New books from the holidays!

Between Christmas gifts and a giftcard to Barnes & Nobles, I scored some pretty nice new reading material. 

Before I go to sleep by S.J. Watson - A novel about a woman who loses her memory every night and is retold her memories every morning by her husband.  When she finds a note written to herself saying not to trust her husband, she begins to questions everything, including how much of a person's identity is defined by their memories.

The Devil's Teeth by Susan Casey - A nature book about humans and their relationship with great white sharks.  I've read most shark books out there, but this one is new to me.

The Old Willis Place by Mary Downing Hahn - A young adult ghost story book about two children living in the woods behind a mansion. 

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn - I've never read anything by this author, but she always come up when I search in amazon.com for Tasha Alexander.  I finally read the descriptions of some of the books, and really liked this one.  Lady Julia Grey makes her appearance in this debut novel about a mystery set among the upper crusts in Victorian England.

Tears of Pearl and Dangerous to Know by Tasha Alexander - Books 4 and 5 in the Lady Emily Ashton series.  Love this author and this series.

Her fearful symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger - Another ghostie type story involving two twin sisters in Chicago and England. Same author as Time Traveler's Wife.

The year of the flood and Oryx and crake by Margaret Atwood - I really like Atwood.  I've only read one of hers (The Handmaid's Tale), although I'm amassing quite a collection of her books. Oryx and Crake is futuristic like Handmaid's Tale, dealing with isolation and memories of a world like today.  The year of the flood is also futuristic, book two in a trilogy about how Earth is altered from a waterless flood which destroys most of humankind.  Left are two friends, one working in a sex shop and the other in a spa, both of whom try to escape their bosses/controllers and find a better life.

Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children by Ransom Riggs - My favorite of the books I've received about a boy exploring a home for peculiar children off the coast of Wales.  The more he explores the more he finds out details of just how weird these children might have been.  Complete with photographs.

Someone named Eva by Joan M. Wolf - Another young adult book about Nazi Germany.

Dracula The Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker

I'm not a vampire fan.  I hated the Twilight books, even though I read all four.  I enjoy occasional fantasy novels, so long as they don't involve vampires biting people.  Edward is creepy and the throngs of teenagers who love him scares me.  But the original Dracula has been the single exception to this rule.  Now I have another exception.  The sequel to Dracula titled Dracula The Un-Dead.


If possible this book is even better in some ways than the original.  There's been a noticeable and somewhat disturbing trend towards modern writers writing sequels to established classics.  Jane Austen must be turning in her grave with what they've done to some of her novels.  But this one stays pretty true to form and if you didn't notice the last name coincidence (Stoker) this book was written by Bram's great-grandnephew.  Long before I read this book, I read an interview with Dacre who said he spent loads of time researching the hell out of the original book, trying to find logical paths the book would have taken if the story continued.  Well done Dacre, your research is evident in your book.

The Un-Dead picks up years after Dracula ends.  It's more gory, more supernatural, more creepy than the original.  Bram himself could have written it, although the diction is slightly more up-to-date.  I think its unfair to keep doing this back and forth comparisons between the two books, but it in all honesty, I only read this because its a sequel to a classic book I love.  Had it just been yet another vampire story overpopulating book shelves, I would have passed it by.  But this one was so worth it.  It's just that good.

And how awesome of a name is Dacre?

A Poisoned Season by Tasha Alexander

This is my third Tasha Alexander book and I loved it.  I read almost the entire thing last night and have spent a good portion of today thinking about it.  It's been a long time since I couldn't put a book down.  This book is part of Alexander's Lady Emily series, the third book behind And Only to Deceive and A Fatal Waltz. 

Lady Emily Ashton, finally out of mourning for her murdered husband, Viscount Phillip Ashton, is in the process of balancing her role of society woman, friend, and daughter with the newfound freedom and wealth the death of her husband has given her.  Deciding to pursue academics instead of balls, tea parties, and luncheons, Lady Emily finds herself no longer readily accepted into high society.  Despite her wealth, London society matrons are not impressed by her social radicalization, pursuit of learning ancient Greece, and her well known protests of never marrying again.

In the midst of all this, a man turns up murdered, and artifacts once belonging to Marie Antoinette start disappearing from their wealthy owners.  What follows is a little bit of intrigue, suspense, romance, cat burglers, stalkers, pink diamonds, illegitimate children, love, pretenders to the throne.

The first two books didn't grab me the way this one did even though I did really enjoy them.  I like Lady Emily.  She's stubborn, smart, witty, and loyal.  Tasha Alexander writes poetically, but not obnoxiously so.  I had no idea where this book was headed. The ending was surprisingly, but not so far-fetched as to be unbelievable.

Well done Alexander.

According to amazon, there are three more books in this series.

current reads.

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
A Poisoned Season by Tasha Alexander
One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus
Daughter of the Saints by Dorothy Allred Solomon

What are you all reading?!

Love the one you're with by Emily Giffin

Love the one you're with is the third novel by Emily Giffin I've read in the past month or so.  This book does not have the same characters as the other, which was somewhat disappointing and somewhat of a relief.  Giffin writes a lot about infidelity.  People cheating, people thinking about cheating, or people wondering where that line is between cheating and not cheating.

Ellen runs into her former love, Leo, on a New York street.  Leo, a journalist, lands Ellen, a photographer, an awesome work gig.  Ellen doesn't tell her husband, which is the beginning of the snowball that continues with lies, deceits, secret meetings, and a move out of NY.  Motherless Ellen moves back to her husband's hometown of Atlanta and finds herself disenchanted, lonely, and bored.  Family and old money don't make anything perfect, and Ellen realizes everything she thought she wanted don't fulfill her at all.

I think this is the last Giffin book I'm going to read.  I need a break!  These books masquerade themselves has chick lit, but they hide deeper issues that are hard to read sometimes.

Under the banner of heaven by Jon Krakauer

I've recently become quite the Krakauer fan.  I bought this book at the airport in San Diego, and had a hard time putting it down once I started.  Under the banner of heaven is essentially an expose on fundamentalist Mormons and their practice of polygamy.  Not being Mormon, I just don't get most of their belief, rituals, or practices.  But the book was fascinating nonetheless.

After a woman and her infant daughter were killed by her brother-in-law claiming to have been told by God to commit murder, Krakauer attempts to reveal secrets of what men and women will do in the name of religion.  It brings up the age old debate of faith versus science.  People of all religions can find religious justification in religious texts to explain almost any types of behavior.  Taking that macroscopic view, Krakauer narrows that concept down to just Mormonism.  The result is interesting.

I enjoy reading about different religions, especially facets of certain religions like polygamy that are so alien to me.  One of the benefits of reading Mormon history is that most of it happened in the US.

Something Blue by Emily Giffin

After getting sucked into the hype of this book's prequel, Something Borrowed, I fell in love with the characters and therefore had to read this one.  Something Blue picks up right where Something Borrowed leaves off.  So much so that the books could have been one long book. 

Something Blue is about redemption.  The popular girl in high school grows up  to realize her manipulative, bossy ways won't let her survive as an adult, even if it did get through most of her twenties.  In Darcy's case, it took her fiance to leave her for her best friend for her to begin to reevaluate her life.  Even though Darcy is a beautiful, vivacious brunette, it's harder to hate her than you'd think.  After revealing she's pregnant, taking a leave of absence from her glamorous job, and moving to London, Darcy becomes a "real person."  She realizes the behind her pretty face, she actually has empathy, kindness, and the ability to form real, lasting friendships with other females that aren't based on competition.

Even "perfect" women screw up.  Even bratty, self-absorbed women can remake themselves.  The book's ending actually surprised me.  I didn't see the lead-up to it that I guess actually started in the first book.  At first I was disappointed that Dex and Rachel didn't show up more in this book, but as I kept reading, I found myself interested in Darcy.  During book 1, she seemed like such a superficial bitch that I didn't feel that bad that her fiance was cheating on her. 

I actually just finished another one of Emily Giffin's books, but I'll save that for another day.

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

I've had a somewhat interesting relationship with this book, although I didn't get around to reading it until this past week.  A former co-worker of mine lent this book, and its sequel, to a second co-worker, probably two years ago now.   I was next in line to read it (them), but said second co-worker never returned the books.  I was given Something Borrowed as a going away gift over a year and a half ago.  The book sat on a bookkshelf, unread, for over a year.  I ended up regifting to someone I thought would enjoy it, as I tend not to be a big chick-lit person.

Then the movie came out.  I missed it in the theater, but finally saw it available in a Redbox, rented it, and watched it over and over and over again.  I lent my rented copy to a current co-worker, and then ended up re-renting it again last weekend.  After my seventh or eighth viewing, I trekked over to Target to purchase the book, a book I once currently owned and never read.

Something Borrowed is a little about friendship, a little more about love, a lot about not letting people walk all over you.  Rachel is the doormat of the fabulous, fun, beautiful Darcy.  Best friends since childhood, their relationship hasn't changed much despite growing up.  Only now there's men involved.

I won't rehash all the details, since its been a wildly popular book, but my biggest frustration was why Rachel continued being friends with this girl, especially after consciously realizing Darcy is self-absorbed and manipulative.  I was rooting for her and Dex the whole way, because the relationship was right even though the circumstances were wrong.  Go Team Rachel.

