Book By Book

Books Read in January

2012-02-01T16:47:00.000-05:00

This is one of the strangest winters ever. That tiny dusting of snow in the photo is all that we've seen in January; yesterday and today it was 60 degrees outside! I'm not complaining, but it does seem weird.

I think my reading year is off to a good start, though! Here's a recap of what I finished in January:

Great House by Nicole Krauss, a novel by the author of A History of Love.
Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls, a half-novel, half-memoir about the author's grandmother.
Divergent by Veronica Roth, a hot teen dystopian novel.
The Novice: A Story of True Love by Thich Nhat Hanh, a Thai folktale that illustrates the tenets of Buddhism, listened to on audio.
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick, a wholly unique and amazing middle-grade novel.

I'm still in the midst of an audio book and an adult novel, as well. So, I read 2 grown-up novels, listened to another, and read one teen novel and one middle-grade novel - a nice variety. I enjoyed all of these books - do I have to pick a favorite? Wonderstruck stands out, as it was just so captivating and one-of-a-kind. Half Broke Horses was my grown-up favorite of the month (but even grown-ups will find Wonderstruck compelling).

I am already making progress on my 2012 Reading Challenges, with one dystopian novel this month and one for my What's in a Name? challenge. So far, I have visited 3 states and 2 countries in my reading: Arizona, Illinois, Minnesota, Israel, and Thailand. All in all, a good reading month.

What were your favorite books read in January?

Top Ten Book Club Picks

2012-01-31T18:52:00.000-05:00

Today is Tuesday, and that means it's Top Ten day over at The Broke and the Bookish! Today's topic is Top Ten Books Book Club Picks. Back in 2009, when I used to do my own Top Ten Tuesday lists, I posted a list of favorite book club picks (check out my earlier list), so I thought today I would stick to books I have read since then. Some of these I did read for one of my book groups; others I read on my own but was dying to talk about them with someone! What all of these books have in common is that they are not only interesting and well-written but guaranteed to spark some good discussions. I skipped over the obvious choices and tried to highlight some you may not be familiar with:

Top Ten Book Club Picks:

The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent, a powerful, haunting novel about the Salem witch trials, with plenty to talk about.
The Red Leather Diary by Lily Koppel, fascinating true story of a young woman in 1930's New York.
The 19^th Wife by David Ebershoff, my book group's pick for our 100th book sparked lots of conversation.
The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb, an epic novel about how a school shooting dramatically changed several lives.
Still Alice by Lisa Genova, a compelling novel about a early-onset Alzheimer's disease.
Room by Emma Donoghue, one of my favorite books read in the last 5 years, and I was dying to talk to someone about it when I finished!
Cleopatra’s Daughter by Michelle Moran, enjoyed by everyone in my book group.
She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan, a fascinating memoir about a transgendered person.
The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon, a beautifully written, wonderful novel...and the author is willing to participate in book groups through Skype!
Little Bee by Chris Cleave, sure to spark great discussions about choices and consequences.

My two book groups are always looking for new ideas. What books do you think would make great book group picks?

It's Monday 1/30! What Are You Reading?

2012-01-30T09:50:00.000-05:00

Here we are...Monday again! I have one son feeling better and heading back to school this morning after two weeks at home...and the other one curled up on the couch feeling awful. I wonder whether I will ever experience a normal, quiet, solitary work day again! Really sick of the TV constantly making noise in the background.

Another busy weekend here - we are still buried in forms and paperwork for college, but we did finally file the FASFA (financial aid form) this weekend - progress! Not nearly enough time for reading this week, but here's what we did manage:

I finished Divergent by Veronica Roth, an excellent teen dystopian novel (see my review). I'm looking forward to book 2!
I was in the mood for more kids/teen reading, so I next read a middle-grade book I've been dying to read for months: Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick. It was aptly named - full of wonder! Just an amazing, one-of-a-kind book.
I am also still listening to an audio book, The Power of Six by Pitticus Lore, though I'm still not loving the narrators. It is a good story, though.
And I finally started a book for one of my book groups, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos, a Pulitzer Prize winning novel about two Cuban brothers who move to NYC in the early 1950's and start an orchestra. I thought it started out a bit slow, but I am enjoying it now. This book has been on my TBR shelves for almost 10 years!
My husband, Ken, is still reading one of his Christmas gifts from me, In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson, and enjoying it, though he hasn't had much reading time either.
Jamie, 17, is reading Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness, Book Three in the Chaos Walking trilogy. He says this post-apocalyptic trilogy is excellent and his dad and I need to read it next!
Craig, 14, gave up on Chronicles of the Red King: The Secret Kingdom by Jenny Nimmo, a prequel to one of his all-time favorite series, Charlie Bone. He says it just wasn't as good as the Charlie Bone series.
He is now finally reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, which the other three of us have been suggesting to him for ages! Craig likes to be independent and make his own choices, but he admits we were right about this book. He's only a couple of chapters into it and is already loving it. He actually turned the TV off voluntarily a few minutes ago to read!

I posted two reviews last week: Half-Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls and Divergent by Veronica Roth. I also posted a link to the winners of the Youth Media Awards, including the Newberry and Caldecott Honors, plus many others - so many good books out there waiting to be read!

I learned a bit more about customizing the look of my blogs, though I am still a novice (after 7 years of blogging!) I would love to figure out how to add photos and other customizations. I like the clean look of it now, but it is a bit plain. Someday...

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. You might also want to take a look at the kids/teen version of what are you reading Monday over at Teach Mentor Texts.)

Saturday Snapshot 1/28

2012-01-28T09:28:00.003-05:00

I saw this meme over at Bibliophile By the Sea (one of my favorite book blogs) and thought I'd join in the fun!

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce @ AT Home With Books.

Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.

This is a photo of sunrise, taken from my front door, a few weeks ago. We've had a very mild winter so far, which is fine with me, though we did have some very dark, wet, gloomy days this week. As long as the sun is shining, I'm good!

Hope you are all enjoying a nice weekend with good books by your side.

Fiction Review: Half-Broke Horses

2012-01-27T16:07:00.001-05:00

Half-Broke Horses: A True Life Novel by Jeannette Walls is a difficult book tocategorize. Officially, it is anovel, but in fact, much of the story is memoir-like non-fiction. Many readers are familiar with Walls asthe author of the stunning memoir, The Glass Castle, about herchildhood with two irresponsible free-spirit parents that led to homelessnessand hunger much of the time. Half-BrokeHorses is a prequel, of sorts.

It is the story of Walls’ grandmother, Lily Casey Smith, theindependent and strong-willed woman who brought up Walls’ mother, Rosemary,told in the same straightforward, honest way that made The Glass Castle such a hit. It is officially fiction because Wallshad to fill in some of the details with her imagination, but the facts of herlife are based on hard research: diaries, other written sources, and countlessinterviews with her mother and others who knew Lily.

Lily Casey Smith grew up in west Texas, in a homestead setamid an inhospitable region. Herfather was something of a dreamer (a family trait!) and her mother a fragilewoman better suited to mansions than ranches, so Lily had to take on a lot ofhard work and responsibility for herself, her two younger siblings, and theranch at an early age. They fledtheir home when a tornado caused irreparable damage. To give you an idea of their hardscrabble life, here are herfather’s thoughts at the time:

“Dad started cussing up a blue streak. Life, he declared, had cheated him onceagain. “If I owned hell and westTexas,” he said, “I do believe I’d sell west Texas and live in hell.”

Lily’s life did not become any easier after they moved toNew Mexico. She was a remarkablyindependent young woman for the times (or even by today’s standards). At the age of just 15, without a highschool diploma, she traveled 500 miles alone – with nothing but a horse, abedroll, one dress, and a change of underwear – to take on a teaching positionin an isolated town in Arizona.

As Lily explained after her single year of Catholic boardingschool, women at that time had three career choices – nurse, teacher, secretary– and here are her thoughts on those choices:

“I didn’t want to be a nurse, not because I was bothered bythe sight of blood but because sick people irritated me. I didn’t want to be a secretary becauseyou were always at the beck and call of your boss, and what if it turned outyou were smarter than him? It was like being a slave without the security.

But being a teacher was entirely different. I loved books. Iloved learning. I loved that “Eureka!” moment when someone finally figuredsomething out. And in the classroom, you got to be your own boss. Maybeteaching was my Purpose.”

So, she set out on her own at age 15 to pursue thatpurpose. Later, her life took heras far as Chicago and eventually back to the arid ranch lands of Arizona. Alongthe way, she broke wild horses, suffered two devastating personal losses,learned to fly a plane, made extra money as a bootlegger, and raised two children,Little Jim and Rosemary, who would one day become Jeannette Walls’ mother.

Lily’s story is absolutely fascinating all on its own, thestory of a vibrant pioneer woman who followed her own path and did many amazingthings during her long lifetime. But her life is even more captivating as thebackdrop for Walls’ earlier memoir. As soon as I finished Half-Broke Horses, I wished I still had The Glass Castleso I could re-read that and make the connections between Rosemary’s upbringingand the mother of Jeannette’s memoir (my mother did re-read Walls’ earlier bookas soon as she finished!).

Like The Glass Castle,Half-Broke Horses is remarkably well-written. Wall wrote it in the first-person, fromher grandmother’s perspective. Asyou can see by the brief excerpts included in this review, Lily’s personality (and Walls’ writingtalent) comes shining through, and she tells her story with honesty andhumor. Everyone in ourneighborhood book group enjoyed reading it; it received an average rating of7.7 out of 10 among our members – a high rating for us – and several people(myself included) rated it a 9. Ican’t wait to see what Walls comes up with next!

288pages, Scribner

It's Monday 1/23! What Are You Reading?

2012-01-23T08:46:00.001-05:00

Very busy week and not a great weekend. We enjoyed a gathering of friends on Saturday evening but spent the rest of the weekend frantically trying to get our taxes started, finish the FASFA form for college financial aid, and apply for a scholarship that requires more information than most college applications! Very frustrating work. Going through our medical records for taxes, I uncovered a half dozen mistakes our health insurance company made on our claims last year. How can a company survive when they are that incompetent? (Of course, most of the mistakes are in their favor!) No wonder health insurance is so expensive. So, now I have some wonderful phone calls to look forward to this week to straighten all this out.

As always, books provided a nice respite for us, although I don't think any of us had much time for reading last week:

I am still reading Divergent by Veronica Roth (almost finished). It's a teen dystopian novel that garnered a lot of attention when it was released last year. It's excellent - I kept wanting to ditch all my work and read more this weekend!
I am also still listening to an audio book, The Power of Six by Pitticus Lore, and enjoying that as well, although I'm not thrilled with the narrator of the audio. Also, I can't figure out how to turn off Shuffle on the audio book on my iPod, so I have to stop after every chapter to find the next chapter - it's very confusing listening to the chapters out of order!
My husband, Ken, is still reading one of his Christmas gifts from me, In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. He says it's fascinating that good people didn't see what was coming with the Holocaust.
Jamie, 17, finished The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness, Book Two in the Chaos Walking trilogy, and immediately moved onto Book Three: Monsters of Men. He says this post-apocalyptic trilogy is excellent and just keeps getting better!
Craig, 14, had a lot of trouble deciding what to read next, but he finally settled on Chronicles of the Red King: The Secret Kingdom by Jenny Nimmo, a prequel to one of his all-time favorite series, Charlie Bone.

I posted one review last week of The Novice: A Story of True Love, a Thai folktale about Buddhism that I enjoyed. I also posted my list of Top Ten Books I'd Recommend To Someone Who Doesn't Normally Read YA. And I posted a summary of the 5 Reading Challenges I've chosen to participate in for 2012 (finally!).

And, you may have noticed that I changed the look of my blog a bit. This is actually a really big deal for me...after 6 years of blogging! I know very little about the technical side of blogging, so changing my blog's look and finally figuring out how to add separate pages (see my new page for 2012 Challenges) was a giant step forward. Now that I know how to do it, I may add some additional pages - tell me what pages or tabs you have on your blogs. And I still wasn't able to add a photo to the header of my blog - I have no idea how people do such creative and unique things with their blogs!

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

2012 Reading Challenges

2012-01-20T15:37:00.001-05:00

OK, we're more than half-way through January now. I suppose if I plan to join some challenges for 2012, I better get going! I don't normally "do" reading challenges - too much pressure and too little time! - but I did enjoy participating in two of them last year. So, after much deliberation (plus some procrastination), I have settled on these five reading challenges for 2012:

2012 Where Are You Reading Challenge, hosted by Sheila at Book Journey -
This was my very first challenge (in 2011), though I took the no-stress approach and just tracked the locations where my books took place, rather than making any attempt to hit a certain target. My final tally for 2011 included 20 different states and 11 different countries. We'll see how many different places I visit through books in 2012!

Books On the Nightstand 12 in '12 Challenge -
Hosted by my favorite podcast (if you've never listened to Books on the Nightstand, you must try it!), the 12 in '12 Challenge allows each reader to set his or her own +12 challenge for 2012. My challenge is:

To read at least 12 books from my TBR shelf, including at least 3 recommended by my husband.

My TBR shelves just keep getting more and more crowded, so I want to be sure to get to plenty of those books this year, including some my husband has read and recommended (and moved from his side of the TBR bookcase to mine).

2012 Dystopian Challenge, also hosted by Sheila at Book Journey -
I already have several dystopian novels on my TBR shelf, so I thought this one would be fun. I am signing up at the Intermediate Post World Trainee, shooting for 4-6 dystopian novels in 2012.

What's In a Name 5 Challenge, hosted by Beth Fish Reads -
I decided to sign up for this one just for pure fun! She has 5 very unique and creative categories set up for 2012. "Read one book in each of the following categories:

A book with a topographical feature (land formation) in the title: Black Hills, Purgatory Ridge, Emily of Deep Valley
A book with something you'd see in the sky in the title: Moon Called, Seeing Stars, Cloud Atlas
A book with a creepy crawly in the title: Little Bee, Spider Bones, The Witches of Worm
A book with a type of house in the title: The Glass Castle, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Ape House
A book with something you'd carry in your pocket, purse, or backpack in the title: Sarah's Key, The Scarlet Letter, Devlin Diary
A book with a something you'd find on a calendar in the title: Day of the Jackal, Elegy for April, Freaky Friday, Year of Magical Thinking

The book titles are just suggestions, you can read whatever book you want to fit the category."

2012 Memorable Memoirs Challenge, hosted by Melissa at The Betty and Boo Chronicles -
I love to read memoirs and have several already on my TBR shelf waiting to be read, so this one is a perfect fit for me. I am signing up The Diarist level, aiming to read between 1 and 4 memoirs in 2012 (though I may move up to the next level later).

So, that's it! Now I just need to figure out how to make a separate tab on my blog to track my challenges. Even though I have been blogging for about 6 years, I've never really moved beyond the basics!

What challenges are you signing up for this year?

Fiction Review: The Novice: A Story of True Love

2012-01-18T18:00:00.000-05:00

Apparently, author Thich Nhat Hanh is a renowned Zen Masterwho was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King, Jr. I didn’t know any of that when I beganlistening to an audio production of his latest book, The Novice: A Story ofTrue Love, so this was my introduction tothe spiritual scholar and peace activist. This unique, slim volume retells an ancient Vietnamese folktale as aparable about finding peace and joy in life.

Kinh Tam, a beautiful young woman from a well-regardedVietnamese family, wants to please her parents by following tradition andmarrying a local young man, but she has been drawn to Buddhism since she was achild. At that time, however, onlymen were allowed to become monks in Vietnam. She eventually makes the difficult decision to leave herfamily, disguise herself as a male, and join a Buddhist temple.

There, she finds happiness and peace, learning aboutBuddhism and becoming a cherished member of the temple and its localcommunity. All of that isthreatened, however, when a local woman falls in love with Kinh Tam and, in anattempt to draw her away from the life of a monk, accuses her of fathering herchild, unaware, of course, that Kinh Tam is really a woman. Kinh Tam must choose whether to revealher secret and give up the life of a monk or accept the punishments of thetemple and the community for supposedly breaking her vows.

As Kinh Tam suffers from one injustice after another, shebears them with grace, continuing to lead an exemplary and happy life, filledwith peace, love, and forgiveness. Her trials and responses are a lesson to readers on how to accept andlive with our own suffering and injustices in a life of joy and peace.

I really enjoyed this book; it was unlike anything I haveever read before. I know verylittle about Buddhism – only what I learned from Toni Bernhard’s wonderfulbook, How To Be Sick – but its tenets make sense to me and feel right. Our family has certainly had its shareof suffering these past ten years (three of the four of us have chronicillnesses), and these lessons of finding joy in a life of suffering reflect thekind approach I have discovered myself. And, I just enjoyed listening to this beautifully told folktale. Anyone interested in spiritual pursuitswill enjoy this insightful little book.

160pages, Harper One; Harper Audio

Listen to a sample of the audio book.

Top Ten Books I'd Recommend To Someone Who Doesn't Read YA

2012-01-17T13:59:00.002-05:00

Today is Tuesday, and that means it's Top Ten day over at The Broke and the Bookish! Today's topic is Top Ten Books I'd Recommend to Someone Who Doesn't Usually Read X. I chose to recommend books for people who don't normally read Young Adult books because there are so many amazing books out there written for teens and young adults that appeal equally to grown-up readers. For more ideas, you can visit Great Books for Kids and Teens.

So, here are my picks (in no particular order) - I hope you find something here to love!

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins – a cultural phenomenon – not quite on the scale of Harry Potter and Twilight but it may get close after the movie is released in March – not only a fast-paced dystopian story but also a very thought-provoking look into war and our own society’s obsession with reality TV.
Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork – an insightful coming-of-age story about a young man with a form of autism. If you liked The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, you’ll love this novel.
Shiver, Linger, and Forever by Maggie Stiefvater – adults who enjoyed the Twilight series will love this well-written trilogy about teens in Minnesota who turn into wolves when the weather gets cold. I’m not generally a fan of this genre but loved these novels!
Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card – fans of Card’s Ender’s Game series know that the author writes clever, exciting sci fi novels that appeal equally to teens and adults; this first book in a time-traveling series is fabulous!
Thunder Over Kandahar by Sharon E. McKay - an insightful, engaging novel written from the point of view of a young girl in Afghanistan.
Wake, Fade, and Gone by Lisa McMann – Fans of paranormal suspense will love this unique trilogy about a young woman who gets pulled into other people’s dreams.
The Deadly Sister by Eliot Schrefer – a mystery/suspense novel about a young woman trying to protect her younger sister who’s been accused of murder.
Unwind by Neal Schusterman – another dystopian masterpiece, about a society where parents can choose to “unwind” (i.e. recycle) their teens between the ages of 13 and 18.
What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell – a historical novel about a young woman’s coming-of-age in 1947, combining mystery, romance, and history.
Three Little Words by Ashley Rhodes-Courter – a compelling memoir abouta young girl’s childhood spent in foster care and how she overcame it.

What YA books would you recommend to adult readers?

It's Monday 1/16! What Are You Reading?

2012-01-16T11:38:00.000-05:00

Not a typical Monday here. The kids are off from school today, Jamie is recovering from a stomach virus, and I have a lot of work around the house to catch up on today because we were gone this weekend for Craig's birthday.

