Bookish News, Possibly of Interest

The End

2009-12-31T16:40:00.013-05:00

In the interest of tidying up, here's a backlog of books I’ve read recently and recommend:

Plant Seed, Pull Weed: Nurturing the Garden of Your Life by Geri Larkin—bits of Buddhist wisdom, applicable to one’s garden or one’s life, explained in a warm, down-to-earth way.

Cleopatra’s Daughter: A Novel by Michelle Moran—historical fiction about the lives of Cleopatra’s children after they are taken to Rome by Octavian, following the deaths of Marc Anthony and their mother. Interesting historical detail; easy, airplane reading.

Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women by Harriet Reisen—written by a total Alcott wonk, who also wrote and produced the recent PBS American Masters program of the same title. If you saw the program, with its cheesy reenactments, don’t be put off from the book. A fascinating book about Alcott, her family, and other important characters of the time, including Emerson and Thoreau.

Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks—totally absorbing historical fiction by a wonderful writer. Why had I not read this sooner?

Still Alice: A Novel by Lisa Genova—a compelling, and absolutely terrifying, novel about early-onset Alzheimer’s by a scientist/first time novelist.

The Lacuna: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver—set in Mexico and Asheville, NC. In his youth, the protagonist works in the household of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, and witnesses the assassination of Leon Trotsky. He later becomes a successful novelist in the US, but his former association makes him the subject of investigation during the Red Scare. Up to now, The Poisonwood Bible was my favorite Kingsolver book. Now it’s The Lacuna.

When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present by Gail Collins. Remember when help wanted ads could specify “male” or “female”? Remember when airline attendants were all single, female “stewardesses,” and the airlines ran the shameless “Fly Me” ads? Do the names Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, and Bella Abzug ring a bell? If the answers are “yes,” this book is a trip back in time, and you should read it. If the answers are “no,” you need to read this book right now.

Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America by Barbara Ehrenreich. True, true, true.

That’s it. Happy new beginnings.

End of the decade. End of the year. End of the blog.

Two Sisters, Two Countries

2009-12-08T13:01:00.004-05:00

I read Lisa See's latest novel, Shanghai Girls, a couple of months ago, and recommend it for readers of literary fiction, readers of historical fiction, and especially, for book groups.

Pearl and May are sisters living a privileged life in Shanghai in the 1930s. Their world falls apart when their father reveals that his gambling debts have bankrupted the family and, to settle those debts, he has arranged marriages for both girls. Although the girls have no intention of marrying the Chinese-American brothers to whom they are promised, when the Japanese invade Shanghai, and their parents disappear, the girls flee to California. After a long detention at Angel Island, the girls marry the brothers and attempt to adjust to their changed circumstances, new family, and new country.

See is a great storyteller, and her extensive historical research pays off. The reader is really drawn into the time period and locations, in both China and California. As in her other novels, See is masterful at portraying family interaction, devotion, and conflict. The girls are sympathetic characters; I was completely invested in their struggle.

But, as in See's other novels, there is never a happy ending for her characters. Her characters usually end up resigned to their fates, and their futures are ambiguous, at best. I am always going to hope for something better for them.

Bottom line: read Shanghai Girls. Get absorbed in the fascinating period and places. Just don't get too attached.

Big, Sloppy, Southern Soap Opera

2009-10-21T15:41:00.007-05:00

I recently read Pat Conroy's new novel, South of Broad, because it was so enthusiastically pitched at last summer's American Library Association conference. I really like those Random House marketing folks, but I despised this book.

A diverse group of characters meet as high school students in Charleston in the 1960s. The characters couldn't be more different from each other: they are white, black, Catholics, Episcopalians, Charleston socialites, poor Appalachians, and orphans. And, of course, there is a beloved gay character.

Although the characters treat each other abominably much of the time, they bond, despite their differences. Their friendship endures over the course of two decades, weathering unrequited love, affairs, marriages, breakdowns, illness, a psychopathic killer, and Hurricane Hugo.

Out of the many unbelievable occurrences in this book, the most preposterous, for me, was the characters' rescue of the beloved gay character in San Francisco in 1989. Having lost track of their friend, and fearing that he is dying of AIDS in the city, the Charlestonians go to San Francisco to find him. Like a band of Southern superheroes, they begin delivering meals to AIDS sufferers in an attempt to find their friend. They even enlist the help of the real-life columnist Herb Caen, who reports on their quest in his column.

And my patience ran out. Like every other resident of the city in the '80s, I read Herb Caen's column in the newspaper every day. Somehow, using him as a character in this story just irritated me, because it didn't ring true. Did the keepers of his estate agree to this?

Overwrought and overwritten, South of Broad is one big, sloppy soap opera, and should have, at least, stayed in the South.

Not Quite Cozy in Quebec

2009-09-03T13:43:00.003-05:00

I took an advance copy of The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny along on a recent trip. The book, which will be published later this month, is the latest in her "Armand Gamache-Three Pines" mystery series, but the first one I've read.

Three Pines is a fictional Quebec town, populated by a diverse, quirky bunch of people: the gay couple who own a B&B and a bistro, a black woman who runs a bookstore, a poet with a pet duck, and so on and so forth. Armand Gamache is the Chief Inspector of the Sûreté du Québec, called in when a body is found in the bistro.

I wanted to like this book (which I was reading while in Quebec) more than I did. The small town setting and ensemble cast of characters are classic cozy mystery, but the tone of the book is heavy-handed and serious, so overly quirky elements (the poet with the duck, for example) seemed too contrived. There are also too many characters and subplots, not all of which are adequately developed or resolved.

The author's strength is clearly her power of description: the Quebec setting, the charming town, the cozy bistro, the beautiful food. However, there is so much detail, about so many things, the reader is overwhelmed: food, literature, antiques, art, architecture, and more. Less would have been more for keeping the story focused.

The author's Achilles' heel is dialogue. It clunks. Characters don't have distinctive voices. Attempts at humor seem strained, and fall flat.

Recommended only for fans of the series and devoted mystery readers who like a strong sense of place and a plot with plenty of red herrings (and unresolved loose ends).

Blog on Break

2009-08-08T10:08:00.001-05:00

Until the end of August.

Read The Help

2009-08-01T07:00:00.001-05:00

I wasn't particularly anxious to read Kathryn Stockett's debut novel, The Help, even as it made its way up the bestseller lists over the past several months. Perhaps I was put off by the length (450 pages). Or maybe it was too painful to acknowledge that a novel set in the decade of my adolescence is considered "historical fiction."

All that changed when I heard Kathryn Stockett speak at the American Library Association conference in July. Soft-spoken and smart, she talked about her relationship with books and their importance in her own life. I had to read her book to see if she is as good a storyteller in print as in person. She is.

The Help is set in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1962. Although the Civil Rights Movement is gaining momentum, Jackson is a town where white women hire black maids to raise their children, but build separate toilets for the help in the garage. Skeeter Phelan, a recent college graduate and aspiring journalist, begins to see the rigid social structure of her hometown in a new light.

Enlisting the help of two black maids, Skeeter decides to write a book about the relationship between the town's black maids and their white employers. Despite the danger of working on such a project, two of the maids agree to be interviewed and to help Skeeter get clandestine interviews with others. The Help is told from their, as well as Skeeter's, point of view. Stockett does a wonderful job of telling the story in three different voices and capturing the emotions of the time.

Sad, but funny; provoking, but warm; outrageous, but believable. A remarkable debut.

The Pursuit of Pastry

2009-07-30T15:21:00.007-05:00

If you like serious food writing, you might be tempted to pass on Confections of a Closet Master Baker by Gesine Bullock-Prado, because (1) the author is the sister of a famous Hollywood actress, and (2) the book has a punny, goofy title. Passing on this engaging book would be a mistake.

I recently read an advance copy of this memoir, which is due to be released in September. The author is a lawyer and worked for nine years for her sister's Hollywood production company. Unhappy with her Hollywood life, she and her husband headed for Vermont and started over. Pursuing her passion, Gesine opened a pastry shop.

Having a German mother, and having lived in Europe during her childhood, Gesine's connection to pastry is very personal and her sensibilities very European. Pastry is made with the best ingredients, intended to be savored, not snarfed. Pastry is not a solitary pleasure, but a shared experience that keeps us connected to each other.

The publisher's description of this book emphasizes the "starting over" theme and the quirky characters, in and out of Hollywood. Those elements are in the book, but they are not the real heart of this memoir. The author's recipes, pastry-centric memories, and sincerity about her passion are what shine through.

I doubt many readers will chuck their day jobs and follow their bliss after reading this book. Finding the freedom to work 15 hours a day? No, thanks.

But Confections of a Closet Master Baker may inspire us to dust off those baking sheets. Read the book and give it a go. Invite someone over to share some time and a homemade treat. I think Gesine would be pleased.

Pick up a copy of Confections of a Closet Master Baker in September. In the meantime, check out the little video on the author's blog: http://confectionsofamasterbaker.blogspot.com/

Dunant's Best

2009-07-27T12:54:00.006-05:00

I read Sarah Dunant's latest novel, Sacred Hearts, on a recent trip. I loved this book. If you get your books from a library, put in a request for it right now, before the wait list gets too long. It will.

Sacred Hearts is set in an Italian convent in 1570. Many young noblewomen of the time were placed involuntarily in convents by their families, who were unable to provide a marriage dowry for more than one daughter.

With meticulous period detail, Dunant tells the story of Serafina, a young novice placed in the convent of Santa Caterina against her will. Serfina is desperately in love with a young man, of whom her family disapproves, and desperate to escape.

Serafina is befriended by Suora Zuana, the convent's apothecary, who was herself placed in the convent involuntarily, after the death of her father. Zuana has become reconciled to, and has embraced, convent life, and hopes to ease Serafina's transition.

The convent community is a small society. Under the leadership of Madonna Chiara, the abbess, the convent supports itself through cottage industries, takes care of its members, and maintains some relationship to the outside world. However, the stability and structure of the community are threatened from within, by issues of faith, personal conflicts, and power struggles, and from without, by potential changes to convent life contemplated by the Counter-Reformation.

As the story progresses, Serafina becomes more determined to escape, Zuana becomes more conflicted, the stability of the community becomes more fragile, and Sacred Hearts becomes a real page-turner. Highly recommended.

Not Just About Pigs and Chickens

2009-07-08T15:58:00.005-05:00

I really liked Michael Perry's previous books, Truck: A Love Story and Population: 485 (did you read those posts?), so, of course, I read his latest memoir, Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs, and Parenting, published a couple of months ago.

Like the earlier books, Coop is funny, full of heart, and unpretentious. Having found love in Truck, Perry is now married, with children, and living on a farm in rural Wisconsin. He reflects on his own Wisconsin childhood while making a place in the world, complete with pigs and poultry, for his little family.

Coop is not my favorite Perry book. The narrative tends to ramble, so the really great turns of phrase are a bit buried (in the much shorter Population: 485, they just pop out at you). The thought of raising pigs and poultry makes me want to become a vegetarian. And I was slightly weirded-out by the obscure Christian sect of Perry's childhood.

Nonetheless, Coop is honest, engaging, and a worthwhile read. How can you not like an author brave enough to be photographed holding a chicken on the cover of his book?

I've followed Perry's book tour on Facebook and read quite a few of the comments posted by others. His humanity resonates with his readers. They like Coop. Me too.

Read It Anyway

2009-06-10T12:07:00.003-05:00

I belatedly read an advance copy of Outcasts United: A Refugee Team, an American Town by Warren St. John, which was published in April. The book is the true story of the Fugees, a youth soccer team in Clarkston, Georgia, comprised of refugee boys from Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, and coached by Luma Mufleh, a young Jordanian woman who settled in the U.S., against her family's wishes, after college.

The boys, many of whom had family members killed or imprisoned in their war-torn countries, play soccer for the sheer love of the game. They have no money, no equipment, no transportation, and no fans on the sidelines, because the adult members of their families are at work. Luma imposes a system of tough love and discipline to foster responsibility and form a cohesive team, to help the boys adjust to the country and succeed in school, and to counteract the allure of American gang culture.

Luma also fights a constant battle with the town officials to find a safe place for the boys to practice. I always wondered how large groups of refugees end up in such unlikely places, like Clarkston, and how those places adjust. The author explains it all.

Derived from a series of newspaper articles written by St. John, the book reads like a series of newspaper articles. That was disappointing. I kept wishing this compelling story had been written by someone more skillful at crafting a book.

Read it anyway. Outcasts United is not about soccer; it's about passion, determination, and hope.

Blog on Break

2009-05-13T14:18:00.001-05:00

Until the end of May.

Like, Funny. Like, Totally.

2009-05-03T13:10:00.005-05:00

I enjoyed G.M. Malliet's Death of a Cozy Writer: A St. Just Mystery last year (did you read that post?), and I was not alone: Kirkus Reviews chose it as a Best Book of 2008.

Good news: Malliet's Detective Chief Inspector St. Just is back, in Death and the Lit Chick, published last month. In this outing, St. Just is asked to speak on police procedure to a group of mystery writers, publishers, and agents, attending a conference at the fictional Dalmorton Castle, outside of Edinburgh. The drawbridge to the castle goes up, the lights go out, and one of the attendees is found dead.

The guest of honor, and murder victim, is newcomer Kimberlee Kalder, the seemingly ditzy writer of a new sub-genre: the "chick lit" mystery. Her blockbuster book, Dying for a Latte, features a young, female amateur sleuth in a low-level publishing job, with a tiny apartment, a shoe fetish, an unlimited clothing budget, and three close friends: two "gal pals" and a gay decorator.

The other writers in attendance are a jealous and snarky bunch, suspects all, of course. Each is a send-up of a mystery writer "type": the author of mysteries featuring an oversexed forensic pathologist; the American spy thriller writer, with a purported covert past; a flamboyant, over-the-hill author of "woman in jeopardy" mysteries; the event coordinator herself, an aspiring mystery writer, working on a crime novel set in prehistoric times (so as not to have to know anything about police procedure); and so on.

