Archive for July, 2010

03 by Jean-Christophe Valtat

Told through the voice of a high school narrator in the French town of Montperilleux, 03 captures the emotional rootlessness of the teen years brilliantly. The story revolves around the narrator’s interest in a fellow teenager, a girl who is mentally handicapped and who therefore travels to a special school on the outskirts of town. Even if the narrator is gifted and his mental faculties way ahead of the girl’s, he finds many similarities between himself and the girl. “I was like her, an overprotected schoolchild in a town where nothing at all could plausibly have distracted me from my records and books for any length of time,” he says.

July 14, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: ,  · Posted in: Coming-of-Age, France, World Lit

FAITHFUL PLACE by Tana French

The emotions in Tana French’s new book Faithful Place explode on the page and inside the reader. I felt tackled by this book. I started reading it and was grabbed and held down by a force-field hard to describe except that all my senses were caught up in the narrative. I had difficulty coming up for air though I knew it was necessary once in a while. I lived this book 24/7 until I had finished it. That’s Tana French for you.

July 13, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags:  · Posted in: Ireland, Mystery/Suspense, y Award Winning Author

RED HOOK ROAD by Ayelet Waldman

Without much ado, let me state that I think this book is brilliant. It took my breath away and grabbed me by my heart from the first page till its stunning coda. Without being maudlin or histrionic, Ayelet Waldman’s RED HOOK ROAD examines the impact of loss and grief on two families, each as different as day and night. In the first chapter of the book, the reader is spectator to a profound tragedy. A young couple, married for about one hour, die in a car accident on the way to their own wedding reception.

July 12, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , , ,  · Posted in: Contemporary, Family Matters, Literary, NE & New York, Reading Guide

THIS IS EXACTLY LIKE YOU by Drew Perry

Jack Lang is not great at being in the world. At the start of this quirky and original book, he has impulsively purchased a second ranch house – right across the street from his original house – at an auction. His wife Beth, a teacher at a local college, his just left him for his good friend Terry Canavan. Terry’s long-time girlfriend, Rena, may or may not be coming on to him.

To really complicate things, he is left in charge of his autistic savant son Hendrick, who has a penchant for memorizing the Weather Channel and mimicking advertising (in its entirety) and sloganeering verbatim.

And that’s just the start of things.

July 11, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , , , ,  · Posted in: Contemporary, Debut Novel, Humorous, Reading Guide, US South

THE ANNIVERSARY MAN by R.J. Ellory

In R. J. Ellory’s THE ANNIVERSARY MAN, John Costello is sixteen when his life changes irrevocably. An unidentified assailant brutally attacks him and his girlfriend, Nadia, and although John survives, something in his soul has been shattered. Twenty-two years pass; he has somehow moved on and works as a researcher for a New York daily newspaper. He has his quirks, including a case of OCD, a tendency towards reclusiveness, and an encyclopedic knowledge of and fascination with serial killers. John’s past comes back to haunt him when a copycat starts replicating old crimes. As the number of dead bodies climbs, the police are under enormous pressure to identify and stop the perpetrator.

July 10, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , ,  · Posted in: Mystery/Suspense, New York City

THE BOOK OF SPIES by Gayle Lynds

THE BOOK OF SPIES would make a great edge-of-your-seat movie. But I’d hate to see a single scene cut. Gayle Lynds’ first book of her new spy series begins with an assassination. Tucker Anderson’s former colleague is picked off by a sniper before he can tell Tucker what has him so rattled. The dead man’s son was in army intelligence and wants to help Tucker find out who killed his Dad and why.

July 9, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags:  · Posted in: Thriller/Spy/Caper