Archive for May, 2009

EMPIRE OF HUMILIATION by James Jens Brusseau

As a Latin American woman I read EMPIRE OF HUMILIATION hoping for a novel that I could relate to, and I wasn’t disappointed. I loved the descriptions of Mexico DF which made me feel like I was back there again. I mean the description of dinner plates at outdoor restaurants getting so coated by the oily air pollution that you can write on them with your finger, that’s exactly how terrible it is.

May 14, 2009 · Judi Clark · One Comment
Tags: , , , ,  Â· Posted in: 2009 Favorites, Debut Novel, Facing History, Latin American/Caribbean, Mexico, Unique Narrative, World Lit

CEMETERY DANCE by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Fast-paced action introduces the reader to “vĂ´dou, obeah” and zombies of Louisiana backwater origins, with the murder of Nora Kelly’s husband by a neighbor who is described as having an unnatural pallor. A repeat character in the Pendergast series, Nora lives in New York City’s tony Upper West Side on West End Avenue…

May 13, 2009 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags:  Â· Posted in: New York City, Sleuths Series

ALEXANDRIA by Lindsey Davis

Marcus Didius Falco’s eighteen previous escapades took him, when he wasn’t at home in Rome, to Naples, Capua, and outward to Greece, Spain, Germany, and Britain. This time, in the Spring of A.D. 77, he and his family arrive in Egypt to see the Pyramids at Giza. But first they sail from Rhodes to the city Alexander the Great built, where they’ll stay a while with Falco’s Uncle Fulvius. Alexandria beckons them with the huge landmark, the famed Lighthouse.

May 12, 2009 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: Facing History, Sleuths Series, y Award Winning Author

NOBODY MOVE by Denis Johnson

NOBODY MOVE, Denis Johnson’s first novel since his National Book Award-winning Tree of Smoke in 2007, is a complete change of pace from that novel, which focuses on the Vietnam War. Here, Johnson sets his novel in Northern California in contemporary times, creating a noir study of drug-addled, alcoholic criminals who don’t have a clue about reality as they seek riches and revenge.

May 10, 2009 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: ,  Â· Posted in: California, Contemporary, Drift-of-Life, Noir, y Award Winning Author

PEOPLE OF THE BOOK by Geraldine Brooks

In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna, a caustic loner with a passion for her work, discovers a series of tiny artifacts in its ancient binding she begins to unlock the book’s mysteries.

May 10, 2009 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: ,  Â· Posted in: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Facing History, Literary, World Lit, y Award Winning Author

THE GIFTED GABALDON SISTERS by Lorraine LĂłpez

Having lost their mother in early childhood, the GabaldĂłn sisters consider Fermina, their elderly Pueblo housekeeper, their surrogate Grandmother. The mysterious Fermina love the girls as if they are her own, and promises to endow each with a “special gift” to be received upon her death. Mindful of the old woman’s mystical ways, the sisters believe Fermina’s gifts, bestowed based on their natural talents, magically enhance their lives.

May 9, 2009 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: Allegory/Fable, Family Matters, Latin American/Caribbean, World Lit, y Award Winning Author