#Read26Indy Book 8: The Last Policeman

The end of the world changes everything, from a law enforcement perspective. 

I was intending to have a productive Sunday, but then I sat down with this book and hours later came up for air. This book has been in my to-read stack for months, after purchasing it over the holidays. I attended a writing tips session held by the author last year, and came away wanting to read his most recent book. This is the first book in a trilogy about police detective Hank Palace, intent on solving what seems to be a suicide by hanging in a McDonald's bathroom but which he believes is a murder. Oh, and an asteroid is going to smash into the earth in about six months and kill everyone. 

Yes, that's right. The scientists have determined that the end of the world is a certainty, and society is starting to fall apart. People are quitting their jobs to pursue their "bucket lists", the internet and phone lines are spotty at best, and plenty of people have given up and committed suicide. This specific death has all the signs of a suicide, but something looks suspicious to Detective Palace. Amid mockery from his peers, who have more or less checked out already, he insists on starting an investigation. 

The detective knows that in the grand scheme of things, that everyone will die, but he's intent on being the best detective he can in the time that is left. What would you do if you knew the world was going to end in a few months? The mystery itself is compelling; the coming apocalypse simply provides setting. I tore through this book, and promptly put myself on the library wait list for the sequel. 

#Read26Indy Book 7: My Sister Chaos

I have to choose between detail and scope, both of which are, ultimately, limited. Even if I choose a large scale--more detail, less scope, smaller area--to try to achieve something approaching accuracy, there is always something missed. All maps are lies. So far, that is. 

In this novel, a woman is obsessed with mapping the contours of her house. A cartographer by trade, she is a refugee from an unnamed war-torn country. Her twin sister arrives unannounced, the first time she's seen her since the twin abandoned her soon after they emigrated. 

There are no names in this novel - not of people, not of places. The sisters are defined by what, and who, they have lost. They are broken and damaged. They escaped, but lost those they loved and lost themselves. The narrator sister is attempting to make a map that precisely depicts the inside of her house, so that she'll know her environment intimately and perfectly, but it is never quite right, never exact enough. 

It's fascinating, as the stories of the two sisters are told - of their escape from the country that was killing those of their ethnic group, as the first sister loses herself to her mapping project and her twin is still chasing her own demons. I don't think I've ever read a book quite like it. 

#Read26Indy Book 6: Boy Meets Boy

The he says, "I'll see you around." 

I want to say I hope so, but suddenly I'm afraid of being too forward. I can flirt with the best of them--but only when it doesn't matter.

This suddenly matters.

Boy Meets Boy was recommended to me in a writing class as a good example of YA fiction. The main character is Paul, a high school boy who is remarkably well adjusted. In his town, the star quarterback is also the homecoming queen, and the only person upset by that is a boy she rejected. Paul meets Noah at a bookstore where his friend is DJ'ing, because that kind of thing happens in this town. But of course it can't be easy and Paul screws it up and has to try to win Noah back. Meanwhile, Paul's best friend Tony is learning how to stand up for himself with his conservative parents. 

It's a quick read, well-written and funny. Throughout the book I was reminded of Francesca Lia Block, in the way that she created slightly improved versions of the real world for her stories. I was pleased to discover, in the afterward, that David Levithan credited her as an influence. I grew up on Block's novels - I can still remember picking up her Weetzie Bat books from the library. It's so nice to know others were as affected by her writing as I was. 

#Read26Indy Book 5: Gaudy Night

Wherever you find a great man, you will find a great mother or a great wife standing behind him -- or so they used to say. It would be interesting to know how many great women have had great fathers and husbands behind them.

Gaudy Night was my second book club book, after Gravity's Rainbow. It was the perfect polar opposite, being well-mannered and crisp where GR was crude and crass, and so I loved it. 

