Finished: On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous (Vuong) An excellent book of the life story of a Vietnamese family, mother, son and grandmother, told in a letter from the son, now in his twenties, to his mother. Not a story in the traditional sense, but a compilation of beautiful prose, of thoughts and life experiences and revelations as Little Dog, as he's known, remembers in vivid detail the horrors both his mother and grandmother shared with him about living in Vietnam during the war; about coming to America and struggling to fit in and live; and opens up to his mother about the homosexual relationship he had as a young teen, his first love, who meant so much to him. Vuong paints such a vivid picture with every word that I could actually feel the pain, the sorrow and the love from each character. Here are a couple of snippets I liked:

"You once told me that the human eye is god's loneliest creation. How so much of the world passes through the pupil and still it holds nothing. The eye, alone in its socket, doesn't even know there's another one, just like it, an inch away, just as hungry, as empty. Opening the front door to the first snowfall of my life, you whispered, "Look." "

And this one wrecked my heart as Little Dog was watching his mother and aunt cater to their dying mother's body and wishes. It is so true.

"We try to preserve life--even when we know it has no chance of enduring its body. We feed it, keep it comfortable, bathe it, medicate it, caress it, even sing to it. We tend to these basic functions not because we are brave or selfless but because, like breath, it is the most fundamental act of our species: to sustain the body until time leaves it behind."

This book will stay in my thoughts for quite awhile.

Finished: Redemption (Baldacci) The latest book in the Memory Man series which features FBI consultant, Amos Decker, the man with the injured brain that remembers every single detail of everything he reads and experiences. This unexpected, and often unwanted, talent helps Amos solve cases with his FBI partner, former journalist, Alex. In this story, Amos goes back to his hometown of Burlington where he tragically lost his wife and daughter in a bloody murder at their home a few years before...unfortunately a scene that will never leave Amos' mind since he is the one who walked in and found them dead. While there visiting, as he does yearly on his daughter's birthday, he is approached by the man who he sent to prison for murder on the very first case he was assigned years before. The man is out of prison for mercy because he is dying soon of cancer. He insists to Amos that he didn't commit the murders all those years ago, and he'd like Amos to prove it and clear his name before he dies. What ensues is the typical Amos Decker investigation where he figures things out by remembering obscure clues, and sure enough, he figures out that the man is innocent. What's more, he was set up for the murders in a elaborate scheme that was a cover up for an even more sinister operation of Russian operatives being brought into the country, re-educated in American ways, and then integrated into America to spy for Russia. I was more interested in the relationships that Amos is continuing to work on with old friends, new friends and workmates. The actual murder mystery was just kind of ok. Still, Baldacci always gives a pretty good read. :-)

Finished: The Need (Phillips) This was a literal page-turner which I don't think I would recommend. I kept reading until the very end because it was suspenseful, and the chapters were short and to the point, and I really wanted to see what it all meant at the end....but the ending didn't give any answers! The book is about a young, working mother who seems to either be in a the throes of developing a split personality, or to be in the middle of a nightmare where another version of herself really exists! Molly is home alone with Viv, almost four, and Ben, oneish. Her husband is out of town on business for a week and Molly hears footsteps in the house while she's alone with the children. She has no option but to face the intruder when Viv runs out into the room where the masked intruder is holding Viv's favorite book, which has been missing. The intruder leaves the house, but also leaves a note for Molly requesting a meeting the next day. If she doesn't show up, the children will be in danger. Molly goes to the meeting the next day and comes face to face with herself! Only, it's herself from an alternate reality where both Viv and Ben have been killed in a bombing. :-( Moll, as she calls herself, is grieving terribly and tells Molly that she will have to share Viv and Ben with her from now on...that they'll take turns mothering them. Molly is stunned, scared, and in total disbelief. Molly works at an archaeological pit where she has been digging and retrieving artifacts for the past 8 years. Only recently some very strange items have turned up....a Coke bottle with the cursive writing backwards...a little green army man with the tail of a monkey....and an ancient bible where every reference to God is "She" instead of "He". Moll appears to have come from this alternate place, from a crack in the pit, where in another life she lost her/their children. Molly goes along with Moll's plan during the week that David is gone. She doesn't tell him what's going on when he calls because she doesn't want him to think she's crazy. As things escalate and it even looks like Moll might take the kids and run, Molly, Viv and Ben all get a terrible stomach virus, and Moll takes care of them all. Throughout this entire story, it's just ambiguous enough that I thought certainly this was going to end up being a case of split personality. However, one day when Molly is driving home to take her turn in the basement while Moll has the kids, Moll is out in the yard with the kids. The neighbor across the street sees Molly speed up and drive by, and later asks her how she could have been in both places! Anyway, at the end, either Molly or Moll, I'm not sure which, packs up the kids and takes them out in the fresh air and walks away with them. That's where it ends! I have no idea if it was truly an alternate reality or a split personality or just plain insanity. It was a fast read, and not a bad book, but with no resolution, I was left very unfulfilled.

