By Sena Jeter Naslund

The Short Take:

I read and loved Ahab’s Wife quite some time ago and so pounced on this book when I saw it. Though very different, it is maybe even more rewarding. I put the qualifier in there because this one is more magical reality (a la Gabriel Marcia Marquez or Alice Hoffman — and, yes, I know how different they are). Plus, it has a fair amount of religious thinking. I really liked it a lot. But that combo isn’t for everyone,

Why?

I might have handed it all out there with my not-so-Short Take. At first I was a touch confused about Adam’s Eden — where was it and what was it; and how it all related to the experiences of Lucy, the grieving widow of an astrophysicist. Not to worry: The author did an excellent job of magically pulling it all together.

The conflict in this novel comes not only from the confused feelings of the protagonists (the afore mentioned Adam and Lucy) but also from the actions of religious fundamentalists including Jews, Muslims, and Christians driven by fear and repression.

While much of the book is very dreamy and thoughtful, you will also find the thrill of danger and pursuit.

Lovely writing, danger, science, faith, rebirth, even some paleolithic cave art — this was a perfect combination for me.

A Little Plot:

Lucy’s husband discovers that there is life elsewhere in the universe — then dies violently before he can share the news. Adam, an American soldier, is brutalized and left for dead in the Middle East, but wakes up in what appears to be Eden.

Lucy winds up in that same miraculous place when her mission to transport ancient documents with an alternative reading of Genesis goes down in flames.

While the two of them heal… and change, fundamentalists work together to find and destroy both the evidence of extraterrestrial life and those ancient documents.

I couldn’t find a website for the author, but if you can click here for some additional information courtesy of the Encyclopedia of Alabama.

By David Sedaris

The Short Take:

This is a sweet and fun book of tales starring very anthropomorphic animals, such as a pot bellied pig that is a museum director. It’s an enjoyable read, though not as touching or caustic as Sedaris’ usual tales from life.

Why?

For some reason I have a sneaky suspicion that someone wanted a David Sedaris book out in time for holiday gifting. And, goodness knows, this would be a gift that virtually anyone would enjoy. But it is a touch on the slight side when compared to his often satiric, often moving, and always enjoyable collections of observations from life, like Me Talk Pretty One Day or When You Are Engulfed in Flames.

Some version of several of  the tales included in this book were first broadcast on This American Life on NPR. And, the human qualities of the different animals are not consistent from story to story: The dogs in The Faithful Setter act just like dogs except for talking to each other. Other animals are completely humanized.

But these are mere quibbles. David Sedaris is a brilliant and insightful humorist in the vain of Mark Twain. And, it’s rather nice of him not to again use his family and friends for material in order to produce another highly readable book.

A Little Plot:

No plot here. Just a winning collection of stories highlighting human foibles but starring animals. They don’t have the succinct moral endings found in Aesop’s Fables, but you get the point and have fun getting there.

To visit his website and learn more about Sedaris and his books, click here.

By Andrew Klavan

The Short Take:

Klavan is a modern day Dashiell Hammett. This powerful crime thriller is exceptionally hard-boiled and exceptionally well written. It also makes some strong statements about modern culture.

Why?

This book is almost entirely populated by bad people. The opening chapters featured a burglary turned very violent and a cool assassination in an unidentified city facing flooding and anarchy (think New Orleans and Katrina). Yet Klavan actually makes you care about habitual thief John Shannon, who can only soothe a “crawly, itching” feeling by committing another crime.

Like Dashiell, Klavan presents a sleazy, morally corrupt world, but updated for the 21st century. Honor hides behind barred doors while feral young men rule the streets; cops are not to be trusted — just like politicians. It all sounds distressingly dark but Klavan’s writing is so perfectly textured for this genre that you willingly dive into his world.

Despite all that crime and toughness, I actually cried at the end. But I’m not going to say why.

A Little Plot:

Shannon pairs with a psycho for a burglary that turns into something worse. On the run with no options, Shannon responds to an enigmatic text message. Without his consent, his entire identity is changed and he awakes in a devastated and largely lawless city. It looks like a new chance at a good life. Guess again.

