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You are browsing the archives of 2008 December.

All the Colours of Darkness by Peter Robinson
An Inspector Banks Mystery, Book 18
Pages: 349
First Published: Sept. 30, 2008 (Can/UK),
Feb. 17, 2009 (USA) as All the Colors of Darkness
Genre: mystery
Rating: 3/5
First sentence:
Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot thought it was a great shame that she had to spend one of the most beautiful days of the year so [...]

James Howard Kunstler
317 pages
I picked up World Made by Hand because I saw it mentioned somewhere (can’t remember where, sorry) and it sounded interesting. I was vaguely aware that it involves some social commentary but I didn’t want to get involved in it too much and risk learning so much that I spoiled the [...]

tales from outer suburbia by shaun tan
Pages: 95
First Published: Oct. 28 (Can), Feb. 1 (USA)
Genre: short stories, adult picture book, YA
Rating: 4/5
First sentence:

when I was a kid, there was a big water buffalo living in the vacant lot at the end of our street, the one with the grass no one ever mowed.

Comments: This is [...]

Etta
By Gerald Kolpan
Completed December 28, 2008
Etta is the debut novel by journalist Gerald Kolpan. Inspired by a documentary about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Kolpan became interested in the mysterious Etta Place – Sundance Kid’s lover. Kolpan researched Etta, turned up very little, and decided to write a fictional account about this elusive [...]

Red Dog Red Dog by Patrick Lane
Pages: 332
First Published: Sept 30, 2008 (Canada only)
Genre: literary fiction
Rating: 4.5/5
First sentence:
it didn’t take him long to bury me.
Comments: Whoa! This is one of those books that I wonder if I have the skill to put into words all that the book is. But I’ll give it my best [...]

I loved that characters from many of Binchy’s other books were in this one. It gives an update on some characters from Evening Class, Scarlett Feather, Quentins, Whitethorn Hills and Nights of Rain and Stars.

The characters are realistic, modern people that fight with their family, have good friends, and hope for a better life and love.

Fisherman’s Bend by Linda Greenlaw
A Jane Bunker Mystery, Book 2
Pages: 244
First Published: July, 2008
Genre: mystery
Rating: DNF
First sentence:
I stood at the stern facing aft and watched the walls of Cobble Harbor gently melt into rainbow sherbet foliage of Quoddy Head.
Comments: I did not finish this book so will not give a review but a brief statement [...]

The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner
Pages: 305
First Published: Sept, 2008
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Christian Fiction
Rating: 4/5
First sentence:

I’ve heard the story countless times, how I grasped the delivering doctor’s scrubs as he guided me into the Durrough family universe of opportunity and duty.

Comments: Lauren, a college student from a rich family, takes on a job [...]

American Widow by Alissa Torres
Art by Choi
Pages: 209
First Published: Sept, 2008
Genre: Graphic Novel, Memoir
Rating: 3/5
First sentence:

The World Trade Center was just hit by a plane! Turn on your TV!
Comments: This is the author’s memoir of the tragedy of her life, becoming a widow on 9/11. Her husband was on his second day at his new [...]

The Prism Blade by Patricia Bow
Passage to Mythrin, Book 2
Pages: 267
Finished: Dec. 10, 2008
First Published: May, 2008
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Rating: 4.5/5
Reason for Reading: Received a Review Copy from Chapters Top Reviewers Club.
First sentence: Long, long ago, in the springtime of the world, Adam was the first man.
Comments: The second volume of this wonderful YA series [...]

Sebastian Barry’s fourth novel opens in an Irish mental hospital with the voice of Roseanne McNulty who, in the 100th year of her life, has decided to write her memoir and hide it beneath the floorboards of her room. As Roseanne revisits the past, the Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital is being dismantled due to safety concerns. Roseanne’s psychiatrist Dr. Grene is attempting to evaluate the patients to determine if they can be set free, or must be re-committed in the new hospital. The story alternates between Roseanne’s memories of her past and Dr. Grene’s written thoughts in the present. As the novel progresses, the mystery of Roseanne’s life unfolds and Dr. Grene uncovers a secret in his own life[...]

We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Young Family, a Broken Down Zoo and the 200 Wild Animals That Change Their Lives Forever by Benjamin Mee
Pages: 261
First Published: Sept, 2008
Genre: memoir
Rating: 2.5/5
First sentence:
Mum and I arrived as the new owners of Dartmoor Wildlife Park in Devon for the first time at around [...]

Lynn Austin
428 pages
The circumstances of life have dealt a tough blow to the Carlson sisters. First, their beloved mother dies. Next, their father dies under circumstances that ruin life for them in their Swedish village. Their uncle and his family come to live with them but rather than helping the situation it only creates new [...]

“But if I’m not to be a priestess,” I asked him, “where will my place be in Thebes?” I held my breath, waiting for the right answer to come, willing it into his heart. Then he took me in his arms and brushed his lips against mine.  “With me,” he said firmly. “As my [...]

Coventry by Helen Humphreys
Pages: 177
First Published: Aug. 2008 (Feb. 2009 in US)
Genre: historical fiction
Rating: 4.5/5
First sentence:
The swallow arcs and dives above the cathedral.
Comments: This book tells the story of Nov. 14, 1940, the evening and night that Coventry, England, an industrial town, was bombed to a wasteland by a German air raid during World War [...]

Did you know it was Jewish Book Month? I didn’t, but when I found out, I wanted to read a title from a Jewish author. Lara Vapnyar won the 2004 Goldberg Prize for Jewish Fiction by Emerging Writers for There Are Jews in my House. She emigrated from Russia in 1994 when [...]

There are times in life — not many — when you can see, with dizzying clarity, the fatal fork in the road represented by one small act, the catastrophe that lurks behind a trivial decision.
A few weeks ago I posted about the literature in translation I had read so far this year and was surprised [...]

This One Is Mine
By Maria Semple
Completed December 3, 2008
This One Is Mine is the debut novel by former TV screenwriter, Maria Semple. It’s a chick lit book, full of humor, man troubles, fashion woes and self-exploration. More intriguing for me was the satirical look at the Beverly Hills life of the two main characters.
Violet Parry [...]

I pressed my hands to my heart. I felt dizzy again, as I always do when I step out of the shadow world of pointless watching and waiting and come face-to-face with reality. How much simpler reality is!

Just as in Embers, the crux of the novel is a confrontation. Esther is in her mid 40’s and lives only with a female relative. It seems that she (and much of her family) have been ripped off (in the nicest way possible) by Lajos the Liar. Now, several years later, he’s come back to visit, and we get the expected confrontation between them[...]