Feature
Rainy Day Reads... A
book reviews by Anne Batty
s predicted, El Nino has started the New Year with rain, rain, and more rain, and if you can’t beat it, you can at least find a way to enjoy it. This impending melee might just be creating the perfect time to strike up a cozy fire, heat up a drink (perhaps a hot cider sans your favorite extra), and lose yourself in that book you’ve been meaning to read. And if
you don’t have anything in mind … one of the following just might be the read you were looking for!
Rogue Lawyer, John Grisham Devoted Grisham fans will enjoy returning to the courtroom to
read about attorney Sebastian Rudd, who practices in the Fifteenth Circuit of the U.S. in federal and state court. Rudd, a self-proclaimed rogue, is willing to pay cops for infor-
mation, bribe court clerks and represent bad characters. Accepting clients no other attorney will take on, his cases range from an ac- cused child molester/murderer, to a rage prone boxer, a crime Don eager to escape death row, and a man with ties to human traffick- ing. And due to the nature of his cases, Rudd is accompanied at all times by his silent bodyguard, Partner, who according to him is,“a hulking, heavily armed guy who wears black suits and takes me everywhere.” Working out of a heavily armored van that acts as both an
office and a means of transportation, Rudd carries a gun, and sleeps in a different hotel room every week. And his most trou- blesome client is himself … fending off continual custody cases brought against him by his ex-wife. Rather than focus on one trial throughout the entire book, every few pages Grisham, who was (and still is) an at- torney, chooses to have his character win or lose one case then move on to another ... most likely desiring to portray a more
realistic picture of the way real-life defense attorneys operate. All in all, in creating a variety of interesting cases and court- room scenes detailing criminal proceedings, John Grisham de- livers once again, offering another exciting read for his die-hard fans to enjoy.
Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee In this long-awaited second novel from authoress Harper Lee,
it is shocking to discover the morally evolved character, Atticus Finch of Lee’s 1960 classic To Kill a Mockingbird, portrayed as a racist who once attended a Klan meeting. After all, this is a character that inspired those in real life to name their children after him, and attend law school because of him. Re-visiting many of Mockingbird’s iconic characters,
Harper begins her book by sending her protagonist, 26-year- old Scout (now called Jean Louise Finch), back home from New York City to visit her aging father, Atticus. Once there Scout’s homecoming turns bittersweet when she learns some disturbing truths about her family, the town and the people she loves.
Set during the tumultuous times of political turmoil and civil rights tensions, Go Set a Watchman tells the story of a young woman transitioning from the illusions of the past to the realities of the present, a journey in which
one can only be guided by their conscience. Written in the mid-1950s, this is a novel that while evocative of another era, is relevant to our own times. It speaks not only of chang- ing times, but of the need for a change of thought moving from abhorrent views on race and segregation to tolerance
and understanding. In a 1963 interview Ms. Lee, who now lives in her old hometown Monroeville, AL, said of Mockingbird; “This book
is not an indictment so much as a plea for something, a re- minder for people at home.”
8 SANCLEMENTEJOURNAL
Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown Positioned during the Great Depression, Brown’s nonfiction book reads like a novel. A
character-driven story centering on the life of Joe Rantz - a farm boy from the Pacific North- west who was abandoned as a child - it portrays a boy overcoming great odds to become a hero.
Taking the reader back to the 1936 Olympics, Brown tells the tale of the University of
Washington’s eight-oar crew - “from foggy coastal villages, damp dairy farms, and smoky lumber towns all over the state” - who came together to work for a chance to defeat Adolf Hitler’s feared boat crews and upset his display of German superiority. Encompassing the convergence of British boat maker, George Pocock; UW’s men’s var-
sity coach, Al Ulbrickson; and an unlikely bunch of rough-and-tumble rowers, this book gives readers a vivid picture of the socioeconomic landscape of 1930s America. It is an odyssey that covers the exquisite brainpower and materials that go into the making of a first- rate boat, as well as the wiles of a coach who somehow found a way to, first, beat archrival University of California, then conquer a national field of qualifiers, moving on to finally de- feat the best rowing teams in the world.
A Fall of Marigolds, Susan Meissner Moving with great insight between the haunting parallel stories of two women trying
to recover from unspeakable losses in two New York tragedies - the Triangle Shirtwaist Fac- tory fire of 1911 and the fall of the Twin Towers in 2001 - Christian writer Susan Meissner has woven a tale of broken hearts, loneliness and renewal. In this her first foray into mainstream women’s fiction, Meissner features Clara Wood,
a nurse on 1911’s Ellis Island, and Taryn Michaels, owner of a present day Upper West Side New York fabric shop, as dual protagonists, moving back and forth between their lives to carve out her tale. And without overemphasizing the tragedies, she has constructed a touch- ing story of two women living centuries apart connected not only by a beautiful scrap of fabric, but by love lost and the reawakening only time can offer. Definitely chic-lit, this is a read that fans of happily ever after will be sure to enjoy!
Sky of the Red Poppies, Zohreh Ghahremani A novel about culture, politics and the redeeming power of friendship, Ghahremani fab-
ricates a tale set in 1960s Iran. Her central characters are two schoolgirls from different sides of the track, each with an underlying respect for the other and their differences; Roya, a tra- ditionalist from an affluent family, and Shireen, a more defiant free thinker from lesser means; who come of age amid the conflicts of a Shah’s regime, the actions of SVAK (the se- cret police) and the Iranian and Muslim traditions. When Roya’s friend Shireen’s militancy and defiance against these forces eventually
lands her in prison and subjects her to torture, Roya comes to her support without much success. In the process she is alienated from her opium smoking, traditionalist father and is exiled to America. Once there she reunites with a college classmate, tries to put the past be- hind her and starts a new life. The poppies in the novel’s title represent a poetic and central theme throughout the
book. For Roya, this fragile bloom reflected her feelings of joy, sorrow and even fear at the happenings of the times. A fascinating journey through the landscape of Iran, this book provides a glimpse into its past and present as well as an often overlooked side of Iranian culture and history.
The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Stephen King A master of the bazaar, famed author King says of this collection of stories … “made es-
pecially for you. Feel free to examine them, but please be careful. The best of them have teeth.” Assembling a never been published selection of short stories, this collection contains
themes of morality, the afterlife, guilt, and what one would do differently if they could see into the future or correct the mistakes of the past. Several sagas feature characters at the end of life, revisiting their past sins, while others address the idea of the supernatural. The narrative Morality explores what happens when a husband and wife enter into what
seems like a devil’s pact they think they can win; Obits reveals how a columnist with super- natural powers kills people by writing their obituaries; and the Dune tells how the wealthy owner of a tiny uninhabited island finds the names of the soon-to-be-dead printed in the sand.
Always delivering the unexpected, in this collection King has also included some poetry
and a few brief introductions to give readers an insight into his writing process. And in ac- knowledgment of the almost marital devotion of his readership, in the book’s introduction King says, “we’ve known each other for a very long time.” Those who wait for, read and love his books would be sure to agree.
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