Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

When Bellezza wrote about Me Before You, I knew I absolutely had to read the book. I already was a fan of Jojo Moyes and the story touches on an issue that's very important to me: the right to die with dignity. But, I had no idea just how deeply moving the story would be. Like Bellezza, I have to write about it right now, while the feeling is still fresh, with 3 crumpled, damp tissues nearby and Isabel kitty still recovering from watching with wide-eyed concern as I sobbed.

Me Before You tells the story of two people whose lives have abruptly changed. As the book opens, we meet Will Traynor, a man who is a successful businessman and world traveler, a man who loves life and lives it to the fullest. He is dashing off to work in the pouring rain when tragedy strikes, leaving him unable to function on his own, a quadraplegic who can feel pain but has very limited movement in only one arm.

Fast-forward two years. Louisa Clark has just lost her job as a waitress at the Buttered Bun, a cozy cafe near the town's castle. 26 years old, living at home, dating the same man she's been with for 6 years, Lou has no interest in change and no idea what to do next; however, she has no choice but to work. Her father is likely to lose his job, her mother is tasked with caring for her grandfather, who had a stroke, and her sister's job pays very badly.

Lou applies for a job as carer for a paraplegic as a last ditch effort. It's a temporary job and she has no experience caring for a disabled man. But, Will's mother isn't looking for experience. Will has only promised his mother 6 more months before he plans to take his own life at Dignitas. Mrs. Traynor hopes that Lou's bright personality will help Will to realize that his life is still worth living.

It takes time for Will and Lou to warm up to each other, but her playful sense of humor and sparkling wit can't be overlooked by a man as sharp as Will Traynor. Slowly, she draws him out of his bitter shell and their relationship deepens. And, it's a two-way street. At the same time Lou is making Will's days pleasant, he is teaching her how to step outside her self-imposed boundaries, to live life to the fullest.

I won't tell you how the book ends, apart from saying that I was a bit astonished to find the story both heartbreaking and beautiful without being depressing. Me Before You is a love story, but it's so much more. It's about really living life every day, the question of whether or not anyone has a right to die with dignity at a time of his or her own choosing, the emotional and physical pain of quadriplegia and how a relationship that lacks the usual physical comforts can be much deeper and more intimate than the norm. Me Before You is a powerful story that brings up a lot of questions and would make an excellent discussion book (although, perhaps, one that could potentially lead to a bit of a shouting match between those with differing opinions).

Highly recommended to those who love a meaningful story of love, life and loss. Miserably, compulsively readable, with exceptional dialogue and character development and not a single wasted word in its 481 pages (in my humble opinion). Me Before You was just released this week by Penguin Books, although it appears that it's a UK release and not yet available in the US [Update: The author has confirmed that Me Before You has just been released in the UK but said she hopes a US release will be coming up "very soon"]. Bellezza very kindly sent me her copy when I mentioned how much I love Jojo Moyes' writing. Thank you, Bellezza!!

Be sure to check out Bellezza's review of Me Before You and Jojo Moyes' website. I've read two other books by Jojo Moyes: Foreign Fruit and The Ship of Brides. And, I have two others waiting on my shelves. Wahoo for that.

I suppose this means my "blogging break" has just gone out the window. Well, that's fine. If saying I'm going to step away leads to suddenly finding that I'm ready to write reviews, I'm okay with that.

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Little Princes by Conor Grennan

Every now and then, a gal reads a book that sends her into a complete reviewing tizzy, certain there's no way to express just how much she loved it, much less describe its worth in a way that it deserves. Little Princes is one of those books and the main reason I opted to step away from the computer for a few days. It's that good.

Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal is the full title. Okay. Deep breath.

At 29, Conor Grennan decided he needed a change of pace and decided to take a year off from work to travel the world. He began his journey with a 3-month volunteer job at an orphanage called Little Princes Children's Home in Nepal. Since the author had no friends who had children or little nieces and nephews, he was not the slightest bit experienced with children. He was clueless about what he was getting into.

As anyone who has been around children knows, they're both challenging and rewarding to care for. What's remarkable about Grennan is that he went into a job that involved a great deal of personal discomfort and, rather than portray himself as heroic for doing so, he's completely honest about how he felt. He was overwhelmed, hungry, cold and not certain he'd made the right choice. But, even more admirable is his transformation. From a man who knew nothing about children and was perplexed as to why they climbed on him like a tree, he emerged an advocate who cared deeply about the children with whom he'd spent three months of his life.

It didn't take long for Grennan to find out that the children he came to love had been trafficked -- taken from their parents for large sums of money with the promise that they would be safe, educated and cared for after being taken from the war-torn region of Humla to Kathmandu. Instead of being treated as promised, they were abused, enslaved or simply dumped to fend for themselves. But, it wasn't till he returned from the remainder of his year-long round-the-world trip that the author became aware of the full story -- that in spite of war, the children were not necessarily orphans.

