This intriguing novel focuses on two different marriages, a modern one between a Madison, Wisconsin couple, and a late nineteenth century one between a Russian couple who lived in the provinces. Jane, a Russian scholar, is married to Billy, a law student. According to Billy and sometimes Jane herself, she lives entirely too entangled in the life of her research subject, Grigory Karkova and his wife, Masha. The book opens with a vivid childbirth scene. Even while pushing her first child into the world, Jane can't help recalling the passage in Masha's diaries where she records one of her children's births. The other characters are colorful and interesting: beautiful Felicia, who owns a boa constrictor and is Jane's student and the family's babysitter, sly Seligman, Jane's office-mate who started the whole field of Karkova studies and thinks nothing of stealing documents, Greg Olen, the great-great grandson of the Karkovas who is a struggling writer, and last but not least, charming Maisie, Jane's and Billy's daughter, who pulls Jane back over and over into the real world. A delightful novel that examines important issues: how to raise a child, how to develop a sharing parenting relationship, how much time and energy to devote to work, and what to learn and not learn from literature. Recommended highly for all but the snake-phobic. A delightful novel about human relationships and the passion for knowledge.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Lady of the Snakes
This intriguing novel focuses on two different marriages, a modern one between a Madison, Wisconsin couple, and a late nineteenth century one between a Russian couple who lived in the provinces. Jane, a Russian scholar, is married to Billy, a law student. According to Billy and sometimes Jane herself, she lives entirely too entangled in the life of her research subject, Grigory Karkova and his wife, Masha. The book opens with a vivid childbirth scene. Even while pushing her first child into the world, Jane can't help recalling the passage in Masha's diaries where she records one of her children's births. The other characters are colorful and interesting: beautiful Felicia, who owns a boa constrictor and is Jane's student and the family's babysitter, sly Seligman, Jane's office-mate who started the whole field of Karkova studies and thinks nothing of stealing documents, Greg Olen, the great-great grandson of the Karkovas who is a struggling writer, and last but not least, charming Maisie, Jane's and Billy's daughter, who pulls Jane back over and over into the real world. A delightful novel that examines important issues: how to raise a child, how to develop a sharing parenting relationship, how much time and energy to devote to work, and what to learn and not learn from literature. Recommended highly for all but the snake-phobic. A delightful novel about human relationships and the passion for knowledge.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Double Cross
Rejoining the police force in the wake of a series of elaborate murders in Washington, D.C., detective Alex Cross finds himself working to outmaneuver the killer's penchant for inducing hysteria with increasingly sensational killings. - (Baker & Taylor)
Just when Alex thought his life was calming down into a routine of patients and therapy sessions, he finds himself back in the game--this time to catch a criminal mastermind like no other. A spate of elaborate murders in Washington D.C. have the whole East Coast on edge. They are like nothing Alex Cross and his new girlfriend, Detective Brianna Stone, have ever seen. With each murder, the case becomes increasingly complex. There's only one thing Alex knows: the killer adores an audience. As victims are made into gruesome spectacles citywide, inducing a media hysteria, it becomes clear to Alex that the man he's after is a genius of terror--and he's after fame. The killer has the whole city by its strings--and he'll stop at nothing to become the most terrifying star that Washington D.C. has ever seen. - (Hachette Book Group)
Just when Alex thought his life was calming down into a routine of patients and therapy sessions, he finds himself back in the game--this time to catch a criminal mastermind like no other. A spate of elaborate murders in Washington D.C. have the whole East Coast on edge. They are like nothing Alex Cross and his new girlfriend, Detective Brianna Stone, have ever seen. With each murder, the case becomes increasingly complex. There's only one thing Alex knows: the killer adores an audience. As victims are made into gruesome spectacles citywide, inducing a media hysteria, it becomes clear to Alex that the man he's after is a genius of terror--and he's after fame. The killer has the whole city by its strings--and he'll stop at nothing to become the most terrifying star that Washington D.C. has ever seen. - (Hachette Book Group)
Alex Cross is one of Patterson's best characters. Patterson churns out lots of books these days but he still writes a good page-turner when he writes about Alex Cross.
