I Am Malala was part history lesson, part memoir.
Reading Malala's words you get a picture of her home and how much she loves it. You also get an understanding for what was going on leading up to the shooting that made her a household name all over the world. What you may not know, as I didn't until reading this was that she was already becoming quite famous before her shooting.
There are some who say her father used her as his mouth piece and it is his fault she got hurt. Reading her words and having heard her speak I think that she is a young girl who wanted to go to school and was raised by a man who knew the value of speaking up and she learned from her father but was not used by him.
I was struck by her courage and love her desire to see education become a right for all children. And when she was most worried about leaving her books behind I knew I loved her.
What a courageous and wonderful young woman!
(Finished December 30, 2013)
Monday, December 30, 2013
Friday, December 27, 2013
Double Down: Game Change 2012 by Mark Halperin, John Heilemann
This was a spicy tell all. Lots of behind the scenes peeks into what could have been a boring subject, the 2012 presidential election.
But between Chris Christie's diva antics, binders full of women, 47%, the beating President Obama took in the Denver debate, the fish names the Romney team had for the VP short list (Fishconsin won the spot on the ticket) and a butt load of other campaign antics this book read like a reality show.
I know Abbey Huntsman was not happy with some of the authors portrayal of her fathers part in in the Republican Primary section, but I didn't read anything in here that made me think ill of him so I think it may just be a case of feeling protective of her father. I don't recall much more news coverage rebutting anything between the covers of Double Down.
Overall I enjoyed the peek behind the curtain and it only reinforced my thoughts about politics, it's like sausage, once you see how it's made it changes it for you forever. Not that it has changed my passion for the topic, it is my major at MHC.
(Finished December 27, 2013)
But between Chris Christie's diva antics, binders full of women, 47%, the beating President Obama took in the Denver debate, the fish names the Romney team had for the VP short list (Fishconsin won the spot on the ticket) and a butt load of other campaign antics this book read like a reality show.
I know Abbey Huntsman was not happy with some of the authors portrayal of her fathers part in in the Republican Primary section, but I didn't read anything in here that made me think ill of him so I think it may just be a case of feeling protective of her father. I don't recall much more news coverage rebutting anything between the covers of Double Down.
Overall I enjoyed the peek behind the curtain and it only reinforced my thoughts about politics, it's like sausage, once you see how it's made it changes it for you forever. Not that it has changed my passion for the topic, it is my major at MHC.
(Finished December 27, 2013)
Sunday, December 15, 2013
The Prey (Predator Trilogy, #1) by Allison Brennan
After a rough ending to my first semester at my new school and a new major which involved a very long paper and a lot of heavy, often dry reading I was ready for something that didn't require as much of me.
This was a good way to dive into my for fun reading over my break. The story was filled with mystery, sex, tension and well written characters.
The who-done it portion wasn't too obvious, the sex scenes were well written and not at all of the cheesy romance novel sort, but more real and a bit dirty, and the female lead character was flawed and hurting but strong and not all whiny.
Even for its page count it was a pretty quick read. I have the other two in the Predator Trilogy and am looking forward to reading them.
(finished December 15, 2013)
This was a good way to dive into my for fun reading over my break. The story was filled with mystery, sex, tension and well written characters.
The who-done it portion wasn't too obvious, the sex scenes were well written and not at all of the cheesy romance novel sort, but more real and a bit dirty, and the female lead character was flawed and hurting but strong and not all whiny.
Even for its page count it was a pretty quick read. I have the other two in the Predator Trilogy and am looking forward to reading them.
(finished December 15, 2013)
Dawn by Elie Wiesel
This was a difficult book to read. It made me uncomfortable. That isn't a bad thing, in fact I think it was the point.
Elisha is a young Holocaust survivor who gets recruited into a Zionist terrorist organization at war with the English. When the English capture and say they are going to hang a Jewish man named David Elisha gets tasked with killing a captured Englishman named John.
The book tells Elisha's back story including how he ended up part of this group. But the real story is how he works himself up to his task and what he finds out about himself as he contemplates what he is about to do.
Is there ever a just side in a conflict of this nature? Is acting out in violence ever justified? While an older book this story still feels relevant. I was left wondering about the actions of one group against another and how often times people create their own enemies.
(finished December 15, 2013)
Elisha is a young Holocaust survivor who gets recruited into a Zionist terrorist organization at war with the English. When the English capture and say they are going to hang a Jewish man named David Elisha gets tasked with killing a captured Englishman named John.
The book tells Elisha's back story including how he ended up part of this group. But the real story is how he works himself up to his task and what he finds out about himself as he contemplates what he is about to do.
Is there ever a just side in a conflict of this nature? Is acting out in violence ever justified? While an older book this story still feels relevant. I was left wondering about the actions of one group against another and how often times people create their own enemies.
(finished December 15, 2013)
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Allegiant (Divergent #3) by Veronica Roth
The pace set up in the first two books slows down a little yet gets more frenetic in the conclusion.
There is a real emotional gut punch between the covers of Roth's wrap-up of her dystopian trilogy.
It's really hard to review this one because even the smallest spoiler could ruin it.
I loved her writing style and this is perhaps the best series of this YA sub-genre I've read. The questions raised resonate long after the last page is read.
(Finished October 29, 2013)
There is a real emotional gut punch between the covers of Roth's wrap-up of her dystopian trilogy.
It's really hard to review this one because even the smallest spoiler could ruin it.
I loved her writing style and this is perhaps the best series of this YA sub-genre I've read. The questions raised resonate long after the last page is read.
(Finished October 29, 2013)
The Sweetness At The Bottom Of The Pie (Flavia de Luce #1) by Alan Bradley
Flavia is Sherlock Holmes in the body of an 11 year old girl with two annoying older sisters, a barely present father and a love of chemistry and poison. She has an amazing laboratory, a keen eye and is the smartest person she knows.
In between torturing her sisters (she adds poison ivy to the lipstick of one of them) and being tortured by them (the story begins with her being tied up and locked in a closet by them) she finds a dying man in her yard and must solve his murder in order to clear her father's name.
The ingredients of this mystery were very interesting. Set in 1950's England the story weaves together stolen rare stamps, the death of a head master many years before Flavia is born and the murder in Flavia's yard. Being a precocious 11 year old makes it inevitable she'll get into some pretty tough situations and these allow glimpses of the child she is under all her sass and smarts.
This turns out to be the first of a series of books staring the girl detective and I look forward to seeing what Flavia gets into next.
(Finished November 16, 2013)
In between torturing her sisters (she adds poison ivy to the lipstick of one of them) and being tortured by them (the story begins with her being tied up and locked in a closet by them) she finds a dying man in her yard and must solve his murder in order to clear her father's name.
The ingredients of this mystery were very interesting. Set in 1950's England the story weaves together stolen rare stamps, the death of a head master many years before Flavia is born and the murder in Flavia's yard. Being a precocious 11 year old makes it inevitable she'll get into some pretty tough situations and these allow glimpses of the child she is under all her sass and smarts.
This turns out to be the first of a series of books staring the girl detective and I look forward to seeing what Flavia gets into next.
(Finished November 16, 2013)
Monday, October 28, 2013
Insurgent (Divergent, #2) by Veronica Roth
I started this book yesterday morning and read until I couldn't stay awake last night. As soon I woke up I devoured the last couple of chapters and am diving into book 3.
The story of Tris and Tobias continues on the high level of tension and excitement that Divergent left you hanging at in its closing pages. I am so glad I didn't have to wait for this one to be released and could dive right in.
What is outside the fence that surrounds Chicago (not named but clearly the setting city)? Are we as humans made up of a dominant trait that can be used to categorize us, to break up up into factions that rarely intermingle? How corrupting is power and what will those with it do to keep it? What will those without it but who crave it do to get it? Can love be felt in the face of pain and war? And is there a place for forgiveness?
What makes people who they are? Nature, what we are born with, or nurture, how we are raised and what we are exposed to? I think this is the bog question addressed here. When people are raised in a "faction" and have to live only following the edict of certain traits and must deny others for a long time and then are given the choice to stay or to join another group what wins out, and what happens to the other parts of their character?
Like book 1 this was well written and gripping. Now onto the conclusion.....
(finished October 28, 2013)
The story of Tris and Tobias continues on the high level of tension and excitement that Divergent left you hanging at in its closing pages. I am so glad I didn't have to wait for this one to be released and could dive right in.
What is outside the fence that surrounds Chicago (not named but clearly the setting city)? Are we as humans made up of a dominant trait that can be used to categorize us, to break up up into factions that rarely intermingle? How corrupting is power and what will those with it do to keep it? What will those without it but who crave it do to get it? Can love be felt in the face of pain and war? And is there a place for forgiveness?
What makes people who they are? Nature, what we are born with, or nurture, how we are raised and what we are exposed to? I think this is the bog question addressed here. When people are raised in a "faction" and have to live only following the edict of certain traits and must deny others for a long time and then are given the choice to stay or to join another group what wins out, and what happens to the other parts of their character?
Like book 1 this was well written and gripping. Now onto the conclusion.....
(finished October 28, 2013)
Divergent (Divergent, #1) by Veronical Roth
At the suggestion of my friend Ann, who shares my love of YA and books
about dystopian society and the conversations they evoke I started this
trilogy.
On Sunday I finished this book and ran out and got books 2 and 3.
But about this book specifically, I was very impressed. The writing was well done, the pace was excellent and the amount of tension was awful in the best possible way. The characters felt 3-demensional. They were all flawed but the struggle between the flaws and weakness and the desire to do or be better felt real. In the cases where the character wasn't conflicted but just not a nice person, the effect was chilling (Eric).
While the page count was not skimpy, the read was fast. One of the best compliments I feel I can pay a book is that when the hundreds (over 500 in this case) of pages are done and I feel like I just started and want more.
(finished October 27, 2013)
On Sunday I finished this book and ran out and got books 2 and 3.
But about this book specifically, I was very impressed. The writing was well done, the pace was excellent and the amount of tension was awful in the best possible way. The characters felt 3-demensional. They were all flawed but the struggle between the flaws and weakness and the desire to do or be better felt real. In the cases where the character wasn't conflicted but just not a nice person, the effect was chilling (Eric).
While the page count was not skimpy, the read was fast. One of the best compliments I feel I can pay a book is that when the hundreds (over 500 in this case) of pages are done and I feel like I just started and want more.
(finished October 27, 2013)
Monday, September 30, 2013
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
I'm getting a lot out of books on cd. With school reading being so overwhelming it's nice to reclaim 3 hours in the car each day I go to school for books I want to read and not have to read.
This one was read by the author which adds to the enjoyment. The audio book had a few things not in the print copy, the poems about dogs bonus track was very funny. But there is a story titled You Can't Kill The Rooster that was in the print but not the audio that I'm told is hysterical. One of my favorite parts of this collection was his story about talking music lessons from a midget obsessed with the female body. Some of the stories were a bit hard to hear, but I think those same bits would have been hard to read as well. Sedaris unapologetically talks about his drug problems while in art school and it's hard not to laugh while cringing over the lows he sunk to.
All in all this was pretty good, I wasn't completely wowed but I liked it.
(Finished September 26, 2013)
This one was read by the author which adds to the enjoyment. The audio book had a few things not in the print copy, the poems about dogs bonus track was very funny. But there is a story titled You Can't Kill The Rooster that was in the print but not the audio that I'm told is hysterical. One of my favorite parts of this collection was his story about talking music lessons from a midget obsessed with the female body. Some of the stories were a bit hard to hear, but I think those same bits would have been hard to read as well. Sedaris unapologetically talks about his drug problems while in art school and it's hard not to laugh while cringing over the lows he sunk to.
All in all this was pretty good, I wasn't completely wowed but I liked it.
(Finished September 26, 2013)
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Unaccustomed Earth: Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri
I read interpreter of maladies also by Jhumpa Lahiri at the suggestion of my dear Beth and then also at her suggestion I picked up this on in CD to listen to in the car on my very long trip to and from school.
My review will be on the work but also on the quality for the book on cd. I wasn't one for listening to books very much. In the past the exception was the Harry Potter series which for about 2 years my kids insisted on listening to every time we got in the car and so we heard the entire series about 4 times. But I think I have been converted, at least for long car trips such as my trek back and forth from home to school.
Like interpreter of maladies, Unaccustomed Earth is a collection of short stories. One of the amazing things I find with these is that while the stories pick up at a moment in the life of the characters, give us a glimpse into a set of events, and then we leave them. There isn't an ending in the traditional sense. The ending we get isn't meant to be a clean wrap up, there's no "and they lived happily ever after" only a sense of "oh please tell me more". Lahiri does this so well it is both breathtaking and heartbreaking. She also takes what can plain, even ugly words (like flaccid for example) and strings them together and makes them brilliant and amazing.
The cd experience was very interesting. The readers, one male and one female, both very good with the Indian accent and pronouncing words (names and cities) that I might have stumbled across. They were very good at reading with emotion and not using a flat tone and so inserting life into the words. It was over too soon and I am sad to say goodbye to this one.
(finished September 18, 2013)
My review will be on the work but also on the quality for the book on cd. I wasn't one for listening to books very much. In the past the exception was the Harry Potter series which for about 2 years my kids insisted on listening to every time we got in the car and so we heard the entire series about 4 times. But I think I have been converted, at least for long car trips such as my trek back and forth from home to school.
Like interpreter of maladies, Unaccustomed Earth is a collection of short stories. One of the amazing things I find with these is that while the stories pick up at a moment in the life of the characters, give us a glimpse into a set of events, and then we leave them. There isn't an ending in the traditional sense. The ending we get isn't meant to be a clean wrap up, there's no "and they lived happily ever after" only a sense of "oh please tell me more". Lahiri does this so well it is both breathtaking and heartbreaking. She also takes what can plain, even ugly words (like flaccid for example) and strings them together and makes them brilliant and amazing.
The cd experience was very interesting. The readers, one male and one female, both very good with the Indian accent and pronouncing words (names and cities) that I might have stumbled across. They were very good at reading with emotion and not using a flat tone and so inserting life into the words. It was over too soon and I am sad to say goodbye to this one.
(finished September 18, 2013)
Monday, September 2, 2013
Waiting for an Ordinary Day: The Unraveling of Life in Iraq by Farnaz Fassihi
Before I tell you what I think of this amazing book I want to share a little six degrees moment with you. One of my best friends, Ann, is married to Rick. One of Rick's dear friends is Babak. Babak is the love in Farnaz's life. A few years ago, not too long after this book came out, I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Farnaz and Babak while Ann & Rick were in NYC visiting. Farnaz was so kind and I was glad to meet friends of my friends but now, after finally having read her book, I feel even more pleased and honored to even for that short time have got the chance to talk to her.
