Book Review: The Thread

DETAILS: The Thread by Victoria Hislop. Copyright 2011. Historical fiction.

SUMMARY: Set in Thessaloniki, Greece, this is a story of love and friendship that spans two World Wars.

PROS: This is a beautiful, sweeping book.  It moves at a perfect pace and is just the right length.  The setting is so real, I felt as thought I'd been to Greece after reading it and the characters are human and engaging and believable.  I often have a complaint with historical fiction that they tend to wax poetic about the scenery or the setting for far too long, but this book captured the essence without overwriting.  I loved the story and I loved the unique perspective on the World Wars from a part of Europe that seems often forgotten.

CONS: None.

BOTTOM LINE: A beautiful book.  Highly recommended.  Five stars out of five.

Book Review: Emancipation

**I received a free copy of this book from Goodreads First Reads for the purpose of writing an honest review**

DETAILS: Emancipation: A Civil War Vampire Novel, Book One of The Thirsty Ones, by Pauline Ray. Copyright 2012. Historical fantasy.

SUMMARY: When plantation owner's daughter Ella Lantry's child with her slave boyfriend is taken away from her, she is determined to get him back; even if it means teaming up with the vampires that roam the land.

PROS: This book was fast-paced and engaging.  It was a combination vampire-alternate history book which I found unique in many ways.  I liked the character of Ella who is a little innocent, but vengeful to a max. The story makes sense, the character's motivations are well thought out.

CONS: Some of the black slaves talk in such thick dialect that it can be hard to read.  I could have done without some of that.  Also some of the violence and cruelty perpetrated by the white plantation owners, while possibly realistic, was hard to stomach.  This book is the first in a trilogy and the end left quite a bit hanging, which I didn't like.

BOTTOM LINE: A good, unique historical vampire book.  Three stars out of five.

Book Review: Growing Up Amish

DETAILS: Growing Up Amish by Ira Wagler. Copyright 2011. Memoir.

SUMMARY: Ira Wagler grew up in an Old-Order Amish community in Ontario.  At seventeen he left the community for the first of many times and this book chronicles his early life as well as his later struggles.

PROS: I, like many Americans, have a strange fascination with the Amish people.  They hold a level of intrigue and romance that we are drawn to.  There were many interesting parts of this book as he shares his personal experiences with the Amish people and the struggles he faced when he decided to walk away.

CONS: Some of the narrative was a little disjointed it seemed.  The rest of my complaints about this book are purely subjective.  I was looking and hoping for something that was a little more about the practices and beliefs of the Amish community and this book was much more of a chronicle of Mr. Wagler's personal and spiritual struggles, set against the backdrop of the Amish.  The back of the book called it "heartwarming" but honestly I thought it was just kind of sad.  By the fourth or fifth time that Mr. Wagler returned to the Amish community, got fed up and left, I was a little tired of the same pattern.  While I realize that in real life, we aren't blessed with the luxury of hindsight, I did get a little annoyed with his repetitive pattern of leaving and returning, leaving and returning.

BOTTOM LINE: This book is interesting and somewhat informative about the Amish, but wasn't great.  Three stars out of five.

Book Review: Endangered

**I received a free copy of this book from Goodreads First Reads for the purpose of reviewing it**

DETAILS: Endangered: A Zoo Mystery by Ann Littlewood. Copyright 2012. Mystery.

SUMMARY: When zookeeper Iris Oakley is called in to deal with illegal exotic animals found during a drug bust, she doesn't know that she is about to get caught up in a dangerous mystery.

PROS: A case could be made that this book started off a bit slow, but the setting and information about the zoo are so interesting and unusual that you don't even notice.  The writing is tight and polished and the characters are refreshingly new.  I thought I had figured out whodoneit, but it turns out I was wrong.  By the two-third mark in this book, I couldn't put it down and ended up staying awake far past my bedtime to read the ending.  A very enjoyable and unique mystery.

CONS:   There were two or three "continuity" errors (it's a film term, but I'm not sure what the writing equivalent is) and a couple of typos which were a little distracting.  It seemed the book could have moved from four to five stars with maybe a couple fresh eyes reading through it.

BOTTOM LINE: Very good, gripping and original.  Four stars out of five.

