THE PARIS REVIEW INTERVIEWS, VOL. II

by The Paris Review



The instructor for my The Art of Reading DVD course recommended these books, and I could just kiss him for it! I am going to love this series!! I'm thrilled to have Volumes 1 and 3 here at home and I enjoyed this volume so much that I've already preordered Volume 4 which will be released in October. I added about a million books to my Wishlist, including books by every author included in this volume and some other authors/books they talked about.

I really liked how the authors' personalities seemed to come through. The interviewers asked questions far more insightful than the usual fare, and the answers were quite enlightening. Some were very serious, some were funny, some were deeply contemplative, pompous or frivolous. A few were so over my head that I wasn't sure what on earth they were talking about. There was a little bit of everything and I was enthralled with every interview, even the authors I had never heard of.

What surprised me most was how much I enjoyed the Harold Bloom interview. I expected his to be one of the ones I could barely follow, but that wasn't that case at all. He was opinionated, of course, but seemed like he was fun to talk to. Despite the fact that he can be an arrogant bore in his own writings, he is my secret hero even though I don't always agree with (or even understand!) what he says or how he says it. But his interview was a great read and made me envious of all he has read and had the opportunity to ponder at length.

I highly, highly recommend these books to any reader who wants a chance to take more from their reading than just great entertainment. The authors included in The Paris Review Interviews, Vol. II are:

Graham Greene
James Thurber
William Faulkner
Robert Lowell
Isaac Bashevis Singer
Eudora Welty
John Gardner
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Philip Larkin
James Baldwin
William Gaddis
Harold Bloom
Toni Morrison
Alice Munro
Peter Cary
Stephen King

You think this list is great? Wait until you see some of the others!!

HAUNTED

by Chuck Palahniuk



"Haunted is a novel made up of twenty-three horrifying, hilarious, and stomach churning stories. They're told by people who have answered an ad for a writers' retreat and unwittingly joined a 'Survivor'-like scenario where the host withholds heat, power, and food. As the storytellers grow more desperate, their tales become more extreme, and they ruthlessly plot to make themselves the hero of the reality show that will surely be made from their plight. This is one of the most disturbing and outrageous books you'll ever read, one that could come only from the mind of Chuck Palahniuk." (From the back of the Anchor Books edition.)

Anyone who has followed my thoughts on Chuck Palahniuk's novels here on Books 'N Border Collies will not be surprised to hear this: Haunted is sick and wrong in so many ways. I cannot recommend this book without washing my own mouth out with soap. But of all of his books I've read, this one carried the most poignant messages within all the offensiveness. Sure, you have to get past that opening chapter with the nasty scene in the swimming pool (Don't ask. Unless you're a Palahniuk fan, believe me, you do not want to know. I'm not even remotely joking.), but there are stories in here that dig so deep into the darkness of the human psyche it's almost physically painful. It makes you wonder about people, especially ones we think of as "normal". It makes you examine things hidden deep in yourself that you pray never get exposed to the public, thoughts and urges you've always kept civilly under control. But what if you couldn't? Or chose not to? Haunted, indeed.

FINN

by Jon Clinch



"Jon Clinch takes us on a journey into the history and heart of one of American Literature's most brutal and mysterious figures: Huckleberry Finn's father.

The tale begins with a lifeless body drifting down the Mississippi. The circumstances of the murder, and the secret of the victim's identity, shape Finn's story as they will shape his life and his death. Along the way we meet a cast of unforgettable characters: Finn's terrifying father, known only as the Judge; his sickly, sycophantic brother, Will; blind Bliss, a secretive moonshiner; the strong and quick-witted Mary, a stolen slave who becomes Finn's mistress; and of course young Huck himself." (From the back of the Random House Trade Paperback edition.)

Finn is a remarkable book. Harsh and realistic in a manner that its inspiration only hinted at, it does not have the whimsical charm of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn but is a perfect companion and foil.