I don't want to go into too much detail because the book is worth buying, reading and passing around. But, there was a particular man responsible for much of the child trafficking and once Grennan and another man from Little Princes discovered seven children in need of a rescue, things began to change. When he returned to the U.S. and found out the rescued children had disappeared, Grennan altered his plans completely. He went from being a temporary volunteer who loved a bunch of children enough to return for a visit (but who planned to resume his career) to a man with a mission.

Determined to find the missing children, for whom he felt responsible, Grennan founded a non-profit organization, raised funds and returned to Nepal to find the missing, make a home for them, and locate the parents he now knew still lived without any knowledge of what had become of their offspring.

I cannot say enough good things about Little Princes. The author's writing offers readers a rare combination of humility, charm, self-effacing humor and sincerity. His story is deeply moving and yet his writing style is absolutely lovely and light. You can't help but wish you knew him. In addition to being an adventure with the occasional dangerous hike or encounter with the wrong people and a story of the stunning difference one man can make, Little Princes is has a touch of romance as Grennan met a fellow volunteer and fell in love.

Geez, talk about a sap. I have tears in my eyes just thinking about this book! Little Princes is the best kind of memoir. I laughed; I cried. Highly recommended. Buying the book can even make you feel a little valiant because a portion of the proceeds will go to Conor Grennan's non-profit organization, Next Generation Nepal.

You can read more about the book and the organization at Conor Grennan's website.

I love Heather's review of Little Princes at Capricious Reader.

Not much of a break, eh? Well, I'm not done taking time to just read, yet, but I had been hacking away at this particular review for days and finally decided how I wanted to go about wrapping it up. I figured I should do the writing while I had the inspiration.

I've finished two books, so far: A Good American by Alex George and The Pocket Therapist by Therese J. Borchard (which I happened across in a cabinet, partly read, and decided to finish off). I also cleaned a closet. Very happy about that.

I imagine I'm going to go to my book club without having completed Empire of the Summer Moon, but I'll do my best to get as much of that read as possible by Wednesday. I got a little bored with The Phantom of the Opera, last night, and added Me Before You by Jojo Moyes to the books I'm juggling. It's so good that I might set The Phantom aside for a few days.

Apropos of nothing: I just recently came across a file of husband's photos from a business trip to Germany in 2009 and there are quite a few photos that made me laugh. As much as I'd like to know what exactly is happening in this photo, I love it just because it looks like, "Dude, quit trying to spit on me."

Germany just flew to the top of my wish list of places to go.

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Fiona Friday - That is so not a cat

I'm unable to upload photos from my memory card, at the moment, so my grand-dog gets the spotlight for today. Don't you love the look of adoration on Peyton's face as my daughter-in-law put a Christmas ribbon around her neck and antlers on her head?

I am also going to take a few days off to read and step away from the computer. I'm currently halfway through A Good American by Alex George (an ARC; release date is coming up soon, in February) and about a third of the way into The Phantom of the Opera. I'm enjoying both. The other two books in my sidebar have suffered while I obsessively watched Season 1 of Downton Abbey. I need to read Empire of the Summer Moon by Wednesday of next week, though, so I'll pick it up again, soon.

Happy Reading!

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Hal Spacejock by Simon Haynes

I've known about Hal Spacejock for a long time (Simon Haynes is one of my Nano friends) and tried to acquire a copy of the book; but, even mighty Amazon couldn't get me a paper copy of Hal Spacejock from Down Under when I first sought it out. I could have acquired a PDF download but I don't like sitting at the computer to read for any great length of time.

A few weeks ago, Hal Spacejock showed up as a free Kindle download -- this time in the pretty e-book form. And, now I have an iPad with a Kindle app, so I had that sucker loaded in nothing flat.

Hal Spacejock is a slap-stick outer space tale about a Firefly-like cargo spaceship called the Black Gull (not in the greatest shape; used for interplanetary transport). Hal Spacejock is the name of the pilot. Hal is out of work and out of money. Then, someone offers him a job he can't refuse. Described as a quick transport job, it is in fact a job that nobody else will take because the planet where he is supposed to pick up robot parts is currently a no-fly zone. The military is doing target practice and anyone who shows up will become a target.

Hal's new employer sends a robot by the name of Clunk to help with the piloting. Clunk is to be reconditioned upon their arrival because he's not in the greatest shape, either. As it turns out, Hal is a pretty bad pilot and Clunk has better manners than Hal, as well as piloting skills. And, there are many complications.

I'm not going to go into any great detail, but it takes a surprising amount of time for Hal to even get off the planet. Once that occurs, Hal and Clunk go through a string of adventures that make you think Hal is one of those Too Stupid to Live characters. Light-hearted and plot-heavy, Hal Spacejock is a book to read when you're in a mood for a fun read and willing to shut off your skepticism.

