The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell - NYDailyNews.com

Ever so noir and a touch Gatsbyesque, “The Other Typist” is a twisty tale of a clerical worker at a Manhattan precinct house during Prohibition. Suzanne Rindell has written a novel so cinematic that it reads as if it’s in preproduction.

Rose refers to herself as being in the “police business.” She’s a typist who takes down and transcribes confessions, a graduate of the Astoria Stenographers College for Ladies who works on the lower East Side and lives in a Brooklyn rooming house. The year is 1924.

The delicious first line: “They said the typewriter would unsex us.”

Being desexualized is hardly an issue for Rose. Or rather, it’s already been taken care of. True, there was that “friendship” with another girl that seemed to cross a line at the Queens convent where Rose was raised. But her plain looks, mannish clothes and shrilly correct demeanor accomplish what nature could not, effectively stifling any suggestion of a sexual self.

Rose is repression personified, beating out 150 words per minute on a typewriter, 300 on the stenotype. She’s deadly accurate, too.

Sometimes it seems as if the roguish Lieutenant Detective is flirting with her, but she reserves what smoldering feelings are left unsuppressed for the safely married Sergeant. Until Odalie shows up, that is.

If Odalie were a cocktail, she’d be a blend of self-possession and class poured over allure. Add a dash of mystery and call it Rose’s Ruin.

Odalie strolls into the station house to apply for the job of the other typist. She makes an immediate impression on Rose.

“She was the dark epicenter of something we didn’t quite understand yet,” Rose observes, “the place where hot and cold mixed dangerously, and around her everything would change.”

Rose is almost as astute as she is susceptible. In just a flurry of time, she’s out of dreary Brooklyn and occupying the other bedroom in Odalie’s suite at a swank Manhattan hotel. Rose is also joining Odalie at speakeasies. Since the main job of work at the precinct house is enforcing the Volstead Act, Rose has assumed a compromising position.

Rindell conjures the aura of vulgar decadence that Baz Luhrmann will soon bring to the screen in “The Great Gatsby.” She even throws Odalie and Rose into high society at a house party on Long Island. It’s at the mansion with vast property fronting both the Sound and the sea that the novel turns sinister.

Obviously, Odalie isn’t typing for money. Rose wises up to the real game fast. She’s also given several versions of Odalie’s past, even as Rose becomes complicit in the sordid present. We know all this, because Rose tells us so.


But can she be trusted? Rose, after all, is a worrisome package of obsession and repression. She may be able to record a confession almost faster than it can be spoken, but how good is she with the truth outside of the interrogation room?

“The Other Typist” is seductive, shady fun, an ideal read for the beach on West Egg.


ON OTHERS' WORDS

“The Golem and the Jinni" is a fantastical tale about, well, a golem and a jinni who cross paths in lower Manhattan at the turn of the last century. No one should have trouble picturing a golem on the lower East Side or a jinni in Tribeca, then or now.

Helene Wecker’s story begins in 1899 as a Polish Jew spends his remaining fortune on a golem — fashioned from clay into a human figure, as golems traditionally are. This particular golem is meant to serve as the man’s wife, as he prepares to emigrate to New York. He dies onboard ship, while she lives and ends up working in a Jewish bakery on the lower East Side.

Meanwhile, the jinni travels to Manhattan’s Little Syria in a flask opened by a tinsmith at his shop near Washington St. The golem, Chava, is lost without a master while the jinni, Ahmad, must rid himself of the wizard who first imprisoned this devilish spirit capable of taking human form.

The two inevitably meet and that Jewish-Arab chasm is nothing to these mystical, tormented beings. Each has a particular destiny to defy as they chase through the streets and over the rooftops of the long-ago city. The tale is meant to be magical, and it is, but Wecker’s real sleight of pen is re-creating Manhattan as it was then. She has a historian’s grasp of detail and a novelist’s flair.



Source : http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/typist-golem-jinni-book-reviews-article-1.1332363

Joyland - New Stephen King novel for Hard Case Crime

A new novel by Stephen King, Joyland, is to be published by Titan Books imprint Hard Case Crime in June 2013.

The book will be released as a paperback first, with e-book to follow at a later date. King said: "I loved the paperbacks I grew up with as a kid, and for that reason, we're going to hold off on e-publishing this one for the time being. Joyland will be coming out in paperback, and folks who want to read it will have to buy the actual book."

