Volume 4 #1
All books reviewed here are recommended. Please, always keep in mind that the only books that appear on this page are ones that I liked enough to write about. For every book reviewed here I have usually read two that I would not want to inflict on anyone.
Science
Fiction/Time Travel/Humorous
Romance/Time Travel
To Say Nothing of the Dog
Connie Willis
Bantam Books 0553575384
I was shocked when I went back to look for my review of this short listed Nebula Nominee and discovered that I hadn't written it up. It was one of those books I had to rush out and buy in hardcover since I couldn't wait (the above ISBN is for the paperback) to read it. Willis's delightfully wry humor takes us to a future where Lady Shrapnel (I've loaned the book out so please forgive errors in the names) a filthy rich American is funding time travel so that she can rebuild Coventry Cathedral to the way it was when her great grandmother experienced an epiphany there in front of the Bishop's Bird Stump. When a time lagged historian from the future is sent to the Victorian era to escape Lady Shrapnel he finds love and a problem that could rend the fabric of time. It is a hilarious romp that is not to be missed.
Science
Fiction/Humorous/The Human Condition
Bellwether
Connie Willis
Bantam Books 0553562967
Sociologist Sandra Foster becomes involved with biologist Bennett O'Reilly, a co-worker at HiTek company when Flip, the office assistant from hell mis-delivers a package. Is there any way that Sandra's research into the factors that start fads and trends ties into Bennett's chaos theory investigations? An how does double latte and black lipstick relate to sheepish behavior?
Willis is a master at seeing the ridiculous behavior and silliness of contemporary life all around us. Another feather in her crown.
Young
Adult/Contemporary/Problem/Mental Illness
Young Adult/Suspense
Checkers
John Marsden
Houghton Mifflin 0395857546
An un-named young woman, seemingly with all anyone can want tells of how she went from a life of privilege to a mental ward. Rich but lonely she passionately loves her dog Checkers, a mutt given to her when he dad closed a big business deal. When he is investigated as part of a corruption in government investigation his family's life is scrutinized by the media.
This suspenseful compelling book has been a huge success with incarcerated teens. It is a powerful and unforgettable tale.
Young
Adult/Contemporary/Coming of Age/Humorous
Rules of the Road
Joan Bauer
Putnam 0399231404
Sixteen years old and nearly 6 ft. tall, Jenna Boller sells shoes. She is also extremely good at it and that does not go un-noticed by Mrs. Gladstone, the elderly president of the shoe store chain for which she works. When Mrs. Gladstone decides to go to the shareholder's meeting in Texas and check out the stores along the way she asks that Jenna drive her and act as a shoe store spy. A plot to take of the company teams them up with Harry Bender, the greatest shoe salesman of all time.
This delightfully humorous read will appeal to adult readers of young adult books. It did make the Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers List and Best Books for Young Adults Top Ten.
Young
Adult/Fantasy/Contemporary/Fairy Tale
Young Adult/Contemporary/Abuse/Coming of Age
I Was a Teenage Fairy
Francesca Lia Block
Harper Collins 0060277483
Barbie Marks, child model finds a friend in pinky sized Mab a feisty fairy. Despite a manipulative and ambitious mom, a distant and uncommunicative dad, a molesting photographer, Barbie with the help of Mab takes control of her own life and destiny.
Block is at her best (and she is always good) in this Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers.
Young Adult/Science
Fiction/Alternate and Parallel Worlds
The Door in the Lake
Nancy Butts
Front Street Books 1686910278
Joey Finney walks into a convenience store and discovers that he has been missing for over two years. Even though he is wearing what he disappeared in, has not grown, and has no memory whatsoever of the intervening time he is told that he is now fourteen and in ninth rather than seventh grade.
Young
Adult/Contemporary/Romance
Crush
Ellen Conford
HarperCollins 0064407780
As a high school class prepares for prom romances can pop up in the most unlikely places in these delightful interrelated stories.
Fantasy/Fairy Tale
Clockwork
Philip Pullman
Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine 0590129996
A quick to read parable-like fairy tale this circular story ties together divergent stories in a magical way.
Young
Adult/Adventure/Contemporary/Coming of Age
Rough Waters
S. L.Rottman
Peachtree 156145172X.
Two California brothers move to rural Colorado near Buena Vista after their parents are killed in an accident leaving them destitute. Taken in by an uncle they did not know they are expected to help him with his rafting business on the Arkansas River. Exciting river rafting detail and a sympathetic coming of age tale make this a real winner. A Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers.
Young
Adult/Adventure/Humorous
Young Adult/Fantasy/Magic Realism/Fairy Tale
Holes
Louis Sachar
Farrar Straus Giroux 0374332655
If you haven't heard about Holes you must be living in one. It is the 1999 Newbery Award winner but has great appeal for readers of all ages. A fairy tale like family legend and the story of a boy who is sentenced to a juvenile correctional facility where he has to dig holes all day are entwined.
