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Readwine's Reads 2010


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In 2009, I challenged myself to read 52 books. I only made it to 44, but still proud of myself of that accomplishment. This is the most books I've ever read in a year (notwithstanding the years in university) and I owe it to the motivation BCF provides. Thank you.

 

For 2010, I am reasserting that challenge :D

 

1. Shashenka by Simon Montefiore 6/10

2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson 9.5/10

3. The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson 9/10

4. The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny 8/10

5. Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier 8.5/10

6. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley 10/10

7. The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths 9/10

8. Forty Words for Sorrow by Giles Blunt 2/10

9. The Broken Shore by Peter Temple 3/10

10. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin 8.5/10

11. The Water Room by Christopher Fowler 8/10

12. Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden 9/10

13. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel 6/10

14. The Other Bolelyn Girl by Phillippa Gregory 9.5/10

15. Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane 6/10

16. Dissolution by CJ Sansom 8/10

17. The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova 10/10

18. The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell 0/10

19. The Princess of Burundi by Kjell Eriksson 3/10

20. The Postmistress by Sarah Blake 8/10

21. Heresy by SJ Parris 8.5/10

22. Dark Fire by CJ Sansom 9/10

23. Solar by Ian McEwan 8/10

24. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell 10/10

25. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder 10/10

26. The Chemistry of Death by Simon Beckett 8/10

27. Sovereign by CJ Sansom 9/10

28. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson 9.5/10

29. Written in Bone by Simon Beckett 7.5/10

30. Revelation by CJ Sansom 9/10

31. Malinche by Laura Esquivel 5/10

32. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters 8.5/10

33. The Bishop's Man by Linden MacIntyre 8.5/10

34. Pearl in China by Anchee Min 9/10

35. Watership Down by Richard Adams 8.5/10

36. The Portrait by Iain Pears 6/10

37. The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh 9/10

38. The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley 9.5/10

39. The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough 8.5/10

40. Blacklands by Belinda Bauer 7/10

41. Four Fires by Bruce Courtney 8.5/10

42. Gallows View by Peter Robinson 8/10

43. A Dedicated Man by Peter Robinson 8/10

44. The Religion by Tim Willows 5/10

45. A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul 9/10

46. A Necessary End by Peter Robinson 8/10

47. The Hanging Valley by Peter Robinson 8/10

Edited by Readwine
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2010 TBR LIST

 

 

Purple Hibiscus Chimamanda Adichie

Never Have Your Dog Stuffed Alan Alda

The Sacred Scripture Sebastian Barry

Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontee (reread)

Incidents in the Rue Laugier Anita Brookner

The Misalliance Anita Brookner

Sacred Games Vikram Chandra

The Luminous Life of Lily Aphrodite Beatrice Colin

The Darwin Conspiracy John Darnton

The Gargoyle Andrew Davidson

The Welsh Girl Peter Ho Davies

The Paris Enigma Pablo de Santis

A Guide to the Birds of East Africa Nicholas Drayson

Birdsong Sebastian Faulks

The We Came to the End Joshua Ferris

Love Among the Butterflies Margaret Fountaine

The Victoria Vanishes Christopher Fowler

Hanna's Daughters Marianne Fredriksson

In the Woods Tana French

The Way of the World David Fromkin

The Cellist of Sarajevo Steven Galloway

Sea of Poppies Amitav Ghosh

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett

Imperium Robert Harris

Notes on a Scandal Zoe Heller

The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith

The Fatal Shore Robert Hughes

Love in the Present Tense Catherine R. Hyde

Innocent Blood PD James

Mister Pip Lloyd Jones

Endurance Alfred Lansing

Palace Walk Naguib Mahfouz

Midaq Alley Naquib Mahfouz

The Mozart Conspiracy Scott Mariani

The Rose of Sebastopol Katharine McMahon

Under Fishbone Clouds by Sam Meekings

Be a Pack Leader Cesar Millan

A Member of the Family Cesar Millan

Becoming Madame Mao Anchee Min

Mexican High Liza Monro

Felix in the Underworld John Mortimer

The House at Riverton Kate Morton

Starter for Ten by David Nicholls

Star of the Sea Joseph O'Connor

Inishowen Joseph O'Connor

Out Stealing Horses Per Petterson

The Circular Staircase Mary R. Rinehart

Shantaram Gregory Roberts

The Interpretation of Murder Jed Rubenfeld

The Visible World Mark Slouka

Longitude Dana Sobel

The Case for Christ Lee Strobel

Mrs. Miniver Jan Struther

Cloudstreet Tim Winton

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle David Wroblewski

The Ginger Tree Oswald Wynd

The Shack William P. Young

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I've only read one or two on your list, but it looks like a lot of interesting reads made it on there. I especially loved The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith - terrific read. :D

