Upon first opening this, I thought “Ugh – a book told in letters.” But the letters are witty and quickly grabbed me. This is the story of Juliet Ashton, an author who wrote under the name Izzy Bickerstaff during the war. Tired of writing under her pen name and looking for something deeper than her war writing, she begins correspondence with the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. As the society was started after the German invasion to protect their local citizens, it is a story not only of well loved books but of a community’s survival in the face of adversity. Well crafted, witty, and with a light touch, this is a book I would highly recommend.

This book was AMAZING! Set in the future, the United States has been split into the Capitol and 13 Districts. The Capitol is successful while the districts are poor and pay for the entertainments of the Capitol. Each year, the districts each select a boy and a girl to go to fight in the Hunger Games; this is a fight to the death, aired live on television. They are provided with nothing, and the better the ‘show’ (the flashier the murders, the more drama while the children try to create alliances) the more money raised by Capitol sponsors. And there can only be one winner in the Hunger Games. It raises some great questions about survival, class status, and what is done for the sake of entertainment.

Dawn’s story revolves around bad relationships, her sister (or Life Coach), and a mother obsessed with creating THE holiday tree. When things hit their worst, Dawn starts to hear dogs talk to her. Its both charmingly light and dark; what made this book are the dogs’ voices. Without their perspective, the book would have been left with just Dawn’s voice. And Dawn is stupid in love, and her voice is focused on her unhappiness. A great read if you’re looking for something quick and entertaining.

Zoey is left without friends and her boyfriends when she loses their trust. Her teachers have turned against her, and she has to regain her friends’ faith. This book sets up the battle between the good and the bad of the vampyre world. Also the most recent title released in the series.

Zoey must deal with a good friend’s return as the undead and questions about humanity, all while attending classes. One of her sworn enemies becomes the only person she can trust in the third book in the House of Night series. Again, great read with sharp banter and pop culture references. Great suggestion for readers interested in the vampyre or fantasy genres.

Zoey is starting to settle into House of Night (even though she is unique even in the vampyre world). She has become the head of the Dark Daughters, but all is not well; humans are being killed and the deaths placed on the House. While she fights to protect all those she loves, a betrayal might threaten everything she has worked to achieve. This book is dark, but there is humour. Zoey’s friends are well fleshed out personalities with odd quirks, and the authors play this up well, as well as Zoey’s attempts to date.

This story is based in a world aware of vampyres, but not one in which they are accepted. Zoey Redbird becomes ‘marked,’ and moves into the House of Night. There they teach those blessed with this gift how to control it; but this does not mean that all of those marked will survive the change. Zoey is given a special gift by the goddess and she must begin to learn how to use her gift while navigating the treacherous waters of (essentially) high school. Marked is the first book in a series by the Casts, a mother/daughter writing team. Great dialogue, sharp characters, and a solid plot make this an entertaining read for those interested in the vampire/fantasy genre.

Harper Connelly was struck by lightning and develops a gift: she can find the dead and see how they died. She travels with her ‘brother’ Tolliver and earns a living from helping people find their dead. This book revolves around a small town and a number of missing teenage boys. An interesting and quick read, it is the 3rd book in the Harper Connelly series (by author of Sookie Stackhouse novels).

I think that the second book in Marr’s series is even better than the first. Leslie is a troubled teen that has a difficult and abusive home life. To express herself and deal with her pain, she decides to get a tattoo. The tattoo design she chooses brings her into the realm of fairies (and not the pretty and happy kind). This is the latest book released in the series, although book three is currently in Advanced Readers Copy. Can’t wait.

Carolyn’s review made me realize I couldn’t find the review I (thought) had posted. This is one of my favorite young adult ‘series’ (second to Twilight). Marr has created a world of books loosely tied together by characters but they do not have to be read in order. Wicked Lovely is the 1st, and she has created a wonderful, magical world full of flawed characters and bad guys. The plot revolves around Aislinn; she can see fairies because of a magical gift she would give anything to not have. What I love so much about these characters is that none of them are traditional; the main love interest has piercings and there are tattoos. I love that Marr steps outside of the box, and this book is a fantastic suggestion for both young adults and adults.

I enjoyed this short novel. It has physicists and anthrolpologists, blind men, grad students, a psychiatrist, oh and a creature composed of nothingness (entirely made of the absence of anything) that has its own personality and is picky. It is a darkly funny and sarcastic story about love and obsession, while at the same time we are pulled through an academic discussion of what it is to have, and to lack.

I believe this book was the highlight of my summer reading. Aciman, in winning me over with this story, has led me to recently acquire his entire catalog of essays and memoirs, which I look forward to attacking as summer is ending. Short and (extra) sweet, it follows an over-educated 17-year-old seducing and being seduced by his father’s visiting scholar at their summer home in Italy. Coming-of-age stories, when done well, must speak directly to the romantic idealist, and this one succeeds by communicating straight to the heart.

