The Reader

When I'm reading a book, I often find myself thinking about it as a movie, even going as far as casting the characters in my head.  And since so many books (especially best selling books) are made into movies, I'm left wondering what it is about a certain book that leads it to becoming a movie over another book that I think lends itself much better to depiction on the big screen.  I mention this because I was aware of the movie The Reader (starring Kate Winslet) before I knew of the book The Reader by Bernhard Schlink.  And while it’s not a bad book, I don’t think it would have been my first choice to become a movie, let alone a best picture nominee (which it was).

The novel begins in post-WWII Germany, where high school student Michael falls ill on his way home from school and is helped home by a local woman, Hanna.  Once better Michael goes to thank the woman, and despite Hanna being twice his age they soon begin a romance.  Their affair lasts throughout the school year and then suddenly one day Hanna disappears.  Years later, when Michael is a law student, he observes a trial where former female Nazi concentration camp guards are on trial for war crimes.  Among the women on trial is Hanna, who is guarding a secret and who forces Michael to face his past.

Any book involving Nazi characters is going to have a difficult time making those characters sympathetic.  Hanna served in a concentration camp, sending prisoners to their deaths, but also seduced a boy half her age, so she’s quite the troubling character.  By the end her character left me frustrated.  But still, the ideas that Schlink explored about the consequences of one’s actions and about forgiveness were interesting.  I thought I would like the book more than maybe I did, but the ending did keep me thinking about the story for a few days afterward, which is obviously . . . something.  It was a short novel, and even if it didn’t have a lot of stuff happen (the main reason I’m not sure what the movie was about), it was a good enough read (ok, maybe not a glowing recommendation), although clearly it’s not a warm and fuzzy story.

Next up:  I Wear The Black Hat by Chuck Klosterman 

Read This!: Dumb Witness

By Agatha Christie

Challenge: Last name of author is first name

I picked this up at the book fair.  You all know I love a good Agatha Christie book.

Hercule Poirot is back at it.  This time he receives a letter from Emily Arundell requesting his services but the later is dated months ago and it turns out, Emily is now deceased.  Poirot wants to know why it took so long to receive this letter and in the process begins to examine whether or not Emily's death was natural....

This was good Agatha fare.  A nice and twisty plot.  Fast paced.  Good end for the book if not for Emily.

Read This!: The Last Camellia

By Sarah Jio

I had read one of Sarah Jio's novels before and picked this up randomly.

There are two stories in this novel.  The current story centers around Addison, whose in-laws have bought a manor in England.  While visiting, Addison, even with her own issues, becomes interested in the past residents of the house and starts investigating.  In 1940, Flora Lewis comes to the manor as a nanny and flower thief.  While there, she is supposed to discover the rare Middlebury Pink camellia which resides on the property and report back to her boss.  Instead she discovers that something dark is happening at the manor.  In the present, Addison begins to make the same discoveries.

I have to confess, I didn't really think the person who ended up being the bad guy would be.  I thought he was in cahoots but not quite the whole story so that was nice.  While I always like to act like queen of finding out the stories before the reveals, I do like to be surprised.  Generally, it was an intriguing read and while I would have liked to seen more depth to some of the story, overall it held my interest and keep me reading.

Read This!: Save Me

By Lisa Scottoline

Book challenge: Lawyer author

Book fair book!

Melly is getting bullied at school by Amanda.  In order to keep the bullying in check, Melly's mother, Rose, decides to volunteer as a lunch mom.  One Friday, Amanda starts to bully Melly, Melly runs to the bathroom, Rose confronts Amanda, and then there is an explosion resulting in a fire.  In a split second decision, Rose decides to take Amanda out of the cafeteria to the exit and then go find Melly.  Melly is unconscious but alive but Amanda is seriously injured during the blaze.  Amanda's mom and the town gang up on Rose, saying she left Amanda to fend for herself.  Rose tries to find out what exactly happened that day in the cafeteria, what caused the fire, etc. and, in the process discovers a intricate web of deceptions and lies.

