The Sopranos, by Alan Warner

Wonderful. Written in thick Scottich dialect, this whirlwind of a novel covers a day's worth of adventures for 6 girls, members of a Catholic school choir competing in a national competition. The girls, Fionnula (The Cooler), (Ra)Chell, (A)Manda, Orla, Kylah, and Kay go off into the city to chase varied dreams and plans, and get incandescantly lit, lost, and found. Incredible use of language- read like a girly Trainspotting- and sorrow mixed with joy - this was wonderful. Want to read Morvern Callar soon.

Death of a Romance Writer and Other Stories, by Joan Hess

Well, I am so eager for Joan Hess's 2010 Maggody book that I came across all sorts of things in the catalogue that I hadn't read by her, including this oddly imbalanced book, which, as it's redeeming grace, had short stories in it that introduced Arly Hanks, Ruby Bee and Estelle. It also had the bizarre novella The Night Blooming Cereus, with an introduction that was a bit of a relief, in which she talks about how in 1985, at least to her, Israeli/Palestinian relations seemed like a good topic for a light-hearted humourous mystery, and about how that no longer seems like a ha-ha situation, so that was nice.

The Priviliges, by Jonathan Dee

Wonderfully written kind of American Icarus story. Adam and Cynthia meet, marry, and have children. Along the way, Adam thinks he sees how much Cynthia wants Things, and becomes morally compromised, while Cynthia falls into being a non-person. Their children, April and Jonas, for all the priviliges that Adam and Cynthia have been able to offer them, drift.

This got really great reviews, and it was good, but I feel like I've read the same story over and over.

City of Refuge, by Tom Piazza

Wonderful, angry and empassioned novel about the impact of Hurricane Katrina on 2 families in New Orleans. Race, opportunity, and the extraordinary failure of government all play part in this sweeping story, following evacuees and escapees to Illinois and Houston. It had a bit of a slow start, but by page 100 it was impossible to put down, and by page 400 had tears rolling down my face. It was funny, it was almost like Titanic- you almost wonder if it's worth seeing/reading because, well, you know how it ended- but Piazza wrote a wonderful novel along with a wonderful indictment of the failures. The characters were well developed, and not entirely sympathetic, which made them so much more real. Wonderful.

Snapped, by Pamela Klaffe

Interesting and well written book- I really expected this to be kind of standard-chick-lit magazine editor has a bad day kind of fluff, but it wasn't at all. Sara B., who I initially took to be based on Jane Pratt (of Sassy and Jane fame), has lost her taste for being a cool-hunter, trend-finder, Faith Popcorn-y character. At 39, she has a kind of breakdown/epiphany, and feels that she has to repent for the nonsense and sometimes cruelty of what she has spent her whole life doing, and it makes for a great, interesting read about a kind of female character that I don't see a lot of. Setting it in Montreal took away lots of possibilities for chick--lit NYC cliche, but there was way more meat to this book than it looks.

Death at the Alma Mater, by G. M. Malliet

Another neatly done classic mystery by G.M. Malliet. This one didn't impress me as much as the startlingly good Death of a Cosy Writer, but I'm starting to feel like I can rely on Malliet for a smooth and polished fair-play mystery, and that is wonderful! Great sense of place, at Cambridge.

Getting Stoned With Savages, by J. Maartin Troost

Fantastic narrative non-fiction travel writing. Well, almost travel writing- Troost and his wife lived in Fiji and Vanuatu for a year and a half, and Troost took the time to write about living on Kiribati, in The Sex Lives of Cannibals. He also took the time to travel to outlying islands, and to develop quite a kava habit, a drinkable drug that sounds revolting, but interesting! Funny and insightful- I love the way he writes.

Filthy Rich, by Dorothy Samuels

Really cheesy chick-lit bath book. Marcy is the Lifeline when her fiance competes on a trivia game show, and when she gets the answer to the final question wrong, they break up very publicly. This was pretty awful.

The Find: The Housing Works Book of Decorating with Thrift Shop Treasures,Flea Market Objects, and Vintage Details by Stan Williams

Very stylish but not very helpful house decorating book. Beautiful ideas, but who has the time or money to find these things and have them re-upholstered etc? Not moi.

