Currently Reading

Reading: My Two Polish Grandfathers, by Witold Rybczynski.
Listening to: Blasphemy, by Douglas Preston.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Choosing Books: A Potpourri of Recent Reads

What is it that makes us select the books we want to read? How do we choose, from all the hundreds of possibilities, the titles that draw us in? Here are a few books that I've read recently (and enjoyed), and the hooks that made me pick them.

I selected The Goodbye Cousins, by Maggie Leffler, based on the recommendation of an author that I've already read and loved. Elinor Lipman commented, "I loved this book and loved its voice." Well, I love Elinor Lipman's voice, so if it's good enough for her, it's good enough for me.

I often shy away from memoirs, especially those written by people I've never heard of. What can make the life of a heretofore unknown individual interesting enough to read about? I'm Down, by Mishna Wolff, had this intriguing note on its cover: "Mishna grew up in a poor black neighborhood with her single father, a white man who truly believed he was black." Cover quotes attest to the book's humor, and the publisher compares the author to Augusten Burroughs in her ability to "make you laugh and move you at the same time."

Sometimes, a title is enough to put you off what might be an otherwise wonderful book. That was the case with The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradley. It is, in my mind, an odd and unappealing title. However, writer Laurie R. King, one of my favorites, praises it lavishly on the cover, and the publisher seals the deal with the following comment: "Meet Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, a taste for homicide, an obsession with delving into the forbidden past of her taciturn, widowed father ... and did we mention she's eleven years old?"

One of the first books I blogged about was The Wednesday Sisters. Its author, Meg Waite Clayton, gives a warm recommendation to The Late, Lamented Molly Marx, by Sally Koslow. What really caught my eye, though, was the publisher's comment: "The circumstances of Molly Marx's death may be suspicious, but she hasn't lost her joie de vivre."

All four of these books are quick, fun reads, and all are recommended.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Review: Handle with Care


Handle with Care, by Jodi Picoult. (New York: Atria Books, 2009)

Willow O'Keefe is a smart, funny five-year-old with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), or "brittle bone" disease. Her first fractures occur in utero, and the next breaks take place just after her birth. Handle with Care examines the extraordinary pressures on the family, especially on the mother, of a child who needs so much care.

Willow's mother, Charlotte, once a successful pastry chef, now cares for her young daughter full time. She becomes an effective, even aggressive, medical advocate for Willow during her frequent hospitalizations for broken bones. Her focus on Willow creates a distance between Charlotte and her policeman husband, Sean, and makes her adolescent daughter, Amelia, feel invisible.

Charlotte sets in motion a "wrongful birth" lawsuit, alleging that her obstetrician, who is also her best friend, did not give her the critical information she needed that would have given her the option to terminate her pregnancy. Charlotte believes that a substantial legal settlement is the only way for Willow to have a comfortable life, especially after her parents are gone.

Because of the lawsuit and the pressure it creates, Charlotte finds herself adrift and distant from all the people she loves -- her husband, her best friend, and her older daughter. Even her lawyer finds Charlotte's lawsuit distasteful. Nonetheless, Charlotte pushes on, firm in her belief that her choice is the only right one.

This book is brimful of issues. In addition to a child with OI and a wrongful birth lawsuit, Picoult throws in divorce, bulimia, cutting, shoplifting, Catholic pro-life beliefs, medical malpractice, and an adult adoptee searching for her birth mother. While there are enough themes going on here to supply several books, they don't really get in the way of getting this story told. Narration is accomplished through a variety of characters, all of whom address themselves to Willow.

This is the first Jodi Picoult novel I've read, although she's been recommended to me by my librarian friends for years. The book has strong characters, a compelling storyline, and plenty of surprises. I'll have to begin looking at Picoult's "also by" list for more titles to read.