The Book: Gone, Baby, Gone, by Dennis Lehane

The Story: A four year old girl, Amanda, is reported missing after having been gone several days. The private detective team of Patrick and Angie are put on the case because of their track record in being able to figure out tough cases that no one else can.

When they start to hear from Angie’s mom- a barfly and sometimes drug runner- they start to get the idea that something is way, way fishy. She had left Amanda- A FOUR YEAR OLD- in their house alone while she went down the street to watch TV with a friend on the night that she was abducted. They check out Amanda’s room and find it bare of toys or books. It’s just a mattress on the floor and a couple of blankets. When they interview people who knew Amanda, they heard over and over that Amanda was a small, shy kid who sunk into the background and was apparently used to being ignored.

With suspicions mounting that Angie’s mom is maybe not telling the whole story and their hearts breaking for this kid, Patrick and Angie start a journey through Boston to find Amanda.

What I Thought: It’s no secret that I think that Dennis Lehane is the absolute best at what he does. Sometimes I read crime books or mystery novels as little “filler” books- something that’s fluffy but readable, something without substance. Dennis Lehane takes the genre in a whole different direction. His books are thoughtful, well written and go deep. I’m a big fan.

This one especially left us with this horrible question to ponder: is it possible that wherever Amanda is, that she is better off there than with her parents? Is it possible that a mother can abuse not with fists or words but with straight up neglect of spirit? As we get a view of Amanda’s life, the whole thing just becomes more and more bleak, and in the end, Patrick and Angie are left with a very, very hard ethical dilemma. If I’m being honest, I still don’t know which side of the line I fall on. I don’t want to spoil anything for you, but this is one of those endings that will keep you thinking for a long, long time.

Something that I really love about Dennis Lehane is how he writes about Boston. He writes it from his gut- you can tell that he loves it with everything he as and wants to show all the gritty parts… and somehow leave you loving it just like he does. Boston is a character in and of itself in his books. I love that.

My only real complaint about this book is that it drug a bit in the middle. I guess solving a crime is probably kind of like that- quick and crazy to start, muddled in the middle, and then this resolution (kind of) at the end. Before figuring out what was really up, Patrick and Angie followed some totally false leads. During that “muddled” part, the story seems to slow down a bit and while I was still intrigued, I wasn’t stealing minutes here and there to read like I was in the beginning and the end.

I didn’t know when I started this book that it is part of a series. I was perfectly fine reading this and didn’t feel lost, but especially when the characters were being introduced, I could tell that there was some background that I was missing. Turns out this is number four in a series of books about these detectives. I haven’t read any of the other books in this series, but if I see one at the bookstore, I will not hesitate to pick it up. I loved this book and want to know more about Patrick and Angie’s lives.

Conclusion: A great mystery novel by a great genre-bending author. Highly recommended.

The Book: The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green

The Story: Hazel is a 16 year old girl that was diagnosed with terminal thyroid cancer two years ago. Because of some experimental drugs, she is still alive and still hanging on. She isn’t in school and most of her friends have ditched her, but she goes to support group and hangs out with her family and watches a lot of America’s Next Top Model. She’s stuck to an oxygen tank, but still chugging along with this kind of cancer-normal life.

One week, at support group she meets Augustus Waters. He has his physical faults- such as, you know, only having one leg- but mostly he is beautiful and smart and funny and… well, totally into Hazel.

What starts as just one little conversation turns into months of talking and sharing books and becoming totally wrapped up in each others lives and families and dreams. Finally being drawn out of her hermit-like life and being forced to deal with real issues that she’s been able to put at bay all this time lead her to ask serious questions about love, living, dying and what a real “legacy” looks like.

What I Thought: Ok, guys. This is going to be gushy and unbiased and one sided and totally honest.

Totally honestly? This is probably one of the best books that I’ve read in years. It’s amazing. AMAZING.

Here’s the thing: writing about kids with cancer is nothing new (Hello, Lurlene Daniels!). I went into this thinking that I knew exactly how it was going to play out… but I was wrong…. because while books about kids with cancer are about a dime a dozen, books written honestly are not.

