Category: Books

Essay: Summer Reading recommendations.

Someone just asked me for summer reading recommendations and
I’m happy to oblige! Her parameters? 
Kind of light, or really good.  I
read a lot of books like that.  Pick up
any of these books and settle in for a good read.  Note.  If
you take me up on my recommendation and read one (or many) of these books,
please arrange for a date to chat about your feelings about the book.  We can have tea.

My top three:
(Curses!  All by men
and mostly about men. See below if you are looking for books by women about
women)
The Art of Fielding
Chad Harback
It is new.  It is
about college baseball, but you should read it anyway, even if you find baseball
the most boring thing in the world.  The
reason you should read it is that Harback is amazing at creating characters you
instantly care about after only three pages and his syntax is delightful. I
copied 12 separate passages from the book into my “quotes” feature on
Goodreads.  Mike Schwartz will forever
live in my heart.
One Day
David Nichols
A very good premise in the book realm that was (sadly) made
into a so-so movie.  Check in with the
two main characters on the same day in July for twenty years, from their early twenties
to their early forties.  Funny, and
packed with astute observations about life’s passages during those twenty
years.
Freddy & Fredericka
Mark Halprin
This will be a book I recommend to many people and no one
will read it because it is very thick and the author is very wordy and spends
five pages setting up a joke.  Why do I
think you should read it?  Because the
jokes are very funny and so you are happy at the massive set up.  Because it is fun to see the USA through the
eyes of an exiled English Crown Prince and his wife.  Because it is about the honor you find in
labor.  Because I still choke up thinking
about different parts of the novel. It is summer. You have time to read a long
novel. Invest in this one.
You’ve been meaning to check
out this “YA” thing?
YA Series Recommendations
The Hunger Games (Hunger Games/Catching Fire/Mockingjay)
Suzanne Collins
It is a big hit movie, before that it was a big hit book
series.  The hero is a heroine and she’s
flawed and confused and muddling her way through a fabulous plot.  There are tons of parallels to our modern
lives. It is good reading and there are two more movies coming, so you might as
well read the books now.
YA Series that is not the Hunger Games
Graceling, Fire, Bitterblue
Kristen Cashore
This is another series with strong heroines. I
recommend this with the caveat that it took about 150 pages of Graceling for
everything to click, but then I was all-in, in that “avoid chores” way.  Also, just for fun, it is interesting to read
reviews of these books on Goodreads because a lot of people are offended by the
(very mild and uncontroversial, in my opinion) sex.  Should people be that scandalized?  You will have to read the series to give an
opinion.
Have you not read anything by John Green?
An Abundance of Katherines
The Fault in Our Stars
John Green
John Green, as you might know, is one-half of the Vlogbrothers
who make being smart incredibly cool. 
John Green also happens to be quite talented at writing YA novels.  Abundance
has Math!  And footnotes! And is
funny!  TFIOS is the funniest cancer book I’ve ever read.
Feeling Sorry for Celia
Jaclyn Moriarty
Are you looking for a loosely connected series about girls
who attend a girls’ high school in Australia? Do you like books made up of
letters?  This here is the series for
you. Cecila  is the first book, but if you are going to
just read one of the four, my favorite was the third one:  The
Murder of Bindy Mackenzie
Book that you need not
actually read:
The Disciples
James Mollison
Pictures!  So
fascinating!  The photographer took
pictures of fans at different concerts and then knit 10 representative samples
into one big photo.  It’s incredibly fun
to page through this book.  In the back
he has a short paragraph about each concert which makes the photos even more interesting.  And you can open the book to random pages and
ask someone what concert they think the fans are attending.  It’s a book and  a game!
General Fiction:
Just read this. Don’t question me:
The Elegence of the Hedgehog
Muriel Barbery
When I talk about this book people become uninterested so
I’m not going to tell you what it’s about. 
I can tell you it’s translated from the French, has two women—really one
girl and one woman—that I loved and that everyone in book group related to this
book, even the men.  It was a big hit at
book group and you should just read it. 
Note that I did not like the last chapter AT ALL, but until then I loved
it.
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
Aimee Bender
This was one of my top favorites last year.  I loved the magical realism of this novel and
I still think about the main character now and then.  What if you could taste what people were
feeling when they made you the food you were eating?
Downtown Owl
Chuck Klosterman
There are a lot of Chuck Klosterman haters out there and let
me say that I’m not one of them.  I love
his nonfiction and I found a lot to like in this novel about a small town in
North Dakota.  I was not prepared for the
ending, which left my face twisted a bit into a skeptical look, but until then
I was delighted because Chuck Klosterman is a funny man with a unique way of
looking at the world.
Three Girls and their Brother
Theresa Rebeck
This was such a delight and is a perfect summer read.  Three sisters become “it” girls and this book
follows each one of them—and their brother—in turn.  This book features great commentary about our
tabloid society and wonderful voices and characters.
Historical Fiction
I read a lot of historical fiction because it feeds my
history major “needs” without making me work through informative nonfiction
tomes.  Ps. I’m a nerd!  I put them in order chronologically for you.
Trask
Don Berry
Early Oregon history with former mountain man turned
restless settler setting out from too-crowded Astoria with two Native Americans
in tow to explore the Killamook country. 
This is slow to start, but then whips into an action-packed frenzy.  It’s also beautifully written.
(Note that in one overly complex sentence up there I used
“too” “two” and “to.”  Get me to an
editor, STAT!)
Becky:  The Lives and Loves of
Becky Thatcher
Leonre Hart
Have you wondered what Becky Thatcher has to say about the
whole Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn thing?  She’s
quite a spunky narrator and I greatly enjoyed this book.
Jubilee
Margert Walker
So you’re a slave and then suddenly you are not.  What exactly do you do next? It’s not like
you’re getting any 40 acres and mule. 
This was some very interesting historical fiction about the
Reconstruction era, based on Walker’s research about her own family.  It gets a bit wordy near the end, and some
people in book group had trouble with the dialect (though I was not one of
them) but it is worth the read.
The Given Day:
Dennis Lehane
A sweeping tale set in Boston just after World War I it
includes Babe Ruth as a minor character, a lot of reasons to support your local
union and also the great Molasses Flood. 
And there’s some NAACP stuff in there too. There is a lot going on in
this novel and it is very interesting. 
Also, no author living does star-crossed love better than Dennis
Lahane.  No one.
Suite Franciase
Irene Nemirovsky
Maybe, like me, you are kind of done with World War II
novels.  Maybe, like me, you should make
an exception and read this one about the occupation of France.  The novel itself is amazing.  While you are still reeling from how amazing
it is, you read the author’s own story and everything just takes on a whole
level of wow.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society
Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows.
Okay, so maybe also you should read this World War II novel
because 1)You learn all about the occupied island of Guernsey which you
probably didn’t know was interesting or perhaps even where it is.  Also 2)It is in “correspondence” format and
that is always fun.
Science Fiction
Soon I will be Invincible
Austin Grossman
Do you want to read about Super Heroes and Super Villains
and you don’t want to read a graphic novel, but instead a novel? This is your
book!  Do you not want to read about
either of those things? It might be worth checking this book out anyway, as it
is quite fun.
Essays
Manhood for Amateurs
Michael Chabon
Unlike his very wordy and lengthy novels (which I also
recommend) these are short essays that are amazing.  I wanted to read them out loud to whoever
happened to be passing by at the moment. Usually that was Matt. I think I
managed to restrain myself and read him only two, although his life would have
been enriched if I had read them all to him. 
Just go read this.  Chabon is a
fabulous writer and funny.
Detective Series I always
recommend:
Kenzie/Gennaro Series
Dennis Lehane
So, in general, I’m not a fan of the mystery as a
genre.  It tends to have dead people and
isn’t known for carefully crafted prose and I’m also quite lame at solving them
on my own so I always feel a sense of inferiority when I finish.  But if you are looking for a fun way to spend
your summer, spend it with Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro.  The novels are mostly set in the Boston
neighborhood of Dorchester and begin in the late 1980s.  Patrick Kenzie is a smart-mouthed
detective.  Angie Gennaro is his tough-as-nails
partner.  At some point in the series I
realized I wanted to marry both of them, I loved them that much.  Lehane has a good bead on characters and the
books are very engrossing.  Also, this is
the same guy who wrote the The Given Day
and see above about what I said about star-crossed love.  The series is done now, so you can read
straight through.  If you are like me,
you will read straight through and then start again at the very beginning.
A Drink Before the War
Darkness Take my Hand
Sacred
Gone, Baby, Gone
Prayers for Rain
Moonlight Mile
Good books I just tend to
recommend:
American Wife
Curtis Sittenfeld
Another book I absolutely adored and can’t get anyone to
read.  Won’t you please read it so we can discuss it?  This is a novel about a woman whose life
follows a path that will be very familiar to anyone who knows the basics of Laura
Bush’s biography.  Why should you read a
novel about the wife of a president of which you perhaps were not a fan?  Because Sittenfeld is a good writer and she
writes a very good story.  I read this
book a few years ago and still think about it.
High Fidelity
Nick Hornby
For anyone who loves music and relationships.  I’ve been recommending this since the
90s.  A lot of people have read this, and
they aren’t sad they have read it.  I can
also recommend the movie adapted from the book, which is a big rarity.
Prodigal Summer
Barbara Kingsolver
This is my favorite “thick” Kingsolver book (Animal
Dreams is my favorite “thin” one.) 
I fell in love with the characters and the landscape is lush.  It’s also a nicely woven tale, though it
doesn’t seem so at first.
The Brothers K
David James Duncan
It’s about baseball, but it’s about so much more.  It’s big and dense and sweeping and funny and
sad and tragic and moving and chock-full of amazing words.  Every person who has read this book speaks of
it fondly after they have finished it, even people who don’t like baseball. 
It’s also set in Camas, so has a local flavor for people familiar with
Portland.

