Alfred Hitchcock (Peter Ackroyd)

Fans of the world-renowned director won’t necessarily find anything new in Peter Ackroyd’s Alfred Hitchcock.  There is obviously a slew of biographies written about Hitch, so to discover some fresh tidbits is often difficult.  However, Ackroyd does add flavor to the book by adding new insight into Hitchcock's quirky personality (some would say).

From his childhood in England to his huge movie career in the States, Hitchcock was a unique character. His constantly nervous ways made his early years be spent in fearful isolation, so it’s interesting that he became one of the most famous directors who ever lived. Ackroyd really plays up Hitchcock’s quirks in all their glory, like the fact that he smashed a tea cup every single day to remind him how frail life was. It is also interesting to read how superstars like Grace Kelly and Cary Grant became very insecure over his seemingly nonchalant directing style.

So while there’s nothing really new here, Ackroyd puts together a thorough, well-written look into Hitchcock’s life that will keep fans quite engrossed.

MY RATING - 3

Where'd You Go, Bernadette (Maria Semple)

To author Maria Semple’s credit, the reader never quite knows the direction that Where’d You Go, Bernadette is taking.  The novel was popular and continues to be so for a reason, as it’s highly original and probably like nothing you’ve ever read before.

Even though she used to be a gifted architect, Bernadette Fox is now a recluse, preferring to keep to herself in the Seattle that she despises. Her daughter, Bea, attends a hoity-toity private school, and all the other mothers there just don’t understand why Bernadette won’t get involved more.  Elgie is Bernadette’s husband and world renowned at Microsoft for his revolutionary TED Talk and invention.  Per Bea’s request, the family plans a trip to Antarctica, but Bernadette disappears before they can make it there together. 

Rather than write a straight narrative, Semple chooses to tell the story of Bernadette through Bea’s eyes, as well as through a series of e-mails, letters, and the like.  In this fashion, she manages to create a dynamic book that’s filled with black comedy and “I can’t believe she just said/did that” moments.  It shouldn’t work, but it does, so just read it! You won’t be disappointed in this very unique book.

MY RATING - 4

First Comes Love (Emily Giffin)

Emily Giffin's First Comes Love starts out sweetly enough, with an ordinary family home for the holidays.  Giffin lulls her readers into this Normal Rockwell type painting for only a little while before suddenly pulling the rug out from under them in a heart-wrenching way.  And so begins the story of a broken family who are still trying to heal from a tragedy even years down the road.

Sisters Josie and Meredith could not be more opposite, in careers, in temperaments, in beliefs.  First-grade teacher Josie is widely seen as the irresponsible one, but even though Meredith seems to have it all (a husband, a daughter, a high-powered career), she is restless and unhappy.  The siblings never seem to see eye-to-eye, and things are made even worse when they finally deal with what really happened on that tragic night fifteen years before.

What works so well in First Comes Love is its emotional honesty.  Josie and Meredith may think they don't need each other, but when they finally confront all that's happened and analyze their own life choices, they come to find that sisters really have one of the greatest bonds.

MY RATING - 4

Shared Prosperity in America's Communities (Edited by Susan M. Wachter and Lei Ding)

Shared Prosperity in America's Communities is not a light, breezy read by any means.  This series of case studies and essays discusses the impact of increasing income inequality in America over the last thirty years, highlighting the impacts of poverty, its geographic reach, and the successes of a few metropolitan areas in addressing the issue.

Susan Wachter of the University of Pennsylvania and Lei Ding of the Federal Reserve have assembled essays from various contributors that go into depth on one of the bigger economic issues that Americans are facing.  These essays offer some suggestions about how to level the playing field by going beyond the usual talking point rhetoric you hear on cable news, bringing some concrete suggestions and less hot air to an issue that impacts millions of Americans.

Simply because Shared Prosperity in America's Communities is a collection of essays, it's more difficult to review than other books would be.  The essays require time and thought to work through given the subject matter and content, so I would recommend reading no more than one at a time due to the depth of the content involved.  However, the content is well-organized and sequential, the essay layout makes sense, and the research and data behind the surveys is logical and fits the narrative that Wachter and Ding are promoting.  Those who are in the economic, community development, financial, or government realms especially should read it, as the target of this collection is geared toward those fields.