Horror/Scientific
Horror
Science Fiction
The Presence
John Saul
Fawcett 0449002411
Seventeen year old boys who go scuba diving off the Hawaiian Islands seem to be ending up mysteriously dead. A diabolical plot, a possibly alien artifact, and mysterious anthropological finds all combine for an enthralling read that is not to be missed. Saul seems to get better and better with every book. Readers of King and Koontz should inhale this!
Young Adult/Science
Fiction/Aliens
The Vanishing. Last on Earth
Marilyn Kaye
Avon 0380798328
Deep in the bowels of a New York high school, twenty-five seniors have math class in an obsolete bomb shelter far from the sounds of a typical high school. When their teacher is called away during class they while away the time until they emerge to go to their next classes in the overcrowded building but find everyone has vanished. Thinking it must have been a fire drill that the bells went unheard in their isolated classroom they exit the building to discover that they are alone in the world. Every one else is gone. No dead bodies, no obvious signs of people leaving, just abandoned cars and bikes tell them that they are the sole inhabitants of New York and possibly the world.
An intriguing series debut.
Crime/Woman
Detective/Comedy
Two for the Dough
Janet Evanovich
Pocket Books 0671001795
Stephanie Plum, New Jersey girl and bounty hunter continues her frustrating relationship with the gorgeous Joe Morelli. Evanovich is "the bomb!"
Crime/Woman
Detective/Comedy
Three to Get Deadly
Janet Evanovich
St Martins 0312966091
Ditto!
Young Adult/Science
Fiction/Time/Alien Beings/Psionic Powers
The Boxes
William Sleator
Dutton Books 0525460128
Wow! Sleator can still knock your socks off with his incredible tales. When her mysterious uncle leaves Annie with two boxes and instructions not to open them and to keep them apart she can't stand the suspense for long. Opening the box in the basement a strange bug-like creature escapes. A few days later it has grown and reproduced and started talking to her through telepathy. Compelled to open the box hidden in her closet she finds a clock-like possibly plant related being that can slow time in the world down while allowing Annie and the creatures in the basement to move at what seems incredible speed. The creatures in the basement call it the god and build an amazing palace and perform strange rituals to please it with Annie acting at the communicator between them. The evil developer who is trying to buy up the entire neighborhood to build a mall gets wind of the power involved and attempts to get Annie and Henry who lives in the only other household in the area who is holding out against the developers to turn over the strange thing so they can destroy the neighborhood and build the mall with lightning speed.
Sleator's smart teen characters and intriguing situations flourish in this, my favorite of his since Singularity. A 1999 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers selection.
Young
Adult/Contemporary/Personal Convictions/Racism
Burning Up
Caroline B. Cooney
Delacorte 0385323182
Cooney is a great storyteller. She has the ability to suck a reader right into her stories which almost always deal with topics of importance to teens. It is wonderful that she has such great commercial appeal because Burning Up deserves a large readership. Macey, who has always thought her family, her town and her state were close to perfect, unveils some ugly truths when she decides to research a barn fire that happened long before she was born on a property near her grandparent's beachside home. Fire has earned an important place in her consciousness because when working on a community service project at an inner-city church her hair catches fire in an arson incident. The few hours spent working at the church open her eyes to the disparity between her idyllic life and that of a girl from the church with whom she feels an instant kinship.
This is powerful and involving, looking at an issue that is of extreme importance. The realizations that Macey comes to are hauntingly memorable and the blend of suspense and romance make it un-put-downable!
General Fiction
Young Adult/Coming of Age
The Starlite Drive-In
Marjorie Reynolds
Berkley 0425165728
When Callie Ann, who had grown up at the Starlite Theater in the 50s, hears that bones have been found at the old drive-in she rushes to the scene. It takes her back to the summer of 1956 when she was 12 and a drifter named Charlie Memphis showed up to change the lives of her family forever. Unused to gentle kindness, Callie Ann falls in love with Memphis who is doing the heavy work around the theater since her cruel and abusive father had injured his knee in a fall. But she is not the only one who loses her heart to him as he rescues her severely agoraphobic mother from the prison of their home. A deeply moving tale that will enthrall adults and mature thoughtful teens, this was an American Library Association Top 10 Best Books for Young Adults choice.
Crime/Caper/Amateur
Detective/Woman Detective
One for the Money
Janet Evanovich
Harper 0061009059
Stephanie Plum, Jersey girl and newly minted bounty hunter debuted in this first novel that was an Edgar-Award Nominee. Six months of unemployment after being laid off from her job as a lingerie buyer, Stephanie is ready to do almost anything for some cash. She's already pawned just about everything of value she owned and even her car has been repo-ed. Failing to obtain a file clerk position in her sleazy cousin's bail bonds business she signs on as a skip tracer or bounty hunter to bring in a cop accused of murder who has skipped bail. The cop also happens to be the incredibly sexy neighbor of her childhood who was the first guy to get under her skirt and to whom she lost her virginity in high school. He is also the guy who was such a jerk that she had hit him with her father's Buick after her made their high school hi-jinks public knowledge.
