Mercer Island, WA 98040 What We are Reading
The Likeness, by Tana French
Edgar-winner French blurs the boundaries between victim and cop, memory and fantasy, in this stunning sequel to her debut, In the Woods. Detective Cassie Maddox, a dead ringer for Lexie Madison, whose body has been found on the outskirts of the Irish village of Glenskehy, agrees to masquerade as Lexie in a police effort to identify her murderer. Cassie journeys to Whitethorn House, the rambling mansion Lexie shared with four fellow Ph.D. students and tells the friends that she survived the attack. As she probes deeper into the close-knit group, Cassie finds herself becoming emotionally attached to the stoic Daniel, sensitive Justin, gadabout Rafe and dependable Abby. But as tensions rise in the house and in Glenskehy, Cassie must decide if the biggest threat comes from without or lurks within. French cleverly subverts the conventions of the locked room mystery, ratcheting up the tension at every turn with her multidimensional characters. Readers looking for a new name in psychological suspense need look no further than this powerful new Irish voice.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
The letters comprising this small charming novel begin in 1946, when single, 30-something author Juliet Ashton (nom de plume Izzy Bickerstaff) writes to her publisher to say she is tired of covering the sunny side of war and its aftermath. When Guernsey farmer Dawsey Adams finds Juliet's name in a used book and invites articulate and not-so-articulate neighbors to write Juliet with their stories, the book's epistolary circle widens, putting Juliet back in the path of war stories. The letters jump from incident to incident, including the formation of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society while Guernsey was under German occupation. But Juliet's quips are so clever, the Guernsey inhabitants so enchanting and the small acts of heroism so vivid and moving that Juliet finds in the letters not just inspiration for her next work, but also for her life -- as will readers.
The 19th Wife, by David Ebershoff
This exquisite tour de force explores the dark roots of polygamy and its modern-day fruit in a renegade cult not recognized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka the Mormon church). Ebershoff (The Danish Girl) brilliantly blends a haunting fictional narrative by Ann Eliza Young, the real-life 19th rebel wife of Mormon leader Brigham Young, with the equally compelling contemporary narrative of fictional Jordan Scott, a 20-year-old gay man whose mother, another 19th wife, is accused of murdering his polygamist father, a member of the fundamentalist First Latter-day Saints, in Mesadale, Ariz. Excommunicated from the church at 14, Jordan tirelessly works, with help from local sympathizers, to unmask his father's true killer. In an author's note, Ebershoff explains how his character differs from the actual Ann Eliza, who published two autobiographies, the first of which helped put pressure on the Mormon church to renounce polygamy in 1890. With the topic of plural marriage and its shattering impact on women and powerless children in today's headlines, this novel is essential reading for anyone seeking understanding of the subject.
L'Assassin, by Peter Steiner
Literate crime thrillers dont get much better than "New Yorker" cartoonist Steiner's intricately plotted sequel to his well-received debut, Le Crime. American expat Louis Morgon has lived quietly for three decades in a small town in the Loire River valley, painting and tending his garden, but as the novel begins, his life is about to change. His longtime lover, Solesme, is dying of cancer, and a clumsy burglar has stolen his lawnmower. The 67-year-old Morgon soon realizes that the burglary was the beginning of a plot to brand him a terrorist; the architect of the plot, he also realizes, is Hugh Bowes, his former mentor. Even Morgon's grown children are at risk, and his only ally is the lone policeman in his small French town. Thwarting Bowes takes Morgon to three continents. This unusual suspense tale generates the building tension associated with such classic international thrillers as Day of the Jackal, and it vividly evokes the more tranquil pace of life in both small town Provence and a Breton village. Add to that a handful of richly drawn characters, and you have a novel with appeal for both political thriller fans and anyone who enjoys international fiction.
Breath, by Tim Winton
This slender book transforms the dangers of surfing and thrill-seeking into a powerful metaphor for the transition from childhood to adulthood, and in doing so packs an emotional wallop. Two thrill-seeking boys, Bruce and Loonie, are young teenagers in smalltown Australia, circa the early 1970s. Their attraction is focused on the waterponds, rivers, the sea, but they do little more than play around until they fall in with a mysterious, older man named Sando. He recognizes their daredevil wildness and takes it upon himself to teach them to surf. As the boys become more skilled, their exploits become more reckless; narrator Bruce (nicknamed Pikelet) has doubts about where all this is heading, while the aptly named Loonie wants only bigger and bolder thrills. This mix of doubt and desire intensifies when the boys make a discovery about their mentor's past.
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski
Set in Wisconsin, this deeply nuanced epic tells the story of a boy, his dog, and much more. Father, son, and even dog take turns narrating before the story is told primarily by the inexplicably mute Edgar Sawtelle. Part mystery, part "Hamlet", the story opens with a sinister and seemingly unrelated scene that begins to make sense as the narrative progresses. The rich depiction of Edgar's family, who are breeders of unique dogs, creates a warm glow that contrasts sharply with the cold evil that their family contains. This tension, along with a little salting of the paranormal, makes this an excruciatingly captivating read. Readers examine the concept of choice, the choice of the dogs in their relationship with people, and the choice of people in their acquiescence to or rejection of their perceived destiny.
Universe of Stone: A Biography of Chartres Cathedral, by Philip Ball
Anyone who has been thrilled by the great Gothic cathedrals will revel in this study of both the spiritual and architectural qualities of those medieval wonders. For Ball, a consultant for "Nature" magazine, the Chartres cathedral is the apotheosis of the Gothic style, and in his hands it becomes a kind of time capsule bearing the message of the High Middle Ages, when reason was emerging into a world previously governed by faith and fear. Ball is a sure-footed guide through the thickets of medieval philosophical debate about reason and religion, while also presenting the strong personalities of the time, such as the ascetic Bernard of Clairveaux and his nemesis, the fractious Peter Abelard. Then Ball focuses on the physical aspects of the cathedral, but the central question is the possible link between the the realms of the spiritual and physical: did the hard-shell-studded limestone Chartres cathedral embody the worldview of the new scholasticism taught at Chartres's prestigious school, which rejected the notion that God's ways are unknowable in favor of viewing nature as governed by orderly, intelligible laws? Ball's passion, sharp critical mind and fluid prose open a window onto the remote, alien world we call the Middle Ages.
Lost on Planet China, by J. Maarten Troost
Troost, who entertained readers in The Sex Lives of Cannibals (2004) with tales of life on a South Pacific island, now turns his attention to China. Settled in Sacramento, California, with his wife and two sons, Troost gets restless and floats the idea of moving his family to China. His wife is amenable, so he sets off to scout ahead. What he findsin Beijing is a crowded, smoggy city where something as simple as taking a walk can be a dangerous proposition, given the hazardous traffic. Troost visits one burgeoning industrial city after another, finding immense crowds, odd cuisine, piteous beggars, and masseuses offering sexual favors. He also discovers a country that firmly believes that it's on the edge of something big; in spite of a great divide between poor andrich, China is undergoing a tremendous push toward modernity. Troost's crisp, engaging prose invites the reader to experience his adventures right alongside him. At turns meditative, whimsical, humorous, and shocked, Troost is an excellent guide to the vast, multifaceted country that is modern-day China.