Did you start that new book?

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Story:

The daughter of an illusionist is pitted against another young student in a magical challenge. As they grow up, they learn more magic, and discover that the venue for their challenge is Le Cirque des Reves -- the Circus of Dreams. They play out their challenge by adding tents with amazing magical features to the circus, like an ice garden, and a cloud room. 

Because of the magic, the story is considered fantasy, but it is not Tolkien-style fantasy set in an entirely new world with dwarves and elves. The story takes place in our world -- quite a bit in London and a town in New England, and with entirely human characters. So partly it is about how magic operates in a world that doesn't believe in magic. 

The review:

I really enjoyed this book. I couldn't put it down, I was staying up late to keep reading. And if you read my last reviews, you know it has been a while since I've gotten that into a book. So I was really happy that I read this one. 

I have two negatives, and one is only a slight negative, and the other isn't even about the book mostly. So first negative, I wish there had been more to the ending. It felt a little rushed and just boom, the end. (Obviously I can't tell you more than that). I was satisfied with the ending, I just wish there was more. 

The other negative is with the layout of the story. It flips back and forth between a lot of different time periods. A surprising aspect is it actually has chapters where it addresses the reader -- totally uses "you" -- and describes how "you" walk through the circus and what "you" see while "you" are there. I don't think I've ever seen a book do that before. So it flips back and forth between several different times, and you have to pay attention to the chapter headings to know when you are and where you are. Then you are trying to piece together the progression of the story, despite the back-and-forth of the narrative. I know that would be really frustrating for some readers, but for me it's not. My frustration was because I was reading it on the Kindle, and I couldn't just flip back to the previous chapter's chapter heading to see how far in time we skipped. It was really a function of the decreased flipability of pages in the Kindle. 

An excerpt:
"It is important," the man in the grey suit interrupts. "Someone needs to tell those tales. When the battles are fought and won and lost, when the pirates find their treasures and the dragons eat their foes for breakfast with a nice cup of Lapsang souchong, someone needs to tell their bits of overlapping narrative. There's magic in that. It's in the listener, and for each and every ear it will be different, and it will affect them in ways they can never predict. From the mundane to the profound. You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone's soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows what they might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift. Your sister may be able to see the future, but you yourself can shape it, boy. Do not forget that." He takes another sip of his wine. "There are many kinds of magic, after all."


Seriously? How do you not love a book like that?

Final word:

Read this book. I think you'll love it. 

I could use a good man to help me get my project on wheels.

And for the second batch, I have crochet projects. And then a pinterest-inspired project.

Project 7: A baby blanket.
I used the same pattern, but different colors.

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Project 8: A monster.

I decided to learn how to crochet in the round. I found this little pattern and decided it would be good practice. It did a great job of explaining how. 

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Project 9: A baby hat.

Then I used those mad crocheting in the round skills to make a cute baby hat. Here's the original pattern. 

All the parts are finished.

And now they are sewn on and the hat is complete.

I think on a baby's actual head it wouldn't look that misshapen. I posed it by putting a bowl over the roll of paper towels and then putting the hat on top. Hopefully it would be cuter on an actual baby's head. 

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Project 10: A motivation jar.

Heather got me hooked on Pinterest. I'm setting boundaries, so hopefully I don't get really bad with it. But I saw a pin called motivation jars. The person set up two jars and filled one with little pebbles for how many pounds she wants to lose, then as she loses each pound she can move a pebble over to the pounds lost jar. 

I decided that a motivation jar would be a great idea. I'm trying to motivate myself to be social. Maybe you don't know this about me, but that is sometimes hard for me. (Understatement!). So I decided to make a jar for my social life. Every time I do something social, I get to put a pebble in it. And when I get to a certain number of pebbles -- like 25 -- I get a reward! 

You're like children playing house.

Projects!

I've been working on a bunch of projects. Today's project is to share them (finally). The first batch of projects are house projects.

Project 1: Fix the toilet
The downstairs toilet's fill valve went bad. It was spraying water all over the floor, so I had to replace it.



First take out the old one.



In progress.



Done! And it has worked great all week.

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Project 2: Clean and organize the hall closet.