Book Review: Live by Night

**I received a free advance copy of this book from Goodreads First Reads for the purpose of reviewing it.**

DETAILS: Live by Night by Dennis Lehane.  EXPECTED PUBLICATION: October 2, 2012.  Historical crime fiction.

SUMMARY: In this sequel to The Given Day, Thomas Coughlin's youngest son Joe strays from the family path of law enforcement and becomes an outlaw and gangster in Prohibition-era Boston and Tampa.

PROS: This is a very good gangster book that could rival any others.  Mr. Lehane once again proves to be a master storyteller.  I enjoyed this one more than it's prequel, The Given Day, both because I liked the character of Joe better than the characters in the other book, and because I felt the book had a bit more polish.  In The Given Day, I felt like it could have used a bit of trimming but this book was better paced.  The setting and characters satisfied any craving I would have for a good 1920's gangster book without resorting to the millions of cliches that setting has created over the years.

CONS: Without giving anything away, let me just say I didn't particularly like the ending, but it wasn't bad enough to detract from the rest of the book and also could probably be justified.  Also, and this is only sort of a con, Mr. Lehane once again demonstrates his almost-endearing habit of finding ever-more-creative ways to describe colors.  Although, to be honest, I rather like this vice of his.

BOTTOM LINE: Top-notch gangster book with almost a literary bent to it.  Five stars out of five.

Book Reading/Signing with Aminta Arrington

So the lovely Aminta Arrington, author of Home is a Roof Over a Pig, was kind enough to comment on my review of her book this morning.  She provided a link to her website, which has the photos I was wishing I could see while reading.  While I was there, I absently wandered over to her page that listed appearances, and, lo and behold! she was appearing in Seattle, three blocks down the street from me, today! 

So of course I went down to the Elliott Bay Book Company and got to meet Ms. Arrington.  She was very kind, asked about my blog and chatted for a bit.  There were only about ten or fifteen people there and she read selections from the first chapter of the book and then opened the floor for questions.   While she was reading, she had a presentation of pictures of places she read about which was nice.  After taking questions, she signed books for everyone.

All in all it was great fun and it was very nice to be able to put a face and a voice to the "lady in the book."  With all the coincidences that led to me being there, it was certainly in the stars too!

And I just want, again, to recommend her book, which was superb and which I think everyone should read, if only for the purpose of better understanding our neighbors to the east. 

Here is the book on Goodreads and on Amazon as well as a link to Ms. Arrington's well-constructed website.

Book Review: Home is a Roof Over a Pig

DETAILS: Home is a Roof Over a Pig: An American Family's Journey in China by Aminta Arrington.  Copyright 2012.  Memoir.

SUMMARY: An American family with three small children, including an adopted daughter from China, move to China to teach English.  This book chronicles their journeys and examines the meanings of family, culture, language and education set against the backdrop of a small town in China.

PROS: I really enjoyed reading this book.  Ms. Arrington's writing is funny at times, poignant at others and always interesting.  She is transparent enough to admit when she has shortcomings, and those shortcomings make her very relatable and human.  Her examinations of the pictographs that make up the Chinese language were very interesting.  I enjoyed her look at the pros and cons of the Chinese education system. 

CONS: The only complaint I had was that I wish she had included some pictures to supplement the story.

BOTTOM LINE: I would recommend this book to anyone interested in foreign cultures or anyone with an adopted child.  Five stars out of five.

Book Review: Prepare

**I received a free copy of this book from the author for the purpose of reviewing it and I am grateful to him for that privilege.**

DETAILS: Prepare by Geoffrey Germann. Copyright 2012. Thriller.  Find it here on Amazon.com

SUMMARY: After seeing the violence and uncontrolled gang warfare in the region of the city known as "The Orchard," Darren Kiel begins dishing out some vigilante justice with a high-tech twist.

PROS: The action was well-written and fast-paced with lulls in just the right moments.  The plot was well thought out and made rational sense, which can sometimes be a sticky point with books like this.  Once I got into the story, I had a hard time putting the book down.  There was also a neat twist at the end that I didn't see coming and which didn't seem contrived simply for the sake of having a twist.  The back story of the characters was nicely dolled out in small quantities, as were the explanations for some of the main characters actions.

CONS:  The first couple of chapters I was a little confused as to the setting, which at first seemed to be almost a science-fiction-type world or maybe somewhere in the future.  I am a fan of "jumping right into the story" but a little more introduction as to the environment would have been nice.  There were also a couple of typos that I notice, although they easily could be printing errors.

