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River Reads: “Faithful Place” by Tana French

November 30, 2010 By

I really am getting behind here! I have a few books  you’d love but as I just closed this one I’ll get to it first. Good book. Dark and clever. Both in equal parts really which makes for a good mystery detective personal thriller angst ridden type book.

You really can’t go home again, or really shouldn’t, as undercover detective Frank Mackey discovers. Well, first he discovers the suitcase and subsequently the  body of his long lost love. THEN he discovers that running off all those years ago was an excellent idea.

The night that he and his Rosie were to elope, she doesn’t show. Assuming that he has been stood up he says screw it and leaves anyway.

He becomes a police officer. Marries, divorces and generally stays as far from Faithful Place in Dublin as he can.

His alcohol fueled family has many many issues and as they are seemingly unresolvable ( or un fixable) he saves himself at great cost to the other less self-reliant members of the family. Or was the cost due regardless?

It raises a good question. Are you duty bound to attempt to save your family if it can not or will not attempt to save itself? Does familial duty ( even if its guaranteed demise is self destructive and inevitable) trump personal obligation? Saving oneself at the cost of others is unacceptable but is it wasteful and defeatest to throw away your own potential to help people who don’t want your help? Indeed, resent you for offering?

Frank gets deeper and deeper into a mess that is more psychological and sociological than mysterious. I , had a fair guess who dunnnit fairly early on. ( yes, I know, pat pat on my back.)  The book goes beyond what you are expecting.

What I found most interesting is Tana French writing as Frank Mackey. A La Memoirs of A Geisha, it is impressive for an author to pull off the other sex’s point of view. She writes quite well as a man. ( Being a girl- one wonders how I would know this…good point but ignore it.)

Faithful Place is interesting on many levels and although a tad bleak it has quite positive energy about it. Love can close or open doors and Frank chooses to keep them open.

Jennifer Petty Mann grew up in New York City, moved to London, England, then back to Boston, and is now happily ensconced on the EightMile river in Lyme with three little ones.  A former teacher, window dresser for Saks, and designer, she is taking her love of books to the proverbial “street.” 

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Filed Under: Local News, River Reads

“Blast From The Past” by Kinky Friedman

August 18, 2010 By

Richard S. “Kinky” Friedman almost defies description. 

A renaissance man and possible hysterical realist* (think Tom Robbins Still Life With Woodpecker); he is a singer, writer, columnist and ocasional politician.  (He ran as an independent for Governor of Texas in 2006 and received 12.6% of the vote…)

He is primarily known, by me, as a member of Don Imus’ irreverent entourage.  In an effort to force my better half to read my columns I capitulated to reading/ reviewing the male coup de foudre that is Blast From The Past.

I admit to liking it and finding much of it to be enticing enough to read the other one I took out, but it is definitely male humor. Fart jokes are the least of it.  Jamieson Whisky, public sex, genitalia, drugs, and the other staples of male humor are accounted for in bulk.

Despite being a tad traumatized (I am truly a prudy girl no matter how much I try to overcome it ), Kinky captures the dark insightfulness I like so much in David Sedaris.  (10.10.08)

Looking closely at something is always going to provoke and subsequently educate, more than a glossing over can. Kinky is brave enough to look under the rug and face what he finds.

Kinky is obviously a smart man and I liked his casual usage of literary references, many of which he left to hang in the breeze rather than over-explain.  (Reichenbach Falls 12.20.08).

I wouldn’t liken Blast From The Past to L”Elegance du Herisson (9.5.09)  in its thoughtful asides, but it isn’t a horse of an entirely different color either.  There are many bits that give one pause and deserve closer attention.  Abbie Hoffman’s cultural detritus for one …

There are also small gems like his mention of an idiot drunk in the bar named Myers who thinks of opening a British food shop in the Village.  “Most ridiculous idea I ever heard … whole idea’s a pipe dream.  Never happen.” **

I also loved the bar they frequent called the EAR because two of the bars on the B burned out.

Actually, the more the think about it the more I realize how good it it.  Possibly my mamby-pamby attitude is altering?   Am I becoming more indulgent of bathroom humor and private parts?  Nah.

… but I am going to pick up A Case of Lone Star.  Let’s see how Kinky does with that …

*Hysterical Realism, also called recherche postmodernism and maximalism is a literary genre of strong contrast between elaborately absurd prose, plots or characters and precisely specific social phenomena.

 **Myers of Keswick
634 Hudson Street (between Horatio and Jane St.)
New York NY 10014
Phone: (212) 691-4194
Fax: (212) 691-7423
Mail: info@myersofkeswick.com
MON – FRI: 10am – 7pm
SAT: 10am – 6pm
SUN: 12noon – 5pm 
(One of the best little shops around. Truly.)

Jennifer Petty Mann grew up in New York City, moved to London, England, then back to Boston, and is now happily ensconced on the EightMile river in Lyme with three little ones.  A former teacher, window dresser for Saks, and designer, she is taking her love of books to the proverbial “street.” 

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Filed Under: Arts, River Reads

Benn Launches New Book in His Hometown Library

August 17, 2010 By

A new mystery by Connecticut author James R. Benn has garnered wide praise in advance of its official publication date of Sept. 1, earning a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly calling it “stellar”.

Benn will be kicking off the release of RAG AND BONE with a Book Launch Party on Friday, Aug. 27, 7 p.m. at the Lyme Public Library, 482 Hamburg Rd., in Lyme.

There will be a brief presentation and reading, refreshments, and books for sale and signing.

RAG AND BONE: A Billy Boyle WWII Mystery” is the fifth title in a mystery series set within the Allied high command during World War Two.  RAG AND BONE has received superlative early reviews:

In its review, Publishers Weekly says, “Stellar…Benn excels at depicting the impact of war on London–the bricks from bombed buildings piled neatly on the streets, families living in Tube stations, “the odor of the Blitz.” Destruction aside, Billy never forgets that “Even in the midst of war, murder is unacceptable.”  —

Bill Ott of BOOKLIST notes, “Benn shrewdly combines the political cat-and-mouse game with the murder investigation, offering a fascinating glimpse of the wartime intelligence world…his portrayals of the individual lives affectged by the global machinations reflect an almost Graham Greene-like feel for nuance.”   

RAG AND BONE takes the series main character, Billy Boyle, to London where he is called on to investigate the murder of a Soviet official.  There is reason to believe the murder is connected to the recent discovery of mass graves in the Katyn Forest, where thousands of Polish officers were executed by the Soviets. The revelations endanger the uneasy alliance between the Soviets and other allied powers, and Billy finds himself in a diplomatic minefield as the investigation suggests his best friend, Kaz, may have been involved.

Demonstrating that the past is never truly gone, earlier this year the president of Poland and many others were killed in a plane crash on their way to a commemoration of the Kaytn Forest Massacre in Russia. The decisions made over seventy years ago are still claiming lives today.

Soho Press publishes the series, and is planning a national author tour in October.

James R. Benn lives in Lyme, Connecticut.

For more information about the books and scheduled events, visit www.jamesrbenn.com

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A Summer Reading List … for Grown-Ups!

August 9, 2010 By

Why do kids get to have all the fun?  Why can’t we have homework?

Well, my darlings, you can.  My lovely friend TS and I have decided I will do a Summer Reading List.

There will only be six books to read.  I will not review them so you can’t cheat. 

Actually I may do two to inspire you.

I will otherwise be reading them with you.  If you read the majority of them … you’re invited to the wine review that Shorelinw Web News will host at the end of the summer (contact editor@shorelinewebnews.com).

Wouldn’t that be fun?  You could have a drink with ME!  Really, what better incentive could there be?

None at all. 

Luckies. You will have the opportunity to speak with impunity to me about my choices.  You hate them, you love them, I want to hear all!  So buck up my friends, here’s the list.
 
In no particular order …

Jennifer Petty Mann grew up in New York City, moved to London, England, then back to Boston, and is now happily ensconced on the EightMile river in Lyme with three little ones.  A former teacher, window dresser for Saks, and designer, she is taking her love of books to the proverbial “street.”  Read her latest book review exclusively here on LymeLine every Friday.

 
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Filed Under: Arts, River Reads