By Simon Lelic

The Short Take:

Lelic has built a masterful book around the insidiousness of bullying in modern society. Revolving around a tragic school shooting, with a teacher as the gunman, it holds up a mirror to our collective tendency to accept easy answers instead of responsibility. It can be painful to read at times, but that’s as it should be.

Why?

There’s a lot of misery in this book: both as the cause and effect of the school shooting and on the part of the investigator tasked with closing the case as quickly and cleanly as possible. While the story unfolds in a truly fascinating way, it’s like being fascinated by a deadly dangerous snake. One line in particular sums up much of this novel’s message: “Why were the weak obliged to be so brave when the strong had license to behave like such cowards?”

Chapters alternate between forwarding the narrative and presenting witness statements recorded by the chief investigator, a woman herself bullied at work. Lelic does a good job of capturing the immediacy of the recorded interviews as well as the different voices of the subjects. In fact, I was so put off by the first chapter, with the mindless mental wanderings of a student cutting class, that I considered giving this book a pass. Actually that was just a first taste of the distinct personalities yet to come: the preening PE teacher, the gossipy secretary, the bewildered parents of a beaten child, and many more.

Though not an actual mystery (there’s no doubt who did it) this book slowly pulls back one veil after another to give you the full picture. And, even though the propelling action took place before the book starts, it still builds to a dramatic climax.

Reading A Thousand Cuts may make you cringe at time, because haven’t we all stood by at least once when bullying took place? But it may make you act differently the next time. And, if enough people read it, it could change countless lives for the better.

A Little Plot:

A quiet and socially awkward history teacher, Samuel Szajkowski, walks into a school assembly and guns down three students and another teacher before fatally shooting himself. Detective Inspector Lucia May uncovers disturbing things about the school and its attitude towards bullying during her investigation but is pressured to stick to the simple report the public — and her superiors — want.

At the same time, Lucia faces her own bully at work. Can she stand up to the forces against her? Should she?

I found a short interview of the writer on YouTube. If you’re interested, click here. Note that this book was called Rupture in England, where it was first published.

By Fernanda Ederstadt

The Short Take:

Life is messy and sweet and frustrating for the child (and teen) heroine of this enjoyable book. Eberstadt has brought the classic “journey of discovery” into the 21st century with style, substance, and outstanding readability.

Why?

I suspect most American parents will be outright shocked by the freedom of movement and lack of hands-on parenting Celia Bonnet, aka Rat, receives in Eberstadt’s book. I also suspect that’s the writer’s main point. There is certainly a huge contrast between the self-sufficient Rat and the weak and irritating, yet highly pampered, kid that appears late in this novel.

Rat could be seen as a coming of age book, but it does not follow the stereotypical sexual awakening path. Rat is both more subtle and more complex. Celia’s transformation is driven more by her brain than her body; and shaped just as much by her relationships with others as her own secret longings.

All in all this is a fascinating story with unexpected characters and their unexpected actions. I’m glad I got to meet Rat. We need more kids like her.

A Little Plot:

Rat is the product of a one-night stand between a beautiful bohemian French woman and an English artist. Her poverty, haphazard upbringing, and deep attachment to her erratic mother sound like a recipe for disaster. Nope. Rat accepts and loves her world, even when it brings what are at first unwelcome changes. But then one change brings danger to someone she loves and Rat begins to seriously think of her absent father as the rescuer she needs.

For more about Rat, Fernanda Eberstadt, and her other books, click here.

By Joseph Boyden

The Short Take:

Boyden’s second novel is a worthy successor to his marvelous Three Day Road. This mesmerizing journey through the lives and dreams of two Canadian Crees is rich and rewarding. I wish I’d gotten my hands on it when it first came out (March, 2009). I hope you’ll make the effort to find it now.

Why?

