Yossarian Slept Here: When Joseph Heller Was Dad, the Apthorp Was Home, and Life Was a Catch-22

Place. There’s double pleasure in Erica Heller’s memoir, Yossarian Slept Here: When Joseph Heller Was Dad, the Apthorp Was Home, and Life Was a Catch-22: the family anecdotes she selects are finely written, and the setting for many of them, the apartments in the Apthorp, provide a context and a sense of place that bring the words to life. There’s enough humor throughout this memoir to offset those aspects of family relationships that are marked by alienation and disappointment. All life is packed with contradictions, and Heller writes in a way that most readers will find engaging and interesting.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
Click here to purchase Yossarian Slept Here from amazon.com.

One Summer

Melodrama. David Baldacci has taken a break from thrillers to write a family melodrama titled, One Summer. This sappy tear-jerker read as if it were intended for a made for TV after school special. The family dynamics across generations are predictable and the life-changing events are out of a soap opera. Character development is flat. The story can be engaging at times, and after a while most readers will want to stick with it to find out how things get resolved.

Rating: One-star (Read only if your interest is strong)
Click here to purchase One Summer from amazon.com.

No Rest for the Dead

Serial. Writing is usually a solitary experience, and many readers can recognize a writer’s style from a sample. In a break from that consistency, Andrew Gulli assembled over two dozen writers to contribute chapters to a mystery titled, No Rest for the Dead. The result is something like improv: the pleasure of a unique voice, riffing with other voices and assembling a shared piece of art that brings enjoyment. I sampled some chapters trying to guess the writer before seeing his or her name, and I had a lot of lucky guesses. For most readers, then, this may be a chance to see the work of many favorite writers in a single book. The mystery itself was pretty good, and considering the challenges of multiple writers, wrapped up in a satisfying way.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
Click here to purchase No Rest for the Dead from amazon.com.

Starting from Happy

Zany. Prepare for pleasure, even laughter, when you read Patricia Marx’ zany novel, Starting from Happy. All relationships are quirky, but Imogene and Wally are two of the oddest characters readers are likely to encounter, and enjoy getting to know. The structure of the novel itself is funny: short chapters, as brief as a single word, including author commentary. Her experience at Saturday Night Live and The New Yorker comes through with skit-like narrative and perfectly chosen words. Read any sample, and if you like it, you’re likely to enjoy the whole thing.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
Click here to purchase Starting From Happy from amazon.com.

The Sauvignon Secret

Deception. Readers new to the Wine Country series as well as old friends can equally enjoy the mystery Ellen Crosby presents in The Sauvignon Secret. Protagonist Lucie Montgomery is a Virginia winemaker and in this outing she tries to unravel deception and a cover-up following the discovery of a wine merchant found hanged not far from her vineyard. Lucie’s grandfather is back along with her paramour, Quinn. They are following the mystery from Virginia to California and back trying to figure things out. This novel provides gentle and evenly paced entertainment, especially for those readers who like continuity of character in serial novels. One can pick up the story here and be satisfied, or go back and start from the beginning. Most will close this novel and look forward to the next installment.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
Click here to purchase The Sauvignon Secret from amazon.com.

House of Holes

Porny. Nicholson Baker’s novel, House of Holes, is a dirty and funny novel that will entertain some readers and gross out others. Baker has more names for body parts and sexual acts than most readers have ever imagined. Those terms and the attempts at sexual pleasure are what brought me to laughter on many pages of this book. Certain sensitive readers will label this pornography and find no redeeming value whatever. In our visual age marked by the use of sex to sell so many products, it was something of a relief to be reminded that the mind and imagination can be the source of pleasure and satisfaction. Let’s just hope that this novel is not made into a movie. Some of these scenes are best left to the imagination.

Rating: Two-star (Mildly Recommended)
Click here to purchase House of Holes from amazon.com.

The Curfew

Puppets. Pick a sunny day to read Jesse Ball’s latest novel, The Curfew. There’s despair and darkness in a city under authoritarian rule. In this dystopian setting, William and Molly, father and daughter, try to carve out a life rooted in their love for each other. Ball’s lyrical writing contrasts with the bleak context, and the puppet show at the end of the novel allows a fantasy to pull the story together. Readers who like Cormac McCarthy’s The Road are likely to enjoy this novel.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
Click here to purchase The Curfew from amazon.com.