Memoirs of a Muse
Lara Vapnyar
(Pantheon, 2006, hardcover, 212 pages)
Tanya is an average student with an average face and average aspirations—until she hits upon the notion of becoming a muse. This sets her upon her path, taking her from her native Russia to New York City (where else?) in search of the writer who will be her Dostoevsky. Melded in with Tanya’s story is a memoir of, in fact, Dostoevsky’s muse and lover, a story running somewhat parallel to Tanya’s own and one that she willingly mimics. At times touching, at times funny, at times bittersweet, Memoirs of a Muse is something of a coming-of-age story, and we share Tanya’s journey in search of herself and her destiny. Although perhaps a bit cliché (literary angst in New York—hardly a novel concept), author Lara Vapnyar evokes the experiences, at once funny and painful, of a young woman at an existential crossroads and she does so in a way that makes it easy to identify with Tanya. Although some of the ancillary characters may be a bit too anemic, Tanya’s story is rich and colorful, making this a worthy read.

Broken for You
Stephanie Kallos
(Grove Press, 2004, hardcover, 371 pages)
Stephanie Kallos’s debut novel, Broken for You, is an admirable story, filled with colorful, complex characters whose lives intersect to create a mosaic of love and longing, of family and friendship. Kallos does a fine job of creating a rich setting, tracing several characters as their lives diverge and converge in a rather off-beat, quirky, magical place. The story reveals itself in an easy tempo, although it can, at times, seem a little contrived and convoluted, especially as it races toward the somewhat predictable conclusion. Despite these flaws, Broken for You raises questions about just what constitutes a family, about how people pick themselves up after failure and heartbreak, about the rules by which we live our lives. Kallos’s work has been compared to John Irving and Margaret Atwood, and I might add Alice Hoffman to the list. Broken for You is a touching, easy read with characters that linger.

Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution
Richard Beeman
(Random House, 2009, hardcover, 544 pages)
Plain, Honest Men is a long book, but a good one—one that made me wish I’d paid more attention during my high school and college American government classes. Author Richard Beeman, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, has written several titles, including some award-winners. In this book, he provides a day-to-day account of the deliberations of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. Beeman’s account of the months-long Convention is rich and colorful, painting a comprehensive picture of the arguments and intellectual reasoning, personalities and politics, and emotions and concerns that surrounded the development of the Constitution. Although, of course, the ultimate result of the Convention is well-known (otherwise, we might not be here to be writing about this!), Beeman crafts a compelling story that is fast-paced and tightly written (despite some oddly ambiguous language that could lead readers, erroneously, to conclude that Nixon was impeached before he resigned). Beeman’s dismay at the failure of the Founding Fathers to confront slavery as a moral issue during the Convention is obvious, but he does an excellent job of presenting the issues concerning the thirteen colonies in a balanced way in light of the sentiments of the day and putting the arguments into context.

The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason
Charles Freeman
(Vintage, 2005, paperback, 432 pages)
I’m not sure that the four days of vacation bible school I attended thirty years ago was enough of a religious education in preparation for reading this book. The title, subtitle, back cover blurb, and testimonials convinced me that this would be an interesting book. Reviewers praised the book as “readable” and “lucid.” I confess, though, that this book made me feel like I was taken for a ride. This is heavy stuff. Although interesting, much of the book is spent discussing religious history in excruciating detail, aspects of which completely escaped me considering my dearth of religious education. The concept is fascinating: the abandonment of Greek intellectual reasoning in favor of the superstitions and blind faith of religion. Although others were obviously convinced that Freeman made this argument clearly and lucidly, I confess I struggled with this book. Freeman does an excellent job of detailing the Greek intellectual tradition and the movement toward religious-based reason, but I found his closing argument weak and abstruse. For those with a sound background in religion and Greek history, this book may well be of interest. For those with a layman’s interest in the subject, however, this book is no beach read.

A Spot of Bother
Mark Haddon
(Doubleday, 2006, hardcover, 354 pages)
Mark Haddon’s sophomore novel starts right in, which left me feeling a bit as though I’d missed the first twenty minutes of a movie. This British entry has a quick, somewhat jumpy tempo. Once I got settled in, however, this colorful novel kept my attention for the duration. A Spot of Bother is about family and relationships, and Haddon hits the mark admirably, creating a compelling story that has a comic—almost farcical—touch. Haddon does an excellent job of creating a realistic setting, believable characters, and a compelling scenario that kept me turning the pages. His use of language is spot-on and true, even if I might not have been wholly familiar with all the Britishisms. A Spot of Bother had me chuckling, crying, cringing, and commiserating with each character. Although the resolution might be a little trite and predictable, this is a story that resonates.

