The Children's Blizzard, by David Laskin

In January of 1888, a terrible blizzard, which came to be known as the "Schoolchildren’s Blizzard" blew in across the Nebraska & Dakota Territory prairie. It was so-called because the deaths from the blizzard were largely of children who left school because of the bad weather coming. Sadly, they left "at the moment when the wind shifted and the sky exploded (2)."
Using a wide variety of sources, Laskin has put together this account of that fateful day, but the book is much more than just a retelling of the event. He also details other immigrants' experiences such as tough crossings, and the often difficult life once they reached the Dakota territory. Laskin also discusses the state of weather forecasting at the time, and asks some pretty pointed questions about the issue of fault during the course of a natural disaster. I think a lot of people would also agree that the book is a definite statement on the power of nature and the horror it can inflict when people are unprepared (not that people can always be prepared for natural disasters).
I'd definitely recommend this to people who like history in focused, short bursts (like this book or along the lines of something like Isaac's Storm) rather than out of texts. The only part where it even felt a bit boggy was the discussion on the history of weather forecasting, but that didn't really detract from my reading. If you're also interested in life on the plains, this is a good one to read as well. Very well written -- I couldn't stop reading it once I started.

God's Middle Finger, by Richard Grant

You know that a) this is going be good and b) this is going to be different than anything you've ever read when the opening chapter finds the author being pursued by 2 crazy men with guns in the middle of the night out in the wilds of Durango, Mexico. Naturally, after you read that chapter, with a cliffhanger for an ending, you have to wonder how he got into this predicament and you're hooked. This book just didn't let up. Grant decides that he wants to traverse the Sierra Madre Occidental, a mountain range just south of the border between Arizona & Mexico. The Sierra Madre goes south from there , for about 900 or so miles -- with canyons that are deeper than our Grand Canyon, with mines, caves, cliffs, potholed roads, little towns, drug farms and a variety of people. He begins his trip with a friend telling him not to do it but this doesn't stop Grant. Everywhere he goes he makes a new contact to help him into the areas where gringos should not be travelling alone -- often dangerous, often a bit hostile, filled with testosterone that leaks from the aura of Mexican male machismo. It's the kind of Wild West lawlessness and total anarchy that intrigues him and he finds what he's looking for everywhere he goes. At first the author really got into his journey, but after some bandit encounters, policemen trying to set him up while they share cocaine with him, the negative treatment of women by said macho men, and a brush with death, the author has had enough. But the getting there, for the reader, is a fun and wild ride that I won't soon forget. What a great book! Along with his own travels and travails, he's thrown in historical accounts of the area, biographical info about those who've lived and traveled there, and some interesting facts about the pointless war on drugs fought by the US that we're never going to win because of the huge drug economy stemming from the Sierra Madre. Incredibly interesting -- you won't want to put the book down. Very highly recommended. I would think that most people would enjoy this book, especially people who like a sort of gonzo-feel to their reading.

The 19th Wife, by David Ebershoff

Talk about timing -- with the big raid a month ago at the Yearning For Zion ranch and all of the news from that event, this book is going to sell, big time. Personally, I'm fascinated with the whole issue of polygamy -- not that I'd want to do it, but I do wonder why others subject themselves and furthermore, I wonder why the government hasn't just come right out and reminded law enforcement that polygamy is illegal and that leads to my wondering why this is still going on. The whole brainwashing thing eludes me as well, but then again, the issues brought up in this book are part of the reason I shy away from any sort of organized religion. Ebershoff may have written fiction, but the issue of brainwashing is very real. Take the Yearning For Zion thing in Texas -- the women there were scared to death of having to live on the outside because of all the things they are taught about the real world while they are under the sway of the FLDS leadership at the ranch. Or in the novel -- it's rife with examples of how the church leadership managed to convince some seemingly intelligent women that they needed to share their husbands with other women, sometimes under the same roof. It's all about salvation, you know? Fantasy camp for men; for women and especially for their children, well, what can I say? Sorry about the diatribe, but you know, the whole polygamy thing has a tendency to rankle me, and I appreciate Ebershoff's book -- it pointed out the many issues about this practice justified in the name of salvation.
So now that I've ranted, the book is structured so that there is a present-day mystery that focuses on a woman who has been arrested and imprisoned for killing her husband. It turns out that she is the 19th wife, and her estranged son reads about her arrest on the internet. Seems that when he was younger, he was tossed out of the local polygamist community, "The Firsts," where they believed they were carrying on the mission of the first and true LDS church, when polygamy was the norm. So off he trots to Utah to see his mother and then gets involved in trying to prove her innocence. At the same time, there is another thread running in this book, the story of another 19th wife, Ann Eliza Young, who married Brigham Young and then squared off against him and the whole polygamy issue publicly. The present-day story is minor compared to Ann Eliza's story, beginning with her mother's conversion to Mormonism and then her descent into the hell that was polygamy after the prophet had a revelation from God that men should take more than one wife. The two stories are interspersed, but Ann Eliza's story is (imho) the better of the two. More than the present-day story, her story had me glued to the book.
The characters were well drawn and Ebershoff did a fine job with the whole polygamy thing, especially describing the plight of the children from polygamous marriages. This is not something I probably would have picked up at a bookstore, but the topic intrigued me and the story got my dander up. I would say that Ebershoff's done his job as a writer -- getting the reader very involved. Personally, if he'd have left it with the story of Ann Eliza, I probably would have liked it better.
I'd recommend it to anyone who's interested in the topic of polygamy, and if you liked this one, try Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven.
My thanks to Librarything for allowing me to read this before it was released.

