I traveled with four people to Costa Rica last month. We all read a variety of books. I’m trying to gather reviews at the moment. Here’s what Aaron said of Clare Dewitt & the City of the Dead by Sara Gran:

Sarah Gran could have given us a sequel to “Dope,” her noirish tale of murder, scandal, and heroin in 1950s New York City. And I would have been happy with that.Instead she gives us “Clare DeWitt and the City of the Dead,” an entirely new, entirely amazing story of an eccentric private eye, good people who do bad things and bad people who do good things. It’s set in post-Katrina New Orleans amid violence, racism, post-traumatic stress, and a rather surprising amount of marijuana cut with PCP. As with “Dope,” the drug-laced underworld isn’t just a titillating addendum, but a key part of the story.

I brought this book on vacation with my friends last month — four of the five of us read it, and all four loved it.

Our friend Grace commented, looking at the author picture on the back cover of the galley, “It’s not fair that she’s also pretty. I think I hate her.”

I too loved the book. I had a chance to meet her a few weeks ago and found her extremely charming. If we lived in the same town, we would be good friends I like to think. Now I have to settle for being Facebook friends.

Some books I’ve read recently but have yet to mention:

• A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear: The next chapter in the Maisie Dobbs series finds Maisie on an undercover assignment for the British Secret Service. They ask her to pose as a professor at a Cambridge college to keep track on possible anti-government activities. Add to the mix a murder and the beginnings of the Nazi party and you’ve got an great addition to the series.
• The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown: This isn’t the first novel to have grown children return to the parental home after a setback in love or work, but it’s still a good read. In this case, the father is a Shakespeare scholar and the daughters are all named after characters from his plays, and the whole enterprise of reflecting on their successes, failures, and familial relationships is tinged with history and allusion. Read this if you liked The Three Weismanns of Westport.
• The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly: During tough financial times, Mickey Haller, the Lincoln lawyer, has started taking on foreclosure defense. When one of his clients is accused of killing the banker she blames for trying to taking her home, he finds himself once again in the middle of a high profile murder trial. As in his other books, Connelly does a good job of exploring the complicated nature of the law, and drawing a protagonist who’s well rounded, and not always likeable.

At my request, Public Affairs sent me an early galley of a book by Abhiji Banerjee and Esther Duflo from the Poverty Action Lab over at MIT. It’s titled Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty, and I’ve been reading it for about a week now.

The authors bring analytical rigor to global charity by running controlled evaluations to determine whether individual programs actually work. For example, they’re running an experiment to find the best way to fight malaria with mosquito nets. Should they be given away so more people can have them? Should they be sold at full price so that people understand their value? Would a discount help? Once they’re distributed, do people use them? If not, why not?

Billions of dollars from governments and NGOs are donated every year for antipoverty projects, but it’s amazing just how little we know about how effectively it’s used. An important point the authors make is that there are two major schools of thought about foreign aid. Jeffrey Sachs and his allies argue for more aid, saying that without help, poor countries are likely to remain poor. Others, including William Easterly and Dambisa Moyo, argue that foreign aid has failed for decades, that Western do-good missions in poor countries are ineffective at best, and motivated not by a desire to help but by misplaced guilt.

The authors of Poor Economics outline that debate, then move past it. They have a compelling argument that antipoverty programs can be effective if properly designed, and illustrate ways to test them to make sure they actually work. The writing style is accessible and engaging, but it’s not dumbed down or over-simplified. The complexity of the subject means that this book is taking me longer to read than other books, but I’ve found the effort genuinely rewarding.

It’s a terrible day weather-wise here in Cambridge–slush almost a foot deep in some places. I wiped out on a sidewalk earlier which did not help me feel any better. A small sinus thing snuck up on me earlier this week. All of this is to say that now I am at home and I just finished reading Wrecker by Summer Wood, a book I heard about from a sales rep in D.C. a few weeks ago.

It’s about a boy named Wrecker, named so by his mother because of his destructive tendencies, who goes to live with his uncle Len on a farm north of San Francisco at the age of 3. His mother was sent to jail and as his only relative, Len reluctantly agrees to care for him. His own wife Meg has recently suffered an accident that left her brain damaged. Luckily the neighboring commune houses three women, whose lives Wrecker upturns, both literally and figuratively: Willow, Ruthie, and Melody. The novel traces how the boy affects each of these family over the years. I found it a touching and readable story.

8 year old Raj, the middle of three boys, lives with his family on a sugar plantation in Mauritius during WWII as the novel opens. Life is hard, but young Raj knows only his immediate surroundings, getting water with his brother at the nearby river, his mother’s wisdom with healing plants, his father’s harsh lashes as he arrives home drunk most nights. School opens his eyes to another world and he feels shame for the first time. Then a flash flood washes away his beloved siblings and his family moves to avoid the heartache of their loss.

