pontalba's 2013 reading list

[Kidsmum]

I was fortunate to hit one of those 2.99 USD kindle copy sales.  I'd been interested in it, but not at "new" prices. 

 

That is a bargain  I usually prefer to wait for the paperback as i don't always hang on to them once i've read them but with a Donna Tartt it's a must have 

[pontalba]

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan is a self proclaimed riff of Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. A very interesting and well done riff, I have to add.  3/5

It occurs in a slightly futuristic, extremely fundamentalist-gone-mad, United States. Instead of Hester Prynne's scarlet A, we have Hannah Payne's skin genetically altered to a bright red. The process is called "chroming" and different colors are used for different classes of crime. Red is for murder.

I've seen the book compared to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, and there certainly is a distinctly similar dystopian feel to When She Woke, but I'd still call it a modern The Scarlet Letter.

I found it to be well written, and interesting enough to keep reading.
It's been many decades since I read Hawthorne's novel, I really need a reread.

Recommended.

[julie]

Kate

Good review . I can't remember ever reading Hawthorne ! ( For shame ) .

I think I started House of 7 Gables WAY back when I was a young teen maybe ? A little too stiff or something at the time, but that was in a land far ago ,so someday he is on my list of try- agains .

[pontalba]

Thanks, Julie.

 

I read The Scarlet Letter back in high school.  I've downloaded it to my kindle for a future reread.

[pontalba]

Hostage by Robert Crais is a well written, fast paced thriller that delves into the psychology of a hostage situation.  4/5

Three men rob a convenience store, killing the owner. Fleeing the scene their truck breaks down on the road and they penetrate a gated community by breaching the fence. Invading the nearest home, they take a father and two children hostage. The story evolves from there into some extremely risky paths. Dangerous all the way around for the family, the Police Chief in charge, and inadvertently, themselves. They know not where they tread.

 

There is a great deal of great detail about hostage negotiations that I found to be realistically done, and the characters were well drawn.  The story is told from various points of view, which I found moved the story along well.

 

This is not part of a series, but a stand alone of Crais.

Recommended.
 

Edited December 22, 2013 by pontalba

[muggle not]

The Goldfinch isn't what I expected. At all. Donna Tartt writes with an evocative style that puts the reader exactly in the middle of the protagonists life, thoughts, and more importantly, his emotions. His rollercoaster of emotions. Fear, love, loss, confusion, physical trauma, PTSD included are starkly real. I don't believe I've read a more poignant and tender description of the love between a mother and son before.

 

From the loss by desertion of his father, to the unexpected and violent death of his mother his emotions are ours. Tartt exposes all the nerve endings, ruthlessly. The tension is palpable from the very beginning, never too much, or too little. Always enough to pull the reader along without swamping us. Because, after all, we have to know what happens to the boy.

 

The author shows us, she doesn't tell us what to think. The reader must, finally come to their own conclusions about the right or wrongness of the situations faced by the boy, and later the man.

 

Funny, heartbreaking, absolutely lovely.

Recommended.

 

I really look forward to the January selection.......

All I can say is that I totally agree with your feelings about the book. I am amazed at the knowledge it took to write the Goldfinch. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The book took me on many highs and lows, all of which contributed to making it a very good book.

[pontalba]

All I can say is that I totally agree with your feelings about the book. I am amazed at the knowledge it took to write the Goldfinch. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The book took me on many highs and lows, all of which contributed to making it a very good book.

 

Thanks, muggle.  It was a very much of a roller coaster. 

I must go back and look up the artist, I am wondering if Tartt made him up out of whole cloth. 

[muggle not]

Thanks, muggle.  It was a very much of a roller coaster. 

I must go back and look up the artist, I am wondering if Tartt made him up out of whole cloth. 

Artist (Carel Fabritius) is real and a great one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carel_Fabritius

See the painting:

Edited December 22, 2013 by muggle not

[pontalba]

Thanks for that, muggle.  So, the facts Tartt wrote of were really true, no embellishment needed! 

[ethan]

The Goldfinch is currently on display in NYC amazingly enough. http://frick.org

Edited December 23, 2013 by ethan

[pontalba]

The Goldfinch is currently on display in NYC amazingly enough. http://frick.org

 

Thanks for that ethan.  Wish we could get up there!

[pontalba]

Jack Adams was indeed a Lucky 'person of dubious parentage'*, in every sense of the word. Illegitimate, practically a psychopath when it came to the misuse of others, most especially women.

