Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon

Archy felt blood in his cheeks, the shame of the ponderer in a world that urged decision. A deliberator nipped at and harried by the hounds of haste. Professing in his heart like some despised creed the central truth of life: The only decision a man will never regret is the one he never made.

-Telegraph Avenue

It's nice to have a history with an author, isn't it? Not just having read a lot of books by that author, but to have memories connected with them. That's how I feel about Michael Chabon. I remember picking up The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and being so absolutely wowed by it that I emailed him. It was the kind of ridiculous, flowery email that you might expect a 19-year-old to write, and he very kindly responded. I remember taking The Mysteries of Pittsburgh with me when I went to Italy later that same year. I remember when he did a reading at my college and signed my copy of Summerland, which I had bought at the university bookstore. That's a history, I think.

When I was thinking about what I wanted to say about Telegraph Avenue, I remembered all of that. From page one, the writing was everything I could have wanted--on a sentence-to-sentence level, Telegraph Avenue is beautiful, funny, and true. Just on that first page, there's this description of Archy Stallings--"moonfaced, mountainous, moderately stoned." I didn't intend to wax rhapsodic here, but that's pretty near perfect if you ask me.

The story--of Archy and his partner Nat, their wives and kids, and their business, Brokeland Records--shares a lot of the hallmarks of other Chabon stories. There's the obsession (with vinyl here, as opposed to comics or baseball), the quirky characters (shades of Wonder Boys), the sexual exploration. I think I might have been more absorbed in the story of I'd connected to any one part of it better--jazz, Berkeley, kung fu--but I still enjoyed it. The characterization is particularly good--I'd love to have a follow-up just about Nat's son, Julie. Regardless of what Chabon does next, I'll be along for the ride.

Up next: Dead Ever After, the last of the Sookie Stackhouse novels.

Broken Harbor by Tana French

Richie closed the door behind us. He stayed beside it, sheaf of pointless paper hanging forgotten from one hand, eyes skittery as a corner boy's. That was what he looked like: some malnourished scumbag hunched against a graffitied wall, standing lookout for small-time dealers in exchange for a fix. I had been beginning to think of this man as my partner. His skinny shoulders braced against mine had begun to feel like something that belonged. The feeling had been a good one, a warm one. Both of us made me sick.

-Broken Harbor

Let's try this again, shall we?

So, I've missed a bit. (A year is a bit, yes? A long bit, but still.) I tackled Proust for the first time, finally conquered Team of Rivals, and enjoyed books by Mary Roach, Jo Nesbø, and Gillian Flynn. I will probably never get around to writing about any of them, and that's okay, I think. Fresh start.

It's fitting to start back with Tana French, a perennial favorite of mine. Broken Harbor follows Mick "Scorcher" Kennedy, another member of the Dublin Murder Squad. Mick has shown up in previous books by French, though I must confess he didn't make much of an impression on me. Still, I think you're bound to remember a nickname like Scorcher.

Mick is called up to investigate a grisly case in the once-booming housing development of Brianstown. A family has been attacked, with definite fatalities. It's a high-profile case, a chance of redemption for Mick, who botched an investigation a few years earlier. It also (in classic French fashion) forces Mick to confront a painful time from his past, back when Brianstown was a seaside holiday spot called Broken Harbor.

The case was a bit of a toughie for me--I don't love reading about murdered children, funnily enough--but overall I found Broken Harbor to be more satisfying than Faithful Place. It's sad, to be sure. If there's one thing I've learned about Tana French books, it's that a happy ending is relative. Her detectives may solve their cases, but it's always at a grievous cost. Her books are fantastically written, perfectly paced, and deeply sad. Quite a recommendation, I know.

Up next: Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon. Go big or go home, yeah?

Just Kids by Patti Smith

Finally, by the sea, where God is everywhere, I gradually calmed. I stood looking at the sky. The clouds were the colors of a Raphael. A wounded rose. I had the sensation he had painted it himself. You will see him. You will know him. You will know his hand. These words came to me and I knew I would one day see a sky drawn by Robert's hand.

-Just Kids 

I can't say I knew much about Patti Smith before beginning Just Kids. I could have picked her out of a lineup, sure, and I knew of Horses. I'm pretty sure I've heard "Gloria." That's about all I had.

