From Away, by David Carkeet

One of the strangest books I have read in a long time. It was a mystery, of sorts, it was a caper, of sorts, it promised to feature model trains and then really hardly did, it was kind of a confusing mess, yet it was a feel-good confusing mess. It left me really puzzled.

Wormwood Forest: A Natural History of Chernobyl, by Mary Mycio

Well, I wanted to read this to try to get an idea of how the long term damage from the Gulf oil spill would compare to the long term fallout of a nuclear meltdown, but what with the Gulf thing getting worse every day, it doesn't seem like there's any real way to compare the two.
This was fascinating though, how the land has been reclaimed by so many animals that were previously rare in the area, like boars and storks, and the effect of radiation on tree growth was really interesting- radiomorphism affects tree growth in some very funy ways. LINK

Category 7: The End of the World

Fantastically absurd (and endless!) disaster movie. This was great.

The Big Ass Book Of Home Decor, by Mark Montano

Much like it's predecessor, The Big Ass Book of Crafts, this is a big ass book of home decor crafts. Once again, I am impressed with the heft and inventiveness of the book, but don't want to make a single thing.

The Gallery of Regrettable Food, by James Lileks

Very amusing collection of mid-century American cookbook images, with a heavy concentration on unlikely casseroles and jello salads.

The Lonely Hearts Club, by Elizabeth Eulberg

Pretty charming YA book about Penny Lane, a girl with Beatles fan parents, who after dating some duds, decides to swear off dating for the rest of high school. Friends join Penny's Lonely Hearts Club, attend school dances with each other, have sleepovers etc, and soon not a guy in school can get a date. Administrators get involved, there's a little story arc about the right to form non-school sanctioned groups, but mostly it was a fluffy and sweet romantic comedy.

Elliot Allagash, by Simon Rich

Pretty bizarre yet fun (if inexplicably over-hyped) YA book about the unhealthy relationship between two high school boys- the ludicrously wealthy and jaded Elliot Allagash (think Gossip Girl's Chuck Bass crossed with the absurd Genius of Unspeakable Evil ) and the hapless Seymour Herson, who Elliot picks from obscurity to make into the most popular and successful of his classmates.

Cum Laude, by Cecily von Ziegesar

Can't seem to find an image of the cover (why?) but the one above labeled NOT FINAL is, in fact, the FINAL cover. Great cover, yes. Great book? No.
Von Zeigesar did not strike gold twice. I was kind of excited and curious to see what she'd do, unconstrained by the YA sereis format- Sara Shepard from Pretty Little Liars has well-received adult fiction, and YA author Gabrielle Sevin's This Hole We're In was absolutely fantastic, but this really didn't do anythin beyond what I'd seen before in Gossip Girl- a fast, funny, and surprisingly honest representation of late teen life.

Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil, by Peter Maass

Well, what with the oil spill devastating the Gulf, this felt like a timely an horribly appropriate book to be reading. All the usual warnings about diminished supply, overstated reserves, political tensions, peak oil predictions, the requisite cheery end chapter talking hopefully about alternative energy, and some horrible, ominous quotes that I feel compelled to share.

"In 2005, a BP refinery in Texas suffered a massive explosion that killed fifteen workers and injured hundreds. Investigations revealed that BP had cut the refinery's capital budget by 25 percent. Broken or outdated equipemnt had not been replaced, while worker training and safety had been ignored. Months before the explosion, the refinery had commissioned an indepentent report that had warned, prophetically, of "a series of catastrophic events."...A BP official admitted that the disaster had been caused by "incompetence, high tolerance of non-compliance, inadequate maintenance and investments...
This was not the end. A year later, a BP pipeline dumped more than 200,000 gallons onto the North Slope region of Alaska's coast- the largest spill ever on that slope...As one newspaper wryly noted, "For a company that claims to have moved 'beyond petroleum', BP has managed to spill an awful lot of it onto the tundra in Alaska."


They had no idea.

Ship Breaker, by Paolo Bacigalupi

Intense and chilling near-future YA book. Bacigalupi's dark vision of an overheated, flooded world (as in his incredible, mesmerizing The Windup Girl) is especially disturbing when applied to the Gulf Coast.

