Reading Laura Lippman's Standalone Novels

Over the past couple of months I have read each of Laura Lippman's standalone novels (separate from her Tess Monaghan series, which I have been reading for years). I began with What the Dead Know (which I reviewed back in October), then read Every Secret Thing, To the Power of Three, and finally her latest I'd Know You Anywhere. I'll save the newest novel for a post all of its own, but I wanted to combine some of them. Giving short takes on two of Lippman's standalone novels seems to make sense, so here they are:

• Every Secret Thing: Lippman often focuses on unlikely criminals. She does this both as a plot element (it makes plot almost impossible to predict) and as a manner of character development. In characters, Lippman reminds readers that everyone has a good side and a bad side; very seldom are humans fully one or the other. In this novel, Lippman introduces two young girls as criminals, guilty in the crime of a baby's abduction and subsequent death. But how did this crime unfold, and who are the true guilty parties? As both girls are released from prison after their eighteenth birthdays, the baby's mother goes on a warpath to put them back behind bars. Then other girls begin to show up missing. Are the newly released former kidnappers responsible? Or is it all a timing coincidence of the worst sort?
• To the Power of Three: In this novel, Lippman again focuses on teens, but who committed the crime is much less clear. School violence seems to be the theme, as three girls are shot in a school bathroom just after the school day begins. At first, one of the girls seems to be the main suspect. The three were best friends, growing up together in a suburb of Baltimore. It seems to be a cut and dried case; after one became an outcast of the trio, she took a gun to school and shot her former friends and then herself. However, as time goes on and the investigation continues, everyone begins to wonder what exactly happened inside those bathroom walls. 

 Interestingly, although these and the other two above are not part of a series, they are all set in or around Lippman's Baltimore (click on this link for a story NPR did on the city from Lippman's perspective). The books also all include some of the same characters, in both police and other law enforcement. However, in these novels the investigators are always on the periphery of the action, rather than central to it, as Tess is in her series.

Thanksgiving...

The last couple of weeks have been quite eventful. My parents left last Saturday for Tanzania, Africa, to visit my brother, sister-in-law, and baby nephew for Thanksgiving. Their trip was prefaced by shopping trips to gather things they would take with them, many days packing by my mom, and trips to the travel medicine clinic in Knoxville for them to get the necessary vaccinations before traveling so far.

Of course, the days leading up to their departure meant I wanted to see them at every opportunity I had; we are a very close family, usually eating Friday night dinner every week. I also talk to my mom on the phone multiple times a day. Being unable to see them or phone them has been hard -- even for such a short period of time!

However, I am so grateful that my parents have this opportunity to travel and see the world, and also -- mostly -- that they are getting to spend some time with my brother's family. My brother and his wife moved in March 2009 to Geita, Tanzania, to do missionary work. Last winter they traveled home on an early furlough so that my (first and only) nephew Jude could be born. They returned to Africa in April of this year, so it had been months since they had seen family. I know that Thanksgiving for them is all the more special this year because they have my parents there to spend time with.

Last weekend, as my parents were leaving to fly out, I had been coughing quite a bit. I felt worse Saturday and Sunday, and I even ran a fever, so I took Monday off and spent most of my time sleeping on the couch. I still had a fever on Tuesday, but headed back to school. We only had a few days until Thanksgiving break; surely I could make it until then. By Wednesday, I had lost my voice almost entirely from coughing. I almost bought stock in Nyquil for a day or two -- I tried three or four different medicines with little relief.  I finally decided to go to the doctor... Where I learned that I had pneumonia.

I stayed home Friday, after my doctor's appointment on Thursday. This pneumonia isn't joking around, although I have been so worn out it has been almost comical. I mean, you just don't usually hear about a 20-something-year-old getting pneumonia and being so sick. Two days ago, I attempted some minimal shopping at a local T.J. Maxx. I wandered around amid the crowded store, bought only a pack of washclothes, and sat in my car almost in tears because I felt so terrible. Needless to say, yesterday and today have found me very close to home. I get up, fold a load of laundry, then sit down to rest. Get up, fix myself some tea, then sit down to rest. Hang something up, then sit down to rest. You get the picture.