Malliet leaves no aspect of mystery writing unskewered. I had a great time guessing which real life author was the basis for each character. And this time around, Malliet reveals a bit of St. Just's personal history, so the reader begins to care about him, as well.

Recommended for genre mystery fans and for those, like me, who got bored with mysteries some time ago. A quick, clever, flat-out-funny read.

Best Book I've Read This Year

2009-03-27T13:40:00.004-05:00

I was a big fan of Dara Horn's The World to Come, so I was pleased to get an advance copy of her new novel, All Other Nights. I read it on a recent plane trip. Made me forgo the movies, the music channels, the inflight magazine, and, yes, the snack.

All Other Nights clearly is the most compelling book I've read in months: Civil War historical fiction (which I don't often read) and a real page-turner.

Jacob Rappaport, a Jewish soldier in the Union Army, is given two orders by his commanders: first, to murder his own uncle, who is plotting to assassinate President Lincoln; second, to ingratiate himself with a Southern Jewish family and marry one of the daughters, who is suspected of being a spy.

This novel is suspenseful, well-paced, literary fiction, loaded with historical detail, posing issues of family, society, and social justice. Although it is, and no doubt will be marketed as, Jewish literature, it has a much broader appeal.

All Other Nights deserves the wide audience Cold Mountain had. Perfect for book groups and book talks. Highly recommended.

Right Reading

2009-03-18T17:55:00.002-05:00

I don't read a lot of chick lit, but Enlightenment for Idiots, a debut novel by Anne Cushman, was irresistible. Warm, funny--and educational. I loved this book.

Amanda, a 29-year old yoga teacher wannabe with a sexy, but unreliable boyfriend, works as a freelance writer of no-risk adventure books "for idiots." Her editor, anxious to cash in on the "yoga craze," asks Amanda to travel to spiritual sites in India to write a guidebook, "Enlightenment for Idiots." Amanda agrees, hoping that she will be able to find some enlightenment for herself and become the serene, together person she wants to be.

Although this is Cushman's first novel, she's a writer of nonfiction and a contributor to Yoga Journal and Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. This charming book reflects Cushman's substantial knowledge of yoga practice and philosophy. If you know a lot about yoga, you appreciate how well the subject is tied to the plot and the humor. If you know very little, you get a bit of an education.

The characters are comic, but the quest is genuine. And the resolution is satisfying. Recommended.

Greeks and Trojans and Gods, Oh My

2009-02-27T15:09:00.004-05:00

I never got around to reading Helen of Troy by Margaret George, when it was released a couple of years ago. So when I found a paperback copy in a used bookstore a few weeks ago, I took it along on a long plane trip.

Except for having to haul it around (650+ pages), it was perfect airplane reading. George retells the story of the Trojan War, in epic soap opera form. In George's story, Helen is not abducted by Paris, Prince of Troy. She willingly runs off with him because she is stuck in a loveless marriage with the cold Menelaus, and she and the younger, hotter Paris have an irresistible attraction to each other. The Greeks come after her not so much because Menelaus wants her back, but because his brother Agamemnon has been anxious to wage war. George supplies the emotions and motivations that make the "facts" and characters of the story make sense to a modern reader.

George also deftly handles the issues of gods interacting with humans. Helen learns that she is rumored to be the daughter of Zeus, who raped her mother while in the guise of a swan. Seeing that her mother keeps a swan feather as a memento, and having encountered an aggressive swan, Helen believes the story, until she discovers a very human man who had visited her mother while her father was away, and who also keeps a swan feather. Gods interacting with humans? Perhaps, perhaps not.

Helen of Troy is good escapist reading, well told. I found it to be a real page-turner, particularly when the Trojan Horse finally showed up. The fact that you know the outcome doesn't spoil the journey. Recommended.

Romeo, Juliet, Seattle, 1942

2009-01-16T09:33:00.004-05:00

I just finished reading an advance copy of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, a debut novel by Jamie Ford, which is being released later this month. I love reading debut novels (such promise), and I loved this book.

In 1942, young Chinese American Henry Lee befriends the only other non-white student in his Seattle school, Keiko Okabe, a Japanese American girl. Anti-Japanese sentiments are running high, not only in the all-white school, but also in Henry's household. Keiko and her family are sent to an internment camp, and Henry tries, unsuccessfully, to keep their bond alive. When some belongings left behind by Japanese families sent to the camps are discovered in 1986 in an old, boarded up hotel, Henry, now a widower in his 50s, confronts the past and hopes to find something from his long-ago first love.

Family conflict, innocent love, forbidden attachments: like Romeo and Juliet, but with a better ending. This novel has book group written all over it, without being contrived.

I also love novels that have a connection to the author's own past. Read the book and check out the author's web site at www.jamieford.com to read about his own Chinese American history.

Malcolm Gladwell Groupie

2008-12-29T19:15:00.003-05:00

OK, this would be me. I just like the way the guy thinks. Having enjoyed The Tipping Point and Blink, I read Gladwell's latest, Outliers: The Story of Success, last week. This time Gladwell's premise is that extraordinary success in life depends not only on brains, talent, and determination, but also on circumstances, opportunities, and cultural legacies.

And so Gladwell explores issues such as why Asian kids are good at math, why the most successful software entrepreneurs are primarily of a certain age, and why Eastern European Jewish immigrants became so successful in particular areas of the legal profession.

Is the premise flawless? No, of course not, and many reviewers have gone to great lengths to point that out. To those reviewers I would like to respond: lighten up.

Outliers is a quick, fun read that makes for interesting dinner conversation. Recommended.

The King and I

2008-12-24T13:27:00.004-05:00

No, not me. Bombay Anna: The Real Story and Remarkable Adventures of The King and I Governess by Susan Morgan is a recent biography of Anna Leonowens (1831-1915), whose employment in the Siamese court was the inspiration for Margaret Landon's 1944 bestseller Anna and the King of Siam and the 1950s musical The King and I. You may have suspected that the American version of Anna's story wasn't entirely accurate. You would be correct.

Well, it turns out that Anna's version of Anna's story wasn't entirely accurate, either. Anna, then a widow with two small children, presented herself to the Siamese king as a well-born, Caucasian, English lady--just the sort of person he was looking for to provide English lessons for the women and children in his harem.

In fact, Anna grew up in India and had never been to England before arriving in Siam. Her father was a soldier in the lowest ranks of the Indian Army; her mother was a young woman of mixed-race heritage. King Mongkut, Anna's employer, was not a romantic interest, but a savvy monarch who shared Anna's love of learning, interested in educating his people and protecting his country from foreign occupation.

Although her employment in the Siamese court is the most well-known of her accomplishments, Anna spent only five years there. Moving on, she continued to reinvent herself, living in the U.S. and Canada, becoming a Sanskrit scholar, author, public lecturer, social reformer, suffragist, and journalist.

Anna Leonowens was a smart, resourceful, self-made woman. Bombay Anna is a well-researched biography that deserves a wider audience. Recommended.

Think Global

2008-12-07T15:11:00.004-05:00

If you think of India as a lush, lovely, spiritual place, you must read The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, a debut novel that won the Man Booker Prize.

Balram Halwai, the narrator, hears on the radio that the Premier of China is planning to visit Bangalore and wants to meet some Indian entrepreneurs. Although they will never actually meet, Balram writes a series of letters to the Premier to explain his own rise from poor villager to driver for a wealthy family to successful entrepreneur.

As Balram says in the first letter, "Apparently, sir, you Chinese are far ahead of us in every respect, except that you don't have entrepreneurs. And our nation, though it has no drinking water, electricity, sewage system, public transportation, sense of hygiene, discipline, courtesy, or punctuality, does have entrepreneurs."

And so Balram explains how, despite crushing poverty, a rigid social system, and a corrupt elite class, he managed to succeed by relying on his own wits, keenly observing those around him, and murdering his employer.

The White Tiger is smart, angry, dark, and funny. Recommended.

Blog on Break

2008-10-18T13:30:00.001-05:00

Until the end of November.

When Bad Things Happen to Bad People

2008-10-05T13:27:00.002-05:00

I got an advance copy of Andrew Davidson's The Gargoyle quite some time ago, and finally got around to reading it on a recent plane trip. It sounded like my kind of book: a debut novel, combining well-researched contemporary and historical fiction, told by a cynical narrator/protagonist.

The plot: the unnamed narrator, an actor in and producer of pornographic films, is horrifically burned in a car accident. Having made his living in the skin trade, the irony of his situation does not escape him. While undergoing months of painful treatment in a burn ward and contemplating suicide, he is visited by Marianne Engel, a psychiatric patient in the same hospital. Marianne, a sculptor of gargoyles, tells him that they were lovers in a past life in medieval Germany. Over the months of his hospitalization, Marianne returns again and again, spinning out their improbable story, as well as the stories of other lovers in other times and places. The result? You guessed it. Love, salvation, redemption.

The first half of The Gargoyle really drew me in, with the intertwined past and present, the unlikeable, but rational, narrator, and the obviously insane Marianne. That said, the resolution left me cold. The narrator's story was more interesting before he was redeemed by love; after he found love, it got a bit soppy.

Pretty good airplane reading nonetheless.

Blog on Break

2008-09-24T20:09:00.001-05:00

Until October 3.

Sorry

2008-09-18T17:19:00.004-05:00

I read about the recently published The Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British by Sarah Lyall, and it sounded like something I would enjoy, similar to Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island, which I liked. Bryson's book was published over a decade ago, so I thought I'd give The Anglo Files a go. Perhaps something interesting has happened over there since then.

Lyall, an American and a correspondent for the New York Times, lives in London with her British husband their two daughters. The book is just what one expects: a chronicle of living among those wacky people across the pond who say "sorry" all the time and eat baked beans for breakfast.

The Anglo Files is so chock-full of information, including the use of footnotes at the bottom of the page, that I often felt Lyall was pummeling me to make her point. Example after example of the bad-boy behavior of members of Parliament, for instance. Enough already. I get it.

The writing is witty, in a snarky way. And I did enjoy the index. I could just imagine readers consulting it to find entries like "genitalia, named for German chancellors." But, I just did not like this book.

To figure out why, I reread some of Bryson's Notes from a Small Island. Smiling and laughing from the beginning, I found my answer. The Anglo Files is indeed similar to Bryson, without the affection and charm.

You know what to read.

84, Charing Cross Road, Chick-Litified

2008-09-05T13:49:00.002-05:00

In the post-World War II years, a simple correspondence about books evolves into a lasting bond between a plucky female writer and her correspondents. Everyone knows (or ought to) that's the real-life story of the late Helene Hanff and the booksellers at a London bookshop. Hanff published her 20-year correspondence with the booksellers in 1970 under the title 84, Charing Cross Road. It's one of my all-time favorite books.

Well, that's also the basis for the plot of the recently published The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, which shot up the bestseller list and has had rave reviews from readers. Of course I had to check it out.

The novel is told in epistolary form. Juliet Ashton, a plucky female London journalist receives a letter from a resident of the island of Guernsey, who found her name and address in a used book. He asks if she can help him locate some other books. From her correspondent, Juliet learns that, during the German occupation of their island, the residents spontaneously became The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society when questioned by the Germans about being out after curfew. Juliet begins to correspond with other members of the Society and eventually travels to Guernsey to meet her correspondents and to learn more about their wartime experience.

I was underwhelmed. The book is full of quirky characters and assorted subplots, including romance(s) for Juliet. I kept feeling that various plot elements were included specifically to market the book to women's book groups. A funny food reference in the title, a closeted gay character, an unsuitable suitor, and so on and so forth.

Recommended only if you're looking for a light-weight, not particularly literary, quick read. Better yet, read or reread 84, Charing Cross Road. Helene Hanff did it first, did it better, and did it for real.

Planning to Watch My Back

2008-08-31T14:47:00.003-05:00

I'm a fan of Les Roberts' Milan Jacovich mystery series not only because the protagonist and I share a hometown and an ethnicity, but also because I once e-mailed the author with a few questions and got a very charming and prompt e-mail in response.

For those unfamiliar with this series: Milan Jacovich is a (now) 58-year-old former Cleveland cop, turned private eye--a classic gumshoe. I've always enjoyed this rather serious series because of Roberts' ability to capture Cleveland's class, racial, ethnic, and geographic tensions. (Unlike, say, Mark Winegardner's Crooked River Burning, which was so off the mark.)

I've just finished the latest in the Milan Jacovich series, King of the Holly Hop, published a few months ago. In this installment, our hero attends his 40th high school reunion, and one of his former classmates is found murdered afterward. Investigating on behalf of the suspected murderer, Jacovich discovers that many of his former classmates had ample reason to want the victim dead.

No really shocking plot twists here, but a great portrayal of relationships revisited and differing perceptions of an allegedly shared history. You don't have to be from Jacovich's hometown or share his ethnicity to enjoy this book.

Recommended for mystery fans with a high school reunion pending. Mine's in September.

Realish and Newish

2008-08-29T12:56:00.006-05:00

I am a longtime David Sedaris fan, so of course I read his latest collection of essays, When You Are Engulfed in Flames. Not that he needs any recommendation from me to help sell his books.

My favorite Sedaris book has always been Naked, which I consider one of the funniest books I've ever read. It still is. Nevertheless, When You Are Engulfed in Flames has the angst and self-deprecating humor a longtime fan expects, as well as plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. I am also becoming quite attached to Hugh, Sedaris' partner. What a catch.

An author's note advises that the events described in the stories are "realish," no doubt because of all the flap in recent years about invented memoirs. The book also acknowledges which stories have appeared, in some form, elsewhere. That would be all of them. So, if you're even more compulsive about the author than I am and read his pieces in The New Yorker and elsewhere, this collection may seem familiar.

