Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

“What does it take to crack open the secrets we hide from ourselves? Dante Quintana ran trustingly toward life, arms and heart wide open and vulnerable. He was the only child of his loving and demonstrative parents, and his father was the only professor of Mexican descent at the university in El Paso. He taught English literature. Dante wondered if it was possible to be authentically Mexican if he couldn’t speak Spanish. He was eager to read and discuss everything.

Aristotle Mendoza lived his life inside himself as much as possible, but suffered from recurring nightmares. Ari’s much-older brother was in prison, and no one would tell him why. Ari had been four years old at the time and had been sent away while the turmoil was going on. Now, Ari nurtured a smoldering anger against his parents for keeping him in the dark about the brother he had idolized, and he buttoned all of his feelings inside so tightly that they burst out in his dreams.

The summer they were fifteen, these very different boys met at the public pool. Dante suspected that Ari couldn’t swim, and he offered to teach him. Thus began a complex and evolving relationship that we follow for the next few critical years of the two young men’s lives. We experience the story through Ari’s perspective, except for the letters that Dante writes when they are apart for a year.

Ari is much more in tune with his Mexican heritage, loves wearing the same Carlos Santana t-shirt day after day, asks for a ’57 Chevy pickup for his birthday, and teases his mother that he will put low-rider hydraulics on it. Dante is like a whole new universe for him. Dante uses words Ari’s never heard before, and he insists that Ari read great books and talk about them. One day, a group of boys shoot a bird for fun, and Dante is devastated. Ari wants to flatten all of the boys, but Dante is shocked by Ari’s eagerness to fight and his total lack of fear. Ari cannot admit to himself that his desire to defend Dante is anything more than friendship.

Benjamin Alire Sáenz gathered up all kinds of awards for this painful and beautiful young adult novel at January’s ALA Children’s Media Awards ceremonies. Besides a Printz Honor medal, it also won the Stonewall Award for the best LGBT book of the year, the Pura Belpré award for best work affirming the Latino culture, and was a Top Ten choice for the YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults list.  Highly recommended for older teens and adults. This review originally appeared on www.eatreadsleep.com.

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Bond Girl by Erin Duffy

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a Wall Street employee? I must say that I am guilty of buying into the stereotype that Wall Street is full of employees in business suits who work twelve-hour days with no play. Well … Duffy’s debut novel, Bond Girl disputes this notion. The guys and small population of gals at Cromwell Pierce work hard and play hard, sometimes at each other’s expense. Hold on for the bumpy ride, which becomes Alex Garret’s life as she tries to make a name for herself as a bond girl on the “Street”.

Alex knew from a young age that she wanted to work on Wall Street like her father.  The transition to a male saturated field does not faze Alex in the least, as a young girl she favored playing catch with the boys over jumping rope with the girls.  After graduation Alex lands a job with Cromwell Pierce, a prestigious Wall Street brokerage firm.  When Alex arrives at work on her first day she finds out she does not have a desk and will be sitting in a folding chair until a desk becomes available, Alex quickly finds out that her dream job is not exactly how she pictured it.  Alex, better known as “Girlie,” spends her first several months at Cromwell Pierce looking over her co-workers shoulders from her folding chair, ordering lunch for the group and making Starbucks runs, not exactly what she pictured for her dream job. Alex works hard to build a stellar reputation and rolls with the punches and practical jokes of her wisecracking co-workers and intimidating boss.

Alex eventually gets a desk and earns the respect of her co-workers and boss and becomes the little sister of the group.  Although Alex has found her footing she still has many obstacles to overcome. The first time she makes a trade, she quotes the wrong terms and the company is out thousands of dollars.  As we follow Alex and her growth as “bond girl” she deals with an office romance, a harassing client and the shaky times of the 2008 financial crisis.

Duffy drew me into the world of Wall Street and completely altered my view of high powered brokerage firms and their employees.  I could not wait to find out what was next for Alex. Throughout the entire novel I was cheering for Alex and hoping she would not be broken down and falter like the other women who came before her.  This was an excellent read, I have my fingers crossed that Duffy will indulge us with a sequel.

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Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

This is a masterfully crafted novel that reveals the evolution and demise of a relationship through the mementos saved.

