50 Book Challenge

Histories, Mysteries and a Whole Lot More

noreply@blogger.com (Daily Reader) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:46:00 +0000

I’m halfway to my goal of 200 books this year, but I’m a couple of weeks behind. There were a couple of rotten tomatoes in my June book selections, but also some real treasures.

82. 100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson
After his parents are kidnapped, timid twelve-year-old Henry York leaves his sheltered Boston life and moves to live with his aunt and uncle in Kansas. He and his cousin Henrietta discover and explore hidden doors in his attic room that seem to open onto other worlds. The fantasy is good, but some young readers may have difficulty visualizing how the doors work.

83. Once Upon a Time in the North by Philip Pullman
This prequel to the His Dark Materials trilogy tells how Scoresby and the great armored bear Iorek Byrnison meet in the Arctic and join forces. The slim little book is a good introduction to the series.

84. The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert
Gilbert explores, in her breathless style, the life of folk hero, mountain man Eustace Conway. At the age of seventeen Conway went to live alone in the mountains of North Carolina. Since then he’s built a business out of promoting the frontier life and presents himself as the ideal American male. Actually he’s an incredible jerk, totally incapable of normal social interaction. Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) seems to like really loathsome men and write best selling nonfiction about them. The only good thing about Eustace Conway is that no woman has been fool enough to marry him and bear his children. I read this book because a friend is from Conway’s home town of Gastonia. Sorry I read it. I’m sorry I’ve ever read any of Elizabeth Gilbert’s books. I will not read a third.

85. Wish You Well by David Baldacci
After their father, an acclaimed author, is killed and their mother injured in a car accident two children and their catatonic mother are sent to the mountains of Virginia to live with their great-grandmother. The children thrive living a hard scrabble life with the eccentric old woman, but a coal and gas company is determined to buy her land. This is a charming book by an author who obviously loves that Trail of the Lonesome Pine sort of Virginia of the past.

86. The Two Marys: The Hidden History of the Mother and Wife of Jesus by Sylvia Browne
Ok, sometimes I pick up a really dreadful book and read it anyway. The subtitle of this book says it all. This is actually an extremely funny book, but, of course, the author didn’t plan it that way. She describes herself as a Gnostic Christian, but I’m not exactly sure what her beliefs are. She writes what her “spirit guide” Francine tells her about the life of Christ. I’m being unkind, but be warned. If you’re looking for a book about Gnosticism or feminist theology or the tradition of Mary Magdalene as an apostle this is not that book. Since reading this book I have learned that Sylvia Browne is a television personality who makes predictions and does healing – with Francine’s help, I’m sure. Wow. You miss a lot reading books instead of watching television.

87. River, Cross My Heart by Breena Clarke
This little gem of a novel is set in Georgetown about 1925 among the African American community that was both an integral part of DC life and shut out of much of that life. Alice and Willie Bynum and their daughters Johnnie Mae and Clara come to Georgetown from North Carolina hoping for a better life. They make friends and find work, but the reality of segregation is ever present. Johnnie Mae is an expert swimmer, but the public pool is for whites only. So she swims in the river, and one terrible day Clara falls into the river and drowns. Alice must learn to cope with her loss, and Johnnie Mae is filled with grief and guilt. The Potomac is such a presence in the book that it is almost another character in the story.

88. The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks
This novel is based on the true experiences of a Civil War heroine. Carrie McGavock witnessed the bloodshed of the savage Battle of Franklin, cared for the wounded soldiers when her own home is turned into a hospital and fought to save the graves of the Confederate soldiers. Hicks does a wonderful job of evoking what Carrie McGavock’s life was like during and after the battle. She dedicated herself to the memory of the unknown young men who died in her house and in her neighbor’s fields. Whenever identification was possible she contacted the next of kin. Over the years families from all over the south made their way to her home to visit their sons’ graves. She maintained the cemetery until her death in 1905. Since then it has been maintained by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. And here is a picture of the cemetery with Carrie's home Carnton in the background.

89. Fordlandia by Eduardo Sguiglia
Here’s another interesting work of historical fiction. This novel by an Argentinean writer is based on Fordlandia, the very real project that Henry Ford dreamed up in 1929. It was a vast tract of land about 500 miles from the mouth of the Amazon. Ford’s goal was to produce cheap rubber for his automobile factories. The project was an unworkable plan, poorly executed that ended very badly. The novel tells the story from the point of view of an Argentinean personnel manager for the Ford project. Readers learned from the novel Middlesex about Henry Ford’s peculiar desire to micromanage the private lives of all of his workers. He tried the same type of management in Brazil. The project ended badly, very badly.

90. Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier
In March of 1792, the Kellaway family moves from their small rural village in the Piddle Valley to the bustling city of London. Jem, his sister Maisie and their boisterous new friend Maggie become acquainted with the neighborhood outcast poet William Blake. Jem and Maisie’s father is employed as a carpenter and set builder by Philip Astley, father of the modern circus, and Astley’s wicked son John seduces Maisie. Blake’s support of the French Revolution makes him a target of a mob of rabid Royalists who fear a French invasion. It’s all very interesting, but this novel is a disappointment in comparison to the author’s Girl with the Pearl Earring. However, I’m glad I read it.

91. Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich
Stephanie Plume is at it again, trying and failing to bring in the bail skippers. This time she must baby-sit the teenaged son of a bail skipper who’s been kidnapped. Meanwhile a dead man shows up in Joe Morelli’s basement shortly after his cousin Dom Rizzi is released from prison. While all of this is going on Lula decides that she and Tank are getting married, and Grandma Maser and friends start playing online video games. Evanovich writes fun stories that are even more fun in the audio version.

92. English Passengers by Matthew Kneale
This has everything I like to find in historical fiction: a great big story with interesting characters, an exciting plot, lots of information about the place and time, and some relevance to the present. The place is Tasmania, and the time is the mid-nineteenth century. A band of would-be smugglers from the Isle of Man are taken to port at London by customs officials frustrated by their inability to find the Manxmen’s contraband. To pay the port costs the captain is forced to charter his ship. His paying passengers are eccentric Englishmen. Reverend Wilson wants to prove that the Garden of Eden was located in Tasmania. His traveling companion Dr. Potter has developed a sinister theory of the racial superiority of Saxons. Throughout the novel a native Tasmanian named Peevay recalls the tragic history of his people’s struggles against the British colonists. Other characters in England and Tasmania fill in parts of the story through letters and diary entries. Peevay is a character with such an interesting way of telling a story that the reader savors every sentence. The Manxmen add some much needed humor to a horrific story.

93. Never Enough by Joe McGinnis
This true crime book has all of the gruesome details of the 2003 murder of Robert Kissel by his wife Nancy in Hong Kong and the still unsolved murder a year later of Kissel’s brother Andrew. The book has lots to say about the naughtiness of the extremely wealthy. Robert Kissel was a stock broker who made millions from failing companies. Andrew Kissel stole millions from his investors.

