A Review: Beartown

I had to do a lot of thinking about what I should or could say about Beartown. It’s a great book. It is also one of the toughest books I’ve read.

Backman’s portrayal of mankind’s hypocrisy, complexity, and stubbornness is truly remarkable. I’m not sure there is a book where I’ve rooted for a character in one chapter and despised them in the next. Or where I’ve decided a character is of the villainous populous to only be shown my judgement came too soon and was too harsh.

This past Sunday night, I couldn’t sleep. I think partly due to this book. I had to find out did justice get served? I got up and finished it just before midnight. I closed the back cover, switched off my book light, laid it gently on the coffee table, and proceeded to cry for nearly half an hour. Exactly, why? I can’t explain. I was tired and feeling stress, but this book has something that wrung me out that I can’t find the words for. I bet Backman could. He always seems to verbalize things that elude my communication skills.

Beartown is far heavier than Backman’s other work, but it’s just as incredible, possibly more so because of the conflicted emotions I felt for the characters and situations that came about in this read.

I still feel the weight of this book even though it’s been a few days. I think I will for a while.  Because as many of you are probably wondering…was justice served?  Let’s just say, it was more than I expected and yet it wasn’t what I wanted.

I know this book has caused a bit of a hub-bub due to its topic- a small town’s reaction to a rape. Have you read it? What did you think? Are some upset because Backman didn’t give them what they wanted to read, or did he hit too close to the brutal truth of how people as a collective view and cope with rape?

Until next time, happy reading!

Book Brawl Part I- 2019

Welcome to the first installment of 2019’s Book Brawl! As I mentioned in my last post, this is where all the books that I’ve read throughout the year will duke it out to see who is named my best book of the year. This brawl will be broken into four posts, so let’s get started.

In January, I read seven books:

• Circling the Sun by Paula McClain
• Steal like an Artist by Austin Kleon
• Notes from a Public Typewriter by Michael Gustafson
• Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson
• Rain Dragon by Jon Raymond
• Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear
• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Circling the Sun was a memorable book, but in how I felt befuddled about if I liked it or not. Steal and Notes were fun little books that were lovely little reads I did in the morning before work. Oathbringer was an epic third installment in the Stormlight Archives series. I’m looking forward to the next one. Rain Dragon was an almost non-book due to lack of plot.

Birds of a Feather was a great second book about the private detective Maisie Dobbs.  However, the clear winner of January is Outlander. I know people either loved this book or hated it, but I landed firmly in the love camp.

In February, I read eight books:

• The Girls by Emma Cline
• Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen
• The Ice Cream Queen of Orchid Street by Susan Gilman
• The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a Fuck by Sarah Knight
• Before They were Hanged by Joe Abercrombie
• An Elderly Lady Up to No Good by Helene Tursten
• The Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
• The Chronicler of the Winds by Henning Mankell

I read Life-Changing and An Elderly Lady as my morning reading.  Both were enjoyable in very different ways. The Girls, Her Royal Spyness, and Before They were Hanged were all find, but kind of meh. The Girls is a direct rip off from the Manson Murders. Her Royal I don’t remember anything about, and Before was the second book in a trilogy that was clearly a linking book of the foundation book to the action-packed climax that will hopefully be book three.

The Affair was interesting in that it’s the first appearance of Hercule Poirot, but there are better Christie works available.  The Chronicler was a unique story. It was heavy and had the hallmarks of a Mankell stories, but I preferred his Italian Shoes.

The winner for February is clearly The Ice Cream Queen. It was a pleasant surprise. It was far more dynamic than I thought it would be.

In a brawl between Outlander and Ice Cream, I think I have to give it to Ice Cream. Outlander is wonderful, but it’s heavily romantic and is the first novel of a lengthy series. Ice Cream is a contained story that is a bit deeper than time travel and sexy men in kilts.

