“It was guys and girls who kissed–in our grade, on TV, in the movies, in the world; and that’s how it worked: guys and girls.  Anything else was something weird.”

I first heard about this book after reading an interview with author Emily Danforth on Slate.com, and decided right away that I needed to read it.  What I got was a beautifully written and inspiring coming-of-age story, set during the early 1990s against the backdrop of the socially conservative American midwest.

When we first meet Cameron, she is twelve years old and just lost both her parents to a car crash.  What no one knows is that just hours before the crash, Cameron had been kissing her best friend Irene.  Slowly she struggles to come to terms with her parents’ death, a part of her wondering what her parents would have thought if they had lived to find out that she had kissed a girl.

A few years later, Cameron is living in rural Montana with her religious aunt.  She has had a few more experiences with girls, but is still questioning her orientation and therefore keeps her feelings to herself.  Not ready to be ”out and proud,” she goes on a few dates with a boy from her school, but soon finds herself overwhelmed with feelings for her new friend Coley.  Though at first Coley insists that she is not “that way,” she and Cameron quickly begin an intense (but still awkward) relationship.  But things change drastically for Cameron when her aunt discovers her “sin” and sends her to Promise, a Christian boarding school whose agenda is curing teens of homosexuality. 

What I loved most about this book was that even though the protagonist is a gay teen, this is still a relatable coming-of-age story.  Cameron experiences all the same uncertainty, self-doubt, and peer pressure that any other teen experiences.  She really isn’t so much a pioneer for gay rights as a teenager who just wants the freedom to be herself.  And I think that’s something that anyone, gay or straight, can relate to.  Cameron is still a wonderful character.  Smart, funny, mischievous, and at times very poignant:

“At Word of Life I felt like a big, shiny, obvious goldfish, a goldfish well known to have homosexual tendencies, so basically a big, gay goldfish in a tank with eighteen other such goldfish, wheeled in and parked in a pew for two hours, much to the delight of the crowd.”

This book received some criticism for not portraying the teachers and counselors at Promise in a more negative way.  However misguided their beliefs are, they are not the snarling, abusive beasts we expect them to be.  But subtle as it is, the book is still very critical of conversion therapy.  One chapter in particular is graphic enough to show how dangerous this therapy really is.  The overall message is clear: you cannot pray the gay away. 

The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a beautiful story.  Danforth’s portrayal of the teenage experience is authentic, and Cameron’s story is one you won’t soon forget.  I would recommend this book to anyone because it’s more than an LGBT story, it’s a human story.

I can usually relate to books with protagonists who find themselves disenchanted with the reality of their lives.  It’s a common theme in today’s media, as the Y2K generation is now turning thirty and realizing that the so-called “American Dream” is a lot harder to achieve than they were told.  The bitter disappointment of life can make for a very powerful story.  Unfortunately, this book is neither powerful nor poignant.

Flatscreen tries to put a new spin on the typical “loveable loser finally turns his life around” story.  Eli Schwartz is a twenty-year-old kid who never went to college and lives in his mother’s basement.  He has no job, no propects, and no drivers license.  He spends his time alienating anyone who tries to help him, doing drugs with his friends and stumbling into random sexual encounters.  Eli’s comfortable existence is shaken when his mother decides to sell her house.  Strangely enough, he becomes friendly with the buyer of his house, Seymour Kahn, who is basically an older and slightly more depraved version of Eli. 

Despite my best efforts, I found this book grossly disappointing.  What I thought was going to be a humorous insight into the “failure to launch” phenomenon was instead a meandering story told by an intensely unlikeable character.  Eli is a spoiled rich kid who has yet to get over his parents’ divorce and refuses to take any responsibility for his life.  His feeble attempts to redeem himself at the end of the book were not enough to make me like him or the story.  Furthermore, I found the writing style distracting and rather annoying.  Wilson’s constant use of sentence fragments and stream-of-consciousness style were often difficult to follow.  It’s a style that works for Chuck Palahniuk because Chuck Palahniuk is brilliant.  It doesn’t work in this book.

I was really looking forward to reading this book when I downloaded it from NetGalley.  Maybe I should have been warned by the letter of praise from Wilson’s editor that was attached to the advance copy.  Some may enjoy this book, but I found it unoriginal and overall pretty dull.