The book begins with 16 year old Min dumping a box of items she collected throughout her relationship with Ed Slaterton, a known womanizer. From the bottle caps she snuck into her pocket when they first met, to an expensive vintage cookbook Ed bought her, Min releases them all, chapter by chapter, as she recalls the circumstances under which they came to her.

Daniel Handler ( aka Lemony Snicket, author of the children’s books A Series of Unfortunate Events) does an excellent job of creating an authentic voice for his characters. With so many young adult novels creating unrealistic, overly mature situations for teen characters who seem to lack any parental controls and have bottomless pits of money and resources, I began to think all the teenagers I know had ended up with a really raw deal. Handler brings us down to earth again with characters that have the typical meddling parents and transportation woes. Min and her crowd speak like real teenagers–trying to be independent and testing their boundaries, while still suffering from the lack of experience that defines immaturity.

I love the way Min is completely duped by Ed’s charm (which, in addition to his good looks, is obviously what gets him a steady stream of girlfriends), and even convinces the reader that he’s very sweet–Min’s friends must be wrong about him. The reader and Min together struggle to accept Ed’s shine wearing off as the novel progresses, with each artifact of their relationship serving both to reveal Ed’s “love” and to explain why the relationship cannot last.

Min’s relationship with her friends is also authentically handled–as commonly happens when a girl begins dating, her friends are left behind. Of course they remain loyal, though their influence over Min is negligible, since she rarely even speaks to them anymore. And though the reader sees friendship complications develop over the course of the novel, Min is too blinded by her obsession with Ed to pick up on them. The suspense of what will happen when she finally “wakes up” carries the reader through to the end.

Handler has created an authentic novel with a fresh format. And, though it was written for teens, its quality appeals to adult readers, too. As a matter of fact, every book by Handler I read is better than the last–can’t wait to see what he comes up with next!

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Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews

Mary Kay Andrews is one of my favorites. Her characters are witty and her story lines usually have an unforeseen twist. Andrews’ Summer Rental is about three girlfriends who rent a North Carolina beach house. As this story of friendship and obstacles unfolds you will laugh and cry with these ladies.

Lifelong friends Ellis, Dori, and Julia decide it’s time for a much needed get-a-way. The girls rent a beach house in Nags Head, NC.  Ellis has been fired, and Dori is troubled by finances while something much bigger is bothering her as well. Julia, the model, has a secret she has been holding onto for years and has finally decided to share with her friends. Each lady is very uncertain about her future. When Dori’s sister backs out of the trip the trio is in need of a fourth roommate.  While at a local eatery, Dori overhears that Marin, a.k.a. Madison, is looking for a place to stay for a couple of weeks. Dori offers Marin the extra room and Marin accepts. Unbeknownst to her new housemates, Marin is on the run and like the others she is speculative of her future.

Ebbtide, the house the girls are renting, is a little less than desirable with its noisy window units, old appliances, cramped bedrooms and pests. The ladies are very curious about their handsome and mysterious neighbor, Ty Basemore, who lives in the apartment above the garage. Ty, a day trader and bartender, has some secrets and issues of his own that he is dealing with. Love is in the air when Ty and Ellis discover they have a “thing” for each other. Despite the fact that each character is dealing with their own personal battles they lean on each other for support, and manage to have fun and make the best of their time at the beach. Suspense, romance, trouble, and good fortune await the characters and will have you hanging onto Andrews’ every word.

Like her other books, this story has a good mixture of humor, romance and mystique. As usual, Andrews does a fabulous job of drawing you into the story. By the time you finish the book you will be longing for a week at the beach.

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Falling Together by Marisa de los Santos

I’m a huge fan of Marisa de los Santos, so I was greatly looking forward to this most recent book (she’s also the author of Love Walked In and Belong to Me). At the end of Pen and Will and Cat’s story, am I’m still meandering over it and deciding exactly what I think. The writing, of course, is beautiful. I love the way her sentences sort of go on forever and then I’m disappointed when they come to an end. Her use of language to invoke just the right feeling is extraordinary.

