"And the Mountains Echoed" by Khaled Hoseini

Synopsis:  This is a dramatic story about a family in 1950's Afghanistan that is forced to make a terrible choice.  The book follows the lives of young Abdullah and his beloved sister Pari as they are faced with the ramifications of their family's heartbreaking decision.  Interwoven into the story of the siblings are people whose lives they've touched, if only briefly.             

Review:  This is such a well-written book and the first chapter is stunning.  Abdullah and Pari are wonderful characters and readers will be rapt at their story.  It's an excellent read and a touching story, but it doesn't pack the same emotional punch as Hosseini's previous books, The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns.  The book's powerful story gets a bit muddied down with too many characters, all of which are connected, but some only very, very briefly.  There are several chapters dedicated to the backstories of different characters that, despite being compelling in their own regard, do not move the main story forward.  It reads like a collection of short stories and it ultimately takes away from the story of Abdullah and Pari, who I wanted to hear more about.

Spoilers:  I didn't immediately make the connection between Abdullah and Pari's story with the book's opening chapter, but once I did, I was excited by the thought that Abdullah or perhaps their father would rescue Pari.  How disappointing!  The ending was heartbreaking.  I wanted Pari and Abdullah to be reunited under happier circumstances but with Abdullah's illness, it felt almost as if they weren't reunited at all.  I could have done without Markos and Thalia's story as well as the Bashiri cousins.  I do enjoy books whose characters are intertwined in interesting ways, but I felt like these characters in particular had no value in the story.  Ultimately I liked this book and I will be anxious to read Hosseini's next book, but with the hope that it is reminiscent of his first two books.  

"The Silver Star" by Jeanette Walls

Synopsis:  Liz and "Bean" Holladay's mother has dreams of being a star; she's impetuous and irresponsible and disappears one day, leaving the girls on their own.  The sisters decide to take a bus across the country to Virginia in hopes that their Uncle Tinsley will take them in until their mother returns.  Uncle Tinsley is eccentric, but he is kind and loving and takes the girls in.  Liz and Bean help their uncle care for the house, make friends in town and at school, and learn a bit more about their mother's past.  The girls even get jobs working for Jerry Maddox, a local with a bad reputation.  Ultimately, Liz finds herself in trouble and the sisters are faced with adversity that truly tests them.  

Review:  This book is a quick and easy read (it could easily be classified as a "Young Adult" novel) and would make for a great beach read this summer.  I liked the the book, but did not love it.  Bean is a charming character, reminiscent of Scout from "To Kill a Mockingbird," but many of the other characters fall a bit flat.  The book reads more like a memoir, which Walls is well known for, than a fiction book and ends up a mile wide and an inch deep.  This is a book about mothers and daughters, mental illness, bullies, family secrets, abuse, and much more.  It has racial tension, courtroom drama, stories of military heroes, and so, so much more.  It's a sweet tale and I recommend it for mindless entertainment, but it doesn't hold a candle to Walls' previous work.

Spoilers:  I am left with the question of why Jeanette Walls picked the title that she did.  Bean finds out more about her dad from Aunt Al and it was great to learn that he had been such a wonderful man and had even earned the silver star.  I understand that the star became a symbol to Bean of her father, but I am not sure this had enough of an impact on the story to earn its place in the title.  On another note, I really enjoyed the book's ending.  It was predictable through and through and I expected the trial to end in Liz's favor so I was pleased when it did not and even more pleased with Bean's uncle finished Maddox off.  

"Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls" by David Sedaris

Synopsis:  This is David Sedaris' latest book, a mixture of fiction and personal essays.  Here, Sedaris recounts the time he purchased a taxidermied owl for his partner, how he keeps a detailed diary of even the most mundane topics, his family quirks, including his father's affinity for Donny Osmond, and much more.

Review:  This book was okay, but definitely not great.  I like Sedaris' personal essays more than I enjoy his fiction and this book had too many fiction short stories for my taste.  I think that David Sedaris has begun to run out of material, which is understandable.  I wouldn't have enough interesting stories from my life for even a handful of essays and Sedaris has written several books, just about the kooky stuff that happens to him.  He is an excellent storyteller and I do enjoy his books, but this one was lackluster and almost redundant.

"Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald" by Therese Anne Fowler

Synopsis:  Seventeen-year-old Southern belle Zelda Sayre meets F. Scott Fizgerald, a young army lieutenant stationed in Alabama, at a country club dance.  She is young and reckless, but Zelda believes Scott when he tells her that he will make a career of writing and that fortune and fame await them.  Despite her father's disapproval, Zelda marries Scott and they begin their life in New York City.  Scott's novel, This Side of Paradise, becomes an instant hit and Zelda and Scott move to Paris where they join the likes of Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein.  Things seem so glamorous, between the wild parties, the exciting company, not to mention the drinking, but Zelda soon begins to struggle to find her own identity in a world defined by Scott's success.   

Review:  This novel is a great introduction to the lives of the famous Fitzgeralds.  Fowler most definitely did a lot of research and has accurately portrayed the characters here.  The book delves deeply into the collapse of Scott's marriage to Zelda and into the personal problems they each faced.  I liked it, but felt it moved too slowly through their time together.

Spoilers:  What a sad, sad story.  I think that not knowing much about the Fitzgeralds helped me to enjoy the story more because I'm not sure I would have picked up this book if I had known that their lives were both cut so short, and Zelda's in particular in such a horrendous manner.  I felt bad for both of them throughout this story, Scott for his alcoholism and Zelda for her physical and mental pains and for the fact that she never found a way to really express herself.  I had always imagined them to be such a vivacious young couple, but that part of their lives seemed short compared to the hard times of real anguish.  It was an interesting tale of bad things happening to undeserving people.

"Winter Garden" by Kristin Hannah

Synopsis:  Meredith and Nina are as different as sisters come.  Meredith has devoted her life to her husband and children and to managing the family business while Nina has grown up in wild locales as a photojournalist.  The sisters find themselves home again at the death bed of their beloved father beside their cold and unloving mother, Anya.  Their father's dying wish is that Anya tell her daughters the rest of the Russian fairy tale she used to share with them as children.  As the sisters listen carefully to Anya's story, they begin to see that Anya's fairy tale may hold clues to her own childhod in war-torn Leningrad.

Review:  I liked this book, but I despised Anya.  She is a cold, distant mother to her girls throughout their lives.  Her husband seems to be the only one that she has ever opened up to.  Readers will guess far before Meredith and Nina that Anya's fairy tale is indeed her life story, but can anything really justify a woman who shares no love with her children?  Both girls are struggling with their own intimacy issues because they grew up with a mother that seemed never to care for them.  It's an interesting story about a handful of unlikable people.

Spoilers:  I hated Anya even after her story was told.  What a terrible person.  I did not feel like her sad story justified the cold shoulder she gave her daughters.  I also felt it too contrived that not only did Anya's daughter survive the bomb, but that they all crossed paths with her at such an opportune time.  Almost instantly, Anya has a change of heart and wants to bond with her girls, but if I were her child, it would have been too little too late.  The book had great intentions, but never quite fulfilled its promise.

"Inferno (Robert Langdon #4)" by Dan Brown

Synopsis:  Robert Langdon is back in his fourth Dan Brown novel.  The novel starts with Langdon in a hospital room with no recollection of how he got there or why.  As he begins to look for answers, he finds his clues are related to Dante's most famous work, Inferno.  Langdon races through Europe against a frightening and powerful enemy in this exciting novel.

Review:  I can't review much here without giving something away.  Suffice it to say that this is an excellent book and while it's not quite up to snuff with previous Robert Langdon stories, if you like Dan Brown's previous novels, you are sure to enjoy this one.  

