Buenos Dias! Its Mexican Book Club!

Recently while on vacation in Mexico, I had the pleasure of visiting my cousin’s book club.  My cousin spends about two thirds of her time living in a wonderful city called San Miguel de Allende in the central part of the country.  The city is perched on a mountainside in the Sierra Madres about two hours northwest of Mexico City.  My cousin is well aware of my book addiction and knew that I’d love to see what her book group was like so she was kind enough to invite me to participate in their monthly meeting. 

For Americans, San Miguel has become a hotspot for new or early retirees to gather and spend the cold months.  Different from places like Florida and more traditional snowbird destinations, San Miguel’s rough terrain and edgy nature draws able bodied interesting people who generally spent their careers in creative pursuits.  There is a large artist community and after being there for a week, I can liken San Miguel to a continuing ed day camp that runs year round.  Every day there are workshops, classes, excursions, and seminars on everything under the sun.  It’s a great place to hang out. 

Needless to say, Book Club was a treat.  We met in the beautiful home of one of the members.  We spent the first part of the meeting deciding what the group would read for the following year.  These ladies are organized!  They even had ballots!  I brought mine home so that I could suggest some of their picks to my bookgroup.  San Miguel hosts a writer’s conference in March and many of the members are involved in its organization.  The group chose several books by the authors slated to speak at the conference.  This conference is big time.  This year Luis Urrea (The Hummingbird’s Daughter, see my previous review) is the keynote.  For the rest of the afternoon we enjoyed lively discussion about August’s book pick The Buddha in the Attic.  As the meeting ended, I felt lucky to have spent a lovely afternoon with such a wonderful smart group of women.  

Here is a link to this year’s conference:  http://sanmiguelwritersconferenceblog.org/

The Buddha in the Attic
By Julie Otsuka

 The Buddha in the Attic is a story about Japanese picture brides coming to California in the early 1900’s and settling into western lives with men that they did not know.  Often these women spent long hours of backbreaking labor working on the produce farms until they could afford small businesses and farms of their own.  The book follows them through their assimilation to American culture, to the brink of World War II when they were all rounded up and sent to the Japanese Internment Camps. 

A few weeks previous to my trip, my cousin sent me the book title so that I could be prepared for my visit.  It was an easy, though not particularly happy read; about 120 pages.  The author used a listing technique to tell the Japanese experience and point of view.  Like this:  “some of us worked the fields, some of us cleaned laundry, some of us cooked in restaurants…” and on and on.  While you definitely got a sense of the breadth of experience for these women, it made for tiresome reading.  I find it easier to relate to a narrative.  The story is such a poignant one and one that Californians struggle with in particular.  Some of the book club members were from the San Francisco area and had memories of the time.  Others like me knew about the camps and the stories, but didn’t have an appreciation for how quickly and absolutely the people had to leave. 

While the story is a heartbreaking one, I came away feeling like, until the part about Internment Camps, the story could be any immigrant population’s story.  And, as a nation, the US is not too nice to our immigrants. We certainly don’t open our doors to them and often shun them even though nearly everyone of us is the product of immigrant ancestry.  The Japanese story is even more egregious because of the camps and the inane thought that these gentle people could have anything to do with the Japanese Army half a world away. 

I predict that this book will make the lists of book clubs everywhere.  It’s a quick read and will provoke lots of discussion. Generally it was met with positive review from the group.  Ms. Otsuka used creative techniques for telling the story from many points of view, and people seemed to like it.  I just wish she had told it without the gimmicks.  Read a few chapters, skip to the end and you’ll get the idea. A story this important just doesn’t need them.  

Summer Reading Exchange

You may have noticed that I have been taking a break from reviewing books.  It doesn’t mean that I haven’t been reading – certainly not, but just not writing about it.  I was traveling a lot in August so I found it hard to sit down and get the mental space to write.  In addition, some of the books I read didn’t really warrant a review.  Not that they were bad, some were very good, they were just not that compelling or rich in texture.  They were summer books – ones that could be read poolside or on an airplane or with your toes in the sand.  

I started thinking about summer reading.  What makes a book summer reading material for you?  In the summer, I like a book that transports me to a new place.  Something with a straightforward plot line that doesn’t make me think too much.  I often read funny books in the summer.  I catch up on my Carl Hiassen or Christopher Moore.  I also like to read mysteries in the summer.  They are simple and, if written well, easy to lose yourself in.  Many a summer night is spent reading just that last few pages before the end of the chapter. 

My husband likes to read on vacation.  He doesn’t read all the time like I do, but if he’s on vacation, he will slam through a book faster than anyone.  He looses lots of sleep when he reads and will sit up until the wee hours to finish a good one.  He is truly on vacation if he’s reading. 

So my question is, what is summer reading like for you?  What did you read this summer?  Why?  Where is your favorite place to read?  I thought we could have a quick exchange of book ideas that we all read the past few months.  Just leave your suggestions in the comments section so we can all see them.  Title, author and a sentence or two about the book.  Let’s see what we get?

In the mean time…

Sacre Bleu: a Comedy d’Art

By Christopher Moore

If you have never read Christopher Moore, you really should give him a try.  His books are usually really irreverent and silly.  I love them.  My husband and I have read almost all of them and are never disappointed. 

This one is about the Impressionists in 19^th century Paris.  We follow a fictional painter/baker named Lucent who is friends with the likes of Toulouse Lautrec, Monet, Pissaro, Van Gogh and others.  All of these painters have been dogged by a shape shifter “muse” who is able to turn herself into models who are the romantic ideal of each of these men and who inspire them to do their best work using blue paint.  The paintings are then stolen and the paint is recovered and made new by her cohort “The Color Man”  who then sells it back to the painters, thus keeping them under a spell that drives them insane or kills them.  The book begins just after Van Gogh died and his friends think that he didn’t actually kill himself, but was murdered.  Lucent and Toulouse Lautrec go on the hunt for the killer. 

