Stitches by David Small

Stitches: A Memoir by David Small

W.W.Norton and Company, New York, 2009

Stitches is an extraordinary memoir presented in graphic format.  David Small, an award winning children’s book author and illustrator,  has written and drawn a story that covers his life from babyhood to adolescence.

The graphics are pen and ink and ink wash, beautiful, dark and sad.  As with most parents, David’s Mother and Father thought they were doing their best.  Small illustrates the trauma and pain of childhood is a way that moves from reality to dream to nightmare, without being overly dramatic.  David Small’s story is intense but well told and his notes at the end reflect back on his parent’s lives in a very kind and loving way.

This book is turning up on many “Best Books of the Year” lists and the recognition is well deserved.  There are many fine reviews out there.  Here are a few:

Bermudaonion’s Weblog

Boston Bibliophile

Regular Ruminations

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

This week I am posting a review for the Crime Fiction Alphabet.

The letter for this week is F, like in Flynn.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Shaye Arehart Books, New York, 2006

Camille Preaker is a struggling reporter for a  second-rate  newspaper in Chicago.  In the small town of Wind Gay, following the murder of a young girl, another girl turns up missing. Wind Gap is Camille’s home town and her editor, thinking this opportunity might push her out of a rut, sends her to cover the story.

Camille is on edge, drinking too much and recovering from self-abuse.  She finds herself back in her childhood home, pushed up against her bizarre mother, and a half sister who heads a gang of twelve-year-old girls that reminded me of every mean, bitchy girl I ever knew.  All this brings up  the remnants of her past life, her dysfunctional family relationships (her step dad is a piece of work) and the memories of a long dead sister.  The longer Camille stays in town, the closer she comes to completely losing it, but she manages to hold it together long enough to sleep with the investigator from Kansas City and an eighteen-year-old suspect, and to get good and whacked with her creepy half-sister, Amma.   Eventually she discovers the murderer.

There were times when I almost gave up on this one.  This is Flynn’s first novel, very good in places and wobbly in others.  She is an edgy, creepy writer who invests a lot of twisted energy in her protagonists.  It didn’t take me long to figure out the murderer but I’m glad I stuck with it.  Flynn is very good at diving beneath the surface and exposing human frailty and pain, she knows what drives us. This is a good introduction to a writer who will only get better with time.

I read her second novel, Dark Places and reviewed it here.

Other reviews:

chaotic compendiums

Sam’s Book Blog

Sunday Salon

Winter isn’t far away.  We have had intense rain squalls this week, and, unusual for Seattle, lots of thunder and lightning.  There have been many children staying home with fevers and coughs but I seem to have avoided getting sick so far.  Must be all that hand washing and vitamin C.

This week I wrote several reviews, read The Ask and The Answer by Patrick Ness, Stitches by Davis Small and about 100 pages of the second book of Kristin Lavransdatter.  I also picked up a pile of books at the library including:

Sweeping Up Glass by Carolyn Wall.  This is a mystery written in a style reviewers have compared with Flannery O’Conner and Harper Lee.

The Music Room by William Fiennes.  A memoir written by the author of The  Snow Geese, a book I read in September.   This is the story of William’s older brother, Richard, who suffers from epilepsy.

One of the books I’m reading right now is  Guernica by David  Boling.  This is a LibraryThing early reviewer book that got lost in my TBR stack.  Must finish and review soon!

What are you reading this week?

The Sunday Salon is a gathering of bloggers who read and who write about what they read.  You can find out all about it here.

The Ask and The Answer by Patrick Ness

The Ask and The Answer

Chaos Walking: Book Two

by Patrick Ness

Candlewick Press, Somerville, 2009

Borrowed from the library.

I read the first book in this series, The Knife of Never Letting Go,  in January but did not feel competent enough to write a review.  Now I wish I had, I also wish I had read that book again before reading this one.  That said I think the second book of the series is even stronger that the first.

In first book we meet Todd and Viola who are running from and fighting against the forces of Prentisstown.  It is a fast and furious novel with a cliffhanger of an ending.  The Ask and The Answer takes up just were the first book leaves off.

