The Fatal Flaw

The Secret History

By Donna Tartt

 

I like to introduce books to people in different ways, very much depending on the book. This one in particular has a perfect introduction. Donna Tartt wrote it in the prologue:

 

What are you doing up here? Said Bunny, surprised, when he found the four of us waiting for him.

 

Why, looking for new ferns, said Henry.

 

And after we stood whispering in the underbrush – one last look at the body and a last look round, no dropped keys, lost glasses, everybody got everything? – and then started single file through the woods, I took one glance back through the saplings that leapt to close the path behind me. Though I remember the walk back and the first lonely flakes of snow that came drifting through the pines, remember piling gratefully into the car and starting down the road like a family on vacation, with Henry driving clench-jawed through the potholes and the rest of us leaning over the seats and talking like children, though I remember only too well the long terrible night that lay ahead and the long terrible days and nights that followed, I have only to glance over my shoulder for all those years to drop away and I see it behind me again, the ravine, rising all green and black through the saplings, a picture that will never leave me.

 

I suppose at one time in my life I might have had any number of stories, but now there is no other. This is the only story I will ever be able to tell.

 

This novel is brilliantly written and at times you just cannot put it down. It was an honor to read.

Imagine

 

The God Delusion

By Richard Dawkins

“Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?” Douglas Adams

This is a well written book discussing the question of the existence of god (or your supernatural superior being of choice). Dawkins analyses this topic using history, science, and of course evidence. This can be seen with chapter titles like: “The God Hypothesis”, “Arguments for God’s existence”, and “Why there almost certainly is no God.” Dawkins also discusses other more emotional areas of religion. This can be seen with chapters such as: “What’s wrong with religion? Why be so hostile?” and “Childhood, abuse and the escape from religion”

Here are some quotes from the book:

 … “I shall define the God Hypothesis…: there exists a superhuman, supernatural intelligence who deliberately designed and created the universe and everything in it, including us. This book will advocate an alternative view: any creative intelligence, of sufficient complexity to design anything, comes into existence only as the end product of an extended process of gradual evolution. Creative intelligences, being evolved, necessarily arrive late in the universe, and therefore cannot be responsible for designing it. God, in the sense defined, is a delusion; and, as later chapters will show, a pernicious delusion.”

“Knowing that we are products of Darwinian evolution, we should ask what pressure or pressures exerted by natural selection originally favoured the impulse to religion.”

“How then do we decide what is right and what is wrong? No matter how we answer that question, there is a consensus about what we do as a matter of fact consider right and wrong: a consensus that prevails surprisingly widely. The consensus has no obvious connection with religion. It extends, however, to most religious people whether or not they think their morals come from scripture.”

“An atheist…is somebody who believes there is nothing beyond the natural, physical world, no supernatural creative intelligence lurking behind the observable universe, no soul that outlasts the body and no miracles – except in the sense of natural phenomena that we don’t yet understand. If there is something that appears to lie beyond the natural world as it is now imperfectly understood, we hope eventually to understand it and embrace it within the natural. As ever when we unweave a rainbow, it will not become less wonderful.”

This book is extremely insightful. Dawkins has the ability to write about science and history while getting a bit of a laugh too. You may not agree with everything he has to say, but I don’t think you can deny that he makes a lot of great points. If you give this book a chance, I think it will raise your consciousness and help you think about things a bit differently.

Please keep in mind that I am recommending a book here. I do not wish to have a religious debate on this platform. This book may or may not be for you – I’ll let you make that decision.

 

 

The Most Spectacular Show on Earth

Water for Elephants

By Sara Gruen

Considering this novel was published in 2006 and I’ve heard it recommended by practically everyone – where have I been? It took me seeing that the movie was coming out on dvd soon to finally hurry up and read it.

The circus in 1931 jumps vividly from the pages in this fantastic read. It’s easy to fall in love with (or hate, in some instances) not only a gorgeous elephant, but a menagerie of other characters that include circus workers, performers, bosses, and of course the animals.

Specifically, this book takes on the perspective of Jacob – who in the shadow of tragedy jumps on a train to escape his difficulties and leave his old life behind. When discovered aboard the train, he discovers that he’s accidentally stowed away with a circus. Jacob officially joins the circus as his veterinary training and education prove useful to the circus owner. Jacob meets some great people (and animals) along the way and has the adventure of a lifetime. More than circus life, this novel explores friendship, loss, and love.

