Four Wives

This topic has been done. And redone. And done again. Who does it best? Olivia Goldsmith tried, so did many, many others. Writing the parallel stories of four women (why four? Is it the magic number?) during a stressful period of their lives has been done so many times that all the women blend into one singly whiny woman in my brain.

Occasionally there is a book about four women that rises above the others and makes a fun read. Unfortunately this is not one of those books. It's not a bad read, it's just that the characters are extremely one-dimensional and very, very blah.

I didn't enjoy this book at all. In fact I'll venture my most candid opinion...I think I wasted my time reading it.

Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife

If your faith taught you that living in polygamy was the key to eternal salvation, what would you do? Follow it's tenets, although there are people who love you and want to be in a monogamous relationship with you. Strange and unbelievable as it may seem, Irene Spencer's tale of being a member of a polygamous Mormon splinter sect is wonderfully absorbing reading.

Spanning an era from the sixties to the eighties Shattered Dreams is the tale of a wife who learned to coexist with other women - her place in heaven was assured if she did that. This is not a tale of perversion or cultishness at all. Instead it is a story of how women share the same man with jealousy and discomfort, how they aid each other and hate each other and how their lives go on in poverty with little but faith to sustain them.

Mudbound

The Bellweather Prize is an award founded by Barbara Kingsolver to recognize works of social responsibility. Mudbound is one of the most harrowing novels I've read about life and racial tensions in the Deep South of the 1940s.

Each chapter is narrated by a different person. Written by a less gifted author this would have been a very scattered story. Every character in this book has his own unique voice, and therefore the story is very coherent and keeps the attention of the reader. This is a moving and wonderful book.

I should have a special category of books that keep me up past midnight when I have work the following day. If I ever do create such a category this book will be at the top of that list.

Blindsided by a Diaper

Couples in the trenches. That's what this book is about, and anyone who has a enwborn most certainly knows that diapers blindside you. The review on Barnes and Noble says "In Blindsided by a Diaper, some of today’s most popular writers dare to tell what it’s really like for couples in the trenches of the parenting experience. They boldly reveal intimate aspects of their relationships, sharing the choices they’ve made, the joy and frustrations they’ve experienced, the trials and tribulations of their sex lives, the lessons they have learned, and how their lives together as parents may or may not be what they were expecting. The writers have quite literally invited you inside their bedrooms, their minds, and their lives as parents."

And boy, what lives they lead. However, as most parents know whatever the life you lead, once you have a newborn your life becomes distressingly similar to all the other thousands of parents with newborns unless you have a round-the-clock nanny.

Fun and entertaining reading, and a good gift for the frazzled parents of a newborn or a toddler.

The Monsters of Templeton

How many books exist around the fact that the author can write a whole story around one single question? All the whodunnits, I suppose, since the question is 'who did it?'. Lauren Groff writes "The Monsters of Templeton" around a girl's question: "Who's my father?". Her mother, not giving a a single (or two word - first and last name) answer sends her on a genealogical hunt among several dozens of departed ancestors. Oh, and the fact that the protagonist is an archaeologist is useful.

Apparently Stephen King recommends this book highly. I don't. It's disjointed, annoying and extremely difficult to get into. There are brief interesting spurts, but they run out of steam and the book is an overall boring read.

No stars for this one.

The Perfect Scent: A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris and New York

I don't wear perfume. So I really can't fathom what made me read this book since neither haute perfumes nor drugstore brands interest me at all. What was truly interesting about this book was the way that Chandler Burr interweaves the stories of the creation of two perfumes - one for the house of Hermes and the other for Sex and the City siren Sarah Jessica Parker.

An insider's view of the world of perfumes...who knew that most houses with signature scents commission one of a few companies to make their perfumes? All the day to day grind of creating an olfactory marvel is written here, and remarkably one feels like reading it instead of shelving it among a bunch of chemistry texts.

Something different and something new. Some kind of exotic blend of tea should be drunk while reading this. Certainly not your common variety of orange pekoe.

Guards! Guards!

Another Terry Pratchett. What can I say? I've gone on a total binge because the books are so wonderfully funny. This book is the story of what happens when a dragon returns and claims the throne of Ankh-Morpork.

Where else except in these books would one fine a six-foot dwarf, a noble damsel of equally noble proportions and Sam Vimes of the Night Watch? Extremely entertaining and highly recommended. Thanks, Gayle!

Toad Rage

Limpy is a cane toad who can't understand why humans hate toads. They do hate toads don't they, because they squash them with their cars and their trucks? Many of Limpy's family members (there are hundreds of them) expire tragically before his very eyes. Somehow Limpy must make humans see how wonderful cane toads are.

