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The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by Reif Larsen

Posted by Stephanie on Thursday, September 2, 2010 at 2:48 PM

Title: The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet by Reif Larsen

The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet by Reif Larsen is one of the Next Reads Selections that looked interesting. T.S. (Tecumseh Sparrow) is a 12 year old cartographer who lives with his family on a ranch in Montana. He spends most of his time drawing maps. He draws topographical maps as well as maps of conversations, facial expressions, and locations of boys eating Honey-Nut-Cheerios across the United States. His highly accomplished drawings were sent to the Smithsonian for exhibition and won him the prestigious Baird award. The only problems are, how can he get to Washington and what happens when the Smithsonian finds out he is twelve. The book is lavishly illustrated by T.S.'s drawings which serve as kinds of footnotes. At first I found them to be distracting, but I got used to them after a while.
While on his journey, T.S. reads a book written by his mother telling the story of his great-grandmother. The other narrative is very interesting as well. The book is a little hard to follow as it jumps around so much between stories and maps, but I really enjoyed it.

Anything Goes by Lucy Moore

Posted by Ray on Thursday, September 2, 2010 at 2:40 PM

Title: Anything Goes : A Biography of the Roaring Twenties by Lucy Moore

London's had its biography. But how do you write a biography of a decade in U.S. history? Apparently, by connecting the famous (and infamous) as dots on a children's drawing and throwing in some events or groups. After an initial chapter starring Al Capone there is Bessie Smith, Marcus Garvey, Louis Armstrong, Langston Hughes, the Fitzgeralds, Gloria Swanson, Pola Negri, Theda Bara, Chaplin, Arbuckle, Hearst, the Hardings, Sacco and Vanzetti, Harry and Caresse Crosby, the Algonquin Round Table, the KKK, the Scopes Monkey Trial, etc., etc., et al. All the way through I was trying to remember the 1931 classic on the 20s called Only Yesterday and I knew the author had a "Lewis" in his name. Finally on page 79, with the first of at least four citings of this seminal work, Ms. Moore mentions Frederick Allen and then I recalled that this author was Frederick Lewis Allen. I have to say Moore's was a breezy, entertaining "read" and the less you know about the 20s, the more entertaining it is. I particularly liked the chapters on the Klan and the Algonquin Round Table folks. And every so often she shares a great line or an insight into things to add pleasure to this whirlwind trip. I loved her quote of Janet Flanner on the founder of the New Yorker, Harold Ross: "'He was,' she said, 'the only man I'd ever known who spelt out euphemisms in front of adults.'" Likewise I learned — at least for now — that "The word 'flapper' described a chick desperately flapping her wings as she tried to fly, although she had not yet grown adult feathers; it had come to mean a precocious young woman whose modern appearance, attitude, values and behavior utterly mystified her parents' generation." If you haven't been to the 20s lately, this is a great overview and I have a hunch that there will be something that you'll find intriguing.

Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross

Posted by Juli on Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at 4:09 PM

Title: Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross

Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross is a book that haunts and puzzles. It is a portrait of marriage and murder and the fine line between love and hate; a psychological drama fit together like a M. C. Escher print. There are three marriages to dissect and several murders to contemplate in the looping narrative. The marriages are connected by a murder mystery and a police procedural.
Mr. Ross, with a nod to Hitchcock, has constructed a plot that will leave readers questioning reality. Mr. Peanut has an ending that will send readers back into the narrative to search for missing clues. To his credit the author does leave numerous clues for the discerning reader. One of the detectives is the infamous Sam Sheppard the man who was convicted and later acquitted of murdering his wife in 1954. Mr. Peanut is one of the most unusual and intricate novels that I have read in a long time. Wow, I am in awe. Read this book, so we can talk.

