Ms. Wordopolis Reads

February Recap, Non-Crime Fiction Edition

2012-03-01T12:15:00.000-05:00

My February reading was pretty eclectic: a short story collection, a novella, a non-fiction account of an expedition in the Amazon, and novels. My pick of the month is Stay Awake by Dan Chaon, a short story collection that I'm still thinking about and keep on recommending to my friends. I also really enjoyed Heft, but the characters in Stay Awake are more vivid for me.

Ragnarok by A.S. Byatt
The Lost Saints of Tennessee by Amy Franklin-Willis
Outside the Lines by Amy Hatvany
Me and You by Niccolo Ammaniti
Stay Awake by Dan Chaon
Open City by Teju Cole
The Unconquered by Scott Wallace
Heft by Liz Moore

It was a very busy reading month for me in February, and I expect the pace to slow a bit in March because I plan to read a couple books for the Back to the Classics reading challenge.

My February Crime Fiction Pick of the Month

2012-03-01T11:49:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Kerrie for hosting the Crime Fiction Pick of the Month meme. This month I will do two separate recaps: one for crime fiction and one for everything else I read. This month I reviewed five crime novels, and my favorite is Sun Storm by Asa Larsson. I never thought I'd call a tax lawyer kick-ass, but Rebecka Martinsson definitely is. I definitely prefer crime novels written by women with female protagonists and police procedurals over cozies.

Find below the complete list of crime novels I reviewed in February.

Sun Storm by Asa Larsson
Twice by Lisa Unger writing as Lisa Miscione
A Cold Day in Paradise by Steve Hamilton
Death of a Kingfisher by M.C. Beaton
Bleed for Me by Michael Robotham

Crime Fiction

Bleed for Me by Michael Robotham

2012-02-27T07:00:00.000-05:00

Bleed for Me features Joe O’Loughlin, a clinicalpsychologist suffering from the early stages of Parkinson’s disease, and hesounds an awful lot like other psychologist or detective protagonists: he has marital troubles because he’s tooinvolved in his work. What makes thisparticular book stand out is that he’s not just interested in profilingcriminals: we see him analyzing anumber of characters throughout the course of this book, notably a set ofparents mourning the disappearance of their grown daughter. Also, O’Loughlin’s story stands out interms of the insight into parenting teenage and younger daughters.

The mystery revolves around the murder of Joe Hegarty, aretired detective. His teenage daughterSienna is accused of murdering him, and Joe O’Loughlin is assigned to do herpsychological evaluation. This plotpoint is a bit far-fetched because Sienna is his older daughter’s bestfriend: it seems like a conflict ofinterest for him to assess a friend of the family. The other threads of the story involve a school teacher who’s tooclose to his female students and a racially motivated firebombing trial.

The pacing of the book, after a slow start, is good: I was very involved with the twists of thestory and read the last half of the book in a very short time. Once I step back and look at the story,though, I have a couple issues: thesheer amount of tragedy that has befallen Joe’s family and the Hegarty familyis a bit excessive. O’Loughlin has aterminal illness and his older daughter was kidnapped two years before thisbook takes place. Sienna’s father wasmurdered, her older sister was brutally attacked and isnow paralyzed, and Sienna is accused of murder. Finally, it’s unsettling that so much of the story centers on theviolent response of men to the real or alleged rape or molestation of theirfemale relatives. It’s a gripping read,but the subject matter is extreme.

I did enjoy reading the book because it’s refreshing to reada psychological thriller that’s not centered on profiling a serial killer. Also, I liked the fact that Robotham spendstime on O’Loughlin’s private life and how he’s coping with his Parkinson’s: I can think of many crime novels that don’tspend much time with the protagonist’s loved ones. I look forward to catching up on the earlier books in theseries.

Bleed for Me by Michael Robotham

Mulholland Books

U.S. Publication date: February 27, 2012 (Originally published 2010)

Source: Publishervia NetGalley

Heft by Liz Moore

2012-02-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

Heft has been getting some buzz lately from JenniferWeiner, and I decided to read and review it based on some glowing reviews Icame across on Twitter and in Oprah. It is a lovely book told from the perspective of two very lonely men: severely obese Arthur Opp, a former Englishprofessor who’s been holed up in his family’s Brooklyn brownstone for twentyyears, and eighteen-year-old Kel Keller, a high school senior who dreams ofbeing a professional baseball player. Their connection is Kel’s mother Charlene: she was Arthur’s former girlfriend and student nearly twentyyears before the story takes place.

What’s especially lovely about this book is all the detailsabout the characters’ lives: Arthur’ssolitary existence and especially Kel’s life as a high school jock who lives inthe run-down town of Yonkers and attends high school in a wealthier town ofPell’s Landing, where his mother worked as a secretary in the high school. Kel is the most self-aware high schoolathlete I’ve come across in fiction, and I think it’s because he’s sohyperaware of people since he grew up with a mother who could not cope with herlife: she was depressed, solitary, andan alcoholic, all of which forced Kel to care for her from a very youngage. He notices so much about othersbecause he’s trying to figure out how normal people function.

Moore is fabulous at making us feel empathy for hercharacters, even though I felt a little less for Charlene because her story isnot completely obvious. There are nochapters from Charlene’s perspective, which is a bit of a limitation, but Ithink it’s supposed to be there since both her son and her ex-boyfriend did notknow her that well. I have a soft spotfor tales of loners, and I have an especially soft spot for teen angsttales. Heft is an especiallyvivid teen angst tale for over half of the story.

I loved Heft because I was so wrapped up in thecharacters’ lives. I wonder what’s nextfor both Arthur and Kel, which I consider a sign of a good book.

For an interview with the author and a more Arthur-centric review of the book, please see Jennifer Weiner's blog.

Heft by Liz Moore

W.W. Norton

Publication date: January 23, 2012
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Death of a Kingfisher by M.C. Beaton

2012-02-22T06:55:00.000-05:00

This is the first Hamish Macbeth mystery I’ve read, thoughit’s number 28 in the series. Onereason I selected is to fulfill the Criminal Plots II Challenge requirement fora book written under a pseudonym. Though I’m new to the series, I caught up on Macbeth’s work and lovelives pretty quickly. It seems to be aseries with lots of recurring characters.

The story takes place in northern Scotland where Macbeth iscontent to be a village policeman though that does mean he cannot take the lead onthe murder investigations in this book. It’s a conflict, but it seems a very mild one compared to themurders that need to be solved. Thestory revolves around a new, extremely popular tourist attraction, the Fairy Glen. Very soon after theopening of the Fairy Glen, a bridge breaks due to sabotage, a kingfisher andits family is poisoned, and a string of murders occurs. It’s a bit jarring to move from a storyabout a quiet set of villages with eccentric characters to the series ofmurders and its solution, and I’m not sure if that’s a hallmark of the series.

This book will appeal to readers of Scottish villagemysteries. There’s a dash of humor aswell as a bit about Hamish’s personal life for those invested in the characterthis far in the series. While I prefermore of a focus on the investigation in a crime novel, this will appeal toreaders who prefer setting and atmosphere over the plot.

Death of a Kingfisher by M.C. Beaton

Grand Central Publishing

Publication date: February 22, 2012

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon’s Last Uncontacted Tribes by Scott Wallace

2012-02-20T13:50:00.000-05:00

Scott Wallace went on an approximately three monthexpedition led by Sidney Posseulo, then head of the Department of IsolatedIndians, part of FUNAI, Brazil’s National Indian Foundation. His purpose was to write a profile forNational Geographic about Posseulo and his work, and, thankfully, he had enoughmaterial to write this book about his expedition and the history and context ofsuch expeditions on behalf of the Department of Isolated Indians. The goal of the trip was to find the outerboundaries of the Arrow People log the coordinates by GPS, and then have thatarea deemed protected by the government.

