Book Review: West with the Night by Beryl Markham

     I read this for the "Real World Reads" non-fiction book club at the library for January 2014.  The only thing this book accomplishes is trying to use every adjective in the English language.  I absolutely hated it.  The only positive thing I have to say is that I finished it and that I never have to read another word of it ever again.  I would never recommend it to anybody...ever.

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Book Review: Inferno by Dan Brown

     I read this is three sittings, I thought it was excellent!  If you like the other Dan Brown books with Robert Langdon in them, then you will like this one.  It follows the same M.O. except he starts out with amnesia in this one.  I won't say too much else because it is a mystery book where he solves puzzles; what I will say is that the characters spend quite a bit of time in Florence, and although it does reference Dante's Inferno throughout the book, I do not think it would be necessary to have read Dante's work or the other Langdon books by Dan Brown in order to read this one.  The main character, Robert Langdon, is the sort of India Jones of symbols and art.  Each adventure can stand on its own and does not stem from previous events in the other novels.  The only nod to the other books is when he mentions the Vatican "doesn't like him either" to another character.  Since I am an art historian myself, I did know where they were heading for the various locations by the hints provided; however, I was still very surprised with the twists and turns in the plot and with the characters.  It was an enjoyable leisure read! 

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Book Review: Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson

Book club read (7/2010) at Crystal Lake Public Library. Normally I at least have something positive to say about a book, but definitely NOT with this one. I would honestly rather give myself a thousand paper cuts and pour a bucket of lemon juice on each one very slowly than ever read this book again! I will give you a general idea of the novel but trust me, I am telling you to skip it with every fiber of my being!

The novel takes place in a remote area of Norway with the main character Trond, a 67 year old man who has decided to live his life out in complete isolation, separated from anybody and everybody in existence, including his daughter (no telephone so people will never get to contact him). The "action" of the novel is when he runs into a "neighbor" who is the brother of his childhood friend Jon. This causes him to think about basically one event that happened during his childhood and that which gives us the name of the novel (happened in 1948).

Now from my point of view, literally nothing happens. I have read my fair share of intellectually stimulating books where there is not much action per se so that the point is to contemplate life in existentialist ways; and this did not do that for me at all! When the wonderful librarian who leads our book club asked what we thought of the book, I kid you not, you could hear a pin drop. I finally couldn't take it anymore and just said how much I hated it, which was followed by some sighs of relief and agreement from most of the crowd. To be fair, one woman did enjoy it but for the life of me I cannot remember why. It has won some awards though and apparently some people find it highly intellectual and stimulating, so give it a go if you so desire, but I would never recommend this book to anybody, ever.And so it goes...

Book Review: One Vacant Chair by Joe Coomer

A selection for the book club at my local library (Crystal Lake Public Library) that I read later on my own to catch up (orig. they read it for 4/2010). I enjoyed this book thoroughly! The main character Sarah is a bit of a Smart Alec and is going through some interesting middle-age issues: a loss of a not-so-loved relative, an impending separation/divorce?, and reconnecting with a quirky and fun relative, her aunt Edna, who only paints chairs. I enjoyed thinking about how simple objects like chairs can reveal so much if we examine them more closely, and the connection between the women in the novel despite their different personalities.

The main premise of the story is that Sarah's grandma has died, the crotchety and unpleasant matriarch of the family, who Edna cared for through a long and vague illness, and now Sarah has decided to stay with her aunt who becomes a sort of guru to her and cope with her husband's infidelity. Sarah is an overweight and unhappy but successful designer of kitschy Christmas ornaments, while Edna is an unmarried school cafeteria worker who is obsessed with painting empty chairs. The two are put together by the strange request of the grandma who wanted her ashes scattered in Scotland, even though she only saw pictures of the country in a book. It is quirky, odd, very funny, and sincerely an enjoyable read! I recommend this book to lovers of fiction who like a good laugh, cry, and introspection all at the same time!

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Book Review: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

This was a book club read for my local library (Crystal Lake Public Library) before I joined in June of 2010 that I read on my own to catch up later on (orig. they read it for 3/2010). This is a very bizarre tale to say the least! If you do not want to know the plot do not read on because I cannot think of a way to talk about the novel without describing what happens in the pages.

