involve flesh-eating zombies. I could not get past the ridiculous premise of an elementary school teacher taking a bunch of third graders on a FIELD TRIP to the scene of a former environmental catastrophe. Really? Even if supernatural events occur, I would like to at least try to believe it COULD happen, yet this story was so implausible that I could not suspend reality enough to enjoy the story. In fact, I found some of the scenes more comic than scary, and frankly, a little boring. How many times can someone get eaten in one novel?

I think I should have picked a Stephen King book instead.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
The Keeper (2006)
The Missing (2007)
Audrey’s Door (2009)

Other titles you may enjoy:

Under the Dome by Stephen King (2009)
After an invisible force field seals off Chester's Mill, Maine, from the rest of the world, it is up to Dale Barbara, an Iraq veteran, and a select group of citizens to save the town, if they can get past Big Jim Rennie, a murderous politician, and his son, who hides a horrible secret in his dark pantry.

A Dark Matter by Peter Straub (2010)
Old friends try to come to grips with the darkness of the past--a secret ritual that left behind a gruesomely dismembered body--and find themselves face-to-face with the evil they helped create.

The Walking by Bentley Little (2000)
As a strange epidemic characterized by a series of deaths and a reanimation of the dead who are drawn to an unknown destination, spreads across the country, investigator Miles Huerdeen follows a nightmarish quest to uncover a secret as old as time itself.

The Leftovers

2011-10-05T15:00:00.000-07:00

The Leftovers
Tom Perrotta
Centerpoint, 2011

Imagine that a person you are talking to just vaporizes. Or, maybe you turn your head to look at something on the television, and your whole family disappears. When this bizarre phenomenon happens all over the world – when millions of people vanish without reason or explanation – those left behind are the ones who are confused, grief-stricken, and, in some cases, without purpose. What makes things even more confusing for those left behind is the people are now gone were a mix of good and bad, religious and secular, young and old. In other words, there was no rapture, no plague, and no warning, which makes the leftovers struggling to find meaning in a world that no longer makes sense.

Some who are left behind join religious cults, like the Guilty Remnant, whose members take a vow of silence, chain smoke cigarettes, and try to ready themselves and others for another Sudden Departure. Others try to make a difference in their community, like new mayor Kevin Garvey. Others seem lost in their grief, like Nora Durst, who lost her whole family and entire reason for living. Reverend Jamison, on the other hand, is so enraged about being passed over that he has started researching those taken away and publishing their sins in hateful pamphlets just to prove that the Rapture has not happened yet. Even though only 87 people in this small New Jersey town disappeared, those left behind will never be the same.

I found this novel to be richly ironic, sometimes confusing, and very compelling. The premise is quite fascinating: how do ordinary people cope in extraordinary situations? In most cases, they cope by acting out in some way, or making drastic changes in their lives, or hurting the ones they love most. Even though the tone is uneven and borders on comic, the characters carry the plot as they struggle to live through a most perplexing and unsettling time. Although I enjoyed this novel, I couldn’t get past one woman’s story: even though she lost neither her husband nor her two children, she felt compelled to leave them anyway and join the Guilty Remnant, for no reason that is ever explained. This really bugged me.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
The Wishbones (1997)
Election (1998)
Joe College (2000)
Little Children (2004)
The Abstinence Teacher (2007)

Other titles you may enjoy:

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood (2009)
When a natural disaster predicted by God's Gardeners leader Adam One obliterates most human life, two survivors trapped inside respective establishments that metaphorically represent paradise and hell wonder if any of their loved ones have survived.

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist (2009)
Assigned to the Unit to submit to testing and eventual organ donation and death, Dorrit Weger accepts her fate as a single woman over the age of fifty until she meets a man inside the Unit and falls in love.

Ghost by Alan Lightman (2007)
Three months after being unexpectedly fired from his banking job, David takes a temporary position at a local mortuary, where he experiences an inexplicable encounter with the unknown that transforms his relationships with everyone around him.

State of Wonder

2011-09-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

State of Wonder

Ann Patchett
Harper, 2011

When a fellow researcher dies while checking on a field team doing research in the Amazon, Marina Singh is asked to learn about his death – and to investigate the research group stationed there. Although Marina is justifiably nervous about suffering the same fate as her colleague, she feels pressured into the trip by the president of the company, partly because she is having an affair with him and partly because the dead man’s wife begged her to find out what happened to her husband. Marina understands the urgency regarding the research team’s work: they have discovered a tribe of Amazonian Indians where the woman are fertile until their eighties, and a drug that could help women conceive and bear children would make millions of dollars. However, she is nervous about meeting the doctor in charge of the research, Annick Swenson, who was her mentor and instructor in medical school.

Marina undergoes quite a journey to find the research group and Dr. Swenson, who is alive and well and still developing the drug despite what she considers to be undue harassment from Vogel, the pharmaceutical company funding her research. Clearly bothered by Marina’s presence, she nonetheless brings her to the tribe’s location and there Marina learns how important – and dangerous – the research is. In fact, Marina now easily understands how easy it is to die in the jungle; there are enough deadly insects, reptiles, fish, and other creatures there to kill off a whole team of doctors, let alone one man. As she learns more about the amazing properties of the tree bark that seemingly enables elderly women to become pregnant, Marina finds herself becoming less interested in her former career and more drawn into the Lakashi way of life – so much so that she debates staying on to take over Dr. Swenson’s life work until an event occurs that wakes her from this romanticized, dream-like existence, and she is required to make the most difficult decision she has ever had to make.

Patchett has woven a hypnotic and magical story about a normal person who must gather every ounce of courage, strength and skill to tackle a task that most people would not be able to accomplish, let alone attempt. Marina is not so special – and in fact – she freely acknowledges that she is not the best person to travel to a remote village to check on her former professor, a person that she shared an unpleasant and unfortunate experience many years ago. Yet, she finds the inner resources to do what must be done, and in the process changes the lives of so many others. This story succeeds on many levels, but the best things about it are the unforgettable setting of the Amazon Valley, the fascinating portrayal of the Lakashi people, and the moving stories of two women who must make very difficult decisions and live with the consequences.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
The Patron Saint of Liars (1992)
The Magician’s Assistant (1997)
Bel Canto (2001)
Taft (2003)
Run (2007)

Other titles you may enjoy:

White Mary by Kira Salak (2008)
War reporter Marika Vecera learns that her long-time hero, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Robert Lewis, has committed suicide and sets out to write his biography, only to hear rumors that he may still be alive in Papua New Guinea.

An Obvious Enchantment by Tucker Malarkey (2000)
A woman heads to Africa in search of her professor, who mysteriously vanished while researching an ancient African legend about a mythical king, and uncovers romance, mystery, crime, and magic along the way.

The Tattoo Artist by Jill Ciment (2005)
Sara Ehrenreich, an acclaimed American painter who has spent the past thirty years living on a remote South Pacific island, returns to New York in the 1970s, in a novel that reveals the story of her life through flashbacks.

Doc

2011-09-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

Doc

Mary Doria Russell
Random House, 2011

“Without hope, without fear” is the motto that John Henry “Doc” Holliday and his lover Kate “Big Nose” Harony agree to live by in this historical fiction novel set in the early days before the infamous OK Corral gunfight set in Tombstone. Doc and Kate have come west to Dodge City, hoping that the warmer dry air will help his consumption. If they can make some money gambling at cards, so much the better. Wyatt Earp and his many brothers are also in Dodge working in various enterprises including the law and prostitution. When a young mixed breed dies in mysterious circumstances, Doc and the Wyatt brothers join forces to protect the town from the corrupt and bullying methods of the local leaders, which provides a unique background to their later battles.

Doc is portrayed as a sensitive and caring individual, who is more concerned about loyalty, friendship and ethics than his own personal situation. He and Kate have a tumultuous and volatile relationship, which concerns Doc’s friends in Dodge, but he shrugs off their concerns and sticks with Kate. She is needy, self-centered and argumentative but loves him fiercely and completely. Indeed, Wyatt is a little afraid of her and avoids her whenever possible. Wyatt and Doc become friends after Doc, a dentist, works on Wyatt’s teeth and improves his self-confidence with a new smile. Meanwhile, Morgan, one of the Earp Brothers, reads classic literature recommended to him by Doc, and the two form a deep friendship based on their intellectual discussions.

The infamous gunfighters are finding their way in this “prequel” to the famous battle. They are all young – in their twenties and thirties – and just learning what is important and worth fighting for in the isolated frontier town of Dodge. Wyatt Earp is nervous and broke and lacks self-confidence; Doc is sickly and worried and determined to live life to the fullest; and Kate is brash, self-indulgent and impulsive. Russell has created a fascinating world where legends have just begun the journey that will make them famous.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
The Sparrow (1996)
Children of God (1998)
Thread of Grace (2005)
Dreamers of the Day (2008)

Other titles you may enjoy:

An Ordinary Woman: the dramatized biography of Nancy Kelsey by Cecelia Holland (1999)
Nancy Kelsey, her husband, and a small group of Americans make the perilous overland trek to California, where she works at Sutter's Fort and rides in the Rebellion that wrests California from Mexico, in a novel based on the real-life exploits of one courageous American pioneer woman.

Anything for Billy by Larry McMurtry (1991)
The dime novelist Ben Sippy tells the story of Billy Bone whom he named Billy the Kid after meeting him in 1878.

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt (2011)
Set against the backdrop of the great California Gold Rush, this darkly comic novel follows the misadventures of the fabled Sisters brothers, two hired guns, who, under the order of the mysterious Commodore, try to kill Hermann Kermit Warm, a man who gives them a run for their money. .

The Language of Flowers

2011-09-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Language of Flowers

Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Ballantine, 2011

Victoria was abandoned as an infant and grew up in a series of foster homes before finally landing in a group home for unmanageable and unwanted girls. Now that she is 18, she is being released from the state’s custody into a transitional home and told that she has 30 days to find employment or she will be evicted and on the street. Victoria chooses to disregard her caseworker’s advice, which is nothing new for her, and makes a series of bad decisions that force her to leave the group home and live in a city park. There Victoria decides to cultivate a secret garden among the vegetation there, tending it and sleeping among her plants.

Once when Victoria was much younger, she lived with a single woman named Elizabeth who owned a vineyard. Elizabeth and Victoria got off to a rocky start, but over time they became a family of sorts. Something happened, however, to stop the adoption that Elizabeth was planning, but we don’t know what it was. We can only assume that Victoria did something so bad, so hurtful, that Elizabeth came to the same conclusion that every other foster family that housed Victoria came to: Victoria was unlovable and unwanted. Through alternating chapters we watch Victoria and Elizabeth learn to trust and love each other, until finally, an event occurs that causes Victoria to end up alone again.

Victoria does not end up living in the park forever, but it takes a lot of time, patience and careful choices that finally enable her to get a job in a flower shop. She may not understand how to talk to humans, but she understands the language of flowers. A customer can explain what they need, and Victoria can find the flower or plant or herb that speaks the words that the customer can’t in order to help them accomplish what they want or need in life. What Victoria doesn’t expect is that she can use the language of flowers herself to connect with another human being, and perhaps find the love and acceptance she never thought she deserved herself.

Rating:

This is the author’s first novel.

Other titles you may enjoy:

Salvation by Lucia Nevai (2008)
Disadvantaged by poverty, abuse, and a physical deformity, budding scientist Crane Cavanaugh is assigned to a convent and subsequently adopted by a middle-class mother whose adoration is only partly successful in countering Crane's stunted and wryly comic emotional development.

Between Sisters by Kristin Hannah (2003)
With her wedding day approaching, Claire Cavenaugh prepares to confront her estranged older sister and self-absorbed mother after more than twenty years apart and find out how to transform themselves into a family.

The Summer Guest by Justin Cronin (2004)
Nearing the end of his life, financier Harry Wainwright journeys to a rustic fishing camp in Maine and leaves a profound legacy for a haunted young man, a Vietnam draft evader, and a spirited young woman who holds a key to the past.

The Call

2011-09-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Call

Yannick Murphy
Harper, 2011

David is a large animal vet living in rural New Hampshire. He has three active children and a harried wife who is not shy about expressing her emotions. David is a worrier. He worries about his patients and their owners; he worries about a spaceship that hovers over his house; he worries about his own health (but not as much as his wife and doctor do); and he worries about someone who keeps calling and hanging up without speaking. But most of all, he obsesses about the hunter who accidentally shot his son on his first hunting expedition, causing him to fall on his head and lapse into a coma. It appears that the hunter is avoiding taking responsibility for his actions, and David wonders if he is lurking behind the face of almost everyone he meets each day.

Told in spare journal entries, David gives a very brief outline of each “call” he receives each day, along with one or two sentences about the medical situation, the visit, and subsequent thoughts that occur to him – both relating to the call and otherwise -- listed in categories. We learn much about David, his family, his patients, and others in the community as he records his thoughts and opinions on their actions, but underlying each entry is the usually unspoken anxiety and worry about his son’s condition and the possibility that he will never learn who shot him. I especially enjoyed the entries about his wife’s reactions to his and the children’s behavior, which were often very funny and biting in their sarcastic wit.

While the writing style is admirable (how can each entry be so short yet say so much?), it does take some getting used to. The action is off-camera, so to speak, yet skillfully layered with so much emotion and tension that each word carried a great deal of weight. In spite of the skill and the tension and the interesting animal conditions that necessitated each “call,” I had trouble warming up to this book. Maybe the spare writing left me a bit cold, or maybe I wanted to know more about the other characters. I’m not sure, but I was left with a bit of a let-down feeling, a little disappointed that some things weren’t fleshed out a bit more. I especially would have liked to get to know the wife just a bit better. I have a feeling we would have gotten along really well.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
Here They Come (2006)
Signed, Mata Hari (2007)

Other novels you may enjoy:

Sight Hound by Pam Houston (2005)
In his endeavor to teach his human, Rae, about the power of love over fear, wolfhound Dante simultaneously impacts the lives of Rae's housekeeper, her therapist, two veterinarians, fellow dog Rose, and Stanley the cat.

A Year of Cats and Dogs by Margaret Hawkins (2009)
After her longtime boyfriend abruptly leaves and she quits her job, Maryanne hopes to crawl out of a mid-life crisis as a veterinarian's assistant at an animal shelter when she discovers the ability to communicate with animals.

A Country Affair by Rebecca Shaw (2006)
The first in a series of novels set in a veterinary practice on the outskirts of a Yorkshire, England, town introduces Kate, the receptionist in a busy veterinary practice; Scott, the flirty Australian vet; her faithful boyfriend, Adam; and the entertaining animal patients.

Crow Lake

2011-09-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

Crow Lake

Mary Lawson
Dial, 2002

When Kate was only seven years old, her parents were killed in a car accident in rural Ontario. Her oldest brother Luke had just graduated high school, and the family was planning on his attendance at a teacher’s college. Another brother Matt was just 17, and the baby of the family, Bo, was just 1 year old. Now Kate is an adult, albeit a wounded one, who teaches zoology at a Canadian University and mulls the choices that were made long ago, when she was just a child and didn’t understand the trials her older brothers were undertaking in order to keep the family together.

Matt’s son is celebrating his 18th birthday, and Kate has been invited to a party that will also serve as a family reunion of sorts. Daniel is her significant other, an only child who had a very different upbringing that Kate did. In fact, while Kate has met Daniel’s parents, she has shared very little of her past with Daniel, which has caused a rift between them. Feeling pressure when he learns about the party, she invites him to the family farm, and the subsequent worry and concern over his reaction to her family causes her to revisit the events of her parent’s deaths and the subsequent sacrifices her older brothers made on her behalf – something which has haunted her and caused her immeasurable guilt ever since.

This quiet and unassuming book packs quite an emotional wallop. Lawson’s descriptions can’t help but draw the reader into a world of a remote and barren landscape housing multiple characters with so much personality that they jump out from the pages. Quiet and thoughtful writing definitely does not mean boring in this situation, because the tension builds through each chapter as the reader is teased with some event that changes the course of brother’s Matt’s plans and, indeed, causes Kate to be burdened with the guilt she has struggled with ever since. I could hardly put this book down and enjoyed every minute of it.

Rating:

This is the author’s first novel.

Other titles you may enjoy:

The Time In Between by David Bergen (2005)
30 years after serving during the Vietnam War, Charles Boatman disappears during his return to that country, followed by his daughter, Ada, for whom the trip brings increasingly complex revelations and awareness about her life.

The Turtle Catcher by Nicole Helget (2009)
In a rural Minnesota town during World War I, Liesel, the only girl in the Richter family, hides a secret that precludes all hope of living a normal life and turns to her closest friend, Lester, a gentle, "slow" boy who spends his days trapping turtles.

October Light by John Gardner (2005)
Living in her older brother's Vermont farmhouse, penniless widow Sally Abbot finds their clashing values escalating to the point that her brother banishes her to her room with a mainstream novel she has been reading, a book that becomes reflective of their turbulent family history.

Next to Love

2011-09-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

Next to Love

Ellen Feldman
Spiegel & Grau, 2011

Babe, Grace, and Millie have been best friends since grade school. Now that they are adults, they are bound together by the war and the fact that one husband and two boyfriends have enlisted. Grace has a daughter and doesn’t understand why her husband would voluntarily put his life in danger. Babe is so much in love with her fiancé that she travels to his base to marry him before he ships overseas. Millie does the same, and now all three are anxiously waiting for news of their husbands while negotiating the changing social upheavals that war brings to a small town.

