Category Archives: Authors A-E

The Last Summer (of You and Me)

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by Ann Brashares

In her first novel written for the general population instead of the young adult market, Ann Brashares shows us that she can spin a tale as compelling as her earlier work and just as satisfying. In truth, her better-known Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants novels are truly ageless, so that rather than graduating from “kiddie lit” to the adult fiction, the author has mainly deepened her tone, and added a few more sophisticated nuances to her subject matter.

Brashares is equally deft with creating people and places. In The Last Summer, she gives us a picture of summer life on Fire Island so vivid that I could actually smell the salt air and feel gritty sand between my toes. Likewise, her trio of main characters, 21-year-old Alice, her older sister Riley (age 24) and their best friend from childhood, Paul, are sketched well enough that each becomes fairly real. If Riley is a little blurrier than the other two, I see it as design, rather than a flaw, for an integral part of the plot is Riley’s sudden extremely serious illness, and the scarcity of long scenes with her seems to foreshadow the end of the story.

When describing this book to friends, I referred to it as “beachy and lyrical,” and I stick by that description. Reading this book, one can feel the ebb and flow of tides and time.

I look forward to more of Brashare’s work.

Sister Carrie

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by Theodore Dreiser

Even a century ago writing about country folks moving to the big city and getting into trouble was a trend, and Sister Carrie does the genre well, in the story of a young girl who moves the city, falls into a relationship with a sleazy salesman, and then eventually leaves him and heads to New York with the bar manager (Hurstwood) she ends up marrying.

Hurstwood’s life begins to fall apart, but Carries soars in the opposite direction – she makes a name for herself as an actress, etc.

I’m almost certain this novel was assigned to me on a reading list at some point in my lift, but I’m equally certain that this was the first time I’ve ever read it.

The grittiness and depression is a bit relentless in this novel, but the characters are compelling.

The Martian Chronicles

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by Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury is one of the icons of Science Fiction, which shouldn’t be surprising since he’s published something like 500 works, so when I added The Martian Chronicles to my list for the decades challenge, I did it in honor of his contribution to the field, as well as because I vaguely remember reading part of it as a child, and not really appreciating it.

Re-reading it was sort of disappointing. I’d forgotten about the sexism and racism – products of the time – that were in the various short stories, and that colored my appreciation of Bradbury’s version of Mars. On his Mars the canals actually hold water and the atmosphere is breathable. In addition, there are actual Martians, though, as in another iconic work of science fiction War of the Worlds a mundane human disease destroys the entire population quite accidentally.

Dated notions of society aside, I enjoyed revisiting this version of the Red Planet, especially because of the last tale in the book, in which a picnicking family boats down a canal, and their son asks where the Martians are, only to be told to look over the edge. What he sees is his own reflection.

Forever in Blue

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by Ann Brashares

The fourth and final installment in the stories of the Sisterhood was the least juvenile of a series that really is universal, and shouldn’t be ignored just because of it’s YA label. In this novel, the girls are separate more than not, and the Pants are shared throughout their first year of college, not just during the summer. While not every story ends up completely happy, each of these young women grows and changes and sets the stage for what her life will become, and it’s great to watch them all deal with real issues, that real college freshman often encounter, and triumph over their personal obstacles.

I loved this series because the girls were so real.
I wanted to hate this book because it meant saying goodbye to old friends, but the beauty of books is that you can always re-read them.

Comfort Food

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Comfort Food: A Novel (IPPY Award Winner for Best Regional Fiction, West–Pacific) by Noah Ashenhurst

When I posted my list of planned reading for the 11 Decades challenge, I included Comfort Food because I liked the title, and because I like reading new authors. Imagine my surprise when the author contacted me and offered a review copy – of course I said yes.

I’m glad I did.

This novel is the story of six Gen-X college students, and the way their lives interweave. We are introduced to all of them in the initial chapter, and then each section gives us a significant moment in each of their lives, finally coming full circle to connect the first person we met to the woman he loves. Because of this structure, Comfort Food reminds me very much of the improv game “Four Square” or “Pan Left” in which there are four players who form different intersecting pairs of relationships.

What I loved most about the novel, however, was the language. Ashenhurst’s descriptions of the Pacific Northwest let you feel the misty air. Whether he’s talking about the pot-stench floating in a cheap off-campus apartment, or the visceral moment when one character realizes his wife is cheating on him, the words chosen give a vivid picture of place, and of the people existing in that place at that time.

I’d love to read more from this author.

Summers of the Sisterhood

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Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants / Second Summer of the Sisterhood / Girls in Pants (3 Book Set) by Ann Brashares

Despite the fact that a very kind author sent me a review copy of his book, and despite the fact that I’ve read the first fifty pages and found it gripping, having been burned to a crisp put me in the mood for light, fluffy reading.

Since I’ve seen The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants on cable many times at this point, and even rented the dvd when it was first available, and since my friend Erin had mentioned them several weeks ago (months, really) when the fourth book had just come out, AND since YA books are less expensive than general fiction, I ordered them all.