The title, set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever.

Hard Case Crime editor Charles Ardai bought world English rights in the title, with King's novel The Colorado Kid previously released under the imprint. The deal does not affect King's relationship with his usual UK publisher, Hodder.

Ardai said: "Joyland is a breathtaking, beautiful, heartbreaking book. It's a whodunit, it's a carny novel, it's a story about growing up and growing old, and about those who don't get to do either because death comes for them before their time.

"Even the most hardboiled readers will find themselves moved. When I finished it, I sent a note saying: 'Goddamn it, Steve, you made me cry.'"

Source : http://www.thebookseller.com/news/new-stephen-king-novel-hard-case-crime.html

New Novel Doctor Sleep by Stephen King - First Look

The cover for Stephen King's new novel Doctor Sleep, which features Danny Torrance from The Shining, has been released.

It shows a picture of a white cat surrounded by smoke and is available online in an interactive animated version. The innovative format allows fans to find out more about the book, watch a video of King reading an extract and share their thoughts through social media.

Doctor Sleep will be released in September. The novel returns to the characters and territory of King's 1977 bestseller, The Shining, about a little boy, Danny Torrance, who is haunted after his family move to a remote hotel.

The cat on the cover references one of King's early influences for the novel – Oscar, a therapy cat who was able to predict the deaths of terminally ill patients in a nursing home in America by sitting on the beds of people who died shortly after.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, King said the cat "was the transmission and Danny was the motor". The now middle-aged Danny, or 'Dan', works with the cat in a nursing home where he provides final comfort to the dying, becoming known as "Doctor Sleep".

King described writing Doctor Sleep as a "real challenge" because of its connection to The Shining, which he wrote before he was 30. Now 65, the author said he wanted to "go back to the real creepy scary stuff" in the new novel.

Doctor Sleep also shows how Dan has grown up after his experiences in the Overlook Hotel and whether he has inherited the alcoholism that haunted his father Jack in The Shining. King has introduced a "surrogate child" character, Abra Stone, to mirror the fatherhood theme which was a cause of such fear in the Seventies bestseller.

Stone also has "the shining", which puts her at risk from a tribe of people who live off the "steam" that those who "shine" produce when they are tortured to death. The novel follows Dan's attempts to save her from this terrible fate.

Source : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/9943326/Stephen-Kings-new-novel-Doctor-Sleep-first-look.html

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

Format : Hardcover

Author : Khaled Hosseini

Release date: May 21, 2013

Book Description

An unforgettable novel about finding a lost piece of yourself in someone else.

Khaled Hosseini, the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, has written a new novel about how we love, how we take care of one another, and how the choices we make resonate through generations. In this tale revolving around not just parents and children but brothers and sisters, cousins and caretakers, Hosseini explores the many ways in which families nurture, wound, betray, honor, and sacrifice for one another; and how often we are surprised by the actions of those closest to us, at the times that matter most. Following its characters and the ramifications of their lives and choices and loves around the globe—from Kabul to Paris to San Francisco to the Greek island of Tinos—the story expands gradually outward, becoming more emotionally complex and powerful with each turning page.

About the Author : Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, and moved to the United States in 1980. His first novel, The Kite Runner, was an international bestseller, published in thirty-eight countries. In 2006 he was named a goodwill envoy to UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency. He lives in northern California.

Book Review : Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout

When he set out to prove his feelings for me, he wasn’t fooling around. Doubting him isn’t something I’ll do again, and now that we’ve made it through the rough patches, well... There’s a lot of spontaneous combustion going on.

But even he can’t protect his family from the danger of trying to free those they love.

After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different... And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable of. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.

Together we’re stronger... and they know it.

Review: Honestly, I don't even know where to start with this book. After finishing it about a week ago I still feel speechless when I think of everything that happened in book three.

I've always liked Katy but for some reason I found her annoying at times. She's just always putting herself in situations she doesn't need to be in and just makes things worse. I understand that she wants to help, be a part of things but sometimes it's better to leave things to the real aliens.

Daemon is as perfect as usual. Beside his usual cocky comebacks we also get to see a more sweet side of him. And I loved it. Daemon is always in control and I love that he's willing to do anything for the people he cares about.

