Let's add one more book to the list of 2013 good reads. Wally Lamb's latest book is another powerhouse of story-telling. I loved his book This Much I Know, but had not read another one of his in years. I always remembered the characterization and ability to get inside a dysfunctional family, letting us see all the nuances yet not hating the family members. He has done it once again with We Are Water (and if you're an audible.com member, it is read by numerous different narrators - like a good movie playing inside your head!). It begins with a strange story of a long-dead African-American painter and his mysterious death. The main character, Annie Oh, is also an artist, but not the "paint-beautiful-pictures" type of artist. She creates angry shadow boxes that reflect the tortured soul within this middle-aged woman. Lamb draws out the history of the characters through a wedding between Annie and her female agent, reliving Annie's youth and marriage to Orien Oh, as we hear the story from both husband and wife. Occasionally the children's voices chime in as well, and much more so in Part II, as Annie's son and her long-lost cousin gives us more background history to Annie's life. Some parts are heard to read, as there's raw sex, pedophilia, and a horrific flood scene, but Lamb is the master of the story - he fills in every nook and cranny of Annie's life, so that we see who she truly is, and more importantly, how she became the tortured artist of New York fame. And in a surprising manner, he even draws the threads together of the long-dead black artist. I listened to this book obsessively, every moment I got, including making Christmas cookies and cleaning house. It's a fabulous, rich, well-told story of a dysfunctional family, that quite frankly I saw as pretty normal these days - it's just real. I strongly recommend this book - it would be a wonderful book club read as so many intriguing and controversial topics are tackled.
Thursday, December 26, 2013
We Are Water by Wally Lamb
Let's add one more book to the list of 2013 good reads. Wally Lamb's latest book is another powerhouse of story-telling. I loved his book This Much I Know, but had not read another one of his in years. I always remembered the characterization and ability to get inside a dysfunctional family, letting us see all the nuances yet not hating the family members. He has done it once again with We Are Water (and if you're an audible.com member, it is read by numerous different narrators - like a good movie playing inside your head!). It begins with a strange story of a long-dead African-American painter and his mysterious death. The main character, Annie Oh, is also an artist, but not the "paint-beautiful-pictures" type of artist. She creates angry shadow boxes that reflect the tortured soul within this middle-aged woman. Lamb draws out the history of the characters through a wedding between Annie and her female agent, reliving Annie's youth and marriage to Orien Oh, as we hear the story from both husband and wife. Occasionally the children's voices chime in as well, and much more so in Part II, as Annie's son and her long-lost cousin gives us more background history to Annie's life. Some parts are heard to read, as there's raw sex, pedophilia, and a horrific flood scene, but Lamb is the master of the story - he fills in every nook and cranny of Annie's life, so that we see who she truly is, and more importantly, how she became the tortured artist of New York fame. And in a surprising manner, he even draws the threads together of the long-dead black artist. I listened to this book obsessively, every moment I got, including making Christmas cookies and cleaning house. It's a fabulous, rich, well-told story of a dysfunctional family, that quite frankly I saw as pretty normal these days - it's just real. I strongly recommend this book - it would be a wonderful book club read as so many intriguing and controversial topics are tackled.
End of 2013
As 2013 winds down, it's kind of fun to look 'back' on the books of the year. After a productive summer of reading, it looks like I'll beat the number of 2012, with 72 books read, or listened to, in 2013. I'm a big believer in my classroom mantra...the more you read, the smarter you get. I'll read just about anything - murder mysteries, non-fiction WWII novels, historical fiction, drama, even romance - I still think we pick up something about life that otherwise would not have happened. After a conversation with my daughter about the arts, it all came together. When asked what she was taking for college courses next quarter, Megan, my art history major / aspiring professor, said "Well, Mom, I really need to take a sociology class because art is about people. But then, I need to take some bio-psychology as well, probably some history, more classics, English literature, just anything. My professor said that makes sense, as art is about everything in life - that's why we are all drawn to it." It made me realize that is the reason I love to teach English literature - every human emotion, every historical moment, every dilemma, victory, and solution in human history is found in the pages of books. The idea that the arts is a dying world, and that all of our children should be majoring in mathematics or engineering is a fallacy - as long as humanity 'feels', we will need music, painting, sculpture, poetry, dance, and yes, BOOKS. And with that little soapbox moment, here's a few books I've read lately.
