Author Archive
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson takes place in the present day but could just as easily be set at any time in England’s history. It includes a small-town society where everyone knows everyone else’s business, class differences, the clash between old and young and that ever important stiff upper lip the Brits are so known for. It’s been described as “Jane Austen meets Alexander McCall Smith” and the comparison is spot on. This debut is a comedy of manners and an examination of race relations all in one.
The book opens by introducing Bertie, Major Pettigrew and Mrs. Ali:
“Major Pettigrew was still upset about the phone call from his brother’s wife and so he answered the doorbell without thinking. On the damp bricks of the path stood Mrs. Ali from the village shop. She gave only the faintest of starts, the merest arch of an eyebrow. A quick rush of embarrassment flooded to the Major’s cheeks and he smoothed helplessly at the lap of his crimson, clematis-covered housecoat with hands that felt like spades.”
And thus an unlikely friendship and future romance is begun. The Major has just learned that his brother died and in his distress he allows Mrs. Ali to help him. As he deals with the difficulties of a sister-in-law he has never liked, a son who can only think in terms of dollars, and the very strong grief he is feeling, Bertie finds himself turning to Jasmina Ali time and time again for her quiet thoughtfulness and concern. As their friendship becomes more apparent, the other denizens of Edgecombe St. Mary begin to make their feelings known. It’s all well and good for the widowed Pakistani woman to strike up a conversation with them in her shop, but to appear at the local ball? Something shocking in that. And the dismay is not all on one side. Mrs. Ali’s relatives have a rather traditional view of things as well and feel that she should cede her shop to her nephew and move in with relatives to act as an additional caregiver.
Yes, there is a lot of quiet wit and humor in Simonson’s writing, but she manages to delve into societal concerns about race and class while telling this seemingly gentle tale. Though the Major prides himself on being someone who doesn’t judge others, it’s clear he does and it’s something he has to acknowledge if he’s to succeed with Mrs. Ali. And underscoring his struggle are the feelings he has about possessing an heirloom gun he was supposed to inherit from his father. Mrs. Ali has her own hurdles to overcome but watching the pair work through their issues and possibly win through to one another is a great reward.
I read this novel for a book group and we had a great discussion, so if you’re looking for something new for your group, give it a try.
July 29th, 2010
Jane J. - Central Library
One of the worst things I can ever envision is to be imprisoned for a crime you didn’t commit. Imagining someone having to go through the indignities, loss of freedom and choice, and the endless monotony of being in prison when they’re innocent horrifies me. How do you get through that? Knowing you’re innocent and spending time in a system that is set up for the guilty? Very tough to imagine. But what about going to prison for a crime you did commit? Is that less scary? Going to federal prison for a criminal choice you made ten years ago? That’s what Piper Kerman experiences in her memoir Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Woman’s Prison.
Fresh out of Smith College Piper is at loose ends. When a friend tells her about being involved in drug smuggling with a West African kingpin, Piper thinks it sounds exciting. She agrees to help by transporting cash illegally and has no real thought about her actions or the possible consequences. Though the life seems exciting Piper soon gives it up and moves to San Francisco where she starts fresh and eventually finds love. Flash forward a number of years and Piper is now in New York with her boyfriend (soon to be fiancée) Larry. She’s got a job she likes and lots of friends. A seemingly perfect life. Until the knock on her door and the news that she’s been indicted on federal conspiracy charges. After learning that she could face up to fifteen years in prison Piper takes a plea deal and agrees to serve fifteen months. And then she waits. For six years Piper waits to start her prison time as the government pursues a case against the kingpin. When that falls through Piper’s time begins. She surrenders herself to the Federal Correction Institution in Danbury, CT to start her one year sentence.
The world she enters is scary and foreign. Rules, big and small, must be learned quickly. On the first night she is told that prisoners never sleep in their beds - they sleep on top of them, why isn’t clear but to avoid creating waves Piper complies. Asking how long someone is going to be there, okay, asking what they did to earn a prison sentence, not okay. While the interpersonal rules are important even more so are the rules set by the facility and the guards: always be where you’re supposed to be for the four-times-a-day head count, submit to a strip search each and every time you have a visitor, do what you’re told when you’re told. As she learns to navigate her new life Piper gains a new appreciation both for the friends and family she hurt by her behavior and for the women who are sharing her new life.
