Eleanor & Park - Rainbow Rowell

Consider me having joined the legions of fans that have read this book and fallen hard for the two characters that collide in the tumultuous chaos of the school bus and are brought together by the creed that one is a 'bully, a lackey, or one of the nameless rabble'. Band together for survival!

Eleanor is new to the neighborhood. She's just been allowed to return to her family , after being kicked out by her stepfather. Her mother and brothers and sister are cowed by the verbal and physical abuse that her step father metes out. Her family is in crisis and they don't even seem able to help themselves. Eleanor's walking on eggs. To boot, she's the red-headed carrot top with more pounds on her than is stylish for the high school mean girl set. Her wild sense of style comes from a combination of defense mechanism thinking, thrift store chic, and teenage rebellion. She's a great target for all the crap that bullies can hand out.

Park is a 'put your head down and survive' kinda guy. He's the one Korean kid in a sea of heartland white bread highschoolers. He survives the chaos of high school by choosing a small group of friends, keeping a low profile, submersing himself in the punk and alternative music of the 80's and staying close to home. His home, in a hard scrabble neighborhood outside Omaha, is 'an oasis', as his family is intact and relatively happy. His parents love and respect each other. His grandparents live right next door. The family is involved with each other and watches out for each other. Life's not all roses for Park, though. His relationship with his ex-military man Dad is tough. His Dad's expectations of Park sometimes make him feel inferior and he struggles with his own teenage rebellious feelings when his Dad puts down his music, his sense of style, his sensitivity, and his apparent inability to learn to drive using a stick shift.

School could be a refuge for Eleanor, but when she steps on the school bus on the first day back with her family, she's greeted by a teen clic culture that has the potential to push her over the edge. And it's then, that Park, looking sideways, slides his backpack out of the way and mutters for her to 'just sit down'. From then on, the voyage to and from school becomes the petri dish for a growing relationship that is so endearing and addicting to read ...

Rainbow Rowell write in short bullets that alternate back and forth between Eleanor's and Park's point of view. Their feelings unfold in bits and starts until they finally befriend each other over the comic books and music that Park shares with Eleanor. Opening up to each other, each cautiously peels back the protective layers that have insulated them from the rough world of teenage culture. It's a tale of love, sacrifice, survival, and hope.

Yes, the language is a raunchy at times (like it is in real life, sometimes). Yes, there are tough issues (like there are in life for far too many young people). Yes, sex is a huge part of the undercurrent of the story (like it is in the minds and hearts of 99.9 % of the teenage world). And yes, Rainbow Rowell deals with all these elements of teenage life really well.

It's no wonder to me that this book has garnered its share of awards - the 2013 Boston Globe Horn Book Award, the 2014 Michael L. Printz Honor Award for YA Fiction, as well spots on the lists of best books of 2013 and 2014 that  the NYT, Publisher's Weekly, NPR, and Kirkus Reviews compile.

Whatever she's doing, she's doing it right. The book's movie rights have been purchased and she will be writing the screenplay for the film adaption, plus she's released her newest novel called Landline, plus she's signed on to produce two graphic novels in the next couple years.

Busy lady !!

The Dinner - Herman Koch

There is much to recommend about this book. Let me start with that. Then, let me tell you that this book left an ache in my heart and a sour taste in my mouth. I so wanted the story to end with satisfaction that all parties had 'done the right thing' - but they didn't. And in that about face taken within Herman Koch's searing story line, I was left with questions about the state of the 'class structure' in today's world, about parenting and what we parents will do to protect our kids, about honesty and trust within marital relationships, about the ethics of money and just what it will buy, about dispensible morals and our willingness to rationalize all sorts of bad behavior in ourselves and our loved ones. 

Mr. Koch poked a sharp stick at the innards of our social conscience when he wrote this story. Several chapters into the book, I was thinking of several high profile crimes that have piqued world-wide curiosity and thought, "Oh, he is taking inspiration from those cases." Making the connection between the disappearance of a young American high school student in Aruba, the brutal death of an English student in Italy, and the brutal beating of an elderly man on the streets of New York, I was still shocked at the callous and haunting crime that is at the center of the parents' confrontation in The Dinner. 

Koch's development of the characters around the dinner table is masterful. The novel is narrated by Paul Lohman, a high school history teacher on leave for erratic behavior toward students and lesson presentation. He and his wife, Claire have a fifteen year old named Michel. Paul has a no nonsense form of delivery, a sharp sense of humor that is laced with sarcasm, social irony, and a bit of a bitter sense of social cynicism. So, it's with this 'voice' that the story unfolds and it's through the lens of Paul's character that we begin to form opinions about  Paul's wife and son, his brother, Serge and Serge's wife and children, the people in the restaurant they are visiting, and the various other characters that Paul discusses. 

No spoilers, but things are not what they seem ...

This would be such a good book for a book group discussion, as there are so many issues that Koch throws at the reader. I wish I would happen on an on-line discussion ... any takers?

