Every month the readheads pick one book that all three of us read and review. Our book for August is Lev Grossman’s The Magicians.

Synopsis from Publisher’s Weekly:

Quentin Coldwater, a Brooklyn high school student devoted to a children’s series set in the Narnia-like world of Fillory, is leading an aimless existence until he’s tapped to enter a mysterious portal that leads to Brakebills College, an exclusive academy where he’s taught magic. Coldwater, whose special gifts enable him to skip grades, finds his family’s world mundane and domestic when he returns home for vacation. He loses his innocence after a prank unintentionally allows a powerful evil force known only as the Beast to enter the college and wreak havoc. Eventually, Coldwater’s powers are put to the test when he learns that Fillory is a real place and how he can journey there. Genre fans will easily pick up the many nods to J.K. Rowling and C.S. Lewis, not to mention J.R.R. Tolkien in the climactic battle between the bad guy and a magician.

Check back at the end of the month to see what we thought of this work!

I’ve been pretty bad about reviewing our past books of the month, which is unfortunate because I actually have read all of them! To save you from some epic tl;dr and as the only way to finally be done with these books, I’m jamming them all into one post. This way I can give some short commentary instead of headdesking my way through full-fledged reviews for each book.

January’s book of the month was Timothy Ferris’ Coming of Age in the Milky Way. The book elegantly recounts our species’ interest in space, from ancient Sumerians and Greeks through Copernicus to modern-day theoretical physicists. While our knowledge of the universe seems infinitely superior to our ancestors, Ferris reminds us that:

Science is young. whether it will survive long enough to become old depends upon our sanity and courage and vigor, and, as one always must add in this nuclear age, upon whether we blow ourselves up first. “Nothing that is vast enters into the life of mortals without a curse,” as Sophocles said, and the knowledge of how the stars shine is very great, and its dark side is very dark indeed.

I love Ferris’ writing style throughout this book, especially when recounting the more personal histories of various scientists. Genius did seem to walk hand in hand with madness (or at least extreme eccentricity) for Kepler, Newton, etc… and Ferris’ gently amusing treatment of them made their stories all the more enjoyable. In fact, I loved his writing so much I recently purchased another book of his, called Seeing In the Dark – all about backyard astronomers. I strongly believe that the communications gap (more like gaping chasm, really) between scientists and non-scientists needs to be closed, and if there were only more writers like Ferris, that would happen all the more quickly.

Final Grade: A

In April we read another nonfiction, David Grann’s The Lost City of Z. Grann intertwines two epic voyages in one double biography. The first was British explorer Percy Fawcett’s quest to find an ancient, beautiful, and wondrously rich civilization called “Z” that was supposedly hidden in the Amazon jungle – instead, his entire party disappeared and despite following searches, no clues were ever discovered as to their fate. The second voyage was Grann’s own attempt to retrace the explorer’s steps some 75 years later to discover what happened to the missing expedition. Neither journey lacked for adventure; in fact, the entire history of the search for Z is one larger-than-life story after another:

[E]verything in this story is true: a movie star really was abducted by Indians; there were cannibals, ruins, secret maps, and spies; explorers died from starvation, disease, attacks by wild animals, and poisonous arrows; and at stake amid the adventure and death was the very understanding of the Americas before Christopher Columbus came ashore in the New World.

I enjoyed each story Grann told – his writing was perfectly suspenseful, mysterious, amusing, and serious in all the right places – but the format really didn’t work for me. Much like our February’s book of the month, Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City, the biographies alternate every chapter. For the White City, this worked beautifully. For Lost City of Z, not so much. For me the difference was that Larson’s stories were synchronous and both in the third person, while Grann’s stories were asynchronous and awkwardly shifting from first person to third. About 80 pages in I finally realized I was going to have to read Fawcett’s story all the way through first, and then come back to read Grann’s. When read in this way, the book flowed much more smoothly and was immensely more enjoyable.

Final Grade: B

Last month’s book choice was The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho. The premise behind this book is that it is a collection of statements made by acquaintances, friends, and family of a murder victim named Athena. It’s only by tying all perspectives together that the reader can begin to understand Athena’s existence.

Who knows, perhaps she sought death the way a shipwrecked victim sees an island. She must have stood late at night in many a Tube station, waiting for muggers who never came. She must have walked through the most dangerous parts of London in search of a murderer who never appeared or perhaps tried to provoke the anger of the physically strong, who refused to get angry. Until finally, she managed to get herself brutally murdered.

After beginning with her death, the transcripts then move forward chronologically from her adoption at a young age, to her early marriage and career restlessness, to her search for her birth mother and the Mother goddess, all of which stemmed from an intrinsic wanderlust that she could never satisfy.

Having previously been impressed by Coelho’s The Alchemist, I was really looking forward to this book, and I was only very slightly disappointed in my expectations. I sometimes felt that description needlessly overpowered the plot, slowing the story down without enriching my appreciation of the objects described. However, the flow of Athena’s story was impressively smooth, given the shifting narrative voices, and the surprising twist at the end of the book was neither too obvious nor too out of left field, leaving me pleased that my suspicions were correct. In the end the novel was not about Athena at all, but about her impact on those telling her story.