Hazel and Augustus are not cardboard cut-outs of cancer patients (”I will inspire everyone to lead a better life! I will sew blankets for orphans!” and so on and so forth), nor are they cardboard cut outs of teenagers (”Oh my god, I totally have cancer which means I can’t shop! Woe is me!” and so on and so forth)… they are real, true blue, intelligent, feeling humans who are dealing with serious issues. I love that they maintain their sense of humor, their snark, their personalities but still manage to grapple with life-and-death questions. It is the most honest thing I’ve ever read.

And maybe even this (honest, teenage cancer patients) has been done before, I don’t know… what really set this book apart was the writing. Guys, I’m not kidding you, John Green can write like no one else out there right now. It’s not just words on paper- it is poetry, it is art, it is…. stunning. I read the whole book in about two giant chomps- I laughed, I cried, I turned the pages as fast as I could- and still have the book sitting here for a re-read. There were so many quotable, highlightable parts that I just couldn’t slow down to highlight. I can’t explain it because I don’t know how, but his way with words is amazing and perfect and swoonworthy.

I had to wait before I wrote a review because when I finished this book, I was totally smashed, slaughtered, gutted…. by the storyline and by the fact that I had just read something so amazing. I wanted to let it marinate so that I could attempt to write a balanced review. Guys, I can’t do it. It is nearly a week later and I can’t think of even the smallest fault in the book. It’s that good.

Conclusion: *sigh* Read this. Then buy it for your friends. Then re-read it. And then read it again. Seriously.

The Book: Thirteen Moons, by Charles Frazier

The Story: When he is young, Will Cooper is orphaned and sent to live with his aunt and uncle. They don’t have time money to take care of him so they get him hooked up with a job running a small trading post out in the middle of Indian country.

He has just twelve when they put him on a horse, give him a key to the trading post and send him off. He is initially, of course, terrified and not great at what he does. As he gets to know the Indians and starts to understand their customs, in a lot of ways he becomes part of their tribe.

He is wildly in love with Claire, the daughter of the feared and respected Featherstone. Their love ties all the parts of Will’s life together and spans over the course of his entire life.

Told looking back on his life at an old age, Will is able to connect dots and draw lessons from the unique and powerful things that he experienced.

What I Thought: In short, I thought that this book was amazing.

Charles Frazier is one of those authors that can just write his butt off. He makes gorgeous description and haunting detail seem easy. His writing ebbs and flows in a perfectly lyrical but not too over-the-top way. It’s hard to pull off and he does it like no one else out there today.

I really like books that are written from the perspective of an older person looking back on their life. Sometimes it can feel cheesy, but again- Charles Frazier hit the nail right on the head. I think that this voice of “This was my life and I’m not always proud of it, but this is how it happened” was perfectly, perfectly captured. His relationship with Claire was literally enough to bring tears to my eyes. So, so beautiful.

This book, however, is not super plot heavy. I was totally ok with this because I was enamored with the characters and mostly with the writing, but if you are a person that needs a plot that skips along, you should probably pass this one up.

After I finished reading, I Googled a bit to see what parts of this book were completely fiction and what was drawn from fact. I was really impressed to see actual historians discussing this book and how completely accurate it was. I even saw where someone had said that it was pretty much the perfect historical fiction because it is very accurate but blends in really well written characters as well. I have to agree. This book was totally magical to me.

Conclusion: I don’t think that this is for everyone, but if you love historical fiction and stunning detail, you will devour this.

The Book: The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, by Catherine Howe

The Story: Connie is an academic who is challenged a bit by her academic advisor. He asks her to consider the possibility that the people accused in Salem in the 1690’s were actually just witches.

She kind of shoves his question to the back of her mind and goes about her life… which just so happens to include going through/cleaning out her deceased grandmother’s house. She finds a few clues that lead to more clues and pretty soon she is taking her advisor’s questions much, much more seriously.

What I Thought: I really wanted to like this. When I was in middle school, I took a trip to Boston and we visited Salem. I LOVED it. I was totally enamored with the history, the town, the stories, everything. The cover art for this book is what made me pick it up, but when I read that it was about the Salem Witch Trials, I bought it in about 3 seconds.

It had a lot of potential. It really did. But there were some serious, serious flaws. Allow me to make a list.