The Fall of the House of Walworth by Geoffrey O'Brien

Posted by Ray on Monday, August 16, 2010 at 4:35 PM

Title: The Fall of the House of Walworth : a Tale of Madness and Murder in Gilded Age America by Geoffrey O'Brien

According to Peter Straub this is a "great, swooping Gothic tale and O'Brien opens every shadowy chamber to admit cleansing rays of intelligence, irony and compassion." Like the editor he is, the story opens with big guns — the highpoint of the story, the murder of Mansfield Walworth by his own son, Frank. It grabs our attention but then it seems sort of a downhill run, knowing the answer, as the story unfolds. There was just something about Mr. O'Brien's telling that begged for improvement or at least it seemed so to me. He IS editor of the Library of America, that wonderful series of black covered books of American "classics" that every public library buys. As the story that his central character seems to become Mansfield's wife/Frank's mother, Ellen Hardin Walworth, for Frank dies, and the story continues on. Not an editor myself, I'd still rearrange the story to be the story of Chancellor Walworth (Mansfield's father and a very notable politician and jurist in upstate New York in the 19th century). I'd skip the "gothic" characterization and while madness and murder play apart, it is really a fascinating story of a family, their trials and successes, and eventual dying out. This Saratoga New York clan is tied in with American history and almost all of the folks were writers of some sort, Mansfield being a middling novelist of some temporary success. Ellen has poems and edits her daughter's European tour letters. The Chancellor and others work on the Walworth genealogy. There are religious elements including writing the history of Kateri Tekakwitha ("The Lily of the Mohawks") and Mansfield's brother Clarence is involved with those priests founding of the Paulist fathers. Ellen was involved with the Washington ladies who saved Mount Vernon, Washington's estate, from disrepair and collapse and she was one of three or four women who founded the D.A.R. My favorite little aside was a group of supports or admirers who named Walworth County — you know, where Lake Geneva is — after Chancellor Walworth. While it could be better told, this is still a very interesting family story intertwined with much American history. I bet there may even be a movie.

Star Island by Carl Hiaasen

Posted by Ray on Tuesday, August 3, 2010 at 11:08 AM

Title: Star Island by Carl Hiaasen

The last book I read was about General Custer's demise and if you look carefully he even has a passing reference in Carl Hiaasen's latest novel, Star Island — such is fame. Hiaasen continues to write humorous takes on his native Florida, a sort of blow-dried Elmore Leonard and this latest effort is an effortless and amusing read. I know it is a good book when at the end I have no idea about the pagination. I never looked once to see "how much more" there was to go. If the author had pasted a dramatis personae in the front (it's covered, though, in the epilogue), that alone would be worthy of admission price even with a stiff handling surcharge. He plays with the world of our culture of celebrity with its promoters, spin doctors, dysfunctional parentage, paparazzi, bodyguards, tartlets (Mr. Hiaasen's term) and of course we-the-people. About the only sane person in the mix is Annie the actress who has been hired to impersonate tartlet Cherry Pye, a pretty, utterly talentless star who is about as deep as a mud puddle in Death Valley in July. Despite supreme efforts by those who are shepherding this golden goose, she is forever drugging and boozing, and hence Annie's need to act as a body double to portray her as sane and sober for fans and the press. There's enough creative tension and interest to keep one guessing for the entire wild ride through South Florida (and LA) and I think my view of The National Enquirer will never be the same.

The Last Stand by Nathaniel Philbrick

Posted by Ray on Monday, July 26, 2010 at 4:13 PM

Title: The Last Stand : Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn by Nathaniel Philbrick

I don't know if he died for my sins, but Custer definitely died, and not pleasantly. Despite this obvious ending hanging over the text, Nathaniel In the Heart of the Sea Philbrick's latest work wonderfully conveys the events and artfully portrays many of the soldiers (and Indians) leading up to and the aftermath of the Battle of the Little Bighorn in the summer of 1876. Custer is in our American iconography. The first image I had in my local library was a framed painting of the "Last Stand" on its wall. In 1960 there was a great novelty song "Please, Mr. Custer" about a trooper who had a premonition and preferred not to travel with the troop. An exceptionally powerful song (coupled with a Custer favorite "Garry Owen") by Cowboy Celtic is "Custer Died A-Runnin'" attempting to dismiss the "standard" vision of the death-defying hero boldly standing as the enemy comes on. Mr. Philbrick in great detail gives "best guess" accounts of what (and why things ) happened based on a great deal of research both of White and Indian sources. Especially helpful are a series of maps plotting various positions as well as a goodly number of "plates" both color and black and white. Sifting through all that he could find, in the end Philbrick offers us the real possibility that the battle wasn't necessary. Had the troops not desecrated some Lakota graves and refrained from slaughtering some women and children, Sitting Bull quite possibly would have been willing "to talk" about going to reservations or whatever. Indeed even the great cavalry man Custer, much to the surprise of everyone, not long before the last stand, had done just that with some success — gone into an Indian camp and talked — avoiding a battle. One thing is for certain, after reading this book, you'll never forget this story: steamboats, mules, drunken officers, and brave men (and women), Indian and white.

Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey

Posted by Stephanie on Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 3:53 PM

Title: Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey

Parrot and Olivier in America is Peter Carey's funny new novel set during the early years of America's history. Olivier-Jean-Baptiste de Clarel de Garmont is a young French nobleman sent to early nineteenth-century America to escape his possible arrest and imprisonment. In Paris he had angered the wrong revolutionary side because of his stupidity and arrogance. His mother feels that America would straighten him out. Olivier is accompanied by his servant and secretary Parrot. Parrot is the English son of a printer and has his own aspirations of grandeur. The narrative is divided between the two men's voices. Olivier is based on Alexis de Tocqueville and his experiences are similar. The relationship between Parrot and Olivier changes and grows in unlikely ways as their journey continues. It is quite an adventure that really showcases how primitive America was in the 1830's. A very interesting read.

The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman

Posted by Stephanie on Tuesday, July 20, 2010 at 4:02 PM

Title: The Cookbook Collector by Atiq Rahimi

I was attracted to the title of The Cookbook Collector because I love reading and collecting cookbooks. Allegra Goodman's new novel proved to be much more of a piece of "literature" than my usual diet of murder/mayhem/find the Holy Grail/save the world type of books. It is a wonderful book brimming with interesting characters whose lives interconnect in special ways. The plot centers around sisters Jess and Emily Bach. Jess is a somewhat Bohemian grad student who works in a used book shop and "saves the trees" in her spare time. Emily is the CEO of a dot-com startup. It is set during the late 1990's, so the reader is aware of the coming dot-com bubble burst. You want to scream "Don't buy that house!" when characters' stocks start climbing. You also want to scream "Don't get on the plane!" on September 11, 2001.

I really loved the book and especially the relationship of Jess and George, her boss in the book shop. There are occasionally too many characters revolving around each other to keep track of but their relationships are interesting to watch. It reminded me of another great book, Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann. Publishers Weekly says that "this dazzling novel is Austen updated for the dot-com era" but it is really more than that. Since I detest Jane Austen, (yes I said it), this book is really about collecting life and what you do with it.

The Art Detectives by Philip Mould

Posted by Ray on Tuesday, July 13, 2010 at 11:59 AM

Title: The Art Detective : Fakes, Frauds, and Finds and the Search for Lost Treasures by Philip Mould

In the past decade there have been a number of books on art frauds and the recovery of "lost" or stolen artworks, most notably works "lost" during the Second World War. Last month the library got yet another, Philip Mould's The Art Detective. Clocking in at just under 250 pages of a smallish size, it looked like a fun read and indeed it was. It turns out Mr. Mould , "The Art Detective" has been a regular on BBC television including the UK version of Antiques Roadshow and a series on portraiture entitled Changing Faces and will soon be in a series called Art Sleuth which includes several of the stories in this volume. He is an art adviser, a gallery owner, and now most recently, a storyteller in print; and in all three, he is a good one! After an informative intro, there are six stories revolving around detecting the true nature of particular paintings including ones allegedly by Gainsborough, Rockwell, Rembrandt and Winslow Homer. Not only are there some great stories — I loved the one about the "hidden hoard" in Vermont — but the whole volume is an almost painless course in learning some aspects of what art collectors, dealers and restorers do, all of which for me was previously somewhat nebulous. As an added bonus I loved Mould's writing style and his periodic similes and metaphors. After reading this, paintings may be seen in a whole new light for you.

Romancing Miss Brontë by Juliet Gael

Posted by Jill on Thursday, July 8, 2010 at 5:55 PM

Title: Romancing Miss Brontë by Juliet Gael

Romancing Miss Brontë by Juliet Gael is a fictionalized biography of Charlotte Brontë and her eccentric family. The book has a misleading title as there is very little romance in this story. The first half of the book covers the arduous writing and publishing careers of Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë. The sisters decide to publish their novels Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey under masculine pseudonyms to protect their privacy and avoid the misogyny of publishers of that era. Jane Eyre by Charlotte is the breakout bestseller. Shortly after their books are published, Emily, Anne and their alcoholic brother die from tuberculosis within eight months of each other. The "romance" comes late in the book when a lonely Charlotte agrees to marry a curate she has known for years but does not really love. She dies from pregnancy complications a short time later. The book gives an interesting glimpse into the short, sheltered lives of three great authors. Given their grim surroundings, it is easy to see where the inspiration for their novels came from. This book would be of interest to fans of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.