Winding Ways Quilt
BookPage Reviews
(www.bookpage.com) - Exploring life's winding roads
Fans of Jennifer Chiaverini's Elm Creek Quilts novels will find much to appreciate in her latest effort, The Winding Ways Quilt. Readers are in store for big changes as this season's quilting camp comes to a close, with longtime member Judy leaving for a great new job and Summer planning to leave for graduate school in Chicago (for real this time). Bonnie is trying to decide how to move forward after her marriage and her quilt shop ended up in shambles, while Gwen prepares for her best friend and her daughter to leave.
And new friends are joining this warm quilting circle, including Anna, the master chef, and Gretchen, the new quilting teacher. All the while group matriarch Sylvia is hard at work on a multipaneled Winding Ways quilt, which beautifully illustrates the comings and goings of members of her quilting family.
Readers who have not read the numerous previous Elm Creek Quilt books would not feel lost if this were the first one they picked up. Though The Winding Ways Quilt is 13th in the series, it focuses largely on the backstory of the quilters, explaining what brought them to quilting and to Elm Creek Quilts, and how their relationships with each other have changed and deepened through the years. There's also an important lesson or two about forgiveness and how to move on, from tragedy or just from change. That these women all happen to be quilters makes this story no less entertaining for people who are not quilters. Women who enjoy any kind of crafts will identify with the passion and enthusiasm Chiaverini's characters have for quilting.
Best-selling author Chiaverini has a loyal following of readers who want to know everything that's happening in the world of the Elm Creek Quilters. She's also designed a line of fabrics based on her novels. Odds are good that this latest Elm Creek adventure will bring Chiaverini even more devoted readers who can't wait to find out what happens next.
Sarah E. White is a freelance writer and knitter who lives in Arkansas. Copyright 2008 BookPage Reviews.
It's nice to check in on the Elm Creek Quilters. They seem like old friends. Especially appealing to quilters but these books would appeal to readers who like to read about women and friendship.
(www.bookpage.com) - Exploring life's winding roads
Fans of Jennifer Chiaverini's Elm Creek Quilts novels will find much to appreciate in her latest effort, The Winding Ways Quilt. Readers are in store for big changes as this season's quilting camp comes to a close, with longtime member Judy leaving for a great new job and Summer planning to leave for graduate school in Chicago (for real this time). Bonnie is trying to decide how to move forward after her marriage and her quilt shop ended up in shambles, while Gwen prepares for her best friend and her daughter to leave.
And new friends are joining this warm quilting circle, including Anna, the master chef, and Gretchen, the new quilting teacher. All the while group matriarch Sylvia is hard at work on a multipaneled Winding Ways quilt, which beautifully illustrates the comings and goings of members of her quilting family.
Readers who have not read the numerous previous Elm Creek Quilt books would not feel lost if this were the first one they picked up. Though The Winding Ways Quilt is 13th in the series, it focuses largely on the backstory of the quilters, explaining what brought them to quilting and to Elm Creek Quilts, and how their relationships with each other have changed and deepened through the years. There's also an important lesson or two about forgiveness and how to move on, from tragedy or just from change. That these women all happen to be quilters makes this story no less entertaining for people who are not quilters. Women who enjoy any kind of crafts will identify with the passion and enthusiasm Chiaverini's characters have for quilting.
Best-selling author Chiaverini has a loyal following of readers who want to know everything that's happening in the world of the Elm Creek Quilters. She's also designed a line of fabrics based on her novels. Odds are good that this latest Elm Creek adventure will bring Chiaverini even more devoted readers who can't wait to find out what happens next.
Sarah E. White is a freelance writer and knitter who lives in Arkansas. Copyright 2008 BookPage Reviews.
