Thursday, February 28, 2013

Review: 20 Under 40: Stories from the New Yorker

20 Under 40: Stories from the New Yorker
Edited by Deborah Treisman
Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2010
431 pages
From my shelves

20 Under 40: Stories from The New Yorker

It would be impossible to give appropriate attention to each of the stories included in this collection. So instead of attempting the impossible, I'm going to recap a few of my favorite stories and my thoughts about the book as a whole.

Birdsong by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie presents a realistic and sympathetic picture of a young woman who never imagined she would become someone's mistress. As she notices a woman watching her at a stoplight, she fears it is the wife of her lover and thinks back on their relationship. Adichie has created a very relatable character - she reacts badly to being taken to secluded restaurants and to the way the driver snubs her. Her protagonist and her writing style are lovably prickly. We know that the relationship can only end badly, but she can't stay away from him and we can't stop reading about it.

There is a piece of Nell Freudberger's popular novel The Newlyweds that I found very well-written. I will be looking for the rest of the story. Amina meets an American man online and eventually moves to the US to become his wife. The dissonance between Amina's upbringing, where she is largely ignored or belittled by her family, and her new relationship with her husband is striking. I finished the piece wanting to learn more about Amina and George's new and unexpected relationship.

Dinaw Mengestu's An Honest Exit has much to do with the idea of storytelling. After our narrator misses class because of his father's death, he finds himself telling his students about his dad. He relates how his father escaped from the political strife of Ethopia to Sudan and eventually to London. In the telling (or re-imagining) of his father's story, he finds a sort of closure with the father he never felt he really knew.

As I read over the list of authors featured here, it was interesting to note how many of them have had popular and/or critically acclaimed books published within the past few years. Writers in this collection include Tea Obreht, Nicole Krauss, Karen Russell, and Jonathan Safran Foer. It was also fun to see that a few of the short stories became pieces of those very novels. I recognized Krauss' selection because I  read and enjoyed her novel Great House. 


Short story anthologies are intriguing to us because we hope to find new beloved authors. However, the problem becomes the sheer number of stories in a book. It's difficult to remember which story or author you really liked when you are twelve stories into the anthology.
Do you like reading short story anthologies?
Do you have a specific method for keeping track of which authors you admired?
Which authors have you discovered through short story collections? 

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Wednesdays with David: Pippi Longstocking

Pippi Longstocking
By Astrid Lindgren
Puffin 1945
From the library 


The story: Pippi is a little girl who lives all alone in a big house - well, not alone: she has no mother and her father is the king of a far-away cannibal tribe but she does have a beloved horse and monkey. When two neighboring children  meet her, shenanigans ensue as Pippi tries out school for the first time, dodges some policemen, and celebrates her birthday.

Mama opines: Well, this is a first for us. We got this book from the library and read the first few chapters. That night, David asked to take it up to bed with him and I said yes. The next day, I asked if he wanted to read a few chapters. He told me no - he finished it the night before!
I'm still getting used to having a reader...I was a bit sad he finished it without me because I've forgotten how the book ends!
This book is a lot of fun. Pippi and her friend get into a lot of trouble, but there is a serious lack of respect for rule and authority. You have to gauge if your child is the type to retort that they don't have to follow the rules because Pippi doesn't and that they are going to go live without a mommy or daddy too....If that's the case, you might want to skip this one.

Thoughts from David: I like it because Pippi Longstockings lives without any daddy or mommy and she tricks two policemen! Then she climbs a tree to trick the policemen again.
Favorite part: When Pippi climbs the tree.

Happy Reading! 

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Review: Iscariot

Iscariot
By Tosca Lee
Howard Books February 2013
320 pages
Received for review

Iscariot

When we read through the Bible, there is one person who is more reviled than any other. We have a hard time wrapping our minds around a man who could travel for years with Jesus as his friend and disciple and then betray him for thirty pieces of silver. It's easy for us to forget that Judas Iscariot was a person, just as we are, with strengths and weaknesses, triumphs and failings. Tosca Lee has not forgotten this and in her latest novel Iscariot, she gives us a compelling picture of what the story of Judas could have been.