When the war is over, only one of the husbands returns, a changed, haunted man. The women bond together to help each other cope with their grief amid a daily life that includes racism, sexism, and hidden pain and suffering. As each woman tries to get through the days the best they can, one woman can’t get past her grief and finds herself in a marriage without passion, while another struggles to maintain normalcy despite her husband suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. The third woman, meanwhile, refuses to acknowledge the past and her son grows up not knowing his father, which greatly impacts his later life.

This thoughtful historical novel shows the significance and impact that World War II had on the women who stayed behind, waiting, working and wondering how their men were doing so far away from home. But even more importantly, this story shows the aftermath of war both on the men who survived and the families left behind. The friendship of the three women rings true and demonstrates the power of unconditional acceptance and full support that so many women can offer each other.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
Too Close for Comfort (1994)
Rearview Mirror (1996)
God Bless the Child (1998)
Lucy (2003)
The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank (2005)
Scottsboro (2008)

Other titles you may enjoy:

When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka (2002)
A story told from 5 different points of view, chronicles the experiences of Japanese Americans caught up in the nightmare of the World War II internment camps.

The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard (2003)
In the aftermath of World War II, young men and women living in Europe and Asia reconstruct their lives, including a soldier who learns that material goods and success are not enough, and a woman in Japan who tends to her dying brother.

Echoes by Danielle Steel (2004)
On the shores of Lake Geneva in 1915, the Jewish beauty Beata Wittgenstein falls in love with a Catholic French officer and marries him despite the wishes of her family, but when Hitler's terror arrives, Beata has to undertake a harrowing journey of survival.

Once Upon a River

2011-09-09T13:37:00.000-07:00

Once Upon a River

Bonnie Jo Campbell

Norton, 2011

Margo Crane is just a girl when her depressed mother abandons her, but she never really felt the absence since she had her father’s extended family living just across the Stark River. Margo’s father struggles to raise her the best he can, but he works long hours at the family factory and leaves Margo on her own much of the time. Margo’s beloved grandfather taught her to shoot and hunt and also bequeathed her his beautiful teak boat, so Maggie spends her days practicing her sharpshooting skills and hunting animals out of season. She loves spending time with her cousins and busy aunt, who nurtures Margo just like one of her own, but a tragic sequence of events ends that relationship and forces Margo to set out on the river alone in her boat, to try to find her mother after all these years.

Margo is an unforgettable character in her own way, but she often proves to be her own worst enemy. She understandably has trust issues with men, but then finds herself drawn to them and lets them control her life in order to have some stability and material comforts. The north Michigan setting is harsh one, especially in the wilderness areas that Margo travels in order to avoid people, but this also means that she is at risk herself. Sometimes I wasn’t sure of Margo’s motivations; her reasoning was flawed at times and made for bad choices. Just when it seemed like things couldn’t get any worse for her, it does, which makes for some depressing reading. Things do look better for her at the end, however, but the conclusion may be too open-ended for those of us who like things to finish neatly wrapped up.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
Q Road (2002)

Other titles you may enjoy:

Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell (2006)
Reaching her sixteenth year in the harsh Ozarks while caring for her poverty-stricken family, Ree Dolly learns that they will lose their house unless her bail-skipping father can be found and made to appear at an upcoming court date.

Tender as Hellfire by Joe Meno (1999)
A poignant and insightful portrait of life on America's social and economic fringe follows Dough and Pill, two brothers growing up in a seedy trailer park, who struggle to make some positive sense out of their difficult lives.

The Edge of Winter by Luanne Rice (2007)
Neve Halloran and her teenage daughter, Mickey, struggle to build a new life together amid the harsh beauty of a wildlife sanctuary in Rhode Island's South County.

Appaloosa

2011-09-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

Appaloosa
Robert B. Parker
Putnam, 2005
#1 in the Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch Series

Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch are partners and have been for quite a while. They are lawmen who go wherever a quick gun is needed to protect the people. Virgil is a man of few words but the few he does utter are mighty powerful. Everett and Virgil have been together so long that Everett usually knows what Virgil is thinking before he even says it.

When they arrive in Appaloosa, they find a small, dusty town. The citizens there are being bullied and abused at the hands of renegade rancher Randall Bragg, a man who has so little regard for the law that he has taken supplies, horses, and women for his own and left the city marshal and one of his deputies for dead. Cole and Hitch have a reputation for cleaning up lawless towns so they have been hired by the aldermen to do whatever needs to be done. Unfortunately for Virgil, he falls in love with a local woman, which means that for the first time that Everett can remember his ability to uphold the law has been compromised. Before the two of them even gets Bragg behind bars, trouble comes in the form of hired guns, who threaten to undo everything that Cole and Hitch have accomplished – and maybe get them killed in the process.

Normally, I am not a western reader, but this was a quick and fun read. Short chapters and lots of action mean that the plot moves along at a breakneck speed, not unlike riding a horse on the open prairie. I have to admit I never thought I would enjoy a western, but I liked this one so much that I’m planning on reading the rest of the series. So, saddle up, pardner, and pack one of these in your saddlebag when you go on your summer adventure.

Robert B. Parker has numerous books to his credit. Check for other titles at mesalibrary.org!

Rating:

Other western series you may enjoy:

Page Murdoch Novels by Loren D. Estlemen
(First book in series) In 1847, Deputy Page Murdock is sent into Montana's Bitterroot Mountains. He quickly finds himself diverted from his original assignment to hunt down Bear Anderson. Although Bear's one-man campaign of vengeance against the Flathead Indians has been silently applauded, President Grant now hopes to prevent a war which the Flatheads promise will come if Bear is not stopped.

Sidewinders by William W. Johnstone
(First book in series) Scratch Morton and Bo Creel, two pals, drifters, and veterans of cowboying, cattle drives, drunken brawls, and shoot-outs, find trouble in the Arizona Territory when they get caught up in a battle between two stagecoach lines while dallying with a beautiful widow.

The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry
(First book in series) The youth of a small town in mid-twentieth-century Texas search for ways to escape boredom and experience life and love.

American Heiress

2011-08-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

The American Heiress
Daisy Goodwin

St. Martin’s Press, 2011

Cora Cash is beautiful, intelligent, and most of all, rich. After her debut at a party designed to top any other social occasion in the history of the New World, Cora and her mother have come to England in order to find a titled husband. Cora, who is also a tad spoiled and self-centered, understands her role in her mother’s ambitions, but is reluctant to play her part with any enthusiasm. Fate, however, has a hand in her future when she falls from her horse and is rescued by the Duke of Wareham – a handsome and withdrawn man with a secret. Before she quite knows what is happening, Ivo proposes and Cora finds herself the Duchess of Wareham and suddenly involved in a very complex English social scene that confuses her and eventually causes a rift in her marriage.

Juxtaposed with Cora’s story is the one of her maid, Bertha, an Africa-American woman who is surprised to find that her color makes no difference in England, but her social class does. She is also surprised when she doesn’t fit in with the downstairs staff in her new home because she refuses to gossip about her mistress because of her conflicted loyaties. When she learns about the Duke’s past and finally understands the betrayal that surrounds the Duke, Bertha is the one to act with true conviction and integrity.

This story of decadence, love and ambition set in the late 1800s totally captivated me. I knew it was something special in the first chapter and it did not disappoint. Cora begins the book as an immature child who stamps her foot to get her own way, but she grows up quickly when she falls in love with Ivo. Ivo seems to love her too – sometimes – and other times he is inpatient and disappointed in her ignorance. Despite the fact that he seemingly married her for her money, he does not like her to throw it about as she was accustomed to do in America. This dichotomy between old and new, lower classes and aristocracy, poor and rich totally confuses Cora and sometimes causes her to make mistakes that may forever hurt her reputation in a time and place where reputation is the upmost importance.

I absolutely loved this book. It’s moody, romantic, enthralling, and entertaining. It's a must read for anyone who loves historical fiction.

This is the author’s first novel.

Rating:

Other titles you may enjoy:

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton (2008)
Living out her final days in a nursing home, ninety-eight-year-old Grace remembers the secrets surrounding the 1924 suicide of a young poet during a glittering society party hosted by Grace's English aristocrat employers, a family that is shattered by war.

Author, Author by David Lodge (2004)

Set against the backdrop of literary and theatrical life in late Victorian England, this tale of literary ambition, rivalry, and creativity follows the public career and private life of Henry James.

Next of Kin by John Boyne (2008)

In 1936 London, Owen Montignac, the scion of a wealthy family, awaits the reading of his late uncle's will in the hopes that his legacy will alleviate his gambling debt, but when he discovers that he has been disinherited, he comes up with a scheme to escape his troubles.

Summer Rental

2011-08-26T16:46:00.000-07:00

Summer Rental
Mary Kay Andrews
St. Martin’s Press, 2011

Longtime girlfriends Ellis, Dorie and Julia have arranged a month long, much needed vacation together on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Even though they had specifically said it was to be a girls only vacation, Ellis and Julia grudgingly allowed Dorie to bring her husband because he needed a vacation too. When Dorie shows up alone, acting strangely, the other two women start speculating that something must be wrong, but they have no idea what kind of shocking revelation they are in store for.

Ellis, meanwhile, has her own secret: she has a big crush on the hunky dude next door. She knows that Dorie and Julia would be very supportive of her having a relationship, but she’s just not sure it will be more than a summer fling and she doesn’t need all the advice and comments she just knows she would have to endure. Ellis has just lost her job and doesn’t know what she’s going to do career-wise or boyfriend-wise.

Julia, on the other hand, knows what everyone should do about every problem in her life. She likes to think she has everything under control, but in reality, life is just as confusing and problematic for her as it is for anyone else. She just doesn’t like to admit it.

And Madison? Where did she come from? What’s her story? When Dorie meets Madison in town, she impulsively invites her to stay with the three of them. Not only does Madison seem to have a lot of money that can help pay the rent, she seems to have her own secrets. But will her secrets lead to a happy ending? The other women are determined to help her, even if she fights them every inch of the way.

This delightful story of friendship, relationships, and life-changing decisions is a wonderful mixture of light and dark, happy and sad, and even beginnings and endings. It is not deep, but it has a strong plot that was only a little predictable and enough likeable characters to make it a light but meaningful reading experience.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
Savannah Blues (2001)
Hissy Fit (2004)
Savannah Breeze (2006)
Blue Christmas (2006)
Deep Dish (2008)
The Fixer Upper (2009)

Other titles you may enjoy:

Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan (2011)
Descending on a family beach house won in a bet years earlier, three generations of women gradually impart difficult respective secrets including a pregnancy, a terrible crush and a deeply held resentment for past misdeeds.

Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand (2007)
Visiting Nantucket with their children during a summer vacation, three women befriend a local youth and share their struggles with such challenges as infidelity, the loss of a job under scandalous circumstances, and health problems.

Ladies of the Lake by Haywood Smith (2009)
Spending a summer together in the hopes of inheriting their grandmother's lake estate, four sisters share old rivalries and new understandings while struggling with respective challenges in the areas of finance, marriage, and boundaries.

Pigeon English

2011-08-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

Pigeon English
Stephen Kelman
Houghton Mifflin, 2011

When a basketball-playing classmate is killed in what seems to be a senseless act of violence, eleven-year-old Ghana emigrant Harrison Opuku and his best friend, Dean, decide they are going to find the killer. Dean is, after all, an avid CSI television show viewer, so he knows how to collect fingerprints with cello tape and observe the behavior of suspects. Harrison, his sister Lydia and their mother live in a housing project while they await the rest of their family still in Ghana. While attempting to find the boy’s killer, Harrison and his friends must dodge the violence of the local gang while still trying to enjoy some of life’s pleasures: the sound of his baby sister over the telephone, falling in love with a girl in his class, and of course, tormenting Lydia whenever possible. Things get scary when it becomes apparent that the killer is someone that Harrison and Lydia know, and they must try to escape the same fate as the boy who was murdered.

Harrison is such a clever and funny fellow – it is a shame that he wants to find the killer’s identity, because no good can come of it. The reader can sense this almost from the beginning of the book. “Stop!” we want to shout to Harrison. “Just quit spying on people and looking for the murder weapon!” We know that an eleven year old boy, full of innocence and love and a sense of justice, is no match for a teenage gang member evil enough to murder a boy. Yet the reader will keep reading because that’s what readers do – because we have to find out what happens. Even if that ending is not exactly what we expected, but not exactly what we had hoped for either.

While not a lot may happen in this novel, the characters – especially Harrison – make it a book worth reading. His life in the project may be gritty, dark and disturbing, but Harrison’s attempts to find joy in the smallest things overcome at least some of the despair.

Rating:

This is the author’s first novel.

Other titles you may enjoy:

Cold Flat Junction by Martha Grimes (2001)
Twelve-year-old Emma investigates the suspicious drowning of another child. Her search for answers is both an inquiry into murder and a way to deliver herself from the confusion of childhood. It is the story of a mystery and also her story.

The Ethical Assassin by David Liss (2006)
Working as a door-to-door salesman in a South Florida trailer park, teenager Lem Altick witnesses the murders of two of his would-be customers and is forced into an alliance with the assassin, an extremist dedicated to animal rights.

Fruit of the Lemon by Andrea Levy (2000)
Content with her life in England and delighted with her first job in the costume department of BBC television, Faith Jackson is stunned when her parents announce that they are moving "home" to Jamaica, an announcement that threatens Faith's fragile sense of identity.

Burnt Mountain

2011-08-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

Burnt Mountain
Anne Rivers Siddons
Grand Central, 2011

Thayer Wentworth was the second daughter of a wealthy Middletown, Georgia, family. She was her father’s favorite daughter and adored him in turn, but he died when she was nine in a car accident coming home from the family camp on Burnt Mountain. Thayer grew up feeling like a disappointment to her mother, who has led an unsatisfying and unhappy life in a small Georgia town. Thayer felt as though she wasn’t as beautiful as her mother or her older sister, and therefore a failure in love and in life – until she attended a summer camp on Burnt Mountain as a counselor and fell in head over heels in love with Nick Abrams.

Thayer and Nick swore eternal devotion to each other, but teenage love is a fickle thing. After his promised phone calls never came, Thayer grieved for her lost innocence and love and went away to college. Her beloved “Grand,” her father’s mother, funded her college education and when she died, left her a sort of fairy house in Atlanta for her and her new husband to live. Aengus was a professor of Irish mythology at the same college, and he and Thayer married despite the obvious disapproval of Thayer’s mother. But something happened when they moved into the fairy house: Aengus changed. At first he just went to the camp at Burnt Mountain to tell Irish stories, but soon he was spending every spare minute at the camp. Just what was going on up there, anyway?

Reviewers have called this novel uneven and odd. I call it mesmerizing and haunting and a little scary. I loved the beginning about Thayer’s parents and her early years. Then I got hooked when Thayer’s father died and she went away to camp to try to escape the harsh judgment of her mother. I was happy for Thayer when she found herself happy at college and somewhat recovered from her tragic love affair, and I believed Aengus was the one for her. But I absolutely could not put the book down when—well, I can’t tell you about that part because it will spoil the ending. I just could not put the book down until I finished every last word. And it was way past my bedtime.

Rating:

This author has many novels available at the Mesa Public Library. Go to mesalibrary.org to check them out!

Other titles you may enjoy:

Heat Wave by Nancy Thayer (2011)
After her husband's sudden death from a heart attack and to keep her family in their beloved Nantucket home, Carley Winsted transforms her expensive, expansive house into a bed-and-breakfast. But complications arise: Carley's mother-in-law disapproves; a friend forces Carley to keep a secret that, if revealed, will undo families and friendships; and, her late husband's former law partner keeps showing up at the most unexpected times.

Magnolia Wednesdays by Wendy Wax (2011)
Finding herself pregnant and jobless, investigative journalist Vivian Armstrong Gray returns to the simple life back home in Georgia, and becomes involved in the social life centered on her sister's ballroom dance studio.

Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson (2006)
Unduly familiar with choosing between sides throughout her lifetime, Nonny Frett finds herself once again caught in the middle between an escalating family feud that began before her birth and the realization of her own dreams.

The Gap Year

2011-08-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Gap Year
Sarah Bird
Knopf, 2011

Cam Lightsey is a woman with certain expectations, one of which is seeing her daughter Aubrey finally get out of the suburban town they live in and go to an out of state college. Cam originally wanted to move to this town because of the excellent schools, but she has never really fit in with the soccer moms with big SUVs that populate the area. She thought Aubrey wanted to leave too, since she didn’t have very many friends and was not part of the “in” crowd at school. But when Aubrey meets the local football star and falls in love, all bets are off. Instead of studying and making cookies with her mom, Aubrey starts staying out late and lying about her whereabouts, causing Cam to clamp down hard in an attempt to force a solution to the problem. This only makes the situation worse, as any mother could have told Cam. As Aubrey spends more and more time with her boyfriend, she was less inclined to go away to college, but Cam refuses to see this evidence right in front of her own eyes, as she blissfully buys dorm room items and airline tickets. Further complicating the problem, Aubrey has started an online conversation with her long-absent father, who left the family to join a quasi-religious cult without her mother’s knowledge, and Martin starts offering advice that leads Aubrey to make some decisions that lead to a crisis in the family.

