The Idiot: A Novel - Elif Batuman ------------------ 1.5 Stars

A Pulitzer Prize finalist from 2018, I had read people really enjoyed The Idiot. They said it was clever, funny, and an interesting read. Well, I did not find myself with the same impressions of the book as many of those who enjoyed.

This story is a bildungsroman focusing on a Turkish immigrant beginning her first year at Harvard. The book tells the story of her experience in college and, later, trip to Hungary. That's it. That's the plot. 

As you can guess from my rating, I really disliked this book. While I know that the plot wasn't actually why it was so liked, I did think it might have a bit more... something. I've read many, many books when the plot is not the central focus of the novel, but this one probably is the most disappointing of all of them. Truly, it felt like nothing ever happened.

Now, all this could be forgiven if the other areas of focus - character building, prose, dialogue, ideas, etc.-  were interesting. Unfortunately, I struggled to enjoy any other aspects of this book as well. Perhaps it has to do with me struggling to identify with the main character; it is true that I am not a college age Turkish immigrant at Harvard. However, I've enjoyed so many books with characters and people that are dissimilar than me. I don't think that's it.

I can only explain it as one of those things that happens with "art" sometimes where the "in" people (critics, other writers, etc.) determine that a piece is actually much better than any average observer would actually feel it is. I'm sure there was things that I missed that perhaps were clever, thoughtful, or funny that added something to this novel. But I believe that any average reader picking this up would hate it. And, in many ways I felt like the idiot continuing to stick with it even though I never enjoyed any part of it. But, I continually hoped it might get better and felt obligated to finish it. Perhaps I am wrong and you did or would enjoy this more than me. If that's true, that's great. But for me, this one just didn't resonate. They're not all winners!

Hard Rain Falling - Don Carpenter ----------------4 Stars

I'm going to bet the most people are not familiar with Don Carpenter's, 1966 novel, Hard Rain Falling. And, up until recently, I was part of that large group as well. But, after a recent video I watched suggesting this book never got the attention it deserved, it's having a small revival and I'm happy I came across it.

Set solidly in the 1940s, '50s, and '60s, this book is about an orphan who goes throughs some really difficult life situations, always finding a way to come out on the other end. While it's got a bit of A Catcher in the Rye quality to it, I found it closer to another favorite novel of mine from half a century ago - Revolutionary Road (review here). At its core, this story is about growing older and navigating the transition from youth to adulthood and how a person comes to live the life they were given, rather than the one they once hoped for.

As you can tell from this strong rating, I really enjoyed this book. I found the story quite captivating and love books where you can enjoy a longer arc of a person's life. This story, goes back to even before the protagonist is born and runs through much of his adult life. Of course, I admired the storytelling and the great detail to really understand life in the Pacific Northwest many years ago. Whether it be the seedy pool halls that many of the scenes take place or life in prison, I found myself consistently drawn back into the book even after putting it down. I also found his writing simple but with enough depth and complexity to keep me engaged. This is a great compliment as the current style of writing for most novels has changed so much that often when you read prose from decades ago it can feel stale and slow. Not here.

Like any book there were some challenges. It's not perfect with pace and there were certainly a few parts that I wished moved a bit quicker (that being said, it's a pretty tight 336 pages). It's also a hard book to read if you're looking for happy, sweet story. It's gritty and tough and filled with lots of heartache. It has violence, sex, and alcohol and drugs. It was also written at a time, by a white writer, where language is used freely that would no longer be considered appropriate. For all those reasons, I do suggest caution to some readers.

On a whole, however, I was pleasantly surprised with how easily this read and how much I enjoyed the content of this book. Like most themes that are deeply part of the human condition, much of it comes off as timeless, and Carpenter does a great job of telling a fairly simple story in a very thoughtful way. 

The Playground/The Overstory - Richard Powers ------------ 3.5 Stars/4 Stars

So, in preparing for this review, I really was excited to share about the second Richard Powers book I've reviewed. Of course, the first being the Pulitzer Prize winning, The Overstory. Except, when I looked through my blog to find my review of this book, I couldn't find it. That is super weird to me; in general, I review every book I read. Plus I really adored the The Overstory. So, wanted to make a note how much I enjoyed that book before sharing about the book I just finished - The Playground. While similar in many ways to The Overstory, I just didn't find it quite as satisfying or entertaining. Still good though!

Since I mentioned The Overstory too, both books really are quite similar. Both have to do with an important part of the Earth (trees in the first book; oceans in The Playground). The author makes a not at all veiled point of just how important the trees and oceans are too our world. Further, just how much humans are doing t
o cause harm to these things. Both books have a few main characters with seemingly unrelated timelines and stories that do come together at the end. Finally, both books really do have some amazing prose and storytelling.

