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Friday, August 16, 2013

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Harper Teen - Young Adult/Paranormal (1st of 3 in series)

335 pp.

First ~~sentence~~ paragraph:

Wait--did you--You just yawned!" The vampire's arms, raised over his head in the classic Dracula pose, dropped to his sides. He pulled his exaggerated white fangs back behind his lips. "What, imminent death isn't exciting enough for you?"

From the cover:

"Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie's always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she's falling for a shape-shifter, and she's the only person who can see through paranormals' glamours, but still. Normal.

Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie's dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures."

Raquel sighed. She was a professional sigher--the woman conveyed more emotions with a single exhalation than most people do with their entire faces.

My thoughts:

I waited several years to get a copy of Paranormalcy from Paperback Swap and it was definitely worth the wait. Of course, now I want to get my mitts on the remaining books in the trilogy. I liked Evie and loved the quirkiness and humor of the story, although I did get a little bit tired of teen slang.

Recommended - A light-hearted, campy read that is clever, fast-paced, adventurous and entertaining.

Paranormalcy came from my personal library.

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Widows of Braxton County by Jess McConkey

The Widows of Braxton County by Jess McConkey

William Morrow (an imprint of HarperCollins) - Contemporary-historical fiction with a touch of mystery

358 pp.

First Sentence:

Hannah Krause drew the back of her hand over her eyes and, careful of the squeaking bedsprings, slowly rolled onto her side.

Description:

In 1890, Jacob Krause is murdered in his bed. His eldest son, Joseph, cheats Jacob's second wife, Hannah, and her son Willie out of their portion of the farm after Hannah is blamed for Jacob's death. But, Hannah is innocent and 130 years later the mystery remains unsolved.

In 2012, Kate marries Joseph's descendant, Joe, and moves to the same farm where the family has been living under a curse for over 130 years. There, she finds that Joe is not the gentle man who wooed her but a violent man who is barely hanging onto the family farm. And, there's another surprise waiting. Joe's mother, Trudy, a bitter woman who belittles Kate and treats her like a household slave.

Kate tries to be what her husband and mother-in-law want her to be, eventually realizing she must place her own needs first. But, even as she's trying to work things out with Joe and get back on an even keel, history suddenly repeats itself. As Kate tries to dig into the past to find out what exactly happened to Hannah and her son Willie and prove herself innocent of murder, she finds that to ask about Hannah is to enter forbidden territory.

My thoughts:

Yet another story with a historical woman's tale told in parallel with a contemporary tale, The Widows of Braxton County is about murder, greed and how violence is passed down through generations. I gave The Widows of Braxton County a high rating because I was in the midst of a slump and the story sucked me in, right away. I loved the hint of mystery (just enough to keep the plot moving but not enough to toss it into the mystery genre) and the way Kate summoned the strength to do what she needed to do after trying her best to please people who were far too headstrong to respond positively. The Widows of Braxton County is as much about the differences between life for women 130 years ago vs. today as it is a mystery with a touch of the paranormal.

Recommended - While not brilliant and extremely quotable, I thought Jess McConkey's writing was solid, the plot gripping and the two female characters upon whom the book is focused great characters. I rooted for both of them, hoping they would go on to have happy lives. Occasionally, I found that I had trouble remembering which side of the family (Joseph's or Willie's) the characters referred to in dialogue, so a family tree diagram would have been helpful but a little confusion was never enough to slow the reading down significantly.

I received a copy of The Widows of Braxton County by mistake from HarperCollins and chose to review it. What a terrific mistake that turned out to be! I really enjoyed the story and am grateful that it was around when nothing else was appealing to me.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters

The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters

Quirk Books - Fiction/Mystery/Pre-apocalyptic

316 pp.

First sentence:

I'm staring at the insurance man and he's staring at me, two cold gray eyes behind old-fashioned tortoiseshell frames, and I'm having this awful and inspiring feeling, like holy moly this is real, and I don't know if I'm ready, I really don't.

In The Last Policeman, Hank Palace is a young detective who thinks a death by hanging is actually a murder. He is, however, the only officer who gives a flip about solving the case (if it really is a murder) because the world is going to be hit by an asteroid in approximately 6 months and everyone's going to die, anyway.

The Last Policeman is pre-apocalyptic in the manner of On the Beach by Nevil Shute (although, the apocalyptic event has already occurred in On the Beach) in that everyone's going to die and they know it. So, The Last Policeman not only explores a possible murder but the reaction of the characters to their impending doom. But, what makes The Last Policeman really special is the fact that the author has a terrific sense of humor.

