The Last Bridge by Teri Coyne (36/81)

category: Authors That Are New to Me

C2009 5stars

"Life just happened to my mother...She lived in suspended animation, waiting for something better. Killing herself was the only real choice she ever made."

It's been a decade since Alex, affectionately known as Cat, has returned to the Rucker farm. Wounded by the emotional and physical damage dealt to her in childhood, and carrying baggage of her own creation, Cat is disintegrating into a pool of destructive vices. Now her mother is gone and her father won't live much longer. Can she find the courage to heal the relationships she needs the most?

I received this book through LT's Early Reviewer program. Last night while my husband prepared dinner, I thought I would read the first chapter. Three hours later I closed the back cover.
Coyne excels at capturing the heightened emotions often present around dysfunctional families: the hate, the shame and yes, the love. Being from a dysfunctional family myself, parts of this book were painful for me to read but at the same time that made it easier for me to identify with these characters and embrace them.
The marketers of this novel have made comparisons to Jodi Picoult's work and several reviews have picked up on that. I have read every Picoult novel and while both women are adept at writing family dramas, each has their own voice and style. I personally believe this novel to be better than Picoult's last few offerings and I am very excited to see what Ms. Coyne does next.

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Monster Nation by David Wellington (35/81)

category: The Monster Mash
C2004 285pages 3stars

Nilla can't remember much. She took her name from the box of cookies someone was nice enough to give her. But those are all gone now. She's just so terribly hungry.The one thing she does remember is waking up in a puddle of her own blood with a wound on her shoulder, as if someone had gnawed on her. And something strange is happening all over California. Dead people wake up, and walk, and bite. Doomsday is here. There are those who want to stop it, and those who want to revel in it. Unfortunately for Nilla, both factions believe she's the key to it all.

I loved Monster Island, the first book in the series, so I was anxious to read this second installment. I'm a firm believer that second books in trilogies are always a little awkward. There were a few moments that recaptured the brilliance of the first novel but I didn't particularly enjoy it. If I want to read an apocalyptic road trip across the USA, I'm going to stick with Stephen King's The Stand.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (34/81)

category: Speculative Fiction
C2005 288pages 2.5stars

Kathy and Ruth and Tommy are Hailsham graduates. Hailsham grads all share a common destiny. They are special. They are dedicated. And they give all for their country. But one day Ruth begs Kathy to stop the process for Tommy. Will Kathy find a way?

I did not enjoy this book. i wanted to. I expected to, having heard good things about it. I patiently kept on reading, waiting for it to get good. But it didn't. In fact, it was so boring. I guess it just wasn't the kind of speculative fiction I am used to. It's so understated. So reserved. Stoic. British. I think that's it. Like the stories you hear about the British citizens on the Titanic who dutifully queued up while the Americans pushed and shoved their way to the lifeboats. These characters were too sedate. I wanted pushing and shoving. I wanted passion and action and vitality. When Kathy and Tommy were in the car I just wanted to scream 'take the car and run, you stupid sheep!' Oh well.

In the Woods by Tana French (33/81)

category: Authors That Are New To Me
C2008 464 pages 3stars

In a nutshell... underwhelming.
Being an Edgar award-winner and having solid reviews, I had my hopes up for this book but it let me down. I didn't like the protagonist at all. In fact, I didn't find myself attached to any of the main characters. They were wooden. Not cardboard, they did have substance, it was just... stiff, contrived. Also, I figured out the Big Bad early on and it seemed to take forever for the detectives to catch up. So I found myself a little annoyed, wondering how many pages French was going to chew up getting to the point. But my main complaint (and this might be a SPOILER, so continue reading at your own risk) is that French does not provide all the answers. There are two murder mysteries in this novel and only one is solved conclusively. I'm not sure if I'll read the sequel or not, I'm ready to wash my hands of French and move on.