We first encounter Judas at the end of his life, where he is thinking back over his life and trying to determine how he has ended up here. From there, we are taken back to his childhood. Judas is a man whose heart has been broken many times over. He has lost his father, his brother, and his wife to Roman violence and is looking for a leader who will bring justice and peace to his land. He initially approaches both John the Baptist and Jesus himself to find out if they will join his group of zealots in reclaiming their homeland. But Jesus is so different from what Judas expected that he can't help but follow him.

Lee accomplishes two difficult things in this novel. First, her research is an effortless part of the story. She writes in the author's note that the book was originally twice as long and extremely research heavy. In revising the book, she cut out a lot of the facts and focused on the character of Judas. But we really experience the uncertainty of living during this time period for the Jewish people and the complicated hierarchy of Jewish tradition.

The second thing Lee achieves is making one of the most hated men in all of history interesting and even likable. It's easy to think of Judas as someone who is evil and conniving from the beginning. It's much more challenging to think of him as a man who truly loved Jesus and considered him his best friend and teacher. As events progress, Judas is faced with a dilemma. He can't see a way in which things end well for Jesus, for the other followers, or for himself. In Ms. Lee's version, Judas makes what he views as the best of some very bad options. That choice spins wildly out of control with consequences that Judas never foresaw. While I don't know that I buy the sequence of events, I can't deny that reading this book made me dramatically rethink the way I perceive Judas.

This would be a really great book to read right now during Lent as many of us are thinking about the last days of Christ. You know that a book is well-written when you know how it will end, but can't help but read a few more pages. Tosca Lee has written a very engaging book that will make readers reconsider the way they see Jesus and the way that they think of the man who has come to represent the very worst of humanity.


To the guys and gals of the FTC: I received this book from The DeMoss Group in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, Adrienne! 

Sunday, February 24, 2013

It's Monday and it's been a great weekend


Hello, readers! How ya doing? This was a good week and a fantastic weekend. We've been working on organizing the house and getting the nursery ready for our May baby, since May is coming pretty soon! The husband finished painting the nursery on Saturday and it looks wonderful. On Sunday, we celebrated my dad's birthday and it was so nice to have the whole family together. We stopped to see the husband's family on our way home too, so it was a family-filled day. 

Reading-wise, I am still working on Catch-22. I'm trying to read 50 pages a day, so I should finish it this week. I started reading Seraphina in the meantime and powered through it in two days. I love that kind of read! 

Read This Week:
Seraphina (Seraphina, #1)
By Rachel Hartman 

Posts from this Past Week:

Still Reading:

Up Next:
The Red Garden
The Red Garden
By Alice Hoffman


What are you reading this week?

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Review: Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore

Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore
By Robin Sloan
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux October 2012
304 pages
From the library 

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

I have committed the most terrible sin of book bloggers. I finished this book back in October, according to my handy dandy Goodreads account. I took some notes and then I thought I would sit and ruminate. Well, it's four months later and I don't remember this book quite as well as one might hope. That being said, I'm just going to throw out a few things I do remember because you've probably read the book by now anyway!


Clay Jannon has lost his job as a designer and media guru for a bagel company. He wanders the streets of San Francisco looking for work when he spots an ad in a window. He enters the store and has his first meeting with Mr. Penumbra, proprietor of Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore. Clay is hired as the night clerk and settles in for some long, quiet nights. But he quickly realizes that there are only a few popular books and most of the books are unheard of titles  borrowed by mysterious regular patrons. What is the real story at this bookstore?

Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore might best be described as a zany romp. It begins in a place that is familiar to many of us – a dark, dusty, second-hand bookstore. “The shelves were packed close together, and it felt like I was standing at the border of a forest – not a friendly California forest either, but an old Transylvanian forest, a forest full of wolves and witches and dagger-wielding bandits all waiting just beyond moonlight’s reach. There were ladders that clung to the shelves and rolled side to side. Usually those seem charming, but here, stretching up into the gloom, they were ominous. They whispered rumors of accidents in the dark.” Just when you might start to feel comfortable, Mr. Sloan whisks you off to the inner sanctum of Google and an underground meeting place for a secretive group of bibliophiles.

