Into the Wild / Jon Krakauer / 207 pgs.

Jon Krakauer's account of Christopher McCandless' doomed venture into the Alaskan wilderness will certainly strike a chord in the souls of those who foster a wanderlust or yearning to see what lies beyond the sometimes suffocating constraints of life in contemporary society. While Krakauer portrays McCandless as a resourceful idealist on a quest for self-discovery as opposed to a reckless narcissist whose foolishness ultimately led to his demise, it is not difficult to imagine either.

Given the facts as presented by Krakauer, it appears that McCandless was in fact a clever young man who survived an impressively long time under the near worst of circumstances. Had it not been for a freak occurrence, he would have probably lived to tell the tale of his struggle with nature.

If nothing else, it is clear that McCandless did arrive at some life-changing realizations before meeting his demise, which I'd like to think made the journey worthwhile in his eyes.

World War Z / Max Brooks / 342 pgs

On its surface, World War Z seems like just another entry in the expanding zombie-fiction genre, but underneath, it is actually a sly commentary about the diversity of the world's different cultures and how we all react and deal differently with crisis.

Instead of a central plot, the story is told through a series of vignettes of survivors' stories, ten years after a global zombie epidemic. There is no main character except for the unseen narrator, described as a UN worker who has compiled the series of survivor interviews. His voice is unobtrusive, used minimally, and only serves to move the stories along. Through the interviews, we get individual accounts of how the zombie war transpired from various viewpoints all over the world. We also get insight into how different individuals and governments effectively dealt with, or mismanaged the crisis - from Japan to India, Iceland, Cuba, Russia, Brazil, United States, etc.

The book paces itself nicely by first describing the initial confusion and ignorance about what is happening, then travels through the thick of things when the epidemic is at its worst, then ends with the eventual control of the situation and delves into the various ways society changed and adapted in the aftermath.

The individual stories portray the horrors that people experienced on a personal level, as well as give insight as to how things were dealt with politically and militarily. Through its mode of storytelling, it manages to explore the different ways we react to epic catastrophe on an individual level as well as a collective basis, while also touching upon the fog of war and the confusion that stems from panic and misinformation.

World War Z was an easy read due to its short bursts of rotating stories. The accounts are realistic and have a sense of urgency and dread. The book is definitely a fun read, but it also contains a deceptively subtle subtext about world cultures, the human condition and history.

Six Years / Harlan Coben / 351 pgs.

“Six Years”  is an excellent thriller about a man who will do anything for love. Jake Fisher fell in love with Natalie Avery one summer while he was writing his thesis and she was attending an art camp. She left him at the end of that summer to marry another man--Todd Sanderson. He promised to leave them alone and never try to contact her.

Now six years have passed and he sees her groom's obituary on the front page of their college website. For Jake, all bets are off. He needs to see if Natalie was willing to rekindle their relationship. He feels that he was only leading half a life during the past years. But when he attends Todd Sanderson's funeral he is surprised that the widow is not Natalie. This starts him on a quest to find Natalie but he encounters road block after road block.

Jake also attracts the attention of the mafia, various police officers, and the FBI. Despite being beaten, kidnapped, and shot, Jake continues to follow all the clues to find out what happened to the only woman he had ever loved.

The story is told in first person as though Jake is talking to the reader including various asides. We get to follow along as he uncovers clues and conspiracies and as he uncovers secrets and betrayals. The style of the book is engaging and engrossing. It was a real page-turner that kept me up later than I should have been up. Jake was a great hero--an ordinary man who gets in way over his head and perseveres because of his great love for Natalie.

Fahrenheit 451 / Ray Bradbury / 199 pgs.

This book was written 60 years ago, but the themes and social issues are still very significant today.

The basic premise behind Ray Bradbury's novel 'Fahrenheit 451' is compelling. In the future, fireman don't put out fires, they start them. It is their job to seek out books and put them to the flame, making sure that no one indulges in the 'crime' of reading one. But what makes this nightmare so interesting, and relevant, is that it was not forced upon the people by their government, but was decided upon by the people themselves. Minority groups, religions, and ethnicities, which were offended by the words of writers, simply made reading unpopular and convinced the world that books were, first, a waste of time, and then the root of all evil.

This is not an easy read, due to the fact that the “meat” of story lies between the lines.  However, “Fahrenheit 451” asks important questions.  Take the time to answer them for yourself.

Defending Jacob / William Landay / 421 pgs.

For suspense readers, finding a plot that hasn't done to death is a real prize.  The novel “Defending Jacob” manages to supply a few new twists for those readers. 

