Heroes of the Valley

Last year I read Jonathan Stroud's awesome fantasy series, the Bartimaeus' Trilogy, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Great new fantasy books just don't come along all that often- (they tend to be a little too much like this) but Stroud is a classy guy who knows how to craft great plots, great characters, and keep you guessing at the next twist.
Halli Sveinsson (are you catching the viking flavor of this yet?) is a bored young would-be hero, which in his peaceful farming family translates effectively into general hot-headed trouble-maker. He dreams of the great deeds of the heroes of the past, who fought the (extremely creepy) orc-like burrowing Trows out of the valley once and for all. But his pranks and temper eventually set in motion a chain of events that threaten to shatter the generations-long peace in the valley. In his quest to set wrongs right he discovers the truth about his home, his family, and himself.
I really like Stroud's very visual style that outlines just enough detail for you to paint a vivid picture for yourself. He's so good at well-paced plot that keeps you guessing right until the very end. It's exciting stuff with a nice balance of drama, action, and just a hint of romance. Aud, Halli's brave and intelligent friend, co-conspirator, and love interest? is almost as enjoyable a character as Halli. The only tiny, teeny little weakness that I feel Stroud might have as a writer is his ability to wrap things up. I don't love his endings- I'm not sure he always quite knows what to do with them. Still, this is a very enjoyable, exciting, well-crafted read that made me neglect the dishes.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Like the characters themselves, this book peels back layers of deliberate facade and intellectual armor to reveal the soul underneath. Watching brilliant but lonely people come alive is the pleasure of reading this, and even though it is French, so the tragic ending is obligatory, I couldn't even be irritated about it as I wept on the couch while finishing it last Sunday afternoon. "Life is sad, but beautiful" would be the five word summary.
Granted, a book mostly written in short philosophical essay chapters is not everyone's cup of tea, and occasionally I feel that Paloma the lonely genius thirteen year old is a little too adolescently superior, and the Renee, the concierge-who-loves-fine-art is a little too smugly disapproving of her wealthy and pretentious employers. But as the simple plot of lives colliding unfolds, the characters find it is impossible to be completely jaded when there are people in the world who see who you truly are and love you for it.
Thoughtful and beautiful- and the perfect book to read alone in Starbucks in order to look quirky and hip. I mean, just look at that title.

Little Bee

It would be easy for this novel about the deep consequences of a chance meeting between a Nigerian teenage girl, armed and dangerous oil goons, and a couple of vacationing British journalists to devolve into preachiness. Each character tries to escape the horror of that day (Sarah and Andrew mostly by pretending it never happened, Little Bee by smuggling herself out of the country to Britain), but the chances of Sarah and Andrew ignoring Little Bee and everything she represents drop to nil when she shows up in their neat suburban garden with nowhere else to go.
This is a story about being a refugee, about the first-world and third-world colliding, about guilt and the possibility of redemption. Chris pulls off some sort of literary voodoo by speaking first in the voice of a female teenage Nigerian, then in the voice of an (also female) British journalist, and making both voices not only absolutely believable, but impossible to stop reading. Little Bee is no pitiable two-dimensional stock orphan/refugee charity case. She's smart, clear-eyed, at times terrified, but very brave, a survivor who decides the best way to make it is to learn to speak English like the queen herself, and Sarah ends up needing her compassion and honesty as much as she needs Sarah. This book is full of fearless writing that stares down the evil all around and the sneakier evil lurking in our hearts and says that we don't have to be defined by our wounds or failures. It's an unbelievably truthful, heartfelt story.