I’ve enjoyed several of Sarah Bird’s other novels and this one was no exception. Disguising serious issues with a light-hearted and sometimes humorous tone, Bird alternates voices and chapters so that readers can see how Cam and Aubrey arrive at their perspective points in their relationships – both with each other and with the men in their lives. Mother and daughter relationships are often tumultuous, usually fragile, and never easy. I suspect Bird must have experience raising a teenage daughter, because this study of a complicated and rewarding relationship rings true. Some may be critical of the way the ending wraps up a little too neatly, but I enjoyed the way things came around full circle to a new baby and a new beginning for someone – not necessarily Aubrey – to experience. This book reminded me that the mother/daughter relationship has its ups and downs to be sure, but it can also be the best thing in the world.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
The Mommy Club (1991)
Virgin of the Rodeo (1993)
The Yokota Officers Club (2001)
The Flamenco Academy (2006)
How Perfect is That (2008)

Other titles you may enjoy:

Family Sold Separately by Kate Long (2008)
Raised by her eccentric grandmother Poll after the death of her father and disappearance of her mother, Katherine Millar finds her sheltered life forever altered by a package that arrives on the eve of her eighteenth birthday.

Eat Cake by Jeanne Ray (2003)
Ruth draws on her talent for concocting delectable cakes and desserts when her family begins to disintegrate around her--her husband loses his job, her mother moves in, and her long-estranged father shows up at the door with no place to go.

Just Trust Me by Judy Markey (2004)
When her ex-husband, whom she has not heard from in fifteen years, offers her financial freedom, with a high price, Chicago radio host Kate Lerner accepts his bizarre proposal and hides the truth from her family.

Remember Ben Clayton

2011-08-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

Remember Ben Clayton
Stephen Harrigan
Knopf, 2011

Francis "Gil" Gilheaney is a skilled and accomplished sculptor living in a self-imposed exile in Texas just after World War I. His adult daughter, Maureen, serves as his assistant, although she has artistic ambitions of her own. She is just beginning to realize how her own life’s goals have taken a back seat to her father’s career ever since her mother’s death. When Lamar Clayton, an aging, heartbroken rancher, offers Gil a commission to create a memorial statue of his son Ben, who was killed in the war, Gil seizes the opportunity to create what he believes will be his greatest masterpiece.

Lamar Clayton is a prideful, stubborn man, but he has met his match in Gil. Both have a vision for the statue and both have troubled pasts that have come to haunt them. Meanwhile, Ben’s wartime friend was also greatly impacted by the war in that he was seriously injured, so much so that he doesn’t want to return home and subject his friends to his deformed face. After he sends a letter to Ben’s father explaining the circumstances of Ben’s death, Maureen picks up the correspondence and the two become friends, providing support that enables each of them to move forward with their lives.

This complex and moving story is a captivating one. Each character is richly and realistically portrayed. I found myself caring about each one, especially the wounded soldier who bravely attempts to carry on with his diminished life. Gil and Lamar both carry heavy secrets that weigh them down, affecting their relationships with family members, especially their children. When Ben discovers his father’s secret, he reacts with a self-destructive violence, while Maureen channels her emotional turmoil into a more positive outcome. This novel about family dynamics, the power of secrets, and emotional vulnerability is excellent and sure to please readers who like literary and historical fiction.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
Challenger Park (2006)

Other titles you may enjoy:

Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah (2010)
Reunited when their beloved father falls ill, sisters Meredith and Nina find themselves under the shadow of their disapproving mother, whose painful history is hidden behind her rendition of a Russian fairy tale told to the sisters in childhood.

The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult (2006)
When his fourteen-year-old daughter is raped by her boyfriend, an overprotective father with a secret past decides to take the law into his own hands, a choice that takes him into the wilds of the Alaskan bush.

My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young (2011)
A story that intertwines the lives of two very different couples during World War I follows army soldier Riley as he fights for the love of Nadine despite a terrible injury, and Riley's commanding officer Peter Locke, who returns home from the war a bitter and scarred man.

The Girl in the Blue Beret

2011-08-08T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Girl in the Blue Beret
Bobbie Ann Mason
Random House, 2011

Marshall Stone, an American World War II pilot shot down in Occupied Europe, returns to his crash site decades later and finds himself drawn back in time to the brave people who helped him escape from the Nazis.

Marshall became an airlines pilot after the war, but now that he’s been forced into retirement, he finds himself drifting and alone after his wife passed away. He’s never been close to his two children, perhaps due to the frequent and long absences as a pilot, or perhaps due to a distance he created around himself after the war. He now realizes that he never made an effort to be close to his children and he regrets this. Instead of bridging this gap, or maybe because of it, he goes to France in an attempt to retrace his steps after the plane crash and find the people who helped him. Once there, he is pleased to discover that several people are still alive and remember him, including Annette, who was a teenager during the war. As Marshall learns more about the terrible consequences his rescuers suffered at the German hands, he is shocked at his own youthful innocence and assumptions that his one life could be worth risking so many others.

The author switches back and forth in time between Marshall’s story as an escaped downed pilot and Marshall’s story as a retired widower, not always smoothly. I had trouble identifying with Marshall – although his thoughts are revealed, I found him as remote and distant with the reader as he was with his children. Honest communication seems difficult for him, which keeps him at arm’s length, and therefore difficult to understand. His motives for finding his past are vague and frivolous; basically, he had nothing better to do than go to Paris and stir up old memories from hurt and damaged people. I was also a little disturbed when he revealed that he had cheated on his wife several times and was only slightly remorseful about it. For some reason, this really bothered me and seemed out of character for him.

In retrospect, I would describe this book as reading like a nonfiction account of a true story that lacked the emotion and connection normally found in novels. I just couldn’t warm up to the main character or the events portrayed.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
In Country (1985)
An Atomic Romance (2005)

Other titles you may enjoy:

Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian (2008)
During the final months of World War II, a small group of people make their way westward across a ravaged Europe in a desperate attempt to reach British and American lines.

Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks (1999)
A young Scottish woman who falls in love with a World War II RAF pilot shortly before his plane is lost over France joins the Resistance movement to find him, only to discover a larger meaning in her new role

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer (2010)
An unforgettable story of three brothers, of history and love, of marriage tested by disaster, of a Jewish family's struggle against annihilation, and of the dangerous power of art in a time of war.

I'll Never Get Out of this World Alive

2011-08-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

I’ll Never Get Out of this World Alive
Steve Earle
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011

Just when every ray of hope was gone
I should have known that you would come along
I can't believe I ever doubted you
My old friend the blues

---from “My Old Friend the Blues” by Steve Earle

I love Steve Earle’s music. I love his bluegrass, his rock, his blues and even his country music.

I’m not too crazy about his fiction, however.

I’ll Never Get Out of this World Alive is the title of a Hank Williams song, which is appropriate since his ghost is a major character in this odd little story of a down and out physician addicted to heroin. Doc is the one who gave Hank his final and lethal dose of morphine, which is why he is a guilt-ridden addict haunted by his own demons in addition to Hank, who only shows up to torment Doc when he’s high. Otherwise, Doc is busy taking care of his clientele, which consists of prostitutes, drug addicts and other derelicts in San Antonio. His practice is mostly back door abortions, gunshot wounds, and overdoses; his small fees help pay for the heroin. When he performs an abortion for a young illegal Mexican girl, Graciela, she ends up staying with him and helping him with his practice, but strange things begin to happen to her. Whenever she helps Doc heal a patient, her hands begin to bleed. And then---

And then I had to stop reading. Ghosts, heroin use, prostitutes, abortions, and now stigmata? It was all too much for me. I didn’t like any of the characters; I didn’t find the writing style to be exceptionally lyrical (I know! Shouldn’t it have been?!?) or compelling; I did not find any hope or redemption in sight (but to be fair, it was probably lurking right around the corner); and I just lost interest in the whole premise. Trust me – no one is more disappointed in my disappointment than I am.

Rating:

This is the author’s first novel, but my favorite Steve Earle CD is Transcendental Blues.

Other titles you may enjoy:

Ghosts and Lightning by Trevor Byrne (2009)
After his mother dies suddenly, Denny Cullen returns home to Dublin for the funeral and to sort out his life. With no job, he spends his time hanging out with aimless friends who, in between stealing or doing drugs, seem to be searching for some meaning in life.

And the Word Was by Bruce Bauman (2005)
Taking the job of resident physician at the American Embassy in India after the tragic death of his son, Neil Downs seeks a philosophical refuge in the writings of Levi Fustenblum and forms a bond with Holika, the rebellious, activist niece of a prestigious family.

Wasted Beauty by Eric Bogosian (2005)
In a tale of contemporary urban desperation and desire, Reba Cook, an unusually beautiful woman, struggles with her drug addiction while enduring city life alongside an assortment of neighbors.

Best Staged Plans

2011-08-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

Best Staged Plans
Claire Cook
Voice-Hyperion, 2011

Sandy Sullivan is a professional home stager in the Boston suburbs. She and her husband Greg have started planning life after retirement, which includes selling the house and moving somewhere exotic, but things aren’t moving along according to Sandy’s schedule. Greg has taken an early retirement and seems more interested in playing golf and tennis than helping get their house sale-ready, and their son hasn’t demonstrated any initiative in finding himself an apartment. Frustrated with the lack of help and support, Sandy Sullivan issues her husband an ultimatum and takes a job staging a boutique hotel in Atlanta where she becomes immersed in other people's lives while trying to fix up her own.

This charming, short, and light-hearted story won’t win any literary awards but it sure provided some entertaining reading one recent weekend. I loved Sandy’s sense of humor, her compulsive need to fix everything, and her obsessive personality. I could really identify with this woman! This book may be light-hearted, but Sandy and her family are dealing with some heavy issues, including economic uncertainty, homelessness, and family relationships, so there are some unpredictable plot developments that will keep any reader on their toes. Still, the humor and witty writing style make this a good, quick summer read.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
Ready to Fall (2000)
Must Love Dogs (2002)
Multiple Choice (2004)
Life’s a Beach (2007)
Summer Blowout (2008)
Wildwater Walking Club (2009)
Seven Year Switch (2010)

Other titles you may enjoy:

First Friends by Marcia Willett (2006)
Life-long best friends, both married to naval officers, Kate Webster and Cassandra Wivenhoe find their lives, families, and marriages thrown into turmoil by Cassandra's infidelities.

Casting About by Terri DuLong (2010)
In the four years since Monica Brooks moved to Cedar Key, Florida, she's found a home, a husband, and a business taking over her mother's bustling knitting shop. But when her husband Adam's ex-wife is deemed an unfit mother, will the normally even-keeled Monica be ready to go straight from honeymoon to motherhood?

Within Arm’s Reach by Ann Napolitano (2004)
A lyrical novel narrated from six different points of view chronicles the effects of an unexpected pregnancy on three generations of an Irish-American Catholic family.

The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes

2011-07-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes
Marcus Sakey
Dutton, 2011

Waking up half-drowned on an abandoned beach with no memory of who he is, a man stumbles onto a BMW by the side of the road. When he gets in he finds a loaded gun, some money, and identification belonging to a man named Daniel Hayes. Not knowing what else to do, he drives to the nearest town and discovers he is in Maine. He has no idea why he would be in Maine, but he pawns the expensive watch on his wrist and gets a cheap motel room. For some reason, he feels compelled to watch a certain television show in order to see an actress named Emily Sweet. In fact, he dreams about the woman during the night – dreams that include other disturbing images that he suspects has something to do with his past and why he has no memory of it.

After the man discovers that he is wanted by the police, he decides to drive to the address on the car’s registration, which is in Malibu, California, carefully avoiding the public. When he arrives at the house, he is shocked to discover that it looks exactly like the set of the same television show that Emily Sweet stars in, and in fact, he is married to the actress Laney Thayer, who plays Emily Sweet on television. She has been murdered, and he is the chief suspect. As Daniel struggles to remember the events of that fateful night, he is overcome by the loss of a wife who he cannot remember while he struggles to keep one step ahead of the police. He can’t believe that he would be capable of murder, but as he tries to find out the truth, he discovers things about himself that cause him to doubt his own convictions.

This novel is a quick read, full of suspense, plot twists and surprises. It is an interesting study on what happens when innocent people get caught up in evil that is beyond their control and how they handle that evil. Although I don’t usually enjoy suspense (it makes me too nervous!), this story had just the right amount to keep the pages turning, yet not so much that my heart raced too fast. And the violence wasn’t too gory either.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
The Blade Itself (2007)
At the City’s Edge (2008)
Good People (2008)
The Amateurs (2009)

Other titles you may enjoy:

A Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer (2008)
A man framed for the murder of his best friend seeks revenge against the four men who put him in Belmarsh prison, the highest-security jail in the land, from where no inmate has ever escaped.

Breaking the Rules by Barbara Taylor Bradford (2009)
When a psychopath with deadly intent vows to shatter M's world forever, the muse and star model to France's iconic designer Jean-Louis Tremont will break the rules to protect her family and her life.

Innocent as Sin by Elizabeth Lowell (2007)
Despairing of finding the mysterious figure responsible for the murder of his identical twin, Rand McCree assists a rich socialite with an art exhibition that has inadvertently entangled her in a money laundering operation.

My Dear I Wanted to Tell You

2011-07-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

My Dear I Wanted to Tell You
Louisa Young
Harpercollins, 2011

A story that intertwines the lives of two very different couples during World War I follows army soldier Riley as he fights for the love of Nadine, and Riley's commanding officer Peter Locke, who returns home from the war a bitter and scarred man.

This moving and romantic novel starts out slowly. Riley is from a lower class family. Because he has some artistic talent, he is taken in by Sir Alfred, his benefactor, and given art lessons. Nadine is from a higher class family and she also takes art lessons from Sir Alfred; the two become friends. When Riley is informed about the impossibility of the two becoming more than friends because of the class difference, he decides to enlist in the war. Nadine is heartbroken at his leaving without talking to her, so she becomes a nurse, despite her mother’s disapproval, in order to forget Riley.

Meanwhile, Peter is an officer and has left behind his wife Julia. Julia has no children and no idea what to do with herself all day so she keeps her cello perpetually tuned and the pillows always plumped on the sofa, just in case Peter comes home for a visit. Peter’s Cousin Rose works as a nurse in the hospital and tries to be supportive for Julia but realizes that Peter’s wife has no idea what the war is like for the men who are serving. And Peter? He just can’t deal with the perpetual death and misery of the war, so he avoids coming home at all.

The novel really comes together when Riley and Nadine start writing to each other and declare their love and devotion. The author juxtaposes their budding relationship, full of hopes and dreams and plans, to the deterioration of the Locke’s marriage as the war progresses on and on without an end in sight. Without giving away too many details and ruin the reader’s discovery of the interesting plot turns that develop, Peter becomes so disillusioned and depressed that he is unable to connect with Julia anymore, which creates a great divide between the two that seems impossible to bridge. Riley and Nadine have their own problems because of Riley’s injury, which also seem insurmountable. Thankfully, Rose becomes involved in both situations, and her steadfast commitment to the power of love helps each person heal and become whole again.

This is a powerful and moving story. The slow beginning may be challenging but be assured that it will eventually build into a compelling and rewarding effort.

Rating:

This is the author’s first novel for adults.

Other titles you may enjoy:

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett (2010)
Follows the fates of five interrelated families--American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh--as they move through the dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women's suffrage.

Deafening by Frances Itani (2003)
Left profoundly deaf from scarlet fever, Grania O'Neill grows up protected from the hearing world and learning sign language, but her life changes when she falls in love with Jim Lloyd, a hearing man, on the eve of the Great War.

13 Rue Therese by Elena Shapiro (2011)
American academic Trevor Stratton discovers a box full of artifacts from World War I as he settles into his new office in Paris. The pictures, letters, and objects in the box relate to the life of Louise Brunet, a feisty, charming Frenchwoman who lived through both World Wars. As Trevor examines and documents the relics the box offers up, he begins to imagine the story of Louise Brunet's life: her love for a cousin who died in the war, her marriage to a man who works for her father, and her attraction to a neighbor in her building at 13 Rue Therese. The more time he spends with the objects though, the truer his imaginings of Louise's life become, and the more he notices another alluring Frenchwoman: Josianne, his clerk, who planted the box in his office in the first place, and with whom he finds he is falling in love.

As Husbands Go

2011-07-21T10:00:00.000-07:00

As Husbands Go
Susan Isaacs
Scribner, 2010

Astonished when her seemingly devoted husband is found murdered in a prostitute's apartment, Susie, a mother of four-year-old triplets, bristles at the idea that her husband cheated on her. She thought they had the perfect relationship, even if they were super busy with their careers and children and didn’t have much time for each other. Determined to prove that her husband would never stray, Susie undertakes her own investigation to prove that the high class call girl did not kill her husband, even if it means she alienates everyone around her except her long-lost grandmother.

I picked this title up to read because I had never read this author before, and she is considered one of the first to write in the genre of Women’s Lives and Relationships. In fact, I had heard that Jennifer Weiner, my of my favorite authors, considered Susan Isaacs to be her personal favorite. All I can say is: WHAT? I couldn’t have been more disappointed in a book. Now I’m wondering if I happened to pick up the worst book she ever wrote and maybe should try another one of hers just to make sure. Maybe she was having a bad week when she wrote this one. In any event, I could not stand the main character, who seemed more worried about the embarrassment of her husband sleeping around than her husband being dead. And there are more red herrings thrown around than a reader knows what to do with.

And I could care less about designer clothes, jewelry and name brands, which meant that about half the book was meaningless to me. If I was going to be fair, I would have to admit that I finished it just to verify the identity of the murderer, which I knew anyway, but I had to be sure. So, that deserves two cupcakes instead of the one I was going to give this book. Sigh.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
Compromising Positions (1978)
Close Relations (1980)
Almost Paradise (1984)
Shining Through (1988)
Magic Hour (1991)
After All These Years (1993)
Lily White (1996)
Red, White and Blue (1998)
Long Time No See (2001)
Any Place I Hang My Hat (2004)
Past Perfect (2007)

Other books you may enjoy:

One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell (2006)
Living within New York City's most elite apartment building, five women pursue relationships and personal dreams amid the social and sexual politics of New York's privileged.

