tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108189439225637362024-03-06T00:31:12.645-05:00Leafing Through Life<i>"She has spent most of the day reading and is feeling rather out of touch with reality, as if her own life has become insubstantial in the face of the fiction she's been absorbed in."</i>
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<b>After You'd Gone</b> - Maggie O'FarrellMeganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.comBlogger669125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-51179619060230970502024-02-20T07:23:00.004-05:002024-02-20T07:23:00.134-05:00Ellie Haycock is Totally Normal by Gretchen Schreiber<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2TenvXpZqIb9-lC_BoAQHtzULRFTyiQZl7F_yuzsk1BXrtQx3SbghnciZGRY1TCCbkYrk3VPzLTTPQq0rBpKDaSN-auerCSQt47BRGl7qNhmvEGZIUfLq4HEJvwydehN78wL70EZxmXjrkzF9Plolu9DKTLOWxHOvGzPQTNigs2YZaI_CSm56WztSCmyD/s272/EllieHaycock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="272" data-original-width="180" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2TenvXpZqIb9-lC_BoAQHtzULRFTyiQZl7F_yuzsk1BXrtQx3SbghnciZGRY1TCCbkYrk3VPzLTTPQq0rBpKDaSN-auerCSQt47BRGl7qNhmvEGZIUfLq4HEJvwydehN78wL70EZxmXjrkzF9Plolu9DKTLOWxHOvGzPQTNigs2YZaI_CSm56WztSCmyD/w132-h200/EllieHaycock.jpg" width="132" /></a></div><span style="font-family: times;"><br />Ellie Haycock is straddling two worlds and not very successfully. As a teenager with VACTERL syndrome, hospitals and surgeries have become, if not a normal part of her life, then a very common occurrence. When she's not having surgeries to correct the disease's many debilitating effects, she wants to live as normal a life as possible - hanging out with her boyfriend Jack, her friend Brooke, winning speech competitions and dreaming of being an actress. Unfortunately, a mysterious lung ailment has her back in the hospital's Family Home among the typically temporary friendships there, contemplating another scary surgery that may (or may not) be what gets her back to her "real" life. What's more terrifying than another surgery, though, is when Ellie's desperate attempts to keep her two lives separate, sheltering her "normal" friends from the cruel realities of her disability and eagerly leaving behind her "hospital" friends in between surgeries threaten to alienate everyone she loves.</span><span style="font-family: times;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Ellie is a vivid, if occasionally frustrating, narrator. Faced with her "normal" friends during her hospital time, she can't bear to share even the smallest tidbit of what she's going through. Instead, she quickly makes a group of hospital friends, including Caitlin, another teen with VACTERLs, Luis with the "little c" cancer, an overly chipper volunteer named Veronica, and prickly Ryan Kim who changes her perspective and maybe...her heart? The unique setting makes fast friendships and perhaps even some romance more believable than they would otherwise be.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">This book gives readers an inside look into the struggle of being a constant patient without ever having the luxury of being able to hope to leave the hospital cured. Ellie's frustration with the constant swing of the pendulum between what she considers her to be her real life and her life in the hospital is palpable. Additionally, her mother is one of those parents who shares her whole life story via a blog, that as she grows older, feels more and more invasive. If you've ever seen a blog/Facebook page/Instagram, etc. featuring a very sick or disabled kid and wondered how weird it would be to be that kid, this book is for you.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Ellie Haycock is Totally Normal is an excellent coming of age book with a welcome unique perspective on disability that mingles tough topics like medical autonomy, not being heard by doctors, and privacy with the more typical page-turning stuff of romance and friendship drama. At times it felt like everything was happening a little too quickly, Ellie was a little too obtuse about reality, and the dialogue had a tendency to reference thoughts that were more implied than actually written which left me feeling occasionally like I'd missed something. In the end, though, I was touched by Ellie's discovery that all her lives add up to just one and that there is healing to be found in letting people in.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Thanks to the publisher for NetGalley review copy. Book hits shelves March 5th.</span></span></p>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-73362327736671195392023-07-30T21:03:00.001-04:002023-07-30T21:07:39.898-04:00The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds<p><span face=""Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #26282a; font-size: 13px;"><i></i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTrSqwlfKRPz252hZwSHXZfRZ20BpHMklWvnuc3uyApsqvvmJGC-cpGdF8GlSTFWvvJbNQiEHeF-x4D_By0xEvXlnXOgcsy9HAON4MJBm-zdJiOPksTCRiSSpAF6XnUsOK1R73feeERRowZOL3g3aqJEF3gS0XZEmh0KIb4XIy8CNxlSte3n-t2WiznQ/s270/RaptureofCanaan.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="180" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTrSqwlfKRPz252hZwSHXZfRZ20BpHMklWvnuc3uyApsqvvmJGC-cpGdF8GlSTFWvvJbNQiEHeF-x4D_By0xEvXlnXOgcsy9HAON4MJBm-zdJiOPksTCRiSSpAF6XnUsOK1R73feeERRowZOL3g3aqJEF3gS0XZEmh0KIb4XIy8CNxlSte3n-t2WiznQ/s1600/RaptureofCanaan.jpg" width="180" /></a></i></div><i><br />The Rapture of Canaan</i> is the story of a young girl’s coming of age within the confines of the Christian cult her grandfather devised. She struggles to understand her place in a community ruled more by her grandfather, Pastor Herman, than by Jesus. She’s desperate to avoid the sin her grandfather preaches against and uncertain why she doesn’t feel the connection to Jesus that has her family speaking in tongues and crying out to God during Sunday services. Into this confusion comes James, her prayer partner, and the two are equally torn by their desire to please God (or maybe just Pastor Herman) and to explore their newfound feelings for each other. When Ninah finds herself pregnant and abandoned, she fears her life in the church and the only community she’s ever known is over, but it may be that her indiscretion and its unexpected outcome will change the lives of the congregants of the Church of Fire and Brimstone and God’s Almighty Baptizing Wind forever.<div><br /></div><div><div>This story starts off quickly with simple prose and a sympathetic narrator in Ninah. She has had the laws of the church drummed into her but finds herself confused that all the rhetoric and suffering for Jesus doesn’t produce the spiritual outpouring in her that she witnesses in the rest of her family and community. In fact, at points in the early going the writing style actually seems too simplistic, and I found myself bored for just the briefest moment before the story rapidly picked up steam.</div><div><br /></div><div>As Ninah begins to experience the consequences of her pregnancy, the book plumbs the depths of radical religion, the fragility of community, the mysterious ways of God, and the weaknesses of self-proclaimed arbiters of right and wrong. Reynolds has created a very captivating picture of a community dominated by a charismatic leader. Ninah’s journey to discovery of what she herself will choose to believe is compelling reading.</div></div>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-58219689551185760892022-09-12T07:47:00.004-04:002022-09-12T07:47:00.182-04:00Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgztaaUjOc8xVmLMR5GMBQ5tDnbAy-F98SbNNLM7N7JCTRcxn7n1M9bolccL20jVYuunCnNA-SySBcpRafwrx6A_DSebqQZphk2auGwwFQDNP_5MZwolkcv--bO6L1K4fpPNc_INJtk9BARr6SbODwRSislkRT6c_nht3hn1kJ41fgvib0r-XRtMvqHoA=s270" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="180" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgztaaUjOc8xVmLMR5GMBQ5tDnbAy-F98SbNNLM7N7JCTRcxn7n1M9bolccL20jVYuunCnNA-SySBcpRafwrx6A_DSebqQZphk2auGwwFQDNP_5MZwolkcv--bO6L1K4fpPNc_INJtk9BARr6SbODwRSislkRT6c_nht3hn1kJ41fgvib0r-XRtMvqHoA" width="180" /></a></div>Author Agnes Lee has made a name for herself with a series
of children’s books about character, Nan, a self-assured little girl who gets into all kinds of adventures, but her passion is more for the "fly on the wall" series of novels she writes under a pen name about her fellow moneyed Philadelphians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her
friend Polly Wister has made a life for herself as a mother and as a wife,
dedicated to brightening the lives of those around her, soothing her husband’s fragile
ego and striving never to rock the boat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Both born to generational wealth in an era when a woman’s best hope and
expectation was to make a matrimonial match, the two take sharply divergent
paths in their lives, but those paths always lead to summers on Fellowship
Point in Maine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Agnes, having recently received a
cancer diagnosis, is determined to find a way to preserve the wildlife
sanctuary that exists on the families’ lands there and to finish one final novel
before the end of her days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately,
money-grubbing cousin Archie and Polly’s husband, Dick, who is rapidly
descending into dementia, stand in her way.<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Fellowship Point</i> is a long, contemplative book that touches
on many themes – feminism, friendship, philosophy, aging, love, and land
ownership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More than that, however, it’s
a touching character study that illuminates the beauty of a friendship between
two women who often couldn’t be more different from each other growing old side
by side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn’t put down this tale of forthright,
opinionated spinster Agnes with her hidden heart of gold and
equilibrium-seeking Polly whose deference and willingness to put her family’s
needs ahead of her own belies an inner backbone and intelligence that often is
a surprise even to her.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In Dark’s hands, Agnes and Polly’s beloved Maine comes vividly
to life, and provides a setting rife with both fond and dark memories for the
pair of octogenarians to reflect upon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
loved this story and the unique perspective of these women who are not ready to
be pushed aside, even though society and their families both are hard at work
trying to minimize them as they age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
slow unveiling of Agnes’s secrets keeps the pages turning, but arguably the
best thing about <i>Fellowship Point</i> is the thoughtful depiction of a
lifelong friendship between women who know each other often better than they
know themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-73904632011249910252022-04-23T17:16:00.000-04:002022-04-23T17:16:15.758-04:00An Honest Lie by Tarryn Fisher<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJp6J4auGGaSe-mPEDI6ueGnlpYRLbg8s0ZLhM5r99Ty8_g_9UtFFAwIuzQ6n_y3_MmMP4tUSZYY7Ku07k7k_S2X-dUWc79dJJX0EFHYYMYpi7VUlo6ejUK-DK1gp1w1xbUcdKh_BC0rB_tgpqvzSsNQQvHL3gQIyoKlh7OOe1niab5bqF8GWbF6uKGQ=s270" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="180" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJp6J4auGGaSe-mPEDI6ueGnlpYRLbg8s0ZLhM5r99Ty8_g_9UtFFAwIuzQ6n_y3_MmMP4tUSZYY7Ku07k7k_S2X-dUWc79dJJX0EFHYYMYpi7VUlo6ejUK-DK1gp1w1xbUcdKh_BC0rB_tgpqvzSsNQQvHL3gQIyoKlh7OOe1niab5bqF8GWbF6uKGQ=w133-h200" width="133" /></a></p><br />Artist Rainy Ives moves from New York City to the Pacific Northwest both to be with her new partner Grant, but also to escape the last tendrils of her dark past. On isolated Tiger Mountain, Rainy struggles to fit in with Grant's friends, a slightly catty group that doesn't easily welcome outsiders. Nonetheless, Rainy manages to cling to the edges of the group. Feeling like she doesn't fit in, she is more than a little surprised when they invite her on a Las Vegas girls' weekend. With some pressure both from the women and from Grant, Rainy finally agrees to go, but, for Rainy, a trip to Las Vegas is more than just an awkward social event, it's a return to the very doorstep of the place that houses her worst memories. When her friend Braithe disappears in Vegas, the only way to save her is for Rainy to slip back into the life that she was so desperate to leave behind.<p></p><p>Fisher has penned a page-turning thriller that unfolds in two timelines weaving Rainy's childhood memories with the friends' weekend of light Las Vegas debauchery until the two finally intersect with Braithe's disappearance. Braithe's bizarre behavior leading up to her vanishing adds still another dimension to the mystery. Rainy is a sympathetic character and <i>An Honest Lie</i> is a fast-paced and satisfying story of her finding her strength and the redemption of facing down her childhood demons one last time.</p><p>(Disclaimer: Review copy received from the publisher in return for review consideration.)</p>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-24761042791553276722022-01-02T22:34:00.001-05:002022-01-02T22:34:42.039-05:00That's Unbelievable: Reviewlettes<p>I wrapped 2021 up on a decidedly mediocre note, consigning one book to my DNF pile for being too unbelievable and following it up with three only slightly less unbelievable stories.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhzyQX08u-OGYJmo7JJnJsPPHpLkfWCrOCSOdYzQW0D5b1jiEtbi9v8mShKcXm1L2VVon6F0a6oShTYdSCt1gceDXwQBhYvvOtJF_QYkKnT1q7b7SuNRbyoStwPE8kPy39rTMIBNxNmf9V-Jjva948-0Ghq3tSlmgZRDCOHLjQv4Bc5qVWAR0qthx_VpA=s272" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="272" data-original-width="180" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhzyQX08u-OGYJmo7JJnJsPPHpLkfWCrOCSOdYzQW0D5b1jiEtbi9v8mShKcXm1L2VVon6F0a6oShTYdSCt1gceDXwQBhYvvOtJF_QYkKnT1q7b7SuNRbyoStwPE8kPy39rTMIBNxNmf9V-Jjva948-0Ghq3tSlmgZRDCOHLjQv4Bc5qVWAR0qthx_VpA=w132-h200" width="132" /></a></div><br /><i>2 a.m. at the Cat's Pajamas,</i> is the story of 9-year-old Madeline Altimari, her teacher Sarina, and, Francis Lorca, owner of a failing jazz club. Madeline is a prickly, old-for-her-age kid who is mourning her recently passed mother and dreams only of singing jazz. Sarina is trying to rekindle something with an old flame, and Lorca is just trying to save his club from police scrutiny when the three come together in an unlikely moment on Christmas Eve Eve. This is kind of a bizarre story of found family, but Bertino's writing is an attractive mix of magical realism and poetic prose. While her characters may not have quite come to life for me, the Philadelphia setting really did. Ultimately, <i>Cat's Pajamas</i> serves as a heartfelt love note to a city that doesn't often find itself so well-captured in print.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhTq93ExeBJi6kCHJYw47WjgIuxlYQVX9adF1p8u5Ropp3q2sWoll92GgMq6lQ4MTR8qx4FMMrnsI9hVSYnzXNlWGFjK1tLY-RpoNzUDgJ1KBGodWIQchuznelru_tnrNFQqpnNzX5gBvJhVCcQXCVCr2KT7wtLyV2m932P8lirfBFyhLcYzCbSpYAGNw=s270" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="180" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhTq93ExeBJi6kCHJYw47WjgIuxlYQVX9adF1p8u5Ropp3q2sWoll92GgMq6lQ4MTR8qx4FMMrnsI9hVSYnzXNlWGFjK1tLY-RpoNzUDgJ1KBGodWIQchuznelru_tnrNFQqpnNzX5gBvJhVCcQXCVCr2KT7wtLyV2m932P8lirfBFyhLcYzCbSpYAGNw=w133-h200" width="133" /></a></div><br />In <i>Let It Snow</i>, YA heavyweight authors John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle come together with a trio of linked novellas. The first features Jubilee "not a stripper, despite the name" Dougal, whose parents end up in jail on Christmas Eve. Bound for her grandparents' house in Florida during a massive snowstorm, her train gets stranded, which ends in a bizarre Waffle House encounter and ultimately being way too trusting of strangers. Meanwhile, friends Tobin, J.P. and The Duke (AKA Angie) mount a snowy expedition to the very same Waffle House, now populated by their friend Don-Keun and a gaggle of stranded cheerleaders, but the cheerleaders are not the stars of this story. Finally, we have uber self-centered Addie whose infidelity (and also super self-centeredness!) has her heartbrokenly mourning the loss of her boyfriend, Jeb. But maybe's he's not lost forever, maybe he's just stranded at (wait for it...) the Waffle House!<p></p><p>This trio of romances starts off promising with Johnson's offering which is quirkily amusing. Green's effort is a bit of a skid with the "race to the Waffle House with Twister" plot line which reads a little like the bad fan fiction your cousin once wrote in high school but for the romance that does end up sweetening the story a bit. Myracle's contribution is just perplexing. Addie is a pretty whiny, unlovable character who undergoes a transformation, but one that makes no sense at all. Turns out you have to want a happy ending for a character for the happy ending to be satisfying. I probably should have given this one a pass.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgQJF2T3AfQue_-rjXtxuWahhCVIb-XhbW1RF65czaQaPfblAClXjMd2m6Ahs_MtUJu3e2CGOxFEac1GVwzo0CKxbnikKXpufg5Txb7bW6Yx4wz-4UbtnCOIDpSSE9c_XEandslq6Nj9tuEcJovb2_UypEGxAYoS-23lAWs9zZm-APkyq6gzvy1s_h_IQ=s270" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="180" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgQJF2T3AfQue_-rjXtxuWahhCVIb-XhbW1RF65czaQaPfblAClXjMd2m6Ahs_MtUJu3e2CGOxFEac1GVwzo0CKxbnikKXpufg5Txb7bW6Yx4wz-4UbtnCOIDpSSE9c_XEandslq6Nj9tuEcJovb2_UypEGxAYoS-23lAWs9zZm-APkyq6gzvy1s_h_IQ=w133-h200" width="133" /></a></div><br />Last but not least, <i>Clock Dance</i> by Anne Tyler is the story of Willa McIntyre who abandons her life in Arizona with her second husband, Peter, to care for the child of her son's ex when said ex is recovering from a gunshot wound. Tyler's writing is well-done and her plot well-executed. I really enjoyed the setup of the book as we get to know the forces that have shaped Willa into the accommodating, "needs to be needed" adult that she became. She brings a working-class Baltimore neighborhood to life, including opinionated Denise (the ex/GSW victim) and her practical daughter, Cheryl, quite well. Tyler tells a good story about a woman on the edge of a transformation, but I had trouble getting past the very incident that brought them all together in the first place. Flying cross-country to care for a grandchild in an emergency is one thing, abandoning your life and flying cross-country to babysit the daughter of a stranger is a little too much of a reach for my suspension of disbelief.<p></p><p><br /></p>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-1921609236797327752021-08-08T14:59:00.002-04:002021-08-08T14:59:56.822-04:00Backlist Bonanza: Reviewlettes<p>This summer has found me reading books that have been on my shelves seemingly forever, with mixed results. Some I wish I head read long ago. Others I wish hadn't been burdening my shelves with for so long. Here are my takes on a few of them.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6tzn0CFNub5oWG31p0asNXhKcbW5bddvGjpmUOiwgSl-aK6MRSqSJ1gr1u6AjKn7ak1ozQIO9XjwmKadDSsGcXqjZSIU9yUbIYZ6w0awaXDLc39L5Z09Pkt5SNXLB9r52k3YFOpJ_C7o5/s271/Elsewhere.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="271" data-original-width="180" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6tzn0CFNub5oWG31p0asNXhKcbW5bddvGjpmUOiwgSl-aK6MRSqSJ1gr1u6AjKn7ak1ozQIO9XjwmKadDSsGcXqjZSIU9yUbIYZ6w0awaXDLc39L5Z09Pkt5SNXLB9r52k3YFOpJ_C7o5/w133-h200/Elsewhere.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><br />In <i>Elsewhere</i>, Gabrielle Zevin imagines what is ultimately a pretty dull afterlife. When people die, they arrive in Elsewhere on a boat and age in reverse until they are born again to a new life. Liz Hall, a fifteen-year-old struck by a cab on her way to the mall, arrives in Elsewhere thinking she's dreaming. When it becomes apparent that she is not, she has terrible trouble adjusting to her new reality, opting to spend all her time looking back at her old life, even tracking the hit-and-run driver who took her life rather than embracing the chance to get to know the grandmother she never met in life. I wish more time had been spent on fleshing out Zevin's creative afterlife than on transporting Liz's teenage angst into the great beyond. Liz read a little a young for her age, and her Elsewhere love story as well her grandmother's willingness to enable her destructive behavior seemed unrealistic. All in all, <i>Elsewhere</i> was a quick read about learning to live and love in the now, but ultimately I think it was a little too "young" for this adult reader.<p></p><p><br /></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVn0AdifxClMq_VTb4feE2YA_jgTkgpfKdg-mWIivh031o9NcbHUN2PSZnRn033tkpSpd4FCl3YNbv1tIoJVX6MKTL4PVe8KJ-Ra0QxhVMZO1NLmwHI7zjltDl-pyk1IUrSv909EEUE7S8/s278/BrightForever.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="278" data-original-width="180" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVn0AdifxClMq_VTb4feE2YA_jgTkgpfKdg-mWIivh031o9NcbHUN2PSZnRn033tkpSpd4FCl3YNbv1tIoJVX6MKTL4PVe8KJ-Ra0QxhVMZO1NLmwHI7zjltDl-pyk1IUrSv909EEUE7S8/w129-h200/BrightForever.jpg" width="129" /></a></i></div><i><br />The Bright Forever</i> turns a lens on the would-be idyllic small town of Tower Hill, Indiana and reveals its dirty underbelly when Katie Mackey, daughter of the owner of the town's glass making factory, goes missing in early July. Told from the perspective of high school math teach Henry Dees; his neighbors, Clare and Ray Wright; and Katie's older brother Gilley, <i>The Bright Forever</i> taps into all the secrets that lurk beneath this small town idyll. Junior and Patsy Mackey would do anything for family, except one thing. Mr. Dees loves Katie a little a too much. Ray Wright has a thing for pills. Clare can't bear to be alone, and Gilley will never forget the night he ratted out his sister for not taking her library books back, because she never came back from the library.<p></p><p>This is a sad story and one that will make readers uncomfortable at every turn. It's at once a riveting page turner with a mystery waiting to be revealed, but also difficult to turn those pages as the flawed characters reflect on their troubling secrets and the pain that brought them to the fateful summer of Katie's disappearance. Despite the challenge of reading a book with such dark subject matter, <i>The Bright Forever</i> is redeemed by Martin's skilled depiction of summer, small town life and his sensitive handling of his deeply flawed characters. Never are you inclined to like them, but in Martin's capable hands, these characters become people we can understand.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUsfIFIM1ug3goQwT_RZIKj-b8K8zQEmKaHisjO7qOLDk02J3I3OmV9oTb2z80XyxeWu3lsqVCQ5j6ISE9UF2j5Ee5iwrszZAM9HPF5FHa_Hntd0uQmWM5u8UOnjMvaNPW4ic-Y8bQzIsc/s278/19thWife.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="278" data-original-width="180" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUsfIFIM1ug3goQwT_RZIKj-b8K8zQEmKaHisjO7qOLDk02J3I3OmV9oTb2z80XyxeWu3lsqVCQ5j6ISE9UF2j5Ee5iwrszZAM9HPF5FHa_Hntd0uQmWM5u8UOnjMvaNPW4ic-Y8bQzIsc/w129-h200/19thWife.jpg" width="129" /></a></div><br />In <i>The 19th Wife</i>, David Ebershoff reimagines the life of Ann Eliza Young, one of Brigham Young's many wives, who left the Mormon church and set in motion the dismantling of Mormon polygamy. Interwoven with Ann Eliza's story is the modern-day story of Jordan Scott, who was exiled from his town and church, an isolated fundamentalist enclave where polygamy still thrives. Returning to help his mother, a 19th wife who stands accused of murdering her husband, Jordan is forced to come to terms with the life that he was made to leave behind and the hold it has on his mother. <p></p><p>If I had one complaint to make about <i>The 19th Wife</i>, it would be that it goes on just a little too long. At the beginning of the novel, the pages flew by, but the ending chapters dragged a bit and left me the slightest bit unsatisfied. Aside from that minor quibble, <i>The 19th Wife</i> stands out as a meticulously researched and well-told historical novel. Ebershoff reinvents Ann Eliza Young and her family using a variety of fabricated primary sources that add up to a compelling picture of the very human history of the Mormon church and the controversial figure of Ann Eliza. Jordan's story adds a bit of mystery to the mix as he attempts to unearth the truth about who killed his father. In the process, he reveals the lasting trauma of living in a polygamous society, the very expected trauma that seemed to drive Ann Eliza to speak out about it so many years before, a trauma so wrapped up with love, family, and blind faith, that it is difficult to understand, much less escape. </p><p><br /></p>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-67884162114495318872021-04-12T07:40:00.000-04:002021-04-12T07:40:00.222-04:00The Syrena Legacy Series by Anna Banks<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7KiYFd75Y7lzy_QCiGsA1rjK47hAUlPKeArajDo8FTejX7mcGO90rVYpu4iCU4Q1PTsQn7icfuTfVe0mvoTA6_SkDJELaID-ZeOE8ldzsLgWkc7tkwidZtLdYcJmSySS5SEF-lnB_zjip/s262/ofposeidon.