We Need to Talk About Kevin is the 8th novel by Lionel Shriver. The format is a series of letters written by Eva Khatchadourian to her absent husband, Franklin, which are a sort of analytical reminiscence about their lives before the arrival of their son, Kevin, their reasons for having a baby, the prelude and then the immediate and long term aftermath of Kevin’s actions on that fateful Thursday two years previous. The Thursday consistently referred to in italics is when Kevin murdered seven of his fellow high-school students, a cafeteria worker and a popular English teacher. Eva examines the events of their lives trying to ascertain if and how she may have been at fault for Kevin’s actions, and what his reasons for them may have been. It is a very one-sided analysis that, at some points, will have the reader sympathising with Eva, whilst at other times she comes across as a selfish, self-centred, often thoughtless, opinionated snob. There is some black humour, but on the whole, the subject matter precludes this. It is certainly not an easy read, both for the subject matter and the writing style, which starts with long convoluted sentences, but the final chapters make it well worth persevering with. Shriver address many issues: the nature or nurture debate; the hysteria caused by school shootings; why people decide to have children; what constitutes negligent parenting; is there anything you cannot forgive your children for. The story is skilfully crafted and I did not see the twist at the end coming. Shriver effectively conveys the experience of the forgotten victims of these mass murders: the family of the murderer. The sense of tragedy is strongly communicated. This novel left me with an overwhelming feeling of sadness.

The Well of Lost Plots is the third of the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde. Having changed the ending of Jane Eyre, ended the Crimean war and had her husband, Landen Parke-Laine eradicated by the ChronoGuard, Thursday has joined Jurisfition and is currently taking a break, for the duration of her pregnancy, through the Character Exchange Program, inside a mediocre detective novel in the Well of Lost Plots. However, what she thinks will be a quiet sojourn is anything but, with Aornis Hades, sister of Acheron, out to take revenge for her brother’s death by altering Thursday’s memories, the detective novel under threat of demolition, the murder of a Jurisfiction agent, the escape of the Minotaur, Jurisfiction exams to take, the spread of the mispeling vyrus, a Rage Counselling session for the characters of Wuthering Heights, her fiction infraction trial coming up, the imminent launch of the new (and very Kindle-like) UltraWordTM and Nursery Rhyme characters on strike for better conditions. Miss Havisham continues to mentor her apprentice, and one-hundred-and-eight-year-old Granny Next comes to help Thursday out.
Fforde’s plot is highly original and imaginative. He shows us that politics, corruption and error as well as red tape and bureaucracy in their most irritating and frustrating forms thrive no matter which version of the world one inhabits. Junk mail and African money scams plague Fforde’s version of the world too. Parasites, pests, acronyms and lofty-sounding names in officialdom also abound: an ImaginoTransference Device is, of course, a word. Fforde endows his characters with some hilarious names, gives us some comical book titles and his dialogue will have the reader snickering and often laughing out loud. The prefaces at the start of each chapter include handy Fforde-type explanations of the rules under which fiction exists, how books are actually written, plot recycling and some history of storytelling, writing and printing. We also learn about Literary Mechanisms like Plot Devices, Echolocators, Chapter-Ending Emporiums, Backstories built-to-order, Generic Characters and the Text Sea. In this installment we finally discover what really happened in the Crimea with Thursday, Landen and Anton during the Charge of the Light Armoured Brigade in 1973. Fforde’s writing strikes me as a cross between that of Terry Pratchett and the late Douglas Adams, and, as these are two of my favourite authors, from me this is high praise indeed. Readers will look forward to the next installment, Something Rotten.