Lovers and Players by Jackie Collins (2006)
Engaged to a powerful real estate tycoon, New York heiress Amy Scott-Simon has a one-night fling with male model and former drug addict Jett and is horrified to discover that Jett is her fiancé’s younger brother.

The Nannie Diaries by Emma McLaughlin (2002)
A satirical glimpse into Manhattan's upper class follows Nanny, a struggling NYU student who takes a position caring for the son of the rich and glamorous X family, as she learns how to juggle a vast array of tasks so that a Park Avenue wife never has to lift a well-manicured finger.

My New American Life

2011-07-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

My New American Life
Francine Prose
Harper, 2011

Lulu is an illegal alien from Albania who has overstayed her welcome on a tourist visa. After working under the table at a restaurant in New York, she answered an au pair ad on the Internet to care for a 17 year old high school student, Zach. Zach and his college professor turned Wall Street businessman father have been on their own ever since their mentally disturbed wife and mother left them. Lula's job is simple: she is to make wholesome meals for Zach while also keeping him out of trouble. Fortunately for Lulu, her employer discovered she was in the country illegally and he has asked his high power attorney friend to get her a green card. But, just when Lulu starts to relax whenever she sees a police car, some Albanian “cousins” show up and manipulate her into some questionable activities that, if discovered, will surely get her deported.

Set in the aftermath of 9/11 while Bush is in office, Lulu is more cynical and world-weary than the average citizen, most likely because of her past experiences in Albania. She is thankful that she has such a cushy job, but her life is pretty quiet for a 26 year old whose only excitement so far has been buying junk food at the grocery store and sneaking weak mixed drinks to her charge. She finds herself creating elaborate stories for her employer and her lawyer to justify her reluctance to return to the corrupt and violent Albania. When her “cousins” ask her to hide a handgun, she accepts despite the chance that she will get caught and be deported. Poor Lulu can’t seem to stop herself from doing whatever the Albanians ask – maybe because she finds one of the “cousins” very cute and wants him to come back to visit. Not the smartest thing, she knows, but she just can't help it.

The satirical nature of this novel may not appeal to everyone. Prose has some obvious targets here: the college that accepts disinterested Zach because they recently had a school shooting and are desperate for students; the mentally ill mother who goes to Sedona on a spirit-quest; the immigration attorney who’s made a mess of his own life, etc. While it is interesting to see our country through the eyes of an immigrant character, and while Lulu is engaging and appealing, the novel slowly builds suspense only to fall flat with a disappointing and predictable ending. I’ve enjoyed some of Prose’s other works much more than this one.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:

Guided Tours of Hell: novellas (1997)
After (2003) -- YA
A Changed Man (2005)
Blue Angel (2005)
Bullyville (2007) – YA
Goldengrove (2008)
Touch (2009) – YA

Other books you may enjoy:

The Electric Michelangelo by Sarah Hall (2005)
After growing up in England and serving an apprenticeship under a drunken tattoo master, Cy heads for America, setting up a shop on Coney Island and falling in love with a circus performer.

Closing Costs by Seth Jacob Margolis (2006)
Possessing a talent for exposing the weaknesses of her rivals and playing them off of one another, Lucinda orchestrates three large deals that become subject to the real estate market's twists and turns, as well as such factors as embezzlement and forgery.

Too Much Money by Dominick Dunne (2009)
Writer Gus Bailey witnesses the disappearance of the old-money society that once occupied him and investigates the murder of one of the world's wealthiest men, an effort that is sabotaged by the man's calculating wife and schemers within Gus's own set.

Bloodroot

2011-07-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

Bloodroot
Amy Greene
Knopf, 2010

Six voices tell the story of Myra Lamb, a girl born to trouble on Bloodroot Mountain. Raised by her Granny Byrdie because her mother left the mountain and died young, Myra inherited sky blue eyes and “the touch” with animals, passed on through generations of granny women. Byrdie can see that Myra is destined for something special; she hopes and prays that good things will happen for her despite the curse that the family has suffered. This curse, probably generated from the ruby ring that Granny herself stole to give to her new husband, has left each family member with much heartache and disappointment over the years.

Six voices tell the story of Myra, and six voices also tell their own version of events that touched all their lives. One of the storytellers is Myra herself, but she has left her mark on the other five that will never go away no matter how much they try to escape it. From the neighbor boy who falls in love with her to the husband who tries to tame her to the twin children who can’t forget her, they all suffer from having known her. And Myra herself? She takes her own turn at expressing all the love, hate, regret, disappointment and forgiveness they each experience on Bloodroot Mountain.

This is a complicated novel that will take you from character to character forward and backward in time. There are many sides to each of their stories and many ways to interpret their motivations and behaviors, but two things triumph in the end: hope and forgiveness. The ending is especially meaningful and may cause you to want to reread the whole thing immediately, just to see if you could have guessed what would happen. I was awestruck by the characters' voices in this book and I couldn't stop thinking about the sequence of events as the author portrayed them. This was a fascinating and mesmorizing story.

Rating:

This is the author’s first novel.

Other titles you may enjoy:

Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell (2006)
Reaching her sixteenth year in the harsh Ozarks while caring for her poverty-stricken family, Ree Dolly learns that they will lose their house unless her bail-skipping father can be found and made to appear at an upcoming court date.

Home by Marilynne Robinson (2008)
Returning to Gilead to care for her dying father, Glory Boughton is joined by her long-absent brother, with whom she bonds throughout his struggles with alcoholism, unemployment, and their father's traditionalist values.

Within Arm’s Reach by Ann Napolitano (2006)
A lyrical novel narrated from six different points of view chronicles the effects of an unexpected pregnancy on three generations of an Irish-American Catholic family.

Dreams of Joy

2011-07-11T10:00:00.000-07:00

Dreams of Joy
Lisa See
Random House, 2011

This sequel to Shanghai Girls takes up the story of Joy, confused daughter of Pearl, who has discovered a family secret. Devastated by her discovery, Joy impulsively runs to China to search for her real father, Z.G. Enamored by Chinese Communism, Joy is ready to join the Revolution and renounce her American citizenship. Meanwhile, Pearl follows her to China, willing to do anything to find her and convince her to come home again.

When Joy finds her father, she is disappointed at his lack of interest in her. Determined to impress him and also fulfill her own her goal, she joins him when he visits a commune in the country to teach art to the citizens there. Joy has to learn to be a peasant or she risks condemnation by the others, but she adjusts to the different way of life – and falls in love with a young man. Pearl finds herself in a different situation when she arrives in Shanghai. In order to stay in the country, she must follow a strict set of rules, find a job, and renounce her western ways. Both Pearl and Joy eventually find each other only to be forced to separate again as each must go her own path to a dangerous and unpredictable future.

This glimpse into communist China during the late fifties and early sixties provides a fascinating backdrop to a touching story of love, redemption and forgiveness. The detailed descriptions vividly illustrate the confusion and despair that existed during that time as the bureaucratic corruption and ridiculous direction from the leaders take the country on a downward spiral. It may sound trite and corny, but history does come alive in this book. I didn’t know much about the Mao years in China, but reading this book motivated me to do my own research into this subject. Even more importantly for us novel readers, I felt like I was in Shanghai or Green Dragon Village with Pearl and Joy, struggling as they struggled, suffering as they suffered – at least as much as one can do while reading about it. I highly recommend this book, but be sure to read them in order!

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
The Interior (1999)
Dragon Bones (2003)
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2005)
Peony in Love (2007)
Flower Net (2008)
Shanghai Girls (2009)

Other books you may enjoy:

Big Breasts and Wide Hips by Yan Mo (2004)
Jintong, his mother, and his eight sisters struggle to survive through the major crises of twentieth century China, which include civil war, invasion by the Japanese, the Cultural Revolution, and communist rule in the new China.

White Ghost Girls by Alice Greenway (2006)
The children of a war-photographer father and beautiful but remote mother, Frankie and Kate, two American sisters, grow up in Hong Kong during the turmoil of the Maoist revolution of the late 1960s.

Wild Ginger by Anchee Min (2002)
A story of desire during the time of the Cultural Revolution follows Wild Ginger, who becomes a national model for Maoism, which prohibits romantic love, forcing her to make a difficult decision when she falls in love with a young man.

Emily, Alone

2011-07-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

Emily Alone
Stewart O’Nan
Viking, 2011

Dear Grandma,

I recently finished reading a book called Emily Alone and I couldn’t help but think about you. The main character is an elderly woman named Emily. Her husband has died recently and she is very lonely. She used to have lots of friends and neighbors that she did things with, but now her circle of contacts has diminished so much that she pretty much waits by the phone for someone to call her. Most of her friends have died, her neighbors have moved away or relocated to assisted living facilities, and her children are not close. Her world has narrowed much like yours did. In fact, Emily spends a lot of time wishing her children and grandchildren would call her or come visit her. It made me wish I had made the time to call you more often. As I read this book I imagined you waiting by the phone wishing for one of your grandchildren to call you, just like Emily does.

Emily’s life changes a little when she decides to buy a new car. She had tried to drive her husband’s old car, but it was too big and used too much gas. Driving gives her a little more independence, but it doesn’t take away the loneliness. Her life still centers on weekly brunches with her sister-in-law, taking care of her old dog, and waiting for winter to end. Emily’s life makes me think of old age and how empty it can be for some people. I wonder what that type of loneliness would be like. I remember you used to tell me you were ready to die and I didn’t like to hear you say that. I know you had things to keep you busy: your garden, and Miss Sophia the cat, and my uncle’s many adventures to complain about, but I sure wish I had been more aware of how things were with you. I’m sorry I didn’t visit you more often, sorry I didn’t take the time to send you little notes more often, and sorry I didn’t bother to call you more often.

Maybe this book will make other grandchildren call their grandma more often, before it’s too late. It's too late for me to make things right with my grandmother; I hope Emily's grandchildren end up making things right with her.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
Snow Angels (1994)
The Speed Queen (1997)
A World Away (1998)
Everyday People (2001)
Wish You Were Here (2002)
The Night Country (2003)
The Good Wife (2005)
Last Night at the Lobster (2007)
Songs for the Missing (2008)

Other books you may enjoy:

Home Safe by Elizabeth Berg (2009)
After the death of her husband, Helen Ames is shocked to discover that he spent their retirement savings before he died, but what he did with their money leads Helen and her twenty-seven-year-old daughter Tessa to embark on new adventures.

The Garden of Earthly Delights by Joyce Carol Oates (2003)
The daughter of a migrant worker finds her life in the deprived and ugly transient world shaped by her father, lover, husband, and son.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (2010)
The idyllic lives of civic-minded environmentalists Patty and Walter Berglund come into question when their son moves in with aggressive Republican neighbors, green lawyer Walter takes a job in the coal industry, and go-getter Patty becomes increasingly unstable and enraged.

The Silver Sparrow

2011-07-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Silver Sparrow
Tayari Jones
Algonquin, 2011

James Witherspoon is a bigamist. He divides his time between his legal wife and daughter (Chaurisse) and his second wife and daughter (Dana.) Dana and her mother both know about James' other daughter, but Chaurisse and her mother are blissfully unaware of James's secret family. Dana and her mother live in the shadows – they must be careful everywhere they go to not run into Chaurisse and her mother. It even affects where Dana goes to school. But this doesn’t stop the two of them from spying on Chaurisse and her mother every chance they get in order to compare what James gives his first family and what James provides for his second.

When Dana accidently meets her half-sister, the two of them become friends. For Dana, it's an irresistible opportunity to secretly see how much better her father’s “real” family lives. She sees that they have a nicer house, better clothes, and more time with James. For Chaurisse, Dana is a glamorous friend--a "silver girl" possessing all the style, popularity, and long pretty hair that Chaurisse thinks would make her happy. But this friendship is doomed from the start. As the two girls spend more time together, the secret is bound to come out, and when it does, Dana and her mother discover that they have much more to lose than they thought.

This fascinating look at the dark side of bigamy had me glued to the book until the end. It is set in the 1980s, and the author includes many details about the fashion, politics, and attitudes of the time period, which helped to put the situation in perspective. I found Dana’s and Chaurisse’s voices to be authentic and realistic – and very sad. This book doesn’t wrap everything up neatly, but that’s what makes it hard to stop thinking about afterward. It will make you think about the choices people make and how these choices have far-reaching consequences for others beside ourselves.

Rating:

Other books by this author:
Leaving Atlanta (2002)
The Untelling (2005)

Other novels you may enjoy:

Falling in Love with Natassia by Anna Mondardo (2006)
Born to college students unprepared for parenthood, Natassia is raised by her father's parents, but the end of Natassia's teenage romance and the resulting emotional collapse forces all of the adults in her life to re-evaluate their relationships.

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See (2009)
Forced to leave Shanghai when their father sells them to California suitors, sisters May and Pearl struggle to adapt to life in 1930s Los Angeles while still bound to old customs, as they face discrimination and confront a life-altering secret.

Sea Escape by Lynn Reeves Griffin (2010)
Balancing her roles as a wife and mother with the responsibility of caring for a parent who is recovering from a stroke, Laura reads love letters exchanged by her parents during the 1950s and tumultuous Vietnam War period, a correspondence that reveals unexpected truths.

Coffins of Little Hope

2011-06-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

Coffins of Little Hope
Timothy Schaffert
Unbridled Books, 2011

Essie, an octogenarian obituary writer for her family's small town newspaper, narrates this story about family in a small town. When a young country girl is reported to be missing, perhaps whisked away by an itinerant aerial photographer, Essie stumbles onto the story of her life. Or, maybe it’s the story of her death, considering Essie’s occupation. The problem is that no one knows if the girl actually exists at all – some in town believe it all could be simply a hoax, or a delusion, the child and child-thief invented from the desperate imagination of a lonely, lovelorn woman. Either way, the story of the girl reaches far and wide, igniting controversy, attracting curiosity-seekers and cult worshippers from all over the country to this dying rural town. And then it is revealed that the long awaited final book of an infamous series of teen gothic novels is being secretly printed on the newspaper's presses, but someone has stolen a copy and reads it aloud every night on the radio.

A lot is going on in this novel. At first several seemingly unrelated events provide confusing, albeit amusing, reading. Not only is the supposed kidnapping occurring during the top secret novel printing, Essie’s own great-granddaughter is trying to find her way in the world after being abandoned by her mother, who suddenly shows up wanting to be a parent again. Essie is caught in the middle of each of these scenarios:

1. She doesn’t know whether she should write the obituary of the kidnapped child because no one knows if the child even existed let alone abducted;
2. She is friends with the author of the blockbuster novel yet her family’s business is the one that allowed a copy to be stolen;
3. She’s stuck between the needs of her great-granddaughter and her two grandchildren – one who has raised his niece as his own daughter and his cousin, who wants to do the right thing after years of neglect and omission.

Essie is a likeable character, as is most of the other characters in the novel, but I think there is too much going on here to make the novel as successful as it could be. If you enjoy a slightly amusing elderly narrator and can overlook a crazy mishmash of plot developments, you may want to give it a try.

Rating:

Other books by this author:
The Singing and Dancing Daughters of God (2005)
Devils in the Sugar Shop (2006)

Other titles you may enjoy:

The Bright Forever by Lee Martin (2005)
The disappearance of nine-year-old Katie Mackey, the daughter of the most affluent family in a small Indiana town, while riding her bicycle to town to return some library books, has profound repercussions for her entire family.

The Sand Castle by Rita Mae Brown (2008)
In August 1952, seven-year-old Nickel, her mother, aunt, and cousin Leroy head off for a day at the seashore, but Nickel's cruel teasing of her cousin and tensions between her mother and aunt provide a life-changing lesson in the joys and sorrows of family relationships.

Star Lake Saloon and Housekeeping Cottages by Sara Rath (2005)
Hannah Swann is a Wisconsin poetry professor who suddenly inherits a rustic lakeside resort in the north woods run by her enigmatic prodigal uncle Hal. Leaving her work and an affair with a married man behind in Madison, Hannah heads north, where an expected bit of paperwork and a few days quickly turn into months of hard work with disastrous results.

The Reliable Wife

2011-06-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Reliable Wife
Robert Goolrick
Algonquin, 2009

It is 1907 in rural Wisconsin. Wealthy businessman Ralph Truitt has advertised for a “reliable wife” and Catherine Land has come from Chicago to answer his ad. But she is not what Ralph is expecting. Ralph has advertised for a plain woman to be his wife – someone who is dependable and sturdy enough to withstand the harsh Wisconsin winters. While Catherine is much prettier than he wanted, she proves herself to be a worthy and hardy person who must nurse him through a dangerous illness, thereby earning his love and devotion. What Ralph doesn’t know is that Catherine has an ulterior motive: she plans to win this man’s love, then slowly poison him and inherit his wealth. What she has not figured into the equation is falling in love with him before she can finish her plan.

This would be a lovely book to read in the heat of summer because the author’s descriptions of the extreme cold practically crackle off the pages. It is so cold that Ralph and Catherine’s intimacy must melt the ice off the roof of their house. It is so cold that people’s brains become addled and they commit suicide in odd ways. It is so cold that Catherine starts to rethink her plans, even if it means her husband will discover that she is slowly killing him with arsenic. It is so cold that you may need to take a walk outside in 112 degree heat just to take the chill off.

I liked this book. I liked the way the author made me smell cold. I liked the complex relationship that Catherine and Ralph developed. They grew to trust and respect each other despite the many ways they each betrayed the other. I liked the ending best of all -- and I think you will too.

