Big Adventure!

This past month life has been crazy. Not crazy bad, just busy. Lots of work commitments, a trip to the desert to see my grandfather, taking up a new hobby (guitar) and getting ready for my big trip to Nosara, Costa Rica for my pilates certification course. I leave this weekend! When I return I will do one big book review highlighting everything I enjoyed while traveling, relaxing and learning. Voy a escribir cuando regrese. Adios! 

Hour of the Red God

I learned of Hour of the Red God from NPR. I was drawn to the location, Nairobi, Kenya and the protagonist, a former Maasai warrior, Detective Mollel knowing both would create an interesting, different type of mystery. Also having traveled to Nairobi, I was curious how Richard Crompton would depict the city and its people. Crompton uses descriptive prose to bring Nairobi alive. The city is more than a simple setting for a brutal murder of a prostitute. It is a textured part of the story line exposing the gritty yet modern Africa during the turbulent elections of 2007. 

The Secret Keeper

The Secret Keeper significantly lacked what is expected from a Kate Morton mystery. Morton's other books were magical exposing an intricate story line with fascinating characters. This tale faltered. The primary character, Dolly is unlikeable. Laurel is lukewarm. Vivien's situation with her husband is extremely predictable. Jimmy and Vivien's disappearance is not well executed and hence lacks intrigue to prompt the reader to consider alternative scenarios. The book is far too long detailing aspects of characters lives that do not contribute to the overall story line. I was truly taken with The House at Riverton, The Distant Hours and The Forgotten Garden. The Secret Keeper was not Morton's best work, yet I will not disregard her as a talented author and will openly embrace her next read. 

The Twisted Thread

The Twisted Thread by Charlotte Bacon took me forever to finish. My mom gave me this so-called mystery. It fails to provide the excitement and suspense that most readers seek from this genre. Bacon promises a mystery but really this book has an identity crisis without a true direction. Is it a murder mystery, suspense, drama, romance, coming of age story turned bad or young adult fiction? What an awful read. It lacked intrigue, the characters were boring, there was very little time focused on the solving the crime and there were too many subplots that had nothing to do with the main story. Bacon's writing style is very juvenile. She was not able to write dialogue that made sense for her male characters. The male characters read like women. I had to keep reading as I wanted to know how the story was resolved, but it was extremely painful and predictable. 

The Hiding Place

The Hiding Place is an extremely sad, dark novel. Trezza Azzopardi sets the scene in the soon to be demolished Cardiff, Wales docklands. She develops a stark, scuzzy, cold environment where the Gauci family struggles immensely. The main character is Dolores. Her goal is to untangle memories, piece together stories and sort through the gossip to learn the truth behind what tears her family apart. "Someone must be to blame." Dolores eventually realizes that it’s impossible to pinpoint who is to blame “as with all truth, there is another version.” Azzopardi is absolutely brilliant with language. In the story, ghost pains plague Dolores. These pains not only represent the real loss of her hand, but also the loss of her family. She misses what she never had. She was so young when her sisters were sent away, her dad left, her mother broke down or when she is placed in care. She wants so desperately to be part of her family. A family that is grossly dysfunctional. Azzopardi has created a disturbing, emotionally powerful tale. 

And the Mountains Echoed

And the Mountains Echoed is the best book I have read this year. Khaled Hosseini continues to craft masterpieces. He is a beautiful writer and bewitching storyteller. His technique is delicate, yet purposeful. He makes suggestive comments that gradually reveal key plot lines. The narrative is appropriately complex. Hosseini’s characters are rich. Not one of them lacked interest. Every character (and there were many) had story lines for which I would have loved further exploration. I was so drawn to the characters and invested in the story that the last twenty pages had me bleary eyed with tears. I did not want the book to conclude.

Beautiful Ruins

Beautiful Ruins was well written, but I did not enjoy it. I would have preferred a story focusing solely on Pasquali, who is so endearing. Additionally, there are too many meaningless side plots. I found the story to be a downer. It is a book about how entertainment types are most often destructive and deceptive. What a nasty, heartless industry. At least, Jess Walter’s skewers the industry.

The Garden of Evening Mists

The Garden of Evening Mists takes the reader on a beautiful, haunting, painful, turbulent journey. Tan Twan Eng demands that the reader pay close attention, as instead of crudely spelling everything out she slowly reveals importance aspects of the plot.  

The book is filled with intertwining themes. A central theme is the role of memory in human existence. She connects memory with guilt, particularly survivor guilt. Eng also focuses on the relationship between memory and forgetting. She illustrates brilliantly how memories are tenuous. Often one's grasp of the past is severely limited.

Art is shown as a powerful medium. Art heals, soothes, frustrates, manipulates, excites, challenges. Eng illustrates through her different characters varying attitudes towards colonialism. Yun Ling downplays the importance of nationality. Tatsuji carries post-colonial guilt. Magnus has strong memories of his home country under British rule. Finally, war is analyzed. War creates inconceivable circumstances. In a war there is no logic or reasoning.