Normally, I don't read reviews before writing my own, but I did glance through the Amazon reviews and found that a lot of people found Hal unlikable. But, I think he warmed up as the book progressed. I knew Hal Spacejock is just the first in a series; it didn't bother me that he was more than a little rough around the edges. And, I liked Clunk so much that I paid slightly less attention to Hal and more to his friendly, mostly-competent, nearly-human robot and his spaceship's computer, which had vague hints of Douglas Adams.

Recommended for sci-fi lovers in the mood for a little crazy, action-packed fun. Be patient with Hal. It takes him some time to soften up but he improves toward the end. I'll be downloading the next book in the series, soon.

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Ballad of Gregoire Darcy by Marsha Altman

The Ballad of Gregoire Darcy is the 4th book in Marsha Altman's Pride & Prejudice spin-off series and they absolutely must be read in order, but let me just put this out there: They're my favorites. If you like Austen spin-offs, you should definitely read them, in my humble opinion.

Onward. Gregoire Darcy is one of two unexpected brothers that Fitzwilliam Darcy manages to discover in Altman's wild and crazy series. I think he showed up in the second book, but there's been enough space between the reading of the titles that I'm not certain. At any rate, he's a monk and the book is not merely about Gregoire. It's a continuation of an epic family saga written by the one author I believe stays closest in characterization to Austen's originals (at least, in dialogue). And, yet, she is so wildly creative that -- at the same time -- Altman manages to make them all her own.

In The Ballad of Gregoire Darcy, Gregoire nearly dies and he is excommunicated. I think that's the right word. He's kicked out of the monk business, at any rate, but the reasons are quite fascinating. I can't go into details; that would be telling. In England, Gregoire must find his place. Will Gregoire ever be able to reconcile his austere days with his new life as a gentleman? What should he do next? And, might Gregoire possibly find love in this new life?

Meanwhile, there's all sorts of other adventure and madness happening. The only problem I have with The Ballad of Gregoire Darcy is the fact that the Darcys and Bingleys are so freaking prolific that it's hard to keep track of and distinguish between all the youngsters running around.

The Ballad of Gregoire Darcy is a marvelous, escapist read. There are a few characters who are almost clownish in their oddity and they are the reason the third book was my least favorite. Fortunately, those particular characters have a lesser role in the fourth installment and I absolutely loved it.

Recommended for readers of Jane Austen spin-offs and/or fans of epic family sagas who don't mind the fact that the author used someone else's characters as a starting point. Just be certain to read them in order.

The other books in the series (with links to my reviews):

The Darcys and The Bingleys

The Plight of the Darcy Brothers

Mr. Darcy's Great Escape

Things I'm working on but for which you should not hold your breath waiting:

• 2011 Reading Year in Review Post, which may include my reading goals if adding them doesn't make the post so long it won't fit on your screen.
• Learning to speak Italian (I just did Lesson 1).
• Highlighting the "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die" list to see how many I've read (and, in another color, those I've attempted and given up on -- quite a few of those, near as I can tell).
• The laundry. It never ends.

Other totally useless information:

I gave this eyeglass holder (which we refer to as "The Nose") to Kiddo as a stocking-stuffer for Christmas. He announced that he found it distasteful (actually, he may have used a lesser word) and I have therefore adopted The Nose. Quite frankly, I really love The Nose. I think he's quite handsome and it's very nice knowing where to find my glasses.

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Black Madonna by Louisa Ermelino

"And a bathroom with colored tiles on the wall," one of the women said to another in a low voice, "pink and green, laid in a pattern, like a checkerboard."

How do you know?" someone asked.

"What do you mean by that? You think I'm lying? Tony the plumber told my husband."

The women argued about who knew what and who told whom, but they all agreed that whatever the color of the bathroom tiles, Magdalena had fallen in good. "If things had gone different," one of them said, "it could have been Teresa living in that house."

But Mary Ziganetti shook her head. "Teresa never had the luck. Some people, they got a horseshoe up their ass, but not Teresa."

( ~ p. 36 of The Black Madonna)

The Black Madonna by Louisa Ermelino is yet another book I just recently happened across as I cleaned house. In fact, I considered just donating it. I took a look at the cover and thought, "It's probably one of those old chick lit books I used to love." But, just in case, I read the cover and then sat down to read a few pages. Nope, not chick lit. And, I couldn't put it down.

The Black Madonna sucked me in like a tornado. I don't know how else to put it but to tell you that the story is authentic in a way that makes you feel as if you've been dropped into another world, one so completely believable that looking away from the book for a moment is jarring.

Almost the entire book takes place on Spring Street in New York's Little Italy and in a fictional Italian village; and, the focus is the women. First, you meet Teresa in 1948 and experience her heartbreak as her son Nicky takes a 3-story fall while playing Tarzan with his friend, Jumbo. The doctors say he will never walk again; but, Teresa refuses to believe her son won't recover. She'll do anything within her power to encourage a miracle.

