SONGS FOR THE MISSING by Stewart O'Nan, 2008.

Reviews for this book were good, so when I saw it the other day and decided I needed to read a contemporary story, I went with this. It's set in a small town in Ohio near Lake Erie. Kim Larsen, a teenage girl who, the summer before she is leaving for college, simply vanishes between the time she left her friends at the river and the time she's due for work. Disappears into thin air. The people closest to her do everything to find her: search parties are formed, TV appearances made, fund raisers held, and private investigations unearth secrets, and everyone struggles to keep hope alive. But as time passes and her disappearance becomes old news, the story then becomes a portrait of how those left behind cope with the unexplained loss of a child. Kim's parents and sister each call on hidden strengths to survive the tragedy and move forward, and her best friends and boyfriend follow different paths to come to their own conclusions about their own parts in the awful drama and how to live with it. A heartwrenching, suspenseful, and believably written book.

MATCHLESS: A CHRISTMAS STORY by Gregory Maguire, 2009.

I scooped this up and read it very quickly. It's a very short book, complete with illustrations by the author. Basically, it's the classic Hans Christian Andersen tale, "The Little Match Girl", retold as only Maguire could do it. His story concerns a poor boy, Frederik, who yearns for a better life for himself and his mother, and discovers how his brief interaction with the little match girl leads him to that better life. Maguire manages to very deftly relate the original story, while intertwining it with his own creation, in the process producing a new little fable of inspiration and hope. Originally written for and read aloud on NPR, this will likely become another Christmas classic.

Last night I finished reading:

THE BIBLE SALESMAN by Clyde Edgerton, 2008.

Edgerton is one of my favorite Southern writers. From the time I read RANEY, I have enjoyed his sense of humor and his writing style. This particular novel concerns a car thief, Preston Clearwater, who picks up a young Bible salesman, Henry Dampier, and makes the innocent faced, somewhat naive kid his partner in crime. Set mainly in the post-World War II South, Edgerton includes plenty of down-home language and customs and foods and plot twists and odd characters (the old lady who throws her voice so that her cats talk is hilarious) to keep the reader interested. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys good Southern storytelling.

THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT by Barbara Vine, 2008.

I finished this last night, a rather odd book that intrigued me enough that I kept reading. The story involves an unmarried British MP named Ivor and his marrried mistress, Hebe, who enjoy sex games. For her birthday, he arranges for her to be kidnapped, bound and gagged and delivered to his home. However, there is a terrible accident, and Hebe and one of the kidnappers are killed, and Ivor fears a political scandal that will break over his head. Over time, there are threatening letters, hints, and incidents that play into his fear, and involve other characters and their agendas. A good psychological tale, with interesting characters and motivations, dark desires, and obsessive behavior. This is a slowly unfolding story that reveals bits that eventually come together to form the whole complex picture. If you're into this type of suspense, this is worth the time. Barbara Vine is aka Ruth Rendell.

THE CORAL THIEF by Rebecca Stott, 2009.

I finished this late last night. Set in Paris in 1815 after Napoleon is being sent away to St. Helena, the story involves a young Englishman named Daniel Connor, who is heading to Paris to study at the Jardin des Plantes. On the way, his letter of introduction and some valuable coral specimens for the famous Dr. Cuvier are stolen by a mysterious woman on the stagecoach. In trying to find his lost possessions, Daniel is drawn into plots to steal other valuables, discovers the beautiful woman is a philosopher-thief with many secrets, and more than once finds himself in the seamy underworld of Paris.

An interesting mix of suspense, history, and philosophy set in a time that is often underused by novelists (postrevolutionary France); although this is the second such I've read recently (The Black Tower being the other one). I found it an intriguing sort of story, with well drawn characters, good historical detail, and a pleasant narrative; probably the least interesting parts were the philosophical musings. However, that wasn't enough to keep me from reading, and overall it was an enjoyable read.

Finished two books recently:

NINTH DAUGHTER: AN ABIGAIL ADAMS MYSTERY by Barbara Hamilton (2009), and ST. SIMONS MEMOIR by Eugenia Price (1978).

Ninth Daughter is the first in a projected series in which Abigail Adams (yes, that Abigail Adams) turns her hand to solving mysteries. In this story, set in Boston in 1773 on the eve of the Boston Tea Party, Abigail literally stumbles over a hideously slashed female body in the kitchen of a friend, Rebecca Malvern, who has disappeared. When the body turns out to be that of a spy, and Abigail's husband, John, is implicated, she uses her prowess and Yankee ingenuity to ferret out the real murderer. In the process, she finds an unlikely ally in British Lieutenant Coldstone, who is assigned to the case. Suspects abound, including members of the Sons of Liberty, neighbors, and British sympathizers, and the author does a credible job of keeping the reader wondering. Plenty of period detail, but the pacing might have been a bit faster. Interesting premise, though, be curious to see what happens next with the series.

St. Simons Memoir is the story of how Eugenia Price discovered St. Simons Island, Georgia, by accident in 1960, moved there, and came to love it as her own. Determined to become a novelist after a career as a nonfiction author, she found St. Simons while on a trip, discovered what became the germ of her first novel, and ended up moving permanently to the island. The book is full of her discoveries there: her acceptance by the people there, the friends she made, and the stories she found, the information she gathered about the people who became the characters in her novels, the historic sites she came to know, all of which became a part of her St. Simons Trilogy of novels. A very interesting memoir of a writer living and working in the place she writes about. It's a very heartfelt tribute to the inspiration Price received from all those who became like a family to her and aided her in so many ways during her career writing historical fiction. The St. Simons novels, particularly New Moon Rising, have been favorites of mine since high school, so I was interested in reading about Price's discovery of this island and her many experiences there.

Watched a good little film the other night called "Forever Strong".

I'm not really a huge fan of sports themed films, but this one had been recommended by a friend as a good inspirational movie for family viewing, and they loaned me their copy. Definitely watchable. The main story concerns a basically selfish,teenage boy who considers himself a superstar player on his coach father's high school rugby team and is heading down a path to nowhere, esp. with alcohol, has a car accident while drinking which nearly kills his girlfriend, and is sentenced to a juvenile detention home until he's 18. As part of his rehab, he's given the chance to play for a rival rugby team, Highland, and in doing so, he becomes part of a real team, learning their values, etc., and manages to turn his life around. Yes, it sounds sappy and silly and overly dramatic, but it's better than that. The characters are well drawn, some mystery exists between the two coaches of the rival teams (the boy's dad and the Highland coach), the feelings of being torn between right and wrong, a parent's anguish at being separated from your child, death, redemption, etc. Never quite realized how violent a game rugby is, and how fanatical fans are about the game. No huge names in this movie--Gary Cole, Neal McDonough, Sean Faris; I guess Sean Astin could be considered a big name actor since his "Lord of the Rings" fame, but his role in this, while pivotal, does not give him large amounts of screen time. I found this a worthwhile flick.