In their new home, Raj’s father works as a prison guard. Although his father tells him that the inmates are all criminals and dangerous men, Raj soon discovers his father is the greatest danger. After a savage beating lands Raj into the prison hospital, he discovers that the inmates are in fact Jewish refugees exiled from British controlled Palestine. One young orphan, David, visits Raj and the two become fast friends.

Appanah wonderfully captures the innocent voice of a boy who loses much and finds even more in his new friend. His young voice grabs your attention and holds it long after the novel ends.

I hadn’t heard of Alex and Aki until a few months ago, but I’ve quickly become a fan. The wife and husband chef team explore food through chemistry. Their book Ideas in Food, named after their blog, presents food in the chapters you expect: Bread, Pasta, Vegetables, Meat, etc. What they do differently is explain scientifically the best ways to cook those things. Plus there’s lots of modern techniques such as sous-vide and vacuum sealing and a whole section on cooking with food additives like xanthan gum, carbon dioxide, and agar. I wish Alex and Aki had been my science teachers in high school. They explain everything simply and clearly in such a non-boring way. I now understand why brining works–salt and osmosis–and also learned that we can thank a man named Clarence Birdseye for frozen food.

Will I use this cookbook every day? I’m not sure since the recipes I most want to try cooking most involve tools I don’t have, like a sous-vide machine or vacuum sealer, but I’ll certainly rely on it for inspiration. They’ve made me rethink some of the basic ways I do things in the kitchen and have inspired me to try new techniques. I’ll let you know if I ever make their Grilled Potato Ice Cream.

I finished Hannah Pittard’s wonderful The Fates will Find Their Way last night. You won’t be disappointed when you pick up this book I promise. Comparisons will be made to Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides, but mostly because of the perspective.

The stories revolve around the disappearance of Nora Lindell and how it affected her family and classmates. Told through the first person plural, the boys of the town endlessly speculate about what happened, who saw what and where, and periodic sightings. Meanwhile their own lives get complicated as they try to grow up. Nora’s vanishment has a profound impact on all of their lives. Pittard captures the adolescent male mind (at least as I imagine it) as they conjure fantasies and continue to use Nora as an outlet for their imaginations.

Jason Rice over at Three Guys One Book interviewed Hannah Pittard and I purposely waited to read it until after I finished. I recommend you do the same. She’s a really interesting writer, one to watch for sure.

It’s quite busy here at HBS these days, as you might imagine. I’m working on the floor and in the receiving department, making sure books get upstairs for customers. The holiday season is always interesting. Some years people are cranky; this year people are in good moods. The economy?  Who knows? We’re seeing runs on all kinds of titles and of course, publishers are running out of the hottest stuff.

Generally the atmosphere here is chaotic but lively and fun. We try not to do the usual Christmas songs either, which is great. My parents and sister are on their way to Cambridge to spend the holiday with us this year. With some snow on the ground, I’ll be able to deliver a nice New England Christmas. And no, I don’t mean uptight and cold.

I’m still reading whenever I get a chance too. I read two books since the last post, one of which is an older book, the other just guilty pleasure reading.

I’ve always wanted to read PD James’ dystopian novel Children of Men. When I saw the movie (which I really liked), I knew it was based on this novel. What I wasn’t aware of was how different it is! The book is great but I couldn’t help but notice all of the differences in plot. Set in England in 2021, the world’s population finds themselves infertile. Most of populace have accepted this and have begun rather bizarre rituals, but a small group of dissesnters arise. The narrative switches back and forth between third and first person; some chapters are the “diary” of Theo Farron, an Oxford don.

In 1994, the sperm count for males dropped to zero and the last people born are called Omegas, who remain a special race apart. Theo’s cousin Xan has become the de facto leader of the UK–he’s referred to as the Warden. Theo is approached by Julian, a member of a dissenting group who call themselves the Five Fishes. They ask Theo to approach his cousin about reforms, which he does to no effect. The story moves forward several months, after Theo leaves England for a while to travel. Upon his return, he’s contacted by one of the Five Fishes who says that Julian needs his help. Julian has a secret which she reveals and that changes everything. I won’t reveal in case you have not read the book nor seen the movie.

That’s the basic plot which differs drastically from the film. Theo has an estranged wife, but she barely figures into the novel other than to give Theo some background for his general misanthropy. And the leader of the UK is Theo’s cousin,  but he’s a huge plot point in the book. I like both versions, but the book is more nuanced and less heavy handed. Upon further research I realize that they called the film a “loose adaptation” but it’s still interesting to compare the two.

Book #84 is the fourth in Chelsea Cain’s series featuring Archie Sheridan and his torturer and serial killer Gretchen Lowell. The new one coming this Spring called The Night Season doesn’t have Gretchen however. It’s more of a straight murder mystery. In this one, Portland is flooding and a old skeleton is uncovered. Plus there seems to be another serial killer on the loose. The plot keeps you on your toes and there’s some character development as well. The descriptions of the flooding are particularly well done.