Blackberry Winter

Blackberry Winter by Sarah Jio

In 2011, Sarah Jio burst onto the fiction scene with two sensational novels--The Violets of March and The Bungalow. WithBlackberry Winter--taking its title from a late-season, cold-weather phenomenon--Jio continues her rich exploration of the ways personal connections can transcend the boundaries of time.

Seattle, 1933. Single mother Vera Ray kisses her three-year-old son, Daniel, goodnight and departs to work the night-shift at a local hotel. She emerges to discover that a May-Day snow has blanketed the city, and that her son has vanished. Outside, she finds his beloved teddy bear lying face-down on an icy street, the snow covering up any trace of his tracks, or the perpetrator's.

Seattle, 2010. Seattle Herald reporter Claire Aldridge, assigned to cover the May 1 "blackberry winter" storm and its twin, learns of the unsolved abduction and vows to unearth the truth. In the process, she finds that she and Vera may be linked in unexpected ways...

-FantasticFiction

I found this novel by Jio to be somewhat stilted and slow.  It just didn't "grab" me, so I only give it a three star rating***.

Tandia

Tandia by Bryce Courtenay

Tandia is just a teenager when she is brutally attacked by the police. Afraid and consumed by her hatred for white man, Tandia seeks refuge in a brothel. There she learns to use her mind and looks for the battles that lie ahead. But then Tandia meets a man with a past as strange as her own.

-FantasticFiction

Tandia is a child of all Africa: half Indian and half African, beautiful and intelligent, she is only 16 when she is first brutalized by the police.  Her fear of the white man leads her to join the black resistance movement, where she trains as a terrorist.  With her in the fight for justice is the one white man Tandia can trust, the welterweight champion of the world, Peekay.  Now he must fight their common enemy in order to save both their lives.

This sequel to Bryce Courtney's classic novel The Power of One is a compelling story of good and evil from Australia's most popular storyteller.  Definitely a five star rating*****.

-Ken

Free Air

Free Air, by Sinclair Lewis

"This cheerful little road novel, published in 1919, is about Claire Boltwood, who, in the early days of the 20th century, travels by automobile from New York City to the Pacific Northwest, where she falls in love with a nice, down-to-earth young man and gives up her snobbish Estate." (From the Book Stub)

From a critical perspective, Free Air is consistent with Sinclair Lewis's lean towards egalitarian politics, which he displays in his other works (most notably in It Can't Happen Here). Examples of his politics in Free Air are found in Lewis's emphasis on the heroic role played by the book's protagonist, Milt Dagget, a working class everyman type. Conversely, Lewis presents nearly every upper-class character in Claire Boltwood's world (including her railroad-mogul father) as being snobby elitists. The story also champions the democratic nature of the automobile versus the more aristocratic railroad travel. Lewis's showing favoritism towards the freedom which automobiles would eventually accord the working and middle classes bolsters the egalitarian, democratic aesthetic. Free Air is one of the first novels about the road trip, a subject around which the Beats (most notably Jack Kerouac) would build a cult following in the mid-20th century.

-WIKIPEDIA.com

I thoroughly enjoyed this road trip with Milt and Claire.  An easy, light, but enlightening as well.  The world of road trips was a whole different one in 1919 from the one we travel on today.  Although a couple of the roads we've raised dust on, driven through hail on, and even gotten stuck off of, certainly came to mind as I read!

-****Ken

Swimming Lessons

Swimming Lessons by Mary Alice Monroe

The cycle of life of the turtles of the Isle of Palms has special meaning for the turtle ladies who watch over them. Every season brings new life and new challenges as the turtles make their way back to the ocean.

Turtle lady Toy Sooner has faced her share of challenges. The single mother left an abusive relationship to raise her young daughter. She's found meaning working at the aquarium, but she's not sure she's ready for the challenge of starting a new turtle hospital…or a new relationship with her boss, Ethan.

As the summer progresses and the turtles take their steps toward healing and freedom, Toy must find her own strength to face her fear and move courageously toward the future.

-Fantastic Fiction

Although somewhat predictable, this heartwarming story of courage, love and the importance of family, as well as the natural cycle of life, is well deserving of five stars*****.

-MONA

The Baker Street Letters

The Baker Street Letters by Michael Robertson

First in a spectacular new series about two brother lawyers who lease offices on London's Baker Street--and begin receiving mail addressed to Sherlock Holmes

In Los Angeles, a geological surveyor maps out a proposed subway route--and then goes missing. His eight-year-old daughter, in her desperation, turns to the one person she thinks might help--she writes a letter to Sherlock Holmes.

