Disquiet (2008)

Disquiet by Julia Leigh

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Cinematic in its images, this subtly disturbing novella will linger. The appropriately titled "Disquiet" can be read in a couple of hours.

A woman arrives unexpected at her Mother's chateau in rural France with her two children. Shortly her brother and his wife arrive having just lost a desperately wanted child. Domestic violence, adultery, and other dark secrets underlie this unhappy reunion.

This was another Entertainment Weekly top ten of 2008 and deserved the honor. I read it immediately after Henry James' "Daisy Miller" and both leave you feeling vaguely uneasy.


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Fieldwork (2007)

Fieldwork: A Novel by Mischa Berlinski

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Here's another Entertainment Weekly recommendation that was a fascinating read. A dense, literate journal that echoes the way anthropological fieldwork is done. Mischa Berlinski is the name of the author and the name of the narrator.

When his girlfriend takes a job teaching school in Thailand for a couple of years, the narrator goes along and takes the odd journalistic job to amuse himself until one day he hears a strange story told him by an acquaintance. An American woman Martiya who lived for many years among the Dyalo tribe has committed suicide after spending years in prison for killing a missionary. The plotting draws you into the obsession the narrator has with attempting to untangle and solve the mystery of her life by doing his own 'fieldwork'.


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Daemon (2009)

Daemon by Daniel Suarez

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
"Daemon" reminds me of Scott Smith's "The Ruins" in that it keeps the reader trying to find ways the characters might escape their fate but there is no way out. The comparison ends there though. "Daemon" is a techno thriller roller coaster ride.(A daemon is a computer program that runs without the direct control of a human.) A wealthy game designer plans for society to change after his death by killing people who try to resist. Knowing a little about computers and how they and the Internet work makes it even more scary because it could be real. I read about the book in Entertainment Weekly and had to see what all the fuss was about. Suarez has written a page turner. Paramount has optioned the book as a movie, and a sequel to the book titled "Freedom" is also in the works and has been acquired by Dutton.


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The Road (2006)

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Sobering, engrossing, and terrifying. Cormac MacCarthy deserved the awards for this post post apocalyptic tale. Sparse in punctuation and undefined dialogue, the reader follows a father and his young son on the road through a world that no longer exists. "The Road" published in 2006 won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007.

Entertainment Weekly in June 2008 named The Road the best book, fiction or non-fiction, of the past 25 years. That's when it went on my list.


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Twilight (2005)

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars

As I started reading "Twilight", I couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about and I thought the restrained romance was getting a little old and repetitious. I have all the titles in the series on 'hold' at the library but was beginning to think that Book #1 was enough. After all I am several generations past the target group. Au contraire. Suddenly the fun began and I couldn't put the book down. I guess I am a convert. These are great stories and I have been listening to the CD of the music from the movie in the car. Makes me want to see the movie. Stephenie Meyer is a good storyteller.


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Libraries to Start Lending Money

And why not? Several library friends have shared this article recently so I decided it was time to post it. Check out the new role public libraries could serve in helping jumpstart the economy. Click here.

Of course, the idea started in Britain and if you want to know more about the news source, NewsBiscuit, whose slogan is 'The news before it happens," you can click here.

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Author Barbara Ehrenreich traveled from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, taking jobs as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing home aide and Wal-Mart 'associate'. She tried to live on what she could make and found it a fragile business at best. It's a depressing picture and will make you aware of those nameless and faceless people who serve the rest of us everyday.

Some may find the tone condescending and resent the fact that the author 'used' people to get her 'story' but was able to escape back to her privileged life.


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