Recommended for Sedaris fans. If you're not already a fan (is there such a person?), read Naked. The book.

Somewhat Maddening, Ultimately Worthwhile

2008-08-24T14:57:00.004-05:00

When We Were Romans: A Novel by Matthew Kneale has been getting quite a bit of press, so I took an advance copy I had along on a recent plane trip. The book jacket suggests that the story will appeal to readers who enjoyed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, which I liked.

The story is told by nine-year-old Lawrence, who finds himself thrust into the role of the man in the family, when his mother, Hannah, packs him and his younger sister into the family car and flees London to escape her estranged husband, the children's father. The three head for Rome, where Hannah had lived happily before her marriage. After wearing out their welcome with various old friends, the family finally settles into a flat. All seems well, but Hannah soon becomes convinced that they have been followed. Throughout their ordeal, Lawrence tries to make sense, and the best, of their confusing situation.

I almost gave up on this book early on. Kneale does a great job of telling the story from a child's perspective. Unfortunately, Kneale also uses childlike misspellings throughout the book, which become maddening.

Nevertheless, the story pulled me in and became quite a page-turner, with a building tension and a dramatic resolution. Recommended.

Blog on Break

2008-08-10T15:11:00.001-05:00

Until August 22.

Not Exactly Plutarch

2008-08-04T15:03:00.008-05:00

My Name Is Will: A Novel of Sex, Drugs, and Shakespeare by Jess Winfield is a comic novel about two William Shakespeares, living centuries apart, told in alternating chapters. I've read a few Shakespeare-themed books in the past year, so I thought I'd give it a go.

Willie Shakespeare Greenberg is a UC Santa Cruz grad student in the mid-1980s, trying (albeit not too hard) to write a thesis about Shakespeare as a closet Catholic. Desperate for cash, Willie agrees to deliver a single giant, psychedelic mushroom to a mysterious collector at the Renaissance Faire in Marin County and becomes a target in Ronald Reagan's War on Drugs.

William Shakespeare is, yes, the Shakespeare. Not yet a playwright, Shakespeare is a young, unknown Latin teacher when a stranger asks him to deliver a package from Rome to an adherent of the "Old Faith," at a time when Catholics are being hunted and hanged as traitors.

You get the idea: parallel lives.

Winfield knows his Shakespeare. Under his original name, Jess Borgeson, he was a founding member of the Reduced Shakespeare Company and a co-creator of the show The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). Expect plenty of wordplay.

Winfield also knows his adolescent-male-fantasy-totally-unsafe sex and drugs, too. Don't expect much foreplay.

In sum: Amusing. A funny, raunchy, clever way to recycle an obviously vast store of Shakespeare knowledge. Recommended especially for those who remember their Shakespeare and Berkeley, Santa Cruz, and Marin in the '80s.

Clever Classic Cozy

2008-07-31T08:40:00.005-05:00

I haven't been a devoted mystery reader for quite some time. Modern mystery writers just don't compare to the likes of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Ngaio Marsh. Even though there are now "cozy" mysteries for every possible interest--dogs, cats, bookstores, librarians, etc., etc.--I'm generally bored by the genre writers.

Until now. I've just finished Death of a Cozy Writer: A St. Just Mystery, a debut by G.M. Malliet. All the trappings of a classic British mystery, with a modern sensibility, good writing, and humor: country manor house, dysfunctional family, multiple suspects, clever detective, satisfying reveal.

Think set-up by Agatha Christie, humor by E.F. Benson. I've found a reason to read genre mystery again. You have, too.

The author's next book, Death and the Lit Chick, is due next spring.

The Heretic's Daughter: A Terrific Debut

2008-07-17T13:55:00.004-05:00

I love reading debut novels. I'm not interested in the same old stale writers who dominate the bestseller lists, and I love sharing a new author with my friends.

And so I'm recommending The Heretic's Daughter: A Novel by Kathleen Kent, a terrific piece of historical fiction.

The plot: In 1752, the elderly Sarah Carrier Chapman sends a family history she has written to her granddaughter. Sarah's history tells the story of her family during the Salem witch trials, when Sarah was a young girl and her mother, Martha, was one of the first women to be accused of witchcraft. Period detail (dirt, disease, hunger, violence), complex emotions (love, loyalty, jealousy, fear, betrayal), and a sympathetic and resilient protagonist make for an engrossing story.

Knowing that the author has fictionalized not only Sarah's history, but also her own, adds an interesting dimension to the book's appeal. Kathleen Kent is a tenth-generation descendant of the real-life Martha Carrier.

I'm going to badger all my friends to read this book, so you might as well reserve a copy now. I had an advance reader's copy; watch for The Heretic's Daughter to be released in early September.

Just Don't Expect a Happy Ending

2008-07-13T14:17:00.004-05:00

If you're dismayed with America's ignorant, arrogant, celebrity-worshipping, video-viewing culture, you must read The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby. Published in hardcover last February, it will be out in paperback in early 2009.

Scrutinizing our history (in particular, our post-WWII history) and current popular culture, Jacoby examines how we became so disdainful of logic, evidence, and education, that "intellectual" is now a pejorative term, and mindless tolerance gives equal weight to observable scientific facts and unprovable fantasy.

I expected a rant, and Jacoby does not disappoint--skewering everything from the media to triumphalist religious fundamentalism to Baby Einstein videos.

What I did not expect was funny. The Age of American Unreason is wickedly funny. How can you not like an author who describes the current occupant as a "walking testament to unearned privilege" and notes that although competence has resurfaced as a political issue in the current campaign, "the media generally address the subject within the context of executive skills; the relationship between incompetence and sheer stupidity is almost never discussed"?

Read this book.

I'm Sure He Didn't Mean Me

2008-06-29T15:58:00.004-05:00

About a year ago, I requested The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet Is Killing Our Culture by Andrew Keen from my local library. When the library finally notified me that it was available two weeks ago, I wondered whether the book, published in 2007 and based on a 2006 online world, would still be relevant.

The Cult of the Amateur is a provocative rant about the potentially dangerous consequences of the participatory Web "where amateurism is celebrated and anyone with an opinion, however ill-informed, can publish a blog, post a video on YouTube, or change an entry on Wikipedia." Keen's concerns are many, including: the lack of professional standards in do-it-yourself journalism, the threat to cultural institutions (like print newspapers), the violation of intellectual property rights, and the mining of personal data willingly offered up by participants.

Most of Keen's concerns are issues you've no doubt pondered yourself; his conclusions are not a surprise. However, if like me, you've been involved in a profession growing ever dumber, because of its need to embrace technology for technology's sake, without regard to purpose, content, or standards, Keen's book is a reassurance that you're not alone in your skepticism.

The book will be released in paperback in August with a new subtitle: The Cult of the Amateur: How Blogs, MySpace, YouTube, and the Rest of Today's User-Generated Media Are Destroying Our Economy, Our Culture, and Our Values.

Got Away, Read Away

2008-06-15T14:58:00.003-05:00

I downloaded the audio version of Away: A Novel by Amy Bloom to take on a recent long plane trip because I remembered that it had gotten good reviews when it came out in hardcover last year.

The plot: 22 year-old Lillian Leyb survived a Russian pogrom, during which she saw her husband and parents killed in their home. She arrives penniless in New York in 1924, believing that her three-year-old daughter Sophie, who ran from the house, is also dead.

After getting a job in a Yiddish theater, Lillian becomes the mistress of both the theater owner and his handsome, closeted, lead actor son. When Lillian learns that her beloved Sophie may be alive and living in Siberia with another family, Lillian travels across North America to Alaska, hoping to cross the Bering Strait in search of her daughter. Lillian's journey is tough, but Lillian is tougher. Traveling across the country, she encounters thieves, pimps, and prostitutes. Dirty and hungry, Lillian is beaten, robbed, exploited, and incarcerated, but continues on. Graphically told, Lillian's story isn't for the sensitive or squeamish.

Although Lillian continually moves on, the author doesn't leave the reader wondering what happens to the assorted characters Lillian encounters along the way. The author spins out the story of each of the important other characters that Lillian encounters and abandons, so the reader knows what ultimately happens to them, even though Lillian doesn't. The end of Lillian's own story is satisfying, but not predictable.

Recommended for those who like historical fiction, immigrant lit, Jewish lit, tough female protagonists, and/or Odyssey-like sagas. Away will be released in paperback later this month.

Blog on Break

2008-05-15T13:10:00.001-05:00

Until mid-June.

You Will Read a Good Book

2008-05-15T11:52:00.006-05:00

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food by Jennifer 8 Lee is my favorite kind of nonfiction book. The author is a journalist, so the book is easy to read, but well-documented. Notes about sources are at the back of the book, so they don't break up the flow. Best of all, the book is about food, a subject always interesting to me.

Lee began investigating the history of Chinese food in America a few years ago, after a large number of Powerball lottery winners, unconnected to each other and living in several states, revealed that they all had gotten the same combination of lucky numbers from Chinese restaurant fortune cookies.

This odd occurrence set Lee off on a journey across the country and around the world, pursuing assorted Chinese-food-related topics, such as the Japanese origins of the Chinese fortune cookie, the biography of the real General Tso, the battle between makers of soy sauce and makers of fake soy sauce (stick with Kikkoman and beware the take-out packets), the NYC restaurateur who began delivery service, the relationship between Jewish people and Chinese food, the difficulty of writing fortunes for Americans, and the lives of the immigrants who have spread Chinese restaurants to every corner of the U.S.

The result? Fascinating. Read the book, and we'll have lunch. Chinese, OK?

Hello Kitty

2008-04-28T14:23:00.003-05:00

I suspect most readers will pick up Playing with the Grown-ups by Sophie Dahl out of curiosity, the author being the granddaughter of beloved children's author Roald Dahl. That's why I read it.

The plot: Kitty, married, pregnant, and living in New York, is summoned back to England when her mother Marina is hospitalized after a breakdown. The story moves back and forth, between the present and Kitty's chaotic childhood with the unstable Marina, who drags Kitty and her siblings from an idyllic home with their grandparents to an ashram in the U.S. and back again. Soon, mother and daughter are participating in the same sorts of adventures: men, drinking, and drugs.

The publisher describes the book as "enchanting" and "hilarious," with "comic adventures" that will remind the reader of Breakfast at Tiffany's. I disagree. Playing with the Grown-ups is dark and dysfunctional: the fictional equivalent of Augusten Burrough's Running with Scissors or Tim Guest's memoir My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru.

Not a brilliant debut, but an interesting read. Just don't expect "enchanting" and "hilarious."

Heartbreaking and Haunting

2008-04-18T15:31:00.007-05:00

I'm not a hardcore Alice Hoffman fan. I've read some of her books and liked them, started others and never finished. I didn't expect to really like her latest book, The Third Angel, published earlier this month. First, the title reminded me of the "angel" craze of a few years back, which I always thought was supremely silly. More importantly, a librarian friend, who is a hardcore fan and started the book just before I did, felt that it didn't have enough of Hoffman's signature magical realism in it.

Well, don't judge a book by its cover (featuring an angel), and all that. I loved this beautifully crafted book.

The Third Angel tells three separate stories of women involved with the wrong men. In the first story, set in 1999, a woman has an affair with her sister's fiance. In the second, a young woman working as a maid in a London hotel in 1966 falls in love with a troubled would-be rock star. In the third story, set in 1952, a 12-year-old girl travels with her father and stepmother to London to attend a wedding and inadvertently witnesses the tragic consequences of a love triangle.

The characters of each story are connected: the young woman in the second story is the future mother-in-law of the bride in the first story; the 12-year old girl in the third is the future mother of the sisters in the first. The stories are linked by location (a London hotel), themes (love triangles, sisters), and secondary characters (you have to read the book).

The Third Angel is heartbreaking and haunting; it stayed with me long after I finished the book.

Not at the Top of My List

2008-04-01T13:10:00.003-05:00

The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness and the Creation of Roget's Thesaurus by Joshua Kendall sounds like it would be my kind of book. I'm a wordy person, I like biographies, and I remember when the thesaurus not only wasn't online, it wasn't in dictionary form. The book has also had a bit of media buzz: a nice review in the NY Times, a Book Sense pick in March, and an author appearance on Book TV.

Nonetheless, reading this book was a chore. It's a perfectly serviceable biography, but lacks punch. In a nutshell: Peter Mark Roget (1779-1869), an eccentric doctor/scholar, who today would be called obsessive/compulsive, had a lifelong habit of list-making which, in his retirement, finally became Roget's Thesaurus.

There you go. Now, browse around Roget's Thesaurus and quiz each other. That sounds like more fun.

For Those of Us Who Got a C

2008-03-19T14:05:00.005-05:00

Perhaps I would have done better in philosophy class if Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein had been published a few decades ago. It was published last year; I read it last week.

Cathcart and Klein were Harvard philosophy majors, who have since pursued various careers, including some comedy writing. In this little book, they show "how philosophical concepts can be illuminated by jokes and how many jokes are loaded with fascinating philosophical content."

The jokes are mostly of the Borscht-Belt or Prairie-Home-Companion variety. Corny, but amusing. And there are plenty of them, so you never get bogged down in the philosophy part. Yes, I kind of skimmed over the parts between jokes.

Here's a sample, typical of their humor, which appears in the discussion of existentialism and the acceptance of death:
Customer in a restaurant: How do you prepare your chickens?
Cook: Oh, nothing special really. We just tell them they're gonna die.

You get the idea. I'm not sure I understand the concepts any better than I originally did. But I've had a good time retelling the jokes, and I'm planning to read the authors' latest book, Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington: Understanding Political Doublespeak Through Philosophy and Jokes, which was published in January of this year.

