The Sugar Queen ~ Sarah Addison Allen

The Sugar Queen
by Sarah Addison Allen

The first thing that meets the eye when you pick up a book is, of course, the cover, and the covers of Sarah Addison Allen’s books are lushly beautiful.  The Sugar Queen cover shows a young woman curled up on a window seat with big purple pillows and an open book, looking out into the woods - an enticing vision for any lover of books.  I’ll admit, covers often factor into whether I will pick up a book to begin with.  However, that is not why I picked up this book.  No, it was because of the most effective marketing for books ever introduced, word of mouth.  It was recommended to me by one of our library volunteers.  The cover was just a bonus.    

The Sugar Queen centers around four couples.  Josey, who lives in a big house helping to care for her mother, is secretly in love with the mailman, Adam.  She fills the void with sweet treats and romance novels at night.  Then Della Lee Baker takes up residence in her closet, hiding from her abusive boyfriend Julian, and starts pushing Josey out into the world, into new experiences. 

Josey meets Chloe at the sandwich shop she owns.  Chloe is stalked by self-help books, they simply appear whenever they have something to tell her such as Finding Forgiveness.  Her boyfriend, Jake, cheated on her and Chloe broke up with him but she is struggling with how much she still loves him. 

Finally, Josey’s mother Margaret has been in love with the local cabdriver, Rawley, for forty years.  In fact, they were once lovers, but now he never speaks to her.

Allen makes much of the interconnectedness between the couples, intertwining the stories further, giving the story a small town feel.  It turns out Josey’s new friend, Chloe, is good friends with Adam, who is also a friend of Jake.  Then Julian and Chloe meet at a bar and Julian begins charming Chloe, in stalker fashion.

Full of Southern charm, romance and magical realism cross paths in the books of Sarah Addison Allen.  The Sugar Queen is sweet and short but with surprising depth.  I highly recommend it.

Blue Highways ~ William Least Heat Moon

Blue Highways: A Journey Into America

By William Least Heat Moon

I first picked up Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon from the book exchange shelf of the English Department when I was in college.  It has remained one of my top ten favorite books since that time.

The opening lines are some of the most intriguing I have found in any book.  I copied them down and have read and re-read them over the years, “Beware thoughts that come in the night.  They aren’t turned properly; they come in askew, free of sense and restriction, deriving from the most remote of sources.”  I have always found this to be true but in a useful way, clearing away the inhibitions that held back my best writing.

The adventure started in the late 1970’s when William Least Heat Moon took his truck, Ghost Dancing, on a circuitous route around the United States, sticking to the old “blue highways,” the less traveled roads that were marked in blue on the map, where people lived.  He was a thirty-eight year old English professor who had just lost his job and realized his estranged wife wasn’t coming back.

“Call me Least Heat Moon,” he introduces himself.  “My father calls himself Heat Moon, my elder brother Little Heat Moon. I, coming last, am therefore Least.  It has been a long lesson of a name to learn.”

Perhaps it was his simple rating scale that started my fascination with mom and pop diners -

“No Calendar: Same as an interstate pit stop.

One Calendar: Preprocessed food assembled in New Jersey.

Two Calendars: Only if fish trophies present.

Three calendars: Can’t miss on the farm-boy breakfasts.

Four calendars: Try the ho-made pie too.

Five calendars: Keep it under your hat, or they’ll franchise.”

The beauty of the land he describes has made me want to pack up and take off every time I re-read it, “I went to the Trace again, following it through pastures and pecan groves and tilled fields; wildflowers and clover pressed in close, and from trees, long purple drupes of wisteria hung like grape clusters.” 

He encounters people all along the way and shares their wisdom in their own words, like the delightful conversation with the waitress in the three calendar café where he is served a biscuit with a smiley face button on it because he looked like he needed one.  The waitress asks what he’s looking for and he responds at last with “harmony.”  She tells him, “I started out in life not likin’ anything, but then it grew on me.  Maybe that’ll happen to you.”

The author deftly weaves the interesting bits of conversation with haunting descriptions.  “It was one of those moments that you know at the time will stay with you to the grave: the sweet pie, the gaunt man playing the old music, the coals in the stove glowing orange, the scent of kerosene and hot bread.”

It is this blend of philosophy, introspection, descriptions of land, people, architecture and explanations of the history that built it all which give the book its’ distinctive feel.  It is a slow book for deep reading, perfect for the coming winter.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks ~ Rebecca Skloot

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
by Rebecca Skloot

I’ve always enjoyed books which teach me something as well as telling a good story.  Usually I find that in fiction books where the author has something to share which they have researched or learned.  With The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a spellbinding story intertwines with both a history and a science lesson. 