Although I haven’t read many travel/expedition books, myhusband has read the good parts of books like The Lost City of Z tome. Also, I watch a ton of NationalGeographic specials. What’s differentabout this book than a TV special or a National Geographic spread is the depthof coverage about previous expeditions, including Fawcett’s ill-fated trip,which was covered in The Lost City of Z, the anthropology, the biology,and the governmental efforts to protect the lands of wild Indians in the Amazon. It’s a book that took me awhile to digestbecause there was so much for me to learn. Rubber harvesting, drug trafficking, gold dredging, Brazilian federalagencies: it’s all stuff about theAmazon I didn’t know that much about.

This is a harrowing read: nearly three months in the jungle, either by motor boat, on foot, or bycanoe is a tough go even in good conditions, and there were dangers outside(crocodiles) and inside (fatigue and insubordination). Posseulo is an interesting figure, but Ihaven’t figured him out even from these detailed stories. I know I’m not cut out for an expedition ofthis length of time and difficulty in the Amazon, that’s for sure.

The Unconquered by Scott Wallace

Crown

Publication date: October 18, 2011
Source: Publishervia NetGalley

OPEN CITY by Teju Cole

2012-02-17T07:00:00.000-05:00

Open City is the story of Julius, a psychiatry fellowin New York City who was raised by a German mother and a Nigerian father. It’s not quite right to call the book hisstory: it feels more like his diary,describing his evening walks throughout New York, his travels, hisconversations with his friends and acquaintances, and, as well, memories of hispast.

I’m typically drawn to books with rollicking plots, so thiswas a bit of a switch for me: a switchback to the sorts of things I read in college. So what can I say about Open City? I enjoyed the first half because I felt like I was listeningin on Julius’s interesting conversations with Professor Saito, his collegeEnglish professor, and his friends. Iwas interested in the book through Julius’s month-long trip to Brussels, wherehe befriends a Moroccan graduate student named Farouq, and they have a numberof discussions about identity and politics.

After the Brussels, episode, I grew a bit bored. I wanted more than interesting conversationsabout music, politics, war, dying, history, and philosophy. Julius made an interesting admission nearthe end of the book that everyone sees himself or herself as a hero of theirlife, never as a villain, which was an interesting direction for the book totake (a conversation with an old friend from home revealed a horribleaccusation about his past), but nothing really happened after that thought.

My takeaway: it’sfiction that reads like nonfiction, specifically takes on history, race,philosophy, and Mahler’s music. I thinkit’s something best read in small doses and without expecting a narrativearc. I, however, prefer my meditationson being a multi-racial New Yorker with a bit more plot.

Open City by Teju Cole is finalist for the 2012National Book Critics Circle award for fiction, and it was recently released asa trade paperback.

OPEN CITY by Teju Cole

Random House Trade Paperbacks

Trade paperback release date: January 17, 2012

Source: Publishervia NetGalley

STAY AWAKE by Dan Chaon

2012-02-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

Stay Awake by Dan Chaon is a collection of shortstories that reminds me very much of his previous novel, Await Your Reply. Both books talk a lot about identity andmemory, both books have pivotal scenes that happen in abandoned Nebraskaprairie towns, and both books feature twenty-something men who haven’t reallygrown up. The only Chaon besides thisbook I’ve read is Await Your Reply is this one, so I can’t compare thisto his other short stories.

I was bowled away by these stories, and especially by “StayAwake,” told by the father of a young baby born with a parasitic head. It reminded me very much of Lorrie Moore’sstory, “People Like That Are the Only People Here,” which was told by a motherof a baby dying of cancer. I felt for lots o Chaon’s characters, but the fatherin this story sticks out.

Other stories are very good at capturing marriages,relationships dissolving, and reassessing one’s life at mid-life. Chaon is very good at capturing the innerlives of his characters, from the young widower and father in “To the PsychicUnderworld:” to the teenager whose infant son died in, “Thinking of You in YourTime of Sorrow.”

I wasn’t in love with the closing story, told by ghostlydaughters of a father who tried to kill them, but that’s the only and biggestmisstep I found in this collection. Whydid these stories resonate? I live inthe Midwest, and most of the stories in the collection take place aroundhere. Chaon gets sorrow. His characters felt like real, sufferingpeople. Finally, Chaon also getsparenting right.

I have a few other Chaon books sitting on my shelf, and Ican’t wait to delve into them as well.

STAY AWAKE by Dan Chaon

Ballantine

Publication date: February 7, 2012
Source: Publishervia NetGalley

A COLD DAY IN PARADISE by Steve Hamilton

2012-02-10T18:05:00.000-05:00

This book is my entry in the Criminal Plots II Challenge,a book written by someone from my state of Michigan. Hamilton was born and raised in Michigan, this novel takes placein Michigan, but he currently resides in New York.

A Cold Day in Paradise is Steve Hamilton’s firstnovel, and his first novel in the Alex McKnight series. Alex is an ex-Detroit cop who was shot threetimes while his partner died during the same attack. He retired and moved to his father’s hunting cabin resort nearSault Ste. Marie, Michigan, in the Upper Peninsula. Six months before the start of the novel, he became a privateinvestigator, and the novel follows his first murder case. The actual plot of the story involves Alexbeing stalked by Rose, the man who shot him and killed his partner fourteenyears before. It’s a psychologicalthriller. I don’t want to give awaymore of the story, specifically the body count.

I cut debut crime novels, especiallyfirst-novels-in-a-series, a bit of slack because there’s a need for expositionabout the character and his setting, in this case. The main body of the story is a bit slow as Hamilton gets intoAlex’s backstory and environs. In partit felt slow to me because the ex-cop-with-post-traumatic-stress-disorder tropefeels a bit old to me (this book was published in 1998). Also, Hamilton relied too much ongeographical descriptions of McKnight’s wanderings. There are a lot of accounts of what streets and highways Alexdrove as he pursued his investigation. The actual setting of the northwoods in the Upper Peninsula and the townof Sault Ste. Marie and the locks didn’t seem that vivid to me, but that may bebecause the book took place in the beginning of November during huntingseason. It’s not a beautiful place thattime of year.

The saving grace of the book is its last fifty or sopages. My guess is that it won itsawards based on that ending, which set up a very interesting future forMcKnight as a P.I.: he has reason tobecome a quite jaded and cynical P.I. based on the resolution of the case. I’m willing to read further into the seriesto see if it improves, which I think it does based on the sheer number ofawards Hamilton has won.

And one more note about this book: Sylvia, Alex’s love interest, is a severely underwrittencharacter. She does not have much todo, everything seems to happen to her, and she doesn’t have much of aback-story in this novel. I may need towrite a post about underwritten female characters because I feel the need tovent.

A COLD DAY IN PARADISE by Steve Hamilton

Thomas Dunne Books

Publication date: September 1998

Source: library

ME AND YOU by Niccolo Ammaniti

2012-02-09T07:00:00.000-05:00

Me and You by Niccolo Ammaniti is a short novel aboutfourteen-year-old Leonardo and his much older half-sister Olivia. The story takes place in the basementstorage area of his parent’s home, his hideout while his parents think he’sskiing with school friends for the week. Olivia appears half way through the story, and this story captures theirstrange relationship. It’s a shortnovel written in a spare style from the perspective of a lonerfourteen-year-old boy, so it’s a good story for people like me who like teenangst. I can’t say much more about thebook because it’s such a short piece with such a small set of characters insuch a narrow, circumscribed space.

I chose this book in my quest to try out new authors fromother countries. I’ve read thatAmmaniti’s previous works described as creepy (I’m Not Scared), and he’swritten the crime novel As God Commands, which seemed like indicationsthat this book would fit right with my fictional interests. While this book is definitely creepy(Leonardo is a bit of an anti-social oddball at fourteen, but so are lots offourteen-year-olds), it’s not overly so. It was an enjoyable, well-written story, though. I’m interested in reading his longer works.