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Sashenka by Simon Montefiore

 

Blurb from Amazon:

 

Starred Review. Lauded historian Montefiore (Young Stalin) ventures successfully into fiction with the epic story of Sashenka Zeitlin, a privileged Russian Jew caught up in the romance of the Russian revolution and then destroyed by the Stalinist secret police. The novel's first section, set in 1916, describes how, under the tutelage of her Bolshevik uncle, Sashenka becomes a naive, idealistic revolutionary charmed by her role as a courier for the underground and rejecting her own bourgeois background. Skip forward to 1939, when Sashenka and her party apparatchik husband are at the zenith of success until Sashenka's [personal decision regarding] a disgraced writer leads to arrests and accusations; in vivid scenes of psychological and physical torture, Sashenka is forced to choose between her family, her lover and her cause. But as this section ends, many questions remain, and it is up to historian Katinka Vinsky in 1994 to find the answers to what really happened to Sashenka and her family. Montefiore's prose is unexciting, but the tale is thick and complex, and the characters' lives take on a palpable urgency against a wonderfully realized backdrop.

 

I finally came to this book as my TBR pile dwindled slowly. I was really looking forward to indulging in a large tome of historical fiction, but unfortunately I came away a little disappointed.

 

Montefiore undertook a massive span of history. From 1916 to 1994, Russia saw tremendous changes. To be able to encapsulate all of it in a novel is very hard. I think he tried to do it through his main character, Sashenka, by focusing on her development as a pristine Bolshevik and Comrade, and her experiences as she fell in the clutches of the secret police. Factually, I think he succeeded. Emotionally, however, he paints Sashenka (and most of the other characters) as totally self-centered and uncaring. This really disturbed me. There seemed to be no empathy in that world at all, and I just could not believe it.

 

I felt that the terror and despair of the Stalin era was treated in the novel as a newspaper clipping, to be read and forgotten. It seemed that none of Montefiore

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Ooh! Christopher Fowler's on your list! He's awesome! And I truly loved Stieg Larsson's trilogy. Truly. If you thought the first one was good, wait until you've banged through the next couple. Wahey! :D

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  • 3 weeks later...
I especially loved The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith - terrific read. :(

 

Kell, this book has been on my list for a couple of years. New books keep being piled on top of it. I am determined to read it this year as it has been highly recommended by several people. Thanks for pushing it up the list. ;)

 

I have the Mozart Conspiracy on my TBR pile. Looks good. Look forward to hearing what you think.

 

I've been waiting for a long, wet and cold weekend as I love curling up with this kind of book :welcome:

 

Ooh! Christopher Fowler's on your list! He's awesome! And I truly loved Stieg Larsson's trilogy. :D

 

The Victoria Vanishes was actually one of my Secret Santa's choices, but I bought it for myself instead :). It sounds intriguing. I am really looking forward to reading it. I've finished two of the Larsson books - I am impatiently waiting for the paperback version of the Hornet's Nest to come out. April cannot get soon enough

 

Watership Down is such a beautiful book, still makes me cry now twenty years after first reading it

 

Joe, this one will be a reread. I read it in my much younger days and absolutely fell in love with it. It has been about 30 years for me :)

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The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

 

Blurb from Amazon:

 

It's the beginning of a lazy summer in 1950 at the sleepy English village of Bishop's Lacey. Up at the great house of Buckshaw, aspiring chemist Flavia de Luce passes the time tinkering in the laboratory she's inherited from her deceased mother and an eccentric great uncle. When Flavia discovers a murdered stranger in the cucumber patch outside her bedroom window early one morning, she decides to leave aside her flasks and Bunsen burners to solve the crime herself, much to the chagrin of the local authorities. But who can blame her? What else does an eleven-year-old science prodigy have to do when left to her own devices? With her widowed father and two older sisters far too preoccupied with their own pursuits and passions