This book is a pretty engaging and interesting read, that, aside from a few slow parts, really had a great pace. As Powers quickly will go from story to story (in sometimes non-sequential order), it keeps the reader on their feet and focused on the novel. I also just adore how beautifully he can share about the wonders of the world. In this book, his description of the ocean, fish, etc., is just amazing. You can't help but feel like you are in the water, visualizing these amazing creatures in your head. The book also has an incredibly unexpected ending that really made me rethink many parts of the novel. This was really not something I was anticipating and added so much more to the book.

As a whole, I really found both of these books to be enjoyable and entertaining. Although they can feel long at times, with a bit too much prose and detail about his favorite aspects of the novel's focus (trees/oceans), his great characters, amazing ability to create detail, and wonderful storytelling, go a long way to offset any annoyances the reader might have. I strongly recommend both books.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - J.K. Rowling ----------------- 4 Stars

Yes, I know; I'm super late to the Harry Potter phenomenon. In trying to figure out why I had never read one until now, I think I've realized its a timing issue. See, the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was released in 1997. At that point I was a 17 year old junior or senior and I would venture to guess reading about a childish magician didn't seem like the coolest thing to be engaging with. Then, of course, as things blew up and got crazy with HP, I was in college; and, again, I probably wasn't in a great place to enjoy these types or books. But, here I am, 28 years after release enjoying the first Harry Potter book.

Unless you've been living under a stone for the past quarter century, you know who Harry Potter is and you know about the many books and movies (and everything else that go with it). So, no point in summarizing the book. Rather, I'll share my mid-40 year old thoughts about this first HP book - it was pretty dang entertaining!

And, to be honest, I wasn't sure it would be. See, I'm not a huge fan of these types of books they're not really based in reality. Of course, I like a great story and interesting characters, which this book has plenty of, but my preference tends not to be these types of novels. But, of course, this book is wildly fun to read, easy to digest, and a great story arc with wonderful characters. As a huge Roald Dahl fan in my youth, I found it as many similarities to some of his books. The whimsical nature and easily connectable characters make them easy to consume.

Of course, the book isn't perfect. For me, it still reads like a "young adult" book, but that also makes it a smooth read. And, I've been promised, should I decide to continue with the series, future stories will seem more grown-up and "darker". Perhaps knowing there might be some future books coming, I do feel like some of the characters also are a bit flat, and I'm really curious about their backgrounds and wanting to learn more about them. Again, I assume that is in the future books.

Unfortunately, I'm now at a difficult point. I feel like I should continue reading other HP in the series but know the newer books are longer and many more of them than I feel like I have time for. For now, I'm gonna try something else and see if my interest come back to Harry Potter or this might be the one that I can check the box having read. If so, I can see why these were so popular and happy to at least be catching up now with this global phenomenon. 

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt ---------------- 3.5 Stars

So, I know I'm super late coming to the Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil party, seeing as the book was released 20 years ago this year and spent a record 216 weeks on the NY Times Bestseller list. But, with an upcoming trip to Savannah planned and an understanding that this book has been on my "to read" list for a while, it was a perfect time to give it a try. And, for the most part, I'm happy I did.

The book had a pretty interesting structure. The first third is a variety of vignettes about a half dozen or so eccentric personalities the author met during his time living in Savannah. Some connected with one another, some not, and he does a nice job pulling you into the life of Savannah by sharing these characters backgrounds, traits and relationship to the city. Then the book moves to a true crime focus, with the details leading up to a murder (of course, with a couple of those main characters). Finally, the book captures what happened, the (long) trials (yes, multiple), and the aftermath of that trial and subsidiary characters.

For the most part, the book was quite entertaining. Really capturing the flavor and heart of this interesting city, I found the book an enjoyable read. Going in, I knew a bit about the book and thought it would be much more about the murder and trail, as opposed to being a minority of time spent in the story. But, the other characters and stories about each of them was easy to read and fun to keep up with. I did have occasional frustrations that he didn't spend a bit more time with the murder trail and a bit less on these bit characters, but I understand that wasn't really his main focus in writing this story.

Of course, the movie that came out not longer after the book's release really vaulted this book to a higher level and it's safe to say it was a cultural phenomenon (too strong?) for a couple of years. While I'm about 20 years late to it, I am happy to have finally had the pleasure to see what all the excitement was about. Now to see if the city lives up to it too!

The Premonition: A Pandemic Story - Michael Lewis ----------------- 2.5 Stars

I've really enjoyed books written Michael Lewis. I've read a few and was so impressed (review from a few months ago) with Going Infinite, the story about Sam Bankman-Fried, I figured I'd enjoy The Premonition: A Pandemic Story. Unfortunately, it was my least favorite Lewis book to date.

One of the things that I've been so impressed by, is Lewis's ability to write books so quickly about topical modern events. The Going Infinite book was like that and this book was written only a year after the pandemic was in full swing (this book was published in May 2021). To have detailed and lengthy books come out so quickly, Lewis has to work quickly; I mean, I think there's no other way to do it. Unfortunately, this book really feels like it was written in a few months. While it started out drawing the reader in and had a great few opening chapters, I found it unravelled the more I read it with the final chapters seemingly all over the place.

