Mother Daughter Book Club -- Tuesdays at the Castle

Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George

My enjoyment rating: 3 of 5 stars

Source:  Personal copy

Genre:  Juvenile Fiction

Objectionable material: None

Princess Celie is in a quandary: her parents have disappeared under questionable circumstances, her brother (and heir apparent in his father’s absence) has been forced from authority at the hands of his advisors and an evil prince, and her beloved castle – that transforms to suit her needs and her family’s – has been spellbound and has become dormant.

What is a princess to do? In Celie’s case – she vanquishes the evil overtakers, she sends rescue teams out to find her parents, she organizes the family staff to help in the revolt – and she’s only 11.

This was our mother/daughter book club for January – and the girls (and moms) thought it was delightful!

Celie is spunky, creative and tough; she has an assortment of interesting characters that surround her – but the true gem is the magical Castle, which transforms itself to accommodate the family, guests, and most importantly, Celie.

It wasn’t a perfect book (story lines that didn’t connect or make sense) – but it was fun.

 

No decision yet on our February book!

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January 2013 Book Club -- Cross Roads

Cross Roads by Wm. Paul Young
 
Did Not Finish (barely started)
 
January Book Club choice
 

I didn’t read this.

I managed 15 pages and gave up.  It was horribly written.  And from what I gather from those who did finish it, it didn’t get any better.

The entire group thought it was bad – but surprisingly, like a Phoenix, a remarkably good discussion emerged from an unpleasant reading experience. My book clubbers know how to create a discussion out of most anything!

So, 2013 didn’t start off so well – our books can only get better – because they can’t get any worse!

Our February selection -- Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett

 

Book Review -- The Rent Collector

The Rent Collector by Camron Wright

My enjoyment rating: 4 of 5 stars

Source:  Received copy from author (I was not compensated in any other way for review).

Genre:  General fiction

Objectionable material:  None

When my house, my closets, my kitchen, becomes cluttered and dirty – I often refer to it as a dump.

Nothing compares to the life of Sang Ly and Ki Lim, for they quite literally live in Stung Meanchey, the largest city garbage dump in Cambodia. Living in homes (shacks? cardboard boxes? sheds?) built from rescued salvage, thousands of families subsist and survive off the trash from the capital Phnom Penh.

Camron Wright has written a remarkable, fictional account of the life of Sang Li, her husband Ki and their son, Nisay. Inspired by his own son’s film work in Cambodia, Mr. Wright envisioned how the lives of this particular family would be, if they had nothing more than one basic need: literacy.

Within that framework, Mr. Wright has crafted a truly wonderful story about the influence one particular neighbor and their “rent collector,” Sopeap Sin, has on their future. A former teacher and educator, Sopeap’s life as a scavenger in Stung Meanchey is far different than what she had as a professor teaching the classics to her students. But due to the political and military evil of the Khmer Rouge, she too has been discarded like the refuse she sorts.

This was a robust novel full of unique and memorable characters. I loved following the arch of how lives were transformed through friends, family, stories, and education, even in the midst of such disgusting conditions.

I was skeptical of this book – the novels I’ve read from this particular publisher have, in my experience, been flimsy, manipulative and, well, poor reading material.

The Rent Collector is none of the above – it was a gem.

Highly recommended for book clubs.

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Book Review -- Love's Winning Plays

Love's Winning Plays: A Novel by Inman Majors

My enjoyment rating: 2 of 5 stars

Source:  Library copy

Genre:  General fiction

Objectionable material:  language, including F-bomb

Raymond Love, a low level graduate assistant for a non-descript SEC college football team, has been assigned to “babysit” Coach Woody – the longtime defensive line coach who is known to go “rogue” on occasion – while on a caravan across the non-descript southern state, to meet boosters and discuss the upcoming football season.

Love’s Winning Plays, by Inman Majors, is a novel full of stereotypes and clichés about the world of college football:

• Love and Sparkman – both GA’s -  one a buffoon (Sparkman) – one a coach’s kid, who has potential, but no connections (Love).

• CVD or Head Coach Von Driver – figure head of the football team, who doesn’t know his staff and subsists on motivational sound bites.

• Coach Woody – obnoxious, beer-drinking, Dick Butkus-type, old timer, relives his playing days through old film and stories.