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Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier

 

Blurb from Publisher’s Weekly:

 

Chevalier's newest is a flat historical whose familiar themes of gender inequality, class warfare and social power often overwhelm the story. Tart-tongued spinster Elizabeth Philpot meets young Mary Anning after moving from London to the coastal town of Lyme Regis. The two quickly form an unlikely friendship based on their mutual interest in finding fossils, which provides the central narrative as working-class Mary emerges from childhood to become a famous fossil hunter, with her friend and protector Elizabeth to defend her against the men who try to take credit for Mary's finds. Their friendship, however, is tested when Colonel Birch comes to Lyme to ask for Mary's help in hunting fossils and the two spinsters compete for his attention. While Chevalier's exploration of the plight of Victorian-era women is admirable, Elizabeth's fixation on her status as an unmarried woman living in a gossipy small town becomes monotonous, and Chevalier slows the story by dryly explaining the relative importance of different fossils. Chevalier's attempt to imagine the lives of these real historical figures makes them seem less remarkable than they are.

I think Publisher’s Weekly is a bit harsh in the assessment of this novel, but it does summarize the plot quite well. I think Chevalier presents the themes of gender inequality and class distinction very well through its two main characters, and she develops the friendship between the two women with warts and all. Even though Elizabeth is a bit bitter at being an old spinster, I still liked her as she struggled to find her individuality in a time when women were discounted and dismissed.

 

The real problem I had with this novel was Chevalier’s ignoring (or at least not expanding) the amazing religious and scientific controversy that must have been swirling and discussed at the finding of ichthyosaurus and plesiosaurus bones in the shores of England. Mary’s finds took place before Darwin proffered his evolutionary theories, but the bones became key pieces of evidence of extinction. Apparently in the 1820s (dates the novel takes place), it was believed by the clergy and the intelligentsia that animals did not become extinct — in part because they felt that extinction would imply that God's creation had been imperfect; any oddities found were explained away as still living somewhere in an unexplored region of the earth. I was really hoping that the novel would delve a little deeper into this argument. Alas, no.

 

I give it an 8.5 out of 10

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Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin

Blurb from Amazon:

Starred Review. Benjamin draws on one of the most enduring relationships in children's literature in her excellent debut, spinning out the heartbreaking story of Alice from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Her research into the lives of Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) and the family of Alice Liddell is apparent as she takes circumstances shrouded in mystery and colors in the spaces to reveal a vibrant and passionate Alice. Born into a Victorian family of privilege, free-spirited Alice catches the attention of family friend Dodgson and serves as the muse for both his photography and writing. Their bond, however, is misunderstood by Alice's family, and though she is forced to sever their friendship, she is forever haunted by their connection as her life becomes something of a chain of heartbreaks. As an adult, Alice tries to escape her past, but it is only when she finally embraces it that she truly finds the happiness that eluded her. Focusing on three eras in Alice's life, Benjamin offers a finely wrought portrait of Alice that seamlessly blends fact with fiction. This is book club gold.

This was quite an interesting read as I knew next to nothing about the real Alice Liddell and Lewis Carroll. It is primarily set during the second half of the nineteenth century and stylistically it reflects this period. The language is lovely and it harbours great sentimentality and detail of emotion. I had a little trouble believing the emotional maturity of a seven to ten year old child as described by Benjamin, but soon took it for what it is and enjoyed the development of Alice’s character. After all, young children of the 19th century were certainly different than today’s children (especially those brought up amidst the intellectual circles of Oxford I would imagine).

I know little about Lewis Carroll so his portrayal in the novel as a weak and sad man was catching. There are undertones throughout the book of his pedophilic tendencies, which are not entirely resolved and left me a little disturbed.

Though Alice in Wonderland is obviously central to the story, not much is discussed about the book itself. I did learn, however, that the white rabbit who is terminally late may have been a reference to Alice’s father, Dean of Christ Church College at Oxford, as this don was apparently always running late. The Queen of Hearts may have been a reference to Alice’s mother, a formidable lady who ran the household with an iron fist.

