Running the books: the adventures of an accidental prison librarian, by Avi Steinberg

Having fallen away, far, far away, from his roots as an Orthodox Jew and over-achieving Yeshiva scholar, Avi Steinberg finds himself at loose ends after finishing Harvard. He answers an ad for an opening for a librarian in a prison and soon is checking out books and answering questions from the male and female inmates (separately, of course) of a tough Boston prison. Some of the stories he tells are funny; some frightening; and many sad. There's the inmate who longs to have his own TV cooking show someday, tentatively called "Thug Sizzle;" the woman who joins his creative writing class primarily so she can sit by a window that looks down on the prison yard where her son, who she gave up as a very young child, is exercising, having become an inmate as well; and the stories told by the "kites," scribbled notes concealed in books for other inmates to find. Although the book is a bit self-involved, the tales of the inmates are well done and affecting and his meditations on prisons are thoughtful. 399 pp.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, by Helen Simonson

OK, this is cheating a bit, but I did have to reread this book for our book group having last read it almost a year ago. I still love it. Here's what I said before: An unexpected delight, like The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, with the added benefit that this first time author is still very much alive and may have more novels ahead of her. Although the setting is familiar from “cozy” mysteries set in an England that is passing, if it ever existed, and the characters could have been stock figures, somehow there is a richness and nuance in this book that raises it well above others. Yes, it’s a small village, and the main character is a widowed retired Major, but other characters reflect the changing times: the English-born Pakistani shopkeeper, who is still treated as an “immigrant;” her angry nephew, who has a secret; and the Major’s social-climbing materialistic son. It’s a love story, a novel of manners (or lack thereof), and an exploration of race relations in twenty-first century England. 358 pp.

Jack wakes up

Jack wakes up/Seth Harwood 295 pg.

This is a book I picked up judging solely by the cover. It is a pretty cool cover, don't you think? The book itself is not quite as good. Jack is a recovering washed up movie actor who is getting his life back together after a serious heroin addiction and other "PR" problems. He starred in a decent action film a couple of years ago and now the money is running out. His "friend" Ralph has offered to let him in on a big drug deal he has in the works. Jack would hopefully make enough money to pay his mortgage for awhile. Ralph ends up dead so Jack decides to take over the deal. Enter ex-KGB, crazy drug suppliers and a hot bartender who shows interest in nursing Jack's wounds that he gets after being beaten up a couple of times. Things just keep getting rougher until Jack's beloved pristine '66 Mustang gets shot up and then he decides revenge is in order. The only problem I have with this book is nobody in it seems to know what is going on. Jack figured out there is conflict between the major drug players but none of them seem to realize it. No offense, but Jack doesn't strike me as the smartest guy to begin with and really, the major drug players don't realize their competition might be trying to cut them out? Overall the action is pretty good, the cover is great and Jack's obsession with his car seems possible. - Christa

On the Blue Comet by Rosemary Wells 329 pages

We get a lot of requests for good train books. One of my all-time favorite Christmas books is van Allsburg's Polar Express. In Cairo, Illinois, 11 year old Oscar Ogilvey lives just with his dad since his mom died. A bright spot in his rather ordinary life is his model train set -- a fabulous set with an elaborate lay out of track and scenery that he and his dad spend their free time working on. After the great stock market crash, his father loses not just his job, but their house and their train set. Oscar is sent to live with his disapproving aunt, while his father leaves for California in search of a job. Oscar's life turns upside down when he witnesses a cruel bank robbery and begins his own surreal cross country and cross time train trip. Real Hollywood stars, famous politicians and fascinating characters make cameo appearances in this book. Rosemary Wells, most widely known for her popular picture books, also has written a few historic fiction chapter books but none about trains. Wells captures the feeling of loss and despair so prevalent during the Great Depression. This is an amazing space and time action fantasy yarn that begs to be read aloud.You don't have to be a train buff to enjoy this book.

Lords of the North by Bernard Cornwell

Lords of the North by Bernard Cornwell, historical fiction, 317 pages.
The third book in Cornwell's Saxon Chronicles, this continues the story of Uhtred of Bebbanburg, and his quest for revenge on the men who killed his adopted father, and on the uncle who usurped his family home. Along the way he narrowly escapes being sold into slavery, and frees a slave, Guthred, who claims to be King of the surrounding Cumbraland. Uhtred helps Guthred to claim his crown, but through a series of battles, alliances, and betrayals ends up enslaved. Forced to row in a trading ship for two years, Uhtred almost gives up hope. Once he regains his freedom, he plots and exacts revenge on a wide range of characters. Well-plotted and paced, with interesting, believable, characters, Cornwell's Saxon books are a joy to read, but not for the squeamish due to the violent nature of all the Saxon-Danish interactions in the saga.

