The Secret of Lost Things

Rosemary is an 18 year old Tasmanian whose mother has just recently passed away. She has no other family and very few friends as she and her mother lived a fairly solitary, and yet happy, life in an apartment above her mother's hat shop. Her mother's friend buys her a ticket to New York so that she can start a new life and have adventure and so Rosemary finds herself alone and looking for work in the Big Apple. During a moment of uncustomary boldness Rosemary gets herself a job at The Arcade, a large used bookstore patterned after the real-life NYC bookstore, The Strand. The Arcade is an eclectic store with even more eclectic employees. Eventually, Rosemary ends up wrapped into a mystery about a possible missing Herman Melville manuscript. This book had me interested and reading along right up until the last few chapters. The Arcade sounds like a place I'd like, especially as a lover of used bookstores, and Rosemary was a very likable character who I wanted to do well, but the plot absolutely stalled near the end. It gave me the feeling I've had when watching a television series that switches writers and loses its original energy. I literally wondered if Sheridan Hay didn't finish the book.

New Novel by Anne Lamott

I just read that Anne will be releasing a new novel next month called Imperfect Birds. It continues the story of Rosie Ferguson of Rosie and Crooked Little Heart fame. I enjoyed both of those books very much so this will be a real treat.

Michael Chabon on Genre

I was recently give a print-out of an interview with author Michael Chabon. It was from the website io9.com and the interview is called "Geeking Out About Genres With Michael Chabon." (I would add a link to this blog, but I'm not that technologically sophisticated.) When asked about authors being pigeonholed into certain genres, particularly science fiction and fantasy, and whether or not it's just a marketing issue, Michael responded with this:

I think, in the end, it is largely a marketing issue. Personally I would prefer to see bookstores shelve all fiction together regardless of genre. Or maybe just have two sections, "Good Stuff" and "Crap." Into Crap we will consign all novels regardless of genre or reputation that trade in cliche' and dead language. If I ever own a bookstore I will do it that way. Only I will just leave out the Crap section.

My appreciation for him grows and grows.

In The Woods

I just finished Tana French’s first novel In the Woods. I feel content and yet somewhat dissatisfied. I hadn’t realized that she was beginning a series and so I expected more closure to the “bigger” mystery. In The Woods introduces the reader to Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox, both detectives in the fictional Dublin Murder Squad. As partners they are called to the suburb of Knocknaree to investigate the murder of a 12 year old girl who was found near the woods that surround the town. The case becomes entwined with the twenty year old mystery of two missing children and their friend who was found bloody and clinging to a tree with no memory. The book follows Rob’s quest to solve the recent murder and the mystery of his missing friends because he was the found boy-a secret only his parents and Cassie know. Tana French does an excellent job of pulling the reader in and painting an excellent picture of the setting and the characters. I found myself reading as fast as I could through the middle, as the story began to stall. When it picked up again I was immediately engrossed. If you’re in the mood for a well written mystery, but are not necessarily a reader of the mystery genre then this book is for you.

Audrey Niffennegger and Elizabeth Kostova

Two of my favorite authors will be in Portland within two days of each other! Very exciting. Powells Books is presenting Audrey Niffenegger on Monday, January 25th at their Cedar Hills Crossing location and Elizabeth Kostova on Wednesday, January 27th at their downtown location. They both released books this fall, but they are in my favor for their books The Time Traveler's Wife (Niffenegger) and The Historian (Kostova). If you are in the Portland area then I recommend you check out powells.com and click on the tab "Stores and Events" and then "Events Calendar".

Gentlemen of the Road

Excellent short novel by Michael Chabon. In his afterword he wrote that he wanted the title to be Jews With Swords-his own joke. You'll have to read it in his own words to understand. Gentlemen of the Road shares with the reader a relatively short adventure in the lives of two best friends, Amran, the large African, and Zelikman, the skinny northerner in the Caucasus Mountains in 950 a.d. There is a map at the beginning of the book, thank goodness, for non-historians like me who need to orient themselves. Amran and Zelikman meet a young man who claims to be a prince of the Khazar Empire. This foul-mouthed and moody prince leads the friends into an adventure that risks both of their lives. Chabon explores the personalities of both main characters while keeping the action flowing. There is mystery, politics, and a tiny bit of romance that make this book very enjoyable.

Blue Bottle Mystery: An Asperger Adventure

The Blue Bottle Mystery is a children's/young adult chapter book in which the primary character is Ben, a 4th or 5th grade boy who becomes diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome during the course of the story. The mystery of the blue bottle was a cute story device and the descriptions of Ben's behavior and thoughts were consistent with what I understand about kids on the autism spectrum. However, Ben has a longtime best friend in the book, Andy, who is amazingly tolerant, which is not consistent with students I have known on the spectrum. Kids with autism have a very difficult time maintaining long term friendships with peers. I also didn't care for the fact that Ben is diagnosed with Asperger's by his family physician instead of a team of experts. Although this is not an uncommon practice, it is not the best practice. The author, Kathy Hoopmann, is a teacher in Australia and has written other books about kids on the spectrum and those diagnosed with ADHD. The parent of one of my students with autism recommended this book to me. She used it to help introduce her son to the disorder. I may recommend The Blue Bottle Mystery to other parents for such a use.