I can picture him, the thug resplendent: loops of chain drooping from black jeans, skull-and-crossbones pinky ring, scrawny wrists and forearms crawling with several species of tattoo snakes. The rat-eyed face twisted with melodramatic outrage, having to answer the phone, take orders from a stuck-up egghead policeman like myself. But look, I mean, that's what you get for being a drug dealer, and moreover for getting caught, at this juncture in American history. Victor may not know by heart the full text of the Impact Preparation Security and Stabilization Act, but he's got the gist.

~p. 50

No one is really sure--even those of us who have read the eight-hundred-page law from beginning to end, scored it and underlined it, done our best to keep current with the various amendments and codicils--not a hundred percent sure what the "Preparation" parts of IPSS are supposed to be, exactly. McGully likes to say that sometime around late September they'll start handing out umbrellas.

~p. 53

"You know what I'm doing right now?" I say, watching the muddy liquid rush toward the edge of the table. "I'm thinking: Oh no! The coffee's going to spill onto the floor! I'm so worried! Let's keep talking about it!"

And then the coffee waterfalls over the side of the desk, splashing on Andreas's shoes and pooling on the ground beneath the desk.

"Oh, look at that," I say. "It happened anyway."

~p. 174

You can view the book trailer for The Last Policeman, here.

Highly recommended - This is such great writing: sharp, hilarious, an instant favorite, the kind of rare book that is so quotable I found myself reading excerpts to my husband (with whom I will only share a passage if I think he'll laugh or a quote will generate a decent discussion -- he laughed, every time). I particularly love the fact that Hank Palace's attitude to the question, "What do you do when you're going to die in 6 months?" is, "Might as well just keep on working." Whenever someone says something particularly positive about just getting on with life, he always says something to the effect of, "I like that person. Him, I like." Cool. It's been a few weeks since I read The Last Policeman and I still have that "bounce, bounce, bounce, can't-wait -for-the-next-in-the-series" feeling.

The Last Policeman is a book that was added to my personal collection recently, thanks to the generosity of my friend Sandie. Thanks, Sandie!

Good Kings Bad Kings by Susan Nussbaum

Good Kings Bad Kings by Susan Nussbaum

Algonquin Books - Fiction

298 pp.

First sentence (plus one):

My tia Nene said three is the magic number and when three things happen to you that are so, so bad and you feel like the whole wide world is just throwing up on your new shoes, don't worry. Your bad luck is about to change.

Good Kings Bad Kings is about the patients and staff at an institution for juveniles with disabilities in Chicago's South Side. The story is told through the voices of several of the staff members, a woman who recruits patients for the facility and a number of the disabled youth who are pretty much imprisoned by the institution's diabolical rules, refusal to purchase motorized wheelchairs and their own disabilities.

My thoughts:

Good Kings Bad Kings is written in vernacular and told in first person by so many different characters that it can be difficult sifting through the mental files to keep all of those characters straight, but it absolutely sucked me in from the first page . . . which is unusual. I abhor the use of vernacular. But, in this case it actually did serve to distinguish the characters well, although the distinctions were often subtle and used to show how those who came from poor backgrounds were or are abused by a system practically designed for abuse -- one in which a private company can persuade people to legally sign over the care of their children and then hire unskilled, poorly paid workers while pocketing the majority of the funds meant for their care.

After I got hit by the No. 8, I went through a rehab process and they finally gave me my first wheelchair. It was manual. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't do more than push myself a few feet on a smooth surface. Carpet was like quicksand. People had to push me everywhere. I'd end up staring at a fern or getting my feet smashed into a wall or being held hostage in the middle of someone else's conversation. I could see where I wanted to go but was powerless to make it happen.

~p. 12

There may be just a few too many characters speaking in first person in Good Kings Bad Kings but the variety of viewpoints, while a bit exhausting, gives you a pretty good view of how a system meant for the care of those in need can be abused and how dangerous and deadly the abuse can be.

Highly recommended - I really do hate vernacular but I thought Good Kings Bad Kings was a powerful story, both in spite of the way it's told and because of it. There were times that a character's mode of speech was horribly difficult to read because "Chicago South Side" is not an accent that's familiar to me. I'd occasionally find myself looking at a word written in vernacular, completely puzzled as to just what word that was supposed to represent. But, the bottom line is that Good Kings Bad Kings is a fictional story about a real-life problem that does an excellent job of plunking the reader vividly into the middle of the horror. The only thing I think the book lacks is a section on what readers can do to help bring about change.