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Your Story

Your Story (the Dresden Files Roleplaying Game, vol. 1). 402 p.

This rpg (role-playing game) uses the FATE system to adapt the Dresden Files novels of Jim Butcher into a playable game setting and system. I was somewhat familiar with FATE before reading this, and I enjoy the DF novels, so I was looking forward to checking out this implementation. I'm impressed; the setting is both very faithful to the books (Butcher was involved with the game design) and eminently playable without having to reproduce the plots of the novels. Particularly elegant was the way the designers used the refresh mechanism as a thematic element and as a way to balance characters against one another. The magic system is complex but looks very flexible, which is the way to go if you don't want to end up with huge spell lists like you have in old-school D&D.

(An aside: yes, this is a rulebook for a game, not a novel. But I read every word, cover to cover, so I get to claim it as a "book read"! Also, if anyone is actually interested in system details, I'd be glad to go into more detail, but I don't think this blog is quite the place to do so.)

Super sad true love story

Super sad true love story by Gary Shteyngart 331 pgs.

This is a love story dystopia set in the near future. Lenny and Eunice are a mismatched pair trying to make a go of it in New York City as America crumbles. The political statement here is frightening as people walk around in constant communication with the network that is rating their personality, looks and hotness while keeping track of their credit rating. Too bad for the poor suckers who have kept their wealth in dollars instead of yuan as the entire system is failing in America. Lenny's book collection just makes people feel sorry for him as most have never read a book and books smell bad. Everything I read about this book mentioned how funny it is and how they enjoyed the irony. I found it frightening and perhaps not all that absurd. When the network goes down due to an attack, everyone loses touch with each other and many young people commit suicide because they can not live without the information stream. Tell me if that doesn't sound real and scary. - Christa

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As She Climbed Across the Table

As She Climbed Across the Table by Jonathan Lethem  224 pp.

What would have happened if the looking-glass had refused to take in Alice? And can a nothingness have a personality? These are just some of the questions raised in this book. Physicists at a university have accidentally created a hole in the universe. The void, or nothingness, which they name Lack, exists in a room where they conduct experiments on it by putting a variety of objects into it. Lack, it seems, has particular tastes. It accepts a pomegranate, a light bulb, an argyle sock, and a laboratory cat who wanders into the room by mistake. Lack refuses a scrambled egg, a bow tie, an axe and most of the scientists studying him. Physicist Alice Coombs has developed an obsessive 'love' for the void, if one can love a nothingness, and Lack's rejection of her is devastating. Lack has also come between Alice and anthropology professor, Philip. How can you compete with a rival who is nothing? I didn't know what to expect when I picked out this audiobook. If I had been reading the book I probably wouldn't have finished it.

In Too Deep / Jayne Ann Krentz

In Too Deep by Jayne Ann Krentz (book one of the Looking Glass Trilogy). 324 p.

Another of Krentz's series featuring the Arcane Society, people with paranormal powers. As she is fond of doing, she sets the book in a small coastal town in the Northwest, peopled by misfits who don't fit into regular society. The heroine, Isabella, was raised by a family of conspiracy theorists, so she's been off the grid all of her life. The hero, Fallon Jones, is the head investigator for Jones & Jones, Arcane's main investigative body. There's nothing particularly new here if you've read Krentz's other books, but I enjoyed this one more than the last few books I've read by her; it was pleasant and fun, although predictable.

As with her books last year, this trilogy will feature one book by each of Krentz's pseudonyms: book two is Quicksilver by Amanda Quick (historical) and book three is by Jayne Castle (futuristic).

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The Land of Terror / Kenneth Robeson

• The Land of Terror by Kenneth Robeson (Doc Savage #2, April 1933). 155 p.
  
  I realize that a monthly pulp magazine--especially one that's just getting established--had to reintroduce its main character every month in case it's the first time a reader has picked up the magazine. That said, I think the first two pages of this novel qualify as the clunkiest, most ham-handed info dump I've ever read. A well-respected chemist spends those two pages talking about how wonderful his friend Doc Savage is, then immediately gets murdered. Doc spends the rest of the book catching up to, and then punishing, the killers. Doc kills a lot of people in this book. Towards the end the setting shifts from NYC to a veritable lost world full of dinosaurs.
  
  First appearance of: Doc's special miniature machine guns (although they shoot regular bullets at this point). Doc "treating" bad guys instead of sending them to jail.