The book is illustrated by famous impressionist paintings to which Moore has given humorous alternative captions that support his story.  He uses them to augment the plot and is extremely creative with the results.  Using historical stories and personalities as a jumping off point for his books is not a new trick for Moore.  In “Lamb, The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal, Moore takes on Jesus and imagines what it was like to be the Son of God’s best buddy.  They are all hilarious. What keeps you from slamming the book shut for its over-the-top plot is that it’s obvious that Moore has done a ton of really detailed research in order to make his characters be able to stand in history without wavering.   Sacre Bleu flags a little in the middle, nothing that some humane editing couldn’t have helped, but it is a great beach book. 

Here’s one of my summer reads…What about yours?

The Hummingbird’s Daughter By Luis Urrea

Often when I go on vacation, I like to read a novel set in the area we will visit.  I’m just a geek like that.  It’s a great way to learn about the people, the culture and the voice of a region.  This summer our family is visiting Mexico.  We will be in an old colonial town in the central part of the country - a place that I don’t know that much about.  I decided to read a Mexican novel to get in the mood for our trip.  I really haven’t read too much Mexican literature…Like Water for Chocolate not withstanding.  I decided to give The Hummingbird’s Daughter a try.  It turned out to be the perfect book for the job.

The Hummingbird’s Daughter is a novel set in the pre-revolutionary days at the turn of the 19^th century.  It’s the story of a girl named Teresita who is born to an illiterate Indian mother in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. She has no idea that she is daughter to Don Tomas Urrea, the rich ranch owner.   As a small girl, Teresita is taken in by the ranch’s curandera or healing woman and taught all about how to heal the sick and pray for those who can’t be healed.  Pretty soon, it becomes evident that Teresita has the healing touch and is able to work miracles among the sick.  Before long the ranch is overwhelmed with pilgrims who want to be healed and the Mexican government feels the need to step in to control what they don’t understand. 

Teresita is a true historical figure in Mexico.  She is known as The Saint of Cabora.  She is also Luis Urrea’s real relative.  He grew up hearing family legend about her and decided to hunt down her story all over the Mexico and the American Southwest and write a book about it.  He then breathed life into Teresita and the real characters of her story with the voices of Mexico’s people and the gritty, bloody landscape of her country. 

I think that often books about Mexico give a one dimensional view of a people and culture that is so rich and beautiful.  With the plethora of “Mexican” restaurants and news stories about drug wars around, we Americans get a flat view of Mexican culture.  Urrea expanded that view and brought it to life.  Because his novel takes place in the past, we learn about all the different Indian groups and factions that make up the present day Mexican.   I learned about the culture of the vaqueros and the rich landowners, their servants and the bands of bandits and rurales that rode the countryside in those days.  Through Teresita’s eyes we learn about the folk medicines and remedies that saved people and the strict Catholic theology that ruled the lives of those who lived on the ranches. 

I liked the book very much, however the ending left me sort of cold.  I think Urrea could have woven his characters together better to build suspense for the climactic ending,   I thought that once Teresita became the Saint of Cabora, her story was less interesting and her voice became muted among others.  Her relationship with Huila the curandera, was my favorite part.  I really liked the voice Urrea gave Huila and liked how she wielded her power and femininity over the bull headed men she took care of.  Meanwhile Teresita herself is not the pasty-faced haloed saint that we think about, but one with lice in her hair and dirt under her nails.  I like that. 

In the end, my takeaway from this book is how enjoyable it is to read a novel in preparation for a vacation.  If you’ve never done it before, I highly recommend it.  Whether it’s a trip to the beach two hours away or to another country halfway across the world, an author’s researched snapshot into a place or subject, can give you a primer on what to expect when you get there.  You will have a greater understanding and appreciation for the place, not to mention, it goes a long way to helping you get excited for your big trip.  

The Cove by Ron Rash

A few months ago, I reviewed a book called Nightwoods by Charles Frazier. It is a lovely book set in the North Carolina Mountains.  As I said in the review, I have an affinity for that landscape and I think Frazier portrays it with a gentle hand. Rash portrays it with a blunt force trauma.

Ron Rash’s new novel, The Cove, also takes place in the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Set during WWI, it is the story of a young girl named Laurel who lives with her brother, a wounded war vet, on the family farm located in a backwoods cove near small town Mars Hill North Carolina.  People think the cove is bewitched and, because of a large birthmark, Laurel is too.  One day Laurel finds a young mysterious injured traveler hiding out on their property and brings him home to recuperate.  The man is mute, but a very talented flute player.  He decides to stay and help the family, soon falling in love with Laurel.  The town, which has always shied away from the cove and its inhabitants, is skeptical.  Led by a pompous and bigoted Chauncey Feith, the town is out to expose any “unpatriotic” people hidden in the backwoods or at the local college.  When the townspeople find out the man’s true identity, all hell breaks loose in the cove. 

While The Cove is a good read and Rash writes beautifully, the story isn’t as strong as his last book, the gothic and brutal Serena.  I definitely was interested in the story and kept reading, but was not as enthralled as I hoped to be.  I thought the story was really great, but the romance between Laurel and Walter did not ring so true.  I thought her wishes and daydreams for romance and normalcy was a little trite.  I did think the plotline was interesting and the history behind it was intriguing.  His set up of good verses evil is done beautifully and with rising suspense. Rash does have a way of bringing the book together at the end in a gritty and horrible way.  

Rash’s mountains are those of Cormac McCarthy rather than Charles Frazier.  They are more brutal and mean than kind.  I suggest you try Rash’s other books – especially if life in the NC mountains appeals to you.  All three are very good and are probably more true to life than other’s more idealistic accounts, but if you do, make sure you hold on tight, they are not for the faint of heart.  Start with Serena and finish with .  You’ll see what I mean.