ME & YOU byNiccolo Ammaniti

Black Cat

Publication date: February 1, 2012

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

OUTSIDE THE LINES by Amy Hatvany

2012-02-07T07:00:00.001-05:00

Outside the Lines is the story of Eden West, aprofessional chef, who searches for her mentally ill homeless father David whomshe hasn’t seen since she was ten years old. Her parents divorced shortly after his suicide attempt andinstitutionalization. Eden has hit aplateau in her personal and professional lives: she’s about thirty years old, she’s not in a seriousrelationship, and she’d like to leave her corporate catering job to open herown restaurant. She decides she’d liketo find her father in order to get some closure on their relationship so shecan move forward in her life. Helpingher along the way are Jack, the director of a local homeless shelter where Edenvolunteers; her mother, a reluctant supporter who’s been going through cancertreatment; and her best friend Georgia, who happens to be, helpfully enough, alife coach. The story isn’t easy orpretty, much like Hatvany’s previous book, Best Kept Secret, but it iscompelling.

The first thing that works about this novel is theplot. The book begins with Edenvisiting the morgue to see if a particular corpse is her father’s. The stakes are high from the beginning ofthe story: Eden wants to see her fatheras an adult and find out why he left, why he never got in touch with her, andto find out how he’s coping with his mental illness and homelessness. Hatvany does a good job switchingperspectives from Eden to David: shecaptures their voices at different ages and at different stages in David’sillness well. The narrative jumpsbetween the present and the past, with the flashback sections leading up toDavid’s suicide attempt.

Secondly, Hatvany is very good at depicting familyrelationships, particularly Eden and her dad when she was a child. Also good is Eden’s relationship with herailing mother. It’s hard to talk aboutand pursue the father whom her mother never talks about.

Finally, I have some minor quibbles with the novel. The character of Georgia is a bit flat: shefeels like a sidekick in a movie more than a real character. I have the same quibble with Jack, Eden’slove interest. He’s a perfect,supportive partner with his own issues with his parents. Hatvany tries to flesh them out, but theydon’t have much to do besides support Eden in this story. I think this is because the novel is aboutEden’s all-consuming search for her father: it’s Eden’s story, not Georgia’s or Jack’s.

All in all, Outside the Lines is a good read that Ifound more satisfying than some memoirs I’ve read about growing up indysfunctional families because I think novelists fill in more of a story thanmemoirists sometimes do.

Outside the Lines by Amy Hatvany

AtriaBooks
Publication Date: February 7, 2012
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

TWICE by Lisa Unger writing as Lisa Miscione

2012-02-07T07:00:00.000-05:00

Twice is the third Lydia Strong novel. Lydia is a New York City privateinvestigator and true crime writer who works with her partner, Jeffrey Mark, aformer FBI agent turned private investigator. Lydia and Jeff investigate the murder of famous painter Julian Ross’ssecond husband. Ten years earlier, shewas exonerated in the death of her first husband. Their investigation takes them from New York City to the smallupstate town of Haunted, which is the perfect name for the Gothic goings-on inthe investigation. Solving Julian’shusband’s murder involves digging into Julian’s family’s past, which is ladenwith secrets. Helping them along theway are Dax Chicago, their mysterious and funny bodyguard, and Detective FordMcKirdy, a lonely 50-ish detective whose job is slowly killing him. A large chunk of the book is also devoted toJeffrey and Lydia’s hunt for Jed McIntyre, an escaped serial killer. Lydia’s first true crime book was about JedMcIntyre, the man who murdered her mother when she was a teenager.

As you can tell from the first paragraph, this novel isheavy on plot: there are many twists inthe murder investigation, and there are many twists in Jed McIntyre’s hunt forLydia. Unger does a good job balancingboth stories. I preferred the murderinvestigation to the serial-killer-on-the-loose story, but that’s because Iliked the Gothic, family-secret-laden story more than theobsessed-serial-killer story. Thismight be because this is the first Lydia Strong book I’ve read, so I don’tquite have all the background about Jed McIntyre than I’d have if I’d read theprevious books before.

I’d recommend this book to thriller fans that like a dash ofGothic horror, and to fans of tough heroines as well.

Twice by Lisa Unger writing as Lisa Miscione

Publisher: BroadwayBooks
Publication date (reissue): February 7, 2012
Source: Publishervia NetGalley

Sun Storm by Asa Larsson

2012-02-04T21:31:00.000-05:00

Sun Storm by Asa Larsson is the first RebeckaMartinsson novel. Rebecka is a taxlawyer in Stockholm who returns to Kiruna, her hometown in northern Sweden for thefirst time in ten years when her childhood friend Sanna asks her for help afterher brother Viktor is murdered. Viktoris a charismatic religious figure who claimed to come back to life after atraffic accident, and his church monopolizes on his fame to build a massivebuilding for a flock of 2,000, which is an impressive size for a town the sizeof Kiruna.

First off, the main asset of the book is the interestingheroine, Rebecka Martinsson. Yes,professionally she lives in her head and in her small office, draftingmemoranda, but it doesn’t prevent her from jumping into a criminalinvestigation. The novel jumps betweenthe investigation into Viktor’s murder and Rebecka’s years growing up in theChurch of the Source of All Our Strength. I won’t reveal more of her backstory here, but suffice it to say thatit’s an interesting one. As the novelprogresses, we see more of her gritty side as well, which is refreshing. Finally, it’s great to have a heroine who’ssmart and not just lucky.

The advantage of having a main character who specializes intax law is that she can readily follow the money to find out what’s going onwith the church. It’s not an overlycomplicated conspiracy or cover-up in which the church is engaged, and I don’tthink I’m giving anything away by mentioning that the Church is involved in taximproprieties. Such a large church, ledby three pastors, in such a flashy building is obviously an enterprise flushwith cash.

Finally, the setting of the story in the northern reaches ofSweden make for a nice switch from lots of urban mysteries and thrillers that Iread. There are cozy moments inRebecka’s grandparents’ home and hunting cabin, as she spends time with Sanna’schildren and her northern neighbor/ friend of her deceased grandparentsSivving. It’s an interesting place fora respite for a reader from the northern Midwest of the United States.

I’m looking forward to reading more books in thisseries, and I've heard good things about them from Keishon at Avid Mystery Reader, Sarah at Crimepieces, Maxine at Petrona, and Margot at Confessions of a Mystery Novelist.

Highly recommended.

SUN STORM by Asa Larsson

Translated by Marlaine Delargy

Also Published ss: The Savage Altar

Delacorte Press

Publication date: April 25, 2006

Source: library

Finalist 2007 International Dagger Award

Winner of Sweden’s Best First Crime Novel Award

THE LOST SAINTS OF TENNESSEE

2012-02-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

The Lost Saints of Tennessee by Amy Franklin-Willissurprised me in lots of good ways. Thebook starts in a very tough place emotionally: forty-two-year-old Ezekiel Cooper is divorced, depressed, has a badrelationship with his aging mother, and is not coping well with the upcomingtenth anniversary of his twin brother Carter’s drowning death. So much about the premise could have made merun for the book: (1) I’m not a big fanof men-having-a-midlife crisis books; (2) I’m not a fan of deeply depressedcharacters. Despite my misgivings, Ibecame very emotionally invested in these characters after a short time.

The novel takes place in the small town of Clayton,Tennessee, a town which Zeke’s mom is desperate to leave, and which she isdesperate for her children to leave as well. Zeke is the first of his five siblings to leave town: he moves toVirginia to live with cousins and attend the University of Virginia, but hereturns to Clayton over the holidays and stays for the next twenty-fiveyears. The story moves physicallybetween Virginia and Tennessee and temporally between 1960 and 1985, eventuallyrevealing more and more of Zeke, his first wife Jackie, and their familymembers’ lives.

