Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

Vassar and U Penn law school graduate, Kimberly McCreight can WRITE.  Wow, this book is just mind-blowing.  If you loved Gone Girl, by Gillian Anderson, you will also love Reconstructing Amelia.  The premise (and I'm not giving anything away - it's on the book flap) focuses on Kate, a big-time corporate litigator, single mother of fifteen-year old beautiful, brilliant Amelia.  Kate receives a phone call during an important legal meeting, that Amelia has been caught cheating on an English paper and needs to be picked up from school due to her suspension.  By the time Kate arrives, Amelia has leapt to her death from her very posh Brooklyn school.  The next 380 pages takes the reader on a roller coaster ride, as Kate tries to ascertain whether Amelia really committed suicide.  We enter the world of teenagers, through Amelia's Facbook posts, Twitter feeds, text messages and email.  We also see Kate fifteen years previously, dealing with an unplanned pregancy and the effects of the people she met then as everyone becomes involved in her search for the truth.  McCreight nails the voices for both Kate and her daughter, and takes us into the inside world of vicious teenagers, manipulative parents, and corporate law.  I read this book in 24 hours, finding minutes every where I could; it was gripping, addictive, and completely satisfying.  I will most definitely be in line to purchase McCreight's next novel.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

I'm not sure how I forgot to write this book up, when I've been telling all my girlfriends to read it - and yes, definitely more of a 'girlfriend' book.  This book is quirky, pointed, meanly-funny, and shockingly well written.  Semple is obviously either a Seattle-native, or has lived there for years, as she is right on with her irritations of the Northwest (yes, we do all wear REI clothing and  say 'no worries' to just about everything).  Bernadette, our resident heroine, is a stay-at-home mom with a single daughter and Microsoft husband.  Her neighbors (aka 'gnats') annoy the heck out of her, while she lives in a moldy old nunnery at the top of Queen Ann hill.  As the story of Bernadette's'insanity' unfolds, we also learn of her previous life as an architect in southern California, adding depth to her character and some motivation for her behavior. Her relationship with her long-distance East Indian assistant, her planning of a trip to Antarctica, and her relationship with the other moms makes Bernadette one of my favorite literary charaters of the last few years. I literally could not put this book down, I laughed out loud frequently, and related waaaaay too much to Bernadette's behavior (haven't we all wanted to run our mini-vans over ridiculous PTA moms just once?!).  LOVED this book!

More Books...

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
  If you liked Major Pettigrew, or you love very 'English' books, you will love this one.  While a bit of a slow start, it is absolutely worth it; it makes one remember the value of the past and those we love.  The main character is...Harold Fry, obviously.  He's a delightful, but also rather pathetic, old English gentleman who goes out one day to get the mail.  Upon receiving a letter from an 'old friend', who tells him good-bye before cancer takes her, Harold decides to walk a little further.  Thus begins his pilgrimage to save Queenie Hennessey.  Each person he meets helps him to view pieces of his own life, causing nostalgia, regret, as well as introspection on his marriage and his role as a father.  We get to watch his wife, Maureen, as she grows and changes right along with Harold.  By the end of the book, I felt as if I too was as exhausted and spent as Harold, yet triumphant as well.  I understand all the accolades and awards for this book; it is beautifully written, thought-provoking, and in the end, it is a book that just has 'heart.' 


The Round House by Louise Erdrich
After seeing this book on numerous award lists (yes, it won the National Book Award, which is kind of a big deal), as well as knowing that Erdrich is a well-reknowned author, I kept deliberately avoiding this book.  Sometimes the 'award-winners' are more in love with their own words, than with the plot line of the story.  However, I finally 'jumped' and it was well worth it.  Obviously, Erdrich can write; she has a lyrical style that is descriptive, yet not too much so.  She paints a picture of the desolate Dakota reservation where four Native American boys are fast friends, if not blood brothers. The narrator of the story is Joe, a lawyer who is also an Ojibwe native, looking back to the pivotal moment of his childhood - the rape of his mother on reservation land. The boys' journey together, to catch the criminal, explores their relationships with numerous different inhabitants of the reservation.  Joe's father, a judge, is in a unique position and provides the story with the political and legal background to see the repercussions of crime on reservation land. The native mythology is woven into the plot line quite seamlessly and gives a unique context to the book, as Erdrich is a Native American herself, and I know far less of the culture than I should.  This 'coming-of-age' story is a beautiful, yet heart-breaking story, of a culture that is a part of who we are as America.