The House of Velvet and Fog - Katherine Howe

Who doesn't have a morbid interest in the Titanic and all the drama surrounding its construction and fated maiden voyage? If you can honestly say that you are disinterested, I will tell you that I'm skeptical of your insistence. That being said, I will say that Katherine Howe's second novel didn't quite measure up to her first, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane. Perhaps that's because the other historic event that grabs me by the throat and whips me to attention is the era and mania of the Salem Witch trials. I mean, really, could a novelist choose any two more spectacular events around which to build novels? Well, yeah ... there's the Holocaust and the birth of the Christian church, the Russian Revolution and  the Reign of Terror, and, and, and ... but, you have to admit, Katherine latched onto a couple of doozies when she penned her first novels. To boot, I'm a Yankee and lived for years within spitting distance of Salem/Danvers, where all the Salem witch drama unfolded. But that's a different story ...

So, okay. The good thing about both novels is that they are based in geographic area that I know and love. The House of Velvet and Fog takes place in Boston and is told in flashback fashion. Fast track plot without spoilers ... matriarch and favored daughter of rich Brahmin family goes down on the the Titanic. Elder daughter and wayward younger brother are left with father in the dark, brooding Beacon Hill residence to pick up the pieces and proceed in Boston society. But wait! Matriarch mother was deep into Spiritualism and elder daughter picks up the interest and tries to connect and settle her grief by 'seeing' those last moments on the ship ... and she succeeds... to a certain degree. Yes, there's a ship, and yes, there's fog and opulence, but why can't she see her mother and sister? What's going on here? Enter an ex-suitor, enter a tawdry but lovable actress, enter connections to Harvard and MIT social scientists interested in psychological research, enter WWI, enter flashbacks to father's past in the shipping trade to Asia and you have the ingredients for a layered story of a family's hidden secret. Oh yeah, and enter the widespread use of opiates in medicine before all the negatives were known.

Yup, it's a page-turner, but it's still not as good as her debut novel. Maybe that's because I still am more fascinated by the era of the Salem Witch Trials. Oh well,  it was STILL a good read.

Top Reads for 2013 ...

My gosh, the year  flew by ... and my self-imposed challenge to read 100 books in 2013 went unfulfilled, but not for lack of trying! I made it halfway to the goal and turned some exceptional pages, to boot! It's funny. I never really pushed the challenge on any of my family or friends, and yet a few people have chatted with me about my best reads of the year ... which got me thinking about the books that I've completed this year. I've always been a sucker for lists and so I'd like to toot my top ten (yeah, okay 11) books of the year ... no synopses, no ranting, just a few works of description ...

Realistic Fiction- grief and redemption ... haunting scenes of emotional isolation

YA Fantasy - the most bizarre and wonderful place with the coolest use of old photos to enhance the plot

Biography- a righteous man in an evil time who held his morals intact against Nazi bullies

Criminal Thriller- one kick-ass Crimie with an ending that will have you shaking your head

Fantasy - a darker than dark re-telling of the Peter Pan story with artwork that is phenomenal

Memoir - growing up in China - UGH - and cheering for the underdog kid

Dramatic Fiction - a chance in a lifetime, a good deed gone awry, a haunting story

Middle Reader Realistic Fiction - a remarkable young boy makes a big change for the better

Religion/Theology - separating the historical Jesus from the spiritual Savior

Biography - a remarkably talented woman creates an artistic haven for herself and fellow artists in Gloucester, MA

Historical Fiction - the beginning of a saga about New York - Grade A historical fiction

So there you go ... my faves for the year. It was hard picking a short list ... there have been so many good books. Reviewing the year, though, has made me realize that I did spread my reading across genres, which was one of the side goals for the 100 Book Challenge. It also made me happy to look back at the new authors that I discovered ... there are so many talented writers out there in the world! I am SO glad that I enjoy reading!I can hardly wait to begin a new year and start working on a new reading goal ... stay tuned.

A Place of Greater Safety - Hilary Mantel

Three young men come together at a Catholic school in the years prior to the French Revolution. They come from different classes of society, have vastly different personalities, and end up travelling different life paths that criss-cross during the turbulent years leading up to the dissolution of the French economy, the famine among the French commoners, destruction of the French monarchy, the rise of political factions that wrench a republic from the blood soaked ruins of French society. If you can keep the political comings and goings of the characters straight, you'll have won half the battle with this book. It's an enthralling read, but I am infinitely grateful for the 'Cast of Characters' printed at the beginning of the book!

Hilary Mantel has taken the lives of Maximilien Robespierre, Georges-Jacques Danton, and Camille Desmoulins and woven a tale that leads the reader through the tangled and corrupt society of the French nobility, the grasping class of public servants, the rough and tumble street life of Paris, and the bourgeois life of rural France that rises to become a political force to be reckoned with during the years leading up to the French Revolution.