The book has some pretty interesting stories about the response in place for the COVID pandemic. In addition, Lewis does a great job of identifying fringe people that were not and are not famous but play into the pandemic response across America. And, like many of his books, these small, unknown people and stories really are the best parts of the book.

However, as an overall narrative, I just found it to fall flat. Besides jumping from subject to subject with not always the most logical order (at least most of the time it was chronological), I struggled to follow some of his anecdotes. Their relevance to story often left me questioning why it was included. Truly, by the final chapter or two I felt like he was stream of conscious writing, which seems so odd for a fiction story. 

I'm not sure I'd recommend this book. While I love Lewis, I thought I'd get a bit more insight about how the pandemic played out and the various responses of the government (Fauci and Trump are bit characters at best). Of course, it's still a fairly enjoyable read with some interesting people involved, just not one of my favorite by a very strong writer. 

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind - Yuval Noah Harari --------------- 2.5 Stars

On my list to read for a while, I was excited to finally tackle Sapiens during the Winter Break. I actually started it in early December and figured it'd be an engaging read that I would get through quickly. Well, I was wrong in a couple ways.

Coming in at nearly 600 of fairly dense writing, I struggled to get through and enjoy this book. It was odd though, when I was reading it, I often was interested and did find it engaging, but I really struggled to read in long bursts and want to pick it back up day after day. Taking over a month and a half to get through (while having larger amounts of free time than normal), I was a bit surprised this book didn't resonate with me more fully.

If you are not familiar, the book has a great premise. Here is it as Amazon writes it better, "From renowned historian Yuval Noah Harari comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.”

One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us?"

Really, its a history of humans; a subject that seems fascinating. And many parts of the book really are fascinating. I learned a ton about the biology of people, the evolution of Sapiens, and became more much more aware of how many things have changed. I think this book does an amazing job offering perspective about our current world and living while also making you realize just how big and long our universe has existed.

I also will say that Harari's writing style is enjoyable. Again, for a nearly 600 page retrospective about the history of humans, he does a fairly good job of keeping the reader engaged through an informal, and occasionally funny, writing style. It actually reminded me a lot of a Bill Bryson book I love titled, A Short History of Everything. Bryson's book was much more science focused and bit more humorous, but similar all the same.

Ultimately, I don't know if I struggled to engage with this book because other things preoccupied me (tv, phone, family) during Winter Break or it just a book that I would have struggled with regardless of place and time. I am thinking more and more it's the latter. I usually fly through books when I have some time away and usually read multiple during previous Breaks. It's also odd as I tend to prefer books about people and politics rather than other areas of non-fiction. But again, this book never could make an impression on me.

So, I leave it to you to decide what you think. With a 4.3 Goodreads and 4.6 Amazon rating, it's clearly a book that many enjoy (and a Obama and Bill Gates summer reading pick!). And, the content was great and I actually did learn many things. However, I never felt super excited to get back to it and stay engaged with it.

Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering - Malcolm Gladwell ---------------------- 3 Stars

One of my favorite, and most popular books that I've enjoyed was Malcolm Gladwell's 2006, The Tipping Point. It really moved me into reading more non-fiction books and got me on a path to read far more books that were more focused on modern culture and human behavior. After reviewing a number of Gladwell's books over the years, I was pretty excited to pick up the long awaited sequel, Revenge of the Tipping Point. Unfortunately, it really didn't live up to my expectations. 

So, I don't even think Gladwell was planning to write this book. Rather, he shares that he was looking to update a few parts of the original book but as he learned more about a few subjects, it seems he felt motivated to share some of the stories and lessons he learned. And, the highlights are certainly the stories and anecdotes he tells. He is still a gifted writer who doesn't waste words and keeps the reader engaged with really fascinating tales of real life that I would imagine nearly all readers don't know about.

Some of the places/people/issues he talks about include: Miami - why is it the way it is?; how did successful bank robbers work in LA in the 1970s; how did a TV show from the 1970s change the world?; why does Harvard care so much about random sports?; How the "Magic Third" leads to racial harmony, and many more. Again, these discrete stories are really fascinating, and I found myself flying through the book wanting to know how how each would end/what lesson Gladwell was trying to make in sharing.

Unfortunately, this is where the book really disappointed me. Perhaps I am getting older and struggling to see connections as well, or, perhaps (and I'd argue more likely), Gladwell did a really poor job of connecting and explaining why these events matter. And, even more challenging for me to understand, what they hell do they have to do with tipping points. I mean, a couple were certainly more clear - like a finding that he shared once a certain group gets around 33% representation in a place/setting/etc., it immediately has massive benefits and changes of culture. That's a tipping point. However, for much of his other stories, I really struggled to see any point in his retelling.