• Head Coach’s wife – southern belle socialite, with a penchant for cocktails and a sharp tongue.

• Gorgeous co-ed, Brooke, who happens to be the daughter of the Athletic Director

• Athletic Director: more concerned about the appearance of the football team than the integrity of the football team

• Sports writer: emasculated male, who at one point wanted to be an athlete, but was either too small, or not good enough, so he has to write about it instead.

• Boosters/fans: think they now it all, but not really.

• Rich boosters: think they can buy access and wins.

I love college football – I am a coach’s daughter, after all. And even though characters like the above exist (stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason) – I thought it was an empty, shallow, one dimensional football and love story.

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Book Review -- Where'd You Go, Bernadette

Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

My enjoyment rating: 4 of 5 stars

Source:  Birthday present

Genre:  General fiction

Objectionable material:  use of F-bomb

What do a former award winning architect, a Microsoft guru, a crumbling manor house, a super gifted tween with a heart defect, a crazy neighbor who invades your property, an international personal assistant, the Russian mafia, and a cruise to the South Pole have in common?

They are all dysfunctional, quirky, struggling, and brilliantly crafted characters in Maria Semple’s hilarious book, Where’d You Go Bernadette.

Bernadette Fox’s biggest problem seems to be her rancorous relationship with her neighbor over an abundance of blackberry vines. But what starts out as pesky gardening issue, turns into a woman desperate to find herself, her lost career, and an opportunity to rebuild her family.

Told in epistolary form, Bernadette and the rag tag crew that inhabit the pages, take us on a Rube Goldberg-like journey – the reader never knowing what will happen next, where you will end up or how it will end.

Truly, I haven’t read something so different, unique, and entertaining in a very long time!

Caveat: If you were to purchase this book – make sure you have the LAST 3 pages! In my edition – there was a printing error and the last three pages were missing!!! Ahh!! I stayed up until 1am to finish this, only to get slapped with no ending at all. The publisher acknowledged that it was a manufacturing problem, and is sending me a complete copy. Thankfully, because this is a book I would like to pass around.

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Sometimes I write other things

Little Rock has an outstanding local magazine, Soiree, dedicated to the arts, entertainment, and local "vibe" of our Capital City.

 

In the most recent issue -- I was a contributor for their "A Day in Little Rock" feature.  Although intended to be a daily literary look at life in Little Rock, it ended up being a reflection on our "day" in the hospital with our youngest son, Max.

 

It's not what they queried, but they published it nonetheless.  And for that I am grateful.

 

If you have a chance, please check out my thoughts here.

 

 

What I liked and what I didn't in 2012

I'm late.

 

2012 ended two days ago.

 

But here are my bookish reflections on the 50 books I read in 2012 (Goodreads says I read 52 -- my own list says only 50 -- not sure where I'm off -- oh well).

 

Favorite classic:  Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston -- how I missed reading this in high school or college is a mystery -- my comments at the time "Thank you for the privilege of marveling over your brilliant words."   5 stars.

 

Favorite Mother/Daughter book club selection:  The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine -- wow -- this one hit home -- a fictional account of two friends, one white, one black, who are confronted with racism and the closing of the public schools in LR.  5 stars.

 

Made me laugh out loud:  The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett -- if you are a royalist like me -- this was a witty, delightful reimagining of what Queen Elizabeth would be like if she was a bibliophile.  Loved it (except for the one sexual reference -- so unnecessary).   4 stars.

 

Favorite book club pick & epic:  Someone Knows my Name by Lawrence Hill -- what I said at the time:  "If you want to get lost in a difficult story and life of an incredible woman, open your soul to Aminata.  You’ll be glad you know her name."  5 stars.

 

Favorite juvenile fiction:  The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate -- my thoughts at the time:  "Ms. Applegate has given us a glorious example that our animal friends might know more about endurance, hope, and faith than their caregivers do. And Ivan is the one and only one to help them all."  5 stars.

Favorite YA fiction:  Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys -- I love WWII historical fiction and this was no exception.  My thoughts:  "In harrowing detail author, Ruta Sepetys, brings to life the forgotten story of Stalin’s obliteration of the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, & Lithuania) during WWII. This was an illuminating account of what happened to nearly 20 million Russians, primarily doctors, authors, professors and other intellectual and political dissidents, who were shipped to Siberia under Stalin’s fascist regime."   4 stars (and not to be confused with the OTHER gray book!)

