THE WANDERERS by Edward Belfar: Read This If

It seems I have succumbed to one of the many viruses plaguing the country, my throat and nasal passages having swollen themselves into a gooey network of mini-tortures (I'm not being overly dramatic or anything, no no no), hence the lateness of my post and my apologies. I must say, these stories were not quite the cure for feeling ill, but they were definitely acute glimpses into the ordinary lives of ordinary men (many of whom disdained women in short white shorts). I must note that the women in these stories are not particularly fleshed out, but they are mostly stories about men, and men not at the best of times. All, as the title suggests, find themselves at some aimless point in their lives, some with hope of finding their way, some who haven't yet found that hope when the story ends. (I particularly liked "Matters of the Heart" - the priest was fantastic.)

I have a sneaking suspicion that these might be better savored than gobbled - reading them back to back highlighted similarities in names and phrase that could at times be confusing.

You should read this if:

• You are looking for unique, realistic glimpses of ordinary life.
• You are interested in portraits of life in Kenya (particularly Nairobi). 
• You can relate to being down on your luck, sometimes at rock bottom. 
• Reading about experiences that are likely worse than your own has an uncanny way of lifting your spirits. 
• You currently can't stand your ex (the exes in these stories will make you appreciate them more, in one way or another). 
• Tragedy is your middle name.

Don't read this if: 

• You're looking for a little levity. 
• You're currently on a fluffy bunny kick.
• Stories about those at their worst or during their worst might just be the thing that pushes you over the edge into a dark, gloomy depression for the rest of the winter.
• You're going through a divorce. Wait until later. 
• You're lounging on the beach in the sun. 

*I received this from TLC Book Tours in exchange for my honest review. See what others thought here.

THE THIRTEENTH TALE by Diane Setterfield: Read This If

I finished The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield at the very end of last year, and, like so many other novels I've read recently, I haven't gotten around to offering my thoughts. I listened to the audio version, which I definitely recommend, though it is a moody, atmospheric listen, entirely appropriate for these frigid winter months. It is told through both the voice of a young(ish) happenstance biographer, and the elderly, sickly author that she is "interviewing" on the author's terms. I never did piece together where, exactly, in time this novel took place, but that could be because I missed a key detail in the audio that I would have caught in the text.

You should consider reading this if:

• You enjoy stories that leave you feeling as if you're wandering on an English moor through a dense fog. 
• You don't mind a bit of gothic moodiness and the occasional appearance of unexplained apparitions. 
• You like novels full of rich, descriptive language and fully developed characters.
• You're looking for the perfect book with which to curl up with under a thick blanket with a cup of hot tea (or coffee or cocoa) on a gloomy, winter day.
• You are looking for a non-romance, non-chick-lit novel with female primary characters.
• You loved The Secret Garden as a child.

Don't bother with this if:

• You prefer novels that are straight-forward and fast-paced. 
• The strange bond between twins is far less than fascinating to you. 
• You prefer your stories illuminated by sun beams as opposed to moonlight. 
• You find stories with no male primary characters intolerable.
• Just reading about cold and dampness gives you an unstoppably runny nose.

Fake Bookish Neurosis: Novelimmersionosis

 

This morning, I walked into work completely anxious about having to appear in court to take the stand and testify about a case I knew nothing about. This, of course, lasted for only a flash of a second, until I realized that I am not, in fact, an Irish detective named Rob Ryan, but the same self I've always been. Rob Ryan resides in Dublin, in In The Woods by Tana French. I have never been to Dublin. Not physically, anyway. But it seems that when I am deeply immersed in a story, the lines between fiction and reality blur a bit, if only for fractioned moments.

This sort of thing, this novelimmersionosis, if you will, is not entirely uncommon, especially lately, since I've been listening to more audiobooks, and as the long winter sets in. The same thing happened while listening to the eerie The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (impressions forthcoming) though I actually never had a hold on where in time much of that novel took place. (I miss little things like that, sometimes, that I might otherwise have caught, had I been reading the text, since I'm listening while driving or walking most of the time.) 

I have nothing particularly clever or insightful to remark upon this clumsy phenomenon, but I do wonder how many of the rest of you occasionally confuse your lives with the lives of the characters you're reading about. Anyone care to admit to such a thing?

THE DARLINGS by Cristina Alger: Read this if

Miss me? Well, either way, I'm back, for the moment, after a ridiculously busy open enrollment/holiday season, fresh with impressions of The Darlings by Cristina Alger, a novel that is a rough equivalent of (Gossip Girl + Edith Wharton - romantic drama) x Bernie Madoff + Bonfire of the Vanities + (Damages - murder schemes).