94. An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear
In this fifth story about Maisie Dobbs, the psychologist and investigator, she investigates a series of mysterious fires and small robberies in a village where hops pickers congregate at harvest time. The crimes have been occurring regularly since the village was bombed by a German zeppelin during the Great War. The suffering of Maisie’s severely wounded fiancé Simon finally ends with his death fifteen years after the war, and we also learn that Maisie’s grandmother was a Gypsy. The book is a good mystery and has a wealth of information about the terrible suffering caused by World War I and life in England between the two world wars.

95. Now and Then by Robert B. Parker
When Spenser is hired to investigate the wife of an FBI agent it seems like an ordinary case of infidelity, but soon the agent, his wife and another man are dead. The woman’s lover, Perry Alderson, is connected to a group that provides support to terrorists. Alderson’s past is hazy. As Spenser gets closer to the truth Alderson becomes a threat to Spenser’s long-time lover Susan. Everything moves pretty fast in this 35th Spenser novel.

96. The Downhill Lie: A Hacker's Return to a Ruinous Sport by Carl Hiaasen
Hiaasen gives a hilarious account of his return to playing golf after a thirty-two break.
I don’t care much for golf, but I do love to read Carl Hiaasen.

97. Good Hope Road by Lisa Wingate
My book club chose this book, and I’m glad because I would never have read it otherwise. The story opens with a terrible tornado that destroys the entire town of Poetry, Missouri. Jennilee Lane is home waiting for her father and brother to return from a stock show. Her house escapes without damage, but everywhere she looks there is devastation. Jennilee rescues Mrs. Gibson the elderly widow next door and spends the next few days helping all of her neighbors. The tornado is the catalyst that brings about reconciliation and forgiveness for long held resentments and sorrows. The story is told by both Jennilee and Mrs. Gibson.

98. Love, Ruby Lavender by Deborah Wiles.
In Hallelujah, Mississippi nine-year-old Ruby Lavender’s dearest friend is her grandmother Miss Eula. Together they rescue some old laying hens that are bound for the stew pot. When another grandchild is born all the way over in Hawaii Miss Eula goes for a long visit, and Ruby keeps in touch with letters, watches her chickens and learns to cope with her grandfather’s death, freeing herself from the thought that somehow she was the cause.

99. Big Boned: A Heather Wells Mystery by Meg Cabot
Heather Wells, former pop star, now college administrative assistant, has a new boyfriend, her math professor, who thinks she should get up early and jog. As if her life weren’t complicated enough, she finds boss dead in his office. This happens to her a lot. Once again I am reading a mystery series out of order.

100. Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs
Thirty years earlier forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan had a best friend who disappeared. When the skeleton of young girl is sent to Tempe’s lab in Montreal Tempe begins to fear that she may have discovered what happened to her friend Evangeline. This is a great series of detective stories.

Variety is the Spice of Life

noreply@blogger.com (Readerbuck) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:50:00 +0000

P.L.A.I.N. Janes by Cecil Castellucci
“When Jane moves to the suburbs, she thinks her life is over, but she meets three friends who form a club P.L.A.I.N. (People Loving Art in Neighborhoods), but can art really save a group of misfits from high school?”—from the catalog

I think I would have liked this slight story better when I was a young adult.

Halting State by Charles Stross
"In the year 2018, Sergeant Sue Smith of the Edinburgh constabulary is called in on a special case. A daring bank robbery has taken place at Hayek Associates, a dot-com start-up company that's just floated onto the London stock exchange. But this crime may be a bit beyond Smith's expertise. The prime suspects are a band of marauding orcs with a dragon in tow for fire support. The bank is located within the virtual reality land of Avalon Four, and the robbery was supposed to be impossible. … For Smith, the investigation seems pointless. But the deeper she digs, the bigger the case gets. There are powerful players - both real and pixilated - who are watching her every move. Because there is far more at stake than just some game-head's fantasy financial security."--BOOK JACKET

Entertaining SF romp.

Tamar by Mal Peet
“[F]ifteen-year-old Tamar, grief-stricken by the puzzling death of her beloved grandfather, slowly begins to uncover the secrets of his life in the Dutch resistance during the last year of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, and the climactic events that forever cast a shadow on his life and that of his family.”—catalog summary

The sections set during the war are gripping, but the storyline following Tamar’s investigation didn’t seem as “weighty” to me. Still, I would recommend this to reader’s who like WWII fiction.

Some Good Summer Reads

noreply@blogger.com (Daily Reader) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:50:00 +0000

64. Miss Julia Paints the Town by Ann B. Ross
Miss Julia and Etta Mae Wiggins set out to save the town’s “historic” courthouse from a developer who wants to tear it down to build condos for seniors by showing the developers all of the eccentric characters in town. The usual hilarity ensues.

65. The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith
In this ninth story about the Number One Ladies’ Detective Agency Precious Ramotswe is busy investigating her latest case, a woman who is looking for her family. Her husband Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni has become so convinced that a doctor in Johannesburg can cure for their adopted daughter and allow her to walk again that he is willing to put the Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors up as collateral on a loan to pay for the treatment. Mma Ramotswe’s assistant detective Mma Makutsi looks forward to be marriage to Phuti Radiphuti, but the large, expensive bed he purchases causes her more trouble than she knows. This is as charming as all of the books in the series.

66. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
This historical novel follows the research of Hannah Heath, a young Australian book conservator, as she analyses a priceless six-hundred-year-old illuminated Haggadah that had been salvaged from the destruction of a library in Sarajevo during the Bosnian War. The story also follows the prayer book backwards through time to the artist who painted the original illustrations.

67. Murder in the Dark by Kerry Greenwood
Phryne Fisher is invited to a New Year’s Eve party billed as the Last best of 1928. Three of the party guests are kidnapped, and Phryne must follow scavenger hunt clues to rescue them and solve the mystery.

68. The Girl of His Dreams by Donna Leon
The body of a young gypsy girl is found floating in a canal. It appears that she had fallen off the roof of an apartment which she was robbing, but no one has reported a missing child nor has the theft of the gold ring found on the girl’s body been reported.
Commissario Guido Brunetti’s investigation leads him into the secretive world of the Romani and into a struggle with the institutional prejudice against this ethnic minority. As is usual in Donna Leon’s novels corruption in the government and in the church also hamper the investigation. Leon’s books always make you want to visit Italy and also to rejoice that you don’t live there.

69. A Suitable Vengeance by Elizabeth George
This early Inspector Lynley mystery explains some of the relationships in the whole series. Lynley has become engaged to Deborah Cotter and invites his friends to the family home in Cornwall. Lynley and his mother have been estranged for many years and both of them have to face the fact that Tommy’s younger brother is addicted to drugs. Simon St. James is trying to cope with his loss of Deborah to Tommy. Then a local journalist is murdered and a lot of other family secrets are revealed.

70. T. Is For Trespass by Sue Grafton
After stealing the identity of practical nurse Solana Rojas a sociopath goes from job to job in home health care for the elderly, building her bank account and leaving a trail of patients dead of “natural causes”. Solana’s troubles begin when she takes a job caring for an elderly acquaintance of PI Kinsey Millhone. This latest Sue Grafton novel is chilling.