Finished: Disappearing Earth (Phillips) This was a very good, page-turning book about the people on the periphery, yet very entangled in, the disappearance of two little girls, sisters, in a remote area of Russia. I was truly surprised by the ending and glad some of the characters tied together the way they did. There were a couple of characters whose stories I would have liked to see more of, or a bit more resolved, but the author is a very talented writer who I would like to read more from! I'm just going to be lazy and put the Amazon recap here because it describes the book better than I could. :-)

"One August afternoon, on the shoreline of the Kamchatka peninsula at the northeastern edge of Russia, two girls--sisters, eight and eleven--go missing. In the ensuing weeks, then months, the police investigation turns up nothing. Echoes of the disappearance reverberate across a tightly woven community, with the fear and loss felt most deeply among its women.

Taking us through a year in Kamchatka, Disappearing Earth enters with astonishing emotional acuity the worlds of a cast of richly drawn characters, all connected by the crime: a witness, a neighbor, a detective, a mother. We are transported to vistas of rugged beauty--densely wooded forests, open expanses of tundra, soaring volcanoes, and the glassy seas that border Japan and Alaska--and into a region as complex as it is alluring, where social and ethnic tensions have long simmered, and where outsiders are often the first to be accused.

In a story as propulsive as it is emotionally engaging, and through a young writer's virtuosic feat of empathy and imagination, this powerful novel brings us to a new understanding of the intricate bonds of family and community, in a Russia unlike any we have seen before."

Finished: Under the Greenwood Tree (Hardy) I picked this book up in a used book store, and having loved some Thomas Hardy books before, decided to read it....besides, the blurb on the back described it as "Hardy's" sunniest work, lol. ok, so here is the whole blurb:

"Two newcomers settle in the village of Mellstock bringing change and disruption to the rural inhabitants. Mr. Maybold, the vicar, is hot and strong on church business, but his plans to incorporate the new-fangled organ cause offence to the old-fashioned ecclesiastical musicians. Fancy Day, the school teacher, and a flower among vegetables, has an equally upsetting effect upon the hearts of the younger men. Hardy drew on his own childhood experiences to paint this affectionate, unsentimental but often comic, portrait of rustic, society touched by progress."

How could I not read it with a blurb like that? And, with an opening page like this:

"To dwellers in a wood almost every species of tree has its voice as well as its feature. At the passing of the breeze the fir-trees sob and moan no less distinctly than they rock; the holly whistles as it battles with itself; the ash hisses amid its quiverings; the beech rustles while its flat boughs rise and fall. And winter, which modifies the note of such trees as shed their leaves, does not destroy its individuality."

So, we soon find walking among those trees twentyish Dick Dewey who is one of the young men who falls for Miss Fancy Day. There's a bit of flirting, and some jealousy when another suitor or two show themselves, and some hurdles to overcome when her father doesn't think Dick is good enough for Fancy...but basically, amidst lots of descriptive prose like above and lots of "rural lingo" and day to day conversations between various characters, Dick and Fancy declare their love and get married. It's not my favorite Hardy book, but was a nice read...and nice to read the flowery prose of the old masters every so often to remind myself why they were the masters. :-)