Of course, I still recommend this book. It's wildly entertaining and I'll probably read anything Gladwell writes. Just be aware that I really feel like he lost some of his fastball on this one.

Yellowface - R. F. Kuang ------------------ 4 Stars

Released last year, Yellowface was met with some strong early reviews and was recommended to me as a good read. I recently finished it, really quite quickly, and agree that it's a worth checking out for a coupe of reasons.

As the title and cover aren't super helpful in understand the premise, it is a book about a struggling author who is friendly with a much more popular author. But, when that author dies suddenly with the main character present, she pilfers a few things and then finishes the dead author's unwritten novel. Of course, it goes on to great success but there are some problems that quickly arise, most obviously the book is written by an Asian author, which she is not. 

The book really leans into the satire of racial diversity and the thread of race is inherent through the entire novel. Besides having a "viewpoint" and having clear takes about modern culture, the book is a really fun read. It's written in a way that the reader's attention is grabbed pretty quickly and continues at a quick pace through much of the novel. As my reviews are heavily based on entertainment value, I enjoyed this text and found it hard to put down. 

I also really did appreciate how modern and relevant the text was. While I am not sure it will necessarily age well, it already felt like there was an over reliance on the use of X/Twitter in the book, it did seem clearly written in the present day. Leaning into a variety of current technology the book talks about not just the wide variety of social media apps, the ubiquitous of cell phones, but even AI software used to determine what of the novel was the original author and what was not.

The biggest downside of the book was it didn't seem like it knew where it wanted to go after the initial premise.  The first half is great but then it slows down a bit and never really hits a different gear. Don't get me wrong, it's still a good read and interesting but it felt a bit in stasis. I also thought it was not a strong ending which also took away from the success of the story. I'm writing this about a week after I finished and am struggling to even remember how it ended; not a good sign!

Overall, it's a fun and thought provoking book that really does have some interesting takes. Like any good piece of satire, I left thinking differently about a few things. That, plus, a super fast read via a non stop page turning story, leads to a 4 star review.

Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon - Michael Lewis ---------------- 4 Stars

I've read and reviewed a few of Michael Lewis's books and normally find them quite interesting. The other thing that I find remarkable about them is how quickly he is able to churn out content that is topical and timely. He got particularly lucky with this new book, Going Infinite, as it's basically a biography of Sam  Bankman-Fried, who just this summer was convicted of multiple crimes and sent to prison. Besides landing at a perfect time that's newsworthy, it's a pretty fascinating read by itself.

As shared above, this book basically shares the life and times of Sam Bankman-Fried, at one point, one of the richest people in the world who built his empire on cryptocurrency and some fuzzy math. Starting with his somewhat atypical upbringing and navigating through his arrest last year, Lewis does an admirable job of covering his life. Almost always appropriately giving time to what should be covered, I left with a pretty good feel for Bankman-Fried's history. 

Unfortunately, I did not leave with a great sense of why Bankman-Fried did much of what he did and exactly what crimes he committed (and if he even knew he was committing them). Now, this is not due to the author's lack of skill or attempt to try to convey this information; rather, it's because Bankman-Fried is a bit of an enigma. And, beyond that, it is clear that Lewis has a different viewpoint of him than most other people (including those in the judicial system). If you'd like to get a shorter read of the book, that has a few other conclusions drawn based on the last year since it was published, check out Lewis' fascinating article in the Washington Post.

And, while I really did enjoy the book and thought it moved at a great pace and was a simply fascinating exposé about the main character, I struggled to follow perhaps 10% of what was shared. Now, this is not new or different from his other books. He's a smart guy and he has no problem using technical jargon and assuming the reader has a similar level of knowledge of things than he does (this reader, absolutely, does not!). While this might take away from parts of the book as it's hard to understand exactly what happened, it also adds to the allure and mystery. It also can be explained by the fact that even the people who are experts in this are and intimately involved don't necessarily always understand what is going on. 

SIDE NOTE- for those not familiar, Bankman-Fried is in jail for taking a bunch of people's money. Lewis in the Post piece, basically says Bankman-Friend never actually stole people's money and it's still available it and could be given back to people. The idea that this isn't even a known fact of this point shows you how confusing all this is.

Anyway, as someone who knew very little about this person or what was going on with his trial, I found this book really interesting. Sam Bankman-Fried is one of the most fascinating people and what occurred the last few year was an incredible and meteoric rise to fame and wealth. If reading, just know that you might have to push through some parts that don't make any sense (but don't be discourage, they don't make sense a lot of people, even those involved!)

Chain Gang All Stars - Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah --------------------- 3.5 Stars

Chain-Gang All-Stars has received some wonderful accolades after its release last year. After hearing about a few of them, I thought I'd give this book a read. And, while it did feel repetitive and a bit arduous at times, the plot and focus was unique.