Books read in May 2012

It’s another big YA month.  Clearly, I should have stayed in library school and clearly, I should be a youth librarian.

Read
The Art of Fielding
Chad Harbach
Two people I know (one virtually, one in person) heartily endorsed this book and their hearty endorsements were spot-on.  This is a fabulous novel, chock full of wonderful characters.  It’s about baseball, yes, but don’t let that scare you off.  It’s about so much more:  friendship and love and loyalty and pressure and that transition from college to adult life.  I feel in love with the characters (Mike Haurbach will live in my heart forever) and when I finished the book, I immediately returned to the first page and read the first fifty pages again just so I could be introduced to the characters one more time.

We the Animals
Justin Torres
A friend gave this to me as a book she loved.  It is a very short book, but was very hard for me to read because I don’t do well with childhood neglect and abuse and this book contains a lot of both.  It’s very well written, for what it’s worth.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
C.S. Lewis
I can’t say the second book in the series thrilled me.  The plus of this series so far seems to be that the books are only 15 chapters long, and thus can be read quickly.

Bitterblue
Kristen Cashore
All the haters of the “pro-casual sex” message of the first two books can add “pro-homosexual relationships” to the things they will hate about this book.  I however, liked it.  First of all, unlike the first two books, this one has fabulous woodcut illustrations scattered throughout.  I also liked Bitterblue’s conundrum of trying to govern a state while not being able to leave the castle. There is a lot of good teenager identity and tough choices within this novel and the reappearance of characters from the other books is fun too.

Uglies
Scott Westerfeld
I grabbed this book one day to read at lunch, as I had left my newspaper behind. I expected to start it, find it incredibly silly and cast it off as soon as Bitterblue arrived. Instead, I found the story quite interesting and was reluctant to put down either book.  This book has a lot of elements that make up a classic story:  something that seems really great on the surface (everyone gets surgery to look like a supermodel when they turn 16!); the main character feeling isolated and lonely (Tally’s birthday is later than her friends);  questioning (not everyone is so hip to have the surgery); a quest (which I won’t tell you about, due to spoilers); and tough choices.

In most of the fiction written for adults, the main character of this novel would be a boy.  But, thanks to the success of the Hunger Games, a lot of YA fiction features girls setting out on the heroic journey.  I’m waiting for this to trickle up to adult fiction and movies.

Please Don’t Kill the Freshman
Zoe Trope
This book could go on a Goodreads shelf titled: books written by authors I take Pilates with.  However, since Zoe Trope hasn’t yet written a second novel and there are no other authors in my Pilates class, it would be a very thin shelf.  I’ve been interested in this book since its release several years ago (Portland setting! Written by actual high school teenager!) but have just now gotten around to reading it.  It was tough going the first 50 pages.  I almost stopped reading, overwhelmed by the voice that was clearly very smart and clearly very, very disdainful of school.  However, I kept going and was rewarded by that disdain fading and leaving some incredibly delightful prose.  It’s rough and could have used more editing–something that was rejected by the author–but the roughness has its charms and the charms are many.  It’s also nice to see the difference in acceptance of gay teenagers at the high school level ten years after I graduated from high school.

Started and did not finish
Spontaneous Happiness
Andrew Weil
I really liked this book from the very beginning when Andrew Weil discusses the fact that he thinks the title is misleading and that what we are looking for is a general contentment, rather than full-on happiness.  He then discusses various things we could all be doing to feel more content with our lives (eating right, exercising, meditating, supplements, etc.) and discusses his own journey with depression.  There is an 8-week plan for creating more happiness in your life and I’ve made a note in my planner to revisit the book in November, when it becomes more difficult for me to stay in a general state of contentment.

What I talk about when I talk about  running
Hariki Murakami
Still high off of 1Q84, I checked the library for any copy of anything Murakami had written that was actually available (as opposed to something I would have to put on hold and wait for) and came up with this book.  In some ways, it was interesting, giving insight into how Murakami writes and his journey to be a writer, in other ways it was kind of boring.  I’m interested in reading about people’s sports practices, but not that interested.  I kept bypassing it for other books and eventually sent it back to the library.

Books read in April 2012

A lot of book group selections, reading projects and YA stuff here.