Things have been hectic around here, but we still found time to enjoy our books this week:

I finished Great House by Nicole Krauss last week and posted a review.
I also finished my first audio book of the year, The Novice: A Story of True Love by Thich Nhat Hanh, which is a parable about living a life devoted to the teachings of Buddha. I don't know a lot about Buddhism, but I enjoyed this unique book.
Now I have started a new audio book, The Power of Six by Pitticus Lore, which I've been looking forward to for months. It's good so far.
Next I read Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls, a sort of novelized prequel to her best-selling memoir, The Glass Castle. I loved this book about Walls' grandmother's life and can't wait to talk to my book group about it on Wednesday.
Last night, I started Divergent by Veronica Roth - finally! It's an intriguing concept so far.
My husband, Ken, is reading one of his Christmas gifts from me, In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. I want to read it when he finishes!
Jamie, 17, is reading The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness, Book Two in the Chaos Walking trilogy. He says it is even better than the first book.
Craig, 14 (as of Friday!), is finishing Alibi Junior High by Greg Logsted today.

Last week, I posted reviews of Great House by Nicole Krauss and the middle-grade novel Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

Fiction Review: Great House

2012-01-12T18:26:00.000-05:00

What I liked most about Nicole Krauss’ novel, The Historyof Love, was the way that two disparatestories slowly came together to form a cohesive, pleasing whole. She uses a similar approach in herlatest novel, Great House, with tales of four differentcharacters whose lives are joined together by an antique desk.

The novel opens with a somewhat neurotic author who has beenwriting at the desk for the past 25 years, ever since a friend of a friendasked her if she’d keep his furniture while he went home to Chile. Many years later, a young womanappears, claiming to be the daughter of the desk’s owner, and takes the deskback home to Jerusalem, leaving the author feeling lost and depressed. Meanwhile, in London, an elderly mancares for his beloved wife who has Alzheimer’s disease, and discovers adisturbing secret that she kept from him for all those years.

In another part of the world, an antiques dealer inJerusalem slowly and painstakingly tries to recreate his father’s study fromhis childhood home in Budapest, before the Nazis plundered the house. His two children are brought up in avery isolated existence after their mother dies. Also in Jerusalem, an old man tries to reconnect with hisestranged son, who returns from London for his mother’s funeral.

At first, these four stories seem to be unrelated to eachother, but gradually, slowly, the reader begins to see threads ofconnection. It took me a long timeto read this book; it is not a light, easy read. Krauss’ prose is dense, though often beautiful, with someparagraphs lasting a page and a half or more. It is an in-depth character study, so if you preferfast-paced plot-driven stories, this one probably isn’t for you.

As with her earlier novel, many characters are Jewish andparts of their stories relate to the events surrounding the Holocaust. I found the overall tone of the novelto be relatively bleak; none of the characters is really happy, and the endingdoesn’t bring much resolution, though there are minor hints of hope. Ipreferred the love story at the heart of The History of Love. Overall, I enjoyed this National Book Award finalist, and I was glad tohave read it, though I generally prefer more upbeat stories.

289pages, Norton

It's Monday 1/9! What Are You Reading?

2012-01-09T08:48:00.001-05:00

Well, so far the new year is off to a good start for me - I felt good all last week, enjoyed the warm, sunny weather at the end of the week, and even got all of my goals set for 2012 and my calendar set up (I am usually way behind!). I also caught up with my end-of-year blog posts on my book blogs, though I still need to write one more catch-up post about the book challenges I am joining for 2012 - should be fun!

We enjoyed our books last week:

I am almost done with Great House by Nicole Krauss. This turned out to be a rather long read, even though the book isn't that big, because it is fairly dense prose, but I have enjoyed it. I should finish it today.
I started a new audio, The Novice: A Story of True Love by Thich Nhat Hanh, which is a parable about living a life devoted to the teachings of Buddha. I thought this was an appropriate audio book for the start of a new year! I'm enjoying it so far.
My husband, Ken, finished his first-ever e-book, The Breach, a suspense novel by Patrick Lee.
Next, Ken picked up the book he started before our trip, Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table by Sara Roahen, one of my favorite memoirs, and read a few more chapters. I think he prefers this book in small tastes.
Last night, Ken started one of his Christmas gifts from me, In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. We're both looking forward to this novel set in Nazi Germany by the author of The Devil in the White City.
Jamie, 17, finished The Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare and loved it.
Now he is reading another of his Christmas gifts, The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, Book One in the Chaos Walking trilogy. He says it is very good, though somewhat dark and different than what he usually reads.
Craig, 13, is reading Alibi Junior High by Greg Logsted, hoping to finish it this week so he can take his Accelerated Reader quiz before the end of the marking period next week.

I didn't write any new reviews last week, but I did post my year-end summary/list of Best Books Read in 2011, both here and at Great Books for Kids and Teens. I also posted my wrap-up for the Where Are You Reading 2011 Challenge. It was fun keeping track of the settings of all the books I read.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

Where Are You Reading 2011 Final Tally

2012-01-06T17:39:00.003-05:00

This year, I participated in my first-ever challenge, the Where Are You Reading Challenge hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Well, I didn't actually challenge myself to read certain books, but I kept track of all of the locations where my books took place. You can view my map at Google Maps or check it out here:

View Where I Am Reading 2011 in a larger map

All together, I read books taking place in 20 different U.S. states and in 11 different countries outside of the U.S. (plus quite a few that either didn't specify a location or were "otherworldly"):

US States

California (2)
Colorado (2)
Connecticut (4)
Florida
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland (2)
Massachusetts (2)
Michigan
Minnesota (4)
Missouri
Montana
New Hampshire
New Jersey (2)
New Mexico
New York (5)
North Carolina
Pennsylvania (2)
Tennessee
Vermont (2)

Countries Outside the US:

Afghanistan
The Balkans (an unnamed country)
Ethiopa
France
Italy
Japan
Nigeria
Pakistan
Russia
United Kingdom (9)
Vietnam

I also discovered that New York City, Connecticut, and London (and the UK in general) are all very popular settings for books! One of the things I enjoy most about reading is how it can transport me to different places and teach about places in the world that I might never have a chance to visit in person.

This was fun, and I plan to sign up for this challenge again in 2012. Stop by Book Journey to check out the 2012 challenge and sign up yourself!

Best Books Read in 2011

2012-01-03T18:08:00.001-05:00

Well, I finally tallied up my reading for last year...(drumroll)...

I read 68 books in 2011 (that's 13 less than I read in 2010). Thirty-six of those were grown-up books and 32 of them were kids' or teen/YA books (check out Great Books for Kids and Teens for a summary of the kids' and teen/YA books). Of the 36 adult books:

23 were fiction
7 were memoir
6 were non-fiction but not memoir
7 of the adult books I read were audios

That's fewer books than the previous year, but that's OK - I think I read a little less because I was a bit less sick this year, so that's a fair trade. Now, comes the tough part..which books did I like best? I read a lot of really good books this year. Here are my Top Ten Books Read in 2011 (in no particular order):

Room by Emma Donoghue
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
The Passage by Justin Cronin
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Always Looking Up: Adventures of an Incurable Optimist by Michael J. Fox
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

How was your reading year? What were your favorite books read in 2011?

I'm ready for a new year and more great books!

It's Monday 1/2! What Are You Reading?

2012-01-02T09:26:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year!! I hope you have all had an enjoyable holiday week with your families. We just returned last night from a trip to Oklahoma to visit my father-in-law. It was a nice visit (and great weather!), but it is wonderful to be back home now. Jamie, our 17-year old son, was very ill all week with a flare-up of his chronic illnesses, so that marred the week. On the upside, it is quiet and low-key there, so we all had plenty of time to read:

I finished Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork, a coming-of-age teen book about a young man with an Asperger's-like condition who is trying to fit into the "real world" per his father's request. It was excellent - just as good as I'd heard.
Now I am reading one of my Christmas gifts, Great House by Nicole Krauss. I loved her novel, A History of Love. This one took a bit of time to get into, but after reading on airplanes all day yesterday, I am enjoying it.
My husband, Ken, brought his new Kindle Fire on the trip and spent a lot of time playing with it! He's also been reading his first e-book download, The Breach by Patrick Lee, a suspense novel, though he watched movies on the flights - I think he's enjoying his new toy!
Jamie, 17, read most of his Christmas gifts this week since he was sick! He lugged the hefty Inheritance by Christopher Paolini all the way to Oklahoma and finished in in just days. He said it was a different ending than he'd expected, a bit sad, but he loved the book.
Next, he read I Am Number Four and The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore. We'd watched the Number Four movie adaptation a couple of months ago, and he wanted to read the book and its sequel. He enjoyed both very much.
Now he is reading another hefty and long-awaited novel, The Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare. It kept him happily occupied through hours of flight yesterday.
Craig, 13, got a laptop for Christmas, so he spent a lot of time this week playing with his new toy and watched movies on the planes, but he and I enjoyed reading Alibi Junior High by Greg Logsted at bedtime all week. He was reluctant to read it (because I had recommended it!) but is enjoying it.

I don't normally travel with my laptop, but I brought it along this week specifically to catch up on my book blogs! Here's what I posted:

Books we got and gave for Christmas
Kids/teen books we got and gave for Christmas
Review of After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick, a wonderful middle-grade/teen book about a boy getting on with his life after cancer treatment.
Review of Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork, an excellent teen/YA coming-of-age novel (see above).
Review of Wishin' and Hopin' by Wally Lamb.
Wrap-up of the Fall Into Reading Challenge for Kids and Teens/YA Books
Wrap-up of the Fall Into Reading Challenge (grown-up books)

Ah, it's nice to start the new year off all caught up!

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

Happy New Year!

Fall Into Reading Challenge Wrap-Up

2011-12-31T13:37:00.000-05:00

Back in September, I signed up for the the Fall Into Reading 2011 Challenge, hosted at Callapidder Days,my first-ever challenge! I decided to challenge myself to read 10 grown-up books and 10 kids/teen books before the end of December (you can find my wrap-up for the kids/teen/YA books at Great Books for Kids and Teens.) I think I did pretty well for my first challenge. I read 8 of the 10 grown-up books on my list:

Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich
The Songcatcher by Sharon McCrumb (my neighborhood book group's December pick)
She’s Not There by Jennifer Finney Boylan (December pick for my other book group)
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (for Banned Books week)
Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
The Hundred Dresses (the library's book discussion pick for November)
Wishin' and Hopin' by Wally Lamb (the library's book discussion pick for December - the rules were to read something holiday-themed)

The two books on my list that I did not get to:

Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
Reservation Road by John Burnham Schwartz

I also wrote blog posts for many of the weekly questions which were lots of fun and sparked some good discussions!

As this was my first-ever challenge, I think I learned a good lesson - don't be overly ambitious! I missed my goal by a bit here (and by a bit more for kids and teen books). Also, I think I would prefer challenges where you aren't locked into reading certain titles ahead of time - I definitely missed having the flexibility to choose something new to read that wasn't on my challenge list. Of course, that could also be solved with a shorter list, to leave room for in-the-moment choices!

All in all, it was a lot of fun....and I finally made a small dent in my TBR shelves! Thanks to Callapidder Days for hosting.

Fiction Review: Wishin’ and Hopin’

2011-12-30T13:26:00.001-05:00

I don’t normally read holiday-themed books, but when my online friend Pam said she’d enjoyed Wally Lamb’s Wishin’ and Hopin’: A ChristmasStory, it seemed to me like the perfectbook to read the week before Christmas. I enjoyed this light-hearted, fun, coming-of-age story very much….and itwas perfect reading for a busy holiday week.

The slim novel is narrated by Felix Funicello (a distantcousin of Annette!) and tells the story of his fifth grade year at St. AloysiusGonzaga Parochial School in 1965 in a small town in CT. He navigates the nuns at school, hispretty new substitute teacher from Quebec, his know-it-all classmate Rosalie,and the requisite Christmas pageant. Felix’s family owns the lunch counter at the local bus station, andFelix is trying to figure out what French kissing is and how to keep his bestfriend out of trouble. Here’s asample from the beginning of the novel:

Lyndon Johnson was president back then, Cassius Clay wasthe heavyweight champ, and John, Paul, George, and Ringo were newlyfamous. Our family had a claim tofame, too. Well, two claims actually. No, three. My mother had recently been notifiedthat her recipe, “Shepherd’s Pie Italiano,” had catapulted her into the finalsof that year’s Pillsbury Bake-Off in the “main meal” category and she was goingto be on television. I was goingto be on TV, too – a guest, along with my fellow Junior Midshipmen on a localprogram, Channel 3’s The Ranger Andy Show. So there were those twothings, plus the fact that our third cousin on my father’s side was acelebrity.

(I loved this reference to the local Ranger Andy Show. WhereI grew up in Rochester, NY, our local kids’ talent show was TheSkipper Sam Show, and my best friendMichelle appeared on it with her dance class!)

The setting and the 60’s pop culture references are lots offun, and Felix tells his story with warmth and humor. I smiled through most of the book, laughed out loud quite abit, and really came to care about Felix and his family. All of the details of school, familylife, and the 60’s bring the novel and the characters to life, in Lamb’s signaturestyle. Certainly, this is adifferent kind of book than Lamb’s other novels – light-hearted and fun withoutany serious topics delved into – but it was enjoyable and just right for theseason. You don't have to wait until next December to read it, though. Although the book ends with the much-anticipated Christmas pageant, this nostalgic novel would be fun to read any time of the year.

268pages, Harper

Books for Christmas

2011-12-28T16:33:00.002-05:00

We're done traveling (for a few days), so I wanted to share with you all the books we got for Christmas! Books are a favorite gift at our house and for extended family. Here's a summary of the grown-up books we gave and received; to see what kids/teen books we exchanged, check out Great Books for Kids and Teens.

My husband, Ken, thrilled me on Christmas morning with several books I've been dying to read. I've already started Great House by Nicole Krauss. I really loved her earlier novel, The History of Love, so I've been looking forward to reading this one. It's a little rambly and confusing so far, but I'm only 14 pages in.
He also gave me Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks. I have loved every one of Brooks' novels and can't wait to read this one!
And he gave me Time and Again by Jack Finney because he knows how much I love novels with a time travel plot. I heard about this one when my favorite podcast, Books On the Nightstand, did a recent show on time travel books.
I gave Ken the latest Harry Bosch novel, The Drop by Michael Connelly (we both enjoy his novels).
I also gave Ken Erik Larson's latest, In the Garden of Beasts. He and I both really enjoyed Larson's Devil in the White City. I will probably read this one when he is done!
And I gave Ken a Kindle Fire! He travels quite a bit and doesn't really have his own computer for home (just a work laptop), so he is really having fun with this. He downloaded a 99 cent suspense novel for this trip.
I gave my mom, who is an avid reader, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, because I'd heard so many fabulous reviews and figured it was new enough that she hasn't read it yet. I suspect I will be borrowing it from her at some point! Isn't that the best kind of gift??
And we gave her husband, a football fan, 100 Yards of Glory: The Greatest Moments in NFL History, a huge coffee table book filled with pictures and text.

How about you? What books and book-related items did YOU get for the holidays? Hope you are enjoying some time off with your family.

It's Monday 12/26! What Are You Reading?

2011-12-26T11:00:00.002-05:00

I hope you all enjoyed some wonderful holiday celebrations with your family this past week! We had a very nice Christmas here. I've included an "after" photo below of what our living room looked like after opening presents! There were lots of great books exchanged, as always - I'll post a list later this week.

Amid the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, we still managed to read last week:

I finished a light-hearted holiday book, Wally Lamb's Wishin' and Hopin', a warm and funny novel narrated by a fifth-grade boy in 1965. I loved it! Perfect reading for this past week.
I am now reading Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork, a highly acclaimed teen book I had been meaning to read for a long time. It's just as good as everyone said.
I finished listening to Breadcrumbs, a wonderful, magical middle-grade novel written by Anne Ursu.
My husband, Ken, is reading Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table by Sara Roahen, based on my recommendation. I absolutely loved this book, and he is also enjoying reading about our favorite city and favorite foods.
Jamie, 17, is reading the final book in The Icemark Chronicles trilogy by Stuart Hill, Last Battle of the Icemark. You know it's been a busy week when Jamie is still reading the same book he started last week!
Jamie finished reading The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga for his World Lit class. He says it's very good and that I should read it.
Craig, 13, finished Curse of the Bane, Book Two of The Last Apprentice series by Joseph Delaney, just in time to take his Accelerated Reader quiz before winter break.
Craig is now reading Alibi Junior High by Greg Logsted. He wouldn't normally read a book that I recommended (it's a parent/teen thing), but I also recommended this book to his classmates, who've been loving it, so his teacher suggested he try it!

I only had time to write one review last week of a memoir, She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan (who used to be James) - it was fascinating and warm with a great sense of humor. I hope to try to catch up on reviews and other posts during the break this week.

What are you and your family reading this week? Enjoy your time off with a good book!

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

The "After" Picture

Memoir Review: She’s Not There

2011-12-22T17:13:00.001-05:00

I participate in a book group held at a local UnitarianChurch. Though we usually chooseour own books, in honor of LGBT History Month (October), both book groups atthe church decided to read She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan, about a James who becameJenny. As expected, the book wasfascinating, but I also found it warm and even funny.

In the opening chapter, Jenny picks up two young girls whoare hitchhiking and realizes that one of them was her student (she’s a collegeEnglish professor) back when she used to be a man named James. It’s a surreal sort of situation, andshe doesn’t know what to say…and the girl never recognizes her. From there, the memoir flashes back toher earliest memory, at age 3, the first time she realized that others saw heras a boy, even though she knew she was a girl.

The story continues through James’ young life, as a child,teenager, young adult, and beyond. He knew all along that he was really female inside but struggled toconform to others’ perceptions of him as a male. It’s a fascinating story of an almost unimaginable internalbattle. As a child, he came upwith the romantic idea that perhaps when he fell in love, that would cure himof these strange feelings of not belonging. And he did eventually fall in love, with Grace who wouldbecome his wife, and he really did believe for a while that love was his cure.

I think that is the most heart-breaking aspect of this book– the absolute true love that he and Grace feel for each other. They have a happy marriage and twowonderful sons whom they both love. But eventually, Jim can no longer ignore the fact that he always feels wrong, out of place and in the wrongbody. He finally breaks the newsto Grace (who is shocked) and begins the long, difficult process of fullytransforming into a woman, eventually getting gender reassignment surgery.

Seeing inside the emotional life of a transgendered personand the people who love her is absolutely fascinating, something that I’d nevereven considered before. Jim’s journey to become Jenny is both heart-warming andheart-breaking. Making the storyeven more interesting is the fact that his best friend is fellow author RichardRusso (yes, that Richard Russo) who writesan afterword to the memoir. And,yes, she even includes before and after photos that captivated me.

Although everyone in our book group thought the book wasinteresting and it sparked a great discussion, not everyone liked the bookequally. I thoroughly enjoyed it,though. I loved Jenny’s writingstyle – warm, funny, self-deprecating – which helps to put the reader at easein this unfamiliar territory. Theother aspect that makes it stand out is Jenny’s unfailing optimism and positiveattitude. In fact, that botheredsome readers – that she didn’t struggle even more with this transformation –but she attributes her attitude to her mother’s upbringing and acceptance ofher, and there are other transgendered people in the story who don’t have thatlove and acceptance and are far less well-adjusted, to show how difficult thislife can be. Overall, I found thisbook to be an excellent example of the best kind of memoir – one that tells afascinating story in a way that makes the reader feel as if she knows theauthor personally.