The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin

Obviously, looking at this blog, I love historical fiction...and this book does not disappoint.  I always thought I knew pretty much everything important about Charles and Anne Lindbergh - he flew solo over the Atlantic, their child was kidnapped, and Anne was a writer - case closed.  Obviously, a larger story exists.  Anne Morrow was the 'forgotten' child of a wealthy U.S. ambassador and senator.  A shy and quiet, studious young woman, Anne was shockingly courageous, tenacious, and a talented aviator in her own right.  The book covers the 'biggies', such as the tragic kidnapping of their first-born son and Charles' fliration with Nazism, but the psychological and emotional strain on their marriage is also explored.  The role of the media in the destruction of their lives is remeniscent of today's Twitter-crazy paparazzi.  And while at times I wanted to wring Anne's neck, I also felt her searing pain, admired her search for her personal and professional independence, and related to the struggles of a woman who, while loving her children, dreams of her own identity in a world that doesn't want her to have it.  This was a powerful story of a pivotal time in American history - highly recommend it.

A Walk Across the Sun by Corbin Addison
Each Christmas and birthday, my girls get a book - that's what we English teachers do, right?  This year, my oldest received this one.  As a current law school student who also has a minor in human rights, I figured this was the perfect book for her.  So of course, mom stole it and read it first.  All I can say is...wow.  This book is a powerful story; I cannot recommend it highly enough.  No, it's not brain candy and no, it's not a good 'beach' read.  It involves the legal field and human traficking, not light-hearted subjects.  Told from two perspectives, the story draws the reader in for numerous reasons.  One, it is remarkable well-written.  Two, the research is rich, deep, and obviously authentic.  And three, the plot line is well developed and the characters are dynamic, both frustrating and admiring.  The American story line involves a corporate lawyer who is being 'put in the corner' by Big Law, and needs to find something 'worthwhile' to spend a year on.  After the death of a child and the dissolution of his marriage, this man is an empty shell who has forgotten what the true power of the law. The East Indian story follows two young girls, who are orphaned due to the Dec. 26th tsunami.  Kidnapped and traded, time and again, taking us to Mumbai, Paris, and New York city, their story is gut-wrenching, discouraging, yet ultimately inspiring.  The growth and change in all the characters is what makes this story so rich and fulfilling. I will never look at life in quite the same way, and yes, I will worry even more as my girls travel alone, not only abroad but in our very own country. 


 

Z - A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler
For those of you who know me, I suspect you're already chuckling at the title of this book.  Yes, I LOVE The Great Gatsby, yes,  I have a phone cover of Gatsby, and yes, I even wear my Gatsby t-shirt on the first day I begin teaching it to my freshman.  With that said, though, I abhor most all the characters within the book - petty, greedy, selfish, racist, anti-semitic, Nick, Daisy, Tom, and Gatsby are all pretty much lousy human beings.  Yet, I love the writing, the themes, the beauty of the story.  So...of course when Z came out, I purchased it on the first day.
So many myths and urban legends surround this 'Jazz Age' couple; I was curious as to what was true and what wasn't.  The story focuses on Zelda, whereas most everything I've read always centered around Scott.  The story of their courtship, the early wild days of marriage before a child, the 'lost generation' of the expats in Europe, the alcoholism, the friendship with Hemingway, the mental illness...it's all covered here.  However, Fowler also explores what it meant to be a woman back then, and what happens to an independent-minded woman when she runs up against the unwritten rules for 'wife-dom' in the 1920's and '30's.  I found Zelda fascinating, sad, and tortured, and Scott as rather pathetic, obsessive, and also tortured.  I wonder where life would have taken these two if they had not joined their negative, destructive forces with one another?  Great read if you have an interest in the literary days of the past, as well as enjoy historical fiction.  Not only did I learn a great deal, but I enjoyed the journey tremendously.