I received a copy of Good Kings Bad Kings from Algonquin Books unsolicited and chose to write an unbiased review.

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Claire of the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat

Claire of the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat

A. A. Knopf - Fiction

256 pp.

To be released 8/27/13

First sentence:

The morning Claire Limyè Lanmè Faustin turned seven, a freak wave, measuring between ten and twelve feet high, was seen in the ocean outside of Ville Rose.

Claire of the Sea Light is partly about Claire, a young girl who goes missing on her 7th birthday, when she is told to gather her possessions. She is being given to a shopkeeper by her father. Claire's mother died in childbirth and her father, a fisherman, wants to give her a chance at a better life.

But, the story is not just about Claire. Claire's life serves as the framework for a novel that encompasses the lives of a number of interconnected people in the coastal town of Ville Rose, Haiti, where a only a small percentage of residents are wealthy and the rest are desperately poor.

My thoughts:

I was surprised how little of the book is actually dedicated to Claire (whose full given name translates to "Claire of the Sea Light", hence the title), instead using her story to explore the lives of people in the city and how they intersect, mostly through violence and heartbreak. In general terms, I think the story is about the difficulty of life in Haiti, even for the wealthy, but you could also say it's about life and death, love and heartbreak, kindness and violence. The publisher's description mentions "secrets" that gradually come to light and those tend to be pretty horrifying - rape, murder, affairs. There are acts of kindness, also, and Claire's deceased mother is described as an especially gentle and kind person, but the good is definitely overshadowed by by the bad.

I honestly didn't have a lot of patience with Claire of the Sea Light, which surprised me because I've wanted to read a book by Edwidge Danticat for many years and jumped at the opportunity to read her latest. All the dots were connected, eventually, but the story leapt around too much and was perhaps a bit too sad for me, at this moment.

Recommended but not a favorite - I'm hoping this was simply a case of bad timing. Claire of the Sea Light's characterization is excellent and I liked the book more on reflection than during the reading, as I pondered the connections and how the author used Claire's story to describe the intersecting lives, the dysfunctional legal system and disastrous poverty and violence in Haiti. I couldn't find a Ville Rose in Haiti maps so I'm assuming the author took a real area and fictionalized it, based on the fact that she tossed in a bit of history about Pauline Bonaparte's unfinished castle. I will definitely give the author's work another try, but I found Claire of the Sea Light an average read.

Vocabulary moment:

"Some years they'd actually made a profit from their wild vetiver, which was not only good for the soil but also much sought after by two perfume company suppliers in the nearby southern city of Les Cayes."

vetiver: (noun) - A fragrant extract or essential oil obtained from the root of an Indian grass (Vetiveria zizanioides), used in perfumery and aromatherapy.

I received an ARC of Claire of the Sea Light from Alfred. A. Knopf in return for an unbiased review.

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman - 2nd attempt

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

William Morrow (an imprint of HarperCollins) - Fantasy

178 pp.

Going to the easy Q/A format for my second attempt at reviewing this book (I didn't like my first review, which was long, cluttered with too many quotes and didn't include my thoughts about its flaws, so I never put links up at Twitter and Facebook).

It was not pitch-black. It was the kind of cloudy night where the clouds seem to gather up light from distant streetlights and houses below, and throw it back at the earth.

~p. 79

Ursula Monkton smiled, and the lightnings wreathed and writhed about her. She was power incarnate, standing in the crackling air. She was the storm, she was the lightning, she was the adult world with all its power and all its secrets and all its foolish casual cruelty. She winked at me.

~p. 86

What led you to pick up The Ocean at the End of the Lane?

Neil Gaiman is an author whose books are iffy for me. Some I love, some leave me wondering what on earth that was about, but those I love become favorites that end up on the permanent shelves, so I look forward to his new releases.

Summarize the plot but don't give away the ending:

While at home in his native Sussex for a funeral, a man returns to the site of his rambling childhood home and is reminded of events that took place when he was 7 years old. At the time, his parents were having financial difficulty and he had to give up his room to be used by a string of boarders. Death, betrayal, loneliness, the love and companionship of a pet, friendship, and fear all feature in The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

Many of the story's elements imply "Animal-loving, book-addicted nerdy artistic type recalls childhood fears and experiences that made him what he is today." But, those bits are also tied into an adventurous and nicely creepy fantasy story with a fairy ring, an ocean that appears to be a pond, and what I think you could refer to as "old magic". But while those hints at the author's backstory are the core of the novel and apparently its purpose, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is also about how people grow and change and narrow in many ways but the same child is still there, lurking inside us.

