Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: A steampunk novel about a young Victorian girl with extraordinary powers.
Finley Jayne is working as a housemaid in a house in London when she is attacked by the son of the master of the house. Instead of submitting, a voice inside Finley encourages her to fight back. This excites the young lord, but Finley soon realizes she is fighting for more than her virtue; she is fighting for her life. But that voice inside her takes over, helps Finley win the fight and ends with the lord crumpled and bleeding against a wall. Finley escapes into the night and runs straight into Lord Griffin King. Literally, she runs into his velocycle.
Since this is a steampunk novel, Griffin uses his wrist telegraph to communicate that he's bringing Finley home to his mansion. Finley joins Griff's motley crew of associates, Sam, who's part automaton; Emily, an Irish lass who's a mechanical genius, American cowboy Jasper Finn and Griffin himself, who can command the power of the Aether.
If this sounds a bit like that terrible Sean Connery movie The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, you are not alone. In the acknowledgments, the author thanks her editor for letting her write The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen meets X-men teens. This is absolutely accurate, but did not make for an original book, even though this book is often recommended as a classic YA steampunk fiction. It has a teen heroine torn between two men, one who admires her dark side, and one who makes her aspire to be more, even as she is conscious of the difference in their status. Lots of fighting, lots of new technology, but it just felt stale to me. I wish I could have recommended it more.
Showing posts with label 2 stars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2 stars. Show all posts
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
The GQ Candidate by Keli Goff
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: A black and Jewish man runs for president.
Of course, he's handsome. Although the press calls Luke Cooper "The GQ Candidate," and it's the title of the book, it's not really about him. At first, I thought it would be about his wife Laura (yes, the cutesy-ness of 'Luke & Laura' does not escape the author), then it seemed to focus on how the friends of the candiadte would deal with his new campiagn for president.
Luke Cooper is black, but was adopted by a Jewish family long ago. So he is both black and Jewish. The Jewish part seemed thrown in by the author, since it's obvious that Luke is some sort of disengaged Christian, as he certainly didn't practice any Judaism in the book. I could tell the author hadn't really researched that plot device well. Luke's best friend is a preacher and the preacher's father also a preacher, who calls Luke "son." Luke does far more Christian worshipping than any Jewish worshipping.
Despite Luke Cooper being both black and Jewish and a presidential candidate, there is no mention of any secret service detail or any death threats. Instead, the campaign scandals are a violent drunk friend who heckles the crowd, and former Muslim girlfriend with mild terrorist ties.
I felt that this book was good, but not great, needing more polish. There were grammatical errors early on, and many plot holes. Some characters come on strong and then fade out of memory, and there were many characters to keep in the story. It ended as you would expect, but with minimal closure for most of the characters. The concept was interesting but as a book, it wasn't strong.
Summary: A black and Jewish man runs for president.
Of course, he's handsome. Although the press calls Luke Cooper "The GQ Candidate," and it's the title of the book, it's not really about him. At first, I thought it would be about his wife Laura (yes, the cutesy-ness of 'Luke & Laura' does not escape the author), then it seemed to focus on how the friends of the candiadte would deal with his new campiagn for president.
Luke Cooper is black, but was adopted by a Jewish family long ago. So he is both black and Jewish. The Jewish part seemed thrown in by the author, since it's obvious that Luke is some sort of disengaged Christian, as he certainly didn't practice any Judaism in the book. I could tell the author hadn't really researched that plot device well. Luke's best friend is a preacher and the preacher's father also a preacher, who calls Luke "son." Luke does far more Christian worshipping than any Jewish worshipping.
Despite Luke Cooper being both black and Jewish and a presidential candidate, there is no mention of any secret service detail or any death threats. Instead, the campaign scandals are a violent drunk friend who heckles the crowd, and former Muslim girlfriend with mild terrorist ties.
I felt that this book was good, but not great, needing more polish. There were grammatical errors early on, and many plot holes. Some characters come on strong and then fade out of memory, and there were many characters to keep in the story. It ended as you would expect, but with minimal closure for most of the characters. The concept was interesting but as a book, it wasn't strong.
Monday, September 5, 2011
The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: The renovation of her grandmother's house changes Willa's life and the town of Walls of Water in unexpected ways.
This book was a major disappointment to me, lacking the wonder and joy that Sarah Addison Allen's previous books have. In fact, If think her writing has actually gone downhill with each subsequent novel, though I still recommend Garden Spells to almost everyone.
The invitations go out to everyone, celebrating the renovation of the Blue Ridge Madam, the house that Willa's grandmother lived in many years ago, and the reinstatement of the Women's Club that was once such an integral part of this town. Of course, that old peach tree must come down. The grandmothers of the last two founding women, Paxton Osgood and Willa Jackson, are in the same nursing home in town. When Agatha Osgood troubles herself to visit Georgie Jackson all the way over on the other side of the nursing home, the two women, one blind and one catatonic, both know their terrible secret will be revealed. Can you guess?
By page 54, I could predict that they would find a long-buried body under the peach tree. Whose body could it be. And who murdered him? You can guess, and I foolishly read the 200 other pages of the book, just to have it confirmed that yes, Paxton's brother would end up getting together with Willa and that Paxton's friendship with Sebastian would turn into something more.
This book was predictable and cliched: a barista who can tell what people need by their drink, a magic wind that whispers, a slick con man who deserved to die. Read a different Sarah Addison Allen book or anything else.
Summary: The renovation of her grandmother's house changes Willa's life and the town of Walls of Water in unexpected ways.
This book was a major disappointment to me, lacking the wonder and joy that Sarah Addison Allen's previous books have. In fact, If think her writing has actually gone downhill with each subsequent novel, though I still recommend Garden Spells to almost everyone.
The invitations go out to everyone, celebrating the renovation of the Blue Ridge Madam, the house that Willa's grandmother lived in many years ago, and the reinstatement of the Women's Club that was once such an integral part of this town. Of course, that old peach tree must come down. The grandmothers of the last two founding women, Paxton Osgood and Willa Jackson, are in the same nursing home in town. When Agatha Osgood troubles herself to visit Georgie Jackson all the way over on the other side of the nursing home, the two women, one blind and one catatonic, both know their terrible secret will be revealed. Can you guess?
By page 54, I could predict that they would find a long-buried body under the peach tree. Whose body could it be. And who murdered him? You can guess, and I foolishly read the 200 other pages of the book, just to have it confirmed that yes, Paxton's brother would end up getting together with Willa and that Paxton's friendship with Sebastian would turn into something more.
This book was predictable and cliched: a barista who can tell what people need by their drink, a magic wind that whispers, a slick con man who deserved to die. Read a different Sarah Addison Allen book or anything else.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Don't Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life by Sandra Beasley
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: A woman's recounting of life and food allergies.
Initial thoughts after reading this book: I'm so glad we're not Catholic. Also, could my prenatal vitamins have caused my daughter's wheat allergy?
Sandra Beasley is lucky to be alive. Given the types of food she's allergic to (egg, beef, shrimp, milk (even goat's milk), soy, pine nuts, cucumbers, cantaloupe, honeydew, mango, macadamias, pistachios, cashews, swordfish and mustard) she takes many risks with her diet and constantly recounts her allergic attacks in this book. She doesn't ask what's in drinks, preferring instead to be a good sport, then vomits and spends the night huddled on the couch in a Benadryl-induced haze. Her reluctance to manage her significant food allergies annoyed me, as if she kept trying to prove how normal she was and how she's suffers, just by bravely going along.
But Beasley, along with many people with food allergies, doesn't use her epi-pen, because she doesn't want to be a freak. She also doesn't want to automatically go to the E.R. It also made me wonder if perhaps Beasley's symptoms are psychosomatic, that she enjoys drawing attention from whomever is the star of the day - a new bride, an engaged friend, a birthday girl. It's so unsympathetic, I know, but her reactions, combined with her food allergies and her reluctance to use effective medicine, makes me suspicious.
As Dr. Phil would ask, "How's that working for ya?" It works quite well, because Beasley simply does NOT take care of herself, instead preferring the coddling and special attention she gets. My daughter does have allergies, and we are VERY careful to avoid exposure, bringing instead special cupcakes to birthday parties and always providing safe, fun snacks. But Beasley will take "one bite" pretending that she's being polite, but then undergoing a reaction.
I thought the book lacked structure, hopping from subject and time period, with little cohesiveness. We are introduced to her childhood allergies, then college, years, then her current boyfriend, then a previous boyfriend, with an unclear narrative direction. It surprised me to find out that Beasley was actually a writer, since this book was not an easy read. Perhaps her food reviews (yes, we all appreciate the irony of an allergic food writer) require only a few words, and not the smooth transitions required in a book.
I did like the part on wheat allergies and the Catholic Church's stand on the gluten in the communion wafer the best. Apparently, the body of Christ can only be found in wheat wafers, and the Catholic church suggests taking only part of the wafer as gluten-free wafer, are not acceptable according to the Catholic Church. This was the part that made me glad we're not Catholic.
The other fascinating part of the book, for me, focused on Beasley's visit to a food allergy conference. She encounters charts displays, diagrams and giveaways. I wanted more discussion about the link between the increase of prenatal folic acid and allergies, or the Hygiene Hypothesis or other suggested causes of food allergies. Case studies of adult she knows, and how they manage their own food allergies with their children in the house did redeem the book slightly, but seemed thrown in at the end. I wish I could recommend this book, but the poor writing and the author's self-abuse by eating allergenic foods bothered me too much.
Summary: A woman's recounting of life and food allergies.
Initial thoughts after reading this book: I'm so glad we're not Catholic. Also, could my prenatal vitamins have caused my daughter's wheat allergy?
Sandra Beasley is lucky to be alive. Given the types of food she's allergic to (egg, beef, shrimp, milk (even goat's milk), soy, pine nuts, cucumbers, cantaloupe, honeydew, mango, macadamias, pistachios, cashews, swordfish and mustard) she takes many risks with her diet and constantly recounts her allergic attacks in this book. She doesn't ask what's in drinks, preferring instead to be a good sport, then vomits and spends the night huddled on the couch in a Benadryl-induced haze. Her reluctance to manage her significant food allergies annoyed me, as if she kept trying to prove how normal she was and how she's suffers, just by bravely going along.
But Beasley, along with many people with food allergies, doesn't use her epi-pen, because she doesn't want to be a freak. She also doesn't want to automatically go to the E.R. It also made me wonder if perhaps Beasley's symptoms are psychosomatic, that she enjoys drawing attention from whomever is the star of the day - a new bride, an engaged friend, a birthday girl. It's so unsympathetic, I know, but her reactions, combined with her food allergies and her reluctance to use effective medicine, makes me suspicious.