Shadow of the Wolf Tree By Joseph Heywood

About 8 years ago I stumbled onto one of my favorite authors, Joseph Heywood.  I was in the library and picked up a book with intriguing cover art called The Snowfly a book about fly fishing that I have loved and given as a gift to many of my fishing friends.  Much to my delight, I found that Mr Heywood writes a series of mystery books set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.  Heywood’s hero is a conservation officer named Grady Service and the crimes are those against the environment.  I was in heaven. 

I started my husband reading the books, and soon he was hooked too.  Four years ago, we took a family vacation to the Upper Peninsula because we were so curious about the landscape and people that play such a big part of Heywood’s novels. 

Recently I realized that Heywood has been busy and we haven’t been paying attention.  I decided it was time to catch up.  Heywood’s novel Shadow of the Wolf Tree does not disappoint.  Grady is back in the U.P. and his quirky cast of characters is with him.  This time he’s fishing with his buddy Treebone and his dog uncovers 2 human skeletons that have lain buried in the woods for decades.  Pretty soon there are more bodies and one of Grady’s own officers gets caught in a brutal wolf trap.  Service goes on the hunt to find out what’s going on. 

Of course I love a mystery involving environmental crimes and conservation officers hiking around out in the woods.  What is fun about these novels is that Heywood keeps us on our toes and sends us all around the U.P. trying to figure out the mystery along with our hero.  We meet a variety of characters that represent the hearty folks living on the U.P., from wealthy businessmen from Chicago, to Service’s arch nemesis, an old redneck poacher who runs a family crime ring.  Heywood weaves a tale with craftsmanship and grace and breathes life into his characters that is not always seen in the world of mystery writing.  The only thing that doesn’t ring true is Service’s amazing ability to travel from one town to another in record time – something we found out while visiting the area.  It’s a big region and it takes longer than Heywood claims to travel the distance. 

If you’re looking for a new mystery writer to follow, I can’t think of a better one.  Heywood may be one of the secret jewels in the crown of the mystery genre.  He’s written 8 books in the series (called the Woods Cop Series) and all of them are really great.  I have two more to read to get caught up and one is already on my bedside table.  Stay tuned, you’ll be reading about it soon….

Coming of Age in the Middle Years

Thousands of books have been written about becoming an adult.  So many so, that there is a genre for these books – “Coming of Age” novels.  They usually have to do with  anxious teen years and first loves, rebellion and realization.  They’ve been made into movies too, we know them all, and in fact John Hughes made a very successful career telling this story over and over again on the big screen. 

There are several “coming of age” times in a person’s life in addition to that one so talked about in novels.  You can name them: first job, marriage, birth of first child, retirement etc.  One of the more subtle ones I’m finding out about takes place in middle age when you’re facing 50 and trying to figure out what you want to be when you grow up. 

Recently, I read two novels on this subject.  I didn’t plan to read them together, but it just worked out this way.  One from a woman’s perspective and another from a man’s.   

Contents May Have Shifted

By Pam Houston

Pam Houston is one of my favorite quiet authors.  She has written extensively for magazines and has penned a few wonderful novels that I have loved.  She lives the life I think of in fantasy terms: a beautiful ranch in Colorado, a life traveling the world and teaching at writing programs.  She’s in her late forties and I find her writing poignant and her perspective timely. 

This book chronicles a mostly autobiographical character through her midlife transition from dating to monogamy, from nomadic life to a grounded one.  It’s a series of vignettes from her (or the character’s) life as she works through this time while traveling all over the world, experiencing heartache and love and healing her soul on her way to a new way of living.

While I enjoyed the book, its not my favorite of Houston’s.  Her short story collection Cowboys Are My Weakness and her book about her dogs, Sight Hound are much better.  This one was entertaining in her stories of far off lands and adventures, but the psychological journey she took is not so well told.  In the end, she does reach a sort of peace with herself but the reader is left to wonder about whether it’s temporary or not.  Maybe that’s the real truth here…that we never know. 

The Book of Joe
By Jonathon Tropper

Now for the male perspective.  Jonathon Tropper’s book is about a guy, raised in small town Connecticut that writes a tell-all, scathing book about a terrible incident that took place his senior year in high school.  Joe, is summoned back to the town to say goodbye to his distant father as he lays in the hospital and is confronted by the angry townspeople who haven’t forgiven him for his literary portrayal.  He reunites with old friends and family, puts the incident that so shaped his young life to bed, and learns how to redefine his life as he moves forward.

Jonathon Tropper has won my literary heart.  His plot is interesting and well crafted.  His prose is snarky and real and his characters ring so true.  While Joe is younger (late 30’s) he has done a lot of living for his age and is realizing that his life as a self proclaimed asshole is not a fulfilling one. I think an important lesson for many men in midlife.  Tropper confronts a lot of issues in the book and brings them to a real and unexpected conclusion.  The book flies from cover to cover and makes a great vacation read.  

Reading John Irving

In One Person
By John Irving

I have loved John Irving’s books since I was in college.  It started with Hotel New Hampshire and with one exception; I’ve read all the fiction he has written in the past 30 years.  It is a happy day in our house when I find out that Irving has written something new, given us another gift of a great novel to enjoy.  His books are always wonderful and weird and thought provoking, regardless of the subject matter.  Quite simply, in my opinion, John Irving is a master American storyteller. 

When you read Irving’s books, you can bet that there’s characters that live on the edge of mainstream, you know that there will be bears in some form, wrestling will play a part in the book, and that no matter what bizarre things happen, you will end up taking them in stride like they happen to people you know every day, and who knows, maybe they do.

I just finished Irving’s newest novel, In One Person.  Like all his others, I loved it and was sad to see it finish.  In One Person follows Billy, a young preteen who finds himself attracted to his stepfather and the town librarian at the same time.  As Bill grows up his “inappropriate crushes” help he and his family realize that he is bisexual.  We watch Bill graduate college, become a writer, have relationships with both women and men, and survive the AIDS epidemic.  Through it all, his stalwart friend Elaine provides him the support and friendship he needs to figure out how not to be lonely as he lives his life in between.