As in a Shakespearean play, it becomes evident for those unfamiliar with these three historical figures that they will meet a sad ending ... the guillotine was, indeed, a sad mistress. What's really scary, though, is contemplating the social force that was behind this historic revolution. I was reminded of a tsunami when I thought about the public fervor that careened out of control during this era. Scary times. Desperate times.

If you are interested in historical fiction, this is a good read ... I think it's challenging, but highly satisfying. I did, though, have to do extensive Internet research/reading to keep on top of the political developments during the late 1700's in France.

In the Body of the World - Eve Ensler

This is a book about avoidance and confrontation, powerful personality and humbled soul, living life and confronting death, internalizing violence and evil and harvesting cancer. This is a difficult and often tearful read that is amazing and cathartic and rejuvenating. This is a memoir of Eve Ensler's bout with cancer, her psychological voyage through the disease, her trial by fire within the healthcare system and her eventual victory over the cancer that ravaged her body.

I couldn't help but be reminded of Dante's journey through Hell when I read this book. Ms. Ensler travels the world advocating for an end to violence against women and children. She recounts the endless people and places that she has witnessed, the causes she has invested her energy in, and tells of the violent family dynamics that caused her such early pain. It is clear that she has spent her life coming to terms with her father's violent and abusive treatment, her mother's passivity, her dangerous and rebellious behavior. Her past has fueled her passions for advocacy, but that advocacy took its toll on her body.

Her voyage through the diagnosis of uterine cancer, the surgical removal of various tumors, the complications of infection, the chemo therapy, and the soul searching and emotional tribulations make for such a powerful read ... that's all I can say. The woman is a force of nature ... a fighter ... a philosopher ... a strong female force for nurturance and peace and healing and feminine empowerment. God bless her.

The Apothecary - Maile Meloy

Ever since I stopped teaching, I have missed the classroom read-aloud time just about as much as I have missed the kids. Consequently, I keep my eyes out for a good middle reader that has the action, the content that is ripe for discussion, setting and events that bring 'teachable moments' to discussion, and a book that I know will lead kids to want more, more, more at the end of each chapter.

I have found it in this kid's novel by Maile Meloy. Her style is fast-paced. She has an excellent way with dialogue that makes it sound 'real and true' to and between her characters. She can tell a tale with mystery and yes, violence without having things get out of hand and too graphic.

In this particular book, she deals with the Cold War that is in full swing after World War II. Her young protagonist Janie Scott is a transplanted Californian in London. Janie's parents have been placed on the suspicion list of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Rather than stay in the States and face blacklisting, they move to London and get work in the British film industry. Janie is unceremoniously uprooted from her California high school and moved with her parents to England. She is homesick, nervous, and confused about her parents' predicament.

Fate will deliver her an adventure that will bring magic and mystery into her life, though. Janie meets some interesting new schoolmates at her small private school that also share mysterious backgrounds. On Janie's first day of school, she meets Benjamin Burrows and Sergei Shiskin. Benjamin's father is an apothecary in a shop near Janie's new flat. Sergei's father is a mysterious presence in the park near the school. As Janie gets to know Benjamin, she finds he wants more than to be an apothecary like his father, but events will transpire that make Benjamin develop more than a passing interest in what his father does in his apothecary shop. Sergei will be dragged into exciting events that develop around a pharmacoepia manual that Benjamin's father guards with unatural and mysterious zeal and his father's involvement with Mr. Burrows. When Mr. Burrows is kidnapped by agents with German accents, Benjamin and Janie become steward of the mysterious and valuable pharmacoepia manual and dash fast to understand just what tiger they have grabbed by the tail! Spies, questionable allies, lies and secrets, and yes, just a bit of teen romance ... what a fun read-aloud for a winter vacation trip, in a classroom in the weeks before school vacation, or curled up before bed each night.

The beauty of the book is that it has a follow-up novel that I really think will inspire kids to follow up on Janie's and Benjamin's adventures ... The Apprentice.  Appropriate for readers from about ten and upward to fourteen or fifteen. ... Christmas is coming ... enjoy!

A Time to Kill - John Grisham

I'm not usually a lover of the legal/criminal thriller, but over the years, John Grisham has captured my attention. I've usually become familiar with his stories through the movie adaptations of his work, but I've also begun to pick up his books on occasion. It started, though, with his book called A Painted House, which was NOT a legal thriller. I found it refreshing that he would leave the proven moneymaker formula that he'd cornered and branch out a bit. I also liked his book called Skipping Christmas, a nice comment on leaving commercialism and the rushed and fake nature of one up man ship that Christmas becomes in certain circles of society. The first legal thriller that I read was The Firm. That was good enough that I saw the movie when it was released. And then ... I left well enough alone for a long time.

A while back, I heard that Grisham would be releasing a new novel that picks up after A Time to Kill leaves off. Back comes the lawyer that was embroiled in the legal case that A Time to Kill brought to readers. Back comes the locale and the courthouse, the tension, the groups within Mississippi society that use the criminal case as a springboard for their own agendas, and the dark undercurrent of  'backstory'. My curiosity was piqued, but I'd not read his first blockbuster of a novel ... until now.

