Amy and Isabelle

After seeing Elizabeth Strout at a reading of Olive Kitteridge this fall, I bought a copy of her earlier novel Amy and Isabelle.

The novel is about Isabelle and her daughter Amy, who is in high school. Strout explores the relationship between mother and daughter and the secrets between them.

It was an interesting book and Strout plays with the timeline, shifting from the oppressing heat of summer to the chill of the winter before, but Amy and Isabelle isn't as strong a work as Olive Kitteridge.

What Was Lost

I started reading What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn at the beginning of November but put it aside while I was doing NaNoWriMo. Side bar: I ended with ~22,000 words, so less than half way, but it was fun to write again - and I need to find closure for my characters. I worry that they are hanging out there lost.

But back to What Was Lost. It is the story of 10 year-old Kate Meaney who goes missing in 1984. Kate is a loner who pretends she is a private detective with her partner a stuffed monkey dressed in spats. With her vivid imagination and attention to detail, you often wonder how such a girl could go missing. Adrian, the 22 year old clerk at a newsstand and Kate's friend, is the last person to see her when he drops her off for a entrance exam for boarding school and becomes a prime suspect.

Fast forward twenty years later to Green Oaks Shopping Center, site of many of Kate's stake outs. There we meet Kurt, the security guard who thinks he sees Kate on surveillance video and Lisa, Adrian's sister, who has always believed in her brother's innocence, but has struggled since he left after the pressure of being a suspect. Together, they heal many wounds and solve the mystery of Kate's disappearance.

O'Flynn's story is part mystery and part exploration of loss and it leaves you saddened but hopeful.

Juliet, Naked

Nick Hornby's newest novel, Juliet, Naked, keeps with Hornby's style, but I just didn't love it. None of the characters were the least bit sympathetic and I really didn't care what happened to the aging rocker who quit performing 20 years ago and whose one positive attribute is fathering his youngest son after ignoring all his other children with various women nor did I care about the go-nowhere couple in a remote seaside town in England who spend much of their lives trying to find an answer to why the rocker quit.

The most interesting character was Jackson, the aging rockers son, who is sensitive and fears that his father will die and leave him - a valid concern considering his age and the way he has treated his other children.

I was happy when the book ended so I could send these cast of characters back to their sad, pathetic lives and out of mine.

The Believers

I was excited to find a discounted hardcover of Zoe Heller's latest novel, The Believers. Her previous novel, What Was She Thinking?: Notes on a Scandal was a smart, suprising story and I expected great things from her latest effort.

While The Believers had an interesting premise it just didn't go far enough for me. The story centers on the Litvinoff family. Joel, a radical New York Lawyer has a stroke and sends his children and wife into a reexamination of everything they thought was true.

Rosa explores Orthodox Judiasm which Heller handles beautifully, but in the end Rosa's reasons and faith never seem strong enough. Karla is in a dead end marriage and begins to explore a relationship with the man that runs the newspaper stand in the hospital where she works. And Lenny, the hard case adopted son struggles with various addictions.

Of course, it wouldn't be a family drama without the discovery of an illegitimate child from an affair which sends Joel's wife Audrey into a tailspin trying first to ignore it and then make it go away.

Are their lives better after the illness and eventual loss of Joel? It's hard to know but they are all changed including what they believe.

The Glass Castle

For a long time, I wasn't interested in reading The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. I think I had read too many memoirs and I was tired of all the "poor me" stories, but after hearing some interviews with the author about her new book, I decided I should listen to the people who recommended it and give it a shot.

Now I can't get it out of my mind. My work as a Guardian Ad Litem exposes me to the lives of people who struggle, but this book was something else all together. The life this child and her siblings experienced is unbelievable and the fact that her parents chose that life for them is even more amazing. But what is truly remarkable is the success Jeanette has experienced despite a childhood of constantly moving, of living in a house with no indoor plumbing and not always being enrolled in school. If you are going to have eccentric parents, it's best that they be voracious readers and encourage inquisitiveness.

Still, the book is well written and is definitely worth getting over an aversion to memoirs to experience.

