Book Reviews for 2001
January
A Walk in the
Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
by Bill Bryson.
Many people talk about someday hiking the trail, or doing it over a period of time. Bryson, with little experience or expertise heads out and actually does it. Accompanied by his old college buddy Stephen Katz, whose only qualification for the hike is that he knows Bryson. They set out one March morning in north Georgia, intending to walk the entire 2,100 miles to trail’s end.
He had me in stitches throughout the story! I highly recommend this to people who wouldn't be caught dead without indoor plumbing, but would like to experience the adventures of hiking the Appalachian Trail from the comfort of their easy chair.
February
The Red Tent
by Anita Diamant
The Red Tent takes a character of little note in the Bible - Dinah - and imagines what her life would have been like. Anita Diamant re-creates the life of Dinah, daughter of Leah and Jacob, from her birth and happy childhood in Mesopotamia through her years in Canaan and death in Egypt. When Dinah reaches puberty and enters the Red Tent (the place where women gathered during their cycles of birthing, menses, and even illness) her mother and Jacob's three other wives initiate her into the religious and sexual practices of the tribe. The reader gets a true sense of what life may have been like for women during Biblical times. Not only a celebration of what it is to be a woman, but this book celebrates being a wife, sister, mother, lover and child.
March
Chocolat: A Novel
by Joanne Harris
This is one of those rare books one can read in a single sitting. The story of a single mother with a mysterious past arrives in the small French village of Lansquent and opens a chocolate shop opposite the local church. Thus Vianne arouses the fury of Reynard, the priest, while at the same time gradually seducing many of the townspeople one by one with the delicious smell and taste of chocolate. What ensues is a battle of wills between the woman and the priest as they fight for 'customers'.
April
Hot Six: A
Stephanie Plum Novel
by Janet Evanovich
Think of Hot Six as a mystery drenched in comic relief. Hot Six is the latest in Evanovich's zany detective series featuring Stephanie Plum. Stephanie Plum is a bond enforcement agent, better known as a bounty hunter, for her cousin Vinnie in Trenton, New Jersey. The week starts out with Stephanie trying to talk her friend Carol out of jumping off the Trenton Bridge and her mentor Ranger is accused of murdering a crime boss and has skipped his bail. Add in a dog named Bob who has a ghastly eating disorder, and Grandma Mazur, who is sick of living with Stephanie's mom, moves in on her (and tries to mimic Stephanie's sex life), and you've got yourself a terrific recipe for one fine Stephanie Plum adventure.
Additional Review Sites:
Chapter One—The
Washington Post Online allows you to read the first chapter
of selected new books.
First Chapters—The
New York Times on the Web brings you a selection of first
chapters from books reviewed
in The New York Times Book Review or
that appear on The New York
Times bestseller lists.