The Kommandant's Girl

I finished reading the Kommandant's Girl by Pam Jenoff a few days ago and just haven't even felt like it was worth blogging about. I did finish the book, but just kept thinking that it would get better, that something would happen, etc. Finally, while I was reading it, it occurred to me that I felt as if I were reading a Young Adult book. It just read quite simply and, for me, quite unrealistically.

Obviously, from the title, you probably have guessed that it was about a young girl during WW II. Emma was a Jewish girl in Poland who was taken from the Polish ghetto early in occupation and moved to her husband's cousin's home. She assumed a new identity as Anna. The cousin was an older lady, who was not Jewish and was willing to care for Emma, along with a small male child who had lost his parents. Emma's husband was off fighting in the Resistance, and her parents had remained in the ghetto. One night at a party she met the Kommandant and he was immediately taken with her and shortly after, asked her to be his assistant. So Emma/Anna began working in Nazi headquarters. Soon she was asked by the Resistance to begin to steal papers, etc for their use, which she agreed to do.

There are several incidents in the book where Emma/Anna either is caught or comes close to being caught. However these incidents are quickly and easily resolved, making the Germans to appear to be not very bright, along with being very forgiving people. Not what you picture a German Nazi Kommandant to be.

Of course, while there is something to be said for the fact that many of the Nazi German army soldiers and officers may have been kind, gentle people, I don't think that their being betrayed was easily looked over or forgiven.

I just found the book to be way too simplistic and unrealistic. I was very glad to be moving onto a new read!

Books: A Memoir

I just finished reading Books: A Memoir by Larry McMurtry. Interesting book. It was not at all what I expected. I guess that I thought it would be more about favorite books he has read, etc. Instead, it seemed to be about his career as a book seller/trader. Which was interesting, since I had never known that he was in the used book selling trade, nor have I ever read much about the trade business. Although, Lord knows, I have been in plenty of used book stores!

It was an interesting book, but I would think it would only be interesting to people who really love books themselves, not just love to read. It made me think about some of the bookstores that I have been to. The used bookstores that I have been most impressed with were in San Francisco. I believe that the ones I visited were in the Castro district and they were wonderful! This is going back almost 20 years ago. Wonderful big, old, comfortable stores that I could wander in for hours!

So anyway, back to the book. It was enjoyable, even if for only helping me recall my great used bookstore experiences!

As a side note, I have never read any of Larry McMurtry’s books, but I have read so much about Lonesome Dove that I may venture on into it soon. Does anyone have any opinions about which of his books to read?

The Likeness

I am not even sure where to begin reviewing this book...it was so good. It is the second novel of Tana French. I read the first one sometime ago and reviewed it here (In The Woods). The Likeness carried through with one of the main characters of In the Woods with Detective Cassie Maddox going undercover into a college group of 5, taking on the identify of Lexie Madison, one of the 5 who was found murdered. The other 4 of the group are suspects and so are told that Lexie was seriously injured and in a coma. When she returns to their home, she spends several weeks living as Lexie, attempting to learn who the murderer was.

Here is what the Barnes and Noble reviewer had to say about the book:

The Barnes & Noble Review

Tana French worked as an actress before she started writing, at age 33, and she inhabits her characters with such ease that one feels genuine regret that they aren't available to, say, grab a pint at the local pub while trading South Park quips and riffing on the kind of over-groomed women who never buy their round. Her debut novel, Into the Woods, was a police procedural about two cops earning their sea legs in the Dublin Murder Squad, but the relationship between Rob Ryan and his partner, Cassie Maddox, was so finely drawn that it could have just as well been simply about the difficulties of platonic friendships between men and women. And yet French deposited not one but two tantalizingly suspenseful mysteries at the core of the novel -- and then had the audacity to leave the most spectacular of the two unanswered at novel's end. What nerve it took, then, to begin The Likeness somewhere else entirely. While Rob narrated the first novel, the voice in this novel belongs solely to Cassie. She is lured back to undercover work when a body shows up that is her exact likeness. Her old boss, Frank, convinces her to impersonate the dead woman in her former life. Once there, however, Cassie becomes so charmed by her new life as a graduate student in literature that she nearly forgets her purpose is to find a killer. French meticulously builds suspense in the most natural, harrowing way -- her characters are so perfectly built that one feels capable of analyzing them and second-guessing them as one would do with friends. Cassie is so well articulated, in fact, that one can imagine a second mystery hovering like some phantom scrim that she is too close to see. If it's there, French is wise enough not to tip her hand; her books work most perfectly in the empty spaces between. --Amy Benfer

That's a good review. I was glad that this book did not leave any of the questions unanswered as her first book did. I am still waiting for a follow-up book to In the Woods!