Finally Figured Out the Title

2008-03-12T08:05:00.000-05:00

I read a good review of Now You See Him: A Novel by Eli Gottlieb, so I read it last week. Gottlieb's previous, debut, novel, The Boy Who Went Away, was published more than a decade ago and won him the Rome Prize for literature in 1999. I like an author who doesn't just churn out books.

The plot: Nick Framingham is shocked by the death of his best childhood friend, Rob Castor, a writer who became a minor cult celebrity in his early twenties. Now, when both men are in their thirties, Castor has brutally murdered his writer-girlfriend and committed suicide. Nick's own marriage to his college sweetheart is on the rocks, worsened by his inability to come to terms with Rob's death. Unable to understand what drove Rob to murder, Nick retraces their shared history and friendship, uncovering one surprising secret after another.

The book jacket blurb by Ann Patchett (Bel Canto) calls Now You See Him "a true literary page-turner." That it is. Just don't assume the term "page-turner" means thriller. This book is "psychological fiction": the focus is on personalities, relationships, motivations, and character flaws. The reader is kept guessing, and driven to turn those pages, as the source(s) of Nick's angst are revealed. And I guessed wrong. The plot twists took me by surprise.

Recommended for fans of books like Bel Canto or Chris Bohjalian's Midwives.

Just Don't Call It Frisco

2008-03-09T17:50:00.005-05:00

A decent comic mystery is hard to find, and I'm getting bored with Janet Evanovich and Carl Hiaasen. Last April, I mentioned Lisa Lutz as a promising author for the genre. (Did you read that post?) Her first book, The Spellman Files, introduced 28-year-old Isabel Spellman and her quirky family of San Francisco private investigators, who spend much of their time spying on each other.

Lutz is back. I read her new book, Curse of the Spellmans, this weekend. Again, the focus is not so much on plot, but on the various personalities: Isabel, her younger sister Rae (possibly the most annoying sibling in contemporary fiction), Isabel's parents (of whom, I'm sure, readers of a certain age would like to know more), a middle-aged cop (sensible friend and mentor to the younger sister and future potential love interest for Isabel), and Isabel's octogenarian lawyer.

Clever but inoffensive, Lutz bridges the gap between raunchy comic capers and tiresome cozy mysteries. How can you not like a protagonist who has fake business cards with her own name in pig Latin ("Izzy Ellmanspay")? This book is not perfect. Humorous footnotes should have been squelched by the editor (my patience with such devices ran out with Dave Eggers and they interrupt the flow here), and the story runs a bit long, considering the lightweight plot (400 pages).

Nonetheless, a fun premise and an amusing read. I'm sticking with Lisa Lutz.

Rogue Librarian Reads Freakonomics Spin-Off

2008-03-04T16:20:00.003-05:00

Anyone who read Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner will remember the name Sudhir Venkatesh, the University of Chicago grad student who spent time with a drug-dealing gang in Chicago's worst housing project. Based on Venkatesh's experiences and data, Freakonomics posed the question "Why do drug dealers live with their moms?" and answered it by explaining the drug-dealing gang's corporate-like structure, in which bottom-of-the-totem-pole, low-wage-earning dealers couldn't afford to live on their own.

Now Sudhir Venkatesh, a professor of sociology at Columbia University, has a non-academic book of his own: Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets, in which he tells the complete story of how, as a naive grad student, he formed an uneasy friendship with J.T., the charismatic, violent, and paranoid leader of the gang. Venkatesh exploited the egotistical J.T., so he could observe the gang and life in the projects first hand, by leading J.T. to believe he was writing his biography.

I read Gang Leader for a Day last week. I found it not particularly well written and struggled to finish. Interesting and edgy as this story may have been when it happened, its publication now seems like old news. Venkatesh spent time with the gang from 1989-1996, a long grad school sojourn. Then, in 1996, just as the housing project was scheduled for demolition, Venkatesh was awarded a junior fellowship at Harvard's Society of Fellows, a three-year salaried research position, and off he went. Now, more than a decade later, and after the success of Freakonomics, here's the book, with a strangely similar title, a book jacket blurb by Levitt, and a foreword by Dubner.

Gang Leader for a Day left the rogue librarian feeling kind of exploited herself.

One Cannot Live by Books Alone

2008-02-26T10:43:00.002-05:00

One must have bread, too. And, if one is too lazy to knead, and one's only bakeries are of the pathetic grocery store kind, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois is a delight.

Hertzberg (a bread aficionado) and Francois (a pastry chef) present a method for making artisan bread that even the laziest and busiest among us can do: mix, but don't knead, a very wet dough; store the dough in the refrigerator; cut off a hunk of dough when you want bread; shape the dough and let it rest for a short time; bake.

Granted, the bread is not quite what you get when you put some muscle into your baking, but the method is fast and fun. Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day may not appeal to those who have good bakeries at hand, or to serious earth-mother types who like to get more involved with their dough. For the rest of us, it's a godsend.

Good for Groups: Olive Kitteridge

2008-02-20T13:48:00.005-05:00

Someone asked me last week for some recommendations for her book group, which was selecting books for the coming year. I immediately thought of a book coming out next month: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, whose previous novels, Amy and Isabelle and Abide With Me, also did well with book groups. I read an advance copy of Olive Kitteridge and found it to be well-crafted and memorable.

The title character, Olive, is a married, retired schoolteacher in a small town in Maine. For readers of a certain age, she is the person we hope we are not: sturdy, sensible, opinionated, and not entirely likeable. The novel is told in a series of short stories. In some of the stories, Olive, her husband Henry, and their adult son, Christopher, are the main characters. In others, they are minor characters, and the focus is on other townspeople with whom their lives intersect.

Themes of marriage, parenthood, connection, miscommunication, aging, and love provide plenty of book group fodder. Publishers Weekly gave Olive Kitteridge a starred review. I do too.

Life Is Miserable, Gets Worse

2008-02-12T15:40:00.003-05:00

I liked Lisa See's novel Snowflower and the Secret Fan a couple of years ago, but I never got around to her latest, Peony in Love, which was published last year. Peony in Love is being released in paperback next week; I listened to the audiobook recently.

Like Snow Flower, Peony in Love is well-researched historical fiction, based, in part, on real people and events. Peony, a sheltered, affluent 15-year-old girl in 17th century China, becomes obsessed with an opera, The Peony Pavillion. During a performance of the opera, she meets a young man and immediately falls in love, but she is already promised in an arranged marriage to a man she has never met. Mirroring the plot of the opera, Peony becomes lovesick for the man she cannot have and wastes away, dying before her arranged marriage can take place. Then, as a ghost, she discovers the young man she longed for was also the person she was supposed to marry.

For most of the book, Peony is an unhappy, "hungry ghost," haunting the man she should have married and his subsequent wives, making her obsession with The Peony Pavillion their obsession as well.

Many fans of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan have been disappointed by Peony in Love. Me, too. I found the story relentlessly grim and the heroine unsympathetic. The author's note at the end, about the historical background of the novel, was more interesting to me than the novel itself.

If you like historical fiction and you're interested in Chinese history and culture, and you haven't read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, do. If you see Peony in Love in paperback next week and are tempted, you are warned.

Slap Your Inner Cynic Around

2008-02-04T16:57:00.004-05:00

I decided to read Beginner's Greek, a debut novel by James Collins, because I noticed that it was getting a bit of press. I also wanted to find out what the plot had to do with beginner's Greek, which I remember fondly, albeit not well.

Beginner's Greek is a goofy, romantic, comedy of manners about true love, misunderstandings, missed opportunities, and fate. Boy meets Girl on a plane trip; Boy loses Girl's phone number; Girl turns up a few years later, married to Boy's best friend; Boy dithers; Boy marries another; Boy and Girl still love each other, but each is unaware of the other's feelings. Other characters become entangled in romantic subplots. Everyone is properly sorted out by the story's end, just like a Shakespeare comedy or Jane Austen novel.

Great literature? No. Just cleverly done and fun.

And You Thought I Was Making It All Up

2008-01-31T19:19:00.001-05:00

Having read a couple of good reviews, I was looking forward to the memoir Free for All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library by Don Borchert, a public library worker in Southern California.

Although the book is billed as Borchert's "comic debut," it was a little too close to home to be funny for me. Borchert recounts the characters and situations all public librarians know only too well: bored and rowdy kids hanging out in the library after school; lonely people looking for love on public Internet computers; sex offenders and other criminals, looking for opportunities; the homeless, looking for somewhere to be indoors; the mentally ill and the intoxicated; Internet pornography peepers; belligerent borrowers; staff who can't manage to show up for work; the stressed-out staffer who finally loses it on the job; the ambitious, Machiavellian senior librarian.

That said, those who do not or have not worked in a public library might enjoy Free for All, and it should be required reading for anyone who thinks the modern public library is a quiet, civilized, literate place.

Magical Realism Lite

2008-01-22T14:58:00.001-05:00

I don't usually read chick lit, but I recently listened to the audiobook of Sarah Addison Allen's debut novel, Garden Spells, which was published last year. Prepublication reviews suggested it would appeal to fans of Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic) and Laura Esquivel (Like Water for Chocolate).

The plot: Single, 34-year old, Claire Waverly lives alone in her family home in Bascom, NC, running a catering business. Her garden contains mysterious herbs and edible flowers, which she uses in her cooking, and an apple tree with prophetic fruit. Claire's quiet life is disrupted when her estranged younger sister Sydney returns home, with a small daughter in tow, fleeing an abusive boyfriend. As the sisters come to terms with each other, each is confronted with a new romantic relationship. Subplots involve quirky townspeople and old friends and rivals.

The result: A rather charming, romantic, light read, with a predictably happy ending. Granted, Claire is a heroine you sometimes want to slap around, and the men who are romantic interests for the sisters are simply too good to be true. Nonetheless, a pretty good girly story.

If you read Garden Spells and like it, Sarah Addison Allen's second novel, The Sugar Queen is due out in May.

Embarrassing Admission No. 3, or Is It 4?

2008-01-16T16:14:00.002-05:00

Although I've known of her books, I've never read Jhumpa Lahiri. While looking for an audiobook to download from my library's web site, I was pleased and surprised to find her Pulitzer Prize-winning (in 2000) collection of stories, Interpreter of Maladies, there.

The nine bittersweet stories in Interpreter of Maladies feature characters who are Indian, either living in India or in America, but their experiences are universal: a young couple's marriage cannot survive the loss of a stillborn child; a tour guide infatuated with a client becomes her unwilling confidant; a young man falls into a comfortable routine with his elderly landlady; a young woman has a hopeless affair with a married man.

The characters please, disappoint, surprise, and sustain each other. The writing is quiet, spare, and elegant. A very satisfying read or listen.

If You Were Annoyed by The Da Vinci Code,

2008-01-13T18:14:00.001-05:00

...you might like Interred With Their Bones, a novel by Jennifer Lee Carrell, which I mentioned some time ago in a post about forthcoming Shakespeare-themed books. I read it last week. Interred With Their Bones has the misfortune of being marketed as a Da Vinci Code with a Shakespearean theme.

The plot: A Shakespeare scholar goes in search of the manuscript of a lost Shakespeare play, traveling from England to Spain to America. She is accompanied by other characters who may, or may not, be on her side. People she encounters who help her end up dead, murdered in the manner of various characters in Shakespeare plays. She is in a race to find literary gold and to survive.

Why Interred With Their Bones is not for fans of The Da Vinci Code: The pace is too slow; the book is more history-laden fiction than thriller. The author is herself a Shakespeare scholar and tends to provide lots of historical detail. The author's note at the end very clearly delineates what bits are based on fact, what is made up.

Why Interred With Their Bones may be for you: Are you intrigued by the Shakespeare theme? Were you bored with The Da Vinci Code because the writing was so lame? Me too. So check it out.

Listen to The Maytrees

2008-01-12T14:33:00.000-05:00

I was poking around on my library's web site, looking for a downloadable audiobook not written by James Patterson or Danielle Steel, when I happened upon Annie Dillard's novel, The Maytrees, which was published last summer.

The novel begins after WWII,when Toby and Lou Maytree meet, marry, and become part of a group of nonconformist writers and painters on Cape Cod. The story follows their lives, together and apart, over the decades, and explores the nature of love, marriage, and forgiveness. The Maytrees also explores the nature of nature: the sky, stars, sea, and sand are the backdrop to the Maytrees' story.

Dillard is a philosopher/poet, best known for the Pulitizer Prize-winning Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. She loves language, and it shows. (When was the last time you read or said "lagniappe"?) Consequently, some readers have described The Maytrees as "carefully wrought"; others have considered it "overwrought."

Listening to this book, rather than reading it, allowed me to appreciate the story, and to be surprised by a particular word or phrase, without feeling the need to reread, parse, and mull over the language.

A lovely little book, particularly amenable to book group discussion. Well worth a read or a listen.

Roll Over, Edith Hamilton

2007-12-31T15:13:00.000-05:00

In Gods Behaving Badly, a debut novel by Marie Phillips, the Greek gods and goddesses are alive in the 21st Century: living in a dilapidated London town house, getting on each other's nerves, engaging in petty disputes, and shagging in the bathroom. Worst of all, no one worships them anymore, so they now have jobs: Artemis is a professional dog walker; Aphrodite is a phone sex worker; Apollo is a TV psychic. Their powers are fading.

When their squabbles escalate, two mortals, Alice, their Scrabble-playing housecleaner, and nerdy Neil, Alice's would-be boyfriend, become entangled in their disputes. Alice spurns Apollo's advances, with dire consequences, and Neil, in classical hero mode, must travel to a wonderfully imagined underworld, via the London Tube, to rescue her.

Gods Behaving Badly is fresh, funny, and a bit raunchy, but never forced or smug. A thoroughly enjoyable romp.

Toast

2007-12-19T16:16:00.000-05:00

I am fascinated by the British foods section of my local grocery store. Were customers clamoring for Heinz Salad Cream and Bird's Custard Powder? Does someone really prefer Spotted Dick in a can to key lime pie?

