What Are You Reading / Reviews - March 2019

[Book Concierge]

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Read any good books lately? We want to know about them.
How about real stinkers? We want to know about those too!


Enter your reading list and/or reviews here. Did you like it? Hate it? Feel lukewarm?

Share your thoughts with us.

Happy reading!

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[James]

Jang Eun-jin, No One Writes Back [2009; tr. 2013] 213 pages

Another novel for the Goodreads group that is reading Korean literature this year; the first modern work we have read by a woman author, and I must say the first that wasn't basically depressing. No One Writes Back strikes me as a good, somewhat postmodernist novel, in that it is a significant novel in a rather experimental or at least not quite realist style "disguised" as essentially a love-story (though it somewhat departs from the expectations of the genre).

The main characters are a young man (the narrator, Jihun -- I can't believe the reviews on Goodreads that say he is unnamed, since he signs every letter) who has been traveling around the country for three years, living at motels and writing a kind of travel journal in the form of letters to people he meets along the way; his blind dog and traveling companion Wajo; and an unnamed woman novelist he meets along the way (he refers to her as 751, the 751st person he has made acquaintance with since starting out -- he refers to himself significantly as 0). He has a friend at home who checks his mailbox, and it seems that no one will ever write back, but he never gives up hope.

There are descriptions of some of the other people he has met along the way, and we find out much about his family and early history from his letters and memories -- what we learn however is not always true and constantly being revised. As a child, Jihun was a stutterer who felt he was not as good as everyone else, and he is surrounded by defense mechanisms so that while he makes acquaintances easily he seems to have no real or lasting relationships; his meeting with 751 and his opening up to her, exposing the vulnerabilities that he otherwise can only express in his letters, begins to change him and allow him to develop a more normal personality.

The book is a fun read, with many reversals of normal behavior and expectations, as with the people who are numbered and the motel rooms that have names. I won't give any details of the plot because this is the kind of twisty book where spoilers would be a problem, and the ending is not exactly what I would have predicted -- actually some of it is and some isn't. There are many references to The Moon and Sixpence and I might have gotten even more out of the book if I had ever read that -- I'm adding it to my TBR list.

[Melissa]

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
5 ★

It's 1931 and Jacob Jankowski suffers a major loss and is unable to concentrate at school, so he leaves during a very important exam and jumps onto a passing train. He soon finds out that he jumped onto a circus train and quickly becomes part of the circus crowd.

I highly enjoyed this story of Jacob's adventures with the circus. Jacob is very naive and shy in the beginning, but his time with the circus matures him quite a bit. He learns very quickly that the circus life is a hard and dangerous one, both physically and mentally. The characters are absolutely wonderful. From Marlena, who performs with the horses, to Camel, an elderly worker. The real tension starts when the circus owner, Uncle Al, buys Rosie, an elephant that everyone thinks is dumb. Jacob learns how to communicate with her and she is truly a lovable animal. She makes the reader smile. Jacob's love for Marlena also causes tension between Jacob and her husband, August. He is probably one of the most despicable characters in the book. Bad tempered and down right crazy.
The story alternates between Jacob now, 90ish year old and in a nursing home, and Jacob then, in his 20s. Both add so much to the story. The book has a delightful ending that made me smile and happy for Jacob.

[Book Concierge]

The End of the Affair – Graham Greene – 3.5***
Maurice Bendrix recalls the affair he had with the married Sarah Miles. Bendrix is a writer, and he uses his experience exploring characters’ motivations and emotions to look at the attraction, passion and ultimate love-hate relationship he had with Sarah. That push-pull of the love-hate relationship is at the center of this little novel. And this pretty much describes my relationship with this novel. On the one hand I love the way Greene writes, and the way he draws these characters. On the other hand, I really disliked all of them.
LINK to my review

[Book Concierge]

300 Days Of Sun – Deborah Lawrenson – 3***
Journalist Joanna Millard goes to Faro, Portugal to escape a relationship and a career that are both going nowhere, and winds up embroiled in an investigation into criminal child kidnapping that goes back to World War II. This started out slowly but picked up steam as small revelations led to bigger discoveries. Lawrenson uses a dual time line that can sometimes be jarring, as the reader is yanked from one story arc to another, but that serves to increase suspense.
LINK to my review

[James]

Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the Greater Philosophers [1927] 592 pages