Let me say that vigilante justice is a scary proposition for me to consider. On page one, the book places the reader right smack dab in the center of a heinous act. A child is abducted, beaten, raped, and left for dead only to survive and suffer great psychological pain and irreparable physical harm. Her father, while calm and strong for his family, is so deeply traumatized by what has happened to his little girl that he snaps. He gets a gun and sets about killing these two drunken criminal thugs in a very public way.

Thus begins the domino effect that a sensational murder case will cause in this small rural county in Mississippi. Black leaders will galvanize the black community, white supremacists will drag the specter of the KKK back to the public eye, prosecution and defense lawyers will grovel for publicity to enhance their careers, local friends will be challenged to remain friendly with each other as they confront their biases, and a small tight-knit family will be thrown into the limelight under the worst of conditions. It's a tight story with a lot of threads and Grisham tells it well.

I was still left with uneasy feelings and questions about the discrepancies within the legal system where race is concerned, the ethics of lawyers and society's prejudices and passions for vigilantism. Perhaps that is precisely what Grisham aimed to leave his reader with ... boy, what a read!

Addendum- Sycamore Row , Grisham's new book, is currently sitting pretty at #1 on the New York Times best seller list ... ca ching, John!

The Hills of Tuscany - Ferenc Máté

The idea of chucking it all here in the States and moving to a small place in a foreign country is a dream of mine. Several years ago, my husband and I had the chance to live in Germany for a short time; our love of travel and discovery was awakened. Ever since that junket, we've tried to think of a way to get back to Germany on a more permanent basis. We dream. We websearch places and towns in Bavaria. We dream.

Of course, that being said, we'd have to win the lottery. To feed the fantasy, I sometimes pick up books that take me to a different country, a different lifestyle, and a different climate. Good Lord, this latest book has gotten me hooked on the idea of getting my sorry butt to Italy's Tuscan region before I go belly up!

Ferenc Máté writes of he and his wife's decision to finally settle down, after a life of travel, living in a variety of unconventional places, bouncing around the globe at various jobs. The place they choose is Tuscany. The frantic search for a house drives the first half of the book, but interspersed are colorful descriptions of the landscape and the light of Tuscany, the food and wine, the friendliness of the local people, and some history of the region that charms Ferenc and his wife, Candace.

The second half of the book is a slow joyful settling in to the small house and the surrounding countryside. We meet the neighbors, the local townspeople and tradesmen. We learn a bit about farming, as Ferenc and Candace begin to reclaim the land surrounding their home. We hear about festive meals with neighbors and friends and forays into the countryside to forage for the ingredients of late suppers, languid picnics, and romantic interludes. It's all very dreamy and wonderful and is a perfect armchair vacation to a place that is sunny and picturesque, delicious and wine-soaked, romantic and timeless.

Yup ... Tuscany has been added to the bucket list. Thanks, Ferenc.

Johnny Appleseed - The Man, the Myth, and the American Story - Howard Means

First, let me say that I have grown up with the family story that John Chapman was somehow tied to my family tree. Now, that being said, I have known that he never married, was somewhat of an eccentric, was definitely a spiritual man, had few roots (pardon the pun), and definitely had a part in planting loads of apple seeds.

Fast forward to a couple months ago ... my son came to dinner one Sunday and, in dinner conversation, mentioned a new book that he was reading about John Chapman/Johnny Appleseed and how it was a study in separating the historic man from the great American folk hero. He said it was a good read in that it had discussion on the history of the era in which John was active within the NewYork/Pennsylvania/Ohio frontier, the spiritual awakening of the era, and the economics of expansion westward. Being a history geek, I asked him to share the book when he finished reading it.

Eric brought it over last week and I have been reading a bit of it every day since ... I am not disappointed. It's exciting to read the historical information about Chapman's time in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts and his connection to the Cooley family (my ancestors). No huge genealogical revelations have come from the book, but the connection is validated by someone else (Howard Means), at least.

The biggest thing I take from the book is a new awareness of the wide open spaces of that post-Revolutionary War frontier in the immediate region just west of the Eastern seaboard. I grew up in New York state, so the idea of wilderness on the Allegheny plateau and the idea of people walking westward by following creek beds and river valleys is just so intriguing. For me, the region is criss-crossed by back roads, small farms and small industrial towns, cut through by the swath of the New York Thruway and the Pennsylvania Turnpike and scarred by coal mines slag heaps, quarries and gravel pits, defunct mills and factory towns. It all seems kind of sad when I drive through these days.

