When I first starting thinking of people I'd love to have write about their favorite classics for our Year of the Classics feature, Sparrow jumped to my mind right away. I read a few of her reviews and we were friends on GoodReads for a while, and then my younger sister went to the same law school she goes to and I pretty much told my sister she had to seek her out and befriend her because she was an amazing reviewer and in my mind that is equated with also being a wonderful human being. As it turns out, I was right. We have so much fun in real life, especially when I beat her at book trivia games. (Muahaha!) However, she does and probably will always know more than I do about classics--I have some major catching up to do. I asked her to write today about one of her favorite authors, so here she is, writing about Willa Cather:

There is something special about a writer who can turn a topic that is ordinarily gross into something magical.  Willa Cather is my favorite example of this because prairies are terrible.  Maybe I read too many Little House books as a kid, but I am not interested in anybody teaching me how to build a log cabin or till a field.   I don’t particularly like to put together a tent, and my ability to rassle a farm animal into a harness is quite limited, so it is unlikely I will retain any helpful agricultural instruction from prairie books.  Luckily, Willa Cather could not care less about teaching me to farm, but she does, against all odds, make me love the idea of it.  I would go so far as to say that if Willa Cather wrote a book about planning a wedding or cleaning out the litter box, she might even be able to throw some charm into those horrid activities.  She is wonderful.  She turns the prairies, or the city, or the desert, or wherever she happens to set her stage, into a cradle of humanity.

I am almost finished reading all of Willa Cather’s books, so I will give you a ranking of the books I have read so far so that you may choose among them the book that is right for you.  I’m sure, after reading this blog, you will all be running to the store to purchase your very own Cather novel, so choose wisely.  All of them have her sparse, focused prose, and they all have something pointed to say about the nature of humanity, but they are not all for everyone . . . I guess.  

I have three left, and then I will proceed to finding out about her life.  I did watch a documentary about her once, but I do not think that makes me knowledgeable enough to really comment about her as a person.  Maybe I don’t think even someone who has studied her life is knowledgeable enough to comment, but holy shit, look at the Willa Cather Archive. That is so rad.  Also, check this out: http://cather.unl.edu/geochron/. Cather was so well traveled. 

I do know that at the end of her life, Cather tried to burn all of her letters, which I think is pretty badass despite being a little tragic for me personally.  But, like Seymour Glass, she probably just didn’t want a bunch of fools looking at her tattoo.  Along these lines, there is a lot of speculation about her personal life, including speculation about her sexual orientation.  My uninformed opinion is that this type of speculation can be empowering or demeaning depending on the way it goes down.  While Cather writes wonderful women, she does not do so in an overtly sexual manner, so, to me, guessing about her sexual orientation is not a particularly illuminating pair of glasses through which to read her books.

Rather, I think Cather is inspiring as a successful woman who found success on her own terms.  The caveat to that, of course, is the question, how much can a woman live on her own terms in a country where she can’t vote, can barely own property, can be legally raped, and can be imprisoned for using birth control?  But, you know, I still feel like Cather lived, as much as possible, as herself.  Maybe it is naïve to think this, but I do feel like the women she wrote are real women, talking like women talk, caring about what women care about.  They are strong and practical and beautiful, like Cather herself.  

I don't know about our readers, but Sparrow has definitely made me want to read some Willa Cather. And if I'm speaking honestly, she's also made me a little bit ashamed that I haven't read any already. Luckily for all of us, a significant amount of her work is readily available online for free. [Project Gutenberg | Amazon] Be sure to check out her other reviews on Goodreads--they are well worth your reading time--or you can check out her blog at Sparrow Guide.

*I know this sounds ridiculous. The whole point of the book is to create a futuristic cyborg Cinderella, right? Meyer is a wonderful writer. Her writing is engrossing and I was engaged throughout the entire book. But it really takes a certain amount of the fun out of a story when a reader already knows a lot of where the story is going. Cyborgs are relatively novel in the YA world. Books set in Asia are relatively novel in the YA world. I still really enjoyed the book the way it was but I think Meyer could do (arguably even more) wonderful things with her own imagination.

3.5/5 stars

I read the ebook version of Cinder but it is also available in audio format from Macmillan Audio.  Here is a snippet of the narration: 

The audio version of Cinder is narrated by Rebecca Soler, whose work includes narrating Judy Blume's Just As Long As We're Together (a childhood favorite of mine) and Sarah Dessen's Lock and Key. I listened to her read the latter book and she was wonderful. Her conversational tone definitely works well with young adult novels and she fluidly integrates multiple characters without it sounding forced. If the clip from the audiobook is indicative of the entire audiobook, I'm sad I didn't experience it in that format. I'll definitely consider listening to the rest of the series if I can get my hands on them around the book's release date. I have to see what those fairy tale characters are up to! If you've yet to read Cinder (and you definitely should), think about listening to the audiobook. 

