Summer Reads Mini-Reviews

Time to catch up on my mentions of book readings this summer:

Oxygen, ISBN: 978-1416556107, by Carol Cassella. An anesthesiologist writing about an anesthesiologist. How droll! But the author's experience undoubtedly lead to the richness and depth of the book, a mystery with twisty subplots to captivate the most bored of minds. If I ever have surgery again, I'll regard the gas passer much more closely and with great respect. I wonder just how much soul-searching doctors really indulge in? Top read!

Disobedience, ISBN: 978-0743291569, by Naomi Alderman. Glimpses into very different lives always intrigue me, and none are more different than those of Orthodox Jews. More so, apparently, if the traditional community is set in staid Great Britain, that bastion of blancmange. The spicy religious sect hold secrets within secrets, gradually revealed as the main character, Ronit, visits the place from which she thought she had escaped her heritage. Sad and unsettling.

Promise of the Wolves, ISBN: 978-1416569985, by Dorothy Hearst. Talking animals are not my preference for historical or fantasy reading. The rabbits of Watership Down bored me silly. However, this first of a trilogy titled "The Wolf Chronicles" has a mystic element to it that caught my interest and eventually enchanted me. Especially the mystery-master talking raven. The wolves became believable characters, even with their silly names, and revealed just enough animal actions to keep a reader reminded of their true nature.

These are all, I believe, debut novels and an interesting mix. I give them an up, down and neutral in the Thumbs category.