To think that places along those rivers provided rich loamy bottom land for Chapman to start apple tree seedlings is just so cool. His business model for surviving seemed to get free seeds from cider mill presses, seed them in on unclaimed land, return to tend them as they grew, harvest them as seedlings and sell or give them to homesteaders who were moving into the region. What a guy! Talk about living a green life and practicing a simple lifestyle ... it gives the reader a look at that era immediately after the new nation formed, when people were moving out away from the thirteen colonies coasts and in toward the frontier.  That's a window of time that we don't often peer through. The great events of the Louisiana purchase were several years off, the Eric Canal was just a dream in some man's mind, there were grand ideas being written about and grand events incubating in New York and Philadelphia, but on the frontier, people were chopping down trees, trading pelts, walking the old Indian trails, and carving out a place in this new country called the United States by claiming the land.

It's a good book, folks. Worthy of a read ... and I'm not saying that just because I have a long ago connection.

The Light in the Ruins - Chris Bohjalian

Bohjalian's latest book revisits World War II and the aftermath of its toll on the Italian citizenry. The story begins with the noble Rosati family, living in rural seclusion during the final days of WWII on their Tuscan estate. The attention of the Germans is drawn to the estate because of an archaeological site discovered years earlier by the family. A burial chamber with lovely wall murals and the vestiges of the burial biers and sarcophagi. Looking to form hard connections between the early Etruscans and Aryan bloodlines, the Germans come to look over the site and perhaps confiscate artifacts. In the process, members of the German search team become connected to the Rosati family. This puts the Rosatis in a difficult situation, as the Tuscan hills are full of partisans who are fighting against the Reich and the Fascist government of Mussolini. The locals and partisans may look at the family as betrayers of Italian freedom.

Fast forward ten years to Florence. One of the Rosati women is brutally murdered and butchered in her small city apartment. The homicide police called in to investigate the case are familiar with the family, as they were partisan fighters in Tuscany years earlier. In investigating the case, one of the investigators is 'taken back' to a particularly harrowing battle between the German/Fascist troops and the rebel fighters. Her scant memories, due to severe injury during the battle, become mixed up in her ability to investigate this murder.

So, two mysteries unfold. What has the Rosati family done to incur a wrath so intense that a family vendetta is being carried out against them and how will the young policewoman resolve her war memories and use them to solve a series of brutal crimes ?

I had to parcel out this book, as I wanted to enjoy a slow build to the climax of the story. The intermingling of past and  present in the telling of the story and the short italicized snippets in which we enter the mind of the murderer are really well done. Too fast a read, I think, would take away from the sinister stalking of the murderer, the slow and incremental building of memories within Investigator Bettini, and the slow exposure of the Rosati family's activities during the last months of the war.

I have loved every book that I've read by Chris Bohjalian. He has a terrific way of taking parallel stories and weaving them together seamlessly. Once again, he has delivered a great read.

Wonder - R J Palacio

Every now and then, I still pick up a read that keeps me current with the children's and young adult literature that is coming out. This is one of those books that I would have gladly done in my elementary classroom as a class read-aloud. It's rife with topics and issues for discussion, strong enough with images that kids could 'doodle' their mental images of the characters and the story's events after listening to the short 'bullet chapters'.

When young August Pullman heads out to middle school from his cloistered home schooled past, he just wants to be like every other kid at school - ordinary. August, though, has been born with a severe facial deformity that surgeries and therapy have not 'erased'. Auggie stands out when he would dearly love to blend in  ... therein, lies the roots for this story of growing up and  learning about oneself.

August is such a likable character. Despite his profound facial deformity, he IS just a normal kid. If only others in his world would grasp that fact! Instead, all the pitfalls of negotiating middle school are magnified for him because he can't just 'blend in' while he figures out the 'tween years'. His appearance sets him front and center in his world and getting around that hurdle is his ultimate challenge. In his first year at middle school, he must learn to step away from the sheltering arms of his mom and dad and into a world of kids and adults with varying degrees of kindness, acceptance, pettiness, cruelty, pity, ineptness, social savvy, and on and on. Learning to negotiate his new world, sort through the various personalities, and work on his own self-confidence will make the reader cheer him on and shake their head over August's successes and failures.

The book is narrated by August and various other people in his life ... what develops is a full picture of August's school and family life. It's full of authentic experience, strong feelings and emotions, situations that challenge readers to think about how they act towards others and evaluate their own attitudes about friendship, acceptance of differences between people, respect, self-awareness, family dynamics, and being a mensch in a hard world.

R J Palacio has written a terrific book - her first. It sits right up there next to Maniac Magee or Stargirl or Loser. Jerry Spinelli move over. There's a new girl in town! Be kind and show her the ropes ! I think she's got a few more tales to tell.

Shadowbrook - Beverly Swerling

I've done it again - fallen done the rabbit hole of good historical fiction ! This time Beverly Swerling takes me deep into the frontier of colonial America from the Hudson Valley to the Ohio frontier, from the shores of Nova Scotia to the slave markets on Wall Street in New York City. All these scenes set the stage for the French and Indian War, in which Britain and France duked it out over the 'land rights' to North America and the Native Peoples played one side against the other in a last ditch attempt to save their own cultures.