300 pages, Broadway Books

It's Monday 12/19! What Are You Reading?

2011-12-19T09:13:00.002-05:00

Fa la la la la! Holiday time and very busy, like everyone else! We spent the weekend in Pennsylvania with my family, celebrating an early Christmas, plus two birthdays. It was great to see everyone and start to enjoy the season (as opposed to just running around like crazy), and I got to spend lots of time with my niece and nephew. I hope you are beginning to enjoy the holiday season, too.

Lots of good books this week:

I finished Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King, book one of a new series, The Guardians, by children's book veterans William Joyce and Laura Geringer. I enjoyed this seasonal fantasy and reviewed it last week.
Next, I read another middle-grade novel, After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick, with a very different tone. It's the engrossing, warm story of an eighth grade boy who is struggling with the after-effects of cancer treatment in addition to the usual middle school angst.
Now, I am treating myself to a light-hearted holiday book, Wally Lamb's Wishin' and Hopin', a warm and funny novel narrated by a fifth-grade boy in 1965. It's great so far - lots of fun.
I'm still listening to Breadcrumbs, a wonderful, magical middle-grade novel written by Anne Ursu, and gave a copy to my niece this weekend for Christmas.
My husband, Ken, finished Stephen King's new release, 11/22/63: A Novel, about someone who time travels back to 1963 to try to prevent Kennedy's assassination, and enjoyed it very much.
Ken is now reading Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table by Sara Roahen, based on my recommendation. I absolutely loved this book, and he is also enjoying reading about our favorite city and favorite foods. We've also been watching Treme on DVD, so he is immersed in New Orleans culture right now!
Jamie, 17, is reading a favorite trilogy, The Icemark Chronicles by Stuart Hill. He finished The Cry of the Icemark and Blade of Fire and is now reading the final book, Last Battle of the Icemark. He says this is one of the best series he has ever read...and that's saying a lot!
Jamie is also reading The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga for his World Lit class. He says it's pretty good (high praise for required reading).
Craig, 13, is reading The Last Apprentice series by Joseph Delaney - he's currently on Book Two: Curse of the Bane and hopes to finish it this week.

I didn't have much time for blogging last week, with all the holiday preparations, but managed to post a review of Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King by William Joyce and Laura Geringer, a unique fantasy novel that tells of the origin of St. Nick. I also posted my response to the last question in the Fall Into Reading Challenge, about what books I would like to receive for Christmas (easy one!).

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

Fall Into Reading Challenge Question #12

2011-12-14T16:11:00.001-05:00

You may recall that I have joined the Fall Into Reading Challenge hosted over at Callapidder Days. She is posing a question each week. I have missed a few weeks as the holiday season got busy, but this week's question is:

Christmas is quickly approaching. What book- or reading-related gift would you love to receive for Christmas?

Oh, this is an easy one for me. In fact, my husband has been complaining that I haven't given him any gift ideas...but I gave him a list of books I want weeks ago! I've really been trying not to buy books for myself this past year, to save money. I use the library and borrow from friends. So, it's a wonderful treat to get new books for my birthday and Christmas. I like to give my husband a long list of books, so that he can have some fun choosing which ones to get me. Here's the wish list I gave him:

"Here is a list of books I would LOVE to read!

Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson
The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern
Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
Time and Again by Jack Finney
Left Neglected by Lisa Genova
The Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
Faith by Jennifer Haigh
Great House by Nicole Krauss
Solar by Ian McEwan

Oh, I could go on and on - so many good books! But these are some of the ones I want to read most."

Then I had to tell him the very next day to remove Freedom from my list. I always tell my kids they're not allowed to buy anything for themselves in the month before Christmas, but I broke my own rule when I saw a copy of Freedom at our used bookstore for just $2! Just couldn't pass that one up...

And I bought LOTS of books to give as gifts this Christmas, but I can't tell you about those, in case anyone in my family reads my blog.

How about you? What books or book-related gifts do you want to receive for the holidays?

It's Monday 12/12! What Are You Reading?

2011-12-12T08:37:00.000-05:00

Monday...a fresh start to a new week. Everyone is healthy and in school, so that's an excellent start!! We spent the weekend working on college and scholarship applications, make-up work (my son), and finally getting our Christmas tree and decorating it.

Remember a few weeks ago, I mentioned I gave talks on writing and reading at my son's middle school to the 8th grade English classes? Well, on Friday, I received this note from the teacher:

The students are LOVING your recommendations!!! Esp. Mike Lupica, Everlost and Alibi Junior High. Parents are thrilled with the fact that their kids are reading more. You really helped start this with your reviews and by talking to them. THANK YOU!

As a book lover AND a parent, this just made my day! My son says that everyone is requesting books now, talking about my recommendations, and even recommending books to each other. How exciting!

Meanwhile, my family is enjoying our books as well:

I finished She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan, a memoir about James becoming Jennifer, for one of my book groups. I loved this book - it was well-written, warm, funny, and fascinating.
I am now reading the first book in a new series, The Guardians, by children's book veterans William Joyce and Laura Geringer. Book One is Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King - I wanted to be sure to get to this seasonal novel before Christmas. The series will explain the origins of legendary characters, including St. Nick, through the kind of imaginative fantasy tales you'd expect from Joyce.
I'm still listening to Breadcrumbs, a wonderful, magical middle-grade novel written by Anne Ursu.
My husband, Ken, is still reading Stephen King's new release, 11/22/63: A Novel, about someone who time travels back to 1963 to try to prevent Kennedy's assassination, and he is loving it.
Jamie, 17, was sick all last week with a bad flare-up of his chronic illness, so he did a lot of reading. He comforted himself with an old favorite series, The Great Tree of Avalon by T.A. Barron. He read all three books: Avalon, Avalon: The Eternal Flame, and Avalon: Child of the Dark Prophecy.
Next, he moved onto another old favorite series starting with The Cry of the Icemark by Stuart Hill. He's been waiting literally years to read the final book in the trilogy because a friend borrowed book 2 from him and never returned it. His friend finally admitted he'd lost it, so Jamie bought the second book last week and is eager to get through the full series.
Jamie is also reading The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga for his World Lit class.
Craig, 13, is reading The Last Apprentice series by Joseph Delaney - he's currently on Book Two: Curse of the Bane.

Not much time for blogging last week (or this week probably) because of all the holiday preparations, but I did post one review of The Songcatcher, a novel set in the Appalachians by Sharyn McCrumb.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

Our Biggest Tree Ever!

Fiction Review: The Songcatcher

2011-12-09T18:02:00.001-05:00

I recently read The Songcatcher by Sharyn McCrumb for my neighborhood bookgroup. Our discussion this weekwas interesting because our group was split on its opinion of the book; on ascale of 1 to 10, some of us rated it a 4 and others rated it a 7 (includingme).

The Songcatcherfollows multiple generations of a family, from Scotland to Appalachia, not onlythrough the family members and their descendants but also through a song thatoriginated in Scotland. The storybegins in 1751 when 10-year old Malcolm McCourry is kidnapped from his hometownon a small island in Scotland and taken on a ship. On board, Malcolm learns a haunting ballad from a fellowScotsman that sticks with him during his ocean voyages and later, when he getsto America.

The novel alternates between Malcolm’s life and the presentday lives of several people in the eastern Tennessee/western North Carolinamountains. The stories followMalcom and his descendants’ lives until they eventually merge with themodern-day story of an estranged father in Appalachia and his daughter who hasbecome a famous folk singer. Theballad is the thread that ties all of the disparate tales together, as it ispassed down through the generations.

I really enjoyed this novel, as did several others in ourgroup. I liked themulti-generational approach and found myself wishing I could trace my ownfamily’s roots back that far. Idon’t know much about music, but I was also fascinated by the story of the songand the history of the Appalachian culture in general, as well as thehistorical settings throughout the novel.

Those who didn’t enjoy the book as much thought it wassomewhat disjointed, bouncing back and forth between the different people andthe different time periods. Somefound it hard to follow and keep track of everything. I felt that the story pulled me in pretty quickly, so Iguess it’s just a matter of taste – that’s what makes a book group sointeresting!

321 pages, Dutton

NOTE: One of our members listened to the bookin audio format, which included a recording of the ballad. We all agreed wewould have liked to hear that, though the book would probably be harder tofollow in audio. Another memberhas seen the movie adaptation and said it was entirely different than the book!

It's Monday 12/5! What Are You Reading?

2011-12-05T08:25:00.001-05:00

We are now in the midst of the busy holiday season! I haven't even thought much about the holidays yet - other than some online shopping - because it is also college application season. That has been occupying our time and attention - it's like having an extra full-time job!

We are still squeezing in reading time, though:

I finished The Songcatcher by Sharyn McCrumb for my neighborhood book group this week. It's the story of an old ballad that is passed down through generations of family, from 1700's Scotland to present day Appalachia, including, of course, the stories of those family members. I enjoyed it very much.
I usually read a kid/teen book after an adult one, but I have another book group meeting next week, so I figured I better read that book first. We are reading She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan, a memoir about James becoming Jennifer, so I'll start that today.
I'm still listening to Breadcrumbs, a wonderful, magical middle-grade novel written by Anne Ursu.
My husband, Ken, is reading Stephen King's new release, 11/22/63: A Novel, about someone who time travels back to 1963 to try to prevent Kennedy's assassination. It's a hefty novel, and he keeps laughing out loud at King's spot-on descriptions of ordinary people (one of his many talents!).
Jamie, 17, started a new teen dystopian series by Robin Wasserman, The Cold Awakening trilogy, starting with Book One: Frozen, but he gave up with only 30 pages to go! He said it's well-written, but he suspects it's meant more for girls, with very little action in the first book.
Jamie said he was more in the mood for fantasy than dystopian books, so he switched to an old favorite, The Great Tree of Avalon by T.A. Barron.
Jamie is also starting The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga for his World Lit class. It was hard to find a copy because there's a local book group reading it right now, as well as his entire senior class!
Craig, 13, is still enjoying The Last Apprentice series by Joseph Delaney, so he moved onto Book Two: Curse of the Bane this week.
Craig has also been reading an excerpt from Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes for his English class - it's one of my favorite books and so sad!

Last week, I posted two reviews: Midwives by Chris Bohjalian and Goldstrike by Matt Whyman, a teen thriller. I also posted a summary of my Books Read in November.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

Books Read in November 2011

2011-12-02T16:52:00.001-05:00

Wheee!!! December already and moving quickly toward the end of the year. End of the year?? How is that possible?

November was a busy month, so I only read 5 books (I'm including a picture book, LOL!):

Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich - a bit of fluffy fun!
The Roar by Emma Clayton, a dystopian sci fi middle-grade book
The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes, a classic picture book
Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
Goldstrike by Matt Whyman, a teen thriller

So, that's 2 grown-up novels, 2 novels for kids/teens, and 1 picture book. I enjoyed them all. I guess my favorite from last month is The Roar, a book my son has been telling me to read for months - he was right, as usual!

Where Are You Reading 2011 Challenge Update: I updated my map to include another 2 London locations (The Roar and Goldstrike), Vermont (Midwives), and New Jersey (Smokin' Seventeen), so that brings my 2011 total up to 17 different U.S. states and 8 countries.

View Where I Am Reading 2011 in a larger map

For my Fall Into Reading Challenge, I have read 5 of my list of 10 grown-up books and 5 out of 10 kids/teen/YA books. With only 3 weeks to go on the challenge, it looks like I may come up a bit short!

What were your favorite books read in November?

Fiction Review: Midwives

2011-12-01T18:25:00.001-05:00

Thanks to the Fall Into Reading 2011 Challenge, I finallygot around to reading a novel my neighbor lent me over a year ago, Midwives by Chris Bohjalian. This one was different from the other Bohjalian novels I’veread; it’s basically a courtroom drama about a midwife accused of involuntarymanslaughter when one of her clients dies in childbirth.

Sibyl is a sort of stereotypical midwife, living in ruralVermont with her husband and daughter. She and her husband were hippies in the 60’s and settled down a bit whenthey had their daughter, though Sibyl still retains some of her innatehippie-ness, wearing peasant skirts and driving a beat-up old station wagon,and, of course, firmly believing in a mother’s right to give birth in her ownhome.

The novel is told mostly from the perspective of herdaughter, Connie, looking back at the year her mother was charged and triedwhen Connie was only fourteen years old. It begins in the courtroom, just before the jury reads their decision andbacktracks to gradually fill in the details of what led to the trial. Sibyl was trying to help her client,Charlotte, give birth when a severe ice storm hit northern Vermont, leaving theroads impassable and making it impossible for Sibyl to transport Charlotte to ahospital when things began to go wrong. When she believed she had lost Charlotte, she performed an emergencyc-section right there on the bed to save the baby, but the prosecutors claimthat Charlotte was not yet dead and that Sibyl killed her with the primitivesurgery.

It’s a suspenseful courtroom drama, and Bohjalian providesenough background on Sibyl and her family that you come to care for them andhope they survive this disaster intact. The story is especially poignant told from the perspective of Connie, atsuch a vulnerable age when her life is torn apart by this tragedy and lookingback on it from adulthood. Ienjoyed the novel and read it fairly quickly. Although I didn’t find it quiteas compelling as The Double Bind (stillmy favorite of Bohjalian’s books), it was suspenseful and thought-provoking.

372pages, Vintage Contemporaries

It's Monday 11/28! What Are You Reading?

2011-11-28T08:38:00.001-05:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! We drove about 8 hours to spend the weekend with my extended family in Rochester, NY. It was a full weekend, with a large gathering each day with a different part of my family. It was tiring but lots of fun - it was great to see everyone. I've included a photo below of my sons with some of their cousins. To me, that's what holidays are all about!

So, I had no time at all for blogging last week, after my Monday posts, but we still found time for reading:

I finished Goldstrike by Matt Whyman, a teen techno-thriller and the sequel to Icecore. The fast-paced suspense novel was perfect for a busy week.
Now, I am reading the next selection for my neighborhood book group, The Songcatcher by Sharon McCrumb, about a song that has been passed down through generations from Scotland to the present-day Appalachians.
My husband, Ken, finished reading Unwind, Neal Schusterman's amazing teen dystopian novel. He said the premise was super-creepy (yup), but he enjoyed the novel.
We stayed with my dad and his wife this weekend, and my dad lent Ken Stephen King's very new release, 11/22/63: A Novel, about someone who time travels back to 1963 to try to prevent Kennedy's assassination. It sounds SO good!
Jamie, 17, was home sick early last week and then had 16 hours in the car, so he read a LOT. He continued re-reading a favorite series, the Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan, with Book 5: The Sorcerer of the North, Book 6: The Siege of Macindaw, Book 7: Erak's Ransom, and Book 8: The Kings of Clonmel. He enjoyed the series very much (again).
Now, Jamie is reading a new teen dystopian series by Robin Wasserman, The Cold Awakening trilogy, starting with Book One: Frozen. He and I really loved Wasserman's middle-grade trilogy, Chasing Yesterday.
Craig finished Revenge of the Witch, Book One in the series The Last Apprentice by Joseph Delaney, and loved it. I haven't seen him this excited about a series since Charlie Bone and The Unicorn Chronicles a couple of years ago. We can't find Book Two - I think we lent it to a friend - so I need to check the library for him today.
I started a new middle-grade audio, Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu, last week. Anne is a great author and a friend of mine, so I've been looking forward to this one. Her trilogy The Cronus Chronicles was great!
We also started another middle-grade audio during our car ride, Wildwood by Colin Melot. Mostly, it was just Ken and I listening. I was disappointed that the boys weren't interested in listening to an audio book on this ride, despite the variety I brought along! They preferred to listen to their iPods and read their own books. I guess they are getting older...sigh...

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

It's Monday 11/21! What Are You Reading?

2011-11-21T13:08:00.001-05:00

I'm a little late posting today. I went to my son's middle school this morning and gave presentations about reading, books, book reviews, and writing to two 8th grade English classes. I go back tomorrow for two more. I had to promise not to embarrass my son!

Here's what we've been reading this past week:

I finished Midwives by Chris Bohjalian last night. It's basically a legal drama about a midwife being tried for the death of one of her mothers and was very good.
Today, I plan to start Goldstrike by Matt Whyman, a teen techno-thriller and the sequel to Icecore which I really liked. I'm in the mood for some fast-paced suspense.
My husband, Ken, realized halfway through Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld that he'd already read it! That's not the first time one of us has done that!
Ken is now reading Unwind, Neal Schusterman's amazing teen dystopian novel - I've been bugging him to read it for ages!
My 17-year old son, Jamie, is re-reading a favorite series, the Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan so that he can read his latest one, Book 8: The Kings of Clonmel. So far, he has read Books 3 and 4 (we think we lent Books 1 and 2 to a friend).
13-year old Craig is reading Revenge of the Witch, Book One in the series The Last Apprentice by Joseph Delaney and enjoying it very much.

Last week, I posted a review of The Roar by Emma Clayton, an awesome middle-grade/teen dystopian/sci fi novel filled with action and suspense.

I also posted two lists - Top Ten Unread Books on my Shelf and Top Ten Unread Kids/Teen Books on my Shelf - and movie trailers for the upcoming adaptations of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Hunger Games. Both look so good!

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

P.S. One question stumped me this morning at school. A lot of the 8th grade girls enjoy Sarah Dessen's books, and I'm embarrassed to admit I've never read one! Anyone have suggestions of other books/authors for teens who like Dessen's novels?

Top Ten Unread Books On My Shelf

2011-11-15T18:49:00.001-05:00

It's Tuesday, and that means it's Top Ten day over at The Broke and the Bookish. Head on over there to link to lots of great blogs and lots of fun lists.

Today's topic is Top Ten Unread Books On My Shelf. This was a very easy list for me - I could have listed 20 or 30 Unread Books on My Shelf easily! So, I decided to go with the spirit of the week's topic and focus on the REALLY old books on my TBR shelf - those I keep meaning to get to but never seem to...

Emma by Jane Austen - this had to be #1 because I've been meaning to read something of Jane Austen's for years and bought this book a very long time ago.
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut - ditto
The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant - my mom lent this to me years ago.
Peony in Love by Lisa See - another one my mom lent me.
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson - I got this for Ken as a gift one year and have been meaning to read it ever since; Bryson is a favorite.
The Counterlife OR Exit Ghost by Philip Roth - I've never read a Roth novel and both of these are waiting patiently on my shelf.
Breathless by Dean Koontz - I don't read many Koontz novels these days, but Ken says this one was great.
Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand - a special author for me because she has the same illness I have. It's been on my shelf since last Christmas.
Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver - my friends have been recommending this to me for years!
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos - I saved this one for last because it has probably been on my TBR shelf for 10 years or more! Both my mom and Ken keep saying I must read it.

sigh....so many good books and so little time...

How about you? What books have been sitting on your shelf waiting to be read?

Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Movie Trailer

2011-11-15T08:54:00.001-05:00

I had the TV on this morning while reading my e-mail when I was surprised by a movie trailer for the U.S. version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. Take a look:

I think it looks pretty good, and the casting looks pretty good (though the actress playing Lisbeth is too tall, a common Hollywood mistake), but I really think it was totally unnecessary to remake this movie because the Swedish version was excellent (with even better casting). I guess some people won't watch a movie with subtitles.

