Author Archive
After working in the library business for awhile I noticed several types of readers. Avid (first on holds list when books are ordered) Fairweather (everyone is reading this book so I should be too) Picky (I ONLY read romance) and the ones that I’m writing this review for, the Book Groupers. Some Book Groupers may cross over to the other categories, but many are locked into their once a month committement for purely social reasons. A night with a glass of wine and good friends, and oh yeah, that book we were supposed to read for tonite.
Two of my recent reads seem like they would be ideal for this demographic. Both Misconception by Ryan Boudinot and Trouble by Kate Christensen have characters that leap off the page, starting a conversation about any of them would be like gossiping about your favorite film star or ex-high school friend. Both books have plenty of crazy sex scenes, alcohol and drug use, adultery and unhealthy relationships, sorta like a new show on HBO, which makes them perfect for those attending a book group only after their DVR has been set for the evening.
I first read about Misconception at Shelfari and was intrigued by the author’s witty repartee. His short book (just over 200 pages) packed in a lot of story and he employed a unique storytelling style. Misconception, set in the mid-1980’s Pacific Northwest, begins by introducing us to Cedar and Kat, horny eight graders with two unusual sets of parents. Fast forward twenty years and Kat has tracked down Cedar to tell him about the memoir she’s written and to make sure he won’t sue her when it comes out. Boudinot flips back and forth between Kat’s memoir and Cedar’s narrative that fateful summer when life threw them together. Boudinot’s unique storytelling coupled with a dramatic conclusion with a great “one perfect line” ending make this first novel worth the read and very discussable.
Kate Christensen’s book Trouble takes place mainly in Mexico where the main characters are pulling a Thelma and Louise type getaway; tightly wound psychiatrist Josie is escaping a boring marriage in NYC and wild rock musician Raquel is escaping a tabloid style affair in LA. Left behind in NY is their friend Indrani, a trust fund baby turned college professor who can’t find love. Christensen talked about her book at Salon and I was pleased to find out one of my favorite book bloggers CR enjoys Christensen. If I had to choose a few words to describe Trouble, I’d say”high brow chick lit”. Though not a “perfect one liner” ending like Misconception, Trouble ended with a scene I just didn’t see coming.
So if your fun little book group doesn’t want to just read The Help like everyone else, suggest these two off the beaten path titles to them. You won’t regret it.
October 21st, 2009
Katharine - Sequoya
So says agent John Tomasetti whose been brought in to help solve the serial killer murders plaguing sleepy Painters Mill, Ohio. If you can make it through the first three pages (a description of the last torturous moments of a young victim) then you are in for a thrilling treat. Fans of Tess Gerritsen or Patricia Cornwell will love Linda Castillo’s new novel Sworn to Silence that introduces us to Police Chief Kate Burkholder.
Burkholder’s rookie cop TJ Banks discovers a body one blustery winter evening on a routine cow roundup (the normal type of Painters Mill police work). His discovery sets off a chain of events for the town that will end with two other women dead and a unraveling of Burkholder’s life. Burkholder has a suspicion of who the killer is but to pursue the suspect she’ll have to uncover her own past.
Castillo does a great job of parceling out the back story of Burkholder’s secret life and weaving it into the present investigation. Her inclusion of Amish cultural references and description of the community also really added to the story and made Burkholder’s character believable and emotional, not just some hard nosed cop with a murder to solve.
So where does Tomasetti fit into all of this story? He’s a rogue cop who’s lost his family to violence and become lost in booze and drugs. He is sent to Painters Mill by his superiors as a last ditch effort to get him to mess up one more time, but Burkholder ends up using his killer profiling experience to her advantage to figure whose responsible for the murders. Does she end up using Tomasetti in other ways? You’ll have to read it to find out. According to the book blurb Castillo is working on the next installment of Kate’s police career and that makes this another must read female cop series on my list.
August 27th, 2009
Katharine - Sequoya
Last week the world lost the visionary movie director, John Hughes. Anyone who grew up in the eighties probably has a favorite film of his, though it’s had to say which I love more, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off or Breakfast Club. The stories were simple, but emotionally complicated like adolescent life can be at times. The success of teen flicks continues today with films like Juno, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist and a little movie called Twilight.
