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.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I understand why this book has become such a nerd cult classic. There's a lot going on in the expertly woven multi-strand plot, from murder-mystery to thriller, to family epic, but if there is a universal stream to the many plot-lines it is the uncovering of the darkness lurking beneath respectable facades in finance, in families, in social services, and in the human heart. Heroes in this story are the people who, sometimes at great personal cost, expose and fight (as best as they can) lurking corruption and evil. Mikael Blomkvist, the idealistic reporter and Lisbeth Salander, the fierce, eccentric, brilliant and damaged hacker, make an unlikely underdog team. Blomkvist has recently retreated from a fight with a corrupt corporation he was investigating which has so manipulated the flow of information and the legal justice system as to successfully sue him for libel. Facing jail time and with his magazine on the brink of collapse, he has little choice but to take the strange job of investigating a 40 year old crime. The disappearance of Harriet Vanger, the favorite niece of the head of an old family firm, the Vanger group, has baffled police for decades, and Blomkvist himself believes he's on a fool's errand. But when he begins to turn up overlooked clues, the plot thickens, gets incredibly dark, and Salander and Blomkvist turn up far more than they expected or bargained for.
But it's complex, fascinating, misunderstood Lisbeth Salander who really gives the novel its soul. Her past is mysterious, but it's clear she's been underestimated by nearly everyone around her. In her mid-twenties she is a tattooed, pierced ward of the state, under guardianship. However, she also works for a security firm as a freelance investigator, and her reports on individuals and companies are known for being brilliant and almost impossibly detailed. She also has a reputation for being thorny and difficult, almost impossible to work with or befriend. Her hermit habits make her an easy target for abuse. But people who get in her way soon regret it, and it becomes clear that she has an unwavering sense of justice as well as a clear-eyed view of humanity.
The plot takes awhile to get going (think Tom Clancy-esque long wind-up) but once all the dominoes are in place and begin to fall, it is explosive. Larsson managed to create a serious novel about big ideas that also happens to be a bad-ass read, and I heartily approve. He's very concerned with issues of social justice, particularly in regards to women and sexual violence, and what a way to get that message out. As explicit as it gets, he's really trying, like his protagonists, to shine some light on a complicated and dark social problem. Larsson's characters are very real, believable creations with their own baggage and flaws who are nevertheless trying their best to survive, out the truth, find love, and in Salander's case, dispense justice.

Angel Time

Anne Rice is one interesting lady. I read her probably-best-known book, Interview with the Vampire when I was in college and was drawn in by the dark intensity of it. But I don't think I understood how spiritual even that particular classic vampire tale was until I read some of the books she wrote after her conversion to Christianity in 2002 and did a double-take on how much her vampire stories are about the struggle against damnation and despair. She's writing with the same passionate intensity, and the same willingness to gaze into the darkness, but there's an unapologetic theme of hope and redemption in her stories now.
Angel Time features Toby the lute-playing hit man with a deeply buried heart, accosted by the angel Malchiah who wants to give him a chance at redemption and send him into the world to use his unique gifts on the side of the angels. His first assignment happens to be in 13th century England, using every diplomatic sleight-of-hand and subterfuge he can muster to save innocent local Jews from becoming victims of ignorant superstition and violence. I loved how detailed Rice's characterization of Toby is- this is a thriller but it is also a psychological and spiritual study of a human heart- what happens to twist it, how no-one is beyond redemption, and really cool speculation on what goes on in the spiritual realm underneath everyday circumstances. Also, I dig the musical references. A hit man who is a musical genius on the lute? Really that's all you need to know about the strange, thought-provoking, fascinating genre-smooshing blend that is this book.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is so good, but I almost hesitate to put this book up here because the looming tragedy of the story is palpable from page one. But it's so beautifully put together with prose like Robert Frost's poetry- woodsy, direct, honest and dark around the edges- that I felt compelled.
Part John Steinbeck-esque American family epic, part coming-of-age tale, part ghost story, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle follows the tumultuous events of the title character's young adulthood. His father and mother make a living breeding and training their extraordinarily intelligent dogs, and Edgar can't imagine any other life. Cracks appear in their tight-knit family when Edgar's troubled, enigmatic uncle Claude reappears after a years-long absence and reinserts himself into the life of the family and kennel. When Edgar's father dies unexpectedly, Edgar is the only one who suspects that something is not quite right about his death. I really can't say much more without spoilers, but it really is a beautiful, haunted book with some very believable, unique characters and real things to say about families, growing up, trusting your instincts, and the deep friendships that are possible between humans and dogs. But don't read the ending alone in the dark at midnight like I did. Bad idea.

The Beekeeper's Apprentice

Sherlock Holmes has retired to the country to work on his magnum opus of detection and keep bees. But as he is following bees through the hills one day, he runs across the brilliant, damaged, somewhat prickly Mary Russell. When she deduces what he is doing, and shocks him by solving his current bee tracking mystery for him, a complicated and intellectually stimulating relationship is born. Mary becomes Holmes' apprentice and friend, and of course Scotland Yard eventually calls Holmes out of retirement on a desperately important case.
The only thing better than finding this book was discovering that it's a whole series. Laurie R. King weaves smart mysteries that are worthy successors to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classics. I think the character of Holmes is pitch perfect- that King does a convincing job of peeking in on Holmes the man without revealing too much, distorting his character, or dissolving into sappiness. Of course, giving Holmes a female apprentice lends the series a distinctly feminist flavor in the sense that King quite clearly believes that women can be just as observant, intelligent, and scholarly as men, but I never felt like Mary Russell as a character stomps Holmes or men in general. I couldn't put it down, especially once the plot thickens and Russell and Holmes set off solving mysteries together.