I had an issue with this book to start because all of these moms were ganging up on Rose for trying to save her daughter.  Seriously?  Most mothers are going to save their own children before someone else's.  That aside, this was a good read.  It had a twist and was fairly light reading considering the heaviness of the story.  One part that made me laugh out loud was when one character said to Rose how she was having an affair with this man and went to their love nest as a surprise only to find him with another man.  Rose says, "He's gay?"  And the girl was like no, they were having a conversation and they thought I heard them.  Anyways, it was so random.  I loved it.  I may read another one of LS books at some point.

Read This!: The Silent Wife

By A.S.A. Harrison

Bonus Challenge

My mother-in-law read this and recommended it since we both liked Gone Girl.  It was one of the "if you like this, you'll like that book".  I also had read some things about it so I borrowed her copy.

Todd and Jodi's marriage is on the edge.  Tensions build slowly between the two.  They eventually reach a breaking point and one of them ends up murdered.      

This book had good tension that kept me reading.  I liked the way the story kept changing perspective from Jodi to Todd and back.  Also, I thought I was at the end and was like OK, that was OK, and then the author threw me a curve ball I had not anticipated, so that made it a bit more interesting.

The Angel's Game

I read Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s The Shadow of the Wind two and a half years ago (I had to look that up, I thought I read it a year ago – man does time fly!), and I really enjoyed the mystery and intrigue and bought his next novel shortly thereafter.  Well, I just got around to reading The Angel’s Game, another highly creative and original work by the Spanish author, and I was once again impressed with the storytelling and imagination.

In post-WWII Spain David Martin is a young writer struggling to make ends meat.  His mother abandoned the family when he was young and his father was killed in front of him shortly after.  The wealthy writer Pedro Vidal acts like a father figure to David and helps him out both with friendship and by helping him land a contract to write a series of novels under an alias for some shady publishers.  David can finally rent an old run-down house that he’s been eyeing and spends years working round the clock on his novels, at the expense of his own health.  One day a mysterious stranger approaches David and offers an incredibly large sum of money in return for writing a book.  Shortly after beginning work on this book, strange things start occurring.  The publishers David has been working for end up dead, a police investigator begins following him, and David begins to suspect that all is not right with this strange publisher.  David discovers that the former owner of his home died under strange circumstances after himself being contracted to write a book for an unknown stranger.  Could all of this be linked?

I once again found myself loving a Zafon novel (and got another one as a Christmas present – keep churning them out Carlos!).  The book is full of wonderful characters including David, Pedro, David’s love interest Christina, the mysterious publisher Andreas Corelli, and Isabella, a teenage girl who comes to work as a writing apprentice to David.  Zafon created a strange world, but the story was intriguing and kept me turning the pages.  I would say the only think I didn’t love about the book was the ending.  I thought maybe there would be a big reveal, but instead it seemed to be more of a philosophical ending, and I have to admit – I didn’t get it.  I mean, I think I’m smart and could come up with some symbolic thoughts around the ending, but really I was left a little underwhelmed.  But ten pages out of 500 do not make a book bad (even if it was the ending) and so I still highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys creative works or art.

Next up:  The Reader by Bernhard Schlink (as Mrs. pointed out I was on a WWII Germany kick in 2013 between this, In The Garden of Beasts, and The Book Thief)

Read This!: The Inn at Rose Harbor

By Debbie Macomber

Book challenge: Written by Debbie Macomber

My aunt has been really talking up this book so I decided to read it for the Debbie Macomber book challenge category.

Recently widowed, Jo Marie Rose, decides to buy a bed and breakfast in Cedar Cove.  Her first two guests are Joshua Weaver, who has returned to Cedar Cove because his stepfather is dying, and Abby Kincaid, who has returned for her brother's wedding even though she is still haunted by the past.  All three must accept the past to heal for the future.

