The Postmistress (Sarah Blake)

It took a few tries before I actually got around to reading this book. I checked it out from both the DC and Fairfax County libraries more than once. Yes, this has happened with more than one book.

Anyway, I finally got around to reading it. The Postmistress has three main story threads that intersect. The reader first meets Frankie, now an elderly lady, telling the story. She had worked as a journalist in London during the Blitz under Edward R. Murrow. Here, her life intersects with that of a young bride in Franklin, Massachusetts.

Iris James works as the postmistress in Franklin. It's a small town, so she pretty much meets everyone in town on a regular basis. The town doctor, William, meets her during a medical exam that he finds a little unusual. He's married to Emma, the young bride that will eventually bring Frankie to Franklin.

Due to some tragic string of events, William ends up in London before US intervention in World War II. Frankie meets him one night while hiding in a shelter during one of the German bombing of the city. There, another tragic string of events brings these women together.

Like any story set in World War II, this story is sad. Don't pick this up if you don't want to read a tragedy. Everyone has something awful happen to them, even though only Frankie travels through Europe during the war. Blake's writing brings you into the story and you really do care what happens to these characters even though you know it can't end well. This is probably my peeve with this book. I knew immediately that nothing will go well for these folks, so I keep myself from truly getting into the story. Yes, that's my own failing, but if you make it so obvious that everything is going to go to crap, then a reader has a chance to pull away before you really pull them in.

I can appreciate the writing, but, alas, I'm neither glad nor sad that I read the book.

Next up: In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin, by Erik Larson

33 Men: Inside the Miraculous Survival and Dramatic Rescue of the Chilean Miners (Jonathan Franklin)

Of course everyone knew a book about the incredible story of the Chilean miners would come out sooner rather than later. And this one is probably just the first of many more to come.

The drama of the rescue sucked me in, just as it did many around the world. I watched as much of the rescue as I could, even while I worked.

Jonathan Franklin managed to get permission to work closely with the rescue team. He has interviewed major players in this story, including all 33 miners. Though nobody can understand what these men went through, Franklin manages to give readers a good look at what life was like inside the mine. It became easy to forget, as the miners showed a united front, that 33 people living under those conditions had to have problems arise. Franklin makes these men human again without taking away from the extraordinary way they faced their ordeal.

Rescue workers also overcame unimaginable obstacles to get the job done. Men and women from all over the world pitched in to get these men out. Franklin describes these efforts in a way that makes you hold your breath, even though you know how the story ended.

If someone had written a movie with this premise, I'm pretty sure most people would have thought it ridiculous. The drama going on 2,300 feet below ground and the drama going on above with rescue workers, family members of the trapper miners, the press, and the Chilean government, is just something you can't make up. Thankfully, it had a happy resolution.

Next up: The Postmistress, by Sarah Blake.

The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise (Julia Stuart)

OK, so, I totally got this book because of the cover. I had made it to the library one day with enough time to browse a little, and I saw this book in the New Fiction section. I'd hadn't read any reviews or seen it displayed at my usual bookstores. I'm glad I found it though.

Yes, the cover is very cute. The story may also seem cute, but it goes beyond that. Julia Stuart has written an bittersweet story with just a perfect mix of humor and drama.

The main character in the story is Balthazar Jones. He's a Beefeater, one of the guards that live in the Tower of London. I had no idea people still lived in the Tower until a trip to London I made with my husband and some friends in 2009. I wondered what it must be like to live in such a notorious landmark--one that attracts so many tourists each year. Besides the creepiness, what must it be like to live in one of  the most popular attractions in the UK?

Stuart uses this to craft a wonderful story that centers around Balthazar and his wife, Hebe. Their is a beautiful love story. They didn't become parents until much later in life after 20 years of marriage. Tragically, their son dies unexpectedly at the age of 11. How can a couple deal with such a devastating event?

That this is the main story line in the book should have made it quite difficult to read. But Stuart brings in a quirky cast of characters and plays up Balthazar's and Hebe's own idiosyncrasies to great effect. She manages to do this without taking away from their pain. It's really a funny and uplifting book.