Emily Giffin obviously went to law school.  Another chirp on the book is the amount of legalese.  None of it was necessary.  Or interesting.  Otherwise, she did a fabulous job of not letting the infidelity take over the book.  The characters were honest and well-developed, excepting maybe Dex, who made it most of the way towards being well-developed.

I haven't started Book 2 yet, but I can't wait to read it.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

It's been awhile since I've read a book I've been so utterly pleased with as I am with Life of Pi.  Pi, is Piscine Patel, a young Indian boy being raised with his brother in Pondicherry India.  The family makes their living owning a zoo, and Pi grows up surrounded by monkeys, lions, tigers, and other exotic animals. At fifteen Pi almost simultaneously converts to Christianity, Islam, and Hindu.  That's just who Pi is.  Political turmoil in India forces the family to pack up, sell most of their animals, and board a Japanese freighters bound for Canada.  Partway through the trip, the freighter sinks, and Pi finds himself on a lifeboat, with a zebra, a hyena, and a Bengal tiger.  A few days after the ship sinks, an orang-utan floats by on a raft of bananas.  The hyena eats the zebra and the orang-utan, the tiger eats the hyena.  To help ensure Pi doesn't get eaten, he establishes himself as the alpha male and works to train the tiger, Richard Parker, as best he can on a lifeboat using turtle shells as a shield.

So begins seven months on board a lifeboat with an Indian adolescent and a huge tiger.  He eats through the rations stored on the boat, then begins catching fish, turtles, and sharks to feed him and the tiger.  After months at sea, they come across an island inhabited only by meerkats.  Pi feasts on algae, Richard Parker feasts on the meerkats.  Eventually Pi leaves the boat at night to sleep in a tree, and notices strange things happening.  The island is carnivorous at night!  The next day Pi and the tiger leave the island, and eventually wash ashore in central Mexico.

Yann Martel is a talented writer.  He's poetic without being verbose, easy to read without being simplistic.  Such a fantastic story.  I had no idea what I was getting into when I picked up this book.  Pi is an awesome teenager; inventive, creative, brave, and strangely funny.  This book makes me remember why I love reading.

Flash and Bones by Kathy Reichs

Kathy Reichs is one of my favorite authors.  She's one of the few authors whose books I buy in hardback as soon as they come out.  Carol Goodman is another one.  This book conveniently was released right before my mother's birthday, so I purchased it as her present.  She read it, mailed it to me.  I read it, and mailed it to my older sister.

Flash and Bones is another Temperance Brennan book, the forensic anthropologist who works in North Carolina and Canada.  Many of her books, this is book 14!!, involve jumping back and forth between to two places, but this book just stayed southern.  Dr. Brennan is called to investigate a body found in an oil drum, leading her to a cold case involving a young couple who vanished years before, the sinister underworld of NASCAR, and a missing CDC doctor.  As usual, Tempe is witty, sarcastic, and fantastic at her job.

My only dislikes of the book were the location, (I prefer her cases that are in Canada.  Not sure why), and the lack of any resolution of her personal life.  A few books back her personal life unraveled and its still dragging on.  Grrrrrr!

Amaryllis in Blueberry by Christina Meldrum

Amaryllis in Blueberry has been on my "to read" list since before it was even released.  I read that its similar to Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible, which I love, so just that right there entered it immediately to my list.

Dick and Seena are two parents with four daughters.  The Slepy's spend each summer in 1970's Michigan. The family is Catholic, although each family member believes to a different degree.  The book addresses the issue of how outward appearances of religious devotion doesn't always match true belief.  The youngest daughter is Amaryllis, dissimilar to her sisters in looks and her ability to read emotions on people in the form of colors, see the future, and sense the past. The three elder daughters are all Mary's: Mary Grace, the beautiful one, Mary Catherine, the obsessive devout one, and Mary Tessa, the one who questions them all.  Dick is religious, Seena is obsessed with mythology.

The summer of 1976, Grace ends up pregnant, and Seena's secret that Amaryllis was secretly fathered by an Indian is out.  Catie stops eating as a permanent fast for God, and Tessa wonders how she ended up in such a crazy family.  Dick turns to porn and a prostitute, which makes Seena rethink his role as husband and breadwinner.  Amaryllis observes her whole family with her blueberry colored eyes.

To escape impending doom, the Slepy's move to Africa.  Dick is a doctor and believes he can establish a hospital in an unnamed west African country for redemption.  Once in Africa, the Slepy's find truth, love, and individual redemption.

To say this book is based loosely off the The Poisonwood Bible is an understatement.  It's very very similar.  White family from middle America goes to Africa in hopes of "saving" it, either through religion or modern medicine.  A family of all girl children, each vastly different, and all struggling to establish an identity within the confines of the family.  Sibling rivalry, different reactions to Africa, a troubled child, a favored child.  Maybe its not fair to compare the two books as such, but its hard to disassociate the two.