Rating:

This is the author’s first novel.

Other titles you may enjoy:

Secrets of Eden by Chris Bohjalian (2010)
Haunted by the final words of a newly baptized congregation member who was subsequently murdered by her husband, the Reverend Stephen Drew abandons his pulpit to spend time with an author who writes best-selling books about angels.

The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig (2006)
Hired as a housekeeper to work on the early 1900s Montana homestead of widower Oliver Milliron, the irreverent Rose and her brother, Morris, endeavor to educate the widower's sons while witnessing local efforts on a massive irrigation project.

A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O’Nan (1999)
A diphtheria epidemic breaks out in a small town in post-Civil War Wisconsin and as people die Jacob Hansen, the community's sheriff and pastor, buries the dead and burns buildings.

Before I Go to Sleep

2011-06-23T15:51:00.001-07:00

Before I Go to Sleep
S.J. Watson
Harper, 2011

A woman wakes up next to a stranger and she thinks that she must have had too much to drink the night before, because she doesn’t remember going home with him. When she sees herself in the bathroom mirror, however, she doesn’t recognize the worn, lined face staring back at her. Numb with disbelief, she notices pictures posted in the bathroom of her posing with the man who is still sleeping in the next room. How can this be since the last thing the woman remembers is being young and single?

The man hears her screams and comes to comfort her. She had an accident many years ago, the man explains. He is her husband, Ben, and every morning he must tell her again that she is middle aged and married, because every night she forgets everything she learned that day. After Ben goes to work, Christine gets a call from the therapist she has been secretly seeing because Ben does not approve of her having therapy. Her therapist tells her to go find her journal, hidden in a shoebox in the closet, in order to read all the things she has been able to remember up to that point.

The journal is exactly where her therapist said it would be, but Christine is disturbed to see a warning written in her own handwriting: Do not trust Ben. Soon Christine suspects that her husband has not been telling her the truth about her own past. As she starts to question things, she becomes convinced that his story does not ring true. She is determined to find out what happened to her to make her into this timid, fearful person she has become.

I could not put this book down and couldn’t stop thinking about it after I finished it. The plot may sound familiar but the first person diary format will keep you on the edge of your seat. The writing style is tense, the tone is disturbing, and the ending is totally unpredictable. For once I agree with all the reviewers: this is a must read book that everyone will be talking about.

Rating:

This is the author’s first novel.

Other titles you may enjoy:

Among the Missing by Morag Joss (2011)
When a bridge collapses in the Highlands of Scotland, dozens of commuters vanish into the freezing river below, swept by the currents toward the sea, and only an amateur video and the bridge’s security camera record their last moments.

The King of Lies by John Hart (2006)
When his father is found murdered, the investigation into the crime uncovers dark family secrets that threaten to unravel the life of North Carolina lawyer Work Pickens and those of his troubled sister and other small-town characters.

Black Out by Lisa Unger (2008)
A woman has to quickly piece together disturbing events--one of which is the murder of her psychologist--before her past comes to claim her future and her daughter.

Swim Back to Me: Stories

2011-06-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

Swim Back to Me: Stories
Ann Packer
Knopf; 2011

Once upon a time, in the not so distant past, a dedicated but somewhat forgetful reader and blogger read a collection of short stories. It took her about a week to read the stories, and she probably enjoyed them, but then she returned the book to the library, jotted down the title in order to remember it, and then went about her regular day as a busy branch manager in a medium size library. The summer reading program had just started, which meant lots of children to help, lots of books to sort and shelve and lots of requests for Diary of a Wimpy Kid and anything, please, by Rick Riordan. As any library worker can tell you, summertime is chaotic and overwhelming and usually short-handed, which would be a challenge for the best memory in the world, which our reader has not. In fact, some would say that this reader has a mind like a sieve, but not me. I would say that she does the best she can under the circumstances.

Time went on and the book of stories faded into a pleasant haze of something vaguely remembered and appreciated but nothing specific. When it came time for our reader to update her book review blog, she drew a blank. Did she actually read this collection, she wondered? Did she finish it? And most importantly, did she like it? She had a good feeling about the book, but feelings aren’t specific enough for a review, and besides, was that really fair? So she did some research and looked at book reviews (they were positive) and on websites (also positive) and read summaries of some of the stories in order to jog her memory. Nothing worked. She thought about it while she hunted for Dr. Seuss books. She thought about it while she pulled piles of picture books out of the book bins. She even thought about it while she shelved holds (which might explain why one ended up on the wrong place!) but she could not remember a single thing about the book. What should she do? How could she review the title?

Then she realized something. Most people who are looking for something to read don’t need a detailed summary of the plot, nor do they really want a specific review of the title. They just want to know two things: 1) Are people reading this book; and 2) Will I like it? Luckily, this librarian knew the answers to both:

1) Yes, people are reading this book;
2) Yes, you will like it.

3) However, I'm guessing you won't remember it either.

Other books by this author:
Mendocino and other stories (1994)
The Dive from Clausen’s Pier (2002)
Songs Without Words (2007)

Other books you may enjoy:

Sourland: Stories by Joyce Carol Oates (2010)
Sixteen short stories explore violence, loss, and grief with tales about a librarian amputee who attracts a married man and a young girl in love with her incarcerated cousin.

Secrets from the Vinyl Café by Stuart McLean (2011)
The popular CBC radio personality describes the characters who populate The Vinyl Cafe, featuring their misdemeanors, transgressions and clandestine matters of the heart.

Pulse by Julian Barnes (2011)
A volume of fourteen stories about loss, friendship, and longing includes the tales of a recently divorced real-estate agent who invades a reticent girlfriend's privacy, a couple that meets over an illicit cigarette, and a widower who struggles to let go of grief.

The World Beneath

2011-06-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

The World Beneath
Cate Kennedy
Black Cat, 2009

Rich and Sandy used to be a couple in love with each other and with a cause: environmental activism. In fact, that’s where they met – during a world-famous blockade in Tasmania to save the wilderness. Now, twenty-five years later, they have settled into middle age separately but they both remember their involvement in the blockade as the pinnacle of their lives. Even though they have not been together for many years, they share a daughter, Sophie, who Rich has kept in touch with sporadically over the years. Sophie is now 15 years old and her disdain for her mother has reached a new high, which is why she jumps at the chance to go on a wilderness camping trip with her father. Not only does it greatly annoy her mother, she looks on the exercise as a plus in her anorexic experience.

Sandy has plenty of misgivings about the whole idea, but Rich and Sophie apply too much pressure for her to resist. So she decides to splurge and find her inner goddess at a new-agey retreat center, but she finds the experience tedious and trite. Rick and Sophie bravely set off together despite hardly knowing each other. At first things go well, but as the trip progresses, they become disillusioned and disappointed in each other. Instead of the respect Rich expected from his daughter, she disdains and snubs him, which causes him to make a series of bad decisions. In turn, Sophie finds her father to not be as cool as she had hoped and her snotty teenage behavior causes the situation to escalate into a full blown war of the wills between the two, with very dangerous consequences.

Despite the desperate and potentially life-threatening situation that the characters face, this is not a sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat type story. The reader may experience a sinking feeling as the plot plays out, but there is hope that things will be okay despite the many foreshadowing hints too obvious to miss. But men being men and teens being teens, we all know that no good thing can happen when they bump up against each other, especially if they each had high expectations about the outcome of such a bonding experience. I found some things tedious here: Sandy’s exaggerated adherence to current “hip” environmental concerns, Rich’s exalted view of himself, Sophie’s total brattiness that surpassed normal teenage angst – but the story was interesting and the sense of place very strong and compelling. Over-the-topness notwithstanding, this is a debut novel worthy of a second read – and a good book group choice.

This is the author’s first novel.

Rating:

Other titles you may enjoy:

The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai (2006)
In a crumbling house in the remote northeastern Himalayas, an embittered, elderly judge finds his peaceful retirement turned upside down by the arrival of his orphaned granddaughter, Sai.

The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips (2008)
Witnessing what she believes to be the murder of an infant in a Depression-era Alabama mining town, nine-year-old Tess Moore and her civic-minded family subsequently struggle with the darker side of their racially torn community.

The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty (2003)
Fending for herself in the wake of a chronically unemployed, dysfunctional mother, ten-year-old Evelyn Bucknow experiences feelings of confinement in their small Midwestern town and suffers the heartache of a first love.

The Secret Scripture

2011-06-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Secret Scripture
Sebastian Barry
Viking, 2008

Recording the events of her life from a mental hospital as her hundredth birthday approaches, Roseanne McNulty considers returning to society when she learns that the hospital is about to close. Her therapist, Dr. Grene, hardly knows her yet he must decide whether Roseanne is sane enough to rejoin the community. Alternating journal entries tell the story of these two people: one who is the victim of the tumultuous political climate in Ireland’s past, and one who is grieving for his dead wife while attempting to do what’s right for his patient.

This quiet but powerful story is not a page turner, but it has a lyrical rhythm and poetic language that makes it hard to put down. The character of Roseanne is skillfully and sympathetically portrayed. Is she really insane or was she committed because it served others to have her silenced? As Dr. Grene investigates her past, he discovers that the parish priest was instrumental in the events that caused her personal tragedy, but he also discovers that his own life has been affected by Roseanne’s in ways he never imagined.

Rating:

Other books by this author:
Annie Dunn (2003)
A Long, Long Way (2005)

Other titles you may enjoy:

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell (2006)
Iris Lockhart receives news that her great-aunt Esme is being released from Cauldstone Hospital, where she has been confined for more than sixty years, and soon discovers that Esme holds the key to long-hidden family secrets that could change her life forever.

The Vineyard by Barbara Delinsky (2000)
A woman and her daughter accept an invitation to spend the summer on a vineyard to help the owner, a widow, write her memoir. They soon learn that all is not as it seems at the vineyard.

Love and Summer by William Trevor (2009)
Living an unfulfilling existence at the side of a tragic husband, shy orphan Ellie Dillahan begins an affair that forces her to choose between an uncertain future with the man she loves and the desolate life she has built for herself.

The Outside Boy

2011-06-09T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Outside Boy
Jeanine Cummins
New American Library, 2010

Christy Hurley is almost 12 in 1959 Ireland. He and his father are Pavee Travelers who move with his father’s extended family from town to town, carrying all their worldly possessions in their wagons. Christy carries with him a burden of guilt as well, haunted by the story of his mother's death in childbirth. He has no friends but his cousin and his dad, but everything changes when his grandfather dies. Not only does his father decides to settle down temporarily in a town where Christy and his cousin can attend mass and receive proper schooling, but Christy discovers a piece of newsprint in his grandfather’s things that proves to be very puzzling. Determined to find the answers to the puzzle, Christy begins to investigate his own past. Soon his questions make his father uncomfortable and Christy is forced to sneak around to find answers – answers that soon make him suspect everything he knows and loves.

I enjoyed reading about Christy and his longing to belong. He and his dad have a great relationship, but Christy is at the age where he questions everything – something his dad has no patience for. When Christy begins to suspect the stories he’s been told about his mother’s death are not true, the reader is afraid for Christy and his father –afraid that their relationship will not survive any revelations of what really happened. I enjoyed reading about this alternative way of life in a place and time not so far away, but I especially enjoyed seeing the world through the hopeful, anticipating eyes of a 12 year old boy.

Rating:

This is the author’s first novel.

Other titles you may enjoy:

The Widower’s Tale by Julia Glass (2010)
Enjoying an active but lonely rural life, 70-year-old Percy haplessly allows a progressive preschool to move into his barn and transform his quiet home into a lively, youthful community that compels him to reexamine the choices he made in the decades after his wife's death.

The Improper Life of Bezillia Grove by Susan Gregg Gilmore (2010)
Born to prominent but dysfunctional Nashville parents, Bezellia Grove leans on disregarded African-American servants as substitute family figures and incites wrath from both groups when she pursues an interracial relationship.

Life in Miniature by Linda Schlossberg (2010)
After her sister Miriam runs away, Adie is left behind with their mother, who, convinced that their lives are in danger, takes her on a crazy adventure across northern California where Adie unexpectedly embarks on her own journey of self-discovery.

Life is Short but Wide

2011-06-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

Life is Short but Wide
J. California Cooper
Doubleday, 2009

In the early twentieth century, Irene and Val build a life for themselves in Wideland, Oklahoma, while also allowing neighbors Bertha and Joseph to live on their land, and the two families cope with changing times and fortunes. Narrated by a local woman with no clear ties to either family, this story spans many generations. Irene and Val’s two daughters go different directions when their parents die: one stays away after college and the other one lives on in the family house while Bertha and Joseph live nearby. Each generation has its own joys and trials while living in that small town, but they persevere through the years, sometimes with tragic consequences.

I did not enjoy the homespun and folksy tone of this book, nor did I “get” the meandering plot that went back and forth through time for no apparent reason. I found most of the characters to lack a backbone or even a reasonable explanation for their actions – or inaction. This could be classified as a family saga, but some generations are given barely a mention while much time is spent on others.

I’m not sure why I even finished the book. The narrator does tease the reader with hints to an upcoming event that may have compelled me to finish, but the ending was not worth the effort. I also found the Jehovah’s Witness proselytizing to be a major turnoff.

Oh, and I love the cover and title. Maybe that was why I finished it.

Rating:

Other books by this author:
Some Soul to Keep (1987)
Family (1991)
In Search of Satisfaction (1994)
Some Love Some Pain Sometime (1995)
The Wake of the Wind (1998)
The Future Has a Past; stories (2000)
Some People, Some Other Place (2004)
Wild Stars Seeking Midnight Suns (2006)

Other titles you may enjoy:

The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips (2007)
Witnessing what she believes to be the murder of an infant in a Depression-era Alabama mining town, nine-year-old Tess Moore and her civic-minded family subsequently struggle with the darker side of their racially torn community.

Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell (2006)
Reaching her sixteenth year in the harsh Ozarks while caring for her poverty-stricken family, Ree Dolly learns that they will lose their house unless her bail-skipping father can be found and made to appear at an upcoming court date.

Right as Rain by Bev Marshall (2004)
Living and working side-by-side on the rural Southern farm belonging to their white employers, Tee Wee and Icey forge a bond based on their shared servitude and their equally painful pasts.

How High the Moon

2011-06-02T11:28:00.000-07:00

How High the Moon
Sandra Kring
Bantam, 2010

Ten-year-old Isabella, nicknamed Teaspoon, has been a handful ever since her mother, Catty, dumped her with an old boyfriend and ran off to Hollywood. Teaspoon fights, fidgets, and fibs like crazy – so much so that her teacher tells her she will have flunk unless she takes part in a mentorship program during the summer. Teddy, the old boyfriend who has taken her in, is determined to raise her right, so Teaspoon knows she has to do better. Fortunately for Teaspoon, her mentor is Brenda Bloom, the beautiful reigning Sweetheart of Mill Town, whose family owns the only movie theater in town – a place Teaspoon goes every chance she gets in order to see her mother on the big screen. Against all odds, as the summer passes, this unlikely duo discover a special friendship as they face personal challenges, determined to follow their hearts instead of convention.

The down-home folksy writing style almost put me off finishing this book, but luckily for me the unpredictable plot and engaging characters more than compensated for it. At first this novel starts out with a southern "charm" that is somewhat off-putting, but if you keep reading you may find Teaspoon’s annoying child-like voice to become more real, sad and sympathetic as the story progresses. While it's not the best book I have read in the past few months, it definitely builds into something worthwhile and relevant. If you like Fannie Flagg, you will enjoy this author.

This title would make good summer reading. It’s not too demanding and easy to pick up after taking a dip in the pool. Enjoy!

Rating:

Other books by this author:
Carry Me Home (2005)
The Book of Bright Ideas (2006)
Thank You for All Things (2008)

Other titles you may enjoy:

Every Visible Thing by Lisa Carey (2006)
Two years after the disappearance of their oldest son, Hugh, Elizabeth and Henry Furey, estranged by grief, work to put the tragedy behind them, while their two younger children still struggle with the past.

The Summer We Got Saved by Pat Devoto (2005)
Embracing the belief systems of her Southern hometown, Tab witnesses changes in the attitudes throughout the course of a 1960s gubernatorial campaign, which is marked by the establishment of a voting school for church members.

Similar authors you may want to try:
Lorna Landvik
Rebecca Wells
Ann B. Ross

The Uncoupling

2011-05-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Uncoupling
Meg Wolitzer
Riverhead Books, 2011

When the new drama teacher at Stellar Plains High School chooses a classic for the next school play, a strange metaphysical force seems to be at work among all the women of the town. The play, Lysistrata by Aristophanes, is a story in which the women in a community stop having sex with the men in order to end a long war. As soon as the play is announced, the women in Steller Plains start to feel strange, one by one. Soon all the perfectly normal women and teenage girls have turned away from their husbands and boyfriends in the bedroom, for reasons they don't really understand. As the women worry over their loss of passion, and the men become by turns unhappy, offended, and above all, confused, both sides are forced to look at their relationships in a new way.

If you like a bit of magical realism mixed with your literary fiction, then you may really like this book. It reminded me of many of Alice Hoffman’s books because of the similar way a small unexplained event becomes a catalyst for an upheaval of some kind. In this novel, this unexplained event may be the play, or it may be the drama teacher, or it may just be a soft wind that blows in each woman’s window as she lies in bed at night. It is sad, in a way, to see all the relationships erode when couples don’t have the intimacy that sex brings, and it reminds the reader that a good marriage is really a miraculous and wondrous thing.