Two narrators — a Cree bush pilot in a coma and his beautiful niece — alternate narrative chapters in this haunting novel. In his dreams, he tells her of the journey of his life. At his bedside, she whispers to him about her journey through the glittering world of clubs and glamour.

Infused with fascinating details about Northern Crees who live closer to a traditional lifestyle, both narratives are really about the journey to find one’s self. But this is no mere moody tale, it’s filled with genuine suspense alongside surprising flashes of humor.

Boyden creates characters you believe in and really care about. While bush pilot Will Bird is more complex and thoughtful than his niece, Annie, that makes perfect sense considering her young years. By the same token, Will’s personal torments and genuine fears have a depth that Anne’s hollow sojourn in New York cannot achieve.

The way these two narratives balance and compliment each other really works. Boyden is a very gifted and convincing writer. His first novel made a huge impression on me. And this one did not disappoint.

A Little Plot:

Cree Bush pilot, Will Bird, lies in a coma. His niece, Annie, visits him daily. In his mind, he is telling her the story of his three plane crashes as well as his struggle against a local thug who is out to kill him (we don’t know why he is in a coma until the end, and there is more than one possibility).

Because a nurse claims talking may help Will, Annie whispers stories about what happens to her in Toronto and why it sent her to New York in search for her now missing sister, Suzanne, a once rising fashion model.

Will’s tale encompasses enduring friendships and heart-breaking loss, along with very real fear of his ruthless and powerful enemy. Annie’s story reflects the emptiness and capriciousness of the world of what’s in and who’s out. But she faces danger, too. And the danger both her and her uncle face are both wrapped up with the missing and elusive Suzanne.

To learn more about this book and Joseph Boyden, click here.

The first thing I do when we plan a vacation is pick out the books I’m going to take along. Then I change them about a dozen times before settling on a final collection.

I don’t have a particular style of book I want to read when on holiday — I’ve taken everything from Fielding’s Tom Jones to Lee Child thrillers along for the ride. In fact, I like to really mix up my genres. But I do have a fear of not having something on hand to read, so for a two-week trip I’ll usually pack seven books. And I’m often on that very last book on the way home. I sure wish I had that much time to read at home!

My vacation books all fall in the read-and-release category, however. After I finish a book I leave it at the B&B or on the cruise ship or in the airport or wherever. That means I never carry books that I think I might want to add to my permanent library.

Most of my vacation books come from Friends-of-the-Library sales or estate sales. FOTL sales are a great resource for gently used books at bargain prices. I stumbled across my first one in Hot Springs, Arkansas and came away with three boxes filled with books.

What makes these sales extra wonderful is that all the folks there — both volunteers and shoppers — are avid book lovers. That means you can get great recommendations on new authors with ease. The books themselves are usually a combination of library discards and books donated by library patrons. And, since the funds raised go to support the library, you’re doing good while doing pretty well for yourself.

Of course, I’ve gone overboard with these sales and now have a closet literally filled with books to chose from come vacation time. It’s an embarrassment of riches, but when someone recommends a book (and it’s a bargain) I can’t resist picking it up.

Fortunately, one of the best thing about books is that they never, ever go stale.

By Karen Maitland

The Short Take:

Talk about your dark ages: It doesn’t get much darker than the decaying town of Ulewic in 1321 England. Maitland knows how to completely immerse you in another time and place. This time she’s created a beaten-down village that’s a smoldering mix of despair, suspicion, superstition, and just plain evil. Be glad you’re only visiting.

Why?

I enjoyed this brooding novel, but it’s not for everyone. It is dark. Very dark. Maitland has already demonstrated her mastery of mood-setting description (check out my review of her Company of Liars on 12/27/08). This time she also carefully metes out insights into the personalities of the main characters in her extensive cast of players. There are no heroes and villains here, just people with all their flaws. Okay, there are a couple of really, really bad villains, too.

What grabbed me most was the multi-faceted struggle as pagan ways, cultural superstitions, and the Church repeatedly clashed as well as over-lapped. And that dynamic was already in place before a group of foreign women set up a beguinage outside of town.