This was a warm-hearted story, sad at times, but ultimately happy.  I had to laugh when reading because every five seconds someone was having a cup of coffee.  It also helped egg on my dream for my own bed and breakfast.  Maybe some day....  This is the first book in a series and I am excited to read the next book.

Read This!: The Binding Chair

By Kathryn Harrison

Book fair book.

At the end of the 19th century, May, the novel's central character, begins life in a traditional Chinese family, has her feet bound and then is married unhappily to a silk merchant.  Escaping to Shanghai, May starts life as a prostitute and eventually marries her second husband, a Jewish man.  Settled into the home of her husband's family, May becomes close to her husband's niece, Alice, who has her own issues with life.  The stories of these women go from China to Russia to London to Nice as they travel from childhood through adulthood.

This book covers a lot of ground.  There is foot-binding and its effects, physical and mental, abortions, opium addictions, strangers on trains, misbehaving school girls, etc.  It was interesting to see how May and Alice's lives progressed for better or for worse and taking directions I didn't see coming per se.  But mostly it was a story about women with issues.

MLB Hall of Fame (second annual post)

Much like last year I’m writing a post on the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame candidates.  And this is that blog post.  Feel free to skip it if this isn’t your bag.  There are a ton of worthy candidates this year (due in large part to the holdovers from last year), but I only think twenty-three are worth considering.


"No" votes from last year that remain "no" votes – my prior year reasoning still applies:


Don Mattingly, Fred McGriff, Jack Morris, Rafael Palmeiro, Lee Smith, and Sammy Sosa


New to the ballot and worth considering, but still a quick "no" vote for me:


Luis Gonzalez


So if you’re keeping count that leaves sixteen candidates that I would consider voting "yes" on, a crowded ballot when you can only vote ten.  I would rank the top ten as follows:


1) Frank Thomas – one of my all-time favorite players and should be a no-brainer first ballot hall of famer
2) Greg Maddux – sentimentality puts him behind Thomas, but only an idiot wouldn’t vote him into the hall of fame
3) Barry Bonds – I discussed the PED issue last year so I won’t repeat, he’s one of the all-time greats
4) Roger Clemens – ditto on Clemens
5) Jeff Bagwell – I’m surprised how few voters seem to be on his side, he was a beast
6) Mike Piazza – the best hitting catcher ever
7) Curt Schilling – one of the best pitchers of his generation
8) Tom Glavine – new to the ballot, but a "yes" vote even on this crowded ballot
9) Craig Biggio – if I was more in favor of a small HOF he might not make it (in truth the line probably would have been drawn after Piazza)
10) Tim Raines – he was behind Edgar Martinez last year, but this year I moved him into my final ten; his peak was that of a star, but he did stick around as an average player for a long time


The final six would be consigned to a "no" vote due to lack of room on my hypothetical ballot:


11) Edgar Martinez – see Tim Raines above; Edgar is the last man out this year, but he was a great hitter
12) Mike Mussina – I go back and forth on him and wouldn’t completely rule out that he was better than Glavine, but he’s here for me
13) Mark McGwire – I wavered on him last year, but now think he’d be a definite "yes" for me if I had more room; I was close to putting him at #10
14) Alan Trammell – last year he was a "no", but a closer look makes me think I’d vote "yes" if I had more votes
15) Larry Walker – like Trammell he was a "no" last year, but I keep looking back at his numbers and wavering; makes no difference with all the guys above him
16) Jeff Kent – new to the ballot and like Kenny Lofton last year, I think he’s a hall of famer even if he gets less real life support; he has no chance though with all of the players I rank higher


So that’s that.  Once again I’d use all ten of my slots.  I doubt more than two or three players actually get voted in this year and it might just be Maddux.  But there really is no reason for Thomas not to be there as well.  If I had to guess it will be Maddux, Thomas, and maybe Glavine or Biggio.  Either way it ensures another crowded ballot next year or until the PED mess sorts itself out.