That letter creates an uproar at 221b Baker Street, which now houses the law offices of attorney and man about town Reggie Heath and his hapless brother, Nigel. Instead of filing the letter like he's supposed to, Nigel decides to investigate. Soon he's flying off to Los Angeles, inconsiderately leaving a very dead body on the floor in his office. Big brother Reggie follows Nigel to California, as does Reggie's sometime lover, Laura---a quick-witted stage actress who's captured the hearts of both brothers.

When Nigel is arrested, Reggie must use all his wits to solve a case that Sherlock Holmes would have savored and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle fans will adore.

-FantasticFiction

The concept of the book was interesting.  Sadly, the execution of the story left something to be desired.  I would rate this one with three stars.***

-MONA

Second Star to the Right

Second Star to the Right by Mary Alice Monroe

Sometimes fairy tales do come true...

As a single mother of two, Faye O'Neill has no time for fairy tales. She's not even certain she believes in luck. Practical, smart and desperate to escape a shadowy past, Faye takes a job at a top advertising firm in London where she hopes she and her children can find a fresh start. When she finds the beautiful two-story flat for rent in a stately old Victorian complete with a neglected but tumbling English garden, she can scarcely believe her good fortune. But it's not long before Faye realizes everything in the old home may not be as peaceful as it seems.

A strange light begins to appear in her children's rooms at night, and then there's the reclusive elderly tenant, Crazy Wendy, her landlady warned her to steer clear of, the woman who spends her evenings spying on Faye's children from her garret-room window. The woman who believes she is Peter Pan's Wendy. To make matters worse, Faye, who has sworn off men, discovers her downstairs neighbor Jack is a disturbingly handsome professor with a talent for charming women and children alike. Before she knows it, Faye has embarked upon a whole new adventure into a world where anything might be possible, where broken hearts can be healed by a kiss, and where Neverland may not be a place of fables, but a forgotten land one can still find if they are only brave enough to follow the second star to the right.

"Mary Alice Monroe breathes new life into the timeless legend of Peter Pan - and the result is nothing short of magical. Second Star to the Right will whisk you away at the whim of this masterful storyteller." Signe Pike, bestselling author of Faery Tale

-FantasticFiction

A fun, whimsical, somewhat predictable but nonetheless enjoyable novel deserving of four stars****.

-Mona

A Lion Among Men

A Lion Among Men by Gregory Malone

This is the third of four books in Malone’s decidedly different take on the back story to Baum’s ‘Wizard of Oz’ tales.  I got hooked through the audio book WICKED, and seeing the Broadway play. Then had to read the second in the series, Son of a Witch. I think this one, like his others, written in the same satirical, action oriented and often sexually risqué style, will be my last.

I was drawn to the fantastical way he supports many of the unknowns in Frank Baum’s books (they were kids books, after all. These are DECIDEDLY not for children!) Maguire weaves his backgrounds to and through the various original plot in ways that will astound the reader.  And this is true for LION as well.

But I’m actually not a fantasy fan. It’s just that I, like many of you, grew up on the MGM movie. So when Mr. Maguire has me believing that Dorothy was a whiney trouble maker who messed up a reasonably good universe called OZ, I just have to find out, chapter by chapter, where he’s going with this.

And where he’s going is simply more fun and fantasy. I find no profound political, Swiftian, statements being made between Gregory’s lines.  He’s simply enjoying the writing of good fantasy with a kick.

And now that I finally realize this, I, who does not like fantasy anyway, can sleep well without reading further.

But if you like fantasy, and if you loved the Baum Oz books and/or the Judy Garland movie, then by all means, if you also can take some occasional semi-pornographic images, read these books.  But read them in chronological order. Read  them any other way and I think the fantasy could become madness.

-*** KEN

Unravelling

Unravelling by Elizabeth Graver

A beautifully realized novel, in which a young woman triumphantly chooses independence over conformity. From a small, bogside cabin in rural New England, 38-year-old Aimee Slater unravels the story of her life, attempting to make sense of the tangled thread that leads from her mother's house-a short, unbridgeable distance away-to the world she now inhabits. It is soon after the Civil War; Aimee lives alone, but is graced with visits from two friends, a crippled man and a troubled eleven-year-old girl. She is perpetually caught between the sensual world she so desires and the divine retribution passed down to her by her mother's scorn. How Aimee ultimately creates a life for herself and bridges that distance makes for a moving story of love and loss. Told in a voice of spare New England lyricism, Unravelling is a remarkably haunting account of the power of redemption.

-FantasticFiction

A very descriptive novel built on the unravelling of the narrator's life, her thoughts and feelings, her joys and her sorrows.  I rate this one with four stars****.

-MONA

12 Years a Slave

12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northrup

This unforgettable memoir was the basis for the Academy Award winning film 12 Years a Slave.  This is the true story of Solomon Northup, who was born and raised as a freeman in New York. He lived the American dream, with a house and a loving family - a wife and three kids. Then one day he was drugged, kidnapped, and sold into slavery in the deep south. These are the true accounts of his twelve hard years as a slave - many believe this memoir is even more graphic and disturbing than the film. His extraordinary journey proves the resiliency of hope and the human spirit despite the most grueling and formidable of circumstances.

