Staff Picks

I Married You for Happiness

2012-02-10T14:00:00.000-06:00

I married you for happiness is a brief and complex work combining happiness and grief. It centers in the bedroom shared by Nina and Philip. "His hand is growing cold; still she holds it." We spend 24 hours with Nina as she grieves at the sudden death of her husband after 43 years of marriage. It is a poignant goodbye, full of memories of the past.

Although there are many sad moments, there is much sweetness in the memories. There is also much of art (Nina is an artist) and of mathematics (Philip is a mathematician). All is told in brief sentences, brief paragraphs, which create a clear, crisp sense of place, of time, of Nina, Phillip, their daughter Louise, of the other people in their lives. The ending of the book is exquisite and encapsulates the entire work, which is a simple, yet elegant tribute to the complexities of a marriage.

Lily Tuck is the winner of the National Book Award in 2004 for The News from Paraguay.

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My Russian Grandmother and Her American Vacuum Cleaner: A Family Memoir

2012-02-07T14:57:00.000-06:00

Phobia, love, coming of age, and a vacuum cleaner--they are all elements of this delightful book by Meir Shalev. My Russian Grandmother and her American Vacuum Cleaner highlights the early history of Zionism in Israel and gives us an intimate glimpse into the background of one of Israel's most beloved writers. He is best known in this country for his book, A Pigeon and a Boy.

Grandma Tonia came to what was then Palestine in 1923 when she was just 18. Her future husband, Aharon, was the widower of her late sister. He was fourteen years her senior and the father of two young boys. Shalev's mother, perhaps in an attempt to understand and even forgive her, relates:

She arrived from Russia, ...a young woman with her hair in braids and wearing a high school girl's uniform,...and she came to the valley, to the dust and dirt and hard work and mud...She came here and discovered that all the promises of property owned by her father were untrue, that Grandpa Aharon, who had many virtues and talents, was no great farmer, and she sank into a life of labor and deprivation. And yet, she made up her mind not to be broken, not to return to Russia or desert to America or run off to Tel Aviv. We didn't have an easy time of it with her, but the entire family has her to thank for this farm. (p. 13)

In today's psychology-oriented society, Grandma Tonia would have been diagnosed as having an obsessive-compulsive disorder. And although Freud had presented his theories on this malady in the 1920's, there would have been little time for treatment for a moshavnik of that period--let alone for the formidable Tonia. A mother of five young children, not counting her two stepsons, she invariably turned her frustrations on the one tangible item of which there was plenty--dirt.

Grampa Aharon, unlike Grandma Tonia, was "inclined toward things other than agriculture (p. 13)." He wrote reports and articles for The Young Laborer" and edited a satirical bulletin for the moshav called, The Mosquito. He wrote riotously funny skits that were performed in the village hall after their individual Seders. Shalev muses that has he gone to Los Angeles like his brother, Yeshayahu, he might have become a successful screen writer.

Great Uncle Yeshayahu became a successful businessman in America. Aharon deeply resented his brother, calling him a "double traitor" for embracing Capitalism over Zionism and Socialism. This wealthy brother eventually sent the gift of a giant General Electric vacuum cleaner to Grandma Tonia--a gift that gained mythical importance in family lore.

My Russian Grandmother and Her American Vacuum Cleaner is a book that spans three generations of a family and of a country. It is a very human look at a renowned writer and a loving tribute to his colorful grandmother. Reading this book was sheer pleasure. Its ending, like most family endings, was touching and bittersweet.

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Sybil Exposed

2012-02-03T15:48:00.002-06:00

In 1956 Shirley Mason (aka Sybil) was a student at Columbia University. She woke up one morning and realized she was in Philadelphia and had no idea how she got there or what she was doing there. The first events she could remember had happened 5 days before - she couldn't remember anything more recent.

Shirley Ardell Mason was raised as a 7th Day Adventist, very strict, no novels, no art both of which she loved. Her mother was very strict, her father not really engaged. Shirley first exhibited strange behavior in 1935 while in grade school. She had terrible mood swings, tended to "zone out," and forget where she was. As a child she was treated for a blood disorder which alleviated most of the symptoms. As a teenager she was brought to Dr. Cornelia Wilbur for therapy. This was a match mad in hell for Shirley.

Dr. Wilbur came from a Christian Scientist background. In 1930 she graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.S. in Science. She married and used her husband's money to pay for medical school. Psychiatry was her speciality. Wilbur considered herself on the cutting edge of feminism. Dr. Wilbur believed all of Shirley's symptoms were due to repressed memories and it was up to her to bring them out.

Wilbur had done some experimental work with drugs. Mostly mind altering ones the military was using, notably Pentothal. Wilbur would put Shirley into drug induced trances and hypnotic states that allowed Shirley to "remember" the abuse she allegedly suffered. Soon Wilbur was convinced that Shirley had multiple personalities that were responsible for some of the behavior.

Multiple personality diagnoses were extremely rare at this time and almost never made. The movie "The Three Faces of Eve" had been released and it set off an interest in the area. Most of the people diagnosed with multiple personalities had 1 or 2 other personalities. Shirley had 16. Intensive therapy followed. The professional relationship between the 2 women lasted for years. Shirley developed a serious case of transference. Wilbur continued to pump Shirley full of a cocktail of drugs: Pentothal, Seconal, Demerol, Edvisal and Daprisal. The last 2 drugs were removed from the market because of side effect issues. Any or all of the drugs could cause hallucinations and altered personalities as a side effect of the drug. Dr. Wilbur felt her methods were justified because multiple personality disorder was very rare and understudied.

Dr. Wilbur decided to approach Shirley about writing a book. They, in turn, get together with Flora Schrieber who at the time was writing free lance articles for women's magazines. Schreiber gets the information on "Sybil" from Dr. Wilbur and is immediately hooked. She neglects to verify most of the facts alleged by the doctor. She cobbles enough information together to write the book, although she will later admit to embellishing facts. Schreiber wants a happy ending for the book, so she hesitates to publish it.

Shirley had been keeping her own diary of her treatment sessions which chronicled some of her behavior. The diary showed that she craved positive comments from Dr. Wilbur. In 1975 Dr. Wilbur declared that Shirley's personalities had integrated and she stopped treatment, but by this time Dr. Wilbur was becoming a world renown multi-personality specialist. In 1958 Shirley wrote the doctor a letter saying she had made up the entire history. There were no multiple personalities. Wilbur didn't believe it. In fact she claimed an alternate personality wrote the letter. Therapy started up again along with the drugs.

Sybil was becoming more and more dependent on Dr. Wilbur, who was beginning to worry about this. The doctor was afraid that people would begin to realize that Shirley was actually Sybil. In 1965 Dr. Wilbur once again decides that all the personalities have finally integrated. Flora can now publish her book because she can give it a happy ending. The book was an immediate hit.

The book was turned over to a screenwriter named Stewart Stern. Stern had strong doubts about the story. He didn't believe the facts checked out but when Dr. Wilbur played some of the tapes from Shirley's therapy sessions he was convinced. What he didn't know was that Shirley was under the influence of some mind altering drugs at the time the tapes were made. Stern admitted that he also added some "deliberate fictions" to the screen play. No one could really verify anything with Sybil because no one knew her real name except Dr. Wilbur and Flora and they weren't telling. The fiction continued until the deaths of both Dr. Wilbur when her medical papers became part of a school archive.

This book is sad and horrifying on so many levels. Sad because Shirley had an entirely treatable disease called Pernicious Anemia, which likely caused most of her symptoms. Indeed she seemed to get better when she was treated for this as a child. Horrifying because the doctor who took advantage of Sybil did so for her own purposes and destroyed Shirley's life in the process. What I didn't realize was that this episode led to the fad of repressed memory therapy which in turn led to the wave of sexual assault charges in pre-schools and day care centers in the 1980's. The DSM, the bible of the therapy field, was changed several times because of Wilbur's treatment claims.

The book is written from the position of hindsight. Medical research has led to the banning of several of the drugs used in Shirley's therapy. The treatment method and diagnostic parameters have been changed. But what hasn't changed is the fact the everyone was sucked in to believing something totally unbelievable.

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Delicate Edible Birds

2012-01-31T11:13:00.002-06:00

If I were to recommend the best short story writers few have heard of, Lauren Groff would be at the top of my list. The tales in Delicate, Edible Birds (2009) are rich in language and imagery; the characters are so real they could walk off the page. Like Carol Shields, she depicts average women in unique situations. Take for example, "The Wife of the Dictator." In an unnamed South American country, a dictator takes a rather plain American widow as his wife. She is envied and spied upon by the upper class women--those whose husbands are government officials. After the birth of her daughter, a disappointment to the dictator, she shows signs of being beaten. Her daughter grows into a plain and fearful child.

The dictator's wife is wearing new colors..., and on her head she now wears hats with chin-length veils. When we search out her eyes, we believe we see bruises around them, and from that moment we don't search them anymore. Later we wonder if they are not bruises, if she is simply exhausted from all of the sleep she has been missing. When they are together in public, the dictator rarely turns his eyes from his wife. We almost never hear her subdued voice anymore. ( p. 152)

As revolution brews in the country, the modern women who narrate this story quake with fear. The American wife, now "ugly with fatigue (p. 156)" speaks to them over tea and admits that in her dreams, she has visions of her husband's atrocities. But the spotlight is not really on the wife, but on the callous women watching her. Yet they, too, are hostages to the violence around them. Ultimately, Groff grants them self-awareness if not culpability.

In "L. Debard and Aliette," Groff depicts unrequited love, as she does in "Sir Fleeting." In the first story, we have a former Olympic swimmer who helps a Polio victim regain the use of her legs and go on to be a Gold Medalist herself. The character, Aliette, is loosely based on the real life of Ethelda Bleibtrey. The story has an unusual and brutal twist.

In "Sir Fleeting," a woman looks back on her youth and her life-long passion for a handsome but shallow man. There is marked contrast between the wholesome eighteen year old she once was and the lonely, elderly woman she is now. As she glances at her reflection in an elevator door, she remarks: Whatever it was I'd had in that picture had seeped away over the years, a rubber tire with a long, slow leak. (p. 194)"

Every tale in this collection harbors a surprise. Each ending, some shocking, some merely revelatory, prove Lauren Groff a master storyteller with a unique understanding of the human heart. She depicts people in their full humanity, capable of deep love or great cruelty. Above all, she is a writer whose every sentence contains a wealth of meaning and beautiful prose.

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Blue Nights

2012-01-27T15:44:00.000-06:00

Blue Nights, like all of Joan Didion's works, is a sort of prose poem, about and dedicated to her late daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne. As the title implies, it is about life's fragility--the gradual shift from light to darkness. Didion explains:

In certain latitudes there comes a span of time approaching and following the summer solstice, some weeks in all, when the twilights turn long and blue...During the blue nights you think the end of day will never come. As the blue nights draw to a close (and they will, and they do), you experience an actual chill, an apprehension of illness, at the moment you first notice: the blue light is going, the days are already shortening, the summer is gone (p. 4).

In the 1980s, Joan Didion and her husband, John Gregory Dunne, were the literary darlings of New York. They were equally well received in California, where they had a second home in Malibu. Quintana was their adopted only child. Only 6 weeks before the publication of A Year of Magical Thinking, Didion's memoir about the sudden death of her husband, she tragically loses her daughter to complications from pneumonia.

Boris Kachka, in a New York Magazine article, sums up her book, as well as her tragic losses.
The book is about many things: mental illness, fate,and our overgrown faith in medical technology. But it is most importantly a reckoning with her shortcomings as a mother...'I don't think anybody feels like they're a good parent. Or if people think they're good parents, they ought to think again.' http://nymag.com/print/?/arts/books/features/joan-didion-2011-10/

Despite its tragic subject, Blue Nights is not difficult to read. Its terse, crystallized writing style
provides ample distance between the reader and the narrator. Yet one ends the book feeling that the real Quintana Roo has not been revealed. As Boris Kachka concludes, "(Didion's) clinical brand of revelation can sometimes feel like an evasion--as likely to lead the reader away from hard truths as toward them."

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MICRO

2012-01-25T14:44:00.001-06:00

The latest and last Michael Crichton book, Micro, takes readers through the Hawaiian rain forest, the twist is that the characters are small - much smaller than your thumb. The story opens with the discovery of the bodies of three murdered men on Oahu. They are found in a locked room and are covered with hundreds of tiny razor-sharp cuts. The question is who murdered them and how did the murderer get out of the locked room? The only clue is a tiny robot with razor sharp blades that is barely visible to the human eye.

In another part of the island, a secretive company has developed ground breaking nano technology. They are using tiny robots to harvest microscopic items out of the Hawaiian forests. The materials hold great pharmaceutical promise. The directors of the company, Nanigen MicroTechnologies, travel to Cambridge, Massachusetts to recruit graduate students to help with the research. Seven students decide to travel to Hawaii for a visit.

Once in Oahu everything spins out of control. Peter Jansen, a student receives a cryptic text message from his brother Eric who is a director for Nanigen. Peter then receives news that his brother, an experienced sailor, has died in a boating accident. While looking into his brother's death, Peter realizes that not all is right with Nanigen.

Peter and the other grad students have a run in with the psychopathic president of the company, Vin Drake. While ostensibly showing them the company's technology, Drake shrinks the students into microscopic size. The students escape the lab and the race is on. Dodging both gigantic insects and the people sent to kill them, the students show remarkable resilience by drawing on their areas of scientific expertise. The time is short however, as the test trials of others studied after being shrunk, show 72 hours is the most a human can survive at that size.

Crichton died in 2008 before finishing this manuscript. Richard Preston was chosen to finish the book and I think he did a stellar job. I couldn't tell where Crichton's story ended and Preston's began. The story moves quickly and is filled with fantastic scientific machines - but that is vintage Crichton. A story that feels somewhat like a cross between Fantastic Voyage and Mysterious Island, the book will have you looking at insects, birds and indeed the dust in your house in an entirely different way.

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To End All Wars

2012-01-21T14:01:00.001-06:00

There are certain subjects where it seems difficult to believe that anything new can be said. World War I is one of those subjects, yet many new books are published about it every year. Adam Hochschild's To End All Wars is an enjoyable read because it manages to take a different look at this conflict by focusing on pacifists, conscientious objectors, suffragettes and others who took the unpopular stand of opposing the war.

Hochschild, an American author and journalist, writes on the subject of human rights and his books often focus on the people who are steamrolled by history. In this book, Hochschild's focus is primarily on England, where Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters fought together to earn woman the right to vote but split bitterly on the subject of whether England should join the war. Also intriguing is the story of Charlotte Despard, a leading suffragette and pacifist whose brother, John French, just happened to be the commander-in-chief of the Western Front. Others, from the well-known mathematician Bertrand Russell and his antithesis jingoistic Rudyard Kipling, to conscientious objectors shipped off to France to face sure death are profiled as well.

Much of this book reads as a standard World War I history, with plentiful diversions throughout to tell the story of those who resisted. The shift in combat from the second Boer War, which was fought on fields by cavalry on horseback to World War I, which saw the introduction of mustard gas, tanks and large-scale use of machine guns, is starkly portrayed. The horror of battles which often saw losses of hundreds of thousands of men for gains of limited territory is vividly detailed, making obvious the importance of having other voices to question the country's choices when it got caught up in patriotic fervor.

Hochschild comes to a similar conclusions as Niall Ferguson's book The Pity of War by arguing that World War I should have been avoided and was bungled by the British, who managed to lose more casualties in a single battle than the United States lost in the entire war. I find it ironic that a war that was primarily driven by European empires and alliances was also the catalyst for many of the social changes that followed - the Bolshevik Revolution, women earning the right to vote and the beginning of the end of colonialism. Enjoy this compelling book as both a history of World War I and of those who are not always mentioned in the history books.

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The Lady of the Rivers

2012-01-18T11:29:00.001-06:00

The Lady of the Rivers by Phillipa Gregory is the third of her books in the series entitled The Cousins' War, but the time in which it is set precedes those books in the series written previously, The White Queen and The Red Queen.

The Women of the Cousins' War: the Duchess, the Queen, and the King's Mother published in 2011 and also by Phillipa Gregory, working with others, makes use of original documents, archaeology, and other sources to share, in a historical work, the stories of Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford (The Lady of the Rivers) ; Elizabeth Woodville, the wife of Edward IV (The White Queen) ; and Margaret Beaufort (The Red Queen), the founder of the Tudor dynasty. This is one example of the depth of the research Gregory does for her historical fiction.

In The Lady of the Rivers Gregory focuses on Jacquetta of Luxembourg, a strong woman who, although she is not a well known historical figure, is involved in many events preceding, following, and during The War of the Roses. Jacquetta is a descendant of Melusina, the water goddess, and possesses some powers of foretelling. She is reluctant to use those powers, but is required to by her first husband the Duke of Bedford and by Margaret of Anjou, the Queen of England who she serves for many years. As a young girl, Jacquetta befriends Joan of Arc and witnesses her execution. Throughout her long life, Jacquetta deals with what it means to be a strong and intelligent woman in a world ruled by and dominated by men and she also deals with balancing her abilities of foretelling and her knowledge of alchemy with the charges of witchcraft that are often leveled at those with such powers.

Any reader familiar with and a fan of the work of Phillipa Gregory will enjoy this historical work. A reader new to this author will find that the strengths of The Lady of the Rivers, as of other works by Gregory, are well drawn characters and dialogue, satisfying friendships and romantic relationships, and excellent descriptions and details of daily life, which provide a strong sense of place and of living in the time.

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The Puppy Diaries

2012-01-13T16:12:00.002-06:00

Jill Abramson, the author of this memoir, is a respected investigative reporter who now serves as the first woman executive editor of The New York Times. She was recently the subject of a 12 page article in The New Yorker (October 24, 2011), as well as featured guest on the CBS Sunday Morning Program, October 15, 2011.

► 8:10► 8:10

www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7384870n

Articles about Jill Abramson often cite her tough and sometimes abrupt style. But her book, The Puppy Diaries, clearly shows Ms. Abramson's softer, maternal side. Scout, named after the character in To Kill a Mockingbird, is a "Marleyesque" white golden retriever. Just about every sort of mischief that a puppy could get into attracts Scout. And as she grows into adolescence, these problems start to compound themselves.

What is unique about this book is its journalistic detail. Not only does it include a comprehensive bibliography, but Abramson documents, step by step, her often futile attempts to train Scout. She elaborates on the various schools of thought (positive reinforcement clicker method vs. the pack leader approach advocated by Cesar Millan). Abramson details everything a potential dog owner should know, from the adoption process (breeders vs. shelters) to the myriad choices of food (raw diet, gluten-free, table scraps). She also reveals much about grieving for a former pet and learning to love what seems, at times, "the replacement."

I had not forgotten Buddy," she writes after a year of mixed feelings, "but he was now the dog that had been my ideal companion for a different, earlier time. Watching Scout play in the snow..., I knew that I had finally passed my test: I had completely given my heart to her. (p. 233)

Jill Abramson has written an endearing memoir that captures the humbling experience of training a puppy. Whether you are a dog owner, prospective dog owner, or simply a lover of The New York Times, this book will be of interest.

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When She Woke

2012-01-10T15:04:00.000-06:00

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan is very different from her first novel Mudbound, but it is every bit as well written and as hard to put down once you start to read it. Mudbound was set just after World War II, on a remote cotton farm in the Mississippi Delta, a farm often further isolated when it is surrounded by a sea of mud following a heavy rain. Mudbound won the Bellwether Prize for fiction, a prize founded by Barbara Kingsolver and awarded to a first literary novel that addresses issues of social justice. It focused on issues of war and bigotry, friendship and passion. If you have not read Mudbound, it is well worth reading. as is When She Woke.

"When she woke, she was red." We first meet Hannah Payne in prison, a woman convicted of murder, whose skin color has been genetically altered. She is a Chrome, one of the many criminals whose skin color matches the class of their crime. In the State of Texas, Hannah has murdered her unborn child and refused to reveal the identity of the father, a well-known public figure.

The reader follows Hannah back and forth in time. We learn the story of her love, the identity of the father of her child, and about her abortion and the consequences of that act. We get to know her family and friends. We travel with Hannah when she leaves prison, first to a sort of halfway house, the Straight Path Center, and, shortly thereafter, we follow Hannah as she tries to rebuild her life in a world hostile to her.

Reviewers have referenced Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, to which the parallels are clear. Also mentioned, in reviews, is the dystopian world of Margaret Atwood. Marge Piercy is another author who creates dystopian worlds and interesting female characters dealing with situations in which they would prefer not to be. Piercy has said "dystopian fiction asks the question: 'If this goes on, what is going to happen?' " and is "based on our actual observations about the way the world is, and how it appears to be developing."

Among the many issues affecting the characters and society are abortion, adultery, consequences of crime, prisons, faith, the relationship of church and state, and the role of women in society. When She Woke is riveting for the reader on many levels. The characters are varied. The situations are interesting, often unique. How it will end for Hannah is not clear. The book is set in a fascinating world, one that is frightening and different from our world, but describes a future not so difficult to imagine.

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Staff Picks for 2011

2011-12-27T22:27:00.000-06:00

The librarians at the Glencoe Public Library have compiled a list of their favorite books from the last year. Read and enjoy!!

FICTION

On Canaan’s Side. Barry, Sebastian

City of Thieves. David, Benioff

An Uncommon Reader. Bennett, Alan

The Lake. Yoshimoto, Banana

I am Half Sick of Shadows. Alan Bradley

Year of Wonders. Brooks, Geraldine

Caleb’s Crossing. Brooks, Geraldine

A Small Hotel. Butler, Robert

Once Upon a River. Campbell, Bonnie Jo.

The Grief of Others. Cohen, Leigh

Sarah’s Key. De Rosnay, Tatiana

Room. Donoghue, Emma

The Girl Who Fell from the Sky. Durrow, Heidi

The Keep. Egan, Jennifer

When We Danced on Water. Fallenberg, Evan

You Know when the Men are Gone. Fallon, Shiobhan

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Foer, Jonathan Safran

Left Neglected. Genova, Lisa

Dead Souls. Gogol, Nikolai

The Cookbook Collector. Goodman, Allegra

When She Woke. Jordan, Hillary

The Typist. Knight, Michael

The Girl in the Green Raincoat. Lipman, Laura

The Oracle of Stamboul: A Novel. Lukas, Michael David

Sister. Lupton, Rosamund

From the Land of the Moon. Milena, Agus

1Q84 - Murakam, Haruki

Bound. Nelson, Antonya

Emily Alone. O’Nan, Stewart.