In the month of March, I read six books:

• The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
• The Bad Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer
• Final Girls by Riley Sager
• Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
• A Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
• A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

This was a month of greats and duds. Crazy Rich and Confederacy were just kind of annoying. The Bad Ass was not as advertised and thus very disappointing. The other three Lovely, Magical, and Final Girls were all great. It was difficult to pick a winner, but it has to be Final Girls.

In a brawl between Final Girls and Ice Cream Queen it goes to Ice Cream. The reasoning in the ending of Final Girls is what prevented me from giving it five stars, and it’s what is preventing me from having it win here.  The twist was fantastic, but it just wasn’t completely supported.

Anyway, there you have it The Ice Cream Queen of Orchid Street take it in Q1.  Tune in next Friday to see if it can reign supreme or if it will be unseated.

Until next time, happy reading!

Monthly Misfits- Firestarter vs. Catch & Kill

It’s been a while since I’ve done a monthly misfit where I attempt to compare two seemingly unrelated books.  This one is particularly unprecedented because it involves non-fiction and fiction. I’ve toyed with the possibility before but never committed because it just didn’t feel right. However, the time has come. This month’s contenders are Firestarter by Stephen King and Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow.

The differences are obvious. Firestarter is a novel about people inadvertently obtaining super powers after volunteering to be a part of a scientific experiment. Catch and Kill is non-fiction about the sexual harassment and misconduct of high-powered men namely Harvey Weinstein.

However, both of these books are also about cover ups.  The mistreatment of people that know damaging information. In Firestarter, these are people who knew about or participated in the experiment. For Catch and Kill, it’s the people who experienced Mr. Weinstein’s scandalous behavior.

Firestarter end with the media helping or going to help bring a voice and justice to those in the experiment. Catch and Kill is about the media’s participation in burying stories; helping to cover up the misdeeds of the rich and powerful.

There is one facet that I find most interesting. In Firestarter one of the characters can “push” people with his mind to get them to do things.  Strangely, the smarter the person the easier it is to get them to do what he wishes.

When I first read this, I thought this an innovative and interesting choice by King. Because calculating minds, are minds that can out guess themselves.  They quickly tabulate not only the request but many other things such as social ramifications and wanting to look like they know what they are doing. They wish to avoid embarrassment and shame.

When it was quired to me when reading Catch and Kill of how Harvey Weinstein was able to do what he did. I posed the comparison to Firestarter, Harvey was calculating, and he targeted people- women that would feel that shame.  The shame of miscalculation.  The shame that they should have been smarter when, in reality, they were smart.  And in Harvey’s mind, smart women wouldn’t ruin their career over a little hotel incident.

Both of these discuss and highlight manipulation.  How the calculation of one set of consequences precipitate another. It wasn’t the Firestarter’s fault that she could start a fire and that it could get out of control when she was upset or angry when her or her father were in danger. Nor were any of these women responsible or at fault for Harvey Weinstein’s actions. Yet both feel bad and shameful for being pushed into situations that led to something horrible.

I grant that comparing the imaged musing of Stephen King with the very real actions of Weinstein seems odd, but it’s interesting to see how mass manipulators in both fiction and real life can be shown to use intelligence against those that have it. We view such a trait as an asset something that will protect us for bad or harmful situations, and yet, paradoxically it can do the opposite.

Until next time, happy reading!

A Good Deal of Intrigue

Deal Breaker by Harlan Coban is your typical murder mystery. It is formulaic, predicable and wholly unrealistic if you think about it for more than seven seconds. And God, I loved it!

I tore thought this book in two days. It had me in a reader’s headlock. Yes, it is 100 percent average as murder mystery’s go with formula. You can see how many pages are left and calculate if the current suspect is a red herring or not. So as usual, character development isn’t deep but quirky and sufficient.

The conversation in this book has a bit of Aaron Sorkin feel-so it’s unrealistic, but I love that every character has an immediate zinger ready for any given situation. It was fun and intriguing. It was a great throw back to my high-school days when this is all I read. I can see why.