Bone Appétit by Carolyn Haines

Posted by Ray on Thursday, July 8, 2010 at 5:47 PM

Title: Bone Appétit by Carolyn Haines

I had placed a hold on this book what seems like a long time ago and when it came I had no recollection of why or even if I had placed a hold on it but I thought: Why not read it! It turns out its about the 9^th in a series of mysteries and while some people prefer to read things in order, I decided to see if it would impede understanding if I just jumped right in and began reading. Although earlier "cases" and their effects were mentioned repeatedly, I was not ever in the dark about the past. Is this a cozy? Several people get murdered but on the whole it is mostly chatting between two women friends in the Delta area who are good old-fashioned American sleuths but have love lives and other concerns. The main shtick of this particular series is that Sarah Booth (hardly anyone uses her surname) is periodically visited by the ghost of one her plantation's former servants who tries to help Sarah Booth not so much solve crimes as to get her life together. While taking time away from sleuthing and other matters, Sarah Booth and her friend Tinkie go to a town in the region but out of the county. Greenwood is hosting a talent contest for the Viking appliance people. The winner gets to be the company spokesperson and thereby stock up on a number of perks. However someone is killing off the contestants. There is spas and cooking contests interwoven into the story. One of the unusual aspects of this particular case is that there are plenty of clues but not enough to point to the killer and so our team has the dickens of a time trying to solve thing. More entertaining than riveting, I did stay up past my bedtime to read to the conclusion. Not a "must" read but a pleasant enough one, either in order or à la cart.

Die Twice by Andrew Grant

Posted by Stephanie on Thursday, July 8, 2010 at 5:38 PM

Title: Die Twice by Andrew Grant

I just finished Andrew Grant's new novel Die Twice, and all I can say is "meh". It is a good thriller but could be better. The hero of Grant's two books is agent Lt. Cdr. David Trevellyan. He works for British naval intelligence and just finished a job in New York. Many people were killed by David, and he is sent to Chicago to get out of NY and solve a problem for the British consulate. This problem involves a rogue agent, powerful mercenaries and deadly gas. Andrew Grant is the younger brother of the great novelist Lee Child. I am afraid that he pales by comparison. David Trevellyan is nowhere near as interesting of a character as Jack Reacher. They are both travelling loners but David is still employed and has some ties to people and places. He owns clothes and stays in hotels unlike Reacher who has only a toothbrush and the clothes on his back. Both characters love good coffee as do the two authors in real life. (I heard Lee Child speak and he said his brother goes to sleep with a cup of coffee on his nightstand.) They write in a similar style and each have occasional mayhem for no better reason than to show how tough their characters are. In Die Twice each chapter starts with a little anecdote from David's training. I found these to be contrived and disruptive to the progress of the plot. I would rather see how cool and well trained David is than to hear about past lessons learned. The "twist" at the end wasn't much of a surprise. One thing I really liked though is the way Chicago is portrayed. Grant got all of the geography correct and described everything very accurately. According to the dust jacket flap "he divides his time between England and Chicago" so he must have paid attention. I think if he could write a little tighter and flesh out his character better he might have a chance at approaching the skill of his brother, but read Lee Child's 61 Hours instead.