Finn beautifully integrates characters and scenes from Huck Finn, sometimes perfectly, sometimes changed due to adopting the stance that Huck, being a child, was an unreliable narrator of his own story. Either way, Clinch's telling of Huck's father's story is riveting and haunting and has me itching to reread Huck Finn armed with this new knowledge. The scene of Huck and Jim discovering and exploring the house floating down the river will never feel the same again.

ELIZABETH COSTELLO

by J.M. Coetzee



"J.M Coetzee has crafted an unusual and deeply affecting tale told through in ingenious series of formal addresses. Vividly imagined and masterfully wrought, Elizabeth Costello is, on the surface, the story of a woman's life as mother, sister, lover and writer. Yet it is also a profound and haunting meditation on the nature of storytelling that only a writer of Coetzee's caliber could accomplish." (From the back cover of the Penguin Books edition.)

A highly philosophical, character-driven story. There is little of what most readers would think of as plot, but what I took away from this book was a sense of examining our personal belief systems and their alteration over the course of our lives. Not only beliefs regarding God and religion, but those regarding what is good and what is evil, the rights of the living -- both human and animal -- and of our part in influencing the beliefs and, consequently, actions of others. For what is life in general but a series of acts we carry out according to our beliefs?

One thing that would have been helpful for me would have been to have read Franz Kafka's short story, "A Report to an Academy", because Elizabeth refers to it extensively during her address in one section of the book. I read the short story after the fact, and it all would have made much more of an impact if I had read it first.

After both this book and Waiting for the Barbarians, I have turned the last page feeling as if I could glean so much more with a second or even third reading. Much like Graham Greene, Coetzee's writing is simple only until you peel back the first layer. He is a writer I will be returning to again soon.

THE TRUE STORY OF HANSEL AND GRETEL

by Louise Murphy



"In the last months of the Nazi occupation of Poland, two children are left by their father and stepmother to find safety in a dense forest. Because their real names will reveal their Jewishness, they are renamed 'Hansel' and 'Gretel'. They wander in the woods until they are taken in by Magda, an eccentric and stubborn old woman called 'witch' by the nearby villagers. Magda is determined to save them, even as a German officer arrives in the village with his own plans for the children." (From the back of the Penguin Books edition.)

Reading the original Grimm Brothers' fairy tale before I began The True Story of Hansel and Gretel: A Novel of War and Survival made portions of the book more predictable but no less evocative and added a rich layer of meaning to many of the scenes. Like so many books about WWII and the Holocaust, this one is difficult but necessary. What I found most memorable was that not all of the Nazi's were stereotyped. There were those who questioned their orders, and those brave souls are the ones who lifted this particular WWII/Holocaust story to a higher plane.

Only the ending marred my opinion at all. It felt cartoonish in comparison to the rest of the novel, but that wouldn't stop me from naming this book as one of the best I've read this year.



Other Reviews:

Bookworm's Dinner

THE POLYSYLLABIC SPREE

by Nick Hornby



I think it was during one of the 24-Hour Read-A-Thons that I first heard about Nick Hornby's essay books. Thank goodness for the RAT! This book was a blast!

The Polysyllabic Spree is the "book about books" I'm a tiny bit jealous I didn't write. It now serves as my current inspiration. What I really loved about it was that it was less about the books themselves than about the reading life, what it's like to be a dedicated reader. I know many people who read this generated wonderful lists of books they wanted to read, but I was more intrigued by the stories about the act of reading -- the ups and downs and weird obsessive behaviour we reading addicts tend to engage in.

Contemplating The Polysyllabic Spree and its sequels has got me thinking: Maybe my "book about books" should be about the experiences of being a book blogger. Maybe that should be my angle! I may be on to something here. Thanks, Nick! :-)



Other review:

Letters From A Hill Farm
Savvy Verse & Wit

THE BOOK OF ILLUSIONS

by Paul Auster



"Six months after losing his wife and two young sons in an airplane crash, Vermont professor David Zimmer spends his waking hours mired in a blur of alcoholic grief and self-pity. Then, watching television one night, he stumbles upon a clip from a lost film by silent comedian Hector Mann. Zimmer's interest is piqued, and he soon finds himself embarking on a journey around the world to research a book on this mysterious figure, who vanished from sight in 1929 and has been presumed dead for sixty years.

