silverneurotic

From Goodreads: Given the importance of what they do, and the controversies that often surround them, and the violent people they sometimes confront, it is remarkable that in the history of this country only four active federal judges have been murdered.

Judge Raymond Fawcett has just become number five.

Who is the Racketeer? And what does he have to do with the judge’s untimely demise? His name, for the moment, is Malcolm Bannister. Job status? Former attorney. Current residence? The Federal Prison Camp near Frostburg, Maryland.

On paper, Malcolm’s situation isn’t looking too good these days, but he’s got an ace up his sleeve. He knows who killed Judge Fawcett, and he knows why. The judge’s body was found in his remote lakeside cabin. There was no forced entry, no struggle, just two dead bodies: Judge Fawcett and his young secretary. And one large, state-of-the-art, extremely secure safe, opened and emptied.

What was in the safe? The FBI would love to know. And Malcolm Bannister would love to tell them. But everything has a price—especially information as explosive as the sequence of events that led to Judge Fawcett’s death. And the Racketeer wasn’t born yesterday . . .

Nothing is as it seems and everything’s fair game in this wickedly clever new novel from John Grisham, the undisputed master of the legal thriller.

 

This review is long overdue so now I'm stuck with the uncomfortable task of trying to write a comprehensive review on a book that I do not remember very well. I do remember not liking it, but wanting to enjoy it. I even remember that there were a few chapters that did stand out as being almost perfect...but then they were followed up by chapters that boardered between mediocre and just plain bad.

Although The Racketeer was a legal thriller, it was not a book in which Grisham did his usual extensive research for and it definitely showed that this book was one where Grisham allowed his imagination run away from him which was okay, it almost worked. But then after away it kind of fell apart and Grisham lost the control. 

I actually think it's going to be awhile before I attempt another John Grisham novel.

Disclaimer: I rec'd a copy of this book through the Goodreads, First Reads program.

 

From Goodreads: This is the story of Billy Kinsey, heir to a lottery fortune, part genius, part philosopher and social critic, full time insomniac and closeted rock drummer. Billy has decided that the best way to deal with an absurd world is to stay away from it. Do not volunteer. Do not join in. Billy will be the first to tell you it doesn’t always work— not when your twin sister, Dorie, has died, not when your unhappy parents are at war with one another, not when frazzled soccer moms in two ton SUVs are more dangerous than atom bombs, and not when your guidance counselor keeps asking why you haven’t applied to college.

Billy’s life changes when two people enter his life. Twom Twomey is a charismatic renegade who believes that truly living means going a little outlaw. Twom and Billy become one another’s mutual benefactor and friend. At the same time, Billy is reintroduced to Gretchen Quinn, an old and adored friend of Dorie’s. It is Gretchen who suggests to Billy that the world can be transformed by　creative acts of the soul.　

With Twom, Billy visits the dark side. And with Gretchen, Billy experiences possibilities.Billy knows that one path is leading him toward disaster and the other toward happiness. The problem is—Billy doesn’t trust happiness. It's the age he's at.  The tragic age. 

 

I am a sucker for a good coming of age novel of all kinds. I know that it's going to be a book that is going to draw me in on an emotional level and I absolutely love when a book can do that...especially when I find myself completely invested. 

The Tragic Age is one of those books. It is also not one of those books. You think you know what's going to happen. You think you're going to understand Billy but you don't. Billy is the ultimate unreliable character. You can never be sure what is real and what is manipulated. And that is what makes The Tragic Age stand out from the more well known coming of age novels, The Catcher in the Rye and Perks of Being a Wallflower. It is easy to see where the comparisons are made...it's clear that at least a tiny bit of those books have influenced the story and of Billy but The Tragic Age is ultimately, it's own unique story.

I know the year is still young, but it was probably my favorite read of the year. So far there is one other book contending for that title (also a YA  coming of age) but in terms of being a fresh, unique experience...this is the winner.

Shep Knacker has long saved for "the Afterlife," an idyllic retreat in the Third World where his nest egg can last forever. Exasperated that his wife, Glynis, has concocted endless excuses why it's never the right time to go, Shep finally announces he's leaving for a Tanzanian island, with or without her. Yet Glynis has some news of her own: she's deathly ill. Shep numbly puts his dream aside, while his nest egg is steadily devastated by staggering bills that their health insurance only partially covers. Astonishingly, illness not only strains their marriage but saves it.

From acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Lionel Shriver comes a searing, ruthlessly honest novel. Brimming with unexpected tenderness and dry humor, it presses the question: How much is one life worth?

 

This is the third novel I have read by Lionel Shriver and although I liked it on the surface, I found it to be a weak follow up to the other two novels I had previously read (We Need to Talk About Kevin and The Post Birthday World). 

