Category: Books (Page 7 of 11)

The PMS Murders are part of the Jane Austen series, another formulaic not-real-mystery, this time starting a struggling freelance writer. These books are not really mysteries in the sense of giving you a limited number of suspects and enough evidence that you could figure out who did it. Rather, they follow the “detective” through her progress of finding out what happened. Pretty much all “newer” mysteries are of this sort, lighthearted and quick reads and completely forgetable. Junk reading at its best.
What somewhat differentiates the Jane Austen mysteries are their humor. They are written by Laura Levine, whom according to the book’s jacket is a comedy writer with a lot of TV credits from the 1970’s, and they are hillarious. I particularly enjoy the e-mail correspondence between Jaine and her wacky parents in Florida. So much so that I was afraid I’d wake up Camila as I couldn’t contain my laughter.
This is the third Jaine Austen mystery I’ve read (I think), and I’ll look for others at the library.

I haven’t written a book report in quite a while, in part because I have less free time since Camila was born and in part because I haven’t been reading as much. When she was very little I could read while I nursed her, later she started grabbing for the book making that activity impossible. Now she’s been weaned, so I can once again read while I lie next to her, but that usually happens only at night – as she either takes her naps at daycare or in the stroller in the way home. None of this, of course, has anything to do with “The Attack.”
“The Attack,” is the title of a much-reviewed book by Yasmina Khadra, the nome de plume of Mohammed Moulessehoul, a former Algerian army officer and writer. Khadra’s former profession makes me suspicious of him – (clearly I’m not the only one). He is a man who has killed and committed god knows what other attrocities (he was in the Algerian army, he couldn’t have done otherwise) and who denies the commission of massacres of civilians by the Algerian army (these have been well documented by Amnesty International and other human rights organizations), so I think I’m well justified in my suspicions. But I think the book stands up well on its own, and that whatever small insights into the mind of suicide bombers Khadra offers are at least honest.
The book chronicles the quest of Dr. Amin Jaafari, an Arab-Israeli surgeon of Bedouin origin – to understand why his beautiful, happy wife one day tied a bomb to her body, went to a restaurant near the hospital where he worked, and blew herself up, taking with her several children and adults. His desire to understand is to understand is very personal, he feels betrayed by his wife (and rightly so) who gave him no hints he could discern (at least until later) of her purported unhappiness and political leanings. He is shocked and he is angry and he wants answers. He seeks them from the people whom she might have worked with, who gave her the bomb, who sent her on her way of destruction. But all the answers he can get are the obvious ones – “look around us, look at the dispossesion, the missery and humilliation of occupation, look at our lack of weapons and resources, how else can we fight this war than with our own deaths?”. An honest, a compelling answer but not one that can really explain why this particular woman chose that path. She had been walking in Israeli society for years, her best friends were Israelis, why not use her status to give voice to the Palestinians instead? Of course, perhaps I’m speaking out of my own prejudice.
As Dr. Jaafari explores the Occupied Territories looking for answers, for the first time (or so it seems) he becomes aware of the plight of his people, he remembers where he comes from and what he is. Alas, at the end I’m not sure this means anything.
And indeed, that was ultimately the problem with the novel for me. It was a quick and easy read, a compelling theme, but not one that was satisfactionally developed. We could empathize with the doctor’s emotions, but then what? We could be curious as to the motives of his wife, but as I said we never get much of an answer for what they were. At the end, I don’t think I learned anything, saw anything new about human nature, but at least I was entertained.

I’ve decided to be nice to the FBI. I’m going to save them the trouble to bother my local librarian to find out what I intend to check out from the library and write my list here instead. OK, it’s a tiny bit selfish as I’ve discovered that I often forget my list when I get to the library – and if I have it available on the web all I have to do is print it out. This is a list in progress, mind you. I would ask my San Leandro readership to not be mean and check these books out before I get to them.
Currently available at the library.
Non-Fiction
The Nasty Bits
by Anthony Bourdain
641.5 BOURDAIN
in New Books (ckout)
American theocracy : the peril and politics of radical religion, oil, and borrowed money in the 21st century
by Phillips, Kevin P.
973.928 PHILLIPS
in New Books (ckout)
Cobra II : the inside story of the invasion and occupation of Iraq
by Gordon, Michael R.
956.704 GORDON
in New Books
Casting with a fragile thread : a story of sisters and Africa
by Kann, Wendy
968.91 KANN
in new Books
Scribbling the cat : travels with an African soldier /
by Fuller, Alexandra
968.94 FULLER
in new Books
Losing Moses on the Freeway: America’s broken covenant with the 10 commandments
by Hedges, Chris
241.5 HEDGES
An African in Greenland /
by Kpomassie, Tete-Michel
919.82 KPO
The assassins’ gate : America in Iraq
by Packer, George
956.7 PACKER
The sacred willow : four generations in the life of a Vietnamese family /
by Elliott, Duong Van Mai
959.704 ELLIOTT
Pornified : how the culture of pornography is transforming our lives, our relationships, and our families /
by Paul, Pamela.
306.77 PAUL
Santeria : la religion /
by Gonzalez-Wippler, Migene
299.6 GONZALEZ-WIPPLER
SPA
missing
Don’t let’s go to the dogs tonight : an African childhood /
by Fuller, Alexandra
FULLER FUL
BIOG
Fiction
THE RUINS : a novel /
by Smith, Scott
CATALOGUING
The pale blue eye : a novel /
by Bayard, Louis
mystery – new
End of story : a novel of suspense /
by Abrahams, Peter
ABRAHAMS
new
Snakeskin shamisen
by Naomi Hirahara
in library catalogue but no item info
mystery
The second coming of Mavala Shikongo: a novel /
by Orner, Peter
ORNER
The people’s act of love
by Meek, James
MEEK (new books)
The historian : a novel
by Kostova, Elizabeth.
KOSTOVA
The good terrorist /
by Lessing, Doris
LESSING
look at other books by her
Snobs: a novel
by Fellowes, Julian
FELLOWES
Under the glacier
by Laxness, Halldor
HALLDOR
Paradise of the blind /
by Duong, Thu Huong
DUONG
Field of Blood: A Novel.
by Mina, Denise
mystery
Deception: a novel /
by Mina, Denise
MINA
Oblivion
by Abrahams, Peter
ABRAHAMS
Classics
Bleak House /
by Dickens, Charles
DICKENS
The call of the wild
by London, Jack
The sound and the fury
by Faulkner
Sons and lovers /
by Lawrence, D. H.
The grapes of wrath /
by Steinbeck, John
classic
Not availabe at the library
The Warwolf
by Hermann L

Spam Kings is yet another book I wasn’t able to finish. It’s somewhat well written in that the writer is able to create suspense and keep you turning pages – but eventually you realize that it’s all for naught. The stories themselves are pedestrian an uninteresting, more suited for an article than a whole book. The spammers and anti-spammers are boring people with petty personal problems that seem completely besides the point. And nothing really much happens in the book. After reading half of it I was just too bored and I’m returning it to the library.