Mrs Hughes, I need to steal you for a minute. I have to check the linen books.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

The Story:
The third part of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo saga. Resumes after the events in Played With Fire and concludes that story.

The Review:
I really liked it. As I read I was constantly feeling like What just happened? Seriously? Where did that come from? and Ooh, smart!

From all of that, you should understand that it kept me on my toes and guessing about how everything was going to work out. I really didn't know, and didn't even have many good guesses. It was clever and engaging and I very much enjoyed it.

Again, I recommend it with the caveat that you have to be ok with violence, language, and sex.





In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

The Story:
A true-crime novel about a multiple murders that occurred in Western Kansas in 1959. Four members of the Clutter family were murdered in their home by two men who had been paroled from the Kansas Penitentiary. The story begins with the family and the murder and then follows the work of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to find the men, their capture, trial, and sentencing.

The Review:
It's a fascinating story. It is so brutal and the murders are so cold about it that there is just something that draws you in to the tale, even though it is terrible.

Capote has an interesting way of keeping himself out of the story, but there are a few moments when I realized how often he must have interviewed these guys and how much time he actually spent with them. It's kind of amazing. And I found myself almost more interested in that than in the actual story -- why did Capote get so interested in this story that he didn't have any real ties to, and how did the researching go, how much time did he really spend with these guys? And none of that is in the book at all.

 It's a fascinating story. Through some of the middle, I got a little bored because I didn't have any sympathy at all for the murderers. In fact, I really didn't like them at all, so I didn't want to read about them anymore. But I really liked the ending. I think it was a nice way to end and have kind of a tribute.





The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Story:
A distopian world in which the premises are based mostly on Biblical readings of the roles of women. For some, not fully determined, reason, the birthrate has plummeted. There are suggestions of nuclear fallout being the cause, but also women are blamed. So the government is taken over, the society is restructured, and roles for women are redefined. Our narrator, who we only know as Offred, is a Handmaid like in the Biblical stories of Sarah who gives Hagar and Leah and Rachel who give their handmaids to have children when they can't.

The Review:
A fascinating and horrifying look at a distopian future. It's an interesting commentary on how women are valued/devalued by society, both today and in this possible future. It's got a striking commentary about the current situation for women, and also a striking commentary about how women are treated and used in the distopia (Gilead).

The structure and telling of the story is also interesting and I particularly like how Atwood/the narrator embeds a discussion of how stories are told, how we discuss them, and how our memories are actually recreations.

I'm glad I finally read this one, it will keep me thinking for a while. I definitely recommend it (of course with the usual caveats about violence, sex, and language).





I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

The Story:
In this autobiography, Angelou begins with her memory of being sent to live in Arkansas with her grandmother when her parents get divorced. She then tells the story of her life until she is sixteen years old.

The Review:
Things seem to all come together and happen at the same time for me. So when my Lit class was reading The Catcher in the Rye, I had just finished reading Out of Africa, which Holden mentions reading. Then the last two weeks we have been reading To Kill a Mockingbird, and Harper Lee worked as a researcher on In Cold Blood, which I read for book club and one of my students presented on. So at the same time I was reading this, one of my students presented on Angelou's poem by the same name. All interesting intersections.

On to the book itself. It dragged a bit in the middle, enough that I actually thought about not continuing with the book. But I ended up liking it. Angelou is forthright and it's an important perspective. She has moments within the narrative where she ponders life and blackness and why things are the way they are that are poignant and touching, but also thought-provoking.

I recently heard a student comment about Latino writing that it is not his experience so he doesn't like it and just isn't interested, and I was disturbed because I think the beauty of reading and literature is that we get to experience other people's experiences/lives/point of view. And this book allowed me to do that.

I recommend it (always with the usual caveat).





Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

The Story:
A journalist returns home to her small Missouri town to investigate the murders of two little girls.

The Review:
I wanted to read something less heavy and serious, so I picked up this because I'd been thinking about Gone Girl while I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series.

Warning! This is super dark and quite disturbing! Super, super dark.

I'm not completely sure what I think of it. It was riveting. I read it in three days and it moved super fast, because those three days were days I didn't have a lot of time to read. The violence against female characters was horrible and disturbing. But one of the things that bothered me was that I didn't feel as horrified as maybe I should have, and I decided that was because the characters didn't really fit their actual age, so it made the horror harder to see.

I was irritated by the main character's poor decisions. I understand why the events happened and why those decisions were made, but that didn't keep me from thinking she's an idiot. And it didn't keep me from not liking her very much.