Capsule description: A deeply personal story of childhood fear, wrapped in fantasy.

What did you like most about The Ocean at the End of the Lane?

I liked the fact that The Ocean at the End of the Lane was more personal in nature than any other book I've read by Gaiman. It was only between readings (I've read it twice) that I found out I was correct in assuming that the author opened up emotionally in The Ocean at the End of the Lane as the book was written for (or, maybe to) his wife to explain himself in ways he apparently found difficult to share in person. I could relate to his childhood in many ways (in a broad sense, as in the bookish tendencies, love of a companionable kitty and awkwardness) and I enjoyed the fantasy portion because it was creepy without being nightmare-inducing, adventurous, highly descriptive of British childhood and a pleasant story of friendship.

What did you dislike about The Ocean at the End of the Lane?

Actually, let's make this clear: I loved The Ocean at the End of the Lane. I thought it had one major flaw, though, and that's the fact that it plods along sounding like a bildungsroman and then suddenly the little boy and his new friend, Lettie, are walking into a dangerous fantasy world. In other words, the segue to the fantasy world was a bit of a jolt. That didn't bother me, upon the first reading, but it stood out a bit more on the second reading and helped me to understand where the, "What was that about?" sensation some of my friends have mentioned comes from. In fact, it kind of makes me want to give Coraline a second go because I so did not get that book at all.

The only thing I actually disliked was not part of the story but the acknowledgments. Any nerdy guy who sprinkles quotes about books being his best friends throughout a book ought to understand that true book addicts are going to read the acknowledgments (and afterword, author's notes, etc.) It matters not one whit that the reader knows absolutely nobody in the author's life. For my part, I like reading lists of names. I'm fascinated by the variety of ways people name their offspring.

This is the first paragraph from the acknowledgements:

This book is the book you have just read. It's done. Now we're in the acknowledgments. This is not really part of the book. You do not have to read it. It's mostly just names.

Um . . . yeah. If this was a children's book, maybe that would be a nice little addition, but it is not and I think in the context of a "childhood story told to adults" that paragraph comes off as rather obnoxious and/or condescending, whether or not it was it was intended that way. I read the acknowledgments anyway, of course. I always do.

Share a favorite scene from the book:

I particularly liked the scene toward the end of the book, when Lettie plunks the boy into a protective fairy ring and tells him absolutely not to move, no matter what, the things that happen while he waits, and his exit from the fairy ring (which I suppose would be a spoiler). It's delightful and creative.

In general:

Highly recommended - I loved the blend of "what it was like being a young boy in Sussex" with Neil Gaiman's touch of fantasy. I don't always "get" Gaiman's books but this one really worked for me.

Cover thoughts:

What a gorgeous cover! It's got that little hint of creepiness, the color is beautiful and the image is relevant to the storyline. Definitely a grabber and one of my favorite covers of the year.

Links:

Amanda Palmer's essay, "The Ocean at the End of the Lane (a Book and Marriage review)"

New York Times Book Review of The Ocean at the End of the Lane

The Guardian review of The Ocean at the End of the Lane by A. S. Byatt (contains spoilers) - The comments are interesting as they reveal elements the author has used in other books:

"I'm sure there are plenty of allusions which I missed, but did anyone else pick up that the Hempstock women have the same name because they are actually the three stages of womanhood - maiden, mother and crone?"

That comment by someone posting as "Gatz" led to some interesting discussion.

Stuff as Dreams Are Made On review of The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Estella's Revenge review of The Ocean at the End of the Lane

I received a copy of The Ocean at the End of the Lane from HarperCollins in return for an unbiased review. My thanks to HarperCollins!

Monday, August 12, 2013

Monday Malarkey - The kitten, reading, arrivals, movies and life updates

Kitten first!

Wow, what a difference 6 weeks makes in a kitten! Can you believe the top photo is River just 6 weeks ago (when she was new to us and we still called her Prissy) and the bottom photo is . . . well, last week before my hard drive filled up? It'll be a while before I get a new hard drive, incidentally, so no fresh photos till that happens.