To better understand these people, who share our language, but not our canned goods, I decided to read the recently published Taste: The Story of Britain Through Its Food by Kate Colquhoun and Roast Chicken and Other Stories by London chef Simon Hopkinson, both of which had good prepublication reviews.

Neither book has arrived at my library. So, to tide me over, I read Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger, a childhood memoir by popular British food writer Nigel Slater, published in this country back in 2004.

Toast is funny, sad, poignant, personal, and not really about food. It's about longing and love. Slater's mother died when he was young; his father was distant and angry; his stepmother was demanding. Particular foods of his 1960s suburban English childhood (the glossary is very helpful) evoke memories of events and emotions.

I liked Toast, particularly knowing that Slater is now a successful adult. You can't read Toast without thinking of the foods of your own childhood. As Slater says in the preface, "The most successful seasoning for what we eat is a good pinch of nostalgia." Recommended for memoir fans, foodie or not.

Oprah and I Read Al's Recommendation

2007-12-16T14:06:00.000-05:00

A couple of months ago, my neighbor Al mentioned that he was waiting for Ken Follett's new book, World Without End, sequel to Follett's 1989 book, The Pillars of the Earth, which Al liked a lot.

Based on Al's recommendation, I got a copy of The Pillars of the Earth, which tells the story of the building of a cathedral in the fictional town of Kingsbridge in 12th century England.

Much to my surprise, shortly after I got the book, Oprah selected it for her book club. It didn't seem like an Oprah kind of book. For one thing, it's almost 1000 pages long.

The Pillars of the Earth is not beautifully written; dialogue, in particular, often clunks. However, it's a readable epic that pulls you right in, with a large cast of characters and a story of ambition, power, intrigue, passion, violence, and architecture.

Perfect escapist reading if you're going to be sitting on a beach or snowed in somewhere this winter. Thanks, Al.

Vicarious Vice for the Cautiously Curious

2007-11-27T14:08:00.000-05:00

I'm a fan of NPR's Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me!, so I read host Peter Sagal's recent book, The Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things (and How to Do Them). Then again, maybe I would have read it even if it was written by someone else. I laughed a lot, and I think I learned a few things.

As Sagal explains in the author's note, "This book is for all of us who have picked up a newspaper, or seen a TV show, or listened to a public-radio news quiz which talks about the really strange things that Other People do to either get themselves in trouble, or have an awful amount of fun, or often both. We shake our heads and wonder not only at the stupidity or daring or brass of the offending individual, but also that such things are possible in the first place."

And so Sagal, curious but cautious, takes the reader along as he explores various vices and the people enjoying them: swinging, eating, strip clubs, lying, gambling, consumption, and pornography.

Sagal is a charming, funny, unpreachy guide, clearly out of his element in these venues. I particularly enjoyed his use of public figures to illustrate various vices. (Remember William Bennett, Marv Alpert, Bill Clinton?)

Sagal's conclusion: Everybody is a tourist outside the bounds of his own life. Yes, there are people who are having more fun than you, but you have one thing in common with those people: they, too, are wondering if there's something that they're missing.

Bryson Sorts Out Shakespeare

2007-11-16T11:58:00.000-05:00

I read Bill Bryson's new book Shakespeare: The World as Stage last week. The book is part of the HarperCollins' Eminent Lives series, which describes itself as "a series of brief biographies by distinguished authors on canonical figures." Other biographies in the series include Thomas Jefferson by Christopher Hitchens, Caravaggio by Francine Prose, and Ulysses S. Grant by Michael Korda.

Although Shakespeare left behind a substantial body of work, his biography has always been a matter of much speculation and few facts. As Bryson says, Shakespeare has been not so much a historical figure as an academic obsession. So Bryson sets out, in his usual travelogue/storytelling way, to see how much of Shakespeare we can really know from the record.

Shakespeare: The World as Stage is fast-paced, entertaining, and brief (less than 200 pages). Bryson reminds you of things you probably learned and forgot (phrases coined by Shakespeare still in use today) and pokes holes in quite a few things you thought were true (likenesses of Shakespeare that have never been documented as him). My favorite chapter was the one in which he sorts out the origins of the various theories that someone other than Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare.

Recommended for both hardcore and casual Shakespeare fans.

Another Embarrassing Admission

2007-11-06T14:58:00.000-05:00

Irish author William Trevor is a writer I've always meant to read, but haven't. Until now. Trevor's latest book Cheating at Canasta: Stories got so many wonderful prepublication reviews, I knew I had to read it. I did. You should, too.

Each story has different characters and circumstances: an elderly woman is prodded by her adult children to sell the family land; a widower returns to the Venice restaurant he used to enjoy with his wife; a derelict former altar boy confronts an elderly priest; a teenage girl meets up with the stranger with whom she has been chatting online. You get the idea.

The stories are so intimate, compelling, and well-crafted that I felt like I was spying on the characters. Although I usually think of a short story collection as a book you can easily put down and return to later, Cheating at Canasta had me hooked straight through. If, like me, you haven't read Trevor's work, now is the time to start.

A Tough Job, but Somebody Has to Do It

2007-10-31T08:41:00.000-05:00

I was interested in The Jewel Trader of Pegu by Jeffrey Hantover after reading a description of it in a Library Journal prepublication alert. I got an advance copy via LibraryThing Early Reviewers and read it this week. It was a disappointment. Although I usually don't mention books I don't like here, I'm doing so now because (1) I accepted a copy for early review, so I'm reviewing: and (2) it looks like this book going to have quite a bit of advertising when it's published in January, so you will be tempted.

The plot: In 1598, Abraham, a Jewish gem merchant, leaves Venice to live in the Burmese kingdom of Pegu. In this exotic locale, he experiences a new freedom, because the Jewish/Gentile issues he is accustomed to in Venice don't exist. However, he is shocked to learn that, as a foreigner, he is expected to perform a customary duty: deflowering local brides for their grooms. Although it offends his personal beliefs, Abraham eventually complies, and, to his surprise, finds love. His personal conflict then becomes overshadowed by political turmoil and danger.

The problem: Abraham's angst over his new duty takes up more than half the book and becomes tiresome. I kept waiting for more plot. The story does pick up speed in the second half, but even by then, I wasn't emotionally invested in the characters.

My recommendation: For historical fiction in an exotic locale, with a compelling protagonist, read the recent The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani, which I mentioned here last July. For Venice, sex, and intriguing characters, read Sarah Dunant's In the Company of the Courtesan, published in 2006 and now available in paperback.

If you're tempted by The Jewel Trader of Pegu when it's released in January, borrow, don't buy.

The Importance of Being...There

2007-10-29T14:21:00.000-05:00

Here If You Need Me: A True Story by Kate Braestrup doesn't seem like my kind of book, but I read it and liked it a lot.

Braestrup's husband, a Maine state trooper, was killed in a car accident, leaving her a widow with four young children. Her husband had been considering entering the seminary, so Braestrup went in his stead. Braestrup became a Unitarian Universalist minister and now works as chaplain for the Maine game warden service, which organizes search-and-rescue missions throughout the state.

Her memoir is both poignant and funny. Braestrup doesn't offer pat answers to those waiting during the search for their lost loved ones. No "this happened for a reason" or "God's will" nonsense here. She realizes that her mere presence at the scene of these potential tragedies is a source of comfort to both the searchers and the relatives of the lost. In many cases, her job is simply to show up, shut up, and be there for them.

A clergyperson with a sense of humor who doesn't purport to have all the answers to everything. Refreshing. Recommended for anyone who has endured an abrupt change of circumstances, former and potential seminarians, and fans of Anne Lamott.

We Are Amused

2007-10-28T15:52:00.000-05:00

The Uncommon Reader: A Novella is a dry, funny little book by Alan Bennett, author of The History Boys (the film of which I only recently saw on DVD and liked a lot and would recommend, except that this is supposed to be a blog about books).

The story: when her corgis stray into a mobile library parked near Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II feels obligated to borrow a book. Guided by Norman, a palace kitchen boy, fan of gay authors, and mobile library regular, the Queen becomes an avid reader, much to the alarm of the palace staff. As one book leads to another, the Queen's new passion has surprising consequences.

Recommended for all you Anglophile bibliophiles.

Seriously Seeking Something

2007-10-18T14:04:00.000-05:00

I've had an advance copy of The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs kicking around my desk for quite a while. I decided to read it while traveling last weekend.

Jacobs, a NYC entertainment journalist and agnostic, tried to obey the Bible's many rules as literally as possible for one year. He read the Bible; he researched its many commands and prohibitions; he assembled a group of spiritual advisers; he visited various religious leaders and congregations; he tried to follow all of the rules, no matter how obscure.

The result: hilarious. I made the mistake of reading this on a plane. (For the record, Southwest doesn't boot you off for laughing out loud, at least not if you're wearing age-appropriate, adequate clothing, and you look like a librarian.) The humor kept me going through the first half of the book. By the second half, I was anxious to find out whether the year was a life-transforming experience for Jacobs. I won't spoil it for you. But I will say: this guy's wife is a saint.

Coincidentally, the NY Times has published two less-than-glowing reviews of this book in the past week. Yes, two! Apparently no one ever told the NY Times Book Review that there is no such thing as bad publicity.

I am confident that you'll take my recommendation, read this book, and ignore the humorless NY Times. After all, who turned you on to the Belief-O-Matic?

Chased Through Childhood

2007-10-05T09:26:00.000-05:00

Crisis, Pursued by Disaster, Followed Closely by Catastrophe: A Memoir of Life on the Run, by former NPR and NY Times foreign correspondent Mike O'Connor, describes a childhood shaped, not by abuse or blatant neglect, but by his parents' constant, unspoken fear of something or someone. Unlike Augusten Burroughs (Running with Scissors) or Jeannette Walls (The Glass Castle), O'Connor had a seemingly "normal" family. Yet, as children in the 1950s, he and his siblings knew nothing of their parents' backgrounds or relatives. His parents repeatedly uprooted the family, often on only a few hours notice, fleeing back and forth across the border to Mexico, abandoning houses and possessions in Texas, and fretting about encounters with border guards, police, or other authorities. The parents always put a cheerful, unbelievable spin on the circumstances, describing their flight as a wonderful opportunity for adventure or a vacation that would expose the children to a foreign culture. After the parents' deaths, O'Connor set out to discover exactly what was causing them to flee.

This suspenseful, well-paced book draws you in like a novel. The family secrets I imagined were far worse than the secrets ultimately revealed, and I suspect that this book has not found a big audience simply because there is no truly horrific secret at its core. Nonetheless, the details of the family's life, particularly the time spent in Mexico, and the remarkable resilience of the children made this book a worthwhile read for me.

Recommended for readers who've wondered what their own parents never told them.

Laughed Out Loud

2007-09-26T15:56:00.000-05:00

I knew I had to read Robert Wilder's new book Tales from the Teachers' Lounge, when Publishers Weekly said that Wilder might be "a bit potty-mouthed for the mainstream parenting shelf." Wilder, a Santa Fe writer, teacher, and parent of two kids, writes a monthly column for the Santa Fe Reporter called "Daddy Needs a Drink" (also the title of his previous book). At the age of 26, he left an advertising career in New York, settled in Santa Fe, and became a teacher, pretty much by accident. In a series of essays, Wilder shares his adventures in education: as a former student, as a parent, and as a teacher in various venues (first grade in a hippie alternative school, a summer job at Antioch College, and seventh grade at a local independent day school).

Tales from the Teachers' Lounge is gross, honest, and funny. For the teachers among you: read at your own risk (this book may be too much like work to be amusing). For the rest of you: you have your assignment.

Don't Read...Listen

2007-09-18T14:02:00.000-05:00

A librarian friend is particularly fond of historical fiction, narrated in the first person by a female protagonist. On her recommendation, I read The Observations, a debut novel by British author Jane Harris, published in 2006 (and now also in paperback and in audio).

The plot: In 1863, Irish girl Bessy Buckley leaves Glasgow to get away from her not-so-innocent past and her ne'er-do-well mother. Bessy goes to work for Arabella, a beautiful, wealthy woman in a country house outside Edinburgh. Arabella subjects Bessy to odd experiments, testing her ability to comply with Arabella's demands. Snooping around, Bessy discovers that Arabella has been writing a book called The Observations, a study of the various maids she has had and their cooperativeness.

Bessy becomes angry after reading what Arabella has written about her and jealous of one of her predecessors, the deceased Nora, Arabella's favorite. Seeking revenge, Bessy plays a prank on Arabella that spins out of control.

The Observations is memorable, not because of the plot, but because of Bessy: a witty, bawdy, tender-hearted, wonderfully imagined character. Think Moll Flanders, with a more colorful vocabulary. I only wish I had listened to it on audio.

Bardolators! Awake!

2007-09-10T12:37:00.000-05:00

There are two Shakespeare biographies and a Shakespeare-themed debut novel to watch out for this fall. You can guess which one is already on my request list.

Interred with Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell (Sept. 20). A debut thriller involving a lost Shakespeare play. The book description: On the eve of the modern-day Globe’s production of Hamlet, Shakespeare scholar and theater director Kate Stanley’s eccentric mentor Rosalind Howard gives her a mysterious box, claiming to have made a groundbreaking discovery. But before she can reveal it to Kate, the Globe burns to the ground and Roz is found dead . . . murdered precisely in the manner of Hamlet’s father. Inside the box Kate finds the first piece in a Shakespearean puzzle, setting her on a deadly, high-stakes treasure hunt. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly said "this spirited and action-packed novel delivers constant excitement." The author is a PhD who has taught history and literature and directed Shakespeare plays. I have my hopes up that Interred with Their Bones is more The Thirteenth Tale than The Da Vinci Code.