71. Carpe Diem: Put a Little Latin in Your Life by Harry Mount
This was a fun, quick reminder of the basics of the Latin language and Roman history and culture. I read this at the same time I was rereading Are We Rome? for my book club.

72. Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin
Adelia Aguilar is an Italian physician trained at the University of Salerno as a forensic pathologist in the twelfth century. She is hired by the King of Sicily to investigate the murders of children in Cambridge. The Jews of the city have been accused of the crime, and they have taken refuge in the local castle under the protection of King Henry II. It sounds preposterous, but this is a really exciting, fast-paced crime novel.

73. The Serpent's Tale by Ariana Franklin
In this sequel Adelia investigates the murder of Rosamund Clifford, King Henry’s mistress. Queen Eleanor is the chief suspect. If Adelia can prove her innocence she can save England from civil war.

74. Missing Joseph by Elizabeth George
Entranced viewing da Vinci’s study for the “Virgin and Child” in the National Gallery Deborah St. James meets a vicar who comments on the fact that Joseph is usually not portrayed in paintings of the Mary and Jesus. The long conversation they have about her own childlessness is such a comfort to Deborah that she and Simon decide to visit the vicar several months later. When they arrive at his village they learn that he has died of hemlock poisoning – supposedly an accidental poisoning by the mother of a teenaged girl whom the vicar had befriended. Simon finds the inquest verdict peculiar, and soon Inspector Lynley is involved in the case.

75. Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson
I really enjoyed this silly children’s fantasy about a boy named Alcatraz who has the “talent” for breaking things. This “talent” means that he moves from foster home to foster home. On his thirteenth birthday Alcatraz receives a bag of sand. Later an old man shows up who tells him that he’s his grandfather and together they must fight the evil librarians who control the world.

76. Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell
In this fourth title in the “Saxon Tales” series Uhtred reluctantly serves King Alfred by winning London back from the Danes. Alfred’s nephew makes a disastrous error and almost loses London again.

77. The Wedding by Dorothy West
Dorothy West (1909 - 1998) was active in the Harlem Renaissance movement as a teenager and was the last surviving member of the group. The Wedding was her second novel and was not published until 1995. Although best known for her short stories this late novel is generally considered to be her greatest work. Set in the 1950s on Martha’s Vineyard the book examines the lives and family histories of the residents of an enclave of African American bourgeoisie as preparations are made for the wedding of Shelby Coles, younger daughter of Dr. Clark Coles and his wife Corinne, to a white musician. The novel examines the issue of intermarriage and class exclusivity among wealthy African Americans, based on education, wealth, and skin color.

78. Payment in Blood by Elizabeth George
When playwright Joy Sinclair is murdered at a house party in Scotland Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley is unexpectedly assigned to the case. Lady Helen Clyde is the house guest assigned to the bedroom connecting with the murdered woman’s bedroom. The investigation into the murder and Sinclair’s writing projects uncover some unpleasant family and national secrets as well as drive Tommy and Helen further apart.

79. Tell Me Where It Hurts: A Day of Humor, Healing and Hope in My Life as an Animal Surgeon by Nick Trout
I enjoyed this composite day in the life of a modern veterinarian. The animals are charming, but the pet owners are less so.

80. Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon
Father Tim receives a letter on lined paper that says simply “Come home.” He decides to visit his hometown of Holly Springs, Mississippi, a place he hasn’t seen since his mother died decades before. Once in Holly Springs Father Tim must confront his past and his troubled relationship with his father.

81. Bard of the Middle Ages: The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer by Michael D.C. Drout
I never miss an opportunity to tell anyone who’ll listen to me about the excellent Modern Scholar series of recorded lectures. This is the latest one I’ve heard. The study guide and reading list that accompany each title could keep you busy reading for months and months, and the professors are all entertaining and passionate about their subjects.

Magic number?

noreply@blogger.com (gonovice) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:58:00 +0000

I topped 50 books this month. What do I do now, stop reading? We'll see.

Gary Paulsen was angling and stalking game from a young age. In Father Water, Mother Woods: Essays on Fishing and Hunting in the North Woods, we read about fishing through the seasons, for walleye, northern pike, catfish, crappie, sunfish, and bluegills. After the fishing stories, Paulsen has an interlude about camping, "Running the River." He and four other boys plan to boat down the river. The boat sinks, they get eaten alive by mosquitoes, and it's basically a disaster. "And just before sleep, just before the last moment of the day goes under, Bill says: 'Hell, this is fun. Where we going to sink next year?'" Of the four hunting stories, "Bow Hunting" was my favorite. It'll break your heart.

Paulsen gives us more of his life story in The Beet Fields: Memories of a Sixteenth Summer. He ran away from home and did back-breaking work thinning beets alongside migrant workers. One of them advised young Gary, "It is said that men have the most lust... Women have all the lust there is. They are never satisfied..." This coming-of-age story ends with his experience doing carnival work, and finally enlisting in the army. I enjoyed this one much more than Father Water, Mother Woods.

"I hated every second of my time in the army," Paulsen writes, in Caught By the Sea: My Life on Boats. So he bought a sailboat. "...all I had to do now was learn to sail... How hard could it be?" He tells us, then, how hard it could be. He taught himself, learning from his mistakes, which somehow, amazingly, did not cost him his life. Paulsen's surviving that, and surviving brutal Alaskan weather racing the Iditarod, make the reader wonder if guardian angels might actually exist. It's another short book, aimed at a young adult audience, but great true-life adventure, no matter what your age.

I suspect that I will read every Studs Terkel title I can find. This month, it was American Dreams: Lost & Found. He interviewed people from all walks of life, including a Miss U.S.A. and a young Arnold Schwarzenegger. They tell about their lives and their dreams. The most amazing interview was with a former Ku Klux Klan member who had a change of heart, and was working with his African-American neighbors for social justice. Wow!

I received a copy of Earth Matters: An Encyclopedia of Ecology because I post book reviews for teen boys at http://guyslitwire.blogspot.com/. And the book is appropriate for younger teens (not just boys), with plenty of photographs and enough information about earth matters to inspire us to action. It lacks a bibliography, and had a couple of unfortunate errors: the sun is NOT 865,000 million miles in diameter - it's more like 865,000 miles. Nor do earth's mountains reach heights of 184,000 feet, or even 124,672 feet, for that matter. A misplaced decimal point makes a difference. Oops.

Our book discussion group will be talking about Alan Bennett's The Uncommon Reader this month. In this novella, the Queen (of England) finds a bookmobile parked outside the palace. She checks out a book and finds that she loves reading. She loves thinking about ideas presented in the books, and discussing what she has read (What a perfect title for our book group!). This humorous book was a pleasant surprise for me. The queen is an uncommon reader. Good show!

I have not read any of William Styron's fiction, yet. But his nonfiction, Darkness Visible, and the one I just read, Havanas in Camelot: Personal Essays, show me a sharp mind, and a gifted writer. I recognize a kindred spirit when we writes, "The library became my hangout, my private club, my sanctuary, the place of my salvation..." Styron writes about being misdiagnosed with syphilis when he was in the service, and about some of his acquaintances, including John F. Kennedy, James Baldwin, Terry Southern, and Truman Capote. I should give his fiction a chance, too. Anyone want to recommend one?