As Dr. Phil would ask, "How's that working for ya?" It works quite well, because Beasley simply does NOT take care of herself, instead preferring the coddling and special attention she gets. My daughter does have allergies, and we are VERY careful to avoid exposure, bringing instead special cupcakes to birthday parties and always providing safe, fun snacks. But Beasley will take "one bite" pretending that she's being polite, but then undergoing a reaction.
I thought the book lacked structure, hopping from subject and time period, with little cohesiveness. We are introduced to her childhood allergies, then college, years, then her current boyfriend, then a previous boyfriend, with an unclear narrative direction. It surprised me to find out that Beasley was actually a writer, since this book was not an easy read. Perhaps her food reviews (yes, we all appreciate the irony of an allergic food writer) require only a few words, and not the smooth transitions required in a book.
I did like the part on wheat allergies and the Catholic Church's stand on the gluten in the communion wafer the best. Apparently, the body of Christ can only be found in wheat wafers, and the Catholic church suggests taking only part of the wafer as gluten-free wafer, are not acceptable according to the Catholic Church. This was the part that made me glad we're not Catholic.
The other fascinating part of the book, for me, focused on Beasley's visit to a food allergy conference. She encounters charts displays, diagrams and giveaways. I wanted more discussion about the link between the increase of prenatal folic acid and allergies, or the Hygiene Hypothesis or other suggested causes of food allergies. Case studies of adult she knows, and how they manage their own food allergies with their children in the house did redeem the book slightly, but seemed thrown in at the end. I wish I could recommend this book, but the poor writing and the author's self-abuse by eating allergenic foods bothered me too much.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Heist Society by Ally Carter
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: To save her father, teenage Kat must steal five priceless paintings back from the most secure and guarded museum, with the help of her teenage crew.
I was so disappointed in this book. The premise is cute. Kat is born into a family of con artists and thieves. But they steal and lie it more for the challenge of pulling it off. Sixteen year old Kat eventually tires of a life on the run and pulls one last great caper, conning her way into the exclusive Colgan school in order to live a normal teenage girl life.
She is framed for a prank and expelled from school, leaving her lost and floundering. Her best friend, the ultra-rich Hale, convinces her to pull off one last heist - stealing back a collection of priceless underground paintings that were stolen from the sinister Arturo Taccone. Kat's only reason for doing this is because Taccone believes only a thief of her father's skill could carry off and plans to torture and possibly kill her father unless the paintings are returned in two weeks.
Kat assembles her motley crew of teen helpers and somehow figures out that the paintings are hidden underneath other paintings in the Henley museum. So they have to break into the world's most secure museum and steal back the paintings.
As a caper book, it was not terribly original and having main characters bee teenagers seemed an afterthought. Kat is constantly flying back and forth from the U.S. and Paris, living in Hale's house but having no supervising adult, has a strange relationship with her almost neglectful father and then when she tries to dress sexily, the male members of her crew are dumbstruck to discover that she has boobs. I expected better from the author of the Gallagher Girls Spy School series. That had humor and wit. This was like Ocean's 12
only not as funny.
Summary: To save her father, teenage Kat must steal five priceless paintings back from the most secure and guarded museum, with the help of her teenage crew.
I was so disappointed in this book. The premise is cute. Kat is born into a family of con artists and thieves. But they steal and lie it more for the challenge of pulling it off. Sixteen year old Kat eventually tires of a life on the run and pulls one last great caper, conning her way into the exclusive Colgan school in order to live a normal teenage girl life.
She is framed for a prank and expelled from school, leaving her lost and floundering. Her best friend, the ultra-rich Hale, convinces her to pull off one last heist - stealing back a collection of priceless underground paintings that were stolen from the sinister Arturo Taccone. Kat's only reason for doing this is because Taccone believes only a thief of her father's skill could carry off and plans to torture and possibly kill her father unless the paintings are returned in two weeks.
Kat assembles her motley crew of teen helpers and somehow figures out that the paintings are hidden underneath other paintings in the Henley museum. So they have to break into the world's most secure museum and steal back the paintings.
As a caper book, it was not terribly original and having main characters bee teenagers seemed an afterthought. Kat is constantly flying back and forth from the U.S. and Paris, living in Hale's house but having no supervising adult, has a strange relationship with her almost neglectful father and then when she tries to dress sexily, the male members of her crew are dumbstruck to discover that she has boobs. I expected better from the author of the Gallagher Girls Spy School series. That had humor and wit. This was like Ocean's 12
only not as funny.Saturday, July 23, 2011
The Mistress's Revenge by Tamar Cohen
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: A woman chronicles her affair, post-break-up, in a journal.
Let's start with the fact that I think affairs are tacky and lacking in integrity. Why should the mistress get revenge? Why not the wife?
Granted, Clive is a slick, manipulative bastard, but Sally is a mental case. After their break-up, Sally is so distraught, not eating, not sleeping, and totally neglecting her kids that she see a therapist who thinks that journaling her feelings will be the best way to get over Clive.
The entire book is written in journal form, but like books written as letters, they are inherently fake to me, as no letter and journals ever provide so much back information in real life.
Stylistically, this book's format drove me crazy. And that's before we even get to the story.
We're never quite sure why exactly Clive has ended their five year affair. Sally is not married but is partnered with Daniel and they have two children together. Clive is married to Susan and they have two older children as well.
And Clive breaks off the affair. This devastates Sally and Sally cannot get over it. She sends e-mails to Clive, sends him texts, "Friends" both Susan and Clive's daughter on Facebook and often eats at the restaurant where Clive's son works as a waiter. Sally crashes a vow renewal party that Clive and Susan hold, and Clive and Sally meet to discuss issues, and end up having sex. Sally is convinced that they are back together. When she realizes that their make-up sex was actually break-up sex, Sally gets worse.
Meanwhile, Sally's kids are struggling in school and hating her. Someone has hacked in Sally's email accounts and is sending messages from her, which is losing her all her freelance writing work. The bills are piling up unopened and the house is a pit. Sally is losing weight, freaking out in grocery stores and is convinced that someone is trying to kill her. But actually, Sally is right about that, as she is harassed constantly. Her kids are frightened but Sally is so focused on Clive that she can't think of anything else.
I won't give away the very strange ending but there is some closure in the book. However, many things bothered me:
Summary: A woman chronicles her affair, post-break-up, in a journal.
Let's start with the fact that I think affairs are tacky and lacking in integrity. Why should the mistress get revenge? Why not the wife?
Granted, Clive is a slick, manipulative bastard, but Sally is a mental case. After their break-up, Sally is so distraught, not eating, not sleeping, and totally neglecting her kids that she see a therapist who thinks that journaling her feelings will be the best way to get over Clive.
The entire book is written in journal form, but like books written as letters, they are inherently fake to me, as no letter and journals ever provide so much back information in real life.
"Do you remember, that was the very first thing you said to me? We'll laugh about it one day, of course, but still it took me aback. I hadn't even properly sat down, was still fishing around in my bag so I could go and buy a drink."Clive will never read this, but even if he does, there is no need to ask if he remembers. Her journal is her letter to Clive since he has cut off all contact. No e-mails, no texts, no phone calls.
Stylistically, this book's format drove me crazy. And that's before we even get to the story.
We're never quite sure why exactly Clive has ended their five year affair. Sally is not married but is partnered with Daniel and they have two children together. Clive is married to Susan and they have two older children as well.
And Clive breaks off the affair. This devastates Sally and Sally cannot get over it. She sends e-mails to Clive, sends him texts, "Friends" both Susan and Clive's daughter on Facebook and often eats at the restaurant where Clive's son works as a waiter. Sally crashes a vow renewal party that Clive and Susan hold, and Clive and Sally meet to discuss issues, and end up having sex. Sally is convinced that they are back together. When she realizes that their make-up sex was actually break-up sex, Sally gets worse.
Meanwhile, Sally's kids are struggling in school and hating her. Someone has hacked in Sally's email accounts and is sending messages from her, which is losing her all her freelance writing work. The bills are piling up unopened and the house is a pit. Sally is losing weight, freaking out in grocery stores and is convinced that someone is trying to kill her. But actually, Sally is right about that, as she is harassed constantly. Her kids are frightened but Sally is so focused on Clive that she can't think of anything else.
I won't give away the very strange ending but there is some closure in the book. However, many things bothered me:
- What is it that makes Clive so appealing? Sally mentions his bad back and his weight problem and he seems just creepy to me. If yes, he is as creepy as I think he is, how (and why) did Sally fall for that?
- How did Sally and Clive not get caught in their affair by now?
- What was Daniel, Sally's partner, doing all day every day? He only comes home to scold Sally, it seems.
- How could people NOT see that Sally is a mess? The house is filthy, the kids don't have meals, she's losing weight, she looks sick. How could people NOT realize something is going on here?
- Why does Susan stay with Clive? This was an odd relationship, but granted we only have Sally's perspective, or how she interprets both Clive and Susan's remarks.
- Do we always feel bad for the dumpee, even when the relationship is wrong?
- Why did Clive decide to break up with Sally? Was it an ultimatum from Susan?
Monday, July 11, 2011
Self-Made Man: One Woman's Journey into Manhood and Back Again by Norah Vincent
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: A woman goes undercover disguised as a man and does her best to infiltrate male society.
Well, of course, if you're gonna live like a man for over a year, totally immersing yourself in male culture, acting, working and dating like a man, it helps if you're a lesbian.
I just thought the concept was cool, but didn't think too hard about the details until the author dedicated the book to her wife, Lisa. Gulp! Oh, yeah, that makes more sense. I'm pretty straight, and might be hesitant about intercourse with a woman while having her believe I was a man.
I'm not sure exactly what inspired writer Norah Vincent to decide to live as Ned for a year, except for the fact that she thought it would make a great book. And it is a good book, just not a great one.
Ned joins a bowling team and explores the tentative rules of male friendship. Her friendship with Jim and the encouragement of Ned to succeed at bowling so the men have the pleasure of beating a skilled players was wonderful. The chapter on strip clubs disturbed me in a sad way and makes me uncomfortable. The dating part got a little icky, but seemed to prove Vincent's point that women are really looking for more of an emotional connection than "what goes where" sex games. I forced myself to continue this book when Ned joins a monastery and worked for Red Bull selling entertainment books.
