New Books!

The Leopard by Jo Nesbo
Now that winter break has arrived, and I was smart enough to have presentations the last week of school, I have a clear schedule ahead for pure, unadulterated pleasure-reading - yippee!!  The first book I finished was the follow-up book to The Snowman (written about in an earlier post).  Nesbo is a Norwegian writer who creates some creepy bad guys, flawed heroes, and twisted plot lines.  In other words, his books are page turners.  His lead homicide detective in Oslo is Harry Hole (again, not like a hole in the ground but "Hoo-lay" - sounds much more foreign and cool to say it that way regardless.)  We first find Harry in the bowels of Hong Kong, madly in love with his opium pipe, trying to escape the demons of his past.  As the beautiful young detective convinces him there's another serial killer in Sweden, Harry's addiction to murder proves stronger than his addiction to drugs, and thus...the story unfolds.  Nesbo is a master at leading his readers, and his detectives, in one direction and then twisting us all up in knots, only to find ourselves at a new junction.  The plot moves from Oslo, to the countryside, to the Congo, and back as we, the readers, continue predicting who the murderer might be.  At times the Scandinavian names can be confusing, so putting down the book, and picking it up weeks later, can be problematic.  Besides, you will want to know 'who dunnit.' There's a few stomach churning moments, so this book is not for weak stomaches, but if you like a good mystery, this is a great one.
The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian
I've read a few of Bohjalian's books before, and he tends to be a fairly eclectic writer.  Midwives was a story of a home birth gone wrong and the legal repercussions that followed, The Double Bind was a story of a mentally ill girl, a horrific rape, and the characters of The Great Gatsby, Skeletons at the Feast was a historical fiction on Germans and their lives during WWII, and The Night Strangers was a fantastical magical book on a small town in New England and a pilot trying to recover from a plane crash.  As you can see, Bohjalian doesn't seem to have a 'set' genre.  However, I have always been unable to put his books down; he has a compelling writing style, not what I'd call 'lyrical' but a very good story-teller.
His latest book, The Sandcastle Girls, while having some similarities in style, is so very different that it's hard to know where to begin.  It is the story of the Armenian genocide and begins in Aleppo, Syria in 1915.  The main characters are Armen, an Armenian engineer and Elizabeth Endicott, a Bostonian WASP.  Part historical fiction, part drama, part mystery, and part love story, it is also the story of a world gone awry, where over a million Armenians were murdered, marched through a deadly desert, raped, starved, and forgotten by a world where religious jihads were not covered 24/7 by CNN.  The stories of these women (always women and children, as the men were systematically annihilated) is difficult to read at times, heart-breaking and inspiring.  I dreamt of them at night, and could not wait each day to grab this book once again.  Read in just two days, I would say that Sandcastle Girls is Chris Bohjalian's masterpiece.  This is a book for men or women, any age (though the stories of brutality may be too raw for middle school and younger), and is a piece of history we should all know.  It is not a book I will forget any time soon.
The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

I have been waiting impatiently for Morton's newest book; her last one The Distant Hours seems to have come out years ago (okay, July 2011 - but it seems like forever).  I stumbled upon Kate Morton a couple years ago because I liked the title and cover of her first book The Forgotten Garden - rather shallow of me, but what a brilliant find.  Morton combines some of my favorite literary pieces - historical fiction, gothic mystery, a little bit of a love story, and complex characters.  I tend to get a bit obsessed with her books as she writes of days gone by in England, but always manages to weave in today's world as well.
 In The Secret Keeper, the main character Laurel is a rather well-known character actress in England today, but has some serious issues that need to be uncovered, due to the secrets of  her mother's past.  The plot line is split amongst the present day as the children gather at their mother's death bed, the Blitz in London of 1941, and Australia and the childhood of another leading character.  To say more might give things away and I'd hate to be a spoiler.  Sufficient to say, this is a fabulous "Brain-Candy" book that will not disappoint you.  And instead of the 'stage littered with bodies,' I found myself smiling and delighted as I turned the last page.  Delectable book that I absolutely could not put down.

Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
This is almost a painful book review to write, as this book has seared itself into my soul.  Over the last few months, I kept hearing about this Iraq war book, a finalist for the National Book Award as well as constant comparisons to Catch 22 and The Things They Carried, two of my favorite books to read and teach.  However, I'm not a particularly huge fan of war books (though I say that having read Matterhorn about the Vietnam war last year - one book I will never forget).  I let Yellow Birds sit in my Wish List on Audible for some time, needing to be in just the right mood, but let's face it, what is the proper frame of mind for a war story?  For the last eleven years, we have all seen the stories, the increasingly smaller articles hidden on back pages when troops are killed, but the headlines seem to move us less and less.   Support for our soldiers remains strong, appreciating their love and defense of country, but what is the real affect of battle, of carnage, of death?  'Baptism by fire' forms that soldier, giving birth to a dissimilar person, but who had to die for that new being to rise?  Kevin Powers shows us that no one comes back home the same person who originally left, and that is the ultimate cost of war.