*Double Indemnity, by James M. Cain

I can't help it...reading through Cain's novel the voices in my head were those of Barbara Stanwyck, Fred McMurray and Edward G. Robinson.

Although this is a small book (128 p.) and a quick read, don't underestimate this little gem. It is perfectly written and packs an unexpected punch at the end. Highly recommended for anyone who likes noir fiction. And don't expect the movie ... Hollywood couldn't have possibly done it the way the author intended. A basic summary of the plot: Walter Huff is an insurance investigator who is able to smell a scam a mile away. But sadly, Walter isn't thinking with his brain when he meets Phyllis Nirdlinger, the wife of a customer. She wants to know about accident insurance; he knows without anyone even saying anything why she wants it. Walter is convinced that with his knowledge of the industry and how it works come paying out claims time that the two of them could plot the perfect murder and insurance scam. But the story's not over yet. During a period of time when the two have to cool their heels and avoid each other, Walter has time to sit back and think about things and realizes that there's more to the story here and that he must take some action before his company puts two and two together. That's the bare bones outline (I don't want to spoil the story). The book's ending is vastly different than that of the movie -- and I think more poetically just (if not a little strange). Cain's characterizations are well drawn and the writing is superb. A must for any fan of noir.

Last Rituals: An Icelandic Novel of Secret Symbols, Medieval Witchcraft and Modern Murder, by Yrsa Sigurdardottir

While not totally overwhelmed with this one, I'll chalk it up to being the first in a series of novels planned by this author. It takes a while for characters, etc. to be developed, so I'll wait for her second novel to see how it turns out.

Last Rituals wasn't bad but it wasn't great. The main character is lawyer Thora Gudmundsdottir, a lawyer in a tiny firm with an unruly secretary that came with the place. She doesn't make a lot of money to support her two children, so when she gets a very unusual request that promises to pay well, she is intrigued. It seems that a German student, one Harald Guntlieb, has been found dead in the History Department building at the local University. The police have a suspect in jail, but Harald's parents don't think he did it. They are paying Thora to look into the case, and send a representative (Matthew) with some files for her to look over. As time goes on, Thora & Matthew find out a lot about not only Harald, but his gruesome interests.

The book has a bit of Icelandic church history in it, as well as some history of the dark arts. It also gives a peek into Thora's character, as a mom and as a lawyer. Some of the parts involving her kids were a bit unbelievable, but the mystery is okay and interesting.

I would recommend it to anyone who has an interested in mysteries from outside the US, or anyone who likes Scandinavian mysteries. It's a series opener, so you know the best is yet to be.

The Westies: Inside New York's Irish Mob

I don't know why I'm addicted to nonfiction involving crime, but be that as it may, this one was a good one. I first became interested in The Westies when I saw a program called "True Crime" on the History Channel. That particular episode was about the Westies and I was somewhat glued to my television (which is very rare ... usually I don't even turn the thing on any more). But this particular episode's story was so intriguing that I felt I had to know more so I bought the book. The Westies was gang that had as its home New York's Hell's Kitchen, home to many Irish-American immigrants and also controlled by a series of Irish organized crime gangs. Traditionally, these gangs followed certain codes of respect and deference, but as the author notes, it seems that after Vietnam, with the rise of a new generation, the old ways sort of went out the door and violence was the rule of the day. Enter young Jimmie Coonan -- a local boy, hotheaded and dangerous, with vengeful ambitions to take out the current head of the Irish mob in Hell's Kitchen, Mickey Spillane (not the author). His idea of killing was not only to do the deed, but then to "do the Houdini" -- meaning making the body disappear by dismemberment. Then add Mickey Featherstone, another local boy who had some serious mental issues & tended to solve his problems with knee-jerk violence. With other people working for them, they began a long reign of violence, extortion, murder, you name it. But Coonan decided that for them to get anywhere, they needed to hook up with the Italian mob. I won't go through the entire story but as it turns out, eventually a betrayal of trust leads one member down the path to become an informer. However, the criminal story is not 100 per cent of this book..English traces the attempts made by law enforcement agencies to take down these guys. I do have to also remark on the sad state of the justice system at the time as portrayed in this novel...Featherstone does several murders and walks? The details are amazing and this one another one of those books I had trouble putting down. My problems with this book stem from the fact that it seems somewhat biased in favor of Mickey Featherstone, who by his own admission was a cold-blooded, psychopath who did his share of killing. I find it hard to be sympathetic towards someone like this or to excuse their previous behavior just because he may have been rehabiltated later. All in all, a fantastic book. I'm looking forward to reading more about the topic and more books by this author. Recommended, for sure.

