The Informationist

The Informationist/Taylor Stevens 307 pg.

The blurb on the inside cover of this book mentions the queen in all thrillers...Lisbeth Salander...but that did not do this book any favors...my expectations where too high and it just didn't deliver. It was good but it could have been better. Our heroine Vanessa "Michael" Munroe is tough enough and hard enough but we just hear too much of what she thinks and if you are going to throw around Lisbeth's name, you really need to have a character that is a little more mysterious. Or you see some of her history but don't necessarily hear all of her thoughts. Vanessa is just too open and then the author throws in something more akin to a romance and here Vanessa's emotions are too obvious and worn on her sleeve. Taylor Stevens does a good job with the thriller aspects to the book but we need to know LESS about the main character. A little mystery needs to be included for this book to be great.

Shortcomings

Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine 108 pp.

This graphic novel annoyed me. On the surface, it is the story of a twenty-something Japanese-American couple, Ben and Miko, who are having relationship problems. Underneath it's all about their prejudices. She gets mad at him because he finds white girls attractive. He gets mad at her because she acts like all things Asian are wonderful, even badly done films. One of his old college friends, a Korean lesbian, makes frequent derogatory reference to bisexuals as "fence-sitters" but uses Ben as a 'beard' so her parents don't know her sexual preference. Miko leaves Ben for a temporary job in New York and their relationship detiorates further. When he travels to N.Y. to try to patch things up he discovers her with another man, who happens to be Jewish/Native American. By the time I was finished I wanted to slap them all and say "Get over yourself and make something of your life."

That being said, Tomine does an excellent job of portraying the characters and the story in his black and white art. The quality of the his work is excellent in spite of my opinion of the story.

A visit from the goon squad

A visit from the goon squad by Jennifer Egan 273 pg.

This is a great book about Sasha and her boss Bennie Salazar. It is great because it goes back and forth in time where we meet many people who cross paths with Sasha and/or Bennie and in the process learn a lot about both of them but never really why this book is about them as opposed to any of the other characters. All of this back and forth is well done and it is easy to follow even though it seems like it shouldn't be. This book made it onto the "best" lists of several librarians and I can see why. - Christa

Running scared by Lisa Jackson 389 pages

"Running Scared" is about a newborn baby boy who is not wanted by his unwed mother. Add in a wealthy family that is part of the social elite of Boston, illegitimate children, spoiled legitimate children and peripheral characters. Pull the characters together and the story of the baby, his father and adoptive mother unfolds. As a teenager, Jon is able to see into the future on occasion. In a dream he sees himself running from danger in a strange city that is decorated with Christmas lights. After Jon dreams of danger during the Christmas holidays, he battles the high school bully and tries to assess events in his live that could lead to fulfulling the prophecy of his dream. This book was originally released as "Wishes". In this new version, Lisa Jackson kept the characters and the story but added some scenes then "notched up" the suspense.

Insignificant Others

Insignificant Others/Stephen McCauley 243 pgs

I was excited to see a new book by McCauley. His Alternative to Sex was my favorite book of 2006. This book is also wonderful. I love the characters, I love the writing, I love the path the book takes. Richard Rossi is aging but fighting it with gusto. He has a much younger partner and a lover on the side and a job he likes well enough. The story has to do with the relationships he has with his coworkers, his family, and in his personal life. Richard used to be a psychologist but is now an HR executive. He has insights on other people and a few about himself too. Of course much of his intuition turns out to be wrong but in the end, he learns about himself. Boy, my description makes it all sound sort of lame but it isn't...it is wonderful and seems so very real and possible. In the end, I'm mostly left with the desire that McCauley write a little faster. - Christa