In a small Massachusetts town, a young boy is found murdered in the woods.  Initially a pedophile is suspected, but soon, another classmate, fourteen-year old Jacob Barber, the only child of well-respected district attorney, Andy Barber, is a person of interest and eventually charged with his classmate's murder. Jacob admits to finding the body in the woods, touching the body, but being afraid to tell anyone about it. Andy and his wife Laurie find it hard to believe that there could ever be capable of such an act, but yet at times they wonder if it could be true. Jacob's is a sullen boy, often moody and withdrawn and full of secrets. The fact he has posted things on Facebook that could be used against him will not help in proving his innocence. The family is from a nice suburban town, and is shamed and shunned by the community.

When the prosecuting attorney introduces the “murder gene” theory, Andy is forced to take a closer look at his own life.

This title is highly recommendable, which is the true test of any book.

The Automatic Detective / A. Lee Martinez / 317 p.

Okay, this book was just plain fun.  The main character is Mack, a robot designed to be an offensive weapon. However, Mack has developed the Free Will Glitch and is driving a cab, hoping to qualify for citizenship in Empire City. He's got to be careful and not squish any "biologicals" and knows that the police are keeping an eye on him in case his original smash-and-destroy programming runs amok. But when the human family that lives next door to him is kidnapped, Mack swings into action to track them down and rescue them, for reasons that are not clear to his logic processors.

The best parts of the story concern Mack's thoughts on moving from cold robot logic to slippery human sentimentality, and Martinez does a great job with this subtle philosophical theme. Meanwhile, the action is fun and fast-moving, and fits perfectly within the pulpy world that Martinez has created. But the novel is also a bit monochromatic as the retro-sci-fi backdrop can't quite hold together an ambitious conspiracy among aliens, mutants, norms, and robots; and there are a few plot holes here and there that do some damage to the story line  particularly regarding Mack's run-ins with the cops. But readers who are willing to forgive a few lapses in focus will still find a fun and very unique story with cool characters and a lot of rip-roaring action.

The Dinner / Herman Koch / 292 pgs.

I wanted to like this novel. I'm a big fan of unreliable narrators, unlikable characters and of plots that gradually unfold, layer by layer, i.e. “Gone Girl” and “Shutter Island”.  So a novel that starts out as the story of a civilized dinner party at a posh Amsterdam restaurant involving two couples discussing their sons, but with this underlying feeling that things are not as they seem, should be right down my alley.

The problem is that what Herman Koch ends up revealing over the course of the novel is too little too late.  Instead of telling the story through one parents’ perspective, it might have been more effective if Koch had chosen to come at the plot line from the viewpoint of all four parents.  It would have moved along faster, and not pushed the story so far to the back.  Yes, it's as much or more a story about how two sets of parents deal with (or fail to find a mutually acceptable way to deal with) some horrific behavior on the part of their sons as it is about those boys and their actions, but the ramblings back over time on the part of the narrator, Paul, become so much a distraction that the conflicts at the heart of the novel end up feeling like the subplot..

This novel is a great concept that never quite delivers. There are some fascinating ideas -- such as the way in which individuals can distort reality and morality -- but the author never lets his characters’ fend for themselves.

Cold Days / Jim Butcher / 515 p.

By far the best Dresden book of the series!
  
Harry has been battered and blasted all throughout the series, even being brought back from the dead. Now he is the Winter Knight, sworn to serve the Winter Queen, Mab, for the rest of his life. It seemed as though Harry was finally backed into an impossible corner that even he would not be able to escape - after all how could he outwit a fairy queen when without her continued intervention Harry would be left a helpless cripple.  Ah, but this is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden here, named after no less than three magicians. Of course Harry will find a way to make his current situation work.  Not only is he our Winter Knight, he is also our White Night.

In COLD DAYS, Harry is reunited with characters that over time have remained steadfast and true. There is his protege, Molly, who continues to grow stronger in her spiritual ways, Bob, who "was a spirit of air, or intellect, or any one of a great many terms used to describe such beings," and usually good for a bit of comic relief. There's Toot-toot, a leader of a crew of tiny faeries who can be convinced to take on nearly any task in exchange for pizza. Butters is back, as is Dresden's vampire brother, Thomas. And of course, there's Karrin Murphy.

These books have a strong myth arc, so start at the beginning and watch Harry become the Wizard he is today.

Life of Pi / Yann Martel / 319 p.

Life of Pi is a novel that is sometimes hard to wrap your mind around.  The main premise is that a young man, Pi, and his family decide to move to Canada via ship, taking along some animals from the zoo they owned in India.  Once aboard, the ship has mechanical trouble and sinks.  Pi is tossed into the only successfully launched lifeboat.  Unfortunately, the lifeboat is also occupied by part of his family's zoo-a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and Bengal tiger.

Although the synopsis makes the title sound like a survival story, it is anything but.  Along Pi's journey, you are given clues as to the real meaning but it isn't until the end that you truly understand Pi's struggle.