I devoured this book and I suggest that you do the same.

California or Bust

Daughter of Fortune

By Isabel Allende

This book was published in 1999 and I don’t remember when I bought it. It has been sitting on my bookshelf, moving with me place to place, unread. Over a year ago I bought and read a new Isabel Allende book and enjoyed it very much and have been looking forward to reading this one. Finally, I had a lull in my new book purchases (I ordered a bunch of books to be delivered to my friend’s house inAmericathat I would pick up while I visited there) and scoured my shelves to find the right book to read.

The book focuses mainly on Eliza, an orphan being raised by a British family in Valparaiso, Chile. This character and the others in the story are all described so wonderfully I can still picture them all in my head. In 1849, the world was changed by the gold found in California. People from all over moved to California in hopes of changing their lives and becoming rich. Eliza stows away on a ship to from Valparaiso to San Francisco, chasing after the man she loves that left to find gold. Once arriving in California, her life truly begins.

I was particularly drawn to this story since I spent a good part of my adolescence outside of San Francisco and I hope one day possibly to move to Chile. I was fascinated by the story that took place in and around Sacramento. Though it is ultimately fiction, there are definitely a lot of facts included and I’m surprised at how little I knew about ‘The Gold Rush’.

I encourage those who enjoy historical fiction, and especially those interested in Northern California circa 1849, to read this wonderful novel.

Dex and Em, Em and Dex

One Day

By David Nicholls

I’m not gonna lie – the movie cover of this novel really got to me. I love Jim Sturgess and Anne Hathaway– and that kiss on the cover looks so passionate! So I picked the book up a couple times to read the back cover and bam – the story’s premise is so intriguing!

You can live your whole life not realizing that what you’re looking for is right in front of you.

15^th July 1988.

Emma and Dexter meet on the night of their graduation.
Tomorrow they must go their separate ways.

So where will they be on this one day next year?

And the year after that?

And every year that follows?

So even though a trade paperback in this country costs over $20, I bought it. With so many movie versions of novels coming out and with the novels usually being so much better, I try my best to read the novel first and quickly before the movie can ruin it for me. Here are a couple of quotes I want to share:

The champagne and the solitude had lifted their mood, and both were now feeling sentimental, nostalgic, exactly as they should feel at a wedding, and they smiled at each other through the smoke. ‘Callum says that we’re the “Marlboro-Light-Generation”.’

‘God, that’s depressing.’ Emma sniffed. ‘A whole generation defined by a brand of fag. I’d sort of hoped for more.’ She smiled and turned to Dexter. ‘So. How are you these days?’

‘I’m fine. Bit more sensible.’

‘Sex in toilet cubicles lose its bittersweet charm?’

He laughed and examined the tip of the cigarette. ‘I just had to get something out of my system, that’s all.’

‘And is it out now?’

‘Think so, most of it.’

‘Because of true love?’

‘Partly. Also I’m thirty-four now. At thirty-four you start to run out of excuses.’

‘Excuses?’

‘Well, if you’re twenty-two and you’re fucking up, you can say, it’s okay I’m only twenty-two. I’m only twenty-five, I’m only twenty-eigtht. But “I’m only thirty-four”?’ He sipped from his glass, and leant back into the hedge. ‘It’s like everyone has a central dilemma in their life, and mine was can you be in a committed, mature, loving adult relationship and still get invited to threesomes?’

‘And what’s the answer Dex?’ she asked, solemnly.

‘The answer is no, you can’t. Once you’ve worked that out, it all gets a bit simpler.’

 

‘What are you going to do with your life?’ In one way or another it seemed that people had been asking her this forever; teachers, her parents, friends at three in the morning, but the question had never seemed this pressing and still she was no nearer an answer. The future rose up ahead of her, a succession of empty days, each more daunting and unknowable than the one before her. How would she ever fill them all?

…’Live each day as if it’s your last’, that was the conventional advice, but really, who had the energy for that? What if it rained or you felt a bit glandy? It just wasn’t practical. Better by far to simply try and be good and courageous and bold and to make a difference. Not change the world exactly, but the bit around you. Go out there with your passion…and work hard at…something…Cherish your friends, stay true to your principles, live passionately and fully and well. Experience new things. Love and be loved, if you ever get the chance.

