A Wild Sheep Chase By Haruki Murakami

A Wild Sheep Chase-- 4 Stars

We follow an unnamed protagonist as he searches out a sheep with a star on its back. He searches for the sheep while also searching for a long lost friend of his. He leaves Tokyo and heads north into the mountains. There are times when you think that you know exactly what is going on then the author yanks the rug out from under you and leaves you stranded in a vacuum.

I always enjoy the novels, but honestly I find myself at a loss of how to describe them to others. The satirical talent that reigns here defies proper description. All I can say is that I thoroughly enjoyed the novel and have already started on the next one.  

The mix of mystery and pure anarchy makes for a lovely adventure, one that keeps me turning pages long into the night.

Long Way Round by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman

Long Way Round -- 5 stars


All right, this has been sitting on my shelf for several years and I really have been meaning to read it. I'm actually not a huge fan of travel genre because the writers often sound so bloody pretentious when they describe the country side that they view from the spit shined windows of their over priced hotel. This book starts off as a couple of mates act on a dream they've each toyed with since childhood, to ride a motobike around the world.

After months of planning, they start off from London and make their way east to New York City, a trip that will take them four months and 18,887 miles. I laughed with them as they encountered one strange adventure after another. I worried when the rivers they crossed were higher then the engines. With every border crossing, I hoped they would get through it safely and with little hassle. Every day seemed to bring something new to the boys, and therefore to me. By reading the journey they took around the world, I learned that there are still people out there who will stop for a total stranger to help him repair his bike, that will take him into their home, feed him, and offer him a warm bed. The world is full of people who are willing offer a hand in exchange for a smile. I also learned, along with McGregor and Boorman,  that not everything is as it seems and every person deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Most of all, I learned that life isn't about the destination, its all about the journey. Lovingly and honestly written, Long Way Round shows everyone that takes the time to read it that sometimes all you need is a little adventure and fresh air to find what you were looking for, which is often not too far from where you started in the first place. 

Memory and Dream by Charles De Lint

Memory and Dream - 5 stars

All right all right... we already know that I am partial toward De Lint's novels. I just love his stories. I love how he mixes myth, legend and the real to make a beautiful story. You can't help but fall in love with the characters, the story...

Imagine you're an artist, oils are your medium. You are taken under the wing of one of the most celebrated artists of your time. Under his tutelage, you learn that your art can be a gateway to bring across whatever your subject in the painting is, whether its a Native American, a reading woman or a wild girl. You love each one that crosses over, they aren't just figments of your imagination... they are real people.

This is where Izzy finds herself. She's so excited to be learning from one of, if not the best and most celebrated artist of her time. Everything is going just fine until she starts to have nightmares of her work being destroyed, burned. The people she has been bringing over are being killed, they are connected to the paintings. If the paintings are destroyed then the person dies too. But is Izzy just dreaming, or are her dreams real?

I was up late last night reading, I just had to finish the story and see what happened. As always, I wasn't disappointed.

The Associate by John Grisham

The Associate-- 3 stars

I am convinced that every author writes a dud novel, one that doesn't live up to the standards said author usually accomplishes. This happens on average once every ten years, could be more often if the author is rather prolific. In this case, Grisham has disappointed me. I read the novel hoping for the thrilling twists and turns that usually accompany his novels. I was sadly disappointed this time.

The novel starts off with a decent enough twist, a man from some agency blackmails Kyle McAvoy, law school graduate, by using something from his past. His job is to infiltrate a law firm, the largest in the world, and steal documents. But that is where the adventure and twists end, really. Boring and straight forward. Sure we see what happens to every law student after they pass the bar exam. They are over worked, but they get paid well, so there's reason to complain. Unless of course, you have some guy telling to betray everything you've ever known.

Not one of my favourite books by Grisham. I haven't read one of his books in some time and was depressed by how predictable the entire thing was. Most of the time, I have to run to catch up with him, but not this time.

