The Darwin Conspiracy

John Darnton

Paperback, $14.00

Anchor

September 2006

320 pages

Loved it, loved it, loved it.  This book is a prime example of historical mystery.  Told from three perspectives, it is–in alternating chapters–the modern-day story of Hugh Kellem, an antrhopology grad student; the young Charles Darwin; and Charles’s daughter Lizzie.  Hugh and Charles’s stories are third-person, while Lizzie speaks to us through her diary, 30 years after her father’s infamous Beagle voyage.

While researching his thesis, Hugh stumbles upon some never-before-seen documents, namely Lizzie’s diary and some letters that reveal startling information about her father.  As this information unfolds, it becomes clear that the origin of “The Origin” is not all that we thought it to be…Historians have long wondered how and why Darwin went from being a strong, active young man to a near-invalid in just a few years.  Also intriguing…Just how did he come up with that famous theory?

The ending is a little convoluted, but getting there is a pleasure.

The Lost Symbol

Dan Brown

Hardcover, $29.95 (!!!)

Doubleday

Septermber 2009

528 pages

 

Sorry to be so late on this one, kids.  I actually read this two months ago–when everyone else in the country was reading it–so this review may turn into more of a diatribe re: Dan Brown.

The Lost Symbol will feel verrrrry familiar to readers of Brown’s previous two Robert Langdon mysteries.  I have to say that I am not in the camp of people who disparage Brown’s writing style, but I do wish he could get a little more creative with his basic plot lines.  [Langdon is awakened in the night by a mysterious phone call, travels somewhere far away, meets a girl, teams up with her to solve crazy ancient puzzle before everyone gets kills, wears Tweed.]  And no, his writing isn’t going to win him any Pulitzers, but I like its fast pace and heavy dialogue (i.e. not bogged down with description).  And those 2-page long chapters….as we say in New York, fuggiddaboudit.  They make great stopping points for reading sessions of any length of time.

The plot itself is not exactly what I would call “believable,” (not like, you know, meeting the human descendant of Christ or saving the Vatican from an explosion of antimatter) and it’s my least favorite of all the Langdon novels.  In The Lost Symbol, Robert attempts to follow a series of Masonic clues while his friend is held captive by a crazy guy.  Also some stuff about science.  (And as we all know, Science+Religion+Clues=Dan Brown Novel.)  The weakest part of the novel is actually the crux of the entire plot, so that’s not good.  (Apparently a bunch of D.C. bigwigs are high-degree Masons, and it would be “really bad” if the public found out.  Ugh.)

Skip it.  Watch National Treasure instead.  All of the Masons, the clues, and the running around, none of the Harris Tweed.

The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald

April 1925

192 pages

So this is an American classic that I read in 11th grade Honors English and hated.  Eight years later, pretty much all I remembered was that it was depressing and something about a green light….Anyway, my buddy Celia loves this book, and I am always knocking it, so I decided to give it another go for her sake.  Pretty much the best I can say is that it’s not as bad as I remembered.   (But to be fair to me, it IS depressing and there IS a green light.)

Spark Notes: Nick Carraway tells the story of his wealthy neighbor, Jay Gatsby, and said neighbor’s lifelong attempt to win the love of Nick’s married cousin, Daisy.  Can’t say much more without giving things away, but let’s just say that things happen and I get sad.

On reflection, this book is an interesting social commentary and is, of course, extremely well written.  It’s certainly worth reading, if for no other reason than to find out what the green light is all about!  Next thing you know I’ll be telling Celia that modern art is worth looking at…

The Midnight Charter

David Whitley

Hardcover, $16.99

Roaring Brook Press

September 2009

319 pages

I really don’t think that saying this book is brilliant would be overstating things.  David Whiley is a fantastic young British author who already has several prestigious accolades to his name.  The Midnight Charter, though, will undoubtedly be his breakout success.  I can see kids and adults alike lining up for the release of its sequels and dressing up as its characters, the new standards for book sales.