Farnaz was in Iraq as a journalist for The Wall Street Journal during the time leading up to the US going in there and during the first few years of what can really only be called our occupation of the country.
There is some history of the tribal differences between Sunni and Shiite and a first hand account of the change in the country caused by the long running war. But the real story between the covers of Waiting for an Ordinary Day is the insight into the real people just trying to survive, to care for their families, their children. Things like visiting family, celebrating birthdays or weddings, going to work and school, all become instances of taking a risk with your life.
This isn't a sugar coated story, this is a real glimpse into life in a war zone. It is painful and messy. The beauty is that even in all the danger there is still life going on, babies born, couples getting married and love of art and culture. There is a lot of history and religious background that adds layers of complication to the situation. Farnaz does a touching and powerful job of taking her reader with her as she watches the fallout.
(Finished September 2, 2013)
Farnaz was in Iraq as a journalist for The Wall Street Journal during the time leading up to the US going in there and during the first few years of what can really only be called our occupation of the country.
There is some history of the tribal differences between Sunni and Shiite and a first hand account of the change in the country caused by the long running war. But the real story between the covers of Waiting for an Ordinary Day is the insight into the real people just trying to survive, to care for their families, their children. Things like visiting family, celebrating birthdays or weddings, going to work and school, all become instances of taking a risk with your life.
This isn't a sugar coated story, this is a real glimpse into life in a war zone. It is painful and messy. The beauty is that even in all the danger there is still life going on, babies born, couples getting married and love of art and culture. There is a lot of history and religious background that adds layers of complication to the situation. Farnaz does a touching and powerful job of taking her reader with her as she watches the fallout.
(Finished September 2, 2013)
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
I was taken by surprise by this book.
The format is brilliant, the chapters alternate taking place in the present and in the past as Victoria tells her story. In the beginning I was sucked in but at the same time related almost too much to the broken and unlovable way she feels.
As a foster child Victoria ends up with Elizabeth and learns all about the Victorian language of flowers and how to communicate using them. Elizabeth also tries to teach Victoria about love but she isn't ready yet and Victoria ends up back in a group home.
As an 18 year old aged out of the system Victoria is on her own and unprepared for the world. But somewhere in her heart the time with Elizabeth lingers. As she gets to the part of her story where she explains what happened when she was removed from what could have been her forever home she begins to understand she is capable of love even though it scares the bejezzus out of her and everything in her wants her to run.
By about 3/4 into the book I found it very painful to read, I was feeling so much for Victoria and had to close the book but it only lasted a couple of minutes because I needed to keep going and know if she was ok.
There is a listing in the back that is Victoria's list of flowers and their meanings and I found that very interesting. What a lovely way to tell someone how you feel about them, even when it's not so nice.
(Finished August 27, 2013)
The format is brilliant, the chapters alternate taking place in the present and in the past as Victoria tells her story. In the beginning I was sucked in but at the same time related almost too much to the broken and unlovable way she feels.
As a foster child Victoria ends up with Elizabeth and learns all about the Victorian language of flowers and how to communicate using them. Elizabeth also tries to teach Victoria about love but she isn't ready yet and Victoria ends up back in a group home.
As an 18 year old aged out of the system Victoria is on her own and unprepared for the world. But somewhere in her heart the time with Elizabeth lingers. As she gets to the part of her story where she explains what happened when she was removed from what could have been her forever home she begins to understand she is capable of love even though it scares the bejezzus out of her and everything in her wants her to run.
By about 3/4 into the book I found it very painful to read, I was feeling so much for Victoria and had to close the book but it only lasted a couple of minutes because I needed to keep going and know if she was ok.
There is a listing in the back that is Victoria's list of flowers and their meanings and I found that very interesting. What a lovely way to tell someone how you feel about them, even when it's not so nice.
(Finished August 27, 2013)
Monday, August 26, 2013
Find Me by Debra Webb
On page 77 I thought to myself that I had this all figured out and I was a bit annoyed to have it so soon. But I kept reading because I enjoy Debra Webb's style. She writes a good sex scene, her female leads are damaged but strong woman who learn that to let love in doesn't diminish their strength and she writes mystery that is tension filled.
As I kept reading there are plenty of clues that point to my theory being correct and I was thinking that while I liked the story and wanted to know what the heck everyone in this town had hidden I was feeling disappointed and smug. Until the reveal started. And then I was glad because while I was in the right ballpark I didn't hit a homerun.
So far I have been enjoying her books. They make for nice breaks from heavy school related or emotionally rough reads.
(Finished August 26, 2013)
Also by Debra Webb
Nameless
Faceless
As I kept reading there are plenty of clues that point to my theory being correct and I was thinking that while I liked the story and wanted to know what the heck everyone in this town had hidden I was feeling disappointed and smug. Until the reveal started. And then I was glad because while I was in the right ballpark I didn't hit a homerun.
So far I have been enjoying her books. They make for nice breaks from heavy school related or emotionally rough reads.
(Finished August 26, 2013)
Also by Debra Webb
Nameless
Faceless
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power by Rachel Maddow
This was a laying out of facts in the least dry history lesson you can get. The premise here being that the way wars or military operations are started now is not how the framers of our constitution intended. The bottom line being that one person should not wield that much power and that the legislative branch is to act a system of checks and balances in the President's ability to send out men and women in the military into combat.
What this book wasn't was a bashing of our military or a definitive statement against ever putting them into action.
Rachel Maddow writes the way she speaks on her show. She uses whit and sarcasm and a lot of well documented facts to lay out her points.
Very informative and very well done.
(Finished August 24, 2013)
What this book wasn't was a bashing of our military or a definitive statement against ever putting them into action.
Rachel Maddow writes the way she speaks on her show. She uses whit and sarcasm and a lot of well documented facts to lay out her points.
Very informative and very well done.
(Finished August 24, 2013)
Sunday, August 18, 2013
You're Not You by Michelle Wildgen
Ogres, onions and this book. What could they possibly have in common? They all have layers.
This book surprised me. When I read the back of the book I half expected this to be a formulaic tale of a flighty young woman who sees the error of her ways and finds herself growing up after she starts caring for a woman with Lou Gehrig's Disease. I say half expected because this book was given to me by my friend and fellow reader Rachel and she doesn't strike me as the kind who likes that kind of easy wrap up and wouldn't warn me I would feel some tough emotions while reading it if that had been the case.
Bec is the young woman in college hating her major and sleeping with a married teacher. She and her childhood friend are roommates and she still has no idea what she wants to be when she grows up. When she takes a summer job being a caregiver for Kate it changes her in ways she never expected.
Kate was diagnosed with ALS 2 years before Bec becomes her caregiver. Until her diagnosis she was a happily married, young, beautiful and vibrant young woman. Her disease has progressed fairly quickly and she is just about fully paralyzed and has a lot of trouble being understood when she speaks.
Over there time together an intimacy develops between them. An uneasy trust that comes from Bec doing things for Kate that aren't easy for either of them creates a bond and a love that takes them both by surprise.
One of the wonderful things about this book is that Bec isn't all of a sudden this selfless person who doesn't blink an eye at the things she needs to do for Kate. She is hesitant, unsure, embarrassed and even annoyed at times. She comes off the page as real and honest, thinking things that most people would think in her shoes, like how hard it is for her to touch Kate during showers and helping her go to the bathroom. Bec always does what she needs to but is, at least in her head, honest about how this isn't fun or pretty.
Evan is Kate's husband and his role in the story raises thought provoking questions and the way a terminal disease diagnosis touches the life of the spouse of the sick person. What are they expected to sacrifice and for how long? What is reasonable when it comes to their needs?
The way Wildgen uses descriptions of food and their tastes and smells and the act of shopping for and preparing it is sensual and adds a depth to the world taking place between the covers of this book. Color, sound, taste, they are like characters vital to the story and add such depth.
I felt extremely raw and unnerved by the end of this book. This isn't a criticism but more a testament to the way the story was so vivid and uncensored.
(Finished August 17, 2013)
This book surprised me. When I read the back of the book I half expected this to be a formulaic tale of a flighty young woman who sees the error of her ways and finds herself growing up after she starts caring for a woman with Lou Gehrig's Disease. I say half expected because this book was given to me by my friend and fellow reader Rachel and she doesn't strike me as the kind who likes that kind of easy wrap up and wouldn't warn me I would feel some tough emotions while reading it if that had been the case.
Bec is the young woman in college hating her major and sleeping with a married teacher. She and her childhood friend are roommates and she still has no idea what she wants to be when she grows up. When she takes a summer job being a caregiver for Kate it changes her in ways she never expected.
Kate was diagnosed with ALS 2 years before Bec becomes her caregiver. Until her diagnosis she was a happily married, young, beautiful and vibrant young woman. Her disease has progressed fairly quickly and she is just about fully paralyzed and has a lot of trouble being understood when she speaks.
Over there time together an intimacy develops between them. An uneasy trust that comes from Bec doing things for Kate that aren't easy for either of them creates a bond and a love that takes them both by surprise.
One of the wonderful things about this book is that Bec isn't all of a sudden this selfless person who doesn't blink an eye at the things she needs to do for Kate. She is hesitant, unsure, embarrassed and even annoyed at times. She comes off the page as real and honest, thinking things that most people would think in her shoes, like how hard it is for her to touch Kate during showers and helping her go to the bathroom. Bec always does what she needs to but is, at least in her head, honest about how this isn't fun or pretty.
Evan is Kate's husband and his role in the story raises thought provoking questions and the way a terminal disease diagnosis touches the life of the spouse of the sick person. What are they expected to sacrifice and for how long? What is reasonable when it comes to their needs?
The way Wildgen uses descriptions of food and their tastes and smells and the act of shopping for and preparing it is sensual and adds a depth to the world taking place between the covers of this book. Color, sound, taste, they are like characters vital to the story and add such depth.
I felt extremely raw and unnerved by the end of this book. This isn't a criticism but more a testament to the way the story was so vivid and uncensored.
(Finished August 17, 2013)
Thursday, August 15, 2013
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
My new school, Mount Holyoke College, has this thing called Common Reading. There is a book selected and the entire student body reads it and participates in discussions. This book is the choice for this school year and the author will be speaking on campus.
The only thing that kept be from giving this book 5 stars is the one draw back I found and while it fits with the tone and feel of the book it was something that felt like enough of a downside to make it a 4.5 star rather than 5. There is some Spanish and since I don't speak it I had to use a translation page if I wanted to know what I was reading. For the most part in the context of the English around the words and phrases I was able to get the gist of it but I mostly wanted to know exactly what was being said. I didn't always do it but when I was reading at home I did.
The story itself I really, really liked. Oscar is such a sad, sweet, nerd and a bit of a loser. His mother has a tortured past and her sins and burdens very much color the way she mothers her children. His sister fares much better than he does but she doesn't have an easy go of it by any stretch of the imagination. The story of Oscar and his family is weaved in with a lesson on the history of the Dominican Republic, both politically and culturally. It was really very interesting. The tragic history of the family, the cultural belief of curses and the time in history important to the story weave together using flashbacks, footnotes, a narrator in the present helping to tell the story years after the big event of the tale and is very effective making Oscar feel real and jump off the page. There are a lot of nerdy references to things like Watchman, Lord of The Rings and D&D.
I liked Junot Diaz' writing style and his liberal use of "bad" language. I have a pretty sever potty mouth so I loved that he does too. However, I should say that there is a quite heavy use of the "n" word. It felt right in this context because it was conversational in the way the black population seems to have reclaimed the word for use among themselves.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao really was a pleasure to read even with the occasional language barrier.
(finished August 15, 2013)
The only thing that kept be from giving this book 5 stars is the one draw back I found and while it fits with the tone and feel of the book it was something that felt like enough of a downside to make it a 4.5 star rather than 5. There is some Spanish and since I don't speak it I had to use a translation page if I wanted to know what I was reading. For the most part in the context of the English around the words and phrases I was able to get the gist of it but I mostly wanted to know exactly what was being said. I didn't always do it but when I was reading at home I did.
The story itself I really, really liked. Oscar is such a sad, sweet, nerd and a bit of a loser. His mother has a tortured past and her sins and burdens very much color the way she mothers her children. His sister fares much better than he does but she doesn't have an easy go of it by any stretch of the imagination. The story of Oscar and his family is weaved in with a lesson on the history of the Dominican Republic, both politically and culturally. It was really very interesting. The tragic history of the family, the cultural belief of curses and the time in history important to the story weave together using flashbacks, footnotes, a narrator in the present helping to tell the story years after the big event of the tale and is very effective making Oscar feel real and jump off the page. There are a lot of nerdy references to things like Watchman, Lord of The Rings and D&D.
I liked Junot Diaz' writing style and his liberal use of "bad" language. I have a pretty sever potty mouth so I loved that he does too. However, I should say that there is a quite heavy use of the "n" word. It felt right in this context because it was conversational in the way the black population seems to have reclaimed the word for use among themselves.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao really was a pleasure to read even with the occasional language barrier.
(finished August 15, 2013)
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project by Jack Mayer
Seldom if ever do I call a book perfect but this one was.
I had never heard of Irena Sendler until this book was picked as August's book for one of the bookclubs I am in.
What an amazing woman and what an amazing group of teens.
Like the <a href="http://www.whitwellmiddleschool.org/?PageName=bc&n=69258">paperclip project</a>, The Irena Sendler Project is taken on by a group of Christian kids in a place with little or no Jewish population and with little or no people of color. These girls and their teacher took what could have been just another history project and turned it into something amazing. Their project helps heal an entire nation and bring recognition to a woman who never asked for it out but deserves it so much.
Irena was a brave woman whose heart told her that to do nothing made her as bad as the criminal Nazis who invaded her city of Warsaw. She took her work as a social worker and used it and connections she made to help get 2,500 Jewish children out of the ghetto and saved them.
This books is about Irena but it also about the teens who brought her story to the world. And they are a heartwarming group of kids.
(finished August 6, 2013)
I had never heard of Irena Sendler until this book was picked as August's book for one of the bookclubs I am in.
What an amazing woman and what an amazing group of teens.
