Challenge Complete: Take A Chance

Jenners over at Life...With Books hosted a third round of her Take a Chance Challenge this year. I had eyed her 2010 challenge, but came across it late enough that I didn't think I could do it justice. So when she decided to sponsor it again, I couldn't resist. Especially after doing the Random Bestseller for Challenge #10 and coming up with a book on my TBR shelf that I was longing to read.

Here's the challenge in a nutshell: It's all about taking chances with your reading. Jenners posted ten challenges with different methods of finding books to read (Best Seller Lists, Staff Choices from libraries/book stores, getting a recommendation from a loved one, etc). We could choose as many of the challenges as we wanted, BUT if we completed all ten then there is a prize drawing at the end. So....I dove right in and did all ten.

It was a very fun challenge. I read all kinds of books that I would never have picked out all by myself. Which, of course, was the point. I'm so glad Jenners decided to run with this one again. Thanks, Jenners!

My List:
1. The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys [Staff Pick local library] (1/28/11)
2. Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon [Recommended by a dear friend] (2/11/11)
3. How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu [Book Blogger's Choice: "Best of 2010 at The Book Lady's blog] (4/10/11)
Bonus Read: The Girl in the Green Raincoat by Laura Lippman [not a "Best of" Choice, but recommended by DJ's Krimiblog] (2/15/11)
4. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman [Critic's Choice: Top Ten of 2010 as chosen by NY Times Critic Janet Maslin] (5/2/11)
5. Hot & Bothered by Jane Isenberg (7/9/11) [Book Blurb (find a book with a blurb from another author; read a book by that author)--blurb found on The Last Matryoshka by Joyce Yarrow]
6. The Lost Art of Reading: Why Books Matter in a Distracted Time by David L Ulin [Book Seer suggestion because I finished Howards End Is on the Landing by Susan Hill] (6/7/11)
7. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell (6/8/11) [What Should I Read Next? suggestion because I finished The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Sutterfield]
other suggestions: The Savage Garden by Mark Mills; The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay; or The Conjuror's Bird by Martin Davies
8. Elegance by Kathleen Tessaro [Which Book pick] (3/5/11)
9. The Book Thief [Most Reviewed] (8/31/1)
10. Robert Kennedy: In His Own Words by Edwin O. Guthman and Jeffrey Shulman (eds). [Using the Random Org link I was given the year 1988. This book was on the New York Times NonFiction Best Sellers list during the week that has my birthday in it.] 7/19/11

CHALLENGE COMPLETE 8/31/11

The Book Thief: Review

I don't remember the last time a book made me cry. That is, before tonight. I just finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and by the time I closed the book, I was weeping. Is this book perfect, no. All-time finest written, no. But, Zusak, has certainly done his job as a writer. He has reeled me in, sometimes faulty prose and all, and made me care about his characters. And I couldn't bear it when my nearly all of favorites were gone at the end. Trust me, I'm not spoiling anything here. After all, the narrator of the book is Death and the book is about Germany during World War II--am I really letting any cats of the bag when I tell you that a lot of people die? I didn't think so.

This book has made so many lists and been so widely reviewed that I doubt that I'm going to say much that's original and a synopsis probably isn't necessary. But for those of you who, like me, don't get out in the world of modern books very often--here's a run-down:

This book is narrated by Death...who, of course, is always busy--but never more so than during the reign of Nazi Germany. The book begins with Liesel Meminger, her brother and her mother on train headed to Molching, outside of Munich, to place the children in a foster home. Death's first job in the book is to claim Liesel brother. A death that will haunt Liesel through nightmares for years. The story follows Liesel as she settles into a working-class neighborhood of tough kids, acid-tongued mothers, and loving fathers who earn their living by the work of their hands. The child arrives having just stolen her first book–although she has not yet learned how to read–and her foster father uses it, The Gravediggers Handbook, to lull her to sleep when shes roused by regular nightmares about her younger brothers death. And then although he is no great reader himself, her foster father takes pains to teach Liesel to read. Across the ensuing years of the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Liesel collects more stolen books as well as a peculiar set of friends: the boy Rudy, the Jewish refugee Max, the mayors reclusive wife (who has a whole library from which she allows Liesel to steal), and especially her foster parents. Liesel's friendships are particularly well-done--and most particularly the prickly friendship between her and Rudy. Depicting a friendship between a girl and a boy at that age is not an easy task.

