Oregonreader Reviews

The Brothers K by David James Duncan

2012-01-17T15:12:00.001-08:00

This was a Christmas present from my son. He told me I was always recommending books to him and he wanted to recommend a book he loves to me. A very sweet idea! This book is set in the Pacific NW, the story of a family of three brothers and two sisters. The father is a minor league baseball pitcher and coach. From the title, the author intends some kind of parallel to the Brothers Karamazov and certainly the themes of religion and family are there. But in an interesting twist, Duncan uses baseball as a metaphor for just about everything. He looks at all the big issues, religion, love, family, purpose, war, politics with this theme. It's a fascinating book with some very clever ideas. My only criticism is that there is a lot of wandering off on side stories/issues that don't really advance anything. But he has drawn very interesting characters and I definitely enjoyed it.

Dancing with Colonels; A Young Woman's Adventures in Wartime Turkey

2012-01-11T14:57:00.001-08:00

This is a collection of letters written during Havreberg's years working as a stenographer in Washington DC in 1936 and later in Ankara, Turkey from 1944 – 1946.

She had left the small town in South Dakota where she grew up to work for Senator Peter Norbeck in his Washington office. After his death, she began looking at opportunities abroad and chose Turkey, which was neutral during most of the war.

The letters are typical of a young woman in her 20’s, full of social activities, descriptions of friends, and a small town girl’s reaction to the big city. She describes in great detail the wartime partying of ambassadors, governments in exile, and Turkish politicians.

But an interesting aspect of her letters is how they reflect the change in woman’s opportunities brought on by the war. The new government agencies in Washington were crying for staff and paying very good wages. A young girl like Havreberg, who had attended a stenographer’s school and was expected to find work in a local office, now had a much broader horizon. Opportunities for travel and the benefits of the big city, attending concerts and lectures, visiting museums, were available to middle class girls as they had not been before. Havreberg was surprisingly open to new experiences and took advantage of all of these.

A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd

2011-11-10T11:08:00.000-08:00

This is the third book in the Bess Crawford mystery series. I hadn't read the two previous books but this one stands alone quite well. Bess is a nurse stationed in France during WWI and has returned home to London for a brief leave. She finds a woman huddled in the cold on her porch, apparently injured, and takes her in. She agrees to the woman's request to accompany her home, worried that she has a concussion. At the large country home, Bess meets the rest of the family, discovers a murder, and is caught up in the solving of it. My early reaction was annoyance that Bess would get so caught up with a complete stranger's family that she would postpone her trip to see her parents at Christmas, lie to the police to protect family secrets, even to the point of briefly incriminating herself. But once I got past that, I did get caught up in the story. Todd (the nom-de-plume of a mother-son writing team) does a good job of creating the feel of the place and time. The characters are fleshed out enough for the purposes of the story and the mystery has a satisfying resolution. I would certainly consider reading the first two books.

The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

2011-11-06T15:40:00.000-08:00

This is one of those stories that stays with you after you've finished reading it. It left me speechless, struggling to define my reactions to it. It is a powerful, disturbing and very satisfying book.
Set in North Korea, a place I know little about beyond what I've picked up in the news, Johnson does a good job of creating the day to day life there, a place where individuals exist only to support the collective whole, a society shaped by years of despotic rule by a psychopath. The first half of the book is narrated by Pak Jun do, who grew up in an orphan's work house run by his father. Pak had control over where orphans were sent to work, knowing some factories were death sentences. This gave him an early education on how power worked there. As an adult, he worked as a kidnapper, snatching people from South Korea that Kim Jong Il has targeted, and later working on a ship listening to foreign broadcasts. He learns something of the outside world and begins to explore the idea of freedom. He starts on a path that is the center of the novel.
The second half of the book is narrated by 'the Biographer', a torturer who justifies his trade to himself by writing a biography of each of his victims. His story, and that of Pak, are intertwined and Johnson moves between their stories and back and forth in time with a clear hand.
The stories about Kim Jon Il are fantastic but based on true events. It is hard to believe one man could be responsible for so much suffering. The author does a good job of describing how societies can be made to do almost anything through fear and loss of control. I strongly suggest this as a must read.

Nat Tate by William Boyd

2011-08-02T15:12:00.001-07:00

Published in 1998, Boyd has written a very short biography of American abstract expressionist, Nat Tate, who committed suicide in 1960 after destroying most of his work.. He describes the artist’s meetings with all the leading painters of the day, including Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, Picasso, and Bracque, and leaders of the art world. Boyd includes quotes from Gore Vidal, John Richardson, and David Bowie. But all was quickly revealed as a hoax.
Reading it today, even if I hadn’t known it was a hoax, the use of the memoirs of Logan Mountstuart was a tipoff. This was apparently the first appearance of the hero of Boyd’s later novel, Any Human Heart.
Boyd has done an amazing job of creating a young artist, troubled background, drinking problem, and all. He does a good job of describing how Tate worked and a description of his paintings. The paintings in the books were apparently done by Boyd himself.
I believe this must have been one of the better hoaxes in the art world. But I’m always puzzled by hoaxes of this kind. I know sometimes the perpetrator just wants to see if he can get away with it. But I don’t think that was Boyd’s motivation. I wonder if he wanted to demonstrate to the art community how quick they are to jump on a bandwagon and go along with the prevailing opinion. If that was the case, he certainly succeeded.

The Bell by Iris Murdoch

2011-07-20T14:19:00.001-07:00

I’ve read two of Murdoch’s later books and, although well worth reading, I think her writing was still developing when she wrote The Bell. This is the story of a lay community attached to an Anglo-Catholic abbey for sequestered nuns. There are a number of people in the community but the author gives us a look into the heads of only two. Michael owns the abbey, his decaying family home, and is the acknowledged leader. Dora Greenfield is the unfaithful wife of a man working there analyzing old manuscripts. Both are faced with ethical choices. Michael struggles with romantic and sexual feelings for two young male students and Dora struggles with her disintegrating marriage. The book is an exploration of the ethics of sexuality and power, and the religious or philosophical ideas that the characters use to justify their actions. Murdoch writes with lush descriptions of the sights and sounds that is very sensuous. This is somewhat ironic because the intent of the persons there was to strip their surroundings down to bare necessities, no personal possessions in their rooms, no flowers brought into the house, simple clothing and tasks. The problem with the book was that I didn’t like any of the characters. Michael seems deluded and pathetic , I had an urge to slap Dora most of the time, her husband, Paul, was a bullying brute and the others not much better. But Murdoch really excels at exploring religious and philosophical ideas. I read this as a book group read and I’m glad I did.

New York by Edward Rutherford

2011-07-08T13:17:00.000-07:00

Epic, sweeping, panoramic are words that come to mind after reading this novel. Rutherford tells the story of New York City from the early Dutch settlers to the Revolutionary War to the Civil War and the waves of immigrants, right up to 9/11. The story begins with the van Dyck family in 1664 and the plot follows their descendents and other families that are connected through business and personal relationships . It is an engrossing book, very well written. The stories of these individuals really provide a clear picture of how each historical event affected the people living there. Rutherford did an excellent job of allowing the reader to clearly follow the story as it moved from generation to generation and I had a good sense of the history of each family.

The Hair of Harold Roux by Thomas Williams

2011-06-28T11:18:00.001-07:00

First published in 1974, The Hair of Harold Roux won the National Book Award in 1975. I had never heard of Williams and feel like I’ve just made a great discovery. Williams is an amazing story teller and this novel is layered with story within story, each one as interesting and compelling as the others.

The narrator is Aaron Benson, academic and author, struggling to write a novel of his youth. He is married with two children and while he loves them and sees his need for them, he seems incapable of focusing on them and giving them the attention they need. He is struggling with his novel, working to recreate an unpleasant time in his life.

The main character in his novel is Allard Benson, at university after time spent in the military during WWII. He is clearly based on the young Aaron. Aaron does not romanticize his young self and looks at him with the same analytical knife that he uses to consider his current life. Allard meets Harold Roux, also in school after the war, who acts as Allard’s moral compass. Roux has high standards, is highly principled, and naïve. He has one weakness, his hair, which affects his entire experience at school. Both love Mary Tolliver, a beautiful, young student. Harold sees her as perfection, pure and to be protected. Allard also is drawn to her great beauty and sets out single-mindedly to win her.

Allard is basically so self-centered that while he might be drawn to friends, and tells himself he loves Mary, all his actions are directed toward the goal of getting what he wants. He wants Mary but plans to change her to be more like him. There is a lack of empathy in him; he might see that he is causing pain but that is something he observes and doesn’t really change anything for him. The final disaster of the novel within the novel is a result of his inattention to what is going on with the people around him.

Ultimately, the novel is about time, how we pass through it, carry experiences forward through it, and how eventually all our friends and family move away from us in their passage. A wonderful book.

