Ed:
Graveminder is about a small town with a dark secret: a pact with Death, and those who are charged to keep it. It was an enjoyable read with a unique plot that kept me reading. Not exceptional, but a good, easy book to escape into. This is Marr's first novel for adults, and is the author of the popular YA Wicked Lovely series.
What We're Reading
"Keeper of Lost Causes" by Jussi Adler-Olsen is one of the latest in the flood of Scandinavian mysteries being translated and sold to the English speaking world. This is the best one I have read since the Sandler trilogy. Basically, this is a police procedural. Carl Morck is a homicide detective who is a problem for the department and, in a flash of bureaucratic brilliance, is kicked upstairs into his own "Department Q" to investigate cold cases. He is even given an assistant, a Syrian immigrant, Assad. They make a good pair and a solid basis for what I think is a series of novels. This one translated by the reliable Tiina Nunnally, is a real pleasure. Keeper of Lost Causes in stock now.
Caitlyn:
"You Deserve Nothing" by Alexnder Maksik is a very solid piece of writing about a high school literature teacher who has an affair with a student. Will Silver is teaching a combination of literature and philosophy in a seminar style, always challenging his students. The combination of philosophical ideas with events during the school year makes an absorbing read. " . . .refusing the false notion of easy choices, inhabiting, rather, the moral maze of lived life." Availabe now.
Oh The Night Circus! Where do I begin?
Erin Morgenstern has brought a delicious novel into this world, full of magic, dreams, and the smell of caramel on a crisp autumn night. The entire time I was reading this book I felt the anticipation of Halloween I experienced as a child, when one could be anything one could imagine, the night was full of mystery, excitement, and the promise of more candy than could be conjured.
The Night Circus is, on the surface, about two extraordinary people, bound by their instructors to compete in a battle of skill. A battle with hardly any rules, and no clue as to how long it will last. Their arena? Le Cirque des Reves, The Circus of Dreams, where truly anything seems possible in its black and white striped tents. If you enjoy magic, Tom Waits, or Fall, I think you will like this book.
"The Inquisitor" by Mark Allen Smith is about a man who makes his living tortuing people to extract information. He works mostly for the mob in New York. Mr. Smith is a screenwriter and journalist and the book is well written and moves right along. The main chacter is portrayed as sympathetic, a victim of his upbringing, etc. You have to wait until January to read this and feel dirty after.
Echo:
Hoffman weaves a spellbinding tale of four extraordinary, bold, resourceful, and sensuous women, each of whom has come to Masada by a different path. The lives of these four complex and fiercely independent women intersect in desperate days. All are dovekeepers, and all are also keeping secrets--about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them, and who they love.
Spanning three generations and half the world, "Wildflower Hill" is a sweeping, romantic, and compelling story of two women who share a legacy of secrets, heartbreak, courage, and love--a compelling, atmospheric, and romantic novel about taking risks, starting again, and believing in yourself.
A letter posted in 1941 finally reaches its destination in 1992 with powerful repercussions for Edie Burchill, a London book editor, in this enthralling romantic thriller from Australian author Morton ("The Forgotten Garden").--"Publisher's Weekly."