1. Connie is supposed to be an academic. She is an idiot. She had supposedly been studying the colonial time period for the entirety of her academic career and she couldn’t make simple, simple connections (like “bottel” being an older, phonetic spelling for… well… “bottle”). One or two little slip ups would have been alright, but at a certain point her ignorance became annoying.

2. The whole book was written in a way that a middle schooler could have read it. In fact, had I read this during my middle school trip to Salem, I probably would have loved it. They should take out the crappy love story and just market this to kids.

3. The love story really is crappy. The predictability is off the charts and Sam just fell totally flat for me. Gag.

4. There are maybe 1,000,000 stereotypes represented in this book and each one annoyed me more than the last.

5. The past storyline (about Deliverance Dane) was actually pretty interesting. Unfortunately, these parts were few and far between and most of the time we were stuck with stupid Connie.

I honestly could keep going, but I’ll spare you.

Conclusion: This book is gross and awful. Please don’t read it.

The Book: Cloudsplitter, by Russell Banks

The Story: Cloudsplitter is a novel about the abolitionist John Brown (of Harper’s Ferry/Bloody Kansas fame), as told by his last surviving son, Owen. This book is Owen’s life story and confession.

Owen describes what it was like being John Brown’s son, kind of revealing him as a deeply religious father with high moral standards and expectations for his children, as well as for himself. John Brown is a strong, compassionate, but demanding and commanding figure. When John Brown decided to really “go big” he took his sons along with him. Owen went, though reluctantly and became his father’s right hand man. Although he was admittedly reluctant at first, once he decided he was in, he was all the way in.

From the little cabin that he has lived in for years, Owen writes his long-winded tale about not only his upbringing, but his adulthood and the effect his family is still (in the early 1900’s when he is writing) having on politics and race relations.

What I Thought: Whew. It is always so hard to try to boil down an 800 page book into a few sentences.

I had this book on my TBR pile forever but kept putting it off. I even started it once and was totally turned off by the prose itself. In an attempt to really capture Owen’s voice, Russell Banks developed this old, long winded, preachy way of writing and at first it seemed awful. After I got into the flow and started to really identify who Owen was, the writing seemed perfect and I just sunk right into it. There are areas where it’s just way too wordy and was almost frustrating to read, but it just worked somehow. John Brown himself was a talker and a schemer and it just seemed like Owen picked up part of that. If nothing else, I applaud Russell Banks for picking a voice and sticking with it in a big way. It made Owen come to life.

I didn’t know a huge amount about John Brown before I read this and was pleased to find out that a good part of his life took place really near where I live! I even found out that there is a little memorial set up near here and I plan to go and see it once it gets warmer. It’s always fun to hear references to familiar places.

I knew very little about John Brown going into this- I knew that he was a white guy that wanted to end slavery and raided Harper’s Ferry which, in a lot of ways knocked over the dominoes that started the Civil War. Yes, dominos started the Civil War. You heard it here first, folks. Anyway, I loved learning more about his upbringing and family life. The father-son relationship here, the dynamic between Owen and John Brown is pretty much what made the book for me. Owen’s need/desire to rise to John Brown’s expectations despite his own inner voice was fascinating to me and just so well written. You could just feel this tension that was taking place in the young man’s mind- this cognitive dissonance. He knew what was right (not killing people, also not slavery) but also wanted to please his father (who thought that bloodshed was the only way to fix this problem) so badly. That back and forth in his mind was intense.

That’s all I’ve got. This is one of those books I could talk about for a long time- the race relations, how we change as we grow, childhood’s effect on our adulthood, the need for comfort and people, the Civil War… all fascinating things. I went into this book honestly expecting little but came away knowing a bit more not only about John Brown but about that time period and, really, about human nature. Pretty big deal.

Conclusion: Not a light, easy book by any stretch but one that I would say is worth the effort.

I read Haven Kimmel’s A Girl Named Zippy maybe five years ago and LOVED it. I remember sitting on the porch swing at my moms and laughing until I couldn’t breathe at this book. A couple of years ago, I picked it up again and if it is possible, I loved it even more. It is a memoir about Haven’s life growing up in a small-town in Indiana. It is brilliant.