I liked the story, and the characters...especially the secondary characters and plotlines. Perhaps it has to do with age/maturity but I found this novel to be a lot easier to read than I did the other two but I suspect that it was written in a more simplistic way then what I have come to expect from a Shriver novel. In fact, immediately after reading the final page I had very nearly awarded this a four star rating but instead I decided to let it stew in my head for a few days (or well, over a month) and I decided that it was not worthy of four stars. And probably three stars is generous. 

When I thought it over, I realized that Lionel Shriver had written this not as an attempt to write a solid novel...but to give herself an outlet to commentate on the state of healthcare at the time of writing this novel. There were more than a few soap box moments throughout the book that just felt artificial. I agreed with them, so at first they didn't bother me but when I had finished the book and thought about it I realized how distracting and ill crafted they were. 

Political commentary aside, I did think that this could have been a well crafted novel. It had a really good premise, some interesting side characters with interesting stories of their own....but unfortunately the commentary distracted the reader from the jem this novel could have been.

With her peerless ability to give us the essence of a life in often brief but spacious and timeless stories, Alice Munro illumines the moment a life is shaped -- the moment a dream, or sex, or perhaps a simple twist of fate turns a person out of his or her accustomed path and into another way of being. Suffused with Munro's clarity of vision and her unparalleled gift for storytelling, these stories (set in the world Munro has made her own: the countryside and towns around Lake Huron) about departures and beginnings, accidents, dangers, and homecomings both virtual and real, paint a vivid and lasting portrait of how strange, dangerous, and extraordinary the ordinary life can be.

 

I read this collection of short stories as I had never read Alice Munro before. I had high expectations as her name comes up frequently but honestly, I was not overly fond of this collection. I'm not sure what was the issue, aside from personally not enjoying stories having to do with infidelity (in which there were quite a few) or just not connecting to any of the characters or situations. For the most part, the stories were memorable as I can still remember a few of the stories almost two months, and several books later and maybe this was not a good place to begin with Alice Munro. Whatever it is though, I probably won't be reading more of her work anytime soon.

It's 1 PM on Sunday, and I have decided that I am going to spend the rest of the day in bed reading.  

From Goodreads: It's 1983 in Berkeley, California. Twenty-year-old Allie Dodgson is a straitlaced college student working part-time at a dress shop to make ends meet. But when the shop turns out to be a front for a dangerous drug-dealing business, Allie finds herself on the lam, speeding toward Los Angeles in her best friend's Prelude with a Wonder Bread bag full of cocaine riding shotgun and a hit man named Vice Versa on her tail. You can't find a more thrilling summer read!

 

A quick glance at Goodreads informed me that this was definitely a hit or miss book. You either love Allie's crazy drug fueled adventures...or you spent the book cringing at Allie's drug fueled adventures.

I am in the latter camp. I had this book on my TBR list for awhile thanks for a book review I read by someone I almost nearly always agree with so I honestly thought this was going to be a winner. Instead I spent the adventure inwardly groaning and just how ridiculous it all seemed.

I think that the biggest problem was that it was just one big caricature of a mad caper story, but instead of admitting that it was a caricature it pretended to be something it wasn't. It wasn't funny, or exciting. It was just one big joke.

From Goodreads: “The bard of biological weapons captures
the drama of the front lines.”
-Richard Danzig, former secretary of the navy

The first major bioterror event in the United States-the anthrax attacks in October 2001-was a clarion call for scientists who work with “hot” agents to find ways of protecting civilian populations against biological weapons. InThe Demon in the Freezer, his first nonfiction book since The Hot Zone, a #1 New York Times bestseller, Richard Preston takes us into the heart of Usamriid, the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, once the headquarters of the U.S. biological weapons program and now the epicenter of national biodefense.

Peter Jahrling, the top scientist at USAMRIID, a wry virologist who cut his teeth on Ebola, one of the world’s most lethal emerging viruses, has ORCON security clearance that gives him access to top secret information on bioweapons. His most urgent priority is to develop a drug that will take on smallpox-and win. Eradicated from the planet in 1979 in one of the great triumphs of modern science, the smallpox virus now resides, officially, in only two high-security freezers -- at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and in Siberia, at a Russian virology institute called Vector. But the demon in the freezer has been set loose. It is almost certain that illegal stocks are in the possession of hostile states, including Iraq and North Korea. Jahrling is haunted by the thought that biologists in secret labs are using genetic engineering to create a new superpox virus, a smallpox resistant to all vaccines.

Usamriid wentinto a state of Delta Alert on September 11 and activated its emergency response teams when the first anthrax letters were opened in New York and Washington, D.C. Preston reports, in unprecedented detail, on the government’s response to the attacks and takes us into the ongoing FBI investigation. His story is based on interviews with top-level FBI agents and with Dr. Steven Hatfill.