And there weren't as many turns as I thought there would be, or as I expected from the writer of Gone Girl. I knew fairly early who the killer was.

Final thoughts: If you are looking for something super dark and disturbing to read, go for it!





The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

The Story:
Gregor wakes up one morning to find he has turned into a giant bug.

The Review:
Kim read this in her short story class and it is on my list of books to read, so I got it.

What a weird little story. Gregor ruins his life and his family's life by becoming a giant bug. I get the commentary and why this is important, but really? It's weird. I managed to feel a little bad for the characters, but not a lot bad. There were a lot of interesting things to think about, but mostly this made me think of the children's book Imogene's Antlers.

 Which is a hilarious take on sort of the same problem.

If you are trying to feel well-read and this is on your list, go for it. It's short and easy to read.







Candide by Voltaire

The Story:
A young man Candide is cast out of the home he has been taken into and where he has been raised and goes on many adventures.

The Review:
Another weird little story.

The point is optimism versus pessimism versus you create your own destiny. So Candide has been trained by a philosopher who believes that everything happens for the best. But in his adventures many trials and bad things happen to Candide, so he questions the philosophy and almost begins to agree with a friend who is a pessimist. But the conclusion is that we have to create our own happiness.

It's a lovely message, but the way to get there was totally bizarre. And yes, I am going to judge Voltaire out of his time period, but it is a totally weird idea to have characters go to El Dorado and find an ancient Incan land untouched by foreigners where they serve European food and live in European style houses and wear European style clothes.

Again, if you are trying to feel well-read and this is on your list, go for it. It's short and easy to read.

*****

A closing thought that is slightly separate from the reviews. I don't know if you noticed, but almost everything on this list is about, or contains a lot of violence toward women. What is up with that? Why is that what I am continually reading? I'm trying to choose a happier book for my next one. If you have suggestions, I'd love to hear them. 

Did you say it? Make a plan. Set a goal. Work toward it. But every now and then look around.

Sometimes I feel like there are so many books that I haven't read. And sometimes I feel like all the books that I haven't read are big books -- not big as in size but big as in big deal. Sometimes this really embarrasses me, because I feel like as an English professor, I should definitely at some point have read all of the big deal books.

Combine that feeling with the feeling that I get sometimes that I don't read fantastic books. -- Don't get me wrong! I read some fantastic and amazing books that I have certainly loved. -- But sometimes I read 2 or 3 or even 4 sort of duds in a row, and I start to feel like wow, I just want some good books in my life.

And so, not fully knowing where to turn, I start seeking out lists. Lists of the top 100 books, lists of the books you should read, should have read, everyone has read, etc.

On Smart People Podcast, I heard an interview with Kevin Smokler who wrote a book called Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books You Haven't Touched Since High School.



I checked out the book from the library and decided it would be a good place to start, because it has all kinds of big deal books that are commonly taught, but he's also chosen ones that still have some kind of resonance or value for adults. So I went through the book and made a list of all the books he highlights that I have never read. This book list is now my goal for a while.

I'm including the list below. Obviously I'll keep you posted on how I'm doing as I post my reviews. If you see something on the list that is absolutely not worth my time, please please please let me know.


The List:
1. Candide -- Voltaire (Click here for my review)
2. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter -- McCuller
3. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings -- Angelou (Click here for my review)
4. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven -- Alexie (Click here for my review)
5. Autobiography of Malcolm X
6. The Age of Innocence -- Wharton
7. Surfacing -- Atwood
8. The Handmaid's Tale -- Atwood (Click here for my review)
9. Do Android's Dream of Electric Sheep? -- Dick
10. Labyrinths -- Borges
11. The Bell Jar -- Plath
12. Portnoy's Complaint -- Roth
13. Cannery Row -- Steinbeck
14. And the Band Played On -- Shilts
15. A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again -- Wallace (Click here for my review)
16. Master Harold... and the Boys -- Fugard
17. Fahrenheit 451 -- Bradbury (Click here for my review)
18. The Metamorphosis -- Kafka (Click here for my review)
19. The Phantom Tollbooth -- Juster
20. Camp -- Sontag
21. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction -- Benjamin
22. Understanding Media -- McLuhan
23. The Stranger -- Camus
24. The Lottery -- Jackson (Click here for my review)
25. Bastard Out of Carolina -- Allison
26. Leaves of Grass -- Whitman
27. Emily Dickinson (Yeah, Smokler doesn't give something specific here, so I'll probably just go with a "Collected Works" or something. Needs more research).
28. The Day of the Locust -- West
29. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek -- Dillard
30. The Things They Carried -- O'Brien (Click here for my review)
31. Animal Farm -- Orwell (Click here for my review)
32. The Crying of Lot 49 -- Pynchon
33. The Remains of the Day -- Ishiguro


These are in no particular order, and I'll read them in any order. For the moment, I've started just by looking at the beginning of the list and searching to see what I can check out as an ebook from the library. So I'm starting with The Handmaid's Tale and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

If the history books are full of them, I'd say they already are.