Kill Alex Cross is the 18th in James Patterson’s Alex Cross series. The action starts immediately with the kidnapping from the Branaff School of Zoe and Ethan Coyle, the children of President Edward Coyle and First Lady Regina. This is followed very quickly by a cyanide contamination of part of Washington DC’s water supply and the apparent suicide by cyanide ingestion of a Saudi couple in a hotel room. While Alex Cross manages to question a suspect involved with the kidnapping, he is kept out of the case for the vital first 24 hours. He only learns some time later of communication from the kidnapper: no ransom, just a personal threat to the President. Patterson gives us an interesting, if perhaps a bit clichéd, perspective on life in America from the viewpoint of a Saudi terrorist. As well as the cyanide contamination of the water supply, Patterson touches on Sarin gas and Semtex explosive in Subway trains. Alex Cross seems a bit arrogant first off, but shows hints of the character we came to love in earlier books. The plot, however, is rather anticlimactic, the kidnapper is a lamentably shallow character, and much of the dialogue is wooden: “Tell me what’s happened, Ron,” the president commanded Director Burns. “Tell me everything, right now.” How Cross & co actually located the children is skimmed over; Cross is not involved in the terrorist aspect at all, and this seems to fizzle out; and as for Kill Alex Cross, nothing is mentioned of this until 17 pages from the end. This novel still has Patterson’s trademark short chapters, and there is liberal use of exclamation marks, but it feels like Patterson isn’t really interested in Alex Cross any more, like he’s not putting much effort into a hero who has made him a lot of money and has (or, rather, had) a large following. This mistitled instalment of Alex Cross is a disappointment and not even close to the quality of the early titles.

The Uncommon Reader is a novella by novelist and playwright, Alan Bennett. The story starts with the Queen coming across the mobile library van parked near Buckingham Palace, where Norman, a young man from the kitchens, is choosing a book. After making small talk with the driver/librarian and the kitchen hand, she feels duty-bound to borrow a book. Which she, of course, dutifully reads and returns the following week for another. Soon enough, she has Norman transferred from the kitchens to assist her in her new favourite pastime, reading. This delightful dose of British humour speculates on what happens to the royal duties and the royal household as the Queen gives in to her obsession. Full of laugh-out-loud moments, especially the last line.

Dexter is Delicious is the fifth of the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay. Dexter, new father of Lily Anne, is dazed to find he no longer interested in indulging his Dark Passenger’s needs: a bit of a dilemma as Astor and Cody still need mentoring for their own needs. This new Dexter would, ideally, like to steer them in a benign direction. Cody’s insistence that someone is watching them proves right when Dexter’s brother Brian turns up, seeming all affable and family-oriented, and this can’t possibly be good, can it? And work is proving interesting, with a couple of missing teenagers, one of whom turns up roasted and eaten, prompting ideas of vampires and cannibals. Deborah is behaving quite strangely, distracted, perhaps, by the ticking of her biological clock, rather louder since Lily Anne’s debut into the world. This instalment has Dexter hanging out in a nightclub refrigerator, a boarded-up trailer and an abandoned amusement park at dusk; all the while we are entertained by Dexter’s glib tongue and ready wit. The conversation inside the refrigerator is priceless. The reader is treated to vivid imagery and Lindsay is the master of juxtaposition of the incongruous. As always, Lindsay gives us sharp dialogue and an original plot with some twists I didn’t see coming. I look forward to reading Double Dexter.

The Double Comfort Safari Club is the 11th in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith. Precious Ramotswe, proprietor of the best detective agency in Botswana, is kept busy with fraudulent fiancées, adulterous (or not) part-time reverends, jealous aunties and American legacies. Grace Makutsi’s well-ordered life is thrown into disarray when her fiancé, Phuti Radiphuti, suffers a nasty accident; Violet Sephotho is up to new tricks that show her true colours; Precious has to mediate for a couple suspicious of each other; and Grace and Precious make a trip to Maun and the Okavango Delta to track down the recipient of a legacy from an American tourist. Precious bravely takes several canoe trips. As always, throughout, we are treated to the wisdom of Obed Ramotswe, Clovis Anderson, Grace Makutsi’s footwear and Precious herself. We learn why Batswana always speak of their dead as “late”, what Precious (and McCall Smith) think of Consultants, and more about the Old Botswana Morality and kindness. Delightful chapter headings, wonderful characters, charming and poignant. A pleasure to read.

