Nanjing 1937

Nanjing 1937 by Ye Zhaoyan
Historical Fiction

This book takes place in Nanjing the year leading up to the infamous massacre by the Japanese in 1937. The story is about Ding Wenyu, a womanizing professor of foreign languages. He is a immensely popular professor who does not abide by any rule of either etiquette or common sense. He is invited to the wedding of one of his colleague's and falls head over heels in love with the bride, Ren Yuyuan. He starts by sending daily love letters to her. She at first is embarrassed and does not know how to handle the undeserved attention. Ren's marriage to a arrogant philandering pilot has problems from the start.

The urgency of the love because of the environment gets more and more tense at the invasion draws nearer.

There is a tremendous amount of detail in this book. The author describes this year in amazing attention to detail. The amount of research done was phenomenal. The Chinese politics and attitudes are described.

I found this book intriguing but difficult to read. First the romance was a little farcical. This may be the Chinese style. The book read like a history book at times instead of a historical fiction. I do not know whether this is because of the amount of detail in the book or because of the translation

This book was read for the Numbers Challenge

First Line: "January 1, 1937 was a Friday."

Rating:

(3.5/5)

In Fond Remembrance of Me: A Memoir of Myth and Uncommon Friendship in the Arctic by Howard Norman

In Fond Remembrance of Me: A Memoir of Myth and Uncommon Friendship in the Arctic by Howard Norman
Non-Fiction

Howard Norman is employed by a museum to travel to Churchill, Winnipeg, Canada to transcribe Inuit folktales into English. There he meets Helen, who is essentially doing the same thing, except translating into Japanese. Helen has a better command for the language and gets along much better with Mark, the person who they are hearing the folktales from. From the beginning we learn that Helen has stomach cancer and Norman uses the book to explain the impact Helen, Mark, and the folktales have made on his life.

Throughout the book are about 10 Inuit folktales that Norman has translated. Each of them have to do with Noah's ark and what happened when Noah sailed into Hudson's Bay. While I found the first one very interesting, all of them were very similar, making me feel like I was reading the same thing over and over again. Perhaps for the sake of not boring the reader, Norman could have cut down the number of tales he wrote in.

I have no doubt that some people may love this book, but it just didn't do it for me. I was having troubles following Norman because he was delving too deep and getting too philosophical for me. Furthermore, I found some of the exchanges between him and Helen just plain weird.

First Line: "On November 8, 1977, in the Halifax train station a few minutes before boarding a train for Montreal, Helen Tanizaki handed me a letter from the afterlife."

Rating:

(3/5)

Shadow of Power by Steve Martini

Shadow of Power by Steve Martini
Mystery/Courtroom Drama

When a controversial author is found murdered in his hotel room, the police waste no time pointing the finger at Carl Arnsberg, an employee of the hotel that happened into the author's room. Paul Madriani is the defense for the case and quickly delves into the controversy that the author left behind. This includes a potential letter written by Jefferson that has the potential to shock the USA and set the country into a race war.

The book goes through the case laid out by the district attorney and shows how Madriani and his team counter the arguments. At the same time, they are frantically searching behind the scenes to find the letter and determine who the real killer could be. While the arguments that are presented are interesting, I was disappointed that once Madriani had the chance to present the most important evidence to the jury, the author doesn't even put it in the book. He skips over a couple days and goes straight to the jury being locked away making a decision. With all of that build up, I was expecting something more.

I haven't read many courtroom dramas, but overall I enjoyed this one. The dialog was interesting and the counter arguments brought up were ones I would never think of - maybe why I have no interest in being a lawyer!

First Line: "The sugar-white powder was so hot on their feet that they skipped and took long strides across the distance to the darker sand cooled by the surf."

Rating:

(4/5)

Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel

Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel
Biography

Despite the name of this book, it is really a biography about Galileo through the adult years of his life. It chronicles the positions that Galileo held, where he held them, and what scientific discoveries he made that have shaped modern science. Behind all the science, however, were Galileo's family and friends. Galileo had two daughters, which were sent at an early age to the convent, and a son. He made friends in the religious community, as well as with the Medici family, becoming an official mathematician of the Florence Medici factor.

Galileo and his eldest daughter were very close and wrote letters to each other on a very regular basis (she was not allowed to leave the convent and in his poor health, he couldn't always visit). Unfortunately, only her letters to him were saved. It is believed that his letters to her were burned or buried. The author uses her letters to her father to guide the biography and indicate how she felt when Galileo was going through some of his more troublesome times: namely, the inquisition against him that essentially put him under house arrest after supporting the idea that the Earth revolves around the Sun.

While parts of this book moved very slowly, overall it was interesting. There's even a surprise at the ending which wraps the book up very nicely. Having just been in Florence, it was neat to get a perspective of what the city was like 400+ years ago.

First Line: "We are terribly saddened by the death of your cherished sister, our dear aunt: but our sorrow at losing her is as nothing compared to our concern for your sake, because your suffering would be all the greater, Sire, as truly you have no one else left in your world, now that she, who could not have been more precious to you, has departed, and therefore we can only imagine how you sustain the severity of such a sudden and completely unexpected blow."

Rating:

(3.5/5)

Hey Nostradamus!

Hey Nostradamus by Douglas Coupland
Literature

Coupland has written a book about a high school shooting. The difference is it is told in four voices; Cheryl, Jason, Heather and Reg. Cheryl is the last person shot and the secret bride of Jason. Jason stops the killings by killing one of the murderers. Jason's father, Reg calls his own son a murderer which leads the police to suspect Jason as the mastermind of the shooting.

It is interesting how each of these people have been affected and even 10 years into the future are still affected deeply. Jason's family dysfunction is explored. His mother is an alcoholic, his father a religious zealot and his brother perfect.

Jason is damaged beyond repair and his trust in other people is non-existent. This damage affects his current girlfriend Heather's life and that of his father, Reg.

I have read other Coupland books and not particularly enjoyed them. I very much enjoyed this one. It was simply written but very effective.

First Line: "I believe that what separates humanity from everything else in this world - spaghetti, binder paper, deep-sea creatures, edelweiss and Mount McKinley - is that humanity alone has the capacity at any given moment to commit all possible sins."

Rating:

(4.5/5)

This Calder Sky

This Calder Sky by Janet Dailey
Romance

This book is #3 in the Calder series. Chase Calder is the latest in the dynasty of Calders. He has grown up knowing he will inherit the ranch and the acres and acres of land. Maggie O'Rourke is a neighbour. She lives on a small ranch and her father and brother are extremely envious of the Calders. Chase takes Maggie's virginity and innocence. Maggie's father loses it and starts rustling Calder cattle. What results is an action that may never be forgiven. Maggie also doesn't want just the ranch life, she wants to make something of herself.

I found Chase to be extremely arrogant, almost to the point of wishing the bad guys would win out. I was very sympathetic to the criminals which I don't think was the desired result of the book. The romance part of the story was a little slow at times but still kept me interested enough to finish the book

First Line: "Beneath a clear sky, the Montana plains rolled to the far horizon in an undulating sea of grass"

Rating:

(3.5/5)

The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Non-Fiction

Gladwell points out that in order to have an epidemic there must be a Tipping Point. Something or someone who causes it. Gladwell gives various examples throughout the book from sales of Hush Puppies to the lowering of the crime rate on the NY subway system. The tipping point is always not what is expected. For instance, cleaning the graffiti lowered the crime rate as a cleaner environment fosters better behaviour.

The author names three types of people that contribute to an epidemic. The Connector,a person who knows lots of people, the Maven, someone who loves to gather information and the salesman. There are also other concepts such as stickiness of the idea or product.

I found out that some of the ideas were not what I expected. A very interesting read!

First Line: "For Hush Puppies - the classic American brushed-suede shoes with the lightweight crepe sole - the Tipping Point came somewhere between late 1994 and early 1995."

