Tuesday, February 20, 2018

February - Post Vacation reading:)

Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
I cannot recommend this memoir highly enough. Not since The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls has a true story gripped me, challenged my thinking, and changed my perspective like Tara Westover's first book. Raised in a strict Mormon family in the mountains of Idaho, Tara and most of her siblings were kept out of school, not to be educated at home, but to work in their father's scrap yard and their mother's homeopathic and unlicensed midwifery business. Luckily for all of us readers, Tara kept untold number of journals that detail her life: the abuse by her brother, the unending brainwashing of what world history entailed, the attempts by other brothers to break free, the utter lack of safety in her life, the horrific accidents that devastated her family, the total reliance on naturopathic curatives by her mother, and the impact on her family of her father's mental illness. And just when you think life cannot get crazier, Tara's college and graduate work takes us down another insane rabbit hole. It is a profound look at what happens when one doesn't educate a child on things we think are basic. What if a child has never heard of the Holocaust, the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King? How does this skew their view of the world? How does the world look on this child, when as an adult their questions and comments show not only ignorance, but whiffs of racism and hatred? Whose fault is it? Parent, society, the  individual herself? Can a lack of education, or conversely a formal education, fundamentally change society? This is a powerful book that will completely engross you, fascinate you, and in the end, Educate you. Do not miss this book!

Kill the Angel: A Novel by Sandrone Dazieri
Having read Kill the Father last year, I was excited to get my hands on the second book of this Italian author who writes crime novels quite reminiscent of Girl with a Dragon Tattoo series. While this second one did not knock my socks off as the first one did, it is still a solid detective novel with two quirky and compelling characters and an extremely topical plot line. The story begins with a deadly poison attack on a train entering Rome; seen as a terrorism by Muslim extremists, the police stir up a hornet's nest with their investigation. Columba Caselli, a female police detective with some serious baggage in her past involving death, bombings, and guilt once again turns to layman Dante Torres to help her solve this crime. Dante, a previous kidnap victim with personality quirks that could fill a psychiatrist's schedule for decades, believes the crime to be committed not by terrorists, but by a serial killer who has avoided detection for years. As we follow these two investigators down numerous rat holes, it occasionally gets a bit confusing and the book is longer than I felt it needed to be, yet I could not put it down. If you like complex detective crime novels, this one is for you.

The Liar's Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard
Ireland, college kids, + a murder = great vacation read! The story moves between the world of today, where Allison is living in a town in the Netherlands, has a good job and caring friends, and has not returned to her homeland in almost a decade and her college world of the past. When Irish police come to call at her home in Breda, Allison is compelled to finally return to Ireland and confront the horrors of the past where her freshman year boyfriend was not only arrested for a series of horrific murders, but confessed and has spent the last ten years in a psychiatric hospital. Now that a copycat murderer is once again busy at their Dublin university, the police need Allison to confront Will, eliciting details and information about the crime so they can catch the killer. However, Will now says he is not the Canal murderer so who does Allison believe? The twists and turns are compelling, the writing is solid, and the characters are well developed; it is a solid first mystery outing for this author.

A Mother's Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy by Sue Klebold
Published two years ago, this is a particularly relevant book to read, considering the school massacre on February 14, 2018 in Parkland, Florida. This account of the Columbine shooting and its aftermath is written by the mother of Dylan Klebold, one of the two shooters who walked into Columbine High School on April 20, 1999 and murdered 13 people and injured 24 others. Told in an incredibly honest and authentic voice, Sue Klebold pulls no punches and relays to us every detail of every moment both before, during, and after this tragedy. She tells of Dylan's life - his childhood, their family life, his school history - all seen through his mother's eyes, not the media's. Sue Klebold also does a tremendous amount of research surrounding not only school violence, but around teenage depression and suicide, and comes to some painfully honest observations about her own son whom she ultimately had to see as a murderer. Not an easy read due to the painful content, but incredibly compelling and eye-opening. It reminds us not to judge, to open our eyes to the needs of those kids who don't 'fit,' to all the victims in this type of tragedy including the perpetrators, and the vast need for more research and more support for brain health in this country.


Court of Thorn and Roses/Court of Mist and Fury/Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
Can you say 'brain candy' for vacation reading?! If you like YA fantasy and you have yet to discover Sarah J. Maas, who is the queen of the genre, I would strongly suggest you pick up this series. But be prepared - you will not be able to put it down until you have indulged yourself in all three books, well over a thousand pages. The main character is Feyre, a human girl who lives next to the Wall, the boundary between fairyland and the mortals they once enslaved. Feyre is one of the most compelling characters I have found in YA fantasy; she is life-smart, tenacious, loyal, shockingly stupidly brave, passionate, honest, and just overall a badass. Her foils and companions are a variety of fairy folk who are deep and complex, with backgrounds filled with tragedy, war, and murder, as well as two human sisters who are as different from Feyre as they could be. Throughout the three books, we see Feyre fall in and out of love, fight some seriously wicked beings, go to war, save a variety of creatures, and prove herself to be one of the most well-rounded heroes of today's YA novels. Trust me - this series is un-put-downable. (Warning: the YA classification is  questionable - there's more sex scenes than in the Outlander series!)