Maybe I'm too harsh on this, but I found it very disappointing. I acknowledge that it is a biographical history of a few (fifteen) "great" philosophers, written for a popular audience, with no academic pretensions, by someone who was a historian rather than a professional philosopher (or even historian of philosophy.) Actually, the fact that he was a historian is part of the problem, because the historical background in this book is basically what "everyone knows", that is stereotypes about vigorous, masculine Greeks, stagnant feminine orientals, refined Frenchmen, abstract scholarly Germans, and pragmatic Americans; the middle ages are rejected totally as "scholastic", Marxism is ignored and so on. His accounts are very subjective and moralistic; basically he gives us an account of what "everyone knows" about a philosopher -- usually not what I know about them from having actually read them -- and then criticizes them from the perspective of what "everyone" (or at least every early twentieth century American liberal intellectual) believes. It's often difficult to know when he's paraphrasing a philosopher and when he's commenting or expanding. Everyone from Plato to Schopenhauer "discovered psychoanalysis before Freud." Although he lists some of the better known original works in the bibliography (usually in multiple translations) and has a few quotations, his interpretations seem to be based largely on other popular secondary works. His understanding of Nietzsche, for example, seems to be based on his anti-Semitic sister's tendentious biography. His selection of the "greats" is also dubious, although perhaps understandable in the 1920's -- was Herbert Spencer really the "greatest" philosopher of the nineteenth century? None of my philosophy courses even mentioned him. Was Schopenhauer really more important than Hegel? I'll give two stars because some of the biographical anecdotes were interesting -- although no real historian would credit some of his sources -- but this is not a book I would recommend for anyone who's interested in the story of philosophy, even at a "light" level. There are children's books that are better.

[Book Concierge]

A Year in Provence – Peter Mayle – 4****
This is a re-read and I enjoyed it just as much as the first time I read it. What a delightful diversion! Mayle's accont of his and his wife's first year owning a house in Provence is entertaining, relaxing and inspiring - it inspires me to enjoy life - good food, good wine and the siesta.
LINK to my review

[Book Concierge]

Midnight At the Bright Ideas Bookstore – Matthew Sullivan – 4****
A puzzle, wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in a mystery. Sullivan’s novel kept me guessing and off balance with some very interesting twists. It took me some time to get really caught up in the story because it was so fractured at the beginning. The multiple puzzles and flashbacks to Lydia’s youth and the horrific events surrounding “The Hammerman” had me wondering where this was going. Still, Sullivan’s inventive narrative did eventually capture my attention and kept me turning pages and staying up late to finish.
LINK to my review

[Melissa]

City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments #3) by Cassandra Clare
4 ★

Clary travels to the City of Glass without permission from the Clave to save her mother’s life and finds that things aren’t quite as she hoped. First, she could be put to death for entering the city without permission and second, Jace doesn’t want her there. Clary makes friends with a Shadowhunter named Sebastian who seems familiar to her for some reason. As Valentine gets closer to destroying all Shadowhunters forever, Clary must convince the Clave that her powers can help the fight if Downworlders and Shadowhunters fight together.
I enjoyed this installment in the Shadowhunters series and although Clary still made some choices without thinking first, I think she's getting better. There are a few surprises within the book as well. Most I saw coming, but not until just before the reveal. I really liked how the story flowed and how it concluded, if you want to call it that. This definitely could have been a trilogy, but there is still a missing link...

[Book Concierge]

I Was Anastasia – Ariel Lawhon – 3.5***
I’ve been fascinated by the possibility that Anastasia Romanov survived the slaughter of her family during the Bolshevik Revolution since I was a little girl. I am not alone. Lawhon relies on the reader’s desire to believe Anna Anderson’s claim that she was the Grand Duchess Anastasia as she crafts this work. Using dual timelines and narrators, she carefully brings the reader to the fateful events of 1918 and a completely believable conclusion.
LINK to my review

[Melissa]

I Know a Secret (Rizzoli & Isles #12) by Tess Gerritsen
4 ★

Detective Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles have a case that's truly confusing. Two victims with no apparent cause of death. Also, both bodies have been manipulated in a shocking manner. When Rizzoli and Isles finally connect the 2 victims they end up re-investigating a crime from over 20 years ago. There is one person though who can help them solve the case and she's not talking. She has vowed to keep the secret till her death.
Being in the medical field myself I found the ins and outs of these deaths quite interesting. Especially when Maura learns how it was done. It was not something I would have thought of. This story touched on a very sensitive subject and I think the author did an excellent job explaining the legal side of it. I didn't find this story as exciting as the previous books though. Other than a quick scene at the end, there was no real suspense.
The most irritating part of this book was Jane Rizzoli and her attitude toward Maura's mom issue and Frost's issues with his ex-wife. I found her to be very demanding and insensitive toward both of them and their situations. She seems to just expect both of them to do what she says. It frustrated me. On the plus side, so happy for Angela. I'm proud of her for finally putting her foot down!