Inspired by the not-too-long-ago Bernie Madoff scandal, and in light of the seemingly endless financial recession still going on, here is a novel by a new author that takes us inside the privileged lives of the Manhattan elite.

The Darlings is about a fictional Manhattan family and what happens when their world comes crashing down.  Carter Darling is a billionaire financier and the embodiment of the term ‘WASP.’  With a beautiful wife, two perfect daughters, and endless connections, he does indeed lead a charmed life.  He has just hired his son-in-law Paul as the head of his hedge fund’s legal team, a position Paul is happy to accept. 

But things begin to quickly unravel for the Darling family the day before Thanksgiving.  A tragic event shocks the financial world, and invites unwanted media attention on Carter’s financial dealings.  With an investigation by the Securities Exchange Commission looming overhead, the family members become suspicious of one another, and betrayal and heartache are quick to follow.

This was a very interesting book to read, with a storyline quite relevant to the time.  Cristina Alger has a law degree and has actually worked as an analyst at Goldman, Sachs & Co., making her the ideal person to write a story like this.  But in addition to having the necessary knowledge and experience to make this story come to life, she is also a great writer.  Her characters are living, breathing people with needs, fears, insecurities, joys, and aspirations.  Alger’s writing takes us to the forefront of a lifestyle filled with prestigious schools, charity balls, summers in the Hamptons, trips to Nantucket, and Park Avenue apartments.  But it’s a cut-throat lifestyle too, a world in which not everyone survives:

“Manhattan was a Darwinian environment: only the strongest survived. The weak, the nice, the naïve, the ones who smiled at passersby on the sidewalk, they all got weeded out. They would give up. They would opt out.

The ones who stayed long enough to raise children were the tough ones, the tenacious ones, the goal-oriented ones, the gold-digging ones, the deal-closing ones, the ‘kill or be killed’ ones, the ‘whatever it takes’ ones. They looked out for themselves and slept with one eye open.”

With a tight story and a surprising ending, The Darlings is an enjoyable novel by a new author to watch.  Regardless of whether you know anything about law or finance, this is a book that many different audiences can enjoy.

I can always count on Bloomsbury to deliver outstanding literary fiction.  Their books, including last summer’s release Salvage the Bones for example, always contain powerful stories that really make you think.  And The Quiet Twin is no exception.

This book’s plot revolves around the lives of the denizens of a working-class apartment building in Nazi-era Austria.  Anton Beer is a reserved and respected doctor who operates an office inside his apartment.  Professor Speckstein lives with his housekeeper and his teenage, hypochondriac niece Zuska.  Anneliese is a ten-year-old girl suffering from a physical disfigurement and living with her alcoholic father.  And then there’s Otto Frei, a secretive man who works nights performing a mime act in a burlesque house.  Yuu is a Japanese expatriate who is more clever than people assume.  Finally, the building’s janitor sees and hears everyone’s secrets.

A series of strange events links these motley characters together.  It starts when someone kills the Professor’s dog, one of several unsolved murders in the area.  Then the young Zuzka and Anneliese discover the secret that Otto has been keeping in his apartment, a secret that Otto is desperate to conceal.  The book’s principal theme is that appearances are deceiving.  Each of the character’s facades is broken down throughout the course of the novel, finally revealing the truth at the end.

The Quiet Twin is the stuff of a Hollywood Oscar contender: a bitter drama with conflicted characters.  I could almost feel the desperation and fear and smell the crumbling walls of the apartment building as I read this book.  Vyleta’s writing style is sparse but effective, and his story is disturbing because it draws its inspiration from reality.  The horrors of the Nazi regime (particularly its eugenics projects) serve as the backdrop for this story. 

If you enjoy historical fiction, this is one book you won’t soon forget.

And please check out Apiary‘s site for info on literary events in Philly such as poetry slams and writing workshops!

For Christmas, my wonderful husband (who loves me for my brain and my body) surprised me with a copy of She’s Such a Geek: Women Write About Science, Technology, and Other Nerdy Stuff.  Published in 2006, it’s a collection of short essays written by nerdy women from all walks of life.  They share their experiences with working in fields such as math, physics, computer technology, scientific research, and gaming. 