Shakespeare Unbound: Decoding a Hidden Life by Rene Weis (Oct. 30). Weis, a professor of English at University College, London, scrutinizes the plays and poems for clues about the details of Shakespeare's personal life, at home in Stratford and in theatrical London. The focus is definitely personal: bisexuality, possible intimacies with a rival playwright, entanglements with an elusive lady in London, the probable fathering of an illegitimate child. Publishers Weekly said, "It's all great fun for Bardolators, who will appreciate Weis's formidable erudition." I think I learned a new word.

Shakespeare: The World as Stage by Bill Bryson (Nov. 1). In this addition to the Eminent Lives series, bestselling author Bryson sorts through the scant facts and wild suppositions about Shakespeare's life. Publishers Weekly said Bryson is "a pleasant and funny guide to a subject at once overexposed and elusive." Sounds way less daunting than Shakespeare Unbound to me.

Before Web Sites, There Were Watches

2007-09-05T19:01:00.000-05:00

After reading The Grand Complication (did you read that post?), I decided to read author Allen Kurzweil's first novel, A Case of Curiosities, published in 1992.

A Case of Curiosities is the backstory for the antique case featured in The Grand Complication. An unnamed narrator (the wealthy eccentric in The Grand Complication) buys an antique case of random objects at a Paris auction. The case is a memento hominem, a life box, of Claude Page, an 18th Century French artist and inventor. Claude, a poor country boy, was taken in and mentored by a defrocked priest, who employed him to paint pornographic scenes on clocks and watches commissioned by wealthy Parisians.

Claude, a mechanical genius, runs off to Paris and looks for work as a clockmaker. Unable to find work, he is apprenticed to a loathsome bookseller, who deals in pornography. Claude meets an assortment of peculiar characters while working on his greatest mechanical project, as the French Revolution looms.

I liked The Grand Complication, which featured a librarian protagonist, better than A Case of Curiosities, which didn't. (The porn bookseller doesn't count.)

Nonetheless, A Case of Curiosities is recommended for fans of historical fiction who like a Dickensian, picaresque novel.

And, if you're wondering: Yes, such naughty timepieces did exist (I researched); and yes, Kurzweil, who has since written a couple of children's books, is planning to publish another novel for grownups. (I e-mailed and asked.)

Sad Sheep, Scary Shepherds

2007-08-29T09:02:00.000-05:00

Hey, it's the end of August, so let's get serious. I read both of these books recently. I think they should be required reading in preparation for 2008:

Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War, published in June, is author Joe Bageant's up close and personal account of life among the white working poor. Bageant, a journalist, moved back to his hometown of Winchester, VA, after 30 years away. On his return, he found that the residents of Winchester, like residents of countless other small towns in the "heartland," have become a permanent underclass, politically conservative and rabidly Christian, clinging to the myth that they are middle-class. Why, Bageant wonders, did these people with little education, low wages, serious health problems, poor health care, and so many other problems, so plainly vote against their own best interests in November 2004? And why do educated, urban liberals understand so little about them? Deer Hunting with Jesus is a rant, but it's a rant we shouldn't ignore.

Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, published in 2006 and now out in paper, by Salon.com reporter Michelle Goldberg, is a more dispassionate examination of the right-wing Christian fundamentalist culture and its financial and ideological ties to the Republican Party. "Christian nationalism" is what Goldberg calls the political ideology that is remaking much of the country, based on the conviction that "true" Christianity must govern every aspect of public and private life. It's the ideology behind "intelligent design" in the classroom, the ten commandments on the courthouse lawn, and creepy rhetoric about a "homosexual agenda." The ultimate goal of its leaders isn't fairness. It's dominion. Over everybody else. Chilling.

A Read and a Rant

2007-08-21T08:45:00.000-05:00

The Read: The Grand Complication, a novel by Allen Kurzweil, published back in 2001. I checked it out of the library after I saw it mentioned in an online discussion of books featuring librarian characters. Somehow I missed it back in 2001. I loved this book.

A young male reference librarian, with arcane interests and odd compulsions, is hired by an elegant, eccentric, older man to research an 18th-century cabinet of curiosities that's missing one item. The librarian determines that the cabinet once contained a watch, named The Grand Complication, which was made for Marie Antoinette, and which disappeared from a Jerusalem museum in 1983. Is the eccentric's real interest the watch or the librarian?

An intellectual romp, full of fun stuff: quirky characters, history, mystery, bibliomania, deceit, sexual ambiguity, and the Dewey Decimal System. In other words, something for everyone.

The Rant: By checking this book out, I may have saved its life in my library. Its previous check-out was two years ago. You probably have read in the media about libraries weeding out books based solely on circulation statistics. It's true. Particularly vulnerable are books like this one: not a "classic," not part of a series, not by a prolific author. Save the lives of the books you've loved, check them out of your library. Your check-out will help them survive the weeding process; they will still be there when you recommend them to your friends. You don't even have to reread them. Just take them out for a little spin.

The Power of Story

2007-08-12T14:24:00.000-05:00

Mister Pip, a novel by Lloyd Jones, a New Zealander, was released in this country last month. I read it last week. It caught my attention because Dickens' Great Expectations is part of the plot.

On a remote, unnamed South Pacific island, a war is brewing, and all the white people have fled, except for the eccentric Mr. Watts, who is married to a local woman. Because all the teachers are gone, Mr. Watts takes up the role of teacher to the local students, including 13-year-old Matilda. Mr. Watts has only one book, Great Expectations, so he reads the story to the students, who are enthralled. Dickens' story ignites Matilda's imagination, in particular, and Matilda forms a strong attachment to the character Pip. When soldiers come to the island, the situation becomes violent, and the villagers become desperate. Has Pip's story given Matilda the resilience to survive?

Because of its transformative-power-of-books theme and fablelike quality, I recommend Mister Pip to readers, and book discussion groups, who liked The Book Thief or The Life of Pi.

Parenting with a Twist...or an Olive

2007-08-05T13:03:00.000-05:00

I've done some rather depressing reading lately about the Christian Right. More about that in a future post.

To lighten the mood, I got a copy of The Three-Martini Playdate: A Practical Guide to Happy Parenting by Christie Mellor. A review I read recently of a similar book mentioned that The Three-Martini Playdate (published in 2004) was funnier.

Funny it was, with chapters like "Bedtime: Is Five-thirty Too Early?" and "Child Labor: Not Just for the Third World!"

Humor aside, Mellor has a real message for parents: be the adult. But you don't have to be a parent to enjoy Mellor's snarky, Miss Manners-like style. Her observations of contemporary parent and child behavior are dead-on, bound to get a laugh from anyone who has had, or suffered someone else's, kids.

Pliny, the Pantheon, the Pope, & Parenthood

2007-07-31T08:35:00.000-05:00

Anthony Doerr, currently Writer-in-Residence for the State of Idaho, won the Rome Prize for literature in 2004-2005, and with it, a stipend and a writing studio at the American Academy in Rome for a year. He and his wife had just had twin boys, so they all went to Rome. Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World is a memoir of that year.

Doerr planned to work on a novel. Instead, he read Pliny; he wrote a bit; he watched the world converge on Rome when Pope John Paul II died. He and his wife navigated the sensory overload that is Rome, struggling with Italian while struggling with a double stroller. Why would you invent fiction when you are living such an adventure? The result: a charming memoir, recommended for all Italophiles, parenting experience not required.

While reading the book, I wondered if Doerr was related to the late Harriet Doerr, author of Stones for Ibarra (did you read that post some months ago?). So, I e-mailed him, telling him that I wanted to mention the connection, if any, when I recommended his book. He e-mailed back: no relation to the late Harriet. Doerr thanked me for reading his book and for being a librarian. I love people who appreciate librarians.

Well, I Didn't Know

2007-07-23T18:41:00.000-05:00

That Laura Lippman is such a good writer, until I read her latest, What the Dead Know. A while ago I read one of her Baltimore-based Tess Monaghan mysteries and thought it was just OK. Then, when I was at the ALA convention last month, a publisher’s rep talked up What the Dead Know, a stand alone mystery, and sent me a complimentary copy. How could I resist?

The plot: A woman involved in a traffic accident claims to be one of two sisters who disappeared from a shopping mall thirty years ago. She then attempts to stonewall the investigation to determine who she is. Is she or isn’t she one of the missing girls? Moving back and forth between past and present, the novel is more complex than a formula mystery. It has an ensemble cast of characters, with no clear, heroic protagonist. It was more like reading Jodi Picoult than a typical mystery writer. I liked that.

Lippman can also turn a phrase: “fat womanly novels” (the works of Maeve Binchy, Gail Godwin, and Marian Keyes); “socratic sex” (hey, I’m not telling you everything here). I liked that, too.

Recommended for anyone who wants some well-written, escapist reading as well as for you regular mystery readers.

A Lush Debut

2007-07-21T12:29:00.000-05:00

A librarian friend recommended The Blood of Flowers, a debut novel by Northern California author Anita Amirrezvani. I read it last week.

The story is set in 17th century Persia: After the death of her father, a teenage girl and her mother are compelled to rely on the grudging generosity of relatives in a distant city, where the girl’s uncle is a designer of carpets for the Shah’s court. Although carpet design is men’s work, the girl shows such eagerness and talent that her uncle tutors her in the craft. Despite her talent, the girl and her mother are treated like servants in the uncle’s household. After being forced into a temporary marriage contract with a wealthy businessman, thereby sacrificing her one valuable commodity, her virginity, the girl becomes determined to make a life for herself, and her mother, free of the whims of others.

Whether you consider historical fiction in the Women-Were-More-Than-Chattel genre potentially possible or mere wishful thinking (remember The Red Tent?), The Blood of Flowers is a lush and absorbing book.

Cool Cover Too

2007-07-17T08:15:00.000-05:00

I bought Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark for my library because many local writers use our collection of how-to books. I checked it out myself to get a good look at the cover after I read a Publishers Weekly column about the book jacket design.

Then I read the introduction, and I was hooked. Clark invites you “to imagine the act of writing less as a special talent and more as a purposeful craft,” for which you need tools, not rules. Tools like: No. 9, Let punctuation control pace and space, and No.28, Put odd and interesting things next to each other.

Writing Tools is fun to read. Clark isn’t just telling, he’s showing: each tool is illustrated with passages written by other authors and journalists, many of whom you know. Plenty of “Aha!” moments here.

Maybe you don’t consider yourself a Writer. I wouldn’t call myself a Writer either, but I’m going to buy this book. I think my lonely, old Strunk and White needs a younger, hipper companion.

Worth the Wait

2007-07-09T16:58:00.000-05:00

Authors who churn out several books a year are generally not the authors I want to read. I’m patient; I can wait for the good ones. Here are some books coming out this fall from authors I’m looking forward to reading again. (Plot descriptions are from information provided by the publishers.)

I thought you’d be interested because I got some of the previous books from some of you. It may be too early to place a hold at your library, but you’re keeping a list, right?

September 4: Songs Without Words by Ann Packer, author of The Dive from Clausen’s Pier. What happens when there are inequities between friends and when the hard-won balances of a long relationship are disturbed, perhaps irreparably, by a crisis? Songs Without Words is about the sometimes confining roles we take on in our closest relationships, about the familial myths that shape us both as children and as parents, and about the limits—and the power—of the friendships we create when we are young.

October 1: Run by Ann Patchett, author of Bel Canto. An argument between a former mayor of Boston and his sons inadvertently causes an accident that involves a stranger and her child. Set over a period of 24 hours, Run is a novel about secrets, duty, responsibility, and the lengths we will go to protect our children.

October 2: The Worst Thing I’ve Done by Ursula Hegi, author of Stones From the River. Three lifelong friends have developed a fraught dynamic sharply affected by competitiveness, attraction and jealousy. The book's opening trauma—the suicide of one of them—serves as a springboard for Hegi to delve into the friends' tangled past. Woven into the mix is the post-WWII story of one character’s immigrant mother and her friend, who came to America from Germany to work as au pairs and pretended to be Dutch to avoid persecution,

October 30: The Free Life by Ha Jin, author of Waiting (winner of the National Book Award for Fiction in 1999). The Wu family planned to fully sever ties with China in the aftermath of the 1989 massacre at Tiananmen Square, and to begin a new, free life in the United States. At first, their future seems well-assured. But, although the mother and son slowly adjust to American life, severing all ties proves to be more difficult for the father of the family.

A Rather Dry July

2007-07-09T15:10:00.000-05:00

Only a couple of books being released this month caught my attention. I figure you don’t need a heads up from me on the latest Harry Potter or James Patterson, but who else would tell you about these books on my request list:

Fiction

The Road to Samarcand by Patrick O'Brian (July 1). This stand-alone adventure novel was published in Britain in 1954, before O’Brian’s well-known Aubrey/Maturin novels (Master and Commander, et al.). The plot: Setting out with his rough seafaring uncle and an elderly archaeologist cousin after the deaths of his missionary parents, 1930s American teen Derrick joins a culturally lavish search for a cache of priceless Asian jade, a quest that is challenged by a charismatic Chinese bandit and a group of Russian agents. Publishers Weekly said, “O'Brian's richly told adventure saga, with its muscular prose, supple dialogue and engaging characters, packs a nice old-school punch.” Sounds like Indiana Jones-esque fun, which I hope won’t require having A Sea of Words (the lexicon with which I had to read Master and Commander) at hand.

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones (July 31). On a copper-rich tropical island shattered by war, on which survival is daily struggle, eccentric Mr. Watts, the only white man left after the other teachers flee, spends his day reading to the local children from Charles Dickens's classic Great Expectations. Prepublication reviews liked this premise, but warned of an overwrought, violent ending. Nonetheless, Kirkus Reviews said, “A little Gauguin, a bit of Lord Jim, the novel's lyricism evokes great beauty and great pain.” The publisher’s representatives at a fall preview of books I attended got me interested in this one, so I’m going to give it a go.