Japanland by Karin Muller (31/81)

Category: Travelogue
C2005 307pgs 3.5stars

Lately my Netflix queue has been full to the brim with anime and J-Horror movies. I find myself with an insatiable curiosity about most things Japanese (if it's small, fuzzy and saccharine sweet I can usually resist). I dream of packing my bags and heading off to the island 'someday'. So when Amazon recommended this book to me, I felt it was the perfect venue for some armchair travel. And indeed, Muller does give you a sense of what being an outsider, a Gaijin, is like: at the home of her host family, at the market, asking directions on the street, in the public baths, etc.
Japanland, as described by Muller, is "an alternate reality", "the mask Japan wears in public". She spent a year documenting various Japanese citizens: monks, sumo wrestlers, drummers, judo practitioners, sword makers, business men, immigrants, geisha, even the homeless, with the purpose of assimilating their true culture. The marketing blurb on the front flap says the book has 'broad scope' and I do agree with that. But it also feels quite shallow, as if Muller never penetrated the 'mask' she speaks of. It's a light, easy read but ultimately I was left somewhat unsatisfied with it and will probably look for another book on the same subject.

The Sin Eaters by Andrew Beahrs (30/81)

Category: Authors That Are New To Me
C2008 238pages 5stars

Bill is a unfortunate lad. Made an orphan by plague and tricked into the practice of sin-eating, he is now an outcast. Sarah, fleeing from her village, discovers Bill and finds herself unable to pass him by. Sarah knows what it is to harbor the weight of sin and she is compelled to help Bill, perhaps as only she is capable of doing. Faced with the first act of human charity in many days, Bill agrees to travel with Sarah, unaware of who or what she is fleeing from, but hoping that she possesses the ability to set him free.

I found this ARC at a Friends of the Library sale. It is a small, unassuming thing but it caught my eye. I put it in my basket thinking, if nothing else, it will serve a place in my BookMooch inventory. It has sat on my shelf for five months and I haven't given it a thought since then. But yesterday it called to me and I've been hard pressed to set it down.
This book is so full of beautifully descriptive and evocative phrases. Mr Beahrs is truly a wordsmith. I could visualize each scene so easily, there was no work, no effort to ground myself in this story. I was there. And these people! I was drawn to them all. More than just the titular sin-eater, each character was a fine study on how every act sets others in motion. How our sins weigh on us, how they drive us, bring us close, tear us apart. This is a fine tale - it will be one of my favorite books for this year.

FAVORITE QUOTES:

"The clothes are warm she says. They are for a girl and I will not wear them and I fold these hands before me and cross my legs. I do not care that my yard flops free. I think to myself that I have enough girl inside me already. I have eaten the sins of more than one. Were they to sing, there are enough to make a chorus."

"There is no greater crime than setting a fire... It gorges on anything that men can build. It makes men's labors into dust, and their dreams into nonsense. Fire is a treason to all - those scorched, but also those spared...Men's greatest hopes turn cinder-black. Their faith chars."

"Mothers and daughters speak to each other without words, using a tongue made up of history, and wrongs done and favors owed and wounds well known."

"The world teems with life and the living, so richly that it sometimes seems impossible for any life to be lost. But all are. To save some bit of life, if only for a while, to offer breath and blood to another, if only for a little time...that is such a gift!"

Chocolat by Joanne Harris (29/81)

category: Books by Joanne Harris
C1999 242pages 4stars

When I was a child, I used to listen in terror to the story of the gingerbread house, of the witch who tempted little children in and ate them. I look at her shop, all wrapped in shining paper like a present waiting to be unwrapped, and I wonder how many people, how many souls, she has already tempted beyond redemption.

Father Reynaud first spotted Vianne Rocher during the carnival celebration and when their eyes met he had a feeling that she was trouble. He began to worry when Vianne settled her Chocolaterie directly across from his church. Seeing the shop open on Sunday mornings, he fears her wares are tempting his flock to break their dutiful fasts. So Reynaud denounces Vianne's sweets directly from the pulpit. He makes his own diet more stringent, as an example to the devout, even though he secretly dreams of her dark confections. But his plan backfires. Instead of closing down, Vianne announces a Grand Festival du Chocolate to be held on Easter Sunday morning and Reynaud knows he must now take matters into his own hands.