The quirky cast includes an adulterous Ravenmaster; a Parson that's desperately in love with the barmaid that lives and works at the Rack and Ruin bar inside the Tower; Hebe's co-worker at the London Underground lost and found; and Balthazar's 100+ year tortoise. To add to all of this, Balthazar is put in charge of the Queen's menagerie after she decides to reinstate it in the Tower. Of course, chaos ensues.

A lovely book and I'm going to make sure I read Stuart's other works.

Next up: 33 Men: Inside the Miraculous Survival and Dramatic Rescue of the Chilean Miners, by Jonathan Franklin.

Dead Reckoning (Charlaine Harris)

Sookie finds herself once again in the middle of a lot of drama in the eleventh book in the series. She has two fairies living with her (they're family though). Eric, her vampire boyfriend, is in the middle of a power struggle with the new leadership in Louisiana. Someone throws a Molotov cocktail into Merlott's, and two private detectives let Sookie know that the last remaining Pelt family member has escaped police custody.

The bulk of the book revolves around Sookie, Eric, and Pam planning how to get rid of their enemy: the deputy sent to Louisiana representing the King of Nevada. This vampire has made no real secret of his desire to see Eric and his camp destroyed. Eric has no intention of letting this happen and Sookie will do what she can to help.

I did enjoy that Sam shows up a lot more in this book than he has in the past. Though he's a shifter, he adds a touch of humanity to Sookie that she seems to have started losing in more recent books. Of course she still has to watch her budget and she still works hard, but she has become more ruthless as the books have progressed. She has her reasons, but I still liked that she can have moments of normalcy.

In all honesty, this book did not impress me. I thoroughly enjoyed the first seven books in the series. Alas, the last two books in particular have felt like filler. I like Harris and I enjoy her work, but maybe her publisher should allow her to take more time writing her books. It's not absolutely necessary to have a new book every year.

At least some things do get resolved in this book. That didn't happen in the last one. Still, I think the rush to get a book out has caused some misjudgements. For instance, Alicide has an appearance in this book. That's great, since I really like Alcide. But he behaves in a way that seems completely out of character. I do understand that people sometimes behave in ways that don't make sense, but this just seemed to come out of nowhere. It just came across as ridiculous.

Will I read the next book in the series? Yes. After all, they are still entertaining enough to make it worth my while. Granted, it's a short while. If these books were longer I wouldn't stick with them. Still, I have faith Harris will have a rebound for the next one.

Next up: The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise, by Julia Stuart.

 

The Weird Sisters (Eleanor Brown)

This is another book that's been quite in demand at the library. I can't quite remember what review I read that made me want to get on the waiting list for it. By the way, I'm still 91 in the queue at the Fairfax County Library. Thankfully, I only had to wait a few weeks for it to come through at the DC Library.

Anyway, after a few hiccups, I finally got the book. I was concerned that I wouldn't finish it in time to return it. I needn't have worried.

The book tells the story of Rose (Rosalind), Bean (Bianca), and Cordy (Cordelia). They are the daughters of a literature professor that specializes in Shakespeare. Rose is the eldest, engaged, and has no intention of leaving the college town where she grew up with her sisters. Bean and Cordy left at the first opportunity.

Bean lives in New York, but things don't turn out quite they way she wanted them to. She ends up back with her parents. Cordy lives the life of a wanderer. And it's not just that she likes to move around. She won't stay in one place long enough to ever have a permanent address (or a temporary one, really). Of course, she too goes back home when circumstances change drastically for her.

Rose had moved back in with their parents, since their mother has breast cancer and starts treatment a little before Bean and Cordy moved back in. And nothing brings out the best and the worst in a family than a crisis.

Brown decided to tell the story from the perspective of the sisters. Basically, all three of them are telling the story, almost as a chorus. Of course, they admit and hide their faults in very human ways. And although the line in the book that made it to the dust cover was this one: "See, we love each other. We just don't happen to like each other very much." But towards the end, you really get a sense that they start to like each other.