Adams is sure (with some circumstantial reasoning) that he is the illegitimate child of John F. Kennedy, and he has the charisma and smile to go along with that belief. His ambitions reach as far as JFK's did as well.

The novel charts Adams path in life, from poor and unknown to successful attorney and more. His story is told by his KGB handler, as a sort of memoir. Author Charles McCarry writes some of the snappiest dialogue I've seen. The first few pages actually had me laughing out loud. But the rest is a study in cynicism, entrapment and betrayal.

 

3/5

 

 

 

 

*Apparently the filter on the site changes some words.  The word that it has changed merely means an illegitimate child or a really unscrupulous person. 

'Tis a puzzlement.

Edited December 26, 2013 by pontalba

[Athena]

I've had that happen too, pontalba. It's a little strange indeed!

[pontalba]

Booked to Die by John Dunning is really almost a 4 star, but not quite. Perhaps unfairly I've rated it 3/5, and it's entirely possible I'll upgrade as time goes by. The books main problem, I believe, is what is common to 99% of 'first of a series'. It has to lay lots of ground work, and that isn't always the smoothest reading.

The premise is interesting. A police detective that is also a Bookman. Amateur to begin with, his skills have been honed over the years and he feels just disgusted enough with police work to leave the police force and follow his dream of a high class/price bookstore.

A series of seemingly random murders has taken place over the previous 7 years, and Detective Cliff Janeway knows who the killer is, but proving it remains elusive. The murders, plus a violent feud fuel this Denver based detective story.

I can't really say more without giving the plot away, but it's well done and all seemingly obvious clues do not always lead to the expected ends.

I think this will turn into an excellent series, I'm looking forward to the second one, already on my kindle.

[Little Pixie]

I read the second book - Bookman`s Wake - years ago and liked it. I had no idea it was part of a series.

[pontalba]

I read the second book - Bookman`s Wake - years ago and liked it. I had no idea it was part of a series.

 

I read Bookman's Wake last night.  I rated it higher than the first, but only marginally so. 

The more I think about it, I don't really like the way he portrays girls and women in his books.  At least so far.  For him, as far as I can tell, they are disposable characters.  And I don't appreciate it one bit.

 

I'm not putting up a review for the second one, as it's similar to the first in many ways.  A serviceable read, but formulaic.  I want to care about his characters, but Dunning doesn't seem to give me enough to work with, finally. 

Edited December 27, 2013 by pontalba

[pontalba]

Pines by Blake Crouch is an interesting combination of Twilight Zone, the TV series Lost and, according to the author, Twin Peaks. At least the author was heavily influenced by the show Twin Peaks, he claims.

A Secret Service agent, Ethan Burke, is sent to investigate the disappearance of two agents. The location is an idyllic small town deep in a pine forest and mountainous region of Idaho, U.S.A.

What happens next is a series of events that shatter his equilibrium, and cause him to doubt his sanity. He doesn't remember too much of the accident that the doctor claims caused his partial amnesia, and the whole set up and vibe of the hospital is just wrong to Ethan's mind. Weirdness on top of weirdness occurs, and Ethan tries to escape.

The scattered emotions of the protagonist are perfectly described, and the action and flashbacks to his war experiences are well done. The story just pulled me along. I had to know what all the inconsistencies would add up to, and believe me, when the end came, I was blown away.

This is the first of a series, and I'm already into the second.

Recommended for Twilight Zone fans.

[julie]

Wow, Kate

 You are really cranking out the final books of the OLD year , getting ready for the NEW one .  I'm about halfway through my latest book, so I might hit the deadline before 2014 officially begins . 

[pontalba]

Wow, Kate

 You are really cranking out the final books of the OLD year , getting ready for the NEW one .  I'm about halfway through my latest book, so I might hit the deadline before 2014 officially begins . 

 

Good luck!!  

 

 

One more.....

 

Wayward by Blake Crouch is second in the Wayward Pines series. Crouch has created a series that, as I mentioned in my review of the first one, (see above) is a combination of Twilight Zone, and the TV series Lost, and as I have been told by a number of people, The X-Files.

 

Wayward Pines, a sweet little town, picture perfect in every way....almost. Appearances are deceiving though, to say the least. Monsters of a sort - both outside and inside the electrified fence that makes your skin feel like thousands of fire ants crawling about. Where did all the unwilling residents come from, and why don't they just leave?