Like the <a href="http://www.whitwellmiddleschool.org/?PageName=bc&n=69258">paperclip project</a>, The Irena Sendler Project is taken on by a group of Christian kids in a place with little or no Jewish population and with little or no people of color. These girls and their teacher took what could have been just another history project and turned it into something amazing. Their project helps heal an entire nation and bring recognition to a woman who never asked for it out but deserves it so much.
Irena was a brave woman whose heart told her that to do nothing made her as bad as the criminal Nazis who invaded her city of Warsaw. She took her work as a social worker and used it and connections she made to help get 2,500 Jewish children out of the ghetto and saved them.
This books is about Irena but it also about the teens who brought her story to the world. And they are a heartwarming group of kids.
(finished August 6, 2013)
Saturday, August 3, 2013
The Dinner by Herman Koch
I don't know how to say anything about this book without spoiling it and it really needs to not be spoiled or it loses a lot.
I will say that where you start on the first page and think you are heading is nowhere near where you will find yourself on the last page. This is one messed up story.
Bits I can give you are jealousy between brothers, parenting, marriage and OH CRAP REALLY?!
Yes that's all really vague.
I didn't love this but I liked it and it wasn't a waste of time. It really is a crazy story and the fun of it is the twistyness.
(finished August 3, 2013)
I will say that where you start on the first page and think you are heading is nowhere near where you will find yourself on the last page. This is one messed up story.
Bits I can give you are jealousy between brothers, parenting, marriage and OH CRAP REALLY?!
Yes that's all really vague.
I didn't love this but I liked it and it wasn't a waste of time. It really is a crazy story and the fun of it is the twistyness.
(finished August 3, 2013)
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Faceless by Debra Webb
This is is the second Debra Webb book I've read, again at the suggestion of my friend Rachel. I liked this one more than Nameless.
The mystery was tightly wound and slowly unraveled through out the 330 some odd pages. I was a bit surprised at how it turned out. I didn't start figuring it out until well past the halfway point, and even then I didn't quite get it right. I love that in mystery books.
I gather that Webb uses romance, well hot sex at any rate, in her books, and this one had some, not near as much as in Nameless but it was there and it didn't feel out of place for the story and it was well written, not Harlequin cheesy.
The women Webb uses as lead characters in her books (the 2 I've read so far) are strong women who have overcome some sort of trauma and are smartly written.
While this isn't a masterpiece of literature it was an enjoyable read that didn't feel like a waste of time or mindless reading. I liked it and found it a nice break from some of the heavy books I have read and still have on my pile of books waiting for me to read them.
(finished July 23, 2013)
The mystery was tightly wound and slowly unraveled through out the 330 some odd pages. I was a bit surprised at how it turned out. I didn't start figuring it out until well past the halfway point, and even then I didn't quite get it right. I love that in mystery books.
I gather that Webb uses romance, well hot sex at any rate, in her books, and this one had some, not near as much as in Nameless but it was there and it didn't feel out of place for the story and it was well written, not Harlequin cheesy.
The women Webb uses as lead characters in her books (the 2 I've read so far) are strong women who have overcome some sort of trauma and are smartly written.
While this isn't a masterpiece of literature it was an enjoyable read that didn't feel like a waste of time or mindless reading. I liked it and found it a nice break from some of the heavy books I have read and still have on my pile of books waiting for me to read them.
(finished July 23, 2013)
Monday, July 22, 2013
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The story of a young man surviving for over 200 days on a life boat with a tiger is fantastic. How is this possible? What keeps someone going for that long in such a dire predicament?
Life of Pi is both a book of faith and fantasy, of strength and imagination, it's the story of life finding a way.
Pi loves god so much he doesn't want to pick one religion, he wants to embrace the best of three of them. He is a Hindu-Christian-Muslim. Maybe it is this faith that gets him through.
Yann Martel writes so vividly that you can see the vast ocean, taste the salt, feel the odd algae island beneath you feet, and hear the roar of Richard Parker. There are a few cringe worth moments that also speak to the talent of the author to paint a word picture.
At the start of the book I was feeling like this was such an impossible premise that there was no way to make it feel real but by the end, as the shipping company guys are interviewing Pi I was feeling angry at them for not believing him.
(finished July 22, 2013)
Life of Pi is both a book of faith and fantasy, of strength and imagination, it's the story of life finding a way.
Pi loves god so much he doesn't want to pick one religion, he wants to embrace the best of three of them. He is a Hindu-Christian-Muslim. Maybe it is this faith that gets him through.
Yann Martel writes so vividly that you can see the vast ocean, taste the salt, feel the odd algae island beneath you feet, and hear the roar of Richard Parker. There are a few cringe worth moments that also speak to the talent of the author to paint a word picture.
At the start of the book I was feeling like this was such an impossible premise that there was no way to make it feel real but by the end, as the shipping company guys are interviewing Pi I was feeling angry at them for not believing him.
(finished July 22, 2013)
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Nameless by Debra Webb
My friend Rachel is like me in that she likes to tell people what to read. This was one of her suggestions.
I really liked this book because while it could have been cheesy since it's part mystery and part romance it isn't like the Harlequin book it could have turned into.
The relationship between Grace and McBride doesn't have that overly romantic dribble that makes a lot of romances feel forced and fake. The mystery wasn't overly simple and the story behind the crimes had depth. It didn't feel like the mystery was thrown in to put the main characters together for the sake of creating a crappy and sappy easy romance.
It was smarter than the average beach read romantic mystery with a bit of steamy thrown in.
(finished July 20, 2013)
I really liked this book because while it could have been cheesy since it's part mystery and part romance it isn't like the Harlequin book it could have turned into.
The relationship between Grace and McBride doesn't have that overly romantic dribble that makes a lot of romances feel forced and fake. The mystery wasn't overly simple and the story behind the crimes had depth. It didn't feel like the mystery was thrown in to put the main characters together for the sake of creating a crappy and sappy easy romance.
It was smarter than the average beach read romantic mystery with a bit of steamy thrown in.
(finished July 20, 2013)
Thursday, July 18, 2013
The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison
Right from the beginning I liked the snarky tone.
Benjamin Benjamin (yes that's really his name) has become a caregiver. He is living in a crappy apartment, his savings is just about gone, his credit cards are almost maxed out and his marriage is over. He hasn't really worked in a long time and this is his last ditch attempt to get his life together.
When he gets a job taking care of Trev, a young man with MD he gets much more than he bargained for. He goes on a figurative and literal journey towards figuring out where he went wrong and it isn't where he thought it would be.
As he tells you his story in the present Ben also tells you what happened with his marriage in the form of flashbacks and it is heartbreaking. Ben isn't a bad guy, he's just an average joe with a broken heart and a sarcastic manner.
(finished July 17, 2013)
Benjamin Benjamin (yes that's really his name) has become a caregiver. He is living in a crappy apartment, his savings is just about gone, his credit cards are almost maxed out and his marriage is over. He hasn't really worked in a long time and this is his last ditch attempt to get his life together.
When he gets a job taking care of Trev, a young man with MD he gets much more than he bargained for. He goes on a figurative and literal journey towards figuring out where he went wrong and it isn't where he thought it would be.
As he tells you his story in the present Ben also tells you what happened with his marriage in the form of flashbacks and it is heartbreaking. Ben isn't a bad guy, he's just an average joe with a broken heart and a sarcastic manner.
(finished July 17, 2013)
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
I read this for the July pick for bookclub. It was the first Agatha Christie I've read. I was a bit excited to read it. I like mysteries and Agatha Christie was in an episode of Doctor Who.
There are two things I want to talk about for this book.
First, only a few pages in I got the impression she might be antisemitic. I get that the book was written in and takes place in the 30's so it wouldn't unusual to have a book with antisemitic characters but this was different. It didn't add to the story, it was not needed to give an impression that without the lines that jumped out at me would have taken away from the story. So being the nerd I am I put the book down and did some research and yes she was. This put me off a bit but I finished the book.
So the second thing to discuss is the story itself. It wasn't bad. I never suspected the who or the how so that was a plus. I like mysteries that stump me or where I get it wrong. It was quite a twist and the reveal was cleverly done.
(finished July 17, 2013)
There are two things I want to talk about for this book.
First, only a few pages in I got the impression she might be antisemitic. I get that the book was written in and takes place in the 30's so it wouldn't unusual to have a book with antisemitic characters but this was different. It didn't add to the story, it was not needed to give an impression that without the lines that jumped out at me would have taken away from the story. So being the nerd I am I put the book down and did some research and yes she was. This put me off a bit but I finished the book.
So the second thing to discuss is the story itself. It wasn't bad. I never suspected the who or the how so that was a plus. I like mysteries that stump me or where I get it wrong. It was quite a twist and the reveal was cleverly done.
(finished July 17, 2013)
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Delirium Stories: Hana, Annabel, and Raven by Lauren Oliver
This was a quick read that gave some of the back story of Hana (Lena's best friend), Annabel (Lena's mom) and Raven (the leader of the homestead Lena becomes part of) from the Delirium trilogy: Delirium, Pandemonium, and Requiem .
It gave insight into these women but it also made me feel like now the trilogy was unfinished even though I read all the books. I don't mind when a book leaves you imagining where the characters have gone after the last page but this was more like a cliffhanger and that is not good. But it was still worth the read.
(finished July 6, 2013)
It gave insight into these women but it also made me feel like now the trilogy was unfinished even though I read all the books. I don't mind when a book leaves you imagining where the characters have gone after the last page but this was more like a cliffhanger and that is not good. But it was still worth the read.
(finished July 6, 2013)
Friday, July 5, 2013
The Sky Always Hears Me: And the Hills Don't Mind by Kirsten Cronn-Mills
I got this book for my daughter but read it first. As you know I am a fan of YA books. This did not disappoint. And the author is awesome. I was given her name as a suggested author for my daughter who loves to read and who has recently come out. I contacted the Mrs. Cronn-Mills and sent along a note with the autographed copy of the book and was so kind.
I enjoyed the book a great deal too. The tone of the story, which is told by Morgan, was snarky and sarcastic bringing to mind Juno.
The story was very moving at time and at others quite humorous. Morgan lives in a small town where nothing ever happens. She has a step-mother, a father with a drinking problem, a terrific grandma, two brother and a boy friend with a tiny "peepee" she doesn't think she wants anymore. She works at a local grocery store and she is bored and wants out so she can write "the next Great American Novel". But then comes along Rob with his great ass and Tessa with her great kisses. In small town middle America this makes for a rough time. Rumors about her sexuality, the truth about why her dad drinks and trying to figure out to say what it is she wants makes for a wonderful read.
(finished July 4, 2013)
I enjoyed the book a great deal too. The tone of the story, which is told by Morgan, was snarky and sarcastic bringing to mind Juno.
The story was very moving at time and at others quite humorous. Morgan lives in a small town where nothing ever happens. She has a step-mother, a father with a drinking problem, a terrific grandma, two brother and a boy friend with a tiny "peepee" she doesn't think she wants anymore. She works at a local grocery store and she is bored and wants out so she can write "the next Great American Novel". But then comes along Rob with his great ass and Tessa with her great kisses. In small town middle America this makes for a rough time. Rumors about her sexuality, the truth about why her dad drinks and trying to figure out to say what it is she wants makes for a wonderful read.
(finished July 4, 2013)
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Dark Paradise by Tami Hoag
I have read other Tami Hoag books and this one was a little different than the others. This one felt more like a romance novel with some mystery thrown in. A romantic thriller if you will. That isn't an insult and this was a good escape from the very serious and heavy books I've read recently since it was at its heart a romance I figured it would have a happy ending.
As I would expect from a Tami Hoag book the tension slowly amps up until it had me wanting to peek ahead to see if any of the main characters die. The dialogue between city girl Marilee and cowboy J.D. was a little cheesy and formulaic but it wasn't annoying. The sex scenes (all but one) were sexy even while at times they felt a little bit like the old Harlequin Romances I used to read. The who-done-it reveal was not overly predictable and so over all I would say I liked this book and it served its purpose as an escape that didn't require any deep investment from me.
(finished July 3, 2013)
As I would expect from a Tami Hoag book the tension slowly amps up until it had me wanting to peek ahead to see if any of the main characters die. The dialogue between city girl Marilee and cowboy J.D. was a little cheesy and formulaic but it wasn't annoying. The sex scenes (all but one) were sexy even while at times they felt a little bit like the old Harlequin Romances I used to read. The who-done-it reveal was not overly predictable and so over all I would say I liked this book and it served its purpose as an escape that didn't require any deep investment from me.
(finished July 3, 2013)
Monday, July 1, 2013
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
I love the sub-genre of YA books that contain books like the Uglies series and The Hunger Games series. They tell the stories of humans trying to survive some sort of government over control or other apocalyptic tragedy.
The 5th Wave looks to be the newest entry in the category to cross my path. I'll admit I rolled my eyes when I read that it was an alien takeover that served as the jumping off point of this one. But I didn't roll them anymore once I started the book.
Cassie is a smart and loveable teenage girl who is very fluent in sarcasm. I loved her pretty much right away.
Keeping in mind this is book one of a series and I don't want to spoil anyone there is not too much I can say. But I can share that the tale here is that aliens have come. There have been waves of attack, wave 1 doing away with electricity, wave 2 is a worldwide catastrophic tsunami, wave 3 is an uber virus and wave 4 is the silencers...then comes the 5th...
Often times the first book in a series is a little slow to get going because of the time used in many book 1's to set up the world to be explored in the coming books. That was not an issue here, Yancey jumped right in and we were given bits and pieces of needed information as we went but it wasn't done in a slow start kind of way. I liked this style very much.
I am very much looking forward more in this series. The ending of this one was a killer cliffhanger...
(finished June 30, 2013)
The 5th Wave looks to be the newest entry in the category to cross my path. I'll admit I rolled my eyes when I read that it was an alien takeover that served as the jumping off point of this one. But I didn't roll them anymore once I started the book.
Cassie is a smart and loveable teenage girl who is very fluent in sarcasm. I loved her pretty much right away.
Keeping in mind this is book one of a series and I don't want to spoil anyone there is not too much I can say. But I can share that the tale here is that aliens have come. There have been waves of attack, wave 1 doing away with electricity, wave 2 is a worldwide catastrophic tsunami, wave 3 is an uber virus and wave 4 is the silencers...then comes the 5th...
Often times the first book in a series is a little slow to get going because of the time used in many book 1's to set up the world to be explored in the coming books. That was not an issue here, Yancey jumped right in and we were given bits and pieces of needed information as we went but it wasn't done in a slow start kind of way. I liked this style very much.
I am very much looking forward more in this series. The ending of this one was a killer cliffhanger...
(finished June 30, 2013)
Saturday, June 29, 2013
The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
This is the second of the Liz books (remember I mentioned her in the review for The Woman Who Wouldn't?) and I devoured this book in one day as if it were made of sugar and instead of a stomach ache my heartaches because I know I will miss these characters.
The Sugar Queen is a finely spun tale that feels like a wisp of cotton candy on the tongue. Josey is 27 and lives with her mother who isa bitch not so nice to her. Then Della shoes up in Josey's closet and and pushes Josey to spread her wings.
Under the influence of the visitor in her closet Josey meets Chloe. Chloe is having her own crisis and Josey becomes as important to her and she becomes to Josey.
There is a bit of a twist in this story so I won't say much more. Just that this book was as satisfying as a big huge fudge brownie with an ice cold glass of milk to wash it down with and I now must read more of Allen's work in hopes that they too are wonderful treats for my mind and heart.
Liz, you are 2 for 2 so far, thank you!!!
(finished June 29, 2013)
The Sugar Queen is a finely spun tale that feels like a wisp of cotton candy on the tongue. Josey is 27 and lives with her mother who is
Under the influence of the visitor in her closet Josey meets Chloe. Chloe is having her own crisis and Josey becomes as important to her and she becomes to Josey.
There is a bit of a twist in this story so I won't say much more. Just that this book was as satisfying as a big huge fudge brownie with an ice cold glass of milk to wash it down with and I now must read more of Allen's work in hopes that they too are wonderful treats for my mind and heart.
Liz, you are 2 for 2 so far, thank you!!!
(finished June 29, 2013)
My Name Is Memory by Ann Brashares
I read this because of a review in EW and because I loved the movie based on her book The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and have meant to read it and will at some point.
While I liked this book I didn't love it.
Reincarnation is real. Among those reincarnated a rare few can remember all of the details of all of their past lives. Imagine then that you do something you feel horribly guilty for in your first life and it sticks with you for centuries and as you try to right this wrong you find you have fallen in love with the soul of the person you hurt. And imagine then that she at times loves you too. But she can't remember. So for lifetime after lifetime you keep trying to get to her. That is the premise of the story of Daniel and Lucy. He remembers her and he has loved her for hundreds of years. Lucy is just a high school senior with a crush on the cute quiet boy.
What follows is the tale of how they have connected and been separated over and over as told through Daniels memories. There is also the thread of what happens when a soul is so black and evil that there is no love but only anger and hatred and the desire for revenge.
All of this should have come together to make a really great book. The writing is wonderful. The characters are lovable. However, the start of the story was a bit slow to grip me. Now if you have read any of my reviews you know that a slow start doesn't keep me from loving a book if once it picks up it is great. But then the end of this disappointed me. It felt abrupt. Sort of like Brashares slammed on the breaks and instead of feeling left with imagining where they went after the last page it was more like, hey that's it? I would say it is worth reading at some point but nothing to run out and get ASAP.
So while I liked the story, I didn't love the book.
(finished June 28, 3013)
While I liked this book I didn't love it.
Reincarnation is real. Among those reincarnated a rare few can remember all of the details of all of their past lives. Imagine then that you do something you feel horribly guilty for in your first life and it sticks with you for centuries and as you try to right this wrong you find you have fallen in love with the soul of the person you hurt. And imagine then that she at times loves you too. But she can't remember. So for lifetime after lifetime you keep trying to get to her. That is the premise of the story of Daniel and Lucy. He remembers her and he has loved her for hundreds of years. Lucy is just a high school senior with a crush on the cute quiet boy.
What follows is the tale of how they have connected and been separated over and over as told through Daniels memories. There is also the thread of what happens when a soul is so black and evil that there is no love but only anger and hatred and the desire for revenge.
All of this should have come together to make a really great book. The writing is wonderful. The characters are lovable. However, the start of the story was a bit slow to grip me. Now if you have read any of my reviews you know that a slow start doesn't keep me from loving a book if once it picks up it is great. But then the end of this disappointed me. It felt abrupt. Sort of like Brashares slammed on the breaks and instead of feeling left with imagining where they went after the last page it was more like, hey that's it? I would say it is worth reading at some point but nothing to run out and get ASAP.
So while I liked the story, I didn't love the book.
(finished June 28, 3013)
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Dad Is Fat by Jim Gaffigan
Jim Gaffigan, I call him The Food Whisperer but you might know him as The Hot Pocket Guy, is very funny in his standup acts. But will that carry over to the printed page? Yes!! I often laughed out loud.
Jim lives in NYC in a 2 bedroom 5th floor walk-up with his wife and FIVE kids. That right there is a funny. But this goes further. Dad Is Fat is all about parenthood, being a husband and food.
Do not expect a great piece of classic literature but rather expect a funny, relatable, and insightful collection of essays that will make you smile often and laugh a lot.
(finished June 25, 2013)
Jim lives in NYC in a 2 bedroom 5th floor walk-up with his wife and FIVE kids. That right there is a funny. But this goes further. Dad Is Fat is all about parenthood, being a husband and food.
Do not expect a great piece of classic literature but rather expect a funny, relatable, and insightful collection of essays that will make you smile often and laugh a lot.
(finished June 25, 2013)
Friday, June 21, 2013
Oh Dear Sylvia by Dawn French
I loved Dawn French's first two books. The first was her memoir Dear Fatty and the other was the novel A Tiny Bit Marvellous so when I heard this book was announced I per-ordered it immediately.
Oh Dear Silvia was sad but funny. It was the kind of funny you almost feel bad about laughing at but not enough not to laugh.
Silvia is lying in a hospital bed in a coma after falling off her balcony. As she lays there her housekeeper Tia, ex-husband Ed, best friend Cat, sister Jo, nurse Winnie and daughter Cassie come in and visit. The story is told as if you were a fly on the wall watching and listening to what is said to the woman who can't say anything back. Her housekeeper's visits are really, really funny. Her sister's visits are cringe worthy, sad and at times funny, there is a bit with a stripper that is hysterical.
As the story unfolds you learn more about each visitor, the kind of woman Sylvia is and how she got there in that bed.
I start to have a feeling about how she fell but when it was revealed and I was right I still did a WTF and had to reread it because it was said in the middle of a rant and in such a matter of fact way that it was shocking in the how if not the who of the reveal.
I ended up loving Winne, Ed and Cassie. They were such wonderfully drawn characters, very full and interesting. I want to tell you what I thought of Sylvia but I will refrain because I think to tell would take something away from your experience in reading this book.
I was well pleased yet again by the talent of Ms Dawn French.
(finished June 20, 2013)
Oh Dear Silvia was sad but funny. It was the kind of funny you almost feel bad about laughing at but not enough not to laugh.
Silvia is lying in a hospital bed in a coma after falling off her balcony. As she lays there her housekeeper Tia, ex-husband Ed, best friend Cat, sister Jo, nurse Winnie and daughter Cassie come in and visit. The story is told as if you were a fly on the wall watching and listening to what is said to the woman who can't say anything back. Her housekeeper's visits are really, really funny. Her sister's visits are cringe worthy, sad and at times funny, there is a bit with a stripper that is hysterical.
As the story unfolds you learn more about each visitor, the kind of woman Sylvia is and how she got there in that bed.
I start to have a feeling about how she fell but when it was revealed and I was right I still did a WTF and had to reread it because it was said in the middle of a rant and in such a matter of fact way that it was shocking in the how if not the who of the reveal.
I ended up loving Winne, Ed and Cassie. They were such wonderfully drawn characters, very full and interesting. I want to tell you what I thought of Sylvia but I will refrain because I think to tell would take something away from your experience in reading this book.
I was well pleased yet again by the talent of Ms Dawn French.
(finished June 20, 2013)
Monday, June 17, 2013
The Birth House by Ami McKay
This was the June book pick for book club. I wasn't expecting much, but it sounded interesting when I read the inside of the cover. After reading the prologue and about 15 pages I was already loving Dorie and Miss B.
At first I was noticing all the Mary worship going on and was wondering if it was going to be a preachy book, it wasn't and after awhile it just seemed part of who Miss B. is.
Dr. Thomas was infuriating and every time he stepped on to the page I wanted to slap him silly. He was a quack and the only thing he was good for was introducing Dorie to the newest invention around, a vibrator to cure hysteria.
The message of the story is that women should have the freedom to choose where they have their babies, who delivers their babies and who is present for the birth. Many message stories feel preachy but this one didn't. It just presented a group of women who relied on each other and their midwife and didn't want to be forced to go to a hospital setting with a male doctor who wanted to knock them out until after giving birth and was not at all interested in the women or their needs and wants.
The writing is really nice. I know that sounds like it could be almost an insult or low praise but it isn't. It just was really nicely written and enjoyable.
The community of Scots Bay comes to live between the covers of this novel. I was some pleased by Dorie Rare and her circle of friends.
(finished June 17, 2013)
At first I was noticing all the Mary worship going on and was wondering if it was going to be a preachy book, it wasn't and after awhile it just seemed part of who Miss B. is.
Dr. Thomas was infuriating and every time he stepped on to the page I wanted to slap him silly. He was a quack and the only thing he was good for was introducing Dorie to the newest invention around, a vibrator to cure hysteria.
The message of the story is that women should have the freedom to choose where they have their babies, who delivers their babies and who is present for the birth. Many message stories feel preachy but this one didn't. It just presented a group of women who relied on each other and their midwife and didn't want to be forced to go to a hospital setting with a male doctor who wanted to knock them out until after giving birth and was not at all interested in the women or their needs and wants.
The writing is really nice. I know that sounds like it could be almost an insult or low praise but it isn't. It just was really nicely written and enjoyable.
The community of Scots Bay comes to live between the covers of this novel. I was some pleased by Dorie Rare and her circle of friends.
(finished June 17, 2013)
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
interpreter of maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
My friend Beth insisted I borrow this book from her, she loved it and
even said something about she could just kiss Jhumpa on the mouth for
writing it. So I trusted her and took it home.
I'm sure anything I say about this book of short stories won't do it justice but I am going to try because that's what I do here, I tell you about the books I've read.
Do you know those Russian dolls that nest? That's what this book reminds me of, if the dolls were Indian and wearing the most amazingly beautiful saris, the colors like jewels and all so vivid you can feel the silk in your fingers. Each story is a little gem inside the gem of this book. You could start anywhere and randomly pick a story to start with or do what I did and go in order. I should point out that each story feels like a moment of a person's story, none of them feel like a start to finish life story but rather a brief glimpse into the lives of the characters. While this may sound awkward or annoying I promise it was not, though you will probably end up like I did and want more. It doesn't matter, each story will make you feel. And as I have said numerous times, I love a book that makes me feel things, well not bored but otherwise, make me feel something.
There are 9 stories and there wasn't one I disliked.
In the story Mrs. Sen's, it was so dry in its sadness. It was just a short glimpse into the days Eliot spent going to the Sen's after school. You can feel Mrs. Sen's discomfort of being away from her native land and living in the US while her husband Mr. Sen (no first names given in the story) teaches at a university. You can feel her isolation and desire to go home. It isn't in your face, it just is and you can see her home as Eliot does and you can smell the mothballs and spices.
In the story A Temporary Matter watching two people who loved each other once not be able to find their way back together is so heart wrenching but the way they come out on the other side is so human and honest it is also heart warming.
Lahiri writes with a style that is open and blunt but subtle at the same time. There is no beat you over the head message but there is a sense of acknowledging that life is a journey and sometimes it hurts and sometimes it isn't what you expected and always it is beautiful.
(finished June 12, 2013)
I'm sure anything I say about this book of short stories won't do it justice but I am going to try because that's what I do here, I tell you about the books I've read.
Do you know those Russian dolls that nest? That's what this book reminds me of, if the dolls were Indian and wearing the most amazingly beautiful saris, the colors like jewels and all so vivid you can feel the silk in your fingers. Each story is a little gem inside the gem of this book. You could start anywhere and randomly pick a story to start with or do what I did and go in order. I should point out that each story feels like a moment of a person's story, none of them feel like a start to finish life story but rather a brief glimpse into the lives of the characters. While this may sound awkward or annoying I promise it was not, though you will probably end up like I did and want more. It doesn't matter, each story will make you feel. And as I have said numerous times, I love a book that makes me feel things, well not bored but otherwise, make me feel something.
There are 9 stories and there wasn't one I disliked.
In the story Mrs. Sen's, it was so dry in its sadness. It was just a short glimpse into the days Eliot spent going to the Sen's after school. You can feel Mrs. Sen's discomfort of being away from her native land and living in the US while her husband Mr. Sen (no first names given in the story) teaches at a university. You can feel her isolation and desire to go home. It isn't in your face, it just is and you can see her home as Eliot does and you can smell the mothballs and spices.
In the story A Temporary Matter watching two people who loved each other once not be able to find their way back together is so heart wrenching but the way they come out on the other side is so human and honest it is also heart warming.
Lahiri writes with a style that is open and blunt but subtle at the same time. There is no beat you over the head message but there is a sense of acknowledging that life is a journey and sometimes it hurts and sometimes it isn't what you expected and always it is beautiful.
(finished June 12, 2013)
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
I figured out what was going to happen before it did, something I usually hold against a book but don't in this case.
If I tell you this book is about a baker, a Holocaust survivor, a 95 year old Nazi soldier living in the US and hiding in plain sight and vampires you would probably roll your eyes and say thanks but no thanks, heck I almost did. Doing that would be a big mistake.
Since this is a Jodi Picoult book there is some sort of legal drama involved but this time it isn't the main focus.
Josef tells Sage his deep dark secret and asks of her something she isn't sure she can or wants to do. She just wants to spend her time hiding what she thinks is her hideous face away from the world and just keep baking. Leo is a Department of Justice lawyer who spends his time hunting Nazi war criminals. Mary is an ex-Nun who owns the shop Sage bakes for and Rocco is the guy who works the counter and only speaks in Haiku. And then there is Minka, Sage's grandma who is a Holocaust survivor. They are quite a cast and they make for an amazing foundation for this story.
Can you forgive someone who did something so horrible that they could be called monster? Can you forgive someone on behalf of others? Does it matter of you are forgiven by others if you can never forgive yourself? Those are some of the questions raised in this story.
While I figured it out before the reveal at the end, there is a bit of a surprising twist to the story and figuring it out didn't ruin the experience for me.