Thus begins Limpy's incredible journey, as written by Australian author Morris Gleitzman. Limpy and his cousin Goliath start on a voyage to let humans know of cane toads and make them behave nicer towards his kind.

A rollicking and humorous book, great for kids in elementary and middle school. There are two more books about Limpy "Toad Heaven" and "Toad Away" and they are both extremely entertaining as well.

Mayflower Madam: The Secret Life of Sydney Biddle Barrows

Due to recent news and publicity about escort agencies, I found an excellent book on how to run an escort agency written by a person who has actually done it. Sydney Biddle Barrows provides an entertaining and detailed account of how she used excellent business practices and a few attractive ladies to create an exclusive escort service that she ran for almost six years in Manhattan.

Extremely absorbing reading, informational and mostly G rated this is an excellent book. There is no apology or cringing - she did her job and she did it well. I'd recommend this book just for the style in which it is written which appeals to me; it's extremely detailed and describes New York, the girls and their customers in great detail.

The Knitting Circle

The story of a mother trying desperately to recover from the untimely death of her child, The Knitting Circle is by turns heartwrenching and heartwarming.

Once upon a time I read a story called "The Parable of Kisagotami" which is a part of a series of Buddhist parables. The parable reads:"

The Story of Kisagotami

Kisagotami became in the family way, and when the ten months were completed, gave birth to a son. When the boy was able to walk by himself, he died. The young girl, in her love for it, carried the dead child clasped to her bosom, and went about from house to house asking if my one would give her some medicine for it. When the neighbours saw this, they said, “Is the young girl mad that she carries about on her breast the dead body of her son!” But a wise man thinking to himself, “Alas! this Kisagotami does not understand the law of death, I must comfort her,” said to her, “My good girl, I cannot myself give medicine for it, but I know of a doctor who can attend to it.” The young girl said, “If so, tell me who it is.” The wise man continued, “Gautama can give medicine, you must go to him.”

Kisagotami went to Gautama, and doing homage to him, said, “Lord and master, do you know any medicine that will be good for my boy?” Gautama replied, “I know of some.” She asked, “What medicine do you require?” He said, “I want a handful of mustard seed.” The girl promised to procure it for him, but Gautama, continued, “I require some mustard seed taken from a house where no son, husband, parent, or slave has died.” The girl said, “Very good,” and went to ask for some at the different houses, carrying the dead body of her son astride on her hip. The people said, “Here is some mustard seed, take it.” Then she asked, “In my friend’s home has there died a son, a husband, a parent, or a slave?” They replied, “Lady, what is this that you say! The living are few, but the dead are many.” Then she went to other houses, but one said, “I have lost a son”; another, “I have lost my parents”; another, “I have lost my slave.” At last, not being able to find a single house where no one had died, from which to procure the mustard seed, she began to think, “This is a heavy task that I am engaged in. I am not the only one whose son is dead".

Anne Hood's story is exactly this - a woman recognizing that everyone has some kind of grief, and everyone has lost someone they love.

This one needs a box of Kleenex in addition to the tea...some people may not like it because it's not really a 'feel good' book. It's more like "Everyone has their miseries, only they hide it very well. They reveal their grief and the heroine feels better".

There's No Place Like Here

P.S. I love you was a nice book. Frothy, but nice. So was Rosie Dunne. But not this one, no.

Where do missing things disappear to? According to this book, they just disappear into a parallel universe where life goes on much the same as ours. It's an interesting concept, but extremely trivial. If a 10 year old girl disappears in the real world, much as we wish she would be alive and well in a parallel universe that is not usually the case.

I like Cecelia Ahern when she writes about lives and love and reality, but not when she writes fanciful fictions. Some people may enjoy this, but I didn't.

Now where'd that missing sock go?

Pyres

In contrast with my review below this book drew me into it's pages from the first. It's an amazing novel for a first author. Derek Nikitas has written 'Pyres' like an extremely seasoned writer.

Pyres is extremely multi dimensional. All the main characters are female. Nikitas does an excellent job of comparing and contrasting them, and integrating them into the story. The writing is very sharp and clear, and bleak at times, but that does not detract from the overall story. It is as much a thriller as a coming-of-age novel.

A very good book that I will recommend for teens and older. Not a book to be savored with tea. It would go well with a sharp citrus drink.

Thief of Time

Rule One: "Do not act incautiously when confronting a little bald wrinkly smiling man" How could you not enjoy a book that has rules like this one as part of it's storyline? Everything in this book is absolutely hilarious including Qu, the monk who supplies gadgets to Lu-Tze and Lobsang, two of the main characters in this book (James Bond, anyone?)...and War, one of the horsemen of the Apocalypse who is now married to a Valkyrie and is worried about his digestive system. Also, who could forget the Igors, who therve tho well?

