New Amsterdam by Elizabeth Bear

Synopsis from Goodreads:
Abigail Irene Garrett drinks too much. She makes scandalous liaisons with inappropriate men, and if in her youth she was a famous beauty, now she is both formidable--and notorious. She is a forensic sorceress, and a dedicated officer of a Crown that does not deserve her loyalty. She has nothing, but obligations. Sebastien de Ulloa is the oldest creature she has ever known. He was no longer young at the Christian millennium, and that was nine hundred years ago. He has forgotten his birth-name, his birth-place, and even the year in which he was born, if he ever knew it. But he still remembers the woman who made him immortal. He has everything, but a reason to live. In a world where the sun never set on the British Empire, where Holland finally ceded New Amsterdam to the English only during the Napoleonic wars, and where the expansion of the American colonies was halted by the war magic of the Iroquois, they are exiles in the new world--and its only hope for justice.


My Thoughts:
This is the first in a series so if you love it then there's more. I'm probably not going to commit to the series, but that might have more to do with having way too many books to read. Despite that, I found myself really enjoying the characters and the way they interacted with each other. Bear is a wordsmith so keep a dictionary handy. She doesn't go overboard with it, just enough to make you wonder how on earth she managed to know that word and use it in a way that makes it settle down naturally into the sentence like "no big deal." 

I absolutely loved Abigail Irene Garrett, but how can one not love a female forensic sorceress working in the late 1800s? Sebastien grew on me and the subtle competition between Abigail and Jack (for Sebastien's attention) was always entertaining. Even more so, the friendship that grows out of it. All in all, this is definitely a book for someone who enjoys fantasy/mystery driven by its characters. That is what will keep you reading, not the plot. Just a heads-up, this book does not read like a typical novel. It's more like a collection of isolated mysteries that the characters float in and out of while performing their own special detective work. In fact, the first character mentioned in the synopsis doesn't even show up until the second chapter (62 pages in). Each story has its own thorough imagery (Bear gets 5 out of 5 stars for setting a scene), but do not expect continuity between each story.

The Author

Author Tidbit: Elizabeth has done a little bit of everything. She's worked as a stablehand, traffic manager, typesetter and donut maker.

Keeping Heart on Pine Ridge by Vic Glover

Synopsis from Goodreads:
Cruise down the back roads of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in this bold anthology of real-life stories. Creative writer Vic Glover lays bare the challenges, history, bonds, and rich traditions that infuse the stark reality of life on the "rez." Glover introduces readers to his friends, family, and neighbors, inviting us into his private world with a trace of amusement and a poignant honesty that grabs you from the opening line and never lets go.

My Thoughts:
This book is a memoir of sorts of Vic Glover's (Oglala Lakota) life on the Pine Ridge Reservation. While only being 157 pages, I had to read this book in increments that stretched over a couple of months. Not because it was written poorly or because it wasn't interesting, but because it was a lot to take in and I wanted to process what I was reading. The book is written in short 2-4 page stories that don't have to necessarily be read in order. Each story covers an aspect of reservation life that the author ties in with his own memories. While brief, each story packs its own punch and will leave you chewing on it long after you've finished it. Some will even have you coming back to read again.

This is not, however, a book that takes the form of a lecture intended to make its readers feel guilty for their cushier lifestyle. Glover is unapologetic in his honesty and yet humble in his tone. He infuses each memory with a refreshing sense of humor making the reader feel as if they are a part of his circle. And his circle contains a wide variety of people, whether they're old friends from the reservation or people from other countries flying to South Dakota to participate in a sweat lodge. There is, throughout the book, an undercurrent of death and tragedy. You'll be reading a light-hearted story about people in his tribe and then, in one sentence, he'll mention someone's death and it's like an anvil dropping. Those are the moments that make you want to take your time with this book. You will get an insider's view into life on one of the poorest reservations in the United States. This is a perspective that needs to be known.