Among the Missing by Morag Joss

2011-05-24T14:14:00.000-07:00

A bridge in Scotland collapses and three people, a pregnant woman running away from her husband, a man just out of prison for causing the death of children in an auto accident, and a woman in the country illegally are all thrown together. The chapters alternate, each written from the perspective of each characters thoughts, and their history is disclosed gradually. The sense the reader has of being in their mind was almost claustrophobic since the characters are so disconnected from everyone and everything and try to pass through life without being noticed. Joss is a good writer and her descriptions of the setting and the characters are very vivid. But the characters are so depressed and without hope that she almost writes herself into a corner with no good way to end it. I had to read the ending twice to figure out what happened and then still wasn't sure. It was an interesting read but left me unsatisfied.

Robert Altman The Oral Biography by Mitchell Zuckoff

2011-05-06T11:06:00.001-07:00

This was given to me by a friend who is a real film aficianado and with whom I share a love of Altman films. Zuckoff interviewed family, friends, co-workers, agents, and actors who had worked with Altman. Each described events from their own, and sometimes contradictory, perspectives and gradually a picture is built up of a very complex, very talented man. It reminded me very much of the structure of one of his films. The books starts with his youth in Kansas City and then follows his career, film by film. There were many films and TV shows he made that I had never heard of. I recently re-watched Nashville and McCabe and Mrs. Miller and was struck again by the amazing way he could capture the reality of the moment and avoid cliches. If you are interested in his films, this is a must read.

The Sticking Place by T. B. Smith

2011-04-21T10:26:00.000-07:00

This is not a mystery in the usual sense of the word. But I think anyone interested in mysteries would like this book. The story follows two rookies in the San Diego police department, Luke and Denny. The reader follows along with them as they go out on patrol, confront criminals and other unsavory characters, deal with political pressures on the department, and personal struggles. Luke has a graduate degree in English lit and eases his stress by quoting appropriate lines from Shakespeare. At times this seems a little forced but its an interesting twist. You get a real sense of the emotional demands placed on them by this kind of work. This is a first novel, I think, but it reads like Smith plans more books about these two. My only knowledge of police procedures comes from tv shows but the action in this book seems very real.

The Moonflower Vine by Jetta Carlson

2011-04-20T09:14:00.000-07:00

The story is of a family living in the rural south in the early 20th century. The father is a small town school teacher and he and his wife also work a small farm. They have four daughters. The first part of the novel describes a summer when three of the girls, adults now and living a distance away, come home for two weeks. It is a sweet story of a close family, not without tensions, but basically a happy story. In the rest of the novel, she devotes a chapter to each of them, peeling away a layer and looking at key moments in their lives. Needless to say, it adds great dimension to the story, some real surprises and is a very effective way to look at the characters. The writing is first rate.

Black Swan by Chris Knopf

2011-04-16T14:03:00.001-07:00

This is the fifth in the series of Sam Acquillo mysteries. I have not read the first four and found that this book stands well alone. Much of the book takes place on a sailboat. Sam and his girlfriend Amanda are trying to deliver the boat to the Hamptons for a friend but have to take refuge in a harbor on a small, very private island. I am not a sailor and can't speak to the technical acumen but Knopf describes Sam's handling of the boat during a storm well enough for the average reader to follow. Sam and Amanda encounter hostility from some of the locals but the new owners of the hotel, the Black Swan, welcome them. While waiting for boat parts to be shipped to them, they become embroiled in two deaths and the disappearance of a very disturbed young man. The plot involves extremely advanced computer coding and the machinations of the owners of a large software company. As Sam becomes more and more involved, at the risk of his own life, he asks himself why he doesn't just leave. I found myself asking the same question. I could only conclude that Sam has an extremely finely honed sense of justice. In a genre where there are great extremes of writing ability, Knopf is among the better I've read. He gives Sam a strong, consistent voice and carries the reader along extremely complicated plot turns. It's a quick and enjoyable read.

Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey

2011-04-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

Parrot is a lower-class English boy whose father is an itinerant engraver with no real home. After a series of misadventures, Parrot is separated from his father and rescued by the Marquis de Tilbot, a Royalist French spy. He is the link that connects Parrot and Olivier, a young French aristocrat born right after the Revolution. Olivier's parents had escaped the guillotine and still held their ancestral estate. Fearing another revolution, the parents send the by-then young man to America on the pretext of writing a book on the American prison system. Unwilling to go, he is tricked onto the ship by family friend, Tilbot, who also arranges for the older Parrot to go as his servant. The heart of the book then begins with the experiences of the two in America. Olivier sees the new, uncultured society through the eyes of privilege, used to having his comfort and wishes a priority. In letters to his mother, he comments on the strange ways of these people. This, of course, leads to comparisons with de Toqueville's book. Parrot finds himself a servant in a society that worships the principles of equality. Their very different experiences are what you might expect given their backgrounds. Carey surrounds them with fascinating characters. With surprising plot turns, the reader is swept along. This is the first book I have read of Carey's and was struck by his remarkable craftsmanship in telling this story.

Troubles by J G Farrell

2011-04-04T08:59:00.000-07:00

The story is told from the perspective of an English soldier; a Major has just returned from WWI France and his story unfolds against the backdrop of the Irish uprising that led to the creation of the Republic. The Major goes to visit a girl he met prewar, whose English family owns a decrepit old hotel in an Irish coastal village. The title refers to the political unrest and fighting in Ireland and also to the unfolding of the Major's life. We meet some fascinating characters, her family, Irish hired help and the English aging guests who are fading as fast as the hotel. The Major is enough of an outsider to be able to step back from the contempt the English characters have for the Irish and the hate the Irish return. The decaying of the hotel mirrors the collapse of the society around it and the owner is just as oblivious to that as he is to his role in the village unrest In spite of this setting, parts of the novel are actually very humorous. The author's description of the slow collapse of the ancient hotel and how the occupants adjust is wickedly funny. I really enjoyed this one.

The Law and The Lady by Wilkie Collins

2011-03-30T11:17:00.001-07:00

I was interested in reading this since it is described as the first mystery with a lady detective. Having enjoyed The Moonstone and the Lady in White, I was surprised at how dated this book is. The lady detective sets out to clear her husband's name of murdering his first wife and gets nothing but discouragement and anger from her husband and his mother. She carries on because she says she loves her husband so much. Frankly, it's hard to see why she is so devoted. He's a bit of a wimp and absolutely too sensitive for words. I wanted to slap him! Ultimately, the mystery is solved but the ending is absolutely unsatisfying!

One Was a Soldier by Julia Spencer-Fleming

2011-03-17T09:58:00.000-07:00

This is the latest in the Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne series. As with most series, there is a slow development of character and relationships but I think this one would stand alone very well. Fergusson is an Episcopal priest, just returned from National Guard duty in Iraq. Van Alstyne, the chief of police and now a widower, has been waiting anxiously for her return. These two are the main focus of the story but this novel differs from earlier ones in that supporting characters get equal story time. Five newly returned veterans, including Fergusson, gather in a support group. They are all coping in different ways with the damage they brought back with them. The author does an amazing job of looking at the problems of returning home with physical and mental problems and trying to pick up the life they left. Against this, there is a murder to be solved. I think this is the best novel of the series and I couldn't put it down. I'm looking forward to the next one ( )

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

2011-03-08T09:42:00.001-08:00

This book had been on my ToBeRead list for a long time then a friend gave me a copy with a strong recommendation. McCullers is a gifted writer (reminded me of Faulkner, in many ways) but her underlying view of the world is just too grim for me to appreciate. The characters are fascinating, a deaf mute on whom everyone projects their expectations but no one actually knows, a young girl who is apparently a musical genius growing up in poverty and low expectations, an itinerant traveler who sees all the injustice in the world and is driven to spread this message however futile, a black doctor who struggles with his treatment by whites in his southern town and is frustrated that all his friends and family don't see what he does. Each one of these people rage against their situation and try to reach out to each other but they are ultimately alone and inconsolable. There seems to be no hope for anything better.

Henrietta Sees It Through by Joyce Dennys

2011-02-26T09:19:00.000-08:00

This is a sequel to Henrietta's War and covers the last three years of the the war. It was originally published serially during the war in Sketch. The book is in the form of letters written by Henrietta, a doctor's wife on the rural English coast, to a friend and neighbor who is away on the front. While she tells her friend she's sending along news of the village to give him a glimpse of something other than war, she details the effect of the war on the locals, from collecting metal for the war effort, to taking in evacuees from London, to the loss of family in combat. The author uses a dry, witty sense of humor to present the sacrifice and tragedies in a restrained way but the courage of the people comes through. The humor is distinctly British. The book gives a wonderful sense of place and people during this historical time.

At Mrs. Lippincote's by Elizabeth Taylor

2011-02-23T14:24:00.000-08:00

Set in England during WWII, Julia and Roddy Davenant leave London and are relocated, along with their son and Roddy's sister, Eleanor, to a small town near the military base where he is posted. The novel describes each of their reactions to this new situation, focusing especially on Julia. She has a hard time settling in here, as I think she would anywhere, because she is too truthful to be very polite and "too busy, as a rule, measuring up and deploring other people to be in any way conscious of herself". This disruption of their lives destroys the fragile detente between Julia and Eleanor, and exposes the weaknesses of the marriage. I found it very difficult to care much about any of them although the ending gives much insight into Julia's state of mind. The book does give a good description of the disruption of war on home, friends and family.

