The Fault in Our Stars

Okay, so technically I believe this is a Young Adult novel, but if you hadn't told me that I never would have guessed. This is the story of Hazel Lancaster, a 16-year-old terminal cancer patient, granted a few more years from medical science but not expected to reach adulthood. Hazel is smart, funny, irreverent, and she has pretty much accepted the fact that she's dying, but she is doing it on her terms. One night at the Kids with Cancer support group that her mother forces her to attend, she meets the gorgeous Augustus Waters, who lost a leg to cancer a year ago, but now aged 17 is back to school and leading a normal life (well, normal for a one-legged-17-year-old).

Meeting Augustus changes Hazel's life, and probably more importantly, it changes what she expects from her life.

I won't give the story away, but I just want to say that these are two smart, funny, interesting teenagers, and they manage to be those things without being wizards or vampires. They are normal kids dealing with tragic situations in the best way they can.

I've never read any John Green before, but I definitely will read more. He made me laugh, cry, and think, and there aren't a lot of authors who can do that.

The Fault in Our Stars

Maid Marian

I really enjoyed this retelling of the Robin Hood legend from Marian's point of view. The novel seems well-grounded historically while still giving us a fun and exciting story. The author, Elsa Watson, portrays Marian as a smart, strong, and progressive character, quite different from how she is usually portrayed.

Marian is an orphaned noblewoman who is married off at the age of 5 to an equally young nobleman. When he dies mysteriously before they've had a chance at consummation, the marriage is annulled and Marion goes home to await her fate - sure to be another arranged marriage. But Marian isn't going to give in so easily this time, so she goes in search of the legendary Robin Hood, in the hopes he can help her find out what Queen Eleanor plans for her, by stealing the royal mail from the messenger traveling through Sherwood Forest. And so begins a great romance and a series of great adventures.

Marian and Robin are both super likeable and interesting characters. It probably speaks to the author's sensibilities that the nobles are almost entirely unlikeable while the commoners are good, kind, and warm people. At any rate, this was an enjoyable read and I highly recommend it.

Maid Marian

Behind a Mask

I picked up this book in a quirky little bookstore, intrigued by the idea of reading "thrillers" by Louisa May Alcott, the author of all those books for girls that I read in my youth (I had the whole collection, it was six or eight books... Little Women was only the first). These stories are certainly QUITE different from those.

If you read Little Women, you know that the character Jo March is very much Alcott. These stories equate to the stories Jo "scribbled" away at, the ones Professor Bhaer said were beneath her. I have to say, I tend to agree with him. In fact I found them pretty horrid. They reminded me of the Gothic tales that Jane Austen based Northanger Abbey on, rather lurid and pretty transparent, in my opinion. But they are probably what I should have expected in the writing of an innocent young lady of the era.

It's funny, there are about ten reviews of this book on Amazon, and all of them are four-five stars. I totally disagree with that. I guess it just wasn't my cup of tea.


Behind a Mask

The Dinner

This was such an intriguing novel! Herman Koch has written one of the most interesting unreliable narrators I have ever read. We start the novel with the idea that Paul Lohman is your average nice guy who has the misfortune to be the brother of a very famous pompous ass, but through the course of the story we find out that what we believe isn't necessarily so.

The whole story is told through the course of a dinner between Paul and his brother Serge and their wives, from aperitif through dessert. Both couples' teenaged sons have gotten into some trouble together, and the purpose of the dinner is to decide how to deal with that. But through the course of the meal we learn that appearance are deceiving, that things are not always what they seem, and that there are people in this world who are fooling everyone regarding their character and intentions.

Koch writes with humor, acerbity, and suspense. Although I came to like Paul less and less the more I read, I needed to find out how the meal ended, and when it was finished I was both satisfied and disturbed. This is just a really intriguing character study.

The Dinner

A Week in Winter

If you're a Maeve Binchy fan, here's your last chance for a new book. This is Binchy's final novel, published posthumously following her death last year. And it's typical Binchy all the way.

What do I love about Binchy novels? The warm characters, the beautiful scenery, and the very "Irishness" of them. This one does not disappoint. Chicky is a small town girl from Western Ireland who falls in love with an American boy and goes with him to New York City. When she returns to her small town of Stoneybridge without him some 30-years later she decides to open in inn in the big house on the hill. With the help of her friends and family she creates the perfect environment for a relaxing week in winter.

Aside from Chicky, her niece Orla, and her friends Miss Queenie and Rigger, we meet by turns each of the group of guests for the opening week of business. They're all unique, and all are looking for a unique experience from their week's stay at Stone House - and they all get what they are looking for.

This is just a lovely Irish story, and a must-read for all Maeve Binchy fans.

A Week in Winter

Life After Life

I don't want to go overboard here, but I think this may be one of the best novels I have ever read. Seriously. I just finished it last night and I am ready to read it again.

Kate Atkinson is the author, and she offers up an interesting premise: suppose someone keeps being reborn as themselves, over and over again, learning something new from each life? Such is the case with Ursula Todd, born on a snowy night in England in 1910. Through each successive life she learns how to live a little longer, a little better, a little differently, but without really realizing exactly what she's doing (although she has maybe more of those deja vu moments than the rest of us have). Some of her lives are mundane, some are tragic, some are even heroic, but they all build upon each other, culminating in a satisfying ending.

Aside from the nifty premise, Atkinson writes some really great characters, full of what I consider typically dry British humor. Ursula is witty and self-deprecating, and her family - particularly Aunt Izzie - are a varied and amusing group. I'm definitely going to check out some of Atkinson's other works.

Life After Life

The Queen's Vow

So I've read A LOT of British history, but not much Spanish history, so I decided to check out this novel about Queen Isabella of Spain (as in Ferdinand and Isabella). I really enjoyed it, and I learned a lot too (although it is a fictionalized account, all of the characters except one lady's maid are real people).

Isabella was a strong, intelligent woman, at a time when women were subservient to men and were mostly uneducated. She inherited a kingdom - Castile - that was in ruins, thanks to the ineffective previous kings, but she made it into one of the most respected European dynasties ever - with the help of her husband, Fernando (Ferdinand) of Aragon. They are the first rulers to unite the whole of Spain.

Isabella is an intriguing character. She's headstrong, but also extremely religious. That dichotomy leads to the two most disturbing aspects of their reign, the Inquisition and the expelling of the Jews. The author does a nice job of giving us some reasons behind why she allowed these atrocities, but of course no one can say what was in her heart.

The novel is a who's who of Spanish history, including Torquemada, Columbus, and little Catherine of Aragon. And it's a really great read.

The Queen's Vow