What makes the story work is Zeke and his mother’s messyinterior lives. The rest of thecharacters are not as well developed, but there are hints to the depths in thelives of Jackie, her children, and Zeke’s cousins Georgia and Osbourne, theelderly couple in Virginia who took him in during college. This is the story of one man getting hislife together as he deals with his twin brother’s death as well as hisrelationships with his mother and ex-wife.

I’d recommend this book to fans of stories of small towns inthe south, to fans of stories about adults growing up and moving on past theirpast hurts, and to fans of stories about families.

THE LOST SAINTS OF TENNESSEE by Amy Franklin-Willis

Atlantic Monthly Press

Publication date: February 1, 2012

Source: Publishervia NetGalley

RAGNAROK by A.S. Byatt

2012-02-01T07:00:00.000-05:00

I chose to review Ragnarok by A. S. Byatt because Iloved her novel Possession, and I really liked some of her other novelsand novellas that I have read. Forother fans of Byatt’s work, be warned that Ragnarok is not a novel, it’sa retelling of the Norse myth of the end of the world.

My previous experience with Norse myths is minimal. I’ve watched some of the operas in Wagner’sRing Cycle, but it was many years ago. I’ve come across some Norse stuff tangentially in my reading as anEnglish and Spanish major in college. My lack of background in Norse mythology is not a real hindrance in thiscase because Byatt’s writing is so clear. Furthermore, the more I read of Ragnarok, the more I realizedthat I have heard these tales retold in other guises, or, at least, I’ve readbooks that are heavily influenced by Norse mythology, including the HarryPotter and The Lord of the Rings books.

The framing device for Ragnarok is the story of thethin child, a stand-in for Byatt herself, who is evacuated from London to thecountry during World War II. The thinchild’s mother gives her a copy of Asgard and the Gods, which is aGerman retelling of Norse myths. In theauthor’s note, Byatt acknowledges that she wrote her version of Ragnarokas a child discovering the myths, which explains the straightforward style sheuses. The framing device also works ina way that allows Byatt to talk about how she, as a child, developed herworldview. She’s not into theChristian, redemptive ending: shealways expects a dark end, much as the dark end of the gods destroying eachother in Ragnarok.

This is a slim volume that I could have read in anafternoon, but I spread it out over a couple days. Because it is so slim, it’s hard to write a longer review. This piece is a collection of stories of theend of the Norse gods written in an accessible style. It also contains interesting discussions about the nature ofmyths versus the nature of fairy tales. It’s about the stories as well as about the nature of storytelling.

Ragnarok: The End ofthe Gods by A.S. Byatt

Grove Press
Publication Date: February 1, 2012
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Monthly Recap: January 2012

2012-01-31T11:57:00.001-05:00

January was my first full month of book blogginguninterrupted by holidays. I plan onkeeping up the pace of two or three reviews per month, and it will be a mix ofcrime fiction with other good stories. I tend to get into reading ruts, and right now I’m in a domesticfiction/ chick lit rut. I need storieswith more than a character’s psychological arc right now, so I’m settling inwith more crime fiction. This will alsohelp me knock out some of the requirements for the Criminal Plots II Challenge ,which I have yet to read for yet. Iwill still review some new releases, but I’m also going to focus on backlisttitles in a quest to (a) clear some books from my shelves and (b) read/ catchup on author’s previous works. What else? A few classics, to take care of anotherchallenge I’m doing. A few literaryfiction award winners or finalists, just to see what all the fuss is about. I find it hard to find literary fiction Ilove, so from time to time I go on hiatus from reading it if I’ve read a bad or uninteresting run of them.

DEFENDING JACOB by William Landay

2012-01-31T07:00:00.000-05:00

Defending Jacob is the story of Jacob Barber, afourteen year old from Newton, MA, accused of stabbing one of his classmates todeath. Andy Barber, Jacob’s father andan assistant district attorney narrates the tale, covering the roughly sixmonth period between the murder, the trial, and its aftermath. It’s a fast read if you’re in the mood for acourtroom saga with plenty of twists and turns.

Andy is pretty prickly andunlikable. It was hard for me toempathize with him in the first 100 pages. He seems so blinded to the possibility that his son may be guilty thathe’s a bit hard to take. He’s also abit hard to take because he doesn’t seem to realize what’s going on with hiswife Laurie or his son Jacob as they suffer through this ordeal. Maybe the whole point is that he’s supposedto be so thoroughly unlikable and so thoroughly blind to the possibility thathis son is a killer: we the readers arein the same place his wife is in.

Another reason it’s hard to empathize with any of thecharacters in the book, most of all Andy, is that the book is driven bydialogue. It feels very much like ascreenplay: lots of dialogue, lots ofshort scenes. Of course any crimethriller involves a lot of conversations or interrogations with witnesses andsuspects, but not every thriller contains mostly dialogue. It’s harder to get a sense of the charactersinterior lives because there’s more dialogue than narration.

The main asset of this book is the plot, which is laden withtwists. I think the book definitely picksup once Jacob’s trial begins. Landaydoesn’t spend as much time delving into Laurie and Jacob’s minds, which I thinkis a disadvantage of the book. DefendingJacob is more of a thriller than a psychological thriller. For books that take on being the mother ofan accused killer, I also recommend We Need to Talk About Kevin byLionel Shriver and Before and After by Rosellen Brown.

DEFENDING JACOB by William Landay

Delacorte Press

Publication date: January 31, 2012

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

A GROWN-UP KIND OF PRETTY by Joshilyn Jackson

2012-01-25T07:00:00.000-05:00

A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson is astory of mothers and daughters. Ginny,also known as Big, had her daughter Liza when she was a teenager. Liza, in turn, became a teenage mother to Mosey. This story takes place in Mosey’s fifteenthyear, the year her mother suffers a stroke, and the year in which a handymanuncovers Liza’s box with baby bones in their backyard. It’s no mystery to Big and Mosey that Liza’sbiological daughter died, but the mystery is who Mosey is.

Like just about every book I’ve read recently, this bookalternates narration from character to character: the supremely motherly Ginny, therecovering-addict-and-recovering-stroke-victim Liza, and the angst-riddenMosey, who embarks on a search for her real parents. Jackson captures the voices incredibly well, from the Big, thestruggling Liza, and the confused Mosey. What I very much appreciated about the characters is that they weren’tquirky for the sake of being quirky, which I sometimes feel when I readcontemporary Southern novels.

The actual plot or actual mystery is not the main draw ofthis book: this book is not aboutsuspense about Mosey’s actual parents or about Liza and her deceaseddaughter. This book is about thecharacters, how they care for each other, and how they help each other throughthe incredibly rough patches they are going through. Jackson is very good at capturing the voices of her three maincharacters, especially Big and Mosey. The main villain is not so fleshed-out, but that’s not a hindrance tothe story. Another thing I loved aboutthis story is that the side characters like Mosey’s friends were well-roundedcharacters, not just wisecracking sidekicks. That’s not to say that this story or its characters are humorless: there’s plenty of humor throughout the bookthat keeps it from being relentlessly bleak.

I’d recommend this book most to people who like smart,teen-angst-tinged stories, be they books, movies or TV shows.

A GROWN-UP KIND OF PRETTY by Joshilyn Jackson

Grand Central Publishing

Publication date: January 25, 2012

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

THE BAKER'S DAUGHTER by Sarah McCoy

2012-01-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

The Baker’s Daughter by Sarah McCoy is bothhistorical fiction and contemporary fiction. It’s the story of Elsie, the eponymous baker’s daughter, who emigratedto Texas after World War II, as well as the story of Reba, a contemporaryjournalist who meets Elsie while she’s on assignment for a magazine story aboutChristmas traditions from around the world. Elsie’s story is the story of her family’s struggles to survive in NaziGermany during World War II. The bookalso takes on illegal immigration in the border town of El Paso through Reba’sboyfriend’s Riki’s story as well as Reba’s struggles to deal with the griefover her father’s death. It’s not lightsubject matter at all, but it is an involving read.