When the book is published the following year, a letter turns up in Zimmer's mailbox bearing a return address from a small town in New Mexico inviting him to meet Hector. Torn between doubt and belief, Zimmer hesitates, until one night a strange woman appears on his doorstep and makes the decision for him, changing his life forever." (From the back of the Picador edition.)

People may say what they will about the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list, but if it weren't for that list I may never have discovered Paul Auster and that would have been a shame. No matter his topic or how odd his presentation, he engages me so deeply that I inevitably get to the end and either yearn for more, or, as in the case of Timbuktu, I'm so emotionally wrung out that I couldn't take anymore even if it was offered.

By the end of The Book of Illusions, I was all set to find some DVDs of Hector Mann's films until I remembered he's not real. I wanted to experience for myself the magic of the works described so vividly in the book and to suddenly realize that wasn't possible was almost like a slap in the face. The book deeply explores the many people we are inside, the person we choose to present to the world at different times and who those personae belong to, so the need to come to terms with the fiction of all the creations in their entirety was an odd sensation. I could have sworn I knew them for real! Which, I believe, was part of the point. Who, including ourselves, do we know for real? And do we need to really know someone for that particular relationship to be meaningful to us or to be a force that shapes our lives?

I said when I read Auster's Travels In The Scriptorium that it made me want to go back and read his older work because many previous characters found their way into that novel. The Book of Illusions has only further encouraged me because I believe I recognize a couple of characters and the title of Travels In The Scriptorium is mentioned specifically. I still feel like Auster is playing games with me. And I like it!



Other reviews:

Books Please

THE LOOMING TOWER: AL-QAEDA AND THE ROAD TO 9/11

by Lawrence Wright



"A sweeping narrative history of the events leading to 9/11. A groundbreaking look at the people and ideas, the terrorist plans and the Western intelligence failures that culminated in the assault on America. Lawrence Wright's remarkable book is based on five years of research and hundreds of interviews that he conducted in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, England, France, Germany, Spain, and the United States." (From the CD container)

The first I'd heard of The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 was when I was scanning the audiobook section of the library. It caught my eye, but I left without it. The next day I heard about Newsweek's 50 Books For Our Times, and there it was at #2. There was no resisting after that.

If you're looking for a very readable book that fills you in on the backstory of the horrific events of 9/11, this is the one. As a friend of mine said, it explains a lot of events and discusses many people that we've heard about but maybe didn't really understand the significance of.

Lawrence Wright talks about the early Islamic Fundamentalists and their lives. He shows you Bin Laden's childhood. He takes you into the homes of Jihadists, into terrorist training camps. You'll sit in on meetings between the CIA and FBI agents who are learning about Al-Qaeda for the first time, and follow the career of a man who ceaselessly hunted Bin Laden until his own death on that ill-fated day in the World Trade Center.

What I liked best about this book aside from it's accessibility was that Wright did not point fingers of blame. He points out mistakes that were made, some very arrogant and bone-headed, but he also explains the complexity of the situations being dealt with. I can see how The Looming Tower earned it's spot on Newsweek's list.

