The Affair

The Affair is another solid, exciting novel by Lee Child. In it we learn about the early days of the elite military cop Jack Reacher and how his unusual lifestyle came to be. The Affair answers many perplexing questions for Reacher fans and fills in the blanks on Reacher's past.

For the growing number of fans of Lee Child, The Affair is a novel of unrelenting suspense and an intriguing murder investigation fraught with political ramifications, and it is the beginning of Reacher's problem-solving, drifter lifestyle.

-Anne

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I finally got around to reading Stieg Larsson's mega best-seller, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. For a while it was hard to get my hands on a copy: while we have multiple copies, the book was so popular that they were always checked out.

The plot revolves around two characters, a reporter and an asocial computer hacker, the eponymous tattooed "girl." The reporter is hired by a wealthy industrialist to write his biography, but there are strings attached and skeletons in closets. Mayhem and mystery ensue.

Verdict: B+. It is an engaging page-turner that keeps you guessing until the end. But like all books in this genre it requires some suspension of disbelief. You should also be warned that this is an extremely violent book and most of the violence is directed against women. Fans of the book might argue that this was necessary for character motivation, but it wore thin after a while and could have been toned down without affecting the book negatively.

-Paul


If you like Stieg Larsson try these authors too:

Arnaldur Indridason
Jo Nesbo

Booklamp and Reading Recommendations

A new site called Booklamp claims to use a sophisticated software to analyze patters in a book's content. It then uses this information to match a book or author you like to other books or authors that you might like. There are many sites that claim to do this and some do it better than others. I tried a few searches and Booklamp seems to work pretty well. But it is new, so we will have to wait and see. Check it out.

-Paul

Iron House

John Hart's Iron House is an amazing, cleverly written novel. As soon as I finished the first paragraph I knew that it was a winner.

The plot centers around two orphaned brothers who live at the decrepit Iron House, a home for boys in the mountains of North Carolina. Michael, who is the oldest, is the tough one. He protects his younger brother Julian from bullying. After a tragedy the boys are separated. and do not reunite until later in life. To reveal much more than this would spoil the plot. Suffice it to say that this is a story of fierce family loyalty and buried secrets. Be prepared -- this is a page-turner.

-Anne

If you enjoy this book you may also like Hart's other novels:
The King of Lies
Down River


You might also enjoy the works of Pat Conroy.

Stoner

John Williams's 1965 novel, Stoner, is the most moving work of fiction I have read in a very long time, and I am afraid that I will not be able to adequately explain why I feel that way. But I will try.

On its surface, the plot of Stoner is very spare: William Stoner grows up in straightened circumstances on a midwest farm, gets a break, goes to agricultural college, falls surprisingly in love with English literature, gets s PhD, a teaching job, a wife, a daughter, a long career. Then he dies. The beauty of the story is how brilliantly Williams describes Stoner's hopes, passions, heartbreaks and his dogged pursuit of an academic accomplishment he can be proud of -- one that will, perhaps, adequately honor his deep love for literature. It is left to the reader to decide whether he achieves this (or whether it matters if he does). Along the way, we witness Stoner's bleak family life, juxtaposed with a brief, happy interlude and the life he might have lived had he chosen differently.

Williams's prose is perfect for the task: simple and clear, with no misplaced words.

Reviews of this work that I have read often contain comments such as "I can't believe this book is not more famous." I agree.

-Paul

The Talk-Funny Girl: A Novel

Roland Merullo's amazing novel, The Talk-Funny Girl offers a look at a side of life not many of us have seen. The main character in the novel, Marjorie, was raised in northern New Hampshire near the Vermont border by abusive parents who deliberately isolated their family. Marjorie's isolation from society and abuse from her parents, together with her odd manner of speaking, make her a target for bullying at school.

With nearly super-human determination and the help of a loving aunt, she overcomes unbelievable obstacles and breaks free to grow into a capable, loving woman.

The twists and turns in this compelling novel are sure to keep the reader riveted.

-Anne

Corduroy Mansions

Corduroy Mansions is the first novel in a new series by popular British author Alexander McCall Smith. It was a delight to read.

Full of quirky characters, the story is built around an apartment building in the Pimlico area of London fondly known as Corduroy Mansion. Beginning with widower William French, wine merchant and aggravated father of a twenty-something son who refuses to move out of the flat, the reader is drawn into the lives and relationships of several of the tenants. There’s Caroline, who wants to be THE women to change her friend James’ point of view regarding his sexual preference; Jenny, who works for a Member of Parliament with the odious name of Oedipus Snark; and Dee, who works in a health-food shop. Their lives are intertwined with other relationships. We meet Snark’s girlfriend, Barbara, and Snark’s mother who absolutely hates her own son, William’s friend Marcia who really wants to be more than just a friend and Freddie de la Hay, the Pimlico terrier who was let go from his job as sniffer dog at Heathrow Airport by accident of birth.

The story is about relationships, friends, lovers, co-workers and family, that weave in and out of our lives.  At the end of the book, I was ready for the next installment. I have to see if I’m right about  what happened to Oedipus Snark at boarding school!

-Michele