BOTTOM LINE: This is a fast, enjoyable read with a very good plot.  Four stars out of five.

Book Review: Monday Mornings

DETAILS: Monday Mornings: A Novel by Sanjay Gupta, M.D.  Copyright 2012. Medical fiction.

SUMMARY: This book follows the fictional lives of a handful of neurosurgeons at Chelsea General Hospital as they explore love, life, death and loss.

PROS: The book is engaging, interesting and informative.  Dr. Gupta is a neurosurgeon himself and his knowledge and experience comes through.  He did a good job making the medical details easy to understand for lay persons without inserting fake explanations between people who should know what the other is talking about, something that  many writers find difficult to do.  The characters were realistic and well-rounded, with some you will love, some you will hate and many you will sympathize with.

CONS: Dr. Gupta seemed to have a little flair for the melodramatic in his writing which was occasionally distracting.    Also, it seemed all the main characters were former athletes of some sort.

BOTTOM LINE: This book was enjoyable, and I found it hard to put down in spots.  Obviously with my interest in medicine I was especially drawn to it, but I think anyone would find it fascinating.  Four stars out of five.

**Note: This book is being made into a television series by the same title, which I think could end up being good.**

Book Review: The Given Day

DETAILS: The Given Day by Dennis Lehane. Copyright 2008. Historical fiction.

SUMMARY: Two families, one black and one white, struggle to live and love in the chaos and uncertainty in the US following World War I.

PROS: Excellently written with engaging, sharp characters and a very human plot, Mr. Lehane has created a very readable book.  I loved the setting and I learned a lot about the racial attitudes and the political climate of the time that I didn't know.

CONS: There were a few parts toward the end that I felt dragged a little.  I felt that the book could have been better if it had been tightened up a little.

BOTTOM LINE: I enjoyed this one very much and I am looking forward to the sequel, Live by Night which comes out October 2, 2012 and which I won on Goodreads.com.  Four stars out of five.

Book Review: Love in Mid Air

DETAILS: Love in Mid Air by Kim Wright. Copyright 2010. Women's fiction

SUMMARY: A thirty-something woman's marriage falls apart and she has an affair and a bunch of other stuff happens.

PROS: Honestly, the writing was fantastic.  The characters were dynamic, the story was engaging and it had none of the "slow bits" I so dread in a book.  It was also written in present tense, and I love it when writers successfully change up the "norm" with regard to tense and person.

CONS: Let me temper this by saying that I am not a prude when it comes to books.  I have read many books about divorce, affairs, etc. and generally they do not bother me.  This one bothered me a lot.  The author and the characters seemed to be of the opinion that ideally, a woman would have an affair and/or leave her husband.  Her husband was not abusive, not cruel, not anything that would make me say "run for the hills."  Mostly, she was just bored.  Now, I understand that women leave their husbands for this reason all the time, and I am not here to debate the validity of doing so.  What I objected to, was the attitude that if women all weren't such spineless pansies, we would have all ditched our men a  long time ago, that this was the ideal situation, when I think it clearly is not ideal at all.  Now divorce is a sticky subject, and I can't say I never agree with it, but affairs, in my opinion, are not.  I had a problem with the character constantly sneaking around behind her husband's back and seeming to feel no guilt or consequences from it.  I almost put the book down after the second or third chapter, but decided to give it a chance to see what the ending was.  Without giving anything away, let me just say that I was not satisfied.

BOTTOM LINE: If glorifying affairs and divorce does not bother you, you may very well like this book.  As for me, I have to give it two stars out of five.

Book Review: Committed

DETAILS: Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage by Elizabeth Gilbert.  Copyright 2010. Memoir.

SUMMARY: In the sequel to Eat, Pray, Love, Ms. Gilbert is "sentenced to marry" after her boyfriend is denied access to the US unless they get hitched.  While waiting for all the paperwork to go through, they travel around the world and Ms. Gilbert goes on her personal quest to understand and come to terms with marriage.

PROS: I loved Eat, Pray, Love and I was not disappointed with this one.  It has the same funny, relatable feel to it and it was still packed with those moments that I love where I thought: "Wow, I know exactly what she means but I have never seen it all spelled out like that."