Nonfiction

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman (July 10). Science journalist Weisman ponders the degree to which human activity has shaped the planet. If every human on Earth suddenly vanished, what would become of this world. How long would it take for nature to reclaim dense urban areas, like Manhattan Island? What endangered fauna would recover, and what new species might evolve? What would become of humankind's most enduring pollutants, such as plastics, greenhouse gases, and nuclear wastes? Library Journal said, “This is neither a warning to human beings to change their errant ways, nor a wishful paean to returning to the Garden of Eden; instead it is a sober, analytical elucidation of the effects of human dominance on this planet, intriguing if not especially comforting. This book should be broadly read and discussed.” This book has a really big initial print run, so you’ll no doubt be hearing about elsewhere too.

Fine Fourth of July Reading

2007-07-04T13:09:00.000-05:00

North River, a novel by Pete Hamill, was published last month. I read it last week. The plot: in 1934 New York City, Dr. James Delaney’s patients include neighbors, laborers, Tammany chieftains, housewives, mobsters, and prostitutes. Although Delaney treats his patients with dedication and compassion, his private life has left him despondent. He is still haunted by his service in the Great War; his only daughter has gone to Mexico; he does not know if his wife Molly, who vanished months before, is alive or dead. When his daughter abandons her three-year-old son on his doorstep, Delaney suddenly has a new obligation and a focus. He hires Rose, a tough Sicilian with a secret, to help with the child. As Rose cares for the boy and Delaney, the three begin to function as a fragile family. Just as their lives become more settled, Delaney’s daughter returns. With quietly heroic characters and a wonderful depiction of time and place, North River is a lovely, very American story.

The Sweet Spot

2007-06-18T14:51:00.000-05:00

Granted, I haven’t actually made anything out of it yet, but The Sweet Spot: Asian-Inspired Desserts by Pichet Ong and Genevieve Ko (published May 2007) has lots of features that I like in a cookbook:

--a credible author (Ong is a well-known and accomplished pastry chef; Ko is a professional food writer);

--gorgeous photos (trust me);

--interesting and amusing writing (tofu cheesecakes—popular in Japan—are described as “dairy-free, no-bake creations…great for a nation filled with lactose-intolerant adults who don’t have ovens”); and

--yummy-sounding recipes, not all of which are enormously complicated or time-consuming.

OK, I admit I’m just going to admire the photo of Malted Chocolate Layer Cake, which requires the preparation of chocolate cake, malted chocolate mousse, Vietnamese coffee buttercream, and walnut cookie crumbs. But, I’m definitely making the Watermelon Shaved Ice with Salt and Pepper, the Coconut Bread Pudding, and the Jicama with Lime-Spiced Sugar-Salt.

Still Fiddling with This Theme

2007-06-12T08:29:00.000-05:00

The day after I mentioned The Violin Maker by John Marchese and the NY Times article about the violin conservationist of Cremona (did you read that post?), I discovered a violin-related novel being published next month. You might want to check out:

The Savior by Eugene Drucker (available July 17). Yes, the author is the same Eugene Drucker, the violinist with the Emerson String Quartet, for whom the violin was made in The Violin Maker. In this debut novel, a young German violinist is compelled to perform for concentration camp inmates. Realizing the power he has to manipulate them with his music, the violinist is wracked with doubts: Does playing for the inmates ease or mock their suffering? Is he helping them or only saving his own life?

Kirkus Reviews called The Savior “bitter, beautiful, profound—like Mahler in its intensity.” I’ve got my request in for it.

The Violin Maker--A Gem

2007-06-03T17:18:00.000-05:00

The Violin Maker: Finding a Centuries-Old Tradition in a Brooklyn Workshop by John Marchese, published in March, seems an unlikely reading choice for me. I know very little about music and nothing at all about violins.

I brought this book home and couldn’t put it down. Marchese, a musician and journalist, chronicles the work of Brooklyn violin maker Sam Zygmuntowicz, who accepted a commission from violinist Eugene Drucker of the internationally famous Emerson String Quartet to build Drucker a violin to rival Drucker’s beloved Stradivarius. Marchese hangs around the Brooklyn workshop, visits a summer workshop for violin makers at Oberlin University in Ohio, and travels to Cremona, Stradivari’s hometown.

Marchese can write. As Zygmuntowicz builds the violin, the suspense builds too: What if he makes a mistake? Will he be done on deadline? Will Drucker like the violin?

I had no idea violin history, lore, and craftsmanship would be so interesting and entertaining. Coincidentally, one of the people mentioned in the book is profiled in today’s New York Times: Andrea Mosconi, the 75-year-old official music conservationist of the city of Cremona, whose job is (and has been for the past 30 years, six days a week) to play the priceless violins in the city’s violin museum to keep them fit and sounding their best. (“Fingers That Keep the Most Treasured Violins Fit,” NY Times, 6/3/07)

Read the NY Times article to get in the violin mood, get The Violin Maker by John Marchese, and somebody, please, wake up the folks at the NY Times book review so they mention this book and give it the wide audience it deserves.

Reason Enough to Have Caller ID

2007-06-03T14:01:00.000-05:00

Forever and Ever, Amen: Becoming a Nun in the Sixties by Sister Karol Jackowski was published a few months ago; I read it last week. This memoir begins when the author enters an Indiana convent in 1964, as one of a group of 50 young women, and ends eight years later, when she is one of the remaining seven who take their final vows. Jackowski was a fun-loving, party-hearty teenager who got the “call” to become a nun halfway through her senior year of high school. Not a salacious tell-all, the book describes convent life during a period of tremendous change throughout the country and within the Catholic Church. The description of convent life alone made it interesting—didn’t you always wonder what was going on in there? Even more intriguing was the author’s explanation of how the convent experience strengthened her commitment to her calling and allowed her to become fully herself.

The book isn't particularly well-written, but it seems heartfelt. Recommended for Catholics and former Catholics of a certain age.

Way Beyond Beach Books: June Nonfiction

2007-06-02T07:14:00.000-05:00

An odd assortment of nonfiction books coming out this month caught my attention with their prepublication reviews. As usual, I thought each of these would appeal to at least one of you as well. Don’t worry, I’m not naming names…

Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski (June 5). The author was an acclaimed Polish journalist, who died in January 2007. The book describes his earliest travels into the world beyond the Iron Curtain, detailing journeys of discovery to China, India, Iran, Africa, and beyond, accompanied by a volume of Herodotus, a gift from his first boss. Kirkus Reviews said, “Illuminating reading for any aspiring journalist or travel writer, for any traveler, for any citizen of the world.” That’s pretty much all of us.

F5: Devastation, Survival, and the Most Violent Tornado Outbreak of the 20th Century by Mark Levine (June 6). In April 1974, deadly storms of unprecedented ferocity wreaked devastation and an enduring emotional toll on a small Alabama community. Magazine writer Levine focuses on the human interest aspect of the event, describing what actually happens to people unfortunate enough to be targeted by nature's most destructive force and considering its protracted impact on survivors. Publishers Weekly said, "A thorough journalist and accomplished stylist, Levine does an excellent job of putting us in the minds of the area natives." I figured this one would take my mind off hurricanes. The hurricane season started yesterday, and here in FL we are already being smacked by a tropical storm.

Poincaré's Prize: The Hundred-Year Quest to Solve One of Math's Greatest Puzzles by George G. Szpiro (June 21). Traces the hundred-year effort to solve the Poincaré Conjecture and its successful solution by Grigory Perelman, an impoverished Russian recluse who refused all prizes and academic appointments while solving an array of mathematical conundrums. Booklist said, “Szpiro translates the essential features of the famous Conjecture into remarkably accessible analogies. Readers learn much not only about the conjecture but also about the many scholars consumed by passion to prove—or disprove—it. Never has mathematics provided more fascinating human drama.” My leisure reading has been a little light on mathematics lately, so I'll give this a look.

Beyond Beach Books: June Fiction

2007-05-30T20:28:00.000-05:00

Here are a few novels I'm looking forward to in June, based on their prepublication reviews:

Michael Tolliver Lives by Armistead Maupin (June 12). A few years back, something I read referred to the Tales of the City books as “period pieces.” Yikes. Wasn’t it just a few years ago that we were reading those stories in the SF Chronicle? Well, what do you know: the characters have been aging along with us. In Maupin’s new book, Michael Tolliver, now in his mid-fifties, cherishes his life after losing many of his friends and lovers to AIDS, finds romance with a younger partner, and attends to his dying fundamentalist mother in Florida. Prepublication reviews have been enthusiastic. Kirkus Reviews said “rueful but never regretful, warmhearted and witty.” Go, Mouse.

Origin by Diana Abu-Jaber (June 25). A New York-based fingerprint expert investigates a series of crib deaths that may actually be the work of a serial killer, a case that reminds her of the mystery surrounding her own childhood, marked by her orphaned status and her intuitive talents. Prepublication reviews called this a moody thriller that would appeal to both crime fans and readers of literary fiction. I’m a fan of Abu-Jaber’s Crescent (foodie literary fiction), so I want to see what she does with this change of genre.

Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann (June 5). Just when you thought the mystery genre has had every possible type of sleuth, along come: sheep. No kidding. In this debut by a German author, a shepherd is found dead, struck down by a spade. His flock of clever sheep, led by Miss Maple, the smartest sheep in the village, launches its own investigation to find the killer among the local village inhabitants. Publishers Weekly said, “The author's sheep's-eye view and the animals' literal translation of the strange words and deeds of the human species not only create laugh-out-loud humor but also allow the animals occasional flashes of accidental brilliance.”

Peony in Love by Lisa See (June 26). By the author of the bestselling Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. In seventeenth-century China, Peony, the cloistered daughter of a wealthy scholar, falls under the spell of The Peony Pavilion, a famed opera rumored to cause love, sickness and even death. She returns after her death as a "hungry ghost" to haunt her former fiancé, who has married another. Library Journal said, “See takes another little-known chapter of Chinese history, flavors it with the minutely researched customs and superstitions of the time, and produces a soaring, stunning novel of Chinese women who gave voice to their creative endeavors, no matter what the cost.” I was impressed with the research behind Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, so I’m looking forward to this one too.

Go Fish

2007-05-26T16:48:00.000-05:00

It's about time someone explained the omnipresence of sushi. Two books, both by journalists, both published in May, explore the sushi phenomenon. I bought them both for my library--anything sushi-related should have at least 2 pcs, right? I'm currently reading the second one, which had the more glowing prepublication reviews:

In The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, from Samurai to Supermarket (being released May 29), author Trevor Corson shadows several American sushi novices and a master Japanese chef, taking the reader behind the scenes as the students strive to master the elusive art of cooking without cooking, and delves into the biology and natural history of sushi animals. In a prepublication review, Publishers Weekly said that the combination of culinary insights and personal drama makes this one of the more compelling food-themed books in recent years.

In The Sushi Economy: Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy (released May 3), author Sasha Issenberg chronicles the consumption and economics of sushi, covering such topics as the underworld of the tuna black market, the real-world practices of sushi chefs, and the role of sushi's popularity in China's future. Praising his writing style and character studies, prepublication reviews compared Issenberg to John McPhee. Kirkus Reviews called his book "superior literary journalism."

Splendid Indeed

2007-05-21T16:09:00.000-05:00

Like a zillion other readers, I couldn’t wait to get Khaled Hosseini’s new book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, which I read this past weekend. Would his second effort could be a good as his first (The Kite Runner)? Could he tell a story focused on female characters?

A Thousand Splendid Suns, the story of two women over the course of Afghanistan’s past 30 years, exceeded my expectations. Be warned: the story is brutal—violence, war, physical and emotional abuse. The story is also completely riveting. I liked it better than The Kite Runner.

Did the story seem authentically female? At the end of Chapter 1, one of the characters is told by her mother: “Learn this now and learn it well, my daughter: Like a compass needle that points north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman. Always. You remember that, Mariam.”

I don’t think you can get more authentically female than that.

I Had a Feeling This One Would Be Good

2007-05-20T17:37:00.000-05:00

Whenever I’m going out of town, I shop for paperbacks in my local Target while I’m getting stuff for the trip. Not too much choice, easy selection decisions. Here’s one from Target that I read on a plane:

Intuition by Allegra Goodman was published in 2006, with great prepublication reviews. It’s out in paperback this year. The plot: a postdoc at a Boston research lab appears to have found a cure for cancer. One of the lab directors eagerly publishes the results, anticipating both media attention and new funding, while his co-director urges a more cautious optimism. When the postdoc's fellow researcher, and former lover, suspects that he has doctored the data, the resulting inquiry spins out of control.

Not a medical thriller, Intuition is character-driven literary fiction. I was fascinated by the ivory-tower, closed community of the lab and the mix of science, money, the media, and politics. Plus, I learned more about the use of white mice than I ever wanted to know.

May Reading: New Fiction

2007-04-27T19:38:00.000-05:00

These May titles look the most interesting to me. Beat me to them.

Dream When You’re Feeling Blue by Elizabeth Berg (May 1). Life during World War II, from the perspective of the young men on the battlefield and the women on the home front. I know several of you are fans of Berg.

Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland (May 3). In the author’s fourth art-related historical novel, the 39-year-old Auguste Renoir is goaded into action when he reads a Zola essay critical of the Impressionists. Renoir conceives, plans, and paints the famous 1880 painting that is the title of the book. Library Journal said, “Vreeland creates a profoundly moving portrait of the creative process and of a community of people who came together for a moment to help create the great work.” I’m not tired of the art in literature genre, but I’ve had enough Vermeer.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (May 22). The much-anticipated second novel by the author of The Kite Runner. This one follows the lives of two women over three decades of Afghan history. Prepublication reviews have been very enthusiastic. I am curious to see how he tells a story of women, instead of men. A library patron told me that, after The Kite Runner, she wants to read anything Hosseini writes, “even a cookbook.” Put your library requests in now!