Brooklyn

I had heard much about the novel, Brooklyn by Colm Toibin, so I requested it from the library. I was able to get it this week and as soon as I did, I devoured it.

Tobin's story is richly told, from the small town of Enniscorthy, Ireland to Brooklyn in the early 1950s. The story centers around Eilis Lacey who is a simple girl living with her mother and sister in Ireland. When the opportunity arises, Eilis heads off to America sponsored by a local priest. As she leaves, she thinks that it is her older sister, Rose, who should really be going, but it is not possible, so she sets of for the journey of a lifetime.

Eilis works in a department store on the sales floor and eventually begins night classes in bookkeeping. She lives in a rooming house, managed by the curious Mrs. Kehoe. Eilis meets an Italian boy, Tony, at a church dance and they begin a romance. Eilis life in Brooklyn is so very different and remote from the life she had in Ireland.

A crisis sends her back to Ireland for a visit and Eilis experiences a pull between the life she has in Brooklyn and the familiar life in Ireland. As she vacillates between which to choose, your heart aches for her - at least it will for anyone who has experienced making the choice of life in the familiar and an independent life where anything is possible.

In the end, I am not sure how I feel about Eilis' decision, but you finish the book hoping the best for her and hoping to see her again.

The Secret of Lost Things

The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay had great potential - it is a literary adventure after all - but, as a first novel, it stumbles a bit.

Eighteen year-old Rosemary arrives in New York from Tanzania naive and knowing no one. She finds a job at the used bookstore, The Arcade. The Arcade is full of all sorts of interesting characters - Mr. Geist, the storemanager and albino, Pearl, the presurgical transvestite, Oscar, Rosemary's reclusive crush.

Somehow, Rosemary gets involved in the mystery of a lost manuscript from Herman Melville. At times, Rosemary seems to be maturing, but often she remains unbelievably naive. I would have guessed the story was set in the 20s or maybe as recently as the 60s, but through clues, it is actually set in the 80s.

The story overall is good, it is just Rosemary's part in it that is sometimes unrealistic.

Goldengrove

For reasons I can't explain, I have never read a book by Francine Prose. I have read her short stories and articles, I have Reading Like a Writer but I had never read one of her novels. With that in mind, I picked up Goldengrove and after finishing it I am asking myself, what was I waiting for?

Prose is fabulous and Goldengrove is a wonderfully crafted story. The story explores what happens when a family loses a child. At 17, Margaret is the center of the family - she loves old movies, has a scholarship to study music - so when she dies tragically, her younger sister, Nico, and her parents struggle to deal with their grief and move on. However, the story isn't overly emotional or sentimental, it focuses more on the desire to hold on to the pieces of the person you have lost and how you live without them.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson had been on my reading list for a while, but I finally had a chance to read it after borrowing it from a friend.

The book was a little slow getting started, but once it did, it was a great read and a great mystery. The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo includes a decades old murder mystery, family drama, illegal financial dealings and a love story. It also pairs up ladies man Mikael Blomkvist with tatooed punk Lisbeth Salander. Blomkvist and Salander are a great pair and I'm anxious to read the next mystery featuring the two of them, The Girl Who Played with Fire.

True Notebooks: A Writer's Year in Juvenile Hall

After making it about one-third of the way through Roddy Doyle's A Star Called Henry, I became too confused by the Irish history and gave up.

I needed something compelling to read, so I took out Mark Salzman's True Notebooks: A Writer's Year at Juvenile Hall from the library. It was recommended to me because I enjoyed the two books Wally Lamb has edited from his work at the York Correctional Institute (thanks Kate).

It was told in a different style than Wally Lamb's two books, but I still enjoyed it a lot. Salzman narrates, explaining how he got involved in volunteering at a juvenile hall in LA and shares both good and bad experiences with the boys he works with. It raised so many questions about gangs, the juvenile justice system and the value of programs for kids who will spend their lives incarcerated.

I finished the book thankful for all that I have and all the opportunities I have been given.

The Flying Troutmans

The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews was such a fun book - in a kind of dysfunctional, watching a train wreck kind of way.

