Corduroy Mansions

Week 7: Corduroy Mansions by Alexander McCall Smith

I may have fallen off the blogging wagon, but I have still been reading! I went on my brief hiatus due to lack of internet, but am now plugged in again.

I indulged in the latest Alex McCall Smith book, because as a rule I read allllll of his books...and he cranks them out like potato chips. Corduroy Mansions is the first in yet another series, by this self-proclaimed serial author. I currently read The #1 Ladies Detective Agency Series, the 44 Scotland Street series, and the Isabel Dalhousie series. As sad as it makes me, I won't be reading any more Corduroy Mansions books.

This particular book was about hundred pages longer and about a million times more annoying than McCall Smith's other books. You have to believe me when I say that it pains me to write this, because he is one of my favorite authors. His books, to me, are like a favorite pair of pjs (or something equally as comforting). Corduroy Mansions failed to deliver. McCall Smith has a penchant for getting sidetracked in his novels, and going off on tangents. This was pretty much a book of rambling.

Please read The #1 Ladies Detective Agency, but stay away from this book!

The Kneebone Boy

Week 6: The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter

I'm a week behind, so I am posting back-to-back reviews today. Now I think I will be caught up.

My husband grabbed this book last time we were at the library, and read it pretty quickly. I like to read what he reads, and I noticed this book was by Ellen Potter, who wrote the first book I reviewed this year, SLOB. I liked SLOB and I liked this one. I'm going to give it three stars. It's kind of interesting how it is written, reminds me a lot of how she wrote SLOB, also of When You Reach Me, with a little Lemony Snicket worked in.

This style of writing is almost like a new trend in Juvenile Fiction, they are tantalizing, mysterious, page-turners that demand to be read in one sitting, because you just can't put them down! Because of the mystery element, you also can't review them properly, because anything and everything divulged would completely ruin the reading experience. All I can say is read them and enjoy!

Just remember, everything is not as it seems (cue theme music from The Twilight Zone).

A Thousand Acres

Week 5: A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

I grabbed A Thousand Acres off the shelf at the library having heard nothing about it. I chose it because of the little gold Pulitzer Prize sticker it was sporting. I can’t say that I like to read Pulitzer winners because they are usually really great books that appeal to me…because usually I don’t like them. I am just curious what contemporary novels are chosen to win this prestigious honor. It’s kind of like watching the Oscars, and then watching the Oscar winning films. Usually they just make you go, “wwhhaaat?” The same is NOT true for the Newberry winners. You can rest assured that if you pick up the medal winner, or an honor book, it is going to be great.

Back to the review at hand; I gave this book two stars. I didn’t care for it. I knew the story would be depressing, because the back cover divulged that it was based loosely on Shakespeare’s King Lear, and we all know how that ended. But that was not necessarily a turn-off for me. But the novel just fizzeled and died for me. It was almost like the author was trying too hard to make her story follow Shakespeare’s plot. I think it would have been so much better if she would have gone her own direction, and I actually did like her writing style.

The story is about an aging, and somewhat eccentric farmer and his three daughters, whom he decides to divide his life’s work amongst, that being his one thousand acre farm. The youngest daughter (a lawyer) expresses some hesitation, and is immediately cut out of the deal. This event sets off a domino effect of basically depressing things happening to the family, at the same time drudging up horribly depressing things from the past. THIS IS A SPOILER ALERT: but when the book finally ends, pretty much everyone but the narrator is dead. And it isn’t like all the heavy stuff is plot thickening, or high drama…it’s just like one thing after another, just endless waves of bad luck for the family. Maybe that is what life is like for some families, and maybe this book would appeal to such people, if anything, to make them feel better about their lives.

However, if you want something enlightening, or meaningful, or upbeat…skip this one.

I wish I had a great book recommendation for you each week, but the fact of the matter is, you do have to sift through some sludge to find the gems. Hopefully I'll have some good ones for you soon!

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky

Week 4: The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow

I was pretty excited to start afresh, and try to read something I enjoyed more than my two failed attempts last week. I can't say that this book really did it for me. I actually feel like I got tricked by Barbara Kingsolver (who I have mentioned before). As I mentioned, she has written a few of my very fav. books (she has also written several I didn't care for). Anyway, when I glanced at the cover of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, her name jumped off the front of the book, raving about the author. After I was finished with the novel, I was sort of thinking....um, did Barbara actually read this book? Then when I read who the author thanked at the end of the novel, numero uno was none other than B.K. her "hero". So, flattery can get you places, and maybe someone awesome will say something awesome about something mediocre that you did.

Ouch, that was kind of mean. But this book was only a two star for me.

It follows the adolescence of a young bi-racial girl (her mother is white, and Danish, her father is Black), who ends up orphaned (sort of), and living with her black side of the family. She then goes through an identity crisis, trying to find where she belongs. It's a fantastic topic to write about. But if you are interested, I would recommend the memoir The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride. McBride goes in his book where I wish Durrow would have. Maybe I would have liked it better if I read Girl before I read Color. But probably not. As a side-note, I just got a novel by James McBride today at the library, so I will be posting what I thought about it soon! I'm pretty sure it's going to be amazing.