May Reading: New Nonfiction

2007-04-27T05:33:00.000-05:00

I won't be posting anything to this blog for most of next month, so here are a few things to look for in May:

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver (May 1). The novelist and her family experience a year of back-to-the-land living in Appalachia. Publishers Weekly said: “Kingsolver takes the [local food/sustainable agriculture] genre to a new literary level…classy and disarming, substantive and entertaining, earnest and funny.” Sounds like the real-life version of her Prodigal Summer, which I liked a lot.

The Not So Big Life: Making Room for What Really Matters by Sarah Susanka (May 1). I’m not a fan of self-help books, but I love Susanka’s home design books. If you aren’t familiar with her, she’s an architect (a Midwesterner, now transplanted to NC) who promotes a less-is-more approach to residential design. I haven’t seen any prepublication reviews in the usual sources, but I am intrigued. The author is supposed to have a 12-city tour, so maybe you will get intrigued too.

The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science by Natalie Angier (May 8). Billed as an entertaining guide to scientific literacy, exploring the fundamental principles of physics, chemistry, biology, geology and astronomy. Written by a Pulitizer Prize-winning journalist. Glowing prepublication reviews have praised the author’s “snappy” and “exuberant” writing. Move over, Bill Bryson.

I Love Late Bloomers

2007-04-25T06:57:00.000-05:00

A friend recently mentioned a favorite book, which I had never read. Stones for Ibarra by Harriet Doerr won the American Book Award for first fiction in 1984. Doerr (1910-2002) had attended Smith College and Stanford back in the late 1920s. She got her B.A. from Stanford in 1977 and published Stones for Ibarra at the age of 73.

The plot: A fortyish San Francisco couple move to a remote Mexican village to reopen their family’s abandoned copper mine and live in the abandoned family house. Shortly after arrival, the husband learns that he has only six years left to live. The focus: the place, the people of Ibarra, and the passage of time.

I suspect it helps to be of a certain age to appreciate this quiet, lyrical book. Reading it in 1984 would have been too early for me; 2007 was just right.

Remedy for a Fiction Slump

2007-04-08T17:59:00.000-05:00

A prepublication review suggested that fans of Janet Evanovich would enjoy The Spellman Files, a debut novel by Lisa Lutz. I’m a fan of Janet Evanovich; I like books with a San Francisco setting; I know better than to try to end a fiction slump (did you read the last post?) with, say, James Joyce.

And so I read The Spellman Files last week. Isabel (“Izzy”) Spellman is a single, 28-year-old PI who works for her parents’ private investigation firm in San Francisco. The cast of characters includes her bosses (Mom and Dad), a lawyer brother, a precocious younger sister, and a drunken uncle. The Spellmans routinely snoop on each other, tail each other, and blackmail each other. Izzy decides the only way to have normal relationships is to get out of the family business, but takes on one final job: an old, cold missing person case.

The book is a little light on plot, and our gal Izzy’s ability to find parking in SF is totally unbelievable. Nonetheless, The Spellman Files is fun, clever, and features competent females. Refreshing. I’m looking forward to more from this author.

Fun for English Majors

2007-04-03T07:32:00.000-05:00

Being in a fiction slump, I’ve read a few odd things lately. I’ll spare you the details of Health Care on Less Than You Think by Fred Brock. Very informative but, yes, the health insurance situation in this country is just as grim as you think.

On a more upbeat note, I’ve been reading When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It: The Parts of Speech, for Better and/or Worse by Ben Yagoda. Don’t be put off by the clunky title or the fact that Yagoda is a professor of English. This is an amusing exploration of English usage, with plenty of pop culture references.

If you liked Lynn Truss’s Eats, Shoots & Leaves a few years ago, give Yagoda a go. Or if, like Yagoda (and me), you are strangely enamored of the title of the MTV show Pimp My Ride (noun becomes transitive verb and intransitive verb becomes noun), this book is recommended for you.

Pigeons: Weirdly Entertaining

2007-03-18T17:26:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I discovered that strangers on a plane do not strike up a conversation with someone reading a book about pigeons. And so I had a couple of uninterrupted hours to read Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World’s Most Revered and Reviled Bird by Andrew D. Blechman. Although urban dwellers often consider them rats with wings, pigeons have served humans throughout history: as gentle companions, brave messengers, and tasty meals. Blechman traces the bird’s history and visits today’s pigeon fanatics, from competitive pigeon racers, to breeders of rare and beautiful show pigeons, to urban pigeon rescuers, to private gun clubs that capture and shoot live birds, to the country’s oldest and largest squab farm (yes, that’s what they are). If you liked Mark Kurlansky’s The Big Oyster (about the intertwined history of oysters and New York City) or Stefan Fatsis’ Word Freak (about the world of competitive Scrabble players), Pigeons is recommended for you.

The Michael Perry Fest, Continued

2007-03-17T18:19:00.000-05:00

Population 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time by Michael Perry was published in 2002. I read it because I liked his recent book Truck: A Love Story (did you read that post?). After working as a cowboy to put himself through nursing school, Perry moved back to the small Wisconsin town where he was raised. A writer in a community of farmers, butchers, and loggers, he reestablished himself by working as a volunteer firefighter/EMT. Population 485 is the story of his firefighter/EMT experiences and his community, well told. I enjoyed Truck: A Love Story; I loved Population 485. More concise (a mere 234 pp.), more human interest, fewer trucks and vegetables.

If you still need convincing, here are a few bits from the book:

On the lack of attention directed to a gay couple at a local buffet: “Disinterest is a form of tolerance.” On the circumstances under which he has found people dead: “We enter this world in generally uniform fashion; the means of egress, on the other hand, are infinite.” On EMT calls: “Puke is the great constant.” On the history of volunteer fire companies: “The first female volunteer firefighter of record was a slave named Molly Williams. The juxtaposition of 'volunteer' and 'slave' produces a certain irony.” On the ability of his fire company to work together, despite their personal differences: “At some point, unity becomes utterly dependent on civility.”

Mildly Mysterious

2007-03-08T07:34:00.000-05:00

The Case of the Missing Books: A Mobile Library Mystery is the first of a new series by British author Ian Sansom. Jewish, vegetarian, Londoner Israel Armstrong travels to a small town in Northern Ireland where he has been offered the job of librarian. On arrival, he finds the library permanently closed; his position has morphed into bookmobile librarian; all 15,000 library books have gone missing.

I read this mostly for the librarian humor (or was it humour?): the bookmobile now called the Mobile Learning Centre; the librarian position now called the Outreach Support Officer; the librarian duties now to include assistance with digital photography, surfing the Internet, and family history.

Like other “cozy” mysteries, there isn’t much of a mystery. The charm is in the small town setting and quirky characters. If you enjoyed the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency and other books by Alexander McCall Smith, give Sansom a try. The second book in this new series, Mr. Dixon Disappears, is due out in July.

March Fiction

2007-02-28T20:45:00.000-05:00

Last weekend at work, an old fellow asked me, "Did I hear you tell those people that the library has Christian and Non-Christian books?" No, I said, I told them we have FICTION and NONFICTION books.

Having mentioned some nonfiction books that I am looking forward to in the last post, here are some fiction books coming out in March, with descriptions provided by the publishers, that I thought looked interesting. I don't think any religious affiliation is required.

Medicus by Ruth Downie. A down-on-his-luck Roman army doctor, Gaius Petreius Ruso has made the rash decision to seek his fortune in one of the inclement outposts of the Roman Empire, journeying to the far reaches of Britannia, where he rescues an injured slave girl, Tilla, from her abusive owner, an ill-advised decision that leads to nothing but trouble. Very enthusiastic prepublication reviews for this first novel by a British author. “A nifty historical mystery,” said Kirkus Reviews. I thought it would appeal to you fans of Steven Saylor’s mysteries of ancient Rome. Saylor’s new novel, Roma, an epic saga of ancient Rome, is also due out in March.

Bird of Another Heaven by James D. Houston. In a novel that moves back and forth between 1980s San Francisco and nineteenth-century Hawaii, the host of a Bay Area radio show sets out to rediscover a previously unknown side of his family through the journals of his great-grandmother, a half-Indian, half-Hawaiian woman who became a consort and confidante to the last king of Hawaii. Publishers Weekly said “the historical detail is mesmerizing.”

Christine Falls by Benjamin Black. A boozy, bitter pathologist becomes a most unwilling detective when he uncovers a baby-trafficking scheme in Dublin in the 1950s. First in a new series by John Banville, writing under a pseudonym. Banville was winner of the 2005 Booker Prize for The Sea. Glowing prepublication reviews. Library Journal said, “While Christine Falls reads like an accessible, classic detective story, its confident manner and psychological portrait of a conflicted, broken narrator set it apart from mass-market fare.” Kirkus said, “A good story, and gorgeous writing.”

Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris. The remaining employees at a downsized Chicago ad agency spend their time competing for the best office furniture left behind and enjoying secret romances, gossip, elaborate pranks, and frequent coffee breaks, while trying to make sense of their only remaining "work," a mysterious pro-bono ad campaign. A highly touted debut novel, which Kirkus Reviews said, “succeeds as both a wickedly incisive satire of office groupthink and a surprisingly moving meditation on mortality and the ties that bind.”

March Watch: Nonfiction

2007-02-20T09:27:00.000-05:00

Some nonfiction titles, coming in March, that I’ve ordered for my library, based on prepublication reviews, anticipated demand, and what I think I might like to read:

No Vulgar Hotel: The Desire and Pursuit of Venice by Judith Martin (March 19). Described by the publisher as “the definitive manual for the hopeless Venetophile.” I have read absolutely nothing about this book in prepublication reviews. However, the author is “Miss Manners,” and I find her etiquette column very amusing, so I have my hopes up.

Mississippi Sissy by Kevin Sessums (March 6). The author, a white, gay, entertainment journalist, was raised by his grandparents in a racist and homophobic Southern town in the 1960s, where people rejoiced over the assassinations of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King Jr. Sessums found a surrogate family in arts critic Frank Hains and his literary friends, including Eudora Welty, who introduced him to the wider world of the arts and provided him with a sense of belonging. Prepublication reviews praised Sessums’ wit, incisive observation, warmth, and honesty.

Alice Waters and Chez Panisse: The Romantic, Impractical, Often Eccentric, Ultimately Brilliant Making of a Food Revolution by Thomas McNamee (March 22). An “authorized portrait” of Alice Waters and the creation of Chez Panisse restaurant. Are food history writers trying to corner the market on lame titles? Who wouldn't authorize being described as "ultimately brilliant"? Nonetheless, Kirkus Reviews (known for being cranky) called this book “a great pleasure for foodies.” In the dishy history (and lame title) genre, I think The United States of Arugula is a tough act to follow (did you read that post?), but I’m planning to read this one too.

Babylon's Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo by Lawrence Anthony and Graham Spence (March 6). Anthony, a South African conservationist and recipient of the U.N.'s Earth Day award, details how, through a series of complex maneuvers, he entered Iraq after the American invasion and led the fight to save what was left of the Baghdad Zoo. In a starred review, Booklist called this “a truly remarkable book.” I know the zoo volunteer among you will be interested in this one.

Real Fusion Cuisine

2007-02-19T11:13:00.000-05:00

Kafka’s Soup: A Complete History of World Literature in 14 Recipes, by London writer and photographer Mark Crick, is barely a book—a scant 92 pages including illustrations by the author. I got interested in it after reading an interview with the author in Publishers Weekly last fall. Crick has taken 14 recipes (his own or from friends) and written the instructions for each in the style of a famous author. The result: pretty amusing, if you didn’t just rely on Cliffs’ Notes in college.

For example, the recipe for Lamb with Dill Sauce à la Raymond Chandler begins, “I sipped on my whisky sour, ground out my cigarette on the chopping board…I needed a table at Maxim’s, a hundred bucks, and a gorgeous blonde; what I had was a leg of lamb and no clues.”

Are you laughing? Then Kafka’s Soup is recommended for you.

Charming and Romantic/ Located in the Automotive Section

2007-02-13T21:07:00.000-05:00

Truck: A Love Story by Michael Perry was published last October. I read it last weekend. In this memoir, the 40-ish author tells his story of living in small town Wisconsin, planting a garden, restoring an old pick-up truck, and finding love after a series of failed relationships.

This guy can write. His book is funny, sad, heartfelt, and literate. Apprehensive about his new relationship, he says, “Love is a contact sport of the heart. You can’t take the hits like you used to.” He reminds me of Garrison Keillor, but younger and less folksy.

You may have trouble finding this book in your library. The cataloging-in-publication data provided by the Library of Congress (located under the copyright info) has put this book in an automotive classification, right along with the truck repair manuals.

I’m going to get this book relocated in my library so someone besides me can find it; then I’m going to read the author’s previous book, Population: 485. You, meanwhile, might want to buy this book for a Valentine’s Day present. It’s not too late.

Best Novel I've Read This Year

2007-02-08T09:50:00.000-05:00

OK, so it’s only February, and I don’t read a lot of fiction. Let’s not quibble: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is one terrific book. Published in the U.S. in 2006 (Zusak is Australian; it was first published there), The Book Thief got rave reviews. I never read them. You probably didn’t either. The book is marketed as a young adult (teen) novel, so many of us adult readers simply overlooked it.

The plot: A young girl in Nazi Germany, stealing whatever she can to survive, can’t resist stealing books. Books sustain her foster family, their neighbors, and the Jewish man hiding in the basement, and ultimately save her life. The narrator: Death.

Spare prose, dark humor, haunting story. Lengthy (550 pages), but a quick read.

When this book is released in paperback in September 2007, it should gain a new audience—if the publisher gets smart and markets it to adults. In the meantime, it’s worth tracking down in the teen or children’s section of bookstores and libraries.