Hattie Troutman is living in Paris when she gets a call from her niece Thebes asking her to come help. Hattie arrives to find her sister, Min, in the midst of yet another mental breakdown and quickly finds herself in charge of Thebes and her older brother Logan.

After getting Min into a psychiatric hospital, Hattie decides to set off in the family van with the kids in search of their father who's last known whereabouts was South Dakota.

Throughout the road trip, Hattie, Thebes and Logan learn much about each other and develop a closeness that is touching.

A quick read that is over before you are ready for it to be.

A Border Passage

For September's book club, we read A Border Passage by Leila Ahmed. I only made it halfway through the book, as I found Ahmed's writing confusing and her not a very believable memoirist.

The rest of the club loved the book, so I feel like I missed something. I am going to hold onto the book and listen to an interview with Ahmed on "Speaking of Faith" and maybe it will make more sense.

I'll Fly Away

I am reading the new collection of stories from the women of York prison, I'll Fly Away, edited by Wally Lamb.

It is such an engrossing and compelling set of stories. The rawness of the women and the courage they show by sharing these stories is inspiring.

Telex from Cuba

Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner opened me up to a whole world I knew nothing about - American expats living in Cuba before the Castro era.

It's a well-written and engrossing book and I especially liked the two narrators who were children. There was just something so compelling about hearing what was going on from their point of view - free from bias and racism - though flawed by what they could not understand. The other two narrators are Rachel K, a cabaret dancer, and a french arms dealer. I found the adult narrators less believable and unsympathetic.

KC Stites and Everly Lederer provide the children's point of view from the two American interests in the east of the island - the United Fruit Plant and the Nicaro Nickel Plant across the bay. KC was born on the island and has never known any other life. His brother Del has runaway from home to join the rebels in the mountains. A display of rebellion from the privileged life he has led amongst so much strife.

Everly Lederer comes with her family from the Midwest when she is eight. Gawky and socially awkward, Everly is inquisitive and accepting of the island and the people she meets.

Everyone's story culminates with the revolution. I was left with a wonderful postcard of life in Cuba in the 1950s.

About Alice

About Alice is Calvin Trillin’s homage to his late wife, Alice. I have not read much of Trillin’s other work, but Alice apparently plays a key role throughout his works. This one is certainly a loving remembrance of who she was and her impact on his life.

It is a very touching story and relationship - one most of us aspire to. It’s a short book (78 pages) and after completing it I was interested to read Alice’s famous work “Of Dragons and Garden Peas” about coping with serious illness, in her case lung cancer. She seemed to have been a remarkable woman married to a remarkable man.

Sarah's Key, And Then There Were None and By a Spider's Thread

Summer vacation reads

A successful week at the beach is, of course, measured in part by the number of books I read (along with my tan). This year was mystery themed (along with one WWII novel mixed in).

By a Spider's Thread, Laura Lippman
Sarah's Key, Tatiana de Rosnay
And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie

The Evening is the Whole Day

The Evening is the Whole Day by Preema Samarasan is a beautifully written book set in Malaysia in 1980. It centers around the Rajasekharan family and their many secrets.

Asha, the youngest of three children, is the central, and most relatable, character. She sees ghosts, feels very misunderstood by her family and scorned by her older sister’s cold shoulder.

In the end, the book sets up some huge secret which led to misunderstandings and life changing impacts, however when it is revealed, it doesn’t seem as dramatic as I expected. Still, it’s a gorgeous book and worth a read.

The Beach House

After reading the Camel Bookmobile, I started reading The Evening is the Whole Day which is a great book, but found I needed something quick and light. So I picked up The Beach House by Jane Green.

Set in Nantucket, The Beach House is a sweet tale of lives falling apart and then coming together again in the most unexpected ways. Nan Powell owns a gorgeous old house which she finds she can no longer afford, so she turns it into a B&B. She brings together a group of people, including her grown son, who quickly become entwined in each others lives and become a surrogate family.

Camel Bookmobile

The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton is our July selection for my book club - and it was my pick.

It was a lighter read than I expected, but was probably a good choice for a July/summer read.