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="262" data-original-width="180" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7KiYFd75Y7lzy_QCiGsA1rjK47hAUlPKeArajDo8FTejX7mcGO90rVYpu4iCU4Q1PTsQn7icfuTfVe0mvoTA6_SkDJELaID-ZeOE8ldzsLgWkc7tkwidZtLdYcJmSySS5SEF-lnB_zjip/w137-h200/ofposeidon.jpg" width="137" /></a></div>When Emma literally stumbles into a violet-eyed stranger on the boardwalk of a Florida beach, it's definitely not love at first sight, more like humiliation at first sight. The encounter is quickly forgotten, though, when Emma's beach trip ends in tragedy. That is, until the handsome stranger shows up again in her New Jersey high school classroom. <p></p><p>Galen is a Triton royal given leave to live life on land and be a Syrena ambassador to humans. When he spots Emma using a gift that has disappeared from among his people, he can't believe it, and he really can't believe she doesn't know she even has the gift. Determined to find out her secret, he follows her home, but he has to admit that it's not the importance of Emma's gift to his people that attracts him to her.</p><p>Unbelievable hijinks ensue as Emma and Galen's relationship blossoms from suspicion to love. Soon Emma is exploring a world she never knew existed and is suddenly plunged into the dramas of mermaid-kind that strike even closer to home than she could ever have imagined. </p><p>When I'm looking for something a little lightweight and fast reading to enjoy, YA romance is what I </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifuSE37PhdPxkIaXi5Ye2nsEVlgtlU38NxmBW4kT62pxRE5l8i9aCLCWQuGO2OqJwE2RSY2-Oiu6c6eDS61j8QYjgstDLdb1TT3gs-L4rY2bR7m2di0c5AsMAAGKSpIzvSNonavxFSk64Z/s270/oftriton.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="180" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifuSE37PhdPxkIaXi5Ye2nsEVlgtlU38NxmBW4kT62pxRE5l8i9aCLCWQuGO2OqJwE2RSY2-Oiu6c6eDS61j8QYjgstDLdb1TT3gs-L4rY2bR7m2di0c5AsMAAGKSpIzvSNonavxFSk64Z/w133-h200/oftriton.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>reach for. The premise of <i>Of Poseidon</i> is a little absurd, but Banks sells it and I couldn't pull myself away from Emma and Galen and their star-crossed romance. The main character's irritating penchant for childish verbal ticks ("ohmysweetgoodness" or "fan-flipping-tastic") tested my patience, but the fast moving plot saved me from putting this down. The second book, <i>Of Triton</i>, is arguably the better of the two with Emma maturing into her new life and Galen's chapters revealing more of the Syrena world. <p></p><p>The second book has a satisfying conclusion, while the third, <i>Of Neptune</i>, shoots off in a new direction, a direction with an overprotective love interest and the beginnings of what looked to be an irritating love triangle, not to mention the return of "ohmysweetgoodness." I decided within 60 pages that while Banks wrote a trilogy, I was happy to leave this series a duology. </p>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-24150082996090346302021-04-05T07:46:00.002-04:002021-04-11T21:58:21.713-04:00Good Company by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZLSsBnBmUmbJNAaR7tiY_ZfQgbBnqOtp7B8R1sDM9-m12PmUV6LNPchlUeTYy8tU_tXDi4e6tjM5lfMBNWOQXnw3vjz7fFML-Kqi6U5rOcPci_g-nNIrwn4g2QVC_g48mRHK3EV_r90mx/s272/GoodCompany.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="272" data-original-width="180" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZLSsBnBmUmbJNAaR7tiY_ZfQgbBnqOtp7B8R1sDM9-m12PmUV6LNPchlUeTYy8tU_tXDi4e6tjM5lfMBNWOQXnw3vjz7fFML-Kqi6U5rOcPci_g-nNIrwn4g2QVC_g48mRHK3EV_r90mx/w132-h200/GoodCompany.jpg" width="132" /></a></div><br />On the afternoon of her daughter Ruby's high school graduation, Flora Mancini, while hunting for an old family photo, stumbles across a lost wedding ring, a ring that was supposed to have been lost and forgotten at the bottom of a pond for years, but somehow has reappeared. The discovery of the ring throws Flora's life into turmoil and casts her history with her husband, Julian, into doubt. Flora always thought she and Julian were the real thing, now she's not so sure. Over the course of the book, Sweeney weaves the present with the past of Flora and Julian and their friends Margot and David, creating a rich drama of family and relationships that comes to a reckoning at the very place where the photo that lead Flora to the ring was taken. <p></p><p>Poor <i>Good Company</i> seems to be having a rough go of it in Goodreads reviews. People seem to think it doesn't live up Sweeney's smash hit debut, <i>The Nest</i>. Lucky for <i>Good Company</i>, I suck at reading books, so I haven't even <i>read</i> the much-acclaimed <i>The Nest</i>, so <i>Good Company</i> gets to stand on its own merits. And it has them! Frankly, the way that the plot unfolded, acquainting readers with the characters and the histories by spending time with each character reminded me a bit of Maggie O'Farrell's style, which I love. I love a story with layers that slowly pulls them off until the characters and their stories feel real, and I long for their redemption as much as they do. I love the slow burn of this style, and I love the payoff, the moment of redemption or the moment when that redemption at least seems <i>possible</i>. I think <i>Good Company</i> accomplishes that without making things that are hard seem too easy. </p><p>In addition to what Sweeney does with her characters, I appreciated her talent for setting the scenes. The book takes place primarily in three places - California, where Flora and Julian are finally both making a good living after years as struggling theater actors; New York City, where both characters got their start in the theater; and Stoneham, an idyllic upstate New York farm that hosts a yearly outdoor, avant-garde theater production. Sweeney captures the languor of a countryside summer interrupted by the excitement of a theater production. She brings to life a California that was meant to be a temporary stop for Flora and Julia, but a sun-washed spot where they made a home. New York and the theater scene is arguably the most well-drawn, and Sweeney captures the excitement of the theater people with big ideas trying to make them work and eke out a living, the scraping and struggling for roles, the living in a miniscule apartment, but also the magic of when it all just <i>works</i>. </p><p>I enjoyed Sweeney's sophomore effort, and if it is, indeed, the lesser of her two novels, then I imagine I'll quite love <i>The Nest! </i></p><p>(Disclaimer: Review copy received from the publisher via NetGalley, but as ever, all bookish opinions are rendered honestly.) </p>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-90069375200489847612021-02-01T07:30:00.001-05:002021-02-01T07:30:01.182-05:00The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien CharlesI'm a total sucker for World War II historical fiction, so when the publisher offered me a Netgalley of <i>The Paris Library</i>, it was a no brainer.<br />
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We meet Odile Souchet in two stages of life, first in 1939 in Paris, where she has just accepted her dream job at the the American Library in Paris and again in 1980s Montana where a lonely girl named Lily wonders what brought her unusual neighbor to her tiny country town all the way from France. Young Odile is emotional and impetuous and entirely unprepared for the years of war and occupation that soon overtake her beloved Paris. Even as she clings to normalcy at the library, where she befriends a rich and quirky cast of characters, her world is changing. Determined to keep providing books to soldiers and Parisians alike, the staff of the library bands together to stay open, daring even to deliver books to their Jewish subscribers who have been ordered by the occupying Nazis not to enter.<br />
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As the war wears on, Odile finds that she doesn't know anyone as well as she thought she did, including herself. Slowly Odile's eyes are opened to the cold realities of the wartime world even as her blinders to her own privilege fall away. Unfortunately, when stubborn, outspoken Odile, causes irreparable harm with just a few thoughtless words, her life takes on an unexpected trajectory.<br />
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In more modern day Montana, Lily endures a tragedy at home and takes refuge in her newfound friendship with the town's outsider, Odile. Together the two will finish the learning the same lessons that Odile began to learn in wartime Paris. Together they'll learn the power of forgiveness and what it means to truly put yourself in someone else's shoes.<br />
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Admittedly, I've been a little tired of the dual narrative historical fiction with a modern day perspective thrown in, but I warmed to it over the course of the book. What's remarkable about this plot device in <i>The Paris Library</i> is that the modern day perspective really pulls its own weight and doesn't become an interlude to hurry away from to get back to the historical story. Lily is an honest, genuine character and her budding friendship with and curiosity about Odile provides a generous framework for the historical story.<br />
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Charles beautifully brings to life her Paris Library characters who are based on the real people who heroically kept the library open through the years of the occupation. She excellently captures their comradery and the magic of the place Odile loves so much. Odile herself is a bewilderingly naive character that it took me a little work to like, but as the story proceeds, her coming of age, while slow, is ultimately believable.<br />
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<i>The Paris Library</i> should satisfy World War II fiction lovers and book lovers alike.Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-2372807643159871822021-01-02T11:05:00.001-05:002021-01-02T11:05:01.552-05:00Reviewlettes: Unpopular Opinions<p>So, one of the things 2020 has brought me is....an unusually high number of books read. Since I am a garbage blogger but still a blogger in my heart, I feel compelled to comment on all the books I read on the internet before I give them away. This ends pretty poorly for me considering I reviewed all of maybe five books in 2020, so I'm pretty much just floating around on a wave of books I'm never likely to get around to reviewing. By way of assuaging my guilt and perhaps letting a few books get out the door and on to their next adventure: reviewlettes!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgik8UHqXFBXKor_DxofCBYJvNQgqlFNmWP50sToMOwcKdMJyM_iIooj0TrKY5_ZHTfbNXuUOFstJJjdffJm5hzVr0BUfxohTuacJyUx-Y7gHwEt_ynIbhTnwxSvp8_dLU69zLQvMA_04uN/s267/theboywhodrewmonsters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="180" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgik8UHqXFBXKor_DxofCBYJvNQgqlFNmWP50sToMOwcKdMJyM_iIooj0TrKY5_ZHTfbNXuUOFstJJjdffJm5hzVr0BUfxohTuacJyUx-Y7gHwEt_ynIbhTnwxSvp8_dLU69zLQvMA_04uN/w135-h200/theboywhodrewmonsters.jpg" width="135" /></a></div><br />I read <i>The Boy Who Drew Monsters</i> by Keith Donohue with unfairly high expectations since I count his <i>The Stolen Child </i>among my very favorite books. Unfortunately, it did disappoint. It tells the story of Jack Peter and his parents. Jack Peter is on the spectrum and draws monsters that somehow manifest into real life. Unsure about how to handle an increasingly violent Jack Peter who refuses to leave the house, his put-upon parents and best friend, Nick, are now harassed by all manner of things that go bump in the night. It's eerie, and it has an interesting twist, but the characters often felt strange and wooden. A subplot about a shipwreck seemed unnecessary and odd word choices kept jolting me out of the story. All in all, the book felt like it was trying very hard to accomplish something, but the something is uncertain and the pieces just never quite added up.