AJ Dunn Reads

  A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens This novel takes place during the lead up and onset of the French Revolution. Dr. Manette is found, by his daughter Lucie who he's never met, making shoes in a room above a wine seller unable to remember who he is until he meets her after having spent eighteen years imprisoned. Later Charles Darnay is being tried for treason against the English Crown but is defended and acquitted. He is a French aristocrat who left France for England. The Manettes were witness to the trial, with Lucie showing deep sympathy for Darnay. They meet later on and he falls in love with her, asking Dr. Manette for her hand in marriage.  In France a Marquis runs down a child in his carriage, setting off the constant sentiment that the aristocracy abuses and cares little for the common folk. Darnay returns to France and confronts the Marquis, his uncle, about these things and renounces his family name and legacy. The Marquis is murdered. Manette relapses into hi...

  The God of Small Things By Arundhati Roy The novel takes place in two period's of Rahel's life in India with several generations of her family and her twin brother, Estha. As an adult she has returned to see her brother and she starts to recall the visit of their young cousin, Sophie, when they were little and the tragedy that took place then. There are several references to the Communist movement in the past storyline, as well as political unrest, and the social politics between the classes. There is quite a bit of discussion also surrounding gender inequalities, colonialism, and religion. The twins' mother Ammu is single and taking care of her children with her extended family members surrounded by the issues. Sophie is Ammu's niece, her brother Chacho being divorced from Sophie's mother. The book is told through the eyes of the children, who are not so concerned with the big issues of the day, but with the small things that happen in their lives. The adults are...

  The Pull of the Stars By Emma Donoghue Julia Power is a nurse in Ireland during the 1918 influenza pandemic and World War I. She works in the Maternity/Fever ward, tending to pregnant women who have the flu in an understaffed hospital. She is often the only nurse on duty, but during the short three-days when the book takes place Julia is aided by a volunteer named Bridie Sweeney from a charity house. During the three days Julia has to deal with the death of a newborn, the death of a new mother, training the eager Bridie, dealing with absent or new doctors and a smarmy nun working on the ward. She forms a close bond with Bridie and the two find themselves quickly falling for one another until tragedy strikes and Bridie suffers from a lie she told. Another outsider introduced into Julia's world is Dr. Lynn, who is a rebel on the run from the police. In her home life we get a small bit about, Julia lives with her Brother Tim who is recently back from the war and is unable or unwilli...

 Bitter Orange By Claire Fuller Frances Jellico is staying at Lyntons, a dilapidated English country house, doing surveys for the estate's new owner. While staying in the attic there she finds a couple is staying in the rooms below hers and that she can spy on them in her bathroom through a hole in the floor. Cara, the young woman is troubled and tells Frances stories about her past with the young man, Peter, as well as how she met Peter, the child she had )which she claimed was by immaculate conception), and other assorted personal details about her relationship with Peter. Peter is also being paid by the estate's owner to catalogue the contents of the house and to make architectural reports about it. He and Frances become fast friends as well, and Frances starts to think their is something more to Peter's attentions. Near the house is a church Frances attends and she wonders at the vicar, Victor, who seems not to be happy in his current role and talks to her about Lyntons...

  Days Without End By Sebastian Barry This was a far different story than I was expecting, with a queer twist not noted on the back cover. A pleasant surprise. Thomas McNulty and John Cole meet when they are very young, both free from a structured home life for their own reasons. The two are brought into the fold of a showman who dresses them as girls to dancw with miners, sonce there are no women around. Thomas takes a liking to dressing as a woman. They become inseparable and when Thomas is seventeen the two are enlisted into the army to help fight the Indian Wars against the Sioux and Yurok tribes. During one of these battles (exterminations) they save a young Sioux girl from being killed and name her Wynona.  They bring her up as their own, until they join the union in the Civil War, when they leave her with a friend to fight in it. During the war they get captured and spend a lot of time as prisoners of war. When they are traded for Rebel soldiers they make their way home...

  The Days of Abandonment By Elena Ferrante   Olga's husband Mario leaves her, abandoning her, their two children, and the dog to live with a much younger woman. Olga descends into a depressive state, breaks apart, and learns how to pull herself together when her dog dies and her son becomes ill. The Days of Abandonment is about Olga's inner struggle with herself and her loss, and her feelings of being abandoned by Mario, asking herself what happened, whose fault it was, and what kind of a woman/person she is and wants to be. Olga is psychically traumatized by these events, but comes out on the other side after a deep bout of violent thoughts and actions directed both outward and inward. This was a deep character study of a woman in turmoil, working through infidelity. It didn't hit me hard, though there were strong moments of tension. The writing was strong and at times intense, with vivid descriptions of violence that did not shirk or shy away from the filth of living an...

  Enduring Love By Ian McEwan On a picnic with his common law wife, Clarissa, Joe Rose finds himself as one of several men who run to the aid of a man whose son is alone in a hot air balloon he is losing control of. In the process all of the men let go, except one man who is killed for his heroism. Afterward, Joe comes face to face with one of the other helpers, a younger man named Jed Parry. That night Joe receives a phone call from Jed who tells him he loves him and they are meant to be together. The subsequent story unfolds with Jed persistently stalking Joe at his home and Joe being drawn into interaction with Jed where he learns Jed believes Joe loves him, initiated the "relationship," and is leading him on, wanting Jed to save Joe and bring him to Jesus. Joe tells his wife what is happening to him, and his cageyness around the whole thing throws a wedge into their relationship. Joe loses trust in Clarissa, who doesn't fully believe the situation is as dire as Joe th...

  The Tommyknockers By Stephen King Bobbi Anderson stumbles across a UFO buried in the woods attached to the house she inherited and she decides to dig it out. At first she doesn't know what it is, but slowly she comes to realize what she's unearthing. In the process she is suffering the consequences of the ship's power, becoming emaciated, losing her teeth, hair, and a lot of blood. As the ship is unearthed the effects start to travel across the town of Haven, Maine where she lives, causing the same effects to start to happen to its residents to various degrees. The townspeople become extremely mechanically creative and start to acquire a hive-mind. The ship on Bobbi's property becomes the most important thing to them, and they work to protect it from the prying eyes of outsiders. Some are not affected, though, namely anyone with metal in their heads. One such person is Bobbi's friend and lover James Gardener, a poet and hapless drunk who get himself into lots of s...

  The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle This was a collection of short stories that included: A Scandal in Bohemia The Red-Headed League A Case of Identity The Boscombe Valley Mystery The Five Orange Pips The Man with the Twisted Lip The Blue Carbuncle The Speckled Band The Engineer's Thumb The Noble Bachelor The Beryl Coronet The Copper Beeches These were all in the same sort of style seen in the previous two Sherlock Holmes stories I read in this collection. I still find the Scooby Doo confessions to be pretty unrealistic and funny, but the repetitive nature is a little tiring after awhile. I still think A Study in Scarlett was the best of all of them, so far. "The Copper Beeches" was probably the best story this time around. It was suspenseful and far more mysterious than the others. I liked how Watson, who was married in The Sign of the Four , was disappointed that Holmes wasn't interested in the female client after the mystery was solved. ...