January 2014 – Page 2

January 5, 2014

Favorite Books Read in 2013 – #’s 7 & 8

Coming in at #’s 7 and 8 I’ve got a favorite author who has appeared on this list before in previous years, and a novelist new to me with an imaginative story that really captured my heart. It’s so hard to rank these books in any kind of order because the best ones are all joys to read.

#8 – The Illusion of Separateness by Simon Van Booy

With compact yet masterful prose, Simon Van Booy’s latest novel explores the connections between strangers, and how seemingly random interactions can have a profound effect on a life. Spanning decades and oceans, the varied characters in The Illusion of Separateness are all struggling with loss of a kind; loss of sight, loss of family, loss of wholeness, loss of innocence. There is love, war and family. They struggle, they feel, the move unerringly forward. And how they unknowingly help strangers whose paths they cross gives this novel its coherence and its joy. In the hands of a lesser writer, The Illusion of Separateness might have come across as gimmicky… let’s find out how this character relates to that character. Fortunately, Simon is leagues beyond that kind of convention, using words to paint images and to make the reader feel the emotions coursing through the characters. In past work, Simon’s focus has often been the love between two people, and while there is still that element in some of the individual tales in this book, he has broadened from love to life, and perhaps how one informs the other. If you’ve never read Mr. Van Booy, I highly recommend you give him a try. His short stories, Love Begins in Winter are essential, and his previous novel, Everything Beautiful Began After soars (it was my #8 book read in 2011). . I look forward to each new work this talented author undertakes.

#7 – Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks

Matthew Dicks has created something marvelous and original, the story of the life of an imaginary friend. Imaginary friends are limited only by… you guessed it, the imagination. Budo is lucky; he looks and acts like a real little boy. His friend Max, imagined him with a level of detail that most imaginary friends lack. Sometimes it’s just ears that they are missing, but other times they are just a hair bow with eyes, so they can’t speak, not even to other imaginary friends. Budo is special in other ways as well. He is old for an imaginary friend. Some imaginary friends only live a few minutes or hours. Some last a year or even two. Budo has been alive for five years. And he’s smart too. Max imagined him as very smart.

It’s possible that Budo has been alive for so long because Max is autistic. He has trouble interacting with people; even people he loves like his parents, and his favorite teacher, Mrs. Gosk. Whatever the reason, Budo has learned a great deal and is concerned because he has watched imaginary friends fade away when their human friends stop believing in them. He is afraid of the moment when he fades away as well. But when Max is placed in danger and there is little Budo can do to help him, he learns that there are worse things than fading away. With heart-felt creativity, Dicks tells the story of love and loss, sacrifice and heroism, all through the lens of an imaginary friend. His tale is funny. It is sad. It is suspenseful. It is exciting. It is the story of a life. It is the story of the lessons we learn and the lengths we will go to to help someone we love.

January 4, 2014

Favorite Books Read in 2013 – #’s 9 & 10

As we dip into the top 10, we’ve got the last book I read this year, and the oldest book I read this year. James Scott’s debut novel was harrowing and emotionally wrenching. It would have been even higher on the list except that the ending, while appropriate, seemed a little rushed. Charles de Lint is a writer of urban fantasy who has been publishing novels for thirty years. I’ve always meant to read one of his books, and I finally did so, a book that he published in 2003.

#10 – The Kept by James Scott

James Scott has crafted a harsh tale of life in upstate New York in the late 1800’s. Elspeth works as a midwife, often on the road helping women give birth across the State of New York. At home, her husband Jorah, tends to their six children until the day Elspeth returns home after weeks away to find her family recently gunned down and left for dead. All that is save for her 12-year-old son Caleb, hidden from the massacre, yet traumatized by the violent events, Caleb and his mother must face harsh weather, serious wounds, damaging secrets and an unforgiving world as they seek revenge on the men who destroyed their lives. Both protagonists carry secrets that manifest in a guilt that nearly causes them to make ill-fated decisions. In fact, nearly all of the main characters harbor anxiety producing secrets, and as any good reader of stories knows, those secrets are bound to come out.
Scott weaves an intricate tale that touches on so many issues, while keeping the story of a mother and her son at the core. The bleak landscape both without and within make for somber reading, but it’s well worth the effort to walk some miles in these tragic characters’ shoes.