I think there's something terribly wrong with me but...I don't hate Blake. In fact, I can't help but have a soft spot for him. I hate what he did at the end of book two but I can't help liking him anyway. And the worse part is he doesn't even redeem himself in this book AT ALL and I hate what he did.  And yet, I still like him. Yeah, I know. I'm freaking crazy.

The ending? Oh my god! Major cliffhanger. The kind where you don't even know what to do with yourself because the next book doesn't come out for MONTHS and you need to know what happened NOW. I hate cliffhangers but I'll admit this was has definitely left me eager to read more. Fans of this series will definitely be happy with this edition of the series!

Source :

http://lovetoreadagoodbook.blogspot.in/2013/05/review-opal-lux-3-by-jennifer-l.html

Book Review : Every Contact Leaves a Trace by Elanor Dymott

There are many things to savor about Elanor Dymott's debut suspense novel, Every Contact Leaves a Trace — among them, its baroque narrative structure and its clever manipulation of the stock, husband-who-hasn't-got-a-clue character. But Dymott really won me over when she pulled Robert Browning out of her crime kit. Nobody reads Robert Browning anymore, do they? As far as I can tell, high schools have thrown in the towel when it comes to teaching Victorian poetry; dissertations on Browning's dramatic monologues have all but dried up. Speaking as someone who'd begun to think she'd misspent her youth in grad school reading that stuff, I was ecstatic to see that Dymott resurrected two of Browning's creepiest poems about sexual jealousy, "Porphyria's Lover" and "My Last Duchess." Their musty lines provide pointers to decoding the book's central crime.

Much of the action in Every Contact Leaves a Trace takes place at Oxford University in the mid-1990s, where all but two of the book's key players are taking degrees in English literature — a setting and time period that perhaps explain Dymott's outmoded choice of literary clues. Our narrator, Alex, is the odd man out, a humdrum law student amid the more glamorous literary types. In the present time of the novel, however, Alex is humdrum no longer — at least insofar as his personal situation is concerned. It's December 2007, and Alex tells us that his wife, Rachel, has recently been murdered. He explains that six months ago (I warned you that the narrative structure here was complicated), on Midsummer Night, the couple was leaving a reunion dinner at Worcester, their old Oxford college, when Rachel inexplicably declared that she had a hankering to walk down by the lake in the moonlight, alone. Perhaps, if marshmallow-y Alex hadn't been so in thrall to the ethereal Rachel, he might have questioned her motives, but he let her go. An hour or so later, he heard a scream and discovered her battered corpse on the college grounds. For a time, Alex was the prime suspect, but a witness has cleared his name. Meanwhile, the truth about Rachel's identity has grown murkier and murkier.

In his prologue, Alex tells us that the past few months have been "a process of discovery: I went into a dark room with my camera for a time, and I came out with a photograph of a woman I had never seen before." If that opening situation sounds a little familiar, you've probably read Gone Girl. Gillian Flynn's 2012 best-seller also opened on the predicament of a baffled husband whose departed wife turns out to be a whole other animal than the goody-goody she pretended to be. While Dymott's novel, unlike Flynn's, swerves into the past, returning to Oxford undergraduate days to ferret out the original sin responsible for Rachel's murder, it also offers up some of the same intricate storytelling satisfactions — and marital nightmares — as Gone Girl.

The retrospective chapters of Every Contact Leaves a Trace, which take place in Oxford, won't please those mystery lovers who are also discerning Anglophiles; Dymott's descriptions of Worcester College are surprisingly boilerplate, given that it's her own alma mater: It's all tutors' rooms, porters' lodges and the requisite "Buttery bar."

But what the setting lacks in old-English detail it makes up for in layer upon layer of intrigue. Back in their undergraduate days at Worcester, Alex and Rachel had a brief fling, but she was out of his league, socially and intellectually. Rachel, an orphan, was under the indifferent care of her cold but wealthy godmother, Evie, a scholar of Japanese decorative art. Adding to Rachel's otherworldly allure was the fact that she spent almost all of her time cloistered with the two other students who shared her private tutorial sessions with Harry Gardner, a noted literary scholar whose own wife died under hushed-up circumstances. Week after week, the three students would huddle in Harry's rooms, puzzling over the ornate poetic masterworks of Browning and his Victorian contemporaries.

