Life's Too Short to Read Bad Books: June 2011

There are a lot of books to choose from this month as I found two challenge groups on Library Thing.

The Dead
Ingrid Black

Ex-FBI Special Agent Saxon works as a consultant for the Dublin Metropolitan Police when a serial killer she researched for a book appears to have returned after a 5 year hiatus. There was enough misdirection to keep me guessing right up to the end.

As my DH knows, I am a sucker for female investigators, and Black's Saxon is no exception. She is sarcastic, short-tempered, and single-minded. First-person narration provides delightful insights into her snarky personality:

I'd never liked him, and he knew it, probably because I'd failed on every occasion we'd ever met to get to the end of the conversation without pointedly reminding him of the fact. I just felt that he was the kind of person who might benefit one day from being repeatedly told that he was unlikeable. It hadn't had the desired effect so far, but I lived in hope.

And:

What I had left of good sense told me I should wait till I heard from Fisher -- but I told what I had left of good sense to go to hell.

And Black's writing has its wonderful moments:

I waited as he set to, stabbing fussily at the eggs like some ancestral hunting memory had flashed into his mind and he was worried lest they make a break for freedom before he could free his spear.

On the other hand, and here I am the snarky one, all of the American characters in the book use the word "whilst" instead of "while." For the past 8 years I've lived in a country where English still belongs to the Queen, and I can't bring myself to say "whilst." Every occurrence grated.

I rate this largely enjoyable 2005 Shamus Award winner at 7 of 10 stars.


Hit and Run
Lawrence Block

Hit man J. P. Keller is framed for a political assassination. Even worse, he loses his best friend and his stamp collection. He takes to the road to avoid arrest and, in the process, finds true love and a latent talent.  I rate this Spinetingler Award nominee at 7 out of 10 stars.


The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson

I last read this book for a university assignment and visited it again for a Library Thing reading challenge.  On this reading, I did not enjoy the style and structure nearly as much as previously.  But I come away considering the imprint this work has had on our society.  I am struck by its origins in a dream and its historical position as a precursor to Sigmund Freud's conceptualization of unconscious, socially unacceptable urges as drives of the id.  And I consider Stevenson's warning as, in this century, we embrace an ever-increasing pace of scientific and technological advancement:

But the temptation of a discovery so singular and profound at last overcame the suggestions of alarm.

I will maintain my previous rating of 8 out of 10 stars, not for reading pleasure or literary structure, but as acknowledgment of its continuing legacy and provocative portrait of man's duality.


The Final Solution
Michael Chabon

An unnamed, retired, pipe-smoking, beekeeper is engaged by local police to investigate a murder at a Sussex Downs vicarage.   The murder coincides with the theft of an African grey parrot from a young Jewish orphan, and it is this crime on which the beekeeper agrees  to apply his formidable, yet failing, powers of observation and deduction.  Chabon's descriptions of the old man's episodes of blankness are horrific:

The conquest of his mind by age was not a mere blunting or slowing but an erasure, as of a desert capital by a drifting millennium of sand.  Time had bleached away the ornate pattern of his intellect, leaving a blank white scrap.

Yet there is also humor, particularly in the single chapter told from the point of view of Bruno the parrot, driving his kidnapper mad through the application of sleep deprivation techniques.

While some questions are answered for the characters of this book, greater mysteries are left for the reader to ponder, unpunished crimes reduced to numbers whispered by a young boy and his parrot.  I rate this novella, filled with exceptional descriptive narrative, at 8 out of 10 stars.

[Aside:  The author helped me put a name to a phobia of mine, or at least its cousin:  gephyrophobia is the morbid fear of crossing bridges; I am afraid of those roller-coaster-like, curving overpasses at the apex of which, hood of car pointed toward the sky, the horizon is no longer visible.]


Flaubert's Parrot
Julian Barnes

This novel tries to be, and is, many things:  an exploration of the relationship between writer and reader; a treatise on postmodern life; a view of history as reflections in a rippling pond; a story about the displacement of grief in intellectual exercise.  While ultimately I appreciate the fractured presentation, I found this Booker Prize nominee and New York Times Editors' Choice to be a difficult and unsatisfying read.  I rate it at 6 out of 10 stars.


