Book Log 2012 #10: Radio Shangri-La by Lisa Napoli

I have an odd fixation with Bhutan, so this book was right up my alley. Napoli, a journalist based in Los Angeles, took a major detour at a crossroads in her life by agreeing to move to the Bhutanese capital of Thimphu to help start a youth-oriented radio station. Considering Bhutan only allowed television and Internet access in 1999, this was a bigger deal than she expected.

The bulk of the book covers her time in the country, getting used to her youthfully exuberant, if not particularly skilled, station staff, learning about the pervasive nature of its Buddhist culture, and trying to get used to the spicy cuisine. As interesting (and often humorous) as this is, I think the last part of the book, where Napoli goes back to California and eventually hosts one of her former radio personalities, speaks best about the author's personal journey in comparison to the changes in Bhutan (which was introducing elections for some positions) and in the Bhutanese, who have the unenviable task of trying to balance traditional living with the desire to be more involved with the outside world.

Certainly worth a read if you're interested in Bhutan or cross-cultural sorts of books.

Book Log 2012 #9: How Italian Food Took Over the World by John Mariani

So it turns out that I didn't lose my list of books, so now I can go back and report on books like this, which I more or less forgot I'd even read. Which, in and of itself, tells you something about the book. I don't have specific criticisms, but do remember being less impressed with the book than I expected. Could just be I didn't connect with the writing. Probably worth a peek to see if I'm off base.

Book Log 2012 #8: Code to Zero by Ken Follett


A man wakes up in a public restroom, and can't remember who he is or how he got there. While he looks like a common bum, he quickly realizes that he's not, and as he builds up a base of knowledge about himself he also becomes aware that his condition is related to the coming launch of the Explorer I, the rocket that put the US into space in 1958. This leads to his wife and old friends from Harvard, and the realization that someone is out to stop him, and perhaps the rocket launch itself.

It was the basic premise of the book that led me to pick it up, but I have to say I was somewhat disappointed in the actual story. Certain things happened to quickly for my taste, or enjoyed a coincidence that stretched credulity a bit too far. I'm also not sure I understand why the characters who worked for the KGB joined the other side in the first place. There's a half-hearted attempt to explain at least one character's change, but I'm not really buying it.

The other issue I ran into is that there are things that the characters have done that I would have preferred to read about. Several characters worked for the OSS during World War II, some behind enemy lines. Another fought in the Spanish Civil War. There's the potential for some interesting flashbacks, but we don't get any. Most of the flashbacks we do get are to when most of the characters were students at Harvard or Radcliffe.

So, no, I don't think I'd recommend this book, which is a shame, as I still think the premise is a good one.

Book Log 2012 #7: The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler

Another drop in the torrent of Scandinavian crime fiction hitting the US, this novel follows a psychiatrist and police detective as they work a multiple murder where the doctor uses hypnosis - a practice he'd sworn off years before - to get information from the only surviving family member. A number of new crimes follow, and both protagonists have to work to figure out the how and why they're connected - if at all - in order to stop the killings and save a kidnap victim.

I was not a fan of the book to start, as things seemed pretty stilted - there were more formal introductions of characters and information in the first 75 pages than you'd find in all of pretty much any other mystery novel - but as things moved along the writing moved away from its Billy's Pan Pizza stiffness (perhaps an artifact of translation?) and picked up steam.

I'm still unsure that some of what passed would actually happen - the publicity over the doctor's use of hypnosis seemed to happen too quickly and too strongly, though I know little enough about Sweden to say if hypnotizing victims of crime would be that controversial. On the plus side, I did find that the typical world-weariness of the detectives in Scandinavian crime fiction was tempered somewhat, a positive effect of his doggedness.

Kepler is a husband and wife team of writers, and I wonder if that's to blame for some of the uneven tone at the start of the book. In any case, I did enjoy the book once it started rolling, and I think I'd pick up either of Kepler's other two books once they show up in the US.