I set a reading challenge of 50 books in 2016 (I include graphic novels but NOT audiobooks) and squeaked in by the skin of my teeth during the last week of the year!

Books I enjoyed the most:

The Robert Galbraith series – The Cuckoo’s Calling, The Silkworm, and Career of Evil. I love a good mystery and extra points if it is British and has a totally engaging, complex, interesting pair of leads.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter – I liked the series but the book is SO.MUCH.BETTER. Mainly because they are so damn funny. I followed this book up by listening to a couple of the others on audio and they were addictive, especially with the author’s quirky, quietly menacing voice narrating. Gory, though, so not for the faint of heart.

Americas’ First Daughter – about Martha Jefferson Randolph, extra points for history lessons.

The Miniaturist – I didn’t expect to enjoy this as much as I did, it’s a bit of an odd tale about 17th century Amsterdam and hinges on a mysterious family, a fortune in sugar, a reluctant marriage, and a lot of commentary on gender and race mixed in.

City of Mirrors – Love Justin Cronin’s “Passage” trilogy of vampire pandemic and I can never resist a good post-apocalyptic yarn.

Books I enjoyed the least:

I like to focus on the positive so I won’t dwell on this – I’ll merely say that Julian Barnes’
“The Sense of an Ending” didn’t do much for me and neither did Kate Morton’s “The Forgotten Garden”.

I’ve set a goal of 52 books for 2017 – same rules apply, graphic novels count but audiobooks don’t. I’d love to hear any recommendations, comments, or links to your own reading lists.

Happy Reading!

2016: My Year in Books

I’ve been a big Tana French fan for a few years now, and when I had some credits available on Audible, I spent one on an audiobook of “The Likeness”, which is #2 in her Dublin Murder Squad series. I’d enjoyed the first Dublin Murder Squad novel, “In the Woods”, and had jumped around to read #3 and #4, “Faithful Place” and “Broken Harbor” – both of which I also really liked. French is an engaging author, and writes complex, flawed characters in an easy to read, conversational tone. Her works are set in Ireland, as the series name would imply, and are as much glimpses into a country and a culture as they are tense, suspenseful thrillers. I can’t remember how many of her novels are written in first-person, but “The Likeness” is, for sure. Cassie Maddox, the main character, is a female detective whom we first met in “In the Woods”.  Currently somewhat dissatisfied with her work in domestic violence, she is recruited to return to her roots as an undercover officer – investigating the murder of a young woman who also happens to be her doppelganger. Physically identical, the victim has also adopted the name that Cassie herself used as an undercover officer – Lexie Madison – an identity that is long gone.

How is it possible someone could be her dead ringer and also adopt Cassie’s previous identity? At the coaxing of Frank Massey, a cop who is also a recurring character in the Dublin Murder Squad series, Cassie is quickly immersed in Lexie Madison, and leaves behind her lover, also a cop, to drop undercover into Lexie’s life and former home, a history-laden mansion occupied by a quartet of eccentric university students. However, the case soon proves very difficult for Cassie, who finds it almost impossible to detach herself emotionally from Lexie and her new roommates. Intrigued and enchanted by their quirks, their isolation and their bonds to one another, as well as by the history of the gothic mansion, Cassie’s grasp on her identity begins to waver, as does her commitment to her job.

French is skilled at creating characters that resonate and speak with a genuine voice – but she is equally capable of creating characters that are irritating and unlikeable because of their flaws. With the housemates, I felt as though she was trying for a group reminiscent of the Greek scholars of Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History” – intellectuals, old souls, perhaps supernaturally so, hearkening back to a deep, rich, meaningful history. Excluded and bonded tightly to each other for mysterious and fascinating reasons. But unfortunately they just didn’t interest me. Their eccentricity was forced. Embroidery and arch intellectual wit and adoration of antiques – but I couldn’t tell the difference between any of the male housemates, except that Daniel was written almost as a pale echo of Henry in “The Secret History”. They seemed pretentious and pedantic and one-dimensional.

