Author Archive
National Book Award finalist The Underneath by Kathi Appelt tells the story of a pregnant cat who is abandoned by her family in a wild wooded area of the bayou. Not knowing which way to turn but knowing she has to find shelter, she follows the sound of a hound’s baying to a rough clearing and an even rougher house. Against the odds, the hound welcomes her but warns her about the occupier of the house who is a very cruel and mean man. Always she must stay, if she wishes to be safe, underneath the house where the hound is chained. And so mostly she does, rearing her two kittens; leaving only to hunt when the man is gone. But kittens are bound to explore despite warnings and with drastic results.
Intertwined with this story is that of Grandmother, an extremely large and ancient cottonmouth moccasin snake. Grandmother is not merely a snake, she is also a magical creature who at one time assumed human form and loved a man. Betrayed, she returned to snake form from whence she nurses her anger and longs for revenge. The two stories make this, in some ways, a very dark book, dealing as it does so much with betrayal and death. But it is also filled with the power of friendship, hope, promises, and love all beautifully illustrated by David Small.
August 28th, 2009
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
The Spies of Warsaw covers those brief years in the 1930’s between the beginnings of the Nazi government in Germany and the start of the war in 1939. Alan Furst’s novel is a portrayal of unsettling times but is still filled with the hope of evading war even as politicians and governments maneuver to take advantage or control.
Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier, a decorated soldier of the Great War, is sent to Warsaw as a military attaché at the French embassy. There he circulates at the many parties and events, carefully listening for any interesting tidbits. Much to his distaste he is assigned to the running of a spy. Once he starts it becomes clear that almost everyone, within the ever intersecting circles of people he meets, is in the business of spying. Mercier must walk a careful line, even as he is drawn further into a world of espionage that crosses many a personal and political line.
Furst has been writing espionage novels for twenty years and to quote Salon magazine from an article that names him as the successor to John Le Carre, “Furst’s characters feel the exhilaration and the burden of the realization that the history of humanity depends on them.” A fitting description of the very subtle power that defines Alan Furst’s novels.
August 10th, 2009
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
Imagine a world where you have a pretty good life. You’re moderately successful in the art world, becoming known for large sculptures made with scrap material. You’re living in a small New England community where pretty much everyone knows everyone, and you can still play your weekly game of hockey with friends. You’re in a relationship even though you can’t quite let go of the wife who died 15 years ago in a terrible accident. What if all those memories and that life you lived together is a lie? In Nerve Damage Peter Abrahams imagines just such a scenario to very scary effect.
Roy Valois isn’t sure where to go with his life. He has just finished maybe what is his best piece of work, a sculpture he has named after his deceased wife Delia, and has hopes that maybe now he can move past and forward. Almost on a dare, Roy, with the help of a young friend, hacks into the morgue of the New York Times, interested in his obituary. It doesn’t mention that major hockey goal he made, and it has wrong information about his wife and where she worked. When Roy contacts the reporter responsible for the obit, he sets off a chain of events that has him fighting for his life on two fronts: an unforseen medical condition and a powerful and secret political organization. All of which makes for an involved thriller impossible to put down.
July 21st, 2009
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
In Peter Robinson’s latest All the Colors of Darkness, a group of schoolboys find the body of a man hanging from an oak tree in a forest glade. Shortly thereafter police discover that his partner was murdered. For Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot and her partner Detective Sergeant Winsome Jackson it looks like a case with an easy solution, murder/suicide due to jealousy. The seeming slam dunk means they can return to a knifing case with ties to gangs and drugs in a local housing area. The problem with this plan is that the murder victim was found in a expensive suburb area. And the superintendent wants Chief Inspector Allan Banks called back from his vacation in London to make sure all the angles are covered.
Once on the case Banks tends to agree with the investigating officers, but there is something bothering him and he continues to ask questions, widening the pool of people involved. Suddenly the Superintendent tells him to drop it, that the case is closed and he can return to his aborted vacation. Banks cannot let it lie and continues to investigate, only to find himself mired in an unfamiliar world of espionage and terrorism, not knowing who he can trust and endangering not only himself but anyone close to him.
