Book Reviews 2002

Book Reviews -- 2002 and 2003

As in previous years, this page of book reviews is updated about once a month. Although I buy many of the books we read (almost always paperbacks), there's also a bit of serendipity involved -- some of the apartments we've rented came with a rather eclectic selection of reading materials; visiting friends leave a finished book or two behind, and town libraries open their stacks to us if we stay long enough.

I'm always looking for book recommendations, so please let me know what books you've enjoyed lately, or better yet, just send them on!

These ratings are on a 1 to 5 scale, 5 being "The Best!" DNF means I didn't finish the book. Click here to see the author-sorted list of books read in 2000 and 2001.

Book Title, Author	Subject / Review	Rating
Kitchen Confidential Bourdain, Anthony	Bourdain is a well-regarded chef at a busy NYC restaurant, Brasserie Les Halles, and he's just starting doing TV cooking. This eye-opening look at life inside a restaurant kitchen is an autobiographical gem, full of fascinating and entertaining details about food and cooking. Don't let the first couple of chapters put you off, it gets MUCH better. A must read for foodies.	4.6
Uncle Tungsten Sacks, Oliver	Oliver Sacks is a renowned psychologist and writer. But in his youth he was a bookish boy in WWII London who was in love with chemistry. In this (slow-starting) memoir of his youth, he manages to bring chemical elements and the history of chemistry to life. Aside from his family history, which just made me envious, this is a wonderful read, especially if you're a chemist like me!	4.5
Ahab's Wife Naslund, Sena Jeter	Una is an unusual woman who leads a patchwork life. Over time she moves from the Kentucky home of her youth to the close-knit life of a lighthouse island, to a life at sea, to a gentile life in Nantucket. We live her adventures, connect with her emotions and her husbands (including Captain Ahab), and learn about life. A long book (670 pp) that would have been great if 20% had been edited out and some loose ends tied up.	4.4
Animal Dreams Kingsolver, Barbara	I love the way Kingsolver writes and puts together a story, so I've read most of her books. This one, a re-read. It wasn't as good as I'd remembered, perhaps because it seems preachy to me now, having read the Poisonwood Bible, which I liked yet thought was TOO preachy. As Codi returns to her roots in the southwest desert, she finds her way back from a self-imposed separateness. As the story of the Noline family unfolds, Hallie, Dad Homer, and friend Loyd provide the foreground, while the Contra war in Nicaragua provides the background.	4.4
Empire Falls Russo, Richard	This book won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Like Corrections, below, it's a long book, with lots of character development. Not a lot happens until the end, but as the book slowly unfolds like a rose in the summer sun, we learn about ____, his family and his history.	4.4
Dinner Along the Amazon Findley, Timothy	This is collection of 12 short stories by one of Canada's favorite sons. The stories span many years of Findley's writing and demonstrate his skill in setting a time and place, making you feel like you're right there almost able to touch the characters.	4.4
Corrections Franzen, Robert	This is a wonderful, LONG book. The writing is top notch (one simple example, "Denise watched the sky stick forks of lightening into the salad of trees on the horizon...") and thought-provoking. This story, about the dysfunctional Lambert family, is full of insights, sadness, confusion and humor. Enid's desire to have the family together for one last Christmas brings to the fore the struggles, fears and facades that comprise family relationships and humanity.	4.3
The Secret Life of Bees Kidd, Sue Monk	It's 1960's in South Carolina, and motherless, fourteen year old Lily and her black maid, Rosaleen are in trouble. They run away from home, eventually arriving at the Black Mary Bee farm. Here they find motherly love in all its many manifestations.	4.3
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Chabon, Michael	This is another longish Pulitzer prize winning book. It's about the development of comic books in the 1930 and 40's; it's about the world in which they were written (Nazi's in Europe); it's a love story and a hate story; it's a tragedy and a comedy; it's adventuresome and mundane. It's a bit of everything put together with a pretty good story line. And, the author is a "local"; he lives happily with his writer wife and two kids in Berkeley, CA. Heard him speak/read in Alamo -- a really nice guy.	4.2
Postcards from the Bed Keyes, Marian	These 45 short, anecdotal, biographical sketches are an easy read. They're funny and light-hearted, each story ending in just a few pages. I've already got her longish book, Last Chance Saloon, sitting on my bedside waiting to be read.	4.1
Cross Stitch Gabaldon, Diana	When published in 1991, this was one of Gabaldon's first books. She's had many best sellers since. In this time warp tale, nurse Claire Randall walks through a stone portal, moving from 1946 to 1743. Marooned in the Scottish highlands, she uses her knowledge and wits to make her way, but eventually she must choose between her two lives. It's a pity the book was 850 pages instead of 600.	4.1
Seabiscuit Hillenbrand, Laura	In the late 1930's, Seabiscuit took the horse racing world by storm. This bestseller documents the story of an American legend. Hillenbrand brings the horse and the people who made him into a celebrity to life, as we learn about the hardships and handicaps he overcame. A fascinating (though perhaps a bit too detailed) portrait of the horse racing world during the Great Depression. Now a movie.	4.1
The Bonesetters Daughter Tan, Amy	I enjoyed this "girl's" book, especially since I was lounging in the poolside shade at a resort in Fiji. LuLing's manuscript about her life in provincial China and Peking in the 1920's and 30's makes for fascinating reading; the surrounding story of narrator Ruth's life in the 1990's is "OK".	4.0