Read
Whiteout
Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber
Matt and I read aloud.
I wish I read the afterword before I read the book because in it Lieber discusses the various ways he used to depict the Antarctic.  That would have been interesting to observe while I was reading the book.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
Ransom Riggs (no really, that’s his name)
A great combination of good storytelling influenced by old photos.  It feels like there is probably a sequel coming, but this is still a good stand-alone book.

Rilla of Ingleside
L.M. Montgomery
I read the edition edited by Benjamin Lefebvre and Andrea McKenzie.  I had to special order it from Canada as American booksellers don’t have it yet.

I’ve now read all eight books in the Anne series, and I can say that this is by far the best one.  I liked the Anne books only somewhat as I found Montgomery strong on character and incredibly weak on plot in most of the books.  This, however, was an actual novel that was gripping to read.  Clearly World War I had a great impact on the author and she channeled her feelings into this novel, with great results.  It has such a clear plot, it could even be read without reading the other seven books in the series.

This edition also includes a handy glossary to define WWI era things that have gone out of our collective memory.  My favorite entry is “soup tureen.”  I figured people still knew what that was.  However, I saw one at the Goodwill the other day and asked Matt if he knew what it was and he did not.  Granted, he’s probably not the best representative as he continues to put “salad roaster” on shopping lists.

The Human Experiment: 2 years and 20 minutes inside Biosphere 2
Jayne Poynter
One of the crew of the initial Biosphere 2 mission tells her story.  This was interesting to read after reading Dreaming the Biosphere  as Poynter gives her view of the split that happened with the eight-man crew.  I also got a better picture of her work at Synergia Ranch and around the globe in various Synergian ventures.  Now to read the book written by the couple in the other faction.

Trask
Don Barry
Read for Kenton Book Group
This is a really fabulous early settler/Indian Oregon narrative that is also a gripping story. It’s slow to start (in fact, several people in the book group commented that it was a bit slow, but they liked it even though they hadn’t yet finished it.  Every single one of them had stopped around page 50) but picks up rapidly after that. The book included great characters, what I felt was a sympathetic portrayal of Oregon cost Indians circa 1840.  I’m not sure why this is not required reading in various high schools around Oregon, but it should be.

The Silent Boy
Lois Lowry
I grabbed this one day to read during lunch because I forgot my newspaper. It uses historic photographs to supplement the story.  Lowry is a darn good storyteller so this is a good story and with a non-standard character as it includes an Autistic boy in the early 20th century.  When I was younger, I never saw anything but “regular” children in the books I read, so I came away with the impression that people with cognitive disabilities didn’t exist except in the present.

The Magician’s Nephew
C.S. Lewis
And I’m off on another children’s series.  I can’t say I loved this book as it was fairly paternalistic, but it went quickly and had some memorable images, notably Jadis standing on top of the handsome cab whipping the poor horse through the streets of London.

Blue Pills
Read for Kenton Book Group
As mentioned several times before, the graphic novel is not my genre.  However, it was very nice to have a book group book I finished in about three days (rather than three weeks) and which explored an interesting topic.  Because the Kenton Book Group is made up primarily of people who don’t read graphic novels, we had quite a lively discussion, where I found myself championing the genre.  There’s some really great “early relationship” stuff in here and though the woman in the group who identifies herself as an artist said she would have given the author a bad grade because he couldn’t draw, I loved the art.

Happily, one member had never read any graphic novels before and was so taken with the genre he made it a priority to select another graphic novel for us to read next year.

Started and did not finish
Blackbringer
Lani Taylor
I like fantasy, I think.  But the I read something like this and wonder.  Do faeries (even somewhat bad-ass ones) sink the story for me?  Perhaps.

I want my MTV
Marks and Tannenbaum
This is the second book every which I have desired to read in some electronic format with internet connection (the first being 1Q84 because the darn thing was HEAVY.)  Reading this book, I greatly desired the internet as I was reading because I wanted to watch the videos as they discussed them.  Because watching videos while reading a paper copy involved me getting up out of my chair and booting up the laptop (which is chained up so I can’t bring it to my chair)I didn’t watch as many videos as I would want to.  Once I get that whole issue worked out, I will happily finish this book because it is FAN-TAS-TIC especially for me who came of age watching MTV during the time period the book covers (1981-1992)

The format is excerpts of interviews with people involved in MTV, the creation of the station, the VJs, the bands, the people making the videos.  It is very hard to stop reading, especially when you get multiple viewpoints of a single event.  This is pure delightful candy.

Books read in March 2012

Only three YA books of seven this month?  Not bad, not bad.  Book of note:  even if you aren’t interested in Biosphere 2, Dreaming the Biosphere is a great piece of nonfiction.  I hope to read more by Reider.

Read
Catching Fire
Suzanne Collins
Matt and I read aloud.
More great manipulation coming from every direction.  It was nice read it over a period of weeks, rather than days.
Graceling
Kristen Cashore
It took about 150 pages for me to really like it, but then WHAMMO! I was all in and various daily chores were put off.  There were a lot of similarities between the main character Katsa and a certain Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games, and a bit of research shows that both books were published within a month of each other in 2008.  The idea of Gracelings were quite interesting and Katsa’s struggle for freedom was meaningful.

I rarely read Goodreads reviews of a book until after I’ve written my own, but this was an exception.  I was quite surprised at the number of people who disliked the book for its purported “message.”  According to several reviewers, this book existed to warn women away from marriage, as the main character is quite adamant she will not marry, due to the fact that she does not want a man to control her.  Many women expressed they they don’t feel oppressed by their marriage and they didn’t like the author pushing the opposite of marriage upon them.  This was interesting to me, as I find people who apply their own feelings to characters in fantasy settings are kind of missing the point of fantasy novels, and, at the same time, from the view of marriage and owning women, they disregard most of human history.  They may be lucky enough to not feel oppressed in their marriages, but I’m not sure women even 40 years ago could say the same.

Galileo’s Daughter
Dava Sobel
Read for Kenton Book Club.
This book had an interesting premise (letters written to Galileo from his illegitimate daughter who became a nun) and I thought the scientist-to-nun ratio was exactly opposite of what it should be.  I was much more interested in the life of a cloistered nun, but the author has a scientific bent and not a social historian’s bent and thus, we disagreed as to what is most interesting. The politics of science and the Cathloc church were interesting and many people in book group liked this book, but I was not one of them.
Dreaming the Biosphere: The Theater of All Possiblities
Rebeccca Reider
Biosphere II loomed large in my young adulthood wonderings.  For some reason, I was fascinated by the idea of living in a completely closed space for two years with seven other people.  When the mission ended, I read that all of the participants had pledged to not share what went on while inside the Biosphere and I was disappointed I would never find out.

But “nevers” have a way of wandering off as time passes and I’ve since discovered that there are books about the Biosphere II mission written by the insiders.  This, however, is written by an outsider and tells the tale of the creation of the Biosphere, which is as fascinating a story as the Biosphere II story itself.  Recommended.