I saw an organizing tip to use shower hooks to hang bags and scarves. I got some cute hooks at Target.

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Project 3: Put away the Christmas decorations.

Don't judge.

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Project 4: Hem three pairs of pants.

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Project 5: Make some hummus.

It's yellow because I put in tumeric. 

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Project 6: Organize my closet. 

Hey, maybe you should write a book.

It's time to start the year with some book reviews!

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

The Story: 

A man named Marion tells about growing up in Ethiopia with his twin brother Shiva and their adoptive Indian parents. There is a bit of a mystery surrounding the twins birth and then the story follows their lives as they grow up, grow apart, and learn what is important. 

The Review:

I did not like this book. It's getting a lot of critical acclaim, but I ended it kind of frustrated. Some of the reasons I didn't like it: (1) It was really long and a slow read. The action didn't progress and it felt like it just dragged on and on. (2) It started with a story that I got interested in, and then just threw that story aside. It built a mystery about the twins birth and then dropped that story so that when it is explained at the end, it's just a letdown. (3) There was a lot of time that was just skipped over. And while I'm not really advocating for more information and details, I felt like explanations and reasons for the characters' actions were mission. (4) The adoptive parents are both doctors and so they actually live at the hospital compound. There is a lot of focus on cases at the hospital and the boys' medical training, which means a lot of detailed medical description. Which just didn't thrill me. 

So to sum up, I don't recommend this one. 

****

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

The Story:

Brown tells the story of three sisters. Their father is a Shakespearean scholar so they are named after Shakespearean characters, quote the plays and sonnets extensively, etc, etc. Their mother is diagnosed with breast cancer just as each sister's life is falling apart. So all three move home and work on putting things back together. 

The Review:

There were aspects of this book that were interesting and unique and had a lot of potential. The family is unique and interesting. For example, the father sends letters where he just copies pages out of the Riverside Shakespeare and highlights particular words. It was a very quick read. And there was a unique arrangement to the narrator's voice. The narrator always spoke in "we" so it was like the sisters were all talking at once. Which got a little weird because the sisters didn't like each other and didn't talk in real life. And despite all the potential, the book just wound up being a lot of whining. The sisters all come home for different homes and have different problems. But they really just spend all their time whining about what is wrong. 

So the final word, I don't recommend this one. 

****

Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent

The Story:

This is the true story of a homeless man in Fort Worth, TX, and a rich art dealer and his wife. Ron and his wife Debbie are rich and prosperous and experience a spiritual conversion so they start working at a homeless shelter. Debbie is the one who is really gung-ho about their service, but always takes Ron. While they are working at the homeless shelter they meet Denver who is described as a modern-day slave. Ron and Denver become friends and learn from each other. 

The Review:

This is an amazing story of how people overcome their differences. Ron admits his prejudices toward the homeless, but as he gets to know Denver he learns to set those aside. The story emphasizes the importance of love because the reason Denver lets them in is because Debbie loves them unconditionally. But the book doesn't really work as a story. It flashes between Ron and Denver's perspectives which in this case wound up being kind of jarring. And the writing was not very good. It was hard to get in to the book. And at the end I started feeling manipulated. It spent a lot of time trying to get me to feel some huge emotion, and mostly I didn't. 

To sum up, it was ok, but not great. 

****

The Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz

The Story:

Three immortal witches live in the Hamptons. They have been forced to not use their magic in this modern world, but are growing increasingly frustrated with the restriction. So they start using small magic. Then bad stuff is happening and they need to figure out why and how to fix it. 

The Review:

I read this because Liz asked me to review it a while ago. So the quick review is I didn't like it. The novel started out as one story and it was interesting to see the characters of the witches develop and see how they were trying to live within the constraints of no magic. They start using magic to help the people around them that they have gotten to know and the use of magic and manifestations of their powers are interesting. But after 80% of the book (Can you tell I read it on my Kindle?) the story completely changed. Instead of being focused on these characters, it was suddenly a story about ancient mythology. It just wound up being uneven and scattered. 

And with all the books in my lit classes, I give a parental guidelines warning, so I feel like I should with this as well. There is a lot of sex in this book, and it's fairly graphic. 