One of Irving’s gifts is his ability to get the reader to sympathize with characters that might otherwise not be sympathetic.  We end up loving Bill’s cross dressing grandfather and the transgender librarian that Bill falls for.  Irving has always tackled controversial subjects, from abortion in Cider House Rules, to God’s plan for people in A Prayer for Owen Meany (on my top 5 list of all time).  Irving says that he felt compelled to write this book because of the controversy around the legalization of gay marriage.  It is a novel about tolerance in the grandest sense of the word – tolerance of all people, regardless of their sexual orientation.  And a beautiful one it is.  Billy’s story is one that explores tolerance across generations, cultures and even among groups in the LBGT community.  I find the subject matter very timely. 

Irving has a true gift in writing stories about families, even the most seemingly dysfunctional.  Bill’s family culture is based on secrets and closed doors while he spends most of his life trying to find out the answers and expose the lies.  Meanwhile there are some very endearing members to the family that truly love him and help him become the man he does. 

If you’ve never tried a John Irving novel, you really should.  His books are funny and wry, irreverent and beautifully written. Just know that his books may shock you and will stretch your comfort level, but in the end, will open your eyes and your heart to new kinds of people.  In today’s world, that’s a gift we should all receive.

An interview with John Irving as he discusses In One Person.  

Running the Rift by Naomi Beneron

When you read the word “Rwanda” and the year 1996 in the jacket summary of a book, you just know that the book will be hard going.  The war and genocide in that conflicted country is too brutal and too hopeless a subject to navigate in a novel that you read for fun.  I wasn’t sure what I was getting into and not completely sure if I wanted to tackle this emotional rollercoaster.  I decided to give it 25 pages and see if I was up for it.  Boy was I glad that I did. 

Running the Rift is the story of Jean Patrick Nkuba, a young boy from the country near Lake Kiva whose dream is to compete for Rwanda in the Summer Olympics.   He is a gifted runner and aspires to run the 800 on the world stage.  Unfortunately, he is of Tutsi descent and struggles with discrimination that he and his family endure at the hands of an oppressive Hutu government.  Jean Patrick is extremely gifted academically which gives him the leg up he needs to make it into the schools with the right track coaches.  During the killing, he finds himself running for his life instead of for glory. 

With the impending Summer Olympics, this story resonates.  We Americans can’t understand the barriers that some of the athletes from small African countries have to jump in order to make it to that one day of competition at the Olympics.  Beneron tells a wonderful story of Jean Patrick’s rise in his sport and his politically exploited fame as he is held by the government as the Tutsi hope for Rwanda.  We understand the conflict that Jean Patrick feels as he is given a Hutu ID card that will help him travel about the country and his hopeful naivety that Rwandans could possibly coexist and let him run without issue. 

At the core of this story is a young man who loves his family, his home and his girlfriend and who just wants to move forward in his life.  This is what saves the book from becoming one that is just too hard to read.  We fall in love with Jean Patrick and his beloved family, friends and country.  Beneron writes with the lyrical imagery of Africa and describes it in such a way that we find ourselves loving the landscape and the people as much as Jean Patrick does.  Even through the difficult parts (and there are definitely difficult parts!) we find ourselves rooting for Jean Patrick and trying hard to understand an incomprehensible war. 

This book was nominated won the Bellwether Prize for Fiction, a prize given by Barbara Kingsolver to books that address issues of social justice.  It is a worthy recipient. This summer when we are watching the track and field events in London, I, for one, will have a new-found respect for those young runners from small, and often war torn African countries.  My eyes have been opened.  But isn’t that what books are supposed to do? 

When Fishing Goes Bad

Choosing books to read is sort of like fishing.  Sometimes you go out with the intent to fish.  You have your recommendation lists or your starred reviews to help you decide what to get.  Like having researched fish populations and behaviors then boarding the boat with the best lure for the kind of fish you want to catch.  Other times you stop by the library and scan the shelves with no idea what to look for at all - the fisherman's version of stopping by the side of the road and pulling your rod out of the trunk of your car to throw in a line for half an hour.  Both can yield big keepers. Sometimes the best unknown book is just waiting for you there on the shelf.  Other times you get skunked no matter how much you research. 

Last time I was at the library, I stopped by the "new book" section to see what was there.  I found several books that looked good and showed promise so I picked them up.  In my pile of 4, I've read 2 and so far my picks are in the skunked category.  Here they are.

The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman
In the past, I've loved Alice Hoffman.  Her books have been usually good stories peppered with the magical realism that I am drawn to.  While not dense or deep, Hoffman usually likes strong women and a well plotted narrative.  When I saw her book on the shelf I decided to try her again.  Bad move.  I think she's phoning it in.  The Red Garden is the story of many generations of people living in a small town in Massachusetts from the 1700's to modern day.  One of the matriarchs of the town has a garden that only grows red flowers and food.  I think Hoffman wrote a bunch of short stories on one of her summer vacations while she tried to decide what to write next and when she couldn't decide, she convinced her publisher to combine all of them and sell it as a novel. This book did make it past my 100 page rule but just barely and only because I expected more of Hoffman.  I kept expecting something to happen to bring everything together, but it didn't.  Each story was loosely based on the one before it, but in character name only and the red garden didn't seem to serve any purpose at all except that a bear was buried there and gets exhumed in the end.  I think Hoffman has written some wonderful books, but I think more recently, she might be pressured by her publisher to get words on the page.  See what you think.