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDtOrGONW7Wlll-uFnWp4A-kC0lc_jiNLdPuinWl1YtXemMT8IAaD2SEqv_VMWx4-3l2nJsXAikdyQkm4gla_LhHv3n4UDvvusemi4RtayXupLsRiZO6n7w0uyFWEqNgB0QFrMWQonP4v4/s270/bookwomanoftroublesome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="180" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDtOrGONW7Wlll-uFnWp4A-kC0lc_jiNLdPuinWl1YtXemMT8IAaD2SEqv_VMWx4-3l2nJsXAikdyQkm4gla_LhHv3n4UDvvusemi4RtayXupLsRiZO6n7w0uyFWEqNgB0QFrMWQonP4v4/w133-h200/bookwomanoftroublesome.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><i><br />The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek</i> by Kim Michele Richardson was a book club selection, and for once, I have the unpopular opinion on it. Most of my book group loved it, but I was underwhelmed. <i>The Book Woman</i> tells the story of Cussy Mary, a packhorse librarian in Kentucky during the Great Depression and also the last of the blue people of Kentucky, marked out as different by the strange blue hue of their skin. This story had a lot of potential, and Cussy Mary is definitely a lovable character, but the story felt too shallow, electing to cover a fantastic range of topics instead of digging deep into one or two. If it had only been about packhorse librarians and blue people, it might have been more satisfying Instead it covered profound poverty, racism, educational failures, union sentiment, medical experimentation, unexpected love, being true to yourself, and more. The book is riddled with tragedy, but I didn't know the characters well enough to be affected by it. Richardson clearly did a lot of research into this time and place and the people who lived there and then. Unfortunately, it felt like she was so attached to all of the research that nothing was left out and the book felt stretched thin. Nonetheless, this book is well-loved, so I might just be the odd one out on this one.<p></p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxnlX5fv_wF06i0Tm5weNwhKg0rMtbi3BTgHJNMJ6Tfip0fT8bN8qxb4c9TAFWcNWYE9WysC43Z9P0OjRJ7MXPMNNcLlKExMMAXDskNe-_yxKmyr1uhIC-4PJnhyErX3UrRisVVWxYIuVx/s278/americanah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="278" data-original-width="180" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxnlX5fv_wF06i0Tm5weNwhKg0rMtbi3BTgHJNMJ6Tfip0fT8bN8qxb4c9TAFWcNWYE9WysC43Z9P0OjRJ7MXPMNNcLlKExMMAXDskNe-_yxKmyr1uhIC-4PJnhyErX3UrRisVVWxYIuVx/w129-h200/americanah.jpg" width="129" /></a></i></div><i><br />Americanah</i> is the first book I've ready by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and.....I didn't really like it. <i>Americanah</i> tells the story of Ifemelu and Obinze, a couple in Nigeria whose happily ever after is dismantled when the two have very different immigration experiences, Ifemelu to the United States and Obinze, illegally, to the UK. As Ifemelu plans her return to Nigeria and imagines being reunited with Obinze, the story unpacks their histories. I think this book is <i>Important</i> with a capital I, but as storytelling goes, it fell flat. I appreciated the many insights into our ingrained white American biases presented within the framework of Ifemelu's blog and experience. Much of this was very eye opening. I appreciated, objectively, the high quality of the writing. My biggest problem with the book may have been that I just didn't <i>like</i> Ifemelu. Her social circles in the U.S., both white and black, were irritatingly pretentious. Her self-destructive tendencies were aggravating. I grew weary of the story not seeming so much a story as a message I was supposed to be getting. I think there's a good non-fiction book hiding in this fictional narrative, and I wish that had been the focus. I look forward to reading other books by this author, but this one didn't quite work for me. <p></p><p><br /></p>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-12456451151436719442020-12-07T08:40:00.001-05:002020-12-07T08:40:00.678-05:00The Switch by Beth O'LearyOn my short list of good things about 2020 (it's a very short list), I'd have to say audiobooks would rank pretty high. Audiobooks are kind of a recent thing for me. I always thought they felt a little bit "cheaty" as reading goes, plus, I just don't seem to absorb things as well when I listen to them as when I read them, so I always figured a good story would be lost on me if I listened to it. While they'll never replace my love of the written word, I've really appreciated listening to stories this year. When you're living alone through a pandemic, it's kind of nice to hear another voice. It's even nicer when the other voice is reading you an absorbing story. <div><br /></div><div>I snagged a "listen now" copy of <i>The Switch</i> by Beth O'Leary from NetGalley. I tend to try to make my audio listening a little lighter weight than my reading because I truly do have the attention span of a flea when listening, particularly when multitasking, which audiobooks were pretty much made for multitasking, no? Anyhow, <i>The Switch</i> totally fit the bill for me.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT9aRfwG6IdQgctjof5J6W9xF74dGcaAua2nTzXtTrYE1_yzlesdSVIVpktDnlLa6x-k02T9vlyqaM3v-I1cL6j2QObuig_QjrqNQbr9jvQQJ8ZvyWCQ6KMPVoGJJFoxKKg1EcVOwQG6Ie/s180/TheSwitch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="180" data-original-width="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT9aRfwG6IdQgctjof5J6W9xF74dGcaAua2nTzXtTrYE1_yzlesdSVIVpktDnlLa6x-k02T9vlyqaM3v-I1cL6j2QObuig_QjrqNQbr9jvQQJ8ZvyWCQ6KMPVoGJJFoxKKg1EcVOwQG6Ie/s0/TheSwitch.jpg" /></a></div><br />Leena Cotton is at a loss when she has a breakdown at a work meeting and is forced to take a 2 month sabbatical. (Seriously, though, why can't this happen to me?) Having recently lost her sister to cancer and become alienated from her mother in the process, she can't fathom what she will do with two months where she can't lose herself in work. Meanwhile, Leena's grandmother, Eileen, has been left by her philandering husband at the age of 79. She'd love to get back out there and meet a new man, but the dating pool in her small Yorkshire village is, well, puddle-sized. </div><div><br /></div><div>When Leena discovers her grandmother's list of eligible bachelors in the village, all of whom have been found wanting, she decides her grandmother should try online dating. Unfortunately, the online dating landscape has little to offer. That is, unless Eileen goes to London. An idea is born, and suddenly Leena and Eileen are swapping lives. Leena will take over her grandmother's spot on the neighborhood watch committee and handle all of her projects, like planning the May Day festival, while Eileen will try out London life, moving into Leena's flat with Leena's roommates Fitz and Martha.</div><div><br /></div><div>In alternating point of views, narrated perfectly by Daisy Edgar-Jones and Allison Steadman, the two women navigate the unknown, carving out places for themselves in their new surroundings. Each finds her new life challenging but rewarding, and each brings a little of herself to her new situation and leaves the lives of those around her better for it. Leena finds herself falling for a handsome country schoolteacher while Eileen has a fling with a West End theater actor only to find that maybe she's looking for love in the wrong place after all. </div><div><br /></div><div>The book is filled with quirky, lovable, believable supporting characters, and the two Cotton women are admirable main characters. While definitely part of the romance genre, <i>The Switch</i> goes deeper to explore the need for genuine human connection among friends and even among strangers while also exploring themes of healing after loss. <i>The Switch</i> is a a lighthearted but by no means fluffy feel-good novel. </div><div><br /></div><div>Highly recommended, especially on audio!</div>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-34478919863551792972020-11-16T07:34:00.005-05:002020-11-16T07:34:02.642-05:00Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland<p>How old is the oldest book on your physical TBR pile? <i>Girl in Hyacinth Blue</i> has been on my shelves for <i>thirteen years, </i>at least according to LibraryThing which claims I cataloged it there in 2007. I'm afraid, it's probably not the most shamefully longsuffering of my neglected TBR. Happily for it, with a boost from a <a href="http://www.litsy.com" target="_blank">Litsy</a> challenge, it finally got its moment this year.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNgBRxmcsmcITnrzCiEPg_f2HxYwrZJzUE7Lrw_vYlHegCfjzQRJ6CvztzEwOf3Voga-uld3VCOONhLizIktm-qJnjj7y0qLof672HhYotiLEi_a92AL8eU1lerChpjOd88BJ-t1GwgKTE/s300/girlinhyacinthblue.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="180" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNgBRxmcsmcITnrzCiEPg_f2HxYwrZJzUE7Lrw_vYlHegCfjzQRJ6CvztzEwOf3Voga-uld3VCOONhLizIktm-qJnjj7y0qLof672HhYotiLEi_a92AL8eU1lerChpjOd88BJ-t1GwgKTE/w120-h200/girlinhyacinthblue.jpg" width="120" /></a></div><br /><i>Girl in Hyacinth Blue</i> is a novel in short stories. I usually find this kind of thing to be a bit of a bait and switch. When I read a novel, I want it to be a novel. In my middle age, I've developed an appreciation for short stories that has been hard won over a few decades of not caring for them. Nonetheless, I generally don't like to be surprised by short stories hiding inside a novel. Here, though, I'll make an exception because how beautifully they're handled and because of the common thread of the painting around which all of them revolve.<p></p><p><i>Girl in Hyacinth Blue</i> follows a lost, forgotten Vermeer masterpiece from its painting to the study of the son of a Nazi, only it's done in reverse. As we follow the painting back in time, we meet a son tortured by his father's war crimes so dissonant with the man he knows, a Jewish girl making a sacrifice for safety that is hardly guaranteed, a couple troubled by a husband's former love, a philandering wife matched by a philandering husband, a couple who rescues a baby during a flood, and on back to Vermeer himself struggling to make ends meet and wondering if he shouldn't take a proper job to provide for his impoverished family but unable to turn away from the transcendent beauty that draws his eye and his talent always back to painting.</p><p>Though a slim book, <i>Girl in Hyacinth Blue</i> in its journey through history is filled with the richness of human experience and captures all manner of people who themselves are captured by the beauty of a painting of a girl they will never know and yet feel a kind of kinship with. The idea of following a painting through history is fascinating on its own. Vreeland's execution of it is what is truly sublime.</p>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-81673712753616222192020-10-11T15:55:00.002-04:002021-03-05T12:08:36.551-05:00And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie<p>Here we have another book club failure. All in all, I've been more dedicated to my book group than usual this year, having attended more than once and actually participated in the conversation both times. In case anybody was wondering, I seem to have no problem reading books or writing about them, but sometimes in conversation I find myself having little to say. I read <i>And Then There Were None </i>with the intention of attending book group for a record breaking <i>third time </i>time this year. Alas, it was not to be. After a wretched week of stressing about work and the world, instead of going to book group, I went full introvert and stayed home to recharge. Nonetheless, I can still lay claim to having enjoyed the book.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfnYTP20EK-KOp-hWQLcxMF6Nmk6T1b8z0WBEYPJqCl7tH6IMbl1-hin-1Z9H2nSIRBzcA36EB2xpnCHd-e-1QkC6zU6UJ-iEo8hRS3Y-6javAMNXAlAYdzFjel7h7XdOkMJjgZE3n9yK4/s271/ThereWereNone.