The Troubles by Tim Pat Coogan

The Troubles by Tim Pat Coogan

I bought this book back when it first came out in 1996, and it has sat on my bookshelf for the past 13 years. I have always followed and read a great deal about the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland. And I believe I had a pretty fair understanding of the various issues that exploded on our TV screens during the 70's and 80's. I remember thinking how the media always seemed to focus on just the IRA. Many Americans probably never heard of the UVF or the Unionists, the Loyalists, the UDA or how about the Shankill Butcher. Because I had a preternatural inclination to follow the news in Ireland and a desire to know more about what was really happening, I sought out books like Tim Pat Coogan's "The Troubles". So why didn't I pick it up sooner?

When you first look at it, the book is quite daunting. Did I really want to bury myself in a topic that I knew would be tragic, heartbreaking and wrenching? And now that there finally is a sense of hope to the situation in Northern Ireland, why would I want to revisit it? I will attribute my decision to finally pick up The Troubles after all these years, to the fact that I actually had an opportunity to visit Northern Ireland this past summer and actually walk the streets and the areas of Belfast and Derry that dominated the news. It was an experience I will never forget. We had the experience of hearing about these events from people that lived it. This gave me an even greater appreciation, understanding and insight into exactly what it must of have been like to live in a constant state of uncertainty and fear. This experience gave me a greater desire to read more about it.

In fact the taxi driver, Gerard, who gave us a personalized taxi tour of the Falls Road (Catholic area of Belfast) and Shankill Road (Protestant area), recommended several more titles of insightful and accurate reporting of the situation in Northern Ireland to read. One particular title, "The Enemy Within" by Martin Dillon, was Gerard's personal copy, which he gave to me. If you are interested in a bibliography of Irish literature titles that include these titles related to the "Troubles" or of titles related to the history of Irish independence, I will be glad to post such a bibliography on the Reader's Cafe' blog.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

This is the final installment of the phenomenally successful Millenium Trilogy. And I am really going to miss the main characters, Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander. Anyone who loves intricate plots, intrigue, suspense with well developed characters, will love these three books. You not only get to know these two characters, but you also come to really care about them.

It is such a tragic story of the author, Stieg Larsson, who died about a month after delivering the manuscripts of all three novels to his publisher. He died tragically from a heart attack at the age of 50. He did not live to see what a phenomenon his first novels have become.

Larsson was an investigative journalist and an activist who worked to counter the actions of right-wing radical groups in Sweden. In fact I believe Larsson patterned his main male protaganist, Mikael Blomkvist, after his own life as an investigative journalist.

As I said about the first two novels, the same holds true with this last novel. You will not want to miss this last installment. And like so many of us, you will mourn the fact that there may never be a fourth novel with Blomkvist and Salander. According to news reports, Larsson was nearing completion to a fourth novel in the series, before he died suddenly. His family claims that it will never be published.

All of us Millenium fans can still enjoy the Swedish made films of the three novels. The first two are out on DVD and the third novel, Hornet's Nest, is in theaters now. We also have the American film versions to look forward to in 2011.

I have purchased copies of all three novels for the RHS Library. They hopefully will be here by Thanksgiving.

Girl Who Played With Fire

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

I just finished the second book in Larsson's Millenium Series, and once again it held me captive. This sequel focuses more on the main female character, Lisbeth Salander, providing you with more insight and understanding into her character. I don't want to give any background into the plot, because this story is better if you go into it without any preconceived ideas of the plot and the characters. It is better if you just let Larsson pull you into the story and then let it unfold in front of you as you are drawn into its complex web of intrigue. The only thing I will say is that when you finish this second in the series, you don't have a choice, you will have to pick up the third novel in this series: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, which I have already done.

Sit back and just enjoy the ride!

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

If you have not yet picked up this bestseller, then you must as soon as possible. I will guarantee that you will not be able to put it down. Not only that, but after you finish this first novel in the Millenium trilogy, you will immediately run out and purchase the second in the series, The Girl Who Played With Fire. I just started reading this second in the trilogy. Larsson's third in the series is entitled, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

To echo some reviewers, this is the quintessential page turner. But it is much more than your run of the mill mystery. This novel has everything, from mystery, political intrigue, industrial espionage, spies, computer hacking, murder, suspense, romance, good old fashioned revenge and two, well developed main characters that you will come to respect, enjoy and care for. In fact all of the major characters are well developed. Larsson writes in such a way that it makes you feel like you are seeing what that person is thinking.

