The Housekeeper and the Professor, by Yoko Ogawa

October 29, 2009October 29, 200913 Comments

Finished 10-24-09, rating 4.5/5, fiction, pub. 2003 in Japanese & 2009 in English

In school, I had hated math so much that the mere sight of the textbook made me feel ill. But the things the Professor taught me seemed to find their way effortlessly into my brain – not because I was an employee anxious to please her employer but because he was such a gifted teacher. There was something profound in his love for math. And it helped that he forgot what he’d taught me before, so I was free to repeat the same question until I understood.

Chapter 2

The mathematics Professor was in a car accident in 1975 and as a result he lost his short-term memory. Every 80 minutes his brain resets and the only memories he has are the ones made before the crash. He spends his days in a cottage on his sister-in-law’s property solving math problems for prize money. To make it through he writes notes on scraps of paper and pins them to his suit jacket, which he wears every day.

The Housekeeper, a single mom, is hired to take care of him and the cottage during the day. When she starts bringing her son, who the Professor nicknames Root, the three form a bond over math and baseball.

This Japanese story is charming and original. There are actual math problems in the book and not being a math lover myself (or maybe math doesn’t love me?) I was surprised at how I was drawn into the heartfelt story. There was beauty in the simplicity of the writing and in the math. I was rooting for these three who needed and loved each other. There were even some nice surprises to be found along the way.

I highly recommend this one.

This was a library copy.

The Divorce Party, by Laura Dave

October 22, 200911 Comments

Finished audio 10-22-09, rating 4.5/5, fiction, pub. 2008

Narrated by Susan Ericksen

If you knew that your marriage would end in a divorce party 35 years later, would you still go through with it? What’s the distance between staying and walking away? Gwyn and Thomas are part of the Hampton elite, rich, beautiful, two kids, grandchild on the way, and they are getting divorced because Thomas has found Buddhism. Or is this true?

Their son, Nate and his fiancee, Maggie begin the day of the divorce party at home in Brooklyn with secrets of their own that only get more complicated once they arrive in Long Island. Maggie is about to meet Nate’s parents for the first time at a party she can’t quite come to terms with. And Nate has kept his immense wealth from her. Why and is there more he’s not saying?

I love books and movies about marriages. The happy, the sad, the damaged. There is something so complicated about this relationship and no two are ever the same. Gwyn is facing the end of her marriage, but there is still something there, love or hope, or both. And Maggie is faced with a future husband who is willing to keep the most basic truths about himself a secret from her. The chapters alternated between the two women and I loved it. It was thoughtful and thought-provoking, meaningful and sad and I could not stop listening until it was done.

I have to be in the right mood for a book like this, but if you are I think you will really take something away. I was totally caught up in the lives of Gwyn and Maggie for 6 hours and I wouldn’t have missed a minute of the Divorce Party.

I checked this audio book out of the library.

The New Earth From Above: 365 Days, by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

October 18, 2009October 20, 20092 Comments

Finished 10-18-09, rating 4.5/5, Natural History, pub. 2007

This outstanding book is part photography and part environmental lesson. At the beginning of each month there is an essay written about major issues for the planet. They include: sustainable development, climate change, forests, biodiversity, seas and oceans, freshwater, agroecology, renewable energy, mobility and equity, poverty, humanitarian work, and free trade. These are long enough to learn something, but not too long that you stop reading and skip to the photos.

The 365 photos are amazing. They are all shot from above (shocking given the title, I know) and so many look otherworldly. I cannot say enough how much I loved these photos, some showcasing the natural beauty of our planet and a few showing the harsh pressure our actions place on the Earth. The photo on the cover is from Montana.

With each photo is a description that usually involves history, statistics, and some reality for those of us in the United States. For instance, did you know that 40% of felled trees go to the manufacture of paper? That’s hard to read for a book lover!

This book is not for the person who wants to live life ignoring his or her place in the world. It was shocking, beautiful, and easy to appreciate. I read a month at a time, it took me a few weeks and I loved it. There will quite a few friends who will be receiving this for Christmas! There are several different editions, this was a second version published in 2007 and there was a new one published in 2009. I plan on getting that one too.

My one and only complaint was that so many of pictures were of France. The photographer is French, so it is understandable, but of the 365 photos taken of countries all over the world, 32 of them were of France. I’m okay with the United States not getting extra just because we expect it, and it did not detract from the importance of the book, but maybe the next one will pick another favorite country.

This was a library copy.

The Last Ember, by Daniel Levin

September 24, 2009October 22, 20125 Comments

Finished 9-24-09, rating 4.5/5, thriller, pub. 2009

“The Temple Mount was surrounded by fifty thousand Roman soldiers,” he said, turning to the professor, “and the priest escaped through here, along this aqueduct.”

