What I Read -- The Invisible Life of Addie Larue

For some reason, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue has made me realize something about myself, and my reading choices.  I've read several books which are largely based in reality but have an element of the fantastic, a tiny bit of magical realism.  Among them are commercial successes (Game of Thrones, Outlander, the Harry Potter, Eclipse, and Inkheart series), less-popular literary titles (Forever, Winter's Tale, The Snow Child, The Night Circus, The Time Traveler's Wife), and classics (Dracula and Kindred).  And right now I'm working on Shark Heart, which is another one. 

If you follow those links, you'll see I've been reading books like this for years.  But for some reason this book made it click for me that I like that fantastical element of a story.  Why?  I'm still not sure.  My working theory is that it changes the rules just enough to keep things interesting. 

In The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, the magical plot hook is the main character's wish - granted by the devil himself - to live forever.  What he curses her with is that, though she will live forever, no one she meets will remember her.  Every day, every time someone re-enters a room, she has to start all over with them.  

That sort of forgetableness becomes exhausting to Addie over the centuries (and leads to a certain amount of moral flexibility, however necessary it may be) ... until one day, someone remembers her.  Just as she begins enjoying having a friend and lover with whom she can build a real life, she discovers that he has a secret too. 

An all-around sweet story about love and sacrifice. 

Paris in the Present Tense -- Take 2

I have read a few Mark Helprin books before, mostly because Mom gave them to me.  I don't know that I would have gravitated to him independently.  For one, I'm a slow reader and his books tend to be lengthy.  Also, of the books of his that I've read, some of them have an element of the fantastic in them.  Although I am realizing that I like this (more on this soon), it is a fact that previously surprised me about myself, so I probably would not have picked up many of his books for that reason.

Paris in the Present Tense isn't magical, but Helprin's description of people is.  That is something he does incredibly well.  

Paris centers on the long life of cellist Jules Lacour.  He never really made it as a musician due to his debilitating stage fright, but has a respectable career as a music professor.  He also is a rower (not the only character of Mark Helprin's who is) who takes pride in his fitness despite being in his 70s.  His life hasn't been the same since the death of his beloved wife, but he dotes on his daughter and grandson; the latter is ill with leukemia and in desperate need of expensive treatments the family cannot afford.

Everything is thrown into stark relief when Jules finds himself defending a victim of some thugs on the street, and accordingly the subject of a police investigation.  As they are closing in, he stays true to himself while choreographing his own last symphony.

What I Read -- The Wife, The Maid, and the Mistress

S and I took a trip to Ireland a couple of Christmases ago, where I learned an intriguing little bit about Grace O'Malley, a clan leader and pirate who controlled the western Irish coastline in a way no other woman ever has.  I haven't forgotten about her since, and have wanted to do some more research to learn about her life.  

Imagine my surprise and delight when I discovered that there is a recently-published novelization of her life.  It was written by Ariel Lawhon, and she was on a book tour which included a stop at the SLCL.  My friend M and I went to her talk. She was smart and funny and I was completely taken, but unfortunately the waiting list for her Grace O'Malley book, The Pirate Queen, was long.  Many of her other books are also based on real-life characters, novelized. 

While waiting for The Pirate Queen to become available from the library, I grabbed another of Lawhon's books, The Wife, The Maid, and the Mistress. It's the story of the disappearance and death of New York State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Crater, and the police detective who is on the trail. This is where the make-believe comes in: Crater's body was never found and, though there are a lot of strong theories, the murder was never solved.  It makes for a great fill-in-your-own-blanks opportunity for a novelist.

While my interest was piqued by Grace O'Malley, if yours is piqued by Crater's disappearance, there are two books written about it: Vanishing Point: The Disappearance of Judge Crater, and the New York He Left Behind and The Empty Robe: The Story of the Disappearance of Judge Crater. These are both mentioned in an author's note (read by the author herself) at the conclusion of the book, which also includes a reasonably thorough recounting of what parts of her story were completely her own creations.  

If you're interested in the audio version, the narrator of the audiobook generally did a pretty nice job with the different voices and accents.

What I Read -- London Falling

Another recommendation from K while we were wandering Wonderland Books was London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth. 

It's the story of a young man who jumped to his death on the bank of the Thames from a fifth floor balcony.  To the family, it didn't see like that was the whole story.  After receiving inadequate responses from Scotland Yard about their investigation (or lack thereof), they enlisted the assistance of an investigative journalist to look into their son's death and the shady characters he was spending time with in the months leading up to it.

Perhaps not surprisingly, it started to look like there was more to the story.  What perplexed everyone, though, was that there was security footage of the man jumping from the balcony.  He was alone, so an argument that he was murdered didn't make a lot of sense.

If you're into true crime, police procedurals, and the like, this is a good listen (I did the audio version read by the author, which I  enjoy when it's well done - which this was).