Nick and Nora's Murder and Martinis

The Thin Man
Dashiell Hammett
Knopf Doubleday

Who knew murder could be so glamorous? Taking a break from their business empire, Nick and Nora Charles decide to spend Christmas in New York. Between going to shows, flirting, lounging in speakeasies, and drinking martinis in bed, the two beautiful people manage to find some time to help the police solve the murder of the secretary of one of Nick's former colleagues. Suspects in the case include the colleague's former wife, her new gold-digging husband, their odd children, and the secretary's gangster boyfriend. Yeah -- I know -- it's no wonder that they needed the drinks.

Like the Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man is very sophisticated read. I don't find Hammett's writing quite as hard-boiled as Chandler and in some respects, this novel reads almost like a Restoration comedy of manners. No matter how you look at it, however, Nick and Nora are a couple worth knowing. Three prohibition dodgers out of five.

The Tide that Binds

What I Was
Meg Rosoff
Doubleday Canada

Set in an English backwater boarding school during the early 60s, What I Was tells the story of 16-year old Hilary --a boy who has already mastered the art of disaffection. Having been expelled from two schools previously, H ends up at St. Oswald's and quickly settles into the same old routine of bad food, worse dorms and the torturous attentions of upper classmen. Just living in such a dour and dismal place proves to be an exercise of Sisyphean proportions. It all changes, however, the moment H meets Finn -- a boy of almost unbearable beauty who lives in a cabin at the edge of the sea.

H is taken with the young man on a number of levels. In fact, it is almost as if Finn is the mirror of what H desires to be --independent, confident, capable, smart and elusive. It has been quite some time since I have read a book that so captures the feelings first love -- the excitement, anxiety, fear and absolute yearning for someone other than yourself. As the friendship between the two characters grows, Rosoff takes her readers to an almost magical place where anything is possible. The real world eventually intrudes, however, and H's idyll collapses like a wave crashing against the sand.

What I Was is a lovely story in all ways. The author's prose was passionate, intimate and at times, left me breathless -- so much so that I want to visit the land, sea and sky that she has beautifully described. The fact the the story eluded my expectations was an unanticipated bonus. Three and a half wheeling seabirds out of five.

Romancing the Stoned, er ... Stone

Tribute
Nora Roberts
Jove Books

This past weekend found me up in the MoFo hanging with the parentals for the Easter holiday. I haven't been sleeping well in the last little while so my mom decided that it wouldn't hurt if I "borrowed" one of her sleeping pills. Note to self -- never read a romance novel after taking someone else's medication. The dreams are a little weird.

I am going to go on record and state that I actually liked this novel. If you recall from a few posts ago, Ms. Roberts had definitely let me down with her last series -- her trilogy was too long, too poorly written and the characters were uninteresting. Tribute has managed to restore my faith in her romance-writing prowess. This novel had a good plot, a mystery that kept me guessing, a hot graphic-novelist hero with an uber-cute dog, and an approachable, not-too-perfect heroine. All the right things to keep me entertained. Now if I could only figure out how to sleep. Sigh. Two point five superheros out of five.

Reading America

Run

Ann Patchett

Harper Perennial

One of the coolest things about my job is that I get to travel. Oh sure, sometimes it's a total drag, but if I'm honest with myself, I have admit that there are way more ups than downs. Take this past week, for example. When I left Toronto on Monday morning, we were in the middle of a freak snow storm. Tuesday morning found me running outside in shorts and tank top, watching the sun come up over the hills in LA. Who could complain about that?

Another benefit of being on the road is that I get to try on cities. Some, like Chicago, have the comfortable feeling of favourite sweater. I know I could live there and not feel out of place. Others, like Miami, are way more exotic ... kind of like eating a spicy new dish -- looks interesting, but you're not always sure that you're going to like it. Like travelling, reading can also let you try out new places. This week's novel, Run, is set in Boston and the city just pops out of the pages of this book.

Set over a period of 24 hours, this book is about family -- the ones you're born with and the ones you choose. It is about obligation -- both perceived and real and how that sense of duty nurtures and destroys. The book is also about love -- the kind that stretches beyond death and fills your soul with joy and sorrow. And finally, it is about secrets -- the unsaid truths that shape our thoughts and actions in unanticipated, sometimes unpredictable ways. In a nutshell, this book is about our own families. Read it if you dare. Three unhurried walks along the Freedom Trail out of five.

It's in the genes, baby, it's in the genes.

The Time Traveler's Wife

Audrey Niffenegger

Vintage Canada

I haven't actually been to the bookstore in a couple of months. My TBR queue is a little out of control from the wondrous giftage I received over the holidays and to be honest, I am desperately trying to save money. What the hell was I thinking in becoming a homeowner? The world is a cruel, cruel place when it forces you to choose between blinds for the windows or books for the shelves.

While I'm not exactly sure when I picked up this novel, I can tell you that I found it on the Chapters table of "great reads." From the publisher's blurb on the back, I knew it was the kind of book that I wanted to save for when I needed to lose myself for a little while. My timing, it seems, was perfect because once I started to read this novel, my everyday world faded away and I could think of nothing but the story of Henry and Clare.

Henry, as the book's title suggest, has a genetic disease that causes him to travel backward and forward through time. When he travels, he cannot take anything with him (he arrives naked and nauseous), he cannot "change" history, and he cannot control the length of his stay. What he can do, is visit the the older/younger version of himself. Can you even imagine what it would be like to drop in on yourself as a seven year old? Very cool. What makes the story so compelling is how it is told from both the perspective of Henry as well his wife Clare. Each chapter is time and date stamped with Henry and Clare's "ages" and often, each character narrates a portion of the text. I cannot begin to describe how intricately beautiful this love story is. I can guarantee you, however, that it will become a classic. Five weary travelers out of five.