Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead

In elementary school we participated in BookIt, which was a program where we set a goal of a number of books to read and when we reached that goal we'd get a coupon for a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut. It never took much for me to be motivated to read, but getting that pizza was pretty special. A few weeks ago I got an email from the library that four books I had requested were ready to pick up. Panic! How would I read so many books? Obviously I need to motivate myself with pizza, so from here on out, it's a book a week!

Fortunately Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead by Sara Gran was both short and a mystery-- a perfect quick read. Claire is hired to investigate the disappearance of man's uncle in Post-Katrina New Orleans. Her detection methods are based on her mentor, Constance, as well as a book by Silette called Detection. Her methods also include copious amounts of booze and prescription and non-prescription drugs. Besides her actual case, several other "mysteries" are alluded to, making a strong case for future books.

New Orleans is portrayed as fairly post-apocolyptic in this book, not so different from Zeitoun. It's the perfect setting for crime noir and Gran's writing is spot on. A favorite quote, that represents a colleague, but could refer to many inhabitants of New Orleans: "Some people, I saw, had drowned right away. And some people were drowning in slow motion, drowning a lit bit at a time, and would be drowning for years. And some people, like Mick, had always been drowning. They just hadn't known what to call it until now. "

4/5 Netflix stars (and one book closer to my pizza).

The Woman in White

How many English novels set in extravagent estates in the mid 1800s have made you wonder, "how come these people don't have jobs?"  Sure there's the nannies and the pastors and the family attorneys and all the various servants, but most of the gentlemen and women prance around waiting for mail that tells of their beloveds also prancing around waiting for mail.

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins is a bit different.  The story opens with Walter Hartwright accepting a position as an art teacher for a couple of country estate living daughters of a nervous wreck of a gentleman.  En route to the new job, he runs into a distraught woman in white who needs directions to London and assurance that Mr. Hartwright will forget about her. He mentions the interaction to his new pupils, one, Laura, who bears astonishing resemblance to the Woman in White. And from this the stage is set for one of the first mysteries published-- and piles of letters that are sent back and forth between estates with replies that come quicker than our email of today.  Collins was a trained lawyer and goes into detail about financial and inheritance law of the time-- important if you are just going to live off interest.  A couple of notable characters are introduced along the way-- Sir Percival Glyde who is both obsequious and nervous, Count Fosco who is devious, and a slew of passerby who make the book a quick read.

Ultimately the denoument was well executed, but long! Like, 100 pages long. Other than that it was as good as the Millenium series for sure.

netflix stars: 4/5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Show I'll Never Forget and The Girl Who Played With Fire

When I moved to Boston in 1996, I was thrilled with all the shows I could see-- musicians and bands that wouldn't come anywhere near Wichita regularly played in Boston and Providence.  I could see The Violent Femmes, or The Lemonheads, or the Mighty, Mighty, Bosstones!

Once we were old enough to drive, my friends and I would see any show that came through The Cotillion and would venture to Kansas City and Tulsa as well.

The Show I'll Never Forget edited by Sean Manning is collection of writers who recall, obviously, the show they'll never forget. Some are first concerts and some are just really iconic concerts (Woodstock).  Some read like braggarts (so, yeah, I saw Hendrix...) and some are extremely personal (a high school benefit concert for an ill student).  The shows run the gamut from Patti Smith to Nirvana, from Nina Simone to the Beastie Boys.  In some cases, I would be just as mesmorized to see the writer (Jennifer Egan, Chuck Klosterman) as the concert (The Stones, Miles Davis, James Brown!).  I was disappointed by only a few essays- by and large each writer evoked a time and place (watching a Red Sox game with The Pogues at Fenway).

Two shows came to mind for the Show I'll Never Forget.  For my 18th birthday my mom got me four tickets to see The Cranberries in Kansas City.  When I look at the pictures from that trip, I remember how excited myself and my three friends were and also think what a great mom I have. She drove us to KC and took us to an early dinner, then waited in the parking lot during the whole show while we were inside (well, outside).  I know concerts are about smoking pot, but we were good kids, and since it was my 18th birthday I did two things: I bought a legal pack of cigarettes and I registered to vote at the Rock the Vote tent (the voting stuck, the smoking didn't).

The second show I really remember was seeing Pavement in 1997.  I'd just finished my first year of college and my friend Caron and cousin Jenny came into Boston and we saw them at the Roxy.  We were SO EXCITED!!  I remember Jenny had to use a fake id to get in, because she wasn't 18 yet and I remember the opening band sucked (Shudder to Think) and I remember just being thrilled that they played everything I wanted to hear.  We could see them pretty close and I was just in love.

 

I read the 2nd book in Stieg Larsson's Millenium trilogy-- The Girl Who Played with Fire.  You're either going to read this book or you're not (or you already have) and it's no use giving details.  Needless to say it was captivating and I can't wait to read the third and final book.

 

netflix stars: 4/5 and 5/5

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

The Kindle is finally making its way into the mainstream-- it's almost as common to see one as to see professional women reading the New Yorker on the 39 bus at 8 am.  I'll admit I'm one of those people who likes the feel of a real book in my hands but I'm also easily swayed by new technology.  Before my recent trip to Turkey, wanting to make sure I wouldn't ever run out of reading material, I downloaded the Kindle app for my iPhone and purchased The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. 

It turns out I was busy enough in Turkey that I didn't have time to read, but a few lazy days rolled around last week and I decided to give it a try.  In short, I'm hooked.  Partly on the app but mostly on the book.  Larsson creates two mysteries; one a case of a disappeared girl from a closed island decades earlier and one a corporate scandal.  Mikael and Lisbeth, our hero and heroine respectively, team up in an effort part Clue and part Nancy Drew, but with enough adult thrill to remind you that you aren't actually on summer break...even if you do waste an entire sunny weekend day inside reading, just like you did when you were 12. 5 netflix stars

Origin

Maybe it's the approaching holidays, but reading Origin by Diana Abu-Jaber really made me think of my family. My mom is an avid mystery reader and has sometimes been found reading a good book on the couch in the middle of the night. It's been awhile since I've read a mystery-- I loved the Nancy Drew books growing up, but never got into another series as an adult. So this book club book reminded me of the joys of reading a mystery. I kept turning the pages even though it was getting late, past midnight on a work night.
Lena is a fingerprint technician in a crime lab and is investigating a series of suspicious baby deaths, labeled as SIDS, but quite possibly something more sinister. At some point the investigation leads to questions about her own birth and upbringing. Lena grew up with foster parents who never were able to answer her questions about her biological parents. Interestingly, A Gesture Life concerned the flipside-- the father's perspective on being an adoptive parent and his reasons.
Ms. Abu-Jaber portrays Lena as frequently moving through life in an otherworldly existence. She describes Lena as feeling drowsy, her limbs heavy, her mind elsewhere. It's clear that her desire to uncover the truth about her past is all-encompassing, carrying her from clue to clue. Likewise the other characters, Keller, Charlie, her co-workers, are equally well described and unique, so you can envision how each one acts and behaves.
A good mystery keeps you guessing and if by the end I haven't figured it out, I consider it a successful read. I'l give this 4/5 netflix stars. And now back to the Proust...decidely not mysterious at all, just long descriptions about eating cookies.