This is such a well written story about friendship, loss, love, and ultimately life. I don’t think I’ve read a piece of fiction so real in quite a while, and I fervently recommend that you pick this one up and read it.
I hope that you too will see how important that one day might be for you.

Thea of Many Names

Mistress of Rome

By Kate Quinn

This debut novel is an exciting new piece of historical fiction. Delve into the world of Ancient Rome and indulge while you’re there.

The book begins in the year AD 81 in Rome. Thea, a Jewish slave girl prepares her horrible new mistress Lepida to attend the games at the Colosseum where they first encounter Arius, the Barbarian. The book is mainly told from the perspective of these three characters. Over the course of the next fifteen years, they are thrown together and ripped apart, but their lives are forever entwined.

Here are a couple passages:

She knew I was no Greek, despite the name bestowed on me by the Athenian merchant who was my first owner. ‘Yes, my lady.’ I murmured in my purest Greek. A frown flickered between her fine black brows. I was better educated than my mistress, and it annoyed her no end. I tried to remind her at
least once a week.

*

Down in the arena, the man at the head of the shackled line blinked as a blunt sword was shoved into his hands…He turned wearily and hacked at the chained man behind him…The arena guards disarmed the first slave roughly, passing the sword to the next in line. A woman. She killed the man, roughly cutting his throat; was disarmed, killed in turn by the next…I looked down the chained line…Only one stood straight, a big man gazing around him with blank eyes. Even from the stands I could see the whip marks latticing his bare back…The guards gave the blunt sword to the man with the scars. He hefted it a moment in his shackled hands, gave it a swing…he killed the man who had gone before him in one efficient thrust…The arena guard reached for the sword and the big scarred man fell a step back, holding the blade up between them. The guard gestured, holding out an impatient hand, and then it all went to hell.

Enjoy this novel!

Coloured Domestics and the Southern Families for Which They Work

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

 

The Help was recommended highly to me by a couple of friends and I put it on my reading list. As happens so often, I bought the book and then it just sat on my bookshelf waiting for me. I’d be ready to start a new book, but for some reason I passed this one up every time to read something else. The reason, I realized when I finally made the decision that it was time, was that I was waiting to read something really great. The Help is, easily, my book of 2011 and is definitely one of the most important books I’ve ever read.

This novel takes place during the 1960’s in Jackson, Mississippi – a time and a place where there was a solid line drawn between black and white and to cross that line could mean death. “Where black maids raise white children, but aren’t trusted not to steal the silver…” This story focuses on the lives of Aibileen – a black maid with a beautiful and sad heart, Minny – a black maid who is sassy and real, and Skeeter – a white student who wants to become a writer. These women form an unlikely alliance and risk their lives to tell their story.

Here are a few bits:

 

*Aibileen*…Miss Hilly shaking her head. “Aibileen, you wouldn’t want to go to a school full of white people, would you?”

“No ma’am,” I mumble. I get up and pull the ponytail holder out a Baby Girl’s head…But what I really want to do is put my hands up over her ears so she can’t hear this talk. And worse, hear me agreeing.

But then I think: Why? Why I have to stand here and agree with her? And if Mae Mobley gone hear it, she gone hear some sense. I get my breath. My heart beating hard. And I say polite as I can, “Not a school full a just white people. But where the coloured and the white folks is together.”

 

*Minny* “No, Johnny doesn’t know I’m bringing in help.”

My chin drops down to my chest. “What you mean he don’t know?”

“I am not telling Johnny.” Her blue eyes are big, like she’s scared to death of him.

“And what’s Mister Johnny gone do if he come home and find a coloured woman up in his kitchen?”

“I’m sorry, I just can’t-“

“I’ll tell you what he’s gone do, he’s gone get that pistol and shoot Minny dead right here on this no-wax floor.”

Miss Celia shakes her head. “I’m not telling him.”

“Then I got to go,” I say. Shit. I knew it. I knew she was crazy when I walked in the door-

“It’s not that I’d be fibbing to him. I just need a maid-“

“A course you need a maid. Last one done got shot in the head.”

 

*Skeeter* “Well,” I took a deep breath, “I’d like to write this showing the point of view of the help. The coloured women down here.” I tried to picture Constantine’s face, Aibileen’s. “They raise a white child and then twenty years later the child becomes the employer. It’s the irony, that we love them and they love us, yet…” I swallowed, my voice trembling. “We don’t even allow them to use the toilet in the house.”