Because of the long-standing fear I mentioned at the beginning of this review I was intrigued by Piper’s experiences. Her year-long stint made for fast reading and the people she meets are universally interesting if not universally good: Pop the Russian mobster’s wife who rules the kitchen, Nina the Italian mother-figure, Crazy Eyes who sees Piper as a “real woman” able to handle her amorous ambitions, the list goes on. Each has a story and each has an impact on Piper who sees how the system is failing this women, many of whom are non-violent drug offenders (one elderly woman in her 70s was serving 4 years for a wire charge - she took phone message for a drug dealing relative) caught up in the process and given little in the way of rehabilitation.
My one issue with the memoir is that Piper sometimes skims the surface of the emotional fallout. Her friends and family are supportive and loving at all times. Supportive I understand, but there had to be some anger there, some frustration and disappointment. Piper touches on these things then floats on to new topics. And she can come across as a bit smug when she discusses her own upbringing, the fact that she went to Smith (mentioned more then once) and that the counselors and guards see her and know that she’s different then the rest of her fellow prisoners. But these are small complaints and don’t really change the fact that this makes for a fascinating and accessible read.
July 23rd, 2010
Jane J. - Central Library
I’ve been a big fan of Eileen Dreyer’s mystery/suspense novels for a long time - in fact, I highly recommend With a Vengeance - so when I heard that she was writing a historical romance I was intrigued and ultimately very happy with the new direction.
Barely a Lady is the first in a projected trilogy and was emotional and suspenseful and witty. All good. Which is why I’ve been surprised at the wildly different reactions to the book. Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review as did Kirkus and Library Journal with that reviewer saying:
“Vivid descriptions, inventive plotting, beautifully delineated characters, and stunning emotional depth ensure the success of Dreyer’s historical romance debut.”
Great, that lines up with how I felt. But All About Romance rated the novel a ‘C’ and the Dear Author reviewer hated it (and if you read through the comments on this one you’ll find a note from the author with her reaction). The disconnect is why I think this would be a great book to choose if you are part of a romance book group. Books that are universally loved or loathed are hard to discuss for any length of time. Those that fall in the 50/50 range (some loved it, others hated it) are what you need to generate discussion.
So what is it about Dreyer’s new novel that’s striking such dissonant chords? Here’s the story: Olivia Grace was once married to Jack Wyndham, the Earl of Graybush. Their marriage ended in a scandalous divorce after Jack found her in what he thought was a compromising position and threw her out. Five years later Olivia is scraping by as a companion for the three daughters of a socially ambitious woman. They’ve come to Brussels on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo in hopes of snaring husbands for those daughters. As Olivia sits on the sidelines at the ball, her long-time fears are realized when a figure from her past sees her and threatens her hard-won anonymity. Before she can escape, the historic battle happens and Olivia is drawn to help with the wounded. While on the battle field she’s shocked to find her former husband, nearly dead from his injuries and dressed in a French uniform! How did Jack end up in the battle? What’s he doing in the uniform of Britain’s enemy? Important questions that will have no quick answers because when Jack wakes up he has forgotten the recent past and thinks he’s still married to Olivia.
What bothered some reviewers were the elements that have appeared in too many regency historicals over the last ten years: amnesia, aristocratic spies, and what’s known in the romance reading world as the Big Mis (big misunderstanding) to name a few. I totally understand how some readers might shake their heads and sigh at the ‘been there, done that’ feel. But for me the familiar elements were simply there as the backdrop for the deeply felt, emotional relationship that exists between Jack and Olivia. I believed that they loved each other and that Olivia did so much against her will given her stormy past with Jack. So for me a success and one I hope will be repeated when the second book comes out next spring.
July 16th, 2010
Jane J. - Central Library
You know that book you heard about last year? The one you checked out and took home then brought back unread? Not because it wasn’t good but because you weren’t in the mood to read it. For me that book is The Wrong Mother by Sophie Hannah. It came out last fall and had a lot of great buzz going and was recommended by many on the mystery email list I read and thus began my pattern of taking it home and not reading it. Until now. And the only question remains, why on earth did I wait so long?
Sally Thorning is a wife and the mother of two young children who leads a fairly blameless, if sometimes chaotic and exhausting life. Then it goes horribly wrong and it all starts when the babysitter she’d lined up cancels at the last minute. Before she knows it Sally is pushed in front of a bus and while still processing that event a few hours later she hears the name Bretherick on the news. According to the reports Mark Bretherick’s wife killed their young daughter and then herself in an apparent murder/suicide. The problem for Sally is that when she sees the grieving Mark on television he isn’t the man she knows as Mark Bretherick. The man she met a year ago and had a secret fling with had the same name but is not this man. How can Sally not report this to the police as they investigate the terrible crime? If she does what will her actions do to her marriage? Those are the dilemmas she now faces. And then there’s that accident with the bus. Does someone now want Sally dead?