Spoilers:  This book was excellent fun from the first page.  Zobrist makes for a great bad guy here.  The idea of the overpopulation of Earth is an interesting topic.  It's clear Zobrist is a mad man, but who can really argue that we aren't on track to use all of our resources and cause mass extinction on our planet?  Aside for the drawn out escape over the Apotheosis (80 pages worth) this book moved along very quickly and I read it over several days.  I was expecting a twist, and was willing to believe that Jonathan Ferris was also a bad guy, but never saw that Sienna might have been in cahoots with Zobrist, although she did try to do the right thing in the end.  I was also surprised to discover that the bag had dissolved and released its plague before Langdon or anyone could stop it.  Even though the ending was not what I had anticipated, I still thoroughly enjoyed this book.  I can't wait for Robert Langdon's next adventure!   

"The Elegance of the Hedgehog" by Muriel Barbery

Synopsis:  Renee is a concierge in a ritzy apartment building in the heart of Paris.  She pretends to be what everyone might expect from a concierge:  fat, cross, and obsessed with television.  In reality, she is an autodidact with deep love for art, philosophy, and Japanese film.  Living upstairs is Paloma, a twelve-year-old genius who has tired of this tedious life and plans to commit suicide on her thirteenth birthday.  Paloma and Renee befriend the building's new tenant, a wealthy Japanese man named Ozu, and he helps bring them together. 

Review:  The synopsis above details all of the plot in this book.  All of it.  Burberry's book, originally published in French, must be missing something in the translation.  There is very little plot, action, or much of anything in this book.  It's not an altogether terrible read and it does have its moments, but it waxes philosophical far too often for my taste.  The characters are interesting, but the story is threadbare.

"The Secret Keeper" by Kate Morton

Synopsis:  This exquisite novel begins with sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicolson hidden away in her treehouse, daydreaming.  Laurel witnesses a stranger approach her family home and speak quickly with her mother, Dorothy.  What happens next is so shocking that Laurel vows never to speak of it again.  Fifty years later, Laurel visits her dying mother and decides to look more deeply into the events leading up to that fateful day.  The story jumps between 1941 London, detailing young Dorothy's life during the Blitz, and 2011 as Laurel learns her mother's shocking secrets. 

Review:  I highly recommend this book!  After devouring Kate Morton's magnificent The Forgotten Garden (If you have not read it, what are you waiting for?!) I quickly picked up the somewhat disappointing The Distant Hours, and The House at Riverton.  Morton's books are fairly formulaic, alternating between past and present to solve some mystery, which usually involves conveniently finding someone's journal or stash of letters and old photographs.  The Secret Keeper follows the formula, but was fresh and exciting.  The plot moves quickly and its many twists and turns make for a real page-turner.  I could not put it down!  (In the interest of full disclosure, I was out sick with a high fever during the two days it took me to read this book, so that may or may not have influenced my impression.) 

Spoilers:  Wow, what a book!  As Dorothy's character was developing, I kept finding myself liking her less and less which was such a disappointment.  And then when it turned out that she and Vivien had never been friends and that Dorothy was living an elaborate fantasy, I was worried that things were getting too convoluted for a satisfactory ending, but I was wrong.  The story's twists and turns were excellent, but I admit I never saw the ending coming.  How incredible!  My sole complaint is that Laurel bumping into Jimmy's family was too contrived, but it did add to the conclusion.  

"The Paris Wife" by Paula McLain

Synopsis:  This is the true-to-life story of the love affair between Ernest Hemingway and his wife, Hadley Richardson.  Hadley, an unfashionable 29-year-old woman who'd all but given up on love, and Ernest, a handsome 21-year-old author, fall quickly for each other, marry, and move to Paris.  In Paris, they become involved with the so-called "Lost Generation" including Gertrude Stein, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.  Soon the young couple is swept up in the fast-moving lifestyle of the Jazz Age, while Ernest struggles to write what will become The Sun Also Rises.  Despite their deep connection, Hadley and Ernest find their love put to the ultimate test.

Review:  While I typically love a good historical fiction read, this book lacked substance and heart.  I found Hadley to be a bore and a bit naive.  Ernest, on the other hand, is a very believable character, despite being a bit deplorable.  It was interesting to read about the couple's time in Paris and to see their famous friends come to life.  The downside here is that there are so many characters that I found them difficult to keep straight.  McLain doesn't flesh out each character, assuming perhaps we know a bit about them from history, and it was often confusing.  As Hadley and Ernest's relationship begins to break down, Hadley wonders what went wrong, but she seems hesitant to act, which may just have been a sign on the times where women were prizes, not partners.

