Spooner

Pete Dexter is an odd man. Even if I hadn't met him in New York at BEA, having read Spooner, his latest, I would like him for his oddness (I'm not sure that's a word). Spooner is a strange, slightly slow child in a family of exceptional children being raised by his ever put out mother and kind hearted step father. This book is laugh out funny at times, flat out interesting for the rest. It's a 500 paged book I didn't want to end. Someone pointed out to me that I am often reading strange funny books, and I'll tell you why, they interest me. I like authors who can capture the oddities of life, and create characters I haven't seen before but find believable. Spooner is interesting, funny and sweet, his step father is kind and loving despite the difficulties of raising a strange young man. Read it. And tell me why she is only ever called Spooners wife or Mrs. Spooner and how Philip didn't fall out of that row boat.

Day After Night

Day After Night, Anita Diamant's newest is coming out in September, and it's Diamant at her best. This novel follows Jewish survivors after WWII as they try to make their way to Israel, but are held by the British military at an interment camp for illegal immigrants While held at Atlit, the interment camp, four young women come together and in their own unique voices tell the story of their survival from the Nazis. The end of the novel details the rescue from Atlit that was made in October 1945, freeing 200 prisoners. If you are looking for historical fiction, this is a great book.

Await your reply

Await your reply, by the great Dan Choan, I must warn you doesn't come out for a full month (August 25th, I think). But it's worth picking up when it does. In seemingly three separate plot lines, Choan fleshes out the story of Miles, a young man searching for his twin brother, Lucy, a recent high school graduate running away with her history teacher, and Ryan, a Northwestern student who after screwing up his college career goes to live with his biological father. The characters are interesting and well done, and the underlying mystery in the book kept me inthralled throughout. An exceptionally well done mystery.

The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death

Have I mentioned that I adore Laurie Notaro? I love her. She's the author of 5 humorous essay books and one fiction novel. I love them all completely. Her newest one is no exception, it is funny, wickedly beautifully funny. I often find myself reading her essays and tears running down my face as I laugh. She is a klutzy, honest, warm and can turn an incident that has happened to many of us into something truly brilliantly funny. This is for all of us who can't quiet keep it together, and don't seem to mind that much, just so long as we can have a beer and laugh about it. Try her first book The Idiot Girls Action Adventure Club. I picked it up on a whim at my local bookstore when it first came out, and I have been pushing Laurie ever since to my friends. Perhaps the reason I haven't liked the last few books I've read was because there was a new Notaro sitting on my shelf waiting for me to start it, or because I had just read it and now find anything without a pitch perfect sense of humor annoying. Girls, seriously, need a laugh, go get it.

Shanghi Girls

I had high hopes for Shanghi girls by Lisa See. I even stopped at the Bookstall in Winnetka the day after she was there to buy a full priced sign book (If you've never been, go to the Bookstall, Roberta and her staff are amazingly knowledgeable and they have the best author signings. They always have an amazing collection of signed books), and I don't like to buy full priced books. Despite liking See's other books, this one wasn't very good. It's the story of two sisters in Shanghi before World War II, their arranged marriages to American and the life they find in L.A. I wasn't all that impressed with the main characters, and the rest of the characters were never fully realized. Read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan instead.

Worst Nightmares

Worst Nightmares is by Shane Briant. BookExpo, and his publisher would like you to believe he is the next Stephen King. We spent most of the time in line for his autograph and book joking about Tommyknockers (worst King novel), and wondering how good this horror novel was going to be. The answer? Not very. I had the killer pegged twenty pages in (beating Tommyknockers by about a 100, that book was too long), and I was annoyed with the actions of the main characters by, oh, half way through. Joe Hill is the next Stephen King, for my money, though if Duma Key is any indication, we aren't going to need a new Stephen King for a long while. Okay, so the basic plot is an author is giving a manuscript by a crazy homeless looking guy called Worst Nightmares, which the author finds out actually details the gruesome murders of several L.A. citizens. When the author finds out the murders are real, and watches the crazy homeless looking guy die, he decides to pass the journal as his own fiction work. Imagine the problems that arise. Got it? Yeah, that's exactly what happens. I'm a fan of horror, done well, but these characters were so uninteresting that I can't remember their names, the plot was cookie cutter, and as I said, I had the real killer pegged within twenty pages (that may give it away a little bit, I'm sorry). If you want good horror, go early King (though as I said Duma Key was awesome, and his new one coming out is supposed to be ah-mazing), middle Koontz (he's new stuff is completely unreadable, I'm sorry). or Joe Hill, his stuff is creepy.

The Story of a Marriage

The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer is a book I read right when it came out (Greer was at BookExpo in New York two years ago), but which I had to reread recently because Barnes and Noble has started a book club, and the first one is tonight, and we are talking about this book. As we were discussing which book to pick, I realized that while I remembered reading it, and meeting the author, who seems great, I don't at all remember this book. Certain surprises in the narrative were surprising even during my rereading of it, which I enjoyed. It's the story of Pearlie and Holland and their life in 1953 San Francisco, and what happens when Holland's old friend Buzz shows up. It's a great book, full of interesting characters, Pearlie especially is a strong female character whom I really enjoyed. Read it, it's not long, and if you want to discuss it, Friday June 26th at 7:30pm at the Barnes and Noble in Vernon Hills.