That being said, I was not enamored of this book and found the magical event to be a plot device of an annoying and distracting nature. I found the characters to be far more interesting than the plot and would have liked to see how they lived and loved each other under different circumstances. Perhaps some of them will show up in another novel without the benefit of a drama teacher’s unfair influence so we can see how they would behave in more normal situations.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
The Wife (2003)
The Position (2005)
The Ten Year Nap (2008)

Other titles you may enjoy:

Ten Days in the Hills by Jane Smiley (2007)
In the wake of the 2003 Academy Awards, a group of friends and family gathers in the Hollywood hills for ten transformative days of love, memories, gossip, movies, and more, including Max, an Oscar-winning writer/director whose career is waning; his lover Elena; his ex-wife, film star Zoe Cunningham; their daughter Isabel; and others.

The Humbling by Philip Roth (2009)
Presents the story of Simon Axler--an actor in his sixties who has lost his wife, his audience, and confidence in his talent--whose risky and aberrant desire points toward a dark and shocking end.

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan (2007)
On their wedding day, a young couple--Florence, daughter of an Oxford academic and a successful businessman, and Edward, an earnest history student with little experience of women--looks forward to the future while worrying about their upcoming wedding night.

Unce Upon a Time There Was You

2011-05-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

Once Upon a Time There Was You
Elizabeth Berg
Random House, 2011

Sharing nothing in common except their 16-year-old daughter, divorced parents John and Irene reconnect in the wake of a devastating tragedy and discover things about each other that they had not revealed during their marriage.

John and Irene each dote on their daughter, Sadie. John lives in Minnesota where he renovates old buildings. Irene and Sadie relocated to San Francisco after the divorce, where Irene works as a caterer and writes sad personal ads. Sadie is 18 and ready for college, but has a secret she is keeping from her parents: she is interested in a boy and has lied to her parents about a hiking trip in order to spend time with him. This is why Irene is not too worried when Sadie has not contacted her one night; she assumes she is out of cell phone range -- until too much time passes with no word from her, and then panic sets in. Sadie is officially missing.

Although the drama of a missing child would be enough for any story, this plot device is odd and out of place in this one. Our focus has been on the story of a marriage, John’s and Irene’s, and how it became damaged beyond mending. When the disappearance occurs, the reader is shocked out of the contemplative and emotional back-story of this couple and into a nightmare that belongs in some other story, some other book that is suspenseful and scary. Then, when Sadie is found and she makes decisions that shock her parents, we are thrust back into the dynamic of a family relationship again, only this time the parents must cope with a major life decision that Sadie makes, no doubt as a result of post-traumatic stress. Emotionally, this book takes the reader on a roller coaster of sorts, one of which we did not sign up for when we elected to read a book by this author. I like her other books much more than this one.

Rating:

There are many other books written by Elizabeth Berg. Please check mesapubliclibrary.org if you want to know more!

Other titles you may enjoy:

1022 Evergreen Place by Debbie Macomber (2010)
Neighbors Mary Jo Wyse and Mack McAfee feel their love grow as they work together to solve the mystery of what happened to the World War II soldier who wrote the letters that Mary Jo found, and to the girl he wrote to.

The Love Season by Erin Hildebrand (2006)
Journeying to Nantucket to visit with her new fiancé’s family, Renata goes against her father's wishes to confront the truth about her mother's untimely death, an effort that brings her into the complicated life of her godmother, Marguerite.

Life without Summer by Lynne Reeves Griffin (2009)
A tale told in alternating voices follows the experiences of bereaved mother Tessa, who searches for answers after her four-year-old daughter is killed in a hit-and-run accident; and her grief counselor, Celia, whose efforts to help Tessa revive painful family memories.

2011-05-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

Heads You Lose
Lisa Lutz and David Hayward
Putnam, 2011

Pot-growing siblings Paul and Lacey Hansen must investigate why the headless corpse of Lacey's ex-fiancé turned up on their property, in a metafictional mystery where the authors disagree as to how the story should progress, a contention that causes a higher body count, a host of quirky characters and more insanity than the Hansens can handle.

Once again Lisa Lutz totally cracked me up with this pseudo-mystery she cowrote with her ex-boyfriend, David Hayward. If you read any of her Spellman series then you know how laugh-out-loud funny her books are; this is no exception. Be prepared: this is not a normal novel!

It begins with a proposal that Lutz sends to Hayward regarding collaborating on a mystery. Her idea is they will each write alternating chapters and then comment on what each has written via footnotes. They agree they cannot alter anything the other has previously written. The result is an insanely funny story within a story that does not quite go where Lutz wants it to, but manages to entertain the reader despite the plot and character problems. The real fun here is the interaction between the collaborating (and I use that term loosely) authors, one of whom tries to control the other with hilarious results. She criticizes his use of big words and kills off his favorite character; he bristles at her superior attitude and brings the same character back to life in the next chapter. I was reading this in bed one night while my husband was sleeping and kept waking him up with my giggling and snorting.

I loved this book but have to admit to a few problems: it’s a bit disjointed because of the differing writing styles; the footnotes and emails are funny but interrupt the flow; and the story doesn’t really get developed in any meaningful way, but who cares? In the end those things don’t really matter as long as reading it was this much fun.

Rating:

Other books by Lisa Lutz:
The Spellman Files (2007)
Curse of the Spellmans (2008)
Revenge of the Spellmans (2009)
The Spellmans Strike Again (2010)

Other titles you may enjoy:

Centuries of June by Keith Donohue (2011)
A darkly comic tale set in the bathroom of an old house at dawn follows the experiences of a man whose attempt to relate how he came to suffer a grave injury is interrupted by a sequence of eight women suspects who convey respective stories in the literary styles of various historical periods.

Moo by Jane Smiley (1995)
In urgent need of funds, Moo University, a huge Midwestern agricultural college, and its male-dominated hierarchy search for a solution to their economic woes.

The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon (2007)
In a world in which Alaska, rather than Israel, has become the homeland for the Jews following World War II, Detective Meyer Landsman and his half-Tlingit partner Berko investigate the death of a heroin-addicted chess prodigy.

2011-05-19T15:49:00.000-07:00

The Gentleman Poet
Kathryn Johnson
Avon, 2010

Elizabeth Persons, an orphan, ends up in Bermuda after being shipwrecked, where she falls in love with the ship's cook and is befriended by a mysterious poet, William, who writes a play for the survivors about their predicament on the island.

At first, I assumed this was a story of some depth and character; after all, William Shakespeare was a character. Soon I discovered that it had all the elements of a typical romance novel without any of the charm of a Shakespeare creation. In fact, I was supremely disappointed in the flat and stereotypical characters (a crotchety mistress, a headstrong servant girl, a mysterious stranger, etc. etc.), the typical boy meets girl plot sequence, and the unreliable historical details. I looked in vain for evidence that Shakespeare actually went on a boat trip to America; if this isn’t true about an actual person, then what else did the author use liberties with?

Romance readers may love this book; it has all the elements of a light-hearted love story with a happy ending. Historical fiction and Shakespeare fans may want to look elsewhere.

Rating:

This is the author’s first novel.

Other titles you may enjoy:

The King’s Daughter by Sandra Worth (2008)
A fictional portrait of Elizabeth of York, eldest daughter of King Edward IV, describes her life in the wake of her beloved father's death, as she and her siblings are branded as bastards and her brothers vanish, as she cherishes a forbidden love for her uncle, Richard of Gloucester, and ultimately marries Henry Tudor to become queen and mother of Henry VIII.

Ghost Light by Joseph O’Connor (2011)
A collaborative effort between W. B. Yeats and resident playwright John Synge at the Abbey Theatre in 1907 gives way to a barrier-breaking affair with teen actress Molly Allgood, who after World War II looks back on her career and the great love of her life.

Sunflowers by Sheramy Bundrick (2009)
Nineteenth-century French prostitute Rachel Courteau becomes drawn to one of her newest clients, Vincent Van Gogh, and a true relationship blossoms until outside pressures threaten the safe haven they have created.

Charles Jessold; Considered as a Murderer

2011-05-10T16:32:00.000-07:00

Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer
Wesley Stace
Picador, 2011

Set in 1923 England, this intricate novel tells the macabre story of a gifted young composer, Charles Jessold, who on the eve of his revolutionary new opera's premiere murders his wife and her lover, then commits suicide in a scenario that echoes the plot of his opera.

I have enjoyed this author’s other books, but this one is too “intricate” for me. I found it confusing with too many characters and far too descriptive for my level of patience, so I abandoned it after the first few chapters. The narrator, one of the characters in the novel, employed quite a large vocabulary with extensive and clever wordplay that I tired of rather quickly. Readers who enjoy music and narrators who find themselves infinitely amusing will probably enjoy this – all others should try one of the author’s other novels instead.

Rating:

Other books by this author:
Misfortune (2005)
By, George (2007)

Other titles you may enjoy:

The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue (2008)
Emily "Fido" Faithfull, a spinster pioneer in the British women's movement, is distracted from her cause by the details of her friend's failing marriage and affair with a young army officer, in this drama of friends, lovers, and divorce, Victorian style.

Engleby by Sebastian Faulks (2007)
Follows narrator Mike Engleby through adolescence in the 1970s, as he suffers bouts of memory loss and tells up front that he might or might not have committed the brutal murder of his classmate, Jennifer Arkland.

The Night Climbers by Ivo Stourton (2007)
Seduced into an underground circle of thrill-seeking fellow students at Cambridge's Tudor College, James Walker enters obsessive relationships with a beautiful coed and the group's ringleader before becoming involved in an audacious art fraud scheme.

The Paris Wife

2011-05-07T16:04:00.000-07:00

The Paris Wife
Paula McLain
Ballantine, 2011

Meeting through mutual friends in Chicago, Hadley is intrigued by Ernest Hemingway, and after a brief courtship and small wedding, they take off for Paris, where Hadley makes a convincing transformation from an overprotected child to a brave young woman who puts up with impoverished living conditions and shattering loneliness to prop up her husband's career.

I’ve never read any biographies of Hemingway, but I’ve always imagined that he was a “man’s man,” and as such not inclined to be romantic or sensitive. This fictionalized account of Hadley’s and Ernest’s relationship, however, portrays him as very much in love with Hadley and quite romantic during their courtship. After marrying quite quickly and moving to Paris, Ernest is still quite sweet and attentive to his wife, confiding his hopes and dreams for a writing career to an eager helpmate. He and Hadley are poor, but very much in love, and she fully supports his decisions.

After their son is born, however, Hadley and Ernest experience more stress and financial hardship. Hadley begins to notice that Ernest prefers spending a great deal of time with one of her own friends, Pauline, and even though she tries to be open-minded and accepting of their friendship, it soon becomes apparent that they are having an affair. In fact, the “lost generation” of writers and artists who have made up their circle of friends all seem to know what is going on before she does, and finally Hadley cannot pretend that things will ever be the same as they were the first few years in Paris. She asks for a divorce and from then on, is known as the “Paris Wife.”

This bittersweet romantic novel is full of atmosphere and feeling. The characters are based on actual people; I found myself hoping that this story of their courtship and marriage had at least some basis in reality because I like to think that Ernest and Hadley were truly this much in love with each other. Their funny nicknames along with their mutual respect and admiration for each other was so touching that I felt genuine sadness when their marriage ended. There have been many accounts of Hemingway’s life which attempt to explain why he behaved the way he did – but in this story we only have Hadley’s sad and poignant account of a great love that had no choice but to die in fiction the way it did in real life.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
Ticket to Ride (2008)

Other titles you may enjoy:

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan (2007)
Fact and fiction blend in a historical novel that chronicles the relationship between seminal architect Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Cheney, from their meeting, when they were each married to another, to the clandestine affair that shocked Chicago society.

The Emancipator’s Wife by Barbara Hambly (2005)
In 1865, in the wake of her husband's assassination, Mary Todd Lincoln struggles to cope amid the animosity and confusion that surrounds her, in a historical novel that captures the saga of one of the most misunderstood women in American history.

Harriet and Isabella by Patricia O’Brien (2008)
A novelization based on a nineteenth-century sex scandal traces how the downfall of Henry Ward Beecher divided the nation and severed the loving relationship between his sisters, author Harriet Beecher Stowe and suffragist Isabella Beecher Hooker.

The Devotion of Suspect X

2011-04-25T12:28:00.000-07:00

The Devotion of Suspect X
Keigo Higashino
Minotaur, 2011

Yasuko Hanaoka thought she had escaped her abusive ex-husband Togashi. When he shows up one day, the situation quickly escalates and Togashi ends up dead. Yasuko's next-door-neighbor Ishigami offers his help, not only disposing of the body, but plotting the cover-up as well.

This psychological mystery is fascinating in its character development. The action is slow to build, but the interesting cultural tidbits about life in contemporary Japan should help interest the reader while the plot moseys along for the first half of the book. Ishigami, the next door mathematician, is at first a secondary character, but his cleverness and obsession is slowly revealed until the reader is hooked into his complex and compelling reasons for helping a near stranger escape her just punishment for committing such a violent crime.

Even though the “mystery” here is not such a mystery (we know who the killer is), the true suspense is following the detective as he slowly unravels Ishigami’s many-layered cover-up to a totally unexpected ending. In fact, I would like to read it again in order to see if the clues to his ultimate plan are strategically placed throughout the story. Other more experienced mystery readers may see what’s coming, but I sure was fooled. The author’s gift is the skill in which he unveils Ishigami’s plan bit by bit, so that the reader discovers each element of his scheme as the detective does. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

Rating:

Higashino is a best-selling crime novelist in Japan. The Mesa Public Library does not own any other translated books by this author.

Other titles you may enjoy:

Out by Natsuo Kirino (2003) After strangling her husband, Masako Katori, a middle-aged wife and mother working the night shift at a Tokyo factory, enlists the aid of four co-workers to conceal the crime.

Inspector Imanishi Investigates by Seicho Matsumoto (1989)
Inspector Imanishi Eitaro is assigned to investigate the murder of an unidentified man at a train station outside Tokyo. Imanishi travels throughout Japan, sifting and weighing evidence and encountering plenty of clues before he can identify a suspect.

Rei Shimura Mystery Series by Sujata Massey
First Book: The Salaryman’s Wife (1999)
During a sightseeing trip, Rei Shimura, a young Japanese-American English teacher living in Tokyo, stumbles upon the body of the wife of a powerful businessman and turns sleuth to solve the crime, crashing a funeral, masquerading as a bar girl, and pursued by police in her search for clues.

Skippy Dies

2011-04-23T11:46:00.000-07:00

Skippy Dies
Paul Murray
Faber and Faber, 2010

We first meet Skippy, a 14-year-old boy at Dublin's venerable Seabrook College, when he dies in the very first chapter. Why Skippy ends up dead on the floor of the local doughnut shop and what happens next unravels a mystery that links the boys of Seabrook College to their parents and teachers in ways nobody could have imagined. With a cast of characters that ranges from hip-hop-loving fourteen-year-old Eoin, MCS executioner, Flynn to basketball playing midget Philip Kilfether, readers will love to eavesdrop on teenage boy conversations and dramas. Packed with questions and answers on everything from Ritalin, to M-theory, to bungee jumping, to the hidden meaning of the poetry of Robert Frost, Skippy Dies is a touching portrait of the pain, joy, and anxiety that adolescence brings.

This is a long, intricately plotted and carefully planned novel that is thoroughly enjoyable and memorable. Readers will identify with teen and adult protagonists in this story: Skippy who is struggling to cope with his mother’s illness; Ruprecht who is a near genius who has his reasons for his string theory obsession; Carl, a psychopath who is in love with the same girl that Skippy is; and Howard, the history teacher who is a former student of the same school. Each character is fleshed out so well that I could imagine his or her life after this glimpse into their world, a world where adults are as confused as the kids are but somehow they try to help each other the best they can.

Warning: make sure you have a block of time to devote to this book; you won’t want to put it down!

Rating:

Other books by this author:
An Evening of Long Goodbyes (2004)

Other titles you may enjoy:

The Children’s Room by A.S. Byatt (2009)
A tale spanning the end of the Victorian era through World War I finds famous children's book author Olive Wellwood taking in a runaway and exposing the boy to dark truths about her family's summer bacchanals at their rambling country house.

Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris (2006)
As the new term gets under way at the elite St. Oswald's Grammar School for Boys, a number of increasingly devastating incidents occurs, leaving the unraveling school in the hands of the only person who can save it, Roy Straitley

The Final Solution by Michael Chabon (2004)
An eighty-nine-year-old former detective in rural England becomes involved with a young refugee from Nazi Germany whose sole companion, an African grey parrot, spews out a series of numbers that could hold the key to a dangerous secret.

Freedom

2011-04-11T14:27:00.001-07:00

Freedom

Jonathon Franzen

FSG, 2010

The idyllic lives of civic-minded environmentalists Patty and Walter Berglund come into question when their son moves in with aggressive Republican neighbors, green lawyer Walter takes a job in the coal industry, and go-getter Patty becomes increasingly unstable and enraged.

Please forgive me if I hesitate over reviewing this novel. At over 550 pages it is a hefty tome to briefly explain if not to read. Yet, read it I did, in one feverish week. No, I wasn’t ill; I just needed to know what happened to these people and I can’t even explain why. The characters weren’t especially likeable. In fact, many of them were extremely unlikeable and even disagreeable. They weren’t especially sympathetic, either, since most of their problems stemmed from their own bad decisions. I think the reason I became “one” with this book for several days is the momentum the author created that pulls the reader in and locks her into place until she finishes the book.