With the elite of the 1% and the financial tailspin of 2008 as subject matter, it would be easy to dismiss this novel as something to avoid, but you really shouldn't. It's a compelling read, driven by the interplay of characters not only from inside the upper echelons of Manhattan "royalty," but also by those lingering on the outside, less mired in glittery facades. Though I was put off by some of the characters in the beginning, many managed to grow on me. None perfect, but none completely villainous either. All human.

The novel reminded me of exactly why I loved New York and exactly why I left, with passages like:

Manhattan was a Darwinian environment: only the strongest survived. The weak, the nice, the naive, the ones who smiled at passersby on the sidewalk, all got weeded out. They would come to New York for a few years after college, rent shoebox apartments in Hell's Kitchen or Murray Hill, work at a bank or wait tables or audition for bit parts in off-off-Broadway productions. They would meet other twentysomethings over after-work drinks at soulless bars in midtown; get laid; get their hearts broken. They would feel themselves becoming impatient, jaded, cynical, rude, anxious, neurotic. They would give up. They would opt out. They would scurry back to their hometowns or to the suburbs or secondary cities like Boston or D.C. or Atlanta, before they had a chance to breed.

The ones who stayed long enough to raise children were the tough ones, the tenacious ones, the goal-oriented ones, the gold-digging ones, the deal-closing ones, the "kill or be killed" ones, the ones who subscribed to the philosophy "whatever it takes." They looked out for themselves and slept with one eye open. Being born in New York wasn't enough to make someone a true New Yorker; it was in the blood, like a hormone, or a virus.

The passage carries some truth - NYC is definitely not the center of the universe, but it is not for the laid-back or the realistic - there comes a point that the chaos crosses the line between energizing and exhausting. The novel shows that even the uber-privileged and the driven are not immune to finding themselves on the exhausted side of the line.

To summarize, you should read this novel if:

• You love New York.
• You hate New York.
• You love to hate New York.
• You hate to love New York.
• You are secretly addicted to Gossip Girl and reruns of all iterations of Law & Order.
• Most of your friends are lawyers, bankers or journalists. You might be one as well. Or you might as well be one.
• You like fast-paced novels that take place over a very short period of time (in this case, less than a week).

Don't read this if:

• You think the very privileged are cluelessly inhuman, and could not possibly be swayed otherwise.
• You are easily confused by novels told from many points of view.
• You don't like the pace of a novel interrupted with back-story.
• You couldn't possibly relate to someone that considered clothes from Brooks Brothers as ill-fitting, off-the-rack attire.
• You are secretly addicted to Little House on the Prairie and The Brady Bunch reruns. (I know. I'm dated. Apparently I need to watch more TV.)
• You are looking for something light-hearted and humorous.

*I received this book from the publisher (Penguin Books) in exchange for my honest review.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan: Impressions

If ever there was a book for book and tech geeks alike, this is probably it. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan follows an out-of-work web designer turned book clerk into a mysterious world filled with cloaked figures and coded texts and ancient artifacts clashing with modern technologies and code-cracking capabilities. It's a laid-back read, if ever there was one, with more caricature characters than fully fleshed out figures, but hey, it's plot driven, and that's okay with me. It's sort of a more modern, nerdier Indiana Jones-esque story. 

Read this if: 

• You proudly call yourself a book nerd or geek or similar term of choice.
• You don't know what you'd do without google or the internet or the latest gadget.
• Your favorite song is by a band I haven't heard of because I'm over 30. Or you're over 30 too but were born a decade too early or too late.
• You're looking for a fun, fast read. 
• You enjoyed both the Indiana Jones movies and Snowcrash.

Don't read this if: 

• You're serious and cranky and cantankerous.
• You don't have nor do you want a smartphone or tablet.
• You prefer character-driven novels.
• You think San Francisco and New York breed the roots of all evil.
• You're not into that whole suspension of disbelief thing.

PS: even my kitty wants to read it.

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver: Impressions

Kingsolver's Flight Behavior takes place in fictional Feathertown, TN, a rural community in Appalachia. The Monarch butterfly community mysteriously roosts in the woods on Dellarobia Turnbow's family's property, instead of the mountains in Mexico as usual. Kingsolver explores the clash of conservative rural beliefs and struggles with the undeniability of climate change, but not in a boring, preachy Ayn Rand sort of way. I enjoyed Poisonwood Bible earlier this year, and was eager to read Flight Behavior - it did not disappoint (well, except for the terrifying, looming consequences of climate change, that is).