The above paragraph was the short review I published in the Tartan this past August. Nothing has changed, I have fond memories of this story and it is the best fiction I have read this year.

Aiobheann Sweeney’s first novel was something while reading that I didn’t quite know what to do with. But now, months later, I have decided I it is worth some struggle. It is new and it is interesting. It is a story with people who are presented as characters. Events occur, the people take actions and also don’t take action. Later it ends. And then even later, I look back and decide that that was something I enjoyed reading.

Annie Dillard’s newest novel was one I was meant to enjoy, but while I didn’t not enjoy it (feel that praise), it is nothing to write home about. Thus, I will end here.

Another graphic novel, that we at Book Group read along with the previously posted Blankets, was Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home. I frequently accidentally call this graphic novel Fun House. It is an honest mistake I promise.

Comparively, this one is (much) darker, more literary, deals with sexual exploration (in the what-is-my-sexuality-orientation-vein), and of course is set between a funeral home and their own large victorian house. It is strange and morbid, but that I enjoyed. The illustrations however, did not lead me to the same emotional response that Blankets did.

Blankets, a long, quick graphic novel that recounts the Craig Thompson’s own story of first love. While a bit sappy at moments, the story comes across as honest and a plausible look back at growing up. Additionally the novel is very well illustrated. Many of the pages stand on their own, apart from the framework they have been set up in, as pieces of art.

Even at six-hundred pages, it moves quickly, pulling you in right from the start. Oh! And, it has been banned, likely due to its somewhat negative spin on Christianity and its later scenes of, well, young adults being young adults. So. If you are going to read a coming of age story, you might as well read it with pictures.

This was a fantastic (and quick) read that I did awhile back, before the movie hit the theatres. This is the story of Nick (a young boy stuck on his ex) and Norah (a girl who spends her life shepherding her drunken best friend from various NYC hot spots). Norah borrows Nick for a kiss and when he realizes Norah is connected to his ex, they join together for a madcap dash around NYC to find their favorite band. Full of fun band references, it is told from both Nick and Norah’s perspectives. A great read for young adults as well as adults.

Dessen’s writing (as always) is superb; she has an amazing grasp of how to give the characters just enough teenage angst without it feeling overly whiny or completely unrealistic. The main character has been living by herself, hoping to get by until she turns eighteen and can legally be on her own. However she is discovered and forced to live with her older sister Cora (who left her 10 years ago) and her new husband Jamie in a wealthy neighborhood completely unlike anything she has ever known. She must work through her bitterness at her sister’s entrance into her life and her mother’s disappearance. She must also find a place for herself in a community that forces her to become a stronger person-both intellectually and emotionally. What is great about this book is that although a young adult novel, this has a strong adult presence-which makes it a great choice for older readers as well.

Bella Swan moves to Forks, Washington to live with her dad and leave her mother free to travel with her new husband. Only, things aren’t as simple as she expected them to be. She meets Edward Cullen, whose family is as unique as he is…vampires. While a ‘young adult’ novel, this could be enjoyed by adults as well. While I love the entire series, I admit it is flawed-particularly Bella’s sometimes immature narrative. But a great read.

I am continuing to read books before I see the movie. This one features gymnastics, which so rarely happens that I felt reading the book would be a good move.

I didn’t get at all what I expected. This is a story about a man’s disillusionment, freeing his mind, and discovering what happiness truly is. A mix of martial arts, meditation and pushing himself past the limit. His mentor Soc, has strange powers to induce visions and jump onto rooftops.

This book offers a strange mix of humiliation and compassion that will take some time to digest, but it well worth the time to do so.

Gemma Doyle is shipped to England after her mother commits suicide and her father is no longer capable of acting as a proper guardian. Her grandmother puts her into boarding school at Spence Academy, where she fights to build friendships with already made cliques. At the same time, she has begun to have visions, and things are happening that she has no explanation for. The big negative for this book is that there is a magical world where her and her “order” ventures, but all of the magical aspects of the novel are not detailed enough to make it understandable. This is part of a young adult series.

This novel juggles many story lines that sometimes seem overwhelming to the reader, even for someone who likes complexity. The main character of this story is ultimately Walker & Daughter, the yarn shop Georgia opens to support her daughter Dakota. The more successful the shop, the more women who visit and loiter and eventually the Friday Night Knitting Club evolves. The focus of the novel is on how knitting gives women a sense of community and each woman begins to build a new sense of self with the help of their new friends.