The Pages in Between: A Holocaust Legacy of Two Families, One Home
Erin Einhorn
(Touchstone, 2008, hardcover, 276 pages)
Reporter Erin Einhorn puts her journalism skills to use to cover a facet of her own life in The Pages in Between, the story of which was partly told in an episode of NPR’s “This American Life.” This “Holocaust legacy” was largely inspired by Einhorn’s mother, a Jewish child of the war who survived largely because of the kindness and bravery of strangers—strangers whose descendents still are intertwined with Einhorn’s family, for good or ill. In fact, Einhorn launches her quest with only the tacit agreement of her mother, who seems completely disinterested in the search with which Einhorn is all but obsessed. Like many memoirists, Einhorn launches her search for answers without fully appreciating what she might uncover and without fully understanding what she hopes to learn. What she actually uncovers is a Poland in flux, apparently still reeling from post-War transition, the stains of Communism, and the lingering consequences of the Holocaust. She discovers how memory, legend, and truth combine to blur the stories that, over time, become family history. Although the book reveals an interesting, tenuous relationship between Poles and Holocaust survivors, The Pages in Between does little to break new ground. It suffers from following a well-worn path trod by so many memoirists, lending it an all-too-familiar feel. The book also is muddied by a bizarre, ongoing sidebar about Einhorn and her would-be boyfriend, which is completely unnecessary, tangential, and should have been cut by Einhorn’s editor. Readers who are interested in memoirs of the war or about Holocaust survivors might be better served by reading Mendelsohn’s The Lost or Franks’s My Father’s Secret War.

Kreuger’s Men: The Secret Nazi Counterfeit Plot and the Prisoners of Block 19
Lawrence Malkin
(Little, Brown, 2006, hardcover, 287 pages)
Shortly after seeing the movie The Counterfeiters, I found this book on the bargain tables—a happy coincidence. Soon after the outbreak of World War II, the Nazis launched an extensive counterfeiting scheme. The first attempt was something of a failure. But when SS officer Bernhard Kreuger took over the scheme, it blossomed. Kreuger assembled a team of experts—artists, printers, bankers, even criminals—many of whom were plucked from the death and labor camps scattered throughout the Reich. This team was ordered to fake British pounds and American dollars—a task on which their lives literally depended. Journalist Lawrence Malkin uncovers fascinating details of this mission, which, if wholly successful could have crippled the entire economy of the United Kingdom and brought Britain to its knees. Malkin paints a provocative portrait of Kreuger—part monster, part savior—as well as of the men whose work prolonged their lives even while undermining the efforts of the countries and governments who were fighting to save them. This is an interesting facet of the war, and Malkin tells a compelling story about a little-known tool in Germany’s war arsenal.

Plan Bee: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Hardest Working Creatures on the Planet
Susan Brackney
(Perigee, 2009, hardcover, 192 pages)
Frogs, bats, and bees are suffering illness and disappearing at an alarming rate—none of which is good news for the environment. It’s no secret that honeybees are responsible for pollinating food crops and flowers, or that the work these little creatures perform is indispensable to the planet’s ecosystem. The mysterious loss of honeybees and their beehives is cause for concern and—ostensibly—at the root of Susan Brackney’s love letter of a book, Plan Bee. Brackney’s ode to honeybees and beekeeping discusses the wonder of bees and they work they perform, but this science-lite title does little to explain the problem of disappearing honeybees. In fact, Brackney, a nature writer, master gardener, and beekeeper, spends only a few paragraphs on colony collapse disorder and other threats to bees. Instead, Plan Bee extols the virtues of beekeeping as a hobby and features silly tidbits about bee lore, bee poetry, and bee movies. The book is replete with illustrations that seem more apt for a children’s book and even includes directions for bee-related crafts and recipes. The book is not without its charm, and Brackney’s devotion to her subject shows in her perky first-person writing style, making Plan Bee a good entrée to the subject for younger readers, crafters, or fans of Jerry Seinfeld’s Bee Movie. Readers interested in a more scientific view of honeybees, their relationship to the environment, and their role in the ecosystem will find that this book over-promises and under-delivers. Gift book, yes; science title, no.