This book is fun – a lot of fun – and it doesn't take itself too seriously. In spite of that, it manages to bring up some important questions about our seemingly polarized book culture. How does a book lover appreciate both a Kindle and an antique hardcover? Is there a place for the old and the new?

Sloan writes characters who are smart and recognize their own intelligence. This book feels like a smart author writing intelligently about smart people and relevant issues. His characters are young entrepreneurs, computer programmers, and artists. They learn quickly and always banter with wit. Kat Potente, Clay’s lady love, says, “This is going to sound strange, especially because we just met. But I know I’m smart.”
“That’s definitely true –“
“And I think you’re smart too. So why does that have to end? We could accomplish so much if we just had more time.”


So, to bring some sort of conclusion to my four month old ramblings...If you love books about books and a fun story and you somehow haven't read this one yet, get thee to the library and give it a whirl! 

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Wednesdays with David: Crunch Munch Dinosaur Lunch

Crunch Munch Dinosaur Lunch
By Paul Bright and Michael Terry
Good Books 2009
From the library


The story: Ty is a big, fierce tyrannosaurus who is about to go get some breakfast. His efforts are thwarted by his baby sister, Teri, who shows up at the worst possible moment for a snuggle. Will Ty ever get something to eat or will a threat to his baby sister make him rethink just how annoying she is?

Mama opines: I have to confess that I picked this up because it's about a dinosaur and his little sister. I obviously don't expect that David will have a dinosaur sister in May, but it doesn't hurt to read as many brother/sister stories as we can get! 

This book hits a great balance between a sibling's frustrations and a fun book about dinosaurs. 

Thoughts from David: I like it because he roars his terrible roar. I like it because he stomps through the swamp.
Favorite part: When he says, “I’m biggest, I’m baddest, and I need a treat! Diplodocus steak looks tasty to eat!" 

Happy Reading!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Review: Open City

Open City
By Teju Cole
Random House February 2011
259 pages
From the library
Pen/Hemingway Award in 2013, #1

Open City

Julius is a young doctor in New York City, completing his residency in psychiatry. He begins a routine of walking through the city each day after his shift is over. During these walks, he runs into old friends, meets new acquaintances, thinks about his life so far, and wonders about the ways in which we are both connected to each other and utterly alone. 

From the first sentence, you can tell that Teju Cole's writing style is a bit different. The first sentence reads "And so when I began to go on evening walks last fall, I found Morningside Heights an easy place from which to set out into the city." This is a story starting in the middle. Although all stories start (and end) in the middle of someone's life, I was intrigued by Cole's decision to bring attention to it.

This is not a plot-heavy novel. Julius wanders through his thoughts at the same speed that he meanders through the streets of NYC. So it may not be the book for you if you like a story that will keep you on the edge of your seat. But there are many other reasons to read Open City - this book is like a walking tour through the city complete with lessons in music, history, and art alongside insightful observations about life and community. "And, before that? What Lenape paths lay buried beneath the rubble? The site was a palimpsest, as was all the city, written, erased, rewritten. There had been communities here before Columbus ever set sail, before Verrazano anchored his ships in the narrows, or the black Portuguese slave trader Esteban Gomez sailed up the Hudson; human beings had lived here, built homes, and quarreled with their neighbors long before the Dutch ever saw a business opportunity in the rich furs and timber of the island and its calm bay. Generations rushed through the eyes of the needle, and I, one of the still legible crowd, entered the subway. I wanted to find the line that connected me to my own part in these stories."

Julius has no familial ties in America, as he emigrated from Nigeria. He spends a great deal of the novel thinking about connections and the way it is easy to strike up a conversation with someone he has never met while realizing that he hardly knows the people he would call his friends and mentors. Early in the book, he runs into his next-door neighbor and is shocked to find that his neighbor's wife had died several months ago. "A woman had died in the room next to mine, she had died on the other side of the wall I was leaning against, and I had known nothing of it....That was the worst of it. I had noticed neither her absence nor the change - there must have been a change - in his spirit. It was not possible, even then, to go knock on his door and embrace him, or to speak with him at length. It would have been false intimacy."