The Quest for Anna Klein by Thomas H. Cook
Spies, Nazis, resistance fighters, international art dealers, New York society - sounds good doesn't it?  I thought so.  And actually it did keep my interest until about two thirds the way through, but Thomas Cook's newest novel didn't do it for me in the end.  The story is interesting.  A young socialite son of an international art importer gets recruited to provide his country house as a place for a young Jewish woman to learn the skills needed to infiltrate and spy on the upper level Nazi government. Guy falls in love with Girl and follows her to Germany where her plot becomes foiled at the last minute. Girl disappears and Guy spends years in and out of prisons and camps across Europe trying to find out what happened to her and who the double agent was who blew her cover.  While the story does move along, we spend a lot of time listening to the Guy pine away for the Girl and not really find the answers he's looking for.  There is a nice plot twist in the end but its just not enough to carry the story you've slogged through so far.  Its a good example of an author who either needs a good editor or to go back to school for brush up on plot development.  I should have been alerted when I read that two of Cook's most recent books were called The Last Talk with Lola Faye and The Fate of Katherine Carr.  It appears that Mr. Cook is either working out some issues he has with enigmatic women or he's got a formula that he thinks works for him.  Either way, it doesn't work for me.

The Leopard by Jo Nesbo

I was talking to a friend at a party recently and we were trying to find out why people so enjoyed the Dragon Tattoo series by Stieg Larsson.  Why they made such an impact on the publishing world and why there was so much chatter about them around pools and water coolers when they hit the shelves.  I think we decided that one of the reasons that we all are intrigued by those stories is that they are densely written with complex plotlines and surprise twists.  They don’t follow the mystery formula that so many do.  I also think that we love the grittiness of them.  The murders are twisted and creepy leaving the reader wondering about the mental state of the author but in awe of his sense of plotting as he draws you in and holds you in suspense for pages at a time.   The characters are flawed and sort of on the sidelines of society – both the good guys and the bad – and Larsson never apologizes for them. 

Finally I think we Americans are interested in the landscape and setting of the novels.  Scandinavia is not written about frequently and we’re sort of intrigued by a place where climate is extreme and the culture is strong.  It’s not an area of the world that we hear about on a regular basis.  It is for all these reasons that Jo Nesbo’s work is as appealing as Stieg Larsson’s. 

In my “Book Picks of 2011” post, I listed “The Snowman” as one of my favorite books of last year.  After reading the newest installment of the Harry Hole series, my opinion of Nesbo’s work has not flagged.  The Leopard was just as engaging, creepy and complex as The Snowman. 

In The Leopard, a serial murderer is killing women and men using a torture device known as Leopold’s Apple that’s linked to mining warlords in The Congo.  Harry Hole is brought back from Hong Kong where he’s been exorcising his demons after solving The Snowman case.  He is plunged into a battle between local and federal law enforcement and has to solve the case off the record with the help of his old friends and colleagues.  Hole sets up offices in an unused prison and travels to the volcanoes of war torn Congo and the cabins high in Norway’s mountains to catch the killer. 

Just like last time, I finish Nesbo’s book with a huge respect for his ability to plot and pace his books.  Just when you think the suspense will put you over the edge, he lets off the gas pedal and gives you a minute to recover, all the while stringing you along for the ride.  It’s a talent that not many mystery writers have really perfected.  Nesbo’s characters are interesting and complex and when I look at his photo in the back of the book, I wonder what he’s like in real life.  What makes him tick?  What makes him think up all these weird and freaky plot lines?  You certainly don’t get the feeling he is phoning it in for the paycheck. 

Finally one of the best parts of Nesbo’s books is that Nesbo himself is still alive.  We lost Stieg Larsson to an untimely death and will never know what happened to Lisbeth Salander in the end.  Presumably Nesbo will continue to keep us informed of Harry Hole’s whereabouts and creep us out with scary serial killers for years to come.

In Honor of National Poetry Month

I have a confession to make.  I really don't like to read poetry all that much.  I think its because I never had a really good poetry teacher.  Until recently.  My book group is blessed with several retired teachers, two of them high school English teachers.  Every April, our group reads a poet in honor of National Poetry Month.  Mary Lou, our poetry officianado, dutifully makes up packets of poems for us to read and delivers them to our houses because she knows that's the only way some of us will read them.  She prepares and leads a discussion that always catches me off guard.  I am always surprised at how much I end up liking the poems. And I always go home in awe that poetry and poets still have a place in today's fast paced world.  They do.  

This year we did a collection of nature poems - a subject I could surely relate to.  Mary Lou discussed the musical quality of the verse and poetry's place in oral history, making me realize how important this ancient art form is to our human experience and our ability to slow down and connect with our fellow man (and woman).  It was a gift.  As a result, I vow not to skim quite so quickly over the poetry section of the book store, or bury underneath my bedside stack, the book of poems I got from a friend for Christmas.  Mary Lou and my other teacher friends have helped me remember that poetry is to be read aloud many times, even sung, in order to be heard over the dense words of fiction and commentary. 

Here are two selections from our Nature Collection this month.  Sing them, read them aloud, appreciate poetry for its beauty and simplicity.  Then pass it on to someone else.

Some poets to check out...

Seamus Heaney        Billy Collins

Mary Oliver              Nikki Giovanni

Stanley Kunitz

Winter Promises

Marge Piercy (1936 - )

Tomatoes rosy as perfect baby's buttocks,

eggplants glossy as waxed fenders,

purple neon flawless glistening

peppers, pole beans fecund and fast

growing as Jack's Viagra-sped stalk,

big as truck tire zinnias that mildew

will never wilt, roses weighing down

a bush never touched by black spot,

brave little fruit trees shouldering up

their spottless ornaments of glass fruit:

I lie on the couch under a blanket

of seed catalogs ordering far

too much.  Sleet slides down

the windows, a wind edged

with ice knifes through ever crack.

Lie to me, sweet garden-mongers:

I want to believe every promise,

to trust in five pound tomatoes

and dahlias brighter than the sun

that was eaten by frost last week.

The Bat

Theodore Roethke (1908-1963)

By day the bat is cousin to the mouse.

He likes the attic of an aging house.

His fingers make a hat about his head.

His pulse beat is so slow we think him dead.

He loops in crazy figures half the night.

Among the trees that face the corner light.

But when he brushes up against a screen,

We are afraid of what our eyes have seen:

For something is amiss or out of place

When mice with wings can wear a human face.