Anyway, it is due out on 12/21/11 (much sooner than I expected), and I will definitely go see it, since I loved the books.

What do you think?

(NOTE: I also posted the new movie trailer for The Hunger Games adaptation on Great Books for Kids and Teens.)

It's Monday 11/14! What Are You Reading?

2011-11-14T08:38:00.001-05:00

(I just tried to publish this very long post and somehow managed to delete most of it instead!! Let's try this again...)

A bit of a rough week here last week, with both my son and I down with a flare-up of our chronic illnesses. We had a nice weekend, though, and enjoyed a visit from my mom and her husband. All that downtime last week left lots of time for reading:

I finished The Roar by Emma Clayton, a teen sci fi novel that my son recommended and enjoyed it very much. We are both hoping there will be a sequel!
I read the classic picture book A Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes for the library's book discussion but then wasn't able to go to the meeting.
I referred to my Fall Into Reading Challenge list to choose my next book and settled on Midwives by Chris Bohjalian, a novel my neighbor lent me a very long time ago!
My husband, Ken, brought one of his birthday gifts, The Affair by Lee Child, on his business trip with him last week. He'd been saving it for a time when he needed some light, fun reading. I asked him last night how it was, and he said, "Candy!"
Ken is now back to reading Behemoth, the second book in the Leviathan trilogy, by Scott Westerfeld.
Jamie, 17, was home sick, so he plowed through a lot of books, including all of the new books he bought at Barnes & Noble the week before (gotta love a kid who spends several weeks' allowance all on books!). He read Book Four: Necropolis of the series, The Gatekeepers by Anthony Horowitz.
Next he read Book 8: The Kings of Clonmel of the Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan, another of his favorite series.
Jamie read The Demon King, a Seven Realms novel by Cinda Williams Chima and loved it. he wants to read more by this author.
And he is finishing Graceling by Kristin Cashore, author of Fire which he also enjoyed.
Craig, 13, is reading Revenge of the Witch, Book One in the series The Last Apprentice by Joseph Delaney, based on recommendation from his brother and a friend. he says it is good but too scary to read at bedtime!

Despite being sick, I had a busy week at both of my book blogs. I posted:

A review of the audio memoir Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home by Kim Sunée
A review of the classic picture book A Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
Top Ten Books That Took Me Out of My Comfort Zone
Top Ten Kids/Teen Books That Took Me Out of My Comfort Zone
My reading summary for October
A discussion of a book that had a tremendous impact on my life (grown-up)
A kids' book that had a tremendous impact on my life
A link to Publisher's Weekly Top Children's Books of 2011 list.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

Memoir Review: Trail of Crumbs

2011-11-11T19:53:00.001-05:00

When I heard that Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and theSearch for Home by Kim Sunée was a memoir,focused on food, of a woman who grew up in New Orleans, I knew I had to read it– I love memoirs, food books, and New Orleans! I mostly enjoyed this thoughtful story of a young womansearching for her identity, though it had some flaws.

Kim Sunée had an interesting start in life. She was abandoned at the age of threein a market in Korea, adopted by an American couple, and grew up in NewOrleans. That would probably havebeen enough for an interesting memoir, but she also traveled all over theworld, in search of her roots and her self, living in Sweden , France, andnorthern Africa and eventually visiting Korea. Throughout the very different chapters of her life, food isa common thread of comfort and pleasure.

Growing up in New Orleans, you can’t help but see food as anessential ingredient to life and love, and Kim had loving grandparents whosecooking filled her childhood with happy memories. Despite that love, she still felt like a misfit growing up,like she was different from all those around her (even her adopted sister, alsofrom Korea), with an empty space inside where her history should be. To fill that emptiness, she left homeas a young woman, living in Sweden and France, going to school, and working asa translator, all the while searching for home and her own identity.

Much of the book focuses on her relationship with Olivier, awealthy, older French businessman (founder of L’Occitaine) with an eight-yearold daughter. They meet in Swedenand live first in his country house in Provence and later in an apartment inParis.

What I loved about this book was its focus on food. From thetraditional Cajun/Creole dishes her grandfather makes to the Swedish food ofher adopted father’s culture to the sensual pleasures of French meals, Sunée’sdescriptions of food are enticing, and she includes recipes for a wide varietyof dishes. I was especially takenwith her depictions of the landscapes of Provence and the southern Frenchcoast, as well as the fresh, seasonal foods cooked simply for their friends andfamily; I would love to have been a guest at their large wooden table inProvence!

More than halfway through the book, however, I found hernarrative becoming a bit tiresome. After she leaves Olivier, she embarks on a journey ofself-discovery. There’s nothingwrong with that on the surface – she felt trapped by his wealth andexpectations and was, after all, only in her 20’s. She needed to find some purpose to her life, which iscompletely understandable, but she falls into a pattern of self-pity,melancholy, and aimlessness that is far less interesting to read about. Although she is somewhat happier by theend of the book, there is not a lot of resolution. I would have liked to hear how she transitioned from thatdirectionless state to her current role (as I read in a bio) as food editor of CottageLiving in Birmingham, Alabama.

All in all, I was glad to have listened to this memoir.However, this is one of those books where I’m torn over whether to recommendthe audio or the paper version. The author read it herself, which I felt added to the experience ofhearing her unique story. On thedownside, listening to a recipe isn’t very helpful; it would be nice to havethe hard copy for the recipes (though some of them included such exoticingredients that I probably couldn’t make them myself anyway). All in all, a mostly worthwhile readfor those who enjoy memoirs, travel, and food writing.

400 pages, Grand Central Publishing; audio by Books on Tape,Inc.

Books Read in October

2011-11-10T17:09:00.001-05:00

The months just fly by this time of year, now that Halloween is past. I'm a bit behind in summarizing October, but better late than never, right? That's pretty much my personal credo these days!

I read seven books in October, a bit more than usual for me but one was a picture book!

Linger and Forever, the final books of the Mercy Falls trilogy by Maggie Stiefvater.
Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love and the Search for Home, a memoir by Kim Sunee
When Parents Text: So Much Said…So Little Understood by Lauren Kaelin and Sophia Fraioli
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
M.O.M.: Mom Operating Manual, a hilarious picture book by Doreen Cronin and Laura Cornell
The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch, a teen post-apocalyptic novel

So, that's 3 teen/YA books, 1 picture book, and 3 grown-up books: 1 novel, 1 nonfiction, and 1 memoir. A very nice mix! And, look at that, I wrote reviews for almost all of them already (I plan to do the last one tomorrow) - unheard of for me to be that caught up! So, my favorite book of the month? Ooh, tough choice because they were all so very different, and I enjoyed them all. I can't choose - it's between Linger, Forever, and The Eleventh Plague (all the teen novels).

Where Are You Reading Challenge Update: I already had a pin in Minnesota for Shiver. The author Trail of Crumbs has lived in Korea, Sweden, and France, but I put the pin in New Orleans, where she spent her childhood because it is also near and dear to my heart! The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie takes place in a fictional English town, but there is a reference to nearby York, so I stuck the pin near there. Since The Eleventh Plague takes place in a post-apocalyptic U.S., it's hard to tell where the characters are, but they mention a nearby Fort Leonard, and I found one in the existing state of Missouri, so that's where I stuck that pin. That brings my total tally up to 15 different states and 8 countries outside of the U.S.:

View Where I Am Reading 2011 in a larger map

For my Fall Into Reading Challenge, which is already at the halfway point, I have read 4 of my list of 10 grown-up books and 4 out of 10 kids/teen/YA books. So, maybe a little bit behind there, but not too bad.

How was your reading month? What was your favorite book read this past month?

Fall Into Reading Challenge Question #7 & Update

2011-11-09T15:38:00.003-05:00

You may recall that I have joined the Fall Into Reading Challenge hosted over at Callapidder Days. She is posing a question each week, and this week's question is:

Is there a book that has had a tremendous impact on your life? One that made you look at life in a whole new way, or caused you to completely change something in your life?

You know, there is a book that had a tremendous impact on me, but I'm almost embarrassed to admit it because it was such a buzzed-about book for so many years. In my late 20's, based on a colleague's recommendation, I read Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Successful People. It was almost a joke at the time because this colleague, a man about 30 years older than me, was a good friend and was totally obsessed with Stephen Covey, so much so that another friend and I used to jokingly refer to him as Saint Stephen in our friend's presence. But my friend lent me a set of audio tapes of Stephen Covey, and I have to admit, I was hooked. I then devoured every word of the best-seller.

Based on the title, I expected a self-help book about business success, but the seven basic "habits" he discussed were so much more; they were about treating people with kindness and respect. It was really a revelation to me. It's not that I was a mean person or anything - more just self-absorbed and somewhat oblivious, like most young people! Some of Covey's habits - like Be Kind To Those Not in Your Presence and Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood - literally changed my way of looking at the world and interacting with people. In fact, I haven't read the book in over 20 years, and it's probably time to read it again.

Katrina over at Callapidder Days says today is also about the half-way point for the challenge and time to report on our progress. Of my list of 10 grown-up books to read in fall, I have so far read 3 of them. Several of the books on my list are book group selections, with the meetings coming up soon, so I know I will get through the rest soon. I'll post a separate update (and a separate answer to the question) at Great Books for Kids and Teens.

What book has had a tremendous impact on your life?

Top Ten Books That Took Me Out of My Comfort Zone

2011-11-08T18:55:00.000-05:00

It's Tuesday, and that means it's Top Ten day over at The Broke and the Bookish. Head on over there to link to lots of great blogs and lots of fun lists.

Today's topic is Top Ten Books That Took Me Out of My Comfort Zone. I had no trouble making this list because in the past sevenyears, I have a read a lot of books for my various book groups that I neverwould have chosen on my own. I’vefocused here on the ones that I was pleasantly surprised by!

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien – I justrecently read this for one book group and never would have chosen a book aboutthe Vietnam War on my own, but it was well-written and powerful.

March by Geraldine Brooks – I’m a huge Brooks fan now,but I used to think I didn’t like historical fiction, until my neighborhoodbook group chose this one, and I loved it!

River ofDoubt by Candace Millard – again, aselection by my neighborhood book group, nonfiction about Teddy Roosevelt’strip down the Amazon, at a time when I rarely read nonfiction. Absolutely fascinating.

The LostYears by KristinaWandzilak and ConstanceCurry – read for a book discussion at a local bookstore. It’s a memoir by a mother and daughterabout the daughter’s spiral down into drug addiction – not a topic I wouldtypically choose.

The InnocentMan by John Grisham – I love Grisham’snovels but probably wouldn’t have read this nonfiction book about an innocentman on death row on my own, until my book group read it. Enlightening and eye-opening.

The Nine by Jeffrey Toomis – a nonfiction book about theSupreme Court? Yawn! But I read it for my neighborhood bookgroup and found it very interesting.

Still Me by Christopher Reeve – I don’t normally readcelebrity memoirs, but Reeve was an amazing and inspirational person.

Holy Skirts by René Steinke – Funny story with this one. It was the very first book I read formy neighborhood book group, which had been together for about 10 years before I joined. Every single person in the group hatedit and thought the main character was a pervert – except me! I liked the book. Happily, they let me stay!

Shattered by Debra Puglisi Sharp – the very disturbing truestory of a local woman who was kidnapped and held captive for days, after herhusband was murdered. One of ourbook group members is friends with the woman, so we read it and she came to ourmeeting. The book was compelling,and I was surprised to find I could relate to the author.

The Birth ofVenus by Sarah Dunant – another historicalnovel that I would never have read on my own, but I found myself getting drawninto it and ultimately enjoying it.

So, that's my list! I had a tougher time making my list of Top Ten Kids/Teen/YA Books That Took Me Out of My Comfort Zone - check it out over at Great Books for Kids and Teens.

How about you? Which books took you out of your comfort zone?

It's Monday 11/7! What Are You Reading?

2011-11-07T08:54:00.001-05:00

October is my favorite month, and it seemed to just fly by this year! Here we are in November already, with the calendar seeming to move faster and faster toward the holiday season. We are so overwhelmed with the college application process, I don't know how we fill find time for holiday preparations as well!

I didn't feel well last week, and then we had visitors for the weekend (my dad and his wife), so I had very little time for blogging last week but hope to catch up with all of you and with my own reviews this week. It was a great reading week, though!

I finished Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich - lots of good laughs and light-hearted fun. Stephanie and Lula (and Grandma) just crack me up!
I finally gave in to Jamie's urging to read The Roar by Emma Clayton, a sci fi novel that he said I would love. He was right, as usual - it is very good so far and I'm staying up too late each night reading it!
My husband, Ken, finished The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo, a Norwegian author who has been compared to Stieg Larsson. He enjoyed it very much.
Ken is now reading Behemoth, the second book in the Leviathan trilogy, by Scott Westerfeld.
Jamie, 17, read Book 3: Night Rise of the series, The Gatekeepers by Anthony Horowitz. He really likes this series.
Jamie also finished reading The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini for his World Lit class. He thought the book was OK, but he didn't like the main character and the way that he treated his best friend.
Craig, 13, started a new marking period and a new book. He took advice from his brother (!) and is reading Revenge of the Witch, Book One in the series The Last Apprentice by Joseph Delaney.

No new reviews last week, but I did post a discussion about plot versus character for the Fall Into Reading Challenge.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

Fall Into Reading Challenge Question #6

2011-11-02T16:45:00.000-04:00

You may recall that I have joined the Fall Into Reading Challenge hosted over at Callapidder Days. She is posing a question each week, and this week's question is:

When it comes to fiction, are you more of a “plot person” or a “character person”? If you had to choose, which concept would win out when it comes to picking and loving a book: plot or character?

Oh, man. This is like asking me to choose between my kids! Of course, I prefer novels that have BOTH plot and character, and a lack of either one can make me dislike a book. I enjoy certain types of thrillers, where the focus is on a fast-paced plot, and I also enjoy slower, character-driven novels where the characters are well-drawn and interesting. The absence of either can ruin a book for me.

I may be risking banishment with this, but I am not a fan of America's #1 best-selling author, James Patterson. I'll admit I have only read one of his books, but the characters seemed so flat and one-dimensional that I have never picked up another one, despite the fast-moving, suspenseful plots. On the other hand, I have read so-called literary novels that bored me to tears because nothing seemed to really happen...though I think this is especially true for me if the plot-less novel is also depressing. I don't need a happy ending, but I do need at least a glimmer of hope.

I just finished reading a Stephanie Plum novel, which is pure fluffy plot-driven fun, but Janet Evanovich has created great characters - I feel like I know Stephanie personally.

Sorry, I just can't choose! Can't I have my cake and eat it, too?

How about you - which is more important to you - good plot or in-depth characters?

It's Monday 10/31! What Are You Reading?

2011-10-31T10:15:00.000-04:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Like many of you, we actually saw snow this weekend, in October! Crazy! Fortunately, we only got a dusting and didn't lose power - my thoughts are with those of you in New England without power. Hope you have a roaring fire in the fireplace and a nice stack of books to keep you warm.

We love Halloween here, so today is a busy day. We carved pumpkins last night and (finally) came up with costume ideas....kind of last-minute! Even though our sons are teens, they still enjoy trick-or-treating, and our whole family gets into the fun. Jamie decided to dress as Thing 1 for school today (with a friend as Thing 2), so Ken immediately started in on a Cat in the Hat costume for himself. I have to hit the store today for a nightgown so I can be Cindy Lou Who. A bookish theme for Halloween - fun!

Meanwhile, we did find time for reading last week:

I finished The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch, a newly released teen/YA post-apocalyptic novel that my husband recently read. I really enjoyed this multi-dimensional novel; you can read my review here.
I decided to keep up my October theme of fun, quick reads, so I am now reading Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich. I just love Stephanie Plum and was already laughing in the first chapter! Sometimes, you need a little light-hearted fun.
I finished listening to Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love and the Search for Home, a memoir by Kim Sunee. Though it dragged a bit in the middle when she was suffering from depression, I enjoyed it overall.
My husband, Ken, is reading a thriller I gave him for his birthday, The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo, a Norwegian author who has been compared to Stieg Larsson. He says it just gets better and better and has a very intriguing plot.
Jamie, 17, finished Blood Red Road by Moira Young, a much-anticipated new post-apocalyptic novel and loved it. That one is high on my own TBR list, though Jamie has made me promise I will read Roar by by Emma Clayton next.
Next, Jamie re-read the first two books in a favorite series, The Gatekeepers by Anthony Horowitz, so he could read the third book which he recently purchased. He read Book 1, Raven's Gate; Book 2, Evil Star; and Book 3, Night Rise. He says this series is great!
Jamie is also reading The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini for his World Lit class.
Craig, 13, is almost finished with Woodsong, a memoir by Gary Paulsen, author of one of our favorite novels, Hatchet and its sequels.

I posted two reviews this week, of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley here and of The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch at Great Books for Kids and Teens.

I also posted a discussion of skimming books versus reading every word for the Fall Into Reading Challenge.

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

Hope you have a great Halloween and a good reading week! Any other book-inspired costumes out there?

Ready for school! (Their hair is blue, though it doesn't show here)

Fiction Review: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

2011-10-27T18:45:00.004-04:00

For years, I’ve been hearing rave reviews of Alan Bradley’smystery series that starts with The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, and I finally had the chance to read the firstnovel myself. It’s a fun littlemystery that reminded me of my childhood days immersed in Nancy Drew books.

Although this series is for grown-ups, the main character isan 11-year old girl named Flavia who – in true Nancy Drew fashion – stumblesupon a mystery and goes about solving it before the police can figure itout. Flavia is the main attractionin this novel. She is quiteprecocious, a delightful young loner who is picked on by her older sisters andhappiest when she is spending time in her home chemistry lab and learning moreabout poisons.

The novel takes place in the English countryside in1950. Flavia’s distant,stamp-loving father has a mysterious midnight visitor who ends up dead in thecucumber patch the next morning. The only other clue is a dead crow left on the doorstep with a stampstuck in its beak. To give you anidea of Flavia’s unique joie de vivre, here is what she thinks when she findsthe dead body in the garden:

“I wish I could say I was afraid, but I wasn’t. Quite the contrary. This was by far the most interestingthing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.”

The story proceeds as most mystery novels do, with the youngdetective following clues, taking risks, and slowly unraveling whathappened. As you can probably telleven from that brief quote above, Flavia adds an extra layer of interest, andthe author uses a subtle sense of humor to enhance the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this clever novel – it was apleasant diversion during what was a difficult week for me. I don’t know whether I’ll read more ofthe series or not. I’m notnormally a hug fan of British mysteries – I enjoy one now and then but don’tnormally seek them out. But if Iwas to read another novel of this genre, Flavia certainly adds an extra appealto the story, and I would enjoy seeing where her sleuthing leads her.

You can watch a brief video preview of the book here.

370 pages, Delacorte Press

Fall Into Reading Question #5

2011-10-26T19:05:00.003-04:00

You may recall that I have joined the Fall Into Reading Challenge hosted over at Callapidder Days. She is posing a question each week, and this week's question is:

Do you skim? Or are you faithful to read every word?

Well, I tend to be a very thorough reader. I guess it's that streak of perfectionism I keep trying to get rid of but never do! I generally read every word. The only times I can think when I may have skimmed something would be either re-reading a book (like before a book group discussion of something I read a while back) or perhaps skimming a nonfiction book that I only need certain information from. Even when I read magazines, I read them from front to back thoroughly! I know, it's a sickness.

