Nighrs In Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks

Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Over the years, I've had so many people recommend Nicholas Sparks books to me that I finally had to give it a go. If this book is any indication of what his others are like, I think I'll just keep waiting for the movies. That's what this book read like - a novelization of a screenplay. There's nothing that is demonstrated through dialog or actions - there's no depth. It's a fluffy, predictable tear jerker with the message that you need to live today because you don't know what tomorrow brings. Good message, but when the consequences are the same for everyone, where's the risk of ignoring them? This is extremely light reading, too light for me.

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The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Bulgakov's Satan is a trickster, rather than an angel with an axe to grind, and that alone makes this a very refreshing read. Add to that the speed at which plot threads appear, twist, weave, and then sometimes disappear altogether make this a book that challenges you to stay caught up with it, and you have something quite unlike any other book I've ever read. My only criticism, and this is the difference between 4 and 5 stars in this book, is that the middle third of the book reads a little like a collection of short stories, or maybe a serial bound together - it's episodic compared to the smooth flow of the beginning and end of the book. It's a small flaw, but in a book that's as much about pacing as it is about character, it stood out.

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Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe (Audiobook read by Virginia Leishman)

Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This story must be judged by the standards of the time it was written. There wasn't a lot of competition for the reader's time, that is, if a person had the time and ability to read (or access to someone who could read to them, because illiteracy or poor eyesight were a factor even for the upper classes in Defoe's time), they didn't have shelves and shelves of fiction to choose from. Long meandering stories were the 17th/18th century's version of today's television series. In that context, Moll Flanders in a damn good story. It's a woman facing every kind of obstacle a female of that era could encounter, some of her own making, some brought on by society. She starts her life over more than once, not always in a better position than the life she left behind. The first person narrative is truer to form than a lot of more current, more well regarded books, and despite the archaic vocabulary, quite funny and easy to understand.

I listened to this book rather than read it for two reasons: 1) I knew I'd never finish it if I read it; 2) Defoe would have written this knowing it was likely to be read aloud, and so I thought it would be a more authentic experience. Virginia Leishman has a lovely voice that fit the story perfectly.

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Family Dancing: Stories by David Leavitt

Family Dancing: Stories by David Leavitt


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
These are the stories behind the scenes of a Norman Rockwell painting. These are the stories of families that look so good on the surface, but what's really going on is going to cause massive scars that may never heal. Leavitt worked with the same theme: a family member who either never felt like they belonged or because of a recent event knows they won't be a part of the family much longer. All of the stories are about isolation either by choice or circumstances, and obviously, they're not happy stories. I liked all of them, but my favorite was "Dedicated" about a self-made family of three friends who are bound by their weaknesses rather than their strengths.

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Beyond Sleep by Willem Frederik Hermans

Beyond Sleep by Willem Frederik Hermans


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A short review of this book would be to say that it is a funnier, softer, and slightly less dire story than Jon Krakauer's Into The Wild or David Guterson's The Other. That doesn't mean that Alfred Issendorf's trip to the northern most part of Norway as part of a loosely formed scientific expedition is any less adventurous, simply that the plot of the pure wrongness of him making such a trip keeps the story light, even when the worst things happen. And while it's clear to the reader that the scientific discoveries Alfred wants to make and the personal discovery he needs seem unlikely to happen, this a great read about a journey, both physical and emotional.

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The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers by Thomas Mullen

The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers by Thomas Mullen


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
There's no doubt that Mullen did some research for this book, because any one who has read a couple of non-fiction books about Dillinger and his ilk are going to recognize that a lot of the anecdotes that have been recorded about those men show up in this book, only it's the fictional Firefly brothers of the title who are living the events. Certainly, sometimes the real criminals get a mention, but readers of Bryan Burroughs' Public Enemies (which Mullen does acknowledge as one of his sources) will find a lot of this fiction more than vaguely familiar.

There's a bit a paranormal to this book, with characters who seem to be unable to die. This allows them to confound the reluctant FBI agent assigned to stop them as well as become mythic heroes to the general public. (Again, sound familiar, 30's true crime fans?)