On the surface, Yellow Birds is a story of soldiers engaged in the Iraq war, as well as the attempt to assimilate back into life in the states.  However, beneath the words is a story of monumental proportions.  Powers, a veteran himself, forces us to see the terrible choices a soldier must make to survive, as well as to hold on to the humanity within himself.  The story plays itself out in double time - the story of Bart and Murph in Al Tafar, Iraq and the story of a return home to Virginia.  A breath-taking first time writer,  I understand why Powers has his M.F.A. in poetry; he constructs a brutal, provoking story with shockingly beautiful sentences and language.  As an English teacher, I was in awe; as a reader, he painted a picture I will never forget.  The symbolism will strike you, and the story will, I suspect, sear itself into your soul as well.  Whether you're a fan of war stories or not, I truly believe this is a book all Americans should read, so that when we see that headline once again, it will no longer have the banality of the news within it, but instead will move us to compassion for our soldiers who give their lives, and sometimes their spirit, for their country.

The Poet, The Scarecrow and The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly

If you like Law and Order, you will love Michael Connelly books, and if you like listening to books, you will love the narrator for Connelly on audible.com.  His smooth voice and variety of character voices make you feel like you're watching a movie in your head.
 I first discovered Connelly last year on Audible, looking for some brain candy to listen to on vacation; I chose The Poet.  The main character, Jack McEvoy, is a newspaper reporter whose brother has recently committed suicide, but...did he??  Jack teams up with an FBI agent named Rachel, a newbie who gets way too personally involved with the case, and the two of them begin the hunt for a pretty ingenious serial killer.  Jack is allowed in on the FBI investigation, making him privy to all kinds of information he can use on a potential Pulitzer prize-winning article.
The Scarecrow follows these same two characters, five years later, on the heels of another creepy killer.    Jack's life is in a bit of a mess, as is his career, but this time it is Jack himself who gets pulled into the sphere of the murderer.  It's a thriller until the end, splicing together themes of love, psychosis, and the demise of the written word.
The Lincoln Lawyer was made into a movie last year (pretty good one, according to my family), but since I'm not a big fan of Matthew McConaughey, I bypassed the theater.  The book, however, is a humdinger.  At first, I thought...typical sleazy defense attorney, defending so-called 'innocent' client = same old, same old.  However, numerous twists exist in this book, plus it throws in a compliment about USC law school (where my daughter currently attends), so it's a winner.  I actually listened to
all three of these books while working out, driving, baking cookies, cleaning house - you get my drift - they're addictive.  There's just something about Connelly's stories - they're not what I would characterize as 'pretty' writing, but they are page turners.  He creates characters that are imperfect, scarred from life, yet enticingly likable.  Good authors have this ability, and Connelly certainly rates.   Highly recommend *****

The Testament of Jessie Lamb by Jane Rogers

I picked this book up a few weeks ago in one of my weekly wanders through Village Book Store, best independent book store ever.  It appealed to me for a few reasons.  One, it was short.  I'm a bit tired of the 500-700 page books. Perhaps I'm too impatient, but occasionally I'd like to cruise through a book quickly and then move on.  Secondly, its subject area was post-apocalyptic, my personal favorite.  The premise is rather intriguing...a virus has infected literally every female in the world.  This virus, MDS, has embedded itself into every woman, child or grown up.  Once the female gets pregnant, the virus then takes over, using the idea of the immune system 'opening' itself up so that it doesn't attack the fetus, thus leaving the woman open to the attack of this virus.  The brain becomes mush, like in mad-cow disease, and eventually kills the carrier.  It's a brilliant terrorist move that ultimately spells the end of the human race.  The main character, Jessie, through which the story is told, shows us a world where there is no future.  Scientists, her father being one of them, race against time to find a cure.  Fertility specialists create 'sleeping beauties' who carry babies to term, killing the mother.  Religious extremists convince girls to join the 'Noah' project to save the world.  As a reader, I was intrigued by the story, even when I thought the writing was so-so, but as a mother, I wanted to strangle the main character.  It is, however, a thought-provoking book.  With that said, as much as I liked the idea of a 'shorter' story, I felt as if it wasn't perhaps a bit under-developed.  Then again, what do I know?  It was nominated for a Booker award and has won much critical acclaim.  I do think it would be a fabulous book club book, as it contains many controversial, provoking issues such as medical ethics, religion, parental rights, child rights, and the role of science in the future.  It would be a fascinating discussion to have between a mother and a daughter as well.  It is a quick read and in paperback, so I'd say it's worth it.