My own prediction for the next breakout teen movie is Whip It which is based on a book I just finished called Derby Girl by Shauna Cross. Whip It will be Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut and star Ellen Page (Juno) and also include a cameo by my favorite late night host Jimmy Fallon. I can’t wait to see it. Seeing that the novelist Cross also penned the screenplay, I’m guessing the storyline will remain true to the book.
In Derby Girl, Bliss is the blue-haired daughter of ex-pageant queen Brooke and furniture salesman Earl and is stuck in Bodeen, TX. She works at the Oink Joint with her best friend Pash and both have that teenage “we just don’t fit in” feeling. Bliss promised her mother she’d do one more pageant show and compete for the Miss Bluebonnet title (a family tradition) before letting her little sister Shania handle the tiara circuit. On a torturous shopping trip to Austin one Saturday (Bliss prefers her vintage Stryper t-shirt to the jeans with pink suede fringe her Mom picks out) a lime green flyer catches her eye advertising the Lone Star Roller Derby Girls, and her destiny becomes clear.
Bliss soon becomes “Babe Ruthless” and is sneaking out of the house riding the bingo bus down to Austin twice a week and illegally competing (she’s only 16) in derby league. Derby girl soon falls for band boy Oliver (there’s always a boy dilemma in a teen story) and her world gets turned upside down by first love. There’s a lot of frank sex talk, a little profanity and a few exciting derby scenes in this sarcastically funny YA book. There’s also a dramatic conclusion involving the Bluebonnet pageant and the Roller Derby championship that will make for a great movie ending. Maybe twenty years from now this movie will be someone’s favorite Barrymore film, let’s hope it turns out as good as the book.
August 18th, 2009
Katharine - Sequoya
I am very jealous of a colleague that will soon be taking a bite out of the big apple and staying a few days in the city that never sleeps. I just finished one of my favorite YA authors Maureen Johnson’s new book Suite Scarlett which is set in New York. Johnson is part of a YA writing group that includes the company of John Green, Scott Westerfeld and Lauren Myracle, a creative tribe sort of like a modern day Algonquin Round Table. And New York is definitely a character in this novel and Johnson’s descriptions made me want to hop the next flight out there.
Suite Scarlett stars a PYT (pretty young thing for all you non-Michael Jackson fans) that lives in a family-owned and operated Upper Eastside neighborhood hotel. Scarlett lives in the rundown Hopewell Hotel with her parents and three siblings, Spencer, Lola and Marlene. Spencer is a wanna be actor, always doing prat falls. Lola works at a department store cosmetic counter and has Richie Rich as a boyfriend. Eleven-year old Marlene, fresh from a childhood battle with cancer, often ruffles Scarlett’s feathers with her needy demands. Scarlett’s summer is looking bleak, she has one room to look after in the hotel and no other job prospect in sight. That is until Mrs. Amberson shows up. Eccentric Mrs. A takes up residency in the suite that Scarlett is responsible for and Scarlett soon becomes her personal assistant and her summer ends up being one that she’ll remember for the rest of her life.
As in any good YA novel, there is a “boy situation.” In this case, Scarlett’s brother Spencer’s acting friend Eric. Fresh from North Carolina, Eric has moved to the city to be an actor and ends up working with Spencer in a modern day Hamlet production. A production that Mrs. A ends up supporting (she’s a former actress herself) and Scarlett ends up babysitting. Scarlett falls for Eric, he falls for her, Eric’s girlfriend from NC shows up, what will happen? This one is a MUST READ for a teenage girl this summer. But be prepared, you may end up having to buy a plane ticket to go along with the book, NYC is calling.
May 29th, 2009
Katharine - Sequoya
The setting of a novel can often make or break your reading experience. For some people this is why they enjoy reading so much, it takes them away to a different city, country or even universe. But reading about your own literal backyard may make you smile with recognition or cringe with the thought of a writer analyzing your mannerisms for a later journal entry.
Local author Dwight Allen’s newest novel The Typewriter Satyr takes place in fictional Midvale, WI and his main character Oliver works at a typewriter repair store and has drinks at the Melody Bar after softball games. Oliver’s life is thrown into chaos when young Annelise (local radio station WOOP deejay) drops a typewriter (found by the trash) in for repair. Fifty something Oliver becomes infatuated with thirty something Annelise and contemplates leaving his wife and four sons for this midlife love affair.