A new month started this week. How did that happen? Where did September go?

In honor of the new month (which I'm going to be able to catch up on and believe at some point), I thought I would let you in on all the things I've been reading over the past month.



The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Story:
A journalist is approached and asked to investigate a family mystery. As he gets farther and farther in, he discovers that this is not merely a family mystery important only to those who hired him, but that it is a huge mystery with far-reaching effects. He calls in help in the form of Lisbeth Salander a "researcher."

The Review:
Ok, I know I'm late to this party. I just wasn't sure that this was really going to be my thing. I'd heard that it was super dark and super violent, and a lot of the time I don't seek that out in my pleasure-reading.

I liked it. It's a good mystery and really engaging. At first I wasn't sure about Lisbeth Salander, she's a really odd character, but I wound up really liking her. The book reminded me of Gone Girl with the dark subject matter and twists, but it was less crazy. When I got to the end, I really enjoyed it, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to read the other books in the trilogy. I wanted to know what happened to Lisbeth, but I'm satisfied with the book.

I recommend this only if you can handle extreme violence described graphically and a lot of profanity.





The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan

The Story:
Set a few years after the Titanic sank, Grace is sailing with her new husband back to New York when their ship sinks. She is thrown onto a lifeboat with 39 others and this is the story of their time at sea.

The Review:
I enjoyed the style. Grace writes a diary/journal of events and her style is very simple and straightforward. The parts on the lifeboat were a little "Life of Pi"-ish. For example, in order to survive they catch fish and birds to eat, so it's the same event/experience as "Life of Pi," but without the beauty of the writing of "Life of Pi."

Grace is writing the journal after the fact while she sits in prison waiting for her trial. The parts about the trial were interesting, but made Grace seem a little mercenary and manipulative. So as a reader, I'm not sure she was really likable and I found myself frustrated with her.

At the end, it was a good book that had me asking many questions, but it isn't one I would read again.





The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey

The Story:
A retelling of Jane Eyre.

The Review:
I don't fully understand the need for a retelling like this. It was the same story with a change in time (set in the 1950's) that wasn't obvious or big. She still doesn't deal with modern conveniences like phones and her life remains pretty much the same as it was. I don't mind retellings or reimaginings, but there needs to be some substantial difference -- like telling the story from a completely new perspective. Instead of working through Jane's eyes, go the route of "The Wide Sargasso Sea" and tell it from Bertha's view.

The other major issue with this retelling was the biggest change was to get rid of the wife/madwoman in the attic. While I can understand a young reader's frustration with that plotline (like being frustrated with the Lydia/Wickham plotline in Pride and Prejudice), it's vitally important! Without that, Jane (Gemma Hardy in this version) has no reason to run away from Mr. Rochester! (Ok, I don't usually use the exclamation points in these reviews, you should know there's something seriously wrong). It was a stupid change.

Final word: Did not like it. Do not recommend it.






The Gardner Heist by Ulrich Boser

The Story:
A non-fiction account of the theft of paintings and other art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

The Review:
Remember a couple months ago when I read The Art Forger?  After I thought about that book for a while, I decided that as interesting as that fictional account was, and as much as I enjoyed the stories about the forgeries, what was even more fascinating there was the completely true story of the heist itself -- which remains unsolved to this day. It's amazing!

So I came across the title for this book, and immediately wanted to read it. And I was right. The true story is more fascinating than The Art Forger. So much is known and the author writes a great, entertaining account of the various characters who are suspects and those who just get sucked in.

It's honestly an hommage to the power of art, a look at the seedy underworld, and a journey through obsession. I highly recommend it.






The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

The Story:
A lighthouse keeper and his wife live on a tiny island off of the coast of Australia where two oceans meet. One day a boat washes up that has a dead man and a live baby in it. The wife takes the baby and chooses to keep her without letting her husband tell anyone what they have found.

