2011: Book #34

Family Album by Penelope Lively

240 pages

Completed 4/3/11

Told from nine points of view - the six children of two parents and their nanny - set in the outskirts of London, this novel was a bit slow to get into, but I am so glad I did. Revealing the secrets behind the family, while combining their past stories with their current lives was written so well that not once did I feel lost in terms of whom was speaking.

Intriguing, I couldn't believe the ease in which huge secrets were revealed. With the mother being oh-so-cheery and living alongside her lost-in-his-own-world husband, the children have very different takes on what went on during their childhood, and each had their own unique voice. Well done; I truly enjoyed this read.

2011: Book 29

Blue Angel by Francine Prose


314 pages

Completed 3/23/11

When I saw that this novel was described as "hilarious," and told the story of a professor finally tempted by a student at the worst of times at the university, I was in. But honestly, without a better word, this book was stupid. Preening in the loving relationship with his wife of many years, a professor who is lackadaisical about everything school related is suddenly attracted to a pierced, goth, annoyed non-contributing student. He barely does anything, vaguely mentions issues with his college-aged daughter, which are never fully made clear, and ignores his own novel's deadlines.

This terrible story goes on with the professor falling for the student's sexual - albeit weird -poetry, and an even odder novel she is penning. Eventually he has to face a court of his peers on sexual harassment charges, and his lack of any explanation, defense, or caring is annoying. The ending? Stupid. The lack of anything clear throughout? Stupid. Don't waste your time on this one.

2011: Book 24

The World Made Straight by Ron Rash


304 pages

Completed 3/16/11

This novel tells the tale of Travis, a high school-aged young man who gets in over his head after stealing marijuana plants from a cruel drug-dealing farmer. The subsequent events lead to Travis living in a broken-down trailer with the town's ex-teacher pot dealer, Leonard, and his pill-popping girlfriend. Falling for a headstrong college-bound girl who insists on remaining chaste, dealing with his father's rejection, and accepting the consequences of dropping out of high school, this coming-of-age tale is one to remember.

But this book is not just Travis' story; intertwined is Leonard's  own sad tale, as well as a mysterious and telling doctor's log from the 1800s. In the small town, everything is connected, and the ending of this book will leave readers stunned.

2011: Book 21

Happy Days by Laurent Graff


112 pages

Completed 3/9/11

This super short book focuses on Antoine, a thirty-something divorcee who decides to move into a retirement home. At eighteen, he buys his own cemetery plot, and spends the subsequent years engraving his epitaph plaque. Odd, yes. A great story, definitely.

I found out about this book through a magazine article featuring the best international short books. I don't know what led me to believe it, but I was sure this was a memoir. But there it is, right on the cover; a novel. I have to admit, I was disappointed when I realized this halfway through. Somehow, thinking it was a true story had made it more enjoyable.

2011: Book 18

Room by Emma Donoghue


336 pages

Completed 2/26/11

This novel, told in the perspective of five-year old Jack who has never left the Room where he lives with his mother, is touching. While not entirely realistic, the terror of having someone be in complete control of your life and one-room existence is wonderfully portrayed.

The inflection given to Jack by Donoghue is insightful and touching; for a young child only exposed to his young mother, Jack is an intelligent boy. Post-escape, his discoveries of the real world that he was previously told was make-believe, are innocent and confusing, yet telling. This was a good read.

2011: Book 7

The Almost Archer Sisters by Lisa Gabriele


272 pages

Completed 2/3/11

A novel about two sisters, their bond, and the unraveling of it after one betrays the other in an unthinkable way, Gabriele's talent made me forget that these were fictional characters. With one sister escaping to New York City and the other remaining on the family farm in Canada with her wise, hairdresser father, husband, and two young sons who need constant attention, the two sisters' world rarely mesh...until they do in an unpredictable way.

While the ending bored me, the novel itself was pretty good; nothing to rave about, but I enjoyed it well enough.

2011: Book 5

War by Candlelight: Stories by Daniel Alarcon


224 pages


Completed 1/28/2011

Since reading the collection of short stories, Love Begins in Winter, my interest has been piqued towards a genre I normally am not drawn to. This collection of Central and Southern American-based stories are touching, but not moving.

