Red Pen’s blog

Read in July

nobody@vox.com(Red Pen) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 10:50:25 -0600

Favorites this month: Mother Night, Smoke and Mirrors, Child 44

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Read in June

nobody@vox.com(Red Pen) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:00:06 -0600

Top 3 for this month: Then We Came to the End, Speaker for the Dead, The Host

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Read in May

nobody@vox.com(Red Pen) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:04:45 -0600

THE BEST:
The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World
Part travelogue, part psychological study, part philosophical journey, Weiner's book narrates his determined quest to find and experience the world's happiest places. Many a common-sensical expectation is turned upside down in this funny and instructive narrative. I thoroughly enjoyed it and offer my unreserved recommendation.

Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction
David Sheff chronicles his son's meth addiction and the way it pervaded the lives of his loved ones. The story of Nic, his beautiful boy, is by turns heartbreaking and hopeful, and is told with honesty and professionalism. An eye-opening and terrifying account of every parent's nightmare.

THE REST:
The Miracle at Speedy Motors
The latest installment in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. Mma Ramotswe is intelligent, resourceful, loyal, and good natured. She is also perhaps the kindest character in fiction. The books in this series never fail to bring a smile to my face.

When Science Goes Wrong
Twelve interesting stories of scientific mishaps and failures from varied disciplines.

The Third Angel
An intense and emotional novel with subtly layered and interwoven stories of three women and life-shaping experiences.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
A multicultural, multigenerational romp of family curse and national doom, liberally sprinkled with wit, humor, and unforgettable characters.

The Commoner
This fictional story is based on Empress Michiko and Crown Princess Masako of Japan. Our narrator, Haruko, is the first commoner to marry into the imperial family, and through her, we come to understand the many challenges and sacrifices of a commoner entering into the rarefied and ritualized world of court life.

Fire in the Blood
From the perspective of middle age, our narrator, Silvio, unfolds stories of youthful passion, the 'fire in the blood' that fuels love and betrayal across two decades. This manuscript, only recently discovered, was one of the final works of Némirovsky, who died in Auschwitz.

Every Last Cuckoo
Seventy-five year old Sarah has recently lost her husband of fifty years, and the novel follows her as she deals with grief and finds new meaning and direction in life. It is rare to find a book written from the perspective of an elderly woman. Sarah is a vibrant and memorable protagonist and the story is joyful and positive.

I Was Told There’d Be Cake
A collection of well penned and very amusing essays. Crosley shines a knowing light on the quirky and the humorous in episodes from the stage of the twenty-something American life.

Unaccustomed Earth
Indian immigrants and the children they raise in America take center stage in each of the wonderful stories in this collection. The fully drawn characters struggle to reconcile generational and cultural clashes, and the complex bonds of family. I particularly liked the Hema and Kaushik trio that closes out the book.

Change of Heart
An engrossing page-turner with complex issues including capital punishment and religious freedom. Death row inmate Shay Bourne wants to donate his heart to the sister of the girl he was convicted of murdering fifteen years ago. The first-person narrative switches off among several key characters. Although I had figured out many of the plot 'surprises' long before they occurred, I still quite enjoyed the book.

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Read in April

nobody@vox.com(Red Pen) — Fri, 02 May 2008 11:21:13 -0600

THE BEST:
Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time
It seems trite to tell you that this book is inspirational, but it truly is. It is the reminder we all need that one passionate, committed person can set in motion significant positive change for many. When Greg Mortenson set out to build a school for the remote village in Pakistan that had sheltered and cared for him after his failed attempt to climb K2, he was no billionaire philanthropist, he was an avid climber and sometime trauma nurse living in San Francisco. He returned to the US, sold his belongings, typed out hundreds of fund solicitation letters on a rented typewriter, and lived in his car. As of 2007, the Central Asia Institute co-founded by Mortenson has established more than 50 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, providing education and opportunities to thousands of children. It's an amazing story.

March
This well researched novel presents a poignant account of the Civil War travails of Mr. March, the absent father from the classic Little Women. The idealistic March volunteers to serve as a chaplain in the Union forces. His naivete and convictions are sorely tested by his experience of the horrors of war.

THE REST:
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Klein makes a credible assertion that crisis and upheaval are often used (and sometimes orchestrated) to obscure or advance the imposition of radical free market economic policies, often with devastating long-term results.

Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism
The Nobel Peace Prize winner proposes the creation of 'social businesses', organizations specifically designed to address social and humanitarian needs.

The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth
The natural world, its habitats and ecosystems, and the biodiversity of life on Earth are in peril. Wilson suggests that whatever your beliefs about the origins of life, it is time for all of us to work together to preserve and care for the 'Creation' before it's too late.

The View from Castle Rock: Stories
This fine collection of fictional short stories from Alice Munro is largely inspired by her ancestors and family history, and from personal experiences. "We are beguiled. It happens mostly in our old age, when our personal futures close down and we cannot imagine -- sometimes cannot believe in -- the future of our children's children. We can't resist this rifling around in the past, sifting the untrustworthy evidence, linking stray names and questionable dates and anecdotes together, hanging on to threads, insisting on being joined to dead people and therefore to life."

Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West
From the pages of this book, Bhutto passionately speaks out for moderation, understanding, and reconciliation. She asserts that the peaceful, pluralistic message of Islam has been exploited by extremist factions, and denies that a clash between Islam and the West is inevitable. She offers hope and concrete suggestions for reconciliation and peace. She was a courageous, extraordinary woman and her death is a great loss.

All Quiet on the Western Front
Often cited as the greatest war novel ever written, this book recounts the inhumanity and bleak horror of WWI though the eyes of young Paul Baumer and his German classmates. They enlist and soon find themselves in an all-out struggle for survival in the hellish trenches of a brutal war they can't comprehend, forever altered and alienated from their pre-war life and dreams.

Armageddon in Retrospect
A posthumous collection of previously unpublished writings, both fiction and nonfiction, on war, peace, and the darker tendencies of humanity. "If television refuses to look at something, it is as though it never happened. It can erase anything, even whole continents, such as Africa, one big desert now, where millions upon millions of babies, with a brand-new thousand years of history looming before them, starve to death."

Singer from the Sea
A mystical sci-fi tale centered on a dark secret kept and fueled by greed. The book features complex characters and confident storytelling with environmental and feminist threads.

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Read in March

nobody@vox.com(Red Pen) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:11:20 -0600

THE BEST:
The Monsters of Templeton
Willie Upton returns to her hometown of Templeton, NY in a state of upheaval and soon finds herself unexpectedly wrapped up in solving the mystery of her paternity and unearthing the long-buried secrets of several generations of her eccentric family. Clues are followed to surprising ends and a host of endearing characters are introduced along the way. The novel is witty and creative, and the writing is wonderful.

Made to Stick
What makes an idea or story unforgettable? That's the focus of this engaging book about getting your ideas through to people and making them 'stick'. The authors propose the cornerstones of simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotions, and stories. The research studies behind the principles are fascinating, and the authors put their storytelling techniques to work, creating a book that is as entertaining as it is informative.

The Best American Short Stories 2007
The 2007 anthology, edited by Stephen King, consists of a particularly strong collection of twenty selections culled from a year of published short stories. I loved every piece in this year's edition, and consider it the best of the series to date. (Coincidentally, one of the stories is by Lauren Groff, the author of The Monsters of Templeton.)

THE REST:
Slaughterhouse-Five
Vonnegut's classic "...fashions the author's experiences in the Second World War into an eloquent and deeply funny plea against butchery in the service of authority." (quote from Amazon.com) Throughout the novel, Billy Pilgrim randomly time travels through his life experiences, including a visit to an alien planet and the 1945 firebombing of Dresden, Germany.

Caspian Rain
This is the poignant story of loneliness and class struggle centered on an Iranian Jewish family in Tehran during the years preceding the Islamic revolution.

Daughter of York
A work of historical fiction featuring Margaret of York, sister to the War of the Roses kings Edward IV and Richard III, and wife of Charles, duke of Burgundy.

Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids
Near the end of WWII, a group of Japanese reform-school boys are evacuated to a remote village where the villagers subject them to cruelty and abandon them to plague. Reminiscent of Lord of the Flies.

Bad Monkeys
The twists and turns are fast and wild in this imaginative sci-fi thriller. You never know what to expect as Jane relates the story of her involvement with the Bad Monkeys, an organization devoted to fighting evil.

Night Train to Lisbon
A brief encounter in Bern with a Portuguese woman sets Raimund Gregorius on a journey to Lisbon and to self-discovery through the study of the life and writings of a resistance-era poet and doctor.

