'Imperfect Birds' By Anne Lamott

I picked this book to read because I have liked some of Anne Lamott’s non-fiction work in the past; her book Operating Instructions about her son’s first year was lovely. This book is fiction and tells the story of a tense mother-daughter relationship. Elizabeth, the mother, is a recovering alcoholic; Rosie, the daughter, is 17 and rebellious. They live in California with Elizabeth’s second husband, James. The book follows the family as Rosie becomes more lost in a mess of teenage drugs and lies.

I'm of the opinion that you don't really need to go out searching for profound experience in order to properly appreciate the universe, but Lamott's characters seem to constantly want to hammer their profundity into my head. They spend so much time reflecting on amazing, intellectual things that their revelations completely fail to impress or amaze me intellectually.

The point of a good book isn’t really about liking the characters in the story; people who are not especially likeable can be engaging and interesting. That being said, I didn’t really have any sympathy for the characters. I thought that Elizabeth was wimpy and pathetic and Rosie was hateful and self-centered. Have I just described the dynamic of every parent-child relationship? Possibly. Maybe that’s the point of the book; everyone in the world is awful beyond description. But I was still frustrated and irritated with these people. It’s a given that the daughter is making bad decisions, but the mother makes some of the dumbest choices imaginable too. I guess I’ll have to wait until my daughter is 17 before I pass judgment.

'The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest' By Stieg Larsson

I’m sure that anyone who has heard anything about the final installment in Stieg Larsson’s trilogy has heard nothing but good. And rightly so. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is a satisfying conclusion that resolves many of the complex issues that Larsson created.

When the Girl Who Played with Fire concluded, Lisbeth Salander was in a dangerous situation, physically and legally. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is the story of Lisbeth’s recovery and the investigation of her supposed crimes/offenses. Of course, Mikael Blomkvist is still Salander’s greatest advocate; he helps to track down and unravel the conspiracy that caused her to be abused and declared legally incompetent.

Stieg Larsson has posthumously proven himself to be one of the most talented suspense writers of our time. Even though Larsson died before the publication of his books, they are certainly not unfinished. All three books were delivered for publication prior to Larsson’s death, and I can’t think of anything that is missing. The trilogy is great for suspense readers, but also for those who simply enjoy a good book.

‘Suite Française’ by Irene Némirovsky

It is impossible to write about Suite Française without mentioning Némirovsky’s background. Némirovsky was working on Suite Française during World War II; the war’s effect on the people of France is the subject of the book. Unfortunately, the book was never finished. Némirovsky was a Jew and was sent to Auschwitz where she later died. Suite Française is a wonderful fictional account of France during the war, and readers will regret never knowing the planned ending.

The book follows the lives of several families and individuals during the invasion of France by the German army and the subsequent occupation. Gradually, we see that the lives of these seemingly dissimilar people are connected in unexpected ways. I suspect that many of these personal connections would have become more pronounced as the story continues to progress.

Something that I enjoy: the author character in this book is a really unpleasant man. I get sick of authors who only want to portray authors as being nice, intelligent people. Némirovsky does an excellent job of illustrating what the stress and deprivation of war can do to people.

Beautifully written and tragic by itself and in context. I’ve read Suite Française before and I certainly do not regret revisiting it.

‘The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ’ by Phillip Pullman

This book is Pullman’s re-imagination of the story of Jesus’ birth. Rather than a single child, Mary gave birth to twins. There are still mysterious events that take place in this retelling, but not events that are as miraculous as those from the bible. And the reader is certainly not given any reason to believe that either brother is of divine parentage. Jesus seems to do unpredictable things, but has consistently good intentions; he attracts followers and inspires people with his faith. Christ tracks his brother and records his movements and actions for a mysterious third party. He frequently bends the truth in his records to make things seem more miraculous than they actually were.