The Invisible Bridge. Orringer, Julie

The Buddha in the Attic. Otsuka, Julie

State of Wonder. Patchett, Anne

Trick of Light. Penny, Louise

The Leftovers. Perrota, Tom

Secret of the White Rose. Pintoff, Stephanie

Doc: A Novel. Russell, Mary Doria

The Story of a Beautiful Girl. Simon, Rachel

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand. Simonson, Helen

The Dog Who Came in From the Cold. Smith, Alexander McCall.

The Year We Left Home. Thompson, Jean

The Barbarian Nurseries. Tobar, hector

Rules of Civility. Towles, Amor

The Book of Joe. Tropper, Jonathan

Clara and Mr. Tiffany. Vreeland, Susan

Among others. Walton, Jo.

The Legacy. Webb, Katherine

The Lover. Wilson, Laura

The Uncoupling. Wolitzer, Meg

NONFICTION

Endgame. Bio. Fisher

Unbroken. Bio. Zamperini

The Psychopath Test. 616.85 RON

Catherine the Great. Bio. Catherine II

The Tiger. 599.756 VAI

Genius of Place. Bio Olmsted

The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris. 944.361 MCC

The Night Circus

2011-12-27T14:00:00.000-06:00

The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern, is a magical first novel. The author's imagination is matched only by her ability to capture it on paper.

The book spans the years 1873-1936 and centers on the Cirque des Reves--a "Circus of Dreams" that opens at nightfall and closes at dawn. It travels via rail all over Europe, but appears without notice and disappears just as suddenly. The Cirque des Reves features trapeze artists, animal acts, fortune tellers, contortionists, and fantastic holograms. The acts are breathtaking and spectacular.

Yet the beauty of the circus is matched by the empathetic characters and the ingenious plot. The Cirque des Reves revolves around two figures, Celia and Marco, who are competitors in a game of skill and endurance. Each is trying to exceed the other in magical feats. The circus provides the venue for this. Celia's father and Marco's guardian have been training them in the art of magic since they were children, making them pawns in the power struggle of their elders. Echoes of Dickens resonate as we witness examples of childhood exploitation and physical and emotional abuse.

Still, the children grow into healthy adults, albeit lonely ones. It is not surprising that they are strongly attracted to one another from a young age, not knowing until much later that they are rivals. "Our instructors do not understand how it is," comments one of the characters. " To be bound to someone in such a way. They are too old, too out of touch with their emotions. They no longer remember what it is to live and breathe within the world. They think it simple to pit any two people against each other. It is never simple (p. 344)."

In many ways, the book is a 400 page fairy tale for adults. It uses romance as a binding thread, interweaving complicated characters and breath-taking performances.

If you are a lover of fantasy, romance, or imaginative prose, this book is a must-read. It would also be enjoyed by the high school and college set, and by anyone who loved Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games. Already, the movie rights have been sold.

Here's NPR's review.

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Scenes from Village Life

2011-12-20T12:13:00.000-06:00

Scenes from Village Life by Amos Oz, translated by Nicholas de Lange is a beautifully written book. The use of language is exquisite. It has been translated from Hebrew by his long time translator and reviewers credit de Lange with a fine translation.

The book is a collection of short stories, set in the century old pioneer village of Tel Ilan. While each story focuses on a different character and resident of the village, many of the characters can be found in several of the stories.

One might expect a village and village life to be cozy and secure. Not so, in this book. As Claire Messud indicates in her New York Times review, "Each of the collection’s eight stories shows someone searching, either literally or metaphorically, and without success, for relief. " Further she says, "There is, in each story, a particular chord or strain; but taken together, these chords rise and reverberate, evoking an unease so strong it’s almost a taste in the mouth. "

Much of the beauty of the language and of the book is in the description of place and of person. Where each story is set and who the characters are who inhabit the stories is so clear that you can, indeed, sense it with the use of your senses - feel, see, and even taste.

Following are three brief quotes from the text. "The stranger was not quite a stranger." is the first line of the book. And the last line, in the final and most allegorical story, entitled "In a Faraway Place at Another Time"is "And that's all there is to it." One more quote from a story near the end called "Strangers", "And the distance from pity to love was like the distance from the moon reflected in a puddle to the moon itself." All three quotes are typical of the language and tone of the book, its sense of mystery, of unease, of lack of resolution, its tone of allegory and, at times, of the surreal.

The book may be read on many levels of understanding. It is not necessary to understand the references to other literature, to political situations, or to any other specifics of life in Israel in order to appreciate the book, although it may add to levels of understanding when reading this multi-layered work. Fundamentally, however, Scenes From Village Life can be read and understood as a very human set of stories and situations, primarily stories of loss and loneliness and disaffection, portrayals of an aspect of the human condition. Messud's review of the book is so fine, that this entry ends with the final quote from her review: “Scenes From Village Life is a brief collection, but its brevity is a testament to its force. You will not soon forget it."

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East of the Sun

2011-12-16T14:40:00.000-06:00

Not necessarily an oldie but East of the Sun is a goodie. Originally published in 2009, Julia Gregson's novel tells the story of three women who travel to India in the late 1920's. Women (especially British women) were going to India in the 1920's to snag a husband from the crop of British men who were there as soldiers, diplomats and businessmen. The women were collectively referred to as the "fishing fleet."

The story opens with Viva Holloway being hired to chaperon 2 girls who are travelling to India. And one boy, Guy, who has been asked to leave his boarding school. One girl , Rose, is to marry a man in the British contingent of the Indian Army and her friend, Victoria, is accompanying her as her bridesmaid. Tor, as she is known is desperate to get married. Viva needs to get to India to pick up a trunk which is all she has left of her family. Her father, mother and sister all died when she was a child and she was sent back to England to live. She wants to retrieve the trunk and get some new insights to help her on her way to becoming an author.

The story continues through the voyage on the ship. The story takes off at this point. Tor becomes the life of the party and falls in love with the ship's doctor, Frank. Rose becomes more apprehensive as they get closer to India and her marriage and Viva has her hands full with Guy and her own demons. The story does not really go into the politics of India at the time. Gandhi was just emerging as a leader and the local population was starting to resent the British.

Gregson wrote a book dealing with the lives and loves of these three women. The setting may be India, which is of interest, but it's the characters and their choices that really make the story. Looking for love, finding it, losing it and then finding yourself is really what the story is about.

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Mr. Chartwell

2011-12-13T11:47:00.000-06:00

Mr. Chartwell is Rebecca Hunt's first novel and it is an intriguing mix of historical fiction and psychological fiction, of charm and melancholy, of humor and sadness. Sir Winston Churchill called his depression a "black dog". Mr. Chartwell, a huge black dog able to walk on his hind legs, rents a room from Esther Hammerhans, a young library clerk in the House of Commons library.

As Mr. Chartwell comes to know Esther he becomes Black Pat to her. He converses with Esther about complex subjects in an entirely human way, but, he also shows many of the traits of a dog.

Black Pat can be a charming companion for Esther, talking with her at length, sharing gin and tonic which he drinks from a large watering can, while she uses the more conventional glass. When Mr. Chartwell moves into Esther's room to let he retrieves his luggage, a box hidden in the bushes and his "possessions were fantastically odd: a clump of brown fur, one side crusted with blood; a rotting log; a hoof from a large deer...." At another time, when Esther and Black Pat are talking through the closed door to Esther's room, she asks him, "'Are you eating something?' 'I am not.' said Black Pat, filing his teeth on a sheep's pelvis he had rescued from a ditch." In one memorable scene, Black Pat prepares a barbecue surprise for Esther. You will have to read the book to learn of the surprise for yourself.

The black dog is not such a charming companion for Churchill, who is also a character in this novel. The story takes place over the six days leading up to and ending with Churchill's retirement from Parliament and from public life. Churchill struggles with his memories and with his depression, but he also writes a memorable farewell speech, with the help of Esther.

Additional interesting characters in the novel are Esther's friends, the married couple Beth and Big Oliver, Esther's new friend and possible love interest Mark Corkbowl, and the presence in the story of Esther's husband, Michael, who is no longer with her.

Rebecca Hunt succeeds on many levels in her first novel. In addition to an unusual dog as a main character, there are interconnected stories of love and of friendship - Churchill and Clementine, Esther and her colleagues at the library. There is much that is dark in this novel, but, it is also a story showing how humor, caring, and friendship can provide comfort and strength, even in the most difficult times.

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I Am Half-Sick of Shadows

2011-12-06T10:52:00.001-06:00

Flavia de Luce is back. This time it is near Christmas and her father, who is strapped for cash, has rented out the house as a setting for a movie. With all the costs of running the manse, it's either rent it out or possibly loose the house.

The actors and crew arrive along with a blizzard. As the weather worsens, the townspeople also arrive at Buckshaw for a benefit featuring the renowned actress Phyllis Wyvern. Phyllis will be doing readings from Romeo and Juliet. The show is a sellout, mostly because the locals want a glimpse of the famous actress. As fascinated with the actors as Flavia is, she is even more interested in whether Santa Claus is real. According to her sisters he is not, but how can Flavia be sure? She devises a plan using her copious chemistry skills.

Two days before Christmas, Flavia decides she needs to speak to Phyllis, but as she is creeping through the house and around the sleeping townspeople who are trapped because of the blizzard, Flavia realizes someone else is awake and it is not Phyllis. Phyllis is dead - murdered in her room, dressed up in a costume from another movie. Flavia is on the case.

The appeal of these books by Alan Bradley is Flavia. Precocious, 11 years old, Flavia is the youngest of the 3 de Luce sisters. Her mother died when she was very small, leaving her father in charge of the girls. Flavia, ever at the mercy of her 2 older sisters uses her interest in chemistry to her full advantage. In this story it's a device to trap Santa Claus so she can prove he is real. That same expertise also allows her to solve the murder. Flavia once again comes to the rescue, just in time.

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Acceptable Loss

2011-12-02T15:18:00.000-06:00

The latest in Anne Perry's William Monk series has Monk on the trail of the killer of a local low-life named Mickey Parfitt. Parfitt was involved in the child pornography and blackmail trades. In fact, this book picks up where Execution Dock leaves off.

The usual characters makes their appearances. Hester, married to William is working at her free medical clinic with the help of Margaret Ballinger, who has married Oliver Rathbone -lawyer extraordinaire. Rumors are swirling around that Margaret's father, Arthur, is the money and brains behind the porn industry taking place on private boats on the Thames.

Hester's newest financial backer is Rupert Cardew, a local rich boy with an unsavory reputation. Parfitt has been strangled with a cravat belonging to Cardew. Originally arrested for Parfitt's death, Cardew turns out to be more than he appears.

The book ends in the climatic trial scene with Rathbone once again defending the accused that Monk has secured the evidence against. Surprises come out at the trail that change everyone's lives. The story is vintage Perry. It's interesting in its time frame and although this book picks up where Execution Dock leaves off, Perry provides enough background that it stands on its own.

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The Sense of an Ending

2011-11-29T16:57:00.000-06:00

The Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes, is an eloquent novella about youth seen from the vantage point of late middle age. It examines one's perceptions of events that took place long ago. The narrator, Tony Webster, is an average man who relishes being ordinary. He is now comfortably retired, has an amicable relationship with his ex-wife, and has a grown daughter and grandchildren. Ennui plagues him. At 60, he does nothing other than volunteer at the local hospital library. "I had wanted life not to bother me too much, and succeeded--and how pitiful that was."

But life was not always this way. As a young man in high school, Tony was one of four close friends. The most unusual of these boys was the shy and gifted Adrian Finn. He was a star student and went on to study philosophy and "moral sciences" at Cambridge. Adrian's life ended mysteriously in suicide while he was doing his post-graduate studies. Well into his later years, Tony believes his friend died a noble philosopher's death.

What really happened to Adrian during those university years, as well as to Veronica, the young woman who dated them both, comprises the essence of this book. When Tony is bequeathed Adrian's diary after the death of Veronica's mother, and subsequently denied access to it, the novella takes on a quest motif. Tony follows Veronica, uncovering not only the secrets of her former life, but that of Adrian. Most important, though, he meets his former self--a narcissist whose actions are redeemed only by his sense of current remorse.

You get towards the end of life--no, not life itself, but of something else: the end of any likelihood of change in that life. You are allowed a long moment of pause, time enough to ask the question: what else have I done wrong? (p. 163)

The Sense of an Ending, winner of the 2011 Booker Award, is a powerful novella with surprising twists. It realistically depicts the callousness of youth and the falseness of our recollections. Julian Barnes presents us with a sympathetic but unreliable narrator who leads himself and the reader to a shocking conclusion.

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American Boy

2011-11-23T11:36:00.000-06:00

Larry Watson's new novel deals with a boy's coming of age in the 1960's. The story opens with a revelation by Matt that he has seen a woman's breasts when he was 17. Matthew is a teenager whose father has left and is being raised by his hardworking waitress mother. He has been welcomed into the Dunbar family as far on the opposite social side as could possibly be in their little Minnesota town.

Matthew and Johnny Dunbar are inseparable. Johnny's dad, the town doctor has taken an interest in Matthew as well, almost as a volunteer project. Dr. Dunbar invites the boys into his office to learn something of the medical practice in the hopes that they will develop an interest in medicine. The story starts with a shooting accident on Thanksgiving night. Dr. Dunbar has the patient, a young woman, brought to his office which is attached to his home. The woman, Louisa Lindhal, is living on the outskirts of the town with her boyfriend who has shot her. Johnny and Matt are invited by Dr. Dunbar to view the gunshot wound.

Louisa remains in the Dunbar home after her recovery as Mrs. Dunbar does not want her to have to return to her former living conditions. The boys are smitten. Matt especially fancies himself in love with Louisa. Louisa on the other hand has different plans. Manipulative and opportunistic, Louisa keeps the boys at bay while she works on her plans to improve her life. Matt feels she is leading them on.

As the story develops, Matt and Johnny appear to be in different stages of maturity. Louisa seems to be playing into this. They turn into rivals. Dr. Dunbar begins to have a different view of Matthew. And Matthew's life starts to take a different turn.

Watson is spare with his text, but they story is well written. A poignant story of a boy who thinks of himself as a man and his struggles to get there.

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The Art of Fielding

2011-11-18T12:22:00.000-06:00

When you write about a terrific novel that has baseball as one of its central themes, you feel compelled to toss in a phrase like “really hits a homerun.”

Trite as that may be, it applies to Chad Harbach’s debut novel, The Art of Fielding. But the book is about more than just the national past time. It is also about love, death, family, friendship, betrayal, forgiveness, passion, obsession, and Midwest values—with a little bit of Moby Dick on the side.

The book, beautifully written and not without humor, takes place on the campus of Westish College, a fictional private school located near Door County, Wisconsin. Get your pencils and scorecards ready for an all-star roster of unforgettable characters. The 60-year-old college president, Guert Affenlight, is also a Herman Melville scholar. His prodigal daughter Pella has recently left her husband in California with the intention of finally taking a college class or two at Westish. Other students at the school, as well as major characters in the book, are Chicagoan and all-around athlete Mike Schwartz, gay ballplayer Owen Dunne, and gifted shortstop Henry Skrimshander.

Against a literary backdrop, all these characters relate significantly to one another: Mike falls for Pella; Pella loves Mike, but she is jealous of his relationship with Henry, then sleeps with shortstop; Henry admires and rooms with Owen, whose mother is attracted to Guert; Owen becomes Guert’s obsession. Serving almost like an additional major character is a manual for baseball and life called “The Art of Fielding,” written by fictitious Aparicio Rodriguez, a Hall of Famer and St. Louis Cardinals shortstop, who is Henry’s ideal and whose record he is trying to break. Will he do it? Will his friendship with Mike be repaired? Will Pella finally connect with her father? Will her father’s passion for Owen be returned, and will it be discovered by the school administration? Will these characters haunt you? “Yes” to the last question, but enjoy the book to find out the other answers.

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Turn of Mind

2011-11-15T11:17:00.000-06:00

Alice LaPlante has written an entire novel told from the point of view of a woman suffering from dementia. The woman is a suspect in the murder of her best friend. Turn of mind, indeed.

Dr. Jennifer White was a well known orthopedic surgeon in the Chicago area when she developed dementia. Her long time friend, Amanda has been found murdered and 4 of her fingers have been surgically removed. Witnesses tell police that Jennifer was arguing with Amanda the day she died. But Jennifer, of course, has no memory of it. And so the story starts.

Jennifer's daughter, Fiona, and her son, Mark are trying to protect her. Mark has problems of his own - which is why he is always trying to get money out of his mother. Jennifer's husband, James has died leaving Mark and Fiona Jennifer's only family. They have some knowledge of what happened to Amanda but they aren't talking to the police either. They hire an attorney and try to have the police banned from the facility where Jennifer has been moved.

The story moves through the twisted mind of Jennifer. Time suddenly shifts. Conversations that occurred in the past become intertwined with present day conversations. The book is at once horrifying and intriguing. Think of it - a woman diagnosed with dementia is the prime suspect in a murder investigation. She is being questioned about events she cannot possibly recall. Even if she did commit the murder and dismemberment could she recall doing it? She is the perfect person to set up for taking the blame.

The story line unravels slowly. You wonder, just what is Mark hiding? What is Fiona keeping secret and what was the big revelation Amanda promised to make before she died? The book is like being in the middle of some one's stream of consciousness episode. Interesting and worth reading.

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Rules of Civility

2011-11-11T17:04:00.000-06:00

Reading Rules of Civility is like stepping into the world of a 1930s movie--one featuring high society, grand parties, and lots of martinis. In particular, it brings to mind The Thin Man (1934), starring William Powell and Mirna Loy, the screwball comedies of Frank Capra (1934-1941) and the musicals of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers (1933-1939). These were representative films of the Depression, when movies were an escape from the harsh realities that constituted the American scene.

In an article posted by the American Studies Department of the University of Virginia, the author writes:

Audiences gloried in spectacular fantasies of high society and easy living that they would never know...For an hour or two, one could pretend to be Katherine Hepburn or Cary Grant.

Another symptom of this fascination was the Society Papers. The lives and goings on of the rich and powerful in the city were considered news...Depression-era Americans were fascinated (not with celebrity, but with wealth).

Amor Towles captures the very essence of this sparkling world in his first novel. Katey Kontent and Evelyn Ross are "office girls" working in Manhattan. The year is 1937. Katey (born Katya) is the daughter of Russian immigrants; Eve is a child of wealth. Both women are ambitious and looking for excitement. They are about to get more than they bargained on when they meet Tinker Grey at a nightclub on New Year's Eve.

The story is told by Katey from the vantage point of late middle age. She and her husband are at an exhibition of Walker Evans photographs shot in the 1930s. She spots a photograph of Tinker taken in 1938, and then in 1939. In the former, he looks wealthy and world weary; in the later photo, he is haggard but seemingly younger and more content.

With this preface, we are introduced to Tinker and Eve, as well as to the high society of Wallace Wolcott, Dicky Vanderwhile and Anne Grandyn. As the reader follows the budding career of Katey Kontent from Wall Street office secretary to assistant editor of a literary magazine, one is mesmerized by the interplay of these characters. Each is three-dimensional, provocative and sympathetic.

Rules of Civility, whose title is taken from an early book by George Washington, is a period piece that is equal parts romance, mystery, and morality tale. It echoes some of our literary greats, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and T.S. Eliot. Ultimately, the story of innocence lost in the wake of experience gained will resonate with all.

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Sanctus

2011-11-07T11:00:00.000-06:00

Sanctus by Simon Toyne, a first time novelist, is the latest in a long line of church based conspiracy books that began with the Da Vinci Code. Set in Turkey in the present day, the book tells the story of the Citadel, a Vatican like city/state that occupies the ancient city of Ruin. The Citadel is the home of a secret religious sect that guards the "Sacrament." No one knows exactly what the sacrament is because in its more than 1,000 years of existence no one has ever come out of the Citadel. Novitiates enter and become Sancti but no one ever comes out and lives to tell the tale. And once the monks learn the secret of the sacrament, they stay inside until they die.

The story opens on 3 continents. In Ruin, a monk climbs to the top of the mountain the Citadel is built into. He assumes the shape of a cross - standing upright with his arms stretched out at his shoulders. In the U.S. Liv Adamsen, a reporter is transfixed by the acts of the monk, whom she believes might be her relative. In South America, an old man is also interested in the monk, only he believes the monk's behavior portends something momentous.

The story races through the lives of the monk, Adamsen and Kathryn Mann, a foundation worker and daughter of the old man. The three meet up in Ruin, each arriving for their own reasons. Conspiracies abound - with the Citadel on one side seeking to keep the secret of the sacrament safe and on the other side an international brotherhood, just as ancient, determined to let the secret of the sacrament become public.

What makes this book worth reading though is the ending. Yes, the monks are creepy and there are secrets to be discovered but what the monks have been protecting and how it relates to Adamsen and Mann was surprising. This is a good work by a new author and it's the first in a planned trilogy.

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Endgame

2011-11-01T12:33:00.001-05:00

Endgame is a wonderful biography of Bobby Fischer, who became the youngest US chess champion at age 14. He went on to end the Russians' reign of world chess championships and then quickly descended into a sad world of conspiracy theories, and anti-Semitic and anti-U.S. hatred.

Fischer was a mess of contradictions. Born to a Jewish mother, he became one of the world's most infamous anti-Semites. A chess genius, he rarely played competitively after he won the world championship (he was not even 30 years old at the time). There were many attempts to lure him out of retirement but despite living a life of near homelessness he would reject matches with prizes of millions of dollars offered to the contestants.

How did Fischer become such a strong chess player at such a young age? There's no silver bullet - he spent a lot of time on his own with a chessboard and playing older and better players. He also had a head for the game and a great ability to visualize matches, even when there was not a chessboard in front of him. His mother, despite being poor, was strong and supportive and did everything within her means to allow Bobby to compete within New York, and eventually in other worldwide locales. It's interesting to note that Fischer was athletic, interested in sports and despite not having a traditional education, was interested in bettering himself. He could also be quite charming, which is especially apparent in this video from the Dick Cavett show, taken after he won the world championship.

Something appeared to be missing from Fischer's life though. He joined the fringe Worldwide Church of God (and later left it) before he started letting his anti-Semitic views be known in the 1970s. He also dabbled with other religions before settling upon Catholicism during his exile in Iceland. And despite an urge to have a child he was unable to enter a lasting relationship until his later years.

Fischer can perhaps be created with single-handedly raising the popularity of chess in the United States in the 1970s by defeating the Russian Boris Spassky (who became a friend for life, despite Fischer's combativeness over the chess board). Yet his mercurial demands over rules and settings for tournaments kept him from competing in any future sanctioned tournaments, including the defense of his world title. In addition, he spent much of his life obsessed with proving the Russian chess players to be in collusion with each other in order to secure Russian titles. His anti-Semitism seems more directed towards his perceived enemies in general, considering how many Jews he considered his friends.