The Review:
Just reading-wise, this was hard to get into. It is pretty stilted in its descriptions and has a lot of jumps. The paragraphs often are very short and bounce from one subject to a new one immediately.

I had a very difficult time feeling connected to the characters. I wanted to feel bad for them because they went through so much difficulty and I wanted to want them to be able to find a bit of happiness, but mostly I felt disconnected and didn't care. I think this was partly because of the style, and partly because the book is often told from Tom's perspective and he is completely disconnected, and partly because they were making really wonky choices.

I don't really recommend this.






Eighty Days by Mathew Goodman

The Story:
The true story of two female journalists, Nelllie Bly and Elisabeth Bisland, who set out to circumnavigate the globe in less than 80 days. Bly begins first and sets her goal at 75 days and Bisland follows her (going west to Bly's east) and wants to beat her.

The Review:
Fascinating story. It's amazing that these two very young women set out alone to travel around the world at that time period and did so in trains and ships and boats.

Unfortunately, it was a very boring telling of a fascinating tale. Goodman inserted so much information into this story that it was constantly completely off topic and really bogged down with unnecessary details. Also unfortunately, I got so annoyed with the women because they were such typical American travelers who expect everything around the world to be like American and to conform to them. They were in amazing places, but didn't take the opportunity to sightsee and appreciate the new cultures and the differences. I got really frustrated.

I don't recommend this.







The Girl who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

The Story:
Book 2 of the Millenium Series about Lisbeth Salander. A mystery is revealed when Salander is accused of a double murder.

The Review:
I went to book club, and my friends have talked about reading this series, so I asked them if it was worth continuing. Joanna said that she liked the second and third books much better than the first. The first was good, but it was mostly set up and an introduction to the character of Lisbeth Salander and in the second and third books, she really gets to shine.

So I picked up the second book. And couldn't put it down. I was completely shocked by one development after another. Just when I thought I had a handle on things, something else happened that caused a major twist. Again, I will compare it to Gone Girl. It was a great book and a thoroughly enjoyable read.

I recommend it, again, only with the warning that you need to be able to deal with extreme and gruesome violence and profanity.

You're something of an open book.

Book Reviews

It was a busy, exciting, totally awesome summer. And because of that I didn't read as much as I normally do. But I still have some books to share with you.



The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates

The Story:
Set in Princeton at the turn of the last century, the tranquil college town is beset by mysterious happenings. A strange death, a ghost, etc.

The Review:
It all sounded really good and intriguing. But I only made it halfway through the book, because it was crazy long (700 pages) and really really slow. I can't recommend it, but I also can't say definitely don't even try it, because I didn't get through enough of it.

*****

How We Are Hungry by Dave Eggers

The Story:
This is a collection of short stories by Eggers. They cover a variety of topics and styles. Eggers is post-modern, so they are all very post-modern, meaning he breaks down writing and comes at it in new ways.

The Review:
Loved it! I have two favorite stories from this collection, "Notes for a Story of a Man Who Will Not Die Alone" and "On Things He Should Keep to Himself." I don't want to give too much away, but for an idea, the "Notes for a Story" is literally that. Eggers begins the story as an outline or brainstorming of what he will write in this tale. As he goes through the basic plot, he writes the things that he will flesh out later, but we don't get to see that, all we see is the beginning of the process. So for example, he talks about the Man's son -- David, Derek, Dennis -- and then later calls him Derek. I thought it was a great look at the process of writing a story. Because they are short stories and the collection itself is slim, this is a quick read. I highly recommend it. And more Eggers' books are on my "to-read" list. 

*****

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

The Work:

This is a non-fiction look at Eating Animals. Foer begins with the question of should we eat animals and then spends three years researching whether or not we should. As he does the research, he is approaching the question from a lot of different angles and perspectives. The book works to present his research and findings and ultimate conclusion. 

The Review:

I have had this book on my list for a while and was really glad that I took the time to read it. I was fascinated. Full confession here: I'm vegan. I began it for my own personal health reasons. Because of my eating habits and my perpetual interest in food, I have read several books and watched several documentaries about vegetarianism, veganism, and food in general (such as Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food and Alicia Silverstone's Kind Diet). 

In contrast to those, I thought that Foer's work was a more complete look at eating as a whole. He didn't focus only on how food and food processing has changed over the years and he didn't focus only on the impact animals have on our health or on the environment. He incorporated all of that. 