When I started this novel, I did not realize that the Lenten season played such a big role in it. I actually gave up chocolate for Lent a few years ago, and the memory of that experience, I am sure, heightened my appreciation of Chocolat.
They say that every story has two sides and I really enjoyed reading the alternating passages from Vianne's and Reynaud's perspectives. Even though they are not labeled as such, I could tell immediately which character was speaking, and that, in my mind, meant that Harris did a good job of giving each a distinct voice.
I read the book in one day and I have to say that it felt perfectly self contained - it was neither too short nor excessively drawn out. I've been reading some longish books recently so I appreciated such a succinct story.
I am not really one to expound on themes and motifs, because I'm not really good at that, but I could not help but notice how much the color red appeared throughout the text. Not just on Vianne and Anouk but gradually on all her regular customers. Red scarfs, red coats, red dresses. It was utterly pervasive. I took it to mean that they were all awakening to life, to passion and vitality. But that's my own opinion, make of it what you will.
Very enjoyable. I will never look at an Easter Basket the same way again! Now, onto the sequel!

FAVORITE QUOTES:

Yesterday Toinette Arnauld was eating - eating! - in the confessional. I could smell the sweetness on her breath, but I had to pretend to maintain anonymity.
"Blesh me, mon pere , I have shinned." I could hear her chewing, hear the flat little sucking sounds she made against her teeth. I listened in growing rage as she confessed to a list of trifling sins that I barely even heard, the smell of chocolate growing even more pungent in the enclosed space by the second. Her voice was thick with it, and I felt my own mouth moisten in sympathy. Finally I could not bear it any longer.

A hundred children will awaken to the sound of Easter bells, and their first thought will not be, He is risen! but Chocolates! Easter Chocolates!

Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult (28/81)

category: Favorite Author's Books I Haven't Read Before
C2009 477pages 3stars

Willow has ostogenesis imperfecta. Her bones break when she turns over in her sleep, when she sits down awkwardly, or even when she sneezes. Her parents, Sean and Charlotte, are buried in medical bills. So Charlotte takes the only course of action she can see.... she sues her OB/GYN. She stands up in court and says that had she been informed of Willow's condition, she would have terminated the pregnancy. But as the lawsuit progresses, Charlotte learns it's not just Willow that she has to handle with care. Her other relationships are fragile too.

I was so looking forward to this book. Reading the description on Amazon it sounded similar to My Sister's Keeper (which was the very first Picoult I read, and remains my favorite, the standard by which I judge all the others). The book, like its siblings, is told in alternating chapters from different viewpoints. Quite frankly, I didn't really care about any of these people. I didn't connect with them. Maybe I'm just getting too accustomed to Picoult's formula. I have read every one of her novels (more than once). When I read Handle With Care, all I saw was the formula. I knew exactly what was going to happen to each character at the end. And it did. Marin, check. Charlotte and Sean, check. Amelia, check. Even little Willow. I was so disappointed. So, strike one. Even the MVP's have a bad game once in awhile. Next time, I'm hoping Picoult hits it out of the ballpark.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman (27/81)

category: Children / YA
C2007 335pages 3.5 stars
read in tandem with avatiakh

The Bill of Life, written after the Second Civil War, changed how Americans dealt with their offspring. When the pro-life and pro-choice factions finished drafting the amendments, several things were put down in black and white. Like the rules involving Storking and the timeframe when a child can be Unwound. Even with the agreement, life continued to be very gray. One thing was for certain, whether you're a Tithe like Levi, or just a castoff, like Conner and Risa, Happy Jack Harvest Camp is the end of the line. A place where you enter as an individual and leave as a score of individual pieces, fodder for the organ and tissue market. When these three make a desperate bid for freedom they find that there is a place for Unwinds to go. But is it really any safer?

