You Are Cordially Invited To Larry's Party

"What is this mighty labyrinth -- the earth, but a wild maze the moment of our birth?"
(Reflections on Walking in the Maze at Hampton Court" British Magazine, 1747)

Carol Shields won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel The Stone Diaries in 1993, but it was her 1997 book, Larry's Party, (winner of the 1998 Orange Prize) that my friend Kristina recommended I add to my reading list. I looked for the book for several years before finding a copy.
Larry's Party is the story of a man's life - an ordinary man. The only thing that makes him unusual is his obsessive interest in mazes. The book follows him through the 1970's, '80's and '90s; through two marriages and divorces, the birth of his son, the death of his parents. There is no mystery to be solved, no big revelation about Larry to keep you interested, rather it is Shields' circuitous route of reaching the goal, the party of the title all the while experiencing the twists and turns of Larry's life - somewhat a maze in itself - which may have been the author's intent all along.
As much as she wrote about Larry, I never felt that I truly knew him or understood him. Yet I was impressed by how it seemed this woman author really did understand her male character.

People of the Fire is the second in 'The First North Americans' series by W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear. I've blogged before about how much I've enjoyed reading books by this husband and wife team over the years. This book was published in 1991, so there is the possibility I had read it before, but it did not seem at all familiar when I glanced through it at a garage sale - nor when I read it. On top of that, it is an autographed copy! I would like to know the story behind that!
The novel is set in what is now present day Wyoming during a time of extreme drought. Two tribes are warring over what limited resources are left. Each tribe believes following their own ancestors' dream path is the only way to survive.
I've always been fascinated by the link between Native Americans and nature. This series is full of lore, mysticism and culture of an era we can only imagine - and these books truly illustrate my imagination of that time.

Gaslight series book #11 - Murder on Waverly Place by Victoria Thompson. After solving the mystery of Sarah Brandt's husband, Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy tries his best to stay away from her. As the daughter of one of New York's oldest families - the Deckers - Malloy knows she is way out of his league even though she now earns her own living as a midwife.
Thus, when he is told somebody had been murdered during a seance and Sarah Brandt was demanding he be brought in to investigate, he was surprised. He was even more surprised when he arrived at the townhouse on Waverly Place and discovered it was not Sarah, but her mother, Elizabeth Decker, who had sent for him. Giving her real name to the policeman who was first on the scene would shock her society friends and infuriate her husband.
So, once again, Mrs. Brandt and Sergeant Malloy set about solving a mystery. This book seemed a little shorter, a little less involved than previous novels in the series, but I enjoyed it just the same.