Okay, I'm a month behind on this (damn Florida visit! ha!) but I'll catch up between today and tomorrow. Here are the books for June, #83-93.
Bones of the Earth by Howard Mansfield. I wrote about this a few weeks ago and it has stayed with me as one of the more unusual books I've read in a while. It's a really lovely collection about physical place and our relationship with it, but focusing on ruins or cemeteries. Hard to describe, but if you like the idea of geography/human interaction do take a look. (Very very well written)
Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters by Lesley Blume. This is in my August column (due up any day) at Bookslut. It's great fun - a young girl who spends her time looking up words in dictionaries meets an elderly next door neighbor who shares the adventures she had with her sisters around the world. The relationships are very well written and the adventures great. Any 10-13 year old girl in particular should have it.
Corbenic by Catherine Fisher - Outstanding adventure about a teen who stumbles into the mythical castle of the Grail Kings (called Corbenic). There is nothing predictable about this book and I just loved it. It will be in my September column (adventure stories).
Extremes by Kristine Kathyrne Rusch - The second book in one of my fav sci fi series. There's always a good mystery with a bit of police procedure but mostly it's all about how in the future the idea of immunity from foreign crimes has been turned on its head and humans can be guilty of crimes in alien worlds they are unaware of - so they elect to "disappear" and some folks are employed to find them. In this case someone dies on a race on the moon and a virus shows up and, well, you have to read it but it's just great. I need to get the rest of these.
Dreaming of East by Barbara Hodgson - One of my favorite authors. This is a steller collection of mini biographies about western women who traveled east, mostly in the 1700s and 1800s. Tons of illustrations, just gorgeous.
Ice Cave - A collection of travel essays from a female perspective I reviewed for Booklist. The one weird thing - on the jacket it describes how she basically survived an attack from a wolf pack in Alaska but in the book there was a wolf who circled her tent one night. The essay is still great, but the jacket hyperbole a bit silly.
A Girl Like Che Guevara - another title in my August column. I found Lourdes and her friends to be very much like any teenage girl (or boy) anywhere - confused, conflicted and prone to making rash decisions with bad consequences. The fact that they live in Cuba in 1982 (a period I recall quite clearly in FL) makes their stories that much more interesting for western readers. I thought this was a very impressive book - for all the ways in which the characters were different and the same from other YA titles I've read this year.
Writing Naturally by William Sargent - Also reviewed for Booklist, a very interesting essay type collection by a science writer. On one level he is recalling much of his own writing career, on another he is writing about why scientists need to learn how to write for the masses. I thought this was very unique, but I fear it will be lost on the shelves to the many folks who should read it and learn from it.
Shaman Pass by Stan Jones. Part of my summer reading feature up at Bookslut. This is a great mystery set in Alaska that focuses on the whole issue of repatriation of Native American remains. This is such an issue in AK - I remember being back in the AK museum in Fairbanks and there are crates stacked up on the upper shelves of human remains - they just aren't sure exactly where they are supposed to be. Jones did a good job making a very modern mystery out of this issue - loved this.
Havana Black by Leonardo Padura. In the same feature I also reviewed this title, another mystery but set in Cuba. Padura is considered the Raymond Chandler of Cuba and rightfully so. He does great atmosphere, great inner conflict with the protagonist and the mystery in this case is fascinating. It involves a dead man who once valued and doled out the priceless objects left behind by the Cubans who fled the revolution. Cool history and great look at modern Cuban life by someone who ought to know.
Mohr by Frederick Reuss. My review is up in the July issue of Bookslut - but everyone has been raving about this book. More than anything, I am so impressed by the audaciousness of this project. I think Reuss did a very good job with it and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
