Mathilda Savitch by Victor Lodato

Mathilda's older sister is dead and her parents aren't handling it very well. On top of that, terror continues to be the big story across the country.

I'd like to be able to give more of the plot, but after finishing this book, I'm still completely unclear as to what exactly the point of it was. Sure, Mathilda learned a little bit about her sister's final days and *seems* to have come to terms with her mother's aloofness, but Mathilda is rather strange and fickle throughout the story and the book ends abruptly.

I can see this being a book that could appeal to some people, but the style was not for me. Mathilda grated on my nerves, alternately whiny and self-righteous, intuitive and down -right stupid, I found her to be completely unlikeable. People may argue that it's our flaws that make us human, which is true and I celebrate the authors who can bring a flawed character to life and make us root for them, Lodato could not. I stayed up late to finish this book solely to get it over with, it's done, the review is written and now I can move on to something I hope I will actually enjoy!

Drake's Bay by T.A. Roberts

Dr. Ethan Storey is content with his life. He and his girlfriend of 10 years live on a boat in the San Francisco area and he's a tenured history professor at San Francisco State. One Sunday, his girlfriend, Kay, mentions the large Williams Institute they pass on their regular walks is for sale and having an open house. Ethan doesn't know it, but everything is about to change. Soon Ethan is cataloging the library full of books and manuscripts from the 16th and 17th centuries and people are dying.

In the early 20th century, a gold plate was discovered in the area, thought to be placed there by Sir Francis Drake, claiming the area he believed to be the beginning of the Northwest Passage in the name of Queen Elizabeth. The plate was lost and then found again only to be named as a fake. But there's a rumor that Drake's lost log books reside in the very library Ethan is working in and finding those books could mean everything to the family holding the plate.

Gripping plot, baffling mystery and intense history keep the pages turning in one of the best novels of this type I've ever read. While the historical-item-mystery-journey genre has increasingly come to be more popcorn than substance, it's refreshing to find an author that does it right. The pace is generally on target and the writing exemplary. The nautical sections were a bit too in depth for a non-boat person, but there was enough real plot peppered in to make it bearable. All-in-all, a great read I would recommend to anyone who loves a good mystery.

The Intimate Ape: Orangutans and the Secret Life of a Vanishing Species by Shawn Thompson

'I need to see the Orangutans!' The entire time I was reading this book, I couldn't help thinking about the story my mother tells of taking her then 2 or 3-year-old nephew to the zoo, where his constant refrain was 'I need to see the Orangutans!' It's a sentiment many of the people featured in The Intimate Ape would certainly understand.

Shawn Thompson has created a beautiful book that's not just about Orangutans, but about humanity as well. As he visits zoos, rescue centers and orangutan experts he begins to realize how much we can learn about ourselves by observing Orangutans. Each of his experts has their own ideas of the best way to interact with and rehabilitate Orangutans, but the passion of each for what they are doing the species they have chosen to focus on is evident.

The book itself is not told chronologically. Although Thompson begins by talking about his first trip to Borneo, he jumps around in time quickly and often, which was a bit jarring at first. I soon got used to the lack of a discernible timeline as the stories Thompson told took hold of me.

Each chapter has a theme; culture, gender and conservation to name a few, and in general each chapter focuses the interviews and time spent with one or two Orangutan experts. Thompson's research was thorough and its obvious that it quickly became more than just a book to him.

The book itself is well written, I never found myself bored and I read it in one day. I found myself alternately laughing and crying as I read about the lives and antics of these amazing creatures. The main message of the book came out loud and clear, Orangutans are disappearing and to see them gone would truly be a tragedy. Conservation is key and in the resources appendix, Thompson gives us some ideas of how to help.

'I need to see the Orangutans!' Don't we all.

Ghosts & Lightening by Trevor Byrne

I tried hard to like this book. Scratch that, I tried hard to get through this book, however, after 150 pages, I've given up.

It's hard to say what it is that turning me off. The lack of a discernible plot line? The weird dashes to denote conversation instead of quotation marks? The incomprehensible (to me) Irish slang? Or my inability to relate to the characters? I imagine it's a combination of all of these.

That's not to say that this is a bad book. I imagine there are plenty of people out there who would truly enjoy it. Perhaps I'm just too old for this type of druggie/slacker Trainspotting kind of tale. Whatever it is, this book is not for me.

A Theory of All Things by Peggy Leon

The Bennett family has had their share of tragedy. Their mother walked out the door and never came back and a few years later Peter, the eldest, killed himself. Now the remaining children are in their thirties and discovering the impact those early events had on them.

Mary has never left home. When her mother left, she took on the role of mother, raising her brothers and sisters, helping her father in his business and now caring for him in the early stages of Alzheimers. Mark graduated college at the age of fourteen and now works in the astrophysics department of Stanford. Sarah and Ellie are twins and artists. Sarah photographs the homeless and Ellie paints and sculpts on an island in Greece where she lives with her teenage lover. Luke, the youngest, is also an artist, creating mobiles from found aluminum cans.