In this book Whitley has created an intriguing other-world in which everything has a price, even children.  Our guides through this world are Mark, whose dying father sold him, and Lily, an orphan.  Bother are servants in the house of Count Stelli, a famous astronomer.  Both long for something more.  As time passes, the children learn, grow, and drift apart, but they are always brought back together by the mysterious Midnight Charter, a document that links their fate.

Whitley’s voice is fresh and his characters compelling.  The book screams out for at least one sequel, and I can only ask that the author not keep us waiting too long.

(Thanks to Dustin from Macmillan for lending me an advance copy!)

My Sister’s Keeper

Jodi Picoult

Paperback, $16

Feb 2005

Washington Square Press

448 pages

Okay, the movie trailer made me tear up, so I knew going into this book that it was going to be rough.  Unfortunately, my questionable decision-making skills led me to read this book on an airplane, where I was reduced to pretending to have something in my eye on several occasions.

A quick recap for those who don’t know the story: 13-yr old Anna Fitzgerald was conceived through IVF to be a donor to older sister Kate, who has a rare and aggressive type of leukemia.  After years of donating blood, marrow, and other medical things that I can’t spell, Anna decides that enough is enough.  She gets a lawyer and sues her parents, who are trying to get her to give her sister a kidney.  There are obviously a lot of issues that this story brings up.  You might think the issue is clear-cut (“But she’s your sister!”) but as the novel progresses you’ll see exactly why Anna–and everyone in the family, for that matter–has made certain decisions.

Is Jodi Picoult a great writer?  No.  Is she a great storyteller?  YES.  I think this is as close as commercial fiction can get to being quality.  The book is compelling, thought-provoking, and yeah, it comes with a twist.

The Forger’s Spell

Edward Dolnick

Hardcover, $26.99

HarperCollins

June 2008

368 pages

This is a fantastic non-fiction book subtitled A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century.  Vermeer?  Nazis?  How could I pass this up!?

Dolnick is a master storyteller, particularly when it comes to true crime.  He has the rare ability to make you think you’re reading a novel (think Capote’s In Cold Blood).  This book is the story of master art forger Han Van Meegeren, who makes millions selling fake masterpieces in the decades leading up to WWII.  He even dupes #2 Nazi and art lover Hermann Goering.  Though you may not have heard of Van Meegeren, the art world certainly has.  Between 1938 and 1945, his painting Christ at Emmaus was the most well-known and beloved Vermeer (or “Vermeer”) in existence.

The story of Han Van Meegeren is worthy of a feature film (Brad Bitt would play him and Tom Hanks would play the detective who uncovers his treachery).  But more importantly, it’s a great read.  Even if you’re not ant art connoisseur, the mystery and intrigue is riveting.

Killing Time

Caleb Carr

Hardcover, $25.95

Random House

1999

272 pages

I used to say that I am a big Caleb Carr fan.  After reading Killing Time, though, I need to qualify that statement–I am a fan of Caleb Carr’s Alienist series.  It’s hard to believe that the same man wrote this book.  Killing Time is certainly not without merit, and is even especially pertinent to today’s society, but it does not contain the brilliant dialogue and thoughtful prose for which Carr’s other novels are known.

The story begins in 2023, in a world that has been crippled by pandemics, economic collapse, war,and political turmoil (sounding relevant yet?), and the Internet has become everyone’s first and only source of news–or, “news.”  Gideon meets up with a mysterious group of scientific and military experts who are out to prove to the world that the technology they believe in so wholeheartedly is actually what is tearing their lives apart.  Deceit and manipulation rule the world and very few people seem to question the psuedo-reality in which they live.  This book has Fox News written all over it.  The message is clear and frightening, but the means is a bit too out there….Gideon and his team end up flying around the world on their futuristic, invisible spacecraft….

If you’re looking for something that will scare the shit out of you about the society in which we live and the future we are bound for, try picking up a newspaper.