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, by Timothy Egan

If you're hedging about reading The Worst Hard Time," thinking you already know everything about the dust bowl and the droughts on the Great Plains during the Depression era, don't. It's definitely not fiction and it's told by those whose families lived it. These people who settled and actually farmed in the areas of the Oklahoma & Texas panhandles were called nesters -- and for a while they had everything going for them -- until things went horribly wrong. This is their story, and while it's history, it's written in a style that makes you unable to stop reading (in my case, to stop listening -- I had it on CD).
The author has done an incredible amount of research and interviews, putting together the story of the Dust Bowl storms of the 1930s and their effects not only on the land, but on the economy, on people's health and mental state as well. After children started to die of dust pneumonia, for example, women questioned whether or not they should even be bringing more children into the world. Mothers had to put wet sheets over their babies' cribs, over the windows, and try to shut up any opening in their homes to try to hold back the wind (known as a duster) and its deadly cargo of dust. As things got worse and the economy started to dry up, some people took to canning Russian Thistles, tumbleweeds or yucca just to survive -- any livestock they may have had produced dust-laden milk. The food crop market bottomed out; farmers once prosperous from the earlier wheat boom were now selling off anything they could find just to keep their families fed and to try to hold the bankers at bay trying not to lose their farms. But the worst hard time began with Black Sunday, in April of '35 -- in which a gigantic duster blew and made the air so clogged with dirt that it was often fatal to just be outdoors since a person could choke to death due to the massive amounts of soil & dust in the air. Egan traces this period using the accounts of actual survivors of the time, and asks some hard questions regarding the root causes -- and questions and tries to figure out why people actually stayed rather than leave the miserable conditions. He also examines the government's role in finding solutions for these plains farmers.
The above is just a bare sketch of what's between the covers of this book. I HIGHLY recommend this one to anyone even remotely interested in the topic. I wouldn't necessarily call it an objective work of history (you can really feel the author's emotion throughout the pages), but it is history well worth reading. I wish more people would offer history done like this.

*Trainspotting, by Irvine Welsh

After reading Trainspotting I had to ask myself what else I've been missing. The main characters are addicts, junkies, heavy drinkers and a sicko or two, with heroin as the star here. It's an alien culture to me, but I just couldn’t put the book down, dialect and all. I also have no clue about this subculture of underclass in 1980s Scotland, but Welsh writes it as if he’s been there and followed this group of people around. I won’t go into the plot here (there are lots of places you can find info on this book), but at times I was horrified to find myself actually laughing in the midst of what seemed several pointless and hopeless situations – in appreciation of some scenes of incredibly black humor. At the same time, I found myself getting into the characters emotionally, seeing them as people who are disenfranchised on many levels. Welsh does a superb job of capturing the anger, boredom and disconnection of his characters (who come off as being very real) showing both the positives & negatives of friendship & other emotional connections in a series of small, connected vignettes, told in chronological order.
Very well written; I highly recommend it. If you get stuck while reading it, there’s a glossary in the back; I found myself at least at first trying the dialect orally and after a while it wasn’t even noticeable and the book flowed. Readers of Palahniuk or other writers who have the ability to capture the rage of a generation might enjoy this one, but this book is definitely not for everyone.