It has been awhile since I have read a book that is this engrossing. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Get it and read it!!

Sunflowers: a novel of Vincent Van Gogh

Sunflowers: a novel of Vincent Van Gogh
by Sheramy Bundrick

Much has been written about Vincent Van Gogh, his life, his mental condition and his paintings. But no one has attempted to weave a historical novel around the facts, the paintings and documents that survive this artistic genius who took his own life at the age of 37.

First of all, Sheramy Bundrick is an art historian and professor at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. While she has written a couple of scholarly works dealing with classical Greek images and Roman portraiture, this is her first novel. Bundrick does a masterful job of infusing well-known historical moments (like Van Gogh's infamous self-mutilation) with vivid details, while humanizing Van Gogh and putting his famous works in context. Bundrick generates a very believable scenario of what the last two years of Van Gogh's life might have been like if he had developed a relationship with the young woman, to whom he delivered his severed ear. The young "fille de maison's" name was Rachel, and surviving historical sources reveal nothing of the real Rachel. This enables Professor Bundrick to fully develop and breath life into this character.

The way Bundrick skillfully weaves several of Van Gogh's paintings into the narrative, will have you seeking a book of his paintings to compare how each painting is described, discussed or presented in the novel. Bundrick, as an art historian, naturally has conducted extensive research into the last two years of Van Gogh's life, pulling from his letters to his brother Theo and other works, to recreate Van Gogh's experiences in the the town of Arles, the asylum of Saint Paul-de-Mausole in Saint-Rémy, and his death in Auvers-Sur-Oise.

As a long time admirer of Van Gogh's paintings and having stood, literally within, awe inspiring inches of many of his masterpieces, this novel brings the artist and his paintings to life. Vincent Van Gogh was well known for corresponding with his brother Theo. Here is the link to a digital edition of the complete collection of his letters. http://www.vangoghletters.org/vg/

This fascinating collection was created by the Van Gogh Museum and the Huygens Institute. On the site, visitors can view 902 letters from and to Van Gogh, complete with detailed annotations and illustrations from the master himself. First-time visitors should definitely click on the"Quick Guide" to get an overview of the site’s holdings, and then they should also take a look at the sections "Van Gogh as a letter-writer","Correspondents", "Biographical & historical context", and "Publication History". The letters include those from many of his contemporaries, including Paul Gauguin, and of course, those lovely pieces of writing from his brother, Theo. Users can also use the search engine here to look around by keyword.

The Beekeeper's Apprentice

The Beekeeper's Apprentice

by Laurie R. King

A retired Sherlock Holmes takes on a young, female apprentice. While this scenario is quite plausible, and lends itself to a unique twist on the Sherlock Holmes genre. The one area I would question is the age at which King introduces her protagonist, Mary Russell. Mary Russell is just 15 years old, when she comes across a gaunt, elderly man sitting on the ground, "watching bees.'' This gentleman turns out to be Sherlock Holmes, and the resulting acquaintance evolves into a mentoring experience for the young woman. As a Sherlockian, I had difficulty accepting the premise that Holmes would have too much to do with a 15 year old with a smart mouth on her. I believe King should have made her protagonist a couple years older to make it more plausible.

However, the novel quickly ages Mary Russell and has her attending Oxford and coming of age for her inheritance. I will add that as the relationship between Russell and Holmes matures, you will find yourself naturally buying into the apprenticeship and the crime solving partnership. King has created an original and entertaining series for any Sherlock Holmes fans. The story is funny, heartwarming, and full of intrigue, with Holmes and his young apprentice, Mary Russell, matching wits with some of the finer criminal minds of the times.

The novel flows well and the suspense is building appropriately, until suddenly, King chooses to have her two main characters flee England for Palestine to escape an unknown assassin. This one chapter slows down the narrative and does nothing to carry the story forward. It is almost as if the author, King, wanted to find a way to comment on Palestine and Jerusalem and the future Jewish homeland.