Dexter by Design is the 4th of the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay. After his honeymoon in Paris, where a bizarre limb-mutilating art installation had Rita awed and Dexter intrigued, Dexter is back at work in Miami. As Sergeant Debbie drags him along to investigate the suspects linked to four bodies displayed in macabre fashion (maybe like an art installation?), she begins to confront the dilemma of her position as an agent of the law in regard to Dexter’s hobby. But before she can decide to arrest him, she is stabbed by a suspect and ends up in the ICU. Taking justice into his own hands, Dexter strays off the Harry Path with disastrous results. This installment of Dexter involves, amongst other things, an Internal Affairs investigator, an FBI agent, an attempted kidnapping, a rather bloody ending and a tantalising teaser for the next installment. Surprisingly, Dexter teams up with Deb’s boyfriend, Kyle Chutsky, and even gets to eat some Cuban food in Cuba (if only I knew where to get some Cuban food near my home!) Lindsay shows the reader he is skilful with similes: I especially liked “It just seemed wrong, like washing your socks in the baptismal font at church.” Fun plot, clever dialogue: another excellent read.

Dexter in the Dark is the third in Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter series. Dexter Morgan, our favourite serial killer of serial killers, is about to get married. His intended, Rita, is in the throes of wedding and honeymoon plans; Astor and Cody are demanding some mentoring of the kind only Dexter can give; his colleague, Vince Masuoka, insists he can help with a famous (and very expensive) caterer. Dexter is handling it all well, as he and his Dark Passenger have their regular play dates. Then, at the scene of an unusual double homicide which involves incinerated, beheaded victims and ceramic bulls’ heads, his Dark Passenger cringes and goes into hiding. Dexter’s crime-solving instinct goes AWOL at the same time and he begins to experience life as ordinary humans do. In this instalment, Lindsay explores the idea that evil as an entity has existed since the beginning of time, and touches on the ancient god Moloch and demonic possession, all the while giving his characters snappy repartee, Dexter an entertaining inner monologue and still managing a bit of D alliteration. Plenty of fun.

The Secret Life of Bees is the first novel by Sue Monk Kidd. Set in 1964, this is the story of Lily Melissa Owens, who lives on a peach farm in South Carolina. At four years of age, Lily accidentally killed her mother. Her father is a harsh and cruel man, and Lily craves her mother’s love. She does have the friendship of Rosaleen, a Negro servant, but when events put Rosaleen in jail and in danger of her life, Lily decides they need to escape. Lily follows the scant trail left by her mother and they end up living with the eccentric Boatwright sisters, farming honey and learning to understand the world and themselves. Filled with facts and anecdotes about bees and beekeeping, this heart-warming tale has tears and laughter and much wisdom. For me, it was reminiscent of novels by Alice Hoffman and Alice Walker’s The Colour Purple. The epigraphs about bees at the beginning of each chapter were a delightful touch.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is the 7th non-fiction book by Barbara Kingsolver. Co-written with her husband, Stephen L. Hopp, and her daughter, Camille Kingsolver, this book details her family’s experiences during the year they decided to become locavores, trying to obtain their food locally, either from their own garden or farms close by, and thus eat seasonally. But this book is much more than that. It gives us the low-down on many, often controversial, subjects such as GM foods, Mad Cow Disease, Free Range and Organic produce, evolution, vegetarians and vegans, as well as Farmers Markets, cheese making, canning and bottling, seasonal eating, and breeding chickens and turkeys. There are many delightful, illustrative, and often educational anecdotes that occasionally had me laughing out loud. There is a timely warning for those evolution-deniers, the creationists, as well as the ironic method the Slow Food movement has employed of saving rare breeds: getting more people to eat them. The ultimate aim of eating food which has been produced in a manner that means it tastes good and is good for both the eater and the environment seems like a worthy one. This book is thought-provoking, inspiring, and practical, with recipes and meal plans by Camille. The side-bars by Stephen L. Hopp are informative and, at times, revelatory. I don’t know how much of what is in this book is applicable to where I am (Australia), but it will certainly have me looking at and thinking about where my food originates. A very interesting read.

Flash and Bones is the 14th in the Temperance Brennan series by Kathy Reichs. Just back from Hawaii, Tempe is called to a landfill site in Charlotte adjacent to the NASCAR circuit, where a body is encased in asphalt in a rusting metal drum. It’s almost race week, so the pressure is on to deal with the situation quickly. But after she manages only a perfunctory examination of the corpse, the FBI steps in to confiscate the body and all the files. As the story progresses, the list of possible identities for the John Doe lengthens, and Tempe comes up against the FBI, the local cops, the track security team and a right-wing extremist group, the Patriot Posse, as she tries to solve the riddle. Reichs sticks to her formula of letting Tempe get into danger while investigating something that’s probably none of her business. Usually, this works because she also gives the reader a good dose of forensic anthropology, and plenty of facts. This time the facts are about abrin, a systemic toxin (interesting) and NASCAR (maybe interesting for fans but left me cold). The forensic anthropology in this instalment is minimal: getting the body out of the asphalt ; putting together the skull of a known victim. There’s a plot with a few twists and some good dialogue in the form of dry quips between Tempe and Skinny Slidell, almost ex-hubby Pete, Kate and a possible new love-interest, Galimore. There may be bones in the title, but the story has been well filleted. Let’s hope the next Tempe Brennan novel is an improvement on this one.