The Imposter Bride by Nancy Richler
I picked this one up cheap at Village Books here in Bellingham, our favorite local bookstore. I was attracted to the topic, a holocaust era story. However, it's a very different take on that time period. The premise involves an immigrant who comes to Canada to marry a brother, post WWII. However, the one brother merely sees her at the train station and gets a sense of doom, ultimately refusing to marry her. His older brother, however, feels a powerful attraction and chooses to marry her instead. Wedding guests come, as the bride is a cousin of family members in their Jewish community. But is the bride who she says she is? The story then follows the bride's desertion and the daughter's life, as she wonders and questions, and ultimately searches for who her mother really is. The story is interspersed with a diary from Russia and Poland, creating an intriguing time warp. I wouldn't say this is the best Holocaust book I've read, but it's an interesting take on the genre.
If you read Unbroken by Lauren Hillenbrand, this is your kind of book. I think I was feeling a 'dad' moment when I chose this one from audible.com this month. My dad, a WWII bomber pilot, was obsessed with planes, flying, WWI aces, you name it. On a visit to the Boeing Flight Museum years ago, he was able to tell me about every little part of every single plane - it was impressive. So, in other words, my dad would have loved this book. It is the story of two pilots, Charlie and Franz, one American and one German, and an amazing incident of nobility and humanity that we rarely see in today's world, that occurred between two 'enemies.' However, Makos spends much of the book on the background and war-lives of these two pilots. Makos has literally spent his entire adult, and teen life, chronicling the stories of WWI veterans, with the rule being to never write a story of the 'enemy.' Upon talking to American pilot Charlie Brown, though, he had to break his own rule, as Charlie would not tell anything further until Makos spoke to his German counterpart. I admit that at times, the story drags when it gets into small details of the planes, and I seem to like the American story better at times, but the historical details of the air war were utterly fascinating and shocking, even to one who has read quite a few WWI war books. If you have a family member who is a veteran, or who loves stories of war and flying, you cannot go wrong giving them this book. Rumors of a movie abound, which I understand - it is a story of honor and heroism that is inspiring. One Mississippi by Mark Childress
Another 'cheap' book at Village, this was one of those novels that had a lot of buzz a year or two ago, and I just never got to it, as other 'buzzy' books pushed it off my list. I'm glad I did. As my husband said, "it's just a good story." Childress creates a family of the '60's, with a salesman dad who gets transferred every year, dragging his three children and wife with him. This year's move is to, obviously according to the title, Mississippi. As schools are desegregated for the first time, we see the ordinary lives of teens, and the great social movement, collide, in both small and big ways. We see the implosion of a both friendships and marriages, and the pull between doing what's right and doing what's easy. A few good laughs exist as well, as the southern kids teach the 'northerners' how to pronounce words and we see what one good man can do when a company does him wrong. Definitely worth a read - good beach book:)Tuesday, November 12, 2013
FINALLY...some new books!!
It is fairly obvious the school year has begun, as I have been quite delinquent in my book blog. My apologies to you all, but at least I have some 'dandies' to share so...happy reading!!