It was an eerie read, especially after this past year (these past years) of noticeably strange weather, early springs, late falls, too much rain, not enough rain, strengthening storms and mounting destruction from natural disasters. But it's also a human read, somehow explaining the position of the "non-believers" in a way that almost makes sense.

And so, might you want to read this? I would say yes, though with caveats, because not every book will be the tea-filled cup you're looking for.

Read this if:

• You adore poetic prose.
• You don't mind literature with an agenda.
• You are worried about climate change.
• You aren't worried about climate change.
• Your favorite song is "It's the End of the World as We Know It."

Don't read this if:

• You are lepidopterophobic.
• You think "science" and "science fiction" are synonymous.
• You do mind literature with an agenda.
• You are looking for a romantic comedy.
• Your favorite song is "Don't Worry Be Happy."

*I received this book courtesy of HarperCollins and TLC Book Tours. See what others thought here.

List Fun! Book Riot Readers' Top 50

Happy Thursday! 

Over at Book Riot, they've posted their readers top 50 reads, and I thought I'd take a que from What Red Read and see how many I've read! 26 fully (okay, only half the Harry Potter series, but still counting it), with 3 half-completes (only one will I probably not finish - the others I put down because of life stuff getting in the way). And half the rest are somewhere on my TBR list.  Some of the choices were surprising. (The Night Circus? I really enjoyed it, but I wouldn't put it in my top reads.) 

How'd you fare? 

1. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (126 votes)
2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
4. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
5. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
6. The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien
7. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
8. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
9. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
10. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
11. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
12. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
13. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
14. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
15. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
16. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
17. The Stand by Stephen King
18. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
19. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
20. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
21. Persuasion by Jane Austen
22. The PIcture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
23. The Brothers Karamozov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
24. The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon
25. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
26. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
27. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
28. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
29. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
30. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
31. 1984 by George Orwell
32. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
33. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
34. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
35. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
36. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
37. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams
38. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
39. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
40. Ulysses by James Joyce
41. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
42. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
43. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
44. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
45. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
46. Dune by Frank Herbert
47. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
48. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
49. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
50. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (13 votes)

Day of the Dead: Gone Girl and Faithful Place

It being the Day of the Dead (and just after Halloween), I thought it an apropos time for finally posting about Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, which was quite the riveting read, and Faithful Place, by Tana French, which I really enjoyed. I finished both about a month ago (I really need to get back in the habit of reviewing immediately, but I kind of wanted to let both stories sort of seep into my psyche before saying much) so the details are not as fresh in my mind as I'd like, but they both made quite an impact.

Gone Girl is the mother of all unreliable narrator tales, at least for a while. As a reader, you really have to trust the writer, who leaves several holes and clues to follow, but just enough so that you know you're not getting the entire picture, and not so much that you can easily jump to the right conclusions. Is that a spoiler? I'm not sure. Either way, it's definitely worth a read. One of my favorite sections was one of the character's definition of the Cool Girl, which is too long to quote here, but it's spot on.

To break it down for you,

Read Gone Girl if:

• You want to eat the darkness
• You ate the darkness years ago
• You hate predictable tripe
• Your favorite song is “Psycho Killer” by the Talking Heads
• You can’t stand Cool Girls

Don't read it if:

• Your favorite song is “Shiny Happy People” by R.E.M.
• You read endings first
• You have to like main characters and must trust your narrators
• You just got married and are still all gooey-eyed optimistic about your soul mate and your new perfect life together (“Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”)
• Your favorite flower is a daisy

Now for Faithful Place: I listened to the audio for this one and it was absolutely delightful. The narrator hasn't done too many audiobooks, but he was perfect for this one. No unreliable narrators here, just a nicely paced piece of crime fiction, set in Dublin. Though I'm not entirely sure why, I was very reminded of Dennis Lehane's Mystic River while I read this. It was more related in my mind in setting and tone than in plot, because the stories themselves differed dramatically. 

Listen to (or read) Faithful Place if:

• You are keen on smart-sounding Irish accents
• You’re in a cold case kind of mood
• You’re feeling like winter
• You are nostalgic about the 80s
• You have an affinity for Guinness and whisky
• You like well-rounded characters

Do not listen to (or read) this if:

• You are afraid of poor people
• You are looking for a light, amusing read
• You can't understand Irish accents (it's really not that difficult here)
• Your favorite sport is synchronized anything
• You are too impatient to enjoy a good Scotch
• You are currently planning to elope with your high school sweetheart (it’ll all end in tears)

Have you read either of these? Gone Girls is infinitely discussable, and Faithful Place also has several points to explore. I'd recommend them both, for different reasons, with the caveats mentioned above.

Buenos Dia de los Muertos!