You know his path must cross that of police lieutenant, Brick Ramsey — the brutal enforcer for a government administration absolutely riddled with corruption; in a town that’s dying from violence and destruction. To find out why or how this happens, you’re going to have to go elsewhere.

Oh, there is a love angle, too. Imagine that.

If you want to know more about Andrew Klavan, you can visit his website by clicking here. Frankly it mainly focuses on his politics and religion so you might want to leave that to your imigination.

By Nicole Krauss

The Short Take:

This is a brilliant book, but it isn’t easily digested. Krauss is an incredibly gifted writer, and this elegant novel is proof to her prodigious talent. The longing and loss expressed through her four interwoven stories are embodied by a desk of many drawers that looms over lives, creating obsessions and fears in those who encounter it. It’s not a hard read, but you’ve got to care about existential questions to fully enjoy it.

Why?

I have to admit I left this book wanting more — more plot, more resolutions. But life isn’t exactly like that, is it? And neither is Krauss’ third novel. However, the way her characters express their feelings (largely through unspoken monologues) gives great depth to this study of relationships and how we close ourselves into separate rooms of one Great House.

Finding ways to somehow come to terms with the past plays a major role throughout. Yet, the importance — and unreliability — of memory is just as pervasive.

It’s a lovely read, but very existential in tone. If that’s your thing, you would be hard pressed to find a better book. If not… maybe you should give it a try anyway. Because Great House is a very special book.

A Little Plot:

Four different stories twine through this book:

A writer offers to keep the furniture of a poet headed for great danger in Chile, including a huge desk with many drawers. Over the years, the desk becomes unexpectedly important to her writing.

A man marries a writer who much earlier owned the same desk.  He grapples with the secrets of her life both while she lives and after she dies.

Another man tries to figure out how to reach his younger son after decades of estrangement before it is to late.

Two siblings live lives of isolation and despair, under the protective tyranny of a father who searches the world for objects and objects the Jews lost during the Holocaust, as well as the desk his once father had.

But it’s not about the plot. It’s about the human condition. And Krauss  does it beautifully.

To visit Nicole Krauss’ website click here.

By Andrew Taylor

The Short Take:

As much a modern novel about secrets and identities as it is a mystery story, this elegantly written book surprised me. It’s certainly not typical of the genre.

Why?

Trust is a major issue in this book by the prolific British writer, Andrew Taylor: Who should you trust? How far should you trust them? Frankly, I didn’t trust anyone in the book — but that just added to the enjoyment.

Few of the mysteries I’ve encountered have the high level of personal angst found in this one, or the low body count. There’s not one central mystery here, but several lifetimes of them — all coalescing in one mess of secrets, half-truths, buried memories, and general unease.

Taylor lets his story unfold gently, exploring relationships both in the present day and from years earlier when the narrator, James, was still a teen. James has put that past firmly behind him, but now it is flooding back, disruptinghis marriage and his life.

A Little Plot:

Out of nowhere, James hears from Lily, the dying mother of one of his adolescent friends — and with whom he had an affair ages ago. She tells him they have a daughter, and the daughter is in desperate need of his help.

While unsure whether or not to believe Lily, James let himself be drawn into their circle — as much to resolve festering issues  in his own subconscious as to help his supposed (and highly erratic) daughter, Kate. A suspicious wife; Kate’s violent half-brother, Carlos; a man who may be murdered and his estranged family — each of them sometimes lie and sometimes almost tell the truth.

In his struggle to separate their facts from fiction, James realizes he has been running from the truth about his own past, too. But no longer.

For more about Andrew Taylor and his works, click here.

By Elly Griffiths

The Short Tale:

This intriguing little murder mystery stars a female forensic archeologist who lives near the coast in England. It promises to be the first in a series of mysteries involving something old, something new, and someone murdered. A nice mix.

Why?