Everything else about this book rings true, from the ambience of World War I England to the intriguing relationship between Holmes and Mary Russell...enough for me to seek out the second in the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes partnership.

The Death and Life of the Great American School System

The Death and Life of the Great American School System:
How Testing and Choice are undermining Education by Diane Ravitch

From the subtitle of this book, you would think it was written by some liberal former educator. But actually Diane Ravitch is a former Assistant Secretary of Education under President H. W. Bush, and a one time strong supporter of NCLB, charter schools and choice. But Ravitch also is a Research Professor of Education at New York University, who believes in researching and examining whether these decades long methods have actually succeeded. Ravitch, once a passionate advocate for these conservative policies of testing and accountability, school choice, privatization, and business-style management, powerfully shows that these reform methods actually leave students trained to take tests but not prepared to participate in the 21st-century economy.

Changes she suggests include curricula that emphasizes all subject areas and not just reading and mathematics. She stresses the importance of having a comprehensive curriculum that teaches students to think, analyze, question and research the content in social studies, literature, science, music and art. Ravitch emphasizes that students need to be taught these subjects from professional educators rather than politicians, business leaders, and philanthropists, who currently are running and controlling the education system.

She systematically blows holes in the effectiveness of NCLB with the emphasis on testing and accountability. She states that no single policy has warped classroom life more than the NCLB testing regime. And she skewers the Obama Administration and Secretary Duncan for their obsession with charter schools, in spite of a 2009 study, funded by pro-charter groups, that show that 83% of charter schools do not perform any better than the public schools, in fact 37% had learning gains that were significantly below those of local public schools.

The most frightening chapter in the book is called, the 'Billionaire Boy's Club". Ravitch focuses on three major corporate foundations in education (Gates, Walton and Broad Foundations). These three have the money to "buy" and dictate whatever they want. Ravitch illustrates that even when the results of their more than adequately financed education approaches fail, they choose to ignore these negative results, and shift their money elsewhere. But the public never hears about the failures.

While this book is definitely worth reading by any person who cares about public education and would like to know the truth behind the effectiveness of NCLB, testing and charter schools, there are three shortcomings in the book.

First, Ravitch states that “American education has a long history of infatuation with fads and ill-considered ideas. The current obsession with making our schools work like a business may be the worst of them, for it threatens to destroy public education. Who will stand up to the tycoons and politicians and tell them so?” However Ravitch fails to point out that this current obsession is not the making of the public school system or educators, instead it is the creation of the corporations that will profit from this approach, and the politicians that are beholding to those corporations and not to their constituents, who actually use the public schools.

Second, Ravitch fails to specify that not all public schools are failing. It is primarily the urban schools with low-income kids that need help and improvement. Thousands of kids throughout this country go to good public schools, many of them are excellent.

Third, her suggestions of what should be done to improve the country's education system and the "low performing schools" are offered without a prescription of how to implement these changes, especially when the current education system is controlled and dictated by politicians, business leaders, and ideologically driven philanthropists. My question is how do you get the people in power, like Obama & Duncan, to start listening to the people that truly understand education? People like Diane Ravitch, Linda Darling-Hammond, Jonathan Kozol and others.

As I stated earlier, you should read this book in spite of these three shortcomings.

Brendan by Morgan Llywelyn

Brendan: The remarkable life and voyage of Brendan of Clonfert by Morgan Llywelyn

Being a student of Irish history, I naturally was drawn to this new book by Morgan Llywelyn. I have read several books by Llywelyn, and I will add that I have loved each of them. She is a tremendous historical story teller. She really brings legends, history and Celtic mythology to life.

This is the story of Saint Brendán the Navigator, whose legendary quest to find the Isle of the Blessed is one of the most remarkable and enduring of early Christian tales. Among Irish saints, Brendán the Navigator is second only to St. Patrick. Llywelyn bases her story on the medieval text “Life of St. Brendan,” and retells it in the form of a personal journal written by an elderly Brendan, as he reflects on his life and his constant wanderlust to travel and explore new worlds. (Just a footnote on Brendan, there is speculation that it was Brendan who actually first discovered North America.)

