July/August Books

Reading is slow-going these days.  Before July 28, I was 9 months pregnant and exhausted and couldn't keep my eyes open long enough to read a chapter at a time, much less finish a whole book!  And since then, my reading time is limited to sweet Harper's feeding times.  However, the two books I have finished have been well worth struggling through them!

Four college graduates with meaningless degrees have no job prospects and are desperate for money.  Arthur Pender and his girlfriend Marie, along with their friends "Mouse" and Sawyer hatch a plot - they will become kidnappers - kidnapping wealthy people and demanding a reasonable ransom.  They will ask for enough money to cover their expenses and split a nice profit, but not enough to attract too much attention.  They pull jobs all over the country, assume multiple identities, putting away money to one day retire to the Maldives - to sit on a beach and never work again. The plan is simple - get the target's attention, stuff them in the van, blindfold them, get them to call their loved one and relay the ransom message - $60,000, no police.  They make the trade, ditch the vehicle, and move on to the next city.

Everything is going according to plan, until they kidnap the wrong man - a man who turns out to be married to a woman with mob connections.  Sawyer panics and shoots the man and all hell breaks loose.  Suddenly, the quartet has not only the mob on their tail, but the FBI as well.  The story that ensues is full of twists and turns and makes for a definite page turner.

I loved, loved, loved, this book!  I totally think it should be made into a movie!  The plot, the characters, excellent book!

My sister-in-law introduced me to Wally Lamb a few summers ago with She's Come Undone.  We Are Water has been on my list for a while, and I finally picked it up at the library. 

We Are Water is a story of a dysfunctional family with interesting dynamics.  Annie Oh is a popular artist, about to marry her partner and art rep/dealer Viveca.  She and her ex-husband, Orion, have three grown children.  Orion was an on-campus psychologist, but was recently relieved of his duties following an alleged incident with a female student.  Their adult children, twins Ariane and Andrew, and little sister Marissa, all have secrets and struggles of their own.  Written in flashbacks and story telling, secrets of all of the characters come to light, secrets that explain so much of the Ohs' life together. 

This book review from the Boston Globe tells it better than I can:

"Annie Oh’s wedding day ought to be a source of joy for her and her family. Instead, it is a car wreck, as Annie’s career, her childhood, her own children, and her ex-husband all collide in the small town of Three Rivers, Conn. With each emotional clash, the drama ratchets up further, but in Wally Lamb’s strangely superficial new novel, none of them really matter as none really come to life...

Their three adult children, who also have their say, include a flailing fledgling actress who drinks too much, an unattractive do-gooder on her way to becoming a single mother, and an Army nurse with anger issues. The Army nurse’s fiancée is a right-wing conservative, which guarantees some tension as her future mother-in-law’s wedding approaches, but all the children will get their turn to express displeasure, frustration, and, of course, ultimately connection with the family that spawned them."

This is such an intricate family story with such vivid characters.  I really enjoyed this book - it had surprises and revelations and the characters' reactions were so genuine.  Lamb is an excellent story teller!!

I'm in the middle of The Vanishing Point right now - another mystery/thriller, recommended by J.K. Rowling.  I'll post soon!

A Week In Winter - Maeve Binchy

I put A Week In Winter on my list after it was published posthumously and picked it up at the library at the beginning of the summer.  I'd been reading some pretty heavy stuff that was taking me FOREVER to get through, and wanted something fun and light for a change of pace.  The title suggests that you curl up in a chair under a quilt with snow falling outside your window and read with a cup of coffee in one hand, but it was a pretty good summer read too!
The book is a collection of stories about the people who congregate for a week-long vacation at Stone House in Ireland, run by Chicky Starr.  Chicky ran off with an American, and returned to Ireland to open this Inn/B&B after their relationship ended.  Chicky, Rigger, a young man with a past who proves to be a useful handyman and really right-hand-man, and Chicky's niece Orla, welcome a colorful bunch of people for their first week in business.

Binchy then gives each person or couple their own story as to how they arrived at Stone House, and then how the stay changed their lives, or didn't, for that matter.  Each character has his or her own story of how they ended up in what seems like a Godforsaken place - the coast of Ireland in the dead of winter.

I love this kind of story - the background of characters and how they come to be somewhere or bond as a group.  It was never boring, because it was like a bunch of short stories.  Family relationships, love interests, in-laws, work relationships - this book has it all! 

Long Time, No Posts!

Nothing like letting almost a year go by without writing anything!  And I really don’t have a good excuse!  So let me catch you up on what I’ve been reading!

It seems pretty appropriate that one of the last posts I wrote was about Robert Galbraith’s The Cuckoo’s Calling.  I finished the second Cormoran Strike novel The Silkworm last night.  Strike is approached by a woman, Leonora Quine, whose husband, a writer, has gone missing.  Confessing he has disappeared before, Leonora hires Strike to find her husband and return him to his wife and mentally disabled daughter.  Strike does find Owen Quine - hung from the ceiling in an abandoned house, disemboweled, drenched in acid, and quite dead.  The way he was murdered mirrors the way his character dies in Quine's latest book.  However, only a handful of people have read the manuscript - narrowing the suspects down to very few.  All of whom, I might add, are represented in foul ways in the book, giving all of them motive.

The police peg Leonora for the murder of her husband, but the more "evidence" that is found against her, the more Strike is convinced she is innocent.  He sets off to prove her innocence, all while getting to know Quine's tangled social network of publishers, agents, enemy writers, ex-friends and editors.   

Strike's secretary, Robin, becomes more of a partner in investigation when she reveals her dream of working as a detective.  She proves herself to be very useful, but at what cost to her upcoming marriage?

This book was definitely a different side of JK Rowling to me.  The book Quine has written has grotesque imagery throughout - some of it making me think, "Who comes up with this stuff?!?!?"  The grisly descriptions of the murder didn't bother me, but the excerpts from Quine's book are a little disturbing.  Under her pen name, I think Rowling is really trying to distance herself from the Harry Potter books, which is completely understandable.  

I really enjoyed the books - of course the plot and the details kept me hooked, but I thought the ending was too short.  Strike wraps up the case, explains his theory, and catches the murderer in about 2 1/2 pages.  How he and Robin went about getting the evidence was vague - just "We've gone over the plan.  You know what to do."  I wanted more!!!!  But that's just a personal preference - I guess - I like all of the details!!   

I don't know whether I would recommend this book to just anybody off the street or not.  Maybe so - the grotesque parts were minimal, but referenced several times.  I heard there would be 7 total Cormoran Strike novels, so I can't wait to see what he's up against next time!