Jahrling is leading a team of scientists doing controversial experiments with live smallpox virus at CDC. Preston takes us into the lab where Jahrling is reawakening smallpox and explains, with cool and devastating precision, what may be at stake if his last bold experiment fails.


I first discovered Richard Preston when I was in high school and randomly picked up a copy of his fiction novel, The Cobra Event. It was seriously the scariest yet, most fascinating thing I had read. It was still pre 9/11 and the subsequent anthrax attacks and bio warfare was not something I could fathom. But I was and still am intrigued. 

This book did not fail to intrigue me. I have read several of Preston's non fiction books and I have always been impressed by the way he is able to break down something so complex and break it down in a way that just about anyone can read and understand the magnitude of the threat that bio terriorism and potentially allowing diseases such as small pox back into our system. 

Richard Preston is definitely one of my favorite non fiction (and well fiction) writer and if anyone has an interest in rare deadly diseases such as small pox, anthrax and Ebola I definitely recommend reading any of his books. I will have to warn you though, you'll probably have to sleep with a light on for awhile.

And I seriously want to reread The Cobra Event now.

I somehow ended up with two copies of Young Skins by Colin Barrett and as I do not need two copies I'm going to offer it to one random person who comments on this post. On Sunday, 8pm EST I'll pick the winner and will get it out to you by next weekend.

Good luck!

From Goodreads: Making a remarkable entrance onto the Irish and UK literary scene with rave reviews in The Sunday Times and The Guardian, Colin Barrett’sYoung Skins is a stunning introduction to a singular voice in contemporary fiction.

Enter the small, rural town of Glanbeigh, a place whose fate took a downturn with the Celtic Tiger, a desolate spot where buffoonery and tension simmer and erupt, and booze-sodden boredom fills the corners of every pub and nightclub. Here, and in the towns beyond, the young live hard and wear the scars. Amongst them, there’s jilted Jimmy, whose best friend Tug is the terror of the town and Jimmy’s sole company in his search for the missing Clancy kid; Bat, a lovesick soul with a face like “a bowl of mashed up spuds” even before Nubbin Tansey’s boot kicked it in; and Arm, a young and desperate criminal whose destiny is shaped when he and his partner, Dympna, fail to carry out a job. In each story, a local voice delineates the grittiness of Irish society; unforgettable characters whose psychological complexities and unspoken yearnings are rendered through silence, humor, and violence.

With power and originality akin to Wells Tower’s Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned and Claire Vaye Watkins’ Battleborn these six short stories and one explosive novella occupy the ghostly, melancholic spaces between boyhood and old age. Told in Barrett’s vibrant, distinctive prose,Young Skins is an accomplished and irreverent debut from a brilliant new writer.

Disney Princess Rap Battle

Belle was always my favorite Disney Princess.

From Goodreads: Lily Casey Smith, this novel's feisty Texas protagonist, is a frontier teacher, a rancher, a rodeo rider, a poker player, and bootlegger. In Half Broke Horses, she survives droughts, tornados, floods, poverty, and whatever else fate can throw against her. 

Based on author Jeannette Walls's grandmother, Lily is a plausible character because she has a voice that synchronizes with her history. 

This novel lives up to the still gathering acclaim for Walls's novel The Glass Castle.

Although I had read, and loved The Glass Castle, I didn't know what to expect with Half Broke Horses. It is classified as both a historical novel and a biography so I just could not be sure what to expect. Would it flow smoothly like a novel? Would it be filled with dates and names and lose it's emotional connection? 

Thankfully it read like a first person narrative and although Jennette Walls was a young child when her grandmother passed away, Half Broke Horses was written as though Jennette Walls had known her grandmother very well or her grandmother had been the one telling her grandchild her life story. 

Lily is a fantastic protagonist. She is feisty, funny, take no prisoners type who you cam't help but feel in awe over. I didn't expect to be able to relate to her as her life is far removed from any life I could image for myself...but she had the same independent spirit my own grandmother had and once I recognized that...I fell head over heels in love.

I definitely recommend this book, whether you like books about the west, historical fiction, a good memoir....or just a story of a strong, kick ass woman this book is definitely worth a read. Plus it's under 300 pages so a perfect weekend getaway book.

I somehow ended up with two copies of Young Skins by Colin Barrett and as I do not need two copies I'm going to offer it to one random person who comments on this post. On Sunday, 8pm EST I'll pick the winner and will get it out to you by next weekend.

Good luck!

From Goodreads: Making a remarkable entrance onto the Irish and UK literary scene with rave reviews in The Sunday Times and The Guardian, Colin Barrett’sYoung Skins is a stunning introduction to a singular voice in contemporary fiction.

