The Darling Dahlias and The Cucumber Tree, by Susan Wittig Albert

Really pretty badly done cosy mystery, set in Alabama during the Great Depression. Aside from the sickly sweetness of the whole thing, the improbable conversations about sex between the ladies of the Dahlia garden club and the uncomfortable portrayals of the African Americans left a horrible, sticky aftertaste.
Ick.

Cut, Paste, Kill, by Marshall Karp

Another smart, sharp, snappy mystery from Marshall Karp. Quick, with witty dialogue and some pretty funny scenes, this one had a scrapbook-creating avenger for justice loose in LA, righting wrongs that had fallen through the justice system's cracks. Very clever and very fun and fast.

A Vintage Affair, by Isabelle Wolff

Surprisingly moving book- I had rather expected a kind of Katie Fforde real-estate porn-y shoes and champagne kind of book, but this had unexpected depth. Emma, who has left a successful career in the vintage textiles department at Sotheby's, has just opened a new vintage clothing boutique, and is trying to re-invent her life after losing her best friend and also her fiancee. Through a woman whose wardrobe she is buying, Emma becomes involved in a quest to find out what happened to a young French Jewish girl in WWII, and the book had a real emotional impact. Lovely, and cleverly done.

Leave it to Psmith, by P.G. Wodehouse

The always funny Wodehouse, not at his best, but his worst is so much better than almost anyone's best, that it's great anyway. I prefer Wooster and Jeeves, but just about any goings on at Blandings Castle are a good time.

My Life and Hard Times, by James Thurber

I LOVE James Thurber. I laugh until I can't breathe. One of the all time best American writers. Wonderful beyond words or reason.

The Starlet, by Mary McNamara

Fun, breezy mystery- sequel to the very good Oscar Season.  Juliette Greyson is avoiding Hollywood by retreating to the family estate in Tuscany, when she encounters troubled starlet (think Lindsay Lohan) Mercy Talbot, about to dive into a fountain in a public piazza. Juliette, unable to watch a young actress break her neck without interfering, takes in Mercy, and eventually a whole film crew, and while various shenanigans go on, all the original characters from Oscar Season grow and become even more interesting, and Mercy was a great character with a very believable set of problems. Fun, and very very well done.

One Day, by David Nicholls

This was compulsively readable, romantic, sweet, sad, charming, and would be perfect for fans of Nick Hornby. Emma and Dexter circle each other for years, illustrating beautifully the ways long term friendships develop and grow, and I really hope the movie that is being made will be good- starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess. Hugh Grant must be wishing he had a time machine. I think its an interesting choice that Vintage is only releasing this in paperback, definitely makes the book more accessible, but with the level of buzz behind it, I would have ordered 2 hardcovers for the library, rather than the 2 paperbacks- and I am sure I will have to replace them, because this book is sure to be a hit. Really lovely.

This is Where We Live, by Janelle Brown

Fantastic book. Starting with an earthquake in their $600,000 'starter home' in LA, this story of Claudia and Jeremy just got tighter and rockier. Aspiring filmmaker Claudia is on the rise- her first movie is about to be released, and Jeremy's band is doing well, recording, his 'job' at a friend's hipster t-shirt company pays well enough, and things are looking rosy. Even the news that his ex-girlfriend, genius/artist Aoki is coming to town for a gallery show can't rock their world- but then, the recession does. As surely and even more damaging than the earthquake, their gradual compromises and concessions shake apart everything that they assumed was solid, in what really was a wonderfully written post-real-estate collapse fiction.

Hell House, by Richard Matheson

Well, this was all right, but it was not "The scariest haunted house novel ever written," Stephen King. Your usual group of psychic researchers go into haunted house, are DOOMED, etc. Was ok, but The Haunting of Hill House was way scarier, if that's what you're looking for.

Pretty in Plaid, by Jen Lancaster

Another very funny Jen Lancaster book, this time talking about her fashion evolution. I don't know.

