THE DEVIL'S STORYBOOK -- Natalie Babbitt

Farrar Strauss Giroux -- hc
New York -- ©1974 -- 101pp
ISBN: 0-374-31770-4
illustrations by the author

A collection of short stories -- fables -- featuring the Devil.

"Wishes"
"The Very Pretty Lady"
"The Harps of Heaven"
"The Imp in the Basket"
"Nuts"
A Palindrome"
"Ashes"
"Perfection"
"The Rose and the Minor Demon"
"The Power of Speech"

These very brief stories were actually a delight to read. The come across as fables, each with a short moral. My daugher had requested the book from the library because she wanted to read as much Natalie Babbitt as she could, after watching Tuck Everlasting on television. My daughter, too, enjoyed these stories. It only takes about an hour to read through the entire book, but the writing flows nicely and most of the stories were quite enjoyable to read.

A LONG WAY DOWN -- Nick Hornby

Riverhead Books -- hc
New York -- ©2005 -- 333pp
ISBN: 1-57322-302-6
signed by Nick Hornby

Four people's lives become entwined when they meet on New Year's Eve, each with the intention of committing suicide.

I enjoyed this book, though I did feel that it had difficulty maintaining the story once we got to know each of the people involved (which happened fairly quickly -- at least by the end of the first third of the book).

The book is written from the point of view of each of the four people who had intended to kill themselves. For the most part, they were fairly interchangeable (they all seemed to react the same way towards each other) with the exception of the sheltered woman who has spent her life taking care of her whp os, for the most part, a vegetable.

The four people involved seem to be stock characters. Who you think they are at the beginning of the book is pretty much who they are at the end of the book, though perhaps a tad wiser in one or two cases.

I think that the American, "JJ" sums it up well:

"I had wanted to kill myself, not because I hated living, but because I loved it. ...We were up on the roof because we couldn't find a way back into life..."

I've read that many critics do not feel that this is Hornby at his best, and I'll likely read more of his work.

GROUCHO MARX, SECRET AGENT -- Ron Goulart

Thomas Dunne Books -- hc
New York -- ©2002 -- 210pp
ISBN: 0-312-28005-X

Groucho Marx joins forces with screenwriter Frank Denby to solve a murder case, which involves the FBI, Nazis, and plenty of bad puns.

I picked up this book on a whim. I've long been a fan of the Marx Brothers films, and as a teenager, I often enjoyed the humorous sci-fi novels of Ron Goulart, so I thought that this might be a fun, quick ride.

The book isn't bad, but it's certainly no literary masterpiece. Mostly we have a lot of Groucho-like witticisms and a bare, weak plot involving Nazis (before America is thrown in to the War).

This appears to be the fifth in a series of Groucho mysteries, and other reviews suggest it is the weakest of them. If I happen to be wandering through a library and come across one of the other titles in the series, I may check it out for a quick read.

Not recommended.

WHEN ZACHARY BEAVER CAME TO TOWN -- Kimberly Willis Holt

Dell Yearling -- tpb
New York -- ©1999 -- 227pp
ISBN: 0-440-22904-9
National Book Award gold medal winner

One summer, young Toby learns that interesting things can happen, even in Antler, Texas -- his mother leaves to try to make it as a country singer in Nashville, his best-friend's brother dies in Vietnam, and he befriends "The World's Fattest Boy."

The writing of this was crisp and clear, and easy to read, and seemed like an enjoyable novel. However, as I think on it now, there are too many loose ends and sub-plots that don't go anywhere (the whole idea of Toby trying to gain the favor of a certain young girl, and then fixing her up again with her ex-boyfriend seems pointless in retrospect).

Some lofty themes and dealing with issues such as death and divorce make it easy to see why this is an award winner, but it is not a book that I would recommend to students or for study.

OUR SIMPLE GIFTS: CIVIL WAR CHRISTMAS TALES -- Owen Parry

William Morrow -- hc
New York -- ©2002 -- 149pp
ISBN: 0-06-001378-8

A short collection of Christmas stories set during the Civil War.

"Star of Wonder"
"Tannenbaum"
"Nothing But A Kindness"
"Christmas Gift"
A Christmas Request to the Reader

I am always on the look-out for short Christmas-related stories, and I liked the idea of these being set in the Civil War time, but only the first story struck a chord with me, and even at that, it was quite predictable.

Not a collection to recommend.

THE STAGGERFORD FLOOD -- Jon Hassler

Plume -- tpb
New York -- ©2002 -- 197pp
ISBN: 0-452-28462-7

As the Badbattle River overflows it's banks, a reunion, of sorts, takes place at Agatha McGee's house.

This book did not hold nearly the charm that the first Staggerford book held. It could be that the first book definitely seemed to have a driving purpose, but the only purpose for this book seemed to be to get some characters from previous books together. And while it does this, there seems to be nothing happening once they are together.

Except...the only thing that actually happens (other than the flood) is that Agatha tells a whopper of a lie (for good reason, of course). This seems totally out of character, and while Hassler does have Agatha dwell over it, it never sits right -- not the Agatha that he established in early Staggerford books!

