Review: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Dear Internet,

I know I haven’t really been around much, and I feel that my poor blog, with all five of its regular readers, is missing out on the joy that is me waxing poetic–or not so poetic, as the case may be–on what I’ve been reading. There are a number of reasons for this. School has been… an interesting challenge, to say the least. And I haven’t been reading very much.

I have finished a few books, though, and am woefully behind on reviewing them, so I’m hoping that if I take a less structured approach, the reviews will get written and might even be a little better than some of the very blah stuff I’ve been cranking out lately.

Anyway, the recent read that I wanted to talk to you about is When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. This book won the Newberry medal this year, which is not why I picked it up. I picked it up because in other reviews I’d read, mention was made of the fact that Miranda, our main character, loves A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. As it happens, I do, too. So the fact that this book won the Newberry was just a bonus.

Our story is about a twelve-year-old girl named Miranda, who lives in New York in the 1970’s. It’s told in a very stream-of-conscious style. It starts out with Miranda’s mother finding out that she will be a contestant on the $10000 pyramid. This news compells Miranda to contemplate whether she should write a note to the person who has been leaving her mysterious messages, because she thinks these messages may come from the future. In the meantime, Miranda is dealing with normal kid issues–changing friendships, trying to figure out who she is, and experimenting with boys.

I’m a character-driven reader, as long-time followers of this blog are no doubt tired of hearing. I need relatable characters or a story won’t work. And I loved Miranda. She’s smart, she’s spunky, and she felt real. I liked that her viewpoint was very childish in places, but that she was perceptive. (There’s a touching bit that sticks out in which, after she’s complained to her mom about the shabbiness of their apartment, she is suddenly made aware that her mom knows this and is embarrassed, too.)

That was another thing I really appreciated. Miranda’s family isn’t traditional, and she’s, gasp, close to her mom. She also doesn’t view her mom’s boyfriend as an interloper, and thinks that her mom should just give him a key and let him move in. After so many melodramatic stories about dealing with a parent’s new boyfriend, it was nice to read a protagonist that didn’t care.

But, you may be asking yourself, what does A Wrinkle In Time have to do with this story? Quite a lot, actually. For one thing, it is the only book that Miranda reads, and so she makes lots of references to it. I particularly liked the fact that she acknowledges what a universally relatable character Meg is. Miranda thinks of Meg as twelve, and I had to double check my copy of A Wrinkle in Time before concluding that Miranda’s right. L’Engle never outright states Meg’s age.

I wouldn’t really classify this book as a science fiction novel, though, so if you go into the book thinking there is more than just an abundance of references to < A Wrinkle in Time you’ll be disappointed. It is a mystery, first and foremost, and the science fiction elements are like a nice powdered sugar glazing on top of everything else.

Obvbviously, I liked this book a lot, and am glad it won the Newberry. The writing style was absorbing, and I read it in pretty much one sitting. My only real quibble was that I thought Miranda was a little too young to be making out with boys, but this might not bother an actual reader in the target age range, so you can take that as a sign that I am turning into a fuddy-duddy.

I’d rate this one a very strong B.

Other Opinions

• Booking Mama

• A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy
• S. Krishna’s Books

P.S. If you’re from the FTC, hi! I got this from Bookshare, which I have access to because I am considered print-disabled. So there.

Thoughts on the first Virgin River trilogy by Robyn Carr

I have to start this post by warning y’all that it’s not my usual style. It’s kind of rambly and stream-of-conscious, and is also spoilertastic. You have been warned.

One of the series I discovered last year, when I was in the middle of a blogging slump was the Virgin River series by Robyn Carr. I have read the first three books in the series, which are as follows:

• Virgin River

• Shelter Mountain
• Whispering Rock

The premise is this. Virgin River is a small, idyllic town in the mountains of Northern California, which seems to attract the lonely, the hurting, and the broken-hearted. We begin the series with Mel, who needs a new start in life after the death of her husband and comes to Virgin River to practice midwifery and gets involved with Jack, the owner of the town bar. The second book features Paige, a battered wife on the run from an abusive ex, who ends up with Jack’s partner at the bar, a big teddy bear of a guy named Preacher. (Preacher, incidentally, is my absolute favorite Virgin River man so far. He’s big and burly, but also extremely awkward and shy, and he was a virgin, which is enough of a rarity in romance fiction that I still find it awesome when it happens.) In the third book, Jack’s sister, Brie, ends up brutally attacked and ends up finding love with Mike, an ex-cop friend of Jack’s who’s also turned up in Virgin River.

What I like about these books is that, in addition to the rather strong romance storylines, there’s a real sense of the town. I get the feeling that there really are people with lives that don’t intersect often with the main cast of characters. I appreciate it when authors do this, as it lends verisimilitude to their settings, and Virgin River, in Ms. Carr’s hands, is a place I’d like to visit.

I do have to admit that I went into the books not really expecting straight-up romance. I enjoy the books all the more for that fact, though, because I genuinely like the setting and the characters. I also think that the romantic aspects of the books, while important, aren’t really Ms. Carr’s strong point, because, at least in the books I’ve read, they’re fairly repetitive. After all, how many Marines with deep personal pain can there be for every hapless damsel who’s just suffered personal tragedy to stumble upon? Honestly, I’d much rather read about the couples after their courtship. Mel and Jack’s wedded bliss, for example, is far from the treacle you’d get in most traditional romances, and I think the scene where Preacher informs a whole barful of Marines that he’s closing early on account of its being ovulation day cracks me up.

The books have tackled lots of relevant issues as well, everything from the ethics of dealing with local marijuana growers to the need for contraception to teenage drug use. Sometimes Ms. Carr handles these issues better than others–like, there’s one particular marijuana grower who is quite interesting and who I know from reading spoilers becomes more important in the series later. Then again, there was the bombshell in the thirdd book where one woman, after finally getting a mammogram, finds out she’s got breast cancer and is dead by a few dozen pages later. That whole subplot was just a bit too precious for words.

And then there’s the Rick/Liz subplot. See, Rick’s a randy 17-year-old boy who sometimes helps Jack at the bar. And he met a new girl, Liz, who was 15 and basically tarting it up. They ended up having sex, and Liz became pregnant. Afterwords, a whole mess of slut-shaming ensued. Liz basically becomes weepy and distraught, and presumably quits wearing skirts that hike up to her crotch. And Rick whines and emoes about how he’s totally ruined Liz’s life and he’ll never, never, never have sex with her again until she grows up. He worries about Liz but in kind of a self-absorbed way that, while I’m sure it’s authentic, grated on my nerves, especially since, as readers, we never saw Liz’s POV. We just know that Rick thinks she’s too young, her aunt thinks she was being a little tart but loves her anyway, and Mel just wants to do the best she can by her as her midwife. And then, after Liz loses the baby–a karmic death if ever there was one–Rick decides he needs to up and join the Marines. Because he decides for Liz that Liz is too young and needs to grow up. So, you know, instead of actually, truly making sure she’s OK, he’s like, “See you after basic.” And, as I understand it, he gets his own book in the series in which he has PTSD, which means former slut Liz will probably selflessly stand by and wipe his emo tears.

…Wow. I really didn’t think I had that much animosity toward that one particular subplot.

There is also a whole lot of “Ra ra ra, yay Marines!” talk in this series. You know a male character is supposed to be good and honorable if he is either planning to serve in the Marines or has served in the Marines or some other branch of the military. That aspect of the series isn’t one I can speak about, because the people in my family who are uber-military types aren’t generally people I talk to enough to ask, “Is it really like that? Do you feel extremely close to all your Marine brothers and would you do anything for any of them?”

That being said, the Marines stuff balances out well with Mel’s character, who is generally a positive example of a strong feminist who isn’t a hard-ass. She’s dedicated to midwifery and women’s health issues, and I appreciate that she doesn’t poo-poo the idea of abortion outright, since there are characters for whom that comes up. (Thankfully, in Virgin River, if you don’t want a baby, you will lose it due to miscarriage or stillbirth, so actually having Mel hold someone’s hand during an abortion isn’t ever likely to come up.)

In conclusion, despite some of the snarky things I’ve said, I find these books comforting. It’s fun to slip back into a familliar world with familliar characters. I generally know where the plots are going, and the sequel-baiting is pretty unsubtle–in the same way that an anvil to the back of the head is pretty unsubtle–but I think that’s part of their charm. You know what you’re going to get, and when you get it, it makes you feel good. I wouldn’t call these keepers, but they are strong, b-grade comfort reads.

Thoughts on A Wrinkle in Time

Last month, I signed up for Kailana’s Time Quartet readalong. I didn’t even think about the small problem that would present itself when I decided to do this, namely that I have already reviewed it. So I wasn’t really sure what exactly I could say that I haven’t already said about this book when I read it this year. I decided, therefore, that instead of writing a real formal review, I’d just tell you why I reread this book so often.

The main reason, of course, is Meg. I love Meg. I was Meg. I definitely went through a period of feeling like a complete outcast growing up. I knew that I was different from my peers in significant ways, and I know I had my moments of beligerence.

