By: Bryan Yansky
Simon hates his life – he doesn’t get along with his adopted parents, his girlfriend just dumped him, he’s been in trouble with the police for possession of (and selling) pot, and he hates school. In a fit of desperation, he finds the name of his birth parents, steals his father’s car, and leaves Iowa in a cloud of smoke. He hits the road in search of his dream “perfect” parents, picking up all manner of interesting characters along the way. This book chronicles his travels and his parent quest, which brings him here to Austin. We get a great picture of what Austin was like in 1979, when the story takes place. On 6th street, for instance, Simon encounters a street person who asks if Simon knows him. Simon shrugs.
“I’m Jesus Christ the Savior. I died for your sins. I can’t even afford a cup of coffee. Don’t you think you could spare a couple of cents for the Savior? Don’t you think that’s the least you can do?” . . . I reached in my pocket and gave him what I had. He made a bugle sound by blowing through his closed hand. He turned to me. “May I be with you,” he said.
And yes, as you may have guessed, Austin is the pretty girl capital of the world.
Reviewer:
AJ Johnson
View this item in the Library Catalog
Submit your own review of this item
By: Camilleri, Andrea
Camilleri’s Inspector Montalbano series now numbers six or seven titles, and this is one of the best. Originally written in Italian and set in Sicily, there is no shortage of great scenery, good food, sly politics, corruption, and fatal mistakes. As a good Sicilian cop, Inspector Montalbano doesn’t reveal much as the story develops – to the reader, his colleagues, or his girlfriend. Yet he is always conscious of the multiple layers of meaning in the actions and words of his superiors and his suspects alike. In keeping with the setting, there are classical themes at work – notably tragedy and fate. Good and bad people alike overreach, suffer, and occasionally pay a terrible price, or make fools of themselves.Camilleri’s characters, always strongly described, also share a streak of rough and ancient comedy. As one translation of Artistotle’s Poetics puts it, “the ludicrous being merely a subdivision of the ugly”, there is plenty of ugliness in Sicilian life, and Camilleri uses it for great comic effect.
Readers of Donna Leon’s books set in and around Venice will find here the antipode of northern Italian life.
The only disappointing thing about this and all of the Inspector Montalbano books is that they end too soon.
Reviewer:
Dennis Trombatore
View this item in the Library Catalog
Submit your own review of this item
By: Nina Maria Martínez
Nina Maria Martínez’s meandering novel is a delight. It follows its two twenty-something heroines and an assortment of wacky secondary characters through a sleepy California town, Lava Landing, located at the base of an inactive volcano. Natalie and Consuelo provide necessary relief for fans of women’s fiction who are tired of chick lit. The girls sport Payless shoes instead of Manolo Blahniks, wear K-mart not Versace and there’s not a glamorous media job to be found. The pace of the novel, like that of its setting is slow. This is no page-turner, but a book to spend time with. The hardcover version of the book is a work of art. It’s packed with bonus features such as colored pages, Lava Landing themed Lotería cards and artifacts such as menus, paper dolls and letters.
Reviewer:
Pamela Mann
View this item in the Library Catalog
Submit your own review of this item
By: Matthew Monteith
Matthew Monteith’s images of the people and the environment of the Czech Republic are provocative. They both pull you in and keep you out. Some landscapes are pastoral and others are industrial. Portraits of individuals look right at you but you have no idea what they are thinking. I was mesmerized by the images in this book.
Reviewer:
Laura
View this item in the Library Catalog
Submit your own review of this item