The author first heard about HeLa cells when she was 16.  She became fascinated, wondering… who was the woman behind the cells that helped develop the polio vaccine, revolutionized cancer treatment and helped in every endeavor from in virtro fertilization to cloning?  Her search for Henrietta Lacks led her to Henrietta’s daughter, Deborah, who had the same questions but many more.  Most of all though, Deborah wanted to know who her mother was.  Together they investigated.

Henrietta Lacks was a thirty year old mother of five in 1951 when she went to Johns Hopkins Hospital and was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cervical cancer.  At that time the treatment involved using radium placed into the uterus to kill the cells.  When the treatment didn’t work, Henrietta died, painfully.  But all of her cells didn’t die with her.  A biopsy of the tumor provided the first cells capable of being kept alive in a lab.  They were named HeLa after her and have gone on to be the basis for many treatments, vaccines and cures but her own family did not know this was taking place until decades later.  The cells were replicated many billions of times over and shared between scientists.  This is the story of those cells and the people Henrietta Lacks left behind, particularly her daughter Deborah.

The author explains the science in an understandable way and tells a compelling story of the humans the science derived from and affected. I actually listened to this book on CD in my car rather than reading it in the paper format.  The two readers are tremendous, making it at once easy to understand and clearly bringing forth the characters so that they are individuals, more in the nature of a radio drama than a book being read.  I would highly recommend it in either format.

I am the Messenger ~ Markus Zusak

I am the Messenger
by Markus Zusak

I have a confession… I enjoy Young Adult Literature.  I don’t think people should eschew books simply because they are “labeled” for a younger reading group.  There are beautiful picture books, incredibly funny books for middle graders and amazing books written for young adults.  YA writers are often willing to take risks, present harsh realities and ask hard questions about life.  I have always found that YA writers create some of the most engaging and intricate stories but more people are starting to catch on.  J.K. Rowling’s success with Harry Potter was followed by Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series and now The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collin’s.  This is not everyone’s cup of tea, and they are not representative of all that YA Literature has to offer.  YA books cover the gamut but many are quick, engaging reads that hook the reader immediately.  They can be fluffy light reads or intense reads dealing with harsh social issues.  I am the Messenger has both the humor and the harsh issues.

Meet Ed Kennedy.  He’s a nineteen year old taxi driver.  He lives in a shack with a seventeen year old dog named Doorman who has a rarified stink.  He plays cards with his friends Ritchie, Marv and Audrey regularly.  He loves, and lusts after, his friend Audrey.  He also just managed to catch a bank robber, without really meaning to.  It just sort of happened.  After the robbery, he receives an Ace of Diamonds in the mail.  It has three addresses and three times on it.  It takes some time to work up the courage, but finally he goes to the first address.  This isn’t an easy case he’s facing.  It is hard, harsh reality and he has to figure out how to help.  He steps back and walks away, scared.  He’ll be back.  The second address offers something completely different, a lonely old lady who seems very kind.  The third one is a fifteen year old shy girl who likes to run.  It’s all a bit of a mystery.  Ed will help them though and, when he’s done, there will be another card.  

To be honest, at first I wasn’t sure whether this was a Young Adult title that appeals to adults or an Adult title with appeal for Young Adults.  What I can tell you, is that it’s a fascinating story which received the American Library Association’s Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature.  Part of the appeal to me is that Markus Zusak is an Australian author and I think you get a bit of a unique flavor there.  Writers from different countries tend to have a slightly different way of looking at things.  I have compared the humor in American sitcoms to Canadian sitcoms to British sitcoms and it is a little bit different for each.  I suspect the author would be a talented writer whatever country he came from.  It’s not that he’s writing about Australia, but maybe the landscape, the nature of the air, somehow changes how the words sound.

My verdict is simple, I really like this book and many other people have too.  Give it a try.

The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings ~ Amy Tan

The Opposite of Fate
by Amy Tan

Most people would recognize Amy Tan as the author of The Joy Luck Club which was turned into a movie in 1993.  There have been other books, including The Kitchen God’s Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, The Bonesetter’s Daughter and Saving Fish from Drowning, as well as two children’s stories and a memoir titled, The Opposite of Fate. 

The last is my favorite.  There is something special when a writer tells their personal story.  The writing skills are all there - pacing, plot, characterization, but with the immediacy of first person knowledge.    We get to see what they consider to have been important to their development as a writer and what they really meant when they wrote something.  In Amy Tan’s perspective, not nearly as much as has been ascribed to her writing.

Her sense of humor is evident.  She writes about the annoyance and yet the odd pride in finding that there are Cliff Notes for her book, The Joy Luck Club, which make several wild claims.  She finds they question “Which daughter in the book is most like Amy Tan?” and turns the page to finally find out the answer, as it has been asked of her so many times in interviews.  But there is no answer, it’s just a question.  She is “left to ponder my existential angst in the usual fashion.”