The Man Who Lost Himself, by Val Andrews

There are only X number of real Sherlock Holmes stories, so, having made my way through those several times, I have been collecting Sherlock Holmes pastiches over the years. The Man Who Lost Himself is one of these. This book would have been much better (considering it's not A. Conan Doyle's work) had it stuck to the main story at hand: A man comes to see Holmes and Watson at 221B with an incredible story. It seems that his wife was not feeling well, so he took her to a local physician. The physician was not there at the time, but his wife insisted on staying and went into the examining room. Some time went by, and the wife never came out. When the man went into check, he saw a nurse, but no wife. He returned to his home only to find that the house he thought was his was occupied by a man who swore he had been there three years. On going to his back for funds, he found out he had never banked there. It is a puzzling mystery indeed, and Holmes & Watson are on the case immediately. Considering that the book is only 112 pages long, you'd think that the author could have developed the story a bit better. The parts directly connected with this man's plight were quite good and well told. However, the author throws in an ape, a jewelry theft in France and various other silliness so that the main thread doesn't have time to develop into something better.Oh well. If you're a Sherlock Holmes pastiche fan, you'll want to read it, but beware. If you are considering reading Sherlock Holmes stories, do start with the originals before you do the pastiches.

*Ghost Soldiers: The Forgotten epic Story of WWII's Most Dramatic Mission, by Hampton Sides

Not being a WWII expert, I can't really say yay or nay on the "most dramatic mission" claim on this book's title, but I got so caught up in this book I read the whole thing in one afternoon.
The basic outline is this: The US has decided that it's time for the Army to take Manila from the Japanese in 1945, after the landing at Leyte Gulf. There is a slight problem, however; directly in the path that the soldiers would take on the push to Manila lies a prisoner-of-war camp holding Americans and others. By this time the camp is a way station for Japanese soldiers and the road to the place is loaded with Japanese vehicles & army. Since the Japanese know that everything's coming to a close, the US fears that (as in earlier examples) the prisoners stuck in the camp are in danger of being exterminated. So the Army decides it needs a small force of men to go in, liberate the camp, and clear the way for the bulk of the troops to get on the road to Manila. This book is the story of how this was achieved.
The structure of the book is such that there are actually two alternating stories here. The main story is of course, the attempt to liberate the camp, and interspersed is the second story, that of the Bataan Death March and then life inside the prison camps, told by the survivors. The author's writing style is so good that you'll think you're reading a novel rather than history. Now comes my only complaint: my graduate degree is in History, and I cringe every time I read something like this where there are NO footnotes or endnotes. The author does say what sources he relied on in the back of the book, but I like to be able to trace exact quotations, references, etc., in case I want to follow up with another source. That's just my thing, and I would guess that the great majority of readers do not give a fig about footnotes.
Even if you know nothing about WWII, or if you're not particularly interested, any reader would find this book captivating. It is written for readers -- no bogging down with overly technical details.
Very well written and worth every second of reading time. Recommended.