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="271" data-original-width="180" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfnYTP20EK-KOp-hWQLcxMF6Nmk6T1b8z0WBEYPJqCl7tH6IMbl1-hin-1Z9H2nSIRBzcA36EB2xpnCHd-e-1QkC6zU6UJ-iEo8hRS3Y-6javAMNXAlAYdzFjel7h7XdOkMJjgZE3n9yK4/w133-h200/ThereWereNone.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><i>And Then There Were None</i> is among the types of Christies I find most enjoyable. Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot are all well and good, but I've always had a soft spot for the detective-less Christie mystery, and this is one. The beginning of the book finds ten strangers en route to a mansion on the much talked about Soldier Island. The island has, of late, been purchased by.....well, nobody knows exactly who it's been purchased by, despite it being a popular piece of gossip in all the papers. The unhappy ten have been summoned by a Mr. and Mrs. Owen either for work or leisure to the mysterious island. Naturally, the Owens fail to turn up, but a murderer certainly does.<p></p><p>As the body count rises, Christie maintains the atmosphere of suffocating, terrifying paranoia among the remaining all without tipping her hand as to who the murderer may be. Indeed, the mystery appears to come to an end without any proper revealing of the killer who has eluded the police's most diligent efforts to unpack the grisly scene at the island. Then an epilogue ensues that is essentially the magician unveiling just how the trick was done.</p><p>Reading an Agatha Christie mystery is about the most fun one can have where murder is involved. Full of fast paced dialog and the human foibles of its characters all wrapped up in a fast paced thriller,<i> And Then There Were None</i> kept me up late reading. The story gave me just the faintest hunch of who the murderer could be but otherwise I was as in the dark as each of the hapless Soldier Island visitors. As murder mysteries go, Christie always delivers.<br /></p>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-56423352195079059862020-05-18T08:15:00.000-04:002020-05-18T08:15:00.262-04:00My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When Vanessa Wye returns to her private boarding school, Browick, for sophomore year, she's uncertain what the year holds for her. Having lost the friendship of her freshman year roommate, Jenny, she's starting anew and alone. A scholarship kid at a wealthy school with high expectations, she's easily overwhelmed by the work and embittered at the loss of her friend. Isolated and vulnerable, she welcomes a newfound connection with her English teach, Mr. Strane, who singles her out, gives her extracurricular books to read, and makes her feel special. While it seems to begin innocently enough, Strane's behavior soon begins to edge into the inappropriate, oddly personal compliments, stolen touches, and eventually a whole illicit relationship. But it's what Vanessa wants....or so she thinks. As the pair's relationship escalates to an inconceivable pedophilic fantasy, Vanessa, believing herself in love, puts everything on the line.<br />
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<i>As soon as he says this, I become someone somebody else is in love with, and not just some dumb boy my own age but a man who has already lived an entire life, who has done and seen so much and still thinks I'm worthy of his love. I feel forced over a threshold, thrust out of my ordinary life into a place where it's possible for grown men to be so pathetically in love with me they fall at my feet.</i></blockquote>
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In alternating chapters, we get a glimpse of Vanessa's adult life as she watches events unfold when another student of Strane's reports his sexual misconduct. Suddenly, Vanessa's life is in the spotlight as Taylor searches for allies to speak out against Strane, but Vanessa doesn't see herself as a victim, never has. Her life tells a different story, though. Struggling under the weight of her wasted potential and broken relationships, Vanessa finally begins to plumb the depths of the damage Strane's attentions did to her.</div>
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I think it will be just one of many unbelievable things about 2020 that one of my favorite books of the year will be one about a young girl and the pedophile she loves, but here we are. <i>My Dark Vanessa</i> is as compelling as it is hard to read. Vanessa is a marvelously drawn, emotionally complex character, clearly damaged by her high school relationship with Mr. Strane that reaches its tentacles into her adult life, and yet stubbornly unwilling to think of herself or be thought of as a victim. Russell has achieved that fragile balance of creating a character who really isn't likeable and creating a character who still draws readers' sympathy and hope for redemption. <i>My Dark Vanessa</i> is a vivid and layered story about power, consent, abuse, victimhood and the far-reaching repercussions of a dark and twisted "romance" that should never have been. Highly recommended, if you have a stomach for the subject matter.<br />
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<i>Copy provided to me by the publisher in exchange for review consideration.</i><br />
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Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-55824288416490314622020-05-11T08:05:00.000-04:002020-05-11T08:05:02.404-04:00Historical ReviewlettesThese reviewlettes are historical in more ways then one. First of all, they're all historical fiction. Secondly, I read them all like a ludicrously long time ago, so the finer plot points are lost to the sands of time and memory. That said, I seem to be fully incapable of sending them off on their next adventure until I comment on them in some way because they were all <i>so good. </i><br />
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First up, we have <i>The Gown</i> by Jennifer Robson. And really do I even need to tell you to read this book? I mean, look at it, with a cover like that, this book sells itself. Amiright?<br />
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Not convinced? OK, fine, I'll try to use my words.<br />
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<i>The Gown</i> is set in post-World War II London where Ann Hughes and Miriam Dassin meet in the embroidery workroom of Norman Hartnell's famed fashion house. Ann is an English girl who began at Hartnell as an apprentice and risen through the ranks. Miriam has come from France, having survived the Holocaust, now seeking to put her prodigious embroidery skills to work. Though the hardship and scarcity of the war linger, the excitement of Princess Elizabeth's upcoming wedding finally gives the British people cause for celebration, and the gown will be made at Hartnell.<br />
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The historical tale was so rich, it hardly needed a modern day perspective of Ann's granddaughter unearthing her grandmother's long kept secrets, but the modern perspective didn't take away either. I loved this tale of friendship, its capturing of England's hesitant first steps away from the war, the setting of the fashion house, and the excitement of the wedding. <i>The Gown </i>is a beautifully told story of two friends and England's reawakening after the ravages of World War II.<br />
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Next up, we've got <i>The Visitors</i> by Sally Beauman. I've always been a touch fascinated by Egypt and the Pyramids, and I was totally taken in by this historical tale of two young girls who become friends in 1922 Egypt, just at the time that the excavations in the Valley of Kings finally yield the ultimate find. I loved how this book was told from the perspective of two young girls, one the daughter of expatriate archaeologists. They're caught up in the middle of the Egypt-mania that has seized the English. The tensions between the wealthy sponsors of the digs and the ambitious archaeologists determined to find Tutankhamun's tomb are rife. The girls realize something untoward is afoot but can't quite grasp it. This is a long book that doesn't feel long. I relished every page of Beauman's richly drawn Egypt and her cast of characters all entangled in the intrigue of robbing a nation of its treasures at any cost. If I reread books, I'd reread this one.<br />
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Last but not least, <i>Tipping the Velvet</i> by Sarah Waters. Tipping the Velvet is the first Sarah Waters novel I read but I hope it won't be the last because it was fantastic.<br />
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In it, oyster girl, Nan King, falls in love with Kitty Butler, a girl playing a boy in a music hall act. Nan is swept away to London where the two perform together and carry on a covert love affair, The two are desperately in love but too afraid of being discovered to last. Abandoned by Kitty, Nan finds herself alone in gritty Victorian London with nothing but a broken heart and a trunk full of male clothes from the act. As a boy, Nan works the streets. At loose ends, she takes up with all manner of characters, and the story reveals the dirty underbelly of Victorian London as Nan embarks on a number of troubling sexual "adventures." This book, too, is the richest of historical portrayals and Nan is a remarkable character. Her story from its beginnings with a sweet and exciting love affair to her search for love and belonging in all the wrong places and on to the redemption that seemed unreachable but perhaps is not, is totally compelling.<br />
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All of these reads are so remarkable that even years after reading, I still remember them well!<br />
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<br />Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-2465384009881640752020-05-06T09:20:00.000-04:002020-05-06T09:20:03.126-04:00Inside Out by Terry Trueman<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In this very short novel, we meet Zach just at the moment the coffee shop he's sitting in is being robbed by two desperate young men. It quickly becomes apparent that something is not quite right about Zach. He's not scared, he doesn't seem to know when it's best to keep quiet, he's much more interested in getting a maple bar than in getting out of harm's way, and, honestly, he's not quite sure the situation he's in is even real. When the police arrive, the robbery escalates to hostage situation. Over the course of the next few hours, secrets will emerge. Zach is sick, and he needs his medicine, but the people in the back room of the coffee shop need a hero, and Zach might just be the only guy who can be one.<br />
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<i>Inside Out</i> is a fast paced book that grips from the very first page. In addition to the action and suspense of the coffee shop hostage situation, there's a lot going on in these few pages not the least of which is Zach's struggle against his mental illness. In Zach's narration and intervening notes from his medical file, a door is opened into living with mental illness. While the book is intended for a young adult audience, I found Zach's perspective illuminating, giving me a better understanding of his disease.<br />
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At the risk of spoiling such a short book, I'll say no more about the plot. What I will say is that I was impressed with how Trueman brought a plot rich book together with a strong portrayal of a mentally ill character and gave sympathetic eye to all three of his male main characters. If you're looking for a quick read that packs a punch, give this one a try!<br />
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<br />Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-24555349937084894662020-05-03T10:38:00.003-04:002020-05-03T10:38:59.540-04:00Loose Leafing: Corona CurrentlyWhat better than a pandemic for me to just wander by my blog and pretend I never left it by picking up a totally random blog posting habit? Honestly, it was really nice Readathonning last weekend and catching up with the bookish community. I appreciate all of you who stopped by and left a comment and assured me that despite my blog's dormancy I might not be totally shouting into the void.<br />
