Six Picks : Summer Thrillers

July 13, 2013July 11, 2013 / Louise / 1 Comment

With the new crop of mystery and suspense novels coming out, your summer reading could be extra thrilling this year! A few top picks:

Inferno by Dan Brown. In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology, Robert Langdon, is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces–Dante’s Inferno. Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science.

The Kill Room by Jeffrey Deaver. Renowned investigator and forensics expert, Lincoln Rhyme, is drafted to investigate the sniper-killing of a U.S. citizen in the Bahamas. While his partner, Amelia Sachs, traces the victim’s steps in Manhattan, Rhyme leaves the city to pursue the sniper himself.

Joyland by Stephen King. Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, Joyland tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever.

Deeply Odd by Dean Koontz. Odd Thomas journeys through California and Nevada after a vision about the murders of three children, an effort throughout which he befriends a series of eccentric helpers who become allies in a battle against a sociopath and a network of killers.

The Redeemer by Jo Nesbo. Christmas shoppers stop to hear a Salvation Army concert on a crowded Oslo street. A gunshot cuts through the music and the bitter cold: one of the singers falls dead, shot in the head at point-blank range. Harry Hole–the Oslo Police Department’s best investigator and worst civil servant–has little to work with: no suspect, no weapon, and no motive.

Choke Point by Ridley Pearson. Hired to investigate allegations of a sweat-shop operation in Amsterdam that is enslaving young girls, John Knox and tech information expert Grace Chu embark on a rescue mission that is challenged by a crime organization that has seduced local neighborhoods with showy goodwill practices.

Amazon Names Their Best Books of 2013 So Far

July 11, 2013June 5, 2014 / Linda / Leave a comment

With 2013 half over, Amazon has chosen their top 10 books of the year so far (Jan-Jun). Their picks and brief summaries:

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson– What if you could be born again and again? This brilliant, multi-layered novel answers that question as Atkinson’s protagonist moves through multiple lives, each one an iteration on the last, flirting with the balance between choice and fate.
The Son by Phillipp Meyer – A multigenerational Western spanning the 1800s Comanche raids in Texas to the 20^th century oil boom, The Son is a towering achievement.
Frozen In Time by Mitchell Zuckoff – Two adventures in one …recounting the 1942 crash (and subsequent struggle to survive) of a U.S. cargo plane crew in Greenland, and describing the author’s own participation in a modern-day mission to uncover the mystery behind their disappearance.
The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer – The characters in this novel pulse with life as Wolitzer follows a group of teenagers who meet at a summer camp for artsy teens in 1974 and work to maintain their friendship through the competitions and realities of growing up.
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini – Following The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, Hosseini has written another masterwork, one that moves through war, separation, birth, death, deceit, and love – illustrating how people’s actions, even the seemingly selfless ones, are shrouded in ambiguity.
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell – This Young Adult novel about two kids who fall in love on a bus is sweet without being saccharine. And it’s a story adults can love, too.
Gulp by Mary Roach – Roach is about as entertaining a science writer as you’ll find, and this book about how we ingest food will make you think, laugh, and wince as she covers all things alimentary.
After Visiting Friends by Michael Hainey – Unfolding like a novel, this nonfiction gem starts with journalist Hainey uncovering inconsistencies within his own journalist father’s obituary – and while the truth behind the death will eventually be uncovered, greater truths await for Hainey, ones that will change the way he views the past and the present.
Tenth of December by George Saunders – Saunders’ first collection of short stories in six years introduces his ironic, absurd, profound, and funny style to an army of new readers.
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker – This enchanting debut, set mostly in turn-of-the-century Manhattan, is both a well-researched historical novel and a spectacular work of fantasy.

To see Amazon’s list of top books in other categories, click here.

What’s the best book you’ve read so far this year?

20 Book Club Picks (Part 2)

June 25, 2013June 5, 2014 / Linda / Leave a comment

Here’s another batch of favorite books for book clubs.

(If you missed the first batch, here’s the link.)

Wild – Cheryl Strayed
The Thirteenth Tale – Diane Setterfield
The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
Room – Emma Donoghue
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot
Eat, Pray, Love – Elizabeth Gilbert
Three Cups of Tea – Greg Mortenson
The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
Moloka’i – Alan Brennert
The Secret Life of Bees – Sue Monk Kidd
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Jonathan Safran Foer
The Shack – Wm. Paul Young
My Sister’s Keeper – Jodi Picoult
Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
The Light Between Oceans – M.L. Stedman
The Forgotten Garden – Kate Morton
The Kitchen House – Kathleen Grissom
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie – Alan Bradley
Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides

Jenn Reads: Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald

May 21, 2013May 20, 2013 / Jenn / 2 Comments

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler was a book club pick for the girlfriends book club I run outside

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald

of the library.

I’m probably going to get a LOT of comments on this, but am I the only one who thinks The Great Gatsby is *ok*? Perhaps my unfavorable opinion of this classic was marred by the fact that I listened to it, and it was perhaps the first classic I listened to. The only thing I got out of Gatsby – there was a cool car chase at the end.

My opinion of F. Scott Fitzgerald was never favorable either, and this book certainly did nothing to bump his position. We meet Z, Zelda Sayre, when she is 18 and ready for some excitement in her life. The year is 1918, the war is just about to end, and Zelda is graduating from high school. Zelda is unsure how her life is going to progress; she doesn’t want to follow a traditional Southern woman’s path in getting married right away, having kids, and staying home. Her life changes at her dance recital, when out in the audience she sees a striking young army soldier. After the recital he introduces himself as F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Zelda’s life is forever changed.

After some starts and stumbles, Scott and Zelda are married in NYC at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and they begin their tumultuous life together. Those early years should have been an indication to Zelda how the rest of her life would go.

The Fitzgeralds were a true celebrity couple. They were followed by journalists, photographers, their every move documented. They went to some pretty crazy parties, knew some really famous people (Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, just to name a few), and never had any money. They moved constantly across the globe, leading a gypsy lifestyle so common for people like the Fitzgeralds.

I would gander that Zelda’s mental illness, now diagnosed as bipolar, was most definitely caused in part by her domineering, abusive, smothering, adultering and alcoholic husband. F. Scott would never win any prizes for “Husband of the Year” or “Father of the Year”. He never supported Zelda the way he should have, jealous that her success may surpass his own. Never fully given the opportunity to shine in her own right, Zelda suffered internally and was institutionalized in her 30’s.

I read most of this book while on jury duty. It was a quick read, with great descriptions, dialogue, and characters. I really hated F. Scott. And I really felt bad for Zelda. Imagine what her life would have been like without F. Scott.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.