Reading My Name Challenge

Reading My Name Challenge

When: February 1 - May 1, 2008
Hosted by: Callista
What: Read at least two books either by authors who have your name (first or last - any version) or that feature characters with your name.

My choices:

Karen J. Fowler. Sister Noon -- finished 2/29/2008
Laurie R. King. Locked Rooms -- finished 3/11/2008
Stephen King. Cell

Locked Rooms by Laurie R. King

First sentence:

"The dreams began when we left Bombay."

Description:

"Mary Russell and her husband Sherlock Holmes are back in Laurie R. King’s highly acclaimed New York Times bestselling mystery series. And this time the first couple of detection pair up to unlock the buried memory of a shocking crime with the power to kill again–lost somewhere in Russell’s own past.

After departing Bombay by ship, Mary Russell and her husband Sherlock Holmes are en route to the bustling modern city of San Francisco. There, Mary will settle some legal affairs surrounding the inheritance of her family’s old estate. But the closer they get to port, the more Mary finds herself prey to troubling dreams and irrational behavior–a point not lost on Holmes, much to Russell’s annoyance.

In 1906, when Mary was six, San Francisco was devastated by an earthquake and a raging fire that reduced the city to rubble. For years, Mary has denied any memory of the catastrophe that for days turned the fabled streets into hell on earth. But Holmes suspects that some hidden trauma connected with the “unforgettable” catastrophe may be the real culprit responsible for Mary’s memory lapse. And no sooner do they begin to familiarize themselves with the particulars of the Russell estate than it becomes apparent that whatever unpleasantness Mary has forgotten, it hasn’t forgotten her. Why does her father’s will forbid access to the house except in the presence of immediate family? Why did someone break in, then take nothing of any value? And why is Russell herself targeted for assassination?

The more questions they ask of Mary’s past, the more people from that past turn out to have died violent, unexplained deaths. Now, with the aid of a hard-boiled young detective and crime writer named Hammett, Russell and Holmes find themselves embroiled in a mystery that leads them through the winding streets of Chinatown to the unspoken secrets of a parent’s marriage and the tragic car “accident” that a fourteen-year-old Mary alone survived–an accident that may not have been an accident at all. What Russell is about to discover is that even a forgotten past never dies…and it can kill again." -- from back cover

My thoughts:

This was a good mystery set in post-earthquake San Francisco in the 1920s. I liked the alternating viewpoints between Holmes and Russell as well as the interactions between Holmes and Dashiell Hammett.

Date read: 3/11/2008
Book #: 16
Series: Mary Russell #8
Challenge: Reading My Name Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Mystery

ISBN-10: 0553583417
ISBN-13: 9780553583410
Publisher: Bantam
Year: 2006
# of Pages: 485
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
LibraryThing Page

Sister Noon by Karen Joy Fowler

First sentence:

"In 1894, Mrs. Putnam took Lizzie Hayes to the Mid-winter Exhibition in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, where they both used a telephone for the very first time."

Description:

"San Francisco in the Gilded Age: great fortunes are being made and family dynasties established as new money erases the often unsavory pasts and shady dealings of their founders. It is a city bursting at its seams - each day bringing new monuments to unbridled ego and ostentatious bad taste - a city ruled by a self-selected elite grounded in gentility and fueled by gossip and greed.

By dint of birth, Lizzie Hayes is part of this elite. But Lizzie, seemingly so docile, hides within her a passionate heart. All she needs is the spark that will liberate her from the ruling conventions. And that spark is Mary Ellen Pleasant. With her appearance on Lizzie's doorstep, she brings not only mystery and a whiff of disrepute, but also the key that will unlock Lizzie's rebellious nature. 'You can do anything you want,' she tells Lizzie. 'You don't have to be the same person your whole life.'" -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

This book was an interesting historical fiction set in late 19th century San Francisco. Appearances, both real and imagined, are important as well as maintaining one's reputation. I liked how Lizzie gradually broke away from convention to find her own path without relying on the opinions of others.

Date read: 2/29/2008
Book #: 13
Series: Winter Reading Challenge, Reading My Name Challenge, Celebrate the Author Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Historical Fiction

ISBN-10: 0399147500
ISBN-13: 9780399147500
Publisher: Putnam
Year: 2001
# of Pages: 321
Binding: Hardcover
LibraryThing Page