Back to Girl. Here was the problem...everything was underdeveloped. The characters...allllll of them. The plot. The conflict. It just wasn't enough. If you are going to tackle a novel that deals with race, hereditary achoholism, domestic violence, murder/suicide (think parent killing kids/self)....you better be ready to go there. Back. It. Up. This book had no back. I don't know how else to say it (this is why I don't write books). It's like the story starts with this ghastly event (think of the title), then sort of tries to ride on it without adding anything else to the mix the entire book. It's weird.

I already finished my book for this week, but I'm blogging at the library cause we're having internet problems, so I don't know when I'll get around to posting it. Hopefully this week!

Attempted: The Age of Reason & Ivanhoe

This week I gave up on two books. Thanks to this new blog, I am now accountable for it.

I decided I wanted to read a classic, and I chose The Age of Reason by Jean-Paul Sartre, and took an immediate dislike to it. I survived 100 pages of the text, but when the subject of the novel never wavered from the topic of sex, I decided to throw in the towel. I guess technically the book was about a man who wants to be free, above all else, but oops, he knocks up his mistress, and (groundbreaking) it limits his freedom.

I had to read a lot of French fiction, and fiction in general, from the twentieth century, and I must say, many of our beloved and revered (usually male) authors were quite preoccupied with sex. They were also sexist male chauvinists. So, I will now add Jean-Paul Sartre to my

mental S.M.C list, to join the ranks of Hemingway, Vonnegut, Kerouac, etc...

And since I'm not a student anymore, and don't have to read books like these, I'm not going to.

On to my second pick...

I decided I would have to go with a much older classic to avoid reading about the sexual exploits of young men with way older, yucky women. I also have wanted to read something by Sir. Walter Scott for awhile now, ever since I read some quote somewhere that said he gave birth to the historical novel (my fav. literary genre) and I saw The Young Victoria.

I chose Ivanhoe

This time I made it 200 pages into the book, and I just got bored.

Every couple of pages I read something interesting. I just could not fathom 300 more pages. I promise I have not always been this big of a wuss. However, when I read nowadays, I cannot give a book 100% of my attention. I have to be able to read, and still focus on 5 other things. I could not read Ivanhoe and focus on anything else. It was giving me a headache. I struggled through it for a week, and that's that. Sorry :(

I'm going to have to choose my classics with care, and only pick authors I know I like.

A Change of Plans

I'm nervous I'm not going to finish my book this week by Monday, and this may sound like an excuse, but I hit a speed bump. That bump came in the form of the dilemma of what to do when the book I started falls short of my expectations, and I switch books. This happens all the time, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this, ESPECIALLY when you read modern fiction. There's all kinds of stuff out there I'd rather not be reading, and sometimes you just don't know until you read the first 25-50 pages.

Anyway, that is what happened this week. And part of me wanted to keep reading simply for the sake of this blog, but after thinking about it for a minute I figured that even after I finished the book, I wouldn't in good faith be able to recommend it. So what's the point? And I didn't want to waste my time.

I will post more why I abandoned Book A (and it's title), and reveal Book B (hopefully completed) on Monday. But I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't have chosen such a D.E.N.S.E. book halfway through the week!

Even though this is a 'Book-a-Week' blog, who's to say I can't post some other favorites. Also, I wanted to post some of the reference books I've been reading (I only count novels towards

my yearly goal...not sure why).

But here they are!

I started a new exercise/diet back at the beginning of October. The long and short of it is, I exercise for an hour a day, 5-6 days a week, and the diet is that I eat healthy. So far I've lost 40 lbs! I've been watching 'The Biggest Loser' on hulu while I workout, and I find it really motivating. Every time I go to the library I pick up a couple diet, or healthy cook books, just to stay on track, and get ideas. Last week I got 'The Biggest Loser Dessert Cookbook' and got a lot of ideas for alternative sweeteners, so I wanted some more ideas, and picked this book up yesterday, and it is full of fun inspiration and information!

I got 'The Kitchen Garden' out because we are planning on putting in a good size garden this Spring, and I feel the crunch to get started. Also, I just finished the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver last month, and it was so inspiring! It was seriously one of my favorite books I read all year. In fact, if Liam plays nicely on his own for another 10 min. I might do one more post about that book, dedicated entirely to B.K. 'cause she has written some fabulous stuff.

Thanks for your comments! I like knowing this isn't just going out into the void.

Wish me luck finishing my book this week!

The Chestry Oak

Week 3:

The Chestry Oak by Kate Seredy

I was really excited to read this book, after my mom told me about it. Copies of The Chestry Oak are difficult to come by, because the book is out of print, and is a favorite of many. My mom found a copy on Amazon, and gave it to me for Christmas. If you are a collector of children's lit. this is one you need to have on your shelf. It reminded me of The Little Prince, similar time period and themes.