The Messenger by Marcus Zusak
Zusak is technically a 'young adult' author, though to be honest, I've never seen him that way.  While he may write shorter books, nothing simplistic or immature exists in his writing.  If you read his first book, The Book Thief, you completely understand.  That book featured Death as the narrator, during the Holocaust in Germany.  Yet it was different than literally every other book about that time period, that I have ever read.  Zusak sees life uniquely.  Many of my students have been so entranced by The Book Thief that it actually was able to turn them onto the lost art of reading, something they never thought could happen.  The Messenger is so far removed from his previous book, it is like another author wrote it, except for the uniquely obscure way of looking at life.  The main character, Ed, is quite a bright young man  who is choosing to drive a taxi, hang out playing cards with a tight circle of friends, fight with his mother, and do...not much with his life.  Yet one day, a card comes for him in the mail - not a greeting card, but a playing card from a deck.    Ed spends the rest of the book figuring out a variety of 'messages,' while at the same time figuring out life.  This book is quite intriguing, would be an interesting book club read, and is appropriate for all age levels.  I was quite fascinated by both the story and the prose style. It was also a stellar reminder of how we are able to touch people, whether they be strangers or friends, in both simplistic and complex ways.

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
Okay, Picoult has been my 'dirty little secret' in the past.  Always on the bestseller list, but not always with the best books, the woman can usually write a story that I cannot put down.  My Sister's Keeper (great book, lousy movie) and Nineteen Minutes (horrifying look at a Columbine-type situation) were not easily forgotten and read quite quickly.  However, I had not read one of Picoult's numerous books in quite some time, having gotten a bit burned out as well as disappointed in some of her later books.  The Storyteller, though, is another home-run.  As I read the blurb on audible.com, it seemed fairly straight forward...young girl (Sage) meets old gentleman (Joseph), who asks her to help him kill himself.  Yet, as the story plays out, we find out the hidden Nazi secrets of both Joseph and his brother, as well as Minka, Sage's grandmother and a Jewish prisoner.  The story of the Nazi soldier and the Jewish slave laborer are extraordinarily intense, and I've read numerous Holocaust books.  This book is extremely well-researched, using details and stories from past survivors.  Throw in a bit of a love story with a Department of Justice lawyer, a scarred and tortured main character, a slimy funeral director, and Picoult has another pretty good hit on her hands.  Though many of the Auschwitz scenes are graphic and disturbing, these scenes are not thrown in gratuitously but truly lend the story the authenticity needed to make it 'real.'  I highly recommend.

NEW BOOKS!!

Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
   This is an amazing non-fiction book, focusing on one of the particular slums of Mumbai.  I had heard about it for months, seen it on numerous 'must-read' lists, but just hadn't felt compelled to read it, thinking it would be far too depressing.  Ultimately, I listened to it on audible.com, therefore I'm not even going to attempt to spell out any of the names! Suffice it to say, it is not a book I will forget any time soon.  The story begins with the focus on a Muslim family of garbage collectors, with a son who is the 'king-pin' amongst the other boys, has a sickly father and a rather temperamental mother.  We also follow the story of a social climber and politician who will literally do anything to ensure her, and her daughter's, movement up the ladder.  And yes, we are introduced to a caste system that is, unfortunately, still alive and well in India, no matter how
'modern' they say they are.  We see the graft in government, the corruption in the police, the complete absence of medical care and education, and the true horror of the slums of Mumbai.  Well worth your time, though your stomach will churn in spots and your mind will want to deny that humans are treated as such.

