Garden of Beasts

by Jeffery Deaver

Oh, WOW! I loved this suspense/mystery. I think I've discovered a new favorite author. It may be premature to say that after one book, so I'm starting on a second Deaver to make sure. I loved this book. The plot, the characters, the setting of Nazi Germany in 1936 were all topnotch.

The book's hero is a mob "button man," or hit man, Paul Schumann, who is caught in the act in New York City. His captures offer him an alternative to the electric chair - to go to Berlin undercover as a journalist writing about the upcoming Olympics, in order to assassinate Col. Reinhard Ernst, the chief architect of Hitler's militarization, seen as a threat to American interests. A German spy onboard Paul's transatlantic liner grows suspicious and sends a warning to Germany before Paul discovers and kills him. Then in Berlin, Paul, en route to meet his contact, kills a second suspicious man who may be a storm trooper, setting Insp. Willi Kohl of the Berlin police on his trail.

Deaver weaves the three manhunts—Paul after his target, Kohl after Paul and the Nazi hierarchy after Paul—with a deft hand,.

One of my favorite parts of the book was the look at the frightening life of 1936 Berlin, a city on the brink of madness. Top Nazis, including Hitler, Himmler and Göring, make colorful cameos, but it's the smart, shaded-gray characterizations of the principals that anchor the exciting plot.

An affecting love affair between Paul and his German landlady goes in surprising directions, as do the main plot lines, which move outside Berlin as heroes become villains and vice versa.

How have I missed reading anything by Deaver before now?! Garden of Beasts is a stand alone novel; not part of Deaver's Lincoln Rymes series, which I've added to my list of new series.

Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

by Terry Pratchett

The American cover is not the least bit cute or enticing, so I'm showing the English version even though that's not the one I was able to hold in my hands.

Some books I've read recently are based on fairy tales; this book takes the Pied Piper tale and "turns it right on it's head" according to the front cover. I think that's an apt description. Maurice is a talking cat who has teamed up with a "stupid-looking boy" and some talking mice in a Pied Piper-like scam.

Pratchett's characteristic humor defuses the ick factor allowing me to actually like the rats and tolerate their environment. In fact, I found myself cheering for the rats, which is to be expected since they are the heroes along with Maurice, the boy and a town girl.

I found myself thinking this was the perfect book to engage the interest of young boys. Although, I need to add a word of caution: the book gets quite terrifying in the last half. I didn't have any nightmares, but I could imagine that some children might. I think this book should be categorized as YA, not children's. The scary part ends and the book finishes on a lighter note. I really liked this book and highly recommend it to adults and cautiously recommend it to young adults.

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents was awarded the Carnegie Awards in 2001. This award is given for outstanding children's or YA literature.

Messenger of Truth

by Jacqueline Winspear

Book four in the Maisie Dobbs Mystery series is every bit as good as the others and there's more tension and suspense. Maisie is called upon to discover if the accident that killed an artist was really an accident or if it was murder. In her pursuit to find the truth, she questions her motives in becoming a private investigator. In the end she does uncover the truth of the accident and discovers some things about herself as well.

I liked this passage towards the end of the book:

The sea lapped even closer; though Maisie remained in place, her hands holding her collar to protect her neck. It's because it's the beginning, and also the end. That was what she loved about the place where the water met the land - the promise of something fresh, a suggestion that, even if what is happening now is to be suffered, there is an end and a beginning. I could sail away on that beginning, thought Maisie.

I already have book five and I've added it to my list for the Cardathon Challenge so I'll be able to read it in the near future.

Gossamer

by Lois Lowry

I love Lois Lowry and her books. I didn't know anything about Gossamer before reading it. Sometimes it's fun to open a book and just let the story come from the unknown. Lowry reveals the story of a inquisitive, almost transparent and courageous dream maker in a tantalizing manner. I was engaged with questions and pieces of the story that made me keep eagerly reading. She is an expert storyteller.

Gossamer is aimed at ages 9 - 12, but can be enjoyed by those of us who are MUCH older.

