The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

First sentence:

"May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month."

Description:

"The story of the tragic decline of an Indian family whose members suffer the terrible consequences of forbidden love, The God of Small Things is set in the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India. Armed only with the invincible innocence of children, the twins Rahel and Esthappen fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family -- their lonely, lovely mother, Ammu (who loves by night the man her children love by day), their blind grandmother, Mammachi (who plays Handel on her violin), their beloved uncle Chacko (Rhodes scholar, pickle baron, radical Marxist, bottom-pincher), their enemy, Baby Kochamma (ex-nun and incumbent grandaunt), and the ghost of an imperial entomologist's moth (with unusually dense dorsal tufts).

When their English cousin and her mother arrive on a Christmas visit, the twins learn that Things Can Change in a Day. That lives can twist into new, ugly shapes, even cease forever. The brilliantly plotted story uncoils with an agonizing sense of foreboding and inevitability. Yet nothing prepares you for what lies at the heart of it." -- from the publisher

My thoughts:

I wasn't sure what to think about this book when I finished. While it was beautifully written, the plot was sometimes hard to understand. Yet, weeks later as I think about it, I appreciate more the intricate story of the twins Rahel and Estha, and what happened when their cousin Sophie Mol visited one summer.

Date read: 6/7/2008
Book #: 34
Challenges: Book Awards Challenge, Man Booker Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0060977493
ISBN-13: 9780060977498
Publisher: HarperPerenniel
Year: 1998
# of Pages: 321
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Worlds That Weren't by Harry Turtledove, et al

First sentence:

"Simon the shoemaker's shop stood close to the southwestern corner of the Athenian agora, near the boundary stone marking the edge of the market square and across the narrow dirt lane from the Tholos, the round building where the executive committee of the Boule met."

Description:

"Alternate history is the branch of speculative fiction that explores what might have happened if history had taken a different turn. The obvious changes, like the Nazis winning World War II, have filled innumerable novels. Fortunately, the anthology Worlds That Weren't avoids the obvious with its four fine new novellas from four superior authors: Harry Turtledove, S.M. Stirling, Mary Gentle, and Walter Jon Williams.

The collection opens with "The Daimon," written by Harry Turtledove, AH's best-known practitioner. In Turtledove's turning point, the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates chooses to accompany General Alkibiades to war instead of remaining in Athens, and sets Alkibiades on a triumphant, terrible new course.

Set in the British India-dominated alternate history of The Peshawar Lancers, S.M. Stirling's novella is a rousing old-fashioned adventure. "Shikari in Galveston" follows a hunting safari through a regressed American frontier that might have given even Daniel Boone pause.

A prequel to her Book of Ash tetralogy, Mary Gentle's novella "The Logistics of Carthage" concerns Christian warriors serving pagan Turks in a North Africa conquered by Visigoths instead of Vandals, and is the strongest story in Worlds That Weren't.

The collection concludes with "The Last Ride of German Freddie," in which Nebula Award winner Walter Jon Williams considers what might have happened if the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche had taken himself and his superman theories to the Wild West." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

Instead of the typical alternate history of a different victor in a war, or a prevention of an assassination, these stories highlighted gradual and subtle changes in history. I especially liked the stories "Shikari in Galveston" featuring an alternate America still within the British Empire and "German Freddy Rides Again" featuring Nietzche at the OK Corral. Finally, I liked the afterwords to each story which explained how history really happened.

Date read: 6/6/2008
Book #: 33
Challenge: Short Story Reading Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: SF

ISBN-10: 0451528980
ISBN-13: 9780451528988
Publisher: Roc Trade
Year: 2006
# of Pages: 292
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Death of a Thousand Cuts by Barbara D'Amato

First sentence:

"Jeffrey Clifford sat in the passenger seat of his sister's Mazda, hesitating to open the door."

Description:

"The Hawthorne House was once known for its remarkable success rate with autistic children. Now, fifteen years after it closed former residents have returned to Hawthorne House for their first-ever reunion. But the gala event turns into a bloody nightmare when the House's revered founder, Dr. Jay Schermerhorn, is found tortured to death in the mansion's basement.

Schermerhorn had enjoyed a worldwide reputation for his innovative methods and compassionate treatment of autistic children. How could anyone have hated him enough to kill him? As Chicago detectives probe deeply into the history of Hawthorne House, a troubling picture emerges-of a man who inspired both fear and hatred in the children and families who came to him for help."

