The Book Review Club (January 2010)

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Welcome to the first meeting of The Book Review Club of 2010! Our resolution this year? To absolutely 100% TOPPLE your to-be-read pile. So grab a mug of java and a handful of cookies. Or water and carrot sticks, if you've made THOSE kinds of resolutions! Pull up a chair and join us as we usher in the new year with a bunch of book reviews.



You remember KELLY HAYES, one of my Denny's Chicks critique partners? OUT OF THE GOODNESS OF HER HEART, Kelly is reviewing a book for us this month. Why? Because she loves me. And she knows I'm on deadline for Sherry's fourth mystery adventure. Kelly INSISTED on getting me off the hook by taking over this month. INSISTED.

Note from Kelly: Barrie is holding some of my chapters hostage until I produce a book review for her. Few know that under her sweet, funny persona, there’s a ruthless streak. I try not to cross it. So here goes. (Barrie's reply: Uh, Kelly, I believe I said a review per chapter you want critiqued! So, get reviewing, Missy!)



Nick Hornby’s latest, Juliet Naked is a novel about deep-seated obsession of the worst kind: the music fan. And in Hornby’s deft hands, it’s hilarious. Duncan is a rabid English fan of Tucker Crowe, a reclusive American singer-songwriter who is barely living off his brief career in the mid-80s. Duncan, a “Crowologist”, considers himself the foremost authority on all things Tucker Crowe. So when Crowe releases the demo version of his only hit album, Juliet, Duncan is the first to give it a glowing online review.

Annie, Duncan’s live-in girlfriend of fifteen years, disagrees with his effusive assessment of the album and publishes her own, more realistic review, which captures the attention of Tucker Crowe himself. Thus begins an online relationship that quickly elevates to a face-to-face one for Annie and Tucker. Of course, all of this causes Annie to reevaluate the last fifteen years of her life, spent with a man obsessed with someone he’s never met. “It had always been hopeless. It was an unsuitable internet date with an inadequate, unexciting man that had lasted for years and years and years. “Annie realizes the only way forward is to kick Duncan out.

This is where it becomes more Annie’s book than anyone else’s. Annie is a woman approaching middle age who never had children because Duncan, caught up in his narrow self-absorbed world, never wanted any. Now she’s wondering how to live her life for herself and on her own terms. Deep down she’s a nurturer who feels this part of her has been wasted on clueless Duncan. In Tucker, she finds a man more worthy of her generous nature.

It’s also Tucker’s book. I found it fascinating to get a glimpse into the inner workings of a one-time rock hero whose continuing fame (obscure though it may be) is due solely to the internet and the sense of community it offers to obsessed fans. Tucker is a reluctant hero: sober, clean-cut, bookish. In short, nothing like the image his fans have created. The scene where Duncan finally meets his hero and refuses to believe it’s him, is a comic moment not to be missed.

Tucker and Annie’s budding relationship feels real because the characters are fully-fleshed people who we can root for. Neither of them are larger-than-life hero types. They’re just ordinary people doing real things, making bad choices and some good ones too. Even Duncan evokes our sympathy because he’s what we could turn into if we’re not careful. One of Nick Hornby’s biggest talents is in creating characters that live and breathe because they’re flawed. He sees the humor and depth in people who haven’t figured things out yet. And he makes us all feel it. We can inhabit his characters because they’re a lot like us, no matter what country they live in or what music they listen to.

Thank you, Kelly. That was wonderful. You should review every month! ;) And now...onto amazing reviews by amazing reviewers!

MIDDLE GRADE/YOUNG ADULT BOOK REVIEWS

Sarah Laurence: DARKLIGHT and WONDROUS STRANGE by Lesley Livingston (paranormal, young adult) (Reviews of 2 books + Author Interview)

Alyssa Goodnight of the Writers' Road Less Traveled: THE REVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE by Jacqueline Kelly (Middle Grade)

Keri Mikulski: PRADA AND PREJUDICE by Mandy Hubbard (young adult)

Stacy Nyikos: THE OLD COUNTRY by Mordecai Gerstein (middle grade)


ADULT BOOK REVIEWS

Staci of Life in the Thumb: LA'S ORCHESTRA SAVES THE WORLD by Alexander McCall Smith (historical fiction WWII)

Ellen Booraem of Freelance Ne'er-do-well: HER FEARFUL SYMMETRY by Audrey Niffenegger

Jenn Jilks of My Reflections: 13 1/2 by Nevada Barr (mystery)

Sarahlynn of Yeah, but Houdini didn't have these hips: THE GATHERING STORM by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (fantasy)

Beth Yarnall: VISION IN WHITE by Nora Roberts (romance)

Kaye of the Book Review Forum: THE CHRISTMAS TRAIN by David Baldacci


GRAPHIC

Scott Parker: THE TRIAL OF SHERLOCK HOLMES by Leah Moore and John Reppion


ADULT NON-FICTION BOOK REVIEWS

Linda McLaughlin: TAROT FOR WRITERS by Corrine Kenner

Prairie Rose of Prairie Rose's Garden THE GEOGRAPHY OF BLESS: ONE GRUMP'S SEARCH FOR THE HAPPIEST PLACES IN THE WORLD by Eric Weiner

THANK YOU ONE AND ALL!

Reviewers: You know the scoop. If I've left you off the list, just leave a comment or email me, and I'll rectify the situation asap.



**Exceptional previous reviews are only a click away.**