The Whisperer by Donato Carrisi
If you like the television series Criminal Minds, if you like a mystery book that leads you through a maze, showing you the 'answer' and then denying it, and if you like unique, tortured souls as the lead characters, then this book is for you. Mila Velasquez is the best detective around when it comes to finding kidnapped children; it's her specialty. However, to be a woman detective who has devoted her life to finding missing children, something in her life is a little haywire. She's got an 'interesting' background, a life peopled with her past, and some odd habits. Enter Goran Gavila and his team of specialists - Gavila is a behavioral scientist and they need Mila's help with their latest case. It involves severed arms, young girls, and an entire litany of psychopathic characters. Carrisi does a masterful job of weaving the story all together, when one is not really sure where it is going. Beware of the twists and turns - I went down many a dead-end, thinking I knew 'who dunnit', only to be turned away. The ending is worth it. This is definitely what I call a page turner:)
The Wedding Gift by Marla Suyapa Bodden
This was our book club choice for our 'historical fiction' month. After much deliberation around a variety of time periods, we opted for the antebellum south. The premise of the story is fairly straightforward - a plantation owner gives a slave to his daughter as a wedding present. The twist? The slave is the bride's half-sister. Even then, Bodden could have relegated this to a fairly stereotypical southern story, with the evil overseer, the drunken owner, the ever-suffering wife, and the loyal slave. However, Bodden goes well beyond this. As told by both Sarah, the half-white, half-black slave, and the slave owner's wife, Theodora, the story is more of the life of women back in the 19th century, their lack of choice, the lives they must lead, and the legacy they wish to pass on to their children. Clarissa, the spoilt white daughter, has a surprising depth to her at times, and Sarah, her sister and slave, is simply marvelous. Her courage and intelligence would make her a charismatic civil rights leader if she had been born 100 years later. The bad guys (the overseer, the owner, the husband) are well-developed, but not highly complex - they really have no redeeming qualities. We are told of a slave's life, the never-ending fear that her children will be sold away, never to be seen again; we see the families they try to create and the way in which plantation life tears them apart. A bit of a mystery surrounds the final one-third of the book that is fairly intriguing (and I won't give it away). Needless to say, this was a fairly fast read, not particularly long, good story-telling, and I hope a great discussion for our book club.
The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon
Listening to this book on audible.com was a beautiful journey back into a time of shame for our country. It begins in 1968, when an elderly widow, Martha, answers the door to a young pregnant girl named Linny. Linny is accompanied by an African-American man, who is both deaf and mute. As the young girl holds her newborn daughter, the guards from her 'school' retrieve her, not knowing of the baby's existence. The other escapee runs through the rainy night, thought to be drowned, but miraculously saved. Thus...the story begins. We go back to a time when children who were mentally impaired were placed in institutions, hidden away from the world, lest one be 'embarrassed' by their outbursts, their inappropriate laughter, their inability to form words properly. We see the world through Linny's eyes as she lives the life of the institutionalized, and watches as the world changes around her, as civil rights eventually come to the developmentally disabled. We also watch Martha as she struggles to raise a child on her own, determined to do 'right' by Linny. And we also share Homan's life (aka '42' at the institution), marveling at how a deaf-mute could survive in a world that treats him as a cipher. This is a powerful story of how far our world has come, what it takes to survive, the people who become 'family', and the lighthouse that weaves the story all together in the end. This is well worth the read.
Night Film by Marisha Pessl
First, you have got to see this book in person, not on Kindle. It's an amazing work of art, with a variety of page types and 'creative' news articles embedded into the fiction story. It is also the heaviest book I've ever lifted; it's got to be the paper used, as it is smooth to the touch and dense. So, if you want a lighter weight book, go with the Kindle version, but honestly, the book itself is just really cool! Now...to the story. So, full disclosure - it took me two months to read this book and I'm not even sure why. It's really very good, but I just kept putting it down, picking up other 'quick' reads, not wanting to drag the heavy tome with me to places, and generally making excuses. The amazing thing was I could always pick it back up whenever I wanted and I was immediately transported right back into the story. I'm thinking that if I hadn't started school at the same time I'd started this book, I would have breezed through it. Pessl is a really, really good writer, trust me. She constructs a complex story line, fascinating characters, and even throws in a bit of occult/fantasy to round it all out. The premise surrounds a middle-aged reporter who's been put in the penalty box by other news sources for getting a story wrong about Stanislaw Cordova, a "Quentin Tarantino-ish" movie director, who makes Marlon Brando look like a publicity hound. Cordova's daughter, Ashley, is found dead at the very start, and our diligent reporter, Scott McGrath (boring name compared to all the other characters) is pulled back into the Cordova universe, convinced a mystery is waiting to be solved. McGrath has a couple of dandy sidekicks who are quirky and twisted, and the places they go - oh my - it's a roller coaster ride, for sure. I really need others to read this book, as I'm dying to talk about the ending; it left a lot of questions in my mind, but not the bad kind of questions like "what happened" but the good kind like "why...?" So yes, I definitely recommend this book - there is a reason it's been on the best-seller list for months. Quirky, twisted, creepy, complex, dark...what's not to like??
