Have you got a thing for old houses?  Manderley?  Northanger Abbey?  The Castle of Otranto?  Hill House?  If you dream of polished wood banisters leading up grand central staircases, heirloom tapestries hanging from the windows, hidden corridors and maids in costumes, then Hundreds Hall is just your place.  In post World War II England the Ayres estate is beyond crumbling and well on the way to ruin.  The family is broke and while still respected in the community, they’re seen as more of a curiosity than anything else.  Piece by piece the grounds are being sold off to developers, but the family’s still got the house.

Enter Dr. Faraday, whose mother worked in the nursery at Hundreds when she was a girl.  He is called to the house for a medical emergency and befriends the family.  Then weird things start to happen.  Weird things involving blood and injury and madness.  Weird things that culminate in a disturbing ending that I did not see coming.  I do not normally predict these things, though, so that is nothing new.

On a scary scale of one to ten, I would rate this book at about six.  On my scale, a one is something easy, like the picture book, Where the Wild Things Are, where everything gets resolved and all are safe and sound at the end.  A five is anything by Neil Gaiman.  OK, to be honest, The Graveyard Book and Coraline are really about a seven on my scale, because they did give me nightmares.  Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories and Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House are at ten.  The Little Stranger is sufficiently creepy, but it’s not going to give you nightmares, and there’s more to recommend than the horror.

What I enjoyed most about this book had nothing to do with the chillers and thrillers.  I liked the house.  The details of the flooring and ceiling and wallpaper and ornamental carvings were amazing.  And that was just the beginning.  There were also chandeliers and fireplaces and fancy chairs.  And libraries and billiards rooms and nurseries.  And linens and silver trays and aristocratic maid-calling bells.  Hundreds Hall is a fantastic setting.  If you appreciate a good mansion with a touch of terror, give this book a go.

The stories he provides often present the issues in pretty harsh and unflattering light.  With views from those portrayed (what we take to be the “left” and “right”) often coming across as either well-intentioned and dumb, or insensitive and dumb.  And if you happen to feel strongly about either side of the issues he introduces, you might find yourself a little chagrined to see how he reframes the issues that he presents.  And he asks the questions that don’t really lend themselves to simple answers.

While it isn’t always flattering (and, yes, I did see “myself” in some of these scenes) it does make you aware that the issues have more sides than we usually see in our individual views of our world.  Most of the material was previously published in Reason magazine between 2001 and 2008 so don’t expect to find mention of the Obama presidency or the tea party movement.  Probably just as well as Mr. Bagge would probably find a way to make you think differently about them.  Good cartoon-reporting will do that.

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?

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In The Family Man, we have an entirely different story, though the same fun and laughs.  Lawyer Henry Archer, the man of the title, is in fact a gay man who got divorced from his mistake of a wife after she cheated on him.  Denise, the ex, has just lost her 3rd husband (Henry was the 2nd), and against his better judgment, Henry sends her a card.  She immediately tries to insinuate herself into his life; she needs a lawyer desperately as her pre-nup agreement has left her with absolutely nothing.  But Henry is loathe to re-friend or represent Denise.  She took Thalia, her daughter who Henry adopted, away from him when she remarried and he always regretted not fighting for her.

But a chance look at a photo on Denise’s mantel reveals that Thalia is the coat check girl at the salon he frequents.  He immediately makes up for lost time with Thalia who, since she is feuding with Denise, has no problem with reacquainting herself with her father.  Turns out she needs a lawyer as well.  A budding actress, she has just been approached by the handlers of Leif Dumont, an actor typecast as the creepy upstairs neighbor in a horror soap opera.  In an attempt to change his image, the handlers are looking for a gorgeous ingenue to pretend to be dating him - they hope to get him on the gossip sheets and prove that he’s not only dateable but now Paris Hilton famous.  Thalia and Henry work out a contract that would not only get her some exposure, but a year contract with Leif’s handlers.

Hilarity ensues.  Secrets sworn to in the contract are revealed.   Leif is a terrible actor and can’t even pull off being in love.  Thalia, a great actress, is incapable of doing what the handlers want her to do.  Henry can’t help but get involved obliquely in Denise’s travails.  Denise ruins (with purple paint) her Fifth Ave apartment, kind of reverse real estate staging, so no one will want to buy it.  And our Henry falls in love.

This is very, very fun, with quick and witty dialogue, Upper West Side New York fantasy lifestyles, and juicy, gossipy situations wrapped up in a happy ending for all.

The Sequoya book group just read Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann which won the National Book Award.  While it was a good discussion, because of all the different characters and because it was so beautifully written, some people felt it was a bit hard to verbalize their thoughts.  The book opens with the tightrope walk across the Twin Towers so we started out the discussion showing just that portion of the video Man on Wire.  It was a great way to set the tone for the discussion as it was such an integral part of the story! There was much discussion about the symbolism of the towers and all the hints of 9/11 that were layered in the story.  A really good read!  Next up for us is Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.

Collins documents events with stories from individual women, some famous and some not.  Included are interviews with many familar women, such as Rosa Parks, Gloria Steinem, Billie Jean King, and Sandra Day O’Connor.  There are also many less well know interviewees: flight attendants, factory workers, and housewives.  These interviews provide personal and first hand perspectives.