Armadillo by William Boyd

2011-01-27T10:35:00.000-08:00

I'm a huge fan of Boyd's work but this one took a little getting into. The main character is a London insurance adjuster who seems to need a slightly warped moral code to do his job but is ultimately a decent person. I found him hard to sympathize with at first but he did grow on me. He is surrounded by a supporting cast of wonderful characters. The novel looks at a very venal and corrupt business system, almost like a new class in England, people who are protected from ever getting caught or losing. The reader is carried along, as confused as the insurance adjuster, until the end when it is all wrapped up. Ultimately, well worth reading.

Kepler by John Banville

2011-01-10T11:52:00.000-08:00

When I think about the great scientific minds of the distant past, I always imagine them constantly occupied with their lofty pursuits and all their needs somehow provided. Banville puts the reader right inside Kepler's mind which is so often caught up in the petty details of life, his unhappy marriage, deaths of his children, the constant search for a patron and money. But then occasionally you get a glimpse of his genius which leads him to look again at what was known about geometry and astronomy at the time. His Kepler sees the physical world and the people around him as alien and usually hostile. When he stops to take a look around, he is always an observer, never a participant. He lacks the most basic social skills. Yet there are those who see his genius and give him the time to do his work. Banville is an amazing writer and gives a good sense of life at the turn of the 17th century.

The Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor

2011-01-03T13:09:00.001-08:00

After reading Bleeding Heart Square, I dove into this book with great anticipation. I was not disappointed. The novel begins with a series of deaths in Cambridge and London in 1786. Struggling London bookseller, John Holdsworth, accepts a commission to find the true cause of student Frank Oldershaw's madness, presumably caused by seeing a ghost. He is thrown into a small community of secrets, power struggles, and tangled relationships. Taylor does an excellent job of creating an historical time and place. His characters struggle with both ghosts who appear to be apparitions of the recently deceased and ghosts who live in the minds of those consumed by guilt and regret. The ultimate resolution is very satisfying. My only criticism was finding myself confused in the opening pages by deaths of two ladies at Jerusalem college. I had to go back and reread it a couple of times.

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

2010-12-20T11:50:00.000-08:00

This book was given to me by a friend who described it as dreamlike. I certainly see what he meant. This first novel is told from the point of view of Ruth who, with her sister Lucille, is orphaned by their mother's suicide and live in their deceased grandmother's home with a series of aunts, and finally with their aunt Sylvie, who has lived her life as a transient up until then. The girls expect to be abandoned again and watch for signs of it daily. The lines between imagination and reality are very blurred for Ruth and her aunt Sylvie. Sylvie prefers to live in darkness, wandering alone through the woods by day and spending nights by candlelight. One of the most compelling scenes was when the three of them are sitting in the darkened kitchen and suddenly Lucille reaches up and turns on the light, which illuminates harshly the dirt and chaos around them. Sylvie and Ruth quickly turn the light off and retreat again into darkness. Robinson writes with great lyricism and fascinating extended metaphors. I would have to say that at times, this got in the way of the story. But it’s an amazing first novel.

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

2010-11-12T18:54:00.000-08:00

This is quite a book. Set in Ethiopia, the story is narrated by Marion Stone, who along with his twin brother, Shiva, was born to an Indian nun and a British surgeon. After the mother dies in childbirth and the father runs away, they are raised by an Indian obstretrician and her husband, an Indian surgeon. I mention the nationality of the characters because the novel features a broad cross-section of the Ethiopian population. The plot covers the lives of Marion and Shiva from birth to adulthood, with lots of back stories for other characters along the way. I got very caught up in it and loved many of the characters. One warning: There are many medical procedures described in great detail. I didn't mind this because the author described these from the point of view of a doctor who loves his job and loves his patients.

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

2010-10-26T13:54:00.001-07:00

This novel is the story of Ernest Hemingway's marriage to his first wife, Hadley Richardson. I've always found reading fictionalized biographies of famous people a bit tricky. I bring along a preconceived idea of what they were like. While I'm a fan of Hemingway's writing, I've always suspected he was a overweening braggart to his friends. This book did nothing to change my mind. Written from Hadley's point of view, the novel has a melancholy tone, the final disaster hovering up ahead and coloring her memories. She appears incredibly placid and passive, with no life of her own and willing to accept anything to keep her marriage intact. I had to remind myself that she was of a generation that felt this was woman's proper role. The author does a good job of setting the place and lifestyle of the Hemingways and their friends. I enjoyed reading the book but think it would appeal mostly to fan's of Hemingway.

A Call From Jersey by P. F. Kluge

2010-09-26T19:26:00.000-07:00

Kluge has taken an old theme, immigrants coming in search of the American Dream, and made it fresh and new. Two brothers, Heinz and Hans Greifinger, immigrate from Germany in the early 20s. The story is narrated alternately by Hans and his son, George. Hans describes his early days in New York's German town among immigrants who have come for a new life, but need their familiar language and food around them, and their conflicted feelings as the second world war approaches. George, grown up and a second rate travel writer, has no interest in hearing those early stories and feels no connection with his father. Hans has discovered the America he was looking for but then then the changes in society leave him behind. George's work involves traveling to cities his readers dream of visiting and finds nothing. The two take a road trip to Florida, looking for Heinz, and discover each other. I couldn't put this down. Masterfully written.

The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King

2010-09-20T13:57:00.000-07:00

Sherlock Holmes is retired and studying honey bees in Sussex. He meets Mary Russell, a young American girl, recently orphaned and living with her aunt. He immediately sees in her a kindred spirit with a mind like his own. The novel describes the unfolding of their relationship. Being a big fan of Conan Doyle's Holmes, I was apprehensive about how well King would capture Holmes' voice and if the plotting would disappoint. I needn't have worried. Her Holmes is totally believable. There are several plot lines that unfold to reveal the main story line, Holmes' mentoring of his apprentice. There are several novels in the Mary Russell series and I look forward to reading them.

Bad Boy by Peter Robinson

2010-09-14T14:23:00.000-07:00

Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks series has always focused as much on Banks' inner life and relationships as it did on solving the mysteries. This can be a strength or a weakness. It was one of the things I loved about this series when I first started reading them but some of the later books have been so dark, as Banks' dealt with disappointment and depression, that I found them hard to read. I think this latest book is a little different and the better for it. The book begins with Banks on vacation in San Francisco. The plot focuses on Banks' partner, Annie Cabbot, and his daughter, Tracy, and begins with a gun found by the mother of Tracy's roommate. The mother goes to the police, hoping for help from Banks, as British laws on gun possession are extremely severe. This sets off a series of events that make up the core of the mystery. The gun belongs to Jaff, a handsome charmer, drug dealer, "bad boy" who is dating the roommate and with whom Tracy is infatuated. Banks returns home to find Tracy missing and in danger. The resolution is unexpected and very satisfying. Robinson does a good job of creating secondary characters who come to life. The biggest weaknesses in the book were the parts describing Banks on vacation; most of these events were unrelated to the rest of the book. Robinson has done an amazing job of keeping the characters and stories fresh through a long series.

The Rise and Fall of Alexandria: Birthplace of the Modern Mind

2010-09-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

By Justin Pollard and Howard Reid. This is a very readable history of one of the most important places and times in Western history. The authors are not historians; both have film backgrounds, having worked on BBC documentaries and many films. This seems to have served them well in presenting a clear and interesting description of the founding and development of Alexandria.
The city was founded in 332 BC by Alexander the Great but, although a student of Aristotle, he was primarily a soldier, and it was left to his friend and fellow-student, Ptolemy, to build the city to it's greatness. In the chaos after Alexander's death, Ptolemy sought to unify Egypt with Alexandria as it's center. He used the principles he had learned from Aristotle to design a perfect city. It was the first city ever laid out on a grid, with sections for trade, residences, and public buildings.Ptolemy also had a real reverence for books and began to build the library for which it is so famous. So many developments happened there in geometry, astronomy, mathematics,and religion that it was truly the crucible that gave us the modern world.
I highly recommend this book for a better understanding of it's place in our history.

Work Song by Ivan Doig

2010-06-29T12:38:00.000-07:00

Several years ago, I visited Butte, Montana and had a look at the huge scar in the earth left by the Anaconda copper mine. I stood above the toxic lake, so deadly nothing can live near it, and drove through the ghost town on the hills above where the cabins of the workers stand abandoned. It was an unforgettable sight. In Work Song by Ivan Doig, the heyday of Anaconda and Butte in the early 20th century is brought to life. The central character, Morrie Morris, steps off the train in Butte, hoping to leave his previous life behind and find good paying work. Morris quickly settles in and meets a series of townspeople who draw him into the life of the town. Through two retired miners at his boarding house, he gets a look at the hard life of the miners and their families and is swept into the tensions between the union, the wobblies, and the mining company. He finds work at the public library, run by a wealthy ex-rancher, a bibliophile who buys rare books and loans them to the library, and who tells Morris not to get involved in the fight between the workers and the company.. Morris is a fascinating and complex character. He tries to avoid committing himself but finds that ultimately, he has to make a choice. Doig creates characters who deal with tragedy but keep their dignity and sense of humor. He is amazingly good at creating a sense of place. His descriptions of Butte and the land around it come to life in this book and give a real feel for the west. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good story and memorable characters.