His flashlight revealed a narrow stone aqueduct stretching into the darkness. It appeared to float across the dark chasm that lay on either side.

“And he took with him the one artifact that brought down a Roman emperor.”

Chapter 7

Jonathan is an archeology scholar and Rome Prize winner turned New York City lawyer. He is sent to Rome by his firm to help them in a stolen artifacts case and he is almost immediately confronted by his ex-girlfriend and a centuries old mystery involving the world’s three main religions. Jonathan past study of the traitor Josephus gives him special insight into the clue this stolen artifact provides, a clue that he thinks could lead him to the Tabernacle menorah that was stolen from Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. As he travels with his ex Emili to the Colosseum and other hot spots in Rome they follow a series of clues while the police are trying to find them. Using Emili’s UN credentials the two race back to Jerusalem to stop the Waqf and their destruction of the what is beneath the Temple Mount.

This is a religious thriller that I compare to the da Vinci Code in only the post positive aspects. The pace, story and setting were top notch and had a hard time putting it down. Since our vacation to Italy last year I’ve loved reading stories that take place in Italy and this book made me want to go back and take a tour of all places Jonathan visited, but since many of them are under the city that is probably not going to happen.

It was also complicated and loaded with historical and religious facts. The only thing that slowed down my reading at all was the multitude of knowledge that I tried to take in. I do not normally read historical fiction, so most of this was new to me as were many of the names. To make all of this history interesting, the plot is lightning quick and full of fantastic and seemingly far fetched occurences. And that was okay because I loved it.

I highly recommend this if you love thrillers, historical fiction, The daVinci Code, Italy, Jerusalem, suspense, religious mysteries, or archeology. That covers a lot of people. Does it include you?

I attended a book signing with Daniel Levin and he will be featured in one of my 9 in ’09 interview soon.

Silk and Stone, by Deborah Smith

September 23, 20097 Comments

Finished 9-20-09, rating 4.5/5, romance, pub. 1994

The earliest Scotch, Irish, and Dutch immigrants had been drawn to the misty, ancient mountains of western North Carolina by rumors of rubies and other precious gems mined by the Cherokees. The rumors were more than true. The newcomers plucked fine stones from the riverbanks, from the hillsides, from the ruts in deeply churned wagon roads. They riddled the mountains with mine shafts, looking for more.

Chapter 2

This is a sweeping love story that spans decades. In Pandora, North Carolina, the Cherokee and mountain people are mainly overlooked by the outside world and that’s the way they like it. The Ravenclaws, a Cherokee family with a special connection to the mountain, are able to find things, like gems and people. The Vanderveers are the royalty of the mountain and treat everyone with respect. Then Alexandra enters the picture and causes an irreparable rift between these two family and changes the town of Pandora forever.

Doesn’t sound like a love story? Well, Jake Ravenclaw and Samantha, niece to Alexandra, have a connection that started when Sam was four. Over the years they see each other occasionally, but in secret and love blossoms. The two agreed to be married when Sam was about five and Jake ten and they both clung to that. Of course, neither is ordinary and both felt like outsiders, so the connection to each other was great.

This is a grand sweeping love story that is not sticky sweet at all. First, Alexandra is a character that was filled with so much hate, maybe the best ‘bad guy’ I’ve read in quite a while. She keeps this story grounded in manipulation and lies. Second, there are great secondary characters that carry some of the heavy lifting in the storytelling. And the last thing keeping this love story from sugar overload? The fact that the prologue is written when Sam is waiting for Jake to visit her for the first time after he is released from prison and they haven’t spoken in the ten years he’s been sent away.

I loved this story and recommend it to romance lovers who like the romance, more than the hot, steamy sex and for anyone interested in the mountain culture or Cherokee traditons.

The Broken Window, by Jeffery Deaver

September 3, 200911 Comments

Finished 8-31-09, rating 4.5/5, mystery, pub. 2008

“But tell me if those benefits are worth somebody knowing every detail about your life. Maybe you don’t care, provided you save a few bucks. But do you really want ConsumerChoice lasers scanning your eyes in a movie theater and recording your reactions to those commercials they run before the movie? Do you want the RFID tag in your car key to be available to the police to know that you hit a hundred miles an hour last week?”

Chapter 23

This is the 8th book in the Lincoln Rhyme series

Quadriplegic forensic specialist Lincoln Rhyme is back with his most personal case to date. His cousin, Arthur, has been arrested for murder and his wife comes to Lincoln even though the two men haven’t been friends since high school. Lincoln feels the familial bond and takes a look at the case and discovers that they may be dealing with a serial killer. As Lincoln and his girlfriend, Amelia Sachs, try to prove the innocence of more than one person in prison, they become immersed in the new world of Big Brother.

