Tuesday, May 1, 2012

March Books

DEFENDING JACOB/William Landay/B-
I was on the fence about this one, but the longer it's sat with me the less I like it. Andy Barber is a district attorney in a suburban town whose life is upended when his teenage son is accused of killing a classmate. What's a father to do when he's convinced of his son's innocence? Structurally, I disliked the framework of Andy telling the story in some sort of legal circumstance that isn't understood until the end. I found it disruptive. And I just could not get empathize with Andy. Maybe it's because I'm a mother and he's a father . . . I don't know. It just didn't work for me all that well.

I'M DANCING AS FAST AS I CAN/Barbara Gordon/C+
A memoir of prescription drug overuse and the psychotic terrors that followed the author's cold-turkey withdrawal. I've read quite a few memoirs on mental illness in the last few years and this one, while sometimes beautifully expressed, left me a little cold.

THE PATRON SAINT OF LIARS/Ann Patchett/B
The first novel by one of my favorite writers, this is the story of Rose Clinton, who expects to stay at St. Elizabeth's Home for Unwed Mothers just long enough to give birth and place the child for adoption. But when Cecilia is born, Rose instead stays put and raises her daughter among the nuns and the always changing inhabitants of the home. I didn't expect the book to cover such a long time period, but I did really like Patchett's use of Rose, her husband, and Cecilia as single narrators of long blocks of time. As an adopted child, there were also moments of poignancy for me along the way.

FINDING NOUF/Zoe Ferraris/B+
A mystery novel introducing Nayir, a desert guide in Saudi Arabia who is called upon to locate a missing girl from a prominent family. When her body is discovered, Nayir is bothered by unanswered--and even unasked--questions and with the help of a female lab worker in the coroner's office (who is bold enough to uncover her face) he tries to decipher what would cause a well-off, pampered girl to run away from home and wind up murdered. Not only a good mystery, but an unsettling portrait of life in Saudi Arabia.

LONDON: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY/Jon E. Lewis/A-
Exactly what the title claims it is--the life of London as told in the words of eyewitnesses. From Roman graffiti to travelogues from Renaissance visitors to firsthand accounts of the Blitz, this book is packed with unexpected gems and moments both funny and moving. I especially loved the descriptions of palaces that no longer exist.

HOUSE OF THE LOST/Sarah Rayne/A-
Another tale of isolated houses and inexplicable happenings, guaranteed to make me shivery but also to deliver a satisfying story. Theo Kendal has inherited Fenn House upon the murder of his cousin, Charmery. He moves there to write, but the story that pours out of him is so real that he begins to believe it's more than imagination. And whoever killed Charmery isn't done yet . . . I love Rayne's classic style of telling more than one story and bringing them together. Well done.

THE CIPHER GARDEN/Martin Edwards/B
DCI Hannah Scarlett, of the Lake District cold case team, reopens the investigation into Warren Howe's murder when a series of anonymous letters are sent claiming his wife killed him. But nothing is that simple and this case not only brings Hannah back in contact with historian Daniel Kind, but it opens up a slew of secrets that no one wants revealed. A good, decent, traditional English mystery.

VIRGINIA WOOLF: BECOMING A WRITER/Katherine Dalsimer/A
In a series of specifically-themed chapters, Dalsimer delves into Virginia Woolf's writing in the earliest years. Beginning with the family newspaper that the Woolf children produced in Victorian England through her earliest essays and short published pieces and up to her first novel, Dalsimer explores how grief and loss and anger and especially illness wove its way into Virginia Woolf's life and made her the writer she was. A very intimate and intuitive look at creativity and the forces that give it power.

FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH/Carrie Ryan/B-
Mary lives in a protected village, where the Sisterhood knows best and where the fences are the only protection from the Unconsecrated that want to destroy them all. When her mother is attacked, Mary is sent to the Sisterhood and begins to learn secrets about the village and the world beyond. She's always wanted to leave--but will that be the beginning of her life, or its end? The first in a series of YA novels, this one felt a little thin to me. The first half was brilliantly done, setting up Mary's world and her bleak choices and the hints of what might lie beyond, but that promise didn't quite hold through the rest of the book.

No comments:

Post a Comment