#9 – Spirits in the Wires by Charles de Lint

Charles de Lint is a prolific writer of fantasy whose books often deal with spirits, faeries, worlds just beyond our perception where all matter of magical folks live. In this novel from 2003 he posits that the world wide web has evolved into one such world where spirits have taken up residence alongside our own world as well as the Borderlands and the Otherworlds where hobs, pixies, goblins, faeries, hellhounds and other such beings lurk.

One website in particular, the Wordwood, seems to be home to a very powerful spirit, and when the site is attacked by a computer virus, the devastating effects are made manifest in our world in the disappearance of dozens, possibly hundreds of people. In fact, Christy Redding’s girlfriend, Saskia, disappears right before his eyes, her body pixellating into nothingness. Of course, Saskia isn’t a normal person. She was born of the web; a spirit cast out from the web to awaken fully cognizant with implanted memories but no actual experience in a human body. Then there is Christiana, Christy’s shadow; all of the traits that Christy didn’t want at age seven that he cast off into his shadow. Christiana began life as everything Christy wasn’t: where Christy was male, Christiana was female; where Christy was cautious, Christiana was impetuous… etc. After Saskia’s disappearance, Christy reaches out to a ragtag assortment of friends and allies to help him try to find her, little knowing that her best source of information would be his shadow, Christiana.

Spirits in the Wires is a rollicking adventure held on multiple fronts as a variety of fun and fascinating characters all do their part in helping the people who have disappeared. Some of his supporting characters come across as slightly stereotypical, but that might be the shorthand of the fact that many of these characters have appeared in other works that I haven’t read. de Lint handles the female characters particularly well, especially in their relationships with each other. At its heart, Spirits in the Wires is more internal story of where we come from and who we are. Saskia and Christiana struggle with their unconventional beginnings and ask whether that makes the any less human? By the end of the novel we will know the answer, but in de Lint’s skillful hands, how could they be anything but?

January 3, 2014

Favorite Books Read in 2013 – #’s 11 & 12

The next two books from my list were from very early in 2013. Jennifer Haigh released a collection of short stories based on characters and locations from one of her earlier novels. Laura Harrington’s debut was popular with libraries, and I read it because she was going to be on an author panel I put together at the Massachusetts Library Association. They turned up at #’s 11 & 12 on my Top 15.

#12 – News from Heaven: The Bakerton Stories by Jennifer Haigh

Not having read Haigh’s Baker Towers, the novel in which the small Pennsylvania town of Bakerton debuted, I wasn’t sure if I’d be missing something when reading this collection of stories about people tired to that tiny, former mining-community. I needn’t have worried, Jennifer Haigh is a writer of consummate skill, drawing me in and giving me just enough information to understand the context while spinning a series of tales that show how important our upbringings and our community roots affect our lives. With stories spanning the 40’s era of war to present day, all the characters in News from Heaven have ties to Bakerton, PA, and each story has subtle ties to the others, truly making the reader a feeling of community among these characters: community across generations. The Baker Family, founders of the once prosperous Bakerton mines, are ever-present in these stories, looming over characters’ shared histories. I was concerned, at first, that most of the stories were going to revolve around timid young women who are taken advantage of in a variety of ways, but I shouldn’t have worried, Haigh would never resort to such a limiting palette. Instead she creates a variety of experiences that exhibit strength, weakness, love, bitterness and a whole host of experience. I was particularly struck by ne’er-do-well Sandy’s story; a man with a gambling problem, racing to escape his roots who comes to a possible turning-point on his 33rd birthday. We later find out what becomes of Sandy in a subsequent story, and both stories add up to something powerful and moving. One final bit of praise, I just loved the meaning of the book’s title: a lovely, poetic image.

#11 – Alice Bliss by Laura Harrington

With Alice Bliss, Laura Harrington takes a fairly basic theme, the loss of a loved one, and creates a powerful coming-of-age story in a fully-realized community. When Alice’s father, Matt, enlists in the armed services and is stationed in Iraq, she is bereft. Her father is the one family member who knows her and understands her the best. Fully immersed in adolescence, Alice’s relationship with her mother, Agnes, is complicated, besides with Agnes is dealing with her own fears about her husband. Then there’s her younger sister, Ellie, who’s just too young to really understand what’s going on.

Harrington’s novel focuses on Alice, turning the loss of her father into a powerful transition to adulthood, but what is truly remarkable is the way she effortlessly slips into the minds of the many other important characters in the book who are profoundly affected by Matt’s absence. Matt leaves his family right at the beginning of the book, but his presence is overwhelming throughout. Through reminiscences Harrington brings Matt fully to life, showing how strong his ties to each of the females in his life, and how different.