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A few weeks ago (maybe a month? I don't know. Time has no meaning anymore), one of my co-workers texted me something like "we should journal during this historic time!" I, being a cynical jerk, replied something on the order of, "Yeah, that should be stimulating. Uh, so I woke up. I ate some food. Then I ate some more food. I scrolled the news. I took a nap. I woke up and it was still daylight out, so I took another nap. I woke up and tried to watch a briefing from my nation's leader about a widespread crisis. After only a few minutes, I was forced to turn it off because listening to petty, self-aggrandizing prattle and outright lies was really too much to take on top of the whole killer virus thing. Then I cooked and ate more food and went to bed after playing a few hours' worth of Cooking Craze on my iPhone to dull the anxious thoughts in my brain to a dull roar." Clearly, the world has been missing this exciting account of life during the coronapocalypse.<br />
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But I don't know, maybe she had a point about the journaling. So here we are, and here's a little "currently" for the corona age.<br />
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<b>Reading: </b>If there's one thing I can say for the quarantine period, it definitely has given a boost to my reading life. Spending so much time in the company of all my unread books steadily glowering at me has finally made me dig into that TBR stack. While my concentration was off for the first few weeks in March, April has lead to excellent reading. I'm well ahead of my usual pace of the last few years and I feel like I'm just reading....<i>better. </i>With more uninterrupted time, I've found it way easier to get lost in books like I used to before the demands of my job started sucking up <i>so much </i>of my headspace. I just finished <i>My Dark Vanessa</i> which was hard to read but also amazing, and this morning I'm starting <i>Nation</i> by Terry Pratchett to kick off a month-long Litsy challenge.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Current reads with a cameo from Mo the Surviving Succulent</span></div>
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<b>Feeling Guilty:</b> I'm still working, and I hate it. I work for healthcare IT, and the demands on my productivity level are still sky high. While other people are binging their 18th Netflix show, I'm spending even the waning hours of Friday afternoon discussing the vagaries of how to interface next generation sequencing results to a new lab system and lamenting a to do list as long as my arm. I should be (and in my mind, if not my heart, I <i>am</i>) glad to have a job, glad to be able to work from home, glad for a lot of blessings that have been bestowed upon me during this time. But being expected to work at a very high functioning level with added roadblocks of remote work during this emotionally taxing time is <i>hard. </i>It's getting easier as my focus returns to pre-pandemic levels, but still hard. <br />
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<b>On Spending Wisely: </b>Lately I've been trying to do some good with what I've got. Like it or not, I <i>am </i>still working, so I've been trying to make at least a small difference with the proceeds. So many people and organizations are in need right now. This is a tough headspace, too. With so much need, it's hard to know where to direct your money to have the greatest impact. That said, directing it anywhere is better than being overwhelmed by need and not directing it all, so I think I'll probably soon be making another round of donations and probably buying some more local takeout and otherwise trying to be purposeful and thoughtful with my funds during this time. <br />
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<b>Watching:</b> Next to nothing, oddly. I've been trying to keep up with the shows that are going on over at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdmPjhKMaXNNeCr1FjuMvag/featured">Andrew Lloyd Webber's channel</a> and also with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOe_y6KKvS3PdIfb9q9pGug">John Krasinski's Some Good News</a>. Other than that it's usually one random show on Hulu a day while I eat dinner and scroll the news after work. TV binges have oddly <i>not </i>been a part of my quarantine life. I'm gravitating more toward music and audiobooks and the occasional podcast for some reason.<br />
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<b>Really Missing: </b> 1 - <u>Making travel plans</u>. I worked myself beyond the point of burnout this past winter and spring hoping for the promise of some time away, you know, now-ish. Time away that I thankfully didn't lock in because of the niggling worry back in February that that virus everybody wa talking about might become...a thing. So now that I have honed my burnout to fine point and am still grinding away at work, the potential loss of any vacation at all has been particularly painful. 2 - <u>Baseball</u>. I hope there is some sort of baseball season eventually. Summer isn't summer without baseball. 3 -<u>Seeing other humans in person</u> (I mean, duh). I live on my own so isolation is very, very isolating. I think some people long for my situation, but I long to have somebody to talk to to get out of my own head. 4 - <u>Decent weather.</u> But for this weekend, Pennsylvania has not had much great weather on offer. Great weather makes everything so much more bearable. <br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Ok, so my favorite HelloFresh meal is not photogenic at all. It's delicious, ok? </span></div>
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<b>Appreciating: </b>1 - <u>HelloFresh.</u> I've been a subscriber for quite a while now, and now more than ever it's been great to have the fixings for meals just delivered to my door, and stopping the working/news scrolling grind to cook myself a real meal every other day has been consistently refreshing. That said, I've taken to calling it "hot zone" fresh because it gets packed and delivered from Newark, New Jersey. No, the irony of my living in rural Pennsylvania and getting my "fresh" food delivered from Newark doesn't escape me. Thanks for asking. 2 - <u>Technology.</u> I'd much rather meet for church in person, but I love that even though we can't, I can still stream a church service or few every Sunday. 3 - this is idiotic, but my aunt got me this <u>punny calendar</u> for Christmas, and I love it. I don't know what it says about this year that stupid calendar puns are really a high point for me, but they <i>are.</i><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">So wonderful, so terrible the puns.</span></div>
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<b>On Stopping the Madness: </b>I consumed a lot of news in March. I <i>stopped</i> consuming so much in April. It has made a very big difference in my quality of life between the two months. Next up, I'd like to stop spending so much time with iPhone in general. But sometimes the social media scrolling yields up some true gems and the brain numbing of a phone game or two can occasionally prove helpful. I feel.....conflicted.<br />
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<b>Coming Soon:</b> Yellow! Having read up on the privileges of being a yellow county...I have discerned no actual change for my own life. However, it seems some other people get to go back to work, though, so I guess that's good....? Here's hoping the slow opening achieves its ends and we can have both a functioning economy <i>and </i>health.<br />
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<b>Quote of the Week (see all "Things You Thought You'd Never Say in Real Life"):</b> "The grocery store was much better this week even though I kept missing things and having to take laps of the one-way aisles. At least they were playing music, so I could listen to Ed Sheeran instead of a constant dystopian loop of social distancing instructions." </div>
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T<b>hat's all from me for now. How's the coronapocalypse been treating you?</b></div>
Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-46391209107715332642020-04-25T09:51:00.000-04:002020-04-25T21:57:35.014-04:00Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon - Master Post<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Greetings one and all and welcome to my mostly dormant blog! This blog that existed back at the very beginning of Dewey's readathons - it's hard to imagine.<br />
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Now we are in a pandemic and it's been years since I've properly done a Deweython, so I'm going to Frankenstein the old blog for the day to post <a href="http://24hourreadathon.com/">Readathon</a> updates, but I'll also be hanging out over at my <a href="https://www.litsy.com/web/user/LeafingThroughLife">Litsy</a>, so please do stop in and say hi if you need a break from all this arduous reading. ;-)<br />
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Here's the opening survey:<br />
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<b>1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?</b><br />
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Sunny Danville, PA (wait....it's actually sunny?)<br />
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<b>2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?</b><br />
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I didn't make a proper stack, so I don't have a good answer to this question, but when I was scrolling Libby for a potential audiobook for the day....I found <i>Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone</i> actually available for borrowing....instead of with 6 months' worth of holds on it. So that's kind of a Readathon miracle. I anticipate doing some audio walking and audio cooking to the soothing strains of Harry Potter.<br />
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<b>3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?</b><br />
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Not exactly a snack, but I did get myself an order of takeout wings to enjoy for lunch today. Guess I'll be doing some audio eating, too.<br />
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<b>4) Tell us a little something about yourself!</b><br />
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Hmmm....my name's Megan. I've been blogging and otherwise talking books on the internets since 2007. I live in a small town in Pennyslvania where I work in IT for a hospital system. I guess I'm an essential employee in the age of Covid-19 but in a work from home capacity....and not on the weekends.<br />
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<b>5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?</b><br />
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I haven't participated since 2015 when my ankle was broken, so I just want to have some fun and get some reading done to kill some more quarantine time. In 2015, I was killing broken ankle time. They're remarkably similar except for how I can at least walk now. Something different? I don't think I'd listened to a single audiobook the last time I readathonned, so audiobooks will be my Readathon something different!<br />
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<b>Updates</b><br />
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<b><u>Hour 2 Update</u></b><br />
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<b>Reading Now:</b> <i>A Complicated Kindness </i>by Miriam Toews - a book I had started pre-readathon<br />
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It's been<b> __<u>28</u>__</b> pages and<b> __<u>45</u>__</b> reading minutes <strike>since my last update.</strike><br />
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<b>Total Time Spent Reading:</b> 45<br />
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<b>Cumulative Pages Read:</b> 28<br />
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<b>Books Completed:</b> 0<br />
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<b>Eating?:</b> Very Berry Cheerios - breakfast of champions!<br />