Author Frank Brady, who had been an acquaintance of Bobby Fischer and as the founding editor of Chess Life magazine knows the game well, has done an excellent job at making the game of chess compelling. He doesn't get into too many move-by-move details as to how each match was played but does an excellent job of turning the tournaments into real page-turners. Also to his credit, Brady doesn't try to over-psychoanalyze Fischer, which can be a problem in biographies of strong personalities. I strongly recommend this story of a man who could have had it all, but became waylaid by some major personality flaws.

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The Legacy

2011-10-28T14:42:00.000-05:00

In 1905 Caroline takes a small male child from the manor house and places him in the woods near a travelling 'tinker" family. She has wrapped him in an elaborately embroidered pillowcase. Caroline is pregnant with another child.

So opens The Legacy by Katherine Webb. The storyline about the Calcott family switches between the current time and the early 1900's. Today Beth and Erica, sisters, have arrived at Starton Manor. They have been left the manor, its contents and grounds by their grandmother on the condition they permanently reside there. Beth arrives reluctantly. She has a long history of depression stemming from her adolescence. While sorting through the house Erica runs into Dinny, a member of the tinker family that has been camping on the manor grounds since their mother was a child. Their great-grandmother Caroline hated Dinny's ancestors with a fury no one understood.

Beth's depression started the summer her cousin Henry disappeared. No sign of Henry was ever found, causing turmoil that resulted in the family being torn apart. Erica believes that Beth can be helped by confronting the facts surrounding Henry's disappearance. Beth and Dinny refuse to talk about the day they were all together and Henry disappeared. Erica pushes until the truth can be pieced together. And when the truth comes out every one's lives are changed.

I really liked this book. The story line moves back and forth until it comes together in a way I really didn't see coming. Well written, with interesting characters and interesting relationships between, them the story builds to its climax in a way that keeps you reading.

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The Language of Flowers

2011-10-25T18:00:00.001-05:00

In the early eighteenth century, the Turkish secret language of flowers was introduced to Europe by Lady Mary Wortley Montague, wife of the British Ambassador to Constantinople. It was especially popular in Victorian England, providing a coded means of communication. In a period that discouraged overt display of emotions, flowers and flower designs allowed individuals a means to express their feelings. (http://www.joellessacredgrove.com/language.html and Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_of_Flowers)

Author Vanessa Diffenbaugh ingeniously weaves her plot around this concept, enabling the main protagonist, Victoria Jones, as well as her mentor, Elizabeth, to communicate in a language known to a select few. Victoria is a foster child, having lived in 32 homes by the time she is 18. When she comes to live with Elizabeth at age 9, she is already an angry child with severe communication and attachment issues. Elizabeth has a flower and fruit orchard--a beautiful, enchanting place which she tends with great care.

The Language of Flowers is told in first person narration by Victoria. It weaves back and forth through present and past. There is a component of mystery as we wonder why Elizabeth does not adopt Victoria. We also know that Victoria's destructiveness has inflicted great tragedy without knowing the outcome (until the book's end). Issues of family abound in this novel, as do themes of love and forgiveness.

The author explores what it means for a child to not know security within the folds of a loving family. Through Victoria, we come to understand the nature of group homes and multiple home placements. The book presents well-drawn characters that resonate with uncomplicated goodness, such as the florist, Renata and her nephew, Grant. Above all, it realistically portrays Victoria's growth as she struggles to trust those around her.

Diffenbaugh depicts a sympathetic portrait of a character that is not likable. This is a gift likewise exhibited by Elizabeth Strout in Olive Kitteridge. Both women are hurtful characters whose actions are driven by anger, jealousy and distrust. Yet in the hands of skilled writers, the reader is able to remain empathetic and non-judgmental.

The Language of Flowers is an engrossing first novel by a talented writer. Be prepared to read it quickly. It is impossible to put down.

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Lost in Shangri-La

2011-10-21T09:28:00.000-05:00

Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff starts in May 1945. The war in the south Pacific is raging. For those stationed on New Guinea all is relatively quiet. The island is mountainous and the interior is largely uncharted. While flying over the interior a pilot makes a startling discovery. There is a large valley and it appears to be inhabited by natives who look right out of the stone age.

It becomes a rite of passage to go visit the valley. The army members who have been there even have a club called the "Shangri-La Club." A plane takes off on a beautiful day. Col. Peter Possen who has organized the flight as a treat for his staff, has left the cockpit and is in back chatting with his staff when the inexperienced pilot runs into trouble. The plane slams into a mountain, falls to the ground and bursts into flames. 3 people survive the crash. 21 people have died. When the plane doesn't return to the base search parties are sent out.

The plane had been painted a camouflage pattern so it would blend in with the jungle if it was being viewed from above. Unfortunately this same paint made it impossible for the rescuers to see the plane crash site. The only people who knew where the plane was were the 3 survivors and the rumored cannibal natives who were watching them. The natives turn out to be not hostile but curious. For the injured survivors they look like saviours.

The story continues through the search and the ultimate rescue of the survivors. It is the rescue that makes this story so interesting. I will not divulge how they are rescued but I'll say there was some ingenuity in the solution.

Zuckoff writes a good action story. He takes an interesting piece of history and lets the reader know exactly how interesting it was. This is a survival story that is well told. A story about modern age warriors meeting a stone age people who help each other out. An all around interesting read.

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Unless

2011-10-18T20:19:00.001-05:00

Carol Shields was a masterful writer who allowed the reader to see beauty in the most everyday acts of human life. The book revolves around a year in the life of writer Rita Winters (formerly Summers), a year where grief takes the place of happiness. Norah, her beautiful, nineteen-year- old daughter, drops out of school and chooses a life of homelessness. She sits on a street corner with a sign around her neck bearing a simple word--"goodness." No one knows why.

It is important to mention that at the time of writing this book, Carol Shields was battling advanced breast cancer. She was responding favorably to experimental chemotherapy but knew this would be her last novel. As Maria Russo writes in her article, "Final Chapter" (New York Times, April 14, 2002), "Working on Unless was Shield's first time writing from the other side of happiness and security, and she wanted the book to reflect her hard-earned new understanding of the fragility of happiness."

Yet the book is not without humor. Shields pokes fun at the publishing industry by creating a totally unlikeable and comic editor, Arthur Springer. His very name is indicative of his behavior, for he talks non-stop. Not listening to Rita, he insists that she send him a half-completed manuscript of a book she is writing--My Thyme is Up. He then wants her to re-write it, insisting that he can make a literary work out of light fiction.

When the reader finally learns the cause of Norah's breakdown, it is anti-climatic. The meaning of the book is contained in how Rita and her husband, Tom, learn to deal with the new normal. Chapter headings are significant. Take, for example, the chapter titled, "Unless."

Unless you're lucky, unless you're clear about your sexual direction, unless you're offered what others are offered, you go down in the darkness, down to despair. "Unless" provides you with a trapdoor, a tunnel into the light, the reverse side of not enough (p. 149).

And then, there is the meaning of "goodness." Norah sits on the ground with this word around her neck. Arthur Springer comments that Alicia--the central character in Rita's book--possesses "goodness of soul, of heart" ( p. 160). Given Shields' illness, as well as the fact that Unless was completed in the wake of 9/11, her belief in goodness speaks to the remarkable woman she was.

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The Twelfth Enchantment

2011-10-14T09:04:00.000-05:00

Lucy Derrick is an impoverished young woman who lives with her aunt, uncle and their creepy, mean housekeeper Mrs. Quince. Lucy has come to these circumstances since her sister and both of her parents have died. Her other sister, Martha is married to Mr. Buckles whom Lucy does not get along with.

Lucy has a somewhat tarnished reputation due to her ill fated love affair with Mr. Morrison. She continues to pay for this indiscretion with an arranged (and forced) engagement to Mr. Olson. Lucy comes to meet a Mary Crawford, who tries to get her to sharpen her sorcery skills - skills Lucy did not know she possessed. Mary is looking for pages to an alchemical book, called the Mutus Liber, that will allow the rightful owner to have an effect on the industrialization taking place across England. Luddites are attacking newly built machine shops including those owned by Mr. Olson.

The book moves fairly quickly and the characters are certainly interesting. Lord Byron and William Blake make appearances. They actually are in the same room and not one bit of conversation concerns their literary works. The story had a surreal quality for me. Dead people appear and sometimes you see them and sometimes you don't. You don't know which characters have been resurrected until more than 1/2 way through the book, making me wonder what I missed in the first half. And you actually need to know this because the story line depends on it.

I like David Liss as an author. I have read everything he has written but I had a hard time getting into this book. I liked the characters and the story is interesting. But some of the paranormal threads seem to get in the way. There are several plot lines: Lucy's abilities, her search for the man who stole her inheritance, her love for Mr. Morrison, Lord Byron's decadence and its effect on her life and her relationship with Mary and her brother-in- law Mr. Buckles to name a few. Still, it is a David Liss book and I always enjoy them.

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Shock Value

2011-10-11T17:04:00.000-05:00

If you have any interest in horror filmmaking in the 70s, you need to read the book Shock Value by Jason Zinoman, a theater critic for the New York Times. Shock Value takes a look at the films and filmmakers who created modern horror and moved it beyond b-movie status.

In the 1950s and 60s, horror films consisted largely of men in rubber suits running around on cheap sets trying to scare bad actors. These movies were often fun, sometimes scary and usually relegated to b-movie status on double-bills. They were seldom taken seriously by critics and audiences. Certain directors, like Alfred Hitchcock, were able to parlay horror into box office success, with films such as The Birds and Psycho, but even Hitchcock films were starting to feel a little dated by the end of the 60s.

Rosemary's Baby changed everything when it was released in 1967. It was a huge success, was made by a skilled director, and had a downbeat ending in which evil seemed to win. It paved the way for other mainstream Hollywood horror releases, with major critical and audience successes such as The Exorcist and Carrie appearing in following years.

Shock Value looks at these films (and their filmmakers) and the other films that were nearly as influential, if not necessarily as critically accepted. George Romero is profiled as his Night of the Living Dead, a cheaply made zombie movie, is still influencing filmmakers. Wes Craven (Last House on the Left) and Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) also have substantial space devoted to them as does lesser-known Dan O'Bannon. This book is not a deep read but if you are interested in what made your favorite horror filmmakers tick, you might want to take a look!

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Fabulous, Small Jews

2011-10-04T17:58:00.000-05:00

Fabulous Small Jews, by Joseph Epstein, is a poignant collection of short stories set in Chicago. It is his second collection, published in 2003. Epstein is best known for his essay collections such as Friendship: The Expose (2006), Snobbery: The American Version (2002) and Gossip: No Trivial Matter (2011). He is the former editor of The American Scholar and a regular contributor to such journals as Commentary and The Weekly Standard.

His essays are often conservative polemics with a good dose of sarcasm and wit. Given that, it is not surprising that the fictional protagonists in this collection are conventional, middle class bachelors, divorces or widowers, many of whom are basking in the successes of their youth.

The book takes its title from lines in a Karl Shapiro poem, "Hospital:" This is the Oxford of all sicknesses/Kings have lain here and fabulous small Jews/And actresses whose legs were always news. In her review of the book, Professor Daryn Glassbrook writes, "It is this emblematic image from Shapiro, equal parts irony and nostalgia, which clearly stands as the dominant motif of the collection." (Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, Volume 23, Number 4m Summer 2005, pp. 139-142)

One of the most poignant of the short stories is "A Loss for Words." It details the relationship of a father and son as the father sinks into dementia. Although the opening story, "Felix Emeritus" also takes place in a nursing home, this one captures the pathos as none other. "It's an elephant graveyard (p. 271)," he tells his son. The father later befriends a former tennis champion, now suffering from Parkinson's. This kind man, who can no longer hold a fork, once won medals and played against the greats. While the father cuts this man's food, he finishes the dad's sentences. They become an inseparable couple. The conclusion of this story is a testament to friendship and familial love. Old age is depicted unsparingly, taking from us the very essence of our individuality.

Although many of the stories explore life's sad ironies, others end with a surprising twist. "Artie Glick in a Family Way" highlights a May-September romance in which the protagonist comes to terms with his neuroses and tosses caution to the wind. In "Moe," a man initially declines life-saving surgery only to learn that love comes with responsibilities, not least of all to oneself.

"The Executor," "Postcards," and "Freddy Duchamp in Action" all have writers as their protagonists and all use irony magnificently. To analyze these stories on paper would be to give away their endings. Let it be said that Epstein's insights into the human psyche reveal the wisdom of his own years as well as a writer's keen sensitivity.

Fabulous Small Jews is a well-crafted collection in the spirit of Philip Roth or Saul Bellow. The characters Epstein draws are identifiable-- straight out of West Rogers Park when The Bagel, Rosenblum's Bookstore and kosher meat markets dotted Devon Avenue.

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Cold Vengeance

2011-09-28T16:08:00.001-05:00

Cold Vengeance is Preston and Child's latest addition to the Pendergast series. It continues the story of Pendergast's hunt for his wife Helen. The book starts with Pendergsat being shot in the chest by his brother-in-law Judson Esterhazy. Esterhazy tells the police the shooting was a tragic hunting accident, but when he takes them to the shooting site, there is no body.

While this is taking place in Scotland, Constance (Pendergast's niece) is being moved to a mental institution after having claimed to have thrown her infant son off a moving boat. She is being housed in the same institution and secure room that her Great Aunt Cornelia was. Several other characters from previous books make reappearances: Corrie Swanson shows up at D'Agosta's office seeking Pendergast's whereabouts. He had an appointment with her and he missed it, something he has never done. D'Agosta knows nothing.

In Mississippi, a reporter is investigating the reappearance of the Brodie's - a couple who faked their own suicides and disappearance. The Brodie's are murdered shortly after an article appears in the local paper describing their escapades. Esterhazy thinks it may be something called the Covenant. A shadowy group he has had dealings with in the past. Esterhazy is not happy to hear the Pendergast may have survived the shooting and he hatches a plan to get back at Pendergast by using Constance.

Pendergast's search for his wife, whom he now believes is missing and not dead, takes him back to New York, a secret military institution and into the home of a Nazi hunter. Turns out that Helen ( and Esterhazy, her brother) are related to Wolfgang Faust - the "Dachau Doctor." The book contains the usual twists and turns and Pendergast's considerably skills are on display as usual. The story line leaves enough open ends that a sequel is certain.

What is not the same with this book ( and the previous one Fever Dream) is the delicious creepiness that accompanied the early books in the Pendergast series. I miss that.

But this is still a book worth reading, especially if you are a fan of Agent Pendergast.

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The Lantern

2011-09-23T11:40:00.000-05:00

I tend to tread carefully when people tell me a book is just as good as some other book or that it is one of the best books ever written. The Lantern has been compared to Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. And in some ways they are similar.

The Lantern starts off when a couple meets. She is a translator and he is a mysterious business man of independent means. After a whirlwind romance they move in together in a falling down mansion in France. Les Genevriers has been abandoned for years and was in total disrepair but Eve and Dom loved it. Dom bought the house and the surrounding lands and they began their solitary life together. They didn't marry - because Dom's first wife Rachel was a constant presence.

The story line moves between the present with Eve and Dom in the house and the past whose voice is Benedicte, one of the last of the family of the original owners. Benedicte is haunted by the ghost of her brother Pierre - who as a boy was a menace to himself and others. Benedicte tells the story of her life as a child and of the treasure that is supposed to be buried on the property.

Eve, who is blissful in her ignorance of Dom's previous life is increasing haunted by sights and sounds that she can't quite explain. Smells, breezes, strange lanterns left lighted on the path all have her concerned. At a dinner with some of their neighbors, Eve is introduced to Sabine. The conversation turns to the alleged ghosts and strange happenings that occur in the village and at Les Genevries. Sabine believes that she has met Dom before but he denies it. This encounter with Sabine has Eve wondering about Dom's previous life and his first wife. As Sabine and Eve become closer as friends, Eve becomes more insistent that Dom tell her about Rachel.

The story lines continue on their own paths, gradually coming together. The story is actually quite good. Eve makes for an interesting character. You never really know just what is keeping her tied to Dom. And Dom's own mysterious past follows him almost through to the end of the book. The story did have elements of Rebecca. A young girl falling in love with a mysterious older man, the first wife hanging like a shadow over the new relationship, the third person seeking to interfere with the new relationship. Add to that just a touch of the supernatural and you have a thoroughly enjoyable read.

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The White Woman on the Green Bicycle

2011-09-20T16:07:00.001-05:00

Set in post-colonial Trinidad, The White Woman on the Green Bicycle explores the boundaries of love in a marriage spanning fifty years. The book begins in 2006 and then goes back in time to 1956, switching narrators so that we, the reader, see the marriage from the perspective of both husband and wife.

Trinidad, in 1956, has just elected its first leader, Eric Williams, and the country is passionately in love with him. He is Oxford-educated and promises to help the poor with the basic necessities they are lacking. Many, such as Granny Seraphina, have no running water and live in former slave quarters. The poverty is shocking. The white residents, most of them English, are buying land cheaply and living like royalty.

Among these residents are George and Sabine Harwood. George is a civil servant in England whose life has been drab and uneventful. Taking his young wife, he comes to Trinidad to work. He soon falls in love with the land and its people.

Sabine, however, longs for England. She is oppressed by the heat and sensitive to the racial tensions plaguing the country. George sees only the sensuous beauty. When George discovers the cache of letters Sabine has written to Eric Williams, he mourns the erosion of his marriage.

"If only he'd known then. Eric Williams--of all people... Williams had died a broken man...He had (failed). George was like her, though; ...the same as Sabine, a cheat. He had cheated on Sabine all along, from the first day they arrived, stepping off the Cavina. It had been immediate, a strong physical attraction. He had fallen, and that was that. Head over heels, with the sounds and smells, with the smiles and shapes, with all the bewitching qualities of another woman called Trinidad (p. 73)."

Monique Roffey uses the country's disappointment in Eric Williams and its eventual dissolution into riots as a metaphor of the marriage itself. Violence breaks out around them, Molotov cocktails are thrown into their yard, the dogs are poisoned. Meanwhile, George and Sabine argue and call each other names; their sexual relations are laced with anger. "Stupid man," Sabine thinks. "His castle built on sand drenched in the blood of thousands of dark-skinned souls, those brought to Trinidad whether they liked it or not, forced to toil unpaid, all those who lived here before them hounded into extinction (p. 390)."

This book portrays the inequities of Trinidad's class system in rich, descriptive language. We see the home of Grandma Serephina in all of its squalor. Grandma Serephina, herself, is an engaging character who attracts and repels in equal measure. Her anger, hatred, and disappointment reflect that of the downtrodden on the island. Her sense of injustice resonates with Sabine, as it does with the reader.

In 2010, The White Woman on the Green Bicycle was a finalist for Britain's prestigious Orange Prize. It is a captivating depiction of the limits of love even as that love never dies. And it is the story of an island whose beauty and resources are ravaged by expatriates, much as they were by the colonial powers years before.

This is a powerful novel, written in first person narrative first by George, and then by Sabine. It is a unique style that brings the reader closer to the characters and the events that shape them. Roffey has written a haunting novel that remains in one's mind long after the final page.

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Lady Blue Eyes

2011-09-14T10:17:00.000-05:00

Celebrity tell-alls are not necessarily my cup of tea, but when I saw that Barbara Sinatra was coming out with the book Lady Blue Eyes, I was interested. Barbara was not only Frank Sinatra's fourth and final wife (staying married to him until his death in 1998) but she was married to Zeppo Marx as well for a number of years. I'm a big Marx Brothers fan and there are a number of fun Chico, Harpo and Groucho anecdotes through this book. Apparently Groucho (in his 80s at the time) was one of the few people who criticized Frank to his face when Barbara decided to divorce Zeppo and live with Frank.

Barbara Sinatra grew up in a small town in Missouri and was able to parlay her tall blonde looks into a modelling career in Las Vegas. She would eventually move to L.A. to marry Zeppo, who was actually her second husband (though her only child, a son, came from the first marriage). Zeppo was much older and Barbara tells us that this was a marriage for financial security, though she expresses very few ill feelings towards Zeppo. Frank Sinatra was a neighbor and over time the two of them became close, allowing Frank to woo her away from Zeppo and eventually marry her.

Obviously, the reason to pick up this book is for the anecdotes, and while Barbara provides plenty of them, they mostly focus on an older crew. Sinatra's buddy Jilly is a major part of the stories as is Frank Sinatra's mother (both of whom died in tragic accidents at an advanced age). Frank's supposed ties to organized crime are addressed as is his drinking and occasional foul moods, but for the most part this is a feel-good love story. Frank truly seemed to find the right woman at the right time.

The latter half of this book is essentially devoted to Frank's domesticity. After retiring from performing in the mid-seventies he was eventually lured back on the road, though you get the sense that his skills were declining in his last decade of performing. Barbara Sinatra has been focused on charitable activities in the latter part of her life and she details these, along with Frank's contributions. While the first half of the book certainly has plenty of drinking, fighting, carousing and practical jokes, you won't get to see the raucous mob-connected Sinatra portrayed in other biographies.

What I loved most about this book was it's portrayal of a bygone time when stars were stars. Dino, Sammy, Princess Grace, Cary Grant, Don Rickles, Gregory Peck and many other Hollywood and entertainment greats continually pop up as part of the entourage. It's fun to imagine what hanging out with Frank and Sinatra would have been like, although Frank's ability to stay up all night might exhaust a person in no time! This is a breezy and generally involving read for anyone interested in Sinatra and his associates.

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Unbroken

2011-09-08T17:28:00.001-05:00

When I finished Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken. A World War II story of survival, resilience and redemption. I actually felt guilty that I was sitting in a nice comfy chair with a stack of oreos next to me. And I was exhausted.

The story about Louis Zamperini is indeed one of survival. Zamperini was not a model child. He gave his parents a hard time, but his older brother Pete would not give up on him. Pete trained Louis to run. Trading on Louis' natural ability to run at great speed (mostly away from police) Pete turned him into a world class runner. At one point the world record belonged to Zamperini and it looked like he would be the first man to break the 4 minute mile mark. He competed in the 1936 Olympics and seemed to be on his way - then World War II intervened.

Louie joined the air corps and was trained to be a bombardier. His brother Pete was a naval chief petty officer stationed in San Diego. Louie's flight group was assigned to a B-24D known as the "flying coffin." Trained not only to sight bombs but survive a crash, Louie rapidly developed his skills. The plane, named Super Man was sent to Oahu for battle. After some fierce air battles the Super Man could no longer fly. Louie's group was given the Green Hornet a plane that had been patched together. 30 to 40 sorties was the expected tour for the flight crews. Louie's tour was much longer.

On May 27, 1943 Louie boarded the Green Hornet. The plane took off but never arrived at the agreed site. It had crashed. The plane was woefully under supplied. Not enough life vests, food or survival gear for the men who actually survived the crash and the sharks.

3 men survived. Louie, Phil and Mac. They had 2 rafts, some chocolate, little water, some fishing line and flares. Their survival depended on their own tenacity. Once the plane was discovered missing search teams were sent out. They searched for days but never found the men. In the mean time the men continued to drift with the currents. Relentless sun and no water they could drink took a toll on them. They tried to fish with little success, they ate raw sea birds they collected. They tried to collect rain water and still they drifted. 2,000 miles they drifted right into the Japanese.

Here is where the real survival tale begins. Hillenbrand details the horrors inflicted upon Louie and the other POWs. Filthy living conditions, enslavement in the industries used in the Japanese war effort, starvation and the relentless physical abuse. For years Louie and other POWs endured these conditions, leaving them living skeletons. Rescue finally arrived. The captors fled so they themselves would not be captured.

Louie and his fellow captives were rescued and finally sent back to the United States to recover. Louie's reappearance was a shock to his family - the army had declared him dead. Louie's life after the war was checkered. Plagued by flashbacks of the abusive guards he started drinking. He couldn't run because his leg had been shattered in the camps and never healed correctly. Louie was literally the walking wounded. Married, Louie couldn't even support his wife. Taken advantage by schemers he was always buying into one thing or another. Salvation came in the form of a tent sermon by Billy Graham.

That Zamperini survived to even hear Billy Graham is a miracle. The book is relentless in it's descriptions. Horror abounds in the Japanese prison camps, yet Louie seems remarkably resilient. He survives to live another day. And live he does.

I highly recommend this book. It is not a happy story but it is one that shows the strength of the human spirit. Graphic descriptions don't detract from the story they are simply part of it. Something to get past. Something to survive, like Louie did.

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Dog Days of Summer...The New Yorkers

2011-09-03T12:42:00.003-05:00

The New Yorkers, by Cathleen Schine, is a light and charming story about a group of single people in New York City's Upper West Side. It is an urban fable whose characters are linked by their loveable dogs. The cast includes Jody, a spunky music teacher who labels herself a spinster, takes up knitting, and worries her nights away. Believing she should own a cat (more in keeping with the spinster life), she none-the-less falls in love with an elderly pit-bull mix. Found by the ASPCA wandering the streets emaciated and covered with ticks, this gentle dog is adopted by Jody. She bestows her with the dignified name of Beatrice. Given Cathleen Schine's love of literary allusions, one wonders if she named the mutt after Dante's muse, Beatrice Portinari--the inspiration for his masterpiece, The Divine Comedy (1308-1321).

This novel abounds in funny characters. We have the handsome but stuffy, Everett. He is a 50-year-old chemist who falls, not for the 26-year-old Polly, with whom he is having an affair, but with her exuberant puppy, Howdy. While dog-sitting for Polly, Everett takes Howdy on walks through central park. He becomes a part of the dog-walking society around him and ceases to feel so alone.

It seemed almost incomprehensible to Everett. He had lived with this dog for five days. In five days, his life had come alive for him. His street was full of people, and his city was full of streets. His park, once nothing more than a grand exercise track, was now a landscape, a lawn, a garden, a thicket, a boulder, a swamp ( pp. 209-210).

Other colorful characters include George, Polly's brother; Simon, Jody's self-centered boyfriend, Jamie, owner of the Cheers-like restaurant where patrons and their dogs are welcome, and Doris, the woman who hates dogs and wants to bar them from public places. Part of the action involves Doris, with her orange skin and not-so-repressed anger, hatching schemes with the city councilman.

The New Yorkers would be especially liked by singles in their 20's or 30's, or by those seeking a book with wonderfully comedic passages. As always, Cathleen Schine's writing sparkles. You don't have to be a dog-lover to enjoy this book, but it helps.

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In the Garden of Beasts

2011-08-30T14:40:00.000-05:00

There was so much buzz about Erik Larson's new book, In the Garden of Beasts that I actually went out and bought it even thought the library owns more than 10 copies. It was money well spent. The story is about William E. Dodd, the United States ambassador to Berlin in the early 1930's. Hitler was just starting his rise and Germany was in a state of flux. The United States was still suffering from the depression and most of Europe was still recovering from World War I.

Dodd, a professor at the University of Chicago lobbied hard for an ambassador position assuming it would give him time to finish his opus, On the Old South. He could not have been more wrong. Dodd was not part of the "old boy network" of the diplomatic corps and was almost totally frozen out from this group from the very beginning. An academic and an unassuming man, Dodd arrives in Berlin in 1933 with his wife, son, daughter and his beat up Ford sedan. This was in sharp contrast to the previous ambassador and indeed from some of his aides.

The story is meticulously detailed through the use of both private and public correspondence. It shows a man who was somewhat out of his depth but had a better read on the political situation in Germany than did many of his superiors in Washington and that he did more than he was given credit for. The book hints that Roosevelt placed Dodd in Germany because no one else would take the position and that once Dodd was in Germany Roosevelt left him alone to deal with the situation.

There is very little in the book about Dodd's wife and son. His daughter is the most complete family member and she is something else. A consummate party girl, Martha, takes up with a series of men even though her American divorce is not finalized. She runs through an alarming array of diplomats, new reporters, Nazi officers and a Russian embassy liaison assumed (and rightly so) to be a Soviet spy.

The book reads like a work of fiction, a trait of Larson's. But what makes this book so riveting is that from our point of view we can actually see what is coming and how Dodd was really left twisting by a government that wouldn't believe him. The story moves quickly and I will tell you that the more I read the more sympathetic I was towards Dodd. This is one very interesting book. There are hundreds of books about the lead up to World War II and Hitler's rise to power. In the Garden of Beasts tells the story from a different angle. It is most definitely worth the read.

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The Filter Bubble

2011-08-26T10:15:00.000-05:00

We live in an information age with nearly everything available at our fingertips, but are we no longer being exposed to contrary opinions? Eli Pariser, in his book The Filter Bubble, considers whether personalization and filters on the internet are having an unfortunate effect upon us as individuals and citizens. Pariser, a former Executive Director of MoveOn.org, argues that the Internet is on the path to providing us with opinions from only those who think exactly the same as we do.

Try searching a term on Google and then have a friend search the same term and you may see that Google is providing different results for each of you. This is because Google uses many factors, from cookies to click history, to determine which results are most relevant to an individual. While personalization is clearly useful (e.g., when searching movies you probably want to see what's playing near you, first) Parserer feels that by only serving up information that we like, we might no longer be exposed to some information that is potentially good for us. To remain responsible citizens we need to be exposed to contrary opinions and in-depth analysis. From news to Netflix, there is a chance that the systems are overfiltering what we are seeing, and only coming up with very narrow matches. We are potentially missing out on gray area information that is not a great personalized fit but which we may enjoy reading or seeing.

Facebook and Google are two of the major sites trying to determine what we "like" to see vs. what we "need" to see and one of Pariser's problems with these sites is that their method of filtering is not transparent. Google serves as an editor by providing certain results first while moving others farther back in the results list, and we often have no idea why. We have very little control over what we prefer that Google provides to us.

Another major concern that Pariser addresses is the fact that when we use free online products, information that is being captured about us is usually being sold. There are huge databases about us, our preferences and the people we interact with, and there are myriad ethical questions about how this information can and will be used down the line.

While part of this book meandered away from its main topic overall this was a breezy look at some issues that will affect us more and more as the Internet continues to integrate itself into our lives. The book reads like a long magazine article and is approachable by anyone interested in the current state of the Internet.

View Eli Pariser's TED talk on the filter bubble.

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Revenger

2011-08-23T19:44:00.000-05:00

The second of Rory Clements' Tudor intrigue series, Revenger picks up several years after Martyr ends. Set England near the end of the reign of Elizabeth 1, Revenger is filled with great historical detail. The Spanish Armada attack is over and the colony in Virginia has failed. So what is the royal court to do for intrigue? Argue about succession that's what.

Cecil and Essex are still plotting against each other. Essex hires Shakespeare to find Eleanore Dare a woman who was supposed to have died along with all the other Roanoke, Virginia colonists. Cecil hires Shakespeare to spy on Essex and all Shakespeare wants to do is teach at the school he has set up after retiring from the intelligencer business.

Essex is the Queen's favorite, but Shakespeare finds that the Queen is in danger along with his family. Essex has ambitions for the throne and he is using Shakespeare to help him. Unwittingly Shakespeare seems to be doing just that. He finds Eleanore Dare and uncovers a secret that involves Essex's henchman McGunn. McGunn, a hired thug has murdered people and generally made Shakespeare's life miserable. He has his own agenda and is going to make sure it succeeds.

Some of the characters from Martyr appear in this book. Shakespeare and his wife Catherine, along with Essex, Cecil and Topcliff, who is still in service to the Queen and up to his torture routines in his hunt for catholics.

The story abounds with intrigue, deceit and murder. The historical detail is remarkable - from the back alleys of London's most sordid areas to the royal displays of the Queen's pilgrimage, Clements doesn't skimp. This is a great historical mystery.

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An Unfinished Season

2011-08-13T15:00:00.000-05:00

An Unfinished Season, by Ward Just, is a coming of age story that highlights the conflicts of nineteen year old Wilson Ravan (Wils) as well as those of post-war America in the early 1950s. Wils lives with his family in a wealthy and rural North Shore suburb called Quarterday. His father owns a printing company and the family is well-off. Although Mr. Raven's family is solidly midwestern, Wils' mother is from the East Coast. She once harbored hopes that her husband would become a partner in her father's New York law firm.

The reader sees their marriage through the lens of their teenage son. When the workers of the printing company go on strike for better wages and benefits, an idealogical rift occurs between the couple. This is a time of strife between labor and management. Unions are gaining strength as workers wish to share in the new post-war economic boon. There is blatant racism as African American soldiers return from the front to face intense discrimination. Discord in the house is mirrored by labor unrest.

Wils' summer job is that of an intern for a Chicago paper. He has gotten the job because his father golfs with its publisher. Ward Just, a former journalist, portrays the news room in all its excitement and grittiness. The down-to-earth reporters secretly resent Wils and his social advantages.

At a debutant party, one of the guests thinks Wils' summer job is a form of "slumming." "Why would anyone want to be a newspaper reporter? It's so sordid, what you have to see and do. It's so--vulgar. That colored girl, for example. The stories about her throw such a bad light on things, accentuating the negative, makes us all feel rotten, as if we're being accused of something." (p. 111)

At one of these parties, Wils meets the alluring Aurora and her respected psychiatrist father. He is drawn into their world, which is intensely complicated. Dr. Brule is divorced, a veteran of WWII, lives with his daughter and South American lover, and suffers from what we recognize now as post-traumatic stress. His relationship with the enigmatic Dr. Brule, as well as his own code of honor, play a huge role in his affair with Aurora.

As Michael Upchurch writes in the Seattle Times (Sunday, July 18, 2004): "An Unfinished Season stays tightly wrought throughout, even as it hones in on 'a loose end that will stay loose' in Wils' life. For Just, as for Wils, the mystery of that "loose end" exerts considerably more fascination than any mere journalistic fact."

An Unfinished Season contains crisp writing and an engaging plot. It is a period piece which vividly depicts Chicago--its music, its politics, its sights and its sounds.

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Second Messiah

2011-08-09T18:57:00.000-05:00

Out in the desert near Jerusalem archaeologists are digging for scrolls. Not just any scrolls but ones that are related to the Dead Sea scrolls. They have been digging in the area for more than 20 years. The scrolls they are specifically looking for refer to Jesus Christ.

Jack Crane is an archaeologist like his parents were, and like his parents he is searching for scrolls in the desert outside of Jerusalem. 20 years ago Jack's parents and some of their diggers were killed in a car accident after finding a scroll that would undermine the teachings of the Vatican, the Roman Catholic Church and the Jewish faith.

Jack finds a similar scroll and he informs his mentor, Dr. Green. Green believes that this new scroll indicates that there might have been more than one person claiming to be Jesus Christ. Before any further research on the scroll can occur, Dr. Green is murdered with Jack's knife. Now the action really begins.

A newly elected Pope wants to tell the world about the scrolls and their contents. The Mossad and other priests want just as much to keep the information a secret. Hassan Malik, the son of one of the dead diggers and now a rich Bedu, has every intention of keeping the scroll for himself, extracting revenge on Jack and the church and then selling the scroll to the highest bidder.

The story abounds with good guys, bad guys, double crosses and murderous priests with their own agendas. The book feels a little like the Di Vinci Code - most notably in it's treatment of Vatican priests and the Church's habit of keeping somethings secret. The story is straight forward - Jack must try to save the scroll and his own life while people he loves are murdered all around him.

No surprises just an entertaining thriller with some religious overtones.

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Buried Secrets

2011-08-03T12:16:00.000-05:00

Taylor Armstrong, troubled and drug addicted and her best friend Alexa Marcus, the daughter of a billionaire hedge fund owner (Marshall Marcus) decide to go out for a night of drinking and fun. The fact that both girls were teenagers did not stop them. The night of partying ended up being a nightmare for Alexa.

After being approached by a good looking Hispanic man, Taylor decides to bow out leaving Alexa alone with the man. A short time later a drugged Alexa is removed from the bar by him. No one hears from her for several days. When she is heard from, she is seen on a camera in an enclosed space begging her father to help her. After being warned not to contact police, Marshall decides to contact his old friend, Nick Heller. Heller is a friend we all should have. An ex-special forces member Heller uncovers secrets for a living and he does it well. Marshall tells Heller he will give him anything to get his daughter back. What he doesn't tell Heller is everything he knows about his daughter's disappearance.

Heller discovers that Marshall's hedge fund is in trouble. It has been looted and Marcus has borrowed money from an unholy alliance of international bad guys to try and get the fund up and running again. Heller discovers this and more damaging info about Marcus and his wife with the help of an extraordinary array of contacts including a FBI special agent, an ex-Russian spy, thieves, computer experts and expert computer hackers, an administrative assistant any one would love to have and of course ex-special forces buddies.

The story moves quickly and there is some suspense as to just what exactly is going on with Alexa. Whether she will survive or pay for her father's folly is not decided until the end of the book, guaranteeing that you, the reader, will continue. Secrets are continuously revealed through the plot and they help to keep the story moving along. The only problem I have is with the friends Heller can call upon. It was a touch unbelievable but fun anyway. Despite that, the story has lots of action and is actually a good read. it's a great book for a lazy summer weekend.

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George Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow

2011-07-29T11:12:00.000-05:00

I recently finished Ron Chernow's massive Pulitzer Prize winning biography Washington: A Life - appropriately a couple of days after July 4th. Despite its hefty 900 page length, I found it readable and comprehensive and a good example of how a biography should be written. As Chernow puts it in the Acknowlegements, we ironically know much more about George Washington than most of his friends and contemporaries knew about this reserved man.

Despite being born into a family of only moderate wealth, Washington "lucked" into becoming an extensive landowner through deaths and marriage. One of the threads running through the book is the willingness of George and Martha Washington to take young relatives into their households after their parents had died. Despite never having children of their own (Martha had two children from a previous marriage) George Washington acted as a father to many young people, providing financial and moral support. A major theme is how he was able to serve as both father to his country and surrogate father to many young people.

One walks away from this book with a sense of how important as a personality Washington was to the formation of this country. Indeed, if one looks at his performance on the battlefield, both fighting the French and Indians as a British colonist and later fighting the British as a revolutionary, one is less than impressed. But Washington, despite initially favoring reconciliation with the British, took earlier military snubs to heart and saw no way to proceed besides declaring independence. His troops were ill-fed, barely trained, poorly dressed and often only signed up for six months at a time, at which point he would be forced to train new troops. There was only a weak federal government, requiring Washington to request financial help from often reluctant states. The only consistency in the army was Washington himself, who was often at the front of the troops on horseback. Washington was the symbol that kept the troops fighting for years.

Perhaps most striking of all about this great man is the way that his character defined "public servant". Washington's ideal would have been to remain at Mount Vernon and act as gentleman farmer but he was constantly being called into action. After spending five years on the battlefield he was drafted to be President of the Continental Congress before being unanimously elected for two terms as President of the United States (and even solicited as a possible monarch, a role which he refused). Just as he symbolized the American Revolution throughout the world, he would came to define the presidency with many of the decisions that he made, regarding everything from how he made his State of the Union addresses to his relationship with his Cabinet and the other branches creating a guide for all future presidents. Unfortunately, his presidency also helped create the two-party system, as he began to fall out with Thomas Jefferson and others regarding our country's relationship with France and England, and north and south philosophical differences.

The complex issue of Washington's true feelings about slavery is one that Chernow spends much time trying to explain. Washington was a slaveholder (though arguably a more compassionate one than many of his contemporaries) who depended upon slave labor to make a living. However, many who saw him as a symbol of freedom had difficulty reconciling his status as a slave owner with that of a revolutionary leader. Privately, Washington discussed his support for ending the institution of slavery (though he probably had economic reasons as well as moral reasons) but he did not allow his slaves to be freed until after he died, and actively hunted down escaped slaves while he lived.

Washington: A Life is a perfect example of everything a biography should be. George Washington was not the folk hero that Abraham Lincoln was or a colorful character like Theodore Roosevelt, so the Washington you see in textbooks often resembles a marble statue. This book does an exemplary job at bringing the man to life - a complex man with an overbearing mother and an eye for the ladies who was perhaps the premier figure in the creation of this country.

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Secret of the White Rose

2011-07-26T16:34:00.000-05:00

Detective Simon Ziele is back this time investigating the murder of Judge Hugo Jackson. Jackson is presiding over the trial of Al Drayson, an anarchist whose bomb killed several innocent bystanders instead of the intended target.

New York City was a dangerous place in 1906. But was it dangerous because of the criminals or because of the people running the city? Corruption was everywhere in New York which was filled with new immigrants trying to survive. As the son of immigrants, Ziele is caught between 2 worlds. A detective whose career is in jeopardy, he teams up with his friend Alistair Sinclair, a criminologist,who has been called to investigate the murder by the judge's widow. At the same time Ziele is given a special assignment by the police commissioner to investigate the brother of his dead fiance.While both Sinclair and Ziele believe the anarchists are behind the murder, the police commissioner just wants any anarchist arrested, convicted and out of the city. And he doesn't care how.

As the murders begin to pile up, there are some strange connections between them. A single white rose is left at each scene. The men are positioned after their deaths to indicate that they heard nothing, said nothing and saw nothing. But what didn't they see, hear or speak? The murdered men all went to law school together and all belonged to the same societies. But is this really the connection? Alistair's daughter-in-law and Ziele's friend, Isabella, once again provides valuable assistance.

Some of the same characters from Pintoff's previous books make appearances. Isabella, Sinclair, Mulvaney, Ziele's police captain, and Frank Riley, a New York Times reporter. With help from all of them, Ziele begins to piece the clues together.

Well written, the story is filled with historical detail. The white rose that is found at the crime scenes historically signifies that the person is a traitor and will die. Victoria Earle Matthews, runs a settlement house for young African women. A suspect is allegedly connected to the home. Both Matthews and her works are historical fact. Even the name of her mission, The White Rose Mission is a fact. These facts blend seamlessly with the fiction making for a great who done it. I recommend this book and all the others in the series.

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State of Wonder

2011-07-22T15:23:00.000-05:00

In State of Wonder, Ann Patchett has once again astonished readers with her evocative prose. Set in the Brazilian Amazon, Patchett raises moral questions pertaining to scientific exploration and the choices we make as individuals and as a society. Moreover, she explores the nature of friendship and love, and the loyalties and betrayals inherent in both.

When the book opens, we are introduced to Marina Singh, a researcher for a pharmaceutical company. She and Anders Eckman are lab partners researching cholesterol drugs. Mr. Fox, an administrator at the company, has sent Anders into the Brazilian jungle on an investigative mission. He is to check on the progress of Dr. Annick Swenson in developing a fertility drug. She has been there, unsupervised, for over a decade. The reader learns on the first line of the book that Anders has died in that jungle. The question is why?

Marina is the vehicle through which we see both the jungle and Dr Swenson, much as Marlow is the means through which the Congo and Kurtz are viewed in the Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad). Her sojourn into the Amazon takes the form of a quest. With its poisonous snakes, thickets of insects and neighboring cannibals, Marina has entered a green hell.

Marina studied to be a doctor and did her residency in gynecology under Dr. Swenson. But a horrible mistake in the operating theater made her abandon her career. She struggles with this loss as well as the childhood loss of her father. Since his death, she has been troubled by recurring nightmares. Patchett allows the reader to enter her dreams seamlessly; we get a sense of the scared little girl who is now a fearful woman.

The most fascinating character in the novel is Dr. Swenson. A latter-day Kurtz (Heart of Darkness) , she has focused on studying a tribe whose women continue bearing children well into old age. Unbeknownst to Mr. Fox and the company, she is also doing research on an anti-malarial drug. She hopes to save millions of people for whom malaria is a cause of death, but for whom American companies care little.

Dr. Swenson has been in the jungle so long that she no longer feels comfortable elsewhere. She has even come to question modern medicine and the role it should serve for a native population. "The question is whether or not you choose to disturb the world around you," Dr. Swenson explains to Marina, "or if you choose to let it go on as if you had never arrived. That is how one respects the indigenous people....The point , then, is to observe the life they themselves have put in place and learn from it." (pp. 162-163)

Dr. Swenson applies this principal to her affections for an orphaned, deaf boy for whom she is mother and father. Although Eckman and Marina teach Easter western manners, Dr. Swenson draws the line at taking him back to the states "as a souvenir." She understands that to civilize him is to place a value judgment on the way of life of another culture.

State of Wonder is a beautiful, thought-provoking adventure story. Like Conrad's classic, it looks at issues of good and evil, exploring the boundaries of loyalty and the limits of love.

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The Ridge

2011-07-19T16:42:00.000-05:00

The Ridge, the latest novel by Michael Koryta is another winner. Set in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, the story starts with the local sheriff, Kevin Kimble receiving a 5 am phone call from the town inebriate, Wyatt French. French is rambling talking about killing himself, but not willingly and just when exactly does a death become a murder? Wyatt has built a lighthouse in the woods because the dark was "not a good thing" cementing his reputation in the town as a nut case. At the time of the phone call, Kimble is driving to a women's prison to see Jacqueline - a woman who tried to murder him.

Roy Darmas is a local reporter whose parents were killed in a car accident on the ridge. Roy had also received calls from French, leading him to head out to the lighthouse. He finds French's body along with a note for the sheriff to personally investigate the death. There are maps and pictures taped to the walls of the lighthouse including pictures of his parents. Investigating, Roy finds out that all the people were killed at night near the ridge where the light house was built.