The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro

Every birthday, from the time they were born, my daughters have always received a 'birthday' book.  We've moved from Goodnight Moon, to The Wizard of Oz, through all of Harry Potter, and into adulthood with The Book Thief. So, this year when I dropped the ball and forgot, it was important to make it up to my artistic daughter and find the perfect book.  The Art Forger should do the trick.  While Meg doesn't yet have time to read it, thanks to college, I was able to sneak a peek.  Of course, the peek turned into 14 pages, and by then it was impossible to put this book down.  Whether you're an art history buff, like my daughter, or a mystery fan like me, you will LOVE this book.  The main character, Claire Roth, is a poor artist in Boston, working on reproductions for an online company.  Mystery surrounds her, as we hear vague rumblings on her ostracism from the artistic world, and we meet Aiden Markel, a mysterious man who offers her a Faustian bargain.  Questions propel the reader through the book...is it really a deal with the devil?...will Claire ever be vindicated or find success?...is the Degas painting real or fake?...who perpetrated the 1990 heist?  Shapiro, an artistically knowledgeable writer, does a masterful job of splicing time periods together, moving among three years past, the Boston of today, and the Paris of one hundred years ago.  It is an engrossing, thought-provoking, intriguing novel;  I highly recommend it.

Winter of the World by Ken Follett

I think I started reading Ken Follett books back in college, when my dad loaned me The Man From St. Petersburg.  Since then, I've read them all.  I've always loved Follett's mix of history, intrigue, romance, and thrills; the man can tell a story.  His epic Pillars of the Earth, on cathedral building, is one of my all time favorite reads.  Follett began a new series last year with Fall of Giants, following four sets of family/friends in four different countries - America, England, Germany, and Russia.  That story focused on the build up to the 'Great War.'  Follett intertwines his characters across continents in a thoughtful manner, building some mystery, giving some historical facts, and of course, the requisite romantic entanglements.  I loved Fall of Giants, and looked forward to the sequel Winter of the World.  Luckily, since it was about 30 books ago, it wasn't necessary to remember all the characters and all the connections.  Follett sprinkles enough of the 'old' story throughout so that one can pick it up as the story continues.  It actually begins twenty years later, as the world leads into WWII.  Once again, I learned some interesting historical background (and I thought I knew a lot about the time period!) and became engrossed in the characters' lives.  I did, however, feel that the last 100 pages were a bit rushed and not quite as well-written.  Now granted, I don't read Follett for his lyrical prose - I read him for his stories - but it got pretty choppy in the end.  With that said, a 973 page book got read in about ten days, regardless of essays to read, so I would still call it a page turner.  However, it was very large and heavy - I would recommend waiting for the paperback or doing an e-book.  And yes, I will be first in line for the final installment of the trilogy; Follett has yet to disappoint me.

The Twelve  by Justin Cronin

If you go back to the beginnings of this blog, you'll see one of my first posts on Cronin's huge best-seller, The Passage.  The Twelve is the subsequent sequel becaus, God forbid, an author not capitalize on making even more money than the first time.  Now, with that said, I have to admit I read this second book just as obsessively as the first.  I am a self-confessed fan of post-apocalyptic literature; something about this genre is fascinating to me.  Perhaps it's the hidden fears I have about my children's future, or I've watched too many doomsday movies, or I just want someone to finally write about a future that's positive (that never happens).  Whatever it is, I'm obsessed and  The Twelve  does not disappoint.  Cronin once again gives us a variety of characters who are battling the end of the world, as the 'virals' continue their march towards dominance (remember - military science experiment gone REALLY wrong - only the government would give serum to convicted murderers, turning them into vampires, to see if they could create an invincible armed forces).  However, these creatures have eaten everyone so it's time for some new heroes to emerge, as well as some of the old characters from the previous book.  And what quest is complete without the sacrificial lamb, the little girl Amy, all grown up now.  Cronin does a masterful job of weaving together a variety of places, people, and problems.  I read this 538 page book in five days - my husband got no dinner and my essays went ungraded.  And yes...it was worth it.  I now wait anxiously for the third book.