Oh, they probably turned it in for some books at the local community center. Where you think it's at, man?

I mentioned that I was thinking about book recommendations and I started wondering, Ok what was the best book I read this year? It's not quite the end of the year, but I decided since that is only a few weeks away, I'll just go ahead and post my list now.

And because that is simply too difficult of a question to answer, I split it into categories.



Category one: Fiction
Well, I picked two as the best from this category, but I am struggling with that so much that I can't even bring myself to definitively write them down.

I'm just going to do it!

These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner


and

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok






Category 2: Nonfiction
I have a stand out favorite in this category. And I have recommended it to just about everyone I know.
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand






Category 3: Classic Fiction
I can't actually finish this post without even a nod at the beautiful books that I read for my American Lit class.
Absolute favorite: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee




If you are interested in the full list for 2011, here it is:

Fiction
These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner

How to Be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway

Heat Rises by Richard Castle

Declaring Spinsterhood by Jamie Lynn Braziel

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum

Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
Deep Down True by Juliette Fay
My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

The Running Man by Stephen King

Naked Heat by Richard Castle

No Time Left by David Baldacci

Leaving Home by Jodi Piccoult

The Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver Potzsch

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell

The Summer We Read Gatsby by Danielle Ganek

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

The Apothecary’s Daughter by Julie Klassen

Non-Fiction
Mars and Venus on a Date by John Gray
The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

Change Anything by Kerry Patterson
Don’t Kill the Birthday Girl by Sandra Beasley
Sway by Ori and Rom Brafman
Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Bossypants by Tina Fey
Writing as a Way of Healing by Louise DeSalvo

Classic Fiction

Beloved by Toni Morrison

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Everyone's pushing small town rural. A farm book would just be white noise.

I have had several people ask me recently for book recommendations. And I almost said, oh, just check my blog. And then I didn't because I decided it would be embarrassing. But it made me think that I haven't posted a review for a while. Now that is partly because my extracurricular reading has slowed way down, and partly because my posting has slowed way down.

So some book reviews tonight.

***

Beloved by Toni Morrison

This book was for my American Lit class. True confessions, I finished reading it (and it was my second time reading it) two weeks before they started. Phew. 

The story: Sethe is a woman who escapes from slavery with her children and it is the story of how her life falls apart. Characters enter her life, Paul D who she knew as a slave, and a mysterious young woman. The story is about slavery and it is raw and brutal. 

The review: One of my students described it best when she said this book is raw. It is raw and describes very ugly things in a lot of detail. So it is not a pleasurable book to read. But after studying it with my students, I just feel like this book is really beautiful. The language and craft with words is beautiful and amazing (oh, I just got a little too English Professor on you). But also the ability to look at something that ugly and really confront it is powerful. 

My students, for the most part, hated it. And I fully understand why. It is not easy and it is depressing. But I told them, "It's ok if you hate this book. But this book won a Pulitzer Prize, and Toni Morrison is a big deal. And I want you to figure out why." And at the end, they did. 

***

These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner

The story: This is written as the journal of Sarah Agnes Prine who is living in the Arizona Territory. She is a strong woman who fights through terrible circumstances to help her family get settled and prosper in the new territory. Besides Sarah being a very cool and powerful woman, it is a love story. 

The review: The first 100 pages of the book were really slow. And I actually had a hard time getting through it. But then the story picked up and I really enjoyed it. There are some shockingly brutal scenes, but they are told so delicately from Sarah's perspective that it doesn't make the book horrible. And I cried. It has been a long time since a book made me cry. 

Because you sent me that picture of a cat playing the piano with the caption "this is funny".

Oh the days are long and the weeks fly by. And I only seem to be able to keep up with work stuff -- some of the time -- so everything else (especially blogging) falls to the wayside. 


But I took a couple of pictures of things. So here they are:





A baby blanket I made for a friend's new baby. He was born on 11/11/11, just like my little niece. 





I put up my Christmas decorations. 





And I realized I hadn't shown you some of my favorite new things. 


These are the pictures that Kim painted me this summer. They are on the huge wall in my bedroom. 





And these are the cool little hooks that I found for my mirror. Perfect for necklace hanging.