Meldrum is a very poetic, somewhat abstract writer.  Part of the charm of the book is her writing style, which distracts from the lack of solid plot.  The book moved along at a snails pace (not necessarily in a bad way), until the end where so much action happened in a very short amount of time.  I was disappointed the book ended where it did.  It almost seemed too short, and somewhat...unfinished?

Still worth the read though, especially if you like a more lyrical writer.  For a strong, well developed plot about a white family in Africa, I'd stick with The Poisonwood Bible. 

Pretense by Lori Wick

It's been a long while since I've read any Christian fiction.  I've read a good portion of Lori Wick's books, many I liked, some I didn't.  Pretense is only one of two of her contemporary fiction books I've read.  One of the many complaints about Christian fiction books is that so many of them, Lori Wick's included, take place in the past, and I've always felt a vague "that's not really relatable" vibe from them.  This contemporary novel does away with that feeling, since the book starts in the 1980's and continues for 15 years.

Pretense begins with Delancey and Mackenzie, two sisters only 13 months apart in age, as elementary school aged children.  They live with mom, a stay at home mother, and dad, an Army colonel.  As the novel progresses, the sisters get older, the family moves due to the Army, mom and dad find Christianity, their parents both pass away, finding careers, and eventually love and marriage.

I like the two sisters.  I would have been friends with them in high school.  I can relate to the sister squabbles, and the inevitable rebellion against their parents.   As adults I admire many of their choices and predictably they both find God.  I also like the emphasis on family that's harder to find in today's world, but so prevalent in the books written in an earlier time period.  I love Mackenzie dealing with her aloneness, because it's just so relatable.

My favorite Lori Wick book is The Hawk and the Jewel, but this one might be a close second.

I've been so busy traveling that I haven't read nearly as much as I planned.  But I did find this gem while reading Lady Chatterley's Lover on an airplane.

"Therefore, the novel, properly handled, can reveal the most secret places of life: for it is in the passional secret places of life, above all, that the tide of sensitive awareness needs to ebb and flow, cleansing and freshening."

  -D.H. Lawrence in Lady Chatterley's Lover


I'm about halfway through it, and enjoying the character of Lady Chatterley, even if the book moves slightly slow.

current reads...

Anna Karenin     Still you ask?  Yes!  I'm still working through it.
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
Amaryllis in Blueberry by Christina Meldrum

I'm traveling quite a bit over the next month so I'm going to be carrying around a stack of books with me to keep me occupied.  I'm going to be bringing 1-2 more with me, probably The bureau and the mole by David A. Vise (I like political science books!) and Two kisses for Maddy by Matt Logelin.

Any suggestions?

And only to deceive by Tasha Alexander

I was introduced to Tasha Alexander by my younger sister last Christmas season at a 3 for 1 sale at Barnes and Nobles.  Having found three books she wanted and stuck in the annoying position of not being able to find a (free) fourth book, she grabbed Tasha Alexander's A Fatal Waltz for me thinking I would like it.  She was right.

Having read and enjoyed that one so much, I purchased And only to deceive (brand new!).  The organization is slightly off, since I haven't mentioned these are books in a series.  And only to deceive is the debut novel of both Alexander as a writer, and her character Lady Emily Ashton.  A Fatal Waltz is a few books farther along in the series.

Lady Emily Ashton just married a man desperately in love with her for the sole reason of getting rid of her overbearing mother.  Her feelings for him were non-existant, but he ended up bestowing on her a massive fortune which she inherited soon after her wedding after her new husband was killed in the African bush while on safari.

Throughout the book, Emily, or Kallista as her husband had taken to calling her, deals with the social norms of mourning, her frustrating mother who can't wait to see her married off again, and begins the laborious process of learning ancient Greek.  As she settles into her late husband's, Philip, households, she makes an effort to get to know the man she married.  She finds a similar love of all things Greek, the British Museum, traveling, and academia.  As a wealthy lady of her time, most of her peers find her newfound interests appalling.

But that's not even the good stuff.  The good stuff is the intrigue.  The forgeries, the doubting of her husband's character, two wedding proposals, and even the possibility that Philip might never have died...

Lady Emily Ashton is pretty awesome.  She's witty, brave, and willing to fight the constrictive social norms of her day, but not obnoxiously so.  She's loyal and funny and ballsy.  I like her.

