Coming...in about 3 months

What to do about reading pre-press books? I love being on the cutting edge, but the downside is nobody will know what I'm talking about until the book is published, in this case: June.

Oh well, I will say something anyway. I'm reading Dear Money by Martha McPhee. It's about an award-winning woman novelist married to a sculptor. They are living and raising their two daughters in Manhattan, where they cannot afford the lifestyle to which she aspires. My first reactions were, "pretentious" and "who cares?" Yes, the writing is gorgeous, but I find it hard to get worked up about desire in the not-quite-rich and the almost-famous.

Happily, the plot has thickened and has caught my interest. It's clear things cannot end well, and that sets my teeth a bit on edge, but I will plow on none-the-less.

In case you're interested, I finished the Dexter book of last post quickly and happily. My "OMG" reaction to the crime melted away. I became inured to it and enjoyed Dexter's wordplay on it. A blurb on the cover called the book a "macabre masterpiece." I heartily agree. One more to go!

Review: The Girl Who Fell From the Sky

The Girl Who Fell from the Sky

by Heidi W. Durrow

http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-the-girl-who-fell/

:-)  :-)

2009 Extras

Below are links to reviews that were published in 2009 but I hadn't posted to this blog.

The Poacher's Son

by Paul Doiron

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6710018.html

:-)  :-)

The Long Division

by Derek Nikitis

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6678656.html

:-)

Johannes Cabal: The Necromancer

by Jonathan L. Howard

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6660941.html

:-)

The Brain Trust Program

by Larry McCleary

http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-the-brain-trust-program/

:-p

Little Bird of Heaven

by Joyce Carol Oates

http://www.bookpage.com/books-10012270-Little+Bird+of+Heaven

:-)

Erased

by Jim Krusoe

http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-erased-by-jim-krusoe/

:-)

The Magicians

by Lev Grossman

http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-the-magicians-by-lev/

:-)

The Angel's Game

by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-the-angels-game-by2/

:-)

Not available online:

"On the Shelf Summer Reads," Woodstock Magazine, Summer 2009
Books reviewed in this article:  American Cream by Catherine Tudish, Still as Death by Sarah Stewart Taylor,  The Animal Lovers' Bedtime Reader by Anne Greenall, and Weekending in New England by Betsy Wittemann.

"On the Shelf," Woodstock Magazine, Fall 2009
Books reviewed for this article: Young Woman and the Sea by Glenn Stout,  All That I Have by Castle Freeman Jr., The Lamoille Stories by Bill Schubart, Have the Time of Your Life in Retirement by Dave Brazier, and Hiking the Green Mountains by Lisa Densmore.

A delightful border

Title: Borders Songs

Author: Jim Lynch

Publisher: Knopf

Date published: July 2009

Read?:-) :-) :-)

Jim Lynch's novel Border Songs is wry, observant, and wonderful. Main character Brandon Vanderkool is a larger-than-life hero, anti-hero, and charity case all rolled into one. His work on the Border Patrol in Washington State truly marks a memorable time on the boundary of British Columbia. Brandon is pushed to join the BP by his father Norm, a dairy farmer with a dream of sailing and a wife who seems to be coming down with Alzheimer's. An avid bird-watcher and gifted artist, as well as socially awkward and severely dyslexic, Brandon is bewildered by life. He turns out to be gifted at catching illegals, howver, because he notices things no one else does. Brandon is in love with Madeleine Rouseau, daughter of retried professor and medicinal-pot-smoker Martin Rouseau, who lives across the ditch serving as an international border and delights in taunting the ill-fated Norm. Brandon's powers of perception lead the BP into unexpected highs and lows, all documented a mysterious masseuse who becomes the confessor of the town. This border feels populated by real people caught up in real politics and the economics of marijuana. As funny as it is honest, Border Songs will lift you.

Classic Oates

A Fair Maiden
By Joyce Carol Oates
Pub date: January 6, 2010
Read? :-) :-)

Sixteen-year-old Katya Spivek, from working-class Vineland in southern New Jersey, is spending the summer at the beach, employed as a nanny in upscale Bayhead. One day she is approached by Marcus Kidder, elderly scion of a prominent local family. Wary Katya is slowly drawn in by Mr. Kidder, who invites her to his opulent home first for tea, then to model for his painting. Mystery, romance and horror mix as the novel moves inexorably toward answering the question: where will this lead? Spell-binding; classic Oates.