The Sign of the Book is the 4th book in the Cliff Janeway series by John Dunning. Cliff agrees to help Erin determine if her estranged childhood friend, Laura Marshall, really killed her husband, or confessed to protect her troubled son. The tempter for Cliff is the opportunity to do a little police-type work, but the bonus comes in examining the dead man’s book collection. Another excellent Dunning novel filled with booky tidbits about signed copies and what makes a rare book valuable, about book fairs and book sales, and which also touches on autism. As always, realistic characters and dialogue, and this time a completely unexpected plot twist and a heart-stopping climax. Readers will look forward to the (so far) last of the series, The Bookwoman’s Last Fling.

The Bookwoman’s Last Fling is the 5th (and, so far, last) in John Dunning’s Cliff Janeway series. Cliff travels to Idaho, ostensibly to appraise Candice Geiger’s book collection, after the death of her thoroughbred trainer husband, H.R. Geiger, and to ascertain which books might be missing from the collection, and track them down. But he soon finds that the situation is a lot more complicated: he begins to look into Candice’s death, some 20 years previous, and finds himself working at a racetrack and encountering a range of characters, some good, some bad, and some decidedly crazy. In this very cold case murder mystery, Dunning offers us bookish tidbits on bibliomania, book care and storage, children’s books, book plates and private libraries. He also gives the reader lots of facts about horse rescue farms, horse training and racing. Perhaps a little slow in places, it is still filled with interesting characters, and the plot has a great twist at the end. It will be interesting to see if there are further books in this series.

Lost in a Good Book is the 2nd book in the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde. Fresh from her adventures in The Eyre Affair, Thursday Next is enjoying married life until she is informed that her husband, Landen Parke-Laine, died 38 years ago: suddenly, he only exists in her memories. This turns out to be a ploy to convince her to get Goliath operative, Jack Schitt, out of “The Raven”, where she had previously trapped him. Can her ex-ChronoGuard father help? What has Miss Havisham from Great Expectations got to do with it all?
Filled with hilarious names for characters and SpecOps divisions and witty, clever dialogue, this novel also has a highly original plot. Monty Pythonesque in parts, it is reminiscent of work by the late Douglas Adams, by Sir Terry Pratchett, and by Lewis Carroll. Fforde shows us that travel ports, courts of law, art exhibitions and employment reviews are essentially the same, no matter what version of universe one inhabits. And the alternate universe Thursday is offered towards the end is a cute twist. The chapter introductions, in the form of journal extracts or parts of manuals, give the reader pertinent background information in a unique way. The ending has the reader eager to read the next installment, The Well of Lost Plots. Don’t read this in public because you WILL laugh out loud, often.

The Charming Quirks of Others is the 7th in the Isabel Dalhousie series by Alexander McCall Smith. Isabel has quite a bit on her plate: getting another edition of the Review of Applied Ethics published; looking into a poison-pen letter making accusations about applicants for the principal’s position of an illustrious boys’ school; dealing with a pretty cellist who has taken a fancy to Jamie; deciding whether to publish an unsolicited review by Professor Lettuce of Professor Dove’s latest book; and, not the least, organising her own wedding. As always, Isabel manages to jump to unfounded conclusions whilst being her unpredictable, clever, kind and occasionally exasperating self. On the way, she touches on book reviewers, verb tenses, forgiveness of oneself, politics, punishment, hatred, skateboarders, gossip magazines and ancestors, and gives us an excellent definition of vulgar curiosity. Isabel manages to show some insight into her tendency to misunderstand situations, and towards the end of this novel, has a Mma Ramotswe moment when she reflects on her love for her country. McCall Smith has an uncanny ability to write from a woman’s perspective, and many of the conversations his characters have are filled with wisdom and humour. Another thoroughly enjoyable installment in the Isabel Dalhousie story.