I hated but everyone else loved:  The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce -- I thought it was so bad I didn't even review it. 

Favorite memoir:  Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth -- the PBS miniseries of the same name is based on Mrs. Worth's memoirs -- I loved this book!  My thoughts:  "This was a glorious book. Her storytelling was superb. I was immediately transported to post-War London, walking foggy streets, among ramshackle buildings and immense poverty. But among the ruins, is a group of midwives, The Sisters of St. Raymond Nonnatus, who care for the greater population of women of the East End."  5 stars

Biggest let down:  The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian -- I had such HIGH HOPES for this book!  But alas, "for me, this was a huge disappointment."  2 stars

Overall favorite of 2012:  Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein -- when a writer can make me audibly respond while reading -- you know it's good -- "It is fretful from the first page to the last. I even audibly GASPED during 'Verity’s' graphic narrative. Be patient in the beginning. It’s not an easy book to read, and the 1st person/3rd person narration is a bit tricky – but it is well worth it."  5 stars

So there you have it.  My winners and losers of 2012.

Goals for 2013

• I gave up on Challenges last year -- it was such a liberating experience!  I will never do one again!
• Read 52 books -- one a week.  I'm not as prolific as most bloggers -- but I do what I can do.
• Read because I want to read.
• Get caught up on my last 3 "review requests." 
• Keep Mother/Daughter book club in tact!

Finally --

Keep calm and read a great book!

You can read in the dark, but not in the cold

Christmas 2012 was not what we expected.

 

The weather forecasters predicted 2-4 inches of snow -- we got 10.  Additionally, prior to the snowfall, icy rain plagued us for most of the day, which weighed down the many trees in our area.  With the additional snow, trees began to snap and break like twigs.

 

Thus, most of Little Rock looked like the above.

 

Nearly 200,000 homes lost power -- including us.

 

 

The temperature in the house leveled out at 48 degrees.  Far too cold for us to "tough it out."  Luckily we had generous friends (who were some of the few who retained power) graciously offer to house our family for 3 days.

 

Fortunately, our power was restored yesterday.

 

Unfortunately, nearly 30,000 homes in the area are still without power, and probably won't have it restored until next Tuesday.

 

 

But one thing I learned...reading by candlelight is easy, reading when your fingers are blue from holding a book, is not.

.

Book Review -- The Uncommon Reader

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

My enjoyment rating: 4 of 5 stars

Source:  Personal copy (birthday present!)

Genre:  Fiction -- novella

Objectionable material:  crude mention of sexual act -- and I'm not sure why?

Royal waves, tiaras, weddings, princes, princesses…suffice it to say, I’m a closet royalist.

Diana, Katherine, William, Elizabeth – I love them all (except maybe Camilla) and would gladly live as a royal for at least one day.

With that obsession background – it’s only obvious that I would adore Alan Bennett’s The Uncommon Reader – a reimagining of Queen Elizabeth, in her later years, becoming a voracious reader.

With the appearance of the mobile library in the palace courtyard, Queen Elizabeth’s day to day life is about to change dramatically. Once focused on the needs of her subjects, The Queen is now eager to read the next book in her TBR stack.

I loved this book. In addition to being witty, original, and uniquely British – it was also a lexiconic wonderland of words like opsimath, amanuensis, and solipsistic.

Additionally – the Queen had some great quotes (and thoughts):

“…briefing is not reading. Briefing is terse, factual and to the point. Reading is untidy, discursive and perpetually inviting.”

And

“Pass time…books are not about passing time. They are about other lives. Other worlds. Far from wanting time to pass…one just wishes one had more of it. If one wanted to pass the time one could go to New Zealand.”

And

Books did not care who was reading them or whether one read them or not. All readers were equal, herself included.

My only quibble with this book – there was a reference to a sexual act that was odd and totally unnecessary. Really muddied the entire experience for me.

Aside from that – if you fancy a jolly good read (you can read this in one sitting), please pick up this book.  In the end, you’ll realize that you and the Queen have far more in common than you once thought.

Keep calm & carry a good book.

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Merry Christmas!

 

May you be blessed with family, friends, and books on this glorious day!