China Road by Rob Gifford

Carrie says:
It should've read like the road trip from hell--two months traveling 2,998 miles from Shaghai to the China-Kazahkstan border. Instead, it read like the end of a really good date the author never wanted to end, the kind where he keeps delaying the inevitable good-bye. Arguably, a two-month trip through China via taxi, truck and bus may be longest and oddest end of a date on record, but it was a lovely good-bye nonetheless.

Rob Gifford, an NPR correspondent, spent six years, from 1999 to 2005, living in China and reporting on Asian news for Morning Edition and All Things Considered. When it was time to move on to the London bureau, he wanted one last memory of China, one last good-bye, one last road trip from hell. In order to accomplish this, he traveled the length of Route 312, China's version of Route 66, interviewing "Old Hundred Names," China's version of John Q. Public.

Of the handful of books on China I've read in the last few months, this one does the best reconciling the paradox of a modern-day ancient civilization. As Gifford writes, "For every fact that is true about China, the opposite is almost always true as well, somewhere in the country." There is prosperity; there is poverty. Times are changing; times are staying the same. Millions are racing toward the future; millions are clinging to the past. In addressing these paradoxes, Gifford writes about the realities and dreams of Old Hundred Names with respect and compassion. He shares his own paradox--his love of the Chinese and his discomfort with and distrust of the behemoth that is China. That love, of course, is the reason what should've been the road trip from hell was really one last, sweet good-bye.

(But don't take my word for it. Here's what Amazon has to say.)

City of Thieves by David Benioff (and a tardy slip)

Tardy Slip:  Please excuse Sarah for not posting a review last Thursday or yesterday.  Last Thursday she was still hovering on Death's door with strep throat and attempting to care for her healthy 13 month-old and her strep-stricken 3 year-old while her husband is vacationing in an exotic locale (or something like that).  Then there was Easter.  On Monday, Blogger would not allow her to actually write AND save/post. 
Signed:  All Things Conspiring Against Her

The Review:
I so want this story to be true. In the interest of full-disclosure, I have a weird thing about Russian history and, of course, World War II (explains the choice of history as an undergrad major) so I was predisposed to like this book. It's labeled Historical Fiction, but in my mind this is a true story of chaos, hunger, desperation, pride, love, and war.  And if that doesn't interest you, you should know this is a story about eggs.  Interested yet?  You should be.  I loved this book.

The book's preface makes it seem as if this is the author's grandfather's tale of living in Leningrad during the German WW II siege on the city.  I don't know how true that is, but I want it to be.  The main characters, Kolya and Lev, are brought together on a quest to find eggs for a colonel's daughter's wedding, as a way for them to avoid desertion charges.  It's with these two contrasting souls (one too young to know any better than the moment in front of him and the other an intellect and romantic caught in a time of war) that the reader experiences a decimated city and outlying Russian villages while on the hunt for eggs.  Their journey shows how low a city, an army, and a people can be in these circumstances, yet still find order and comfort in the most ordinary of things. 

Perhaps what I liked best about the story was, though it was the grandfather's voice and story, it was more about the author's (at least the author in the preface) grandmother.  Though there is love there, don't expect the stuff of romance novels, as the story does an excellent job illuminating the odd ways of love and romance in war.  After all, what says "romance" more than "I won't tell the Germans you're actually a girl."?  This is a story that can only be true during war, and probably only true during war in a frozen Russia - when truth is harder to understand than the greatest of lies.  It's not for the faint of heart (there are even cannibals) but it's worth it.

From Publishers Weekly

Author and screenwriter Benioff follows up The 25th Hour with this hard-to-put-down novel based on his grandfather's stories about surviving WWII in Russia. Having elected to stay in Leningrad during the siege, 17-year-old Lev Beniov is caught looting a German paratrooper's corpse. The penalty for this infraction (and many others) is execution. But when Colonel Grechko confronts Lev and Kolya, a Russian army deserter also facing execution, he spares them on the condition that they acquire a dozen eggs for the colonel's daughter's wedding cake. Their mission exposes them to the most ghoulish acts of the starved populace and takes them behind enemy lines to the Russian countryside. There, Lev and Kolya take on an even more daring objective: to kill the commander of the local occupying German forces. A wry and sympathetic observer of the devastation around him, Lev is an engaging and self-deprecating narrator who finds unexpected reserves of courage at the crucial moment and forms an unlikely friendship with Kolya, a flamboyant ladies' man who is coolly reckless in the face of danger. Benioff blends tense adventure, a bittersweet coming-of-age and an oddly touching buddy narrative to craft a smart crowd-pleaser. (May)

Sweet Valley Confidential: 10 Years Later

Heavy sigh.  Heavy, heavy sigh.  Remember my enthusiasm about this book?  If you missed it, you can find it here.  Unfortunately, the reviews were right and I was wrong.  The book is so bad that I'm mad at the author for even writing it.  Yes, it's that bad.

I was so hoping Ms. Pascal would take the opportunity to develop the twins, Elizabeth and Jessica, into strong women that were doing their part in the world.  I envisioned a novel where they still struggled with their sibling rivalry, but ideally had put their differences aside and had become flourishing citizens.  I was ready for career-minded twins on the verge of marriage or motherhood.  Or maybe they would be returning to Sweet Valley from a stint in the Peace Corps.  I don't know.  I was ready for anything, but instead I got a bunch of nothing.

Instead, I got adultery, divorce, drug use, and alcoholism.  And that was just in the first 115 pages!  It was as if the author decided the only way to prove herself has a hip, 21st century author was to throw in all of the recent headlines from E!News. SPOILER ALERT: Did the twins have a gay brother in the old books?  Well, they do now.   As if all of that wasn't enough, she also threw in a possible murder/suicide.  Why? 

I really couldn't find one thing about the book that I liked.  I tried.  I really did.  But hey, there is ONE piece of good news...the book is lendable on my nook.  The first person that contacts me gets it for free (if you have a nook).  Anyone?  Bueller?