1Q84
Haruki Murakami
I’ve not read Murakami before and this was a fabulous introduction.  I loved the writing and this was one of those books that I just kept reading until I was done, which was unfortunate as it is a very long book.  It came in handy for days spent in airports, though.  I loved every minute of the story.  Until I was done.  Upon finishing the 925th and final page, I felt a bit cheated.  “I just read almost one thousand pages for that story?” I wondered to myself.  Still, the great prose made this a good experience, even if the I felt sold short by the ending. Also, there’s a lot of sex.  A lot.  I find this interesting as most novels just briefly describe the encounter or sort of brush by it in the style of movies from the 1950s.  Do all his novels have so much sex in them?  Either way, I’ll read more by Murakami.  Who has recommendations for what to read next?
Make the Bread, Buy the Butter
Jennifer Reese
I have never referred to a cookbook as “hilarious” before, but this was that.  I think I found the book funny because Reese seems to have a very familiar style of cooking, that is, getting a bit overwhelmed in her projects.  So if you lean in that direction, you might enjoy this book just for reading.  There was also a great essay about her mother’s dislike of cooking that pulled a few heartstrings. Also, aside from good reading, I loved the recipes.  The book came from the library and I started to mark recipes to copy before returning.  After about the first five I realized I should just buy the book.  So I did.  I’ve already made: bread, bagels(!) cream cheese, almond butter, yogurt and ginger ale.
Fire
Kristin Cashore
Officially called a “companion book” to Graceling this went in an entirely different direction much to my relief as the person who I thought was the main character tortured animals and that is one of the few things I cannot read about in books.  Happily, after an introductory paragraph he was not seen again until the end of the book.  Here we have another strong woman character, lots of battles, intrigue and perhaps a bit of romance?  Sounds good to me.  I will be interested to see if the next book ties the two companion books together.

Note:  I just checked out some reviews and again with the hating on Cashore’s “anti-marriage, pro-casual-sex views.”  Who ARE these people?  Not everyone’s so into marriage and most people I know are pro-casual-sex.  Neither position means the other one is bad. Also, is it just being called casual sex because the characters are not married?  They are in exclusive relationships.  Is this book such a threat because it’s written for teenage girls?  I’m beginning to wonder if this author popped up on some list: “Read this anti-marriage, pro-casual-sex author and say bad things about her.”

Books read in February 2012

Four “grown up” books and five young adult books read this month. Apparently, I should have become a youth librarian. Darn you, early twenties ill-thought choices.

Read:
Private Life
Jane Smiley
I’m not sure why I bothered finishing this book as it seemed as if nothing ever happened throughout the entire story. On reflection, things happened and I’m still thinking about them, but during the actual reading it was rather boring. Which is kind of interesting, after the fact. And for that I’ll bump it up a star.
The Power of Six
Pittacus Lore
Book two branches out to introduce us to more of the six remaining Lorian Legacies. A lot more of them. I feel this this unnecessarily overwhelmed the plot, especially because there are probably going to be many books in the series. However, there was a lot of action and I was interested, so I find this book to be just fine.
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
Tom Stoppard
Matt and I read aloud.
When I was in high school, a friend of a friend was cast in a local production of this play. I remember being enchanted by the title, even if I had no idea who Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were. I seemed to have missed out on Hamlet in English class somehow. But the play’s title has delighted me for years. It’s not the best read aloud, due to its absurdist plot, but I’m happy to connect title to plot and I wouldn’t mind seeing a production of it, should one appear.
Rainbow Valley
L.M. Montgomery
This is mostly about the absent-minded, widowed minister next door’s children, though regular Anne characters populate the story. After reading it, I lent it to a friend who was absolutely horrified about the level of neglect of the children and the fact that no one in the congregation (not even Anne or Susan) did anything about it. It’s true, they were starved, ill-clothed and completely without adult guidance. Were it today and they students at my school, I would be on the phone to Social Services within a week, but since they were children from long-ago, I took their neglect in stride.
My favorite part of the book came on page 155 when someone exclaimed “Bismillah!” which I had only ever seen in reference to the band Queen’s song Bohemian Rhapsody, but which the internet tells me I have completely missed the meaning of, it being a collective name of a recurring Islamic phrase sometimes translated as “In the name of God, most gracious, most merciful.” Internet, you are quite helpful. The best sentence in the book was “Carl must dree his weird alone.” No one writes sentences like that anymore. I guess they are too busy looking after neglected children.
This book had the usual problem of “very good character development, not so good plot development” but it was better than most. I look forward to reading Rilla of Ingleside and closing out the Anne series. Although there is also a new book, The Blythes are Quoted edited by Benjamin Lefebvre, which I recommend you do not go and read about on the author’s web site as he begins by immediately spoiling the plot of Rilla of Ingleside. I may read the Blythes are Quoted, we shall see how Rilla goes down.

I bought this book for cheap, so if any friends are interested in reading, speak up and I’ll send it to you.
The Way
Kristen Wolf
An alternate version of the Jesus story that I found interesting in some places, but I think the fact that I know the Jesus story made it uninteresting in others.
Let it Snow
Green, Johnson, Myracle
Three interconnected stories by three YA authors. All were good and Maureen Johnson was particularly funny.
The Descendants
Kaui Hart Hemmings
I read this after I watched the movie. Sometimes it works to do that because the book is the same story as the movie, but so incredibly different (The Town/Prince of Thieves) or because reading the book is like getting a DVD extra of the movie, with more plot and more character development (In Her Shoes.) In this case, the movie was such a faithful adaptation of the book and I had so recently seen it, it was hard to divorce the two. I think the movie was very well done and I have the exact same thing to say about the book. Choose one or the other and enjoy yourself.

ps. I didn’t know anything about the author and with the name Kaui Hart Hemmings, I pictured someone like Beau Bridges, an old white guy who grew up in Hawaii. Imagine my surprise to see the author picture and find out that the old white guy was actually a woman, and a fairly young one at that.
Why We Broke Up
Daniel Handler
I’m going to have to read this absolutely fabulous book again, the reason being that I was so eager to find out exactly why the breakup occurred that I read faster and faster as the book progressed, thus missing the delight of chewing over Daniel Handler’s very long and labyrinth sentences and paragraphs. I am a great fan of the dense text and Handler has such a handle on description that I want to go back and savor them. Perhaps this will be my next read aloud choice with Matt. This is another YA book that I can heartily recommend to the non-YA crowd. Also, it’s pretty, what with the illustrations and the heavy paper and whatnot.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
Jennifer E. Smith
Great flight of fun which can be devoured in a night. If you are willing to forgo the evening chores.

Books read in January 2012

There was a lot of reading this month, but it’s January in Portland, Oregon. This means cold and rainy. Scrolling through, I see that there were several YA selections, some of them quite good. Quite good YA selections can be read in a 24 hour period easily. Would you like to read a very good YA book? Pick up The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. You won’t be sorry.