HP Lovecraft's Favorite Weird Tales, edited by Douglas Anderson

It's true that when you pick up an anthology of stories, you're getting a very mixed bag. In this book, there are several greats, some okays and a couple of hmmm...whatevers.
The book is divided into two parts: the "literary weird tale," and the "popular weird tale." Under literary you'll find a lot of writers with whom you are familiar. Here's the Part I contents list, with brief description of each story. Don't worry ... I have not left a single spoiler to ruin the reading experience.
Edgar Allen Poe: "Fall of the House of Usher" -- this one's very well known so I'll skip a description.
Ambrose Bierce: "The Suitable Surroundings" -- an author tells a friend that the best way to enjoy a work of supernatural horror is to place himself in the most suitable environment -- and that the author's works are meant to impart, under optimum conditions, the most chilling reading ever. Well...you'll have to read it and see what happens. This one was just okay ...different, for sure
Ambrose Bierce: "The Death of Halpin Frayser" -- A young man, very close to his mother, has a very odd dream about her which seems almost too real... this one may be a bit Freudian so beware. I enjoyed this one a lot.
Arthur Machen: "The Novel of the Black Seal" -- Machen is one of my favorite authors ever. This particular piece was written in his early writing days. A Miss Lally works as a governess for a Professor Gregg, whose research focuses on the search for the existence of primitive people in the hills of Wales. An amazing story -- also appearing in The Three Impostors.
Arthur Machen: "Novel of the White Powder" -- Another one of my favorite Machen tales, and a very well written story that will raise the hackles on the back of your neck. In this one, a man takes a mistakenly- prepared drug which leads to serious and frightening consequences. I would rate Machen up there on my favorite creepy story writers list.
"The Yellow Sign," by Robert W. Chambers -- A painter and his model are plagued by vivid dreams about a night watchman at a church that can be seen from his window. One of the best early tales of horror I've read in a long time.
Arthur Machen "The White People" -- a superb horror story . A young girl is slowly being introduced to otherworldly forces as set forth in her memoirs found in a book. Very eerie, and the descriptions are vivid, enabling the reader to capture in his or her mind the settings of the story. Simply a phenomenal story.
"Count Magnus," by M.R. James: An author who has gone to Sweden to research a book he is writing discovers the records of the de la Gardie family, finding that one of the early ancestors was a Count Magnus -- an evil man of whom no one in the present wants to speak. The author, Wraxall, won't leave well enough alone, much to his detriment. (I absolutely just can't tell the story...it will ruin it). A superb horror story which is best read at night by flashlight. I can't recommend this one enough!
Algernon Blackwood: "The Willows" -- Blackwood is another one of my favorite all-time writers of supernatural fiction. And in this story, you can really see the emergence of some Lovecraftian themes -- the meeting of worlds, the insignificance of human life to those in the other world, etc. Two friends decide to take a canoe down the Danube, and wind up in an area of flooded islands on which rest groves of willow trees. They both begin to feel the eeriness of the place, as well as the impression that something on the little island is after them. This is one of the best stories in the entire collection.
"The House of Sounds," by MP Shiel -- somewhat along the lines of "Fall of the House of Usher", the narrator receives a note to come to his old friend's family home. When he arrives, the friend is not the same as when he saw him earlier -- noises, even the smallest of them are deafening and act as a portent of destruction. Brilliantly written...another hackle-raiser.
A. Merritt: “The Moon Pool,” – I can see why HPL loved this story. I have the novel (as yet unread), but the original short story leaves a LOT to the imagination. In the story, which is narrated by Dr. Walter T. Goodman, who leaves behind a narrative in order to clear the name of a fellow scientist, Dr. David Throckmartin. It seems that Throckmartin, his wife, a friend/colleague and Mrs. Throckmartin’s old nurse Thora all set out to do research near Ponape (if I’m not mistaken, this is a location used by HPL as well). Throckmartin was picked up some time later by a ship, and Goodwin met him there. The three companions were never seen again. The story told by Throckmartin was eerie and loaded with references to something positively unearthly, but Goodwin never got a chance to fully question him because Throckmartin mysteriously disappeared off of the ship. A phenomenal story and one not to be missed.
Walter de la Mare: “Seaton’s Aunt” – a classic tale of psychic vampirism, which I’ve read somewhere else. Withers is an acquaintance of Arthur Seaton from their school days at Gummeridge’s. Seaton is very unpopular, but still invites Withers to come home with him for a holiday. While there, he meets Seaton’s aunt for the first time. Seaton claims she’s is in league with ghosts and perhaps even the devil. However, Withers isn’t buying it, and thinks that maybe Arthur’s a bit neurotic -- or is he? Fun story, but read carefully.
Part II, “The Popular Weird Tale,” consists of the following:

Paul Suter – “Beyond the Door” -- After a man’s uncle dies, the nephew finds some strange things at his home, including a diary detailing a very strange compulsion. Very creepy story.
ML Humphreys – “The Floor Above” – A friend (Tom) is called by another friend (Arthur) to come see him, noting that he’s “in a bad way.” Tom arrives and immediately notes some bizarre occurrences surrounding Arthur. The end sort of sneaks up on you – a very hackle-raising short tale.
H.F. Arnold – “The Night Wire” – This one reminded me in one sense of Stephen King’s “The Mist,” in which an odd fog rises up and blankets everything. But that’s as far as the comparison goes. Here, the narrator of the story is the night manager at a newspaper, and has an employee (Morgan) who has an incredible ability to pick up the night wire and transcribe what he hears into reports. On the night in which the story takes place, Morgan gets news from somewhere called Xebico, which has been obscured completely by a strange fog, virtually shutting the town down. I won’t go into what happens, but this is a very cool story that definitely you do not want to miss.
Everil Worrell Murphy – “The Canal” – A man finds a little girl in an old, abandoned boat on a canal at midnight, and when he learns the truth behind her story, it may be too late. This one was okay; fun to read but not one of my favorites.
Arthur J. Burks – “Bells of Oceana” – A ship full of service men turns out to become a ghostly voyage for some of the men as the ship passes through a mass of seaweed where it shouldn’t be. Fun story; not quite as good as the others, but still a fun read.
John Martin Leahy – “In Amundsen’s Tent” – this one, I thought, was the weirdest of the weird tale category here. An expedition to the South Pole by three explorers doesn’t go very well, as they find something horrible in a tent left behind by Amundsen from his expedition. Definitely not one of my favorites, but still worth the read.
Overall...a book I'd definitely recommend. I'm continuing to add more anthologies of weird tales to my library, and this one's a definite keeper. Some of the stories may seem a bit outdated but they still have the power to make your heart race a little faster and make your hair stand a bit more on end.

The Dramatist, by Ken Bruen

Oh my. After reading this installment of the Jack Taylor series, I am hard pressed to figure out how much worse things can get for Jack. I've long said that making Jack Taylor's acquaintance through reading is like watching a train about to wreck on its tracks...you know that something terrible is about to happen, but the reality of how bad it's going to be keeps you watching. But frankly, I wasn't prepared for this one.