Pygmy
Chuck Palahniuk

The anti-hero whose name we never learn, but who is referred to by his American host family and school mates as "Pygmy", arrives in the US on a mission of destruction. The novel is structured as a series of dispatches back to Pygmy's unnamed totalitarian country of origin and are written in an initially humorous yet ultimately tedious pidgin English. Pygmy's language doesn't improve after months in America, but I got more adept at reading it. A taste:

Calibrated tasks assigned to destroy all self-esteem. For official example,

purpose lesson titled "Junior Swing Choir" many potential brilliant youth compelled sing song depicting precipitate remain pummel head of operative me. Complain how both feet too large size for sleeping mattress. Idiot nonsense song. Next sing how past visited arid landscape aboard equine of no title.

Satirical jabs at American culture are interlaced with disturbing scenes of violence and sex, making this book definitely off-limits for the squeamish and faint-hearted. I rate this novel, which probably served as source material for the 2010 terror-baby conspiracy, at 5 out of 10 stars.


Cross Bones
Kathy Reichs

Juvenile diaglog, flat characterization, and poor plotting sum up this murder mystery.  The book follows forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan and her ever-so-dreamy romantic and professional partner from Montreal to Israel.  They are on the hunt for both a murder suspect as well as the identity of a set of 1st-century skeletal remains discovered at Masada.  In this latter mystery, Reichs rather unsuccessfully explores the clash between religious foundations and scientific discovery.  It's been years since I read an installment of the Temperance Brennan novels, and perhaps I've become spoiled by my enjoyment of the the TV series Bones.  I rate this book at 3 out of 10 stars.


Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand
Fred Vargas

This is an author with numerous entries on my to-be-read list.  As I write this review on the first novel I read, I am deeply involved in a second.  Fred Vargas' crime fiction seems to be written as mythology:  killer as fantastical beast and the members of the Serious Crime Squad as a pantheon of eccentric, flawed gods.  She builds these characters with care:

Where the names came from, Adamsberg did not know, but probably from Danglard, whose encyclopedic knowledge seems to him sometimes to be unlimited and almost toxic.  The capitaine was capable of sudden outbursts of information, as frequent as they were uncontrollable, rather like the snorting of a horse.

In this novel, Commissaire Adamsberg's personal quest for a serial killer he has named Trident threatens his career and his freedom.  I rate this winner of the CWA International Dagger Award at 8 out 10 stars.


This Night's Foul Work
Fred Vargas

In this installment of Fred Vargas' crime series featuring Commissaire Adamsberg, there is a new member of the Serious Crime Squad: a man who often speaks in twelve-syllable alexandrine verse. Adamsberg's unorthodox hunt for a dissociative serial killer produces rifts between the squad's positivists and the cloud-shovellers who maintain faith in his willingness to incorporate seeming coincidences into the investigation. Backed by a variety of characters serving as Greek chorus, this novel finds Adamsberg hauling around a pair of 10-point antlers, confronting childhood vulnerabilities, and following around a cat tagged with a tracking device. He also takes time out to read to his infant son, as in the following passage:

Adamsberg put the book down, meeting his son's gaze.

"I don't know what the hell the 'opus spicutum' is, son, and I don't care.
So we can agree about that. But I'm going to teach you how we resolve a problem like this when it crops up in our lives. How to proceed when you don't understand something. Just watch."

Adamsberg took out his mobile and slowly tapped out a number under the child's unconcerned eyes.

"What you do is you call Danglard," he explained. "It's quite simple. Just remember that, always keep his phone number about you."

I rate this novel at 8 out of 10 stars.


Away
Amy Bloom

This little book's entry on my To-Be-Read list had no indication of having received awards or nominations by its title (although it did ), no notation of it being on anyone's list of best books in 2007 (although it was).  No, the entry contained only two words -- "Buy It!"   As I sped through the story of Lillian's road trip, from Russia to New York to Seattle to Alaska, I knew I would want to return, soon, for the luscious language, the engaging wit, the heart-rending story, the twin markers of despair and hope that mark her way.  I have two words for you:  Buy It!  Absolutely 10 out of 10 stars.