The freedom that Norah has to speak her mind as a woman is not available to Ned. Ned is instead trapped under the burden and weight of the expectations of him. The most tender part of the book is when Ned attends a men's retreat. The men there draw pictures of their heroes and it's painful to read about everything that's expected of men. In nearly every chapter in the book, Norah feels bad for Ned because Ned didn't grow up knowing all the unspoken male rules of behavior and the restrictive guidelines of behavior. I was disappointed because I felt there was nothing new added to the ongoing conversation about how men and women are different or how to bridge those gaps.
Summary: A woman goes undercover disguised as a man and does her best to infiltrate male society.
Well, of course, if you're gonna live like a man for over a year, totally immersing yourself in male culture, acting, working and dating like a man, it helps if you're a lesbian.
I just thought the concept was cool, but didn't think too hard about the details until the author dedicated the book to her wife, Lisa. Gulp! Oh, yeah, that makes more sense. I'm pretty straight, and might be hesitant about intercourse with a woman while having her believe I was a man.
I'm not sure exactly what inspired writer Norah Vincent to decide to live as Ned for a year, except for the fact that she thought it would make a great book. And it is a good book, just not a great one.
Ned joins a bowling team and explores the tentative rules of male friendship. Her friendship with Jim and the encouragement of Ned to succeed at bowling so the men have the pleasure of beating a skilled players was wonderful. The chapter on strip clubs disturbed me in a sad way and makes me uncomfortable. The dating part got a little icky, but seemed to prove Vincent's point that women are really looking for more of an emotional connection than "what goes where" sex games. I forced myself to continue this book when Ned joins a monastery and worked for Red Bull selling entertainment books.
The freedom that Norah has to speak her mind as a woman is not available to Ned. Ned is instead trapped under the burden and weight of the expectations of him. The most tender part of the book is when Ned attends a men's retreat. The men there draw pictures of their heroes and it's painful to read about everything that's expected of men. In nearly every chapter in the book, Norah feels bad for Ned because Ned didn't grow up knowing all the unspoken male rules of behavior and the restrictive guidelines of behavior. I was disappointed because I felt there was nothing new added to the ongoing conversation about how men and women are different or how to bridge those gaps.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
I Know I Am, But What Are You? by Samantha Bee
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: A memoir of her childhood from comic Samantha Bee.
Canada is much wilder than I ever imagined. Samantha Bee's memoir as a child growing up in Canada is full of escapades that make me cringe, both as a mother, and as someone who thought Canada was normal but boring. Drug use, severely underage drinking, late night concerts. If it wasn't so funny, I would be horrified.
As a memoir, it felt more like I Was Told There'd Be Cake
by Sloane Crosley - a collection of narratives, rather than a linear story of childhood. That's not to say it was bad, just that it was not quite a memoir.
Parts are very funny and certain chapters just didn't work for me at all.
Summary: A memoir of her childhood from comic Samantha Bee.
Canada is much wilder than I ever imagined. Samantha Bee's memoir as a child growing up in Canada is full of escapades that make me cringe, both as a mother, and as someone who thought Canada was normal but boring. Drug use, severely underage drinking, late night concerts. If it wasn't so funny, I would be horrified.
As a memoir, it felt more like I Was Told There'd Be Cake
by Sloane Crosley - a collection of narratives, rather than a linear story of childhood. That's not to say it was bad, just that it was not quite a memoir.Parts are very funny and certain chapters just didn't work for me at all.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: A teenager is haunted by the ghost of her former best friend.
If you liked Laurie Halse Anderson's Wintergirls
, you'll likely enjoy this book simply because the basic plotlines are so similar.
A teenage girl suffers the loss of her best friend, is haunted by the ghost of that best friend, and then starts spiraling into self-destruction. In this book, Vera and Charlie have been life-long friends. But Vera never mentions Charlie's obvious abusive home life ever to him, even though they are next door neighbors. Vera has always had a crush on Charlie and fantasized about their life together but it's obvious to us readers that Charlie will be caught in the endless cycle of abuse and poverty.
The book opens the day of Charlie's funeral. Vera is the only one who can see the ghost of Charlie smirking at her. In fact, Charlie is the only one smiling during the funeral since everyone believes Charlie is responsible for setting the animal clinic on fire and then dying of alcohol poisoning afterwards. Charlie - or his ghost - makes Vera listen to the songs he likes on the radio, they appear in multitudes to Vera but don't say anything.
Despite the fact that Vera's dad Ken is an alcoholic and that Charlie died of an alcohol overdose, Vera starts drinking herself. The fact that Vera is a pizza delivery driver with a drinking problem seems to add to the shock we are supposed to feel. The title is basically Vera's tactic to get through high school - Please ignore Vera Dietz. If she can get through high school, she will be happy, she thinks. It's also Ken Dietz's philosophy - Ignore it and it will bother you less. This applies to everything in his life - from his wife and Vera's mother leaving them, to his neighbor beating his wife and Charlie almost every night, to Vera's blossoming womanhood and sexuality, to the hopelessness of his life.
Style-wise, I dreaded each chapter. There are multiple narrators, and each chapter might be a different time period narrated by a different character - either Vera, Charlie or Vera's dad Ken. Oh and sometimes, the freaking pagoda that watches over the town might narrate a chapter. Wha?
We evetually find out why Vera and Charlie stopped being friends, and I came to realize that Vera had idolized Charlie far beyond what he deserved and for much longer. There's also unspoken sexual abuse that Charlie experiences, but somehow everything is neatly tied up in a bow, and gets solved and resolved because Vera is so self-possessed and mature for her age.
In addition to this being too tidy of a book, with the annoying choice of different narrators (really, the pagoda POV added nothing to the plot), it was just sad and miserable, with nothing uplifting or heartwarming or even funny. I like television shows with teen angst, and this book had it in spades, but I forced myself to finish it, and in the end, remained unsatisfied.
Summary: A teenager is haunted by the ghost of her former best friend.
If you liked Laurie Halse Anderson's Wintergirls
, you'll likely enjoy this book simply because the basic plotlines are so similar.A teenage girl suffers the loss of her best friend, is haunted by the ghost of that best friend, and then starts spiraling into self-destruction. In this book, Vera and Charlie have been life-long friends. But Vera never mentions Charlie's obvious abusive home life ever to him, even though they are next door neighbors. Vera has always had a crush on Charlie and fantasized about their life together but it's obvious to us readers that Charlie will be caught in the endless cycle of abuse and poverty.
The book opens the day of Charlie's funeral. Vera is the only one who can see the ghost of Charlie smirking at her. In fact, Charlie is the only one smiling during the funeral since everyone believes Charlie is responsible for setting the animal clinic on fire and then dying of alcohol poisoning afterwards. Charlie - or his ghost - makes Vera listen to the songs he likes on the radio, they appear in multitudes to Vera but don't say anything.
Despite the fact that Vera's dad Ken is an alcoholic and that Charlie died of an alcohol overdose, Vera starts drinking herself. The fact that Vera is a pizza delivery driver with a drinking problem seems to add to the shock we are supposed to feel. The title is basically Vera's tactic to get through high school - Please ignore Vera Dietz. If she can get through high school, she will be happy, she thinks. It's also Ken Dietz's philosophy - Ignore it and it will bother you less. This applies to everything in his life - from his wife and Vera's mother leaving them, to his neighbor beating his wife and Charlie almost every night, to Vera's blossoming womanhood and sexuality, to the hopelessness of his life.
Style-wise, I dreaded each chapter. There are multiple narrators, and each chapter might be a different time period narrated by a different character - either Vera, Charlie or Vera's dad Ken. Oh and sometimes, the freaking pagoda that watches over the town might narrate a chapter. Wha?
We evetually find out why Vera and Charlie stopped being friends, and I came to realize that Vera had idolized Charlie far beyond what he deserved and for much longer. There's also unspoken sexual abuse that Charlie experiences, but somehow everything is neatly tied up in a bow, and gets solved and resolved because Vera is so self-possessed and mature for her age.
In addition to this being too tidy of a book, with the annoying choice of different narrators (really, the pagoda POV added nothing to the plot), it was just sad and miserable, with nothing uplifting or heartwarming or even funny. I like television shows with teen angst, and this book had it in spades, but I forced myself to finish it, and in the end, remained unsatisfied.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Timeless by Alexandra Monir
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: After her mother's death, Michele is sent to live with her wealthy grandparents and can travel back in time through her family's antiques and memorabilia.
I wish I liked this book better. It wasn't bad, but I just couldn't find myself connecting to the characters or caring that much about the story.
Michele Windsor and her mother have lived in California her whole life, estranged from her mother's wealthy relatives. When Michele's mother is killed in a car accident, Michele is sent to live with her elderly and quite stuffy grandparents. The grandparents offered Michele's father a bribe to leave Michele's mother and while he didn't take it, he did disappear one day, just before Marian (Michele's mother) discovered she was pregnant with Michele.
So Michele has grown up poor and without knowing her Windsor relatives when she's transplanted to New York. She is still grieving her mother and having trouble fitting in at her exclusive private school in Manhattan. One day, she opens an old diary and is transported one hundred years exactly to the past. Only certain people are able to see Michele, while she is invisible to people around them. She visits her relative Clara, and meets Philip Walker, son of the rival Walker family, competitors with the Windsors both now and back then. She and Philip develop a romance, even though Michele keeps popping back and forth between 1910 and 2010 Manhattan. Perhaps my biggest complaint about the book is that the time travel seemed so random, so illogical. What exactly brings her back to the past and why does she have no control over when she returns to the future? How does time pass in the past and in the future?
Philip breaks off his engagement to Michele's ancestor Violet because of his great love for Michele. Philip is a composer while Michele is a songwriter, and together they create two songs that become signature songs of Michele's famous ancestor and great grandmother Lily Windsor. It's got the typical time travel dilemmas and young adult romance, but I just couldn't get into it.
The writing was okay for a debut novel, but I won't continue this series because the time travel seemed convenient for the plot, but not logical. It also begged credibility for Michele - a sixteen year old modern girl - to swear lifelong fidelity to Philip, but of course, I think this sentiment was meant to capitalize on those who swoon over the Twilight romance.
Summary: After her mother's death, Michele is sent to live with her wealthy grandparents and can travel back in time through her family's antiques and memorabilia.
I wish I liked this book better. It wasn't bad, but I just couldn't find myself connecting to the characters or caring that much about the story.
Michele Windsor and her mother have lived in California her whole life, estranged from her mother's wealthy relatives. When Michele's mother is killed in a car accident, Michele is sent to live with her elderly and quite stuffy grandparents. The grandparents offered Michele's father a bribe to leave Michele's mother and while he didn't take it, he did disappear one day, just before Marian (Michele's mother) discovered she was pregnant with Michele.