Last week we looked at the little cardboard box cover Huzzybuns made for River's litterbox when she came home and couldn't believe she was ever small enough that it seemed reasonable for her to go through that little door. She now barely fits under the couch, which is making it rough for her to escape when Isabel goes on the rampage but Izzy is slowly adjusting. We have had zippo success getting River to scratch in the right places but I just read up on declawing, again, to remind myself No Way in Hell would I do that to a cat. We'll just have to keep working on her.

Almost 2 weeks after I told the rescue I think it would be best if they put River's photo back up on the adoption pages, her photo has not appeared. And, she is completely convinced that she owns us. So, it's hard to say what will happen.

Reading:

Remember when I said I was enjoying The Girls of Atomic City? It's been a couple weeks since I even opened the book. I read 101 pages and the second 50 pages were, I fear, deadly dull. There's a lot of talk about how this secret town was created so quickly for the sake of the war effort and some historical background on the science of atomic bombs but I found there wasn't enough depth to the personal accounts. When I set it aside, I knew I needed to give it a little more time but I keep looking at it and hesitating. If the first 100 pages weren't doing it, should I bother? Sometimes I don't know. But, I do find anything WWII-related fascinating, in general, so I want to go on. I will read some of it today and make a decision whether or not to continue.

Otherwise, I've had to read slump-breaking books. After Good Kings Bad Kings, I picked up about 7 different books and read their first pages. Not a single one grabbed me and I realized it was my mood, not the books. So, I decided to go with my standard slump-breaker, a Young Adult novel, Paranormalcy by Kiersten White. Paranormalcy broke my slump nicely. Then, I moved on to The Curiosity by Stephen Kiernan. It kept my interest and while I think it's far-fetched and the ending was a serious let-down, I enjoyed the read and thought it would make a good discussion book. Then, the same exact slumpy thing happened, all over, again. I don't know how many books I attempted before I decided to read a book I got by mistake: The Widows of Braxton County by Jess McConkey.

I requested The Butterfly Sister from HarperCollins but got The Widows of Braxton County, instead. When it arrived, I thought, "Oh, darn. I remember reading about that and the blurb didn't interest me." Boy, was I surprised when I picked it up and it proved to be my second block-breaking book. I finished it so quickly I never managed to post a "currently reading" image in the sidebar. It's yet another historical-contemporary blend but fortunately the author doesn't leap back and forth every other chapter. I loved the historical murder mystery, the slow development of the heroine, who starts out meek and gains strength after a rough start with a violent man, plus the occasional ghostly touch.

Recent Arrivals (this is 2 weeks' worth):

The Clockwork Scarab by Colleen Gleason - from Chronicle Books, for review. This one came beautifully packaged with a note printed in script (as you can see, above) and sealed with a sticker that looked like a wax seal! I love it when publishers add that little touch that makes receiving an advance reader feel like you've just received a Christmas gift.
Novel Ideas by K. B. Dixon - from the author, for review. I've read several of Ken Dixon's books and enjoyed them. I very seldom accept books directly from authors but he's a notable exception.
It's Beginning to Hurt: Stories by James Lasdun - via Paperback Swap. Very exciting swap arrival. I've had this one on my wish list for just under 4 years.

Movies:

We don't watch a lot of TV, around here, since we have no cable or satellite. All we have is Amazon's streaming (my husband bought Prime membership for the streaming, although I confess we've enjoyed the quick shipping on occasion) and local channels. Husband watches a lot of cooking shows on Create and PBS is our go-to favorite network. Otherwise, we occasionally find a series to stream or watch movies on weekends and that's about it. I was in a TV mood so I streamed part of the 6th episode of Under the Dome. I was curious about the show, although it never did much for me and this particular episode was, I thought, just too much. Too violent, too patently stupid with the electrical engineer whipping up her little device to track down the source of interference blocking phone and radio signals. I gave up in the middle and won't go back. Husband arrived for episode 3 of Suits, Season 1. Can't say either of us were thrilled with that, either, although we didn't think it appalling.

I turned off the TV and when I returned, Huzzybuns had turned on . . . of all the unexpected movies . . . Blue Hawaii, starring Elvis. It was not a great movie, of course, but it's hilarious. We laughed a lot, sang along to about half of the songs and ogled the "mid-century modern" furnishings, which were mixed in with furniture from other eras. Apparently, the middle of the last century was more eclectic than memory serves. When the movie ended, I asked Husband why he chose Blue Hawaii and he said, "All the modern stuff sucks, so I decided to go back to old movies." Good thinking. Believe it or not, Blue Hawaii was definitely an improvement over the two TV episodes.