Then Mark, the socially awkward genius commits some faux pas at a faculty function, Sarah finds a homeless woman who might be their long lost mother, Ellie discovers she's pregnant and her boyfriend leaves her, and the tattooed and pierced Willow attaches herself to Luke, frightening Mary in the process.

Each character has their own 'Theory' of how things became the way they are. Each sees a different time or event as being integral in the shaping of their strange family dynamic. As their individual dramas draw them all back to their family home, each learns a bit more about themselves and their siblings.

A beautiful, touching, and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny look at today's American family full of love and secrets that everyone will be able to relate to. Read this book!

The Chester Chronicles by Kermit Moyer

Chester Patterson is an army brat coming of age in the 50s and 60s. There's not really a plot, instead the novel is a series of stories from Chester's life, starting at 11 or 12 and continuing through college.

The prose was well-written and imminently readable, with some truly stunning passages and the premise, that life is a series of stories we tell to others, was interesting. Unfortunately, the book never truly grabbed me. I felt a lack of connection to Chester, and occasionally really didn't like him. I don't know if it was the unique format, or simply the fact that I have never been an adolescent boy, but I rarely felt involved in his life. Perhaps this was the intent.

Those interested in good prose and slightly pretentious story-telling might enjoy The Chester Chronicles, but anyone looking for a cohesive plot line and affinity for the main character might want to look elsewhere.

My Year in Books - 2009

This year I set myself a goal through LibraryThing of reading 75 books. I managed 79. In addition to tracking titles, I also tracked how many pages I read, ending with over 27,000 (an average of 75 pages per day!) Other goals are to read at least twice as many new books as rereads and to maintain variety in my reading genres. I did pretty darn well! Here's a look at how I did:

1. Jumble Pie by Melanie Lynne Hauser
2. The History of Now by Daniel Klein
3. The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
4. The Book of Lost Things by John Connelly
5. Fairy Tales by The Brothers Grimm
6. The Vegetarian Table: North Africa by Kitty Morse
7. The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan
8. The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
9. The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
10. The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
11. The Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome by E.M. Berens
12. The Children of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
13. Middlemarch by George Eliot
14. Darling Jim by Christian Moerk
15. The Warden by Anthony Trollope
16. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer*
17. Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope
18. A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
19. The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
20. Internal Affairs by Connie Dial
21. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
22. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
23. The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
24. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
25. The Late Lamented Molly Marx by Sally Koslow
26. The Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters*
27. The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
28. Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
29. Something Blue by Emily Giffin
30. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
31. The Demi God Files by Rick Riordan
32. His Last Bow by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
33. Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope
34. Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
35. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
36. Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich
37. Broken Angel by Sigmund Brouwer
38. One for the Money by Janet Evanovich*
39. Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold! by Terry Brooks
40. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling*
41. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling*
42. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
43. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling*
44. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling*
45. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling*
46. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling*
47. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling*
48. Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich
49. Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo
50. Bleak House by Charles Dickens
51. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton*
52. Three Ghost Stories by Charles Dickens
53. On the Couch by Alisa Kwitney
54. The Ancient Greeks for Dummies by Stephen Batchelor
55. Loved Me Once by Gail Hewitt
56. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenger
57. Emma by Jane Austen
58. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
59. Doctor Who: The Time Traveler's Almanac
60. Persuasion by Jane Austen
61. The Lost Constitution by William Martin
62. A Year of Cats and Dogs by Margaret Hawkins
63. Mythology for Dummies by Christopher and Amy Blackwell
64. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame
65. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
66. Doctor Who: A Writer's Tale by Russell T. Davies and Benjamin Cook
67. Making Mischief: A Maurice Sendak Appreciation by Gregory Maguire
68. Dirty Little Angels by Chris Tusa
69. A Flower Blooms on Charlotte Street by Milam McGraw Propst
70. Ociee on her Own by Milam McGraw Propst
71. The Best of Creative Non Fiction: Vol. 3 edited by Lee Gutkind
72. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer*
73. The Further Adventures of Ociee Nash by Milam McGraw Propst
74. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer*
75. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer*
76. Beer and Philosophy edited by Stephen Hale
77. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
78. The Return by Victoria Hislop
79. Truly, Madly by Heather Webber
*reread

All in all, a lot to be happy about! 13 rereads to 66 new reads. 11 non-fiction to 68 fiction, 22 of which were classics. Also of note I had quotes from two reviews used on the back of the book when it was published and had a question I submitted used in an interview with Gregory Maguire (who said it was a good question!)

My goals for 2010 are to read 100 books and attempt to average 100 pages a day of reading. I want at least 67 of those books to be books I've never read before and at least 15 of them to be non-fiction. Helping me along the way, I'm hoping to read all of Shakespeare's plays this year, some of which I've read before of course, but none since college. That should certainly help me with my challenge!

How about you? Did you have a goal in 2009? Do you have one this year? I'd love to hear opinions or answer questions about any of the books I've listed above!