The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carré
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is Le Carre's third book and the one where he hits his stride as the one of the best spy novelists. He said it this book came to him in three weeks and it shows: it is tight, full of suspense, and inspired. Loved it.

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A Murder of Quality

A Murder of Quality by John le Carré
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is one Le Carre novel that is a straight up mystery and not a spy novel. It has lots of twists and turns and no one seems to be who you think...very well written. But I have to admit I missed the mystic of the spy genre.

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Call for the Dead

Call for the Dead by John le Carré
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is Le Carre's first book, where we are introduced to George Smiley and Peter Guillium. Smiley is called to investigate a murder, and it is a decent murder mystery. It feels like Agatha Christie wrote a spy novel, but it is a good place to start with George. Unlike some of his later novels, Carre spells out the evidence and conclusions (almost painfully) so that the reader doesn't miss a thing. It was an enjoyable read and a good beginning for things to come.

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Bossypants

Bossypants by Tina Fey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It is always hard for me to critique a memoir because it is the world according to.... And so you end up not judging the book but the person. I bought this at the airport in the used section for $5. My kids kept asking me why she had man hands on the front. I still don't really know.
I gave this 3 stars mainly because I laughed about every other page or so. But this is also why I think it was more like 2.5 stars. Fey tries to tell about her life, but just when she gets to something revealing or heartfelt, she throws in a zinger. It makes you laugh, but you never really get to know her. And though she starts out with her childhood, once she gets past college, it is pretty much all about work. There are some good stories of SNL, but not enough about her relationships--with her co-workers, her husband, or even her kid. It is kind of interesting to read about how she ended up doing Sarah Palin, but the bits I liked best were her simultaneously planning a birthday party for her kid, or the part about her husband and her on a cruise. The 30 pages or so of how to do a photo shoot? Snoozeville.
Toward the end of the book, I got kind of annoyed with her. Maybe I shouldn't have read it straight through on a flight because her humor seemed to go from "ha ha ha, that Tina, she's so funny" to eye-rolling at her snarky comments. She seemed almost angry-mad in a lot of her "jokes" about being taken seriously as a director/writer/impressionist/mother. I know from watching her on-air personna that most of these quips are meant to be said in an off-hand, almost silly way, but in cold hard print they kind of make her seem like a defensive witch. I think her mistake is trying to make something funny out of something she feels about strongly. Either that or I should have gotten it on audio book.

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Siblings without Rivalry

Siblings Without Rivalry: How to Help Your Children Live Together So You Can Live Too by Adele Faber
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Yes, I resorted to a psychological book to help my kids get along. It is an easy read with some good examples. Still, I feel like I have to read it every day to refresh my memory on how I am "supposed" to respond to situations. Lately I've just been resorting to asking them "What Would Jesus Do?" and that seems to help better than anything.

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Insurgent

Insurgent by Veronica Roth
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was fine as a YA book. It is the middle of a trilogy and so therefore has the problem of being quite dark. In the first book, we went from a naive girl battling others and herself to prove she is corageous only to confront evil in a final showdown. In this book, Tris is depressed about the loss of her family and friends in the conclusion of the first book, and carries the weight of secrets and guilt through most of this book. As she works through her own demons, she discovers new baffling secrets and betrayals. So I guess you have to wait for the third book to finally get some relief. It will really depend on the third book as to whether all this angst, secrecy, and hinted conspiracies will make the whole trilogy worth the ride.

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Super Sad True Love Story

Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked this up in the bargain bin at the supermarket. Which I think is apt for the crazy farce of our very near future it ended up being. Lenny returns from Italy after a less than successful business stay trying to sell the uber-rich eternal life. He returns to an America deep in debt to the Chinese (hmmm...), his friends self-absorbed in their apparati (suspiciously sounding like apple...), and political protestors camped out in Central Park. A much younger girl he met in Italy, Eunice, comes and joins him and they slowly become a couple. Or do they? Can Eunice really love anyone outside of herself? Is Lenny just using Eunice as a younger version of his best friend's wife, whom he has always been in love with?
I thought the satire was dead-on. The scary part was that it is not too far from the truth. It is true that it could be crude, but in a world where we think bridesmaids crapping in the street is the ultimate in high comedy these days, aren't we just sinking further in the pit ourselves?
I was hoping more from the love story. I suppose they learned that true love comes from familial love and service to others. It would have been nice to have the main characters have reached a state of well-being or peace but then again, it was supposed to be a super-sad love story.

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