I have real just about every book Picoult has written and really enjoyed them all, well all except Songs of the Humpback Whale which was horrible, and The Storyteller was my favorite.
(finished June 11, 2013)
If I tell you this book is about a baker, a Holocaust survivor, a 95 year old Nazi soldier living in the US and hiding in plain sight and vampires you would probably roll your eyes and say thanks but no thanks, heck I almost did. Doing that would be a big mistake.
Since this is a Jodi Picoult book there is some sort of legal drama involved but this time it isn't the main focus.
Josef tells Sage his deep dark secret and asks of her something she isn't sure she can or wants to do. She just wants to spend her time hiding what she thinks is her hideous face away from the world and just keep baking. Leo is a Department of Justice lawyer who spends his time hunting Nazi war criminals. Mary is an ex-Nun who owns the shop Sage bakes for and Rocco is the guy who works the counter and only speaks in Haiku. And then there is Minka, Sage's grandma who is a Holocaust survivor. They are quite a cast and they make for an amazing foundation for this story.
Can you forgive someone who did something so horrible that they could be called monster? Can you forgive someone on behalf of others? Does it matter of you are forgiven by others if you can never forgive yourself? Those are some of the questions raised in this story.
While I figured it out before the reveal at the end, there is a bit of a surprising twist to the story and figuring it out didn't ruin the experience for me.
I have real just about every book Picoult has written and really enjoyed them all, well all except Songs of the Humpback Whale which was horrible, and The Storyteller was my favorite.
(finished June 11, 2013)
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
With Seattle as the backdrop, specifically Chinatown and Nihonmachi (Japantown) and the finding of the belongings of a number of Japanese families in the basement of The Panama Hotel in 1986 as the catalyst Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet tells the story of Henry and Keiko.
Jumping back and forth from 1986 and 1942-45 the story unfolds and you get to know Henry and understand how he ended up the man he has become.
Henry was born in Seattle to Chinese parents. His father is very traditional and longs for home. His parents speak almost know English but refuse to allow Henry to speak Cantonese to them so communication is almost impossible. On top of the language barrier is Henry's father's ultra-traditional views and hatred of everything and everyone Japanese for what Japan is doing to his beloved China.
Keiko was born in Seattle to parents also born in the US but her grandparents came here from Japan. Her family lives in Nihonmachi. She doesn't speak Japanese and has never been out of the country. She is American first and foremost. But it doesn't stop people from hating them because they are of Japanese descent and her family gets rounded up and sent to an internment camp.
Before the internment Henry and Keiko meet at school where they are both on scholarship and both the only non-white students. They bond over steam trays of slop working in the school cafeteria.
Henry is such a brave and strong boy and Keiko is such a sweet and open girl. Their story spans decades and is moving and beautiful.
(finished May 29, 2013)
Jumping back and forth from 1986 and 1942-45 the story unfolds and you get to know Henry and understand how he ended up the man he has become.
Henry was born in Seattle to Chinese parents. His father is very traditional and longs for home. His parents speak almost know English but refuse to allow Henry to speak Cantonese to them so communication is almost impossible. On top of the language barrier is Henry's father's ultra-traditional views and hatred of everything and everyone Japanese for what Japan is doing to his beloved China.
Keiko was born in Seattle to parents also born in the US but her grandparents came here from Japan. Her family lives in Nihonmachi. She doesn't speak Japanese and has never been out of the country. She is American first and foremost. But it doesn't stop people from hating them because they are of Japanese descent and her family gets rounded up and sent to an internment camp.
Before the internment Henry and Keiko meet at school where they are both on scholarship and both the only non-white students. They bond over steam trays of slop working in the school cafeteria.
Henry is such a brave and strong boy and Keiko is such a sweet and open girl. Their story spans decades and is moving and beautiful.
(finished May 29, 2013)
Monday, May 27, 2013
And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
As in The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns Hosseini makes the sights, sounds and smells of Afghanistan as well as the emotions of his characters come alive.
In And The Mountains Echoed Hosseini starts with one incident, like throwing a pebble into calm water, and then follows the ripples caused by the event.
Brother and sister Abdullah and Pari are very attached to each other and their separation is the pebble. Nabi, their step-uncle is the first ripple overlapping with Nalia his employers wife and a poet. As each ripple is explored more of the siblings story is revealed as background details until the story reaches Abullah again. Full circle.
This was a lovingly told story showing how our actions extend beyond us in ways me may never know. Each life touches another and connections, often invisible, are formed.
Something else worth noting, this book is a departure from the other two in that less of the history of Afghanistan is part of this story and much of the story takes place in other places.
(finished May 27, 2013)
In And The Mountains Echoed Hosseini starts with one incident, like throwing a pebble into calm water, and then follows the ripples caused by the event.
Brother and sister Abdullah and Pari are very attached to each other and their separation is the pebble. Nabi, their step-uncle is the first ripple overlapping with Nalia his employers wife and a poet. As each ripple is explored more of the siblings story is revealed as background details until the story reaches Abullah again. Full circle.
This was a lovingly told story showing how our actions extend beyond us in ways me may never know. Each life touches another and connections, often invisible, are formed.
Something else worth noting, this book is a departure from the other two in that less of the history of Afghanistan is part of this story and much of the story takes place in other places.
(finished May 27, 2013)
Saturday, May 25, 2013
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
I have seldom before read anything so painful yet so beautiful as the writing of Khaled Hosseini. His writing makes you feel every blow dealt to a character both physical and mental. But he does more, you can smell the exotic spice and kabob and sweat that make the market places, you can hear the music of the voices calling out to hock their rugs or other goods, you can hear the children playing in the streets. It is amazingly vivid, and even at its worst it is beautiful.
The Kite Runner was very hard to bear but yet makes you not want to put it down, a thousand times over. A tale of war and pain but also of love and forgiveness Hosseini puts you in the middle of history and makes it small and personal which allows you to connect with the people in a way that isn't hindered by any cultural differences and then gives the reader a bit more understanding about the people of the country of Afghanistan.
I am late coming to this book but oh so better late than never.
I held it together pretty well until the last page and then Amir utters 6 words that broke the dam and the tears and sobs held at bay for almost 400 pages flowed.
Beautiful!!!
(finished May 25, 2013)
The Kite Runner was very hard to bear but yet makes you not want to put it down, a thousand times over. A tale of war and pain but also of love and forgiveness Hosseini puts you in the middle of history and makes it small and personal which allows you to connect with the people in a way that isn't hindered by any cultural differences and then gives the reader a bit more understanding about the people of the country of Afghanistan.
I am late coming to this book but oh so better late than never.
I held it together pretty well until the last page and then Amir utters 6 words that broke the dam and the tears and sobs held at bay for almost 400 pages flowed.
Beautiful!!!
(finished May 25, 2013)
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
The Woman Who Wouldn't by Gene Wilder
My friend Liz gave me a few books from her own library tied in a lovely ribbon as a graduation gift last week. One of them was this little gem. And yes it is by that Gene Wilder, Willy Wonka Gene Wilder.
This was a short, 167 pages, sweet little book. I read it in one day and was charmed from page one. Jeremy Webb, professional violinist, has a break down on stage and gives a drink to a tuba. It lands him the German health resort of Dr. Gross. While there Jeremy, notorious flirt, finds a gift he didn't know he wanted or needed in the person of sweet Clara, another guest at the resort. Also there is playwright Anton Chekhov who befriends our Mr. Webb.
There was a lot of heart in this short tale. While not exactly believable in its miracle I can imagine why he wrote it that way, and it felt right. There is also some humor. Clara talks about her husband and sex saying he would only put his willy in her private part and pump until he was done and then go smoke a cigar, and he never let her touch it, his willy. While this sounds silly, and it is, it too felt right.
Thank you Liz.
(finished May 22, 2013)
PS watch for reviews of the other three Liz books in the future.
This was a short, 167 pages, sweet little book. I read it in one day and was charmed from page one. Jeremy Webb, professional violinist, has a break down on stage and gives a drink to a tuba. It lands him the German health resort of Dr. Gross. While there Jeremy, notorious flirt, finds a gift he didn't know he wanted or needed in the person of sweet Clara, another guest at the resort. Also there is playwright Anton Chekhov who befriends our Mr. Webb.
There was a lot of heart in this short tale. While not exactly believable in its miracle I can imagine why he wrote it that way, and it felt right. There is also some humor. Clara talks about her husband and sex saying he would only put his willy in her private part and pump until he was done and then go smoke a cigar, and he never let her touch it, his willy. While this sounds silly, and it is, it too felt right.
Thank you Liz.
(finished May 22, 2013)
PS watch for reviews of the other three Liz books in the future.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
I truly love when fictional characters are placed in real events and their story is told with the real event as a backdrop. When done right you get a gripping story and a bit of a history lesson. This book is an example of one done beautifully.
Set in Afghanistan starting in the late 60's going through 2003 A Thousand Splendid Suns is a story of love in its purest form. Starting with Mariam and joining later with Laila these are two of the most amazing women I have met in the pages of a novel. They both face loss, brutality and war with a grace most lovely to read and heartbreaking to imagine.
I am not a fan of spoiling people so I wont tell you the outcome or even how they come to be together. I will tell you that they love each other so fully that there isn't anything they wouldn't do for each other. Their story is one that deserves to be told and is easy to forget isn't about two actual women. It could be because Hosseini writes so beautifully. It could be because as you are reading about Mariam and Laila and learning a bit about what it was like in Afghanistan for women during this time you can imagine things like what they go through happening to actual women. Or it could be both, because you can imagine it, it has been told in news reports and non-fiction books and Hosseini does write beautifully.
I am going to use my graduation giftcard and buy more of his work!!! Watch for the reviews.
(finished May 22, 2013)
Set in Afghanistan starting in the late 60's going through 2003 A Thousand Splendid Suns is a story of love in its purest form. Starting with Mariam and joining later with Laila these are two of the most amazing women I have met in the pages of a novel. They both face loss, brutality and war with a grace most lovely to read and heartbreaking to imagine.
I am not a fan of spoiling people so I wont tell you the outcome or even how they come to be together. I will tell you that they love each other so fully that there isn't anything they wouldn't do for each other. Their story is one that deserves to be told and is easy to forget isn't about two actual women. It could be because Hosseini writes so beautifully. It could be because as you are reading about Mariam and Laila and learning a bit about what it was like in Afghanistan for women during this time you can imagine things like what they go through happening to actual women. Or it could be both, because you can imagine it, it has been told in news reports and non-fiction books and Hosseini does write beautifully.
I am going to use my graduation giftcard and buy more of his work!!! Watch for the reviews.
(finished May 22, 2013)
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Broken Harbor (Dublin Murder Squad, #4) by Tana French
The 4th book in the Dublin Murder Squad books is a tightly wound journey into the mind of a detective and the mind of the murderer.
The case is a family brutally attacked in their home leaving husband/father Pat dead, children Emma and Jack also dead and mother Jenny barely clinging to life.
Was having lost his job too much for Pat causing him to cross some line and think his family would be better off dead? Was it a stranger? Was it someone else?
As Mick Kennedy and his new partner Richie Curran investigate they each think they know who did it. And while they are investigating the case Mick's past begins to be revealed and plays a part in how he handles this case.
I've enjoyed Tana French's writing in all four of her books. I love how in some of the dialogue it is written so it reads that you hear it in your head in an Irish accent. This one was slightly off to me because of the heavy use if "I said" but the story telling and writing was like a coil that slowly begins to tighten until the end when the truth comes out and the tension becomes very thick.
Over all I liked this book and will continue to read what ever she comes out with.
(finished May 21, 2013)
The other Dublin Murder Squad books:
Book 1- In The Woods
Book 2- The Likeness
Book 3- Faithful Place
Each book works as a stand alone as well but I read them in order.
The case is a family brutally attacked in their home leaving husband/father Pat dead, children Emma and Jack also dead and mother Jenny barely clinging to life.
Was having lost his job too much for Pat causing him to cross some line and think his family would be better off dead? Was it a stranger? Was it someone else?
As Mick Kennedy and his new partner Richie Curran investigate they each think they know who did it. And while they are investigating the case Mick's past begins to be revealed and plays a part in how he handles this case.
I've enjoyed Tana French's writing in all four of her books. I love how in some of the dialogue it is written so it reads that you hear it in your head in an Irish accent. This one was slightly off to me because of the heavy use if "I said" but the story telling and writing was like a coil that slowly begins to tighten until the end when the truth comes out and the tension becomes very thick.
Over all I liked this book and will continue to read what ever she comes out with.
(finished May 21, 2013)
The other Dublin Murder Squad books:
Book 1- In The Woods
Book 2- The Likeness
Book 3- Faithful Place
Each book works as a stand alone as well but I read them in order.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Prelude to Catastrophe: FDR's Jews and the Menace of Nazism by Robert Shogan
I started reading this for my capstone paper. I finished the book because it was fascinating. Shogan did a great job with material that could have been dry and boring and made it gripping and interesting to read, not at all boring.
FDR and Hitler both came to their office of power in 1933. Hitler began almost immediately to destroy the Jews. FDR on the other hand surrounded himself with Jews and put them into positions of power in his government. On the surface it would seem that having so many Jews in his inner circle would have made him more likely to take action and help the European Jews, it did not.
Of the Jewish men closest to him, Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis, Harvard law professor Felix Frankfurter (who later became a Supreme Court justice), speech writer Sam Rosenman, Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau and Rabbi Stephen Wise, only Morgenthau advised action.
The State Department holding back cables with pertinent information, antisemitism in the US and abroad, fear of political fall out and a host of so many other pieces kept FDR and the US from doing something to help a people being systematically exterminated.
I was angry and sad and so very disappointed in the leaders of the time for their inaction and political cowardice.
Francis Perkins tried to get something done but was blocked. It took Morgenthau what he called a terrible 18 months to get anything done but even that came 10 years after the start of Hitler's reign of terror.
This isn't just a dry historical tale, it is relevant and well written. And I didn't feel like it was a bash FDR book, just a laying out of the evidence.
(finished May 6, 2013)
FDR and Hitler both came to their office of power in 1933. Hitler began almost immediately to destroy the Jews. FDR on the other hand surrounded himself with Jews and put them into positions of power in his government. On the surface it would seem that having so many Jews in his inner circle would have made him more likely to take action and help the European Jews, it did not.