Many of the stories left me wanting more; most seemed to have ended in such an awkward point in the story, that is was almost annoying. That being said, I did enjoy the book. With one exception; one VERY big exception. When a story began with a murdered dog and a group of boys chasing down more victims, I literally slammed the book shut and debated whether to continue. It took me three more days to pick the book back up and simply skip over the story. This is so not like me; I force myself to read books cover-to-cover, and so I felt so odd doing it. But the cruelness and unexpected violence mid-book was too much to handle.

2011: Book #2

The Book of Revelation by Rupert Thomson


272 pages

Completed 1/5/11

This was one of those books that has been sitting in my bookshelf FOREVER so I decided to just start reading it. Based on a dream the author had, the story of a male dancer drugged and kidnapped by three women and held and sexually tortured for eighteen days and the subsequent effects of it on his life is a bizarre tale that somehow became a page-turner.

I feel as if I do not want to reveal too much of this book's story, because as the reader, I didn't see the majority of it coming. While unpredictable, the plot line remains fluid, and I never once regretted picking this one up. Yes, a bit bizarre and graphic in the early chapters, but watching the narrator's life as it unravels and reassembles is presented in such a way that you just have to know what happens next.

LIZ: BOOK #45

The Effects of Light by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore

368 pages

Completed 12/27/10

Let me begin by saying I could not wait to finish this book; but not for my usual reason of not liking it. Instead, I had to know what happened as soon as possible. When I say that Beverly-Whittemore is talented, I mean it in a way that makes you not want to do anything else but finish her story.

The story of Myla and Pru Wolfe, whose single father David introduces them to photographer Ruth Handel, is one you are quickly sucked into. Ruth's nude portraits of the girls become "the centerpiece around which their lives unravel." As reader, you are introduced to Kate Scott, aka Myla Wolfe. After a mysterious letter summons her home to Portland, Oregon, pieces of the tragedy that killed her sister and forced Myla to start her life anew begin. The novel is told alternatingly by Kate/Myla and young Pru.

The emotion in this book is overwhleming, but not in a sappy, sad way. In fact, I found myself surprised towards the end when I was moved to tears, as I had not experienced such emotion throughout my reading. My only complaint about this debut novel of Beverly-Whittemore's is the somewhat-rambling philosophical tellings of Myla's deceased father; I will admit that I skipped over most of it for lack of interest.

LIZ: BOOK #40

What Happened to Henry by Sharon Pywell

352 pages

Completed 11/6/10

This was the first book I've managed to finish in a few weeks; hectic schedule really cuts into my leisurely reading time. This was a novel that piqued my interest and then bored me throughout the rest. Centered around a trio of siblings and their unspeakable loss during childhood and the after-effects of it, Pywell writes of the two brothers and sister's bond, despite their maturing and taking separate paths.

With an accident forever changing the once-predictable eldest brother's mind, the younger two are left to cope. With Henry's odd behavior progressing as the three aged, the siblings struggle with their own changes. Somewhat unrealistic, and mostly strange, but a story to get through, in my opinion, if only to find out the ending of the story.

The story of the unbreakable sibling bond of the Coopers is established an flourishes under Pywell's way with words, but her repetitive nature of the push and pull of life is somewhat tiring.

LIZ: BOOK #35

Love and Other Impossible Pursuits by Ayelet Waldman

352 pages

Completed 8/29/10

This novel about a young woman who marries her lover and gains a precocious stepson, Waldman makes the reader both related and love the main character while loathing her. When Emilia loses her newborn daughter, despair follows her everywhere.

As someone who is not a kid-person, I was hesitant to find any good in Waldman's five-year-old protagonist; the little know-it-all made me literally feel Emilia's frustration. By the end, predictably, I loved the little bugger, but Waldman does make it difficult.

I read fiction, although I do not often find something I love. This book was so real to me that I ad to check when I concluded reading that it was indeed a novel and not one of my new favorite memoirs. Waldman has a new novel out, and I am on the waiting list. An eloquent writer without overwhelming the reader, I recommend her.

LIZ: Book #31

The Good Doctor by Damon Galgut

224 pages

Completed 7/26/10

This novel was a bit slow, but nonetheless enjoyable. Focusing on a middle-aged, divorcing doctor posted in a decrepit, quasi-abandoned hospital with a total of five other people in post-aparthied South Africa, he is forced to discover himself when a fresh-faced, young and eager new doctor requests to join the pathetic team.

