March Book Reviews

Before the specifics of March's books get pushed out of my brain, here are some comments.

I finished two more books in Carol O'Connell's Kathleen Mallory series. Stone Angel is one of my favorites so far. It took Mallory out of her NYC context into the deep South, and filled in some gaps from her past that gave more insight into why she is who she is. Charles came along for the adventure (not with Mallory's permission or encouragement) and it was quite fun to see him adjust. I didn't like Shell Game as much. I've never been a fan of magicians or magic; Houdini and the like hold little interest for me. As the plot revolved around an illusion gone fatally wrong, and included lots of details about the workings of various tricks, I found my attention wandering much more than in any of the other books so far.

Last spring, I was loaned a couple of cool little books that bore the heading Tales of the Otori. These were paperbacks about 4" by 6" with great cover art, and the stories were fabulous - compelling characters caught up in epic sagas of war, politics, and clan loyalty in a time and place similar to feudal Japan, but with some cool fantasy/magical elements mixed in. Last month, as I wandered past the new book shelf in my local library, I was surprised to see the name of the same author attached to a massive 500-page hardback. It turned out that Heaven's Net is Wide is the recently-completed prequel to the entire series, and the two paperbacks I had read comprised only a third of the installments. I grabbed that volume, and thanks to our library's great online book request system, I was able to borrow and finish the remaining books in the series. Engaging, entertaining -- great escape reading.

Dubliners was my book group's book for March. Admission: I had never read Joyce. As a set of character studies, the stories were mixed: some intriguing and lifelike enough to picture, others just seeming flat or vague. I think I needed more to put the book into its historic and literary context to really appreciate it.

Run was a good read: a nice mix of mystery and human drama with enough hopefulness to leave me feeling glad I'd put forth the time and effort. The book starts with an accident, and a selfless act by a person that seemed to be a random passerby, but wasn't at all. Lots of food for thought about the connections between people, especially within families, and the meanings we attach to them.