Then, Thursday -- this Thanksgiving -- I am cooking my first holiday dinner. I have planned to the hilt (my OCD wouldn't have it any other way), but to say I'm a bit stressed would be putting it mildly. However, I am also excited! I love to cook, and I love to have people to my house. I even love the crazy cleaning that goes along with having company, late nights and all. I just hope I will have the energy to get everything done that I have planned this week. Otherwise, I will be most unhappy.

I am thankful for so many things this Thanksgiving. For my health, for my family. For living in our great country where we have freedoms many do not enjoy around the world. For the everyday little things that make life grand. And for books, because yes -- I've been reading, even when I'm not posting reviews. Here is what I've been reading during my illness & recovery:

• Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich (a disappointing addition to the Stephanie Plum series, in my opinion)
• The Sweet By and By by Todd Johnson (an excellent debut novel from my favorite genre -- southern lit)
• Island Girl by Lynda Simmons (for its upcoming release in December)
• The Cypress House by Michael Koryta (my first e-book attempt on the iPod touch, which is working pretty well)
• The Innocent Man by John Grisham (not sure how I missed this 2006 release, but it's pretty good so far -- nightmare-inducing, but good)
• Educating Esme by Esme Raji Codell (this is my by-the-bed book for reading in short spurts)

Upcoming posts will  also include lots of Laura Lipmann standalone novels and Amazon's #49 book of the year, Amy Greene's Bloodroot.

Happy reading and happy Thanksgiving!

Don't Sing at the Table: Life Lessons from My Grandmothers Connects Fact to Fiction

In her latest project, Adriana Trigiani abandons her usual fictional world and pays tribute to the women who made her who she is -- a hardworking, family-oriented storyteller. In the non-fiction work Don't Sing at the Table: Life Lessons from My Grandmothers, Trigiani shares both her wide-reaching love for her grandmothers and some of the pearls of wisdom they imparted upon her. The result is a touching part-memoir, part-family history that communicates the immense amount of respect Trigiani has for the two most important women in her life.

Paternal grandmother Viola Trigiani and maternal grandmother Lucy Bonicelli disciplined Adriana in ways her younger self sometimes felt unfair; however, she is now able to fully understand the love that drove those hard-learned lessons. In the book, Adriana recalls that Viola once refused to allow her to walk by her side in a local festival parade. Those in the front with her grandmother were lifelong members of the Ladies' Sodality, and Adriana had not, at her young age, earned a place with those who had "done the work" (170). Adriana now looks back on that memory with fondness and with the knowledge that Viola was "teach[ing her] that every stage of life, and every stage of commitment, has its compensation" (170).

Devotees of Trigiani's novels will recognize traits and historical information from her grandmothers that have been peppered into her fictional characters and plots. Her Italian roots come through loudly and clearly in the Big Stone Gap series, in which main character Ave Maria connects with her Italian family members. Lucia, Lucia's title character is named for Lucia "Lucy" Bonicelli (who Trigian's daughter is also named for); she also works as a seamstress, as did the actual Lucy. Trigiani's Valentine series is also steeped in family history, with the novel's family owning a shoe store similar to grandmother Lucy's husband. Nella Castelluca in The Queen of the Big Time spends her days in a garment factory very similar to the blouse factory Viola Trigiani and her husband ran for more than twenty years. And of course, Trigiani's YA novel Viola in Reel Life introduces adolescent Viola, named for Viola Trigiani.

Lovers of Trigiani's fiction will delight in the stories gleaned from Triginai's youth and described so eloquently in Trigiani's prose. Readers may also learn a thing or two along the way -- for example: "Start working early and never retire" (work ethic wisdom) or "Nobody ends up in the gutter being picky" (love wisdom), straight from the mouths of her grandmothers.

Trigiani fans should also seek out her cookbook, published in 2005. Cooking with My Sisters includes both yummy recipes and some tidbits of family history.

Adriana Trigiani discusses the book on the Today show:

100 Songs to Save Your Life, Part Two

A year and a half ago, I wrote a post about the episode of One Tree Hill in which Peyton Sawyer writes lovingly to her unborn child about the subject she is most passionate about -- music. Although I have a book blog, not a music blog, that post has been more popular than any other one. At the time, I added only fourteen songs, in no particular order. Here are fourteen more, and in Peyton's words:

"So if you flunk a test, or have a really bad break-up…or just miss someone so much it hurts, listen to this -- my playlist: a hundred songs to save your life."

