Daddy's Girl - Lisa Scottoline

This was on the "Hot Picks" shelf at the library - never heard of it and the title did not intrigue me, but I was in the mood for a good murder mystery and this seemed to fit the bill. Nat, the main character, is a law professor at Penn St. (or some law school in Pennsylvania). She has an overbearing family, and a boyfriend who fits in with them, but is not quite in tune with her. She is passionate about her law and literature class and loves books, but with dwindling interest in her subject right before her tenure year, she is under undue pressure from the dean. Enter Angus, a ponytailed do-gooder who heads up the clinical program doing outreach at the local prison. He invites Nat to come teach a class with him, and of course, a huge riot ensues in which Nat hears the dying words of a correctional officer. Of course, the death is not what it seems, and it leads Nat and Angus into a crazy maze of corruption and greed. The basic plot is in the realm of the fantastic, but putting aside my annoyance at Nat's initial reaction to the prison situation, I did find myself excited and intrigued. I found the flirtatious banter between Nat and Angus a bit strained - I thought, "NOBODY talks like this," but then as it keep going and going, I found myself wondering, "wait, am I the only person who never talks like this?" The twist at the end was a bit predictable, but still satisfying. Scottoline is not a complex legal thriller like Stephen Carter, but she's a little less predictable than Grisham. I was a little surprised to find out that she's actually a lawyer - and a professor - since her depictions of the classroom and of actual practice seemed a little too basic. When Nat began to wax poetic about Gideon v. Wainwright, I was thinking that we first learned about the right to legal representation in 11th grade civics class - it was hardly an awe-inspiring concept by law school. But, no matter. Trivialities aside, this is a good quick mystery for the plane or the beach or a lazy evening. But, I still hate the title and think it had little to do with the novel itself. I have no idea how popular this book is, but it seems Scottoline could probably have been taken more seriously with a title that sounded less like possible pornography. Then again, I did pick it up off the shelf knowing nothing else about it, so go figure.

The Middle Place - Kelly Corrigan

Ashley heard about and recommended this memoir to me of a Piedmont mother of two, learning to navigate life in the middle place - that place where you're trying to learn how to be an independent person/parent of your own, but still find yourself running home to your parents when problems arise. Corrigan has a gregarious larger than life father, who has consistently convinced her that she is the most awe-inspiring wonderful person around. As a result, she seems to believe a little too much that the world revolves around her and that people live for her daily accomplishments and advice. There are times throughout the book where she seems to acknowledge this and reflect a bit on the reasons for her selfishness, but often it goes by unseen. Corrigan is diagnosed with breast cancer, and the book focuses mainly on how she handles this crisis - while still protecting her children, and being there to support her aging parents. I found it a little odd that on the day she found out about her diagnosis, she chose to email her 100 closest friends about what she was going through. While it is amazing that she had such a wide support network, it just seemed like such a public announcement of a private situation - admitting that she sent it to friends and family members that she hadn't really spoken to in years. She reproduces her email for the reader - and while touching, it failed to acknowledge that many of the people she was sending the email too had probably already been through a similar experience. To me, this anecdote highlighted Corrigan's focus on the self - and while she consistently wanted her friends to walk in her painful shoes, she rarely seemed able to walk in theirs, or ever acknowledge that others might be going through difficult times of their own. While I found her struggle with cancer to be quite honest (and it, as well as her close relationship with her father, brought tears to my eyes on numerous occasions throughout the book), I was frustrated by her view of the world, which seemed to presume that she was the only one suffering. This book is an interesting example of the difficulty transitioning from being someone's child, to being your own person. But, Corrigan is also a fine example of how profoundly (for better or worse) parents are able to warp their children's views and expectations of what the world owes them.

A Wolf at the Table - Augusten Burroughs

Several years ago, I read Augusten Burroughs's memoir Running with Scissors (later turned into a movie). I found it disturbing that he had so much abuse and tragedy in his life, but he seemed intent on minimizing it and just trying to get a laugh. Reviews of the book hailed it as hilarious, and given that it was supposedly true, I found the whole thing profoundly sad. Since then, I have been reluctant to read his other books, but something moved me the other day and I picked this one up. A Wolf at the Table focuses on Burroughs's relationship (or lack of) with his father. Burroughs lived with his father until he was about 12 years old and his parents divorced. During those years, Burroughs is brutally honest about the lengths he went to to get his father to notice him and to physically touch or hold him, and the pain he felt at small and frequent realizations that his father did not care one bit about him. Burroughs's father's behavior, however, goes beyond neglect, as he seems to manipulate Augusten and go out of his way to destroy things (and pets) that Augusten loves. As we later learn in Running with Scissors, Augusten's mother herself suffers from profound mental illness, and certainly battered wives' syndrome, and is unable to explain anything to Augusten, though she does go to lengths to protect him from his father's violence. Strangely, Augusten does have an older brother, who remains with his father in the times when Augusten and his mother escape. The sibling relationship is touched upon, but it appears that Augusten has little understanding of who his brother is or why it is okay to leave his brother with their father. I would be quite interested in learning what happened to Augusten's brother and how he viewed and coped with their dysfunctional family. A Wolf at the Table was a much more honest memoir in my mind than Running with Scissors. Burroughs reveals what he thinks he remembers, and is pretty good at reporting his actual feelings at the time, and then providing some hindsight. This is a sad book and is not the witty funny Burroughs, as he has come to be portrayed in the literary media. Unlike Running with Scissors, however, this book did make me care about Burroughs as a person, and made me more interested in his later life. Accordingly, I plan to read Dry - his memoir about his struggles with alcohol, and probably reread Running with Scissors with this more informed background.