I try to choose my books carefully, so I rarely dislike one so much that I can't finish. I have - rarely - read a book for one of my book groups that was so bad I couldn't finish it, but usually I give it a try.

How about you? Do you skim or read every word?

It's Monday 10/24! What Are You Reading?

2011-10-24T10:49:00.000-04:00

Well, it is now truly fall here - the weather has cooled down, and it seems as though the tress suddenly turned from all green to a riot of colors. I love this time of year! We made our annual trip to the pumpkin farm this weekend to pick out our pumpkins and gorge ourselves on still-warm, homemade donuts and fresh cider....oh, my gosh! I forgot I have a leftover donut....ah...that's better! Mmmm...cinnamon-sugar donuts and typing don't mix well.

OK, I'm back. Anyway, here's what we read last week:

I finished The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's like Nancy Drew for grown-ups. I want to be Flavia when I grow up.
I am now reading The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch, a newly released teen/YA post-apocalyptic novel that my husband recently read. I really like it so far. It's a bit like The Road, only not nearly as dismal and hopeless.
My husband, Ken, is reading a thriller I gave him for his birthday, The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo, a Norwegian author who has been compared to Stieg Larsson. He likes it so far, though he says the translation is sometimes a bit rough.
Jamie, 17, finished his Dad's old favorite fantasy series, The Belgariad by David Eddings with Book Five: Enchanter's End Game, the last book in the series.
Jamie was home sick all last week, so he treated himself to a book he's really wanted to read, Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. He loved the Mortal Instruments series and has been looking forward to this prequel series. He and I listened to the beginning of this book on audio, but he said he preferred to read it.
Now, Jamie is reading Blood Red Road by Moira Young, a much-anticipated new post-apocalyptic novel. He says it's good so far, though he doesn't like the author's convention of not using quotation marks for dialogue. This one is on my TBR list, too.
Craig, 13, is reading Woodsong, a memoir by Gary Paulsen, author of one of our favorite novels, Hatchet and its sequels. He's enjoying it, though he says it's not as good as Paulsen's fiction.

Last week, I posted a review of a new picture book, M.O.M.: Mom Operating Manual at Great Books for Kids and Teens. I don't normally review picture books anymore, but this one was unique!

I also posted a recap and photo from my book group's meeting with author Rachel Simon, which we all thoroughly enjoyed, and a discussion of how many books we have in our house, with pictures of our overflowing bookcases!

What are you and your family reading this week?

Ooh...now I have a bit of a sugar-rush headache from that donut, but it was so worth it!

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

Fall Into Reading Question #4

2011-10-19T18:43:00.003-04:00

You may recall that I have joined the Fall Into Reading Challenge hosted over at Callapidder Days. She is posing a question each week, and this week's question is:

How large is your personal/family collection of books? And where do you keep them?

Quick answer: Very large and all over the house!!

We have a major clutter problem, and much of that clutter is books. I have been trying to weed some out from the overflowing bookcases, but then they sit in piles and boxes in my office while I wait for time to either post them on half.com or give them to our local library's book sale (the collection day is just once a month, and I always seem to miss it). I also give some away to friends and to my son's school.

Bookcase in Our Bedroom

So, let's see...we have a floor-ceiling bookcase in the living room, mostly filled with really nice hardcovers. There is a double floor-to-ceiling bookcase in the office, but that is partly work-related and reference stuff - my books on writing, travel books, my husband's old college textbooks (not that he ever actually looks at them...), even a bunch of books related to my old field of consulting (I might need those again some day...). There is a full bookcase in our bedroom, and another one in each of my son's bedrooms.

One of my son's bookcases

My oldest son reads constantly and hates to get rid of any books, so he also has overflowing shelves on the bookcase headboard of his bed, plus lots more on the shelves of his closet! And finally, we have a couple of baskets of kids and teen books waiting to be read and reviewed - as you can see, the books long ago outgrew the pretty little basket I bought to hold them! Oh, and should I count the two plastic bins of beloved picture books waiting in the closet for the next generation? Oh, and I forgot about the shelves in the guest room, filled with all of my husband's old sci fi and fantasy paperbacks (which my son had been reading lately), plus a bunch of classics. When my son gets assigned a book for read for Lit class, we always check that shelf first before buying anything new. Whew...

Overflowing Book Basket

I have been trying to weed through all of our books. My criteria for what to keep is only books I love that I will either read again (not that I ever find the time) or lend to family and friends.

Ah....I do so love books. Do you think I have a problem?

How about you? Do you have a lot of books in your house? What do you keep and what do you get rid of? And HOW do you get rid of them??

Meeting with Author Rachel Simon

2011-10-19T11:16:00.000-04:00

That's Rachel in the center in the purple sweater, and I am on her left, holding the book.

It was an exciting night for my neighborhood book group last night! We had the pleasure of meeting and talking with Rachel Simon as we discussed her latest novel, The Story of Beautiful Girl. Rachel is also the author of the memoirs, Riding the Bus with My Sister and Building a Home with My Husband, as well as several earlier novels and short stories.

We had a wonderful time and talked for hours! Rachel told us all about her mentally handicapped sister (the subject of Riding the Bus With My Sister) and how she came to write The Story of Beautiful Girl. We got the inside scoop, and her stories were fascinating. She is warm, intelligent, and passionate about her subjects, and it was a wonderful evening.

If you haven't read The Story of Beautiful Girl yet, you really should. It is an amazing story, about the enduring love between a mentally handicapped woman and a deaf man, both imprisoned in an institution for years who then spend the rest of their lives trying to find each other again...and their daughter who they were forced to abandon at birth. It's a love story, lovingly written. Rachel Simon is a very talented writer, whether she's writing about her own life or the lives of Lynnie, Homan, Martha, and Julia. You can read my full review here.

And I highly recommend inviting an author to one of your book group meetings! Although Rachel lives right here in our town, she also attends book group meetings via Skype, as I am sure other authors do as well. It is really a wonderful experience, to talk directly with the author of a favorite book, and I'm sure you will enjoy it as much as we did!

It's Monday 10/17! What Are You Reading?

2011-10-17T09:23:00.001-04:00

Ah! It finally feels like fall here - I am loving the sunshine and cooler weather. Sweatshirt weather!

Another busy week around here (aren't they all when you have teenagers?), but we did take some time this weekend to relax together. As always, we enjoyed our books this week:

I finished Forever by Maggie Stiefvater...which means I finished the trilogy, finally! I really enjoyed it. Check out my review of the last two books, Linger and Forever.
I am now reading The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley, another book I've been meaning to read for a very long time. I'm enjoying it so far - it's very clever.
My husband, Ken, finished The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch, a newly released teen/YA post-apocalyptic novel. He said it was good, a little dark (but then, post-apocalyptic novels tend to be dark - it does take place, after all, after an apocalypse!).
Now he is reading a thriller I gave him for his birthday, The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo, a Norwegian author who has been compared to Stieg Larsson. Ken says he's still at the beginning, just trying to keep the characters straight!
Jamie, 17, is still reading his Dad's old favorite fantasy series, The Belgariad by David Eddings. He has finished Book Three: Magician's Gambit and Book Four: Castle of Wizardry and is now moving onto Book Five: Enchanter's End Game, the last book in the series. He has really enjoyed this!
Craig, 13, is reading Woodsong, a memoir by Gary Paulsen, author of one of our favorite novels, Hatchet and its sequels.

Last week, I posted reviews of two books: When Parents Text: So Much Said, So Little Understood, a hilarious book, here at Book by Book and Linger and Forever over at Great Books for Kids and Teens. I also posted a link to a Today Show interview (and kids' review) with Brian Selzniak, author of Wonderstruck and a discussion of reading on devices versus traditional books.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Mondays is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

Nonfiction Review: When Parents Text

2011-10-13T19:16:00.000-04:00

When Dawn at She Is Too Fond of Books recently reviewed WhenParents Text: So Much Said…So Little Understood by Lauren Kaelin and Sophia Fraioli, I knew right away I would enjoythis book. I read it over the pasttwo weeks (I admit it, I read it in the bathroom!) and laughed like crazy.

The book is based on the website of the same name, startedby the co-authors after they had finished college and moved back home (as manygraduates must these days). Itstarted with a fateful text from Lauren’s mom about tacos and grew rapidly fromthere. The website now has textssent in by people all over the internet, and the best of them have beencollected and categorized into this delightful book.

Some of the texts are, as expected, about the oldergeneration trying to get the hang of texting, some are just funny becausethey’re goofy things parents say, and some are actually quite impressive, likethe pictures drawn with symbols by parents with WAY too much time on their hands! The best way to give you an idea of howkooky and funny these texts are is just to provide a few examples from thebook. From the chapter titled n00bs:

MOM: When will you be home? ;)
ME: Pretty soon, why?
MOM: Just wondering ;) Going to bed soon ;)
ME: Okay, what’s with the winky face?
MOM: What?
ME: This! ;)
MOM: That’s a pirate. See he has an eyepatch! ;) ;)

From the chapter called Master Class:

DAD: mt dishwasher!
ME: Mount Dishwasher?
DAD: No, empty dishwasher, I was being cool.

From the chapter titled Pets:

MOM: You will add the dog as your facebook friend RIGHTNOW!!
ME: mom he’s a dog…
MOM: He is FAMILY, add him or you are grounded!!!!

Ah, I could just go on all day. So many of these made me LOL that it was hard to pick just afew to share here. In fact, Ioften came out of the bathroom, holding the book and reading stuff out loud tomy husband and teen sons, much to my own amusement (TMI?). This would make a great gift for anyonewith a good sense of humor and some texting knowledge. And it really is the ideal bathroombook. It’s not for kids, though;some of these parents have real potty mouths!

Check out more examples at the website, www.whenparentstext.com.

276pages, Workman Publishing

Fall Into Reading Challenge: Question #3

2011-10-12T20:59:00.001-04:00

You may recall that I have joined the Fall Into Reading Challenge hosted over at Callapidder Days. She is posing a question each week, and this week's question is:

On what devices, if any, do you read books? Or are you strictly a “physical book” reader?

Ah, this is an easy one for me. Nope, none. I am still 100% traditional paper books, though it's not that I have anything against all the new ways to read e-books. It just doesn't make sense financially for me.

Setting aside for a moment the fact that all of these new devices (e-readers, smart phones, iPads, etc.) are expensive on their own, buying the e-books to read on them is expensive, too. Currently, I get most of the books I read either from publishers for review or from the library (i.e. free), so having to purchase e-books would definitely cost a lot more.

So, while e-readers, iPads, and smart phones all look kinda cool, I have no problem reading my books the old-fashioned way for now.

Now if only I could get better at getting rid of all the book clutter after I read them...

How about you? Do you read e-books, paper books, or both?

It's Monday 10/10! What Are You Reading?

2011-10-10T09:43:00.000-04:00

We finally had a few gorgeous days here that actually felt like fall....but now it is in the mid-80-'s again! I was able to get outside and take some walks last week, so that was wonderful. These cool nights make me yearn to go camping, but it's such a busy fall for us, with college preparations as well as all the usual stuff, that I'm not sure when we'll be able to squeeze it in. We spent all day Sunday touring the campus at Rowan University.

Still, we always find time for reading:

I finished Linger by Maggie Stiefvater and immediately moved onto Forever, the final book in the trilogy. I think procrastination paid off because it was fun to be able to jump right into the next book!
I finished When Parents Text: So Much Said, So Little Understood by Lauren Kaelin and Sophia Fraioli. I admit it - I read it in the bathroom! It's actually the perfect bathroom book...and so funny!!
I am still listening to Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love and the Search for Home, a memoir by Kim Sunee, and enjoying it very much. My poor little '92 VW has been sitting in the garage lately because whenever I go out, I want to listen to more of this audio, so I take the newer car that has a CD player and iPod dock! Don't worry, little red car, I haven't forgotten you!
Ken, finished reading The Passage by Justin Cronin and enjoyed it very much. He sort of missed the hint on the last page that there will be a sequel, so when I pointed that out to him, he said, "What?? There's another one?!" It is a long book, but well worth the time it takes to read it.
Ken was looking for a quick book to read before his upcoming business trip, so I suggested The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch, a newly released teen/YA post-apocalyptic novel. He's the first one on our house to try this new novel.
Jamie, 17, was back in school last week, so he had less reading time. He is continuing to read his Dad's old favorite series, The Belgariad by David Eddings. He finished Book Two: Queen of Sorcery and moved onto Book Three: Magician's Gambit. He's enjoying this classic fantasy series very much.
Jamie is also reading Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit by Daniel Quinn for his World Lit class.
Craig, 13, started a new book, Woodsong, a memoir by Gary Paulsen. His novel, Hatchet, and all of its sequels are old favorites in our house, and Craig is enjoying the memoir.

I posted two new reviews last week, The Things They Carried, a Vietnam War novel by Tim O'Brien, and Bruiser, a teen/YA audio by Neal Schusterman. Both were excellent.

I also posted a discussion of re-reading books for the Fall Into Reading Challenge and my Books Read in September summary.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

Books Read in September

2011-10-07T18:32:00.001-04:00

It seems so weird that September is over already - it didn't feel like September at all. It was rainy, warm, and humid here all month, so much so that the crops at our local farm were ruined by all the water and our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) pick-ups ended a month early :( My kids went back to school, but my oldest son was home sick for a good part of the month, so it feels like fall just started this week.

Fortunately, it was a good reading month! That helps, doesn't it? I finished six books last month, and since one of those was 1000 pages long, I think that's pretty good:

The Pillars of the Earth, an epic novel by Ken Follett
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, a novel about the Vietnam War
Bruiser by Neal Schusterman, a teen audio
Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut, a memoir on audio by Jill Kargman
Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf, a unique middle-grade novel
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

I got a bit behind in writing reviews, with all that was going on at our house, but I didn't do too badly last month.

So, that was a nice mix of four grown-up books, and two kids/teen books, with two on audio. I enjoyed all of these. I always hate trying to choose a favorite, but I guess that would be The Pillars of the Earth.

Where Are You Reading Challenge Update: I didn't add much to my map this month - a pin for Vietnam and another pin in England for The Pillars of the Earth. I will add two more when I get home and can figure out where Bruiser and the Middle School book took place, though I already returned Bruiser to the library, so that might be a lost cause. Anyone else know where it took place? It may not have been named. So, I am still at 13 different states and now 8 countries outside the US. Here's my updated map:

View Where I Am Reading 2011 in a larger map

And, I also joined a new challenge this month, the Fall Into Reading Challenge. So far, I have read two of the books on my lists for that challenge, Fahrenheit 451 and Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf (plus two more this week), so I have a good start there.

What were your favorite books read in September?

Fiction Review: The Things They Carried

2011-10-06T15:54:00.000-04:00

One of my book groups recently read and discussed TimO’Brien’s classic novel about the Vietnam War, The Things They Carried. Iguess “classic” might be stretching it a bit since it was published in 1990,but it seems to be a well-known book that has garnered a lot of praise and wasrecently published in a special 20^th Anniversary Edition, so itseems well on its way. Besides, itsays, “This is an American classic” on the inside flap.

And on the title page, it says it is “a work of fiction byTim O’Brien.” I would havemistaken it for nonfiction otherwise, an understandable mistake because it isan odd mix of fact and fiction. The narrator is Tim O’Brien, and the book is dedicated “to the men ofAlpha company,” including a list of names that match the character namesinside. The book consists of 22interrelated short stories or essays about this same group of men and theirexperiences serving together in the jungles of Vietnam in the 1970’s. After reading the book, and one essayin particular in which the author talks about truth versus the differingperceptions and memories of different people, I think I understand that he madeit fiction because it is based on his own memories and perceptions from decadesago, memories of a time that was frantic, frightening, and oftenconfusing. So, I took this to meanthat the stories are mostly true, though not necessarily all of the details.

It is a sobering, grim reality. I have heard things before about the Vietnam War and seenmovies that depicted it, but this was somehow more powerful and more real. O’Brien hides nothing; he lays out theviolence, death, and futility of the experience in vivid detail. More importantly, he delves into theemotions of the men, especially himself, and emphasizes how people mustfundamentally change when they are engaged in war. Through the stories, we get to now each of the men asindividuals and see how the each responded to what was required of them. Given the wars currently going on inthe world, it was a very thought provoking, deeply touching book.

Two of my family members’ lives were changed forever by theVietnam War: my cousin because he met his wife in Asia (she’s from Thailand),and they’ve been married ever since. More distressing was my uncle’s experience; he was exposed to AgentOrange there and suffered horrible medical problems the rest of his life, untilhis young death from cancer a few years ago. So, I found the book profoundly moving, as did most of therest of our book group. We allfelt it was eye opening, an insider’s view of war that we’d never experiencedbefore. It is certainly a veryimportant book for people to read, even now, to understand the real life-longconsequences of sending young people to war.

233pages, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Fall Into Reading Challenge: Question #2

2011-10-05T19:14:00.001-04:00

Last week, I posted that I have joined the Fall Into Reading Challenge hosted over at Callapidder Days. She is posing a question each week, and this week's question is:

How often do you re-read books? What does it take to make you re-read?

This fits right in with last week's Top Ten List of Books I Want to Reread. Obviously, since I made a list, I do sometimes reread a book but not very often. I have such a huge, never-ending list of books I want to read for the first time that it's hard to find time to reread something again.

As you can see from my list, some of the books are favorites that I loved the first time (or first, second, and third times!) and a few are classics I read many years ago and don't remember well. I just thoroughly enjoyed rereading Fahrenheit 451 which I hadn't read since high school. I have reread some of the Harry Potter books, especially before the movies came out.

So, it does happen, but not very frequently. There are just so many good books out there and so little reading time!

How about you? Do you ever reread books?

It's Monday 10/3! What Are You Reading?

2011-10-03T10:01:00.001-04:00

Wow, October already? It finally feels like fall here, after a very wet, warm, humid September. Once again, not much blogging time last week. Our oldest son has been suffering through a severe flare-up of his chronic illnesses, so we have sort of been in crisis mode around here lately. He's back in school this morning, and we are making some changes to his medications, so we are hoping October will be better. We just have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, as always, our books bring all of us comfort during trying times:

I finished Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and loved it (again). I intended to post a review of it for Banned Books Week, but things really fell apart here at the end of the week. I will get to it this week. It's such a clever book...and so ironic that it was banned!
I am now (finally) reading Linger by Maggie Stiefvater - pure fun escapism which is exactly what I needed!
I am also reading (I admit it...in the bathroom!) When Parents Text: So Much Said, So Little Understood by Lauren Kaelin and Sophia Fraioli. A fellow book blogger passed it along to me, and it is hilarious!! I keep reading texts out loud to my husband and sons.
And I am listening to Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love and the Search for Home, a memoir by Kim Sunee, and am thoroughly enjoying it.
My husband, Ken, is reading The Passage by Justin Cronin and enjoying it. It's fun to have someone to talk to about it now, but it's hard not to give too much away!
Jamie, 17, was home sick most of the week, so he read a lot. He read The Last Apprentice: Rise of the Huntress (#7) byJoseph Delaney, the latest in a favorite series.
Next, he read a brand-new book he picked out at the bookstore a few weeks ago - not part of a familiar series for a change! He thoroughly enjoyedThe Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima.
Then, he finally began an old fantasy series that is one of his Dad's favorites, The Belgariad by David Eddings. He said Book One: Pawn of Prophecy was a bit slow until the end, but the action has really picked up now in Book Two: Queen of Sorcery. Ken has been trying to convince him to read this series for ages!
Craig, 13, has been reading The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. He is taking an AR test on it at school today, so he'll be switching to a new book this week.