What’s a beguinage, you say? It was new to me, too. Think of it as half way between a nunnery and a women’s liberation stronghold. The beguines were all women, living together and pursuing their livelihoods without aid from men. While devout, they were outside the Church structure. Women could study, work, pray, but had the option to leave at any time.

Plop a group of self-contained, independent women like that into this place….. yikes!

But it’s this book’s examination of the era’s religious practices, the roles of women, and the complete power of powerful Lords that intrigues and keeps one turning page after page.

A Little Plot:

Crops fail and disease decimates livestock. Both the Manor Lord and the Church constantly have their greedy hands out, squeezing the very life out of the villagers. A fear-mongering local cult, the Owl Masters, is sure all these problems and more arise from abandoning the pagan ways of old. And they don’t care for those foreign ladies, either.

In that respect, Church, villagers, the Manor, and the Owl Masters are united. Suspicions and fears are fired in Ulewic even as the beguines reach out with food and help for the sick.

Oh, and did I mention that the Lord’s daughter was disowned and sent to the beguinage after she was raped?

If you want to more know more about Maitland, visit her website by clicking here.

In the last two months I’ve read four thrillers. One of them I reviewed here on February 3rd, if you want to look back (The Paris Vendetta by Steve Berry). Another one I mentioned — not very favorably — on my “What I’m Reading Now” page of this site (The Genesis Secret by Tom Knox).

The other two I read were James Rollins’ The Altar of Eden and Douglas Preston’s Impact.

All of these have something in common: there is a scientific, historic, or religious (a la Dan Brown) element that is central to the plot and the thrills. I have a particular fondness for thrillers like these because they send me to the Internet to find out more  about things presented as fact and if there is any reality behind theories presented in the plots. I love learning new things.

But these authors are all very different as well. With James Rollins, I find the truth in his novels far more frightening than the plot devices he invents. Seriously. I still cringe every time I think about the very real radioactive lake in one of his other books that’s located right over earthquake fault lines: one good shake and those waters could wind up in the North Sea, making a lot of Northern Europe unlivable. Just another terrifying tidbit from one of Rollin’s thrillers. Conveniently for your nightmares, he identifies all the facts in his novels at the end.

In his newest book, Rollins gives his usual saviors-of-the-world, Gray Pierce and the Sigma Force, a rest. Personally, I enjoyed the change of characters; but I’m not by any means tired of his usual cast. I do wonder if he or his publisher felt this change was a risk, though.

On the other hand, Douglas Preston delivers the most unpredictable thrillers — and I mean that as a compliment. His newest thriller has mysterious meteor-type-thingies making holes right through the earth. The book before that centered on a machine built to talk to God and a crazed religious zealot determined to stop it at all costs. There is one central character in common, but that’s it. You just never know where Preston will find your thrills next.

Of course, Preston also writes with Lincoln Child, producing (among others) seven straight books featuring the fascinating Special Agent Pendergast, easily the most peculiar mystery solver this side of Sherlock Holmes. So you could say he has the best of both worlds — and so do his readers.

Like Rollins, Steve Berry centers most of his books around a regular cast of characters, starring Cotton Malone, a former Justice Department Operative who theoretically runs a bookshop in Copenhagen but is glad to take time out to save the world repeatedly. Berry likes to build his plots around some long-lost thing or secret, sometimes giving it some sort of super power that appeals to evil types.

One Berry trait I find amusing: He always manages to have a gun battle in a church or cathedral. He claims there is no subtext to this, there just happen to be more really old religious buildings than other structures. Well, he has a point there.

Who is my favorite? Of the current new releases, I lean just a bit more towards Preston. But I won’t miss a new release by any of them and squeeze in the older ones I haven’t read  whenever I find time.

That’s how I like to get my thrills. And at the same time pick up a lot of interesting information. What could be better than that?