This may be a YA novel but it centered around some very heavy themes. Does every person have the right to live? How exactly do you define living? Is there more to a person than just their physical self? Do our tissues retain our memories once they're no longer part of our body? Can we increase the amount of organs and tissue available for those in need?
As I expected, Shusterman very creatively worked these ideas into the plot. I think it's a difficult task to work serious themes into a story without weighing it down, making it so black that the reader feels too much pathos and tunes out. He did a good job there. I kept reading, in fact, I read the book all in one sitting. That said, I did not enjoy this one as much as the previous two Shusterman novels I read, Everlost and Downsiders. Maybe I didn't fully swallow the Unwind process as something a pro-life faction would ever agree to. Or a society where parents would willingly put their child through that, no matter how badly they got along or how strongly they felt the pull of societal pressure. To the positive, I did really enjoy the way he handled tissue memory. That is something that has always intrigued me and I thought it was the bright spot in the story. So, all in all, not the cream of the crop for Shusterman but not the worst either. Worth a read and definitely worth pondering the issues raised.

Regenesis by C J Cherryh (26/81)

category: Speculative Fiction
C2009 592pages 4 stars

18-year-old Ari 2 works hard to take on the mantle of the original Ariane Emory, studying under the tutelage of Justin Warrick and learning from Ari 1’s personal journals. When Justin’s original, Jordan, returns from exile the question of who actually murdered the first Ari reemerges, but at a difficult time. The Council of Nine is undergoing a brutal power struggle and Ari must decide if she should take control. And she can’t afford any mistakes or she’ll follow her genemother to the grave. This is the sequel to Cherryh’s Hugo Award-winning novel, Cyteen.

This story is interwoven between the original persons and their clones (often with the same name) so that it’s almost like playing chess with extra pieces. Or, maybe it’s like the 3-D chess from Star Trek. With such a large cast, it’s quite an effort to keep everybody straight and also to remember how they relate to one another. It’s certainly a very rich book and you can’t breeze through it. The political machinations are very complex as well. So, if I’m not a ‘hard’ sci-fi reader and I don’t enjoy politics, why did I bother with Regenesis? Because I enjoyed Cyteen and I was curious to find out who off’d Ari 1, in a Who-Shot-JR kind of way. The only reason I am able to tolerate the political nature of Cherryh’s work is because the way she writes interpersonal relationships is fascinating. Most of the major players are either politicians and/or scientists working on pyschsets – so these people are adept at working each other over. And this culture of who is manipulating who and for what purpose is dizzying. Honestly, if this is anything like what real politicians live with, I pity them. The claustrophobia and paranoia come through well in Cherryh’s writing and when the battle for dominance came to a head, I was ready for the resolution. The book felt long at times, but not so badly that I walked away from it. It’s an excellent sequel. It feels just like Cyteen and that’s saying something considering they were written 20 years apart.

Monster Island by David Wellington (25/81)

category: The Monster Mash
C2006 282pages 4.5stars

Gary, being a medical student, was fully aware of what was happening to New York City when the Epidemic hit. In his desperation to survive he performs an experiment on himself. Now Gary is the only zombie in New York capable of rational thought and curiously, he also has the ability to control his fellow undead. Gary's zombie army is organized and purposeful and ready to do his bidding. Can the few humans who are left bring Gary down? is there any hope for Monster Island?

I don't believe I've ever read a zombie book before. If I have, it didn't leave an impression in my braaainnn (sorry). I bought this book because last year I read the first two books in Wellington's vampire series and he blew me away with his originality. I was betting that he could do the same with the zombie milieu. Turns out luck was on my side.
It's hard to write why I liked the book without giving away spoilers. But let me just say that what Wellington has written is dead on... um, spot on. This book is like everything you love about a zombie film but more. So much more. It's modern and smart and funny and it also has heart. I can't wait to read the second one. Pass the popcorn.

Downsiders by Neal Shusterman (24/81)

C1999 246pages 4stars
Category: Children / YA

Talon Angler breaks all the rules when he ventures Topside to obtain the medicine needed to save his sister's life. But he is soon discovered by Lindsay Matthias, a girl who finds him and his world as captivating as he finds her. Can Lindsay help Talon when The Great Shaft Disaster changes the Downside forever?

