Torpedo Juice by Tim Dorsey (2005)

(Found I had written up this description on paper for this book that I read last summer.) This would have been the perfect book to listen to while on a Florida vacation, especially one to the Keys. Though listless characters doing drugs is not my favorite scenario, I found myself breaking into a smile quite often. Serge heads down to the Florida Keys to get married, though he doesn't have a wife picked out yet. He hooks up with his old buddy Coleman (sounds like these two characters have been in previous books), a pretty worthless druggie, but he makes an entertaining side-kick for Serge. Serge finds mousy Molly working in the library and asks her to marry him on their first date. I couldn't understand how an intelligent woman like Molly could go for such a con artist as Serge, but maybe she was desperate. I can't complain about stereotyping librarians, as the other librarian is a beauty. Though Serge is a con-man, I have to admit he grew on me, The riffs on buying towels with his new wife and then their session with a marriage counselor I found hilarious.

I really loved the references to specific keys, the small Key deer, mangroves, Key West, etc. I should have had a map in from of me while listening to this. I remember my one vacation in the Keys back in 1984 - and there really was a lot of back and forth on Route 1 - the string that holds the pearls of keys together. I seem to recall mile markers, as you never knew which key came when, so for directions, people gave you mile markers.

The book is full of colorful characters, and since this is a thriller/mystery, there are drug pins, cops, mysterious sharpshooters, and murderers. The book is so lighthearted that you don't notice how many murders have occurred until the end.

The Spanish Bow by Andromeda Romano-Lax (2007)

Once more I am faced with the knowledge of how little I know. This time it is about how little I know about Spain, the Spanish Civil War, Spain in World War II, and Franco. So I learned a little about all of this from this novel about a cellist inspired by the real life Spanish cellist Pablo Casals, as I found out from our library catalog. I had to find out about Casals too, and see that a few things are parallel with the book's main character, but much is not. Feliu Delargo is a child prodigy musician, who falls in love with the cello when he first hears it in a concert. (Though I am fairly unmusical, the cello is my favorite string instrument and I actually took lessons on it for about a year in high school, so I can understand his enchantment with the instrument.) His father had died and his mother sacrifices a lot to give him the opportunity to study cello in Barcelona. He lands in the court, playing for the young queen. (Seems some other books I have read addressed young English princesses married off to young Spanish kings.) He meets pianist Justo Al-Cerra (pronounced very strangely by the reader of the book), who convinces Delargo to tour with him in a trio with a violinist. This is the start of a long, complex relationship - both musical and personal. On a voyage back from America, during the great crash of 1929, they meet Aviva, an Italian violinist, that they both fall in love with , each in his own way. They travel as a trio, attempting to avoid the political upheavals in Spain and throughout Europe. Their lives are affected by numerous real historical incidents, and they meet historical persons like the royals, Franco and Hitler. I got a good sense of what it is like to be a musician constantly on the road, and enough glimpses into the historical time, to want to look things up in books and atlases when I was done. Very good, all in all.

Playing for Pizza by John Grisham (2007)

I was told that the author had enjoyed traveling in Italy, so wrote a novel so he could describe Italy in detail. That part I liked, though please don't tell me all about churches and architecture without photos or illustrations - which of course is an impossibility when listening to a book, but I'm quite sure the novel wasn't illustrated. (That's why I liked that illustrated Da Vinci Code book so well.)

What surprised me was, that this was a football story. Rick Dockery, a third string quarterback makes major mistakes in a major game and escapes to play in Italy. I could really do without the play by play descriptions of the games, though I did learn something about the game - it has been just a bunch of guys bashing into each other to me. I admit to total ignorance of one of America's great pastimes.

I did like the Italians and their enthusiasm for the game without expecting any pay, and the support and friendliness they showed to Rick, the down and out quarterback. I enjoyed seeing him regain his confidence. I understood more of my uncle Frank, who married my mother's sister. I now regret that I didn't take the chance to be with him and his Italian friends more. The seemed louder than my family, and I didn't understand their joking style. This book has helped clarify that.