The French Blue by Richard W. Wise

2010-06-18T16:16:00.001-07:00

In his historical novel, The French Blue, author Richard Wise tells the amazing story of Jean Baptiste Tavernier, a 17th Century traveler and gem merchant. Son of a cartographer in Paris, he becomes fascinated with gemology and leaves home at an early age to travel to Persia and India to learn about pearls, rubies, and diamonds. He eventually becomes a highly respected gem dealer, buying for Cardinal Richelieu, Louis XIV and other nobles The title refers to his greatest find, an amazing blue diamond that eventually came to be known as the Hope Diamond. Most of the novel describes Tavernier's travels though exotic lands and his dealings with merchants and royalty. Wise does an amazing job of describing the physical conditions of travel, risky at best, and the cultural environments Tavernier has to navigate. The best historical novels whisk you away to another time and place and give you a real sense of being there. Wise is a master at this. I was not familiar with this character before I read the book, and I found it very helpful that he includes an appendix which explains the fictional aspects of the story. If you like historical fiction, this book is a must read. I couldn't put it down!

Haunted Ground by Erin Hart

2010-06-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

The first mystery by Erin Hart, Haunted Ground is set in Ireland,where archeologist Cormac Macguire and pathologist Nora Gavin are called in to investigate the uncovering of a woman's severed head. Since the bog tends to preserve tissue, the head could be hundreds of years old. Hart includes a lot of science as the two try to discover the history of the find. But this discovery unleashes new interest in a more current mystery in the town, the disappearance of the wife and child of a prominent citizen who is generally suspected of being responsible. Hart moves back and forth between the two mysteries and does a good job with both. There is also a developing personal relationship between the two scientists that is well done. She gives a good sense of place in describing the rural Irish setting. I'll definitely read her next book.

Right Foot in the Pacific, Left Foot in the Atlantic: An Adventure Across America

2010-06-06T13:24:00.000-07:00

This is the story of David Stoess's walk across America from Los Angeles to New York City. He describes the physical difficulties of the trek but this book is primarily composed of sketches of the little towns, big cities (which he tried to avoid) and the people he encountered. He writes with a very conversational, folksy style that works well. This is probably not a book you would read from cover to cover, but it's a great book to pick up as the spirit moves you and read a couple of chapters. I enjoyed it very much.

Keeping the Promise by Donna E. Elliott

2010-05-28T16:59:00.001-07:00

Jerry Elliott was listed as Missing In Action in Viet Nam in 1968. This book, written by his sister, is the story of her almost 40 year hunt for him. She describes how the lack of closure caused the disintegration of her family and of the callousness and deception of the government in her attempts to get information about him. She eventually joins Viet Nam Veterans Against the War, taking part in marches in Washington, DC. She makes three trips to Viet Nam searching for answers. It is hard to imagine that our government walked away from Viet Nam, leaving hundreds if not thousands of POWs there. Elliott gives a very believable explanation of why that happened. This is an interesting but ultimately very sad story. It's a good reminder that the war is never really over for those families who are left with no answers. I recommend this for anyone interested in Viet Nam history.

Amandine A Novel by Marlena De Blasi

2010-05-18T14:55:00.000-07:00

This is De Blasi's first work of fiction although she is a food writer and has written a number of other books. It is a great start. Set in France during the few years before WWII and during the occupation, it tells the story of a young Polish girl, Amandine, born illegitimately to a wealthy young member of Polish nobility, who is placed in a French convent under the care of a young French woman, and all traces of her identity are removed. The first part of the book covers the first dozen years of her life there. Amandine is greeted with varying degrees of welcome, from love from her young governess to hatred from the abbess. The author draws very complex characters, with complicated relationships to each other, and the coming of Amandine brings these to a head.
The second part of the novel follows Amandine and Solange, her governess, as they leave the convent and head across occupied France, trying to get to Solange's village and Amandine's ultimate goal of finding her mother. It is interesting that the two have lived so isolated from normal society and village life that they seem incapable of understanding the changes that the presence of the Nazi's have brought or the dangers of war. I found myself emotionally invested in the characters and fascinated by the story. The ending was predictable but handled in a very delicate way that I appreciated. A well-told story.

Broken For You by Stephanie Kallos

2010-05-06T15:17:00.000-07:00

Margaret Hughes has spent most of her life sealed off from others in her large home. Facing terminal cancer, she asks a waitress what she would do if she had only a year or two left to live. "I'd do what scares me the most...Do the opposite of what I've always done." Margaret decides to open her home to a boarder which introduces the other main character, Wanda, a young woman on a single-minded quest to find the lover who has dumped her. Their encounter changes their lives and a growing circle of other "loners". It is ironic that as Margaret works to create an environment to die in, she actually creates a vibrant, healthy surrogate family and meaning for her life. There are many characters in the book and lots of sub-plots that move along at a steady pace. My main criticism of the book is that there are way too many coincidences in the story and it definitely strains credulity. But I found it very engrossing and came to care about the characters.

The Seamstress by Sara Tuvel Bernstein

2010-04-27T10:05:00.000-07:00

There are so many books written by or about the survivors of the Holocaust and all share similar elements. But each one is also unique, describing how an individual manages to survive the unimaginable. In this book, Seren (Sara) Tuvel is a young Roumanian Jewish girl, working as a seamstress in Budapest, who is arrested and taken from her home. She is transported with her sister and niece and the young daughter of a family friend and they ultimately end up in Ravensbruck, a concentration camp near Berlin. The four of them band together, led by Seren, and gain strength from each other. The reader can't help but wonder at what traits are needed for survival, not just youth and good health, but being observant and taking advantage of luck. This is a wonderful book , very moving and thought-provoking.

The Tricking of Freya by Christina Sunley

2010-04-19T15:38:00.000-07:00

I finished this novel several days ago and have been thinking about it ever since. It is a multi-layered book with characters that stay with you. The first part of the book is related in the first person by Freya Morris, a young woman living in New York who is remembering her childhood in Connecticut with her widowed mother and the summers spent in Gimli, Canada with her Icelandic immigrant extended family. It is a family seeped in Icelandic tradition and most of their communication with the child Freya is an attempt to impart this knowledge to her. She is lectured continually about ancient family connections back to the 8th century. But there is no real communication about recent family events and relationships. Her grandmother and especially her mother's sister Birdie, fill her with legend and history. She is especially drawn to Birdie, who struggles with manic and depressive moods and has been in and out of institutions. A key element in the plot is Freya's being "tricked" into a trip to Iceland with Birdie, which creates a crucial turning point in the story. The second part of the book takes the form of a journal that Freya addresses to a cousin she believes exists and her search for her. As she attempts to unravel her mother's relationship to Birdie, she finds more and more events that were kept from her. This culminates in a second trip to Iceland where she must come to terms with her life.
Sunley spends a lot of time describing Icelandic language, culture, history, religion, and geography. At times I thought I was reading a Tour Guide to Iceland and it was a little disconcerting. But in fairness, I would have to say that this information is central to understanding the characters and their stories. I would definitely recommend this book.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

2010-04-07T10:52:00.000-07:00

Wow! I hardly know where to begin. The Eyre Affair is funny, intelligent, and above all, clever. The time is modern day England, but Fforde has created an alternative universe where the Crimean War is still being fought, international travel is through a "gravatube" through the center of the earth, and government special forces rule with an iron hand. The protagonist, Thursday Next, is a Special Ops literary detective, solving crimes such as book forgery, theft, and entering a book to change the plot. (Not only is time travel possible here, but people can enter books and alter the story). Through a series of events, Thursday is hunting the most evil man in her world, Hades Archeron. Her chase takes her into Jane Eyre with results that have a very strong impact on the ending. The book is full of so many puns and literary references that it can keep your head spinning. This is the first of a series of Thursday Next novels and a great introduction into Fforde's amazing creativity.

Shakespeare & Company by Sylvia Beach

2010-03-31T12:07:00.000-07:00

I was anxious to read this because Beach played such an important role in the American literary community in the Paris of her time but ended up with mixed feelings about the book. The part I enjoyed most was her relationship with James Joyce and the story of the publishing of Ulysses. But most of the book was just a catalog of the people who frequented her bookshop without many personal or even professional details. So much of her commentary was of the "one of the nicest persons I've ever met" type, which she said of almost everyone.

The Zimmermann Telegram by Barbara Tuchman

2010-03-29T17:07:00.000-07:00

I had always thought that America entered the first World War because of German u-boat attacks. That was only a part of the picture. Tuchman describes how the British Intelligence Service breaks the German code and how this affected a scheme to keep America out of the war. By early 1917, the war was at a stalemate. The English and French were exhausted and running out of money. Germany was ready to launch a massive u boat navy, attack all ships, neutral or otherwise, and win the war. They were afraid this might tip the scale of American public opinion towards war. The Germans hoped to keep America so busy dealing with revolts in Mexico and threats from Japan that they would avoid any entanglements in Europe. Even though I knew the outcome, this book had me on the edge of my seat as the plot unfolded. Tuchman brings the characters to life and helps the reader to follow the rather complicated unfolding of events. I loved this book.

