The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean

I am in a rut, trying to find books on Russia, St. Petersberg and such. But I can't help myself. I won't say I was disappointed in this book, but it was not all I had hoped it would be. The part that was most interesting to me was the descriptions of the different rooms in the Hermitage Museum. The book flashes back and forth between present and past. Marina, the now Alzheimer-inflicted "babushka" in the story, was a guide in the Hermitage State Museum prior to WWII. When the war breaks out and St. Petersbert (Leningrad) is under seige, she stays in the museum packing up the treasures. She and her fellow guide try to memorize each and every room, even after the treasures are gone.
As an adult living in the United States, Marina shares nothing of her past with her children, so their confusion about HER confusion was a bit convoluted for me. They didn't understand when she would go into verbal litanies that were her way to remember and return to Leningrad in 1941.  I didn't buy that part of the story. You would think that her children would have pressed her in their youth to describe her past.
Anyway, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it anyone interested in art, Russia or the seige of Leningrad.

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

This is such a spartan book in terms of size (only 129 pages!) but the breadth and depth of the stories it tells are vast.  While there are not any "main characters" in the book, there are many nameless but rich characters, all referred to in the plural "we." They are the Japanese women who came over from their homeland on boats to meet and marry their husbands in California.

“On the boat we could not have known that when we first saw our husbands we would have no idea who they were. That the crowd of men in knit caps and shabby black coats waiting for us down below on the dock would bear no resemblance to the handsome young men in the photographs. That the photographs we had been sent were 20 years old. . . . That when we first heard our names being called out across the water one of us would cover her eyes and turn away — I want to go home — but the rest of us would lower our heads and smooth down the skirts of our kimonos and walk down the gangplank and step out into the still warm day. This is America, we would say to ourselves, there is no need to worry. And we would be wrong.”

Each section of the book deals with a different theme. The first is the expectations of these women as they meet on the boat, in dire living conditions. Other sections cover their early lives as wives of farmers, servants, farm hands, tailors, etc.  Another section is about childbirth, their children, and eventually, the final sections deal with the bombing Pearl Harbor and how their lives as Japanese people are changed - their fear and expectations of being deported, and eventually being sent to the internment camps. 

Last Night in Montreal by Emily St John Mandel

I was hooked immediately by the writing and storyline in this recent novel.  It's about a young woman, Lilia, who has on the move for her entire life. As a child she was abducted by her father (to rescue her, we find out later, from her abusive mother, from whom he is estranged.) and then spends her childhood and adolescence traveling constantly and changing identities. She is haunted by an inability to remember her childhood, and she moves from city to city, abandoning people all along the way. She is always being followed by a private investigator, who refuses to "turn her in," because he knows that she cannot be returned to her mother. When the book opens, she is with Eli, who then follows her from New York to Montreal. He meets up with Michaela, who has befriended Lilia, but won't tell Eli where she is until he reveals a truth about her that she revealed to him, swearing him to secrecy.  Mandel s characters will resonate with you long after the final page is turned. I enjoyed this very much, but it was disturbing.

The Forgiven by Lawrence Osborne

I am reading too many books in too few days.....but I am loving it! Sometimes I forget the last one that I read.
Just finished The Forgiven by Lawrence Osborne, who has been compared to a young McEwan (who I just finished).
This book is disturbing, and a fast read. Pick it up at any spot and read about some pretty nasty people. But they are interesting characters. And the plot moves quickly.
A couple, Jo and David, are in Morocco on their way to a "party" held by their friends, Dally and Richard (a gay couple who hold these lavish weekends each year).  The juxtaposition of the cultures (upper class white vs lower class Muslims) is stark and real.  On their way, David, who is often under the influence, hits a young Moroccan boy with his car and kills him. He and his wife are a bit disturbed, but just pick up the body, put it in the back of the car, and proceed to their friends' estate.
Once there they tell the story about  how this young man simply appeared before them, hawking his fossils and they were blinded by the sandstorm, and hit him.
There are various themes afloat here: clash of worlds/cultures, cultural misunderstandings, broken marriage, greed, opulence, over indulgence, deceit, and  more.
The ending is very surprising and I won't give it away, but the title of the book does say a alot about what this book is about....until the end.

Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan

What a clever and engaging read! The only other McEwan novel that I read was Atonement, which I LOVED, but his last novel (Solar), was not for me.
This novel engaged me from the start - not so much that I loved the characters, but the writing was easy and fast and the storyline interesting.
After I read the book, I did some research and learned that the writer in the book, Tom Haley, has similarities to McEwan as a young writer.
There is a lot  of the "story within the story" in this book and at the end it comes together quite skillfully, I thought.

The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg

This book tells the story of a disfunctional Jewish family living in the suburbs surrounding Chicago in the mid 70's.  Edie is the main focus of the novel; she is an overweight, diabetic woman who has such a love of food that she lets it compromise her marriage, relationships with her children and friends. She is smart and talented but somehow loses her husband and her job because of this obsession with food. And speaking of food, it certainly holds a very central place in this funny, but disturbing novel. It's satirical and smart and a quick read.
There were not really any sympathetic characters in this novel - at least for me. But I enjoyed the book very much and would recommend it.

San Miguel by TC Boyle

San Miguel is an island off of the coast of Santa Barbara in California. It's part of the Channel Islands. Last year when we drove down the coast from SF to SD, we passed by and my husband told me about these islands.  Boyle's novel takes place on San Miguel, a stark, barren island, where Marantha Waters, suffering from tuberculosis is brought by her husband in 1888. He seeks a simpler life, raising sheep, and cleaner air for her to breathe. That promise proves to be folly.  The house is dank, dark and overrun by mice. Their adopted daughter, Edith, hates her life on the island (she was forced to leave school to come to this place) and tries hard to escape. When Marantha dies, the second part of the book tells Edith's harrowing story and her father's attempt to keep her captive on the island.
The third part of the book jumps ahead to 1930 and tells the story of a couple, Elise and Herbie Lester, who move to the island looking for a simpler life.  They have two daughters and  a pretty idyllic life until world events change their life on the island.
I enjoyed reading this book; it was quite different from the other Boyle novels that I have read. His descriptions of the island really give the reader a sense of what San Miguel felt like for these very different characters.