Also, of interest, was the relationship between Prince Leopold (Queen Victoria’s youngest son) and Alice Liddell - perhaps a little fictionalized, perhaps not. The fact that one of Alice’s son’s was named Leopold and Leopold’s daughter was named Alice may give credence to the relationship.

At any rate, worth a read. I give it a 8.5/10

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Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden

Blurb from Amazon:

 

A haunting novel about identity, love, andloss. Will Bird is a legendary Cree bush pilot, now lying in a coma in a hospital in his hometown of Moose Factory, Ontario. His niece Annie Bird, beautiful and self-reliant, has returned from her own perilous journey to sit beside his bed. Broken in different ways, the two take silent communion in their unspoken kinship, and the story that unfolds is rife with heartbreak, fierce love, ancient blood feuds, mysterious disappearances, fires, plane crashes, murders, and the bonds that hold a family, and a people, together. As Will and Annie reveal their secrets—the tragic betrayal that cost Will his family, Annie’s desperate search for her missing sister, the famous model Suzanne—a remarkable saga of resilience and destiny takes shape. From the dangerous bush country of upper Canada to the drug-fueled glamour of the Manhattan club scene, Joseph Boyden tracks his characters with a keen eye for the telling detail and a rare empathy for the empty places concealed within the heart. Sure to appeal to readers of Louise Erdrich and Jim Harrison, Through Black Spruce establishes Boyden as a writer of startling originality and uncommon power.

 

This was my first introduction to Joseph Boyden as well as to the Cree Native North Americans: the largest group of First Nations of Canada. The novel is set primarily in Moosonee, a small town on the southern end of James Bay in northern Ontario. Boyden’s descriptions of the landscape, the cold, and the dangers faced by the inhabitants of this area are very successful in creating a feeling of isolation and bleakness, yet they underline its certain raw beauty.

 

At the beginning, I found the pace of the novel a little slow but I soon realized that it really worked with the story, especially its aboriginal characters. As hunters and trappers, people of the earth, the slow speech, moments of silence between the characters, the full descriptions of the natural surroundings really brought about a sense of the Cree culture; its need to live in the moment but reflect on the past. Of course, this serves even better when it is juxtaposed against the erratic and frantic lifestyle of New York City; the nightly parties of New York models and the constant dangers of drug dealers. Further, in these two worlds, Boyden does a fabulous job in examining the blood ties of family as they heal and accompany and the drug ties of strangers as they destroy and isolate. Very, very interesting.

 

The story unfolds through the narration of the two main characters: Will, alcohol-abusing bush pilot who at the beginning of the novel is in a coma, and by Annie, his niece, who sits at his bedside speaking to him, hoping he is listening. This strategy actually works very well with the two storylines finally intersecting at the end.

 

Boyden actually won the Giller Prize 2008 for this novel; Canada's highest book award.

 

I really enjoyed this novel and the final peace it creates (warts and all).

 

I give it a 9/10

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Ah what a shame, 'Wolf Hall' is one of those books that you hear about and see everywhere and I've nearly bought it several times being quite interested in Tudor times .. not sure that I fancy it now.

I did think of listening to it as I have a couple of credits with Audible and I'm sometimes daunted by long books especially if the subject matter is quite heavy ... I don't know if that would be wise either though.

I do hate books that are overly descriptive .. especially if I've lost the thread by the time they've stopped describing the curl of a leaf or something.

 

On a brighter note, I've just bought 'The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie' and I'm looking forward to reading it.

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Poppyshake, I really hope you enjoy the Pie book as much as I did. I just thought it was delightful and a welcomed change after reading "heavy subject" books. I always hate giving a weak review to a book as I am always afraid that it will discourage people, but that is why I love the BCF as one can get a real sense from other people's opinions.

I am not sure how Wolf Hall would pan out in the audiobook format as Mantel's use of the word "he" is so misguiding especially in her dialogues: for example, in a conversation scenario:

 

Wolsey says "bla bla bla"

Thomas More says "bla bla bla"

He says "bla bla bla"

 

The reader then has to figure out if it is More continuing to speak or maybe Wolsey and by the end of paragraph you figure out that Cromwell is actually in the conversation. Ugggh.