I don't listen to audiobooks very much. Maybe my commute is too short. But 24 half-hour lectures by Willard Spiegelman, titled How to Read and Understand Poetry, worked very well in the car. I was wishing, as I listened, that I had a course guidebook, so I could read the poems Professor Spiegelman was going to discuss. I just found, as I write this, the guidebook was hidden in plain view, wrapped around the two cases containing the cassettes. So I believe I'll listen to it again, and get even more from it.

I also enjoyed some classic comics from Gary Larson. Cows of Our Planet: A Far Side Collection is a bit silly. Rather a lot, actually.

I Really Have Been Reading!

noreply@blogger.com (Readerbuck) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:29:00 +0000

Transmission by Hari Kunzru
A young Indian man believes that employment in the United States will be the answer to his dreams. The grim reality causes him to unleash a diabolical computer virus. Meanwhile, a high-flying image consultant gets ensnared in an illegal immigrant raid and a beautiful Bollywood star disappears.

This took a while to get into and could have used some editing, but it had an interesting point to make served up with a large dollop of humor.

D.A. by Connie Willis

"Theodora Baumgarten has just been selected as an IASA space cadet, and therein lies the problem. She didn't apply for the ultra-coveted posting, and doesn't relish spending years aboard the ship to which she's been assigned. But the plucky young heroine, in true Heinlein fashion, has no plans to go along with the program. Aided by her hacker best friend Kimkim, in a screwball comedy that has become Connie Wills' hallmark, Theodora will stop at nothing to uncover the conspiracy that has her shanghaied."--catalog summary

This sounded like it would be really cute and funny, but it was disappointing. It seemed like it needed another edit or two!

Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

"During the 1967 school year, on Wednesday afternoons when all his classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew school, seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood stays in Mrs. Baker's classroom where they read the plays of William Shakespeare and Holling learns much of value about the world he lives in."--catalog summary

A sweet story and intriguing characters made this an entertaining read.

A Historical Trend

noreply@blogger.com (gonovice) — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:48:00 +0000

Continuing the pattern from last month, I've been reading memoirs, a journal, and a book I've known I wanted to read it since it was published in 1974: Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman, by Merle Miller. In 1961-62, Mr. Miller was involved with a proposed televison documentary about Mr. Truman. None of the networks were interested, however. Ten or so years later, Miller turned his interviews of Truman and his peers into a brilliant portrait of a humble public servant. Truman said (in more than one interview) that "The only thing new in the world is the history you don't know." President Truman knew history pretty well. Maybe I'll read David McCullough's biography of the man, and not wait 34 years to do so.

I needed more. So I picked up "The Good War": An Oral History of World War Two, by Studs Terkel. He won the Pulitzer Prize for this. Regarding the title, Terkel wrote, "Quotation marks have been added... because the adjective "good" mated to the noun "war" is so incongruous." He interviewed people from all walks of life who lived through the war: American, French, British, German, Japanese, and Russian. People who fought and people on the home front. Policy makers and people who entertained the troops. Prisoners as well as captors. The bombers and the bombed. This is outstanding history, in the words of those who lived it.

The Glass Castle: A Memoir, by Jeannette Walls, reminded me somewhat of Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes. Ms. Walls grew up poor. She writes with a sense of humor about surviving that poverty. The book opens with three-year-old Jeannette standing on a chair at the kitchen stove, boiling hot dogs. Her dress catches fire and she suffers severe burns. As she recuperates, her father (to avoid paying for an extended stay) gets her out of the hospital bed and takes her home without consulting the staff. Her sister got stung by a scorpion, her brother fell and cracked his head... the parents' hands-off philosophy of parenting leaves the reader shaking his head. Ultimately a tale of survival against the odds, this is a well-written and funny memoir.

Poet and novelist May Sarton's Journal of a Solitude is about a year of her life in rural New Hampshire. She ruminates on writing, the artistic life, solitude, and gardening, and it made me want to read her poetry. But I found that I preferred her journal writing. She published several more journals after this one. I wonder how many of them I will read.

I did not read as many of Gary Paulsen's books this month. But the one I did was great fun: Guts: The True Stories Behind Hatchet and the Brian Books. Paulsen is an outdoorsman, and his experiences in the wild inspire some of his fiction. Three of his novels, Hatchet, Dogsong, and The Winter Room are Newberry Honor books. Hatchet, the story of a thirteen-year-old boy's 54-day struggle to survive in the wilderness until he is rescued, made me want to read the sequels: The River, Brian's Winter, and Brian's Return. In Guts, Paulsen tells about his early hunting experiences (with rifles, shotguns, and with homemade bow and arrows), encounters with moose and other wild beasts, and eating weird things in the woods, when one's survival depends on that nourishment. It may be a "guy's book." Suits me.

I started listening to Paul Theroux's The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia, but enjoyed it so much, I could not wait for the daily commutes to continue. I checked out the book, which was published in 1975. He rode trains (and a few ferries where necessary) starting in Britain, through Europe, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia (during the Viet Nam war), Japan, and finally through the Soviet Union to Moscow. He writes about the trains and the people he met. It is a very entertaining travelogue. This year, he will publish another, revisiting as much as possible his route from thirty-plus years ago. I will have to read that one.

Hand to Mouth: A Chronicle of Early Failure is another memoir. Paul Auster knew as a teen that he wanted to be a writer. "I had never deluded myself into thinking I could make a living at it... I didn't want to be practical." He persisted. He is a good writer, and does make a living at it. He also edited The Random House Book of 20th Century French Poetry, an excellent bilingual anthology. But this memoir is more about his life before the success -- the proverbial long hard road. It is both humorous and inspiring.

Did you know that Jack Kerouac wrote a play? Beat Generation was written in 1957, but not published until 2005. For good reason. Keroauc was no playwright. This reads like a rough draft, published years after his death to capitalize on his name. One of the characters is obviously based on Keroauc's buddy, Neal Cassady. I like reading about Cassady, but otherwise, this is a forgettable book.

And now for something completely different (It's not a memoir, anyway.): The McSweeney's Joke Book of Book Jokes. McSweeney's (http://mcsweeneys.net/) recently received the national Webby Award for Best Writing. I find the writing quirky, literate, humorous, and sometimes just strange. This collection definitely made me laugh. I like that in a book. For example, a purported note from an editor's desk responding to a Hardy Boys manuscript submitted for consideration: "First and foremost, we are unpersuaded that the subject matter of The Case of the Secret Meth Lab is appropriate for our readers." Indeed.

I said last month that I like cartoons. So I read Geoff Kelly's How to Draw Krappy Kartoons Really Well. It's aimed at children and young adults, and is a basic introduction to drawing cartoons or comics. Kelly presents his material well, with plenty of humor. It might not be the best of the 45 titles my library owns about cartooning technique, but it would be enough to get someone started.

