The Magicians by Lev Grossman

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

The entire time I spent reading this book one thought kept floating throughout my brain: "Harry Potter goes to College." Although this "college" is hidden away by magic, like Hogwarts, it's more comparable to the real world.

The story's hero, Quentin, is lured to Brakesbill College where only the brightest and most talented are schooled. He is tested and passes the entrance exams with flying colors and thus begins his post high school secondary education. The program is a five year program which Quentin and 2 others are advanced to complete in 4 years.

You may wonder what a magician does after he graduates and is returned to the "real" world. Their secondary education wasn't in the usual studies but their studies do allow them to have or be anything they want. Life is boring and dismal and drugs, alcohol and sex are their main interests. I found this very interesting and also very probable.

Throughout the story there are references to Fillory, a mystical land of which several children's books were written years ago. Quention loved the books of Fillory and has read them so often he knows them backwards and forwards. He and his close Brakebills friends discover that Fillory is real and they set out to have their own adventures in the land they only dreamed of as children. However, the "adventure" in Fillory turns out disastrous and lives are lost.

I am at a loss to say if I would recommend "The Magicians" or not. I thought the author did a good job of looking beyond the magic and evolving the characters as they faced a world that no longer seemed to belong to them. He looks at the question of self worth and self importance from several angles and perspectives. He's made the ability to do magic not only appealing but terrifying as well, if only in terms of questioning what to do with and how to use such a power.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

I don't believe I have reviewed the mystery/crime genre before and I don't really know how to go about it. The emotions evoked by this genre are entirely different than romance, historical, biographical or other genres. There is no crying and no social appall at the actions of the villains. There are villains, of course, but the emotion is of a sharper sort. There is seldom a middle ground, a place where you contemplate if the villain is ignorant and/or misguided, or whether you yourself could conceivably be in the same place if not for the grace of God. No, the villains in this type of a novel are simply evil.

Stieg Larsson created a fascinating tale around the disappearance of a young woman in 1966. It is the first of a series of which he wrote three novels. He had considered these novels his "retirement" fund planning on writing ten. Unfortunately, for us as well as himself, he died prior to completing the series.

Blomkvist is an investigative journalist and has recently been found guilty of libel. His desire is to distance himself from his magazine to allow it to recover as he prepares for his jail time. It's during this period of time he is hired to solve the murder of Harriett Vanger nearly 40 years earlier.

Larsson introduces his audience to a wonderfully entertaining cast of characters. They are complex and well developed. They are people I came to care about or to dislike, making me happy or on edge each time the story came back around to them.

This is not a story that reveals itself too easily. As the mystery comes unravelled I experienced my "Oh-My-God!!" moments but I also had the satisfaction of an occasional "I knew it!" moment, too. If you are a fan of a well written mystery I think you will enjoy Larsson's book, and mourn that he had only written three.

Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner

"Certain Girls" by Jennifer Weiner

I recently referred to Jennifer Weiner as one of my favorite chic lit authors. I think I did her a disservice. Her novels are filled with themes and issues that are certainly of interest to women but they are nowhere as light as chic lit. I find them a bit meatier.

"Certain Girls" is a sequel to "Good in Bed" picking up Cannie's life several years later. She is now happily married and her daughter, Joy, is a young teen. Joy is aware that she was conceived out of wedlock and her father isn't the man she calls her Dad. After "Good in Bed" left off Cannie became a minor celebrity with publication of a novel that was a fictionalized autobiography, written in anger. Joy decides it's time to covertly read the novel her mother wrote years before and takes it as truth.

Certain Girls is written from both Cannie's and Joy's voices. It looks at adolescence from the confused perspective of a child struggling with too many questions, wondering if her mother truly didn't want her, why her birth father disappeared, who her mother really is - the woman in the novel? - and much more. She is a daring and brave young girl with too many misconceptions. It also looks at the bewilderment of a mother who couldn't love her daughter more as she is excluded from a life she wants desperately to protect.

Unlike chic lit, Jennifer Weiner doesn't tie up her novel with a pretty ribbon and give us the perfect ending to a perfect story. The ending is satisfying but as in real life, lacks happily ever after.

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

"Saving CeeCee Honeycutt" by Beth Hoffman

I picked this up on audio at the library for listening to in my car. Unfortunately, I just don't travel alone in my car often enough... I had to bring it inside and listen while I crafted. It was a good choice.