It can be hard at times to really connect to our narrator. Perhaps this is because he has so few attachments and so we view him through his thoughts on things instead of people. There is a moment in the story where something is revealed about his past that threatens to unravel any perception the reader has of him. Instead of confirming or denying this, the author and Julius himself just leave it alone. In addition, the ending is abrupt. This book just seems to end in the middle of a thought.  But I suppose it all relates back to the idea of any story just being a snippet of a life.

Open City is a really interesting read. While it doesn't have a breakneck plot or really developed characters, it does ask a lot of important questions about how well we can know other people in our community and how much we reveal of ourselves to others. If you don't mind a slower, thoughtful read, I would recommend that you pick up this PEN/Hemingway Award winner. 

Sunday, February 17, 2013

It's Monday and we are done being sick!


Is this one of those times I can speak something into existence? After a week of strep for the husband and sniffles and coughs for David and me, I think we are done being sick for a while around here. The weekend was a good one, though. Hubby and I got out for a while last night to have some dinner and start our registry for the baby. Today, David and the other kids sang a song in church and my mom and sister accompanied the choir, so the service was quite musical today! After lunch with the family, we have just been taking it easy with some napping and reading. How was your week?

Read This Week:
Iscariot
Iscariot
By Tosca Lee

Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures
Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures
By Emma Straub

20 Under 40: Stories from The New Yorker
20 Under 40: Stories from the New Yorker
Edited by Deborah Treisman


Posts from this Past Week:
It's Monday
Reviews of Year of Wonders, One Good Turn, and Cult Insanity


Reading Now:
Catch-22
Catch-22
By Joseph Heller


Up Next:
Seraphina (Seraphina, #1)
Seraphina
By Rachel Hartman


What are you reading this week?

Friday, February 15, 2013

Review: Cult Insanity

Cult Insanity: A Memoir of Polygamy, Prophets, and Blood Atonement
By Irene Spencer
Center Street 2009
330 pages
Won from Alita Reads

Cult Insanity: A Memoir of Polygamy, Prophets, and Blood Atonement


Irene Spencer married into a cult. As the daughter of polygamists, she found the idea of plural marriage perfectly normal and became the second wife of Verlan LeBaron. Her husband's family ran their group and her brother-in-law Joel was believed to be the Prophet, appointed by heaven. As Irene begins to think that her life might have some semblance of normalcy, her other brother-in-law Ervil decides that he is in fact the prophet and that their community must be purged of people who are working against him. Ervil systematically murders those who stand up to him, claiming the rite of blood atonement. Verlan, Irene, their children, and their friends begin a long saga of fearing for their lives, always wondering if they will be next.

Cult Insanity seems like the kind of book you won't be able to put down. It revolves around life within a polygamist cult as their tenuous existence is threatened by a madman who wants to murder them. But somehow, this book is tough to slog through. The first problem may be that this book is a sequel and I haven't read the first book. But I think the fact that Spencer constantly refers to other books, both her own and those written about her community, informs the reader that this book is not quite complete by itself. 

Another issue is the truly gigantic cast of characters. Ervil is a dangerous man and succeeds in killing many of the people he targets. After a while, though, it is difficult to feel much emotion after you read about another person who is tenuously related to Irene and her family. Because we don't get to know these people, there is less of an impact in their terrible ends. Instead, the reader spends more time trying to figure out their connection to other characters and exactly what they did to anger Ervil. 

I thought that our lack of knowledge about some of the other people in the community would be balanced by really getting to know Irene and her family. But this was not the case either. The whole premise of the book is that Irene has to protect her family from Ervil. But her husband Verlan is often gone, either for work or because he is hiding from his brother. Irene's children and Verlan's other wives pop up occasionally, but never long enough for the reader to make a connection with them. Irene herself manages to stay distant from the reader, even while relating her story. She occasionally begins to explain how she was feeling in a given moment about the dangers they faced, the poverty they experienced, or the trials of sharing your husband with several other wives. But just as you feel a door has been opened to her thoughts, she moves on to discuss another murder. 