SSD, Strategic Systems Datacorp, is a data mining company that specializes in knowing everything about you. No really, everything. And they do know it all. And it would not be difficult for an employee to commit awful crimes and pin them on someone else or even to steal a person’s life and destroy it piece by piece.

I loved this book. We learn more about Lincoln’s personal life than in any book since the first one and I enjoyed learning more about his childhood and family. And Amelia had her own things to deal with involving Pam, the teen from two earlier books who is now in foster care.

This book knocked it out of the park as far as scaring me to the point of paranoia. I think most people recognize that many of our individual freedoms are being stripped from us little by little, and some of us are okay with it and some of us aren’t. But this book takes it to the next level. Our whole lives are fodder for commercial gain and government dossiers. It is frightening and although this is a novel, it hits home because it is happening right now.

This book is a timely novel that will please Lincoln Rhyme fans and fans of fast paced thrillers. I loved it.

Killer Mousse, by Melinda Wells

August 27, 2009August 27, 200926 Comments

Finished 8-21-09, rating 4.5/5, mystery, pub. 2008

Book 1 in the Della Cooks Mysteries

I muttered ruefully, “So now I’m the ‘killer chocolate woman.’ “

NDM chuckled. “Worse nicknames have been pinned on me.”

I’m not surprised, I thought.

Chapter 8

Della Carmichael owns her own cooking school in Santa Monica and is the new host of her own cable cooking show. Her first show is being taped live with an audience and when she calls for a volunteer to try her Killer Mousse, Mimi, the woman she replaced jumps up, intending to humiliate her. Mimi takes one bite of the mousse and dies on live television.

Della is horrified, but the higher ups see a jump in viewership and they are less sympathetic. Della decides to do a little investigating since the police seem to be focused on her. With the help of a hunky reporter,and an old detective friend she manages to avoid being hurt by her snooping, but someone else is not as lucky.

I loved this book. My favorite thing? Della rocks. She is a 47 year old widower who is not afraid to tell the world her age even though everyone around her seems to think she should be hiding it. She has a standard poodle, Tuffy, and a cat who she names after a Jane Austen character (you’ll have to read it to find out which one!). She has good friends and a newly active romantic life. She is genuine and someone I would love to share some Killer Mousse with.

This book was warm an inviting with a great mystery and lots of good characters and suspects. And if you own a dog you might fel a little tug on your heartstrings. There are 10 yummy looking recipes included in the back of the book.

If you like mysteries, especially cozy ones, I think you’ll like this one. I was halfway through reading it and I emailed Melinda Wells (Linda Palmer) and asked her to stop by for one of my 9 in ’09 interviews. Not only will she be stopping by tomorrow, she will also be giving away this book to one lucky reader.

Pride & Prejudice, by Jane Austen

August 19, 2009August 19, 200917 Comments

Finished 8-17-09, rating 4.5/5, classic fiction, pub. 1813

“Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. If the dispositions of the parties are ever so well known to each other, or ever so similar beforehand, it does not advance their felicity in the least. They always continue to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation, and it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life.”

Charlotte to Elizabeth, Chapter 6

There are five Bennet daughters to be married off and their mother holds this responsibility tightly to her aggrieved chest. The eldest, Jane, is a beauty and she finds herself drawn to the agreeable and rich Mr. Bingley. Our heroine, Elizabeth, is next in line, but with no immediate prospects past her cousin, the silly Mr. Collins. Elizabeth does lock horns with Bingley’s friend Mr. Darcy and takes great delight in teasing him. The three youngest daughters and their mother lack propriety and there is little hope for an advantageous match for the three of them.

There are so many complex characters in this novel and I loved them all. I admit that I did not immediately love Elizabeth, but she grew on me rather quickly. She made fast judgements, but was not above admitting miscalculations. And Mr. Darcy, well, what’s not to love really? A smart, handsome, and wealthy gentleman who would move Heaven and earth to make me happy? Sign me up! I loved Mr. Bennet’s partiality toward Elizabeth, especially when her mother so completely undervalued her. And Lady Catherine was a great haughty antagonist.

This is a 19th century English classic. It takes aim at the aristocracy and the many social customs of the day. Were that to be all that it was it would be a classic, but what makes it so well-beloved is how well it has aged. I loved the characters and the plot was fantastic. There was a beautiful progression and the longer I read the faster the pages turned.

I’ve seen the BBC miniseries (Hello, Colin Firth!) and the more recent one with Keira Knightly as Elizabeth and enjoyed them both. Now after reading the book I think I might need watch the BBC version again. This is the first Austen book I’ve read and I loved it. The only thing keeping it from a perfect 5 is that just before the halfway mark it did drag a little for me, but that is a small complaint. I’m only sorry it has taken me so long to read it!