[Book Concierge]

China Rich Girlfriend – Kevin Kwan – 2**
Book two in Kwan’s trilogy about “Crazy Rich Asians.” Just ridiculous but strangely addicting fun. Kinda like watching the worst of the reality TV shows, that I just cannot turn off. Well, it satisfies a challenge to read a book set in China.
LINK to my review

[James]

Maryse Condé, Ségou: Les Murailles de terre [1984] 492 pages [in French, Kindle]

An early novel of Maryse Condé (I think it was her third, out of more than thirty), this is a sprawling historical novel about the last decades of the Bambara empire of Ségou, a fragment of the earlier and even larger empire of Mali in Northwest Africa (beginning in 1797 and ending in 1856). It is quite different from any novel I have read about Africa; while most others -- even those which are anticolonial -- present African cultures as traditional, not to say backwards and stagnant, and the major event is always the arrival of the Europeans, this book shows a dynamic history with major ongoing changes having nothing to do with the Europeans. It is apparently based on actual events and places, and the author has obviously done a lot of research.

The main conflict in the novel is between the traditional "fétichiste" West African religion of Ségou and the surrounding areas and the penetration of Islam (with its attendent literacy and commerce) from the north. The book takes one noble Bambara family, the Traoré, through three generations, as the sons disperse through much of West Africa, from the more inland Islamic centers of Tombouctou and Djenné to areas nearer the coast having more contact with the Europeans. Even the one son (Naba) who is captured and enslaved is sent not to the southern United States or the Caribbean, as with most novels about slavery, but to Brazil, where the relative weight of slaves to slaveowners and other whites created a much different environment than in the north, with greater survival of African culture -- and even in Brazil, the conflict between traditional beliefs and Islam plays a major role, with the additional complication of voluntary or forced conversions to Catholicism. Christians also play a role in Africa itself with one of the sons (Malobali, a.k.a. Samuel) somewhat ambivalently converting to Catholicism and Naba's son Eucaristus becoming an Anglican priest. The traditional religion seems to be taken much more seriously in the novel, and we are shown ancestral spirits actually taking part in the plot, for example informing relatives in Ségou about the deaths of the sons elsewhere in Africa and Brazil, or appearing as old men to give advice to the sons in crises; the apparent coincidences, such as Malobali meeting Naba's widow (Ayodele, a.k.a. Romana) after her return to Africa from Brazil (and I had not realized that there were communities of returned slaves in Africa long before Liberia) are attributed to the intentional designs of the ancestors, and there are supernatural signs such as the thunder and red rain when the marabout El-Hadj Omar enters the city of Ségou. On the other hand, there are no supernatural signs performed by the Islamic or Christian gods, yet they continue to increase their influence. (I don't want to suggest that Condé presents religion as an ultimate cause; she shows that the religious differences are an excuse for wars over ethnic, and in the last analysis economic, causes, such as the revolt of the of the subjugated Peuls against the Bambaras of Ségou, envy of the prosperity of the Bambara's by the northerners, and so forth.) Most of the action is set in urban areas, with schools, temples and mosques, and considerable organized commerce (increasing both from the Maghreb [Islamic northern Africa] and the Europeans), rather than in the small self-contained villages of other novels. All in all, this is a very different and more diverse history of Africa than I was expecting, and the content is very interesting. To the extent that, as with any historical novel, there is a political dimension to the book, I think it would have to be taken in connection with the debates over pan-Africanism and Négritude versus the recognition of many separate cultures in Africa.

While the great extent of this epic novel is what makes it interesting, it also has its downside. The novel alternates up to five different (and essentially independent) plots at a time, all in different places with many different minor characters, and each section is long, so that by the time one episode returned I had often forgotten details or even lost interest in those characters. The many different places and cultures described and the large number of minor characters also made it difficult at times to follow. I wish I had realized when reading this (it was a Kindle book so I never looked at the end until I finished) that the appendices included maps of the places involved, as I am not familiar with the political geography of early nineteenth century Africa and had trouble picturing the spatial relationships of the different cities and countries; a genealogical table of the various characters; and notes about the historical events and characters (nearly all of the characters in the book other than the Traoré family and their wives' families were actually historical). If you read the Kindle version be sure to bookmark these from the start.