Spoilers:  Oh, Hadley, Hadley, Hadley.  How could you let your husband's mistress slip into bed with you and act as if nothing is happening?  Since Ernest Hemingway had four wives, I think it's fair to say that his wandering eye had nothing to do with his wife, but I still got tired of Hadley while reading this book.  This was a sad, sad story. 

"Honolulu" by Alan Brennert

Synopsis:  This is a sweeping historical fiction novel about a young girl born in Korea in the 1897.  She is nicknamed "Regret" by her parents, reflecting their disappointment in the birth of a daughter.  Regret is a curious girl who wants an education, but her father will not allow it.  When Regret hears of an opportunity to leave Korea for the beautiful island of Honolulu as a picture bride, she severs ties with her family and boards a ship headed for Hawaii.  Things in Honolulu with her new husband are definitely not as she expected and, renaming herself Jin, she sets out to make a life of her own despite the odds.  Along the way, she meets colorful characters and makes many lifelong friends.

Review:  This is an entertaining read for historical fictions fans.  The book deftly mixes historical figures into a fictional tale.  Honolulu was a much different place at the turn of the century than it is 100 years later and there is something to learn here for everyone.  Brennert brings Jin alive and readers will root for her through all her hardships.  The friends she makes along her journey are an enjoyable addition to Jin's story.  I liked this book, but I would recommend reading Brennert's Molokai if you have a choice between the two.

Spoilers:  I had not heard of Korean picture brides before reading this book and was saddened by all that they were falsely promised.  The life Jin was expected to live on the plantation with an abusive husband was tragic.  I was glad she was able to escape and make a new life for herself full of people who loved and supported her.  I really enjoyed how much of this book was made of real figures from history, many of whom I had never heard of before. 

"The Kitchen House" by Kathleen Grissom

Synopsis:  Seven-year-old Lavinia is orphaned while aboard a ship from Ireland.  Upon her arrival in the states, Lavinia is taken to live and work with the slaves on a tobacco plantation.  Despite her white skin, Lavinia becomes close with her surrogate slave family.  The story follows young Lavinia into adulthood, where she finds herself struggling to define her place in white society while maintaining ties to her beloved black family.

Review:  This book had promise (I couldn't put it down until I got halfway through), but it got so bogged down in its own melodrama, that it started to feel more like a soap opera.  Lavinia is the narrator for the better part of the book, but she is childish and naive to a fault and is cause of much of the heartache that this book is centered around (and, trust me, there is a lot of heartache here).  The characters that we are meant to love, namely those living and working in the kitchen house, are fleshed out nicely and readers will easily come to care for them.  However, the antagonists in the story are very flat characters.  They are solely bad people with bad thoughts whom  I could not relate to.  I've heard this book referred to as "realistic" and while I don't doubt that these awful things happened during slavery, I felt like this story was a compilation of the worst of the worst.

Spoilers:  This book was a rough one for me.  I like my literature to be a little more escapist and I tend to try to avoid books with themes on rape, incest, physical and emotional abuse, etc.  I felt bad for Lavinia at first, but quickly grew tired of her naivete.  There were too many instances in this book where one character could have prevented a horrible outcome for another.  I wished so dearly that Belle had made it clear to Lavinia why Will was coming to visit so that Lavinia never would have married Marshall.  I was disappointed that the book started with a grisly hanging and while I was glad that it wasn't Belle was was hanged, it was almost worse to find out it was Mama Mae.  What a heartbreaking book. 

