It's Monday - Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! 

I'm glad to report that this week was much better than the last one. I drove down to see my best friend on Friday afternoon (you mean you don't brave Easter weekend traffic and cross state lines on a whim?) and then came back on Saturday. On Sunday, the Easter bunny came to visit the kids, of course, and then we were off to church. 

Afterwards, we headed to my parents' house for lots of food, naps, and games of brains and skill. Our family plays a traditional game where you tap a hard boiled egg against the egg of the person next to you. If yours doesn't break, you get to keep playing. Yours truly was the winner this year(!). We also take the Easter egg hunt to a whole new level. You really haven't enjoyed an egg hunt until you are wondering if you should climb up on a roof or dig up a flower garden in order to find your eggs...

Happy Easter from our crazy, happy bunch to yours!

Read This Week:

While Beauty Slept

By Elizabeth Blackwell

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

By Gabrielle Zevin

Posts from this Past Week:

It's Monday

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Things

Wednesdays with David: The Yoda Chronicles Trilogy 

Review of Attachments

Reading Now:

The Museum of Extraordinary Things
By Alice Hoffman

Up Next: 

Outside In
By Doug Cooper 

What are you reading this week?

Review: Attachments

Attachments

By Rainbow Rowell

Plume March 2012

323 pages

From my shelves

Lincoln O'Neill wasn't expecting to read people's emails when he took a job as a security officer at a newspaper. But that is what he is asked to do each evening. Most of the emails that are flagged are inappropriate, but the exchanges between copyeditor Jennifer and movie critic Beth are a blast to read. The friends are kind and funny and Lincoln finds himself wishing that he could actually talk to them instead of just cyberstalking them for a paycheck. When he finds himself falling for Beth, Lincoln decides he couldn't possibly introduce himself...or can he?

Attachments is a wonderful read. It is told in alternating chapters - some chapters are from Lincoln's POV and the others are email correspondence between Jennifer and Beth. I am not usually a fan of epistolary novels, but this one makes it work. The emails between the two girls look just like the ones that are in your inbox from your best friend. While I certainly agree that characters don't have to be likeable to be interesting, there is something irresistible about falling for characters as they fall for each other. Lincoln and Beth and Jennifer are people you can't help but love. They have quirks and flaws, but they quickly feel like friends who you have known for years. 

This story takes place in 1999 and 2000. Rainbow Rowell manages to hit the perfect balance of placing her story firmly within a time and also making it feel timeless. The newspaper where they work may just be introducing an online edition and Y2K may be a real concern (remember that?) but their story of figuring out who they want to become is timeless.

The characters in Attachments are going through the big life changes of their mid and late twenties. They have graduated from college and are in that middle place where they are deciding if their first job will become a career, if they want to have kids, and if their first love will be their partner for life. These decisions feel just as important for these characters as they are in real life, but their magnitude doesn't weigh down the story.

Attachments is a really fun read that will have you cheering for the characters and smiling when you turn the last page. The problems that Beth, Lincoln, and Jennifer are dealing with are real - the day to day frustrations and the major life decisions that each of us encounter - and they will resonate with readers. This is a perfect book for those days when you need to believe again that good friends can get you through the pain and uncertainty of life. 

Wednesdays with David: The Yoda Chronicles Trilogy

Lego Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles Trilogy

Scholastic 2014

96 pages

From our shelves

The story: Count Dooku and General Grievous have another evil plan to destroy the Jedi. Only Yoda and his Padawan students stand between the evil Sith and the destruction of the Jedi Order. Can they save the day?

Mama opines: This book is the story from 3 Lego Star Wars episodes. There are lots of pictures and plenty of snarky comments from the Lego characters. Little Jedis will love this one.

Thoughts from David: Ooh boy! Another Star Wars book done. This is the best book I've ever read. Every time I read this one, I keep having more ideas for playing Lego Star Wars. All those characters...man, oh man. I can just think of them. Just think about it! I know that this is just the best book I've ever read.