Read
Bunheads
Sophie Flack.
This was a moderately interesting novel about a NYC ballerina. I wasn’t in love with the story, but the insider information was interesting. It did not, however, solve the ballet mystery I’ve had for years which is: why do dancers wear their tights on the outside of the leotards when rehearsing? This makes no sense to me.
Sixty-Odd
Ursula K. LeGuin
Poems, she means. But I think the title is a play on age too. Some good ones, some of which will be appearing soon on my poetry post.
The Disciples
James Mollison
I. LOVE. THIS. BOOK. Just when you think there is nothing new anyone can do in photography, along comes Mollison, who decided to take portraits of people attending concerts–in London, in the US, in Italy. Then he chose 10 representative images from each concert and knitted them into a panorama of concert goers. The Lady Gaga goers were particularly gaga-eque, and the Katie Perry fans were brightly colored, but I have to say my favorite was the Rod Steward layout, with ten 55-plus men with spiky blonde hair and a good bit of fat on them. It’s an incredibly delightful book to page through, but I found it even more fun when I read the synopsis of the photo shoots, found in the back of the book, and then looked at the pictures. This book is highly recommended. If your library doesn’t have this, seek it out in the bookstore or even purchase it for yourself. It is that good!
Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares
Rachel Cohen and David Levithan
Matt and I read aloud.
I think “David Levithan, read aloud” is even more delightful than “David Levithan read to oneself.” I went on a campaign this holiday season recommending this book to people as a very good holiday read, but alas, only Matt experienced its holiday charms. Perhaps you could put it on your calendar for next year…
The Order of the Stick: Snips, Snails and Dragon’s Tales
Rich Burlew
Matt and I read aloud
Tales unrelated to the OOTS story, but still fun. We even got an OOTS version of Hamlet, just after we read and viewed the play.
50 Miles from Tomorrow
William Iggiagruck Hensley
Read for Kenton Book Club
I enjoyed the detail of the author’s early years in his small Alaskan village. I was less interested in his fight to retain native lands as Alaska became a state, though I do think it was a very important thing. The natives of Alaska came out a lot better than the natives of the lower 48 states. Overall, an interesting read.
The Fault in Our Stars
John Green
When I was a young teenager, I went though a phase of reading books where horrible things happened to protagonists: going blind, getting cancer, father’s diagnosed with Alzheimers Disease, boyfriends dying, etc. I suspect that reading these “cancer books” about other teenagers going through really awful things helped me navigate my own adolescence. After all, everything around and including me might be changing, but at least I still had my sight, health and a fully mentally functioning father. So “cancer books” have a dear place in my heart. I myself have had the luck to never have anyone close to me battle cancer (knock on wood) so I can still freely read books about cancer and enjoy them without bringing my own experience to them.
I found this to be a (this word seems wrong, but it isn’t) delightful “cancer book” full of much humor, interesting insight and just the right amount of tugging on heartstrings. John Green has written yet another wonderful book on many levels. The NPR review mentioned that Green “writes for youth rather than to them and the difference is palpable.” Well said. Are you a young adult? You’ve probably already read it? Are you a Nerdfighter? I know you’ve read it. Are you an adult? Put it on you list.
Lips Touch Three Times
Laini Taylor
This is about the grapic novel-to-text ratio I appreciate. Taylor’s fascination with female-centered mystical Eastern European-esqe settings appeal to me and I gobbled up these stories.
What Now?
Ann Patchett
Friend Kelly hooked me up with this book!
Five stars for the text, which was an adaptation of a graduation speech Patchett gave at her alma mater. You might think that you don’t want to read a graduation speech, but you would be wrong.
Two stars for the copious amounts of photos inserted into the text. I understand that they were fleshing things out, but I could have done with out the double turning of pages necessitated by two page photo spreads. I also found the photos incredibly cliched. But the writing was magical. I read the whole thing in about an hour or so, which means you should grab and read.
Naomi & Ely’s No Kiss List
Rachel Cohen & David Levithan
Mostly because the Naomi character was incredibly annoying (what’s up with all her wingdings in place of actual words? Not cool and hip. Nuh-uh!) I did not really like this book. Ely was a bit better, but not much.
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky
Heidi Durrow
Read for Kenton Book Club
Multnomah County Library’s Everybody Reads Selection 2012
I drank this novel–set in Portland–down quickly and greatly enjoyed the city-specific details. It wasn’t the weightiest book, but I thought it particularly compelling when discussing issues of biculturalism.
I am Number Four
Pittacus Lore
YA Sci-Fi that was apparently made into a movie so horrible that Roger Ebert’s review is actually quite funny to read. This book was compelling enough that I put off the planned evening activities to finish it. It had good themes: retaining cultural identity when living within another culture; growing into you powers (in this case the character actually had powers, being from another planet); fitting in and putting down roots. It had teen romance without being sappy and an adult character who was helpful, not harmful. I’ve already got the next book on reserve.
Started and Did Not Finish
Some books this month, but I neglected to write them down. So sorry.

Best books read in 2011

The annual Patricia Awards
(with 2011 being the year of the YA novel)
I read 101 books this year. I was hoping to read no more than 70 and completely failed. To be fair, there were a lot of YA novels, which are quick reads. There were also a goodly number of poetry and Shakespeare plays, which are also quick reads, but suffice to say I spent a lot of time reading this year. You needn’t read as many books as I did. Instead, take a gander at the following awards and pick (or avoid) a read for yourself.
(All original reviews of these books can be found on this blog or on Goodreads)
Darn Good Concept whose ending was unfortunately bungled:
Incarceron
Catherine Fisher
Best female character I’ve encountered in years:
and
Best series to spawn 100 discussions about a variety of topics:
and
Best book by an author with my last name:
The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins
Best novel to include a hilarious musical theater scene:
and
Most memorable main character since Owen Meany:
Will Greyson Will Greyson
John Green & David Levithen
Best book to read during the holiday season:
Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares
Rachel Cohen & David Levithen
Book I couldn’t convince anyone else to read due to odd subject matter, but that I (and the book group) absolutely loved:
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Muriel Barbery
Interesting portrait about one man overcoming (and succumbing to) his upbringing:
The Last American Man
Elizabeth Gilbert
An interesting idea, a gripping read, all capped off with two perfectly awful last chapters:
My Name is Memory
Ann Brashares
The classic novel I enjoyed much more than I thought I would:
Frankenstein
Mary Shelly
Sidesplittingly funny story of exactly what the title says:
The Absolutely True Dairy of a Part-Time Indian
Sherman Alexie
Good collection of poems about people and travel:
The Last Uncle
Linda Pastan
Interesting book (especially about the history of the science of diet and exercise) whose advice I would rather not follow:
Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It
Gary Taubes
The most delightful tales from anywhere this year:
Tales from Outer Suburbia
Shawn Tan
Parts 1 & 2 of what would have been an intense five part novel:
and
Most heartbreaking story of its creation:
Suite Francaise
Irene Nemirovsky
Biggest slog I should have just quit reading:
The House at Riverton
Kate Morton
Best set of poems to read when you need a bit of a laugh:
The HaHa
David Kirby
Most fun book written this year for Laura Ingalls Wilder fans:
The Wilder Life
Wendy McClure
A bit too long, with a completely unneeded side plot, but still a very good read:
The Hour I First Believed
Wally Lamb
Excellent magical realism and overall most cherished book read this year:
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
Aimee Bendar
Fun to read, if only for the Richard III as Rocky Horror Picture Show send-up:
The Eyere Affair
Jasper Fforde
Best reason to clear your schedule for a few days:
Freedom: A Novel
Jonathen Franzen
My two favorite British characters this year:
and
The kind of book where the five pages of setup is completely worth it for the joke’s payoff:
Freddy & Fredericka
Mark Halprin
Best languid description of landscape:
My Antonia
Willa Cather
Best audiobook to listen to while you wait out the insomnia:
A New Earth
Eckhard Tolle
Best intriguing plot and plot shift:
Silver Sparrow
Tayari Jones
Most delightful eleven-year-old of the year:
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
Jacqueline Kelly
Especially good novel to read aloud with a partner:
One Day
David Nichols
A bright bit of fun for a cold night:
13 Little Blue Envelopes
Maureen Johnson
Book that I finished, but only so I could discuss it at book group:
100 Years of Solitude
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Best urban tale set in Canada:
Blink & Caution
Tim Wynne Jones
Book I found both heartbreaking and heartwarming:
A Place on Earth
Wendall Barry
Book I liked the best of the “Anne” series:
Anne’s House of Dreams
L.M. Montgomery
My favorite book read for the Mock Printz:
A Monster Calls
Patrick Ness/Siobhan Dowd
Incredible, wonderful, stupendous book…Until the last four words:
Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Laini Taylor
Best sci-fi historical fiction novel:
Kindred
Octavia E. Butler
Best “rough around the edges” memoir:
It’s So Easy & Other Lies
Duff McKeagan

