Swamplandia!

Swamplandia! (2011) by Karen Russell. This is a pretty remarkable book, starting with the locale: Swamplandia! is the name of an amusement park in the Florida Everglades owned and operated by the Bigtree family. The featured attraction is alligators, which are wrestled by members of the Bigtree clan. Sadly, the mother of the family has died about a year ago, and the children are bereft -- not to mention, she was the star of the show and the theme park is in decline ever since her loss. The children -- Kiwi, the son; and Osceola and Ava, the daughters -- deal with her loss in their own particular ways. It's a strange and rather wonderful book, with each of the kids going on a quest of one kind or another, and all ending up, miraculously, back together and safe. A very enjoyable read. Grade: A-

Bossypants

Bossypants (2011) by Tina Fey. I was a little bit disappointed in this book. I expected it to be funnier, whereas a lot of it is rather serious. Fey takes her career struggle and the struggles of women in show business very seriously. There's nothing wrong with that, and there's plenty of funny stuff in this book -- although I must confess that many of her jokes went over my head. Don't get me wrong, this was certainly an enjoyable read -- it's just that my preconceptions were a little bit off. Grade: B+

Jackpot

Jackpot (2011) by Jason Ryan. The full title of this book is Jackpot: High Times, High Seas, and the Sting That Launched the War on Drugs. The first half of the book is a rather lengthy and detailed account of marijuana smuggling back in the late '70s and early '80s in (mainly) South Carolina. The smugglers (and many are named) would take a boat down to Central America and pick up load of dope, then bring it back to a drop-off point in South Carolina. There, it would be transferred to trucks and transported to points inland, where it could be sold at tremendous profit. The second half of the book tells all about Operation Jackpot, a government crusade to bust the smugglers by researching their financial records and finding out where they had money that was unaccounted for. It would be going too far to call this book "exciting," but it was certainly interesting. There are an awful lot of characters to keep track of, both on the smuggling side and on the government side. But it's really not necessary to keep track of them all. This book takes a fascinating look at a microcosm of U.S. society at a certain point in time, and gives a fair and balanced look at both sides in the drug debate. Should marijuana be legalized? Read this book and judge for yourself. Grade: A-

The Sentry

The Sentry (2011) by Robert Crais. Joe Pike, the hero of "The Sentry," is reminiscent of Jack Reacher, the hero of another series of books by a different author. Pike, like Reacher, is larger than life, smarter than the bad guys, and in peak physical condition at all times. He goes jogging with a 40-pound pack on his back and takes the steps two at a time when running uphill. Boo-yeah. This book was interesting to read, mainly because it had an interesting villain -- a psychopathic killer hired by Bolivian drug lords to take revenge on a couple who had stolen money from them. Pike just accidentally came into contact with them -- when some gangbangers were beating up the male half of the couple, he intervened. Only problem is, he didn't take them for a couple, and he started to fall for the female half. When some of the things she told him turned out to be lies, the L.A. noir character of the story kicked in. It makes for a good read. Grade: B+

Infamous Players

Infamous Players (2011) by Peter Bart. From 1967 to 1975, Bart was an executive at Paramount Pictures. In this book, he presents an insider's account of the producers, the actors and actresses, the directors -- all the ingredients that go into the making of motion pictures. As the old saying goes, motion pictures are like sausages -- you'll enjoy them a lot more if you don't see them being made. The subtitle of this book is "A Tale of Movies, the Mob, (and Sex)." Bart details the Mob connections that go into the production of movies like "The Godfather," and discusses the sexual peccadilloes of the producers and actors who make the films. It's a short book, around 250 pages, but very entertaining -- at least to a movie buff like me. It's just one man's viewpoint, but it's fascinating. I recommend it. Grade: A-

The Sherlockian

The Sherlockian (2010) by Graham Moore. Part romance, part mystery novel, "The Sherlockian" is something truly original. The action takes place in alternating chapters, half set in the 1890s, half set in 2010. In each time frame, a murder has taken place, and in each time frame, it falls to our protagonist to solve the murder in Holmesian fashion. The "first" murder takes place in 2010, at a meeting of the Baker Street Irregulars -- Sherlock Holmes buffs all, who are puzzled by a murder in their midst. Solving it falls to young Harold White, the newest member of the group, with the help of Sarah -- a journalist, or so she says. The other murder takes place in 1893, and the man who must solve it is Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries. The book alternates back and forth, back and forth, between Harold and Arthur, until both solve their respective mysteries and the story lines artfully merge. This is truly a marvelous book. Grade: A-

Working in the Shadows

Working in the Shadows (2010) by Gabriel Thompson. The full title of this book is "Working in the Shadows: A Year of Doing the Jobs (Most) Americans Won't Do." Thompson, true to his word, spent a year doing jobs that are mostly performed by immigrants, many of them illegals. He cut lettuce in a field in Yuma, AZ, worked in a poultry processing plant in a small southern town, and worked as a restaurant delivery boy in New York City. There's no denying that he picked some hard jobs to work at, and although, strictly speaking, he didn't do it for a year (he spent two months each at three jobs) I think he stayed true to the promise of his book title. Also impressive is that Thompson speaks Spanish, so he was able to communicate with many of his fellow workers who didn't speak English. Ultimately, this book ends up being an impassioned plea for immigrants' rights, and it's hard to argue that they shouldn't make a decent wage working in a safe workplace. This was a good book, a quick read, and very educational. Grade: B+

Washington: A Life

Washington: A Life (2010) by Ron Chernow. George Washington, father of our country, is brought to vivid life by Chernow in this biography. Chernow has done an enormous amount of research in preparation for writing this book, and it is reflected in the telling quotes from letters and papers that he is able to dredge up to illustrate his points. At times the book, which is 800 pages long, gets a little bogged down in detail; but would we be satisfied with less detail in a biography about a monumental figure such as Washington? Although I found reading the book to be a long slog, I also found it very rewarding. Washington's life was indeed fascinating, and many of the historical incidents which we learned about in history class are here brought to life and explained at length. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys biographies, or who has an interest in American history. Grade: A

Super Sad True Love Story

Super Sad True Love Story (2010) by Gary Shteyngart. In the near future, a time in which youth is everything, a 39-year-old Jewish man named Lenny falls in love with a 24-year-old Korean woman named Eunice. Aside from youth, a good credit rating is paramount, and devices called apparati, worn by virtually everybody, broadcast one's credit rating to the "poles," roadside devices which display the credit rating of passing pedestrians. Lenny has good credit, but he lacks the funds for youth-restoring nanobots which are being used by the very upper classes. The book cleverly alternates chapters devoted to Lenny's diaries with chapters devoted to Eunice's "Globalteens" messages to her friends and family. Thus the reader knows things that Lenny believes but which Eunice contradicts, and one can see that their affair is doomed. It's an artfully told tale which makes satiric commentary on the current state of society, and what it threatens to become. Grade: B+