Both books are outstanding reads...I highly recommend both. I can't even pick out which one I liked better. Ms. French has a great sense of mystery! I look forward to her next story!

Song of Names

Song of Names by Norman Lebrecht was the winner of the 2003 Whitbread First Novel Award Mr. Lebrecht is a British commentator on music and cultural affairs and, according to his website ( http://www.normanlebrecht.com/), he has written 11 books about music.

Song of Names was his first novel (obviously, since that’s what he won the award in) and combines the two worlds of classical music and London’s Jewish population, beginning during WW II. It is the story of two boys, Martin and Dovidl. Martin’s father was a promoter of music, working with musicians, arranging concerts, etc. Dovidl and his father came to London from Poland right before the Germans invaded Poland, in order for Dovidl to study classical violin in London. Dovidl’s father wanted to return to Poland and to the family, so Martin’s father agreed to keep Dovidl at his home. Dovidl and Martin grew up together almost as brothers during the war years, while Dovidl was preparing for his premier. The night of his premier, he disappeared.

Martin grew up to take over his father’s company. Despite many efforts over the years, Martin was unable to learn what became of Dovidl. It was not until 40 years after Dovidl disappeared, that Martin hears a young boy play the violin and realized that the boy could only have learned his technique from Dovidl.

The book is 311 pages, but it didn’t really start to grab me until about two-thirds through (page 223, to be exact). I thought that the first part of the book was excessively wordy and had trouble staying with it. However, after Martin began to suspect that Dovidl might still be alive, I became interested. And when the Song of Names became evident, I was hooked. The book was good enough to stay with until that point, but I was surprised how well-written the last third of the story was. I don’t want to tell anymore of the story so I don’t ruin the book for others. It is a very good story and I recommend it!

Random Thoughts

The two new books that I ordered arrived today! Hooray! Isn't is just like Christmas when you get new books? I love it! And now, I can't wait to finish the one that I am reading, so I can begin a new one! Right now I am reading Song of Names, which is one of the books that I chose for my self-imposed challenge (reading 5 winners of the Whitbread Award). I'll save my comments about it for my post when I finish it.

I noticed two magazines recently mentioned reading...unfortunately I can't recall what magazine it was that featured bookstores in the Midwest...I will put it in this post if I come across it. I meant to save it, so hopefully it is around here somewhere. In Midwest Living, the editoral page for the January/February edition is about reading. Books that editor Greg Philby mentioned as recommended for "great curl-up reads" were the following:

Home by Julie Andrews

Tinisima by Elena Poniatowska

Any Book By Dorothy Allison

Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin

Read any of the three mentioned specifically? I agree with the Any Book by Dorothy Allison. Her books are great. I haven't read any of the others.

I will be heading to the beach for a week in another month and am already wondering what books to take! I can't even wait to be sitting poolside or on the beach with a book..it's my idea of heaven. Curling up with a blanket and a good book are about the only good things that I can think of about winter.

Change of Heart

Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult is a long book…447 pages. I think about twice as long as it needed to be. I liked the book, but was disappointed, just because a couple of her other books have been SO good.

The story is about Isaiah “Shay” Bourne who while working as a handyman, killed a little girl and her policeman step-father. Shay has been on death row for 11 years and is facing execution soon. The little girl’s mother had been pregnant at the time of the murders and her 11 year old daughter is in need of a heart transplant. You can see where this is going…Shay believes that he will be redeemed if he gives Claire his heart after he dies.

The chapters are told by Fr. Michael (Shay’s spiritual advisor), June (Claire’s mother), Lucius (in prison with Shay) and Maggie (Shay’s attorney). Each person does bring an unique perspective to the story, but I just found the whole thing to be too predictable.

If you want to read what I consider her best book, try My Sister’s Keeper. I really liked it. Her past few books have been disappointing to me.

Ok, so now I haven’t read a really, really good book for a couple of months…I have a stack of books waiting for me, so tonight I begin again. Here’s hoping for a great read!

Random musings

I read half of the The Reincarnationist and gave up. It just wasn't keeping my interest enough, especially when I have so many other books to read. I was very disappointed.

Oh well, onto other books. I am almost finished with Change of Heart and will review it soon.

I ordered 2 new books from QPBC the other day: The Likeness by Tanya French and Larry McMurtry's Books: A Memoir. The books haven't arrived yet, but they will go on top of my reading pile when they come!