The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng

First, a HUGE thank you to Dasima for sending me this book!  This is the first book to make it to my "Best of 2010" list.  She knew I would love the way this story unfolds in a quiet Asian way, and it transported me into the lush rainy landscape of Malaysia.  It has beautiful language, history, suspense, big themes of torn loyalty and self-discovery....not to mention it is set in Penang.  Thank you Dasima :-) Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tan_Twan_Eng says the author Tan Twan Eng ranks in the top 3 best writers writing today and, I have to agree.

Starting in 1939, the novel tells the story of young Philip Hutton and his friendship with Hayato Endo. Philip, born to a British father and a Chinese mother, finds himself drawn to a mysterious Japanese diplomat and aikido master, and soon becomes his devoted student.  This book varies between modern day with Philip as an old man reflecting back on his life and then seemlessly shifts back to the time he is talking about in 1939 with the Japanese invading Malaysia.

This is an amazing novel for any author but, especially a first time novelist and it is reminding me of Cutting for Stone.  I can see why many felt that this should have won the Man Booker Prize or at least been on the short list (vs. just being on the long list).  If the dreamlike depictions of the lush Malay landscapes don't draw you in, the engaging narrative will. I enjoyed this book a lot and found it easy to lose myself in it's pages for hours.  Despite the beautiful writing, this is not a light book and it is not to be read in short bursts but, rather consumed when you have an hour or more to devour it.  I was sad to finish it and yet felt such a satisfaction and respect for all of the decades of events that had unfolded.  Truly an amazing story that enlightened me about a period of history I was unaware of.

Rating: 4.9 Definite Recommend

That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo

When you combine a great title like "That Old Cape Magic"; a book about wonderful Cape Cod, and a Pulitzer Prize winning author, along with hearing some great reviews, I eagerly started listening to this on my commute. I wasn't thrilled from the beginning.  I kept expecting the story to get better--to have some positive thrown in with the negative, dysfunctional marriages the story centers around or, at least some hope thrown in with the desperation-but it never happened. There was some humor thrown in, but not very much. I just felt this book was so negative and didn't understand why people (of several generations no less!) who were so miserable would stay together to continue to make each other miserable rather than choosing to be happy - either together or apart.  I just couldn't finish it as for me, life is too short to be miserable - in real life or by subjecting myself to a book that I am not enjoying.  I toasted it and am moving on to the numerous better books that are waiting for me to enjoy.

Rating: 0 Do NOT Recommend

An Unfinished Life by Mark Spragg

How I have never read any Mark Spragg books until now is a mystery to me.  Thanks Luci for this recommendation.  From when I first started listening to this book I was immediately drawn in.  An old rancher reluctantly takes in his daughter-in-law and granddaughter in this light 'formula' but enjoyable novel .

Jean hasn't been back to her hometown in Wyoming, since her husband, Griffin, died in a car accident. Jean was driving, and Griffin's father, Einar, has never forgiven her for his son's death. Ten years and four boyfriends later, Jean has run out of money and options. With her precocious nine-year-old daughter, Griff, she escapes boyfriend number four, a smirking brute named Roy. Einar isn't happy to see mother or daughter, but Griff loves his log house and ranch life. This book is formula and laid out for a Hollywood formula movie (knowing who starred in the movie probably spoiled the book for me) but, it is still enjoyable entertainment.

Rating: 3 Strong OK

The History of Love by Nichole Krauss

I wanted to love this book, but I didn't.  The History of Love started off as a beautiful novel about two characters whose lives are woven together in such complex ways.  The story spans of period of over 60 years and takes readers from Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe to present day Brighton Beach. At the center of each main character's psyche is the issue of loneliness, and the need to fill a void left empty by lost love. Leo Gursky is a retired locksmith who immigrates to New York after escaping SS officers in his native Poland, only to spend the last stage of his life terrified that no one will notice when he dies. ("I try to make a point of being seen. Sometimes when I'm out, I'll buy a juice even though I'm not thirsty.")

Then it switches to the voice of fourteen-year-old Alma Singer and the book lost me.  Alma vacillates between wanting to memorialize her dead father and finding a way to lift her mother's veil of depression. At the same time, she's trying to save her brother Bird, who is convinced he may be the Messiah, from becoming a 10-year-old social pariah. I just don't care for Alma or her family.

I just couldn't get into this book. 

Rating: 1 Do Not Recommend

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

You have to be warped to enjoy this book.....and I enjoyed it...a LOT!  I have laughed out loud so much with this book. 


