BOOK 52: A Town Like Alice, by Nevil Shute

Rating: 5 stars

Cover synopsis: A tale of love and war, follows its enterprising heroine from the Malayan jungle during World War II to the rugged Australian outback.

I love when I can find a good, clean, feel-good novel that's not boring! A Town Like Alice follows Jean Paget from a death march in Malaya during WWII, to post-war London, to the Australian outback. She's a wonderful character -- strong, independent and level-headed, but still generous and feminine.

This book's got it all: drama, romance, history, adventure...my only (minor) complaint was that the novel seemed to hit its climax 2/3 of the way through the book. And the main twist in the story is revealed on the back cover. (Who writes those things?!!!) The last part of the book was neatly wrapped up, but there weren't any more surprises. You knew exactly how it was going to end. But I didn't mind too much, because it ended exactly how I, as a reader who cared about these characters, wanted it to end.

BOOK 51: Riopelle Grands Formats, published by Acquavella

Rating: 4 stars

Cover synopsis: Exhibition September 17 - October 23, 2009. The Prat essay is in French and English; the Riopelle essay is only in French. 4to, pictorial paper-covered boards. 69 pp, 11 color plates + 9 text photographs and portraits, chronology

I saw a painting of Riopelle's in a book, and I've been dying to learn more. He was a lesser-known Canadian abstract expressionism artist whose colors, movement and sense of nature fascinate me. I could stare at "Forestine" all day. Seriously.

Some other favorites: Festin, Le Lac du Nord-Est, Quinze Chevaux Citroen, Untitled 1964, and Dark Background With White Squares.

The only reason I give this book 4 stars instead of 5 is that one of the essays is entirely in French -- with no English translation. I'd love to know what it says. But as far as the artwork goes, 5 stars! Someday I'll have to visit the Pierre Matisse Gallery in NYC and see his work firsthand.

BOOK 50: Persuasion, by Jane Austen

Rating: 5 stars

Cover synopsis: 27-year-old Anne Elliot is Austen's most adult heroine. Eight years before the story proper begins, she is happily betrothed to a naval officer, Frederick Wentworth, but she precipitously breaks off the engagement when persuaded by her friend Lady Russell that such a match is unworthy. The breakup produces in Anne a deep and long-lasting regret. When later Wentworth returns from sea a rich and successful captain, he and Anne's paths cross again.

This is one of my favorite Jane Austen novels. It's about forgiveness, second chances and the power of persuasion. It's a very simple plot, yet it's a complex personal and emotional journey. Anne loses the love of her life, only for him to come back and rub it in her face. Yet Austen doesn't make the reader hate Wentworth. Rather, we feel equally sorry for him as we do for Anne.

BOOK 49: North And South, by Elizabeth Gaskell

Rating: 5 stars

Cover synopsis: When her father leaves the Church in a crisis of conscience, Margaret Hale is uprooted from her comfortable home in Hampshire to move with her family to the north of England. Initially repulsed by the ugliness of her new surroundings in the industrial town of Milton, Margaret becomes aware of the poverty and suffering of the local mill workers and develops a passionate sense of social justice. This is intensified by her tempestuous relationship with the mill-owner and self-made man, John Thornton, as their fierce opposition over his treatment of his employees masks a deeper attraction.

I had to pick up this novel after watching the BBC movie. I loved the movie and have been recommending it to everyone with a pulse. I loved the book too, though there are quite a few differences. I liked the nice mix of romance with social awareness. I enjoyed watching Margaret grow as a character, as well as Mr. Thornton. And, of course, I enjoyed watching them grow together. :)

BOOK 48: A Study in Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes #1), by Arthur Conan Doyle

Rating: 3 stars

Cover synopsis: A murder that takes place in the shadowy outskirts of London, in a locked room where the haunting word Rache is written upon the wall. Quickly picking up the "scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life," Holmes does not fail at finding the truth -- and making literary history.

I was excited to read this book, because I've been watching the British Sherlock Holmes miniseries on Netflix, and I've enjoyed it immensely. It takes Doyle's actual stories of Sherlock Holmes, and transplants them into the 21st Century. The acting is wonderful and the writing is smart.

