1Q84 by Haruki Mirukami

The year is 1984. The place is Japan.

Tengo is a math teacher and a writer who lives a very quiet life. He finds himself struggling though, to get his ideas onto the page. When he is contacted by an editor friend to “fix up” a book written by a seventeen year old girl. When he gets his working copy of the book, he finds himself diving head first into the rewrite, completely engrossed in the story and the world that the girl has created. Soon though, Tengo notices certain changes in the world around him, and he discovers that maybe the young girl’s book isn’t fiction after all.

Aomame is a hired assassin for a secret organization. On the way to a meeting, she begins to notice strange things, and finds that she has been transported to another world. This new world is very similar in many ways to the world she’s familiar with, but it’s also very different. She calls this place 1Q84.

Tengo and Aomame went to elementary school together for a while, and had one encounter that was very memorable for both of them. Now, twenty years later, in this new world, Tengo and Aomame find themselves thinking about one another, and yearning to find each other. Little do they know that in 1Q84, their fates are tied together in ways that they don’t completely understand.

At 925 pages, 1Q84 is a big book, in more ways than one. It took me a month to read, which is a lot for me, since I can usually knock out a book in a couple of days. I almost gave up a couple of times, but I couldn’t. I had to know what happened! The book, while a little repetitive in spots, is so well written, there were times I just had to stop and reread a section or a phrase. Mirukami’s writing style is simple, elegant, and very observant to the details of everyday life, sometimes to the most minute detail. I’m still not sure I “get” what the alternative reality was about, but that’s OK, because this is one of those books that I won’t mind re-reading, probably again and again.

Lost Memory of Skin by Russell Banks

At 22 years old, the Kid doesn’t have a lot going for him at the moment. A loner by nature, he doesn’t have any friends, he barely finished high school, and he’s never even kissed a girl. After being kicked out of the army, he gets arrested for meeting up with a minor he met on the internet, and is now on parole. As a registered sex offender, he’s not allowed to live within 2500 feet of any school or day care center, or frequent areas where kids might congregate, and he’s not allowed to use the internet. He’s also not allowed to leave the county, and in this busy area of Florida, that doesn’t leave him a lot of options. So, he’s set up camp under the Causeway with his six foot long iguana, in the only place in the area that’s isolated enough to allow him to obey the law, and still be able to get to his job.

The camp is populated by other offenders who’ve sought refuge there as well, and their ragged encampment makes the townspeople very uncomfortable. After a raid on the camp makes the news, the Kid is approached by the Professor, a larger than life college professor who claims to be doing research on sex offenders and homelessness and maybe help the camp’s residents improve conditions so that the authorities will lay off. Although sceptical, the Kid slowly begins to trust the Professor, and accepts his help.

When a hurricane blows through, the encampment is endangered, and in the wake of the storm, there is more than physical damage to deal with. The Professor has been keeping some secrets, and when they are revealed, threaten to topple the Kid’s already shaky foundation.

Although it’s a really tough subject, Mr. Banks has crafted an amazing tale. The character stories are revealed one layer at a time in a way that makes you want to keep reading. And he while he doesn’t excuse the Kid’s behavior, heck, even the Kid knows he was acting like a dumb ass, given the back story, you can see how the Kid landed here, and at the end, you feel hopeful and heartbroken for him, all at the same time.

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

In the 70’s in rural Mississippi, two young men become unlikely friends over the course of one fateful summer. Larry is the son of white lower middle class parents and Silas is the son of a black single mother. Despite the warnings of both of their parents, the boys friendship continues to grow, until Larry takes a girl out on a date, and the girl disappears and is never heard from or found.

Living under a cloud of suspicion, Larry is ostracized by the community, and he is sent away to the military. After his father’s death, he tries to hang on to the family business, a mechanic shop, but no one wants to do business with a suspected killer.

Twenty or so years later, the two friends have lost touch when Silas comes back to town as a police officer. Another girl disappears, and once again, Larry is under suspicion. As the investigation continues, the two men are forced to revisit the events of the past, and confront the secrets that have been buried for so long.

This book starts out with a bang, and I was immediately drawn into the story. I devoured this book in one afternoon, and enjoyed every page! The story shifts back and forth between the past and the present, and the secrets of the past are unfolded layer by carefully constructed layer. Mr. Franklin’s writing style is just beautiful, and I can’t wait to get my hands on some more.

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Hadley Richardson is 29 years old when she meets a young Ernest Hemingway in Chicago in 1920. Following a whirlwind courtship, the couple are soon married, and are off to begin their life in Paris. It’s the Jazz Age in Paris, and the city is full of artists, writers, and beautiful people. Soon, their circle of friends includes the company of Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. The couple aren’t quite prepared for the unusual lifestyles and heavy drinking of their peers, and while their wild behavior provides a bit of amusement, it soon takes its toll on their marriage.

As Ernest struggles to write and get his work published, Hadley has struggles of her own as she tries to be supportive of her husband and his work, and yet maintain a sense of her own identity. The couple is still very much in love, and when the betrayal comes, they are both shaken.

Drawing from Hemingway’s own memoir of his life in Paris, “A Movable Feast”, as well as other biographical sources, Ms. McLain has given us a glimpse into the Paris of the 1920’s, and into the mind and heart of one of the world’s greatest writers. As a love story, the tale of Hemingway’s marriage is sometimes sweet, often volatile, and a great read. I’m predicting that this one will be a book club favorite.

Swamplandia by Karen Russell

The Bigtree family’s in trouble. The family owns and runs Swamplandia!, a gator wrestling theme park in Florida. They’ve recently encountered some major competition, in the form of a The World of Darkness, a mainland theme park. When Hilola, family matriarch and headlining act at the park dies, it seems that Swamplandia is doomed.

As if that weren’t bad enough, 17-year-old brother Kiwi has taken it upon himself to help rescue the family from impending foreclosure by taking a job with the competition. Sister Ossie is in love with a guy called the Dredgeman who may be a ghost. Chief Bigtree, patriarch, has gone on one of his “ventures” to the mainland, leaving thirteen year old Ava and her sister in charge of Swamplandia, 98 alligators, and a bear. When Ossie takes off  with her “boyfriend”, Ava sets out on a perilous journey through the swamps to find her.

Kind of a cross between McCammon’s “Boy’s Life” , with its child’s viewpoint of what may or may not be real, and Kinsolver’s “The Poisonwood Bible”, this one was thoroughly enjoyable.

Perfect Peace by Daniel Black

Perfect Peace is eight years old when her mother tells her that she’s not going to be a girl anymore, and hands her a pair of boys overalls to replace her pretty dress. From now on, she’ll be a boy, because that’s what she was born as.

The time is 1940. The place is Swamp Creek, Arkansas. Emma Jean has already given birth to 6 boys. All she wants in the world is for this seventh child to be a girl. So, when the child is born, Emma Jean names her Perfect, and so begins hiding a secret so big that it almost tears apart the Peace family, and that has consequences that no one could foresee.

This book is pitch perfect in every way. Unlike some family sagas that can get bogged down, this one keeps moving at a rapid pace, while giving you enough character development that you really begin to bond with each of them. Mr. Black handles some extremelysensitive issues with compassion. If this book doesn’t become a book club favorite, I’ll be surprised. It’s certainly a new favorite of mine.