This is a story about an impoverished teen on an Indian reservation who has an alcoholic father and faces bullies and racism and the deaths of several close relatives as well as his dog, but don't let that make you think it is depressing as this will make you laugh.  This is a semi-autobiographical tale by Sherman Alexie, written for teen readers, that is in turns wacked-out, funny, heartbreaking, and jubilant. It is the story of Arnold, an Indian kid who has survived a precarious infancy and is growing up on a reservation outside Spokane. It is a powerful story of friendship between two teenage guys who have grown up together on the reservation. It is the story of Arnold's journey after he is persuaded by the math teacher to escape the rez school and transfer to a high school 22 miles away. This is a hysterical young adult book for teens....or seriously warped adults who are in need of a good laugh.

Rating: 4 Good

Homestead by Rosina Lippi

This book contains interrelated stories that capture a small Austrian mountain village. Each chapter tells the story of one of the peasant women, and sometimes the real "end of the story" only comes in a future chapter.

Each woman's emotional life is laid bare in a short chapter. The course of the century leaves its mark as the wars wreak their misery even on this little isolated village, and of course the women are left to mourn. The author won a PEN/Hemingway Award for this work.  This is well written and definitely something that someone who enjoys short stories should check out.

Rating: 2 I don't care for short stories

Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden

I can see why this quiet book was the winner of the Giller Prize, the top Canadian book award.  The two readers did a wonderful job of doing the various male/female characters as well as capturing the Cree expressions.  This is the story of former bush pilot and Cree native Will Bird. The novel opens with Will in a coma, with his niece Annie, who just returned from an eight-month excursion in search of her sister, by his side in the hospital. Narrated by Will and Annie, the story backtracks to tell of Will's fight to keep his bush-country Indian life alive and protected while he suppresses painful childhood memories. Annie, a skillful hunter and animal trapper, tells of her escapades after rushing off to New York City in pursuit of her sister, Suzanne, a model who has shacked up with a member of the narcotics-smuggling Netmakers family. As Will struggles to survive and Annie reintegrates into the isolated bush, the two stories dovetail as the Netmakers cross paths with Will. This book has some wonderful humor in it and I enjoyed the native Cree voices and telling of their lifestyle.  I don't know if I would have enjoyed this quiet story as much if I was reading it but, on audio with the voices capturing the characters, it was very enjoyable.

Rating: 4 Recommend 

The Girls by Lori Lansens

The Girls novel is told from two viewpoints: that of Rose and that of Ruby Darlen, 29-year-old conjoined twins. Rose and Ruby are about to go down in history as the oldest surviving twins to be joined at the head. A recent medical diagnosis has spurred Rose to write her autobiography, and she encourages Ruby to do the same. Between the two sections, the story of their lives is revealed, beginning with their birth to an unwed teen mother and their adoption by Lovey Darlen, the nurse who was with their mother when she was in labor, and her strong, silent husband, Stash. The girls grow up on the Darlens' farm in rural Ontario, where Lovey refuses to accept the word of skeptical doctors who doubt the girls will ever be able to walk on their own. There is a great deal of subtlety in Lansens' narrative, and how the twins reveal the details of their lives--often one will refer to something she is sure the other has already mentioned in her section. But her biggest achievement in the novel is bringing to life these two truly extraordinary characters to such a degree that I frequently forget that I am reading fiction.  This is an entertaining read and the author has done an amazing job in making these girls come to life.

Rating: 3.5 Strong OK

Alentejo Blue by Monica Ali

Alentejo Blue is set in a village community in Portugal, called Mamarossa. In a series of episodic vignettes, Monica Ali lays out the daily lives, hopes, wishes, and dreams of villagers and visitors alike. She captures small details that shows the person: the filthy rag that Vasco mindlessly uses to wipe the tables in his cafe as he muses about his dead American wife and what he will eat next; the smelly never-washed clothes that drunken China Potts appears in again and again. She doesn't shrink from the disgusting or the gross.  This book seems disjointed and does not flow.  I found it very disappointing compared to her previous work of Brick Lane. 

Rating: 1 Do NOT recommend

Netherland by Joseph O'Neill

This book takes place in NY post 9/11.  Hans--a banker originally from the Netherlands--finds himself marooned among the strange occupants of the Chelsea Hotel after his English wife and son return to London. Alone and untethered, feeling lost in the country he had come to regard as home, Hans stumbles upon the vibrant New York subculture of cricket, where he revisits his lost childhood and, thanks to a friendship with a charismatic and charming Trinidadian named Chuck Ramkissoon, begins to reconnect with his life and his adopted country. I want to like this book but, so far, I don't.  It has beautiful writing but it hasn't grabbed me.