By Anna Lawrence Pietroni

The Short Take:

The momentum of this book’s plot just keeps building, and what a fascinating ride it is. Fears and secrets, dreams and despair — Lawrence Pietroni has packed plenty and to spare in her first novel. And her almost-14-year-old heroine, Ruby, has all the tenacity and three times the energy of Oz’s famous Dorothy. This book just kept getting better the deeper I delved.

Why?

The fascination starts with this novel’s time and place: Black Country, England in the 1930s. However, the small community of Cradle Cross seems from an earlier era, where one company dominates a whole town and people still use charms for protection. Now introduce a lonely and motherless girl who meets an exotic looking woman on a mission and immediately becomes her ally.

That would be enough for a good plot right there, but there’s much more to come in this rich read.

Lawrence Pietroni has a marvelous way of introducing seemingly insignificant mysteries  – as in the mere part of a name — and then weaving their revelations into the advancement of her plot, adding layers of interest to her storytelling. This densely atmospheric novel captures the oppression of a town worn down by grief and hardship, so insular the smallest act immediately becomes everyone’s business, and strangers are viewed with hostility.

But Ruby’s Spoon is not dark and depressing — the lively and highly likable Ruby brings brightness to every page, just as she strives to bring light to the mysteries that swirl around her new friend and herself.

A Little Plot:

White-haired Isa Fly appears in Cradle Cross and immediately Ruby is caught in her quest for a lost half-sister. Isa also finds a friend in the new heir to Blick’s Button Factory, Truda Blick. While Ruby goes around asking about this missing person, Truda Blick finds she must make unpopular choices to keep her factory afloat. Both sets of actions upset the townsfolk and witchy-seeming Isa Fly becomes the focus of their hatred.

It’s a dangerous situation and Ruby races to keep Isa and Truda safe as well as solve an ever growing series of mysteries.

I didn’t come across a website for this new author, but to enjoy the author giving a short reading and some more background at a setting inspiration, click here. It’s worth clicking for sure.

By Kenneth Wishnia

The Short Take:

I really liked this book, but not so much as a mystery. Instead, I found it to be a fascinating and highly intelligent historical fiction that presents the religious practices, fears, and suspicions of the Catholics, Protestants, and Jews of 16th century Prague in an entirely engrossing way.

Why?

You can almost taste and smell Vishia’s Prague, from a family’s Seder meal in the cramped Jewish Ghetto to the Inquisition’s torture chambers. And it’s a fascinating — and terrifying — place to visit. While the Jews theoretically live under the protection of the German Emperor Rudolph !!, nothing really protects them from the other citizens — Protestant and Catholic alike - who are only united by their common misconceptions and hatred. Not that there is any love lost between those two groups, either — each thinks the other should burn sooner rather than later in the fires of hell.

On top of this a visiting Bishop is determined to roust out any and all witches, and he has all the tools at hand he needs to get anyone to confess. In other words, there’s plenty of not-quite-bottled up fear to go around, and anything can set off a bloodbath.

But what I really enjoyed most about this novel was the characters’ religious discussions and debates concerning Jewish laws and practices. I admit to pretty much complete ignorance about the learned religious writings of Jewish philosophers and leaders. The samples Wishnia included in his novel were compelling indeed. I did not realize until after I finished, that one of the Rabbis was in fact a very famous reformer (I told you I as ignorant). I really want to know more about Rabbi Loew, the Kabbalah and more.

The crime and its investigation set everything in motion and drive the actions of the central figures, but its resolution is not what grips you. After all, when the lives of everyone in the Ghetto could be forfeit, one murder doesn’t seem that important.

A Little Plot:

It’s Easter weekend and a young Christian girl is found murdered in the shop of a Jewish merchant. Christians are convinced Jews took her blood for evil purposes and want to burn their Ghetto and kill them all. It falls on the shoulders of a newly-arrived religious scholar, Benyamin Ben-Akiva to investigate this crime in the slim hope of preventing a massacre.