Deal Breaker is reminiscent of any action movie made in the 80s and 90s.  The plot resolves with a nice neat bow.  The hero has every manly characteristic you can possibly conjure. The girl is an outrageous beauty but with a brain. It’s the total package.

This book was fun, but certainly not for anybody who wants more realism or literary flair to their books. This book clearly shows its age. It was written pre-the me-too movement. In an era where sex workers where still called prostitutes and cracking a sexual innuendo joke with a co-worker didn’t lead to HR intervention. These things bother some folks so beware.  This book did hit the shelves back in 1995, but if you like a thriller with some quick wit, this could be for you.

Until next time, happy reading!

Box o’Books- 2019 Nominees

Is it too early to make a Christmas list? Probably…but it is October and since my book buying doesn’t seem to know any bounds. It’s probably a good time to establish a list and swear myself to NOT buy any books or at least not these until after the holiday season.

As many of you know, I get a yearly box of books for Christmas. It’s nice to get a gift card to go and pick out the book you want, but there is something beyond magical when you get this heavy box wrestled out from under the Christmas tree.  And when you open it, there are a bunch of beautiful books. I can thumb through them, feel their pages, smell their new book smell. It has become my absolute favorite part of Christmas.

Last year, I was lucky enough to get all my books on my list.  This probably won’t happen again, but part of the thrill is to see what makes the box!

Here’s this year’s list-

• The Gift of Imperfection by Brene Brown
• The Black Prism by Brent Weeks
• Time Covert by Deborah Harnkess
• Poison Squad by Deborah Blum
• The Bastard Brigade by Sam Kean
• Us Against You by Fredrick Backman
• Foundation by Isaac Asimov
• Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
• Pardonable Lies by: Jacqueline Winspear
• Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon
• The Odessey/Illiad by: Homer
• Les Miserables by: Victor Hugo
• Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie
• Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
• The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo
• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
• Naked, Drunk, and Writing by Adair Lara
• Easy French Step by Step- by Myrna Bell Rochester
• A Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell

There she is. This year’s Box o’book list!!

Until next time, happy reading!

Bookish Surprises

When I was a kid, I was a gigantic chicken, and realistically, I still am. I hate horror anything. I don’t understand why people want to scare themselves senseless. Supposedly some folks with anxiety benefit from such experience because they view it as: “Well my life is not that terrible.”

I view these experiences- no matter how ridiculous- as “What if that happens!?” My viewpoint is anxiety provoking instead of reducing and so I avoid all things horror including horror books.

Given my viewpoint of horror reading, Stephen King was not even a thought. He wrote scary books and since that wasn’t my jam. I would not be partaking.

As I got older, I did hear that a few books, particularly one, was not horror. It was The Stand. It is a monstrous tome that I read in less than a week on vacation in Florida. It became my favorite book.

I decided to try another with one of the characters from The Stand reappearing in The Gunslinger. I enjoyed it. It was clearing laying the foundation for the book that follows. I’m sure someday I will get to them.

I was then convinced to read Carrie. King’s first full novel. I wasn’t particularly fond of it, but it wasn’t scary. And this past week, I read Firestarter which was remarkably good. As usual it was well-written and not scary in the sense that I thought King books would be.

So here I am, a girl who does not like horror anything with four Stephen King novels under her belt, most of which I thoroughly enjoyed and one that is on most days is my favorite book of all time.

I guess it just shows that you never know until you try it.  Granted, I don’t know that I’m ready for It or The Shining, but strangely I’m not as admittedly opposed as I once was.

It’s funny how perceptions of something can be so incredible off and you might actually be missing out on your favorite book.

Until next time, happy reading!

September in a Word

As I discussed in my last post, we have officially made it to October. September was a great, but crazy month with getting new appliances, going on vacation, and trying to get my dog, Tank, back on a regular diet after a stomach bug. Nevertheless, I was able to get in six books. And since it is a new month, it’s time to one-word review those September reads. As always, can you find the one I enjoyed the most?