And I wouldn't have done much better with Robert Mapplethorpe, frankly, despite having majored in Art History. I knew photographs of flowers, and knew of some others that were somehow scandalous (though I don't know if I saw any slides of those ones, to be honest). I knew he'd died young.

So there was a lot to take in in Just Kids, which traces the relationship Smith and Mappelthorpe had, both romantic and artistic. It's also a portrait of New York City at a very particular time, a time of The Factory and the Hotel Chelsea and automats. I warmed quickly to Smith, but I especially loved reading about the city--a place I know--in a totally new way. It was really amazing to watch how Smith grew as an artist, from poet to rock and roll star, and how she encountered all the bright lights of that era in New York.  I loved hearing about her place in Brooklyn, about her going to Blick's Art Supply, about the bare-bones spaces she shared with Mapplethorpe in Chelsea (no bathroom, for one). In addition to recounting her history with Mapplethorpe quite beautifully, she also captures a moment in time. And I must say, I got teary when I read the passage I quoted above.

Up next: Almost nearly caught up! Drop Dead Healthy by A.J. Jacobs, which I just finished this afternoon.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

"I don't know what I'm looking for," Tara responds, and for a moment her face crumples as though she might burst into tears, but then she composes herself. "Ethan, do you sometimes feel like you are dreaming, all the time?"

"No, I can't say that I do."

"I am finding it difficult to discern between asleep and awake," Tara says, tugging at her lace cuffs again. "I do not like being left in the dark. I am not particularly fond of believing in impossible things."

-The Night Circus 

The Night Circus tells the story of two unusual people, Marco and Celia. As children, they were selected to participate in a game--game doesn't seem like exactly the right word, given the nature of the thing. They spend years training, enduring gloomy, lonely childhoods in order to further their accomplishments in a very specialized field: magic. Not sleight of hand, but true, proper magic. Turning paper into birds, conjuring landscapes out of thin air. Magic.

A stage is set for them to compete. It's called the Night Circus, designed to be a spectacle like none other. Not just one tent, it's a series of tents, each more marvelous than the last. Only Marco and Celia know the true purpose of the circus, a chance for them to show their talents. They construct ever more elaborate illusions, but more to marvel at each other's skill than to really try to best their opponent. For Marco and Celia don't hate each other, far from it. Instead they find that the tie that has bound them for so long has bloomed into True Love (You know, The Princess Bride kind. Pirates and fire swamps and even death cannot tear them apart kind of love.)

I tried to keep my expectations low going into The Night Circus, because it had been fairly hyped and, even though I was quite intrigued by the premise, it seemed like a difficult concept to fully realize in execution. Kudos to Erin Morgenstern, though, for some amazing work. She really created a whole world that I loved visiting. I find it really remarkable that this is her debut novel, and must admit that I find it particularly cool that she initially developed it as a NaNoWriMo project. It's pretty inspiring stuff for any wannabe writers out there.

Up next: Just Kids by Patti Smith

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

The Rutherford girl had been missing for eight days when Larry Ott returned home and found a monster waiting in his house.

-Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter*

A girl disappears in small-town Mississippi. Suspicion falls, unsurprisingly, on the last person known to have seen her, but there's not enough evidence to try a case. The years go by--decades, even--and the trail runs cold. Then there's another disappearance.

What are the odds, someone notes, of the two cases being unrelated? With no other leads, the police are suspicious of Larry Ott, the town loner--and the chief person of interest in the older case. Things get more complicated when Larry is rushed to the hospital, the victim of a gunshot wound. With Larry in a coma, it's difficult to tell if the wound was self-inflicted or not. While Larry lingers in unconsciousness, the police are forced to wait.

One officer's wait is particularly grueling. His name is Silas Jones, and, once upon a time, he and Larry Ott were friends. It's not a fact he advertises, considering the low regard in which Larry is held in town, but it does color his feelings about the case. He wrestles with his feelings as he waits awkwardly at Larry's bedside.

The reader waits as well, but there's plenty to keep you occupied until you finally learn the particulars of Larry's shooting. The narrative shifts between past and present, between Larry and Silas, and slowly we work out how things turned out as they did. While it's not hard to figure out the perpetrator of the present-day crime, it's still interesting to see the details filled in--and the cold case draws the reader in quite well. All in all, it's pretty riveting, and I admire the way Franklin was able to tie things up.