CONS: I wish she had included a little bit more of her travel experiences and stuff and less history of marriage and things.  In parts it read a bit like a non fiction book about marriage and less like a memoir.

BOTTOM LINE: People who liked Eat, Pray, Love will not be disappointed and anyone who is on the fence about marriage will enjoy this too.  Four stars out of five.

Book Review: How to Eat a Cupcake

DETAILS: How to Eat a Cupcake, by Meg Donohue.  Copyright 2012. Chick lit (a note on my usage of this term. Some people would say chick lit is dead, and those people would probably classify this book as women's lit.  However, I like the term chick lit, and I feel women's lit is more with older protagonists i.e. over thirty, and maybe with more serious subject matter.  This is simply my opinion and my own personal usage, but the categories I assign books when doing reviews are simply my opinion and not necessarily the way the book has been marketed.)

SUMMERY: When Annie Quintana and her former best friend Julia St. Clair reunite after ten years, they decide to open a cupcake shop together and in doing so, have to overcome some of the tension between them.

PROS: This book was a fun, light read.  The cupcakes Ms. Donohue describe sound delicious and continually made me hungry! I enjoyed the fact that she threw in a little mystery/intrigue in the second half of the book, which is a little unusual in this genre.

CONS: It took me about half the book to really get into it.  I didn't connect with the characters, especially Julia, early on.  They both seemed abrasive and flat.  Ms. Donohue's prose is flooded with adjectives, sometimes adjectives upon adjectives, which sometimes made the narrative feel as if it were written by an amateur. 

BOTTOM LINE: This book was fun, especially the second half.  Three stars out of five.

Book Review: The Cat's Table

DETAILS: The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje. Copyright 2012. Commercial fiction.

SUMMERY: In 1954, an eleven-year-old boy catches a boat from Colombo to England.  While on board, he and his new young friends find themselves on all sorts of adventures.

PROS: This book is well-written and engaging.  While not high-action, it nevertheless has an intriguing way about it.  Mr. Ondaatje perfectly captures the mindset of an eleven year old boy let loose on the world with no supervision.  The setting and time period are fascinating as well.

CONS: None that I can think of.

BOTTOM LINE: This is an excellent book.  Five stars out of five.

Book Review: Anne of Hollywood

DETAILS: Anne of Hollywood by Carol Wolper.  Copyright 2012. Chick lit.

SUMMERY: A rendition of the story of Anne Boleyn set in modern day Hollywood.

PROS: This was a good "escape" book or beach read.  I liked the way she had the story divided between four narrators, with three of them in third person and Anne's in first person.  It was clever and it worked.

CONS: I felt like Ms. Wolper tried too hard sometimes instead of just letting the story flow naturally.  The sex and drug references, while not unrealistic, felt forced and awkward.  I also thought she tried too hard to draw perfect parallels from the real story of Anne Boleyn, when the reality of a modern day adaptation is that sometimes you have to tweak the details.

BOTTOM LINE: This was okay if you're looking for a light, fun book, but I expected a little more.  Three stars out of five.

Book Review: The Historian

DETAILS: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. Copyright 2005. Fantasy.

SUMMERY: A 16-year-old girl, accompanying her father on diplomatic missions around Cold War Europe, pieces together her family's history of searching for medieval vampires.

PROS:  I enjoyed this book a lot.  It's length is a bit daunting, but it is expertly told.  Ms. Kostova weaves a story within a story within a story with a great deal of care and precision, and the story is paced very nicely and often gripping.

CONS: There was a section of the book (the first half of the third part) that lost my attention a bit and I had to keep myself from skimming.  Also, with the myriad of characters that wind their way into the story, perhaps an old-fashioned character list would have been helpful.

BOTTOM LINE:  I debated a great deal whether to give this book four stars or five.  It is very good, and I would (and have) recommended it to many people.  However, I try to reserve my five-star reviews for books I will read many times, and this book, for me, is probably a one-time read.  So, four out of five stars.

Book Review: A Countess Below Stairs

DETAILS: A Countess Below Stairs, by Eva Ibbotson. Copyright 1981. YA historical fiction.

SUMMERY: Countess Anna Grazinsky and her family are forced to flee their native Russia following the Russian Revolution.  They end up penniless in England and Anna is forced to take a job as a maid for a local earl.  While there, she has to contend with her growing feelings for the earl and the ulterior motives of the earl's evil fiancee.