I nearly abandoned the book about 80% of the way through when Eucaristus, who had been introduced (as a very minor character) as a child in a returned Brazilian Catholic community, reappears at thirty in an English, Anglican mission in Lagos as the major figure of a new episode (which moves the action to London), with essentially no explanation of how he had gotten there, making it very obvious that the characters are just being moved around to provide an excuse for describing various different aspects of African history. His story, like many of the other episodes, is simply dropped after one or two chapters. I would have to say that in terms of content this was a very good book, but that in terms of the construction and writing style it was perhaps somewhat too ambitious for the author's writing abilities at the time.

The novel ends with the beginning of a battle (in 1856?) between the forces of Ségou and El-Hadj Omar; to learn the outcome, you need to read the notes (or the sequel, Ségou: La terre en miettes, translated as The Children of Segu, which continues the history after the fall of Ségou, but was less popular and now seems to be out of print both in French and English).

[Book Concierge]

In a Sunburned Country – Bill Bryson – 4****
Bryson turns his journalistic skills to an exploration of the only continent that is also a country, and an island. It’s a wonderful memoir / travel journal. If Australia weren’t already on my bucket list, it certainly would be now.
LINK to my review

[Book Concierge]

Inside Out and Back Again – Thanhha Lai – 5*****
This middle-grade novel focusing on the immigrant experience is told entirely in verse, and I applaud Lai for how much she manages to convey in so few words. It is at once complex and straightforward, nuanced, and simple.
LINK to my review

[Melissa]

Here There are Monsters by Amelinda Berube
4 ★

Skye and her younger sister Deirdre are very different and Skye spends most of her time hanging out with Deirdre and protecting her from bullies. But Skye is ready to move on and make friends, so when they move across the country Skye knows that this is her chance. She makes friends, but Deirdre isn't happy about it. She feels like Skye is abandoning her. Deirdre starts making her own "friends" out of sticks and bones and when she goes missing, Skye soon finds out that there is more to Deirdre's friends than just sticks and bones.
Skye tries so hard throughout the book to be a good sister to Deirdre and I couldn't help but feel bad for her. Deirdre is very manipulating. She uses her mental state to guilt Skye into staying with her. I can understand Skye's need to get away. I also felt that Skye's parents were always more on Deirdre's side than Skye's. Well, her mom was as least. Her dad tried. The friends Skye makes are an interesting bunch, but I only ever trusted William. He seemed the most honest.
The story itself is unique and intriguing. It gets very dark at times and some of the decisions made were hard for me to comprehend. The "monsters" were so freaky and well described that it wasn't hard to feel fear along with Skye. They were definitely something I would not want to encounter. This is a well written story with some psychological aspects that will keep readers wondering.
(Advanced reader copy courtesy of NetGalley)

[Melissa]

The Gilded Wolves (The Gilded Wolves #1) by Roshani Chokshi
4 ★

Séverin Montagnet-Alarie lost everything when he was a child and now he has a chance to get it all back. He has the chance to win back his inheritance, but it means having to help the Order of Babel, the society that took his inheritance from him. Séverin needs help to find the ancient artifact the Order is looking for, so he is joined by his 4 closest friends. The 5 of them most work together to find the artifact hidden somewhere in Paris.
This story takes place in Paris in 1889 and the author did an excellent job staying in the timeline. The reader does not forget what year they are in. The story starts off somewhat slow and I did find myself getting bored. Séverin is adopted many times and I found the names of his adopted fathers a bit ridiculous. I understand that they each taught Séverin something very important in life, but I did not feel like their names needed to reflect that. Each chapter is told by a different character which helps the story move along. The story does pick up and I found myself not wanting to put it down.
My favorite aspect of the whole story was the friendship between Séverin and his friends. Although they are all very different they use it to their advantage. No one acts better than the other and you can feel the love they all have for each other. There is a devastating event at the end of the book that I hope gets justice in book 2, which I am very much looking forward to.

[Book Concierge]

Affairs of Steak – Julie Hyzy – 3***
Book number five in the White House Chef mystery series featuring chef Olivia (“Ollie”) Paras. I enjoy this series though some of the situations Ollie finds herself in seem rather implausible. There are plenty of suspects, some romantic/sexual tension, workplace drama, and a great cast of supporting characters.
LINK to my review

[James]

Mia Couto, Rain and Other Stories [1994; tr. 2019] 163 pages

Mia Couto's third collection of stories, published in Portuguese in 1994 but translated into English this year, the book consists of 26 very short stories (most six pages, two eight pages and a few four pages). Set during or immediately after the civil war in Mozambique, most are concerned with war and peace, but in a very symbolic way -- nearly all are "magic realist", and even those which have no magic elements are written in a way that makes the events seem strange or having a reference beyond the literal occurence.