What struck me more was his honest discussion of his own feelings and the quandary he felt caught in that led him to begin researching. He described how he felt personally about eating animals and then how that was constantly tested by trying to eat with his family, friends, coworkers and in society in general. I really appreciated that he acknowledged that society is based around food and any variance makes things much more difficult. 

I highly recommend this book. Although I will add the caution that Foer describes (he's a beautiful writer) in detail the atrocities that occur in factory farms and slaughterhouses. And part of me wants to say, if you can't stand to read it, maybe you shouldn't be eating it. 

*****

Pride's Prejudice by Misty Dawn Pulsipher

The Story:

A retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. 

The Review:

I read it during the two hours I was riding the train to the Bronx. It was fluffy and easy to not be too caught up in so I could watch for my stop, but also interesting enough that the crowded parts of the ride didn't distract me. 

That said, it was not good. It was a boring rewrite by which I mean not creative in any way. It was also deeply flawed on the logical side. In trying to update the story, she made changes that just logically did not make any sense, and would never be how something was approached. 

Don't read this. Just read the original.

*****

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The Story:

A 16 year old girl, Hazel, has been battling lung cancer her whole life. She had a radical treatment that has bought her a few years, and as her parents encourage her to get out, she meets Augustus a 17 year old boy at the cancer support group. 

The Review:

I really enjoyed this. As most young adult fiction is, it was a fast read and had me sucked in to the characters and their story from the beginning. Both Hazel and Augustus are kind of quirky, but not in a completely unbelievable way. 

Honestly, I sobbed through the ending. Heather came home one day, and I wiped the tears off my face long enough to open the door, but then she said, "How are you?" And I just started bawling all over again. It was awful and hilarious at the same time. 

That being said, I recommend this book, but only read it at a time when you can cry. Unless of course, you are so cold-hearted that you don't cry at books. 

*****

Seriously... I'm Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres

The Work:

Ellen writes a book. She talks about all kinds of random things and is generally hilarious. 

The Review:

Again, I read this while riding the subway. And quickly became the weirdo who laughs out loud on the subway under seemingly no provocation. ... Fortunately that still didn't make me the weirdest person on the subway in New York City. 

I chose this book because I love Ellen and I really enjoyed Tina Fey's Bossypants. The book was great and light and entertaining. She writes a lot about writing the book and about being a CoverGirl. And is always funny. 

*****

The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton

The Story:

It's 1968/1969 and Frankie moves with her husband and children to Palo Alto, California. She quickly meets four other women at the park and they form a group of friends as they meet almost daily to take their kids to the park. One day their talk turns to the things that they would have done if it had been acceptable for women, and they discover that several of them wanted to be writers. So they form a writing group and meet every Wednesday to discuss their writing. 

The Review:

This was a great story about friendship between women. They move through their lives and trials together and are always encouraging each other. But they are also critical enough to make each other better, in their writing and in their lives. I was most interested in how their lives are shaped and changed by what is happening in the world around them. They see the Apollo landing, etc, and their world changes because of the changes in history. 

I recommend it. 

*****

Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth

The Story:

Yes, the PBS show is based on a book. It is a memoir that tells the tale of a group of midwives working in England's East End at the end of World War II. They are dealing with people in abject poverty, and Worth tells the tales of things that she saw. 

The Review:

I was only able to finish half of this before I had to return Carla's Kindle to her. But I want to go back and finish the rest (or maybe I'll just watch the show) because the stories are fascinating. The writing is quick and engaging and draws beautiful pictures of the people and the surroundings without being so detailed about the births that I couldn't keep reading. 

*****

Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen

The Story:

Isak Dinesen is a pen name for Karen Blixen who writes this memoir about her time running a coffee plantation in Kenya. She tells about the land, her plantation, her experiences with the Africans who work for her and live near her. 

The Review:

The book starts out really really slow. Dinesen writes lush and detailed descriptions of everything and it is easy to get bored and bogged down with that. The descriptions are beautiful, but sacrifice the action. In addition to the lengthy descriptions, Dinesen doesn't write in a linear style. So she'll start into one story and then veer off to tell you all about one character and then veer off to another and then finally, eventually circle back around. While it's an interesting way to tell the story, and truly reflects how our minds and memories work, it added to the slowness of the story. 

The book is divided into four parts. I felt like the first two parts were so slow and I really didn't think I would ever be able to get through the book. But then I hit the third part, and she shifted into short (and super short) vignettes. Each vignette would focus on a different character or scene and then would quickly shift into something else. I was able to just fly through part three. 