The Brontes Went to Woolworths by Rachel Ferguson

2010-03-19T16:01:00.000-07:00

Set in 1930s London, this is the story of the Carnes family, three sisters who live with their widowed mother. The eldest, Dierdre, a journalist, is the narrator. Katrine is a struggling actress and Sheil is still in the schoolroom. They are not wealthy but of an educated class and the daughters of a "gentleman". The most striking their about them is the fantasy world that weaves in and out of their everyday lives. All the members of the family share imaginary friends based on dolls, toys, and sometimes real people they have briefly encountered. They have long, ongoing discussions of the daily doings of these people, discussing them as you would old friends with whom you are in daily contact. I found this very confusing to follow at first. Interspersed with this is a seance and ghostly visitors. During a vacation in Yorkshire, the Brontes make an appearance, although frankly, I had to read this portion twice to get what was happening. When her mother is called to jury duty, Dierdre is taken with the judge, Sir Herbert Toddington, and soon "Toddy" and his wife "Lady Mildred" have joined their fantasy world. But things begin to change when the family actually meets them. The story seems to shift at this point, moving at a quicker pace, and I found my interest growing. As their friendship with the Toddingtons develops, and the Brontes return with a disturbing result, the family has to look at the effect all of this is having on the youngest daughter. Although I was off to a shaky start at the beginning of the book, I found myself increasingly caught up in the story.

Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

2010-03-09T15:26:00.000-08:00

Wench gives a fascinating look at an aspect of slavery I had never imagined. The author sets the story in a real place, Tawawa House, which was a summer resort for both Northern and Southern whites. Southern slave owners would spend the summer hunting and fishing, accompanied by one of their female slaves. This is the story of four slaves who come every year with their owners. The resort is set in Ohio, free territory, and you would have expected the slaves to run. Perkins-Valdez explores the complicated relationships of these four and what a run for freedom would mean for them. There are practical considerations, such as leaving children behind, and emotional and psychological ones as well. The most fascinating story is that of Lizzie, who lives as her owner's mistress year round and has two children with him. She tells herself that they love each other, even though he won't free her or their children. It reminded me of the "Stockholm syndrome" where kidnap victims identify with their captors. Reenie comes every year with a man she calls Sir and explains to Lizzie that he is her half-brother, both having the same father. Mawu comes from a plantation in Louisiana and Sweet from Tennessee. They are unforgettable characters that stay with you after you've finished the story. This is an amazing book that I couldn't put down.

All Over Creation by Ruth Ozeki

2010-03-01T16:18:00.000-08:00

All Over Creation is an ambitious book. Yumi Fuller returns home to Idaho with her three children after running away 25 years earlier. She is contacted by her childhood friend, Cass, when her parents are no longer able to care for themselves. It is interesting that her relationship with her parents has frozen in time when she runs away and she hasn't really changed at all in spite of having children of her own. Her anger with her father drives all her life choices. Once she settles in on the family potato farm, the second story begins, an invasion by the Seeds of Revolution, a group of peaceful hippies fighting genetic engineering in plants.
They have come to the farm because of the writings of Yumi's father, Lloyd, and look to him as a sort of guru. The stories play out pretty much as I expected them to but the whole subplot on plant engineering was very interesting.

Short Cuts by Raymond Carver

2010-02-24T16:05:00.000-08:00

I remember seeing Robert Altman's film Short Cuts several years ago and even though I couldn't put it all together, I was fascinated by the characters. I felt the same way reading Short Cuts by Raymond Carver on which the film was based. It is a series of vignettes, each giving me the feeling that I had dropped into someone's life mid-sentence. The stories deal with married couples experiencing distress ranging from the great, losing a child, to the small, hunting for a lost dog. There is no real resolution to them, you don't know what has come before or what will happen after, but I felt that I had shared an intense moment in someone's life. I hope to read more of Carver.

Homesick Creek: A Novel by Diane Hammond

2010-02-24T12:27:00.000-08:00

Homesick Creek is set on the central Oregon coast. It is the story of two marriages. Anita, a former beauty queen with high hopes, is now middle-aged and overweight with very little expectations for her future. She fantasizes of a real home, a double-wide trailer she knows she'll never have. She is married to Bob, a weak, ineffectual alcoholic with a secret life who seems to take everything and give nothing to his marriage. The other story is that of their friends, Bunny and Hack. Hack is a Vietnam vet who has drifted into town with lots of secrets of his own. He is a car salesman with a roving eye married to Bunny, waitress at the local diner. Bunny and Anita have been best friends since childhood and lean on each other for support. Bunny seems to be marking time, waiting for the pain of Hack's leaving. Hack has other reasons for staying which become clear as the novel develops. The characters are very finely drawn and Hammond does a good job of describing how little they can settle for. There were the elements in the plot I expected, alcoholism, drug use, bitterness and despair. But also some I didn't expect which made it a much more satisfying story.

The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West

2010-02-08T19:55:00.001-08:00

I had some difficulty getting into this book. Although not strictly autobiographical, West has based the characters on her family. The story revolves around the fortunes of the Aubrey family. The narrator is Rose, one of the four children of Piers, a small time newspaper editor and pamphleteer, and Clare, formerly a concert pianist who gave up her career upon marriage. Rose struck me at first as another example of the peculiarly British fictional character, the very precocious child who patronizes and condescends to the adults around her. But as I continued, I began to realize that West had created Rose with an adult eye so that she could describe their failings and weaknesses of the others while at the same time loving them with a child's unquestioning love. She describes her father with the words "sneering" and "swaggering", while expressing her adoration. The mother is so sensitive that hearing music performed by one who is not gifted makes her physically ill and yet she is the strength in the family, holding them together through poverty and disappointment. I gradually became fond of them all and fascinated by their lives. My biggest disappointment was the ending, which ends abruptly, almost as if the narrator suddenly put her pen down and had no chance to continue.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

2010-02-02T11:02:00.001-08:00

I've just finished The Help and was pleasantly surprised. This was a selection of my book group and I probably wouldn't have searched it out on my own. It's a theme that has been dealt with so many times, black servants/white employers in the south, that I wondered what the author would add. But she has created some compelling characters and I found myself unable to put it down. The main white character, Skeeter, is a well-to-do, educated young woman in Jackson, MS, in the early 60’s. She is doesn't quite fit the southern belle pattern, not because she doesn't want to, but because she doesn't measure up, being socially awkward, very tall, and not especially pretty. She has graduated from college and struggles to reconcile what she has learned in college with what her mother and peers expect of her, mainly a good marriage. Her character is a foil to the other young white women, who range from those blindly following the community social leaders, to those leaders, acting from ignorance and hate. But Skeeter is amazingly naïve in her understanding of how the black maids she encounters regard their employers, even though she is interested in the maids as persons.
Aibileen is one of the black maids, an older woman who has lost her only son to white violence. Her best friend, Minny, is younger, and the mother of four children. Both work in white homes, as maid and nanny to the children. Stockett does a good job of describing the complex mix of love for the children and resentment of the mothers that these women experience. Like the other black women who work as maids, they are totally dependent on the good will of the employers for their livelihood. This tension drives the unfolding of the plot.
The characters and the stories seem very real. I recommend this as an entertaining and interesting story.

Bleeding Heart Square by Andrew Taylor

2010-01-25T12:49:00.000-08:00

I have just received this book which was offered in the February 2009 Early Reviewers program. It was well worth the wait. I love British mysteries but had never heard of Andrew Taylor. I will be reading more. Bleeding Heart Square is set in pre-WWII London. He weaves a tale of two types of evil, the institutional kind represented by the British Union of Fascists and a more personal evil of greed and betrayal. Lydia Langstone is escaping her abusive husband who is a member of the fascist organization and takes refuge with her neer-do-well father. Here she meets the other renters in the building, including Rory Wentworth, just back from India. He is searching for his fiancee's aunt, Phillipa Penhow, who used to own the house and has disappeared. The stories of all the characters weave around Penhow's disappearance and they all seem to be involved. In the midst of this, both Lydia and Rory try to dodge the violence of the Fascists as her husband tries to force her back home. Both stories are wrapped up very well with an ending I didn't expect.

The Book of William: How Shakespeare's First Folio Conquered the World by Paul Collins

2010-01-19T12:59:00.000-08:00

I've just finished my fourth book, The Book of William: How Shakespeare's First Folio Conquered the World by Paul Collins. I think this book is a must read for those of us who love old books and Shakespeare but are not scholars. The author describes what printing was like in early 17th century, and how books were bought, sold, and cataloged. From a book sale at Sothebys to a Japanese university, he tracks the ownership of first folios and gives a sense of that rarified world where people have fortunes to spend on books. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Little Book by Selden Edwards

2010-01-14T14:19:00.000-08:00

This is my third book of the year. 72 to go!