However, I found this book tough to rate. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting the characters of Sherlock Holmes and Watson. They are a fascinating pair, comical yet brilliant. But the book has a 5-chapter flashback to the killer's background which reveals Doyle's ignorance on Mormonism. He perpetrate falsehoods on the religion -- my religion. And it made me very uncomfortable!

And I'm not sure the Utah interlude added a whole lot to the story.

So. If you excise the lies in those 5 chapters, this would border on a 5-star book. The characters are vivid, fully fleshed, and a pleasure for the reader to decipher. But for Doyle's part in spreading anti-Mormon sentiment, I was sorely disappointed. (Thankfully, the mini-series adaptation of this story had nothing to do with Mormons!)

BOOK 47: The People of Sparks, by Jeanne DuPrau

Rating: 2 stars

Cover synopsis: The people of Ember are above ground, and they come across a town where they are welcomed, fed, and given places to sleep. But the town’s resources are limited and it isn’t long before resentment begins to grow between the two groups. When anonymous acts of vandalism push them toward violence, it’s up to Lina and Doon to discover who’s behind the vandalism and why, before it’s too late.

This is the 2nd book in the City of Ember series. And I just didn't enjoy it as much as the first. I thought the premise was interesting: How does a small town handle a population doubling overnight, and how will the people of Ember adjust to life above ground. But the execution of the premise was off.

The writing was flat. The foreshadowing was insultingly obvious. I didn't like or care about any of the characters -- even Lina and Doon became even more cardboard-cutout than they had been in the last book. And I found the storyline contrived and unlikely. I felt like the author came into this with a theme -- War Is Bad -- and twisted the characters around her moral to make them fit, instead of letting the characters take the story in a more natural direction. She created conflict and strife where it felt unnatural and contrived.

I probably won't venture on with the series.

BOOK 46: The Accidental Tourist, by Anne Tyler

Rating: 3 stars

Cover synopsis: Macon Leary is a travel writer who hates both travel and anything out of the ordinary. He is grounded by loneliness and an unwillingness to compromise his creature comforts when he meets Muriel, a deliciously peculiar dog-obedience trainer who up-ends Macon’s insular world–and thrusts him headlong into a remarkable engagement with life.

I waffled back and forth on what to rate this book. On the one hand, I found it depressing, and I didn't agree with many of the choices the characters made. I also found it predictable -- sad lonely stick-in-the-mud is taught how to live by a crazy vivacious woman! However, I did find the character development fascinating, the story well-written, and many situations that made me stop and think about how I would handle that situation.

I read this for my book club. One person has already told me she LOVES this book. Another one told me she DETESTED the book. Should be a pretty interesting discussion next week!

BOOK 45: Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte

Rating: 3 stars

Cover synopsis: An intriguing tale of revenge in which the main characters are controlled by consuming passions. A tormented foundling falls in love with the daughter of his benefactor, and the violence and misery result from their thwarted longing for each other.

I'm a sucker for a good classic. I love dissecting the characters and the author's motives. And there's plenty to examine in Wuthering Heights. It's a different sort of book, where the reader hates the characters. They are truly detestable beings. Yet, I could sympathize with them to some extent. I found Bronte's choice of characters fascinating and bold.

Still, it was hard to read a book where you don't really care about what happens to the characters. It took me about 3 weeks to plow through the book -- which is a really long time for me! I also wasn't terribly fond of Bronte's writing style. The devise of telling the story through the maid Nelly was cumbersome and didn't add much to the story -- if anything.

It seems unfair to compare Emily to her sister Charlotte Bronte, but what can I say? Wuthering Heights was interesting enough, but it was no Jane Eyre!

BOOK 44: My Name is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potok

Rating: 5 stars

Cover synopsis: Asher Lev is a religious boy with an overwhelming need to draw, to paint, to render the world he knows and the pain he feels on canvas. He must learn to master his skill without shaming his people or relinquishing any part of his deeply felt Judaism.

Wow. This was a fabulous piece of literature. Well-written and deeply insightful, it is a story that has been haunting my thoughts all week. Add this to the pile of favorites.

BOOK 43: The City of Ember, by Jeanne DuPrau

Rating: 4 stars

Cover synopsis: The city of Ember was built as a last refuge for the human race. Two hundred years later, the great lamps that light the city are beginning to flicker. When Lina finds part of an ancient message, she's sure it holds a secret that will save the city. She and her friend Doon must decipher the message before the lights go out on Ember forever.