My Fair Lazy, by Jen Lancaster

Very funny, quick non-fic about Jen Lancaster's attempt to lay off watching reality TV and to get a more 'cultured' worldview.

Somebody Everybody Listens To, by Suzanne Supplee

Surprisingly good YA novel about trying to make it as a country singer in Nashville. Retta's struggles (living in her car, trying open mike nights, being scared and humiliated and thinking of returning home) could have read as clicheed, but the voice was somehow refreshing and the character was one I really ended up rooting for, despite having absolutely no interest in country music. The title really sums up Retta's motivation, and that drive is what made the book so appealing.

Crashers, by Dana Haynes

Technobabble thriller about NTSB workers and a new kind of in-flight data-recorder than can (gasp!) crash a plane on its own. Implausible plot, improbable characters, really cheap villains, and dated politics made this kind of hard to read.

The Ice Princess, by Camilla Lackberg

Taut, well-written Scandanavian noir. Writer Erica is back in her small home town, to clean out her recently deceased parents' house, when her childhood best friend is found dead (in a graphic and visually arresting manner). Having been, in the past, close with that family, Erica becomes involved with the investigation, and gradually dark secrets from all levels of the town are revealed. This was really well done, with excellent characterizations, and a solid plot that kept tightening. It was really good, and I am definitely looking forward to her next title that will be released, The Preacher.
This was no The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, in that it was not a high-speed techno thriller, but it was a carefully paced Christie-esque mystery, with that atmospheric Swedish flavor. I liked it much more than Karin Fossum's Down By The Water, which, while dealing with the same subject, managed to be much more offputting and depressing.

Sizzling Sixteen, by Janet Evanovich

Silly sixteen. More of the same, with less flavor and appeal. Stephanie's indecision about choosing between Ranger and Morelli has led to books as celibate and boring as the Twilight series (with which I can actually imagine some audience overlap, so ugh to that), Lula, Connie, etc have become cariacatures rather than characters, previous plot lines have been dropped altogether, and the charm that held it all together, like, say, the marshmallow in Rice Crispie bars, has dried up, leaving nothing but a crackling pile of stale nuggets.

Matched, by Ally Condie

Pretty excellent YA dystopian futuristic love-triangle. In an oppressive, Big Brotherish society in the future, citizens are carefully matched for ideal genetic potential and similarity in tastes and skills, and when Cassia is Matched with her best friend Xander, she is initially thrilled. A technical error, however, leads her to question all she has known, and issues of freedom and manipulation take over the story. Really solid world building and a sinister vibe set this one above the pack of YA dystopias.

The Passage, by Justin Cronin

Fantastic, epic doorstopper of a near-future apocalyptic vampire novel. This was so good, it really does deserve all the hype and praise it's getting- it read like early Stephen King on speed, and I love me a good government conspiracy book.

Imperial Bedrooms, by Bret Easton Ellis

Ferocious and ghastly sequel to Ellis' landmark 80's novel Less Than Zero. Revisiting Clay, Blair, Trent, Julian and Rip is even more devastating than you'd think- this was a hard book to read. I'm not sure if it would have the same impact if I had't read and known those characters so well all along, but this was like being ripped apart- an Ellis specialty, for that matter. Ugh- and amazingly good.

Alice in Wonderland

Visually stunning version of Wonderland, very far from the books, but a glorious and lush movie with a pretty kick-ass Alice.

A Good and Happy Child, by Justin Evans

Super creepy demonic posession thriller- unreliable narrator, echoes of the Exorcist- really good.

Still Missing, by Chevy Stevens

Creepy thriller. This was well written, but seems to be getting a lot of attention. Realtor Annie is abducted, and kept prisoner for a year by a psychopath, but even after the end of that ordeal, the true horrors in her story are still to come.

Neighborhood Watch, by Cammie McGovern

Very well done mystery. Librarian (hah) Betsy is released from prison after 12 years when evidence of her innocence finally comes to light. The only problem, then, is who in the small town did bludgeon Linda Murphy all those years ago? This really was very creepy and well plotted.

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.