This novel, involving time travel by three generations of the Burden family, begins in 1898 Vienna, then touches on every major event of the first half of the 20th Century. The story is told by the mother of Wheeler Burden. He is a bit of a cardboard character, as are the others: scholar, incredible athlete, rock star, a perfect character following in the footsteps of his perfect father, who was also a war hero who died at the hands of the Gestapo. Wheeler leaves 1969 San Francisco and suddenly finds himself in 1898 Vienna. The concept, that the Burden family affected almost every historical event of the time, is interesting but at times a bit strained. I found it hard to follow the debates between Wheeler and Freud. I don't want to be a spoiler but Wheeler Burden's love affair was very disturbing, even creepy. But in spite of all that, I really enjoyed the book and couldn't put it down. The author's description of fin de siecle Vienna is fascinating. The plot is very clever and I thought he dealt with the details of time travel, how it can affect the past and the future, very well.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

2010-01-12T14:27:00.000-08:00

This is my second book of 2010. 73 to go!

I found this to be a very entertaining and interesting novel. Stein tells the story of Denny Swift, race car driver and owner of an amazing dog, Enzo. The story is told through Enzo's eyes, as he spends his life preparing, he is convinced, to be reincarnated as a man. There is a lot of detail about racing which helped me to understand the appeal of this sport, at least to the drivers. Enzo is Denny's best friend and support as he goes through incredible difficulty and loss in his life. Enzo is full of observations and ideas about the life of men around him, some of it quite profound. It is a very sweet story but I think the author does a good job of avoiding getting too sappy.

First book of 2010!

2010-01-06T12:55:00.000-08:00

Here is a review of my first book of 2010. Only 74 to go!

Canoe Trip: North to Athabasca by David Curran

This is a recounting of a canoe trip taken by the author and a friend on an extremely remote wilderness river, the MacFarlane, in northern Saskatchewan. Curran describes his previous canoeing experience in wilderness areas of Maine. But, he explains, even though there are not many people there, there is evidence of their presence with dirt roads, trails, etc. He was looking for something more pristine. His descriptions of the MacFarlane area, from the geology, to the black flies that made life miserable, is very detailed. I really enjoyed this book and came away with the sense that I had shared the experience which is what every arm chair adventurer wants.

75 Books in 2010

2009-12-16T14:11:00.000-08:00

Although I read every day, I've never kept track of how many books I read in a year. I noticed on Librarything a group committed to reading 75 books in 2010 and decided to give it a try. I have no idea how close to that I might come but it will be interesting to see. I wonder if just making the commitment will stir me on to read more. I will keep you posted on how I'm doing and review as many as I can. I'm just finishing William Boyd's Blue Afternoon and with the holidays coming, my reading time will be severely shortened. But I've got my first book of the New Year selected, Canoe Trip: North to Athabasca by David Curran. Just the ticket for a stormy winter night, the true story of a wilderness adventure. I'm looking forward to this one.

The Polish Officer by Alan Furst

2009-12-08T13:11:00.000-08:00

While Furst is generally categorized as a writer of spy novels, I think that's a very narrow way of looking at his books. He is an excellent novelist. He has chosen Europe during WWII as his setting and all his books are so well researched, they "feel" authentic. In this novel, as in his others, a strong but basically ordinary man is tested to the limit. Polish cartographer, Alexander de Milja, is recruited into the Polish Intelligence Service after the German invasion of Poland and is thrown in to a series of dangerous assignments. Furst has a deft touch in surrounding his heroes with very real and interesting characters, all facing life and death decisions daily as they struggle to survive. My only criticism of this book is that it jumps abruptly from one place to another as de Milja is reassigned to various countries. I would have liked a little more transition. Also, his love interest, a woman who assists him with his intelligence work, disappears with a very brief and unsatisfying explanation. While not his best book (I think Night Soldiers and Kingdom of Shadows are better), this is a fascinating read and I highly recommend it.

The Octopus by Frank Norris

2009-11-06T11:29:00.000-08:00

For today’s reader, this novel might best be summed up as “the more things change, the more they stay the same”. Set in the final years of the 19th century in the San Joaquin Valley of California, farmers, with thousands of acres of wheat under cultivation, are totally dependent on the railroad for transporting their crops to market. The railroad’s corporate greed and corruption, whose long arms extend to law enforcement, the courts, and government, are pitted against the farmers, who represent the American sense of independence, entrepreneurs who are working hard and think they are in charge of their own destiny. The result is inevitable disaster. By today’s standards, Norris’s writing seems very idealized. The character of Vanamee is more a symbol than a real character. After his young love is raped and killed, he spends his life wandering, yearning for his lost love, and has endless conversations attempting to describe the ineffable, until his final scene in a cemetery calling up her spirit. I found this very hard to get through. The farmers were a more interesting lot, from “The Governor” Magnus Derrick, a highly principled man who thinks honorable men always win, to Annixter, a wealthy farmer who spends his time reading Charles Dickens. It is interesting that Norris represents the railroad as almost a force of nature, a movement that cannot be stopped. He doesn’t really hold the officials to any moral standard. I suspect that this novel is primarily read today for historical interest.

The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb

2009-09-25T09:18:00.000-07:00

This is not a book I would have picked up to read but it was a Book Group selection so dutifully read. I found it more engrossing than expected. The book is about Caelum and Maureen Quirk, teacher and school nurse at Columbine. He is absent on the fateful day and she was a survivor. The author writes in great historical detail of the event at the school itself, the history of the shooters, and the impact on the whole community. Lamb details the effect of Maureen's post-traumatic stress on her husband and marriage, her downward spiral and ultimate tragedy. The story is told from Caelum's point of view and the reader gets to experience his slow understanding of himself and his behavior. My biggest problem with the book comes with the second half. Lamb leaves his original story and veers off on a related but essentially separate story of Caelum's history and exploration of his family through the discovery of some old family documents. I found myself skipping ahead to try to figure out who these people were that he was writing about. I found this section much slower and less interesting. I kept wanting him to get back to his original story. This second story could have been done as a sequel.

The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa

2009-09-14T12:55:00.000-07:00

The Leopard is set in Sicily in the 1860's, around the time a united Italy was formed. The plot involves events in the lives of Fabrizio, Prince of Salina, and his family, set against a backdrop of revolution and the collapse of the old aristocracy. I read this in translation so my comments reflect that rather than the original Italian but the language is breathtaking. When Fabrizio walks into a room in the palace, the reader follows his eyes as they take in every detail and hear his reflections on the history of the objects there. There is such a strong sense of place. I was fascinated with his description of the Sicilian character. When a representative of the new national government asks him to join the Senate, describing all the improvements that will be coming to Sicily, Fabrizio declines, explaining that Sicilians don't want improvements. "They are coming to teach us good manners...But they won't succeed because we think we are gods." The story of his family is simple: love, marriage, jealousy, death, all seen through the old man's eyes and filtered through his understanding of the collapse around him. This is a marvelous book.

A Flickering Light by Jane Kirkpatrick

2009-08-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

As in previous novels, Jane Kirkpatrick has based this story on an historical person, in this case her grandmother. Jessie Ann Gaebele lived in Minnesota in the early years of the 20th century. In the story, she discovers a love of photography and dreams of working in what was then a man's profession. Against her parents wishes, she begins training with a local portrait photographer, F. J. Bauer. Kirkpatrick does a good job of describing photography of the time, the use of glass plates and mixing of dangerous chemicals. The conflict in the story arises as a strong attraction grows between Jessie and her employer. The author does a good job of developing her characters and explaining their motivations. By today's standards, the relationship between Jessie and Bauer is almost innocent, more one of feelings than physical actions. But in the community in which they live, their attraction is sinful and shocking. This is the second of Kirkpatrick's novels that I've read and she seems to be drawn to strong females, struggling to overcome the limits placed on women at the time. This book is very well written, with interesting believable characters. A special treat were the actual photographs taken by Jessie and woven into the plot.

Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd

2009-07-17T11:20:00.000-07:00

Brazzaville Beach is one of the best novels by a very good author. The book combines thought-provoking ideas and a gripping plot. Hope Clearwater is a young Englishwoman who marries a math genius primarily because she envies the way his mind works. A retrospective look at his ideas and her observation of his breakdown is woven between her life in a camp in the Congo where she is one of the observers in a large study of chimps. The camp is situated in a region where constant fighting occurs between government and rebellious factions. Hope makes a shocking discovery about the behavior of the chimps and this sets off unexpected repercussions. Her experiences as she moves between the chimps, the scientists in the camp and the war all around her create an amazing story. This is a book that can be enjoyed on many levels, from the philosophical to the simply suspenseful.

A Mending at the Edge by Jane Kirkpatrick

2009-07-08T09:48:00.000-07:00

Based on diaries and historical records, this novel is a fictional account of the life of Emma Wagner Giesy, the only woman sent to the Oregon Territory in the 1850's to help found a communal society. She came as part of a German-American Christian community based in Missouri. The group founded Aurora, Oregon, creating a commune focused on their Christian faith and supported by agriculture and domestic crafts. The story is told from Emma's viewpoint. Escaping an abusive husband, she is given protection and support by the group but her role, along with the other women, is very narrowly defined and decided by the men. A large part of the story is her struggle for personal expression while also satisfying her yearning to be part of the community.It is also an interesting story of the personalities and politics of the group, the tension between creating a faith based community and an economic unit. This novel is part of a series but stands alone very well. The Oregon setting was especially interesting to me but it is well written and a fascinating story with broad appeal.

