The Time of Our Lives

Community. Veteran journalist Tom Brokaw has written a conversational book titled, The Time of Our Lives. This is a call for Americans to return to a community life, shared values and civic engagement. Brokaw uses examples from his own life and that of his children and grandchildren to reflect on where we’ve been and where we need to go to restore the American dream. Readers who like plain speaking common sense are those most likely to enjoy this book.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
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Your Medical Mind: How to Decide What Is Right for You

Anecdotes. Doctors Jerome Groopman and Pamela Hartzband present an array of personal and patient anecdotes in their book, Your Medical Mind: How to Decide What Is Right for You. I found that this book was less helpful to me in deciding what is right for me medically, but very useful in understanding how different people have made decisions for themselves. In some ways after reading this book, I feel better capable of making certain medical decisions. In other ways, I feel that I will be caught in some cognitive traps when the time comes to make key decisions. Readers who are interested in medical treatment decisions are those most likely to enjoy this book.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
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Zone One

Survivors. After reading Colson Whitehead’s novel, Zone One, covering three days in the lives of survivors of a plague, I concluded that being a survivor can be worse than dying. Whitehead’s prose describes the setting and the characters with literary skill, and those readers who appreciate fine writing will find much to appreciate and enjoy on these pages. I’m not a regular reader of the zombie genre, but I’ll hazard a guess that few other zombie novels display this high level of writing skills.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
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Safe Haven

Contrived. The central characters of Nicholas Sparks’ novel, Safe Haven, slowly develop a romantic relationship. Katie has fled to North Carolina to protect herself from an abusive relationship. Alex is a widower, now a single parent. We learn their backstories gradually, at the same pace as their relationship develops. At some point, Sparks departs from a gradual pace, accelerates the action, and resorts to a contrived character to perform a deus ex machina role. Readers who like soap opera fiction are those most likely to enjoy this novel.

Rating: Two-star (Mildly Recommended)
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Blue-Eyed Devil

Mastery. The late Robert B. Parker excelled at two elements of fiction: dialogue and character development. Both those elements are superb in his western novel, Blue-Eyed Devil. Characters Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch return to Appaloosa where they had once been the only lawmen on the scene. The current and ambitious chief of a force numbering a dozen asks for their help. They refuse, and the excitement that follows will keep readers entertained, especially those who like character-driven fiction in which everything comes to resolution by the end of the novel.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
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The Third Man Factor: Surviving the Impossible

Hope. There is a phenomenon called “the third man factor” in which many individuals close to death have a sense of someone with them who encourages them to try to get through the experience. Globe and Mail editor John Geiger explores whether this is a scientific mystery or a religious experience in his book, The Third Man Factor: Surviving the Impossible. Through many stories of this phenomenon, mostly from mountain climbing, and an overview of the latest science, Geiger’s writing will engage most readers, especially those with an interest in unusual phenomena and those who like hearing stories about the real experiences of others. I think that believers are likely to consider the feeling of another presence to be a form of divine intervention. Scientists aren’t likely to find Geiger’s reporting to be compelling.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
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Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage

Changed. Following her successful Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert chucked what she wrote next, and tried again. The result, Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage, comes through as a clear and confident voice that examines and explores matrimony. There’s no escape from the irony that this author who concluded that marriage was not for her turns around and gets married. Isn’t life like that? This book explores what brought Gilbert into matrimony and how entering this institution can be a great way to live.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
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Ed King

Greek. I can imagine David Guterson having fun writing his latest novel, Ed King. He decides to retell the Greek tragedy, Oedipus Rex (hence Ed King, protagonist and title) and proceeds to unveil to readers how he things such a story would play out in today’s world. The characters he creates are venal and self-centered, so the sense of tragedy for some readers will fall short, since each seems to get what he or she deserves. Long on exposition and short on dialogue, the novel has a remoteness that became disengaging for me at times. While I was somewhat interested in what would happen to the characters, I realized that their shallowness left me cold rather than caring. Guterson is creative and daring in this novel, and I found his writing craftsmanship superb. Readers who like literary fiction are those most likely to enjoy this novel.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
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The Puppy Diaries: Raising a Dog Named Scout

Scout. Jill Abramson’s book, The Puppy Diaries: Raising a Dog Named Scout, will appeal to those readers who live with dogs and those who don’t. The first group will want a puppy after reading the book, and so will the second. Abramson is the executive editor of The New York Times, and part of this book came from a popular column she wrote on the paper’s website at the time Scout came into her life. Her writing keeps a reader interested and engaged in all the big and little things about living with a puppy.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
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The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party

Comfort. Reading any of the novels of Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency novels is like savoring a huge portion of macaroni and cheese (or your version of comfort food) on a cold night. The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party is the twelfth in the series, and the very familiar characters continue to develop in this installment. Readers who like wholesome characters and novels that are uplifting to the human spirit are those most likely to enjoy this novel and this series.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
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The Double Comfort Safari Club