The second section is about Magdalena, stepmother of young Salvatore, and it takes place in 1936. Salvatore is Nicky's closest friend; the two of them are like brothers. Since you've already been introduced to Magdalena and Teresa, the jump backwards in time not only gives you a full perspective of one woman's life and how she came to live on Spring Street but also fills in some gaps in the stories of her neighbors. Teresa's personality and her story become even more well-rounded while Magdalena is magically acquiring a husband in Italy.

The final story is about Antoinette. It's 1968. Jumbo, Nicky and Salvatore are now grown men with very different lives. Jumbo still fits his name and everyone assumes he'll never find a woman but Antoinette is fine with that. Jumbo has always been the most precious part of her life -- even if he does keep getting in trouble for gambling and once had to run for his life. The kind of woman whose world is almost entirely lived in the kitchen, where she cooks to show her love to her family, Antoinette is big and loving but just a bit possessive. Will Jumbo stand up to his mother and the potential in-laws who wrinkle their nose at him? Or, will Antoinette and the mother of Jumbo's true love win the day?

Just reading those little blurbs doesn't tell you much about the book. The real joy of reading The Black Madonna is in the immersion into the world of the characters. You get to know the women, how they feel about each other, what they say behind closed doors and out in the street, how they treat their children and which sun (love, money, food) their worlds revolve around. But, you also get to know pretty much everyone else in the neighborhood. You're in the apartment with the boys when they decide to smoke and drink while Mom's away. You're down on the sidewalk listening to the men and watching them unfold their chairs and sip their drinks while they watch the women gossip and the children play.

At the heart of all this is the "Black Madonna." According to the author, the Black Madonna is "a powerful image representing the rich dark earth and its crops, the instincts of the flesh, sexuality, fertility, female power, the dark uncertain side of life, and a reminder that life is not always what's obvious." [p. 259 of The Black Madonna]

Each of the women featured in the book have their own little shrines to the Black Madonna. They pray for their own little miracles or create their own magic, but the Black Madonna is at the center of everything. I found that central theme a little strange, but in spite of the fact that I really felt like the book is focused on the women, there's no escaping the fact that the women rely on their belief in this strange alter-ego of Christ's mother and give her credit when good things happen.

My copy of The Black Madonna was copyrighted in 2001 and published by Kensington Books (in arrangement with Simon & Schuster, Inc.). I looked up the author and found that she's only published 3 books. Ah, disappointment. I was hoping she'd written a dozen, by now. But, I'll eagerly gobble down the other two, when I can find copies of them.

Highly, highly recommended. The Black Madonna is not just any old read; it's an experience. It was really quite sad leaving the world when I finished the book. That old-fashioned sense of everyone in a neighborhood being a part of each other's world is something I really loved as a child and still miss.

Just walked in:

Mariana by Susanna Kearsley - from Paperback Swap

The Photo Album by K. B. Dixon - from author for review (I don't accept many books directly from authors, these days, but this will be my third by Dixon, so . . . he's grandfathered in, I suppose)

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan - library sale purchase

Love Lies Bleeding by Jess McConkey - library sale purchase

Swim to Me by Betsy Carter - library sale purchase

That's pretty much all the news. My weekend was shot, thanks to a killer migraine and the woozy after-effects of medicating it into submission. But, today was great. Bounce, bounce. Happy Monday!

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Time Was Soft There by Jeremy Mercer

Time Was Soft There: A Paris Sojourn at Shakespeare & Co. by Jeremy Mercer is a memoir I've been hearing about for years. I came across my copy (acquired via Paperback Swap but promptly set aside) whilst deep cleaning and eagerly dived into the reading.

For those who aren't familiar with the store: Shakespeare & Co. is a Paris bookstore, famously known not only for its books but also for housing a rotating community of scruffy, soup-eating hopeful authors. Mercer stayed at the store while attempting to figure out what to do with his life.

After giving up his crime-reporting job due to a death threat, the author traveled to Paris but he ate through his savings rapidly. His memoir tells about fleeing his Canadian hometown in fear, his early days in Paris, time at Shakespeare & Co., and the literary magazine he and another resident eventually began to publish, Kilometer Zero.

Although Time Was Soft There is a memoir, it's not merely about the author's experience. Mercer also describes Shakespeare & Company's history and owner George Whitman's life. Whitman has since passed away (but he apparently lived to 98 -- maybe there's something to just living with the dirt, rather than trying to keep everything squeaky clean). The store lives on.

Although I was too busy to read much, Time Was Soft There went with me to Nashville during our Christmas holiday, along with several other books, and was the only book I bothered to continue reading when I had a spare moment. During those spare moments, I read a bit on the "rabidly" side.

