nomadreader

The backstory: Lucy Knisley is one of my favorite comics artists. My reviews of her earlier books: French Milk , Relish , An Age of License , and Displacement . The basics:  "DIY maven Lucy Knisley was fascinated by American wedding culture . . . but also sort of horrified by it. So she set out to plan and execute the adorable DIY wedding to end all adorable DIY weddings. And she succeeded."--publisher My thoughts: Lucy Knisley and I share a love of food and travel. After reading Something New , it's clear we also share complicated views about weddings and the associated traditions. I still love to talk about my wedding. I still think fondly of my wedding. And I loved revisiting so many of the conversations I had about my wedding while reading about Knisley's. At the time, it felt like I was constantly justifying and defending my decisions (no engagement ring, matching simple wedding bands, not wearing white, walking down the aisle with Mike, etc.) But this r...

The backstory: The Governor's Wife  is the fifth novel in Michael Harvey's series featuring Chicago ex-cop and private investigator Michael Kelly. My reviews of the first four mysteries: The Chicago Way , The Fifth Floor , The Third Rail , and We All Fall Down . The basics: Two years ago, Ray Perry, the governor of Illinois, disappeared from a federal courthouse. Chicago PI Michael Kelly has been hired to find him. He doesn't know who his client is, but he agrees to the job, even if he doesn't agree to receive the $250,000 compensation without more information. My thoughts: Michael Harvey writes smart, fast-paced mysteries that read like thrillers, and The Governor's Wife  is no exception. Once again, Chicago's political corruption   is omnipresent, as are Harvey's signature surprises. This case sounds impossible, and yet Kelly pieces together clues relatively quickly. As part of me questioned his success, I was forced to credit Harvey's intentiona...

The backstory:  The Ghost Network  is my May pick for  The "Darling, but..." Book Club . Within the first few pages, I knew I had to make Mr. Nomadreader read it. The basics:  Told in a nonfiction style, complete with frequent footnotes,  The Ghost Network  begins with the disappearance of Molly Metropolis, a famous pop singer. Through interviews with Metropolis's inner circle and journals,  The Ghost Network  reads like a mystery, a biography, a history of an anarchist fringe group or mapmaking or the city of Chicago, a work on city planning, and a work of philosophy. It is all of those things, and it is none of those things. My thoughts:  I don't think my description of  The Ghost Network  can do it justice. It's so original, and it has so many fun discoveries in it, that I'd rather keep my description vague. I knew very little going into this novel. I think the notes in my review spreadsheet called it a feminist debut mystery...

The backstory: I've been racing through Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch novels and loving them. I decided to read all of his novels in the order in which they were published rather than just the Bosch novels. The Poet  is the first non-Bosch mystery. The basics: When Jack McEvoy, a Denver newspaper journalist, hears his twin brother, a police officer, committed suicide, he doesn't believe it and starts investigating his death as a possible murder. My thoughts: The best stand-alone mysteries are the stories that couldn't be told the same way if the usual crime-solver caught the case, and The Poet  is a stellar mystery. Admittedly, I'm a fan of journalist-fiction, and McEvoy is a smart, savvy journalist (and character) to root for. In many ways The Poet  is the best of both worlds: solving mysteries inside and outside of law enforcement. McEvoy has access to some clues that may have been missed, while he also relies on law enforcement at other times. The result i...

The Third Rail  by Michael Harvey The first two novels in Michael Harvey's Michael Kelly mystery series, The Chicago Way  and The Fifth Floor , were both 5-star reads. By those standards, The Third Rail  fell a little short, but it is still an excellent mystery. Michael Kelly finds himself at the right place at the right time (or perhaps the wrong place at the wrong time) when a sniper kills a woman on the L. It soon becomes clear the killers have far bigger plans to terrify Chicago, and they want Michael Kelly along for the ride. Harvey lets the bad guys share narration in this novel, and the insight into their actions wasn't as compelling of the rest of the mystery. The ending, however, is delightfully ambiguous. Rating: 4 out of 5 Source: library We All Fall Down  by Michael Harvey What I thought was a delightfully ambiguous ending to The Third Rail  turned out to be a cliffhanger, as We All Fall Down  picks up immediately after it left off. T...

