2010/06/29

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson

Snow Falling on Cedars Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
As a historical fiction, this is a great book. Guterson knows his setting and he put some very interesting characters in a very interesting time period. There's no information dump going on here - everything you need to know about life on a NW Pacific Island in the 40's and 50's, including what it was like to be a Japanese immigrant or first generation Japanese-American is revealed naturally through the story telling process. The internment camps, as awful as they are, don't bring the story to a dead stop as so many historical fiction writers would allow them to do. As I said, this is great historical fiction.

However, it's also a mystery. Or at least we're supposed to believe there's a mystery. The problem is, anyone who'd read a fair share of courtroom mysteries (or watched at least one season of Law & Order) knows that if it's called a mystery, then obviously the first person accused probably didn't do it. Otherwise, where's the mystery? Guterson tries to build suspense by alternating between the courtroom scenes and everything that lead up to them, but honestly, if an author has to tell a story in non-linear style to keep the reader interested, he probably didn't have a strong enough story.

My rating break down would be two stars for mystery, four for historical fiction.

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2010/06/28

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

Will Grayson, Will Grayson Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The two narrators are less than lovable, and considering this is a book about falling in love, that's a big risk for the authors. But it's a risk that pays off, not only for the conflict resolution that must take place is a YA novel, but also because it gives the supporting characters a way to actually support other than providing dialog openings. Green and Levithan would have benefited from a few more trips back to their setting, though. Tiny Cooper, the supporting character that holds the two Will Grayson's together, isn't quite the novelty that Green and Levithan try to make him, there's at least one guy or girl like him in every suburban high school now; and hoodies worn with the hood up during school??? There were other miscues, some needed for the sake of the story, others simply poor research, but the story is a good one that goes beyond dare to be different and into dare to make mistakes.

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2010/06/27

The Girls from the Revolutionary Cantina: A Novel by MIke Padilla

The Girls from the Revolutionary Cantina: A Novel The Girls from the Revolutionary Cantina: A Novel by Mike Padilla


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This book was one tough editor short of three stars. Someone needed to tell Padilla when he'd strayed too far from his main plot to the sub plots; someone needed to ask him if the actions of Julia (the main character and the POV of the whole story) in the subplots were consistent with the main plot. In my opinion, they weren't, at that made those subplots stick out all the more. One reads like it was added for slapstick effect, and both subplots have a "look! this book is topical!" feeling more than something anything. An earlier review of this book said it had a "Sex and the City" feeling to it, and I'd agree. Not only in the character's relationships, but also that it's episodic. You can almost see the credits rolling at the end of the chapters. The principle story, between Julian, her BFF, her job, and the guy that is involved with all three, is a good contemporary romance, and the setting is really well done. It's just those darn subplots that belong in another book.

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2010/06/21

Same Place, Same Things by Tim Gautreaux

Same Place, Same Things: Stories Same Place, Same Things: Stories by Tim Gautreaux


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A really good collection of stories set in the part of Louisiana that isn't New Orleans. All but one of the stories are tied in some way to the work that the characters do or don't do for a living. They are unremarkable people who end up in remarkable situations, or at least enjoy talking about other people who've had remarkable things happen to them. Gautreaux immerses the reader in his setting is such a way that proves that he's mastered the "show, don't tell" rule of writing. The characters of these stories have been busy living day bay day, they don't have time to sit back and see beauty and danger of where they live. It's just life to them.

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Provinces of Night by William Gay

Provinces of Night Provinces of Night by William Gay


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I finished reading this book five days ago, and I am still thinking about what happened after the book ended. I've started and finished other books since then, and as I've read them, I've wondered how the characters of this book would have fit in to other stories. I wonder how the characters of these new books would have interacted with the Bloodworth family. How would they have fit in that tough little corner of south western Tennessee? William Gay is such a good story teller that his people and places will stay with you for a long, long time.

The jacket flap of this book will lead you to believe that this is a story of a father returning and the three sons that he never connected with during the hit and miss years he did live at home. It's not that story. This is the story of the grandson, Fleming, a young man who can not catch a break. Fleming dreams of being a writer (perhaps a bit of autobiographical writing for Gay?), and most of the story is told through his eyes. He is an observer, a kid who prefers to live on the edge and observe what goes on around him. Eventually, through the absence of his own father, the return of the grandfather he never met, and the ongoing presence an amazing (and never extraneous) supporting characters, Fleming decides to go "out among them". The story weaves and turns, characters are introduced and then dropped, but in the end, everything is brought back together believably. There are very sad parts to the whole story (even the creepy prologue isn't there just for atmosphere). Depending on your opinion of Fleming's reaction to all that has happened to him and his family, the ending is either sad or a window opening. Either way you look at it, the story will stay with you.

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2010/06/13

About Time - 12 Short Stories by Jack Finney

About Time: 12 Short Stories About Time: 12 Short Stories by Jack Finney


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Eleven of the stories in this collection deal with some sort of time travel. The twelfth story is the painfully correct for its time period story about magic props that, thankfully, is easy to forget. Finney's ideas about time travel are rare in science fiction, but common in the mind of most people's imagination. It's the "if you could live any time in history, when would it be?" and people almost always want to go back to what they thought were simpler times. If someone imagines an alternate universe to live in, of course you'd want it to be a better universe. There are no worries about butterfly effects in Finney's stories, there's no mention of time/space continuum that must never, ever be disrupted for whatever reason. These are stories where going back to a simpler timer (or in one story, staying around a little longer in present time) will lead to good things. These stories are cozy sci-fi, a very tiny but enjoyable genre.