Audrey Clarke runs a large cat rescue service which has just relocated to property near the lighthouse. The cats don't like the new location - on the first night there they are agitated and growling at a blue flame like light that is moving in and around the lighthouse. Ira, a black cougar who simply appeared at the sanctuary, is especially agitated, so much so that he escapes by leaping a 14 foot tall fence. Black cougars hold mythical status in eastern Kentucky.

What is going on at the ridge? Strange things for sure. Ray discovers that people have been surviving what should be fatal accidents at the ridge for years. And then after their survival they murder someone. People who survive also report seeing a man or boy with a blue light. These strange happenings have been going on since the bridge trestle was built many years ago.

Koryta has written another great paranormal thriller. Kevin Kimble, the stoic sheriff is someone you would want protecting you. His main concern is to stop the strange happenings at the ridge and he gives it his all. All the characters are believable and actually likable, you would want to know even the creepy ones. Koryta once again blends just the right amount of tension and creepiness. This book is well worth the read.

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Land Girls

2011-07-12T13:47:00.001-05:00

Land Girls is a series commissioned by the BBC to mark the 70th anniversary of the start of WWII. While the men fought in the armed forces, women first volunteered, and then were conscripted, to work the land in rural England. This is the story of four women who, for diverse reasons, come to Pasture Farm.

Each girl has her own unique personal history. Nancy Morrell is solidly middle class. She is educated and well-dressed. In the first episode, she resents being drafted and is unaccustomed to the hard physical labor of tending crops.

Her character is sharply contrasted by the hard-working Joyce Fisher, whose husband is serving in the British air force. Although her family has been killed in a bombing raid, Joyce soldiers on in a spirited and upbeat way. Unlike the beautiful Nancy, Joyce is plain. It is gratifying to see her married to and in love with a handsome man--one who passionately loves her in return. Like her, he is serving his country, and his weekly letters are an inspiration for her.

The sisters Bea and Annie are equally engaging characters. Bea is a vivacious seventeen year old, rebelling against her sister's protective and sensible ways. Somewhat promiscuous, she is soon pregnant from a one-night stand with an American soldier. Meanwhile, we learn the truth about Annie's marriage and the sacrifice she has made to protect them from their father.

The farms owner, Frederick Finch, is a comic character and provides humor in an otherwise serious plot. He enlists a young hired hand in a series of misadventures to earn an illicit buck and skirt the wartime rations. Yet he is as kind as he is devious, offering his home to the pregnant Bea.

Other characters include Billy, the decent and guileless son of Finch. Esther Reeves is in charge of the land girls on the farm.

A foil to the working class girls and those they report to are Lord and Lady Hoxley, owners of the manor. This estate is adjacent to the farm, and the girls alternately work as maids there. The first season highlights their unhappy marriage while shedding light on the antiquated class system.

Like most productions of the BBC, Land Girls has fine actors, a well-written script, and is equal parts drama, humor, and romance. It tackles some larger issues, such as "segregation of the black and white American troops, the hunt for Nazi sympathizers and the use of prisoners of war as laborers." (Land Girls -TV Series, "Concept and Development," Wikipedia) But beyond its thematic content, the series is highly entertaining.

Land Girls is beginning its third season this fall. Catch up by borrowing it from the library.

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Irresistible North

2011-07-06T16:20:00.001-05:00

I find old maps fascinating, so this book was perfect for me. In Irresistible North, Andrea Di Robilant tells the story of the search for information on the Zen brothers of Venice. In 1558 Nicolo (the younger) Zen wrote a book entitled: On Discovery of the Islands of Frislanda, Eslanda, Engrovelanda, Estotilanda and Icaria made by two Zen brothers under the Artic Pole. Nicolo was the great great grandson of Antonio Zen, one of the navigators referred to in the title. This book sparked what has been come to be called the Zen map controversy.

DiRobilant discovered the book while in Venice researching another topic. He was asked a question by another tourist and that led to his acquaintance with the Zen brothers and their travels. The book was delivered to DiRobilant from the rare book collection and as luck would have it, it contained a map. The map was drawn by Nicolo and showed the islands his ancestors had allegedly discovered. Nicolo wrote the book based on letters and scraps of diaries he found. Nicolo's book was originally printed by mistake. Nicolo had given the book to a friend, a printer, to proofread. The man printed it. It became an instant bestseller for the time. Nicolo, not happy edited the book himself and had it republished.

Nicolo the elder was a rich man in the 1300s in Venice. Antonio is his younger brother. Nicolo was a spice trader who wanted to see the world. Known as Nicolo Zen, Draconis (Nicolo Zen son of the dragon) he came from a sailing family so a sailing expedition was not something new to him. They set off. Sailing away from Venice, they are blown off course in a terrible storm and discover what is termed "Frislanda." This island is marked on Nicolo, the younger's, map. It appears that what was actually discovered were the Faeroe Islands. In any event the brothers met up with Zichmini, a warrior king who saved Draconis and his crew from the natives. The Zens stay with Zichmini as they travel through the Artic seas. According to the diaries and letters, the brothers went to Engronelind (Greenland), Islanda (Iceland) and Frislanda (the Faeroe Islands) among other stops.

Nicolo, the younger's book and map were used in several other map books most notably Gerardus Mersator's map of the world - which was the first complete map of the world. The Zen book is not without controversy. Scholars from the 1500s until current times have either panned the book and declared Nicolo a liar or believed that the book was truth and the earliest written documentation of the voyages.

I liked this book. A short book, less than 200 pages, it is full of information about countries in the north Atlantic and the history of their names. The lives of the Zen brothers are interesting in and of themselves, but DiRobilant's fascination with the Zen's and their story is the real reason for the book. Pages of notes and an index at the end of the book will give the interested reader more places to go. Short but interesting, I recommend this book.

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Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

2011-07-01T10:54:00.000-05:00

This Pulitzer Prize winning author does not disappoint with her newest wonderful work of historic fiction.

The titular Caleb is based on the first Native American student to graduate from Harvard College in 1665. Documentation in the front and back of the book remind us that this is based on a real person. The story is narrated by Bethia Mayfield, daughter of an English minister who was among the first to settle the island we now know as Nantucket. The Mayfields strove to co-exist with the Indians, and educate them in the Christian religion as well as academic subjects. Caleb is brought into the Mayfield home so that he could be prepared for Harvard.

Bethia's voice is strong, and tells the story so well that you can't stop reading. The author writes in the style of language that would have been spoken at the time, furthering the reader's immersion in the book . (You will want to read a few chapters in a row at the beginning so that you get the feeling for the speech, rather than picking it up and putting it down.)

This book will appeal to men and women alike, and I highly recommend it.

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All Roads Leadeth

2011-06-29T16:01:00.000-05:00

Francis Armstrong has finally found the house he has been looking for - a fussy old Victorian in York that is desperately in need of repairs. Armstrong dreams of spending his time restoring the house and the gardens. What he doesn't realize is that his idyll's in the garden will turn up a human skeleton. The remains belong to Muriel Bradbury, the long missing wife of the previous owner.

So starts Peter Turnbull's novel, All Roads Leadeth. Set in the English countryside around York the story starts out with the discovery of the bones. It then races through more murders, embezzlement, missing persons, love interests and sticky police procedure. With fast pacing (even thought the chapters are long) Turnbull introduces his 2 crime solvers: DCI Hennesey and Sergeant Yellich. These two quickly put together the clues that lead to the mysterious Sandra Picardie. Picardie had quickly become the second Mrs. Bradbury. She left Bradbury when he encountered financial trouble. She then turns up as the wife of another man whose wife has gone missing. Are they dealing with a mass murderer?

Hennessey and Yellich pile clue upon clue as they solve the mystery with the help of the local pathologist, Louise D'Acre. The strained relationship between Hennessey and D'Acre may not be all that it seems, and Yellich has his own problems in the form of a young woman with a "tumbling head of golden hair."

This short, fast paced book makes for a good mystery read. The characters are interesting, their relationships with each other are interesting and you just want to come back to them to see what they will solve next.

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The Love Song of A. Jerome Minkoff

2011-06-21T16:04:00.000-05:00

The Love Song of A. Jerome Minkoff is another wonderful collection of short stories by Chicago writer, Joseph Epstein. Epstein's brilliance lies in creating everyday characters as they go about life's joys and tribulations. He writes with great wit, and he is able to evoke both laughter and tears.

The title story is a satire whose protagonist mirrors J. Alfred Prufrock (T. S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, 1917). In it, we find an equally reserved protagonist-- a widower and doctor. He meets Larissa Friedman at a charitable function. She is the widow of the "sock baron" to Nike, and pops into the doctor's life much as the wealthy women "come and go talking of Michelangelo" in the T.S. Eliot poem (lines 13-14 ). All of them are vacuous and serve as foils to the main character.

As he begins an affair with Larissa, Dr. Minkoff does not have time "to wonder 'Do I dare?' and, 'Do I dare?' (line 38)." When she visits him in Chicago, he is swept up in a week of sex, dinner at trendy restaurants , and symphony and theater dates every evening. Likewise, in Brentwood, Los Angeles, Dr. Minkoff and Larissa have dinner at a restaurant of the super rich. He is shocked by the $680 bill. "People lie and cheat and even kill for money," Dr. Minkoff explains to Larissa once they are back at her home. This being so, I've always felt that the least I can do is respect it. Spending that kind of money for a meal isn't, in my opinion, respecting it (p. 7)."

Some of the best stories in this collection portray average guys, who, through marriage or hard work, become wealthy. Such stories are "You Could Also Love a Rich Girl" and "Under New Management." The reader truly empathizes with these men who sadly discover that wealth is not what it seems. In "Janet Natalsky and the Life of Art," "Gladrags & Kicks," and "My Brother Eli," Epstein satirizes those who pursue the arts at the expense of everything else. But he does so in a kind way, showing the reader the price of such a sacrifice.

If you loved Fabulous Small Jews, you will equally enjoy this collection highlighting middle class, intellectual Jews living in Chicago. Each story is a gem. I read them slowly, enjoying the writing and not wanting the book to end.

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Ella Minnow Pea

2011-06-17T11:18:00.000-05:00

I don't really read absurdest books, but I thought I'd give Ella Minnow Pea a try after it was recommended by several different people. It's excellent. Ella Minnow Pea is a young woman who is living on the fictitious island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina. Nollop is named for Nevin Nollop, of course. And the town reveres him. He wrote the sentence, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." which uses every letter of the alphabet. The sentence is a pangram which is a sentence composed of all the letters of the alphabet. The book is epistolary in nature, meaning the story is told through letters.

The story starts out when one of the letters (Z) immortalizing the phrase falls off the facade of the town hall. No one knows quite what to do. The town council decided it is a sign from Nollop and from that time on the letter cannot be used in speech or print. There are escalating punishments for using the banned letter. The only ones excused from the rules are children age 7 and under.

All kinds of problems result. First the library must be cleared of every book that contains the letter. The school teachers may not utter the word, citizens cannot use it in speech or letters, etc. This continues through each missing letter. Towns people leave in droves and a small rebellion starts. Ella is caught in the tumult over the missing letters. Ella's mother receives a letter from a reporter (Nate) who is doing a series on Nollop and has heard of the falling letters and the town council's actions. He sneaks onto the island and goes to an open town meeting where he is discovered for the reporter he is. He is offered his choice of punishments but he agrees to write a similar sentence using all the letters of the alphabet, only this time he will use only 32 letters (Nollop used 35). He has 3 weeks to get this done. The race is on.

Nate has a small group working with him. They are trying to come up with a sentence but the 32 character limit is frustrating their progress. Meanwhile letters continue to fall and the council's actions are growing more outrageous. They seize property, shut down businesses and generally intrude on every part of the citizen's lives. Nate comes closer with the sentence.

The story line is clever. It shows up human failings and foibles and the consequences of censorship and totalitarianism run wild. As more letters fall the words in the story are spelled more creatively. Ella tells the story through letters to her cousin and parents. The absurdity of the whole situation actually had me laughing.

This book is a word lovers dream. I recommend it if you are looking for something a little different.

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The Story of a Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon

2011-06-14T15:36:00.001-05:00

This book has it all. It came to my attention before it was published, and I couldn't wait to see it in print so I could recommend it to anyone who came near me!

The book opens as a lovely retired widowed teacher opens her front door to a couple soaked by a rainstorm. As they enter her home, and shed their rain drenched outer garments, she sees a young white woman with a newborn, and a black man who is not the baby's father. As she prepared food for them, more pounding comes at the door, and they flee, but not before pressing the baby into the teacher's arms and urging "hide her!"

The ensuing story is spellbinding, and I can't stop thinking about it!

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A Simple Act of Violence

2011-06-10T10:06:00.001-05:00

R.J. Ellory's new book A Simple Act of Violence is anything but simple. The book starts with the murder of Catherine Sheridan, whom for some reason seems to know that she is about to be murdered. Washington police department detectives Robert Miller and Albert Roth are assigned to investigate. Miller is just returning from a suspension he received after being implicated in a murder.

Miller has doubts about what really happened right from the start. What he does know is that this murder is similar to 3 other murders of women in the past few months. The murderer has been dubbed the "Ribbon killer" because he ties ribbons around the victim's necks. When the victim's backgrounds are checked it seems as if these people were never alive. The investigation of Sheridan's murder leads Miller on a chase through the secret agencies of the United States. CIA, FBI, NSA all seem to be involved.

Intertwined in the main story is a narrative by someone named John Robey. Robey was an operative for the CIA. He was an assassin and he worked with Catherine Sheridan. His asides give the story line the background information that leads to the conclusion. Robey is eventually interviewed by Miller and Roth and he tries to drop hints as to what is really going on. It takes Miller awhile to catch on.

I liked this book. The beginning winds a bit and it is a little confusing with the shifting between the main story line and Robey's but persevere, they come together and everything is clear. The main story of the murders is a good one. Robey's story about the CIA and it's activities is more than just an aside. Combined they make for a very interesting fast paced mystery.

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Broken, by Karin Fossum

2011-06-07T17:58:00.000-05:00

Avid readers often wonder how a novel is created. How does a plot evolve? How do characters "come alive?"

Norwegian mystery writer Karin Fossum attempts to answer this question in Broken. In it, a novelist is awakened in the night by an intruder in her bedroom. That intruder is none other than one of her characters. Tired of waiting in line outside her window, he wants his story told now.

Thus begins this well-written and creative suspense story. The author, the "I" in the novel, is a driven woman, dependent on wine and pills. It is implied that she suffers from depression. The character she creates, Alvar Eide, is an intelligent man who manages an art gallery. Like the writer, he is a loner, unable to sustain friendships. But he is excessively needy and unable to make decisions. He is also unable to stand up for himself.

When a young woman, a heroin addict, knocks on the door of the gallery, Alvar lets her in and gives her hot coffee. In doing so, he opens the door to his insular way of life. The woman appears again, and eventually follows him home. When she arrives on his doorstep one night, Alvar lets her in. She gradually insinuates herself into Alvar's life, stealing a key to his apartment and coercing him to take money out of the bank. Her encroachment on his life confuses Alvar; he doesn't know how to say no. "What kind of world is this, where good leads to bad," he wonders. (p. 174)

Fossum's book is a departure from her Inspector Sejer series. It is a psychological thriller without a true crime. Although the title of the book is derived from the name of a painting in Alvar's gallery, it is clearly a metaphor. All of the characters are, in a sense, "broken," and in need of healing.

But the uniqueness of the Fossum's work is in its style. It is rare to see the workings of a writer's mind as she composes her story. But here we get a privileged look.

Lovers of mystery and lovers of literary fiction will both enjoy this unusual book.

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The Mozart Conspiracy

2011-06-01T16:29:00.001-05:00

The Mozart Conspiracy is a thriller in the vein of Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels. Mozart was written by British author Scott Mariani whose books are popular in the UK, but new to the US market. The Mozart Conspiracy is the latest in Mariani's Ben Hope series.

Ben Hope is an ex-SAS member who is trying to get on with his life. He hires himself out as a "crisis response consultant." Meaning he helps people escape from situations they would rather they or their family members not be in. Ben is heading back to his house on the west coast of Ireland when he receives a call from Leigh Llewellyn the sister of a friend of his. Oliver Llewellyn, an accomplished pianist, has just died in a drowning accident. At the time of his death Oliver was trying to unravel the meaning of a letter Mozart wrote shortly before he died. The letter purportedly shows that Mozart was killed at the hands of a secret society called the "Order of RA," a dissident band of the Freemasons. Oliver has a video he made while he was preforming in a great house in Vienna. The video shows the murder of a man.

Ben meets up with Leigh and she mentions that Oliver was looking into the letter and that he sent her something shortly before his death. The DVD is a copy of the video Oliver shot. Things start to move at this point. Leigh is shot at and someone tries to kidnap her in the hope of discovering what she knows about the letter and the DVD. Ben and Leigh try to track down Professor Arno who owns the original copy of Mozart's last letter. While Arno is explaining the background of the Masons and their relationship to Mozart he is shot. Before he dies, Arno tells them that the Order of Ra is still in existence.

While running for their lives Ben and Leigh come in contact with a detective named Markus Kinski. Kinski had done the original investigative work into Oliver's death. Kinski is interested in reopening the investigation but when he tries his young daughter is threatened and ultimately kidnapped. Oliver and Ben suffer a series of attacks before they are able to piece enough information together to get the real story of Oliver's death, the missing letter and the Order of Ra.

This books moves from beginning to end. Filled with car chases, beautiful women, double crosses, ex-special forces men and psychotics there is something for everyone. The book is similar to Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels. Ben Hope is the British version of Reacher. The plot moves all over Europe and has enough twists to keep a reader interested. Move over Jack, Ben has arrived.

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Doc Martin

2011-05-26T19:06:00.000-05:00

One of the most delightful English series I have come across lately is Doc Martin, starring Martin Clunes. In it, he plays the brilliant, but socially inept Dr. Martin Ellingham. Once a successful surgeon, he has developed a extreme fear of blood and can no longer perform operations. He then returns to the Cornish village of Portwenn, where he was raised by his understanding, but crusty, Aunt Joan. He replaces the retiring G.P., and sets up a medical practice.

Dr. Ellingham, colloquially called Doc Martin, is a sympathetic character, despite his abruptness and "shoot from the hip" manner. He is a fine doctor who does not suffer fools kindly. And in this village, full of off-beat characters, Doc Martin gets his patience tried daily.

The acting in this series is wonderful. The main characters are played by actors perfectly suited for their roles. The primary school teacher, Louisa Glass, provides the love interest for the doctor. Her warmth and maternal manner contrast markedly with his seeming callousness. Although he loves her, Doc Martin is unable to express his feelings. He succeeds, always, in making her angry by some careless choice of words.

This series reminded me of a British version of Northern Exposure. In both cases, we encounter a reticent doctor out of his depths with the people he serves. But Doc Martin is a far better series. Watching Dr. Ellingham's interactions, one wonders if he is afflicted by Asperger Syndrome. It is never mentioned, but his inability to read nuance, his need for order, and his struggle to connect with others, especially Louisa, are sympathetically portrayed. He is a fine doctor whose sense of ethics and knowledge of medicine put him far above others. In one episode, Dr. Ellingham's parents visit. We come to understand why Aunt Joan raised him, and what a difficult childhood he must have had when not in her care.

Glencoe Public Library carries all four seasons. This is a British comedy with fine acting, quirky characters and situations, and good insights into human nature. Season 5 is presently in production. I eagerly await its appearance on PBS this year.

Enjoy...

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The School of Night

2011-05-24T17:29:00.001-05:00

True to Louis Bayard's form, the School of Night, his latest novel moves back and forth from Elizabethan England to the present day. Alonzo Wax, a prominent historical document collector has committed suicide. He has named as his executor Henry Cavendish an Elizabethan scholar with a somewhat tarnished past. Cavendish, who authenticated a poem by Walter Ralegh that was later determined to be a fake is approached by Bernard Styles a rival of Wax's. Styles offers Cavendish $100,000. to locate a document he claims Alonzo stole from him. This document, a letter from Ralegh, is said to prove the existence of the School of Night. The school was a secret debating club attended by Ralegh, Thomas Harriot, a scientist, and the playwright Christopher Marlow among others.

The plot races along shifting between present time and the Elizabethan period. Bayard always has a twist to his historical novels and this one is no different. The document contains more than just information about the school. It contains information about Harriot's scientific studies as well. Included in the intrigue about the letter and the suicide of Wax are several more murders, a torrid love affair between Cavendish and a mysterious woman he sees at the Alonzo's funeral and information about the great love between Harriot and a servant named Margaret.

What makes this book different from Bayard's others are that this book contains some humor. The humor serves to enhance the story making the characters seem more modern. An intelligent thriller, Bayard does not disappoint.

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Gideon's Sword

2011-05-20T09:45:00.000-05:00

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (of the Pendergast series fame) have created a new character called Gideon Crew. Gideon's Sword is the first book relating to this new character. Gideon Crew is the latest in a long line of loner heroes. As a child Gideon sees his father shot after surrendering during a hostage incident. This effects the rest of his life, of course. He stumbles from one career to another finally settling on a career as a burglar at which he is quite successful. Meaning he doesn't get caught. He promises his dying mother to ruin the man who set up his father.

Gideon is hired by the mysterious EES company to find and follow a Chinese national who is entering the US with some secret technology that will change the world. EES does contract jobs for the federal government, the CIA and the NSA. Whether this is a terrorist plot, a nuclear device or a revolution of some other sort Gideon is never told. Gideon takes on the job and the story is off. The plot line is filled with old standards - a prostitute with a heart of gold, a mysterious tech company, a hero with a convoluted past, a possible terrorist plot. But the story is more than just the old stand byes. It moves fast enough to keep you interested, there are not alot of twists but there are a few surprises.

While Preston and Child are really known for their Pendergast series, the reader should be aware that this book is nothing like them. This book takes awhile for the main story to start. First the incident during his childhood, then the ruination of the man who killed his father and finally the main story line. An easy read with a fast plot line Gideon's Sword might just be the perfect men's beach read.

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Binocular Vision: New and Selected Stories

2011-05-17T16:29:00.001-05:00

Like most people, I had never heard of Edith Pearlman until I came upon a New York Times book review some weeks ago. While reading Binocular Vision: New and Selected Stories, I was impressed by the depth of her perceptions and the beauty of her writing. Each story is a gem. Pearlman captures the moral dilemmas we all face, the contradictions inherent in love, and the subtle and not so subtle indignities of youth and old age.