I'm not quite sure what exactly I expected -- certainly not the mention of insect life, but perhaps the grubbiness of the store's residents -- however, in many ways the book was far better than anticipated. I loved the fact that Time Was Soft There is part memoir, part bio of the store's owner, part history. Memoirs run the gamut from humble to self-aggrandizing and Time Was Soft There strikes a nice balance.

Addendum: I'd completely forgotten that I read an excerpt from Time Was Soft There in Paris Was Ours (<---link to my review), which I read early in 2011. Thanks to editor Penelope Rowlands for the reminder. That particular excerpt was one of my favorites; no wonder I went into the reading with a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Recommended to memoir-loving book fiends.

On a related note, we watched Midnight in Paris, two nights ago. The entire time we were watching, I kept hoping Shakespeare & Co. would show up. Sure enough, there was a brief image. Too brief, really, but I made a little noise of excitement when the bookstore finally made an appearance. Husband was baffled. What, pray tell, was so exciting about that extremely minimal view of the bookstore? he asked (my wording). "I just read about it," I said. "Oh." Shrug. There's really no accounting for crazy book people, I suppose.

In case you're interested, Kiddo and I loved the movie (about a writer who is transported to the Twenties, where he hangs out with the expat artistic crowd gathered in Paris), even though there's no escaping the usual feel of a Woody Allen movie. I thought Owen Wilson did a spectacular job of portraying a Woody Allen role without the usual stiffness and odd gestures that make Allen's movies come across looking so staged. I do like a few Woody Allen films, just not many. Midnight in Paris is loads of fun for the literary-adoration crowd. We laughed a lot, Kiddo and I. Husband left the room. He said it was way too "typical Woody Allen" for his taste.

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Moment, ed. by Larry Smith

File The Moment under "Worst Covers Ever, Ever". Personal opinion. Now that we've gotten that out of the way . . .

I had trouble putting this book down and read it in a single afternoon -- which is, in fact, a bit unusual for me. The Moment: Wild, Poignant, Life-Changing Stories from 125 Writers and Artists Famous and Obscure is a book of short (not 6-word, but never more than a handful of pages), biographical stories about life-changing, ephiphany-type moments. Some of them are a little obscured by flowery language or even a little baffling. Meaning: "In what way did this change your life?" -- I didn't always "get it". However, most of these little autobiographical vignettes are clearly, even beautifully, written and meaningful, many to the point of tear-jerker depth.

A handful of the stories are written in graphic/illustration form. I loved most of the illustrated moments for the change of pace, although I do wish the final illustrated tale had been left out completely. It's entitled, "I Couldn't Get it Up". That pretty much tells you all you need to know. So much for leaving The Moment out where youngsters can pick it up to find inspiration. On the basis of the final story, then, the book gets a family warning. Disappointing, because I do think inspiring stories can be encouraging to youngsters.

Recommended with family warning due to a single illustrated story -- which, I suppose, one can simply remove. Apart from that one itty-bitty problem, I think kids as young as 10 could get something out of The Moment. Well-written, diverse stories -- some humorous, others inspiring, a few moved me to tears.

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Fiona Friday - Isabel's turn

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Time for a Hug by Gershator, Green & Walker review and update

Time for a Hug by Phillis Gershator & Mim Green

Illustrated by David Walker

Copyright 2012

Sterling Children's Books

(Ages 3-5)

24 pages

Wake up! Wake up!

The day is new.

The clock says eight.

What shall we do?

Wash our faces,

comb our hair,

choose the clothes we like to wear.

Eat from a bowl,

drink from a mug--

What time is it?

Time for a hug!

The little bunny in Time for a Hug is one well-loved little guy. After the intro, above, he gets another hug at 9:00 and then 10:00. He and his mother bake a pie, make sock puppets, build with blocks, read and snuggle, then hug some more.

Time for a Hug is a lovely, upbeat book for preschoolers with cheerful illustrations. As a small child, many of my favorite books had catchy rhymes and happy themes; and, they were always the first I'd reach for to read to my own small children, particularly when I was tired. A happy book with a nice rhythm is always a pleasure to read. Time for a Hug is one of those books I can imagine a small child adoring and it's certainly a great book to snuggle up and read (plus, a good excuse for lots of hugging).

Highly recommended for parents and grandparents of small children. Many thanks to Sterling Books for the review copy. I usually try to pass on children's books to a new home after reviewing them but am sorely tempted to keep this one.

In other news:

I haven't said much, this week, because it's my last week with Kiddo around the house and he made it a busier week when he was involved in a fender-bender (hit from behind -- all involved were uninjured). Other than the accident, the start of the year has been a good one. I've finished two books:

• The Ballad of Gregoire Darcy by Marsha Altman - The fourth installment in my all-time favorite Pride & Prejudice spin-off series, and
• Hal Spacejock by Simon Haynes - A crazy, slap-stick sci-fi by a Nano buddy of mine, which is currently free for Kindle download (I'll be buying the next in the series).