Beverly Swerling writes an excellent book. Her research is excellent and her use of French and Native American language makes this book even more 'authentic'. The French and Indian War was such a complicated and richly woven period of intrigue. Not only was there great rivalry between European powers, but the native tribes were deep in competition for pushing tribal agendas on inter-tribal governance, territory disputes, policies on living with the European interlopers, and settling old scores with each other. To boot, the Catholic church had a toehold in the frontier lands because of the on-going attempts to convert the native peoples to Catholicism.  Swerling manages to build a rich cast of characters who take the reader in and out of all these various social and political scenes. In the process, she builds a story that places one smack dab in the middle of a turbulent and dangerous period of colonial history ... now, THAT'S my kind of book!

Central characters are a young Catholic woman bound for the Poor Sisters of St Clare's nunnery in Quebec. Nicole is torn between her attraction to young Quentin Hale, a legendary backwoodsman and her religious promise to give herself to Christ by taking her vows with the Poor Sisters. Hale's adopted brother Cormac Shea is a man who lives between two worlds. His mother is a native Potawatomi and his father is a colonial. She comes to the Hale Grant's estate, Shadowbook when Cormac is young and lives as Ephraim Hale's mistress. Shadowbrook sits in the vicinity of Lake George and the southern portion of the Adirondack Mountains, deep in the conflicted region where the French and Indian War would play out. Cormac and Quentin become 'brothers' over the years of growing up in these forests and travelling between the white colonial's world and the world of the native tribes. It is through their eyes that the story develops. Of course, Swerling has many other well-developed characters who come in and out of Cormac and Quentin's lives; they help build this complex tale. We always care deeply, though, how these two will weather the increasingly dangerous and bloody conflict that soon ignites the frontier between the French and British powers. What a read ...

I can hardly wait to see what I can find by this novelist after I finish a few other books on my 'to be read' list!

American Gods - Neil Gaiman

This was possibly one of the most bizarre reads that I've ever stuck with ... to the bitter end. I read Gaiman's fantasy Neverwhere last year with an on'line group and loved its quirky characters and spooky/creepy/weird plotline. It was nothing compared to this tome!

So ... the premise of this book is that North America, the great wilderness is inhabited by the gods that the native peoples believed in and the gods brought by explorers, immigrants, castaways and slaves over the milennia. However, these ancient gods are feeling pretty threatened by the new gods that modern American civilzation has turned to ...

No longer are we hapless humans happy to kowtow to Christ, Thor, Anansi, Mami Wawa, Selene, etc, etc. We've got new gods to worship - those of modern media, Internet gods, the gods of commercialism and those gods are just as jealous and power hungry as the ancient gods, just as bloodthirsty, just as tricky and downright devious! Looks like there's a confrontation brewing!

Wrapped up in this brewing conflagration, is Shadow, our human protagonist. Shadow has just done a term in the state prison and is looking to head home to his wife and a job provided by a good friend, but the gods have other plans ... tragedy strikes and Shadow learns that his wife and best friend are killed in a highway accident. The road home for Shadow becomes a series of strange encounters with even stranger folk. Shadow comes to undertand that he is dealing with creatures from the heavens and the underworld, as he makes connections through dreams, bizarre meetings along the road, and in the air. Think of this book as 'Trains,Planes, and Automobiles' with a decidedly phantasmagorical bent !

Gaiman always has had a creative imagination! In this book, he uses it plus an encyclopedic knowledge of different cultural gods and goddesses to create strange comment on religion, faith, reverence and duty, courage and rewards.

Did I like it? Yes and no. It was real work reading this book. I had to Google a kazillion times to figure out who some of the characters were based on. I had to take breaks from some of the more bizarre encounters that Shadow made ... cookbooks are a great release, just sayin'. Ultimately, though, Gaiman drew me back. I couldn't help but want to see Shadow come out of this horrible chapter of his life on an even keel, headed for some sort of peace with himself, his past, and his spiritual mindset, and his future ... oh, and there was the matter of that strange disappearance and presumed murder ... yeah, that too.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Rachel Joyce

A dysfunctional childhood in an unhappy family creates a troubled man. Recently retired and lost in a troubled marriage, Harold Fry receives a letter from a woman he once worked with. She is residing in a hospice, suffering from cancer and she has written Harold to say goodbye. The specter of the loss of an old work mate spurs Harold to write a letter in return, but on the way to post it, a strange thing happens. Harold is inspired to go see his friend, Queenie. He does it the simplest way he knows how; he sets off on foot. Thus begins the unlikely pilgrimage that will take Harold Fry much farther than his feet could ever carry him. His is a mental, physical, and spiritual pilgrimage that, in its solitude, forces him to trod old paths of memory and confront his 'ghosts in the closet'.