Cult Insanity is surely a frightening book. It is crazy to think that Ervil got away with systematic murder for so long and that so many people were powerless to leave the cult and find safety. But I think there are other books out there that will give you a better window into what it means to live within a polygamist society. This one ultimately falls flat because we do not have anyone within these pages to guide us and make us care. 

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Review: One Good Turn

One Good Turn
Jackson Brodie #2
By Kate Atkinson
Little, Brown, and Company 2006
418 pages
From the library

One Good Turn (Jackson Brodie Series #2)

Jackson Brodie isn't a cop anymore and he has retired from being a private detective. Now he is just a man who has accompanied his actress girlfriend to the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh. But it seems that the world still needs his sleuthing abilities. Martin Canning is a writer who has the misfortune to witness the same fender bender as Jackson. But when one of the drivers approaches the other with a baseball bat, Martin acts without thought and decks him with his laptop bag. Now he is worried the furious driver is after him and enlists Jackson's reluctant assistance.

Atkinson is a master at taking several disparate plots and bringing them together in unexpected ways. As one reads through the book, it is nearly impossible to fathom the connections between Martin, the two car drivers, a Russian cleaning company, the CEO of a company that builds housing developments, and a female police detective. Ms. Atkinson teases the connections out slowly and the reader has to stay on her toes in order to catch the ways in which these characters are related. While this could be irritating if you are expecting a linear story line, it's wonderful for the mystery fan who craves that 'aha' moment. 

I enjoyed Case Histories, the first book featuring Jackson Brodie. This sequel was a bit flat for me because Jackson and Martin are somewhat similar characters. Neither of them are big fans of interacting with others but each has a compassionate core that compels them to say yes, even when it is a total stranger asking for their assistance. I think Brodie is a more lovable and interesting character when he is so completely different from any other character in the book.

I have the third book in this series, When Will There Be Good News?, on my bookshelf. I'm excited to see where Atkinson takes the relationship between Brodie and Detective Louise Monroe, which started in this book. It was almost comical to watch Brodie end up in all of these incriminating situations, only to be bailed out by a detective who isn't sure she can trust him.

One Good Turn is a great pick for the mystery reader who doesn't want to sacrifice developed characters for a fast-paced and twisty plot. Have you read any of the Jackson Brodie books? Which one is your favorite?


Happy Valentine's Day, lovely readers. If you promise to have an extra glass of wine for this pregnant lady, I will selflessly eat some extra chocolate for you. That sounds like a fair trade, right?? 

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Review: Year of Wonders

Year of Wonders
By Geraldine Brooks
Penguin Books 2001
304 pages
From my shelves

Year of Wonders

Anna Frith is a young widow attempting to raise her sons in a small village. When a tailor comes looking to rent a room, she sees an opportunity to make some extra income for her family. Little does she know that this tailor, who will become so dear to her family, will also be the one to unknowingly bring a terrible plague to their village. As people begin to die in their small town, the vicar makes a bold decision and decides that they will quarantine themselves for the good of the outside world. Anna begins to work with the vicar and his wife to bring healing and hope to the people of their village and discovers that she can do more than she ever imagined. 

Geraldine Brooks has written another beautiful story with Year of Wonders. As usual, she writes from true events. In 1665, the residents of the tiny village of Eyam, Derbyshire decided that they would seal their village off from the outside world in order to stop the spread of the deadly plague that had started to infect them. In Brooks' very capable hands, the story is, in turns, beautiful and heartbreaking. How and why do we continue to live when there is nothing left to live for? Anna is a compelling narrator and someone who truly evolves through her experiences. The vicar's wife takes Anna under her wing and teaches her to read. Together, the women begin to delve into the art of healing in the hopes of bringing some comfort to their dying friends and neighbors. I think this book strikes exactly the right chord between the horror of not knowing who is next, the pain of losing people who you love, and the exhaustion of trying to put one foot in front of another in this bizarre new existence. 