The Chestry Oak was written in 1948, and is about a young Hungarian Prince, Michael and his experience throughout World War II. I actually learned a lot about what happened in Hungary during the war. It is a heart-wrenching story, made more so by the fact that it is told through the perspective of a little boy.

Some of the prose is quite cheesy, but you have to remember when the book was written. It also had a lot of Spiritual themes, and Seredy absolutely brought God into the book. That is something I appreciated, because it is something most authors today are afraid to do. I like being reminded that 65 years ago, it was perfectly acceptable for God to be mentioned, and talked about in a book for children. Especially in a book about a child's experience with war. It's too bad that is taboo these days.

I thought the book was about a boy and his horse, and in a way it is, but it is very much more about the values of family, loyalty, and responsibility.

The book reads like poetry, and I think this will be a fun one to read aloud to Liam when he is a little older.

Cutting for Stone

Week 2

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

I really didn't think I was going to finish all 541 pages of this book in time to post this week, but HOORAY, 'cause I just made it through! At several points throughout I almost called it quits because of the graphic nature of some of the events, but I loved the writing so much and the story was so intriguing that I persevered.

The book is about the life of twins, Marion and Shiva Stone (but mostly Marion, because he is the main narrator of the novel). They were born in an Ethiopian Mission hospital, their birth a product of a mysterious (it takes all 500 pages of the book to get the whole story) affair between a reclusive British surgeon and a beautiful Indian nun/nurse. Along with the entire lives of the twins, you also get to read/discover the back story of their parents, and also the history of some of the other characters in the book, like the boy's adoptive parents Ghosh and Hema. In my opinion, Verghese weaves the complicated web of a tale into a beautiful tapestry.

Both Marion and Shiva follow in their biological (and adoptive parent's) footsteps by entering into the medical profession, and the book follows Marion into a forced exile from Ethiopia to America, the strange land of the Bronx, NY to be exact. Where later in life he is unexpectedly reunited with the father he never knew, and the woman that tore he and his twin brother apart. Both chance meetings will change the course of he and his estranged brothers' lives forever, bringing them together again, and entwining them forever.

Oooo, I get chills just typing about it! Seriously, this is one intense story!

For those of you with weak stomaches, this might not be the book for you. The author, Abraham Verghese is Professor and Senior Associate Chair for the Theory and Practice of Medicine at Stanford University, and he was also the founding director of the Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics at the University of Texas Health Science Center. With all that under his belt, you can imagine that the medical jargon and detailed description of what is going on in the operation tables within the pages of his novel are the real deal, and he doesn't mince words, or leave anything up to your imagination. I always thought I could never be a doctor because I wasn't smart enough, now I know that even if I had the brains, my gag reflex never could have handled it. I was, however, perfectly ok with reading about it :) I just didn't read and eat at the same time. And I actually found seeing things through the eyes of a (albeit fictional) surgeon fascinating. If you are one of those people who likes to watch others being cut up on those cable medical shows...then this is a must-read for YOU.

I feel I should also add there was some graphic sexual content as well, I would give this book an R rating. But if you're interested in reading in, and want something else to gauge it by, I would say the things in the book Kite Runner disturbed me more (I choose Kite Runner as a point of reference because it is an incredibly popular novel that many people, who I guess I underestimated, surprised me by reading...and liking).

If you end up reading it, or have already read it, let me know what you thought!

PS: I am VERY excited about next week's book!

SLOB

I needed to get this blog up-and-running, since I already had my first read of the year ready to go back to the library. New Years day I picked this book up to read, and couldn't put it down until it was finished!



SLOB by Ellen Potter


It's about 12 year old boy named Owen who is the fattest kid in his school. The book opens with Owen attempting to solve the mystery of who keeps stealing his oreos.

I thought this was going to be one of those feel sorry for the heavy kid books (and you do, but not cause he's heavy), but this delivered way more. I loved the way Potter kept unraveling who Owen was as a character. In a way, the writing style reminded me of 2010's Newbery Award winner 'When You Reach Me' by Rebecca Stead.

I wish I could give a more informative review of what the book was about, but it definitely would be a spoiler!

I would give this one 4 out of 5 stars. I really liked it!

Birth Announcement

I would like to welcome a new blog into this already saturated online world, my own new BOOK BLOG. I gave up on my mommy blog after only a few short months, but enough failed attempts at making pictures of my dinner LOOK as apetizing as it TASTED, or turning yarn into pretty much anything appealing, or taking a gajillion pictures of my sweet baby TRYING to capture that cute thing he was doing minutes ago for benifit of the 11 followers of my blog.

One thing I DID enjoy was posting book recommendations. I L-O-V-E finding (and passing on) good lit. I'm forever on the lookout for new books! I'm always blog stalking, not to see if you're skinnier than me, your kids are cuter than mine, or to be sick at how incredibly talented you are...I just want to know what you are READING!

I had a goal last year to read 50 new books, and ended up with a total of 55 at years end (I can post that list on here soon, as well). I had already set the same goal for myself for this year, before the idea of blogging it popped into my head. So, why not Blog?