The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout

Strout is a great writer and an interesting storyteller. I loved Olive Kitteridge for its slow accumulation of details that ultimately made for an touching, intimate portrait of the title character. But there's something missing in The Burgess Boys. A great novel, even just a very good novel, is somehow more than the sum of its parts. This isn't one of those books.
It follows the Burgess siblings (two boys and a girl, so, why, Book Club, why, is it called The Burgess Boys?) as they work through a scandal involving the sister's son, a pig's head, and the Somali community in the tiny Maine town where the Burgess' grew up. The brothers are New York lawyers, one a bumbler and the other a star. That almost sounds like a comedy, but it's not.
This would make a great book club selection both because it's full of issues (I almost wrote "issues") and because it somehow fails. I won't reveal too much here, but one of the characters has a very, very unrealistic ending to his/her story. Of course, that's the kind of statement that's perfect for book club.

p.s. This books comes out in the end of March.

Top Ten Reads of 2012

I may not have read as many books this year as I have in the past (something slowed me down a bit  starting in early August), but I still couldn't resist making a top ten list. I wish I could link these titles to my new bookstore-home, but I don't have one yet. For now I'll direct you to indiebound and they'll help you find the indie bookstore nearest you.

1 The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey - I was utterly enchanted by this story of an older couple homesteading in Alaska and finding joy raising a mysterious young girl. It's beautiful and touching and I loved it.

2 The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker - Normally I do not  read coming of age stories, but this one intrigued me enough that I made an exception. It sounds like serious sci-fi, but it's actually a very simple story about growing up when the world is changing.

3 The Dog Stars by Peter Heller - This book was described to me as Cormac McCarthy's The Road crossed with A River Runs Through It and that's actually a good description. It is a beautiful ode to fishing and hiking and living an outdoor sort of life and it's also a post-apocalyptic survival story. I highly recommend it.

4 Trapeze by Simon Mawer - Sometimes I think I've read enough mysteries set in World War II to last my lifetime, but then I read another great one. It's a spy story and a young woman's story and war story and it's great. It's also just beautifully written which elevates it to a higher level.

5 Pavel & I by Dan Vyleta - Not just another World War II mystery. Oh no, this one is set just after WWII in Berlin so it's different. The atmosphere is fantastic. I did not have this story all figured out before the end (I'm not sure I have it all figured out now!). 

6 Railsea by China Miéville - I think I'm a bigger fan of China Miéville than I even realize. This is a a strange, strange story about a world where there are no oceans anymore and instead there are train tracks criss-crossing the earth and giant moles are hunted just like the white whale in Moby Dick. I loved it both despite of its weirdness and because of its weirdness.

7 History of a Pleasure Seeker by Richard Mason - I quickly summed this book up calling it Downton Abbey with tons of sex (and that's not faint praise from me). I think that gives a decent idea of the feel of it, but there's so much more here. Also, good sex in a book is very hard to find.

8 Gods and Warriors by Michelle Paver - This is a book for roughly 9 to 12 year-olds and I don't normally put those on my top ten (even when they're good they aren't good enough to be top ten), but this one really charmed me. It's well written and interesting and different and just very good.

9 Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle - I always have a hard time recommending a book that is sad. I'm not usually looking for sad when I pick up a book. But this is a book that, while it's about grief and loss and a young girl dealing with those things, it's also charming and well-written and touching. It's for roughly 10 years-old and up and if you're in the mood you won't be disappointed.

10 Kingdom of Strangers by Zoe Ferraris - The tenth spot on my list is actually a three-way tie between Kingdom of Strangers, Istanbul Passage, and Anatomy of Murder, but I chose Kingdom of Strangers because it's the most unique. It's the third in a series about a forensic investigator in Saudi Arabia. The mystery is good, the characters are great, and I very much recommend getting hooked on these books

P.S. I wrote this blog post using the voice to text feature on my new phone while holding a baby. Wow, it took a lot of editing to clean it up enough to post and I'm sure I missed things. If there's a serious typo, email me.

Anatomy of Murder by Imogen Robertson

Harriet Westerman and Gabriel Crowther are back again in 1780s England to solve another mystery. This time Harriet’s sea-captain husband is injured and his memory broken. He has information about a spy for the French, but it’s locked in his damaged mind. When a body turns up that might have connections to the spy ring, Harriet and Crowther step in to solve the mystery.
The quote on the back of the review copy I read calls this book, “C.S.I in the Georgian era,” and that isn't too far off the mark. The nuts and bolts of the detective work do follow a kind of C.S.I. pattern. Crowther examines the body while Harriet uses her insights into people to put the evidence together. Working together – the cold, scientific viewpoint paired with the more human details – they managed to get results without DNA or blood tests or even fingerprints.
The problem with that catchy quote is that it ignores how great the characters are and how well-evoked the time period is. Harriet’s struggle to deal with her ailing husband, her disapproving sister, and her love of her children all combine to make her a great leading lady. Crowther’s shell of self-protection is slowly cracking, but in a believable and gradual way. And, just like in the first book, there is a side story involving a tarot-reader and a street urchin that is woven in and out of the main mystery that is completely captivating as well.