It's nice to check in on the Elm Creek Quilters. They seem like old friends. Especially appealing to quilters but these books would appeal to readers who like to read about women and friendship.
Monday, May 19, 2008
How To Be Good
*Starred Review*/ In a departure from Hornby's trio of recent best-sellers, which positioned him as a wise and funny spokesperson for the Modern Male, this new novel features a woman protagonist, and it is every bit as charming and effective. Katie Carr, mother of two, is a doctor in a small London practice; she thinks of herself as a good person--good, despite the affair she's been having, which is justified because her husband, David, is such a sourpuss. David is, in fact, professionally cynical. He writes a newspaper column called "The Angriest Man in Holloway," in which he shoots arrows at any popular subject he can think of. Into their fractured family comes GoodNews, a charismatic, multipierced Generation X-er who displays miraculous healing powers. Under GoodNews' tutelage, David reforms his ways to the extreme; he starts giving away material possessions, attempts to make reparations for decades-old wrongs, invites a homeless teenager to live in the spare bedroom--all to Katie's increasing alarm. What does it mean to be truly good, anyway? Breezy without being shallow, truth seeking (and, egad, spiritual) without being sentimental, Hornby's novel explores the theme of goodness with tremendous fun. The novel's final message seems to be the potentially deadly "There's no place like home," but Hornby succeeds, in large part because he's got the heart, the brain, and the courage to prove it quite convincingly. ((Reviewed July 2001))Copyright 2001 Booklist Reviews
Hilarious and morbid (kinda) view of marriage, goodness, and the nuclear family. How To Be Good is a sick treat.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Walk Hard
Summary: The up-and-down and then up-again story of musician Dewey Cox. Dewey's songs would change a nation. On his rock 'n roll spiral, Dewey sleeps with 411 women, marries three times, has 22 kids and 14 step-kids, stars in his own 70s TV show, collects friends ranging from Elvis to the Beatles to a chimp. He becomes addicted to and then kicks about every drug known to man. Despite it all, Cox grows into a national icon and eventually earns the love of a good woman, his longtime backup singer Darlene.
It's rated R and the humor isn't all that tasteful.... I loved it!
The Unbelievable Truth
Hal Hartley is one of my favorite directors. I think this may have been his first movie and it remains probably my favorite. It's dialogue driven, clever, poignant, funny and even sad at times.
Tragically, Adrienne Shelly (pictured left) was murdered in 2006. She was wonderful in this movie.
Amazon.com essential video
The films of Hal Hartley, New York's modern beatnik cinema laureate, are not for everyone. His self-consciously clever ping-pong dialogue sounds like a cross between song lyrics and Samuel Beckett, while his deadpan direction gives a wry cast to it all. It's romantic comedy skewed through a thoroughly modern perspective, and it sprung fully formed in his debut feature. Gloomy redheaded pixie Adrienne Shelly, a neurotic high school student fixated on doomsday scenarios, falls for the tall, dark, and mysterious Robert Burke, a black-clad, philosophy-spouting mechanic who is constantly mistaken for a priest and rumored to be a convicted murderer.