The story is really many stories, all intricately plotted and carefully revealed bit by bit. The point of view changes between characters, some central to the story and some peripherally related, but each of which gives just a bit, just a hint, of the whole, sentence by enticing sentence. As a reader, I had an idea of what was going to happen, but I wasn’t quite sure until I actually experienced the next turn of events, and then I had the nerve to actually be surprised by it. I thought I knew the characters so well, you see. And yet, I had to keep reading to see if the other things I was pretty sure would happen actually did or not. And in that sense, this book kept me compulsively reading until the very end, when I snapped it shut with a satisfied sigh and promptly forgot all about it.

So, Miss Compulsive Reader, did you like the book? Yes and no. Yes, because I loved Franzen’s writing style, which is conversational and intimate and witty. As soon as I opened the book and started the first sentence, I just knew I would thoroughly enjoy whatever this book would bring because of the warm and engaging style it had. But I have to say the things I did not enjoy were the characters. I cannot even name one character that was not flawed in some monumental and disturbing way. I also think the many plot lines became too much for the characters to handle, and they got lost in their own world of things happening to them instead of them making things happen themselves. In other words, this book was enjoyable reading but completely forgettable.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:

Strong Motion, 1992

The Corrections, 2001

Other titles you may enjoy:

Spooner by Pete Dexter (2009)

Losing his father shortly after birth, Warren Spooner endures a troubled childhood and even more troubled young adulthood that is marked by his dishonorably discharged stepfather, whose inexhaustible patience is tested by the difficult Warren.

We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates (1996)

Judd Mulvaney, now age 30, and the youngest of the four Mulvaney children, looks back through his memories to tell the secrets that eventually ripped apart the fabric of his storybook family.

Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich (2010)

After she discovers that her husband has been reading her diary, Irene America turns it into a manipulative farce, while secretly keeping a second diary that includes her true thoughts about her shaky marriage, its affect on her children, and her struggles with alcohol.

West of Here

2011-04-01T15:32:00.001-07:00

West of Here

Jonathon Evison

Algonquin Books, 2011

Alternate stories set in a fictional town on Washington State's Pacific coast contrasts the goals of the pioneers who settled there in 1890 with the very different problems of the town's present-day inhabitants. Action jumps between the 1890s, when explorers, businesspeople, American Indians, and other characters were attempting to put the fictional town of Port Bonita, on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, “on the map,” and 2006, when the current inhabitants are in the process of dismantling the dam that their ancestors built. You will need to make a list in order to keep the cast of characters straight – both in the historical chapters and the modern day ones – because they will make your head swirl. In fact, some may say the characters are too overwhelming, the plot lines too varied, and the switching back and forth too confusing to be enjoyable. I think, however, that the author does a good job keeping things straight. My problem is that I didn’t much care for any of the characters nor their fates, so I had a hard time slogging through this massive tome.

I’m not sure I can advise others to read this book or not. The best I can do is warn you of its size, ridiculous number of characters, and the slow and plodding nature of the writing. You will not thrill at the action and adventure of this novel, but you may appreciate the beautiful descriptions of the Pacific Northwest wilderness and the strong sense of place that the author evokes.

Rating:

Other books by this author:

All About Lulu (2008)

Other books you may enjoy:

The Other by David Guterson (2008)

When two boys--John William Barry and Neil Countryman-- meet in 1972 at age sixteen, they're brought together by what they have in common: a fierce intensity and a love of the outdoors that takes them, together and often, into Washington's remote backcountry, where they must rely on their wits--and each other--to survive. Soon after graduating from college, Neil sets out on a path that will lead him toward a life as a devoted schoolteacher and family man. But John makes a radically different choice, dropping out of college and moving deep into the woods, convinced that it is the only way to live without hypocrisy. When John enlists Neil to help him disappear completely, Neil finds himself drawn into a web of secrets and often agonizing responsibility, deceit, and tragedy--one that will finally break open with a wholly unexpected, life-altering revelation.

The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch (2005)

Miles O'Malley, a boy with a fascination for the sea, copes with the trials of growing up, his infatuation with the girl next door, bickering parents, and his fear that his life and his beloved Puget Sound are slipping away.

The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig (2006)

Hired as a housekeeper to work on the early 1900s Montana homestead of widower Oliver Milliron, the irreverent Rose and her brother, Morris, endeavor to educate the widower's sons while witnessing local efforts on a massive irrigation project.

The Finkler Question

2011-03-29T11:17:00.001-07:00

The Finkler Question

Howard Jacobson

Bloomsbury, 2010

Julian Treslove, a radio producer, and Samuel Finkler, a Jewish philosopher, have been friends since childhood and, as they enter middle age, they reminisce over their struggles with self-identity, anti-Semitism, women, love, and the past.

Julian is a rather boring self-indulgent middle age man who does a lot of philosophical questioning that I tired of rather quickly. He probably would deny this, but there’s a part of him that wishes he were Jewish like his good friend Finkler, even though the reader may wonder how Julian could consider him a friend while sleeping with his wife, but I digress. Julian is not happy, and it’s easy to see why. He is not close to his sons or his sons’ mothers. He spends a lot of time wishing things were different with his relationships, his job, his family and his self-esteem. In fact, a crisis of sorts occurs when a woman attacks him and says something he doesn’t understand but which he persuades himself is anti-Semitic in nature. His obsession with this attack becomes so severe that he decides to investigate what it would be like to be Jewish, to be more like Finkler, hence the “Finkler Question.”

You should know that this won the Mann Booker Prize and was given starred reviews by review journals. Which means, of course, that I hated it. I’ve decided that I really don’t like books in which self-absorbed men obsess and worry about things so much that the whole book features their philosophical musings and mental what-ifs. Who cares? As my good friend Debbie would say, “blah, blah, woof, woof.” I wanted to smack Julian and tell him to stop contemplating his own navel for one minute and actually do something! I couldn’t finish the book. Ugh.

Rating:

Other books by this author:

The Making of Henry (2004)

Kalooki Nights (2006)

The Act of Love (2008)

Other books you may enjoy:

The Post Birthday World by Lionel Shriver (2007)

A tale told from the parallel perspectives of two possible timelines considers the life of American expatriate Irena McGovern, who in one reality stays faithful to her disciplined American intellectual partner, and in the other runs off with an exuberant British long-time friend.

Therapy by David Lodge (1995)

Faced with a mid-life crisis, a successful, overweight television writer embarks on a quest for the answer to his spiritual anxiety and encounters therapists, the police, Soren Kierkegaard, and strange new bedfellows.

The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst (2004)

Moving into the attic room in the Notting Hill home of the wealthy, politically connected Fedden family in 1983, twenty-year-old Nick Guest becomes caught up in the rising fortunes of this glamorous family and finds his own life forever altered by his association during the boom years of the 1980s. div> >

House of Tomorrow

2011-03-25T14:02:00.001-07:00

House of Tomorrow
Peter Bognanni
Putnam, 2010

Sebastian Prendergast is sixteen and has lived with his grandmother in a geodesic dome ever since his parents were killed in a car accident when he was five years old. Sebastian is homeschooled by his grandmother, mostly using the philosophy of futurist R. Buckminster Fuller. This means that Sebastian has great gaps in his education, since he has not been exposed to television and his computer use is severely limited to searching for articles related geodesic dome living. He and his grandmother have minimal needs because the dome is mostly self sufficient; any income is generated through periodic tours provided to tourists passing through town.

Sebastian doesn’t miss what he doesn’t know until his grandmother has a stroke, just as they are preparing to offer a tour to a snotty chain-smoking teen and his mother. After accompanying them to the hospital, the twerp’s mother offers Sebastian a place to stay while his grandmother recuperates. Not knowing what else to do, Sebastian agrees, in spite of or perhaps because of Jared, the small boy who says he’s also sixteen years old but acts much younger.

Thus begins Sebastian’s education. Jared has recently had a heart transplant, which explains so much to Sebastian about the strange dynamic between him and his mother. It also explains why Jared is so small and acts so tough and pretends to be mean to Sebastian, like when he catches Sebastian spying on his sister. As Sebastian tries to catch up on all the things he should know, according to Jared, he becomes part of this odd family – at least until Granny comes back home and snatches him back to seclusion at the dome.

I don’t want to give away too much to this coming of age story that will reel you in at the first sentence and not let you go until it’s finished. Sebastian is a smart, naïve and totally likeable kid who would love to do the right thing if he could just figure out what it is. Jared is a scared and pampered boy who talks tough but who is really lonely and just wants a normal friend. When the two try to form a punk band, the result is a funny, heroic and sometimes sad picture of kids realizing the truth about their families and themselves.

Rating:

This is the author’s first novel.

Other titles you may enjoy:

In Revere, in Those Days by Roland Merullo (2002)
Anthony Benedetto, a young boy in a large extended Italian-American family, describes growing up in the working-class community of Revere, Massachusetts, but his youth is changed forever by the tragic deaths of his parents.

How High the Moon by Sandra Kring (2010)
In small-town Wisconsin in 1955, 10-year-old Teaspoon struggles at school while missing her mother, who left her with a boyfriend while she “chased dreams” in Hollywood. Her concerned teacher enrolls her in Sunshine Sisters, a girls’ mentoring program, and Teaspoon finds herself teamed up with the “Sweetheart of Mill Town,” 18-year-old Brenda Bloom, whose mother owns the Starlight cinema, Teaspoon’s favorite avenue of escape.

The Washington Story: a novel in five spheres by Adam Langer(2005)
Chicago high-school sweethearts Jill and Muley share triumphs and despair over the course of five years that are marked by such events as the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger and the return of Halley's comet.

Tragic Bells

2011-03-22T13:41:00.000-07:00

The Bells
Richard Harvell
Shaye Areheart, 2010

Born in an eighteenth-century Swiss Alps community where his deaf mother was the keeper of the church bells, illegitimate child Moses Froben is cast out by his self-serving father and is rescued by two monks, who take him back to the historic Abbey of St. Gall, where he discovers his purpose in life through his singing.

Moses doesn’t even know his name when he is rescued by the two monks; one of them christens him such when they come upon him all alone in the wilderness, just like Moses of the Bible. Moses is allowed to stay at the Abbey only because his voice is the most beautiful ever heard, but life is not so good for him there. Not only does his beautiful voice end up causing him the most pain and grief of his life, he ends up leaving the abbey under tragic circumstances after falling in love with a nobleman’s daughter. Not knowing what else to do, he goes to Venice and apprentices himself to a great opera singer who is not as good as Moses, but he is only using the apprenticeship to continue to search for his lost love, who has been married to another.

Indeed, Moses’ whole life is grand and tragic in true operatic style. Much happens to him in this long and involved novel – but then again, some of it is of his own making. I’m still trying to figure out if I liked this book or not. The early sections about Moses’ boyhood at the Abbey were the best parts; I think I was losing interest when he began to secretly meet with the girl even though it would not be good for either of them if they were caught, which they are. Yet, it’s hard to deny the powerful pull of the music: Moses’ exemplary singing voice is both his triumph and his downfall. I think I kept reading because I was hoping he could eventually gather enough remnants of some kind of life to be happy. But you will have to read for yourself to see if that happens.

Rating:

This is the author’s first novel.

Other titles you may enjoy:

Adam Runaway by Peter Prince (2005)
Coming of age in eighteenth-century Lisbon, Adam Hanaway lives with his uncle after the death of his father but finds his extended family's cool reception and his own penchant for fleeing from threatening situations compromising his happiness.

The Black Violin by Maxence Fermine (2003)
Wounded while fighting with Napoleon's army in the Italian campaign, violin prodigy Johannes Karelsky arrives in Venice, where he is rescued by a mysterious woman and boards with Erasmus, an aged violin maker who has created the legendary "Black Violin."

Antonio’s Wife by Jacqueline DeJohn (2004)
Opera diva Francesca Frascatti journeys to New York to search for her daughter, the product of a love affair, joining forces with Dante, a handsome detective, and Mina DiGianni, an Italian seamstress with an abusive husband.

The Magic Garden

2011-03-09T13:20:00.001-08:00

The Red Garden
Alice Hoffman
2011, Crown

A young wounded civil war solider is saved by a passionate neighbor, a woman meets a fiercely human historical character, a poet falls in love with a blind man, and a mysterious traveler comes to town in the year when summer never arrives. At the center of everyone's life is a mysterious garden where only red plants can grow, and where the truth can be found by those who dare to look. Interconnected stories link the pioneers who first made Blackwell their home to their descendants who still struggled with some of the same issues many years later.

The premise of the magical red garden weaves its way around the generations of Blackwell residents, most of whom are not happy in this small town. They spend most of their youth wishing they were somewhere else and most of their adulthood searching for something they missed out on when they were young. Some residents are new to the town and puzzled by its legends; other residents just accept their history for what it is – their town was started by pioneers who were snowed in and couldn’t travel any farther. Not much of a heritage, but that’s where the red garden comes in. The red garden is a place where things died and were born again to be something different, which is like the town and its inhabitants. Most of them didn’t really want to be there. In fact, some of the characters yearned to leave, but they always came back when a relative was dying or had died, and then they discovered something in the town that offered them a second chance.

There’s a bit of magic in this book, but it’s not as extreme as some of the author’s other books. She has a lyrical voice that weaves a connection between each story and each character together in ways the reader won’t fully realize until the end. I enjoyed this novel more than some of Hoffman’s more recent books, but not as much as her early works. The reading is not demanding, but it is thought-provoking and lasting. Fans of quiet, character-driven novels with a strong sense of place will particularly like this title.

Rating:

Other titles you may enjoy:
In Case we’re Separated by Alice Mattison (2005)
A collection of thirteen connected short tales traces the multi-generational experiences of the women in the family of Bobbie Kaplowitz of 1950s Brooklyn, in a volume that explores such themes as identity, infidelity, and the inspiring or tormenting qualities of missed opportunities.

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry (2007)
Having left her hometown of Salem, Massachusetts, fifteen years ago under troubling circumstances, Towner Whitney reluctantly returns after her eighty-five-year-old great-aunt Eva suddenly disappears.

After This by Alice McDermott (2006)
A portrait of an American family during the middle decades of the twentieth century evokes the social, spiritual, and political turmoil of the era as seen through the experiences of a middle-class couple and their children.

Nothing Happening Here

2011-02-26T15:12:00.001-08:00

Nothing Happens Until it Happens to You
T.M. Shine
Crown, 2010

After being laid off from a mundane job he held for 18 years, Jeffery Reiner is at first shocked then resigned to living without a paycheck. He’s in no hurry to get back to work, but he knows that in order to make it through these economic times, he has no choice but to throw himself at any opportunities that come his way.

In spite of the recession, in spite of his colleagues being laid off all around him, and in spite of knowing he does a crappy job, Jeffrey is totally surprised when he is told he no longer has a job. He admits to the reader that he was not happy in his career and that he had coasted through most his working life, yet he seems lost and unprepared for the unemployed culture he finds himself in. It is hard to have any sympathy for Jeffrey, who lets most of his life happen to him and around him without having much say in the matter. Yes, it’s hard to feel sympathetic – but not impossible – because to know Jeffrey is to like Jeffrey. He seems to attract nurturers who want to help him get back on his feet: interesting characters like his retired neighbor who completes minor household fix-it jobs for Jeffrey; or his young female neighbor who acts as a mental therapist for Jeffrey; or his daughter who has reversed roles and takes care of him now, even though she thinks his mess is his own fault. (Which is true.)

Nevertheless, Jeffrey is a mixture of opposites: amiable and clueless; suspicious and uncommunicative; hopeful and not ambitious. It’s easy to be annoyed with Jeffrey, who feels and acts like a victim of his own making, powerless to do anything different to change his life or his circumstances. And yet, he persists in being likeable, in spite of himself, which is what makes this clever, witty and character-driven novel work, despite the fact that not much happens in it.

Rating:

This is the author’s first novel.

Other titles you may enjoy:

This Book Will Save Your Life by A.M. Homes (2006)
Richard Novak is a modern-day Everyman, a middle-aged divorced man trading stocks out of his home. He has done such a good job getting his life under control that he needs no one--except his trainer, nutritionist, and housekeeper. He is functionally dead and doesn't even notice until two incidents--an attack of intense pain that lands him in the emergency room, and the discovery of an expanding sinkhole outside his house--conspire to hurl him back into the world.

Diablerie by Walter Mosley (2008)
Enjoying a precarious sober life balancing family duties with his relationship with a patient mistress, Ben finds his years of alcoholism catching up with him when he encounters a woman with knowledge of a significant event from his past that Ben cannot remember.

A Box of Matches by Nicholson Baker (2003)
During a month in the life of a forty-five-year-old editor of medical textbooks, Emmett--married with children, a cat, and a duck--ruminates about the meaning of life during his pre-dawn sojourns alone.

Insanely Good

2011-02-19T15:23:00.001-08:00

Plea of Insanity
Jilliane Hoffman
Vanguard, 2009

Young and ambitious prosecutor Julia Valenciano is facing a case that could launch her career. The defendant is David Marquette, a successful Miami surgeon and devoted family man. The victims were Marquette's wife and three small children. His experienced defense team claims paranoid delusions caused by schizophrenia drove him to slaughter his entire family. But the state suspects Marquette's insanity defense is being fabricated to disguise murders that were cold blooded and calculated. The problem is Julia isn’t so sure she believes that Marquette is faking his mental illness. In fact, as Julia delves deeper into the case, she can’t help but recall a similar situation that happened in her own family. Haunted by her memories, Julia risks estranging her uncle and aunt, the only family she knows, to find her brother in order to finally find some answers of her own.