Again there was silence.

“And,” I felt compelled to continue. “everyone knows how we white people feel, the glorified Mammy figure who dedicates her whole life to a white family. Margaret Mitchell covered that. But no one ever asked Mammy how she felt about it.” Sweat dripped down my chest, blotting the front of my cotton blouse.

“So you want to show a side that’s never been examined before.” Missus Stein said.

“Yes. Because no one ever talks about it. No one talks about anything down here.”

 

When you are ready to read a really great book – read The Help.

Six Guns and a Murder

 

 

 

 

 

Six Suspects by Vikas Swarup

This is the second novel written by Swarup, his first being Q&A which you have probably (hopefully) seen on the big screen as Slumdog Millionaire. The premise of this story is that Vicky Rai, business man, son of politician, falsely acquitted murderer, and overall jerk off is murdered at his own party. There are six people found with guns and they become the six suspects. The novel then goes back to the time preceding the murder where we get to know these six people and in the process, their motives.

Six Suspects is a very clever novel with whodunit as the major theme, but overall this is a well written story about several individuals and their lives inIndia. These characters are very different people and learning about them opens up a window into modern dayIndia – the obsession with power, money, five star hotels, Bollywood and the status quo. Beyond the negative, you also get a glimpse of some really good people that want and try to have lives without pain and oppression.

Oh and in the end, finding out what did happen at Vicky Rai’s party is indeed a treat.

PS. Thanks Mands!

Old Sames

 

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

By Lisa See

This novel takes place during the nineteenth century in China. Lily is from a small village where she lives with her common family. Her only hope in life is to be married to a good man, which depends almost entirely on her feet being bound perfectly small, at the age a seven. Just before her feet are bound and before she is matched with a future husband, Lily is matched with a little girl from a better family in a laotong “old same” relationship. Lily and Snow Flower will be best friends and closest companions for their entire lives.

I am what they call in our village ‘one who has not yet died’ – a widow, eighty years old. Without my husband, the days are long. I no longer care for the special foods that Peony and the others prepare for me. I no longer look forward to the happy events that settle under our roof so easily. Only the past interests me now. After all this time, I can finally say the things I couldn’t when I had to depend on my natal family to raise me or rely on my husband’s family to feed me. I have a whole life to tell; I have nothing left to lose and few to offend.

I was fascinated with the historical and factual bits of this story – such as the foot binding, nu shu (the women’s secret language) and the marriage and friendship arrangements. This is a beautifully written story about family, life, love and especially friendship.

The Wanderer

The Host by Stephanie Meyer  

I was pleasantly surprised with this novel – though I don’t know why it was a surprise seeing as I devoured Twilight through Breaking Dawn. For some reason it has taken me a couple years, and my husband buying it for me, to get around to reading it. And I devoured it.

The Host is technically science fiction themed – though once you get into the novel it’s barely noticeable – with the expected love and emotional themes that were present in Meyer’s earlier works. The story takes place on an Earth where an alien species has taken over with the intention to make the world more peaceful and utopian. The members of this species are called souls and the main character goes by the name of Wanderer. She is implanted into the host body of a human named Melanie. By implanting into a human host body, the souls can then take their place on Earth. Something unusual happens in Wanderer and Melanie’s case as Melanie doesn’t leave the host body as she is supposed to. With Melanie easily being heard and Melanie’s memories sharp in Wanderer’s mind, Wanderer finds herself running from and defending both her and Melanie from her own species and Melanie’s.         

Here are a couple quotes to entice you:

1. The memory that was not mine was so frighteningly strong and clear that it sliced through my control – overwhelmed the detachment, the knowledge that this was just a memory and not me. Sucked into hell that was the last minute of her life, I was she, and we were running.

 2. I tried to ignore her, not wanting to think about that – that she was growing stronger. I watched the peak instead, tracing its shape against the pale, hot sky. There was something familiar about it. Something I was sure I recognized, even as I was positive that neither of us had been here before.

I thought that this was a fantastic story that has the ability to draw the reader in and could appeal to a wide range of people. This story is full of emotion, brought me to tears and I didn’t want it to end – what more does a reader really want?