Time for a Hug will be counted as my third, short as it is, and I'm on the verge of finishing Little Princes by Conor Grennan - the memoir of a man who made it his mission to rescue trafficked children in Nepal and reunite them with their parents. So far, I've loved everything I've read in 2012.

I'm slowly but surely working on my reading, writing and blogging goals for 2012 but I'm not sure they're worth posting about. However, among them is a goal to clean up the look of my blog and I'm working on moving my blogroll to a separate page for starters. Recreating links is turning out to be a bigger chore than I'd anticipated, so it may take me a while.

I've also decided to rewrite my review policy. My first attempt was more like a novella than a review policy, so I took down the link and will attempt to create something very brief.

No new books have entered my house, this week. I did receive a few over the Christmas holiday. I've already read one and am about to finish another, which leaves three:

• Vurt by Jeff Noon from Paperback Swap - I have no idea where I read about this book but it sounded unique and was readily available, so I ordered a copy.
• A Light on the Veranda by Ciji Ware - from Sourcebooks, for review
• The Lola Quartet by Emily St. John Mandel - from Unbridled Books, for review

Fiona Friday post is coming up, next. I decided to remove the cat photo from this entry and make it a separate post. Sorry, Christmas apparently ate my brain. I forgot Friday and cats go together!

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Quick aside - 2011 Self-Challenge Recap

I opted not to officially sign up for any challenges in 2011, instead setting aside a shelf and starting what I called my "One Shelf at a Time Self-Challenge." Anybody want to place bets on how well that went?

Let's just say there won't be a big party with streamers and champagne. Of the books pictured above (my self-challenge shelf), I only finished the following:

Far Afield by Susanna Kaysen

True Grit by Charles Portis

Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl

All three were wonderful books. I also dipped into and rejected a few:

The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald - probably just not the right moment,

Hunting and Gathering by Anna Gavalda -whose book of short stories, I Wish Someone Were Waiting For Me Somewhere is one of my all-time favorite short-story collections, and

Bad Girls of the Bible by Liz Curtis Higgs - did not like the way she fictionalized the Biblical account of Eve and couldn't talk myself into going on to the next character, not knowing whether or not I'd know the real story well enough to get anything out of the fictionalized retelling.

One book was taken off the challenge shelf by its owner (my eldest son), who said he couldn't wait any longer for me to read it because he had a friend who wanted to borrow it:

A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick

The rest just sat there, eventually forgotten as I became overwhelmed by review books. It wasn't till November that I realized I'd forgotten about the shelf entirely, probably somewhere around July because I do recall thinking, "I should do a 6-month recap" and not getting to it. By the time I remembered I had a challenge shelf it, was obviously too late to read all those books; however, I did read Garlic & Sapphires and attempted Hunting & Gathering because they were borrowed books and I didn't think I should keep them beyond the end of the year.

This is a good example of why I don't join in on challenges. I'm a challenge failure. But, apart from the books I've rejected, I still do want to read all the remaining books on that shelf. During 2011 I managed to read The Goose Girl, which was published prior to Enna Burning (both by Shannon Hale) and therefore needed to be read first, anyway. So, there Enna will sit until her time comes.

I have some Christmas cookies to work off. Must dash, for now. I may inundate you with more reviews, later.

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

A Darcy Christmas by Grange, Lathan & Eberhart

A Darcy Christmas is a set of three Christmas novellas, all spin-offs of Pride and Prejudice but written by three different authors. I passed up the opportunity to review A Darcy Christmas in 2010 but promptly added the book to my wish list at Paperback Swap. A copy arrived in November, just in time for the Christmas season.

The first of the stories is a Pride & Prejudice version of "A Christmas Carol", in which Fitzwilliam Darcy is visited by the ghosts of Christmases past, present and future. He has given up on Elizabeth Darcy, thanks to pride and hurt feelings. The ghosts naturally convince him that his life will suck without her. I liked the first story, once I managed to shut off my internal editor. Most spin-off authors make mistakes, inserting the occasional modern or even American wording (depending upon the author), so you really have to be able to ignore those things if you want to read a spin-off.

Midway through "Mr. Darcy's Christmas Carol," by Carolyn Eberhart, I was in the groove. The second story is "Christmas Present" by Amanda Grange. It's Christmas season and Elizabeth is heavily pregnant but determined to visit her sister Jane and the newborn Bingley. There's not much to the story, but it's a sweet, lovely tale of a family gathering and new life.

The third novella, "A Darcy Christmas" by Sharon Lathan, is actually a set of short stories about Christmases throughout the years of Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth Darcy's courtship and marriage. It's a good overview of one author's imaginative progression through the lives of the characters.

