The Four Ms. Bradwells

The Four Ms. Bradwells, by Meg Waite Clayton.

Have you ever seen the Michigan Law Quad? Think gothic stone cathedral but no altar, or a different kind of altar, something you can't quite see. Its centerpiece is the Reading Room, the scene of all our gum wrapper tossings. It's a cathedral of a room, with a vaulted fifty-foot ceiling and stained glass windows, a place at its finest on the few evenings a year when a renegade brown bat careered back and forth up in that high expanse of wood beam and blue and gold tile, winging gracefully around the wrought-iron chandeliers. In those moments, the unearthly quiet of that room exploded in a chorus of chatter that echoed from the hard stone walls, like monks lifted from the vows of silence by an unexpected creature of God. The good Lord knows there was nothing to do then but open the doors and hope the poor thing found its way out.

I have read "The Wednesday Sisters" by Meg Waite Clayton and loved it, so I was excited to hear she had a new book coming out, and especially excited when I started reading it and realized parts of it were set at Michigan, of which she (and I) is an alum. The story tells of the four "Ms. Bradwells," four best friends who meet at Michigan Law, and how one of them is up for a Supreme Court seat, and because of that her (and their) past is being investigated. An incident from when they were law students has been discovered, and the four of them retreat to a small island that one of them has a house on, to get away from the press and all the hubbub.

I liked that the story was told from the perspective of all four of the women (each one would get their own chapters at some point) and the way it jumped from past to present. Each of the women have their own past and secrets, which intersect with the others, no more so than the one they all share, which might ruin the Supreme Court nomination for their friend. Clayton's descriptions of Ann Arbor and the Law Quad are dead on, and it was nice to read a story partially set in Ann Arbor, or at least one in which Ann Arbor played such a big part in the characters' lives.

3.5 stars out of 5.

Disclosure: I was provided an ARC of this novel to review. The Four Ms. Bradwells will be in bookstores on March 22nd.

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Sing You Home

Sing You Home, by Jodi Picoult.

Every life has a soundtrack.

There is a tune that makes me think of the summer I spent rubbing baby oil on my stomach in pursuit of the perfect tan. There's another that reminds me of tagging along with my father on Sunday mornings to pick up the New York Times. There's the song that reminds me of using fake ID to get into a nightclub; and the one that brings back my cousin Isobel's sweet sixteen, where I played Seven Minutes in Heaven with a boy whose breath smelled like tomato soup.

If you ask me, music is the language of memory.

Another awesome book by Jodi Picoult, this novel is about Zoe, who has recently miscarried and divorced from Max, and how she meets Vanessa, who later turns out to be her partner. Zoe is unable to have children but Vanessa can still conceive, and Zoe wants to use her and Max's frozen embryos for Vanessa; Max, however, a new "born-again Christian," wants his brother and wife to have them, as they are unable to conceive as well. This pits Zoe against Max, and when Max's crazy anti-gay Christian church gets involved in the trial, all hell breaks loose.

I didn't know that Rhode Island doesn't allow gay marriage, which is interesting; Zoe and Vanessa go to Massachusetts in the novel to get married. I also couldn't believe how anti-gay Max's church was - though, as they put it, they are "not anti-gay, but rather, against gays having special rights." (because apparently wanting to get married is a "special right" that only heterosexuals can have)

The book was interesting and well-researched, as are all Picoult's novels, and the ending was definitely more positive/happier than a lot of her previous ones, which was nice to see.

4 1/2 stars out of 5.

*Disclosure: I received an ARC (Advance Readers Copy) of this book from the publisher to review.

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The Language of Light

The Language of Light, by Meg Waite Clayton.

I picked up the photograph he'd just set down, the eight-year-old girl craving her father's attention, his love. I still wanted to know that each time he'd said good-bye to me it had torn at him, each time he'd taken a picture of a child or climbed into his bed in some foreign hotel or sipped coffee as he read the Herald Tribune or looked out an airplane window or listened to the strange buzz of an English telephone, he'd thought of me, wished I were with him. I wanted to know he regretted all those days he hadn't gotten to see me. Not that he'd do it differently, but that he'd realized the cost of it as much as I had, that he had shared the cost.

I will be reviewing Meg Waite Clayton's newest book, The Four Ms. Bradwells, soon, and I wanted to read this book, which was one of her older ones (published in 2003). I had previously read The Wednesday Sisters by her, which was excellent, and this novel did not disappoint either. It follows Nelly Grace, recently widowed, as she moves back to her family's Baltimore home, in the "privileged horse-breeding world" in the countryside, and the people she meets there, who change her life.

4 stars out of 5.

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The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins.

I want to tell him that he's not being fair. That we were strangers. That I did what it took to stay alive, to keep us both alive in the arena. That I can't explain how things are with Gale because I don't know myself. That it's no good loving me because I'm never going to get married anyway and he'd just end up hating me later instead of sooner. That if I do have feelings for him, it doesn't matter because I'll never be able to afford the kind of love that leads to a family, to children. And how can he? How can he after what we've just been through?