An enigmatic, intellectually playful farce played with ironic understatement, Hartley's austere film was shot on the cheap with a handsome, restrained style and directed with an approach straddling verbal slapstick and modernist irony. Shelly mixes the goofy, obsessive distractions of a screwball heroine with smarts, determination, and hardball negotiating skills, while Burke's quiet calm and confidence radiates warmth and sincerity even while playing the loner. Hartley explores the line between truth and rumor, and he takes satirical swipes at the culture of cash and contracts--yet for all his irony he remains an optimist. For all its hip '90s attitude, the unbelievable truth is that Hartley is a romantic at heart. --Sean Axmaker
An enigmatic, intellectually playful farce played with ironic understatement, Hartley's austere film was shot on the cheap with a handsome, restrained style and directed with an approach straddling verbal slapstick and modernist irony. Shelly mixes the goofy, obsessive distractions of a screwball heroine with smarts, determination, and hardball negotiating skills, while Burke's quiet calm and confidence radiates warmth and sincerity even while playing the loner. Hartley explores the line between truth and rumor, and he takes satirical swipes at the culture of cash and contracts--yet for all his irony he remains an optimist. For all its hip '90s attitude, the unbelievable truth is that Hartley is a romantic at heart. --Sean Axmaker
Good Master! Sweet Ladies!-Voices from a Medieval Village
Set in 1255 on an English manor, this spirited exploration of a medieval town and its inhabitants provides much insight into the times through several monologues, a handful of dialogues, and helpful footnotes. Both rich and poor children share their lives--from an eel-catcher nearly drowned by her father at birth to the surprisingly romantic blacksmith's daughter--with enticing language and a wide variety of feeling. Accompanied by rich illustrations, this is the 2008 Newbery Medal recipient.
Written in verse. Not a book for or of interest to young children. Cool concept, though.
Year of Pleasures
Publishers Weekly Reviews
(www.cahners.com) - The familiar protagonist of Berg's 13th novel (after The Art of Mending) is a Boston widow of several months, 55-year-old Betta Nolan, who fulfills her dying husband's dream of moving out to the Midwest and starting a new life. "It will give me peace to know that what you will do is exactly what we talked about," says John commandingly before dying of liver cancer; Betta, an author of children's books, sells their Beacon Hill brownstone and takes off, buying an oversized Victorian in the small town of Stewart, Ill., 49 miles from Chicago. Lonely, she finds herself tracking down three former college roommates from the late 1960s, Lorraine, Maddy and Susanna, whom she ditched once she met John. The women reappear one by one and help give her the courage to open a shop called What a Woman Wants (it'll sell "all different stuff that women loved. Beautiful things, but unusual too. Like antique birdcages with orchids growing in them"). Meanwhile, she begins to make friends in town, notably with attractive young handyman Matthew and natty oldster Tom Bartlett. Berg is a pro at putting together an affecting saga of interest to women of a certain age, yet here she seems to be writing in her sleep. There is little effort at cohesion-rather, a kind of serendipitous plot that goes every which way and a series of tentative, aborted romances. The impression readers will be left with is of a woman endlessly nurturing and rarely satisfied. Agent, Lisa Bankoff at ICM. 12-city author tour. (Apr. 12) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
(www.cahners.com) - The familiar protagonist of Berg's 13th novel (after The Art of Mending) is a Boston widow of several months, 55-year-old Betta Nolan, who fulfills her dying husband's dream of moving out to the Midwest and starting a new life. "It will give me peace to know that what you will do is exactly what we talked about," says John commandingly before dying of liver cancer; Betta, an author of children's books, sells their Beacon Hill brownstone and takes off, buying an oversized Victorian in the small town of Stewart, Ill., 49 miles from Chicago. Lonely, she finds herself tracking down three former college roommates from the late 1960s, Lorraine, Maddy and Susanna, whom she ditched once she met John. The women reappear one by one and help give her the courage to open a shop called What a Woman Wants (it'll sell "all different stuff that women loved. Beautiful things, but unusual too. Like antique birdcages with orchids growing in them"). Meanwhile, she begins to make friends in town, notably with attractive young handyman Matthew and natty oldster Tom Bartlett. Berg is a pro at putting together an affecting saga of interest to women of a certain age, yet here she seems to be writing in her sleep. There is little effort at cohesion-rather, a kind of serendipitous plot that goes every which way and a series of tentative, aborted romances. The impression readers will be left with is of a woman endlessly nurturing and rarely satisfied. Agent, Lisa Bankoff at ICM. 12-city author tour. (Apr. 12) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Not as grim as it sounds, interesting characters and settings keep it from becoming a wallow in self-pity. The title refers to the idea of doing something every day just for pleasure. By the end of the book the main character was again finding pleasure.