French sketches out an explanation that Cassie’s attraction to the house and the housemates is balm to a soul that has been wary and detached, without family, finding pain in most interpersonal relationships. She wants us to recognize why and how Cassie falls for them. Readers see her hypnotism with them unfold slowly, almost agonizingly, and here is where the book fell far short for me. The story bogs down with this and the pace lags; I COULDN’T understand why she was so absorbed in them, because I simply didn’t find them interesting or unique. When Cassie begins to turn off her undercover microphone at crucial times, and to empathize, to feel that she is one of these odd and essentially unlikeable housemates, I just rolled my eyes. It became incredibly frustrating to witness her flaws and failures. It felt false, as though she is all too willing to turn her back on her boyfriend, her career, the life she has built for herself, for a flimsy fantasy.

I love that French makes me think – always wondering and never quite discounting the most unbelievable or unexpected explanation. I always get to a point in her books where I begin to think that the only possible solution is the unexplainable, the supernatural, the internal world. Or the most unexpected – you can’t ever rule out that the main character themselves are somehow to blame. They are tricky and unexpected and untrustworthy, which I generally like about French. I will read “The Trespasser”, her most recent. But my final recommendation on “The Likeness” – pick up another of her books if you want the full Tana French experience – and if you want the gothic assimilation experience, go for Donna Tartt’s “Secret History” instead.

I always have a sense of guilt when I give up on a book. There’s a feeling that I should keep pushing through it, that it has something to offer, and possibly even that if a book is boring or not my cup of tea, that it’s completely my fault and I will be a better person if I keep reading it. Lately, though, I’ve had a lot more success with pushing past those feelings and, if a book hasn’t grabbed me by the first 100 pages or so, switching to another one in my pile. Hence my relationship with “The Mechanical.”

I took 4 books on vacation and got through 2 – I really enjoyed “Bellweather Rhapsody” and made it through “The Passenger” with mild interest but not overwhelming enthusiasm. I read a lot, and my annual book goals are usually in the 40’s or 50’s (this year’s goal is 50 books and I just made it halfway). I’ve always been a fast reader. I wasn’t born with many gifts, but that is certainly one of them. However, this will never be a book blog because I’m just not a good critic. I can’t explain why I like something or get fancy with plot structure, character development, metaphors, etc. If I like it, I like it because it started a movie in my head and kept me daydreaming about it even when I was away from it.

I read more from my local library than any other source.

I have a Kindle but our electronic library site is a bit frustrating so if I can’t find a $1 or $2 book deal through any of the websites or blogs that I read, I don’t use it much except when I travel, so I don’t have to lug heavy hardcover tomes on and off planes.

I listen to a lot of books on Audible, too, but I don’t count them in my annual book count because I haven’t technically “read” them.

I picked up “The Mechanical” because it had a prominent blurb from George R.R. Martin at the top and I enjoyed the “Song of Ice and Fire” saga (as well as being a somewhat rabid fan of the HBO series). (Although it must be said that I enjoyed the later books more than the early ones.) I really tried with it and I wish that I could like it because the premise is intriguing – an alternate history of a war between the French and the Dutch, who have created a race of mechanical servants through technology and alchemy. There are all sorts of cool terms in it like Clockmaker’s Guild, Stemwinders, etc but although I tried valiantly, when I got into bed at night, looking at the cover made me want to turn the TV on instead and that’s when I know I have to move on.

I had more guilt when I moved on to a fluffernutter called “While We Were Watching Downton Abbey”, but it was just what I needed – a quick beachy read that I devoured, and then I went back to more robust material with “America’s First Daughter”. I’m almost halfway through it and am finding it fascinating, although it paints a really dubious picture of Thomas Jefferson. I’d love to hear anyone else’s thoughts on it (no spoilers though).

Any book recommendations from my small but loyal cadre of dear readers? Hope you are enjoying your summer reads. xo