Archive for March, 2010

THE WEED THAT STRINGS THE HANGMAN’S BAG by Alan Bradley

Young Flavia Sabina de Luce, chemistry whiz, accomplished amateur detective, and sometime drama queen, is back! She says she trying to be a better person, but she still at least thinks rude retorts, forgets to come home for Mrs. Mullet’s strange meals, steals into houses and businesses to collect evidence, opens coffins and peers inside to confirm forensic theories, and gives as good as she gets to her older sisters.

March 8, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: 2010 Favorites, Humorous, Sleuths Series, United Kingdom

SMALL KINGDOMS by Anastasia Hobbet

Anastasia Hobbet’s novel about life in Kuwait between Saddam’s invasion of that country and the American invasion of Iraq is both gorgeous in its prose and compelling in its varied perspectives. Kuwait here is a real country, not a geographical footnote to a war, populated by people, both Kuwaiti and not, who navigate the difficult terrain of fear, loyalty, and social conventions. The story follows its characters to the brink of the second war where they, like the country they inhabit, face the changes ahead.

March 7, 2010 · Judi Clark · One Comment
Tags: , , , ,  Â· Posted in: 2010 Favorites, Class - Race - Gender, Middle East, World Lit

SMALL WARS by Sadie Jones

Major Hal Treherne first saw Clara, his friend’s sister, when he was 19 and she was 17. The year was 1946. He felt overwhelmed by her and within a few years they were married. Hal came from a family where emotions were not talked about and intimacy was as close to him as a foreign language. He was not prepared for the language of closeness and love that marriage requires. During the first ten years of their marriage Clara and Hal were happy, looking forward to seeing each other, passionate and engaged. Things on the military front were quiet for Hal and this bored him as he was trained for combat. He got the chance to use his combat skills when they were transferred to Cyprus in 1956.

March 6, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: World Lit, y Award Winning Author

MAJOR PETTIGREW’S LAST STAND by Helen Simonson

There is a great deal to like in Helen Simonson’s debut novel, MAJOR PETTIGREW’S LAST STAND, whose protagonist is sixty-eight year old widower Major Ernest Pettigrew. The Major, who lives in a small English village named Edgecombe St. Mary, occasionally plays golf with his cronies, dines at the club, and is well-respected among the townspeople. Still, something is missing. He still remembers his late wife, Nancy, with longing, and he derives small solace from the indifferent ministrations of his only son, Robert, a self-centered social climber who has acquired a forthright and droll American girlfriend named Sandy. When Pettigrew hears of his younger brother’s death, he is overcome with grief, although the two had not seen each other much of late.

March 5, 2010 · Judi Clark · 4 Comments
Tags:  Â· Posted in: 2010 Favorites, Debut Novel, End-of-Life, Family Matters, Humorous, United Kingdom

COUNTRY DRIVING by Peter Hessler

Hessler came to China in 1996 with the Peace Corp and stayed for 10 years. He got his license in 2001, as roads and drivers were proliferating, and planned a cross-country trip. Development was intense in coastal regions but the north and west were still remote, many roads unlabeled.

March 4, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags:  Â· Posted in: 2010 Favorites, China, Non-fiction, y Award Winning Author

FACTORY GIRLS by Leslie T. Chang

In FACTORY GIRLS, American journalist Chang, who kept her Chinese heritage at arm’s length for many years, explores her family’s past and the country’s history as she follows the lives of migrant workers in the industrial city of Dongguan, where 70 percent of the population is female.

March 4, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: ,  Â· Posted in: China, Non-fiction