Category: Books

Genre: Book    

Grade:  A-

Notable People: CJ Box

Title:  “Dark Sky”

Review:      The latest installment in the long running Joe Pickett-Wyoming Game Warden series is a barn burner from start to finish. Silicon Valley giant comes to Wyoming to bag Big Elk; Joe gets assigned by the corrupt Governor to guide him into the Bighorns so he will consider locating a massive new tech facility in Wyoming- based on his wonderful experience in the mountain west……then all hell breaks loose. Joes’ friend, Nate Romanowski- the legendary Falconer outlaw remains a character for the literary ages, and Box does a really nice job of filling out all his characters…and the man just flat out knows the Bighorns. Read the whole thing in three days- perfect summer reading.

Genre: Book   

Grade:  A-

Notable People: Viet Thanh Nguyen

Title:  “The Sympathizer”

Review:      Pulitzer Prize winning first novel by this Vietnamese -American author is an intensely thoughtful look at the end of the Vietnam War- told though the eyes of an exiled- to America- NVA regular, who is secretly a Communist-Vietcong spy……got that? The book is complicated, but a remarkable debut-both as a thriller and powerful social satire. It is not kind about the American involvement in the winless war, and tackles all kinds of social injustices- but thankfully, with a very subtle but persistent sense of humor. May be the first real effort to novelize the War from the Vietnamese point of view- which is refreshing. Nguyen can get over –heady in his writing and some of the thought and dream sequences are a bit hard to follow/swallow, but the story is riveting. A powerful and important book.

Genre: Book     

Grade:  NR

Notable People: Hanya Yanagihara

Title:  “A Little Life”

Review:      I tried, I really, really tried…..to finish this mammoth work recommended by New York Times top ten list for last year. Firstly, it is almost 800 pages……which is scaly reserved for Tolstoy or Homer….or The Bible. And although, it is a well written book….it is still 800 pages….I spent two weeks getting through about 400 of them, a very wee bit at a time….before I pitched it…..which I NEVER do……Maybe it is the effects of a year plus of Covid, despairing daily realities in our country, and my own general ennui……but cold just not tolerate to degree of self-loathing, self-indulgence an lack of any form of self-control. Basic story surrounds college roommates from a prestigious Massachusetts university go to the big city to live their lives- together and apart. They are very successful in careers (art, film, architecture and law)..but lead very complicated lives, often bordering on tragic. I can intellectually see the merits of this work….but just way too depressing to push though it’s length.

Genre: Book  

Grade:  B+

Notable People: Cherie Jones

Title:  “How the One Armed Sister Sweeps Her House”

Review:      This is an unusual award winning first novel from this attorney turned writer form Barbados and Trinidad. Compelling story set on the fictional island of “Paradise” in the early 80s with flashbacks to the previous decade. It’s a disturbing story of domestic violence, poverty and alienation, but set in a fascinating culture with an incredible dedication to the local dialect and customs. I found the back and forth between time periods and characters for each chapter to be bit hard to follow and the story so complex as to be very slow read, but this is a powerful first novel about race and poverty, helplessness and hope and explores a culture most of us know little about.

Genre: Book     

Grade:  A

Notable People: Louise Penny

Title:  “How the Light Gets In”

Review:      “Ring the bells that still can ring,

                      Forget your perfect suffering.

                      There is a crack in everything

                      That’s how the light gets in.”

This, the ninth, in Penny’s fabled Gamache series, is based on the beautiful Leonard Cohen lyric, from “How the Light Gets In”, and follows it throughout this wonderful story. So, yes, Gamache is the Chief Inspector of the Surete Homicide Diviison of Quebec, and these are, on first glance, murder mysteries- but make no mistake, Penny is a brilliant writer, and these are fine works of literature. This one’s full of intensity in Penny’s mystical muse town of Three Pines and in Montreal, in which the proceeding 4-5 books come to a final conclusion, as Gamache and the forces of good, take on the highest powers of Quebec and their greed and powers attempt to annihilate much of the Provence and cause a final act of French separatism from Canada. As always, it’s a journey into all things Quebecois- culture, food, history and myth-as well as an insightful exploration of the mind and the heart. Part of the story is also based on the famous Dionne Quintuplets, born in 1934, who had, and still have, as much mystique for Canadians as The Queen. These books are just too good to be true.