The story centers around Fi Sweeney who leaves her job and life in NY to launch the Camel Bookmobile in Kenya. She's looking for something interesting and more exciting in her life than the stable, predictable boyfriend and job.

Since this is her purpose, along with making a difference in the lives of Africans living in the bush, it's not surprising that she has some interesting experiences and almost forces a meaningful adventure.

Fi visits many nomadic camps but she becomes drawn to Mididima and the people there - the teacher, his assistant, the young Kanika and Scar Boy. All have a stake in keeping the camel bookmobile coming to their village and eventually their desires and motivations come to a head and none of them will ever be the same.

But questions remain on the importance of "western" education in a nomadic village such as Mididima.

Olive Kitteridge

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout is a collection of short stories that are all connected through a small Maine town and the title character, Olive Kitteridge.

The stories tend to focus on people in their 50s through 80s, so while all are interesting and very well written I found them a bit depressing. None of the characters in their "twilight" years seems very happy and there are many examples of strife and loneliness in their relationships.

I still recommend it as it is a wonderfully written selection of stories, however be prepared for some potential melancholy feelings to arise.

A Separate Peace

Each summer I look through the Summer Reading selections at the local bookstores to see what is new to the list and to see if there is anything I have missed.

I realized a few years ago that I have never read A Separate Peace by John Knowles and I finally picked it up this year.

I don't know what I was expecting, but A Separate Peace was a bit disappointing. Maybe reading it at 34 in 2009 resulted in me missing the meaning. However, I was reminded a lot of Dead Poets Society which brought me back to the summer of my sophomore year when I watched it repeatedly and basically had it memorized.

I'm probably insulting many people with that comparison, so apologies in advance.

Mudbound

Mudbound by Hilary Jordan has been on my reading list for a while, so when I found a discounted hardcover I snatched it up.

Laura believes she is destined to be a spinster, teaching school and being aunt in Memphis in the 1940s. But when she meets Henry McAllan her plans change and they are quickly married. Laura is happy living in Memphis caring for her two girls and her husband until her husband comes home and tells her that he has purchased a farm in the Mississippi Delta.

Laura's life quickly changes at the farm, which she and the girls name "Mudbound" since it is always muddy and the bridge into town becomes impassable with every rain. The farm has no indoor plumbing or any other modern comforts.

Life at the farm is complicated by Pappy, Henry's racist, mean-spirited father; Jamie, Henry's brother who returns from the war with traumatizing memories; Hap and Florence Jackson the black share farmers on the land; Ronsel, the Jackson's son who has also returned from Europe where his race didn't matter like it does in the Delta.

Add in alcoholism, a love affair and the Klu Klux Klan and the story quickly speeds to the climax and a tragic outcome that leaves no one at Mudbound unchanged.

A great story and wonderfully written from the perspective of each of the major characters.

The Clothes on their Backs

The description on the back and the cover art of The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant led me to believe that this book would be very different than it turned out to be.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, because the book actually turned out to be better than I imagined it would be.

Vivien Kovacs is the bookish daughter of Hungarian-refugee parents in London. Her parents live a quiet, secluded life as if they are afraid that they will be found out. Vivien longs for more and goes off to college and has a short marriage, at which point she returns to her childhood bedroom.

Depressed and lost, Vivien remembers a tumultuous visit from an uncle who her father would not let into the house. He continued to refuse to talk about this mysterious Uncle even as he is all over the papers durning a high-profile trial where he is accused of being a slumlord.

Years later, Vivien sets out to meet Sandor but is not fully honest about who she is. Through her involvement with Sandor, she is exposed to new people and new experiences and she learns much more about her parents and their lives in Hungary.

A fine story, but nothing amazing.

The Archivists Story

The Archivists Story by Travis Holland is our book club read for June. It takes place in Moscow in 1939. It is a bleak time under Stalin's rule and with Hitler looming across the border.

Pavel is a former teacher who's wife was killed in a tragic train accident. As Pavel deals with his wife's death, his mother's dementia and worries about various friends being killed for their political belief, he worries about his own future.