I really like Dr. Ruth Galloway, the protagonist in this new series. She’s almost 40, overweight, quite self-sufficient, and very in love with the lonely salty marshes around her home. Author Elly Griffiths’ evocative descriptions of the landscape certainly paint a bracing picture: I felt a bit chilly just reading them.

There are Roman and Iron Age archeology sites in the area, but Ruth primarily teaches at the local college. That makes her the logical person to consult when mysterious bones turn up, because they could be almost any age.

The interesting supporting cast includes a would-be modern Druid, an old lover, a flighty best friend, various archeology types, and the investigating detective, Harry Nelson. Having gotten a sneak preview of the next book in the series, I can tell you that a number of these people continue to show up — which I consider good news for the reader.

Mystery lovers should very much enjoy this book. If you like gaining a little knowledge about ancient ritual or are into Druids, Romans, or Celtic lore, you’ll like it even more.

A Little Plot:

Dr. Ruth Galloway is ready for a typically teaching day when Detective Nelson asks for her help with some newly uncovered bones. They may be those of a girl who went missing 10 years earlier, or they could be ancient.

Ruth’s involvement not only disrupts her life, it may put her in danger. But her insights and careful archeology techniques keep the police coming back for more aid. And, it turns out there’s more than one mystery hiding in Ruth’s beloved salt marsh — in this book alone.

For more about Elly Griffiths and this book, click here.

By Scarlett Thomas

The Short Take:

This very talky book is fascinating if you like lengthy discussions about things like the nature of fiction, simulation versus reality, Chekov versus Tolstoy, the end of the universe, storyless stories, Zen Buddhism, eternity, and self-help books. In fact, this is almost a storyless story itself. I found myself sometimes irritated and often intrigued, but could not put it down.

Why?

Thomas is obviously a great writer. In lesser hands, this book would have been a disaster. Her protagonist, Meg, is a mess of a loser but you still care what happens to her. Very much. All the long, thoughty discussions (often well oiled by quantities of wine) could be off putting but they are not plot digressions, they’re plot explanations. More or less.

The whole thing could be seen as rather annoyingly pretentious, but that’s pretty much the point (I think). Aren’t we all rather pretentious about our own lives? Spouting like experts about subjects we really know little about? It’s basically pretentious of me to be writing this book blog! And yet…

Bottom line, the whole experience was strangely compelling. I felt like I was being let in on a book-long joke of sorts. And, it really isn’t a storyless story, Meg does transform as the book advances. Thank goodness.

A Little Plot:

Meg is a writer. She’s supposed to be working on a masterly novel, instead she supports her complete disaster of a boyfriend with a cobbled livelihood from writing science book reviews and genre science fiction novels. The result is that she doesn’t even have enough money to keep her email or cell phone functioning. And she has deleted all but 43 words of her supposed novel.

Then she reads a book called The Science of Living Forever in order to write a review. Turns out it was the wrong book, but reading it sets the wheels in motion for change.

For more about Scarlett Thomas and her books, click here. I know this book is not for everyone, but I certainly intend to search out more works by Scarlett Thomas.

By Jamie Ford

The Short Take:

This book is both heart-warming and heart-breaking. Built around the complex relationship between a Chinese American boy and a Japanese America girl at the start of WWII, how could it be anything else? I loved it.

Why?

I don’t know it the critics considered this book to be great literature, but it is surely great story telling, with wonderful characters and powerful images. Normally I wouldn’t write about a book that came out over a year ago, but when it came to this one — I just couldn’t resist.

There were times when the story crushed me: the interment of the Japanese, rampant racism, man’s inhumanity to man. But I was just as often lifted up by the truly honorable character of Henry Lee, the Chinese boy who befriends a Japanese girl despite his family… and pretty much the rest of America.

The book follows Henry as a 12-year-old as well as in his 50s, alternating between the time spans. Through both eras Henry struggles with conflicted feelings about his family, his friends, and the gap between what he feels is the right thing to do and the honorable thing to do.

You feel that struggle right along with Henry. It’s this engagement that makes this such a wonderfully bittersweet read.

