Contemporary Books - Page 15

Bones (Alex Delaware, No. 23)

Jonathan Kellerman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

When it comes to writing deftly layered, tightly coiled novels of suspense, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman reigns supreme as “master of the psychological thriller” (People). Now, Kellerman has worked his magic again in this chilling new masterpiece.

The anonymous caller has an ominous tone and an unnerving message about something “real dead . . . buried in your marsh.” The eco-volunteer on the other end of the phone thinks it’s a prank, but when a young woman’s body turns up in L.A.’s Bird Marsh preserve no one’s laughing. And when the bones of more victims surface, homicide detective Milo Sturgis realizes the city’s under siege to an insidious killer. Milo’s first move: calling in psychologist Alex Delaware.

The murdered women are prostitutes–except the most recent victim; a brilliant young musician from the East Coast, employed by a wealthy family to tutor a musical prodigy, Selena Bass seems out of place in the marsh’s grim tableau.

Conveniently–perhaps ominously–Selena’s blueblood employers are nowhere to be found, and their estate’s jittery caretaker raises hackles. But Milo’s instincts and Alex’s insight are too well-honed to settle for easy answers, even given the dark secrets in this troubled man’s past. Their investigation unearths disturbing layers–about victims, potential victims, and suspects alike–plunging even deeper into the murky marsh’s enigmatic depths.

Bizarre details of the crimes suggest a devilish serial killer prowling L.A.’s gritty streets. But when a new murder deviates from the pattern, derailing a possible profile, Alex and Milo must look beyond the suspicion of madness and consider an even more sinister mind at work. Answers don’t come easy, but the darkest of drives and desires may fuel the most devious of foes.

Bones is classic Kellerman–relentlessly peeling back the skin and psyches of its characters and revealing the shadows and sins of the souls beneath. With jolt after jolt of galvanizing suspense, it drives the reader through its twists and turns toward a climax as satisfying as it is shattering.


From the Hardcover edition.

Emma

Jane Austen

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 310 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Simply adorable 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Gwyneth Paltrow takes on the Austenian role with all the elegance anyone could possibly bring. She and the rest of the cast are all perfect in a true romantic comedy with all of the Jane Austen-ness for which anyone could possibly ask. It's absolutely darling.

Emma - timeless 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I own this movie and it's one of those that I put on my dvd once a year. I've never grown tired of this classic story. Gwyneth is terrific in this. It's about finding love in the oddest of places. It's about judging people and making false character analysis. It's about making things right with good friends. And it's sweet and fun all wrapped up. I loved this movie and anyone who loves Jane Austen will like it.

Good 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

you'll like this version. totally worth checking out. and then watch CLUELESS right after. you'll enjoy the mirror image better.

Cute! 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

If you are fond of this kind of film you should like it. It's a cute little romance. Not serious but very light hearted and somewhat comical. I probably would have given it 4 or 5 stars if the cinematography and directing had been better. I also think the casting was a little blah, with the exception of Gwyneth Paltrow and Alan Cumming.
Paltrow nailed it! I'm not a huge fan of hers but she played the complicated Emma perfectly. Well meaning but trouble making, sweet but spoiled, generous but snobbish. She really made the character charming and believable. Alan Cumming was great to, but when is he not?
I defiantly recommend you give it a shot. It's not a movie you could watch over and over again, but at least once.

Tuesdays with Morrie

Mitch Albom

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2125 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher, or a colleague.  Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, helped you see the world as a more profound place, gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it.

For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago.

Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded, and the world seemed colder.  Wouldn't you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you, receive wisdom for your busy life today the way you once did when you were younger?

Mitch Albom had that second chance.  He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life.  Knowing he was dying, Morrie visited with Mitch in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college.  Their rekindled relationship turned into one final "class": lessons in how to live.

Tuesdays with Morrie is a magical chronicle of their time together, through which Mitch shares Morrie's lasting gift with the world.

