THE HOUSE GIRL (2013)

The House Girl by Tara Conklin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was intrigued from the first sentence and read the book quickly in just several days. This was a Kindle purchase and the title was chosen for our book group so I didn't know what to expect.

Ordinarily I wouldn't pick up an historical novel, but author Tara Conklin has created two compelling contrasting worlds (one in the past and one in the present) to tell her story. Alternating between the life of 'house girl' slave Josephine Bell and that of fast track lawyer Lina Sparrow makes for a compelling story.

Being a 'house girl' of a childless family, Josephine has been taught to read and has a naturally brilliant talent for creating artwork although most of it is attributed to her mistress.

Lina is handed the opportunity of a lifetime when she is assigned to find the perfect plaintiff for a court case involving reparations for slaves.

How the two stories weave together and eventually become one will keep the reader engaged although the writing is a bit flowery at times.
 
My book group doesn't meet until next Thursday so I may update these comments after I hear what everyone thinks.

Recommended for a solid summer read.

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Donna Tartt's THE GOLDFINCH Wins THE PULITZER!

Read more details at the LA Times website and then read my review on this site.

HIDDEN (2014)

Hidden by Catherine McKenzie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Although HIDDEN is Canadian author Catherine McKenzie's fourth novel, it is the first time I have read her work and I was most impressed.

First sentence: The last thing I had to do that day was fire Art Davies.

Within a carefully constructed structure, her writing is clear and moving. I love all the allusions to things in modern everyday lives. It strengthens how we relate to the story told by three people: Jeff, Claire, and Tish. And lest you think that might be confusing, it is not. The author places subtle markers at the beginning of each new section that immediately identify where the story is picking up. It is almost seamless.

The other thing I loved about HIDDEN is that it twists and turns and doesn't necessarily go where the reader expects while dealing with issues of relationships, family, secrets, and regrets.

Bottom Line: This is definitely a worthy addition to what I call 'literate chic-lit'. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Title: Hidden
Author: Catherine McKenzie
Genre: Literate chic-lit
Publisher: New Harvest
ISBN: 0544264975
No. of Pages: 304 pages
Copyright: April 1, 2014
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Source: Kindle Edition Offer

DISCLOSURE: Got a free copy through Kindle Prime.

Catherine MacKenzie, A graduate of McGill University in History and Law, practices law in Montreal, where she was born and raised. An avid skier and runner, Catherine's novels, SPIN, ARRANGED, FORGOTTEN and HIDDEN, are international bestsellers. HIDDEN will be released in the US on April 1, 2014. She is currently seeking a new one-word title so she can write her fifth novel. And if you want to know how she has time to do all that, the answer is: robots.

EMPTY MANSIONS (2013)

Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell Jr. 
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As I grow older, I seem to find more inspiration in works of non-fiction. The research and depth of exploration in books like EMPTY MANSIONS have the ability to make me question what I thought I knew about the world.

On the other hand, I don't think there IS another book quite like EMPTY MANSIONS. Why didn't I love history when I was in school? How did the teachers manage to make it so dry and unappealing? Here it is a page turner, non-fiction that reads like fiction.

EMPTY MANSIONS is a modern day fairy tale. It begins with the magical tale of W.A.Clark and how he amassed his incredible fortune in copper mining and ends with the death of his daughter Huguette at the age of 104 in 2011. The eccentricities of Huguette's life and how the fortune was managed and spent is as fascinating as it is distressing.

And what about those empty mansions, bought and abandoned? They are the stuff of imagination and exploration. How many dreams have been filled with room after room of delight?

What is amazing to contemplate is that Huguette was witness to everything from the sinking of the Titanic (the family had tickets for the second sailing) to the collapse of the Twin Towers on 9/11. She lived her life as a recluse and ultimately spent her last years in hospital. And everyone wanted something from her. That something was money. Obscene amounts of money.

Bottom Line:  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Title: Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune
Author: Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell Jr.
Genre: Non-fiction
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0345534522
No. of Pages: 496 pages
Copyright: September 10, 2013
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Source: Hardback copy loaned by a friend who knew I wanted to read it.