The thing I enjoy most about all the Pratchett novels I've read so far is the fact that one can start reading at any random page and still find things funny. Of course one would then miss most of the storyline, but who cares - its still funny and entertaining.

This book likes to poke fun at the discipline behind the martial arts. The relationship between Lu-Tse and his pupil is one that could easily be drawn from that of any kung-fu movie - and includes references to masters calling their pupils by the names of various insects...

Do read this book. It's really enjoyable and I spent a pleasant time reading it.

Slip of the Knife

I wonder why all my favorite murder mystery authors are female...and British. Maybe it started at a young age with Agatha Christie. When there is a new murder mystery out by a female British author I snatch it up like a rabid dog and start reading.

Denise Mina is British - and female. I've read all of her books to date and always pick up the next book because I keep hoping. For me, Mina's books have the requisite "atmosphere" but there is always something lacking. I always, always fail to get drawn in and I put her books down saying miserably "Maybe next time..." and wait for the next book

It happened again with her newest book. It looked good, the inside front cover made me eager to go home and make out with my book. I failed to be drawn in again and finished the book with the feeling that something was missing. Maybe it's just me.

Christmas at Fairacre

There are times in my life when I want to read a simple uncomplicated book . No firearms, no deaths, no violence, no dragons and no angst. Miss Read's books are perfect for those times. Soothing would be a good word to describe her collective works.

Christmas at Fairacre is a collection of three stories written by Miss Read in the early 50s. Fairacre is a small English village set in the countryside, and Miss Read is the headmistress of Fairacre school. She describes life in the village the small storms in porcelain teacups lovingly and wonderfully.

A wonderful gift for a friend, a teacher or any person who does not like blood and thunder Christmas at Fairacre is a book I have read many times, with my enjoyment increasing proportionally to the times I've read it.

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming

Joshilyn Jackson = Southern Gothic. Not antebellum Southern Gothic but trailer trash redneck Southern Gothic. She's been on my 'to read' authors list since her first book "Gods in Alabama" was published several years ago. Jackson writes well about blood ties and their strength, a theme that runs through all her books to date.

There's a great deal of family squabbling, angst, marriage drama and the like all of which are part and parcel of any kind of fiction that is geared towards women. There's also the Southern Gothic favorite, the Undisclosed Family Secret. There is a murder mystery which the whole story revolves around. All in all an engaging plot with various subplots helping carry the story along. A very readable 320 pages.

Women should enjoy this novel, especially those who like a family tale entwined with a murder mystery with both parts carrying about equal weight.

Going Postal

Another credit to Gayle for introducing me to Terry Pratchett's books. I should confess that I've only read two and a bit, but all of them had me laughing right from the beginning. I started laughing at the beginning of the series when there is confusion as to what the turtle (on whose back Prachett's Discworld is resting) is doing, and I laughed throughout all of the books. Is the turtle heading for the 'big bang' i.e. to mate with another turtle or is it just a 'steady gait'?

Moist Von Lipwig (pronounced Lipvig), our hero, is trying to reform the Ankh-Morph postal system. Unfortunately this system has been out of commission for many years He is doing this under duress, and he's not even supposed to be alive. Moist must deal with undelivered mail, ghosts, crooked villains and a cat. His post-office building says "neither rain nor snow nor glo m of ni t". ( some of the bronze letters have been stolen) and Moist is going to make sure his mail will go where it is supposed to.

Highly entertaining and very funny. I love this book.

Perdido Street Station

This is one novel that leaves me undecided. Do I like it or do I not? The answer is I don't know. I think the reason is that this novel defies genre. It is wholly fantasy, part science fiction, part horror and part general fiction. China Mieville moves seamlessly from one to another, and writes a story that captures one's imagination. For people who are tired of heroes, elves, dragons, dwarfs and Stephen King here's a fantasy they might like.

Here is an excerpt from the editorial review at Barnes and Noble: All manner of aliens and humans coexist in the strange, world-spanning city of New Crobuzon. Here, dark magic and advanced science flourish amid an atmosphere of mysticism and madness, under a government that uses cruel military repression to enforce its laws. Independent cultures and civilizations exist side by side, occasionally overlapping and breeding increasingly grotesque oddities. Mutants and hybrids of every order can be found: those with extra limbs grafted to their bodies or with their heads joined to arcane machinery.

Some scenes are too repetitive, after all there are only so many times a city can be described over and over again. It provides for great visual imagery, though. The story is unremarkable with regards to the plot.

Good teen reading, especially if the teenager is someone who likes Michael Moorcock.

The Opposite of Love

A feel-good and girly book. I'd call it "Advanced Chick-lit", maybe. The story is not always happy, but in most parts extremely humorous and kept me reading well into the night. Julie Buxbaum captures the emotions that we experience during and after a loved one's illness and death extremely well, especially the state of being in denial.