An entertaining, sexy, spirited romp that will delight readers who love quirky characters and fast paced plots. In fact I liked it so much I went out and bought (! ) the next two installments in the series.
Young Adult/Mystery
Close to a Killer
Marsha Qualey
Delacorte 0385325975
Seventeen-year old Barrie has quirky reading tastes that she fulfills by hanging out at a used bookstore when she doesn't have to work in her mother's beauty salon. The salon, called Killer Looks because it is run by ex-cons, falls on hard times after news shows link it to the murders of two prominent citizens. Barrie tries on new identities in the city where she has had to move in the middle of the school year to live with her mom recently released after seven years in prison when her father and step-mother take off for a year in Paris. She can not achieve any rapport with her mom who she deeply distrusts and is wary about the collection of friends her mom assembles. Her distrust even effects her relationships with other teens and young adults she meets.
Qualey creates wonderful insightful teen characters in all her books. The examinations of guilt and forgiveness add a dimension that is not always found in this entertaining of a story. Close to a Killer has broader appeal than my favorite Revolutions of the Heart but it does have some holes big enough to drive a truck through. All in all though, an entertaining read and mediocre for Qualey is still pretty darn good.
Science
Fiction/Space Opera/Political/Bio-Engineering/Psionic Powers
Romance/Science Fiction
The Radiant Seas
Catherine Asaro
Tor 031286714X
Asaro's astounding Saga of the Skolian Empire continues in the second volume to feature Jaibriol and Soz who were met in Primary Inversion. Scions of two warring powers, Jaibriol and Soz find peace on Prism, an uninhabited planet leaving their warring cultures behind and their peoples thinking them dead. Years later Jaibriol's empress mother discovers he still lives and abducts him. Soz takes their children to Earth for safekeeping and returns to the Skolian empire to fight for her family. When full scale war erupts Soz has a hidden agenda that thrusts her into extreme danger.
Asaro has built a complex world with enough technological detail to thrill hard SF fans and at the same time a romantic element that radiates sensuality. The political machinations are masterful. The Radiant Seas is not the place to start the series even though family trees of the Ruby Dynasty and the Qox Dynasty are appended and quite helpful. Read the previous books first. Asaro is the powerhouse SF writer of the 90s.
General Fiction
A Man in Full
Tom Wolfe
Farrar Straus & Giroux 0374270325
Wolfe has created a stunning tour de force. A Man in Full, my pick for the best book of 1998 and possibly the entire decade, is the kind of book that readers yearn for. I literally could not put it down. I picked it up on a Friday night when I had tons to do over the weekend and nothing got done until I finished it. I tend to get on a soap box about literature and such believing that too much of what is called literature is self indulgent drivel without a plot. Reading should be fun! This is. Conrad Hensley the beleaguered twenty-three year old lumper is a truly memorable character as are Roger Too White and Charlie Croker two wealthy Atlantans who seem to be worlds apart. Everything I look for in a novel is here from the intricately knotted roller coaster of a plot to the masterful characterizations. A Man in Full has the staying power of Dickens. The humor and shear readability make it a classic. Even though it is a huge book it moves and flows, never bogging down as almost anything else of its size would.
When I love a novel as much as I loved this one I try to hold off on my comments for a while to see if it will really stick with me and this has. Six weeks and approximately fifty books later it continues to be in my thoughts. Wolfe rules!
Crime/Historical
Mystery
The Queen's Man
Sharon Kay Penman
Ballantine 0345417186
Justin, discovering he was not a poor foundling taken in by the powerful bishop of Chester but rather the man's unacknowledged bastard, sets out to make his way in the world alone and just outside Winchester comes upon a goldsmith who has been attacked by bandits. Rescuing the servant but too late to save the life of Gervase Fitz Randolph, Justin comes into possession of a blood soaked packet containing a letter meant for Queen Eleanor. Upon delivering the letter to the Queen in London where all are wondering of the fate of the missing King Richard, she assigns Justin to the task of tracking down Fitz Randolph's murderers to find out who all may be involved in a plot against her son. Along the way he finds political intrigue, a serial killer, and a little romance.
This well plotted mystery places Justin in the role of a private investigator sometimes working with local law enforcement. Penman has a way with the 12th century and illuminates different social classes beautifully. As Justin investigates the family of the slain man the lives of the wealthy merchant class are seen and lives of the poorer working folks are shown when he takes up residence in an alehouse on Gracechurch Street where he finds true friendship.
Return to the Books of the Week Page
copyright 1999 Diana Tixier Herald All rights reserved.