We follow a restless, headstrong, and curious Brendan, who embarks on dangerous pilgrimages first by land and then several different voyages by sea. He travels with his pet raven, Préachán, who becomes a character in himself through Llyweln's beautiful prose. In fact you mourn with Brendan when he finally has to bury his fine feathered friend.

Llywelyn's narrative is laced with fifth-century Irish history and lore, and climaxes with a fantastic voyage of mythical proportions, when Brendan sets out with 14 other monks in handmade Irish vessel, called a currach, to cross the Western sea in search of the earthy paradise, the "Isle of Blest".

Llywelyn has been referred to as a modern day Bard of Ireland. A few of her other books, well worth picking up and reading include: The Lion of Ireland, The Last Prince of Ireland, her Irish troubles series: 1916, 1921, 1949, 1972 and 1999.

Murder on the Eiffel Tower

Murder on the Eiffel Tower by Claude by Claude Izner

To be honest with you, I was disappointed in this mystery. For a couple of reasons. First you never really know why the protaganist, Victor Legris, a bookseller, decides to "investigate" a series of murders that take place on or around the Eiffel Tower. Second, in spite of a muddied plot, I guessed who the murderer was without any real clues being left.

The review from Barnes and Noble had this to say about this first in a series of novels with the bookseller, Victor Legris, as the amateur sleuth. "the mystery has its share of problems -- among them: thinly drawn characters and wooden dialogue...." Perhaps the best part is the historical setting, the 1889 Paris World Exposition.

I would avoid this mystery series and focus on the various other mystery series mentioned on this blog, like: Death at La Fenice or any of the Mistress of the Art of Death novels, or Blind Justice. And of course you can never go wrong picking up any of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories.

The Shadow Elite by Janine R. Wedel

The Shadow Elite: How the World's New Power Brokers Undermine Democracy, Government, and the Free Market by Janine R. Wedel

This title may sound like some conspiracy theory. But contrary to what the title may sound like, this expose was not written by some right or left wing pundit or some "over the edge" conspiracy theorist, who sees a conspiracy behind every major event. This is a scholarly work written by an anthropologist.

Janine R. Wedel is a Professor in the School of Public Policy at George Mason University and a fellow at the New America Foundation. Using her expertise in Eastern European communist governments, Wedel has pulled together a shocking expose of those individuals dismantling U.S. democracy from the inside.

I will warn you, it is a slow read and the first chapter might discourage you from reading on. But once you get through the first chapter, where Wedel labels the new breed of U.S. political operators as "flexians," and their personal networks as "flex nets", the rest of the book flows a little easier. She defines "flexians" as lobbyists, government insiders or elected officials that converge into a single network "snaking through official and private organizations, creating a loop that is closed to democratic processes."

Wedel shows how a flexian can gain extraordinary insider knowledge and influence in order to custom-tailor a version of the "truth" benefitting the highest bidder. In this way, they not only "co-opt public policy agendas" but "craft policy with their benefactors' purposes in mind."

Wedel does more than just create descriptive labels, she names names and provides concrete examples of the connections between these flexians and their various organizations. These same influential people seem to reappear time after time in different professional guises, pressing their own agendas in one venue after another.

Wedel charts how this shadow elite, loyal only to their own, challenge both governments’ rules of accountability and business codes of competition to accomplish their own goals. From the Harvard economists who helped privatize post-Soviet Russia and the neoconservatives who have helped privatize American foreign policy (culminating with the debacle that is Iraq) to the many private players who daily make public decisions without public input, these manipulators both grace the front pages and operate behind the scenes. While you will recognize many of the names, it is their actions and how they manipulate events to their advantage that remain in the shadows.

Death in La Fenice by Donna Leon

Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon

This mystery practically reads like a screenplay. You can visualize each scene as you are reading. This is the first in a mystery series with Guido Brunetti as the vice-commissario of police and detective genius. And to be honest it won't be my last. I enjoyed this book. It is a quick and engrossing read. Plus the setting of story is Venice. Having recently visited Venice, it was easy for me to visualize the descriptions provided by Leon, who currently resides in Venice. Just as the author is enamored by the location, so am I. You quickly become fascinated with anything that has to do with Venice. Leon's description of the city at night, jives with my memory. Unlike other major European cities that come alive at night, Venice settles down at night, making you wonder, where did all those people go that were crowding the calli (alleyways of Venice) during the day.