In a dystopian future in America, a private prison system exists, and criminals are pitted against one another in death matches as they seek their freedom. This book is focused on two exceptional woman gladiators who are excellent killers (and characters) who struggle greatly within the system they are forced to kill  The book follows them along with some secondary characters who both question the structure they exist in along with others who work to keep it in place.

I found the book fascinating when I started. Once I understood the set up the novel and how things were different in this fictional future, I was pretty interested. The set up and start of the novel really was excellent. The author did a great job also introducing the key characters and explaining the major players that would be important as the book went along. I also thought the last 10% of the novel was great too. While they set up the final battle, and you kind of knew what was coming, there was well written enough, with enough of a surprise, to make the ending really satisfying. 

Unfortunately, I found the middle third of the book a bit repetitive and slow. I almost felt like the author knew how the novel would start and how they wanted to end it and then had to figure out the middle mid-writing.  For me, it was simply too long with too many side stories and details provided that were really unnecessary. I felt the author couldn't decide if she wanted to round out and really introduce and provide great stories about these secondary characters or just wanted them to existed generally. Unfortunately, she split the difference and did neither well.  

What was perhaps most welcome, surprising and noteworthy about this book was how well the author leaned into describing and educating the reader about all the ills and problems of our modern prison sentence. Offered as one of the worst democratic countries in the world in this regard, the litany of footnotes shared real facts about the horrors that is our prison system for so many individuals. Besides clearly humanizing those behind bars, the author also does a great job of showing how similar they are too so many others. I was amazed by a number of the facts about individuals throughout American history who were unfairly treated and prosecuted (of course, most are people of Color). It left me doing more than a few deep dives to research more. 

While I didn't find every page of this book fulfilling, and it suffered from some slow chapters, I do recommend this book strongly. This book is different, entertaining, and has a perspective and viewpoint about something. While it's violent and may push people out of their comfort zone, more books are needed like this.

Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy -------------------- 1.5

Well. I'm clearly a fool.  Here are words I wrote upon reviewing Cormac McCarthy's The Road on February 22, 2009., "...but after two books I think I am done with him."    Ugh, why didn't I remember that and listen to myself? Instead, here I am, 15 YEARS LATER, giving the same review I gave then.

To give myself some credit and grace, Blood Meridian, has been on my list for so long I probably forgot about my negative feelings about McCarthy. And, perhaps more importantly, in the last decade or so critics opine that Blood Meridian might one of the greatest American novels in the past fifty years. Even, one of my favorites, David Foster Wallace wrote that. So, there was/is a huge amount of people heaping praise upon this book. That, along with it's focus on the Old West made me think I had to give it a try... and what a colossal mistake.

As you can probably tell, I wanted to like this book so much. I really did. I gave it a shot, at the start, even when I wasn't digging it. I wanted to give up half way through but figured it might have a great final half. And I wanted to drop it with about 100 pages left but I had come so far. Unfortunately, it never really got better or changed or did something new.

So why? Why all the hate? Well, mostly because it's just a miserable read. It's not entertaining, its' not funny, it's not really interesting, and if that wasn't enough, it's super dark. Like, I can't believe how many times he uses the "n" word or describes, in great detail the scalping of a Native Americans. The violence is just over the top. And the sense of nothing is incessant.  

If curious, here's Amazon's summary "Based on historical events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s, Blood Meridian traces the fortunes of the Kid, a fourteen-year-old Tennesseean who stumbles into the nightmarish world where Indians are being murdered and the market for their scalps is thriving."

I mean, that's about it.  For like, 400 pages. And, to make it even harder, he really doesn't use many structural tools. So no quotation marks for people speaking, very few commas, god forbid he uses a semi-colon. 

I could go on and on about how much I struggled with this book. And, to be fair, there were some parts that were interesting but I'd say 90% of it nothing of substance happens and you have to really wade your way through McCarthy's dense writing. Don't get me wrong, he's a genius with words and describing nature, but don't ask him to shape a character's motivation or offer
a great piece of dialogue.

As you can tell, I really can't recommend this novel. It was truly one of my least favorite books I've read, and I feel so bad about that. But, it's how it felt to me and perhaps you might have a different view of it.

 

The Club Dumas Paperback –Arturo Perez-Reverte ----------------- 3 Stars

On my "To Read' list" for a number of years was The Club Dumas, and I was finally able to get to it this summer. While it came highly suggested as a great mystery novel, I did struggle with the book in a number of ways. Nonetheless, it was a decent read that kept me engaged.

In many ways, this book reminded me of those many Dan Brown novels that were such huge hits, beginning with The Da Vinci Code (reviews of a couple others I read here). Similarly, this book is basically a detective story based on old artifacts and old books. This one, as you could probably figure from the name, had many references to Alexander Dumas, and his classic book - The Three Musketeers.  Besides having numerous references to this book, this novel also noted about a dozen other older manuscripts, including many that had to do with occult. 