Stars and Bars by William Boyd

2009-06-27T11:56:00.000-07:00

I discovered William Boyd quite a few years ago and was very impressed with the two novels I read. Then he fell off my radar screen. Recently, I've begun reading more of his novels and I have yet to be disappointed. In Stars and Bars, Henderson Dores is unhappy with his life and after a brief self-analysis, decides all his problems are the result of his English tendency to "shyness", an extreme timidity in asserting himself. He admires Americans as the consummate models of confidence and self-assertion. He takes a job in New York with a private art dealer and attempts a reconciliation with his American ex-wife while simultaneously beginning an affair with another American woman. He is sent to a rural area of Georgia to acquire some valuable paintings and finds himself in a series of disastrous but humorous events which spiral out of his control. I was reminded of Bellow's Henderson the Rain King, where bizarre circumstances seem to bring out the man's every weakness. If you like British black humor, you'll enjoy this.

2009-05-07T15:15:00.001-07:00

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel by Lisa See

I found this book hard to read in many ways, not because of poor writing, but because of the unrelenting sadness in the life of Lily, a 19th century Chinese girl from a poor country family. It begins by describing in great detail her foot binding at age seven. After that, her life narrows, mostly limited to a second story "women's room". She longs for her mother's love but is told daily she is worthless, her only value that of obedient daughter and wife. She is married off and leaves her home for that of her husband, where she is the lowest member of the household. The redeeming grace in her life is her friendship with Snow Flower, in a formalized relationship called a laotong which is intended to be more emotionally intimate and lasting than marriage. How this relationship transcends the other areas of her life, and is threatened by a misunderstanding, forms the core of the book. Lisa See is a very skilled writer and is able to clearly conjure a physical place and society so alien to ours. The reader is left pondering why a woman's beauty and value in that culture depended upon the smallness and shape of her feet. I was struck by an obvious parallel with breast size, and implants to achieve it, in our society. (

2009-05-01T11:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's Embers (Clayburn Novels Series #3)… by Deborah Raney

Doug DeVore is suddenly widowed when his wife and daughter tragically die. He is left with five children and very few resources. He turns to Mickey Valdez, his children's day care teacher, a thirty year old single woman. For a lesser writer, this storyline would be a feel-good romance, a "love conquers all" exercise. But Deborah Raney offers more than that. She looks beneath the surface at what motivates DeVore, his loneliness, his feelings of being overwhelmed at caring for his children, his need for someone to take care of him as his wife had done. Kayeleigh, at 12 the oldest child, struggles with the loss of her mother along with normal adolescent insecurities and her resentment of Mickey drives a lot of the story. Mickey worries that life is passing her by, that she will never have the marriage and family she desires. How their relationship develops, and all the problems they encounter, from religious differences, the demands of so many children and money problems, to extended family pressures, give a sense of reality to their story. I had a real sense of getting to know this family. There is a strong Christian element to the story which motivates the characters and drives their decisions but this does not overpower the story.

Nine Lords of the Night by E. C. Gibson

2009-04-20T10:09:00.000-07:00

The author combines academia, archaeology, looters, revolution and corrupt police to create a gripping mystery set in the Chiapas region of Mexico. The disappearance of a female graduate student working on a dig at a Mayan site sets off an involved chain of events. Several story lines move between Harvard and Chiapas and involve graduate students and faculty, a revolutionary called The Professor and some truly evil bad guys. Mayan religion, both historical and present-day, weaves throughout the story. The author does a very good job of describing the jungle and the conditions of the Indians living there after the government's "pacification" program killed so many of them. This is a real page-turner and I couldn't put it down. I recommend this to those who like a good mystery. My only reservation is that I wasn't totally satisfied with the ending. But I won't play spoiler and will leave that to other readers to decide.

2009-04-17T14:40:00.000-07:00

Unafraid: A Novel of the Possible by Jeff Golden

Suppose JFK did not die in Dallas and a relieved and grateful public gave him the political capital to do what he chooses. This is the premise of Unafraid by Jeff Golden. The novel conjectures what Kennedy would have done in both foreign policy (Cuba, Vietnam, Middle East) and domestically. The speeches and explanations the author writes for Kennedy are quite good and made me wonder if he had some background as a political speechwriter.
The point-of-view of the novel is provided by Caroline Kennedy, the last surviving member of the family, who is working with a biographer to write the definitive story of his eight years in office. This stepping out of the political narrative works well, giving a personal look at the events and the man.
Unfortunately, as the novel progresses and drastic changes in US policy are detailed, Kennedy seems to become a peg on which to hang the author's ideas and ideology. The reader loses sight of the historical Kennedy.
It is a fascinating premise and worth a look at.

Wheels on Fire: My Year of Driving and Surviving in Iraq

2009-04-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

Michelle Zaremba joined the Ohio National Guard expecting to be called upon to deal with natural disasters. Instead, in 2004, her unit was called up for posting to Iraq. Through this memoir and her letters which were sent home and published in a local paper, she recounts her daily life with a compelling honesty and clarity. She was assigned to a convoy unit, driving trucks to deliver supplies to camps all over Iraq. This work gave her an unusual opportunity to see how soldiers were living and surviving all over the country. She describes how they dealt with incredible heat and cold, bugs, sand storms, and poor equipment. The most striking part of the story to me was her description of how they arrived in Iraq without sufficient supplies, soldiers arriving with no flack jackets, trucks with no armor or even doors. It is a tribute to their intelligence and ingenuity that they were able to find ways to work together to provide support for each other. I was also impressed with how she writes about the Iraqis with compassion and understanding even as she describes how she had to regard them as potential enemies. Also interesting is how she dealt with being a woman in command. She was a staff sergeant and often in command of the convoy but Army rules regarding the separation of females made it sometimes impossible to connect with the men under her command. Her story is told in a straightforward way, without any sense of being a victim or pointing fingers. This is a compelling look at day to day life in Iraq. I highly recommend this book.

2009-03-26T15:33:00.001-07:00

The Egyptologist: A Novel by Arthur Phillips

This is an epistolary novel, told in a series of letters from several of the main characters. Those from Ralph Trilipush, Oxford grad, Harvard lecturer, archeologist, date from 1922 during a trip to Egypt to hunt for the tomb of Atum-hadu, whose existence most experts doubt. The letters reveal a man so confident that he is always right and destined for greatness that he filters everything through that belief and you quickly get the sense that there is only a grain of truth in his letters. His constant posturing and self-justification are very funny and cleverly written. The remaining bulk of the letters are from an Australian private detective who stumbles across Trilipush's trail and sets out to find him. Phillips is very clever to use this format to tell his story as the letters reveal the characters so clearly. It quickly becomes obvious that the letters are all self-serving and the truth somewhere in between. As the story progresses, you get a sense that it is headed for disaster. The ending does not disappoint. This is a very clever, beautifully written book.

2009-03-25T14:45:00.003-07:00

Summer Crossing: A Novel (Modern Library Paperbacks)… by Truman Capote

There is a good reason this wasn't published during Capote's lifetime. It is more a sketch of a novel than even a novella. There are inexplicable plot jumps that a more mature writer would have fleshed out. But you can see the talent that was there at an early age. My reading was often pulled up short, arrested by a surprising image. It's a short book, worth reading to see the early effort of a very good writer.

2009-03-25T14:45:00.001-07:00

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

This novel is set in 1950's American suburbia. The main characters, Frank and April, seem to have it all, home, children, successful career. What I found interesting is how the novel follows their internal thoughts and fantasies. Each believes they are unique and creative, superior to those around them, and their attraction to each other seems to be based on each encouraging that idea in the other. As the little disappointments in life chip away at their idea of themselves, they turn to increasingly desperate measures to keep the fantasy alive. In some ways, their attitudes reflect the contempt and rejection of middle class America that dominated the 1960s. A thought provoking book. (

2009-03-25T14:44:00.001-07:00

Any Human Heart by William Boyd

William Boyd is an amazingly good story teller. In this novel, we follow the life of Logan Mountstuart from his school days to his death which covers most of the 20th century. A writer and art dealer, his life touches on most of the great writers and painters of the age as he moves between London, Paris and New York. I had to keep reminding myself that this was a fictional character because Boyd creates a character of such depth and dimension. I was sorry when the book ended.

2009-03-25T14:43:00.001-07:00

Van Loon's Lives by Hendrik Willem Van Loon

One of my all-time favorite books, I go back to it time and again. Set in pre-war Netherlands, the author "finds" a way to invite famous people in history to come to dinner. A delightful discussion of the invitees, their history, what they might have eaten at a typical dinner, a fascinating fantasy. The first dinner with Erasmus was such a success that they arrange for him to visit for a few weeks, offering insights on some of their other guests.You can't help but start thinking about who you would invite!

2009-03-25T14:41:00.001-07:00

The Ethical Assassin: A Novel by David Liss

A young teenager, selling encyclopedias door to door, gets caught up in assassination, drug sales, and animal abuse. In spite of murder and mayhem, this is a very funny book. The assassin turns out to be a very committed animal rights activist and gives a compelling defense for his actions. This book could turn you into a vegan! I really enjoyed it.