Moriarty (Sherlock Holmes, #2) by Anthony Horowitz
Because I loved the first book to be approved by the Sherlock Holmes society, House of Silk, I figured this second one would be a hit as well. The answer is...nope. The story line is confusing at times, lots of good bad guys but not very well developed good guys, and an extremely disappointing ending. And where the heck was my buddy Sherlock Holmes??? He never appeared so no, this was a mystery that all I could say was "blech" when I was finished.

Saturday, February 3, 2018

February

Force of Nature (Aaron Falk #2) by Jane Harper
This looks to be another hit by new Australian writer, Jane Harper, author of last year's break out hit, on everyone's Best-of-2017 list, un-put-downable mystery The Dry. I was a huge fan of her first, and Force of Nature proves once again that Harper can write. This is a solid police mystery, returning her main character, Aaron Falk, who she fleshes out even more in his attempt to discover a missing executive off on a corporate team-building adventure in the Australian mountains, an area shadowed by tales of a past serial killer. Harper slowly builds the tension, as Falk and his female partner interview each woman who hiked with Alice: the sister of the company president, the co-worker who knew Alice as teenagers, and the twins, one with a dark past and the other with a self-protective need to separate herself from her twin. Wrapped up in this mystery is also the reason why Falk must find Alice; she is his main witness to the financial crime hidden within her company - no Alice, no convictions. In any one else's hands, this would be a basic detective story. Yet in Harper's hands, it is extraordinarily well-written, with an ability to fully develop not only a creative plot line, but the characters as well. Falk is complex, puzzling, endearing, thoughtful, and ceaselessly curious; he has become one of my favorite leads in a mystery series. Sadly, sometimes the number two book after a huge hit can be disappointing; luckily, this is not the case with Force of Nature. Happy reading:)

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
For those of you who follow my book blog Laurie's Lit Picks, you know I have spent a bit of time over the last couple years reading non-fiction about prison reform (ie Just Mercy and The New Jim Crow) and the need for true justice in America. In a powerful new novel, acclaimed author Tayari Jones brings us a fiction book that explores what happens to a young marriage when it is ripped apart by injustice. Roy and Celestial, a young married couple who are living the American Dream in Atlanta, journey home to Louisiana to visit Roy's parents; a night at a motel leads to a false accusation of rape against Roy and the subsequent conviction and incarceration in a state prison. Told through the voices of Roy and Celestial, and eventually Andre, Celestial's childhood friend and third cog in the romantic triangle of tragedy, this book blew me away. It is a deep character study of how mass incarceration impacts individuals; we see the toll it takes on a young marriage, on Roy's parents, on Celestial's relationship with her friends, family, and her young husband, and most importantly, on Roy's own life as he watches his career, his home, his reputation, his very essence slip away. Told through three powerful voices, this is a compelling profound read on today's justice system and the impact mass incarceration has on black America. I highly recommend this book for book clubs and individuals; it will provide a great deal of provocative material to digest.

A False Report: A True Story of Rape in America by T. Christian Miller, Ken Armstrong
This is a powerful book that chronicles an incredible travesty of justice: a young girl reports a rape, police charge her with false reporting, and years later the rapist is caught in a different state. It sounds like a bad made-for-television movie, yet it is a true story. Well-researched and written by two outstanding journalists, Miller and Armstrong begin their story in Lynnwood, WA where a young girl, just aged out of foster care, experiences a horrifying rape, made more tragic by the investigation into the belief that she is lying. This timeline follows the victim's struggles, the aftermath and public humiliation of being accused of a false report, and the consequences of her 'crime.' Juxtaposed with this story is the opposite tale of the Colorado investigation where police work with other detectives in neighboring jurisdictions, follow leads, and never give up to find justice for the victims. A False Report is an important book to add to the library of 'must-reads' when it comes to justice, sexism, and crimes against women, and most importantly, how our justice system can do better.

Song of a Captive Bird by Jasmin Darznik
This is a unique book, set in the beauty of pre-revolutionary Iran, that explores the life of famous poet and movie director, Forugh Farrokhzhad. Always the rebellious daughter, the story begins with Forugh's forbidden teenage crush, giving the reader the first insight into the role of women in mid 20th century Iran, before the advent of Sharia law, during the time of the Shahs, the outpouring of literature and film, yet still a time when women were subjugated and forced into a box created by society's sexist rules. This book takes us back to a time when a young girl, found with her crush, is forced to marry him, a time when wearing modern clothes is a statement on your sexual proclivities, and a time when a woman choosing a career outside motherhood will get her talked about in the press. Forugh chooses a life few women would in Iran in the 1950's and 60's, leading to abandonment of her child, time in a mental institution, and torrid love affairs with questionable men. The description of Iran is breathtakingly, achingly beautiful, describing a country that has since been stolen by religious zealots and hidden behind a government-run press. My one complain was the shallowness of Forugh's character; I never quite got the true sense of who she was and what drove her, but perhaps that was the author's point. This was a woman who stepped out from the metaphorical harem walls, to live a life without boundaries.