 

Ethan Burke, ex-Secret Service agent, is now the Sheriff of Wayward Pines and knows the truth that is denied most of the residents. Just how will he act upon that truth? Where will it lead them? Who will survive?

 

Good stuff.

 

btw, the third in the series is already pre-ordered on my Kindle, it's coming out in July, 2014.

[pontalba]

James Salter's Dusk and Other Stories is a little difficult for me to rate as a whole. It wanders from three star to five plus stars. A collection of short stories by the master of spare, beautiful prose. Several stand out, such as Akhnilo, a powerful story of a man possibly slipping back into schizophrenia. In a few lines Salter shows the reader the effects of mental illness on the sufferers family. Then there is the screamingly effective Twenty Minutes featuring a woman that is the suffering a lonely and painful, not to mention sudden, death.

Dusk the piece the collection is named for is a poignant ending of an affair, beautifully written, encapsulating the aloneness of the woman.

All in all, reading Salter's work the reader will experience life dissolving events, disillusionment, desperation, the sheer ordinariness of life. He manages to encapsulate a life in a few pages of concise, spare, but beautiful prose.

So, I believe I have my answer, it's a 5 star read. Not because I loved each and every story. But because each is a powerful statement about the human condition that will stay with me.
And, in the final analysis, isn't that why we read?

[Athena]

It sounds interesting, I'm glad you enjoyed the book. Nice review .

[Little Pixie]

I read Bookman's Wake last night.  I rated it higher than the first, but only marginally so. 

The more I think about it, I don't really like the way he portrays girls and women in his books.  At least so far.  For him, as far as I can tell, they are disposable characters.  And I don't appreciate it one bit.

 

I'm not putting up a review for the second one, as it's similar to the first in many ways.  A serviceable read, but formulaic.  I want to care about his characters, but Dunning doesn't seem to give me enough to work with, finally.

 

So, not worth bothering with any more of them then ? Good to know, especially since I just found another series which I want to get more/all of, after just reading the opening paragraphs.

 

Oh, it`s the Patricia Moyes` Henry Tibbett series.

[Athena]

I read Bookman's Wake last night.  I rated it higher than the first, but only marginally so. 

The more I think about it, I don't really like the way he portrays girls and women in his books.  At least so far.  For him, as far as I can tell, they are disposable characters.  And I don't appreciate it one bit.

 

I'm not putting up a review for the second one, as it's similar to the first in many ways.  A serviceable read, but formulaic.  I want to care about his characters, but Dunning doesn't seem to give me enough to work with, finally.

x

This would bother me a lot too!

[pontalba]

It sounds interesting, I'm glad you enjoyed the book. Nice review .

 

Thanks, Gaia.

 

 

So, not worth bothering with any more of them then ? Good to know, especially since I just found another series which I want to get more/all of, after just reading the opening paragraphs.

 

Oh, it`s the Patricia Moyes` Henry Tibbett series.

 

I won't say I'll never read one again, 'cause I will.  I just won't deliberately look for them.  It's entirely possible that facet changes. 

 

 

x

This would bother me a lot too!

 

It could be just because it's the beginning of the series, but really, there was an incident in the first book that really and truly shocked me.  Including the reactions, or lack bothered me. 

[pontalba]

The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch 3/5

 

The background for this historical fictional novel is actually fascinating.  Dynasties of Hangman/Torturers were evidently the norm at the time of this novel.  The Seventeenth Century was a brutal place and time to live.  Torturing criminals, and unfortunately, non-criminals was quite common.  Suspected witches were anyone that happened to be "different", or dabbled in herbals.  The author is actually a descendent of the very real protagonist of the book. 

 

The center of the story is the accusation of witchery against a woman that has been midwife to half the small hamlet.  Children have been found murdered with what appears to be a witches or devil's symbol.  The town's Hangman, one Jakob Kuisl is a sensible man, he doesn't put any stock into flying witches and curses.  However he is called upon to torture a confession out of the woman that has seen his wife through some difficult births, and he has no desire to do so.  He makes it his mission to find the person or persons responsible for the terrible crimes that have been committed.  But he is working against the clock. 

 

The item that forced me to downgrade from a 4 to a 3 star consisted of, to my ear, too modern a vernacular....it threw me off a bit. 

I will read more in the series though, as the author really brought the main characters to life for me, and made me care what happened to them.