The deliberate description of Oliver’s quiet existence and life in Midvale made the story slow paced, but it fit the style of the story, which was poetic and philosophical. My favorite character was a homeless gentleman named Wade that kept popping up in Oliver and Annelise’s life as they began their relationship. Oliver’s story could best be described by a single paragraph in the book on page 84.
“And then Oliver–who was perhaps more scared of death and old age than he should have been, who was perhaps more susceptible to other women than his record of fidelity would indicate, who had had for some time an unarticulated need to be in love again before the earth swallowed him and made powder of his bones–fell in love with a young woman who brought a typewriter into his shop for repair.”
This book made me reflect on what I like about reading and why I like certain books. For me it comes down to identifying with characters, and unfortunately, I personally couldn’t identify with either Oliver or Annelise. Their “do everything for love attitude” seemed romantic, but unpractical and often hurtful to those around them. And as a long time Madisonian, I found the setting distracting - I know people that drink and work at the “Melody Bar.” Don’t get me wrong, Allen is a good writer and has won high praise from editors and his colleagues. A recent 77 Square interview gives some insight into Allen’s career and impetus for writing this love story. Reading about Midvale and an aging man’s cling to love just wasn’t for me right now, but I would be interested to hear what others think about the book. Comments?
May 21st, 2009
Katharine - Sequoya
If you’ve had either life circumstance happen recently, this “2-fer 1 review” might give you a suggestion for some “I feel your pain” reading. First off, my favorite blogger Heather Armstrong (aka Dooce) just published a book. Since I read her blog daily I hoped it wouldn’t just be a rehash of her blog entries and I was delighted to find out it was fresh material. It Sucked and then I Cried: How I had a Baby, a Breakdown and a Much Needed Margarita details Heather and Jon Armstrong’s adventure as first time parents with some frank description of pre-natal joys such as hemorrhoids, pregnancy classes and disgusting food cravings which culminates in a 12-hour labor resulting in daughter Leta.
The book includes Armstrong’s touching monthly letters to her infant daughter and her very open and frank discussion about her struggles with her mental health. Armstrong was just on Oprah last week and I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a reality show in the works. My only concern with Armstrong’s success is that I’m afraid she’ll succumb to network executives and a big paycheck and end up being the next Jon and Kate. So as a long-time fan I ask: Heather, please stay chained to your computer in Utah and don’t let cameramen in your house!
The next part of this “2-fer” is a book by NPR contributor Amy Dickinson called The Mighty Queens of Freeville: A Mother, a Daughter and the Town that Raised Them. This memoir is about her journey through a divorce and finding her way as a single parent. Luckily Dickinson has lots of good examples to emulate; her mother and two aunts and two sisters are all doing the “solo” dance of child rearing and all live in the tiny town of Freeville, New York (population 458.)
Dickinson’s writing is quaint and proper compared to Armstrong’s crass voice, but her story is moving and speaks to the idea of “surviving” the rough parts to get to the gems of life. I didn’t know Dickinson had taken over at the Chicago Tribune as their Ann Lander replacement. Fans of her work there and at NPR will probably enjoy this sneak peek into her upbringing and life. So if you prefer an “R” rated rant about pregnancy and motherhood or a “PG” description of surviving a divorce this “2-fer” review is for you. Operators are standing by to take your order for this great offer.
May 6th, 2009
Katharine - Sequoya
What do librarians do in their free time? According to Charlaine Harris’ character Aurora “Roe” Teagarden, they accidentally solve murder mysteries in small towns. The first in the series, Real Murders, introduces us to Aurora and a motley crue of characters making up fictional Atlanta suburb, Lawrenceton, GA. Aurora belongs to a local group “Real Murders” that meets monthly to discuss famous crime cases. On the fateful night they are to discuss the Wallace case at the local VFW hall, the most unexpected thing happens, one of the members of the group turns up dead in the kitchen! Of course Aurora is the one who stumbles on the scene and across the other subsequent murders that take place in this sleepy southern town.
Who is doing all the killing in Lawrenceton? Is it Perry the crazy son of Sally, local journalist and library volunteer? Is it Robin Crusoe, the new celebrity murder mystery writer that is teaching at the local college? Or is it Aurora’s sweet neighbor Mr. Crandall that has an antique gun collection in his living room? As well as trying to piece together clues to figure out who’s doing all the killing, Aurora begins a romance with both Robin the professor and Arthur the detective that is working to find the “real murder.” The dramatic conclusion of RM finds Aurora trapped in the neighbor’s basement being held hostage. Speaking from experience, this is not a normal “night off from the library” situation.