In part four, Dinesen returned to her previous style and told about having to leave Africa. I was shocked to find that suddenly, I was completely engaged in the novel and was truly sad that she was having to leave. 

Despite the initial slowness, I think this is a worthwhile read because she so poignantly conveys her love for Africa.   

It's a common theme in self-help books. I read twenty-two today.

Book Review!

My youngest sister (isn't that awkward phrasing. I usually say "my little sister" but I've been told that that can hardly be accurate. Which is actually true. I'm shortest in the family. But still, what am I supposed to say?) asked if I had read anything good lately, naturally I went on and on. To which she said, wow, sounds like time for a book review. So let me get started.



Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

The Story:
There is an "above ground" London and an "underground" London, and Richard has an unexpected encounter that shifts his life from the normal, ordinary, even mundane London Above to a new and different life in London Below. In London Below, he embarks on a quest and because of the various tasks, learns new things about himself.

The Review:
I really enjoyed this. I like fantasy as a genre, but sometimes the worlds that authors are trying to create are really difficult to actually get in to. That was not the case with this book. It was easy and understandable. Richard joins a group of people and goes on a very typical-seeming fantasy quest. But I thought the novel was clever and had it's normal twists and turns that made it interesting. The characters were good and engaging.

Totally recommend it. And I would read more Neil Gaiman.






Gifted Hands by Ben Carson

The Story:
This is the true story of Ben Carson's life beginning with his childhood and then the start of his career to become a world-famous neurosurgeon. He is know for separating twins who were conjoined at the head.

The Review:
I thought this was a fantastic story. Ben Carson is very gifted and has amazing stories about his surgeries and his patients. What has stuck with me more though was what he told about his mom. She had a 3rd grade education, but made sure that both her sons worked their hardest and did their best. I was so impressed by her rules that she imposed when her kids were young and how they rose to meet her extremely high expectations. Seriously an amazing story.

The one detraction that I do have to say about this is that it is not well-written. And I found that so disappointing, because his life is so interesting and the writing was just so flat and didn't convey any of that. He actually had a ghost writer for this (although the ghost writer is acknowledged on the cover so maybe not totally ghost-y), and I just found myself thinking, wow, why pay a ghost writer? Or better, why not pay me? I can do better!

Despite that, I totally recommend this book.






Need by Carrie Jones

The Story:
So some teenage chick has to go live with her grandmother. Once she's there she discovers weird things happening and gold glitter. And the kids who have immediately befriended her are all a little weird and then she finds out they can shape shift. So can her grandma. And there's a bad pixie king who's out to get her, but really wants her mom.

The Review:
Why are all YA books rewrites of Twilight?

Ok, I'm starting the review that way a little sarcastically so that you can get the idea that I wasn't a fan of this. But I also mean it as a serious question. Why can't someone write a YA book that is something different?

I hated this. I don't recommend it.





Front Page Fatality by LynDee Walker

The Story:
The crime reporter for the Richmond Times goes to get the story on a case. As she interviews and works on the story, she begins to see more connections and finds she has a much bigger story.

The Review:
I enjoyed this. I thought it was cute. ... Ok, most mystery writers probably don't want their work described as "cute." But what I mean was it was light and entertaining. Although the case did get pretty big, it was not a dark mystery. It was still pretty light and you knew it would all work out. I liked the main character. She was fun. Think more along the lines of Castle.

Recommend it.





Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

The Story:
Swamplandia! is a family-run theme park in the Florida everglades. The theme and main attraction is alligators. The mother swims with gators, the father and kids wrestle gators, etc. The story begins with the mother dying from cancer, and what follows her death is a fight to keep Swamplandia! open for tourists and to keep the family together.

The Review:
This was billed as quirky and fun. It's definitely quirky. But because it starts with the mother's death, it's not fun. It basically tells the disintegration of a family. I compared it to The Glass Castle (a must-read), because the parents have chosen a weird/quirky alternative lifestyle and dragged the kids into it with them without seeming to realize the impact. The difference is The Glass Castle tells the story of the kids banding together to get out, but Swamplandia! just tells the story of everything falling apart. It was very sad and made me anxious as I read it.

Besides the topic, it is beautifully written and I was really sucked in and caught.

That said, it's an iffy recommendation. I didn't enjoy it necessarily, but it was definitely worth the time.