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Stephen King

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Total reviews: 827 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

"If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write."

In 1999, Stephen King began to write about his craft -- and his life. By midyear, a widely reported accident jeopardized the survival of both. And in his months of recovery, the link between writing and living became more crucial than ever.

Rarely has a book on writing been so clear, so useful, and so revealing. On Writing begins with a mesmerizing account of King's childhood and his uncannily early focus on writing to tell a story. A series of vivid memories from adolescence, college, and the struggling years that led up to his first novel, Carrie, will afford readers a fresh and often very funny perspective on the formation of a writer. King next turns to the basic tools of his trade -- how to sharpen and multiply them through use, and how the writer must always have them close at hand. He takes the reader through crucial aspects of the writer's art and life, offering practical and inspiring advice on everything from plot and character development to work habits and rejection.

Serialized in the New Yorker to vivid acclaim, On Writing culminates with a profoundly moving account of how King's overwhelming need to write spurred him toward recovery, and brought him back to his life.

Brilliantly structured, friendly and inspiring, On Writing will empower -- and entertain -- everyone who reads it.

Suite Francaise

Irene Nemirovsky

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 375 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Subtle, Powerful, Unfinished - An Astonishing Survival 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Perhaps the miracle of this manuscript is that it survived the internment and death of its author and all the mischances of World War II to achieve publication. Even in its unfinished condition (only two sections out of the author's intended three or four), this novel paints an unforgettable portrait of France in defeat.

The first section, Storm in June, follows a number of people who flee Paris ahead of the German Army. The author hopscotches from character to character, trying to show the reaction of many different classes and types of people. The most poignant story was that of a middle-class, middle-aged couple who both work at the same bank. They report to the bank as ordered, only at the last minute the bank director decides to take his mistress in his car so he tells the couple that they are to report to Tours tomorrow or face losing their jobs! They have to walk and their faith with one another and their worry about their son in the army makes for affecting reading.

The second section, Dolce, is set in a farming community under occupation. The tensions between the occupiers and the occupied are deftly delineated. The subtle choices faced by those who willingly collaborate and those who do so reluctantly are played upon. The author does this in such human terms, showing the relationship that grows step by step between Lucille, a woman trapped in a loveless marriage to a man now held captive, and the German officer quartered with her and her mother-in-law.

These two sections, plus some of the author's notes, are all we have--this in itself is a tragedy and waste of war. Had this novel been finished we would be hailing it as one of the supreme works of literature. As it stands, it is like a great cathedral gutted by a bomb. The ruined shell still soars to heaven, a reminder of the human spirit triumphing despite human destructiveness.

Editorial Review:

Beginning in Paris on the eve of the Nazi occupation in 1940. Suite Française tells the remarkable story of men and women thrown together in circumstances beyond their control. As Parisians flee the city, human folly surfaces in every imaginable way: a wealthy mother searches for sweets in a town without food; a couple is terrified at the thought of losing their jobs, even as their world begins to fall apart. Moving on to a provincial village now occupied by German soldiers, the locals must learn to coexist with the enemy—in their town, their homes, even in their hearts.

When Irène Némirovsky began working on Suite Française, she was already a highly successful writer living in Paris. But she was also a Jew, and in 1942 she was arrested and deported to Auschwitz, where she died. For sixty-four years, this novel remained hidden and unknown.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1766 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Race and Class in the Deep South 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

It is perhaps appropriate that this was the first book I read after the election of America's first black President. My real reason for re-reading it, however, was for the purposes of comparison with Faulkner's "Intruder in the Dust", which deals with a similar theme. Indeed, I recently came across an allegation that Harper Lee's novel was essentially a plagiarism of Faulkner's.