Will North’s debut novel is fantastically written, and very lyrical. Alec Hudson is on a pilgrimage; he must scatter the ashes of his ex-wife (but still much-loved) Gwynne on the peaks of the mountains where they found their happiest times together. Almost to his destination, he stops at a bed-and-breakfast where he meets Fiona, who is married to David. Alec and Fiona begin a blossoming relationship while he waits for the mountain’s weather to clear, and upon his journey back from the peak he finds David, near death. I can’t reveal much else without giving away key plot points; normally I would have a more serious problem with Fiona’s infidelity, but the writer seems to understand some reader’s hesitation and makes it clear that this is a reclusive husband who leaves Fiona to tend to herself. A nice novel that doesn’t take long to finish.

Iris, a successful vintage clothing shop owner, finds out that she has a great-aunt that her grandmother has kept hidden in a mental institution for over sixty years. The story unfolds as Iris decides to help Esme become part of mainstream society, and is told through various narrative voices. It can be a little difficult to follow at times, since Iris’ grandmother (Kitty) has Alzheimer’s, and her narrative voice is very disjunctive. Ultimately Iris begins to find herself as she learns from Esme’s story, about refusing to give in to society’s restrictions. Well written, it is a fast read; the only problem is the ending leaves much to be desired.

This isn’t quite as good as The Road, but for the creepiest experience of realization of an author’s work ever read this and then immediately see the Coen Brothers film.

Or just read this because I enjoyed it. McCarthy’s graphic landscapes and sharp, concise, nearly trivial (which is what makes it realistic – i believe) conversation fragments fit both post-apocalyptic England and the cowboys of the south/west quite well.

Mia McMurray works in an art gallery in Soho. She becomes obsessed with a portrait by the late Jeffrey Finelli (killed the night of his showing by a taxi) titled “Lulu meets God and doubts him.” This is the story of the New York City art scene, and a fight for possession of a now famous painting by an until then unknown artist. Well written, it is witty and sarcastic. Mia (the narrator) makes fun of herself and how she remains in her job, even while it pays poorly and she is far from the starving artist that so many gallery assistants are. If you enjoyed The Devil Wears Prada, this might be a novel you’d enjoy.

This story is told entirely through notes left between the mother and daughter. I almost put it down when I realized this but it was short, so I figured it would kill an evening. The mother is a doctor and the daughter is involved in all sorts of things through school and has an active social life. But the mother begins to have some health trouble, and her story is told between their coming to grips with the changing family life. A short read, and very touching.

“It was called evolutionary biology. Under its sway, the sexes were separated again, men into hunters and women into gatherers. Nurture no longer formed us; nature did. Impulses of hominids dating from 20,000BC were still controlling us. And so today on television and in magazines you get the current simplifications. Why can’t men communicate? (Because they had to be quiet on the hunt.) Why do women communicate so well? (Because they had to call out to one another where the fruits and berries were.) Why can men never find things around the house? (Because they have a narrow field of vision, useful in tracking prey.) Why can women find things so easily? (Because in protecting the nest they were used to scanning a wide field.) Why can’t women parallel park? (Because low testosterone inhibits spatial ability.) Why won’t men ask for directions? (Because asking for directions is a sign of weakness, and hunters never show weakness.) This is where we are today. Men and women, tired of being the same, want to be different again.”

“I was thinking how amazing it was that the world contained so many lives. Out in these streets people were embroiled in a thousand matters, money problems, love problems, school problems. People were falling in love, getting married, going to drug rehab, learning how to ice skate, getting bifocals, studying for exams, trying on clothes, getting their hair cut, and getting born. And in some houses people were getting old and sick and were dying, leaving other to grieve. It was happening all the time, unnoticed, and it was the thing that really mattered.”

I got Francine Prose’s Primitive People while I was home last weekend at the Book Outlet, and in maintaining my read-a-bunch-of-short-books plan finished it this morning. It was pretty good, I did enjoy it, but it did not blow me away.

My favorite character, the vulgar and philosophical, sex-driven yet idealistic children’s hairstylist Kenny wasn’t used to his full potential. Actually I think that is generally my complaint, I wanted a bit more to happen, though I did appreciate the not so tidy ending. It is a well executed piece of writing, just unfortunately not too much more than that.

Epilepsy, electricity, Electricity.
A unique, zany narrative of emptiness.
An abrupt character, Lily, with epilepsy lost in the story of her own life, looking for answers to so many questions after her mother (the reason for her epilepsy) dies.

Written interestingly and perfectly shapes and reflects Lily’s scatterbrained bluntness with its expression and style. Her quirkiness and seizures pull you through the story while her passion and determination push you. The story is as striking as the character.

I couldn’t tell the difference between menstruation and protractors or compass. Big words like that just make me feel sad.

Quicksilver is a volume consisting of the first three Baroque Cycle books, Quicksilver, King of the Vagabonds, and Odalisque.