There is also the traditional nice boyfriend, the office lech and the evil office Cruella de Ville who uses the office couch for nefarious purposes. A set of entertaining friends, a distant father and a loving grandfather round off the cast of characters who are characterized very well and help the plot along.

A nice read when you don't want to read anything too heavy. Reminds me a lot of the early writing of Marian Keyes. A fun and entertaining book.

Name of the Wind: The Kingkiller Chronicle: Day One

This is the most brilliant first fantasy novel that DAW president Elizabeth Wollheim says she read, and as I have probably read way less fantasy than Elizabeth Wollheim, it stands to reason that it is the most brilliant first fantasy novel I've read too. This is a whopper of a book. It's almost 900 pages long.

Patrick Rothfuss has very few of the problems that plague most writers of fantasy in their first books. I completely lost myself in the book for the first 600 pages or so. One slight problem was that the final quarter of the book seemed overlong. There are minute happenings that add to the overall detail of the book and in the first three quarters they fit right in. The last few hundred pages are occupied with the hero trying to hunt a mysterious 'dragon' and that's where the story got bogged down slightly.

I'm eagerly awaiting the release of the next part of the trilogy this year, and hope that Rothfuss has not lost his touch.

Cane River

Lalita Tademy's semi-fictionalized history about three generations of women in her mother's family is an absorbing read. For people who've read Alex Hayley's 'Roots' this is a woman-centric and shorter novel of the same genre. The story is set in a Creole community, and the language, the society and the rules are somewhat different from the usual fictional books of slavery in the Southern states.

The story is interesting to me because it's written from a woman's perspective. The female characters are the strong ones; the men play rather marginal roles here, and their characters seem less developed. The setting and the descriptions of Creole life make the reader require little effort to imagine life in the 19th and early 20th centuries in Louisiana.

This books was a selection of Oprah's book club, and should appeal to women readers.

The Good Husband of Zebra Drive: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series

This is actually the eighth book in the The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series by Alexander McCall-Smith. The series started with the book by the same name, and none of the books in the series disappoint.

The overview on www.bn.com says: In the life of Mma Ramotswe – a woman duly proud of her fine traditional build – there is rarely a dull moment, and in her newest round of adventures, challenges and intrigues, the same certainly holds true. But one thing above all else is keeping her occupied – her estimable husband, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni. He has been hinting for some time now that he intends to do something special for their adopted daughter, Motholeli, and it seems that the time for this good deed has come. Of course, good deed or not, his plan is bound to hit some snags. And that’s when he will undoubtedly consider himself doubly – perhaps even triply – lucky to be married to the ever-resourceful, ever-understanding Precious Ramotswe.

This detective series does not deal with spies, murder, serial killers or mayhem. In fact most of the detection in the whole series is about matters such as who picked the fruit off a client's tree, or why the mechanic of Mr Matekoni's garage is not working to his full potential (he never does).

If ever there was a book to be slowly savored, it it this one or any other books of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series. A beautifully simple series of books.

Backyard Giants: The Passionate, Heartbreaking, and Glorious Quest to Grow the Biggest Pumpkin Ever

Why am I reading books about pumpkins? It's nowhere close to October, the only time I'm even remotely interested in a pumpkin for my Jack O' Lantern so what exactly prompted me to read this book I don't really know. Maybe because the cover was so irrepressibly orange. And pumpkins the size of Cinderella's coach would capture anyone's imagination.

Growing the worlds heaviest pumpkin is supposed to be an international sport. Goodness, whoever knew? I didn't until I read Susan Warren's book. The competition is fierce and people resort to many means, some of them vile. Men obsessively care for their pumpkin patches, marriages and relationships suffer and fall and the big weigh-ins approach. This is the stuff of dreams.

A wonderful gift for any gardener, or even for non gardening people who like books that are not your normal run-of-the-mill fiction or biography. Entertaining and - dare I say the word? - sweet.

Lies of Locke Lamora

Thought it might appear if I'm a fan of the fantasy genre, in actuality I'm not. I'm tired of dragons. I'm tired of orcs. I'm tired of elves. I'm tired of authors who have rehashed Tolkien over and over. Nobody can best Tolkien's orcs, elves and dragons, that's my opinion.

I'd seen Lies of Locke Lamora sitting on the shelves for a while. I thought it was another medieval knight in long lost land saga. So I didn't bother picking it up. It took a long stretch of boredom and someone's recommendation to make me pick up the book.

It was a pleasant surprise. Firstly, it's very hard to write a book in which the hero is a villain, well, some sort of a villain, albeit of the Robin Hood type. Scott Lynch does the world building skillfully. The story revolves around a band of thieves and their capers, and their attempt at beating the Gray King, a shadowy figure who is intent on ruling the underworld of Camorr, the setting of this novel.