The Story Catcher by Ann Hite
This was actually the book I voted for when we had to choose a 'historical fiction'; luckily, I lost, as I really wouldn't call this 'historical fiction.' It is most definitely a ghost story. However, it takes place during the Great Depression, when not flitting back in time to figure out the ghosts' lives, and the story is set both in the mountains of Appalachia and an island off the Georgia coast called Sapelo (look it up - it's been in the news lately). Thank goodness, a few family trees were written at the beginning of the story, as I had to keep referring to them time and again. Numerous families are connected, but a couple of main ones tell the story. First is young Shelly, an African-American teen whose brother has run off, whose mother works for the tyrannical pastor in their small mountain town, and who is viciously jealous of the pastor's daughter, Faith. The other main family is the GeeChee connection out on Sapelo Island (a small hunk of land that was settled by slaves, where families have lived for generations, tied to the sea and the land). As Hite brings these two stories together, we also see the ghosts and their interaction with the humans. They have 'issues' left to resolve, a few dead bodies to find, a few folks who need retribution to come their way, and a few mysteries to solve. I loved the dark gothic settings, the fire-and-brimstone preacher who needed his comeuppance, the gritty young girls trying to find justice in an unjust world. This is a great vacation read, or a dark, stormy weekend curl-up-by-the-fire kind of book. It's a quick read, well told, about a different place in time (it does, however, make you look over your shoulder more than once, wondering who may be watching you that cannot be seen!).
The Whisperer by Donato Carrisi
If you like the television series Criminal Minds, if you like a mystery book that leads you through a maze, showing you the 'answer' and then denying it, and if you like unique, tortured souls as the lead characters, then this book is for you. Mila Velasquez is the best detective around when it comes to finding kidnapped children; it's her specialty. However, to be a woman detective who has devoted her life to finding missing children, something in her life is a little haywire. She's got an 'interesting' background, a life peopled with her past, and some odd habits. Enter Goran Gavila and his team of specialists - Gavila is a behavioral scientist and they need Mila's help with their latest case. It involves severed arms, young girls, and an entire litany of psychopathic characters. Carrisi does a masterful job of weaving the story all together, when one is not really sure where it is going. Beware of the twists and turns - I went down many a dead-end, thinking I knew 'who dunnit', only to be turned away. The ending is worth it. This is definitely what I call a page turner:)The Wedding Gift by Marla Suyapa Bodden
This was our book club choice for our 'historical fiction' month. After much deliberation around a variety of time periods, we opted for the antebellum south. The premise of the story is fairly straightforward - a plantation owner gives a slave to his daughter as a wedding present. The twist? The slave is the bride's half-sister. Even then, Bodden could have relegated this to a fairly stereotypical southern story, with the evil overseer, the drunken owner, the ever-suffering wife, and the loyal slave. However, Bodden goes well beyond this. As told by both Sarah, the half-white, half-black slave, and the slave owner's wife, Theodora, the story is more of the life of women back in the 19th century, their lack of choice, the lives they must lead, and the legacy they wish to pass on to their children. Clarissa, the spoilt white daughter, has a surprising depth to her at times, and Sarah, her sister and slave, is simply marvelous. Her courage and intelligence would make her a charismatic civil rights leader if she had been born 100 years later. The bad guys (the overseer, the owner, the husband) are well-developed, but not highly complex - they really have no redeeming qualities. We are told of a slave's life, the never-ending fear that her children will be sold away, never to be seen again; we see the families they try to create and the way in which plantation life tears them apart. A bit of a mystery surrounds the final one-third of the book that is fairly intriguing (and I won't give it away). Needless to say, this was a fairly fast read, not particularly long, good story-telling, and I hope a great discussion for our book club. The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon
Listening to this book on audible.com was a beautiful journey back into a time of shame for our country. It begins in 1968, when an elderly widow, Martha, answers the door to a young pregnant girl named Linny. Linny is accompanied by an African-American man, who is both deaf and mute. As the young girl holds her newborn daughter, the guards from her 'school' retrieve her, not knowing of the baby's existence. The other escapee runs through the rainy night, thought to be drowned, but miraculously saved. Thus...the story begins. We go back to a time when children who were mentally impaired were placed in institutions, hidden away from the world, lest one be 'embarrassed' by their outbursts, their inappropriate laughter, their inability to form words properly. We see the world through Linny's eyes as she lives the life of the institutionalized, and watches as the world changes around her, as civil rights eventually come to the developmentally disabled. We also watch Martha as she struggles to raise a child on her own, determined to do 'right' by Linny. And we also share Homan's life (aka '42' at the institution), marveling at how a deaf-mute could survive in a world that treats him as a cipher. This is a powerful story of how far our world has come, what it takes to survive, the people who become 'family', and the lighthouse that weaves the story all together in the end. This is well worth the read.Night Film by Marisha Pessl
First, you have got to see this book in person, not on Kindle. It's an amazing work of art, with a variety of page types and 'creative' news articles embedded into the fiction story. It is also the heaviest book I've ever lifted; it's got to be the paper used, as it is smooth to the touch and dense. So, if you want a lighter weight book, go with the Kindle version, but honestly, the book itself is just really cool! Now...to the story. So, full disclosure - it took me two months to read this book and I'm not even sure why. It's really very good, but I just kept putting it down, picking up other 'quick' reads, not wanting to drag the heavy tome with me to places, and generally making excuses. The amazing thing was I could always pick it back up whenever I wanted and I was immediately transported right back into the story. I'm thinking that if I hadn't started school at the same time I'd started this book, I would have breezed through it. Pessl is a really, really good writer, trust me. She constructs a complex story line, fascinating characters, and even throws in a bit of occult/fantasy to round it all out. The premise surrounds a middle-aged reporter who's been put in the penalty box by other news sources for getting a story wrong about Stanislaw Cordova, a "Quentin Tarantino-ish" movie director, who makes Marlon Brando look like a publicity hound. Cordova's daughter, Ashley, is found dead at the very start, and our diligent reporter, Scott McGrath (boring name compared to all the other characters) is pulled back into the Cordova universe, convinced a mystery is waiting to be solved. McGrath has a couple of dandy sidekicks who are quirky and twisted, and the places they go - oh my - it's a roller coaster ride, for sure. I really need others to read this book, as I'm dying to talk about the ending; it left a lot of questions in my mind, but not the bad kind of questions like "what happened" but the good kind like "why...?" So yes, I definitely recommend this book - there is a reason it's been on the best-seller list for months. Quirky, twisted, creepy, complex, dark...what's not to like??The Story Catcher by Ann Hite
This was actually the book I voted for when we had to choose a 'historical fiction'; luckily, I lost, as I really wouldn't call this 'historical fiction.' It is most definitely a ghost story. However, it takes place during the Great Depression, when not flitting back in time to figure out the ghosts' lives, and the story is set both in the mountains of Appalachia and an island off the Georgia coast called Sapelo (look it up - it's been in the news lately). Thank goodness, a few family trees were written at the beginning of the story, as I had to keep referring to them time and again. Numerous families are connected, but a couple of main ones tell the story. First is young Shelly, an African-American teen whose brother has run off, whose mother works for the tyrannical pastor in their small mountain town, and who is viciously jealous of the pastor's daughter, Faith. The other main family is the GeeChee connection out on Sapelo Island (a small hunk of land that was settled by slaves, where families have lived for generations, tied to the sea and the land). As Hite brings these two stories together, we also see the ghosts and their interaction with the humans. They have 'issues' left to resolve, a few dead bodies to find, a few folks who need retribution to come their way, and a few mysteries to solve. I loved the dark gothic settings, the fire-and-brimstone preacher who needed his comeuppance, the gritty young girls trying to find justice in an unjust world. This is a great vacation read, or a dark, stormy weekend curl-up-by-the-fire kind of book. It's a quick read, well told, about a different place in time (it does, however, make you look over your shoulder more than once, wondering who may be watching you that cannot be seen!). Tuesday, September 24, 2013
New Books...Finally!!!