Eng has carefully constructed her characters. This is a character driven novel. None of the characters are perfect. They have flaws and vulnerabilities.

Eng does not wrap up the story. Instead she leaves the reader with unknowns thus enhancing the richness of the novel and its believability.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? is a very funny, girl read. Mindy Kaling had me laughing aloud. The picture of Kaling and her brother in which she states, this is a photo of me plotting to eat my brother is hysterical. I loved when Kaling describes breaking her best friends nose. I related to the chapter, “Why Do Men Put on Their Shoes So Slowly?" In my experience, most men are not as skilled at multi-tasking. The slow shoe analogy is perfect. This book is the ideal read for a day when you need some light, distracting, hysterical entertainment. 

The Boy in the Suitcase

The Boy in the Suitcase created by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis is written in that uniquely Scandinavian style. It is sparse, dark, uncomfortable and perplexing. I often wasn’t sure where the story was leading which is good indicator of a solid thriller. The writing was frequently choppy, perhaps due to the translation. I seem to like to blame the translator. Kaaberbol translated the book from Danish to English. (Sorry Lene.) The multiple perspectives made the book a bit challenging to start. Stay with it as the subject, characters and reveal make it worth the read. Additionally, the shifts in points of view create a suspenseful effect, as you questions how will all these characters be brought together? One implausible element is Nina Borg’s reason and hence decision not to go to the police with the strange, emotionally charged situation. Instead she goes it alone to try to manage the mystery. I guess we wouldn’t have had as interesting of book without Nina and her not so wise choices. 

Best Kept Secret

Best Kept Secret was another disappointment. The struggles and achievements of the characters are not developed and far too predictable. Harry needed to be on the New York Times Bestseller List. A few pages later the goal is accomplished. Emma wants to locate her late father’s child. Walla, it’s done. Now she wants to adopt her. Check. Sebastian is having problems socially in school. An incident occurs and abracadabra he is the hero. These examples are endless. 

Characters unknown to me but probably previously introduced in story lines created in book one are just now resurfacing in book three. So annoying! The politics were boring. Who cares about Giles, the election or the parties? There are far too many characters and many of them are insubstantial. Again, Archer’s characters are unsophisticated, unsurprising and lacking complexity. For example, an Archer villain is a diabolical scoundrel with not one redeeming characteristic. 

Jeffrey Archer has created a soap opera. The dead woman’s letter written in case the will is contested is presented in the nick of time. One hundred pages to the books end a ridiculous caper emerges. And of course, at the books completion, Archer leaves the reader with yet another cliffhanger, which is notorious technique of a good soap opera. Best Kept Secret is overly dramatic, poorly constructed, unbelievable and sadly lacking depth. I will not be continuing with the Harry Clifton Chronicles. 

The Sins of the Father

The Sins of the Father is part of the Harry Clifton Chronicles. I read the second story first.  It really must be read in chronological order, as Jeffrey Archer does not summarize the first book, Only Time Will Tell. I was handicapped by not knowing what occurred as well as who was whom.

I started the third book, but am contemplating continuing, as the writing in the second book was full of faults. The coincidences were preposterous. The characters are one-dimensional and clichéd. (I could care less if Harry was Hugo’s son.) Predictably Archer depicts the good people as brave, resourceful and courageous whereas the bad ones are class-conscious, vile, inept, arrogant jerks. The separate stories were disjointed. Overall the story was boring.

Archer has proclaimed he will create "at least" five books in this series. I can’t imagine there will be many readers left by the fifth; especially since I am unconvinced I should brave the third in the chronicles.

Alone

Alone featured Bobby Dodge and only briefly included D.D. Warren, the tough detective for which the series is based. This is Lisa Gardner’s first book in the series. It is quite interesting that she developed D.D. as her writing progressed versus concentrating on Bobby who was the prominent character in this book. At first I was concerned I would not connect to Bobby, but the story like all Gardner's was extremely absorbing. I really related to Bobby and his families dysfunction, which he further unravels in therapy. He struggles to accept just like I have struggled to accept a loved one's inability or in Bobby’s case lack of desire to connect or rebuild.

Alone had some missteps. The recap of the story while the deranged killer was on the loose in the penthouse suite was ridiculous. Gardner timing of summarizing the story for the reader was poorly executed and unbelievable considering what was suppose to be occurring. Additionally the connection between a number of characters or how characters deduced their next actions were convoluted.

Kindle Baby!

I did it! I purchased the Kindle Paperwhite. Although I am in the middle of The Sins of the Father I switched to a book via the e-reader. As you all know, I very much enjoy Lisa Gardner's detective thrillers. I figured I should purchase one of her books for my first Kindle reading experience as I know I would enjoy the story and hence may get use to e-reading. If I hated the first book on my new toy, my Kindle experience could have been tainted. I finished Alone last night. Reading on the Kindle isn't terrible. There are both pros and cons.