With laws from all sides hampering his efforts, not to mention outright hostility against his mission, Ben-Akiva risks everything in a journey that takes him from the shadowy rooms of a whorehouse to the royal palace of the Emperor.

But does he really have any chance of success?

For more about Wishnia and his book click here.

By Rebecca Skloot

The Short Take:

Read this book! It is phenomenal. You will be amazed, inspired, shocked, intrigued, and well rewarded for your time. Skloot’s scientific writing is clear and totally accessible. Best of all, her book avoids casting people as heroes or villains. The humanity of every person — from the first Johns Hopkins researchers to the offspring and friends of the immortal Mrs. Lacks — is presented with nonjudgemental honesty and respect.

Why?

I was intrigued by this book in advance, but never expected to be so thoroughly delighted. I usually read a fiction book alongside my non-fiction reads; mainly because non-fictions just don’t satisfy the “What’s going to happen next?” factor that propels me forward at top speed.

Not this time. I could hardly put Skloot’s book down.

You would never think a book built around the cultivation of cancer cells for medical research could be so fascinating to a total layman. Skloot avoids jargon and never comes close to overwhelming you with scientific facts. On top of that, she portrays a complex family that is transformed and shattered first by Henrietta’s death as a young mother, then by learning of the vitally important life her cells still lead.

And, Skloot does it all with a true journalistic eye, without bias or melodrama. This is one amazing book; almost as amazing as Henrietta’s unstoppable, eternal cells.

A Little Plot:

During treatments, a doctor takes samples of Henrietta Lacks’ cervical cancer cells and attempts to grow them in a culture. For the first time in history the cells survive and multiply, and are dubbed HeLa. They become a scientific jaggernaut, contributing to countless medical miracles including the polio vaccine. Decades later, her children learn totally by accident that their mother’s cells still live. Confused and angry, they want answers, but they don’t know where to start.

Fate brings them Rebecca Skloot. And we should all be thankful.

For more about Skloot and her great book, visit her website by clicking here.

By Ali Shaw

The Short Take:

A modern fairy tale, this whimsical yet poignant first novel embraces the universal themes of love and loss, courage and commitment, avoidance and acceptance. Though it includes miniature cattle with iridescent moth wings, the glass-footed girl of the title, and other fantasy elements, the emotional nuances and interactions of the characters ring entirely real and true.

Why?

I admit a weakness for books with fantasy elements. But this one is in a very special category; for while the fantasy elements could have been replaced by real ones — say, substituting a highly aggressive cancer for Ida’s transformation into glass — this book’s impact would have been drastically diminished. It is the unfamiliarity of these fantasy elements that gives you fresh eyes for familiar situations.

Shaw’s descriptive style is also strangely seductive. While spare, it is highly impactful. You feel the chill and dampness in the frigid bog air outside as well as the pressing claustrophobia of the interior spaces.

You could call this a love story — every character in it is motivated by feeling love, avoiding love, or both. You could also compare it to the fairly tales of Hans Christian Anderson, with characters that need to experience pain as part of their path to finding love. It’s a lovely read on many levels. I’m so glad I got to experience it.

A Little Plot:

Ida MacLaird goes to the boggy, frozen world of St. Hauda’s Land in hopes of finding a solution to a terrifying problem — her feet have turned to clear glass and the transformation seems to be spreading. On an earlier — and healthier — visit she had a chance encounter with a man who she thinks can help her. Ida enlists a reluctant Midas Crook to help her in her quest. Midas would rather hold the world at a distance by interacting with it only through the viewfinder of a camera. Together they encounter a man who protects a herd of miniscule flying cattle, the man who still obsessively loves Ida’s late mother, and a woman who claims she can provide a cure. But time is growing short.

For more about author Ali Shaw and this book, click here.