The series is based in the mid 1600’s to early 1700’s and is based predominantly in Europe. It is a fictional work although it features many historical figures as characters and follows historical events.

I am greatly enjoying this latest series of books by Stephenson as they provide a rich complexity provided not only by a fascinating story over a backdrop largely based on actual events and the political, religious, and scientific intrigues and machinations of the characters, but by Stephenson’s abilities to play on words and situations that bring you out another layer of abstraction above the story.

Stephenson paints with a wide brush in this series, covering in detail everything from the early experiments of the Royal Society to the operations of Amsterdam’s economy and trade, to adventures in Vienna. (This makes for some hefty volumes, each of the three being 800-900 pages long). It is clear that Stephenson has done his research on the time period, although much is clearly fiction in the name of telling a good story. It has certainly piqued my interest in an era that I did not know much about, and has presented it in a way that has often sent me to Wikipedia to learn more about the actual historical figures and events (and also renewed a desire to learn various European languages). Highly recommended.

Perhaps I will change my style, and give my favorite line of the book:

“Old loves are hard to get out of your system.”

I understand Neal Stephenson has a bit of a reputation by now for writing books and, er, not stopping. The three volumes of the Baroque Cycle, for instance, have never been read by human eyes, but they have been used successfully in several recent late-night muggings, as blunt weapons.

Zodiac is from before he developed this habit. It’s snappy, fun, full of golden Neal Stephenson wit, and just the right amount of confusing and plot-twisty. Sangamon Taylor is a typical Stephenson hero, a super nerd who makes you wonder why your super-nerdy life isn’t nearly as exciting as his. In this case, it involves zipping hither and thither in Boston Harbor on a crazy custom boat that gives the novel its name, fighting ecological bad guys straight out of “Captain Planet”, having sex and angst with hot, assertive, ultra-granola chicks, and continuing to be surprised at how he almost gets killed like every other chapter.

I don’t know nearly enough about the scientific details to know whether he’s totally getting the chemistry wrong in several places, but hey, the story about Randy doing unix and X11 programming in jail in Cryptonomicon was spot on, so for all I know it’s probably right.

This book is fantastic. Its aimless wanderings really have no reason, and yet this makes it all the more humorous. Since the book has been reviewed previously, I won’t go into detail, but you should check out the comic strip about this book….
http://www.unshelved.com/archive.aspx?strip=20060423

The first chapter of this book actually tells you the entire story.
It only makes sense, however, after you actually read the book.

The story of Rant is told by conglomerated tidbits of stories told by friends, enemies and neighbors. Rant is probably one of the strangest characters ever. He has odd talents associated with scent and taste (which are rather disturbing), as well as odd addictions (which, again, are rather disturbing). He scares me.

The subject of the book is truly creative. It keeps you contemplating for a while.

Also consider that someday, when you’re dead and rotted, kids with their baby teeth will sit in their time-geography class and laugh about how stupid you were.

Shane’s life is a mess. He’s the prime suspect for a murder he may not have committed. He drinks. A lot. He works at an insurance company alphabetizing papers, but really he spends it making sculptures out of paper clips and sitting on the toilet. But Shane doesn’t care ( about much of anything ). Just like Neilan didn’t care about the plot.

But that’s okay, because the book was so deliciously bitter and witty. You could probably relate to book, if you ever looked around you and said under your breath, “Where am I and how did I get surrounded by these stupid people?”

My one major complaint is that the salt shakers really didn’t mean anything beyond being a common material object easily stolen from public places. Well that, and they’re funny.

This “novel” is written in the style of an oral history: it consists solely of, what we are told are, direct quotes from people associated with one Buster L. Casey. Because of this we must assemble the narrative of the book in our minds as we are only told revolving fractions of events that friends, acquaintances, and so called experts fill in.

The device of an oral history works very well here because it allows a method where theatrhoe cannot be expected to fill in all the details or make the story consistent; it can remain partially shrouded in the mystery of people’s memories, of the past, and of the future.

Oh Ian McEwan, because of this novel I nearly purchased a large belt buckle at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo that was covered in hot air balloons, but then I realized that this would be a morbid act and a reminder of death in the shape of hot air balloons.

So while I did not purchase this buckle, I did enjoy this book, which kept me reading, kept me interested, and kept me guessing on what was going to happen, who to believe, and how stable the mental health of the main character is.

Tying in science writing, a childless yet love filled relationship, an obsessed and devout christian stalker, and the search for truth, we find that enduring love is not what we might have thought.

Another excellent book by Vonnegut. His style of leisurely packaging up his thoughts on the end of the world by human greed and self-delusion is actually quite refreshing.

And there is a midget dancer; Russian, nonetheless.

Abortion is bad.