Category: Books

A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Here is the beginning of the Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro story that I jumped into mid-stream when I read Gone, Baby, Gone. I really like both of these characters. They are good guys, but the life of a private investigator includes so many gray areas it is interesting to watch them wrestle with the moral choices. Kind of like some of Veronica Mars’ quandaries.

Kenzie and Gennaro are hired by a powerful state senator to recover some “important documents” and that document recovery touches off a gang war during a hot Boston summer. As per every Dennis Lehane novel I’ve read, I stayed up late finishing it. The social justice issues, particularly child welfare, that are so evident in other Lehane novels I’ve read, were not as prominent in this one, but that didn’t detract from the story. As someone who does not read mystery novels very often, I can say that Dennis Lehane’s books tend to be enjoyable outside of the mystery waiting to be solved.

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The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Being a lazy reader, I’ve only actually read one Jane Austin novel. That would be Emma and to finish it I had to make myself read one chapter per night until I was done AND I consulted Cliff Notes because I kept getting confused as to which character was which. I’ve attempted to read Pride and Prejudice several times without success. I just don’t like to work hard at reading, people.

This book was fun, because I got to read in the style of Jane Austin without working so hard. The premise is that a chest was found sealed in the wall and in it contain the lost memoirs of Jane Austin. As we read we learn of the man she met at the shore and what happened because of their meeting.

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Helping Me Help Myself: One Skeptic, Twelve Self-Help Programs, One Whirlwind Year of Improvement by Beth Lisick

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I think the universe was telling me something when the library system sent me both “The Secret” and this book at the same time. I’m not the skeptic that Beth Lisick is; in fact I had already read four of the self-help gurus she consulted: Steven Covey, Suze Orman, Deepak Chopra and Julia Cameron. I also have my own organization self-help guru, the Flylady. So this was familiar territory to me.

“The Secret” lives on the edge of this book. She keeps hearing about the movie, but never actually gets to see it. This is too bad, as I would have loved to hear what she thought of the whole thing.

The book was funny in parts, but reading it I could sense how indifferent she felt; about some of the self-help gurus or writing the book itself, I’m not sure which. I think that is what kept me from really liking this book, though I did enjoy it.

A fitting quote: “This seems like a linchpin of why so many people get sucked into self-help and empowerment programs. They can’t trust that what they are doing is the “right” way to be doing it.”

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The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
Okay, I admit it, one of my deep, dark secrets is that I read a lot of self-help books. Diet books, financial books, pop psychology books, they have all been checked out on my library card. While I don’t think they hurt me any, I feel sort of schlubby admitting that I spend a good amount of leisure time learning how other people say I should live my life.

This book is one of those self-help books that I am pretty skeptical about. If everyone has the power to create whatever they want, are we saying that all those people living in poverty around the world are just some creative visioning away from Jack Canfield’s mansion? The friend of friends who just died of breast cancer had the power to make it go away? I don’t buy it–although I’m sure the author would say that this is getting in the way of my own success, worrying about the poor and sick of the world.

But I decided to walk through my day as if all the things I wanted to happen were going to happen. It was quite pleasant, actually and I may spend the off moments of my day (shower, walking to various bus and Max stops) visualizing what I want my life to look like. It can’t hurt any.

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Niagara Falls All Over Again by Elizabeth McCracken

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
A nicely written novel about one half of a Laurel and Hardy-esque comedy team. The book begins in the waining days of Vaudville and continues through the 40s and 50s as our comedy team becomes famous. Mose Sharp is the straight man and it is interesting to watch the contrast between his life on screen as well as off screen when compared to his comic sidekick.

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“In an era in which everyone has a truth and the means to fling it around the world, an era in which knowledge is increasingly broad but seldom deep, maybe that’s the ultimate act of sedition: to pick up a single book and read it.” Leonard Pitts.

Let’s call this the month of reading books that have been made into movies…

Finished
Atonement. Ian McEwan.