I’m especially inclined to like anything written by Phillip Pullman, as I enjoyed the His Dark Materials trilogy so much. This was another interesting book, but it represents a departure from the material that Pullman’s readers are familiar with. It is written in shorter bible-like chapters. There are short stories/episodes that represent events of importance. I suspect that this book would be more fun for a person who is more familiar with the bible than I am. I recognize many bible stories that have been altered to fit Pullman’s version of the story, but I’m certainly no expert.

In defense of the brother Christ, he makes some bad decisions, but isn’t the scoundrel that the title lead me to expect. Really, he just seemed like a sad man.

‘For all the tea in China’ By Sarah Rose

Do you wonder how tea production moved from China to India in the 19th century? I certainly never did, and I suspect that you’re in the minority if you spend your time thinking about that sort of thing. Even though I had never wondered about Asian tea production, I decided that For all the Tea in China sounded like an interesting book. Sarah Rose follows the travels of Robert Fortune, a British Horticulturist, as he travels to China to learn tea production methods and smuggle plants and seeds out of the Chinese mountains. I’m always impressed by how well documented some people’s lives are; even though he lived over 100 years ago, Fortune’s movements in China are very precise. It is fairly obvious that some parts are imagination on Rose’s part – a smile, a meal, a wince of pain, are these really things that can be proven by historical records? But these interactions that I’m assuming are not necessarily factual are probably good educated guesses on the part of the author.

There was a short mention of something in the closing paragraphs of this book that bothered me a little bit, mostly because the subject had been nagging at me the entire time I was reading. Rose brought up the fact that imported plants can overrun indigenous plants and wreak havoc on natural habitats. As the subject of this book is Robert Fortune’s botanical espionage and not environmental conservation, I can understand that much time was not spent on the subject, but Rose spends so much time putting his actions into context, that it seems awfully abrupt the way this in mentioned.

For all the Tea in China manages to be adventurous and engaging, while also sparking an interest in other historical events that provide context for the tea trade (such as the opium trade and health benefits of tea). Hopefully readers of this book will not only be tea aficionados; the story and writing is sure to appeal to a wide variety of other readers as well.

‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’ By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is set in England shortly after World War II. The main character is an author trying to decide on a topic for her next book; she had been writing satirical commentary on the war until recently. A letter arrives from a stranger who lives on the channel island of Guernsey, and they begin to correspond. Though the entire story takes place during 1946, the lives of the island inhabitants haven’t really moved past the German occupation. The people still show signs of being deprived of life’s comforts, and friends and family members haven’t all returned to the island. Even though it is a wonderful story about friendship, reading, love and family, the book also serves to illustrate how long tragedy stays with a community.

This book is written in a very interesting (though certainly not unheard of) style. The narration comes in the form of letters written between the characters, and there isn’t any actual narrator at work. I should say that the narration comes from selected letters, because not all of the characters’ correspondence is included; there are references to events and conversations that we don’t hear of firsthand. I enjoy this; I feel that readers and authors are hesitant to leave anything to the imagination, which is what fiction is supposed to be all about. Happily, Shaffer and Barrows were able to omit letters that they did not deem necessary without leaving anything wanting in the story.

'The Water's Lovely' by Ruth Rendell

I suppose it’s obvious by now that I really enjoy Ruth Rendell. She always manages to surprise me, which ought to be one of the primary goals of any good suspense writer. Unfortunately it also seems to be a relatively rare gift among those who write suspense books.

The Water’s Lovely tells the story of two sisters and the mystery of their stepfather’s death in the upstairs bathtub when they were children. Though it sounds fairly straightforward, Rendell has several other equally well-developed characters; one sister’s love interest, their lonely aunt, a manipulative fortune hunter, etc. In typical Rendell style, all of the lives intersect wonderfully and the reader is eager to find out what will happen to the characters.

Another thing that I thoroughly enjoy about Rendell stories is the fact that she often focuses on topics that are important to women. This book offers several examples of relationship abuse and violence. Though I know very little about her personal life, I get the feeling that the author has pretty strong political feelings and she is doing a very good job of expressing them subtly in her work. But then again, I may just be projecting my own opinions.

Overall, this was another great book by Ruth Rendell, but I would have expected nothing less.