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
If you're ready for your hair to stand on end, as you lay cuddled in your bed, looking over your shoulder for the insanely creepy murderer who plays number one bad guy, this is the book for you. While I'm definitely NOT a horror fan (I don't do slasher movies, read books about the occult or vampires, or read Stephen King), this is a murder mystery that will get your adrenalin pumping. Harper Curtis is not your run-of-the-mill creeper...he has found a 'special' house in downtown Chicago that affords him little side trips into the future and the past. In other words, yes, he's a time traveler, but don't think this is a sci-fi book
- the time traveling merely serves as a vehicle for Harper to terrorize his victims throughout their lifetimes before pulling the final knife. However, one has been left alive. Kirby, a tortured young woman, teams up with a quintessential old curmudgeonly reporter as the two try to solve the mystery of her attacker. This book is a humdinger - guaranteed to make you check under your bed at night and keep you turning pages until it is done.
I Am Forbidden by Anouk Markovits
This is a short, yet poignant, book that looks at a fictional Hasidic family post WWII. I have read numerous Holocaust novels as well as non-fiction, yet I had very little knowledge of the most religious of the Jewish sects, the Hasidic Jews. I found this tale to be utterly engrossing as it details the life of two girls, one adopted into a rather famous Hasidic family after the murder of her family in the camps, and the other the daughter of the prominent rabbi. The two girls follow different paths - one a strong follower and believer in the faith, the other who questions and chafes at the strict religious rules imposed especially on the women. Through this book, we learn of the adherence to their laws, as well as what occurs when those laws are broken. This would be a fascinating book to read as a book club, as it brings up all sorts of questions...what does God expect of us? how do we live with faith? what is our role in the family? can we be forgiven when we sin? If you are looking for something thought-provoking and off the track of 'best-sellers', I would highly recommend this book.
Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child by Bob Spitz
So, next month is 'biography' month for our book club. Figuring I'd be buried under essays by then, I jumped in early to our chosen bio. After being presented with five different choices, our club enthusiastically chose the story of Julia Child. Rather hilarious, actually, as I'm not sure any of us are gourmet chefs, though we must all aspire to be:) I had seen the movie from a few years ago, Julie and Julia, and found it delightful. Although, I do remember thinking I was not that interested in the blogger and found Meryl Streep's portrayal and storyline of Julia Child far more interesting. I have to say, I was hooked from the first line of Spitz's fascinating, in-depth look at Child's life. He takes us from the moment she is born, back into the life of her parents and grandparents, and then looks at literally every aspect of her life. Spitz does an admirable job of looking at all Julia's life stages, and does not merely focus on the famous years from age fifty to her eighties. While it is a rather long book, the last 30% is taken up with footnotes, so it's not as long as it may seem at first glance. At times, I wished Spitz would spend less time detailing the peripheral characters of her life, but he was always able to bring it back to Julia and her husband Paul (that is a fascinating love story). I was thoroughly engrossed in the story of this 6'3" tall woman (yep, and her younger sister was 6'6"!!) and the impact she made in the American kitchen. I had always thought of Julia Child more as the parody on Saturday Night Live, but she was so much more. Each night I closed the book, I found myself starving to death - they talk food ALL the time - and I may even attempt one of her butter- and-cream-rich recipes soon, but if you like historical tidbits about famous people and you're even peripherally interested in cooking, this is a thoroughly enjoyable book. In the words of Julia...bon appetit!
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
I had heard a little buzz about this book (Amazon book of the month last June), so when I saw it in my high school library, I impulsively checked it out. One of my students saw it on my desk and exclaimed "Oh, that was my favorite book this summer!" Hooked. Gaiman is typically a Young Adult author, but this is first foray into the world of adult fiction in quite some time. I admit - it's not my usual fare of mystery, historical fiction, or non-fiction inspirational true story. It is a fantasy, where a curmudgeonly old man attends a family funeral, and remembers his summer as a seven year old boy. As we return in the memories of the boy, we see the extraordinary summer he had as magic, myth, and fantasy conspire to create a whole new world for him to explore and conquer. What I liked about this fantasy is that it is grounded in a small, recognizable English countryside, the two children as main characters are utterly delightful, courageous, and engaging, and the antagonists are incredibly and evilly intelligent. It is a short, beautifully written story that will keep you reading to the end.