Rating: 1 Do NOT Recommend

Plainsong by Kent Haruf

Plainsong follows the lives of several characters in rural Holt, Colorado - Guthrie, an honest school teacher whose wife has suffered a nervous breakdown; his two sons, Ike and Bobby, who find themselves facing death, independence, and growing up; Victoria Roubideaux, a pregnant teenager thrown out of her mother's house; the McPherons, Harold and Raymond, bachelor brothers who know more about cattle prices and corn cribs than they do about people; and Maggie Jones, the woman who connects them. 

This book just didn't grab me.  Between the simple writing, the lack of quotation marks and long, rushed sentences it was truly bothersome but, what ultimately lost me was the lack of a decent plot or character development,

Rating: 1 Do NOT recommend

Any Bitter Thing by Monica Wood

I just finished this book and have two words for you:  read it.  Monica Wood writes with such stunning and thought provoking imagery that there were several paragraphs that I have slowed down and re-read savoring the words like poetry. The plot is completely unexpected and flowed smoothly from one shocking revelation to the next. The victim of a hit-and-run accident, Lizzy Mitchell is left by the driver in the middle of the median, hurt and adrift. Later Lizzie comes to see the accident as indicative of her life up to that point. Raised by her uncle Mike, a Maine priest, Lizzy grows up surrounded by his devotion to ministry.

I absolutely fell in love with Father Mike and how he raised Lizzy.  At age nine, Lizzy's comfortable world crumbles. In present day Lizzy, now a high-school counselor, is still trying to make sense of what happened. Wood's characters show refreshing depth and complexity as they each grapple with the irrefutable power of the past. This emotional story is filled with crisp, rich details that linger in the memory. Wood's stirring domestic drama is full of surprises as it explores the weighty themes of religion, perceived innocence, and the corrosive quality of best intentions.  The character development and reliving through memory is reminiscent of Crow Lake by Mary Lawson.  The plot twists kept me engrossed as, tearily, I turned the very last page. 

Rating: 4.9  Definite Recommend

The Tale of Desperaux by Kate DiCamillo

This is a young adult book by the same author as The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane which I loved.  In this book, DiCamillo's story centers around a mouse named Despereaux who just doesn't fit in with the other mice. He is born with his eyes opened. He sees a beautiful world that the others are blind to, and he is shunned because of it. He is able to hear music, and he is able to love creatures of other races. This tiny mouse falls in love with the human Princess Pea, and that begins quite a chain of events.

This is a dark novel. There are characters who have had little chance in life and have been harmed because of it. There are characters here who have lead dark lives and are trying to destroy Princess Pea and Despereaux. It does have an overall message of love and hope and the possibility of redemption.

I had a few issues with this book.  I wasn't sure about the narrated "Dear Reader"-style but, I can see how that helps DiCamillo break the third wall to explain to children what is transpiring.  It is VERY dark (having an adult regularly hit a child in the ears until she is deaf and has cauliflower ears???!?) and I don't think it is at all appropriate for young adults.

If you read this in your mind as if you are reading it to a child, it is a cute little story about having the courage to bring some light into the world but, again, with it being so dark, I am not sure if I would buy this for a young adult.  I also much prefered The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.

Rating: 3 Ok

Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

I started reading this book for one of my book clubs and, so far, it is not grabbing me.  It is about the events surrounding the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.  It is about two men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the fair's construction, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor. I just didn't grab me.  With so many wonderful books waiting for me to read, I am going to move on.

Rating: 1 Do not recommend

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson

Snow Falling on Cedars is an absorbing, thoroughly enjoyable read. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I can say that this book makes the Puget Sound come alive.  At times an interracial romance, a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and a fictionalized chronicle of the World War II internment of Japanese-Americans.  Throughout it all, this book pulls the reader into an accurate rendering of life on an island in Puget Sound and makes the characters come alive. The various aspects of the novel are seamlessly interwoven into a narrative that allows the reader to embrace the plot, the characters, and the dead-on descriptions of the physical characteristics of the novel's setting.

I wanted to LOVE this book but, it felt too long.  It is great in capturing the Japanese culture, the German Americans and the Pacific Northwest but, it should have been shorter.

Rating: 3.6 OK