One of my favorite stories is "Aunt Telephone." Susan, the narrator, looks back on her youth in a wealthy suburb of Boston. The child of an investment banker and a psychologist, she describes the social milieu in which she grew up. "Our house and Milo's and the Plunket's all lay within a mile of each other..., as did the homes of most of the other guests--the psychiatrists and clinical psychologists and social workers who made up this crowd. They were all friends, they referred patients to one another, they distributed themselves into peer-supervision subsets--a collegial, talkative crew, their envy vigorously tamped down (p. 354)."

It is within this group of adult friends that she meets Milo, a much-published psychiatrist and neighbor. All the mothers seek his advice on child-rearing, no matter that he is a bachelor, and seemingly, asexual. "He was an aunt, my aunt, aunt to many children born into our therapeutic set, if an aunt is someone always ready to talk on the telephone to worried parents...," Susan relates.

Pearlman beautifully captures the rebelliousness of adolescence and the awkwardness of the tween years. Susan is a precocious child, preferring her own company to that of the pack. She is drawn to Milo, in part, because of his own predilection for living alone. But the story is more than a Bildungsroman. It is also about displacement. Susan reveals that the mothers no longer call Milo once their children are grown. There are no more recitals, bar mitzvahs or graduation invites. There are no more phone calls. Of the large crowd that once esteemed Milo, only Susan remains. Now an adult with children of her own, she deeply respects the way in which he accepts, with grace, his reduced circumstances and advancing years.

"Aunt Telephone" is but one of 34 stories. Each story is built around a unique set of circumstances--"the predicaments--odd, wry, funny and painful--of being human." (New York Times Book Review, January 14, 2011) Some of the stories deal with Jews displaced by the Holocaust, making a new life in other countries. "Allog" has a unique take on the immigrant experience in Israel. "Inbound" looks at a young family with two daughters, and the impact of Down's Syndrome on their lives. Other stories deal with passion in the autumn years. In"Capers," an elderly couple resorts to extreme measures to enhance their love life. All are tales of hope as the characters struggle with whatever life hands them. The gift of Binocular Vision is that we recognize our better selves in the characters Edith Pearlman has created.

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A Discovery of Witches

2011-05-13T12:31:00.005-05:00

It begins with absence and desire.
It begins with blood and fear.
It begins with a discovery of witches.

So begins Deborah Harkness' a Discovery of Witches. Think of this story not as the Twilight series for adults but rather as a love story involving non-human creatures.

I am not a fan of books about vampires, witches, supernatural powers, parallel universes, etc. but I do like a well told story and a Discovery of Witches is just that. Diana Bishop is working on some research in the Bodleian Library of Oxford University. The Bodleian is one of the world's oldest libraries. Diana, a Ph.D., is doing research on ancient documents relating to alchemy. She also happens to come from a long line of witches. Her lineage dates back to Sarah Bishop of the Salem witch trials fame.

Since her parents death when she was 7 years old Diana has been raised by her two aunts, Emily and Sarah, also witches. Diana tries to ignore her abilities as a witch resulting in her being an overachiever in her "human" life.

While pouring over her manuscripts, Diana calls up from the bowels of the Bodelian a manuscript labeled "Ashmole 782." The manuscript, long thought lost by the witching world, is tightly bound up by spells which only Diana can release. And she does so much to her dismay. So upset that her witching powers have come out for the book, Diana sends it back to the stacks. Here is where her real trouble begins.

Diana notices the library is beginning to fill with other witches, daemons and vampires none of whom seem to wish her well. Except for the vampire Matthew Clairmont. Dr. Clairmont, as he is known in this incarnation, is a brilliant DNA researcher attached to another Oxford college.

The story now begins in earnest. Vampires and witches are not supposed to mix, let alone help each other, and really not fall in love. But these two do. In steps the Congregation, a sort of U.N. for witches, vampires and daemons. The Congregation enforces the rules of a pact made a thousand years ago that is to keep the species from killing each other. One of the rules is no mixing. Diana and Matthew ignore that rule while trying to find out the mystery of the Ashmole 782 document.

The plot moves forward through the attacks and betrayals that Matthew and Diana suffer just to be together. It is really a story of a love affair - 2 people who should never come together do despite the criticisms of both of their families.

I liked this book. The story is good and despite being a witch and a vampire, Diana and Matthew are great sympathetic characters. Get past the fact that instead of humans this story is about witches, vampires and daemons and you will like this book as well. Be aware that while there is a satisfying conclusion to the book there are enough threads still hanging for a sequel. Enjoy!

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Meg Wolitzer's The Uncoupling

2011-05-10T13:56:00.000-05:00

I really enjoyed this book, which falls squarely in the popular category of "light but good" fiction.

Rob and Dory Lang are happily married English teachers at a small town high school. All is well at school and home until a new drama teacher, Fran Heller, arrives in town. Fran proposes that the high school students put on a play based on the classic play Lysistrata, in which women refuse to have sex with their men in an effort to stop the war. As the preparations for the play progress, a spell falls over all those involved, and - you can guess- but I won't tell you what happens!

Not serious literature, but a good read that I am recommending. By the author of The Ten-Year Nap.

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Two Atmospheric New DVD Series

2011-05-06T09:28:00.011-05:00

We've got two wonderful new DVD series that combine thick atmosphere with colorful characters.

Justified, currently in its second season on FX, is best described as a contemporary Western despite the fact that one of the running jokes in the first season involves the fact that U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, our hero, is the only one wearing a cowboy hat and boots. The show is set in western Kentucky, where Marshal Givens is exiled after shooting a bad guy in Miami. Originally hailing from this area of the country, Givens encounters an ex-wife, an ex-girlfriend, an absent father and a variety of long-lost associates, a number of whom are involved in criminal endeavors (particularly meth dealing). Givens is cool in every tough situation and his old associate Boyd Crowder in particular is a fascinating supporting character. Despite moments of violence, the show remains funny and folksy. The character of Raylan Givens was originally created by Elmore Leonard and Justified retains Leonard's skill with dialogue (Leonard remains on as Executive Producer).

David Simon, the creator of The Wire, has returned to HBO with Treme, which celebrates post-Katrina New Orleans with an excellent ensemble cast. A waitress, a college professor, a lawyer, a Mardi Gras indian chief, musicians and more all try to reconstruct their lives after losing jobs, houses and loved ones in the hurricane. But forget about the plot - the story of Treme is of the music of New Orleans. Every episode of Treme features multiple musical performances and if there is ever a soundtrack that you will want to own, this is it. John Goodman, Melissa Leo and Steve Zahn are probably the biggest names in the skilled cast, though cameos from real-life New Orleans musicians and personalities abound. I visited New Orleans at the end of 2010 and Treme made me want to head right back.

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The Tiger's Wife

2011-05-03T14:23:00.000-05:00

The Tiger's Wife is an amazing first novel by Tea Obreht. The story goes back and forth from the Yugoslavia of the 1950s to the Bosnian Conflict of 1992-1995. Once loosely united under the military dictator, Tito (the "Marshall"), it is now being torn apart by ethnic hatreds. As in the allegorical novel, A Pigeon and a Boy, by Meir Shalev, Tea Obreht depicts the horrors of war without naming the parties. This universalizes the suffering and makes an enemy of cruelty and intolerance.

Still, some background to this war-torn region is helpful. One of the main characters--the grandfather, recalls his time as a soldier during the Soviet-Yugoslav Conflict of the 1950s. At the time, the Bosnians, Croations, and Serbians were united by communism and informal borders.

But this peace is shattered with Tito's death in 1980 and the fall of a collective presidency in 1991. On June 25, 1991, Serbia and Croatia proclaimed sovereignty over Yugoslavia. The Yugoslavian Army then attacked Slovenia. The Croats and Serbs began fighting in Croatia and all ethnic rivalries were unleashed. Ethnic cleansing continued through 1995, when NATO sent in peace-keeping forces. It was not until December14, 1995 that a peace accord between the Bosnians, Croats and Serbs was signed. By the end of the war, 200,000 people had lost their lives; six million remained homeless.
http://www.time.com/time/daily/bosnia/bosniatimeline.html

Tea Obreht spins her story loosely based on events from this time. Natalia Stefanovi is a young doctor, just out of school. She journeys across the newly-drawn border to treat Muslim children orphaned by the Serbian forces. Obreht does not tell us the nationalities of either Natalia or those she treats, but there is a reference to the children orphaned by Natalia's people.

We learn that her sick grandfather has died, not at home, but in a village close to where she now works. Why he ventured there to die alone is a mystery she intends to solve. In doing so, she reflects on the stories her grandfather told her--namely those concerning "the deathless man." Obreht weaves elements of the supernatural into the plot with ease and grace.

The story from which the novel derives its name is about a tiger that escaped captivity when the zoo was bombed during World War II. The tiger re-learns its wild ways, and searches for food at the edges of the town. It begins to steal food from the butcher's smoke house. There, it meets the butcher's deaf, mute and abused wife. She is a Muslim, and like the tiger, an outsider in the village. As WWII rages, and threat of invasion by Germany is imminent, the villagers turn to scapegoating both the tiger and the wife. Obreht's imagery is luminous as she describes the forest setting and the relationship between the tiger and the woman he loves. "He had gone a week without the warmth of the village and the smokehouse smell of her hair...Once or twice he had gone to her, had tracked her down in the blackness of the trees, but she had always led him back. And he had lain there among the ruins of Sveti Danilo while the snow fell through the caved-in roof above the alter, and watched the birds huddled along the golden arch of the alterpiece." (p. 261)

The Tiger's Wife is highly metaphoric and sensuously visual. Its lyrical writing keeps the reader spellbound to the last page.

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The Anatomy of Ghosts

2011-04-29T09:21:00.000-05:00

Set in the late 1700's Andrew Taylor's The Anatomy of Ghosts is a mystery set in Cambridge University's Jerusalem College. The college is a small one and had been started by the ancestors of Lady Anne Oldershaw. The story opens with one woman (Mrs. Whitcote) wandering through the streets of Cambridge into the Jerusalem College gardens and another young woman dying before she can be the sacrifice for a group of collegians known as the Holy Ghost Club.

In London, John Holdworth is a book seller. His young son drowns in the Thames. His wife spends most of her time mourning her son while in the company of a medium who claims to be able to relay messages from the woman's dead son. After trying to get his wife some help, Holdworth writes a book debunking ghost sightings. This book, called The Anatomy of Ghosts has some success throughout London. Lady Oldershaw is familiar with the book.

Lady Oldershaw hires Holdworth to catalog and organize a large private library belonging to her late husband. She has another plan for Holdworth as well - she really wants to discuss ghost sightings. Her son, Frank, a student at Jerusalem College, has been institutionalized after losing his mind after seeing what he believes to be the ghost of Mrs. Whitcote. Frank was being initiated into the Holy Ghost Club the night he saw the ghost. Lady Oldershaw sends Holdworth to Cambridge to investigate what exactly happened to her son.

After all that background, the story finally starts. The set up takes along time and while interesting, the prose is difficult to find a rhythm in. It is evocative of another time - the time period the book is set in. Once you get used to the somewhat stilted language the story is a good one. There are plenty of secrets being kept at Jerusalem College and plenty of people who don't want their secrets out. Holdworth is a man you would want to know, Lady Oldershaw is a good example of an overprotective mother used to getting her way and Frank is the wild, rich college boy. The Holy Ghost Club is the secret society. They all come together is a somewhat surprising way. And the end of the story and the explanations of the ghost sightings is really clever.

Despite the slow start I enjoyed the book. It's a little bit creepy, but a good mystery overall.

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The History of Love

2011-04-25T16:14:00.006-05:00

The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss, masterfully weaves together disparate lives in the shadow of the Holocaust. Leo Gursky and Alma were in their late teens in 1941, when Hitler invaded Poland. Alma escaped to New York. But Leo remained behind, hiding in the woods and perfecting the art of becoming invisible. He was 21 years old, and had already written three books in honor of his beloved. One of these, "The History of Love," becomes a focal point in the Krauss novel and affects the lives of those who read it.

"But it is not the only piece of writing here to do so," writes Megan Harlan of the San Francisco Chronicle. "For Krauss' novel abounds with myriad literary documents--journal entries, letters, lists, translations, excerpts from autobiography--penned by her characters, and done so in cleverly distinctive styles that spark each personality to life. Their role in Krauss' tricky, intriguing plot suggests that all writing, no matter how private or obscure, is potentially filled with transformative power and sometimes in ways neither author nor reader could hope to imagine." (San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, May 1, 2005)

The characters in The History of Love, particularly Leo Gursky and fourteen year old Alma Singer (named for the character in Leo Gursky's novel) seem so alive they could step off the page. Krauss deals with themes of loneliness and alienation masterfully, and we both laugh and cry at Gursky's antics to avoid being unnoticed. Similarly, the quirkiness of Alma and her brother, Bird, play powerfully into these themes. The reader smiles at Bird's belief that he is among the Lamed Vahviks--one of the 36 sainted people who, according to Hasidic lore, will save the world. We are unsure of whether Bird is psychotic, or merely "unusual." Like Leo Gursky, he is both comic and sad. The reader wonders whether his mother's despondency and his father's death entice this sensitive boy into the realm of his imagination. As Bird helps his sister unravel the clues behind a letter, we are drawn into the mystery. The book becomes a page-turner whose loose ends come together on Bird's final journal entry.

If you enjoy reading books with endearing characters, exquisite writing, and an engaging plot, you will relish The History of Love. This book places Nicole Krauss among the best authors of our time.

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The Informationist

2011-04-20T11:13:00.000-05:00

This is a great book. It pulls you in right from the beginning with a flight through the jungle and just keeps going.

The Informationist is a story about an androgynous woman named Vanessa Michael Monroe. She has a mysterious past even though she will admit to being the child of missionaries in Cameroon, where she was born. Monroe (who goes by the name Michael) deals in information. For the right price she will secure any information you require.

She is hired to find Emily Burbank who disappeared in Africa while travelling with 2 men she met on a safari. Emily's mother has died and Emily stands to inherit money if she can be found. Her stepfather, Richard Burbank, is a billionaire oil man and he is financing the search. Previous searches have shown that Emily is most likely dead. Burbank forces Michael to work with Miles Bradford, an ex-special forces member who works for Burbank. Michael and Bradford do not get along especially after it becomes clear that a third party is tracking them and sabotaging the search.

Michael's past is slowly revealed throughout the story in short vignettes. And her past includes some very un-missionary like events. Including the murder of Peter, a man who not only taught her all her martial arts skills but tormented her until his death. Michael has an interesting assortment of people she has befriended throughout her previous jobs. These people are called upon to help her find Emily.

The comparisons to Lisbeth Salander from the Larsson trilogy will be inevitable. Michael is a strong woman with a mysterious past, she possesses skills that allow her to succeed and she has an assortment of people she can count on for help. This is a great story and is well written with just the right amount of twists and surprises. The pacing is fast and it pulls the reader along through the story. But, the characters develop slowly. I read this book in a weekend. I could not put it down.

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Great House

2011-04-15T12:06:00.000-05:00

Great House, by Nicole Krauss, is a haunting novel, unconventional in structure, poetic in language, and rich in universal themes. Through its four narrators, the novel is woven into a tapestry of separate stories--stories which pose questions about alienation and love. The book explores the impact of history--how events shape our psyches and impact on those we love. It explores the nature of inheritance and the function of memory as lives are reconstructed after great loss. Whether it be the Holocaust, or the experience of war, life for those affected will never be the same.

The book begins with the story of Nadia, a writer who limits her contact with the outside world in order to write. She has given up everything--husband, the idea of children, friends--for her art. Her most cherished possession is a desk "loaned" to her by a Chilean poet, Daniel Varsky. The desk, upon which she writes her books, becomes her trusted companion over a span of 27 years. When she relinquishes it into the possession of Daniel's supposed daughter, and believes it is sent to Israel, Nadia no longer knows who she is or what her life means. She goes to Israel not to find the desk, but to find the self she has lost.

Thus, we are introduced to the desk, the object that loosely connects some, but not all, of the characters. There is a second writer in this book--Lotte. Lotte was a child when the SS rounded up her family in October of 1938. She lived with them for a year, and then took a chaperone visa to escort a group of children to the U.S. Her parents were ultimately killed, and Lotte was left to live with the guilt of her choice. She becomes a published author, but lives emotionally detached from her husband. Like Nadia, the desk is her most cherished possession, given to her by a former lover. She eventually gives this desk to the poet Daniel Varsky, a man 30 years her junior. We never fully know why.

Then there is Weitz, an antiques dealer. Weitz is also a Holocaust survivor, having left Hungary in 1949 at the age of 21. In 1944, a stone was hurled into the window of his father's study, and life, as he knew it, ended. His father, a scholar of history, died on a death march to the Reich. As Weitz recalls to Lotte's husband when he comes looking for his father's desk: "He wrote at an enormous desk with many drawers, and when I was very young I believed that two thousand years were stored in those drawers...(p. 284)" He goes on to describe his obsession with finding this last piece of furniture that would recreate the study he knew as a child. "...The one searching for this desk isn't like the others...He doesn't have the capacity to forget just a little. His memory is more real to him, more precise, than the life he lives, which becomes more and more vague to him." (p. 276)

The Holocaust's impact went beyond those it directly touched. After her death, Lotte's husband realizes that he never comprehended the enormity of her guilt. Nor could he understand later decisions she made that most would find abhorrent. Similarly, Weitz travels with his two children throughout Europe, never giving them a stable home. His obsession with finding possessions plundered by the Nazis and replicating rooms that exist only in memory negate the needs of his own children. Both become emotionally stunted--prisoners of a past that is not their own.

There is yet one more narrator--an Israeli prosecutor who is mourning the death of his wife. The desk does not play a role in this poignant story, which concerns estrangement and the psychological toll of war. Puzzled by his son's guilt over the death of a fellow soldier, his father ponders, "Terrible things befall people, but not all are destroyed. Why is it that the same thing that destroys one does not destroy another?" (p. 190)

In a radio interview on KCRW's Bookworm (December 9, 2010), Nicole Krauss explains that Great House is a book about doubt--moral doubt, self-doubt, the reader's doubt. " What is it to make a life in the shadow of doubt?" (http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bw/bw101209nicole_krauss_great_) Great House is a work of immense depth, an attempt to analyze the impact of experience, memory, and parental love (often gone wrong) upon generations. It is the effort of a great writer to explore questions without clear answers. And it is her gift to enable her readers to do the same.

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The Tiger

2011-04-12T14:46:00.000-05:00

I love a good thriller and I have to say this work of non-fiction fulfills every thriller requirement there is. The Tiger by John Vaillant takes place in far eastern Russia in the late 1990's. The cast of characters includes the intrepid federal agent, the deceased, the local residents looking for revenge, and the stalker - the tiger.

The area of Russia known as the "taiga" is a harsh land. Cold, desolate, remote and full of animals that think a human is food. Markov was a man who lived, hunted and tried to survive in the area. He was familiar with the harsh living conditions and had a somewhat successful business trapping and selling the skins of various animals. However he ran into an animal that didn't agree with him. Markov as a matter of survival, took some of the meat from a tiger's kill. Not a smart thing to do but if you are starving it makes all the sense in the world. Markov was one man. There were approximately 450 tigers living in the taiga at the time. One of them was not pleased that Markov had taken some of his meat.

A tiger is a huge animal. Hundreds of pounds of muscle and brain that is hungry all the time. Most people attacked by a tiger do not live to tell the tale. The force of an attacking tiger has been compared to having a piano dropped on you from a second story window. Crushing. But a tiger is not just a killing machine. He is smart. He remembers. He is vengeful against those that have hurt him. The people who live in the taiga believe that if they don't harm a tiger it will not harm you.

Deaths in the taiga, especially deaths by tigers are investigated by the Inspection Tiger team. This small group of men are responsible for not only the safety of the taiga land and its human residents but they are responsible for the safety of the tigers. Tiger meat and bones are believed to cure a number of ailments from sore muscles to impotency. But the tigers are protected animals world wide and they cannot be hunted for sport or commerce. The Inspection Tiger team was notified of Markov's death by a local resident. When the team arrived they could not believe what they saw.

There was literally nothing left of Markov. A boot with some bone still in it, various pieces of his clothing and some bone fragments. The tiger had literally eaten almost all of him. And his dog. Trush, the leader of the Inspection Tiger team had seen tiger kills before but nothing like this. An experienced tracker, Trush soon realized that Markov had not died while stalking the tiger, Markov died after the tiger stalked and hunted him.

Trush put together various scenarios by following the tiger's tracks. The tracks were easy to follow. The tiger was injured and had an odd gait. In addition the tiger's paw prints were larger that a man's hand. This was a huge tiger. Large enough to drag a full grown man between his legs (which he did with Markov). Within 2 weeks of Markov's death the tiger struck again. Now the local residents were terrified. They wanted that tiger gone.

Trush's team secured an order to kill the tiger and the hunt began. They followed the tiger for more than 2 weeks before the trackers and the tiger met up in a quiet clearing. It did not remain quiet for long. The tiger attacked Trush and the other hunters attacked the tiger. This time the tiger lost.

This book is fascinating. Not only does it tell the tale of the rogue tiger, it delves into the psychological aspects of both humans who hunt and the animals they hunt. Both human and animal can be in the same physical space but they experience the space differently. Tigers are territorial like humans. They will defend what they perceive to be theirs. The tiger who killed Markov was doing just that.

The psychology of the tiger was interesting and frightening at the same time. The people who occupy the taiga are a breed unto themselves. Trying to move into the 21st century, they still believe in old myths and the old ways. I literally could not put this book down. While I knew how it ended, the story of how the Inspection Tiger team arrived at the ending is well worth the read.

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Encyclopedia of the Exquisite

2011-04-06T12:55:00.000-05:00

I will admit that I love trivia. Absolutely useless facts that just float around in my brain until I happen to need them for something. So the Encyclopedia of the Exquisite was made just for me. The book contains 300 pages of information about things that are billed as "elegant delights." And delights they are. They are also a great means of escaping the dark winter days.

A short page or two explanation of each subject is given. The entries are in alphabetical order for easy perusing. Starting with aerostation (the art of hot air ballooning) and ending with yes - billed as "a word used to express willingness or agreement" the book covers items and their true meanings that are lost in today's world. Think unicorns. However, the book does have some factual items. Among others, there are interesting sections on Kumari, the living goddesses of Nepal and obsidian, which is a black volcanic glass.

While this book is no great literary achievement it is the kind of book that is just interesting. A way to relax and maybe improve your mind.

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The Cypress House

2011-03-28T11:10:00.002-05:00

Michael Koryta has spun yet another story with just the right amount of supernatural happenings. The Cypress House begins with World War I vet, Arlen Wagner, heading south on a train with his young friend Paul Brickhill to work in the CCC camps. Arlen has a disturbing skill of being able to foresee death. A skill he developed during the war. When he sees death in the other passengers he leaves the train taking Paul with him.

