Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

This is a story about Libby Day. When Libby was seven years old, her mother and two sisters were murdered in their rural Kansas home. Libby escaped, hid from the killer, and lived. The famous killings were labeled as “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas”, and young Libby testified that her brother did it.

The story flashes to twenty-five years later, when Libby is ready to face her imprisoned brother, and find out the truth of that fatal night. She meets”The Killing Club”, who researches and tries to solve cult crimes. They convince her to visit her brother, find her drifter father, and others who may know the real events of her family’s demise. Hearing new evidence and opening her mind, Libby finally begins to heal, and reconcile her demons.

  Chicago-based author, Gillian Flynn writes with abandon, exposing the haunted past of a damaged little girl and her steps out of the darkness. I highly recommend this book to readers like me, who don’t mind the macabre.  Flynn’s earlier book, “Sharp Objects” is also a good read that shows her signature style.

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Open by Andre Agassi

Andre Agassi was thought to be a punk– all you had to do was look at his hair, outfits, and  jewelry. But the truth of the matter is that he was really trying to rebel against the situation he was put in. Forced to play tennis as a youngster by his father, Agassi never really chose to be a tennis player.

“The net is the biggest enemy, but thinking is the cardinal sin. Thinking, my father believes, is the source of all bad things, because thinking is the opposite of doing. When my father catches me thinking, daydreaming, on the tennis court, he reacts as if he caught me taking money from his wallet. I often think about how I can stop thinking. I wonder if my father yells at me to stop thinking because he knows I’m a thinker by nature. Or, with all his yelling, has he turned me into a thinker? Is my thinking about things other than tennis an act of defiance?
I like to think so.”

I had heard prior to reading the book  (as many others had) that he discloses his crystal meth use in the late 90s, and that he wore a headpiece. Shocking,  not really. Dissapointing, yes. What I found to be shocking was his revelation about his feelings on the game of tennis: he views it as a neccessary evil because as a teenager, who had dropped out of school, it was his only real skill to earn a living.

Many passages are quite profound (as evidenced above). He skillfully conveys the contradictions that go on in an athlete’s head– especially an athlete in “the lonliest sport.” He delves respectively into his marriage to Brooke Shields, his “passionate friendship” with Barbra Streisand, and ultimate courtship and marriage to Steffi Graf.

An excellent autobiograhpy, by a boy who grew up to become a classy and generous man.

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The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny

At first glance the male body wearing torn and tattered clothing found in the village bistro appears to be that of an old hermit or bum. Upon further inspection, it becomes obvious that the corpse had once been a man of means. What on earth is this man’s body doing lying on the floor of the bistro, and why is the bistro owner, Olivier, acting so strangely?
“The Brutal Telling” is the 5th novel in the “Inspector Gamache” series and the 2nd that takes place in the village of Three Pines. Tree Pines is in the Canadian providence of Quebec and is chock full of colorful characters, who all deny knowing the hermit. However, we soon find out that Olivier had a secret relationship with him.
Ms. Penny writes an intriguing, well written story that draws you in. The investigation takes a number of twists and turns and quite a few “red herrings” are thrown in to keep you guessing. For those of you that like delectable descriptions of gourmet food, this novel will not disappoint you. While reading it I found myself longing for an amuse-bouche and a lovely glass, or three, of Cabernet.
“The Brutal Telling” stands up well on its own, but I wish I would have started with “Still Life”, the first book in the “Chief Inspector Gamache” series. Since I can’t change the past, I’m reading it now.

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Stitches by David Small

Don’t let the format (graphic novel) dissuade you from picking up this dark, frightening (yet hopeful) autobiographical volume by noted children’s author, David Small. While marketed toward young adults, it is, in my opinion, a book meant primarily for adults. To read of the physical and mental abuse this man endured as a child and teenager is more than just mildly disturbing. To know that his own father, mother and grandmother were all involved is shocking. That he eventually worked his way out of their grasp, angry but determined not to repeat the cycle of abuse is nearly miraculous. All the while, he escaped into his art, which eventually blossomed into a career as a beloved author-illustrator of many children’s books. That is the hopeful part of this work.

This book has already been nominated for a National Book Award; there’s no doubt in my mind that it will be nominated for others. The artwork draws you into Small’s dark, painful world. It makes you want to seek out his children’s books to prove to yourself that yes, he really did make it out of his personal hell.

Your idea of “graphic novels” may be forever changed by this book. Pick it up, and you will be compelled to read it.

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Either You’re In or You’re In the Way by Logan and Noah Miller

Sometimes, things are just meant to be. Twin brothers Logan and Noah Miller began a career in screenwriting after their baseball dreams were ultimately unsuccessful (although Noah did play for the Toronto Blue Jays minor league). Their first screenplay, Touching Home, was a look at their relationship with their father, Daniel. Written in the late nineties, no studios ever purchased it for production. 

Then in 2006 everything changed: their father, an alcoholic and homeless, died in jail. Devestated by his death, the twins made a vow to get Touching Home made into a film. And, miraculously, they did. In all, the cast and crew had 11 Academy Awards and 26 nominations to their credit. Amazingly, the brothers were able to cast Ed Harris in the important roll of their father. Brad Dourif and Robert Forester also starred.

It would seem as though I’ve given away ”spoiler” information, but frankly a lot of it can be read on the book jacket or within the first 50 pages. The most important aspect to this book isn’t knowing the details going in, but discovering how they were able to acheive this unlikely goal; it is a study in determination, passion, and luck (it seems as though their father helps them along the way). Curious, I looked up Touching Home on Internet Movie Database and found that the release date is set for March 17, 2010. Sometimes, things are just meant to be.

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