And only to deceive is a typical debut novel; the series gets better as it progresses.  I like the way Alexander writes.  The diction flows without being stuffy.  It's exactly how I imagine a wealthy, young woman of the late 19th century would speak.  This book didn't flow as well as the later book, but again I think that's because its a debut novel and Alexander hadn't yet found her rhythm.  A Fatal Waltz is book 3, with A Poisoned Season being sandwiched between the two.  I have yet to read that one.

My personal downside was that I had read a later book, and found myself in the awkward position of knowing the conclusions of many of the subplots based on events in the later book.  Still an immensely enjoyable read though!

Becoming Jane Austen by Jon Spence

Having just finished the long, sometimes rambling length of Emma, I thought a good follow-up would be a biography of the author herself. 

Jon Spence's Becoming Jane Austen is a very eloquently written account of Jane's Austen spinster existence from childhood till her early death.  Jane's own perspective in life can be seen, somewhat easily, in her six famous novels, usually hidden in characters other than the heroine.  Though nowadays placing many aspects of an author's life into a work of literature is considered amateurish, Jane did it often, and did it well.  She frequently took names of people she knew in real life and inserted them, without much disguise, into her novels.  

Even though Jane never married, she turned down two marriage proposals in her life, choosing to be a spinster rather than marry for anything other than true love.  This is very easily mirrored in Emma Woodhouse's life, prior to her falling in love with Mr. Knightly.  Jane's continually changing views of marriage, and more importantly motherhood, reflect well in her books to the point that one can trace the order in which her books were written simply by knowing the course of Jane's life. Sense and Sensiblity and Pride and Prejudice are both love stories in the more traditional sense, reflecting a romantic image of marriage.  As Jane matures, she feels like her lack of marriage allowed her to dodge a dangerous bullet of motherhood in the 19th century.  While watching others around her die in childbirth or suffer from one pregnancy after another, Jane realized she was 'saved' from this fate by turning down two perspective husbands.  Her change from more romantic views of life towards more realistic views are very evident by the timePersuasion was written.

Austen considered Pride and Prejudice to be her best novel and I wholeheartedly agree.  I did, however, like the gothic aspects of Northhanger Abbey.
Spence's biography is the first I've ever read of Austen's, and one I liked very much.  I did feel, like life in early 19th century was romanticized by Spence, even making Austen's first heartbreak at such a young age seem more like a great story instead of even hinting at the devastation she must have felt.  As with most biographer's Spence took some liberty in reaching certain conclusions with may or may not be true.  Correlation does not equal causation.  It was a very well researched book.  

All Austen fans, add this to your list.  

Secrets of Paris by Luanne Rice

Okay, so I picked this up at the grocery store of all random places (it was on sale!) while out of town for work.  I started reading it while in the mood for some light reading, and found that for a fluff book, it wasn't too fluffy.

Lydie and Michael move to Paris after Lydie's father dies in a murder suicide.  It sounds cliche, but somehow it works for the story.  Lydie is depressed and distant and therefore, big surprise, Michael starts having an affair with a French coworker he finds exotic.  Meanwhile Lydie meets and befriends an American expat with a Filipino maid she's trying to get to the US.  The friendship between the two woman is admirable and Patrice seems to be the friend everyone wants; sophisticated, loyal, witty.  They (unsuccessfully) try to get the maid, Kelly, to the US.  Interesting side story about American border politics, although I appreciate Lydie's determined quest to help a woman less fortunate than herself.  I laughed at the statement that Kelly finally realizes that not all Americans are able to do whatever they want, in this case convince the Embassy to give her a visa, just because they are Americans.  You mean we aren't all superheroes?!  Poor Kelly ended up being deported back to the Philippines.

Michael and Lydie work things out in the end, a feel good story I really needed to read.  Sometimes love conquers all, apparently.  Michael realizes new woman does not equate with exotic, love of your life woman.  He admits Lydie is true love of his life, even though that sentiment was never too far from the surface.  Sometimes men are just idiots, but many do redeem themselves.  Point duly noted, Ms. Rice.

Agatha Christie: an autobiography

I read my first Agatha Christie mystery story when I was 13;  eighth grade English class.  And then there were none was assigned reading.  Before I even finished the book I was hooked.   On each subsequent trip to the bookstore, I picked out yet another Christie novel, eventually en massing most of her collection.  In my sophomore English class, we were told to choose an autobiography for an assignment.  I no longer remember the assignment, but I do remember reading Agatha Christie's autobiography.

I picked it up again recently after finding a used copy for cheap.  Agatha Christie's life was extremely interesting, and only partially due to her ability to create fascinating mystery stories. She lived through both World Wars at ages where she could easily remember details, married and divorced her first husband, and eventually married an archeologist she met whilst traveling alone through the Middle East.  Her autobiography was written over the course of 15 or so years, and is consequently rambling, disorganized, and skips from event to event with little regard for chronological order.  For instance, she mentions her brother returns home from overseas rather ill and Agatha and her sister found affordable healthcare for him.  The next mention of him is when she ran into an old army buddy of his while in the Middle East who asks after his health.  That's when we found out he had been dead by that point for a few years.  After a while I just adjusted to not knowing how old she was, how much time had passed between one event to the next, and just went with the flow.

