Bull, Emma Territory
Clarke, Susanna The Ladies of Grace Adieu
Darnton The Darwin Conspiracy Pretty good. Parallel stories: one of Darwin’s travels and the interpersonal politics on the Beagle, one of a modern-day researcher tracking info about why Darwin became such a hypochondriac and why he took so long to publish (hint: because he felt so guilty… and why was that…?)
Frank, Judith Crybaby Butch
Gruen, Sara Water for Elephants
Auel,Jean M. The Shelters of Stone Book five: very good.
The Valley of Horses Book 2 – good!
The Mammoth Hunters Book 3 – good!
Cadwalladr, Carole The Family Tree Rebecca languishes in her marriage to a nonromantic geneticist and remembers growing up in her English family in the 70s. Muses over the complex legacy of the women who came before her. Well-written; not very happy, but somewhat hopeful.
King, Dave The Ha-Ha
Lemebel, Pedro My Tender Matador Incredible, evocative language; sensory, impressionistic rendering of a particular moment in Chile under Pinochet; poignant, impossible love story. Gorgeous.
Lethem, Jonathan Motherless Brooklyn (1999)
Lisick, Beth Everybody Into the Pool: true tales Memoirs from a Sister Spit performer. Sounds like half my SF friends: grew up safe in the Midwest and is now doing crazy art, wearing hideous thrift clothes and living in a cheap warehouse in the bad part of town. (First, let me explain -- Greetings from our special bubble -- Ladies' luncheon -- Didn't I almost have it all? -- Nuns in trouble -- My way or the bi-way -- Alternative cyber-column -- The one -- A bed and a breakfast -- Brokeley -- Circling the wagons -- The lowly hustle -- Skippin' over the ocean like a stone -- Little bundle of entropy). Hilarious (although occasionally she is so fond of her own descriptive powers that she overdoes the messed-up metaphors).
Lynch, Scott The Lies of Locke Lamora Picaresque novel of a talented orphan thief and his band of con artists in an otherwordly Venice called Camorr. Byzantine plot, layers of deception, fully realized other world. Intense violence (& torture) the only downer.
Martel, Yann Life of Pi Breathtaking. Given two ways to look at life: which is the better story? God or no god? Tiger or no tiger?
McCafferty, Megan Sloppy Firsts Told in the snarky, smart, angsty voice of H.S. sophomore Jessica. Her best friend Hope has moved away following the drug death of her brother; her remaining friends irritate the crap out of her; and the local notorious druggie Casanova keeps messing with her head. Funny, foul-mouthed, sharply observant of the mores of H.S. life—really.
McCafferty, Megan Second Helpings Senior year. Still snarky, still enjoyable. Irritating how long it takes her to realize the guy from before (Marcus) is great. Also he seems to do all the talking in their conversations. Still, Jessica comes more into her own.
Moore, Christopher A Dirty Job Charlie, a San Francisco thrift-store owner, Beta Male, new father and new widower, is handed the job of Death Merchant, someone who finds “soul vessels” (random objects people’s souls migrate to when they die) and shepherds them into the hands of the right new person needing a soul. Plenty of cheap and tawdry jokes, but occasionally pretty funny. Good goth-girl character, a teen who works in the shop and is incredibly surly and jealous of Charlie’s job.
Niffenegger, Audrey The Time Traveler’s Wife Amazing, poignant love story.
Niffenegger, Audrey The Three Incestuous Sisters Totally weird, Edward-Gorey-esque story in aquatints (kind of like engravings) of 3 sisters, one loved by the lighthouse keeper’s son, one jealous, one crazy magical. The lover dies, her baby has wings, reunion at the end.
Peters, Elizabeth Crocodile on the Sandbank
Perrotta, Tom Little Children Read on the rec of Patricia. Didn’t like it much. Bored young mom of a toddler strikes up an affair with a dad from the playground; meanwhile a forcibly retired cop obsessively stalks a child molester in the ‘hood. Doomed and suburban. Bleak.
Smith, Alexander McCall Tears of a Giraffe
Smith, Alexander McCall Morality for Beautiful Girls
Smith, Alexander McCall The Kalahari Typing School for Men
Smith, Alexander McCall The Full Cupboard of Life Somehow Mma Potokwani has determined that Mr J.L.B. Matekoni will do a fundraising parachute jump for the orphan farm. And will he ever marry Mma Ramotswe?
Smith, Alexander McCall In the Company of Cheerful Ladies Mma Potokwani takes dance lessons; Mma Ramotswe bumps a man on a bicycle, hears his sad story and hires him to work in the garage and agency; and bad-news Note Makoti is back in town.