This was a fun and quick read with an interesting premise. The only reason it didn't earn 5 stars is that it is what it is. I kept hoping there would be an underlying theme or some richer layers to the story (a la Harry Potter), but I never found any. I also wished the author would have given us more character development beyond the main two characters.

Still, it was a fast-paced engrossing book, and I enjoyed it a lot. Can't wait to read the sequel.

BOOK 42: Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke

Rating: 3 stars

Cover synopsis: One cruel night, Meggie's father reads aloud from "Inkheart," and an evil ruler named Capricorn escapes the boundaries of the book, landing in their living room. Suddenly, Meggie's in the middle of the kind of adventure she thought only took place in fairy tales. Can she change the course of the story that has changed her life forever?

Great premise, interesting characters...but for some reason I had a hard time plowing through it. Perhaps I ruined it for myself by seeing the movie first? Or perhaps at 534 pages, it's just too long and could use a good editor?

Still, it was enjoyable, and I'd have no problem recommending it to young adults. It was imaginative and the characters were memorable and well developed. I went back and forth with the idea of awarding it 3 or 4 stars. So in many places, it is quite good! It just fell a tad flat for me overall.

BOOK 41: Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card

Rating: 4 stars

Cover synopsis: The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Is Ender Wiggin the general Earth so desperately needs? The only way to find out is to throw him into ever-harsher training at Battle School, to chip away and find the diamond inside, or destroy him utterly. Ender Wiggin is six years old when his training begins. He will grow up fast.

I keep insisting I'm not much of a sci-fi fan, but then my friend keeps giving me sci-fi books to read and keep liking them. Not loving them, but enjoying them enough to give them 3- and 4-star ratings. So perhaps I need to change my assessment of myself...

Anyway, Ender's Game is THE sci-fi book. Every sci-fi fan has read it. It recently made NPR's top 3 list of science fiction and fantasy novels. And for many people I talk to, it's the book they read as a kid that turned them on to the genre. And I can see why.

This is a fascinating look into the mind of a soldier, Pair it with mind-blowing video games, contests, and worlds, and it's a pretty awesome read. I had a hard time visualizing some of the games, though I most enjoyed the political backstory and character psychology. Looking forward to a deep discussion at my book group this week.

BOOK 40: Same Kind of Different As Me, by Ron Hall & Denver Moore

Rating: 4 stars

Cover synopsis: Meet Denver, a man raised under plantation-style slavery in Louisiana in the 1960s; a man who escaped, hopping a train to wander, homeless, for eighteen years on the streets of Dallas, Texas. No longer a slave, Denver's life was still hopeless-until God moved. First came a godly woman who prayed, listened, and obeyed. And then came her husband, Ron, an international arts dealer at home in a world of Armani-suited millionaires. And then they all came together.


This is a true story about the power of service, friendship and God. And a nice reminder of what's really important in life.

Warning: It's a tear-jerker. I read this on a cross-country flight, and I was sniveling like a baby. I'm sure my seat mates loved that!

BOOK 39: The House at Riverton, by Kate Morton

Rating: 4 stars

Cover synopsis: A novel set in England between the wars. It is the story of an aristocratic family, a house, a mysterious death and a vanishing way of life, told by a woman who witnessed it all and kept a secret for a very long time.

Grace went to work at Riverton house as a servant when she was 14 years old, and becomes attached to the Hartford family, particularly the daughters, Emmeline and Hannah. The story is told from Grace's point of view, decades later, as she is nearing her death in a nursing home. She wants to tell the true story of the house, it's secrets, and it's infamous downfall to her grandson, who is an author.

The story was compelling and the characters were interesting -- although I disagreed with practically every decision they made. Still, I cared about what happened to them and their little world. The book was a bit too slow-moving for my taste and I figured out the main secrets early into the book. But I still wanted to find out how they would play out. There were a few surprises along the way (and a lot of head-banging d'oh! moments as I watched these characters' lives self-destruct). Yet I enjoyed it, and all it's complex layers.

Not as good as Morton's "The Forgotten Garden," but still a pretty good read.

