One Night Stand (or the other)

Apart from The Bookman's Promise by John Dunning, my night stand looks pretty bare this week. The other side of the bed is a different story. My husband always has a plethora of interesting reads.

Two I'm browsing this week when I grow tired of the whole crime scene-scene:

Supercharge Your Memory by Corinne Gediman and Francis Crinella
Do you remember Highlights for Kids? This is sort of like Highlights for grown-ups. Graphically pleasing, this book offers a smorgasbord of activities from recalling olfactory memories (remember that rotten carrot your mother put in your kindergarten lunchbag?) to redrawing abstract designs (was the squiggle above or below the circle thingamajig?). You'll have fun, fun, fun, till your Daddy takes your T-bird away.

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell
A fan of Mitchell (especially Black Swan Green), I swoon over everything he's written. Thousand Autumns is no exception. At almost 500 pages, this epic travels to Nagasaki Harbor and immerses us (sometimes too intimately) in the sights, sounds, and sighs of the colorful cast and crew that work for and about the Dutch East Indies Company. If this weren't novel enough, the story ventures further inland when the love-interest of the title character becomes enshrined in a remote convent. You'll be itching to find out how the last samurais face the impending interests of the British Empire.

Just Beachy

Only one more week of guilt-free beach reads. I've got a stack on my nightstand to get through.

Booked to Die by John Dunning
I read about this book in The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession by Allison Hoover Bartlett. A closet Grisham fan, I couldn't resist seeking out a detective novel about a book collector-cop turned bookseller-detective. And happy day. It's a series!

Confections of a Closet Master Baker by Gesine Bullock-Prado
This one came recommended via the "customers who bought this" list on Amazon. The teaser on the cover tells you all you need to know about this tell-all of sorts: "One woman's sweet journey from unhappy Hollywood executive to contented country baker." It was only after a few pages that I realized that the title was "Confections" not "Confessions" as she includes scrumptious sounding recipes gleaned from her childhood in Germany.

The Blue Bistro by Elin Hilderbrand
I browsed this one on the buy-me table at a local retailer. Luckily the library had it in stock as well. A quintessential summer read: girl arrives on Nantucket, girl finds job at magical restaurant on the beach, girl falls in love with...well, you'll just have to wait til I finish it.

A Ticket to the Circus by Norris Church Mailer
This was a find (or rather found) on the library new releases shelf. Its cheerful white stripes and whimsical title should have clued me in that this would be one of those dark and dysfunctional memoirs. Delve into the musings of the woman married to Norman Mailer for thirty-three years if you are ready for summer to be over.

I laughed til I cried

The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Barrows and Annie Shaffer is romantic, funny, and heartbreaking. Read it.

Who's your daddy?

Fathers these days teach a lot of essential skills. They teach their children how to tie shoes, ride bikes, make the perfect Sunday morning waffle, and drive a stick shift. Fathers of long ago perhaps had a more daunting agenda. They were in charge of teaching their offspring how to shoot an arrow for protection and the midday meal, ride a horse, and savor the finer bouquets of monster blood.

Fire by Kristin Cashore features a cast of fathers ranging from game wardens to battle commanders to kings. And monsters. As the story unfolds, many of the characters discover their fathers are not what or even who they thought them to be.

Fire is raised by her birth father, the monster Cansrel, and in his absences, a former royal commander named Brocker. Fire, like her father, possesses mind manipulating powers. She struggles to emulate her father in honing her powers but also to follow the guidance of Brocker in respecting those under her power.

Her struggle is put to the test when Prince Brigan arrives. His brother, King Nash, is working to reverse the unjust practices of his father. He and the royal siblings need her help in uncovering the plots of traitorous lords in the north and south.

As the plot and battle unfolds, the pages turn swiftly through encounters with raptors, sure-shot archers, salacious spies, and a distastefully devious boy with two different colored eyes. Cashore deftly balances the blood and fury with quieter scenes that examine regret, honor, and responsibility. For this, maybe we have her father to thank for teaching her the importance of including both rage and reflection.

Faking It

Up to forty percent of artworks being bought and sold are fakes. So I learned while listening to an interview with the author of Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art.

While waiting for my library request for this book to go through, I came across this article about a man who proposes to authenticate art through fingerprinting. Thus, when the book arrived last week, I was primed to read more about the art underworld.