Along the way, Harold meets the most amazing group of people and each spur him to reflect on issues that he has buried deep rather than confront. Some people help and inspire him and some make him retreat and repeat mistakes of his past that, on the second go around, he is able to evaluate with more honesty and self-reflection. Always, this story is written with gentle humor, candor, and yes, some pain for it digs deep into the joys and sorrows of marital relationships, parenting, family dynamics, and society's foibles.

A very good read ...

Zealot - The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth ... Reza Aslan

I really have been enjoying this book. I ordered it the minute I heard the review of it on NPR's evening show, All Things Considered. Shortly after receiving it in the mail, I plopped it on my pile of  'up next books' and went on to finish a few other books. It was during that time that the book got 'picked up' by the mainstream news and certain websites that began the rant about its author being a Muslim, it's blasphemous questioning of the validity of Jesus as The Messiah, the anti-Christian undermining motive of the author, et cetera, et cetera. Bullocks all!

This book, I am finding, is a pretty straightforward presentation of historical research on the late Roman and early Christan eras, the literary history of the Bible as compared to other documents that reference the early Christian movement and the authors of the documents that came to be placed in the Bible, educated speculation about Jesus and his family and followers, and analysis of the terms and words used within the Gospels that open the Bible to more interpretation than has been given the typical person.

I welcome books like this because they make me think beyond the time-worn lessons that I grew up with in Sunday school and in countless sermons and religious discussions. I believe that my faith in Jesus and my God have not been shaken. They have been re-evaluated and found as strong as ever. The analysis of the texts and words of the Gospel open new windows of understanding of the world in which the Christian movement began, took form, and mirror so many of the continuing issues that confront us to this day.

There are certainly other books about Jesus that I could read, but this one came along at this moment in my life. It has spurred me to put down some of the frivolous things that I occupy my time with and look back to the roots of my faith. Is that a bad thing? I think not. Does it matter who wrote the book ? No. So I wonder ... what's all the hub-bub about?

The Sixth Man - David Baldacci

David Baldacci. He's so prolific a writer! And I had never read one of his books until a house-bound friend of mine pushed this title at me, saying, " This is the perfect book for a rainy week, Susan! You can stay in bed and read 'til you want to get up." Sounded like sound advice to me!

The thunderstorms that have passed through and rainy days have given me time to put my feet up and soak up the storyline that Baldacci delivers. In this case, his private investigators , Sean King and Michelle Maxwell happen into the world of international surveillance, national security, private sector security development, data analyses and counter-terrorism, and secrecy within government agencies ... well, THAT seems a timely topic for journalists AND novelists.

Ex-Secret Service agents, King and Maxwell are hired to meet with an ex-law professor of King's to confer on a tough homicide defense case. Off they go to an isolated federal detention center in rural Maine to meet the lawyer and his client. In the backwoods of Maine, on a desolate road, they happen upon what looks like a disabled driver who has pulled to the side of the road. Uh- ohhhh ... turns out it's the law professor. Turns out he's had a bullet put between his eyes. Turns out this case investigating strange goings on concerning an alleged serial killer who has 'clammed up' may be more than meets the eye. Turns out this is the first in a series of strange deaths, close calls, infuriating encounters with government wonks, and more double dealing and odd connections than you can shake a stick at. Heck, the confusing use of government acronyms is enough to make me take notes so I can keep things straight! The story, though, is intriguing enough to make me keep turning the pages.

I have always been encouraged to pick up Baldacci's books by my brother. He's a reader of intrigue from wayyy back. I've always resisted because of my squeamish stomach and my love for the more staid genre of historical fiction, but I must admit that while trying to expand my reading variety I have found a winner here. I like the chemistry between the two PI's. I like that their dialogue is quick, snappy and true to how good friends yack about things. It smacks of an old Bogart flick, but I like that. I like the pace of the story and I like that Baldacci is good about using characters' inner dialogue to explain political and security issues from a couple different perspectives.

I'm a newbie to Baldacci's work, but I sense that these two main characters have been central to other books that he's written. That would explain how well their personalities are developed, their tight dialogue and the 'backstory' comments that work their way into things. I may have to test my intuition by picking up some of his other titles to see if he continues to hold my interest. Like Dan Brown, he's got a way with a fast-paced intricate plot line. No wonder he's so wildly popular with the reading public.

Antonio's Wife - Jacqueline DeJohn

A first time novelist pens a story with its roots firmly in the author's past - a story of immigration from Italy to the rough tenements of New York City, a story of arranged marriages, social norms so strict that the sins of the parents are firmly passed on to their innocent children, a story about different kinds of love. This sounds like an opera, yes? Well, there's opera all wrapped up in this complex tale too.