I posted just one review last week, Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf by Jennifer L. Holm. I also wrote two lists, Top Ten Books I Want to Reread here and Top Ten Kids/Teen Books I Want to Reread at Great Books for Kids and Teens.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

Top Ten Books I Want to Reread

2011-09-27T16:56:00.000-04:00

It's Tuesday and that means Top Ten day over at The Broke and the Bookish! Head over there and check out all the links. You can also see my list of Top Ten Kids/Teen Books I Want to Reread over at Great Books for Kids and Teens.

Today's list is an easy one for me. I have a whole bookcase filled with books I want to save and maybe reread one day! To keep the clutter somewhat controlled, I try to really consider whether I will reread a book before I decide to keep it. So, here are my Top Ten Books I Want to Reread:

Replay by Ken Grimwood - even though I have read it three times, I know I will reread it!
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger - one of my favorite books and it's complexity begs for a reread.
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert - some day when I need inspiration.
12,000 Miles in the Nick of Time by Mark Jacobson - a memoir about traveling around the world with a family - maybe someday I can reread it while planning my own trip!
One Mississippi by Mark Childress - a favorite novel, even though I know how it ends now, I would still reread it to look for clues (and for the laughs!)
On Writing by Stephen King - fabulous writing advice - maybe I should reread this one soon!
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver - another all-time favorite.
She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb - I was blown away by this novel.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte - read it decades ago - I'd like to see if I still love it as much as I did then.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - also loved this one but am embarrassed to admit I sometimes confuse the details of this and the previous one - definitely need to reread.

Many of these books just blew me away the first time I read them, and it would be fun to see if I still feel the same way the second time through.

How about you? Which books would you most like to reread?

It's Monday 9/26! What Are You Reading?

2011-09-26T09:10:00.000-04:00

End of September already...and it still feels like summer here! I'm ready for some real fall weather instead of this warm and humid stuff. We had another busy week, though not as bad as the last few. One of my sons was home sick for two days, and the other one was home sick all week, so we had lots of reading time:

I finished The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, a novel about the Vietnam war, though not in time for my book group discussion (I still went, though!). It's an excellent book on a very difficult subject.
After that heavy read, plus the 1000-page book I read before it, I was ready for something short and light, and Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf by Jennifer L. Holm was perfect! As the subtitle says, it's "a year told through stuff" - very creative and enjoyable.
Now, I am reading Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, in honor of Banned Books Week. I haven't read it since I was a teen and had forgotten just how brilliant it is.
I finished a teen/YA audio, Bruiser, by one of my favorite YA authors, Neal Schusterman.
My husband, Ken, finished The Roar by Emma Clayton, a middle-grade sci fi adventure that our son recommended. It's on my TBR shelf now.
Ken is now reading The Passage by Justin Cronin, based on my recommendation. I'm already enjoying being able to talk to someone about it!
Jamie, 17, spent the week lying on the couch, so he read a lot. He finished re-reading Brisingr by Christopher Paolini, in preparation for the final book to be released in November.
Next, Jamie read Goliath by Scott Westerfeld, the final book in the Leviathan trilogy. This one will also pass through our entire family.
Jamie has resumed re-reading a favorite series by Tamora Pierce, The Immortals, with Book 3, Emperor Mage.
Finally, Jamie is reading Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit by Daniel Quinn for his World Lit class. Ken and I both read it years ago; he's enjoying it so far.
Craig, 13, is reading The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman.

I posted a review of Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth last week, as well as my lists of Top Ten Books Everyone Has Read But Me, both here and at Great Books for Kids and Teens. And, although it is rare for me, I also joined a challenge, Fall Into Reading Challenge. You can read my list of books to read for the challenge, as well as another list of kids/teen books to read for the challenge.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

Fall Into Reading Challenge 2011

2011-09-24T17:01:00.002-04:00

OK, I normally don't DO challenges. My life is just too hectic. I find it hard enough to find time to read and blog, let alone taking on additional reading commitments. But this weekend, I came across a challenge that even I can do! It's the Fall Into Reading 2011 Challenge, hosted at Callapidder Days, a new-to-me blog I just discovered and will be following. The rules are simple (you can read the whole list at the above link) - you make your own list, as long or as short as you like, of books you'd like to read this fall. I can do this!

So, I looked at my normal rate of reading, then came up with a list of 10 grown-up books and 10 kids/teen/YA books (I like to alternate) that I hope to read between now and December 21. Here's the grown-up side of my list:

Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich
The Song Catcher by Sharon McCrumb (my neighborhood book group's next pick)
She’s Not There by Jennifer Finney Boylan (next pick for my other book group)
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (for Banned Books week)
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
Reservation Road by John Burnham Schwartz
Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
The library's book discussion pick for November
The library's book discussion pick for December

I chose quite a few short, light books since I just spent the summer reading several Big Books! All of these books (except the book group picks) are currently sitting on my very overloaded TBR shelf. I've included a photo so you can see just how "overbooked" I am. On the top two shelves, everything to the left of the gaps is mine - the short stacks to the right are my husband's - plus the entire bottom shelf...all TBRs waiting to be read! So, this will give me a good excuse to work down those piles.

If you are interested in my Fall Into Reading list of kids/teen/YA books, head over to Great Books for Kids and Teens. Sounds like fun? Join in!

Fiction Review: The Pillars of the Earth

2011-09-23T08:31:00.000-04:00

For years, I’d been hearing wonderful things about KenFollett’s The Pillars of the Earth, butat almost 1000 pages, its size intimidated me. I was a long-time fan of Follett’s thrillers, but readingsuch a long book about the building of a cathedral just didn’t grab me. All those great reviews were right,though, and I was wrong. I finallytook the hefty tome off the bookshelf this summer, and I loved every page.

Summaries of this novel often describe it as being aboutcathedral building, but that’s such a limited, narrow view. The Pillars of the Earth is an epic, covering several generations of people,set in twelfth-century England. Although it is historical fiction, it reads very much like Follett’searlier thrillers, filled with tension, conflict, and a classicstruggle between good and evil. There is something here for everyone, from battle scenes between knightsto fascinating historical events to tender romance and architectural details.

Tom Builder is a talented mason looking for work so that hecan feed his family (I loved hearing how people were named after theirvocations – one of many fascinating details about the era that Follett bringsalive). Philip is a kindheartedand devout monk whose lifetime goal is to reform the Priory of Kingsbridge andbuild a new cathedral there. LadyAliena is the beautiful young daughter of a powerful earl whose life is aboutto change dramatically.

The story begins there, with three separate people – andtheir families and friends – whose lives and fortunes will eventuallyintersect. It moves through theintricacies of history, among battles and rebellions, changes in leadership,and the whims of those in charge. Meanwhile, those larger events affect each of the characters in thestory differently, and the reader is brought along through their personaltragedies and joys, all framed within the captivating details of their dailylives.

This is one of those novels where you come to care about thecharacters (most of them; others you come to hate), where you are cheering themon and hoping things will finally go their way. As in his previous novels,Follett doesn’t shy away from hard truths; this was a brutal time in history,and there are some horrible and disturbing acts of violence in the novel (andnot all occur during battle), but that only makes you root for the maincharacters even harder. Ieven found the scenes describing the cathedrals and building processinteresting, much to my surprise.

Despite its length, the book never dragged for me. Follett writes with his usual talentfor pulling the reader in and moving the story along at a fast pace. Yes, I just described an almost-1000page novel as fast-paced! Don’t beafraid of the size of the book – just dive in and enjoy the ride. I didn’t wantit to end, even after reading it for three weeks. Now, I can’t wait to watch the DVDs of the TV mini-seriesadapted from the book – I can’t seem to get enough!

973pages, New American Library

It's Monday 9/19! What Are You Reading?

2011-09-19T08:46:00.001-04:00

A friend recently commented to me that she'd seen a movie, and I said, "But I thought that wasn't due into theaters until mid-September." Then, of course, I realized we are already past mid-September!! Yikes, where is the month going? Things have continued to be very, very busy here, so I've had almost no time for either reading or writing blogs. At least my husband is back home now after a week away, so hopefully that will help this week. But you came here to hear about books, right? Here's what we've been reading this week:

I finally finished The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett! (pause for applause) It was excellent, and I enjoyed every minute of it, despite the fact that it took me over three weeks to read. Now I want to watch the TV mini series based on it.
Last night, I started The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, a novel about the Vietnam war that I'm reading for one of my book groups. I will never finish it before Wednesday, but a friend assured me there's no surprise ending that will be ruined if I go to the discussion only halfway through the book.
I am still listening to a teen/YA novel, Bruiser, by one of my favorite YA authors, Neal Schusterman. It's very good, and I'm getting through it fairly quickly. This is my current car/kitchen audio because it is on CD.
I also started another audio book on my iPod, Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home by Kim Sunee. How could I pass this one up? It's a memoir about food by someone who grew up in New Orleans - that's three things I love in a book!
My husband, Ken, had a lot of reading time since he was traveling. He read an Ed McBain mystery (not sure which one because he left it at his dad's house) - nice, quick paperback, perfect for a plane ride.
At his dad's house, Ken borrowed and read The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton, one of his first novels. I've never read it either.
Ken is now reading The Roar by Emma Clayton, a middle-grade sci fi adventure that our son has highly recommended.
Jamie, 17, has embarked on another mission to re-read a favorite series. When we were in the bookstore last week, he saw that Christopher Paolini's 4th book in The Inheritance series is due out in November, so Jamie re-read Eragon and Eldest and is now reading Brisingr, so they will all be fresh in his mind when the last book is released.
Craig, 13, is reading The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. He had extra reading time last week because of standardized testing (students are supposed to read if they finish early).

I posted just one review last week (told you I was busy!): The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot which my neighborhood book group enjoyed and discussed last week.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

Nonfiction Review: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

2011-09-16T15:52:00.000-04:00

My neighborhood book group recently read The ImmortalLife of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot,a book I had long wanted to read, and everyone agreed it was fascinating andwell written. On a scale of 1 to10, our group rated it a solid 8.

It is the nonfiction story of an African-American woman,Henrietta Lacks, who died of cervical cancer in 1951 and whose cells becameinvaluable to the medical community and are still in use today by scientists allover the world to study disease, vaccines, treatments, genetics, and more. There’s more to the story, though. Henrietta and her family had no ideathat doctors had taken Henrietta’s cells for study (a common practice at thetime) nor any idea what happened to those cells and how they changed the entirefield of medicine.

Henrietta’s family lived in poverty, unable to even affordadequate health care, while various corporations made millions of dollarsselling her cells for research. Her daughter, Deborah, was a toddler when her mother died and knewvirtually nothing about her mother’s life or death, until the author beganresearch for this book.

Our group found plenty to talk about. We discussed the medical implicationsof Henrietta’s cells, how we felt about her family and the way they’d beenignored, how medical practice has changed over the years, and we came backagain and again to the questions of medical ethics raised in the book that arestill relevant today. We alsoagreed that we’d all been enthralled by the photographs included in the book,of Henrietta and her family and descendants, the perfect accompaniment toSkloot’s talented writing, making the story come alive even more for us.

This book reminded me in some ways of Laura Hillenbrand’swriting (author of Unbroken and Seabiscuit); Skloot has the same talent for telling a truestory so that it is as compelling as a good novel. However, in this case, the author actually became apart of the story, as she got to know Henrietta’s family – and especiallyDeborah – and became more involved in helping them to understand their mother’slegacy. She tells Henrietta’sstory alongside the tale of how she herself discovered and researched thestory, alternating between Henrietta’s past, her own interactions with thefamily in the present, and the chronicle of Henrietta’s cells and their impacton medicine. It is an engrossingand thought-provoking book, sure to stay with you long after you finish readingit.

400 pages, Broadway Publishing

It's Monday 9/12! What Are You Reading?

2011-09-12T10:19:00.000-04:00

Huh? What? Oh, it's Monday? Ooops! I had a terrible time sleeping last night (what my husband and I call the Sunday Night Spins, when all the stuff you need to do Monday morning spins around in your head Sunday night). So, I did know it was Monday today but totally forgot about my usual Monday blog posts! That gives you some idea of how insanely busy this week is shaping up to be.

So, without further ado, here's what we've been reading this week:

Yes, I am still reading Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. That was probably part of my problem last night - I kept the light on much too late reading! This book is so compelling and well-written - just as gripping as Follett's thrillers. I only have 300 pages left!
I finished an audio book, Sometimes you Feel Like a Nut, a memoir by Jill Kargman that was sometimes hilarious and sometimes just cringe-worthy. I hope to find time to write a review this week (we'll see!).
I started a new audio, a teen/YA novel, Bruiser, by one of my favorite YA authors, Neal Schusterman. So far, so good!
My husband, Ken, re-read his #1 all-time favorite novel, Dune by Frank Herbert, in record time! Still his favorite. He's looking forward to reading some of its sequels next.
But first, Ken chose an "airplane novel" for today since he's traveling, a small paperback by Ed McBain - sorry, I didn't catch the title before he left. He also wants to read The Passage, but that is definitely NOT an airplane book!
Jamie, 17, re-read the first two books in a favorite series by Tamora Pierce, The Immortals, beginning with Book 1, Wild Magic, and Book 2, Wolf Speaker. Then, he had to take a break from that series because we no longer have Book 3 (we received a review copy years ago that was put together wrong and missing a bunch of pages!).
So, Jamie switched gears to another old favorite series, The Farsala Trilogy by Hilari Bell. He read Books 2 and 3: Rise of a Hero and Forging the Sword. This is one of his all-time favorites. He made a trip to Barnes & Noble yesterday to use some birthday credits and spend his allowance, so he is well stocked up, for at least the next few weeks.
Craig, 13, is thoroughly enjoying The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. Now that he has to spend some time reading each day for school, he said to Jamie and I yesterday, "Wow! This book is really good now that I'm further into it." We said, "That's what we've been trying to tell you all summer!" He even asked to read for more time at bedtime last night. I'll have to remember that he does best with books that jump right into the action.

I did manage some blogging last week. I posted a review of Wally Lamb's The Hour I First Believed here and a review of the creepy teen/YA novel Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann at Great Books for Kids and Teens. I also posted lists of Top Ten Sequels I'm Dying to Read and Top Ten Kid/Teen Sequels We're Dying to Read, plus a summary of what I read in August.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

Books Read in August

2011-09-09T19:03:00.000-04:00

September 9 already? Wow, the past two weeks have been filled with such a flurry of activity, they just flew by in a blur! So, I am finally getting around to my August summary. I finished six books last month:

The Search for Wondla, a middle-grade novel by Tony Diterlizzi
The Passage by Justin Cronin
Revolution, a teen audio by Jennifer Donnelly
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (read for my book group)
Alibi Junior High by Greg Logsted, a middle-grade novel
Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann, a supernatural teen novel

That's not bad for a busy month, especially since The Passage had almost 800 pages and a few weeks ago, I began another almost-1000 page book!

So, that's just two grown-up books finished, one fiction and one nonfiction, plus two middle-grade novels and two teen novels, both audios - a nice mix.

I enjoyed all of these books very much. My favorite? I guess that would have to be The Passage. And wonder of wonders, I have actually written and posted reviews of all of these, except The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks which I am purposely waiting to write until after our book group discussion next week. In fact, I've found that reading several huge books that last for weeks has allowed me to catch up on my review backlog.

Where Are You Reading? Summary: With all those new reviews, I added several new locations to my map this month: Colorado (2), Tennessee, Montana, Nigeria, and France. So that brings my totals for the year to 13 different states and 7 countries. I have also discovered that many books are set in England, New York, and Connecticut!

View Where I Am Reading 2011 in a larger map

What were your favorite books read last month?

Fiction Review: The Hour I First Believed

2011-09-08T19:16:00.001-04:00

She’s Come Undone byWally Lamb still stands as one of my all-time favorite books, so I’m alwayseager to read other Lamb novels. This spring, I read The Hour I First Believed with one ofmy book groups. It’s a fictionalaccount of two people affected by the Columbine shootings and how that oneevent had repercussions through their entire lives, though it is also anin-depth character study.

Caelum Quirk is a teacher at Columbine High School, and hiswife, Maureen, is the school nurse there. As the novel opens, they are struggling through a difficult time intheir marriage and dealing with infidelity, bitterness, and resentment. Of course, the shooting in April 1999ends any sense of normalcy and changes everything. Although Caelum was out of town at the time, Maureen wasright in the middle of the shooting. She emerges with her life intact but deeply scarred emotionally.

All of that happens at the beginning of the 700-pagenovel. The rest of the novel followsCaelum and Maureen as they try to put their lives back together and deal withboth the aftermath of the tragedy, as well as all the issues they had beforethe shooting. The couple moves outto the Quirk family farm in Connecticut, to try to help Maureen heal and tie upsome loose ends in Caelum’s family. From there, the action moves back and forth from the present intoCaelum’s childhood and the events that shaped him and into the distant paths ofCaelum’s ancestors who once lived on the farm and were instrumental in startingthe women’s prison next door.

If that sounds far ranging, well, it is. This is something of an epic, and theColumbine shooting is not really the main focus of the novel. It’s more of what Lamb specializes in –digging deeply into a character, finding out what makes him the way he is, howevents in his life have shaped him, and how he will move forward. I felt the novel was probably a bit toolong, as was Lamb’s other epic, I Know This Much Is True, but I enjoyed it and didn’t have trouble finishingit. It’s a fascinating look athuman nature, and the in-depth research Lamb did on the Columbine shooting wascaptivating. He intricately weavesreal-life events with the lives of his fictional characters, and the result isan engrossing read that stays with you long after you close the book.

723pages, Harper Perennial

Top Ten Sequels We're Dying To Read

2011-09-06T18:35:00.000-04:00

It's Tuesday and that means Top Ten day over at The Broke and the Bookish. Head over there and check out the long list of Top Ten links and join in the fun! Today's topic is Top Ten Sequels We're Dying to Read.

This was a very easy list for me to make over at my other blog, Great Books for Kids and Teens, because so many kid/teen books are part of a series now. I could have made a list of 20 books there! But in going over the grown-up books I've read over the past several years, I realized something: I rarely read grown-up series. Most of the books I read are stand-alones, and I kind of like it that way - there's such a big commitment in reading a series!

So, I also polled my husband, Ken, for this list, and here are our Top Five Sequels We're Dying To Read:

Sequel to The Passage by Justin Cronin (Sue) - talk about a commitment, a sequel to an 800-page book!
Smokin’ Seventeen by Janet Evanovich (Sue) - a bit of fun fluff!
Next Jack Reacher book by Lee Child (Ken)
Sequels to Tropic of Night by Michael Gruber (Ken) - there are 2 of them, out already.
Any Elvis Cole novels by Robert Crais – haven’t been readingthem in order (Ken).

That's all we could come up with! What sequels are you looking forward to?

It's Monday 9/5! What Are You Reading?