One thing that is really interesting about this book is the wide range of experiences shared by the authors.  Most of them have the shared experience of being made fun of for their intellectual gifts, but their personalities and backgrounds are so varied that each essay stands out on its own.  Some of the women are married with children, others are single, some are lesbians, and one is transgender.  One of the authors is physically challenged, and writes about how computers helped her manage her disability.  Another author write about how her success in her field sometimes causes conflict with her traditional Indian upbringing.  This is an engaging set of essays written by a varied selection of really smart women.  It shows that nerdy girls come from all kinds of backgrounds, and that they can do great things when they push themselves to succeed.

For me, the best thing about this book was that despite its feminist message, this is not a man-bashing book.  The authors are not a bunch of angry feminists who hate men.  The connecting theme of the essays is that it’s OK for girls to be smart, and smart girls should be encouraged to succeed the same way that boys are.  The book encourages us to challenge gender stereotypes and to realize that nerdy girls have just as much to offer the world as nerdy guys. 

So to the smart chicks out there, if you’ve ever felt weird or embarrassed about your geekiness, check out this positive and uplifting book written by a group of women who know what it feels like to be labeled as “the smart girl.”  You may just be surprised at how much you can identify with the authors’ experiences.

It’s difficult to think of the clergy, especially nuns,  as being regular people.  Because they have chosen a life of service to God, society expects them to be better than the rest of us, perfect, never tempted to do wrong.  Here is a novel that turns that idea upside down, and presents a disturbing story of forbidden love and betrayal.

Primarily set in World War II era France, Obedience is the story of a nun, Sister Bernard, who falls in love with a Nazi soldier.  This romance quickly becomes the defining moment of the young nun’s life, as it leads her to betray her religious vows and her country.  The story alternates between this time period and the present day, in which Sister Bernard, now in her nineties, is sent to live in a rest home after her convent closes.  Turned out into the world for the first time in sixty years, she is forced to confront the consequences of her actions during the war, and struggles to deal with the guilt.

This is an unsettling story, filled with contradiction.  Sister Bernard has sworn a vow of obedience to God, yet allows herself to become blindly obedient to her German lover, refusing to see the evil that the Nazis stand for.  The book also explores Sister Bernard’s personal relationship with God.  She once believed that she literally heard God speaking to her, and to her it seemed as if she was constantly unworthy of God’s approval:

“He thinks nothing is right.  I can’t please Him.”

But is it God who disapproves of Sister Bernard’s actions, or she herself who subconsciously thinks herself unworthy of love?  Jacqueline Yallop’s subtle, matter-of-fact writing style allows the audience to decide that for themselves.

What was interesting for me was that while I found Sister Bernard to be a disagreeable and frustrating character (frustrating because even after everything that has happened as a result of her misdeeds, she still thinks of her Nazi lover with fondness and nostalgia), I found the story to be rich and thought-provoking.  It took me a little while to put aside my displeasure for the protagonist’s actions and allow myself to consider her perspective.  It takes a good author to give an audience such a morally confused character and still write a story that is at times touching.

Obedience will surprise you, maybe even shock and anger you.  You will feel for Sister Bernard, yet still hate her at times.  But give this book a chance, because you won’t soon forget it.

I have never read Murakami until now, and I read somewhere that if you’re going to get into his writing, this is not the book to start with.  Oops.  It certainly seems that this is a divisive book.  People either love it or hate it, and even some of Murakami’s diehard fans were disappointed with it, as was The New York Times.

This definitely has to be one of the strangest books I’ve ever read.  I joked that it should have been called “WTF84.”  Clearly, it isn’t for everyone.  But if you have the patience and the imagination to stick with it, you may find it as peculiarly endearing as I did.

The plot of 1Q84 is almost impossible to describe concisely.  It’s a metaphysical science fiction story with crime, sex, and romance thrown in.  The title refers to an alternate reality set in the year 1984, and is a play on words; the words for ‘nine’ and ‘Q’ are homophones in the Japanese language.  The two main characters are Aomame, a fitness instructor and part-time assassin, and Tengo, a math teacher and aspiring author.  Gradually they come to believe that they have been transported to an alternate world, and end up in a strange plot involving a religious cult, a teenage writer, weird sex, murder, a sky with two moons, and a malevolent force referred to as “the Little People.”

It’s weird.  Really weird.  And my summary doesn’t do it justice.  But as it says in the book, if you can’t understand it without an explanation, you can’t understand it with an explanation.  It’s a book that has to be experienced to be understood.  And if you look past the weirdness, you can see some very simple themes emerge in the writing, and that is what makes this book so interesting.  Underneath the convoluted plot are themes of love, longing, and free will versus fate.