*Clip source: Macmillan Audio

With this post we are launching our new joint effort -Three Heads Are Better Than One (or Two) - a regular feature where we will present  our opinions and recommendations on many, many (mostly book-related) subjects. Three opinions, naturally, are much better than one (or two), right?

Today we are talking about our favorite and/or memorable audio books. The three of us are dedicated consumers, fans and self-proclaimed connoisseurs of books on audio. We have sampled a lot of them; we loved many of them. It was hard to choose, but we managed to narrow down our favorites to two books each - one adult and one YA/children's. If you still have not yet explored the wonderful world of audio pleasures, these books are a great place to start. Samples included.

The Year of the Floood
Author: Margaret Atwood
Narrators: Bernadette Dunn, Katie MacNichol, Mark Bramhall
Publisher: Random House Audio
An Excerpt of the Book

The Year of the Flood was written as a companion to Atwood’s disturbing dystopian release, Oryx and Crake.   In this world, the environment has been polluted and perverted by human carelessness and arrogance.  The lucky few live in pharmaceutical company owned compounds while the unlucky masses survive on the outside.  It isn’t really necessary to read Oryx and Crake first, but I’d recommend it – these two books together are brilliant.  Oryx and Crake centers around two boys growing up in the compounds, numbing themselves with a steady diet of violence, sex, and pharmaceuticals as they become more and more disaffected.  It’s a cold, disconnected book, which only serves to make its climax even more disturbing. 

The Year of the Flood is the very different story of two women on the outside.  Both are members of the God’s Gardeners, a sort of environmentalist religious cult.  This book feels much more emotional and intense to me, and it made me love Oryx and Crake even more in retrospect.  This audiobook is really special, because it’s one of those that completely transports you into the world of the novel.  The book contains the hymns of the God’s Gardeners in between chapters, and here they are performed with musical accompaniment. They are very crunchy granola and a bit cheesy, which only makes them feel more realistic to me.  Bernadette Dunn is practical and introspective as Toby and Katie MacNichol is vulnerable but persevering as Ren.  I’ve heard that Margaret Atwood plans to continue this series with a third book and I’m very excited to read (or listen) to it.  

The True Meaning of Smekday
Author: Adam Rex
Narrator: Bahni Turpin
Publisher: Listening Library
An Excerpt of the Book

Okay, so this is actually a middle grade book, but I’m going to fudge “the rules” here because this audiobook is so spectacular!  I can say with complete certainty that this is the most clever and hilarious alien invasion/road trip/commentary on human ethics story featuring a sarcastic eleven year old girl and a quirky alien called “J.Lo” that I’ve ever read.  And not only that – it’s also illustrated. 

Now, I know what you’re going to say:  Why on Earth would I listen to the audiobook when I’d miss the illustrations?  True. But here’s what makes the audiobook absolutely worth getting:  Bahni Turpin. She’s a genius.  She’s one of my favorite narrators (you may have also heard her in The Help, The Downside Ghosts series, or Push).  Her delivery of Tip’s dry, cynical comebacks is spot on.  And her take on J.Lo – squeaky, wavering, and silly – is so perfect.  This is a great audiobook for families to listen to together (I’d say it’s for ages eight and up) and you can always buy a copy (or a few copies) of the print version for the illustrations.  I’ve already given this book to several people!

The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo
Author: Stieg Larsson
Narrator: Simon Vance
Publisher: Random House Audio
An Excerpt of the Book

Oh, how I lamented not having a paper version of this book when I was listening to this Simon Vance's reading of it! He made me fall in love with this story. I enjoyed Vance's narration because his voice transported me into the cold and snowy world of contemporary Sweden. Maybe I imagined it, but I thought Simon Vance's voice had a very discerning Swedishness to it, that firmness and terseness. And I was thoroughly impressed by his ability to pronounce all these Swedish names with weird letters in them so smoothly - Hans-Erik Wennerström, Nils Bjurman, Hedestad. Tell me some more Swedish words, Mr. Vance!

