book reviews of literary, mainstream and genre fiction and nonfiction http://www.curledup.com/index.htm In Kate Christensen’s new novel, one character is as brittle as a glass necklace and another breaks away from the confines of her marriage, eventually exploring and rediscovering her dormant and quiescent sexuality. Josie and Raquel have an almost perfect friendship that ebbs and flows, at times gaining enough momentum to spin them out of the orbits that they've committed to over the years. Although she’s the last to admit it, Raquel is desperate, almost begging her friend to come down to Mexico City where they “can drink tequila, go dancing and breathe in all of the incessant pollution.” A famous rock star with a new album on the way - hopefully her big comeback - Raquel is in deep trouble, caught up in a sleazy tabloid scandal involving an up-and-coming young actor and his pregnant girlfriend... http://www.curledup.com/troublkc.htm ‘On the morning the last Lisbon daughter took her turn at suicide – it was Mary this time, and sleeping pills, like Therese – the two paramedics arrived at the house knowing exactly where the knife drawer was, and the gas oven, and the beam in the basement from which it was possible to tie a rope.’ And so it begins. How could you not want to read on after that opening? I think one of the most fascinating things about THE VIRGIN SUICIDES is the fact that the story begins with the revelation that the Lisbon daughters are all dead. Normally I find it difficult to bond with a character I know is going to die, but that was definitely not the case with this story. I almost cared more about them because I knew what was going to happen, but that owes entirely to Eugenides’ great characterization. We’re introduced to the five sisters close to the beginning of the novel, when they hold their first - and last - party with the neighborhood boys. It can get confusing when so many similar characters are brought into a story at one time, but Eugenides differentiates between each of the girls, giving them their own individual quirks... http://www.curledup.com/jevirgin.htm History has depicted Juana of Castile – the third child of venerable Spanish monarchs Isabel and Ferdinand – as a woman who went completely mad with grief when she lost the love of her husband, Archduke Philip of Flanders. In his second novel, THE LAST QUEEN, C.W. Gortner sets out to dispel the myth of “Juana La Loca” (Juana The Mad), choosing to portray her as a headstrong, capable woman worthy of the Spanish crown she inherited whose power was suppressed by the ambitious men who surrounded her. Young Juana spends her childhood enduring long and arduous travels as her parents fight to unify Spain and defend it from invaders. When Spain takes Grenada from the Moors in 1492, Juana happily settles for a time in the Moorish palace of Alhambra, a place where she finds peace and tranquility... http://www.curledup.com/lstqueen.htm THE WINTER VAULT is a complex, passionate novel about loneliness, destruction, replication, personal loss, and memories of one’s roots, and it requires high levels of patience and concentration if one is to absorb everything that Anne Michaels is trying to say. It is neither a plot-driven nor a character-driven novel; in fact, those are its weakest elements. Rather, it is a philosophical novel filled with rambling monologues, lessons, and meditations that often have little to do with plot. Further, the book’s main characters, although they can be memorable, often have more the feel of actors being brought on stage simply to make an author’s points than the feel of real, breathing people. It is 1964, and Avery Escher is in Egypt to save Abu Simbel’s Great Temple from the floodwaters soon to be released by the new Aswan Dam. He will oversee the dismantling of the centuries-old Temple so that it can be reconstructed some sixty feet higher in a cliff where it will be safe from the flooding. His wife, Jean, who witnessed a similar event in Canada when ten villages were sacrificed to the waters of the new St. Lawrence Seaway, is in Egypt with Avery, whom she met when he worked the Seaway project... http://www.curledup.com/wintrvlt.htm Sokoloff steps into the world of paranormal psychological phenomenon in this quirky thriller as scientific methodology is applied to ESP, if such an ambitious task can be accomplished. It is the barriers between the known and the unknown that carry such fascination, the scientist’s insatiable need to quantify, to understand that which perhaps is not measurable. The tale begins with the extraordinary: a young woman wakes from a dream of her fiancé’s infidelity. Listening to her instincts, she drives two hours home from a scientific convention in another city only to find her worst fears borne out. Her fiancé is indeed with another woman. An explosively shattering mirror seals the deal. Suddenly the young woman having the nightmare, Dr. Laurel MacDonald, has moved across the country, from California to Duke University in North Carolina, where she has accepted a teaching position. Deeply disturbed by the breakup and her eerie precognition, Laurel is struggling with this undefined new life and particularly susceptible to the overtures of another faculty member... http://www.curledup.com/unseenas.htm Somewhat of a departure for Waters (specifically the outward lack of lesbian characters), her latest novel plunges us into the grand, decaying estate of Hundreds Hall, deep in the county of Warwickshire. Our window into this world comes via Dr. Faraday, a local country doctor who throughout the story is similarly repelled then entranced by the strange, aristocratic Ayres Family, who are seemingly at odds with their crumbling-down house. As the good Doctor looks back at his childhood, those last grand years for Hundreds Hall and the Empire day fete, the Hall has already started its long, slow decline. Now only the family matriarch, Mrs. Ayres, and her two children, Caroline and Roderick, reside, the three locked in self-enforced seclusion along with Betty, their maid, and their cook, Mrs. Bazeley. When Faraday makes his first visit to the house after more than thirty years, ostensibly to look in on Betty and help Roddie seek some relief from his war wounds, he finds a vastly different state of affairs from that day in 1919 when he was in awe of the grand estate. Roddie, Caroline and their mother have withdrawn from the world, the estate itself no longer the majestic house with handsome brick faces and cool marble passages, each filled with marvelous things... http://www.curledup.com/ltlstran.htm In her prior novels, Hoffman has made her mark by weaving magical realism into the disparate