Fans of Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse books won’t find this one as bloody and sexy (Aurora’s dating consists of quaint kisses, not vampire lust) but it is fun and fast paced. As a working librarian, there were parts of the story that didn’t seem very realistic (we’ve haven’t stamped dates and used a paper card catalog for years!) but overall this cozy mystery novel was the perfect accompaniment on a short flight home from spring break.
April 25th, 2009
Katharine - Sequoya
Was it when you got your first car? your first kiss? told your first lie to an adult? This idea is fully explored in the award-winning novel What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell. If you don’t periodically read young adult literature, I highly suggest it, there is some amazing storytelling going on in that genre and this book is no exception.
Evie’s story begins in Queens, NY right after World War II and her life hasn’t been easy. Her biological father left when she was a baby, her bombshell beauty mother Bev keeps attracting men other than her new husband Joe and Grandma Glad (Joe’s overbearing mother) lives with them keeping tight reins on all their lives. At dinner one evening, seemingly without warning, Joe announces they should take a trip to Florida. Evie, Bev and Joe are soon enjoying the tropical weather and ammenities of a new location, a sunny West Palm Beach hotel. Here Evie meets a mysterious stranger named Peter Coleridge, who happens to have served with Joe overseas. This is where the tangled web starts to weave. Peter becomes Evie’s first love, Joe befriends a nice rich couple and plans to go into business with them, Bev takes up golf and is gone for hours. What does this all have to do with Evie? After a violent hurricane during which her parents and Peter go missing on a boat, Evie’s world becomes more complicated than she ever could imagine.
The pacing of this novel is excellent, you know from page one that something bad is going to happen, but you just don’t know what. The description of the time period is rich with detail, you feel the stifling Florida heat as Evie explores her new surroundings. This YA novel would be suitable for mature junior high students and older (because of a few suggestive sex scenes) making it a good suggestion for a teenage daughter (or in my case mature junior high school niece). Blundell was awarded the 2008 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature for this work and it was well deserved.
April 15th, 2009
Katharine - Sequoya
I only lasted a year at a small private liberal arts college, but many of my friends spent four years ensconced with supportive professors, pre-med football players and aspiring graduate school attendees. This world is described beautifully in P.F. Kluge’s newest book Gone Tomorrow and has proven to be my favorite novel of the year so far.
The story opens with the new teacher on campus Mark May attending the funeral of a beloved professor at a small rural Ohio college. George Canaris, said beloved professor, had a thirty year career there, but unfortunately did not publish “the” great novel in his tenure. Mark unearths a manuscript, which may or may not be “the” great novel that Canaris calls “the beast.”
The bulk of this novel is the manuscript that Canaris has left behind. In it, Canaris writes about his academic life shaping young writers in his creative writing class, about the passionate love affairs of his life and most importantly he writes about the challenges of putting to paper the work he calls “the beast”. This is a semi-autobiographical account of his family’s departure from Nazi Germany and the scars that history left behind. Canaris’ story is wrapped up with a afterword by May, which gives readers the answer to the big question of this novel, which is was “the beast” ever written? Did George Canaris make it all up? You’ll have to read it to find out.
Kluge’s writing style is outstanding and he captures the idealism of college youth and the bittersweet ending of a man’s career with memorable scenes and poetic descriptions throughout. Many excellent writers are former reviewers, editors and vocarious readers themselves and this book would definitely appeal to that audience. Kluge, hope you get a prize for this one.
March 30th, 2009
Katharine - Sequoya
Every year after Valentines Day I vow to make an effort to “keep the love alive” in my relationship. This year I read a book about a woman that really wanted to keep the love alive and she did it by committing herself to “loving” her husband every day for a year. I thought Charla Muller’s 365 Nights: A Memoir of Intimacy would be a great tool, lots of tips about romantic gestures and sexy ways to keep the fire going. Not the case. Muller’s book started out interesting and then just fizzled. Definitely no fire building.