Books read in December 2011

I finish my ten-title Mock Printz YA reading list and find some time for other things too.

Read
The Order of the Stick: Don’t Split the Party
Rich Burlew
Read aloud.
A very long book that refuses to follow the advice of its own title. We spend a lot of time with one or another of the split party. This long book and suffered a bit at the end from the “let’s wrap this up now” syndrome, but overall it was pretty entertaining, when read aloud.
Dead end in Norvelt
Jack Gantos
Read for Mock Printz
This was book 9 of 10 read for the Mock Printz discussion and was the outlier, falling into neither the “grim” nor the “tense” category. I started out loving it, as Gantos has a way of phrasing normal observations into something rather amusing and there is a scene at the beginning involving melting gold statues, a feisty old lady and a bloody nose that is pure comedy gold. But after that, my adoration cooled, due to the main character’s father being a bit of a jerk, a mystery poorly developed and quickly solved, but not resolved, and a very ambiguous ending that left me perplexed as to just what, exactly, the message was. I wanted to like it, but I just didn’t.
Kindred
Octavia E. Butler
One of the pluses of volunteering at the library is that I find very interesting books that I wouldn’t have come across otherwise when I’m shelving. This book was shelved in science fiction though, in my opinion, it was really historical fiction in which the main character just happened to time travel to 1815.
As mentioned in my review of Jubilee, I find slavery/slave narratives interesting and out-of-fashion. Indeed, this novel was written in 1979. But experiencing slavery from the perspective of a modern-day black person was a fun narrative device that kept me reading. Recommended.
Good Masters, Sweet Ladies
Laura Amy Schlitz
This has been on my Goodreads list for years, and I finally read it because I noticed it while volunteering at the library shelving books. This is a fun series of poems/monologues of young people in a medieval village. It’s a quick read and the sidebar historical information is interesting too. I also loved the YA novel this author wrote, A Drowned Maiden’s Hair: A Melodrama.
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
Ken Kesey
Read for Kenton Book Group
This was a hard read, not because the prose was difficult, but the subject was. I had seen the movie and so I knew where it was going (assuming the movie followed the book) so there wasn’t anything to look forward to and I kept putting off reading my daily pages. Still, it was well written, and I enjoyed the perspective of the Chief, which was not a part of the movie.
It’s So Easy and other Lies
Duff McKeagen
Duff–from Guns & Roses (and Velvet Revolver and Loaded)–describes his life as a musician, an addict, and his life of sobriety. The writing is rough and unpolished, but enthusiastic and interesting, especially the details of the early G&R days. I was particularly interested in his journey to sobriety which I can sum up in three words: become a nerd. How could I not be delighted when someone’s path to recovery includes reading, bike riding, martial arts and going to college?
My main quibble with the book was the question of who wrote it. Duff’s name is on the cover, Duff is featured as the author on the back cover. Only on the last page of the book is Duff’s collaborator listed. I felt like the book was mainly in Duff’s voice and he probably did write most of it, but if you are going to use a collaborator (and there’s nothing wrong with that if you’ve got a story to tell) the just put their darn name on the cover with yours.
Anne of Ingleside
L.M. Montgomery
Anne begins to fade into the background as her children take over more and more of the story.
Good Poems for Hard Times
Garrison Keillor, ed.
Yep. They were.
After the Golden Age
Carrie Vaughn
Okay entry into the non-comic superhero genre, though it was no “Soon I Will be Invincible.”
It Looked Different on the Model
Laurie Notaro
Some funny stories. I recommend especially the one near the end about the dog translator.
Hamlet
William Shakespeare
As I read this, I was amazed at how many turns of phrase that we use in everyday speech originate from this play.
Anya’s Ghost
Vera Brosgol
Read for Mock Printz
I’ve said before I’m not a graphic novel fan, but despite my “not” I loved this little story. Also, it was pointed out to me later that Central Library has a cameo role in the book. So exciting!
Started and did not finish
The Culture of Make Believe
Big thick book that made a lot of very good points in the first 75 pages I read. However, said points are rather depressing and sad and thus I wandered off. Would be worth tackling again in the future.

Books read in November 2011

Aside from the book group selection, I only read YA (aka “teen”) books this month. For those of you looking to boost your book-reading bragging rights, YA books are good for that. They don’t tend to take a lot of time to read, and some are very well written like this month’s selection, A Monster Calls.