So Michele has grown up poor and without knowing her Windsor relatives when she's transplanted to New York. She is still grieving her mother and having trouble fitting in at her exclusive private school in Manhattan. One day, she opens an old diary and is transported one hundred years exactly to the past. Only certain people are able to see Michele, while she is invisible to people around them. She visits her relative Clara, and meets Philip Walker, son of the rival Walker family, competitors with the Windsors both now and back then. She and Philip develop a romance, even though Michele keeps popping back and forth between 1910 and 2010 Manhattan. Perhaps my biggest complaint about the book is that the time travel seemed so random, so illogical. What exactly brings her back to the past and why does she have no control over when she returns to the future? How does time pass in the past and in the future?
Philip breaks off his engagement to Michele's ancestor Violet because of his great love for Michele. Philip is a composer while Michele is a songwriter, and together they create two songs that become signature songs of Michele's famous ancestor and great grandmother Lily Windsor. It's got the typical time travel dilemmas and young adult romance, but I just couldn't get into it.
The writing was okay for a debut novel, but I won't continue this series because the time travel seemed convenient for the plot, but not logical. It also begged credibility for Michele - a sixteen year old modern girl - to swear lifelong fidelity to Philip, but of course, I think this sentiment was meant to capitalize on those who swoon over the Twilight romance.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Falling Apart in One Piece: One Optimist's Journey Through the Hell of Divorce by Stacy Morrison
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: A memoir of one woman's divorce.
It's my fault. I love memoirs, and a friend is going through an unpleasant divorce right now. So when I got an opportunity to read a memoir on divorce, I was excited. (IF one can be excited about divorce.)
But this is not an optimistic book, despite the fact that the author calls herself an optimist. Out of the blue, her husband leaves her. There's no affair or a huge blow-up fight; he "just can't do this anymore." I think Morrison was such an overachiever that it wasn't so much the loss of her husband she was mourning, but the failure of her marriage. It's still incredibly sad, but the author comes to realize how little she and her husband had in common, just assuming that he would adopt her dreams and her plans for their life. That also made Morrison's frequent break-downs surprising. She seemed so sad, but for the wrong reasons, I thought.
It's not a book about being optimistic in the face of a divorce, devastating or not. It's more a book on self-reliance, as the author keeps her pain in. Hidden from her coworkers at her new job, hidden from her young son, hidden from her family (mostly), she learns that she can get through anything through prayer, exercise and a project. She also has a lot of wonderful people pass through her life, who give her what she needs at the moment.
Today Morrison and her husband have a cordial, friendly relationship and Morrison is still editor at Redbook magazine. But I'm not ready to read another book by her. I think I'm also done with reading books about kidnapping and divorce for a while. Whew!
Summary: A memoir of one woman's divorce.
It's my fault. I love memoirs, and a friend is going through an unpleasant divorce right now. So when I got an opportunity to read a memoir on divorce, I was excited. (IF one can be excited about divorce.)
But this is not an optimistic book, despite the fact that the author calls herself an optimist. Out of the blue, her husband leaves her. There's no affair or a huge blow-up fight; he "just can't do this anymore." I think Morrison was such an overachiever that it wasn't so much the loss of her husband she was mourning, but the failure of her marriage. It's still incredibly sad, but the author comes to realize how little she and her husband had in common, just assuming that he would adopt her dreams and her plans for their life. That also made Morrison's frequent break-downs surprising. She seemed so sad, but for the wrong reasons, I thought.
It's not a book about being optimistic in the face of a divorce, devastating or not. It's more a book on self-reliance, as the author keeps her pain in. Hidden from her coworkers at her new job, hidden from her young son, hidden from her family (mostly), she learns that she can get through anything through prayer, exercise and a project. She also has a lot of wonderful people pass through her life, who give her what she needs at the moment.
"I didn't find answers. Instead what I found was me."Or as Dory says in Finding Nemo, "Keep swimming. Just keep swimming." Good advice for all of us, actually.
Today Morrison and her husband have a cordial, friendly relationship and Morrison is still editor at Redbook magazine. But I'm not ready to read another book by her. I think I'm also done with reading books about kidnapping and divorce for a while. Whew!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Carrots and Sticks: Unlock the Power of Incentives to Get Things Done by Ian Ayres
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: Why Americans can only delay gratification for so long, and the benefits of the author's website - StickK.com.
The best way to reach your goal is to risk a significant amount of money that will go to a cause or program that disgusts or offends you. There's no need for a 200 page book, when the book can be distilled to this concept.
And that's where the author's website http://www.stickk.com/ comes into play. Post your goal, put up some money, assign a referee, and decide who gets your money if you don't meet your goal every week or at the end of your assigned time period.
While I appreciate the author's enthusiastic attempt to promote his website - admittedly one I had never heard of before - it got tiresome. The entire book could have been one interesting article in The Washington Post, which I would read and re-post on Facebook. But as a book? Ehh.
My favorite part of the book concerned incentives for employees to remain tobacco free. Apparently smoking is one of the most significant causes of dental decay. In order to reduce the dental bills, certain companies actually administered urine tests to penalize employees who smoked. There is so much social pressure to conform to employees' bad habits that companies have to incentivize good behavior rather than punish bad behavior. I hope companies move towards this trend, but as someone who's married to a labor and employment attorney, I foresee a law suit or two about this issue in the future.
The early parts of the book deal with the psychology of delayed gratification and reasonable goal setting. You have to put up enough money that the failure actually hurts more than success feels great.
Mildly interesting book, once you get past the constant self-promotion.
Summary: Why Americans can only delay gratification for so long, and the benefits of the author's website - StickK.com.
The best way to reach your goal is to risk a significant amount of money that will go to a cause or program that disgusts or offends you. There's no need for a 200 page book, when the book can be distilled to this concept.
And that's where the author's website http://www.stickk.com/ comes into play. Post your goal, put up some money, assign a referee, and decide who gets your money if you don't meet your goal every week or at the end of your assigned time period.
While I appreciate the author's enthusiastic attempt to promote his website - admittedly one I had never heard of before - it got tiresome. The entire book could have been one interesting article in The Washington Post, which I would read and re-post on Facebook. But as a book? Ehh.
My favorite part of the book concerned incentives for employees to remain tobacco free. Apparently smoking is one of the most significant causes of dental decay. In order to reduce the dental bills, certain companies actually administered urine tests to penalize employees who smoked. There is so much social pressure to conform to employees' bad habits that companies have to incentivize good behavior rather than punish bad behavior. I hope companies move towards this trend, but as someone who's married to a labor and employment attorney, I foresee a law suit or two about this issue in the future.
The early parts of the book deal with the psychology of delayed gratification and reasonable goal setting. You have to put up enough money that the failure actually hurts more than success feels great.
Mildly interesting book, once you get past the constant self-promotion.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Room by Emma Donoghue
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: A boy narrates his life first imprisoned in a room with his mother and then their life on the outside.
I’m giving up on so-called “popular” books. The ones that seem to brush through book clubs and best seller lists seem to have an element of violence and dysfunction that does not bring me pleasure when I read. The exception was The Help
. I reluctantly read this book for my book club and shuddered with disgust and disdain for nearly the whole book.
Room was inspired by the true story of Elisabeth Fritzl, an Austrian woman who had been imprisoned in her father’s basement for twenty-four years, during which time he repeatedly assaulted and raped her. She eventually bore him seven children (one miscarriage). Three of her children had been imprisoned with their mother for the whole of their lives until rescue, at ages 19, 17 and 4. Room also references the cases of Jaycee Lee Dugard in California and Natascha Kampusch and Sabine Dardenne in Europe. I don't enjoy rape stories and I knew this was an essential element of the plot. So I had this bias going in.
Room is narrated wholly by a young boy, Jack, who has just celebrated his fifth birthday. Ma and Jack live in an 11x11 room. It’s actually a garden shed fitted with soundproofed cork, lead-lined walls, and a coded metal security door. For the past seven years, Ma has been imprisoned in this room and raped repeatedly by her captor, a man Jack calls Old Nick. When Old Nick arrives every night or two, Jack is stored safely (?) in Wardrobe and counts the repetitive noises from the bedsprings, sometimes in groups of two or five. I find it odd that a boy as precocious as Jack, and names his Penis, still doesn't understand what is happening to his mother. All Jack really knows about Old Nick is that he
Two years into her abduction, Ma gave birth to Jack. We eventually find out later that there was a baby before Jack, who died upon delivery. Ma, we learn, was abducted one night at age nineteen on her way to the school library.
Life is regimented in Room. Ma and Jack exercise, eat balanced meals, sleep, bathe and do chores. They also Scream, their form of therapy. Ma insists that they keep to strict mealtimes, perhaps to give some structure to their days. This is interesting. They are not really paying attention to their hunger cues, but instead eat on the clock, a form of imprisonment that seemed odd to me. If someone else controls your life, I would think you would want more freedom, not less. This was not the only jarring note of the book.
Jack refers all the objects in Room as though they are real, living personalities. There’s Wardrobe, a Rug, Plant and Meltedy Spoon. It wasn’t cute, but tiresome. It's also unclear whether Ma has decided this or Jack.
What I found most charming was that Jack is still nursing at age 5. In fact, when I first read the line "I had some." I thought there was a typo. Some is Jack's word for breastmilk. (Why isn't Some capitalized, since it's obviously so important?) Jack, like my youngest daughter Vivien, prefers the left side. (Vivien is not still nursing, but that was my choice, not hers.)
They do have a TV, which causes a real problem when Ma tries to tell Jack that Outside is real. Yet Ma's protection of Jack doesn't extend to the television. She limits his TV watching in quantity only, certainly not quality. Jack can sing along to Eminem and Woody Guthrie music videos. He knows the latest dances. He listens to people speak on TV. His own mother, the only person with whom he talks, speaks normally. He uses words like “rappelling” and “hippopotami” and then randomly reverts to baby talk.
Some people say Donoghue amazingly captures the narrative voice of a young child. Puh-leeze. I have a 5-year-old son who’s very verbal, very physical and very affectionate, much like Jack. I also have an almost-five year old girl (adopted) who had very little stimulation or affection for the first sixteen months of her life. Jack doesn’t talk like either of them. Even if the writing was realistic, any book either of my children wrote would be ridiculous and mind-numbingly boring, although as their mother, I'd adore it.
