Pauline's Reading

A Girl Named Zippy (2001, Audio), Haven Kimmel
	A memoir of growing up in Mooreland, IN (population 300) in the late 1960-s early 1970s. Read by the author who successful conveys the zest and naivete of her adolescent self. Life in very small town rural Indiana is almost as foreign to me as is life in Afghanistan!

Ponzi's Scheme: the True Story of a Financial Legend (2005, Audio), Mitchell Zuckhoff
As entertaining as fiction, and hard to accept as reality, Ponzi's 15 minutes of fame is presented in page turning style. A sympathetic portrait of man with abundant charm, a generous nature and no sense of reality. That he took in thousands of people with his get rich quick scheme speaks volumes about the human condition. A very entertaining listen.

The Kite Runner (2003, Audio), Khaled Hosseini
This best selling book tells the story of two boys, Amir and Kassan, growing up together in Afghanistan before the Russian invasion. Amir is the son of a wealthy builder, and Hassan is the son of his father's servant. The two motherless boys were nursed by the same woman, are "brothers of the breast" as their fathers were before them. The story moves to America when Amir and his father flee Afghanistan after the Russian occupation, and concludes in Afghanistan to which Amir returns to right an old wrong. The story is told as a memoir and was so affectingly read by the author that I believed I was hearing a memoir until I read the cover notes. The first part of the story is strong and compelling, the ending somehow unsatisfying. The devastation wrought by first the Russians and then the Taliban is frighteningly evoked. This book served to remind me just how far removed the average American (including Amir, the Afghan transplant) is from the poverty and repression of the middle east.
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The Darwin Conspiracy (2005), John Darnton
	Did Darwin really discover evolution? Or did he steal the concept from a Galapagos tribe? Two young scholars (one a Darwin descendent) trace the mystery of the 20 year delay in publishing The Origin of Species to the hidden diary of Darwin's younger daughter.

The Historian (2005), Elizabeth Kostova

Dracula fans, here is a new, more intellectual take on the legend. Vlad Tepes here lives on feeding on historians (and librarians) who are drawn to seek his tomb by the appearance of a mysterious manuscript. The daughter of the latest scholar to disappear sets off to follow her father and unfolds the story along the way, complete with Turkish and Hungarian history, secular and sacred. A fresh, serious approach.

Southern Cross (1998), Patricia Cornwell

Second in the [Hornet's Nest] series, Chief Hammer is in Richmond (VA) on assignment to turn around the local police department. As an outsider with little support from the members of the force, Hammer must cope with gand violence, vandalism and finally murder. Two strong willed (as in mulish) females characters notwithstanding, this is a change from the Scarpetta series.

Reading tip: When you find an author you just love to read, if you go to our E-Reference page, you'll find NoveList under Literature. Type in the author and when the listings come up there is a button that allows you to choose "similar authors".

Predator (2006), Patricia Cornwell -Pauline Kehoe
	This latest edition in the Kay Scarpetta series finds Kay and Pete at the National Forensic Academy in Florida training operatives, Benton in Boston at a Harvard affiliated hospital studying serial killers, and Lucy also in Boston assisting. The characters have been reinvented - slovenly overweight Pete is now a buff, sexy motorcycle dude; razor sharp Lucy has lost her focus; Kay has anger management and communication issues. Even the writing style is choppy. The parallel plots involve one of the killers in the Harvard study and a family that has disappeared (presumed dead) in Florida. Lucy provides one of the links between the two plot lines. This was a less than satisfying read, and lead me to search out the titles in Cornwell's other series which began in Charlotte, NC with Police Chief Judy West, detective Virginia West and reporter Andy Brazil (Hornet's Nest)
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A Question of Guilt (1989), Frances Fyfield -Pauline Kehoe

A Question of Guilt is the first book in a British series featuring Superintendent Geoffrey Bailey and Crown Prosecutor Helen West. Bailey and West come together over the prosecution of a man accused of murdering the wife of a solicitor - to whom wealthy client, widow Eileen Cartwright, has an unhealthy attachment. It is clear to Bailey and West that Cartwright is a calculating adversary, and there are elements of the confessed murderer's story that don't add up. Literate fiction. Bailey and West both have baggage, but are less angst ridden than Dalgliesh (or Elizabeth George's Lynley).

The Lighthouse (2006), P.D. James -Pauline Kehoe

Adam Dalgliesh and his team are sent to isolated Combe Island , now operated as a retreat for wealthy security minded celebrities, to investigate the hanging death of a famous author. This is a variation of the closed room mystery: the island can only be reached by sea and air, and all visitors are screened , so the murderer must be in residence.

One of he guests has SARS and must be airlifted to the hospital. Dalgliesh has been exposed and succumbs just as he discovers the second murder victim. Solving the case falls to the members of his team.

Dame James is in her 80's, it struck me that this could be the last Dalgliesh as Adam finds himself drawn towards marriage with Emma Lavenham, and Kate Mishkin faces the future of her career without his guidance and support. This led me sadly pondering life with no new Dalgliesh novels and sent me scurrying to NoveList for read-a-likes. (I found: Frances Fyfield, A Question of Guilt (1989), Patricia Cornwell, Predator, (2006), Patricia Cornwell, Southern Cross (1998)

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