Final Grade: B

Every month the readheads pick one book that all three of us read and review. Our book for June is Erica Bauermeister’s first novel The School of Essential Ingredients.

Synopsis from Publisher’s Weekly:

In this remarkable debut, Bauermeister creates a captivating world where the pleasures and particulars of sophisticated food come to mean much more than simple epicurean indulgence. Respected chef and restaurateur Lillian has spent much of her 30-something years in the kitchen, looking for meaning and satisfaction in evocative, delicious combinations of ingredients. Endeavoring to instill that love and know-how in others, Lillian holds a season of Monday evening cooking classes in her restaurant. The novel takes up the story of each of her students, navigating readers through the personal dramas, memories and musings stirred up as the characters handle, slice, chop, blend, smell and taste. Each student’s affecting story—painful transitions, difficult choices—is rendered in vivid prose and woven together with confidence. Delivering memorable story lines and characters while seducing the senses, Bauermeister’s tale of food and hope is certain to satisfy.

Have you read The School of Essential Ingredients? We’d love to hear what you thought of this book. Or read it along with us, and be sure to check back at the end of the month to see what we thought!

Every month the readheads pick one book that all three of us read and review. Our book for May is Paulo Coelho’s The Witch of Portobello.

Synopsis from Booklist:

In this deceptively simple novel, a bereaved lover attempts to chronicle, dissect, and comprehend the often-twisted path followed by Athena, otherwise known as the Witch of Portobello Road. An orphaned Romanian gypsy, adopted as an infant by adoring Lebanese parents, Athena recognized and struggled with the power of her magical gifts at an early age. Spurred on by truths and passions inaccessible to most of her contemporaries, she traipsed around Europe and the Middle East in search of acceptance, enlightenment, and a truer path. Developing a cultlike following, she became the object of a modern-day witch hunt that seemingly culminated in tragedy. Unable to construct a typically straightforward chronicle of her life, her would-be biographer relies on the divergent recollections and reflections of the people who knew – or thought they knew – her best.

Have you read The Witch of Portobello? We’d love to hear what you thought of this book. Or read it along with us, and be sure to check back at the end of the month to see what we thought!

Updated: Check out our reviews: Ranjana’s.

Erik Larson’s national bestseller The Devil in the White City is a unique double biography of opposite characters. The chronology of Daniel Burnham’s creation of the 1893 World’s Fair is sharply contrasted with the life of serial killer H.H. Holmes, who was skulking around Chicago at the same time. Larson’s book attempts to combine historical facts with suspenseful narrative – but does he succeed?

Larson’s book is a meticulously researched piece of writing. His attention to detail is seamlessly integrated into the narrative so that the reader appreciates the countless detailed facts without becoming weighted down by them. The flow of the book is extremely smooth, despite the alternating subjects. The only stylistic flaw in Larson’s storytelling is his tendency to end almost all chapters (actually, even section after section) with “dramatic” cliffhanger sentences, many of them as their own petite paragraph. For example:

At midnight, many nights, Mudgett would pace the street outside his lodging.

And,

But even he did not, and could not, grasp what truly lay ahead.

And even,

Which terrified her.

This occurs so often it actually takes away from a story that is already dramatic enough – the extra effect becomes irritating, as though Larson needs to constantly reassure the reader that the subject is interesting. Trust me, America’s first serial killer is interesting! Now calm down, sir.

Despite this one small (though constant) stylistic annoyance, Larson’s book is a fascinating study of two of America’s most interesting historical figures. I can’t claim to have heard of Daniel Burnham before reading, but my new-found admiration for him is entirely due to the power of Larson’s writing. And Larson’s descriptions of H.H. Holmes are equally strong and as creepy as you could hope for. So yes, Larson does successfully interweave the factual history and the fanciful storytelling, making it easy to see why this book is a bestseller. Overall, The Devil in the White City is an entertaining, and at times thrilling and horrifying, look into the heart of America at the turn of the 19th century.

Final Grade: B

See larger image The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America (Paperback) By (author) Erik Larson List Price: $15.00 USD New From: $5.00 In Stock Used from: $1.18 In Stock Release date February 10, 2004.

Every month the readheads pick one book that all three of us read and review. Our book for April is David Grann’s The Lost City of Z.

Synopsis from Publishers Weekly:

In 1925, renowned British explorer Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett embarked on a much publicized search to find the city of Z, site of an ancient Amazonian civilization that may or may not have existed. Fawcett, along with his grown son Jack, never returned, but that didn’t stop countless others, including actors, college professors and well-funded explorers from venturing into the jungle to find Fawcett or the city. Among the wannabe explorers is Grann, a staff writer for the New Yorker [who] became interested in Fawcett while researching another story, eventually venturing into the Amazon to satisfy his all-consuming curiosity about the explorer and his fatal mission… [T]he book examines the stranglehold of passion as Grann’s vigorous research mirrors Fawcett’s obsession with uncovering the mysteries of the jungle.

