A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson's name is usually associated with travel, science, and language  books from across the pond, but in this case he returns to his native United States to take on an amazing adventure. The Appalachian Trail (from here on referred to as the AT as in his book) is the subject of this book that was written in 1998 after he moved back to Hanover, NH. The short read is a combination of humorous, botanical, and zoological reflections. 

Hanover is very near a point of the AT that stretches 2184 miles from Maine to Georgia. Being the curious person that Bryson is, he decided that it would be a good thing to hike it, all of it. And so he begins his preparations from being state of the art gear including pack, tent, and clothes. He decides to bring along a friend, Stephen Katz, and the two embark on the journey in March, 1996. They set out to be "thru walkers" - those who walk the entire length of the trail. Katz provides a bit of comic relief through the hardships with his insistence on certain foods, getting used to the equipment, jettisoning supplies and clothes right and left, and interaction with those whom he meets on the trail. 

Bryson and Katz begin in Georgia with all good intentions, but the snow and miserable conditions cause them to rethink their plan. By the time they get to the Smokies and Gatlinburg, TN, they decide to skip a portion of the AT and resume the hike near Roanoke, VA. Unfortunately, the amount of time necessary to complete the entire trail was miscalculated and after a mere 500 more miles, Bryson leaves the AT to go on a book tour. His discussion of Stonewall Jackson and the Harper's Ferry raid was very interesting and insightful, especially for the history minded reader. He managed to do some bits and pieces of the trail after the publicity tour including a walk through Centralia, PA. His description of this abandoned mining town was graphic and disturbing. Could this be what we might find if we allow fracking to poison our land. He meets up with Katz again and they continue to the the Hundred Mile Wilderness in Maine. 

The book was enjoyable especially when Katz and Bryson were on the trail and relating their experiences. Some of the descriptions of the geology and biology of the areas were a bit protracted and in too much detail for my non-scientific brain. His style is very much like that of an oral storyteller who can keep a listener's attention through tales and tangents. A good read and an impetus to reread Notes from a Small Island before returning to England.

The Fault in our Stars by John Green

The one down side of retiring from my job as a school librarian is the lack of ready access to new and exciting children's and young adult books. When highly acclaimed books are released, they are often hard to get at a library because the kids want to read them. I waited patiently for almost 8 months to read the new John Green book, The Fault in our Stars.  John Green is right up there in my estimation with Chris Crutcher, Terry Trueman, Laurie Halse Anderson and Jennifer Donnelly. Their books are not to be missed. 

TFIOS, as it is known over at Twitter, is Green's 4th book and is an unbelievable read. He has a knack of really getting into a teen's head and understanding and expressing the thoughts and feelings contained therein. He has managed to write a book about teens with cancer that still makes you laugh, look at the positive, and stave off the anger at the situation. We meet sixteen year old Hazel Grace Lancaster as she is negotiating/arguing with her mother about why she should not have to attend a cancer support group. Hazel has had thyroid cancer that spread to her lungs. It is only because of a very aggressive and experimental medication therapy that she is alive. Her lungs have been compromised and she is constantly on oxygen. She relents and goes to the support group where she meets Augustus Waters.  Augustus has had a leg amputated due to osteosarcoma but is in remission. Hazel also forges a friendship with Augustus' best friend, Isaac, who suffers from eye cancer and goes blind because of it. 

Hazel, who has not attended a physical school since the treatment's onset, is a reader and introduces Augustus to her favorite book. An Imperial Affliction by the fictional Dutch author Peter Van Houten is a novel about another girl with cancer. Augustus becomes as infatuated with the books as Hazel had and the two commiserate over Van Houten's audacity in ending the book mid-sentence with no resolve. Although Van Houten has never responded to Hazel's inquiries, he does to Augustus' by saying if he wanted to ascertain the answers to his questions, Augustus would need to travel to Amsterdam. Not wanting to go without Hazel, Augustus approaches the Wish foundation to see if it would be possible to include Hazel on his "wish" trip to Amsterdam. (Hazel had used her wish when she was first diagnosed with the terminal cancer.) And so, even despite a medical setback, the two along with Hazel's mother,  travel to meet Van Houten. It is a trip full of awakenings: the two are repulsed by Van Houten's meeting and realize that An Imperial Affliction was written about someone very close to him; Hazel and Augustus face the feelings that they have toward each other; and they must confront a worsening medical condition.

This book's character are believable and well developed. We are privy to the innermost thoughts of Hazel and August. But we also experience the feelings of those who surround them with love - their parents and close friends. Hazel's best friend from when she attended high school, Kaitlyn, depicts how superficial a friendship can be, especially when trying to avoid reality.  The ending of the book is not what you would expect and will not be given away here. John Green has breathed life and a zeal to live into characters that must face death on a daily basis. They are not going to be chained and bound to an existence of waiting. They will face the inevitable, but on their terms. Van Houten's reappearance at the end of the novel serves as the laces that will tie Hazel and Augustus' story together through eternity - “a forever within the numbered days." 

Autographing Looking for Alaska  for my students at Sackets Harbor

 I met John Green at the AASL Conference in Pittsburgh in 2005. He was in the early stages of promoting his book, Looking for Alaska, that eventually went on to win the Michael L. Printz Award. He was witty, personable, and engaging. I knew that his novels would forever be on my "must read" list.  The Fault in Our Stars is destined to be a Young Adult classic. It is a complex mix of philosophy, romance, teen angst, and laughter. Put a box of tissues near your reading chair. But don't miss this one.

Portrait of a Spy by Daniel Silva

Gabriel Allon has "retired" to Cornwall to spend leisurely days with his wife Chiara. He awaits his next restoration project and is delighted to learn that Julian Isherwood has an undiscovered Titian needing work. Gabriel and Chiara travel to London to negotiate the work but a terrorist gets in the way. Terrorists have launched attacks in Paris and Copenhagen. The eagle eyes of Allon spot a human bomb in crowded Covent Garden. He has mentally calculated the timing of the next explosion and his instincts are triggered as he steps in to try to stop the detonation. And so the 2011 installment of the Allon series begins.

Silva, once again, brings the art restorer/ Israeli operative out of retirement. To say that this is a coincidental is a given, but Silva gets a pass to set up one of the most intricate books in the series. Gabriel cannot say no to the coalition of terrorist fighters being assembled by the the United States and joins them in Washington. All the players whom we have come to know are there: Eli Lavon, street surveillance expert; Uzi Navot, Israel's chief of secret intelligence; Ari Shamron, esteemed head of Massad and Adrian Carter, director of the CIA's National Clandestine Service. A most ingenious plan is formulated that involves recruiting Nadia al-Bakari, daughter of Zizi al-Bakari who financed mass murder and was killed by Allon in The Secret Servant.  Could the team enlist her aid to bring down the group who has threatened to continue the work of Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden. (n.b During the writing of this book the death of Bin Laden happened. Silva incorporates it into the plot without skipping a beat.)

The action moves from London to New York, Washington, Paris, the opulent city of Dubai, and the Saudi desert. Setting is a real strength of any Silva book. He has done his research and through his descriptions he plops the reader down into those settings. Portrait of a Spy is no exception. Anyone who has been to London feels right at home walking with Gabriel and Chiara through Covent Garden even if it is on the heels of a human bomb.

Portrait of a Spy is thrilling and a page turner. Silva is a master of that. There is no way the reader can erase the final scenes from the mind's gallery. But Silva is also a political and social commentator. He does not easy hide in this book his disdain for the Saudi treatment of women nor the country's leadership in it's part in the terrorists' world. His mastery of the subject matter almost make for prophetic reading and a real wake-up call to those who have been lulled into complacency.  His books are not to be missed and I dread the day that Gabriel Allon goes into retirement for real.

On the Island by Tracy Garvis-Graves

I can't remember the last time that I read a 300+ page book in 3 days. That is what happened with On the Island. I am not sure if it is because I was reading it on my iPad (at the time it's only available in ebook format), or because I just got new glasses or if it was because it was such a simplistic novel and required no intellectual commitment on the part of the reader. There has been a lot of buzz about this book and it has shot to the top of ebook best seller lists. Amazon.com readers have lavished praise and so I was excited to read it when our book club chose it for our July selection.

Anna Emerson, a high school English teacher, and J.T. Callahan, a student who needs to spend the summer catching up on his studies because he lost classroom time due to chemotherapy for leukemia, are off to the Maldives where his parents intend to spend summer vacation. After a series of delays and airline complications, they finally board a private charter flight. Mid-flight the pilot suffers a heart attack and the plane ditches into the ocean.  Both J.T. and Anna survive and find themselves in survival mode on a deserted island. By chance they are helped when their shoes, a life raft, and her suitcase wash up on the shore. For the next two hundred or so pages the reader follows their ups and downs as they count the years and holidays during the three years they live there. They are careful to maintain the teacher/student relationship until J.T. turns 18 and they succumb to the tensions that have been building between them. They live through shark attacks, jellyfish stings, bat attacks, and dengue hemorrhagic fever.

The conclusion of the book takes place following the 2004 tsunami and to relate it would be a definite spoiler.  I honestly do not know what the hype is about with this novel. I imagine it meets the need for a fluff beach book for some. For me, I was very uncomfortable reading about a student-teacher relationship that was about more than studying. I cannot fathom how a teacher falls for a much younger student, no matter what the circumstances might be. The novel is told in alternate chapters by J.T. and Anna. If I had not paid attention to the chapter, I would not have been able to discern who was actually relating the events. There really wasn't much difference in the voice or POV. The writing is a bit sophomoric, but the book fills the bill if you are looking for a nice, summer, light read.

The Book of Lies by Brad Meltzer

One could not explain the premise of this book better than the jacket flap:

In chapter four of the Bible, Cain kills Abel. It is the world’s most famous murder. But the Bible is silent about one key detail: the weapon Cain used to kill his brother. That weapon is still lost to history.
In 1932 Mitchell Siegel was killed by two gunshots to the chest. While mourning, his son dreamed of a bulletproof man and created the world’s greatest hero: Superman. And like Cain’s murder weapon, the gun used in this unsolved murder has never been found.
Today in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Cal Harper comes face-to-face with his own family tragedy: His long-missing father has been shot with a gun that traces back to Mitchell Siegel’s 1932 murder. But soon after their surprising reunion, Cal and his father are attacked by a ruthless killer tattooed with the ancient marketings of Cain.
So begins the chase for the world’s first murder weapon. It is a race that will pull Cal back into his own past even as it propels him forward through the true story of Cain and Abel, an eighty-year-old unsolvable puzzle, and the deadly organization known for the past century as the Leadership.
What does Cain, history’s greatest villain, have to do with Superman, the world’s greatest hero? And what to two murders, committed thousands of years apart, have in common?

What an intriguing premise from Brad Meltzer who seems to have his hand in so many different enterprises. His TV show, Decoded, was what has piqued my interest in his books. He may become one of those authors whose books I will not want to miss. But The Book of Lies is the first that I have read and it won't be the last. The book is fast-paced and what you would deem a venerable page turner. Meltzer's cast of characters are a bit eccentric and odd to say the least. The mystery that he weaves from the Bible to the comic books seems far-fetched, but in the end quite plausible. As the reader thinks that s/he has put the puzzle pieces together, the action takes an unforeseen turn. 

In addition, The Book of Lies prompts the reader to dig back in history to the Nazis, the Thules, and Himmler's Ahnenerbe. When a book does this to me, I become distracted and want to research. I guess that's the bane of being a librarian. In some ways the novel is reminiscent of Dan Brown's books, especially The DaVinci Code. There is an equal mix of fiction and historical facts, even to the meeting of the real inspiration for Lois Lane. The reader is very much on a roller coaster ride as the action is fast paced and surprising. From Florida to Cleveland to California, it is a ride you won't want to miss.

Mapping the Edge by Sarah Dunant

Sarah Dunant is a masterful storyteller. She knows how to immediately hook the reader and then play with the mind. Her Birth of Venus was spellbinding with its description of Renaissance Italy. In Mapping the Edge she returns to Florence to set part of the novel.

Anna Franklin is a freelance journalist based in London who packs her bags and journeys to Italy. When she doesn't return as scheduled her family becomes alarmed. She leaves behind her daughter Lily and housemate Paul along with Paul's boyfriend, Michael. As the novel begins Estella, Anna's confidante and best friend is alerted to Anna's disappearance. Estella immediately travels to London from Amsterdam to be a support to Lily and Paul as well as to garner any clues as to Anna's whereabouts.

While Estella narrates most of the novel, the reader enters into another narrative of parallel stories. There are two possible explanations for Anna's departure: she has been kidnapped or she has run away to meet a lover. Told with heightening suspense, each narrative moves toward a thrilling end as the reader ponders which story is, in fact, the true one. At the same time, Estella's narrative grounds us in how either prospect weighs on those who have been left in London. 

Dunant is superb in her command of setting and character. She allows us to develop such a mind picture because of her descriptions that there is no doubt as to where are characters are and what constitutes their surroundings. While in Florence a few years a go, we stayed a hotel on the Via Guelfa. Anna walks that street and Dunant's description brought me back to the same place that I had stayed. Likewise, she has created her cast with pasts that weigh in on present actions and allows them to react to situations as the individuals that they are. 

Definitely a page turning read from a novelist that you don't want to miss.

Night Road by Kristin Hannah

A very kind neighbor loaned this book to me a couple of months ago. In some "down time", i.e. time between Book Club books, I treated myself to a free read. Then vacation interrupted and I didn't want to take a friend's book with me. So it has been a long time in reading. It was a decent read, pretty predictable, but one wrought with emotion.

Alexa (Lexi) Bail, a foster child due to her mother's drug addiction, is finally placed permanently with her Great Aunt in Pine Island, Washington. Her aunt, a clerk at the local WalMart,  has little money, but a lot of love to give Lexi. It is awkward to move to a new area and make new friends, but Lexi gives it a go on the first day of school when she approaches Mia Farraday, somewhat a social misfit. Mia, though skeptical of Lexi, accepts her offer of friendship and the two develop into the best BFFs that could ever happen. Mia is the twin of Zach and the daughter of Miles and Judith. The family leads a very comfortable life in suburbia. The parents have high expectations for their children. Lexi is treated as a member of the family, while still understanding her  roots and monetary limitations.  Judith has always been the supportive mother who brings treats to school, goes on field trips, and is protective of her children. It has never been difficult to expect that  Mia and Zach will do the right thing. But then Senior year happens and Mia and Zach begin to push the envelope - parties with alcohol and driving. They make a good decision about leaving a party and not driving drunk. Parents are called and the young adults are retrieved. However, a lecture ensues and we as readers as well as Mia and Zach wonder if that really was the best course of action. 

Lexi, Mia, and Zach become inseparable friends and it seems that the inevitable happens - Zach and Lexi fall in love and become a devoted couple. They pledge to spend the rest of their lives together, taking into account how the relationship could hurt Mia. The twins are inherently mindful of each other's feelings and Lexi fits into that profile. Nearing graduation the three attend another  party vowing not to drink and find themselves in a predicament when about to leave. Tragedy strikes and lives are changed forever. 

As the novel progresses, the reader is catapulted into lives that struggle to find meaning and solace in the cards that have been dealt. Blame is passed around freely, guilt is assumed too quickly, and ramifications of an early summer night's love create a horrible dilemma. It seems that life has taken a turn that results in a little girl living in somewhat of a foster home situation again. 

Kristin Hannah's Night Road is a bit reminiscent of a Jodi Picoult novel. It is highly emotional, character centered, and comes to a painful resolution. Marketed as an adult book, this book would definitely have a place in my high school library or the YA section of the public library. It was a very good, not fabulous, and engaging read.

Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James

Finally, with a break available between book club books and lecture books, I was able to indulge in a book that I has been on my shelf since its publication day. I am an over-the-top fan of P.D. James as anyone who knows me can attest. I am also an Anglophile who loves Jane Austen. Put the two together and I am a very happy camper.  Baroness James is also an Austen aficionado who reads and rereads her on an annual basis. In Death Comes to Pemberley the best of both worlds converge.

It is six years after Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett have wed. They have two sons and live comfortably on his estate. The novel opens on the evening before the Lady Anne Ball as all at Pemberley are caught up in the preparations. After a simple dinner Darcy and Elizabeth gather in the music room with a few guests to enjoy Georgiana's music. It is a light-hearted evening until Lydia Wickham arrives unannounced and uninvited in a state of panic and utter disarray. She had been traveling with her husband and a Capt. Denny to Pemberley where she intended to crash the ball. On the course of the journey Wickham and Denny disembarked their chaise and wandered into the Woodland where Lydia heard shots fired. Immediately, she demands the driver to speed on to the manor house. Darcy assembles a search party and they are off to the woods where they find a dead captain and a very drunk George Wickham, who utters what could be a confession. And so the stage is set for the novel's plot. James, out of her 20th century element, does not have a Dalgleish to conduct the investigation and so must rely on the the primitive judgments of the local magistrates to shed light on the murder and discover the murderer.  Selwyn Hardcastle, a magistrate, remarks to Dr. Belcher:

“I take it that your clever scientific colleagues have not yet found a way of distinguishing one man’s blood from another?”

What is remarkable about the book is not its mystery, although it is a good one, is the reverence paid to Jane Austen through the words of P.D. James. You can envision the Derbyshire estate this is Pemberley, feel the animosity of Elizabeth and Darcy toward Lydia, understand the loving relationship of the the Darcys as well the culture and custom of the time period. We are given a window through which we can see more of the Darcy family and the growth of each of the characters. Yet the reader is also treated to the words that we have come to expect from the 20th & 21st century James:

"We have entered the nineteenth century; we do not need to be a disciple of Mrs. Wollstonecraft to feel that women should not be denied a voice in matters that concern them. It is some centuries since we accepted that a woman has a soul. Is it not time that we accepted that she also has a mind?” 

In addition, although set a century later, one can see the legacy of Austen in the manners and actions of another manor estate, Downton Abby. I would suggest that any reader who has not read Pride and Prejudice recently, brush up on the characters and action of that novel. Characters, innuendos and references will elude the reader that has forgotten the relationships of Austen's works. There have been some lukewarm reviews of the book, but I disagree. It is not Austen and it is not James, but it is a wonderful amalgamation of the two. Are you ready to tackle Sense and Sensibility, Mrs. James?

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

In this sweeping novel that takes the reader from India to Aden, to Ethiopia, to New York, Boston and back to Ethiopia, Abraham Vergehese fills the pages with love, politics, medical procedures, and relationships. At some times it is tedious and overwhelms, at others, it leaves us wanting more.

Sister Mary Jane Praise, a Carmelite nun, leaves India and on a very rough voyage to Aden, loses a friend and nurses Dr. Thomas Stone through a typhoid epidemic on the ship. One senses the romantic tension between the two and knows that at some point their love will be consummated. They both end their journey at Missing Missionary Hospital outside Addis Ababa. It is there that the story continues with Sister Mary Jane giving birth to conjoined twins, Marion and Shiva, after a pregnancy that had been hidden from all under the folds of her habit. It was a difficult birth that ended in her death. With no parents to raise the boys, Dr. Hemlatha, "Hema" and obstetrician, and Dr. Abhi Ghosh, assume the roles. The boys grow up in the culture of the hospital and the ever-changing political unrest in Ethiopia. They are nurtured by the love of Hema and Ghosh and an entourage of servants. The novel is replete with childhood memories, graphic medical procedures, the blossoming of love and the violence of a revolution.

Both Marion and Shiva enter the medical field with diverse political and philosophical principles guiding their lives. It is, however, love of a woman, Genet, the daughter Dr. Stone's housekeeper, that creates a chasm between them. In another consequence of his association with her, it is one that forces Marion to move to the United States to further his medical practice. He lands in an inner city hospital in the Bronx it is there he begins his real contribution to medicine. In a twist, the past catches up to him and he is confronted by two people who will change his world.

The novel is full of very quotable lines that show the craft of Verghese. His love is medicine, but he is adept at the written word also. Verghese did leave his practice of medicine at one point to study at the Iowa's Writers Workshop at the University of Iowa. The book's title is taken from the Hippocratic oath:

I will not cut for stone, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest; I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners, specialists in this art.

And:

“The eleventh commandment... never operate on a patient on the last day of their life.”

Marion attends a lecture in Boston and as a result of reading Dr. Thomas Stone's book, is able to answer the question:

 “What treatment is offered by ear in an emergency?”  "Words of comfort. "he answers. 

This statement is at the heart of the book and Verghese's practice of medicine. Throughout the novel his words reverberate with the need for more art and less business in today's health care. 

Dr. Verghese signing a copy of Cuttng for Stone, 19 March 2012

Cutting for Stone  is not an easy book to read, but in the end and upon reflection, it is a completely satisfying one. I finished the book about two weeks ago and have thought about it for  periods of time since then trying to make up my mind if I really liked it or not. There were some situations that I thought were quite contrived and I struggled at times with the change of voice. However, after hearing Dr. Verghese speak, I recognize more fully his purpose in writing the book and can appreciate the message that he was delivering. It WAS a good read.

They Did it with Love by Kate Morgenroth

I admit that among my favorite genres to read, mysteries rank pretty high. They Did it With Love  is a good, old-fashioned murder mystery. It has all the right elements: multiple characters with opportunity and motive, red herrings galore, clever investigators, and the predictable, unpredictable twist.

Dean and Sofie Wright lead a comfortable life in Manhattan. After Sofie's father dies, Dean suggests that they might like a change in residency and move to the suburbs - Greenwich, Connecticut. When she agrees, he moves quickly and finds the couple a home in a neighborhood where everyone lives a very privileged life. The hallmark of acceptance is an invitation to the Mystery Book Club, which is extended to Sofie. Sofie just happens to be mystery buff and channels Agatha Christie and Miss Marple. At the book club meeting she meets Priscilla - married to Gordon, Susan - married to Henry, Ashley - married to Stewart, and Julia - married to Alex. The rules of the book club are indicative of a "Stepford Wife" mentality - no shoes in the house (all members have designer shoes just for book club wear), a book must be read in its entirety, and if a member becomes pregnant she must drop out. Priscilla is the most controlling of all the members and as the book progresses sets her sights on Dean. The reader knows that this isn't the only secret harbored by the members and spouses and, in addition, is acutely aware that they will be instrumental as the book unfolds.

But then, one of the book club members is found dead. Is it a suicide or murder?  The police investigation commences and Sofie, who firmly believes that it is murder, takes it upon herself to help the detectives in unraveling the mystery. Interviews are conducted, Sofie manipulates an ally, and eventually an arrest is made. Throughout this process the reader learns of the deviousness of some of the members and the secrets of others. 

This was a surprisingly, engaging mystery. It was a bit slow to start, especially when all the couples are are being introduced. Initially, it was hard to keep them straight, but soon Morgenroth's characterization gives the book club members and their spouses individual voices. The author paves a path to the solution, but with a few detours and roadblocks along the way, and, finally, completes the revelation in a most unexpected way. It is clear that Dame Christie is right when she asserts, "'Nobody knows anybody - not that well!'