Provenance, by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo, opens with the dramatis personae. Topping the list are John Drewe, mastermind, and John Myatt, painter. Together they attempted to pull off a scheme that duped art dealers, archivists, and collectors. Myatt painted the “Giocomettis” and “Turners.” Drewe created the provenance for each work. Like one of the detectives in the case, I too was not familiar with this term.

Provenance refers to the documents that track an artwork’s history of ownership. Comprised of receipts, invoices, letters, and catalogs, the provenance not only authenticates a piece but affects the value. If someone can prove a work belonged to a celebrity or was scandalously stolen and retrieved, he can negotiate a higher price for it.

Here’s how the scheme worked. After commissioning a work from Myatt, Drewe created meticulous documents to show records of ownership from the painting’s supposed inception to the most recent deal. He slipped mock catalogs into archives at institutions such as the Tate Gallery and changed sales records. He made stamps and insignias for documents. He doctored canvases to age them and used period wood for the framing. And he made thousands from unwitting dealers and collectors.

But in the end Drewe was framed – by an ex. Just as fascinating as the heist is the unraveling of the operation by the detectives and skeptical archivists. To the end, Drewe proves just as adept at feigning health problems as he was in forging gallery invoices to postpone his trial. He acts as his own counsel and weaves in arms dealing and government conspiracy to prolong the trial.

Ultimately, both men end up serving time for their deception. Though it is not made clear what Drewe is up to these days besides media interviews, his tools have ended up in Scotland Yard’s Crime Museum. Myatt, much more repentant, appears to be doing quite well by selling Genuine Fakes and starring in his own TV series.

As the book asserts, maybe crime does pay. Or at least pave the way to infamy.

Grace and Will

In a land of seven kingdoms lives a young woman graced with powers to kill. On a secret mission for the Council to rescue an elder Lienid, she encounters a young man graced with fighting. Thus begins the young adult novel Graceling by Kristin Cashore.

Katsa is successful in her mission of mercy but soon tires of the killing missions her uncle, King of the Middluns, sets for her. Tired of feeling powerless, she leaves the court with Po, the Lienid fighter of her mercy mission. They set out to discover the mastermind behind his grandfather’s kidnapping.

This page turner packs in plenty of adrenaline-fueled battles, harrowing passages through harsh environments, and tension fraught love scenes. Although Katsa and Po set out to uncover the mystery of his grandfather’s capture, they end up revealing their true Graces.

Another young adult novel I opened recently, Perry Moore’s Hero, opens on a different kind of battle field - the basketball court. We learn that Thom Creed is a typical teenager. When he’s not playing defense, he tries to get along with his father (his mother having disappeared), get to work on time, and daydream about his favorite superhero, Uberman.

Turns out that Thom not only lives in a town that has a League of superheroes, but his father used to be one. And that mother who disappeared? That wasn’t a figure of speech. After Thom begins mysteriously healing people, he’s invited to try out for the League. As most superheroes do, Thom begins living a double-life. His is made a tad more complicated since he not only has to hide his daring-do from his father, but his sexual preference as well. Luckily, a young renegade named the Dark Hero comes to his rescue.

Although the two novels differ in setting and tone, they both examine the trials of coming of age. Not only do these characters learn to control their passions, but more importantly they learn not to fear them. Even those of us not graced with supernatural powers can find that lesson empowering.

Espresso Yourself

I've always wanted to go to art school. Then I'd have an excuse to dye my hair purple and wear vintage lingerie. And take pictures like Sandra Juto.

Now I know where I went wrong. If you are an aspiring artiste, you have to drink coffee. Or serve it. At least this is what I gleaned from two young adult novels I read recently.

Same Difference by Siohban Vivian follows Emily from her safe suburban Starbucks hangout to summer art school in Philadelphia. After meeting a few creative types in her classes, she starts painting dead kitties on her J.Crew tanks and ditching her best friend. She soon discovers it's easier to mix media in her artwork than in her life.

The next novel, The Espressologist by Kristina Springer, has Jane whipping up a few frappycaps in hopes of collecting enough tips to go to this place. In the meantime, she jots down drink orders and the types that order them. (Can't you just picture that frazzled woman who orders a tall iced chamomile tea?) Jane takes it a step further and starts matching her customers based on their drink preferences. Sadly, finding her own love match becomes grounds for betrayal.

Pass me that camera, would you? I'm off to order a ventiwholemilkwithwhip mocha - for my soul mate.