Graphic Novels for Kids

noreply@blogger.com (Readerbuck) — Wed, 28 May 2008 23:39:00 +0000

I read a bunch of books while I was recovering from a cold recently, and discovered some enjoyable graphic novels for kids. The first two were also a big hit with my 10-year-old daughter. For some reason, she would never even read the Avi book. It must have been something about the cover, since she never opened the book!

Travels of Thelonious: Fog Mound; Book 1 by Susan Schade
The first in the Fog Mound series, this is a fast-paced adventure featuring Thelonious, a squirrel, and a porcupine, a bear and a lizard. All of these animals can talk and have opposable thumbs. They tell stories of the time when there were humans and end up going on a quest to find out more about their world and where all the humans have gone.

Faradawn: Fog Mound; Book 2 by Susan Schade
An exciting sequel to “Travels of Thelonious”. Thelonious and his friends build a boat and travel to Faradawn where they battle giant, mechanical crabs!

City of Light, City of Dark by Avi
Long ago, the Kurbs allowed humans to settle in their land – but the humans had to agree to safeguard a token or the land would freeze. Each generation, a person is selected to be the keeper of this token. The newest keeper, Asterel, must locate the token before an insane inventor steals it for his own nefarious purposes.

Some of Avi's story doesn’t make a lot of sense, but the fast pace lets you slide right by the inconsistencies!

Wednesday, May 28

noreply@blogger.com (Readerbuck) — Wed, 28 May 2008 22:55:00 +0000

The Wild Girls by Pat Murphy
“When thirteen-year-old Joan moves to California, she becomes friends with Sarah, who is timid at school but an imaginative leader when they play in the woods, and after winning a writing contest together they are recruited for an exclusive summer writing class that gives them new insights into themselves and others.”—catalog summary

By A Slow River by Philippe Claudel
French, very moody mystery. (Dare I say, “existential”?) A policeman is haunted by three killings that occurred during World War I and struggles for the rest of his life to understand what happened and why.

The Second Objective, Year of Disappearances...

noreply@blogger.com (Reader) — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:55:00 +0000

25. The Second Objective by Mark Frost

"The idea of Nazi spies behind the lines during World War II remains a potent plot device, especially if, as in Ken Follett's classic Eye of the Needle (1978), the Germans are at least partially sympathetic figures. Frost, who wrote several successful thrillers before turning to golf history (The Greatest Game Ever Played, 2002), draws on the Follett model but introduces several wrinkles of his own. The plot is based on recently declassified documents relating to Operation Greif, a Nazi scheme to send English-speaking Germans, dressed as American GIs, behind the lines in the days prior to the Battle of the Bulge. The plan was to disrupt the Allied response to the German counterattack, but there was a "second objective": send a smaller group of commandos to France to assassinate Eisenhower." (Booklist)

I alternated between listening to the audiobook on CD (which was great to get a sense of the different accents, from German to New York) and reading the book. The plot was intriguing and the characters interesting.

26. The Year of Disappearances by Susan Hubbard

"Fourteen-year-old Ariella Ari Montero, who's half human and half vampire, wants to know why bees are vanishing as well as humans in Hubbard's smooth supernatural thriller, the sequel to The Society of S (2007). Ari has moved to Homosassa Springs, Fla., hoping for happiness with her reunited parents, but after a hurricane hits and a fire almost kills Ari and her scientist dad, he leaves. Ari is further upset when a new friend, Mysty, disappears. The precocious Ari enrolls in college, dates and gets a crush on a visiting (vampire?!) politician, but is horrified when Autumn, another new friend, is murdered. After Ari's father returns and becomes ill, she and her mom wind up fighting for her dad's survival. The ending promises greater challenges ahead. Though Ari sometimes sounds more like 40 than 14, Hubbard's intriguing tale poses a tantalizing question: will humans or vampires ultimately inherit Earth?"

A decent read, although problematic. I have many questions that were left unanswered.

April Reading

noreply@blogger.com (Reader) — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:31:00 +0000

21. In War Times by Kathleen Ann Goonan
"In 1941, Sam Dance, like many other young American men, joins the army, where he is trained in the tools of military intelligence. Even as his older brother, Keenan, falls during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Sam receives from one of his professors the plans for a device that could transform human nature and permanently end the desire for war. Though he spends most of his spare time trying to build the device, he eventually discovers that its effects are already being felt throughout the world. The author of the celebrated Nanotech Quartet (Queen City Jazz, The Bones of Time, Crescent City Rhapsody, and Light Music) takes a turn at alternate history in a story as timely as today's news and as timeless as the world's hope for an alternative to war. Incorporating parts of her father's actual wartime diaries, Goonan has created a novel belonging in most libraries." - Library Journal Review

This alternative history was an interesting read, although it did drag at times. If you enjoy World War II literature (and I am on a WWII kick for sure), with a little bit of sci-fi thrown in, then pick this one up. I may look at Goonan's Nanotech Quartet in the future.

22. Evil Star by Anthony Horowitz (Book 2 of The Gatekeepers)
"Matt thought his troubles were over when he closed Raven's Gate, but in fact they are just beginning in this second installment of the "New York Times" bestselling series by the creator of the Alex Rider saga."
Fast-paced and action-packed, although not as intense as the first one. Great for the YA crowd.

23. Little House In the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
"A year in the life of two young girls growing up on the Wisconsin frontier, as they help their mother with the daily chores, enjoy their father's stories and singing, and share special occasions with relatives and neighbors."

Read this book out loud to my girls makes for a special bedtime ritual. Of course the first night I kept on reading after bedtime and finished it (shh! don't tell), but re-reading it is part of the fun.

24. A Little House Reader: A Collection of Writings by Laura Ingalls Wilder

"A collection of articles, essays, poems, and other writings which shows that the author known for her Little House books was a prolific and talented writer all her life."

This little collection was delightful to me. I have been a lifelong fan of Wilder and am now even more impressed by her fortitude, determination, and quiet strength. This collection shows that Wilder's entire family consisted of writers of varying degrees and genres, from poetry to newspaper articles.

A Great Mix

noreply@blogger.com (Daily Reader) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:48:00 +0000

56. Gun, With Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem
This hard-boiled detective story blended with a science fiction dystopia was quite a change for me, but it proved to be outlandishly entertaining. In this terrible future world the government’s goal is docility, so a cocaine-like drug is distributed by the government and only the police (the “office”) and licensed private detectives are allowed to ask any questions. The story is further complicated by the presence of talking, bipedal “evolved” animals and genetic experiments gone wrong called “babyheads”. Each person carries a magnetic card with his or her karma points. If they do anything wrong the men from the office can erase some of their points. Anyone with too few points gets frozen for a few years. In this terrible place PI Conrad Metcalf investigates a murder and uncovers a terrible conspiracy.

57. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food by Jennifer 8. Lee
This is just the kind of nonfiction I really reading, a book that gives detailed answers to questions I didn’t know I wanted answered. The author begins her study of Chinese restaurants by tracking down some of the restaurants that served the fortune cookies with winning the Power Ball numbers. Along the way she discusses how Chinese restaurant food became more American than apple pie, how restaurant workers end up in small towns across America after an often perilous trip here from China, and who was General Tso.