Beautiful and serene Venice is a city almost devoid of crime. But that is little comfort to Maestro Helmut Wellauer, a world-renowned conductor who is poisoned one night during intermission. As Guido Brunetti, vice-commissario of police and a genius of detection, pieces together the clues, a shocking picture of depravity and revenge emerges.

As Library Journal states, "you certainly won't want to go to Italy, especially Venice, without bringing a few Donna Leon mysteries featuring Commissario Brunetti, whose love of good food and despair about corruption in Italian politics play prominent roles in every book."

So pick up Donna Leon and start following the exploits of Commissario Brunetti.

A Serpent's Tale by Ariana Franklin

A Serpent's Tale by Ariana Franklin

This is the second novel in Franklin's Mistress in the Art of Death series. The first novel, with that as its title, introduces Franklin's strong female protaganist, a Medieval forensic specialist by the name of Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar.

The first in the series, Mistress of the Art of Death, is set in the era of Henry II of England, who calls on his cousin the King of Sicily-whose subjects include the best medical experts in Europe-and asks for his finest "master of the art of death," an early version of the medical examiner, to help uncover a killer of small children in Cambridge, England. The King of Sicily sends his best "forensic pathologist", who just happens to be a young woman, Adelia Aguilar. In Medieval England, a woman doctor would never be accepted, and most likely viewed as a witch. Adelia has to travel with a male companion, Mansur, a Moor, who speaks Arabic. Adelia is able to pose as the intrepreter.

This series needs to be read in sequence, because all the main characters are introduced in Mistress of the Art of Death, and subsequently appear in The Serpent's Tale. In this sequel, King Henry II's mistress is found poisoned, and suspicion falls on his estranged queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine. The king orders Adelia, expert in the science of death, to investigate-and hopefully stave off a civil war.

The third in the series, of which I am currently engrossed is entitled, Grave Goods. While I have enjoyed all of this series, Grave Goods, really delivers the goods in terms of suspense (a page turner) and historical fiction. Franklin's Mistress of the Art of Death series is a beautiful blend of history, forensics, mystery and suspense. You could call this series, Bones in King Henry's court.
This is a relaxing, enjoyable and an engrossing series, with a great female protagonist. I would recommend investing your time in this series.

Blackwater by Jeremy Scahill

Blackwater : the rise of the world's most powerful mercenary army

This is a scary book. Even if you thought you knew something about the rise of this private firm, that provides "military troops for hire", and its close ties to the Department of Defense, you will be taken aback by how insidious this whole trend toward privatizing our military really is. President Eisenhower, who warned us of the possibility of allowing the military industrial complex to learn what has transpired in regards to our military and the Department of Defense.

In this brilliant expose by investigative journalist, Jeremy Scahill, you will meet BLACKWATER USA, the world's most secretive and powerful mercenary firm. Based in the wilderness of North Carolina, it is the fastest-growing private army on the planet, with forces capable of carrying out regime change throughout the world.

Blackwater was founded by an extreme right-wing fundamentalist Christian mega-millionaire ex-Navy Seal named Erik Prince, the scion of a wealthy conservative family that bankrolls far-right-wing causes. This book is the dark story of the rise of a powerful mercenary army, ranging from the blood-soaked streets of Fallujah to rooftop firefights in Najaf to the hurricane-ravaged US Gulf to Washington DC, where Blackwater executives are hailed as new heroes in the war on terror.

It took me awhile to pick this book up, because I knew it would disturb me. But it is a story that needs to be told and read, not just by U.S. citizens, but by the people in power, who might be motivated to pass legislation that would transfer control of the military back to the people and elected officials in the executive branch, as well as the Department of Defense and the State Department.

MN Author Will Weaver to visit RHS

Award winning Minnesota Author, Will Weaver

will be visiting Rosemount High School on Friday afternoon, April 16 during periods 6 and 7. His program will be held in the Performing Arts Center, so there should be plenty of room for several classes.