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Author: Sherman Alexie
Narrator: Sherman Alexie
Publisher: Recorded Books
An Excerpt of the Book

Generally, I am not very fond of audio books narrated by writers. Even though I understand that they know their characters and their voices better than anyone else, they often do not posses the necessary acting skills.

Sherman Alexie is not a professional actor and reader and, frankly, he is not even a good amateur reader, BUT his voice is just the absolutely perfect fit for his narrator - 14-year old Junior, poor, handicapped, bullied, stuttering and at times foul-mouthed Native American boy. Everything is just so organic in this audio version of the novel - the accents, the stuttering, the rhythm of the humor. A seamless melding of the story and the narrator.

Dune
Author: Frank Herbert
Narrator:  Scott Brick, Orlagh Cassidy, Euan Morton, Simon Vance
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
An Excerpt of the Book

 I think my absolute favorite part about audiobooks is that I am able to do things while I'm listening.   This whopper of an audiobook is over 21 hours long. While listening to it, I commuted back and forth to school a few times and then drove from Boston to Philadelphia and back again. I'd heard over and over that every sci-fi fan had to read Dune but frankly, the length was intimidating. It won both the Nebula and Hugo Awards for best novel and when I was researching this audiobook, I also found that it won the Audie Award for Science Fiction in 2008. Very deservedly, if you ask me, because I found this cast and overall production to be superb. The world, the number of characters, their names, the plotlines--it is a huge undertaking. The audiobook has a few bizarre touches that make it unique. For example, each narrator takes turns with chapters rather than having the narrators voice specific characters. Also, there are a lot of background musical touches interspersed in the production. Both of these features would normally turn me off in an audio production but the former didn't bother me and the latter added to my absolute immersion in the world. The 21 hours just flew by and I plan to listen to it again before I go forward with the series. It makes me happy that even while no proper movie has been made to capture the amazingness of this novel (This is arguable. Certainly the Kyle McLachlan/Sting in a diaper version is no one's perfect movie version. The miniseries one was pretty good.), this audiobook does it right.  If you ever plan to give Dune a try, or want to read it again, I recommend listening to this production. 

What are some of your favorite audioboooks?  Who are your favorite narrators?  We love getting recommendations so leave us a comment!

The Storyteller
Author: Antonia Michaelis (Translated by Miriam Debbage)
Publication Date: 1/1/12
Publisher: Amulet Books

Blurb(GR): Anna and Abel couldn't be more different. They are both 17 and in their last year of school, but while Anna lives in a nice old town house and comes from a well-to-do family, Abel, the school drug dealer, lives in a big, prison-like tower block at the edge of town. Anna is afraid of him until she realizes that he is caring for his six-year-old sister on his own.

Review:
I picked this up expecting a young adult coming of age/romance with a bit of magical realism and maybe a few darker themes about poverty and drug abuse.  Okay, so here’s my little confession:  I picked this up expecting Perfect Chemistry, with a side order of fairy tales and 150% more depth.  One would assume (har har) that I’d learned not to make assumptions in my thirty-some years of life, and yet here we are.  This book was so utterly different than what I was expecting.  I didn’t read any reviews prior to starting and I think that was actually a mistake.  I really should have paid a bit more attention to that cover:  just look at that pretty purple rose…wilting in the frost…with spots of blood on it.  *shudder* Upon finishing this book, I was so completely at a loss; I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.  I felt like I’d just walked into what I thought was a kid’s petting zoo, only to discover that it was actually a baby animal slaughterhouse.  

And I don’t want to spoil this book for anyone…but…I think that anyone who’s going to attempt this book needs to know the following:

a)     There are people out there who grow up in horrific, abusive situations and yet they survive and learn to cope. They find help and learn to accept who they are.

This book is not about those people.

b)     There are kind, patient people who, through the setting of boundaries, can have healthy non-codependent relationships with severely damaged people and help them to get through.

This book is most definitely not about those people. 

This book is about Anna, a good girl.  A girl raised with every advantage.  A girl who feels trapped by her own inexperience.

“Who was she?  A girl inside a bubble.  The daughter of Magnus and Linda Leemann, from a nice district of Griefswald, from a house of blue air.  High school student in her last year, musician, English au pair to be.  Gitta’s squeaky-clean little lamb.  No.  She was someone who didn’t know yet who she was or would be.”