It certainly wouldn't have hurt if I had missed this book.

STORMY WEATHER/TOURIST SEASON/STRIP TEASE -- Carl Hiaasen

Random House Audio Books
6 Audio Cassettes
Stormy Weather ©1995; Tourist Season ©1986; Strip Tease ©1993
Read by Ed Asner

Three books by Carl Hiaasen on six (abridged?) cassettes.

I have enjoyed the children's/YA books by Hiaasen, and so I was looking for a crash course in his adult novels. While the library packaging for these books does not indicate whether or this set is abridged, I would suspect that it is.

STORMY WEATHER was probably the most enjoyable with the various plots and sub-plots coming together. TOURIST SEASON seemed less busy, but also less cohesive. I recognized STRIP TEASE almost immediately as the basis for the Demi Moore movie by the same name.

WHat I don't like about Hiaasen is very casual dismissal (usually by means of a grisly death) of major characters as almost a footnote. In Strip Tease, "the most poweful man in Florida politics" ends up a corpse in a fish locker on a yacht, and I feel that we are told that much only because as readers we demand to know. The loser, drug-addict, ex-husband of the female lead in the book, winds up chopped in to tiny bits in a sugar cane factory. We are told this by taking us out of the immediate action and sending us in to the future -- being told what will happen.

I won't be eagerly seeking out any of Hiaasen's adult novels in the future.

THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS 2004 -- Louis Menand, Editor

Series Editor, Robert Atwan
Houghton Mifflin Company -- tpb
Boston -- ©2004 -- 323pp
ISBN: 0-618-35709-2

A collection of essays selected from those which were printed in magazines between January 2003 and January 2004.

Forward -- Robert Atwan
Introduction -- Louis Menand
"America, Look at Your Shame!" -- James Agee
"Envy" -- Kathryn Chetkovich
"The Last Americans" - Jared Diamond
"The Arctic Hedonist" -- Anne Fadiman
"Caught" -- Jonathan Franzen
"The Unreal Thing" -- Adam Gopnik
"A Sudden Illness" -- Laura Hillenbrand
"Passover in Baghdad" -- Tim Judah
"My '80s" -- Wayne Koestenbaum
"My Yiddish" -- Leonard Michaels
"Bix and Flannery" -- Ben Miller
"Against Cool" -- Rick Moody
"Yarn" -- Kyoko Mori
"Lifelike" -- Susan Orlean
"Rock 101" -- Alex Ross
"The Mind's Eye" -- Oliver Sacks
"My Lost City" -- Luc Sante
"Arrow and Wound" -- Mark Slouka
"My Father is a Book" -- Janna Malamud Smith
"Bullet in My Neck" -- Gerald Stern
"Amor Perdida" -- Tennessee Williams
"An Enlarged Heart" -- Cynthia Zarin
Biographical Notes
Notable Essays of 2003

I found that most of these were indeed quite notable and enjoyable to read. I found "A Sudden Illness," ""My '80s," "Bix and Flannery," "Against Cool," "My Father is a Book," and "An Enlarged Heart" to be of the most interest and/or best written. Some ("Passover in Baghdad," "Rock 101," "Arrow and Wound") didn't reach me at all. The others were just sort of "there" and interesting to read, but leave no real lasting memories.

I look forward to the next in the series, now available.

ROGER ZELAZNY'S THE DAWN OF AMBER -- John Gregory Betancourt

Book One of the New Amber Trilogy
ibooks, inc -- hc
New York -- ©2002 -- 299pp
ISBN: 0-7434-5240-2

A prequel to Roger Zelazny's Amber series, following Lord Oberon and his introduction to his family, and their first fight against hell-creatures.

The very first thing that strikes me as I read this is that this is NOT Roger Zelazny writing. In fact, if it were not for the fact that I recognize Betancourt's name, I would wonder if this was even a professional writer -- the opening chapter came across as very amateurish. Lot's of telling, and no "showing" -- no making us feel a part of the action.

While that sense of "low" writing never entirely vanished, I did become more engrossed in the story itself. Even there, however, I knew that I wasn't reading Zelazny. Zelazny could weave a story with intricate threads of characters and sub-plots and story lines. And if Zelazny was a master weaver, producing a solitary fine work of excellent quality, Betancourt is a machine producing a cheap replica that might satisfy those who can't tell the difference.

In general, I also dislike any series which requires one to purchase multiple books to get a sense of the story. Each book should be able to stand on it's own as a book. I don't believe this one accomplishes that.

I may read the others in the trilogy, but only because I'm curious about the story. I will most certainly seek out library books or used copies.

THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN: COMING HOME -- J. Michael Straczynski

Graphic Novel
Pencils: John Romita, Jr. Inks: Scott Hanna
Marvel Comics -- tpb
New York -- ©2001 -- 149pp
ISBN: 0-7851-0806-8

Spiderman faces his strongest, most impressive foe ever and uses brains rather than brawn to defeat his enemy.