The Hatbox Baby. Carrie Brown

Persepolis. Marijane Satrapi

Gone, Baby, Gone. Dennis Lahane

Lucky. Alice Sebold

The Painted Veil. W. Somerset Maugham. (25 May)

Started but didn’t finish.
I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company: A Novel of Lewis and Clark by Brian Hall

My review

rating: 1 of 5 stars
I really, really wanted to like this book. Really. As a former history major, I should welcome such well-written first-person historical fiction about the Lewis and Clark Expedition. But I didn’t like this book. I didn’t like it 10 pages in and I didn’t like it after reading 50 pages. Hall wonderfully creates his characters: Lewis, Clark, Sacajawea and eventually Sacajawea’s husband, though I didn’t get that far. The language painted vivid pictures in my mind. The plot pacing was good. I just did not like it. I tried, but I didn’t.

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Rodale Book of Composting: Easy Methods for Every Gardener” src=”http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1180348844m/1029033.gif” border=”0″> The Rodale Book of Composting: Easy Methods for Every Gardener by Deborah L. Martin

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
All you need to know to get started composting. I skimmed this book and found it handy. I especially liked the many different plans that one could use to build home composers.

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Enneagram at Work” src=”http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1189868662m/1891045.jpg” border=”0″> Getting Your Boss’s Number; And Many Other Ways to Use the Enneagram at Work by Michael J. Goldberg

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
A good “how to get along with people at work” sort of book, it also included interesting information about the nine Enneagram types. For instance, when I tell stories about my childhood my mother always says, “Why do you always remember the bad things?” Whichsurprises me, as I don’t think the story in question is particularly “bad”. It turns out that “eights” (of which I am one) have a whole narrative structure based on overcoming struggle. So while I’ve just told a great story about my triumph over whatever, my mother hears me complaining about my childhood. That was well worth the price of the book alone. (Although, full disclosure, I got it from the library and didn’t pay anything.)

A great book if you are at your wit’s end with dealing with someone at work, or in your life in general.

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Didn’t even start.
In America. Susan Sontag.

The Way West. A.B. Guthrie, Jr.

Open Me. A Novel. Sunshine O’Donnell

The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Not only was jury duty fun, but in chatting with one of my fellow jurors we got to talking about books made into movies. We discussed Atonement and she asked me if I had seen the Painted Veil. I had, but hadn’t read the book and so the next day she gave me her copy.

I didn’t seek out the book after seeing the movie, because, as mentioned before I’m a lazy reader and don’t like to work while reading. For me, many authors published before 1950 require more attention that I’m willing to give. Not this one. This was a very readable book and the internal thought process of the characters were fascinating. My favorite book/movie difference was the “did you leave your toupee?” question as the lovers were hoping to avoid detection. I also found the descriptions of the babies in the Chinese orphanage interesting. More than once they were described as “not quite human” I hope that we have evolved to the point where we find babies around the world darling, rather than “not quite human.”

Once again, the book does a much better job illustrating the internal shifts in the main character. Not surprisingly, this was a much better book than movie.

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Lucky by Alice Sebold

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
A hard book to read, but an important one. Sebold takes us through the journey that began when she was raped at the end of her freshman year of college. The moment-by-moment description of the rape was particularly fascinating, though not pleasant to read. I made the mistake of starting the book right before bed and it kept me awake for awhile. It was disheartening to realize that Sebold was the “perfect rape victim” and still had a tough time getting a conviction.

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Gone, Baby, Gone by Dennis Lehane

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I get obsessive about some things. I rented the movie Gone, Baby, Gone on a Friday and liked it so much I watched it again on Sunday. I reserved the book from the library and had it by Tuesday. Part of my affection for the movie, it must be told, had to do with Casey Affleck’s Patrick Kenzie, but the other part had to do with how incredibly cool his partner Angie was. The movie didn’t spend a lot of time worrying about her which I find rare as Hollywood seems to exist partly to keep women in their place. But that’s a post for another day.

So I shouldn’t have been surprised when I got the book and Angie is even cooler than she was in the film. Ah, Hollywood, you never let me down. Anyway, good book. Fast-paced, funny with very good character sketches as well as good social commentary. I like Dennis LeHane especially for those last two traits.

Overall the book was solid and I was pleased to find out there are several books with these two characters. I’ll be reading them.

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Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Graphic novels aren’t really my medium. The boyfriend loves them and reads them all the time, but my habit of skimming doesn’t really lend itself to the graphic novel format. But, having seen and loved the movie, I thought I would read the first part of Satrapi’s story.

It was fine. Like I said, not my medium. I liked the movie better, as it contained all the things that were in the book, but with prettier art.

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