Bangkok 8
John Burdett

Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep is the son of whore, the only honest cop in Thailand, and a Buddhist saint in this lifetime. A police procedural unlike any I have read before, Bangkok 8 begins when Jitpleecheep's partner is bitten in the eye by a meth-crazed python. The search for those responsible leads the reader through an atmospheric portrayal of Bangkok, Buddhist philosophy, and a biting social critique of the impact of globalization on Eastern culture. I rate this New York Times Notable Book of 2003 at 7 out of 10 stars: it isn't a great book, but I found it transporting and very entertaining.


L'Affaire
Diane Johnson

Amy finds herself wealthy after her dotcom company sells, and she sets off for France for a course of self-improvement. While at a ski resort in the Alps, an avalanche puts two fellow guests in the hospital. Adrian, who is married to Kerry, is not expected to survive his injuries. Amy befriends Kerry's 14-year-old brother Kip as he shoulders responsibility for his infant half-brother Harry. Soon other of Adrian's offspring appear: Rupert, who is content to ski; Posy, who falls into bed Emile, husband of Victoire, a sister she didn't know she had. Insipid and superficial, I rate this New York Times Notable Book of 2003 at 3 out of 10 stars.

Life's Too Short to Read Bad Books: 2011 Mid-Year Review

My Favorite Three

City of Thieves by David Benioff:  10 out of 10 stars; reviewed in April 2011

Even if the summary of my existence makes boring reading--school, college, odd jobs, graduate school, odd jobs, more graduate school, mutant superheroes--I've had a good time existing.

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry:  10 out of 10 stars; reviewed in April 2011

The world is indeed beautiful and if we were any other creature than man we might be continuously happy in it.

Away by Amy Bloom:  10 out of 10 stars; reviewed in June 2011

He asks Lillian's help, he says he has no right to ask more of her but he does, and Lillian thinks that she's the same way--who isn't--we're all like cats going back to the ones who put out the milk.

Unexpected Pleasures

Bangkok 8 by John Burdett:  7 out of 10 stars; reviewed in June 2011 

The sadistic vivisection of life into hours, minutes, seconds was one of the few hardships never inflicted by the soil.

The Final Solution by Michael Chabon:  8 out of 10 stars; reviewed in June 2011

To the modern detective, truth is rarely its won reward; usually it is its own punishment. And if you cannot track mystery to the back of its ugly cave, then be content to stand at the edge of the dark and call it by name.

Requiring a Certain Headspace

Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski:  9 out of 10 stars; reviewed in May 2011

Also, I thought to myself, maybe this is normal for them. Maybe this is how evangelical Christians mate.

Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes:  6 out of 10 stars; reviewed in June 2011

Books say: She did this because. Life says: She did this. Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren't. I'm not surprised some people prefer books. Books make sense of life. The only problem is that the lives they make sense of are other people's lives, never your own.

Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk:  5 out of 10 stars; ; reviewed in June 2011

Next sing how past visited arid landscape aboard equine of no title.

Bottom of the Pile

L'Affaire by Diane Johnson:  3 out of 10 stars; reviewed in June 2011

Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs:  3 out of 10 stars; reviewed in June 2011

Hunting the Ghost Dancer by A. A. Attanasio:  4 out of 10 stars

Men were like the clouds, he thought, moved by invisible forces that rose out of the earth and descended from the heights. The clashing of those forces shaped men as wind shaped clouds. Great men learned to read the wind and to partake in their own shaping. No one, not even the greatest of men, could choose their own way. Acceptance, and with it participation, were the only choices beyond ignorance. He thought this good. Life was simply as one found it, beautiful and terrible in its simplicity.

Life's Too Short to Read Bad Books: May 2011

These are the books passed across my nightstand in May 2011.

Ravelstein
Saul Bellow

With this novel, Bellow fulfils a promise made to his friend Allan Bloom to write his biography.  The novel is autobiographical as well, with Bellow portraying himself in the character Chick.  But to dwell on the identification of the thinly disguised cast of characters and real-world circumstances is to miss the power with which Bellow presents life-as-art, the proposition that we create ourselves through a peculiar collage of eccentricities and habits and friends and personal ideals and ways of being.  This is a powerful, lyrical, metaphysical work on the honesty of friendship and the continued presence of the dead for the living.  Ravelstein was listed among the New York Times Notable Books and Library Journal's Best Books in 2000.  As for me, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.