Of the Jewish men closest to him, Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis, Harvard law professor Felix Frankfurter (who later became a Supreme Court justice), speech writer Sam Rosenman, Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau and Rabbi Stephen Wise, only Morgenthau advised action.
The State Department holding back cables with pertinent information, antisemitism in the US and abroad, fear of political fall out and a host of so many other pieces kept FDR and the US from doing something to help a people being systematically exterminated.
I was angry and sad and so very disappointed in the leaders of the time for their inaction and political cowardice.
Francis Perkins tried to get something done but was blocked. It took Morgenthau what he called a terrible 18 months to get anything done but even that came 10 years after the start of Hitler's reign of terror.
This isn't just a dry historical tale, it is relevant and well written. And I didn't feel like it was a bash FDR book, just a laying out of the evidence.
(finished May 6, 2013)
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Two families, neighbors, one Jewish the other not. The Nazi are in Denmark and after a relatively calm time of occupation the Jews begin to be rounded up. The resistance movement is going to try and help. The story of how is told here through the eyes and life of a brave young girl and her family. They hide the daughter of their Jewish friends in plain sight by pretending she is their third child. Then the plan changes.
This was a really powerful read. It's recommended age range is 10-14 but I am well beyond that and I was fully into the story, cheering for Annemarie one moment and wanting to hug her the next. Don't let the young age on this book stop you from reading it.
(finished April 19, 2013)
Sunday, March 31, 2013
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
I read this for Children's Literature class. I am shocked I've never read this before since I LOVE the movie.
I feel like reviewing this is not really needed since from book or movie most people know the story. So instead of telling you what it was about I am going to tell you what I think about it.
Even though the descriptions don't match exactly in my head I still saw Patrick Swayze yelling at C.Thomas Howell. I still saw Ralph Macchio lying in the hospital bed. I still saw Rob Lowe and Tom Cruise and Emilio Estevez palling around. But it didn't take away from what is a moving, and even though slightly dated, relatable story on what it feels like to be on the wrong side of things,to not feel like you fit in your own skin, to be an outsider.
(finished on March 26, 2013)
Saturday, March 23, 2013
The Giver by Lois Lowery
The Giver by Lois Lowery
This was another one I read for my Children's Literature class.
The Giver started out feeling like it belonged to the same category of books as The Hunger Games trilogy and the Uglies series. By the end I was thinking it still may be but it seems there are more books to this story so I am not 100% sure.
A perfect community devoid of any differentness is where this story takes place. Everything is planned, right down to when a child learns to sleep through the night. It is even decided what the exact right age for having a bicycle is, 9 by the way.
What unfolds is that to achieve this there is no color, emotion, music or love. Is this better? Are people better off not remembering these things? This community decides yes since it also means no hate, pain, war, anger, hunger, or discontent.
There is one person who holds all the memories of these things to spare the people them but keeps them himself in order to have the needed memories and the wisdom they provide in order to provide guidance to the community when asked.
Then comes Jonas. And everything begins to change.
I liked this book, a lot. I don't know if I loved it but it was very, very good and very thought provoking. But now I feel I need to read the rest of the books in this series, The Quartet series which follows The Giver with Gathering Blue, Messenger and concludes with Son.
(finished March 23, 2013)
This was another one I read for my Children's Literature class.
The Giver started out feeling like it belonged to the same category of books as The Hunger Games trilogy and the Uglies series. By the end I was thinking it still may be but it seems there are more books to this story so I am not 100% sure.
A perfect community devoid of any differentness is where this story takes place. Everything is planned, right down to when a child learns to sleep through the night. It is even decided what the exact right age for having a bicycle is, 9 by the way.
What unfolds is that to achieve this there is no color, emotion, music or love. Is this better? Are people better off not remembering these things? This community decides yes since it also means no hate, pain, war, anger, hunger, or discontent.
There is one person who holds all the memories of these things to spare the people them but keeps them himself in order to have the needed memories and the wisdom they provide in order to provide guidance to the community when asked.
Then comes Jonas. And everything begins to change.
I liked this book, a lot. I don't know if I loved it but it was very, very good and very thought provoking. But now I feel I need to read the rest of the books in this series, The Quartet series which follows The Giver with Gathering Blue, Messenger and concludes with Son.
(finished March 23, 2013)
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Anna Is Still Here by Ida Vos
Anna Is Still Here by Ida Vos Translated by Terese Edelstein and Inez Smidt
I read this as part of my final project I am doing for Children's Literature, the topic is the Holocaust as presented in Children's Lit. This book falls in the early chapter book area, no pictures, all text but no overly hard words. However, if you let the simple reading level stop you from reading this I think you will be missing out on a powerful story.
Anna lives in Holland. She was in hiding for 3 years during the Nazi occupation. She was alone, except for Kiki, her imaginary friend. She had visits from the kind music teacher hiding her, but she was mostly alone. Now she is free and reunited with her parents and back in school. Anna is learning to live outside the attic she hid in, she is learning to trust and feel safe and with the help of her loving father she is finding her voice.
At one point her father shouts out "Rotten Nazis! Look what you've done to my child!" This is the heart of the story, what was done not only to Anna but to an entire group of people. Anna Is Still Here is told in a child's voice and in a very matter of fact and simple way that belies its power and beauty.
(finished March 13, 2013)
I read this as part of my final project I am doing for Children's Literature, the topic is the Holocaust as presented in Children's Lit. This book falls in the early chapter book area, no pictures, all text but no overly hard words. However, if you let the simple reading level stop you from reading this I think you will be missing out on a powerful story.
Anna lives in Holland. She was in hiding for 3 years during the Nazi occupation. She was alone, except for Kiki, her imaginary friend. She had visits from the kind music teacher hiding her, but she was mostly alone. Now she is free and reunited with her parents and back in school. Anna is learning to live outside the attic she hid in, she is learning to trust and feel safe and with the help of her loving father she is finding her voice.
At one point her father shouts out "Rotten Nazis! Look what you've done to my child!" This is the heart of the story, what was done not only to Anna but to an entire group of people. Anna Is Still Here is told in a child's voice and in a very matter of fact and simple way that belies its power and beauty.
(finished March 13, 2013)
Monday, March 11, 2013
Requiem by Lauren Oliver
Requiem (Delirium book 3) by Lauren Oliver
Lauren Oliver's best work still continues to be Before I Fall.
Requiem is book 3 in the trilogy, Delirium was book 1 and Pandemonium was book 2.
In book 3 the story is told in a back and forth between where Lena is and what she is going through and where Hana is and what she is going through. The voices are distinct enough that this easily botched story telling method works here.
The story of the invalids, those not cured of emotions, of the disease of love, and the fight they face to be free and not have to live outside society works as well.
The love triangle between Lena, Julian and Alex works too. You feel like there is no easy solution but no bad guy so it is an emotional gut punch to follow their story.
What doesn't work for me is the ending. It is the last book in a trilogy and when I read a trilogy I expect things to be wrapped up. I don't expect a clean, perfect or happy ending, but I have come to expect and ending. What happened here felt like there were pages missing. A major story isn't closed, there isn't a resolution on a couple of issues. The story jumps to a little speech about tearing down walls, which would have felt like a wonderful note to end on had it not felt like an abrupt jerk away from wrapping up the story of characters followed for three books. This doesn't negate the fact that I found it a good, not great but definitely good, addition the sub-genre of YA books that includes Hunger Games and Uglies, about the balance of freedoms and government control of people "for their own good".
(finished March 10, 2013)
Lauren Oliver's best work still continues to be Before I Fall.
Requiem is book 3 in the trilogy, Delirium was book 1 and Pandemonium was book 2.
In book 3 the story is told in a back and forth between where Lena is and what she is going through and where Hana is and what she is going through. The voices are distinct enough that this easily botched story telling method works here.
The story of the invalids, those not cured of emotions, of the disease of love, and the fight they face to be free and not have to live outside society works as well.
The love triangle between Lena, Julian and Alex works too. You feel like there is no easy solution but no bad guy so it is an emotional gut punch to follow their story.
What doesn't work for me is the ending. It is the last book in a trilogy and when I read a trilogy I expect things to be wrapped up. I don't expect a clean, perfect or happy ending, but I have come to expect and ending. What happened here felt like there were pages missing. A major story isn't closed, there isn't a resolution on a couple of issues. The story jumps to a little speech about tearing down walls, which would have felt like a wonderful note to end on had it not felt like an abrupt jerk away from wrapping up the story of characters followed for three books. This doesn't negate the fact that I found it a good, not great but definitely good, addition the sub-genre of YA books that includes Hunger Games and Uglies, about the balance of freedoms and government control of people "for their own good".
(finished March 10, 2013)
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography by Rob Lowe
Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography by Rob Lowe
I had a HUGE crush on Rob Lowe when I was much younger. I loved him as Sodapop in The Outsiders and as Billy in St. Elmo's Fire. That crush continued and became more cerebral when he was Sam Seaborn on The West Wing. He is handsome and smart and a talented actor. What's not to have a celebrity crush on?
But now, after reading his autobiography, I have a whole new love and respect for him. He is also a very talented writer, politically aware and active, and a loving husband and father.
In Stories I Only Tell My Friends, he is very open about his short comings, the sex tape, cheating on Melissa Gilbert, alcoholism, and the bumpy start to the relationship with his now wife Sheryl. This isn't the case of a celebrity trying to make themselves out to be perfect and blaming all their screw-ups on others. He learned the hard way the price that comes with fame, how it can mess with your head and make you feel like you are more important that you are. He took the lessons learned and started his career over and makes better choices now. He is first and foremost a father and husband, the rest, the fame, is the icing on the cake and he talks about how lucky he is and you really get the feeling he means it.
Of course since he is a celebrity there is a some back story on life growing up with Emilio Estevez as his friend, his run-ins with celebrity legends such as Liza Minnelli, Cary Grant and Lucille Ball, his dating life, his drinking problem and his recovery, you know, the dish people read celebrity biographies for. But the take away here is about more than gossip, as a matter of fact the gossip feels peripheral to his life from boy to man and who he wants to be and the dreams he has for his own sons in light of the life he lead and still leads.
I loved this book!!!
(finished March 9, 2013)
I had a HUGE crush on Rob Lowe when I was much younger. I loved him as Sodapop in The Outsiders and as Billy in St. Elmo's Fire. That crush continued and became more cerebral when he was Sam Seaborn on The West Wing. He is handsome and smart and a talented actor. What's not to have a celebrity crush on?
But now, after reading his autobiography, I have a whole new love and respect for him. He is also a very talented writer, politically aware and active, and a loving husband and father.
In Stories I Only Tell My Friends, he is very open about his short comings, the sex tape, cheating on Melissa Gilbert, alcoholism, and the bumpy start to the relationship with his now wife Sheryl. This isn't the case of a celebrity trying to make themselves out to be perfect and blaming all their screw-ups on others. He learned the hard way the price that comes with fame, how it can mess with your head and make you feel like you are more important that you are. He took the lessons learned and started his career over and makes better choices now. He is first and foremost a father and husband, the rest, the fame, is the icing on the cake and he talks about how lucky he is and you really get the feeling he means it.
Of course since he is a celebrity there is a some back story on life growing up with Emilio Estevez as his friend, his run-ins with celebrity legends such as Liza Minnelli, Cary Grant and Lucille Ball, his dating life, his drinking problem and his recovery, you know, the dish people read celebrity biographies for. But the take away here is about more than gossip, as a matter of fact the gossip feels peripheral to his life from boy to man and who he wants to be and the dreams he has for his own sons in light of the life he lead and still leads.
I loved this book!!!
(finished March 9, 2013)
Friday, March 8, 2013
Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
Love That Dog by Sharon Creech
I read this for Children's Lit.
It was a touching look at a boy's love for his dog and his journey into learning about poetry, the poetry of others and the poetry that is him.
(finished March 5, 2013)
I read this for Children's Lit.
It was a touching look at a boy's love for his dog and his journey into learning about poetry, the poetry of others and the poetry that is him.
(finished March 5, 2013)
Diary Of A Stage Mother's Daughter: a Memoir by Melissa Francis
Diary Of A Stage Mother's Daughter: a Memoir by Melissa Francis
Melissa is the actress who played the part of Cassandra on Little House On The Prairie in the later years of the series. It was my favorite show as a child so when I saw the review for her memoir in EW I rushed right to the library and snagged a copy. I was prepared for all kinds of dish on working with Michael Landon, Jason Bateman and Melissa Gilbert. What I got was so much more.
Melissa's mother was more than just a stereotypical stage mother; she was downright abusive. She told her daughters, Melissa and her sister Tiffany, often they were too fat, not good enough, not smart enough, not working hard enough and just awful. She also mismanaged or horded and kept away from Melissa her money earned as a child actress. But she also parceled out praise, gifts, bribes and something that on the surface looked like love to get them to work as actresses and to get them to perform well. Melissa ended up going forward with a career as an actress into her teens while Tiffany stopped acting.
Mrs. Francis is not likable, but Melissa is so very lovable and brave and strong. She survived her mother admirably.
I saw so much of my relationship with my mother in the things Melissa was feeling and dealing with. Of course the situations were different but essence of mother was so strikingly similar that I had a physical ache while reading this and at times considered stopping. I am so glad I didn't, the last page was a balm to my heart, and summed up where I am and working daily to continue to be with my family, my husband and children.
Melissa writes:
"The texture and color of my love for all three of them has proven to me that I can love, even though I was not ultimately loved myself. It doesn't matter what's come before if I can let go and try to do better. That truth was an awakening. My own family is a new beginning."
Her blunt open style is one that invites the reader in and causes an emotional connection to form, even if you didn't have any childhood trauma in your own life. Melissa treats the reader as a new friend who has come over for tea and is allowing to get to know her.
(finished March 8, 2012)
Melissa is the actress who played the part of Cassandra on Little House On The Prairie in the later years of the series. It was my favorite show as a child so when I saw the review for her memoir in EW I rushed right to the library and snagged a copy. I was prepared for all kinds of dish on working with Michael Landon, Jason Bateman and Melissa Gilbert. What I got was so much more.
Melissa's mother was more than just a stereotypical stage mother; she was downright abusive. She told her daughters, Melissa and her sister Tiffany, often they were too fat, not good enough, not smart enough, not working hard enough and just awful. She also mismanaged or horded and kept away from Melissa her money earned as a child actress. But she also parceled out praise, gifts, bribes and something that on the surface looked like love to get them to work as actresses and to get them to perform well. Melissa ended up going forward with a career as an actress into her teens while Tiffany stopped acting.
Mrs. Francis is not likable, but Melissa is so very lovable and brave and strong. She survived her mother admirably.
I saw so much of my relationship with my mother in the things Melissa was feeling and dealing with. Of course the situations were different but essence of mother was so strikingly similar that I had a physical ache while reading this and at times considered stopping. I am so glad I didn't, the last page was a balm to my heart, and summed up where I am and working daily to continue to be with my family, my husband and children.
Melissa writes:
"The texture and color of my love for all three of them has proven to me that I can love, even though I was not ultimately loved myself. It doesn't matter what's come before if I can let go and try to do better. That truth was an awakening. My own family is a new beginning."
Her blunt open style is one that invites the reader in and causes an emotional connection to form, even if you didn't have any childhood trauma in your own life. Melissa treats the reader as a new friend who has come over for tea and is allowing to get to know her.
(finished March 8, 2012)
Saturday, March 2, 2013
The Harmonica by Tony Johnston
The Harmonica by Tony Johnston
I am not really sure that this book is age appropriate for the picture book age group (1-6) even though it is classified as a picture book.
I feel shaken by it and I'm far, far above the age group targeted.
A little Jewish boy gets a harmonica from his father because they can't afford a piano, or much of anything. He and his parents love music, love Schubert, and the boy learns to play on his harmonica and his parents dance. That is until the Nazi invasion of Poland. He is separated from his parents and sent to a concentration camp where he manages to hold on to his beloved harmonica.
The boy is aware his parents are dead and when the commandant of the camp finds out about the boy's ability to play Schubert on it he makes the boy play for him and gives the boy extra bread. This makes the boy feel dirty and bad. Until he learns that the other prisoners can hear it and it gives them hope. So he plays his little heart out.
Touching and moving and just plain heartbreaking.
(read March 2, 2013)
I am not really sure that this book is age appropriate for the picture book age group (1-6) even though it is classified as a picture book.
I feel shaken by it and I'm far, far above the age group targeted.
A little Jewish boy gets a harmonica from his father because they can't afford a piano, or much of anything. He and his parents love music, love Schubert, and the boy learns to play on his harmonica and his parents dance. That is until the Nazi invasion of Poland. He is separated from his parents and sent to a concentration camp where he manages to hold on to his beloved harmonica.
The boy is aware his parents are dead and when the commandant of the camp finds out about the boy's ability to play Schubert on it he makes the boy play for him and gives the boy extra bread. This makes the boy feel dirty and bad. Until he learns that the other prisoners can hear it and it gives them hope. So he plays his little heart out.
Touching and moving and just plain heartbreaking.
(read March 2, 2013)
Friday, March 1, 2013
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
I read this a million and a half years ago when I was about 12 or 13 and I think the impact was lost on me because this time around I was blown away.
In case you aren't familiar with it, Go Ask Alice is a young girls diary that is a raw documentation of her spiral into the world of hard drugs and addiction.
She is not quite 15 at the start of her story. Her words are sweet and open and raw and heartbreaking. Once she falls into the underbelly of her life she is startlingly blunt and it's quite painful. She wants to embrace the family that loves her so and wants nothing more than to help her and she doesn't actually like what she is doing but is unable to stop.
Go read Go Ask Alice
(finished March 1, 2013)
I read this a million and a half years ago when I was about 12 or 13 and I think the impact was lost on me because this time around I was blown away.
In case you aren't familiar with it, Go Ask Alice is a young girls diary that is a raw documentation of her spiral into the world of hard drugs and addiction.
She is not quite 15 at the start of her story. Her words are sweet and open and raw and heartbreaking. Once she falls into the underbelly of her life she is startlingly blunt and it's quite painful. She wants to embrace the family that loves her so and wants nothing more than to help her and she doesn't actually like what she is doing but is unable to stop.
Go read Go Ask Alice
(finished March 1, 2013)
Monday, February 25, 2013
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
I can't believe I'd never read this until now. I've seen the 1973 animated movie many, many times but I honestly have no memory of ever reading the book. I had to read it for children's literature and have also been reading it with my 7 year old son (he's loving it).
What a charming and lovely book. Wilbur is so open and sweet and trusting, even if he is a runt of a pig.
Charlotte is beautiful and caring and smart, even if she is a spider. And she sacrifices for Wilbur, because she likes him.
Fern saves the runt of the piglets born the spring she is 8. She feeds him from a bottle, pushing his around in a doll carriage and loves him whole heartily. She can hear the conversations the animals in the barn have and she begins to grow up.
Charlotte's Web is really not just about a pig and a spider. It's about love and loyalty and friendship. It's a coming of age tale, a story about dealing with losing loved ones and belief in the things children know and adults forget, like the art of listening closely and with your heart.
(Finished February 25, 2013)
I can't believe I'd never read this until now. I've seen the 1973 animated movie many, many times but I honestly have no memory of ever reading the book. I had to read it for children's literature and have also been reading it with my 7 year old son (he's loving it).
What a charming and lovely book. Wilbur is so open and sweet and trusting, even if he is a runt of a pig.
Charlotte is beautiful and caring and smart, even if she is a spider. And she sacrifices for Wilbur, because she likes him.
Fern saves the runt of the piglets born the spring she is 8. She feeds him from a bottle, pushing his around in a doll carriage and loves him whole heartily. She can hear the conversations the animals in the barn have and she begins to grow up.
Charlotte's Web is really not just about a pig and a spider. It's about love and loyalty and friendship. It's a coming of age tale, a story about dealing with losing loved ones and belief in the things children know and adults forget, like the art of listening closely and with your heart.
(Finished February 25, 2013)
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Anne Frank: The Diary of A Young Girl
I don't think I really need to go into any background about who Anne Frank was so I'll skip right to my review.
Anne's diary reads like the diary of just about any 13-15 year old girl, full of self-discovery, interest in movies and boys, and angst at her parents not understanding her.
Excpet Anne wasn't just any young teen girl. She was Jewish at a time when being Jewish was criminal and deadly. She was in hiding with her sister, parents, the Van Daan family and a dentist named Dussel.
For 25 months the 8 Jews lived in secret rooms behind and above Mr. Frank's business, taken from him during the Nazi invasion of Holland.
Anne's diary is at it's most heartbreaking not when she is talking about the food shortages, the fighting among the 8, the fear of discovery, or the desire to go outside. While those are truly heartbreaking, her words are at their most devastating when the thoughts, hopes and dreams of typical of average young girls are expressed. For example when she writes about her future children and the kind of mother she hopes to be.
NOTE: You will see quite a few Holocaust book reviews in the coming months as I work on two projects for school, for children's literature I am doing a study on how the Holocaust is presented in children's books (picture book through YA) and for my graduation capstone I am doing a project on what our government knew and when, why we didn't act sooner and arguing the point that many, many lives could have been saved had we acted sooner and so we should have.
(finished February 6, 2013)
Anne's diary reads like the diary of just about any 13-15 year old girl, full of self-discovery, interest in movies and boys, and angst at her parents not understanding her.
Excpet Anne wasn't just any young teen girl. She was Jewish at a time when being Jewish was criminal and deadly. She was in hiding with her sister, parents, the Van Daan family and a dentist named Dussel.
For 25 months the 8 Jews lived in secret rooms behind and above Mr. Frank's business, taken from him during the Nazi invasion of Holland.
Anne's diary is at it's most heartbreaking not when she is talking about the food shortages, the fighting among the 8, the fear of discovery, or the desire to go outside. While those are truly heartbreaking, her words are at their most devastating when the thoughts, hopes and dreams of typical of average young girls are expressed. For example when she writes about her future children and the kind of mother she hopes to be.
NOTE: You will see quite a few Holocaust book reviews in the coming months as I work on two projects for school, for children's literature I am doing a study on how the Holocaust is presented in children's books (picture book through YA) and for my graduation capstone I am doing a project on what our government knew and when, why we didn't act sooner and arguing the point that many, many lives could have been saved had we acted sooner and so we should have.
(finished February 6, 2013)
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
I've read a few books by David Levithan, Every Day, Boy Meets Boy, Love Is The Higher Law, Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares (also with Rachel Cohn), and will grayson, will grayson (with John Green)(loved but can't find my review, I will try).
This was the first one that didn't make me feel like I had too keep reading and not put it down until I was done. I know it was made into a movie and since I liked other books by this author I grabbed it for free from paperbackswap.com. It wasn't bad but I didn't truly love it either.
Nick & Norah meet at a club when Nick asks Norah to be his girlfriend when he sees the girl who shredded his heart coming towards him with her new guy. Norah is in the right/wrong place at the right/wrong time so gets asked by the stranger next to her to be his five minute girlfriend. Got that?
When that the girl turns out to be Tris, someone Norah has a hate/tolerates relationship with she jumps in with both feet...err, lips and kisses Nick. And he is a great kisser.
What follows is a night spent talking music, kissing, more than kissing, eating perogies and kielbasa, trying to start Nick's car and other such adventures.
I loved that the story takes place in my home city, NYC. I didn't love that for the first time reading one of Mr. Levithan's books I felt a little too old. I loved how you get Nick's voice and thoughts in every other chapter with Norah's voice in the ones in between and you can see them almost clicking and you know they are on the same page but can't see it. It's like being a fly on the wall.
So I guess my only complaint is that I felt a little too old for the book. Not the whole time, just at some points. But I really liked Nick & Norah and was hoping they'd figure things out.
Not one I would have bought but to borrow or get for free it was not a waste of time. It's not a long book and it was funny and touching.
(finished Feb. 2, 2013)
This was the first one that didn't make me feel like I had too keep reading and not put it down until I was done. I know it was made into a movie and since I liked other books by this author I grabbed it for free from paperbackswap.com. It wasn't bad but I didn't truly love it either.
Nick & Norah meet at a club when Nick asks Norah to be his girlfriend when he sees the girl who shredded his heart coming towards him with her new guy. Norah is in the right/wrong place at the right/wrong time so gets asked by the stranger next to her to be his five minute girlfriend. Got that?
When that the girl turns out to be Tris, someone Norah has a hate/tolerates relationship with she jumps in with both feet...err, lips and kisses Nick. And he is a great kisser.
What follows is a night spent talking music, kissing, more than kissing, eating perogies and kielbasa, trying to start Nick's car and other such adventures.
I loved that the story takes place in my home city, NYC. I didn't love that for the first time reading one of Mr. Levithan's books I felt a little too old. I loved how you get Nick's voice and thoughts in every other chapter with Norah's voice in the ones in between and you can see them almost clicking and you know they are on the same page but can't see it. It's like being a fly on the wall.
So I guess my only complaint is that I felt a little too old for the book. Not the whole time, just at some points. But I really liked Nick & Norah and was hoping they'd figure things out.
Not one I would have bought but to borrow or get for free it was not a waste of time. It's not a long book and it was funny and touching.
(finished Feb. 2, 2013)
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Night by Elie Wiesel
The most powerful 120 pages I've ever read.
Elie Wiesel won The Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. At the end of the book is his acceptance speech, it is filled with moving words about remembering and not being silent in the face of human suffering. But even more powerful is the story that proceeds it.
The story of his time in concentration camps. The story of his families deaths.
There is an almost matter of fact voice to the telling of the horrors he witnessed and the horrors he experienced. However as you read on the pain and fear becomes palatable. His thirst and hunger, his guilt and shaken faith, and his anger, all begin to leap off the page.
It doesn't matter what your religion or lack there of is, this is something that must be read and shared, if we forget that this awful, terrible and horrific thing happened then we will miss the signs when it happens again and again we will fail to stop it.
Elie Wiesel won The Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. At the end of the book is his acceptance speech, it is filled with moving words about remembering and not being silent in the face of human suffering. But even more powerful is the story that proceeds it.
The story of his time in concentration camps. The story of his families deaths.
There is an almost matter of fact voice to the telling of the horrors he witnessed and the horrors he experienced. However as you read on the pain and fear becomes palatable. His thirst and hunger, his guilt and shaken faith, and his anger, all begin to leap off the page.
It doesn't matter what your religion or lack there of is, this is something that must be read and shared, if we forget that this awful, terrible and horrific thing happened then we will miss the signs when it happens again and again we will fail to stop it.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Shindler's List by Thomas Keneally
This book was the basis for the 1993 Stephen Spielberg film.
In the introduction the author makes it clear he used the format of a novel but that this is not a fictionalized telling of the story. He goes to great lengths throughout the book to point out differences in the accounts given by sources and where some stories have taken on a more legendary status.
That being said, this was not a fun book but was very important. It was disturbing and moving and scary and disgusting.
Oskar Schindler may seem to have been out for profit but I would beg to differ if that is your opinion of him. He ended up bankrupt and lived out his days with the help of his Jews. I don't say that with any disrespect, they called themselves that. He saved as many as he could and was always trying to save more, get more on his list. By the end of the war he was beyond obsessed and truly loved the people who he built relationships with over the 4 years he was running a factory to "supply the war effort".
I would never claim he was perfect or a saint, but he was a man horrified by the way his countrymen were treating the Jewish people and did what he could and those who he helped, even those who did not like him, tell of owing him their survival.
(finished January 28, 2013)
In the introduction the author makes it clear he used the format of a novel but that this is not a fictionalized telling of the story. He goes to great lengths throughout the book to point out differences in the accounts given by sources and where some stories have taken on a more legendary status.
That being said, this was not a fun book but was very important. It was disturbing and moving and scary and disgusting.
Oskar Schindler may seem to have been out for profit but I would beg to differ if that is your opinion of him. He ended up bankrupt and lived out his days with the help of his Jews. I don't say that with any disrespect, they called themselves that. He saved as many as he could and was always trying to save more, get more on his list. By the end of the war he was beyond obsessed and truly loved the people who he built relationships with over the 4 years he was running a factory to "supply the war effort".
I would never claim he was perfect or a saint, but he was a man horrified by the way his countrymen were treating the Jewish people and did what he could and those who he helped, even those who did not like him, tell of owing him their survival.
(finished January 28, 2013)
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Playing Dead by Julia Heaberlin
I found this book on the buy 2 get 1 free table at Barnes and Noble and the blurb on the back cover sounded like a story I could enjoy so I grabbed it.
I expected a straight forward mystery but it wasn't really like that. Tommie is sent on a search for who she really is when a strange letter is sent to her claiming she is some other woman's long ago kidnapped daughter. What follows is a story about finding yourself aside from who your parents are or aren't and the lengths people are willing to go to protect themselves or their loved ones. Of course there is murder, danger, mysterious papers in locked boxes, people who are not who they say they are and a kidnapping, all the usual pieces of most mystery novels.