Ok, ok, ok. Now that I think about it, it's my favorite because it has these things and I will list the following items.
1. Jek-14
2. C-3PO (He's clumsy this time....)
3. General Grievous
4. Raku
5. Bobby
6. The army of cloned clones
7. Chancellor Palpatine
8. An eight thousand year old green guy (It's Yoda in the book. Just don't tell!)
9. The whole entire Sith order, now reborn

At the end, I can just imagine those badges that the Padawans and Jek got.

Happy Reading! 

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Things

You can read more top ten lists over at The Broke and the Bookish! This week is all about things that are bookish, but aren't books.

Available at Out of Print Clothing

(I already have this one. I also have The Great Gatsby and Wizard of Oz shirts...)

Available at Cafe Press 

Available via Skreened

Available at Skreened

Available at Hirsute History 

Available at Etsy shop LifeCraftsWhatever

Available at Baby Lit

Available at Ink and Wit

Available at Etsy shop MeganLaceyDesign

Available at Horchow 


What are your favorite literary things??

It's Monday and I am ready for a better week

This has been a long, tough week. I'm hoping that this week coming up will be better...

But reading wise, I read two really good books and I'm looking forward to reading some great ones this week too.


Read This Week:

Orfeo
By Richard Powers



Attachments
By Rainbow Rowell


Posts from this Past Week:
It's Monday, What Are You Reading?
Wednesdays with David: Little Boys Bible Storybook
Reviews of Unspoken and The Here and Now


Reading Now:

While Beauty Slept
By Elizabeth Blackwell


Up Next:

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
By Gabrielle Zevin


What are you reading this week?

12/52

A picture of each of the kids, once a week, every week in 2014.

Becca Grace - "It's my bottle and I'm taking it with me!"

David - Chef David made mini pizzas for dinner. They were delicious!

Review: The Here and Now

The Here and Now

By Ann Brashares

Delacorte Press April 2014

288 pages

Read via Netgalley

Prenna James might seem like your normal teenager. She lives with her mother, goes to school, spends time with her best friend, and tries her best not to be distracted by the cute boy in her math class. But looks can be deceiving. Prenna is actually a time traveler, sent back in time with others  in the hopes that they can stop a horrifying future from becoming reality. Their time is a nightmare, a society that is broken by a deadly and virulent disease. Prenna believes in following the rules. She obeys the mandates to not question authority, to not change history, and to only trust the people she came back with. But when Ethan reveals that he knows more about her story than she does, Prenna has to decide who to trust and discover if she can actually change the future. 

The Here and Now is an ok read. Now I know what they say about faint praise, but I basically mean that the story is entertaining and you won't be shouting angrily at the sky when you finish reading it. There are downsides, though. Prenna as a character is rather underwhelming and Ethan seems to basically exist as perfection in teenage boy form. He is kind to her (and apparently in love with her) although she has been trying to ignore him in order to follow community rules. He happens to be a genius, which works out well when they have to team up to save the world. And there are no repercussions when he just takes a few days off from life with a car borrowed from a neighbor so he can save Prenna.

There also seems to be some confusion about science. The book has a very clear message about taking care of the planet, but the methods that Prenna and her fellow time travelers used to go to the past are a bit more nebulous. It's also unclear how we have the technology to travel back in time, but we can't stop a disease, create enough clothing for everyone or figure out how to grow fruits like mangoes. This story really would have benefited from some more answers about the future, the people who traveled back, and their plans to save the world.

The Here and Now is a quick and easy read. The romance between Prenna and Ethan is actually sweet and awkward. It just falls flat as a dystopian story. It's light on science, as our heroes spend a lot more time going to the beach and learning to play card games instead of explaining exactly how all of this works. This might be a good introduction to dystopian lit for the middle grade reader, but there are much better choices for teens and adults looking to get their fix of saving the present in order to preserve the future.