The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín

First sentence:

"They appear more often now, both of them, and on every visit they seem more impatient with me and with the world."

Description:

Provocative, haunting and indelible, Colm Tóibín’s portrait of Mary presents her as a solitary older woman still seeking to understand the events that become the narrative of the New Testament and the foundation of Christianity.

In the ancient town of Ephesus, Mary lives alone, years after her son’s crucifixion. She has no interest in collaborating with the authors of the Gospel—her keepers, who provide her with food and shelter and visit her regularly. She does not agree that her son is the Son of God; nor that his death was “worth it;” nor that the “group of misfits he gathered around him, men who could not look a woman in the eye,” were holy disciples.

Mary judges herself ruthlessly (she did not stay at the foot of the Cross until her son died—she fled, to save herself), and is equally harsh on her judgement of others. This woman who we know from centuries of paintings and scripture as the docile, loving, silent, long-suffering, obedient, worshipful mother of Christ becomes a tragic heroine with the relentless eloquence of Electra or Medea or Antigone. Tóibín’s tour de force of imagination and language is a portrait so vivid and convincing that our image of Mary will be forever transformed. -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

This was a thought provoking book, depicting the Gospel story from a different point of view. I liked how throughout Mary talks about being a mother first and last.

Date read: 2/15/2013
Book #: 4
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Historical Fiction

ISBN-10: 1451688385
ISBN-13: 9781451688382
Publisher: Scribner
Year: 2012
# of pages: 81
Binding: Hardcover
LibraryThing page

Virtual Light by William Gibson

First sentence:

"The courier presses his forehead against layers of glass."

Description:

"Berry Rydell, an ex-cop, signs on with IntenSecure Armed Response in Los Angeles. He finds himself on a collision course that results in a desperate romance, and a journey into the ecstasy and dread that mirror each other at the heart of the postmodern experience." -- from Amazon.com



My thoughts:

This was an interesting cyberpunk novel. I liked the characters Berry and Chevette and how they worked together to figure out the story behind the special glasses. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Idoru.


Date read: 2/14/2012
Book #: 3
Series: Bridge Trilogy, #1
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: SF

ISBN-10: 0553074997
ISBN-13: 9780553074994
Publisher: Bantam Spectra
Year: 1993
# of pages: 323
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

Skull Session by Daniel Hecht

First sentence:

"'The thing about danger,' Lia shouted, 'is that it simplifies you.'"

Description:

"Despite his brilliance, Paul Skoglund hasn’t held a steady job for years, partly because of his Tourette’s syndrome, a neurological disorder that forces his body into wild swings and to blurt out words that are hilariously, often tragically, inappropriate.

When his eccentric, wealthy aunt asks him to take on the repairs of her magnificent hunting lodge, he is in no position to refuse. But inside the lodge lies a scene of almost superhuman destruction: a violence now mirrored by a series of disappearances and deaths haunting the region. As Paul delves into the wreckage, he can’t help but wonder what dark passion--and what strength--could cause such chaos.

Janet, Paul’s icy ex-wife, plans to use his condition to wrest away custody of their young son. And in his otherwise uncertain world, Paul is sure of one thing: nothing and no one is going to come between him and Mark. But quickening events lead him deeper into his family’s past, and as Paul faces the darker aspects of his own nature, he must brave the possibility that in saving those he loves, he might well destroy himself …" -- from the back cover


My thoughts:

I liked this thriller about the "monster" inside and what happens when it's released without control. I liked Paul's interactions with Lia, his son Mark, and his aunt Vivian.

Date read: 2/13/2012
Book #: 2
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Thriller

ISBN-10: 0330353748
ISBN-13: 9780330353748
Publisher: Pan Books
Year: 1998
# of pages: 568
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Fortress in the Eye of Time by C.J. Cherryh

First sentence: 

"Its name had been Galasien once, a city of broad streets and thriving markets, of docks crowded with bright-sailed river craft."

Description:

"Deep in an abandoned, shattered castle, an old man of the Old Magic muttered almost forgotten words. His purpose -- to create out of the insubstance of the air, from a shimmering of light and a fluttering of shadows. that most wondrous of spells, a Shaping. A Shaping in the form of a young man who will be sent east on the road the old man was too old to travel. To right the wrongs of a long-forgotten wizard war, and call new wars into being.

Here is the long-awaited major new novel from one of the brightest stars in the fantasy and science fiction firmament. C.J.Cherryh's haunting story of the wizard Mauryl, kingmaker for a thousand years of Men, and Tristen, fated to sow distrust between a prince and his father.

A tale as deep as legend and a intimate as love, it tells of a battle beyond Time, in which all Destiny turns on the wheel of an old man's ambition, a young man's innocence, and the unkept promised of a king to come." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

Overall I liked this fantasy epic featuring the innocent Tristan trying to understand his purpose in the world. Sometimes, however, I wish there was a list of characters and their connections as many of the names were similar and I found it hard to keep track of who was who. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Fortress of Eagles.