Contentment. All the familiar elements of Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency novels are present in The Double Comfort Safari Club, along with a larger than usual degree of drama. Fans will appreciate more time spent with Precious Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi and the familiar secondary characters. I usually close each book in the series feeling good, and that was true with this one. Readers who enjoy character-driven fiction that brings all tension to resolution by the end will enjoy this novel and the others in this series.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
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Apple Turnover Murder

Reliable. Readers looking for predictability and reliability in a world packed with turmoil can find an escape in Joanne Fluke’s novel, Apple Turnover Mystery. Each of the novels in this series features baker Hannah Swensen whose baking and relationships have a wholesomeness and predictability that can be comforting. The mystery doesn’t require much mental engagement from the reader, and the many recipes provide transitions to put the novel aside and nibble on something sweet.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
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Devil's Food Cake Murder

Food. Joanne Fluke’s novels make me hungry. I read them in part for the recipes and in part for the development of the wholesome characters. In Devil’s Food Cake Murder, protagonist Hannah Swensen solves another murder, and bakes plenty of sweets along the way. Hannah’s romantic relationships proceed at the measured pace a baker follows when combining ingredients. Readers who like wholesome characters and a relaxing plot will find those ingredients here, along with a recipe or two to try out at home.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
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How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One

Language. Language lovers will revel in a short book by Stanley Fish titled, How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One. Each of the ten short chapters by this English professor explores the form, style and content of a sentence. Any reader with a desire to be taught some fundamentals about writing and reading by a skilled teacher will enjoy the time spent reading this book.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
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Aleph

Journey. The popularity of Paulo Coehlo’s novels led me to read his latest, Aleph. The last time I read a novel this odd was fifteen years ago with The Celestine Prophecy. These new age pseudo-spiritual journey novels may appeal to certain readers, but not to me. I found the writing weak, the characters poorly developed and the premise and plot annoying. Read a sample before you consider reading this novel. If you develop any interest at all from the sample, you’ll find more of the same in the full novel. Otherwise, take a pass.

Rating: One-star (Read only if your interest is strong)
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Chango's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes

Revolution. Only a writer as skilled as William Kennedy could pack so much into the three hundred well written pages of his new novel, Chango’s Beads and Two-Toned Shoes. Three time settings provide the backdrop for this story of love and revolution: 1936 in Albany, 1957 in Havana, and 1968 in Albany. Dialogue, characters and descriptive language display Kennedy’s great skill. Keeping up with what’s going on can be a challenge worth facing by any reader who enjoys literary fiction and fine writing.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
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Holidays in Heck

Droll. Any parent who has traveled with children will find something familiar in P.J. O’Rourke’s new essay collection, Holidays in Heck. There are a dozen or so finely written pages here. Out of almost three hundred, you have to decide if it’s worth the effort to find them. I found his writing mostly droll, and too often, tiresome. Perhaps because I think he’s an excellent writer, I expected more from this collection. I felt like he pounded these pieces out without much care, and a few of the best nuggets stand out.

Rating: Two-star (Mildly Recommended)
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I'd Know You Anywhere

Intensity. Laura Lippman departs from her Tess Monaghan detective series to write a psychological novel focused on two individuals: Eliza Benedict and Walter Bowman. In her novel, I’d Know You Anywhere, Lippman explores the lives of these two individuals with intensity, both in the current time, and twenty years earlier. Walter kidnapped Eliza when she was a teen. Now, he’s on death row for his conviction in killing another teen. He contacts her in a desire to avoid his execution. Lippman unveils what happened in the past and what it means today, for both characters. Readers who like psychological novels are those most likely to enjoy this one.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
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Devil's Gate

Strained. Fans of Clive Cussler novels are those most likely to enjoy the latest NUMA adventure featuring Kurt Austin titled, Devil’s Gate. I enjoyed the usual Cussler attention to technical detail and to a fast moving plot. Unfortunately I found Austin’s heroics to be so far beyond belief that I began to laugh at his exploits. Other characters were so poorly developed that even the villains were unbelievable. Happily, these novels can be read quickly, so not much time is wasted in seeing if the strained effort to bring all the tension to resolution is achieved. It’s no spoiler to disclose that the good guys win, and for those readers who like fast action and confident resolution to threats, this novel may be a perfect fit.

Rating: Two-star (Mildly Recommended)
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The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes

Uncertainty. Readers who like creative and thrilling plots are those most likely to enjoy Marcus Sakey’s novel, The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes. Sakey keeps readers uncertain about what’s going on especially by having the protagonist suffer amnesia. Readers interpret actions through Hayes’ limited and unclear recollections. Sakey also keeps it unclear about who’s on Hayes’ side and who’s the enemy. Despite the thrilling plot, I found that I developed no empathy for any of the characters.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
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