The set-up of this psychological thriller is first-rate. What would you do? Tell all and possibly destroy your marriage or keep it to yourself and let a potential murder go unpunished? And Sophie Hannah does a good job at setting up the truly scary nature of Sally’s untenable position by inter-cutting her sections of the book with diary excerpts from the dead mother (who just happens to look exactly like Sally) and the activities of the police as they pursue the investigation. Readers of Hannah’s earlier book (Little Face) will recognize the police handling the case, but this one can be read on its own. Though the end becomes a little convoluted as all the threads are sewn together, I’ll definitely be picking up the next by this author. If you’re like me and have been waiting to pick this one up, wait no longer. If you haven’t been waiting to read this one, what have you left too long?
July 14th, 2010
Jane J. - Central Library
The author is a librarian, the protagonist is a smart, tough P.I., and the setting is Chicago - what’s not to love? Completely rhetorical question of course. Barbara Fister’s Through the Cracks brings Anni Koskinen back in this very strong sophomore effort (after In the Wind - which is unfortunately not owned by the library).
Twenty years ago a brutal rape happened in Chicago’s Lincoln Park. The victim was a pretty, young, white woman and the police were under the gun to solve the case and fast. Which they apparently did. Sixteen-year-old Chase Taylor (a young African-American man from the projects) was seen in the vicinity, reportedly bragged about the attack and was ID’ed as the perp. He was quickly convicted. Now his conviction has been overturned and Jill McKenzie, the victim isn’t so sure he was her attacker. She has done research and found a series of attacks similar to hers and thinks the rapist has been on the loose all this time. Jill is determined to find her attacker and hires Anni for the job. Anni, though initially not hopeful, agrees to look into the case.
What starts out as a long-shot for Anni has soon got her entangled in cases old and new. Anni left the police after testifying against a fellow officer, so her connections in the department are tenuous at best. She is able to get help from retired officer Jerry Pozorski who investigated the initial crime and from Detective Dugan, one of the few friends she still has from her days on the force. Their investigation is hampered by the fear other victims feel in coming forward and by a State’s attorney who insists that the original suspect is the guilty party.
Fister writes with a sure hand (with only a bit of a stumble in pacing near the end of the book) and in Anni Koskinen she has created a worthy protagonist. Current day issues of immigration and politics round out the story and make this a great companion piece if you’re a fan of Paretsky or Grafton.
July 8th, 2010
Jane J. - Central Library
If you like to be prepared, here’s your chance. These books have been optioned, are being cast or are in production to be new movies.
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell - reports are that Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, James McAvoy, Ian McKellen and Natalie Portman have been offered roles in the movie which makes it sound like a winner to me.
The Help by Kathryn Stockett - we reported this movie in the works earlier but now there is casting news - Bryce Dallas Howard, Viola Davis and Jessica Chastain have been cast
One for the Money by Janet Evanovich - Many fans were surprised to hear a couple of months ago that Katherine Heigl has been cast as Stephanie, now news is out that Jason O’Mara is going to play Morelli. It’ll be very interesting to see who they get for Ranger.
One Day by David Nicholls - this book is just now making its debut in the states but Anne Hathaway has already signed to star in the movie.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick - Jude Law, Ben Kinglsey and Sasha Baron Cohen have all been cast in what is planned to be a 3-D movie simply called Hugo Cabret.
How about you? Have you heard any industry gossip? I’d love to hear about it.
July 2nd, 2010
Jane J. - Central Library
The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths has the kind of protagonists I like. Ruth Gordon is a prickly, intelligent loner who lives on the edge of a saltmarsh overlooking the North Sea in the Norfolk region of England. She teaches archaeology at the local university and would like to discover more about the henge site discovered in the marsh a couple of years ago. Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson is a man dedicated to his job and somewhat obsessed with a case that has remained unsolved for ten years. A possible break in that case brings these two interesting characters together.
When a child’s bones are found in the marsh near an archaeological dig, DCI Nelson calls on Ruth to help him. His hope is that she’ll be able to tell him that the bones are modern day and he’ll at last be able to provide some relief to the family of Lucy Downey. Ten years ago, five-year-old Lucy went missing and the case has haunted Harry. His hopes for answers in the Downey case are dashed when Ruth determines that the bones are from the Iron Age and are thousands of years old. Though Ruth’s research into the bones is a dead end, Harry could still use her help. Over the years he has received anonymous letters that refer to the disappearance of Lucy and include cryptic references to Iron Age mythologies and codes. As Ruth puzzles over the letters the quest to find answers becomes more urgent when another girl goes missing.
