Angels Flight - Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch Series #6)

I feel like the Harry Bosch novels just keep getting better through the series - I'm not sure if Connelly is finding his rhythm with the misanthrope detective, or I'm finding my rhythm as a reader. Either way, I just want to read them one right after another. Angels Flight opens with the shooting death of Los Angeles's civil rights lawyer, Howard Elias. Elias was on the eve of trial on behalf of a man acquitted of rape and murder, against LAPD officers accused of brutality against him. With nearly every person on the force a possible suspect in Elias's murder, Bosch is brought in to investigate the case. The twists, turns, and dead ends in this book are basically the norm for a Connelly novel, but the body count is much higher. Bosch has his usual trouble keeping his mouth shut, and doesn't seem to exhibit the instincts a cop *should* have in terms of who he can really trust. And in the midst of the crazed investigation, Bosch attempts to hold together his failing marriage to former FBI agent, Eleanor Wish (a side sotry I could have done without, but was probably an effort to continue the attempt to humanize Bosch). A worthy addition to the Bosch collection.

Shanghai Girls - Lisa See

Shanghai Girls is the story of two sisters, Pearl and May, and their journey from war-torn Shanghai to Los Angeles from 1937-1957. When the story opens, Pearl and May are the spoiled daughters of a seemingly wealthy businessman. They waste their money on stylish clothing and spend their time posing for "beautiful girl" calendars. When their father reveals that he has gambled away the entire family fortune, the girls are married off, and begin the daunting trip to America. The book follows the two sisters as they suffer their own losses in their own ways - and tracks their friendships and betrayals as they learn to navigate their new lives. The story is told from the perspective of Pearl, the older wiser sister. And while she is clearly a biased narrator, she initially came across to me as a somewhat omniscient one - until the story develops more fully in the end and it becomes clear that Pearl has misread the significance of earlier relationships - to the detriment of her own happiness, and her relationship with her sister. Like so many books written about Asian immigrants during this time period, Shanghai Girls is filled with unimaginable sorrow and heartache - but at the same time, it is a beautiful story about family and the strength of the human spirit to perservere despite unimaginable tragedy.

Manhood for Amateurs - Michael Chabon

This book is a collection of Chabon's thoughts and musings on fatherhood. Given the subject matter, I had no real reason or interest in this book, but I am a fan of (some of) Chabon's fiction, so I figured I might as well read it. I thought it started out quite strong - Chabon tells a little anecdote about how he is at the grocery store with one of his four children, just waiting in the check-out line and not being particularly attentive to his kid. A woman looks over at him and comments something along the lines of, "You are such a wonderful father, I can tell." Chabon's response is to think that he wasn't doing anything to merit such a comment, and that mothers every day do a million times more and are never credited for their parenting skills. I'm definitely on board with this opinion, though I'm not sure I am on board with the direction Chabon then chose to take his book. The underlying acceptable position seems to be that men are clueless morons who love their children, but just aren't that well equipped (for myriad reasons) to be as competent as their female counterparts when it comes to raising them (huge overgeneralization and hetero-normative, I recognize). But Chabon's point in writing his pieces did not seem to be a recognition of this double-standard, or any attempt to equalize the primary care-taking responsibilities in his hectic household. It was just a random collection of his thoughts and experiences of being a son and a father. I did appreciate that the essays weren't completely self-deprecating, and that he didn't make his wife out to be a saint (one essay about his wife's bi-polar disorder or near suicide attempt was particularly heart-breaking), but after such a strong opening, I felt a bit let down from the hodge-podge approach he took with the rest of the book. Given the scatter-shot approach, I thought some of the pieces were funny/clever/entertaining, and others just fell flat. Definitely food for thought on the idea of what it means to be a parent and part of a family, and what it means to want to raise one's childrens differently (or perhaps similarly) to the ways in which they were raised. Insteresting, but nothing earth-shattering.

The Piano Teacher - Janice Lee

I'm always interested to find a book that focuses on a period in time that so many people are familiar with, but finds an aspect of it about which very little is generally known. The Piano Teacher does exactly that, as it focuses on the Japanese 8-month occupation of Hong Kong during WWII. During this time, over 7,000 British soldiers and civilians were kept in prisoner of war camps, and subjected to malnourishment, sickness, and execution. As in Nazi Germany, the need to survive caused those outside the camps to compromise and negotiate in ways that call into question the idea of conscious choice. The Piano Teacher takes place in two different time periods. The first focuses on Will, an Englishman who travels to Hong Kong and falls madly in love with Trudy, a Eurasian socialite. When the Japanese take-over, Will is sent to the camps, while Trudy remains on the outside, clueless in many ways to the horrors Will is suffering, but at the same time trying her best to navigate her own politics of survival. The second part of the story (told in almost alternating chapters, so the book has a somewhat chaotic non-chronological feel) takes place ten years later. Claire, a piano teacher, has just moved to Hong Kong with her husband and begins teacher the adolescent daughter of a wealthy Hong Kong businessman. She eventually meets Will, who works for the same family, and begins an affair filled with secrets and betrayal. I particularly liked the way Lee told this story, with pieces unraveling here and there - there was a great deal of suspense and building anticipation. I found both Trudy, and especially Claire, quite annoying and whiny at times, and Will's understandable detachment difficult to stomach. Often so much of the pain and misunderstanding stemmed from a character's pride or simple unwillingness to just communicate in the face of incorrect information - and I find it frustrating when years of pain could be avoided if someone had just spoken a sentence instead of remaining stubborn. But, then I suppose, there would be no story.