As I read this book, I thought about our seeming obsession with books about the end of the world in modern times. We read (and worry) about zombies or a nuclear attack or the sun no longer warming our planet. We wonder what we would do in those seemingly impossible situations. But I think we sometimes forget that it has seemed like the end of the world many times before. For the people living in a city wracked by disease or war or famine, it seems like life cannot and will not go on. I think our fear of a devastating end doesn't change, but the things we are afraid of do evolve with time and technology. 

My only complaint about this powerful little novel is the ending. It is a confusion that appears to be shared by many readers. Without giving it away to those of you will read this book, I will just say that Brooks radically shifts the trajectory of the story and throws in new characters and locations. The change is abrupt at best. I wish the book had ended differently, but I am still glad I read it and experienced Anna's growth and the terrifying lows and inspiring highs that people can reach in the very worst of situations. 

Sunday, February 10, 2013

It's Monday and another week is on its way!


Hey there, ladies and gents. How are things? This week was pretty normal but the weekend was awesome. My best friend came and stayed for the weekend. She got here Thursday night and left Sunday morning. We went to the mall, which I don't think we have done in many years. We ate a lot of food, drank a lot of tea and coffee, played several games of Dutch Blitz, watched Dr. Who and the David Tennant version of Hamlet and generally had a fantastic time. We also sat in our respective comfy chairs and read our books because we are book nerds together like that.

Read This Week:
Open City
Open City
By Teju Cole

Posts from this Past Week:
It's Monday
January Wrap-Up
Wednesdays with David: Superhero
Review of White Teeth

Reading Now:
20 Under 40: Stories from The New Yorker
20 Under 40: Stories from The New Yorker
Edited by Deborah Treisman

Iscariot
Iscariot
By Tosca Lee

Up Next:
Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures
Laura Lamont's Life In Pictures
By Emma Straub


What are you reading this week?

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Review: White Teeth

White Teeth
By Zadie Smith
Penguin Books 2001
542 pages
From my shelves

White Teeth

People seem to be divided right down the middle about Zadie Smith. They either feel that she is way over-rated or they believe her to be the next great voice in literature. So I picked up this book, my first by Smith, with equal measures of excitement and hesitation. 

At its most obvious level, this is a novel about how people of different backgrounds can come together. Archie is a white man who marries Clara, a Jamaican woman who was raised as  a Jehovah's Witness. Samad and his wife Alsana are a Bengali couple brought together through arranged marriage. In the most unlikely of circumstances, Samad and Archie are best friends after serving together during WWII. Smith looks at cultural, religious, and social differences through many different pairs of eyes and she does it with insight and compassion.

I think what makes this novel even more universal is when the story becomes about generations. Archie, Clara, Samad, and Alsana have grand hopes for their children but none of the children go in the direction that their parents expected. All of the parents attempt to pass on their culture and heritage in the face of a society that threatens to create great distance between parents and children. They are the bridge generation, the ones who remember their home countries and cultures, but live in modern British society.

I really enjoyed reading this book and although it is pretty massive, I found myself speeding through it. The art of writing a family saga is difficult - Smith writes about three families and moves both backward and forward in time. In spite of the danger, I think she pulls it off. Her wry observations of the everyday absurdities of life give her characters and this novel a humor that stands in perfect balance to the very serious issues that Archie, Samad, and their families encounter.


White Teeth was a really engaging read for me and I look forward to reading Smith's other books. Have you read this novel? How does it compare to NW and On Beauty? 

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Wednesdays with David: Superhero

Superhero
By Marc Tauss
Scholastic Press 2005
From the library


The story: Maleek is a little boy with a big love for superheroes. When his city needs him, he's ready to put on his own cape and save the day! With the help of his robot assistant Marvyn and some super gadgets, Maleek is on a mission to bring his local parks back to life.

Mama opines: I loved this book. Maleek will inspire the little superhero in your son or daughter, but he does more than just fly. He realizes that science holds the answers to a lot of problems and uses his laboratory to find a solution. The photographs that illustrate this book are striking black and white shots that I could look at all day long.

Thoughts from David: I like it because the superhero has a secret lab and because it has a real superhero.
Favorite part: When the superhero spreads some kind of juice all over the city that he lives in. 