Nightwoods by Charles Frazier

Charles Frazier of  Cold Mountain fame, has yet again created a captivating story around the backwoods world of the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina.  Unlike his other books set in the 1800’s, this one takes us into the mid 20^th century (1960) where life is still quiet and simple, but is on the cusp of discovery by the retirees and vacationers who have more recently populated the area. 

Luce, a single woman living alone in an old resort lodge at the foot of a mountain spends her time hiking, gardening, reading and licking the wounds of an old psychological injury that leaves her unable to find happiness among the rest of society.  Her world is turned around when social services arrives at her door with her sister’s 5 year old twins for her to raise.  Their mother (her sister) was murdered by their stepfather while the children watched, which has rendered them antisocial with tendencies toward pyromania.  Its Luce’s job to help them recover and become able to interact with others while she keeps them safe from their stepfather, Bud.  Bud, newly back in town, stalks them because he thinks that they know more than they do about some money he thinks is his.

Luce is an interesting character with her own cross to bear.  Having no intention of ever having kids or raising someone else’s, her parenting learning curve is short but thoughtful, as we believe that maybe she understands what the twins need to help them heal.  The others in the book provide a colorful backdrop to the drama that is played out between Bud and Luce. 

What I love about Charles Frazier’s books is his sense of place.  When you read them, you know exactly where the action is taking place.  His descriptive voice allows you to visualize it in your mind.  Because he has spent his life in the North Carolina Mountains, he just gets it right.  Some of you might know that I am of the mind that the area around Asheville and Brevard NC is God’s country, a beautiful place that, throughout history has been isolated enough to be largely unaware of the rest of the world.  When I read this book, I could see the characters and hear them speak in the backwoods setting he has created.  There, the rules of society don’t always apply and people act out of the rich culture and traditions of a segment of society that, before mass media, internet and cell phones, has spent hundreds of years insulated from the pressing issues of the time. 

Some critics thought otherwise.  They found fault in his “elegantly archaic-sounding, rough-cut and contrived” prose.  I don’t agree.  To me, his writing is poetic and magical.  I think Mr. Frazier draws some inspiration from a 19^th century style of writing, a time period that he has written about in two previous novels; one that lends reality and atmosphere to his other books.  I think it works here too.  It’s this more flowery style that gives Nightwoods a timeless quality and helps us visualize the landscape and his eccentric characters better. 

Do yourself a favor.  This summer, when you need a trip back to a slower time where people live simply and out of the spotlight, pick up Nightwoods and see if you agree with me.  I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. 

The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje

Michael Ondaatje, who brought us the much acclaimed The English Patient and Anil’s Ghost, has written a wonderful account of a time when ocean travel was still a favored form of transportation.  Seen through a young boy’s eyes, the story captures the magic and wonder found in out of the way places deep in the hold of the ship and the freedom for kids to embark on a grand adventure away from the eyes of their parents. 

The year is 1954 and eleven year old Michael is boarding an ocean liner traveling alone for a three week voyage from Ceylon to England.  On the ship, he meets two other young boys and is assigned to the “cat’s table”, the exact opposite of the prestigious “captain’s table”.  It’s where the staff members and shady characters eat their meals.  It is this assortment of people who Michael spends his voyage with and who mold his future forever.  The trip is spent scouring the nooks and crannies of the ocean liner and observing fellow travelers, including a shackled prisoner as he is walks the decks in chains in the middle of the night. 

The Cat’s Table is a lovely book, beautifully yet simply written, that transports us to the innocence of childhood.  It doesn’t take much to wonder if the story is based on Ondaatje’s own experiences, but an author’s note in the back says no.  I am glad that through a series of flash forward sequences we find out what happened to the colorful characters and the kids who accompany Michael – I think it would have been easy to stop with the ship’s docking and leave the reader hanging.  For these kids, the voyage is the first time that they spend so much time in such close proximity to adults and can observe them at close range. These observations are their own informal education into the world away from school and family and they are changed for the experience.

Today the thought of putting an 11 year old on a ship to travel for three weeks unattended is out of the question.  It plainly wouldn’t happen.  In fact, chances are the parents would be arrested for such an act.  Years ago, this was not looked upon as dangerous but as a necessary way to travel, especially for continental families who were separated by oceans from their boarding school or from relatives who were doing business or visiting far away from their kids.  While I’m not sure I’d put my 11 year old on a ship for three weeks, I grieve for that magical time when a group of kids together have the opportunity to explore and play, problem solve and observe without the intervention of adults.  Yes they got into some bad situations, but they figured out how to get out of them too.  Life lessons that I’m not sure are taught well today.  This important part of becoming an adult is something I have become nostaglic for. 

Ondaatje is a master storyteller who knows all the tricks and I’m happy that this novel has a different feel than his others.  He transports us into the kids’ world aboard the ship and we travel along with them at sea and through the Suez Canal (a particularly beautifully rendered part of the book) and across the Mediterranean to England.  And for the gray days of March, a great voyage indeed.  I hope you’ll take the trip with him too.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Remember the first time you saw the Great Hall at Hogwarts or inside the Deathstar in Star Wars or even the library at Downton Abby?  Remember how you said to yourself, “Wow! How cool is that!”  You wanted to be there, just live there and take it all in.  For a brief moment, it sort of didn’t matter what the people in the story did, you just wanted to see it all; to walk around the place and check it all out.  That’s what The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is like.  It’s a visual dessert, rich and gooey.

Morgenstern creates a circus that is only open from dusk to dawn and magically appears in a town without warning. Where everything smells like caramel and the attractions are all fantastically designed in black and white.  It’s luscious and rich.  What the circus-goers don’t know is that the tents and stages are an elaborate playing field for a fierce competition between two magicians who must compete to the death.  The circus is assembled by them as they compete for the ultimate prize.  What their coaches don’t know is that the competitors have fallen in love and are working together to end the game without dismantling the circus itself. 