A mystery thread weaves itself through the story: Who betrayed the brothers before their first death? And why? Mullen attempts to use non-linear story telling keep that secret hidden until the very end, but I think most readers will see the answers coming so far in advance they'll wonder how the brothers didn't figure it out.

Aside from its meanders into other genres, this is a decent work of historical fiction. The locations and time period are more than back ground, they have as much dimension as any of the characters, and as the Firefly brothers move through the Depression era MidWest, its where they are that is more interesting than what they're doing.

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Bloodroot by Amy Greene

Bloodroot by Amy Greene


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book brought an interesting question to my mind: Do you blame bland story telling on the writer or the character when the book is told in first person? Okay, so I only entertained the question as a way of explaining how the first part of this three sectioned book could be so engaging, so vivid, and the rest of the book almost mind numbing, even with a plot straight out of my favorite genre, Southern Gothic. Yes, it is the author's fault if four of her six characters almost ruin a great tale when they spend too much time retelling without bringing anything new to the story, develop and lose personal insight for no apparent reason other than ease of story telling, and worst of all, don't follow the beautiful rhythm set up by the first section of the book.

Greene knows her setting and that is one of the saving graces of this book. The towns and isolated cabins of Bloodroot Mountain enliven the slowest moving parts of this book. The idea of weaving together each of the characters own narratives is intriguing, and the first third of the book shows that Greene knows how to tell a good Southern Gothic story without literally telling the story.

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Suttree by Cormac McCarthy

Suttree by Cormac McCarthy


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
There is a line near the end of this book that will stick with me the rest of my life. It not only describes the entire journey of this masterpiece, but it's a bit a sound bit of advice on how to get through life.

"He had divested himself of the little cloaked godlet and his other amulets in a place where they would not be found in his lifetime and he'd taken for talisman the simple human heart within him."

Such is the story of Cornelius "Buddy" Suttree, a man who cuts himself off from his family but discovers that he can't cut himself off from caring for others. The story is told the way life flows - dragging along at times, mundane details threatening to drown us (or, in the case of McCarthy's lush descriptions, immerse us), and then something happens, a flash flood of change, whether you were ready for it or not. The book is episodic, characters dropping suddenly from sight, maybe reappearing later, maybe not. Plot lines build and then dead end with limited resolution, others read like day-in-the-lifes. People are happy and joking in one moment, a few paragraphs later and things turn incredibly dark. Like real life, there's not much foreshadowing or an all knowing narrator to hint at what's to come. There's just a man, making the best of the life he's been given.

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The Liar by Stephen Fry

The Liar by Stephen Fry


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
An extremely witty protagonist and a setting that just begs to be mocked make up for an badly written non-linear story. Read this for great dialog and an over the top immersion into the legendary British boarding school society, but don't expect much in the way of plot. It never quite comes together, and you'll miss out on the fun if you try to take it seriously.

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Blood Rites (The Dresden Files, #6)

Blood Rites by Jim Butcher


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is definitely my favorite Dresden Files book, so far. This is due, in a major part, because my absolute favorite background character, Thomas Raith, moves very much to the forefront in this plot. But there's also a lot more going on than a good story in this book. Characters seem to be a little more fleshed out; a huge amount of canon for Harry's world is established, and there's back story for everyone. In some ways, this reads as a first book in a series, the one that not only sets the foundation for what's to come, but shows every sign of having been worked and refined by a first time author. Those are both very good surprises in a mid-series book! The plot this time may be a little more complicated than it needs to be (when your main character has to spell everything out in a long dialog with someone who's worked by his side for many years, you may have a few more twists than necessary), but the speed at which the story plays out allows the reader to just go along for the ride and enjoy the slow bits as breathing space.

My only regret about this book is that with Thomas having this moment in the sun, he'll probably never be featured this much in another Dresden Files book. Ahhh, for a Thomas Raith spin off series...... ;-)

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