Marguerite Duras: A Life
Laure Adler (translated by Anne-Marie Glasheen)
(University of Chicago Press, 2000, hardcover, 424 pages)
Author and filmmaker Marguerite Duras is probably best known in the States for The Lover, the 1984 novel that brought her nearly overnight international acclaim—after having spent decades as a writer. Duras’s work is compelling, evocative, provocative, sensational, controversial. Many who have read her work or seen her films find her own life story no less interesting. Laure Adler’s biography of the narcissistic, generous, creative writer is at once balanced and unflattering, painting a portrait of a complex woman as resistance fighter, political activist, feminist, writer, lover, mother, and alcoholic. Having read Alain Vircondelet’s Duras: A Biography (Dalkey Archive, 1994) more than a decade ago, I expected to find little new information about one of my favorite authors. But I was mistaken. Adler’s intimate portrait of Duras is enlightening, almost disturbing. It all but removed the halo I had placed above Duras. Adler is so involved with her subject that her writing style at times echoes Duras’s own, lending the biography a sometimes dreamy quality. Duras is a fascinating subject, regardless of whether one is a fan of her work. Adler’s treatment is a moving one, shedding new light on Duras and lending keen insight into the work of a great writer.

Secret Wars: One Hundred Years of British Intelligence Inside MI5 and MI6
Gordon Thomas
(Thomas Dunne Books, 2009, hardcover, 416 pages)
Gordon Thomas's latest book, Secret Wars, deals with intelligence gathering and espionage, topics he's handled before in some of his more than forty previously published books. Published on the 100th anniversary of Britain’s two spy factories—MI5 and MI6—the book uncovers a world of intrigue that includes code breakers, informants, and double agents. Secret Wars is a well researched account of Britain’s Security and Secret Intelligence Services, tracing their history from inception to World War II to the Red Scare to modern-day threats such as al-Qaeda and the War on Terror. Much of what Thomas reveals is chilling and revelatory, including some bits of information that are unveiled for the first time in this book. (Oddly, though, Thomas parrots the oft-repeated but now-debunked myth that Britons are caught on surveillance cameras more than three hundred times a day.) At times, Secret Wars reads like a fast-paced thriller worthy of Ian Fleming or Tom Clancy. Many of the anecdotes make for page-turning reading. But the book suffers from opaque chapter titles that seem unrelated to the topic at hand, a jumpy chronology, and an alphabet soup of departments, agencies, and agents. In addition, although their fates are intertwined, the second half of the book is mired in an over-abundance of information about the CIA. Regardless of its faults, the book is an interesting one. Readers who liked A Life in Secrets or Between Silk and Cyanide should find this of interest as well.

1968: The Year That Rocked the World
Mark Kurlansky
(Random House, 2004, paperback, 441 pages)
Mark Kurlansky is a talented writer whose books have earned heaps of praise over the years. 1968 is no exception, having garnered kudos from well more than a dozen media outlets. It is, indeed, an interesting book, relating the various events that erupted around the world, from Berkeley to New York, from Paris to Prague, and everywhere in between. I was but a glimmer in my parents' eyes in 1968, but the history of this tumultuous time holds a special fascination for me: I've long been curious about what life was like when my parents married and started a family. Kurlansky weaves an evocative, fast-paced reportage of the events of 1968, and of their implications. However, his take on this pivotal year seems to be that everyone was somehow involved in these events, either partaking directly and actively or watching with rapt attention as bystanders. I'm not sure this is the case, and Kurlansky fails to address the fact that many folks were simply living their lives as normally as possible, doing mundane things like raising their children as best they could, going to their regular 9-to-5 jobs, shopping at the local grocery store, and watching football games on the weekends. 1968 paints an interesting picture, but it's an incomplete portrait of life.

The Silver Linings Playbook
Matthew Quick
(Sarah Crichton Books/FSG, 2008, hardcover, 289 pages)
Matthew Quick's creative story is one of the best I've read in ages. With a unique approach and fresh storytelling, this charming novel had me laughing out loud, gasping, sighing, cringing, smiling, and crying. Pat Peoples is one of the most endearing characters I've ever met in a novel. Peoples is recovering from a mental breakdown, and his attempt at regaining his life is so earnest -- even if, perhaps, a tad misguided -- that it is impossible not to love him. Quick's minor characters also are well drawn, lending this debut novel a rare, cinematic richness. With the glut of downer novels about dysfunctional families and struggling individuals, it's a challenge to find a novel that feels true without being overwrought. Quick has accomplished a wonderful thing here. The Silver Linings Playbook a fast read that, literally, made me miss my bedtime for two nights running; I hated to put this book down. I will be looking forward to Quick's next book, and I hope it comes soon.