The book is set in Maycomb County, Alabama, during the depression era of the 1930s. It is a first-person narrative told through the eyes of Jean Louise Finch who, for some reason, goes by the nickname Scout. Although she is only a child at the time of the events described, the narrative voice is that of the adult Jean Louise looking back at her childhood from some point in the future. The action of "Intruder in the Dust" is set over a few days and tells the story of one single incident, the murder of Vinson Gowrie; "To Kill a Mockingbird" is set over a period of about two years and essentially tells the story of Jean Louise's childhood between the ages of six and eight, although it concentrates on one crucial incident. The main characters, apart from Jean Louise herself, are her brother Jem and their friend Dill (another unexplained nickname; his real name is Charles).

Jean Louise and Jem are the children of Atticus Finch, a widowed lawyer. The book's central incident is the trial of a black man, Tom Robinson, for the alleged rape of a white woman, Mayella Ewell; Atticus is Robinson's defence attorney. Like Faulkner, Lee uses a classic thriller plot- the fight to prove the innocence of a man wrongly accused- to explore racism in America's Deep South. Although Robinson is clearly innocent of the charge, the all-white jury nevertheless vote to convict him, largely because to admit that a white woman, even one as sluttish as Mayella, was capable of making false accusations would force them to abandon their cherished ideas about the purity of Southern womanhood.

Harper Lee's concerns are wider than just the race issue. The book also has a lot to say about attitudes to social class among the white community, contrasting affluent middle-class families like the Finches with the likes of the Ewells, who can quite literally be classified as poor white trash. The family live in a shack next to the town's rubbish dump, where Mayella's father Bob earns his living as a scavenger. A favourite saying of the liberal, tolerant Atticus, who believes that most people, when you get to know them, are essentially kind, is that you should never judge a man until you have stood in his shoes and walked around in them. (At times the tone seemed quite preachy, as though Harper Lee were writing an extended sermon on tolerance).

Atticus applies this principle of non-judgementalism not only to racial issues but also to various acquaintances whom his children dislike or disapprove of for one reason or another. He applies it to Boo Radley, a simple-minded and reclusive, but inwardly kindly, neighbour, to the cantankerous old Mrs Dubose and to the Cunninghams, another poor white family but one who have retained a greater dignity and self-respect than the Ewells. The title of the book refers to a saying of Atticus that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird because they never do any harm, but it is a phrase which also refers to his philosophy of life. At various times several characters in the book- Robinson, Boo Radley, the children- can be seen as "mockingbirds", harmless creatures in need of protection.

One problem with the book is that Lee never really explores the tension between Atticus's liberal philosophy of life, and the problem of human evil as exemplified in the book by Bob Ewell, who is neither misjudged nor misunderstood but just plain wicked. Not only does he give perjured evidence in the hope of getting an innocent man sent to the gallows, and encourages his daughter to do the same, he also makes a vicious and cowardly attack on Atticus's children. Trying to stand in such a man's shoes would not, I feel, be a very productive exercise.

My other criticism of the book would be that it explores the question of racism from an exclusively white perspective, albeit a liberal one. For a number of reasons I think that "To Kill a Mockingbird" is a better book than "Intruder in the Dust", the most important being that Harper Lee's prose style is much more fluent and readable than Faulkner's often impenetrable sentences. Nevertheless, Faulkner creates, in Lucas Beauchamp, a black character who is much more well-rounded than any of those in Lee's book. Tom Robinson is little more than a plot device; the most prominent black character is Calpurnia, the Finch family's maid, who is that common literary stereotype, the faithful black servant. The book would have been better if Lee had given us a black perspective on the events she describes.

Those criticisms apart, I found this an excellent book, with a number vividly drawn characters, especially the spirited, loveable young Jean Louise and her father, who was memorably played by Gregory Peck in the brilliant film adaptation. Despite the limitations of his world view Atticus is an admirable character, who shows, in his defence of Robinson, not only great moral courage but also great physical courage as well. The immense improvement which has taken place in race relations in America since 1960 is owed, in part, to men like Atticus Finch, and also to women like Harper Lee who were prepared to confront the endemic racist attitudes of their society.