Muller’s starts by introducing the idea of the logistics of “loving” every day. What time, when and where, and how to squeeze it in between your daily chores. After a few pages of this she goes into her personal wife and mother philosophies which includes making time for herself with weekly waxings and hair coloring. She really lost me when she started defending her SUV driving and weekly People subscription. Take the bus and use the library for your rag mag addiction lady. Muller’s religious and moral spin really colors this memoir of intimacy and I didn’t relate to her situation at all. I guess I just prefer my memoirs a little more raw and gritty, not sweet and innocent, which came as a surprise considering the topic of this book.
If you’d like an “earthier” memoir, try Hollis Gillespie’s Bleachy-Haired Honky Bitch: Tales From a Bad Neighborhood, which is very sexy, sassy and sarcastic. Maybe Gillespie’s new book Trailer Trashed: My Dubious Efforts Towards Upward Mobility just might be a better fit for my less than puritanical reading habits. Muller’s website is interesting though because it offers a brief glimpse into her life and why she wrote the book. So, in conclusion, (how very eighth grade term paper) 365 Nights might be a good fit for other readers, but just not my cup of tea. Sorry.
February 24th, 2009
Katharine - Sequoya
…British writer Kate Atkinson before? Her latest novel When Will There Be Good News was excellent, just the right mix of literary and mystery with a dash of sarcasm and snappy dialogue. If you haven’t read her before you should start with Case Histories which introduces the characters in WWTBGN. Fortunately even though I had skipped that and One Good Turn (sequel to Case Histories) her writing brought me up to speed on the character’s relationships without leaving me guessing about their pasts.
WWTBGN plot is complicated with three sets of characters around which the book revolves. First we meet Reggie and her employer Dr. Joanna Hunter. Sixteen-year-old Reggie has only recently lost her mother and Dr. Hunter lost hers in a tragic accident when she was young. Next we meet Detective Louise Monroe whose tenacious pursuit of justice has left her calloused but somehow newly married, which causes her occassionally to find solace in glasses of red wine. Finally we meet Jackson Brodie, former colleague and love interest of Detective Monroe who becomes entangled the others’ stories when he is involved in a train accident near their homes.
There are loads of page turning plotlines to this book, way too much to describe in this too short review, but if you want more details try this New York Times Sunday book review one. This Powell’s interview also has some interesting insight into Atkinson’s writing which Nancy Pearl describes as “comedies of manners.” And my fellow MADreads reviewer has this to say (why didn’t I listen!)
To wrap up this undetailed review the dramatic conclusion of WWTBGN left plenty of questions unanswered and I’m guessing Atkinson has many more adventures in mind for Brodie and Monroe. I’ll be catching up on their back stories while I’m waiting for the next installment. Make sure to put Atkinson on your must read list this year and without giving away too many details 
I promise it will be worth it.
February 5th, 2009
Katharine - Sequoya
It’s 1983 in Owl, North Dakota. Julian has just moved from Madison, WI to take her first teaching job in this small town (pop. 850). Eighteen-year-old Mitch plays quarterback and dreams of killing his coach. Horace is a 73-year-old widower whose life revolves mainly around trips to the local cafe for coffee and town gossip.
With alternating chapters about these three residents, Chuck Klosterman’s dips his toes into the fictional pond with Downtown Owl and makes small town living much more philosophical than I ever remember it being. I grew up in a small South Dakotan town and graduated in a class of fifty students. Klosterman does a great job of setting the scene, lots of references to pop culture and the sparseness of North Dakota living, but the plotlines are somewhat thin and predictable. That is until the dramatic ending, which was very disturbing to read especially during the throes of winter. It involves a blizzard.
So what could possibly happen in a book set in North Dakota? (remember a little movie named Fargo?) Nothing quite as crazy occurs in Klosterman’s novel until the dramatic conclusion and before that it’s mainly high school drama. Julian adjusts to living in a new town by spending lots of nights at the local tavern. Horace reminisces about his past wife and the path his life has taken. My favorite episodes of the book are scenes about Mitch’s obsession with getting the seven foot meathead football player Grendel to fight the town’s psychopath Cubby Candy in a dramatic showdown hypothesized for years by the local boys.
As someone that lived the small town life growing up, I found lots to identify with. But in the end Klosterman’s overdone philosophical take on everday events didn’t pull me in as much as his nonfiction essays. Klosterman has quite a cult following so this book will do well with his fans, but for others it might be a letdown.
January 14th, 2009
Katharine - Sequoya
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