The thing about Meg that struck me then and strikes me now is that she was a geeky child who *did something*. Her mere existance didn’t automatically mean she was destined for greatness, and she wasn’t completed when she discovered Calvin–who is still one of my favorite YA boyfriend characters, BTW. No, Meg had to struggle and she had to endure and she had to come to grips with her faults, and though she wasn’t alone the whole time, she certainly wasn’t propped up either.

Another reason I constantly reread L’Engle is that I get more out of it each time I read. I knew this was a smart book, but I don’t think I realized just how literary it all was, and I think, now that I’m older and, presumably, wiser than I was at, say, eleven when I first read this book, many of its themes make more sense. Love is important, and Meg’s fierce love for Charles Wallace is a foundation of the entire Time Quartet. And, of course, each time I read the book, I understand more of Mrs. Who’s constant quotes.

To that end, one of the criticisms I’ve read about this book was that it’s quite religious. Normally, that’s the kind of thing that would bother me, but I think L’Engle must have been the sort of woman who, though feeling her faith deeply, would have respected that she did not speak for other people. And, really, the themes she writes about transcend religion. L’Engle writes about love, from the romantic to the filial, and how important it is, even when it’s not always easy. I can’t think of a religious tradition that would disagree with that notion.

I’m glad I got a chance to reread this book, and I’m excited to read what the rest of the readalong participants thought. Next month, we move on to A Wind in the Door, which is probably my favorite of the series.

Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I’ve been resisting the urge to read The Hunger games by Suzanne Collins for a long time, mostly because of the hype. I’ve been burned too many times by overhyped books that did nothing for me at all, and I can be a picky reader.

However, last year, Maree, Memory and I decided that we should get it over with and read the book together. That way, if it sucked, we could console each other by, I don’t know, maybe pasting horrible lines of the book into Twitter. (OK, maybe I’m the only person of the three of us who would do that.)

Anyway, we all emailed each other questions that we answered about the book. So go over to Memory’s blog and read what we thought of it.

For the record, I’m not sure this was quite an A book for me, but it really was quite good and I hope to read the second book soon.

Review: Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Title: Hate List
Author: Jennifer Brown
Genre: Contemporary YA fiction
Source: Bookshare
Reason for Reading: I am apparently much more interested in contemporary issues books when they’re YA. And this book got hyped all over the place, so I decided I’d give it a go.

Synopsis:

Five months ago, Valerie Leftman’s boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets.

Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with her family, former friends and the girl whose life she saved, Val must come to grips with the tragedy that took place and her role in it, in order to make amends and move on with her life.

My Thoughts: First off, I didn’t know that Jennifer Brown is a somewhat local author. Apparently, she writes a column for the Kansas City Star. And, having learned this about her, I will probably spend more time than is healthy browsing the Star’s online archives to read her work. That’s neither here nor there, though, since this is a review of her novel.

To be honest, Hate List was a bit of a slow starter for me. I was intrigued by the idea of reading about a character as complex as Valerie Leftman, but I wasn’t actually sure I could manage it. What if I didn’t like her? What if, like her family and most of the people around her, I thought she was pretty much guilty by association?

Thankfully, after the first couple of chapters, I got quite into Valerie’s story. She’s one of the more complex characters I’ve read about recently, and, after some time to warm up to her, I realized she worked for me. She’s very confused about what happened that May day when her boyfriend shot up the school. She blames herself for what happened, and she’s pretty much starting the book just wanting to finish out the school year as quietly as possible. Of course, that’s not what happens, because she just can’t. Not with an event like a school shooting.

Because she’s such a complex character, and because the issues she goes through aren’t pat and easily solved, Ms. Brown doesn’t provide Valerie with easy answers. Even at the end, it’s clear that she still has to come to terms with her future, but the experiences of the novel have made her stronger. I appreciated that Brown chose to go that route, since otherwise I don’t think I’d have found Valerie’s story as believable.

In addition to Valerie, the rest of the characters are multi-demensional as well. Valerie’s parents, in particular, are drawn with a depth I don’t often see in young adult fiction. Nick, too, though he did shoot several people in Valerie’s high school, is also portrayed with enough sympathy that the reader can see what Valerie saw in him.

The emotions in this book felt very genuine. Each person deals with what happened the day Nick shot up the school commons in different ways. There were moments I was cheering for Valerie as she dealt with the minefields of other people’s experiences with the tragedy. There were other moments, particularly a few harrowing scenes between Valerie and her dad, where I wanted to hug her. There were also bits where I was angry with her. The fact that Ms. Brown successfully played with my emotions and I never felt manipulated is definitely a point in the book’s favor.

This book also reminded me of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, what with both stories featuring deeply troubled heroines in difficult situations who cope with life through art. I read Speak with clenched teeth, wondering why I was supposed to empathize with such a self-absorbed brat. (I’m aware I’m the only person in the history of the Internet who felt that way. Please don’t stone me.) Obviously, I liked The Hate List much better. The book also reminds me of Lionel Schriver’s We Need to Talk About Kevin, which is a book I never did review but which I read last year, which also discusses school shootings. Brown’s story isn’t as intense as Schriver’s, but at least I walked away from Hate List thinking the heroine would be OK, something I couldn’t say for Schriver’s heroine.

Final Thoughts: Ms. Brown’s debut was complex and dark and fascinating. I didn’t love it, because it didn’t speak to me on a completely visceral level, but I definitely appreciated the solid writing, and the complexity of the characters and the situation. If you, like me, like your contemporary YA complex and gritty, this is definitely a must-read.

Final Grade: B

Other Opinions

• Presenting Lenore

• Karen’s Book Nook
• YA Book Central
• My Friend Amy
• Galley Smith
  
  
  

Review: The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen

Title: The Sugar Queen
Author: Sarah Addison Allen
Genre: Contemporary fiction, magic realism
Source: Bookshare
Reason for Reading: I’ve had this book TBR, but was finally inspired to read it by a review from Angie.. (See below.)

Synopsis:

In this irresistible follow-up to her New York Times bestselling debut, Garden Spells, author Sarah Addison Allen tells the tale of a young woman whose family secrets–and secret passions–are about to change her life forever. Twenty-seven-year-old Josey Cirrini is sure of three things: winter in her North Carolina hometown is her favorite season, she’s a sorry excuse for a Southern belle, and sweets are best eaten in the privacy of her hidden closet. For while Josey has settled into an uneventful life in her mother’s house, her one consolation is the stockpile of sugary treats and paperback romances she escapes to each night…. Until she finds it harboring none other than local waitress Della Lee Baker, a tough-talking, tenderhearted woman who is one part nemesis–and two parts fairy godmother… Fleeing a life of bad luck and big mistakes, Della Lee has decided Josey’s clandestine closet is the safest place to crash. In return she’s going to change Josey’s life–because, clearly, it is not the closet of a happy woman. With Della Lee’s tough love, Josey is soon forgoing pecan rolls and caramels, tapping into her startlingly keen feminine instincts, and finding her narrow existence quickly expanding. Before long, Josey bonds with Chloe Finley, a young woman who makes the best sandwiches in town, is hounded by books that inexplicably appear whenever she needs them, and–most amazing of all–has a close connection to Josey’s longtime crush. As little by little Josey dares to step outside herself, she discovers a world where the color red has astonishing power, passion can make eggs fry in their cartons, and romance can blossom at any time–even for her. It seems that Della Lee’s work is done, and it’s time for her to move on. But the truth about where she’s going, why she showed up in the first place–and what Chloe has to do with it all–is about to add one more unexpected chapter to Josey’s fast-changing life. Brimming with warmth, wit, and a sprinkling of magic, here is a spellbinding tale of friendship, love–and the enchanting possibilities of every new day.

My Thoughts: One of the things I wish I saw more of in the fiction I read is the positive effects of female friendship. It’s irritating to have a female best friend be portrayed as shallow, or merely a vehicle to introducing the heroine to a love interest, or, worse, a complete and total cow. And when I find a book that celebrates the beauty of female friendship, I want to embrace it and crow about it to everyone who’ll listen.

This is just such a book. Josey meets and befriends several interesting women over the course of the story, from Della Lee, the tramp living in her closet, to Chloe, the sandwich shop owner. And it is those friendships that make this story magical, as they set in motion all of the changes that happen in Josey’s life.

Josey herself is the kind of character that, if written badly, can be a real pain to read about. She starts the story a beaten-down woman who dreams of leaving her small North Carolina town, even though she feels guilty about being such a rotten child and therefore thinks she ought to stay home and take care of her unappreciative mother. In the hands of a less skilled author, Josey is the kind of character I’d want to smack upside the head, then feed them a slice of get-over-yourself cake. But the magic of this book was that I sympathized with Josey’s plight. I know what it’s like to feel like you have no other choice but to retreat into a more pleasant world of your own creation, and that is the way that Josey copes. But once Della Lee makes her escape the confines of her comfort zone, Josey finds that her life is much more interesting and rewarding.

The other characters in this book are drawn with just as much depth. Chloe in particular I loved, not least because of her affinity with books–they literally pop up around her whenever she needs them. Josey’s love interest, far from being simply a shallow but good-looking man, has demons of his own. Even Josey’s mother, far from being the one-note villainous character she could have been, is drawn with surprising warmth.