I didn't want this book to end, which is an extremely rare thing for me to say. So when the sequel Red Seas Under Red Skies came out I read that almost immediately hoping for more of the same. Unfortunately I was disappointed with Lynch's second effort which is less seamlessly put together and feels like a few scenarios hastily cobbled together.

Mortal Engines

The opening sentence of this novel is "It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea." Philip Reeve writes of far in the future, how, after the sixty-second war townships survive by traveling across barren land and devouring smaller cities in what is known as "Municipal Darwinism". Quite a big change from spaceships shooting lasers at each other in the year 3001 or the other favorite fantasy era, the pseudo-middle ages.

This is a rather bloodthirsty tale, though it is recommended as a YA novel. Many grisly deaths take place, there are the usual good guy vs bad guy scenarios and the teenage protagonists who are naturally a boy and a girl. It has a good bit of humorous references which make the book entertaining. The characters are a little cliched. The villain has killed a hero's parents and is out to kill the hero - familiar territory here. In fact he's already tried to kill the hero and scarred her...no, she doesn't wear glasses.

What makes this book an excellent read (it was an ALA best book for Young Adults) is the world building. The book makes the idea that an entire city can pack itself up and travel around on large wheels sound entirely plausible. It also explains the city's inner workings in no small detail.

Enjoyable and entertaining. This is the first in the Hungry City Chronicles series, so I have three more books to read. I hope the rest of the series is as entertaining as the first book.

Strange as This Weather Has Been

What is it like to live your life beneath a mountaintop strip mine? Anne Pancake writes of a coal mining family and their four children living through the mining boom and mountaintop strip mining that takes place very close to their home. The water is spoiled, the workers lose their jobs and children grow up under the shadow of the mountain.

Good novels of Appalachia are few and far between. This is one of the good ones. Pancake writes sparingly but strongly of how the collapsing mountain and the collapsing economy contribute to the breakup of a family and through them, the change of a rural community.

The story is told through the voices of Lace and her four children, all of who are affected in different ways. Pancakes writing shows how people love their land, and why they stay on somewhere when there is no reason to remain.

A poignant story, well written and enjoyable. No happy endings here, but a satisfying read.

Her Last Death

If the phone rang one morning and a relative said your mother was dying, would you go? I would, but then I have an extraordinarily strong relationship with my mother. Susanna Sonnenberg doesn't go, and in this memoir she explains why she doesn't go to her mother's bedside when her mothe is dying from an automobile accident.

Reading this book I had flashbacks to another memoir that sounded about as gritty (and was later on found to be part fake) - James Frey's A Million Little Pieces. Reading this book makes one wonder if parents such as Sonnenberg's exist - they obviously do, otherwise we wouldn't need foster care.

The memoir gives us a picture of an appalling mother who is maybe bipolar and definitely unstable. It also tells us of the author's attempts to be the best and most normal mother she can be, and that is what makes this book readable for me. The book doesn't give a satisfactory explanation of why the author's mother the person she is, but then that is true of most life situations. It's hard to explain what makes a person who they are.

The Commoner

A not-so-thinly disguised tale of Empress Michiko of Japan. In the book John Burnham Schwartz writes of the fictitious Haruko, the first commoner to marry the heir to the throne of Japan. The details of her life follow exactly what one can read on Wikipedia about the Empress of Japan. She studies at the same school and university, and meets her spouse the future Emperor on a tennis court.

The book is very slow-paced and tries to capture the image of post world war Japan. Schwartz's characters are not very dimensional and though the book tries to capture the life of a princess under the glare of media and a royal household it does not achieve it's goal. The end of the story was completely unrealistic and in my opinion it ruined what little liking I had for the book.

Memoirs of a Geisha it is not.

The Rottweiler

Ruth Rendell (and her other alias Barbara Vine) has long been a favorite author of mine. She usually writes mystery stories under the name Ruth Rendell, and other novels as Barbara Vine. The one thing common to all her books is that they have a disturbing undertone - at the beginning one is not sure who the characters are or what they will turn out to be.

Joyce Carol Oates has the greatest talent for creating the disturbed, strong and violent man. Ruth Rendell is the mistress of creating the weak villain. Her villains always end up committing crimes by accident or unintentionally, and show other aspects of their characters when trying to cover up those crimes.

This book is about a murderer stalking a London neighborhood. He takes trinkets from his victims which mysteriously turn up in a local antique shop. The odd characters who work in the antique shop and who pass through come under scrutiny, and it is there that Ruth Rendell shows her true skills as an author.

