Jackie’s Comments (group member since Jan 02, 2009)

Jackie’s comments from the Reading List 2009 group.

#109 Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

This is the second book in The Wolves of Mercy Falls series, and it is no less magical than the first. Sam is trying to adjust to being a full time human AND the leader of the pack of winter wolves as an early spring thaw occurs. Some of the new members are having problems, and a new theory of how the "changes" occur is formed out of desperation as wolves die and Grace seems to be suffering from the same sort of illness they are. The sense of the ticking clock is very prevalent in this book, and I admit to forgetting to breathe while reading the last 20 pages. There is a cliff hanging sort of ending that's gonna have ME baying at the moon until part #3 comes out some time in 2011.

#108 One Good Dog by Susan Wilson

This is a marvelous tale of redemption, salvation and reinvention. Two tough fighters--one a man, one a dog--stumble upon each other at a very critical juncture in both of their lives. The human, Adam, has just lost his high powered and status driven life, including his family. The dog, eventually named Chance, is on his last chance at the animal shelter. Narrated half by Adam and half by Chance, this is an utterly engrossing tale of recreating yourself with more than one love story woven into it. Fans of Garth Stein's The Art of Racing In The Rain or Spenser Quinn's Chet will LOVE this, as will any dog-loving reader!

#107 Impatient With Desire by Gabrielle Burton

This book covers the ill fated journey of the Donner Party in their quest for a new life in California. The narrator is Tamsen Donner, who documents the trip in a journal/letter written to her sister who stayed behind. While the Donners and their five daughters are the main focus, a lot of the story is about other members who joined and left the party for various reasons. Burton did a great deal of research on the historical facts, but the truth is that there is still a lot of mystery surrounding the trip and especially the fateful winter of 1846/7 when 87 members of the party were snowbound and starving in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The famous cannibalism the survivors were forced into is played low key attention. Instead, the book is about what it takes to stay a family, and a person, during such terrifying times, and, most importantly, how to keep hope alive. Burton has a deft hand with setting and atmosphere, and I can still see, feel, taste and smell what it was like in those cold, dark shelters during that terrible winter. This is a tale not easily forgotten.

#106 House Rules by Jodi Picoult

Picoult, queen of the nightmarish parental ethical dilemmas, is taking on Asperger's Syndrome this time around, with 18 year old Jacob Hunt being on trial for murdering his socialization tutor. It's an interesting study in what defines a disability, what allowances we need to make in schools and courts for people who have different ways of communicating, and how metaphorical our everyday conversation is. At 544 pages, the book has plenty of time to explore all of those things and more. There are several intriguing lesser threads to the story--what it's like to be a single mother to a child with profound, and little understood, special needs; what it's like to be the younger sibling of that same child; deadbeat dads; the lack of insurance coverage for several successful treatments for Asperger's, and more. This is a meaty read, but ultimately satisfying.

#105 Christmas is Good by Trixie Koontz

"Christmas Is Good" by Trixie Koontz, who is author Dean Koontz's dog, a retired service dog. It is hilarious--I"m talking rib aching, tears in the eyes, can't breathe because you are laughing too hard hilarious. It even contains a recipe, from Three Dog Bakery (which is a fabulous shop. There was one in Cherry Creek North, but I haven't looked to see if it's still there.), for Peanut Butter dog treats. The best part is that Trixie is donating all of her royalties from this book to Canine Companions for Independence, the organization who originally raised and trained her.

#104 Raven Stole The Moon by Garth Stein

This is a slightly updated re-release of Stein's first novel originally published in 1996 and out of print for some time. Don't expect any Enzo-like characters here--this book is TERRIFYING, a flat out, brilliantly crafted horror story. Stein is a "blood quantum verified" registered member of the Tlingit Indian Tribe of Alaska (his great-grandmother was full blooded Tlingit), and he has taken one of their more terrifying legends and brought it to the modern world. This is a story about Kushtakas, otter spirit shapeshifters who steal souls from people found alone in the woods and waters near Klawock and Wrangell Alaska. Two years ago when Jenna's young son drowned in Thunder Bay, she had not heard the legends. But with her world falling apart around her in Seattle, Jenna decides to go back to Alaska and try to find peace. What she finds is a nightmare that leaves her fighting for her own life and soul. The writing in this book is masterful--I spent no small amount of time curled up in a ball keeping a wary eye on the windows and door locks while reading it. And the last 40 pages--I pretty much forgot to breathe. Yes, it's THAT good.

