Book Review: Hardball by Sara Paretsky

Two missing persons - one that lawyer and private investigator V. I. Warshawski is hired to find, the other someone that she must find. Those who want to learn more about the city of Chicago, past and present, will certainly get a lot from reading Hardball.

Synopsis: V. I. Warshawski, lawyer and private investigator, is hired to find a missing man, Lamont Gadsgen. In the meantime her cousin Petra disappears, possibly abducted while visiting Warshawksi's office with two unknown men. The security cameras capture the three blurred figures on film. Warshawski has to find Lamont, who has been missing for many years, and also try to find Petra and calm down her father, who blames her for Petra's mysterious disappearance. The plot ties into the history of Chicago in the 1960s.

I like a cleaner, more focused mystery than the current one by Paretsky, however. Maybe I'm too familiar with Chicago, but I felt that Paretsky tried to cram as much of Chicago as possible into her book, more than the plot warranted. Chicago's southside urban ghettos and its gangs and the 1967 race riots in Marquette Park are central to the plot, but the author also throws in Navy Pier, the Polish community, more than enough Chicago politics, and lots of landmarks. I found it distracting.

Also, I was put off by the number of different characters introduced at the beginning. I didn't know who to focus on. The book would have been better had the writing and plot been more streamlined. Even then, you really can't describe all aspects of this city in one book.

I also found it interesting that Warshawski's love interest is named Morell. The name reminded me too much of Stephanie Plum's on-and-off-again boyfriend Morelli in the Janet Evanovich mystery series. Another unfortunate distraction!

Thanks to the publisher for an ARC for review.

Book Review: The Elegance of the Hedgehog

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery


My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this social satire on modern French manners and society through the main characters.

Take one disenchanted 12-year-old child, smart but cynical for her age, add an equally cynical but likeable concierge/caretaker in a building of private apartments, and then mix in an erudite and wealthy Japanese gentlemen - shake together and see what happens when they meet and interact.

What they have in common is a love of beauty and art. Young Paloma thinks the world is not worth living in, until she discovers what she describes as perfection - the movements of a rising young player in a football game, for instance. The concierge, Renee, hides her love of good food, art, music, and literature behind nondescript clothing, unkempt hair, and a blank face that she shows to the tenants of her building. The Japanese gentleman, Mr. Ozu, is a new tenant who enjoys fine painting, music, and literature.

When Paloma and Mr. Ozu reach the conclusion that Renee the concierge is smarter than she lets on, Mr. Ozu is certain that Renee's cat Leo is named after the Russian writer Tolstoy. Renee decides that Mr. Ozu has found her out; his two cats have the names of characters in Tolstoy's War and Peace after all, and he has begun to observe her with curiousity. Ozu and Renee play cat and mouse games at first, trying to discover more about each other.

Young Paloma is anxious to get away from her wealthy parents and irritating older sister, who are always trying to draw her into meaningless conversations. She finds refuge in Renee's apartment. Mr. Ozu decides to invite Renee, whom everyone sees as a lowly concierge, to his elegant apartment for tea and again for dinner.

What happens next? Well, I won't tell everything!

I liked Renee's philosophical discourses on art, literature, beauty, and life. Her character is drawn to show that social stereotypes are just what they are - stereotypes. A concierge brought up in relative poverty is not what may seem to the outside world. She hides her knowledge of literature and art and her love of classical music because she, like the young girl Paloma, wants to be left alone by people who wouldn't understand her.

For those who like unusual and rebellious characters and who enjoy reading social satire, I recommend The Elegance of the Hedgehog.

Can't wait to read Muriel Barbery's previous book, Gourmet Rhapsody, now out in translation.

The Art of Meaningful Living by Christopher F. Brown

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme hosted by
Should Be Reading. Choose two sentences from your current read, and add the author and title for readers.

"Meaningful living is choosing your passions over your fears. It is accepting what you cannot control and focusing on what is in your power."
(from the cover of The Art of Meaningful Living by Christopher F. Brown, art by John Palmer)

A coffee-table style book with self-help advice on wisdom, action, and resilience. It is illustrated with 75 pieces of colorful abstract art.

BBAW: Reading

Saw this BBAW meme over at Lori's Blog and decided to play along to mark the end of BBAW Appreciation Week.

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack?
I try not to get crumbs or fingerprints on my book, so I'll usually put the book aside while I take a book break. I snack on chips, chocolate, or what's available.


Do you tend to mark your books as you read? How do you keep your place while reading a book?
I never put pencil or pen marks in books.

I try to mark the page with a bookmark, a piece of paper, anything available... When I can't find anything to mark with, I memorize the page number I'm on! That doesn't always work!


Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?
Both. I've discovered some really good memoirs lately. I especially liked Lift: A Memoir by Rebecca K. O'Connor, a falconer.


Hard copy or audio books?
Hard copy, though I've listened to audio books on long drives.


Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point?
I put down the book at any point.


If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away?
Not unless the dictionary is right next to me. I try to figure out the meaning by the way the word's used.


What are you currently reading?
Sara Paretsky's Hardball, an ARC of a new mystery/thriller by the Chicago author.

Also reading the memoir, Julie and Julia, and sometimes pick up The Elegance of the Hedgehog


What is the last book you bought?
Bought The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I loved his first book, Shadow of the Wind.


Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time?
I'm reading at least three right now - a mystery/thriller, a memoir, and literary fiction.


Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read?
I tend to read in the afternoons and at night. I read outdoors, on a couch by the window, in the car while my hubby is driving, at the bookstore, at a coffee shop. Wherever.

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books?
Cozy mystery series by M.C. Beaton as well as gardening mysteries, petsitter mysteries, dog mysteries, feng shui mysteries, and so on. I also like mystery/thriller writer, Ridley Pearson, among others.


Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?
All the books I mentioned above and more.


How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?)
They are not organized, sad to say. I organize them by newer versus older, right now anyway.


How about you?

Tagged: Professor B. Worm

What's on your desk Wednesday?

I've been tagged!

What's on your desk Wednesday? is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Sassy Brit of Alternative-Read.com . Check her blog out each Wednesday for the post titled, What's on your desk Wednesday?

You can do one of two things or both!

1.

Grab a camera and take a photo of your desk! Or anywhere you stack your books/TBR pile. And no tidying! Add this photo to your blog.Tag at least 5 people! Come back here and leave a link back to your photo in comments.

2.

List at least 5 BOOKISH things on your desk (I'm thinking your TBR pile or books you haven't shelved...) List at least 5 NON BOOK things. (I'm thinking some of some of the more unusual items on your desk/table?) Tag at least 5 people to do the same. Come back here and leave your link, so we can come and visit your blog. Or add your answers in the comments if you don't have a blog.

Five bookish things on my desk:

Hardball by Sara Paretsky,
The Official Scrabble Word Finder by Robert W. Schachner,
The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, third edition
A Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg
One Deadly Sin by Annie Solomon, won in a give away by Carole's Notebook.

Five non book things on my desk: The Music of China compact disc, a yellow flashlight, a paper/photo scanner, a box of paper clips, and a goose neck lamp.

Not very exciting, I know. I keep books in another room as well as downstairs and in the basement, so my desk is mostly book free but covered in notebooks, in which I hope to write sometime. Thanks, Sassy for the tag! I'm to tag a few others, so here goes:

HODGEPODGESPV
Rose City Reader
The Little Bookworm

Book Review: The Hidden Man by David Ellis

A teaser sentence from the thriller, The Hidden Man by David Ellis:

"I'll do that," I promised. "But I need more than a month to prepare, Sam. I need six months, minimum."

(ch. 10, from an uncorrected proof. Final edition may differ.)
I thought the plot of this mystery was very good. I also like the relationship between the lawyer Jason Kolarich and his childhood playmate, Sammy, who suddenly, just before the trial, requests that Jason defend him in a case of suspected murder. Jason balks but then reluctantly agrees; he and Sammy go back a long way. Sammy hasn't confessed to the crime, and no one except the law seems to blame him for the death of a pedophile suspected in the disappearance of his little sister Audrey thirty years ago.

The Hidden Man has lots of twists and turns, enough to keep you going, although I had to navigate a maze of different ways to try a case and to defend in criminal court. Those familiar with courts and trial law will get the most out of the intricacies of this very good legal thriller.

From the publisher:

" Jason Kolarich is a midwestern everyman with a lineman's build and an easy smart-ass remark. He's a young, intelligent, and successful lawyer, but he's also struggling with an overwhelming emotional burden - one that threatens to unravel his own life, and possibly the lives of those around him.

When a long-estranged friend resurfaces needing Kolarich's legal help, the lawyer has to try to salve old wounds. Yet as the trial looms, it becomes clear that unsettling events from the past are precisely what need to be exposed in order to crack not only this case but also a mysteriously connected one that went unsolved more than thirty years ago."

Author David Ellis, an attorney from Chicago, is counsel to the speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives and was the prosecutor in the Governor Rod Blagojevich impeachment trial. He has written six other mystery novels and is an Edgar Award winner.

Thanks to Putnam, New York for an advance review copy.

Book Review: Trail of Crumbs, a Memoir by Kim Sunee

Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home by Kim Sunée
Genre: memoir
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Trail of Crumbs is the memoir of a young woman haunted by memories of being lost or abandoned by her mother at age three in a Korean markeplace. Persistent nightmares and her longing for "Omma" to come back to claim her in that marketplace suggest an unfulfilling childhood in the U.S. with her adoptive family. Her adoptive mother she describes as distant and disapproving. Her happy memories in the U.S. are of her adoptive grandfather, who taught her about New Orleans food and cooking.

The book is partly about travel - Provence and Paris, France - and partly a memoir of the author's love affair with Europe, European food, and European men - very different from the "narrow" and circumscribed life in New Orleans. Kim Sunee escapes to college in France and stays to live in Europe for many years with her French lover Olivier and his young daughter. When she doesn't find fulfillment in this either, Sunee finally tries psychotherapy in France, where a psychiatrist tells her the problem - she is divided.

A quick trip to Asia, suggested by Olivier, doesn't do anything to heal this divide. Korea is unsatisfactory, and she becomes sick on a trip to China. She finally accepts herself and her life while spending time in French Guiana - a simpler place than any she has ever lived in.

Those interested in memoirs, adoption and adopted children, French food and recipes, and Provence, will enjoy the book - the personal journey of a Korean American woman and food writer seeking to find out where she belongs.

Kim Sunee is "founding food editor for Cottage Living and the host of 'Local Flavor with Kim Sunee' for MyRecipes.com." Her website is www.KimSunee.com

Thanks to the Hachette Book Group for the review copy of this book.