Shusterman's Everlost was one of the books that helped me to decide to continue reading YA fiction. So for my category this year it was a no-brainer for me to pick another Shusterman book. Like Everlost, Downsiders takes place in New York. Here we have the boy from the tunnels meeting the girl from the city. Sort of a YA Beauty and the Beast, for those of you my age who remember the television show. And when Lindsay goes Downside with Talon, you cannot help but think of Alice in that rabbit hole, a fact which Shusterman acknowledges by calling it as such. That's just the kind of tale it is. Shusterman has done a masterful job at bringing the Downside to life. It is so thoughtfully and beautifully detailed. At one point he writes "A world, regardless of which one it happens to be, is rather ordinary to the souls who inhabit it... It is human nature to take the most magical of worlds for granted, turning each one into a blank canvas upon which to paint the lives of those who would live there. Only an outsider can see a world's wonders for what they really are." And that is so true. That's why most protagonists are outsiders. So the author can build the world they're in and make you care about it. And I did care about the Downside. So when the Disaster came I was curious to see how Talon and Lindsay would handle it. Because like most YA fiction, I knew there was some growing-up to do. Shusterman didn't let me down, so I'll be reading more from him.

Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke (23/81)

C2008 683pages 4stars
Category: Children / YA

Inkdeath is the third book in the Inkheart trilogy. As it is a conclusion, I'm having difficulty writing a summary of it that doesn't give away a spoiler so I'm not going to. This book is a massive tapestry, there is so much going on. It's been awhile since I read Inkspell and for the first 100 pages I struggled to remember who several characters were and what most of them were doing when we left off. I wish I had known there was a glossary in the back. But having enjoyed Funke's previous novels, I persevered and was rewarded. After the long climb up, the rollarcoaster took off and I was grasping the grab bar and holding my breath. It is a pageturner and I began to resent interuptions like work and sleep. When people on LT ask me why I bother reading YA, invariably Funke's name comes up. She is such a wonderful storyteller. The details she includes really help you to become invested in the characters. I identified with so many, but curiously, not Meggie this time. I felt that Funke let Meggie fall by the wayside. Fenoglio was probably my favorite. At one point he asks "Were tourist visas (for his story) being handed out these days?" and I laughed so hard at that. I enjoyed both his awe and disdain at the world he had created, and how others were mucking with it. Inkdeath was more of an adult tale this time around and it was much darker than the other two. Not that the others didn't have serious things in them but I felt this one was particularly black. I guess it's similar to the Potter books in that way. I enjoyed it at least as much as Inkheart (maybe more, I'll have to do another reread) and definitely more than Inkspell. I felt it was a satisfying end but if Funke ever wants to write another Ink episode, you won't hear any complaints from me!

Agyar by Steven Brust (22/81)

Category: The Monster Mash
c1993 254pg 4stars

Here we have a record of the days of Jack Agyar. He fills us in on his new residence, his roommate, his seduction of several local girls and his numerous half-cups of coffee. Oh, and also the ways his previous lover, Laura, is framing him for murder. Did I mention that Jack is a vampire? No? Well, you see the book doesn't specifically mention that either. And that's what is so very clever about it.


I really enjoyed this book. I had read that the v-word wasn't used anywhere in it and I wondered how Brust would pull that off. Now I know and I think that he did an excellent job. The character Agyar has a great voice. He is at times profound but also very witty and quite funny. As the story becomes more complicated the pace really picks up and I have to say, it ended before I wanted it to.

favorite quotes

"All I had to do was tell her - let her know. Hand her a silvered mirror and say, 'What is wrong with this picture?'"

"I am feeling well and fit, as if the trials of a week ago had not occurred, save for the wounds of experience, which bring strength, not weakness."

The Big Clock - Kenneth Fearing (21/81)

Category: Noir/Hardboiled
C1946 175pages 5 stars

Pauline Delos is dead. But who killed her? The man spotted in the alley beside her building, or the one seen entering her apartment later that same night? The Big Clock is about a man hunt. Or more precisely, two men hunting each other. But they're not strangers. They know each other, even work together. They both know which one of them did the deed. The only question is who will take the blame?

