I'm serious about my summer reading

Is there anything better than late summer in the adjustable lounge chair with the Kindle? Mmm, maybe, but I can't think of what it is right now. Because I'm too busy reading! Here are mini reviews on the latest dozen.

Amity and Sorrow***1/2
by Peggy Riley
A mother and two daughters escape from a polygamous cult. Riley skillfully delineates the disorientation, betrayal, and ambivalence the daughters feel. The mother is done up a little more clumsily, and I suspect Riley doesn't really have much use for her. The ending, sadly, seems melodramatic and contrived.

The Doomsday Book***
by Connie Willis
It's every medieval grad student's dream: to be whisked back to England on the eve of the Black Death to see what it was really like. Willis adds too much bogus science about time travel, and myriad characters and subplots weaken focus. But the juxtaposition of the Black Death in the Middle Ages happening concurrently with a flu epidemic in the modern world allows the author to make some thoughtful comments on how human beings face catastrophic loss. Willis has great fun re-imagining how Middle English might sound, which could be tiresome if you're not me.

The Heart of Rachael***
by Kathleen Thompson Norris
This novel by Frank Norris's sister-in-law takes on divorce in 1920s America, when the marital failure rate was considered scandalous at 12 percent. Pffft. The spiritual development of some of the characters is interesting, and the portraits of upper middle class women are always interesting and well rounded. But the novel ends in an unsatisfying diatribe against divorce laws. I keep wondering what my grandmother, who found herself married to a bigamist in 1927, would have made of this one.

I, Lucifer****
by Glen Duncan
God offers Lucifer a chance at redemption if he can live as a human without messing up too badly. How this will end isn't a surprise, exactly, but that's beside the point. Duncan's Lucifer is as beguiling as as the one Milton dreamed up (and there are lots of references, sly and otherwise, to "Paradise Lost"). The the brilliance of the novel ***SPOILER*** lies in Lucifer's complete impotence and self-delusion that he is the agent of the evil he credits himself with and embraces with such effort and pain. Turns out humans do think up evil just fine on their own.

John Henry Days***
by Colson Whitehead
A look at the variations on the legend of John Henry and how it has affected people, black and white. Best part is the description of the life of a journalistic junketeer. Earlier work than "Apex Hides the Hurt," and less disciplined and tight, but always interesting.

The Magic Cup**1/2
by Andrew Greeley
Greeley, a Jesuit, wrote fantasy novels, and this one is about early Ireland and the cultus of St. Brigid. There's a little history, a little hagiography, and a lot of swashbuckling. Might be fun for Irish kids in CCD.

Mezzanine*****
by Nicholson Baker
The entire novel covers the protagonist's lunch hour during which he goes out to buy a pair of shoe laces. At first you wonder if the guy is just compulsive in following the thread of every random thought and memory that runs through his brain. Then you wonder what's wrong with you for sticking with it. But do! Baker manages to make the quotidian fascinating and the novel ends up being a brilliant existential exploration.

Mrs. Woolf and the Servants***1/2
by Alison Light
Virginia Woolf didn't want servants, not because of any egalitarian social views she inherited from her Bloomsbury group, but because they irritated the hell out of her. Light's nonfiction look at the demise of the serving class in early 20th Century England rambles at times, but is worthwhile in its humanizing of the servants and their lives after service. Especially interesting for the contrast between Virginia and her sister, Vanessa Bell, both of whom seem incredibly spoiled in different ways.

The Night Circus***
by Erin Morgenstern
Two magicians wage a duel of skill through their respective apprentices, who, without knowing the nature of their rivalry, complicate matters by falling in love. Meh. The venue for the duel is the titular night circus, and it's worth reading the book just for the description of the place. The love story? It's OK.

Tenth of December*****
by George Saunders
Grim Reader loved George Saunders before he was popular, but she is happy he has achieved such acclaim with this book because it's really marvelous. This collection of short stories is similar to Saunders' earlier collection, "Persuasion Nation," in its exploration of the human heart's ability to transcend convention, selfishness, and "good intentions." The title story is especially satisfying.

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves****1/2
by Karen Joy Fowler
Wonderful speculative novel about a family who copes with the loss of a sister/daughter who ***SPOILER*** happens to be a chimp raised with a human family in a linguistics experiment. Fowler explores the our relationships with and obligation to other species in a way that neither sentimentalizes animals nor draws clear bright lines between creatures. Fowler is refreshingly not pushing an agenda here, just asking lots of questions that bear thinking about more closely.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette**1/2
by Maria Semple
Bernadette's frustrated career as an architect and artist leads to domestic chaos, rage, and misanthropy in this aging-chick lit novel by a former SNL writer. Bernadette is saved by in a highly contrived ending by her young daughter's pluck and love, with some help from an unlikely neighbor. I liked Bernadette better when she was pissed off all the time.