Gaudy Night is one of a series of mystery novels written in the 1930's featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. Only, Wimsey is barely mentioned in the first half of this book. Instead, this is the story of his companion, Harriet Vane, who is a mystery novelist by trade. Not having read the previous Wimsey novels, I learned in the first chapters that Harriet had once been on trial for murder, which she certainly did not do, and Wimsey's detective skills saved her life. Now, Wimsey is in love with her and occasionally proposes marriage, which Harriet declines politely each time. 

The story begins with Harriet going back to visit her alma mater, a (fictional) women's college at Oxford. She's nervous, because her murder trial was a public scandal and her reputation has suffered as a result, even though she was innocent. But as seems to happen to those who have a history of solving mysteries, a mystery finds her. While at Oxford Harriet finds a note with a crude figure on it. Upon returning home she finds another note tucked into her sleeve calling her a murderer. She brushes it off and tries to think no more of it, until she is contacted by her peers at Oxford asking her to help them find the person responsible for sending crude notes to women on campus and vandalizing college property. It's a mystery without a murder kicking off the story, which I realized is uncommon. 

What is most interesting about this novel is that it is not simply a plot-driven mystery. The plot doesn't truly begin until nearly 50 pages into the book. It was a refreshing change of pace from the breakneck speed of most modern stories. The women at Oxford discuss the scholastic life versus having children, and whether educated women can marry. "I presume that, in bringing children into the world one accepts a certain responsibility toward them," one character says. Much of the discussions they hold about gender and society could easily be held today. It's unexpectedly funny, with a dry humor that made me chuckle loudly at parts. It's no quick read - the book is over 500 pages long, but I enjoyed its long, meandering path. 

#Read26Indy Book 4: You Came Back

And oh he wished for another chance, then. He wished it with all his might. He would give anything. Yes. Anything. The thought went from his brain into his tingling fingers: He would trade, if he could. He would walk away from Allie and his new life, if only he could return, if he could walk through the front door of this house and into his old life again. 

I picked up You Came Back at the Gathering of Writers - Christopher Coake was the keynote speaker. I heard good things about it, and I'm making an effort this year to read more Indiana authors, or at least authors from the Midwest. You Came Back is set in Columbus, Ohio, but makes some side trips to Indianapolis, like the Butler University campus. 

It's the story of a father reeling, years later, from the accidental death of his only child, Brendan. A freak accident, the boy having fallen down the stairs, it tore Mark and his wife Chloe apart. Now divorced, Mark is newly engaged to his girlfriend Allison. He still thinks of Brendan daily, but is slowly making a new life for himself. That is, until a woman arrives to tell him that she lives in his old house, and she believes his son is haunting it. 

This announcement sends Mark into a spiral of grief and anger, disbelief, belief, reconnection with his ex-wife, and throws his new life into turmoil. But this novel is not really a ghost story, at least not primarily. It's really a story of loss, and grief. Not being a parent, I know that I can't imagine the complete and utter loss at the loss of a child, but Christopher Coake paints a vivid picture. It reminded me of The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler, an amazing novel I read years ago but which I think of often, also about the loss of a child and the parents trying to find a way to go on, if that's even possible. Their loss and confusion is what makes the characters feel real. The mystery - is Brendan really in the house? And if so, what will be done? - kept me turning pages late in the night. 

I read this book eating lunch in a Qdoba and had to fight back tears so I didn't seem like the crazy sad woman crying over a burrito. If you are looking for a lighthearted "beach read" this probably isn't your book. But if you want a book to make you feel something, even if that something is love and loss, this is a good one.

The Fault in Our Stars Will Break Your Heart, and You Wouldn't Want It Any Other Way (#Read26Indy Book 4)

"So, okay," he said. "Okay. Name some things that you never see in Indianapolis."

"Um. Skinny adults," I said. 

* * * * * 

As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once. 

I think those two quotes sum up this reading experience nicely. The Fault in Our Stars is funny, sad, and sweet, each in ways that hit you in the gut.