My Favorite Quotes:
"There are four cardinal virtues among the Lakota: Honesty. Courage. Humility. Generosity. A chief should possess and have refined them all. Some of the people have cultivated and mastered these elements of character, like the Old Man and Uncle Joe, the walking epitome of humility. Humility defeats pride. It dissipates defense mechanisms. It teaches us silence."

"You could say that many of us living up here have given up on the American dream, because we find that the values extolled and pursued by commercial, consumer-driven American society, in and of themselves are illusory, mythological, essentially empty, and selfishly unfulfilling. Where in American culture is the heart?"

I couldn't find any photos of Vic Glover, but here is some information on him from the back of the book: Vic Glover is a Vietnam vet combat medic, a former journalist, and professor of communication. He writes humor, political satire, and social commentary from his home on Pine Ridge Reservation.

***Check out the photography of Aaron Huey, a photojournalist who spent 8 years documenting life on the Pine Ridge Reservation: http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2014/02/20/aaron_huey_photographs_the_pine_ridge_reservation_in_south_dakota_in_his.html

Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin

Goodreads Synopsis:
Abner Marsh has had his wish come true - he has built the Fevre Dream, the finest steamship to sail the Mississippi. Abner hopes to race the boat some day, but his partner is making it hard for him to realise his dreams. Joshua York put up the money for the Fevre Dream, but now rumours have started about the company he keeps, his odd eating habits and strange hours. As the Dream sails the great river, it leaves in its wake one too many dark tales, forcing Abner to face down the man who made his dreams become reality.



My Thoughts:
All in all, a fantastic book. It's a bit slow-going in the beginning, but once it picks up IT PICKS UP. By the end of the book, I became extremely fond of the characters Abner Marsh and Joshua York. It's an unlikely bond, but a memorable one. Martin does a good job with developing the main players without going overboard (...although a fan of his series A Song of Ice and Fire, I'm thrilled he didn't create 200 characters just to have half of them die a few sentences later). Woo hoo! 

What I enjoyed most, surprisingly, was Martin's obvious enthusiasm for steamboats. I've never really been a steamboat kind of girl (insert dirty joke here) but he got me into the history and lifestyle of that time. He really did his late-night boat reading and I always love when an author takes the time and care to research something in depth. About halfway through, you can tell that if you ever got stuck on an elevator with George R. R. Martin and said the word "steamboats" he'd launch into a 2-hour conversation about them with a silly grin on his face. I can envision him spending hours riding these things in a Captain's jacket and jotting down notes. Plus, there's only so many ways to describe water. I'll give two thumbs up for him not sounding redundant. 

If you're a vampire fan then you should give this a read. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Martin takes a very interesting and thoughtful angle on the whole sucking blood business. That being said, I don't read a lot of vampire fiction so you can yell at me in the Comments section if I'm wrong. I was going to explain his angle on it, but I'm thinking it might be a bit of a spoiler...so nope. Just the read the book. It's good.

Subterranean Press has put out a fancified deluxe illustrated edition for super fans. Here's one of the illustrations by Justin Sweet (props to his talent and ability to capture the mood & characters):

The Author

Author Tidbit: Martin's father was a longshoreman (waterfront manual laborer). He grew up by the water and sold monster stories to other kids to make a few pennies.

We still love you though

Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen

Goodreads Synopsis: Americans have lost touch with their history, and in this thought-provoking book, Professor James Loewen shows why. After surveying twelve leading high school American history texts, he has concluded that not one does a decent job of making history interesting or memorable. Marred by an embarrassing combination of blind patriotism, mindless optimism, sheer misinformation, and outright lies, these books omit almost all the ambiguity, passion, conflict, and drama from our past. 

My Thoughts: This is a book that every person should read. Having been written in 1996, I think it's still relevant. Without taking a political side, Loewen gives the cold hard facts that our high school textbooks are leaving out. Spending years (about 11) combing through 12 of the most frequently used textbooks in schools, Loewen shows us how most of these books are written in a way that encourages patriotism before truth, blind optimism over reality. I love the country I live in, despite its many shortcomings. Every country has shortcomings because they're filled with PEOPLE. And people fall short. But it's important to know the true history of where you come from. Opening our eyes to this history doesn't make us less patriotic, just more aware and better able to take care of our country. And that's the point of this book. 