This particular story, that of the friendship of Pen and Will and Cat and how it’s affected by time and distance, seems familiar, yet has the added twist that they were once inseparable friends but are brought together now only by a strange email from Cat asking Pen and Will for help. As is typical of the author, it’s told backwards and forwards, through flashbacks and memories. It’s a technique that has worked well for her, though some may be a touch irritated at the slow pace in the beginning.

This is a wonderful, lovely book that has a lot to say about friendship and relationships and whether they can really ever be gone. It’s a treat just to read her writing, as very few writers seem to make me feel the characters as she does.

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The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

This novel had a miraculous effect on me.  It made me regret that I didn’t pay more attention when studying The Iliad in school.

What a compulsively readable story Madeline Miller recreates from the famous epic.  The characters are famous, with names we recognize.  Achilles, son of a goddess and the greatest of all the Greek warriors.  Helen, another child of a god, whose beauty so enflames Paris he kidnaps her even if it means war.  Agamemnon, Odysseus, Hector, Menelaus, the centaur Chiron, Miller makes them all come alive in a way that was a revelation to me.

But the two characters I found the most fascinating were the least familiar.  The story is told from the point of view of Patroclus, beloved companion of Achilles.  He is mortal, the son of a king with none of the attributes valued by his father, and has been banned from his home for a childhood act.  But he does know how to love, and he will demonstrate this over and over again in his relationship with Achilles.

Thetis, the mother of Achilles, does not approve of Patroclus.  She has big plans for her son, will not brook any interference, and Miller makes her terrifying–Greek goddess as Tiger Mother.

The tension between Patroclus and Thetis, who both believe they are acting in the best interests of Achilles, is compelling.  The scenes of Achilles going to battle are dramatic and it doesn’t matter that you may already know how they will play out–Miller makes them exciting and fresh.

This is one of my favorite novels of 2012 .  Recommended for fans of historical fiction (especially readers of Mary Renault), Greek mythology and especially for anyone else who may have skated through the Iliad in high school or college.

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It’s Not Easy Being Green: and Other Things to Consider by Jim Henson, The Muppets and Friends

The critically acclaimed and publicly adored movie, The Muppets, comes out on DVD & Blu Ray today. So, I thought this would be a great time to review a wonderful little book written by the man who created the Muppets and brought joy and laughter (the world’s 3rd greatest gift) to millions.

This little green book is full of advice, quotations, stories, songs, and even some of Henson’s doodles from Jim, his friends and colleagues and his characters. It has an introduction by Jim’s daughter, Cheryl, and is divided into five “chapters,” each with a different theme. There’s Listen to Your Heart, Dynamite Determination, Together We’ll Nab It, It Starts When We’re Kids, and A Part of Everything and Everyone. The book is short and can easily be read in one sitting (depending on how much time one spends reminiscing about their favorite Muppet moments). Yet, it can also be re-read from time to time, or just picked up off the shelf and opened at random to find a little wisdom and perspective. A few of my favorite pieces of wisdom include:

If our “message” is anything, it’s a positive approach to life. That life is basically good. People are basically good.
- Jim

Jim was the fellow who uncorked the bottle, you know. He not only uncorked the bottle, he also shook it up.
- Frank Oz

Life’s a movie, write your own ending
Keep believing, keep pretending
We’ve done just what we set out to do
Thanks to the lovers, the dreamers, and you.
- Kermit and the Muppets

Of course the title comes from the song that Kermit — and Jim — were most famous for. One of the most famous renditions of this song is by Ray Charles, and this quote from him is one of the first entries in the book:

The words say ‘It’s not easy being green,’ but the song is about knowing who you are. And in it you hear Jim’s message most clearly. He believed that people are good and that they want to do their best and that no matter how or why we might be different from anybody else, we should learn to love who we are and be proud of it.

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And, for even more Muppet-y advice, also see:

• The Diva Code:  Miss Piggy on Life, Love, and the 10,000 Idiotic Things Men / Frogs Do by Miss Piggy
• It’s Hard out Here for a Shrimp: Life, Love & Living Large by Pepe the King Prawn — and
• My Life as a Furry Red Monster: What Being Elmo Has Taught Me About Life, Love, and Laughing Out Loud by Kevin Clash

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

Are we ruled by fate or chance?  White Teeth is a funny and unusual look at race relations in London which raises this question repeatedly.  It begins with one character’s failed attempt at suicide, which leads to his meeting his second wife, who is almost 30 years younger and half a foot taller than him.  The rest of the story rambles through decades describing decisions which are made purposely or by merely tossing a coin.  All of these choices change the course of someone’s entire life in unexpected ways.