ALL OTHER NIGHTS

by Dara Horn



"Dying for a cause is the last resort of those too weak to live for one." (All Other Nights, p. 230)

How is tonight different from all other nights? For Jacob Rappaport, a Jewish soldier in the Union army during the Civil War, it is a question his commanders have already answered for him -- on Passover, 1862, he is ordered to murder his own uncle in New Orleans, who is plotting to assassinate President Lincoln. After this harrowing mission, Jacob is recruited to pursue another enemy agent, the daughter of a Virginia family friend. But this time, his assignment isn't to murder the spy, but to marry her. (From the jacket flap)

Let me begin by stating outright that I enjoyed this book overall. Now let me explain why I'm not gushing over it:

In the early 90's, I spent a few years reading and reviewing romance novels almost exclusively, 90% of them being historical romance. I read a lot of fantastic books, and I read a lot of not so fantastic books. It took me a long time to understand the common thread that often led me to feel one way or the other. When a book revolved mainly around the relationship between the main characters with other plot elements seemingly included merely to give them something to do, I got bored very quickly. I was much more drawn to books that had a meaty plot line out of which the relationship grew.

All Other Nights is not a romance novel, but my theory still holds true. While the story focused on the Civil War and the problems Jacob faced as a Jewish man in the Union army, I was enthralled. Once the novel started shifting the focus to the relationship between Jacob and Jeannie, a relationship which seemed to me to have no basis for real strength, I lost steam. I still enjoyed the book, but it was a lot easier to put down and go to sleep. There is a decent balance between the two so I didn't lose interest completely, but then when I got to the final page I felt as if the book ended in mid-thought. I didn't feel the closure. I have to say in the book's defense that that is most likely the result of my desire to know more about what was going on regarding the retreat of the Confederacy and the plans for Lincoln's fate. Other readers who are more interested in the relationship between Jacob and Jeannie may feel differently about the ending and find it very satisfying.

Have you read this book? Which aspect did you find most intriguing? If you have not read it, do you find you have a preference for action- or plot-based stories or relationship-based stories whether they be man/woman, parent/child, or friendship?



Official Web Site for All Other Nights

KILLER SUMMER

by Ridley Pearson



"Sun Valley, Idaho -- playground of the wealthy and politically connected -- is home to an annual wine auction that attracts high rollers from across the country, and Blaine County Sheriff Walt Fleming is the one who must ensure it goes off without a hitch. The world's most elite wine connoisseurs have descended on Sun Valley to taste and bid on the world's best wines, including three bottles claimed to have been a gift from Thomas Jefferson to John Adams. With sky-high prices all but guaranteed for these historic items, it's no wonder a group of thieves is out to steal them." (From the Uncorrected Proof of Killer Summer)

I haven't been accepting many ARCs lately, but when I was asked if I would like to review Ridley Pearson's third and newest Walt Fleming novel, I couldn't pass it up. I'm still mourning the end of his Lou Boldt series, but I'm warming up to Walt and I definitely wanted to keep up with his story.

If you decide to pick this one up, hold on to your hats! The plot moves so quickly that more than once I had to check to make sure I hadn't missed a page somewhere. It read like an action movie. It wasn't overly complicated, but there were enough twists to keep things interesting. Walt's personal life gets tangled up in the mystery which results in a few of his relationships being brought to a new level, some better, some worse. It will be fun to see where those go in future installments.

I'm still not as sold on this series as I was on Lou Boldt, but as I've said before, that is not the fault of Pearson's writing. Killer Summer is a very entertaining read and a perfect beach book. And when I give you my thoughts on the next Walt Fleming novel, I won't even mention Lou Boldt. I'm finished whining. I promise! :-)

THE GREAT STINK

by Clare Clark



"It is 1855, and engineer William May has returned home to London and his beloved wife from the horrors of the Crimean War. When he secures a job transforming the city's sewer system, he believes it will prove his salvation, as, in the subterranean world beneath the city, he begins to lay his ghosts to rest. But when the peace of the tunnels is shattered by a violent murder William loses his tenuous hold on his sanity. Implicated as the killer, plagued by nightmares and visions, he is no longer sure: Could he truly have committed the crime?" (From the book jacket)

Ever since I read Clare Clark's The Nature of Monsters, I've wanted to read her debut novel, The Great Stink. I finally got around to it, and I'm so glad I did, despite the silly title. Don't let it fool you!

