A Darkness More Than Night, Michael Connelly
Now this is a far better TV book than those Stuart Woods deals that I muddled through. This has more substance; more flair; more
character and better yet? A resolution! Imagine that. A plot with a resolution in a book. Michael Connelly is the author of
Bloodwork, after which the same-titled movie was made starring Clint Eastwood. Same characters in this book--as far as I could tell--and a killer is on the loose who targets, it seems, a cop with a fancy for art (
"I know a lot about art") This book didn't make me want to write; it made me want to be a private detective.
Stuart Woods
We all have our weaknesses, okay. Mine happens to be the "I want to read but I want to watch TV too." Fortunately, there are authors like Stuart Woods who make books into those of Penny and her sidekick Brain. The book that moves; the book that is a movie. The Primer--like in
Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (everybody go buy it now).
Stuart Woods has a character in all these books named Stone Barrington. Barrington isn't all that intelligent. He isn't all that rich. He isn't even all that suave or fancy. In fact, he's dry. I can't find a true personality in there. But he's in all these books. He's a cop cum lawyer cum PI. And he has a lot of sex. With a lot of women. And happens to end up with a lot of money after a lot of action after a lot of not-so-much-is-going-on-with-the-case. The books end with a "well, there's that. Guess we'll just get the next one."
One thing that is on Stuart Woods' side? You can read this book during commercials and be guaranteed that
something always happens.
The Lake of Dead Languages, Carol Goodman
You really do have to hand it to that
Alice and her book recommendations. I read this on the fly while up in Pennsylvania with Dave, the same weekend I finished up Barbara Vine's book. This book, though... now this knows how to blow you out of the water.
First things first, as the cover will tell you, this has the same mystery, the same
aura about it that
The Secret History, by Donna Tartt, did (which I reviewed back in July, 2004, I think). This time, the students are Latin, they are in high school, and something isn't quite right. After the not-quite-right turns deadly, one girl returns to her high school only now as a teacher and realized it's all happening again.
Excellent characters, excellent mystery, excellent way to draw it out and wait so you can hold your breath without annoyance, waiting to see what will happen next.
This is one of those books that made me want to write.
A Year by the Sea: Thoughts of an Unfinished Woman, Joan Anderson
A Year by the Sea was a last minute purchase decision made by my inner old person just wondering if I need some spiritual guidance at some point in my life. You have to admit: the thought of living a year at Cape Cod right by the water is pretty darned entrhalling. I love the water and winter is my favorite season, so having them together in one place means I'd freeze my ass off but the writing possibilities are amazing! The solitude of it could get to me, I suppose, but there's something attractive about having no choice and doing what Joan did: she worked in a fish market, she chopped wood, she had fishermen drop her off at islands for a whole day of sitting there or camping overnight, she did some crabbing. I can't help but think of it as fun. And she was in her fifties, married--just decided that she was going on a year-long vacation.
The Chimney Sweeper's Boy, Barbara Vine
This novel was recommended to me by Ellen, my voracious reader of a mother who knows a good story when she sees one. So as soon as I had finished
The BK, I picked it up. The story is about a gruff older man whose only affection is for his daughters. He's a best selling author, dies suddenly of a heart attack, and the truth of them all just falls out. Ursula, the mother, the wife--nothing more. We find that her husband the author was really just an asshole who loved to steal the children's attention, pretend she didn't exist except for the necessary eggs needed to produce children. The daughters, Sarah and Hope, up and coming, forget about their mother and focus only on what their father left them with: nothing. They don't even consider going home for Christmas because if their father is dead, then there's nothing there. No reason to go home. The layers in this book are fascinating, amazing. You feel for each of them while wanting to slap them uncontrollably. Sarah has a relationship with a man who turns her on by treating her like shit in front of other people and once it's done, they rush out back and topple on each other like rhinos in heat. Meanwhile, she complete misses the misogyny with which her father treated her mother.
That part of the novel is what fascinated me the most. The gist, however, is uncovering the man who made this family. Sarah is asked by her father's editor to write a biography about the man. She finds, first, that he is not who he said he is. Different name, different history, and a lot of secrets. It was a great book.