This book was one of the most unique novels I've read in a while, and it's part 1 of 3 in the "Hunger Games" series. Katniss and her mother and sister live in what used to be called North America, and they have a dismal existence - if it was not for Katniss and her hunting skills, her mother and sister would surely starve. There are 12 districts, and she lives in District 12; there used to be 13, but then it revolted against the Capitol, who destroyed it. To punish the other districts for district 13's revolution, each year the Capitol hosts the Hunger Games, in which 1 boy and 1 girl between the ages of 12-18 are chosen as "tributes" from each district. Out of the 24 chosen, however, only 1 can survive the games to win, and he or she must kill all of his/her opponents to do so. When Katniss's 12-year-old sister, Prim, is chosen, Katniss volunteers to go in her place, since she knows she has a better chance of surviving, and she goes with the District 12 boy chosen, Peeta. Katniss and Peeta will learn many lessons in the arena, some of which will end up surprising both of them.

This book was fabulous and was non-stop action. I had heard it was being made into a movie, so I decided to check it out, and I'm very glad I did. Katniss's fate is fairly obvious because there are two more books in the series, but book 1 ended rather abruptly, so I am definitely looking forward to reading book 2 soon.

5 stars out of 5.

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Bright Young Things

Bright Young Things, by Anna Godbersen.

New York was the capital of commerce and joy, and young people sought us from every direction. They came in droves, to join the kind of party only a great metropolis can host. They came from wealthy families and farming families, from the north and south and west. They came to avoid kitchens and marriages, to a place where they could reasonably claim to be eighteen forever. Or for the foreseeable future, anyway, which seemed to us the same thing. They came, mostly, for the fun - especially the young things, especially the girls.
...
That is what I want to tell you about: the girls with their short skirts and bright eyes and big-city dreams.

The girls of 1929.

I really like Anna Godbersen's series "The Luxe," and so when I heard that she had started a new series, "Bright Young Things," I wanted to read the book, and it did not disappoint. While "The Luxe" was set in the turn of the century (late 1800s), this book is set in 1929, when Prohibition is still on and the world is changing quickly. Letty and Cordelia, two friends, decide to escape from their small town in Ohio and pursue their dreams in New York; Cordelia, however, is keeping a secret from Letty, which will be revealed when they arrive in the city.

The book was pretty good and I am looking forward to the next book in the series, Beautiful Days, of which apparently Godbersen has just finished a draft.

4 stars out of 5.

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The DUFF

The DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend), by Kody Keplinger.

Before crawling under my sheets, I took a glance at the full-length mirror across the room. I searched my reflection with new eyes, with new knowledge. Uncontrollable wavy auburn hair. A long nose. Big thighs. Small boobs. Yep. Definitely Duff material. How had I not known?

I mean, I'd never considered myself particularly attractive, and it wasn't hard to see that Casey and Jessica, both thin and blond, were gorgeous, but still. The fact that I played the role of the ugly girl to their luscious duo hadn't occurred to me. Thanks to Wesley Rush, I could see it now.

Sometimes it's better to be clueless.

This was one of the best YA books I've read in a while, and the 19-year-old author (who was 18 when she wrote and published it) puts my lazy 24-year-old creative writing self to shame in terms of productiveness. I saw the book in a bookstore a while back, but because books are expensive (and I read them far too quickly) I put a hold on it at the library and it finally came in for me this week.

The book follows Bianca, who hangs out with Casey and Jessica, both of whom are very pretty. One day when she and her friends are out at a dance club, Wesley, the school hottie (but also manwhore) comes up to her and starts talking to her, since he wants to eventually sleep with one of her friends. He calls her a DUFF and when she learns what it means, she is not happy, to say the least. Bianca is having a lot of family problems at home, too, and Wesley keeps talking to her, so one day she basically throws herself at him; the real fun starts, however, when he kisses her back.

I read a lot of YA books but I liked how "real" Bianca felt. We've all felt like the DUFF at some point in our lives, I'm sure, but she really took the word to heart, and it was only later that she confronted Wesley about it, since he calls her "Duffy" throughout the whole novel.

I look forward to Keplinger's next novel, Luststruck, which will be released this fall, according to her blog.

4 stars out of 5.

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The Confession

The Confession, by John Grisham.

Now we're getting somewhere, Keith thought. The burden of unconfessed sin. The shame of buried guilt. "It would be helpful if you told me about these bad things. Confession is the best place to start."

"And this is confidential?"

"For the most part, yes, but there are exceptions."

"What exceptions?"

"If you confide in me and I believe you're a danger to yourself or to someone else, then the confidentiality is waived. I can take reasonable steps to protect you or the other person. In other words, I can go get help."

"Sounds complicated."

"Not really."

"Look, Pastor, I've done some terrible things, but this one has nagged at me for many years now. I gotta talk to someone, and I got no place else to go. If I told you about a terrible crime that I committed years ago, you can't tell anyone?"

John Grisham is one of my favorite storytellers, especially for legal thrillers, and he does not disappoint in this novel. I can definitely see this being made into a movie, as the writing is so taut and exciting.

Travis Boyette just got out of jail and is living in a halfway house in Kansas. He has an inoperable brain tumor and expects to die within the year. Back in 1998, nine years ago, he killed and raped a girl in Texas, and the wrong man was arrested for the crime, to which the man confessed. Now, that man - Donte Drumm - is awaiting his execution on death row in a few days. Travis goes to a pastor, Keith, in Kansas, and confesses this to him, and later Keith agrees to drive him to Texas - technically breaking Travis's parole conditions - so he can confess and try to stop the execution.

As with all of John Grisham's books, this one was very well done, and you can tell that he used to be a lawyer because of all the technical terms and knowledge displayed in the book. Although the book is a length 400 pages or so, I flew through it in about two days, because it was so good, and I hope that they DO option it as a movie sometime soon.

4.5 stars out of 5.

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