The Age of Miracles

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thomson Walker was a book that scared me a little to read. It is about the slowing of the earth which makes days and nights longer with no scientific explanation. Birds die, whales beach themselves by the thousands and yet for 11 year old Julia, life as a burgeoning teenager continues on in all it's painful reality.

Friends disappear as their families flee the cities, some people choose not to join the mandated clock time and become outsiders. Julia loses her best friend, watches as her parents marriage unravels and her mother suffers from the "syndrome" and tracks her crush, Seth Moreno, from afar.

The book is well written and while anxiety-provoking, it is also thought-provoking and touching as a story about ordinary life in in-ordinary times.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs is a wonderful story of wanting to belongand the power of connection.

Jacob Copeland's grandfather always told fantastical stories and Jacob as a child always believed them. As he grew older, however, his belief in these stories diminished and eventually he hardly believed them at all, chalking them up to stories his grandfather told to gloss over the harsh realities of his childhood.

When his grandfather dies Jacob, at 16, is brokenhearted and lost. Terrible dreams and his grandfather's last words haunt him. His parents send him to a therapist, but nothing seems to help. Eventually he convinces his parents to let him visit the island where his grandfather was sent to escape the Nazis.

Once there Jacob enters the fantastical world of Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children and his life will never be the same.

The ending of the book clearly opens the door for the next chapter, which according to Amazon will be out in 2013. I will be eager to see what happens to Jacob and his peculiar friends from Miss Peregrine's.

A Land More Kind Than Home

A Land More Kind Than Home is the July selection for my (former) Charlotte book club. I am still trying to read what they read because they have really good selections and after starting (and stopping) a few bad books recently, I was thrilled when I started A Land More Kind Than Home.

From the opening chapter, Wiley Cash had me hooked. Set in a small town in North Carolina (which I could easily imagine from my days running through the hills of Western NC during relays), A Land More Kind Than Home tells the story of Jess Hall who witnesses something bad happen to his mute brother, Stump, inside the makeshift church his mother attends.

Jess is older and wiser than his 10 years, but his story is still supplemented by two other narrators, Adelaide Lyle, the town midwife who used to attend the church but years ago starting keeping the children during church services, and Clem Barefield, the local sheriff. Like all small towns there is a deep history and connection between the residents which impacts how everyone reacts to the incident with Stump.

Carson Chambliss the Pentecostal preacher is a scary soul, so the story carries with it some fear of what he will do next to his parishoners or those who cross him.

A Land More Kind Than Home is a eloquent, exciting first novel.

The Cat's Table

Michael Ondaatje has always been a writer I have admired and enjoyed, so I was eager to read The Cat's Table when it was published. After I finished, my admiration of Ondaatje was reconfirmed.

A story of adventure as a young boy travels to England from Colombo on a ship in the 1950s, it is told with wonder. Along with two older boys, Cassius and Ramahdin the boys meet amazing characters and learn more about the world on this ship than ever before.

The Lace Reader

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry is an interesting novel set in Salem, MA. Towner Whitney is the center of the story as she returns to her home town after 15 years in California when her step-grandmother goes missing. She has always been close to Eva and only something so extreme would bring her back to the home and memories she has been running from for years.

The story is complex with characters (an eccentric mother, an aunt who is crippled from years of physical abuse), history (the Salem witches, lace readers and other fortune tellers) and sides stories, but like the Ipswich lace, Barry weaves it together into a very readable story.

Some parts of the story feel a little forced, like Towner's romance with a local detective, John Rafferty, but overall it is a light, enjoyable read.

Silver Sparrow

Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones begins with the statement "My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist" and we are taken into the world of Dana Lynn and her mother Gwendolyn (James' "second" family) and Chaurisse Witherspoon and her mother, Laverne (James' legitimate family).

Dana and Gwen know about James' other family and Dana spends her life wondering what it is like to be his legitimate daughter, Chaurisse. Eventually, the lives of these two girls cross which is inevitable as they are the same age and both live in Atlanta.

It is hard not to be mad at James who continues this charade for years, but I was more disappointed by his "brother" and best friend, Randolph. He seems to be in love with Gwen and cares for both girls, but continues to aid his brother's deception.

It was easy to get pulled along in this story and worry for the girls who were innocent victims of the actions of their father. But there were little mistakes that took away from the work and made me question the veracity of other information.

Sister: A Novel

As you've gathered by now, I have a penchant for good mysteries and heard a lot recently about a new author, Rosamund Lupton, and her book Sister: A Novel.

I picked it up on my way to Charlotte for a week off and started it right before I drove back to PA, which was terrible timing! It was such a good book, I had to resist pulling into every rest area to read a chapter.

The story is told through a long narrative from Bee to her sister, Tess, who is missing and then is found dead. The police rule it a suicide, but Bee is convinced that the sister she knew so well would never kill herself. She relentlessly pursues leads and the truth and the reader is taken on a roller coaster as Bee considers and dismisses various suspects.