I loved the Norfolk setting and the descriptions of the saltmarsh and the archaeological henge sites that so fascinate Ruth. This is Griffith’s debut mystery and she does a good job of teasing the reader with the potential suspects. Is it this guy or that one? I was sure I knew at various points in the book but wasn’t right until very late. Though Ruth and Harry are unlikely detecting partners, they work well together and I look forward to reading more when the sequel comes out next year.
June 29th, 2010
Jane J. - Central Library
Last week Kim Ukura wrote an article for 77 Square about summer reading (several MPL staff members - past and present - were quoted, yay us!). They included some reading lists (thrillers, nonfiction and teen reads from MPL staff, yay us squared!) and that got me looking for other summer lists. And how’s this for serendipity? Just as I was looking for those lists, Madison Public tweeted about Oprah’s “Biggest, Best Summer Reading List Ever”. Book number two on that list? The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender which Kylee already reviewed on MADreads (yay us cubed!)
Other summer lists that might interest you:
10 Top Summer Cookbooks from NPR
15 Great Beach Reads from Indie Book Sellers
Entertainment Weekly’s 18 Books We Can’t Wait to Read this Summer
Historical Fiction from NPR
LA Times: 60 Books for 92 Days
Salon’s Nail-Biting Summer Reads
Summer Romances from Salon
If all those lists are overwhelming you, how about starting with the book that’s appearing on most of them. The Passage by Justin Cronin is an “ambitious epic about a virus that nearly destroys the world, and a six-year-old girl who holds the key to bringing it back” according to Amazon which rated it one of the best books of the month for June. I’m already on the waiting list for this one but there are many more that are grabbing my attention. What are you looking forward to this summer?
June 17th, 2010
Jane J. - Central Library
It’s been a while since I’ve read or reviewed any romances. I’ve been on a thriller/mystery kick. So even though I’ve checked out (and purchased) romances by some of my favs (Jane Feather, Kristin Higgins, Carla Kelly) they continue to sit in my TBR pile. Until the other night. I’d picked up Married by Morning by Lisa Kleypas last weekend and read it by Monday night. I think it had something to do with that 90 degree/humid weather. I needed something fast, fun and light to engage me and that’s exactly what I got.
Married is the fourth in the Hathaway family series and centers on reluctant family patriarch, Leo Hathaway and Catherine Marks who has been companion and etiquette tutor to Leo’s sisters. Leo and Cat have always been at odds with each other. She thinks he’s exasperating and arrogant. He thinks she’s obstinate and opinionated and far too secretive about her past. It’s that last bit that finally breaks their hard-headed stalemate. Cat has secrets and is apparently trying to hide from something or someone in her past. Leo is determined to find out what those secrets are and protect her from them if necessary. While the two trade barbs they are growing ever closer. A fact that pleases the rest of the family, not least because Leo has to marry in order to hold onto the family home.
I described this as fun and light and it is definitely that. But the witty repartee and great chemistry between Leo and Cat aren’t an easy thing to write - compare any Kate Hepburn/Spencer Tracy movie with the romantic comedies of today and you’ll get what I mean. Kleypas has a way with words and it shows on every page, making this not just light fun but write fun as well.
May 28th, 2010
Jane J. - Central Library
A couple of weeks ago I attended a library conference in Sheboygan (very nice town and great wood fired pizza at Il Ritrovo, btw). Part of my reason for attending was to be part of a book talking panel. My area of expertise was thrillers. And since I went to all that work, ahem, to talk up some great thrillers for my fellow librarians, I decided to share some of them with you as well.
Some of the titles I spoke of were ones I’ve reviewed here on MADreads:
But there were a few new titles in the mix. Best of the bunch, and my favorite book so far this year, is Still Missing by Chevy Stevens. In this debut Annie O’Sullivan narrates the story. She’s a young realtor who is finishing up an open house when a nicely dressed man appears. A year later Annie is relaying to her therapist how she survived a year in captivity after that man kidnapped her. Though it is tough at times to read as Annie narrates her own horror, the anger and bitter humor she exhibits help. Since we know Annie survived, the suspense in this thriller comes in finding out how she did so, why she was kidnappped in the first place and whether current events are real or a product of the trauma she can’t get past. Excellent book.
Live to Tell by Lisa Gardner is her latest featuring Detective D. D. Warren of the Boston Police Dept. Detective Warren is called out on what looks like a murder/suicide attempt. An entire family is dead and the father lies in a coma in the hospital from what looks like a self-inflicted gunshot. Though the initial impression seems to make this an easy call, further delving muddies the waters. Inter cutting D. D.’s investigation are parallel narratives told from the points of view of two other women. Danielle Burton, herself a survivor of a family massacre, is struggling with the anniversary of that crime and her job in a juvenile psychiatric unit. Victoria Oliver is simply struggling to survive - and her possible tormentor only ratchets up the suspense. These three stories weave together perfectly and the author has a commanding style as she connects all the dots.