The Thirteenth Tale by Dianne Setterfield

The Thirteenth Tale-- 5 Stars

How could this book have been sitting, languishing on my shelves for so many years? How had I managed to deprive myself of such a story for so long? Its inexcusable, simple as that.

Upon suggestion from a fellow book-aholic on GoodReads, I picked up The Thirteenth Tale. I was not disappointed. We follow a young woman by the name of Margaret Lea, who is contacted by the author Vida Winter to write her biography. Margaret doesn't read books written by authors still among the living when there are so many others to read by authors who will never write again. However, she is intrigued by Ms. Winter and accepts the commission to "tell the truth".

The story unfolds of strange relationships, feral twins, a governess, a ghost, a garden and fire that destroyed it all. All too often, I found myself, or rather lost myself, in this telling of gothic strangeness and I loved it. I would come up from this story only to eat or drink and that begrudgingly. I stayed up late last night reading, it was well after two in the morning before I turned the last page and shut out the light. I've not done that in some time and it was a joy. Our protagonist, Margaret, left no stone unturned and even told us what happened to all the side characters in this tale, something that most authors don't bother to do. I had to find out what happened to everyone.

The Thirteenth Tale pulls you with a strange magnetic force into the pages of the story and doesn't let you go. You find yourself thinking about the characters long after you've had to set the book down and go back to work. You find yourself wondering what is going to happen next. Will Margaret finish the commission before time runs out? Will we ever know what really happened in that house so long ago? Will Margaret find the peace she is looking for? Questions such as these haunt you until you reach the last page and smile at the complete story, happy that everything worked out in the end even if it wasn't how you thought. In a rare fashion, I actually cried when this novel reached its conclusion. I was sad that the story was over.

There are books that we find a few times in our lives, if we are very fortunate, that have a power over us, that mystical power of a story. It fills us, guides us down it's own path and when we reach the end of that journey, we are left feeling a sense of both joy at completion and sadness that these characters we have met will go on without us. You see, their story is over for now and ours must continue. We have to say good-bye and good-byes are rarely kind and happy affairs in their entirety, but a cloud of sadness always lingers. Always, and I wouldn't change it for anything.

City Of Bones by Michael Connelly

City Of Bones -- 4 Stars

Yes, yes, yes... I know I read them out of order, but oh well. Good thing about the Harry Bosch novels is that they can stand alone, though I really do think I should have read them in order. Oh, well...

Anyway... when a dog digs up an old bone from a small child, Detective Bosch is assigned the case. It turns out to be a cold case, the bones buried twenty-five years ago. Harry is distracted slightly by a beautiful young "boot", a probationary officer. We follow a budding romance and a gruesome murder of a young boy. Will Harry be able to find his killer after all this time?

Again my only major complaint is the amount of swearing in this novel! Its demeaning. I like a good mystery, the more twists the more I like it. My wish is granted in a Connelly novel, but that amount of swearing is just getting on my nerves.

The Closers by Michael Connelly

The Closers -- 4 Stars

This is one of the books in the Harry Bosch series and the first of which I've read. Detective Bosch has just returned from a three year retirement and he has been assigned to the Open-Unsolved Unit, also known as Cold Cases. His first case is one that is seventeen years old. A teen girl is found dead in the hills behind her home, an apparent suicide. The detectives on the case at the time botched the investigation and her killer was never caught. Now its up to Harry Bosch and his partner Kizman Rider to give this young girl a voice once more.

The investigation unfolds in so many ways and leads the reader down the path to the truth, not the fabrication that everyone else was led to believe over the years. There are so many twists in this book that a map may be required.

I did enjoy the action and the way the plot unfolded in such an intriguing way. However, I personally think that Bosch swears far too much for my liking. I understand that he's an old man, left over from Vietnam and a resident of L.A no less, but seriously? I don't hear sailors swear so much. That was a real detractor for me. The story has great merit but all that useless and stupid language was unnecessary.