What was so compelling for me about Sister, is that Lupton combines the art of a great mystery with a story about the misunderstandings and unconditional love among sisters.

Buddha in the Attic

Forgive me for gushing, but it's been a while since I've read such a wonderful book, that I won't be able to help myself. Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka was different than I expected. It is a small book, but is jam packed with beauty.

It is a meditation on the experience of a group of Japanese brides coming to America in the early 1900s. We follow them on their journey and then through various successes and disappointments of life up to the internment camps of WWII. It is told with such honesty and yet such delicacy for these women who lived and loved and lost so much. 

Otsuka shows the passage of time with the changing of seasons in a way that is beautiful and makes you forget the individual suffering of these women for a moment.

Overall, this small book is one I would highly recommend.

Close Your Eyes

Amanda Eyre Ward's books are the kind of stories that I can read in a few days. They pull you along and don't let you put them down. Close Your Eyes was no different.

After her mother is murdered in their home and their father goes to jail, Lauren grows up unable to trust in love and relationships. Meanwhile her brother, Alex, believes in his father's innocence and will not give up proving he did not kill their mother.

As Lauren suffers from panic attacks, she is pulled into the story of her mother's death and eventually we uncover the truth.

The Sense of an Ending and The Last Brother

The last two books I read felt similar and yet very different, so I decided to give them one post.

Since Julian Barnes' book The Sense of an Ending won the Man Booker prize in 2011, it has been on my to read list and I got a chance to read it over Christmas break. Barnes is a master storyteller, carrying us through the years to bring understanding and meaning to the death of a friend. Tony Webster is a man in his 60s who has lived a full life since boarding school including a career, family, divorce. Now retirement, Tony receives a small gift that makes him revisit those years during and after boarding school and the loss of a friend.

While you read looking for an answer, it is the relationships between the characters and the desire to have life make sense that is the real gift of this small novel. By the end of the story, you don't really get the ending tied up in a nice bow, but you do get a sense of an ending.

The second book is The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah which is also a small yet jam packed novel. Set on Mauritius in 1944 it is the story of love and loss. Nine year old Raj tells of life on this island, isolated from the reality of WWII but full of its own troubles. After losing his two brothers, Raj, his mother and his abusive father relocate to another part of the island and it is there that Raj meets a blond haired boy, David. David is a Jewish refugee being held in the prison where Raj's father works.

Language and culture are transcended as Raj and David bond and become brothers. A beautifully told story that will stay with you long after you put it down. I highly recommend this book.

Man in the Woods

I read A Ship Made of Paper by Scott Spencer many years ago and still remember loving it, so when I came across one of his newer books, Man in the Woods, at the library, I picked it up.

Man in the Woods tells the story of Paul who is driven to an act of violence which he keeps secret from everyone in his life but it eats away at him. His relationship with a successful writer, Kate, and her daughter, Ruby, is put at risk as he becomes obsessed with the crime and the conflicting fear of being found out and of having to live with the secret forever.

As Paul's life unravels, you feel sympathy toward him, more so than for the victim who was not innocent nor a very good person. You fear for what will become of him and the impact all of this is having on Paul, Kate and Ruby.

However, there were some parts that read a little unrealistic or convoluted, where the characters just don't feel real or have realistic reactions to emotions or experiences.

Never Knowing

Chevy Stevens is a new mystery writer who is often recommended to me based on my reading and browsing history on Amazon and other sites, so I was excited to find Never Knowing at the local library.

Stevens is a great mystery writer and I have found her story staying with me for weeks after I completed the novel. I didn't pay too much attention to the plot recap when I picked up the book, so I was a little thrown when I started reading and found that the story is about an adopted woman who searches for her biological mother and then figures out that her father was a serial killer and rapist.

The story is told through a series of therapy sessions in which the adopted woman, Sara, recounts what is happening as she learns the truth and her biological father reaches out to her and she develops a relationship with him in order to help capture and stop him. Riveting and frightening, it was like watching a great episode of Law & Order SVU or Criminal Minds.

I have Stevens' other book, Still Missing on my shelf, but it is written in the same format of therapy sessions, so I feel I need a little more time before picking up a book with such a similar format.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid was the November book for my (former) book club in Charlotte and I am so glad it was and that I read it. When I read about this book when it was first published, I think I had the impression that it was about something altogether different.

Set at a cafe in Lahore, a nervous American stranger encounters a Pakistani man who tells the story of his life and experience in America, before and after September 11th. But it is about more than being a Pakistani in America after the terrorist attacks, it is about an ambitious, smart young man looking for success and love.

This is a short novel, that flows beautifully along.

Swamplandia!

Karen Russell is the writer-in-residence at Bryn Mawr , so I wanted to read Swamplandia! before her reading/appearance this month.