First, I’d like to comment on the structure of thebook. Elsie and Reba become friendsduring the course of this book, but Elsie doesn’t tell Reba the story of heryouth during World War II. This feelsright to me: it was a pretty horrifictime for her and her family, and she’d like to move on. I think that Elsie and Reba connect becausethey are both non-native Texans who had rough childhoods, and in that sense,their stories echo each other.

My favorite sections of the book are the Elsiesections: she’s a feisty heroine,despite all the conflicts she faces. She might strike some readers as too perfect, as in wise beyond heryears. I don’t want to give away thedetails of her story because I think it’s best to enter the novel with a blankslate. The plot wasn’t necessarily thestrongest point in this book because the woes that befall Elsie during andimmediately after the war are quite extreme, but somehow, not necessarilyunbelievable.

The other aspect of the book that I enjoyed were the variousrelationships among the women: Reba andElsie’s daughter Jane, Reba and her sister DeeDee, Elsie and her mother, andElsie and her sister. Those sectionsfelt spot-on psychologically. This is abook about relationships among family members, friends, and with beloveds. Also, the last section of the book made mevery weepy. If you’re looking for abook with good relationships, a gripping story about World War II told from theperspective of a German teenage girl, and a good, sad, ending, check out thisbook.

THE BAKER’S DAUGHTER by Sarah McCoy

Crown Publishing

Publication date: January 24, 2012

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

SALVAGE THE BONES by Jesmyn Ward

2012-01-19T13:30:00.002-05:00

Salvage the Bones is the story of the Batiste family,who lead difficult lives in a small town near the Mississippi coast. This novel is the story of the days leadingup to Hurricane Katrina and its immediate aftermath as told by Esch, the onlygirl in a family of boys, whose mother died after giving birth to her youngestson.

Esch’s voice is amazing: she’s a smart, tough teenager. She’s a bit in love with Manny, the father of her unborn child. She fiercely loves her siblings and even herdepressed, alcoholic father. Sheespecially loves her brother Skeetah, who in turn loves his pit bull China, whogives birth in the opening chapter of the book. Skeetah’s relationship with China is Esch’s model for parentallove. Her dysfunctional model forromantic love comes from her assigned summer reading of Edith Hamilton’s Mythology: the love story of Medea and Jason, whichends in betrayal.

This is not a sentimental story. The Batistes are in tough circumstances: Dad is an alcoholic who can’t keep a job andis very depressed since his wife died. The family has little money, which hurts Randall, who aspires to playcollege basketball. Esch starts havingsex at age 12, and she’s a teenager who’s pregnant. Skeetah raises China, the pit bull, and fiercely tends to herpuppies because they are his future source of income. The details of the story make it seem like it will be a tough go,but the strong voice of Esch makes it work. She’s strong, a bit moony over Manny, and a dedicated motheralready. The other thing that makes thestory work is that I don’t feel manipulated by the story or by thecharacters. It’s not a tragic storywith a feel-good hook of a sad and wise-beyond-his-years child. I’m thinking of Extremely Loud andIncredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. These kids feel smart but real.

Finally, what makes this work is the tone of the tragicstory. We all know that HurricaneKatrina is coming, and we all know what horrendous damage it left in its wake. Every episode in this story, from the pitbull fighting to the kids fighting to the hurricane march onward, inevitably tothe storm.

I was surprised by how much I liked this book. I thought the dog fighting and grim storywould be too much, but they weren’t. The writing is very good—and very deserving of the National BookAward—and the characters felt very real. I hope Jesmyn Ward returns to University of Michigan, where she receivedher MFA, for a reading soon.

SALVAGE THE BONES by Jesmyn Ward

Bloomsbury USA

Publication date: August 31, 2011

Source: library

THE BOY IN THE SUITCASE by Lena Kaaberbol & Agnete Friis

2012-01-15T13:09:00.000-05:00

I’ve been on a Scandinavian crime kick for the last sixmonths, and this is the best book of the lot I’ve read. It’s also one of the best books, period,that I’ve read in a very long time. Almost always I find something that annoys me about a book: a section, a storyline, a character thatfeels out of place or just not real. Iloved the characters, the pacing, and the tone in this book. Seriously, I have no complaints.

Nina Borg, a self-described burnt-out social worker and aRed Cross nurse discovers the boy in the suitcase, three-year-old LithuanianMikas, in a parking garage near the Copenhagen train station. It’s a gripping beginning. The story cuts from character to characterinvolved in this kidnapping tale: Nina,wealthy business executive Jan Marquart, Mikas’s mother Sigita, and, finally,the villain Jucas.

The characters are real, complex people, and there is noidealized superhero among them. All thecharacters have interesting histories that do not let them off the hook for thenot-so-great things they’ve done. Nina,for example, is a nurse who devotes her all to the refugee children in her carebut can’t devote herself to her own children. Also, the main antagonist Jucas is not just a steroid-fueled monster,which is saying quite a lot for a villain in a thriller. Even the characters that we see just inpassing are interesting, like Jan’s wife Anne.

The pacing of the story is great too, probably because thechapters are fairly short and alternate from character to character. Since this is not a typical policeprocedural or private investigator novel, there aren’t slow sections of witnessinterviews either.

Finally, I don’t feel manipulated emotionally by thisbook. It’s dark subject matter: kidnapped foreign children living inDenmark. And making the missing boy soyoung could be seen as a ploy for sympathy, but somehow I don’t feel yankedaround by melodrama. The story doesn’tfeel sensationalized.

THE BOY IN THE SUITCASE by Lena Kaaberbol & Agnete Friis
Translated by Lena Kaaberbol
Soho Crime
Publication date: November 8, 2011
Source: library

THE NIGHT SWIMMER by Matt Bondurant

2012-01-10T08:00:00.000-05:00

TheNight Swimmer is the story of Elly and Fred, a young couple from Vermontwho win a pub in southwest Ireland in a contest. This book is, in part, a story of the end of their marriage. The rest of the story is the tale of beingoutsiders in a small Irish coastal town. The pub itself is on the mainland, but Elly ends up spending most of hertime on a nearby island in order to indulge her love of swimming in open water.

The openingof the book, which covers Elly and Fred’s early years (they meet as literaturegraduate students), sucked me in. I wasexpecting the book to be the story of the train wreck of their marriage like RevolutionaryRoad by Richard Yates, which Bondurant references early in the book. The fireworks are minimal, though. By the time the couple moves to Ireland,they essentially live apart: Fred onland in the pub, trying to write a novel, and Elly staying on a nearby islandand swimming.

The book invokes Cheever in anumber of ways. Elly, the narrator,wrote her thesis on The Journals of John Cheever, excerpts of whichbegin every chapter of the book. Instead of swimming in suburban swimming pools like the main characterin “The Swimmer,” Elly swims in the sometime-treacherous open waters. This also feels like Cheever in that thestory is of an unhappy couple. Elly andFred fit the bill, and Fred may even be slightly mentally ill with hisobsession with building his own gun, as the time-traveller in his novel willdo.

Finally, the last pleasure of thebook is the evocative setting. Ellydescribes the weather, the water, the land, and the people of the small townand small island beautifully. There isa bit of a gothic aura to the story of the islanders too.

I finished the book slightly disappointedbecause I wanted a bit more of a plot or a more vicious showdown between Ellyand Fred, but that’s not what this book is about. It’s a mood piece of a faltering marriage and of the couple beingshunned by the locals and of the wonders of swimming off the south Irelandcoast

THE NIGHT SWIMMER by Matt Bondurant

Scribner
Publication Date: January 10, 2012
Source: Publishervia NetGalley

SMUT: TWO UNSEEMLY STORIES by Alan Bennett

2012-01-04T00:00:00.000-05:00

I haven’t read much by Alan Bennett. I read The Uncommon Reader, which wassort of a comedy piece about the Queen of England becoming an avid reader, andI watched the film version of The History Boys. This collection of paired stories, Smut,fits with what I know of Bennett: thestories are funny, smart, and humane toward its main characters. And, of course, given the title, thesestories contain plenty of sex.