The Book of Atrix Wolfe

by Patricia A. McKillip

A very powerful mage, Atrix Wolfe, finds himself in the middle of a battle that may cost his own kingdom dearly. In the moment and in a bit of a panic, Atrix conjures a terrible entity that causes immediate bloodshed and haunts him as well as individuals in 3 different, consecutive worlds for the next 20 years.

The unlikely hero is a a boy prince who is sent off to a foreign kingdom to learn sorcery to help protect his own kingdom. Talis discovers a book written by Atrix Wolfe, the great mage that hasn't been seen in over 20 years. In trying out some of the magic in the book, Talis unwittingly draws Atrix out of hiding, but it also awakens the powerful and dreadful monster Atrix created. Together Talis and Atrix must destroy the evil.

A parallel and connected storyline involves a Wood Queen whom Talis has fallen in love with and a young girl who is the pot scrubber in Tallis' castle's kitchen.

I thoroughly enjoyed this fantasy and thought it was beautifully written, almost poetic and very descriptive and imaginative. I often had to go back and reread, but in so doing, the pictures formed in my mind were movie quality. I look forward to reading more by this award-winning author.

"Atrix shook his head, wordless again. "There seemed no words," he said finally, "for what I had done. Words were too small..." When trying to ask forgiveness, or give unmeasured thanks, or express deep love words can be too small.

I loved all of Chapter Seven when Saro, the kitchen pot-scrubber, was trying to learn words. She could hear but didn't speak and she needed to find the words to warn Talis. She listened to those working around her, she listened to the sounds of the fire and the wood being burned. "But nothing she ever heard resembled the vision she had seen in the pot. Nor did the human language, scattered constantly throughout the kitchen, suggest the death of the prince."

Austenland

by Shannon Hale

"Jane Hayes is a seemingly normal young New Yorker, but she has a secret. Her obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, is ruining her love life: no real man can compare. But when a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-crazed women, Jane's fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become realer than she ever could have imagined." -from the Publisher

I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy this romantic escapade, but I did. In fact, I enjoyed it a lot. Hale has added some fun twists to this modern retelling of Austen's masterpiece.

Celebrate the Author Challenge

Becky's Book Reviews is hosting this cool challenge.

This is a twelve month challenge (January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2008).

I'm going to try to choose books that have already have. I really need to quit mooching books faster than I can read them. Then there's all those books I've bought and still need to read, not to mention the ones from the library.

• January: Shannon Hale (Austenland or Book of a Thousand Days)
  alternatives: Jasper Fforde, Wilkie Collins, Isaac Asimov, Philippa Gregory, Diana Gabladon
  
  
• February: Patricia McKillip (Book of Atrix Wolfe)
  alternatives: Elaine Konigsburg


• March: Lois Lowry (Gossamer)
  alternatives: Patricia MacLachlon (Sarah, Plain and Tall), Dr. Seuss, Carl Hiassen, John Irving


• April: Jacqueline Winspear (Messenger of Truth)
  alternatives: Terry Pratchett, Barbara Kingsolver


• May: Arthur Conan Doyle
  alternative: Jodi Picoult


• June: Pearl S. Buck (The Good Earth)
  alternative: Helen Keller


• July: Dean Koontz (The Darkest Evening of the Year)
  alternatives: Robert Parker (Family Honor), Joanne Harris, Anna Quindlen


• August: Orson Scott Card,
  alternative: Sharon Kay Penman (The Queen's Man)


• September: Taylor Caldwell (Grandmother & the Priest)
  alternatives: James Hilton (Random Harvest), Elizabeth Peters, H.G. Wells


• October: Lynn Flewelling (The Bone Doll's Twin)
  alernatives: Geraldine Brooks (Year of Wonders), Anne Perry, Joan Clark, Wendy Corsi Staub,


• November: L.M.Montgomery (Anne of Avonlea
  alternatives: Margaret Atwood, C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L'Engle, Neil Gaiman


• December: Charles de Lint (Yarrow)
  alternatives: Anne Patchett, Jane Austin, Avi, Kipling