The Night Circus is stylish, it’s beautiful and the stuff of dreams.  But I’m not so sure it’s such a captivating story.  I was enthralled by the visual imagery and could imagine the movie version of this book.  (I think the author could too.) The book is tailor-made for the big screen.  Its intricate set pieces and costumes a’ la turn of the 20^th century London with bowlers, bustles and corsets and intricate black and white tents and clocks make us immediately think of Tim Burton.  Sort of over-the-top Victorian meets Goth.  Morgenstern does a beautiful job imagining her world and providing us with all the details to make it come alive. 

However her story falls a little short.  Her set up of characters and plot lines is good, but somewhere along the way, the story wanders.  We’re never sure what the game was all about and how it’s even played.  Characters are introduced but not really used for their potential to turn the story or create action.  When you take away the beautiful set and the fancy trimmings, you realize you’re not so sure how the story got to its conclusion.  All the sudden you’re just there. 

I give Morgenstern a pass though.  She’s young and this is her first novel – a high wire act for sure.  Her background is in theater and studio art and it shows.  The book is beautifully rendered and described in detail.  Your eye is drawn away by colorful characters and a fantastical setting while her storytelling needs more work.  But isn’t that what magicians are all about?  Making you look over here so you can’t see what’s going on over there?  I, for one, will be looking for her next novel as she hones her act of smoke and mirrors and truly creates magic with her words.

Chango's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes by William Kennedy

When I read, I have a rule that I follow.  I give a book 100 pages to grab me.  If I don't like it much in 100 pages, I give myself permission to put it down and move on.   I think this is a function of getting older and realizing that I don't have to feel guilty if I don't like a book.  I have certainly slogged through plenty of books that I hated just because I felt badly for abandoning them.  You armchair psychologists out there will have a field day with that one, I can imagine what that might say about me, but I don't care.  If reading is for pleasure, then why the pressure to finish something I don't like? 

I got as far as page 115 in Chango's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes.  Probably because I was traveling and didn't have anything else in my carry on.  The premise sounded cool - Havana Cuba during the Revolution.  Santeria priestesses, beautiful revolutionaries and bold reporters meeting Castro in the Jungle.  Gun runners and Hemingway... wow!  The story was good, but the author's style left it hard to negotiate.  Choppy dialogue, confusing names and places, not much character development so the reader has no idea who is who.  It just didn't work for me.  When I weighed it next to the ever growing pile of library books on my nightstand, I made the decision to let it go.  Someone else will like it, but it won't have to be me. 

The Impossible Dead by Ian Rankin

All of us have them; a certain mystery writer that you’ve been following for years.  You’ve read every one of his books and the detective hero feels like he’s part of your family.  Ian Rankin is one of those authors for me.

Every time I need to be entertained rather than enlightened or just need the comfort of a mystery I go to him.  His mysteries are interesting and complex enough to hold my interest, while not being too academic to feel like an assignment.  I’ve read all of Rankin’s newer books and have never been disappointed. 

Rankin’s series are both set in Edinburgh.  His first, a wonderful series about an old curmudgeon detective John Rebus, has entertained me for years.  The Impossible Dead, Rankin’s newest, is the second in his new Matthew Fox series.  Fox is an officer in “The Complaints”, the Scottish version of our Internal Affairs Bureau; the cops who investigate cops.  In this installment he is investigating some shady cops in a neighboring precinct and stumbles upon a 30 year old murder of a Scottish political revolutionary.  He is asked to investigate the murder by the widow’s new admirer and his line of inquiry leads him up the ranks to investigate prominent Scottish politicians.  

What I like about Rankin is that his stories are always good and, as the reader, you solve the mystery with him as he uncovers clues and interviews suspects.  I am always somewhat confused in the beginning of the mystery, just as I suspect Fox is, but as the story grows, everything comes to light.  I love the Scottish slang and the interesting places that Rankin takes us on the journey. 

Key to a good mystery series is the hero detective that we follow.  Both Rebus and Matthew Fox are great heroes, sort of grumpy single guys, late in their careers. Rebus has retired, but spent his career in the “murder squad”. Rebus has been married several times, but is good with dogs and deals with an estranged daughter who he would like to have a relationship with.  Fox is balancing his investigations with caring for his aging father who is beginning to suffer with dementia.  He struggles with alcoholism, something I suspect Rankin has had some experience with.  We follow his internal conflict that comes with working in The Complaints and wonder along with him how he’ll do once he’s done his tour of duty there. 

This particular installment of the series is a little hard to follow, as I’m not up on my Scottish politics, but interesting all the same.  I like the guys Fox works with and enjoyed learning about the Scottish conflicts in the 1980s.  Rankin’s characters jump off the page and he does a good job of illustrating the internal politics and departmental posturing that plague any police department in the world. 

There is something truly comforting about finding an author whose series you like.  I hope you’ll try Rankin.  Any of his books from either series are good.  Hopefully some of you will find him and add him to your list.  In the mean time, I’ll keep going back to him every time he graces us with another book. 

Liebster Blog Award

I am so happy and humbled to have received the Liebster Blog award from Meg of meaningofstrife . Thank you so much!

The Liebster Blog Award is given to bloggers who have less than 200 followers and is a great way to bring attention to other worthwhile blogs and bloggers.  This is a pay-it-forward award and the rules are:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to his or her blog

2. Copy and paste the “Liebster Blog Award” icon into your post

3. Pass the award on to your fellow bloggers and let them know you did so

[Liebster, by the way, is German (n.) and means: sweetheart, beloved person, darling.]

Here is the blog I am passing the award to:

raisingnanapap - Nancy writes a funny, uplifting and insightful account of her life with her beloved mom suffering with Alzheimers. 