The Reader

Bernhard Schlink

Paperback, $13.95

Vintage

November 2008

224 pages

I haven’t seen the movie yet and almost don’t want to, the book was so good.  Bernhard Schlink has the rare ability to execute writing that is at once lyrical and efficient.  And just when I thought I had the story all figured out, the book actually made me gasp audibly.  The Reader is a miss-your-subway-stop kind of read.

The story is narrated by Michael Berg, a German man looking back on his life in the post-war years, when he was boy of 15.  He met Hanna Schmidt, an older woman working as a streetcar conductor, and the two began a torrid affair.  Oneday Hanna disappeared without a word and Michael didn’t see her again until years later, when she was on trial as a Nazi war criminal.  Michael’s feelings of love, confusion, and guilt are palpable on every page, and Schlink has brilliantly imagined a chronology that introduces you, the reader, to the same feelings and questions.  Though Bernhard Schlink uses words sparingly, in Hanna he has created one of the most fully-formed characters I have ever read, making me sympathize with her even as I hated her actions.

I can’t say enough about this beautiful, perfectly-paced, novel.  I hope it will not be pigeonholed as a Holocaust book (all of the action takes place over a decade later, anyway)–it is, above all, a love story….with a twist.

Princess Alice

Carol Felsenthal

Paperback, $19.95

St. Martin’s Press

December 2003

340 pages

Alice Roosevelt Longworth was the daughter of President Teddy Roosevelt and wife of Senator Nick Longworth, but she carved out a place in Washington that was all her own.  History has largely forgotten Alice, but this captivating biography restores her to her proper position.  For more than 70 years Alice reigned as THE Washington hostess and her influence could make one’s political career.  Though her life was full of tragedy, Alice was indefatigable and devoted her life to getting Republicans into the White House.  (Though she did change course when she met JFK.)

Alice is the source of one of my favorite quips–“If you can’t say anything nice about someone, come sit by me.”

Although I would have liked to have seen a bit more background on the Roosevelt clan (the author assumes some prior knowledge on that front), this biography is a great achievement and portrays Alice in the exuberant, wild way she always lived.  A thoroughly entertaining read.

Vienna Blood

Frank Tallis

Paperback, $15.00

Random House

January 2008

496 pages

Dr. Frank Tallis is a clinical psychologist in addition to being a writer.  His background certainly brings an interesting dimension and understanding to his writing and I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that the main character and hero of his books is also a psychologist.

Vienna Blood is the sequel to A Death In Vienna, but there is no need to read them in any particular order.  They do involve the same characters but Tallis gives enough introduction to make them stand-alone novels (which sort of defeats the purpose of a series, in which one expects the characters to grow and change in some way).  I liked A Death and am thrilled that I can summarize both it and Vienna Blood for you now:

Turn-of-the-century Vienna: Oskar Rheinhardt is a police detective who is charged with finding a serial killer.  He enlists the help of his friend, Dr. Max Leibermann, a disciple of Frued.  The two men share a weekly musical session in which Leibermann plays piano and Rheinhardt sings.  [This is where the two books begin to differ.]  Eventually, they discover that the victims whose murders they are investigating parallel characters from Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Detective work ensues.

This book bothered me for several reasons.  First, the protagonist, with whom readers should want to form some sort of bond, is a know-it-all prick whom I ended up just wanting to slap.  And what theories does he use to know everything?  Those of Sigmund Freud, whose work has been dismissed by modern psychologists.  But I could get beyond all of that and enjoy the book if not for all the unnecessary tangential information.  What this book needed above all was a brave editor!  The Max/Oskar music sessions are mind-numbingly boring and do nothing to move the plot along.  One gets the feeling the author wrote them to prove his vast musical knowledge or great research skills.  Further, these characters eat ALL THE TIME.  I know a lot of readers like the detail of knowing what characters are eating, and yes, sometimes that can be interesting.  But when all the food is named in German and I have no idea what it is, it’s neither interesting nor enlightenling.

I must say, though, that Tallis can write.  One hopes that he will hone his craft and collaborate with a competent editor to produce some great stuff in the future.  For now, however, I recommened A Death In Vienna over Vienna Blood.