Enter the small, rural town of Glanbeigh, a place whose fate took a downturn with the Celtic Tiger, a desolate spot where buffoonery and tension simmer and erupt, and booze-sodden boredom fills the corners of every pub and nightclub. Here, and in the towns beyond, the young live hard and wear the scars. Amongst them, there’s jilted Jimmy, whose best friend Tug is the terror of the town and Jimmy’s sole company in his search for the missing Clancy kid; Bat, a lovesick soul with a face like “a bowl of mashed up spuds” even before Nubbin Tansey’s boot kicked it in; and Arm, a young and desperate criminal whose destiny is shaped when he and his partner, Dympna, fail to carry out a job. In each story, a local voice delineates the grittiness of Irish society; unforgettable characters whose psychological complexities and unspoken yearnings are rendered through silence, humor, and violence.

With power and originality akin to Wells Tower’s Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned and Claire Vaye Watkins’ Battleborn these six short stories and one explosive novella occupy the ghostly, melancholic spaces between boyhood and old age. Told in Barrett’s vibrant, distinctive prose,Young Skins is an accomplished and irreverent debut from a brilliant new writer.

From Goodreads: Murder. Not an intricately plotted "whodunit" or fiery passionate fury. But dirty, sad, disturbing actions from real people. That's what Truman Capote decided to use for In Cold Blood - his bold experiment in the realm of the non-fiction "novel." Following in that legacy is Capote in Kansas, a fictionalized tale of Capote's time in Middle America researching his classic book. Capote's struggles with the town, the betrayal, and his own troubled past make this book a compelling portrait of one of the greatest literary talents of the 20th century.

I discovered Truman Capote in my 20's after reading In Cold Blood. It was one of those books that I devoured in one serving and since then I've had a fascination with the novel and Truman Capote. When I found this book at a comic book store in Columbus, Ohio (The Green Ogre?) I has to buy it despite not having much interest in graphic novels.

I was not bowled over by this book. I read it very quickly and was struck by how the book just skimmed the surface of Capote writing In Cold Blood. There was a few elements that I did enjoy but as a whole I felt let down. It was an ambitious undertaking but only a half hearted attempt at telling the story.

From Goodreads: Stephen King returns to the characters and territory of one of his most popular novels ever, The Shining, in this instantly riveting novel about the now middle-aged Dan Torrance (the boy protagonist of The Shining) and the very special twelve-year-old girl he must save from a tribe of murderous paranormals.

On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless—mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and spunky twelve-year-old Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the “steam” that children with the “shining” produce when they are slowly tortured to death.

Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant “shining” power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes “Doctor Sleep.”

Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of devoted readers of The Shining and satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.

From Goodreads: Sunny Mann has masterminded a life for herself and her family in a quiet Virginia town. Her house and her friends are picture-perfect. Even her genius husband, Maxon, has been trained to pass for normal. But when a fender bender on an average day sends her coiffed blonde wig sailing out the window, her secret is exposed. Not only is she bald, Sunny is nothing like the Stepford wife she’s trying to be. As her facade begins to unravel, we discover the singular world of Sunny, an everywoman searching for the perfect life, and Maxon, an astronaut on his way to colonize the moon.

Theirs is a wondrous, strange relationship formed of dark secrets, decades-old murders and the urgent desire for connection. As children, the bald, temperamental Sunny and the neglected savant Maxon found an unlikely friendship no one else could understand. She taught him to feel -- helped him translate his intelligence for numbers into a language of emotion. He saw her spirit where others saw only a freak. As they grew into adults, their profound understanding blossomed into love and marriage.

But with motherhood comes a craving for normalcy that begins to strangle Sunny’s marriage and family. As Sunny and Maxon are on the brink of destruction, at each other’s throats with blame and fear of how they’ve lost their way, Maxon departs for the moon, where he’s charged with programming the robots that will build the fledgling colony. Just as the car accident jars Sunny out of her wig and into an awareness of what she really needs, an accident involving Maxon’s rocket threatens everything they’ve built, revealing the things they’ve kept hidden. And nothing will ever be the same. 

From Goodreads: Nearly eighteen, Molly Ayer knows she has one last chance. Just months from "aging out" of the child welfare system, and close to being kicked out of her foster home, a community service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping her out of juvie and worse.

Vivian Daly has lived a quiet life on the coast of Maine. But in her attic, hidden in trunks, are vestiges of a turbulent past. As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly discovers that she and Vivian aren't as different as they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other children whose destinies would be determined by luck and chance.

The closer Molly grows to Vivian, the more she discovers parallels to her own life. A Penobscot Indian, she, too, is an outsider being raised by strangers, and she, too, has unanswered questions about the past. As her emotional barriers begin to crumble, Molly discovers that she has the power to help Vivian find answers to mysteries that have haunted her for her entire life - answers that will ultimately free them both.

Rich in detail and epic in scope, Orphan Train is a powerful novel of upheaval and resilience, of second chances, of unexpected friendship, and of the secrets we carry that keep us from finding out who we are.