Book Reviews
Reads, Rants and Ratings
**Disquiet by Julia Leigh, fiction, 4.5/5:**
This is this month’s book club recommendation; for a number of reasons. The biggest reason is because it is so unique. If your group likes to tackle books that inspire discussion this one ought to fill that bill – in spades. It’s a little book – at 128 pages, a novella really – whose narrative is so lean it would all but disappear if it didn’t stand out for its stark beauty. If this story of a truly dysfunctional family on a spooky French estate doesn’t haunt you long after putting the book down, the prose will. Did I say dysfunctional? Okay, for starters there’s Olivia who has run away from her abusive husband with her two creepy kids. Then there’s her sister-in-law Sophie who carts her stillborn child around as if it were alive – staving off nature’s worst by storing it in the fridge overnight. Is that enough to get you interested? I hope so ‘cause it hooked me. Let me know what you think about it.
Eclipse by Richard North Patterson, fiction/thriller, 5/5:
After reading this one – about a lawyer who travels to western Africa to defend an environmental activist caught up in the monstrously barbaric world of the oil trade – I was torn. The first thing I wanted to do was dump the Pontiac for an electric golf cart – for obvious reasons. The other thing I wanted to do was quit recycling altogether; this because North Patterson paints a picture of so many people who’ve become so depraved by the hunger for oil that saving the planet seems hopeless. What difference if I toss one more newspaper into a landfill if, in Africa, pirates are dumping thousands of gallons of crude directly into the ground water? I tell ya. This is a great read but it is not a feel good story.
Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell, fiction/comic thriller, 5/5:
In the spirit of authors such as Chuck Palahniuk or Carl Hiaasen Bazell draws you into the darkly comic world of Dr. Peter Brown, a.k.a. Pietro “Bearclaw” Brwna. When I say darkly comic, I’m thinkin’ Monty Python’s Black Knight dark. Okay? Brown works at the worst (fictional, we pray) hospital in the world. It’s a place where the docs – Brown, for instance – are drugged up and med students are allowed to perform unsupervised treatments. But worse than that it is a place where Brown is pursued by bad guys out to get him for sins committed in his previous incarnation as a mob hitman. Between doing good doctoring works there are wicked flashbacks to his old ways and present day encounters with the aforesaid bad guys that left me laughing out loud even while I was (only mildly) ashamed of myself getting such a kick out of someone else’s pain. It is a guilty pleasure.
Losing My Religion by William Lobdell, nonfiction, 4/5:
Lobdell used to be the religion writer for the Los Angeles Times. He started the gig back when he was trying to put his life together after being a pretty disreputable guy who liked to party. While investigating stories and raising the child he fathered with a remarkably tolerant woman (who became his wife) he “found” religion for himself. As long as the stories were inspirational and uplifting Lobdell – and his wife – moved more deeply into lives of faith, eventually studying to convert to Catholicism. Then something happened. Stories started to break about priests abusing youngsters. Worse, the Catholic Church eventually substantiated the stories and information emerged about how the Church not only failed bring these molesters to justice but shielded them and, even worse yet, exposed ever more children in other parishes to the monsters. Lobdell’s fall from faith was gradual and was occurring even without his conscious knowledge until he had to decide if he would go ahead with his Baptism in the Catholic Church. He is no longer the Times’s religion writer. This is a deeply moving, bracingly honest account of his struggle to obtain and hang onto belief.
The Keepsake by Tess Gerritsen, fiction/thriller, audio, 4/5:
This terrific thriller actually gave me nightmares. Yeah, I listened to it in bed. But even so just the chill of thinking about a serial killer who tortures then mummifies his victims or shrinks their heads is enough. But Gerritsen plays her cards just right; laying out each clue, each character, each event with such skill that minor inconsistencies matter not. The plot revolves around the eerie Crispin Museum, a private historical museum that is in the midst of a long overdue inventory. They locate, first, a mummy that seems to have been in the back of a basement room for some time. But when they begin the process of trying to identify it they learn that while the wrappings may be 2000 years old, the body is brand new. Mummies, dark museums with looming shadows, serial killers, shrunken heads – what’s not to like for a thriller fan? Narration (by Deirdre Lovejoy) is first rate. Though this is one of a series of books that feature Det. Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Dr. Maura Isles it is not necessary to read the others to keep up with events.
Bamboo and Blood by James Church, fiction/mystery, 5/5:
The third in Church’s series about North Korean Inspector O places the implacable policeman amid the political turmoil of the late 1990s as he is first assigned to keep an eye on a foreigner of unknown national origin who is visiting Pyonyang for who-knows-what reason. Ultimately he escorts the man to a remote outpost so he (the foreigner) may negotiate a secret deal. Then O runs into him again at an international conference in Switzerland. It is all very mysterious and oblique but O is steady and philosophical and clear and Church’s (who is a former Western intelligence officer in Asia) portrayal of this man and this totalitarian country is gripping.
Still Waters: A Mystery by Nigel McCrery, fiction, 4/5:
We begin with a delightful little garden party that rapidly escalates into something so bizarre, so gruesome that you’ll want to put the book down. Don’t. The ensuing story about dead old ladies and Detective Chief Inspector Mark Lapslie and his synasethsia more than make up for the gore. Lapslie’s synasethsia is a neurological condition that imparts a flavor to every sound he hears; every sound tastes like something. Sometimes it’s pleasant, equally as often it’s foul. Just after returning to work after taking a medical leave (to figure out how to deal with his condition) when the body of an old woman is found and he and partner sergeant Emma Bradbury are assigned to investigate. He spends a certain amount of time trying desperately to find total silence so he can think, meanwhile the affliction does have its crime solving aspects. I enjoy protagonists who have uncommon characteristics and since this one is so good I look forward to more books about Detective Chief Inspector Lapslie.
Memory Lessons: A Doctor’s Story by Jerald Winakur, nonfiction, 4/5:
For anyone who has lost or is dealing with a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease it might come as comfort that somebody no less than geriatrician Winakur and his family struggled with many of the same problems. When his dad was diagnosed and later descended into more progressive states of dementia he didn’t always know what to do either. But this account, both embarrassingly honest and uplifting, offers lots of insight and often a self-deprecating laugh or two. Winakur seems a kind and gentle man and this memoir could be valuable reading for the millions involved – whether family, friends, caregivers, etc. – in the care of those with the disease.
My rating system for books is:
5 = An extraordinary book! I will keep it to read again and again!
4.5 = This book is either very clever, highly creative or brings new information to the table. I’m recommending it to my friends.
4 = This book accomplishes all the author seems to have intended. (I “get” it.)
3.5 = This book held my interest regardless of topic/genre.
3 = I enjoyed reading and/or I learned something from this book
2.5 = I could have easily put this book down and forgotten about it.
2 = This book is either poorly written or seems underdeveloped, like an out-of-focus photo. (I don’t “get” it.)
1 = Don’t bother.