Rating:

(4.0/5)

Shadow of Power

Shadow of Power by Steve Martini
Mystery

Terry Scarborough is a notoriety seeker who has written a book about the American Constitution. Scarborough writes about how even in this current day and age the constitution stills contains inflammatory references to slavery. Scarborough also hints at a letter written by Jefferson which would be even more scandalous than his current book. He goes on a book tour in which every city there are riots and violence. Part way through the tour he is murdered in a San Diego hotel room.

The room service bellhop, Carl Arnsberg is charged. The evidence is overwhelming; fingerprints, shoes prints and motive. Paul Madriani and his partner, Harry Hinds are his attornies. Is Carl just a scapegoat and have the police just found the first criminal available to pin the crime on?

Paul and Harry must find the missing Jefferson letter before the trial ends and find out who really killed Scarborough.

This is a tremendous court room drama mystery. The detail of the the trail is amazing. A definite page-turner!!

First Line: "The sugar-white powder was so hot on their feet that they skipped and took long strides across the distance to the darker sand cooled by the surf."

Rating:

(4.0/5)

Death's Acre by Dr. Bill Bass

Death's Acre by Dr. Bill Bass
Biography/Non-Fiction

Though this book may have better been called "The Body Farm", this title is taken by Patricia Cornwell even though it's based on a creation by Bass. Bass got into the forensic field almost by accident. Since then, he has become one of the leading specialists in human bones in North America. Bass practically created a specialization (and then a following from other universities) in human bone forensics and claims to have trained over a third of all professionals out there that specialize in this. He also is the creator of the "body farm", which studies the decomposition of bodies under different scenarios. Patricia Cornwell has worked with Bass in the writing of her books, and Bass and his team have assisted in numerous criminal cases.

Bass takes us through some of the important findings him and his students/colleagues have made. He then corresponds these findings to important cases he has been involved with. Some are heartbreaking, some are stupid. One of Bass's colleagues was involved in a murder trial in Toronto that was breaking news up here during the time.

This books gives you an in depth look at the art of bone forensics. I found it extremely interesting. I've also read "Jefferson Bass" novels before - where Dr. Bill Bass co-writes with another author and have enjoyed those books very much. I believe the reason is because they so closely follow Bass' real life experience. Bass has a friend that specializes in fingerprinting named Art, and surely enough in the fictional books there is a fingerprinting specialist named Art.

First Line: "A dozen tiny bones, nestled in my palm: They were virtually all that remained, except for yellowed clippings, scratchy newsreel footage, and painful memories, from what they called 'the trial of the century.'"

Rating:

(4.5/5)

The Wentworths

The Wentworths by Katie Arnoldi
Literature

The Wentworths are a wealthy South Californian family who are extremely dysfunctional. The book starts with the whole family going to get the youngest son out of jail. I laughed out loud imagining this scene.

The Wentworths include: father Augustus, mother Judith, eldest son Conrad, daughter Becky, Son-in-law Paul and their children, Monica and Joey and youngest son Norman.

Augustus is a boozing philanderer who keeps a woman on the side. Judith is a cold, unfeeling skinny woman whose sole concern is her figure. She loves to mistreat the servants. Conrad is a busy well-known lawyer with a penchant for young girls and kinky sex. He brings girls home to meet his parents just before he dumps them.

Becky is a substance abuser who only wants her mother's approval. Paul is her wimp of a husband who hasn't got a clue of how to fix his family but really wants to try. Norman is a sensitive homosexual and the ignored member of the family.

Conrad bring Angela home to meet the family and Angela is not so easily dumped. Furthermore, she fits right into the dysfunctional family.

The book is a study of bad behaviour. The reader gets sucked into wondering what will happen next. Arnoldi delivers a compact twisted and 'sick' book and nicely ties up all the loose ends in an epilogue at the end

First Line: "They're standing in a police station somewhere in Los Feliz"

Rating:

(4.0/5)