The Friday Society by Adrienne Kress

The Friday Society is about three young ladies who are assistants to rich, powerful, well known men.  There's Cora, lab assistant to an inventor; Nellie, assistant to a famous magician; and Michiko, a samurai trained assistant to a fighting instructor.  For one reason or another each of the three women were left on their own with no family and happen to meet these men who, with the exception of the magician, do not always appreciate the intelligence or work ethic of their faithful assistants. A chance meeting at a society gathering, a series of murders, and other strange happenings bring Cora, Nellie and Michiko together as they try to solve a mystery or two and save the city of London.

I picked up this book in part because I am participating in a challenge suggested by the online book club Literary Explorations (which I discovered through Goodreads).  The challenge is to get out of one's comfort zone and read books from a wide variety of genres over the course of 2013.  There are three challenge levels to choose from: easy (12 genres), hard (24 genres), and insane (36 genres).  I choose to do the hard challenge and one of the genres I must read is steampunk.

Intrigued by steampunk but not having read much in the genre before, I was really looking to The Friday Society and it did not disappoint.  It is not a perfect book.  While the three leading ladies were sharply drawn, most of the male characters blend into hard-to-distinguish caricatures.  The plot got lost in silliness at times and there were a few stretches where I thought the book should be shorter.  However, overall it was fun introduction to steampunk and it has definitely made me interested in continuing to explore the genre.  I'm not sure if The Friday Society is the beginning of a series but if it is I would read the next one.  I would especially recommend this book to any preteen/teen girl who wants to read about girls who are smart, strong and resourceful.

Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan

As a child and college student, Serena Frome (rhymes with Plume) read anything and everything without discrimination.  For this reason alone I expected to adore this book.  She argues fervently that Jacqueline Susanne's Valley of the Dolls is as good as anything by Jane Austen.  (For the record, Valley of the Dolls is a pretty good book.)  An affair with an older man leads to Serena being recruited by MI5.  The job is less impressive than it sounds - it's the early seventies and (most) female agents are relegated to more or less secretarial work.  With Sweet Tooth, Serena gets to do a more than type and file.

Sweet Tooth is the code name of MI5's secret mission to fund writers with a certain world view.  It is propaganda but more subtle.  Serena's role in Sweet Tooth is mostly to be herself - a pretty girl who likes to read and who can talk about books with intelligence.  (Aside from getting her recruited by MI5, the older man with whom she had the affair took it upon himself to improve her literary taste such that they are more conventional.)  She poses as the representative of a charitable organization that is looking for writer to support and acts as a liaison between the writer and the foundation.  Tom Haley is the writer that Serena is assigned to.  Serena prepares for the mission by reading Haley's short stories and journalism.  She falls in love with the writing.  Then she falls in love with the writer.

I have to admit I was a little bored by Sweet Tooth.  The parts of the book about reading, writing and writers I loved.  I also enjoyed the description's of Haley's fiction.  In between the great passages about reading and writing there were long stretches where I was waiting for something to happen.  The other aspect of this book that bothered me was that although there is a female protagonist, much of this book seems to revolve around how other people (especially the men in Serena's life) steered her life in one direction or another.  First at her mother's insistence, she studies math at college even though she prefers English.  A long time reader of fiction, Serena's older lover molds her into a different kind of reader and thinker and chooses a career path for her.  And not to give anything away, but the end of Serena's Sweet Tooth mission is also due to men.  (This is not a spoiler -  In the opening paragraph Serena/Ian McEwan reveals that Sweet Tooth ends badly for Serena and her lover-writer.)  Very few decisions seem to be of Serena's own choosing and that was disappointing.

This is the second book by Ian McEwan that I've read, the first being Atonement.  I am not sure what I think or how I feel about his writing yet, I'll let you know after I've read more of his work.  One thing I can say, his books always give me pause and make me think long after I've turned the last page.