One of my favorite thing about mysteries is when there is an outcome I didn't see coming and this book had that. It wasn't the story I thought it was going to be when I first started reading it and did my usual try to figure it out before the reveal thing and I like that.
(finished Jan. 20, 2013)
I expected a straight forward mystery but it wasn't really like that. Tommie is sent on a search for who she really is when a strange letter is sent to her claiming she is some other woman's long ago kidnapped daughter. What follows is a story about finding yourself aside from who your parents are or aren't and the lengths people are willing to go to protect themselves or their loved ones. Of course there is murder, danger, mysterious papers in locked boxes, people who are not who they say they are and a kidnapping, all the usual pieces of most mystery novels.
One of my favorite thing about mysteries is when there is an outcome I didn't see coming and this book had that. It wasn't the story I thought it was going to be when I first started reading it and did my usual try to figure it out before the reveal thing and I like that.
(finished Jan. 20, 2013)
Friday, January 18, 2013
I Am What I Am by John Barrowman
I adore John Barrowman. I love him as Captain Jack in Doctor Who and Torchwood. I loved him as a judge on the talent search show I'd Do Anything that BBCAmerica aired. I love his music. And now I love his writing.
I Am What I Am is set up as is you were visiting him in his home and he was giving you a tour then telling you all about his life and family. Because of this format there is a little bit of abrupt breaks between stories that may not be noticed when sitting with someone and having a conversation. In conversation it would feel natural to go from one story to another but on paper there are times when it felt abrupt, but it wasn't distracting or hard to read, just noticeable.
The stories were naughty, funny, touching and a few were sad. The pictures were a nice glimpse into his life and John's partner Scott is as yummy to look at as he is. They make a wonderful couple in pictures and in love which comes across every time Scott is mentioned in the stories John tells.
This was his second book, I must get the first!!!
(finished Jan. 18, 2013)
I Am What I Am is set up as is you were visiting him in his home and he was giving you a tour then telling you all about his life and family. Because of this format there is a little bit of abrupt breaks between stories that may not be noticed when sitting with someone and having a conversation. In conversation it would feel natural to go from one story to another but on paper there are times when it felt abrupt, but it wasn't distracting or hard to read, just noticeable.
The stories were naughty, funny, touching and a few were sad. The pictures were a nice glimpse into his life and John's partner Scott is as yummy to look at as he is. They make a wonderful couple in pictures and in love which comes across every time Scott is mentioned in the stories John tells.
This was his second book, I must get the first!!!
(finished Jan. 18, 2013)
Thursday, January 17, 2013
2013 Book List
- Deadly Decisions (Temperance Brennan #3) ~Kathy Reichs
- Sing You Home ~Jodi Picoult
- I Remember Nothing And Other Reflections ~Nora Ephron
- The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry ~Rachel Joyce
- I Am What I Am ~John Barrowman
- Playing Dead ~Julia Heaberlin
- Schindler's List ~Thomas Keneally
- Night ~Elie Wiesel
- Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
- Anne Frank: The Diary of A Young Girl
- Charlotte's Web ~E.B. White
- Go Ask Alice ~Anonymous
- The Harmonica ~Tony Johnston
- Star of Fear, Star of Hope ~Jo Hoestlandt
- Love That Dog ~Sharon Creech
- Diary Of Stage Mother's Daughter: a Memoir ~Melissa Francis
- Stories I Only Tell My Friends: an autobiography ~Rob Lowe
- Requiem (Delirium book 3) ~Lauren Oliver
- Anna Is Still Here ~Ida Vos
- The Giver ~Lois Lowry
- The Outsiders ~S.E. Hinton
- Number the Stars ~Lois Lowry
- Prelude to Catastrophe: FDR's Jews and the Menace of Nazism by Robert Shogan
- Broken Harbor (Dublin Murder Squad #4) ~Tana French
- A Thousand Splendid Suns ~Khaled Hosseini
- The Woman Who Wouldn't ~Gene Wilder
- The Kite Runner ~Khaled Hosseini
- And The Mountains Echoed ~Khaled Hosseini
- Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet ~Jamie Ford
- The Storyteller ~Jodi Picoult
- interpreter of maladies ~Jhumpa Lahiri
- The Birth House ~Ami McKay
- Oh Dear Sylvia ~Dawn French
- Dad Is Fat ~Jim Gaffigan
- My Name is Memory ~Ann Brashares
- The Sugar Queen ~Sarah Addison Allen
- The 5th Wave ~Rick Yancey
- Dark Paradise ~Tami Hoag
- The Sky Always Hears Me: And the Hills Don't Mind ~Kirsten Cronn-Mills
- Delirium Stories: Hana, Annabel, and Raven ~Lauren Oliver
- And Then There Were None ~Agatha Christie
- The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison
- Nameless ~Debra Webb
- Life of Pi ~Yann Martel
- Faceless ~Debra Webb
- The Dinner ~Herman Koch
- Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project ~Jack Mayer
- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao ~Junot Diaz
- You're Not You ~Michelle Wildgen
- Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power ~Rachel Maddow
- Find Me ~Debra Webb
- The Language of Flowers ~Vanessa Diffenbaugh
- Waiting for an Ordinary Day: The Unraveling of Life in Iraq ~Farnaz Fassihi
- Unaccustomed Earth: Stories ~Jhumpa Lahiri
- Me Talk Pretty One Day ~David Sedaris
- Divergent (Divergent #1) ~Veronica Roth
- Insurgent (Divergent #2) ~Veronica Roth
- Allegiant (Divergent #3) ~Veronica Roth
- The Sweetness At The Bottom Of The Pie (Flavia de Luce #1) ~Alan Bradley
- Dawn ~Elie Wiesel
- The Prey (Predator Trilogy, #1) ~Allison Brennan
- Double Down: Game Change 2012 ~Mark Halperin, John Heilemann
- I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban ~Malala Yousafzai, Christina Lamb
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
One morning Harold gets a letter from an old coworker, Queenie, that
she is dying. It has been 20 years since he has seen her but he is moved
beyond words by the letter and writes her back and heads to mail it and
just keeps walking.
He walks for over 80 days and over 600 miles. What follows is a story of love and loss and redemption. A beautiful story of what happens when you set out and put one foot in front of the other, both figuratively and in Harold’s case literally.
It is not an easy journey, and as he quickly learns, and the reader with him, it isn’t about the destination. The story of Harold, his wife Maureen, their son David and of course Queenie is weaved throughout the story of the walk across England from home to the hospice where Queenie is and the people Harold meets along the way, some helpful others not so much.
When I first started this book I didn’t know quite what to make of it, but it’s quiet beauty moved me. It was a pure pleasure to read and now I’m sad it’s over.
“He had learned that it was the smallness of people that filled him with wonder and tenderness, and the loneliness of that too. The world was made up of people people putting one foot in front of the other; and a life might appear ordinary simply because the person living it had been doing so for a long time. Harold could no longer pass a stranger without acknowledging the truth that everyone was the same, and also unique; and this this was the dilemma of being human.”
(finished Jan. 13, 2013)
He walks for over 80 days and over 600 miles. What follows is a story of love and loss and redemption. A beautiful story of what happens when you set out and put one foot in front of the other, both figuratively and in Harold’s case literally.
It is not an easy journey, and as he quickly learns, and the reader with him, it isn’t about the destination. The story of Harold, his wife Maureen, their son David and of course Queenie is weaved throughout the story of the walk across England from home to the hospice where Queenie is and the people Harold meets along the way, some helpful others not so much.
When I first started this book I didn’t know quite what to make of it, but it’s quiet beauty moved me. It was a pure pleasure to read and now I’m sad it’s over.
“He had learned that it was the smallness of people that filled him with wonder and tenderness, and the loneliness of that too. The world was made up of people people putting one foot in front of the other; and a life might appear ordinary simply because the person living it had been doing so for a long time. Harold could no longer pass a stranger without acknowledging the truth that everyone was the same, and also unique; and this this was the dilemma of being human.”
(finished Jan. 13, 2013)
I Remember Nothing And Other Reflections by Nora Ephron
This book, though it is only 135 pages, is in no way a small book. I
found this on the Buy 2 Get 1 Free table at Barnes and Noble and it was
not long after her death so I grabbed it. All I really knew was she
wrote a brilliant piece of work called When Harry Met Sally so I figured this would at the very least be mildly entertaining. And it was free.
Oh my how wrong I was. This was way more than mildly entertaining. It was like a smooth glass of wine. It made me feel. It made me feel warm and I laughed and I teared up and I feel like I learned so much about her but really nothing at all, and I think that was her intent when she wrote the short essays that make up this book.
From her Aruba, dislike of egg white omelettes and love of meat loaf, the fact she wouldn’t miss email and washing her hair but would miss twinkle lights and butter, I Remember Nothing gives a tiny glimpse into the mind and life of am amazing writer.
(finished Jan. 2, 2013)
Oh my how wrong I was. This was way more than mildly entertaining. It was like a smooth glass of wine. It made me feel. It made me feel warm and I laughed and I teared up and I feel like I learned so much about her but really nothing at all, and I think that was her intent when she wrote the short essays that make up this book.
From her Aruba, dislike of egg white omelettes and love of meat loaf, the fact she wouldn’t miss email and washing her hair but would miss twinkle lights and butter, I Remember Nothing gives a tiny glimpse into the mind and life of am amazing writer.
(finished Jan. 2, 2013)
Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult
I’ve read just about all of Jodi Picoult’s books an liked them. Well
not Songs of the Humpback Whale, but all the others I’ve read.
This one was not what I expected when I started it. It wasn’t as formulaic as I felt it was going to be. It’s the story of a family broken by loss and how a new life is formed and how they each handle it. It’s a story about tolerance for family units that look different than your own. It’s about forgiveness and the danger of using religion as a weapon.
I started and finished this today. I was so drawn in that I only stopped to feed the family and play Battleship with my son.
(read Jan. 1, 2013)
This one was not what I expected when I started it. It wasn’t as formulaic as I felt it was going to be. It’s the story of a family broken by loss and how a new life is formed and how they each handle it. It’s a story about tolerance for family units that look different than your own. It’s about forgiveness and the danger of using religion as a weapon.
I started and finished this today. I was so drawn in that I only stopped to feed the family and play Battleship with my son.
(read Jan. 1, 2013)
Deadly Decisions (Temperance Brennan book 3) by Kathy Reichs
I’ve read the first Temperance Brennan book
also (and I’m pretty the 2nd though it seems I didn’t mark it read so
maybe not). Again, before I tell you my thoughts, this is the
character Bones the TV show is based on but the book Tempe is very different than the TV Tempe.
These books follow a pattern so are a little
predictable. Tempe is called in on a case, she gets in over her head
because her smarts and her curiosity get the better of her, and the
police take time to believe her theories. Someone she cares about ends
up in danger, she ends up being correct and case gets solved.
That being said, it doesn’t make it a bad
read. The fleshing out of the facts is interesting, the story
of the crime isn’t too far fetched, and it isn’t obvious from page one who
done it. They really are decent reads. There is a lot of technical
language but it’s quite interesting.
(read Jan. 2013)
2012 Book List
- The Likeness ~Tana French
- Sarah’s Key ~Tatiana De Rosnay
- Brooklyn ~Colm TóibÃn
- Faithful Place ~Tana French
- A Secret Kept ~Tatiana De Rosnay
- The Other Boleyn Girl ~Philippa Gregory
- Deeper Than The Dead (Oak Knoll book 1) ~Tami Hoag
- The Queen’s Fool ~Philipa Gregory
- Ashes to Ashes ~Tami Hoag
- The Fault In Our Stars ~John Green
- Secrets To The Grave (Oak Knoll book 2) ~Tami Hoag
- Betrayal at the Vel d’Hiv ~Claude Lévy and Paul Tillard
- Goodnight Nobody ~Jennifer Werner
- Dust to Dust ~Tami Hoag
- American Dervish ~Ayad Akhtar
- Déjá Dead ~Kathy Reichs
- Those Who Save Us ~Jenna Blum
- A Poetry Handbook ~Mary Oliver
- To Kill a Mockingbird ~Harper Lee
- Down The Darkest Road (Oak Knoll book 3) ~Tami Hoag
- The Constant Princess ~Philippa Gregory
- Moab Is My Washpot ~Stephen Fry
- The Imperfectionists ~Tom Rachman
- Look Me in the Eye: My Life With Asperger’s ~ John Robison
- Pandemonium (Delirium book 2) ~Lauren Oliver
- Cloisters ~Kristin Bock
- Hamlet’s Blackberry: A Practical Philosophy for Building a Good Life in the Digital Age ~William Powers
- A Game of Thrones (Song of Fire and Ice Book 1) ~George R.R. Martin
- Defending Jacob ~William Landay
- A Clash of Kings (Song of Fire and Ice Book 2) ~George R.R. Martin
- What We Talk About When We Talk About Ann Frank ~ Nathan Englander
- Between Shades of Gray ~Ruta Sepetys
- A Storm of Swords (Song of Fire and Ice Book 3) George R.R. Martin
- An Available Man ~Hilma Wolitzer
- Gone Girl ~Gillian Flynn
- the dairy of darcy j. rhone ~Emily Giffin
- Guilty Pleasures ~Laurell K. Hamilton
- A Feast For Crows (Song of Fire and Ice book 4) ~George R.R. Martin
- Sharp Objects ~Gillian Flynn
- Dark Places ~Gillian Flynn
- Seating Arrangements ~Maggie Shipstead
- A Dance With Dragons (Song of Fire and Ice book 5) ~George R.R. Martin
- The Book Thief ~Markus Zusak
- Thirteen Reasons Why ~Jay Asher
- 11/22/63 ~Stephen King
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close ~ Jonathan Safran Foer
- Matched (Matched book 1) ~Ally Condie
- Crossed (Matched book 2) ~Ally Condie
- the perks of being a wallflower ~Stephen Chbosky
- Girl in Hyacinth Blue ~ Susan Vreeland
- Every Day ~David Levithan
- I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced ~Nujood Ali with Delphine Minoui
- The Silver Linings Playbook ~Matthew Quick
- Reached (Matched book 3) ~Ally Condie
- The Passage (The Passage book 1) ~Justin Cronin
- The Twelve (The Passage book 2) ~Justin Cronin
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