MY RATING - 4

Where We Fall (Rochelle B. Weinstein)

Rochelle B. Weinstein’s Where We Fall is the story of a love triangle gone wrong.  Unfortunately, the book was very flat for me with characters I just couldn’t come to like.

Lauren and Ryan fell instantly in love when they were in college, and together with Lauren’s best friend, Abby, they did everything together.  When Lauren took off on the adventure of a lifetime, she promised Ryan that she’d be back, but when his father passed away, Lauren was nowhere to be found.  Abby took fast advantage of that situation, and she and Ryan ended up married and parents to Juliana.  Fast forward to present day, and Ryan still can’t understand why he didn’t hear from Lauren after his father’s death.  With each chapter narrated in the first person by a different character, the complete story is told, with a teenage love story between Juliana and her football star boyfriend, E.J., also thrown in.

If all this sounds complicated, that’s because it is.  But the plot itself isn’t what makes the book uninteresting (although the Abby/Ryan/Lauren story is much better than the Juliana/E.J. story).  The wording is far too superfluous, and I just kept wishing for Weinstein to get to the point of the chapter already.  Goodreads says that it took me over two months to read Where We Fall; it was just too wordy for me, and two months is far too long for me to spend with characters I couldn’t come to care about.

MY RATING - 2

The Maldives: Islamic Republic, Tropical Autocracy (J.J. Robinson)

Before I read The Maldives: Islamic Republic, Tropical Autocracy, I did not know much about these islands other than that they were in the middle of the Indian Ocean and were in the tropics.  J.J. Robinson's 300-page book on The Maldives' odd politics and history was well-researched and based on Robinson's first-hand experiences on the island as the editor of a newspaper.  It provides a story of paranoia, despotism that was shrouded in attempts of democracy, and politics that would make our own current affairs blush in embarrassment.

The book spends much of its time in the years the author worked on the island, talking about its experiments in democracy, the battle between establishment politics and democratic forces that rankled the prior power players, and the battle over the role of Islam in the nation's affairs.  Historical context is provided to shape how the Maldives became a hodgepodge of an archipelago - "inhabited" islands where local customs and faith dominated and "uninhabited" islands where resorts and a cultural diaspora of tourists roam - all the while showing the struggle between tradition and democratic progress while the author traversed the nation's many islands.

The author does a very solid job weaving between politics, custom, and tradition.  He speaks explicitly from a Western point of view, having lived in the U.S., England, and his native Australia, and talks about the challenges of adapting to a uniquely different country whose tropical paradise covered for a nation whose politics were anything but paradise.  It's a well-written, at times humorous, read into a nation few know much about.

MY RATING - 4

The Girl with All the Gifts (M.R. Carey)

As a fan of The Walking Dead from the very beginning, I was looking forward to reading M.R. Carey’s The Girl with All the Gifts.  One complaint I’ve had about TWD lately is that it just doesn’t seem as original as it once did, with the writers recycling stories over and over.  Readers don’t have to worry about that with this novel though, as Carey energizes the zombie genre with a fresh new approach.

Decades ago, the world has basically ended with the Breakdown, and “hungries” are roaming the land.  Most of them are like the way zombies are traditionally portrayed – always looking for their next meal.  But a group of children are different; they can talk if they’re taught, learn, and be somewhat controlled.  Melanie is one of these kids, waiting every day to be collected from her cell on the base so she can go to “school.”  Her best days are when her favorite teacher, Miss Justineau, is in control of the classroom; however, this is not your ordinary school.  They are taught only because a research scientist, Dr. Caldwell, needs the data.  When the base is compromised, the survivors set their sights on Beacon, where there might be some way to start new lives.

Carey manages to do something I’ve never seen in a zombie novel, and that is to add an enormous touch of humanity into it.  Even though Melanie is still a functioning hungry, she wants so badly to make Miss Justineau proud of her, and it is this teacher/student relationship that is truly at the heart of The Girl with All the Gifts.

MY RATING - 4