Kennedy's Brain by Henning Mankell

This mystery is unlike most of Mankell's crime stories: it doesn't feature Kurt Wallander, an archaeologist (the mother of the victim) does all of the investigating, and it doesn't wrap up particularly neatly. Like many of Mankell's stories, the text has a strong (and outraged) point of view: it doesn't want questions of justice to be swept under the rug--in this case, the crux of the matter is a mission in Mozambique where foreigners not only treat Africans afflicted with HIV and AIDS, but also give the virus to healthy people, without their consent, to test the effectiveness of experimental vaccines and drugs. The mystery part was handled pretty well--although the reader has to put a fair amount together in the end, and the story doesn't offer a ton of closure.

The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett

This book finds Rincewind making his way through FourEcks (EcksEcksEcksEcks), a continent that looks a whole lot like Australia, while on the other side of the Disc, the wizards who sent him there are trying to figure out how to get him back (as the University librarian, who was turned into an ape some time ago, has gone unstable in his shape, and the wizards need to know his name to perform magic on him--a name which only Rincewind has a chance of knowing). But in their search for a geographer to help them find XXXX, they step through a window that takes them to a different place and time, where  they encounter a small god, who keeps banging his head against evolution. This was not one of my favorite Discworld novels (though in all fairness, Pratchett's take on academics is pretty funny)--I think it's because Rincewind has just never clicked with me as a character. But there were definitely some pretty funny moments along the way.

Cursor's Fury by Jim Butcher

In this book Tavi finds himself shuffled off to a legion where he should be far away from the impending civil war. Of course, as these things go, this legion quickly becomes the only thing standing between the Canim and Alera--and Tavi becomes the only officer left standing. There were several parts where I felt the story was getting a little pat--things were difficult for Tavi, but he got just the crucial piece of information or aid or insight at the right moment. Still, I think this series is doing a good job balancing having a wide scope but still keeping the characters and the range of action manageable. Every time I finish one of these books, I can't wait to see what happens in the next one.

The Man Booker Prize 2012

Today we get one step closer to the Man Booker Prize--an award for the best book published in the Commonwealth in 2012, at least in the opinion of Sir Peter Stothard, Dinah Birch, Amanda Foreman, Dan Stevens, and Bharat Tandon, this year's judges. They confer today and announce a longlist of about a dozen books. On September 11, they'll announce a shortlist of about six books, and on October 16, they'll announce the winner, who gets £50,000. I don't have many predictions (I tend to use the Booker prize as a reading list), but I wouldn't be surprised if Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel makes it on the list this year.

I try to read all the books on the longlist (not necessarily before October 16--as some of the books may not even be published in the United States by that date). See 2011 (winner: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes) and 2010 (winner: The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson) here. Other Booker-nominated books I've read can be found here. Booker-nominated books I have read but haven't reviewed include: Time's Arrow by Martin Amis (shortlisted, 1991), The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (winner, 2000), The Life of Pi by Yann Martel (winner, 2002), and On Beauty by Zadie Smith (shortlisted, 2005).

2012 Longlist (with UK/US availability in parenthesis)

The Yips by Nicola Barker (Fourth Estate UK, Unknown US)
The Teleportation Accident by Ned Bowman (Sceptre UK, Bloomsbury US)
Philida by André Brink (Harvill Secker UK, Harvill Secker US)
Skios by Michael Frayn (Faber and Faber UK, Metropolitan US)
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (Doubleday UK, Random House US)
Communion Town by Sam Thompson (Fourth Estate UK, Unknown US)

2012 Shortlist

The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng (Myrmidon UK, Weinstein US)
Swimming Home by Deborah Levy (And Other Stories UK, And Other Stories US)
The Lighthouse by Alison Moore (Salt UK, Salt US)
Umbrella by Will Self (Bloomsbury UK, Grove US)
Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil (Faber and Faber UK, Penguin US)

2012 Winner
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (Fourth Estate UK, Henry Holt and Co US)

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

This book picks up where A Gathering of Witches left off: Matthew and Diana travel back in time to Elizabethan England to look for a manuscript known as Ashmole 782 which promises to reveal secrets about witches, vampires, and demons. Matthew was still a bit heavy handed for my tastes, but we did get to see more of Diana's power--and just as importantly--to get some explanation of why she has the powers she does. We also got a number of historical cameos, including Queen Elizabeth I, Kit Marlow (who has been both daemonized and demonized in this retelling), and, all too briefly, William Shakespeare. There was a lot of historical detail (it probably doesn't hurt that Deborah Harkness is an esteemed historian of seventeenth century England in addition to writing novels and blogging about wine), which added to the atmosphere of the piece. At times it felt like obstacles were thrown up and then almost immediately brushed away (for example, when Matthew takes Diana to his family home in France, Matthew's father Philippe insists that Matthew and Diana are not married and should not marry, but by the end of the section, less than a month later, throws them a lavish wedding). The mysteries of the Ashmole 782 only continue to grow; even though we get to see it again, the reader is left with questions instead of answers--but now it seems that the book is more an object or possession than a book. It's all setting things up for the third and final volume of the trilogy.

The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

This book fills in some of the gaps left by The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game, but it is nowhere near as complex, richly developed, or entertaining as the first two books in this remarkable series. Whereas both of the other books had surprising twists that developed the plot, this one was fairly straightforward. There weren't as many hoops to jump through. Still, I think without the first two books, it might be a difficult read all the same. I do think this volume left the door open for the fourth book in the cycle, and I think there's definitely room in the world for another rich volume, so I'll be looking for that with interest.

The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

This book is set in the same world as The Shadow of the Wind--marked especially by the Cemetery of Forgotten Books--but it is set a generation earlier. David Martín is a successful author of lurid gothic tales; many of his friends feel he is wasting his talents, but he's locked into a long-term contract with a publisher who's especially interested in only the lucrative side of his talent. An interested (and apparently rich and influential) publisher, Andreas Corelli, offers to get him out of his contract in order to sign another deal. As Martín delves into the work though, he notices disturbing similarities to the life of his old house's previous owner (a lawyer-turned-writer). Many of the twists in the story were shocking, and I loved its thorough investigation of what we give up when we sell our talents. There were great layers of moral complexity in this story.