Perhaps most unfortunately for me, I never read The Three Musketeers or any of the other books mentioned. I think that would have been helpful to me as there were large parts of the story I had no idea what was going on. In fact, after finishing it, I am still not sure what happened in the story. Besides having many dark parts and a lot of violence, it really was a challenging book to follow that left me fairly unsatisfied after concluding. 

But, it still earned 3 stars as my reviews are based on entertainment value and engagement. And, well, this book was awfully engaging when reading it. The pace was fast and the story did read like a well put together mystery novel. And, even though I didn't really know what was going for many parts, the main character was pretty interesting and his escapades to solve the mystery were pretty fun to go along with. 

I'm not sure I can recommend this book strongly but for some readers who really like a good mystery store and/or have good knowledge of Dumas' work, this might be a good read for you (though you've probably already picked up by now). If you are looking for a light beach read, though, this is likely not for you. 

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie - 3.5 Stars

Like many, I was first put on to Agatha Christie many years ago with her famous And Then There Were None.  I remember really enjoying that story, even though it was nearly thirty years ago that I read it. It was such a great mystery and clearly showed how wonderful of a storyteller Christie is. Recently, I came across an article listing the Murder of Roger Ackroyd as they most underrated book she wrote and another great mystery novel, so I gave it a shot. Pretty happy I did.

Unbelievably, this book was written nearly a hundred years ago. I note that as the pace and focus of the novel seemed nearly modern. Not overly indulgent or long, the book quickly puts you into the center of the book, which, not surprisingly, is the murder of Roger Ackroyd. It swiftly picks up from there as the great detective, Hercule Poirot, comes on the scene. Besides being an interesting character who also seems to always say something clever. He, via Christie of course, begins to observe many elements and slow expose pieces of them to the reader to help discover who might have killed Ackroyd.

For much of the novel, it really did feel like I was watching a real life "Clue" game take place. A rich guy, killed in a giant mansion with many different individuals around as suspects. At one point the author actually provides a visual of a sitting room in the house, and it almost felt like a Clue board. The book is also entertaining as the characters are pretty interesting and there's such a large number of them, who seemingly all have a motive to kill Ackroyd, you never stop guessing.

Of course, like any good sleuth, I did figure it out about half way through. Unfortunately, I read a newer edition that included two prefaces that probably gave away too much information about the killer (I will not do the same for you but do suggest you just start the novel if you get the same copy). And, like And Then There Were None, Christie does such a super job of smartly giving you only what you need to keep guessing while also enough to stay full engaged. 

Few downsides to the book. It does get slow at some parts and, of course, there are some dated terms, items, etc. But, honestly, for being a century old, it was surprisingly easy to get through. Only other frustration is just how much Christie tries to paint everyone as the murderer. I get it, that's the type of story and it is entertaining. However, the plot sometimes gets so complicated to try to make everyone look bad it becomes a bit unrealistic.

In any case, I do recommend it if you love Christie and/or a great mystery novel. Again, super and fun easy read and see if you can be as good a detective as I was!

Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters Paperback - Mark Dunn ------------ 3 Stars

Clever, creative, original - just same words that come to mind after finishing the bizarre but somehow quite interesting, Ella Minnow Pea. Released in 2022, I had read the premise of the book and thought it seemed like something I had not seen before; happy I gave it a try.

As noted above, the book is about (per Amazon), "Ella Minnow Pea is a girl living happily on the fictional island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina. Nollop was named after Nevin Nollop, author of the immortal phrase containing all the letters of the alphabet, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”

Now Ella finds herself acting to save her friends, family, and fellow citizens from the encroaching totalitarianism of the island’s Council, which has banned the use of certain letters of the alphabet as they fall from a memorial statue of Nevin Nollop. As the letters progressively drop from the statue they also disappear from the novel. The result is "a love letter to alphabetarians and logomaniacs everywhere" (Myla Goldberg, bestselling author of Bee Season)"

Not sure about you, but the line, "as the letters progressively drop form the statue they also disappear form the novel." This, I thought is interesting; is the author really going to stop using certain letters in his prose (yes!)? Is it going to be weird and hard to read (again, yes!). Is it not something I've seen before (of course, yes!). 

It's a weird book but pretty interesting and I think satire(!?). One huge plus, it's super short (Amazon says 208 pages but it took me like 2 hours to finish). Like a long short story or maybe "novella" length. This helps as it's all letters between people, and as I noted, reading a book without certain letters is hard to do! The book has got some funny parts too and has a pretty great ending. 

Other downsides between the hard reading at the end- a bit hard to follow all the characters. As there are letters you don't know who is writing till then end (or you flip a few pages forward).  Even then, it's hard to always keep straight. The bigger issue is that there were NUMEROUS words on each page I had no idea what they mean. I feel pretty knowledgeable of words but, wow, it was tough. I used context clues for most (too lazy for dictionary) but it seemed like author was just showing off at some points.