Fleeing before a relentless army, Todd has carried a desperately wounded Viola right into the hands of their worst enemy, Mayor Prentiss.  Immediately separated from Viola and imprisoned, Todd is forced to learn the ways of the Mayor’s new order. From the  jacket flap.

I do not want to tell too much of the story, because to say anything other than the story continues with Mayor Prentiss, and that there is a force fightong against him,  would give too much away.  Just know that this novel touches on many timely issues.  It is a study of racism and prejudice.  It is a study of trust and love.  But, for me,  it is a mainly a study of war, from every side.  Ness touches on all the rationalizations of war, all the reasoning behind terrorism and torture,  in a way that is honest and extremely direct.  Bad things happen, good people do bad things, and every possible behavior is explained and excused by logical sounding arguments.  Except that it isn’t.

“If you ever see a war,” she says, not looking up from her clipboard, “you’ll learn that war only destroys.  No one escapes from a war.  No one.  Not even the survivors.  You accept things that would appall you at any other time  because life has temporarily lost all meaning.” From page 102.

That is one of the best thoughts about war I have ever read.  I highly recommend this book. I think young adults and adults should read this series. Then they should talk about it, together if possible.

Here is another thought.

War makes monsters of men.

There is more, the ending is another cliffhanger and has left me waiting excitedly for the third book in this series.  Patrick Ness has a fine web site.  It can be found here.

Other reviews:

Bart’s Bookshelf

books i done read

Jenny’s Books

Persnickety Snark

things mean a lot

Wands and Worlds

Still Life by Louise Penny

Still Life by Louise Penny

St. Martin’s Minotaur, New York, 2006

I read mysteries and speculative fiction for the sheer enjoyment of good stories.  I appreciate good writing.  I tend to like my mysteries dark and gloomy, think Mankell, Rankin or Pelacanos, and have never been drawn to “cosy” mysteries.  I forget where I first heard about Louise Penny and Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and maybe I decided to read Still Life because of the story’s  location in Quebec.  Whatever drew me to this book I am really glad I read it, it was great fun.

Miss Jane Neal met her maker in the early morning mist of Thanksgiving Sunday.  It was pretty much a surprise all around.  Miss Neal’s was not a natural death, unless your of the belief that everything happens as it is supposed to.  If so, for her seventy-six years Jane Neal had been walking towards this final moment when death met her in the brilliant maple woods on the verge of the village of Three Pines.  She’s fallen spread-eagled, as though making angels in the bright and brittle leaves.

Still Life is a lovely mystery, well-written and full of a deep understanding of human nature.  It is a typical drawing-room mystery, but one that is layered with complex relationships and human failings. Inspector Gamache leads his crew with clarity and is one of the kindest characters I have met in a novel in a long time.  I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series, Dead Cold.

New Authors Challenge

Jackie at Literary Escapism offers this wonderful challenge.  It runs from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010.   There are several interesting new to me challenges out there but I am going to go with this one.  My decision rests on the facts that it doesn’t start until the new year and that I can cross link books to two others challenges I know I will be participating in.

The idea behind this is to find new authors that you’ve never tried before. They can be in your genre of choice or be brave and try something new. You never know what you’re going to like until you try it. If you’re looking for some suggestions, you can check out the Author page here at Literary Escapism or the 2009 Challenge page. With over 1000 reviews posted, I’m sure there will be something there for everyone.

I am very intrigued by the Women Unbound challenge but I don’t feel I can do both so I am going to make every effort to have my new authors be women writers and to include some nonfiction in my reading!  There are different levels for the New Authors Challenge, 15, 25 or 50 new authors.  I’m going to sign on for 25.  Why don’t you join me?

Kristin Lavransdatter – The Wreath – by Sigrid Undset

Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset

Translated by Tina Nunnally

Penguin Classic, New York, 2005

Bought used at local bookstore.

I am reading this 1100+ page novel as part of a read-along organized by Emily and Richard.  There ar e many others joining us.