I’m glad I did. Like J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, Brashares’s novels are not all all “kiddie lit” but well-written, interesting coming-of-age novels that happen to have teenaged protagonists. The four girls who make up the Sisterhood are all three-dimensional. None of them are perfect. All of them are unique. Their stories are every bit as interesting as any more grown up chick-lit characters, and the writing is considerably less fluffy than many. Bookstores and publishers may classify these books as YA, but to me, they’re comfort reading. You know there will ultimately be a mostly-happy ending, but you also know the characters will progress, and that not everything will be sunshine and roses.

I’m a fast reader. I received these on Wednesday evening, and am now a bit more than half way through the third book. Is it too early for me to recommend them? No. Because everyone has gone through adolescence, and that makes these novels (which, at around 300 pages each, are a satisfying length) truly universal.

If you have daughters. If you are a daughter. If you are remotely in touch with your inner teen-aged girl, you must read these books.

Fool Moon

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Fool Moon (The Dresden Files, Book 2) by Jim Butcher

Book Two of Jim Butcher’s fantasy/mystery series The Dresden Files mixing it up with werewolves, of which, we learn from Bob (the spirit in the skull) there are many different kinds. Butcher’s novels are designed so that readers who follow the series in order will pick up the continuing relationships between the characters, but so that they can be read as stand-alone stories as well – which is my wordy way of saying that there was enough introduction included to make sure that new readers knew who everyone was, but not so much that it felt at all repetitive.

With the eponymous television series now in its seventh week on the Sci-Fi channel (here in the States, and on Space, I think, in Canada) comparisons are inevitable, but while the feel of the series is sort of “cozy paranormal” the books retain a much more classic detective novel tone, with strong secondary characters like local crime lord John Marcone offering a surprising amount of depth and personality.

Harry, of course, is our main focus, and in this novel we see just how fragile his friendship with cop Karrin Murphy really is, and get a little bit better knowledge of his on-again off-again romance with Arcane reporter Susan.

The action and exposition nicely balance each other, and over all the story does what Jim Butcher does best: entertains, and leaves us wanting more.

The Devil’s Teeth

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The Devil’s Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America’s Great White Sharks by Susan Casey

The Farallones, an island group just 30 miles west of San Francisco, and nicknamed The Devil’s Teeth because of their jagged profiles and unforgiving terrain, are also surrounded by waters which are the stomping grounds, so to speak, of one of our greatest apex predators: The Great White Shark.

Author Susan Casey managed to convince two biologists in residence to let her visit the island, and shadow their work for a compelling look at these great fish, and the men and women who study them in an environment that leaves them free to remain wild, and largely untainted by humanity.

The book’s only flaw was that it ended too soon, otherwise it was compelling, interesting, and exciting, offering a fresh look at these sharks who are so often Discovery channel fodder.

Love Walked In

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Love Walked InLove Walked In

I picked up this book at the airport in Dallas on my way to San Jose a few weeks ago, because I realized I’d forgotten to pack a book to read. I ended up not reading on the flight out there at all, but then started it in the hotel later that night. By the time I was home a few days later I was finished. In any case, it was an impulsive choice – the least offensive of the airport fare – and hey, the main character, Cornelia Brown, was the owner of a cafe. I like cafe stories.

As it turns out,  Marisa de los Santos’s novel is really two stories – there’s old-movie loving Cornelia’s search for romantic bliss, and then there’s the parallel tale of precocious young Clare, daughter of Cornelia’s new boyfriend Martin, who is looking for emotional stability and a sense of home.

Naturally both stories merge, but with a twist that makes this more than just chick-lit, and closer to general romance, though not in the Silhouette sense of the word.  It’s a gentle tale with vivid characters. Great for bathtub reading.

I’ve Been Around

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I've Been Around

Tania Aebi first sailed across my personal horizon years ago, with her book Maiden Voyage, the first-person account of her
solo circumnavigation of the world, and the people and places she encountered during here year or so asail with her intrepid cat, Tarzoon. While I may fantasize about doing something similar, the reality is that I’m much too fond of internet access, espresso bars, and regular showers to really enjoy such an experience. Still, reading about it let me escape for a few hours, and I heartily recommend that book, as it’s the perfect thing to read while tucked up in a warm quilt on a cold, stormy day. (I also recommend strong tea and crisp apples to go with the experience.)

This book, I’ve Been Around, is not a narrative, the way Ms. Aebi’s first volume was, but rather a series of essays about her life on and off the water, many of which were written for sailing-related magazines, most specifically, Latitudes & Attitudes. It’s enjoyable, thoughtful, and often entertaining, and while it is not the cozy stormy-day read that Maiden Voyage was, it is a lovely glimpse into the author’s life since then. (It’s been at least a decade, possibly two.)

Aebi’s conversational tone and obvious love of both her crafts (writing and sailing), make this an excellent read.