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<b><u>Hour 6 Update</u></b><br />
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<b>Reading Now:</b> <i>Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling</i><br />
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It's been<b> __<u>58</u>__</b> pages/<b>__<u>51</u>__ </b> listening minutes and<b> __<u>137</u>__</b> total reading minutes since my last update.<br />
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<b>Total Time Spent Reading:</b> 3 hours 2 minutes<br />
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<b>Cumulative Pages Read/listening minutes:</b> 86/51<br />
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<b>Books Completed:</b> 1 - <i>A Complicated Kindness</i> by Miriam Toews<br />
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<b>Eating?:</b> Wheat Thins for stack, then wings, a Bai and chocolate chip cookie for lunch<br />
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<b>Etc: </b>I wrapped up <i>A Complicated Kindness</i> which was good but kind of sad. Then I had some lunch and did some tidying up while listening to Harry Potter. Please note, I can't believe how dumb I've been all these years not incorporating audiobooks into my readathons. They're a lifesaver when you want to keep reading but can't use your hands!<br />
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Like, you definitely can't use your hands when eating these:<br />
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In other news, I tried to use the master list to visit some readers and was disappointed to find most of the ones I randomly picked were people that appeared not to be participating. Guess I'll try again later. My first readathon (*the* first readathon??) I was but a cheerleader, and my inner readathon cheerleader will never die even though the tradition appears to have. I know it's Readathon is huge now and times change and all, but still miss the "official" cheerleading deep in my heart of hearts.<br />
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Anybody participating and want a visit, drop me a line!<br />
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<b><u>Hour 14 Update</u></b><br />
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<b>Reading Now:</b> <i>Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone </i>by J.K. Rowling<i>, Full Throttle </i>by Joe Hill<br />
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It's been<b> __1<u>58</u>__</b> pages/<b>__<u>92</u>__ </b> listening minutes and<b> __<u>266</u>__</b> total reading minutes since my last update.<br />
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<b>Total Time Spent Reading:</b> 7 hours 28 minutes<br />
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<b>Cumulative Pages Read/time listened:</b> 244/2h22m<br />
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<b>Books Completed:</b> 2 - <i>A Complicated Kindness</i> by Miriam Toews, <i>Inside Out</i> by Terry Trueman<br />
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<b>Eating?:</b> A salad, more wings, and more chocolate chip cookies. Hey, at least there's a salad in there. It's something. And the wings had celery with, too. ;-)<br />
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<b>Etc: </b>I've definitely been updating more often on Litsy, but that I haven't gotten back here for so many hours is a great indication that I've really been absorbed in my reading. In a time where it's been hard to focus on anything, this is <i>amazing.</i><br />
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After lunch, I took Harry Potter for a nice audiowalk, and then spent the rest of the afternoon on the very short and very absorbing <i>Inside Out</i> by Terry Trueman, also known as an "easy readathon win." I tossed in a short story from Joe Hill's collection to round things out and listened to some more Harry over dinner. So far it's been a most excellent readathon. <br />
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I think I'm probably going to cheer around a bit and then finish out with however far I can get with <i>My Dark Vanessa</i> before heading off to dreamland. <br />
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<br />Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-87371135332017233922020-02-08T11:50:00.002-05:002020-02-08T11:50:59.668-05:00Catch a Falling Star by Kim Culbertson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When superstar Adam Jakes rolls into the small town of Little, California to film a Christmas movie in the middle of summer, native Carter Moon is unruffled. Happy in her small town, working in her parents' café, Little Eats, Carter's never gotten caught up in all the hoopla about Hollywood. Adam is an overgrown child star fresh out of rehab and also looking to rehab his image after a very scandalous public break-up with a Disney starlet. When Adam's manager stumbles over the only dark spot marring Carter's simple small town life, he sees an opportunity he can't pass up. Soon Carter is playing a role of her own, small town love to Adam Jakes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8YH-YWImEbhQ7v5ysJo9yzPupwVtpwOAHSHCev9OSoT32rJDsjSPnQQPKD-tuy2HMgbMVoDuI9JODBTubt_F7rZkLb7DDV5CqIeQebxa5BzMckrxACKoH73C5XWxf5EJzE478kdZsPcTJ/s1600/catch+a+falling+star.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>I have to admit, I've got a real weak spot for a well done YA romance. My favorites are the ones that don't let the main character become a lifeless puppet of the love story, and <i>Catch a Falling Star</i> definitely doesn't. Carter comes off as a real, genuine person who is struggling to find her place in the world, but doesn't know it yet. Easily content with her life and its routines, happy to help those around her and watch the night sky with her friends, she doesn't ambitiously imagine a life for herself in some unknown elsewhere, but her parents want her to open her eyes to a world that's a little bigger than Little.<br />
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As Adam and Carter's scripted courtship deepens to something more than staged photo ops and publicity stunts, the pair start to open each other's eyes to different ways of life. Adam's worldly ambition plays nicely off Carter's small town contentment, and it's satisfying to watch both characters realize that maybe there's a sweet spot in between where they both could land. In addition to likeable, if flawed, characters, Culbertson's small town summer setting leaps off the page. <br />
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<i>Catch a Falling Star</i> is a great coming of age story for both characters taking on themes of what it means to grow up and carve out a place for themselves in the world. I loved this page turning read with a little extra substance!Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-60568415774271358162019-12-01T12:23:00.001-05:002019-12-01T12:23:36.299-05:00The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoMehGZav-mFlvtRSRzkuEILET3o18s2JBvLHt4CMVvawIg6uIImfrr5h15eEx7MSuS2An_JxW-a1MFQQg9GhYhiJyiRTiqqqZ_MHdZ-OW8DI6C7BdETuKxehkcD7ItyfL_ZE-R3ALGmqq/s1600/buddha+in+the+attick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; clear: left; color: #0066cc; float: left; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="206" data-original-width="142" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoMehGZav-mFlvtRSRzkuEILET3o18s2JBvLHt4CMVvawIg6uIImfrr5h15eEx7MSuS2An_JxW-a1MFQQg9GhYhiJyiRTiqqqZ_MHdZ-OW8DI6C7BdETuKxehkcD7ItyfL_ZE-R3ALGmqq/s200/buddha+in+the+attick.jpg" width="137" /></a>I’m not sure why it took me so long to read this one, perhaps
because it’s such a slim volume that seems to get swallowed up in the overabundance
for my bookshelves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
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<i>The Buddha in the
Attic</i> by Julie Otsuka is the beautiful, poetically rendered story of Japanese
picture brides, lured to the American west coast in the early 20<sup>th</sup>
century by promises of a new life and young husbands made wealthy in a nation
where the “streets are made of gold.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The reality of the life they find is much different, filled with
grueling work, devious men, ignorance, and racism.<br />
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Otsuka tells their stories as a collective, using the first-person
plural “we” throughout the book, and what could easily become an irritating
conceit is instead wielded with power to tell the story of many in few
words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While there may not be a specific
character to latch on to, Otsuka manages to beautifully capture the essence of
a whole experience, nimbly passing from woman to woman, from the farm worker,
to the laundress, to the maid until she has drawn out the breadth of their
experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A powerful story, beautifully
told.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Highly recommended.<br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-67451380710225451392019-07-29T19:15:00.000-04:002019-07-29T19:15:04.352-04:00The Chelsea Girls by Fiona Davis<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I had such high hopes for this book at the start. <i>The Chelsea Girls</i> gets off to a very fast-paced start as Hazel, a perennial Broadway understudy lands in Italy to join the USO Tour, and she is catapulted immediately onto the stage. The action doesn't let up as Hazel and her new friend Maxine find themselves coming to the aid of a German boy suspected of being a spy. Hazel and Maxine's days with the USO tour are rendered with the sort of alternating mystique and heartbreak that you might expect of adventures in a new place, but one that is broken by war.<br />
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However, when the war ends and the two return to the states - Maxine to a burgeoning career in Hollywood and Hazel to New York City and her mother's oppressive disappointment, the story seems to lose some of its spark. The Chelsea Hotel and its denizens are well-wrought but Hazel's entrance onto the scene and her "inspired" career in writing and directing is too easily come by to the point of feeling contrived. <br />
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The two friends reunite to stage Hazel's Broadway debut, but there are forces at work that stand to rob Hazel of her fifteen minutes of fame. The communist hunting House Un-American Activities Committee puts Hazel in a different kind of spotlight, and leading lady Maxine's behavior becomes more and more bizarre until everything comes to a head on opening night. Unfortunately, both female main characters seem to grow more wooden instead of less as the story progresses. Hazel's responses to her circumstances seem to be ill-placed, not occurring when would seem natural but being delayed and then awkwardly inserted for dramatic effect.<br />
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Despite its failings, though, <i>The Chelsea Girls</i> successfully tackles an era of history that is often glossed over. Davis captures the paranoia running rampant in politics during the McCarthy era, the fear that an offhand remark could ruin a life, and the witch trial-esque interrogations where the only option seemed to be to name names or be taken to be a communist yourself. Between that and a well timed twist that I definitely wasn't expecting, I'd still recommend this book.<br />
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(Review copy received from the publisher in exchange for review consideration.)Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-55280786667972516982019-06-24T07:40:00.000-04:002019-06-24T07:40:00.742-04:00The Westing Game by Ellen RaskinI read<i> voraciously</i> when I was a kid. I miss younger me and how easy it was for me to get engrossed in a book and the admirable pace I could devour them. <i>The Westing Game</i> was one of my very favorite books read, of the very many books I was capable of reading back then, and so when I happened across a copy, I wanted to see if the magic was still there. Short answer, no, it appears I've aged and my reading tastes have changed a good deal since I was in middle school (shocking, I know!), but it was still fun to revisit one of my old favorites.<br />