Kristin Lavransdatter, written in three parts by the Nobel prize-winning Norwegian author Sigrid Undset, is a historical novel that follows the life of a woman in fourteenth century Norway.  We first meet Kristin when she is seven, travel  up to the mountain pastures with her father.  Her best friend, Arne, travels with them.

As they came over the ridge, the wind rushed towards them and whipped through their clothes-it seemed to Kristian that something alive which dwelled up there had come forward to greet them.  The wind gusted and blew as she and Arne walked across the expanse of moss.  The children sat down on the very end of the ledge, and Kristin stared with big eyes-never had she imagined the world was so huge or so vast.

The first part of the novel, The Wreath,  follows Kristin through her childhood and adolescence.  We see Kristin first as a beloved daughter,  and member of a  large extended family.  I enjoyed her relationship with her parent’s and family friends and felt empathy when she is stricken by loss.

We then see Kristin as a young women struggling between guilt and pleasure.  She refuses her arranged marriage and finally “marries for love” but, in her own eyes,  Kristin is a “fallen women”, she has given in to passion before marriage and it is clear she will suffer for it.

I found it difficult reading about Kristin’s struggles with quilt and her passions for the man she falls in love with.  It is a melodramatic, overwrought presentation.

I do feel Undset has created a world very like the one that actually existed in Northern Europe in the 1300’s.   The intrusion of the church into the pagan world view, the poverty, the struggles for land and wealth between families, and the place of women in that patriarchal society are all clearly drawn. I am fascinated by the growing power of the Catholic church and the church’s consolidation of wealth and power.   Undset’s descriptions of the land, the people and their daily life are quite beautiful, some almost mystical.  I find I am more interested in the historical aspects of this book than in the main character, Kristin Lavransdatter.

It will be interesting to follow Kristin’s life through the rest of this book.  I am very curious about other readers thoughts.

Reading-along:

Jason at 5 Squared

Richard at Caravana de recuerdos

Emily at Evening All Afternoon

softdrink at Fizzy Thoughts

Valerie at Life Is A Patchwork Quilt

Frances at Nonesuch

Jill at Rhapsody In Books

Lena at Save Ophelia

Dawn at She  is Too Fond of Books

E.L. Fay at This Book and I Could Be Friends

Sarah at What We Have Here Is  A Failure to Communicate

Sunday Salon

Good morning and a happy November to you all!  This will be a short post.   It has been a slow reading and blogging week for me, not much to write about.

I finished the first book of Kristin Lavransdatter and am writing up my thoughts for the group read-along.  I also read two mysteries, Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn and Still Life by Louise Penny.   I may write  short reviews for both.

I finally picked up a copy of  The Ask and The Answer by Patrick Ness from the library and plan to spend part of today reading that book.  What have you read this week?  What are you planning to read?

Sunday Salon is a gathering of people who love books, all kinds of books, all kinds of genres.  It is a place to write about your week, about what you’ve been reading and your rants or raves about books, readings and writing. To find out more about this weekly event click here.

Sometimes we’re always real same-same by Mattox Roesch

Sometimes we’re always real same-same by Mattox Roesch

Unbridled Books, Denver, 2009

Borrowed from the library.

I have to thank Colleen Mondor at Chasing Ray for turning my attention to this book.  Just so you know from the start, I loved it.  Maybe it’s because I love Alaska, or maybe it’s because I have seen Salmon crowding up a river.  I think  Roesch has produced an amazing first novel, made up of stories previously published and woven together into a fine, fine thing

Seventeen year-old Cesar has ended up half way up the coast of Alaska, on the edge of the Bering Sea, in the tiny town of Unalakleet.  Back in L.A. he was deep into gang life, had been involved in a terrible crime, his brother in jail for murder.  His Mom decides to head back to her home, away from her absent husband, to make a new life for herself and her son.

Cesar figures it won’t be long before he has enough money to catch a plane south, but his cousin Go-Boy is convinced he will stay.  It is Go-Boy who helps brings profound changes to Cesar’s life.