Will Weaver writes fiction for adults and young adults. He was born in northern Minnesota in 1950 and grew up on a dairy farm. His novels and short stories have earned the praises of reviewers from coast-to-coast for their unflinching realism. Each novel in his Billy Baggs series (Striking Out, Farm Team, and Hard Ball) was honored as a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association.

His novel Memory Boy (2001) is used widely in schools across the United States. Following the novel, Claws (2001), his novel Full Service (coming of age in the Vietnam era) won starred reviews and was also listed as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. Defect (about being different) was a winner of the 2008 Minnesota Book Award, is the story of a young man with a miraculous birth abnormality.

A Prolific Writer

Saturday Night Dirt, a novel focused on stock car racing, was released in April, 2008. A sequel, Super Stock Rookie, was released in April 2009. And a third in the trilogy, Checkered Flag Cheater, is due ouit this month. A sequel to Memory Boy should be out in late 2010.

Weaver describes his presentation as an integrated program on reading and the process of writing. He states, “My presentation comes at reading, literacy and the value of books from a “stealth” direction: through the attention-getter of a race car, and then to my novels for young adults, and then Q & A about how a writer writes, and so on."

Be sure to visit his website for more information....

http://www.willweaverbooks.com/pages/youngadult.php

The Last Campaign by Thurston Clarke

I had just turned 18 a week before Robert F. Kennedy was shot. I remember my father coming down to wake up my older brother and myself, and breaking the news that Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. It was somewhat devastating then, but being 18, I wasn't really into politics.

More than 40 years later, much more involved and informed, and reading this book by Thurston Clarke hasn't made it any easier. Clarke provides an insight into Bobby Kennedy, the man and the politician, that could only be obtained from the people that knew and campaigned with RFK in the last 82 days of his life. Anyone who would like to gain greater insight and a better understanding of this charismatic leader should pick this book up.

After JFK's assassination, Robert Kennedy--Jack's political warrior--almost lost hope. He was devastated by his brother's murder, and by the nation's inabilities to solve its problems of race, poverty, and the war in Vietnam. Bobby sensed the country's pain, and when he announced that he was running for president, the country united behind his hopes. Over the action-packed days of his campaign, Americans were inspired by Kennedy's promise of a better time. And after an assassin's bullet stopped this last great stirring public figure of the 1960s, crowds in the thousands lined up along the country's railroad tracks to say goodbye to Bobby as his funeral train made its way from New York to Washington D.C.

Historian Clarke provides an absorbing historical narrative that goes right to the heart of America's deepest despairs and tells us more than we had understood before about this complicated man and the heightened personal, racial, political, and national dramas of his times.

The Angel's Game

The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

I was really looking forward to reading this novel by Spanish writer, Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I really enjoyed his first novel, translated into English, entitled "Shadow of the Wind". Shadow of the Wind is a beautifully written story about a young boy and the mystery that surrounds a book he chooses, or it may be the other way around, from the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. However this is a much darker and sinister story.

The Angel's Game once again incorporates a secret visit to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for David Martin, the main character. This is an intricately plotted novel, with parallels to Great Expectations (the book by Dickens does play a role in the story) and Faust by Goethe. David, who starts out as cub reporter for a Barcelona newspaper, and is recruited by the editor, because he has a talent for telling tales, to write serial stories for the paper, entitled ''The Mysteries of Barcelona''. David moves on from the newspaper work and begins to write cheap "B" grade tales for a local publisher under a pseudonym. This success enables him to buy an abandoned tower house he was always interested in. His life begins to unravel, from the pressure of pumping out the cheap, sensationalized novels and the mysteries that surround his new home.

David is given the opportunity to break out of his literary rut, when a French publisher, Andreas Corelli, offers him a significant sum to write just one novel. This Faustian bargain that David enters into, unfortunately, further leads to his unraveling. The literary project in which Corelli has enlisted David winds up involving him in all manner of deceptions and outright crimes, including a fair number of violent deaths (NY Times Book Review).

