Books

I have been following the Alexandra Cooper series of books by Linda Fairstein from the beginning and always enjoyed them. They are another of the female crime fighter/solver genre, each novel revolving around a New York Assistant District Attorney in charge of Sex Crimes and her friends/cops who investigate a murder or string of murders.

They are quite entertaining if you like this sort of murder mystery subject matter. Despite the gruesome details they are actually quite light to read. The plot is always fairly predictable in that they always get the guy, but not before a close shave with a nasty killer.

Killer Heat by Linda FairsteinRead more about this book…

I read these kind of books when I want a fast-paced, easy to read, entertaining book. A bit like watching CSI or Law & Order on TV!

I read this article today in the NY Times, on Oprah’s O magazine endorsing Love and Consequences, a memoir about a a bi-racial gangbanger. It turns out the author is white and “well-to-do” and made the whole thing up.

Love and Consequences: A Memoir of Hope and Survival by Margaret B. Jones Read more about this book…

The publisher has withdrawn copies of the book from sale and offered refunds to people who’ve already bought it. It’s the second fake memoir scandal for Oprah who selected James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces for her bookclub, and later discovered he had embellished part of his story about recovering from drug addiction (although for the most part it was true).

I just don’t get what all the fuss is about? Are people buying these memoirs for research purposes? Are they conducting a study on gangbangers or drug addicts? No. They are buying them for ENTERTAINMENT. Why does it matter if the entertaining and well-written books (if that’s what they happen to be) turn out to be fiction?

Since when did FICTION become a dirty word?

I’m not saying I agree with the author’s tactics in pretending to be someone else and passing her novel off as a true story. In Margaret B Jones’ case (aka Margaret Seltzer) she had fooled her publisher and editor with fake photos, letters and foster siblings and was getting away with it until her sister dobbed her in to the NY Times. (Thanks, sis!)

But for people who have already read the book and maybe enjoyed it, was their enjoyment diminished by later finding out that it was made up?

I read A Million Little Pieces before I knew parts of it were exaggerated (and not on Oprah’s recommendation, because, well, I can’t say I pay that much attention to her opinion on anything) and it is an incredible book.

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey Read more about this book…

Short review - a REALLY graphic and harrowing story of drug rehab with some amazing, disgusting and thought-provoking issues. Well-written, touching and unforgettable (particularly the scene at the dentist *shudder*)

I found out afterwards some of it was embellished. So what? I still enjoyed the book. I’d still recommend it (if you can stomach it - it is very descriptive!).

I’m certainly not going to take it back for a refund!!!

I remember reading Memoirs of a Geisha years ago and coming to the end where the author’s note revealed that it was a work of fiction. My reaction? Wow. That was really well written, I completely believed it was true. And then - Wow. The male author has written about a woman so well.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden Read more about this book…

Perhaps this is more an indictment on the general reading public that they put more store by a shocking tale that’s true, rather than appreciating the skill of a great writer who can make you believe that the events really happened. It must be incredibly hard to get a book deal, so the pressure for authors to set themselves apart from the masses is huge. But I just don’t see why a story being true makes it any more entertaining and appealing to readers.

And it seems that the more harrowing the story the better. Obviously our lives are not interesting at all unless we’ve been through unspeakable hardship and trauma and lived to tell the tale.

True memoirs do have an important place on my bookshelf and on many people’s, I’m sure. But not at the expense of engaging and creative fiction.

Meh.

That pretty much sums up The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus about a college graduate who inexplicably decides to go to work as a Nanny for a demanding, self-absorbed 5th Avenue mother.

The Nanny Diaries: A Novel by Emma Mclaughlin, Nicola Kraus Read more about this book…

It felt like a Devil Wears Prada rip-off, but with a far less exciting plot and very unimaginative writing. You’d think they could come up with a more creative name for the Nanny than…”Nanny”! The demands she had to endure were predictable and the dramas she and the household faced trite.

Nevertheless, I finished it. Not really sure why. I even started to watch the movie (with Scarlet Johannsen and Laura Linney) on the plane. That looked even worse than the book so I switched off about 10 minutes in.

My verdict - don’t waste your time!

What an amazing, touching, beautifully written book! Already I can say its in my top books for the year, no matter what I read for the next 10½ months.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold Read more about this book…

The central character is a 14 year old girl, Susie Salmon, who tells us in the first paragraph that she has just been murdered. She watches events unfold on earth from her “heaven” and the story primarily deals with how her family and friends deal with her death and how she comes to terms with what has happened.

It is an unlikely premise for a story but I though it was an incredibly well-written book. It is less about the violent crime of murder and more about relationships and how people deal with trauma in such different ways. Both her parents react quite differently to their daughter’s murder, with one consumed with finding out whodunit and how, and the other in denial.

I absolutely loved the gentle way the story was told and the author’s insight into human nature. Every character was beautifully drawn, from the younger brother and sister of the murdered girl to the parents, her friends and teachers, even the murderer himself. They were all very real. I especially loved the author’s depiction of Susie’s heaven - she avoided any religious associations and painted a picture of a very rich, personal and complex place that was determined by her own experiences, desires and ambitions.

I’ll definitely be reading The Lovely Bones again. Highly recommended!

I struggled through this book! I’m not sure why, but I was determined to finish it. It’s not like I was on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what would happen in the end. I knew she would marry the prince, have troubles conceiving, eventually have a baby girl and get depressed. But still, I finished it.

Princess Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne by Ben Hills Read more about this book…

You’ve probably guessed I didn’t really like this book. It was written by Ben Hills, an Australian journalist who has lived in Japan covering the Royal family for several years. I don’t think I have an aversion to non-fiction, but what I disliked about this book was that the author inserted himself into the story. Too often he said "I interviewed a college friend of Masako’s…" or "When I lived in Japan…". I wasn’t really interested in his own story or how he found out what he was reporting. Maybe that’s a bit harsh, but to me this felt like an extended magazine article and the style just felt wrong for a novel. I’m not saying I wanted a fictionalised fairytale version of her story (and her story is far from a fairytale) but more narrative, less listing of resources.

It’s a shame, because I was very interested in the story. I did learn a lot about the Japanese Royal Family and the attitude of the Japanese people to them. I really knew only the basic facts before and there was a lot of interesting information in here. I assumed the Royal Family were very traditional like most of them are, but I never realised how removed and ritualised their lives are. Hills certainly paints a very disparaging picture of the life of the Princess and the pressure she is under to conform to tradition and renounce all her previous individuality and interests. Interestingly it seems that the power actually lies with the Organisation that runs the Imperial Household, the Kunaicho, dubbed the Men in Black, who direct every tiny detail of the Royals’ lives. It’s surprising that such an intelligent and ambitious woman would give that all up for such a restricted life. The way Hills writes, she was coerced into the marriage by expectation and duty to her country, rather than by love for her husband. It’s hardly surprising in the circumstances that she is suffering from depression.

If you’re really interested in finding out more about the story of Princess Masako, then there’s lots of information here, but the method of story-telling could have been better.

I’m much more excited about the book I am reading now -

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold Read more about this book…