As the novel opens, Jack's drug dealer (the very well-dressed, erudite young man) is in prison, put away for six years. He makes it known through Cathy that his sister had been killed and the crime scene made to look like an accident. He wants Jack to investigate. All that was found that was even a little off was a copy of a work by John Millington Synge near the body. However, Jack doesn't see murder, and besides, he has his hands full with the husband of an ex-lover. Add to this a crazy vigilante group and a newly-found woman, and you understand why Jack takes his time about getting to the drug dealer's problem. But when a second young woman dies the same way, and a book by Synge is found underneath her body, Jack's forced to take notice.

I love these books, I love these characters, and although Taylor is pitiful (and I do mean just absolutely pitiful), I can't get enough of this guy. Highly recommended -- if you're after it for the mystery aspect only, you'll miss so much more in this series. I think people who've been following the series will enjoy it (my guess, before I read the next in the series it's a turning point) and will want as I did to read it soon after the Magdalen Martyrs. These books all turn on Jack Taylor's character -- not the element of the whodunits embedded into the story by the author. Fabulous - and I'm off to order the next. Do NOT read this one without the 3 previous behind you.

*The Good German, by Joseph Kanon

Jake Geismar, a reporter for Collier's magazine, is sent to Berlin right at the time of the Potsdam conference. Berlin was Jake's home once, before the war; it was then he had met and fell in love with Lena, married to Emil Brandt. Upon Jake's return to Berlin, he begins to look for Lena, but before he finds her, he becomes embroiled in the death of an American soldier who washes up near the site of the Potsdam negotiations. It seems the man had been on the plane to Berlin with Jake and his friends; now he's found dead with a lot of money on his person. As Jake gets more into the investigation, he realizes that there are people who do not want him to find any info about the dead soldier and that they would kill to keep the story quiet. Ah, if this were only all of Jake's problems. What I found intriguing about this book was not so much the mystery and its solution, but that this is a story about ethics, morality and conscience. As Jake was told by various individuals about what they had to do to survive under the Nazis, there was always the justification that he wasn't there during the war and couldn't possibly understand what it was like. The author also describes the hurried attempts at the "de-Nazification" of Germany in order to get it up and running again, and to mine its scientific resources in preparation for the coming showdown with the Soviet Union. Many still connected with the death camps would go free; many, especially scientists who worked under the auspices of such groups as the SS were needed by the allies and their past crimes would simply be overlooked by the military and the government because they were going to be valuable against the USSR in the future. As one character in the US government notes "The Jews? Well, that was terrible, sure, but what are we supposed to do this winter if we don't get some coal out of the Russians? Freeze? Everybody's got a priority. Except the Jews aren't on anybody's list. We'll deal with that later. If anybody has the time. So I lose a few scientists? I'm still trying to get the camp guards." (463) I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in immediate post-war Germany as well as to anyone who likes novels that deal with ethical and moral dilemmas. The mystery is not the central focus in this novel -- it is what surrounds the mystery that makes the novel more intriguing.

The Last Oracle, by James Rollins

Thanks goes to Librarything's Early Reviewer program for letting me sneak a peek before this one goes on sale.

The first thing any reader needs to know about this book is that it is a work of 'escape fiction,' meaning that you have to be prepared for anything and everything, and you have to be ready to enter into a state of suspension of disbelief. That is, you have to tell yourself that you're willing to accept anything and everything, knowing that it's probably a bit far-fetched or over the top -- and in return, you get a few hours of sheer entertainment to take you away from the mundane. So having made that statement, I can say that within that particular context, this was a pretty decent book, well worth the time that it took to read. I have the other Sigma Force series novels, but haven't yet read them all, but you can bet I'll be going back to them as soon as I have a chance. I want to see what I missed in the meantime, which leads to my second bit of advice: I feel like I missed something having not read the complete series up to the time of The Last Oracle and I might have felt a bit better about the action in this novel had I been more up to date on the exploits of Sigma Force.

“The Last Oracle" refers to the Oracle of Delphi, beginning with the destruction of the temple by the Romans. Fast forward to the 20th century in the Carpathian mountains, where a group of children are being sought after by some not-so-nice KGB-ish type people; then we finally land in the present, where a scientist's death sparks an incredible adventure story that doesn't let up once it starts. Without trying to summarize the plot (it will give away the whole shebang if I do), I will say that Rollins has an ingenious mind ... there are layers within layers of action between the covers of this novel, some very unexpected twists and turns and some very nasty villains.
I would recommend this one to readers who are into escape fiction, to readers who have acquainted themselves with Sigma Force (or other James Rollins novels), and to anyone just wanting something very different to read. It's nonstop action all the way -- never a dull moment.