Billy Boyle
James R. Benn

When Detective Billy Boyle takes leave of the Boston Police Department to join the war effort, his family pulls strings to secure a desk job for him.  He finds himself reporting for duty in London where he will work for his uncle, Dwight D. Eisenhower, as the general's personal investigator.  In this first installment of the series, Billy is befriended by a Polish nobleman, dines with the Norwegian government-in-exile, and fals in love with a gorgeous spy while he brings his limited experience as detective to bear on a suspicious death.  This engaging if clichéd mystery was short-listed for the 2006 Dilys Award.  I rated it 7 out of 10 stars.


Beautiful Dreamer
Christopher Bigsby

As near as I can narrow it down given the anecdotal mention of products and technology, this book is set in Tennessee between 1925 and 1965. Written by a British professor of American studies in the style of Faulkner and the tone of Steinbeck, the story is presented from four perspectives and seems an exercise in understanding a variety of racial sensibilities prior to the Civil Rights movement.  As a result, I was unable to sustain any emotional involvement with what should have been a moving story of redemption.  I rate this ALA Notable Book of 2007 at 3 out of 10 stars.


Christine Falls
Benjamin Black

As the body count grows throughout the pages of this atmospheric mystery, the secrets of wealthy families and powerful men unravel.  My own vision of the 1950s was never so cold, dark, and callous.  This 2007 winner of both the Anthony Award and the Edgar Award was also a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Mystery / Thriller category) and the 2007 Macavity Award.  In order to maintain the standardization of my rating system, I must award it an 8 out of 10, but these are elemental decisions that don't reflect being less-than-satisfied at the novel's end.


Fieldwork
Mischa Berlinski

A free-ranging exploration of a number of topics, this novel is alternately funny and heartbreaking, lyrical and suspenseful.  It is a snake eating its own tail, as the author presents the narrator's journey as an ethnological study as he attempts to understand an anthropologist whose own ethnological fieldwork leads to murder and then suicide.  His trail winds between Christian missionaries in Tibet and Thailand to Berkeley academic circles to the Dead Tour.  Okay, so I can't describe it myself.  I do rate this Library Journal Best Book of 2007 and National Book Award Finalist at 9 out of 10 stars.


The Charlemagne Pursuit
Steve Berry

What if...an ancient and advanced civilization played an advisory role in the development of other great civilizations?  This underlying premise, and subsequent attempts to maintain secrecy of its discovery, is the foundation for this thriller.  The action and suspense is maintained by a string of assassinations, ambition-fueled corruption at the highest levels of US military intelligence, and a dynastic family unable to come to terms with either its Nazi past or heirless future.  This book was named a Library Journal Best Book (thriller); solid, but not great, I rate it at 7 out of 10 stars.


Scaredy Cat
Mark Billingham

This is a well-written, well-paced police procedural with a cast of flawed characters, some so unlikeable that I was convinced several were good candidates for the at-large serial killer.  And, as I raced through the pages despite facing 2 days before I could get to the library for my next batch of books, I was surprised by the final twist.  I rate this 2002 Gold Dagger finalist at 8 out of 10 stars. 


Heart-Shaped Box
Joe Hill

It has been a long time since I had a creepy, eerie dream that I could link directly to the reading of a book, but this one did it for me.  Aging rock star Jude Coyne buys a suit from an online auction site.  It comes with a ghost.  I rate this recipient of a 2007 Bram Stoker Award at 8 out 10 stars.

Using Grid Analysis in Decision Making

This blog is largely about making choices.  Because nearly everyone has difficulty making choices at some time, I decided to write a post about using Grid Analysis as a decision-making tool. 