The American Home Front: 1941–1942
Alistair Cooke
(Grove Press, 2006, paperback, 327 pages)
Many times, I wish I had asked my grandparents (none of whom are still around in this world) what it was like during the War. My parents were much too young at the time to know what was going on, or even to have sure memories about the War years. The American Home Front filled in some of the gaps. Although much of the book seems more like a travelogue of America, there are some interesting insights into what the War meant for cities and towns across the country, especially in terms of how the War affected farms and industry. Cooke’s reporting is colorful and evocative, although I would have liked to have seen more stories about individuals, something more personal. It’s interesting to consider what was going on here in the States while, for instance, Warsaw was under siege, Britain was being nearly obliterated, and France was building its resistance. Cooke’s reporting rarely draws those contrasts, instead focusing solely on what was going on here. As it is, the book is very much an overview, a glimpse of what America was like during the War.

Me and Kaminski
Daniel Kehlmann (translated from the German by Carol Brown Janeway)
(Pantheon, 2008, hardcover, 195 pages)
What a funny, touching, satirical, sweet little book. Sebastian Zollner, the “me” in this title, is a struggling journalist who seems to have failed at just about everything. Kaminski is an aging artist who is fast becoming irrelevant and unknown to the contemporary art world. Zollner and Kaminski find themselves in a unique relationship as each grasps for relevancy in worlds that seem to be crumbling around them. Daniel Kehlmann has a fabulous voice (I enjoyed his previous title Measuring the World, too) and does a great job of capturing the ambivalence so often felt about life and its wonderful, horrible goings-on. In telling this story, Kehlmann takes a swipe at our celebrity-obsessed world and the pretensions in the literary and art worlds, but does so in a fashion that you can’t help smiling about.

Lapham Rising
Roger Rosenblatt
(Ecco, 2006, hardcover, 243 pages)
This quirky novel steals a page from Mrs. Dalloway in that it takes place over the course of a single day, but it couldn’t be further away from Woolf in terms of tone and style. Funny and satirical, this book mocks McMansions, Bobos, and ostentation in general, all through the lens of the glittery and pretentious Hamptons. I found myself rooting for the main character—even though doom was nearly all but inevitable, just like the progress Rosenblatt laments. This book had me laughing out loud, nodding my head in agreement, and wincing in guilty delight. Rosenblatt is a fabulous writer whose descriptions are compelling and real, whose dialogue is snappy, and whose topic is timely.

The Dream Room
Marcel Möring (translation by Stacey Knecht)
(Morrow, 2002, hardcover, 113 pages)
A thoughtful, evocative little wisp of a novel, The Dream Room captivated me … until the last chapter. I'm a fan of the short novel, especially when time is so precious that it's not always easy to steal a few minutes to sit down and read for fun. Möring snagged me with his soothing tone, moody atmosphere, and picturesque scenery, which was reminiscent of Ian McEwan’s On Chesil Beach and Annie Dillard’s The Maytrees. But the story ended so abruptly that I thought I inadvertently skipped a chapter or that a signature had been lost in the printing. Neither was the case. Möring pulled me in, but then he dropped me so suddenly that I seriously felt let down. Perhaps I just missed something that was implied. Perhaps I was looking for something more linear and literal. This is a good book—not a great one. I’ll look for more from Möring, though.

The Zookeeper’s Wife
Diane Ackerman
(Norton, 2007, paperback, 368 pages)
Widely praised (and deservedly so) Ackerman’s telling of this fascinating episode in history was a nice break from the typical gloom and doom usually found in books about World War II. I read this just after Rising ’44 (see below), so it provided an extra chapter, if you will, of insight into Warsaw during the War. Jan and Antonina Zabinski rescued more than three hundred people by hiding them in their ruined zoo—in animal cages, tunnels, and the “House Under a Crazy Star.” Stories abound about heroes during the War, but Ackerman’s fresh approach makes for compelling reading.