The story of Room is split into two parts, the first part occurring in Room and the second part occurring Outside after Ma and Jack escape. It's unclear to me at least, exactly what prompts Ma's sudden urge to escape now. Is it that her rotting tooth is incredibly painful? Is it that Jack might come to see Old Nick as something good, who brings lollipops, instead of something unreal? Is it because Old Nick has lost his job and might leave them to die alone in Room when power is cut off?
The escape is ridiculous. For a child who doesn’t even believe the outside world exists, to do what Jack did is beggars belief. It seemed illogical to me that Old Nick would fall for the final escape plan - why would he not check the rug, and how could he be so easily convinced to take the "corpse" away so quickly?
C'mon, Emma! (Since Ma is never referred to by her real name, I named her Emma, after the author.) Why not escape by figuring out the combination on the lock? With seven years in captivity, Ma could have figured out some sort of mathematical system of trying thousands of combinations. Or maybe save up dust (or something sticky) and brush the dust on the buttons to see which were touched. Or memorize the sounds of the buttons. It seemed unrealistic that she would have only come up with the "corpse" plan at the last minute. With all those years, a last minute desperate plan should have had more thought.
Ma's reaction when she's finally Outside also seems odd. She rejects everything about Room and seems to have no problems adjusting to her new life, while Jack struggles with depth perception, sunlight and the new sensations. Ma also doesn't seem as clingy once Outside, which troubles Jack deeply.
I felt like this book capitalizes on our secret glee and horror in the many real life cases that have made the news recently. And having it from a five-year-old’s perspective exclusively felt gimmicky. This will be a polarizing book – people will probably either love it or hate it.
Summary: A boy narrates his life first imprisoned in a room with his mother and then their life on the outside.
I’m giving up on so-called “popular” books. The ones that seem to brush through book clubs and best seller lists seem to have an element of violence and dysfunction that does not bring me pleasure when I read. The exception was The Help
. I reluctantly read this book for my book club and shuddered with disgust and disdain for nearly the whole book. Room was inspired by the true story of Elisabeth Fritzl, an Austrian woman who had been imprisoned in her father’s basement for twenty-four years, during which time he repeatedly assaulted and raped her. She eventually bore him seven children (one miscarriage). Three of her children had been imprisoned with their mother for the whole of their lives until rescue, at ages 19, 17 and 4. Room also references the cases of Jaycee Lee Dugard in California and Natascha Kampusch and Sabine Dardenne in Europe. I don't enjoy rape stories and I knew this was an essential element of the plot. So I had this bias going in.
Room is narrated wholly by a young boy, Jack, who has just celebrated his fifth birthday. Ma and Jack live in an 11x11 room. It’s actually a garden shed fitted with soundproofed cork, lead-lined walls, and a coded metal security door. For the past seven years, Ma has been imprisoned in this room and raped repeatedly by her captor, a man Jack calls Old Nick. When Old Nick arrives every night or two, Jack is stored safely (?) in Wardrobe and counts the repetitive noises from the bedsprings, sometimes in groups of two or five. I find it odd that a boy as precocious as Jack, and names his Penis, still doesn't understand what is happening to his mother. All Jack really knows about Old Nick is that he
brings groceries and Sundaytreat and disappears the trash, but he's not human like us. He only happens in the night, like bats.... I think Ma doesn't like to talk about him in case he gets realer.The secrecy about the rape and Old Nick's brutality is supposed to be a testament to how protective his mother is - that she shelters him from life and its cruelty - but instead becomes another unresolved issue in the book.
Two years into her abduction, Ma gave birth to Jack. We eventually find out later that there was a baby before Jack, who died upon delivery. Ma, we learn, was abducted one night at age nineteen on her way to the school library.
Life is regimented in Room. Ma and Jack exercise, eat balanced meals, sleep, bathe and do chores. They also Scream, their form of therapy. Ma insists that they keep to strict mealtimes, perhaps to give some structure to their days. This is interesting. They are not really paying attention to their hunger cues, but instead eat on the clock, a form of imprisonment that seemed odd to me. If someone else controls your life, I would think you would want more freedom, not less. This was not the only jarring note of the book.
Jack refers all the objects in Room as though they are real, living personalities. There’s Wardrobe, a Rug, Plant and Meltedy Spoon. It wasn’t cute, but tiresome. It's also unclear whether Ma has decided this or Jack.
We have thousands of things to do every morning, like give Plant a cup of water in Sink for no spilling, then put her back on her saucer on Dresser.... I count one hundred cereal and waterfall the milk that’s nearly the same white as the bowls, no splashing, we thank Baby Jesus.Why some things were capitalized with personalities and others weren't is never explained. Sink gets a name, but saucer doesn't? C'mon.
What I found most charming was that Jack is still nursing at age 5. In fact, when I first read the line "I had some." I thought there was a typo. Some is Jack's word for breastmilk. (Why isn't Some capitalized, since it's obviously so important?) Jack, like my youngest daughter Vivien, prefers the left side. (Vivien is not still nursing, but that was my choice, not hers.)
They do have a TV, which causes a real problem when Ma tries to tell Jack that Outside is real. Yet Ma's protection of Jack doesn't extend to the television. She limits his TV watching in quantity only, certainly not quality. Jack can sing along to Eminem and Woody Guthrie music videos. He knows the latest dances. He listens to people speak on TV. His own mother, the only person with whom he talks, speaks normally. He uses words like “rappelling” and “hippopotami” and then randomly reverts to baby talk.
Some people say Donoghue amazingly captures the narrative voice of a young child. Puh-leeze. I have a 5-year-old son who’s very verbal, very physical and very affectionate, much like Jack. I also have an almost-five year old girl (adopted) who had very little stimulation or affection for the first sixteen months of her life. Jack doesn’t talk like either of them. Even if the writing was realistic, any book either of my children wrote would be ridiculous and mind-numbingly boring, although as their mother, I'd adore it.
The story of Room is split into two parts, the first part occurring in Room and the second part occurring Outside after Ma and Jack escape. It's unclear to me at least, exactly what prompts Ma's sudden urge to escape now. Is it that her rotting tooth is incredibly painful? Is it that Jack might come to see Old Nick as something good, who brings lollipops, instead of something unreal? Is it because Old Nick has lost his job and might leave them to die alone in Room when power is cut off?
The escape is ridiculous. For a child who doesn’t even believe the outside world exists, to do what Jack did is beggars belief. It seemed illogical to me that Old Nick would fall for the final escape plan - why would he not check the rug, and how could he be so easily convinced to take the "corpse" away so quickly?
C'mon, Emma! (Since Ma is never referred to by her real name, I named her Emma, after the author.) Why not escape by figuring out the combination on the lock? With seven years in captivity, Ma could have figured out some sort of mathematical system of trying thousands of combinations. Or maybe save up dust (or something sticky) and brush the dust on the buttons to see which were touched. Or memorize the sounds of the buttons. It seemed unrealistic that she would have only come up with the "corpse" plan at the last minute. With all those years, a last minute desperate plan should have had more thought.
Ma's reaction when she's finally Outside also seems odd. She rejects everything about Room and seems to have no problems adjusting to her new life, while Jack struggles with depth perception, sunlight and the new sensations. Ma also doesn't seem as clingy once Outside, which troubles Jack deeply.
I felt like this book capitalizes on our secret glee and horror in the many real life cases that have made the news recently. And having it from a five-year-old’s perspective exclusively felt gimmicky. This will be a polarizing book – people will probably either love it or hate it.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Love Me Back to Life by Missy Horsfall and Susan Stevens
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: A woman painfully struggles to keep her life and marriage together.
Have you seen the movie Fireproof
based on the book The Love Dare
? It's an overacted movie starring born-again Christian Kirk Cameron. The movie was painful to watch - as if the directors had commanded, "Get mad now!" or "Pretend that you're attracted to your co-worker."
This book is one cliched crisis after another. Mallory is a burnt-out mother with a shopping addiction and massive credit card debt she's trying to hide from her husband. Her husband Jake is off pursuing his photography career and only seems to want sex with Mallory without the hard work of parenting his children. Of course, it doesn't help their sex life that Mallory flinches when Jake touches her.
And Jake and Mallory hardly spend any time together. It's especially telling that Jake won't go to church with Mallory, since God is such a big part of Mallory's life. When Jake gets offered a job away from home, again, Mallory shouts at Jake to leave, instead of sobbing in the kitchen and telling him how close she is to the breaking point. Jake walks out.
Then one day, Mallory's prayer group is asked to pray for a young girl who was raped. Mallory has a psychotic break and trembles in the kitchen, only to be comforted by her friend and her pastor's wife. I was relieved when Yvonne, the pastor wife, suggested a therapist, since child sexual abuse is more than she and her husband are prepared to council. Mallory is so fragile and I worried she'd drive her minivan into oncoming traffic just to stop the pain.
Jennifer, Mallory's therapist, seems comforting and supportive and helps Mallory remember that Mallory was raped as a child. We then uncover that Mallory was raped by her older brother Eric as a child. Further shocking us is that Mallory told her father about the rape and he did nothing to stop it.
Once Jake walked out, he had a crisis of his own and then literally has a "come to Jesus" moment. Mallory and Jake are reunited with the help of their pastor, and Mallory stopped shopping. Crises solved!
This book is what would happen if two pastors' wives wrote a book - and they did. Easy to solve ending, help from a pastor, stereotypical problems (busy parenting, busy husband, missed opportunities for sex, etc). I know the authors wanted Mallory to have the kind of problems that people could relate to, but I just wasn't impressed. It started off as a story of a woman experiencing great personal pain, but ended up as a lecture.
Summary: A woman painfully struggles to keep her life and marriage together.
Have you seen the movie Fireproof
based on the book The Love Dare? It's an overacted movie starring born-again Christian Kirk Cameron. The movie was painful to watch - as if the directors had commanded, "Get mad now!" or "Pretend that you're attracted to your co-worker."This book is one cliched crisis after another. Mallory is a burnt-out mother with a shopping addiction and massive credit card debt she's trying to hide from her husband. Her husband Jake is off pursuing his photography career and only seems to want sex with Mallory without the hard work of parenting his children. Of course, it doesn't help their sex life that Mallory flinches when Jake touches her.
And Jake and Mallory hardly spend any time together. It's especially telling that Jake won't go to church with Mallory, since God is such a big part of Mallory's life. When Jake gets offered a job away from home, again, Mallory shouts at Jake to leave, instead of sobbing in the kitchen and telling him how close she is to the breaking point. Jake walks out.