The situation:  On 30 October 2009, due to a combination of family obligations, health problems, and academic issues, I suspended my work on a doctorate in clinical psychology.  It had been some time since I had been able to devote myself full-time to my research project, and I hoped that a year's formal suspension would provide me with perspective and relieve feelings of guilt and anxiety related to my academic career.  The end of that year (October 2010) found our family in the midst of fulfilling a long-desired goal:  selling our house in the Auckland area and buying a lifestyle block in the New Zealand countryside.  I spoke with the program director and my research supervisor and told them I would be in touch once we were settled into our new home.  In March 2011, I received a notice that another 6-monthly report regarding the status of my research project was due.  I spent several weeks thinking about the unresolved academic issues related to the project, then outlined a revised project complete with timeline and research aims.  As I corresponded with my supervisors, I learned that my extended suspension of study and change of focus meant I would need to resign from the clinical program, recruit another supervisor with experience in qualitative research techniques, and pursue either a PhD or a Masters level research project:  any clinical qualification I wished to pursue would be delayed until after completion of the disseration.  Throughout this process, I noticed increased symptoms of anxiety, including difficulty sleeping, muscle tension, increased worry, and a migraine headache.  After a bit of self-reflection, I determined that it was time to reassess my academic goals. 

I have previously recommended to clients facing difficult decisions that they use a grid analysis as an aid.  Grid analysis can be useful with decisions in which there are a number of factors that deserve consideration.  I find the download and instructions available from Mind Tools to be particularly helpful.

First, I brainstormed a bit and then identified four viable options regarding my future academic career:

1. Upon withdrawal from the clinical psychology program, pursue an application to continue my research as a PhD project.
2. Take a step back and pursue a Masters degree.
3. Forget academics and get a practical degree that would lead to a mental health registration, such as a Diploma in Counselling.
4. Set aside my academic career in a more permanent way.

 The second step was to identify the most important factors related to the decision.  These factors are highly personalized to each individual and situation.  In this instance, I selected the following factors as being most important to or relevant for the decision I was making:

• future earnings potential,
• impact for my family,
• time to work on other projects and goals, and
• impact on my self-esteem.

As a third step, I assigned a number from 0-5 (0 = poor and 5 = very good) for each option with respect to its impact on each factor.  Here is the partially completed Grid Analysis following Step 3:

Factors	Future Earnings	Family	Other Projects	Self-Esteem	Total
Factor Weights	-	-	-	-	-
PhD	5	1	0	4	-
MA	3	0	0	0	-
DipCouns	2	2	3	2	-
Stop	2	4	4	3	-

For the Future Earnings factor, I felt that a PhD would be most beneficial and the Masters less so.  I felt that a Diploma in Counselling would make no difference to future earnings when compared to leaving school and pursuing self-employment opportunities. 

In terms of the impact on my family (aside from the financial gains included in the Future Earnings factor), the PhD would be advantageous in terms of providing a model of academic success for our children, but this benefit was offset by the tremendous investment of time necessary to complete my research and writing.  The Masters would require a near-equal amount of time without the benefit of providing my children with a model of an adult finishing what was started.  Pursuing a counselling diploma would allow me to study on a part-time basis and for a much shorter period of time.  Finally, leaving school would provide me with the flexibility to free up my time to support my daughter in her home schooling and upcoming university applications; go on family outings; take on more daily responsibilities such as shopping, preparing dinner, and cleaning; and just be available for those impromptu talks.

The time constraints of both the PhD and the Masters led to 0 ratings in the Other Projects column, while the counselling diploma option garnered a 3 because it could be completed on a part-time basis.  I rated Leaving School as a 4 because a decision not to pursue further educational qualifications may limit my credentials for some writing projects I am interested in pursuing.

In terms of impacting my self-esteem, I rated the PhD at a 4 rather than a 5 because the benefits would be offset by certain activation of negative core beliefs such as "I am a bad mother" and "I am selfish."  The Masters would do little to boost my self-esteem and would result in activation of beliefs like "I'm not good enough."  I rated the counselling diploma as a 2 because it would allow me to achieve a long-time goal of working in the mental health field.  Because leaving school would enable me to devote time to a wide variety of other projects that are important to me, I rated this at 3.

Proceeding to Step 4, I rated the importance of each factor, with 0 being not important to 5 being very important.

Factors	Future Earnings	Family	Other Projects	Self-Esteem	Total
Factor Weights	3	5	4	2	-
PhD	5	1	0	4	-
MA	3	0	0	0	-
DipCouns	2	2	3	2	-
Stop	2	4	4	3	-

The final step involves some math.  The weight for each factor is multiplied by the impact score for each option, and these are added together to arrive at a total score.  For example, the PhD option score = (3 x 5) + (5 x 1) + (4 x 0) + (2 x 4) = 28.

