Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Euphoria by Lily King

Euphoria by Lily King

This is the story of three anthropologists studying the tribes of New Guinea in the 1930s.  Two of the anthropologists are a married couple, two very different people who seem to have a great ability to understand native peoples but not each other.  The third is an anthropologist who put rocks in his pockets and walked in to the river a few days before the couple arrived.  The newcomers have given him reason to live, especially Nell, who he is captivated with at their first meeting.  The three find themselves among the Tam, a tribe with very interesting views about gender roles when compared to life in the “civilized” world.

This book is getting a lot of buzz for the similarities between Nell and Margaret Mead, who was apparently a famous anthropologist.  I am a little embarrassed that I didn’t know who she was because most reviewers write their reviews in such a matter of fact style that assumes everyone knows who she was.  (After talking to a few colleagues I feel much better, they didn’t know who she was either!)  The good thing is that this book made me want to find out more about her to see the similarities between fiction and reality. 
 
A slim book with a complete story that makes you think and question as you go along.

I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurdardottir

I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurdardottir

Ghostly revenge in the Western Fjords of Iceland makes for a shiver inducing read! 

Three people are dropped off by boat in the early winter at a remote town in the Western Fjords to renovate a summer home.  There is no electric, or running water.  No neighbors for miles in any direction.  Why do they keep hearing footsteps?  And seeing the figure of a boy in the distance?  Are they really alone?

At a preschool a vandal breaks in and causes havoc.  The vandalism is very similar to an incident sixty years before, eerily similar.  And classmates who attended the school sixty years ago, who were in a photograph that was purposefully damaged, are dying in strange ways that seem to be connected.  And may be connected to the events taking place at that remote summer house in the Western Fjords.

I will be returning to Iceland and I am quite glad that I did not include a trip to the Western Fjords in my itinerary.  This was a wonderful ghost story with a cinematic ending.  If you find yourself feeling too warm this summer, read this book.  The descriptions of a winter storm in a location without electric or plumbing, and also haunted, will cool you right down!

Monday, June 23, 2014

Island Girls by Nancy Thayer

Island Girls by Nancy Thayer

Rory Randall is dead and he left his Nantucket house to his three daughters, Arden, Meg and Jenny, on one condition: they need to live together in the house for a whole summer.  Arden and Meg were “exiled” from the house by their stepmother, Jenny’s mother, when they were young.  This will be the first time the half-sisters have seen their step-sister since the summer they were sent away twenty or more years ago.  Can they survive a whole summer together?  Can the issues in their lives, and between them, be resolved by these island girls?

This is a great beach read that would be enjoyable to read or listen to.  (I listened and the voices were distinct and fit the characters well.)  Everything you expect in a beach read is here: a beach (Nantucket), women with life obstacles they need to (and do) overcome, its summer, and it all ends amazingly happy.  Is it totally unbelievable?  I think so, family problems are rarely resolved so quickly, but that didn’t take away from the enjoyment of the listen.

Friday, June 20, 2014

Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore

Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore

Mabel is thrilled when her rich and gorgeous college roommate Genevra Winslow invites her to spend the summer at the Winslow compound: a collection of small cottages on Lake Champlain in Vermont.  The cottage Genevra inherits, Bittersweet, is a bit of a wreck but the girls work hard to “pass inspection” and make the cottage their own.  Mabel dreams of becoming a Winslow herself, she even interlibrary loaned some small press books on the family prior to her vacation so she would know all about this enchanting family.  But while Mabel is there she not only experiences how the rich live, she is swept up into the family history and family secrets.  Some that may cost her dearly.

What starts out as the typical coming of age novel turns into a dark and gothic suspense story.  I thought I figured out one of the secrets, only to find that there were many more layers to the dark things hidden in the family’s past (and present).  Where did the family wealth come from?  Why are there bolts on exterior and interior cottage doors?  Why did Genevra’s cousin commit suicide?  All of these questions will be answered with each answer being more disturbing than the last.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Bird Box by Josh Malerman

Bird Box by Josh Malerman

There is something outside.  No one knows for sure what it is.  But those who see it go completely insane, harming themselves and those around them.  The few survivors live their lives in shrouded houses terrified that the blankets or boards over the windows will fall and they will catch a glimpse of the outside world, for it could be there.  It could make them mad with one look. 

Malorie discovers she’s pregnant the day the world begins to change.  Eventually she braves the mile drive to the home she saw in an ad as a safe refuge.  It was an ad she saw months ago, but kept for some reason.  After her harrowing journey there she finds safety.  At least temporarily... 

Then the narrative flips to Malorie at some time in the future, alone in a house with two young children, deciding to brave the river, paddling down an unfamiliar waterway blindfolded.  Not knowing what lies ahead, behind or beneath their rowboat.  Will they be able to hear their way to safety?

This book truly terrified me.  I couldn’t stop reading it, I had to know what happened next, but I had to keep putting the book down and walking away for a minute or two; only to rush back again to read another chapter or two.  The author did a wonderful job making you think while freaking you out.  The idea of something, and having no idea what that something could possibly be, driving a person crazy on sight is bizarre, but I was completely drawn into this world and believed it.  I was in the rowboat with Malorie hearing what she and the children heard and I felt the hairs rise on the back of my neck.  (Hence, my furious pacing and leaving the book behind while I caught my breath.)  Maybe it’s just me, but the idea of having to face something unknown blind, something that could be standing RIGHT THERE, just really freaks me out.