The last I’ll mention is a good old fashioned spy-thriller. In my talk I made mention of the difference in the Bond movies since Daniel Craig took over (darker, grittier, more realistic outcomes) and that’s how I’d compare Olen Steinhauer’s Milo Weaver espionage novels to other more action oriented ones - think Tom Clancy for instance. Milo Weaver was introduced in The Tourist. He’s one of a handful of agents (Tourists) who don’t exist as far as most of the world knows. They go where they’re needed and get the job done. And that’s part of the issue for Milo. Who’s calling the shots and who decides what gets done? In The Nearest Exit his personal conflicts are set aside when he learns that someone has found out who all the Tourists are and now he and all of his colleagues are in danger. Complicated and timely is how this one shakes out.
These are just a few of the titles I discussed. Are there any thrillers you’ve read recently that you’d recommend?
May 14th, 2010
Jane J. - Central Library
Some authors publish their first fabulous book and then seem to fall into a slump thereafter. Other authors write solid first books and then get progressively better with each succeeding effort. Alafair Burke falls into the latter category. I’ll admit I picked up her first book out of curiousity because of her family connection (her dad is James Lee Burke). But reading that first was enough to keep me coming back for more. With each new effort Alafair has proven that she can hold her own and then some as a mystery/thriller writer.
Burke’s latest, 212, opens with a young woman calling 911 to report a shooting. Four months later Detective Ellie Hatcher and her partner J. J. Rogan are frustrated by their lack of progress and the obstructionism of key witness (and possible suspect ??) real estate mogul, Sam Sparks. They’re forced to shelve those frustrations when they’re called out on a different case - the murder of college student Megan Gunther. Prior to being killed Megan had been an ordinary college student. The only drama in her life recently involved anonymous, ominous comments on the campus gossip website. The police weren’t able to do anything with the free-speech protected site but Megan’s murder makes it clear that there is far more going on. As Ellie and J. J. investigate they begin to find threads tieing their cases together in ways that become clearly far more then coincidence.
The story is nicely complex while holding together in every aspect (well there was one little niggle I had at the end, but that was minor). The pacing is just right and kept me reading well past my bedtime and the characterizations were so well done I kept hoping the murder victimes to be wouldn’t get murdered - does that make sense? She made me like them too well. Clearly Alafair has long since stepped out of her father’s shadow and I for one can’t wait for the next better novel.
April 5th, 2010
Jane J. - Central Library
The Central mystery book group met last week and discussed Crossfire by P.M. Carlson. Crossfire is set in a mid-sized town in southern Indiana and features Deputy Marty Hopkins in the role of investigator. As the book opens it is a chill winter night and Marty has been called to the scene of a fire. Someone’s hunting cabin is going up in smoke. Initially the only victim appears to be a deer wedged in the doorway, but Marty discovers the body of a man who has been pinned to a bed with a machete and left to the fire.
All but one in the discussion group really liked it (more about her thoughts in a minute). The Midwestern setting was a draw as was Marty as protagonist. The suspenseful plotting and complicated mystery also worked. The dissenter in the group had an issue with the sexism that Marty was facing in her department - she just thought it was a bit overdone given this day and age (pub. date 2006). Others did agree with her to some degree and I thought that the book did feel a little dated in some aspects - Marty’s 13-year-old daughter and her bff are big fans of Pearl Jam - but liked the story none-the-less. Several of the readers already had other Carlson books in hand as they left (a sure sign that they liked the book).
In addition to discussing the assigned, we do a little book-talking of other mysteries we’ve read since last we met. Tasha Alexander’s historical mystery And Only to Deceive was well liked by one member and someone else liked Overkill by Eugenia Lovett West. One that didn’t impress a couple of the readers was A Corpse in the Koryo by James Church - a mystery set in North Korea.
Next up for our group is Touchstone by Laurie King. What has your group read recently? Any good mystery suggestions?
March 15th, 2010
Jane J. - Central Library
Previous Posts
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson takes place in the present day but could just as easily be set at any time in England’s history. It includes a small-town society where everyone knows everyone else’s business, class differences, the clash between old and young and that ever important stiff upper lip the Brits are so known for. It’s been described as “Jane Austen meets Alexander McCall Smith” and the comparison is spot on. This debut is a comedy of manners and an examination of race relations all in one.