Zafon at times is a beautiful writer and quite a storyteller. His prose, at times, flows like poetry. I thoroughly enjoyed Shadow of the Wind. However, while the Angel's Game started out with that same mystical and mysterious tone, it seemed to spiral out of control like a promising horror film that ultimately turns into just another slasher film. But I will say, his closing chapter pulled me back from that dark abyss that David Martin was in, and brought tears to my eyes. Zafon weaves such a spell that you will stay with David and ultimately find yourself caring for what happens to him.

The Fleet Street Murders

The Fleet Street Murders by Charles Finch

While this is the third book in the Charles Lenox series, you do not need to read these novels sequentially. I was not aware of this 19th century London sleuth, until I came upon this book at B&N. Being a Sherlock Holmes fan, this book naturally caught my attention.

There are several parallels to Conan Doyle's iconic character, including a couple of sidekicks, a friendly member of Scotland Yard. But Charles Lenox is more of an amateur detective and a gentleman. Here is a quick summary of the story:
It’s Christmas, 1866, and amateur sleuth Charles Lenox, recently engaged to his best friend, Lady Jane Grey, is happily celebrating the holiday in his Mayfair townhouse. Across London, however, two journalists have just met with violent deaths--one shot, one throttled. Lenox soon involves himself in the strange case, which proves only more complicated as he digs deeper. However, he must leave it behind to go north to Stirrington, where he is fulfilling a lifelong dream: running for a Parliamentary seat. Racing back and forth between London and Stirrington, Lenox must negotiate the complexities of crime and politics, not to mention his imperiled engagement. As the case mounts, Lenox learns that the person behind the murders might be closer to him--and his beloved--than he knows (think Moriarty type character).

While the novel bounces back and forth between Lenox's interest in the two murders, and his commitment to running for a seat in Parliament in northern England, it is still a fun read and another interesting mystery series. Fleet Street did pique my interest in picking up Charles Finch's two previous Lenox novels: A Beautiful Blue Death, which was nominated for an Agatha Award and named one of Library Journal's Best Books of 2007 and The September Society.

Two Powerful Literary Voices Gone

To view biographical entries for both of these literary giants from Biography Resource Center, Click Here:

As a reader, I am mourning the passing of two great literary voices...

J.D. Salinger

Generations of students and teachers have been forever changed by author J.D. Salinger and his acclaimed novel The Catcher in the Rye. Salinger, the reclusive author of Catcher and numerous other books and stories, has died, but his stories live on in the canons of great literature. Although Holden Caulfield is Salinger's best-known character, most of Salinger's writing featured incredibly intelligent, sensitive, children or adults who had trouble functioning in the real world. Many would say that J.D. Salinger was writing about himself as the Catcher in the Rye.

Howard Zinn

We also mourn the loss of author, activist, historian and beloved folk hero Howard Zinn. I don't know how many knew this, but it was Howard Zinn who protected copies of the Pentagon Papers for Daniel Ellsberg, and even hid them in his apartment for awhile. Zinn, never afraid to stand up against injustice, testified as an expert witness at Daniel Ellsberg's criminal trial.

Ellsberg writes that his friend is “the best human being I’ve ever known [and] the best example of what a human can be.” I would say that kind of sums up Howard Zinn's life.

Author of "A People's History of the United States" (1980) and numerous other works, Zinn surveyed all of American history from the point of view of the working classes and minority groups. He documented the history of race, sex, and class; the history of civil disobedience; how his hope for a more egalitarian society had been frustrated, and how a small, upper-class elite had retained its hold on power and wealth.

The Trilogy is Complete

If you recall an earlier post of mine from this past summer, I was looking forward to obtaining the final copy in the Robin Hood trilogy by Stephen Lawhead. Well for Christmas, I received the third book in his trilogy...Tuck.

And it was worth the wait. This is one of those series that you don't want to see end. Unfortunately this is the final installment of a completely reimagined telling of the Robin Hood legend. If you recall, I stated earlier that Lawhead places Robin or Rhi Bran y Hud-(Robin Hood) in Wales and in an earlier time period. Lawhead skillfully introduces all of the key characters from Robin's merry band from Little John, Will Scarlet, Merian, the Sheriff, Guy of Gysburne. And instead of King John, we have King William Rufus.
The novel concludes as Abbot Hugo and the Norman invaders attempt to wipe out King Raven (Robin Hood). Rhi Bran uses this 'mythological' symbol of the raven as a disguise to intimidate and frighten the superstitious knights of the Norman invaders.

