My Name is Will, A Novel of Sex, Drugs, and Shakespeare

I read a review of this book about a year ago and it peaked my interest then but I didn't go out of my way to pick the book up. I just figured, "eh, if/when I see it, I'll pick it up." I wish I would have gotten it last year. This book is smart, funny, witty and not for everyone. There is sex, there is drug use and there is Shakespeare. The main character is William "Willie" Shakespeare Greenberg, a Jewish kid in the masters program as UC Santa Cruz, who has decided that his masters thesis is going to be about how the original William Shakespeare was a closeted Catholic and how that influenced his writing and how there may have been hidden codes in this plays and sonnets to other hidden Catholics in Elizabethan England. Willie has been cut off by his dad and needs some fast cash so he agrees to be a drug runner, ending up at a Renaissance Faire. Interspersed in Willie's story, is the parallel story of an 18yr old William Shakespeare before his shot-gun marriage to Anne Hathaway, his own experiences with hallucinatory substances and run-ins with the law. I would read this again and tell everybody else to read it, but only the people who I thought would be able to handle it, like I said, it's a SMART book, not for the ding-dongs out there.

The story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

This is Wroblewski's first novel. I always love reading new authors books and I was very pleased I read this one. The author grew up in rural Wisconsin not far from the Chequamegon National Forest where the setting for the story is.
The novel begins with the needless killing of an injured, limping, stray dog with a poison by a herbalist. This brutal killing fits into the story later on.
The protagonist is a fourteen year old boy named Edgar Sawtelle, who is born mute. His parents, Gar and Trudy are dog-breeders, who live on a farm in a remote part of northern Wisconsin not far from the National Forest. They breed and train a unique and special breed of dogs that were developed by Edgar's grand father. The dogs have earned a good reputation not only for their noble temperament, but also their ability to anticipate commands by watching body language. The training methods by this young mute boy are extraordinary The family's life is disrupted when Claude, Edgar's creepy uncle visits them. Gar offers him a job at the farm and a place to stay. Gar then dies suddenly and mysteriously. Edgar suspects that Claude murdered his father. He tries to prove it but, his plan backfires. So, to save himself from Claude he runs away into the Chequamegon forest, along with three young dogs. The author's vivid descriptions of nature, his ability to describe the terrors of the wilderness, and narrating a part of the story from a dog's perspective are incredible. Even the supernatural incidents in the story seem to be natural and believable. This is definitely a book I will read again.

Hold Tight by Harlan Coben

This book grabs you from page one. And, anyone who was or is a parent will relate to this story. There are basically two plots. 1) Mike and Tia are worried about their son, Adam. Ever since Adam lost his friend, Spencer, to suicide, he has withdrawn from the family. They decide to install spy software on his computer. And, 2) a baffling police case which connects numerous people throughout the community. The story brings up the highly relevant ethical questions that most parents may have to deal with today: How do you weigh a child's privacy against a parent's right to know? How do you differentiate normal teenage rebellion from out of control? When and how do you intervene if suicidal signs appear? A note from the author states that all the technology used in the book is real. All the software and equipment described are readily available to the general public for purchase. I was totally amazed to think parents can now know exactly where their children are via their phone and with internet spy software know exactly who they talk to and about what. Definitely lots of food for thought in this read.

Memoir of Misfortune by Su Xiaokang

The BN synopsis of the book is: "In the 1980s, Su Xiaokang, a young journalist, wrote the script for a six-part television series, River Elegy, which probed so deeply into the core of Chinese beliefs and values that it galvanized the entire country in an explosion of intellectual debate. Having survived the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, he now became the focus of a massive pursuit as one of the regime's five most wanted "criminals," and was smuggled out of China, leaving behind his wife, Fu Li, and their young son. After two long years and great international pressure, the family was finally reunited in Princeton, New Jersey. For a brief time, it seemed as if the worst was behind them. But on June 4, 1993 -- exactly four years after Tiananmen -- while the family was being driven to Niagara Falls, the car they were in sped off the road. When Su Xiaokang regained consciousness, he discovered that Fu Li was in a coma, from which she would eventually emerge unable to speak or to control her limbs. "

This book is so much more than that, we join the author's journey through his guilt for his wife's injuries, trying to reconnect with his tween son who is becoming more Americanized, and his spiritual discovery coming from an atheist China, to discovering what faith and spirituality means to each individual. We also learn from the letters written from Fu Li to her husband in exile and from her journal entries when she first arrived in America, what life was like for her prior to the accident that changed their lives. The only criticism is that I feel that some of this novel may have been lost in the translation from Chinese to English.

Saturday by Ian McEwan

I know that most of us feel strongly about Ian McEwan, we either love him or could do without him. I am of the love him camp, but this book wasn't my favorite of his. The novel centers around Henry Perowne, a successful neurosurgeon with an equally successful wife and two grown children. The story takes place all in one day, a Saturday, sometime after 9/11 but before the war with Iraq. As Henry makes is way to his weekly squash game with a fellow doctor, there is an anti-war protest going on and he has to make a detour. As in all the McEwan novels I've read, the detour always means that something good/bad is going to happen and Henry gets into a small fender bender with Baxter, a small angry twitchy man with a tendancy for violence. But to Henry's trained eye, he thinks there may be something neurologically wrong with Baxter. Not to give anything away, but everything comes full circle for Henry & Baxter. Like I said, wasn't my favorite McEwan novel, but does bring up the question of what would you do for revenge.

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

I figured that since Feburary was the month of Abraham Lincoln, and it was 200 years since his birth, it would be a good idea to read a book on good ol' Honest Abe. Team of Rivals isn't just a bio on Abe, but also the three other men who ran against him for president in 1860. There is the shoe-in, the wealthy elitist snob, and the elder statesman who all ran against the no-name backwoods lawyer from Illinois. After Abe unexpectedly gains the Republican nomination, he then brings in these three rivals into his cabinet as Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury & Attorney General. The subtitle of this book is, "The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" and it shows how he was a genius in his own way, usually when a spat broke out between his Sec of State & Sec of Treasury, he would somehow smooth things over with each man thinking he was the victor when really Abe was the winner. The book also goes through the Civil War and what a personal toll it took on Abe, his family, and the men in his cabinet. This is a hefty book, 750pgs, not something you can power through in a weekend but I highly recommend it even though it can get a little muddled since there are so many names to keep track of, but you learn quickly who is important in the history of our country.

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

After a deep experience with God and a very messy divorce, the author Elizabeth travels to Italy, India and Indonesia in search of truth and healing. At times this book was funny, other times very serious. The author has such a different world view from my own that it was also an interesting peek into her mind. I have to admit that I was briefly jealous that she was able to embark on a "voyage of self-discovery" at the tender age of 35. Then I realized that even if I had the opportunity, I still would not have chosen her path. She has a wonderful writing style. I love when writers can convey what others can't even put into words. I enjoyed this book, I'd recommend it.