When I saw this at a book sale and realized that it was by the same author, I grabbed it up, no questions asked.

December is always a hard reading month for me- we have a lot going on and I don’t often get long chunks of time to sit down and read. I like to read lighter, easier to read books during December and leave the heavy stuff for later in the winter. After struggling and sweating over the decision- and even asking my Twitter friends- I finally picked this book, The Solace of Leaving Early, to read next.

This morning, I regret to inform you, I have decided to ditch it.

Maybe part of it is the December-reading-void thing. I have one every year and now that I keep track of my books read, it is even well documented… but I don’t think that is it.

I think what happened here is that Haven Kimmel tried to hard to dip her toes into literary fiction. I really, really enjoy literary fiction. I love the lyrical feel, the unique style and the focus on characters. This had all that, but it was just really forced. It sounded like something she had written for a writing assignment that was something like, “Write a story in a genre that you are familiar with but have never written in.” She just used things that had been used before, but it a more “clunky” way, if that makes sense.

Her characters and even her setting where just the same way- forced and unbelievable. Not that fiction has to be 100% plausible, but it at least has to have some spark of recognition. For me, there was none of that here.

I made it about halfway through before I realized that I just couldn’t push through the last 150 pages or so. Reading is just a hobby for me, not a job, so I don’t feel bad ditching a book if it is not enjoyable for me to read. This was in no way enjoyable for me, so it is now chilling in my thrift store pile where it can (hopefully!) get snatched up by someone who is more in the mood for this type of thing.

Have you given up on any books lately? Do you feel guilty when you ditch books?

The Book: The Slow Moon, by Elizabeth Cox

The Story: Sophie and Crow (yeah, his name is Crow) have been dating for awhile. He is 16 and she is 14 and one night at a party they sneak out in the woods for a little *ahem* alone time. When Crow realizes that he needs some protection to participate in said alone time, he runs back to his car. While he is gone, Sophie is brutally raped by more than one man. When Crow comes back and finds her, he knows he will be under suspicion, so he runs off. When they finally pull Sophie out of the woods, she refuses to talk.

The mystery of whodunit throws the small town into a vicious finger pointing contest and Crow and his family are generally on the “pointed at” end.

What I Thought: One of my favorite types of books is the “throw a family into a crazy/horrible situation and watch them try to wiggle out” type. I love the idea of slipping into these situations and trying to figure out how I would respond. I thought this book would be right up my alley.

The thing is, this book suffered from quite a few pretty horrible faults. First off, it was very, very predictable. I knew from maybe page fifty exactly what had gone down. In addition, there were just too many story lines. The story takes place in a small town and it kind of seems like you get to “meet” everyone. This would be great if the characterization were killer, but instead it just turned into a sloppy, soupy mess. Because the book was short and packed full of characters and their situations, I walked away feel like I hadn’t really gotten to know anyone.

The biggest problem, though, was that this book was supposed to be about teenagers but I feel fairly confident that Elizabeth Cox has never met or talked to a teenager. It was just…. off. How they talked to each other, their parents, everyone was just nothing like teenagers in my experience and it took a lot away from the story for me.

I don’t want to sit here all day and tear this apart, but I’m struggling to find a redeeming quality here. Bleh.

Conclusion: I would honestly recommend Jodi Picoult over this, and that’s saying something.

The Book: The Reservoir by John Milliken Thompson

The Story: One chilly morning a hugely-pregnant girl named Lillie is found floating in the town’s reservoir. Initially, it is assumed to be a suicide and kind of swept under the rug. A detective notices some clues that say otherwise and a group of men start investigating and conclude that this was not a suicide, but a homicide. Eek.

When fingers start to point, most of them point right at her cousin Tommie. As their past comes to the surface, it really does seem plausible that he could have murdered her, but he his adamantly denying any charges.

By the time the case makes it to the courtroom it has gained national attention and most people want to see Tommie hang. The book ends with a courtroom climax that will leave your head spinning.

What I Thought: I found out after I was about halfway through this book that it was based on a true story. The author put tons of time researching a case that was a national phenomenon and then decided to put flesh on it. This added so, so much to the book for me. I loved looking on Wikipedia and finding out that most of what I was reading had actually happened. Totally wild.