World War Z by Max Brooks

The Story:
It is ten years after the zombie apocalypse and the living humans' fight against the zombies. Our narrator interviews people all over the world in order to understand what happened to prepare a report for the UN. This though tells the human factor. He compiles all the interviews to tell us how the people reacted and responded and the impact of the zombies and the war against them.

The Review:
Lesson 1: Emily should not read zombie books right before bedtime.
Corollary 1: Emily should not start watching "The Walking Dead" no matter how many people recommend it.

And the funny part is I loved this book. I thought it was a great premise and set up for this type of story. I thought that it was creative with the types of people that were interviewed and how they told their stories. I bought into the entire thing, and was so sucked in that when I finished and left my house (or just put the book down and looked around me) I was like What's wrong with you people!! How can you just go on with a normal life after the zombie apocalypse!!

That being said, this was really rough. The language was rough, the subject matter was rough, it was a rough book.

And totally worth it.





The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro

The Story:
There was a robbery at the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum of art in Boston. Millions of dollars worth of paintings were stolen, and it remains the largest unsolved art heist in history (Truth). Then (and this part is fiction) a painting is delivered to Claire Roth and artist who pays the bills by painting reproductions of famous masterpieces and specializes in Degas. She is asked to reproduce the painting, and when she opens it, she discovers that it is the stolen Degas.

The Review:
I totally loved this book. Aren't we all just fascinating by a huge heist? And money is cool, but art... stealing art is pretty impressive. So the theft angle was intriguing. And then as Claire works to create a master forgery of Degas' art, we get all kinds of stories of other famous forgers and how they accomplished their work and how they were caught. It was really fascinating.

Claire's story is also an interesting one. So I really enjoyed all the aspects of the book, and thought they were really woven together very well. It was a good, intriguing read. I recommend it!





The Magic by Rhonda Byrne

The not-a-story:
So this, as you can see, is one of the parts to "The Secret."

It is all about gratitude. It is basically a 28-day challenge to increase your gratitude and recognize the good in your life no matter what else is going on.

The Review:
I'm finally writing a review of this, because I finally made it through all 28 days straight. I worked on it for quite a while, but had to keep starting over.

I like the premise of gratitude. I know that I can definitely be more grateful, and I liked having particular tasks assigned that helped me to recognize the good that I have in a bunch of different areas.

If you feel like you could use more gratitude, I'd suggest checking it out.

I'm sorry, I'm looking for a barber, and I'm running out of time. My hair is growing at the rate of four point six yoctometers per femtosecond. And if you're quiet, you can hear it.

My absolute favorite part of the online dating post was the comments. I love my family. 

And then, I completely rejected Cary's final advice. 

CaryFebruary 23, 2013 at 3:16 PM

1. -Bald
-gotta fit in with the brother in laws (might also help if your parents like him)
-generous, mildly good looking (i don't like to feel uncomfortable at family gatherings)
-intelligent (there's nothing worse than talking to a stupid person)

2. sophisticated, calming, friendly

3. guys generally like longer hair, so keeping your hair shoulder length or longer is good.

The Before:

Yes, that is my super crazy long hair. 

The After:

And the hair left on my head:

Apparently, that book you gave him aren't exactly the stories in the most traditional sense.

Snow Day! Perfect time to update the blog. Let's start by catching up on all these books. So many books.


Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

The Story:
Ok, this is obviously not that "shades of grey" story, so let's move past that immediately, please.
Instead, this is the story of a Lina, a 15 year old Lithuanian girl, who is taken from her home along with her mother and brother during World War II when Russians invaded the Baltic States. She, along with many others, were put on trains and taken to work camps. She eventually is taken to Siberia.

It's historical fiction, so people actually were put through this, which is something I wasn't aware of.

The Review:
Great book. As I said, I wasn't aware that all of that had actually happened, but the book (though fictional) did a great job of telling the story of those people and some of the horrors that they faced, without being too graphic. I got caught up in the story and the characters, and the very simple writing.

And I got to the end and was like "What? That's the end?"

It was a great book, and I definitely recommend it.




Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

The Story:
A fantasy-type story set in some other land where there are ruling families who continually usurp the throne of the realm. As the story opens, Robert is king, having taken the throne from the dragon family and exiled the remaining two members.

The Review:
What the heck?! It was a freaking THOUSAND pages and absolutely NOTHING happened!!

Can you tell I'm still upset about it?

Ok, so I was reading it. And I was hating it. And I would have totally given up 100-200 pages in, but I know so many people who are super into this, and I felt like in order to be taken seriously when I said it was awful, I had to actually finished it. So I did.