Agatha Christie was a product of a late Victorian upbringing, and opens her autobiography with an anecdote of how happy her childhood had been. It's hard to believe in 2011 that she was not really formally schooled, and spent most of her childhood playing, traveling abroad, and playing make believe. Her only formal instruction came on the piano, and to a lesser extent, learning French from a French maid.

She was a girl in her late teens or early twenties when WWI broke out.  Like many unmarried girls of the time, she began working at a local hospital, first as a nurse, then in the dispensary.  As she's reminiscing of her time learning to mix potions for soldiers, it was easy to see where some of her writing ideas stemmed from:  poisons.  Her love affair with poisons showed up early in her novels and continued through most of her career.

Two of my favorite comments from the book are her interpretations of the evolution of parenting from the Victorian era to what she calls present day which I think is the fifties; and a comment about how women in Victorian England had much more power than given credit for.  Her long life offered a great social commentary on the tumultuous times in which she lived.

The one book of hers she frequently references is The murder of Roger Ackroyd, which I don't remember reading and now feel like I must.  She spent a significant time traveling around the Middle East, which is setting for most of my favorite Christie books.  In many instances it seems like she mentions writing as an afterthought.  I like that despite the sheer number of books, plays, and adaptations she wrote, she saw writing as first a hobby than a chose which sometimes interrupted her time spent traveling, reading, spending time with her husbands and only child.

I recently read that her home is now a museum, visited by many, many people annually.  It was opened to the public on a whim, and turned out to be incredibly successful.  Definitely something I'm adding to my bucket list...

Pink Boots and a Machete by Mireya Mayor

I've been on an autobiography kick lately, and actually stumbled across this title while reading a magazine on an airplane.  Mireya Mayor was previously unknown to me, but, as I learned from reading, she's a former NFL cheerleader for the Miami Dolphins turned explorer/scientist/host for the NatGeo channel.  The subtitle for the book is My Journey from NFL Cheerleader to National Geographic Explorer.


The book explains just that.  Born in Miami to a Cuban mother, Mireya grew up an only child in a female dominant household.  She pursued cheerleading after high school, made an NFL team cheer squad, then left to pursue academia and exploration.  This is where the book gets really interesting.

Mayor's explorations begin in Madagascar studying lemurs.  She ends up in Africa and South America various times studying biology; giraffes, wildebeests, gorillas, lemurs, etc.  The title of 'pink boots' comes from her notoriety for wearing pink boots in the field, although sadly none of the photos of her included in the book have her actually wearing pink boots...

An explorer she may be, but a writer she is not.  I found the book a little too chaotic, even though she has an awesome story to tell.  First she's in Africa as an undergrad, then South America almost dying, then back in Africa as a grad student, then working for National Geographic.  In a quest to include almost every place she's ever been, she left out almost all things personal, which made the story dry.  Her travels are incredibly interesting, don't mistake me, but I finished the book learning nothing about the storyteller.  She tells an anecdote about almost dying in Guyana, but doesn't elaborate much on the details.  That's interesting stuff!

Her stories about giraffes were awesome, as I'm a giraffe lover.  I thought her best travel stories were worrying about where to pee with an all male group, using tampons to light fires in the rainforest, picking off ticks, getting infections, seeing gorillas mating, and running out of food, rather than the actual  biology of it.  Discovering new species is awesome, but so is finding out you found someone to date in the rainforest.

I'm not actually sure how many years her career has spanned, although she did note she finished her PhD.  Not only does she jumps locations a lot, the sense of time is all over the place.  She'll describe a trip and then suddenly its years later.  I also thought her writing tended towards the cliched, not what I expected from someone who's written a PhD dissertation. I think she has an amazing story to tell, but just not the writing skill to tell it in the most engaging way.

I definitely enjoyed reading it though.  It reads really well.  There's no scientific jargon to putter through and she spends time talking about mundane things like lipgloss.  On her first trip, and subsequent others, she brings with her a LBD (little black dress).  I could have done without the girly complaining and the mention of using a blowdryer in the middle of a rainforest.  I know that's crass to say, since its her story to tell.  If its the truth, then so be it, but I  dislike woman who pride themselves on being independent, kick ass women, then worry while in the middle of nowhere about how they look.  It's a strange paradox.

As far as autobiographies go, I've never read one even remotely close to compare it to.  That says a lot about Mayor right there.

used bookstores

I'm still alive, I swear.  Just been a busy week!