The first story, “The Greening of Mrs. Donaldson,” involvesthe sexual awakening of a fifty-five-year old widow who supports herself as anactor in medical student demonstrations and as a landlady. The second story, “The Shielding of Mrs.Forbes,” involves two couples: Grahamand his wife Betty, and Graham’s parents. This is the story that made me see the humane side of Bennett in thefinal pages.

Both stories deal with small town propriety: basically every character has a bit of atawdry sex life that they are intent on keeping from their neighbors. These are, after all, stories ofseemliness. Bennett does poke fun atsuburban mores, but these pieces are not straight satires. He cares for his characters, even the snobbyelder Mrs. Forbes. I don’t want to giveaway much more about the details about these delightful stories. They are witty stories about hidden sexlives.

Smut: Two UnseemlyStories by Alan Bennett

Picador
Publication Date: January 3, 2012
Source: Publishervia NetGalley

THE RETRIBUTION by Val McDermid

2012-01-03T07:00:00.000-05:00

The Retribution by Val McDermid is the latestinstallment in the criminal profiler Dr. Tony Hill and Detective ChiefInspector Carol Jordan series. It isthe story of the search for two serial killers: Jacko Vance, an escaped prisoner that Hill and Jordan captured inan earlier book, The Wire in the Blood; and a serial killer inBradfield, home of Carol’s soon-to-disband Major Incident Team.

While I’ve read a lot of McDermid’s books outside thisseries, this is only the second Tony Hill/ Carol Jordan book I’ve read. Why? The Mermaids Singing was a little too gruesome for me. The Retribution, however, is disturbingwithout being too disturbing. How doesMcDermid manage that? The plot keepsmoving, with plenty of twists to keep you guessing. Also, she clearly loves her characters, and not just the primaryones. There is enough going on with themembers of Carol’s Major Incident Team to keep you distracted from the horrorsof the two serial killers on their respective killing sprees in this book.

As for the major characters of Tony and Carol, they areinteresting not just for the bits of backstory McDermid doles out in thisinstallment: they are so interestingbecause they are both flawed, damaged people who manage to thrive in theirrespective professions. Tony issocially awkward to the extreme, and Carol is coping with the stresses her jobhas created during her career. I won’tdivulge more in order to preserve the surprises for new readers.

One other note: eventhough I read this book out of order, it did not create any problems. Since there are seven books in the series,there are enough that I won’t remember all the twists that The Retributionmentioned as backstory. Even if this isthe first Tony Hill and Carol Jordan book you read, you won’t be lost.

The Retribution by Val McDermid
Atlantic Monthly Press
Publication Date: January 3, 2012
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

December Recap and January Goals

2011-12-31T11:27:00.003-05:00

Happy new year, everyone!

This December I’ve met my goal of dividing my reviews evenlybetween crime fiction and literary fiction: Ireviewed two of each genre this month as I did in November. I have fallen short of my goal of reviewingone to three books per week this month because I took time off from readingover the holidays and because I’ve been reading books whose reviews I will beposting in the coming months. Also, Ihave joined the Criminal Plots II Challenge to give some structure and varietyto the crime novels I read. I don’twant to confine myself authors and series I’ve been reading for years. I’ve enjoyed the books I’ve reviewed this monthbecause I have been jumping between thrillers and literary fiction. I don’t want to get into a genre rut, so Iplan to continue seeking out a variety of books to review here.

Here’s what you can expect from this blog in the comingmonth and year: I plan on reviewing 50%thrillers and 50% fiction at a pace of one to three reviews per week. I also plan on reviewing more women authorsthan male authors. I anticipatereviewing both new releases and backlist titles as I catch up on books thatpopped up on lots of year-end best lists. I’m a fan of plot over style, so I don’t expect to review lots ofexperimental fiction. Finally, I’vebeen working on writing longer reviews than the first reviews I wrote. My hope is that my writing becomes crisperand clearer the more I write.

Thanks again for reading, and happy new year! What books are you looking forward toreading in the coming year? I’mparticularly interested in Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward, TheSubmission by Amy Waldman, The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach.

1222 by Anne Holt

2011-12-27T07:00:00.000-05:00

1222 is the story of a train that crashes en routefrom Oslo to Bergen at an elevation on 1222 meters in the village ofFinse. The survivors are evacuated toa hotel named, descriptively enough, Finse 1222, and they are holed up there fora few days, during which time two men are murdered. One hundred and ninety-six people live in relative comfort in themain hotel building as the story begins. This story is very much in the vein of a locked room Agatha Christiemystery, as the author has acknowledged, but this is a Norwegian version. For readers who are a bit leery of thegruesomeness of some Scandinavian crime novels, this book is a relief: the murders happen off-stage.

The investigator is Hanne Willhelmsen, a retired detectivewho suffered a paralyzing spinal cord injury when she was shot by the corruptpolice chief she was investigating. Shehas been off the force for four years, and in those four years she has becomemore and more of a loner who spends time only with her partner, their youngdaughter, and the live-in housekeeper. Her three days in the hotel are not only her return to investigatinghomicides, but also her return to interacting with other humans. She’s prickly but interesting, and she’sdefinitely not a cliché.

What Holt does well is capture the group mood during theirunforeseen stay in a remote mountain hotel during an extreme blizzard. Willhelmsen and an impromptu team ofinvestigators—a doctor, a lawyer, and the hotel manager—bond as theyinvestigate the two murders, at first trying to keep the murders a secret byclaiming that the first victim “suffered a brain aneurysm,” instead of a bulletwound to the head. It’s aclaustrophobic story of course, with the worsening storm outside. Besides the inquiry into the homicides,there is a parallel story about the mysterious final train compartment. Its occupants were evacuated first, and theyoccupy a wing that is guarded by armed men.

I admit that I don’t read many locked room mysteries—or atleast I haven’t lately—but 1222 stands out with its characters. Holt provides enough back story for not onlythe victims and perpetrators, but also with Hanne Willhelmsen, of course, andMagnus Streng, the doctor who suffers from dwarfism who becomes as close of afriend as Hanne will allow herself. This book is the eighth in the Hanne Willhelmsen series, and I amlooking forward to previous novels in the series being translated into English.

1222 by Anne Holt
Scribner
Publication date: December 27, 2011
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Criminal Plots II Challenge

2011-12-18T13:45:00.000-05:00

I'm joining the Criminal Plots II Challenge for 2012, hosted by Jen.

Here are the categories and three of my preliminary picks.

1. Novel with a weapon in the title
2. Book published at least 10 years ago- Something by P.D. James.
3. Book written by an author from the state/province/etc. where you live- I'm live in Michigan, so I'm thinking Megan E. Abbott or Elmore Leonard.
4. Book written by an author using a pen name
5. Crime novel whose protagonist is the opposite gender of the author- Something by Donna Leon
6. A stand-alone novel written by an author who writes at least one series

I'm looking forward to this challenge!

There but for the by Ali Smith

2011-12-16T11:01:00.001-05:00

This is the first Ali Smith book I’ve read, and it’s definitely not my last. This is not a typical novel for me: four stories by four people who know Miles Garth, a man who excuses himself from a dinner party table and locks himself into a spare room for months. The first chapter is the story of Anna Hardie, who became friends with Miles during a high school tour of Europe. The second chapter is the story of Mark Palmer, the man who brings Miles to the dinner party. It contains a set piece of the odd dinner party conversation immediately preceding Miles’s departure. The third chapter is the story of May Young, an elderly woman in the beginnings of dementia, remembering her life. At the end of her chapter we find out her connection to Miles. Finally, the last chapter is told by the word-obsessed ten-year-old Brooke Bayoude. She met Miles at the infamous dinner party, and she tries to write the history of Miles and his time in the room. One word of warning: Brooke’s chapter is a bit difficult to read because there aren’t many paragraph breaks.