Arlen and Paul get picked up by a man named Sorenson who takes them through Florida while he does his "pick-ups." Sorenson winds up at the Cypress House, a run down place on the west coast of Florida run by Rebecca Cady. Rebecca doesn't want visitors. She wants Sorenson to make his pick up, take everybody and leave. Stuck at the Cypress House because of a family debt to a crooked local sheriff Rebbecca just wants to bide her time until her brother, Owen, gets out of jail.

Once Owen is released and returns to the Cypress House things take a turn for the worse. Owen wants to continue working for the drug runners, but Rebbecca wants to leave. The bodies start to pile up. Arlen tries to devise an escape plan for everyone, but sees death everywhere. And so the story goes until the surprising climax.

Koryta writes a great book. Thriller but with a little bit of supernatural thrown in. It sounds strange, but it works. The power Arlen has is more of an ESP type power than a supernatural one and the power is more of a character trait than a driving force in the story. Well written and entertaining, this book is a great way to spend the grey days of late winter.

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Simon Winchester's Atlantic

2011-03-24T13:26:00.000-05:00

I've enjoyed Simon Winchester's profiles of eccentric individuals in the books The Man Who Loved China and The Map That Changed the World so I was looking forward to his recent book Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories. Atlantic is a "biography" of the Atlantic Ocean, and while it was sprawling and perhaps a little overwrought, there were enough pleasurable and informational moments that I'm glad I stuck with it.

Winchester structures the book to parallel Shakespeare's Seven Ages of Man speech from All The World's a Stage, with each chapter focusing on an aspect of the Atlantic Ocean's place in history, nature, commerce, art, etc. Inevitably, certain chapters work better than others, but I found myself unable to put the book down in the chapters that talk about the motivations for initially exploring the Atlantic, and the warfare, fishing and shipping that developed as the ocean was conquered. As just one example, I found the attempt to span the ocean with the initial telegraph cables to be fascinating, a mind-boggling feat.

Certainly some chapters don't work as well as the parts that I enjoyed. The section on art and architecture influenced by the ocean was perhaps the least interesting to me and near the end, when Winchester outlines the pollution, global warming and overfishing challenges facing the Atlantic, I found myself drifting. There have been other books dedicated to those subjects that may work better for the interested reader. Despite his clear love for and connection with the Atlantic Ocean, and the fact that it was truly the last "conquered" ocean, I did find some of his arguments to be overstated regarding the uniqueness of that body of water compared to other bodies of water.

Perhaps Winchester felt crushed by the size of this work as well, since his latest book, The Alice Behind Wonderland, barely goes over 100 pages. However, you've got to admire the man's passion for his subject and much of the history (political, physical and cultural) contained in Atlantic is captivating.

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A Red Herring without Mustard

2011-03-21T15:38:00.000-05:00

The third book in the Flavia deLuce series, A Red Herring without Mustard, does not disappoint. Flavia is once again in the thick of it as she causes a fire at the village fete when she upsets a candle in the fortune teller's tent setting off a chain of events that test Falvia's detective skills.

After the fete fiasco, Flavia stumbles across the old fortune teller who has been bludgeoned almost to death. Who could have done this? With a missing child, stolen silver, a dead body in the pond and the appearance of the fortune teller's mysterious granddaughter, Flavia is exhausted.

Enter now the older sisters who are bent on adding more strife to Flavia's life. They kidnap her and proceed to scare her witless when they hide her in a cellar. This cellar experience comes in handy later on in the story. Flavia prevails however - she understands how paybacks work.

While investigating the beating of the old gypsy, Flavia discovers a local low-life has been stealing items from her house. She discovers these items in a local resale shop but shelves that investigation for later until a dead body turns up hanging from one of the statues near the family pond. Stuck in the dead man's mouth is a silver fish fork that belongs to the deLuce silver service.

Getting caught up in both investigations leads Flavia to a years old alleged kidnapping of a local child. The gypsy woman had been accused of taking the child but as the facts surrounding the beating and the murder are revealed it becomes clear something else happened to the child.

Flavia is certainly her usual busy self. This latest book brings out Flavia's increasing awareness of other people's feelings. She is worried about her father's increasing financial problems and she befriends the gypsy's granddaughter, Porcelain.

The book is well written cozy mystery. The red herrings referred to in the title are the clues that continue to pile up during the story. The mystery unfolds gradually and almost all is solved at the end. The best part is Flavia, of course. I can hardly wait to see what she does next.

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Gryphon: New & Selected Stories

2011-03-17T19:35:00.000-05:00

Gryphon is a collection of stories written by Charles Baxter. They take place in Minnesota and Michigan, many in the bleakness of winter. The lives of the characters are conventional; there are no great epiphanies. Yet, the stories captivate in a way similar to those of Alice Munro and William Trevor.

What makes Baxter a great short story writer is his ability to completely engage the reader in stories where there is little action. Although soothsayers appear as grotesque, homeless men and tarot cards yield vague futures, the characters remain unchanged by their discoveries and continue in their mundane lives. A particularly good example of this is in the story, "Shelter." In it, Cooper, who dropped out of law school to become a baker, finds contentment in both his marriage and his craft. He is especially cheered by the warm feeling the smell of freshly-baked bread gives his 7 a.m. customers. But his peace is shattered by the image of the mentally unstable beggars he sees on the street.

"You're such a good person," his wife says to him.
"No, that's wrong," Cooper replies. "This has nothing to do with good. Virtue doesn't interest me. What this is about is not feeling crazy when I see those people."

How often do we give money but avert our eyes, feeling guilty for our own good fortune? The author takes this feeling one step further. He has Cooper volunteer at a shelter, and then, invite one of its residents (Billy) to his bakery, and later, to his home for dinner. His prosecutor wife proceeds to interrogate the homeless man, sensing a wantonness there that her husband fails to see. And indeed, she proves to be correct.

The characters in this story, as in all the stories, are fully drawn. In a few pages, we learn some of their histories, and certainly, understand their motives. The reader, through the eyes of the wife, sees the true nature of Billy even though Cooper does not. We expect something horrible to occur, but nothing does. What happens in the end is that a clear picture of Cooper is revealed, but not Cooper's awareness of it.

In another story, "Fenstad's Mother," the central character is a writer of brochures in the publicity department of a computer company. At night, he teaches English to working class people hoping to better themselves. Like Cooper, Fenstad lacks self-awareness, but believes he is a devout and good person. On Sunday mornings, after communion, he often visits his mother. "How's your soul, Harry? she asks him. "What's the news."

By contrast, his mother has a truly kind heart. The mother does not hesitate to give a homeless woman her coat or befriend one of Fenstad's inner-city students. She is not put off by poverty, as is Harry. And whereas Fenstad takes himself seriously, and is looking for perfection in a mate, his mother has a more realistic picture: "Harry, why does your generation always have to find the right person? Why can't you learn to live with the wrong person? Sooner or later everyone's wrong..." (p. 121)

Both of these stories are representative of the entire collection. We can easily identify with the strengths and weaknesses of Baxter's characters, as well as their hopes and dreams. Charles Baxter portrays average, Midwestern people striving to make sense of their inner and outer worlds. The fact that most do not succeed, that they live with dimmed insights, makes them all the more human.

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The Empty Family

2011-03-14T10:10:00.000-05:00

The Empty Family, by Colm Toibin, is a poignant short story collection built around the themes of exile, past loves, and bereavement. Yet the stories--all nine--are so much more. Toibin looks intensely at characters no longer living in the places of their birth, in this case, Ireland. They look with longing at the physical surroundings that once were home to them.

The title story, "The Empty Family," is one of the most evocative in the collection. In it, the narrator is addressing, perhaps in a letter, a former lover. He has returned to Wexford County, Ireland, a verdant area bounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea. His former house is kept clean, its bills paid from his current home in San Francisco.

Describing the beach in Point Reyes (Northern California), the narrator calls it a "passionate and merciless sea...the Pacific Ocean at its most relentless and stark...: (p. 28)

"I missed home. I went to Point Reyes every Saturday so I could miss home." (p. 29)

The home he wistfully describes is that of a gentler ocean, a longer history, and the burial place of his forebears. Memories of his great love, the man he writes to, are part of the place he now visits. Yet, the narrator is not despondent. He finds peace and a sense of identity in the breaking waves.

"There was whiteness and grayness in it and a sort of blue and green. It was a lie. It did not toss, nor did it stay still. It was all movement, all spillage, but it was pure containment as well, utterly focused just as I was watching it...it was something coming towards us as though to save us but it did nothing. Instead, it withdrew in a shrugging irony, as if to suggest that this is what the world is, and our time in it, all lifted possibility, all complexity and rushing fervour, to end in nothing on a small strand, and go back out to rejoin the empty family from whom we had set out alone with such a burst of brave unknowing energy." (p.27)

Colm Toibin has written a collection of stories that picture men and women whose conflicting loyalties have brought them to the place they are now. His characters are resilient, despite poverty, loss, and deep regret. They have made peace with the difficult choices and inherent sacrifices. It is Toibin's ability to capture this essence, in magnificent writing, that makes him one of the great authors of our time.

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Downton Abbey

2011-03-09T14:06:00.001-06:00

In case you missed Downton Abbey, which premiered January 3rd on Masterpiece Classic, PBS, you can watch the episodes on the newly released DVD series.

The plot of Downton Abbey centers on the family and servants of Earl Robert Crawley, who are in danger of losing their home because there are no male heirs. The only heir apparent is a middle-class lawyer, Robert Crawley. The household, from the servants to its leisure class inhabitants, holds him and his mother (a former nurse) in disdain.

The time period of part one of this series is of great interest. It takes place in 1912, just after the sinking of the Titanic and before the start of WWI. Women are still in corsets, but the Woman's Movement is beginning. The class system is in place, but there are "radicals" in the crowds, as well as talk of equal rights. The typewriter has been invented, and young women servants hope to better themselves with jobs as secretaries. One of the Earl's daughters is caught up in the fever of the times. Meanwhile, the eldest daughter, Mary, chafes at the notion of having to marry; she does not want the life her mother has.

Downton Abbey is sheer entertainment. The series has a cast of characters matched only by Charles Dickens or Jane Austen. Maggie Smith masterfully plays the mother of Robert Crawley; Elizabeth McGovern plays his beautiful American wife. The performance of Maggie Smith alone is worth watching.

If you are looking for a period piece with engaging characters, great sets, and fine acting, this Masterpiece series will certainly deliver.

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The Devil and Sherlock Holmes

2011-03-05T10:53:00.000-06:00

The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder Madness and Obsession is the second offering from David Grann, the author of the hit The Lost City of Z (recently reviewed in our Staff Picks) and it's a readable collection of nonfiction originally published in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic and The New Republic. Ostensibly an attempt to profile real life mysteries, it's really just a look at some interesting people, many of whom have a connection to a crime. The profiles range from an elderly bank robber to Toto Constant, a former strongman in Haiti.

One of my favorite pieces in this collection had nothing to do with crime, but was instead a profile of the tunnel system thousands of feet under New York City. It's an awe-inspiring look at an incredible feat of engineering, and shows how despite changes in the technology used to create and maintain this system the families involved in the work remain the same, generation after generation.

Among other the pieces in this collection are an attempt to identify the murderer of an expert on Sherlock Holmes (thus giving the collection its title), a look at a con-artist who specializes in false identities who may have been conned himself, and the search for the elusive giant squid.

As in any collection of this type, the pieces are not equally captivating. But they're all relatively short and readable making it easy to move on to the next one. A light read, this collection will be of interest to people interested in true crime (although only half the essays deal with this subject) or NPR-ish profiles of interesting people. It's a nice holdover as we wait for his next full-length piece of nonfiction.

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Packing for Mars

2011-02-26T16:46:00.001-06:00

Interested in a new vacation destination? Well Packing for Mars will tell you what you need to join the US space program and what exactly you will be doing during training. And I mean exactly.

This little book covers everything from space food to sex in zero gravity. It gives the history of the issue and then some anecdotes about the training the real astronauts had. The chapter on gaining your equilibrium in zero gravity is especially detailed. So is the one on "human waste disposal" and the zero gravity toilet.

Roach, who put her body where her mouth is, had experienced many of the trials of fledgling astronauts. And she does it with some amount of grace. With a wry sense of humor Roach takes to the sky in the "vomit comet" and sacrifices her taste buds for experimental space food among other things. She gives the reader information that is not on any official NASA website.

This book has been on my "to read" list for some time. I suggest all the adults who still dream of going into space give this book a read. It has some laugh out loud passages as well as some that will give the reader pause. The book moves quickly. The chapters are short and subject specific. Roach takes the reader through the early days of the space program - from unmanned flights, through the chimp phase to manned flight. Each step shows that the real glitch in all the technology is the human body. But that the humans who aspire to be astronauts are willing to put up with almost certain death to participate.

You, lucky reader can enjoy the thrills, trials and tribulations vicariously through reading this book.

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The Girl in the Green Raincoat

2011-02-23T14:27:00.000-06:00

This short sweet mystery from Laura Lippman is a updated version of the Hitchcock classic Rear Window. Tess Monaghan, a private investigator is bedridden in the late stages of her pregnancy. From her window she can view the park across the street. Everyday she views a woman in a green raincoat talking on her cell phone walking a dog, also in a green coat. Then one day Tess sees the dog running, with the leash still attached and no woman.

Tess becomes concerned about the missing woman. Using her contacts she discovers that the woman was living with a man whose 2 previous wives had been murdered. Tess is now really concerned not only for the woman, but because she (Tess) has been entrusted with the dog. The police eventually become involved and the investigation escalates.

Lippman spins a good story with comments on life and love along the way. The story is short as it was originally serialized in the New York Times magazine but the action is good and the characters sympathetic. And it has a surprise ending!

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Sports Night

2011-02-19T12:29:00.000-06:00

If you are looking for a comedy series about sports, but not really, check out Sports Night. It is written by Aaron Sorkin, who is best known for A Few Good Men, The American President and The West Wing and who is currently nominated for a best screenplay Academy Award for The Social Network. He is masterful at good character development using Mamet-like short dialogue and fast-paced episodes.

Sports Night, which aired on ABC from 1998 to 2000, is about a sports network similar to one on ESPN. The program highlights the interpersonal dynamics among members of the news team as they struggle with their own lives and the production of a live television broadcast.

Robert Guillaume (Soap, Benson) plays the benevolent managing editor, Isaac, and Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives) is Dana, the Executive Producer. Josh Charles (The Good Wife) plays Dan, co-anchor. Peter Krause (Parenthood and Six Feet Under) plays Casey, the other co-anchor. Other cast members include Joshua Malina (West Wing), who plays the nerdy Jeremy, and Sabrina Lloyd plays Natalie, Senior Associate Producer. Romantic tension abounds between Jeremy and Natalie, as well as between Dana and Dan.

If you watch ESPN's SportsCenter, this program will especially appeal. It offers a behind-the-scenes look at producing a program that will be popular with viewers and please the owning corporation. Along the way come ethical dilemmas, the day-to-day pressures of producing live television, and the interpersonal dynamics of a group of people whose teamwork is essential for a good daily program.

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The Lover's Dictionary, by David Levithan

2011-02-12T09:20:00.000-06:00

David Levithan is best know for his romantic and somewhat whimsical young adult novels, including Boy Meets Boy, Love is the Higher Law, and (with Rachel Cohn) the New York Times bestseller, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.

The Lover's Dictionary is Levithan's first book for adults, and it is no less than amazing. Using words in alphabetical order, the author constructs a story about a relationship. The narrator is clearly male, but the reader does not know the gender of the lover. What one does know, early on, is that the partner drinks too much and has been unfaithful. This awareness comes to us with the second entry, "abstain, v."

I'm sorry I was so surprised you didn't drink that night.
"Is something wrong?" I asked. It wasn't like you to turn down a drink after work.
"Go ahead," you said. "Drink for both of us."
So I ordered two Manhattans. I didn't know whether to offer you a sip. I didn't know if it could be this easy to get you, for once, to stop.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
After a dramatic pause, you said, totally serious, "I'm pregnant." And then you cracked up.
I laughed even though I didn't feel like laughing. I raised my Manhattan, tipped it in your direction, then asked, "Whose is it?"
The Lover's Dictionary is a very modern romance in which the characters meet online and sleep together on the first date.

aberrant, adj.
"I don't normally do this kind of thing," you said.
"Neither do I," I assured you.
...But we comforted ourselves with what we really meant to say, which was, "I don't normally feel this good about what I'm doing."
Measure the hope of that moment, that feeling. Everything else will be measured against it.

There is something so universal about that last line of the first entry. Anyone who has been in a relationship--short-lived or spanning decades-knows all too well that what comes later is often contrasted with the feelings of love's first embrace.

This short book is a non-chronological account of a love affair using words from a to z. It is an ode to love, not by John Keats, but by a disillusioned narrator recalling moments in his past relationship. Isn't that what we all remember? Life is never recalled as a chronology, but as a remembrance of pivetal events and feelings. And some things defy definition.

love, n.
"I'm not even going to try."

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Cleopatra

2011-02-09T09:19:00.002-06:00

Well, what can I say about Cleopatra? I know the rumors - that she was a harlot at best. A woman who used her charm to ensnare not only Caesar but Mark Antony, a woman who would do anything to control everyone and everything. Well she was something quite different according to Stacy Schiff. Schiff, an award winning author tries to put Cleopatra's reputation in a more flattering light. An exhaustively researched book, Cleopatra; A Life gives a new spin on Cleopatra VII. The bibliography and notes at the end of the book run approximately 25 pages.

Born in 69BCE, Cleopatra VII took the throne after her father passed away. The Ptolemies had ruled Egypt for more than 100 years. The family was dysfunctional at best. Marrying siblings to consolidate the power within the family was a common practice. So was killing those same siblings when it suited a political purpose. Cleopatra came to the throne at a perilous time. The world was unstable and Egypt was ripe for a takeover by Rome. Cleopatra, approximately 17 years old, decided that she needed to make Caesar her ally. So she had herself shipped to Rome, not in a carpet but in a bag of cloth. The story about the rug is just a myth.

Much of Cleopatra's life seems to be a myth. The records of Cleopatra's life that are available were written years sometimes centuries after her death. Schiff uses the writings of Cicero, Plutarch and even Shakespeare, among others to put this book together. According to her original biographers, either she got her way because she seduced everyone or because she was uncommonly politically astute. Either way the chroniclers of her life criticized her. What they all agree on is that Egypt was the wealthiest country in the Mediterranean and that Cleopatra was running it.

The book tells of an extraordinary life. Cleopatra was the richest woman in the world at that time. She controlled vast areas of land, she was politically shrewd and extremely intelligent. The Ptolemies educated all their children well and Cleopatra absorbed everything she could. She had power and wealth and knew how to use them. The story is told in a straight forward manner. The book contains the history of the time. Caesar and Marc Anthony and their political troubles figure prominently. The story of Cleopatra would not be complete without the two men who tried to control her life.

Cleopatra ruled for 22 years. She had children with both Caesar and Mark Antony. She committed suicide in 30 BCE after thinking that Mark Antony had killed himself rather that surrender to Octavian. Cleopatra and Antony had lost Alexandria to Octavian in a last desperate attempt to conquer the Roman.

The story moves quickly despite being full of historical facts. Schiff readily admits that the history is muddled and notes different viewpoints of what actually happened. She does however piece together a coherent rendering of Cleopatra. She dispels rumor and replaces it with well researched facts. This is an excellent book. The life of Cleopatra makes for a fascinating read.

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Clara and Mr Tiffany by Susan Vreeland

2011-02-04T13:49:00.000-06:00

As soon as I read Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland, I knew it would appeal to those who enjoyed Loving Frank by Nancy Horan, as well as the other Susan Vreeland books.

Set at the turn of the (last) century, main character is Clara Driscoll, a strong woman artist who worked at the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company headed by Louis Comfort Tiffany. Through her story, we learn about decorative art of the time, woman's rights, with a bit of love and romance thrown in. The author teaches the reader a great deal about Tiffany's famous stained glass: how it came to be designed and made into windows, lamps, and the unsung women's department which did the bulk of the work. Clara is likeable, particularly as she hires and trains new women, and stands up for them to Mr Tiffany himself. The author's notes reveal that the character of Clara was drawn from correspondence from the actual Clara Driscoll, and inspired by a recent exhibition of Tiffany Glass. A good read, and an education to boot.

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The Age of Dreaming

2011-02-01T14:06:00.000-06:00

The Age of Dreaming by Nina Revoyr, is told in a series of flasbacks that are set in the silent film era of Los Angeles. There is a murder mystery to solve and so the reader is taken back to that golden era to try to figure out exactly what happened.

The Japanese actor and "star" at the center of the mystery is such an interesting man that you find yourself immersed in his past and present life and of course the cultural differences that make this novel so riveting. He is now an aging and obscure man leading an unexciting and mundane life of retirement until a young writer asks to do a story of his past glory days.

Along with the story and the flashbacks come amazing incites into the Hollywood of the early 1900s. All is not as it seems and you are happily pulled into the facinating world surrounding the murder mystery.

History, romance and murder, this novel has it all! The author is an ingenious and talented writer who will leave you wanting more!

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Sunset Park, by Paul Auster

2011-01-28T15:44:00.000-06:00

Sunset Park, the latest work by Paul Auster, is a well-crafted story set during the economic crisis of 2008. It interweaves the lives of several characters, many illegally squatting in an abandoned Brooklyn house. The location of the house is an ungentrified area called Sunset Park.

In Sunset Park, the downward economic trend is also a metaphor for the plummeting aspirations and finances of the book's characters. Miles Heller was once an ambitious college student at an Ivy League university. He still possesses the intellectual bent of his father, a literary publisher. But his life is changed irrevokably when he pushes his step-brother into the road during a heated argument. Guilt-ridden, he becomes increasingly morose and angry, finally running away in his junior year and living hand-to-mouth doing odd jobs in different states.

When the book opens, we find him working for a Florida company that clears out repossessed homes. While other employees help themselves to the once-treasured possessions, Miles takes photographs of them. It is as though he is trying to preserve the dignity of those objects as well as their owners.

But just as Miles is a slim, fastidious, and brooding man of 28, his friend, Bing Nathan, is boisterous, large, and somewhat uncouth. He is a foil. Yet, both men are guided by strong moral compasses. It is Bing who has kept in touch with the parents of Miles throughout the years of self-exile. And like Miles, Bing seeks to restore old items that are often tossed away. He owns the Hospital for Broken Things, where he frames pictures and fixes old attic treasures, relics of bygone years.