I find Ruth Rendell's Inspector Wexford series slightly less entertaining than her stand-alone mysteries, but all her books are good reads nonetheless.

Standard Hero Behavior

Did you know that all famous pirates are named after their beards? Blackbeard, Bluebeard, Flamebeard, Trimbeard, Bushbeard. It's a tradition.

It's rare to find a humorous fantasy. There's always Terry Prachett, but teens might find it hard to get all the references in his books. John David Anderson writes a very funny story in Standard Hero Behavior - after all, everyone knows what a Standard Hero should behave like.

The story is the usual fantasy; a young boy sets out to find some heroes to defend his town, and also tries to find his father who has disappeared. Along with his friend Cowel and a horse named Steed (what better name for a horse after all?) Mason Quayle sets off on his quest. The going isn't easy. They encounter marauding pixies and other creatures who test their mettle. The motto is the uplifting "Anyone Can Be A Hero" but the way the story gets to that point is very entertaining and not preachy in the least.

Don't drink anything when you are reading this book: I laughed so hard I spilled tea on it...

Split Estate

What does a family do when the mother commits suicide? Charlotte Bacon explores the lives of the bereaved - the father, the son and the daughter of the Kind family. When the father decides to leave New York and move to Wyoming - his childhood home - we see how his action affects the rest of the family and how each individual deals with grief and acceptance.

The landscape and the family are both described in spare and poignant detail. This is one book in which teenagers are portrayed extremely honestly, and their characters are not overblown in any way. The life and ethics of the grandmother who tries to provide a stable family for her widowed son and his children is lovingly described, as are the horses and the land she lives on.

A thoughtful and gently-written book.

The Gravedigger's Daughter

When Joyce Carol Oates writes about men being violent, she makes me very uncomfortable. I feel uncomfortable because of how she writes; she makes me feel I am there in the book witnessing the violence with her and it makes me uneasy. I've never had that happen with any other author, and I take it to be a sign of Oates' wonderful talent.

The gravedigger follows the path of a emigre to the US just befor the first world war, and how her former nationality affects her path in life. The author shows how people are forced to make decisions, and how those decisions affect them for many, many years.

Sometimes Oates tends to be overly wordy; but this is not one of those times. All in all an excellent book, one of her best.

The Scold's Bridle

Edgar award winning writer Minette Walters has written a slightly boring novel in this one. The themes involved are not boring in the least - murder most foul, incest and intrigue are all here, but somehow don't mesh together as well as they might have. As in many murder mysteries, it turns out that the person most likely to have committed the crime is an all-round good guy, and the bad guy is someone who might as well have been labeled 'person in the background'.

I like reading Minette Walters, and this book was no exception. It's just that I felt there was something missing that would have made me give it a very high recommendation. As always, Walters' characterization is excellent. Her characters are never wholly bad or good, and therefore quite real.

Kennedy's Brain

There are some books you read and put aside thinking "Why did I bother?" Unfortunately Henning Mankell's book "Kennedy's Brain" is such a book - at least to me. I read Henning Mankell; I like his Inspector Wallander mysteries.

To me, this book only asks the somewhat philosophical question about whether anyone cares how the people of African nations live or die. There is a murder mystery, but no-one knows who committed a murder or whether there was even a murder.

Some descriptions of Mozambique where part of the novel is set are very vivid, but that's about the only thing I have to say in praise of this book. I just don't like the story, especially how it leaves the reader hanging at the end.

Is there a part 2? Otherwise can someone please explain the ending of this book to me?

Duma Key

I think I said in an earlier post that I tend to avoid the "King' section of any bookstore or library shelf. I have never been a fan of horror, and things that go bump in the night scare me. In spite of all my misgivings (reading scary story=insomnia) I read a few pages of Duma Key while standing in line at the checkout counter of the local library. Before I knew it 15 minutes had passed and the old lady standing behind me looked about ready to commit violence with her cane because I was holding up the queue.

Stephen King writing about people who suffer is in my opinion some of the best Stephen King, not the writings that make me have insomnia. The story is about a construction worker involved in an accident which cause his arm to be amputated and also brain injury. His marriage collapses and he rents a beach house on Duma Key in an attempt to recuperate. The story then moves into the realms of 'King', but remains absorbing and very human. It reminds me very much of 'The Shining'. (Confession: some books of King make the insomnia worthwhile)

Not the run-of-the-mill story I expected. Stephen King wrote this one with wit and grace.

Empire Falls

I owe a debt to Gayle. She introduced me to three authors that I hadn't read before. Richard Russo is one of the authors she recommended. His book "Empire Falls" won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2002. Can I make a complete jackass of myself and say that the book truly deserves the award?