Each story requires a bit of adjustment as every author endows the various families with a different set of children and her own name choices and some family members may die in one story and reappear in another, but I enjoyed this little tribute to Austen's Pride & Prejudice world. A Darcy Christmas is not, however, a book I will return to. Recommended for fans of Austen who enjoy reading alternate tales of the Pride & Prejudice characters. No previous reading of the authors is necessary.

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Awkward Family Pet Photos by Bender and Chernack

I decided I'm just going to dive into the book reviews I need to finish up from 2011 and come back to my 2012 goals later, since I'm still thinking about them.

Awkward Family Pet Photos is the only book I got for Christmas from family (I did get one from a blogger friend and hope to read it, soon). You may have seen the Awkward Family Photos website and its companion site with photos of families and their pets. The book is a collection of some of the photos from the website, some with added description, and a few awkward pet stories tossed in for good measure.

There's really not much to say about the book. Some of the photos are really funny, some actually quite clever (I love the photo of a family standing in the shape of a Christmas tree, wearing identical outfits and each holding out a large ornament) and some a little embarrassing. There are a few very old photos to show that people have been posing with their animals for a long, long time. Awkward Family Pet Photos is a good pick-me-up for a bad day -- lots of smiles involved.

We used to take an annual family Christmas photo and have lapsed, since the eldest moved out, but I think it's notable that we've usually tried to include our cats in the family photos. Cat wrangling is such fun. There was always plenty of laughter when we took those photos and I think we need to resume that tradition, next year. Awkward Family Pet Photos was a good reminder.

More brief reviews to come!

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Books Read in 2011

Books Read in 2011 (with links to reviews)

