Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Special Topics in Calamity Physics

I just finished Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl last night. (Despite what the title sounds like, it is fiction.) High school student Blue Van Meer narrates her life story, which since her mom died when she was little, consists of moving every semester as her college professor dad takes a new lecturing job. (Her parents shared an enchanted love that "caused birds and other furry creatures to congregate on a windowsill.") However, for her senior year her dad has decided they should stay in one place for the entire year, and Blue will attend St. Gallway, where she meets the Bluebloods and teacher Hannah Schneider, who will die that year (first sentence of Part 1--I'm not giving anything away). The majority of the book is spent chronicling Blue's senior year, but the end takes a wild turn as Blue tries to solve the mystery of Hannah's death. The clique of students enamored of teacher plot and slightly dark tone is a bit reminiscent of Donna Tartt's The Secret History, but what I really love about this book are Pessl's clever descriptions and phrases. To read her description of someone as a Goodnight Moon or a walking wedge of Camembert are just so enjoyable. Her constant bibliographic references and tendencies to capitalize words for emphasis could almost be too clever, but it's part of what makes the book so good. The website is also entertaining:

http://www.calamityphysics.com/main.htm

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Reading Roundup

DVD watching is seriously cutting into my reading time lately, but here are a few quick comments on the adult fiction books I've read in the last month or so:

You're Not You by Michelle Wildgen
My favorite paragaph: "There must be a better way to cook them--with some tart fruit, or a thick glaze of cooked-down wine and smoky bacon. The duck looked at me with one shining eye and took a wide-legged step away. After a moment it occurred to me that I was pondering eating random animals on my way home from school. Maybe the whole cooking thing was getting out of hand."

If that's not enough to entice you to read the book, then let me also say that this is a well written debut novel about college student Bec and Kate, a middle aged woman with ALS, who hires Bec as a caregiver. This could have easily been a sappy, overwrought story, but Wildgen writes about Bec's growth and Kate's illness in a witty, realistic way.

Orchid Shroud: A Novel of Death in the Dordogne by Michelle Wan
In the sequel to Deadly Slipper, Mara encounters murder and danger (again), and Julian continues his search for a rare orchid. Read it if you enjoy France and/or orchids.




The Highly Effective Detective by Richard Yancey
The book has a great title going for it, but I had a hard time enjoying this story about a bumbling private eye who gets into more than he bargained for when he takes on a case involving a hit-and-run of a family of geese. Kirkus, LJ, PW, SLJ, and VOYA all gave this book great reviews, so take my lack of enthusiasm with a grain of salt.