58. A Handful of Picture books by Peter Sis
I think these picture books together should count as at least one book toward my goal. Stroll over to the children’s section and pick up some books by Peter Sis. They are always surprising. Born in Czechoslovakia Sis came to the US in 1982 and became a citizen in 1989. His early life figures prominently in many of his books. I especially like his use of illustration and text to create timelines in his books. If I taught Western Civilization to college freshmen I think I would put several of these picture books on their reading list.

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain
This autobiography gives a wonderful view of life in Czechoslovakia from the end of World War II until the fall of the Soviet Union.

The Three Golden Keys
In this story a balloonist is blown off course to a city he recognizes as his childhood home. A cat leads him through the deserted streets as he searches for three keys. The story tells three legends about Prague. When the man finds all three keys he unlocks three rusty padlocks, and behind the door the city comes alive once more.

The Tree Of Life: A Book Depicting the Life of Charles Darwin, Naturalist, Geologist & Thinker
This picture gives a better overview of Darwin’s life and thought than several lengthy biographies I’ve struggled through.

Follow the Dream: the story of Christopher Columbus
This brief picture biography of Columbus gives the reader a good sense of the explorer’s time and place.

Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei
This is my favorite of the three biographies. Sis makes good use of Galileo’s comments on reason’s triumph over authority. Heavy stuff for the picture book set, but they’ll remember why Galileo is important.

Play, Mozart, Play!
This biography of Mozart is shorter and targets a younger audience, but it packs a lot of information about Mozart into a few words and some wonderful illustrations.

Tibet: Through the Red Box
In the lacquered red box on his father’s desk a young Peter finds the diary his father, a filmmaker, kept when he was lost in the mid-1950s. Text and illustrations combine to evoke a Tibet that no longer exists and perhaps never really existed.

The Train of States: Presenting 50 Fabulous Train Cars, One for Each of the Truly Great 50 States, from Maine to California and All States in between, Followed by a Most Marvelous Caboose. All Aboard!
Well, that’s the title on the cover and it tells it all. I think this may be my favorite Peter Sis book. His inspiration was an antique circus train, and he has filled each car with basic information about each state, in the order they joined the Union. The caboose, of course, is the District of Columbia.

Komodo!
This is the story of a Sis family journey to Indonesia and young Peter’s encounter with a dragon.

A Small Tall Tale from the Far, Far North
This relates the tales of Czech folk hero Jan Welzl, a late nineteenth century Arctic explorer.

59. Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon by Donna Andrews
This is my first encounter with the Meg Langslow mysteries, but now I intend to read them all. They’re really funny mysteries featuring a woman blacksmith detective, her quirky friends and relatives and the small Virginia town where she lives. In this novel Meg’s brother has a thriving computer game business, but something isn’t right at the office, and Meg is asked to work there for awhile and do a little detective work. Meg ends up working the switchboard, feeding the office pet buzzard, and solving the murder of the office practical joker.

60. Born Standing Up by Steve Martin
This fairly short memoir concentrates on Steve Martin’s life on the road as a standup comic. It concludes with his decision to abruptly end his standup career. His detached relationship with his parents is a theme throughout the book, but I’m never quite sure why he felt the need to keep such a distance from his family. Lenny Bruce defined comedy as pain plus time, but I don’t sense pain in Martin’s memoir so much as isolation. This is a trait he shared with his hero Johnny Carson. (A person I never found funny at all.) Steve Martin is a good writer, but I would rather watch one of his routines on Saturday Night Live than read about his life.

61. Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo
Set in an economically depressed town in upstate New York, this novel follows the fortunes of two boyhood friends, Lou C. Lynch (cruelly nicknamed Lucy) and Bobby Marconi. Bobby becomes a famous painter living in Venice, hence the title. Lucy marries Sarah, the girl they both loved in high school. The novel begins as Lucy and Sarah prepare for a long planned journey to Italy. The history of their childhood and families unfold as the story moves between them.

62. Charlatan: America's Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam by Pope Brock.
This is the fascinating story of “Dr.” John Brinkley, the great medical quack of the 1920s and 1930s and Dr. Morris Fishbein, editor of JAMA for decades, who relentlessly pursued Brinkley and his ilk. Brinkley’s pursuit of ill gotten wealth led more legal protections from medical scams and dangerous treatments.

63. A Place of Hiding by Elizabeth George
This is only sort of an Inspector Lynley mystery, because he only plays a tiny part in the story. Mostly it involves his friends Simon and Deborah St. James as they attempt to assist Deborah’s American friend China Rivers who has been accused of murdering a wealthy philanthropist on the Isle of Guernsey. As I read along I learned a lot about Guernsey. During World War II Guernsey was occupied by the Nazis. This fact plays an important part in the story. The past is always present in an Elizabeth George, and Deborah St. James’s past with Tommy Lynley is another part of the story.

Wars

noreply@blogger.com (Readerbuck) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:49:00 +0000

Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood by Ibtisam Barakat
"In this groundbreaking memoir set in Ramallah during the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War, Ibtisam Barakat captures what it is like to be a child whose world is shattered by war. With candor and courage, she stitches together memories of her childhood: fear and confusion as bombs explode near her home and she is separated from her family; the harshness of life as a Palestinian refugee; her unexpected joy when she discovers Alef, the first letter of the Arabic alphabet. This is the beginning of her passionate connection to words, and as language becomes her refuge, allowing her to piece together the fragments of her world, it becomes her true home."--catalog summary

Interesting window into how a child sees war, and how the little things, like shoes and school, matter when you might not be able to have them. I would recommend this to someone who wants to find out more about what it's like to live in the Middle East.

Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge

Good writing, grand political machinations, a scrappy kid and her con man/protector make this an enjoyable page-turner. If you liked Joan Aiken’s “The Wolves of Willoughby Chase” series, you’ll like this book.

A Very Sad Book & Several More

noreply@blogger.com (gonovice) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:07:00 +0000

First, the sad one: The Known World is a novel about slavery in Virginia, but with a twist: the slaveowner is African-American (as is the book's author). Edward P. Jones has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Lannan Literary Award for The Known World. It is a very powerful story. I was particularly struck by a description of a photograph, in which a dog is staring at "a whole world off to the right that the photograph had not captured." It seemed a metaphor for this novel. No writer could tell everything there is to tell about the consequences of seeing people as property, but The Known World tells so much, so well, that it hurts. I would not have chosen to read it, but I'm very glad that it was our book group's choice.