The Gourmet is the first novel by Muriel Barbery. Pierre Arthens, France’s greatest food critic, is dying. As he lies on his deathbed in his Rue de Grenelle apartment, he is tormented by his inability to recall the most delicious food to pass his lips, long before he became a critic. The story is narrated by Arthens himself, as he recalls meals and times in his life in an effort to identify the elusive dish; the people and things in his life also recount their experiences and opinions of him. Barbery’s own childhood in Morocco is in evidence, and the apartment building and the concierge make a further appearance in Barbery’s next and very popular novel, “The Elegance of the Hedghog”. I wondered how the musings of a dying man could make much of a novel, but this is a feast of words, a banquet of mouth-watering and evocative descriptions. Alison Anderson has done a first class job of translation. This is truly a treat to relish.

Look Me In The Eye: My Life With Asperger’s is the first book by John Elder Robison. Not diagnosed with Asperger’s until he was forty, Robison describes himself as a misfit. In this book he tells of growing up in an extremely dysfunctional family. Some of the story has been told by his younger brother Chris, better known as Augusten Burroughs, in Running With Scissors. He goes on to tell of his life after dropping out of high school, his fascination with all things electronic, his life with the band, making smoking guitars for KISS, engineering at Milton-Bradley, and eventually becoming his own boss repairing European cars. All this is told in a matter-of-fact and totally unsentimental way (as you would expect from an Aspergian), and with the benefit of hindsight, Robison explains his actions and reactions. This book is interesting and insightful; it is also very funny: Robison’s chapters on post-hole diggers, plastic cocaine and many other pranks, having a baby, and choosing a wife produce giggles, snickers and laugh-out-loud moments. An interesting comment on Asperger’s and on life in general.

The Enchantress of Florence is the 10th book by Salman Rushdie. Set amongst the extremes and excesses of Renaissance Florence and in the city of Fatehpur Sikri in Mughal India, it tells the story of a hidden Mughal princess, Princess Qara Köz, the Lady Black Eyes, also known as Angelica, who had the ability to enchant both men and women. The story is told to the Hindustan Emperor Abul-Fath Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar, The Grand Mughal, grandson of Babar, by a Florentine storyteller dressed in a long patchwork cloak made up of bright harlequin lozenges of leather, the yellow haired Niccoló Antonino Vespucci, who called himself Mogol dell’Amore, and seems also to be an enchanter. Akbar, listening to him, thought: “…that witchcraft requires no potions, familiar spirits or magic words. Language upon a silvered tongue affords enchantment enough.” This tale abounds with battles won and lost, villains and heroes, slaves and sultans, soldiers and sailors, witches and magic, lovers real and imaginary; the Medicis, Machiavelli, Argalia, various Vespuccis and Vlad the Impaler all make an appearance. While Rushdie’s usual wordplay and much of his magical reality are absent, this novel is full of luscious prose; there is much rich detail, the characters are memorable and the plot is excellent; it had some of the feel of Haroun and the Sea of Stories. I enjoyed this book much more than either Midnight’s Children or the Moor’s Last Sigh.

Catching Fire is the second book of the Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. Set some six months after the end of the Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark are required to take part in the Victory Tour through each of the Districts to keep the power of the Capitol and the consequences of rebellion uppermost in the minds of the people. Relations between Katniss and Gale Hawthorne are strained. There are some rumours of uprisings in the other districts. The repulsive President Snow gives Katniss an ultimatum. Once again, fast-paced and filled with action, Collins leaves the reader wanting more. Can't wait for Mockingjay

The Eyre Affair is the first novel by Jasper Fforde, and the first in the Thursday Next series. Thursday Next is a SpecOps 27 operative, a LiteraTec, who deals in crimes against literature. The novel is set in 1985, when England has been at war with Russia over Crimea for some 130 years, time travel is not uncommon and Wales has seceded from UK and is a Republic. Fforde includes delightfully ridiculous names and the inventions of Thursday's uncle, Mycroft Next are quite wonderful. I am glad I made the effort to read Jane Eyre before reading this. Reading this novel was unadulterated pleasure and I look forward starting on the next in the series, Lost in a Good Book.