And this book is about Abel, a mystery.  He’s an older brother, a drug dealer, an abandoned kid, a self-destructive person, and a storyteller.  Anna is intrigued by him; she wants to figure him out.  She wants to know something outside her bubble of blue air, so she follows him one day.  She’s surprised when the scary-looking Abel picks up a little girl in a pink coat, and she’s even more surprised when he begins to tell her a haunting, beautiful fairy tale. Anna is captivated but she’s soon discovered eavesdropping.  Abel is thorny and protective of the little girl – his sister, Micha – but Anna is persistent.  Soon she’s becoming involved in their lives – in Abel’s desperate attempt to keep his sister by his side even though he’s a minor, in Micha’s questions about their missing mother.  Anna is determined to help, even as Abel tries to push her away.  But even as he’s pushing her away, she’s becoming a main character in his stories.

“’Your roses are already starting to wilt,’ the sea lion said to the rose girl.  'Not only where I tore them but everywhere else on your body, too.  They will wither.  And you will freeze in the cold wind.’”

This book is bleak.  I’m not actually sure that I knew the definition of that word before reading this book.  Okay, that’s probably an exaggeration.  However, I must say that while I am quite often that reviewer who cries, “Too neat! Too happy!” this was probably the first time that I ever wanted to whimper, “Too dark” and then back away slowly…and huddle in a corner.  This book really, really got under my skin and not always in a good way.  It made me feel angry and hopeless.  The relationship portrayed here is twisted and sick.  It made me physically ill to read about it but I can’t deny that it’s realistic.  I hated Abel and I hated Anna, but I related to them too: Abel and his need to keep everyone at a distance, Anna and her cloak of torn love.  And I love the idea of two messed up, broken kids who can only truly connect in a fairy tale, but never in their real lives.  I love the idea that somewhere inside a hopelessly damaged person, there lies a small, untouched, sacred place – a place for fairy tales.

However, I think that in the end I loved the idea of this book more than the finished product.  Abel is a bit too much a cipher.  He never feels fully fleshed out as a character, in my opinion.  He’s proud and self-contained, but I never really felt the pain underneath all that, and I needed to.  I needed to be able to relate to him in some more tangible way.  In a few places he even feels a bit like a stereotype.  It's possible that my own preconceived notions about this book colored my thoughts about him a little too much. Perhaps Abel would come through more clearly to me on a re-read? If I could stand one.

The narration is also a little odd.  It’s third person, and hovers over Anna for about 95% of the book, but then takes occasional little detours to follow Gitta (Anna’s friend), Bertil (another friend), Abel, or Soren (a teacher).  When we’re with Anna, the narrator is intimate and free with information, but when we’re with anyone else…it becomes a vague, tight-fisted liar.  It feels a little too much like reader manipulation – like the author’s blatant attempt to keep everything a mystery until the very end. However, I just adore Antonia Michaelis’ writing.  She writes beautiful, evocative, stunning prose.  I highlighted so many passages. 

I'm not really sure how readers will react to this book.  I'm having a difficult time with my own reaction to this book.  It’s a dark, difficult (yet beautiful) read. That being said, I really want you all to read it, because I desperately need someone to have this conversation with right now:

“Could you believe that he…?”
“NO.  That was INSANE.”
“And then she…”
“OMG, don’t even get me started.”

So get to it!

Perfect Musical Pairing
We Are Augustines - Book of James

The theme of this song is a bit of a MAJOR spoiler so I’m not really going to discuss it.  But this quote (from the lyrics) makes me really emotional about this book:

“Storm clouds began to form in his head
and crisscrossed his mind like a restless angry ocean 
And the howling of hardship and heartache kneeled and grinned in his face

He stood there in his shoes unable to move
Kid I drove all night here to tell you that I love you”

3.5/5 Stars

This is our first blog hop and we are so excited that is focused on science fiction! All three of us are avid sci-fi readers so we've picked out 10 recommendations for sci-fi lovers. Each one is linked the GoodReads page for the book:

One winner will get his/her pick from the 10 books we've selected. (or any YA or adult science fiction book under $13 & available from The Book Depository (or Amazon if in the US) If the book is only available in hardback, we will buy that edition, otherwise we will buy the paperback version. If the winner has an e-reader and would prefer the e-version, if it is possible to gift it by email, we are able to do that as an alternative.  Please see our giveaway policy if you have any questions or feel free to email us at thereadventurer(at)gmail(dot)com or use our contact form. Good luck and happy hopping!

