Book Review: THE NIGHT BIRDS by Thomas Maltman

Published: 2007 by Soho Press

Format: Hardcover

Genre: Historical Fiction

Asa Senger is a young boy living in Southern Minnesota in the 1890's, a time when the lands are infested with grasshoppers and the people are dealing with the after-math of the mass hangings of thirty-eight Dakota warriors in Mankato in 1862.  When Asa's aunt, Hazel, is released from an asylum and comes to live with them, he begins to get answers about a time nobody will talk about.  Told in dual perspective, both Asa and Hazel's narratives and poetic, yet unromanticized, stories of frontier life.  Maltman takes a very sensitive, tragic, and unknown time in Minnesota and US history and handles it with care and insight.  His writing is absent of showy pretense as he shows readers many sides of this tragedy through the viewpoints of his achingly-real characters.  The result is a poignant, literary, and emotional story of family, history, loss, and love.

-Amy

Book Review: HAVOC by Jack Du Brul

Published: 2006 by Dutton Adult

Format: Paperback

Genre: Adventure

Geologist and part-time, government-contracted agent Philip Mercer is in the Central African Republic when he meets Cali Stone, a CDC scientist investigating a report of high cancer rates in a small village.  When Mercer and Cali are attacked and escape, they begin an investigation to uncover the secrets behind this village and their attackers; secrets lead back to Alexander the Great, the Hindenburg, and a long-missing insane scientist.  Mercer is an Indiana-Jones-like hero who gets out of impossible situations with his brain and brawn.  Du Brul's story, while full of action, antics, and villains set on world destruction, also examines character motives and relationships.  Fans of action-adventure in both literature and film will love this story, which is, unfortunately, the last installment of Jack Du Brul's Philip Mercer series.  

-Amy

Book Review: CAPTAIN ALATRISTE by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

Published: 2005 by Plume

Format: Paperback, translated by Margaret Sayers Peden

Genre: Adventure

Diego Alatriste comes home wounded from the Thirty Years War and now spends most of his time avoiding his debtors and drinking in a tavern with an eccentric group of poets, aristocrats, and his page, the young Inigo Balboa.  The story, as told through Inigo’s eyes, is a non-linear account of Alatriste’s commission as a sword-for-hire to take out a pair of Englishmen as they travel through Spain.  Alatriste’s true character comes through when he spares the Englishmen and ends up embroiling himself in a conspiracy involving politics, religion, and the Spanish Inquisition.  While Perez-Reverte’s scene-setting and character back-story makes the pacing slower than most adventure tales, Captain Alatriste is a humorous, swashbuckling tale for readers looking for a story with political intrigue, history, sword-play, and old-fashioned heroics.  

-Amy

Book Review: JUST MY TYPE: A BOOK ABOUT FONTS by Simon Garfield

Published: 2011 by Gotham

Format: Hardcover

Genre: Nonfiction

Typesetting and font design, as well as the people and situations responsible for them, are all explored in Just My Type: A Book about Fonts, a cheeky work by British journalist Simon Garfield.  Filled with anecdotes and short stories about the history of types, readers can explore the question, "What does your favorite type say about you?"  The shear abundance of fonts in this book is not ideal for the visually over-stimulated; however, the broad range of font stories, including the account of the Font that Drowned and how Helvetica took over the world, make Just My Type a fascinating look at a subtle, omnipresent part of our daily lives.

-Amy

Book Review: GONE GIRL by Jillian Flynn

Published: 2012 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Format: Hardcover
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, & Suspense

Psychopathy, mystery, and thrilling suspense abound in Gillian Flynn's bestselling book about a woman who goes missing on her five year anniversary   The book's beginning is told in alternating chapters between Nick's account of the investigation and Amy's diary.  Nick soon becomes the main suspect, but he insists on his innocence despite the clues pointing to his guilt.  As the story progresses, readers begin to wonder just how reliable Amy's diary account is, especially when a body is never found.  Gillian Flynn, like Amy herself, is a plotting genius, taking readers on a dark tale that examines just how far revenge and psychopathy can go to fuel an illusion.  Gone Girl's psychological twists increase as the story unfolds, and results in an ending readers will love but scarcely believe.

-Amy

Book Review: I AM J by Cris Beam

Published: 2011, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Format: Hardcover
Genre: YA for Adults

J, born as Jeni, thinks that if gender were assigned, he we was given the wrong assignment.  J knows he is a man, though his developing, female-born body is betraying him.  When a conflict with his best friend forces J to question his life, he begins to make the changes he knows will align with his true self.  I am J is an example of LGBT fiction that reads like a true story, thanks to the authentic narrative Cris Beam provides.  It serves a two fold purpose of helping those who self-identify as LGBT know they are not alone, and it helps everyone learn empathy and gain perspective of the life of a trans teen. With New York City as a setting, I am J explores the universal themes of family conflicts, acceptance, and self-discovery, while also portraying the unique and often challenging life of being transgender.  An important, inspiring story for both teens and adults.

-Amy 

Book Review: A GOOD AMERICAN by Alex George

Published: 2012, Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam

Format: Paperback
Genre: Historical Fiction

After falling in love and conceiving a child amidst strong family disapproval, Frederick and Jette Misenheimer leave Germany in 1904 and sail to America. The story continues down through four more generations of the Misenheimer family as they make their home in small-town Missouri.  As told through anecdotes by Frederick and Jette’s great-grandson, James, A Good American reads more like a memoir.  A Good American captures American history as seen through immigrant’s eyes.  The beginning of the story is endearing, touching, hilarious, and heartbreaking; however, when James begins to narrate his own life, the story’s tone shifts.  His narrative includes caricatured characters and jaded experiences.  Overall, though, the story, along with its surprise ending, portrays the heart and humor of what it means to be a good American.     

-Amy