His job as the archivist of Lubyanka prison requires him to incinerate the writing of both major and minor Russian writers who have been imprisoned there. When he comes across an unclaimed work from an author who's work he used to teach in his classroom, he suddenly risks everything to protect what he values most.

A compelling, tragic work of fiction.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

I originally picked up The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery in a bookstore when I was traveling in CA. I didn't buy it then, but I was intrigued by the first two chapters I had read and had it on my "to read" list.

I finally purchased it at the Brookline Booksmith a few weeks ago and finished it quickly.

The novel is set in a apartment building in Paris. Madame Michel (Renee) is the concierge for the building who pretends to be dumb and uncultured because that is what she believes her tenants expect from their concierge. However, beneath the facade lies an intelligent woman who loves books, movies and art. She is fond of Tolstoy, so much so that her cat is named Leo after the author.

Paloma is a 12-year-old tenant of the building who has decided that she will commit suicide because she is dismayed by the adults she is surrounded by and what life has to offer. She is too smart for her age and pretends, like Madame Michel, to be dumber than she is. She despises her pretentious older sister and her mentally unstable mother. But she sets out to record interesting things about the world in her journal before she dies.

Renee's and Paloma's worlds intersect with the arrival of Karkuru Ozu the new tenant in the building. Kakuru sees through the facades of both and draws them out.

At times the novel felt a bit clumsy with long soliloquies on philosophy, but by the end I was glad I had stuck with it to see the transformation of Renee and the change in Paloma's view on life.

In the end, this is a tragedy, so be prepared for the non-Hollywood ending.

A Story of a Marriage

You MUST read this....

They have a segment on NPR of this name, and I'm stealing it for the book I just finished. A Story of a Marriage by Adam Sean Greer is amazing.


It is one of the best books I have read in a long time and while I don't want to give too much away, I will say it is full of surprises. It is a wonderful story of Pearlie and Holland Cook shortly after World War II. It chronicles their marriage and is touching in so many ways.

The Women

TC Boyle is one of my favorite authors, so when his latest book was released, I had to read it.


The Women is Boyle's fictional account of Frank Lloyd Wright's three dramatic love affairs. Having read Nancy Horan's Loving Frank not long ago, I was a bit concerned that the subject matter would be repetitive, but Boyle is too good of a story-teller for that.

The Women starts with Wright's last partner, Oglivanna, and then works backward. Oglivanna is significantly younger than Frank and

Unfortunately, Wright's second mistress, Miriam who is characterized as unstable and vindictive is covered in the second chapter, so I found getting through the middle of the book the most challenging.

However, Boyle handles the chapter on Mamah Borthwick Cheney expertly, making it well worth getting through the Miriam sections.

I do think it would have been more pleasurable if organized in the true chronological order. Boyle's use of a Japanese apprentice to provide section introductions and footnotes, was a wonderful touch.

Overall, Boyle's latest effort didn't disappoint.

The Maytrees

The Maytrees by Annie Dillard reads like poetry with a love story or love stories woven in.

Annie Dillard captures you with the story of the Maytrees living in a very different from modern day Provincetown, MA. The beauty of the dunes and the descriptions of the night sky make me yearn to be there.

Toby Maytree tries to understand what love is by writing down quotes in a red speckled notebooks while never seeing what is in front of him. But patient loving, Lou, remains steadfastly committed to him. They have a handful of engaging and interesting friends. Deary who sleeps in the dunes. Reevadare an eccentric older woman.

They live cheaply and with great joy at the nature around them, but then things change. Toby Maytree moves to Maine and doesn't live quite so simply anymore.

In the end, he returns to the Cape and to the people and woman who still care for him after all he has done.

Strawberry Fields

Strawberry Fields by Marina Lewycka was a quick read . I think there I was supposed to get a deeper message but it just felt like a story about a group of transient workers who are shockingly clueless and are taken advantage of again and again.

The brief reviews on the back said it was funny, but I didn't really find anything humorous in the book at all. Maybe I read it at the wrong time.

Bird sWithout Wings

I finished Birds Without Wings by Louis De Bernieres with a few days to spare before book club.