This is one of the rare cases when I know the movie far, far better than I know the book. This movie and I have a close, intimate history--decades of movie enjoyment. Decades of me saying, "You are in for a treat!" and "She caaaan't hear you" in creepy witch voices. I've probably seen this movie at least thirty times so when I went to reread the book today (and it is the first book I've checked off my 110+ Books To Read Next Challenge!), I found that I could just take margin notes on every page of the differences without referencing the film. Don't worry though, I watched the movie twice today to be sure. When Catie recently compared the movie and book versions of Holes, she found there to be basically no differences. That's not the case here--there are a bunch of huge changes and also various minor changes that had me wondering what the point of the changes were. (changing the room number of the Grand High Witch at the hotel from 454 in the book to 208 in the movie. Why? WHY?)

I suppose I was expecting the movie to just follow the book verbatim because you can't get source material better than Roald Dahl. (amiright or amiright?) However, even the basic setup of the movie is different. In the book, the narrative is in first person so we never learn the boy's name; fair enough that the movie named him Luke. (And his grandmother Helga, and the Grand High Witch as Eva Ernst. ) The book finds the narrator in Norway with parents visiting his grandmother. While there, he is in a car accident with his parents and he is the sole survivor. Upon the execution of his parents' will, his grandmamma (just grandma in the film) takes him to England. She falls ill with pneumonia so they can't go on a trip to Norway so they go to the English seaside. In the movie, for who knows what purposes, suddenly the boy has an American accent, his father is American, they live in America, the grandmother has diabetes (this storyline runs throughout the movie), and the parents pass away without him in the car. The boy and his grandmother go to England because Luke's parents wanted him to attend school there. Considering Dahl isn't American, almost all the actors aren't American, and the film was made in England and Norway, I don't understand the changes here unless it is just to appease Hollywood and the US audience.

I always thought as a child that some of the most frightening parts of the movie were when the maid's neck started to grow mouse hair after she used the Grand High Witch's Formula 86 on her neck as perfume, when Huston pushes a baby buggy down a hill and the mother has to watch her child nearly die, when the witches are chasing Luke around the hotel grounds, and when Luke is a mouse being chased by the cat--would he get caught? Guess what? None of this is in the book. There is no romance between these two characters, the entire chase scene is fabricated, along with the buggy scene, and there is no cat in Ms. Ernst's room, only some frogs. I wouldn't change these scenes, though, because they frightened me as a child and they are still pretty heartracing in adulthood. I wish the filmmakers would've included elements from the book like the Grand High Witch's song and dance during the annual meeting (can you just imagine Huston doing this?) and the disgusting description of how each with could concoct the mouse-making potion themselves. 

The ending of the film, now that I am reminded of the book's ending, made me roll my eyes. The book ends with the boy STILL A MOUSE. He and his grandmother are going to go to the Grand High Witch's castle in Norway to try to find addresses of more witches to get rid of. The gist of the movie ending is the same except the two are off the the US with money and addresses Luke retrieved before they left the hotel. But the imaginary character of the Grand High Witch's secretary changes him back to a human and then stares at her hand, seemingly implying that there are good witches who don't look hideous and don't have to wear gloves and la di da. Um, no. If Roald Dahl wanted there to be good witches, would've he have made mention of them in the book somewhere, don't you think? I do.

Overall, I absolutely love both versions. There are far more disgusting bits in the book and I wish I could see them realized in a movie. However, so many fantastical elements of the book were included in the film that was made. Each actor/actress stayed true to their book counterpart. Perhaps my only wish would be that the film stuck with the original ending. Oh, and one thing I found majorly entertaining was this: this British children's book is kept exactly the way it is written and not adapted to its US audience. Recently, my co-bloggers and I have had discussions about whether adaptations are necessary or if they take something  (sometimes the heart) out of their source. The Witches keeps the 's' in place of the z, talks about conkers, tommyrot and so many other things.  Why are we trusting kids more than we trust young adults? 

Have you seen this movie or read the book? What'd you think? 

The Wicked and the Just
Author: J. Anderson Coats
Publication Date: 4/17/12
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books

Blurb (GR): Cecily’s father has ruined her life. He’s moving them to occupied Wales, where the king needs good strong Englishmen to keep down the vicious Welshmen. At least Cecily will finally be the lady of the house.

Gwenhwyfar knows all about that house. Once she dreamed of being the lady there herself, until the English destroyed the lives of everyone she knows. Now she must wait hand and foot on this bratty English girl.

While Cecily struggles to find her place amongst the snobby English landowners, Gwenhwyfar struggles just to survive. And outside the city walls, tensions are rising ever higher—until finally they must reach the breaking point.

Review:

How much do you know about Wales? 13th century Wales? Invasion of Wales by England?