Then we moved on to In Like Flint, yet another Sixties movie starring James Coburn. We own both of the Flint movies (James Bond parodies) on DVD but Lord only knows where they are. We haven't gotten around to unpacking DVDs, yet. More mid-century modern furniture! Ohmygosh, the burnt orange! "Please, God, don't let them bring back burnt orange," ran through my head throughout. And, then I got on the internet and saw a couple ads for mid-century modern furnishings in . . . you guessed it, orange.

Life:

We're shooting for finishing the work on our former home and getting it on the market by the end of August and had a real estate agent walk through to tell us what she thinks we still need to do and what we can ignore. We were naturally happy to hear that there were a few things we can skip fixing up, but there were plenty of others we'd hoped to get away with skipping (taking down the last of the wallpaper, ugh) and what remains to be done makes my mind boggle -- the wallpaper stripping (thank goodness we'd been pulling down wallpaper for years and only the bathrooms and 1 bedroom remain) and painting those walls, one room and two closets that need wood flooring put down, trim in several rooms, touch-up paint in others, painting all of the doors and the kitchen (and some ceilings), one appliance repair job and a fan replacement. The garage needs to be emptied and cleaned. All of the windows need to be washed and the yard needs a major clean up. And, our renter left some horrible stains in the den carpet, which we'll probably need to steam clean because spot scrubbing hasn't worked. Apart from our plan to hire a service to tidy the yard (which was not taken care of by our renter), we're doing everything ourselves and limited to weekends. It's taking forever. But, I think we feel like we're finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, in spite of that huge list.

Blog:

Well . . . it's still here, isn't it? I wish I could find more time to visit other blogs. I think I just need to pick a day to go blog-hopping. I miss chatting with fellow bloggers. Thank goodness for Facebook and Twitter or I'd probably never get to speak to anyone at all.

Happy Monday and if you're even bothering to stop by this blog, thank you!

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Fiona Friday Oh-no-wrong-day-again - All three kitties

I'm a little under-the-weather, today, so the Neil Gaiman review will have to wait. Instead, you get kitties.

Fiona watches a skink peeking in through the breakfast nook window:

Izzy plays with a string (we keep several strings hanging in various places so the kitties can pull them down and drag them around the house):

River (no longer called "Prissy" because she's been with us too long to keep calling her by a name we don't like) helps out while I unload books in the library:

Coming soon, a second attempt

No, you're not imagining things if you think you already saw a review of Neil Gaiman's latest on this blog. I wrote a review, posted it and then decided I didn't like my review -- too much of some things, too little of another. So, I took it down and will work on a rewrite (hopefully, tomorrow).

Tuesday, August 06, 2013

July Reads in Review 2013

I used to regularly post about my monthly reads in brief. Not sure when or why I stopped doing so, but I can't load new photos (hard drive is full -- shocking!) so I was looking at this photo of the notes I took when I was re-reading The Illusion of Separateness and thought, "Month in Review!" So, here you go. This photo might contain some spoilers but probably not. I erased the only line I thought was clearly suspect but don't actually read the notes if you're concerned about potential spoilers, okay? Links lead to reviews, if applicable.

July Reads in Review:

**Absolute Favorites (but I liked everything - this was a very good reading month)
*Secondary Favorites

72. **The Illusion of Separateness by Simon Van Booy (reread) - WWII and contemporary, a book about kindness and how we're all connected. Loved it even more the second time.

73. **Is This Tomorrow by Caroline Leavitt - The unputdownable story of a Jewish divorcee trying to get by in the 1950s and 60s and what happens when a local boy goes missing.

74. Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell - A reliable man disappears during his morning walk and it turns out to be deliberate. Family comes together to figure out what happened, solve their problems and locate their missing father.

75. Everybody Has Everything by Katrina Onstad - When a couple is in a horrible car accident, Ana and James become their son's guardians. Ana was horrid. James is great but I thought the plot twist to make him seem more human felt more than a bit manufactured. I liked this book a lot but that cliché flaw and Ana's attitude detracted from what could have been a terrific story.

76. French Leave by Anna Gavalda - A short book (translated from the French) about 3 French siblings who skip out on a wedding to have one last get-together. Started out great but petered out.

77. Lotería by Mario Alberto Zambrano - A harsh read about a girl who has been abused and how knowing only violence has effected her, told through the use of cards in the lotería game (a Spanish game like Bingo).