Swamplandia! is an alligator attraction in Florida owned by the eccentric Bigtree family. Sadly, Hiola Bigtree, mother and main attraction at Swamplandia! dies of cancer and as the book opens we find the family and the park in trouble.

The three Bigtree children - Kiwi, Osceola and Ava - struggle to continue to support their father and the park while mourning the loss of their mother and growing into teenagers on a remote island.

The book comes to a climax as Kiwi and the Chief leave the island (separately) to help the park and Ossie ventures off to marry her ghost boyfriend with Ava following behind through the swamplands with a stranger called the Bird Man to rescue her. Much goes awry and I feared for the young Ava, but Russell keeps you reading through the perfect mixture of worry and great writing.

The Marriage Plot

When I heard that Jeffrey Eugenides had a new novel coming out I pre-ordered it, so that I could read it as soon as it was released. The Marriage Plot arrived during fall break - perfect timing and I read it that week.

The story begins on graduation day at Brown University in the early 80s. We follow Leonard, his girlfriend, Madeleine, and Mitchell, who has a crush on Madeline, back through their college years and then the year after college. Learning how they all met and about their family and college experiences.

Madeleine's class on semiotics and interest in Victorian literature and Mitchell's exploration of religion read like a dissertation or class lectures on the subjects. Maybe it's because I'm in graduate school, but I didn't want to learn anything. I just wanted to enjoy the characters and the story.

There were parts of the novel that I really enjoyed. Eugenides can bring characters to life, making you feel like you are living their life and feeling what they feel. Leonard, one of the three main characters, suffers from bi-polar disorder and I felt his moments of mania and his moments of depression. I felt less connected to Madeleine and Mitchell. And it was clear that Eugenides was recounting some of his only experiences at Brown. 

In the end, it was an interesting story but I don't think I will be recommended this book to many others.

Brat Farrar

Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey was the book selection for my Charlotte book club. Even though I can no longer attend, I am trying to keep up on the reading. I figure it's a good way to ensure I'm still reading for fun during grad school.

I had not read one of Tey's mysteries before, so I am glad I had this opportunity. Tey wrote most of her novels after WWII, so there is something sweet and innocent about her mysteries compared to today's gore and psychotic crime tales.

Brat Farrar is a young man who is convinced to impersonate the presumed dead Patrick Ashby in order to gain access to his estate. His plans are complicated by Patrick's twin brother as well as his confused and curious sisters and Aunt.

It wasn't hard to figure out the mystery, but it didn't take away from the reading of the novel.

The White Woman on the Green Bicycle

I picked up The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey after it was recommended by Nancy Pearl on NPR as part of the summer reading list.

Set in Trinidad, The White Woman on the Green Bicycle is a story about love, marriage, colonialism, race and so much more. It is set up in three sections, starting with the present and then going backwards to trace Sabine and George Harwood's arrival and early years in the country.

Something about that set up was confusing to me - I knew what happened in the end, but didn't have the context to understand why and then when I had the context I forgot some of the details of what happens.

I think it would have been better to stay in chronological order so that there wasn't any question of what was happening and why.

But overall Roffey tells a story that details life in Trinidad, the fall of colonialism, the rise of a democracy and corruption and race relations throughout.

State of Wonder

I loved State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. I love Ann Patchett. It reminded me of Bel Canto. It swept me up from the minute it started and while I was left with questions and the themes were familiar, I want to read it again, right now.

A Visit From the Goon Squad

I've read two of Jennifer Egan's other books and had read good things about A Visit from the Goon Squad, so I was excited when it came out in paperback.

However, as I started reading the novel, I remembered the feeling I had with the other two books - like you are the straight-laced dorky kid in school who is getting a glimpse into the edgy world of the too cool for anything ordinary kids. And I, for one, like not to feel that uncool.

Egan introduces a new voice in each chapter and though they are all connected it is sometimes so tangentially that takes some work to put it all together. None of the characters are all that likable - not Benny, the aging rock producer or Sasha, the kleptomaniac assistant turned artist mom or any of the other characters who crossed their paths over the years.

And the last chapter set in a paranoid post-9/11 New York was disturbing with its bleak, Big Brother-like descriptions.

If you're looking for something out of the ordinary, I would recommend this book. If you want to retain the illusion that you are cool, you might want to skip it.

The Madonnas of Echo Park

The Madonnas of Echo Park by Brando Skyhorse begins with an author's note leading you to believe that the account to follow is a semi-autobiographical account.

Skyhorse takes us through the lives and years of the Echo Park neighborhood, introducing a new character and voice with each chapter. He weaves together the history of a community and families that are sometimes far-fetched, sometimes touching and sometimes sad which together gives you the feeling of being an insider.

This is Skyhorse's first novel and I look forward to more from him. Sadly though, the author's note in the beginning was all part of the fiction.