The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell (2010)

Fascinating. This book doesn't follow the standard patterns. It starts with a man visiting a small village in northern Sweden and finding everyone murdered. Then we see judge Brigita Roselund realizing her mother's adoptive parents lived in this small village and since she has just been told to take some time off for high blood pressure, so she goes up to check out hte village. She becomes the main character that ties this disparate world wide story all together.

I somehow can't imagine an American novel talking about idealistic youth days when they were all entralled with China's communism and Mao, some even officially joining the communists. This feels very European or Scandinavian. Brigita's friend Karin became so enamored of the Chinese, that she made her life's work out of studying China and attends a conference in Beijing during the novel with Brigit.

This story manages to traverse four continents and teach me something about each. I still know so little about China. This book provided Mankell the opportunity to speculate about conversations happening at the top levels of the Chinese government about the many poor in the rural disctricts, the corruption as money flowed into the country surrounding the Olympics. The different approaches - more traditional Maoist and others with the goal of helping all and the new capitalism. I guess I have heard that the Chinese have developed relationships with Africa, but are they really planning to send massive numbers of Chinese to populate fertile, underdeveloped areas in Africa? Mozambique  and Zambia were visited and we saw a different take on Mugabe.  I should learn more.

Most facinating was the historical flash back to the ancestors of two of the main Chinese characters Hung Cho and Ja Roo, who were forced to flee their rural homes, were dragged to America and put to work on building the railroad across the continent under horibble conditions. The ancestors traveled across America, then to England and then back to China. They befriended some Swedish missionaries and we even get a glimpse into this strange phenomenon of bringing Christianity to China. I felt there were strong parallels to the way they were prostelizing to some other parts of the book - to the early zealousness of the Swedish communists.

I learned a bit more about the criminal courts in Sweden. I also kept wishing for a map, but I now really get how close southern Sweden is to Denmark & Copenjhagen, and that Helsingborg is some place down there.

Brigit was an interesting character - middle aged, grown children, distancing relationship with husband, likes her job though it gets stressful. And then she gets involved in the mass murder story, not realizing she is the one putting it all together. She is not really being the detective, though she does a bit of sleuthing in the beginning and passes it on to not very receptive police.

I know this is a very disjointed review, but these are impressions about the book I scribbled down in the car after listening to it. I think I don't want to give the plot away, by even indicating the connections, but it was a fascinating romp through Sweden, China, US, and Africa mostly in the present, but going back 150 years or so.

I am Morgan leFay by Nancy Springer (2001)

Subtitle: A Tale form Camelot. Reading of this book came out of a reference question, where a professor had written her doctoral dissertation about Morgan le Fay. I wanted to read something simpler about her and found this book by Nancy Springer, who used to be one of my favorite fantasy/science fiction authors.

We see Morgan as a little girl, losing her father, then taken away with her sister by the nurse to be kept safe and raised in magic. She does fall in love, but her lover is destroyed, even though she tries to protect him, which makes her bitter. Plus we learn why she has no love for her half brother Arthur.  

This was great - both seeing some of the well known characters from King Arthur's story from a different angle, plus an explanation of some of the magic behind the stories. I think I want to read the I am Mordred story too.

Sweet Rains (2010): Second Nature(1985) & Lessons Learned (1986) by Nora Roberts

I should look at these more carefully before I buy them. Second Nature I had read a while ago, looks like before I started this blog, but I didn't recognize until almost the end - when we were getting near the surprise I knew what was going to happen, and not because I am good at second guessing plots, but because I had read or heard this before. And Lessons Learned I listened to just a couple of months ago. Oh well. Second nature was about a reporter, who is intrigued by a reclusive horror fiction writer. She finds out he will be at a small writers conference and when they first meet, they do not disclose to each other who they are. Instant attraction. But again, Roberts just tells a good story. I didn't even spend too much time saying to one or the other characters - get on with it stupid, she/he loves you. I am also sensitive to the fact that two people in love who live in very different lifestyles have to make some major changes to be together. I always check the dates, as this was before you could find out everything about somebody on the Internet, these two writers used typewriters, and no cell phones. Wonder if this will seem quaint to the millenials.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman (2002), graphic novel (2008)

One more eerie tale by Gaiman, which I found in two places in our library - the other copy was a graphic novel form of this story illustrated by P. Craig Russell. I took both out and read one chapter in this book, then reread it in the graphic novel format. Very close. About midway I decided to stop reading the normal book and just go with the visual - it was faster. I realize I have never been into horror and scary tales. Never a Steven King fan. But I liked the Graveyard Book. I really liked hearing Neil Gaiman accept an award, which is why I decided to read some more of his books, but they are not all my type. Interestingly enough, I just reread a Nora Roberts book about a horror fiction writer. She addresses the question - what are horror writers like? Turns out they can be very normal family men.

Blueberry Girl by Neil Gaiman (2009)

This is a wonderful prayer for a still unborn daughter with beautiful illustrations by Charles Vess. He first asked the fates to be kind, 

"Keep her from spindles and sleeps at 16, 

...

Grant her the wisdom to choose her path right,
Free from unkindness and fear

...

Her joys must be high as her sorrows are deep,
Let her grow like a week in the sun."

What a great prayer to a child!

The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman (2003)

Illustrated by Dave McKean. Another great kids book by Gaiman. He definitely gets kids and has a great imagination. Lucy seems to be hearing wolves in the walls, though no one else believes her. She has her puppet pig, after the pig puppet owned by the illustrator's son. Just enjoy. A bit like Imogene and her antlers (by David Small).

The Dangerous Alphabet by Neil Gaiman (2008)

Grimly illustrated by Gris Grimly (his name had to influence his artistic style). Two brave kids and their gazelle travel mostly by boat through a dangerous world of trolls, monsters, and other nasty creatures. Seems like many authors are drawn to create an alphabet book, but this one is definitely different. May not be the best way to learn one's alphabet. I liked "C is the way that we find and we look; ... G is for Good as in hero, and morning; ... L is like 'heaven, their last destination; ... U are the reader who shivers with dread;..."

The Day I Swapped my Dad for Two Goldfish by Neil Gaiman (2001)

Just watched a video clip of Neil Gaiman accepting the Carnegie medal for his Graveyard Book, which I have read, So I thought I would take a look at some of his other books, starting with picture books. This has his wonderful sense of humor and attention to detail. I liked that in his video he had started the Graveyard Book 25 years ago, while watching his todler ride around a graveyard on his tricycle. But he didn't complete the book then, because he didn't have enough experience as a parent. You can see he has plenty of experience as a parent in this book, where a boy swaps his newspaper reading dad for two goldfish. When his mom makes him get back his dad, we get to see many childhoods. Great illustrations by Dave McKean. Wonder who Queen of Malanesia is? Saw her mentioned in one of the other books too.

Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson (2010)

Wonderful final volume of Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy of Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salender (she calls him Mikael f@#%ing Blomkvist), two of my favorite book characters ever,

The Collectors by David Baldacci (2006)

Had to reread this one after listening to Camel Club. My previous post (can't remember how to get to the individual post URL). Even though it is less than 3 years since I first read this, I had forgotten a lot of details. Enjoyed it again, especially as I know the characters better. Looks like Annabelle's story gets completed in the next book. May need to reread that too.