CeeCee Honeycutt is a young girl with a mentally ill mother and a father who has quite successfully distanced himself from a bad situation through his sales job. Caring for her mother has fallen to her with all it's problems and embarrassments. When her mother dies in an unfortunately "accident" CeeCee's father chooses to send her off to Savannah to live with her great aunt. Poor CeeCee hating her dead mother for her illness and hating her father for not wanting her, bravely ventures forth into her new life.

The story reminds me of the writing of Fanny Flagg, full of wonderful quirky characters brought to life on each page and endearing themselves to us and CeeCee who eventually realizes the truth in her father's words, "Someday you'll thank me for this." Indeed, through the summer following her mother's death, CeeCee meets a charming variety of new friends who become her "family" and comes to trust that loving the present as well as the past is good.

CeeCee Honeycutt gets a thumbs up from me.

Super by Jim Lehrer

"Super" by Jim Lehrer

I am a listener of NPR and often attracted to the author interviews and book reviews. That is how I stumbled upon "Super." Listening to Jim Lehrer talk of the old time trains that were luxury land yachts seemed quite fascinating and I really wanted to read about them. The book itself though was less than fascinating.

The Super Chief train from Chicago to LA was considered the train of the stars. The story is based on an actual train and movie types that rode it in it's hey day. But the timing of the story is nearing the end of the train's hey day. The mystery presented in the story is short and quickly solved with little fan fare.

I am happy it was a short book and I invested only a little time. I think the story could have been richer but really fell short.

The Pact, by Jodi Picoult

The Pact, by Jodi Picoult

I finished this book a week or two ago and I still don't know how to review it.

The pact refers to a suicide pact by two teens who have known each other literally all their lives. Emily was born shortly after Chris. Their families were neighbors and good friends. The two children were always together and essentially raised together. The families hoped they would fall in love and marry as adults.

The book starts with the suicide, which only takes the life of Emily and leaves Chris alive. The reader is taken through the horrible moments when the parents discover their children have been hurt or killed and the confusion that surrounds the situation. Soon Chris is charged with Emily's "murder" and goes to trial.

We move back and forth between the present and the past. In the past we glimpse bits and pieces of Emily and Chris's relationship, as carefree children growing into young adults. We learn of secrets that are never revealed to anyone, not even between the closest of friends. We also come to know what secrets or feelings are just too scary to share even with the person you love the most.

In the present we follow the anguish of the families and the torture Chris feels. It's not long before the reader realizes there was no suicide pact and begins to draw her/his own conclusions, or fear what may unbelievably be true.

There is no happy ending in this kind of book. How could there ever be unless the characters can be raised from the dead? Picoult is a good writer and takes the reader through all sorts of probable emotions that would be associated with this story. And through her telling of it, we see the best of people and the worst of people and find hope that eventually alludes us. It's a very sad story but worth reading.

Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity

Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity by Kerry Cohen.

The title pretty much says it all. I had briefly looked at this book at Target a while back and rejected it. Soon after that a friend of mine sent it to me and at a time that I was having difficulty picking out my next book, I found myself starting it.

Reading Ms. Cohen's story is rather like reading someone's personal diary... you know you shouldn't and you really want to put it down but you keep on reading. Even so, you feel a little tainted and disturbed with yourself as much as the author.

Ms. Cohen dives right in with her first tentative experiences with sex. She continues with her adolescent views of her dysfunctional family: a distant mother, both literally and figuratively, an emo uncommunicative suicidal sister, and a 'hip, I do drugs and party along with my daughter' father. Her young life is consumed with drugs, parties, finding boys and having no rules.

Not much changes through her high school years, college years and post grad years. When she does find men who love her she eventually destroys the relationship.

Probably the most disappointing thing about reading this memoir was Ms. Cohen's apparent decision that she was simply done with it. Not just the book, but the lifestyle as well. Although she participated in counselling for many years, she seems to just one day decide that she doesn't need men to define her or complete her any longer and she stops. Somehow she figures it all out, gets married and..... The End. Epilogue: Mom & sister weren't the evil people she always thought they were and Dad is actually pretty pathetic.

It was an easy, unsettling read and I was compelled keep reading, but my final feeling was simply that this book lacked real substance. It pretty clearly outlined a troubled life, but the happy ending came rather suddenly and unexpectedly.