Uncommon Arrangements: Seven Portraits of Married Life in London Literary Circles - Katie Roiphe

I found this book a really interesting read, particularly in conjunction with Elizabeth Gilbert's recent book, Committed. Uncommon Arrangments is a series of essays about married British writers from 1910-1939. Each of the relationships is a study in the idea of marriage and committment, and questioning the traditional notions of monogamy and domestic/professional spheres. I am sure throughout history there have been couples who have consciously made an effort to redefine the idea of marriage -to make their relationships work despite the fact that they may be outside the normal mainstream. Yet, I was still struck that this somewhat concerted effort was going on so early in the 20th century - during a time when I just would have assumed that even if women were miserable, most were resigned to their role of domestic subservience. By nature of the couples that Roiphe chose to analyze however - these women for the most part had a talent and profession outside the home (as Virginia Woolf who features prominently on the periphery of several of the relationships in the book has said, "A woman needs money and a room of her own.") and were thus not wholly dependent on the men in their lives. Yet, they still chose to be married. Some of the women clearly love their husbands - despite the fact that their husbands are philanderers with children born out of wedlock or immature incompetents (sometimes both). Or, the women are lesbians (with gay husbands, at times), looking to perhaps to shield their preferred partnerships. Each relationship portrayed in this book is interesting in and of itself , though Roiphe approaches everything from the viewpoint of a disinterested researched which can become boring at times - but, more importantly, what I found the overall concept of the book truly fascinating. In some ways, it is people acting under the guise of liberal views of marriage - arguably in a way to justify their weaknesses. But, more to the point, I think there is value is exploring what it means to be happy in a marriage or partnership - why a given person enters into such an arrangement - and the importance of those two people making the rules that work for them, rather than feeling constrained by expectations imposed by society. There will always be questions about what people are actually comfortable with, and what they concede to in order to hold on to someone, or whether both people can be equally happy. But, I appreciate the idea that there is not a Platonic ideal when it comes to marriage and partnerships, but that we are all free to figure out and define what works for us as we grow and change in our given relationships.

Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang - Chelsea Handler

I still haven't seen this woman's show on E!, but I'm now determined to read all her books. This most recent one was much funnier than the previous one I read (Are You There Vodka? It's Me Chelsea), and there were a few times when against my will, I actually laughed out loud. Many of the essays in this collection reference Chelsea's relationship with her boyfriend Ted, an older executive type who seems quite serious and constantly at a loss as to how to deal with Chelsea's shenanigans. While definitely obnoxious, I did like her practical jokes - emails and stories she's told other people and how quickly they believe her despite the absurdity of her lies. I feel like in real life Chelsea would be someone I probably couldn't stand (if she is actually as horrible as she portrays herself - but given that she seems to have some self-awareness, unlike most annoying people, I assume she is not really this ridiculous)...but, in writing, she is so over-the-top that despite the whining, you do just kind of have to laugh that people like her actually exist. And that people, including me, spend their time and money just to get a glimpse of it all.

I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith

I admit I checked out this book because it had an endorsement on the cover by J.K. Rowling that said, "This book has one of the most charismatic narrators I've ever met." People may debate Rowling's literary genius, but I figure she has some pretty charismatic characters herself - and I generally adore child narrators - which I assumed this book would have. In fact, the narrator is 17-year old Cassandra Mortmain who tells the story of her impoverished family, as they live in a decaying castle in England in the 1930s. Cassandra's father is a once famous writer, who suffers from insurmountable writer's block after publishing his masterpiece years earlier. He married a young model after Cassandra's mother passed away when she and her older sister, Rose, were just children. An American family, the Cottons, become the Mortmain's new landlords - and the two sisters became entralled with the two Cotton brothers. Like the Jane Austen novels they are obsessed with, the sisters hatch an elaborate plan to make one of the brothers fall in love with Rose - but of course, things are not so easy when it comes to matters of the heart - and there are shifting allegiances and romances all over the place. While Cassandra is clever for her age, she is still a fairly isolated teenager, and at times her naivete becomes tedious. But, while I don't agree with Rowling that Cassandra is the most charismatic narrator I've ever read, she is quite endearing, and this is a great book for those who love novels set in the English countryside, with lots of tea and frustrating romantic drama.