Book Review -- Tell the Wolves I'm Home

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

My enjoyment rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hangover rating: 2

Source: Personal copy

Genre: General fiction (but really could be YA)

Objectionable material: None

June Elbus is heartbroken when her beloved Uncle Finn dies of AIDS. What he leaves behind is a portrait, a boyfriend, and sister (June's mother) who is reluctant to accept Finn's past lifestyle and the man he left behind. June must act as the peacemaker in her family to resolve the conflict within her home, even at the risk of hurting the one she cares the most about.

I loved June. A 14 yr old obsessed with Mozart's Requiem is a girl after my own heart. She was loyal, independent, fearless and carefree. Getting on a train to Manhattan from her suburban home, without an adult knowing her whereabouts, was completely normal. She fought with her sister and loved unconditionally.

My biggest hurdle with this novel was the relationship crafted between June and Toby (her deceased uncle's surviving boyfriend). For me it was just odd, weird, creepy -- they met at his apartment after school, they got drunk together, he taught her how to smoke -- I just didn't get it. At the end of the novel -- the author uses these interactions to show the deep well of love and loyalty June had not only Toby, but Finn as well, but it still seemed unnatural to me.

That being said -- I loved the layers the author created between June, her sister Greta, her parents, school, the art world -- a very multidimensional narrative that was brilliantly executed.

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Mini-book review -- Lean In

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg

My enjoyment rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hangover rating: 4

Source: Library

Genre: Nonfiction; self-help

Objectionable material: None

 

The great thing about this book is that Ms. Sandberg is encouraging to ALL women, whether you chose to have a career, family, married, single -- all of it, none of it, or a little bit of everything. She writes that we, as women, should encourage each other in our endeavors, regardless of what they are. That when women succeed, all of humanity succeeds. It made me want to start over and pursue my career.

 

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Book Review -- My Year with Eleanor

My Year with Eleanor: A Memoir by Noelle Hancock

My enjoyment rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hangover rating: 3 stars

Source:  Nook ebook

Genre: Memoir; self help

Objectionable material: some minor language

On the eve of her 30th birthday Noelle Hancock loses her job. Life is in crisis mode.

In an attempt to bide her time until she secures another one and recreate her old "exciting" self, she embarks on a year of "fears" in tribute to Eleanor Roosevelt's quote, "Do one thing every day that scares you."

This was a pleasant memoir in the theme of many other self discovery, "do something in a year" books (live biblically, live in Italy, eat vegan -- you name it).

Her anecdotes of swimming with sharks, flying from a trapeze, climbing Mt Kilimanjaro (among others), were whimsical, terrifying, and inspiring.

Her writing was witty and clever.

Interestingly enough, I found myself more interested in the life and writings of Eleanor Roosevelt, though. There is a woman I definitely need to read more about.

A quick and easy memoir if you are looking for something effortless to read.

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Book Review -- Attachments

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

My enjoyment rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hangover rating: 5!

Source:  Personal copy

Genre: General fiction (romantic comedy)

Objectionable material:  A possible cuss word -- maybe.

 

I didn't know anything.

I didn't know it was going to be funny. On the very first page.

I didn't know that there were going to be nerds playing Dungeons & Dragons, and girlfriends emailing each other, and bad breakups, and marital drama, and a boy still living with his mom, and sadness, and uncertainty.

I didn't know you could write a romantic comedy from the guy's point of view. And it work.  Who does that?

I didn't know it was going to be a cross between Bridget Jones meets a Friends episode.

 

I didn't know I would be so happy that I'd read Eleanor and Park first, because I would have assumed that it was going to be Ha Ha Funny, when it clearly was not. Whew.

 

I didn't know that Rainbow Rowell could write two totally and completely different books, but yet nail the relationships in both. Absolutely perfectly.

I didn't know I was going to love everything about this book. Everything.

I didn't know what I was missing.

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Recovering...will be back soon.

I'm recovering from shoulder surgery -- torn labrum, repaired bicep tendon -- typing one handed is slow going.

 

Will be in a sling for a month...with rehab during my recovery.

 

I can still read -- when I'm not sleeping!

 

I've read 3 books that I've not blogged about:

 

The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman -- 4 of 5 stars -- read for October book club -- we all loved it -- great discussion book. (Fiction)

 

Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan -- 3 of 5 stars -- an amazing medical mystery and journey -- but would have made a better medical journal article than a full length book. (Non-fiction)

 

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein -- 3 of 5 stars -- a solid historical fiction account of an American pilot imprisoned at Ravensbruck concentration camp during WWII.  Suffered from my high expectations after reading Code Name Verity, one of my favorite books of all time.  (YA Fiction)

 

Back to the pain meds!

Book Review -- A Corner of White

A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty
My enjoyment rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book hangover:  4

Source: Public library

Genre: YA fiction (with a bit of fantasy!)

Objectionable material: none

Parallel lives...parallel realities...and nothing but a crack between a broken TV set and a parking meter that divides the two.

Madeleine and her mother have started over in Cambridge, but Madeleine is wondering why.

Elliott's father is missing and he is determined to find him.

Both are leading practically normal teen lives, when they start communicating via a void in the universe that separates them -- neither one believing that the other is real.

I loved Madeleine -- she was tough, sassy, vulnerable, and trusting. Elliott was the tough guy, with the potential to break your heart.

This book was like nothing I've ever read: part fantasy, part time travel, part whimsy, part science lesson (be prepared for a primer on Sir Isaac Newton), part potential teen romance -- it was quite delightful!

One flaw: the story did take quite a bit of time to develop -- I was 3/4 through the book before anything really happened. So, it does take some patience.

However, it's the first book, in a planned series of books, that I'm actually EXCITED about reading the sequel! Take that Divergent!

I'm really happy I took a chance with A Corner of White.

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Something is rotten with my state of reading

 

OK -- things aren't really rotten over here in book blogging land...they are just very, very tired.

 

Very little reading has been done of late.  After being diagnosed as anemic, low Vitamin D, and borderline diabetic (something that can be controlled through diet and if I stop eating so much dang watermelon!) I've been focusing on health issues -- beginning with an early morning (as in 5:30am) 4 mile walk to start my day, as well as an occasional tennis match (which has shredded my shoulder, that now requires surgery, but that is another post entirely). 

The 4 mile walk is great -- the time of day, not so much.  By 10am I need a nap.  But curling up in the stacks at the library is not an option.  So the first thing I do when I get home, before the kids arrive from school, is sleep.  Normally that time has been when I get the majority of my reading done...but I can't even turn a page before completely crashing.

I have read 2 books since my last post -- neither of which were particularly memorable:

The Maid's Version by Daniel Woodrell (3 out of 5 stars)

Best known for his book, Winter's Bone (and probably the movie starring, Jennifer Lawrence), I was eager to start this slim novel  based an actually catastrophic event, the explosion of the Arbor Dance Hall in 1928 (in SW Missouri).  Although the writing was spectacular -- really, the first 2 pages of the book were probably some of the most vivid, descriptive pages I've ever read -- but I got lost in the narration, and who was telling the story - was it Alma the maid? Her grandson, whom she's telling the story?  For such a short book (170+pgs), it's hard to imagine being confused...but alas, I was.   However, I gave it props (3 stars) for the writing alone.  I'm determined to read Winter's Bone too.

Divergent by Veronica Roth (2 out of 5 stars)

This book suffered from nothing other than I am experiencing dystopian fatigue.  It seemed  the same, or variations on similar themes, as  all other dystopian lit I've read - nothing particularly unique. Divergent particularly appeared to rely heavily on themes in Lois Lowry's The Giver -- but in a much more violent/YA way. I only finished it a few days ago and it's already been forgotten.  Book 2 is not in my future.

 

 

My current reading venture is The Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty.  After reading and loving The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty -- I thought I would give her sister's YA novel a go.  So far I'm intrigued -- time travel elements mixed with modern day -- I can't quite figure out where she's going with the storylines and characters -- but I'm invested and interested enough to find out.

In other news...I have an article about Mother Daughter book clubs set to publish in Little Rock Family, our local family magazine, in November.  If I could do nothing else it would be to write about community reading and book clubs, in all their various forms.

Hope your reading endeavors are progressing along better than mine.

Embrace the cooler temperatures and brilliant fall colors by curling up with a good book.

 

 

 

September Book Club -- The End of Your Life Book Club

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

My enjoyment rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hangover rating: 2

Source:  Personal copy

Genre:  Memoir/Biography

Objectionable material:  None

 

In a tender tribute to his mother, Will Schwalbe writes of the final two years of his mother's life and their shared love books. In waiting rooms, pharmacies, car rides, vacations -- Will and Mary Anne discussed the many books they read together -- their very own two person book club, minus the refreshments.

Will's mother was an amazing woman: Radcliffe- educated, theatre trained, she went on to direct auditions for the London Academy of Music and Drama, was an educational administrator at Harvard, volunteered for months in a Thai refugee camp, founded the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, and in her final years, raised funds for traveling libraries in Afghanistan.

I was a bit surprised I'd never heard of her.

I appreciated the author raising my awareness of his mother's accomplishments, her charity work, her friends, her love of literature and a life well lived.

However, I'm not sure if the author was trying to write a book club book, a biography, a family history. Or what exactly. In many ways this book was, as my friend Becca mentioned, a 300 page obituary with an attached reading list. There was no clear narrative, no clear direction, no clear focus. The books almost seemed an afterthought.

But my main issue with his memoir/tribute was its tone: Between the name dropping (they lived next to Julia Child), the overseas travel (we all could be so lucky to visit London and Geneva whilst undergoing chemo), the political slant, and overall affluence, the entire story was laden with pretension. My take -- if you get cancer it's better if you're rich, because you can still vacation in Vero Beach, and upstate New York, and have your townhome in Manhattan. Oh and lots of books too.

Ultimately though, in a world where mother's are berated in print by their offspring, this book was a generous outpouring of love for a beloved mother.

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Book Review -- Fortunately, the Milk

Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hangover rating: 4 (I'm still grinning)

Source:  Copy at Barnes & Noble

Genre:  Juvenile Fiction (chapter book)

Objectionable material: None

Only Neil Gaiman could send a father out for groceries and have him encounter aliens, pirates, dinosaurs, vampires, and a host of other creatures, only to return from his time travels with his necessary item -- milk -- for his children's breakfast cereal.

Read in only about 25 minutes in the middle of the Barnes & Noble children's area -- I must have been grinning because the salesman noticed and asked, "it must be funny?" I responded, "I will read anything by Gaiman, even if written for an 8 yr old."

A rollicking adventure -- with amazing illustrations.

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