Genre: Book

Grade:  A-/B+

Notable People: Min Jin Lee

Title:  ” Pachinko”

Review:      Beautiful, quiet and very long book from Korean-Americana author, Lee, that tells the 80-year story (1910-1980) of four generations of Koreans living in Japan under the at times brutal colonial administration and control of the Japanese. It is an intense tale of an entire culture forced into submission by a much more dominant and relentless adversary, and filled with anguish and tragedy. The characters are vivid, the writing precise and the tale contains an amazing lifetime of twists and turns. It was an eye opening experience for me about a proud culture I knew little about and a harrowing portrayal of the war years. The title refers to the beloved bingo parlors that are a mainstay of Korean culture and often associated with the Yakuza (Japanese gangsters). Very, very lengthy book that may be a bit difficult for some to stick with, and took me some time to finish. Not for everyone, but a splendid read

Genre: Book

Grade:  A

Notable People: Louise Penny

Title:  ” The Beautiful Mystery”

Review:    Just when I was getting the rhythm of Penny’s Gamache series, set in the wonderful, mythical Quebecois village of Three Pines, she throws me for a total loop by going to new, strange and exotic locale in in this eighth installment of this magnificent series. No outsiders are ever admitted to the monastery of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups (“Between the Wolves”), hidden deep in the wilderness of Québec, where two dozen cloistered monks live in peace and prayer. Ironically, for a community that has taken a vow of silence, the monks have become world-famous for their glorious voices, raised in ancient Gregorian chants. All of this forms the backdrop for a bizarre murder setting investigated by Gamache and Jean-Guy. Like all her books, this is incredibly well researched and delves deep into ancient Papal lore, the origins of the Gilbertine order of monks and the birth of Gregorian chants. You’ll be taken in by the beauty of the history, the remote Abbey, the chants themselves and this mysterious place…and on top of it, you get a brilliant book that just happens to be a whodunnit….and you get Armand Gamache. Nuff’ said

Genre: Book 

Grade:  A-

Notable People: Brit Bennett

Title:  ” The Mothers”

Review:    I checked out a number of books from the library from last years’ New York Times Best of list. I guess I don’t share the same taste or values, as first two were duds that I gave up on after 50 pages…… then I hit this one. A wonderful first novel by this SoCal writer that traces the heartbreaking story of a motherless African-American girl in San Diego. Started slow- but really grew on me. Intense, colorful, evocative and well captures the experience of a young black woman in a white culture. “The Mothers” refers to the elder woman at the “Upper Room” church to which the protagonist’s marine father is devoutly involved, and each chapter starts with their moving reminiscences before delving into the story. A very touching book that will make you think and feel deeply.

Genre: Book

Grade:  A-

Notable People: Lily King

Title:  ” Euphoria”

Review:    Fascinating novel about three anthropologists in the New Guinea bush on the 1930s. Loosely based on the life of Margaret Mead, and culled from her autobiographical writings, it paints a picture of 20th century tribal life that is quite striking, and is centered around the early years of cultural anthropology and the development of modern understanding of cultural difference. All this woven into a steamy (it hit in the tropics) love triangle. Well written, taut prose. For some, it may seem too academic at times, but the story captivated me.

Grade:  B+

Notable People: Nevada Barr

Title:  ” Boar Island”

Review:    The most recent in Barr’s’ 25 year run of Anna Pidgeon books. Anna, the National Park Service Ranger, finds herself temporarily assigned to Acadia National Park, where all kinds of mayhem ensues. I have liked these books for a long time, but this felt a bit repetitive and the characters did not seem fully developed. Barr, who is really an NPS ranger, again goes back to some of the same characters in many of her books, and her sense of place is always wonderful, but this one seemed a bit over the top for me. Still, who doesn’t want to spend a virtual week musing over the great Maine north woods.