The plot does not move along quickly, which may bother readers who prefer a faster paced read. Clark likes to explore the darker side of life, and she does it in extraordinary detail. Her settings are not opulent homes and her characters are not the rich and elite. The lives that populate her books are often from the wrong side of the tracks. They endure physical and emotional hardships I could never imagine. They live in places and times I am forever thankful I never have to live. But their stories suck me into the mire with them, and for a few memorable hours I live and breathe along side those to whom life has dealt a bad hand and I watch anxiously, hoping they'll pull through but never certain the end will be what they deserve.

I have a thing for dark, creepy, brooding novels, and if Ms. Clark keeps up the way she has in her first two books, she is going to work her way into my personal top ten historical writers very, very quickly.



A side note: Wendy at Musings of a Bookish Kitty recently had a wonderful post which brings up the fate of animals in books. My motto when it comes to this topic: Do what you want to the girl, but leave the dog alone. :-) In honor of Wendy and others who have the same enormous soft spot we do, I will reveal only a small spoiler here that has little to do with the plot: **MINOR SPOILER** No need to distract yourself through the whole book wondering if the author will let something hideous happen to the dog, Lady, adopted by one of the main characters. She is fine in the end.

THE LAST DICKENS

by Matthew Pearl



"Boston, 1870. When news of Charles Dickens's untimely death reaches the office of his struggling American publisher, Fields & Osgood, partner James Osgood sends his trusted clerk Daniel Sand to await the arrival of Dickens's unfinished novel. But when Daniel's body is discovered by the docks and the manuscript is nowhere to be found, Osgood must embark on a transatlantic quest to unearth the novel that he hopes will save his venerable business and reveal Daniel's killer." (From the CD container.)

I'm going to exhibit my ignorance right now, so bear with me a moment. Until all the buzz about Dan Simmons' Drood came up a while back, I had no idea there was an unfinished novel by Charles Dickens. Suddenly two books come out early this year only weeks apart using that very unfinished work as their premise. Does anyone know what brought this on? Just curious.

While The Last Dickens wasn't the most engrossing novel I've ever read, I did enjoy the creativity that went into it. I like books that spin off from classic novels and stories and seeing how various authors expand on the original and make it their own, how they make characters we thought we knew behave and events unfold. I have trouble thinking "outside the box", and I admire those who can do it so imaginatively.

I also enjoyed all the information about Charles Dickens' reading tour in the U.S. and the early days of the publishing industry, but what The Last Dickens mostly did was pique my interest in opium dens and the opium trade of that period. I must be in need of some dark and dingy reading material. And I must read what there is of the real Mystery of Edwin Drood!

RANT

by Chuck Palahniuk



"The future you have, tomorrow, won't be the same future you had, yesterday." Rant Casey

"After Rant dies in a fiery blaze of glory, three of his closest compatriots -- a gang of urban demolition derby aficionados affiliated with a group calling themselves 'The Party Crashers' -- travel back to his hometown of Middleton to record an oral history of their fallen idol." (From the CD container)

What do you get when you cross a human rabies epidemic, a bee-swarmed goth funeral and a mom who booby-traps food to get people to eat slowly? Not to mention a virgin sex worker, DRVR Graphic Traffic reports ("We know why you rubberneck!"), a renegade Christmas tree Cadillac, and drivers stalking other drivers through the city streets for some "party crashing"? If you guessed "a Chuck Palahniuk novel" you are correct! And that barely scratches the surface.

Rant: The Oral Biography of Buster Casey is another Palahniuk work that you giggle and cringe your way through until all of a sudden the deeper message about humanity and society yanks you back by your chain and makes you rethink every "WTF??"-thing you just read and reinterpret them with a whole new attitude.