In the climax of this novel, Alex returns to Oxford to discover secrets about the trio's past and learn about the long half-life of crimes of passion. The grieving Alex will also be given a volume of Browning's poems as an aid to solving Rachel's murder. Whether an English degree would have helped Alex to more quickly grasp the truth about himself and his wife is debatable; what is certain is that Dymott has put her own undergraduate degree (and the law degree that followed) to good use. Every Contact Leaves a Trace is an intelligent literary mystery, featuring the kind of tormented narrator that Robert Browning himself might have relished.

Source :
http://www.npr.org/2013/05/07/180820443/postgraduate-post-mortem-in-a-smart-literary-mystery

Book Review : Through the Ever Night by Veronia Rossi

Through the Ever Night (Under the Never Sky #2) by Veronica Rossi

It's been months since Aria last saw Perry. Months since Perry was named Blood Lord of the Tides, and Aria was charged with an impossible mission. Now, finally, they are about to be reunited. But their reunion is far from perfect. The Tides don't take kindly to Aria, a former Dweller. And with the worsening Aether storms threatening the tribe's precarious existence, Aria begins to fear that leaving Perry behind might be the only way to save them both.

hreatened by false friends, hidden enemies, and powerful temptations, Aria and Perry wonder, Can their love survive through the ever night?

My Thoughts: OH, BOOK! How easily you tear my heart to shreds and twist me up inside. I actually had to put you down for a while because I was all emotional and WORRIED for the horrible things you were putting all these beautiful characters through.

 

(Just so you know, those "horrible things" are totally worth it. TOTALLY. I'm all flaily with a side of flail over all the things that happened)

I really liked the dynamic between Aria and Perry in book 1 and this carried through nicely into book 2. Even when they're parted by circumstance and endless Aether storms, they tug at my emotions. I LOVED that Perry is coming into his own as the Blood Lord. He's not perfect. He makes mistakes. But he tries. He only wants what's best for his tribe and sometimes what's best isn't what they want. His struggles got to me. It was hard reading about his doubt in himself when he's been so strong and confident previously. That said, it fit perfectly with the responsibilities he's taken on. He worries that he's not doing enough to protect them. He worries that he's doing too much. He has to fight for their respect in ways he never anticipated. Bringing Aria into the fold doesn't make things easier.

While Aria's heart belongs to Perry (and vice versa), her relationship with Roar was unexpectedly sweet. She refers to him as her best friend at one point and my heart sort of melted. I *like* Roar. He's her touchstone when she's away from Perry. He's the voice that tells Perry to lighten up when the weight of everything comes crashing down around him. Roar's love for Liv is one rock-solid constant in this crazy world.

SO MUCH happens here. We get some backstory on how the world ended up this way. We get backstabbing and danger and lies and love and unexpected allies all tangled together into one glorious package.

Source :

http://paranormalbookreviews-kelly.blogspot.in/2013/05/review-through-ever-night-by-veronia.html

Trapped, by Michael Northrop - Book Review

The first thought that comes to mind after reading Trapped is, "It moves!" There is never a dull moment, and it reads very quickly.

Trapped is a classic survival story, involving seven teens trapped in their high school during a snow storm. Oh, but this isn't just any snow storm. It snows for about six days straight -- heavy snow -- and buries the school and everything in the town in about 18 feet of snow.

The situation that allows them to all end up in school alone is a bit of a stretch, but just go with it. I work in a high school. This wouldn't happen. But anyway....

I'm not going to go into detail about the challenges that the seven face, because that's the story. Suffice it to say, there are personality issues (of course) and issues involving the storm and the cold.




The characters are realistic teens of different cliques and different backgrounds. Some are friends, but some are outcasts. There isn't much real growth, but our teens do begin to realize that their impressions of each other during a regular school day might not be very accurate.

They are resourceful and sometimes they make bad decisions. Trapped never lets up as they meet one challenge after another. The ending is satisfying, if somewhat difficult. Not everyone will survive (which we learn on page 6, so that's not a spoiler.)

Trapped is short and riveting -- all the ingredients that make it perfect for reluctant readers. The narrator is a boy, and both boys and girls will enjoy Trapped. Northrop puts his teen characters (in all his books) in difficult situations and is a master of realistic characterizations, even if some of the situations are a little extreme.

Source : 

http://annettesbookspot.blogspot.in/2013/05/book-review-trapped-by-michael-northrop.html