Robinson’s Banks continues to be an interesting character to read about, not perfect by any means, and struggling with some of the same issues that face everyone: love and loss, grief, aging, second guessing one’s career choice, and just what to do next in a quickly changing world. Combine that with a compelling mystery and you have another winner to read.
June 23rd, 2009
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
If you are looking for a fast paced thriller built around the mystery of William Shakespeare, try Interred with Their Bones.
Kate Stanley, once a rising star in Shakespearian academic circles, looks now to the theatre world with a new staging of Hamlet at London’s Globe Theatre. In the midst of the theater chaos Rosalind Howard, Kate’s former mentor in the academic world, makes a sudden appearance at a rehearsal. Rosalind needs Kate’s help in finding something that will astound the world. Before Kate can find out more, Roz is found murdered backstage and the method used is similar to the death of Hamlet’s father.
Aided by three very different men, all of whom seem to have their own reasons for helping, Kate must figure out who to trust. More deaths follow, all with links to Shakespeare’s plays, as Kate races from London to Spain to the United States following clues to a possible lost play, and even more shattering, evidence as to who really wrote the plays.
I really liked the heroine, who while smart and attractive, also has her own insecurities but didn’t let them stop her. Jennifer Lee Carrell’s book is a page turner with a number of surprises at the end.
April 24th, 2009
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
In Marcia Muller’s last book, The Ever-Running Man, private investigator Sharon McCone nearly lost everything to a bomb. Traumatized by this recent history and exhausted after 30 plus years working in the investigative field, McCone is wondering if it is time to do something else. In Burn Out she leaves her agency in the capable hands of her associates and flees to the ranch in California’s high desert. She hopes to figure out a way to cope with the deep, enervating depression she is experiencing and to make some decisions about her direction in life. Then a young Native American woman is found murdered at a nearby trailer camp followed by the disappearance of her younger sister and McCone, despite her attempts to disengage, is drawn deeper and deeper into the history and current danger of this dysfunctional family.
This is the 26th book written by Marcia Muller following the career and personal ups and downs of Sharon McCone. I always look forward eagerly to a new adventure and am seldom disappointed in the quality of the writing and the story. While you can certainly read most of them and enjoy them on their own, what makes the series special in my mind is the growth, intellectually and emotionally, that takes place in McCone’s life as she is affected by the cases she takes and the decisions she makes along the way. If you want to start from the beginning, the first book is Edwin of the Iron Shoes.
April 6th, 2009
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
…one won’t want to miss this new offering from Jones Books, published right here in Madison. Readers of Jane Austen’s novels are familiar with her various characters’ fascination or interest in gardens and the outdoors, ranging from the familiar kitchen garden found in many homes to the stately designed gardens of grander estates. That this reflected Jane Austen’s own interest as well is evident.
Kim Wilson’s delightful book In the Garden with Jane Austen is the perfect companion to anyone enthralled by the worlds of Austen’s books or the various films that have been made from them. Here you will find information such as: which plant would be found in which type of garden, what is the difference between a shrubbery and a wilderness, that pineapples grown in conservancies or greenhouses could be worth a guinea (50 pounds or more) and thus a matter of pride and status to have them available.
This book is beautifully illustrated with pictures of plants and flowers. But that’s not all. The buildings and places important to both Austen herself and the characters in her books are included. Also included are quotes from Austen’s letters, diagrams and lists of plants from recreated 18th century style gardens, and site information for these gardens and other places of interest to the fan. With spring just around the corner now is the perfect time to explore with Jane.
*Said Lady Bertram in Mansfield Park.
March 19th, 2009
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
As an investigative reporter for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor, Judith Matloff spent a considerable amount of time in her career in various troubled spots around the world, including Rwanda and Chechnya. In her forties she and her husband decide to settle in one place and start a family. She and her husband pick New York City.