Factors	Future Earnings	Family	Other Projects	Self-Esteem	Total
Factor Weights	3	5	4	2	-
PhD	5	1	0	4	28
MA	3	0	0	0	9
DipCouns	2	2	3	2	32
Stop	2	4	4	3	48

Given my current value ratings of factors that are important to me, leaving school and devoting more time to family and other projects outweighs whatever positive impact that continuing my academic career might have on my self-esteem and future earnings.

I have submitted my formal withdrawal from the Doctorate of Clinical Psychology program.  I have yet to talk with my supervisors to let them know that, at this time, I will not be pursuing further academic research.  But the headache has faded, as they always do.  I feel optimistic about the future.  I expect to experience intermittent regrets about not continuing an academic career, particularly because I will miss academic writing.  But I know that I have a capacity for self-reflection and an arsenal of tools that can assist me in any number of difficult circumstances.  I'm looking forward to working on other projects--redecorating our new home, landscaping, starting on a huge kitchen garden, returning to volunteer work for a literacy program, and writing posts like this one.  I hope to spend time with my family without being preoccupied with thoughts about a research project and worries that I'm not good enough.  I feel free.

Special acknowledgements:  It would have taken me a lot longer to re-learn HTML table construction if I hadn't come across this post by Isaac Yasser.  Thanks, Isaac!  I again want to recommend a click over to Mind Tools for a browse through their fabulous collection of self-management articles.

Life's Too Short to Read Bad Books: April 2011

These are the books I read in April 2011.  I offer these short reviews to help you decide what to put on your nightstand.

The Collectors (A Camel Club Mystery)
David Baldacci

What do the deaths of the Speaker of the House and a curator at the Library of Congress have in common?  Misrepresented by Library Journal as one of the best thrillers of 2006, this novel leads the members of the Camel Club to discoveries of illicit affairs, disappearing ink, and treason in their search for the answer.  Along they way, they join forces with a woman hiding from a sociopathic casino owner.  I give this 5 out of 10 stars, but only because the writing isn't atrocious and the characters are interesting.


Darkmans
Nicola Barker

Be prepared for a difficult ride if you decide to heft this 838-page exploration of history as a malevolent prankster infiltrating our present lives.  This theme is personified in John Scoggin, the medieval court jester who takes possession of a number of the book's characters, including a narcoleptic security guard and an estranged father and son living in the same house.  Add an art forger, an unscrupulous builder, a precocious 5-year-old engaged in the chronological construction of a French village, a Kurd with a lettuce phobia, a stolen paralyzed dog (complete with mobility cart) to the cast and it becomes clear that this is a comedy.  This book earned Barker the 2008 Hawthornden Prize and a place on the 2007 Man Booker Prize for Fiction shortlist.  I award this 7 out of 10 stars:  the plotting is difficult and the characters unlikeable, but the language is exquisite.


Matter (The Culture Series)
Iain M. Banks

Space opera meets feudal court intrigue in the eighth installment of Banks' Culture series.  The reader follows Prince Ferbin and his servant Holse (think Frodo and Sam) as they journey from their civilization's appointed level on an artificial world in search of Ferbin's sister.  He seeks her assistance in avenging their father's assassination.  Djan's position as a black-ops Special Circumstances agent for the Culture makes her particularly suited for the task.  This sets the stage for a clash between races of the technologically advanced Culture as they manipulate more primitive societies to advance their own inscrutable ends.  This novel was short-listed for the 2009 Prometheus Award and Locus Award.  My rating:  6 stars out of a possible 10.


The Secret Scripture
Sebastian Barry

In this lyrical novel, 100-year-old Roseanne McNulty composes her memoirs and hides the pages beneath the floorboards of her room in the asylum where she has lived for the last half-century.  The asylum is slated for demolition, and psychiatrist Dr. Grene must determine which of his patients can be released into the community and those who should be transferred to a new, smaller, facility.  His observations as he seeks to uncover the circumstances of Roseanne's incarceration serve as a counterpoint to her fragmented reconstructions.  Barry explores themes of love, prejudice, family, and the subjective nature of memory against a backdrop of 50 years of Irish social and political history.  Short-listed for the 2008 Man Booker Prize and winner of the 2008 Costa Book Award, I rate this book a perfect 10.


