Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Bone Garden

I just finished reading Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen. It has been a while since I picked up one of her books and I forgot how much I enjoy her writing.

Bone Garden is a suspense thriller.  The protagonist discovers buried bones on the old Boston farmhouse she has purchased to renovate. The mystery switches from the present day to 19th century. The historical details pulled me right in. Gerritsen blends true historical figures with her characters seamlessly.

The medical community of 1830s and 1840s knew so little and killed so many! (The authors note at the end discusses this. It gave me shivers.) As an illustration, the physician Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote a paper in 1843 in which he suggested that physicians should wash their hands. This was viewed as a radical suggestion!

Her description of the medical community's need for bodies for autopsies is also accurate (and disturbing).  

-Natalie

Note: This book is also available in large print.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin

The title of Kathy Griffin’s new book, Official Book Club Selection, is an allusion to Oprah Winfrey’s popular book club. This book brings the laughs, but it also makes for a good memoir.  You’ll want to read it if you are a fan of Griffin’s brand of comedy.

The book is in the same shameless vein as Griffin’s comedy CD For Your Consideration, which lobbied for a Grammy award and did in fact receive a nomination.  This time Griffin entreats Oprah (a frequent target of hers) to make her book the official selection for Oprah’s book club.  There is a reading group guide in the back of the book, but as one might expect, it is sarcastic and tongue-in-cheek.

Through her stand-up comedy and reality show, My Life on the D-List, Griffin has already described a lot about her life and her encounters with celebrities.  In her book, she shares more about her struggle to make it as an actress and comedian and characterizes the famous people she meets along the way.

Alongside its humor, the book includes earnest insights.  Griffin covers the difficult topics of her troubled brother, failed marriage, and plastic surgery. She also talks about the challenge of being a female stand-up comedian in a male-dominated realm.  She has commendable loyalty to her parents, having roped them into her projects whenever possible because she finds them to be smart and funny.  Griffin is proud of her work ethic, calling it the “guiding force” of her life.  This theme comes across well and ties the book together.

-Elizabeth

Water’s Edge

Water’s Edge is another good mystery from the Norwegian author Karin Fossum. The novel finds the police investigating the death of one young boy and the disappearance of another.  The Norwegian setting makes a nice change from the standard American or English procedurals, but the book could have been set anywhere.  Similar to other Scandinavian mysteries, the mood is a bit melancholy, but not depressingly so.

Fossum’s style is reminiscent of Robert Parker and early Dick Francis.  The story is stripped down to its most important elements, with a spare use of words, description and little extraneous narrative.  People do what they have to do and move through life following a personal sense of right and wrong.  It has the basics I look for in a mystery – a good story, interesting characters, a focus on the mystery not on the backstory or the lives of the detectives, several narrative threads come together and the resolution was not easy to guess.

I liked and recommend this short, satisfying mystery.

-Alison

Thursday, October 8, 2009

The Lost Symbol

I recently read Dan Brown's new thriller, The Lost Symbol. It was very enjoyable and exciting. The action moves rather fast, so I found it a relatively quick read -- although sometimes I had to flip back to reread a particular part when a twist in the action made me think, "Wait...what just happened?"

As in The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, this novel's hero is Robert Langdon. The conflict of the story surrounds the Masons, a group that has been a popular subject for mysteries in recent years (for example: National Treasure). As we have come to expect from Dan Brown, the story is full of turns and unforeseen events that make the book hard to put down, but which our hero Robert Langdon ultimately ties together brilliantly in the end.

I think what I enjoyed most about the story was its setting. Unlike the other Langdon books that take place in Europe, this book is set in Washington, D.C. I've been to D.C. several times, and, as a result, I found it easier to picture the action in The Lost Symbol than I did with his other books. I've been to the Smithsonian, I've seen the George Washington statue he talked about, and I've been in the rotunda of the Capitol. I could put myself in the story.

I highly recommend reading this book! And, I can't wait for his next one!

-Becki

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Chosen by a Horse

Saturday a patron mentioned this book, so of course I had to snatch it up for a look. Chosen By a Horse: a Memoir by Susan Richards was amazing!  This memoir opens with a heart-breaking scene at the SPCA, where Susan has been called by a friend to foster one of the forty horses seized from a home. A specific horse, Lay Me Down (along with her foal) have been chosen for placement at her farm. Lay Me Down is an emaciated, abused bay mare with pneumonia who is too exhausted to put up an argument, but her foal is a different story, and his antics will make you giggle.

Richards brings the pair home to her three other "children," diva Georgia (a Morgan mare), Georgia's counterpart Tempo (a Quarter Horse gelding), and the old gentleman of the group HotShot (another Quarter Horse gelding).

This story of devotion, love and trial (both human and equine) will grip your heart. Bringing Lay Me Down back to good health (and beyond) often takes Susan back to her past where she endured the very early loss of her mother, an abusive husband, and an undecided lover. Chosen By a Horse is a perfect rainy-day, curl up on the sofa in a warm quilt with a hot cup of tea kind of book. Be prepared to laugh and cry, but mostly to be inspired by this true story of Lay Me Down and the woman she chose.

-Denika

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County is a remarkable and unforgettable first novel by Tiffany Baker. Anyone raised by a single parent, or familiar with the loneliness of losing a parent will certainly relate to the main character.

The plot of this novel draws the reader in quickly with the pain, disappointment and joy of a harsh life.

The second novel by Tiffany Baker cannot be published quickly enough.

-Anne

Monday, October 5, 2009

Twenty Chickens for a Saddle: the Story of an African Childhood

I just finished Twenty Chickens for a Saddle: the Story of an African Childhood by Robin Scott. I really enjoyed it. For someone like me with a typical middle class American upbringing, Scott's account of her childhood in Africa was quite fascinating. Scott's parents -- educated and loving, but eccentric -- moved their family to Botswana when she was 7 years old. Her father was a bush doctor who traveled to villages by plane. Her mother home schooled Scott and her siblings until high school.

Scott's stories are warm and funny and she skillfully weaves her insights on the local culture and attitudes into her accounts. Her adventures/misadventures are remarkable and fun. 

-Natalie