You know what you're going to get when you start reading this book. The main character is Hazel, a 16 year old girl that has a type of cancer that is incurable, but which she could live with for some time. She meets a boy named Augustus at her cancer support group. You know where this is going.

It's a book that doesn't have a lot of twists and turns, but it doesn't need them. It was a relief, actually, to have the freedom to get to know these characters instead of having a gimmicky plot. The humor is sharp - I read most of the book sitting next to my girlfriend while she worked on the computer, and I would laugh loudly, and then say, "cancer humor", as if that explained it. And I'll admit to shedding a couple of tears while reading as well (that's just between you and me, though). The writing is clever and poignant, without being cliche or schmaltzy.

The other thing I loved was that the book was set in Indianapolis. This must be how people in New York feel reading half the novels out there. I enjoy imagining a place from a book's description, but it's something special to have scenes set in the IMA's 100 Acres, or even the Castleton mall, and to be able to really picture the scene in my mind. Having stories set in our home cities, whether its books or films, contributes to our sense of place. I'm making a effort this year to seek out books that are set in Indiana, or are written by Indiana-based authors. I want to see my home in great literature, because I know that outside Indiana, people often don't see it as a place worth visiting, or worth writing about, but I know differently.

The Fault in Our Stars film will be coming out this summer. I'd encourage you to read the book before then so you can really get to know the characters before you see it on the screen.

#Read26Indy Book 3: Out of Sight

Karen hoped she'd be able to tell about it later. The conversation in a trunk full of handcuffs and tactical gear with a bank robber escaped convict who wondered if it would be different if they'd met in a bar. Like a first date, getting to know one another. Her dad would love it. "And then what happened?" 

That was a good question.

All these years, and I'd never read an Elmore Leonard novel. I worked in a bookstore all through college and I would see the covers in the mystery section and wonder for a moment if they were any good. But I never got around to picking one up. I took a class about writing dialogue a few months ago, and the teacher recommended Leonard's work highly. My very nice sister then purchased me two of his novels for Christmas - this one, and Get Shorty, which is now in the stack of to-reads.

It's a plot straight out of a romantic comedy crime movie - boy breaks out of prison, boy meets girl who is a federal marshal, boy kidnaps girl, and falls in love with her while they're both stuffed in the trunk. Will the boy turn to the straight and narrow to win the girl? Will the girl chuck it all and run away with the bank robber? Or will she just arrest him?

I went through a period of reading every Carl Hiaasen novel I could get my hands on (except the one about golf - not even Carl can get me to read about golf), and I see why Elmore Leonard is usually considered to be in the same category. Bumbling criminals who aren't really that bad, even if a little nutty, an improbable love story, and plenty of humor. At the moment, though, Carl is still my favorite in the genre. 

The only problem with this one was that it wasn't quite convincing. I'm willing to suspend my belief for just about any story - bank robbers, ghosts, unicorns - but I never quite saw the point in the book where Karen Sisco turns from being afraid of Jack Foley, or of simply wanting to arrest him, to falling in love with him. Maybe I just saw it from the point of view of a woman - if I'm locked in a trunk with a guy who busted out of prison, who keeps running his hand down my leg and talking about how it would be different if we had met in a bar, no matter how witty and charming he is, I'm out of there the minute I can run. It was just a given that she would fall for him, but there wasn't anything there to say why - what was it about this guy? 

What I said before about this being the plot of a romantic comedy crime movie? It was made into one, starring Jennifer Lopez and George Clooney in the late 90's. I have it on reserve at the library. It must be one of the lesser Lopez films, somewhere after The Wedding Planner and The Cell (which is one of the most twisted, visually beautiful movies I've ever seen) - so I hadn't heard of it until I read this book. I'll check in after I watch it and let you know if she manages to do Leonard proud. IMDB says Catherine Keener and Don Cheadle have parts in it, so it can't be all bad, can it? 

I look forward to reading some more of Elmore Leonard's novels. His work is widely renowned, and I'm hoping Get Shorty will be the one to convince me.