78. The Bohemian Love Diaries by Slash Coleman - A fun, quirky memoir about growing up in a Bohemian family and the author's search for love, his drifting and how he sought out the best way to express himself as an artist. A little over-the-top in a good way.

79. **Well Wished by Franny Billingsley - A middle-grade fantasy about a wish that goes wrong and the clever young girl who sets out to undo a series of wishes that have led to a big, tangled mess. I love everything Franny Billingsley writes. Fabulous book.

80. We Go Together by Todd Dunn - A cute Children's board book that I'll review closer to release date.

81. *Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson - This story about a girl named Ruby, told from conception to adulthood, is also a family saga about all the characters in her family, how some of them go missing and the reverberations from those disappearances. Bit of a slog but in the end when she explains everything it's such a knockout that it becomes suddenly worth the effort, on reflection.

DNF: Godiva by Nicole Galland - Not much happened but a lot of flirting and a king getting pissed off at Lady Godiva. Gave up at p. 90. I don't usually include DNFs in a review post but for some reason I stuck it on my running list, so there you go.

82. Rufus Goes to School by K. Griswell and V. Gorbachev - A children's picture book about a pig who goes to school. Loved it till the end and I thought the last page was kind of a surprising let-down (the ending didn't fit the beginning) but it's a pig book so I still love it.

83. *The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway - Time travel/paranormal story about a man who is yanked out of time and thrown 200 years into the future, trained to live in the modern world and then summoned to go back to Regency England because of a problem with the time stream. I love time travel and enjoyed this one. The ending wasn't perfect but I'm looking forward to reading on.

84. **Burial Rites by Hannah Kent - An Icelandic woman convicted of murder is to be beheaded as an example but Iceland has no facilities so a family has to keep her until the details of execution are worked out. This is based on a true story and really beautifully done. You get to know the family in 3rd person as Agnes slowly reveals her own story.

85. **The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters - Earth is going to be hit by an asteroid in 6 months and a lot of people are committing suicide. When a detective thinks one suicide was really murder, he sets out to investigate. Another vague bit of let-down in the ending but I really loved this book because it's smart, clever, funny, engaging . . . just a great read, overall. Absolutely dying to read the next in the series.

Saturday, August 03, 2013

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Little Brown and Co. - Historical Fiction/Iceland

323 pp.

To be released 9/10/13

Motes of dust drift in the sunlight coming through the dried membrane fastened to the window. As I stare at them, the thrill of escape is sucked away, like water down a geyser. I would only be trading one death sentence for another. Up in the highlands blizzards howl like the widows of fishermen and the wind blisters the skin off your face. Winter comes like a punch in the dark. The uninhabited places are as cruel as any executioner.

~ p. 68 of Advance Reader Copy (some changes may have been made to the final print version)

Burial Rites is about Agnes Magnúsdóttir, a woman convicted of murder and awaiting execution. Because there are no facilities for holding convicts in Iceland, Agnes is sent to a family farm where she helps with the housekeeping and chores but is still a prisoner, the frigid temperatures and geography enough to keep her from any escape attempt.

As Agnus gets to know the family and is counseled by a priest named Tóti, whom she personally requested because of a long-ago encounter, her story is slowly revealed. Is she, or is she not a brutal murderer? Burial Rites takes place in Iceland in the 1820s and is based on a true story.

My thoughts:

Impressive work, especially for such a young, first-time author. Highly recommended - a tale that is both absorbing and atmospheric. I loved the chilly Icelandic setting (perfect for hot summer reading), the graceful writing and the questions the story brings up. I found the conclusion plausible, the ending sad yet not depressing because of the transformation that takes place in certain characters. I'm really, really looking forward to our group discussion.

My F2F group received copies of Burial Rites from Little Brown and Co. for discussion. More to come after our August meeting!

Friday, August 02, 2013

Fiona Friday - Surprising sight and some other news

If Fiona has ever climbed inside the cubby in her kitty tree, I sure don't remember it. Maybe when she was a kitten?

Cool site I found:

Unusual Words

News of the week:

You know how sometimes people who begin as book bloggers eventually opt to "divorce" their blog from books as a focus, suddenly stop blogging or just shut down their book blogs and start up a new one, sometimes without sharing the URL with anyone? It took me quite some time to understand why anyone would make those choices. But, now I get it.