As before, I don't heartily recommend the novels of Chuck Palahniuk to just anyone. He takes a certain amount of fortitude, or maybe just personal derangement, to read and really enjoy. I'm learning to love him. Take that for what it's worth. :-)



Other reviews of Rant:

Bibliofreak

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME

by Andre Aciman



"Time makes us sentimental. Perhaps, in the end, it is because of time that we suffer." (Call Me by Your Name, p. 232)

Call Me By Your Name is the story of a young Italian man who falls deeply for his parents' summer guest, an American scholar working on a philosophy book. Their turbulent and passionate six weeks together is destined to end, but the emotions that memories evoke linger as each of their lives takes its own path.

Anyone who has ever had any kind of relationship will be able to identify with the angst of uncertainty that your feelings will be returned in kind, the excitement of a new love, the pain of loss, and the bittersweetness of memory. Andre Aciman so beautifully puts into words the confusion and euphoria, the loathing and adoration that I could see images of my own reckless youth in those of Elio and Oliver.

This was only the second book this year that made me cry. Not racking sobs like the first one, but earnest tears for the beauty of the tenderness that remained in the hearts of Elio and Oliver so many years after they parted. We should all be so lucky to have had such a moment in time to look back upon and smile, even if it hurts.

RENEGADE

by Richard Wolffe



Among the overabundance of political pundits during the 2008 presidential election, Richard Wolffe was my favorite. He appeared to be an Obama supporter, but it always seemed to me he was attempting to be fair to both sides. He pointed out the Obama campaign's flaws and didn't have problems praising the McCain campaign when he felt it was deserved. He continues that fairness in this book.

Renegade: The Making of a President is a behind-the-scenes look at the Obama campaign from a man who was there from the announcement of Obama's candidacy in Springfield, Illinois to his victory on election night, inauguration and transition. You'll see Barack Obama when he's not so cool and collected. You'll see his fears and doubts about enduring the harsh grind of the election, and his conflicting emotions about uprooting his young family. And you'll see him grow from a somewhat awkward, unprepared underdog to the man you see in the White House today.

If you're looking for dirt on the Clinton and/or McCain campaigns, you'll not find it here. Wolffe leaves his personal opinions mostly unstated and gives a journalist's view of the events without partisan embellishment. He moves quickly forward and backward through through the two year process, touching on both stories we've all heard and private moments you'll only see here. Renegade will not convince the anti-Obama faction that the right man currently occupies the Oval Office, but folks who would like to see a peek at the real man behind the celebrity status and calm demeanor or experience an insider's look at that historic election should get their hands on this book.

THE DEVLIN DIARY

by Christi Phillips



"A follow-up to the well-received The Rossetti Letter (2007), Phillips once again simultaneously follows seventeenth-century and twenty-first-century mysteries. A serial killer is loose in seventeenth-century England. Are his gruesome crimes random, or are they part of a royal conspiracy? Hannah Devlin, a rare female physician, becomes convinced of the latter. Meanwhile, in twenty-first-century Cambridge, England, Clare Donovan finds Hannah’s diary. Shortly thereafter, an academic rival is murdered. Are the crimes connected? Both women work to solve their mysteries, while also becoming embroiled in parallel romances. Although the twenty-first-century plotline and ending are the weaker, both sets of mysteries and romances are engaging. An excellent afterword answers questions about historical accuracy and literary license." -- Marta Segal Block (From Booklist as posted in the Editorial Reviews section of Amazon.com)

I liked Christi Phillips' The Rossetti Letter when I read it last year, and I was very excited to finally get a hold of The Devlin Diary, which had been delayed from it's original January 2009 release date.

Like the Booklist reviewer, and for the second time for me, it was the historical chapters that I preferred over the ones set in modern times. Hannah Devlin's reluctant introduction to the decadent court of King Charles II kept me turning pages all afternoon, and I liked the way her relationship with Edward Strathern developed slowly from mutual respect of their work. In fact, it almost seemed like the modern-times chapters could almost have been completely left out and the book would have been just as good. I could live with or without the growing relationship between newly minted historian Claire Donovan and the super-reserved Englishman Andrew Kent. Their personal story didn't grab me, but it was fun to see the scholars in pursuit of their subject. I also enjoyed the behind-the-scenes look at the highly competitive world of academia.