15 "Drops of Jupiter" -- Train: I have no emotional ties to this song. I just think the lyrics are fantastic: "She acts like summer and walks like rain/ . . . . She listens like spring and she talks like June. . . ." You can feel the amazement the singer feels simply by being in "her" atmosphere.

16 "Name" -- Goo Goo Dolls: I loved this song so much in high school, I actually recorded myself singing it. Haha! Ah, the follies of youth...

17 "One More Try" -- George Michaels: What can I say? I am a child of the 80s. Must include a song from G.M. There was one particular trip to Panama City Beach when I think my aunt played Faith for eight hours straight. Of course, that could be the perspective of an 8-year-old skewing things a bit...

18 "The Heart of the Matter" -- Don Henley: My parents were huge Eagles fans when I was young, but my favorite Eagle was always Don Henley. As my music memories seem to primarily revolve around trips, I remember listening to the music video from a hotel room in a town somewhere we had gone with my dad on a business trip. I thought there would never be a song I loved more.

19 "The End of Innocence" -- Don Henley: See above.

20 "The Last Worthless Evening" -- Don Henley: See above.

21 "The Song Remembers When" -- Trisha Yearwood: I went through a "country" phase when I was young. I still love me some country music, although I'm not the die-hard fan I once was. This is a song that (to me) made Trisha Yearwood's career. And it's beautiful.

22 "Hold On" -- Wilson Phillips: When I was in third grade, Wilson Phillips was the greatest band ever. Nevermind that they were actually just a singing group (not a band). My friends and I thought they hung the moon. I still love this song.

23 "Leaving on a Jet Plane" -- John Denver: Long before the movie Armageddon made this song famous, I loved it. My daddy used to walk to me to sleep at night, singing me John Denver classics.

24 "After the Goldrush" -- Dolly Parton, Linda Rondstandt, & Emmylou Harris: Riding in the car with my mama, we liked nothing better than singing along with our tape of the first Trio album. Now I torture my middle school students with the 1990s follow-up, Trio II, which features this amazing song.

25 "Landslide" -- Fleetwood Mac AND the Dixie Chicks (I love both versions equally): Just one of the best vocalist songs in the history of music. Period. If you don't get chills at the end, you're not human.

26 "All I Wanna Do" -- Sheryl Crow: "All I wanna do is have a little fun before I die..." When Sheryl Crow released this album during my middle school years, there wasn't a girl in the 8th grade not be-bopping to this (slightly risque -- at least to me, in 1994) song. Especially loud when we were singing at the top of our lungs: "Until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard!" [**Further story: Two years ago on a trip to California -- in which I visited Santa Monica for the first time -- Sheryl Crow was on my Southwest flight! She was very polite to everyone, and her son Wyatt was so cute, running up and down the aisles!]

27 "More Than Words" -- Extreme: An excellent love song. And, my dad met the members once in his engineering office in Nashville. But can you say "one-hit wonder"?

28 "I Can't Make You Love Me" -- Bonnie Raitt: Beautiful, haunting lyrics.

Re-visit my original 14 songs here.

Remedies Paints Realistic Portrait of a Marriage Suffering, While Seeking Relief from Pain

Kate Ledger's Remedies debuted in paperback in August 2010, one year after its hardback release. I had the pleasure of reading it in honor of its recent trade paperback debut.

Ledger pulls readers in from the beginning with a somewhat risque opening passage. Through it, we learn that although doctor Simon Bear and his successful PR executive wife Emily still love each other, something has created a rift in their relationship. It is a separation that becomes only more pronounced throughout the novel. Ledger dissects their marriage and the nuances of their relationship in this exquisite look at both the ties that bind and the events that tear us apart.

Dr. Simon Bear is a physician with an unwavering dedication to his patients. However, he also throws himself full throttle into a long list of all-consuming hobbies -- the latest an elaborate wine-making contraption. His follow-through leaves something to be desired, and the Bears' basement is littered with the leavings of his abandoned projects. In fact, his only longstanding effort lies in his medical practice.