Editorial Review:

A thirty-fifth anniversary edition features a new introduction by the author and an accessible hardcover format that describes the story of a young girl in 1930s Alabama whose lawyer father defends an African American accused of raping a white woman.

Ender's Game

Orson Scott Card

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Total reviews: 2545 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Winer of the Hugo and Nebula Awards

In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister.

Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

J. K. Rowling

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5180 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Excellent 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" is much thicker than the previous HP books. Once again J.K. Rowling takes her magical series of tales in a darker direction. However, do not be mistaken. There is plenty of light touches and twists and turns to keep the intrest of teenagers. Early on, we are treated to a professional quidditch match, followed by a touch of evil. Harry gets back to school again, then the competition for the Triwizard cup begins. The competition is quite exciting. And, the ending of the story is breathtaking. Meanwhile, we meet Mad Eye Moody and Rita Skeeter and continue to bumb into characters such as Snape. Also, Harry begins to notice that girls are interesting.

For me, the series picked itself up to a higher level, again.

I recommend this book.

In my opinion the best Harry Potter novel 5 out of 5 stars.
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In my opinion the best Harry Potter novel. Maybe not the best movie but as far as book go the best. The imagination from JK Rowling was far better, Harry starts to grwo up. Prof Snipe is scary in this book.

Life of Pi

Yann Martel

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Total reviews: 1848 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Worst book EVER! 1 out of 5 stars.
3 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Save your bucks, people -- here's the theme: we should believe in God because...it's the prettier story. What the hell? Is this guy kidding? How incredibly naive!

Martel must be targeting an audience of children, because I can't see how a mature adult could take this nonsense seriously.

What a bunch of malarkey. What a waste of time. Hey Martel, you hack! Give me back my money!

Editorial Review:

The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes.

The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional--but is it more true?

Gilead: A Novel

Marilynne Robinson

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Total reviews: 308 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Contemplative and Fulfilling 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

There are so many things that this book is "about." Fathers and sons, the desire to be remembered when you have left this World for the next, family histories (and skeletons), redemption, love, the transformations of Faith.

Marilynne Robinson expects her readers to rise to the occasion when they are reading GILEAD. There is no dumbing down of the text to make it accessible, and for this I am glad. Words as put together by Marilynne Robinson are meant to be savored rather than swallowed whole. I recently read an atrocious book which has as its premise a parent creating a memoir for their child, and that experience served as a counterpoint to what this story, which has a similar basis, can be when done well. It is done magnificently here.

Reverend John Ames knows that he will not be able to watch his little boy grow up, and he wants to leave him a story, something telling the little one what his father was like, and what kind of heritage he has. Woven throughout this narrative is Ames' own struggle with being a good Christian while having some uncharitable thoughts about others. Ames is a delightfully approachable and human character; just because he's a Reverend doesn't mean that he doesn't have faults and foibles. Discovering this about him is what makes GILEAD a five-star read.

Robinson writes about Faith as it would be if I practiced it as I wish to, and her lyrical prose, "nothing true about God was ever spoken from a position of defense," serves to help me structure my own thoughts about God in a manageable, peaceful way.

Many times, I read a novel and it washes over me and then it is gone. GILEAD is something like a delicious meal, in that it has stayed with me, and continues to expand and nourish, giving me continuous satisfaction and fulfillment.

Editorial Review:

Twenty-four years after her first novel, Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson returns with an intimate tale of three generations from the Civil War to the twentieth century: a story about fathers and sons and the spiritual battles that still rage at America's heart. Writing in the tradition of Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman, Marilynne Robinson's beautiful, spare, and spiritual prose allows "even the faithless reader to feel the possibility of transcendent order" (Slate). In the luminous and unforgettable voice of Congregationalist minister John Ames, Gilead reveals the human condition and the often unbearable beauty of an ordinary life.