#103 I Love You, I Hate You, I'm Hungry by
Bruce Eric Kaplan

Light(in a dark humor kind of way) and funny and now filled with little post-it strips for some of the cartoons I've just got to photocopy and put up on the wall!

#102 The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

I've read a lot of books that have examined life in the early days of WWII, but never one like this. Blake's novel concentrates on 3 American women during 1940-41. One is an ambitious reporter fighting the glass ceiling of war reporting over in Europe who finally gets the opportunity of a lifetime that ends up completely changing her life. Another is a somewhat OCD postmaster (it's actually incorrect, according to her, to call her postmistress) working in a small town near Cape Cod who struggles with her need for rules and order and her need to love and connect with people. The third woman is a timid young doctor's wife who must find strength she doesn't think she has in circumstances she never planned for. Each of them personify attitudes that were taken about the war in those days before Pearl Harbor, each of them bring to light an aspect of 1940s womanhood, each of them is a complex character that is hard to forget. The opening quote, from Martha Gelhorn, is perfect: "War happens to people, one by one." This is what comes alive in this book and makes it resonate long after the last page is turned.

#101 Tempted by PC Cast and Kristen Cast

Same book, different title. Once again, the plot gets advanced VERY little while the teen drama takes pages and pages. Yawn.

#100 Through The Heart by Kate Morgenroth

This is a story told twice--once by Nora and once by Timothy. It is a love story. It is a murder mystery. It keeps you guessing to the very end because it is extremely cleverly written. The character development is deft, and the story moves along quickly with no small touch of humor running throughout. I had TREMENDOUS difficulty putting this book down. Trust me--you want to read this book.

#99 Heat Wave by Richard Castle

I'm a big fan of the TV series "Castle", which is about a mystery writer tagging along with a police squad. So I was thrilled that Hyperion decided to publish "Richard Castle's" new series, beginning with Heat Wave. Of course, the real author is being kept top secret, though speculation runs to James Patterson or Stephen Cannell, since both appear regularly on the show as themselves. The book itself is decent, though I don't feel it's as well written as the show, frankly. Still, I found it to be fun and it certainly kept my attention through its slim 196 pages. I didn't feel it was ripping off the story lines from the show--there are some recognizable bits, but there's plenty of fresh stuff too. And yes, there's sex--something that is sadly missing from the television show (but we viewers have hope! lol).

#98 Devils in Exile by Chuck Hogan

This is a rough, tough, fast-moving, glitzy, smart thrill ride of a story. Guys will love this book. It will make a FANTASTIC movie. The premise--Neal Maven, a recently returned vet is recruited into an interesting vigilante-style force--a group of other Iraqi vets who track down BIG drug deals, run a raid, destroy the drugs and take the money (no, they aren't Robin Hoods--these guys are keeping the dough and living LARGE). But when things stop adding up and 'missions' start going wrong, Neal discovers that there is a hidden agenda at work and sets out to stop it, alone. Be careful you don't get paper cuts as you stay up all night turning pages as fast as you can because you HAVE to know what happens next!

#97 The Girl Who Fell From The Sky by Heidi W. Durrow

It says a lot that this debut novel has already won The Bellwether Prize (an award for literary fiction that addresses issues of social justice and the impact of culture and politics on human relationships). It says a lot that Durrow is being compared to Toni Morrison, Nella Larsen and the early Langston Hughes. What can't be said until you read it for yourself is how deeply the reader will grow to care for Rachel, the lone survivor of her mother's attempted murder/suicide (her brother and baby sister were no so lucky) who has come to live with her grandmother in Portland in the early 1980s. Rachel is biracial, but her remaining extended family and the kids at school see her as black, something Rachel had never before thought about. This coming of age drama is woven into the mystery of what happened to push her mother over the edge and is told over the course of several years. It's full of characters whose whole lives were changed that day by the tragedy that day , and things come full circle in a deeply meaningful and satisfying way. I found it very difficult to put this book down. This is a powerful read and an amazing first novel by a new voice to watch in literary fiction.

