A Wanted Man by Lee Child

A Wanted Man by Lee Child
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh, boy! This is one of those stay-up-all-night books. It is so fast moving and unpredictable that you don't want to stop. Reacher is picked up hitchhiking by two men who have just committed bloody murder to through off cops at possible roadblocks. The local sheriff does the best he can, but the FBI shows up, homeland security shows up, and a mysterious character who is probably CIA. Reacher, naturally, co-opts two female FBI agents to try to rescue a kidnapped woman. Shifting alliances and allegiances make it impossible to tell who the good guys are. Reacher as Rambo at the end saves the day, but not all of the people.

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I will not be able to see the movie, Jack Reacher, with Tom Cruise as Reacher.  I hate Tom Cruise anyway, but also think there are much better actors.  Lee Child comments on CBS This Morning.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I just finished Gone Girl. It is quite unique. Reading the first section, I felt it was dragging a little, and I couldn't see where it was going - but I knew it went somewhere because of reviews. Flynn has crafted a character in Amy who is more wicked than any character I can remember. It's going to be a heck of a movie.

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Girls Named Amy on my Pinterest.

Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close

Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is not my usual taste, but I did enjoy listening to it.  It was difficult keeping the girls apart, but I finally got to know them.  It sounds like from other reviews that it was a problem with reading it(as opposed to listening), too.  I kept thinking of the chapters as vignettes, although they are actually more like episodes in a tv series.  The story of these single women as they leave college and start to make their way in life opened my eyes to how different the world can be for women who follow this path compared to my experience of marrying soon after college and following the husband in his career.  That is not to say that I don't have choices because I do, but I never lived alone, solely responsible for my upkeep.  Anyway, I value the book for giving me the look into these younger women's lives.

Mixed reviews - most people either loved it or hated it.  I'd read it just to find out which.


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The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The slowing - the earth begins to slow down, eventually to more than a week between sunrise and sunset. Julia, an 11-year-old 6th grade student, is increasingly isolated as her best friend moves away, her piano teacher joins the "Real Time" movement, and her parents are drifting apart. It's more about Julia's teen growing pains and family relationships than an apocalyptic event, but also a study of how people react to an uncertain future.

A great book club book - lots to talk about. Could not put it down.

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The Last Policeman by Ben Winters

The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Just finished reading this book. It poses the ultimate question: what would you do if you knew the world was ending in six months? Detective Henry Palace is called to the scene of a supposed suicide. Against policy, he wants to investigate the death as a possible homicide. Unable to stop investigating what appears to be an insurance fraud scam, he discovers that no one is telling the truth and nothing is what it seems. And who cares anyway?

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"Pre-apocalyptic" may be a new term, but it's not a new idea.  Lucifer's Hammer (1985) by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle begins with the knowledge of a coming comet hit on Earth and it's affect on society.  If you like this genre at all, you should go back and read this.

Postmodern Fiction

As part of an online book club, I have been reading some postmodern, or perhaps, post-postmodern fiction.  Currently we're reading three stories from the New Yorker's 20 under 40 collection.  They are:

 "The Train of Their Departure" by David Bezmozgnis.  This story becomes part of his novel, The Free World. 

"An Arranged Marriage" by Nell Freudenberger.

"What You Do Out Here, When You're Alone by Philipp Meyer 

The blog is The Anytime Anywhere Book Group.

So, what is postmodern fiction?  There is a discussion in wikipedia.  It began in the post-WWII years, and is characterized by an emphasis on chance and unpredictability, not always having a neatly tied up ending.  The new authors, such as those represented in the 20 under 40 collection, may be the beginning of post-postmodernism.

Our next book is A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan.  This book received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2010.  It is very experimental, with various points of view and styles, including powerpoint slides.

Some other books I am looking at for subsequent months are:
The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters
Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close
The Cranes Dance by Meg Howrey
The Homecoming of Samuel Lake by Jenny Wingfield
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
The Absolutist by John Boyne

We'll see what is eventually chosen.

Last to Die by Tess Gerritsen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Mephisto Society re-enters the picture when Maura goes to visit Julian at the remote Evensong school in the Maine woods. In New York, Rizzoli & her colleagues catch a murder where a foster family is killed with one young survivor. Putting things together it seems that there are three kids with a common history - their parents were murdered two years ago, and now their foster families have been murdered.

As Jane and Maura become embroiled in this case, it is impossible to tell the good guys from the bad. Great plotting and storytelling.

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I think this is the best of the Rizzoli & Isles books so far.  When reading [book:Last to Die|13272498], I realized that I had missed reading Ice Cold.  It really sets up Last to Die, were Maura meets and is rescued by Julian, a "lost boy" - cast out by his cult leader so that the young girls are available for marriage to the older men.  The polygamous cult is modeled after the Warren Jeffson group in Nevada/New Mexico(?)