It's impressive to me that the most striking part of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter is the characterization. Both Larry and Silas are well-realized and believable, sympathetic and flawed. While I was undoubtedly absorbed in the book because I wanted to know the resolution to the cases, I also became more and more deeply invested in Larry and Silas as the story went on. I would definitely be interested in reading more by Tom Franklin.

Up next: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

*I was totally unaware that this mnemonic device was regional. I don't normally think of myself as Southern in any way, but I've long enjoyed this trick for spelling Mississippi.

Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America by Leslie Knope

The historical portions of this book were largely written from memory by The Author, then fact-checked by both Bill Haggerty of the Pawnee Historical Society and a team of researchers from Pawnee Community College, who proclaimed them to be "shockingly accurate." There's really no reason for The Author to include that fact here, except The Author is feeling a little braggy and she wants everyone to know that she basically typed this from memory.

-Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America 

So, here's the thing: I love Parks and Recreation. It's one of the best shows currently on the air, after all. Because the show is so funny, and because I'm a TV nerd, I was psyched to read Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America, which actually featured in the third season of the show.

But I read it very quickly about a month ago, so I must admit that the details have already faded from my memory.  It was certainly funny, and very much captured the voice of Leslie Knope (unsurprisingly, since it was helmed by Parks and Rec writers). It has a lot of information that is sure to appeal to anyone who appreciates the show's humor (a list of town mottoes over the years, a history of Newport family, etc.) If you're the sort of person who's inclined to pick up a book like this, I imagine that you'd like it.

Other than that, not much else to add, I'm afraid. I think I must press on if I'm ever to have any chance of catching up on posts.

Up next: Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

Bren and I befriended each other early on, became inseparable through a shared sense of humor, a trove of nonsensical private jokes, and had the same enemies within the Drama Department. We clung to each other with blind loyalty, like Lord Voldemort and his snake, Nagini. I, of course, was Nagini. If you messed with one of us, you knew you messed with both of us, and Voldemort was going to cast a murder spell on you, or Nagini was going to chomp on your jugular. It was such a good, dramatic time.

-Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? 

Oh, dear. I am disastrously, disastrously behind here. Things have been fun & busy here in real life, which has left me with slightly less time to ruminate about books. Still, I hate to abandon things, so I'll try to scrape together some--probably abbreviated--posts.

I wanted to come up with some cute intro for Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, something to explain how much I like Mindy Kaling or how much I'd been looking forward to reading her book. Unfortunately, all I seem to be able to come up with are cliches and anecdotes about cupcakes, which I'm going to skip in the interest in keeping things moving.

I read this book quite quickly--I think I read the first chapter before going to bed one night, then finished the rest the next day. It's light and (unsurprisingly) funny, the tone conversational and very engaging. Kaling writes about her childhood, her college life, and her struggle to make it in New York post-graduation. She has the killer combination of being both extremely funny and extremely dedicated, so (spoiler alert!) even given the difficulty of the industry, it's easy to see why she's been as successful as she has. If she didn't seem so awesome, I'd have to be a little jealous. Instead I'll just content myself by enjoying her Twitter feed and looking forward to her new fall pilot. I could definitely see rereading this one in the future, especially if I were in need of a pick-me-up.

Up next: Got on a little comedy kick and went with Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America.

A Darker Domain by Val McDermid

"We're cold cases, Dave. We don't process fresh inquiries." Karen rolled her eyes at Phil, smirking at her obvious frustration.

"It's not exactly fresh, Inspector. This guy went missing twenty-two years ago."

Karen straightened up in her chair. "Twenty-two years ago? And they've only just got round to reporting it?"

"That's right. So does that make it cold, or what?"

Technically, Karen knew Cruickshank should refer the woman to CID. But she'd always been a sucker for anything that made people shake their heads in bemused disbelief. Long shots were what got her juices flowing. Following that instinct had brought her two promotions in three years, leap-frogging peers and making colleagues uneasy. "Send her up, Dave. I'll have a word with her."

-A Darker Domain 

Karen Pirie is a detective in the cold cases department in Fife, Scotland, and in A Darker Domain, she takes charge of two unusual cases. One, illustrated in the passage above--a missing persons case, twenty-two years later--is too intriguing to pass up, and she takes it on without her boss's knowledge. The second is the reopening of a high-profile case from around the same time--the murder of heiress Catriona Maclennan Grant and the disappearance of her son, Adam. Catriona's father, Brodie Grant, still blames the police for botching the case so many years before, and Karen has her work cut out for her, juggling that investigation with the one that's off the books.

I'd never read a Val McDermid book before, but I understand that she's a respected mystery writer, and I can see why. I quickly became pretty absorbed in the two cases, both of which were trickily well plotted. McDermid did a nice job of giving the reader just enough to puzzle over without telegraphing things too much or withholding too much vital information. The ending was realistic, I suppose, but quite cynical and a little abrupt. I wished it could have been a little happier.

I would definitely be interested in reading more by McDermid. I just watched the first episode of Wire in the Blood recently, based on her series of books, and it was quite good. I have more than a few unread mysteries to go, though, so it might be a while.

Up next: Needed a change of pace from all the mayhem--the perfect time for Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman

It isn't his fault. He wants to be sober. He strung together two years this time, chastened by the incident at his younger daughter's first birthday party. And he managed to stay sober even after Lori kicked him out last month. But the fact is, he has been faking it for months, stalling out where he always stalls out on the twelve steps, undermined by all that poking, poking, poking, that insistence on truth, on coming clean. Making amends. Sobriety--real sobriety, as opposed to the collection of sober days Gordon sometimes manages to put together--wants to much from him.

-The Most Dangerous Thing

 Five kids--Gwen, Mickey, Tim, Sean, and Go-Go--share a few idyllic months exploring the woods around their hometown in Maryland. Then something terrible happens, so terrible that it splinters the group permanently.

Decades pass. There are marriages, divorces, children. Then Go-Go dies in a car accident, possibly a suicide.  Go-Go had led a troubled life since that one awful night, and his death dredges up the memories that group (and their parents) had worked so hard to forget. Once Gwen, in particular, decides to start unraveling the story of that long-ago night, she discovers some things that rock her understanding of the past.

There were some very strong aspects to this novel. I liked that Laura Lippman took what could have been a fairly conventional premise for a mystery and made it infinitely more interesting by exploring multiple points of view, both in the past and present. I especially thought it was a smart move to include the viewpoints of the parents, which certainly made the story more complicated and interesting. Ultimately, I'm not sure that I totally bought the story's resolution, but I appreciated the exploration of the misunderstandings and mistakes that can lay the ground for tragedy. 

Up next: Continuing with the mystery trend, A Darker Domain by Val McDermid.

The Snowman by Jo Nesbø

The snow in the yard reflected enough light for him to make out the snowman down below. It looked alone. Someone should have given it a cap and scarf. And maybe a broomstick to hold. At that moment the moon slid from behind a cloud. The black row of teeth came into view. And the eyes. Jonas automatically sucked in his breath and recoiled two steps. The pebble-eyes were gleaming. And they were not staring into the house. They were looking up. Up here. Jonas drew the curtains and crept back into bed.

-The Snowman 

I was so excited to read the next Harry Hole novel--until I realized it wasn't the next Harry Hole novel. I was still happy to read The Snowman, to be sure, but it did take a little bit of the shine off when I realized that somehow The Redeemer had been lost in the shuffle. I'm still not sure why The Redeemer is so unavailable, but I'll get a hold of it somehow--when I'm in London this summer, if nothing else, though it might be hard to wait until then!

Leaving the mysterious publication order aside, The Snowman was another satisfying outing from Jo Nesbø. This time around, Harry's extensive knowledge of serial killers is put to good use when he finds himself on the trail of a criminal who kills women--all mothers--who have cheated on their husbands. The killer is as cold as his icy moniker would suggest, and the crimes are bloodier and more disturbing than I recall from previous Harry Hole stories. Unsurprisingly, the denouement is mind-boggling. I find it quite curious that this is the first Harry Hole story slated to be adapted for film--by Martin Scorsese, no less-- as I simply cannot imagine actually seeing the end of the story on screen. That's not to say it wasn't gripping--it absolutely was--but it also got pretty ludicrous.

Obviously, I'm on board for more Harry Hole books. I was quite keen to keep reading at the end of The Snowman, particularly seeing how badly Harry had been shaken by this case. I'll have to be in suspense a bit longer, though, I suppose, since I do want to read The Redeemer before moving on.

Up next: I was hungry for more mystery, so I went with Laura Lippman's The Most Dangerous Thing.