Joy in the Morning
Satirical humor from P.G. Wodehouse, featuring Bertram Wooster and the incomparable Jeeves.

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Read in February

nobody@vox.com(Red Pen) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 09:24:18 -0700

THE BEST:

The Zookeeper’s Wife: A War Story
This nonfiction account of heroism in Nazi-occupied Poland is my top pick of the month. I am deeply moved and inspired by individuals who match their wit and courage against tyranny in order to save their fellow man from injustice, injury, and death. While the majority is silently swept along with the tide, these few brave souls stand apart and risk everything. Diane Ackerman has a unique gift for bringing a story to life with robust and pictorial language.

The Hummingbird’s Daughter
My favorite Feb. fiction. This sweeping novel recounts the life of Urrea's famous relative Teresita, the "Saint of Cabora", a girl renowned for healing powers, unshakable faith, and revolutionary ideas that attracted a following of thousands and the enmity of Mexico's Diaz government in the late 1800s. Extensively researched, and written with a buoyant, irresistible style.

THE REST:

On Chesil Beach
As the book jacket states, "...a story of lives transformed by a gesture not made or a word not spoken." McEwan excels at portrayals of complex relationships and consequence.

New Moon and Eclipse (books 2 & 3)
The Twilight series is accurately classified as YA fiction, but offers a light and fast-paced reading escape for all ages.

Running in the Family
Ondaatje's dream-like memoir of life in Ceylon provides a peek into an exotic time and place far removed from the average reader's experience.

The Boleyn Inheritance
If you have an interest in stories of Tudor England, you'll likely find this enjoyable, although, in my opinion, it doesn't quite measure up to The Other Boleyn Girl. My, that Henry was a tyrant!

The Nature of Monsters
A bit slow at times, but it provides an intriguing look at social structure, superstitions, and the state of science and medicine in the early 1700s.

The Gathering
This unflinching story of an Irish clan in the aftermath of a death is the 2007 winner of the Man Booker Prize. The writing is, of course, top-notch, but I found it a rather depressing read.

The Cleft
My first taste of the work of prolific writer and Nobel Laureate, Doris Lessing. The novel tells an alternate human origin story centered around an ancient community of women, the advent of men, and the resulting challenge of gender relations. Perhaps it wasn't the best introduction to Lessing's work. I'll have to give her another try one of these days.

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Fourteen squared, aka Read in January

nobody@vox.com(Red Pen) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 08:49:33 -0700

If "books are for squares" as Antic so loves to tell me, I guess my angularity is off the charts this month.

I've already posted separately about a few of these books. Some brief thoughts and comments:

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Oskar Schell is unforgettable and breaks my heart "...into more pieces than my heart was made of..." JSF is an original among writers.

Duma Key
I'm adding this one to my Stephen King favorites, right up there with The Stand and Lisey's Story.

Nineteen Minutes
Hands down the most unsettling. Thought-provoking, immensely sad from every angle.

The End of America
A compelling eye opener and call to action to safeguard our Constitution and civil rights.

(Not That You Asked)
Humorous and insightful. The Oprah piece (among others) is not to be missed.

Twilight
January's guilty pleasure. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. I burned through it in a day.

People of the Book and Year of Wonders
Geraldine Brooks has a new fan.

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People of the Book

nobody@vox.com(Red Pen) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 07:14:47 -0700

People of the Book: A Novel

I just have to put in a quick plug for this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it highly.

The Sarajevo Haggadah is a medieval illuminated Hebrew manuscript believed to have been created in Spain in the mid-1300s. It has survived, remarkably, the exile of the Jews from Spain, the Inquisition, book burnings, two world wars, and the war in Bosnia. Over the centuries it has been spared or rescued time and again: in 1942 it was spirited to safety when a feared Nazi general came to the Sarajevo museum to confiscate it; during the Bosnian war it was rescued by a librarian as shells exploded around the museum.

Using the known facts about the Haggadah as a framework, Brooks expertly weaves a fictional account of the book's creation, its journey from Spain to Venice, and eventually to Bosnia, and the people whose hands it passes through along the way. It's fascinating and very well done.

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Read in December

nobody@vox.com(Red Pen) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:18:55 -0700

Standouts: Run and The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

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Read in November

nobody@vox.com(Red Pen) — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 10:34:53 -0700

I enjoyed them all, but my favorites were: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Best American Short Stories, The God of Animals, and I Am America.

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