Musicophilia - Oliver Sacks

Musicophilia is by the author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat - and also relays seemingly strange neurological phenomena. This time, however, they all pertain to individuals who as the result of a seizure, or unexplained circumstance, suddenly have strong reactions to music. One man suddenly had the urgency to learn a musical instrument to the point of obsession and the detriment of his personal relationships. For some beautiful music suddenly sounds like a cacophony of clanging. And for others it is simply as if they are listening to a radio in their head that they can never turn off. Sacks talks about different treatments and efforts to eliminate the music, and to figure out the cause. It was amazing to read how many of hte patients, despite acknowledging the debilitating effects musicophilia had had on their lives, were reluctant to part with their new-found symptoms - either because they loved the passion they found in the music, or they believed they would feel lonely once the music left them. Sacks is an engaging writer, and I enjoyed reading most of the case histories. After awhile, however, I felt that things got a little repetitive - he probably could have edited the book a bit more, and refrained from repeating cases that he had written about in previous books - other than to make small points. Overall, however, I just found this phenomenon fascinating - particularly as someone who does not have any musical talent, and doesn't see the world in a particularly musical way. It is truly amazing what the human brain can do.

Midnight Sun (Partial Draft) - Stephenie Meyer

While finishing out her Twilight saga, Stephenie Meyer took a little break to play around with her story from a different perspective. So, she took the first book and rewrote it from Edward's vantage point. While playing around with this, and nowhere near any revisions or completion, someone leaked a draft onto the internet. Meyer decided that instead of asking her fans not to read it, that she would explain the situation and sanction the internet version - with the caveat that it was indeed a work in progress, and with the hope that perhaps someday she would return to finish it. So, I decided to take a look - at 260-odd pages, it is much shorter than the other books in the series - suggesting that Meyer still had much more that she wished to include. At present the version is very much a rewriting of Twilight, scene by scene. Accordingly, many of the conversations seem very familiar. I expected to see more of the Cullen family revealed - a more in-depth exploration of the vampires' hunting rituals, their conversations behind closed doors, a look at all their various hobbies - what they spend their time doing when everyone else is sleeping - and how they have come about their wonderous talents (such as Edward's piano playing) and amassing great wealth. But, instead of delving into what we could never have seen when reading the story from Bella's perspective, Meyer seemed very rooted to the story as she had already presented it. I would hope that if she does choose to go back to Midnight Sun that she will fill in the gaps with more interesting background - and that we could learn much more about Edward - where he came from and what he thinks about when he isn't constantly trying to protect Bella from herself. But, putting aside the fact that has her story remained a secret she would have had all the time in the world to polish it, I thought this was a fun exercise ( a kind of Wicked vis-a-vis The Wizard of Oz) and a nice little way to continue on with the Bella/Edward story now that it has seemingly been put to rest.

Holidays on Ice - David Sedaris

I adore David Sedaris, but after finding his last couple books less than stellar, I feared that perhaps I have overdosed. But, then a couple months ago, Ashley and I went to hear him read at the Opera House in San Francisco, and I fell in love all over again. He read a piece from the New Yorker about undecided voters, an essay from his latest collection When You are Engulfed in Flames, and snippets from works in progress - which I found fascinating as he talked about what he thought did and did not work in the stories. He was funny and charming, and there was nothing I wanted more at the holidays than more David Sedaris! So, while browsing for others at Stacey's Bookstore downtown, I picked up Holidays on Ice, a collection dedicated to Christmas and the holidays. As well as the usual Sedaris autobiographical essays, he also includes a few fictional pieces - a mock-sermon with some high points, and a what if barnyard animals did their own Kris Kringle - but my favorite was a story about two families who keep having to one-up each other in their annual Christmas cards. With respect to the stories from Sedaris's own life/thoughts, my favorite was "Six or Eight Black Men" about beliefs in other countries that differ from our notion of Santa Claus (obviously theirs are ridiculous - ours makes so much more sense!) The stories were a bit hit or miss, but when they hit, I always laugh out loud in spite of myself. As you can imagine, Sedaris's holiday cheer is filled with sarcasm and irony, and accordingly it managed to put me in a very good Christmas spirit.

Toujours Provence - Peter Mayle

I meant to read Peter Mayle's memoirs of his transplanted life in Provence in order - but I misplaced A Year in Provence, and picked this one up from my mom. Mayle focuses generally on being an outsider in France (he is British), and how he and his wife go about becoming accustomed to French life, and the quirky adventures and misunderstandings they have along the way. Mayle has a wonderful sense of humor - and reminds me a great deal of Bill Bryson (though a little more refined). Each chapter stands alone - though once in awhile there are references to earlier events or characters. As he is in France, my favorite chapters focus on food - and there are a few in this book about the French obsession with truffles. I love hearing about Mayle's experiences with 5-course meals in Michelin rated restaurants, and his unassuming finds in little known bistros or makrets. It never makes me stop wishing for that 3-hour dinner, filled with new discoveries of flavors. There were a few chapters in here that failed to hold my attention, but overall since I'm not traveling right now and don't have the time to immerse myself in another culture, reading about someone who has done so with so much enthusiasm is a close second. I need to sort through my books and find A Year in Provence so I can start this journey properly from the beginning.