Big Cherry Holler Trigiani, Adriana	This book takes a look at life in a small Virginia town, where Ave Maria and Jack Mac have to decide on what holds their marriage together. The author's humour, honesty and story-telling ability all come through loud and clear. But this apparently is book number 2, following after Big Stone Gap, and it would have been better to read that one first.	3.9
Missing Joseph George, Elizabeth	Ms George has written quite a few Inspector Lynley mysteries over the years, and they're now being produced for the public television series, Mystery. This one is about the death of one Reverend Sage by accidental poisoning, or so the inquest determined. But Lyndley and Sergeant Barbara Havers soon discover there's more to it, with plenty of deception and intrigue to navigate. An easy, well-written, enjoyable read.	3.8
One Man's Bible Gao Xingjian	Gao, a Nobel Prize winning author with only 2 English language books to his credit, reflects on China's cultural revolution from the perspective of a youthful "he". He writes to purge the ghosts and demons of his years as a follower of Mao, in Beijing and in the rural mountains and country work camps. Initially "he" believed in Mao's ideology, but soon became disillusioned, following (and even leading) out of fear (that is of being purged). The book is also a reflection on the glory of freedom, especially the freedom to write.	3.8
High Stakes Francis, Dick	Dick Francis has been writing about horses and horse racing for over 25 years. This book, written in 1975, is the first one I've actually read, though I've listened to more than a half dozen. They're all somewhat the same, but still, one a year is easy to take.	3.8
The Virgin's Knot Payne, Holly	This is a first novel and shows it. An interesting story, that doesn't quite hold together. Moreover, some of the descriptive passages hardly make sense. Same with some of the dialogue. Still, I did finish this 300 page book and don't regret it. I enjoyed "watching the candle flame flicker to its death, and the insights into a woman's ( Nurdane's) life in a rural Turkish village.	3.7
The Beach House Patterson, James	This mystery / legal thriller entertained us along the highways and byways of Canada as we listened to it. When Jack Mullen returns to East Hampton, he learns that his brother Peter has died. But the police's explanation is obviously wrong and he plans to figure out what happened. Not much depth but some suspense. Entertaining enough.	3.7
Plumb Gee, Maurice	Maurice Gee is a well known Kiwi writer. This early novel, now almost 25 years old, was an award winner. As the irascible Reverend Plumb recalls his life and family, we follow his transformation from an intolerant young man to a somewhat wiser elder. Gee makes Plumb -- a man who preached and lived his convictions, even going to jailed for them -- come alive. This book is a slow, difficult read, full of both philosophy and sophistry, but interesting enough.	3.6
Bee Season Goldberg, Myla	This first novel, full of incredible joy and pain, unfolds and unwinds from seeming normality into dizzying craziness. As 11 year old Eliza discovers her aptitude for spelling, her family life (with home-maker Saul, lawyer/mom Miriam and brother, Krishna-convert, Aaron) and her inner life (trying to follow Abulafia and Kabalah mystisicm) come together into a whirling spiral, which unfortunately stops abruptly and rather unsatisfyingly.	3.5
At Home in Mitford Karon,	This sweet book, the first of at least 5, is about a small northeastern US town. The reverend Timothy's life is one of wonder, good deeds, and mostly happy occasions. This gentle series has laughter, sadness and even a little mystery. It made me wish I could live in Mitford for a little while, though I'm afraid I may not be genteel enough to fit in.	3.4
The Honk and Holler Opening Soon Letts, Billie	Billie Letts (or maybe it should be let's not) wrote this easy to read novel about goings on in a small Oklahoma roadside cafe. The down-home characters include owner and Vietnam Vet, Caney, mother figure Molly O, migrant worker Bui, and the newly hired carhop, Vena Takes Horse. The humor and mix of emotions saved this overly predictable book from being a DNF.	3.3
A Start in Life Brookner, Anita	A "Penguin" book always makes me think it is or will soon be literature, or at least that it's intended for the "intellectual" audience. This one fits the mold. A slow moving character study of Ruth Weiss, literature professor, aged forty, and her years growing up with her actress mother, Helen, her accommodating father, George, and their housekeeper. She believes in her books, which show "good" winning out in the end. At only 176 pages, I did just manage to finish this slow-paced novella, full of thoughtful descriptive passages.	3.3
Captain and Commander	Lots of People like ____ books. I apparently am not one of them. The nautical connections bore me and I just couldn't get into this book. Then I saw the movie, which started about in the middle of the book. Though I like Russell Crowe, I found the movie equally boring. Neither is recommended.	DNF
We Were the Mulvaneys Oats, Joyce Carol	JCO teaches, yet seems to also write one to three novels a year! This is her most recent. Talk about character development -- almost 100 pages into this "novel", we're still just setting the family scene. The Mulvaneys have a house full of fun times and love; they like and care about each other; it's a great place to grow up; ad infinitum. I get it. And I know something did happen; we get small glimpses of it. But this book was just moving too slowly for me -- a DNF. (Aside: Years ago when Dick and I began dating, he recommended one of JCO's weird, psychological novels to me. I was surprised he liked it and figured Dick had a hidden deep, emotional side. Alas, not true!)	DNF

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