The basics: In future Chicago, everyone is part of one of five factions: Erudite, Candor, Dauntless, Abnegation, or Amity. Each year, sixteen-year-olds take a test to determine in which faction they belong. For Beatrice, the test doesn't work. She is a rare divergent, who fits in more than one faction, but she must choose which one will be her home. My thoughts: I'm intentionally late to the Divergent  party. The third (and final) book in the trilogy came out a few weeks ago, and the film comes out in March 2014. After The Hunger Games , I learned I'd rather wait until all three volumes of a trilogy are published to dive in. First, how much do I love Veronica Roth for choosing those names for the factions? I early await the increased vocabulary of the teens reading these books. I was swept up in the world of Divergent  immediately. As I read, I found myself contemplating which faction I would have chosen (Erudite), as if I would really be faced with the choice. I was al...

The backstory: After devouring Michael Harvey's first mystery featuring ex-cop turned private investigator Michael Kelly in a day, The Chicago Way , I immediately picked up The Fifth Floor , the second in the series. The basics: The titular fifth floor refers to the location of the Chicago mayor's office, a sure sign Harvey is once again tackling a story of political intrigue. When an old girlfriend asks Michael Kelly to track her husband, who works for the mayor, Kelly doesn't anticipate discovering a dead body while he does so. Soon he finds himself solving multiple mysteries, including this murder, stretching from the Chicago fire of 1871 to the present. My thoughts: Rarely do I like to read two of an author's books back to back, let alone two in a series without a break, but before I had even finished The Chicago Way , I'd requested the other three titles in the series from the library. One of the things I love most about Michael Harvey's writing is the ...

The backstory: The Chicago Way  is the first in Michael Harvey's Michael Kelly mystery series. The basics: When private investigator Michael Kelly, a former Chicago cop, takes on an 8-year-old rape and battery case for his former partner, his partner is murdered. Now Kelly has two cases to solve. My thoughts: After a wonderful trip to Chicago in March, I find myself drawn to fiction set in the city. The Chicago Way  doesn't paint the most complementary picture of the city, particularly its politics, but Harvey captures the essence of the city beautifully. Michael Kelly is something of an antihero himself. He reads and quotes classic Greek literature, but he's clearly fighting some demons. Harvey keeps part of Kelly mysterious, and I appreciate that. He manages to develop the character, fill in his backstory, but he doesn't overwhelm the story to paint a picture of Kelly. In this book, it seems there's no one to trust, or rather no one Kelly can really trust. Ha...

The backstory: After a delightful (but too short) trip to Chicago over Spring Break in March, I became temporarily obsessed with reading books set in Chicago. I was also on a mystery kick, so discovering the first two novels in Clare O'Donohue's Kate Conway series was perfect on both fronts. The basics: Kate Conway is a reality television producer. In Missing Persons , she's working on a show of the same name and documenting the story of a young woman who disappeared a year earlier. At the same time, Kate's soon-to-be-ex-husband suddenly dies, and she becomes a suspect. In Life Without Parole , Kate is working on two shows: a reality show about a new restaurant opening and one documenting the lives of prisoners serving life sentences. My thoughts: In both books, Clare O'Donohue does an excellent job of letting the mysteries evolve naturally. Cozy mysteries, in which the person solving a crime isn't a private investigator or member of law enforcement, can s...

The backstory: After adoring French Milk , Lucy Knisley's graphic memoir about traveling to France with her mother in 2004, I was eager to read her newest graphic memoir. The basics: Relish  is a memoir of Knisley's life told through food. As the daughter of foodies, Knisley traces her relationship with food from childhood to today. My thoughts: Lucy Knisley has a wonderful ability to share the emotions she felt with her readers. It's not simply a matter of her signature art, although her visual aesthetic certainly contributes to it, particularly the way she uses space. At the heart of what I love about her work is her raw honesty. She doesn't hide, and that inhibition draws me right in. Knisley isn't just showing and telling her story, she's inviting her readers to share it. Relish  is obviously perfect for foodies. The images of Knisley tasting her first foie gras at a dinner party as a child and proceeding to ask every grown up at the table if they ha...

The basics: The Middlesteins  is the story of the Middlestein family: its obese matriarch Edie, her husband Richard, their adult children Robin and Benny, and Benny's wife and children. The family lives in the Chicago suburbs and the narration shifts between these main characters and moves through time non-linearly. My thoughts: The experience I had reading The Middlesteins   is one of my favorites: I knew very little going into it, so I was able to enter the journey of this novel without any preconceptions. Early on, I fell hard for Robin's sharp, raw observations about herself and her world: "Robin looked at Daniel and had the meanest thought of her entire life. He'll do ." I was so enamored with the way she sees the world, I was sad when the narration shifted to Benny's wife. Attenberg soon alleviated this pain, however, as I discovered each of the narrators were fascinating. I adore this scene, in which Rachelle outlines all of the lies she's told...