You think it is going to be a tale about school chums, and in a way it is, but it is more of a sci-fi tale and one that makes you think about the moral implications of cloning. The characters are essentially that, clones, who are raised in a school and eventually become donors of organs, and are proud of themselves if they can donate four organs before death. The main character is Kathy H., who is a counselor and recovery assistant to these "donors," a profession called "carer" in the book. She is at a crossroads in her life and looking reflectively back at the school where she "grew up" called Halisham. What she is deciding boils down to whether or not she will continue on counseling the other clones as they donate themselves to death, their real purpose for existing, or if she will now become a donor herself.

The book makes you think a lot about human nature and about our rights to exist. Although these characters are clones, I felt bad for them that they didn't have a right to a "normal" life and that there whole existence was to give until they die and that they were brainwashed into believing that life actually mattered to them when they were really just alive to supply parts for "real" people. I am disappointed that I missed the book club discussion for this one because I would have loved to have known what the other ladies thought of this one! We have not read anything remotely like it since and I have been in it for nearly two years now.

It is definitely not your typical novel, and I would recommend it to people interested in books that make you think about what it means to be human and to sci-fi fans as well!

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Book Review: The Beekeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King

This was a book club read for my local library before I joined in June of 2010 that I read on my own to catch up later on (orig. they read it for 2/2010). I am normally not a big mystery reader nor have I read everything by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but I really enjoyed this book! I would like to read more in the series but there always seems to be so many things to read and so little free time on my hands!

The book is about a young woman named Mary Russell who becomes a sort of apprentice to Sherlock Holmes in his later years after he is retired. There are fun passages with danger and disguises, classic characters like Watson, and of course mysteries to solve. She is a great character because she is not just a bumbling sidekick but an equal to Holmes, so less of an apprentice at times and more of an equal getting some tips. She is not a typical woman of the times the story is set in (1915 England), with her intelligence level, wearing of pants, and her audacious nature.

I would definitely recommend this to lovers of mystery and Sherlock Holmes but also to those who, like me, might not necessarily be hardcore sleuth fans!

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Q&A with Robert Alexander on Skype!

So this morning I went to the book club discussion at my local library that I attend every month (http://www.crystallakelibrary.org/). Today we discussed the book from my last blog entry "The Kitchen Boy" by Robert Alexander (author pictured at the left). The extra special treat was he talked to us for about 30 minutes via Skype at the beginning of our meeting! He was really nice, personable, and intelligent! He answered a few things I was wondering about and cleared up a few issues I had with the book, like what I felt was the rushed ending in the epilogue. Apparently it was originally a bit longer (like 450 pp.) and the editor said it needed to be shorter. My guess is that is why the epilogue felt a little compact and too brief; they probably made him cut that portion of the novel down to size.  He said the magic number for book clubs to use books is about three-hundred to three-hundred and fifty pages, so they tried to keep it around that length.

I also took a gander at the website for the book to prepare for the chat and see what I wanted to ask him (http://www.sitestories.com/robertalexander/). It is really good and includes some pictures related to the Romanovs and some of the events and places in his novel, like the infamous twenty-three steps mentioned throughout the book. He was very candid and interesting and revealed to us that it is going to be turned into a movie with filming beginning next summer and released sometime in 2013. He wouldn't tell us the name of the actress portraying Alexandra but, he did reveal she was very good and that people from The Pianist and award winning foreign films were involved (screenplay by Ronald Harwood [wrote the screenplays for The Pianist, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, etc.], producer Glenn Willaimson [Push, Sunshine Cleaning, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, etc.). The novel should make a great film and I just had to share what a treat it was to have a Q&A session with the author! Thanks Robert!

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Book Review: The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander

Read for book club (11/2011). It was a good historical fiction read! Based on the last weeks of the last royal Russian Tsar and his family, the Romanovs, from the point of view of their loyal kitchen boy, Leonka.

It was interesting to hear about how they hid their jewels, passed secret notes to plan an escape/rescue, and to think about how they spent their last days. Some things stuck with me about people in general from the culture/period such as the guards who couldn't read, how much the Romanovs loved to take pictures (new and expensive hobby), how the royal family tried to lead something resembling their normal life, and how Leonka kept saying over and over again that they did it with such grace, yet even in exile they were much more well off than most of the country that they used to rule. The twists at the end felt rushed and hurried. They were fun little bits to add but I think it would have been better had the author spent more time with these portions rather than just throwing them about in a very short epilogue. I would recommend it for those who enjoy historical fiction or want a relatively light/easy but interesting read!

