Erotomania by Francis Levy

Two Dollar Radio, August 2008

Imagine that you engage in passionate, feral sex with someone. After the sex is over and you have left the building, you can not remember what your lover looked like; your amnesia of everything but the sexual act is complete. In a truly original literary work, Francis Levy introduces the memorable characters of Monica and James. Told through James' eyes, the story unfolds as James realizes that he wants to know his lover, wants to be able to recognize her on the street (her face, not simply her sexual organs) and may actually be in love, rather than simply lust. Monica, a woman who looks much like Peter Pan, has a sexual appetite that is insatiable and confusing. When James tries to have a "normal" relationship with her, she seems to become enraged, frustrated by his unrelenting pursuit.

Levy writes with honesty and a dry sense of humor that adds to the unique tone of the book. While our characters seem without empathy at the beginning, it soon becomes clear that with sex may come love and a type of relationship that is meaningful and filled with worth.

Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch

Little, Brown April 2008

My younger brother chose years ago to move from the East coast to the South; specifically, he moved to Savannah, Georgia where he practiced medicine, raised a family and lived on the edge of a swampy, wood in a large home. At first they loved Savannah but soon he found that the difference between South and East was as large as the crevices that define the Grand Canyon. Savannah was made up of people who had lived their entire lives in the South, people who distrusted Northerners, people who defined themselves by the homes they owned and the families they had come from. My brother and family soon sold their home and moved to a college town in Virginia where they were accepted.

Katie Crouch in her new work, Girls in Trucks, relates the story of Sarah Walters, a Charleston debutante, who is determined to leave behind her Camellia Society past and start anew. Crouch, a talented writer with a honest voice, moves through time and space quickly; Sarah is a college student, an aspiring writer in New York City, a woman grappling with a failed relationship. The reader moves through Sarah's experiences and roots for her to succeed. Crouch has created a character that the reader adores and understands. When tragedy brings Sarah home, it is clear that she can not run from her past; that she must accept her roots in order to become the person who she needs to be.

I can't wait for the next Katie Crouch book.

Keeper and the Kid by Ed Hardy

Thomas Dunne Books/St Martin's Press(2007)

James Keeper is a man who finds himself emotionally at odds. After his marriage ends, he moves to Rhode Island to work with his best male friend selling antiques at a store called Love and Death. His girlfriend, Leah, is wonderful - smart, funny, filled with a sense of life that keeps James on his toes and passionately in love. Things seem to be going extremely well, at last.

Of course, life always throws curve balls. Keeper receives a phone call from his former mother-in-law advising him that his ex is ill and asking him to come to Boston to pick up the dog. It soon becomes clear that the dog is not a four legged animal but a two legged boy. Keeper has a son, Leo, who is now without a mother and forced to live with his inept and terrified father. Exhibiting all of the traits of a man who never wanted to or dreamed of being a father, James lets Leo eat what he wants, sleep in his clothes and bath once a week. As the relationship between father and son tenuously strengthens, Keeper's relationship with Leah ends. She can not allow this child into her life, a life that she has become comfortable with and has no intent on changing. Turning the typical genre on its head, Hardy's bad guy is the woman who can't commit to family versus the man who must.

Hardy's writing is at times poignant, at times humorous. The author succeeds when he focuses on Keeper's character arc. The author falters on story line - it is difficult, if not impossible to emphatize with many of the characters. Leah, at first likeable, becomes so disagreeable that a reader's first instinct is to put the book down and walk away. Keeper's initial inability to accept his son is offputting, if not absolutely frustrating.

Ed Hardy's writing falls into the new genre of male lit, a challenge to the chick lit genre that was huge years back. Whether or not men will actually pick up a book such as this will remain to be seen.

Sway by Zachary Lazar

Little Brown, January 2008

Thank goodness for Zachary Lazar!! For awhile there I was ready to throw my book critic hat into the ring and wait for someone to stomp on it - there was a long period there where I was positive that the publishing industry was done for. Then along came Sway by Zachary Lazar. Tackling three separate story lines set in the late 1960s - the founding of the Rolling Stones, the Manson family and the strange life of filmmaker Kenneth Anger - Lazar leads the reader on a historical, emotional and physical journey that is at times unsettling but is always remarkable.

A fictionalized account of these three events, the reader enters the back halls of poverty ridden London, the mansions of the British countryside, the Laurel Canyon ranches of record producers and movie stars, the hippie commune of Manson. As each narrator takes us on a journey into the lives, both tragic and profound, we are propelled into their world, a world that we want to learn about, a world filled with freedome and a sense of absolute angst. Lazar's careful use of words adds imagery to each story - this is not simply a book we read but rather one we live. Lazar is my new hero.

The Turnaround by George Pelecanos

Little Brown, August 2008

Imagine if one event in your life was so unforgettable, so unforgiveable as to define the rest of your waking days. That is the dilemma addressed in George Pelecanos' The Turnaround. Pelecanos, a writer who seems to have one of the keenest insights into the human soul, tells the story of two boys, one from the right side of the tracks and one from the wrong side of the tracks. When a prank leads the young white Greek boy into the African American side of town, a crime occurs that will mark both boys for life.

Time passes and these young men grow into adults; adults who wish to forgive and forget the past before their lives are over. This notion of redemption echoes throughout this beautifully written novel; Pelecanos takes us deep inside the lives of men who have journeyed down a path that seemed fated for each. Hailed as a mystery writer, Pelecanos, a television writer, brakes genre labels - his writing combines the human insight of Steinbeck and the keen sense of timing of Stephen King. Pelecanos is truly one of the great writers of our time.

Mata Hari by Yannick Murphy

Little Brown and Company, February 2008.

Yannick Murphy, author of Signed, Mata Hari, is one of those critically acclaimed authors that most readers know nothing of. Winner of a National Endowment for the Arts grant and recipient of the MacDowell Colony Fellowship, Murphy is a literate and innovative writer who does not shy away from stories that appear difficult. In this recent release, Murphy takes on the story of the great, illusive Mata Hari, a woman of mystery and legend.

Telling the story with alternating pasts and presents, Murphy takes us into the life of Margaretha, a young woman who marries a man she does not truly love as a way to leave her family home. Margaretha is filled with dreams, hopes and a sensuality that pours from her soul; it is the sensuality that ultimately turns her life upside down. While there has always been speculation that Mata Hari was a spy, Murphy does not directly answer this question but rather shows this secretive soul stuck inside a prison where her pleas for freedom go unheard.

In breathtaking prose, Murphy illuminates a story that must be told for this story is that of every woman who has ever searched for love and been turned away, for every woman who tries to express her own desires but is tossed aside. With this work, Murphy may soon be the author everyone is talking about.

Carpool Diem by Nancy Star

5 Spot, March 2008

Annie Fleming is juggling it all - work, a family, a marriage where communication has become rare. When she loses her job (a job that defines her), she soon realizes how much of her daughter's life she has missed...including her love of soccer and her desire to be a member of the best team in town, run by soccer fanatic Winslow West. Soon Annie finds herself focusing her misplaced energy towards daughter Charlotte's sport and before long she has become one of those soccer moms she always hated.

Star, a former entertainment executive, effectively captures the importance of sport in suburbia. With characters who manipulate, undermine and commit crimes to further their children's soccer careers, the author delivers a fun and honest portrayal of community in the 21st century. Check out Star's recent interview in the New York Times where she discusses how she came to write the book.