Miles ultimately leaves Florida and comes back to New York in order to escape arrest for statutory rape. He leaves the love of his life, seventeen year old Pilar Sanchez, hoping to marry her on her eighteenth birthday.

Pilar is an interesting girl, mature beyond her years. Miles tutors her, encouraging her to go to the best colleges. Certainly, she is under-age, but we never get a sense that Miles is doing anything prurient. He is nurturing, although, he does admit that his feelings for her are both paternal and sexual. It is not surprising that she is the age at which his youth ended.

Other people in the book are equally interesting. Mile's father, Morris, is well-drawn as a successful and cerebral man who has followed his son throughout his self-imposed exile. Mile's mother, a Broadway actress who abandoned him as a baby, is surprisingly sympathetic. Auster allows the reader to see her side of things, while understanding the root of Mile's temper and deep-seated anger.

The two women who share the house with Bing and Miles are rather quirky characters. Ellen Bryce is a part-time realtor and artist, coping with her own inner demons. Alice Bergstrom is her friend. She is working on her dissertation. Both women are happy to live rent-free before they move on to the next stage of their lives.

The interplay of all the characters makes this book quite interesting. Although each chapter is written in the third person, Auster's writing allows us to not feel like mere observers. We genuinely care about the characters and their fates.

Auster masterfully explores the theme of choice, and the impact our decisions have on us and those around us. At the same time, he seems to question the notion of free-will, and one wonders how many of our acts are predetermined by our inherent natures. Once again, Paul Auster has written a spellbinding exploration of the human psyche.

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Atlas of Remote Islands

2011-01-25T13:53:00.000-06:00

What can I say about a 140 page (including the index) book that lists isolated, secluded and mostly uninhabited islands around the world? It's wonderful! Delightfully deceptive I would say.

The atlas gives each of the 50 islands 2 pages. One page has a beautifully rendered drawing of the island, the other page has facts and a short story about an island - a sort of snapshot of island events. The 50 islands represent all 5 oceans. The Pacific Ocean has the most islands listed. One is even said to have the remains of Amelia Earhart.

Schalansky has studied both maps and art and design and it shows in this book. The introduction is titled "Paradise is an island. So is hell." and the book shows that this is only too true. Schalansky has a love of maps that started as a young girl. She turned this love into this book. Many of the islands she writes about are uninhabitable, some cannot even be walked on. All are interesting in their own way.

This book is a wonderful piece of escapism to places that seem surreal but are not.

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Modern Family

2011-01-21T11:15:00.000-06:00

If you were a fan of Leave It to Beaver, Father Knows Best, The Andy Griffith Show, or The Dick Van Dyke Show, and are currently watching them on re-runs, check out Modern Family. Watching it makes one realize how times have changed from the era of the 50's and 60's both in acceptance of diversity and in child-rearing styles.

Jay Pritchett (Ed O'Neill) is the patriarch of the family. Now divorced, he is married to the much younger, and very beautiful Colombian woman, Gloria (Sofia Vergara). She brings into the marriage a very precocious son, Manny (Rico Rodriguez), whose insights and adult manner endear him to the audience. Jay has two adult children: Claire Dunphy (Julie Bowen), married to Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell) and Mitchell Pritchett (Jesse Ferguson), living with his gay partner, Cameron (Eric Stonestreet). Claire and Phil have a conventional marriage, and have three children. Cameron and Mitchell have adopted a Vietnamese baby girl and are learning to parent together.

What makes this family story work so well is the fine acting and the great dialogue. Sofia Vergara is wonderful as the sexy, hot-tempered wife of the wealthy and staid Jay Pritchett. His dowdiness is countered with Gloria's skin-tight pants and plunging necklines; Jay's steadfast demeanor contrasts to Gloria's emotional outbursts. We empathize with her sense of otherness while laughing at her antics.

Another source of comedy is provided by the character of Phil Dunphy. A realtor, Phil has never won the respect of his successful father-in-law. Moreover, Phil's desire to be liked makes him very human, and he entertains all alike with his boyish ideas and adventures.

Another star of the show is Cameron. Like Phil, Cameron is spontaneous and sensitive. He is the permissive parent, the clown, the emotive partner. His acting is superb. He is a great foil to Mitchell, and the attraction of these opposites is believable.

Taken as a whole, this is a laugh-out-loud program. Unlike other contemporary series, Modern Family highlights the issues inherent in adolescence, parenthood, love in all its forms, and then pokes fun at them. In a world in which we take ourselves ever so seriously, this series helps us look at life in all its glorious absurdity.

Enjoy it this New Year!

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The Lost City of Z

2011-01-18T15:40:00.002-06:00

Now is a good time to escape to somewhere warmer. So I thought I'd try The Lost City of Z by David Grann. While the book is non-fiction it reads like fiction. Grann, a writer for the The New Yorker becomes intrigued by the mysterious disappearance of Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett. Fawcett was an explorer extraordinaire. He trekked through the Amazon basin on more than occasion creating maps of an area no white man had ever been in.

Fawcett became interested in the Amazon and the mythical city of Z as a young man. After his obligatory British military service he became fascinated with explorers like David Livingstone. He decided his life would be better spent as a "geography militant" and that the Royal Geographic Society (RGS) would be the best place for him. Taking classes from the RGS Fawcett became even more determined to go exploring. While others were heading to the North Pole, Fawcett headed to the Amazon.

The book details Fawcett's life and expeditions in detail. They start with him as a young man in his thirties. Not really prepared to undertake the explorations, Fawcett's personality was his best asset. Determined and rigidly believing in his Victorian British attitude Fawcett and his groups trekked over the Amazon basin trying to find the city of Z. This city was supposed to hold untold wealth - maybe it was really El Dorado. What Fawcett found was everything but the city.

He found tribes of Indians who had never seen a white man, tribes of Indians who only wanted to kill white men, 20 foot long snakes that could easily eat a man, mosquitoes that could kill you (and frequently did), ants that could eat the flesh off a human and more. The jungle was no place for the physically infirm or the weak of character.

Fawcett's last exploration ended with his disappearance. He had left with his son and his son's friend and a very small party of guides. He was never seen again. Years later Grann becomes bitten by the Fawcett bug. Numerous search parties had gone looking for Fawcett. None found him and very few returned. Grann decides he will go searching for Fawcett and Z without really realizing what he is getting into. Having no previous experience in a jungle he sets off after doing copious amounts of research.

Grann has access to all Fawcett's journal which the RGS possesses. He also has privy to some private diaries that contain some clues. And he also has better equipment and supplies. Grann never finds Fawcett or the city. What he does find is that the Amazon basin is a thriving area with natives still living in it. That there are ancient artifacts which show that large cities thrived there from thousands of years ago. In short that the area is as fascinating as Fawcett claimed it was.

I could not put this book down. Once I got over the "ick" factor ( i.e. bugs burrowing under the skin and moving around so you can see them), I had to finish the book. Grann switches back and forth from his own adventure to Fawcett's. The book is highly annotated, Grann having relied heavily on Fawcett's journals. While this is not a place I would like to vacation in, it is certainly a place I am glad I read about. I highly recommend this book.

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The Clothes They Stood Up In

2011-01-12T09:59:00.001-06:00

Alan Bennett writes book that are small in size but large in life lessons. So goes The Clothes They Stood up In. While at the opera (Cosi Fan Tutte) the Ransome's apartment is burglarized. Everything is taken. EVERYTHING. From the TV to the rugs, even the toilet paper roll is taken. They come home to nothing.

This short (160 pages) story deals with the way the Ransomes react. Mrs. Ransome is normally a quiet person. She doesn't really have an opinion, having lived with her very opinionated husband. But when she realizes that she can completely start over she begins to come out of her shell. The story moves through her not very helpful contact with the police and how she decides to rebuild the apartment furnishings. She does this by shopping first at the local convenience store, which she had never been in. She then graduates to furniture stores and markets relishing in the new experiences. While Mrs. Ransome is off having new experiences, Mr. Ransome is more interested in trying to figure out how he can upgrade his stereo equipment.

Months later the Ransome's find out that their apartment has been recreated down to the smallest detail in a self storage place. After racing to the storage facility and having a surreal conversation with the manager the Ransomes are once again in possession of their belongings. While Mr. Ransome is thrilled, Mrs Ransome starts to miss her new experiences. A bittersweet ending shows that there is personal growth available even through a horrifying experience.

At times surreal the book is a gem. Wonderfully written, the dialogue is laugh out loud funny in places. I highly recommend this book. And if you need more of Bennett's writing try The Uncommon Reader.

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Booklists from your favorite librarians!

2011-01-05T14:33:00.006-06:00

Starting next month the Glencoe Public library will be offering a new service to its patrons. Booklists delivered directly to your email account! The librarians will be creating lists such as new fiction, new non fiction, new young adult books and more. The lists will be created using the NextReads program. Most of the lists will be sent out monthly, some speciality lists will be sent less often. All the lists will be available to anyone who subscribes.

You can register for this service when you come into the library to register for the Winter Reading Club. Registration for the Winter Reading Club starts on January 8, 2011. Come to the library and register! If you have any questions please call the library at 847-835-5056.

Keith Richards Tells All!

2011-01-03T15:07:00.000-06:00

I can't imagine that anyone could have predicted the runaway success of Keith Richards' autobiography Life, which has spent 9 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. But having read a number of rock star biographies this year (including Ozzy Osbourne and Belinda Carlisle) I can say that this one is definitely a cut above. Much credit must go to his cowriter James Fox, who captures Richards at his leisurely, storytelling best.

One thing that sets this book apart is that Keith avoids the trap that many rock stars fall into of trying to turn their life story into a moral fable of the temptations of drug use. Keith is certainly very straightforward about his use of illicit drugs and some of the craziness that happened while under the influence (with many legal confrontations along the way - note: it helps to have friends in high places!). He goes into great detail about his relationship with Anita Pallenberg, with whom he had a son, and who seems to have gone into darker places with her drug use. He also presents the mythologized Brian Jones as an example of a musician who succumbed to the temptations of fame while forgetting what got him there in the first place. Also unique is how Richards covers musical territory in great detail: his influences, his songwriting, his guitar style.

Much of the initial press coverage of this book centered around Richards' harsh words for Mick Jagger. As he states late in the book, Mick is more of brother than a friend, with all the complexities of family relationships that that entails. But Richards is actually very complimentary of Jagger through the much of the book, with praise towards his harmonica playing and songwriting skills. And despite some years that were especially challenging to their relationship, when Mick was trying to go solo and Keith was trying to assert himself within the Stones, they do seem to have mostly reconciled.

If you are looking for a detailed history of the Rolling Stones, this one would not be it. In fact, Richards seems to prefer to talk about his non-Rolling Stone buddies more than the Stones. But much of the charm of the book can be attributed to these colorful characters who pop up through the book in Jamaica, Canada, Morocco, etc., many of whom remained part of Richards' entourage throughout his colorful life. Kudos to Richards and Fox for creating the closest thing to cornering Richards at a party and listening, awestruck, to anecdote after anecdote!

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Crescent Dawn

2010-12-28T12:22:00.000-06:00

Who needs James Bond? No one since Clive Cussler has written another Dirk Pitt novel. Crescent Dawn is the latest in a series about the suave and highly skilled Dirk Pitt. Pitt now the head of NUMA ( the National Underwater and Marine Agency) and is on board a trademark turquoise colored ship diving near the coast of Turkey. Along with his pals Rudi Gunn and Al Giordino he discovers another ancient wreck.

Cue the bad guys. This time they take the form of terrorists who are descended from the last of the Ottoman rulers. They are bent on destroying ancient Muslim, Jewish and Christian artifacts and archaeological sites in hope of spreading more unrest in the region. Aided by his kids Dirk and Summer, Pitt manages to foil the bad guys once again.

There are beautiful women, high tech gadgets, chase scenes, a little romance and bad guys who are real bad guys and bad guys who aren't such bad guys. The book is written in very short chapters to keep the story moving along, and move along it does. This book will keep you entertained.

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Eighteen Acres

2010-12-20T09:56:00.000-06:00

Eighteen Acres is the story of a female American president and her trials in office both personal and professional. The story line is told from 3 different perspectives - all female. Charlotte Kramer is the president of the United States. She is nearing the end of her first term and she is tired. Tired of the political life, tired of her job, and in a tried marriage. She doesn't know if she wants to run again. She makes a decision to secretly go to Afghanistan. And the trip goes horribly awry. Insurgents succeed in blowing up Marine 1, the president's helicopter. She was not on board having been forced off by one of her senior advisers. Once back in the United States Charlotte must face a reelection campaign, the resignation of her vice president and her husband's affair with a White House correspondent.

That brings us to the second narrator. Dale Smith. She has clawed her way up to network anchor for a major news network. Part of her success comes from her affair with the President's husband. Her career comes to a crashing halt after Afghanistan. The third woman in the mix is Melanie Kingston, White House Chief of Staff. She has been in the position through 3 administrations and she too is tired. She needs a life outside the White House even though she is great friends with the President. Melanie takes up with a younger reporter who is new to the White House beat.

I thought this book would be better. The author, Nicolle Wallace is a political commentator and she was a White House communications director for George W. Bush. She has lots of insider political knowledge. It is an interesting exercise trying to figure out who some of the characters are. Could the new vice presidential candidate really be Sarah Palin in disguise? What about the cheating husband? The eighteen acres referred to in the title is the amount of space the White House compound takes up. But basically this is a chick lit sort of book. The women are all beautiful, highly competent, well educated and all survive in the end. There are some highly improbable scenes in the book - like how did the insurgents get on a US military base to shoot a grenade at the president's helicopter? The book moves along and Melanie is a great character, but if you think you are going to read some inside information about the White House you will be disappointed.
Enjoy the book for what it is - an easy chick lit read.

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Staff Picks for 2010

2010-12-14T17:49:00.003-06:00

Here is the list you have been waiting for! Your favorite librarians have listed their favorite fiction and non-fiction books for 2010. Read and enjoy!

FICTION

Auster, Paul. Sunset Park

Bender, Aimee. The Particular Sadness of the Lemon Cake

Blake, Sarah. The Postmistress

Bradley, C. Alan. The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag

Chevalier, Tracy. Remarkable Creatures

Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee. One Amazing Thing

Donoghue, Emma. Room

Durrow, Heidi. The Girl who fell from the sky

Glass, Julia. The Widower’s Tale

King, Lily. Father of the Rain

Kostova, Elizabeth. Swan Thieves

LeCarre, John. Our kind of traitor

Mantel, Hilary. Wolf Hall

McCann, Colum. Let the Great World Spin

Norman, Howard. What is left the Daughter

Nothomb, Amelie. Hygiene and the Assassin

Ogawa, Yoko. The Housekeeper and the Professor

Rachman, Tom. The Imperfectionists

Pintoff, Stephanie. A Curtain Falls

Simonsen, Helen. Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand

Smith, Alexander McCall. The Charming Quirks of Others

Steinbeck, Thomas. In the Shadow of the Cypress

Turow, Scott. Innocent

Verghese, Abraham. Cutting for stone

Zambra, Alejandro. Bonsai

NONFICTION

DeWaal, Edmund. Hare with Amber Eyes; A family’s century of art and loss.

736.88 DEW

Doggett, Peter. You never give me your money 782.42166 DOG

Gunn, Deana. Cooking with all things Trader Joe’s. 641.5 GUN

Kundera, Milan. Encounter 809.04 KUN

MacIntyre, Ben. Operation Mincemeat 940.5486 MAC

Myron, Vicki. Dewey: The small town library cat who touched the world.

636.8 MYR

Oliver, Mary. Swan: Poems and Prose Poems. 811.54 Oliver

Philbrick, Nathaniel. The Last Stand 973.82 PHI

Richards, Keith. Life Biography

Scottoline, Lisa. Why my third husband will be a dog 814.54 SCO

Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Biography

Zinczenko, David. Eat this, Not that! 613.2 ZIN

------ Cook this, not that! Kitchen Survival Guide. 641.5635 ZIN

I Still Dream About You, by Fannie Flagg

2010-12-10T12:04:00.000-06:00

Fannie Flagg, author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, has given us yet another delightful read. The main character of I Still Dream About You is Maggie Fortenberry, a former Miss Alabama. Hired by the founder of Red Mountain Realty after a failed modeling career, Maggie has spent her career in real estate. Charming, beautiful, and caring, Maggie is opposite in nature to her best friend and colleague, Brenda. The ever-dieting member of Over-Eaters Anonymous, Brenda is outgoing and sure of herself. She is a delightful foil to the insecure and selfless Maggie.

Both Brenda and Maggie are grieving the loss of the owner of Red Mountain Realty--Hazel Whisenknott. Although now deceased, Hazel's spirit lives in the hearts of all who knew her. She was a "little person," a spit-fire at 3 feet 4 inches. Everyone loved her, and all her friends sincerely mourn her loss. Maggie, especially, is affected. Now 60, she is single and without family. She feels she has never lived up to her potential as Miss Alabama. The love of her life--a married man--remains her secret shame.

Despondent, Maggie plots her demise by drowning. But in an attempt to make her suicide easier for others, she constantly gets side-tracked. The biggest diversion occurs when she and Brenda discover a skeleton in the closet of a home newly on the market. Indeed, this skeleton, a former owner of the estate now for sale, has quite a history. Brenda and Maggie have discovered a skeleton in both a real and figurative sense!

I Still Dream About You is a funny, upbeat book that uses quirky characters and a dash of mystery to substantiate its theme: life may, at times, disappoint, but it never fails to surprise and amaze.

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The Distant Hours

2010-12-07T13:40:00.000-06:00

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton will take readers back to a family during the upheaval of World War II in Great Britain. The Raymond Blythe family lives in Milderhurst castle and has done so for generations. Raymond, a writer and survivor of World War I lives there with his three daughters, Percy and Saffy, who are twins and Juniper. The sisters live in the castle their entire lives because their father believes that family and creativity are the most important things in life.

Raymond was a strange man. Mentally damaged in World War I no one thought he would recover until he started writing again. His story about the Mud Man turned his life around and set the stage for his daughters disturbed lives. The mud man was a creature who lived in a moat surrounding a castle. His daughters saw life differently than Raymond did. When they were young the twins were completely consumed by their father - their mother was suffering from postpartum depression. The marriage and the family deteriorated ending with the mother burning to death and her lover having a similar fate.

The daughters are brought up to love the castle as if it were a living thing. Having the family continue to live at Milderhurst becomes all important to Percy. She takes her father's beliefs to heart and insists her sisters do likewise. She carries her mission to extremes that have her interfering in her sisters lives.

The story line is told in 2 parts. Events that happened during World War II when a child from London (Meredith) comes to stay with them during the early days of the war. The second story line involves Meredith's daughter Edith. Edith discovers on old copy of the Mud Man and becomes interested in the author and his castle, Milderhurst. When she realizes that her mother had lived there during the war, she wants even more information. Her chance arrives when she is asked to write the introduction to the anniversary edition of the Mud Man.

The story lines come together with a resounding clash. The sister's past combined with current events prove too much for the Blythe sisters and their lives once again are changed forever. This book is well written. The characters are interesting (especially Percy) and the plot lines move along even as they weave back and forth through time.

The book should be read in long stretches to get the full flavor of the story. Curl up by the fire and give this book a read.

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Friday Night Lights

2010-12-02T18:04:00.000-06:00

Our excellent film collection contains many fine television series in addition to feature films, documentaries, foreign films, and informational DVDs. One of the new series we have purchased is Friday Night Lights. Based on the 1990 nonfiction book by H. G. Bissinger, entitled Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream, the series chronicles the life of Coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler), his wife, Tammy (Connie Britton), their family, and assorted members of the team and the town.

Although there was a 2004 film based on the book, it lacks the in-depth portrayal of the people Bissinger describes. Peter Berg, Bissinger's cousin and the film's director, said that "he regretted having to jettison many of the interpersonal topics covered in the book because of the time constraints of a feature film. Creating a TV series, particularly one based on fictional characters, allowed many of those elements to be brought back and addressed (fully)." (NPR Interview, April 11, 2007, as cited in Wikipedia.

Indeed, what is most engrossing about this series is the level at which the characters and their lives are explored. The angst of adolescence is sympathetically portrayed, as are issues such as racism, teen pregnancy, sex, alcoholism, and troubled families. It is not melodramatic, but instead, conveys these problems realistically.

Although the series revolves around the fanatic devotion of the town of Dillon for their high school teams, one does not have to be a football fan to enjoy this program. This reviewer has never watched a game of football in her life, and, prior to watching this show, did not know the difference between a quarterback and a running back. The series is less about the game than about the role football plays in the lives of everyone in the town.

To quote Wikipedia, "(Friday Night Lights) was awarded a Peabody Award, a Humanitas Prize, and a Television Critics Association Award, as well as several technical Primetime Emmy Awards. At the 2010 Emmy Awards, Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton were nominated for the Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress awards for a drama series." If you are looking for a series with fine acting, a good storyline, and terrific filming, check this one out.

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The Finkler Question, by Howard Jacobson

2010-11-27T09:27:00.000-06:00

The Finkler Question, this year's winner of the Man Booker Prize, is an unusual book in that it uses fiction to tackle the large questions of Israel, Jewish identity, and anti-Semitism.

The novel's main character is Julian Treslove, a melancholy fellow with a string of unsuccessful relationships behind him. His idea of love is based on opera. Treslove is a lost soul whose experience with a mugger is transformed into a spiritual awakening: he now believes he is Jewish.

There are two other principle characters: Sam Finkler, an arrogant philosopher and author of The Socratic Flirt: How to Reason Your Way into a Better Sex Life, and Libor Sevcik, a Czech Jew, Zionist, and former teacher of Finkler and Treslove. The debates between Sam and Libor are spirited and represent polar opposites of the "Jewish (Finkler) question"--namely, the moral responsibilities of the Jews in the modern world.

Although they do not agree politically, Sam and Libor are united in grief: each has lost his wife to death. Sam's feelings toward his converted and practicing Jewish wife are complicated; Libor's love and loss is total and without reservations.

Another main character is Hephzibah, Libor's great-niece and Treslove's current love interest. She is a stereotype of the zaftig, maternal, emotional, and erotic Jewish woman. She tries to fill the emotional vacuum that Treslove inhabits, and is probably the most likable character in the book.

Finker's Question is a satire--a tongue-in-cheek polemic on how Jews see themselves in the world at large. Jacobson tackles other questions aside from the political/social ones. He portrays the many sides of friendship deftly. He also depicts the loneliness of aging and the depth of grieving a long-time marriage. The characters, although serving the author's purpose, are complex and flawed.

If you enjoy the books of Philip Roth, you may also like this novel.

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