Winter Reading

The Devil's Teeth, by Susan Casey. This is a book I bought for Garrett and then ended up reading myself. It's the non-fiction account of Susan Casey's affection for the Farallon Islands and the great white sharks and shark-observers who hang out there. I think it was a bit of a stretch to make this a book rather than a couple of magazine articles, but it holds together reasonably well. The characters, both of the human and shark variety, that inhabit the Farallons, within sight of San Francisco, make for entertaining but not can't-put-it-down reading. You might think twice about surfing off the coast here after you read it, though.

The Wettest County in the World, by Matt Bondurant. I really enjoyed this fictionalized version of Bondurant's grandfather and uncles during and following prohibition. I suspect Keith must be familiar with Franklin County, just down the road from him, which is the real-life venue. The Bondurant brothers are the baddest-ass bunch of moonshiners you don't want ever to meet. But, they're fun to read about. Murder, corruption, revenoors, boom times pre-depression, and bust times during. Enjoy.

The English Major, by Jim Harrison. That's English major as in college, not English major as in rank. A funny and reflective story of a sixty-year-old who reacts to his divorce and lack of finances by going on a road trip with the intent of visiting all 50 states. He doesn't get that far, but his adventures along the way kept me entertained. He's really pretty pitiful, and you can understand why his wife left him. But, he had enough redeeming qualities to keep me rooting for him along the way.

The Blue Star, by Tony Earley. I liked the coming-of-age story of Jim the Boy a while back, so I thought I'd try this sequel from the same author. He does a good job of capturing the feeling of a rural small town during WWII, I suppose. The story follows Jim and his attempted romance of a girl who is engaged to an absent soldier. The style reminded me of Kent Haruf, sort of like reading The Waltons. If you like that nostalgic sort of thing, this one's for you. I enjoyed it overall, but I'm not going to be following Jim anywhere else.

The Likeness, by Tana French. In The Woods was terrific, and this book was a sequel using some of the same characters. I liked the characters, but the setup for the story was so convoluted it took a hundred pages just to get started. It hinges on the main character being a dead ringer for a murdered woman, and the police's ability to insert her undercover into the situation of the dead woman. If this sounds far fetched to you, it did to me, too. But, you'd be amazed what kind of rationalization can be achieved in a hundred pages. Once past that, the rest of the story is pretty good. I hope Tana French writes more, but finds a plot that doesn't require so much heavy lifting to sell it to the reader.

The Living, by Annie Dillard. I read this based on Mom's recommendation. As she said, it follows the lives of pioneer settlers in the Pacific northwest, and what a hard life that was. You learn why it's called The Living, because so damned many people die; so, what are you left with? There's plenty to keep you entertained, as the towns and people in them live through boom and bust, life and death, hope and despair. Mixed in are some consistent characters that are fun to get to know, and you can learn some about the early days near Seattle.

A Sudden Country, by Karen Fisher. The flip side of The Living is A Sudden Country. This book is about the grueling trip out to the Pacific northwest, something that is mostly glossed over in The Living. I enjoyed the trip more than the characters in this book, as you might expect. There is a love story throughout, as one of the pioneer women hooks up with a bad boy Hudson Bay trader while tending her kids and sneaking away from her prideful husband. I suppose stuff like that must have gone on, but it didn't ring quite true for me. Still, it did provide an interesting thread for the story to complement the slogging through mud, drowning in rivers, and so on.

Maisie Dobbs, by Jacqueline Winspear. I am not sure what possessed me to read this first-of-a-series book about a London female detective post WWII. I liked the story and the main character, but I felt like I was reading the pilot for a TV series with all the childhood background on little Maisie. Still, if you're in the market for a series as Sue Grafton homes in on the letter Z with Kinsey Millhone, Maisie might be worth checking out.

Beat the Reaper, by Josh Bazell. This is a fast-paced, irreverent, and obscenity-filled romp through a hospital filled with gangsters. The main character is a guy in the witness protection program who became a doctor. One day, he is discovered by the guys he ratted on when one comes in for an operation. It was fun, and it definitely kept me turning pages rapidly.

The Lost City of Z, by David Grann. If you liked River of Doubt (and I know lots of you did!), you should check this book out. It's the fascinating non-fiction story of British explorer Percy Fawcett, who disappeared into the Amazon jungle in 1925 while looking for the massive city reported by early European explorers in the area. The author intertwines his own experience researching Fawcett in modern times with Fawcett's own story around the turn of the century. Eventually Grann, a wimpy New Yorker, seems to get the bug to find the Lost City of Z almost as bad as Fawcett. You'll have to read it to find out what happens.