Map of Love
This Booker Prize nominee is a wonderful, absorbing read.
"In parallel love stories set nearly 100 years apart, Soueif combines politics and romance in something of an eternal spiral connecting two families and two cultures. Isabel travels from New York to Cairo with a trunk containing diaries and possessions of her great-grandmother, Anna Winterbourne. Omar, a conductor of international fame (and the man Isabel loves), refers her to his sister Amal for help in understanding the contents. What he fails to tell her is that they are distant cousins: Sharif, the man who becomes Anna's husband, is Amal and Omar's great-uncle. And so, in turn, we learn of Anna's life and love for Sharif and her adopted country and of Isabel and Omar. Amal, the link between the two worlds, untangles the old story and entangles a new one. By juxtaposing the past with the present, the prejudices and politics are contrasted with each other and are shown to be remarkably similar. This, a very romantic book with Anna as its most interesting character, offers insights into both historic and modern Egypt." --Danise Hoover Copyright 2000 Booklist Reviews
"In parallel love stories set nearly 100 years apart, Soueif combines politics and romance in something of an eternal spiral connecting two families and two cultures. Isabel travels from New York to Cairo with a trunk containing diaries and possessions of her great-grandmother, Anna Winterbourne. Omar, a conductor of international fame (and the man Isabel loves), refers her to his sister Amal for help in understanding the contents. What he fails to tell her is that they are distant cousins: Sharif, the man who becomes Anna's husband, is Amal and Omar's great-uncle. And so, in turn, we learn of Anna's life and love for Sharif and her adopted country and of Isabel and Omar. Amal, the link between the two worlds, untangles the old story and entangles a new one. By juxtaposing the past with the present, the prejudices and politics are contrasted with each other and are shown to be remarkably similar. This, a very romantic book with Anna as its most interesting character, offers insights into both historic and modern Egypt." --Danise Hoover Copyright 2000 Booklist Reviews
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
The Barefoot Serpent
The life of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa combined with a story of a friendship between a small girl and boy in Hawaii. The story of a small girl and her one-day friendship with a strange boy while on vacation with her family in Hawaii. Their lives are forever changed as they explore the island and themselves. Bookended by full-color biographical excerpts from the life of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, the central story's themes reflect those of the filmmaker and is told through black and white half-toned, fully-painted artwork. The Barefoot Serpent is offered as a 128-page hardcover graphic novel, in the same size and format as the Little Golden Books of old. This is definitely Scott's most unique and ambitious graphic novel to date.
Easy read, cool graphics. Kurosawa filmography included at the end.
The Giver
Creeped me out! The overpowering societal control reminded me a lot of Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale.From School Library Journal
Grade 6-9-- In a complete departure from her other novels, Lowry has written an intriguing story set in a society that is uniformly run by a Committee of Elders. Twelve-year-old Jonas's confidence in his comfortable "normal" existence as a member of this well-ordered community is shaken when he is assigned his life's work as the Receiver. The Giver, who passes on to Jonas the burden of being the holder for the community of all memory "back and back and back," teaches him the cost of living in an environment that is "without color, pain, or past." The tension leading up to the Ceremony, in which children are promoted not to another grade but to another stage in their life, and the drama and responsibility of the sessions with The Giver are gripping. The final flight for survival is as riveting as it is inevitable. The author makes real abstract concepts, such as the meaning of a life in which there are virtually no choices to be made and no experiences with deep feelings. This tightly plotted story and its believable characters will stay with readers for a long time. --Amy Kellman, The Carnegie Library of PittsburghCopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Booklist Reviews
