The 2012 Book Review

On the books I read during 2012:

Resounding "Meh":

Death Comes to Pemberly by P.D. James. 
I was so excited to read this book--I bought it at Heathrow Airport with some of my last pounds before flying back to Senegal in April. Sadly, I found it was a miss, despite (or perhaps, because of) my expectations.

My Goodreads review:

I really like P.D. James--Adam Dalgleish is my preferred New Scotland Yard detective over Thomas Lynley any day of the week, but Jane Austen is my first love, and so I cannot give this book as high a commendation as I wish that I could (this seems to be a common trend with other reviewers). Many of the familiar characters were there, but it was like they really weren't (and some of the most comic--Mrs. Bennet, Mr. Collins were not). The brilliant Elizabeth Bennet was missing; in her place was a flat facsimile of the character who lived and breathed and jumped off the page in Pride and Prejudice. Mr. Darcy seemed to have lost most of his...manliness and all of his sex appeal; instead, James brought in the character of Colonel Fitzwilliam (who, instead of being a likable and charming gentleman, had turned into a serious and somber, somewhat severe man) to do all the manly types of things, like lead the party into the woods to discover the body.

I think the novel that P.D. James wrote was about how an aristocratic family from the early 19th century would react if the murder of an acquaintance occurred on their grounds, not how Elizabeth and Darcy would react and handle a murder occurring on their grounds. I truly believe that if Jane Austen herself wrote a mystery, she would write a lighthearted romp in the style of Northanger Abbey, not in the serious tones of Death Comes to Pemberley, because Austen would never let murder get in the way of her characters, her keen observations of human nature, and her insatiable desire to poke just a little bit of fun at everything. Read it for the faint traces of the characters you love, for a hint of Austen's prose in the narrative, and for the nostalgia of sitting curled up as a girl consuming Jane Austen novels--but don't read it expecting Jane.

The Worst

House Rules by Jodi Picoult 

I really loved Jodi Picoult's Plain Truth and Keeping Faith, and I've tried to other novels that I've read of Picoult's, but I think this one marks the last of Picoult's fiction that I will read. I'm afraid that churning out a novel a year just ends in disappointment and poor writing. Don't let the promise of a fat paycheck lead you away from writing well.

My Goodreads review: (Sometimes I write the author a note)

Dear Jodi Picoult,

I'm afraid I've got to give this one a resounding "meh." I've liked your books in the past, but you sort of missed the mark with this one. Don't let the "issues" you care so much about get in the way of the writer's craft. I appreciated your careful attention to highlighting the trials of Asperger's Syndrome, but there is such a thing as "show, don't tell"--and I think that you went too far on the tell spectrum of writing.

sincerely,

Guessed The Mystery In the First Fifty Pages

Please don't read it. It's a waste of time. If you want to know more about Asperger's, find a decently written, non-fiction book on the subject. 

Worthy of Mention 
(aka "Honorable Mention," I suppose)

The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
(American Title Someone Knows My Name)

My friend, Alicia, recommended this book to me, but it took me a little while to get around to reading it. I'll admit that I don't love slave narratives very much (I still have not made it through Roots, even though I know it's an incredible book. Someday.) I'm so glad that I picked it up. The Book of Negroes is engrossing, entertaining, reflective, challenging, and educational. I also reviewed it on Goodreads, so I'll just share that (I tend to review the books I liked best, and the least, but not the inbetweens).

Dear Lawrence Hill,

I enjoyed your portrayal of Aminata Diallo's life story very much. As someone who has grown up in Mali, and lived among both the Bambara (Bamanakan) and Pular (Fula) people groups, it was interesting to read your representation of those cultures in pre-colonial West Africa. Your portrayal of the horrors of the slave trade reminded me, once again, that we must never forget that atrocity in order to never repeat that atrocity. Perhaps your portrayal of life in an African village was a wee bit idealistic--despite the horrible Fanta--but I'll allow a dash of idealism despite the very real truth that life in an African village was hard, hard, hard. We must be careful not to place that time and those people on too much of a pedestal, as human beings will be human beings no matter the language, place, or ethnicity.

