March by Geraldine Brooks

I expected this book to be intriguing, but I was definitely not prepared for just how good it was. In all fairness, the protagonist was annoying at times--self-righteous, self-centered, and woefully naive, even at forty. Moreover, at times the action seemed a bit heavy-handed and over-dramatic. But in the end, it came together for me as a beautifully-conceived, beautifully-written book about redemption, love, and moving beyond disaster. I can't wait to read Ms. Brooks's other two books.

Black No More by George Schulyer

This humorous novel, in playing out the consequences of an invented process by which black people can permanently turn their skin white, addresses serious questions of race, religion, class, labor, and other cultural formations of the early twentieth century. It demonstrates very clearly the seriousness of racism, not only in itself, but also as a distraction to masses of people. I was particularly interested in the ways that racism remains a distraction when skin color becomes almost entirely uniform, in the ways that racism and religious intolerance often go hand in hand, in the eugenic and genealogical impulses of the white supremacists in the novel, in the connection between race and the conditions of labor and modernity, and in the novel's final twist. Very intriguing.

The Vile Village by Lemony Snicket

In the seventh book in the series, Lemony Snicket heightens tension by introducing his own brother, if only briefly. The Quagmire triplets are rescued, but still don't get to share their information about VFD, and the Baudelaire Orphans are framed for a murder by the end of the novel. This series gets more and more sophisticated as it continues.

Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie

I thought that this mystery was one of Agatha Christie's particularly good ones. I like the premise of what if you did everything that made you look like a murderer, and indeed wished for the death of the person murdered, and yet, were not guilty. Poirot is marvelous, and just the right number of clues were sprinkled through the story. Top notch.

The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket

The sixth installment of this series continues to develop the suspense and to create a coherent plot. The Baudelaire orphans are sent to stay with Jerome and Esmé Squalor, and they discover that Esmé is in cahoots with Olaf, knew (and resented) Snicket's Beatrice, and lives across from an elevator shaft that connects to a tunnel that opens under the now-burnt-down Baudelaire mansion. Although the Quagmire triplets have discovered something about Count Olaf with the initials VFD, they don't get the chance to tell the Baudelaire orphans what that something is. These novels get curiouser and curiouser.

Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

I liked this mystery, although I would not class it as one of my favorite Christie mysteries (although the ones I like the best are usually Hercule Poirot, so maybe I'm being unfair to Miss Marple). At moments I half-expected a Murder of Roger Ackroyd-type denouement. I would have liked to have seen more of the phony architect.

The Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket

The fifth entry in the Series of Unfortunate Events finds the Baudelaire orphans stranded at a boarding school. In this book, they actually make some friends, and a plot begins to develop (with Snicket's involvement) beyond "bad things happen to good children."