Bill Dedman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, an investigative reporter for NBC News, and co-author of the No. 1 bestselling book "Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune." Wikipedia

Paul Clark Newell Jr., cousin of Huguette Clark and grand nephew of Senator William Andrews Clark (Huguette's father), is one of the few persons admitted into regular communication with with the reclusive Huguette in the last 20 years of her life. (Source: Amazon)

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THE GOLDFINCH (2013)

Early in the morning I read the most astonishingly beautiful sentence and realized it was the end - that when I 'turned the page' there would be no more and I cried.

The night before I had been so intensely involved with read Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch that I stayed up until very late thinking I could finish it before retiring. Approaching 2:00 AM I realized that I would need to sleep first.

What's odd is that I was seduced into my late night attempt because my Kindle tells me percentage read. Intuitively I should realize that a percentage of a long book will mean more pages but reading on a Kindle distances one from a feel for the shape and weight of the book.

Right now I am longing for my own copy. I highlighted sentences and passages on the Kindle but I want to hold the physical book in my hands. I want to flip through the pages and re-read sections and write in the margins.

At GoodReads the reviews are passionate but not always positive. It makes me sad when others cannot find the beauty or even acknowledge it. You don't have to 'like' a book to recognize it's worth.

Donna Tartt's writing is like music. She has created fascinating characters that are unforgettable, who remain mysterious even when we feel we know them.

This is Theo's book and he tells the story in retrospect beginning at thirteen when a terrible disaster occurred that changed the course of his life. One might identify this as a Bildungsroman. It is that, but its form constantly morphs. Melanie, a reviewer on GoodReads commented that there are elements of “thriller, Bildungsroman, philosophical treaty, coming of age tale, epic, travelogue, memoir”.

Let this story surprise and delight you.

Bottom Line: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED but make sure you have the time it deserves.

Title: The Goldfinch
Author: Donna Tartt
Genre: Literature
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
No. of Pages: 784 pages
ISBN: 0316055433
Copyright: October 22, 2013
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Source: Amazon

Disclaimer: Purchased for my Kindle Fire because I couldn't get a copy from the library quickly enough.

Donna Tartt is an elusively private author but I did find this fascinating interview with the British Telegraph 12/9/2013. She has written two previous well-reviewed books: The Secret History (1992) and The Little Friend (2002), both of which I was lucky enough to read at the time they were published.

My Top 15 Reads for 2013

My original post has disappeared. I was inspired to create this list after seeing all the ones that asked how many of these books have you read. Since I didn't fare as well as I would like, I decided to create my own.

So here is how I remember my list in no particular order. I should mention again that Kate Atkinson's book was the highlight of 2013. I actually read it twice. And of course, the whole point of this list was to say that I had read 100% of them.

1. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
2. How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny
3. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
4. Annie's Ghosts by Steve Luxenberg
5. After Visiting Friends by Michael Hainey
6. Someday, Someday Maybe by Lauren Graham
7. The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Stout
8. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
9. Night Film by Marisha Pessl
10. My Antonia by Willa Cather
11. Replay by Ken Grimwood
12. Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala
13. The Dinner by Herman Koch
14. The Black House by Peter May
15. Rage Against the Dying by Becky Masterman

AFTER VISITING FRIENDS (2013)

After 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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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.

A TALE FOR THE TIME BEING (2013)

A 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 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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Sara Paretsky at Nicola's October 21, 2013

Best Selling author Sara Paretsky will be doing her first event for Critical Mass at Nicola's in Ann Arbor the evening of Monday, October 21, 2013 at 7:00 pm. You can find more details HERE.

Tom Clancy Dies at 66

Author Tom Clancy died last night (October 1, 2013) at Johns Hopkins in his hometown of Baltimore after a brief illness. He was 66. Several of his best selling books like The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, and A Clear and Present Danger were made into successful movies with Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, and Ben Affleck playing his Jack Ryan character.

15 Banned Books to Contemplate

HAPPY BANNED BOOKS WEEK 22 - 28, 2013

Head over to Buzz Feed and see which of your favorite books have been banned and for some pretty unexpected reasons. Check out 15 Books Banned for the Most Absurd Reasons Ever.

Banned Books Week 2013

Banned Books Week is just around the corner. What is your favorite challenged title?