To a certain extent, anyway.

Next up: Dead Reckoning, by Charlaine Harris.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Rebecca Skloot)

Another book that has gotten quite a lot of buzz for a little while now. I wasn't sure if I wanted to read it, since it sounded like it would be a biology book and, really, even popular science books tend to go totally over my head. But the book club I attend picked this book for the next meeting. Considering I hadn't read the last two we had chosen (although I did read one of them right after the meeting), I figured I owed them this one.

I'm so glad I read it! Skloot explains the science in a way that's understandable to anyone and, most importantly, she tells the story of Henrietta Lacks and her family in a gripping way. After all, it's not like this story should surprise anyone. It may, but it shouldn't. It did, however, make me angry.

It all started in the early 1950s when Henrietta Lacks felt a lump in her cervix. The doctors didn't really pay attention at first. Indeed, she even had a healthy delivery of her last child after she'd felt something was off. Later on they found the cancer that would kill her sooner rather than later. Of course, the doctors at Johns Hopkins--which did have a ward for African-Americans at the time--took samples of her tumor and of healthy tissue. At the time, George Gey had been trying to cultivate cell cultures with little success in keeping them alive. With Henrietta's cells, however, he found what he'd been looking for.

Henrietta's cells, also known as HeLa, have been instrumental in plenty of medical breakthroughs in the last 60 years, including the development of vaccines and cancer treatments. Here's the thing: for-profit organizations have made millions upon millions selling HeLa cells. Nobody had bothered to tell the Lacks family, much less Henrietta when she still lived, that they had taken the cells and kept them alive. The Lackses did find out and much of the story Skloot tells is about their ordeal trying to learn and come to terms with what Henrietta's cells have meant to the world.

Skloot did a fantastic job of telling the story from all sides, though it's quite clear she became close to the Lacks family, in particular with Deborah Lacks, Henrietta's daughter. She's quite up front about it, so you know there is some bias in the book. Still, I think most of us would also have been bothered by the arrogance some doctors show in light of what happened. After a court decision that basically established that your cells are no longer your concern after they leave your body, a Stanford researcher smugly said that patients can try to negotiate what happens to their tissue when they come in with a ruptured appendix. It still pisses me off to think that someone can be such a damn bastard.

My reaction probably stems from the fact that I intensely dislike doctors. I only go if I have to. That's my own issue. That said, I doubt people would object to having their cells used in research that has helped save lives. But doctors have a very unfortunate tendency to forget these cells come from people. And really, Deborah Lacks wanted everyone to remember that her mother was a person--someone that had children and loved and felt pain and happiness. A little respect and recognition would have been nice.

Great book and very much worth reading.

Next up: The Weird Sisters, by Eleanor Brown.

The Tiger's Wife (Tea Obreht)

This book has gotten quite a lot of buzz. Tea Obreht has already won plenty of critical acclaim for her short stories, so expectations for her first book are high. And she hasn't disappointed.

I will admit that this book probably went over my head. OK, it totally went over my head. But I still enjoyed the Obreht's writing and her creativity. The book has multiple story lines with the story of Natalia and her grandfather serving as the anchor. The book gets its title from a story Natalia's grandfather tells her about his childhood.

Surprisingly, that story doesn't dominate the bulk of the book. It shares the spotlight with the story of the deathless man. Natalia's grandfather meets the deathless man during one of the wars that appear in the book. This character should come across as a little creepy, but he grew on me. The man is shot and drowned and still manages to keep himself in a pretty good mood. Who would have thought, right?

I don't think I'd ever read something set in the modern-day former Yugoslavia. I'm around the author's age (OK, she's a couple of years younger) so I don't remember too much about the conflict there in the early 90s. Obreht took me there, even if on a bit of a surreal cloud. Maybe it's more of a statement on what I usually read than on Obreht's writing, but I haven't read anything quite like this. If you're looking for a casual read, this book isn't for you. But the writing is quite enjoyable--and quite good--and worth the extra brain cells required.

Next up: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lack, by Rebecca Skloot.