The story of Liesel and Death's parallel narrative relating the horrors of war surrounding Molching give a very vivid picture of what life may have been like in the small towns of Germany. And the heart-breaking ending is so very well done, it makes up for some of the stilted writing and poor imagery found earlier in the book. (I just can't imagine a chocolate sky--for one thing.) Overall this is one of the finest young adult books I've ever read and certainly one that has most touched me. I could not put it down this evening (and only put it down throughout the day because I had to work). My biggest quibble is about the little asides that appear in bold. I think that some of that could have been left out altogether and the rest would have worked better if it had been incorporated into the story. Those asides put some major bumps in the reading road. Without those, this would have been a five star book. Four and a half stars.

Robert Kennedy: In His Own Words (Review)

There are some books that are right for certain times. Certain books that if you don't read them as a child, you won't ever appreciate properly if you try to read them as an adult. Books that when you pick them up and read them affect you in such a way that they never would have if you'd read them a year ago...or a year from now. For me I think, Robert Kennedy: In His Own Words is such a book. When I was in high school I did a huge research paper on Robert Kennedy. I got really interested and started reading more and more even after the paper was finished. One of my good friends gave me this book as soon as it came out in a trade paperback edition back in 1989. But for whatever reason--the demands of college, perhaps--I never read it. I kept it on the TBR pile and kept putting it off. That was a mistake.

It's not that I'm not interested in RFK anymore. I am. I read a really good book about him last year, Robert F. Kennedy: A Memoir by Jack Newfield, and was totally caught up in the history again. But this book is a very different thing. It is composed of transcripts of interviews conducted in 1964, 1965 and 1967 with RFK as part of an oral history for the John F. Kennedy Library. There are a lot of details about events that took place before I was born and which, in the years since my intense research, have grown very fuzzy in the memory. I would have appreciated this book so much more if I had read it when the research was much fresher.

But, that said, this is still a very good book. When it came out, I'm sure it made quite a splash. It gave the reading public the never-before-published inside view of what went on in the White House and the Attorney General's office during the JFK presidency. Details of the Bay of Pigs and the civil rights campaign and early years of Vietnam straight from the the president's most trusted adviser. Through most of the interviews, Kennedy has a very matter-of fact tone--a man just telling what happened and how he participated. Then there are sections that are very touching which give a view of the deep respect and friendship that had grown up between the two brothers. He shares the hopes and aspirations that he and JFK had for what they hoped would be JFK's second term in office. He also speaks quite openly--and irritably--about Lyndon Johnson and about how their very tenuous relationship deteriorated so rapidly in the days after his brother's assassination. And he ends with tentative musings about what might be ahead for him.

A very informative book. Chock full of details. A valuable resource for anyone interested in the presidency of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy's involvement during those years...or both. Three stars....if I had been able to read this sooner, I'm sure I would have rated it higher.

Hot & Bothered: Review

Thanks to the Follow That Blurb Reading Challenge I have discovered a new academic mystery series starring tenured professor Bel Barrett and her mid-life detective sidekicks. In Hot & Bothered by Jane Isenberg citizens of Hoboken, New Jersey are trying to pick up the pieces in the aftermath of the horrifying attacks on the World Trade Center. Bel is determined to continue life as before and not to live in fear. As she moves on with her life, she is bothered by a seemingly never-ending kitchen renovation and dismayed to find herself coping with her partner Sol's steady disintegration from post traumatic stress. There is also the annual neighborhood block party to plan, arguments to settle over the disbursement of a local scholarship, and her new Faculty Development Seminar to organize and run. Then one of her colleagues and fellow scholarship judge is found stabbed to death. Eunice Goodson was a young, promising new instructor at the River Edge Community College in Jersey City and a member of Bel's seminar. She was also moonlighting as an exotic dancer at a club in Manhattan.