Rising ’44: The Battle for Warsaw
Norman Davies
(Penguin, 2003, paperback, 752 pages)
I confess that “uprising” and “Warsaw” to me had always meant the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, but Davies quickly dispels that myth, long perpetuated in K–12 education, instead explaining that the Ghetto uprising in 1943 is not the same as the Warsaw Rising that took place in 1944. This hefty volume reveals such common misconceptions and many others. I found myself aghast at the response the Allies had about the impending Rising, horrified at the politics played by the United Kingdom, United States, and Russia while thousands of Poles rose and fought for their motherland. Much of Rising ’44 is a stinging indictment of the botched policies that left Poles swinging in the wind in their hour of need, but Davies’s account seems even-handed and balanced. Although this is a long, heavy book, it’s worth the read.

The Longest Night: The Bombing of London on May 10, 1941
Gavin Mortimer
(Berkley, 2006, paperback, 356 pages)
Few of us can imagine the never-ending barrage of bombs that the people of London withstood during 1940-41. Hours of bombing led to firestorms that swept through London on May 11, 1941, forcing residents into nearly airless cellars, stuffy Tube stations, and unprotected doorways. Gavin Mortimer traces the story of everyday Londoners who lived through the horrific events that nearly led to the collapse of London. Mortimer reveals the stories of the people who saved their neighbors, searched for their families, fought fires, and dug through the rubble. Much more than a battle-driven military history, The Longest Night tells the story of the Blitz in Technicolor and Dolby sound. Mortimer does an excellent job of making this period of history come alive.

Witnesses of War: Children's Lives Under the Nazis
Nicholas Stargardt
(Knopf, 2005, hardcover, 493 pages)
The future of Hitler's idealized Aryan nation depended, in essence, on the future of its children. Nicholas Stargardt examines the lives of children who lived under Nazi rule, from German children whose fathers and brothers went off to war, to Jewish children who were forced into ghettos and concentration camps, and to Polish children whose families were subjected to the brutal rule of their conquerors. Stargardt does not sugar-coat this highly researched account. There are few warm and fuzzy stories about how children lived during the Nazi era. Instead, at times, this book is difficult to read, the horrific events it details difficult to swallow. Although at times redundant, Stargardt's report is an important one and sheds light on an aspect of the War that is rarely covered. Witnesses of War is a darker, starker companion to, for example, Into the Arms of Strangers. It is not light reading by any stretch of the imagination, but offers a powerful, compelling account of children who lived during unimaginably trying circumstances.

Half a Life
V. S. Naipaul
(Knopf, 2001, hardcover, 211 pages)
I was lucky enough to find a signed first American edition of this lovely novel at a local bookstore, and I devoured it. Naipaul takes us on a journey across three continents as Wille Chandran tries to find himself, to define himself, to break free of the grip of his family, upbringing, traditions, and perceptions, and, ultimately, to live his own life. This beautifully written novel is subtle, nuanced, and melodic. Willie's story is at once unique and universal. Well worth the read.

The Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm
Juliet Nicolson
(Grove Press, 2006, paperback, 290 pages)
This social history details England’s summer of 1911, while unrest was brewing
at home and abroad—and while socialites were seemingly oblivious to the
omens while they squandered away their time picnicking and dancing.  
Nicolson’s blending of social gossip and history is an interesting one, although
I would have liked to have seen less fluff and more facts. The book is kind of
history-lite, perhaps intended for folks who would prefer to read People or
InStyle rather than The Economist or Newsweek. Although it’s an interesting
read and an interesting chronology of an important time in history, I found it a
little wordy at times, if not a little repetitive (how many times can one really read
about what the ladies were wearing that summer or how much people enjoyed
going to the beaches?). In addition, there are some serious lacks of transition
between paragraphs, which makes the text a little clunky at times. Even so, if
you’re not a huge history buff, this might be a good entrée in to the field. If you
really enjoy history, you could consider this a lightweight—or at least different—
approach to the usually serious treatments that chronicle the era.

Fire in the Blood
Irène Némirovsky
(Knopf, 2007, hardcover, 137 pages)
Timely, timeless, tightly written. This is the so-called final piece of Némirovsky’s
posthumous collection (see Suite Française). For some reason, the story
reminds me of Mrs. Dalloway, although in reality it couldn’t be more different.
Perhaps the kinship is in the tone, which is thoughtful, ponderous,
introspective. Némirovsky’s story reveals the characters in a tiny village in
1941, although the tale doesn’t seem dated at all, even though it evokes the
era, the village, and its residents in beautiful detail. The story unfolds in a
diaristic format, although without the obvious “Dear Diary” or dates seemingly
so common in such approaches. There is not a spare word in the text, yet
nothing is lacking. Beautiful!

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