When the Invisible Become Invincible

Publisher’s Weekly called Bentley Little’s “The Ignored” (Signet Fiction) “a nightmarishly brilliant tour de force of modern life in America.”

For Southern California readers, the novel provides an extra bonus, because Little has created what is probably the most satirically incisive novel about Orange County ever written, a funny and terrifying look at contemporary society filled with in-jokes and references that give added pleasure to anyone who’s ever lived or worked behind the Orange Curtain.

Bob Jones, the first-person protagonist, is an ordinary guy--so average he has become invisible. He is unnoticed by his co-workers, unremembered by old friends, and he seems to be fading more and more each day. Soon he discovers that he can do whatever he wants and no one will see. He can even commit murder and not get caught.

Little effectively illustrates the allure and the horror of conformity, and Bob Jones’ unpredictable journey through an unseen America lends sinister import to everything from “Entertainment Tonight” tracking polls to hotel room furnishings. At once hilarious and scary, touching and exhilarating, “The Ignored” is a brilliant book by a highly underrated author.

JIM HERNANDEZ, Seal Beach

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If “The Secret Garden” is among your favorite books, I strongly recommend that you not read Susan Moody’s “Return to the Secret Garden.”

I loved “The Secret Garden” for its magic, innocence and joy, but my original “Secret Garden” is irretrievably gone, lost among the harsh realities of Moody’s book.

The author takes the reader, very graphically, through two world wars, marriage, divorce, infidelity, passion, anger, fear, cruelty and much more. Moody is an excellent writer whose scenes and characters are very real; however I felt a profound overall sadness while reading this book.

The book jacket indicates that this sequel “is destined to become a classic--a moving, heartwarming story that adults will want to reread again and again.” Heartwarming? Read again? Sorry, I don’t think so.

MARY ELLEN ZIMMERMAN, Mission Viejo

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Any Sir Arthur Conan Doyle aficionado will fall instantly in love with Bruce Alexander’s works in the Sir John Fielding series of mystery books. The time period is the 1800s in London, and Alexander (a pseudonym) writes in the language of the time. Sir John Fielding is a blind judge on Bow Street. He is aided by Jeremy Proctor (narrator of the tale), an orphaned 13-year-old taken in by Sir John to be his eyes and assistant.

“A Watery Grave” (Little Brown) opens with the return of Sir John’s stepson from service in His Majesty’s Royal Navy. As Sir John’s wife goes to meet her son, they learn that Lt. Landon, second in charge of the warship Adventurer, has been charged with murdering his captain. At issue is whether the lieutenant was trying to save the captain or brutally pushed him overboard during a squall in the Indian Ocean.

The author leads the reader gently and honorably through the scenes of the time and the twists and turns of the mystery. Alexander has a most superb talent for the turn of phrase and plain old storytelling. I would recommend reading all of the Sir John books--once hooked, you wait with bated breath for the next, which coincidentally is “Person or Persons Unknown,” just out from G.P. Putnam. I can’t wait to read it!

ANDREA ST. JAMES, El Segundo

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“Wintershine,” by Eve La Salle Caram (Plainview Press), is set lovingly in the Ozark foothills and the Gulf coast of Texas in the 1930s and ‘40s. The evocative novella tells of the trials and travels of Merrill, a young girl who stays with her grandparents in Arkansas when her mother moves to Texas to teach piano.

This is a magical time for the child, spent playing in the foundation of a burned-down house or walking up Dread Hill, absorbed in making up stories. When she moves to Ingleside, Texas, at the start of World War II, she lives with her mother and her uncle in back of his store. She makes friends, basks in her mother’s presence and loud piano pieces, and stays up one night as the apartment is threatened by Hurricane Annabel. Returning for a Christmas visit to Arkansas, she walks in the forest through the “wintershine,” or eerie light at that time of the year.

This is a delicate tale of childhood amazement, frustration, friendship and love that will bring tears of recognition to anyone who grew up in the Deep South.

DOUGLAS JUNGE, Westwood

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The book that has been on my night stand--and that I’ve devoured--is “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” by Gregory Maguire.

Based on the world created by L. Frank Baum, and depicted in “The Wizard of Oz,” this story gives a detailed background of the life of the Wicked Witch of the West, christened Elphaba.

It’s not a book about sorcery; the magic comes from the captivating story about the history of the land of Oz, and the political aspirations that entwine its families.

SUZANNE R. LEZOTTE, Hollywood

* What’s that book on your night table? Any good? Send us a review! We’re especially interested in hearing about fiction that you don’t find reviewed in The Times, but feel free to send us your opinions of whatever it is you are reading. Keep the reviews short (200 words, tops), and send them with your phone number to READERS REVIEWS, Life & Style, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles CA 90053, or fax them to (213) 237-0732. We’ll print the most interesting ones every other week. Sorry, but submissions cannot be returned.

Next Week: Cathy Curtis on art and photography books.