I prefer the feel of an old fashion book. I am not fond of reading from a computerized screen. I like knowing exactly how much you have left to read by visually seeing and paging through rather than a percentage of the book completed. I enjoy going to a bookstore to browse versus reading about books on-line. However, the ease of purchasing books from Amazon with a quick search and click is a luxury. I love the dictionary feature, although this first read was not comprised of challenging, foreign words. Finally for my upcoming travel adventure or possible jury duty in late August, carrying one very light machine opposed to numerous books is extraordinarily convenient. 

Marrying the Mistress

I reluctantly picked up Marrying the Mistress from the lending library at work. I quickly hid this trashy book in my bag. I figured it would be a quick, fun weekend pool read. Yet,I did not want to publicly promote this book pick.

Joanna Trollope provides a glimpse into a family’s reaction to divorce. She develops an authentic portrait of domestic friction. Surprisingly it is full of realistic sibling relationships, generational differences, midlife crises, nasty family dynamics and lightly woven subplots. The story veered far from trashy. The title and cover were very misrepresenting. Besides my extreme dislike that the characters used the first names when referring to their parents rather then mom or dad, Trollope creates an interesting novel. 

The Divide

The Divide was an enjoyable, easy read, yet far from groundbreaking. Nicholas Evans use of many voices was a good technique providing a glimmer into each key character's unique perspective and feelings. I'm at a bit of a loss on what else to write about this book. The eco-terrorism angle was different. The writing was mediocre. The characters were run of the mill. The book was nothing spectacular.

The Secret Scripture

The Secret Scriptures focuses on Roseanne McNulty, a centenarian and long-time resident of the Roscommon mental hospital. The institution, her home is to close. Roseanne’s life spans a turbulent era in Ireland’s history, from the Irish civil war to the German bombing of Belfast during World War II. The destructive history shapes the experiences of this intriguing protagonist. Roseanne relays here story taking on the task of writing her personal narrative or the "secret scripture." Her voice is sad, strange, strong and often confused. Her account interweaves with that of her psychiatrist, Dr. Grene who is charged with assessing whether she can finally be released.

Sebastian Barry writes about love, loss, broken promises, failed hopes, morality, religious prejudice, archaic beliefs. Barry's style is poetic. He creates beautiful prose out of the wreckage of horrendous circumstances, diving into the complexity of human emotions while illustrating that destructive actions are in our nature. 

Barry faltered tremendously with the twist at the very end. The twist was too coincidental, unbelievable and completely unnecessary. Luckily this mishap did not diminish the books overall quality. 

Deceptive Intentions

Deceptive Intentions is listed under two different titles. Heart of Deception is the other listed title. The prequel also has two different names. I’m not entirely sure why M.L. Malcolm has taken this approach. Any thoughts or known reasons please let me know.

I am surprised how much I enjoyed the genre. It’s my first spy novel, although this book can also be characterized as a family saga, loosely historical and perhaps even a coming of age story. I think I may like Secret Lies or Heart of Lies even better as one of the primary characters Leo Hoffman’s early life as a spy is explored. In Deceptive Intentions I wanted to learn more of Leo’s clandestine identity. I was fascinated by the colorful, foreign landscapes of Tangier and Egypt. Unfortunately the spy story line was vague and underdeveloped in this book.

I did enjoy how Malcolm used historical figures to shape the narrative. Sadly the author makes some glaring mistakes. The mob plot was rushed. The Fifty Shades of Grey chapter was completely out of left field. Taking this strange, disconnected approach confused the flow and style. Even with the criticisms, I will embrace Heart of Lies, as the characters were absorbing. I am invested in their origins.  

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is a journey of insight, new friends, loss, love, growth and the ability to change. I love how Rachel Joyce highlights that there are always opportunities for new beginnings even when for so long things have been stuck. Joyce’s characters are varied, intricate and very unique. The premise of walking across England with no supplies, yachting shoes or truly clear intention is absolutely absurd. Nevertheless our protagonist Harold moves forward emotionally, spiritually and physically. Joyce has developed a character to emulate, as it is honorable, dedicated and exciting to take on a challenge and then succeed beyond everyone’s, including your own, wildest expectations. Joyce does a great job of creating a complicated, rich, sad yet happy tale.

Lunch in Paris

Lunch in Paris is a predictable, pretentious, uninteresting memoir of an American woman who falls in love with a Frenchman and moves to Paris. The author’s story is not at all gripping or poignant. Moving from the States to another first world country is not brave or automatically interesting to compel the creation of a memoir. Moving to Pakistan, Iraq or Ghana, well that’s a different matter. Elizabeth Bard self-portrayal is obnoxious and bratty. Additionally she takes a formulaic approach of comparing the States to France. Americans are portrayed as uncultured and greedy while the French are sophisticated, higher beings. This book’s saving grace was the recipes. To start I want to try the quick and dirty chocolate soufflé cake, trout with cherry tomatoes baked in foil and yogurt cake. There are many more recipes that peaked my interest and did not appear super challenging to accomplish. The recipes were more interesting then Bard's story.