Smith, Alexander McCall Blue Shoes and Happiness
Trudeau, G. B. various Doonesbury books: What is it, Tink, is Pan in Trouble?: Quality Time on Highway 1; Dude: the Big Book of Zonker; The Bundled Doonesbury; Heckuva Job, Bushie!; The War Years…
Vaughan Y: The Last Man. Vol. 1: Unmanned
Willingham FABLES: Legends in Exile Graphic novel: characters of fairy tale now exiled to NYC. Rose Red appears to have been murdered; “Bigby” Wolf is the hard-boiled detective; Snow White (Red’s sister) the frosty assistant for Mayor-for-life and politico King Cole.
Yang, Geen Luen American Born Chinese Three stories spiral around one another in this excellent graphic novel for teens and adults, all touching on what it means to be Asian-American. The interlocking tales include: the fable of the Monkey King; the story of Jin, the only Chinese-American student at his new high school; and the story of Chin-Kee, the ultimate Chinese stereotype and cousin of the horrified Danny.
Adult Nonfiction
Buying Dad: one woman’s search for the perfect sperm donor (Harlyn Aizley) Two nice Jewish girls try to figure out whether to have a baby, and if so, how to get the ingredients. And then they go through with it. And meanwhile Harlyn’s mother is dying of cancer.
The Genius Factory: the curious history of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank (David Plotz) Interesting history of sperm banks in general. Also follows the particular stories of a few mothers and children turned up through his articles in Slate.
.
I Had Brain Surgery, What’s Your Excuse?: an illustrated memoir (Suzy Becker) It was too disturbing—I couldn’t finish it.
The Kid: (what happened after my boyfriend and I decided to go get pregnant): an adoption story (Dan Savage)
Navidad Mágica en Oaxaca/ Magical Christmas in Oaxaca (Mary J. Andrade) Coffee-table book with photos, text and poems (in English and Spanish) celebrating the culture and craft of Oaxacan Christmas (including carved radishes, dioramas made of thousands of flowers and corn husks, traditional dances, etc.)
Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith (Anne Lamott) Good.
Running with Scissors (Augusten Burroughs) Extremely disturbing, morbidly fascinating story of boy whose psychotic mom sends him to live with her insane psychiatrist in his house of horrors.
Tender at the bone : growing up at the table (Ruth Reichl)
Treehouses of the World (Nelson/Kurzaj) So tantalizing! Wonderful pictures of insides and outsides of cool treehouses, mostly in the States and England but a few others, most professionally made.
BridgetJones’s Diary (Helen Fielding) Hilarious turns of phrase and an amusement- and cringe-inducing view of life as a single, thirtysomething woman—like the Cathy comics but with a funnier edge, but still kind of a depressing view to perpetuate. The path not taken (by me, post-early-adolescence) and only vaguely recognized. But often very funny.
BridgetJones: The Edge of Reason (Helen Fielding) Still funny and painful and a somewhat irritating view of single straight women as needy and clueless (and alcoholic).
The Clocks (Agatha Christie)
Down and Out in the MagicKingdom (Cory Doctorow) Repercussions of immortalism in Disney World. Okay but kinda boring. Didn’t finish it.
Gaudí Afternoon (Barbara Wilson) Cassandra Reilly, itinerant translator, goes to Barcelona to help a woman find her husband. Turns out the woman is trans, her husband is her ex-girlfriend, they have a kid, and the novel fast becomes a gender-exploring farcical quasi-mystery. Pretty fun.
How I Paid for College (Marc Acito) A first-novel-y start but it warmed up and became quite hilarious in places. A warm and quirky portrayal of the sweet (and lusty) friendship of a group of drama club (“Play People”) HS seniors in New Jersey. Much teen sex (of various kinds) is had. I’d recommend it to teens except there’s a weird scene where they drug Edward’s evil stepmonster and take photos of themselves simulating sex with her for blackmail purposes, that for me crossed well over the line from funny to unsavory. Otherwise the innocent kinkiness of teens was fun reading.
Jennifer Government (Maxx Barry) A critique of the consumer culture written as kind of a send-up of a thriller. Fun.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (Susanna Clarke) A slow-starter but quite excellent once 200 pages into this 782 tome of Victorian-era magical history.
The Magyar Venus Totally dumb mystery novel that takes place for a few pages in Budapest.
The Nanny Diaries Ghastly view of the home life of New York’s rich elite, written by two women who nannied for the rich in NY. Good depiction of desperate preschooler, too.
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (Alexander McCall) Fun mystery stories set in Botswana.
The Plains of Passage (Auel) Good! A real fur-ripper. Lots of tall grass on the periglacial steppes. Many lands traversed and peoples encountered.
Shelters of Stone (Jean M. Auel) Ayla meets and wows Jondalar’s family and Cave, attends the Summer Meeting, is lured toward a career in the zelandonia, and finally gives birth do daughter Jonayla on practically the last page.
Trouble in Transylvania (Barbara Wilson) Cassandra Reilly, itinerant translator, gets the travel itch and winds up in Budapest for a while and then in the Carpathians at a mineral spa that’s seen better times, and where the proprietor has just died suspiciously. Lots of good modern history and linguistic speculations, plus Cassandra’s queer. Fun!
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