*Atonement, by Ian McEwan

Stunning, simply stunning. I finished this book coming home on an airplane and I forgot where I was for a few hours while reading it -- which was nice because I absolutely hate flying any more. I won't rehash the plot here (it's widely discussed and there are many websites that also discuss the novel), but I will say that the writing was superb. I hope that the movie prompts many more people to read it ... maybe they'll also pick up a few more of the author's other works.

I loved the ending (I won't go into that either), and didn't even see it coming. I started flipping backwards, and as I realized what McEwan did there, I was even more impressed with what I'd just read. It was definitely one of those endings you don't forget easily, and one that sneaks up on you.

I'd recommend it to anyone who loves a good work of literature and who wants something a wee bit different. McEwan never fails to amaze me with every book I read, and this one was no different. No wonder the man has been nominated for so many literary awards.
The story itself is very well done, the characters are all exquisitely drawn and the ending sort of hits you like a ton of bricks. Very highly recommended; going on my list of personal favorites for 2008.

postscript: the movie was quite good and remarkably true to the novel.

The Return, by Hakan Nesser

The Return is the second book (at least in the US) by Hakan Nesser, and continues the story of Inspector Van Veeteren, a very wise detective who has pretty much seen it all. As the story opens, the Inspector is in the hospital having surgery. A decapitated torso, also minus its hands and feet, was discovered by a little girl during a pre-school class outing in the woods. There is one telltale piece of physical evidence that may identify the body and it turns out to be a recently-released murderer who's returned to the area. But who killed him? And why? This is what Van Veeteren must discover, trusting the fieldwork to his subordinates while he's laid up at the hospital. This book is more of a psychological thriller rather than a straightforward mystery, and frankly, while it was good, it wasn't as good as Borkmann's Point, the series predecessor. Oh well -- I still enjoyed it a great deal and would gladly recommend it. I would recommend starting with Borkmann's Point -- you get a lot of Van Veeteren's quirkiness laid out at the very beginning in that first series novel. The writing is well done, the characterizations are excellent, and the story is quite good. The book shifts backwards and forward in time, so be careful. The ending was unexpected; I understood why the author made it so but it is definitely food for thought if you're so inclined. I'd recommend it to people who have read Borkmann's Point, and those who enjoy a mystery set in foreign countries. As noted, it is more psychological than action, but it does tie together well.

The Enchantress of Florence, by Salman Rushdie

(my thanks to Librarything's Early Reviewer Program for this one)

Rushdie has this particular trait that I've noticed in his writing: he writes entertainingly, but the reader cannot simply sit back and be entertained. This book was no exception. In one sense, I felt like Shahryar waiting for Scherezade to continue her tale. Every time I'd put the book down and come back to it, there was always something new, and something to look forward to. There's not just one story here, but several, and each one is intricately layered so that the reader has to stop and think about what he/she's just read. I won't rehash the plot (you can find internet reviews & synopses everywhere), but I will say that Rushdie's writing is exquisite and his characterizations are amazing. The scenes with Niccolo Machiavelli were wonderful and the political irony was not lost on me.

I would not recommend this to general mainstream readers because of its tendency toward reader participation & thought, but for those who want a good literature experience, or for those who are already familiar with Rushdie's writing style, this book would be one you won't soon forget. My thanks to Librarything and the early reviewer program for letting me have a peek before the book is released.

The Archivist's Story, by Travis Holland

(from the tbr mountain):

Ah, too soon was this book over! I finished this one in a very short amount of time (it's just over 200 pages), and was so totally engrossed that I forgot I was sitting on a beautiful, tropical beach in San Juan for a while. Although very disturbing in regards to the picture it paints of a Stalinist USSR, it was an incredible book and I would recommend it highly.
Isaac Babel, an author whose works probably need little or no introduction, has been arrested and now sits in the Lubyanka prison as the novel opens. Pavel Dubrov, the archivist of the title, has been sent to speak to Babel to verify that one of the stories the NKVD has confiscated actually is one of his. In this way, Pavel (aka Pasha) tells Babel, it can be assigned to the proper file in the archives. Out of curiosity, Pavel begins reading it and discovers the beauty of Babel's work and decides to save it, rather than to let it molder in some file or worse, find its way into the constantly-stoked incinerators where thousands of manuscripts and other works found a final home. Pavel knows that doing so will place himself in danger, but things in his past and events in his present lead him to believe that he can perhaps not only redeem himself by saving some of Babel's work, but also (and this gets into the central theme of the novel, imho) perhaps do his bit to change the flow of the history in which he has been caught up on some miniscule level. As he watches those he loves most get caught up in the Stalinist paranoia machine (and these were still in the early days of Stalin's time), he knows he has to do something.
An amazing book, truly. I think anyone interested in the former Soviet Union would really enjoy this book, as well as anyone interested in the topic of censorship. It is very well written; I hope Holland puts out something new very shortly. Highly recommended.

*Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I read this book eons ago but I don't think I was in the right frame of mind at the time to fully appreciate its beauty. It's difficult to review this book, because there's so much to it, and there is a wealth of information and a plethora of sites pulling it apart as to themes, motifs etc on the internet. So what I won't do is go into the plot.
First off, I think this is a book that everyone should read. Not that everyone will, but it should be high on everyone's tbr list. I know that Oprah's had it featured on her bookclub list, and hopefully her recommendation alone will get more people interested. Personally, I can't see how anyone wouldn't like this book.
Marquez's writing can only be viewed as beautiful. He is in total control of his topic, his characters, his setting and manages to get his point across to the reader with no difficulty at all. Once you start this book (or for that matter, any other novel he's ever written) you are hooked. IMHO, Marquez is one of the finest storytellers that ever put pen to paper. For example: there is one sentence that says only a few words and yet it says everything: The uncle of Florentino Ariza, Don Leo XII Loayza, the head of the River Company of the Caribbean notes at one point that "the trouble" ..."is that without river navigation, there is no love." Picture it -- it captures in one small sentence the story of Florentino Ariza and his river journeys some 50 years apart. The first, when he decided not to run away from Fermina Daza, but to stay in the same place and endure his love for her. The second, well, I won't spoil the ending, but once you've read it you'll understand. There is absolutely no writer like Marquez and there is absolutely no story like this one.
Very highly recommended; one of my personal favorites. I would recommend it to everyone.

*The Year of Living Dangerously, by Christopher J. Koch

Set in Indonesia just before, during and just after the ouster of Indonesian leader Sukarno by a coup, the novel is narrated by a journalist named Cookie, whose role here seems to be as a father confessor to a handful of fellow journalists, some who have been in Indonesia for a while, and some, like Guy Hamilton, who have only just arrived. Guy is one of the central characters of the novel -- ambitious, looking to make a name for himself. Hamilton is taking the place of another Australian journalist who didn't quite make the grade & was sent home. Hamilton's sojourn in Indonesia starts off slowly until he meets another central character, Billy Kwan, a dwarf of Australian and Chinese parentage. Billy senses something in Hamilton, and jump starts his career as a journalist in Indonesia by tipping him to some major contacts. All around the journalists, who live & work in the glorious Hotel Indonesia (which is a totally separate and unreachable world for all but the most wealthy of natives), there is nothing but poverty and poor living conditions, which tend to worsen as Sukarno, idolized by Billy at the beginning of the story, takes money given in aid and uses it to buy his monuments & toys rather than help the people of Indonesia. The worsening plight of the natives under Sukarno is pointed out throughout the novel, as is the belief that journalists have a sort of moral obligation to report what's really going on with the people, so that perhaps they can help them. Billy Kwan, with his old Bell and Howell camera, becomes Guy's eyes because he can go several places where the foreign journalists can't , and Billy has his own agenda and his own ideas about the role of foreign correspondents in his troubled country, especially Hamilton, with whom he develops a bond that was not offered to the other journalists. Instead, the journalists are just hanging on in Indonesia, waiting for that one big story of a lifetime that just might further their own careers. I stayed up almost until daylight finishing this book and it was well worth every second, although I'm really out of it today. I definitely recommend this one to anyone who likes books about post-colonial Asia. I also think it's well worth reading by anyone in general. I saw the movie eons ago when it first came out, but just bought it to watch again so that I can refresh my memory now that I've read the novel. A great book; I'm positive I'm missing out on other good ones by this author! Recommended

Two vacations later....updating my reading log

Actually I was back May 1 but haven't had a minute since (except to read, of course). It was a great time....a cruise for 7 days ending up in San Juan Puerto Rico, then 2 days out in the tropical sun there. Part of day 2 we spent on a Hobie Cat out in the ocean across from the Ritz-Carlton hotel and I certainly wasn't thinking of what I wasn't reading then. Then home a day and back in the air to go to Seattle for a week. From the tropics to freezing ... hmm. Now back home in sunny FL where the weather's finally getting warm enough to use my unheated pool and read out on my patio.

Back to the book list: I've continued the "read a good movie" topic into May so I can get a bigger sample under this heading. I've also made a point of watching each movie after I've read the book so I can see how these have translated to the screen. So far the best one is Atonement by Ian McEwan. Anyway, on with the books.