Book Reviews

Saturday by Ian McEwan (Random House)
This novel is unfortunately a timely book, given the recent terrorist attack in London because it opens in the wee hours of the morning with Henry Perone seeing a plane on fire flying over London and thinking immediately of terrorism.  The book is about conflict on various levels and has a main character who is incredibly civilized.  It is a gripping novel, beautifully written and quietly terrifying, which everyone should read.

Specimen Day by Michael Cunningham (Farrar, Strauss, & Giroux)
In this novel there are three stories in three different time periods- the industrial revolution, post 9-11 21st century, and 150 years later, after the fallout.  The poetry of Walt Whitman rumbles through the three centuries, underscoring the fact that though faces and clothes change over time, human beings remain the same,
“ . . .feelings the same, yearnings the same/ the same old love, beauty . . .”  This is  a fascinating and, in some ways, an uplifting book.

Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts (AOL Time Warner)
Ten month old Nicky Jack Harjo disappears in 1971 DeClare, Oklahoma, when his mother is murdered.  Thirty years later Mark Albright, California veterinarian to the stars arrives in DeClare looking for an explanation from the mother who gave him away.  His search becomes a mission to find the truth about his murdered mother.

A House of Tailors By Patricia Reilly Giff  (Random House)
Thirteen year old Dina leaves Germany in 1870 for the land of dreams, America.  Thinking she is leaving behind the hard work of her mother’s sewing business, she arrives in New York City only to find herself in front of her Uncle’s sewing machine.  While living in tenement housing on Manhattan’s lower East Side, she discovers that sewing revels a promising future in her new home.

Sleepy Cadillac: A Bedtime Drive (Harper Collins)
A sleepy car floats up to a little boy’s window and takes him for a magical nighttime drive.  The dreamy journey above the clouds and over the moon will put young sleepyheads fast asleep.  The illustrations done in luminous pastels seem to glow in the moonlight.

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