The book moves along very slowly. I like slow-moving stories. They let me start and stop where I please, and grab a cup of tea along the way. The characters are well-developed. The town with it's dying textile mill reminds me strongly of where I live - another town that is shutting down quietly with it's businesses. The characters seem just like the people I meet around these parts with the same attitudes and the same ambitions.

A wonderful book. I'm sorry I waited so long to read it.

The Queen of Bedlam

This is the sequel to Robert McCammon's "Speaks the Nightbird". Matthew Corbett, erstwhile witch-saver is now in New York trying to find the identity of a serial killer. McCammon does wonderfully in describing the period and the setting of the story; however some parts now become slightly implausible, and not in a McCammon-like way.

This might be the second book of a series of the detective exploits of Matthew Corbett, and will therefore garner much readership because of it's relation to the first book, but I find the story more cobbled together and the characters less believable.

Not a good sequel, though some may disagree.

The Egyptian

I was 11 years old and bored. The weekend at my uncle's house was utter misery. I asked my uncle for a book to read, and was handed "The Egyptian" by Mika Waltari. I thought it was the most boring book in the world after reading five pages.

Fast forward two decades or so, and someone tells me that the most famous Finnish writer is Mika Waltari. Unfortunately the only thing I know is that he wrote a book that I tried to read. After a strong recommendation by aforementioned person (who also happens to be Finnish) I borrowed the book from the local library and set to reading it.

Wilbur Smith, go hide under a rock! "The River God" cannot hold a candle to this book. The subject matter is quite similar - both stories deal with royal physicians in the time of the pharaohs, but Waltari's book make the characters come alive. This is a translation from the Finnish, but the book has not lost anything at the hands of the translator.

Fortunately for me, Mika Waltari has eight more books translated into English.

One on One

After all those years of reading Stephen King - why did nobody tell me he had a wife? Maybe I avoided the whole "King" shelf at the bookstore and the library thinking that one more horror/fantasy would not make much difference. When a friend recommended Tabitha King to me, I did not even bother visiting the bookstore, but borrowed a couple of her books from the local library.

I was completely.blown. away. Her writing has such imagery and power, and reminds me strongly of Joyce Carol Oates. This story of a high school basketball star and his relationship with a girl from a broken home who is an outsider in school and on her team is one of the best books I've read for a long time. This ensures that I'll read the other books in this series, starting this weekend.

A book to savor.

The Lords of Discipline

I've read all the books Pat Conroy has ever written. Why do I choose to review this one? There are books more recent - "The Prince of Tides" or "The Great Santini". Both those titles I have read more than once, but even so it is "The Lords of Discipline" I find myself reaching for more often.

The editorial review on Barnes and Noble reviews the book: "This powerful and breathtaking novel is the story of four cadets who have become bloodbrothers. Together they will encounter the hell of hazing and the rabid, raunchy and dangerously secretive atmosphere of an arrogant and proud military institute. They will experience the violence. The passion. The rage. The friendship. The loyalty. The betrayal. Together, they will brace themselves for the brutal transition to manhood... and one will not survive." This review is about as full of purple prose as the book, but gets the salient points across quite well.

I think Pat Conroy's books should be read not while imbibing chocolates and tea, but with a tumblerful of alcohol by one's side. His writing annoys you, makes you laugh and makes you cringe...but I'll reach for my copy of "The Lords of Discipline" once more tonight.

Kristin Lavransdatter

This is a book which was recommended to me by a friend. As I make it a point to read all books that are recommendations (since I assume other people found them interesting) I spent some time reading this book at leisure. the author Sigrid Undset won the Nobel Prize in literature for this and other books in the series ( The Wife, The Cross) which chronicles the life of Kristin Lavransdatter, a young woman living in 14th century Norway.

The detailing is exquisite - the background is almost as wonderful as the storyline. It is a beautiful tale of love and family in Norway, of one girl's choices in love, which make her the woman she becomes and shapes the rest of her life.

This should be a book that all woman read. I highly recommend it, and the two sequels.

Castle in the Air

I picked up Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones on a whim from the teen section of the library simply because I had watched the movie. I found that the movie had little resemblance to the original novel as the characters in the book had voices and opinions that were not at all like breathy anime. I enjoyed the book greatly.

This book is the sequel to Howl's Moving Castle, and I must say I liked it even more than the first book. The book is written in a most deliciously tongue in cheek manner which made me burst out laughing from sheer amusement. The character of Abdullah, though not as complex as Howl is extremely entertaining, and the dialog is sheer comedy.

The first two thirds of the book were wonderful, but the last part is a slight anti-climax. Calcifer, for example seemed to appear in the finale in a rather implausible manner, just to round off the story.

The Namesake

After being extremely impressed by Jhumpa Lahiri's first book of short stories "Interpreter of Maladies" (so much so that it was my book gift of the year to at least 3 people) I eagerly awaited her novel "The Namesake".