I will definitely be looking forward to whatever Christi Phillips has coming up next, and if you want to keep track of her also, you can find more information on her Official Web Site.

BONES OF BETRAYAL

by Jefferson Bass



"Dr. Bill Brockton is in the middle of a nuclear-terrorism disaster drill when he receives an urgent call from the nearby town of Oak Ridge -- better known as Atomic City, home of the Bomb, and the key site for the Manhattan Project during World War II. Although more than sixty years have passed, could repercussions from that dangerous time still be felt today?" (From the book jacket)

And my fluff reading jag continues with Bones of Betrayal, the fourth Body Farm novel. It is much like the others in that the story is engaging, but it's not a book you can't put down. The humor still feels a bit forced, but I didn't find myself rolling my eyes at the jokes quite as often as in the previous books. This one was more straight-up mystery than forensics, but it was a great book to help me pass my day in the hospital waiting room.

Some of the characters in Bones of Betrayal find themselves wrestling with their feelings regarding the U.S. decision to use the bombs code-named Little Boy and Fat Man, and that will probably be the aspect of this book that sticks with me the most. I'm not familiar with the deeper stories of the building of the nuclear weapons used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, so learning about things like the Manhattan Project and the beginnings of the town of Oak Ridge, Tennessee was what really held my attention. I was inspired to pick up Hiroshima by John Hersey to continue my exploration into that side of WWII.

WICKED PREY

by John Sandford



"In the nineteenth installment of the Prey series, Minnesota investigator Lucas Davenport struggles to protect his daughter Letty from a vengeful psychopathic pimp who blames Davenport for his handicap. All the while, a professional thief plans to rob the city of Minneapolis blind right before the Republican National Convention. Can Davenport protect his daughter and ensure the security of Minneapolis?" (From the CD container)

If you've read any of John Sandford's Prey series, you know exactly what you're getting in Wicked Prey, and that's not a bad thing. When you need a book you know is going to be entertaining, but you don't want to think hard about deep messages, this is a good series to turn to. It's your basic bad guys versus the justice system with lots of personal drama and guns. And a hotel fire. And the Republican National Convention. And a gunman from Oklahoma. And a paraplegic pimp. And those aren't even the main story!

Two things stood out for me in this installment: First, I liked that it didn't end all clean and tidy but not in an "obviously setting up for a sequel" kind of way. Second, I'm starting to suspect that Sandford has plans for Lucas Davenport's ward, Letty. She plays a big part in this book, and although she is only fourteen at this point, Lucas is aging and Sandford could be testing the waters regarding a future series with Letty as the main character when she gets older. It could be my imagination, but that's what it felt like. With as spirited and intelligent as Letty is, I think it might be really great if I'm right!



Other Prey books I've written about:

Phantom Prey

BEDLAM

by Greg Hollingshead



"Conspiracies, plots, and paranoia are sweeping through London in the last days of the eighteenth century, and James Tilley Matthews has been caught under false pretenses and locked up in the city's vast, crumbling asylum. As his wife, Margaret, tries desperately to free him, political forces conspire to keep him locked up. Margaret's main adversary is John Haslam, the asylum's chief apothecary, a man torn between his conscience and the lure of scientific discovery: as James becomes more famous -- and more unhinged -- he becomes a valuable specimen for the young doctor and a pawn in a grand political conspiracy. Based on real people and events Bedlam: A Novel of Love and Madness is a brilliant evocation of a city teetering between darkness and light, and a moving study of every kind of madness." (From the back cover of the Picador edition)

Bedlam was not what I expected. For some reason I was thinking it would be a book along the lines of The Nature of Monsters. I don't know why I thought that, and that's not what it is. The story is mostly political, moved along slowly and seemed to expect more familiarity with the French Revolution than I possess. I didn't love the book, but I didn't dislike it either. The prose was lovely and the glimpses into the lives of the inmates and employees of Bethlam (aka "Bedlam") were fascinating. I wished there had been more of that. The intricate international politics went mostly over my head.

