Midnight (W)rite ~ Book reviews and other curiosities

  This collection of stories is deep with understanding about how war tears at the hearts, minds, and physical bodies of regular citizens not involved with the policies or the decision making that set one country to battle against another. It consists of a novella and a handful of very brief stories that involve attempts to cross a closed border, forced re-locations of families, a few stories that have a strong, emotional father-son dynamic, and an epistolary piece by a character who has the means to flee Gaza for the United States, but is having second thoughts. They address the universal suffering of war and conflict. The sad and tragic nature of the stories were brought home to me even more by the fact that the author, Kanafani, was killed in a car bomb explosion in Beirut when he was 36 years old. Although each story was written with beautiful, subtle language and was impactful, the ones that stood out for me were The Land of Sad Oranges, A Hand in the Grave, and Letter fro

In Brisbane, Australia, a passenger ship docks and the passengers disembark and disburse. A young girl of 4 is discovered on the docks by the wharf master, alone, sitting on a small suitcase. She doesn't know her name or where she is from. The wharf master takes her home and when, after several days, no inquiries are made about her, he and his wife decide to call her Nell and keep her as their own. The Forgotten Garden is the story of Nell's life, with the mystery of her family origins at its center. The story moves back and forth between the early 1900s, the 1970s, and 2005, and incorporates Nell's ancestors and descendants into the story as the mystery slowly unfolds. It is a dark, gothic tale full of family secrets with themes of enchantment and faerie tales woven throughout. I really liked the the character of Cassandra, Nell's granddaughter, and her time spent at the atmospheric Cliff Cottage on the edge of the sea. 

Mrs. Dalloway takes place over the course of a single day in the mid 1920s during which the title character is planning for a party that she is hosting that evening. The point of view passes from Mrs. Dalloway to other characters in a round-robin fashion, during which the reader has access to that person's inner monologue, shared in a style that's close to stream-of-consciousness. Access to the characters' thoughts and memories allows the reader to know what is in the mind of not only Mrs. Dalloway, but also her family, future attendees of her evening party, and a husband and wife who are struggling with severe “shell-shock” being experienced by the war veteran husband, a condition we would now call PTSD. Being privy to the perspectives of so many characters who have opinions about the main character also gives the reader an interesting 360-degree view of Mrs. Dalloway. The way Virginia Woolf writes the internal, anguished monologues of her characters is remarkable.

  In this Pen Hemingway-winning novel by NoViolet Bulawayo, 10-year-old Darling and her friends live in a small village made up of shacks lived in by families who were forcibly ejected from their homes by developers with bulldozers who razed their houses to the ground. The children make frequent treks to nearby affluent neighborhoods, taking fruit from the trees in front of the homes in order to ward off hunger. They make up games to keep themselves occupied and witness some terrible things, sharing the stories from a child's perspective. Eventually, Darling is sent to live with her aunt and her aunt's family in Detroit and she needs to learn new adaptive skills to survive in this place that has plenty of food, but is strange and filled with other challenges. The story contains heavy, heartrending events told with innocent playfulness from a child's, and then teenager's, perspective. I was completely engaged by the language, which pulls the reader in and brings t

  George Orr lives in a speculative future where prescription drugs are heavily-regulated and violations are met with serious repercussions. In George's case, he is borrowing drugs from others to keep himself from dreaming, because of what happens when he has what he calls an “effective dream.” Therapy for his fear of sleeping/dreaming is mandated, and George feels like his problems are only getting worse as his therapist takes advantage of his power over George. How George responds to the challenges of a domineering doctor and powerful dreaming are of key importance – the future is hanging in the balance. I am so blown away by Ursula LeGuin's writing. She gets right to the center of what drives human behavior and shines a light on it. Her writing is full of big, philosophical ideas and universal truths. I loved the character of George Orr for multiple reasons. I'm going to keep making my way through her catalog; there is so much to choose from. She is one of the author

  In a small town on the South Carolina Coast in the 60s and thereabouts, Kya Clark lives, first with her dysfunctional family and then alone, in a run-down cabin on many acres surrounded by a marsh. Despite being ostracized by the townspeople and ridiculed by other children her age, Kya figures out how to survive and support herself in the marsh, and then with the help of a very few trusted others, she learns how to educate herself as well. The story is rich with the natural details of marsh plants and wildlife and contains a mystery or two and a few twists as well. I loved the focus on nature. I also liked Kya's fierce attitude toward most humans and the evolution towards limited trust, along with the deep joy and dedication she felt toward the marsh and its creatures.

  Hope Jahren's love for the trees and plants she studies is evident in this memoir of her life. Loving descriptions of how trees live, grow, endure, and propagate are intertwined with Hope's memories of growing up in wintry Minnesota, leaving to attend college in California, and making stops in Georgia, Hawaii, and Norway along the way. Hope includes introspection about her very different relationships with her mother and father. Hope's deep and unconventional friendship with fellow scientist and eventual lab partner, Bill, is central to her life story. That loyal friendship carried her through some very trying times, including the challenges of poverty, an initially undiagnosed mental illness, and the struggle to be funded as a research scientist, especially a woman research scientist, in the field of geobiology. It's an honest, deeply-moving book about not fitting in, but not giving up in the struggle to find balance and create the space where you belong. Hop

  This heavily-researched historical fiction novel tells the tale of rival paleontologists who are both dangerously passionate about their work uncovering the fossils of dinosaurs in the American west. Student William Johnson, the purely fictional main character, spends time in both paleontology camps, starting out with Othniel Charles Marsh, who abandons him mid-trek under paranoid suspicion of him being a spy. William Johnson is left with no alternative but to join the expedition of Edwin Drinker Cope, who has plans to travel to dangerous areas in search of fossils not yet discovered, and barely believed to have been real creatures, in this modern age of 1876. This wild adventure that travels from the 'civilized' East Coast through Cheyenne, Wyoming, the wilds of Montana, the Badlands, and the historical gold mining town of Deadwood while featuring many historical people from that time was riveting. Dragon Teeth was written by Crichton in 1974 and published posthumously in