I thought that the book as a whole was just all right. The writing didn’t blow me away or annoy me. It was interesting but not captivating. It was gripping but not heart wrenching or anything. It was just a book.

I liked the time period. I really enjoy reading about the Civil War and this took place right after the Civil War in Virginia, so there was a lot going on there and I enjoyed that aspect.

I’m also a sucker for a good sibling story and the heart of this book is not as much a murder mystery but a family drama, mainly revolving around these two brothers, Tommy and Willie. Tommie’s innocence or guilt, Willie’s belief and disbelief and both of their love and involvement with Lillie are really what gave this book its legs. While I enjoyed reading about the relationships, I still thought that the author could have given them more depth. They were all pretty surface-level, and that’s too bad because I think that he was onto something good here.

Conclusion: The back-and-forth, did-he-do-it will thrill true-crime readers and historical fiction lovers alike, but the chances of you finding something here that you haven’t read before are pretty slim.

The Book: The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Story: I have a feeling I’m not going to do justice to this story if I try to explain it, but I’ll give it a go.

Daniel is the son of a bookstore owner in post-war Barcelona. His mother died when he was young and he is pretty much being raised in the bookstore. This has given him a pretty unique respect for good books and good writing.

When his dad takes him to a secret book stash in the city and lets him pick out one book (a rite of passage for a bookseller), he picks the book The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax. He falls immediately, deeply in love with the book and wants to read everything else the author has ever written. He starts searching for other books and is surprised to find out that the books by Carax are being sought out by someone else- and not for reading, for destroying.

This sets Daniel on a quest not only to get these to these books before someone else was, but to find out any information he can about the man that was Julian Carax. His adventure through his own city and what he finds are more than shocking.

What I Thought: Rarely, rarely do I read a book that stops me in my tracks. This is one of those books.

Guys, the writing here…. whew. What can I say? It totally, totally blew my mind. I have (obviously) never visited post-war Barcelona, but the setting became a character here as Daniel searched the streets, met the people and ended up in the darkest, most remote corners of the city. The city and the time period were brought to life here and I walked away feeling like I was visiting 2011 and not the other way around. Just amazing.

I loved Daniel so much I can hardly describe it. He was just this smart, impassioned, witty, loving kid who put himself on this mission and refused to backdown. When he found himself part of something way larger than himself, I was so happy to see him rise to the occasion and not back away. I want him to be a real person so I can hug him.

I thought that the plot was engaging and fun. There were lots of bumps and surprises and spookiness. It kept me turning the pages, but the writing is what had my jaw hanging to the ground. It’s just perfect and lyrical and wonderful. I’ve already recommended it to three or four people and loaned out my copy. I know that the other has a few other books, but I haven’t heard as much about them as I heard about this one prior to reading it, but regardless, I plan to read them. I may have just found a new favorite author.

Conclusion: Highly, highly recommended!!

The Book: Brick Lane, by Monica Ali

The Story: Nazneen is born and raised in Bangladesh. Nazneen’s marriage is arranged when she is young. She is married in Bangladesh then promptly removed from her family and moved to London. Her husband is a good man, but is not attentive to her needs in any way.

Through her eyes and the eyes of her sister who did not immigrate, we get to see the different ways that love develops and dissipates.

What I Thought: Guys, I hated this. I got the recommendation of of a list of books from Gilmore Girls and I cannot even tell you how awful I thought it was.

The first part was alright. It was well written and while the characters were unlikable they were really full bodied. I generally enjoy reading about the immigrant experience, so that initial moving and culture shock was at least interesting.

Around midway, the form changed. Huge chunks of time were skipped and we got a lot of letters to/from her sister in Bangladesh. This really messed up the flow and the book never quite recovered. The rest of it was choppy and disconnected. I don’t know how to put it nicely. It was just bad.

I’m not one to dislike a book because the characters are unlikeable. I get that sometimes a character is written to be a bit unlikable (Scarlett, anyone?!) but this can be done well. Monica Ali didn’t do it well. While the immigration experience may had been factually correct, the choppy writing, vague descriptions, and poorly written characters made this a fairly awful book.

Conclusion: Skip this one. Sorry, Rory, you guided me wrong with this one!