I've always felt that even a book I'm not crazy about has qualities that make it worth my time, and this one ended up having numerous passages that spoke to me personally even while I was wishy-washy about the story itself. I was surprised at how many little colored flags were sticking out when I was finished! Here are just a few examples:

"[I]f humankind is ever to deliver itself from bloodshed, then every person must understand they have the same worth as the next and each a free and full say in the common good. Estimate another's worth as greater than your own, and it follows that another's is less. From inequality it's a slippery slope to intolerance and from intolerance to resentment and resentment to oppression if you can and slaughter if you can't, so why make that first mistake? Until this primary human principle has been understood, how can the future not be perfect mayhem?" (p. 211)

"People tend to grant an oracle figure leeway. They like to stumble away from a godhead with something to think about." (p. 285)

"I considered how you can think of yourself as a certain sort of person yet watch yourself behave as quite another; and how easy it is that disjunction becomes simply how things are with you, and your failure to reconcile that contradiction, whenever it noses its way to awareness, you tell yourself is only the small, private price you must pay awhile longer yet if you would achieve such-and-such a worthy end." (p. 338-39)

"Brains are prone to certain kinds of error. One is assuming they were capable then of what they are only now." (p. 383)

See what I mean? Bedlam was okay, but I love these quotes and I would never have seen them if I hadn't read it. I know this doesn't begin to hold true for most people, but more and more I am of the opinion that no book is ever a complete waste of my time.

THE BORGIA BRIDE

by Jeanne Kalogridis



"Vivacious Sancha of Aragon arrives in Rome newly wed to a member of the notorious Borgia dynasty. Surrounded by the city's opulence and political corruption, she befriends her glamorous and deceitful sister-in-law, Lucrezia, whose jealousy is as legendary as her beauty. Some say Lucrezia has poisoned her rivals, particularly those to whom her handsome brother, Cesare, has given his heart. So when Sancha falls under Cesare's irresistible spell, she must hide her secret or lose her life. Caught in the Borgias' sinister web, she summons her courage and uses her cunning to outwit them at their own game." (From the back cover of the St. Martin's Griffin edition)

My only knowledge of the Borgia family prior to reading The Borgia Bride was a lot of malicious historical gossip that I always wondered about. Well, it turns out, according to Jeanne Kalogridis' author comments at the end of this novel, that the majority of it appears to be true. Excellent! Nothing like papal corruption, poisoning of rivals, fratricide, incest and dreams of military domination to pique a reader's interest!

And they're all here, folks. Stories of the Borgia family are not for the easily nauseated, and Kalogridis has never been one to sugarcoat the darker side of humanity. It's part of what I love about her writing, the grit. She isn't unnecessarily graphic, but you get enough to shock the unprepared reader. And you're never sure who is going to come out all right. Or if anyone will for that matter.

I thought it most interesting that Lucrezia was portrayed very sympathetically, sometimes much more a victim than the calculating, immoral murderess my limited understanding of her had led me to believe she was. There was nothing in the author note explaining why she chose to characterize her the way she did, so I can see I have some research to do if I want to discover if my past beliefs about Lucrezia were way off the mark.

I've been meaning to get to The Borgia Bride ever since I read Kalogridis' I, Mona Lisa a couple of years ago. With The Devil's Queen: A Novel of Catherine de Medici coming in July (a book I cannot wait to get my hands on!!), this seemed like the perfect time to finally pull it off the shelf. It's a perfect summer read -- easy to lose yourself in and quick to get through despite its 500 page length. Between the two, I'd say I preferred I, Mona Lisa, but The Borgia Bride did not disappoint one bit.

Other reviews of this book:

Passages To The Past