"Peace Like a River" by Leif Enger

Synopsis:  This touching story of eleven-year-old Reuben Land and his family begins in Minnesota in the 1960's.  The Land family's lives are disrupted when two schoolyard bullies seek retribution against Reuben's widowed father, Jeremiah, who stumbled upon them and stopped them mid-assault.  Reuben's older brother, Davy, takes it upon himself to protect his family and shoots the bullies dead when they return to make trouble.  Reuben is the only witness to the crime and, despite wanting to clear his brother's name, gives a fairly incriminating account of events.  Realizing his chances at freedom are slim, Davy breaks out of jail and plans to live life on the lam.  Reuben, his father, and his precocious younger sister, Swede, load into an Airstream trailer and travel through the frozen Badlands of the Dakotas in search of Davy.  This poetic debut novel is a a tale of family, love, loyalty, romance, faith, and of miracles.  

Review:  I absolutely loved this remarkable book.  This is a heartwarming tale of family devotion, but also a study of the price of doing the right thing.  Did Davy do the right thing by protecting his family or is there no good excuse for a violent act like the one he committed?  Should Reuben tell the truth and condemn his brother or lie and condemn himself?  Jeremiah's strong faith guides many of the family's choices.  This is an interesting book that raises many important questions.  The characters are realistic and even the moments of unexplainable magic in the story are believable as seen through young Reuben's eyes.  Readers will fall in love with the Land family and will be anxious to see the story through to its end.  It's a great adventure story about what happens when familial bonds and loyalties are tested.  If you read this book for no other reason than the beautiful prose (Enger could write about paint drying and make it into a masterpiece, I'm certain), then you'll be satisfied.

"The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

Synopsis:  Here is a synopsis courtesy of Goodreads.com, "The circus arrives without warning.  No announcements precede it.  It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.  Within the lack-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements.  It is called Le Cirque des Reves, and it is only open at night.
   But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors.  Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing.  Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance."

Review:  I was unable to write my own synopsis for this book because, well, nothing happened and the plot is bare-boned at best.  The Goodreads.com review is beautifully written, but unfortunately for readers, whoever wrote it clearly hasn't read Morgenstern's book.  The titular circus is spectacular as promised, but is described in such belabored detail that it's tiresome.  The fierce competition, however, is barely a competition at all and couldn't be less exciting.  The main characters, Celia and Marco, are taught magic, yes...real magic, by their sociopathic fathers (or in Marco's case, a father figure) in preparation for a challenge, the rules of which are kept secret from the competitors and the readers.  The Goodreads synopsis purports that the game has high stakes which means it will result in the death of the loser, but the so-called challenge seems to consist of nothing more than Celia and Marco creating unique circus exhibits (an ice garden, for example) to impress the other....not exactly a "fierce competition" if you ask me.  In addition to a threadbare and mostly uninteresting plot, the characters fall flat, so much so that they are almost unlikeable.  The cast of the circus is kooky and odd, but none of the characters are developed enough for the reader to feel attached or invested.  Furthermore, there's definitely no love between Marco and Celia, and their phony romance (which came way too late in the book's 516 descriptive pages) turned me off to the story entirely.  I hope whoever wrote the book's jacket synopsis was paid well because it is better written than the entire book it advertises.
Spoilers:  I can almost picture Morgenstern, holed away in her office, writing detail after detail, and then...whoops, realizing the book needs an ending.  The ending came rather abruptly (although I was ready for the book to be finished much, much earlier) and was a bit confusing at that.  Are Marco and Celia better off living forever in the in-between?  Would their challenge really have ended in one's death?  I sure didn't feel like Celia's merry-go-round or Marco's ice garden was going to end in the other's demise, but I suppose I've been wrong before.  I was willing to like this book until I was asked to believe that Marco and Celia, both the most "blah" characters I've read in a while, fall madly in love. This book might make for a visually-stunning movie one day, but the book put me to sleep for two weeks straight.  I wouldn't recommend it...unless I had a friend who happened to love descriptions and circuses.  

"The Light Between Oceans" by M.L. Stedman

Synopsis: After returning from war, Tom Sherbourne takes a job as a lighthouse keeper on a remote island off the coast of Australia.  On Janus, Tom and his young wife, Isabel, are cut off from life on the mainland with few visits from a supply boat and even fewer shore leaves.  After two devastating miscarriages and one stillbirth, Isabel can't quite believe her ears when she hears an infant's cries one evening.  She and Tom discover a boat that's washed ashore and in it, a dead man and a tiny baby.  Isabel quickly feeds and swaddles the baby, and against Tom's better judgement, the couple takes the baby in as their own.  The devastating consequences of their choice become clear two years later on a shore leave to Isabel's hometown.  This heartbreaking book is about right vs. wrong and what happens when two people find themselves in the gray area between the two.
Review: This book was excellent.  The author painted a beautiful picture of the island of Janus and of the isolated, blessedly simple, life of the Sherbourne family.  The characters came to life quickly and I felt a great kinship with each of them.  After Isabel agonizingly lost three babies, her decision to keep the infant that washed ashore was not all that hard to fathom.  After all, the signs pointed to the fact that the child's mother was deceased as well so Isabel felt she was simply saving its life and not causing any harm.  Tom's unease at keeping the child was something I was able to sympathize with as well.  There's no clear cut right or wrong here and it's a very thought-provoking tale.  Stedman threw a twist into the story just as I felt I'd figured it out and had me second-guessing myself again, after I'd finally decided whether the Sherbournes had done the right thing.
Spoilers:  I really enjoyed this book and the fact that there was no clear good guy or bad guy.  I found myself siding with Isabel, then with Tom, then back again.  I didn't guess that Lucy's birth mother was alive and I most definitely didn't expect her to be from Isabel's hometown.  It's a little farfetched, but this book was so well-written that I believed it.  My heart broke for poor Hannah and then again for poor Isabel, having her child ripped away from her like that, especially at the hands of her beloved husband whom she trusted so deeply.  I also felt so sorry for Tom who tried to do the right thing, but ultimately hurt his wife, his daughter, and even Lucy's birth family.  I was pleased that Isabel and Tom were able to forgive and live a long and happy life together.  I only wish Isabel had lived long enough to see her Lucy come back her.

"Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him" by Luis Carlos Montalvan

Synopsis: Luis Montalvan, a highly decorated captain in the U.S. army, returns home from two tours of duty in Iraq a broken man.  To cope with his chronically-painful physical injuries, which have left him with a limp, and his debilitating post-traumatic stress disorder, Montalvan drinks heavily and cuts himself off from his family and friends.  In his darkest days as he considers succumbing to his pain he meets Tuesday, a beautiful service dog trained to aid the disabled.  Despite Tuesday's loving spirit, he too has been hurt and finds it difficult to trust.  Montalvan and Tuesday, both burdened with invisible wounds, become a support for one another as they each begin to heal.
Review:  There is much about this book to like.  It is interesting to read about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from someone who suffers from this debilitating condition.  It was heart wrenching to learn that Montalvan, like many PTDS sufferers, is unable to disconnect himself from the mentality of war and that his mind is constantly in "fight or flight" mode, whether he's at the grocery story, dinner out, or at home.  The author paints a clear and very honest (and often unflattering) picture of what his life is like post-Iraq.  Luckily, it all changes when he is paired up with Tuesday.  Montalvan brings Tuesday to life on the page, describing his quirks and unique personality with anecdotes, and it's easy to fathom the author's deep love and devotion for this fun-loving and compassionate dog.  Readers will be incited to read that Tuesday and Montalvan were sometimes discriminated against and asked to leave restaurants or shops, but in the end the book is touching and heart-warming (it has its hilarious moments too; be sure to find the section on Tuesday and his distrust of cats), especially for dog lovers. Ultimately, I liked the book, but its narrative wandered in too many different directions (from Iraq, to the tale of dog training, and back, etc.) to receive four stars.

"Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs

Synopsis:  As a young child, Jacob delights in his grandfather's fanciful tales of his childhood spent in an orphanage on a Welsh island surrounded by children with truly unusual talents (among them: levitation, invisibility, incredible strength).  His grandfather's magical tales are brought to life by eerie photographs that he shares with Jacob, but as Jacob ages, he begins to doubt the strange stories.  When his grandfather is violently murdered, his final words to Jacob compel him to travel to the island and search for Miss Peregrine, the school's headmistress.
Review:  Grandfather's tales of the peculiar children he grew up with are fascinating, the photos are downright creepy, and this story piqued my interest quickly.  Riggs' collected the bizarre photos used in this book with the intention of making them into a picture book, but was encouraged to flesh them out into a novel, which he's done here.  The eccentric photos set the book's frightening tone which continues throughout the first few chapters, when Jacob arrives on the island and finds the remains of Miss Peregrine's school, an apparent dead end.  The book takes a strange twist about halfway through the novel and its eerie undertone is replaced with an X-men style battle of good vs. evil which is both silly and a bit gruesome at times.  Don't expect a satisfactory ending either; this book is the first in a series. 
Spoilers:  I loved the first half of this book and zipped through its first few chapters, but I lost interest with the introduction of ymbrynes (how do you even pronounce this word?), loops, hollowgasts, and wights.  As I mentioned before, this book became like a cheesy version of X-men, although without the interesting characters.  I found Jacob to be a bit spoiled, continuously trying to get fired from the family business and insisting on getting his way.  The other characters in this book, especially the peculiar children, whom I wanted to like, fall flat.  Jacob and Emma's relationship seems forced and, to me, gross since she'd also loved his grandfather.  Leaning in for a kiss while squatting in sheep crap is not romantic, even for teens.
      For a young adult novel, I found the language a bit crass and the action a too violent and gruesome.  It should have been made into a stand-alone novel rather than leaving a few loose ends to allow for a sequel.  I didn't care for any of the characters enough to continue reading about their fight to save the ymbrynes from the wights and hollowgasts in the leap-frogged loops....er, whatever that entails.

"Love Anthony" by Lisa Genova

     Synopsis:  Olivia, a young mother mourning the loss of her autistic son and the subsequent break up of her marriage, has recently moved to the island of Nantucket.  Also in Nantucket is Beth, a mother of three, who recently separated from her cheating husband.  Although the two are strangers to each other, their lives become connected when Beth rekindles her passion for writing and begins work on her first novel about a boy with autism, a boy eerily reminiscent of Olivia's son, Anthony.

Review:  It's quite ambitious to write from the perspective of a severely autistic and non-verbal child, but Lisa Genova does just that in "Love Anthony."  It might help that she is a Harvard-educated Neuroscientist who also has an autistic family member, surprisingly or not, named Anthony.  Whatever the reason, she is able to bring the title character's emotions and quirks to life, many of which are typical for people with autism (Anthony likes routine and cannot tolerate change,  he has an obsession with the number three, and "flaps" his arms to show his emotions).  This book serves as a great introduction to autism despite being fiction.

   Genova's writing is simple and the book is an easy read.  Most of the novel is dedicated to Olivia, struggling to understand the purpose of her Anthony's short life, and Beth, unsure whether or not to forgive her cheating spouse, with Anthony's story weaving them together.  All in all, it was an interesting book and I recommend it, especially for anyone interested in learning a bit more about autism.

    Spoilers:  Initially, I wasn't wild about this book, but Anthony's final chapter won me over.  Olivia was so desperate to know what purpose Anthony's life had served and I wasn't sure there would be a satisfactory answer to her question, but for Anthony to have taught her (and Beth) unconditional love is truly a life well lived.  I could see that with Anthony's message, Olivia could move forward with her life and perhaps find another loving partner and, hopefully, have another chance at being a mother.

   I found Genova's chapters written from Anthony's perspective to be very interesting.  I found myself wondering if someone so severely affected by autism, no matter how bright, truly views their voice as "broken" or if they are even aware that this is something they are missing.  I liked the idea that Anthony's brain is like a house divided into rooms and he can only go into one room at a time (be it the sight room, the hearing room, etc.  I loved the scene when Olivia sees Anthony lying in the grass and she decides to lie with him.  The love he feels for her is very apparent despite his inability to say so.

   The book's synopsis also led me to believe that Beth and Olivia would form a friendship and I wish Genova had developed this part of the story a bit more thoroughly.  It seemed so strange (and mostly unbelievable and creepy) that Beth was channeling Anthony and even more bizarre that Olivia didn't immediately ask how Beth knew so much about her son.  If the two had formed a friendship and Beth had been a bit closer to Anthony through his mother, this part of the story would have made better sense.