Our Horses in Egypt
Rosalind Belben

World War I widow Griselda Romney begins a quest for her horse Philomena, one of thousands of English horses requisitioned into service by the War Office and then sold into service to spare the expense of transport home.  One strand of narrative follows Griselda as she travels from England to Cairo with young daughter and nanny in tow; the other presents Philomena's war experience.  Despite the dense technical horse-related lingo and wartime abbreviations, I was gripped by Philomena's experiences of hardship and companionship.  I found Griselda's narcissistic character lacking in compassion (except for horses) and any desire to understand the world around her.  I rate this winner of the 2008 James Tait Black Prize for Fiction at 7 out of 10 stars.


City of Thieves
David Benioff

Rather than being executed for looting the body of a German paratrooper, 17-year-old Lev is tasked with the quest of locating a dozen eggs so a colonel's daughter can have a proper cake for her wedding.  This is a difficult mission as the residents of Leningrad are under siege and reduced to eating book paste, sawdust-filled bread, and each other.  I am not going to give away any more than that because I loved this book:  it has friendship and pain, romance and adventure--an ALA Notable Book for 2009 and another perfect 10. 

Two in one month--lucky me!

The Burden of Defending Society

Conway, Simon.  (2010).  A Loyal Spy.  London:  Hodder & Stoughton.

A fictional framework for geopolitical commentary on the 21st-century military-industrial complex:   capitalism requires privatization, corporations require profit rather than loyalty.  And if profits can be increased through belief in apocryphal mythology and the duty of true believers to nurture the conditions of a prophesied apocalypse, so much the better.  

"They've convinced themselves that they're on the side of the angels and everybody else is a fool."

"Even as we speak, the day-to-day burden of defending society against the threat of conflict is being transferred to the private sector."

"The day-to-day burden of defending society is now too big for the state to handle alone."

"Life has become more controversial; controvery is more violent; the unintelligent are perverting science into a new form of superstition.  For science read security and they could be talking about the present day."

"We have to terrify them to make them agree to what is necessary for the protection of their freedoms."

"We're going to get rich beyond our wildest dreams....The government doesn't have enough resources of their own to cope.  They're going to need our help.... We're going to provide the protection necessary to get the infrastructure of society up and running again....We'll be heroes."

Very little in the way of explanations for how we arrived at this point, other than utter stupidity and distraction, or alternatives.

"He had come to the conclusion that intelligence was an attribute of individuals and that groups--clans, tribes, nations--were intelligent in inverse proportion to their size and influence:  the bigger the stupider, the stronger the dumber."

"If she had not been so headstrong as a child, so heedless of the consequences of her actions, she might have achieved some semblance of contentment."

"We must not let terrifying threats cause us to degrade what is valuable in our society."

Recently Read

Sometimes the choices I make are as simple as what book to read next....

The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus
Margaret Atwood

If you remove elements of divine intervention and the supernatural from The Iliad or The Odyssey, you're left with men behaving badly. Atwood applies this treatment to the tale of Penelope. We are left with a woman's life, a woman who dedicated her time on earth to being an ideal daughter, wife, and mother. She speaks to us now from her timeless existence in the underworld, and her voice is bitter and lonely. I thought this was brilliantly done, the social commentary as sharp as that of The Handmaid's Tale when it was published 25 years ago.


Winterton Blue: A Novel
Trezza Azzopardi

Highly recommended! The themes are as old as any story we have shared with each other: boy meets girl, the quest. The writing is beautiful. Here's a taste: "It was a most particular cruelty that he would remember the look on his mother's face when she saw which son was spared." To all of my DClin friends who are looking for another way to treat yourselves after getting those theses finished, let this be one of them.


Wild Inferno (A WILD Mystery)
Sandi Ault

Too much dialog about fighting wildfires that should have been narrative. Much like the debut, descriptions of emotional scenes were flat, trite, and should have been deleted if she can't make them better. I read this book because it was on the Best Books of 2008 for both Publishers Weekly and Library Journal. Shame on them.