Have you read The Lost City of Z? We’d love to hear what you thought of this book. Or read it along with us, and be sure to check back at the end of the month to see what we thought!

Updated: Check out our reviews: Ranjana’s.

Every month we take turns picking one book that all three of us read and review. Our book of the month for February is Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America.

Synopsis from Publishers Weekly:

Not long after Jack the Ripper haunted the ill-lit streets of 1888 London, H.H. Holmes (born Herman Webster Mudgett) dispatched somewhere between 27 and 200 people, mostly single young women, in the churning new metropolis of Chicago; many of the murders occurred during (and exploited) the city’s finest moment, the World’s Fair of 1893. Larson’s breathtaking new history is a novelistic yet wholly factual account of the fair and the mass murderer who lurked within it. Bestselling author Larson (Isaac’s Storm) strikes a fine balance between the planning and execution of the vast fair and Holmes’s relentless, ghastly activities. The passages about Holmes are compelling and aptly claustrophobic; readers will be glad for the frequent escapes to the relative sanity of Holmes’s co-star, architect and fair overseer Daniel Hudson Burnham, who managed the thousands of workers and engineers who pulled the sprawling fair together on an astonishingly tight two-year schedule.

Have you guys read The Devil in the White City? If so, please tell us what you thought in the comments! If not, celebrate the romantic month of February with some thrilling true crime. Read along with us and check back for our reviews later this month!

Updated: Check out our reviews: Ranjana’s.

When I first found out the Book of the Month was going to be a science book, I wasn’t completely thrilled. Science and I do not get along and the idea of reading a 500 page book revolving around all things science did not sound like a good time to me. Luckily, while reading Coming of Age in the Milky Way, I found myself enjoying at least 60% of what I read.

I found Ferris’ narrative very engaging on the biographical side, and somewhat engaging on the science side. I admit, it was difficult for me to get beyond the concepts and graphs, but for those brief chapters where I was able to focus on the scientist and not the science, I loved learning about all the crazy quirks that made these people so interesting. The fact that Newton was the definition of socially awkward and reminds me of Sheldon from “The Big Bang Theory?” Or knowing that Lambert would only strike a profile when speaking to someone instead of facing them? Definitely makes this English-lit freak not feel so freak-like anymore.

Ferris clearly spent those years writing Coming of Age in the Milky Way well. I only wish I was more interested in science so I could fully enjoy it!

Final Grade: B

See larger image Coming of Age in the Milky Way (Paperback) By (author) Timothy Ferris List Price: $15.99 USD New From: $9.78 In Stock Used from: $5.60 In Stock Release date July 29, 2003.

First off, I apologize that my review has been a long time coming. I am in the middle of a big move, and I’m afraid my blogging has suffered as a result. However, I would like to offer a brief defense of A Game of Thrones. I initially read the book several months ago and was instantly smitten with the series. While I typically don’t read epic fantasy, the sheer unpredictability of A Game of Thrones distinguished it from similar efforts in the genre.

At times its unpredictability stems from plain good storytelling, and the plot boasts several startling surprises. But more often, George R.R. Martin toys with reader expectations. A likeable protagonist? Martin will kill him off. Time for a happy resolution? Guess again. The end result is that nothing and nobody seems safe from Martin’s calculated brutality, and the reader needs to keep guessing.

I can see how this would not appeal to all readers, and A Game of Thrones has other flaws. At times the gargantuan and intricate plotlines lag under their own weight, and the lack of a clear protagonist can leave a reader feeling lost. But ultimately, Martin’s clever character studies, skilled storytelling, and unpredictable (even cruel) plot twists make A Game of Thrones an outstanding fantasy.

Final Grade: A-

See larger image A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1) (Paperback) By (author) George R.R. Martin List Price: $16.00 USD New From: $7.04 In Stock Used from: $5.00 In Stock Release date May 28, 2002.

Every month the readheads pick one book that all three of us read and review. Our first book of the month for 2010(!) is Timothy Ferris’ Coming of Age in the Milky Way (2003 edition).

Synopsis from Publishers Weekly:

The ancient Egyptians regarded the sky as a kind of tent canopy. Thirty centuries later, astronomer William Herschel argued that the sun belongs to a huge cluster of stars (a galaxy, as we call it today) and charted great swaths of intergalactic space through a telescope. How the human species slowly awakened to the vast reaches of space and time is the story absorbingly told by popular science writer Ferris (The Red Limit, Galaxies). His narrative humanizes the scientific enterprise […] from Darwin’s and Lyell’s investigations of the age of the earth to modern physicists’ quest for a perfectly symmetrical, hyperdimensional universe.

Have you guys read Coming of Age in the Milky Way? If so, please tell us what you thought in the comments! If not, the start of a new year is the perfect time to learn more about the history of the universe and our understanding of it. Read along with us and check back for our reviews later this month!

Updated: Check out our reviews: Kim’s and Ranjana’s.