Horror fans do not miss this one.  And read it with the windows closed, your doors locked and all the lights on. 

Friday, June 13, 2014

Hit Me by Lawrence Block

Hit Me by Lawrence Block

Keller left New York City for New Orleans after his last job.  He now has a new wife and toddler, the last thing he expects is for his former employer to call him up, but she does.  Dot has a job for him, if he’s interested.  Since his business restoring houses damaged from Katrina is drying up due to the economic climate, he is looking for work to support his family, and his hobby.  Keller, now Nicholas Edwards, is an avid stamp collector.  This phone call changes things; he’s back in business, as a hit man for hire.

The book reads like multiple short stories with each job being another part of the book.  Keller/Edwards is a nice guy, for a killer, so you want him to succeed, plus the people he is hired to silence are not nice people.  It’s interesting seeing him set up his new business, setting up stamp sales, and learning so much about such an obscure (at least in today’s world) hobby. 

A good choice on audio because you can’t skip the stamp parts which actually are quite fascinating, but if reading I have to admit I may have skimmed the philately lessons.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

That Summer by Lauren Willig

That Summer by Lauren Willig

In 2009 Julia learns she has inherited a house in England from a relative she doesn’t remember from her time in that country – when her mother was still alive.  Living for the past twenty or so years in New York City, having recently lost her job, she decides to fly to England to undertake the sorting and cleaning of the house to prepare it for sale.  While sorting she finds a well hidden pre-Raphaelite painting of Tristan and Isolde: featuring a figure who could be the former lady of the house. 

In 1849 Imogen Grantham has been married for a decade to a much older man she thought was the love of her life.  Now, old enough to know better, she sees it was only a crush.  Yet she married him and is now bound to him.  The intellectual life she thought was ahead of her is unattainable and her husband is no more than a stranger to her.  Fond of Medieval art her husband acquires items of the era, items which come to the attention of the pre-Raphaelite painters who believe in painting from life.  Gavin Thorne comes to use the artifacts in the backgrounds of his paintings and leaves one day with a commission to paint Imogen’s portrait.  Over the course of their time together as model and artist Imogen falls in love with Gavin and he with her.  How can their love live?

You know as soon as she finds the picture of Tristan and Isolde that at least one storyline may not have a happy ending.  (Don’t worry the 2009 story more than makes up for the tragic love story.)  Willig does a fine job, yet again, with unfolding two storylines through alternate chapters.   I suggest this one for those looking for a romantic beach read with substance. 

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi

The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi

Rahima’s family is in need of a man.  Her father is either away from home or his mind is clouded with opium.  Her mother and three sisters are not allowed to roam the streets unaccompanied even though it is 2007 in Afghanistan.  So her family decides to make Rahima into Rahim.  This is the custom known as bacha posh; a girl wears pants and cuts her hair and exists as a boy until she becomes of marriageable age.  Rahim/Rahima learns that she was not the first in her family to be a bacha posh, her great-great-grandmother was as well, and she was a guard of the king’s harem in Kabul.  Things go well for both bacha posh living their lives as men until they have to wear skirts and become women again.

If you are looking for an uplifting story where women overcome adversity then only read the first half of the book.  The freedom these women experience as boys and men is thrilling to them and therefore to the reader as well.  This makes their transition back to being women, having their new found freedom snatched from them, heartbreaking and devastating.  While neither character (their narratives told in alternating chapters) dies, I can’t say they are living either for their lives are not their own.  This is realistic fiction, and even though I adore dark books, this one was too sad for my taste.

This novel is an eye-opening glimpse into life in Afghanistan and how the modern world is being held at arm’s length by many in Kabul.

Goodnight June by Sarah Jio


Goodnight June by Sarah Jio

The book opens with June in a hospital bed, desperate to check herself out and get back to work.  She’s only 35, a vice president of the bank in New York City, and suffering from severe high blood pressure because of her job.  She is the bad guy from the bank that liquidates small businesses that can’t keep up with their mortgage payments and the fast pace, and the stress, is getting to her.  Of course that’s when the letter arrives in the mail – she’s inherited Bluebird Books, her aunt’s beloved bookstore in Seattle.  A place where June and her sister Amy were practically raised.  June decides she needs a break from her life in New York and returns to Seattle to look into selling the bookstore.  But she can’t.  She loves the place too much.  Can she sell?  Or can she get the store out of debt and stay?

Along with dealing with financial and personal crises June is on a treasure hunt from her Aunt Ruby.  Ruby hid letters between herself and Brownie (Margaret Wise Brown) in first editions throughout the bookstore.  Could Bluebird Books and Aunt Ruby have been the inspiration behind the iconic children’s book Goodnight Moon?

 This book is almost too happy.  Everything turns out well in the end, a little too well.  But after reading the last book (The Pearl That Broke Its Shell) it was a very welcome change!  The perfect beach read for those who grew up loving books.