The challenge with this book is that when you DO get to the end, you realize that you need to reread the entire novel.  So much of the book is written with symbolism in mind that determining what really might have happened takes work on the part of the reader.

But even with the extra work, the storytelling from Martel is well worth it.

Major Pettigrew's last stand : a novel / Helen Simonson / 358 pgs.

Major Ernest Pettigrew leads a quiet life in the village of St. Mary, England, until his brother's death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Drawn together by their shared love of books and the loss of their spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something more.  Unfortunately, this unlikely union does not set well with others.

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand is a beautifully crafted novel that lets you believe you are reading a simple story of two lonely people finding each other.  But, in fact, it is anything but simply.  The Major is faced with, not only the prejudice of the village, but his own staunch attitude towards what is proper.  He must deal with an adult son who has yet to grow up.  And he must make a decision to what is most important in his life.

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand will convince you to never give up on love, and anxiously await Helen Simonson’s next book

Have a Little Faith / Mitch Albom / 254 pgs.

Mitch Albom gives us an inspirational story of two men, with different starting points but the same finish.

Albom is asked by his childhood Rabbi to give the eulogy at the Rabbi’s funeral.  After the decision to grant the request, in order to do the Rabbi justice, he feels he needs to understand, not just the Rabbi, but the man.  What begins as a favor for the Rabbi, evolves into Albom finding a part of himself he has forgotten. 

Henry, a former drug-dealer and convict, becomes involved in Mitch Albom’s life by accident.  Out of curiosity, Albom enters a derelict church near his home, and to his surprised finds Henry preaching to a unconventional congregation.  Albom is made to face his prejudice and cynicism, but in return is given the opportunity to grow in his faith.

It is a true story of how it is never too late to find faith in yourself and other.

Fall from Grace / Richard North Patterson / 278 pgs.

Richard North Patterson is one of today’s best contemporary writers, and where this novel is not his crowning glory, “Fall from Grace” definitely keeps us entertained.

Adam Blaine, has been estranged from his father, Benjamin, a famous author. Now, after years apart, he returns for his father's funeral.

Adam is shocked to learn that his father has recently changed his will so that his home and most of his estate go to a young actress, Carla Pacelli, his father’s current lover, and  Jenny Leigh, a former girlfriend of Adam’s. Benjamin's wife, who is Adam's mother, Clarice, and Adam's brother, Teddy, who is gay, are left out of the will. 

Adam finds himself in a precarious position.  He is the executor of his father’s will, and faces being true to his father, or doing justice for his mother and brother.

A major complication is added when the police determine that Benjamin did not die accidentally, but murdered.

Patterson, who is usually a master at character development, misses the boat with Adam Blaine.  There are hints at a more complete man, but we are never allowed to see behind the wall.  This makes me question if this is the beginning of a character to be used a following novel.

Gone Girl / Gillian Flynn / 419 pgs.

I always wonder after reading a book like this, where the author draws her material from.  This is the second title I’ve read of Gillian Flynn (Sharp Objects), and both books are full of dark, greatly flawed, and unique characters set upon paths of total self-destruction.  I love them.

“Gone Girl” takes the old cliché that “you never really know a person” and gives it steroids.  She introduces us to Nick and Amy Dunne, the typical husband and wife with the same husband and wife complaints that inhabit every marriage.  Flynn lolls you into their everyday lives, and then BAM!  Nick and Amy’s world is turned upside down and you’re left wondering if you’ve picked up a different book.

Flynn’s writing is pure.  She finds no need for extra prose, or contrived dialogue, even when she is dealing with complex characters and plots.  Flynn sugar-coats nothing, yet we don’t seem to mind because everything she gives us seems so real.

The Cutting Season / Attica Locke / 374 pgs.

I wanted to love “The Cutting Season” by Attica Locke.  It had so much of the criteria found in a good mystery: 

We are given a great setting; in the past, a sugar plantation, Belle Vie, that was owned by a questionable family; the unsolved disappearance of a slave, Jason, after disobeying his master, and disembodied singing near the slave quarters in the depths of the night.

In the present, the plantation has become a center for the upper crust of Baton Rouge society, mostly operated by the decedents of the slaves originally held at Belle Vie, and our protagonist an ancestor of Jason, who was never found.

Ms. Locke weaves the past and present extraordinarily well, connecting the crimes and the characters with dynamic prose.

Then why did I not love this book.  Maybe Ms. Locke needs to tell us more.  Maybe she needs to tell me why Caron, her protagonist, does the things she does, and feels the way she feels.  You want to know Caron, but Locke holds her at bay and uses Caron to move the plot along rather than explore it.

This book was had a lot going for it, and although I didn’t fall in love, I’m looking forward to the next date.