The Paris Wife by Paula McClain
Admittedly, I am a historical buff and a fan of books based on real people.  This one is a doozy.  I had avoided McClain's book, as I'm not really much of a fan of Ernest Hemingway.  In a college lit class, I was forced to read The Sun Also Rises, never completely understanding the dynamics of the characters, or to be honest, really caring.  I finished the book wondering what all the fuss was about Hemingway.  Since then, I have studiously avoided teaching any of his works in my English classes, perhaps unfairly, perhaps not - it remains to be seen. However, the story of his life is quite fascinating, and The Paris Wife covers his first five years of writing, his marriage to a slightly older woman, and the life of the 'Lost Generation' in 1920's Paris.  I studiously avoided reading about Hemingway on Wikipedia, so I could discover for myself the interesting facts and tidbits of his life.  Most intriguing to me, was the inspiration for The Sun Also Rises - and yes, it now sits on my high school desk, waiting to be read once again (I'm hoping 30 years later, I will see the value).  Through these five years, we meet many of the 'biggies' of American literature, such as Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and my personal favorite, the drunken and crazy American couple...the Fitzgeralds.  Read in just two days, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
I had read the inside flap of this book frequently, never really that intrigued by the idea of a couple who lives out on a deserted island, keeping the lighthouse. Was I ever mistaken.  This is one of the most beautiful books I have read in a quite some time - I HIGHLY recommend it.  The story line is simple; .a baby is found in a rowboat - the couple keeps it.  Fast forward...let the drama begin.  The woman is a protected, beloved only child after her brothers are killed in WWI, while her husband is a decorated veteran, traumatized by his own wartime experiences.  Their marriage is complex and complicated by their inability to bear living children, as well as his PTSD.  The other character, however, is the lighthouse. The island itself sits between the Indian Ocean and the Southern Sea that leads to Antarctica; it is a world unto itself.  I found myself fascinated with the life of a keeper, wondering when the looming houses became automated and ended a way of life for so many.  First time author Stedman can write, seriously.  Her writing is lyrical, poignant, yet not verbose; she gets to the plot line without droning on endlessly about the scenery, yet keeps one reading as she draws out the quiet mystery and drama.  Loved loved loved this book.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
In my search, as an English teacher, for a non-narrative, non-fiction book to teach at the high school level, everyone kept referring me to a Gladwell book. He has three bestsellers - The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers. After looking at the three of them, I decided perhaps his latest one would be the most high-interest for students.  However, I found it wasn't just about my students; I was hooked from page one and finished it the next day.  The story looks at the studies and statistics surrounding people and companies that succeed, exploring the idea of "what makes one successful."  Needless to say, I was shocked by some things, not by others.  For instance, our favorite line to our girls their entire childhood and still into adulthood is...Work hard and good things happen.  Outliers taught me that still holds true, though 10,000 hours seems to be the needed turning point for success.  However, so much more exists that aids in one's success...when you were born, your cultural background, and so many other things I had never even considered.  This is an engrossing, fascinating book - I highly recommend it.

Ghostman by Roger Hobbs
Early one morning last fall, I saw my friend Chuck Robinson at the gym.  Consumate bookseller and owner of literally the BEST independent bookstore to be found, we, of course, engaged in our usual conversation about our latest favorite books.  I was in awe over Yellow Bird, and he was fascinated by a new young author he had just met, as well as his first novel that Chuck literally could not put down.  His words to me were..."Someone should put this young man to work for the FBI - he knows far too much about the underworld."  Hobbs is a 23 year old young man, recent graduate of Reed College, and since it takes a couple years to the actual publishing phase...you can do the math on how young he was Ghostman.  This is a rock-n-roll, hold onto your pants, edge of your seat, and every other cliche, kind of thriller.  A 'ghostman' is a person who doesn't actually exist, living so far off the grid no one can find him.  Our hero (who knows what his real name actually is??) is a professional thief and he's got a bit of a problem on his hands, as well as a past history that plays into his current situation.  Hobbs weaves the two stories seamlessly together, creating a page-turner like no other.  As Chuck's blurb said on the back of his book..."we will be reading this young man's work for years to come."  Hobbs is the real deal and Ghostman is a legitimately awesome read.
when he wrote

NEW BOOKS!

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Remember how when we were young, we wondered how Beverly Clearly knew exactly how kids thought, acted, and played?  And how Judy Blume understood mixed-up tween emotions, and young love?  I'm convinced that John Green is a closet teenager, because he sure 'gets' high school kids.  I've read Looking for Alaska, and have Paper Towns on my 'to-read' list, but all my students have been telling me to read The Fault in Our Stars.  They were right.  It's been my SSR book at school these last couple weeks, and each day I regretted leaving it behind. Although it's listed as a YA book, it's also been on top of the New York Times bestseller list for weeks.  The main protagonist is Hazel, a high school girl who can't attend high school, a teenager who is never going to be a young woman, and a tough, sassy, realistic fighter-of-thyroid-cancer.  We know from the outset that Hazel is terminal, she's got 'mets' that just don't go away and she can't really breathe without her canula of oxygen.  She has 'normal' parents, an intriguing cancer-support group, an obsession with a book, and then...in walks Augustus Waters.  To say more, would be to give it away.  Let's just say, you will laugh, you will cry (unless your heart is made of stone), and you will never forget the story of some pretty incredible teens.