This little noir is fast read, a real page-turner. The clock motif really helps with pacing; you feel the walls closing in on our protagonist(s). It's not a who-did-it but rather a how-did-they-get-away-with-it. It does feel dated, but truthfully, that's something you live with when you read in this genre. I am rather peeved at the Introduction, which gives away quite a bit of the story. I don't understand why they put that type of material in the front and not afterwards.

I picked this book because I read that it was the basis of the movie No Way Out. There was another, earlier, film made off of it too. I can see why they keep coming back to it, it's very clever. It reminds me of the movies The Fugitive and Out of Time and of Ira Levin's A Kiss Before Dying, which was one of my favorite books last year.

favorite quotes:

"The awfulness of Monday morning is the world's great common denominator. To the millionaire and the coolie it is the same, because there can be nothing worse."

"It came to me again that a child drinking milk has the same vacant, contented expression of the well-fed cow who originally gave it. There is a real spiritual kinship there."

Bone by Bone - Carol O'Connell (20/81)

Category: Favorite Author's Books I Haven't Read Before
C2008 340pages 5stars

Twenty years ago Oren Hobbs went into the woods with his brother, Josh, but came out alone. Now Josh has returned to the family's porch, bone by bone. The case is reopened, and so too are the wounds of the entire town. Will any of them be at peace when the facts are known?

It is intricate and compelling, as expected from O'Connell. She proves again that she knows how to work the scene; she knows exactly how to twist the knife. This is small-town drama at it's best, along the lines of her other works Judas Child and Stone Angel.

I have never been timid about my fangirl crush on Carol O'Connell. I think I've personally recommended her to at least a third of the members on LT. So why do I enjoy her work so much? I think it's the way her characters are connected and the details of those relationships. Some are so poignant and others sharp and edgy. My heart is bleeding and I'm high on adrenaline all at the same time. More please.

Children of Men by P.D. James (19/81)

C1992 241pages 5stars
Category: Speculative Fiction

*** SPOILERS IN THIS SUMMARY***
Theo has just turned fifty. Looking back over his failed marriage, his years teaching history at Oxford and the place he gave up on The Council, Theo finds he is just as disillusioned, despondent and depressed as the rest of England. One day Theo is contacted by a group of rebels named The Five Fishes. They want him to approach his cousin, Xan, the most powerful man in England, about changing certain regulations. Theo knows it's a lost cause but he brings their requests to Xan anyway. Seeing his willingness to help, Julian entrusts Theo with the Fishes' most valuable secret: she is pregnant. The only pregnant woman in England; the only pregnant woman in the world. Her child will be the first born in 25 years. Julian fears that Xan will do anything to obtain her baby. Theo knows Julian is right but does he have the will and the strength to oppose Xan? How much can one man do? How much does one baby mean?

Just over a week ago I was reading a thread in Talk and found mention of a book and movie named Children of Men. I had not heard of it before but I decided to Netflix it. While there were things I disliked about it, the film was moving and its themes interested me. I started the book three days ago and have been in its thrall ever since. I simply cannot express how much I have enjoyed it. Every page. This book has so much to take in and digest. It is one of the best books I have ever read. I want to read it again right now. And then maybe read it once every single year. I am overwhelmed by it.

Nightfall by Isaac Asimov & Robert Silverberg (18/81)

C1990 339pages 4stars
Category: Speculative Fiction

Kalgash, a planet with six suns. A prophecy from an ancient text states that every two thousand years the world will be plunged into Nightfall and the cities will burn, retribution from the gods for the wickedness of man. But the scientists scoff, knowing it to be just some religious hocus-pocus. Until two of their own make disturbing discoveries based in fact. Beenay, the astronomer, finds that a rare event will soon happen: a conjunction of five of the suns, combined with an eclipse of the sixth. And Siferra, the archeologist, uncovers a dig site which proves that their civilization has existed seven times previous, and it has burned every two thousand years.
What will happen when an entire society unaccustomed to night is plunged into complete Darkness? What will happen when starcrazed people burn their cities, desperate for light? Who will control what remains when the suns come up?