#96 Sometimes We're Always Real Same-Same
by Mattox Roesch

Debut author Mattox Roesch has tremendous talent and the ability to create characters who leap off the page. This story is about Cesar, a young LA gangbanger, and his mother who has decided to move herself and her son back to the small Alaskan community that she was born in and ran away from 20 years ago. There Cesar's life becomes entwined in his ebullient cousin Go-Boy's wild schemes for a new philosophy of living and his own religion based on the Alaskan, feminine, Jesus. The author actually lives in the town that this story is set in, so his portrait of small village Alaskan life sings with detail and charm. This glimpse of life in a far off place, family, community, and starting over is written with a fresh and vibrant voice that is unforgettable.

#95 More of This World or Maybe Another by Barb Johnson

I'm not usually fond of short stories, but this collection held my attention. Partially because they deal with the same or interconnected characters throughout, and partly because of the vividness and depth of each and every character. The central theme is being trapped--by circumstance, economics, history, addiction, education, emotion, etc. The stories cover a 20 or so year span of time, and the evolution, or lack thereof, of the characters is brilliantly told.

#94 The 13th Hour by Richard Doetsch

This book is FANTASTIC, a smart and heady thrill ride full of engrossing action. Nick Quinn's wife has been murdered, and he's been accused of the crime. A mysterious stranger gives him an odd talisman that allows him to move back in time one hour at a time, which he does to try to save his wife. But each change has a consequence, and soon it's more than his wife's life and his own freedom at stake. Fans of The Time Travelers Wife, Memento or The Butterfly Effect will gravitate to this book, as should all thriller fans.

#93 Stitches by David Small

I finally sat down and read this book this weekend. The tales are true--it reads really quickly. Unless, like me, you get lost in the haunting illustrations that kept me mesmerized for minutes on end. His artistry is masterful and nearly overwhelmingly powerful. His story is heart breakingly bleak, his ability to keep himself together and find a life of happiness and love through art is awe inducing and as inspirational a tale as I have ever heard. Please, give yourself the gift of reading this book.

#92 A Common Pornography by Kevin Sampsell

Folks in the book world may recognize this author's name--he's Powell's Bookstore's event coordinator. He's written quite a bit in the past (LIT, Hobart, McSweeney's, Night Train just to name a few journals and web sites, as well as two short story collections of his own) and is the editor of Portland Noir. He's also the publisher of Future Tense Books. But this book is different--this is personal, about his family and his life as a young man that he calls "a memory experiment". Written in short vignettes primarily, this book is brutally honest and gritty. He glosses over nothing--abuse, drugs, sex, relationships of all sorts. He's not the sort to change much of anything to protect
the innocent because frankly, none of them are that innocent. This book is bold and brave and extremely difficult to put down.

#91 Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin

I'm not a Victorian England kind of person, nor am I a great fan of Alice in Wonderland or Through The Looking Glass. Nevertheless, this book, a fictionalized account of the "real" Alice, Alice Liddell, caught and held my attention in a vice grip. Benjamin's research was exhaustive, so that Alice, her sisters and the clearly disturbed Charles
Dodgson (who took the pen name Lewis Carroll) become living and breathing people again. The actual photographs of Alice in the book are priceless and add a profound depth to the story--more than once I sat looking into Alice's 'gypsy' eyes and wondering what the truth was. The Liddell family in it's privileged splendor, the father's position of Dean of Christ Church making them very powerful in England, the great restrictions on and expectations of women, all set the scene for the destruction of one life by the tender age of 11. No one is completely innocent nor completely guilty in this tale that follows Alice through to her twilight years, but the taint of scandal colors the world for them all throughout their lives. It's rather haunting (especially the last few pages), and continues to linger in my mind. I highly recommend this book.

#90 Thereby Hangs a Tail by Spenser Quinn

The long awaited second installment of the private investigation adventures of Bernie and Chet from "Dog On It" (now out in paperback) is almost here! Yes, the boys are back in January, kicking bad guy
butt and wagging tail. I found this book even more fun than the first one. This time they've become involved in a kidnapping (though no one is sure if the intended victim was the rich lady or her prize winning show dog) that blossoms into mayhem and murder. This will be an absolute hit, no question, and it will leave fans panting for more (especially the last few pages on incredibly frustrating foreshadowing that is personally driving me NUTS).

Even if you didn't read "Dog On It", you'll like this book. There are a few references to some of the things that happened in it, but there are tons of references to cases we've never heard about before
too--it's all part of a muddled backstory that Chet can't quite remember clearly or doesn't have time to tell you right now. It just adds to his canine charisma--he's a here and now kind of guy.