The 7.5 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by: Stuart Turton = Labyrinthine

I was Told There’d be Cake by: Sloane Crosley = Repartee

The Oustsiders by S.E. Hinton = Pure

Otherland by: Tad Williams = Fathomless

An Ocean in Iowa by: Peter Hedges = Lacking

Lavinia by: Ursula Le Guin = Familiar

Until next time, happy reading!

The Devil’s in the Details…As They Say

When I finished this book, my brain hurt. But it was that good ache you experience the morning after you decided to do that extra set of squats. It’s the soreness of accomplishment.

And damn…Stuart Turton accomplished something all right. This book took serious effort both on Mr. Turton and me as the reader, but I like when my reading requires a bit of the noggin muscle.

I would not describe this book as gripping. To me, gripping implies a frantic page turning experience.  This story requires a lot of attention. Details are of the utmost importance. It required all concentration and a steady reading pace.  Reading too quickly will cause you to miss important things and then later you will be utterly confused. It should be noted you will probably be confused.  The degree to which you are, is up to you as the reader.

This book ultimately was different than I had expected, but this added to the story and its uniqueness. I wasn’t at all disappointed.  There were certainly surprises, I didn’t feel knocked off my rocker by any of them but then again, this book is so topsy-turvy I never gave myself the opportunity to figure it out.  I just went with the idea that in this world anything was possible.

On the surface, this book is a unique who dunnit, but it’s so much more than that. It weaves in bits of humanity- forgiveness and second chances that made it have even more depth. It’s got one helleva knot for a plot, but somehow Turton keeps it from being an absolute mess. It’s tricky but manageable.

This was an epic read but buckle up because its 400+ pages of a bumpy ride but definitely worth the journey.

Until next, happy reading!

August Reads in a Word

Once again, the month is at an end. This means its time to review the books, I rad in the month of August. I made it through seven books this month. Almost all of these were well worth the time.  Per usual, can you spot my favorite?

• Interview with a Vampire by: Anne Rice = Nebulous

• Obsido by: Amie Kaufman = Persistent

• Salt: A World History by: Mark Kurlansky = Edifying

• The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins = Bewildered

• The Love Goddress’ Cooking School by: Melissa Senate = Charming

• See What I Have Done by: Sarah Schmidt = Uninspired

• The Lost City of Z by: David Grann = Saga

Well there are August’s reads.  Looking forward to September!

Until next time, happy reading!

Faulty Book Comparisons

Book comparisons, in my opinion, are a bad idea. They either get you far too excited such as Twilight being compared to Harry Potter. Or it makes you not interested in trying to read a book at all such as The Girl on the Train being compare with Gone Girl.

I hated Gone Girl.

Naturally, due to my dislike of Gone Girl, I was less than enthused to read The Girl on a Train. Nevertheless, I did. I admit that I can detect the Gone Girl vibe, but I found The Girl on the Train to be far superior to Gone Girl.

There is quite a bit about The Girl on the Train that I didn’t expect. Namely, I didn’t realize it was British.  This made it immediately more palatable from the start. It’s also a bit like a Tarantino film, in that, the story line is chopped up. You discover things out of order and in odd ways.  The reader must puzzle out things for themselves. I tend to like this.

It had me gripped. It was a slightly slow start, but it had me by the go-nads about half way through. Thankfully, when I was making rice this past weekend, I set a timer. Those were the fastest seven minutes I’ve experienced in a long time.  They felt so fast that I thought I had accidentally set the time for far less than I was supposed to…more like seven seconds.

The Girl on the Train was a solid read despite that I figured it out the culprit long before the end.  It was still enjoyable. The ending was also far more satisfying than Gone Girl. And while, all the characters are flawed there are at least some qualities that are likable.

I found this read to be a nice surprise and a good reminder that we need to stop comparing book because in general they are wholly inaccurate in many ways.  Just say it was good, recommend it, and move on. So, The Girl on the Train was good. If you like intrigue and a bit of a thrill, this could be for you- even if you didn’t like Gone Girl.

Until next time, happy reading!