My book group assignment was to read a legal thriller – not my favorite thing. So I searched around for an unfamiliar author with stand-alone titles for something that appealed to me. I did not have much luck because most legal thrillers come in series, except for this title and a few others. I think I chose this title because of the vulnerability of the main character and her internal struggle to climb the career ladder despite her misgivings about the case she’s assigned. It’s difficult to describe the plot without giving away too many details, but Julia has several problems. One is that she is sleeping with the lead on the case and can’t help but wonder if she got the second chair only because of their casual relationship. The second problem is the similarities between this crime and something that happened to Julia when she was a child. As she tries to balance things, she becomes more confused about the right thing to do, which makes for very compelling reading.

As I mentioned, I’m not a big thriller fan, and I reluctantly picked this book up. The violence at the start of the story almost made me put it back down, but I stuck to it and I’m glad I did. Not only did the fast pace and appealing characters create a suspenseful and rewarding experience, but the ending was very just and satisfying. I’m glad I read it and highly recommend it to others, even those who don’t normally read legal thrillers.

Rating:

Other books by this author:
Retribution (2004)
Last Witness (2005)
Pretty Little Things (2010)

Other books you may enjoy:

The Hidden Man by David Ellis (2009)
Hired by an anonymous client to defend a man charged with the vigilante murder of an alleged kidnapper, attorney Jason Kolarich is astonished to learn that the suspect is his estranged childhood best friend.

Law of Attraction by Allison Leotta (2010)
A thrilling ride through D.C.'s criminal justice, as Assistant U.S. Attorney Anna Curtis makes a series of choices that jeopardizes her career, her relationships, and her very life.

Smash Cut by Sandra Brown(2009)
Hired by a woman who believes that the accidental shooting of a friend was actually orchestrated by the victim's depraved nephew, defense lawyer Derek Mitchell comes to realize that the nephew is a psychotic movie buff who enjoys acting out violent film plots

Little K and Jane

2011-02-15T11:56:00.001-08:00

The True Memoirs of Little K
By Adrienne Sharp
FSG, 2010

This novel is about the life of Mathilde Kschessinka, Russian prima ballerina and mistress of Czar Nicholas II. Narrated by Mathilde--"Little K" as she was affectionately known--the story follows her early life in the royal ballet on through the Russian revolution of 1905. Her father was also a dancer and under his direction, she became famous for her on (and off) stage performances. As a member of the royal ballet, she enjoyed being the center of society, with all of the perks that the tsar could bestow, including invitations to royal dinners and access to the young royal son. Thus began Little K’s infatuation and obsession with Nicholas II, and her determination to become his wife despite her lack of royal blood, including bearing his son out of wedlock. Her efforts are in vain, for of course Nicholas and his family are murdered, and Little K must find a way to escape with her son to the safety of Paris, where she is left with her memories of a glamorous and sad life gone by.

Other books by this author:
White Swan, Black Swan: Stories (2001)
First Love (2005)
***********************************************************************

Jane Eyre
By Charlotte Bronte

In early nineteenth-century England, an orphaned young woman accepts employment as a governess and soon finds herself in love with her employer, Mr. Rochester, who has a terrible secret.

After a traumatic and unhappy childhood as an unwanted ward of her aunt, Jane is sent away to school, where she finally makes friends and learns the attributes of honesty, dignity and self-esteem. Although she is considered to be “below” Mr. Rochester’s station, they fall in love and intend to marry when suddenly Jane becomes aware of his terrible secret. Unwilling to compromise her own values, Jane runs away and starts over again in another village, but she can’t forget Mr. Rochester and the life she could have had with him. Despite some initial misgivings over her decision to leave, Jane soon realizes she chose the right path until a series of events causes her to return to Mr. Rochester and check his well-being.

Other books by this author:
Shirley (1908)
Villette
*********************************************************************

I read these two titles very close together and couldn’t help but compare the characters of Jane Eyre and Little K. Although they lived more than a century apart and in different countries, they have much in common. They were both strong women who defied the accepted norms of their day and lived their lives the way they believed was right for them. They both had obstacles to overcome and people who disapproved of their actions, but each woman persevered despite opposition and did the right thing for herself at the time. Neither one was false to herself, and in her own way, did what she needed to do to survive.

But, the real question is: did I like either one of them? No, I did not, and for different reasons. Little K was a schemer and manipulator, always working out how to get her own way with Nicholas and other members of the government so often that she became distasteful to me as a character. Jane, on the other hand, was so “good” and righteous in her own belief system that I became inpatient with her inflexibility. At the same time, I admired both for their strong opinions and determination to get what they wanted, even if they both should have gone about it a different way – Little K by being more genuine and caring, and Jane by being more self-focused and impulsive.

Rating for both novels:

Other books you may enjoy:
The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander (2003)
Presents a novel based on the 1918 Bolshevik revolutionary murder of Czar Nicholas II and the rest of the Russian royal family as told from the perspective of the event's only surviving witness, a young kitchen boy.

Mistress Shakespeare by Karen Harper (2009)
Her engagement to William Shakespeare broken by his forced marriage to a pregnant Anne Hathaway, Anne Whateley pursues a clandestine affair with the bard that is complicated by Elizabeth I's campaign to eradicate Catholicism.

The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jane Rhys (1966)
In a prequel to Jane Eyre, Creole heiress Antoinette Cosway lives in Dominica and Jamaica in the 1830s before she travels to England, becomes Mrs. Rochester, and goes mad.

The Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria Holt (1991)
A young Victorian girl accepts a position as governess at Mellyn Manor, an estate shrouded in rumors of mystery and murder.

How to Write About a Book You Could Not Understand

2011-02-05T12:40:00.001-08:00

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
By Charles Yu
Pantheon, 2010

Minor Universe 31 is a vast story-space on the outskirts of fiction, where paradox fluctuates like the stock market, lonely sexbots beckon failed protagonists, and time travel is serious business. Every day, people get into time machines and try to do the one thing they should never do: change the past. That’s where Charles Yu, time travel technician-part counselor, part gadget repair man-steps in. He helps save people from themselves. Literally. When he’s not taking client calls or consoling his boss, Phil, who could really use an upgrade, Yu visits his mother (stuck in a one-hour cycle of time, she makes dinner over and over and over) and searches for his father, who invented time travel and then vanished. Accompanied by TAMMY, an operating system with low self-esteem, and Ed, a nonexistent but ontologically valid dog, Yu sets out, and back, and beyond, in order to find the one day where he and his father can meet in memory. He learns that the key may be found in a book he got from his future self. It’s called How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, and he’s the author. And somewhere inside it is the information that could help him – and, in fact, it may even save his life.

I did not write the above summary, but I assume it adequately explains the plot of the book that I read, actually finished, and did not understand one iota. Yes, it’s satirical and witty and experimental. Yes, it received rave reviews like, “a clever, fluently metaphorical tale,” and “a fascinating, philosophical and disorienting thriller about life.” Yes, it initially appealed to me in some weird way that I cannot fully explain. But it obviously went way over my head. I must have been designed to read and enjoy more pedestrian novels, like Jane Eyre or The Story of Edgar Sawtelle or a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. Reader, you know I respect Library Journal and Kirkus, those pure examples of book review journals that usually provide revered and expert opinions on novels. Alas, I cannot for the life of me figure out how this book could get a starred (STARRED!) review, or how it could be considered a future cult classic (like A Wrinkle in Time?).

I couldn’t even understand the following, actually written for a review of this book: “The conclusion tries to mitigate character-Yu's risk-averse solipsism, but is too quick and abstract to really counter the rest of the book's emotional weight.”

All I can say is “huh?”

I guess I’m a lot dumber than I thought I was, or maybe I just like dumb books. In any event, I cannot in good conscience give this book any more than one cupcake and I really hate to waste one cupcake on it. Maybe I need to revise my rating bakery inventory.

Rating:

This is the author’s first novel.

Other books you may enjoy and actually understand (or not):

Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
Bill Lee, an addict-hustler, travels to Mexico and then Tangier in order to find easy access to drugs, and ends up in the Interpose, a bizarre fantasy world.

The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas
Discovering a copy of a mysterious book reputed to be unread by anyone presently alive, Ariel Manta finds herself transported into a wonderland where she can travel through time and space using the thoughts of others.

The Evolution Man, or How I Ate My Father by Roy Lewis
Containing an eyewitness account of the first human courtship ever, a study of the lives of an everyday, ordinary cave family includes portraits of Mom, the ape woman; brother William and his attempted animal domestication; and Dad, the inventor.

Save me!

2011-02-01T14:48:00.000-08:00

Rescue
Anita Shreve
Little, Brown 2010

Peter Webster was a straight-as-an-arrow rookie paramedic when he pulled Sheila Arsenault from her totaled car that day. Little did he know that he would fall in love with the streetwise and tough-talking woman, despite her initial unwillingness to get involved with him. But he persevered, at first visiting her in the hospital and then taking her out at night, away from her depressing rental room. Soon Sheila and Peter were embroiled in an intense love affair, married, and parents to a baby daughter. Like the crash that brought them together, it all happened so fast.

Can you ever really save another person? Eighteen years later, Peter has given up on Sheila and is raising their daughter, Rowan, alone. But Rowan is doing some dangerous things, threatening her own future if not her life, and Peter fears for her future. His job all too easily illustrates how fleeting life can be, how wrong everything can go in a second. Not knowing what else to do, Peter seeks out Sheila, hoping that a mother, no matter how long ago she was one, could have an impact on her daughter’s life.

This was not my favorite Shreve novel. It lacked the depth of character and complex story lines that her previous books have, and even worse, was rather boring. None of the characters appealed to me. Peter was so much in love with Sheila, despite all the warning signs, that he reacted typically, forgiving her transgressions over and over until he finally couldn’t take it anymore. We never really got to know or understand Rowan very well, so it was hard to care very much about her problems. And we don’t meet up again with Sheila until the book is almost over, and it’s a little late to start caring about much of anything at that point. This one reads like Shreve didn't much care about it either.

The most interesting bit of the book was the ending, but I don’t want to give it away. Just suffice to say that a more mature Sheila is a more interesting Sheila. Perhaps Peter would do well to get to know her again.

Rating:

Other novels by this author:
Eden Close (1989)
Strange Fits of Passion (1991)
Where or When (1993)
Resistance (1995)
The Weight of Water (1997)
The Pilot’s Wife (1998)
Fortune’s Rocks (1999)
The Last Time They Met (2001)
Sea Glass (2002)
All He Ever Wanted (2003)
Light on Snow (2004)
A Wedding in December (2005)
Body Surfing (2007)
Testimony (2008)
A Change in Altitude (2009)

Other books you may enjoy:

The World Below by Sue Miller (2001)
After being diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1919, a young woman is sent to a sanitarium, where she rediscovers the pleasures of unfettered youth and falls in love with a doomed man.

The Diary by Eileen Goudge (2009)
When the two grown daughters of Elizabeth Marshall discover an old diary of their mother's in her attic, it comes as a shock to learn that the true love of Elizabeth's life was not their father.

The Way We Were by Marcia Willett (2008)
Thirty years after Tiggy travels to her best friend's home on Bodmin Moor to mourn the loss of her partner and give birth to her child, Tiggy's son anticipates becoming a father and discovers long-buried family secrets.

It's a Twofer!

2011-01-15T13:32:00.000-08:00

Bonus Day!
We have a double review today. I recently read two historical fiction/adventure novels for our genre book group, so I’m reviewing them as a pair.

So Wild a Dream
Win Blevins
Forge, 2004

An ambitious and daring young man, Sam Morgan leaves his home in 1820s Pennsylvania to seek adventure and a fortune in the frontier west, accompanied by a colorful assortment of companions he meets along the way.

This is the first in the Rendezvous Novels series. If I didn’t have a pile of books to read (yes, I always seem to have a pile of books to read), I would pick up the next one in the series because this was pretty good. It starts a little slow as the author builds the saga. Will is a likeable young man searching for his own way in the world after his father died. He wants adventure, and true to form, he finds it when he hires on as a riverboat crewman. His job is to hunt for food along the route in order to feed the men aboard the boat. When the trip is over, he latches onto an expedition of explorers and mountain men going west to trap beaver pelts, but he becomes separated from the group and must survive on his own. This is where the story gets really good, but then, I’m a sucker for a good survivor story. It’s no secret that Will somehow survives on his own, since he is featured in the next book in the series, but he learns a great deal about himself and the characters of others along the way. Once the plot builds tension, the story becomes faster paced and more compelling than the beginning half was. Will is young and impressionable, but not very interesting as a person. It’s not until he’s on his own that his true character starts to be revealed, which makes him more developed as a man AND as a character.

Rating:

_____________________________________

Snowbound
Richard S. Wheeler
Forge, 2010

John Charles Fremont was many things: an explorer, a territorial governor, a husband and father, and a major-general in the U.S. Army. He was gifted in leading men, whether it was into battle against the Indians or into the snow-covered mountains of Colorado. Somehow, his quiet strength and self-confidence was enough to persuade even the most doubtful man that an expedition along the 38th Parallel from St. Louis to San Francisco,in the middle of winter was a logical and reasonable thing to do.

Based on a true story, this biographical novel is fascinating. As I wrote above, I love survival stories, especially those involving people being stranded in snow or ice. Maybe it’s because I live in Arizona (which has plenty of snow and ice, by the way), but I really enjoy reading about groups of desperate people faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles, like being stuck in many feet of snow with no food or shelter or even a sunny day to keep themselves warm and dry. I think I am curious about how people respond in difficult circumstances. Do they turn on each other or work together? Do they figure out ingenious ways to survive or are they just plain lucky? Or perhaps they must do the unthinkable and draw straws for the ultimate horror? (I also like shipwreck stories. Yes, maybe I’m a little weird.)

This book did not disappoint me, and in many ways, I enjoyed it far more than the first one. Told in alternating chapters by different characters, Snowbound relates the story of a slightly deranged man who planned a doomed excursion in which men and animals would needlessly die. Each character attempts to explain why they joined this crazy man and why they continued to stick with him even though every day got worse and worse as they crossed the mountains. Yet John Fremont, who also narrates several chapters, is convinced that he knows what he is doing. He explains his philosophy of leadership and character, sure than anyone who doesn’t survive this trip will die because of his own failings and not because John Fremont has led then astray. I had a hard time putting this book down; even though history tells us how the story ends, I needed to know how Fremont would (fictionally) justify his actions and the expedition’s outcome.

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Other novels you may enjoy:
The Last Crossing by Guy Vanderhaeghe (2002)
Ordered by their father to find their missing brother, Englishmen Charles and Addington Gaunt set off to America, where guide Jerry Potts and a growing number of companions journey by wagon train and confront a number of personal demons.

Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati (1998)
Weaving a vibrant tapestry of fact and fiction, Into the Wilderness sweeps us into another time and place ... and into the heart of a forbidden, incandescent affair between a spinster Englishwoman and an American frontiersman. Here is an epic of romance and history that will captivate readers from the very first page. First in the series.

Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett (1998)
Part adventure, part love story, this unforgettable novel captures a crucial moment in the history of exploration. Combining fact and fiction, the story focuses on Erasmus Darwin Wells, a 19th-century scholar/naturalist and his expedition to search for an open polar sea.

Fun + Undemanding = Fundemanding

2011-01-11T13:47:00.000-08:00

The holidays are finally over, and I expect to have time to catch up on my reading. You would think that some time off would have helped, but then I ambitiously decided to make little ornaments to give away. Then I ambitiously decided to make dozens of holiday cookies. And, in the middle of piles of fabric and chocolate chips and tiny snowman noses, my son brought over Super Mario Bros to play on the Wii, which was so much fun that the books kept piling up. I finally picked out one that looked light and fun, and it was.

I Still Dream About You
Fannie Flagg
Random House, 2010

Hiding her unhappiness from those who believe she has a perfect life, former beauty queen Maggie has decided to end it all. Literally. She carefully plans everything to be perfect so no loose ends remain – even to the extent of planning who will find her body. She has decided life just isn’t worth living anymore, so she closes her checking account and cancels her credit cards and picks a day to end it all. Only something happens to make her postpone her decision: a big beautiful old house that she has always loved is going on the real estate market and Maggie just has to stick around to make sure she sells it to a good owner, who will love and cherish it the way it deserves to be cared for. So she reinstates her financial accounts and gets the utilities turned back on until she can take care of business a little while longer, until – you guessed it – something else comes along to make her change her plans.

This charming undemanding book is just the thing for reading over the holidays or on the beach during spring break. The characters are likeable, except for the nasty realtor trying to take over Maggie’s business, but then, she’s supposed to be. The plot is predictable but pleasant and who really wants to read heavy depressing stuff all the time? I enjoyed it, but not as much as some of Flagg’s other books.

PS: I can’t figure out the meaning of the title at all.

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Other books by this author:
Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven (2006)
A Redbird Christmas (2004)
Standing in the Rainbow (2002)
Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! (1998)
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café (1987)
Coming Attractions: a wonderful novel (1981)
Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man (1981)

Other titles you may enjoy:

Best of Friends by Cathy Kelly (2005)
Four very different women: a television actress, her painfully shy teenage daughter, a woman reeling from her ex-husband's new romance and a wife returning to Ireland to help her husband's career are brought together in Ireland as they get the chance to transform their lives for the better.

The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas (1995)
In 1930s Harveyville, Kansas, Rita Ritter, a recent arrival, is invited to join the Persian Pickle Club, but her interest in journalism brings her dangerously close to a secret the club has sworn to keep.

Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani (2000)
The 35-year-old self-proclaimed spinster of a small Virginia village discovers a skeleton in her family's formerly tidy closet that completely unravels her quiet, conventional life.