Happy Reading!

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

January Wrap Up

January, January, January. Where did you go? I guess you disappeared somewhere between planning and rehearsing for a benefit concert, chasing a five year old and planning for our May arrival. I think it was a good mix of books this month - fiction and non-fiction and books I loved and books that were disappointments. 

Books reviewed in January: 9 
Pages Read: 3,637
Fiction/Non-fiction: 5/4
Female authors/male authors: 6/3
My books/library books: 7/2
Lindsey's favorite book in January: Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail 

Books reviewed with David: 3
David's favorite book in January: The Cars Storybook Collection 

What was your favorite read in January?



Apparently David and I have not taken a single picture together in January. So enjoy this blast from the past where I attempt to create a music prodigy....

Sunday, February 3, 2013

It's Monday - Goodbye January!


So...there's this game or something on tonight. I don't really watch football because it puts me straight to sleep every single time. But my family is all here watching. And we made some pizza and everyone ate too many chips. And I enjoyed the commercial for one car or another where the dad explained that babies came from another planet.

But really, this weekend has been about crazy concert mode for me. We had a concert on Friday night and one on Saturday afternoon and we raised almost $800 for this organization in Thailand that provides safety, education, and job training to girls and women who are victims of trafficking, the sex trade, or abuse. It was a lot of fun and I'm so proud of what we accomplished but I am ready to sit around like a bum for a day or two!


Read This Week:
Cult Insanity: A Memoir of Polygamy, Prophets, and Blood Atonement
Cult Insanity
By Irene Spencer


Posts from this Past Week:
It's Monday
Wednesdays with David: Time Train 
Reviews of The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, Mended: Pieces of a Life Made Whole and Lost In a Good Book


Reading Now:
Open City
Open City
By Teju Cole

20 Under 40: Stories from The New Yorker
20 Under 40: Stories from the New Yorker
Deborah Treisman, Editor

Up Next:
Iscariot
Iscariot
By Tosca Lee


What are you reading this week?

Friday, February 1, 2013

Review: Lost in a Good Book

Lost in a Good Book (Thursday Next #2)
By Jasper Fforde
Penguin 2002
399 pages
From the library 

Lost in a Good Book (Thursday Next, #2)

Do you ever read a book that just makes you happy? This is decidedly one of my happy books.

After her harrowing scrape with the villainous Acheron Hades and multi-million dollar corporation Goliath, Thursday Next is ready for life to get back to normal. She just wants to spent time with her new husband Landen and her beloved dodo. Then her bosses require her to do endless publicity, since she is now the poster girl for Literary Special Operations. And she discovers she is pregnant. And then Landen is eradicated, which means everyone else in the world thinks that he died as a child. 

Thursday must decide if she will aid the Goliath corporation in exchange for her husband's return. She becomes an apprentice in Jurisfiction, a group of literary detectives that investigate changes to plots and characters. Her mentor is none other than the infamous Miss Havisham of Great Expectations. 

I enjoyed The Eyre Affair, but I loved this story. Thursday is a woman on the brink and you wonder how she can manage to juggle one more thing here. She's pregnant, she's trying to save her husband, someone is trying to murder her, she is trying to help her father save the world, and she has to learn a completely new job over at Jurisfiction while keeping up with her real job at SpecOps. In spite of this all, she knows that she must keep moving forward...and so she does, although not without a few bumps in the road. 

These books are chock full of literary references. In addition to Miss Havisham, we meet the Red Queen and the Cheshire Cat and jump into a trial that could only find its home in the bizarre mind of one Franz Kafka. Fforde is an endlessly imaginative author who continues to come up with new ways to keep things interesting. This is not the kind of book you can breeze through without paying attention. However, it is a book that proves that readers (and stories) can be both smart and a whole lot of fun.

I don't read too many series. They tend to stress me out because who can think about an entire series when there are all of these books to read?!? In this rare case, I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of this series (there are five more books to date). This is the perfect blend of classic literature and fantasy and story and science in a book that will leave you chuckling while reading but thinking about its characters and possibilities long after you are finished.