This is not a novel about plot; in fact, at the end of thenovel I don’t know, with certainty, why Miles locked himself into theroom. All of the narrators know himsuperficially or for a brief time, but they don’t know him well enough to knowwhy he locked himself in a room for months. While we don’t get to know Miles, we do get to know each of the fournarrators, and I actually cared for them. Honestly, this book reminded me of the experimental fiction I read inboth English and Spanish in undergrad, but this felt so much more humane thanthe experimental fiction I’ve read before. It’s a book that’s ripe for writing about, structurally or thematically,but, somehow, with interesting, involving characters.

There but for the by Ali Smith

Pantheon Books

Publication date: September 13, 2011

Source: public library

My Year in Books

2011-12-11T13:10:00.001-05:00

Find below the favorite books I read in 2011, in noparticular order. I read more than newreleases so some of these books were published before 2011. These are books that I continuallyrecommended to my friends and family this year.

1. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of the America’s Great Migration by IsabelWilkerson

Wilkerson tells the story of the Great Migration by focusingon the stories of three different people who migrated to New York, Chicago, andLos Angeles. It’s fascinatingstuff. It covers both life in the JimCrow South and life in the north in the last half of the twentieth century.

I recommend this highly because the stories are soinvolving. I live in the industrial North (metro Detroit), and I learned a lotnot just about migration and race relations, but also about how citiesdeveloped in the twentieth century. Fora much more complicated take on race relations than you can find in The Help,check out this book.

2. The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman

This is the story of two sisters in 1999: one a dot-com executive, and the other aphilosophy grad student at Berkeley. It’s been compared to Sense and Sensibility, which I can see (twodifferent sisters and their love lives), but I think this stands on its own aswell. It definitely felt like a big19th century novel with a large cast of characters and a rollicking plot. It follows one sister working in the world ofInternet startups and the other sister working in a used bookshop and living inan environmentalist group house in Berkeley while in grad school.

I listened to the audio version for the first half, and thenI read the last half because I was anxious to find out what happened to thecharacters. That’s saying a lot becausenot all of the characters were likeable, but they were all complex people. I’m a fan of thegetting-your-life-together-in-your-twenties books.

3. An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination byElizabeth McCracken

This is a very heartbreaking memoir about McCracken and herhusband coping with the stillbirth of their first child. It speaks so well about grief, hope,friendship, and love. Sometimes I liketo read books or watch movies for a good cry, and this fits the bill. I like this book as a portrait of grief morethan I liked The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion.

4. Mystery Writers Whose Stuff I Love: Laura Lippman, Deborah Crombie, and LouisePenny

Laura Lippman writes the Tess Monaghan, P.I. series ofnovels as well as stand-alone novels. Feisty, independent heroines are a thing for me in crime fiction,and Tess fits the bill. The stand-alonebooks I’ve read are very involving and sad: they feel a bit like sociology. My favorite Lippman book I read this year was The Last Place,part of the Tess Monaghan series.

Deborah Crombie writes the Duncan Kincaid and Gemma Jamesseries: they are detectives in London,but the series takes place in other towns as well. Her books are very atmospheric. Some are a bit more like a cozy since some take place in small towns/villages, but they are not novice detectives. Each character has emotional drama too, but it doesn’t feel melodramaticfor the sake of being melodramatic. Myfavorite Crombie book I read this year was Water Like a Stone, whichtakes place in the world of canal boats.

And, finally, my cozy recommendation in this roundup is forLouise Penny, who writes the Inspector Gamache series of mysteries that takeplace in the village of Three Pines, near Montreal. All of her characters are deep, involving characters, which isrefreshing after reading more hard-boiled detective fiction. I’ve only read two books in the series sofar, but they have both been wonderful. Start with Still Life.

THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES by Jussi Adler-Olsen

2011-12-08T09:28:00.001-05:00

I haven’t read many Scandinavian crime novels. I started with Stieg Larsson and read a fewWallander books by Henning Mankell, and I was a bit leery of venturing furtherinto Scandinavian stuff. Larsson’s booksare quite gruesome for me, and I was mentally exhausted by the end of everMankell novel. He isn’t easy onWallander at all, and the outlook is pretty grim. Thankfully, Detective CarlMorck and his assistant Assad aren’t nearly as depressed as Wallander. That’s not to say that Morck is a light andcheery guy: he has a pretty severe caseof PTSD and has issues with the Copenhagen police bureaucracy, but that’scommon in police procedurals.

This novel is the first in the Department Q series by Adler-Olsen. Morck and Assad are the two employees of thedepartment charged with investigating cases requiring “special scrutiny.” Translation: they deal with long-open cases that are somehowhigh-profile. Their first case is themysterious dispearance and presumed death of Member of Parliament MereteLynggaard. There are two otherinvestigations occurring in this book: the recent murder of a cyclist and the less recent murder of one of Morck's colleagues. The plot was good but not overwhelmingly intricate, the characters areinteresting as well, and, best of all, there are some light moments betweenMorck and Assad. Is Denmark just lessdreary than Sweden? I’m very muchlooking forward to book two.

THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES by Jussi Adler-Olsen
Dutton Adult
Publication Date: August 23, 2011
Source: library

THIS BEAUTIFUL LIFE by Helen Schulman

2011-12-01T09:21:00.001-05:00

A summary of This Beautiful Life makes it sound like aripped-from-the-headlines movie-of-the-week (or maybe like a tawdry daytimetalk show episode). Fifteen-year-old Jake receives a pornographic email from ayounger classmate, forwards it to his friends, and his life and his familymember’s lives fall apart. It’s a novelabout rich people in private school in New York City, it’s a novel aboutdisaffected teenagers, and it’s a novel about the midlife crises of theparents. So why did this particularstory work for me? Schulman tells thestory from the perspectives of the parents, their son, and the young girl atthe center of the scandal, and she gets their voices down. They are all imperfect, lonely people.

Why have I never read a book by Helen Schulman before? I gobbled this one up in just over aday. Her writing is so smart, thecharacters are so achingly and painfully real: it’s strange to say that it was a delight to read this book about afamily falling apart during the teenage son’s sexting scandal, but it reallywas a great read.

THIS BEAUTIFUL LIFE by Helen Schulman

Publisher: Harper

Publication date: August 2, 2011

Source: library

November Recap and December Goals

2011-11-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

Happy belated Thanksgiving! I was traveling for the holiday week so I dropped my review-a-week blogging schedule. As a new book blogger, I’m testing out the types of writing I’d like to do, and a monthly recap seems helpful so I can stay on course without taking too much time from my reading. This month I reviewed two works of literary fiction and two works of crime fiction. They are my two favorite genres, and I anticipate reviewing more crime fiction than literary fiction going forward. I also expect to review a classic every month or so. My goal for the next month is to post one review a week, and I intend to post reviews more frequently starting in 2012.

I haven’t experimented much with different types of posts on this blog. I plan on focusing on reviews because I like to recommend books. I haven’t tried any weekly memes yet because I’d rather spend my time reading than in churning out posts. If I find an interesting meme, I may join. I do plan on posting my favorite reads of 2011 before the end of the year, and in 2012 I plan to post my favorite reads every 4-6 months. Finally, I have joined the Back to the Classics Challenge 2012 in an effort to round out my reading with books I’ve been meaning to read for years. I'm still and English major obsessed with reading lists!

THE END OF EVERYTHING by Megan Abbott (Review)

2011-11-18T09:01:00.001-05:00

Note: there arespoilers below.