2011-09-05T08:17:00.000-04:00

This is pretty early for me on a holiday weekend, but I couldn't sleep this morning. I hope everyone is enjoying their Labor Day weekend! I'm glad to say good-bye to the heat and humidity of summer; fall is my favorite season. I will also be glad to get back into my weekday routine with the kids in school and have more time for writing, though of course, I will miss the easy-going summer evenings.

My oldest son had a rough week - oral surgery to remove his wisdom teeth on Monday, followed by a severe flare-up of his chronic illness. We had to cancel a planned trip this weekend. So, we spent lots of down time watching TV and movies and reading good books last week:

I am still reading Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett and thoroughly enjoying it. I am not quite halfway through this hefty volume yet, but it's been engaging every minute so far!
I finished listening to the teen/YA audio book, Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann, a creepy paranormal story. My son and I both enjoyed it very much.
My husband, Ken, finished Tropic of Night by Michael Gruber and really enjoyed it - he moved it to my side of the TBR bookcase!
Ken felt like a bit of comfort reading next, so he picked up one of his all-time favorite books, Dune by Frank Herbert, to re-read (for the third time maybe?). He's loving it!
Jamie, 17, was couch-bound all week, so he made the best of it and did a lot of reading. He finished reading the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull with Book 4, Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary, and Book 5, Keys to the Demon Prison. He said it was a very satisfying end to one of his favorite series.
He is now re-reading a favorite series by Tamora Pierce, The Immortals, beginning with Book 1, Wild Magic.
Craig, 13, started back to school last week and back to required reading time. He is reading Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass, which he started this summer.

I posted two new reviews this week, both of books I enjoyed very much: Little Bee by Chris Cleave and Alibi Junior High by Greg Logsted over at Great Books for Kids and Teens. I also posted my Top Ten List of Books on My TBR List for Fall and my Top Ten List of Kid/Teen Books on My TBR List for Fall.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

Fiction Review: Little Bee

2011-08-31T19:27:00.000-04:00

I finished Little Bee by Chris Cleave on an airplane on our way back from our California vacation earlier this summer. It was the perfect book for a long day spent in airports and airplanes: a unique and engrossing story, populated by characters who felt real. It’s one of those novels with female characters so well drawn that it’s hard to believe it was written by a man (no offense, guys).

It is the story of two women: Little Bee, a young woman from Nigeria, escaping the terrifying things happening in her home country by trying to immigrate to the United Kingdom, and Sarah, a working mother with a young son in the UK who has just lost her husband. Little Bee and Sarah first met two years ago, under horrific circumstances and are now about to meet again, in a way that will change both their lives forever.

This novel has all the elements I love in a good piece of fiction: believable characters you come to care about, a plot with plenty of unexpected twists and turns, suspense, and even humor. Despite its serious subject matter (i.e. life-changing moments), the author weaves in a wonderful sense of humor. The passages about the mom’s young Batman-obsessed son had me laughing out loud and reading paragraphs aloud to my own sons.

The back cover of the paperback – and all of the publicity surrounding the book’s release – made a big deal about keeping the plot a secret, with admonitions not to tell anyone what happens after you read it. This was taken to such an extreme, though, that it built up the expectation that there was some huge surprise in the book. That approach seemed to backfire, since I read many reviews when it first came out from people who were disappointed that the “surprise” wasn’t bigger than it is. Still, I heard enough good things about it to intrigue me.

In my view, the plot has as many secrets and surprises as any other good work of fiction with an element of suspense, and you should never spoil it for people who haven’t read it yet (you’ll never read spoilers in my reviews!). So, yes, expect some surprises – even some that are a bit shocking – but don’t let that expectation overrun your enjoyment of the other elements of this well-written novel. This would also be a great book for book groups to discuss. As for me, I enjoyed this novel very much and am looking forward to reading other Chris Cleave books.

266 pages, Simon & Schuster

Top Ten Books on My TBR List for Fall

2011-08-30T17:18:00.001-04:00

It's Tuesday, and that means Top Ten day over at The Broke and the Bookish. Head on over and check out all the blogs who posted lists today!

Today's topic is Top Ten Books on My TBR List for Fall. I noticed some blogs mainly listed books that will be released this fall that they want to read. I'm never that organized or caught up, so I went to my rather extensive TBR (to be read) bookcase. Yes, they almost fill up a whole bookcase now! And some have been there for a very long time, as you will see. These are the ones I most want to read next, though I'm sure I won't get to all of them this fall, allowing time for book group reads as well. (I stuck to just grown-up books here, but you can also read my Top Ten Kid/Teen Books on My TBR List over at Great Books for Kids and Teens.)

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley - I've wanted to read this for years and picked it up at Borders' clearance sale recently.
Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich - a birthday gift - after all these long books this summer, I'm looking forward to a little fluffy fun!
Peony in Love by Lisa See - my mother lent it to me years ago, but I've been hearing a lot about See's latest release and thought I should see what all the fuss is about.
The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber - my husband says it was very good and has just finished another Gruber book - I need to catch up!
Another Thing to Fall by Laura Lippman - another Borders find that I got for my husband.
Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen - an intriguing memoir I can't wait to get to - maybe I can convince my book group to choose this one.
The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz - another Borders clearance item - I've heard good things about this for years.
Midwives by Chris Bohjalian - borrowed from my neighbor years ago - I really need to read it and return it!
Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver - another that's been on my shelf for ages - all my friends say it's great.
The Lost Girls by Jennifer Baggett, Holly C. Corbett, and Amanda Pressner - a memoir about travel and friendship? I must read it!

So, that's just a small sample from my over-full shelves. What books do you want to read this fall?

It's Monday 8/29! What Are You Reading?

2011-08-28T20:16:00.000-04:00

I'm posting this a bit early this week because on Monday morning, we'll be at the hospital waiting while my 17-year old son gets all 4 wisdom teeth removed. Fun stuff, eh? That will cap off several extremely busy weeks. Having the hurricane come through this weekend has been the most relaxing part of the week (and we had three extra teen boys sleeping over for the storm!).

Amidst all this craziness, reading gives us a chance for a bit of downtime here and there:

I finished the middle-grade novel Alibi Junior High by Greg Logsted and really enjoyed the unique story about a boy raised by his CIA dad all over the world who has to attend public school for the first time. Watch for a review this week.
I have now embarked on one last Big Book challenge for the summer. I started Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth. I am a Follett fan from way back and have wanted to read this book for a long time. I am 120 pages into this 974 page paperweight and expect to build some muscles while carrying it around for the next few weeks! It's very good so far - already gripping.
My husband, Ken, is still reading Tropic of Night by Michael Gruber and enjoying it.
Jamie, 17, actually read both of his required summer reading books in one week, proving once again that procrastination pays off! He read The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa, which he said was OK but not as good as the fantasy novels he wanted to be reading!
He also read The Metamorphosis by Kafka, which he said was strange and pointless. I asked whether he didn't think there might be some symbolism and hidden meaning in the brief story, since most of the book was taken up by notes and analysis (which he didn't read)....nope, just a strange story.
He also re-read book 3 in the Fablehaven series, Grip of the Shadow Plague, and is now reading the fourth book, which he got for his birthday, Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary. He loves this series and is enjoying it much more than Kafka!

With something going on outside of the house every single day last week, I didn't have any time for writing reviews, but I hope to get back on track this week when school starts up. My writing time will expand exponentially!

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

It's Monday 8/22! What Are You Reading?

2011-08-22T11:18:00.000-04:00

Whew, another insanely busy week before school starts! Our schedule has been unbelievable, with all sorts of medical appointments, physical therapy (pre-soccer season), college visits, and other assorted obligations in these last weeks of summer. I definitely won't have much time for blogging this week!

We have been managing to squeeze in some reading, though:

At bedtime last night, I finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. It was a fascinating story, told in a way that read like fiction and made me care about the people in it. I can't wait to discuss it with my book group next month.
I have now started Alibi Junior High by Greg Logsted, a middle-grade spy thriller I've been wanting to read for a while now. I chose it out of my towering TBR piles because it is the shortest book! I am anxious to get to a really long book for a September book group but wanted to first squeeze in a quick kids/teen book.
My husband, Ken, is still reading Tropic of Night by Michael Gruber.
Jamie, 17, got Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary, book 4 in the Fablehaven series for his birthday last week. As he often does, he decided to re-read the first 3 books in the series first, so this week he read books 1 and 2, Fablehaven and Rise of the Evening Star.
This morning, Jamie finally succumbed to a month of nagging (from me!) and started to read his required summer reading for school (with one week left to go!). He's started The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa. Despite the odd title, it actually sounds pretty interesting - about a math professor who suffered a brain injury and can now only remember the past 80 minutes. Of course, Jamie would rather be reading the rest of the Fablehaven series!

Last week, I posted two new reviews: The Passage by Justin Cronin here and The Search for Wondla by Tony Diterlizzi, a middle-grade book on Great Books for Kids and Teens.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey).

Fiction Review: The Passage

2011-08-19T17:00:00.000-04:00

After hearing wonderful praise for over a year, I finally found the time to read The Passage, a hefty tome by Justin Cronin that lived up to its buzz.

The Passage is an epic story, covering more than 100 years and several generations. It is post-apocalyptic, sci fi, thriller, and literary fiction about people and their relationships, all rolled into one. It reminded me in some ways of Stephen King’s The Stand, a distinguished comparison I don’t make lightly. King himself wrote a complimentary blurb on the back cover, so you know Cronin is a talented storyteller.

I don’t want to give away too much of the plot because this is a book with surprises and twists around every corner. Essentially, The Passage is about some secret government research gone wrong, involving a horrific virus that transforms its victims into something deadly and grotesque. The government was trying to tame the virus a bit, to create a group of super-soldiers, but their first test subjects escape and the virus is released onto the unsuspecting public.

The story is told from varying points of view, starting with the scientist who discovered the virus, a grieving FBI agent named Brad Wolgast, and an abandoned little girl named Amy. As I said, though, it is an epic, covering multiple generations and telling the story both before and after the apocalypse.

I have often heard The Passage described as a vampire book, but I think that is very misleading. I’m not much of a fan of vampire fiction generally (and have never even read Twilight). Although the “v” word is used once or twice in the book, the creatures created from the virus bear little resemblance to traditional vampires, other than their blood lust. There is no brooding moodiness here nor Hollywood-style romance. Rather, Cronin writes about real people dealing with some terrifying problems, with in-depth insight into what makes them tick.

Despite its almost-800 pages read over a 3-week period, The Passage easily kept my interest. In fact, I found myself flipping back to earlier pages, looking for clues and foreshadowing of what was to come, reminding myself of details of each character’s history. It is an original and compelling story. I came to care about the characters and what happened to them. I was pleased at the end when things were seeming to wrap up for them, with perhaps a happy ending…until the very last lines of the book when it became obvious there will be a sequel. I guess that’s OK, too because it means I can read more of Cronin’s wonderfully engaging writing.

759 pages, Ballantine Books

It's Monday 8/15! What Are You Reading?

2011-08-15T10:13:00.000-04:00

Wow, what a weekend! We got together with my extended family - 14 of us! - in the Poconos for a weekend of swimming, kayaking, horseback riding, and lots of eating! We laughed so hard Saturday night that my stomach muscles hurt. Lots of fun, though not much time for quiet reading, as you can imagine.

Here's what we're reading this week:

I finally finished The Passage by Justin Cronin and absolutely loved it, except for the very last sentence! Though it seemed to be wrapping up nicely up until that last sentence, there is definitely a sequel coming, and he left me hanging. It was excellent - highly recommended for fans of suspense, thrillers, paranormal, and post-apocalyptic plots. Something for everyone.
Next, I finished up The Search for Wondla by Tony Diterlizzi (co-author of The Spiderwick Chronicles), a middle-grade sci-fi novel. We started the audio on vacation, but no one wanted to finish it because of the narrator. So, I finished reading the paper novel and really enjoyed it.
Now I am reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. I've been dying to read this after hearing so many wonderful things about it. It's my neighborhood book group's pick for September, so I thought I'd get a head start and skip the last-minute panic! It's fascinating so far.
My husband, Ken, is still reading Tropic of Night by Michael Gruber and enjoying it.
Jamie, 17 tomorrow!, finished reading Across the Great Barrier by Patricia Wrede and tells me I have to read this series!
Next, Jamie read Num8ers and The Chaos by Rachel Ward, teen thrillers which I recommended to him. He said they weren't his normal kind of book, but he enjoyed both and is looking forward to book 3.

Last week, I posted two new reviews: The Condition by Jennifer Haigh here and Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly at Great Books for Kids and Teens. I also posted lists of Top Ten Underrated Books and Top Ten Underrated Books for Kids and Teens.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

Fiction Review: The Condition

2011-08-10T16:55:00.000-04:00

I am a big fan of Jennifer Haigh’s novels. I enjoyed Mrs. Kimble and loved Baker Towers so much that I read it twice and convinced my book group to read it, too (they all loved it, too). So I was thrilled when my neighbor lent me The Condition, another novel by Haigh that takes an in-depth look into the intricacies of family relationships.

The McKotch family are classic New Englanders: living in a stately colonial in Massachusetts, returning every summer to their house in Cape Cod, and accustomed to keeping their emotions inside and their family problems secret. When their daughter, Gwen, is diagnosed with a rare genetic condition called Turner’s Syndrome that keeps her body childlike, it is the beginning of the end. Not long after, patriarch Frank gets divorced from his wife Paulette, and the years pass. Their oldest son, Billy, becomes a successful surgeon. Their youngest son, Scott, wastes his expensive boarding school education and drifts into both a job and a marriage he regrets, while Gwen tries to get on with her adult life in spite of the stifling overprotection of her mother.

But all of them have secrets – secrets from each other, secrets from the people around them, and even secrets they don’t want to admit to themselves. The novel explores these disparate lives and family ties. This is Jennifer Haigh’s genius: portraying and dissecting family relationships, showing how we can push away the people closest to us but we can never escape those bonds. As you read the novel, you understand that “the condition” refers not only to Gwen’s medical problems but that every character has some sort of condition or challenge that they are struggling with, just as in real life.

I really enjoyed this novel, as did almost everyone in my book group. It was compelling and well written, with in-depth characters I came to care about (even though I sometimes wanted to shake them). I can’t wait to read Haigh’s latest release, Faith.

390 pages, Harper Perennial

Top Ten Underrated Books

2011-08-09T19:15:00.000-04:00

It's Top Ten Tuesday over at The Broke and the Bookish! Today's topic is underrated books. This took some thought. I tried to focus on books that I loved that I didn't hear much buzz about - the kind of books I want to tell everyone about! If you are interested in my list of underrated books for kids and teens, check out Great Books for Kids and Teens.

Here is my list of Top Ten Underrated Books:

Replay by Ken Grimwood – this book appears on many of my top ten lists because it is one of my favorite books, though its official designation as sci-fi tends to make people draw incorrect conclusions and skip over it. Too bad - it's thought-provoking and compelling.
All the Fishes Come Home to Roost: An American Misfit in India by Rachel Manija Brown – a memoir about a young girl’s experiences when her parents move the family to an ashram in India.
12,000 Miles in the Nick of Time: A Semi-Dysfunctional Family Circumnavigates the Globe by Mark Jacobson – another one of my favorite memoirs, about both travel and family.
One Mississippi by Mark Childress – I often hear about his other novels, especially Crazy in Alabama (also wonderful) but rarely hear anyone mention this one which my husband and I (and all the friends and family I lent it to) loved .
China Run by David Ball – now out of print (though available used) but my entire book group loved it, and I’d never heard of the author (before or since).
Too Close to the Falls by Catherine Glidner – another fabulous memoir, about growing up in the 50’s near Niagara Falls – everyone in my book group loved it.
Baker Towers by Jennifer Haigh – read it twice and recommended it to my book group.
The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder by Rebecca Wells – everyone raves about her Ya-Ya books (which I liked, too), but Calla Lily didn’t garner much attention – my mother and I both loved the audio. I laughed, I cried…
Life on the Refrigerator Door by Alice Kuipers – didn’t hear much about this unique, tear-jerker novel told entirely in notes left between a mother and daughter.
Building a Home with My Husband by Rachel Simon – this second memoir didn’t attract nearly as much attention as her first, Riding the Bus with My Sister, but was just as well-written and thoughtful.

How about you? What are your favorite underrated books?

It's Monday 8/8! What Are You Reading?

2011-08-08T09:36:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday morning! I always look forward to hearing what everyone is reading each week. It makes Monday a day to look forward to!

We spent the weekend doing much-needed yard work, shopping for my son's birthday, and relaxing with some movies and TV shows (we enjoy catching up on TV shows on DVD during the summer, like Bones, The Mentalist, and Glee). Our boys both had sleep-overs. So, busy, busy!

Here's what we've been reading this week:

Yes, I am STILL reading The Passage by Justin Cronin! I only have about 50 pages to go. It is a big book that has taken me three weeks to read, but it has been well worth it - an excellent, well-written novel with a unique plot and in-depth characters.
My husband, Ken, finished his Jeffrey Deaver novel, The Burning Wire, and is now reading Tropic of Night by Michael Gruber which he picked up at Borders' clearance sale last week. He enjoyed Gruber's other novel, The Book of Air and Shadows, which I got him for Christmas one year.
I forgot to mention last week that he and I started a new audio book when we went to pick up our kids from their grandparents' house. We're listening to Dying for Mercy, a mystery by Mary Jane Clark. It's good so far - we listened to a bit more while birthday shopping yesterday - though it's hard to say when we'll next have time alone in the car. This could be another 6-month long audio!
Jamie, 16, is reading Across the Great Barrier by Patricia Wrede and loving it. This is the second book in the Frontier Magic series that started with The Thirteenth Child. Jamie says it is a great series.

I posted two new reviews last week. Here at Book By Book, I reviewed the audio book The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption and Pee, a funny and outrageous memoir by comedienne Sarah Silverman. At Great Books for Kids and Teens, I posted a review of Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson, a teen road trip novel that I absolutely loved. And I posted a summary of what I read in July.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

Memoir Review: The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption and Pee

2011-08-05T17:01:00.000-04:00

My husband and I just finished listening to an audio of the memoir The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption and Pee by Sarah Silverman. Neither of us had ever heard of Silverman before, other than reading the audio box and finding out that she’s a comedienne, so we had no idea what to expect.

This is not a memoir for the faint of heart! As we discovered, Sarah Silverman is crass, gross, shocking, potty-mouthed…and often absolutely hilarious. Though she sometimes crosses the line into such bad taste that you feel uncomfortable listening, she also has moments that are surprisingly warm.

As expected, her memoir is the story of her life, beginning in her childhood in New Hampshire. As one of very few (maybe the only?) Jewish families in her small, rural hometown, Silverman tells of her childhood. I think we liked this whole childhood section best in the entire memoir. Silverman is very honest and open throughout the book, including when she describes her bedwetting problems as a child and pre-adolescent. This is one of the places in the book where her story is yes, very funny, but also very tender. Anyone who’s been a child can relate to her feelings of embarrassment (it may not have been bedwetting, but we were all humiliated by one thing or another as children and teens!) and of trying to fit in.

The rest of the memoir deals with her rise to fame. Even though we hadn’t heard of her before this, it was fascinating to hear the inside view of the world of stand-up comics and what happens behind the scenes at Saturday Night Live. As is usually the case with a memoir, listening to the author read her own story added an extra element to the book. Overall, we enjoyed most of the memoir, though we certainly couldn’t listen to it when the kids were in the car!