Anyway, check it out. Again, different but worth the read at least once.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin ------------------ 4.5 Stars

Release two years ago, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow received critical acclaim since published. After waiting a couple months for the local Kindle copy to come in from the library, I truly enjoyed my read of this book. 

To provide a very simple summary for those not familiar with the book - "The novel follows the relationship between three friends who begin a successful video game company together." Of course, that comes nowhere close to describing the story that I enjoyed over the past few weeks. Certainly the book is about three close friends who are basically teenagers when they begin working; and certainly the book is about them creating video games. But, invariably, the book is about much much more. It's about people growing up; about the grief one faces in life; about over coming adversity; about love. Really, it's about so many things about being human, which is what made it such an engaging read.

What I think I enjoyed most about the book was that it was able to face all those topics above, while offering a straightforward and engaging storyline at the same time. The characters were interesting and deep. The book had plenty of thoughtful and bright dialogue (always a personal favorite for me). And, while the book likely could be enjoyed by a person of any background, much of the book does focus on video games and their creation. I found the specifics and details offered there just as fascinating as when the book pivots to conversations about death of love.

As much I enjoyed this book, and I really did, I thought it useful to check out what others did not enjoy. And while it does have an impressive 4.4/5 rating on Amazon, you can always head over to Reddit to see what others disliked. And, it was a variety of things. Some complain that the first half was much better than the second (I don't disagree; though the first half is also all the good stuff and way up, so things had to come back down). Some thought it was too unrealistic - again, I can see where they are coming from and understand this argument, especially in the context of how real the rest of the book was written. However, it's a book of fiction and if there weren't big twists or surprising elements, I'm not sure it'd be that interesting of a read. Also, many people thought some of the characters were either not believable or just annoying. There is truth there too, and I think they were designed that way. And, I think that added great depth to the story. 

I hope clear by now, and certainly from the rating, that this one of my favorite books I've read in a while. I really struggled to put it down, but at the same time, tried to savor it knowing it would end soon. In fact, it reminds me a great deal of Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch (review here). Both books are really fun reads with great characters and a great story. I do recommend this book and hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

The Hunting Party - Lucy Foley ------------- 3 Stars

I read The Hunting Party was a great "who dunnit" story from the other side of the pond. And, while I was actually pretty engaged with the book (which ultimately saved the rating), I thought the story was a mess and pretty frustrating by the end.

The book is a few years old and it fits in that genre of what I've read too much of lately: mystery type novels, often involving a death, with a bunch of potential characters who may be guilty. This one reminded me so much of a mix of The Girl on the Train (much better; review here) and Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None (yes, a classic). Like Girl on the Train, alcohol and other devices made it difficult to know what was reality and what was a person's misremembering - what a simple (and maybe lazy) way to confuse the reader. The setting was a secluded farm in rural Scotland with about 8 potential murderers, which reminded me so much of the 10 suspects on the island in Christie's book. 

I really did think the story was a mess. Besides having 7 or 8 different narrators, timelines jumped all over the place. And, while some replaying of scenes from different POVs made it more interesting, some were repetitive and/or didn't provide any new information. The characters were also really oddly shaped. Some had great depth and others minimal; again, all with different timelines sharing that information. I won't even go into the ending, but it was a let down for me.

On a positive, it's an engaging read, especially for the first half when things were making a bit more sense. Many chapters left the reader curious what was going to happen next and the author didn't strike out totally with the back and forth descriptors of things. I did find myself often wanting to continue reading the next chapter; though, oddly, I didn't find myself wanting to continue to read the book after I put it down.

Ultimately, I've read a number of books of this type that were simply better; more creative, more logical with better formed characters and plot. However, you could do a lot worse this summer if picking this up. It's an easy read that likely will hold your attention and it might remind you about all the ways some other books are superior.

The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest - Candice Millard -------------------- 2.5 Stars

  The River of Doubt sounded like a really exciting book to read. As Amazon describes it, "At once an incredible adventure narrative and a penetrating biographical portrait—the bestselling author of River of the Gods brings us the true story of Theodore Roosevelt’s harrowing exploration of one of the most dangerous rivers on earth." Well, from that description, I thought it would be a really exciting and enthralling novel to read. Unfortunately, it fell well short of my expectations.

And, to be clear, there were parts of the book I really enjoyed. Some of the biographical pictures offered about all the other characters besides Teddy were particularly interesting. Learning about his son, Kermit, was something new, and the leader of the Brazilian contingency. I also appreciated the lead up and set up the eventual adventure in the Amazon. Learning about how the trip came together, why Roosevelt wanted to take part, and how undiscovered this area was (a little more than a hundred year ago) was worthwhile. Learning about the Native Brazilians who lived in the Amazon, and truly understood how to live in harmony with the jungle, was great. Finally, I really appreciated his vivid and detailed descriptions of life in the Amazon. While I knew that it was a beautiful and unique place, I really didn't appreciate all the dangers and threat that existed; especially as you tried to navigate an unknown river with the technologies that existed a century ago.