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Book Review: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Read this for book club (3/2011) and it was very enjoyable! The letter format is not bothersome once you read a few pages into it and get used it, it's actually kind of refreshing to see people write letters instead of just IM. We (the book club) thought it had a way of mentioning the horrors of war without depressing you horribly because it was charming and funny...kind of like "Life is Beautiful."

I would recommend this to fans of historical fiction. It is a different take on WWII that gives you insight into how people dealt with issues and how brave they could be without constantly mentioning gas chambers or trains of death. I also had no idea what happened on these little islands and smaller places during WWII so it educated me a little bit as well.

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Book Review: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Read for book club (10/2011). I would say it was an interesting and quick read (two evenings for a few hours), I loved it! As one of our book club members mentioned, it is about "the human condition." This novel is character driven NOT plot driven. There is no connecting plot; but, strongly at times and quite loosely in other chapters (which have clever titles) Olive is the common factor. It is an interesting insight into the mind of an elderly woman from a small town in Maine, a normally very tight-lipped group, so it is great to read her thoughts and then see how little she actually verbalizes them because of generation/culture. It is about age, love, sickness, death, children, and much more (hence "the human condition"). I recommend this highly if you want to contemplate life and its trials and tribulations (from often odd but often funny situations/points of view); but, I urge you to run for the hills if you are looking for a neat and clean beginning/middle/end.

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Book Review: Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo

Book Club read (1/2011). It was a fun novel; but, not earth-shattering for me I think because I already read non-fiction that I think was more powerful about the Dalai Lama that I am convinced this author tried to turn into fiction with this novel. "The Art of Happiness" with Howard C. Cutler and the Dalai Lama (reviewed on blog 6/26/2009) is your non-fiction option for this. Although, if you want spiritual journey, mid-life crisis, and road trip in fiction form than this is your book :)

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Book Review: Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

Read for book club (2/2011). Pre-Apartheid South Africa where the lives of two fathers intertwine, tragically. I probably did not find this as moving as a lot of others because I have read so much about the Civil Rights movement in the U.S. and read other books that address similar issues earlier in my life, so those books stuck with me and affected me more than this one. Given when it was written and the issues it addresses though I can definitely see why it is classified as a classic novel. Also, the dashes for dialogue drove me bonkers.

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Book Review: My Abandonment by Peter Rock

Read for book club (4/2011). I liked the book but it is not a happy-go-lucky read. You feel bad for her living conditions yet can see positive things that her life has at the same time, essentially homeless in a forest area/park. Some disturbing things definitely happen in the novel and it had a twist I was not expecting because I did not know it was based off a true story when I read it (found out when we discussed it). Frightens any parent to the core.

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Book Review: The Faith Club by Ranya Idliby, Priscilla Warner, and Suzanne Oliver

Read for book club (5/2011). With this one the title says it "The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew--Three Women Search for Understanding." That is the book in a nutshell. I found it very interesting and definitely both learned a good deal and could identify with each woman in different ways. I think in absence of women of different faiths that one can chat candidly with, the book is a fun substitute. They talk about their doubts, the strengths and weaknesses they perceive in each others religions and their own, the varying degrees they do and don't want religion and faith in their lives, and how modern women of all three respective traditions draw a difference between faith and religion. They express how one can have faith but not necessarily be thrilled with every aspect of their religions. My only regret with this is that all the people in my book club who attended that day were from a Christian background; however, it was still interesting to discuss because we came from different sects of Christianity and had varying amounts of knowledge about different world religions, as well as different experiences and impressions of other religions than Christianity.

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Book Review: Niagra Falls All Over Again by Elizabeth McCracken

Read for book club (6/2011). From the point of view of "the straight man" (not referring to sexuality) Mose Sharp (follows the pair of Carter Sharp) from small stages to Hollywood films and television. The novel shows how both men approach relationships and fame differently. This book lead to a lot of fun discussion of other duos like this in real life and it was interesting as a younger member of the book group to hear from people who remembered the Vaudeville days first hand and could relate to the changes in culture that are traced throughout the book via this pair of men. The book was well-written with fully realized characters that gave you the flavor of each era they lived through, showing both their positive attributes and their flaws.

