April 2nd, 2008
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Sherman Alexie
“My head was so big that little Indian skulls orbited around it. Some
of the kids called me Orbit. And other kids just called me Globe.
The bullies would pick me up, spin me in circles, put their finger
down on my skull, and say, “I want to go there.”"
This is Junior. A Native American boy born with a huge head with too much water in his brain, forty-two teeth, huge feet and big plastic rimmed specs. He’s a little different than the rest of the under-achieving Indians on the reservation. These aren’t his greatest differences however. What really sets him apart is his decision to leave the “rez” and go to high school 22 miles away at the “white” school. This quickly makes him an outcast in his own community as he tries to integrate into a new school.
Told in a confessional style that makes the reader feel like Junior’s counselor and littered with hilarious drawings from the hand of Junior, Alexie gives the allusion that this is not just a made up story but rather his memoirs. Emotional from start to finish, you’ll finish it in a day and be thoroughly entertained the whole way through. Classified under Young Adult, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian can easily be enjoyed by adults as well.
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February 22nd, 2008
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Red Fox by Anthony Hyde
Subtlety, clever intrigue, links with historical mysteries and featuring an academic out of his element dangerously treading near violent men obsessively in search of answers. If you enjoyed the cleverness of Angels & Demons or the Da Vinci Code you will probably find this story of interest as well. Anthony Hyde prepares the mysteries carefully and subtly making you wonder throughout, just as you think you have the plot sorted out, then a new truth, or what appears to be a truth appears and the mystery takes a whole new shape. The story is well balanced with enough detail and description blended with excitement to keep the pace up.
Our hero is an American academic near the end of his career that scans Russian periodicals for items of interest and translates them. He has also become somewhat complacent and sedentary until he receives a strange call from his former fiancé. He was unexpectedly jilted many years ago by his fiancé who had seemed a perfect match and he had never quite recovered from it, nor does it seem, had she. When her father disappears and suicide is a possibility, our intellectual hero starts looking into to it, he finds layer upon layer of mysteries drawing ever closer to harm as well as answers to lifelong questions of his own. Read the rest of this entry »
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February 13th, 2008
Bootlegger’s Daughter by Margaret Maron
I checked out this book and an old favorite by Agatha Christie at the same time. I was in the mood for a mystery that was not too cheeky, and not full of blood and guts. I wanted something classic and engaging, that did not take itself too seriously. I never did re-read that Christie mystery, as the Bootlegger’s Daughter fulfilled all of these requirements. This is the first of a series of mysteries with Deborah Knott as the sleuth. She is an attorney who is running for a seat on the bench in a small town in North Carolina, when she becomes involved in investigating a murder that took place years before. The author richly describes the southern settings and the southern characters, thus laying the groundwork for many a mystery to come. Any lover of whodunits will enjoy this classic.
Wendi
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February 5th, 2008
Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman
Hello there. The book I am reviewing is Austin Grossman’s Soon I Will Be Invincible: a Novel
This is a fun read for anyone who has been even a little bit of a superheroes/comic book fan – it has the sometimes cheesy dialogue – with actual back story and internal dialogue that one doesn’t generally find in comic books. The chapters alternate between Mr. Impossible – a super villain, and Fatale, a part cyborg super hero who until recently worked for the NSA, and is unsure of her origins.
It also raises some interesting points regarding living in a universe where super heroes existed – i.e. – where would superheroes come from? What if the leader of your super hero troupe was a total jerk? Where should one build their super villain lair?
On one final note – the cover art is done by Chip Kidd – who I love, and you may recognize from Jurassic Park, Naked and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris, among many others.
Martha
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January 23rd, 2008
Brick Lane by Monica Ali
Nazneen was born in 1967 in a small Bangladesh village and at first appeared to be a stillborn but was saved by Fate, according to the tale of her family. It is Fate that she trusts to cope with life once her husband chooses her as his wife and brings her to London at age 18. It is her voice we follow through the struggles of living as an immigrant in a foreign world. She lives in a small apartment, many other tenants in the building are also Bangladeshi and Muslim, where her adult life unfolds as she fills her days tending to the needs of her family. What makes this story appealing is the intimate relationship the reader feels with Nazneen and her struggles to cope with the strangeness of a foreign land while dealing with the peril her family suffers in her home country. She begins to wonder if Fate is responsible for her life situation of if she has a choice. It is a character-driven novel that brings the adversity immigrants face to the surface where the reader can relate, because we are all humans searching for our place in the world and are all victims of Fate. Or are we?