Nothing? Do not fret, neither did I before reading The Wicked and the Just. I can claim to know a little tiny bit about the history of tension between Scotland and England, thanks to Diana Gabaldon and the tidbits of historical information she puts in between hunky Jamie Fraser's kilted adventures in Outlander books. But about Wales I knew absolutely nothing. Now I can thank J. Anderson Coats for educating me on this subject and simultaneously entertaining me.

The Wicked and the Just is set during a very pivotal period in Welsh history - the country has been occupied by England for a few years and the intensity of oppression is so high that the discontent within Welsh population is reaching a boiling point.

Enter Cecily, an English girl brought by her father to the wilderness of Wales to live in a walled town of Caernarvon. Surrounded by snobbish fellow Englishmen and "barbarous" Welshmen, Cecily spends her time being bratty, cunning, strong-headed, and lamenting lack of suitable beaus and dresses. With all her spoiled girl attitude, Cecily is actually quite funny. (Although I have to say, while I enjoyed her humor, I thought it had a very modern pattern to it.)

Cecily's Welsh servant girl Gwenhwyfar (we will call her Gwinny, because I have no clue whatsoever how to pronounce her full name) has a completely different set of challenges, e.g., how not to get raped by rough Englishmen or not to die of hunger.  Her voice is bitter, vengeance-hungry and defiant.

The conflict between Wales and England is portrayed wonderfully through these two perspectives.

Objectively, the main weakness of The Wicked and the Just is that its plot is virtually non-existent. If you do not mind me being technical, what I mean is that rising action, climax, falling action, and dénouement all happen during the last 50 pages of the novel. Exposition, on the other hand, takes up the rest 80% of the book.

Now, if the narrators of The Wicked and the Just were less charismatic, such a narrative structure could have been detrimental to the story. But both Cecily and Gwinny are two very interesting girls and the slice-of-life/everyday minutiae approach works effectively here. I was not bored by the lengthy exposition at all, too busy laughing at and wanting to strangle Cecily and being horrified by the details of Gwinny's life.

If I have not made it clear yet, I enjoyed The Wicked and the Just and I am also thankful that quality historical fiction is, while rare, is still being written by thoughtful and caring of historical accuracy authors.

P.S. If you want to learn a little more of all things Welsh, check out Jo's Welsh Week post. All kinds of useful info there, from pictures of reading (!) muscly Welsh rugby players to how to pronounce something that is spelled like this: Ysgytlaeth. Plus, a guest post by J. Anderson Coats herself.

4/5 stars

Just like the vast majority of reading addicts out there, my to-read list is completely out of control. I always admire those readers who can sort their lists into specific categories and move through them with methodical determination.  Me, I like to treat mine like a sort of shapeless, bottomless sack.  Like a book-bag of holding, if you will. Whenever I come across a book that looks interesting (at library book sales, thrift stores, the library, amazon, book blogs, goodreads…), I’ll just chuck it in there.

And then I inevitably forget all about it.  Months later, I’ll come across the same book mentioned in a review from someone I trust and go to add it…only to realize that it’s already on my list (and has been for over a year).  Or alternately, I’ll attempt for once to use my to-read list for its intended purpose and realize that I don’t remember adding about twenty of the books on there.  And that is why I desperately need help.  

So, in an effort to get myself on track and follow in the footsteps of The Readventurer’s own Flannery, I will now attempt to organize the 110 Books That I Have Every Intention of Reading Next (Part Deux).

First up: curse-breaking. These are the books that I’ve attempted to read - not once, not twice, but a few times.  Each time I think, yes this is it!  This is the time that I make it through!  And then I don’t.  And then they just go back to languishing on my shelf.  And it’s not that I don’t enjoy them while I’m reading them.  I do!  I enjoy them quite a lot!  But something always interferes.  Something mysterious and out of my hands and not at all to do with my book promiscuity.  I don’t want to alarm anyone, but I believe the following books are cursed!

Since my two daughters have come into my life, I’ve been setting aside children’s, middle-grade, and young adult books for them to read when they’re ready.   Here are some that I’d like to get to (possibly in mother-daughter readalongs).  And before you ask – no, I seriously haven’t read any of these (seriously)!