I always try to understand the author's angle, the lens they're looking through and what their ulterior motives might be. Loewen writes from a pretty unbiased point of view without the rhetoric of the Republican and Democratic parties that I get SO TIRED of hearing. He's not here to make you vote a certain way. He doles out harsh truth, but leaves praise where it's deserved in a voice that is more observant and analytical than emotional. And while the title of the book might sound cruel, he also spends a chapter trying to find an explanation WHY we're using these textbooks in the classroom and it's not just the fault of the teachers. There is a larger more political issue going on here that goes beyond the classroom. Prepare to take less pleasure in some of our national holidays...

**Also, the man's Notes section in the back of the book total just over 55 pages so if you want to take this reading further then you have plenty of references to look for.

Favorite Quotes: "Lying to children is a slippery slope. Once we have started sliding down it, how and when do we stop? Who decides when to lie? Which lies to tell? To what age group? As soon as we loosen the anchor of fact, of historical evidence, our history textboat is free to blow here and there, pointing first in one direction, then in another. If we obscure or omit facts because they make Columbus look bad, why not omit those that make the United States look bad? or the Mormon Church? or the state of Mississippi? This is the politicization of history. How do we decide what to teach in an American history course once authors have decided not to value the truth? If our history courses aren't based on fact anyway, why not tell one story to whites, another to blacks? Isn't Scott, Foresman already doing something like that when it puts out a "Lone Star" edition of "Land of Promise," tailoring the facts of history to suit (white) Texans?"

"Hugh Trevor-Roper, the dean of British historians, has written, "A nation that has lost sight of its history, or is discouraged from the study of it by the desiccating professionalism (or unprofessionalism!) of its historians, is intellectually and perhaps politically amputated. But that history must be true history in the fullest sense.""

The Author

Author Tidbit: James W. Loewen helped write a US history textbook called "Mississippi: Conflict and Change" in 1974. The textbook was not approved for use in the Mississippi school systems leading to a lawsuit Loewen vs. Turnipseed. This became a historic First Amendment case.

Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling

Synopsis from Goodreads:
When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils ... Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?


My Thoughts:
Wow. Hot tea and razor blades are the images that come to mind. I had heard mixed reviews of this book from customers at the bookstore, but I'm glad I still read it. If you are reading this because you loved Harry Potter and you want it to be just like that then...you irritate me. I wouldn't be surprised if most of those customers were expecting something as epic as the Boy Who Lived. I think it takes guts to keep writing after writing something that TREMENDOUS. Talk about pressure. And, of course, what winds up happening is the author lets people down. Those people irritate me. 

This is an amazing book. And not for the reasons that Harry Potter was amazing. Remove the fantastical background, the mythological creatures and the magic as the author shines a light on a regular town with regular people. This could easily be boring in anyone else's hands, but Rowling delivers. Yet this story isn't action-packed like her previous books. Instead it's driven forward solely by the depth or shallowness of its characters; their fears and shortcomings, their hopes. But more than anything, by their secrets. Rowling has a jarring insight into human nature and what makes us tick.

Her language is simple but precise with unexpected passages that leave you open-mouthed. She speaks with brutal sincerity. Her characters are people you pass on the street everyday and, while reading about their lives, you feel almost ashamed for spying yet have to read more. And Rowling weaves each character's life into the next character's with effortless skill- the final spider web building into disaster. 

Read this book, but forget Harry Potter. That's hard for me to say because I LOVE Harry Potter. But this book is not kid-friendly. It's written for adults and there are some difficult scenes. Authors get the short end of the stick after they write a bestseller. Especially when it's a bestselling series turned into movies turned into theme park. Expectations are high and people expect that author to deliver the same great amazing masterpiece again and again and again. This book is a much more subtle masterpiece and I'm grateful she took the time to flex her muscles when it comes to plain old character development. A+ Rowling, I don't care what anyone else says!