This final book focuses on Friar Tuck, who was introduced in the first book in the trilogy, Hood, and appears in the second book, Scarlet. Tuck is a most unconventional priest, and he has a daring solution to Robin's dilemma of trying to regain the throne to his family's territory of Elfael, that has been taken over by the Freincs (French).

While this trilogy will radically alter all you've known about the legendary figure known as Robin Hood, it is well worth the shake up. Speaking of which, there is a new film about Robin Hood coming this Spring with Russell Crowe as the legendary outlaw. You can bet I will be in line to see this interpretation of the Robin Hood legend.

ALA Announces Literary Awards

Click on the link below to view a list of the Award Winners, including The Newbery and Caldecott Awards. In case you are not familiar with the various awards, here is a list of the awards and what they honor.

Caldecott Medal: is awarded to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.
Newbery Medal: is awarded to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
Michael L. Printz Award: is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature.
Coretta Scott King Award: annually recognizes outstanding books for young adults and children by African American authors and illustrators that reflect the African American experience.
Theodore Seuss Geisel Award: established in 2004 is given annually to the author(s) and illustrator(s) of the most distinguished contribution to the body of American children's literature known as beginning reader books published in the United States during the preceding year.
Schneider Family Book Award: honors an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.
Pura Belpre' Award: presented to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.
Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award: honors the most distinguished informational book published in English in the preceding year for its significant contribution to children's literature.
YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award: honors the best nonfiction book published for young adults (ages 12-18) during a November 1 to October 31 publishing year.
Andrew Carnegie Medal: honors the most outstanding video productions for children released during the previous year.

To see a list of the winners, click on the .pdf file below:
http://www.mackin.com/PDFs/ALAAwardsJan2010.PDF

Holiday Reading

I got through two books this holiday season. I finished reading "Defiance". This is the book that the movie, Defiance, was based on. It is a tremendous film, if you have not seen it yet. Defiance deals with a little known account of a Jewish "Ostriad" or Resistance group, that chose to fight the Nazis.

This true story focuses primarily on Tuvia Bielski, the oldest of three brothers, that created this Jewish resistance group and provided a refuge for Jews escaping from the various ghettoes in Poland and Belorussia, before being shipped to concentration camps. The book is well written and researched by Nechama Tec.

Drawing on wide-ranging research and original interviews with survivor partisans--including charismatic leader Tuvia Bielski himself, two weeks before his death in 1987--Tec reconstructs the lives of those in the community and tells how they survived in a hostile environment.

Read the book and then rent the movie.

Blind Justice by Bruce Alexander

Two of my favorite genres to read are historical fiction and mysteries. This book is a combination of the two. Alexander recreates London in 1768 with a cast of characters that will remind you of Dickens' list of colorful characters.

This is the first of a series featuring Sir John Fielding, a magistrate who in the 18th Century co-founded London's first police force, the Bow Street Runners. Sir John Fielding, the brother of the author Henry Fielding, is blind.

Sir John is a brilliant, compassionate magistrate of London's Bow Street Court. The book is written in the first person, with the narrator being one of the main characters. He is Jeremy Proctor, a 13-year-old orphan who serves as Fielding's eyes. The series opens with the "suicide" of a lord known for his gambling and extra-marital affairs. While the scenario of his death is not unique to mystery readers, in which Lord Richard Goodhope is discovered shot through the head, gun at his feet, behind the locked door of his library. So is it suicide or is it a murder?

Alexander also employs the standard resolution of a murder mystery, where all of the suspects are brought together to 'smoke' out and resolve the mystery at the scene of the crime.

This was a relaxing, enjoyable read wrapped around a great story brought to life during a fascinating time in history. Now all I need to do is research the Bow Street Runners and the history of law enforcement in 18th century London.

Bruce Alexander was the pseudonym for Bruce Cook, who died in 2003. He was the author of eleven novels in the Sir John Fielding mystery series. Now that I have been introduced to Sir John Fielding and Jeremy, I believe I will investigate this pair of 18th century London crime fighters further.