Although voted one of Baltimore's Top Doctors, Simon was asked to leave his previous multi-physician practice due to irreconcilable differences. Despite this, he has managed to build a thriving private practice with offices in an annex of the Bears' home. With his practice, Simon makes it his mission to end suffering in all his patients. He refuses to give into what he calls modern society's prejudice against prescribing strong pain medications, instead prescribing whatever his patients request.

Emily Bear is also a thriving business person, throwing herself whole-heartedly into her duties in the PR firm where she works. She struggles in her role as mother to the couple's 13-year-old daughter Jamie. Truly, the only success the couple has in in their professional lives. At home, they are all planets orbiting one another with no contact. Always lurking in the air at the Bear house is the death of Caleb, the couple's first child. Although it occurred almost 15 years prior to the novel's beginning, his illness and death haunts the family and prevents any real intimacy between Simon and Emily.

Within the span of a few weeks, things come to a head as seemingly unrelated events drive the family further apart. Simon discovers a new trial of medicine with outstanding results; Emily (literally) runs into an old flame; a new nurse is hired at Simon's clinic; and 13-year-old Jamie fights her own adolescent demons.

Ledger paints a disturbingly accurate portrait of the modern American family, both individually-obsessed and filled with a yearning for family togetherness. Ledger's ending is just as pitch-perfect as the rest of the novel; it's neither a thrown-together happily ever-after, nor a crashing wreck. Rather, it is a symphony of perfectly orchestrated events that chained together, create a cohesive whole.

Ledger states in the book's acknowledgments that it took her ten years to create Remedies. The result of that lengthy period of dedication couldn't have paid off any better. Here's to hoping Ledger's next novel comes a bit more quickly, as I really hate to wait for new books to be written and released once I've found someone I admire!

Other reviews:

• Beth Fish Reads
• BlogCritics.org
• Publishers Weekly

On Maggie's Watch Addresses Fears and Joys of Parenthood

Maggie is a woman who has been scared senseless. Her first child was stillborn just two years ago, and now she is seven months pregnant with her second. Maggie's fear both paralyzes her and forces her to act in ways she normally wouldn't. Julia, her best friend since childhood, tries to be a positive force in Maggie's life. Martin, Maggie's husband, struggles quietly with his own grief and seems incapable of being the partner she currently needs.

In her debut novel, On Maggie's Watch, Ann Wertz Garvin explores the inner and outer terrors that an expectant mother experiences. Maggie lives in constant fear that her own body will betray her again, that she or it will do something wrong and cause this baby's death, as she feels she did during her first pregnancy. She drinks icy water during bouts of insomnia, just to feel the reassurance of the baby jumping at the influx of cold liquid flowing into their bodies. Her constant worry leaks over into her relationship with her husband; despite efforts from him, she pushes away at every turn.

Additionally, Maggie looks to dangers outside herself. Unable to control what happens within, she begins obsessing about making her small Wisconsin town even safer than it already is. Maggie decides to revive a dwindling Neighborhood Watch program, aiming to take control of the baby's outside surroundings, if nothing else. She also explores Wisconsin's online sex offender database and learns that a man living on her street is a registered sex offender. Bypassing her husband and Julia's efforts to stem her obsessing, Maggie sets out nightly on a one-woman war against this man. Her vandalism begins with pranks such as cutting the heads off his geraniums, but progresses to increasingly damaging acts.

When she makes a shocking discovery about another neighbor she's become close to, Maggie is forced to face her true fears and to stop focusing on tangential issues.

On Maggie's Watch is a charming read that deals with real-life issues, yet manages to avoid feeling heavy. Both Maggie and Julia ring true as characters with both positive and negative character traits. Garvin expertly reveals just enough about the past to be incorporated into the story, without allowing the plot to become bogged down with flashbacks or long remembrances. Although in the beginning I thought that Maggie's worries might be too much for me to bear, Garvin handles those worries with such skill that I was entertained without too much panic of my own.

Hear about the book from Garvin's point of view:

Visit Garvin's website to learn more about her, including info about previous careers (most of which are entirely unrelated to writing). I was fascinated to read about the winding life path that eventually led her to write and publish a piece of full-length fiction. There is hope out there yet for want-to-be-authors, like myself! She is also offering the first chapter of the book as a preview, so you can check it out for yourself.