I read four books by Gary Paulsen: Woodsong; My Life in Dog Years; Puppies, Dogs, and Blue Northers; and Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod. Paulsen writes wonderful fiction, and these nonfiction books are great, too. He writes about surviving in the wilderness in arctic conditions, the many dogs in his life, and training for, and competing in, the 1,180- mile Iditarod dogsled race in Alaska. He is not afraid to admit when his dogs knew more than he, which was often the case. An excerpt: "I do not know how fast the wind was blowing. I have never -- including two typhoons in the Philippines -- been in anything remotely like the force that took me now; I had, literally, no control over my life... I tried to stand but the wind kept knocking me down, tumbling me end over end down the mountain... It could have blown me anywhere it wanted, blown me to hell, blown me off the world and I wouldn't have known it." I suspect I will read every nonfiction title of Paulsen's that I can find.

April being National Poetry Month, I had to read some poetry. I picked up a slim volume by Richard Brautigan, June 30th, June 30th. He wrote it while he was visiting Japan in 1976. When published in 1978, reviewers did not rave. Choice, Library Journal, and Booklist suggested that Brautigan's fans were its likely audience. Well, count me in that group. With Jim Harrison, too, who wrote, "It is about the stately courage and loneliness of this voyage into a strange land which is both Japan and the true self of the poet, where there are no barriers to admitting and singing all." Brautigan was a playful singer. Rereading this after many years was a treat.

Genes, Girls and Gamow: After the Double Helix, by James D. Watson, continues where his earlier The Double Helix left off. After he and Francis Crick detailed the structure of the DNA molecule, scientists around the world tried to figure out how genetic information on the DNA molecule was used by cells to manufacture proteins. Linus Pauling, Richard Feynman, George Gamow, and a host of other top chemists, physicists, and biologists worked on the problem. This is an anecdotal telling of how scientists discovered RNA's role, along with the story of young Watson's pursuit of the perfect woman. It was also especially fun for me to get Watson's impressions of fellow researchers like Crick, Feynman and Pauling. He shows us how brilliant scientists are as human as the rest of us. This fascinating tale led me to...

Matt Ridley's Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code. Watson and Crick worked together off and on after their groundbreaking DNA collaboration. But there was friction. The opening sentence of Watson's The Double Helix is "I have never seen Francis Crick in a modest mood." I turned to this biography of Crick for a more neutral account of the story. He always worked with one other partner and did much of his thinking in conversation. Modesty probably would have inhibited that thinking. Crick was also using marijuana and LSD in the sixties. Not the typical picture we have of the laboratory scientist, eh? This is a short, well done biography.

There is sadness in Jimmy Santiago Baca's A Place to Stand. He writes about growing up a poor Chicano, the product of a broken home, getting into trouble, and being imprisoned. But the story turns out well. He taught himself to read and write in prison. He wrote poetry, corresponded with poets on the outside, and started getting published. He has won the American Book Award, among other honors. His prose here, in A Place to Stand, is as powerful as his poetry, which is saying something. His description of the brutality in our nation's prisons is grim reading. It is amazing he survived.

Always Postpone Meetings with Time-Wasting Morons, by Scott Adams, is a collection of Dilbert cartoons. Very silly stuff, and hard not to like.

I like cartoons! This, Loose Tails, was apparently the first of Berke Breathed's Bloom County books. Along with The Far Side, and Calvin and Hobbes, I miss Bloom County.

A few more...

noreply@blogger.com (Reader) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:17:00 +0000

19. A Serpent's Tale by Ariana Franklin
" Set in 12th-century England, Franklin's mesmerizing second historical delivers on the promise of her first, Mistress of the Art of Death (2007). When Rosamund Clifford, Henry II's mistress, is poisoned, Dr. Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar must draw on her formidable forensic skills to try to uncover the killer. The prime suspect is Henry's estranged wife, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, who once plotted to overthrow the king. Adelia reunites with Rowley Picot, now a bishop as well as the father of Adelia's child, and the two set out on a dangerous journey, during which they brave a blizzard and Eleanor's band of ruthless mercenaries. Franklin, the pen name of Diana Norman, brings medieval England to life, from the maze surrounding Rosamund's tower to the royal court's Christmas celebration, with ice skating on the frozen Thames."

I loved Sharon Kay Penman's books featuring Eleanor of Aquitaine, but found this less compelling. I found the most interesting character to be Henry himself, but perhaps our fascination with royalty always makes this the case.

20. Airman by Eoin Colfer

"Conor Broekhart was born to fly. Or more accurately, he was born flying. Little wonder he became what he became. In an age of discovery and invention, many dreamed of flying, but for Conor flight was more than just a dream, it was his destiny.

In one dark night on the island of Great Saltee, a cruel and cunning betrayal destroyed his life and stole his future. Now Conor must win the race for flight, to save his family and right a terrible wrong..."

My 9 year-old listened to this raptly, and I also read it. Conor is a very different hero than Artemis in some respects - more traditional, I guess - but I warmed to him easily and enjoyed his tale.

Since January

noreply@blogger.com (Readerbuck) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:17:00 +0000

1. The Falconer’s Knot: A Story of Friars, Flirtation and Foul Play by Mary Hoffman
Chiara’s brother believes her to be an unmarriageable expense, so he packs her off to a nunnery. Silvano is framed for the murder of a wealthy man and is sent to a friary for safety. The friary and the nunnery being near neighbors affords the teens a chance to meet and to fall in love! The plot thickens, though, when a series of murders is committed within the sanctuary of the friary. Can Silvano and Chiara discover who is behind the crimes before either of them is killed?

2. The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs by Jack Gantos
A young woman discovers she is cursed to love her mother so much that she’ll do anything to keep her mother with her forever. It’s supposed to be black comedy, but it’s not wise enough to be anything other than repelling. I’d recommend that you grab “Pyscho”, instead.

3. Whitechapel Gods by S.M. Peters
In this alternative history set in Victorian London, a resistance movement fights to keep all humans from being turned into machines by the gods “Mama Engine” and “Grandfather Clock”. Believably flawed characters make this an interesting take on steampunk fantasy.

4. Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
A civil war breaks out on a tropical island and eccentric Mr. Watts, the only white man left, takes over educating the local children. When Mr. Watts begins reading “Great Expectations”, 13-year-old Matilda and the other children are entranced. But no one can escape into a book forever and the war arrives in their little town with devastating consequences for all.

5. Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
Enjoyable collection of short stories and poems. I especially enjoyed “Chivalry”, in which a woman finds the Holy Grail in a jumble sale. Galahad turns up and trades her something that will look just as good on her mantelpiece.

So Many Books, So Little Time

noreply@blogger.com (Daily Reader) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:27:00 +0000

45. World without End by Ken Follett
This huge novel is a satisfying sequel to Pillars of the Earth. It is set in the same town of Kingsbridge and features the descendants of the characters in the first novel. The story begins on Halloween, 1327. Four children witness an attack on a knight who succeeds in killing two of his attackers. The novel follows the lives of these four children as they grow along very different paths and always connected because of what they witnessed that day. Fourteenth century daily life, politics, economy and architecture of the time are vividly portrayed in this book.

46. Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
This terrifying true crime story of the murder of a young mother and her baby by her Mormon Fundamentalist brothers-in-law is quite a departure for outdoor adventure writer Krakauer. He has incorporated the history of the LDS Church and the fundamentalist groups that have broken away from the main church in his chilling tale. Warren Jeffs, the imprisoned sect leader whose compound was raided this week, is a central character in this tangled story of peculiar religious beliefs, violence, and sexual exploitation.

47. Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke; with illustrations by the author; translated from the German by Anthea Bell
This is a charming children’s fantasy about a young lady who wishes to be a knight. Her magician parents accidentally turn themselves into pigs just as an elderly neighbor’s evil nephew plans an attack on their castle.

48. Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan
Manny DeLeon, manager of the a failing Red Lobster in a run-down shopping mall in New England, goes through the painful process of opening his restaurant for one last lunch and dinner shift before the parent corporation closes the restaurant forever. At the same time he’s trying to get over his failed love affair with one of the waitresses and trying to be happy with his current girlfriend, pregnant with his child. This is a well written, depressing little novel that perfectly evokes the economic depression of the area and the difficult and dullness of work in a chain restaurant.

49. Christ the Lord: the Road to Cana by Anne Rice
Anne Rice's second book in her hugely ambitious and courageous life of Christ begins during his last winter before his baptism in the Jordan and concludes with the miracle at Cana. I don’t think Rice is a very good writer, but the subject is compelling, so I suppose I’ll read each novel in this series.

50. Playing for Pizza byJohn Grisham
Rick Dockery is an NFL quarterback who has had a mediocre career and a lot of injuries. When his bad play totally ruins the chances for the Cleveland Browns to win the AFC championship Rick must think about a new job. He also has to get out of town fast, because the Cleveland fans are out fro blood. The best his agent can find is a low paying job playing for the Parma Panthers, a team with only three paid players. The rest of Rick’s new teammates are enthusiastic volunteers! The chance is painful, but Italy has many surprises and delights for Rick. This was a fun read, and the football parts were so uncomplicated that even I could understand.

51. Sharpe's Fury: Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Barrosa, March 1811 by Bernard Cornwell
The title tells all. This is another exciting novel in the series featuring Captain Richard Sharpe, British rifleman in the land battles Napoleonic wars. I enjoy this series almost as much as I enjoyed reading Patrick O’Brian’s Jack Aubrey stories of the Napoleonic wars at sea.

52. Death of a Gentle Lady by M.C. Beaton
Hamish Macbeth doesn’t like Mrs. Gentle, the newcomer in Lochdubh. The villagers think she’s charming, but Hamish has seen the nasty way Mrs. Gentle treats her daughter and her maid. When the maid, supposedly an immigrant from Turkey, asks for Hamish’s help with her visa problems Hamish decides to marry the beautiful girl. Poor Hamish gets left at the altar. He seems doomed to a lonely bachelor’s life. Not only must he deal with the scorn of the villagers, he soon has two murders to solve. I love these mysteries. It’s interesting the way the little Highland village has changed over the years as the influence of the European Union and the new democracies of Eastern Europe reach into the furthest reaches of Scotland.

53. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Greg Heffley’s Journal and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules by Jeff Kinney
These two children’s books tell the trials and tribulations of Greg Heffley, middle school student and middle child of three boys. The books are illustrated with cartoons and printed in a comic book font. They are hilarious and remind me of the cartoons my grandson used to draw.

54. The Art Thief: A Novel by Noah Charney
This is a confusing novel. Three great works of art are stolen in Rome, Paris and London almost simultaneously. The novel follows three different investigations. The book is full of art forgeries, masterpieces under fake modern paintings and quirky detectives. The best parts of the novel are the discussions of art history. I think the author should probably stick to art history.

55. Good Masters, Sweet Ladies: Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz
The 2008 Newbery Medal winner makes life in the thirteenth century vividly real in 21 poems, monologues and dialogues beautifully illustrated by Robert Byrd. This is a great companion book to Ken Follett’s massive novel.

Bel Canto, Duma Key, Feed...

noreply@blogger.com (Reader) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:24:00 +0000

16. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
"Lucky Mr. Hosokawa. The well-connected Japanese businessman, now in an unnamed South American country on yet another job, is having a very special birthday party. At the home of the country's vice president, opera singer Roxane Cos will be performing for him and his guests. But what's this? Armed men invading the premises? These ragtag revolutionaries are looking for the president and disappointed that he is not there, but that doesn't stop them from holding the party goers hostage."

This was a really enjoyable book. In a few hundred pages, I found myself very fond of these characters. I am still thinking about some of them. Patchett's writing is a pleasure to read.

17. Duma Key by Stephen King

"A terrible construction site accident takes Edgar Freemantle's right arm and scrambles his memory and his mind, leaving him with little but rage as he begins the ordeal of rehabilitation. A marriage that produced two lovely daughters suddenly ends, and Edgar begins to wish he hadn't survived the injuries that could have killed him. He wants out. His psychologist, Dr. Kamen, suggests a "geographic cure," a new life distant from the Twin Cities and the building business Edgar grew from scratch." "Edgar leaves Minnesota for a rented house on Duma Key, a stunningly beautiful, eerily undeveloped splinter of the Florida coast.... He meets a kindred spirit in Wireman, a man reluctant to reveal his own wounds, and then Elizabeth Eastlake, a sick old woman whose roots are tangled deep in Duma Key. Now Edgar paints, sometimes feverishly, his exploding talent both a wonder and a weapon. Many of his paintings have a power that cannot be controlled."

I am an unabashed King fan. I can always count on him to deliver a great story with lots of quirks. This one was long - over 600 pages - and did dawdle somewhat in the middle. But it accelerated at the end, and I found myself at 3 in the morning with the closed book, wondering how in the world I was going to get to sleep after that.

18. Feed by M.T. Anderson

"In a future where most people have computer implants in their heads to control their environment, a boy meets an unusual girl who is in serious trouble."

Listening to this is imperative, so you can get the full experience of the soul-deadening feed. I love dystopia stories, and this YA book was a great listen.

A few more in March...

noreply@blogger.com (Reader) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:56:00 +0000

14. The Merlot Murders: A Wine Country Mystery by Ellen Crosby

"Finely ladled suspense," says the Sun-Sentinel about the complex flavor of Ellen Crosby's debut mystery set in the wealthy Blue Ridge wine country of northern Virginia, where vineyard heiress Lucie Montgomery must find a killer or lose her cherished family heritage.Leland Montgomery's death was deemed accidental, but when his daughter Lucie returns home from France, she finds the once-thriving family vineyard run down, collapsing under huge debt..."

It's always fun to read a book featuring places (and some people, mayhap) just down the road a scoot. My MIL reports that Chardonnay Charades is a good sequel. Crosby will also be doing an author tour this year and will be in VA. For more information, click here for the Google Book page.

15. Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman

"Doctor Impossible languishes in a federal detention facility. For years he has tried to take over the world but has failed. This time it is going to be different. Fatale is a rookie superhero on her first day with the Champions, the world's most famous superteam. The team, while struggling with a damaged past, has to come together in the face of unthinkable evil."

This was such a hoot to listen to! There were alternating chapters between Doctor Impossible and the cyborg Fatale. I wish I could let my son listen to this, but alas, there's too much bad language. Super hero story for adults.