All along my plan in Unalakleet had been simple-pick up a job, a few paychecks, a plane ticket home.  So right after I arrived I started looking around. But jobs weren’t available.  I tried to get on with the company building the new jail, but I didn’t have construction experience, and the crews had already been filled, and something about building a jail seemed wrong.  That left the grocery store and the fish processing plant.  The grocery store only had a few employees and all the positions were taken, and I didn’t want to work ankle deep in fish guts and end each day smelling like seafood waste.  So I turned to Go-Boy.  And just like Go-Boy-supportive and helpful to a fault-he set me up with a job at the North River counting tower just a few week after I arrived, counting fish, making more cash than I would’ve imagined ever being possible in a place like this. From page 33.

Sometimes we’re always real same-same is the story of  two young men, both of them dealing with the past, some of it ugly, and both of them gaining strength and maturity through the connection with each other and with the Unalakleet community.

Roesch doesn’t do anything fancy, his language is clean and direct, the dialogue sounding like you’re standing right there.

We both bobbed along in the water.  We were buoys.  I slapped at a bug on the water’s surface and G0-Boy leaned into the current, scrubbing at a stain the size of a man-hole cover.

Then he asked, “So what did you do in town last night?”

“You know there is nothing to do.”

“Can’t even try-make something up, uh?”

‘Okay,” I said. “Truth? I was looking out for your sister.”

Go laughed, said, “Man. saglu.”

“What?”

“Kiana’s the last person who needs anyone looking out for her.  Especially you.”

“What’s especially you?”

“Man, she raised herself until she was ten,” he said. From page 44.

And then there are those lines that just jumped out at me, and keep running through my head.

“How we love is our religion.  Not what we believe.”

“Yeah, we had sex,”  Kiana said.  “But it wasn’t anything.”

She could spend silence better than anyone I knew.

I could go on but I would suggest you read the book.  Some reviewers have found that the story jumps around.  That may come from fitting bits and pieces of earlier writing together.  I didn’t find it a problem at all.  This novel has left a lasting impression on me and I will read Roesch’s writing when I can find it.

Mattox Roesch had a web site here.  He lives in Unalakleet, there are pictures.

Other reviews:

Bookfoolery and Babble

Caribousmom

Musings of a Bookish Kitty

The Bride’s Farewell by Meg Rosoff

The Bride’s Farewell by Meg Rosoff

Viking, New York, 2009

Borrowed from the library.

I read this for Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-a-Thon.

I first found Meg Rosoff’s work last summer when I read What I Was.  I was captivated by her words.  My review of  that book is here.  This new novel  solidifies my appreciation for Rosoff’s commitment to her stories and the clarity of her writing.

The Bride’s Farewell takes place in and around the cathedral city of Salisbury, near the Salisbury Plain, the location of one of the world’s most famous pre-historic monuments.

It is the story of Pell Ridley, her need to break free of grinding poverty and of her family’s and her community’s expectations.

On the morning of her wedding day Pell takes her small dowry, her horse Jack, and somewhat unwillingly, her brother Bean and runs away.  She  heads for the Salisbury Fair.  Her plan?  To to find work, escape a marriage she dreads, and start a life for herself.

It was a tangle of a family, for better or worse, a right complexity of children, all knotted up with love and jealousy, and all competing for anything they could get-food, boots, underclothes without holes, a shawl, a piece of bread, a kind word from Mam.   Each acquisition took on the status of treasure in times so tight you thought you might die for the want of a half a spoonful of drippings or a shoe you couldn’t see through. From page 24.

Although Pell has great knowledge of and skill with horses her  journey towards independence is not easy. She is robbed, harassed and threatened.  There is separation and loss but also, eventually, healing and love.  As with What I Was, Rosoff takes great care with place and setting, bringing the Fair, the city, Pell’s travels and the local people to life.  The story feels historically accurate, a bit like reading  Hardy or Dickens, but no where near as dense.   It is beautifully written and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  The Bride’s Farewell is being marketed as a young adult novel but, as with many YA titles,  I found it a quick and engaging  read.   I am planning on reading How I Live Now within the next few months.

Other reviews:

Angieville

Bookwitch

Bibliophile By the Sea

My Friend Amy

So Many Books, So Little Time