The first sections are the most interesting.  During the pre-Betty Friedan era middle class women were expected to stay at home (many of them expressed their frustrations at their limited options).  Single women were expected to quit their jobs when they got married, flight attendants were regularly weighed, there were no sports for girls, and there were many male only venues.  The few women who did graduate with advanced degrees were expected to take jobs as secretaries.  Sandra Day O’Connor had many frustrating experiences in the workforce after her graduation from law school.  The Civil Rights Era is also thoroughly covered.  Rosa Parks did not randomly sit down on the bus; she was carefully chosen for her role and the event was carefully orchestrated.  There were strong women leaders behind the ministers who did most of the public speaking.

Collins is an entertaining writer, who has written for the New York Times editorial page for several years.  This book is recommended for its inclusiveness and for detailing behind the scenes of history for things that often only get brief mention in history books.  Women who are veterans of the eras described will want to share this one with daughters and granddaughters.

It starts in Maine, in the 1970s, where 7-year-old Asta and her 9-year-old brother Orion live with their mother, Loretta, in an isolated house in the country.  Loretta seems delightful at first; she acts out movies with the children, regales them with family stories, shares her Big Movie Book with them.  The kids don’t go to school, and do their lessons at home.   But it doesn’t take long to realize that something is pretty wrong in the household.

Asta narrates the story.  As she describes her daily life, you gradually come to realize that Loretta’s crazy.  Asta and Orion believe everything Loretta tells them so they never venture outside in order to protect themselves from the plague out there and the dead bodies piled up on the side of the road.  Loretta locks them in the house when she goes to work and they entertain themselves with TV, their games, and for meals, choose from unlabeled cans of food.  They are used to, and like, the feeling of hunger as it is a sign that their bodies are keeping them healthy.  But Asta’s optimism doesn’t hide from the reader the fact that Orion is getting very ill, maybe even starving.

Then one night, Loretta doesn’t come home.  The next morning the kids leave the house, in their mother’s boots and coats as they don’t have their own, to look for her.  They know so very little of the outside world, it’s amazing they manage.  Asta helps herself to some sweets in a store they come across and gets kicked out.  Eventually they get on a school bus, where a sympathetic driver figures out what’s going on and gets the police involved.

It turns out mom was in a car accident in blizzard the night before.  Her delusional behavior is immediately apparent and she is hospitalized.  The kids become famous, called “Isolates” in the news.  Orion stops talking.  They end up in separate households - Asta with her Aunt Bernadine, who she never met, and Orion with a kindly opthamologist and his wife.  Though her situation isn’t perfect, and she misses Orion plenty, Asta manages.  She pretty quickly integrates herself into her new world.

Asta is a great little character, though Watson might have given her a voice a bit older than a 7-year-old.  It’s an unusual story, with an underlying tension that keeps you thinking something bad is going to happen.  I found myself quite taken with the book, and always eager to pick it up again.  A talented new author.

In Merry, Merry Ghost Bailey Ruth gets to re-visit her hometown Adelaide, Oklahoma.  She is sent by the Dept of Good Intentions to safeguard Keith, a 5-year-old boy who has lost his parents and has been deposited on his grandmother’s doorstep around Christmas.  Susan Flynn, his grandmother, is one the leading members of the town. She is delighted to find out that she has a grandson, particularly when she is dying of congestive heart failure. But her other relatives are not so thrilled. Because Bailey Ruth is so concerned about protecting Keith she doesn’t see that Susan is in danger.  So when Susan dies prematurely, Bailey Ruth “flies” into action. Not only does she stage Susan death so that the police will investigate, she helps the police along in their investigation, despite the fact that she is supposed to remain invisible. From there it’s a race to protect Keith and find Susan’s killer.

It’s a treat to watch the vivacious and nosy Bailey Ruth protect Keith and at the same time help the police find Susan’s killer.  I look forward to more adventures in Adelaide with Bailey Ruth.

In the early 20th century, the challenge was even greater.  Fawcett, a former soldier turned gentleman explorer, epitomized the Victorian ideal of manhood, to the extent that even his wife thought him incapable of succumbing to the diseases of the jungle.  By the time of his last expedition in 1925, the world was changing.  Fawcett’s greatest rival was using an airplane for surveys and sending his dispatches via radio.  The butchery of World War I shattered any illusions Europe had been harboring of its own superiority.  And the point of exploration was shifting from the discovery of elaborate ruins to an understanding of indigenous tribes.  Still, Fawcett set his sights on the grandest prize of all:  the lost city of El Dorado, the capital of a great ancient Amazonian civilization.  Suspicious that rival explorers would steal his idea, Fawcett referred to his goal as ‘Z’ and obscured his route with fake coordinates and false itineraries.  Amidst great fanfare, Fawcett, his son and a few other travelling companions plunged into the Amazon for the last time.  They never returned.

In the following years, numerous parties set out to solve the mystery of Fawcett and his vision of El Dorado.  Grann’s account of his own journey is paired along that of Fawcett’s, and it’s easy to understand why so many have been drawn to tackle what often becomes a suicide mission.  Grann, a writer for The New Yorker, sets the pace of the story at a good clip, without sacrificing a sense of the characters involved.  Sprinkled in are details about the study of the Amazon, including the ongoing question of whether this inhospitable paradise–so full of life, but yet deadly to even modern explorers–was ever capable of supporting the large populations that other parts of the Americas boasted prior to Columbus.

With a considerable amount of notes and a substantial bibliography, The Lost City of Z offers more opportunities for exploration.  Readers fond of history and adventure narratives along the lines of Simon Winchester or Candice Milliard’s River of Doubt might be drawn to Fawcett’s story.  A movie starring Brad Pitt is currently in the works.