Our Kind of Traitor

Our Kind of Traitor by John le Carré
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh, le Carre! I am delightfully devastated once again. Some may find le Carre's description of every eyebrow raise, every rubbing of hands, every cough and hiccup to be slightly overdoing it, but to me, it makes me feel like I am there, breathing the same air, tasting the cheese, sweating on the beach. I become invested in the characters like they are my family. I save le Carre for vacations because I become immersed so fully in his world, and at the same time, somehow see and feel my own reality more deeply. Sometimes the endings don't tie up so neatly, but that makes the endings just as real as the rest of the book.

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Supreme Justice

Supreme Justice by Max Allan Collins
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was surprised that Collins was not a first time author. I felt like the story was WAY too predictable. I caught the mole and his betrayal almost as soon as he had done it. The motive of killing justices to reform the court was identified early on and then the story went nowhere. There was a whole chapter of his daughter deliberating about sleeping with her boyfriend...for no apparent reason. The only reason I gave it 2 stars was because it was set in DC and I was in D C when I read it, so that is always fun. And the quotes ahead of each chapter were thought provoking. But if you are in oh, say, KY then maybe you should skip it.

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A Corner of White

A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a cute, quick read. In this YA novel about Madeline living in this dimension and Eliott living in another dimension in the land of Cello, who end up connecting via letters transferred thru a crack between their worlds. At first I found all the characters a little too eccentric. It was like Moriarty was trying to recreate a Neil Gaiman book, but without subtlety. Then I was afraid it was turning into a cheesy YA romance. But somewhere in the middle, the characters developed some depth, and I came to enjoy reading about these teens grappling with what truth is. Just like white light contains all colors, sometimes it is too bright to look at, and like objects that absorb certain wavelengths, and create color by rejecting other wavelengths, sometimes truth is too hard to see, and we see only what we want to. I loved the bits of trivia about color, Cambridge, Newton, and Byron. It is a Y A novel that has a bit more to it than it first appears.

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I, Claudius

I, Claudius by Robert Graves
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a very well written "autobiography" of Claudius as he witnesses the rise and fall of the emperors of Rome before unexpectedly becoming one himself. I will admit I got bogged down a little in the just how wicked everyone seemed to be. There was killing to get gain, killing to get money, killing to create fear, killing for revenge...so much killing...how was anyone alive? On that level, it was a bit depressing, but the fact that it was based on history was very interesting...if I were to teach ancient history, this is how I would do it. I loved the quote "“, that there are two different ways of writing history: one is to persuade men to virtue and the other is to compel men to truth.” And “And if by serving the cause of truth we admit our revered ancestors to have been cowards, liars, and traitors? What then?" I loved that discussion of history...wouldn't that be a great thing to discuss in a class? Do we really want our heros to be human? Lots of great history, ideas, and writing.

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Chasing the Sun

Chasing the Sun: A Novel by Natalia Sylvester
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a great read....well written, great characters, suspenseful story line. If you can see the ending coming before the characters do, it's only because we are usually the last to know what we should do with our lives. It brought up questions of how we live our lives in the same way until a crisis forces us to reexamine our lives and our relationships. Will we shut down, move on, or move back? And is moving back the same as moving on?

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Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

RMiss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this original, action packed novel. I thought the ideas and characters were fresh and interesting. The plot was unpredictable yet made sense. The pictures which were the inspiration, were fun to see. Ironically, the authors desire to fit these pictures into the thread of the narrative felt contrived and broke the flow of the novel. The very inspiration for the novels brilliance was also the most irritating part of the novel. I loved the story, but it might be a bit dark for younger readers.

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The Marriage Plot

EThe Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I bought this book because it was $5 and had the words Pulitzer Prize on the front. (Also I thought it was a book whose glowing review I had read, but I was mistaken: upon double checking, that book was The Newlyweds). The first 100 pages or so are almost unbearable. I believe one of the goodreads reviewers used the word Pretentious. It opens on graduation day at Brown and you are introduced to a bunch of Pretentious 80's intellectuals who base their relationships on what obscure author they are reading or what philosophical class they are taking. Since no one, even the "poor" students have a job, they can sit around and theorize about all sorts of crap. But because I can never not read a book once I've started, I slogged along and it actually got a little more interesting. Mainly because a couple of the characters had to actually deal with real life; namely, manic depression, and a religious exploration. I found both of those story lines well told and thought out. I especially appreciated that an author would allow a smart, Pretentious youth to search for meaning in religion. The ending was also satisfactory and refreshing. I never did like the Pretentious heroine though. And the book had more sex in it than needed to be there.

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