Review: The Eaves of Heaven by Andrew X. Pham

Ok, of all the books I've read this year, this is the one you just HAVE to read. I can't believe I'm gushing so much about a non-fiction book, which is normally not my forte. But this book is absolutely wonderful.

This is a true story, a memoir that Andrew Pham wrote from stories his father told him of his early life in Vietnam. You've seen all the Vietnam movies, you have your American idea of what "Vietnam" is, right? Well, now you can read about 'Vietnam' from the perspective of someone who grew up there, from someone who doesn't necessarily think with a French or American brain.

Pham's father was one of the rich gentry class in Vietnam. And then the French came. And then the Americans came...wars, wars, wars. And the things they lived through. You just can't imagine it. This is the book that will change what you think of Vietnam from "hellhole" to something vastly different.

My only complaint is that the chapters alternate between his youth in the North and the later years in the South -- this would not have been a problem had I been reading the book and could have easily flipped back to see where we had left off before....but I read it on the Kindle, where it's harder to do that. If you're reading the paper version, it shouldn't be a problem.

I loved, loved, loved this book. We'll see what happens, but it'll definitely be in the running for my favorite book of the year.

Review: What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman

I've never read anything else by Laura Lippman, and I've had this one on my list for quite some time. So long, in fact, that I had no idea what it was about when I picked it up. Turns out to be a great and fascinating mystery that I could not put down. I'll definitely look up her other books.

So I would say this falls somewhere between "high" literary fiction and mainstream mysteries. It is well written and thought out, but with a definite suspenseful quality. Two girls disappear after going to the mall in 1975, and in the present day, a woman claims to be one of them after getting in a car accident. This all happens in the first chapter and the rest of the book is the unraveling of what really happened.

It's not going to change your world forever, and might not be your favorite of the year....but it's a great, quick read with a lot of depth and I'd highly recommend it!

Review: These Is My Words by Nancy Turner

When I got my new Kindle, my best friend reached over and downloaded this book onto it. I'm thinking - in panic - I have 125 books before this one on my "To be Read" list!! But she kept asking if I'd read it, and so eventually I cracked it open, virtually.

A prairie book. Cowboys and Indians and such. Now my friend (the one who downloaded it) Emily is the only person I know who could actually live on the prairie. But seriously, who would want to?? I mean, this is a time period when everyone dies. Your kid gets the measles? Dead. So I was a bit irritated to be reading this book with so much tragedy. Just not my thing.

BUT. This is just a fantastic book. So well done. I love, love, love the narrator, the writer of the journal. And I grew up in Arizona, so there were so many places I recognized. This is a great love story, without being cheesy or gratuitous like so many of today's romances. I can't imagine any book lover hating this book. It's been over a week since I've been finished with it, I'm well into another book, and yet anytime I'm daydreaming, it's still all about this book. This one's gonna stay with me for a long, long time.

Review: The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

This book has been on my list for a really long time. I even checked it out once and then couldn't get to it. Finally, I downloaded it onto my new Amazon Kindle and read it. It's a really long book, set in London around the time frame of World War 2, and the blitz on London. One thing that was praised about the book was the style of working backwards. It was definitely interesting, but it wasn't my favorite writing style. Basically, you get to read from the end of the story backwards.

Secondly, I knew that there was a lesbian character in the book. But that's not how I would characterize the book. I would say the book is more about being lesbian than it is about World War 2. I'm not making moral judgments at all, but I'm not a big fan of sex scenes even in heterosexual fiction. This book was a bit more than I really wanted to know about the subject. I don't know; maybe that makes me ignorant or whatever. But I think rather than being mainstream fiction, this really falls under a much narrower category of gay and lesbian fiction. Just my opinion - I've read a lot of positive reviews on the book, so I may be the one who is in the minority.

Review: On Call in Hell by Richard Jadick

Oh, man. Don't even think about reading this book unless you want to cry. This guy was a Navy doctor serving front line Marines in the battle of Fallujah. He personally knew almost every traumatically wounded guy who came into his tent, and I don't even know how you deal with something like that. Whether you think this war is important or whether you think it's a waste, I believe there's not an American out there that doesn't respect our fighting men and women. This is an important book and you should read it. Go to Costco and get the jumbo case of Kleenex first, though.

Review: Forgive Me by Amanda Eyre Ward

I loved, loved, loved Amanda Eyre Ward's other books, How To Be Lost and Sleep Toward Heaven. When I saw she had a new book out, I put it on my 'to be read' list immediately.

This book has her trademark great writing, easy readability, and somewhat dark subject matter. There's nothing to not like in her style of writing. This particular book was about apartheid in South Africa, a subject that is pretty confusing to me in many ways. Heavy material, too - reading about the injustices and deaths of people in that part of the world, and trying to figure out how I could have been playing on the beach in California innocently while it was all going on; wondering what is going on now while I sit in my easy chair and read. It's that kind of book - one that will inspire deep and somewhat disturbing thoughts about life and the world at large.

But the writing in this book in particular confused me greatly. I was confused while reading it, turned back to see if I'd missed something, read it again, looked back again. After I finished the book, I couldn't sleep trying to figure out what I'd missed. Finally, in the middle of the night, I woke up realizing what had happened in the book. It seems to me kind of a sleight of hand, author-style. I'm pretty sure she intentionally tried to "trick" the reader here. I'm sorry I can't say more, because it would be a major spoiler, but I was not happy about the way it turned out. It made me want to read the book all over again, this time with the knowledge I now possess. I don't have time for that, and don't really appreciate reading a book only to feel like I should read it again to get the whole experience.

If you want to read this book, go ahead. Write me when you're done though, so I can see if I'm just stupid, or if it's really as confusing as I thought it was.

Review: The Commoner by John Burnham Schwartz

Ok, I have so many books on my 'to be read' pile now that I used a Random Number Generator to choose which one in my pile to read!! Now that's crazy!! Moving on....

Well, I've never heard of John Burnham Schwartz before, but I'm starting to regret that he has three other books out there that I haven't read. Staying with the theme of the Far East, we have here the story of the Empress of Japan, told in her voice in a book written by a man. And very cleverly done, indeed.

This is the story of a girl, who in the 1950's is the first 'commoner' ever to be chosen to marry the Crown Prince of Japan. I'm smiling as I read it, thinking of Princess Diana and the childish dream of becoming a princess....

But the story that follows -- the isolation, the restrictions, the horror of it -- oh, you just feel so for her and all she goes through. I know it's a work of fiction, but I know it was meticulously researched and I can just see how so much of it must be born of truth. What a shame that people are so lost in pomp and circumstance, so overcome by tradition, that they forget how to be human and have human relationships.

Absolutely beautifully written and not to be missed!