The plot of the novel centers around the self-actualizations of the major characters, and it’s done well. The magic realism touches, far from being a distracting nuissance the way they generally strike me, added an element of wonder to the setting. I found myself wishing for a secret closet like Josey’s, and sighing wistfully over the fact that books do not pop up around me like they do for Chloe. I loved the fairy tale aspect of the story, and I adored the romances, both the one between Josey and Adam, which was very sweet and tentative, and the one between Chloe and her boyfriend, which was very much passionate, but in some ways a bit more realistic, by which I mean that I suspect a few strictly romance readers might have issues with Jake. Ms. Allen drew me into the world she created, and I practically read the book in one sitting, taking only a brief break because I simply didn’t want the story to end. In fact, it is the kind of book that I think I could get a lot out of rereading, which I very much want to do.

Final Thoughts: This book reminded me of another recent read, Like Water for Chocolate. However, I understood Josey far better than I understood Tita, and I was completely drawn into Josey’s world and the lives of her friends.

Final Grade: A

Other Opinions

• Angieville, who made me want to read it.

• Book Addiction
• At Home with Books
• Books on the Brain
• Bookfoolery and Babble

Review: Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern

Title: Into the Wild Nerd Yonder
Author: Julie Halpern
Genre: Contemporary young adult fiction
Source: Bookshare
Reason for Reading: The synopsis caught my attention. I figured it would either be very good or train-wreckily awful. (Yes, I’m aware I just made up a word there. Feel free to use it whenever you want.)

Synopsis:

It’s Jessie’s sophomore year of high school. A self-professed mathelete, she isn’t sure where she belongs. Her two best friends have transformed themselves into punks and one of them is going after her longtime crush. Her beloved older brother will soon leave for college (and in the meantime has shaved his mohawk and started dating… the prom princess!)… Things are changing fast. Jessie needs new friends. And her quest is a hilarious tour through high-school clique-dom, with a surprising stop along the way — the Dungeons and Dragons crowd, who out-nerd everyone. Will hanging out with them make her a nerd, too? And could she really be crushing on a guy with too-short pants and too-white gym shoes? If you go into the wild nerd yonder, can you ever come back?

My Thoughts: Confession time: I was a gamer in high school. I started out being the typical dungeon master’s girlfriend, then I really got into it. I don’t play RPG’s face to face these days, mostly because I haven’t found a group that’s local that I click with, and also because I am far, far better at playing RPG games online, where I don’t have to struggle to think on my feet. Also, online games have a tendency to emphasize good writing and go deeper into characterization, which appeal to me more.

And but so anyway, when I started Into the Wild Nerd Yonder I steeled myself for Halpern using it as a vehicle to either make fun of the nerds in Jessie’s school or teach Jessie a valuable lesson about not being such a snot. So, expectations firmly grounded in very low territory, I was pleasantly surprised by how awesome this book was, and by the fact that it didn’t wander into annoying cliche territory.

Jessie herself is a wonderful lead character. She’s smart and funny and I related to her. I liked that she was a reader, and she was reading books that I really have to get around to reading myself. (She mentions Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer and Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevon, both of which I have TBR.) I also envied Jessie her mad sewing skills. I wish I were that crafty, and it made me happy that one of the reasons she was accepted by the D&D crew was her sewing ability, which her former friends thought was a bit lame.

Jessie’s struggle is authentic, and I never felt that the story got bogged down by unnecessary angst. There were also some very poignant moments, especially between Jessie and her older brother, that made me smile. And, of course, there is the romance angle, which was exactly right and very sweet. To make this shorter, I felt for Jessie and rooted for her as she tried to figure out where her place was. In fact, with its intensely likeable protagonist, I thought Into the Wild Nerd Yonder was reminiscent of the one Sarah Dessen book I’ve read.

Final Thoughts: A great protagonist and an excellent round-up of secondary characters makes this book a fun and highly recommended read. I hope Julie Halpern has more where this came from.

Final Grade: B+

Other Opinions

• Serene Hours

• The Book Muncher

State of the Me: the Reading Slump of Stress edition

Hello, blog. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I know I’d made a resolution this year to be more consistent with my blogging, and, well, we see where that got me.

The truth is, I’ve been in kind of a reading slump lately. Most of this is because RL is being full of drama and treachery and all-around unpleasantness, which have weighed on my mind quite a lot. But I’m trying to calm down and take things as they come and not panic.

Also, and this is a little weirdly OCD of me, but my favorite reading chair broke. It’s still under warranty, but they’re not going to be able to come fix it until February. Which means I have to find some other place to sit and read, and it’s just not the same!

I did, however, manage to finish a couple of books recently, and I’m hoping to revitalize my reading mojo by the simple expedient of needing something to do to procrastinate instead of doing my homework.

I plan on posting a couple of reviews in the next couple of days, and hopefully this will bring me back on track with my blogging goals.

Review: Sleep No More by Susan Crandall

Title: Sleep No More
Author: Susan Crandall
Genre: Romantic suspense
Source: Bookshare
Challenges: None
Reason for Reading: A couple of years ago, I read and loved Pitch Black by the same author. So when this book came up on Bookshare’s New Books list, I knew I had to read it.

Synopsis:

DANGER NEVER RESTS

The night was always Abby Whitman’s enemy. As a young girl she walked in her sleep, and one night, started a fire that scarred her sister for life and left Abby with unbearable guilt, and a loneliness that echoes within her

AND EVIL NEVER CLOSES ITS EYES

Now Abby has begun blacking out again—with apparently fatal results. A car accident has killed the son of a prominent family. Even though the evidence seems to exonerate her, Abby is plagued by doubts—and soon by mysterious threats. A young psychiatrist, Dr. Jason Coble, is intrigued by Abby and offers to help her explore the dark recesses in her mind. Through this terrifying journey, Jason’s interest turns to passion, and he yearns to give her the love she craves. But first, Abby must trust him—and shed light on secrets that will rock this Southern town and reveal a danger that threatens them both.

My Thoughts: When Abby Whitman starts walking in her sleep again, she is terrified. Always cognisant of the fact that she set the fire that destroyed her family home and left her sister scarred, she perceives herself as a danger to herself and others, and so she’s refused to let anyone else sleep under the same roof with her. This has worked well for her so far, at least until she begins sleep-walking. When she wakes up in a pond, having been sleep-driving, and comes upon the body of a murdered man, self-doubt begins to creep in.

Jason Coble has problems of his own. He worries about his ex-wife, Lucy, whose drinking hasn’t stopped like it’s supposed to. And when he meets Abby, he knows he wants more from her than simply being her doctor.

There was a lot going on in this book. We have Abby and her sleep-driving. We have Jason and his family problems. There is a priest who’s been acting strangely, and Jason’s stepson, Brice, has issues of his own to work out. For the most part, all of these stories are successfully woven together, and they all added to the plot in a satisfying way. I rooted for the characters, and found this a satisfying read, but compared to Pitch Black it was a bit disappointing.

My main problem was Abby. Girlfriend had a huge martyr complex that I found annoying. I could understand her worries about being a danger to herself and others, but she took it to extremes. She also spent much of the book in a state of emotional frazzledness that made her hard for me to relate to. I wanted to see her be strong, and for the most part she wasn’t. Also, a revelation comes at the end that completely banishes Abby’s fears, allowing her to get together with Jason. That felt tacked on, as if the author wasn’t quite sure what to do to get her leads together, so she resorted to deus ex machina.

Jason I liked quite a bit more. He’s a man with some genuine problems, but he was basically a good guy. I liked that he had an ex-wife that was always going to be in the picture, and even though the ex was an awful mother Jason still respected her and didn’t angst too much over his feelings about Abby as a result of this prior relationship. That relationship is presented realistically, and I bought the chemistry between Abby and Jason.

As for the secondary characters, they were disappointingly flat. The good guys were clearly good. The bad guys were clearly not, and none of them felt fleshed out.

I do think Ms. Crandall can deliver a fast-paced and engrossing plot. When I was reading the book, I was engrossed. It was only when I put it down that I realized I could easily get distracted by other things. Like all good mysteries, I didn’t have the villain pegged right away, and I was left quite satisfied with the story, with the exception of the silly deus ex machina at the end.

It should also be noted, because it started to bother me, that Abby has a lot of property damage to deal with. I stopped counting after she had to replace her third cell phone, and things always seem to break, burn, or get vandalized when she’s around. It would be funny with another heroine, but as another reviewer points out, Abby goes through the trials of Job, so after a while it all seemed a bit much.

Final Thoughts: I’ll probably read more Crandall, but I’m glad I didn’t buy this book. If you like romantic suspense set in the South, and you don’t mind characters that are a little bland, check this book out. But it’s not my favorite by the author, and I know she can do better.

Final Grade: C+

Other Opinions

• All About Romance

Review: The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Cross

Title: The Nanny Diaries
Author: Emma McLoughlin and Nicola Cross
Genre: contemporary fiction
Challenges: None
Source: Bookshare
Reason for Reading: I saw the movie last week and really enjoyed it.

Synopsis:

Working her way through NYU, Nanny takes a post with the super-wealthy X family of Park Avenue. She immediately adores their four year old son Grayer, and just as quickly learns the insane amount of work it takes to insure a worry-free day for Mrs. X, a mother who, by all appearances, does not work or clean, cook, shop, or wash clothes, does not even see her own child more than is strictly unavoidable. When Nanny’s presence starts to take an unexpected toll on Mrs. X’s relationships with her husband and son, Nanny finds herself with an unexpected and powerful enemy. Realizing what a precarious and potentially explosive position she’s in, Nanny finds herself simultaneously trying to take care of both the increasingly miserable son and the increasingly irrational mother, before the situation blows up in all of their faces…. Authors Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus skillfully skewer the pretentions of Manhattan’s super-rich and allow the rest of us a rare peek into the heretofore closed world of Park Avenue backstairs.

My Thoughts: This is one of those books which is hard to review. I find that, even though I finished the book two days ago, I don’t really have a lot to say about it. It was entertaining, and I enjoyed reading it, but I did not love it. I would, in fact, rather watch the movie again.

The problem here is that I’m a Midwestern girl. The closest to Park Avenue I’ve ever been in my entire life are the times I’ve landed on Park Place in Monopoly. I can’t judge, therefore, whether this is a good example of social satire. I believe that it is because the authors were trying for that, but I’m far from an expert.

I do know that what Nanny goes through in order to appease the X family is crazy and ridiculous, but I never really felt like I was reading a chick lit story. The tone was a bit too somber, though there were funny and light moments occasionally. I loved Grayer, the boy that Nanny watches, and I liked Nanny herself. I also found the reactions of her family and friends to her job as a nanny to be quite fascinating, but I think overall the movie delivered a far more satisfying story. There was a more cohesive plot, and I got more of a sense of the character of Nanny than I did from the book.

Final Thoughts: I would absolutely recommend watching the movie. The book just left me meh.

Final Grade: C

Other Opinions

Have you read and reviewed this book? Let me know in the comments!

Review: Tough Tiffany by Belinda Hurmence

Title: Tough Tiffany
Author: Belinda Hurmence
Genre: Children’s fiction
Source: Bookshare
Challenges: Flashback Challenge
Reason for Reading: I had read this book as a child, and I was curious to see if it would hold up at all.

Synopsis: This book tells the story of a year in the life of Tiffany Cox, a black girl living in North Carolina. Tiffany wants to be thought of as tough, but she’s not sure that she actually is. Still, when her family has to deal with the repossession of their furniture, their grandmother’s missing money, and Tiffany’s sister’s pregnancy, Tiffany rises to the challenge and proves herself.

My thoughts: I can’t speak to the cultural relevance of this book, as I am as white a girl as they come, and I live in the midwest, not the south. That being said, I really enjoyed rereading this book. I liked that it dealt with poverty as a fact of life. Nobody bemoans their lack of money, they just move on and deal with it the best they can. I imagine there are a lot of kids out there in a similar situation to the Cox family, but they just aren’t talked about as much.

The characters are wonderful. Tiffany is spunky, in the best possible way. It’s obvious that she loves her family, foibles and all, and I believed her as an eleven-year-old girl. I also loved Tiff’s family, from her sometimes shrill, spendthrift mother to her crotchetty old grandmother to her pregnant sister. They’ve all got their flaws, and they aren’t idolized, which again makes them seem like people I could actually meet.

I also enjoyed the factthat this wasn’t an issue book. It’s about Tiffany growing up a little, but it’s not as bleak as the subject matter–a sister’s pregnancy at the age of fifteen–might suggest.

I don’t think I’m likely to reread this in the future, but I do recommend it as a not-very-dated book for middle grade readers.

Final Grade: B+

Other Opinions

Have you read this book? Leave me a comment and tell me what you think.

A quick hit of awesome

You wouldn’t think that Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quartet and V C Andrews’ Flowers in the Attic would be two tastes that would taste great together, would you?

Well, you would be wrong.

This was my favorite offering from this year’s Yuletide. It becomes even more awesome when you consider that the fic was written for me by one of my BFF’s!

P.S. In other random news, I’ve decided that my best of 2009 list is not getting written. Just go out and read Tender Morsels , which I didn’t ever manage to review, and you’ll have read my favorite book of 2009. (Sadly, no one wrote Tender Morsels fic for Yuletide. Next year, however…)

The last books of 2009

I am several reviews behind, and I wanted to jstart fresh and review books I’d read in 2010. With that in mind, I thought I’d steal an idea from Kailana. She does a feature occasionally called Six-sentence Saturday, in which she talks about recent reads in reviews of only six sentences. Here, then, is my attempt at the same kind of thing.

• Hard Candy by Andrew Vachss: This is the fourth in Vachss’s Burke novels, and is largely a transition book. The case Burke works on is incidental except that it allows him to deal with some of the demons he’s been fighting since the last book. As such, I didn’t think it was as strong as some of the others I’ve read. Still, Burke is one of my favorite characters in all of literature, and I can’t wait to dive into the next adventure in his life. This book works fine as a stand-alone, though I think you’d get more out of the series by starting from the beginning. This book rates a B.

• Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel: This classic Mexican novel of romance and cooking had an interesting premise–a woman is thwarted from marrying her true love because she has to take care of her mother, so she throws herself into life in the kitchen. Sadly, as awesome as this idea was, and as much as it’s a modern classic, it didn’t work for me very well. I found the novel quite readable, but the main character, Elena, struck me as a Mary Sue. I also thought a few of the magic realism bits were just random, and that took me out of the story. I’m sure this makes me a plebe of the lowest order. I have to give this one a C.
• I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want To Be Your Class President by Josh Lieb: The premise is pretty much right there in the title. I thought this book was quite fun, and enjoyed it while I was reading it, but it wasn’t perfect. Mr. Lieb tried too hard to make this book appeal to both kids and adults, and I’m not sure how well it would appeal to either. It did make me laugh out loud in places, though, so it succeeded somewhere. I’d read more by Josh Lieb in the future. This book gets a B-.
• His Ordinary Life by Linda Winfree: I officiallhy love the Hearts of the South series. Each book is an intimate glimpse into the life of two small-town Georgia residents and their friends. In this installment, the romantic conflict–a marriage in trouble due to poor communication–is expertly handled, and I was invested in Dell and Barbara’s making things work. The suspense plot was also quite well-handled, with a villain I didn’t see coming. I’ve got to stop waiting months between reading these books. My grade is a strong B+.
• A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotsen: What a fun, delightfully fluffy confection of a book! This is a romance in the best sense of the word, with an impoverished Russian countess charming everyone she meets in the house of an earl where she is working as a housemaid. I smiled all the way through this book, and eagerly look forward to reading more Ibbotsen. I suspect that fans of more realism in their romances will find this book hard to deal with, but to them I say “Thppppt.” I loved it anyway, and the book neatly avoids any romance tropes that make me cringe. I rate this another B+.
• The Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things and How to Do Them by Peter Sagal: I like books like this, which are deeply personal encounters journalists have with whatever they’re studying. Sagal, who hosts the NPR show, Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me goes on a personal journey through several vices. Ultimately, he decides he’s better off sticking to his vanilla lifestyle. Mostly, I thought this book was quite funny and I definitely couldn’t put it down. Still, there was a certain prissiness to Sagal’s writing that kept me from really taking him seriously. Despite that, though, I’d rate it a B.

And there you have it, the last of the books of 2009. There is one more review forthcoming of a book I read last year, but I’ll let it speak for itself when the time comes.

Happy 2010!

Happy New Year!

I still haven’t gotten around to writing up any of the best-of lists for 2009 that I was planning, but since my resolution this year is to blog more, I figured I’d make a post anyway.

I spent New Year’s eve hanging out with friends, one of whom we picked up from the airport. As two of the three of us were blind, we decided it would be fun to visit one of the two theaters in the Kansas City metro area that offers descriptive video and see what was playing. Which meant we ended up flummoxing the poor theater staff who didn’t even know descriptive video was available. It also meant we missed about the first 20 minutes of Alvin and the Chipmunks: the Squeakuel. Somehow I had missed the fact that the chipmunks have made a comeback, and, in truth, that particular cultural phenomenon isn’t one I embrace with any kind of enthusiasm. My BFF’s 5-year-old, on the other hand, is an ardent fan of the Chipettes, the three girl chipmunks who, as it turns out, are quite besotted with the original chipmunk brothers.

I can tell you that I liked the movie–at least the part I sat through. I don’t think I would watch it over and over and over, but there were bits I loved. (Including, I must admit, a really nice moment between Theodore and Eleanor, the chipette of his dreams.) That being said, I continue to be gobsmacked by the idea of the chipmunks in high school. I really hope there will not be a third movie, featuring the chipmunks in college, possibly joining a loser fraternity which somehow needs to be saved from disbanding.

Anyway, after the movie, we spent the evening at a New Year’s party where several people we carol with were also in attendance. Instruments were produced, and a jam session broke out. It was a wonderful way to wring in the New Year.

Today, my friends and I hung around together, relaxing and enjoying each other’s company. We watched the Nanny Diaries , about which I find I have considerably less to say. It was entertaining, and I intend to read the book. I also ate my friend’s chicken curry salad, about which I would rhapsodize in great detail if I were any kind of food blogger. And now I’m home, hoping to curl up under my favorite quilt and finish a book which will become my first read of 2010.

I hope all of you were able to have a good time ringing in 2010. I look forward to finding out what the new year brings us!

A brief update

This week, instead of doing reviews the way I normally do, I plan to do a massive post highlighting briefly all the books I’ve read in the last couple of weeks of 2009, so that I can start afresh with reviews for the books I’ve read in 2010. And, since obviously the whole idea of actually telling y’all what I’ll be posting kind of petered out, I won’t even try.

That being said, everyone in the book blogosphere takes this time at the end of the year to reflect upon the books they’ve read, announce their favorites and set goals for the future. I’ll be doing some of that, over the course of the next few days. Hopefully, after the new year, I can get back to a steadier stream of reviews. Until then, keep checking back here for more awesomeness.

Review: Wishin’ and Hopin’ by Wally Lamb

Thank God for Wordpress and its scheduling feature. As you read this, I am Internetless, hanging out for a few days with my family and enjoying the holiday. I hope that you are doing the same, and that you are having an excellent Christmas. Or, if you don’t celebrate Christmas, I hope your day is spectacular.

On with the review!

Title: Wishin’ and Hopin’
Author: Wally Lamb
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: I bought it.
Reason for Reading: I forget which blogger first brought this book to my attention, but after reading that it was a lot like one of my favorite Christmas movies, “A ChristmasStory”, I knew I had to read it, so I bought it.

Synopsis:

It’s 1964 and ten-year-old Felix is sure of a few things: the birds and the bees are puzzling, television is magical, and this is one Christmas he’ll never forget. LBJ and Lady Bird are in the White House, Meet the Beatles is on everyone’s turntable, and Felix Funicello (distant cousin of the iconic Annette!) is doing his best to navigate fifth grade–easier said than done when scary movies still give you nightmares and you bear a striking resemblance to a certain adorable cartoon boy.

Back in his beloved fictional town of Three Rivers, Connecticut, with a new cast of endearing characters, Wally Lamb takes his readers straight into the halls of St. Aloysius Gonzaga Parochial School–where Mother Filomina’s word is law and goody-two-shoes Rosalie Twerski is sure to be minding everyone’s business. But grammar and arithmetic move to the back burner this holiday season with the sudden arrivals of substitute teacher Madame Frechette, straight from Québec, and feisty Russian student Zhenya Kabakova. While Felix learns the meaning of French kissing, cultural misunderstanding, and tableaux vivants, Wishin’ and Hopin’ barrels toward one outrageous Christmas.

From the Funicello family’s bus-station lunch counter to the elementary school playground (with an uproarious stop at the Pillsbury Bake-Off), Wishin’ and Hopin’ is a vivid slice of 1960s life, a wise and witty holiday tale that celebrates where we’ve been–and how far we’ve come.

My Thoughts: I didn’t join any Christmas reading challenges this year. I thought about it, but ultimately decided that I just didn’t have enough holiday spirit to commit to full participation. But I have been trying to review a Christmas book every Friday, and since Wishin’ and Hopin’ was a recent purchase, I figured that I’d read it and make it one less book I cart around on my book reader for another year.

I’m so glad I ended my unofficial Christmas reading challenge with this book. It was exactly the sort of thing I enjoy in a Christmas read; it was funny, it was heartwarming, and it left me feeling good about the world. I may even feel charitable enough toward Mr. Lamb to give some of his other, longer works a try, even though I couldn’t get into I Know This Much is True.

There are similarities between this book and “A Christmas Story.” No one shoots their eye out, but both pieces are steeped in the experiences of a boy of a certain age. Both Ralph and Felix are often flummoxed by the adults in their lives, and their peers confuse them, and both look back with nostalgia on their childhoods.

I found a couple of things surprising. First of all, though this book is steeped in nostalgia, it’s not really something I’d recommend for children. Some of the humor is quite adult, and it works well because Felix doesn’t really get it, which creates interesting complications. I suppose this only makes the book more true to life, and I’m not complaining. I’m just pointing out that if I had a ten-year-old I probably wouldn’t pick this book for bedtime reading.

I loved that the book was grounded in the 1960’s in a way that I don’t think it’s possible for a book to be unless the author happened to have experienced that decade himself. I loved the bits about the Pilsbury Bake-off, and I enjoyed the cameos by Ronald Reagan and Annette Funicello. The parochial school bits were also excellent and highly hillarious.

Final Thoughts: I don’t really have much in the way of quibbles. I would definitely read this again next year, and I’m glad I bought it. It’s not quite an A book, because I don’t think it’s going to stick with me very long, but it is satisfying.

Final Grade: B+

Other Opinions:

• Bermuda Onion

• Booking Mama
• Sassymonkey

Review: Beth’s Acceptance by Teal Ceagh

Title: Beth’s Acceptance
Author: Teal Ceagh
Genre: Paranormal erotic romance
Source: I bought it.
Reason for Reading: I actually heard about this book from the incomparable Katiebabs on Twitter. Since I am constitutionally incapable of resisting the lure of what promises to be bad porn, I bought this.
Synopsis:

For weeks, the darkly sinful Zachariah, her favorite customer at McGinty’s, has been raising NYC student Beth Siegel’s pulse, driving her crazy with need.

Neither can she keep the tall, blue-eyed mysterious Luke, who haunts the library stacks at her day job, out of her mind or her sweaty, desperate fantasies.

Fate hands Beth a startling destiny, a chance to bond with both of them—a bond formed via sex. Sex with either one of them would have been fabulous. Together? Irresistible.

Reader Advisory: This book contains hot, sexy scenes of M/M interaction.

My thoughts: Despite my initial impression of this book as crackaliscious porn, I enjoyed it quite a lot. It was a fast, fun story with characters I liked and, more important, found sexy. (I so want a sexy elf man of my very own, particularly one who reads. Mrrrow!) There was an external plot that, while I wouldn’t have minded reading more, was a better pretext for three people engaging in hot sexoring than many others I’ve read. And I liked the relationship dynamics. The two men form a bond with each other as well as the titular Beth. And the two men are actually interesting characters in their own right.

I did have a few quibbles that kept this book from being as awesome as it could have been. First of all, there’s the infamous scene that I bought the book for. Let’s just say that this scene features the two erstwhile gentlemen both inserting their Tab A’s into the heroine’s Slot B. At the same time. My own particular ladybits still shudder and clench up in horror at the mere thought, and I just didn’t buy, “Well, moms stretch down there all the time when they give birth” as a valid enough excuse for that kind of shenannigan. It was a hot scene, I’ll grant you, but after I’d read past it and processed what I’d read, well, the phrase “WTF?” seemed a propo.

The other thing that didn’t work for me was the editing. There were a few glaring bits that an editor really should have pointed out. For example, in one sentence, the heroine is on the table, and the next she’s in a bed. How’d she get there? Teleportation? I had to go back and reread to make sure I hadn’t missed something somewhere. No, I hadn’t.

Final Thoughts: I would be interested in reading more of Ms. Ceagh’s books. Though this wasn’t perfect, it was quite enjoyable.

Final Grade: B

Other Opinions

• The Geeky Bookworm

• Smexy Books
• Babbling About Books and More

Review: A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

Title: A Great and Terrible Beauty
Author: Libba Bray
Genre: Young adult historic fantasy
Source: Bookshare
Reason for Reading: I’ve had this book on my TBR pile for ages, and I was finally inspired to read it, thanks to a random whim.

Synopsis:

It’s 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma’s reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she’s been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence’s most powerful girls–and their foray into the spiritual world–lead to?

My Thoughts: I was surprised by this book. I mean, it had garnered a lot of hype everywhere, and so I was relatively certain I’d enjoy it, but I wasn’t really expecting very much. A rollicking fantasy adventure, maybe some backstabbing girl rivalries, maybe a climax at the end which would lead nicely into the sequel. In short, I was expecting a slightly more advanced Harry Potter. What I got was so much more than that, though.

First, the characters. Gemma and her friends are all very flawed people. Gemma, our first-person narrator, does not try to sugar coat any of these flaws, not even her own. Secondly, they don’t quite behave in the ways I was expecting. If this had been another book, Gemma and Ann Bradshaw, the girl she gets as a roommate, would have been bullied and abused by the more popular Felicity and Pippa. Instead, Gemma and Felicity, after a rocky start, become best friends, and through that friendship, Gemma lets Ann into the popular clique. I really like that choice of Bray’s, because it seemed more realistic, and it was a nice departure from the usual tropes.

I also liked that none of the characters had all the answers. Gemma learns that she has some unusual powers, but she has to make missteps before she learns how to control them, and she doesn’t always make the right or the best choice. This made for uncomfortable reading at times, because there were moments when I was practically shouting at the book, “Oh, Gemma, don’t do that!” And then she did, and bad things would happen, but I’d never quite know when or how.

Obviously, I came to love these girls. I liked unconventional, snarky Gemma, pathetic, plain Ann, romantic, flighty Pippa, and confident, power-hungry Felicity. I want to read more about them, because they have stuck in my head as interesting characters even several days after I finished the book.

As for the plot, it’s quite twisty as well. I don’t want to go into great detail, but again, there were surprises for me, an the story turned out to be quite a bit darker than I was expecting. There was also a satisfying ending, so I didn’t feel I was manipulated into reading the next two books in the series. I will, because I love the characters, but not having to deal with a cliffhanger is awesome.

It should also be noted that this is the first book in quite a while where my days in fandom have reared their heads. I am now a die-hard Gemma/Felicity shipper, even though I am fairly certain my hopes will be dashed.

One last note. I’ve begun to try and take note of the writing in the books I’m reading, and I have to say that Ms. Bray is a wondefrful storyteller. Normally, present tense narratives aren’t my thing, but in this book, I didn’t even notice because it all flowed so naturally.

Final Thoughts: This is an engaging start to a trilogy that I can’t wait to read further. It comes very close to being a keeper book for me, and the only reason it isn’t is because at the time I was reading, I didn’t want something quite as dark as I got.

Final Grade: A strong B+.

P.S. Clearly, I am either not as picky a reader as I like to tell myself or I was drinking the Kool-Aid as I was reading. See below for less squeeful reactions to this book.

Other Opinions:

• Tiny Little Reading Room

• Things Mean a Lot
• The Zen Leaf
• Books I Done Read
• Bookshelves of Doom
• The Written World
• Reading Adventures
• Shelf Love

Review: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

Title: The Westing Game
Author: Ellen Raskin
Genre: Children’s mystery
Source: Bookshare
Reason for Reading: It’s another childhood reread which happens to fit the Shelf Discovery Challenge
Synopsis: Sixteen people, all residents of Sunset Towers, are invited to the reading of Samuel W. Westing’s will. They are an odd assortment of people, including a crippled birdwatcher, a secretary, a judge, a podiatrist, a dressmaker, and a girl who likes to play the stock market, among others. There’s also a bookie, a thief, a bomber, and a mistake. Forced to work in pairs to solve Westing’s murder, the residents of Sunset Towers soon find out that their fellow residents may hold the biggest mysteries of all.

My Thoughts: I have to hand it to Ellen Raskin. I’m not sure many authors could write a book that was essentially one long logic puzzle without breaking their brains, but Ms. Raskin did so admirably. Not only that, but there’s a surprising amount of depth to the characters. I mean, I am a character reader, and one of the reasons I don’t read much middle grade fiction is that I don’t often find very sophisticated characterization. But there were things in this book that I didn’t pick up on when I was actually a middle-grade reader. I understood, for example, what drove Angela Wexler to seek attention for herself, and not simply because she was a beautiful woman. I understood Flora Baumbach’s grief, and even if I did want to smack Sydelle Pullaski around, she stood out as a favorite character for me.

As I said above, this was a reread. I think mysteries don’t lend themselves to rereads, especially if you have a stupidly accurate memory for pointless minutia like I do. For example, I remembered a lot of plot elements from this book as they happened, and I remember the solution clearly. This took a bit away from my enjoyment of the story as a whole, but of course the fault there lies with me, not the author.

Final Thoughts: Sunset Towers is full of eccentric characters who are well worth following. I recommend this book to any budding mystery lovers.

Final Grade: B+

Other Opinions

• The Book Zombie

• The Bluestocking Society
• It’s All About Books

Review: Pictures at a Revolution by Mark Harris

Title: Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood
Author: Mark Harris
Genre: Nonfiction
Source: Bookshare
Reason for Reading: Several months ago, My Friend Amy organized the Books for our Times reading project. The idea was for book bloggers to read the books Newsweek had named the Fifty books for our times. I hadn’t intended to participate, because I normally ignore that kind of thing, but Amy called for an emergency pinch hitter to read this book, so I offered, because I want to be one of Amy’s minions when I grow up.
Synopsis: This book chronicles the histories of the five films that were nominated for the 1967 Best Picture Academy Award. 1967 was the turning point for Hollywood, which was dealing with both an overly strict decency code and the fact that the studios weren’t making any long-lasting or important films. The five nominees for Best Picture in 1967 changed all that. The movies–”Bonnie and Clyde”, “The Graduate”, “In the Heat of the Night”, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”, and “Dr. Dolittle”–represented a shift into what would become more modern Hollywood.

My Thoughts: I was exactly the wrong person to review this book. My blindness does not mean that I don’t enjoy movies. It just means that I’d much rather read. To this end, my roommate owns two TV’s. I own none. So I couldn’t be less interested in a history of five movies that, of course, I haven’t seen.

This is what’s amazing about this book. I was the wrong type of reader for this book, but I had a hard time putting it down. Rather than confront us with pages and pages of dry facts, Mark Harris brings to life the various producers, directors, scriptwriters, actors and movie editors that brought us those five movies. They felt like real people to me, rather than so many Hollywood icons, and I was caught up in their stories.

Harris has obviously done his homework, and he has an impressive bibliography and set of endnotes for people who want to do further reading. He obviously interviewed many of the key people who brought the world these movies, and his love for and interest in the subject shine through. The result, for me, is that I now want to watch all five of these movies, particularly “In the Heat of the Night”, which looks like something that would still be enjoyable and interesting today.

Does this book qualify as a “book for our times”, though? That’s hard for me to judge. I am inclined to point out that Mr. Harris wrote for Newsweek, which makes his inclusion on the list a bit suspect. But, whether it is a classic representation of “our times”, whatever that means, I think it’s amazing that Harris was able to weave a nonfiction narrative about movies so compelling that even someone so actively apathetic as I am found it a fascinating read.

Final Thoughts: If you’re a movie buff, or if you find film history at all intriguing, this is a good book. It is quite easy to read, and very absorbing.

Final Grade: B+

Other Opinions

• Killin’ Time Reading

Review: The Magical Christmas Cat by Nalini Singh et al.

Title: The Magical Christmas Cat

Authors: Nalini Singh, Erin McCarthy, Linda Winstead Jones and Lora Leigh
Genre: Paranormal romance anthology
Source: I bought it.
Reason for Reading: I have a bunch of Christmas romance anthologies, and I’ve been trying to read a few of them this year.
Synopsis:

Put a little meow in their stockings this year with these all-new tales of Christmas and felines–from beloved bestselling authors! New York Times bestselling author Lora Leigh and top-selling authors Nalini Singh, Erin McCarthy, and Linda Winstead Jones have a special gift for readers this year: never-before published holiday stories featuring passionate romance, paranormal adventure, and a distinctly alluring feline touch. With four new stories–including one featuring Lora Leigh’s genetically altered Feline Breeds–this is a collection packed with more surprises than Christmas morning, and more chills than the snowiest winter night….

My Thoughts: I bought this anthology for the Nalini Singh story. I was also curious about Erin McCarthy, and I knew Lora Leigh wasn’t going to agree with me. Nonetheless, I did read this whole book. Read on to hear what I thought of all these stories.

**********

“Stroke of Enticement” by Nalini Singh: Annie Kildair is a teacher who one day inexplicably has to deal with a misbehaving student, who won’t explain the reasons for his bad behavior except to his uncle Zach. Zach is a member of the Dark River Pack of leopard Changelings. Sparks fly between Annie and Zach, but their relationship is strained by Annie’s self-doubts.

I enjoy Ms. Sing’s Psy/Changeling series very much, and this is a story set in that universe. I think my understanding of that universe made the reading of this story a bit more interesting, but I also don’t believe it’s necessary to have followed the series completely, and this might be a good introduction to the Psy/Changeling world for those who don’t want to invest in a full-length novel.

Annie and Zach are both likeable characters. I found Annie much more interesting, because I found her need for independence extremely compelling. I know how she feels, even though we don’t share the same disabilities. Zach is marginally less interesting, but I adore Ms. Sing’s heroes anyway, since they are both dominant and tender and none of them are assholes even when they could be. I liked how Zach stood up to Annie’s family, I liked that he didn’t swoop in and take care of her but assumed she would let him know when she needed him. As I’ve come to expect from Ms. Sing, these two characters had awesome chemistry, and I very much enjoyed their story. My only real quibbles were that it was a shade too long, and I also didn’t think there was much of a Christmas element to the story at all.

Still, Nalini Singh is one of the best paranormal romance writers working these days, and so her story rates a B+.

********

“Christmas Bree” by Erin McCarthy: The love of Bree Murphy’s life is not a stuffed shirt corporate metrosexual wearing a pink shirt. But that’s exactly what her sister Abby, who occasionally has visions, has forseen. And sure enough, Ian, a Chicago lawyer with whom she’d locked horns a year ago, is exactly what Bree doesn’t need. Yet here he is now back on her doorstep, wanting to get her out of his head. Will the earthy witch and the classy gentleman find love?

Erin McCarthy is lauded for her romantic comedies, but paranormal romantic comedy rarely works for me, and this was no exception. I felt as if the author was trying a bit too hard to be funny at times, with the result being that I wasn’t laughing. And yet, there is a genuineness to her writing that did make for a few moments of subtle humor that I did like, though these were far fewer and farther between than I’d have liked.

This story was also part of a series. It stands perfectly well on its own, but since I hadn’t read any of the stories of Bree’s family and friends, I mostly felt that the nods to other works were more distracting than enticing, particularly Abby’s last vision, which just screamed “Sequel-bait” in neon letters.

Aside from the forced humor, my general reaction to the story was one of complete boredom. The characters were likeable enough, but I just didn’t feel the chemistry, and I didn’t really feel invested in either as a couple. It wasn’t a bad story, just boring.

Grade: C

**********

“Sweet Dreams” by Linda Winstead Jones: When Ruby receives a jade cat for a Christmas gift from a secret admirer, she has no idea that it will change her life forever.

Zane knows the cat is a sign that a demon wants to eat Ruby’s soul. But there’s nothing he can do to protect her. As Ruby’s inevitable confrontation with the demon approaches, will she and Zane be able to fight off their attraction in order to save her life?

This is another story that was just OK. Ruby and Zane were, again, fairly likeable characters, and I liked the plot involving the demon enough to keep reading to figure out how Ruby would extricate herself from it. However, what kept me from truly getting involved with this story was the absolutely awful dialogue. Zane sounded like a professor, but only if the professor was an awful nerdy stereotype. Ruby’s dialogue wasn’t much better, although at least she managed to avoid peppering her speech with words like “practicable”.

There was also a plot contrivance that kept Ruby and Zane apart that didn’t work for me. It wasn’t exactly a big misunderstanding, but it was an element whose point was entirely transparent. I rolled my eyes when it showed up, and got a little less invested.

That being said, I read this story in one sitting, which is more than I can say for the McCarthy piece. For that, and for the pacing, which really works well, I have to give the book a few points.

Grade: C+

*********

“Christmas Heat” by Lora Leigh: Librarian Haley McQuire is hanging out in the library of Sanctuary, the headquarters of the Breeds (genetically engeneered men and women with characteristics of the predatory animals whose genes they share.) She happens to overhear an incriminating conversation that puts her in some danger, so she must rely on the protection of fierce jaguar Breed Noble to keep her safe.

I don’t have a very good relationship with Lora Leigh’s books. I know that there are romance fans who love her, but for my part I have no idea what the draw is. I am further unimpressed by the fact that this story in particular is part of a series and doesn’t stand alone at all. Characters are introduced, including Haley and Noble themselves, and I feel like I am expected to know who they are. Since I don’t, I was left feeling rather lost, and, even worse, disconnected from the story.

To give her credit, Ms. Leigh can write very steamy love scenes, and I really enjoyed reading those. But love scenes alone don’t make a good story, and I was too lost as to what was going on around the couple to care. It also didn’t help that I never really got a sense of what motivated either Haley or Noble. Haley has a shrewish fit of irrationality, Noble growls a lot, and none of it makes any kind of logical sense.

That all being said, this is the best Lora Leigh story I’ve ever read. Given that I didn’t like it, that’s not a high compliment, but if the author is reading this, I guess that’s the silver lining.

Grade: D

**********

Final Thoughts: The Nalini Singh story is by far the best in this anthology, but I’m not sure even it justifies the price of this book. The other pieces ranged from boring to outright awful, so I think, if you must read a Christmas romance anthology, you should look elsewhere.

Final Grade: C-

Other Opinions

• All About Romance

• Gwen at The Good, the Bad and the Unread
• Rip My Bodice, part I
• Rip My Bodice: Part II

Review: Red Dragon by Thomas Harris

Title: Red Dragon
Author: Thomas Harris
Genre: Thriller
Source: Bookshare
Reason for Reading: After finishing Heartsick by Chelsea Cain, I decided I wanted to see whether I liked that novel’s serial killer, Gretchen Lowell, better than Harris’s infamous Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
Synopsis:

A second family has been massacred by the terrifying serial killer the press has christened “The Tooth Fairy.” Special Agent Jack Crawford turns to the one man who can help restart a failed investigation–Will Graham. Graham is the greatest profiler the FBI ever had, but the physical and mental scars of capturing Hannibal Lecter have caused Graham to go into early retirement. Now, Graham must turn to Lecter for help.

My Thoughts: You know how there are books that are beautifully written and compelling, but which just don’t work for you for whatever reason, probably having to do with your mood at the time, the chemistry of your brain, or some other strange reason? Yeah, Red Dragon was that book for me. I can appreciate its merits–Thomas Harris is a great writer and a masterful storyteller–but I just didn’t like it very much.

I think, for me, the biggest problem I had with the book was that I found the actual serial killer FBI Agent Graham was after to be a far more compelling character than I found Graham. Graham is a deeply troubled man, but I just didn’t see the core of darkness that people who knew him attributed to him. Compared to the villain, who was a wonderfully warped and twisted individual, he was just boring.

As for Hannibal Lecter, there really wasn’t much about him in this book. I did find him an interesting character, and I think I would enjoy reading more about how he manages to get under the skin of the people around him, but I’m not sure I’ll be in that mood for a while.

The one thing I have to squee about is that there is a blind character portrayed in this novel who is captured perfectly. Normally, I tend to avoid books with disabled characters, but I liked Reba McClane. I thought her struggles for independence were well-drawn, and it was obvious that Harris had at least done a bit of research.

There is a lot of violence in this book. I didn’t realize I had a certain squick threshold in the books I’ve read, but I damn near put this book down and didn’t finish at the scene where the Tooth Fairy bites off a man’s lips. Just thinking about that scene, which was written in a spare style that made it even worse to read, makes me shudder.

I think I am more inclined to read Chelsea Cain’s books than I am the rest of this series. I’ve not seen any of the associated movies, although apparently my sister thinks this should be remedied, but I have to admit to being a bit paranoid over the treatment of Clarice Starling, the FBI agent who begins to pursue Lecter in later books. I’ve been assured on twitter that she is a smart and capable woman, but while I find Gretchen Lowell’s predatory relationship with Archie fascinating, there’s something about the idea of Hannibal preying on Clarice that makes me shudder, and I don’t even really know what happens. This is probably just my inner feminist talking, but as it stands, the sheer darkness and the graphic violence of this book makes me not want to read about a man manipulating a woman to make her vulnerable on top of all that.

Final Thoughts: Tbhis review is a bit scattered. I do wish I’d enjoyed the book more than I did. But, though I acknowledge objectively that it’s very good, it just isn’t one I’m ever likely to pursue myself for a reread.

Final Grade: A for the writing, D for the subject matter, so we’ll compromise with a C.

Other Opinions

• When Books Tell a Story

Review: Heartsick by Chelsea Cain

Title: Heartsick
Author: Chelsea Cain
Genre: Mystery
Source: Bookshare
Reason for Reading: Two of my favorite book bloggers, Wendy and Katiebabs have both praised Ms. Cain. And since I do sometimes enjoy reading about violent bloodbaths, I figured I’d give this book a try.

Synopsis:

Damaged Portland detective Archie Sheridan spent ten years tracking Gretchen Lowell, a beautiful serial killer, but in the end she was the one who caught him. Two years ago, Gretchen kidnapped Archie and tortured him for ten days, but instead of killing him, she mysteriously decided to let him go. She turned herself in, and now Gretchen has been locked away for the rest of her life, while Archie is in a prison of another kind–addicted to pain pills, unable to return to his old life, powerless to get those ten horrific days off his mind. Archie’s a different person, his estranged wife says, and he knows she’s right. He continues to visit Gretchen in prison once a week, saying that only he can get her to confess as to the whereabouts of more of her victims, but even he knows the truth–he can’t stay away. When another killer begins snatching teenage girls off the streets of Portland, Archie has to pull himself together enough to lead the new task force investigating the murders. A hungry young newspaper reporter, Susan Ward, begins profiling Archie and the investigation, which sparks a deadly game between Archie, Susan, the new killer, and even Gretchen. They need to catch a killer, and maybe somehow then Archie can free himself from Gretchen, once and for all. Either way, Heartsick makes for one of the most extraordinary suspense debuts in recent memory.

My Thoughts: This book lived up to much of the hype I’d been exposed to. Chelsea Cain has created some memorable characters in the three principals in this story, Archie Sherridan, Gretchen Lowell, and Susan Ward. It says something about this book that I went out and bought Sweetheart , the second book in the series, as soon as I’d finished.

There is a lot of drama between the characters, and it all makes for compelling reading. Archie’s flashbacks of his treatment at the hands of Gretchen are gruesome, and he’s really become a wreck. I found myself sympathizing with him for the most part, even though sometimes he drove me nuts. I kept drawing comparisons in my head between Archie and another deeply troubled pill popper, Dr. Gregory House. Thing is, I liked Archie better. He seemed to be a much more pleasant person to deal with, even if he wasn’t exactly the most moral and decent human being ever, and he wasn’t a know-it-all, insufferable genius. (Can you tell I am one of about 3 people in the world who is not a House fan?)

I found Archie’s relationship with Gretchen to be one of the most interesting things about the book. I’m not sure I would want to read about a similar character dynamic if, say, Gretchen had been a man and Archie a woman, but as it was, I found their strange symbiosis quite compelling and am hoping for more of it in the sequels.

More than that, though, I was fascinated by Susan Ward, the reporter Archie specifically requests report on their new task force. Susan was a great character, a combination of strong and brittle that I find fascinating to read about. I liked that she was deeply flawed, and I liked that there’s no chance, at least so far, of a romance between her and Archie, which was where I assumed the story was headed. It’s Susan I want to stick around and read more about, and it’s her story I care more about than I do Archie’s. I’m not sure why this is, because it seems to be a minority opinion among the rest of the book blogosphere. But I’m chalking it up to my tendency to want to root for a female character, and my irritation with characters who don’t really do anything proactive to get over their issues.

That all being said, there were a few missteps that kept this book off of my keeper shelf. Gretchen, for one, remains a bit too mysterious throughout. Her big scene, looking back, read a bit too much like a Deus Ex Machina to me, and I hate those. And then there’s the fact that Susan is inevitably captured by the bad guy and left alone with him. The scene felt very cliched, and when it happened, I was taken out of the story, because the setup was definitely the sort of thing the reader knows will be bad in advance, and yet the heroine walks calmly right into a trap.

Final Thoughts: Aside from a few cliches, I found this book quite compelling. There is lots of graphic violence, and one scene in particular made me a bit nauseous, but if you like your serial killer mysteries, this is a good example of the genre.

My Grade: B

Other Opinions

• Wendy’s review, which convinced me to pick the book up.

• Avidbookreader
• Fantasy Book Critic
• Melody’s Reading Corner

Virtual Advent Tour: Christmas Caroling

Today, I’m delighted to get a chance to participate in the 2009 Virtual Advent tour. Please check out the other participants in this great tour, as there are some excellent holiday posts up by some amazing bloggers. Here is my small contribution!

I don’t have many Christmas traditions that other people out there in the world don’t also have. Oh, there are my little private rituals–I like to listen to David Sedaris read “The Santaland Diaries” every year, for example, which probably says something fairly unflattering about me. But other than that? On Christmas Eve I go to my parents’ house, we go to bed early, wake up to open gifts, spend the day being lazy, and then it’s over.

The one thing I do, though, that I think is really special every year is participate in a caroling group. My friend Echo, a retired teacher I met through the blind community, which is small and quite interconnected, has been organizing the caroling trip every year for well over 30 years. Off and on for the past fifteen years, I’ve been in attendance, missing only a couple of years when I was living out of state. (I like to think of those as the Christmases from Hell, but that’s a completely different post.) The number and makeup of the caroling group have changed a lot over the past few years, but I love doing it every year, because there’s something about being in a room with people and singing your hearts out that, despite the logistical nightmares of setting the whole thing up, is extremely magical.

For me, that magic has coincided with several milestones in my life. Firstly, if it hadn’t been for caroling, I wouldn’t have met and become close friends with Echo and her partner. They are both wonderful women who have taught me a lot, women whose grace and dignity I hope I can eventually possess in some small measure.

Secondly, it was at a caroling party that I first made out with my then-boyfriend. I won’t go into details or anything, because I don’t remember them, but I do remember feeling more deeply in love with him in those moments than I think I did the whole rest of the time we were together. In my more wistful moments, I sometimes daydream that someone else will show up at a caroling party, because a small part of me is convinced I will meet my soulmate while my voice joins with others in singing “Joy to the World” or “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” Of course, this is not likely to ever happen, because I’ve known most of the people I carol with for years, and I’m sure if they ever thought they should set me up with someone who might be my soulmate, they’d have done so before now and not in such a chaotic setting.

And there is chaos. It all starts the Friday night before caroling, when those of us who live inconveniently far away from Echo converge on her house. The evening is usually spent in making sure we all have sack lunches to take with us, catching up on news and gossip, and eventually, the night is capped off by a rehearsal for those among us who, unlike me, play instruments more complicated than a kazoo. Echo, like me, enjoys surrounding herself with beautiful music, and consequently she knows a lot of musicians, so our carols have some complicated arrangements. (We sing Peter, Paul and Mary’s “A’Soalin’”, which, when you listen to the version Peter, Paul and Mary sing seems deceptively simple. Well, it’s not.) The musicians vary from year to year. This year, we will have two guitarists and a ukulele player. One of the guitarists, a brilliant woman who, in her day job, teaches math, also plays fiddle, flute and mandolin. (I always like to bask in her presence, in hopes that some musical talent beyond a strong and mostly on-pitch singing voice will magically rub off on me. This has yet to happen.) We also usually have someone willing to play keyboard, usually one of our blind musicians who inherited the stereotypical ability people think all blind people have to play music by ear. (I do not have this gift, much to my own dismay. I suppose I should have paid more attention and been more enthusiastic about the piano lessons I was forced into as a child, but I didn’t. *Sigh*.)

After the instrumental rehearsal, we all fall into bed to wake up bright and early on Saturday. Echo traditionally makes a breakfast casserole, which is loaded with more cholesterol and artery-clogging agents than you can shake a stick at. It’s extremely popular, and I have to confess that I don’t like it. (It should also be noted that, while I am not embarrassed to relate that my first makeout session happened at caroling, I admit to not liking the breakfast casserole with a sense of shame. After all, it’s one of those immutable traditions that people enjoy, and, despite what people may or may not think about me, I don’t always like being a killjoy.)

After breakfast and mingling with other carolers who have begun to arrive, we begin a three-hour rehearsal period. This usually doesn’t end up going very smoothly because inevitably someone is late, someone needs directions to where we’re going, and people are focused on catching up with people they haven’t seen since last year’s trip. But we sing through the hard pieces, giving our instrumentalists a chance to practice once more, only with a larger group.

I should say something about our caroling materials. Echo and our other guitarist, a mom and writer by day named Woody, have put together a diverse collection of songs. We have everything from the old chestnuts, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, “Jingle Bells”, “Up on the Housetop”, etc. to more religious fair–”O Come All Ye Faithful”, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”, “Joy to the World”, etc. And then there are the other pieces, including the aforementioned “A-Soalin”, as well as “Light One Candle”, another Peter, Paul and Mary song. We also sing a version of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” that was arranged by The Weavers, (another 60’s folk group), and a catchy African song called “A Ka Bway La”. (I’m fairly sure that is a phonetic spelling, since when I google that particular spelling in hopes of providing you a youtube link, I get nada.) The nontraditional carols are my favorites, because only at caroling do I get a chance to sing them. Also, as a folk music fan, I love that we’re doing our part to keep obscure songs in circulation.

The actual caroling part of the adventure is fairly standard. We usually hit at least one nursing home. Sometimes we sing for people in hospitals. We’ve sung for little kids, and we’ve sung for homebound friends who find it difficult to get out and join us. (Those types are my favorites because they are genuinely excited to have us sing for them, and are much more engaged with us. The home caroling also gives us a chance to call up people who live too far away to come so that we can sing for them. Thanks to the invention of cell phones, we’ve now found it possible to carol to more than one person at a time this way.)

After the singing, we all troop back to Echo’s house, where her long-suffering partner serves up vats full of chili. People usually bring snacks and side items to go with it, and it’s a grand potluck, which is a great way to cap off the day.

So that’s my holiday tradition, in far more detail than you ever wanted. What are some of yours? Do you have favorite Christmas carols, or odd Christmas songs you like that my caroling group should learn.

P.S. Here are youtube links to a few versions of the songs we sing.

• Light One Candle

• A-Soalin’

And here’s my contribution to our caroling experience. For the love of my bandwidth, I’d appreciate if you’d right click on this file,k hit Save As, and open it on your own system rather than streaming it from mine.

Christmas Morning

Review: A Little House Sampler by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder Lane

Title: A Little House Sampler
Author: Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder Lane
Genre: Nonfiction
Source: Bookshare
Reason for Reading: My interest in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books having been rekindled, I thought I would check out this collection of essays that she and her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, wrote for various publications, so that I could get a better sense of her life.
Synopsis: This is, as I mentioned, a collection of essays by the author of the Little House series and her daughter. There are reminiscences here about both Laura and Rose’s childhood, and there are short stories and essays about farm living.
My Thoughts: I’m never really sure how to review a book like this. I’m not normally much of an essay reader, and I don’t want to write about each piece in the book.

What I will say is that I enjoyed this collection quite a bit. In fact, I stayed up with it late into the night, which is something I never thought I would say about a collection of essays.

Having read this collection, I do have to admit to curiosity about Rose Wilder Lane’s writing. I found her fiction in particular quite memorable, from the slightly Gothic “Innocence”, which describes a little girl’s family’s brief but disastrous move to the South, to the melancholy “Autumn”, about a woman returning to her hometown only to discover that she’s changed far too much, to the mysterious “Object Matrimony”, about a mail order bride and her reasons for coming out West to seek a husband. I have Free Land by Ms. Lane on the TBR, and I definitely think I’m going to read it after I finish my reread of the Little House books.

Final Thoughts: This is an interesting collection of pieces which provides a fascinating look into the lives of two iconic writers of the 20th century. I enjoyed it and intend to make a closer study of the authors’ works.

Final Grade: B

Other Opinions

If you’ve read this book, let me know in the comments and I’ll link to your review.