Oh and (my absolute favorite part) the main character is a dead guy. Not a ghost. Just a guy that recently bit the dust and you get to see how that dust falls on all of the people around him. Enjoy.

The Author

Author Tidbit: Like many others, J. K. Rowling suffered from clinical depression. This inspired the soul-sucking Dementors from her Harry Potter series. 

The Secret of Excalibur by Andy McDermott

Book Synopsis from Goodreads:
Excalibur . . . Legend has it that he who carries King Arthur’s mighty sword into battle will be invincible. But for more than a thousand years, the secret to the whereabouts of this powerful weapon has been lost . . . until now.

Archaeologist Nina Wilde is hoping for a little R&R with her fiancé, former SAS bodyguard Eddie Chase. But the couple’s plans are dashed when a meeting with an old acquaintance propels Nina and Eddie into a razor’s-edge hunt across the globe—battling a team of elite mercenaries who will stop at nothing in order to claim a prize every treasure hunter has coveted since the final days of Camelot. Nina and Eddie must do everything they can to keep the legendary blade from falling into the wrong hands. Because the truth behind the sword’s power—and those who seek it—will not only shock the world but plunge it into a new and more devastating era of war.

My Thoughts:
Soooooo....I couldn't finish this book. I tried, I really did. I don't usually read books like this but I gave it a try in hopes that the Arthurian legend/history would keep my attention. Unfortunately, half way through and there wasn't that much legend or history. But there was action sequence after action sequence! So much that it started to drown out any chance of character development. Oh well. I think the chips were stacked against me because I don't read much from this genre. I think someone who does read a lot of books in this genre would probably enjoy it. So if you like books where action scenes dominate give it a try. 

Broken by Lisa Jones

Book Synopsis from Goodreads:
Writer Lisa Jones went to Wyoming for a four-day magazine assignment and came home four years later with a new life.

At a dusty corral on the Wind River Indian Reservation, she met Stanford Addison, a Northern Arapaho who seemed to transform everything around him. He gentled horses rather than breaking them by force. It was said that he could heal people of everything from cancer to Êbipolar disorder. He did all this from a wheelchair; he had been a quadriplegic for more than twenty years.

My Thoughts:
For me, this book was another eye-opener. And not just in the way it portrays the current condition of some Native American tribes but also because it reminds us how one person can become the source of strength for many. I think that's what spoke the loudest. The central figure of the book is an Arapaho horse gentler, Stanford Addison, who continued his father's work on the Wind River Indian Reservation...but in a very different way. When he was a boy learning from his father, they broke in horses sometimes using aggressive techniques and intimidation to get the results the horse owners needed. Stanford lived a similarly wild life with little regard to the consequences of being reckless. This resulted in a car wreck that left him broken and a quadriplegic for life. It was after this that he began to see the world differently. Hard moments coupled with the new and unsettling presence of ghosts led Stanford to approach his work in a more compassionate way. He developed new methods of taming wild horses without using fear. He passed these techniques on to the younger generations of the tribe, but his reach didn't end there.
                   Stanford, without meaning to or even wanting to, became a magnet for the sick and the broken. People from all over the country and the world came to his home for guidance or to take part in one of his famous sweat lodges. Some people even wound up staying with him or his family for an extended period of time. The author, Lisa Jones, who became one of these people recounts these moments. Despite his own struggles, he never seemed to turn anyone away.
                   That, to me, is the pivotal message behind the book. The author does have her own epiphanies as a result of being around the horse trainer, but that becomes secondary as you start to realize the reach this man had. His offer of help and guidance, opening his home that, to many, became a sanctuary although it was falling apart; these life-changing gestures are done in such a nonchalant and unassuming way. It's a lesson in humility. 
                  Lisa Jones relates this humility in a refreshing and biting form of honesty. She is sincere in her love of Stanford, but she doesn't hold back any punches. Her writing is lyrical and on point.

My Favorite Quotes: "To begin a scary task is to be close to finishing it. In fact, beginning takes more courage than anything else, because once you make contact with the forces of nature, your most practical and clear-eyed self emerges."

The Author

Stanford Addison