I've been realizing, recently, that I'm in a terrible rut. I've mentioned that I'm at an odd place in my life with the empty nest and not knowing quite what to do next. Well, I think I figured it out. But, I can't explore that here. There are things I don't feel comfortable talking about at this blog, partly because I've pigeon-holed my blog, in many ways. My blog theme is "books, family, life" but it's mostly become "book reviews" and "cat photos" with little else. That's because of that awkward place I've inhabited for the last few years. I hardly even see family, now that one child has married and moved to New Jersey, the other is in college, and the husband is commuting to work.

The things I want to express . . . I don't know, they just don't feel right, here. I'm not giving up the blog. I still read, of course. I still want to write about books. And, obviously, I still have cats. :) So, this blog will continue, as is. But, I've started a new blog for working on my creative side and some other things (sigh . . . cooking, for example . . . I just don't feel comfortable joining in on the Weekend Cooking posts when I've been away from cooking for so long that I'm pretty much back to being a beginner in the kitchen).

I also started a Pinterest account through the new email associated with my new blog -- but only because I didn't want a Pinterest account associated with my Facebook account. I don't understand Pinterest, yet, not at all. As a new account holder, Pinterest made me select five categories and I have all this crap (good stuff, but overwhelming!) pinned by Pinterest to my page when, honestly, I wanted to start with a clean board. Any suggestions how to fix that? Have you set up a Pinterest account associated with Facebook? Is it troublesome in any way? I may reconsider the way I've set things up.

There's other news and it breaks my heart. We decided to continue fostering Prissy but her photo is going to be restored to the rescue website; she is available for adoption. My entire family accepts this, although we all love her to death and it took a few heartfelt family discussions to come to a decision. In the meantime, she's still around and I'll continue to post photos of her as long as she stays with us.

That is all. Happy weekend to you!

Thursday, August 01, 2013

Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell

Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell
Copyright 2013
Alfred A. Knopf - Fiction
290 pp.

She rented a one-room walkup in which everything was something else: the tiny bathtub masquerading as a counter in the kitchen, the bed hiding upright in the wardrobe like an assassin.

~p. 73 of ARC (changes may have been made to the final print version)

Early morning in Gillerton Road. The loamy not-quite dark peculiar to big cities is only just giving in to light. The brick terraces are still in shadow, the sky is the color of old milk and the trees along the pavements have gathered up the remaining gloom into their branches. The previous day and the day yet to come hang in a balance, each waiting for the other to make a move.

~p. 103 of ARC

It is 1976. In the midst of a heatwave in London, Gretta Riordan's husband goes for his daily walk and doesn't return. Robert is a creature of habit and a kind and loving man. His sudden disappearance, followed by the discovery that he's cleaned out his bank account is shocking. After a distraught Gretta informs her family, her grown children all return home one by one to help figure out what has happened and locate their missing father.

From the cover:

As the siblings tease out clues about their father's whereabouts, they navigate rocky pasts and long-held secrets, until at last their search brings them to their ancestral home in Ireland, where the truth of their parents' lives -- and their own -- is suddenly revealed. Wise, lyrical, instantly engrossing, Instructions for a Heatwave is a work of exceptional intelligence and grace from a writer at the height of her powers.

My thoughts:

Because I'd just exited a book I absolutely could not bear to put down, I wasn't "instantly engrossed" in Instructions for a Heatwave, although I suspect that it would have grabbed me sooner at just about any other time. It took a couple days before I managed to shake the characters from Is This Tomorrow out of my head and get involved with the Riordans. But, I kept reading in the hopes that the characters in Instructions for a Heatwave would pull me into their world and about 1/3 of the way in I did become thoroughly immersed in the story. Instructions for a Heatwave is a work of skilled, elegant writing with excellent characterization and an extraordinarily satisfying ending, definitely recommended. This is my first Maggie O'Farrell book and I will seek out more by the author.

Cover thoughts:

You may have noticed this photo in my sidebar:

The cover image at the top of this post is the final American cover. The ARC I received was actually rather plain, just a white cover with a photo of a redhead (the author's photo, near as I can tell). Occasionally, if I like a different cover better than what I've got, I'll go so far as to print out a copy of the alternate cover and replace the cover I dislike. That's just one of my little eccentricities; I like a pretty cover. So, I printed out the British cover, which I think is absolutely gorgeous and a total grabber, re-covered the book and photographed it while reading. I love bright, colorful covers. The illustration of a key on the American cover is relevant. When Robert disappears, he has the key to the family's shed in his pocket. But, I found the key image frightfully dull. I would look right past the American cover and pick up the British version if they were on the same display.

My thanks to A. A. Knopf for the advance reader copy.

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