Disquiet, by Julia Leigh

Odd, disturbing little book that felt a little overwritten and overwrought to me. A woman fleeing an abusive relationship/marriage with her two small children returns to the family estate, where her imposing mother is waiting for her brother and his wife to come home from the hospital with their new baby. Unfortunately, the baby dies during birthing, yet they are allowed to bring it's little corpse home with them, which they do. (!) startling.
It only got less cheery from there.

Thank You, Jeeves, by P.G. Wodehouse

As usual, laugh-out-loud farcical antics from hapless Bertie Wooster and his impossibly suave gentleman's gentleman, Jeeves. Some unfortunate dated language made parts of this startling, but still, Wodehouse has to be one of the all time funniest writers, and I somehow hadn't read this one before. (maybe the unfortunate dated language helped get it weeded out of the libraries?)

Hate List, by Jennifer Brown

Manipulative and improbable YA about a school shooting. Valerie, the shooter's girlfriend, survives the massacre that left many of her classmates and her boyfriend dead, and returns to the school the next year.

Blow Out The Moon, by Libby Koponen

Charming children's memoir/novel of being an American child sent, at 8, to a very traditional English boarding school for a year. Funny, because the narrator talks about finding, reading, and loving a set of English boarding school novels that I am almost sure are the Enid Blyton Mallory Towers books, which I adore, and continue to hunt down copies of. I have no idea why they were so absorbing to me, but I love love love them, Darrell and Zerelda and Mavis and Bill and the midnight feasts and torches and all that. I honestly don't remember what brought this title to my attention, but it arrived in the delivery for me and I read it in one go, greedily sucking down the stories about paddocks and Matrons and eating peas on the back of a fork. It was a lovely little read, and had great photos and drawings.

Overnight Socialite, by Bridie Clark

Fun, frothy and fast retelling of Pygmalion, set in modern day Manhattan. Lucy Jo, fresh out of Minnesota, wants to sell flowers, oh, no, it's clothes. Wealthy anthropologist Wyatt has just broken up with yet another celebutante, when he makes a bet with his friend Tripp that he can turn just about anyone into NYC's latest it girl. You can see where it went from there.

It was fun, though, and I have an odd (and personally sappy and embarrassing) fondness for Bridie Clark, and as Pygmalion-retellings go, this was quite good! (Better than that awful movie She's All That, anyway!) One actually funny bit - instead of the rain in Spain thing and the extremely unlikely hurricanes in Hartford, Hereford, and Hampshire, she says "The snow in Aspen puts Gstaad's to shame" and "Didn't we meet in Capri last July?"

Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguru

Interesting, sad book that has, really, one of the most misleading covers I have ever seen, but I suppose that's not the point.
A near-future England has raised clones to supply 'donated' organs (is this like Nini Holmqvist's The Unit?) and the clones, as they grow up, begin to understand and dread their futures.
Heartbreaking, beautifully written, and, again, with the damnedest cover. Really no clues as to topic, there, that I see. Maybe the forget-me-nots?

The Night Blooming Cereus, by Joan Hadley

Pretty terrible mystery by the usually fantastic Joan Hess (but published under the name Joan Hadley- good call to distance herself from this mess). Awkward mix of her comedic mystery style and (not kidding at all) Palestinian/Israeli warfare really didn't work.
Had to read it because I had no idea she had written under another name, but really glad she stopped.

Too Much Money, by Dominick Dunne

Dominick Dunne's last book, and it was as enjoyable as all his others. I love trying to sort out who is supposed to be who in his books- this one seemed to be about Gary Condit, and the Safra murder/fire whatever the heck happened there. His books always leave me wishing I had 17 coats of persimmon colored paint on at least one wall in my house. And flowers, lots of flowers.

Mating Rituals of the North American Wasp, by Lauren Lipton

Fun (if very silly) quick read. Lots of real-estate Litchfield County porn- village greens and colonial houses etc.

Sewing Green, by Betz White

Some neat ideas in this but mostly the projects involved felting old wool and chopping it up.

The Debs, by Susan McBride

Formulaic YA. Pretty awful.