This is the creepiest book I’ve read all year, and that’ssaying a lot because I read Emma Donoghue’s Room early in the year. The End of Everything is narrated byLizzie Hood, a thirteen-year-old girl whose best friend, Evie Verver,disappears near the end of the school year. It’s a story about more than how she disappeared: it’s a story about why she disappeared. Room was easier to read because thefive-year-old narrator is so innocent. Lizzie, at age thirteen, is wiser but more confused: more confused about relationships,motivations and sex.

The creepiness started for me in the first thirtypages. I was leery of Mr. Verver fromthe opening chapters, and at that point I suspected him of abusing his olderdaughter, Dusty. The revelation that hedid abuse Dusty on the last page was not a surprise. My trepidation made the sections where Lizzie described heradoration of Mr. Verver so hard to read.

So why did I push on past the first 30 pages when I wasdreading what I would read? The writingis fabulous. Abbott nails Lizzie’sconfused, thirteen-year-old voice, or, more aptly put, she nails the voice ofadult Lizzie looking back on the summer she was thirteen. Also, the characters are complex andmessy. Finally, there are more plottwists than what I’ve given away in this review.

All in all, this a great, disturbing read that leavesthe reader with a few answers, unlike the ending of The Virgin Suicides,which is a book I thought about often while reading this book.

A FATAL GRACE by Louise Penny (Review)

2011-11-15T12:54:00.001-05:00

This is the second novel in the Chief Inspector ArmandGamache series, but it also works as a stand-alone novel. Yes, there are a few things from the firstnovel, Still Life, that are referenced in this book, but it’s not a hugebarrier to entry.

I don’t read many cozy mysteries, so it’s a bit hard for meto give up the rollicking plots of mysteries with a thriller edge. The plot is not the main reason to enjoythis book: the main draws are thecharacters and the writing. This seriestakes place in Three Pines, a small village near Montreal, a village populatedwith interesting but not too eccentric people. It’s very reminiscent of Cicely, Alaska from the TV show NorthernExposure: an isolated, village innorthern climes with interesting folks. Three Pines is full of interesting, artistic folks.

The mystery itself was not a huge draw for me because themurder victim was not a sympathetic sort, unlike the murder victim in StillLife. For a dash of intrigue, thesub-plot involving Gamache’s relationship with the police department was a lotmore interesting than the unraveling of CC’s murder.

I’d recommend this book for people looking for a story withlived-in, psychologically-well-drawn characters. It’s not a thrill-ride, but it’s a pleasant story about anunpleasant murder solved by a supremely charming detective. Refreshing is the word that comes tomind: it's refreshing that Gamache is in a stableand happy marriage, and the story is a refreshing take on dour subject matter.

Back to the Classics Challenge 2012

2011-11-13T10:21:00.001-05:00

Here it is not even the end of November, and I've made my first resolution: to read more classics. Please read this post for more information about the reading challenge, hosted by Sarah of Sarah Reads Too Much. It's a great reason for me to read books I've been meaning to read for ages. Please join in.

I've included my prelimary list of nine picks below.

Any 19th Century Classic: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Any 20th Century Classic: Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre
Reread a Classic of Your Choice: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky translation)
A Classic Play: The Tempest by William Shakespeare
Classic Mystery/Horror/Crime Fiction: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Classic Romance: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (Lydia Davis translation)
Read a Classic that has been translated from the original language to your language: The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass
Classic Award Winner: The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor (1972 National Book Award for Fiction)
Read a Classic set in a country that you (realistically speaking) will never visit: Petals of Blood by Ngugi wa Thiong'o (Kenya)

Happy reading!

THE SENSE OF AN ENDING by Julian Barnes (Review)

2011-11-08T12:10:00.000-05:00

“[T]he history that happens underneath our noses ought to bethe clearest, and yet it’s the most deliquescent.” (p. 46) A spoiler-laden discussion of the ending of The Senseof an Ending follows.

The Sense of an Ending is the story of Tony Webster,a retired, divorced man in his sixties, remembering his life and musing aboutthe slipperiness of memories. Early inthe book, Tony’s school friend Adrian talks about one view of history as,“something happened.” What happenedhere: Adrian kills himself as a youngman, soon after breaking up with Tony’s ex-girlfriend Veronica. About forty years later, Veronica’s motherSarah bequeaths Adrian’s diary to Tony, but Tony’s ex-girlfriend refuses togive it to him.

There are two final twists to the story: (1) Tony misremembered or blocked out thelevel of hatred in his letter to Adrian and Veronica after they began dating, aletter in which Tony tells Adrian to seek out Sarah to learn the truth aboutVeronica; and (2) Adrian and Sarah end up having an affair and a childtogether.

I think Tony feeling guilty for Adrian’s affair andsubsequent suicide is a bit of a stretch. He didn’t force them to have an affair. Should he have realized that Adrian had an affair with Sarah or that shehad a child? I’m not sure he could haveknown. He wasn’t in close touch withhis school friends after they left for college, and I don’t expect him to keepin touch with his ex-girlfriend either. I’m not sure why Veronica railed against Tony about not getting it: I’m not sure how he could have figured outthat Adrian and Sarah had an affair and a child. Maybe he should have just asked Veronica why her mother hadAdrian’s diary to bequeath to him in the first place. Maybe what Tony finally gets at the end of the novel is that heshould have asked more questions. Thatseems to be the most satisfying reading for me.

It seems like a bit of a lame conclusion for such abig twist: Tony should have been moreaware of the great unrest going on after he broke up with Veronica. It seems kind of slight compared to thefinal twists in a few other books with unreliable narrators, like Atonementby Ian McEwan or We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. Maybe it feels slight because this is a muchshorter book. Anyway, I’m quibblingwith the book because it is so good: good, but not perfect—but what book is?

SWAMPLANDIA! by Karen Russell (Review)

2011-11-03T13:34:00.000-04:00

I don’t love much contemporaryfiction, but this I loved. I’ve beentrying to pinpoint why this worked for me, and it’s not the plot. The plot is a bit cheesy: the Bigtree family runs an alligatorwrestling attraction in Florida, and they fall apart after the mother dies ofcancer. So what is it that works? The siblings are oddballs but not cloyinglyso. They’re not a collection ofeccentricities like the characters in The Royal Tenenbaums, forexample. Instead, they’re devoted toeach other even though they are each solitary. And though the Bigtrees are a sad bunch, the book never becomesoverwhelmingly depressing. In fact,there’s even humor to be found.

So, again, what is it that worksfor me? First of all, I’m a sucker forteen angst stories. Also, the ghoststories didn’t seem contrived to me. Finally, the writing sings. Yes,some spots were a rough go for me (some background discussions about failedefforts to drain the swamps and Ava’s story in the second half of the novel, toname a couple), but, overall, Russell can tell stories, and this book is fullof them.

I’m not sure if this book has beenmarketed to book clubs, but I think it is a good fit for them. There are lots of juicy topics fordiscussion: family dynamics, growing upisolated on an island, government management of the swamps, the miseries ofworking in tourist traps, and ghosts.

I AM HALF-SICK OF SHADOWS by Alan Bradley (Review)

2011-10-26T13:28:00.000-04:00

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley features ten-year-old Flavia de Luce, an amateur detective who's very interested in poisons. What's most refreshing about this book is the fact that the young heroine is not stuck in the dystopian future: instead, she lives in a small British village in 1950. She's smart, she's funny, and she's not perfect. It's not a series you must read from the beginning in order to enjoy, and in fact, I liked this book more than the highly acclaimed first book in the series, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Why? I think there were fewer chemistry lessons in this novel than in the first one. Also, this novel felt very movie-esque, and not just because the story revolves around a film shoot at Flavia's home. I think when I say movie-esque I mean self-contained. It's a very charming book.

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Disclosure ofMaterial Connection: I received this book for free from Random House as anEarly Bird Read. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions Ihave expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FederalTrade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use ofEndorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."