With a police force still coping with the aftermath of 9/11 as well as many false alarms over anthrax and other terrorist "sightings," little time is given to the death of a stripper. And the cops seem ready to take an easy suspect--the disgruntled young woman who did not receive the scholarship and who believes Eunice was to blame. Bel is determined to seek the truth--not only because she wants her friend's killer caught and doesn't want an innocent girl charged with the crime, but also because Sol is taking an interest and she hopes it will help him with recovery. With the help of her friends--Illuminada Guttierez, a private detective, and Betty Ramsey, the Executive Assistant to RECC's president--Bel begins examining Eunice's connections both at school and in the city. Their search will lead them to a clergyman with a secret, a sister with a problem, a jealous scheduler at the club, a faculty member doing a little extra "research" at the cub, and a neighbor who may not be what he seems.

This was a fun, fast read. Very likeable characters and even though I've managed to dive in right in the middle, I felt right at home with Bel and her friends. Having a loved one who has gone through post traumatic stress, it was easy to sympathize with Bel and Sol and the struggles they faced. This made the characters very real to me. The mystery was complex enough to keep me interested...although the solution seemed a bit forced. A few more clues dropped along the way would have helped. But overall, a good solid mystery. Three and a half stars.

This also counts as my "Blurb" entry for the Take a Chance 3 Challenge.

The Last Matryoshka: Review

I picked up The Last Matryoshka by Joyce Yarrow purely because her last name starts with a "Y" and I needed a "Y" mystery author to help me complete the alphabet in the A-Z Mystery Author Challenge. I'm also using it as a launching pad for the Follow That Blurb Challenge and one of the Take a Chance 3 categories.

This is an American mystery starring Jo Epstein, a performance poet and private investigator. She uses her New York street smarts to outmaneuver a master Russian criminal on his own turf. The story begins with her Russian-born stepfather, Nikolai, who needs help escaping a blackmailer who can frame him for a particularly brutal murder committed in the elevator of Nikolai's building. It soon becomes clear that there is more to the plan than simple blackmail as threats arrive inside not-so-traditional Matryoshka (nesting) dolls. The dolls have been altered and contain symbols from the honor code of the vory (Russian criminal caste). Jo and her stepfather have never been bosom buddies--but she is willing to help him for her mother's sake. But can she trust him? It doesn't help that it is obvious that he is keeping information from her. Jo's investigation will take her from the height of fashion in NYC to the Vladimir Central Prison in Russia. From a lonely backroom knock-off shop to the dark Russian forest and from the Moscow Criminal Police headquarters to the monasteries of Suzdal. In the end she will race the clock to solve crimes committed on two continents.

I have to say that in the normal course of things this isn't a book that I would have picked up and brought home with me from the library. A. It's current--published in 2010. B. It's American (I'm a Brit Lit girl). C. It's about the Russian underworld and I'm not all that into organized crime. This is a decent mystery. A nicely done plot about long-term revenge. I really like Jo Epstein as a character. She's well-rounded and she is very believable as a private investigator. I do wonder a bit about her actions in Russia, however. Without giving too much away, I just think that as a PI with her experience that her alarm bells should have been going off on several occasions. But maybe we should chalk that up to her inexperience with the culture. And to be really honest, my favorite part of the whole book is the poem that appears at the front of the book (untitled) about detectives and poets.

An action-packed mystery. Well-written and an interesting back story for the characters. Not my usual cup of tea...but I'll give it three stars for a good, solid read.

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox: Review

What would you do if you suddenly found out you had a relative of whom you had never heard? Someone who's very existence had been written out of the family history? And not only that this person exists, but that she has been kept in a mental institution and now needs a care-giver--and you're the one listed as the responsible individual in all the records. This is the dilemma that faces Iris Lockhart. Iris owns her own vintage clothing shop and is trying to manage her own personal life when she is contacted about the welfare of her great-aunt.

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox is a haunting, disturbing, multi-layered novel. It tells the story of Esme (Euphemia) Lennox, a woman who has been locked away in a mental institution for over sixty years. The narrative uses the memories of Esme and her sister Kitty to slowly reveal the reason Esme was initially placed in the institution. It weaves Esme's story into the life of her great-niece and uses the contrast between the relative freedom that Iris enjoys in today's society and the prescribed life that Esme was expected to live. It is Esme's inability to live within those boundaries that makes her different--and the combination of loves, hates and jealousies that follow her choices in life, as well has her family's inability to accept her differences that result in her imprisonment in the institution.

It is very shocking to discover how little it took to have a woman "put away" in pre-World War II Britain. A husband could be rid of a "disobedient" wife; families could send away and forget about "unruly" daughters; anything inconvenient or "different" could be swept under the carpet and forgotten about--all you needed was one little signature from your local GP. As shocking as this book is, it is also very amazing that Esme kept as much of her spirit as she did. So many women who weren't really mad when first locked away soon lost hope and gave up--even to the point of succumbing to the madness they were initially (and wrongly) accused of.

This was an incredibly fast read. There was a bit of stream of consciousness going on (and we all know how much I love that), but it didn't distract from the story. I was totally caught up in the past and trying to figure out what exactly happened. The ending is a bit shocking as well--but my only quibble with that is the way we're left dangling. A little bit more tidiness would have been more satisfying. But overall--a terrific read. Four and a half stars.

[Another title read primarily for the Take a Chance 3 Challenge. This time for #7 What Should I Read Next? This one was suggested when I entered The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.]

The Lost Art of Reading: Review

David L. Ulin has called his book The Lost Art of Reading: Why Books Matter in a Distracted Time. He might have called it Why Narrative Matters or The Lost Art of Thinking Deeply. These are both issues that he is very concerned with. He argues that because of the overwhelming amount of information that streams through our consciousness thanks to the internet we do not have the time or the attention to devote to truly immersing ourselves in the story--the narrative. Whether that be a story we are reading, being told, or even living. The constant race to keep up with the latest email, FaceBook post, or Tweet prevents us from savoring the moment...and even interferes with the ability to remember what we've done in a truly human way. As we devote more time to recording what we do in virtual space, we have no need (or time) to store those events in memory.

Ulin's argument is that reading...real reading..takes time. It takes concentration. When you hold a book in your hand, that's all you do--read the story. You can't change screens and check your email or the news or the weather. Deep reading makes you connect with the story and the characters. Your imagination becomes engaged and you try to picture what Victorian England or the American frontier or a battlefield of World War II might have looked and sounded and even smelled like. You examine motives based on what the narrator has told you. You make judgements about who's right and who's wrong. Who the good guys and the bad guys are. In the best reading experiences, it is the immersion that matters.

Ulin asks: Do books, does reading matter anymore? The answer: Yes, to those who still can get lost in a book. To those who can pick up a book and shut out the world and all its distractions for an hour or two or more. It matters to those who can read and find new ideas or new ways to consider old ones. It matters to those who can read and discover viewpoints different from their own. And even if that reading is digital--it matters if any type of immersion, any type of deep reading occurs.

Overall, Ulin asks and answers some important questions about reading and its place in the digital age. The book wasn't quite the celebration of books that I was expecting. But Ulin does have many important insights about the way we read and how the way we read may be changing. Three and a half stars.

I read this one primarily for the Take a Chance 3 Challenge. Challenge #6 asked us to use Book Seer and enter a title recently read to see what book would be suggested for us. The Lost Art of Reading came up as a result of entering Howards End Is on the Landing.

The Imperfectionists: Review

{Possible spoiler later on} I am very on the fence with Tom Rachman's book, The Imperfectionists. I don't love it and I don't hate it....but then I don't really feel "Meh" about it either. I'm just not sure what to think. The blurb says that the book is "set against the gorgeous backdrop of Rome." True, but Rachman doesn't really describe that gorgeous backdrop to the reader, so I'm not sure that it matters all that much what city serves as the backdrop. There are reviews which say that Rachman has a vivid sense of time and place. I just didn't get that. Rome does not make an impression on me in this book. The frontispiece also calls this a "wry, vibrant debut." Maybe. In places. But the book is very uneven and disconcerting. It's almost as if he's trying to do too much here.

The book focuses on an international English-language paper which has been established in Rome by businessman Cyrus Ott. It covers a fifty-year period during which the paper struggles to keep afloat and gives us a close-up view of the paper's staff of the near-past (2007). It also shows very vividly the struggles that the newspaper business has faced from the advent of television and 24-hour news channels to the internet where today's newsprint headlines are already yesterday's news. In that respect, this is a very poignant novel.

More importantly to the "story" (and I use that term loosely, since there really is no overarching "story"), what Rachman has given the reader is a series of vignettes starring various members of the current staff. To some extent these stories are interwoven and we see some of the characters from various viewpoints. This is quite interesting and could be quite successful. Sprinkled in between these vignettes he has also given us a history of the newspaper on which these staff members work. Quite honestly, I was more intrigued by the history of the newspaper than I was by some of the staff stories. To be even more honest, quite a few of these stories really disturbed me. It seemed that every person on the staff of this international newspaper is absolutely determined to destroy all the supportive human ties in their lives....or circumstances in their lives beyond their control do it for them. Very depressing. The most enjoyable stories for me were those about Herman Cohen and his life-long friend Jimmy, who isn't quite the man Herman thinks he is, and the long-time subscriber Ornella de Monterecchi who reads newspapers like other people read books and who hadn't quite read through all her copies to the present day yet. Rachman almost had me in the story of Oliver Ott (grandson of the man who founded the paper) and his basset hound, Schopenhauer,--but lost me when he killed off the dog. Again, why take away what seems to be Oliver's only pleasure in life?

It is, of course, possible that Rachman's point was to be disturbing. I can understand that. I'm just not entirely certain that I like being disturbed in this particular way. I'm giving Rachman three stars out five. The book is well-written and I think Rachman has the makings of a very fine story-teller. I would like to see him attempt a more linear story and see what he makes of that.

I read this one primarily for the Take a Chance (3) Challenge--the Critic's Choice option [from the Top Ten of 2010 as chosen by NY Times Critic Janet Maslin]

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu

Synopsis: Minor Universe 31 is a vast story-space on the outskirts of fiction, where paradox fluctuates like the stock market.....and every day people get into recreational time machines and try to do the one thing they should never do: change the past. That's where Charles Yu, time travel technician--part counselor, part gadget repair man--steps in. He helps save people from themselves. Literally. When he's not taking client calls or consoling his boss, Phil, who could really use an upgrade, Yu visits his mother (stuck in a one-hour cycle of time--she makes dinner over and over and over) and searches for his father, who invented time travel and then vanished. Accompanied by TAMMY, an operating system with low self-esteem, and Ed, a non existent, but ontologically valid dog, Yu sets out, and back, and beyond, in order to find the one day where he and his father can meet

Wow. It's not often that I finish a book and just don't know what to say. I love it. I hate it. It's crazy and confusing and wildly funny in places. It is also touching and poignant. There is a massive amount of time travel and science fictional techno-babble to wade through. It pushes the limits of the suspension of disbelief, but does it in a way that makes you believe. It's about memory and relationships and how there are so many incidents in life that we wish we could change. If only we had a time machine.....But we can't. It's about learning to live with the knowledge that there are some things that we just can't change. And maybe that's a good thing. It's also about relationships with those we love and how we should do the things we're just a little bit afraid to do. Because one day we might look back and regret that we never did.

I read this book primarily for the Take a Chance #3 Challenge. This one was for the Book Bloggers Choice entry and I found the book highly recommended in the "Best of 2010" on The Book Lady's Blog. One of the blurbs compares it to Douglas Adams. I don't think I agree with that. I think Yu owes something to Adams (TAMMY is reminiscent of Marvin in the Hitchhiker's Guide), but I would not put them on the same level. I think Adams wrote with an ease that Yu has yet to achieve. That said, the book is good and I'm glad I read it. I just wish I could figure out what kind of rating to give it. Maybe my future self will know.

Elegance: Review

I picked up Elegance by Kathleen Tessaro from the library primarily to help me fulfill one of the Take a Chance 3 Challenge requirements. This is a book about Louise Canova--thirty-something, unhappy with her looks, her life and her marriage. She comes across a book called Elegance in a secondhand bookshop that she thinks will be the answer to her prayers. This slim volume was written by the French fashion expert Madame Dariaux in the 1960s and Louise starts taking the A-Z guide to heart--changing first her wardrobe and then her attitudes. The back of the book promises that "within its pages lie not only clues from her past, but also powerful lessons for the future. And as the old Louise gives way to the stunning new, she's about to find out that there's more to every life than what appears on the surface...and that everything, even elegance has a price."

I had a love-hate relationship with this book. It has a stunning premise. I loved the idea of Louise reforming herself by using an out-of-date fashion manual as her guide. It starts out well, but just doesn't deliver. By the end of the book, the reader should be cheering for Louise as she finally transforms herself, not just in appearance but in her willingness to take a chance on a new relationship. I felt more like the Droopy character in cartoons--an Eeyore-like dog, who always looks depressed and waves a little flag that say "Rah" and says "Hurray" in the most down-trodden voice. No real enthusiasm.

There are several redeeming episodes in the book--Louise's visit to the country house home of her friend Flora and when she serves a Christmas meal to the homeless, for example, but over all her trials and tribulations as she makes her transformations just got on my nerves. A quick read, fortunately, that was not nearly as entertaining as anticipated. On the other hand, I tend to think a book must have been pretty decent if I am able to cull any good quotations from it. And I did. So...as I said, I'm left with a love-hate feeling at the end of the book. Two and a half stars--for the premise, for the beginning, for the few redeeming episodes and the quotes.

The Girl in the Green Raincoat: Review

I have to admit to a bit of prejudice when it comes to authors (film-makers, whatever) taking a beloved story and redoing it or working it with a twist. Scarlett, the sequel to Gone with the Wind? Not so much. Rebecca's Story as a continuation of Rebecca? A little better. Mixing Jane Austen characters with zombies? No way, Jose! So when I started seeing Laura Lippmann's The Girl in the Green Raincoat popping up on various blogs, I was fascinated, intrigued, and leery all at the same time. Rear Window is one of my all-time favourite Alfred Hitchcock films and I hated to think that someone had taken the story and screwed it up. And yet the comparisons between Lippman's short novel and Rear Window all sounded really good. So, I decided to give it a shot. Boy, am I glad I did. This is a marvelous twist on the immobile voyeuristic detective peering out her window and seeing events that put all her investigating instincts on high alert.

In Raincoat, private dectective Tess Monaghan has been put on bedrest during the third trimester of her pregnancy. Confined to the winterized back porch of her bungalow, she is bored amidst the stacks of books, DVDs and laptop companionship her family and friends have thoughtfully provided for her. So, she takes to people-watching. Her windows look out on a park where she can watch all the local dog-walkers. One woman in particular catches her eye. Dressed in a green raincoat, she walks her minature greyhound (who also sports a green raincoat) at the same time each day. Then, one day the pair walk into the park, but only the dog comes out. Tess soon finds that the girl in the raincoat is married to a man who seems to have singuarly bad luck with women...two wives and a former girlfriend all dead and now his third wife missing (away on business, or so he says). Tess immediately smells something fishy and soon is using her laptop and all her resources to try and find out whether the man has helped the women in his life out of this world--literally. Little does she realize the Pandora's box she is opening and how close to home the danger will come.

This is a very short novel. Easy to read and captivating. And, although this is a suspenseful story (particularly at the end), it has a lot of humor. I have had mixed results with Laura Lippman. I loved In a Strange City, which was my first introduction to Tess. But then when I went back to the beginning and tried to read through the series from the opening with Baltimore Blues, I just couldn't get into that one. Raincoat has me loving Tess Monaghan again. Four stars.

Lord of Misrule: Review

Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon opens with "Inside the back gate of Indian Mound Downs, a hot-walking machine creaked round and round. In the judgment of Medicine Ed, walking a horse himself on the shedrow of Barn Z, the going-nowhere contraption must be the lost soul of this cheap racetrack where he been ended up at." That hot-walking machine provides the metaphor for the cheap claiming race track at the rock-bottom end of the sport of kings.

Gordon's National Book Award winner is all about the world of the cheap race, down-on-their-luck trainers, jockeys and owners, and the horses that are literally on their last legs. Tracks like this are where racing folk go when they have nowhere else to go. Into this world comes horseman Tommy Hansel. He has a plan to change his luck and get him and his horses back into racing as a money-maker. His idea is to bring four unknown horses into Indian Mound Downs, have them run in the cheap claiming races at long odds, cash his bets, and "get out fast" before anyone notices what he's done. However, in a world that also includes loan sharks, small-time gangsters, and savvy former trainers, things don't always go as planned. Part of Hansel's luck depends on his girlfriend, Maggie--but even he doesn't foresee the way her luck will run.

This is an interesting book. I noticed several blog reviews which mentioned the dialect and how difficult it was to get into the book because of it. The dialect didn't really give me trouble--although I do find it a bit inconsistent at times. What I found most difficult was getting used to the rhythm of the writing itself. It took a while before I got the feel of it. There would be long almost-lyrical passages of gorgeous writing and then, all of sudden, nothing. It reminded me of the first races of two of the horses, Mahdi and Little Spinoza. Each horse had a beautiful run at the start of their race. Mahdi running like no one knew he could and then all of a sudden getting distracted, slowing up, and getting beaten at the finish. Little Spinoza taking off like a shot, running himself out, and just quitting. The break in the continuity of the writing mirrored those races--which made me wonder if this was deliberate. Was Gordon trying to give us the feel of a failed race in her very writing style? It certainly seemed so.

One portion of the book that disturbed me--the idea that the key to pleasure is pain. The relationship between Maggie and Tommy is built on this concept and Tommy absolutely believes that this is the key that "unlocks" all women. And there is a carry-over to the horses. Many of the horses running in these races are in pain somewhere--in their feet, in their legs, sometimes in their apparent fear of the racing itself. But they are represented as breaking through the pain (or using the pain) to reach the pleasure of the run--particularly Lord of Misrule in the final race.

Gordon's use of imagery and metaphor is a bit uneven--at times she's dead-on with description ("his dapples came up like god's golden fingerprints") but then she can turn around and use one like this: "Natalie, the New Rochelle chainstore divorcee, with her big pink open mouth like a toilet seat." And I definitely wish an editor had convinced her to use punctuation for her dialogue (no quote marks, ever). But overall, a captivating book--particularly once I found the rhythm in the writing. The story is compelling and I found myself rooting for the horses and even more for Maggie. Three and 3/4 stars--verging on four, but not quite.

{Read primarily for the Take a Chance 3 Challenge for category #2. Suggested and loaned by a dear friend.}

The Lost Garden: A Review

The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys is a beautifully written book. At first it may seem a bit disjointed and difficult-going. But looking deeper, the reader finds that like, the lost garden of the title, the story is multi-layered and the best layers are hidden beneath the weeds and neglect.

Gardener Gwen Davis comes to the Devon countryside to lead a group from the Women's Land Army. These women have volunteered to grow vegetables for the war effort. Gwen is shy and has little self-confidence and finds it difficult to exert the authority necessary to get the women to work. With the help of Jane, a born leader, she gets the work sorted out and the war effort is undertaken.

More important for Gwen, she discovers a hidden garden. Her story unfolds as she brings the true nature of the garden to light. There are three portions to the garden: Longing, Loss and Faith. Each section planted with flowers that represent the nature that particular section. In the end, Gwen discovers that the entire garden was a garden of love. Her discovery mirrors the discoveries she makes about herself along the way. She discovers her own value, the value of love, and what it means to be home.

Like good poetry, I sometimes find it hard to really write about good writing without giving it all away. Here is a quote that I particularly like...I think it sums up Gwen's thoughts on Loss as it relates to love:

This is what I know about love. That it is tested every day, and what is not renewed is lost. One chooses either to care more or to care less. Once the choice is to care less, then there is no stopping the momentum of good-bye.

Four stars out of five. Read primarily for the Take A Chance Challenge--this was a Library Staff Pick book. They certainly picked a good one!

Take a Chance (3)

You'll never guess....I'm signing up for another challenge. (No, Bev, really? Surely not.) Jenners over at Life...With Books is hosting a third round of her Take a Chance Challenge. I had eyed her 2010 challenge, but had come across it late enough that I didn't think I could do it justice. And now she's decided to sponsor it again. I put up a mighty battle...telling myself that ten challenges ought to be enough for anyone. But who am I kidding? I can't resist. Especially after doing the Random Bestseller for Challenge #10 and coming up with a book on my TBR shelf that I'm longing to read. I mean, it's fate, right? I need to do this challenge.

Here's the challenge in a nutshell: It's all about taking chances with your reading. Jenners has posted ten challenges with different methods of finding books to read (Best Seller Lists, Staff Choices from libraries/book stores, getting a recommendation from a loved one, etc). You can do as many of the challenges as you want, BUT if you do all ten then you'll be entered in a prize drawing. The challenge runs all year in 2011. For the complete details, click on the Challenge link above.

My List:
1. The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys [Staff Pick local library] (1/28/11)
2. Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon [Recommended by a dear friend] (2/11/11)
3. How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu [Book Blogger's Choice: "Best of 2010 at The Book Lady's blog] (4/10/11)
Bonus Read: The Girl in the Green Raincoat by Laura Lippman [not a "Best of" Choice, but recommended by DJ's Krimiblog] (2/15/11)
4. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman [Critic's Choice: Top Ten of 2010 as chosen by NY Times Critic Janet Maslin] (5/2/11)
5. Hot & Bothered by Jane Isenberg (7/9/11) [Book Blurb (find a book with a blurb from another author; read a book by that author)--blurb found on The Last Matryoshka by Joyce Yarrow]
6. The Lost Art of Reading: Why Books Matter in a Distracted Time by David L Ulin [Book Seer suggestion because I finished Howards End Is on the Landing by Susan Hill] (6/7/11)
7. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell (6/8/11) [What Should I Read Next? suggestion because I finished The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Sutterfield]
other suggestions: The Savage Garden by Mark Mills; The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay; or The Conjuror's Bird by Martin Davies
8. Elegance by Kathleen Tessaro [Which Book pick] (3/5/11)
9. The Book Thief [Most Reviewed] (8/31/1)
10. Robert Kennedy: In His Own Words by Edwin O. Guthman and Jeffrey Shulman (eds). [Using the Random Org link I was given the year 1988. This book was on the New York Times NonFiction Best Sellers list during the week that has my birthday in it.] 7/19/11


Post site for Challenge Posts

Okay. That's it. The only other year-long challenge I will sign up for will be the Support Your Local Library Challenge....if it gets sponsored again. I am taking the pledge. No More Challenges. Come slap me if I don't keep my word.

CHALLENGE COMPLETE 8/31/11