It was a slow week around here – at least for me as I had a couple of days of being under the weather. My book group did have a fantastic discussion of The Submission by Amy Waldman. It was a favorite for at least two of the members and those who had to unexpectedly miss the meeting want to have a second discussion. Eldest adjusted to a new job and schedule and classwork by being a worn out puppy most nights. Not much reading got done either although Himself was pleased to finish the first book in Greg Bear’s Halo Trilogy while on the bus back and forth to work. The best of the week was seeing more sun than rain.
Here is what caught my interest this week:
Note: I have, courtesy of my mom, a guest subscription to the NY Times. Because of their subscription policy of having to pay after a certain number of clicks, I have also included links to other reviews.
The New York Times mentions a few books this week which have peaked my curiosity. The first is a new publication by Tin House Press called No One by French novelist and philosopher, Gwenaëlle Aubry and translated by Trista Selous. No One is a fictionalized memoir (written in dictionary form) about Aubry’s father, a distinguished lawyer who suffered from Bi-Polar Disorder. The novel is about identity and mental illness from the viewpoint of the person with the disorder as well as those effected by the high highs and low lows. I have been impressed with other work produced by Tin House Press and this novel seems to be one to watch for as well. Other reviews can be found at Forward Reviews and Book Forum
The other book the Times mentioned was The Quiet Twin by Dan Vyleta which is set in 1939 Vienna. A series of brutal murders takes place in the area around an apartment building. While containing mystery elements, the novel really explores that borderland between doing what is right and doing what might get you by in a very troublesome time. This one also received good reviews from His Futile Preoccupations and Seeing the World Through Books.
Diane of Bibliophile by the Sea does a weekly post of the first paragraph of a book she is currently reading. This week featured Blue Monday by Nicci French (a husband/wife writing duo). Set in London and the first of a new series, Blue Monday is about psychotherapist Frieda Klein. She is thrust into the middle of a child abduction case because one of her patients has been having dreams about needing a child with the same description as the abducted boy. I don’t usually read psychological thrillers but the first paragraph really hit me:
1987“In this city there were many ghosts. She had to take care. She avoided the cracks between the paving stones, skipping and jumping, her feet in their scuffed lace-up shoes landing in the blank spaces. She was nimble at the hopscotch by now. She had done it every day on the way to school and back ever since she could remember, first holding on to her mother’s hand, dragging and jerking her as she leaped from one safe place to the next; then on her own. Don’t step on the cracks. Or what? She was probably too old for such a game now, already nine, and in a few weeks’ time she would be ten, just before the summer holidays began. She still played it, mostly out of habit but also nervous about what might happen if she stopped.”
Reflections from the Hinterland 
I just read Blue Monday (my first from the husband/wife team Nicci French) and really liked it. I have a weakness for books about therapists anyway, and this was very well done. The first in a series, no less
I just picked up Amy Waldeman’s book from the library: I’m intrigued! And The Quiet Twin? I loved it! (But it’s unsettling, really unsettling.)