PROS: This is a light, fun book.  The ending wrapped up nicely and in a slightly unexpected way.  I enjoyed the setting and the idea of a displaced Russian countess.

CONS: The book was quite predictable and the characters were flat and unremarkable.  Anna seemed to have no difficulty adjusting to her life as a maid, even after a childhood in luxury.  She seem to be unrealistically without fault.  Frankly I thought the most interesting character was the earl's nasty fiancee.

BOTTOM LINE: This book is not bad but not particularly good.  Two stars out of five.

Book Review: The Tiger's Wife

DETAILS: The Tiger's Wife: A Novel by Tea Obreht. Copyright 2011. Literary fiction.

SUMMERY: Natalia, a young doctor, is traveling to a remote town on the Balkan peninsula to deliver vaccinations to an orphanage.  While there, she finds out her grandfather has died, and spends the next couple of days dealing with myths, superstitions, and stories, both those of the locals, and the ones that her grandfather passed down to her.

PROS: Masterfully written, Ms. Obreht crafts a story that jumps back and forth through time without ever losing a reader.  Reality and myth are so perfectly entwined that readers begin to loose track of which is which.  The detail and precision of this story are so exquisite and selected so flawlessly that it reads more like a memoir than a novel.  Ms. Obreht is truly a literary talent and I look forward to reading her works for years to come.

CONS: The only flaw I could say is that I felt like the characters could have been a little more developed.  The story was beautiful, but I didn't relate to the characters particularly well.

BOTTOM LINE: Not action packed, but very readable with tangible settings and flavor-packed narrative.  Four stars out of five.

Book Review: A Reliable Wife

DETAILS: A Reliable Wife: A Novel by Robert Goolrick.  Copyright 2009. Historical literary fiction.

SUMMERY: It's Wisconsin, 1907.  Ralph Truitt has advertised for a wife, not for love but for convenience.  But when she comes, she is not what he expected, a woman with a hidden past and a secret agenda of her own.

PROS: The storytelling is masterful, the story is filled with unpredictable twists and turns.  Mr. Goolrick weaves a master tale of love, loss and lust that leads to an unforeseen but satisfying ending. I wondered many times what would happen, as I could see a thousand possibilities.  But the choices Mr. Goolrick made were not what I expected, but were more fitting and satisfying than the ones I had thought of.

CONS: The book seemed a little slow to get going, it took me a couple of chapters to get into it.  Occasionally I felt the descriptions went on a little long.  His habit (albeit surely an intentional one) of starting consecutive sentences with the same pronoun, grated on my nerves a bit.  Also a warning to readers of a sensitive nature: this book would be rated R for sexual content, so just be aware of that going in.

BOTTOM LINE:  The story is a little slow, but perfectly woven. Fans of Cormac McCarthy's writing will enjoy this book as well.  Four stars out of five.

Book Review: The House of Hope and Fear

DETAILS: The House of Hope and Fear:Life in a Big City Hospital, by Audrey Young, M.D. Copyright 2009. Medical non-fiction.

SUMMERY:  Dr. Young was an attending physician at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.  The book recounts her struggles and challenges at the largest public hospital in a four-state area.  She shares stories of specific patients, especially the "undesirable" patients: those that are homeless, drunk or drug-addicted, that come through Harborview's doors.  She presents the business side of the medical field; the challenge of balancing the budget, of under staffing and overcrowding.

PROS:  Dr. Young's narrative style is engaging and easy to read.  She does a good job of presenting the struggle to balance cost and quality of care and the human side to the medical field.  Her book is informative and well-rounded.  For me, as a pre-nursing student and a Harborview volunteer, I found the details of patient care fascinating.

CONS:  This is clearly intended to be a persuasive piece about health-care reform.  Not that this is necessarily negative, but the book is not purely objective. I wished there were more details of patient care and less about the business side of the hospital, but this is purely my opinion.  If I were not interested in the medical field, I probably would have found some of the details a little dry, but with my background, I did enjoy them.

BOTTOM LINE: Despite any blurbs that might suggest otherwise, this is not Grey's Anatomy.  I would recommend this book for anyone interested in the medical field, however, some other people might not find it as interesting.  Three stars out of five.