A major part of the Italian culture is food, and Grisham did a good job of describing eating in Italy, which just enforced what Gilbert had said in her book Eat, Pray, Love. As with the architecture, I was wishing for a visual, or actually, a taste of all he mentioned. Again, I got insight into my aunt, who was very food focused. She was a great cook and took care to feed us well, though pasta wasn't usually part of her holiday meals.

Down River by John Hart (2007)

Wasn't a favorite, so I forgot to write down, that I had listened to this book this fall. Adam Chase returns to his home town in North Carolina, which he has left as an acquitted murderer, but returns to a mystery intertwined with family secrets and mis-communication. I must just be tired of reading guy books, as I found the main character unsympathetic, though the tale was intriguing. Publisher's Weekly commented that Down River "should settle once and for all the question of whether thrillers and mysteries can also be literature." So I guess it was well written, on the bestseller list, but not for me.

What do I know, I just found out (May 2008) that this book got the Mystery Writers of America 2008 Edgar Allen Poe Award.

Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee (2007)

Another book I had missed entering into my blog. I believe it was the title that grabbed me - and it refers to the free lunches provided to wealthy at an investment bank. I liked this glimpse into the Korean American culture - the hard working parents putting their bright daughter through Princeton, but she can never find satisfaction, and is obsessed with clothes and accessories, which I just can't relate to. The high pressure business world has always repulsed me, but I understand that it is very attractive to numerous emigrant groups. Latvians went more for doctors and lawyers, though we have our share of business men. It was interesting to read about the Korean church and community - with some similarities to Latvians. Not a great read, but again I learned about one more ethnic group. I found a review on Amazon from a Korean American, who felt that too many negative stereotypes were brought out in the book, but that is the way with writers, the negative aspects of our lives are often more interesting to describe.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (2006)

I had been looking at this book for a while, finally bought it in paperback. Fascinating, it seemed unlike anything I have read, but when I read the "discussion points" in the back, I realized it does have a lot of similarities with classic gothic novels, though I haven't analyzed those since high school. Jane Eyre and other classic books are mentioned and play a part in the story. Didn't I just read Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict? How do Austen (1775-1817) and Bronte (1816-1855) fit together? May need to look that up.

There is a story within the story. Margaret Lea works with her father in an antique book store and is asked to write a biography of Vida Winter, who is a famous author on her deathbed, but has never revealed her own life story. The bulk of the book is Winter's strange story of growing up in a crumbling mansion, raised by the employees as the family was non-existent or mentally unstable. There are ghosts, and twin sisters, faint glimpses of romance. Interestingly, Winter became such a prolific author, because she was escaping her own memories and living in the world of her imagination and her characters. The life story of Winter is interspersed by Margaret's story. She too has a past that is unresolved, but we see her get involved in Winter's story. She goes beyond listening to Winter herself, and checks facts where she can, and goes back to the mansion that burned many years ago to unearth more of it's secrets.

The disturbing family life was exacerbated by my parallel reading. As I was reading this at home, I was listening to Virgin Suicides in the car, which parallels the dysfunctional family keeping children imprisoned in an very unhealthy home environment. Both made me very uncomfortable. There was an interesting statement in The Thirteenth Tale, which I was going to mark, but didn't, about having to wait until you get one book out of your system before starting the next. You feel attached to characters, live with them, and it takes a while to let go of them. By reading two or more books at the same time, I really confuse things, and sometimes mix them up, or as in this case, it intensified my feeling of despair.

I loved that this was again about the book world - Margaret helping her father sell old books gave me a glimpse into the rare book market. I wasn't thrilled that she limited her reading to classics, as there is so much interesting literature coming out today. Margaret had to read Winter's contemporary books before she interviewed the author, so she knew something about her subject. At one point Margaret is given Sherlock Holmes' books to read to lighten her up, though much has been published since Sherlock. Of course Winter is an author, and a lot of the stories happen in the libraries of either the mansion of the past or Winter's current residence.

Final answer? Though depressing at times, still one of the best books I've read this year.

An Orange for Frankie by Patricia Polacco (2004)

I haven't picked up any children's books lately, and with the Christmas season I saw this book from one of my favorite children's book authors and bought it - otherwise my kid book collection is getting stagnant. This is another one of Patricia Polacco's wonderful poignant historical stories about one of her ancestors (lucky she has a huge family). Set in Michigan, the father takes the horse and buggy to Lansing to pick up oranges, while everyone else gets ready for Christmas. They live at a railroad stop, feed the hobos traveling on the train, go to the woods for the tree, and get ready for Christmas in the old fashioned big family way. I have always loved Polocco's stories and her illustrations. She pulls you into the story with her animated characters of all ages. Makes me a bit wistful...