If you're ready for your hair to stand on end, as you lay cuddled in your bed, looking over your shoulder for the insanely creepy murderer who plays number one bad guy, this is the book for you. While I'm definitely NOT a horror fan (I don't do slasher movies, read books about the occult or vampires, or read Stephen King), this is a murder mystery that will get your adrenalin pumping. Harper Curtis is not your run-of-the-mill creeper...he has found a 'special' house in downtown Chicago that affords him little side trips into the future and the past. In other words, yes, he's a time traveler, but don't think this is a sci-fi book- the time traveling merely serves as a vehicle for Harper to terrorize his victims throughout their lifetimes before pulling the final knife. However, one has been left alive. Kirby, a tortured young woman, teams up with a quintessential old curmudgeonly reporter as the two try to solve the mystery of her attacker. This book is a humdinger - guaranteed to make you check under your bed at night and keep you turning pages until it is done.
I Am Forbidden by Anouk Markovits
This is a short, yet poignant, book that looks at a fictional Hasidic family post WWII. I have read numerous Holocaust novels as well as non-fiction, yet I had very little knowledge of the most religious of the Jewish sects, the Hasidic Jews. I found this tale to be utterly engrossing as it details the life of two girls, one adopted into a rather famous Hasidic family after the murder of her family in the camps, and the other the daughter of the prominent rabbi. The two girls follow different paths - one a strong follower and believer in the faith, the other who questions and chafes at the strict religious rules imposed especially on the women. Through this book, we learn of the adherence to their laws, as well as what occurs when those laws are broken. This would be a fascinating book to read as a book club, as it brings up all sorts of questions...what does God expect of us? how do we live with faith? what is our role in the family? can we be forgiven when we sin? If you are looking for something thought-provoking and off the track of 'best-sellers', I would highly recommend this book.Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child by Bob Spitz
So, next month is 'biography' month for our book club. Figuring I'd be buried under essays by then, I jumped in early to our chosen bio. After being presented with five different choices, our club enthusiastically chose the story of Julia Child. Rather hilarious, actually, as I'm not sure any of us are gourmet chefs, though we must all aspire to be:) I had seen the movie from a few years ago, Julie and Julia, and found it delightful. Although, I do remember thinking I was not that interested in the blogger and found Meryl Streep's portrayal and storyline of Julia Child far more interesting. I have to say, I was hooked from the first line of Spitz's fascinating, in-depth look at Child's life. He takes us from the moment she is born, back into the life of her parents and grandparents, and then looks at literally every aspect of her life. Spitz does an admirable job of looking at all Julia's life stages, and does not merely focus on the famous years from age fifty to her eighties. While it is a rather long book, the last 30% is taken up with footnotes, so it's not as long as it may seem at first glance. At times, I wished Spitz would spend less time detailing the peripheral characters of her life, but he was always able to bring it back to Julia and her husband Paul (that is a fascinating love story). I was thoroughly engrossed in the story of this 6'3" tall woman (yep, and her younger sister was 6'6"!!) and the impact she made in the American kitchen. I had always thought of Julia Child more as the parody on Saturday Night Live, but she was so much more. Each night I closed the book, I found myself starving to death - they talk food ALL the time - and I may even attempt one of her butter- and-cream-rich recipes soon, but if you like historical tidbits about famous people and you're even peripherally interested in cooking, this is a thoroughly enjoyable book. In the words of Julia...bon appetit!The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
I had heard a little buzz about this book (Amazon book of the month last June), so when I saw it in my high school library, I impulsively checked it out. One of my students saw it on my desk and exclaimed "Oh, that was my favorite book this summer!" Hooked. Gaiman is typically a Young Adult author, but this is first foray into the world of adult fiction in quite some time. I admit - it's not my usual fare of mystery, historical fiction, or non-fiction inspirational true story. It is a fantasy, where a curmudgeonly old man attends a family funeral, and remembers his summer as a seven year old boy. As we return in the memories of the boy, we see the extraordinary summer he had as magic, myth, and fantasy conspire to create a whole new world for him to explore and conquer. What I liked about this fantasy is that it is grounded in a small, recognizable English countryside, the two children as main characters are utterly delightful, courageous, and engaging, and the antagonists are incredibly and evilly intelligent. It is a short, beautifully written story that will keep you reading to the end.Sunday, August 18, 2013