Railsea by China Mieville

I am comfortable admitting that I haven't read Moby Dick (there are too many great books out there to be embarrassed over missing a few). And I'm glad I didn't know Railsea is something of a re-do of Moby Dick before I started because I probably wouldn't have picked it up. I would have missed a great book.
This story takes place far into the future when the oceans are gone and the seabeds are lined with railroad tracks. Hunters make their livelihoods by riding trains in search of giant moles that live below the surface of the soil. Yes, there is a mammoth white mole that eludes the captain of the train our hero, Sham ap Soorap, rides, but this is Sham's story, not the captain's. Sham embarks on adventure to solve some of the greatest mysteries of the railsea - where do the tracks end? who made them? what are the great machines (called angels) that tend to them? and what does the obsessive pursuit of one white mole do to a person's soul?
I love Mieville's writing and the strange (sometimes very, very strange) worlds that he creates. I highly recommend this book (appropriate for roughly 13 and up due to complicated language and some violence). At the end of reading this I had two requests to make of the media universe: please, China, write a sequel and please, please Miyazaki make this into a movie.

Trapeze by Simon Mawer

I’m a sucker for atmospheric suspense novels set during World War II. I’m also a sucker for girl spies and great writing. Trapeze has all three of these things so, of course, I loved it.
Marian Sutro is just out of school and doing her part for the War Effort. She is offered a new job with the vaguely named Special Operations Executive. She’s a native French speaker and capable student. Sooner than she expects it becomes clear that the distant idea that she might go to occupied France is actually a very near reality. She’ll test her new skills, her relationships, and her mental strength behind enemy lines.
This is more a novel about one woman than a novel about World War II or spies or even the French Resistance. It’s the strength of Marian as a fascinating young woman, combined with that great writing, which makes this one of my favorite books so far this year. If you loved Restless by William Boyd or any of the Alan Furst novels, then you really should consider Trapeze.

A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle

Sometimes I find a book that I love, but I know it’s going to be a little difficult to recommend. For these books I just have to cross my fingers and hope hope hope that they will be discovered by the right readers and appreciated. A Greyhound of a Girl is one of these great books. The problem (for lack of a better word) is that it’s sad. It’s also funny and touching and well-written and life-affirming.
Mary's beloved Granny is ill and probably won’t live much longer. One day, Mary meets a mysterious woman on the way home from school who seems to know a little too much about her. She discovers that Granny, the mysterious woman, her mother, and she are all connected in a way she never could have imagined. This sets them all on a road trip that teaches Mary about love and mothers and death and life. It’s aimed at roughly 9 to 12 year-olds, but I recommend it for everyone open to a book like this.

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

I was utterly swept away by this story of a couple trying to eke out an existence in the beautifully described wilds of 1920s Alaska. Their homesteaders’ life is intricately drawn and touchingly real. Jack spends his days trying to clear stumps from their meager fields while Mabel bakes pies to sell and tries to keep house. They have passed the age of being able to have children, and that childlessness haunts Mabel. As a crushing winter descends, the reality of their life forces them even further apart. And then one evening they are caught by the beauty of a new snowfall. In a moment of whimsy, they make a snow girl and dress her in a scarf and gloves. The next morning the scarf and gloves are gone, but a child’s footprints are left in the snow. This begins the thread of an old Russian fairy tale that Mabel remembers from childhood. She knows the ending of the tale isn't happy, but she decides that maybe this time things will turn out differently. Jack knows that the child is real, not a fairy. As the seasons march on, the snow child, Faina, brings them closer to each other, their neighbors, and nature itself.
This is a lovely book that I couldn't put down. It perfectly dances between a real, grounded story of homesteaders and an ethereal, almost-fairy tale. It would make a great book club discussion book.

And Then It's Spring by Julie Fogliano and Erin Stead

First you have brown,
all around you have brown
then there are seeds and a wish for rain…

These are the first lines of this wonderful, new children’s picture book. They speak to me so intensely right now - I Am Ready for Spring! But this lovely story reminds me that there is brown and then there is rain and then there is a “hopeful, very possible sort of brown.” That’s the brown we have right now, with the first hints of green. If you know a child itching for a sunny day, or an adult who could use a sweet reminder that there are better days to come (that even brown holds promise!), this is the book for you.
I am also a sucker for a cut-away of underground with roots and burrowing animals and insects. This book has a great one. The illustrator is a previous Caldecott winner.

Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron

Jean Patrick Nkuba just wants to run for as long, and as fast, as he possibly can. His greatest dream is to represent Rwanda in the Olympics. But Jean Patrick is a Tutsi and his story takes place in the years leading up to and just after the 1994 Tutsi genocide. We first meet him in 1984 when he is living a life sheltered from the politics of the day on the campus of the school where his father teaches and later in a Tutsi village. The Hutu-Tutsi conflict slowly creeps into Jean Patrick’s life as his running takes him away from the village and into the cities of Rwanda. He finds love and friendship and inches ever closer to his Olympic dream.
There is violence and heartache in this novel (there has to be, given the time), but Benaron manages to show the pain with enough joy mixed in that the story never becomes too depressing. This is the first book I read in 2012 and my reading year is off to a great start.

Making a Friend by Alison McGhee and Marc Rosenthal

This is a sweet, touching story that is so much more than a winter holiday book. It starts with a boy thinking of all the joys of a snowy day. He makes a snowman who becomes a good friend while the weather stays cold. When the winter ends, the snowman begins to melt until one day he’s gone. The boy looks for him and discovers that the snowman is in the water and the rain and everything around him. I loved the simple, compelling illustrations and spare, thoughtful text. This book has a beautiful message for anyone who is missing a loved one – What you love will always be with you.

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen

This is a simple, silly picture book with wonderful illustrations. It follows a bear who has lost his hat. He asks the various animals he encounters if they’ve seen his hat, but they say they haven’t. He’s not the most observant bear. This book is almost a combination of Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and Are You My Mother. I know, that’s hard to imagine, but it is fantastic fun. We’ve carried greeting cards by the author/illustrator, and they’re so sweet and compelling we have a hard time keeping them in stock.
Also, did the bear eat that rabbit? Oh my.

The Man in the Moon by William Joyce

William Joyce is one of my favorite illustrators and this is one of the most beautiful children's picture books that I’ve seen. The imagery is so rich and unique that I found myself just staring at the pages – imagine what a kid will do! The story is sweet and compelling as well. As a baby, The Man in the Moon (called MiM for short) is hidden away so that the King of Nightmares can’t find him. He grows up watching over the dreams of the child on Earth and eventually becomes the first of The Guardians of Childhood. That’s also the name of the series this book launches. All of the books involve classic fairytale figures – from the man in the moon to Santa and the Easter Bunny. There will also be a string of chapter books beginning with St. Nicholas of the North (coming out in November) and a movie next year. I’m not a fan of big movie tie-in stuff that’s just trying to sell, sell, sell, but this book is really exceptional. I’m excited to see the rest.

Among the Wonderful by Stacy Carlson

In 1842 New York City, P.T. Barnum opened his American Museum. It was part zoo, part freak show, part natural history museum, part theater, part restaurant, part… you get the picture. Among the Wonderful imagines the lives of two of its employees – Ana Swift, Giantess, and Emile Guillaudeu, Taxidermist. They are very different people, holding very different places in the Museum, but both are searching for their place in the world. I was impressed that that search never becomes a cliché and that the Museum never turns into a catalog of freaks.
I loved this book. I was completely captivated by the two main characters, the Museum, and all the strange and wonderful people involved in it. The only thing I wished for at the end was a companion book full of the real details about the Museum so that I would have known right away how well-researched the story was. Not surprisingly, the truth is even stranger than this great historical fiction.

The Call by Yannick Murphy

I loved Yannick Murphy’s novel, Signed Mata Hari, so much that I picked up The Call without any idea what it was about. It’s very different, but equally wonderful. The “narrator” is a rural veterinarian going through life’s trials with his wife and three kids. He ponders life, his son is injured, his own health is questionable, his wife is a little frustrated, and there are lights in the sky above his house. But his story is not told in traditional paragraphs, rather as a sort of list of prompts and answers (alternate title could have been An Ode to the Colon). Here’s the opening as an example:
     “Call: A cow with her dead calf half-born.
     Action: Put on boots and pulled dead calf out while standing in a field of mud.”
Call, Action, What the Wife Made for Dinner, and What the Children Say, are repeated often, but there’s also What the Spaceman Said and What the House Says at Night, among many others. Murphy is a strange and different writer in the best possible way. It’s amazing that she manages to tell such a complete and fascinating story in this strange style. I loved this book. It will be on my top ten for the year. Take a risk – it’s in softcover!

Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman

Normally I don’t read books with kid main characters (unless it’s a kids’ book), but I read a glowing review of Pigeon English that said it’s for anyone who loved Roddy Doyle’s Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha. OK, that’s me. So I started it on my lunch break and immediately couldn’t put it down. Like Paddy Clark, this is a novel told so closely from the point of view of the main character that I absolutely felt like I was seeing the world through his eyes, living inside his thoughts.
Twelve-year-old Harrison Opuku has recently moved from Ghana to a large housing estate (that’s British for the projects) in London and he’s trying to understand his new world and his place in it. His narration is a funny, endearing, wonderfully confusing mixture of British and Ghanaian slang. I’m still not 100% sure what hutious means. When a boy in Harri’s class is killed, possibly by the menacing Dell Farm Crew, Harri and a friend decide to use their detective skills to find out what happened. This isn’t really a mystery though. This is Harri’s story. He is so in love with the world and so fascinated with his surroundings that he could have become ridiculous at any moment, but Kelman manages to keep him filled with joy and real at the same time. This would make a fantastic book club selection – was Harri real for you, what do you think about the ending, what about the sections from the point of view of Harri’s pigeon? It’s on the short list for the Booker Prize and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it wins.

Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson

Christine loses most of her memory every night when she goes to sleep. Sometimes she wakes thinking she’s in her twenties, sometimes even younger. She doesn't know where she is, or what has happened to her in the past several of decades. With the help of a psychologist and her journal, she begins to reconstruct her life and discovers just how vulnerable she really is.
Serious, strange amnesia in fiction is almost always a little too convenient. It's one of those things that happens all the time in books and almost never in real life (like the revelation that your father is not really your father). I picked up this suspense novel because of the compelling cover, but thought - boring, another amnesia story. Then I started reading and I could not put it down. It is definitely one of  my recent top recommendations for beach/vacation reading.

Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

Sometimes when I say that a book is movie-ready it’s not entirely a compliment, but this book is so action-packed, so creative, so visual and imaginative, so on-the-edge-of-my-seat-the-whole-time, that I’m calling it movie-ready and that means it’s great. It’s a summer blockbuster in a book (and it will be a summer blockbuster in a movie summer of 2013). I've already picked out who I think should play the various characters in this large and varied cast.
A quick description might make it seem like a rehash of The Terminator stories, but this is a robot uprising of a different sort. Yes, artificial intelligence has taken over and is at war with human beings, but that’s where the similarities end. Wilson studied robotics, so there is a very creepy reality to the way they work and move and how people interact with them. I highly recommend this for any vacation you have coming up – even if it’s just in your backyard or on your couch.

Embassytown by China Miéville

Miéville’s book The City and the City was my favorite book of 2010. One of the things that I loved most about it was that even when I was confused, I was still enjoying myself. The same is true for his latest book, Embassytown. This story takes place on a far outpost of the human diaspora (humans who left Earth to colonize other planets so long ago that they don’t even know where Earth is anymore). The indigenous creatures of this planet, the Ariekei, speak a unique language that does not allow them to lie, but they’re trying to learn. Through that (and so much more that I can’t give away) their language becomes something other than what they've known before, something other than what they've based their society on, and the repercussions are bigger than anyone could have guessed.
Miéville describes himself as an author of “weird fiction” and I think that’s perfect. Even though this particular books fits into a classic other-planet, alien-human-relations kind of Science Fiction category, I think it will appeal to readers who don’t usually like that sort of thing. It’s really about language and truth, maybe even love, and it’s about floaking. It’s perfect for someone in the mood for a unique, challenging, gripping story.

Packing for Mars by Mary Roach

I can only think of two other recent books that have made me laugh so hard I cried and both are by Mary Roach. Her latest book is about the way we (humans in general, not just NASA) prepare to go into space. This fits right in with Roach’s unique approach to her subject matter – Stiff is about the uses for, and treatment of, the human body after death; Bonk is about the history of sex research. Packing for Mars covers the development of space suits, the first animals in space, psychological testing of astronauts, research into how humans handle confinement and isolation, long-term lack of any personal hygiene, etc... Mostly memorably, she covers the food of astronauts and the waste it creates. Poop is almost always funny and poop in space is hilarious.
It’s clear that Mary Roach is a little crazy, but lucky for readers it’s the good kind of crazy.

Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson

It’s strange to love a book when part of me feels like it shouldn't be good. How does Atkinson keep pulling off these great novels that hardly have a main character and rely on series of coincidences and wrong-place-at-wrong-time encounters? Especially now that I've read the three others in this series, so I know that the people are all going to be interconnected in some way in the end. I don’t have an answer, but she’s done it again with the return of Jackson Brodie in Started Early, Took My Dog. I couldn't put this book down. The story mainly follows an abandoned boy, a retired female cop who impulsively buys a kid from an unfit mother, an actress in the final moments of her sanity before dementia envelopes her, and (of course) Jackson Brodie, former private investigator. Oh, and a dog named The Ambassador.
Two out of three of the other Jackson Brodie books ended up on my top picks of the year. It’s too early to say if this one will make it, but it’s going to be close.