23.  Heidi by Johanna Spyri
24.  A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
25.  Stuart Little by E.B. White
26.  The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White
27.  Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
28.  The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
29.  The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
30.  Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
31.  The Lottie Project by Jacqueline Wilson
32.  The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

I love getting recommendations from the Queens of YA Reviews on goodreads (you know who you are). Here are some that I haven’t gotten around to yet:

Of course, I am actually 30 years old so I do like to read adult literature occasionally.  Here are some great recommendations I’ve gotten for adult books (50% of which are from Tatiana…the woman is kind of a genius at recommendations):

Two genres that I rarely read anything from are nonfiction and graphic novels, and in the next few year(s) I’d love to try and expand my horizons a little bit.  Here are a few that interest me:

And now that these have all been taken out and organized...my bottomless sack is looking a bit more shapeless than usual.  Bring on the recommendations!  What did I miss?  Go on and tell me.  I'll chuck them in and forget them...until April of 2015 when I inevitably do this all over again.

**And yes, I was actually kidding there. 

A Perfect Blood (The Hollows, #10)
Author: Kim Harrison
Publication Date: 2/21/12
Publisher: Harper Voyager

Blurb(GR): Ritually murdered corpses are appearing across Cincinnati, terrifying amalgams of human and other. Pulled in to help investigate by the FIB, former witch turned day-walking demon Rachel Morgan soon realizes a horrifying truth--a would-be creator is determined to make his (or her) own demons. But it can't be done without Rachel's blood, in this latest blockbuster by a "New York Times"-bestselling author.

Review:

You know when that sitcom that you’ve been religiously watching for years and years starts advertising its 100th or 200th episode?  The hype is heavy and the ads are everywhere, all assuring you that this will be a very special event, not to be missed.  You set aside all other plans that night to watch it live, because you can’t even bear to wait for the DVR to finish recording so you can screen the commercials.  You sit down with a bowl of Smartfood and a Diet Coke, feeling excited.  And then, as the credits end and the show opens… you realize something.

IT’S A CLIP SHOW.

That’s exactly how I feel right now about this book.  After the amazing ride that Pale Demon was (literally and figuratively!) I was so excited for this to come out.  This is the first urban fantasy series I ever read, and it will always have a very special place in my heart.  I’m not sure that I can even be completely objective about it anymore; I love it that much.  The characters that live in these books are some of my all-time favorites and at this point, they feel like old friends.  

But, I am very sad to say that this one was a disappointment for me.  There’s a lot of recap, a lot of filler.  And after nine books I have to say that I really resent having to read through yet another description of Rachel’s kitchen or her splat gun.  I don’t need recap about Kisten’s fate (why is she thinking about him so much all of a sudden, anyway?), or Matalina’s, or Ivy’s past.  I don't need to hear about what happened at the turn, or why it's so amazing that Glenn will eat tomatoes.  I don’t need a new character who seems to serve no purpose.  And I definitely don’t need glacial scenes where the characters sit around playing pool or meet up for game night and pizza.  

It’s a transition book, very much about Rachel’s soul-searching and coming to terms with her Demon identity.  And let me tell you a little something about Rachel: she’s one of the most in-denial characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of spending time with.  At the end of Pale Demon, Rachel is given a charmed bracelet: one that will allow her to live without magic, to forget her identity and just be “normal.”  When I got to that ending I chuckled, thinking: we’ll just see how long it takes her to remove that bracelet!  I bet it’s a matter of pages!!  Well, it turns out the joke is on me, because she spends almost 70% of this book with it on!  And that means that ass-kicking, rushing headlong into danger, super magic wielding Rachel is effectively gone for 70% of this book.  And even when she takes it off, the badass Rachel that I know seems to have gone MIA.  I never thought I’d see the day when Rachel needed to be saved from a human by that little cookie-maker Trent.

Rachel is in denial. She’s a whiner.  She feels guilty about anything and everything.  She makes mistakes and she tends to misjudge those who want to help her.  BUT, don’t shut the book on her just yet because here’s what makes her such a blast to be around: her friends.  Through their eyes, we see her good qualities: loyalty, bravery, dedication, honesty.  Unfortunately, all of the characters that I know and love seem to have taken a back seat in this installment (including Rachel herself!).  

So much of my enjoyment in this series comes from Jenks teasing Rachel about her love life, or Al needling her deviously about her powers, or Trent bickering with her like a child, or Ivy weathering her indecisiveness with a steadiness that can only come from real commitment.  What makes these books so special is how these wonderful characters interact as a family, something that I felt was largely missing from this installment.

However, I’m definitely not giving up on this series.  Thanks to the wonderful Q&A page that Ms. Harrison kindly participates in with the release of each and every one of these books, I’ve learned that the next book will be called Ever After!  And will take place almost completely in the…EVER AFTER. With AL.  And the demons.  I can’t wait!

