Peachy Reads

The latest book by the author of The Kite Runner reads like a collection of short stories, but they are all interconnected. The link between stories isn’t always immediately apparent and there are some diversions that take the reader far from Kabul, and sometimes confusingly so (the detour to Greece was interesting, but a bit disconnected from the rest of the storyline, I thought). There were some great narratives—one in particular that I think was worth the whole of the book— a story about Afghani-American cousins, Idris and Timur, who return to Kabul to attempt to regain an ancestral home, abandoned after the Soviet invasion. While Timur goes out and carouses and flaunts his American wealth, Idris spends most of his time showing charity to a young girl in hospital, a victim of an unspeakable act of violence which leaves her in need of surgery in a western nation.  Idris, himself a doctor, promises to arrange the needed medical intervention, but when he returns to the US, the...

I'm a sucker for a thriller set in Sweden, even though I was somewhat disappointed by the previous novel from the Swedish husband/wife author team who go by the penname Lars Kepler.  Novels like those of Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, Henning Mankell, Stieg Larsson, and even John Ajvide Lindqvist are just hard to resist.  So when The Fire Witness came out, I just had to read it.  I must admit it was pretty hard to put down.  Though not perfect, I think the plot worked better than the previous title.  The central storyline focuses on a double murder in a home for wayward girls not far from Sundsvall.  Suspicion focuses on one of the resident girls and a large part of the novel charts attempts to discover her whereabouts.  There is an interesting subplot on a psychic medium’s supposed insight on the murders.  By the end of the novel the tension crescendos into a nail-biting conclusion and finishes with a scene that seems to lend ...

Things aren’t always as they seem in this thriller that starts out with the gruesome discovery of a murdered teen in Bath, England.   Police begin an investigation into what they think may be a serial killing, but then things take a different turn.  Many of the characters in this novel harbor secrets—secrets about their childhood, secrets about how they make their living, secrets about money, secrets about what they do in private.   At first there doesn’t seem to be a connection between the seemingly divergent plotlines in the narrative, but in the end it all comes together in a rather clever way.   And the last chapter is a bit of a shocker.   This is not your typical psychopath-run-amok Mo Hayder novel.  Some may not like its pacing and the different directions the investigation seems to take, with lots of deadends, but I thought it gave it more realism.

Jeannette Walls’s gritty memoir The Glass Castle , an account of her wacky childhood, captured people’s imagination as evidenced by its sustained popularity.  The book stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 100 weeks and was in constant demand in the library and has been a popular choice for book clubs.  Now a movie is in the works, with Hollywood darling Jennifer Lawrence rumored to head the cast. The glass castle of the title is the fantasy house father Rex Walls promises his family he will build for them one day when luck turns his way.  Luck never does turn his way.  Certainly no glass castle, the reality of what he provides for his family is quite different—a transient life, food shortages,  living in tumbledown houses until the authorities start to sniff around, their father loses his job, or conditions otherwise become so unbearable that the family must move on.  Throughout their childhood of degradation, the Walls children seem to r...

UK cover This detective novel gained popularity this summer when it was revealed that the enigmatic debut author was really none other than J.K. Rowling of the Harry Potter series. Cormoran Strike is a struggling gumshoe who doesn’t really need, and can't afford, the temporary office assistant the agency sends him one morning at the start of the book.   But they become a very good team as they untangle the mysterious circumstances surrounding the apparent suicide of a supermodel named Lula Landry. I quite liked this novel—for its sense of place in London, the strong and very contemporary characters, and their interpersonal dynamics.   My only criticism is that pace became a bit plodding in the middle of the book, but in the end it was a rewarding read overall.   Maybe if they had really been dealing with a debut author and not the publishing powerhouse that is JKR, the editor could have done his or her job and cut the manuscript down into a leaner, meaner machin...

The sound of the 70s for me is dominated by Linda Ronstadt belting out Top-40 hits like “You’re No Good,” “That’ll Be the Day,” “Heatwave,” “It’s So Easy,” and “When Will I Be Loved?”.  The doe eyes peering out from LP covers belied the powerhouse voice.  The LA music industry wanted a bona fide female rocker, but Linda was never comfortable in that role and she always defied classification.  When her fame forced her to sing her hits again and again in enormous acoustically-challenged arenas and the life on the road began to get to her, she decided to explore other aspects of her musical persona.  She followed her pop superstardom with collaborations with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton, Nelson Riddle, and explored her Mexican heritage with the enormously successful Canciones de mi padre , among other projects. There are some personal stories in this slim volume, but it’s mostly what the subtitle says—a musical memoir.  There is no gossip or mud-slinging, Jer...

This was one of those serendipitous finds that can happen when you work in a public library.  I was reshelving some returns on Friday when I noticed a book with my favorite place in Bruges on the front cover, Jan van Eyck Square. “#1 international bestseller” was written in large letters under the title, “European crime sensation Pieter Aspe” on the inside jacket flap, “the Flemish Georges Simenon”.  Well, okay then!  It was a great weekend read.  A fresh plot, good characters, a great sense of place in the wonderful Flemish historical city of Bruges and Flanders and Belgium beyond, even including Wallonia.  This is the first English translation of the Inspector Van In series, the second on the way.  There is a huge backlog of  Van In titles in Flemish just waiting to be translated for a larger world audience. Can’t wait.  Pretty near as good as Wallander.  Crack a Duvel and enjoy this one.  It may be the b...