Friday, November 29, 2013

DOING HARM (2014)


Doing HarmDoing Harm by Kelly Parsons
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Even if you didn't know, it wouldn't take long to figure out that author Kelly Parsons is also a trained surgeon. His detailed descriptions of medical procedures are fascinating, in depth, and occasionally spill over into the area that makes you queasy and inclined to turn away.

But Kelly Parsons writes very well, tells a plausible story, and brings to life characters that you care about as much as his narrator Chief resident Steve Mitchell does. It's a compelling look at the world inside a hospital and underscores the phrase 'practicing' medicine. (That alone is a little scary.)

Everything seems to be working out for Dr. Mitchell. He has a family he loves and is almost in reach of the job he has always wanted. Then things start going wrong.

You have to suspend disbelief from time to time to enjoy the story and there are some red herrings that aren't addressed in the end, thrown in to keep the reader wondering. But those are all forgivable and maybe even to be expected in this genre.

Doing Harm is the Gone Girl of medical thrillers. During the couple of days it took me to read this book, I was constantly aware of a sense of dread. This is the author's debut novel (available February 4, 2013) and he hits it out of the park. If it isn't immediately optioned for a movie, I will be very surprised. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Title: Doing Harm
Author: Kelly Parsons
Genre: Medical Thriller
Publisher:St. Martin's Press
No. of Pages:  368 pages
Copyright: February 4, 2014
ISBN: 1250033470
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Source: NetGalley

From AMAZON: "KELLY PARSONS is a board-certified urologist with degrees from Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, and Johns Hopkins, and he is on the faculty at the University of California San Diego.  He lives with his family in Southern California.  Doing Harm is his first novel."

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Wednesday, November 27, 2013

AFTER VISITING FRIENDS (2013)


After Visiting Friends: A Son's StoryAfter Visiting Friends: A Son's Story by Michael Hainey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is an intimate and honest story about searching for the father who died when the son was only six. It is episodic, as memories are, but never incomplete. The writing is often beautiful causing the reader to pause and reflect.

Bob Hainey was a much loved newspaperman who died on the street in Chicago at the young age of thirty-five.

Following in his journalist father's steps, Michael Hainey discovers as an adult that what he knew about his father's death doesn't quite add up. He decides to use his skills to investigate and along the way meets the people who knew and held his father in high regard. You want to make the journey with him, but it raises questions.

Do we really want to know the truth about our family stories? Who could be hurt? Is it worth the pain it may cause? Does it really matter?

When the end comes, it is unexpected but perfect and moving.

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Thursday, November 7, 2013

Publisher's Weekly Lists Top 2013 Titles

Everyone loves lists.

Check out this one from Publisher's Weekly listing their choices for the best Fiction, Mystery/Thriller, Romance, Non-Fiction, etc.

I was pleased to see Louise Penny, Kate Atkinson, and Denise Mina on the Best Books of 2013. I've read several titles and have a few more on my 'to read' list but was surprised to discover Fear in the Sunlight by Nicola Upson, a mystery that includes author  Josephine Tey as a character.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

How to Achieve Your Reading Goal for the Year


So I was definitely concerned about how far behind I am in my reading goal for 2013, currently six books, when I discovered this helpful list. Quick Reads (Dive into 55 Books Under 200 pages!) What a lifesaver! Check it out!

Sunday, November 3, 2013

A TALE FOR THE TIME BEING (2013)


A Tale for the Time BeingA Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The books that surprise me are the ones that lead me on a new path where I am delighted to find myself.

What attracted me to Ruth Ozeki's tale of a blocked novelist named Ruth, reluctantly living on a remote Canadian island, was the young Japanese girl's diary that washed up on the shore. Ruth took it home thinking it was trash but her husband Oliver discovered the treasure inside.

Focusing back and forth between Nao's and Ruth's stories, the reader becomes vested in the meaning of both lives.

Ozeki is a beautiful, careful writer. There are profound but simple sentences throughout that I felt the need to highlight on my Kindle. If necessary the Japanese words are notated as are some of the more difficult concepts. The reader understands they are safely in the hands of an expert storyteller even though some sections describe difficult and unpleasant things.

This is not a book for everyone. Some might even consider it a boring tale. It is not an easy book to understand. It is layered and esoteric. The reader knows what is on the surface, but at some point it slips beyond one's grasp and becomes something more. Eventually you and the author can no longer rationalize all the elements of magical realism. I finally had to just let the story go where it would and realize that my understanding would not be perfect and would change and morph throughout the time I was part of the story and perhaps even beyond.

There were many points of connection for a reader: Proust, Japan, suicide, kamikaze pilots, history, bullying, Buddhism, quantum physics, and myth.  The sense of considering time from a variety of possibilities was fascinating. The recurring idea of opposites being 'same thing' will stay with me forever as something needing contemplation. 

“A time being is someone who lives in time, and that means you, and me, and every one of us who is, or was, or ever will be.” 

Title: A Tale for the Time Being
Author: Ruth Ozeki
Genre: Literature
Publisher:Viking Adult
No. of Pages: 432 pages
Copyright: March 12, 2013
ISBN: 0670026638
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Source: Amazon Kindle

A Canadian-American novelist and filmmaker, Ruth Ozeki worked in commercial television and media production for over a decade before turning to writing fiction.  She is, in fact, a Zen Buddhist priest. A Tale for the Time Being was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize this year.

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    ANNIE'S GHOSTS: A JOURNEY INTO A FAMILY SECRET (2009)


    Annie's Ghosts: A Journey Into a Family SecretAnnie's Ghosts: A Journey Into a Family Secret by Steve Luxenberg
    My rating: 5 of 5 stars

    What a perfect book! Part mystery, part memoir, and a look at the evolution of the mental health industry in this country, author Steve Luxenberg, a senior editor with the Washington Post for many years, uses his investigative skills to tell the fascinating story of his family's secret.

    And I would never have known about the fact that it had been chosen as the 2013 - 2014 Michigan Read except for my favorite retired Jackson District librarians. We gather twice a year for lunch and to catch up on each other's lives. Invariably we talk about books.

    Not being a native Michigander, I was not familiar with Detroit's Eloise Hospital for the mentally ill and homeless which flourished during the Depression. What I heard that afternoon about Annie's Ghosts sounded so fascinating that I immediately went home and downloaded the book to my Kindle. Before two days had passed, I had finished everything including the extensive notes following the narrative.

    All their growing up years, Steve and his siblings had been told by their mother Beth that she was an only child. In poor health and in her eighties, she mentioned a sister to a new doctor. Six months after she died, the secret made another appearance but this time there was a name: Annie.

    Not only has Steve Luxenberg created a highly readable book, the kind librarians call non-fiction that reads like fiction, but he shares his approach to researching which has allowed him to discover all sorts of hidden pieces of information.

    He also carefully expands the story beyond the original 'secret' to explain the way the world 'worked' and how people thought during that time. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

    Title: Annie's Ghosts: A Journey Into a Family Secret
    Author: Steve Luxenberg
    Genre: Memoir
    Publisher:Hyperion
    No. of Pages: 416 pages
    Copyright: May 5, 2009
    ISBN: 1401322476
    Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    Source: Amazon Kindle

    Steve Luxemberg has worked for more than thirty years as a reporter and editor having begun his career at The Baltimore Sun. He is now Associate Editor for The Washington Post and an author. Annie's Ghosts was chosen as a 2010 Notable Michigan Book among other honors.

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