The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell
When you read the inside flap of this book, it definitely sounds intriguing...two girls left alone, 'abandoned' by their parents, living with the neighborhood pedophile who feeds them, but where have their parents really gone?  It almost sounds like a gothic mystery, as the setting is the seedy side of Glasgow and secrecy seems to permeate the girls' household and their relationships. Within the first ten pages, I just about chucked it - the woman cannot write, is all I could think.  It was just one comma splice after another - O'Donnell needs to learn what ending punctuation is, seriously.  However, I realize that's my own "English-teacher-issue" so I plowed into the story anyway, and it quickly sucked me in.  O'Donnell creates deliciously quirky characters:  Marnie, the slutty yet brilliant older sister who handles her insane life with shocking equanimity, Nelly, the asperger-ish spectacularly gorgeous but looney-tunes younger sister, the neighborhood pedophile who really isn't a pedophile but a lonely gay men who misses his dead lover, and of course, the creepy parents who loved drugs more than their kids.  Enter a wickedly rigid grandfather and you've got a delightful recipe.  It is quirky, not for people who like 'cookie-cutter' characters and plot-lines, but for those of us who like to color outside the lines, it's a wonderful book.

A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash

If you like stories of Appalachia, the people, their issues, plus a little mystery, this has all those ingredients.  It is a story of a small North Carolina town, where the inhabitants have all grown up in each others' pockets, know all the family secrets, and have a hard time 'policing' their own.  It is the story of a crazy church who likes to 'test' their congregants with lil things like poisonous snakes and fire, and a young mute boy who winds up dead.  While at first, I thought the story was about finding out who killed Stump, it really isn't...it's more about scarred family ties, unhealthy love, and secrecy that kills.  Three characters narrate the story - Jess, the younger brother, Clem, the local sheriff who has his own demons, and Addie, the elderly midwife who sees what's coming but is helpless to stop it.  I often wished their personal voices were more individualistic - Jess didn't seem to talk like an eight year old boy, nor Addie like an old mountain woman - but the story is good, not great, but good.  So much 'meat' was left on the bone to explore, especially surrounding the creepy pastor, but it would probably be a good book club book just to talk about some of those issues.

Indiscretion by Charles Dubrow
At first glance, I thought...been there, done that.  I've seen the movies and read the books about the perfect couple and the husband who can't keep his pants zipped.  Heck, we've seen that story time and time again in the media, with politicians and CEO's.  However, 24 hours later, with this 388 page book finished, I could argue that point.   Each time I counted down the pages, determined to go to bed when that next chapter ends, yet I just couldn't do it.  First-time author Charles Dubrow can WRITE, yet he doesn't have an ordinary style.  He chooses a Gatsby-esque narrator, a peripheral character named Walter, and quite often he writes in a disconcerting present-tense fashion, when we all know darn good and well that Walt is telling a story of times past.  And with that, Dubrow sucks you in.   The Gatsby connections don't end with the narrators - we have the golden couple, Harry and Claire, we have the 'sinful' city of New York, the summer getaway on Long Island, and a narrator that we question whether to trust, or not. Walter does a good 'Nick Carraway', giving us tidbits of the story, as well as pithy comments about greed, love, youth, etc.  It is the story of how a 'perfect' life can unravel, and it makes us wonder...what is enough, really?  This would be a fantastic book club book, as I cannot wait to discuss it with my friend who loaned it to me (yes, she read it obsessively too).  Fair warning - lots of sex (and I mean lots) - but I didn't feel it was meant in a "Fifty Shades of Grey" kind of way, but more  purposeful in how avarice, gluttony, even selfishness can squeeze one's life into a shape never meant to be.  Shades of a Shakespearian tragedy as well, Indiscretion is a must-read.