Jussi Adler-Olson
These Scandinavian authors do know how to write a good mystery - what is it about their lifestyle, country, culture, etc. that allows them to think up these twisted bad guys, tortured detectives, and thought-provoking plot twists? Whatever it is, I'm sold. Adler-Olson's latest books on 'Department Q' in the Copenhagen homicide unit are actually better than the very first (Keeper of Lost Causes - written up in earlier post). I liked Keeper, but it was a bit slow at first. Now that I've read the following two books in the series, it makes sense; Adler-Olson needed to build his characters, the reason for Dept. Q to exist, and the history behind the relationships in the office. The main character, Carl Mork (excuse the poor spelling - I listen to these books on audible.com - extremely well read!), continues his 'bull-in-a-
china-shop' habits with his superiors. Carl doesn't really care about promotion; in fact, he heartily avoids it. Therefore, he spends zero time sucking up to the captains and even less time making nice to the secretaries. In other words, he's hilariously rude and short-tempered. Many laugh-out-loud moments exist, especially in his conversations with his Syrian sidekick, Assad, and his ditzy secretary, Rose. In The Absent One Carl and Assad spend the book investigating a particularly nasty little pack of wealthy, society men that leads to a provoking twisted finale. In Redemption, a strange little note in a bottle leads Carl, Assad, and his fill-in secretary (Rose's twin sister, Ursa - hilarious) to a freaky killer who focuses on religious cults in Denmark. Throughout the Department Q books, we continue to see Carl's ongoing problems relating back to the shooting that paralyzed his partner Hardy, his sexual obsession with his therapist, Mona Ibsen (gotta love the name), and his wacky living situation with a roommate, a crazy wife, and a loser of a stepson. Adler-Olson has a winner of a series that is humorous, provoking, thoughtful, and well-written. If you too like the Scandinavian mystery writers, I'd check out Dept. Q. Sunday, August 11, 2013
Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
If you have celebrated the civil rights for gay people in this past year, this book will give you a reminder of the prejudice and hatred to which gay people were once subjected. Brunt places this family drama in 1986, during a time when President Reagan had never mentioned the AIDS epidemic, gay people were called "homos" and "queers" by the media as well as police, and judges cleared a courtroom due to the fear of catching AIDS from merely being in the same room. The main character is a fourteen year old girl named June, whose favorite and only uncle is not only a famous artist, but is dying of AIDS. Brunt explores not just one strand of the family dynamics, but all of the relationships that make up the idea of 'family' - June's complicated relationship with her older sister Greta, Uncle Finn's love and past history with his sister, and the friendship June forges with Finn's partner, Toby. This is not a page-turning mystery nor a roller-coaster ride of a thriller. It is not a neatly packaged, predictable family drama. Tell The Wolves I'm Home reminds us of how far we have come in the decent treatment of all humanity and shows us what hatred and prejudice can do when we don't stand up for all who deserve basic civil rights. This book starts out slow and easy, and brings it home strong; a beautiful, honest, at times heartbreaking read, I highly recommend this book.
The Outside Boy by Jeanine Cummins
This is an absolutely beautiful first novel by Cummins, and I do love a well-written first novel - it bodes well for the future. An Irish writer, Cummins sets this story in 1959 Ireland, following an Irish family of rovers. Known as Pavees, or travelers, or inaccurately as Gypsies, the Hurley family lives a thousand-year tradition of the ancient Irish. Moving from town to town in their traveling wagons, the Hurleys are vilified and reviled everywhere they go. The main character is an absolutely delightful 12 year-old boy named Christy, with his sidekick cousin to provide the earthiness and reality of the traveling lifestyle. In order to take their first communion, the family must settle down in a town, necessitating attendance at a Catholic school, which comes with the relentless abuse from the other children. But in Christy, Cummins has created a wise, introspective, young boy who persistently searches for answers about his dead mother, the meaning of his grandfather's death, and a way to live in a world that hates his way of life. This is a 'coming of age' story with great heart and soul that gives one insight into a way of life of which we know little. I give it a heartfelt, resounding recommendation.
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