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Book Review: Kaaterskill Falls by Allegra Goodman

Read for book club (7/2011). I enjoyed this novel and felt that I learned a bit as well. It was interesting to see how a tight-knit group of Orthodox Jews related to each other in this summer vacation setting. The question of allegiance to a particular rabbi and the struggle to remain a good and faithful woman to this group while yearning for a small gesture of independence and something to have as her own was really touching (a store). Despite having zero in common with Elizabeth Shulman, I could still identify with her and felt that I could understand her, which to me, shows that the author wrote quite well. There is also a bit of revelation to be had here about small-town life and how "summer people," no matter how good they are, will never be totally welcomed by the locals.

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Book Review: One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Read for book club (9/2011). This book is a twist on "The Canterbury Tales" by Chaucer, the connection is made obvious because the character Uma (a college student) has brought a copy along with her to the Indian consulate. While bored in the waiting room there is an earthquake, and Uma suggests as a way to pass the time while waiting for rescue or death, they each share a story about their lives. For me, most of the stories were not terribly flushed out and seemed unfinished. The author apparently left them intentionally unfinished but, it did not feel like this was cleverly thought of; rather, it felt as if she ran out of ideas most of the time. It seemed as though she thought of each story individually as short stories but couldn't be bothered to fully develop them and so she placed people into neat little stereotypes (especially the young Muslim man Tariq) and just didn't finish their tales because she ran out of ideas, not because she was clever. It was an O.K. read but it did not change the way I feel about anything nor do I think it will be remembered for generations to come. The novel is a nice quick read though so if you need something for a short train/bus/airplane trip it could fill the time pleasantly enough.

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There's Nothing Like a Good Book

This week was a sick one at my house. My son had his first occasion to be put on antibiotics in his life (he is 6 yrs. old) when he got double ear infections, poor guy. Then, about 2 days later, I could not even swallow water because of a lump in my throat that felt like a golf ball on fire. It turns out that I had contracted strep throat for the first time in my life, oh joy! Then, later that day, I received a call from my son's school because he suddenly had rashes and bumps. During our second visit to the doctors that day, we found out that he apparently is allergic to penicillin! What a week I tell you! The happy result of all this sickness is that I got to spend 4 days in bed reading, and I love to read!

My mother recently sent me a copy of Maya Angelou's book "Letter to My Daughter." I have been reading it slowly over the last month or so, since it is comprised of little vignettes only a few pages each, I could pick it up and put it down whenever I wanted. Usually after I finish a book that I was given I donate it to the local library;but, I am keeping this one. It is filled with so many treasures that I can access again and again that I am hanging onto this one. There are so many great little inspirational passages, as well as quotation opportunities for graduations, weddings, new mothers, etc. that I know I will appreciate it greatly for future references when occasions arise. This also reminded me of how much I love Maya Angelou's writing and sent me forth in search of some more of her works at my local library (conveniently located right across the street).

I had read "I know Why the Caged Bird Sings" in high school and I remember how much it changed my perspective. So I decided to pick up the other 5 books in the autobiographical series by Miss Angelou. While in bed this week I read #2 "Gather Together in My Name" which rather surprised me. This book is set in her teen years after she had her son (at age 16). It was a bit of a shocker to discover via reading this book that she was at some point in her life the madame of a brothel, a prostitute in a brothel, and moved around more times in 3 years than I have probably in my entire life, and I have lived in 3 different states. I am now almost finished with #3 "Singin' and "Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas" which takes place during her 20s in the 1950s-60s. This one is much less harsh in content than #2. In this novel she is developing her career, or rather trying to find her career and calling in life. She was a dancer, nightclub singer, and part of the traveling company of Porgy and Bess. This one is a much more fluid and interesting read, and has more of her reflections on life that I love and adore. She has a way of delivering one sentence that profoundly sums up her experience and makes it relatable to anybody's life experiences.

I highly recommend giving this series a try if you are looking for an interesting read. I plan on another post of the last 3 in the series if you are interested in a general summarization before giving it a go yourself.

Happy reading out there!

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