A Little Plot:

Alone in his 50s, Henry misses his deceased wife and finds it hard to communicate with his only son. Plus, he has carried a secret  since the early days of WWII, about a relationship that should not have happened but that he cannot forget.

Back then, Henry’s father hated the Japanese for attacking his beloved homeland. At the same time, he wanted his son to become thoroughly American, forbidding him to speak Mandarin at home and sending him to a “American” where Henry is alternately isolated and bullied for being different.

When Japanese American Keiko also enters the school, Henry finds a friend — but she is a friend his father would abhor. And, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, so do countless others. Henry tries to stay true to his friend and his family, but it becomes exceedingly difficult.

Henry gives up nothing without a struggle. And it was a struggle for me to put down this book and do anything else until I had read right to the end.

For more about Jamie Ford and this book, click here.

By Ellen Bryson

The Short Take:

Bryson’s first novel takes you inside the freaky world of P. T. Barnum’s museum of oddities and prodigies — human, animal, and inanimate. I found it thoroughly fascinating, both for how it depicted these unique people and their relationships, as well as its thoughtful explorations of the nature of individuality and choices.

Why?

Human oddities: How do they feel about being gawked at for money? Why are they doing this?

While some may have few options, others take pains to keep their appearance far outside the norm. Mr. Fortuno, The World’s Thinnest Man, is one of the latter. He takes great pride in his cadaverous appearance, despite its accompanying pain and limitations. He is also very proud of his position as a “prodigy” at Barnum’s museum, even though he fears Mr. Barnum.

This book explores themes of identity, isolation, transformation, friendship and love, and the repercussions that result with each small choice one makes. At the same time, it lifts the veil on a fascinating world where the vastly unusual and markedly unalike live closely together to form a new kind of human family.

Oh, yes, there are also mysteries to be revealed. That’s about as mesmerizing as you can get.

A Little Plot:

Mr. Fortuno works and lives at Barnum’s New York American Museum. He’s been there for 10 years, is proud of his performances, has a close friendship with Matina the fat lady, and is largely satisfied with his existence. Now that the Civil War is over, things look even brighter.

Then he sees a mysterious veiled lady entering the museum late at night… and he is possessed. He feels he must find out more about her, be near her, protect her. He quickly finds himself enmeshed in a tangle of lies and intrigues, involving the battling Mr. and Mrs. Barnums as well as his fellow oddities, as he strives to be closer to this splendid, secretive woman — a new human oddity for Barnum’s showcase.

And, everything is changing — including Fortuno.

You can learn more about this book and it’s author by clicking here. I think you’ll be fascinated by her, too..

By Jennifer Egan

The Short Take:

The further I got into this novel the more I enjoyed it. What first feels like a series of unrelated stories involving interconnected characters turns out to be a richly woven and rewarding tapestry.

Why?

At first I thought: Yet another novel that hops around in time? Aargh. But this novel reveals its core story in such a smart and provocative way, I was totally seduced.

The characters are so intriguing you really want to know more about their pasts and future. And Egan cunningly obliges. I particularly enjoyed the way some very minor characters showed up again in a “six degrees of separation” way. A nice touch.

The writing it tight and imaginative. The pacing feels spot on. And the events and characters are all just quirky enough to keep even the most jaded reader intrigued and entertained. Despite what the name telegraphs, this is not some rock and roll shocker, it’s one really nice read that’s fully human.

A Little Plot:

Hmmm. This is hard since the story bounces around in time and I don’t like to reveal too much plot (my pet peeve with so many reviews). Suffice it to say that it concerns the lives of people somehow involved with the music industry like record producers and their posses. The story takes place in locations like San Francisco, New York, Naples, and Africa from (I’m guessing) the 70s through to the near future.

You’ll find love, thievery, seduction, adventure, success, redemption and a lot more. It’s life, except quite a bit more interesting than mine.

If you plan on reading Super Sad True Love Story (see my review of August 22), pick up this book first. It’s the perfect segue. Really. Even though the styles are quite different but this book almost feels like a prequel.

If you want to know more about Jennifer Egan, click here.