The Good and the Bad (and the Very, Very Ugly) Books of 2012

The Great

"Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail" by Cheryl Strayed

Synopsis:  Twenty-two year old Cheryl Strayed is left reeling after the death of her beloved mother from lung cancer.  Four years later, as her grieving family drifts apart, her marriage collapses, and her life begins to spin out of control, Cheryl decides to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State, an eleven-hundred-mile trek, and to do it alone.  With no backpacking experience, Cheryl faces many obstacles, from searing heat and then record snowfall, to rattlesnakes and bears, on her journey toward piecing her life back together. 

Review:  I loved this book.  Even though its premise seems to be a bit cliche (broken-hearted woman sets out an adventure to find herself), it strikes a chord all its own.  Cheryl writes with a real honesty, looking back on her twenty-six year old self with candor.  She struggles with the weight of her pack (which she gives the moniker "Monster") as often as she struggles with the weight of her grief.  I found myself feeling very sympathetic (if not exactly empathetic) toward Cheryl as she set out on her long and lonely journey toward happiness.  

Spoilers:  One of the things I liked best about this book was Cheryl's ambiguous character.  Her tales of promiscuity and drugs don't make her lovable and she seems to be almost solely responsible for the demise of her marriage to a good man.  She is nuts for heading out into the wilderness with no backpacking experience and a very half-assed plan (no, a trip to REI is not adequate preparation).  It's a dangerous plan and pretty poorly executed.  On the other hand, her pain at the loss of her mother is tangible and her downward spiral is probably not all that uncommon after such a terrible heartbreak.  She is selfish to just pack up and leave her life behind, but who wouldn't want to escape a life that seemed to be coming undone?   I, for one, loved Cheryl and was glad to tag along on her life-changing adventure with her monstrously heavy pack and too tight shoes.   

The Just Plain Ugly

"The Casual Vacancy" by J.K. Rowling

Synopsis:  Barry Fairbrother dies in a seemingly quaint English town called Pagford, leaving his neighbors scrambling for the parish council seat he leaves vacant.  The council will soon vote on whether to keep "The Fields" (the slums of Pagford, if you will) or hand it off to the neighboring town of Yarvil which would mean the certain demise of the town's methadone clinic.  With the current council in a deadlock, Barry Fairbrother's successor will decide the fate of the clinic.
Review:  I wanted to love this book.  I tried, I really tried.  At one point, I just wanted to like this book.  Then I just wanted to make it through this book.  Then I just wanted to be finished reading this book and move on with my life.

   J.K. Rowling has very successfully distanced herself from her magical Harry Potter series for children and adults alike.  Her language is as crass here as her characters are foul.  The topics are undoubtedly adult and range from domestic abuse, teenage promiscuity, suicide, self-mutilation, drug use, to rape, and much, much (much) more.  The plot is minimal and most of the book's 500+ pages are devoted to revealing the backstories of the many loathsome characters, whose lives often intersect.  I struggled to keep each character (and his or her many faults and demons) straight.  Each of the 20+ characters is flawed, but not in a way that makes them seem real or relatable in any fashion and I felt a great distance from their insipid lives. 

   It isn't as if I mind dark stories, but I felt like this book just wallowed in its characters' horrendous lives (which, for the most part, it seemed as if they created and, thus, duly deserved).  Despite reading many positive reviews, I can not see what made this book worth reading.  Avoid it! 

Spoilers:  While I could not have cared less about the characters, I was still fairly disgusted that Rowling chose to kill off the youngest and most innocent.  Reading about little Robbie living in squalor was hard enough, but his drowning felt very sensationalistic to me at the end, like Rowling was trying to get a rise out of her audience.  I suppose that death was better for he and Krystal than the life they were meant to live, but I couldn't help but roll my eyes a bit at the conclusion.  I did get a bit of a laugh at the "Ghost of Barry Fairbrother" schtick, but ultimately found the rest of the book intolerable.