BibliovoRX: a spoonful of sugar makes....

We've had a long, weird month of freedom to run around and to do our best to embody the saying, "mad as a March hare."  We've worn shorts to work, celebrated (or lamented) the passage of the health care reform bill, slept without blankets on the bed for the first time this year, contemplated women's rights and achievements, and griped our way through adjusting to Daylight Savings Time.  In short, we went a bit nuts.  To get us back to a more secure state of sanity, it's time for the experimental trials to start up again. 

Don't be shy.  Whether you side with Eliot and think that "April is the cruelest month," or take Chaucer's stance that "April with his showers sweet" will spur you into taking a pilgrimage, there is a book here for you.  Below, a backwards thriller, an endearingly different schoolboy, unsympathetic protagonists, and devout monks.


If you're averse to a linear timeline, eat dessert for breakfast, and like your thrillers somewhat out of the ordinary, then you should try reading:
The 13th Hour by Richard Doetsch

While I was initially confused by this novel (I was under the mistaken impression that it would be like Memento), it rapidly drew me in and kept me absorbed until I hit the flyleaf after the acknowledgments.  The hero, Nick, is a grief-stricken man who is buckling under the pressure to find his wife's killer and prevent her murder from taking place without inadvertently causing a worse alternate future.  The villain is a gleeful, unrepentant psychopath with a badge and a gun, a two dimensional crooked cop whose sheer and unmitigated maleficence is in itself a pleasure to read simply as a throwback to an era of crime novels where villains were villains simply for the pleasure of being the bad guy.   The deus ex machina is a mysterious watch that transports its bearer backwards in time -- every hour, on the hour, for a period not to exceed twelve hours.  As the mysterious stranger from Chapter 12 describes it to Nick, it's the temporal version of "one step forward, two steps back," though I can't help but think of it as getting some supernatural assistance with running up a big metaphorical temporal "down" escalator.  Side effects may include wondering to yourself after you've finished the book where Nick disappeared to in between leaving one time and arriving in the next, whether any of the awful possible outcomes happened in divergent timelines, and where you can get your hands on one of those nifty watches.

If you like your world to be beautiful, your problems to be few, your money to be unethically obtained, and your friends out of touch with reality, then the book for you is:
The Privileges by Jonathan Dee

Make no mistake, Jonathan Dee is an immensely talented writer, and his prose in The Privileges is arguably a work of art.  He paints a lush picture of what beauty, brains, and ambition can bring, and it's quite seductive to put yourself in Cynthia or Adam Morey's shoes for a fleeting moment.  His main characters are also almost entirely unsympathetic, and I spent a significant portion of my time while reading this novel asking "why?"  Why write about a woman so wrapped up in her own issues that her mother's pain and grief are so easily dismissed?  Why write about a handsome, charismatic man who uses his position as his boss's trusted right hand man to make a fortune in insider trading, and never have him pay the price?  Why write about a young girl who, despite all the advantages her upbringing afforded her, turned into a wild party girl with an intense phobia of poverty?  Why write about a sensitive, conflicted young man whose hatred of the superficial trappings of his upper class lifestyle is topped only by his loathing of himself?  It is not because they are characters that you will come away liking, but because they have a charismatic aura that is nearly a palpable presence.  Cynthia and Adam Morey have a love for the ages, and Dee portrays it beautifully -- but his portrait of the rest of their life makes their ugly sides inescapably clear.  Side effects may include interest in Art Brut, disbelief that this might be an accurate portrayal of teenagers, and a general distaste at the thought that the top one percent might be anything like the Moreys.

If you like quirky children, Dame Edna, and Quentin Blake's illustrations, stick your nose in a copy of:
The Boy in the Dress by David Williams

Dennis is a twelve year old schoolboy in England just like any other boy his age.  He attends a boring school, he has a boring family, he lives in a boring home on a boring street.  He has a best friend, a spot on the soccer team, and an annoying older brother.  He also has a secret fondness for the beautiful dresses and shoes adorning the glossy pages of Vogue magazine, and when Lisa, a cool older girl he meets in detention, discovers this, she encourages him to do what he wants instead of what society dictates he ought to do.   Before he knows it, he's attending his own school as "Denise," the French exchange student, and having the time of his life.  But when Mr. Hawtrey catches wind of the ruse, he expels Dennis -- and bans him from playing soccer in the big game.  Is Dennis' bid for freedom of expression over before it can even start?  This story is hilarious and touching by turns, and the oddball cast of characters are all interesting and engaging.  While primarily a comedic children's book, adults will enjoy it equally, and Williams, no stranger to cross-dressing himself, goes a way toward dispelling the pervasive stereotype that transvestism is solely the domain of flamboyantly gay men.  Side effects may include uncontrollable fits of giggling, envy over Dennis' rather fantastic wardrobe, and a resurgence of interest in soccer.

If you find monasticism intriguing, wonder what differentiates one religious sect from another, and are seriously contemplating taking a sabbatical in the cloisters of an abbey, take a look at:
Lives of Devotion: The Many Faces of Faith by Fernando Moleres and Covadonga Valdaliso

Lives of Devotion is a gorgeous book of photography that takes the reader inside the abbeys and monasteries of the faithful who have devoted their lives to their religion, be it Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Hinduism, or Buddhism.   Moleres went on a photojournalism adventure of a lifetime in search of subjects both animate and inanimate for his book, his travels taking him to Egypt, Ethiopia, Armenia, Kosovo, France, Russia, Myanmar, Nepal, Japan, and a dozen other nations.  His photographs, which are eloquent enough to speak for themselves, are lent a strong and intelligent voice by Valdaliso's writing.  She explores the origins of monasticism in Christianity, and why asceticism -- the act of depriving oneself of basic comforts in a display of faith and piety -- remains in practice today.  Her thorough and intelligent history of each religion featured in Lives of Devotion is well researched and an enlightening read.  Side effects may include a new plan for your summer vacation, a last minute change to your major in college, and amazement at this brief glimpse at such a drastically different world.