20. Middlesex

by Jeffrey Eugenides (544 pgs)

Rating: 4

Cal Stephanides was raised as Calliope for the first 16 years of his life. Cal is a hermaphrodite. No one knew, not even Cal. The novel goes back three generations explaining how this unlikely recessive trait ended up in Cal. It traces his grandparent's flight from Greece, to his parents and their life in Detroit, all the way up to Cal's own childhood and discovery of hi unique physiology.

There are some graphic bits in here, but nothing I would consider offensive. There are parts that are enthralling and there are bits that are draggingly slow. Given the size, it took me a fairly large chunk of time to finish reading this. The characters are extremely well portrayed and the explanation for how some things happened was pretty believable. I had an additional draw in that I was raised in and about the Detroit areas where it was set. The description of the race riots was very interesting for me.

Recommended for people interested in gender identity issues and people who live in Detroit.

19. The Big Over Easy: A Nursery Crime

by Jasper Fforde (400 pgs)

Rating: 4

Jack Spratt, leader of the Nursery Crimes Division, is called to investigate the death of one Mr. Humpty Dumpty. Humpty, found at the base of a wall, is in pieces and it is not immediately clear whether he fell or pushed. For DI Spratt, however, this would be routine case gets more and more complicated as department infighting threatens his career and a looming evaluation by the Guild of Detectives overshadows his every move.

This is not a children's book. This is an important thing to realize if one is to read this book. It's basically crime noir done over with nursery characters. I keep picturing Spratt as a very thin Humphry Bogart. It's pretty silly but the internal cohesiveness of the narrative makes up for it. All in all, I think it's a worthwhile, if somewhat quick, read.

Recommended for lovers of nursery rhymes and people jonesing for a quick read.