Little Girl Blue by Randy Schmidt

Posted by Ray on Tuesday, July 6, 2010 at 4:47 PM

Title: Little Girl Blue : the Life of Karen Carpenter by Randy Schmidt

When I was in college the guy next door to us was a big Carpenters' fan. While I never bought one of their albums, over the years I did buy several singles which I enjoyed. Before reading this book the only thing I knew about this brother and sister music team from the 70s was that they made records and Karen died of complications due to anorexia. Seeing a new biography on Karen I thought it looked interesting enough and, while "happy to report" is not quite the appropriate phrase, I am reporting it was a very good read. Unlike earlier biographers and/or docudramatists, Randy L. Schmidt, a music teacher from Texas, was not hindered by Carpenter family control. The family did not grant interviews to him but they did not discourage others from talking with Schmidt. And talk a great many did. This 300-page work (with two nice sets of informative, glossy photos) interweaves the two threads of Ms. Carpenter's story — career and sickness, two aspects of the single most important presence in her life — her family (Agnes, her mother; Harold, her father; Richard, her brother). Somewhat familiar with the music industry, I enjoyed learning how both Karen and Richard's musical career unfolded and blossomed. Likewise the story of her anorexia was detailed and revealing evoking for me a startledness — how could that be! — and sadness at how such a full life could literally waste away to nothing. Interesting and insightful, Little Girl Blue (also,apparently, a title of one of the songs they sang) for me had no dull moments. Schmidt masterfully used his sources to cogently tell the story of Karen Carpenter with balance and implied compassion. And it has renewed my interest in their music while at the same time opening my eyes to the heart-wrenching and insidious illness that anorexia nervosa is.

Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth

Posted by Juli on Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 3:41 PM

Title: Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth

The book I planned on reviewing this week didn't have a single vampire in it. Then I picked up a of Christopher Farnsworth's Blood Oath, the new thriller about the president's vampire. I finished it in less than a day. Then I started telling people about it.

I had been intrigued by the premise of this novel when it arrived as an advanced reading copy. It lives up to the promise. In a winning combination, Farnsworth marries the political thriller to the current rage of vampire fiction. The premise works because Farnsworth's vampire, Nathaniel Cade, is a great character. Like many of the heroes from popular culture, Cade knows right from wrong. He is a good vampire who is the ultimate agent. Saved by President Andrew Johnson and sworn to protect President Johnson and his successors, Cade is on our side. Also on our side is Zach Barrows, a young White House staffer who is introduced as Cade's new handler. Cade and Zach make a winning duo.

I look forward to the continuation of their partnership and the continuation of the series. If you like your thrillers with a touch of the supernatural thrown in, this is a perfect summer read for the plane or the beach.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Posted by Nick on Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 11:36 AM

Title: Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Melville's ponderous, cryptic, and supremely bizarre creation rightly earns its reputation for both tedium and brilliance.

The famous plot, captain Ahab's crazed chase of the White Whale, acts as a loose shell for what is at heart a wild, inscrutable hybrid of philosophical, scientific, and historical treatise. Consistency and easy coherence were obviously not Melville's top priorities — five pages of straight adventure narrative might be followed by ten of hardcore cetology, then two more for soliloquy on Calvinist moral philosophy. And so on and so forth, for 800+ pages, without regard for narrative or atmosphere. Pace is well illustrated by the timing of Moby D's first appearance, 35 pages from the back cover. And stylistically the book is even more scattershot, with an uneven mix of clear-cut descriptive prose, expressly scriptural or Shakespearean language, and terminology-laden technical writing. Fun for ages 8 to 80, in other words.

And so, why the book now stands as icon of the canonical bore, and strikes fear into the hearts of all students unlucky enough to be assigned it. This is not an easy book to pick up, and it can be very easy to put down. Unless you happen to be curious enough for a sixty page breakdown on how a whale was harvested at sea 150 years ago.

All that said: Moby-Dick is absolutely awesome, in every sense of the word. The scope alone is enough to make your brain tingle — fate, racism, death, God, hate, human ambition, societal ambition, insanity, colonialism, ivory towerism, epistemology, eschatology, power relations, homoeroticism, tech vs. nature, science vs. spirit, thought vs. action, evil, loyalty, obsession.... All are somehow entwined in the whalespeak, and all are considered with extraordinary nuance. The previously described boring passages are thus often redeemed; by the grand, striking, universal insight, by the beautiful (when accessible) language, or surprisingly, by Melville's humor.

It was a buzzy, exciting read. I had the distinct sense that I was missing 99% of what it had to share, and I sometimes had no idea exactly what I was reading. But the few bits and pieces I did pick up were so majestic, and the book itself so far-reaching, that its impenetrability seemed less and less like poor form, and more like the forgivably weird, raw output of a unique creative force. It was emotionally moving, in a way that I rarely experience with a book, and that was more than enough to keep the pages turning.

Anyone who wants a taste without committing to the whole deal should check out Chapter 96, "The Try-Works." I think it well encapsulates both the good and the bad.