I do think that perhaps everything bad that could have happened to a girl taken into slavery happened to our protagonist. Of course it was for the sake of the novel, but oh, did poor Aminata go through everything. Perhaps you could have made it a little more realistic--sometimes in a fictional account, too many bad things feels a little melodramatic, and a little bit like you are manipulating the reader. We accept that the slave trade was terrible: occasionally, you have to let the atrocity speak for itself.

Thank you for writing this novel. It has made me think and helped me reconsider the affects of slavery on Africa itself. This continent still bears the scars of the slave trade, and colonialization, and it always will. This book shed some new light on those scars.

sincerely,

An American in Africa

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynn Jones
It has everything the whimsical fantasy reader could want: magic, silliness, romance, and impossible tasks. It's a treasured children's novel for many, but I just hadn't got around to it. Sophie is transformed into a little old woman, and has to fight battles with tenacity and a gnarled stick and a bad back. It's hard to describe the plot--but if you like fun and magic and snarky, resiliant characters, I think you'll enjoy Howl's Moving Castle.

The Tower, the Zoo and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart
I happened upon this book through Goodreads recommendations. I'd just been to England, and visited the Tower, so I was curious to read this little novel about life in the Tower of London. Balthzar Jones is a slightly curmudgeon Beefeater who lives with his wife in the Tower. The novel is funny, but also quite sad and reflective. I expected it to be just a silly little jaunt, and while it certainly had moments of goofiness and "laugh-out-loud-edness," it has tragedy, too. I think I liked it better for the dose of realism in the midst of the silliness of starting a zoo in the moat of the Tower of London, and all the ensuing, inevitable hilarity.

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
I remember reading about this book on my friend Jamie's blog years, and years, and years ago, and it stayed in the back of my head, but I didn't really try too hard to find it. After reading The Name of the Wind (also recommended to me by Jamie, actually!), I stumbled across some mention of The Lies of Locke Lamora in a review or article, and decided to try it. I'm glad that I did. The Lies of Lock Lamora is, of course, first of a supposedly-seven book series (why? why?), but if he continues writing with the same intricacy and "world-building" and intrigue, I think it'll be a good series. Despite some strong cussin', the book is surprisingly clean (most fantasy novelists like to add a sex-scene or two in order to up the readership, I suppose). It's about a gang of highbrow thieves and the heists they pull. Of course there's a horrific villain, a puzzle impossible to solve, and a whole lot of hi-jinks and tomfoolery. (Note: mostly I just wanted to use the word tomfoolery today.) Locke Lamora is sort of a fantasy version of Ocean's Eleven or The Italian Job--but better. 

Okay, true confessions: I love books and movies about master thieves and how they get away with it. 

I'm a terrible, terrible missionary.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
I guess I am just jumping on the bandwagon, but I loved this book. It was just...delicious. I loved the magic, the pagentry, the originality. I love books about "plausible" magic, as in, magic that is taking place in the world around us, not in a fantasy world far, far away. The Night Circus is hard to describe: two magicians are in a competition against each other to prove who is the best magician. The venue for their competition: The Night Circus. The writing was well crafted; the plot was a little slow, but it doesn't overshadow the quality of the book. 









The Best

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
This obscure science-fiction (sort of) novel is not for everyone, but looking back, it was my favorite book that I read in 2012, and the one I definitely plan on revisiting soon. If you like time travel, historical fiction, nonsense, and literature, perhaps this is for you. Fans of Jasper Fforde, P.G. Wodehouse and Oscar Wilde will appreciate this gem (can you tell I've been reading car and apartment ads for a while now??).

To Say Nothing of the Dog is inspired by Jerome K. Jerome's little "travel guide" novella Three Men in a Boat (to Say Nothing of the Dog) about a journey up the Thames in a rowboat, which is delightfully nonsensical, and just the sort of book I probably would not have picked up based on its cover. The characters in To Say Nothing of the Dog find themselves on a similar journey, a similar romp, and an entirely unconnected mystery.

Just as a warning--if you pick up this book, the first couple of chapters are very confusing: but they. are. meant. to. be. confusing. If you aren't sure of what is going on, that is the point. Not the greatest encouragement, perhaps, but once you sort of figure out what she is doing with the confusion, you will find it brilliant. I hope.

And thus concludes the 2012 Book Review. 

What did you read last year that inspired you? Any recommendations? 

Until next the 2013 Book Review: Happy Reading, Bibliophiles. May 2013 be the year of good books!