The Namesake details the life of the Ganguly family from their life in India, to a life as immigrants in the US. It also deals with how their son growing up as an American views his life both as an Indian and as an American, and how he comes to terms with these dual aspects.

The Namesake has been praised for it's own style and lyricism; however I cannot help but compare it with Lahiri's previous writings. Sometimes the book seems too long winded and the details are extreme, at other times parts of the story are glossed over quickly. The father (Ashoke) was a character much closer to my heart than the main character Gogol who spent most of the book being confused. Maybe it's just my intolerance of the "seeking one's identity" type of character, but the first half of the book was much more interesting than the second half.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

I confess I'm still in the middle of this 800 paged behemoth of small type and footnotes of an even smaller font. I had heard of this book many times, but the strange title and the inside jacket description put me off until a few days ago.

I find this book strangely entertaining, much as I find the works of Charles Dickens entertaining. Even the illustrations give such an impression to the reader. The descriptions are detailed, sometimes overly so, but adds to the strange charm of the book. This book combines English society of the 19th century with magic, a weird but engrossing combination.

I confess I'm not done reading the book, and I don't know if I ever will, but it is a book to be savored over time, paragraph by paragraph, with a steaming mug of tea at hand and a box of chocolates nearby.

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything across Italy, India and Indonesia

Am I the only person in the whole world who didn't like this book? Lots of people I know rave about it, it has garnered great reviews on the web but somehow it didn't make me think "Wow! That's a great book!". In fact it seemed rather boring and blah.

I know that the concept of mediation, becoming aware of oneself as a person and self-discovery are important to many people, and these are some of the topics tackled in this autobiographical travelogue, but there was nothing new that hadn't been repeated by other travelers over the ages. Maybe this book became more popular because of it's endorsement by Oprah and because it was written by a woman who 'discovered herself'.

Boring. Blah. If you want a good travel book written by a woman writer I recommend anything by Dervla Murphy.

If Today Be Sweet

If Today Be Sweet is a novel that speaks of two cultures and their attempt at blending in a common household. The publisher's review writes, in part :"It is an honest but affectionate look at contemporary America—the sterility of its suburban life, the tinsel of its celebrity culture, but also the generosity of its people and their thirst for connection and communication".

This is a story of an Indian woman trying to make a new life for herself in suburban US. She is not used to the ways of her American daughter-in-law and the clashes between the women, and mirror the clashes between cultures and generations. What can be considered neighborliness in one culture can be considered interference in another, and this book describes the dilemmas that many immigrants face.

If Today Be Sweet would be a great book for a book club discussion. It has many thoughts that invite discussion between people. A wonderful read, though a bit marred by a 'pat' ending.

Bleeding Kansas

The newest bestseller by Sara Paretsky, who is the author of the V.I Warshawski series is a departure from her usual Chicago industrial crime novels. This book follows the lives of several farming families in a Kansas valley who have lived in the same area for several generations.

This books tries to handle storylines of the Iraq war and religious fundamentalism, which sometimes seem surreal and not connected to the central part of the story. These parts seem to have been added for the lack of anything more interesting to make the characters behave the way the author wants them to, and to provide convenient endings to plotlines.

Paretsky has very pared down and concise writing, somehow that same writing style that pulled the V.I Warshawski books together so effortlessly fails to work in this scenario. The book feels overly descriptive and the characters remain lifeless though sometimes their activities are entertaining. Most certainly not one of her better books.

The Soldier Son Trilogy

Shaman's Crossing:

This book describes the start of Nevarre Burvelle's career as the soldier son of his family. In a land named Gernia that is sometimes reminiscent of the midwest, the story revolves around Nevarre's childhood and his stint at the Cavalla Academy.

The character of Nevarre is built very well, as are the supporting characters of this tale. This book lays the foundations of Nevarre's future as a plague strikes the academy and he sets out on a journey.

Forest Mage:

Continues the tale of Nevarre as he leaves the academy and starts for home. He has recovered from the plague, but this recovery is not all what it seems to be. This book is more long winded than the first, but is very strong in world-building. Nevarre seems to lose some of his personality and is a rather stagnant character in this part of the trilogy.

Renegade's Magic:

In short: a disappointing ending to the series. Nevarre seems to lose whatever little character he still possesses and the storyline becomes very unclear and mystifying towards the end of the book. Everything ends satisfactorily of course, but this book tore down whatever was built up in the first two books of the trilogy. I much recommend the Assasin Trilogy or the Tawny Man series (both by the same author) to this one.

There is a somewhat 'go green' theme to this trilogy, which seems to be the one redeeming factor which I can see. And to think that I couldn't wait for the US publication of the final book and purchased it from UK!!