The main characters at the heart of this novel are two men who served together in WWII, one Muslim from Bangladesh and one British.  Their friendship survives the war and the book follows the two men through the years of marriage, children, and the ups and downs of their careers.  The two end up living close to one another in the melting pot area of North London in the 1970’s and 80’s; and their wives and children become a sort of extended family.  Samad Iqbal has an arranged marriage with a younger woman which has its ups and downs.  His twin boys, Magid and Millat, grow up watching their parents argue until Samad sends Magid back to Bangladesh with the hopes that he will follow the traditional ways.  Instead, he becomes enamored with the West, while his brother Millat, who stayed in London, joins a militant Muslim gang.  Meanwhile, Archie Jones’ second marriage to a Jamaican woman produces Irie, a bi-racial daughter about the same age as Samad’s twins.  Irie struggles growing up with little direction or help from her parents. She longs to go to Jamaica to discover her mother’s roots, but also considers herself English.

The story is rather long and meandering, yet I enjoyed the whole thing.  The author writes dialog so well you can almost hear the various accents of different Londoners. The interaction and reactions of all the different races, cultures, religions, and ethnicities are described, but there is no effort to pronounce one right or wrong. The story is wry and yet somehow hopeful, and gives us a fresh look at how the races interact in today’s society.

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One Day by David Nicholls

One Day is the story of a blooming love affair, although a very slowly blooming one. Dexter and Emma meet on St. Swithin’s Day (a British holiday that falls on July 15th) in 1988, and spend a lovely night together. They’ve just graduated from college and Dexter is about to head out of the country to find himself for a while, so, despite the obvious connection between the two, they part ways. Somehow a friendship grows out of their brief encounter, and they keep in touch through letters while Dexter is abroad.

Our next viewing of the pair is exactly one year later, on July 15^th, 1989. And so goes the book, showing us where the two stand on St. Swithin’s Day each year for twenty years. We watch as they support each other through jobs, relationships, and life, both the good and the bad.  Their friendship has its own ebb and flow over the years, and the snapshots throughout time allow the reader to see an overarching picture of their relationship over the years.

The book is beautifully written and switches its narrative between the two characters, giving different perspectives of the same events for a fuller picture of Dexter and Emma’s lives and encounters. Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, One Day was a treat to read. You’ll find yourself rooting for their relationship to finally find its groove.

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In Search of the Rose Notes by Emily Arsenault

Before Amazon, before Barnes and Noble online, people could order books that arrived through the mail.  They were sold via television commercials and Time Life sold an entire series, Mysteries of the Unknown, this way.  Remember those books—they had black covers with spooky photographs and titles (in shiny silver letters) like Alien Encounters, Psychic Powers, and Hauntings.  Don’t remember?  Well, that’s what YouTube is for—the commercial is still available there for all to enjoy.

Nora, one of the main characters of Emily Arsenault’s atmospheric new mystery, In Search of the Rose Notes, remembers.  No matter where she was in her house, she would stop cold whenever she heard the commercial and run to the television to watch, fascinated.  When her best friend, Charlotte, discovers her older brother Paul has actually purchased part of the series the two 11 year olds are elated.  They pore over the books, finding endless entertainment in their glossy, slick pages.  Their teenage babysitter, the beautiful Rose, is bemused – she finds the books boring and silly.

When Rose disappears on a November day in 1990 the two girls turn to the books to try and make sense of what has happened.  Is she a runaway, as many of the neighbors believe, or has something else happened?  Can the books help them unlock their psychic abilities and tap into the unknown—into what happened to Rose?

But the books fail them and the mystery of Rose remains unsolved.  Nora and Charlotte grow older, grow apart and Nora moves away.  Then, in 2006, Charlotte calls to say Rose has been found.  And Nora goes back, both physically and in time, to sift through the sometimes painful memories of her adolescence to see if this time the truth about Rose can be found.

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