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Loved this!  This is one of those books where I stayed up late reading it was so good.  It reminded me a little of the movie Before Sunrise where two people walk the streets of a city talking, small talk about unimportant things at first but eventually getting to the bigger, important conversations.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Where She Went is the sequel to If I Stay, also a great book.  One of the things I loved about If I Stay was the family, parents Kat and Danny, their teenage daughter Mia and younger son Teddy.  They are a family that gets along and where each was a well rounded, believable character.  The parents are not completely oblivious, the little brother is more than an annoying distraction, and Mia has more on her mind that boys and being popular.  Not that they don't have their quirks or that they don't fight, it is just that it is obvious that they care about each other.  They even like spending time together.  The parents even like Mia's boyfriend, Adam.

Adam and Mia were brought together by their shared passion for music.  He is a guitarist and songwriter on the verge of rock stardom.  She is an award winning cellist.  Both Adam and Mia are ambitious and realize that their future careers may take them to opposite ends of the country - Mia to Julliard in New York and Adam to Los Angeles - but that's a conversation they've decided to put off until for the moment, at least until Mia has graduated from high school.  Then an accident makes that conversation irrelevant.  One moment Mia and her family are enjoying a family outing, driving along Oregon's snowy streets; the next Mia is in the hospital.  In If I Stay Mia watches as doctors work on her damaged body.  As she watches medical staff and her family and friends come in and out of her hospital room, Mia debates whether to stay or let herself die.

Since there is a sequel you already know she decides to live.  Where She Went picks up the story three years later.  Mia is a budding start in the world of classical music.  Adam is living his rock star dream.  She seems to be doing okay, still dealing with the aftermath of the accident, but surviving, even thriving.  He is a mess, heartbroken, angry, depressed, and dependent on pills and cigarettes to get through the day.  While writing hit songs and playing to sold out crowds, Adam has been grieving the past three years.  Even though he was not involved in the accident, he lost a lot because of it.

Forman's writing is beautiful.  In less capable hands this would have been just another sad story about a pathetic loser who has nearly everything he ever dreamed of but is still unhappy.  In Forman's more than capable hands Adam's pain is visceral and understandable.  It feels real.  So is Mia's.  She made a decision that affected that them both.  At first her decision seems cruel, but her reasons are equally understandable (though it takes times before her reasons are revealed).  Both of Adam and Mia have suffered and are getting by as best they can.

I can't recommend this book enough.  The characters felt like real people.  It was emotional and compelling, hopeful but without the kind of ending where every problem is solved.  This is the second book I've read by Gayle Forman and I look forward to reading more.

Also recommended, If I Stay

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

A few weeks ago I read the Secret Circle, a paranormal, young adult romance centering on witches.  I was underwhelmed by that series and felt like I needed to try another representative of the genre, hopefully a better one, and so I turned to Beautiful Creatures.  Beautiful Creatures tells the story of Ethan and Lena.  Their love story is the kind where everyone in the town is against them being together for reasons no one will clearly articulate.  Of course at the end a little more justification is provided for keeping them apart but until then it is simply that he/she is "not one of us".  

When I was in the sixth grade I had to write a book reports for English class.  One of the requirements of said assignment was to explain why I did or did not like a book.  The worse was when I read a book that I didn’t feel strongly about one way or the other because the assignment required picking a side – either you liked the book or you didn’t and you had to justify your opinion either way.  This is a book I would have a hard time writing a book report (or even a blog post) about because I did not love it or hate it.  I enjoyed it well enough while I was reading it but as soon as I finished the last page, it immediately left my mind.  To be blunt, it was not very memorable. In fact, the most memorable parts of the book for me where when libraries were involved (there is a public library and a supernatural library!), but then I am a librarian who loves books and libraries. I especially loved this passage when Ethan talked about his mother and her feelings about books and libraries,

“The library was home away from home to my mom, and my family...My mom used to say, ‘This is church, Ethan. This is how we keep the Sabbath holy in our family.’”

Despite not finding the book particularly memorable, there is a part of me that wants to read the next book in the series.  There are a few holes in the story that I can only hope will be filled in later in books of the series.

As many will already know a movie based on this book recently came out.  The copy of the book I read was the movie-tie version with a movie poster type cover.  I have not yet seen the movie but do really like the cover art, especially the font and how the title intertwines with the gate and tree vines at the top.