2009-03-25T14:40:00.003-07:00

Providence of a Sparrow: Lessons from a Life Gone to the Birds… by Chris Chester

The author finds a baby sparrow that has fallen from the nest and manages to keep it alive. The book traces the effect this event has on his life. There is much information about sparrows; I had never guessed they were so interesting. He describes in detail his getting to know this bird he calls B and how their relationship flourishes. He ends up with seven wild birds, uncaged, living in his second story rooms. A large part of the books is a collection of memories, thoughts, quotes on life as his view of the world changes or is clarified, told with great wit and humor. A wonderful book.

2009-03-25T14:40:00.001-07:00

Museum of Human Beings by Colin Sargent

In Museum of Human Beings, Colin Sargent follows the life of Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, the son of Sacagawea, from his early childhood with the Lewis & Clark Expedition to his death. Born to an Indian mother and her French captor, he is taken as a foster child by Clark and raised at his home. There he catches the eye of a visiting Duke and is taken to Europe. Why he agrees to go with Duke Paul and to put up with being treated as a savage introduces the core of the book. The narrator focuses on Baptiste's search for who he is and where he fits in his world. The story follows the actual travels of Baptiste and Sargent does an amazing job of creating a fascinating interior life for the man. Very well done.

2009-03-25T14:39:00.001-07:00

Reputation: Portraits in Power by Marjorie Williams

Marjorie Williams was a contributor to Vanity Fair and the Washington Post. This is a collection of portraits of political figures, most of them written in the 1990s. They are well written, full of character revealing anecdotes. What struck me strongly was how short political fame and influence can be. She writes of Clark Clifford, James Baker, Terry McAuliffe, Lee Atwater, all well-known, powerful individuals. But will younger readers know of them? If you are interested in the Washington DC culture, this is worth a read.

2009-03-25T14:38:00.002-07:00

The Whiskey Rebels: A Novel by David Liss

This is David Liss' fourth book and I think it's his best. In each of his books, he explores a period in history with great accuracy and attention to detail and then brings that era to life with a compelling fictional story line. In his latest book, he looks at early America, just after the end of the Revolutionary war. The Jeffersonians and the Federalists led by Alexander Hamilton are struggling for power. Hamilton establishes the US Bank and to raise funds, initiates a tax on whiskey, the only source of income and barter on the western Pennsylvania frontier. This leads to the Whiskey Rebellion. Against this backdrop, he weaves two stories which initially seem totally unrelated but then merge to form one fascinating story. Much of the plot line involves financial chicanery which might be confusing but he does an amazing job of making it clear for the reader. Liss is rapidly becoming one of our best writers and this one is definitely a must read.

2009-03-25T14:38:00.001-07:00

The Coffee Trader: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)… by David Liss

As a big fan of David Liss, I had looked forward to reading this book. It contains the historical detail I expected, and an interesting story line, involving a Jewish commodities trader in 1659 Amsterdam who hopes to make a fortune trading coffee. Unfortunately most of the characters are so unpleasant that I found this slow going. It is so hard to care what happens to any of them. Aside from this, the book is as well crafted as his two earlier books and worth taking a look at.

2009-03-25T14:36:00.003-07:00

The Book of Air and Shadows: A Novel by Michael Gruber

After a bookstore fire, letters are discovered written by Richard Bracegirdle, an anti-papist who claims to have spied on William Shakespeare. Also found are some encrypted pages that seem to be the clue to finding a lost play by Shakespeare. The story follows a bookstore employee and an IP lawyer and their families as they hunt for the treasure and encounter Russian and Jewish gangsters also in on the hunt. The plot contains many twists and turns and surprises. It is a very well-written story with lots of ideas. I really enjoyed the unfolding of the mystery as well as being intrigued by the characters even though not many were really likeable. The ending left a little to be desired, I had a couple of unresolved questions but it is still highly recommended.

2009-03-25T14:36:00.001-07:00

In a Dry Season by Peter Robinson

This is one of a series of 16 books about Inspector Alan Banks. Set in the English Midlands, each book follows the solving of a crime and also follows the events of his private life. In a Dry Season is the best of the series, taking place when his marriage has ended and he is struggling in his professional life. The mystery involves a murder committed at the end of World War II and it is fascinating the way pieces of the puzzles are slowly fit together. A really first rate mystery writer.

2009-03-25T14:35:00.001-07:00

CLEVER GIRL by Lauren Kessler

This is a biography of Elizabeth Bentley, born in New England to a conservative family and Vassar educated. She was in her 20's when she fell in love with a KGB agent and embraced communism. The book is well-researched and tells the detailed story of her spying (clever girl was her code name) and how her identity was uncovered during the McCarthy years. The first part of the book is an interesting look at what kind of person she was but towards the end gets bogged down in detailed descriptions of the HUAC hearings in Washington.

2009-03-25T14:34:00.002-07:00

A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer

Georgette Heyer is generally considered to have invented the Regency Romance genre. But her novels are much closer to Jane Austen than the bodice rippers that we typically think of. In this book, one of her best, she looks at the phenomenon of landed but cash poor nobility marrying wealthy daughters of tradesman. In this case, a young man returns from the Peninsular Wars upon his father's death, to discover the estate is bankrupt. Faced with losing the family home and being unable to take care of his sisters, he is talked into marrying a young daughter of an immensely wealthy man who is anxious to improve her social standing. Heyer looks at the culture clashes and how this mixing of the two worlds unfolds. The characters are very well-drawn and complex. A fascinating story.

2009-03-25T14:34:00.001-07:00

A Risk Worth Taking by Robin Pilcher

The main character in this novel is Dan Porter, a middle-aged Londoner working for an American based investment company. He loses his job during the dot.com bust and then watches as many of his American co-workers die in the 9/11 attack. Forced to look at his career, marriage and life direction, he makes some decisions for change. As the story unfolds and his life takes unforeseen directions, he has to look at how his decisions affect his wife and children and decide if his decisions are really for the benefit of his family or just self-indulgent. A few pages into the book I thought it might develop into a totally cliched novel best suited to a Lifetime TV channel movie. But I was pleased to see it develop into an interesting character study. I enjoyed it very much. This is the first book I have read by Robin Pilcher who is the son of novelist Rosamund Pilcher.

2009-03-25T14:33:00.001-07:00

A Spectacle of Corruption: A Novel by David Liss

This is a sequel to David Liss's first novel A Conspiracy of Paper. Ben Weaver finds himself accused and found guilty of murder. His attempts to clear himself lead him into a labyrinth of political intrigue involving Whigs, Tories, and Jacobites. He gives a good look at the English political system of the times. Liss is an exceptional story teller who does amazing research for each of his books. I look forward to reading more.

2009-03-25T14:31:00.000-07:00

Three cups of tea : one man's mission to fight terrorism and build nations-- one school at a time… by Greg Mortenson

This is the story of American mountain climber, Greg Mortenson. In Pakistan for an attempt to climb K2, he discovers a small village and finds his purpose in life. The book details his efforts to raise money for schools for boys and girls in this poor region. It is very inspiring and a testament to the power of the individual. The second half of the book drags somewhat as the writers get caught up in describing the political chaos in Pakistan but still well worth reading. Very uplifting.

2009-03-25T14:30:00.000-07:00

Baker Towers: A Novel by Jennifer Haigh

In her second novel, Jennifer Haigh sets her story in a Pennsylvania mining town beginning with the last years of WW II. The story centers on the Novak family, a Polish father and Italian mother, and their five children. Each child is featured, as they grow up and begin struggling to leave this small company town. It is a good read and the characters are interesting. But this is a story that has been told so many times that I wondered why Haigh had chosen to retell it since there were no fresh insights into the times or the characters.

2009-03-25T14:29:00.000-07:00

Loving Frank: A Novel by Nancy Horan

This novel is based on the relationship between Frank Lloyd Wright and Maymah Cheney. I think most readers would be drawn to the book because of the interest in Wright. However, the book touches only superficially on his career, describing his philosophy of architecture in very general terms. I was left with the impression that he did not do much work during this period (1903-14) because so little is included. The pace of the novel is very slow, dwelling at great length on Mayma's self-justification for leaving her husband and children to live with Wright. She touches on the women's movement during this period but, again, only superficially. Surprisingly, the ending was more satisfying than I expected. Mayma reached a great degree of self awareness that had a ring of truth.

2009-03-25T14:28:00.001-07:00

Angle of Repose (Contemporary American Fiction)… by Wallace Stegner

Stegner has to number among America's best writers. He has an understanding of the west and an ability to describe the land and life there that is unsurpassed. In this book, he weaves two stories, one taking place in the 19th century and one in modern times. In 1868, Susan Burling leaves New York and follows her mining engineer husband out to South Dakota and Wyoming. The story details her slow acceptance and appreciation of life there. Her story is related by her grandson, Lyman Ward, as he struggles to accept his old age and physical infirmity. The earlier story is the stronger one, maybe because the characters are more interesting and distinct. A wonderful read.

March 25, 2009

2009-03-25T14:05:00.000-07:00

This is my initial posting on my new blogspot where I intend to post my book reviews from Librarything and Amazon. I like the idea of having them posted on one site and hopefully available to more readers who might be interested. This is a bold new adventure for me, not being particularly savvy about hi tech matters. So, here we go ....