Yesterday while having an all-day fun day with a friend, we stopped into a local used store.  There's so many I haven't hit yet!  I didn't purchase anything, but as always, I enjoyed the experience.

(From the back of the store in one of the aisles)

One of the smaller ones I've been in, but I didn't get a chance to browse for long.  Thai food was calling!

I'm working my way through Agatha Christie's autobiography.  Strangely enough, while inside the bookstore, a store employee and a patron were discussing Agatha Christie.  I first read this in high school for a 10th grade English class.  While everyone else groaned about how boring their person of choice was, I was deeply engrossed in Agatha's life.    I'm not quite halfway through yet, and remember surprisingly little of her life.  Review will come when I finish. 

I'm also reading The Hobbit rather grudgingly.  The first thirty pages or so did not grab my attention, but its a book on The List that I need to read.  I called my sister to complain about who all these hobbits are and what exactly are they doing, but she promised me the book get better.  I need a more open mind, she said. 

Thirdly, I'm still trekking through Anna Karenina which I'm still enjoying.  I knew it was going to be a long, slow read so I'm not feeling any pressure to finish.  

A very young...

Gymnast! Dancer! Skater!

Jill Krementz published a series of books for children in the seventies, all beginning with the title A Very Young... The idea behind them is genius; find a child excelling in a sport/hobby and photograph their life.

As a child I pored over A very young dancer constantly. This book follows Stephanie, a ten year old dancer training at The School of American Ballet.  She auditions for The Nutcracker, earning herself the role of Clara.  The book follows her from auditions to the rehearsals to the show.  I'm not sure why I loved this book so much.  Maybe the fact that I did ballet, maybe the fact that the girl was ten, maybe because of the awesome black and white photography.  Stephanie seemed so exotic and unique to me as a kid. My copy of the book is tattered, dog-eared, taped together, and still loved.  It now resides in my parent's house.

I wasn't aware of A very young gymnast or A very young skater until I was a teenager.  The gymnast chosen was Torrance York, who is now a famous photographer.  She was also referenced in Jennifer Sey's book Chalked Up, an autobiography of her life as an elite athlete.  Jennifer and Torrance competed against each other in the 1970's.  Katharine Healy is the skater.  All three girls (Katharine, Torrance, and Stephanie) resided in NYC.

I am now the proud owner of all three of these books.  There are more in the series (young gardener, young horseback rider, young chef to name a few, none of which I've read).

My copies.

Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares

Sisterhood Everlasting is the epilogue of the well-read Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series.  Somehow I missed the pre-release hype and the initial release of the book.  Thank goodness a friend texted me informing me of its existence.

I liked the Sisterhood series.  The series ended, I thought, favorably enough so though a fifth book was enjoyable to read, it really wasn't necessary.  While the previous four are written about teenagers for a mostly teenage crowd, this epilogue is definitely for a more mature crowd.  I usually hate lumping a series of books into one homogenous group, but I'm going to do it here and refer to the first four as simply the Sisterhood.  Go with it and hate me later.

The time gap between end of book four and the epilogue is about a decade.  A lot can happen in ten years, even to fictional people.  It's hard not to envy the Septembers, four friends born in the same month, in the same area, to mothers in the same prenatal class.  The idea seems corny, but the concept works for the story.  I think part, if not most, of the reason these books were so popular, is the unshakeable friendship of these girls.  Their trials and tribulations pale in comparison to the bond of friendship that trumps the bonds each of these girls have with their own siblings.

Until tragedy strikes.  After a decade, the inevitable happened.  All four girls went separate ways.  This was already in motion during book four.  What's more surprising is that when their worlds all get rocked, the friends, for seemingly the first time, don't seek refuge and support with each other.  In fact, they all turn outward and communication between them is almost nonexistent.  That was the single problem I had with the book.  It took so long for the friends to reunite that it lacked the breeziness and friendly dialogue that I so loved about the original books.

Bee's behavior is most predictable.  She was always my least favorite of the four.  Taking off on her flowered bike, she hopes to combat grief and deal with other personal problems by taking California head-on.  Although I'm sure she's not the first think so, California never fixes anyone's problems.

My biggest disappointment was Carmen.  I think her life went in the least expected direction, with her becoming a fake actress that crowd Hollywood's, or in her case New York's, streets.  She tries to hide her Latino heritage by passing herself off as white, losing herself in the meantime.  Her fiance couldn't be more wrong for her and I spent most of the book rooting for their breakup.

Lena has always been my favorite.  If anything, she's predictable and consistent, sometimes frustratingly slow.  But I like that the 'beautiful' friend is also the introspective, quiet, insecure one.   She's more real that way.  I thought I would have been annoyed by the endless story of Kostos, but Lena's happiness is made it worthwhile.  Good for you Lena.

