Thirty Rooms to Hide In: Insanity, Addiction, and Rock 'n' roll in the Shadow of the Mayo Clinic by Luke Longstreet Sullivan (2012)

LOVED. This is a memoir about a prominent surgeon at the Mayo Clinic, his descent into alcoholism and insanity and the effect that it had on his six sons and wife. 

A fairly grim tale, but this book (and this family) is so full of dark humor that it makes the story incredibly compelling. Sullivan, an advertising man, writes wonderfully--compact and perfectly hilarious. It's also a really interesting look at domestic life in the 60s and a fascinating look at troubled family life. Many, many laugh-out loud, 'I can't believe he wrote that' moments. There's so much packed into this book: growing up as a nerd, growing up with older and younger brothers, growing up in the 60s--not to mention the complicated relationship with his father, his parents' relationship, and his father's relationship with alcohol and so much more.

This book is eminently quotable--the kind of book I'd like to buy just to highlight my favorite lines (if I was the kind of person who wrote freely in books). I love what Sullivan writes about how people of talent often get a free pass to be obnoxious alcoholics, musing that it's probably been that way since caveman times:   

"Some mead-guzzling schmuck named Thog probably did a great cave drawing and then spent the rest of his life barfing on the saber-toothed tiger rug and crying, "Village not understand Thog." (p. 242) 

And on scaring little brothers:

"At the top of the food chain was our oldest brother, Kip. He was an Eagle Scout. And given his proficiency at scaring the bejesus out of me, he must have had a merit badge somewhere, one embroidered with the icon of a fifth grader and Jesus bursting out of his chest." (p. 150)

And for a book that starts off with the main character dead, the ending still packs a punch. Interspersed with Sullivan's own remembrances are snippets from his brother's diaries, his mother's letters, and records from his father's doctors. Even the occasional photographs are carefully chosen and interspersed beautifully. Just wonderful.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell (2013)

Just LOVED this young adult novel about two misfits falling in love in high school in 1986. 

Beautifully told in alternating chapters both by Eleanor: red-haired, not petite, living in poverty with her brothers and sisters, creepy stepfather and ineffective mom; and Park: half Korean and a fairly normal kid, at least from the outside.

Loved them falling in love and the complexity of their characters and their lives. I adored the portrayal of the parents, who are complicated and realistic. I also loved how very much of the 1980s it was, and yet without being gimmicky in any way. 

Just a very beautifully told young adult novel and a lovely romance. What else can be said? At least without using the word "love" again?

Impossible by Nancy Werlin (2008)

Sometimes you find the strangest books just by searching the library catalog. I was looking for something else and ended up requesting this because it's based on the ballad Scarborough Fair (made popular by Simon & Garfunkel, of course).

Lucy is seventeen when she discovers that the women in her family are under a curse by an elf king that causes each of the women to be pregnant at 17, and requires them to perform three impossible tasks. If they can't complete those tasks, they go insane. Lucy has seen the proof of this in her estranged mother, who periodically shows up, crazy and pushing a shopping cart and embarrassing her at school.

What set this book apart from so many young adult novels that I've read is that when Lucy goes to her family to tell them of the curse, they believe her. There's no argument that "there's no such thing as magic or elf kings--you must be crazy", they just believe in her and work with her to help her try to complete the impossible tasks. And they give an excellent explanation that maybe it's true and maybe it's not, but she believes so strongly in it, they need to work with her. 

The novel itself is an odd blend--there's a lovely romance with Zach, the boy next door--but it also contains genuine peril, including rape and mental illness. But due to the excellent characterization and the unusually and well-constructed plot, it works very well. This would definitely go on my list of favorite fairy tale/ballad adaptations along with Pamela Dean's Tam Lin and Beauty by Robin McKinley.

The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James (2012)

This is a lovely ghost story/love story/historical novel.

Sarah Piper is a lonely soul, working in London in the years after the first World War when she gets an unexpected assignment from her temporary agency--to assist an author and ghost hunter. They travel to a small village to track down the ghost of Maddy Clare and both love and mystery ensues.

The haunting itself is quite dark and violent and she writes quite unsparingly about the emotionally turbulent years after the war.  The story is excellent and the romance is lovely. Fun fact for Downton Abbey fans: the ghost hunter Alastair is a dead ringer for Matthew Crawley and if you squint a bit, his assistant Matthew could be mistaken for a slightly more broken Mr. Bates.

Quite lovely.

Charlotte Street by Danny Wallace (2011)

Jason Priestley (not that Jason Priestley) is a little lost. He's writing for a free newspaper, living with a friend above a shop and dealing with his ex getting on with her life. He helps a girl on the street with her packages and ends up with her disposable camera and tries to solve the mystery of who she is through the pictures. 

The word stalking is used in the description but it's not quite like that.  The plot itself is quite lovely and complex and it has vivid characters--even the most minor characters are fully drawn and memorable.  This book is also filled with great self-deprecating humor like this:

"The girl with the quiff and the bottle of something blue was standing before us, staring. She had a burly friend in a denim miniskirt either side. Oh, God, I thought. There are three of them. And three of us. What if they bully us into relationships?"  (p. 118)

Priestley also spends a fair amount of time contemplating the I Saw You columns in newspapers.  I loved this lovely line: "These small moments, never said out loud, as formed and perfect as sweet little haikus, romance and longing carved out in the dust of a grubby city." (p. 144)

If you loved the quirky humor, the romance from a man's POV, and the vivid London setting of One Day by David Nicholls, you'll love this book as well. 

The Edge of Dark Water by Joe R. Lansdale (2012)

Prepare for massive gushing ahead ...

First, the plot summary:

Trying to escape her worthless life leads to unexpected and disastrous consequences when Sue Ellen steals money and a raft and embarks on a journey to dig up her best friend's body, burn it, and sprinkle the ashes in Hollywood.

You can see how this is not an easy sell plotwise, but let me tell you that I loved this book. LOVED it. LOVE Joe R. Lansdale.

His writing about East Texas (see also The Bottoms), so evocative and filled with dark insight about the area always reminds me of Harper Lee. His writing about Texas is incredibly vivid and almost affectionate (despite the darkness of the events that occur.)

He writes amazingly realistic but unusual characters and the dialogue is perfect--I'd love to see him write a play. The characters in this book--Sue Ellen, her friends Terry and Jinx and her alcoholic mother-- are as vivid to me now as when I read the book months ago--I loved spending time with them and the very dark journey that they are on.

Their trip down the river reminded me so much of the river trip that the children take in Night of the Hunter. It's as if that trippy, black and white journey was transformed into an entire book, in full color with fully fleshed out characters, and it sustains that eerie, unsettling atmosphere through the whole book.

Trust me on this one--it's MARVELOUS.

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (2012)

Endearing, quirky novel that flips back and forth through time and continents and several different narrators. 

From a development girl in present-day Hollywood to a tiny Italian village on the sea and its young hotelier and his actress guest to the producer who connects them both, this is an awfully fun and well-written novel. 

What other novel includes the Donner Party, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Cleopatra, Italian wiseguys and Richard Burton? 

Full of interesting insights into Hollywood new and old, theater, music and, of course, love!

Private Demons: The Life of Shirley Jackson by Judy Oppenheimer (1988)

Shirley Jackson is one of my Adored Authors.  She was a fascinating writer and was an even more fascinating person.

Her short stories and novels are uncanny and unsettling, while also being dryly humorous. Her domestic, humorous stories are completely delightful as well and give no indication of her being anything more than an ordinary, frazzled housewife--certainly not the well-regarded writer that she was. 

This book about her life tells her story vividly. She was incredibly complex psychologically, and lived her life to the fullest in some ways (drinking, smoking, socializing, eating) and not to others (borderline agoraphobia).  Plus, her relationships with her husband and her children--fascinating.  I loved reading about her life as an author, particularly the response to The Lottery when it was printed in the New Yorker.  To this day, it generated more mail than any other story before or since (at least in 1988 it did).

I loved these quotes that, for me, sum up why Jackson's work is so compelling to me:

"It was Shirley's genius to be able to paint homey, familiar scenes like this, and then imbue them with evil--or, more correctly, allow a reader to see the evil that had been obvious to her all along, even in sunny Burlingame. One felt the presence of a grinning skull behind the cover of surface gentility, homemade biscuits, shining floors, and this is what made the tales to disturbing. Shirley never had to search for exotic locales or strange characters. You see, her stories seemed to nudge lightly, insistently at the reader, it was right here, right in front of you all the time." (p. 101)

And:

"That feeling Shirley could give readers--that the earth had suddenly slipped out from under them--worked just as well for hilarity as for terror, it turned out.)  (p. 120)

"King [Stephen, of course], in fact, dedicated one of his books, Firestarter, 'to Shirley Jackson, who never had to raise her voice.'"

Beautifully said, Steve!

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion (2011)

  

I picked up this zombie romantic comedy purely because they made a movie of it and the trailer looked cute.  By the way, isn't that cover great?

This is a very endearing zombie romantic comedy--yes, zombie romantic comedy--that tells the story of R, a zombie wandering around in a zombie vs. survivalist humans world.  The story is told from R's point of view, and there are many laugh out loud moments.  When he eats the brain of a young human and falls for his girlfriend Julie, it gets a bit more serious.

But throughout, it still has lovely touches of humor. Marion does a beautiful job of getting inside R's head and still showing what he looks and sounds like from the outside.  It's thoughtful and philosophical about the end of the world in a way that most zombie, post-apocalyptic novels don't bother with--certainly not zombie movies anyway. R, Julie and her friend Nora are very endearing characters as are the complex leaders of the humans.

Really a great book and rather gentle and sweet for a book about zombies. The book was blurbed by Josh Bazell, which is an excellent readalike in tone and humor.  Interestingly, Isaac Marion is publishing The New Hunger, the prequel to Warm Bodies only as an e-book right now. 

To the Moon and Back by Jill Mansell (2011)

Oh, I just adore Jill Mansell. She's my favorite writer of the moment. I love her complex, realistic characters, her complicated family and romantic relationships, and her light and dry humor. And I adore the British setting--with just enough realistic details to make me all nostalgic for London. Sigh!

Oh, did you want to know what this book was about? Here you go: 

Ellie lost her husband tragically and suddenly a year ago. Tony, her handsome, actor father-in-law convinces her to move into his lovely flat in Primrose Hill. Ellie makes friends with her kooky neighbor Roo, and gets a job as an assistant to the handsome investor Zack. She starts to date her late husband's best friend and things ensue. With Mansell, though, it's really about the charm of the writing and the characters more than any plot details. Plus, I think Jill Mansell writes people falling in love better than anyone else I've ever read. Lovely!