It's a long book detailing the lives of the townspeople of Eskibahçe during the Ottoman empire. I found the stories of the townspeople, Iskander the potter, Ali the Snowbringer, Rustem Bey the landowner and Leyla most interesting.

The parts about Mustafa Kemel (future Ataturk) and the war scenes were much more difficult to slog through.


I found it sad when the town was ripped apart with all the Christians being sent to Greece and replaced with other Muslims who didn't speak Turkish. It seemed like suddenly the town became smaller and more insulated than what Mustafa was aiming for.

I See You Everywhere

Sadly, my book club selection has been putting me to sleep for the past few weeks, so when Julia Glass' I See You Everywhere was available from the library, I was happy to have a temporary interlude from Birds Without Wings.

Julia Glass' first novel, Three Junes, was a wonderful delight. Her second novel was a bit disappointing, but I was excited to see her third offering.

I See You Everywhere revolves around two sisters, Louisa and Clem, who are so very different, yet because of shared experience turn to each other in times of need. The book follows them throughout their 20s and 30s and my one complaint is that the sections sometimes read like short stories. Glass seems to want to reintroduce us to the characters and their relationship every 75 pages or so. I thought "I already know who your sister is and what happened..." a number of times.

But the writing is smooth and it was a quick read. It definitely filled the break I needed!

Booklove

I found this blog today and I'm having great fun exploring.

http://booklove.wordpress.com/

Booklove is the brainchild of Mary Gomez, Technical Services Librarian at Rockingham Community College, who has created a blog for people who love to read and discuss books. This is a very informal blog that operates like a book club in promoting discussions and ideas on both fiction and non-fiction works.

Moloka'i

Moloka'i by Alan Brennert is a terribly heart-wrenching story. At the age of 7, Rachel Kalama contracts leprosy and is sent into quarantine on the island of Moloka'i. She is separated from her family including her father whom she is very close to.

Rachel experiences many loses during her time on the island, each one heart-breaking for its own reasons. Yet she remains strong and steadfast in the belief that she will be "cured" and be able to leave Moloka'i.

While the story is compelling, the writing is weak in some places and over-wrought in others. And toward the end, you start to wonder how much one person can really take and remain positive. Maybe living with leprosy and surrounded by other lepers and death makes one more able to deal with it all, but I didn't want to be immune to it even if only in a novel.

Omnivore's Dilemma

I finished up Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan in time for book club next week and I don't think I will ever look at food the same.

I've always been a bit queasy about certain foods - poultry, eggs, beef - and this book reinforced that I was right to be cautious.

The first section is a bit dry as he follows the path of corn from field to table, but the second and third sections make up for muddling through the story of corn.

The second section, Pastoral/Grass, was the most interesting to me as it looked into mass organic operations and reassuringly educated me on the local, grass-feeding beef farmer.

The last section recounted Pollan's attempt to serve a meal made from ingredients he has gathered (mushrooms), killed (wild boar) or grown (various ingredients) by the author. Being a mycophobe, I found his search for mushrooms a little long and overly dramatic, but it was a short section.

Overall, Omnivore's Dilemma was in interesting, educating read. Warning: Once you pick this up, be prepared to start shopping for organic foods, grass fed beef, cage free eggs and joining a CSA.

2008 List of books

List of books - 2008

The Zookeeper's Wife, Diane Ackerman
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen
Loving Frank, Nancy Horan
Unaccustomed Earth, Jhumpa Lahiri
When You Are Engulfed in Flames, David Sedaris
The Friday Night Knitting Club, Kate Jacobs
White Tiger, Arvind Adiga
Girls in Trucks, Katie Crouch
The Long Walk Home, Will North
How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life, Mameve Medwed
Run, Ann Patchett
A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson
No One Belongs Here More Than You, Miranda July
Infidel, Ayaan Hirsi Ali
The Beautiful Things Heaven Bears, Dinaw Mengestu
B-mother, Maureen O'Brien
Roomates Wanted, Lisa Jewell
Power of One, Bryce Courtney
Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Marisha Pessl
Forgive Me, Amanda Eyre Ward
Away, Amy Bloom