One common critique of 1Q84 is that it’s repetitive, that the characters say the same thing over and over.  While it’s true that some lines are often repeated by different characters, I wouldn’t go so far as to call the book repetitious.  What some call repetition I call variations on a theme.  The book shows how each of the major characters reacts to the same strange events.  Each character makes his or her own discovery in a different way. 

At over nine hundred pages, this book requires some commitment to get through.  But it’s incredibly imaginative, amazingly detailed, and quite a mental workout.  It’s heavy on exposition and backstory, but the slow-building drama is worth it in the end.  Again I’ll say that this book isn’t for everyone.  But if you’re tired of quick and easy reads and are looking for something different, 1Q84 is about as different as literature can get.

This is a book about the meaning of the mother-daughter relationship, and the devastation felt when that relationship is lost.  Set in beautiful coastal Maine during the 1960s, Red Ruby Heart is both a coming-of-age story and a story about the strength of the human spirit.

Twelve-year-old Florine has lived a pretty sheltered life in her rural Maine town.  She has two loving parents, a doting grandmother, and a spirited best friend.  The most drama she experienced in her young life so far was when she and her friends got into trouble for accidentally starting a fire at a neighbor’s summer home.  Then things in Florine’s life begin to go wrong when her mother goes on a weekend getaway with a friend and fails to return.  Her mother’s absense begins to affect her family in different ways, and Florine experiences a storm of emotions.  She rages against the mother whom she sees as having abandoned her, yet is still pained by her love for her. 

Red Ruby Heart is both tragic and uplifting.  It’s the story of a girl forced to grow up early, set in a time period when a generation of women were growing up and reclaiming their independence.  We are sad to see Florine enter into womanhood without her mother’s guidance, but feel her happiness and pain as she struggles to reclaim her identity without defining herself by her relationship with her mother.  Rogers manages to capture the wide range of feelings that teenage girls experience (the joy, the heartbreak, the uncertainty) and creates a dynamic character that readers can sympathize with.  The book concludes with a bittersweet ending  that is both fitting and memorable.

There are a lot of coming-of-age stories out there, but this is one of the good ones.  Though it will likely be classified as “chick lit,” I think this is a story that men and women can equally enjoy.

What would you be willing to do to marry someone from another culture?  Imagine changing your religion, learning a new language, and moving to another continent to be with the person you love.

The Ruins of Us is about a woman who has done just that.  Rosalie is a beautiful American, born in Texas, who is married to a sheik named Abdullah.  Rosalie left her life behind to live with Abdullah in Saudi Arabia, and quickly adapted to Saudi culture.  She converted to Islam, learned Arabic, and dressed and acted as was expected of the women in Abdullah’s country.  Together they raised two children, and enjoy the life of luxury that Abdullah’s wealth has provided.  But Rosalie’s illusions of a happy life are quickly shattered when she inadvertently learns that Abdullah has taken a second wife, and had been keeping his other marriage a secret for two years.

Shaken and angry, Rosalie starts to reconsider her life with Abdullah and her place in Saudi culture.  What is interesting about the book is that it also considers Abdullah’s perspective on the marriage.  He is shown as a man who cares deeply for his wife, yet finds himself yearning for the person she was before they were married.  It is an interesting paradox to think that he fell in love with Rosalie because she was not like Saudi women, while knowing deep down that she would have to adapt to Saudi culture in order to be accepted by his family, and later resenting her for it.

The turmoil in Rosalie and Abdullah’s marriage makes them too preoccupied to see its effects on their teenage children.  Their daughter Mariam years to be a more modern woman, and begins pushing the boundaries of acceptable behavior for girls at her school.  Their son Faisal takes the opposite approach; he falls in with a group of radical Muslim fundamentalists, and comes to hate his own American heritage.

This is a powerful debut novel.  The characters are bold and dynamic.  It is interesting to contemplate Rosalie’s character, a woman who prides herself on her independence and spirit, yet who chose to live in a country where she is not legally permitted to drive a car.  Abdullah is not entirely unsympathetic; he loves his wife but is conflicted by what is acceptable in his culture and how it affects his marriage.  This is a story about love and loyalty that is both well written and engaging.  It’s a relevant and entertaining read from a great new author!