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As <i>The Westing Game</i> begins, a large group of tenants is moving into their new home, upscale apartment building Sunset Towers. Little do these tenants know, as they come to inhabit their new abode, that their being brought together is anything but coincidental. On a hill near Sunset Towers lives the mysterious Samuel Westing, paper magnate and the town's namesake. Well, at least he<i> did</i> live there until his life was ended by some nefarious means. From beyond the grave, however, Mr. Westing wants to play a game of inheritances, one that will reveal his murderer is too close for comfort. The Sunset Towers tenants are his heirs, but one is also a murderer, and only one will win Mr. Westing's game and a staggering inheritance.<br />
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What ensues is a fast-paced mystery with a 16 murder suspects who each have their own secrets. Younger me would have loved the many moving parts and the elaborate puzzle Raskin creates. Even having at one point read the outcome, I couldn't guess at the truth. Older me was a little baffled by the shear abundance of characters. In such a short book, it feels impossible to get a picture of any of them that is more than the briefest of caricatures. Older me prefers character development over a briskly moving plot, apparently.<br />
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Nonetheless, The Westing Game is a classic of children's literature, and it's aged surprisingly well. To read it, you'd hardly guess it was first published over 40 years ago. The shin-kicking perennially neglected but good-hearted Turtle Wexler makes a great heroine for kids to root for. As for the adult characters, it's funny to read this book as an adult and realize how recognizable some of these caricatures are from life - the self-important judge, the single-minded track star, the know-it-all intern, the bashful bride who wanted something more from her life, and the insecure person whose continuing efforts to get noticed by her peers make her that much more forgettable - they're all here.<br />
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The Westing Game is a clever, fun book that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to a new generation.Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-27756777090677999082019-06-17T07:34:00.000-04:002019-06-17T07:34:00.900-04:00Praise Song for the Butterflies by Bernice L. McFadden<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Abeo Kata lives a charmed life in Port Masi, a city in the fictional country of Ukemby. Her mother was a model and her father is a well-compensated employee of the government treasury. After her grandfather dies and her father brings her widowed grandmother to live with the family in Port Masi, Abeo's perfect childhood begins to crumble. Her father's job is in jeopardy as he stands accused of embezzling, her little brother's health is failing, the family car is broken down, and the house is springing leaks. While Abeo remains sheltered, her father finds himself being crushed by the weight of this reversal of fortune such that when his mother suggests the old custom of giving Abeo as <i>trokosi</i> to appease the gods and save the rest of his family from ruin, he gives in to the pressure, and Abeo's new, tortured life as a slave of the gods begins.<br />
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McFadden's storytelling really shines at the beginning of the book when she is drawing out the idyll of Abeo's childhood. Well loved and ignorant of the troubles beginning to brew among the adults in her life, Abeo is insulated in her perfect life. The childlike joy Abeo feels on adventures with her visiting aunt Serafine makes it all the more potent when her perfect life is torn away and she is enslaved at the religious shrine.<br />
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After that, things get kind of strange. McFadden's writing style is blunt and simple. The book reads quickly moving from plot point to plot point with little embellishment. In fact, McFadden's writing is so straightforward at times it seems nearly artless. In the parts where Abeo is enduring torture at the ends of the "priests" at the shrine, this comes across as stark and affecting. However, in later parts of the book, it seems to gloss over the details of Abeo's recovery, oversimplifying the struggle of recovering from unspeakable trauma.<br />
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There are parts of this book that really shine. It is a compelling, unputdownable read on the surface. However, it doesn't seem to stand up to much reflection. Under scrutiny, it doesn't seem to come together all that well as a whole and the unusual writing style doesn't seem altogether appropriate to the story being told.<br />
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(My copy provided by the publisher via LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.) Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-27357409237457299152019-02-18T07:57:00.000-05:002019-02-18T07:57:03.976-05:00The Legend of Colton H. Bryant by Alexandra Fuller<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
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Alexandra Fuller, much more acclaimed for her memoirs of her childhood in Africa, penned this book after moving to Wyoming. I recognized her name, loved the cover, and was actually in Wyoming, so I couldn't resist picking this up at a gift shop east of Yellowstone. I started it on the plane ride home and couldn't put it down. </div>
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I've driven across Wyoming twice in my life now, and there's something amazing about it. It's still got a wild, untamed sort of feel that I've never experienced anywhere else. Its sprawling miles of mountains and plains are staggeringly beautiful, but they do have that edge of danger about them too. While passing through, I really wanted to know what it was like to live there, not just passing through on warm late spring day, but what it would feel like to live there year round.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsBcODa37ROnJIF4ufaZKibglG36K7qFZCty-2hjnC5EtTpRVPVazzW_K7VypZo5oxDMn9Y-W2Bp-ahaOdgmHTHvaTKmd10i5MHz5yd33-PrUb2OpP-gJT7QpnY8xzIMc27CRSgkwqlXo5/s1600/LegendofColton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><i>The Legend of Colton H. Bryant</i> gave me a taste of it, and not necessarily a sweet one. Colton is the young son of an oil rig worker. Never much good at school and always looking to follow in his father's footsteps, it was practically inevitable that Colton himself would one day end up working on the rigs. Fuller paints a picture of a mostly happy go lucky, good hearted kid, growing up on the high plains of Wyoming, breaking horses, hunting, camping, going out on the rodeo circuit but ultimately heading to work for big oil.</div>
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In this lightly re-imagined telling of Colton's life, Fuller manages to bring out that spirit Wyoming seems to wear on its face, indescribable open spaces and mountain vistas that only thinly disguise a harder edge. The people she introduces readers to are hard living, hard working, decent types carving a life out in a place that's not quite hospitable. At the same time, Fuller is writing a scathing indictment of big oil, an industry that dominates Wyoming's economy, preying on a lack of other opportunity and an often undereducated workforce trying to eke out a living.</div>
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Fuller expertly draws out the lives of Colton and his family and friends, showing us a big hearted, loyal boy who grew into young family man trying to earn a living to support his wife and kids. Fuller, just as skillfully, lets readers in on the issues with big oil in Wyoming - the hours, the undertraining, the under-penalized safety violations, and countless underhanded ways of sticking it to a labor pool that doesn't have much other opportunity. <br />
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<i>The Legend of Colton H. Bryant </i>is heavy with foreshadowing. There isn't a moment in the book, even while Fuller amuses us with Colton's childhood antics, that doesn't carry the weight of looming tragedy. This book is a true heartbreaker of a story and a powerful call to action against the sort of corporate greed that ruins both landscapes and lives. Highly recommended.</div>
Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1710818943922563736.post-3835643992999995842019-02-11T10:02:00.000-05:002019-02-11T10:02:12.822-05:00Natural Flights of the Human Mind by Clare MorrallI have this super duper bad habit. I buy ebooks like a<i> fiend, </i>not that I don't buy all books like a fiend, but it's a little too easy to fire off $1.99 to Amazon and have a shiny new ebook at your disposal that you ultimately never read because...time. I love paper books. 99 times out of 100 I will choose to read one of my overabundance of paper books over picking one of the many very exciting titles sitting neglected on my Kindle. Honestly, it takes my old friend the LibraryThing "choose a random book from your library" function to even get my eyes on an ebook. Now, if I only I had all my ebooks cataloged there. That's a work in progress I'll never hope to catch up with. Happily, though, the randomizer drew one from ebook obscurity for my first read of the year, and I'm glad because it was a winner.<br />
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<i>Natural Flights of the Human Mind</i> introduces two damaged, mysterious characters in a seaside village on the English coast. The first is Peter Straker, a misfit who lives in an abandoned lighthouse that each day grows closer to falling into the turbulent sea. Despite having no job, Straker lives a regimented life governed by numbers and routine. Creeping in around the edges of his carefully managed, solitary life are the voices of the 78. The 78 are the victims of a mysterious accident Straker believes himself to have caused.<br />
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Imogen Doody is a school caretaker determined to live life on her own terms after a young marriage that ended in disaster. Fortified by a powerful anger that gives her the control over her surroundings that she desperately craves, she's willingly walled off from any human companionships, fending of all advances from her family and would-be friends with her prickly attitude. Fatefully, she comes into some abandoned property from her long lost godfather. As she struggles to restore the abandoned cottage, Doody crosses paths with the mysterious Straker, and the two make a connection that sets in motion a series of extraordinary events that neither could have anticipated that sets them both on the path to destruction...or redemption.<br />
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This books is definitely a slow burn, carefully drawing out the often unlikeable but all-too-sympathetic main characters, peeling off the layers of their stories little by little, revealing their damaging histories, unpacking the troubled pasts that led them to their solitary, broken lives. The seaside village where the two collide, despite its beauty, is rendered starkly, a place of exile for Straker who hopes the whipping coastal winds will one day be powerful enough to sweep him and his lighthouse away. <br />
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If you're the sort of person who's ever wondered what the life of somebody foolishly or even unwittingly responsible for tragedy would be like, <i>Natural Flights of the Human</i> mind is a compelling glimpse into that psyche. I never expected this one to be a page turner, but I found myself rushing toward the finish desperate to see if the troubled characters Morall had brought me to care for would find redemption. <i>Flights</i> is a haunting and beautiful story of perils of inadequacy and guilt and the power of love and forgiveness. Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07751131767729086158noreply@blogger.com0