Earth (The Book)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Presents Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race



Earth (The Book) is silly, good fun.  Perfect for picking up here and there for a quick laugh.  Divided into nine chapters, it is designed to provide the aliens who come to this planet after we have all perished with all they need to know about earth, life, man, the life cycle, society, commerce, religion, science and culture.  Be careful when reading in public as you may occasionally burst into uncontrollable laughter.

The Secret Circle by L. J. Smith

 

The Secret Circle: The Initiation and The Captive Part I
The Secret Circle: The Captive Part II and The Power

I needed something light, quick, and well, that didn't require a substantial intellectual investment.  These books met the above requirements and had the added bonus of having sat in my unread pile for more than a year.  This is a bonus because this year I'm trying to buy less books and make a dent in the large my pile of unread books sitting in my living room.  I bought The Secret Circle a few years ago when I heard that a television version of the show would be on the CW.  Well the show came and went before I got around to reading the book.  Happily, I can now cross them off my list. 

By them, I mean the two books I read in this series.  Or maybe it's four.  I'm not sure.  I have two books, each of which seems to contain two books.  Arguably it should be read as one book because if you stop at the first story (The Initiation) or the the first physical book (The Initiation and The Captive Part I combined) you'll be left quite satisfied.  The first story/book does not read well as a stand alone story.  The story really doesn't get resolved until the last story (The Power).

Which brings me to the story...It centers around Cassie.  She's on vacation on the east coast, with plans to head back to California in time for her junior year of high school when her mother announces that instead they are going to move to New Salem, her mother's hometown.  Soon after arriving in New Salem, Cassie learns that she comes from a long line of witches. 

There's a love story and a love triangle.  There's a battle between the forces of good and evil.  Long time enemies come together to defeat a greater enemy.  Cassie slowly sheds her shyness and learns to stand up for herself.  I can see why there was an effort to turn this story into a television show.  It is not a great book, but it met my simple reading needs at the time. 

My biggest complaint was that there wasn't enough magic.  I could get past the overly simplistic love story (Cassie and her soul mate fall in love after two conversations, both of which lasts five minutes or less), and the even more simplistic good versus evil battle (a bad guy who is purely evil with no redemptive qualities makes for minimal interesting drama), if only the mythology of witchcraft were better explained.  I mean Cassie and her friends are descendants from a long line of witches.  There should be elaborate spells and rituals.  There should be limitations on their powers and things or circumstances that enhance it.  Instead the witches just make circles in the sand and carry around crystals to enhance their (boring) powers.  I needed more of the supernatural.  Oh well, these books got me through a week when I had a lot of other stuff on my mind, and for that I'm grateful.

Death Comes to Pemberley by P. D. James

P. D. James is one of my favorite mystery authors.  In fact she is probably my favorite living mystery writer.  I have read all of her fiction.  I am also a fan of Jane Austen, not a super fan but I have read all of her books, some of them more than once.  Death Comes to Pemberley combines these two authors with James continuing the story of Elizabeth and Darcy of Pride and Prejudice fame.  Elizabeth and Darcy have been happily married for six years.  They're about to throw their annual autumn ball.  Unfortunately all of their carefully laid plans go awry when Elizabeth's troublesome sister Lydia and her even more troublesome husband George Wickham come calling, bringing with them a murder to be solved.

This was an interesting and odd but not entirely successful pairing of Austen and James.  It was good but it is not the best showcase of either author's work.  I did enjoy James's writing but there was none of the comedy of matters that one gets in Austen's work and though there was a murder to be solved there was no detective, amateur or professional, actively trying to solve it.  Everyone was waiting for the murderer to be found but no one was meticulously looking for clues or questioning suspects.  The mystery seem to serve mostly as a way for various characters to reflect on their past, present, and future.  Not that this was entirely a bad thing, but it seemed that both authors' voices were missing. 

Serious P. D. James fans like myself will probably still want to read this.  Her writing is great even if the mystery here is a bit lackluster.  For Austen fans, I'm not sure this is the right book.  But who knows, maybe give it a try.