Some time ago I had read that the working title for the film Pitch Black had been Nightfall. And furthermore, that the germ of the idea behind the movie had been from a story by the same name. I didn't think much of it until browsing one day at a Friends of the Library sale when I came upon the book by Asimov & Silverberg, apparently an expansion of the short story written by Asimov back in 1941. Now, I'm not a 'hard' sci-fi reader by any means. I had attempted one of Asimov's Robot books in the past and had cast it aside knowing that Asimov was not for me. But my curiosity took over. Did Asimov write a creature-feature? Well, no, he did not - that was pure Hollywood. But he did write about the chaos that ensues after Nightfall.
I found this book utterly captivating and I read it all in one sitting. I remember the Y2K frenzy and I think that helped me to get into the correct mindset. The battle between Religion and Science is one we see almost everyday in the news. To see it here played out against a backdrop of Darkness, both physical and mental, is fascinating.
Other reviews I have read claim the addition of the section Daybreak weakens the original story. I have not read the original short piece but I don't agree with that statement. We are told early on that the civilization has previously survived The Darkness. I think it's natural to explore what that is like.
An excellent book. If there is more Asimov like this than I am onboard!

Playback by Raymond Chandler (17/81)

C1958 166pages 3stars
Category: Hardboiled / Noir

One thing I love about our 999 Challenge is when fellow LTers recommend books to me. Playback was a recommendation from jonesli and we agreed to read it in tandem. I am a huge fan of The Big Sleep, Chandler’s first novel, so I thought it was a nice bookend to read his last novel.

In Playback we find Marlowe tailing a redhead. A mysterious woman who seems to go by many names, the most common being Betty Mayfield. All he knows is that Betty’s being blackmailed though she won’t tell him what for. Being Marlowe, he is compelled to help her out of a jam. It’s a standard hardboiled tale - along the way there’s a few fisticuffs, a body here and there and of course, one of Chandler’s badly written love scenes. I don’t believe it is his best work, it seems too choppy for my tastes. I’ve read The Notebooks of Raymond Chandler and to me, Playback seems like those fragments, a bit unpolished. As if he neglected to go over his rough draft one last time. I am glad to have read it, because I do eventually plan to finish out all of Chandler’s body of work.

favorite quotes:

"Guns never solve anything," I said. "They are just a fast curtain to a bad second act."

"Well, what do you know," she drawled. "A dick with scruples. Tell it to the seagulls, buster. On me it's just confetti."

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (16/81)

1880 920pages 3stars
David McDuff translation
Category: Authors New to Me


“Here however, we have not a simple murder, but a parricide! That impresses....”

I had heard that The Brothers Karamazov was one of the best books ever written. A book that every Reader must accomplish at some point in their lifetime. So when I came upon a group of pilgrims tossing around the idea of approaching it, I got onboard. Quite frankly, I wanted their companionship for the voyage. This book is quite a bit meatier than my standard fare. I wanted to read it and was afraid of it all at the same time. Afraid that I would get lost in the patronymics, that I would give up in the first 200 pages, that it would be completely over my head. First I must say that it was much more approachable, and readable, than I feared it would be. The patronymics did not give me much trouble at all. When I reached Book Two I almost gave up. This book was the epitome of what I didn’t want to read. But I endured, I skimmed a little and hoped for the best. Book Three was my salvation. And so it was, throughout the rest of tome. Some parts uphill, a test of my fortitude and some parts like a sled ride downhill, heart pounding away. The monologues on socialism, the church, etc, were hard to endure. For me, the book works best as a murder mystery, a courtroom drama. In fact, if all the philosophy were cut and the plot elements were pulled out into a ‘good parts’ version, I would have a copy on my shelves. But I must remember the time period this book was written in. I fear I am too much of a modern reader. I am glad that I read it, I did enjoy the story, but it’s not a keeper for me.

Favorite quotes:

“Very well then - tell me the truth, squash me like a cockroach.”

“In schools children are a tribe without mercy.”

“I have, as it were, torn my soul in half before you, and you have taken advantage of it and are rummaging with your fingers in both halves along the torn place...O God!”