A worthwhile read, even if the story was so unexpected.  I cried, felt the shock, and wished I could hug each of the girls in turn and tell them its okay.  These books are the only ones I've read by Ann Brashares, although I know she's got quite a few others on the market.  Her writing in the epilogue definitely beat the previous four, but whether thats from experience or she just writes better for an older crowd, I'm not sure.

I read the entire book in one sitting.  Definitely worth the evening at home.

currents buys and reads

Happy July 4th!!!!

I've finished a couple of books recently, Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares and Messenger by Jeni Stepanek.  Before sharing my opinions, I wanted to compose a list of recent books buys.  Some of these were gifts, since I just recently had a birthday!

Pink boots and a machete by Mireya Mayor
Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay
Agatha Christie, an autobiography
Entwined by  Heather Dixon
Winged Obsession by Jessica Speart
Amaryllis in Blueberry by Christina Meldrum
And only to deceive  by Tasha Alexander
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

Books I'm currently reading:
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Anna Karenina by Tolstoy

100 Books to Read in 2010 (2013)

During the Christmas season of 2009, my older sister and I organized a book list of 100 books.  We took suggestions from various "Best Book" lists, banned book lists, classics lists, as well as some sci-fi suggestions.  Below is the final draft of our 100 Books to read in 2010.  Yes, we realize its now 2011, but several moves, vacations, grad school and starting new jobs, plus reading other non-list books, have been very time consuming.  The date is now arbitrary, but the list is still awesome.  (Titles crossed out have been read). 

1. 1984 by George Orwell

2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

3. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

4. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

6. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

7. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

8. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

9. Sophie’s Choice by William Styron

10. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

11. Oliver Twist or David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

12. Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham

13. Persuasion by Jane Austen

14. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

15. Life of Pi by Yann Martel

16. Middlemarch by George Elliot

17. On the Road by Jack Kerouac

18. Light in August by William Faulkner

19. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky

20. Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

21. Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

22. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

23. Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

24. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

25. Dracula/Undead by Bram and Dacre Stoker

26. Night and Day by Virginia Woolf

27. Tess of the D’ubervilles by Thomas Hardy

28. Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut

29. Beloved by Toni Morrison

30. Dune by Frank Herbert

31. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

32. Watership Down by Richard Adams

33. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

34. Remembrance of Things past by Marcel Proust

35. Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry

35. Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

36. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

37. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

38. Brave New World by Aldophus Huxley

39. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

40. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

41. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

42. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

43. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster

44. Appointment in Samarra by John O’Hara

45. Wings of the Dove by Henry James

46. Anna Karenina or War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

47. Ulysses by James Joyce

48. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

49. Moonheart by Charles de Lint

50. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

51. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

52. Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

53. Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

54. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

55. Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini

56. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

57. Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

58. Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence

59. Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler

60. Passage to India by E.M. Forster

61. Othello by Shakespeare

62. Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser

63. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller

64. Castle in the forest by Norman Mailer

65. Secret Garden by Frances H. Burnett

66. Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

67. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

68. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

69. The Old Wives Tale by Arnold Bennett

70. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

71. Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon

72. I, Claudius by Robert Graves

73. Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne

74. Anne Frank:Diary of a young girl by Anne Frank

75. The Call of the Wild by Jack London

76. The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene

77. Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine l’engle

78. Fanny Hill by John Cleland

79. Lady Chatterly’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence

80. The Color Purple by Alice Walker

81. Devil’s Alternative by Frederick Forsyth

82. I know why a caged bird sings by Maya Angelou

83. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

84. Native Son by Richard Wright

85. The Age of Reason by Thomas Payne

86. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

87. Doll’s House by Ibsen

88. Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

89. A Town like Alice by Nevil Shute

90. Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

91. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

92. Vanity Fair by William Mackerey

93. The Prince by Machiavelli

94. A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

95. The Drowned and the Saved by Primo Levi

96. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

97. A Pale View of hills by Kazuo Ishiguro

98. The Plague by Albert Camus

99. Eva Luna by Isabel Allende

100. Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe

Hello!

Welcome to my book blog!

I wanted to start a blog to share books, reading, and sometimes photos with the cyber world. I was recently introduced to the world of e-readers, and now own a Kindle.  This blog is a collection of book reviews, ponderings of my favorite books and other interesting book information I come across.  I enjoy taking photos and will occasionally post some here as well.

My interests in books range all over the place; autobiographies, nonfiction, sports, romance, mainstream, classics, mysteries, sometimes religious, and very occasionally chick lit.  I also love reading young adult fiction as well.

Wish me luck!