BOOK 38: The Slippery Slope (#10 in A Series of Unfortunate Events), by Lemony Snicket

Rating: 3 stars

Cover synopsis: The 10th book in this outrageous publishing effort features snow gnats, an organised troupe of youngsters, an evil villain with a dastardly plan, a secret headquarters and some dangerous antics you should not try at home.

The series continues...this one had some nice plot differences, showing that Snicket is finally thinking about tying this thing up. And it continues, of course, to be one of the wittiest series out there. Still, I'm struggling to keep my interest. But I'm determined to finish this thing. Eventually.

BOOK 37: American on Purpose, by Craig Ferguson

Rating: 2 stars

Cover synopsis: In American on Purpose, Craig Ferguson delivers a memoir of living the American dream as he journeys from the mean streets of Glasgow, Scotland, to the comedic promised land of Hollywood.

I love Craig Ferguson. I think he's one of the funniest people on television, and the best interviewer, hands down.

So I was pretty disappointed by his book. It just wasn't that funny! Of course there were moments (like his description of hosting the White House Correspondents Dinner), but overall, this was a self-indulgent trip down memory lane, full of drugs, alcohol and infidelity. He comes off as a real jerk!

I know his point was that he had to overcome a pretty crappy life to get to where he is today. But he spent 95% of the book reveling in that crappy life, and only 5% talking about the good stuff. A typical Hollywood memoir. I was hoping for better from Craig!

BOOK 36: West With the Night, by Beryl Markham

Rating: 5 stars

Cover synopsis: The story of Beryl Markham--aviator, racehorse trainer, beauty--and her life in the Kenya of the 1920s and '30s.

This is the sort of book that I wanted to read quickly so I could find out what happened on Markham's many adventures, but I also wanted to read it slowly to savor the beautiful writing. I found myself stopping to re-read sentences and paragraphs outloud, just to hear the prose roll off my tongue.

This book is a delicious bit of time travel, to an era when the world was ripe for discovery. Both on the African and aviation front.

I enjoyed reading about a strong-willed woman in such a peculiar setting and interesting time. I was left with the impression that my life is dreadfully boring! Truly a fascinating woman and a beautiful book.

BOOK 35: The Best of Colored Pencil III, by the CPSA

Rating: 3 stars

Cover synopsis: Showcases over 200 illustrations in full-color by the best colored pencil artists in the country.

Beautiful drawings. But this book is just a showcase. It gives no details on technique or inspiration, like books IV and V in the series give us. Still, a lovely book to flip through for ideas.

BOOK 34: The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury

Rating: 4 stars

Cover synopsis: Bradbury presents himself as a nameless narrator who meets the Illustrated Man--a wanderer whose entire body is a living canvas of exotic tattoos. What's even more remarkable, and increasingly disturbing, is that the illustrations are themselves magically alive, and each proceeds to unfold its own story.

This is a wonderful collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury. I've never considered myself a great fan of science fiction, but I find that the more I read of it, the more I can find to like in it. These stories, for instance, although they were mostly written in the 1940s and 1950s, are just as timely today as ever.

Although the stories take place in different worlds, different times, and with much different technologies, they still ring true to me -- a housewife and mom. They speak to the human condition, touching on themes of love, religion and loyalty, as well as the dangers of our dependence on technology, as well as the error of pride.

Some of my favorites: The Veldt (virtual reality gone awry), The Other Foot (a poignant examination of race and forgiveness), The Rocket Man (a tale of a father who's real love is space), The Fire Balloons (religion on Mars), Fox and the Forest (an interesting take on time travel), Zero Hour (the Martians find impressionable allies on Earth), and The Rocket (a father goes above and beyond to create a happy memory for his children).

BOOK 33: Of Mice And Men, by John Steinbeck

Rating: 4 stars

Cover synopsis: The tragic story of the complex bond between two migrant laborers in Central California. They are George Milton and Lennie Small, itinerant ranch hands who dream of one day owning a small farm. George acts as a father figure to Lennie, who is a very large, simple-minded man, calming him and helping to reign in his immense physical strength.

Somehow, I made it through school without ever having to read this book. But....Wow. Wish I had read it sooner. It's a well-crafted story that definitely makes you think.

Had to dock it a star for language, though. Dang it, Steinbeck! You can have colorful characters without stooping that level.