Jacqueline DeJohn has penned an emotional tale based on the mysterious details of her grandmother's passage to America from the hills above Naples. Her main character, Mina/Maria Grazia comes to America as a mail-order bride. Settled in the tenements and new to a marriage that she hoped would bring happiness and escape from her 'past life', Maria becomes a seamstress for an opera company in Manhattan. Her marriage deteriorates around her into a frightening and abusive calamity and she pins her hopes on saving pennies from her pay to escape this second traumatic chapter of her young life. It is at this moment in life when Francesca Frascatti, a renowned Italian diva comes to the opera house to sing Tosca. This flamboyant singer needs a dresser and Mina is given the job. The story line takes a dramatic and operatic turn at this point and never stops careening toward a passionate, murderous, emotional, and yes, operatic, finish.

This novel, while dramatic and over-the-top coincidental, meshes together the characters, details of the history of New York City geography, famous names from the early 1900's, and the general themes of ethnic discrimination, immigration, the development of 'the Black Hand' aka Mafia, issues of women's rights, the history and development of opera as entertainment in America, the politics of Tammany Hall, and the development of crime investigation techniques. It's full to brimming ... like a good opera with an ending that takes a great deal of finagling to reach ... like a good opera.

Inferno - Dan Brown

I have read Dan Brown a couple other times, but his books always seem a blur to me. Now, that can be looked at as good and bad. On the good side, his stories are always fast-paced page turning novels that are full of references to art and political history. They're very well researched and the famous names and historical events that are enmeshed within the plot are always seamlessly woven into the storyline. The bad side of reading his books so fast is that there is always a lot to absorb and keep straight, and I tend to forget them almost as soon as I've finished them. Sure, I can tell you the basic ghist of the books, but most of the details go by the board; there's just too much stimulus load poured too quickly into my poor brain.

Inferno is no exception. Once again, Robert Langdon finds himself deep in the middle of intrigue and running for his life, as he fights the clock to solve a mystery involving a strange attack that puts him in the hospital with a bullet wound to the head, a bizarre hidden capsule that he has 'muled' in some weird way, a memory loss that is disorienting, strange dreams that are prophetic and somehow tied to what has happened to him during a 'lost couple of days'.  Once again, Langdon hooks himself up with a young female cohort that helps him navigate dangers and sticky situations. Once again, Langdon uses his encyclopedic knowledge of history, art, and literature to put the pieces of his life in order and come up with a solution to a potentially horrific international catastrophe.

No spoilers here ... this book will familiarize you with Dante's Divine Comedy, Italian Renaissance art, and the city of Florence. You'll enjoy padding around after Robert Langdon. He's a likeable protagonist. I can see Mr. Brown making a long series of stories with Langdon as the central character. Detective stories for art and history geeks ... there's a real niche there.

A word of advice --- read the book when you have a couple days to stay up late turning the pages. Sleep deprivation is a drag when you've read half the night away and then, you have to get up and produce.

An aside ---- betting on a movie production ... it can't be too far behind the book. The question is ... will Tom Hanks keep it up as RL or will we see a new face in the role?

City of Dreams - Beverly Swerling

I love it when I discover a new author, one that I know I will enjoy, one that will make me search out all the published titles, and hang on, waiting for new works. Beverly Swerling is my newest find. It's not like she hasn't been around for a while. Her first novel appeared back in 2001 ... and what a place to start!

The settlement of New Amsterdam was a commercial venture right from the start and with commerce came the wealthy looking to become more wealthy, the adventurers who would explore the new ways of life , the moral and the amoral, the poor looking to better themselves, and all stripes in between. Swerling writes a novel that brings the reader to New Amsterdam through the experiences of Lucas Turner and his sister, Sally. Lucas is a barber and surgeon newly arrived from Rotterdam, Sally is his apothecary assistant. Together, the two hope to make their way in the New World, where the need for competent surgeons is constant.

Lucas and Sally reflect the beginnings of a move within medicine - a time when herbs and simples were becoming better understood, when the concepts of blood transfusion, the practice of sterilization of instruments and bandages was becoming known, but still little understood, when anatomy was still a mystery to some physicians, but slowly becoming known to surgeons, when there was a great deal of consternation about new practices that might be considered unnatural, evil, and even smacking of witchcraft. Lucas and Sally fight ignorance and share their skills in order to make a living. The story follows their settlement and subsequent marriages before turning to their progeny and the further development of the city, as it becomes a colony of the British and is re-named New York ... and so it goes. The book is written in sections labelled Book I, II, III, etc. that cut across the years between 1664 and 1798. Each era deals with members of the Turner or Van der Vries (Sally's married name) families, the further development of the medical field through their experiences, and the development of New York City and the colonial expansion of Manhattan and the environs.

Swerling has done an incredible job of researching and developing her story - rather, stories. It's a saga ... and a good one, indeed. At no time does she compromise the good story to become too didactic about the history and vice versa. The history is never compromised to build the story. She has gone on to write three more books in what has become known as her City of Dreams series. They bring the development of the city up through the Gilded Age and are all meticulously researched as well as having meaty fictional story lines set within the framework of the urban history.

I look forward to finding more of Swerling's books and am thinking of reading them in the order that she published, which means that the next book I'll dig around for will be her novel called Shadowbrook.