And it was awful. I totally hated it. And nothing happened. It was a THOUSAND pages, just to introduce some characters.




Alice Bliss by Laura Harrington

The Story:
This novel tells the story of Alice Bliss, a 15 year old girl whose father signs up with the National Guard and is deployed to Iraq/Afghanistan. Her family struggles with the absence of her father, and she does most of all because he's her favorite.

The Review:
I cried through the entire book.

It was a short read, fairly predictable, and just entertainment. But the character caught me, and I really did get pretty emotionally invested. So it's was a tiring read because I was crying.

If you are up for that kind of book, I'd recommend it.





Wild by Cheryl Strayed

The Story:
Cheryl Strayed writes a memoir about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail which runs from Mexico into Canada. She took three months and hiked 1,100 (or so) miles.

Scene that freaked me out:
"There was the fact of the moon and the fact that I was sleeping out in the open on my tarp.
There was the fact that I had woken because it seemed like small cool hands were gently patting me and the fact that small cool hands were gently patting me.
And then there was the final fact of all, which was a fact more monumental than even the moon: the fact that those small cool hands were not hands, but hundreds of small cool black frogs."

Me reading this: Ah! Ah! Aaaaaahhhhhhhhh! No! Ew!

I wasn't sure I could keep reading. But I did.

The Review:
This story is set up as how Strayed found herself on the PCT, how she overcame her past and huge obstacles, and figured out who she is and who she wants to be.

She has some huge obstacles, her mother dies, she gets divorced, and she is a heroine user (she claims she was never an addict, but isn't that what all addicts say?), and a one-night stand-er. So she goes out on the PCT and learns that she is woefully unprepared. And she does learn a lot while she is hiking alone. But I was kind of disappointed by some of her actions which suggested to me that this whole being "found" wasn't really any different than being lost. For example, she is at her last stopping point, and goes into the town to collect her box of supplies. She meets a guy and goes into his camper with him and takes the chewable opium that he offers her. Then she meets another guy and spends two days sleeping with him. And I'm like, ok, if you are still doing drugs and sleeping with strangers, how has your life changed?

I thought the story of the hike was really inspiring. I loved the talk about the physical challenge, the beauty of nature, the time with her thoughts, and the people that she met.

But it felt really Beatnik to me, which since it was set in 1995... or 1998, seemed really out of place. But also I've never been able to understand the Beatnik culture. So it was a little weird.

Overall, it's a mixed review. I really enjoyed parts of it and other parts were really weird.




The Beauty Experiment by Phoebe Baker Hyde

The Story:
Phoebe Baker Hyde is living with her husband and baby daughter in Hong Kong and has an experience with a certain red dress what pushes her over the edge and leads her to decide to do an experiment and take herself out of the female beauty world. She realizes that she is inundated by all these messages that tell her if she will just buy this dress, or that lipstick, or that concealer that she will be beautiful and have the life that she imagines, and she realizes that it just isn't true. She also realizes that she has a super vicious internal Voice that is promoting all of that and making her feel really worthless, and she wonders if she can silence the Voice by not participating in the beauty/fashion world.

So she sets up some fairly intense rules for herself. She cuts her hair short, no makeup, and no shopping for new clothes for an entire year.

Then she tells this story as movements between her original experiment in 2007-2008, her "present day" 2011-2012, and results from a survey she conducted.

The Review:
I was fascinated by this book. Ok, I'm a total minimalist. I wear a tiny bit of mascara and no other makeup, I just cut all my hair off, and I go clothes shopping like twice a year. So I don't really get the buy-in to the whole makeup culture anyway. But I totally understand the message and pervasive idea that if we will just do _____, then we will be beautiful/happy/fulfilled/life will look the way we always imagined. And that I thought was one of the most important things that she discusses that she came to a new understanding of through her experiment.

I was also really interested in all the things that came out for her as she was doing her experiment. At the start, she said it was all about the beauty culture, but as she goes through, she realizes how many things she has tied to that beauty culture.

A Favorite Part:
"My search for inner beauty--or whatever I thought I meant by it--has far outlasted my experiment and seeped into every corner of my life. Although it's still easy to wish for otherness, it's better, if harder, to become the parent and partner I truly am, and to find beauty in the voice I already have."

Final Recommendation: Please go read this book, and then talk to me about it!



And finally, a book I chose not to finish:

The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani

The Review:
Super boring. I stopped at like 30%.