In an audiobook, I think you would have to constantly rewind.

 

At any rate, enough of that. Hope you really enjoy Pie. Sweet!

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The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

 

Blurb from Barnes & Noble:

 

Psychiatrist Andrew Marlowe has a perfectly ordered life--solitary, perhaps, but full of devotion to his profession and the painting hobby he loves. This order is destroyed when renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient. In response, Marlowe finds himself going beyond his own legal and ethical boundaries to understand the secret that torments this genius, a journey that will lead him into the lives of the women closest to Robert Oliver and toward a tragedy at the heart of French Impressionism. Ranging from American museums to the coast of Normandy, from the late nineteenth century to the late twentieth, from young love to last love, THE SWAN THIEVES is a story of obsession, the losses of history, and the power of art to preserve human hope.

 

First, I must thank Peacefield for recommending this book. Thank you, I loved it.

 

It is a beautifully written “work of art,” and by this I mean that the book reads as if Kostova was describing to you, in great detail, an impressionist painting which tells a story, but you cannot see the painting save in your mind’s eye. She details its color and shading, texture and smell, composition and form, which all comes together to present you a story of sadness, defeat, brilliance, mundaneness, independence, duty, growth and love. I felt as if I wanted to stare at the story as if I were visiting a quiet museum and viewing this picture – taking my time.

 

This book cannot be read quickly; it needs to be savoured and really imagined. Though there is a mystery to the story, it is revealed slowly and gently. At the same time, however, I did not find it slow or boring. Kostova’s descriptions keep you wanting to find out more and more.

 

Kostova really presents her characters well and as they paint their story, you like them, but as in a museum, you abandon one picture for another, and in the story one character becomes the focus over another, except for Marlowe who is at the center of the picture. As the story unfolds, you also begin to see the dark shadings of the protagonists in the painting which you did not realize was there before.

 

The Swan Thieves is really like staring into a painting - the more you do, the more you see.

 

If you do not like a lot of detail description in a story, you may find this book a little long.

 

I loved it; I give it a 10/10

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The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell

 

I am not sure if I am angrier at myself for finishing this book or at Mankell for deceiving the reader into believing that this book is a murder mystery. I cannot even post a summary of the plot as there really is not one save a concoction of poorly connection stories that try, but fail, to present a plausible story. It is simply unbelievable and impossible. :smile2:

 

Practically the whole book is Mankell's ecomonic and political treatise of China's modern imperialistic strategy. This should be listed under the political science section and not marketed as a crime novel.

 

Even his attempt at creating a main character fails miserably as Birgitta Roslin, a Swedish judge, is a terminally tired woman (drink a cup of coffee already) that is dumb as a stump. So maddening because the characters that are suppose to be key to this so called story are all women and all are painted as lazy idiots. :smile2:

 

Please do not waste your time or money on this one. So disappointed as Mankell's Wallander series is very good.

 

Okay, end of rant.:D I give it a 0/10 (I have never given a book this mark before)

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Dissolution by C.J. Sansom

Blurb from Publisher’s Weekly:

Murders on the grounds of a monastery, 16th-century intrigue, an unconventional sleuth-readers might wonder if this is a knock-off Name of the Rose set two centuries later, but Sansom's debut is a compelling historical mystery in its own right, with fewer pyrotechnics and plenty of period detail. It is 1537; the English Reformation is in full swing; and Lord Thomas Cromwell, King Henry VIII's vicar-general, is busy shutting down papist institutions. When one of his commissioners is beheaded at a remote Benedictine monastery, Cromwell dispatches a second emissary, hunchbacked lawyer Matthew Shardlake, to investigate the murder. What Shardlake and his companion, eager young Mark Poer, discover is a quietly bubbling cesspool of corruption, lust and avarice. The scope of the investigation quickly expands when a novice is poisoned and Shardlake finds the remains of a girl who served the monks in the monastery pond. Shardlake presses on by testing the alibis of the various corrupt monks, but Poer's objectivity is compromised when he becomes involved with the girl's successor, a bright, attractive woman named Alice Fewterer. As the investigation unfolds, Shardlake survives a murder attempt, and finally returns to London to tie his findings to higher-level intrigue. Sansom paints a vivid picture of the corruption that plagued England during the reign of Henry VIII, and the wry, rueful Shardlake is a memorable protagonist, a compassionate man committed to Cromwell's reforms, but increasingly doubtful of the motives of his fellow reformers. With this cunningly plotted and darkly atmospheric effort, Sansom proves himself to be a promising newcomer.