Tan offers deep truths that we feel in our bones, “It’s your belief in yourself that enables you to do what you wish” and “…if I did not like what was before me, I had only to look at my shoes, then look up and walk ahead toward a fresher, more pleasant scene.”

She has wondered how she can write about things she doesn’t know.  Is she “downloading stories from the Nirvana Wide Web?”  Or are they simply memories from her childhood, things she overheard and took in but didn’t remember doing so?  She deems her childhood too implausible to make for good fiction, but capable of being mined for fiction. 

She’s had a lot of fun in her life, like playing with the Rockbottom Remainders, a group of writers who perform to raise money for children’s literacy.  She’s also had some harrowing experiences.  She has faced down gang thugs, been in a car accident and had a roommate, and good friend, murdered by thieves who broke into his new apartment.

Her essay on living with chronic Lyme Disease will be particularly poignant, and heartening, for anyone who lives with a chronic disease.  Tan concludes, “Yes, the world to me is still a scary place, but no more than it is for most people.  I am no longer governed by fate and fear.  I have hope and, with that, a determination to change what is not right.  As a storyteller, I know that if I don’t like the ending, I can write a better one.”

As a writer I found this book very inspirational and, as a reader, a fascinating collection of stories.  I would recommend it to anyone. 

Ghost Story ~ Jim Butcher

Ghost Story
by Jim Butcher

Hell’s bells, it’s the return of my favorite smart ass wizard.  Okay, he’s dead, but that’s not going to stop Harry Dresden.  This is urban fantasy at its best.  

A quote comes to mind from The Princess Bride.  This book has it all – “Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles.”  Okay, maybe not giants, but if not, it’s got everything else.  I think it even has a quote from The Princess Bride.

Harry Dresden is a wise-cracking detective, a wizard in modern day Chicago.  Now, he’s also a ghost.  As such, Harry has a huge disadvantage in this book, no magic.  So many action adventures follow a typical pattern and give you little new to consider.  Though the last book was titled Changes, this book continues the changes and growth of characters.  This is definitely different from the others, but it just keeps getting better. 

Like a phoenix, Harry rises from the ashes, but he also evolves.  As one who can generally guess what is coming next in a plot, the unexpected is always a joy and Butcher does not disappoint.  This is not a regurgitation of past plots. The conclusions that Harry reaches, the truths found, and the realizations make for a very satisfying read.  What’s been done can’t be undone and Harry has to face the consequences.  As in real life, everything is not going to be okay, but life goes on and people have to deal with it.  There are still some people prepared to help Harry though. 

This is the 13^th book in the Harry Dresden series.  These don’t stand alone particularly well.  I definitely recommend starting at the beginning.  Relationships change and grow, people come and go, and events referred to in future books are crucial for understanding Harry and his world.

Harry Dresden is a hero for all times, with or without his magic, because he cares.  I will be eagerly anticipating the next book in the Harry Dresden series.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake ~ Aimee Bender

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
by Aimee Bender

I’ve always been fascinated by books which bring magical elements into our everyday world.  Following in the footsteps of such well known authors as Alice Hoffman and Isabel Allende, authors like Sarah Addison Allen and Aimee Bender offer us fresh insight into the human soul through riveting stories that bring fairy tales and fables to modern life.

Aimee Bender offers a lyrical story in The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake.  Rose Edelstein is an average little girl, overshadowed by her somewhat brilliant older brother and outside the special relationship he seems to have with their mother.  Then, when her mother bakes her a trial run birthday cake for Rose’s ninth birthday, Rose discovers an unusual gift.  She can taste her mother’s emotions in the cake, the “absence, hunger, spiraling, hollows.”  Though it is sweet and delicious, the cake tastes empty.    

From then on, Rose can taste her mother’s deep dissatisfaction with her life in every bite of food her mother prepares.  It is a painful awareness.  When her mother starts an affair, Rose can taste it.  As time goes on, Rose finds she can trace where a food came from and who was involved in its preparation, right back to the farm where the ingredients were grown. 

Rose slowly realizes that her brother has a special gift, a very disturbing gift, that takes him further and further away from their family.  She wonders where these gifts came from.  Neither of her parents have gifts, or do they?

One oddity is that even with her dialogue, Bender uses no quotes.  I can see where that would consternate some readers.  It gives the book the feel of a flashback, more of an internal quality, a storybook quality. 

This is not a “happy” book.  Everything is not going to be “okay,” and yet it is.  Rose finds a niche for herself in the world, finds her way.  That, to me, is real life.  At the end of the book I felt I had experienced something; that I had taken in a new way of looking at the world.  The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake is an unusual book.  The author leads you down a path but in the end you do have to take a fairly large leap.  I enjoyed this book deeply, but you’ll have to decide for yourself whether you do.