Beyond the rich characterization of Alice and her family, Harrington does the same for the community they live in. Henry is the awkward boy next door, who has been Alice’s best friend practically from birth, and whose relationship with Alice is suddenly changing. Uncle Eddie is Agnes’ charismatic, devil-may-care brother who finds his role in Alice’s extended family evolving. Alice’s Gram who owns the local coffee shop must suffer her own loss while bolstering the floundering family. Even minor characters, like Mrs. Piantowski who bakes the bread for Gram’s coffee shop, or Mrs. Minty who has suffered tragedies of her own become startlingly real under Harrington’s skillful guidance. Rarely have characters in a novel come so alive for me. Harrington’s story follows a lovely arc, with the ending in particular, hitting a series of beautifully drawn notes. A truly successful debut from a talented writer.

January 2, 2014

Favorite Books Read in 2013 – #’s 13 & 14

A book with a twist ending, and a surprise entry from a beloved celebrity trying her hand at writing make the list. You know, about the latter, chick lit can really be a lot of fun. I can see why it’s a popular genre.

#14 – Help for the Haunted by John Searles

I’ve read a lot of coming of age novels this year, and they’ve all been on the positive side of good. Help for the Haunted is no exception. Sylvie and Rose Mason have grown up dealing with parents who help people who are experiencing what they believe are hauntings or possession. When they are murdered on night during a blizzard, and an arrest is made, it is primarily due to Sylvie’s testimony. However, Sylvie has lied, and she is also not really sure what happened that night. By jumping between the past and the present, Searles slowly unspools the story until explaining things with a last minute reveal that is almost out of nowhere. That said, it worked well, and there were just enough obscure hints as to have it make sense. This one was a September Library Reads pick.

#13 – The Star Attraction by Alison Sweeney

As a huge ‘Days of our Lives’ fan, and of Sami Brady’s in particular, how could I resist Sami’s portrayer, Allison Sweeney’s first novel, the effervescent and good-hearted The Star Attraction. Hollywood publicist extraordinaire, Sophie Atwater, lands a major client for her agency, in the form of Billy Fox, the next Brad Pitt, on the cusp of superstardom. How could she predict that one of her biggest career coups would do thoroughly disrupt her life in a soap opera scenario reminiscent of her author’s alter ego. Thoroughly entertaining, but with real heart, and a delightfully relatable heroine in Sophie, The Star Attraction is a behind-the-scenes look at the antics of the Hollywood elite as seen through the eyes of a publicist to the stars. Allison Sweeney has created a quick and enjoyable summer read, that makes you cringe at its heroines missteps, and cheer when she surmounts the obstacles around her.

January 1, 2014

2013 in Books. Let’s Start with #15

As has become an annual tradition, I will be counting down my top books read in 2013. I didn’t do quite as well as last year in the number of books read: only 24 in 2013. I am particularly appalled because a couple of my friends have reported reading over 200 books in 2013. What? How does that even happen? That’s an average of a book every day and 3/4! I suspect there’s some skimming going on. Anyway, despite only having read 24 books in 2013, I’ve still got a very health Top 15 to report on. That’s right, fifteen books I would definitely recommend.

Of the also rans, I will mention The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld, which is definitely worth checking out when it is released in early 2014, and is beautifully written, but didn’t quite make the cut. My Beautiful Failure, Janet Ruth Young’s third novel for teens is a terrific sequel of sorts to her outstanding debut novel, The Opposite of Music. (Janet’s previous novel, The Babysitter Murders, was my #12 book read in 2011.) Marta Acosta’s The She-Hulk Diaries was lots of fun for a novel based on a comic book character. Sadly, despite a couple of great stories, overall I didn’t really enjoy Tom Perotta’s latest collection, Nine Inches. And my biggest disappointment of the year was Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan, which I enjoyed, but not as much as I was hoping I would. And now for #15…

#15 – The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell

Marnie and Nelly are sisters whose parents are neglectful drug addicts. But that’s all over now. As the book begins, Marnie and Nelly are burying their parents whose self-destructive tendencies have brought them to the end of their lives. The girls face nearly insurmountable odds just to grow up, but with the help of next-door neighbor Lennie, and a couple of other surprising sources, they will struggle to endure with surprising results. Lisa O’Donnell has crafted a dark coming-of-age story that shows the strength of siblings beaten down by the harsh cruelties of life and created a couple of unique voices in fiction.