The initial vibe I got from this book was so wrong. Years ago, when there was a big buzz surrounding this book (even Gilmore Girls had an episode paying homage!) I imagined it being another self-indulgent Eat Pray Love wine/whine fest and I ran far, far away from it. Until a few weeks ago, when a respected individual at work who is an avid hiker suggested it. I was dubious but decided to give it a try on audio. Turns out, I loved it! It did remind me a bit of Eat Pray Love in that Cheryl makes some really unsound decisions that put her at risk while she is out on the trail. But it is very unlike that other book in that Cheryl, at the time of writing Wild, seems very self-aware and shares her thoughts and the details of the adventure of her hike along the Pacific Crest trail with such unfailing honesty and heart that I could not help but feel engaged by the story. She talks about the death of her mom and how it affected her and how the extended hike, away from civilization with only w

  Tattoos, hotrods, and otherworldly mysteries I've had Charles De Lint on my list of authors to read for so long. I finally read a book by him in my fiftieth year. Why did I wait so long!? Set in the fairly modern day United States' Southwest, The Mystery of Grace is one of De Lint's most recent releases. Grace is a bad-ass, tattoo-covered, vintage car restorer who took after her grandfather more than her mother. The book tells the story of a young woman who makes the journey to a place on the other side of living, but is it THE place? It's a love story. It's a ghost story that is introspective and spiritual rather than scary. It's a beautifully written story about friendship, caring for others, trusting in yourself, and the courage to leap into the unknown. I loved it, and I can't wait to catch up on all of the De Lint books I've missed out on reading so far.

  Vampires in the Club Kismet is a psychologist in Denver. She meets with a 20-something client, Midnight, whose parents insist on a counseling appointment because of Midnight's infatuation with the underground vampire culture in Denver's nightlife scene, particularly the crowd that hangs out at The Crypt, a popular goth/alternative dance club. Midnight insists that vampires are real and wants to become one; Kismet discovers Midnight is also a lonely individual whose mother is unavailable and whose father is a long-time untreated addict.  Kismet becomes interested in the vampire culture and considers writing a book about the psychology of vampire wannabes. Then she meets Devereaux, the owner of The Crypt nightclub. After meeting Devereaux, and other not-near-as-pleasant night walkers who habitually terrorize others, Kismet doesn't know what to believe about whether or not vampires really exist. But she does know her feelings for Devereaux have magic intensity. This is a se

Reveals little-known part of history of the making of the bomb This history of a time just prior to the end of World War II, told in narrative style, spotlights the story of a town called Oak Ridge, in Tennessee, that was created by the U.S. government after the forced relocation of Americans who had lived on the land for generations. Temporary housing was hastily erected and large buildings were constructed where the secret work would take place. Americans looking for work – including many women – were recruited, but they were told only that they would be working on something that would help end the war. This book provides historical details about several of the women who were hired in different capacities, from janitor to physicist, from secretary to statistician. It was sometimes hard to keep track of each of their individual stories. Girls of Atomic City documents how these women, and others at the site, assisted in the making of the atomic bomb, which was nicknamed “The

Darkly beautiful modern and medieval gothic love story Genre: Gothic horror, love story A man with a sordid lifestyle is severely burned in a car accident and gruesomely disfigured. As he recovers (miraculously) in the burn unit, he meets Marianne Engel, a woman who seems to know him who has wandered away from the psych ward and tells him stories about their shared past lives. Is she delusional, or are these stories real? How does she know the things she knows about him? Her tales become easier for him to believe as time goes by and he becomes increasingly attached to and dependent on her. This book holds so many of the keys to my interests: darkly romantic, gothic, German medieval history, monasteries, magical realism, folk and fairy tales, disturbingly deep passions, stories within a story... the author took a long time to research and write this book, and I feel like it shows in the intricacies of the layers of story. Turnoffs: the main male character's kind of a

Coldest Girl: Holly Black's ode to the vampire genre Genre: Gothic fiction, horror, paranormal Tana lives in an alternate world where vampires are a dangerous reality. Their bite causes an infection that turns a person “Cold,” which means the person craves human blood with a violent, ugly passion. If the infected person actually ingests human blood, she becomes a vampire. If she can resist the siren call for 88 days (accomplished possibly through forced seclusion) she is cured of the bite. This doesn't happen very often. In Tana's world, the solution to the vampire problem is to send all vampires, infected humans, and vampire-loving humans to live in designated, enclosed 'coldtowns.' Coldtown is a little like Hotel California – you can check in, but you can never leave, with very few exceptions. The most powerful vampires are capitalizing on the desire of the average citizen to see what's going on inside the vampire cities by creating live video

Oil spills, stunted shrimp, stolen weed, and buried treasure in Louisiana's Gulf Coast Genre: Contemporary adventure The author got a rave review from Stephen King, so he probably doesn't need my praise heaped on top, but he's getting it anyway. This is a really fantastic story. The tribulations of the Louisiana shrimpers during an industry tailspin after the BP oil spill in the Gulf, the theft of high quality weed from a couple of crazy brothers, one man's drug-addled search for a treasure no one else believes in, and many other shenanigans are taking place in Louisiana's Gulf Coast. There is a lot going on here, but the characters are so well wrought that it is not difficult to keep up. I love books, like this one, in which the setting is detailed and described with such passion it become a character in the story. I have a soft spot for well-written flawed characters and realistic, not-idealistic storylines and this book is full of them. Tom Cooper do