Sky Burial : An Epic Love Story of Tibet, by Xinran

July 23, 2009July 22, 20096 Comments

Finished 7-20-09, rating 4.5/5, fiction, pub. 2004

“Zhuoma,” she shouted. “come over here! What’s Ge’er doing?”

Saierbao, who was standing nearby, couldn’t understand Wen’s reaction. What was so surprising about the men in the family doing the sewing? Zhuoma told her that Chinese men hardly ever touched a needle, that sewing and mending were invariably women’s work. Ni fell about laughing after she heard this. “Women, sewing?” she said to her mother. “Surely not.”

Saierbao shook her head, sharing in her daughter’s disbelief at this absurd idea.

Chapter 4

What would you do if your husband of less than 100 days was sent off to war and never returned? Would you join the army to gain access and answers? Would you travel to a harsh, conflict heavy country in search of him? Would you give up country, family, career, and life as you know to search for a husband presumed dead?

Xinran is a Chinese-born reporter who was able to spend a few days with Wen, to hear her story of love, loss, and peace. She wrote Wen’s story as a love letter to a husband and to Tibet.

Wen and Kejun lived a charmed life as Chinese doctors in the 1950’s. Kejun joined the army and went to Tibet in hopes of unifying the two countries. He was told they would be greeted as liberators (sorry for stealing the apt line), but found violence instead. He was declared dead shortly after arriving and Wen in her grief joins his unit and heads to Tibet.

Almost immediately Wen is separated from her unit and she was cared for by a Tibetan woman, Zhouma. The two women are both searching for love lost and lead a nomadic life for many, many years.

The book was riveting. I was unsure if I would warm up to Wen, but I did. Xinran was so outspoken in her admiration for this woman but it took the whole story to be told for me to really understand it. And even then I think it could have been that Wen was mysterious and left the author wanting more.

This is Wen’s love story and also a description of her life as an outsider. It was easy to be drawn into an unfamiliar, yet stirring country and its people. The book is a fast read at only 200 pages, but a worthwhile one. I highly recommend it.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, by John Berendt

July 8, 2009July 9, 200916 Comments

Finished 7-7-09, rating 4.5/5, true crime -ish, pub. 1994

“Some years ago she ordered a pair of iron gates for her house, They were designed and built especially for her. But when they were delivered she pitched a fit, said they were horrible, said they were filth. ‘Take them away,’ she said, ‘I never want to see them again!’ Then she tore up the bill, which was for $1,400 – a fair amount of money in those days.”

“The foundry took the gates back, but they didn’t know what to do with them. After all, there wasn’t much demand for a pair of ornamental gates exactly that size. The only thing they could do was to sell the iron for its scrap value. So they cut the price from $1,400 to $190. Naturally, the following day the woman sent a man over to the foundry with $190, and today those gates are hanging on her gateposts where they were originally designed to go. That’s pure Savannah. And that’s what I mean by cheap. You mustn’t be taken in by the moonlight and magnolias. There’s more to Savannah than that. Things can get very murky.”

Chapter 1

This is non-fiction book that reads like a novel. New York reporter, Berendt is charmed by his first trip to Savannah, Georgia in the early 1980’s, and decides to rent a house there and split his time between there and New York. What he finds is a town full of old Southern charm, ideas, and eccentric characters.

There are the local society blue bloods and successful blacks who are always polite, but rarely mix. Luther Driggers is a misfit with a bottle of enough poison to kill all of Savannah and demons enough to make the town nervous. Lady Chablis, a beautiful drag queen, likes to take her drama around town. Jim Williams is an arrogant self-made millionaire who is accepted mainly because he throws the party of the year. The piano playing, check bouncing, forgering lawyer Joe Odom befriends the reporter and Minerva, the voodoo witch, takes the reporter to the graveyard at midnight to cast her many spells.

Savannah is more than the citizens that inhabit it – the beauty and richness of the city itself is on display. I am already trying to figure out when my husband and I can plan a trip there! It is part travel guide and part true crime story. When one of the main characters murders a lover in self-defense the town becomes consumed with the trial. There was never a question of whether he did it, but of his intent. Old rivalries heat up and a simple self-defense case turns into a circus, more than once.

I loved this book. It captures the spirit of this small southern town. I loved the meandering stories of the first third of the book as we got to know the town and its people. The murder was a nice change of pace and it became a book with purpose.

I loved this book and cannot recommend it highly enough for those of you who didn’t read it when it came out. I saw the movie when it came out years ago and don’t remember much about it but that I was a little bored. Don’t let the movie scare you off. The book, as usual, is so much better.

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Category: 4 1/2 Star Books