Choice by Nicholas Sparks (2007)

I was looking for a light read, and this was suggested. I had seen reviews of it, but have never read anything by Sparks. (At least I don't think so - I better keep a database of my read books, not just this blog.) The summary in our catalog doesn't say much: "Set amid the austere beauty of the North Carolina coast, "The Choice" tells the story of Travis Parker, a small-town veterinarian, who avoids romantic entanglements until new neighbor Gabby Holland enters his life." Let's just say this turned into a tear jerker romance written by a guy. The "choice" of the title is a hard one, but we don't get to it until towards the end of the book. Most of the book is about the way Gabby and Travis got to know each other - and that actually made sense - the uncertainties of getting to know a new person. I just have a hard time with the - knowing this is the one and only person for you and that you can't live without them - having never experienced it myself and not seeing much of it around me. I liked the small town North Carolina setting - and since I have visited that area, know how beautiful it is. I also like Travis' group of friends. Buddies that have known each other since high school, gone off to get degrees, wives and children, and now love to do things together on a regular basis - an extended family. It was not exactly the light reading I was looking for, but at some point I might read something else from Sparks.

Power Play by Joseph Finder (2007)

Too violent for me. I guess this was suggested as a best seller thriller by the audio book people, maybe I asked for something my son would enjoy too. Not for me, and I don't know where my line is, as I do enjoy some thrillers. JD Robb is quite bloody and brutal too, but it doesn't bother me as much in her books. Or maybe it was the timing. Just after reading the very realistic brutality if Hosseini's Afghanistan, I just was too sensitive to people hitting and shooting each other.

What did I like about this book? It was an interesting insight into the power play workings of the executives of a big company - this time in the aerospace industry. I guess Finder likes to tackle different industries in his books. I liked the setting - a wilderness retreat near Vancouver. Jack Landry is a professional with an awful childhood, very similar to Eve's in JD Robb's books. This past has damaged him, but also made him strong and given him skills to help the soft executives, when they are held up for ransom. I liked the fact that the CEO was a woman, as was her assistant. The glimpse into the banking world was a bit scary. All the stories and movies with heists of actual cash will soon be an antiquated, as nowadays money can be so easily transferred electronically.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (2007)

This is the most difficult book I have read in a long time. There were times when I had to stop listening to it, as I couldn't take hearing about one more brutal beating. But these incredible Afghani women deserved me to hear their tale to the end, so I went back to the book. I just have to count my blessings if I have such a hard time reading or listening to this, while so many women are still living this type of nightmare.

Though Hosseini's Kite Runner was also a heavy book about the realities of Afghani life, it seemed lighter. There was more pre-war joy - as in the descriptions of the kite running contest. And a good portion of the book is set in the emigrant community in the United States. Not an easy life, but nothing compared to the constant hardships and brutality experienced by Mariam and Laila in A Thousand Splendid Suns.

Hosseini starts his tale of Afghanistan in the 1950's with Mariam's childhood. She ends up married off to an older man in Kabul, who asks her to wear the burka even before the Taliban insisted all women wear them. Later we meet free spirited Laila, who is almost broken by the consequences of the war. I don't want to go into details, as I'd like to leave the brutal incidents of their lives as much of a surprise to the next reader as they were to me.

I cringed every time the burka was mentioned, though I did see the advantage of it being a certain protection against a brutal outside world. One of the non-brutal scenes that most angered me was when Laila needed help with the birth of her second child. Only one hospital would still accept women, there were no supplies - like anesthesia for the operation, and the female doctor was expected to wear a burka while operating. I don't get it. How stupid and insecure can these guys get? Don't they realize they need the women to be healthy to provide for them, to bring into the world the next generation? I am also surprised by the resilience of the human body. That these women could still walk and function after being beaten so brutally so many times.

I don't think I will be handing this out as a Christmas gift. If someone really wants to read it, let them find their own path to this book.