I recommend Before I go to Sleep: A Novel by S. J. Watson.  Seems I have been reading books about brain function lately.  This one was terrifying and also extremely hard to put down.  Amazing plot and very well put together. 

This woman has a brain injury, wakes up in the hospital and can't remember anything at all.  She gathers information but when she sleeps she loses it all and must start over.  Her husband is very helpful in helping her adjust to her new life...and she starts to keep a journal so she can read what she has learned each morning and not have to start fresh.  The plot thickens!!!

A great read for summer...or on an airplane as there are no airplane crashes in the thing at all! 

Just for enjoyment...
Linda

John and I recently read The Power of Habit: Why we do what we do in Life and Business  by Heather Barbieri.  It was a book club selection for me this past month.  We both really enjoyed reading this non-fiction book.  That is saying something for me - a true fiction lover. 

The author covers the brain functions that promote habits and why they are so hard to break.  She gives strategies to change habits in our lives.  She does not claim this is easy!  She explains quite clearly why it is so hard.  Citing that even in people with severe brain damage or Alzheimers there is "muscle" memory that allows them to catch a ball or play ping pong.  And that by training a person in a new habit even after severe injury they can assume a "normal" life.

It was also interesting reading about cultural habits and in particular corporate habits.  I recommend this book to all.

Linda

Behind the Beautiful Forevers - Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo

What a book!  As you know, I love just about all things India so this book was an instant draw for me.  There has been what I believe to be, some "romanticizing" about the life in the slums as a result of the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" but this book will surely knock that idea out of your head.  The author spent three years reporting, documenting, photographing and researching in order to pass on her story of what makes the world of the slumdweller tick.  She does so with intelligence, respect and deep insight.

Annawadi is a makeshift settlement of 90,000 families on less than an acre in the shadows of luxury hotels near Mumbai airport.  As India starts to prosper, the residents of the slum start to get their hopes up that tomorrow will be a better day, a better time, a better life.  But of course the airport wants to reclaim the land from these squatters as it would be extremely valuable in vertical space.  So even at the outset without even taking account of the human cost, there is conflict and tension,  Much of the story follows Abdul, a young teenager who picks and sorts garbage to support his family.  Then there is Asha, a very clever woman who recognizes the way to middle class is through political corruption.  And you have Kalu, one of the poorest of the poor who is a scrap-metal thief.  The story winds through and intertwines the lives of several families - through false accusations of murder, tensions from religion, caste, sex and power.  It is a revealing look into a world that I can't in my craziest thoughts imagine ever surviving let alone thriving.

I think you would really enjoy this book.  The characters are real and their names are unchanged.  They are as the author states, "neither mythic nor pathetic and certainly not passive."  And they still linger in my thoughts...

254 pages

The Spy Who Came In From the Cold

While on a business trip, I bought and read the novel "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold" by John Le Carre. This is set in 1950's Berlin, and tells the story of a British spy who gets one last chance at getting revenge on the East German spy master who killed his agents. It is a gripping story filled with twists and turns, and it has some surprisingly deep meditations on ethics and morality in geopolitics.

There is one passage in particular that stuck with me - the British and Soviet/East German spy masters all do terrible things, but the characters say that the British do it in spite of their ideals, while the Soviets are living out the consequences of their ideology. This is a very interesting claim, and it is left to the reader to decide whether the terrible things that happen are justified by the needs of the state. The novel is deeply ambiguous on this point.

I would highly recommend this book - Le Carre is a master, and this novel is brilliantly paced and wonderfully written.

March Books

March was another month where I didn't do a good job writing down the books I read. I think I only read two though, but I started a Serious Book, which has consumed my reading time. Without further ado...

Seed - Rob Ziegler. Set in a near future post apocalyptic America, global climate change has destroyed the fabric of society. What remains is held together by a bioengineered seed called Satori, produced by a single company. You can probably guess what happens next. I thought this book was ok, but not particularly novel or exciting.

The Domesday Book - Connie Willis. I really liked this book. In the not so distant future, historians study their topics by going back in time and observing them first hand. Kivrin is a medievalist who is going back to study the reconstruction after the Black Death. Unfortunately, the calculations are a little off, and she ends up too early and must deal with the plague itself. The time travel plays a relatively minor role in the story - anyone who enjoys historical fiction would enjoy this too! Highly recommend.

I think I only finished a measly two books in March!

February Roundup

Well, I have been remarkably bad at blogging the books I've read this year. So here is a brief recap of what i remember reading in February (March to follow later):

"Zero Day" by Mark Russinovich - First off, the author of this book is best known for his series "Windows Internals", a guide to how the Windows operating system works under the hood. So it was perfectly natural that he should write a computer security themed techno-thriller featuring someone who looks remarkably like him. The bad guys in the story unleash a variety of computer attacks that could cripple the US economy, and it is up to our plucky hero and his improbably hot love interest to save the day. There are actually some pretty accurate technical points in the book, but it is mostly brain candy.

"Hounded" and "Hexed" by Kevin Hearne - These are the first two books in the Iron Druid Chronicles, which follow the adventures of a 2000 year old druid (who still looks 23) who owns an occult bookshop in modern Tempe, AZ. He gets involved in a variety of mishaps and adventures involving the local werewolves, witches, faeries, and minor deities. These books are pure brain candy, but are a lot more entertaining than they should be by any critical analysis. I enjoyed them quite a bit - exciting fantasy adventures in a unique setting, with some great characters.

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis

Well.  I had to start this book twice because I just couldn't get in to it.  Then somewhere in the middle I couldn't put it down.  That crescendo faded fast and finishing it became slow and laborious.  I must be missing something.  It has gotten great reviews and the endorsement of Oprah, so it must be good, right?

The story centers around Hattie Shepherd who as a young 15 year old girl flees from Georgia to Philadelphia hoping for a chance at a better life.  However, that didn't go as planned.  She ends up marrying a man who is nothing but disappointing.  Her first two babies (twins) die of pneumonia in 1925 leaving Hattie a hard and bitter woman.  She gives birth to nine more babies and proves to be a cruel and seemingly unloving mother.  The chapters of the book chronicle her children and how their parents, particularly their mother, has made an impact.  Some of of the story telling is from Hattie's point of view, and some from her children.  I think that is what is going anyway?

I was not so crazy about the story line or the writing style.  I found it to be disjointed and it ended as if the author just got tired of writing.  I looked more than once to see if the Acknowledgments had some sort of conclusion.  No luck.  Maybe you will like it more than me but it isn't one I will re-read or recommend.  (241 pages)