I checked this out from my library because it helps me get my comic book "fix" to read an occassional graphic novel. My first reaction is that I am so incredibly under-impressed with the "style" of art in comic books/graphic novels today. I don't know if this style has been defined in any of the comic-related media, but I think of it as "comic book dwarfism" -- body parts, particularly heads, often larger than the rest of the body. While the coloring and inking might be better than that from the comics of the 70's-80's, they actually look less realistic to me.

Then there is the story. While moderately well-told, I couldn't help scoffing at the notion of yet ANOTHER foe, bigger, badder, stronger than anything Spidey has ever faced. How often can we keep coming up with new villains that are more villainous than anything before? The "twist" was that Spidey had to use his brains to defeat this one, and not his might. But what the heck was up with the other super freak? Where did he come from? Why did he die in such a pathetic manner?

Over-all pretty wimpy.

STAGGERFORD -- Jon Hassler

Ballentine Books -- pb
New York -- ©1974 -- 294pp
ISBN: 0-345-33375-6

Life in rural Minnesota is explored for one week, focusing on the events happening to one high school English teacher.

I really enjoyed reading this novel, it had a sense of Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon. If it never achieved the status of Lake Wobegon mythos, it's because the writing is just slightly uneven -- enough to prevent it from reaching best-seller status.

It's also quite possible that I enjoyed this more because I live in a small town, not un-like Staggerford, and was able to identify each of the characters, whereas someone who can not relate might not enjoy this book quite as much.

Still, I highly recommend this book.

PEPPERLAND -- Mark Delaney

Peachtree Publishers -- hc
Atlanta -- ©2004 -- 184pp
ISBN: 1-56145-317-X

A young girl, trying to deal with the death of her mother, finds a letter that her mother wrote to John Lennon but never sent. The girl decides to get the letter to John Lennon herself.

This is a typical YA book, full of pathos, passion, and drama -- mostly ego centric. I don't care for this kind of book, but I understand it's place in YA literature. That in mind, this was a decent book. I enjoyed the attention the young girl had for music. The relationship she had with her friend (who may or may not be gay, it was never clear ... only that he kept insisting he wasn't)was off-beat and took away from the story, though I admit that it lended a sense of realism to the story (life doesn't wrap everything up neatly and friends are unpredictable).

I was wishing that she would be able to get the letter to John Lennon, but it seems more appropriate that she isn't able to do it.

A decent read for this sort of book. Recommended for all teen-age girls living a dramatic life.

SILENT NIGHT: THE STORY OF THE WORLD WAR I CHRISTMAS TRUCE -- Stanley Weintraub

The Free Press
New York -- ©2001 -- 206pp
ISBN: 0-684-87281-1

An account of the make-shift, impromptu truce between German and English soldiers on the front lines during World War I.

This was a very interesting magazine article that has been padded to make a book. I felt that I was reading the same material over and over but in slightly different ways.

The most interesting part of this book was the all-too-brief section that indicated that a young Adolph Hitler served in an area where peace broke out during the Christmas holiday and that he had little tolerance for it.

The idea for this book was interesting, but there really wasn't enough original material for a book length manuscript.

THE SECOND MRS. GIACONDA -- E.L. Konigsburg

Aladdin Paperbacks (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) -- tpb
New York -- ©1975 -- 138pp
ISBN: 0-689-82121-2

A story of Leonardo DaVinci, his servant Salai, and the events leading up to the painting of the Mona Lisa.

There are very few authors whose books I will seek out, but Konigsburg is near the top of my list. Everything I've read of hers has been slightly different, and certainly far from "traditional" in the YA genre.

Here Konigsburg offers up some "historical fiction" about Leonardo DaVinci. I rather like the way Konigsburg handles this -- while the book seems to be about the painting of the Mona Lisa, it really is about the events leading up to the how and why of the painting. In fact, we don't meet the woman who sits for the portrait until the very last sentance of the book. This makes complete sense to me because it offers explanation (without being exposition) as to how Leonardo captures the smile and the "inner" soul of the model.

The drawback to this, of course, is that there really needs to be an understanding, on the part of the reader, who/what the Mona Lisa is, and why the painting is famous. Without this knowledge, and without, perhaps, some classroom study, the average reader most likely isn't going to understand what the books leads up to and why it ends just as we meet the title character.

Not my favorite Konigsburg book, but I'd still take a less-than-her-best Konigsburg over most other writers any time.

Recommended.

GILEAD -- Marilynne Robinson

Farrar, Strauss and Giroux -- hc
New York -- ©2004 -- 247pp
ISBN: 0-374-15389-2

An old man, a minister, writes a long letter to his very young son.

I struggled to keep my attention with this book. I had looked forward to reading this as it was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2005, but was certainly under-whelmed by it.

Some very nice themes going here, which certainly helped it to win the prestigious prize, but I felt that the telling of it droned. The old man's "voice" was very one-note and it demanded attention to focus on what he was saying. Often I wasn't willing to give that attention because I didn't feel interested in what he was saying.

That the book was a looked-for, oft-requested best-seller doesn't surprise me. Many people buy books in mob mentality. That it won the Pulitzer doesn't surprise me, either. It's weighty themes and slow style seem tailor made for major book prizes. What will surprise me is if this book is remembered or studied even a decade from now -- if it becomes the "classic" that the booksellers promote it as.