Finished: Long Road To Mercy (Baldacci) Another good mystery by Baldacci, the author of the Memory Man series. He introduces a new heroine, Atlee Pine, a young FBI agent who is working in a field office in Arizona near the Grand Canyon. Atlee had become an FBI agent after experiencing a horrific event as a six year old...the breaking in of her home and kidnapping of her twin sister, Mercy, while Atlee watched as the kidnapper played Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Moe to decide which girl to take. Mercy was never found and Atlee has now made it her mission to find out what happened to her sister. Of course, she's also got to do her job for the FBI. In this case, a mule that has taken a man down to the floor of the Grand Canyon is found killed, with initials carved into it, and the man is nowhere to be found. When it turns out the man who was supposed to be riding the mule had switched places with another man, and that both men had secretive, possibly government jobs, things get serious fast. Together with her elderly secretary, Ms. Bluhm, Atlee puts the intricate pieces together...especially since attempts have been made on her life now trying to get her to stop her investigation....one attempt by American military and one by a North Korean man. Atlee and Ms. Bluhm figure out that some people high up in the American government, in cahoots with the Russians, created a plan to plant a nuclear bomb in a cave in the Grand Canyon. North Korea has apparently purchased many Russian made nuclear weapons, so if America and Russia can make it look like North Korea somehow sneaked a nuclear weapon into the U.S. with the intent of killing thousands of people, then it would give America the right to retaliate and attack North Korea, killing millions. It's a disturbing and convoluted plan (and a rather out there plot line). Atlee figures out where the missing man (who we find out is an American nuclear bomb inspector who is trying to stop the stupid plan) is hiding in the Grand Canyon. Atlee meets park ranger, and former military man, Sam Keller, and he ends up helping her hike the canyon to find the missing man and get him out....along with the weapon. There is lots of detail about the Grand Canyon and all the hiking trails, which is pretty neat. And, it looks like there is a possible romance brewing between Atlee and Sam. :-) I like the character of Atlee Pine, especially when you can tell that she'll probably get another story and perhaps they will get back to her finding her sister's kidnapper. She's smart and super strong and not afraid of putting her neck on the line. I will mostly likely read the next book! :-)

Finished: The Chain (McKinty) A suspenseful, page-turning, perfect read for a long airline flight, The Chain is about a single mother whose 13 year old daughter is kidnapped. The kicker is...the kidnapper says the mother must kidnap another child, contact those parents, and the ransom for THAT child be paid, before her own daughter will be released. Hence...the chain. Parents are trapped in a nightmare where they have no choice but to commit a crime and put another set of parents exactly what they are going through before their own child is released. And, we all know that parents will do anything for their children. The children are always returned unharmed (of course, because they are being held by other parents whose own child is being held by someone else!) The people who run the entire operation ask for a ransom that they know the parent(s) can afford. Over the years, they've made millions. They are an adult twin brother and sister pair who were rescued from a cult their mother had taken them to as infants. Rescued by their father and survivalist-type grandfather at an early age, they were raised by their grandfather after their father died. They are both extremely intelligent, one even working in the FBI, but they are obviously devoid of any morals. The single mom who we follow throughout the story, Rachel, is a divorced, cancer-surviving mother of Kylie, who has just been kidnapped when the story begins. Rachel's ex-husband, who had left her for another woman, is in the periphery of the story, and becomes more prominent when it ends up that his newest girlfriend is, unknowingly to him, the female half of the brother/sister duo! After Rachel kidnaps another child, and Kylie is returned unharmed, and Rachel returns HER victim unharmed, she is contacted by another former parent victim. With his urging, Rachel decides to get to the bottom of who started the chain...even though they are threatened with death to their loved ones and themselves if they ever go to the police or speak of the kidnapping after their child is returned. She enlists the help of her ex-husband's brother, who she's always been close to, and together, they end up uncovering the twin duo, with no time to spare, since her ex-husband has taken Kylie to his new girlfriend's cabin in the woods for a fun weekend. New girlfriend is all set to kill Kylie when she finds out that Rachel has gone against the agreement and started investigating them. The story culminates in happy endings all around with the death of the twins and their grandfather, the breaking of the chain forever, the mental recuperation of Kylie, and the new relationship between Rachel and her ex-brother-in-law. A great summer read. :-)

Finished: Lucky Per (Pontoppidan) Revered in Denmark as "the great Danish" novel, Lucky Per follows the story of one man, Peter Andreas Sidenius, aka, Per. The book won Pontoppidan the Nobel Prize in 1917. It truly was a long, detailed book, similar to how it was reading War and Peace for me. There was so much discussion of Denmark's economy and politics and especially religion as we were given insight into not only Per's deep, and often depressing thoughts, but also those of the first woman he became engaged to, Jakobe, a Jewish heiress. Per, having been raised by a strict, Christian father and loving, but sickly mother, along with his several brothers and sisters, felt differently from everyone in his family from a young age. He didn't at all embrace the religion that their family thrived on. The book is far too long and expository for me to recap the entire story. I did enjoy it, though, despite the many tangents and pontifications. I think I might just include part of the book jacket cover here, which probably explains the book better than I can! I'm so happy to have received this book from my son. :-)