Read
A Place on Earth
Wendall Berry
Read for Kenton Book Club
Ah! After slogging grumpily through last month’s selection, this was a breath of fresh air. It was hard to get into at first as I spent a lot of time thinking, “now who is this character again?” But that eventually resolved itself and the characters became known and the writing was just lovely. I hadn’t read Wendall Berry before, but I’ll seek him out again.
Anne’s House of Dreams
L.M. Montgomery
After the scattershot nature of the previous “Anne” book, this was a welcome relief. This time, there was a narrative structure which vaulted this book in to the category of “my favorite book of the series so far.” The cast of characters was varied and interesting and even characters from other books came to visit now and then. There was a very nice narrative arc, unseen in any of the other books. And I greatly enjoyed Anne and Gilbert as young marrieds, though Gilbert at times seems to just fill the “husband” character and not show much of his own character.
Jasper Jones
Craig Silvey
Read for Mock Printz
Of the grim/tense category that all these Mock Printz books seem to be, this falls into “tense.” I found the writing for this novel very uneven. For example, the story goes along and I’m populating the pictures in my head based on the book and then suddenly it seems that it’s the 1960s. Insert record needle scratching off record. What? Really? Huh. This happened several times: the mother seemed to be a normal book mother and then suddenly she wasn’t, the love interest had a too-convenient part to play. Also, this book takes place in Australia, which normally is a fun thing, but this book had a lot of Australian things that it didn’t bother to translate into American. And there was A LOT of cricket.
So I never really took to this book. But I did like the following passage:
“I take a small incendiary pull. Of course, it attacks my mouth and burns down the length of my throat. I gag immediately, wiping my lips, trying to keep my lungs at bay. I slant my head and pretend to read a label that isn’t there through my clouding eyes. This shit is poison. And I realize I’ve been betrayed by the two vices that fiction promised me I’d adore. Sal Paradise held up bottles of booze like a housewife in a detergent commercial. Holden Caulfield reached for his cigarettes like an act of faith. Even Huckleberry Finn tapped on his pipe with relief and satisfaction. I can’t trust anything. If sex turns out to be this bad, I’m never reading again. At this rate, it will probably burn my dick and I’ll end up with lesions.”
Imaginary Girls
Nova Ren Suma
Read for Mock Printz
Another of the “tense” YA books for Mock Printz reading. I hope all these adolescents are learning to breathe in yoga classes, or they are going to be incredibly tightly wound. This was nicely written and I spent the book engaged with puzzling through it, trying to figure out just what was up. I think it will inspire lively discussion when we get to discuss it. But I didn’t like it. The main character’s sister was quite unlikable and she was the book, so I spent a lot of time in puzzling dislike. “What’s her deal?” I kept wondering. I’m interested to see what others think.
A Monster Calls
Patrick Ness, Siobhan Dowd
Read for Mock Printz.
Seemingly all ten of our mock Printz books this year are either grim or tense and this one falls into the grim category, what with a thirteen year old’s mother very sick with cancer and his father living across the Atlantic with a new family and him not getting along with his grandmother and all. But despite it being grim, it was a fabulous story and my favorite Mock Printz book so far. It’s short and there are wonderful illustrations and I highly recommend it for anyone going through a situation that involves loss. Even if loss isn’t currently a part of your life, this book is worth reading for its very moving story.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Laini Taylor
Read for Mock Printz
“This book is awesome! I’m totally giving it five stars!” was something I thought repeatedly as I gobbled up this book, right up until the last page when the author actually used the words “to be continued.” Invoking the “to be continued” phrase automatically breaks my “series rule” which is as follows: The first book in a series must be a complete story on its own; the second book should be a happy surprise, not a given.” Authors that can’t be bothered to come to a clear break in their plot are, in my opinion, lazy and should be rewriting a bit more before publishing.
So, the ending was disappointing, but until then I couldn’t get enough of this book what with the kick ass female character (“This should be a movie!” I thought several times before I remembered how well Hollywood manages to diminish strong women literary characters) wonderful fantastical elements and a very interesting puzzle to unravel. Highly recommended, even with the disappointing ending.
Shelter
Harlan Coben
Recommended by my friend Maureen with the caveat that this book breaks the “series rule” (The first book in a series must be a complete story on its own; the second book should be a happy surprise, not a given) I read this in a day. Despite my compulsitivity, this book was awful. The writing was bad (though did not approach Twilight-esqe levels) and I feel like Coben’s approach to writing a “teen” book was to read about seven of them and then take every cliche possible and shove it in his book. Let’s count them up. We have: 1)The essentially orphaned, and mostly unsupervised main character, 2)The loud, eccentric best friend who might as well be wearing a jester hat, lest you not get that he’s supposed to be the comic relief 3)The prickly fat girl who wears a defensive shell a mile thick, but is hiding a heart of gold and has a secret 4)much plot development action involving cell phones and 5)a large population of adults who “just don’t get it” 6)Teachers who are all apparently very angry former drill sargents.
You know what else this book set in the present day had? Nazis. Really? Yes really! Because there is no better antagonist than WWII era Germany. But wait, there’s more! A Strip Club. Prostitution. Mysterious White Van. Strange Tattoos. Stranger Tattoo Artists. Thinking over all of these elements put together I feel a building rage at the pure stupidity of this book. One or two of these elements in the hands of someone who can write would have resulted in something worth my time. But at this point, all I can do is warn you away. Go ask a librarian for a good YA book and leave Harlan Coben to the airport-novel-reading adults.
Also? Incredibly dumb character name. Mickey Bolitar! He was born in the mid-90s, for god’s sake, not the mid-50s. In fact, I just checked Wolfram Alpha and the graph of the Mickey distribution shows a dip down to pretty much zero in the mid-90s when this character would have been born. It’s rank is beyond 1000 currently. Mickey Boliter! Stay away! Far away.
Started and did not finish–None

Books read in October

Oh dear, 12 books read this month. With the Mock Printz, the read aloud that Matt and I are doing and the generally cold and dreary weather I have failed at my goal of reading no more than 75 books this year. Geez.