Harper Audio

Books Read In July

2011-08-04T16:52:00.000-04:00

Well, this is going to look like a pretty pathetic monthly summary! We returned from vacation on July 2, and shortly after that, I decided to tackle some Big Books this summer, so my list of books completed in July is quite meager:

Morpheus Road: The Black, a teen thriller by D.J. MacHale
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (a re-read)
The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption and Pee by Sarah Silverman (audio memoir)

And...yeah, that's it! Just two kid/teen books completed this month (though one was 800 pages long) and one audio book that we started over a year ago! It's not as bad as it looks, though, since I am also almost finished with The Passage by Justin Cronin (which has almost 800 densely-written pages). I am also in the process of listening to three different audio books - I just don't have much free time during the summer to listen. Hey, at least I reviewed two of the three books I finished this month (though I am still trying to catch up on June).

As for a favorite, well, I have to pick Harry Potter, of course!

Where Are You Reading? Summary: My map didn't change much this month, since the locations of two books, CT and the UK, were already accounted for. I did add New Hampshire for Sarah Silverman's memoir since that is where she grew up. So, my count for the year stands at 10 different states and 5 different countries (outside the U.S.).

How about you? What was your favorite book read in July?

It's Monday 8/1! What Are You Reading?

2011-08-01T09:46:00.000-04:00

August 1st already! July seemed to go by quickly. I had a very unusual week - my kids were gone all week, and my husband was gone half of the week, so I enjoyed some quiet solitude, a rarity around here in the summer! I had planned to catch up on all the things I'm behind in and spend lots of time reading, but that never quite works out as I'd planned. Instead, I watched a bunch of girl-centric movies in the evenings and spent a lot of time with a friend going through a difficult time. So, not quite the productive week I'd foreseen but rewarding just the same. The kids had a blast on their grandparents' sailboat, enjoying Block Island, R.I.

And here's what we all read last week:

I am still reading The Passage by Justin Cronin. I am finally about halfway through this hefty book! It is really, really good - original, suspenseful, and compelling.
My husband, Ken, is reading The Burning Wire by Jeffrey Deaver, one of his favorite thriller writers. He had fun yesterday browsing though Borders' clearance sale and spending his last Borders gift card, but my son said the YA section was almost empty!
Jamie, 16, loves to read books set on the water when he's on his grandparents' boat, so he started the week with Rip Tide by Kat Falls, sequel to Dark Life (which he loved) about a civilization deep under the ocean.
Next, he re-read Pirate Curse, book one in The Wave Walkers series by Kai Meyer - he just has to read at least one pirate book when he's sailing! He said it was pretty good but not great. I don't think he's ever read the rest of the series.
Then he left the water theme behind to read The Lost World by Michael Crichton, sequel to Jurassic Park which he read and loved a few weeks ago. He loved the sequel, too!
Now he is re-reading The Thirteenth Child by Patricia Wrede in preparation for reading its sequel in the Frontier Magic series, Across the Great Barrier, which was recently released. Jamie says this is a great series - I really need to find time to read it.

I did manage to write some reviews last week, including The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon, a wonderfully original love story, set against the backdrop of a mental institution in the 1960's. I also posted a review at Great Books for Kids and Teens of D.J. MacHale's Morpheus Road: The Black, a fast-paced ghost story for teens.

In addition, I posted lists of Top Ten Books That Tackle Tough Issues, both here and on Great Books for Kids and Teens (two different lists). Finally, I posted an update on Borders' closing and my shopping expedition to their clearance sale and a sneak peek at the actors playing Gale and Peeta in The Hunger Games movie.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

Fiction Review: The Story of Beautiful Girl

2011-07-28T09:20:00.000-04:00

I was already a huge fan of Rachel Simon’s thoughtful and engaging memoirs (Riding the Bus with My Sister and Building a Home with My Husband), so I was thrilled when I heard about her new novel, The Story of Beautiful Girl. I was not disappointed. All the writing talent Simon showed in her memoirs comes shining through in her novel. It is a beautiful story, beautifully written.

Lynnie, a young white woman who is mentally disabled, has been living in an institution since her childhood (it is now 1968) and learned long ago to protect herself by not speaking. Homan is a deaf African American man who has also been institutionalized and forgotten by society. Lynnie and Homan fall in love and plot their escape. Their freedom is short-lived, however, and the authorities soon catch up with them in a farmhouse where a kind widow named Martha has taken them in for the night.

Unbeknownst to the authorities, Lynnie gave birth to a daughter before they caught up with her. She whispers two words to Martha, “Hide her,” before she is taken back to the despised institution and Homan evades capture and disappears into the night. The rest of the book is devoted to following each of their lives – Lynnie, Homan, Martha, and the baby – as Lynnie and Homan desperately try to find each other and the baby again.

It is a story of highs and lows, ranging from the horrible conditions and treatment of patients in the institution to the touching, undying love that Lynnie and Homan feel for each other, from the way that disabled people were cast aside just a few decades ago to the selfless actions of Martha toward people she had just met. The characters feel real and the plot twists are unpredictable. Though it may sound depressing to some, this is a love story at its heart and it is ultimately uplifting.

Simon’s writing is wonderful – compelling, engaging, beautiful prose that pulls the story along. I was immediately drawn into these fictional lives, feeling a part of their story. I never wanted it to end, and for me, that is the sign of a truly wonderful book.

340 pages, Grand Central Publishing

Borders Last Stand

2011-07-27T16:36:00.000-04:00

I mentioned last week in The Demise of Bookstores that Borders is closing, as you have all probably heard by now. I went on a pilgrimage to our local store, a favorite of mine, this morning to use my very last $10 gift card and check out their clearance sale. Of course, I spent more than just my $10!

It was very sad, but I did find some great books, two for me and two for my husband:

I found a hardcover The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley for just $4.99 (plus all books are 10% off). I have been meaning to read this popular best-seller for years!
It wasn't on the Clearance racks, so a mere 10% discount, but I just couldn't resist the memoir The Lost Girls by the trio of Jennifer Baggett, Holly C. Corbett, and Amanda Pressner about three women who celebrate turning 30 by taking off for a year-long trip around the world. Another book I've been dying to read!
For my husband, I grabbed mystery master Ed McBain's Killer's Wedge for just $4.99.
He loves suspense, so I also got him Another Thing to Fall by Laura Lippman, whose novels we have both enjoyed before, for $5.99.

I thought this was their last week, but the cashier explained that they are hoping to stay open until September - obviously, the more stock they can sell, the better, so I expect the discounts will grow larger as the weeks go by. Right now, everything in the store is at least 10% off, many nonfiction genres are 20% off, and there are a few things at 30-40% off. I got most of these on the Bargain shelves that they usually have in the store, but I imagine at some point, everything will be bargains. I will probably go back with my kids in a week or two.

It's very sad, but a good chance to find some low-priced gems (not that I really need more books for my TBR list!)

Top Ten Books That Tackle Tough Issues

2011-07-26T17:11:00.000-04:00

It's Tuesday and that means Top Ten day over at The Broke and the Bookish. Today's topic is Books That Tackle Tough Issues. I love this one because I always enjoy thought-provoking books that teach me or make me think about something (I love the alliteration, too!). In fact, I wrote my own Top Ten list a few years ago of Books That Taught Me Something, which is a bit similar.

For this week's list, I tried to stick to more recent books I've read that have tackled a wide variety of tough topics for adults (you can read my Top Ten list of Kids/Teen Books at Great Books for Kids and Teens).

Top Ten That Tackle Tough Topics:

Room by Emma Donoghue (abduction/rape)
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (violent crime against children, the afterlife)
Still Alice by Lisa Genova (Alzheimer’s disease)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (racism, injustice)
Beloved by Toni Morrison (slavery)
The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff (polygamy, religious extremism)
How To Be Sick by Toni Bernhard (chronic illness, dealing with life’s challenges)
Life on the Refrigerator Door by Alice Kuipers (cancer)
The Help by Kathryn Stockett (racism, class struggles)
Riding the Bus with My Sister by Rachel Simon (mentally handicapped people)

What are your favorite books that tackle tough issues?

It's Monday 7/25! What Are You Reading?

2011-07-25T10:20:00.001-04:00

What's that sound?? Ah, it's silence. This weekend, my husband and I dropped off our two teen boys at their grandparents' house for their annual week of sailing with Gramie and Pop Pop. They love this week - it's the highlight of the year for them (that's them with their cousin a few years ago on the Grandkids' Cruise). And for me? It's a well-deserved week of quiet solitude in the midst of a crazy-busy summer. I hope to catch up on all the stuff (especially writing) that has been going undone all summer and, of course, fit in lots of reading (though I was a complete lazy bum last night and watched two movies in a row instead of reading my book!). This is my week.

We kicked off our quiet week with a mini getaway this weekend. My husband surprised me for my birthday Saturday with an overnight near New Hope, PA, a lovely little town along the Delaware River. We had a fabulous dinner and enjoyed some much-overdue quiet time together.

So, last week was very busy, with my husband out of town on business, getting the boys ready for their trip, driving them to CT, and hosting two other teen boys to help out their mom (my friend). Whew. We did fit in a little reading, though:

I am reading The Passage by Justin Cronin, part of my Summer of the Big Book effort to catch up on some hefty reads. It's almost 800 pages, so I'm only about a quarter of the way through so far, but it is really, really good (though really creepy).
My husband, Ken, finished Room by Emma Donoghue. He liked it very much, and we even had time to discuss it over dinner this weekend!
Ken is now reading The Burning Wire by Jeffrey Deaver, a Father's Day gift from us. He says it's good so far.
Jamie, 16, spent a lot of time with friends last week, so he had less reading time than usual. He finished re-reading City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare.
Jamie was thrilled when Rip Tide by Kat Falls showed up at our house last week. It is the sequel to Dark Life which he loved last summer, so he re-read Dark Life and took the new sequel with him on the boat. He loves to read water-centric books while on the boat, and these take place in a future community deep below the ocean.
Craig, 13, took an old favorite on the boat with him. He's decided to re-read the Charlie Bone books which were the first books to really grab his interest a few years ago.
Ken and I finally finished an audio book this weekend that we started almost 9 months ago! We rarely have time alone in the car together, so on our way home yesterday we finished Sarah Silverman's memoir, The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption and Pee. We weren't familiar with the comedienne before we listened to this, but I guess this was classic Silverman: hilarious and outrageous, sometimes a bit uncomfortable, and sometimes suprisingly touching.

In addition to my post on the Summer of the Big Book last week (I could still use some advice on that one!), I also posted about The Demise of Bookstores and was very sad to come home yesterday and hear that our own Borders is closing this week (I guess they are now closing ALL stores). I will be stopping by their clearance sale this week to spend one last, remaining gift card. So sad.

I did manage to post one measly review last week at Great Books for Kids and Teens on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (book and movie). I hope to use some of my writing time this week to catch up on reviews!

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

The Demise of Bookstores

2011-07-20T18:40:00.000-04:00

I recently read this column by author Mitch Albom (of Tuesdays with Morrie fame) about the downfall of Borders as a symbol of the challenges facing all bookstores.

I enjoyed his column and found it interesting. We often hear writers and readers bemoaning the decline of independent bookstores, so I found it intriguing to hear Albom apply many of these same laments to Borders' bankruptcy and on-going difficulties. I know that Borders is sometimes considered an evil "big box" store - on a par with all the other huge conglomerates now clogging America's suburbs - but I have to admit that, like Albom, I have a soft spot in my heart for Borders. I loved his descriptions in this essay about the joys of exploring the big bookstores, and I agree.

I love going to Borders and for some reason have always preferred it to Barnes & Noble (though I did mostly shop at a local, independent bookstore for the few years we had one in our town). I was hoping that the bankruptcy proceedings would save the chain, but I guess it's not looking good.

Even though I get many of my books through the library - I just can't afford to buy all the books I read! - I will continue to buy books as gifts, at Borders while it's there or at an independent bookstore that's a bit of a longer drive from here. What will happen in the future? I can't even imagine a world without bookstores to roam and browse through.

The Summer of the Big Book

2011-07-19T20:48:00.000-04:00

Both of my book groups take the summer off, so when I returned from vacation a few weeks ago, I was faced with a delightful decision - what to read the rest of the summer?

I perused the towering piles of books waiting to be read on my bookshelf and came up with a great idea - with no book group commitments to get in the way, I am going to tackle some of the Big Books on my shelf that I've been postponing because I never seem to have time to get all the way through them.

Last week, I got a good start by re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, definitely a Big Book at 759 pages. Now I have started The Passage by Justin Cronin, with a hefty 766 pages, a book that I really wanted to read but have been putting off since last July because of its intimidating size.

What's next? Maybe you can help me decide. Here are a few other Big Books currently on my shelf:

Under the Dome by Stephen King, 1074 pages (the biggest!)
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, 850 pages
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, 973 pages

I know these big books will each take me a while to get through, so I won't be able to read all of them this summer. Which one should I read next? Help me decide!

It's Monday 7/18! What Are You Reading?

2011-07-18T10:24:00.006-04:00

July 18...summer is already half over! We had a very busy week here, filled with doctor's appointments, errands, and running the kids all over. Whatever happened to the lazy days of summer?

We did find some time for reading, however, especially this weekend:

I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (my second time) in preparation for the last movie which we went to see on Sunday. Both the book and movie were fabulous! I was glad I had re-read the book because there were a lot of details left out or changed in the movie, and I was reminded of just how wonderful J.K. Rowlings' books are - by this weekend, I was at the point where I didn't want to do anything but read, and I didn't care what was left undone! I've included a few photos here of Jamie's 8th birthday when we put together a big Harry Potter party and transformed our entire house into Hogwarts. We recruited some friends to help play the roles of the professors (you can see everyone at the table in the Great Hall below; I was Professor McGonagall, on the right in the photo with Dumbledore and Snape). The kids all had a blast, as did the adults!
Last night, I just started The Passage by Justin Cronin, a July birthday gift from my husband LAST summer that I have finally gotten around to reading. I've just started it, but it seems intriguing so far.
My husband, Ken, is reading Room by Emma Donoghue, based on my recommendation.
Jamie, 16, is re-reading City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare, and he told me this morning which five books are next on his list! He has it all planned out.

I finally started to catch up on my backlog of reviews last week, posting new reviews of Blood, Bones and Butter, a memoir by chef Gabrielle Hamilton, and Deadly, a teen historical novel by Julie Chibarro. I also posted my Top Ten Lists of Authors I'd Like to Meet and Kids'/Teen Authors I'd Like to Meet.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

Memoir Review: Blood, Bones and Butter

2011-07-14T18:17:00.001-04:00

I heard an hour-long interview with author chef Gabrielle Hamilton on NPR one day and was so fascinated with her unusual life story that I downloaded her new memoir from Audible (frustratingly, this link is not to the full interview I heard, which I can’t find online, but to a shorter one that was also broadcast on NPR; an excerpt is included at the link). Blood, Bones and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef is not only the story of how Hamilton became a chef but also the story of a very unusual life.

Although the author shares some wonderfully warm stories of growing up in rural Pennsylvania (not too far from where I live) with her brothers and sister and loving parents, surrounded by fabulous foods served by her French mother, her life fell apart when her parents divorced. She was basically left on her own during her teen years, and, as you might expect, she got into plenty of trouble. In between and in the midst of that trouble, though, she began working in kitchens – restaurants, catering, even summer camp – and eventually became the chef and owner of the very popular Prune in New York City.

Hamilton’s unusual and difficult life has left her with plenty of unresolved issues. Her memoir is very honest and raw, and she does not shy away from the difficult topics. In fact, sometimes she dwells on them: her very odd marriage to her Italian husband, her continued resentment of her mother for leaving, her switching back and forth between lesbian and heterosexual relationships.

As someone who loves both good food and memoirs, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Blood, Bones and Butter. Hamilton’s descriptions of summers spent in Italy were almost worth the cost of the audio alone, though I was also captivated by the stories of her unusual life path. Now, I’m hungry - I need to take a trip to NY to visit Prune. Anyone want to join me?

NOTE: If you are offended by swearing, it’s best to pass this one up!

Where in the World Are You Reading? Update: Although Gabrielle Hamilton has traveled all over the world, most of her book takes place in New York City, as well as Bucks County, PA, and Italy. Since I already had pins in all 3 locations, I chose NYC, since the majority of the book takes place there.

Top Ten Kids/Teen Authors I'd Love to Meet

2011-07-12T19:05:00.000-04:00

It's Top Ten Tuesday over at The Broke and the Bookish! Today's topic is an intriguing one - authors I'd like to meet. I put some thought into this one and didn't just choose my favorite book authors (though many of them are) but ones I thought would be interesting to meet and talk with.

Here is my list of Top Ten Authors I'd Love to Meet:

Rebecca Wells – I want to sit with her on a big porch, eat Cajun food, and talk to her about Louisiana, our mutually favorite place.
Jodi Picoult – I’d love to talk to her about all the thought-provoking issues she brings up in her novels.
Ken Grimwood – he wrote my favorite book of all time, Replay, and I’d love to talk to him about how we’d live our replays.
Janet Evanovich – seems like she’d be a lot of fun and lots of laughs!
Nevada Barr – we share a love of national parks – I would love to talk to her about her experiences as a park ranger and her suspense novels set in parks.
Michael J. Fox – I loved his memoirs and would love to talk to him about living with chronic illness. Besides, he's got such a great sense of humor!
Geraldine Brooks – I have loved every single one of her books.
Toni Bernhard – this is sort of a cheat because I already know Toni well in the virtual world, but I would love to meet the author of the warm Zen guide How To Be Sick in person.
Jennifer Haigh – I love her books.
Stephen King – would be absolutely fascinating to chat with, don’t you think?

If you're interested in my list of Top Ten Authors of Kids/Teens/YA Books I'd Like to Meet, check out Great Books for Kids and Teens.

Which authors would YOU love to meet?

It's Monday 7/11! What Are You Reading?

2011-07-10T21:57:00.000-04:00

Well, life is slowly returning to normal after our trip, though I am still way behind in blogging! Re-entry to real life is always a challenge after a long vacation, but we have finished unpacking and laundry and taken care of the most urgent stuff waiting for us when we got home.

So, we haven't had as much reading time as we did while we were away, but we are still enjoying our books this week:

I finished Morpheus Road 2: The Black, a teen thriller about the afterlife by D.J. MacHale and enjoyed it. MacHale told the same basic story from Book 1, from the totally different perspective of a different main character, sort of like what Orson Scott Card did with Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. It was clever and suspenseful.
I am now re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (book 7) in preparation for this week's movie release. Fun!
My husband, Ken, finished The Killing Hour by Lisa Gardner and enjoyed it.
Ken is now reading Dark Life by Kat Falls, a middle-grade sci fi book that takes place under water that our son really enjoyed. Ken says it's good, though he feels the technology is less believable than typical adult sci fi novels.
Sixteen-year old Jamie finished Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton and loved it!
Jamie is now re-reading City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, book 1 of Mortal Instruments because he enjoyed books 3 and 4 so much on vacation, as I mentioned on the vacation book summary I posted last week.

Didn't have a chance to post any reviews last week, but I did post a summary of the books I read in June. I'm going to try to catch up on reviews by writing some mini reviews, starting this week, so stay tuned!

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)