My thoughts:

This book was a good police procedural with an emphasis on the wide spectrum of autism behaviors. I liked how the point of view switched from former patient Jeffery Clifford who has developed ways of coping with the world to detective Emily Folkestone who learns about how autistic people behave.

Date read: 6/1/2008
Book #: 32
Challenge: Numbers Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 076534257X
ISBN-13: 9780765342577
Publisher: Tor Books
Year: 2006
# of Pages: 386
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

First sentence:

"Dear Franklin,

I'm unsure why one trifling incident this afternoon has moved me to write to you."

Description:

"In this gripping novel of motherhood gone awry, Lionel Shriver approaches the tragedy of a high-school massacre from the point of view of the killer's mother. In letters written to the boy's father, mother Eva probes the upbringing of this more-than-difficult child and reveals herself to have been the reluctant mother of an unsavory son. As the schisms in her family unfold, we draw closer to an unexpected climax that holds breathtaking surprises and its own hard-won redemption. In Eva, Shriver has created a narrator who is touching, sad, funny, and reflective."

My thoughts:

This was a powerfully moving book about the ambiguousness of family relationships. At times, I wished to hear Kevin's point of view, but Eva's honest and searing account held my interest throughout.

Date read: 5/24/2008
Book #: 31
Challenges: Book Awards Challenge, TBR Challenge 2008, Book-a-Month Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 006072448X
ISBN-13: 9780060724481
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Year: 2004
# of Pages: 400
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Ellison Wonderland by Harlan Ellison

First sentence:

"'Thing' was all I could call it, and it had a million tentacles."

Description:

"Classic Ellison collection: Buckle your safety belts for a journey to the wildest wonderland that never existed!

COMMUTER'S PROBLEM--Or what happens when you catch the morning express to somewhere out of this world!
NOTHING FOR MY NOON MEAL--Trapped on Hell, survival was a choice between the impossible and the unbelievable.
ALL THE SOUNDS OF FEAR--He was a man of many faces but the master of none.
THE SKY IS BURNING--Why was Earth good enough for dying?
RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY--But look out for that "other day"!" -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

Great collection of short stories! I especially liked "All the Sounds of Fear" (provocative look at method acting), "The Sky is Burning," (dying aliens in the sky) and "Rain, Rain, Go Away" (what happens when the "other day" arrives).

Date read: 5/24/2008
Book #: 30
Challenge: Celebrate the Author Challenge, Spring Reading Thing Challenge 2008
Rating: 4*/5 = great
Genre: SF

ISBN-10: 0451077172
ISBN-13: 9780451077172
Publisher: Signet
Year: 1974
# of Pages: 178
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One Day the Ice Will Reveal All Its Dead by Clare Dudman

First sentence:

"Let me tell you about ice.

Description:

"In this passionate and haunting tale of obsession, endurance, courage and love, Clare Dudman imaginatively re-creates the life of the German scientist Alfred Wegener, whose theory of continental drift--derided and discredited by his contemporaries--would eventually revolutionize our perception of the world.

From the moment he nearly drowns in an icy Berlin canal in 1883 at the age of three, Alfred Wegener's irresistible urge to discover the unknown takes him on an extraordinary quest. Record-breaking flights in hydrogen balloons, several lengthy expeditions across the unexplored and treacherous ice of Greenland, the searing horrors of trench warfare in the First World War all form part of a restless search for truth, knowledge and the meaning of love. Wegener's keen powers of observation and his theories on everything from the flow of ice to the formation of raindrops eventually coalesce into his controversial theory of continental drift, which he struggled his whole life to defend.

Distinguished by Clare Dudman's lyrical evocation of the unforgiving beauty of the Arctic, One Day the Ice Will Reveal All Its Dead is the beautifully written story of one man's unshakable belief in an idea and the remarkable woman whose strength and devotion allowed him to pursue all his dreams. -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

Seen through the eyes of Alfred Wegener, this book about his life mixed both poetry and science. I liked learning about Wegener's expeditions in Greenland and about his trying to convince the scientific community about continental drift.

Date read: 5/15/2008
Book #: 29
Challenge: Numbers Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 067003276X
ISBN-13: 9780670032761
Publisher: Viking
Year: 2004
# of Pages: 401
Binding: Hardcover
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