Date read: 1/27/2013
Book #: 1
Series: Fortress, #1
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0061056898
ISBN-13: 9780061056895
Publisher: HarperPrism
Year: 1995
# of pages: 773
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page

Off the Shelf Challenge 2012

What: Read books from the TBR pile
When: January 1 - December 31, 2012

For more information, see the instructions on Bookish Ardour

My level: 2 = trying.  For this level, I will read 15 books:

1. Carole Nelson Douglas. Dancing with Werewolves -- finished 1/3/2012 
2. Geraldine Brooks. People of the Book -- finished 1/23/2012 
3. Robert C. Fleet. Last Mountain -- finished 1/31/2012
4. Jonathan Carroll. Glass Soup -- finished 2/6/2012
5. John Ramsey Miller. Upside Down -- finished 2/8/2012
6. C.J. Cherryh. The Pride of Chanur -- finished 2/8/2012
7. Greg Iles. The Footprints of God -- finished 2/28/2012
8. Jeffrey Ford. The Girl in the Glass -- finished 3/8/2012
9. Mo Hayder. Pig Island -- finished 3/19/2012
10. Robert A. Heinlein. The Green Hills of Earth -- finished 3/21/2012
11. Jason F. Wright. The Wednesday Letters -- finished 3/28/2012
12. Michael Crichton. Sphere -- finished 3/29/2012
13. Patricia Wallace. Lullabye. -- finished 3/31/2012
14. Judith Tarr and Harry Turtledove. Household Gods -- finished 4/9/2012
15. Carl Hiassen. Native Tongue -- finished 4/18/2012
16. Trish MacDonald Skillman. Someone to Watch Over -- finished 4/25/2012
17. Dave Duncan. The Gilded Chain -- finished 5/16/2012
18. Tiziano Terzani. A Fortune-Teller Told Me -- finished 5/27/2012
19. Matt Ruff. Bad Monkeys -- finished 6/2/2012
20. Kelly Link. Magic for Beginners. -- finished 6/20/2012
21. Frederick Forsyth. Icon. -- finished 7/2/2012
22. Poul Anderson. Trader to the Stars. -- finished 7/23/2012
23. Charlaine Harris. Real Murders -- finished 8/14/2012
24. Mark Kurlansky. Salt: A World History -- finished 8/19/2012
25. Karen Chance. Touch the Dark -- finished 8/29/2012
26. Aiden James. Plague of Coins -- finished 8/30/2012
27. Linda Gillard. Emotional Geology -- finished 9/15/2012
28. Keith R.A. DeCandido. The Xander Years, Volume 1 -- finished 9/17/2012
29. Max Barry. Machine Man -- finished 10/12/2012
30. Elizabeth Strout. Olive Kittridge -- finished 10/20/2012
31. Philip Caputo. The Voyage -- finished 11/15/2012
32. Elspeth Huxley. Murder at Government House -- finished 12/6/2012
33. C.J. Cherryh. Serpent's Reach -- finished 12/9/2012
34. Katharine Weber. Triangle -- finished 12/29/2012

Triangle by Katharine Weber

First sentence:

"This is what happened."

Description:

"By the time she dies at age 106, Esther Gottesfeld, the last survivor of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire, has told the story of that days many times. But her own role remains mysterious: How did she survive when at least 146 workers, her sister and fiancé among them, burned or jumped to their deaths? Are the gaps in her story just common mistakes, or has she deliberately concealed a secret over the years? As her granddaughter seeks the real story in the present day, a zealous feminist historian intrudes with her own set of conclusions, but it is Esther's voice echoing insistently through the decades that ultimately reveals the meaning of the tragedy.

A brilliant, haunting chronicle of the event that stood for ninety years as New York's most violent disaster, Triangle forces us to consider how we tell our stories, how we hear them, and how history is forged from unverifiable truths." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a very good book about people and their stories. The ones they tell, and the ones told about them. I liked Esther's interactions with the interviewer as well as her granddaughter's friend George Bostwick composing music based on DNA.

Date read: 12/29/2012
Book #: 43
Challenge: Off the Shelf Challenge 2012
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0312426143
ISBN-13: 9780312426149
Publisher: Picador
Year: 2006
# of pages: 242
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing page

Serpent's Reach by C.J. Cherryh

First sentence:

"If it was anywhere possible to be a child in the Family, it was possible at Kethiuy, on Cerdin."

Description:

"The constellation of Hydri, known as the Serpent, is compact and obscure from Earth and remained so in the era of interstellar colonization. For it was under strict quarantine--harboring an intelligent race, powerful and alien. Yet there were human colonies within the Serpent's Reach, cut off from the galaxy beyond, with their own inbred culture, and their special relationships to the inhuman majat.

This is the novel of Raen, the last of the massacred Sul Family, and of her lifetime pledge to find vengeance. It was to take her across the worlds of the Reach into the very center of the alien webwork that knit the forbidden constellation into a complex of interbred cultures that no outsider could hope to unravel." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I liked this book set in a rich and complicated universe. I especially liked the way the majat are portrayed and how Raen interacts with them.

Date read: 12/9/2012
Book #: 42
Series: Alliance-Union Universe, #13
Challenge: Off the Shelf Challenge 2012
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: SF

ISBN-10: 0886770882
ISBN-13: 9780886770884
Publisher: DAW
Year:\1980
# of pages: 285
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing page