Beth's Reading List

The State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

2012-02-12T23:44:00.000-06:00

Let me tell you things come together in unexpected ways sometimes. This is one of the books that I downloaded onto my Nook to read on our Mexican vacation. What a great beach read it was!

This is the story of an unexpected journeys
- from the cold of Minnesota to the wilds of Brazil
- from the known sterile world of a pharmaceutical lab to the completely unpredictable world of 70 year old pregnant Brazilian women who gnaw on trees.
-from the ordered life of Marina Singh failed gynecologist and clandestine lover of the company CEO to Dr. Annick Swenson the Amazonian queen of research

So - as I sat on the beach on my own journey I read about Marina and Dr. Swenson. Marina, afraid of rocking the boat in so many ways and Swenson who not only will drive the boat, she will command anyone who touches the boat and perhaps burn them at the stake if they cause any problems. There could not be two more dissimilar characters.
As the paths of these two women intertwine - both in Marina's schooling and later at the research facility and finally in Brazil they take on one another's qualities...much to their dismay.

The story begins with a letter from Brazil announcing the death of Marina's research partner who has gone to Brazil to find out why it is taking Dr. Swenson so long to create a fertility drug from a tribe of women who still bear children in their 70s. Marina is charged to go to Brazil to find Anders body and return it to his wife as well as check on the research.

As you would expect things don't go as they are expected to...there are cannibals, a hippie couple who hold unexpected information, a deaf child named Easter, and a jungle so full of insects that...well it gave me the creeps.

As Marina makes her way to the tribe - she is greeted with natives holding torches in the night...it so happened that I read that part the day that we took an hour boat ride to a darkened island where the torches on the beach welcomed us...there were no critters, but it was an interesting moment.

I enjoyed the way this story spun itself slowly out. There were so many hidden treasures and half truths that worked their way into the tale. This was a good one.

Girl Who Played with Fire and Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest By Stieg Larsson

2012-02-12T23:26:00.000-06:00

Both these were page turners - in completely different ways.

Lisbeth is the center of a police investigation in the Girl who Played with Fire. It is an investigation into a double homicide and the gun has her fingerprints all over it. As the police and the press search for a mentally unstable, lesbian, demon worshiper - Lisbeth quietly begins her own search for the killer. A search that pushes her friends to the limit - did she really kill these people, how well do they know Lisbeth, how far would she go?

How did she get involved??? The truth is a bit surprising - a series of unfortunate events you might even call it. But - by then Lisbeth is deeply embroiled in the search for her own beginnings that she has to see it through.

This is one of those books that I hesitated to begin. I really liked Lisbeth at the end of the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I felt sorry for her and the way she was victimized and I didn't want the harassment to continue. So, I put off reading this second book. I didn't want her at the mercy of her Advocate again. Well...
Once I started reading her situation was much worse and much better than I had imagined. I mean really - how could I feel like Lisbeth was a victim? Her resilience is clear. But in this book she begins to understand that her decisions have effects on her friends. In fact, it is in this book that she really decides she has friends at all.

As The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest begins life for Lisbeth has been reduced to a hospital bed. This wonder woman is in terrible physical shape after being shot and buried alive. And...now she is caught.

Then things take a mighty unexpected turn. This is the installment that is all about strategy and planning and behind the scenes work. The first two books were raw physical power. This one is raw brain power... well sort of.

Lisbeth is charged with a series of crimes. Nothing impossible, just difficult. But, the real maneuvering is in the government. A division of the secret police so secret that they have operated outside the law most of Lisbeth's life. And they have now reconvened to take her down.

This is the book where Lisbeth really understands that she is not alone. She is probably her most vulnerable and her strongest in this one. And I have to say it was my favorite. i really like all the finagling and rangling and planning. I like the way Lisbeth evolves into a different character. Maybe it's growing up - but I think it's much more because for the first time she is really not alone. REALLY not alone and we all know it.

These are amazing stories and many threads are still hanging. What a story Stieg Larsson had to tell!!!

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - the movie

2011-12-29T20:26:00.001-06:00

Whew!!!
Went to the movie yesterday and this is a doozy!!! Somehow it's so much worse to see things happening than to just read about them. This is not a film for the faint of heart - Lisbeth's life is not easy to see...

But - my goodness does it keep you engrossed!!

The Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

2011-12-26T16:59:00.003-06:00

I just finished this book. I have to say I love these!! This one does not disappoint...

The books are about Tessa Gray. A New York girl who has been brought to London and is under the care of the Institute of London. Basically that means that she lives in the institute with Charlotte and Henry, Will and Jem and Jessamine. Now that may sound very mild mannered - but the Institute houses the Shadowhunters - beings descended from the angels tasked with keeping the world safe from demons and evil. Tessa is not a Shadowhunter, she is not a werewolf, vampire or other downworlder, she is not a warlock because she doesn't have a mark. But - she is not a mundane (normal human) because she is able to change into another person with the help of something that person owned.

That sounds difficult enough - but there is a nasty dark figure stalking the Shadowhunters seeking to own Tessa. He is the Magistrat and the mastermind behind an army of clockwork monsters ready to kill. And he seems to be everywhere - easily finding their weaknesses through spies and clockwork creatures.

Oh yeah - and there is more. Will is a loose cannon - irreverant, uncontrolled, unpredictable, hating everyone he comes in contact with. Jem is the exact opposite - he is caring and kind and looks out for everyone and he is dying - addicted to a drug which is slowly killing hime and to stop the drug would kill him outright. These two are fighting partners - paired in a special ceremony to defend each other no matter what. And they are both in love with Tessa.

Now the real problem...

I hate reading series...I really hate it...It's been too long since I read the first book and I have forgotten some of the underlying connections. So what do you do?? And the book just ends. The story doesn't - only the book. So you are left with another year before the next installment.
Sometimes I think I should just buy them when they come out and not read them until they are all here...

Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan

2011-12-26T16:35:00.001-06:00

I clearly have been on a supernatural kick lately! I also read the first two installments of Heroes of Olympus. These books follow the Roman Gods - where the Percy Jackson series followed the Greek Gods.

There is also a Roman camp - run very differently from Camp Half Blood. Everything is very military, very controlled, very scary. Sort of the antithesis of the Greek camp. But the prophesy says that both the camps must work together to save the world. A little difficult since the camps don't even know the other exists...so on single goddess has an idea...

What if we took the heroes from each camp - bonked them on the head so they lost their memories and then dumped them in the opposite camp. Sound like something a meddling goddess might do??

So in the first book The Lost Hero - Jason ends up at Camp Half Blood - where everyone is mourning the disappearance of Percy and are more than a little concerned about this very talented kids appearance. The same thing happens in the next book Son of Neptune. Except this time Percy ends up at the Camp Jupiter.
Both of these boys are given a quest to prove themselves and a couple of misfit kids to help them out...

All the while both camps and campers are moving closer to fulfilling this prophecy...

Seven half-bloods shall answer the call,To storm or fire the world must fall.An oath to keep with a final breath,And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.

I enjoyed these books - I continue to be in awe of the understanding and research that Riordan brings to these stories! They are like textbooks for the ancient gods. Incredible!

Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan

2011-12-26T15:58:00.004-06:00

The Kane Chronicles are Riordan's newest journey into the ancient world of gods and their children. These are the tales of the Egyptian gods - those who fill mortals with the spirits and fly through sand filled portals at any Egyptian relic site.

Riordan's main characters are two siblings - Sadie and Carter Kane. Two teenagers as different as their parents were - Sadie raised rather prim and proper by her English grandparents and Carter raised by his Africa American Egyptian archeologist father roaming from one dig site to another.

In each of these books the Kanes must work together to attempt to save the world from the ever approaching god of Chaos. Each book connects known well known places with Egyptian gods and their cohorts. Each also reminds the reader of the importance of Egypt in the past and the present. The Kanes slowly become more of a family as they accept the difficulties of trying to train future godlings and keep the world from succumbing to chaos.

As I read these I was reminded again and again of the other Riordan books and have become quite curious about his ease in describing gods in many different lands and ways. It makes life quite interesting.

Rainwater by Sarah Dallas

2011-09-22T21:52:00.000-05:00

I really liked this book.

It was one of those quiet stories that slowly drew me in and then it barreled to the end and...it was over.

Rainwater tells the story of a sad and lonely boarding house owner with an autistic son in the middle of the dust bowl. Into this sorry life strolls Mr. Rainwater. He is the new boarder in Mrs. Barron's boarding house and he is dying. That is a secret shared with Mrs. Barron when Mr. Rainwater's doctor cousin delivers him.

And that is how it begins.

The two circle around one another polite, at arms length, waiting for something. And then the government begins shooting cows at the neighboring dairy farms to provide a little money for the farmers. But, those shots set off something else in the town and eventually in Mrs. Barron, Solly (her son) and Mr. Rainwater.

There is a predictable strand to this story - but it is comfortable and sweet.

So - I would definitely recommend this one!

Relentless by Dean Koontz

2011-08-25T20:51:00.002-05:00

This is the first Koontz I have read and it was an enjoyable and super fast read. In fact, I read it all in one evening because I so wanted to see how it could possibly be resolved.
Relentlessis the story of Cubby Greenwich (famous author), his wife, Penny (famous children's book author), their son, Milo (6 yr old nicknamed Spooky for good reason), and a book critique named Shearman Waxx. Cubby has just finished a book and receives a scathing review from Waxx. It just keeps bothering him - he can't get it out of his head. It seems so unfair, and so obvious that Waxx did not even read the book. Through more luck than detective work Cubby an Waxx end up in the same restaurant...in the same bathroom...and then...

"Doom." That is the single word that Waxx speaks to Cubby and the beginning of a an altered life for the Greenwich family. Waxx is beyond a psychotic. His first contact with the family is simply wandering through the house - but the very next time there is a taser and a darkened room are involved.

The violence escalates as does the bottomless fear - especially as more of Waxx's victims turn up on the internet....a poison pen review is only the first step - you have been marked for elimination as a writer and as a human being!

So - this book creeped me out. Waxx seems to be everywhere and able to do absolutely any horror he deems necessary. But - Koontz's humor and odd, fringe details about Milo and his bizarre machine and his levitating, disappearing, grinning dog really balanced out the horror of the torture in this book. I hate reading suspense novels...they simply eat me alive.. but this was different! The conversations between Cubby and Penny and Cubby and Milo were hilarious and boring and so typical of a normal family. This was in sharp contrast to the unthinkable horror that Waxx's previous victims were subject to.

There was also another layer of bizarreness...Cubby tells the story of the night his parents were killed - through the eyes of a 6-yr-old. Creepy beyond measure and terribly interesting!

I enjoyed this escapism book. It was the perfect antidote to tech and teaching overload as we prepare to start our first day of school on Monday.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

2011-08-13T08:14:00.002-05:00

This is another excellent book that our book club read a few months ago. I loved the pace of the book - quiet and peaceful and steeped with memories - like turning the pages of your grandma's photo album. You know there is so much there right under the surface, but the years have tempered it all to a quiet hum. That is this story!

This is Henry's story, a boy in the early late 30s and early 40s. His father is a proud Chinese and sends him (with a button declaring that) to the all white school outside Chinatown in San Francisco. Henry HATES it -he is so lonely and harrassed and alienated - he doesn't fit in the English world or the Chinese one. Finally his life is made better when Keiko begins at the school also. Their friendship grows and grows - but Keiko is Japanese and Henry's father HATES Japanese more than any other group.

The WWII begins. Keiko and her family are threatened and eventually sent to an internment camp. Henry professes his love and promises to wait. And he faithfully does. Sending letters weekly over the years of Keiko's internment. And they make a promise to reunite.

But, Keiko never comes. Henry waits.

But, another love has been growing and eventually Henry chooses second best.

This is a book about hard realities and choices and continuing on. I like that the book begins with Henry as an old man. There is a hotel at the edge of Japantown and artifacts have been found in the basement. Artifacts from Japanese families sent to internment camps and never collected. Henry begin searching for Keiko's life and that is where the story begins.

This is a wonderful book. It respects the hard decisions our government and our families made without oversentimentalizing them. Instead they are treated as a matter of fact, and life continued on. This also demonstrated the deep prejudices on all sides of our country.

I would highly recommend this!

Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

2011-08-13T07:31:00.003-05:00

This is the second in the Leviathan Trilogy - the story of Deryn Sharp - midshipman on the fabricated airship Leviathan for the British Army at the start of WWl. Deryn is hiding a deep secret - he is a girl! But that is not the secret hidden away in this installment. Alek - future king of Austria - is also hidden away on the Leviathan. As are three eggs waiting to hatch with fabricated 'beasties' of some sort.

The story picks up where Leviathan ended. The huge ship is making it's way to the Ottoman Empire to drop off the beasties. On the way they pursue two German ironclad ships - a seemingly simple task. After all, the Leviathan is a huge airship. But the German ships have a new weapon hidden on their decks - a Tessla cannon. We might call it a lightening cannon. One shot of that cannon an lightening strikes any and all metal surfaces.

As the Leviathan moves closer to the Ottoman Empire the world becomes filled with Clanker machines - huge moving robots shaped like elephants, Gollums, waking beds and an Orient Express train that can walk and grab things. It's a world of machines belching black smoke and filling the air with their clanks and whirs. It is also a world on the brink of war. The streets are filling up with Germans as the Sultan decides whether to side with the Brits or the Germans. One side offers him fabricated beasts like the Leviathan and the other amazing machines like the Orient Express.

With the help of Deryn and an escaped Alek the resistance forces help the new Sultan decide which side to join.

This is a good installment. Full of action and intrigue. I like Deryn and I want her to succeed - but as she falls in love with Alek I don't really think there is any hope. Too many secrets.

And... I would love to fly on the Leviathan - a hydrogen filled whale! Or the amazing human kite that Lillit flies away on...maybe sometime!!!

Lost in the River of Grass by Ginny Rorby

2011-08-10T10:16:00.002-05:00

This was another really good one! I must say I didn't really expect to like it...I hate snakes and creatures that crawl and slither and the thought of hanging out in the Everglade absolutely does me in...well that was a great way for me to begin this story!

Sarah is the poor scholarship kid at an elite high school (her mom is one of the lunch ladies) and everyone knows that she doesn't fit in...everyone but her parents who have done all they can to get her into the school. So, when she decides she wants to go on an overnight science trip to the Everglades they happily let her go.

As soon as the snooty kids arrive at the camp Sarah notices Andy - working on some cars in the parking lot -and a little flirting gets her an invitation to a ride on his airboat the next day. She fakes a stomach ache and the two set off. Ater a stop at a hunting cabin they make an AWFUL discovery...After washing out the boat that morning Andy neglected to replace the plug in the bottom of the boat and it sank!!

So - they are stranded at a hunting camp with nothing but the clothes on their backs and 10+ miles of Everglade swamp between them and civilization. There are tears, yelling, accusations and then cold, hard reality. Sarah is scared - petrified - of everything. Andy is very knowledgable, but he is also a kid who has always had an adult (a semi-abusive) father in charge. Oh yeah, and they had rescued a baby duck when Sarah killed off the mother with the airboat. That is how they start.

When they are rescued three days later they are not the same. Sarah's fear has turned to rock hard determination and Andy's surety has been tempered by reality. But - most of all they are friends.

This is more than a story of survival. It's more than a story of friendship. It's more than a coming of age novel. It's a great combination of all three with a healthy dose of respect for a disappearing spot on our national landscape.

It is also based on a true story...that seems to add to it...from Ginny Rorby's website...

Lost in the River of Grass is based on the true story of my husband’s ill-fated trip to the Everglades with his then girlfriend in his airboat. While they were ‘visiting’ one of the hunting camps in the Everglades, the airboat sank. It took them three days to walk out. I wrote the original story of that ordeal for Fort Lauderdale’s Gulf Coast magazine, published in the late 1990s.

It's a great read for reluctant nature lovers!

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott

2011-08-10T09:46:00.003-05:00

Loved, loved, loved these!
This is the way I started my summer this year. My old favorites - YA fantasy! And these did not disappoint. Well, actually they did only because there is one more book in the series due out next year. A whole year!!!

Anyway, I am ahead of myself. For those of you who are Harry Potter fans - in the first Harry Potter book the Sorcerer's Stone is owned and hidden by Nicholas Flamel. A man who was an alchemyst and discovered the secret of immortality via the stone. At least that was the story in Harry's world. Well, it turns out there was a real alchemyst named Nicholas Flamel. He really lived! Is that cool or what. This is how he is described on Michael Scott's official website Michael Scott

Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel both existed. Nicholas was
born in France in 1330, and not only do his diaries and writings
exist, his house at 51 rue de Montmorency still stands in
Paris today.

In his diaries he writes extensively about discovering the
Book of Abraham, and his long quest to translate it. He claims
he discovered the secret of the Philosopher’s Stone – how
to turn base metal into gold – and also the secret of eternal
life.

From being a poor bookseller, he became extraordinarily
wealthy and founded schools, churches and hospitals in Paris.
In recognition for his charitable works, there are two
streets named after him and Perenelle.

He lived simply and when he died in 1418, his tomb was broken
into by thieves looking for his vast wealth.

His tomb – and that of Perenelle – were both
empty.

In the centuries that followed, there were several sightings
of Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel across Europe.

I think that is my very favorite part of this whole series. It started with a real person. Then Scott does a Percy Jackson thing and uses real characters and mythological beasts.

So - let me start at the beginning. The story if of twins - Josh and Sophie. Josh works in a bookstore for the summer and Sophie works across the street in a coffee shop as their archeologist parents are away on a dig. One morning Sophie watches a car pull up in front of the store and has a bad feeling...the evil Dr. John Dee - attacks the bookshop to steal the Book Of Abraham which provides immortality to Flamel and his wife Perenelle. Josh is able to rip out the last few pages of the book before Pernelle is kidnapped along with the book.

That is the beginning. From here Sophie and Josh witness the downfall of ancient worlds and legendary leaders as Dee tries to return the world to the Elders. Through the process Sophie buys into the flawed process of saving the world that the Flamels have embarked on via a bit of a prophesy- rescuing twins and giving them ultimate power to defeat the Elders only to have them die in the process. But, Josh questions the real motives of the Flamels and eventually sides with Dee.

There are many twists and turns and the fate of the world rests on the understandings and decisions of a pair of teenagers. But, I really liked them. I especially liked Pernelle - an amazing sorceress and an equally wise woman. The love between Pernelle and Nicholas is so sweet - made even sweeter because the lack of the Book of Abraham is causing their accelerated death. The death of an immortal is not an easy thing!

I can't wait for the final book! And I do have to wait - until next summer!

Palace of Mirrors by Margaret Peterson Haddix

2011-08-10T09:30:00.003-05:00

What happens when you are raised believing one story only to have it ripped away by reality? That is Cecilia's story. She was raised in small village by a nanny being tutored by a knight and believing she was the true princess of Suala - a country constantly at war with it's neighbors.

Cecilia's only real friend was Harper, a village boy who will grow up to play a harp to keep him from the wars that killed his father. Together Cecilia and Harper are relatively happy. Until the night that Cecilia's house is attacked and she decides to head for the capital city to tell the fake princess Desmia that she is the real princess.

Sounds like the naive ramblings of a preteen doesn't it. Who hasn't wanted to believe they are really royalty or an heiress or at least adopted. Cecilia is living that fantasy. Until she reaches the capital, is imprisoned for her claims and realizes things are really REALLY not what they seem.

One of the characters of this book is Ella from Just Ella . I loved this spunky Cinderella turned realist character! - if the reader knows Just Ella, if not they are missing much of the undertones that work to highlight the personality of Cecilia.

I really liked this story. I think it will appeal to many YA girls...the end is rather contrived. I was a little disappointed. But - I haven't read the next book...maybe it would make more sense!

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

2011-08-10T09:16:00.003-05:00

This was an excellent book too!

I was completely drawn into the world of Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny. Each woman fighting their own battle in their own way...winning some days and losing other days. Skeeter is the gangly, unperfect daughter of a perfect Mississippi Lady - yes with a capital L. Her dream is to be a reporter...and yes it's a dream. Through a series of rather embarrassing phone calls with the editor of a New York magazine she begins a task that changes the lives of many people around her.

Aibileen is the governess/nanny/maid/servant/Help of one of Skeeter's childhood friends. Aibileen has thanklessly focused her love and attention on 17 white children over the years - quietly reminding them that they are beautiful and wonderful and black is not awful and dirty. Aibileen's quiet and steady prayers draw people to her and give her the strength to begin telling her story to Skeeter.

Then there is Minny. The best cook in all of Jackson, Mississippi and a mouth that has gotten her fired from one too many jobs. Her fire is perfectly balanced by Aibileen's peace. Their friendship gives both courage.

Ok - this sounds a bit dull as I am describing it...but it isn't! This is a story of civil unrest and disobedience on a very grassroots level. As Aibileen and Minny tell the stories of their lives and encourage others to do the same - things change. White women who would not have had the courage to march, or even disagree with their husbands, quietly support their help.

This is a story of humanity and suffering and love and class distinctions an cruelty and forgiveness...and I loved it! I was cheering for Skeeter all the way.

But - I think my favorite part is the end...as worlds are crashing and being rebuilt - life goes on!

Another strong recommendation - I hope the movie does it justice!!!

The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

2011-08-09T17:23:00.003-05:00

I loved this book!
It is the story of Lavania and the family that she has created for herself. The story opens with Lavania being deposited at the kitchen house by the Captain. Lavania is a frightened and deeply disoriented little girl whose parents have both died on the Captain's ship as it crossed the Atlantic. Her older brother was sold into indentured servitude and the Captain didn't know what to do with her so she was given to the slaves at the kitchen on his plantation.

What a lucky turn of events for Lavania!

Through Belle and Big Mamma, two of the kitchen slaves, Lavania slowly comes to her senses and begins to grow -to blossom. We find out about the terrible disfunction of this plantation where the Captain is away for long periods of time and his wife is too doped up on Opium to be sensible. The slaves are run by a horrible overseer - sounds a little stereotypical - but probably true too.

This is a window into the world of a plantation through the eyes of a scared, lonely girl who slowly grows into a beautiful colorblind woman. Being colorblind in the south before the civil war is not always an easy thing - as Lavania learns again and again.

The only part of this book I didn't like was the beginning. The book opens with a scene that actually takes place much later in the story. It made me dread that moment and jump to conclusions about it. I'm sure that is what Grissom wanted - but it really took away from the story for me. I actually stopped reading for a day because I didn't want it to happen. And then I felt a bit manipulated.

But - aside from that I would strongly recommend this! I read it right after The Help. Interesting to have those two stories back to back in my head...the South from long ago and not so long ago with many of the same issues still there...

Read it!

I am embarrassed

2011-08-09T17:17:00.002-05:00

After all these years of reading I look forward LONGINGLY to the summer when I have time to read. This year I had the time and I simply didn't do it. Can you believe it??
And the books that I did read I didn't blog about.
I am ashamed and embarrassed.

So - I am turning over a new leaf!
Seriously I have enough changes to make I should actually be turning over a whole tree...
But, I will start with a leaf.

I am going to write short summaries of the books I have read...I don't want to forget anything.

And then I will do better!!!!

Promise!!

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua

2011-04-22T14:16:00.004-05:00

This is the April book for our book club. It was not one of my favorites - but it has to the potential to be a book full of discussion spots.

The premise: Amy Chua has two daughters and she has determined they will be raised as good Chinese daughters because she is the perfect Chinese mother. That means she bullies, screams, pesters, sacrifices, prods and accepts nothing less than absolute PERFECTION!

Her husband is only a shadow in this story, but he has given his wife full control of this part of their life and my goodness she takes over. Sophia, the older of the girls is molded into a piano prodigy. Lulu the younger is molded into a violinist extraordinare. At least that is the plan...

Lulu does not take kindly to this plan. Slowly she becomes a formidable opponent for her mother's zealous mothering. The battle brews throughout the story and explodes. There is an interesting ending...one that I won't give away.

What do I think...

I have been a teacher for my entire adult life. I have rubbed up against many different types of parents - all of them "Western" parents. I could not quantify them in a few sentences or a generalize what they are. Amy does this continuously throughout the book. She constantly explains what 'western' parents would do rather than the wonderful "Chinese mother' method. I HATED THAT!!! This entire book is a stereotype! Earlier I called Amy zealous, but that is being generous to mom...she is so far beyond that I can't really quantify her. This description makes me want to assume that all Chinese Mother's are Tiger Moms. But based on my teacher past I am sure that is not true!! ARGH!!! That is exactly what I hate about what she did.

So what did I get from the story...A push to understand again that parenting is an extremely personal task which most of us fail miserably at and yet we end up with INCREDIBLE kids. We try our best with our abilities and our stereotypes, and our kids are both the guinea pigs and unknown element.

And that brings me to the other reminder for me as a teacher... I sometimes assume I know what the parenting is like in a family. But, I can't. The parent can do exactly the same thing with tremendously different results!!

Finally - I am SO pleased I didn't grow up in a family like this. I don't think I would have survived!!!

So...I would say this is the kind of book you can ask someone else to describe to you, or check it out at a library...save your money and borrow my copy!

Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo

2011-04-15T23:05:00.003-05:00

Heaven. 4 year old boy. Heaven.
Not necessarily a combination you expect. But, that is exactly what this story is... a little boy with a terrible appendicitis and an experience that has changed the lives of many adults.

The book is written by Colton's dad, a minister from Nebraska, several years after the actual experience. So - it travels forward and backward throughout the book. Basically, Colton has a heavenly experience when he is in the hospital following a ruptured appendix. He meets his grandfather, his older sister (a miscarriage) and many people who aren't old and don't have glasses (that isn't allowed in heaven.)

Colton drops these details slowly over several years sort of out of the blue. He is completely convincing. He describes things that most 4 year olds wouldn't know or understand...rainbows around God's throne, Jesus' sash and other details. And, it's a place he really wants to return to...in fact, when reminded that he is NOT to run out in the street because he could be killed he seems a bit excited because that would get him back to Heaven.

This is a book that reads very quickly. I had chills many, many times as I followed the story. Colton paints a picture of heaven that I want to join. A picture of a God that is HUGE and full of love and wants us to be there! It is also a book that challenges the reader to question exactly what we believe and expect. What is heaven - really.

In Colton's words - heaven is for real...maybe that is enough!

Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness

2011-04-15T21:35:00.013-05:00

War and love and noise and teenage angst and aliens and weapons and unity and terrorism and leaders and death and love and...

That is the world of Todd and Viola - two teenagers struggling to stay alive, ward off a world war and greet a new spaceship of pioneers. Their story begins in a Todd's world - a world of men whose noise (thoughts) is heard by everyone at all times. As Todd nears his life changing 14th birthday in Prentisstown in which he will become a man - he meets Viola lost and mute in the swamps - the first and only girl he has ever met. And their journey begins. A journey that takes them across a planet poised for war between the Ask (men) and the Answer (women). Each is lead by a neurotic leader so focused on winning an ongoing war that neither is above destroying the entire planet if that's what it takes. This includes terriost attacks (Answer) and mind control(Ask) and the natives (Spackle) becoming not just restless but violent and full of revenge for the horrible treatment of a small group.

Ness creates a world that I absolutely HATED!! It is a dark and scary world where no one is to be trusted even though you can read half the populations mind all the time. I was sick of the Mayor and the Mistress and their lies and twisted dealings with this very young couple. I considered quitting reading this more than once. In fact I absolutely was not going to read the third book. I was so mad at the end of the second I was not going on.

But -then there is Todd and Viola. They turn everything on it's head. They are innocent and guileless and helpless and naive and sweet and in love. I wanted to know if they make it - if they can stay alive long enough to force the idiot adults back from the brink of mutual annihilation.

This is also a story of the bleakness of war. It was hard to read parts of it as a pacifist. The decisions that both the Ask and Answer were hard for me to comprehend. The war was the end for both of them and no end of pain, humiliation and destruction were off limits.

And then I got to the end...I can't say anything because I don't want to give it away...but OH MY GOODNESS!!!!

House Rules by Jodi Picoult

2011-03-27T15:06:00.003-05:00

Picoult continues to provide something to think and think and think about. How does she do that??

This was our March book club book and I am just finishing it right now...I know a little slow, but it was well worth it!

This is the story of Jacob, his mother Emma and his younger brother Theo. It is also the story of how a family copes with an all-consuming, life altering, diagnosis. Jacob has Asperger's. He is brilliant and unable to connect, obsessed and childlike all at the precise moment. His meltdowns span of shirts with buttons and eating the wrong colored food on a specific day and have torn apart his family. Mom is ultra-focused on Jacob and Theo breaks into 'normal' family houses.

Into this mix come Jess Oglivy. She is Jacob's social skills tutor and the object of Jacob's love. She is also found dead in a culvert behind the house she was staying in wrapped in Jacob's quilt.

I do have to say I had this figured out way before the end - I think Picoult wanted you do to that though. The purpose of the book was not figuring out what happened to Jess - instead it was figuring out what happens to a family who suspects one of their own. The story is about the trial of Jacob for Jess's murder.

How does a parent who has forfeited her life handle the idea her son may be a murderer? What about the father who deserted them? How does the legal system deal with an man with Asperger's on the stand - one who needs sensory breaks and can't stand loose hair around a woman's shoulder or the sound and sight of a crumpled paper?

In typical Picoult fashion the reader is drawn into a world too painful to really understand, one where surprising moments of pure joy and peace appear and the bad guys are not always the bad guys.

I loved it!!! Read it!

Sarah's Quilt and Sarah's Star Garden by Nancy Turner

2011-03-05T21:57:00.004-06:00

Due to some health issues I've been spending a lot of time reading this past week - and having a couple of good books certainly helped pass the time quickly. My book club read These is My Words by Nancy Turner in the past year. These are the next two installments to Sarah Prine's life in the Arizona territories of the early 190s.

These are good books - full of excitement, pioneer vim and vigor and the impossibilities life. They are also rather predictable. But, that predictability is not ridiculous - more like what you expect when you turn on an old western.

Sarah and her family are stuck on the edge of the Mexican/Arizona desert - trying to make a living on a drought stricken ranch with too many mouths to feed and not enough rain. In the midst of this drought her Mexican neighbor gets a bit too big for his britches and tries everything to rid the countryside of her family.

The books are filled with family lives and goings on, with the day to day hardships of living and trying not to die. You really care about them. You want to see them succeed, you want to see them live.

So, I liked them and am glad I read them - but they aren't as good as the first book though...in fact they get a bit long on Sarah's descriptions and the longing for something she can't quite find...and of course it's right in front of her nose. I also really hate the titles...all three titles are not particularly enticing.

Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer by John Grisham

2011-02-24T23:12:00.004-06:00

I really wanted to like this one. I like John Grisham. But, the things I like about Grisham - minute details about the law process, characters built with lots of background and history, don't work in a young adult book. Or rather the lack of those writing elements sort of make the story fall flat.

The premise is a good one.
Theodore, son of two lawyers and nephew of a third, LOVES the law and all the trappings. He has his own tiny office in his parent's office, is on first name basis with everyone from the secretaries to the security guard to the most important judge at the court house, and hands out free law advice to any fellow student who asks. His advice seems to be sound and based on a vast knowledge of the system and unlimited access to web info through passwords and codes available from his parents.

So far, so good.

There is a huge murder trial in town - a husband is accused of murdering his wife. But, the evidence is all circumstantial. Theodore is able to get tickets for his government class to attend the opening day arguments through all his connections.

Then Theodore is told a secret. Can you hear the ominous piano music in the background as this happens?

This secret is so big the entire trial will hinge on it. But, unlike surprise witnesses on TV (you know that isn't really real) Theodore must play by the rules. He must decide what to do with the information - it could be the difference between a conviction or an acquittal.

The most frustrating part of this book is the end...
Let me just say SERIES...

So.
My vote is not over the top. It's interesting, quick and will catch those kids who enjoy all the law and order shows on TV, but it's isn't his best!

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

2011-02-24T22:53:00.003-06:00

I am not sure I really like Olive Kitteridge. The book, I liked. The character...well. She is not a woman to be taken lightly, or ignored. She is a bore, a bully, an emotional bag of wind and well you get the picture. At least I think she is. Then again...

Let me try to explain.

This is one of those books that I had to keep asking myself if I really liked. There are TONS of characters and it doesn't seem to really fit together until you are way into the book. And each chapter has a cameo at least of Olive..she is the glue, or the peanut butter or at least the sticky jam that makes it hang together.

The book is a little like window peeking. As the reader, you are walking down the street in small town Maine (or Vermont ) and pausing at each house to listen in to what is really happening behind the doors. This is not the glitzy, sweet small town glimpse that idolizes the drugstore and the quaint seaside village with it's church steeples and odd characters. Instead, it's more like what people look like first thing in the morning without makeup or brushed teeth. It's a bit raw and uncomfortable...and that's precisely when Olive seems to appear.

But, there is a part of Olive, buried deeply in the rolls of her ample body, that is able to pause with her hand on the spiked haired head of an anorexic girl. This Olive tears up without wanting to, meaning to, or hardly even realizing as she talks to her dear husband Henry on the phone after his stroke. She is a bundle of opposites. She hates to be at home alone, but she also hates the jobs and people that are out there...

Life isn't what she expected...but she didn't really have any expectations...

I really liked the complicated pictures of the people in this book. I liked that I was often a bit confused. I liked that I didn't like Olive and then she took me totally by surprise. I liked that New England was not perfect and Norman Rockwellish. I liked that even when Olive took a step forward - like reconciling with her son - she still messed up and panicked and ended up right back where she started. I liked that the story just ended.

So - I guess it's ok not to love the main character, not to even like her most of the time, and end up with a book that makes me wonder and ponder and revisit.

Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese

2011-02-07T21:10:00.006-06:00

I just finished this one...

This is a book which was recommended by many people I know...acclaimed to be the best book they have read.

As I started reading I kept wondering when this was going to turn into that book...and you know it did without me even noticing. This is one of those that gets under your skin and keeps me thinking...returning to Marion and wondering.

The story is told by Marion Praise Stone, the twin son of a dead nun and an AWOL surgeon in Ethopia in the 60s. The story moves back and forth from Marion and Shiva, his brother, growing up and the story of the way their mother and father met, worked and his mother died. The story unfolds in a mission hospital in Addis called Missing by the natives. Marion and Shiva are mirror image twins who were born attached to one another by a thin strand on their skulls. Although the connection is long gone, they continue to find solace when their skulls rest side by side. The two are raised by loving parents...Ghosh and Hema. Ghosh is a surgeon at the hospital and the resident theologian, He,a is a gynocologist and a feisty Indian woman.

In this description there may be nothing that really calls you. But, this is a story of deep and profound love...Marion for Ganet, the daughter of his nanny. Ghosh for Hema...he followed her across a continent and offered her a yearly wedding contract in case she changed her mind. Ghosh and Hemas love creates a home that allows MarionShiva to grow and blossom, but the love between Marion and Ganet is one-sided and eventually brings a ruin no one expected.

Marion, as the lone storyteller is honest and confused and hurt and curious and I really liked him. I cared when his heart was broken by first his father then his brother and his sweetheart. I cheered him on as he began a new life..and more

I can't say this is the best book I've read...my heart belongs to The Time Traveler's Wife but, it was a very memorable story!

Artichoke's Heart by Suzanne Supplee

2011-01-17T23:21:00.004-06:00

What a great read!

This is the story every overweight girl (and woman) wants to be able to tell - the year her life changed...she lost weight, found a boyfriend and a girl friend, and stopped allowing the nasty girls to control her. (OK - so an overweight woman's goals may be a bit different...)

Yes, it's a bit of a fairy tale. But, it's told so sweetly and so honestly that it is ok.

Rosemary is facing the worst Christmas ever, her skinny mom gave her a treadmill and her skinny aunt gave her tickets to a weight loss workshop. And Rosemary didn't ask for or want any of this. What she wanted was a date with her favorite guy...Mr. Hershey or Mr. M&M. But a chance conversation with an obese woman in her mom's salon forces Rosie to face what her life is and will be. When 300+ pound Mrs. McCrutchin says they look just alike, Rosie is freaked out...Really! She looks just like this huge woman.

As much as she is grossed out by that thought, food is her comfort. Especially as her mom and aunt become more and more secretive. Turns out her mom has cancer and her aunt is overprotective and more than a little mean. Rosie decides to start on a liquid diet without telling anyone.

And, the really cute guy, Kyle, notices her.

This is not a wake up one morning and life is wonderful, instead it's work. It's early morning workouts, gastric issues from liquid diets, the fear that any solid food will make all weight fly back on and the reality that the face looking back in the mirror might always seem like a fat girl.

You have to root for Rosie though. She is willing to try and she realizes that the life she has is not really a life. The first basketball game she attends in high school is by herself in the top row.

I really liked this - I would recommend it to all girls. So weight may not be their issue - but Rosie faces the demons in a way that would be helpful for any young gir.

at the MS library

The September Sisters by Jillian Cantor

2011-01-17T18:38:00.002-06:00

So, how does a family continue after a daughter disappears? Especially if it is the sweet little sister, the one that everyone loves, the one who trusts and smiles and makes her older sister jealous? How can life go on?

That's what this book is all about. How do you continue?

Abigail is a 8th grader and her younger sister, Becky disappears from their house one night. No one knows what happens. She was just gone. As is the life that Abigail and Becky knew.

Suddenly people look at Abigail differently, her father and mother are both suspects and that makes everyone even more suspicious. Then school starts...Abigail's friends begin to fall away - her dad is overly protective and won't let her out of his sight and her mom can't seem to get out of bed.

This is a story of loneliness and friendship, of love and hate, of fear and freedom and of the surprising people who help you understand it all.

In the MS library

Wolf Rider by AVI

2011-01-17T16:26:00.003-06:00

So, this is another book with an unfortunate title. It's an excellent suspense novel - but I expected it to be about Native Americans or Eskimos or something - who else would ride a wolf.

Instead this is the story of a boy, Andy, who answers the phone one evening and is told about a gruesome murder committed by the man on the other end of the phone. But, no one believes him. NO ONE! His father thinks he's crazy, his guidance counselor thinks he is hiding his anger, the police think he's making it up, and the girl who was the victim thinks Andy is coming on to her when he tries to warn her.

This story draws on the angst and frustration of a teenager who has information that NO ONE else believes. What can he do but try to solve it himself.

This is a cliff hanger and page turner!

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

2011-01-17T16:22:00.000-06:00

What a title - right...it's more than a mouthful. But, it is the heart and soul of this story. A story of friendship, betrayal, World War II, love and simple things.

As much as I loved it I have to confess that I can't remember the details very well. I read it all in one sitting - in my bathtub. So, needless to say there was quite a bit of skimming going on!

Basically the book follows an author who has finished a successful series and is sort of poking along for another idea. She receives a letter from a man from Guernsey (a small island off the English coast) who has a book that used to be hers. This is the start of a friendship which slowly grows as Juliet, the author, and Dawsey, the Guernsey native.

Through this friendship she learns of the five year Nazi occupation of the island, the decision to send away the island's children prior to the Nazi arrival, the prisoners who were worked to death on the island and the ways that the natives sustained themselves right under the Nazi's noses.

This is one of those books that grabs your imagination and pulls at your heart. As you find out about the austerity measures and starvation, the rules and limitations.
As Juliet travels to the island to really find out about these people. As she becomes friends and discovers who they really are and what has motivated them.

This is a great WWII book, but it's so much more than just that.

Enjoy it!!!

The Hot Flash Club by Nancy Thayer

2011-01-14T23:06:00.005-06:00

This is the January book club book. It was my suggestion and I was a little nervous about it...I was told to make a suggestions that was light and fun to read. I was very afraid this was going to be light and dumb! But, I was pleasantly surprised. It was one that I really enjoyed. A great fast December read!

The premise is four women meet at a retirement party. They are unknown to one another. Each has been introduced to the reader in previous chapters - for some of them we know a little too much! Each lady comes to the party with fears and hesitations and a problem of some sort.

Through the course of the party they bump together - bond - decide to flee for chocolate - all in WAY to short a time. But, it's a book after all.

Each woman family problem: a daughter whose husband might be having an affair, a woman approaching the upper limits of her career and sure her coworker is attempting to run her out of her job, another whose husband really doesn't know she exists, and one who has a dream of opening her own spa. Over more than one dessert they decide to attempt to solve each others problems.

Now this sounds quite contrived and ridiculous - and actually it is. But you really get to like the women and that makes it easier to overlook the book's flaws. It's all about suspending disbelief...

My very favorite part is a wonderful description of what love is for a happily and very long married couple and how that has evolved and changed. Faye is describing what she misses most since her husband's death. It is poignant and telling - it made me believe that Thayer herself is in the midst of a very long-term and loving marriage. It brought tears to my eyes!!

This is the first of a series -and I didn't love it so much that I want to rush out and read the rest.

These is my Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 Arizona Territories by Nancy Turner

2011-01-14T20:22:00.005-06:00

This is an EXCELLENT book!
I was a little hesitant when this book was chosen for our book club. Why did I want to read an old diary and who would ever want to live in the Arizona Territories? It had to be hot and boring!

Well - I was mistaken! Sarah is the daughter of a pioneer who believes that girls should have the same skills as boys - so she could ride and shoot and work. Her family was moving East to Texas. Yes - east...
On the way they are attacked by Indians and her papa is killed. Mama goes a little off in her head and Sarah is the one getting things done. That continues when the other family in the wagon train - a Mormon family with prissy, beautiful girls, is caught up in a terrible attack. It is Sarah who has the sense to react - much to the families dismay.

The story follows Sarah back to Arizona and her toils to begin the horse ranch her Daddy wanted. It continues through a horrible, loveless marriage, the birth of her daughter and death of her husband. It is there that Sarah thinks her life will end...but... Turner doesn't stop it there.

Woven through the tail is Captain Jack Elliot. He was army leader of the wagon train and seemed to catch Sarah's eye. He appears a time or two at her ranch - finally being rescued by Sarah after his horse had gone off a cliff and trapped him. The two love/hate/love/like each other, finally, coming together in a wonderful marriage of love and respect.

Sarah is the kind of woman I imagine I would have been back there in pioneer times. But, would I have been willing to fight off a crazed mountain man as a young girl, live through a marriage to a man in love with someone else, and brave an unknown life in the growing town of Tuscon. Probably not!

I was struck again and again at how hard these women had to work. I mean REALLY hard. Late in the story, when Sarah is wealthy, living in one of the largest houses in Tuscon she still has to slave over an a hot fire to do laundry, cook, heat water for baths... I am so happy to be able to push the button for the washer and crawl into a deep relaxing bath.

Turner has created a main character that I cared about and really wanted to know.
There are two other Sarah Prine books..Sarah's Quilt and The Star Garden. They are both in my shelves and hopefully soon on my bedside table!

The Pale Assassin by Patricia Elliott

2011-01-03T14:57:00.003-06:00

I really wanted to like this book. It has a great title and an interesting picture of a pale heroine on the cover. But, she is not the assassin. And the book just didn't quite live up to it's potential.

There is a damsel in distress, a dashing young man, a mysterious evil older man, a hard-working and overly involved brother. All those ingredients should add up to a great story...

The story even takes place in France at a time when all the old is being overthrown by the new. It's the Revolution and the wealthy are having a hard time holding on to what they have as the poor get fed up with being hungry all the time. It's a time of sword fights, horses and carriages and even the guillotine.

So, I would challenge you to read this story and tell me what you think. Did I miss something?

Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

2010-12-21T11:00:00.004-06:00

I am not usually a person who reads nonfiction. I read to escape, not to learn. Sounds rather bad for a librarian and teacher doesn't it!

Anyway, this book has intrigued me for a long time. I remember seeing it on a bookshelf at the High School several years ago when I was here for a school board meeting. Even though I am not paticularly interested in dead bodies, it seemed like the right time to read about corpses! You know, a cheery preChristmas read!

Actually this was a VERY interesting book. Roach has a way of presenting her facts with just enough of herself included that want to know more! The book starts with Roach visiting a retraining session for plastic surgeons on cadaver heads. And as creepy as that sounds - it really wasn't.

From there she takes us around the world to find research that depends on bodies donated to science. The subject is treated with respect - but it's not boring. Especially when she researches the ways that bodies may be 'buried' in the future...think flower beds!

If you are tired of the walking vampire stories and movies that seem to be everywhere - try a book about what REALLY happens.

Poison Study, Magic Study, Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder

2010-08-03T09:59:00.004-05:00

I was a bit hesitant to read this series after the Storm Glass books. I liked them - but they got very predictable. These were different! I really liked the characters and the story line was much more intriguing. it may have also helped that this series actually happened before the story glass books - I read them out of order.

1 - Poison Study
2 - Magic Study
3 - Fire Study

The books follow Yelena. Her story begins as she is taken from the dungeons of Ixia to be executed for murdering her deranged orphanage master. In Ixia murder is never justified. As that moment she is given a choice to become the Commander's food taster - the one who detects if poison exists. She herself will injest a specific poison each day and recieve the antidote the next...this keeps her alive and from escaping.

This begins the saga to find out who Yelana really is...in the first book she helps to defeat a magician who has bewitched the Commander, falls in love with her Ixian keeper, Valek, and discovers that she had actually been kidnapped all those years ago. Yelana is also almost killed by a magician who is sent from the souther land of Sitia to investigate spikes of magic. As Yelana slowly understands that she has unique magic abilities she seeks out the same magician, Irys to help her.

Magic Study begins with the homecoming to her long lost parents and the reuniting with her older brother, Leif. The guilt of watching his younger sister kidnapped has warped his life almost to the point of no return. And her return did not help that. Together they travel to the Magician's Keep in Sitia for Yelena to be trained in magic. Yelana has needed to exist on her own all those years in Ixia and has a terrible time trying to follow the protocol and rules of the Master Magicians - especially Roze Featherstone the First Magician. Of course there are problems. But the biggest problem is a nasty magician named Ferde, who has been kidnapping and killing young girls to gain their magical abilities. Yelana must depend on those around her to help her defeat Ferde.

The final book, Fire Study, picks up the tale as Ferde is freed from the dungeons and takes off for the unknown Daviian Plains to rendevous with a group of disgruntled, power hungry young magicians who seek the dark power of Blood Magic to boost their ablitites. This magic requires innocent blood to be sacrificed. Yelena, Leif and a group of their friends seek to defeat this powerful band. In the quest Yelana discovers her true magical gift of Soulseeker. And faces a horrible Fire Warper - the soul who controls the underworld.

So that is the very bare bones of these books. But, that doesn't give you much of an impression of what is really in these tales.

The focus on friendship and the unexpected bonds that develop between unlikely people -even enemies. Through friendship souls are healed and destroyed. And through friendship characters discover what their potential really is - potential for good and evil.

The books also focus on magic. Magic is not the hocus pocus - say a spell and it works kind. Rather the kind that exists deep inside a person. Each person must connect with the magic source - the power blanket that wraps around the entire world. To make magic work you grab a thin strand of this power and then apply your own special gifts to it...sort of like electricity being used by different appliances. I like that idea!

And of course there is love
...family love that shapes who a person is - across miles and time.
...romantic love that takes you by surprise and reshapes you into something new and unexpected
...clan love - the loyalty that forces you to make decisions for a group, not for your self.

These are really great books - fast reads with interesting and unexpected turns!

The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner

2010-07-31T12:18:00.003-05:00

I've been putting off reading this book...a book about the French Revolution??? I am not too keen on historical fiction. Too often there is more history than story!

That is not the case in this story! I really enjoyed it! It's a fast read - one that pulls you in and keeps you interested. There are children - Yann the orphaned son of a gypsy dancer and Sido the forgotten and mistreated daughter of an insane Marquis. There is a dwarf, a very talented fellow named Tetu who is able to control a wooden puppet by pulling at the invisible light threads with his mind. And a horrible villian named Count Kalliovski - his name alone brings fear into those who surround him.

This is a story at the start of the revolution, when the excesses of France cause the people to revolt. When the revolution was about equality and freedom for the masses. In this turmoil Sido's father spends and spends and spends and ignores his rising debt, he has the Count to back him up. You see the Count is more than willing to lend money to anyone - so long as they share their secrets with him. It seems a tiny price, until he comes to claim his pay. At that point the borrowers understand blackmail for the first time - and for many the last.

Sido is held captive by her insane father, until by chance Yann crosses her path on a fateful night. At that moment both of their futures are sealed - though they don't know it.

The Count has other plans for the dwarf and Sido. He plans to kill the dwarf - he knew the Count when he was only a nameless gambler with a special interest in a gypsy dancer. And Sido - he plans to marry her in order to gain her vast inheritance. To that end he has blackmailed Sido's father.

This story stands alone rather nicley - but the story does not end with this book. There is a sequel... Can't wait!!

Scat by Carl Hiaasen

2010-07-31T12:05:00.005-05:00

Nick attends a snooty private school on the edge of the Everglades. He is trapped in biology class by Mrs. Starch - the toughest, meanest, grouchiest teacher ever. His only ally is Marta, a girl he finds himself spending more and more time with. In the same class is Smoke, a creepy older boy who had been through biology more than once and based on his confrontation with Mrs. Starch was headed for another round. On that day Smoke chomped on the pencil Mrs. Starch was poking at his head, chewing and swallowing it. The class was stunned and more than a little afraid when he threatened to get even with her.

The next day was a field trip to the Black Vine Swamp, Smoke didn't show up for the trip and Mrs. Starch didn't come back from the trip.

Nick and Marta find themselves in the middle of a horrible mystery. It seems obvious that Smoke has something to do with Mrs. Starch's disappeareance, following a fire set on the edge of the swamp...Smoke and fire!

But, there is more going on than they first suspect. A strange character named Twilly is seen driving Mrs. Starch's car AND he finds the kids in Starch's house.

Then there is the incredible change in Smoke, he is clean, studies and even seems civilized. But , most disturbing is what Mrs. Starch's complete disappearance.

This is another great story by Hiassan. Each character brings a piece to the final puzzle. But, Nick is clearly the strongest of the bunch. From trying to become a lefty since his father's arm had to be amputated following an injury in Iraq, to believing Smoke when everyone else couldn't and finally and most importantly to having the courage to really seek out Mrs. Starch and follow her commands to save an endangered Florida animal.

This is a fast and fun read. I really liked it - even if it's named after Panther poo.

Thirteenth Child by Patricia Wrede

2010-07-28T07:37:00.002-05:00

This isn't one I can rave about. It was good - but in a build up for a series way. This is the first in a series called Frontier Magic. Interesting premise...maybe. The United States is now Columbia and magic is a strong piece of the lives of all Columbians. The founders - Franklin and Jefferson used magic to gain independence as did leaders all the way back to the Romans. But - that's just history.

This first installment is about Eff - the thirteenth child and her brother Lan a double 7 - the seventh son of a seventh son. Lan is supposed to be gifted with powerful magic and Eff will end up turning to evil. So the old aunts and uncles say.

Eff and Lan's parents do not put much belief into that and decide to accept a job teaching magic at a frontier academy at the western edge of the civilized world. The town is right by the magic border that keeps out all manner of nasty beasts...mammoth and such.

That's the set up. The story is part frontier life and part magic. I kept waiting for a big moment - Eff is constantly fighting any urge to use magic or give in to any negative thought for fear it will turn her bad. But the big moment never came. There is a magical confrontation and some questions are sort of answered...but not really.

So...it's ok. But, I really want to read the next book before I decide how much I liked it!

Airman by Eoin Colfer

2010-07-22T23:10:00.004-05:00

I have enjoyed all the Artemis Fowl books Colfer has written...these are filled with brilliant fairies, demons and fantastic machines of the future/otherworld. This book is a huge departure.

Here is a story of a doomed pair of islands of the coast of Ireland - Saltee Islands. Presiding over these rocky outcrops is Good King Nick - an American raised balloonist from the Civil War who happened to be the last remaining heir to the Saltee throne. The time is mid 1800s and the race to the sky is building.

That sounds a bit boring to me - I am not really a mechanical lover...but this story is more than just mechanics. Conor Broekhart is is a lovable, charming flying fanatic...actually pre-flying. It hasn't technically been invented yet. He is also the son of the head of the Wall guards and the best friend of Princess Isabella. Life is good on this island. Good King Nick is trying hard to right centuries of wrongs - bringing about improved living conditions, making things more equal and providing more humane conditions in the diamond mine/prison on Little Saltee.

There is however a cloud...Marshall Bonvilian - head of the royal guards. He is a power mongering, conniving, evil man who has been bred to overthrow the royalty so his family line will finally be the rulers of the Saltees.

Due to a horrible twist of fate, Conor is sent to prison, yes the diamond mine prison, at the age of 14 at the Marshall's hand. He must face the impossible task of staying alive that first day. He does so with the help of his cell mate Wynter. Displaying some of the wit and brilliance of Artemis Fowl, Conor is able to strike a deal with the prison hit man - Otto Malarky - one of the Battering Rams gang, and the next two years of his life are bearable.

But, he must figure out a way to escape, decide whether to try to reconcile with his family ( they believe him part of the plot that killed the king) or flee with stolen diamonds to America to build his dream airplane.

I really liked the story, although when I thought things were lost for Conor - I did stop reading for the evening. Sometimes it's just too hard to know things that the characters don't!

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

2010-07-18T22:44:00.003-05:00

This is a powerful tale of the holocaust from the eyes and the heart of a young boy. Bruno and his family move to Out-With when his father is made commandant by the Fury. He hates the nasty little house and the fear that seems to live everywhere. But, most of all he is desperately lonely.

This changes when he decides to begin exploring. As he walks the length of the fence he discovers a 'dot that became a speck that became a blob that became a figure that became a boy.' So begins his friendship with Shmeul.

The reader knows the realities of this concentration camp, but told through the innocent eyes of a 9 year old boy it is easy to ignore the hard bits. Reading it,made me understand how the neighboring people could justify and ignore just as Bruno was doing. Even after a year he didn't understand why the fence existed.

The ending is sad - but sad in a ridiculous way...but I can't tell you a single thing. I can't hint at the end. I can't.

The book is written in a light handed, non-judgemental way that allows all the judgement to come from the readers. My Boyne is a genius!!!

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

2010-07-18T12:48:00.003-05:00

Hugo is a scruffy french orphan caught in an impossible situation. His father was killed in a museum fire and left Hugo with an uncle who lives in the bowels of the train station and must wind and maintain all the station's clocks. He is mean and cheap and forces Hugo to steal to be able to eat. And then, he disappears.

Hugo secretly keeps the clocks running as he works on a project to amazing to really contemplate.

Before his father died he had been a clockmaker and had discovered an automaton - a man machine poised to write a secret message. The automaton was in the museum attic where he worked and that's why he was in the museum when it burned. Hugo rescued the automatan from the rubble of the museum and set out to rebuild the damaged parts. To do this - he had to steal toys from the toy maker stand at the train station. That is where he meets an old grumpy man and his god daughter.

This sets in motion a series of events that bring all the details of the mysterious machine, the old man and a history of making dreams together.

What makes this book truly spectacular is the drawings that intersperse the text. The book becomes a slow moving movie - starting with a broad shot and slowly tightening down to the main focus. There are also photographs of actual events which add a sort of newsreel feel to parts of the book. This is a big fat book that took only an hour or two to read - but it's a book that a second reading would be beneficial - it feels like there might be hidden clues and magic secrets woven into the book just waiting to be discovered.

This is an award winning book for all ages!

Storm Glass and Sea Glass by Maria Snyder

2010-07-18T09:15:00.004-05:00

These are the first two books of the Glass series about Opal Cowan ( the final installment is not due out until the fall of 2011)
Opal is a glass magician in the country of Sitia. That means she is a magician who is able to insert her magic into glass objects - something no one else in the country is able to do. The glass statues she makes are able to transmit magical thought from magician to magician over distances - sort of a glass telephone. That should make her proud and confident. But, Opal is anything but that. She second guesses herself constantly, misreads those around her and basically exudes naiveté. She is especially embarrassed that she is unable to do the basic magical tasks of lighting a fire and is certain she is a one trick pony.

But, the citizens of Sitia - at least the evil ones - see the potential in her and are constantly trying to kidnap, torture her and take her skills for their own use. She remains oblivious to most threats - but is constantly buffeted by one or another controlling force...her family, the Council of Magicians, her boyfriend Ulrick, an evil magician who has captured and tortured her more than once (Devlen) and her embarrassment.

By the end of the first book Opal has discovered and learned to control an incredible talent - she can 'steal' another's magic and seal it up inside a glass orb. The transfer of this magic turns it into diamonds...powerful and beautiful diamonds.

The second book follows her maturing from a ditzy pawn into a powerful magician trying very hard to control her own destiny. The Council feels she is too dangerous to be free - she could steal any of their powers. The villains of the country want her blood - it augments their own magic and makes them invulnerable to her own, she feels controlled and responsible for providing glass messengers to the citizens of Sitia and she is sick of it all.

She gets herself into the ultimate showdown and ends up vulnerable, naive and almost dead.

The series is clearly not over. The story leaves you hanging and wondering about several loose ends. I like Opal - but the constant kidnapping and harm get a bit old. Mostly, I want to just shake her and tell her to get a grip - she clearly is an important person, why doesn't she understand that...

Distant Waves by Suzanne Weyn

2010-07-18T09:00:00.004-05:00

The titanic, spiritualism, sisterhood, famous Americans and romance all play a role in this book. Jane Oneida Taylor has a rather odd childhood. She is the second of five sisters, the plain and practical one. Her father has just died as the story opens and her mother is striking out on a new path - one of becoming a famous seance leader, spiritual guide, 'ghost whisperer' we might even call her today. The family ends up in the town of Spirit Vale, New York, an entire town dedicated to speaking with those who have passed on - never 'the dead.'

On a whim Jane and her older sister Mimi run off to New York City to meet the famous scientist Tesla for Jane to interview for a journalism contest. While there, they both meet the characters who will change their lives and history. Mimi decides to become the maid and traveling companion of the mistress of Guggenheim ( one of the richest men in America), Jane meets Tesla, the eccentric inventor who created an earthquake machine and Thad his assistant.

Through a series of convoluted events - Mimi and the youngest sister Blythe end up on the Titanic returning from Europe. Due to bad vibes and impressions Jane and her two remaining sisters - Amelie and Emma - sneak aboard the Titanic to get Mimi and Blythe off. The are not able to accomplish this before the ship sails...so all five sisters are on the ship.

Only three will make it to New York. There will be a wedding, an experiment which goes awry and a bit of time traveling.

This is one of those books that I had decided was just too cheesy to like. I mean, we all know the Titanic sinks. But, Jane is a very likable narrator and Tesla is a pretty unusual scientist. His inventions sound like things that we should be researching right now! So - it was a fun and predictable read. The old Titanic story with a twist for YA audiences.

Shift by Jennifer Bradbury

2010-07-09T18:23:00.003-05:00

Win and Chris - friends and recent high school graduates embark on an epic adventure...bike riding from West Virginia to Washington state. That was the plan... but the ending wasn't quite what was expected. Chris returned alone.

That's how this story begins, you know the ending before you even really know the beginning. Chris is being questioned by an FBI agent about the disappearance of his friend Winston Coggans. Chris knows things, but not what Ward, the agent, is really looking for.

He knows that two unprepared high school grads began a journey. Win, with his jokes and his secrets, and Chris trying to prove that he was more than nothing. As the two journeyed for two months, pedaling and meeting new folks, they both changed. Changed enough that Win's disappearance on a mountain pass in Washington didn't surprise Chris as much as you would think. He knew Win's dad was a controlling freak who couldn't wait to get him in an Ivy league school and on the path to running the same chemical monopoly that he did. But, Win kept his secrets.

The book toggles between chapters of the ride and chapters of Chris's life in college, with the agent, with new friends. The reader is able to see the changes unfold and culminate in a reunion of sorts over Labor Day.

This is one of those buddy books where the friends discover they don't really need each other - and in that understanding they become deeper friends. Weird huh?? This is also the story of two boys who actually did the thing that they dreamed of...cool!

This was a fast and rather predictable read, but the descriptions of the scenery and the companionship were enough to make even a sworn bike riding hater consider the call of the road. Bradbury is clearly a biker and that adds to the authenticity of the story.

The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin

2010-07-08T14:47:00.003-05:00

Matthew, Emmy and their sister Callie live in a world controlled by their unstable mother Nikki. Their life is filled with constant fear and stress. Nikki wants to show her love for her children in a very frightening way...and then she meets Murdoch.

There was something about Murdoch which drives Nikki beyond all reason. And when he watches her put Emmy in danger and decides to break up - Nikki looses it... The more the kids liked Murdoch the Nikki becomes obsessed.

Matthew gets the brunt of his mother's craziness to try to keep his sister's safe. And then he takes a stand that causes irreversible changes.

This is one of those books that makes you want to reach out and grab the kids around me. This is about a family doing all they can to keep themselves safe and the adults around who can't or won't see what is absolutely happening. As a teacher and a mom we need to keep our eyes open. Because as Matthew describes it - the fear doesn't leave - it changes you - it seeps in and creates something that wasn't there before. Sometimes those changes are for the good - it gave Callie the courage to become a great doctor. But sometimes the changes push you to make a decision that can not be taken back.

This is a goodie!

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

2010-07-08T14:05:00.003-05:00

The world is not a pleasant place in this futuristic puzzle book. Thomas comes too in a dark and metal cube which is rising slowly in the air to...

The doors open and Thomas is ushered into a reality that is nothing like he has ever experienced. This is a world of boys and stone walls that open and close each day to keep the Grievers out. A world that divides each newbie into one of the different jobs and Thomas knows that he will be a runner...one that runs through the enormous mazes that surround this stone Glade looking for an elusive escape.

This is also a world that is changing. Somehow Thomas knows things...fleeting memories of the past and boys who have been stung by the Grievers know who and what Thomas is - even then he doesn't.

And then a girl appears who can speak to Thomas inside his head. Teresa, has fleeting memories of the Flare, the ending and the fact that Thomas and Teresa are somehow connected to this odd place.

And then they figure out how to free themselves - but to what? A world that isn't the warm home thought it would be...this is only the beginning

Secrets, Lies and My Sister Kate by Belinda Hollyer

2010-06-28T22:43:00.007-05:00

Families have all sorts of secrets - some big and some small. Twelve year old Mini guards her biggest secret carefully. No one knows her true name - it's just too awful to share! But there is another family secret that is tearing apart her big sister Kate. A secret that Mini can't seem to unravel. But, it's a secret that is so big that Kate is changing into someone Mini doesn't know and understand.

And then Kate simply disappears.

This is a story of the choices parents make and the way they play out for the children - not always in the way that they expected. This is also a story of the depth of sister-friendships and the bonds that are created between sisters. And - what it takes to maintain those bonds.

Mini is the one family member who really doesn't know what is happening - but she is also the one who has the potential to find her lost sister.

This is a quick and easy read and is in the Middle School Library.

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen

2010-06-27T20:29:00.005-05:00

I am not usually big on memoirs or autobiographies. They bug me because they often jump around and have that "I'm so important it doesn't matter that my writing is pathetic - you'll still read it anyway" attitude. But, this one was different. Maybe because Rhoda is already a writer and an editor - her PHD in poetry or writing or literary research of something like that gives her a pretty strong pedigree. Or maybe it's because her story is the memoir of pieces of my own history - I'm a Mennonite too. But, not a Russian descended, California raised, conservative, former General Conference Mennonite. To most of you that is just splitting hairs - but to this Old Mennonite, mid-western raised, German Mennonite - it's still a difference.

I really enjoyed this book. I guess I haven't said that yet. There is something deeply funny about irreverently poking fun at the heritage we all grew up with - no dancing, funny clothes, odd foods and a work ethic that simply never stops. There is also something interesting about reading the history of a woman who turned her back on the Mennonite world and chose a path to academia rather than Mennonite community connections, acts of service in the church and occupations that fit in the Menno framework. It is interesting that in all her expostulating about the benefits of turning her back - she certainly spends a lot of time noticing what is good about being a Mennonite. (Oh yeah - and she uses some really big words here and there)

So - how does this appeal to those of you who aren't Mennos? If you have lived near, worked with or been married to a menno you will probably understand a lot of what is being said. But, remember - all their weird foods are not ours. My family didn't grow up with such a love of cabbage! Thank goodness!!!

My recommendation...
This is a story of a 40 something woman on the wrong side of a marriage and a career who returns to her family to reconnect after a devastating car accident. She happens to be Mennonite. But, I think all of us in that time frame appreciate what it means to turn around and re-prioritize our lives! Her stories about camping with her family, her mom's odd conversation connections and the way the addition of in-laws both benefits and destroys a family are excellent and ring true no matter what your religious affiliation is.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay

2010-06-24T11:26:00.005-05:00

Another excellent read!!! Yippee...things are looking up!

This is the July book for our book club. It's the story of Sarah a 10-year-old French girl captured on an awful night in July of 1942, a truly horrible moment of French history. A moment that has been forgotten by many and that is why De Rosnay chose to tell this story!

On that night, the French police brought together thousands of Jewish families and eventually deported them to Auschwitz concentration camp. But it was not a straight deportation...instead the men were sent first, then the women and then...they didn't know what to do with the thousands of children...

De Rosnay tells this story through twin lenses. One is Sarah - the girl wakened from her bed that awful night and taken away. The other is Julia, an American journalist who has lived in France for 20+ years with her husband and daughter. Julia is assigned to write an article about the 60 year commemoration of that awful night. Through her research she discovers a connection between her husband's family and Sarah. You really care about the two characters! Sarah with a secret that drives her and tears her up and Julia caught on a path that wasn't at all what she expected.

Although the story is somewhat predictable, it doesn't keep you from rushing through the book. This is a story of layers of secrets spanning families, decades and oceans. The weight of those secrets is evident in their lives and attitudes. For some that weight is made heavier by the indifference of an entire population.

This book made me wonder at our ability to not care, our ability to turn a blind eye and choose to forget the unpleasant, and the darkness that forgetting invites into your life. It also made me wonder about how the ordinary and simple acts of people who care can have such a profound impact on those caught in tragedy!

Reminds me of Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum and The Kommandant's Girl by Pam Jenoff, with the strength of the female characters and time frame and the unexpected twists!

Read it!!!!

Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor

2010-06-23T16:38:00.005-05:00

This is a great read! What a wonderful heroine and what an awful mom! Addie is a sweet 12-year old left in a ratty old trailer with her bipolar Mommers. Dwight her step dad has had enough of Mommers' unwillingness to change and has had to divorce her...but he was not able to keep Addie and her step sisters together since he was not Addie's real dad. So, Addie does what she always does and adapts - to the deserted parking lot surrounding her trailer, to Soula the owner of the gas station on the corner and most of all to hiding Mommers disappearances from Dwight and Grandio, her dead father's dad.

Addie believes she doesn't have the 'love of learning' that her little sisters and mom have and that's why school is so difficult for her. But, with the help of her Vocabulary book, her growing musical talent her honest and open personality - she makes the transition to her new school easily...and even makes the orchestra.

But, Addie's life is measured out in the number of meals she can eek from her Mommers infrequent grocery stops and even more infrequent stays at the trailer. She longs to belong to someone other than her hamster, Piccolo. Then...tragedy strikes.

This is a poignant story about the struggles of a child shouldering the responsibilities and heartache of a parent's mental illness. You want life to improve for Addie - but you walk with her through the understanding that that probably means she can't be with Mommers...

Excellent!!!

The Mortal Instruments Series By Casandra Clare

2010-01-17T11:01:00.004-06:00

FINALLY!!!

This is the series I've been looking for. It was exciting. It was enticing. It was hard to put down. There was love, friendship, family issues, werewolves, vampires, mundanes (regular old humnas), demons and Shadowhunters (those who protect the world from the demons).

I LOVED IT!!!

It is a three book series following Clary Fray from her life as a nondescript New Yorker to a new life as daughter of the most powerful and corrupt Shawdowhunter with abilities to tap unprecedented powers against her evil father.

Clary meets Jace in a bar and is drawn to his power and his presence. Through Jace and his adopted siblings Alex and Isabel she is introduced to a world that exists just under the radar of mundanes understandings. A world filled with all the creatures of nightmares and ancient stories. A world her mother escaped from and hid her from. A world that is poised to be overthrown by an incredibly twisted man who just happens to be Clary's father.

These books were sort of Twilight meets Star Wars with a bit of Lord of the Rings thrown in...
Clary is a much stronger heroine than Bella who just seems to stand and scream and brood. There is some of that - but Clary gets it and taps into her own abilities. I liked Clary much more than Bella. And thankfully Jace is NOT Edward - although he is a bit moody. But his personality doesn't dictate Clary's world. Together they forge a friendship that strengthens each of them and prepares them for the final battle in City of Glass.

AND...unlike Twilight...these are not as predictable.

I read the final book - all 541 pages in an evening...and a morning...
I finished about 2AM!! They were recommended to me from an 8th grade math teacher!
I would whole heartedly pass on the recommendation!!!

An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon

2010-01-03T21:17:00.008-06:00

This is a whopper of a book - 800+ pages. It was the perfect Christmas vacation read.

But...

This wasn't quite that book...again I wanted to love this

But...

It's true I couldn't put it down. The story pulls you in to the verra verra Scottish place right beside Claire and Jamie. To the world where people can travel from today to the past in the circles of Scottish stones. A world where honor and family are defended to the death. A world where a love can transcend time and space. A world where 'bodices' may be busted! :)

But...

This wan't quite that book. This book spends so much time on the history of the American revolution, the details of battles and the people involved that it forgets Jamie and Claire. There three different story lines - English soldier, American fighters and Briana and Roger's story in 1980 Scotland. But there are just too many pieces!

The story has strayed away from simply Jamie and Claire - it sort of reminds me of ER on TV. I watched it faithfully for the first several seasons. I fell in love with the characters and I really cared...and then the story line seemed to loose it's focus. The show moved beyond the characters and I lost my love. That is the Outlander series today.

But...

The worst of the worst of the worst is the end...how can a book of 800 pages just end with every single story line up in the air. I was FURIOUS!!! Every single story line. Nothing cleared up - not even a pause. Instead it just stopped.

ARGH!!!

But...

I know that I will wait around to read the next book. I know that I will look forward to the story continuing. I want to know how this love story ends. I want to see it through.

But...

I want a book I can fall into and LOVE!!! Where, oh where is it?

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

2009-12-28T08:14:00.005-06:00

I have very mixed feelings about this one. I was really looking forward to reading this and wanted it to be the first "I JUST LOVED IT" book of my vacation reading....
and
it just wasn't.

The book is engaging and exciting. But there are so many holes. More than once I felt like I was watching a bad horror movie and yelling at the TV - Don't go in there!!!

Robert Langdon, the main character from Angels and Demons and DaVinci Code, is back. The book opens as he is flying to Washington DC to give a speech for his good friend Peter Solomon. When he arrives at the Capitol Rotunda - there is no speech and no Peter...instead he finds a severed hand, and the head of the CIA. And the book is off and running.

I am usually a reader who just takes the story as it comes. I am not overly critical and completely believe that every book has potential. But, this one really annoyed me. Langdon takes all his cues from cell phone messages from Peter's assistant...never Peter. The CIA director is completely alienating him because national security is at stake, but she is on Langdon's side. And Peter's sister, the brilliant mind scientist, can't seem to remember to use her mind in any situation. There is lots of tight places perfect for Langdon's claustrophobia - which he controls beautifully.

And then there is a mysterious villian who is tattooed from head to toe in blue. Every part of him - except the very top of his head...he is waiting to find the lost word which will open all knowledge to him after he tattoos it there - and he will do that himself after killing and maiming and kidnapping and all other bad stuff.

But, the most disappointing thing about the book is the end, after the end. The basic story is a search for ancient mysteries and knowledge hidden somewhere in Washington DC and guarded by the Masons. Langdon doesn't believe there are actual physical mysteries - but more symbolic. He is wrong...or that's what Brown wants you to think.

So the story basically ends - all is well
...and the book goes on.
I've really liked this technique in some stories. It grounds the characters in a reality when you get to see who they are after the excitement of the event. This isn't that sort of action. INstead this is 20 + pages of preaching and explaining and rambling that were totally not necessary.

So...would I recommend this?

I would.

It is exciting and filled with amazing wonders of our fore fathers and Washington DC.
But, it is way to preachy and too safe. Brown takes no chances here. The threat to national security is more like a threat to national reputation and the bad guy may be horrible to look at but lacks the horror of the albino monk.

Testimony by Anita Shreve

2009-12-23T18:34:00.003-06:00

I really didn't like this one either...I'm sort of on a roll here! And not a happy one!

This is the story of a horrible sex scandal at a small private Vermont school. The events were videotaped, posted on the internet and handed over to the headmaster. And lives are forever changed - three marriages destroyed, high school prospects evaporated and a life ended.

As one of the characters described...this is a story of doors. As the characters proceed from door to door - opening one after the other - there is no going back.

But, Shreve tells this story through 20 different narrators and not in chronological order. The opening chapter is the moment the headmaster watches the tape...from there it travels ahead two years to a researcher interviewing the main characters. The tale moves back and forth through time and through voices until the final chapters tie all the loose ends together.

So...
>the plot is incredibly depressing - especially if you are the parent of a teenager, work with teenagers or have any connection whatsoever with teenagers. these are the supposedly good kids in the school
>the story ignores conventions of narrator and time

There are redeeming moments...through out the entire book you read about a researcher seeking information about the events. The researcher is never identified. Just like the person holding the video camera is never revealed. Instead these two pay silent testimony to the events that unfolded around them - knowing all the sides, hearing all the secret details and sharing nothing. I sort of liked that.

There is also a sweet love story between two of the main characters - Silas and Noelle. It is innocent in a way that is in stark contrast to the events that open the tale. Silas is clearly two different people and it is only in the very end that you find out exactly why...why he cracked and why he opened a door that Noelle could not go through. That is really the only why that the reader discovers though.

The story is also about all the sides of a scandal. You hear from the main characters but you also hear from the fringe players - those who floated on the edges and reacted to the events. There were so many moments when the course of the event could have been changed - so many people who could have made a difference. But, when you hear their voices you realize the inevitability of this event.

Weighing the pros and the cons...

I wouldn't recommend it very strongly. It sort of reminds me of John Green's Saving Alaska. But much darker and more depressing - hearing from the adults somehow makes it even sadder!!!

Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult

2009-12-17T22:56:00.005-06:00

I must be done with grad classes - because this is the second book I've finished this week! Yippee!!!

I have broken one of my most steadfast rules - I had three books going at one time.
I NEVER do that!
But - none of the books held me in such a tight grip that I couldn't put them down. Instead, I kept picking up alternatives and hoping...

I am sorry to say this was one of the three. I sort of feel that Jodi has let me down. Either that - or I've read enough of hers that they are predictable.

This is the story of a broken family - Jane is married to the amazing marine biologist - Oliver Jones - eminent scholar on humpback whales. They have one 15 year old daughter Rebecca.

The story opens with Jane commiting the sin of all sins - she slaps Oliver in the heat of the moment - and takes off in her station wagon with Rebecca. This has been brewing for their entire marriage. In fact, she left Oliver once before and fled to her parents in the East. Oliver threatened to take away Rebecca - so Jane sent her back on an airplane - that crashed - in Iowa - What Cheer, IA. Rebecca was one of a few survivors.

Sounds intriguing doesn't it - I mean What Cheer, IA!!!

Now the part of this that I really didn't like...the story is told in many voices.
I usually like that...it adds depth and interest.
But Rebecca's story is told backwards. So the first chapter in Rebecca'a voice - is actually the last thing that happens. So you know of a horrific event from the very beginning... I HATED THAT!

Part of reading a book is anticipating - building up the plot to a culminating event. This does that - but it is such a let down after the awful event that Rebecca tells.

Not only that - but I really hate the ending. It is all wrong. It defeats the entire story. It just plain makes me mad!!!

So - I became very engrossed in the story. It has all the earmarks of Picoult's amazing story telling skills. But - I really didn't like the book.

Really didn't like the book.

Shucks!! That's not the way my vacation is supposed to go!!!

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

2009-12-15T21:07:00.008-06:00

I'm not sure this is the best book to break my reading haitus.
I wanted to like it.
I wanted to love it.
I wanted to see the beauty and the elegance in this.
But, instead it felt as prickly as a porcupine - not a hedgehog.

The story takes place in Paris. Renee is the dumpy, invisible conceierge in an upscale apartment building. She is also a closet snob and incredibly intelligent. Her whole theory is that she grew up as a poor, ugly woman and that is what she will remain..no matter what.

The other member in the house is Paloma - a 12 year old who has decided to commit suicide before 13. She believes that the world is a sad and unhopeful place one that she doesn't want to experience as an adult. But, she is also a very intelligent girl who decides to look for hope jsut to mae very sure that she is making the right decision.

The story follows these two women through a period of time. Then a new tenant moves in - Mr. Ozu a Japanese gentleman. Life in the building changes and the circles of these two intersect with Mr. Ozu.

The basic story is appealing and interesting - but there is so much other narrative about art and beauty and intelligence and blah blah blah...clearly I am not a part of the intelligent society.

So - I found myself skimming and scooting hoping for the story to open up and draw me in. Instead I just kept plodding along until it ended. I wanted to like it. I wanted to be in the know...but I've decided this proves that I am really not in the know!

Oh well!!!

You may have noticed..

2009-11-28T10:24:00.002-06:00

So - you may have noticed that my postings have become almost none existent in the past year. I am in the midst of a grad program in Library Science - that means toms of reading for class and I just haven't had the time to do my own reading...

But - the end is in sight! I finish in May.

So - stay tuned! :)

One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus

2009-11-24T20:46:00.002-06:00

I'm finally back to reading for myself...it felt really good. This was a great book to get me back to reading!! It was the October entry for the KE book club, Booker Babes. The club is meeting tonight... as you can see I'm not a part of it. It's just really hard for me to follow their schedule...

Back to the story.
First of all - this is a work of fiction...but the way the Indians are handled is not a fiction.

May Dodd was the first wave of a group of white women to be given to the Cheyenne tribes to bear children who would be welcome in the white world. May had been sent to an insane asylum due to her love of a man below her means, her life in sin with him, and her families overwhelming disapproval.

When a government agent arrived at the asylum to invite her to join this experiment...she didn't even hesitate.

Thus began her next life. A life that she could not even imagine. Her train ride across the plains, her love encounter with an army officer, and her subsequent marriage to the chief of a Cheyenne tribe called Little Wolf.

The book is told in a series of journal entries tracing May's life across the west. You can easily fall in to the story Fergus weaves, questioning if it is real or if it is fake.

This was a great read...a 1:00 am read!

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

2009-09-26T13:35:00.008-05:00

WOW!!!

Katniss lives in a world of the future.
...a world where the United States is no more.
...a world where each region is forced to send two of their children to the capital to take part in the Hunger Games
...a world that watches the Hunger Games each year
...a world that thinks children fighting to the death is some type of entertainment
...a world I hope to NOT be a part of

Katniss is changing that world without even knowing it. When she accepted her younger sister's place in the Hunger Games nothing will ever be the same.

This is a story that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The brutality and the desperation are perfectly balanced with Katniss and her vow to live...at all costs.

Read it!!!

Fire by Cashore

2009-07-23T08:19:00.001-05:00

Graceling by Cashore

2009-07-23T08:18:00.001-05:00

Whew!
I've kept myself away from fantasy for the entire summer and this was an amazing one to wait on. I devoured this!!

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork

2009-07-23T08:14:00.004-05:00

Marcelo, a 17-yr-old, high school senior who is also on the Autistic spectrum. Marcelo is fixated on two things...religion and his IM (inner music) – his own brand of inner noise.

Marcelo is anticipating his final year at Paterson - a school for disabled kids – and his job in the stable. Dad has other ideas he wants him to work at his law firm to get a taste of the real world. Dad makes a deal with Marcelo – if he follows the rules for the summer he will allow Marcelo to decide where he attends his final year of high school. Marcelo becomes a mailroom worker with Jasmine. She is open and honest and doesn’t really want him there. But, a friendship develops. Each gives the other a listening ear without judgements attached.

The law firm is defending a windshield manufacturer for negligence. The windshield is supposed to splinter and break instead it breaks in big pieces and kills and maims people. Marcelo and Jasmine discover a photograph of a girl who lived through the horror. Now, Marcelo must decide what to do – get in touch with the lawyer for the girl and share that the company knew about the problem, or stand by his dad…

It's a story of a young man entering the bigger world and figuring out what it means to stand.

This is an excellent book for anyone who has worked with kids on the spectrum. It really provides an insight into what their world is like. How scary, how exciting and how different their view is from what we accept as our reality.

I loved this!

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

2009-07-23T08:12:00.006-05:00

Laurie Halse Anderson is amazing! This is another book that has you on edge the entire time.

You enter the world of a Lia - a girl slowly starving herself to death. You hear her inner battle - the belief that hunger is strength. The desire to eat and the decision to stay strong. The understanding that driving requires some calories - but there is always a price to pay.

Lia is a senior who finds out that her ex-best friend, Cassie, has just died. Cassie was found alone in a motel room. Cassie had purged herself to death. She was bulemic and the wear and tear of her disease eventually killed her.

She died alone...
She called Lia over and over...
Lia ignored the calls...
Cassie is dead...

Anderson has a way of weaving a story in bits and pieces and before you know it you are embedded in the tale.

As I read this I kept debating if I really liked Lia. She had so many positives in her life, so many moments when others tried to reach out to her. But, she kept giving in to her own demons...until...

Lia's little step sister loves her, idolizes her and Lia becomes a different person with Emma. But, she crosses the line and Emma witnesses her downfall.

This is EXCELLENT!!

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

2009-06-26T17:19:00.006-05:00

I want to speak after I read this - I want to tell everyone I can to read this story. To read this story and then to listen very closely for the silence of those teenagers in your life. That is sometimes the only way they can really communicate!

Mel begins freshman year as an outcast by choice. As the world moves forward Mel is stuck – the words are stuck in her throat, her forward motion is stuck, her life is stuck. But, you the reader, don't really know why she is stuck... there are clues. But it's late in the book that Mel actually tells what happened that night at the party before school started.

Mel is ostracized for calling the cops on a party – when she was actually reporting something very different that underage drinking. How do you fit in after that? How do you get to the point where you even want to fit in? That is what Mel explores through this yearlong journey.

I don't want to say too much...I don't want to give anything more away. But, this is a heartbreaking story of a girl who just doesn't know how to move on. And then a teacher, not a cardboard cut-out adult, but a flesh and blood teacher, starts to break through Mel's shell.

Read it!!

Chanda's Secrets and Chanda's Wars by Allan Stratton

2009-06-26T17:00:00.006-05:00

Chanda is a spirited teenager growing up poor in a small city in a fictional African country. She is very smart and loyal to her mother and her family.

The story opens with Chanda buying the coffin for her 1½ year old sister. Chanda’s good friend Esther no longer attends school, but earns a living doing odd jobs for tourists (hooking). It is only after a horrible attack and rape that Esther admits that this is the only way to earn money to buy back her siblings following her parents’ deaths. Then mama becomes sick. She leaves the family to go to her ancestral home. Chanda goes seeking her and finds her almost dead in an old cattle shed. As Chanda brings her mama home the neighborhood is faced with a dilemma. They all know it’s AIDS, but no one can voice that. Chanda is tired of the secrets, calls it what it is and celebrates her mother’s life.

There are more secrets for Chanda to keep or share, but through this she grows from a young girl to a young woman.

Chanda's Wars picks up right where the first book stopped.

Chanda again attempts to save her family – this time from an evil rebel leader who steals children, brands and brainwashes them to fight in his army while he kills families and loots villages. When Soly and Iris are stolen Chanda tracks the group cross country with Nelson’s (the boy her family wanted her to marry) reluctant help. Using a bees’ nest, a slingshot and the cover of darkness, they create enough confusion to rescue Soly, Iris and Nelson’s brother Paka, maim General Mandiki, and escape into the bush.

This story deals with the awful realities the children in Africa must face as they are thrown into the midst of civil wars. When Soly and Iris are taken, General Mandiki tells them that to return to their family would be certain death for them and their loved ones. He brands them with a hot iron on their chests and tells them that noone will trust them if they see his brand.

Parts of this story reminded me so much of A long Way Gone. It is a reality that I hope we never have to experience!!

Looking for Alaska by John Green

2009-06-26T16:33:00.004-05:00

This is one of those angst filled high school books that I love! There are quirky characters, cardboard adult figures, and amazing pranks.

All sounds rosy at Culver Creek boarding school in Birmingham, Alabama. But...
(can't you almost hear the da da da daaaaa music)

Miles Halter decides his life as a nothing high school student just isn't enough - so he transfers as a junior from Florida to Alabama. He is roommates with Chip aka the Colonel. And the third leg of the friendship triangle is Alaska. An odd duck of a girl that every boy is in love with, every girl wants to be her friend, and she is driven by unspoken demons that rear their head when she is mighty drunk.

This threesome studies, dreams, smokes and plans pranks together.

Then tragedy... (there is that music again)
You knew there would be tragedy - that's how all these books work.

But, the book doesn't end with the tragedy -rather it divides the book into before and after. The chapters in the first half of the book are all the number of days before and the last half are the number of days after.

I really can't say much more... I don't want to give anything away. But, I really enjoyed this...

I will tell you there is an ongoing theme of trying to find your way out of the labyrinth - you can decide what it is that keeps you stuck inside the labyrinth. For Alaska it's suffering. For Miles it's invisibility. For Colonel -not sure...

A Hole in my Life by Jack Gantos

2009-06-20T16:17:00.002-05:00

This the first biography I've read in a long time. It's the second book for my YA lit class that we are reading together.

Jack has the writing bug – but can’t seem to figure out how to go about writing. Instead he floats through life making questionable choices, but not actually getting into much trouble until he meets Rik. Rik offers him the opportunity of his life – serve as second mate on a sailboat smuggling hash to NYC from St. Croix and earn $10,000. It seems like an easy way to make the money he needs to get into college – so Jack agrees.

The mission is doomed from the beginning, with storms, a broken sextant and a crazy skipper. But, Jack is hopeful. They arrive in NYC and aren’t caught until most of the hash is sold. Though Jack was not directly involved with the sale of drugs, he was an accomplice and put into prison.

Here his life begins to change. For the first time – he actually has something to write about. He uses the Brothers Karamazov as a journal and writes himself into a better frame of mind as he works in the prison hospital as an X-ray tech. After 15 months he is released.

The book is graphic in it's description of prison life and exploits. It is also very free in the details about doing drugs. I wanted to like Jack - but I really didn't care about him very much. So, if this was meant to be a cautionary tale about drug use - it was lost on me!!

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

2009-06-13T23:00:00.003-05:00

This is the first book for my YA Lit class. It was an interesting one to start with. I had read other Hinton books, but not this one.

Hinton does a great job of pulling you in to a gang of boys who look, from the outside, as if they have nothing going for them. Yet watching the events play out from inside - through Ponyboy's eyes - you have a completely different sense.

The story is told by a 14 year old on the edge of the gang, the school, the family. His is the textbook definition of an outsider from so many different angles. Yet, he also belongs to many different groups. He describes himself as a person who sees the sunset. His friend Johnny calls him Gold after Ponyboy recites a Robert Frost poem. Let's see - how may other 'greasers' would be able to recite poetry? How many non-greasers would be able to recite poetry?

I found the story sad, yet in a very detached way. Maybe it's because I am so many decades away from 14 - or maybe because this was an assigned book, but I wasn't able to sympathize the way I usually do. Instead, I could respect Ponyboy and the rest of the gang's perspective.

But, my motherly side wanted to shout at them and shake them and remind them that 'rumbling' will not make the problem go away, it only exacerbates it if they beat the Socs. So - for a pack of unmothered young men - they make some lousy decisions and come to some amazing ahha moments.

My favorite part is that it doesn't end at any event - instead it ends as it begins..."I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home."

The American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

2009-06-10T21:31:00.005-05:00

Hmmm.....
I starting reading this book with no preconcieved notions...it wasn't until after I finished that I read the reviews and the connections to Laura Bush. I even missed the disclaimer in the first page. I'm not slow or anything - I realized who the story was about - but I didn't understand that this was REALLY about Laura.

I have never been a fan of George Bush - not his politics or his demeanor. But, I believed that there must be more to him than we saw...because I really like Laura. She seemed to have it all. She was a librarian after all!! So he couldn't be all bad...he just couldn't be.

Then I read this book.

Now - I don't know.

I really liked the first sections. I liked the story. I felt for the difficulties of Alice's life. I appreciated her craving for quiet and peace. I also respected her choice of Charlie. He was what she wasn't. All that was easy and free in him was contained and uncomfortable in her. They were a perfect compliment.

But things changed. It is sort of like the picture on the cover. What a horrible choice for a cover photo. Alice is unpretentious and almost plain - and here is this headless torso in lace and gloves. Her wedding dress was described by her mother-in-law as peasanty. Clearly this isn't that Alice. Instead it's what she morphs into later...

That brings us to the last section - which I did not like at all. It felt like a big sloppy justification. The long monologues about why things were the way they were just annoyed me. It was as if Alice had forgotten things she had said earlier...like her feeling that Charlie explaining that he wanted his life to matter showed that it might not matter. Now Alice was caught in that same cycle.

I wanted to shake Alice and shout...you're his wife - why don't you talk to him??? How can you let him be such a jerk! How can you think that it's endearing??? How can you forget who you are?

This book made me not like Laura as much.

This story annoyed me like so many other "based on facts" stories do...I constantly wondered which details of Laura's life match Alice's and I'm not sure if I really want to know. I would rather watch her from afar. And keep liking her and disliking her husband. After all, my Fellowship in the library program is courtesy of Laura.

So - what's the bottom line? As a novel, I found the first sections interesting and endearing. I found the last section annoying - and I found myself skimming to find the thread of the story again.

Percy Jackson and the Olympiads; Books 4 & 5

2009-06-07T16:12:00.005-05:00

I just finished the last two books in the Percy Jackson and the Olympiads series. These are stories filled with battles...as Kronos the father of the gods is reconstituted with the help of Luke the traitor, Percy and Annabeth must battle first in a shifting labyrinth and later in the Empire State Building to save the known w

I liked these - but they were actually a bit more predictable than the earlier books. They were more driven by the action of battle than by the characters inside.

There were some interesting scenes though...
Rachel Elizabeth Dare, the odd mortal girl who can see through the mist.
Nico, the son of Hades, calling up a skeleton army and playing catch with a
hell hound
Annabeth and Percy finding the center of the labyrinth to be a modern day
labratory rather than an ancient dungeon

But, I think my favorite part is when Percy is chatting with Hestia, the goddess of the hearth. She is reminding him of the reasons people fight...to protect hearth and home. It was in that scene the Percy seems to grow up - to realize that this battle is real and he needs to focus on what is at stake.

Anyway - these are fun books filled with monsters, myths and lots of fighting! So - I of course loved them!!

Percy Jackson and the Olympiads; Books 1 - 3

2009-06-01T06:41:00.006-05:00

It's time for me to start reading for my next life...Middle school and High school library!

At the last of my classes I asked current librarians for some suggestions to get me started. This is one series they suggested. There are 5 books in the series and I've read the first 3 and really enjoyed them.

The story is about Percy Jackson, a typical ADD kid with dyslexia who seems to have a special talent for getting thrown out of schools. In the Lightening Thief he discovers who he really is. In an odd fight at the Museum of Natural History in NYC he kills his math teacher, who has turned into some kind of a flying bird/woman, with a pen his English teacher gives him. The pen magically turns into a sword that he somehow knows how to use.

After this incident he is whisked away to a summer camp like none other. It is the camp for the children of the gods. Each child has one parent who is Greek god from Mt. Olympiad. Some the kids haven't been claimed, like Percy. But during a to the death capture the flag, Neptune, the god of the sea, claims Percy.

Each of the next books takes Percy on some type of life threatening quest. It seems there is some prophecy that one of the children of the 3 most major gods, Zeus, Neptune and the god of the dead, will make a decision on their 16th birthday which will be the downfall of Mt. Olympus and the gods. Percy is thought to be that child. So the Titans, those who controlled the world before the gods, want to get him on their side and work to overthrow the current rulers.

So, if you are interested in Greek mythology and adventure - this is a great series. I really don't know much about mythology. I've read bits and pieces of the stories, but these books make them come to life. All the stories are interrelated and depend on one another. It sort of reminds me of the dirty laundry that is aired on Desperate Housewives - who is involved with whom and all the damage and the problems that happen because of that.

Even Percy's life. The big 3 gods had taken a vow after WWII not to have anymore children with mortals. But, each of them does. (It was their quarreling and their children's power hungry ways that started WWII.)

I have really enjoyed these and look forward to finishing the series soon!

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

2009-05-01T17:31:00.003-05:00

This is a depressing book and one that I really didn't want to read, and couldn't really stop.

The story flows from the everyday life of Ishmael in Sierra Leone. He is a young boy infatuated with rap music and the 'gangsta' world of hip hop. Then his childhood ends as the rebels take over the village where he lives. He is separated from his parents and all he knew ended.

I couldn't help but wonder how the children in my life would react. We live in a world of conveniences and ease. Ishmael lived in a world of story and family and love and hard work. As the story began he and his friends were walking 16 miles to a larger town to take part in a talent show. They never made it back to the home they left.

IC is 16 miles away...as I read I imagined children raoming the countryside between here and IC. Wandering around starved and searching for family and food. And finding only death.

The story is told in Ishmael's 10 year old voice. Through the yearnings to belong and be something. It is a told as a story - moving through a shady timeline. Weaving through the images and the happenings of the next several months. And they are awful...he must constantly kep away from the rebels and slowly make his way to the army. Yet that doesn't solve things either...

So, I kept reading - through the blood shed and the heartache. Knowing there must be a redemption...I found one. Ishmael was rescued. Against his better wishes he was sent away from the army into the arms of aid workers. These workers helped to rehabilitate him and reunite him with his uncle.

So - you breathe a sigh of relief. You relax. But, just like any horror movie, it isn't really over. The war finds them in the capital of Sierra Leone - his uncle dies and Ishmael just escape again.

I finished the book, I am glad I read it. And I understand why the images were necessary. But, that doesn't make me like what I read.

2009-04-19T20:34:00.001-05:00

Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum

2009-04-11T08:29:00.002-05:00

Wow! This is one of those books that begs you to not stop reading. I read late into the night and then stopped. I wanted to savor the last couple hundred pages. I was not disappointed!

This is a story of a mother and the decisions that she must make in an impossible time. Anna is the privileged German daughter of a wealthy and horrible man. She falls desperately in love with a Jewish doctor at the start of WWII. When the SS come to get Max she hides him in her home. It is here that she conceives her daughter.

Her father turns Max in and he is taken to Buchenwald, the camp near the town of Weimar where they live. Anna leaves her father's home and end up at the bakery run by a large woman with sympathies toward the Jews.

So, the next phase of Anna's life begins. After the birth of Trudy, she becomes the baker's apprentice. This continues until the baker make a fateful decision and Anna is left alone with Trudy. As she waits for her fate, a tall man with pale eyes and very small feet appears at the door. He is the head of the camp and he wants Anna for his mistress. Her choice...life or death.

The decisions made in the next several years never really leave Anna. The story moves between a modern day Trudy, searching for ways to deal with her silent elderly mother and the lives they lived through the war.

Trudy grows up knowing nothing of her history but for a small picture of her and her mother and a Nazi officer hidden in the depths of her mothers dresser drawers. Her mother refuses to say anything about their lives before being saved by Jack, the tall American.

It is through a research study on the lives of Germans during the war, that Trudy meets a man who knew her mother.

This is one of those stories that is filled with unanswered questions...why... what would I have done... is it ok...is survival worth it...

It reminds me of the Commadant's Girl and the Diplomat's Wife. Yet, it has it's own place. It is not the story of those living through the atrocities, but how those decisions continue to change the lives of the next generation. The war has ended, but the shame and the pain and the secrets continue.

I would strongly recommend this story!!! It would be another good discussion starter!

An Elegant Gathering of White Snows by Kris Radish

2009-04-04T11:08:00.003-05:00

I feel like I've very unelegantly slogged through those snows from the title. The premise of this book is wonderful...eight women have been gathering at different houses to connect with one another's lives. Then following a late night session when Sandy, a 40 year old admits that she is pregnant with her lover's baby, the group decides to start walking.

And that they do... they walk out the front door and into the media frenzy that centers on them.

But, because they are in rural Wisconsin, the police and the people respect their need for privacy and keep the media hounds and the curious and the nosy and the deranged away from them and allow them to walk... just to walk. Their identities are never revealed, they are never interviewed or photographed. They simply walk.

Sounds good doesn't it! As they walk they tell their stories, they cry and they laugh and they love and they heal and they gather the strength to change their lives. To face the past and to take a new step.

As the story of the walk unfolds there are the stories of the walkers told in their own voice. It makes you understand why it is they are on the walk. There are also snippets of those sent to watch the walkers, reporters, and police. And there are tales of women who gain the courage to change their lives due to the imagined courage of the walkers.

This is the kind of book I really like. I even wrote down a quote...
"But I have learned in these days to stop lingering on what could have been and to simply to head to what I need now." It totally spoke to me...

BUT I HATE THIS BOOK! The writing is awful. I kept slogging and slogging through needless description, ridiculuos personal preaching, political blahing and cliche after cliche. Radish is a columnist - she must have an amazing editor - because this book was just crying out for a red pen.

I never react this way.. The story was so good - but there is no way I can recommend this because it's just too painful to try to read....

Shucks!!!

Song Without Words by Ann Packer

2009-03-06T20:00:00.006-06:00

I really like Ann Packer, but there are moments that I really hate Ann Packer. She has a way of peeling back the covers we use to hide what we really are and her characters stand exposed in front of the world. It's not a pretty site, and it's absolutely beautiful!

Sarabeth and Liz grow up intertwined: best friends, neighbors, survivors. Sarabeth's mom commits suicide while Sarabeth is in high school. She moves in with Liz and her family when her dad flees the life he is left with.

Then the story speeds up to today...Sarabeth and Liz still live tangled lives. Liz is the responsible stay-at-home mom of two teens and Sarabeth has a series of 1/2 jobs and barely gets by on her bohemian lifestyle.

But - then things change...Lauren (Liz's daughter) attempts suicide...and life falls apart of one and all. Liz, who has always been the one on top, the one with it all together, the one who doesn't stumble has had her life shredded into tiny unfamiliar pieces. And she falls flat on her face.

So, Sarabeth, who's life has been a train wreck should be there to help her best friend...but she can't be. She is frozen in the hell of her own life. Hiding in a living room filled with tiny items scavenged from each relationship she has been a part of.

This isn't one of those books that is easy and fast and a true escape. No way..instead it's hard and uncomfortable and moves in spurts and stutters and is rather ugly for much of the time and then without anyone really noticing, it's better. It's life.

I waited and waited for the title to make sense.. Sarabeth comments a couple of time about the song she hears in her head. Near the end we find out that hearing the song is fine - it's when you start to hear the words that are in the song...that's when you need to be afraid! It was the words that drove Lauren to make four long cuts on one wrist and two on the other.

That gives me something to think about... me who listens to the negative voice in my head way to often...maybe I need to strain to hear the music instead! :)

The Grand Complication by Allen Kurzweil

2009-02-21T22:06:00.003-06:00

This one was for the future librarian in me. Alexander Short is an eccentric reference librarian at the NYC public library. His life is filled with call slips and odd jottings in his 'girdle' book - a book attached to his coat through a leather tab in the buttonhole. In the book he jots lists of oddities...a major oddity in itself.

Then he meets Henry James Jesson, an even odder old man. His interests lies in antiques, small spaces and a stolen watch.

He 'happens' to befriend Alexander and together they begin researching the missing watch to complete his antique compartment display.

Against Alexander's wife, Nic's, wishes he becomes more and more enmeshed in Jesson's life - to the point of moving into his house. It is there that Alexander discovers that Jesson has created the entire story and research - in his loneliness Jesson has created this elaborate scheme to gain a friend...what a loser!

Anyway - it was a book to be enjoyed by a future librarian for it's library humor - library references and library connections. Otherwise - it was not one of my favorites...a little slow, a little odd, a little too full of references to things and people I really didn't know...

one of my favorite quotes was...
"Remember library work is not science, whatever claims our profession might make. Never forget that luck and error are the handmaidens of all research." Hmmm....

The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold

2009-01-25T22:47:00.002-06:00

This is not one of my favorites...really not one of my favorites.
But, there were parts that lifted it up a bit. It is the story of Helen - a truly twisted tale of a murder. Helen is telling the story of the murder of her mother - and she is the murderess. (Weird word - murderess)

Anyway - Helen's mother is an agrophobe who has slowly smothered her...or so we think. Helen's father committed suicide years earlier. Helen has carried the weight of her mother in her outlook, her relationships and her very being. Murdering her should have lifted that weight - rather she is bound to the house, the body, and the braid that hung down her mother's back.

It's a dark story and very depressing!

But - there was a standout scene - that remains with me...Helen's father cared for her mother in a loving and doting way as he dealt with his own mental illness. She didn't really understand this until he took her to see his old home. It was in a town that had been moved due to a dam and the coming flood. But, the flood didn't really happen, instead it was more of an oozing of mud and muck which kept people out and caused the houses to die a slow death for a dejected place. It was there, in that empty world, her father found solace. There he created the family and the life he really wanted. He shared that with his daughter on a summer afternoon. Her father had created wooden cutouts of family scenes in the deserted rooms of his family house, scenes depicting events from his childhood and Helen's including the siblings that Helen would never have.

That scene seems to me to be the center of this story - a woman caught in an impossible life, a life that should have changed with a whoosh as she was freed from her mother through marriage and moving. Instead she was tied to the decaying life of her mother and the scenes of an imagined world.

So - I followed Helen through the day following the death of her mother. Hoping for some sort of resolution at the end...WRONG. It just ends...it just stops. I really hate that. That in itself made me decide how much I really didn't like the book.

Fairest by Gail Carson Levine

2009-01-15T22:00:00.003-06:00

The Sleeping Beauty story with more than a couple of twists. I can't say I loved this one - there are too many self-absorbed parts. But, the message is clear once again - LOVE YOURSELF!!! That seems to be Levine's overriding theme through all the redone fairy tales.

This is the story of Aza, an adopted daughter of an innkeeper in the singing land of Ayorthera. Aza longs for beauty - instead she is trapped in a large body with pale skin, too dark hair and bright red lips.

She travels to the court to see the wedding of the king with a crochety old woman who stays at her parents' inn. It it there that Ivi, the new queen, befriends her and takes her over. She also meets Ijori the prince who she is in love with. They become fast friends.

There is a mirror that talks, beauty potions, an injured king, odd songs in front of all the kingdom and lots of betrayal. Also gnomes, poisoned apples and weddings.

So - the old fairy tale turned on it's head and remade. Better? Hmmm.... read it and see.

Brother and Sister by Joanna Trollope

2009-01-14T14:23:00.004-06:00

This was a little slow for me...actually it was quite slow. The story revolves around Nathalie and David - adopted siblings. Nathalie has reveled in her adopted state, proudly proclaiming that she had no need to find her birth mom. Actually, she had some major connection issues and hid behind her difference - keeping others at arms length. Others including her husband. All were deemed different except David - he could really understand her problems, she thought. So, when she was ready to find her mother she assumed David, her puppy dog brother would do the same. Against David's judgement he did...

That's the premise. The story weaves between this brother and sister pair, their spouses, their adoptive parents and their birth mothers. None of the group seems really happy with the search process, much less the result. There are many disappointments - many sadnesses and many bad decisions....

Sounds like just the book for me - but for some reason I couldn't really care about these two. They both annoyed me with Nathalie's certainities and David's inability to make a decision. And their spouses were no better.

So - I slogged through this and finally can put it back on the shelf at school!!

Patty Jane's House of Curls by Lorna Landvik

2008-12-28T16:54:00.003-06:00

Yes, this is my vacation and the way I unwind is to speed read. So, at the start of vacation I made a stack of books I hadn't got to - and I'm working down through the stack.

Lorna Landvik is another of my favorite authors - a good mid-western voice - lots of quirky characters, some heart ache, some tears both of joy and sorrow and a happy rather expected ending. Just what I need on a cold Sunday afternoon! Patty Jane didn't disappoint.

Patty Jane and her sister Harriet are the children of alcoholics - the connections between them deeper than some sisters due to this shared burden. Patty Jane falls deeply and soundly in love with Thor - gets pregnant immediately after their marriage and then Thor promptly disappears a few days before his daughter's birth. Meanwhile Harriet is swept off her tall and shapely legs by little portly Avel. Their love is deep and passionate. Avel, an older rich man leaves on a business trip in the months before their wedding and dies in a plane crash. Sound like a love story?? Or just a tale to compare your life to and come out on the winning side?

The book goes on from there. That's one of my favorite parts of Landvik's writing. Many books end as the heroine is left alone and empty -yet somehow triumphant. Landvik's story, like life, continues.

Patty Jane, Ione (Thor's mom), Nora (the daughter) and Harriet create a life for themselves in the beauty parlor attached to their house - the House of Curls. But, it's more than only a beauty parlor, they begin to offer classes on everything from the NASDAQ to art appreciation. And the women of the town respond.

Then Landvik really offers a punch - a mysterious stranger, a long lost and completely changed love and a nasty cancer death.

Again, the story continues...

Anyway, I loved it in the same way I love my ratty old sweatshirt and warm fuzzy socks. It warmed me up both on the inside and the outside - and yes I shed a couple of tears... :)

City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

2008-12-27T16:18:00.002-06:00

This is one of those fast and furious young adult books. It's a bit predictable, but still fun.

The premise is a city that was set up underground due to some upcoming catastrophe on the topside. The city has been happily churning along for 200 years - and now things are running out and being used up and falling apart.

When the Builders created the city they left escape instructions for the mayor of the city to be passed down from generation to generation - unfortunately, that didn't quite happen. Now noone in the city is aware there was a before, an above ground, another way of life.

Enter two kids - 12 year olds just graduating from school. On their final day of school each school child draws a job which they will do for the next 3 years. These important jobs keep the city running. Lina is made messenger and Doon begins his work with the pipeworks.

Lina loves running but dreams of another city - one of light and color and tall buildings. Doon has a sense that he is supposed to do something important to help the city - which he sees falling apart in front of his eyes. Then Lina discovers a secret - the secret of escaping Ember. No one will believe her or Doon when he discovers the Mayor is stealing from the underground stores. The two are labeled as problems.

Together they take off to try to find the way out.

From the pictures included in this movie edition of the book - Hollywood has done it again. The story thousands will see on the screen is not the same as the one I read on the pages of the book. Are we surprised???

I would recommend this to any kiddo or adult ready for a quick and easy adventure.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

2008-12-27T07:19:00.003-06:00

This is the first novel I've had to read for my library science classes! It made me feel like a real librarian! :) Our assignment was to read a book on a banned list. I've never read this one - so here was my opportunity. I read East of Eden several years ago and remember feeling the same way when I got to the end...is that really what life is like? How depressing...

Lenny and George are ranchmen in California - working the land and moving from place to place. That is an oddity - two men traveling along together -George looking after Lennie. But, Lennie needs it, he is incredibly strong and not incredibly smart. He reacts to fear by squeezing - mice, dogs, women. The results are not good.

George keeps weaving this word picture of the perfect little ranch to Lennie - a nice little place with their own animals and Lennie can raise rabbits. George describes it to Lennie like a parent would tell the same bedtime story over and over. The comfort is in the repetition, and Lennie responds.

Their dream begins to spill over to Candy, an old swamper at the current ranch. Candy has the money that they need to get their dream started. But...

Lennie gets scared, makes a mistake, it wasn't really is fault, but he is the culprit. Now, George has a decision to make. At what point is Lennie more of a liability than a responsibility? And, what do you do? George must decide.

So, this book lines up a row of misfits who have created a 'family' of sorts. Each knows they are not of the norm - except Lennie. The fragile strings that tie him to George break on one warm Sunday afternoon. George's solution to the problem leaves me sad and a little empty. Is that really our life?

So -why would this book be on the banned list? Hmmm...interesting quesition...

Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson

2008-12-21T22:48:00.003-06:00

Alright -I admit this title was just too odd to overlook. When I saw it in the book order - I had to scarf it up! Evil librarians??? It's something I had to know more about - since I am trying to become a librarian and all. And what I found out made me wonder...no, not really.

This is an odd book about an odd boy and his odd family and their odd war against the librarians who control all the knowledge of the world and dish it out slowly to the Hushlanders of the known world. This knowledge keeps them docile and content to fill their head with empty garbage instead of seeking out the truth of the Free Kingdoms, of which Alcatraz and his family are a part.

Sound odd enough?

This was a really fun book to read. There are all sorts of interesting quotes and comments focused at the Hushlanders and their inability to discern what the truth is even when it is right in front of them. And the librarians who control them by controlling the knowledge are the all powerful rulers.

It is just the reverse of the Noah Wylie movies about the Librarian. There he is the keeper of knowledge for good. Here they are the keeper of knowledge for evil.

So, what does that really say about librarians? Is the world a little in awe of the knowledge they are privy to? Maybe that is why they 'hide in the stacks' and make everyone keep quiet. The knowledge is just too much to deal with...hmmm.

Interesting thoughts on a odd little book...

Oh yeah - and today truly marks the beginning of vacation -this is the third book I finished today... YIPPEE!!!

The Killer's Wife by Bill Floyd

2008-12-21T13:22:00.003-06:00

This is a fast and involved book. I read it this morning...ok -I'll admit I did skim some of it. :)
The basic premise is Nina Mosely, the ex-wife of a convicted serial killer is found out by one of the victim's fathers'. As she reels with the way her new world has crashed down she is most concerned with her 7-year-old son's perspective. He thought that his father was convicted of robbery and killed in prison. Unfortunately, that was not quite the case.

This crazed father believes that Nina somehow was involved in the murders and just covered up for her husband. So the book jumps back and forth through time -from the beginning of their relationship to the birth of their son and the moment of the discovery of his horrible crimes.

The story becomes more intense when one of his 'victims' turns up to carry on the job that Randy Mosely didn't finish.

This is a quick and intense book. It answered some of the continuing quesitons - how can the family not know...and how can you deal with the guilt of not knowing...
But, it didn't answer why she was spared. He had started killing before he met her - but she lived why??

That is part of the guilt she has to carry.

I'd recommend this as escapism.. in a creepy sort of way!

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

2008-12-21T09:37:00.004-06:00

I'm not sure about this book... I read it really slowly - due to class assignments and the Twilight books, they were a little more compelling. So, it's hard to give a very good read on this book.

This is one of those quiet stories - a bit depressing - about how life is not what you thought it was going to be. Four main characters slowly spin the story of their lives as they come closer and closer to crossing paths. And all of it is tied to the book The History of Love.

There is Alma, the young girl, pining after her died father, her mother who is translating the book from Spanish to English for an unknown man, the brother, Bird, who believes he is some type of Jewish hero and Leo Gursky, the original author of the book.

Each of these people's gripe on reality is tinged with the loss of the love of their lives. A loss from which they really can not recover - instead they are all sleep walking through their lives. It is especially awful for the children.

So, you see this is not the griping book that I needed to read right now - instead I would read a little, put it down and promptly forget.

I always like books that follow separate threads and use different storytellers perspectives, so I think this would be one that I could have really liked at a different time....

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

2008-12-01T22:10:00.003-06:00

This has to be one of my all time favorite books. I just finished reading it out loud to my 4th graders. I have probably read it 15+ times and I never get tired of it!

What a great story!

It has something for everyone - silly dog stories, the action of the hunt, the nasty Pritchard boys and the simple life of a country boy in the hills of the Ozark Mountains.

I get choked up every time I read it. But, it's interesting that different things hit me now. I identify so much more with the Mother - she is always worried and jumping to conclusions about how dangerous everything is. Well, as my daughters have grown - I understand that more and more.

Anyway - I would recommend this to anyone who needs a heartwarming read about the innocent love between a boy and his dogs!!

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

2008-11-29T09:15:00.004-06:00

Well - I finished them all.

Of course, now I wish I was still in the midst of Bella's story.

This is the longest of the four books - it is also my least favorite of the books. Odd things happen in here - things that I did not want to happen.

In the end all is well, but I was not happy with the direction Stephanie took some of the characters. Some of it was just too contrived, too neat and tidy even for a vampire. The tension wasn't as real as the other books. I found myself just wanting to finish some parts.

But, as a whole the books hang together very well. I can't imagine reading them over the course of years - I was so immersed I couldn't stop reading!!

I still say that Jacob is my favorite!

Read these!!

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyers

2008-11-28T20:41:00.005-06:00

OK - This is just as good!!
Or is it better??
I can't quite decide.

Bella is the center of all again. Her life is is spinning closer and closer to the moment when she will change from human to vampire at her own choosing. Or will she?

I don't want to give anything away!

READ IT!!

New Moon by Stephenie Meyers

2008-11-28T20:34:00.003-06:00

The second book - I really liked this one almost more...almost. I think that Jacob Black is my favorite character. He is honest, and real. Unlike Edward - all polished and perfect and poised. Bella is not that way - so what in the world is going on???

This book starts great and spirals out of control very quickly. Edward decides that the way to keep Bella safe is to erase himself from her life.

Bella does not react well - Bella melts down to the core - and Jacob is there to slowly put her back together. He has his own secrets and Bella slowly unravels them as she begins to put herself back together.

There is still danger surrounding her, but Jacob is keeping her safe.

And then - Edward returns...

There is another scary episode with Bella in the middle - of course.

This is another really good one and I flew through it too!!!!

Twilight by Stephenie Meyers

2008-11-28T20:19:00.004-06:00

Let's just say I read this book in a flash!!

And the next one...

And the next one...

So we start here. Bella Swan is a new kid at the Forks Washington High School. She has moved from sunny Phoenix to live with her father in dark and rainy Washington. And there she meet... Edward Cullen. A high school boy like no other - really like no other. He is a vegetarian vampire. But that's getting ahead of the story.

Bella is drawn to Edward and against Edward's better judgement he is also drawn to her.

Bella uses her friend Jacob Black, a local native American, to find out about this odd man and his family. Jacob tells her a story about an ancient truce made between some 'bloodsuckers' and his great grandfather's tribe. From there Bella guesses just what Edward is. Instead of scaring her away - the knowledge seems to draw her even closer to Edward.

As their friendship grows to something more - Bella draws bad luck and pain to her from all over.

This is a love story - a romance between two unlikely people. The fact that one is a vampire gives it a twist. But the story flies and draws the reader in.
Stephanie Meyer is quite a storyteller!!!

Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer

2008-11-13T18:08:00.006-06:00

Another great adventure with the boy genius, but this time it's two boy geniuses...and both are Artemis.

Artemis's mother is dying of a horrible disease that he himself infected her with by using magic to wipe her memory. If the guilt of that isn't enough - the only cure is brain fluid from an extinct animal that a younger Artemis sold into extinction.

The only solution is for Artemis and Holly Short to go back in time to the moment of the sale and rescue the Lemur.

As in all Artemis books, what sounds clear and easy is anything but. The young Artemis is a devious and conceited thing who is not easily swayed from his path, selling the Lemur to the Extinctionists for bucket loads of money.

Then in typical Colfer fashion there is a huge surprise!

This is a head scratching book, though.
If Artemis hadn't gone back in time, his mother may not have gotten sick, but because his mother was sick, he had to go back in time. Thus the paradox.

So, it got me thinking about time travel. Would I want to be able to go back and change things? Are there things I think I need to change? Hmm...

Artemis had the opportunity to try to alter a wrong - but that alteration created a much bigger wrong. So, how big a wrong would it need to be to justify the costs? I think I'm glad this is only hypothetical!!

Oh My Stars! By Lorna Landvik

2008-10-21T21:00:00.003-05:00

Another Landvik gem. I love her quirky characters and her northern settings. The people ring true because they are like the people that we know...

Here is a story of a woman who has had all the hardship life has to offer before she is 16 - her mother ran off, her father abused her and neglected her, she was dreadfully poor and only had a tree to love. Then life started to improve - she got a factory job in a thread factory, made friends and began to see life differently -but on her 16th birthday her life changed...she lost an arm in a accident, her ears filled with the buzzing of bees and there didn't seem to be a reason to continue on...

So, Violet boards a bus to San Francisco to jump off the Golden Gate.

Then life starts to throw her a rope...there is a bus crash and she is rescued by two unusual musicians - Kjel (prounced Shell) the most amazing looking blond North Dakota has to offer and Austin the blackest of all black men with the largest vocabulary of smooth and high talk. That crash and rescue change the course of Violet' life.

Austin and Kjel are musicians and they invite Violet to join them on a whim. They begin an amazing band called the "Pearltones." They start a tour with Austin's brother Dallas through the small towns changing their lives and the lives of those who hear them play through a very memorable summer.

In typical Landvik fashion nothing seems to go like they planned. But, life continues. Also in Landvik fashion, this book covers Violet's life from childhood through her old age with many stops and starts and curves and twists in between. It is filled with music and beauty and characters that I wish I could meet!

The title is from Kjel - each morning he greets the world with "oh my stars!" a prayer and a song to the beauty of the heavens and world that was created around him!

I loved this!

Singing Hands by Delia Ray

2008-09-21T21:39:00.006-05:00

My good friend, Phyllis, recommended this book to me. She knows my connections to sign language. It's one of the new books in our school library this year.

Here is a great moment in time captured by the granddaughter of two deaf grandparents.So, it's based on many real family stories of Delia. The story centers around Gussie who hates that her deaf parents aren't like everyone else in Birmingham. It all comes to a head one hot summer. It begins with her humming loudly during the worship service at the deaf church where her father it the minister - she and her two hearing sisters are the only ones that can hear her.

Her nasty and obstinate side continues through clandestine searches through the boarders rooms upstairs and continues to her skipping Sunday school at the hearing church downtown. All this naughtiness comes to a screeching halt when she is discovered. Her punishment is a very eye-opening experience which changes the way she sees her family and her life.

I worked with hearing impaired students for 2 years in Ohio and lived with a hearing impaired adult. Nancy taught me sign language and a whole lot more. I think she would really like this book.

Nancy grew up in the mid 70s when signing was still not really very accepted. She went through hearing schools and was proud of her lip reading abilities. That is until she went to Galludet College in Washington DC. It was there that she understood and embraced what it meant to be deaf. She completely changed her life. She became a teacher of deaf children - starting a preschool for deaf kids in Wooster, OH. That's where I came to know her. Today, Nancy is teaching deaf children in Belize.

This book made me think about what life was like for Nancy - growing up different. When I lived in Ohio, Nancy and I went out to eat one time and sat at the table signing back and forth to each other. I didn't really think about it until the waitress came to our table and didn't know what to do. She stood and stared and then bent over and very carefully and clearly asked us for our order. There was a moment when I had to decide what to do... I answered her, she blushed and moved away. In that moment - I understood what it really felt like to be different - to be deaf.

Mercy by Jodi Picoult

2008-09-12T19:53:00.005-05:00

WOW! This is one of those I couldn't put down - until I got mad! Then I stopped. I didn't want it to end. I wanted it to end. I wanted to go to sleep. I couldn't go to sleep. I was a mess! I don't know whether to thank Kim for recommending it or to be mad at her for messing with sleep again!

This is another amazing Picoult story. She has a way of drawing the reader in to a world that you didn't even know you wanted to experience. I am so impressed every time I read one of her books. Even the one I really didn't love (Tenth Circle) - still drew me in to the story!!

The story opens with a garage sale. A woman has taken every bit of her husband's paraphernalia out of the house and displayed it on the lawn to be sold... she is more interested in emptying the house than in making money. Because of that - everything but a few pairs of boxers is sold. When her husband comes home that night he sees the remains of the sale as his wife walks away across the lawn.

This is a story about that kind of all or nothing love. There seems to be no gray. A commitment can not be partial. So - the solution is just as complete.

Anyway - this is the story of two marriages with many similarities and startling differences. Jamie and Maggie enter the story as Jamie climbs out of the cab of his pickup in front of the police station announcing that he killed his wife who was sitting in the cab beside him. Cameron, the police chief and his overly devoted wife Allie react very differently to this moment. Cameron with the weight of his position as the chief of his clan and Allie as a woman who understands giving yourself for another person.

Then Mia, enters the story and Cam is tempted in a way he never expects.

You can probably guess what will happen and you will only be partially right.

Read it!!

This was chosen for our October Book club book - Booker Babes!

March by Geraldine Brook

2008-08-24T16:28:00.008-05:00

This is our August Book Club book.

It has been a long time since I read Little Women...a really long time. I remember the movie much more than the book.

Because of that, I came to this book as much more of a stand alone. I didn't know what to expect and I think that helped. I can't say that I enjoyed the book - it took me quite a while to get into it. But I was intrigued. March actually tried to live what his ideals called him to do. I got tired of his pie in the sky attitude and his inability to really engage in the world around him. It especially irritated me when he was in the hospital at the end.

But, it is in the midst of that scene that I found my very favorite part. Marmee was really giving it to March for wanting to go back to the war and single handedly right all his imagined wrongs. Her comment, "You are not God. You do not determine the outcome," resonated with me.

I think this is one of those little blips in my soul that I keep forgetting. Every time I think it is my responsibility to remake the life of a child, to be the one to break through a difficult shell or to make the leap that brings the understanding of reading to a 4th grader, I have forgotten this fact. I am but one. It's not all up to me...instead it's up to all of us to do our part.

I couldn't help but ponder the Iraqi war we are embroiled in. What do my ideals call me to do? March joined the cause with one set of ideals - faced something completely different as he tried to work within the army and then came against a new set of realities working on the plantation with Ethan. So much that he thought he knew and understood was false. Is that the way war still is? I can imagine the soldiers coming home from Iraq are faced with the same turmoil that March was as he tried to connect with the far away world of his family.So, although this is a story about blacks and whites - I think many parallels can be drawn between Muslims and Christians.

Would I say this was one of my favorite books? No - but I'm glad I read it.

State of Fear by Michael Crichton

2008-08-09T14:23:00.005-05:00

I haven't read a Michael Crichton book for a long time. This was just the book I needed to escape. My grandfather died this week and I wanted something to make me forget all the things I needed to do and relax. State of Fear is one of those books that you need to be fairly focused on - there are lots of things going on - because it makes you questions what you thought you knew.

The basic premise is an environmental agency that is a money sucking hole and to convince people of the need to donate money to the global warming crisis - they create climate events to scare peoples checkbooks open.

Peter Evans, a mild mannered lawyer, gets sucked into crisis by representing George Morton, an odd duck of an environmentalist and a very rich man. George begins to become disillusioned with NERF, the environmental group he is funding, and starts to ask many quesitons. Drake, the leader of the group, becomes suspecious and begins pressuring George to change his mind by threatening to kill him. After a drunken acceptance speech - George is killed in a fiery car crash.

Peter thinks things are over, but then he meets Kenner, George's accomplice and a naysayer for all things environmental. Actually, he isn't a naysayer - but a questioner. He pushes Peter to question all he knows about global warming by presenting studies and facts that contradict the general understanding. As Peter becomes more and more embroiled in whatever is happening with NERF, his life is threatened in the Anarctic, in the desert of the Southwest and finally on a little island in the Pacific - that one is the most gruesome - he learns there are still cannibals...

I really enjoyed this book. Although it helped me to escape - it also forced me to think about what I understand and what I believe. It made me believe that the only way to escape this state of fear is to trust in things that are not of this world! :)

Enjoy this!

ps - I read this outloud to Rod right after I finished! So - this should actually count as two books. I think I liked it even better the second time around!

An Unfinished Life by Mark Spragg

2008-08-03T15:08:00.004-05:00

This is a great read! Another story of a single mother and a remarkable daughter. What is it about single mothers and their daughters?? This is the story of Jean and Griff her daughter. Jean has bounced from one awful man to another. Roy the last boyfriend beats her and Griff finally convinces mom to leave him - to leave Iowa. They take off for the ocean - but their car spontaneously combusts near Estherville. They have enough money to catch the bus to the little hole in the wall town in Wyoming where Jean grew up and to the grandfather that Griff never knew she had.

There is bad - awful bad blood between Jean and Einar, the grandfather. But, Griff is just what the relationship needed. Griff is the unpretentious little girl that sees all and quietly helps the situation.

Jean is only agreeing to stay for a month. Mitch, the black cowboy that Einar has cared for since a bear mauling, becomes Griff's friend and slowly things begin to work out. Until the night the Einar sees Jean in his dead wife's dress. Words are said, Jean runs again but this time Griff puts down her foot and runs back to the ranch.

Life gets interesting as a bear freeing escapade goes wrong, Roy shows up again ready for blood and Jean finds out that life in a small town can be utterly amazing- everyone is watching out for you!

Anyway - i really liked it. It was a bit predictable, but the language is beautiful and you really like Griff - like her a lot. And the secrets that all the main characters keep are dolled out slowly - you get to savor the knowledge, just like Griff does.

Quick and fun read.

The Friday Night Knitting Club

2008-07-21T21:14:00.004-05:00

It's been a while since I've been into a book. This was a great book to lose myself in! When I started reading this I thought I had it all figured out. Self-suffecient Georgia - single mom, business owner, beautiful and focused. She doesn't really need anyone. But, there is a big hole in her heart created by James the absent father of her wonderful daughter Dakota. Georgia plays it safe and carefully creates a place where she is in control of everything...

Georgia has an amazing mentor named Anita. She met her on a park bench in Central Park when she was pregnant and sad and scared and knitting. With Anita's encouragement she began knitting for hire, opened a store and made a successful knitting store in New York City instead of running home to her parents in Pennsylvania. She surrounded herself with interesting friends - but she was always the one in control, always the one they went to.

So, I expected James to come back break her heart and leave her to depend on the other women of the knitting group...

But, things didn't go that way. Kathy - the best friend turned back-stabbing, college spot stealing Cat - shows up and wants to make up with Georgia.

Slowly that happens. Very slowly

Then something awful happens that made me sob and sob!! And I'm not telling you anything!
Just read the book!!

The View From Mount Joy by Lorna Landvik

2008-06-22T15:41:00.003-05:00

This is WONDERFUL!! I laughed and I cried and I couldn't put it down. It's a classic Landvik!!

This is the story of Joe Andreson and finding his view of Mount Joy!

He's your typical high hockey star - a good kid whose father was killed and whose mother is trying. So, the story opens with Joe moving to Minneapolis as a senior in high school. Joe becomes fast pals with Darva, the girl who is amazing, but doesn't quite fit in and Kristi Casey the girl who is everything and will let you know that. Joe and Darva have a deep friendship that stays a friendship for a lifetime. Kristi is a user of everything: drugs, people, money, prestige, and most of all Joe. She pops in and out of his life at her whim. Joe falls under her spell for brief moments and then comes back to his real life.

And it's Joe's real life where the story actually is. He fills his life with friend - Ed Haugland being one. Ed is the saddened middle age man who owns Haugland Foods. Joe works for him and plays keyboard for him and stays with him as he slowly dies of MD. And Joe inherits the store he doesn't really want, But, it is the store where Joe finds his joy! On a slow day he decided to start odd little contests - all the groceries you can gather in two minutes for free, a free pie if you are buying eggs, a box of books if you can recite a Walt Whitman poem. The contests are often rigged to share with the less fortunate (grocery run) or to meet a newcomer-eventually to be wife (eggs) or to get others to meet.

As the grocery store becomes more successful, Joe's family grows and thrives and Kristi's star shoots across the sky as the voice of God. Her radio and then TV personea hidden by the layers of makeup and the talk that she spews. Yet, when she is really down and out - it's Joe she calls and Joe who is her friend.

I LOVED this book. Why? The fake of Kristi is so perfectly played against the reality of day to day joy of Joe's life. What we think we want way out there is not what we need close to home. Joe finds his Mount Joy right beside him as he watches his two sons and Darva's daughter who is now his daughter, as he stands close to Jenny the love of his life whose flute playing enchanted him the night he discovered his mother was an amazing teacher and his aunt was gay.

By the way, Mount Joy was named for the spot where Kristi and Joe stood and watched the most amazing northern lights in a drug induced state. Later, Kristi claimed that was the moment she first heard God speak her name. Joe remembers it as a time they stood in awe of nature and the pure happiness of friendship.

So, what is the view from your Mount Joy? Is it a place where secrets are shared and stories are told? Or is it the amazing view of a life lived well? Hmmmm.....

The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies

2008-06-22T15:24:00.004-05:00

This is a great example of the cover and the title intriguing, but the book not quite living up to their potential.

The story takes place in Wales right after D-Day. It follows Esther, a Welsh girl and Karstan, a German prisoner of war. It sounded like a book you could curl up with and loose yourself in. Unfortunately, I just wasn't able to do that. It moved rather slowly. There seemed to be gaps in my understanding of what was happening, or things I should have already known, or I just was skimming too much! Esther's father is a very nationalistic Welsh shepherd who would much rather be working in the slate quarry. But, do to a strike years before and failing economy, he is stuck with his sheep. Esther is also stuck - she has been proposed to by Rhys was he was getting ready to leave for war. She quickly turns him down. Then in the opening scene of the story, she is attacked by her English date. She tells no one and as the story plods through you discover that she is pregnant - long before she ever admits it to herself. The village is the new home of a POW camp for captured Germans. Karstan appears here after he surrenders. He is also trapped; by the fence, by his understanding of English and his deep realization that Germany will loose the war, by the hopes of his mother and the hero status of his WWI father.

As the book slogs through time the characters slog through their unwanted lives.

For a WWII book about the winning side - there is very little euphoria, very little hope. Instead it's like Esther's ride to Ireland on the train for an abortion. As they arrive in town and she sees the extent of the bombing and destruction she imagines all the places she will never see, all the experiences she will never have all the possibilities that no longer exist because the war has changed them - not only the landscape - but who they are.

So, it's hard to recommend this very strongly. There are some beautifully written passages - but the pace is as slow as the winters in the war!

Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon

2008-06-05T16:05:00.003-05:00

I have loved the Mitford books and Father Tim for many years. Some of the books have been a little slow in the middle of the story. But, I have always resonated with the real christianity that Tim tries so hard to live. He is more than the sum of his parts - he is human and God-filled. But, there is a dark and depressed side of Father Tim. A side that stays hidden much of the time. This is the book that explains it all. Here are the answers.

Tim travels by himself back to Holly Springs, Mississippi after receiving a letter - no name, nothing more. The letter simply asks him to come. And so he does, not having any idea why. He has a whole group of people to look for in Holly Springs - Willie with only one thumb, Tommy Noles his best friend and blood brother, Peggy, who raised him and Louis and Sally from the farm. His family has long since died - but their ghosts seem to surround Holly Springs.

What Tim finds is much, much more than he imagined. It is the story of a past of questions being answered. Not always the way he would have wanted them to be answered, but answered they are. In the midst of this search he also makes new friend, T and Ray who are restoring his old home, Red at the hardware store. Each of these fills a place for him.

The story also features Cynthia, his amazing wife and Dooley his adopted son.

It's been quite a while since I've read any of these stories -and I have to say - this is one of the best!