elements of everyday life. THE STORY SISTERS, however, addresses a difficult subject: the destructive nature of drugs and the emotional fallout of a family torn apart of by the tragic loss of a loved one. As teenagers, Elv, Meg and Claire Story share a powerful circle of intrigue and imagination, their young lives surrounded by the faery realm and secret language of Arnelle, where women have wings and it is possible to read the thoughts of another person. The three sisters have a unique understanding that no one can break. But when Elv rescues Claire from the evil seductions of a child molester, all three girls are set on a tangled path, the emotional fallout from the event shaping much of their lives that follows. From early on, it becomes clear that Elv is the one who starts to exhibit the signs of a reckless malcontent, the long patterns of rebelliousness and anger at Annie, her long-suffering mother, and her two sisters becoming almost impossible for the family to bear... http://www.curledup.com/storysis.htm Two sisters are the focus of this novel, their mutual admiration and balanced relationship shattered when one suffers a life-changing accident. Perhaps the trouble has been brewing for a while for March and Mae Wallace Anders, petty grievances and small jealousies building over the years as life forces them in opposite directions. The happy, outgoing March is popular in spite of her unrepentant girth, an appetite for life attracting boyfriends and friends. The smaller and more demure older sister, Mae Wallace, is less gregarious, early assuming the role of caretaker of her younger sister, even though their parents provide a happy, wealthy home environment. But after March’s accident, there is a subtle shift between the sisters, made more pronounced when Mae Wallace moves to a small South Carolina island to help care for March, who is living in a therapeutic community. Obviously, a formerly active young woman must adjust emotionally to a changed future - and not necessarily in a good-natured manner... http://www.curledup.com/widesmil.htm How does an average American girl figure into the economic development of Rwanda? And how does her long-discarded sweater get to Kigali ahead of her? In truth, Jacqueline Novogratz is not so average. With a healthy job in international banking and a burning desire to “change the world,” she found inspiration in the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, which lends small sums to poor women so that they can start or enlarge their own businesses. A little research led Novogratz to a similar organization based in New York City seeking an ambassador to African women with the African Development Bank. Novogratz wasted no time in leaving her Wall Street gig and turning her skills, experience, and compassion to non-profit service. Like most idealists, Novogratz found her good intentions ridiculed and rejected. She was met with hostility and suspicion by co-workers, politicians, and even the intended recipients of aid. Her unshakeable faith in capitalism and the plan to provide loans to the poorest individuals in Rwanda were incomprehensible to the philanthropists who prefer throwing grant money at social problems without a clear understanding of the cultural factors that generate the problems or a coherent plan for analyzing outcomes. Accused of trying to take advantage of the poor by forcing them to repay loans rather than giving them handouts, Novogratz nevertheless clung to her philosophy... http://www.curledup.com/blueswtr.htm Goldsworthy begins with the most important question: just how did Rome fall? Was it barbarian invasions? Societal decay and corruption? Opinions are divided on this issue, but Goldsworthy seems to see it as a combination of these things. Ostensibly, the Empire fell in 476 A.D., when the last Roman emperor who ruled from Italy was deposed by a Germanic invader. However, some see the Empire as having already fallen even before this date, with pretenders to the throne ruling before this. The Roman emperors since Marcus Aurelius died in 180 were much weaker for the most part than those who had preceded him. Throughout a period of 60 years or so in the third century, there were 65 claimants to the Roman throne, some lasting only days. Some say this internal strife is essentially what eventually killed the Empire, with the barbarians just being the executioners, and Goldsworthy seems to agree with that viewpoint: "Long decline was the fate of the Roman Empire. In the end, it may well have been 'murdered' by barbarian invaders, but these struck a body made vulnerable by prolonged decay"... http://www.curledup.com/romefell.htm When Apple released iLife '08, most legacy iMovie users were less than pleased in the radical paradigm shift in the movie editing software. iMovie used to incorporate a pretty standard linear timeline across the bottom of the program's window., not unlike most video editing software in the world. For some reason, Apple decided to shift to the method used in iMovie '09 in which the video goes from left to right in several rows rather than a single, continuous row. It's an odd shift that I may always have a problem with. I was completely unwilling to entertain the notion of iMovie '09 (in fact, I still keep iMovie '06 on the computer) until I had a look at iMovie '09 and iDVD: The Missing Manual. iMovie '09 and iDVD: The Missing Manual is an excellent book not only on how to use the program but on how to make your own movies look more professional. Whether you're a home movie enthusiast, a budding filmmaker, or just some schlub who wants to edit together a bunch of vacation clips to make a nice-looking DVD for the family, The Missing Manual can improve your final product. The manual starts with the basics of importing your content from whatever source you have at your disposal; from there, it goes into the mechanics of editing in iMovie '09... http://www.curledup.com/imovie09.htm Augustus “Aug” Valentine, president of Trove Import Export Company in Fort Lauderdale and an undeniable ladies’ man, apparently has it all. What Aug lacks is a tragedy-free past. The Valentine family is riddled with death and deceit since 1980 Detroit. "Family money" funded the import business, along with the White Sands Bank and Destin Dreams Realty. Workaday business for Aug at Trove involves the occasional smuggling of goods into and out of the U.S. Everything seems to be going well for Aug - until $40 million worth of smuggled gemstones are stolen from him. Now he must recover the jewels or die http://www.curledup.com/win.htm Tweeting curledup.com, curledupkids.com and curledupdvd.com recommendations... http://twitter.com/curledup