Love and Ruin

Love and Ruin by Paula McLain   400 pages

Paula McLain burst onto the literary scene with “The Paris Wife,” and if you haven’t had the pleasure of reading that novel, grab a copy as soon as you can. In that novel, McLain wrote about famed author Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley. 

After that book, she thought she was done with Hemingway. However, in a conversation at St. Louis County Library, she told the packed house that she had had a dream about him, after which she felt compelled to tackle the adventurous writer once again.

By this point in his life, Hemingway has had moderate success as a writer, but he had yet to write “A Farwell to Arms,” which catapulted him to superstardom.  It’s 1936. Tensions are starting to run high across Europe as Hitler comes to power. The world is afraid another war is imminent. The Spanish Civil War, however, is in its infant stages

Hemingway loved adventure, and so did Martha (Marty) Gelhorn. A St. Louis-girl, she bucked the conventions of her upper social status. A writer herself, Marty published her first book, “The Trouble I’ve Seen” to rave reviews.

As 1936 turns to 1937, Marty and her mother take a trip to Key West, where she meets Hemingway.  Although they were attracted to each other, Ernest was still married to his second wife, Pauline.

As the war in Spain heated up, Marty talked the editor of “Collier’s” to assign her to cover the conflict as a special correspondent.  She also runs into Hemingway again, and their passion ignites. McLain follows the couple around the world, through their ups and downs, through 1944.

Much like “The Paris Wife” and Melanie Benjamin’s story of the Charles and Anne Morrow  Lindbergh  in “The Aviator’s Wife., I felt like a fly on the wall as I watched two authors try to write under one roof, two people with an adventurous nature coursing through their and two  lovers love and fight.

The only downfall upon reaching the conclusion of “Love and Ruin,” is that readers have to wait for the next Paula McLain novel. Sure hope it’s soon.  “Love and Ruin” receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Laugh Out Loud

Laugh Out Loud by James Patterson & Chris Grabenstein, 275 pages

“Imaginative middle schooler Jimmy follows his dream to start a unique book company while he is still a child.” This book may not be laugh out loud funny, but it is a lot of fun.  Kids who have read Patterson’s other books will enjoy meeting some of the characters they know and love from other books in this story and they will enjoy the humor in this story as well. 

Exquisite Corpse

Exquisite Corpse, by Penelope Bagieu, translated by Alexis Siegel, 124 pages

Zoe is a rather directionless young woman- working at a job she hates and living with a boyfriend who she similarly despises, all the while thinking that there must be more to life.  When she meets Thomas, a reclusive oddball who lets her crash in his life, she thinks that things are turning around.  But Thomas has his secrets, and Zoe has to learn that the most important relationship is the one that we have with ourselves. 

Descriptions of this (and I'll admit- the artwork) made me think that this would be a cutesy little romantic graphic novel; and while there are cute elements, overall, the story is a little darker and a little more adult than it appears.  There is some really thought-provoking stuff in here about relationships that I am glad exists.

The Silkworm

The Silkworm, by Robert Galbraith, 455 pages

In this second book of the Cormoran Strike series, Strike is approached by a famous novelist's wife, who says that he is missing.  And missing he is, until Strike finds his graphically mutilated corpse in a scene right out of a book- a book that the author wrote.  This book is full of intrigue, mystery, reasons to hate Robin's fiancé and then reasons to understand their relationship a little more, and a cast of characters who are all frustrating and sympathetic at the same time. 

The Unwritten: Orpheus in the Underworld

The Unwritten: Orpheus in the Underworld [vol. 8] by Mike Carey, art by Peter Gross, 176 pages

Tom/Tommy Taylor is the confusing (and confused) protagonist in The Unwritten. Is he real or fictitious? There are arguments that go both ways, and it probably doesn't help that the barrier between reality and fantasy is increasingly porous. This eighth volume finds Taylor on a quest to retrieve one of his friends from the underworld, as the rest of his compatriots wrestle with some mysterious murders on the Earth's surface.

This series took a while to coalesce, but it's pretty understandable these days, especially compared to some of the first volumes, which... holy cow were they confusing. Good, but confusing. Anyway, Carey continues to raise some intriguing questions about the power of story, and the role it should play in our lives, whether as fiction, as journalism, or as the age-old fables that we grew up with. (Speaking of fables, this volume is the lead-in to the Unwritten-Fables crossover that I've been so looking forward to reading, and is currently on my nightstand. Look for that review in the coming days.)

Library Journal described The Unwritten as "Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next books with teeth," and I don't know that I've ever heard a better description. So if you like Fforde's brand of genre-jumping fiction, but would rather deal with brutal violence than puns, give this series a try.

The Silkworm

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith 

           455 pages

Cormoran Strike is back, with his assistant Robin.  Life is a little better for Strike, he has more work and is certainly better off financially than we left him in the last book.  In this book, he has decided to take on a case involving a missing writer, Owen Quine.  Quine’s wife came to Strike, asking for him to take on the case, assuring him that his agent would foot the bill.  Despite his misgivings about the money, Strike agreed to take on the case.  What he found was that Quine had just written a manuscript that had made everyone in his immediate circle very angry, as he had demonized nearly everyone he knew, including his publisher, editor, agent, wife, and girlfriend.  As Strike questions people, he realizes that not everything adds up the way it should, but it’s up to him to figure out the truth before an innocent person is sent to prison.  I really liked this sequel and am looking forward to more books in the series.  I think that most murder mystery fans would probably like this series.