Read
Order of the Stick War & XP
Rich Berlew
Matt and I Read Aloud
Berlew leaves our Order in grave–literally, in one case–disorder by the end of this very thick book of comics.
Richard III
William Shakespeare
There are too many people! They all have the same name! I have no idea what’s going on! Richard III spends a lot of time telling people how bad he is! But he really is!
As usual, much better when the actors bring it to life.
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
Jacqueline Kelly
Recommended by my friend Kristen, I liked this book for a variety of reasons. It was set in 1899, rural Texas, but the main character’s family was quite well off. I feel like a lot of books set in the frontier west focus on the poor and struggling, so this was a nice change of pace. The main character was quite engaging, being the middle child with three brothers on either side. The struggles she had maturing into a new life stage were engaging, and her family was well formed for such a large bunch. Also, the writing was very good, especially for a YA novel. And it was funny in places, which always makes reading enjoyable. This would be a great book for someone who has never read–but is interested in–YA fiction.
One Day
David Nichols
Matt and I read aloud
This was a fabulous read-aloud book because the writing is quite good, the passages through life are very apt and the dialogue is a pleasure to speak. It is an even better read-aloud with your opposite sex significant other, because one of you can do the female parts and the other do the male parts. (I’m sure same sex couples would also have fun too.) Now that I’ve seen the movie I can heartily entreat you to bypass it altogether and just read the darn book.
13 Little Blue Envelopes
Maureen Johnson
I’ve been submerged in Shakespeaere, and the long slow and–frankly–very boring book One Hundred Years of Solitude for nearly a month. I’ve just received the Mock Printz list and noticed it contains 10 books all of which look to be rather tense and/or grim. There is going to be a lot of buckling down reading in the next few months. What to do? Realize that I haven’t yet read anything by Maureen Johnson, wander over to the YA stacks and grab the first book I see by her. Then: devour it in a 24 hour period.
I’ve been meaning to check out Maureen Johnson since I began watching the Vlog Brothers, and I found her just as delightful as John Green was telling me she would be. This book had a great premise: Flighty Aunt sends niece a letter and money and tells her to follow the directions of that letter and the 12 following. It was fun and funny and had a plot twist I didn’t anticipate. After clearing my head with this bit of delight I could plow through the last 40 pages of Marquez’ tome. Maureen Johnson was just what the doctor (or perhaps Youth Librarian) ordered.
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Read for Kenton Book Club
The nice thing about book club is that I’m forced to think more deeply about why I don’t like books. In the normal order of things, I would have set this book down, bored and frustrated around page 50 and it would have been returned to the library eventually. Because we were discussing it for book group, I wanted to finish it, even though I didn’t like it. First off, finishing it for book group sometimes pays off as with Inez of my Soul where there was a twist at the end that (mostly) made the book worth reading. This book, alas, had no such thing. But as it was such a long book (417 pages) I spent a very long time analyzing what I didn’t like. And here is my list.
1) I think when this was written there wasn’t really magical realism in literature and so it was this new crazy thing that everyone was quite astounded by. However, now that magical realism is everywhere, this book is just a so-so entry.
2)I was not a fan of the very fluid timeline. Several times I found myself wondering how old a character was, which took me out of the book.
3)The characters having the same names? Very confusing. And not in a good way.
4)The writing style (or translation) was not something that drew me in. I found it very flat.
5)I didn’t really like any of the characters. And spending 417 pages with a bunch of people with the same name that you don’t really like is not very fun.
6)I did, however, perfect the talent of falling asleep while balancing the book on my chest while reading this book.
Interestingly, the book club members didn’t really like it either. Reactions ranged from “Well, I’m glad I have read it, though I didn’t enjoy the reading” to “I absolutely loved this 25 years ago and spent this rereading wondering what I liked so much” to “I could have done with 50 years of solitude, but one hundred years was a bit much.”
Despite our dislike, our discussion was rich and interesting.
The Order of the Stick: Start of Darkness
Rich Berlew
The book that we learn that Xykon is pure evil while Red Cloak is not actually evil, but has instead made a series of increasingly bad decisions.
(In our house this emerged as: “You know, I think Red Cloak is the George W. Bush, but Xykon is the Dick Cheney of the Order of the Stick World.”)
Anne of Windy Poplars
L.M. Montgomery
I sort of get the feeling, reading this book, that L.M. Montgomery was often trapped in rooms with eccentric women who nattered on. I get this feeling mostly because Anne keeps getting trapped in rooms with eccentric women nattering on. Character development was nil here. Anne encounters different people over three years and manages to happily change all of their lives. Except that eight year old boy the author killed off so that another character could have a happy ending. She writes letters to Gilbert narrating her life, but we never hear anything from him. This lack of development of the main character’s fiance seems like a rather large oversight. As their relationship has gotten more serious, we have heard less and less from him. And characters from the previous book are completely missing. What’s up with Priscilla? How is she adjusting to being a minister’s wife? I realize they live in different places now, but couldn’t she even write?
I still enjoyed reading this, but I think Montgomery is coasting a bit. Also, the cover of the edition I read annoyed me. Here is Anne, a B.A. and principal of the school and they’ve got her walking around in dresses the length she would have worn as a fourteen year old. Where is her mature woman dress? Where?
Chime
Franny Billingsley
Read for Mock Printz
I sort of didn’t like this book from the beginning and now I’ve read it to the end and can clearly state that I don’t feel it was a good book. Let us examine the ways.
Setting. This book was ostensibly set in early 20th century small English village, though none of the characters struck me as anything other than modern in their thoughts, actions or deeds. If one of them would have pulled out a cell phone and started texting, I don’t think it would have registered as something out of the ordinary. Also, there is a magical realism element to this novel, but it felt forced, as if everyone was trying very hard to talk about the witches, etc. but the effect was neither magical nor real to me.
Writing. The cover tells me it is a “beautifully written” book, but I found the style quite grating. The repetitive sentences were, I believe, supposed to give me insight into the tormented mind of the main character, but instead inspired a lot of tormentation of my mind. Perhaps the overwroght-ness would appeal better to a teenager. Also, I found the names of the magical elements rather immature in nature: Mucky Hand, Boggy Man. Grownups went around saying those names and I think grownups would not want to be uttering toddler-type names for long.
Characters. I got pretty clear pictures of the main ones, but things were a bit hazy with the narrative and everyone else sort of faded into the background.
Narrative. By the time the plot had wrapped itself up, nothing was a surprise to me, because so much of it had been hinted at before.
Blink & Caution
Tim Wynn-Jones
Read for Mock Printz
When I received the list of ten books to read for the Mock Printz discussion, I groaned. A cursory check revealed them to all be grim/tense. I’m a fan of grim/tense, though not for 10 books in a row. After wading through Chime, I got ready to force myself through this book. Happily, I was reminded that not all the books we read are bad.
This one fell into the “tense” category, but it was tense in a way that made me cast off my other reading and just rip through the book. The characters were great, incredibly likable, not perfect and street smart. I loved that it was set in Canada (authors live in Canada too? I had no idea!) and encompassed both city and country. This would be a great read for a reluctant boy reader and girls will like it too. There is mention of sex/amateur porn in the beginning, but it’s alluded too and not graphic. Overall, a very good read and so far my favorite of the Mock Printz books I’ve read.
King John
Wm. Shakespeare
If you could sort my Goodreads Shakespeare reviews and read them all at once you would find they all say the same thing: Bor-ing! Boring, boring, boring! This one too. However, it does help to read them before we see the play as I discovered when we abruptly moved our tickets up a week and I hadn’t read the fifth act. My mind wandered a lot more during that act then the others because I didn’t know what was coming. So I will keep reading these boring plays before seeing them brought to life by actors who know what they are doing.
The Berlin Boxing Club
Robert Sharenow
Read for Mock Printz
In my normal reading life, I’ve been avoiding books about the Holocaust. I know that this period in world history provides a lot of drama and pathos and many themes to explore, but I’m tired of reading about it. So I avoid. But my Mock Printz booklist is apparently not aware of my “No Nazis” rule and so I read this book set in 1930’s Berlin. I remarked earlier that my list of ten Mock Printz books are all either tense or depressing. This falls into the depressing category, with a bit of tension thrown in. Despite these marks against it, I liked the book. It was well written and I felt the plot brought to life the decreasing freedoms the Jewish people of Germany experienced in the 1930s. I’ve read about it in the history books, of course, but the main character’s experience made it much more real. It was especially interesting to see the difference for the main character, who did not look Jewish and found it much easier to move about the streets, with his sister, who looked very Jewish and experienced much more harassment.
The boxing sections were interesting too. I was particularly taken with the idea of “the 300.” That would be 100 push ups, 100 sit ups, 50 pull ups and 50 minutes of running. In the book, Max Schmelling proscribed that daily fitness routine for aspiring boxers. Inspired, I attempted a 300 of my own, and like the main character’s experience, my first 300 lackluster, clocking in only at was 51.
I felt that there could have been more illustrations and–contrary to my usual feelings–I would have liked some sort of epilogue. But this was a good read and I finished it ahead of schedule which I take to be a good sign. This is another “good for boys” book. If they are Jewish or into boxing I suspect they would like it that much more.
Started but did not finish.
The Way
Kristen Wolf
This was a promising book. A friend recommended it most forcefully. I started it, but got bogged down in other books that come with deadlines to finish so this went back to the library. Another time.