_Amazon

One powerfully graphic description of the subjugation and horror that was slavery and the sheer will to endure and overcome.  A very definite five star rating*****.

-MONA

North River

North River by Pete Hamill

It is 1934, and New York City is in the icy grip of the Great
Depression. With enormous compassion, Dr. James Delaney
tends to his hurt, sick, and poor neighbors, who include
gangsters, day laborers, prostitutes, and housewives. If they
can't pay, he treats them anyway.
But in his own life, Delaney is emotionally numb, haunted
by the slaughters of the Great War. His only daughter has left
for Mexico, and his wife Molly vanished months before,
leaving him to wonder if she is alive or dead.
Then, on a snowy New Year's Day, the doctor returns
home to find his three-year-old grandson on his doorstep,
left by his mother in Delaney's care. Coping with this
unexpected arrival, Delaney hires Rose, a tough, decent
Sicilian woman with a secret in her past. Slowly, as Rose and
the boy begin to care for the good doctor, the numbness in
Delaney begins to melt.
Recreating 1930s New York with the vibrancy and rich
detail that are his trademarks, Pete Hamill weaves a story of
honor, family, and one man's simple courage that no reader
will soon forget.

-FantasticFiction

Hamill's novel brings alive the New York of the 1930's with such realism that you are there, seeing the city as it was...the people, the events, the love of baseball, the mob, the romance and the love of a doctor for his patients, his family and Rose.  Well deserving of five stars*****.

-MONA

The Death of Santini

The Death of Santini by Pat Conroy

 

In this powerful and intimate memoir, the beloved bestselling author of The Prince of Tides and his father, the inspiration for The Great Santini, find some common ground at long last.

Pat Conroy's father, Donald Patrick Conroy, was a towering figure in his son's life. The Marine Corps fighter pilot was often brutal, cruel, and violent; as Pat says, "I hated my father long before I knew there was an English word for 'hate.'" As the oldest of seven children who were dragged from military base to military base across the South, Pat bore witness to the toll his father's behavior took on his siblings, and especially on his mother, Peg. She was Pat's lifeline to a better world - that of books and culture. But eventually, despite repeated confrontations with his father, Pat managed to claw his way toward a life he could have only imagined as a child.
     Pat's great success as a writer has always been intimately linked with the exploration of his family history. While the publication of The Great Santini brought Pat much acclaim, the rift it caused with his father brought even more attention. Their long-simmering conflict burst into the open, fracturing an already battered family. But as Pat tenderly chronicles here, even the oldest of wounds can heal. In the final years of Don Conroy's life, he and his son reached a rapprochement of sorts. Quite unexpectedly, the Santini who had freely doled out physical abuse to his wife and children refocused his ire on those who had turned on Pat over the years. He defended his son's honor.
     The Death of Santini is at once a heart-wrenching account of personal and family struggle and a poignant lesson in how the ties of blood can both strangle and offer succor. It is an act of reckoning, an exorcism of demons, but one whose ultimate conclusion is that love can soften even the meanest of men, lending significance to one of the most-often quoted lines from Pat's bestselling novel The Prince of Tides: "In families there are no crimes beyond forgiveness."

-FantasticFiction

No one can evoke such raw emotion in his writing like Pat Conroy and this latest book of his is no exception.  In this biography of his family, dealing particularly with his relationship with his abusive father, he opens the wounds of their lives in order to allow for their healing.  This one definitely rates five stars*****.

-Mona

The Genuine Article

The Genuine Article by Edmund S. Morgan

This is NOT a book for someone who does not like history, specifically American and more specifically 18^th and 19^th century American history.  That said this is not a book written for only historians to enjoy.  It is also not a history book of its own.

What this book is is a compendium of reviews by one of America’s finest 20^th century historians with many great books to his own credit. Edmund S. Morgan critiques very clearly and with much peaceful candor books others have written which have made a difference in his own understanding of our nation’s past.

Through his reviews of these other historical authors he answers questions like, “Why did a general who lost most of his battles and rarely took back a city claimed by his adversaries end up being called ‘the Father of His Country’ “?

Or, very interesting for a guy who used to preach most Sundays in a year, “How can we learn more from the sermons given by great preachers through the course of America’s history than from those preacher’s biographies.”?

I picked up this book to read one of the reviews, and ended up reading them all.  If you want a clearer take on what some of the greatest of the very first Americans really thought and why they acted as they did, read ‘The Genuine Article’ cover to cover.  Because IT IS what it says it is.

Five *****

-Ken