[Book Concierge]

Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree – Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani – 5*****
This young-adult novel tells the story of the “stolen girls” of northern Nigeria who have been kidnapped by the terrorist group Boko Haram. The author gives the reader a vivid picture of life in a small Nigerian village. The unnamed narrator is a young girl who excels at school, and dreams of new shoes, going to university, marrying a good husband. The writing is poetic and lyrical, with vivid descriptions and heart-wrenching scenarios. I will read more from this author.
LINK to my review

[James]

Chigozie Obioma, An Orchestra of Minorities [2019] 448 pages

It's unusual for me to read a new book which has just been published, but I read Obioma's first novel, The Fishermen, last year and when I saw this one listed on the Goodreads "New Books by Authors You Have Read" list I requested the library to purchase it. It is very different from his first novel. The last novel I finished was Maryse Condé's Ségou, which was largely about the traditional West African religion from the "outside", as a historic phenomenon in conflict with the rise of Islam and the introduction of Christianity. Obioma's novel is about West African religion from the "inside"; the book is narrated in a spiritual realm before the pre-eminent deity Chukwu by the protagonist's chi, a spiritual double which is less like the Christian idea of the soul than the ancient Egyptian idea of the ka. I can't help but think that this is a very old idea in African religion which has diffused throughout the continent. The book is filled with references to the religion of the ancestors and with traditional Igbo proverbs. (Obioma, like most of the Nigerian authors I have read other than Wole Soyinka and Elnathan John, is an Igbo ethnically, from the part of Nigeria that once tried to secede as Biafra; although like most of the "third world" novelists I have read he's presently a professor in the United States).

The atmosphere of the book is very fatalistic. The protagonist, Chinonso, is a small poultry farmer, who according to his chi was given the gift of luck at birth, that he would somehow gain everything that he persevered in seeking. The reality is just the opposite; he loses everything he has or ever gets, and everything he does somehow has the opposite effect from what he intends. The book begins with him meeting a girl on a bridge, who is about to commit suicide, and convincing her not to kill herself. This is Ndali, and they meet again and fall in love -- but her rich family is contemptuous of his poverty and illiteracy and opposes their relationship. We know from the beginning that the book will end in some sort of tragedy, since the chi is pleading his case to Chukwu, and it is strongly suggested all along that he is going to kill Ndali. The narrative is full of stories, many flashbacks from his childhood, about his relationship to birds, especially a gosling that he cared for and then killed as a boy, suggesting that he is prone to jealousy and violence. I don't want to go into the details about the story to avoid "spoilers", but his entire life is spent suffering in one way or another because of his love for Ndali.

The title, an "orchestra of minorities", is a literal translation of an Igbo phrase which refers to the sound the chickens make when one of them is killed or taken away to be sold; the idea is of a certain solidarity of victims, not a solidarity in resistence but a solidarity of defeat and dispair, a recognition of the hopelessness of the powerless before the powerful. The only element of "hope" in the novel is that justice will be accomplished in a future reincarnation. Although the book is interesting and very well-written, the theme was such that I could not really relate to it.

[Melissa]

Milk Glass Moon (Big Stone Gap #3) by Adriana Trigiani
4 ★

Ave Maria Mulligan MacChesney and Jack Mac's daughter Etta is growing up and growing up fast. Ave Maria is disappointed that she doesn't have the relationship with Etta that she had with her mom. All of Ave Maria's friends are back and faces issues of their own. The story takes the reader to New York, the Italian Alps and the Tuscan countryside. Etta ends up falling in love and it breaks Ave Maria's heart. She thinks Etta is ruining her life.
I have enjoyed all the books in this series and look forward to reading the last. The characters are great and the locations are so well described by the author that the reader is able to see them. Iva Lou is back and facing a health scare, Fleeta may have a new love interest and Pearl has to make a big life decision. The story makes you laugh and cry just pages apart. I have daughters of my own and there are many parts of the book that I can relate to. I felt like I was on the same level as Ave Marie. It is a sweet story about family and what we all go through throughout life.

[Book Concierge]

Us Against You – Fredrik Backman – 3.5***
Backman returns to Beartown to explore what happens in the aftermath of the first book’s stunning events. I love the way that Backman writes these characters. He moves back and forth between characters’ points of view as he tells the story of the town. Yet the story is always moving forward, keeping me enthralled and interested. Best enjoyed if you’ve read Beartown first.
LINK to my review