Teenage Nailer works as a ship breaker, scavenging grounded oil tankers for copper, wire, scrap, dodging his drug addicted brutal father and trying to stay alive, when a storm brings him the scavenge opportunity that changes his life.

The story wasn't as strong as The Windup Girl, but for teens it seems everything is watered down or given a grain of hope, but some scenes were shudderingly well done:

"The great drowned city of New Orleans didn't come all at once, it came in portions: the sagging backs of shacks ripped open by banyan trees and cypress. Crumbling edges of concrete and brick undermined by sinkholes. Kudzu-swamped clusters of old abandoned buildings shadowed under the loom of swamp trees.
...A whole waterlogged world of optimism, torn down by the patient work of changing nature... if Nailer scrutinized the jungle carefully, he could make out the boulevards that had been, before trees punctured their medians and encroached. Now, the roads were more like flat fern and moss-choked paths. You had to imagine none of the trees sprouting up in the center, but they were there.
"Where did they get the petrol?" he asked,
"They got it from everywhere." Nita laughed. "From the far side of the world. From the bottom of the sea." She waved at the drowned ruins, and a flash of ocean. "They used to drill out there, too, in the Gulf. Cut up the islands. It's why the city killers are so bad. There used to be barrier islands, but they cut them up for their drilling."
"Yeah?" Nailer challenged. "How do you know?"
Nita laughed again. "If you went to school, you'd know it too. Orleans city killers are famous."

Invictus

Wonderful movie, about the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Fantastic performances from Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon.

St. Trinian's

Very funny English boarding school movie, with some really bizarre performances.

Touch Me I'm Sick: The 52 Creepiest Love Songs, by Tom Reynolds

Very funny collection of some truly horrific love songs, with analysis of lyrics and some laugh out loud bits.

Keep Sweet, by Michele Dominguez Greene

Yet another look at polygamy (why? this is like the killer-tree-trend I had going for a while) in the Southwest US. In this, 14 year old Alva Jane, much like Kyra in The Chosen One, resists marriage to a 50 year old man, and escapes, at the risk of her life. This book, while very similar to The Chosen One, read as weak, compared to the richly layered adult novel The Lonely Polygamist.

The Racketty Packetty House, by Frances Hodgson Burnett

I don't know how I missed this book when I was small! I adored The Secret Garden and The Little Princess, and I was so happy to find and read this now. Much shorter and younger than those other two, this was still a delightful story of dolls who loved their shabby dollhouse, and of a little princess who had the sense to love them best.

Freeze Frame, by Peter May

Atmospheric and well plotted mystery, set on an isolated island off the coast of Brittany. Inspector Enzo McLeod investigates a long cold case, and brings to light a streak of darkness tracing back to WWII.

Beautiful People, by Wendy Holden

FANTASTIC chick lit. This was so much fun. A serious theatrical English actress, a Hollywood starlet struggling for a come-back, an outrageous Don Juan of a movie star/hunk, and a trip to Italy- this read like chocolate- sweet, addictive, and gone sooner than I wanted it to be. Delicious.

Beach Week, by Susan Coll

Very well done take on how a rite of passage can mean so much for an entire family. The stress of having to decide whether their only child, daughter Jordan, will accompany her friends to a rental house on the Virginia shore, in the local tradition of letting the kids celebrate high school graduation with a week of debauchery nearly tears her parents apart. Interestingly, this book focused almost exclusively on the parents, which made it much more layered than if it had focused on the cipher-like Jordan. Funny, satirical, and serious in turns, this was a pretty great and enjoyable read.

The Witch's Guide to Cooking With Children, by Keith McGowan

Very funny and clever childrens' book. When Sol and Connie move to a new neighborhood, a series of clues suggest that Fay Holaderry might be a very unusual older neighbor, one who may, in fact, be responsible for disappearances of children from all over town. This was quick, fun, and very quirky.

Flowers Chic and Cheap, by Carlos Mota

As visually lovely as this book is, it is misleading about the cheapness and the longevity of many of the arrangements he creates in the book. Peonies are both pricey and short-lived, and many dozens of roses will cost many many dozens of dollars. I do realize that he's addressing NYC readers, but please, people, you are not the world.

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.