Disillusioned and stuck - both figuratively and literally - Frank resists change, except when it can benefit him. But putting himself in poor situations - an affair with a married local woman, reliving his military days, and challenging a dangerous ex-leader - leads to devastating consequences, both for himself and others.

While I would say this book is more mystery-like than I normally prefer my fiction to be, it wasn't a bad read. Well-written and eloquent without drowning the reader in words, Galgut is a talented author for sure. Amonst the ruin of the story, though, the ending left me wanting more; and not in a I-need-more-from-this-author kind of way, but more of a this-ending-is-it?! way.

LIZ: BOOK #29

Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch

272 pages

Completed 7/3/10

A story of a Southern debutante's life told in varying perspectives and focusing on a variety of topics - love, friendships, family, relationships, jobs, sex - you name it, it's in this book.

Sarah, the self-sabotaging main character, grows up in front of the readers' eyes - loving and losing almost everyone. A cute summer read with a little more intelligence and substance to it than most first-time fiction books.

I enjoyed Crouch's writing so much, in fact, that I searched on Amazon to see if she's released anything since. No, but I cant wait!

LIZ: BOOK #25

The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell

400 pages

Completed 5/31/10

The prequel to Bushnell's oh-so-popular Sex and the City, this book is definitely at a young adult level. Given the tame subjects and story lines throughout, I guess I cant say I'm surprised.

I am a die hard SATC fan...I can recite episodes, I actually DID read the original book, and annoyingly refer to things said as "remember when Carrie..." So I was excited for this cute little book. Introducing us to high school senior Carrie and her misfit group of friends and broken family, requisite bad boy, and chain smoking habit, nothing really blew me out of the water when reading this. But then again, I don't think I was really expecting much; this was just one of those books you HAVE to read because it comes out.

That being said (and be prepared, this is going to reveal just how corny the SATC girls make me feel), when Carrie's introduction to one of the other 3 women who plays an intrinsic in her NYC adventures, I legitimately got goosebumps. The way Bushnell made this book just about Carrie but also led the reader into her infamous future was done wonderfully, in my opinion.

LIZ: Book #15

The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff

544 pages

Completed 3/25/10

This novel took a novel - no pun intended - approach. Ebershoff successfully mansges to merge a current day story with a grad student's thesis, a nineteenth century autobiography, news reports, and letters into a wonderful story.

Polygamy and FLDS has fascinated me for quite some time, but most memoirs I have read are pretty similar. So when I came across this fiction book regarding the same topic, I was pleased. It didn't disappoint. A present-day 19th wife of a FLDS man is pinned with her husband's murder and her estranged gay son ventures back into the world he had left so long ago to find out the truth. Meanwhile, the mystery is juxtaposed with the 19th wife of Brigham Young - FLDS leader in the later 1800s.

At some points, I was almost bored to tears; early in the novel, it's almost an information overload. But by the end of the book, I could not put it down. The intricate connections between characters was so well written I nearly forgot that this was only a work of fiction.

LIZ: Book #1

Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah

416 pages

Completed 1/1/10

This book was pretty far-fetched, to tell you the truth, but was written in such a way that you couldn't help feeling raw emotion for these characters. While almost completely unrealistic in all senses - legally, physically, medically, and logically - the story did end up being a good one.

A ruined psychiatrist returns to her small town to help her police chief sister on her latest case. A young girl had emerged from the woods accompanied by a wolf pup. Seemingly untamed both physically and emotionally, the little girl's identity is unknown. Rallying to find her parents, the two sisters, along with - inexplicably - their whole town - tackles her case head-on. After nurturing her and bringing the girl out of her feral state, adoption papers are filed - but something holds up the process and breaks the reader's heart; I literally cried, which I can't remember that I've ever done during a novel. While engrossed in the book, you can't help but believe in the story; it's only afterwards that I realized just how improbable it was.

This novel was pretty wordy...and I could have done without the inevitable fairytale-like romances, but overall it was an okay read, made possible by it's talented author. Kristin Hannah does have numerous other titles (fans of Jodi Picoult tend to like her work), but she seems to be more of a romance author than anything, which is definitely not my preferred genre.