Posted in Jess, Fiction, Reader's Advisory | 1 Comment »
January 16th, 2008
The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon
What if Jews were settled in Alaska prior to World War Two? With this question in mind Michael Chabon changes history with a relatively minor event. Harold Ickes, a major opponent to the proposal to settle Eastern European Jews in Alaska, is killed in a freak accident before the bill gets buried in a congressional subcommittee. With this twist in history, Jews settle in Sitka, Alaska in 1938 and in a second push in 1948 when Jews are pushed out of their homeland in Israel. However, this resettlement is temporary and Reversion is beginning as The Yiddish Policeman’s Union begins.
Chabon’s novel opens with a murder of an unknown person. As Detective Meyer Landsman seeks to reveal the identity of both the victim and murderer; he is struggling to pick up the pieces of his shattered life. As the reader follows Landsman through the last months of Jews’ reign in Alaska, the murder investigation and the remnants of his personal life enable this alternative history to begin to feel like a reality. The Yiddish Policeman’s Union is ultimately Meyer Landsman’s tale. The murder mystery and international conspiracy become side stories.
Weeks after finishing the novel I find myself still pondering how our world would be different in Chabon’s new world. I wonder about the Holocaust and the current situation in Israel. Chabon has completely altered current events with the death of one individual.
Two notes before you begin this book:
1. Give it at least 50 pages before you give up.
2.Check out this website before or during your reading of this novel:
Rebecca
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January 14th, 2008
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Persepolis: the Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
As the first graphic novel I’ve read, I was unsure of what to expect of a memoir created in this format, but I ultimately found it to be an engaging, eye-opening read. Marjane is 10 years old in 1980, the year it became obligatory for women to wear a veil her home country of Iran (according to the strict ideals surrounding the “Islamic Revolution”). During this time the situation in Iran is violent and dangerous as demonstrators against the fundamentalist revolution were massacred in the streets. Soon began the invasion of Iran by Iraq and the constant bombing of Marjane’s hometown of Tehran. The repressive government of Iran enforced a variety of propaganda such as offering boys plastic “keys” to heaven to encourage them to join the armed forces. Those who openly opposed the war were often arrested and executed. The story is told with the experiences of Marjane’s grandparents, uncles, family friends, and schoolmates, depicted with the innocence of child forced to witness violence and death everywhere. In 1984, her parents, in an attempt to save her from the horrors of war, make a life-altering decision that will leave the reader itching to know Marjane’s destiny. Luckily for us, her story continues in the sequel “Persepolis 2″. Those readers who appreciate edgy memoirs will enjoy this artfully illustrated story.
Jess
Posted in Jess, Non-Fiction, Reader's Advisory | 1 Comment »
January 9th, 2008
Codex by Lev Grossman
A book-lover’s Da Vinci Code read-a-like, (but actually well-written!) this novel ties together the rarified worlds of medieval bookmaking, mythical medieval manuscripts, posh private libraries, British aristocracy, sophisticated computer gaming, and more.
Young international banking star Edward Wozny is between jobs: he is about to go to London to work at a private bank, but is currently at loose ends. Fortunately, a mysterious former client from the bank (a Duke, no less) hires our hero to catalog his private and untouched since WWII library that lives in its’ own Park Ave. apartment.
The library is a unique mix of worthless paper and priceless monographs, some hand-illuminated from the 13th and 14th centuries. Edward is overwhelmed by the task and persuades a new acquaintance a medieval expert from a rare book repository to assist in the task. The pair is trying to find a hidden mythical medieval travelogue - the codex - that isn’t supposed to exist, one that a medievalist would give her eye-teeth to possess. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Staff Picks, Steve, Fiction, Reader's Advisory | No Comments »
January 9th, 2008
Ask a Mexican! by Gustavo Arellano
Got a question you’ve just been dying to ask your pocho Mexican friend but you’re too afraid to ask? Ever wondered why a lot of Mexican music sounds just like polka? Or curious about what type of tequila is the best? What to call a group of them? Mexican? Hispanic? Chicano? Well here’s your not-so-official guide to Mexicans, or more poignantly, your guide to Mexicans living in south Los Angeles. Gustavo Arellano, author of “Ask a Mexican!,” has collected some of his most hilarious, outlandish, and down-right racist letters and comments from his weekly column at the OC Weekly and put them into a book. It shapes out to be an entertaining read, even if you’re not that intrigued by the Mexican immigrant culture. Fair warning: there are parts of the book that’ll make you feel as if you’ve just flipped the channel to the Jerry Springer Show and peeked into the trashy world of the seediest citizens this country has to offer. Because every question in the book is anonymous, people feel entirely liberated to ask whatever question pops into there head, and Arellano, God bless him, answers their questions right back with little shame, which makes for an honest book with little shade to hide under from the hot Mexican sun.
Adam
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January 8th, 2008
Post Secret by Frank Warren
Frank handed our 1,000 blank post cards to total strangers. The only requirement was that they write something they had never told anyone before. The book was so well received, it now has it’s own website postsecrets.com PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.
Juli
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