Then one day, Mallory's prayer group is asked to pray for a young girl who was raped. Mallory has a psychotic break and trembles in the kitchen, only to be comforted by her friend and her pastor's wife. I was relieved when Yvonne, the pastor wife, suggested a therapist, since child sexual abuse is more than she and her husband are prepared to council. Mallory is so fragile and I worried she'd drive her minivan into oncoming traffic just to stop the pain.
Jennifer, Mallory's therapist, seems comforting and supportive and helps Mallory remember that Mallory was raped as a child. We then uncover that Mallory was raped by her older brother Eric as a child. Further shocking us is that Mallory told her father about the rape and he did nothing to stop it.
According to Yvonne, Mallory had a strong foundation. That was a good start; faith in God was a stronger remedy than all the counseling Jennifer could give.That was hard to read, since Mallory has had God in her life for so long, but wasn't moved to seek help before now. Then Mallory is challenged to tell her parents. Her mother scolds her for saying such a terrible thing. Her father says nothing. We can't tell if they believe her. Then she confronts the brother who raped her. He never admits his crime, which felt authentic yet was unfulfilling as a book. I do recognize that many rape victims do not get closure.
Once Jake walked out, he had a crisis of his own and then literally has a "come to Jesus" moment. Mallory and Jake are reunited with the help of their pastor, and Mallory stopped shopping. Crises solved!
This book is what would happen if two pastors' wives wrote a book - and they did. Easy to solve ending, help from a pastor, stereotypical problems (busy parenting, busy husband, missed opportunities for sex, etc). I know the authors wanted Mallory to have the kind of problems that people could relate to, but I just wasn't impressed. It started off as a story of a woman experiencing great personal pain, but ended up as a lecture.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Matched by Ally Condie
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: Cassie is assigned to marry her best friend, but suddenly imagines her life with someone else.
I love dystopian fiction. I love young adult novels. I love strong female characters. This book had all of it, but I didn't love this book. It was only okay.
Cassie is excited to learn that her government-approved Match is none other than her best friend Xander. But when Cassie takes the data box home, she sees another boy's face inside - that of Ky Markham, also a school friend from her neighborhood.
Cassie's life is so carefully monitored that she is relieved when an Official comes to talk to her about the mix-up with her Matching box. Then Cassie and Ky are assigned to exercise together, and they start a romance. Cassie is torn between the expected duty of marrying Xander, her dear friend, and the excitement of kissing Ky, the man she actually got to choose.
Then we come to find out that Cassie was deliberately thrown together with Ky as a test. Could she follow the rules or was she dangerous to Society?
The Society was reminiscent of 1984
, with bits of The Declaration
and some of Gattaca
. Every action in life is governed, with sleep tags, exercise tags, meals carefully monitored to provide optimum nutrition for people. The Society had Officials choose the 100 Paintings, 100 Songs, 100 Poems worth saving, since too many choices made people upset. People are also assigned to die at age eighty, since that was determined to be the optimum age.
I was disappointed in this book, likely because so many people recommended it so highly. This is definitely a typical Young Adult novel, but it spent too much time on explanations and took too long to get to the plot. That Cassie and Ky's love was engineered by Officials was also predictable. To be fair, there were some interesting questions in here: If you're allowed to choose who you love, can you ever have love in an arranged marriage? Or maybe scientists do have a point when they make Matches for optimum health and smooth running of Society. I would and could discuss the Society with others since it does present some interesting moral and health issues. The author deliberately left the ending open for a sequel, so I expect others will read this series as well, but I'm done.
Summary: Cassie is assigned to marry her best friend, but suddenly imagines her life with someone else.
I love dystopian fiction. I love young adult novels. I love strong female characters. This book had all of it, but I didn't love this book. It was only okay.
Cassie is excited to learn that her government-approved Match is none other than her best friend Xander. But when Cassie takes the data box home, she sees another boy's face inside - that of Ky Markham, also a school friend from her neighborhood.
Cassie's life is so carefully monitored that she is relieved when an Official comes to talk to her about the mix-up with her Matching box. Then Cassie and Ky are assigned to exercise together, and they start a romance. Cassie is torn between the expected duty of marrying Xander, her dear friend, and the excitement of kissing Ky, the man she actually got to choose.
Then we come to find out that Cassie was deliberately thrown together with Ky as a test. Could she follow the rules or was she dangerous to Society?
The Society was reminiscent of 1984
, with bits of The Declaration and some of Gattaca. Every action in life is governed, with sleep tags, exercise tags, meals carefully monitored to provide optimum nutrition for people. The Society had Officials choose the 100 Paintings, 100 Songs, 100 Poems worth saving, since too many choices made people upset. People are also assigned to die at age eighty, since that was determined to be the optimum age.I was disappointed in this book, likely because so many people recommended it so highly. This is definitely a typical Young Adult novel, but it spent too much time on explanations and took too long to get to the plot. That Cassie and Ky's love was engineered by Officials was also predictable. To be fair, there were some interesting questions in here: If you're allowed to choose who you love, can you ever have love in an arranged marriage? Or maybe scientists do have a point when they make Matches for optimum health and smooth running of Society. I would and could discuss the Society with others since it does present some interesting moral and health issues. The author deliberately left the ending open for a sequel, so I expect others will read this series as well, but I'm done.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Cream Puff Murder by Joanne Fluke
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: Hannah solves the murder of the town flirt and aerobics instructor, while trying to lose weight.
When I first moved to Minnesota, I asked the librarian to suggest some Minnesota-based mysteries for me. (When I lived in Portland, OR, I adored the Samantha Kincaid
series based in Portland.) Along with books by KJ Erickson, P.J. Tracy and David Housewright, he gave me a novel by Joanne Fluke, who writes the Hannah Swenson murder mysteries.
Hannah Swenson lives in Lake Eden, a town that seems to fluctuate from 45 minutes to over two hours away from the Twin Cities. The distance seems to vary with each book. Lake Eden seems like it could be Aitkin or Brainerd or even Moose Lake, some town small enough where everyone knows the town business, but large enough to have a police force and a mayor. There's also tourist activity in the summer, like many northern Minnesota small towns near a lake.
Hannah runs The Cookie Jar, her business in town. Her business partner Lisa handles the administrative side, keeping the books and expanding their business. Lisa starts the series as a young part-time employee, and ends up a young bride and Hannah's full partner. Lisa remains one of my favorite characters across the series.
Hannah is torn between two men in town. Norman is the town dentist, mild-mannered and helpful, with a sense of humor. Their mothers are best friends and run an antique shop together. He loves to take Hannah out to eat, and help her with the housekeeping details of Hannah's life. He seems to know exactly what Hannah needs, often before she needs it. Early in the series, Fluke introduced Mike, the hunky sheriff, who also has an interest in Hannah. Both men have proposed to Hannah and she has demurred multiple times.
As owner and Chief Creative Officer of a cookie shop, Hannah has been struggling with her weight often. In Cream Puff Murder, Hannah is suddenly too large for the specially-designed dress she will be wearing to serve cream puffs at the party for her mother's book launch in two weeks. With no time to order a new dress, Hannah has to lose weight. Hannah's beautiful younger sister Andrea creates an exercise program for Hannah and the two sisters work out every morning at Heavenly Bodies, the health club in town. They also take a class from vicious-but-extremely-fit Ronni Ward, a one-time girlfriend of Mike's. Hannah is a reluctant exerciser, but is determined not to ruin her mother's big event.
One morning, Hannah discovers a dead body floating in the gym's Jacuzzi surrounded by the cream puffs Hannah gave Mike last night. Mike is definitely off the case, because he had a relationship with the victim, none other than the beautiful and bitchy Ronni Ward. Town sheriff Bill, Andrea's husband, and Lonnie, a town deputy and Hannah's sister Michelle's boyfriend, are also off the case.
So they all insist Hannah use her detective skills to clear them in the case, and insist on Hannah investigating their way, instead of Hannah's way. Mike jokes that Hannah has slay-dar - one of the worst puns I've read in this goofy, wordy series.
Mike's micromanaging of Hannah should have put the nail in the coffin of their relationship. Apparently Hannah's wishy-washiness concerned other readers, because Hannah acknowledges that her unwillingness to commit isn't fair to the men, but that they don't seem to mind. All along, Mike has dated a number of women, likely also when he was "dating" Hannah. I put "dating" in quotes not because I mean it as a euphamism for sex, as Hannah has made it very clear she's a virgin, but Hannah's dating seems to be kissing for a minute and then going out to eat. Dating for Mike does mean sex. Mike also takes advantage of Hannah's cooking skills, expecting Hannah to serve as the little woman to his brawny cop mentality. Mike thinks nothing of knocking on Hannah's door late at night, expecting a fresh cup of coffee and a baked good, along with updates on the case. This disrespect of Hannah, and the fact that she can dismiss his chauvinistic treatment of her simply when he kisses her, made me long for Norman and Hannah to be a couple, soon.
Hannah's life would only improve if she married Norman, and likely go downhill, but be infinitely more exciting, married to Mike. But Mike's fidelity would also be in questions, as is the reason why he likes Hannah. From the descriptions, Mike likes skinny busty women, and Hannah doesn't fit that description.
In addition to me taking an active dislike to a primary character (Mike) in this series, the alliteration was painful. In a painful scene, Hannah throws her chicken foot from her Chinese meal to her cat, Moishe. He chases after the "avian appendage" and returns with the "flying foot." Groan.
The final insult was that the recipes were disappointing. If Hannah is supposed to be losing weight, none of the recipes were at all mindful of calories. In this book, almost half were not dessert-based. Norman's egg salad (not a diet food normally) includes cream cheese. And Hannah eats it! Many of Fluke's readers write in and suggest recipes and the pool of delicious easy and available recipes might have been thin (no pun intended) for this book. All the recipes were disappointing and I didn't want to make a single one. For this book, a low-fat cookie or healthy dessert recipe would have especially made sense.
Of course I will still follow the Hannah Swenson series, but feel free to skip this particular book. My favorite is Blueberry Muffin Murder
, with a decadent blueberry muffin recipe. I do love my mystery-with-recipes style books. The Goldy Bear
series of Diane Mott Davidson have great sweet and savory recipes that call for expensive ingredients and specialty tools, but with weak writing. Livia Washburn
's series is a little dull and only feature about four recipes a book. And I tried a Tamar Myer
book and didn't like the main character. I look forward to to Norman and Hannah getting married, and some healthier cookie recipes. I hope that happens.
Summary: Hannah solves the murder of the town flirt and aerobics instructor, while trying to lose weight.
When I first moved to Minnesota, I asked the librarian to suggest some Minnesota-based mysteries for me. (When I lived in Portland, OR, I adored the Samantha Kincaid
series based in Portland.) Along with books by KJ Erickson, P.J. Tracy and David Housewright, he gave me a novel by Joanne Fluke, who writes the Hannah Swenson murder mysteries.Hannah Swenson lives in Lake Eden, a town that seems to fluctuate from 45 minutes to over two hours away from the Twin Cities. The distance seems to vary with each book. Lake Eden seems like it could be Aitkin or Brainerd or even Moose Lake, some town small enough where everyone knows the town business, but large enough to have a police force and a mayor. There's also tourist activity in the summer, like many northern Minnesota small towns near a lake.
Hannah runs The Cookie Jar, her business in town. Her business partner Lisa handles the administrative side, keeping the books and expanding their business. Lisa starts the series as a young part-time employee, and ends up a young bride and Hannah's full partner. Lisa remains one of my favorite characters across the series.
Hannah is torn between two men in town. Norman is the town dentist, mild-mannered and helpful, with a sense of humor. Their mothers are best friends and run an antique shop together. He loves to take Hannah out to eat, and help her with the housekeeping details of Hannah's life. He seems to know exactly what Hannah needs, often before she needs it. Early in the series, Fluke introduced Mike, the hunky sheriff, who also has an interest in Hannah. Both men have proposed to Hannah and she has demurred multiple times.
As owner and Chief Creative Officer of a cookie shop, Hannah has been struggling with her weight often. In Cream Puff Murder, Hannah is suddenly too large for the specially-designed dress she will be wearing to serve cream puffs at the party for her mother's book launch in two weeks. With no time to order a new dress, Hannah has to lose weight. Hannah's beautiful younger sister Andrea creates an exercise program for Hannah and the two sisters work out every morning at Heavenly Bodies, the health club in town. They also take a class from vicious-but-extremely-fit Ronni Ward, a one-time girlfriend of Mike's. Hannah is a reluctant exerciser, but is determined not to ruin her mother's big event.
One morning, Hannah discovers a dead body floating in the gym's Jacuzzi surrounded by the cream puffs Hannah gave Mike last night. Mike is definitely off the case, because he had a relationship with the victim, none other than the beautiful and bitchy Ronni Ward. Town sheriff Bill, Andrea's husband, and Lonnie, a town deputy and Hannah's sister Michelle's boyfriend, are also off the case.
So they all insist Hannah use her detective skills to clear them in the case, and insist on Hannah investigating their way, instead of Hannah's way. Mike jokes that Hannah has slay-dar - one of the worst puns I've read in this goofy, wordy series.
Mike's micromanaging of Hannah should have put the nail in the coffin of their relationship. Apparently Hannah's wishy-washiness concerned other readers, because Hannah acknowledges that her unwillingness to commit isn't fair to the men, but that they don't seem to mind. All along, Mike has dated a number of women, likely also when he was "dating" Hannah. I put "dating" in quotes not because I mean it as a euphamism for sex, as Hannah has made it very clear she's a virgin, but Hannah's dating seems to be kissing for a minute and then going out to eat. Dating for Mike does mean sex. Mike also takes advantage of Hannah's cooking skills, expecting Hannah to serve as the little woman to his brawny cop mentality. Mike thinks nothing of knocking on Hannah's door late at night, expecting a fresh cup of coffee and a baked good, along with updates on the case. This disrespect of Hannah, and the fact that she can dismiss his chauvinistic treatment of her simply when he kisses her, made me long for Norman and Hannah to be a couple, soon.
Hannah's life would only improve if she married Norman, and likely go downhill, but be infinitely more exciting, married to Mike. But Mike's fidelity would also be in questions, as is the reason why he likes Hannah. From the descriptions, Mike likes skinny busty women, and Hannah doesn't fit that description.
In addition to me taking an active dislike to a primary character (Mike) in this series, the alliteration was painful. In a painful scene, Hannah throws her chicken foot from her Chinese meal to her cat, Moishe. He chases after the "avian appendage" and returns with the "flying foot." Groan.
The final insult was that the recipes were disappointing. If Hannah is supposed to be losing weight, none of the recipes were at all mindful of calories. In this book, almost half were not dessert-based. Norman's egg salad (not a diet food normally) includes cream cheese. And Hannah eats it! Many of Fluke's readers write in and suggest recipes and the pool of delicious easy and available recipes might have been thin (no pun intended) for this book. All the recipes were disappointing and I didn't want to make a single one. For this book, a low-fat cookie or healthy dessert recipe would have especially made sense.
Of course I will still follow the Hannah Swenson series, but feel free to skip this particular book. My favorite is Blueberry Muffin Murder
, with a decadent blueberry muffin recipe. I do love my mystery-with-recipes style books. The Goldy Bear series of Diane Mott Davidson have great sweet and savory recipes that call for expensive ingredients and specialty tools, but with weak writing. Livia Washburn's series is a little dull and only feature about four recipes a book. And I tried a Tamar Myer book and didn't like the main character. I look forward to to Norman and Hannah getting married, and some healthier cookie recipes. I hope that happens.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
The Idle Parent: Why Laid-Back Parents Raise Happier and Healthier Kids by Tom Hodgkinson
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: The best way to be a parent is to relax and do as little as possible.
I tend to be an uptight parent, worrying that my kids will act as brats in public, which will lead to vandalism, promiscuity, drug use and anarchy.
This book didn't quite inspire me to embrace every concept the author espouses, but the overall message that kids learn by doing and are more competent than we give them credit for was quite a healthy one.
by Amy Chua. The author quotes heavily from A. S. Neill, the founder of the Summerhill School. I often felt like I should be reading A.S. Neill's book, instead of this one. He also darws from Rouseau and Locke and even D.H. Lawrence.
Banish the TV, sleep in, give the kids peas to eat, music to play (ukuleles are great) and let them have pets. All very sensible, normal advice that seems radical once he delves deeper into his reasoning. It turned me off a little when Wilkinson said,
Part of the freedom that Wilkinson praises is the freedom to let them play with their arseholes in public. Whoa, kinda lost me there, buddy.
Even a broken watch is right twice a day, so I can't totally dismiss this book as the writings of a neglectful crackpot, nor can I recommend this book to American parents who are searching for guidelines on how to raise happy kids.
Summary: The best way to be a parent is to relax and do as little as possible.
I tend to be an uptight parent, worrying that my kids will act as brats in public, which will lead to vandalism, promiscuity, drug use and anarchy.
This book didn't quite inspire me to embrace every concept the author espouses, but the overall message that kids learn by doing and are more competent than we give them credit for was quite a healthy one.
Paradoxically, the idle parent is a responsible parent because at the heart of idle parenting is the respect for the child, trust in another human being.This is a lovely sentiment, and one that seems directly to contrast with the new book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
by Amy Chua. The author quotes heavily from A. S. Neill, the founder of the Summerhill School. I often felt like I should be reading A.S. Neill's book, instead of this one. He also darws from Rouseau and Locke and even D.H. Lawrence.Banish the TV, sleep in, give the kids peas to eat, music to play (ukuleles are great) and let them have pets. All very sensible, normal advice that seems radical once he delves deeper into his reasoning. It turned me off a little when Wilkinson said,
My idea of child care is a large field. At one side of the field is a marquee with a bar serving local ales. This is where the parents gather. On the other side of the field, somewhere in the distance, the children play. I don't bother them, and they don't bother me. Give them as much freedom as possible.I am always stunned when people who have more than one child seem to resent being parents. How can the work and joy of one child be forgotten when you decide to have a second? If you see kids as a bother, then yes, be an idle parent. You'll likely be happier.
Part of the freedom that Wilkinson praises is the freedom to let them play with their arseholes in public. Whoa, kinda lost me there, buddy.
Even a broken watch is right twice a day, so I can't totally dismiss this book as the writings of a neglectful crackpot, nor can I recommend this book to American parents who are searching for guidelines on how to raise happy kids.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Between Parent and Child by Dr. Haim G. Ginott
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: By mirroring your child's frustration back to him or her, you express empathy and understanding.
This parenting book opened with a charming example of how to parent your child:
The principle piece of advice in this book is that you mirror back your child's frustration, often putting words or ideas in their heads. "You seem disappointed. " or "That must have made you so mad!" But what I felt was lacking was any form of trying to help the child figure out a solution for next time. Just expressing sympathy doesn't seem like enough of a response to me. The next step was missing. I tried this with my son and he whined even longer and harder. "You really want a gum ball and you're sad that you can't have one." Any parenting advice that extends the tantrum won't work for us. This also seemed to focus on children who are in school full-time, a situation not yet appropriate to us.
Another valuable piece of advice was to avoid blank statements like "That was bad." or "Good job." What would be more helpful would be to express characteristics you would like your child to embody. "You shared your toy with your sister. How kind." or "Look at you, you did it!" This is advice often found in other parenting books I've read, including Easy To Love, Difficult to Discipline
.
One skill I'm still working on:
Summary: By mirroring your child's frustration back to him or her, you express empathy and understanding.
This parenting book opened with a charming example of how to parent your child:
What do we say to a guest who forgets her umbrella? Do we run after her and say, "What is the matter with you? Every time you come to visit you forget something. If it's not one thing, it's another. Why can't you be like your younger sister? When she comes to visit, she knows how to behave. You're forty-four years old! Will you never learn? I'm not a slave to pick up after you! I bet you'd forget your head if it weren't attached to your shoulders!" That's not what we say to a guest. We say, "Here's your umbrella, Alice," without adding, "scatterbrain."
Parents need to learn to respond to their children as they do to guests.How loving and what an inspiration to parents. But the rest of the book seemed incomplete to me. Perhaps it's because my children are too young to respond or perhaps the advice does not offer enough follow through.
The principle piece of advice in this book is that you mirror back your child's frustration, often putting words or ideas in their heads. "You seem disappointed. " or "That must have made you so mad!" But what I felt was lacking was any form of trying to help the child figure out a solution for next time. Just expressing sympathy doesn't seem like enough of a response to me. The next step was missing. I tried this with my son and he whined even longer and harder. "You really want a gum ball and you're sad that you can't have one." Any parenting advice that extends the tantrum won't work for us. This also seemed to focus on children who are in school full-time, a situation not yet appropriate to us.