The Marriage Plot by Jeffery Eugenides

I think Jeffery Eugenides should have titled this book differently.  The Marriage Plot kind of sounds off-putting – another book about the disintegration of a marriage.  And in fact, that’s one of the reasons I shied away from it initially.  I have found that books about dysfunctional marriages or sad interpersonal relationships are not what I’d like to read for fun.  Maybe it’s my stage in life or my personality that doesn’t find it entertaining – it just makes my stomach hurt.  Finally, I decided that I should give The Marriage Plot a try.  I had been waiting a long time for Jeffery Eugenides new novel.  His last one, Middlesex was a wonderful story – one of my favorites the year it came out.   I finally decided that if Eugenides wrote it, it had to be better than I thought.   So I took the leap.  I was right.

The Marriage Plot is a story about three college kids at Brown University.  It takes place in the early 1980’s as they are about to graduate.  Madeline is an English major writing her senior thesis on the Victorians and their use of “the marriage plot” in literature.  Think Jane Austen, Henry James etc.  Leonard, her charismatic and rather unstable Biology major boyfriend is destined for a fellowship at the Pilgrim Lab, a fancy research facility on Cape Cod, where he’ll work under prominent scientists to solve questions about yeast cells.  Mitchell, her smart, creative Religious Studies major friend who is madly in love with Madeline, decides to take time after school to travel in Europe and India with a friend and explore religions while the recession rights itself. 

Well, you can see where this is going.  Mitchell loves Madeline, Madeline loves Leonard, Leonard is jealous of Mitchell, maybe Madeline loves Mitchell – it goes back and forth.   As in most Victorian novels, the toxic love triangle is set and the players have to find their way to resolution.  During that time, all of the members in the plot have to learn how to negotiate this intense triad and decide what they want and how they will position themselves as they enter the real world. 

Eugenides is a gifted storyteller.  His character development is not to be surpassed.  You find yourself totally engrossed with the characters who you can relate to and who you grow to love.  I was particularly blown away with his rendering of Madeline whom I could especially relate to.  Her voice was so much like my own at that age.  All of us remember kids like Mitchell and Leonard from our college days.  They are the same archetype that we see in plenty of John Houston films from the same time period, In fact, Pretty in Pink is plotted with the same love triangle.  That’s why we like those films, they are based on the same Victorian plot structure that Madeline is studying and that lives in literature again and again.  The big difference is that Leonard is not quite the cool popular guy portrayed in other novels.  During the course of the book, we learn he is diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and struggles with his medications and abilities to cope with life.  (don’t worry, I’m not giving anything away).  This wrench in the story creates a tension not usually found in a novel of this type, but renders him with the requisite air of unattainability all the same. 

What really struck me in this book was the research that Eugenides did to make these characters come alive.  He must have a herd of research assistants to help him ferret out all the smallest details of each character’s point of view.  Each of the three are brilliant in their field – each very diverse from each other.  Eugenides speaks with a knowledge base of one that has his own graduate degree in each of those areas.  He explains each character’s work in detail, giving more insight into each and helping us understand how these kids can make the decisions they do about the future of their lives. 

In the end, this is a coming-of-age book as much as it is a book about a love triangle.  It’s about deciding how to enter the world after college and how to negotiate the end of that safe place and the beginning of a new life chapter.  About deciding which ties to cut and which to bind as you start your life.  Eugenides does a great job of taking that tender time around graduation and exploring the emotion around entering the adult world that many of us remember.  An intense love triangle provides the fuel that propels these characters into their lives, whatever they may hold. 

I’m glad The Marriage Plot wasn’t what I thought it would be.  Don’t shy away from this book because of its title, embrace it because of its rich content and the craftsmanship of a gifted writer.   

Once Upon a River by Bonnie Jo Campbell

I’m always a sucker for an adventure book – one that takes you somewhere else, where you can sit in your reading chair and climb mountains or live in a foreign land.  I love those.  When I read the jacket synopses of Once Upon a River, I thought that was what I was in store for.  In fact, what I got was a strange coming of age story about tragedy, revenge, and recovery.

Margo Crane is a 16 year old who lives with her dad and all of her extended family on the Stark River of Michigan.  On a fateful Thanksgiving, she endures a terrible family tragedy which leaves her guilty and on the run.  With sharpshooter Annie Oakley as her hero, Margo spends the next several years traveling the river, shooting and hunting for her food, looking for her absent mother and shacking up with men along the way.  Margo ends up on the Kalamazoo River with her only friend, an old man in the last days of life, his dog and his best friend Fishbone.  Here she tries to figure out how to live the life she wants to live in a way that she can understand. 

Margo is an interesting character.  She is bold and smart and resourceful.  She is likened to a River Nymph and has the otherworldly qualities you might expect from such a creature.  However, she’s still a kid (something the author forgets on occasion) and we sometimes see her making choices that help us remember.  Her journey from innocence to adulthood is filled with dastardly men and an unhealthy relationship with her shotgun.  We learn a lot about skinning game and living off the land.  What we don’t learn is a lot about the river she lives on. While Margo certainly knows how to survive in nature, I didn’t get a clear picture of the landscape in which she is to survive.  Truly I had a hard time placing her at all.  With the redneck cousins, the shacks on the river and the trapping and hunting, I kept envisioning the bayous of the American south, not the cold rivers of Michigan. 

Margo herself is placed in a lot of gritty adult situations.  At the beginning, like any teenager, she sees herself as the victim of her circumstances – everyone does things to her.  Slowly she begins to understand that her actions have consequences and that she can design her life as she wants to and in a way she understands.  I think these lessons are some that many adults don’t ever learn.  While the author tries to teach us, I’m not sure Margo is old enough to have learned the lessons so well at such a young age.  Her tenacity and her resourcefulness give us a heroine with nerves of steel and an ability to find herself in situations well over her head.  We see her puzzle out the value of revenge, the burden of guilt and the grace of recovery. 

A friend recommended this book to me with the caveat “I couldn’t think of anyone else to recommend this to, you like weird books, so I thought you might like this one.” Bonnie Jo Campbell writes a well plotted book with an interesting cast of characters, and a sharp and strong female lead but somehow we’re left sitting in our reading chair, not entirely sure what we just read.