My favorites from this collection: "I Love Galesburg in the Springtime", a story that will go right to the heart of the type of person who'd rather drive on a state highway than an interstate; and "Such Interesting Neighbors" - the closest to pure sci-fi that these stories come, and yet it's still light and fun.

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2010/06/08

The White Road (Nightrunner #5) by Lynn FLewelling

The White Road (Nightrunner, #5) The White Road by Lynn Flewelling


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
After the last book's excessive torture scenes, this book reads like a breath of fresh air. Serigil and Alec are together, they're still discovering secrets about each other, and there's plenty of archery, sword fighting, feasting, and all the other stuff that is supposed to be in this genre. When Flewelling gets back to the heart of this series, she really gets it right. My only complaint is that the supporting character's names are becomeing more difficult to tell apart. I hope there's a companion book in the works, something that breaks down the various languages so there's something to go by other than what are now appearing to be random syllables strung together.

Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell

Winter's Bone Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
When I saw that Woodrell was also the author of "Tomato Red", I almost put this book back on the shelf. I really, really, really did not like that book. But the reviews for this were great, the plot sounded like an actual plot, and he's written a few more books between that one and this one, so I decided to give it a shot. And I'm really glad I did!

This is a tremendous story of a young girl who has lived in survival mode her entire life. Survival not only for herself, but for her two brothers and her own mother. She takes care of them not only because in her world, it's expected, but also because, as is revealed through her actions more than her words, she is a person that takes responsibility and family very seriously. It's all she has to call her own, and she will not let anyone, no matter how scary or violent and cruel, get in her way. The story moves very quickly, covering just a few days, yet there is so much character back story and revelation that it could have taken twice as many pages. The beauty of this book is that it didn't. Like the lives of the people in this story, the story is raw and to the point.

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2010/06/06

The Thief of Always: A Fable by Clive Barker

The Thief of Always: A Fable The Thief of Always: A Fable by Clive Barker


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
If I had read this book when I was the age that it's written for, it would have scared the s**t out of me! As an adult, I've read, seen and even lived things that are more frightening than the things that Barker imagined for this book. However, the moral of this story is written for every age of reader, and because Barker is such a master of making his protagonists an Everyman that every reader can identify with, this is still a good scary read. Within the first few pages, you'll be back into the days of your life when you thought that a new adventure would always be a good adventure, the days before you learned to be careful what you wish for.

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2010/06/04

The Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

Winter Garden Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is two books in one: a very good historical fiction within a contemporary family drama, and both stories are well told. Too many times I've read books with combined genres that read as if the author had two small stories to tell and combined them to get a full novel, but this time the stories really are a part of each other and the family part wouldn't exist in the form it does if it weren't for what had happened in the past. I loved the slow progression of fairy tale to memoir, and the third to last ending (with two plots, there's bound to be more than one ending, right?) was a well earned tear jerker. The very final ending went to a place I wish the story hadn't gone, but up until that point, this was a good "loose yourself in other people's troubles" book.

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2010/06/02

Tonight I Said Goodbye by Michael Koryta

Tonight I Said Goodbye (Lincoln Perry Series) Tonight I Said Goodbye by Michael Koryta


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I recently attended a ceremony where Koryta was the honored alumnus, and enjoyed his speach so much that I couldn't wait to read his writing. Perhaps it was the different purposes, or maybe he's gotten better as a writer since this first book, but I was slightly disappointed. In person, Koryta was a bright and funny guy, and there was a naturalness to his speaking that took it several notches aboce the usual commencement speach. That naturalness is missing in his writing, unfortunately. Although his characters are fairly interesting, the seem forced together as if they were taken from a mystery writers checklist. The plot is convinving and again, fairly interesting, and given the first novel thing, passable. But there's just nothing that jumps out at me and says this is a series you want to get hooked on. Having said all that, I am going to give his most recent book a shot. It's a different genre and maybe he's found a way to let his true talent shine in his writing.

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The Circus in the Attic and Other Stories by Robert Penn Warren

The Circus in the Attic: and Other Stories The Circus in the Attic: and Other Stories by Robert Penn Warren


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
An alternate title for this book could be "The Funeral in the Basement" or something along those lines, because at the heart of every one of these stories is death and saying goodbye. In my mind, that makes for good reading, especially when the stories are told by an author as unsympathetic to his characters as Robert Penn Warren is. By far, my favorite new-to-me story of this book was "The Patented Gate and The Mean Hamburger", probably the closest Warren ever got to writing humor, but of course, it's dark humor. "A Christian Education" I've read before in several short story anthologies, and it is a story that holds up to being read over and over again. Many of these stories focus on tobacco farmers, set in a time when tobacco growing was an honorable and honest way to make a living. It's become politically incorrect to remember that time, making this collection of stories historically important as well as great reading. My only negative goes along with the almost always true bit of writer's advice: never write in dialect. As great as a writer as Warren is, his attempt to use dialog to create setting is jarring, and when that happens in the first story of a collection, it jumps out in every other story that follows.

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