January

1. Kasey to the Rescue - Ellen Rogers

2. Wither - Lauren DeStefano

3. How to be Perfect - Daniel M. Harrell

4. Taking Out Your Emotional Trash - Georgia Shaffer

5. This is for You - Rob Ryan

6. The Ingram Interview - K. B. Dixon

7. The Dragon & the Turtle Go On Safari - Paul, Denmark & Nguyen

8. The Book of Tomorrow - Cecelia Ahern

9. God Gave Us the World - Bergren & Bryant

10. Far Afield - Susanna Kaysen

11. Wounded Spirits - April W. Gardner

12. Twenty and Ten - Claire Huchet Bishop

13. Brownie Groundhog and the February Fox - Blackaby and Segovia

14. Paris Was Ours, ed. by Penelope Rowlands

15. True Grit - Charles Portis

16. Haunting Jasmine - Anjali Banerjee

17. The Strange Man - Greg Mitchell

February

18. Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love - Andrew Shaffer

19. Tiger's Curse - Colleen Houck

20. How to Ditch Your Fairy - Justine Larbalestier

21. Night of the Twisters - Ivy Ruckman

22. The Procrastination Equation - Piers Steel, PhD

23. Curse of the Crocodile God - Stewart Ross

24. Gone - Lisa McMann

25. The Dark Divine - Bree Despain

26. 10 Lessons from a Former Fat Girl - Amy Parham

27. High Points and Lows - Austin Carty

28. A Billion Reasons Why - Kristin Billerbeck

29. My Love, My Enemy - Jan Cox Speas

30. Moonface by Angela Balcita

March

31. The Mental Floss History of the United States - Eric Sass

32. The Butt Book - Bennett & Lester

33. Christian the Lion - Bourke & Rendall

34. It Happened One Bite - Lydia Dare

35. The Mountains Bow Down by Sibella Giorello

36. If I Stay - Gayle Forman

37. Where She Went - Gayle Forman

38. Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese

39. Between Shades of Gray - Ruta Sepetys

40. Staying at Daisy's - Jill Mansell

41. Strangers - Taichi Yamada

42. Home to Woefield - Susan Juby

April

43. Pictures of You - Caroline Leavitt

44. The Goose Girl - Shannon Hale

45. A Wonder Book - Nathaniel Hawthorne

46. On Maggie's Watch - Ann Wertz Garvin

47. Quiet Bunny's Many Colors - Lisa McCue

48. The Peach Keeper - Sarah Addison Allen

49. Kat, Incorrigible - Stephanie Burgess

50. In Grandma's Attic - Arleta Richardson

51. The Best American Poetry, 2009 - ed. by David Wagoner

52. The Girl Who Chased the Moon - Sarah Addison Allen

53. More Stories from Grandma's Attic - Arleta Richardson

54. Radio Shangri-La - Lisa Napoli

55. The Winter Ghosts - Kate Mosse

56. True Courage - Steve Farrar

May

57. mental_floss Genius Instruction Manual

58. The Lightkeeper's Ball - Colleen Coble

59. Skinny - Diana Spechler

60. When a Dragon Moves In - J. Moore and H. McWilliam

61. Charleston is Burning! - Daniel J. Crooks, Jr.

62. Chime - Franny Billingsley

63. French Milk - Lucy Knisley

64. Charleston Mysteries - Cathy Pickens

65. The Making of a Rogue - Shana Galen

66. Fire Season - Philip Connors

June

67. Proust's Overcoat - Lorenzo Foschini

68. The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein

69. You Know When the Men are Gone - Siobhan Fallon

70. Regeneration - Pat Barker

71. The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus - Sonya Sones

72. The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady - Elizabeth Stuckey-French

73. Lost in Shangri-La by Michael Zuckoff

74. Dog Tales - Susy Flory

75. The Soldier's Wife - Margaret Leroy

76. My Dear I Wanted to Tell You - Louisa Young

77. After the Quake - Haruki Murikami

78. Casper the Commuting Cat - Susan Finden

July

79. The Summer of the Bear - Bella Pollen

80. Avebury Avenues - Esther Smith

81. The Ghost of Greenwich Village - Lorna Graham

82. Everything Beautiful Began After - Simon Van Booy

83. Gone - Michael Grant

84. Face to Face with God - Jim Maxim

85. One Second After - William R. Forstchen

86. Agonizing Love - Michael Barson

87. Amazing and Extraordinary Facts: Great Britain - Stephen Halliday

88. God Gave Us You - Bergren and Bryant

89. The Help - Kathryn Stockett

90. Divergent - Veronica Roth

91. When She Woke - Hilary Jordan

August

92. Inside Out - Maria V. Snyder

93. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running - Haruki Murakami

94. Pillow Talk - Freya North

95. 13 Little Blue Envelopes - Maureen Johnson

96. The Last Little Blue Envelope - Maureen Johnson

97. The Girl Who Fell from the Sky - Heidi W. Durrow

98. Still More Stories from Grandma's Attic - Arleta Richardson

99. Treasures from Grandma's Attic - Arleta Richardson

100. Maman's Homesick Pie - Donia Bijan

101. Horoscopes for the Dead - Billy Collins

September

102. Lord & Lady Spy - Shana Galen

103. Juniper Berry - M. P. Kozlowsky

104. The Busy Life of Ernestine Buckmeister

105. The Lost Wife - Alyson Richman

106. The Call - Yannick Murphy

107. The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine - Alina Bronsky

108. The Oracle of Stamboul - Michael David Lukas

109. Riding with No Hands - Gregory K. Moffatt, PhD

110. To the Moon and Back - Jill Mansell

111. The Taste of Salt - Martha Southgate

112. Learning to Bow - Bruce Feiler

113. Haiku Mind - Patricia Donegan

114. Everything Beautiful Began After - Simon Van Booy (reread)

October:

115. How to Survive the Titanic - Frances Wilson

116. Lives - Lucas Hunt

117. Demian - Hermann Hesse

118. The Borrower - Rebecca Makkai

119. The Education of a British-Protected Child - Chinua Achebe

120. How to Be an American Housewife - Margaret Dilloway

121. Don't Look Now - Daphne Du Maurier

November:

122. Philippa Fisher's Fairy Godsister - Liz Kessler

123. Remembering You - Tricia Goyer

124. Flight to Heaven - Capt. Dale Black

125. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter - Tom Franklin

126. Emory's Gift - W. Bruce Cameron

127. The Housekeeper and the Professor - Yoko Ogawa

128. The Wind is My Mother - Bear Heart

December:

129. Edward S. Curtis: Coming to Light - Anne Makepeace

130. Light on a Distant Hill - B. J. Scott

131. Matched - Ally Condie

132. Menagerie - Sharon Montrose

133. Silly Frilly Grandma Tillie - Jacobs & Jewett

134. Garlic & Sapphires - Ruth Reichl

135. The Tapestry of Love - Rosy Thornton

136. The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Vol. 1 - Hit Record & J. G. Leavitt

137. Mrs. Claus Explains It All - Claus & Wenzel

138. Lights Out Liverpool - Maureen Lee

139. Time Was Soft There - Jeremy Mercer

140. Awkward Family Pet Photos - Bender & Chernack

141. The Moment - Ed. by Larry Smith

142. The Black Madonna - Louisa Ermelino

143. A Darcy Christmas - Grange, Lathan & Eberhart

©2012 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Happy New Year!

Image Source

Happy New Year to my fellow blogging, reading, Internet friends and relatives! We have been without phone and Internet service for a week! Who'd have thought that could happen in the modern world? I chose to take advantage of the time and finished reading 5 books (although I'm not sure Awkward Family Pet Photos really counts). I will update you, soon. It's going to take me a few days to get used to wasting time on the Internet, again. :)

I finished up the year 2011 with 143 reads. That includes a few with hardly any text and some children's books. I think it was a pretty decent year, not my best in quantity but an improvement in quality/enjoyment. It usually takes me a few weeks (sometimes several months) to write my Year in Review post, but I'll post the full list, before then.

Welcome to a nice, fresh and shiny year where anything can happen. I hope the majority of 2012 is wondrous and exciting for you!

Love,

Bookfool