"Pontoppidan provides a panoramic view of the contradictions of the modernizing world through the portrait of a single driven and beleaguered soul. Per Sidenius, unhappy son of an austere clergyman, rejects his faith and flees the Danish countryside for the capital city. Gifted and ambitious, he arrives in Copenhagen...." "Per's obsession is a grandiose engineering scheme that he believes will reshape both Denmark's landscape and its minor position in the world. While working relentlessly to achieve this inflated vision of personal and national destiny, he pursues the fiercely independent heiress Jakobe Salomon..." "Though Per's ambitions come to grief along the way, at its heart his story turns on his belated understanding of the true relationship between luck and happiness."

Finished: The Pearl (Steinbeck) A very short novella which gets right to the heart of how suddenly becoming rich beyond your imagination can ruin your life and the lives of those you love. Kino is a very poor Mexican "native" who lives in a thatched hut with his wife Juana and their baby, Coyotito. He makes his living by fishing and diving for pearls, using a canoe handed down to him from generation to generation. When baby Coyotito is stung by a scorpion, Kino and Juana take him to the very privileged doctor in town who treats the natives like dogs and who won't help them without substantial payment. Dejected and upset, they go back to their hut and pray to find a pearl of enough worth to sell for the doctor treatment. As it happens, Kino dives down and finds the biggest pearl any of his fellow pearl divers have ever seen...as big as an egg in his hand. Their fellow villagers are in awe and gather around Kino as he talks about what he'll do with the money the pearl brings in. Both his wife and his brother are worried about the change in Kino's ambitions. Meanwhile, Coyotito is actually recovering naturally from his scorpion bite. However, when the doctor hears about the huge pearl Kino has found, he goes to the hut and claims he can heal Coyotito. The evil doctor actually gives the baby a powder that makes him sicker, only to come back in an hour and "cure" his illness. He then demands payment. Kino tells him that he will pay him when he sells the pearl the next day. That night, however, someone breaks into the hut and tries to steal the pearl. They are unsuccessful, but it begins the string of mistrust that Kino feels as he tries to guard what he now sees to be a richer future for his family. He is also determined that Coyotito will become an educated man. When Kino goes the next day to sell the pearl, the appraisers offer him a very low amount of money and it angers him. He expects fifty times as much and he takes his pearl and leaves, declaring he will go to the city and get a fair price. Again that night someone tries to steal the pearl, and this time it ends up with Kino stabbing and killing the intruder. Kino believes he will be immediately arrested and no one will believe it was self-defense, so he takes Juana and Coyotito and decides to sail away that night. However, someone has put a huge hole in Kino's canoe. :-( Instead, they head for the mountains, but soon realize they are being followed by trackers. As the trackers get nearer and nearer, Kino feels his only option is to sneak down to the tracker camp while two of the three men are sleeping and kill the guard, steal his rifle, and kill the other two men. During the scuffle, a shot rings out and Juana lets out a wail. The bullet has killed baby Coyotito. :-( :-( Kino and Juana march back through the village and out to the edge of the ocean and throw the bad luck pearl back into the ocean and decide to live their former simple life....however, without their precious son. Steinbeck is such a very descriptive writer and this was a good story, even if it was very black and white in regards to the affect that sudden wealth could/would have on a person and the surrounding community.

Finished: Blue Nights (Didion) A beautiful, emotional book written by a mother who has lost her daughter, her only child, shortly after seeing her happily married. The mother and author, Joan Didion, was married to screenwriter and novelist John Dunne and they lived the proverbial LA life of mingling with the stars. Their daughter, Quintana Roo, named for a region they loved in Mexico, fell critically ill when she was 37, and John suffered a massive heart attack and died while she was in the hospital. Quintana survived the illness, but fell and sustained a brain injury while on her way to her father's memorial service. She spent the next two years battling brain bleeds, sepsis and other critical issues before succumbing at the age of 39. Needless to say, her mother was bereft with the loss, first of her husband, and then her beloved daughter. In Blue Nights Joan Didion pretty much writes her stream of conscious thoughts on motherhood, children, life, aging, fearing death for yourself and your loved ones, and she does so with beautiful prose. It's a love story to her daughter, as she remembers back to specific things that will always remind her of Quintana. And, it's a story about how she had to go on and live her life, but as she grows older, how she fears illness and forgetfulness and dying. I related to much of what she wrote, having watched my parents lose a son at the age of 36. A very powerful, moving book!