Perfect Musical Pairing:
Otis Redding - I've Been Lovin' You Too Long

Because, when it comes down to it I have so much history with Rachel, Ivy, Jenks, Trent, and Al that there's no way I'm giving up on this series.  I don't care if Rachel discovers that she's 1/2 elf, marries Bis in a non-traditional Ever-After wedding, loses her mind and kills all the humans, and then turns herself pixie-sized and lives underground.  I'm in this until the end!

3/5 Stars

One thing that I really love about this series is its lack of emphasis on romance.  Rachel has had a few relationships, but there's never been THE ONE and I really like that.  Rachel's young and she has  much larger concerns: dealing with her dangerous genetic inheritance, rescuing various Inderland species from extinction, saving the ever after....

But I'm only a simple book nerd blogger.  And if I can't discuss the minutiae of a fictional character's relationships on the internet then why am I even here?  I ask you.  Therefore I spent the better part of last night compiling scientific data (read: youtube fantasy casting videos and endless pages of Hollows quotes) to give you a ranking of Rachel's love interests.  My life is so hard.

       And Now to Speculate Wildly About Rachel's Love Life

Wonder
Author: R.J. Palacio
Publication Date: 2/14/12
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers

Blurb (GR): I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse. 

August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances? 

R. J. Palacio has written a spare, warm, uplifting story that will have readers laughing one minute and wiping away tears the next. With wonderfully realistic family interactions (flawed, but loving), lively school scenes, and short chapters, Wonder is accessible to readers of all levels. 

Review:
August Pullman burrowed under my skin and punched me in my tear ducts pretty early on in this book.  Maybe it was his Star Wars obsession, or his sense of humor, or his general spirit that captured me but it was probably all three—and so much more.  As a kid with craniofacial abnormalities, he's heard it all, all the awful names kids (and adults) can come up with. He's seen all the horrified looks. Until this year, though, he'd never been to school. Wonder follows Auggie as he starts his year until he graduates from the fifth grade.

The story is told from multiple viewpoints: Auggie, his sister, her boyfriend, her sister’s ex-best friend, and two of Auggie’s friends from school. The technique worked for me in this case, as it was fascinating to see events from different perspectives and to feel what each character was feeling. I keep trying to decide which narrator I enjoyed hearing from the most but they each gave me something to think about: What it means to be comfortable, how much influence parents have on their children’s personalities, how taking one minute to do something for someone else can make all the difference.  I sound like a motivational speaker right now. Treat everyone with kindness! Teach your kids to look beyond looks! Let’s all just take care of each other!

Middle grade books are hit or miss for me. I truly feel they must be some of the hardest books to write; children's books as well.  Conveying messages to impressionable age groups while still telling an engaging and well-constructed story is a feat. I can see how some readers may view this book as heavy-handed or forcing moral values. I guess I just didn't see it. The book reads like what it is supposed to read like: A book about a young boy who is and manages to remain a wonderful and caring human being despite being subjected to numerous events that would make me want to go weep in my room. I think children are smart enough to know that not every child in Auggie's situation is surrounded with so many wonderful people. They go to school. They know that other kids are not always nice, especially to anyone who deviates from whatever is "normal" (if anything is normal). If books for children always told the truth, far more kids in books would be picked up by sex traffickers, be in abusive households, and struggle with food insecurity. Believing that the universe will take care of everyone is a bit delusional - that is not the case. But teaching children to believe that good things can happen to everyone and that there are more kind than evil people in the world? I don't see the harm in that. 

There is a fine line between playing on the emotions of your readers and emotional manipulation. I’m not a big crier in books - I can only think of three or four books that have made me tear up at all - but I cried several times in this book. (On a plane, no less!)  I think there was only one segment of the book that felt overdone and that had to do with the family dog.  And while I may or may not have snuggled with my dog after I read that section, I didn’t cry because I’m not sold on the necessity of that portion of the book. However, I will concede that the dog’s character provided the perfect vehicle to introduce discussions of blind love and souls/bodies and those were highlights for me. (Hearing Auggie's thoughts about maybe coming back as a handsome man broke my heart a little bit.) The only other aspect of the novel that didn't work for me was the use of song lyrics in chapter titles and in the body. Then again, I’ve never been the biggest Natalie Merchant fan. I thought this book was wonderful (pun initially unintended but I'm leaving it in so I guess there is intent behind it now) and I absolutely recommend it to parents and teachers who would like to read something worthwhile and inspirational with children as well as to any readers who enjoy middle grade books. 

5/5 stars