Another valuable piece of advice was to avoid blank statements like "That was bad." or "Good job." What would be more helpful would be to express characteristics you would like your child to embody. "You shared your toy with your sister. How kind." or "Look at you, you did it!" This is advice often found in other parenting books I've read, including Easy To Love, Difficult to Discipline
.One skill I'm still working on:
When children interrupt adult conversations, adults usually react angrily: "Don't be rude. It is impolite to interrupt." However, interrupting the interrupter is also impolite. Parents should not be rude in the process of enforcing child politeness. Perhaps it would be better to state, "I would like to finish telling my story."Originally published in 1965, this book did seem out of date, with just the basics mentioned in more recent parenting books. It's not that the advice wasn't good, it just wasn't complete enough or relevant enough for my life. I considered three stars, since this book is not bad, but found that if I were to recommend any parenting book, this one wouldn't even make the list.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
And Then There Was One by Patricia Gussin
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: Two of three nine-year-old triplets are kidnapped from a Detroit suburb.
Don't get me wrong - I love fantasy fiction, but this book was pure fiction. The plot was unoriginal with details that were cliqued and I felt like the author was trying to capitalize on a parent's worst fear, even though it's so unrealistic.
Scott and Karen Monroe are an interracial couple and parents of beautiful nine-year-old triplets: Jackie, Sammie, and Alex.
In addition to the rare kidnapping scenario, the woman who kidnaps them, Marge Spansky, has a freak tragedy of her own. In her second marriage, she and her second husband had two beautiful twin girls, Jennie and Jessie. Then during a family day at the lake, the girls' stroller is pushed into the water by her seven-year-old son Spanky. The girls were eight months old. But Spanky was seven and police were sure it was an accident.
Meanwhile, Jackie collapses in a coma under both survivor's guilt and stress, while Scott and Karen and the FBI use all their resources to find the girls, including offering a $100,000 reward. That's when the kooks come out.
Marge brings Alex and Sammie back to her house. The girls are valiantly resisting, shouting, banging on pipes, refusing to eat, until Marge hits them and shoves them in the basement. Marge starts calling the girls Jennie and Jessie, after her long-dead daughters. Spanky comes home and realizes that his mother is the one who has taken the two missing triplets. Marge thinks she has her daughters back but Spanky immediately realizes that his mother has given him the gift of two little girls to molest. When Marge tries to prevent such an incident, Sammie escapes and runs into the woods. After a terrifying search, Spanky gives up and decides to run away with his mother and the last remaining girl, whom he has nicknamed Precious, and whom Marge has named Jennie, but who is actually named Alex.
As we come to find out, Alex is actually the compliant, obedient one, a ideal molestation and brainwashing victim. Sammie, the defiant one, is the one who ran away. She is found later by FBI agents doing a canvas of the neighborhood after a neighbor reported an older woman buying twin beds at a garage sale. But hidden in isolation along the Great Lakes, Alex is actually molested by Spanky and Marge walks in on the situation. Thankfully, Marge realizes that in order to keep her Jennie (Alex) safe, she and Jennie (Alex) must run away from Spanky. FBI agents are looking for Alex, Spanky is looking for Alex and Marge, who are hiding from everyone.
Through a combination of aggressive investigation, helpful witnesses, and sheer luck, the FBI rescues Alex and reunites her safely with her family. I expected the reunion to be tearful and touching but I wasn't impressed at all.
Everything about this book seemed excessive and calculated to strike fear in readers. The writing style wasn't terrible, but wasn't great. Harlan Coben's Caught
is a far more realistic and terrifying book.
Summary: Two of three nine-year-old triplets are kidnapped from a Detroit suburb.
Don't get me wrong - I love fantasy fiction, but this book was pure fiction. The plot was unoriginal with details that were cliqued and I felt like the author was trying to capitalize on a parent's worst fear, even though it's so unrealistic.
Scott and Karen Monroe are an interracial couple and parents of beautiful nine-year-old triplets: Jackie, Sammie, and Alex.
They lived in Davis Island in Tampa and, to their eternally incredulous delight, were parents of nine year old triplets. Even more incredulous, the triplets were identical. Identical triplets, conceived without the aid of fertility treatments; the chances of that, an astounding one in two hundred million pregnancies.This unbelievable premise starts on page 17 and the rest of the book is even more implausible. When two of the girls want to see a different movie from their third sister and their older cousin, they split up. When the movie is over, the girls are nowhere to be found. After notifying mall security, it becomes obvious that the girls have been kidnapped. The likelihood of this is so rare, but the author tries to make it seem like IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU! If you've read any of Lenore Skenazy's columns, the actual stranger abduction rate is extremely low.
In addition to the rare kidnapping scenario, the woman who kidnaps them, Marge Spansky, has a freak tragedy of her own. In her second marriage, she and her second husband had two beautiful twin girls, Jennie and Jessie. Then during a family day at the lake, the girls' stroller is pushed into the water by her seven-year-old son Spanky. The girls were eight months old. But Spanky was seven and police were sure it was an accident.
Truly, Marge tried her best to raise her troubled son, now a two-hundred-forty-pound hulk of a man with a protruding beer belly, a shaved head, and a mean temperament, but underneath she knew that Spanky's shortcomings were all her fault. She should have known something was not right with Spanky when he started torturing those frogs at the lake and chopping heads off turtles.
...
But in the privacy of her heart, Marge had to admit her horrible, secret suspicions. Over the years, child molestation cases had been reported in Oakland County, all involving little girls. Marge was pretty sure that nobody else connected her son with these sordid reports, but she knew about the little panties he kept hidden in the small chest under his bed. The chest he took with him on the road. Whenever there'd been a report, she knew that Spanky had been in the vicinity. The last time she secretly checked his box, panties stained with something brownish on a Mickey Mouse pattern had been added.Marge used the oldest trick in the book to kidnap the girls. She overheard their conversation and went in to the movie to get the girls, telling them that their other sister Jackie had been hurt. The girls willingly get in the car, believing that Marge, a perfect stranger, is taking them to the hospital. After a while, it dawns on them that they are being kidnapped, but by then it's too late.
Meanwhile, Jackie collapses in a coma under both survivor's guilt and stress, while Scott and Karen and the FBI use all their resources to find the girls, including offering a $100,000 reward. That's when the kooks come out.
Marge brings Alex and Sammie back to her house. The girls are valiantly resisting, shouting, banging on pipes, refusing to eat, until Marge hits them and shoves them in the basement. Marge starts calling the girls Jennie and Jessie, after her long-dead daughters. Spanky comes home and realizes that his mother is the one who has taken the two missing triplets. Marge thinks she has her daughters back but Spanky immediately realizes that his mother has given him the gift of two little girls to molest. When Marge tries to prevent such an incident, Sammie escapes and runs into the woods. After a terrifying search, Spanky gives up and decides to run away with his mother and the last remaining girl, whom he has nicknamed Precious, and whom Marge has named Jennie, but who is actually named Alex.
As we come to find out, Alex is actually the compliant, obedient one, a ideal molestation and brainwashing victim. Sammie, the defiant one, is the one who ran away. She is found later by FBI agents doing a canvas of the neighborhood after a neighbor reported an older woman buying twin beds at a garage sale. But hidden in isolation along the Great Lakes, Alex is actually molested by Spanky and Marge walks in on the situation. Thankfully, Marge realizes that in order to keep her Jennie (Alex) safe, she and Jennie (Alex) must run away from Spanky. FBI agents are looking for Alex, Spanky is looking for Alex and Marge, who are hiding from everyone.
Through a combination of aggressive investigation, helpful witnesses, and sheer luck, the FBI rescues Alex and reunites her safely with her family. I expected the reunion to be tearful and touching but I wasn't impressed at all.
Everything about this book seemed excessive and calculated to strike fear in readers. The writing style wasn't terrible, but wasn't great. Harlan Coben's Caught
is a far more realistic and terrifying book.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
A Mountain of Crumbs: A Memoir by Elena Gorokhova
Please note: Links pointing to Amazon contain my affiliate ID. Sales resulting from clicks on those links will earn me a percentage of the purchase price. So buy and read now!
Summary: The memoir of a young girl growing up in World War II Russia.
Memoirs always fascinate me, sometimes because I can't ever imagine my life being the way the author describes, and sometimes because I wonder if I could describe all the intricacies, rituals and secret pains of my own childhood as well as the author.
Elena Gorokhova begins her memoir the way many memoirists do, writing about her mother's early childhood and life. The 'mountain of crumbs' refers to a trick Elena's grandmother played on Elena's uncle as a child. During the food shortages in 1920, Elena's grandmother would crumble a slice of bread or a lump of sugar into small bits, piling it high on the table and then challenging her son to eat that entire mountain of crumbs. He was fooled into thinking himself blessed with bounty, and eating each crumb one by one also took time, as well.
Elena then goes on to describe her mother's first jobs as a doctor and then an obstetrician, and her three marriages. Unfortunately, once Elena starts describing her own life and childhood, I was bored. Elena has the typical childhood selfishness and nightmares, and I wished the book had shared more of her mother's life.
The most fascinating scene of Elena's life comes when she is studying English and comes across the following sentence:
Summary: The memoir of a young girl growing up in World War II Russia.
Memoirs always fascinate me, sometimes because I can't ever imagine my life being the way the author describes, and sometimes because I wonder if I could describe all the intricacies, rituals and secret pains of my own childhood as well as the author.
Elena Gorokhova begins her memoir the way many memoirists do, writing about her mother's early childhood and life. The 'mountain of crumbs' refers to a trick Elena's grandmother played on Elena's uncle as a child. During the food shortages in 1920, Elena's grandmother would crumble a slice of bread or a lump of sugar into small bits, piling it high on the table and then challenging her son to eat that entire mountain of crumbs. He was fooled into thinking himself blessed with bounty, and eating each crumb one by one also took time, as well.
Elena then goes on to describe her mother's first jobs as a doctor and then an obstetrician, and her three marriages. Unfortunately, once Elena starts describing her own life and childhood, I was bored. Elena has the typical childhood selfishness and nightmares, and I wished the book had shared more of her mother's life.
The most fascinating scene of Elena's life comes when she is studying English and comes across the following sentence:
"Helen and her new husband lost their privacy when her mother moved across the street." After consulting my English-Russian dictionary, I figured out that it had to do with the word "private," as in the "private property" that plagues all capitalist countries, according to our third-grade history book. Perhaps they lost some money, I thought, some essential part of their private property, but it was still unclear how it was caused by the mother's move.After struggling with the dictionary, Elena and her tutor decide that "privacy" is a word that doesn't exist in Russian. More fun with the Russian language comes when her class is sent into the dentist in alphabetical order:
My name is at the front of the alphabet, G being the fourth letter, after A, B and V.This book offered amusing glimpses into Russian life and culture - once people see a line, they get in it, because at the end must be something worth waiting for - but the poverty, deprivation, and opposite world view still didn't make this memoir memorable.
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