/*Starred Review*/ Hosseini's follow-up to his best-selling debut, The Kite Runner (2003) views the plight of Afghanistan during the last half-century through the eyes of two women. Mariam is the illegitimate daughter of a maid and a businessman, who is given away in marriage at 15 to Rasheed, a man three times her age; their union is not a loving one. Laila is born to educated, liberal parents in Kabul the night the Communists take over Afghanistan. Adored by her father but neglected in favor of her older brothers by her mother, Laila finds her true love early on in Tariq, a thoughtful, chivalrous boy who lost a leg in an explosion. But when tensions between the Communists and the mujahideen make the city unsafe, Tariq and his family flee to Pakistan. A devastating tragedy brings Laila to the house of Rasheed and Mariam, where she is forced to make a horrific choice to secure her future. At the heart of the novel is the bond between Mariam and Laila, two very different women brought together by dire circumstances. Unimaginably tragic, Hosseini's magnificent second novel is a sad and beautiful testament to both Afghani suffering and strength. Readers who lost themselves in The Kite Runner will not want to miss this unforgettable follow-up. ((Reviewed March 1, 2007
/*Starred Review*/ Hosseini's follow-up to his best-selling debut, The Kite Runner (2003) views the plight of Afghanistan during the last half-century through the eyes of two women. Mariam is the illegitimate daughter of a maid and a businessman, who is given away in marriage at 15 to Rasheed, a man three times her age; their union is not a loving one. Laila is born to educated, liberal parents in Kabul the night the Communists take over Afghanistan. Adored by her father but neglected in favor of her older brothers by her mother, Laila finds her true love early on in Tariq, a thoughtful, chivalrous boy who lost a leg in an explosion. But when tensions between the Communists and the mujahideen make the city unsafe, Tariq and his family flee to Pakistan. A devastating tragedy brings Laila to the house of Rasheed and Mariam, where she is forced to make a horrific choice to secure her future. At the heart of the novel is the bond between Mariam and Laila, two very different women brought together by dire circumstances. Unimaginably tragic, Hosseini's magnificent second novel is a sad and beautiful testament to both Afghani suffering and strength. Readers who lost themselves in The Kite Runner will not want to miss this unforgettable follow-up. ((Reviewed March 1, 2007
A beautiful story of friendship and sacrifice. Those who loved The Kite Runner will not be disappointed. I would recommend to readers who enjoy strong characters and stories about other cultures. Someone told me she didn't like this book because people did "mean things" to other people.
Heart Shaped Box
Collector of obscure and macabre artifacts, from a cannibal cookbook to a used hangman's noose, unscrupulous metal band musician Judas Coyne is unable to resist purchasing a ghost over the Internet, which turns out to be the vengeful spirit of his late girlfriend's stepfather. 100,000 first printing. - (Baker & Taylor)
Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals . . . a used hangman's noose . . . a snuff film. An aging death-metal rock god, his taste for the unnatural is as widely known to his legions of fans as the notorious excesses of his youth. But nothing he possesses is as unlikely or as dreadful as his latest discovery, an item for sale on the Internet, a thing so terribly strange, Jude can't help but reach for his wallet.
I will "sell" my stepfather's ghost to the highest bidder. . . .
For a thousand dollars, Jude will become the proud owner of a dead man's suit, said to be haunted by a restless spirit. He isn't afraid. He has spent a lifetime coping with ghosts—of an abusive father, of the lovers he callously abandoned, of the bandmates he betrayed. What's one more?
But what UPS delivers to his door in a black heart-shaped box is no imaginary or metaphorical ghost, no benign conversation piece. It's the real thing.
And suddenly the suit's previous owner is everywhere: behind the bedroom door . . . seated in Jude's restored vintage Mustang . . . standing outside his window . . . staring out from his widescreen TV. Waiting—with a gleaming razor blade on a chain dangling from one bony hand. . . .
A multiple-award winner for his short fiction, author Joe Hill immediately vaults into the top echelon of dark fantasists with a blood-chilling roller-coaster ride of a novel, a masterwork brimming with relentless thrills and acid terror. - (HARPERCOLL)
This should appeal to readers of Stephen King and Dean Koontz. Well written horror book with characters you care about, even the unlikable ones.
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