Update on NIGHT FILM (2013)

I just barely finished reading Night Film by Marisha Pessl this past weekend, in one pretty huge gulp, and already it is being talked about for a movie! Check out this article from Casting Call.

If you've read the book, feel free to make your own casting decisions!

NIGHT FILM (2013)

Night Film by Marisha Pessl
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What did Ashley Cordova want to tell him before jumping to her death? Investigative reporter Scott McGrath decides to track down Ashley's father, the elusive director of dark and disturbing films, Stanislas Cordova, to find the truth behind the myths. Night Film is one incredible roller coaster ride.

Using made-up documents to help tell a story has been done before but never as well as Marisha Pessl's detailed and realistic newspaper clippings, photographs, magazine articles, and other documents scattered throughout the book.

Some of the print reviewers aren't as enthusiastic about this sophomore effort of Marisha Pessl, who won recognition for her debut novel Special Topics in Calamity Physics (2006). However, most readers (and that includes me) are totally enthusiastic.

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MURDER, SHE RODE (2013)

Murder, She Rode by Holly Menino
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really wanted to like this debut mystery by Holly Menino. The title is clever and unlike stories that add horses for color, this mystery has everything to do with the horses. Menino really knows her subject having been involved with horses all her life as well as having written three acclaimed nonfiction books on the topic according to the book jacket.

Right from the beginning I often found myself confused about details and characters having to re-read sections to be sure what was going on. It was hard for me to get into the story although by the end I really wanted to know what was going to happen.

Tink Elledge is a horse trainer and former champion rider, who's current goal is for her horse "Exit Laughing" to win the prestigious Brandywine Three-Day Event. A tragic accident and suspicious events threaten to mar not only the event but Tink's relationships with friends and family.

It may be that Murder She Rode will be appreciated by a very specific audience. Those who love horses or own horses may find this quite a delightful read. I am going to check this premise by asking a friend who owns horses and reads extensively to add this to her stack of books. More later!

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HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN (2013)

Louise Penny's latest entry in her Chief Inspector Gamache series went on sale August 27, 2013. I was lucky enough to score an ARC (advanced reading copy) months ago but put off reviewing the book because I was afraid my words would not do it justice.

So instead I offer a link to a review written by librarian Judie Evans of How the Light Gets In via Shelf Awareness. You'll have to scroll down to find it on the webpage.

One caveat though. Do not start reading the series with this title. You are guaranteed to fall in love with the village of Three Pines and its residents. Begin your journey with the very first book Still Life.

A Gothic Tale for a Gloomy November Evening

It's not like I need another book to read, but I was still pleased this morning to be offered the chance to read British author Diane Setterfield's Bellman & Black, which will go on sale on November 5, 2013.

Do you like Gothic stories? This title is a follow-up to Setterfield's debut in 2006, The Thirteenth Tale, a New York Times #1bestseller, both mysterious and charming "with echoes of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. Some early readers of Bellman & Black have written it surpasses her first effort.

Here's what is posted on goodreads (visit the site and win a chance for a free advanced reading copy):

As a boy, William Bellman commits one small, cruel act: killing a bird with his slingshot. Little does he know the unforeseen and terrible consequences of the deed, which is soon forgotten amidst the riot of boyhood games. By the time he is grown, with a wife and children of his own, William seems to be a man blessed by fortune—until tragedy strikes and the stranger in black comes. Then he starts to wonder if all his happiness is about to be eclipsed. Desperate to save the one precious thing he has left, William enters into a rather strange bargain, with an even stranger partner, to found a decidedly macabre business.

And Bellman & Black is born.

What Gothic authors are your favorites?

  

Choosing What to Read this Fall (2013)

After complaining about how swamped we all are with books we want to read, it seemed a list of what's coming out this fall would help everyone decide now the titles they want to read. It sounds counter productive, but just picking up the next randomly available book may not just clutter up and deflect your reading.

Book Page's The Book Case blog has listed all the fabulous fiction titles coming out this fall.

The first book on the list is Night Film by Marisha Pessl, which I am currently reading on my Kindle. It just came out August 20th. What appeals to you? What should I add to my list besides The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt?