Death at Wentwater Court, by Carola Dunn

Charming 1920's set cosy mystery, the first in Dunn's series featuring intrepid flapper/journalist Honourable Daisy Dalrymple. Character and great clothes more than made up for plot holes.

The Stand: American Nightmares, by Stephen King et al

Exceptionally graphically gory graphic novel. Since I've started the graphic novel collection, I'm finding that much of what I've been ordering is somewhat different than what most graphic novel collections have. I have been loving Leanne Shapton, just got in Obsessive Consumption by Kate Bingaman-Burke, Diary of A Mosquito Abatement Man by John Porcellino, a lovely looking book by Rob Ryan, but when I go to catalog something and find that the nearest copies are at Pratt or something, I realize I've gone awry somewhere along the way, at least in terms of determining what is 'popular'. This one, however, was in enough collections that I realized that I had at last found a 'normal' graphic novel, so I gave it a go.

I think the art well suited the story, but I felt that so much was left out. Rather than enhancing and telling the story itself, I did feel like it dumbed down The Stand, which is a shame.

Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time, by David Goodwillie

Fantastic struggling-years nonfiction from the trancendentally talented David Goodwillie. I've said it before and I'll say it again, his American Subversive was (and remains) the best book I've read this year, and I was so excited to read this.
It was wonderful, and I loved it, but I have to say it did kind of leave me in a terrible funk- not about the book but about the courage and the talent it took to live and write it. Made me feel ten million miles from NYC, rather than the usual 300, and reminded me very much that I spend my days ordering, reading, pushing, and thinking about books other people write.
But if that's how it is, how glad I am that some of them are this good.

This World We Live In, by Susan Beth Pfeffer

The third and last of Pfeffer's Last Survivors series, this book brought together Miranda from Life As We Knew It and Alex from The Dead and The Gone, in Miranda's ruined suburbs. Alex, still protecting his little sister Julie, is a much more likable character in this book, and his insistance on getting Julie to a convent makes more sense in this book than in the last. Still, neither of the sequels came close to the fantastic horror of the first, making me wish rather that Pfeffer had left Life As We Knew It as a stand-alone novel.

The Lonely Polygamist, by Brady Udall

Phenomenally told story of a polygamist family in the late 1970's. Golden Richards and his 4 wives and 28 children have the most awkward social dynamics EVER in this book, which walks a fine line between humor and tragedy, and lands safely at a kind of grace. Golden is a character I haven't seen before- he is not the oppressed wife, the forced-into-marriage teen, the outcast son- he is, in theory, the lion of the pride, but he is beset on all sides by familial obligations and financial responsibilities that take him further and further, physically and psychically, from home. He, improbably, even falls in love with yet another woman, causing further complications that leave the entire family wounded. This was so incredibly well done.

61 Hours, by Lee Child,

Electrifying Jack Reacher thriller, with a tight, chilly North Dakota setting, and a heart-in-the-mouth ending that leaves some worrisome questions for fans of the series! I was so excited to read this, and read it in one great gulp.

American Taliban, by Pearl Abraham

This was interesting, but hard for me. I think after the astonishingly good American Subversive, by David Goodwillie, it was maybe too soon to read a book that even came close to a similar topic. This book, as different in premise as it was, failed to convince me, like American Subversive did. I did actually cry at one point reading it, but it just wasn't that strong.

John Jude Parish, 19 year old surfer, breaks his leg skateboarding, and becomes involved in Sufi studies, and his indulgent parents agree to let him defer admission to Brown for a year while he studies Islam and Classical Arabic in Brooklyn. For reasons that are never really clear or believable of a character who initially comes across as as deep as a saucer, he falls deeper and deeper into his studies, eventually going to a language immersion school in Pakistan. There, he teaches local kids to skateboard (and annoyingly calls them groms- lots of bad stereotypical surfer/skater talk in this one, and while I might only know East Coast surfers or skaters, if anyone talked like as much of an ass as this guy, he'd probably get kicked for his efforts), has random and surprising sexual encounters with his fellow students, who assure him that Allah has no problem with homosexuality, and naturally joins the Taliban ahead of 9/11.

It was kind of a hot mess of a book actually.

Oscar Season, by Mary McNamara

Fantastic mystery with a great setting- elegant Hollywood hotel leading up to Oscar night. Lots of funny little celebrity cameos and some really great character development in this, I'm really looking forward to the next Juliette Greyson mystery, coming out in July, called The Starlet.

The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World, by A.J. Jacobs

Again, a very funny book by A.J. Jacobs, this time tracking his quest to read the Encyclopaedia Brittanica over the course of a year. Filled with trivia.

The Popularity Papers: Research for the Social Improvement and General Betterment of Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang, by Amy Ignatow

Very funny and well drawn young YA/older elementary level book. Lydia and Julie decide to observe what the popular girls at school do, to try to draw a blue print for social success. Field hockey, drama club, and secret keeping feature largely. This was really kind of charming, a girlie version of Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Small Change, by Sheila Roberts

Ah, more recession chick-lit. There is something amazing, epic, haunting, and large-scale going on in following fiction trends, it's like seeing the delayed ghost of our national psyche dancing around in dreams or something. You have to take the time it took to write it, get it sold, get it published, cover art, reviews, then you have it in your hand, and it's what was in someone's head (probably many people's heads) 2 years ago or so. I can only imagine there's a lot more where this came from.
Much like The Penny Pinchers' Club, this novel follows a group of suburban housewife friends trying to wean themselves off retail therapy. Much like The Penny Pinchers' Club, there is a lot of rue over waste and excess. Unlike Penny Pinchers', this one had more than a sprinkle of God, etc, like so much nutra-sweet, but for the sociological impact of its very existance, this kind of mid-list, Christian-lite, "recessionista", finding-the-good-in-the-free-things book is worth its weight in gold.
Forswear Starbucks, and you too will find harmony! Avoid the Pottery Barn to find true freedom! Grow rhubarb and know thyself!
And so on.
Man, we are DOOMED.

Ghosts from the Past, by Glen Ebisch

Very solvable murder mystery. While that may sound like damning with faint praise, it was an enjoyable and fast read, but I know when I guess the killer upon first meeting, it's a bad sign for the mystery aspect of a book, given that I get surprised upon re-reads of many mysteries. (For mysteries, at least, I am a goldfish- every time I turn around, I'm astounded- oh, look, a castle! oh, look, a castle!)

Bridget Jones's Diary, by Helen Fielding

Again! For a book group, this time, to be fair! In fact, this was a blast, we had it for the Jane Austen Book Club (with only 6 novels and some unfinished works and juvenalia, there's a very finite amount of genuine Austen!) so I've been trying to branch out (see Bride and Prejudice, etc). We had fun with this one, but the general concensus was that
1. Elizabeth Bennet would never make blue soup.
and
2. The best thing about any Mr. Darcy is his real-estate.

Easy to Kill and Sleeping Murder, by Agatha Christie

Another two fantastic Agatha Christies that I haven't read in ages, so don't judge me! I love Agatha Christie, and, most importantly, I own these paperbacks, and read them in the bath, and find them incredibly soothing.
Sleeping Murder, an odd rather real-estate-porn-y one for her, turned out to be the last Miss Marple book Christie wrote, and Easy to Kill is an especially fun one, as it has neither Miss Marple or Poirot, so it's up to the hero and heroine (both very attractive and unfortunately dim) to save themselves.

Home Land, by Sam Lipsyte

Well, kitties, this was a strange one. Written in the form of letters to update the high school alumni newsletter, this was another ragingly angry, masterfully written rant about American Life Now. It was fantastic, in its own way, but it was no The Ask, Lipsyte's latest (and highly praised) novel. You can see the writer sharpening his claws here, but in The Ask, he doesn't need the kind of Oliver Stone-y (Oliver Stone-r?) machinations he uses in this book, he just feeds on the raw meat of today. In this one you see a little too much of the excercise that made the giant.

Eaarth, by Bill McKibben

Wildly depressing, horribly insightful and hideously timely book about how humans have so altered the planet that it is really no longer the planet we have called Earth.
From water wars to resource wars, to mass migrations, diasporas, and forced resettlements, from agribusiness' reliance on genetic modification to sustanance farmers with dead topsoil and disappearing rainfall, McKibben relentlessly and clearly points to DOOM. What with all the current epic DOOM, I should have been more into this, but I've been on a fiction kick. It was a really well written and accessable look at our upcoming DOOM, though.

American Subversive, by David Goodwillie

Best book I've read this year.

After a terrorist bombing at Barneys, Aidan Cole, a NYC based blogger, who works for a thinly-veiled Nick Denton of Gawker media fame, receives an anonymous email with a photo of a beatiful girl, claiming that the girl, Paige Roderick, is responsible for the attack.

A page-turning, thoughtful, careful study on what patriotism means in post-9/11 America, this is the book I've been waiting for for a long time.

Second Time Around, by Beth Kendrick

Fast, formulaic, but sweet chick lit. 5 friends, all English majors, meet up every summer, until one of them dies. She leaves them a million dollars, with the stipulation that they go forth and chase their dreams, which, strangely, involve all living together and making a B+B out of their old off-campus house, and meeting 4 wonderful men. Happy endings all around, except for the dead one.

Seeing Stars, by Diane Hammond

Fast and interesting read. Ruth is convinced that her daughter, Bethany, has what it takes to become a star, so Ruth and Bethany move to LA to join the crowds of child actors at auditions and go-sees, all hoping for a lucky break. Circling a small but well-drawn group of adolescents and their parents/managers, the book takes a good look at what these dreams mean and why some of these kids make it and why some return home.

The Man from Beijing, by Henning Mankel

Bleak, dark, depressing, and violent Scandanavian noir with very little to redeem it. I am really surprised that this got such rave reviews, but there it is. Implausibly tying together Swedish immigrants and Chinese railroad workers in 1800s America, horrible people doing horrible things to each other lead to a slaughter in a tiny Swedish village in the present day. Judge Birgitta Roslin, who is related by adoption to one of the victims, improbably pieces together the mystery of who was behind all the killing, and odd set pieces in Copenhagen, Zimbabwe, and Beijing suggest that Mankell believes that China is about to set to exporting people to Zimbabwe (?) which, for all I know, they might be. This book didn't make me care.

The Year of Living Biblically, by A.J. Jacobs

A. J. Jacobs spent a year trying to live obeying the 720 rules he found when reading about 10 different versions of the bible. From the 10 commandments to the wildly obscure, his quest to find out how relevant ancient moral and ritual law is in the 21st century is definitely entertaining, and surprisingly thought provoking. He is, of course, a trivia fountain, but about halfway through the book, he seems to take what started as a jokey experiment much more seriously, and really tries to find out what his own faith means. Good, fun read.

Murder at the Vicarage, by Agatha Christie

Fantastic Agatha Christie, with Miss Marple.

Poirot Investigates, by Agatha Christie

Collection of 11 short Poirot mysteries, which I hadn't read before, and thoroughly enjoyed.

Five Little Pigs, by Agatha Christie

Classic Agatha Christie. Poirot is consulted by Carla Lemarchant, who is worried about the story that her mother killed her father, the artist Amyas Crale. Poirot investigates, twirls his moustaches, etc, and it is lovely. I adore Agatha Christie.

The Code of The Woosters, by P.G. Wodehouse

Re-read, bath book, and all the comfort and charm that suggests. I love Wodehouse's ridiculous pre-war country house world, with all the houseguests creeping around in the night trying to pinch sterling cow-creamers and fiesty fiances and Aunt Dahlias.

On a related note, when I have a tremendous, ludicrous fortune, I fully intend to collect cow-creamers. LOVELY!!! Should anyone fancy one, here's a nice one:

N3711 English Sterling Cow Creamer Circa 1900

An English sterling silver cow creamer dated 1900, London by Maurice Freeman. Good weight and nice detail.

Weight: 7.1 troy ounces. Length: 6 5/8"

Price: $2,900.00

The Clue of the Velvet Mask, by Carolyn Keene

Nancy Drew, you are such a bossy girl! I love the way she gets everyone in town to do her bidding. And always ready for a costume ball. I want to be Nancy Drew.

The Moving Target, by Ross MacDonald

Classic LA tough-guy noir crime fiction, very much in the Dashiel Hammett/Chinatown flavor.

The Guinea Pig Diaries, by A.J. Jacobs

Very funny book by A.J. Jacobs, his out-sourced assistants, and his long-suffering wife Julie, who has put up with the year he read the Encyclopaedia Brittanica, and, more stressful, the year he attempted to obey every single rule in the bible.
In this one, he tries a smorgasbord of things- he tries to live as George Washington would have, he tries to outsourse his life, he tries to focus on one task at a time, radical honesty, and more with funny and profound insights. Good read.

Dead End Gene Pool, by Wendy Burden

Fascinating memoir by one of the last Vanderbilt descendants.

Jane Bites Back, by Michael Thomas Ford

Very well done Jane-Austen-Is-A-Vampire (and so are Charlotte Bronte and Byron) kind of funny romance. Odd, but good.

Was She Pretty?, by Leanne Shapton

I loved Important Artifacts and Personal Property From the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion and Jewelry by her so much that I actually bought a copy for myself after I saw the copy I ordered for the library, so clearly, I had to read her earlier book, Was She Pretty?
It was wonderful.
Her line drawings are so emotionally intense, and although parts of the book are very funny, the whole feel of it is almost uncomfortably intimate- I think the drawings feel closer than the photographs used in Important Artifacts.
Each page has a black and white drawing, and a tiny- sometimes really tiny- bit of text that somehow expresses a story that would take other writers/artists hundreds of pages or miles of canvas to tell.
I'm half in love with Leanne Shapton.

Wedding Season, by Katie Fforde

Classic charming Katie Fforde novel. Creative women in creative fields? check. Real-estate porn? Loads. Fantastic sounding food, drink (in moderation, of course!), and lovely sounding clothes? oh yes.
And people are surprised I read this? Hah! Hah to anyone who doesn't know how to kick back and chill with Katie Fforde books. I'm in the mood for a marathon of them, myself!

Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber, by Adele Lang

Although I came across this book while looking for something else entirely, it was a funny frothy bitchy read that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Zombieland

So funny, if incredibly gross!
The Rules
1.Cardio
2.The Double Tap
3.Beware of Bathrooms
4.Wear Seat Belts
5.No Attachments
6.The “Skillet”
7.Travel Light
8.Get a Kick Ass Partner
9.With your Bare Hands
10.Don’t Swing Low
11.Use Your Foot
12.Bounty Paper Towels
13.Shake it Off
14.Always carry a change of underwear
15.Bowling Ball
16.Opportunity Knocks
17.Don’t be a hero (later crossed out to be a hero)
18.Limber Up
19.Break it Up
20.It’s a marathon, not a sprint, unless it’s a sprint, then sprint
21.Avoid Strip Clubs
22.When in doubt Know your way out
23.Zipplock
24.Use your thumbs
25.Shoot First
26.A little sun screen never hurt anybody
27.Incoming!
28.Double-Knot your Shoes
29.The Buddy System
30.Pack your stain stick
31.Check the back seat
32.Enjoy the little things
33.Swiss army Knife

Bride and Prejudice

Really fantastic Bollywood take on Pride and Prejudice, with the stunningly lovely Aishwarya Rai as Lalita, the Elizabeth Bennet character. Made me want to dance and wear saris.

You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried: The Brat Pack, John Hughes, And Their Impact on a Generation, by Susannah Gora

Oddly fascinating book about the making of classic 80's teen films, including Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, and more. The combination of analysis of the movies and great back-story gossip and interviews made it compulsively readable, and it was kind of amazing to realize how huge the impact of those movies on pop culture really has been.

Dead Head, by Rosemary Harris

Fast and fun Dirty Business mystery. Connecticut landscaper Paula Halliday's best client (and friend) Caroline Sturgis has been hiding a past that comes back to haunt her. Supporting characters Babe, Lucy, Mike, etc return, and it was a quick and enjoyable read. Also, if I may just say again, it is so nice to read a mystery where the plants are right, and bloom in the right months. Yay for Rosemary Harris, just for that!

The Carbon Diaries 2017, by Saci Lloyd

Fantastic sequel to the amazing Carbon Diaries 2015. In this book, Laura is studying at University, still trying to keep her band moving towards success, when new government taxes combined with droughts send England, most of Europe, the Middle East, America and Africa to civil war. What I love about these books is how the gritty realities of the headlines play against Laura's 'real life' and how she finds it impossible to not become involved. So good- very much hoping that there'll be a third!

How To Be Good, by Nick Hornby

Re-read for a book group, but I didn't love it any the less this time around.
Doctor Katie Carr has always defined her 'goodness' by the people around her- her absent minded workmate Becca, her husband, The Angriest Man In Holloway (he makes his living writing a bile-filled column for the paper), and by knowing that she, as a GP, at least tries to make a difference. After her husband, David, visits an alternative healer, and makes a sudden about-face in terms of how he lives his life, Katie is adrift, as are their (wonderfully and realistically written) children, Molly and Tom. Fantastic book, this, and made for an excellent, excellent book group discussion title.

"Later, half-asleep, I start to dream about all the people in the world who live bad lives- all the drug dealers and arms manufactures and corrupt politicians, all the cynical bastards everywhere - getting touched by GoodNews and changing like David has changed. The dream scares me. Because I need these people - they serve as my compass. Due south there are saints and nurses and teachers in inner-city schools; due north, there are managing directors of tobacco companies and angry local newspaper columnists. Please don't take my due north away, because then I will be adrift, lost in a land where the things I have done and the things I haven't done really mean something."

The Black Cat, by Martha Grimes

Well, I'm always excited about a new Martha Grimes mystery with Richard Jury, Melrose Plant, and the rest, but this one had an awful lot of talking animals. Very dissapointed.

An Education

Wonderful movie. Carey Mulligan was amazing in this, portraying 17 year old Jenny in 1960's suburban London, deciding between life as the girlfriend of glamorous but slightly dodgy David, or to further her education at Oxford. So, so good.

Codes of Gender

Fascinating documentary about how gender roles are defined and portrayed in popular culture. Extra amazing bits included the scenes where male and female models traded roles in iconic advertising imafes,and how jarring the results were. Good, thought provoking movie.

Blood Lure, by Nevada Barr

This was so awful, I am going to break one of my own rules and give a spoiler. The bear did it. Save your time.

The Ask, by Sam Lipsyte

Fantastic, blistering, astonishingly good book. Milo Burke, a depressed fundraiser for a NYC college has just been let go (tough economy, etc), when an old college friend of his own pops up with millions of dollars, the promise to save Milo's crumbling life by providing Milo with the ultimate "ask", and favors to demand that challenge Milo's integrity and sanity. This was an amazing novel, but wildly, tremendously and exhaustingly depressing. Is that enough adjectives? Should there be more?

I grow old … I grow old …
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.

(apologies to T.S. Eliot.)

The Serialist, by David Gordon

This was great, which was so nice, because I've been on a rough patch of books, and this read like a dream. Harry Bloch, struggling genre writer with a batch of psuedonyms and author photographs of friends and relatives, is offered the deal of his dreams- and nightmares. Notorious serial killer Darian Clay offers Harry the exclusive chance to write his death row memoirs, in exchange for Harry meeting and writing short porn stories about the women who write love letters to Darian. This fantastic setup just gets better and tighter towards the end, with some pretty electric writing along the way. The interspersed chapters of some of Harry's genre works added a lot, too- very clever idea, very well done.

Who Moved My Blackberry?, by Lucy Kellaway

Novel told in corporate emails between desperate climber Martin and his wife, mistress, drinking buddy Graham, life-coach Pandora, and everyone else. Pretty funny, not as good as Holly's Inbox for that sort of thing, but quick and with a bit more bite.

I Was Told There'd Be Cake, by Sloane Crosley

As annoying as you would expect a collection of short non-fiction pieces by someone named Sloane Crosley to be.
How rich suburban girls suffer, and how wittily they do it! It's a miracle any of them survive. Blurbed by everyone from Jonathan Lethem to A.M. Homes, she's gotta be a pretty popular girl.
Believe it or not, she lives in New York City.

Frog-Raising for Pleasure and Profit and Other Bizarre Books, by Russel Ash and Brian Lake

I cannot find an image of the cover of this book and am frankly too lazy to scan it in. Fun, kind of flip-through book of books about random and strange things, such as Frog Raising For Pleasure and Profit. Some great old covers and titles. Kind of a librarian's nightmare.

The Big-Ass Book of Crafts, by Mark Montano

As the title suggests, this is a big-ass book of crafts. Tons of ideas, including ones that were in the terrible craft book I was working on, so I now feel completely free and absolved of that personal horror. Great book for ideas, projects, etc, but I don't feel the least bit crafty right now.