Unfortunately, I found the book flat on the whole. While there were some highlights, as noted above, I didn't find the writing all that captivating. I also thought the author could have used a better editor, especially in the middle of the book. With hundreds of pages dedicated to the specifics of their time in the Amazon, it became draining and dragged on. Too many chapters seemed repetitive to the chapter before. And, while I appreciate that I'm sure that's what it felt for those on this incredible journey (times a million), as a reader in my comfortable home, I am most looking to be entertained. I also wish I got more about Roosevelt. Perhaps there weren't enough specific details that could be used (or his journal was lacking), but learning about one of the most famous presidents of all time thought about things would have been illuminating.  

Overall, it's a decent book and one a reader would like if fascinated with adventure stories and/or the life of Teddy Roosevelt. And, while much of the book is a bit slower than desired, it's still a great story about one of the most surprising pieces of unknown (at least to me) history from the past century. 

Don't Believe It - Charlie Donlea ------------------- 3.5 Stars

Been on a bit of a role lately reading these "modern" thriller books with typical plot twists near the ending. Don't Believe It can be added to the laundry list and is pretty similar to the rest of them. Not a super deep book with a lot of meaning on life. Rather, it's a pretty engaging page turner that is pretty hard to put down. Unfortunately, I found this one really struggled to nail the landing.

This one is a typical murder mystery type with an aggrieved girlfriend put in prison for the death of her fiancee. The book's main protagonist is a documentary filmmaker who's rise to fame is based on getting innocent people out of jail. So, she hears the story about this woman in prison and works to tell the world about her case. The story is told in parts as a typical fictional narrative while being interspersed with text from her real time "documentary" airing about this crime. As the story moves along, you get more details revealed throughout the book which helps you begin to piece together what happened. Of course, you get a typical twist ending, and the nice pretty bow of everything explained by the end.

As you can tell from my fairly annoyed commentary, I really didn't love the book. And, I actually found a couple parts in the past quarter of the story, particularly annoying. I won't go into the specifics of what they are and spoil parts of the book for you, but I found the author took some shortcuts to get to the ending and made some odd choices around character and plot. And while I understand it's a book of fiction, the book is based in reality yet a couple of things near the end seemed so unrealistic that I found I really didn't enjoy how it concluded.

Yet, even with those challenges, the book still earns 3.5 stars as I couldn't put it down when reading it. Even from the start, I found it an engaging read that had a great pace. The characters were pretty flat and, honestly, pretty dislikable across the board. Nonetheless, my rankings are based on level of engagement, and I found it a fun, albeit frustrating, novel.

The Nickel Boys - Colson Whitehead ----------- 3 Stars

A few years ago, I read The Underground Railroad by the impressive and well-regarded Colson Whitehead. While he's written a number of other books, I thought I'd give The Nickel Boys a try, as it too was a Pulitzer Prize wining novel. While not as engaging and interesting a read as The Underground Railroad (my review here), I did it enjoy it.

The Nickel Boys is actually loosely based on a real life reform school in Florida that was open for over a century. This story centers on Elwood Curtis, who is unfairly sentenced to this juvenile reform school. While a bright teen on a fairly straight path in life, his experience totally changes upon his arrival and time at this school. He learns a lot about friendship, the unfairness of life (especially for people of color), and survival. Changing timelines from his current life back to his experiences at Nickel Academy, the book has a nicely moving plot.

As you could assume from the Pulitzer earned, the writing is fantastic. Whitehead has a way, not just with words, but with character development and adroit details, leading to memorable descriptions of people and places. Relatedly, the main character is beautifully described and easy to root for. While many aspects of the novel are difficult to read (violence against young black boys, overt racism, etc.), Elwood consistently delivers as the moral heart of the story. He's easy to root for as the clear hero of the story.

On a whole, the book has a nice pace, and I never found myself bored. Nonetheless, it didn't excite me to pick it up as much as other books. The rising action is limited and usually small in scope (until the ending, which was an interesting surprise). There are also stretches of menial plot and character development, that also were not the most enjoyable.

It's also always hard to read about the history of racism in this country and all the ways it has hurt people (and continues to do so). While the book doesn't ever read like a textbook or news article (in the best of ways), you can't help but think often about the systems of historical racism in our country.

Which, in some ways, did make me appreciate the real historical roots of this story. The Dozier School, which opened on the first day of the past century, is the school that Whitehead based his work. I urge you to learn more about it (and others). For me, as this was was a new piece of information about historical racism at work, and I think others might also appreciate knowing more too.