I have already bought Dark Fire, the second in Sansom’s Shardlake series, as Sansom paints an intelligent but ambivalent protagonist and I am curious as to his next adventure as well as learning a little more about that period in history through the eyes of likeable yet flawed characters.

In this first case, Shardlake is working directly for Cromwell and at first appears to support his boss’s anti-papist sentiments. Shardlake soon begins to have doubts as to the severity of Cromwell’s views as he and his assistant, Poer, discuss the consequences of the monasteries persecutions; Poer acting as the sound of reason. The pairing of these two characters works well in the novel to outline the arguments for and against the dissolution of the monasteries as well as to underline the choices an individual makes when he believes in himself and his God versus believing in a religion dictated by those in power, be it the Pope or Henry VIII.

As for the murder mystery itself, it is well wrought until the end which was a little disappointing as certain clues comes out of left field. It is okay though. As it is the first in the series, we shall see how the second evolves. Worth a read all around.

I give it an 8/10

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The Princess of Burundi by Kjell Eriksson

 

Blurb from School Library Journal:

 

An ordinary crime novel is made extraordinary through Eriksson's exquisite character descriptions and circuitous plot. Former small-time crook Little John Jonsson is found brutally murdered, with clear evidence of torture. The Uppsala police force investigates and eventually identifies the killer. The author skillfully constructs the personality of each character, revealing, for example, the weaknesses inherent in policeman Ola Haver and Ann Liddell versus the hidden strengths of the victim's brother, Lennart Jonsson, and son, Justus. Haver leads the investigation while managing a strained relationship with his wife and an attraction to his former boss, Liddell. Lennart Jonsson's guilt and grief over his brother's death eventually destroys him, but not before he exacts his revenge (albeit unrecognized) and becomes a hero. Justus had a secret pact with his father that may have saved Little John's life had he shared it with his mother or the police. The likely suspect is a demented, pathetic person who knew his victim as one of his tormentors in school a period that haunts him in his adult life. The entangled relationships among the police, the victim, and the victim's family are compelling.

 

I do not agree that this novel is in anyway “extraordinary” or “compelling” as the blurb states. It is simply “okay.” Perhaps this was due to the fact that I was not aware that this is Eriksson’s second novel in the Ann Liddell series, but the first to be translated into English. I was left with the sense that Eriksson’s characters were incomplete and slightly watery.

 

The novel does present a dark and cold life in Uppsala and Eriksson crafts a good sociopsychological portrait all around. The murder mystery is bland. No more to say really.

 

I give it a 3/10

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The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

Blurb from Publisher’s Weekly:

Weaving together the stories of three very different women loosely tied to each other, debut novelist Blake takes readers back and forth between small town America and war-torn Europe in 1940. Single, 40-year-old postmistress Iris James and young newlywed Emma Trask are both new arrivals to Franklin, Mass., on Cape Cod. While Iris and Emma go about their daily lives, they follow American reporter Frankie Bard on the radio as she delivers powerful and personal accounts from the London Blitz and elsewhere in Europe. While Trask waits for the return of her husband—a volunteer doctor stationed in England—James comes across a letter with valuable information that she chooses to hide. Blake captures two different worlds—a na

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  • 7 months later...

Well, it is nearly the end of 2010 and soon I shall be working on my 2011 list. I did not meet my challenge to read 52 books this year, but I did beat my 2009 total of 44 books (2010 list on first post). I am quite pleased :giggle2: I still have a couple of days so I may even be able to add one more book to 2010.

Unfortunately, the last part of the year was so busy at work I was unable to write any reviews. :rolleyes: Oh well. One excuse I do have is that several of the books I read this year were huge door stoppers (most about 800 pages).

At any rate, here is wishing you all happy reading for 2011.

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