Even with a hefty savings, it is a hard locale to find anything affordable and desirable unless you are willing to be flexible about locale. West Harlem has the cultural diversity and strong community ties that she and her Dutch husband are looking for. And in Home Girl: Building a Dream House on a Lawless Block they make the move to their new home. The problem is that along with the diversity and community feeling comes a thriving drug trade - the house they have purchased was a crack den - and heavily armed members of the police force are regular visitors to the area.
Home girl is an entertaining, often humorous tale of house hunting and renovation in an area most people would find undesirable if not frightening.
March 4th, 2009
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
Susanne Alleyn has written two books so far in her series set in post-revolutionary France featuring police agent and investigator Aristide Ravel. In a world turned upside down with “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” gone bad and with Madame Guillotine waiting around the corner, trust and confidence in one’s fellow citizens is hard to come by.
In A Game of Patience the investigation into a double murder is complicated by uncertainty as to who the intended victim was and by Ravel’s internal doubts and worries about having sent innocents to their deaths via the guillotine. In the sequel A Treasury of Regrets, a servant girl is accused of poisoning the master of the house by adding arsenic to his food. Ravel doesn’t believe that the simple peasant girl was capable of the murder. The victim, a money lender, was not short of people who did not like him, including in his own family. Intricate and detailed historical mysteries with an interesting, even compelling detective can be hard to come by but these certainly qualify.
January 5th, 2009
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
I’m not generally a reader of graphic novels, though my associate at work is always trying to change that. However, I am a fan of the author Shannon Hale. So when a new book came across the desk by her I decided to take a look at it even though it was a graphic novel. Hale takes classic stories and themes in her books The Princess Academy and The Goose Girl, shakes them up, turns them sideways or upside down in order to look at the reality behind the fairy tale. And that is true also in this new book, Rapunzel’s Revenge.
In Rapunzel’s Revenge Hale’s strong narrative style plus the wonderfully balanced use of humor to engage the reader, which I enjoy most in her books, is very evident. But in a way, it is the wonderful graphic story by Nathan Hale (no relation) which really ties the tale together. It’s all very well to say that Rapunzel has very long hair, but seeing it braided and used to lasso a wild pig, or to whip a gun out of an outlaw’s hand is unreal but great. And setting the story in the wild, wild west is another winner. Get this book and read it!
October 28th, 2008
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
In John Feinstein’s Living on the Black: Two Pitchers, Two Teams, One Season to Remember, Feinstein once again shows why he is such a good sportswriter. He allows the sport and the people involved to tell their story without intruding his own personality while still allowing his own viewpoints to emerge.
2007 was an up and down year for pitchers Tom Glavine with the New York Mets and Mike Mussina with the New York Yankees. Given apparently unlimited access by both pitchers and their teams, Feinstein gives the reader a complete look at what it is like to pitch in the majors: whether you are striving to win your 300th game or having to adjust and become a different kind of pitcher than you have been your whole career.
With the season winding down this may be just what you need to keep you going until the playoffs.
September 11th, 2008
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
Reminiscent of Scheherezade and her need to tell a story in order to live one more night, The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden begins with an orphan with no name or history telling stories to the son of the Sultan. Catherynne Valente has written a very intricate novel portraying another world inhabited by fantastic creatures and races, each with their own culture and traditions.
Using multiple short chapters or vignettes that allow her characters to tell bits and pieces of their own stories Valente spins and intriguing web. It is not until almost the middle of the book that the reader realizes that those bits and pieces are slowly coalescing into a unified picture of a world and its peoples.
Winner of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award this is a fantasy full of vivid imagery and a wonderful use of language. My only quibble is the author does not tell us enough about the orphan storyteller to make her a character strong enough to carry the reader into the story, and my hope is that the second book The Orphan’s Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice will improve on that aspect. An unusual fantasy that requires some perseverance by the reader but one that rewards with a rich and multi-textured tale.
August 25th, 2008
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
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