February 6, 2010

Review – The Housekeeper and the Professor

Some books are a love letter to reading.  Some a love letter to literature or history.

The Housekeeper and the Professor is a love letter to mathematics and a simple yet elegant look at the human condition.  It examines what it means to be a family and is such a non-traditional novel – a breath of fresh air to my stack of spines.

Like The Professor, the book itself is dainty and fragile, and as a self proclaimed book purist who can’t imagine ever owning a kindle, I relished the feel of this book in my hands.  I enjoyed every page and not a word felt like a translation from the original Japanese.  I consider that a feat in and of itself.

None of the characters have names in this novel, and yet they are rich and colorful and full of personality, especially The Professor, who has only an 80 minute memory.  The math is elegant and as much a character as the family that is created as the novel goes on.

One of my favorite quotations that struck me:

“Math has proven the existence of God because it is absolute and without contradiction; but the devil cannot exist as well because we cannot prove it”

I’m still unraveling some of the symbolism of the mathematics and significant events, and yet some elements seem just as simple and random as equations may be at first glance.

The Housekeeper and the Professor was easy and pure joy to read, and prompted a colorful book club discussion.  I am so glad this book came across my path.

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January 31, 2010

Review – Catching Fire

So, it appears I’m on a sequels kick.  I had to wait a while for this one at the library so the timing was interesting.

I don’t want to spoil too much here, other than to say, Catching Fire was not what I expected.  I was not prepared to be as drawn to this book as I was the first, The Hunger Games.  Collins set up a more than excellent cliffhanger, much like with the first book in the series, to ensure readers came back.

The first half was undoubtedly slow compared to the pace I was used to, but the plot twists and turns were just unreal.  I found myself reading with mouth agape like I did so many times at the unspeakable horror that is the Hunger Games.  Katniss and Peeta are back, this time with seemingly even more ‘adult’ problems on their hands.  I love a novel where a character grows, the emerging moral fortitude of the *ahem* female heroine is lovely.  A series that grows with the reader is a bonus as well.

Speaking of the intended audience, my only beef with this book was the occasional cheesy “doomsday” line about the world being in Katniss’s hands.  It was, to be sure, but the sentences that summed up her plight so neatly seemed to cheapen it a bit.  I imagine the young reader needs reminding from time to time of the weight of the situation?  That is the only justification I can think of at this point.

I may have to consider buying the third book, currently in production.  Not sure I can fight wait 600 people again in line at the library.

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January 19, 2010

Teaser Tuesday – January 19, 2010

Miz B and Teaser Tuesdays asks you to:

  • Grab your current read.
  • Let the book fall open to a random page.
  • Share with us two (2) sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
  • You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

_____

I have a lot of books in the pipeline that have been on my to-read list for what seems like forever, so I am so excited to tackle them.  Today’s teaser comes from page 151 of William P. Young’s The Shack, one of those much-anticipated books.

“Obviously he was meant to enter, so he hesitatedly reached out and pushed.  His hand simply penetrated the wall as if it wasn’t there.  Mack continued to move cautiously forward until his entire body passed through what appeared to be the solid stone exterior of the mountain.”

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January 17, 2010

Review – World Without End

Go figure.  Just as soon as I go and question a sequel, I find one that blows me away.

I usually have the most difficult time reviewing books I loved.  Those are the books you stay up late reading, characters that are on your mind long after you mark your page, and books that transform your idea of what a novel really is meant to be.

Pillars of the Earth was one of my absolute favorites from the last year, and World Without End did not disappoint either.  These two Follett’s masterpieces are epic in proportion, and there’s really no other way to describe them.  Majestic.  Fascinating.  Historical fiction that teaches you something and helps you appreciate how the world got to be how it is today.

I had heard that World Without End takes place in the 14th Century, two hundred years after the close of Pillars of the Earth, and at the time, I wasn’t sure what to make of it.  How can you possibly have a sequel without any of the same characters? But, they are there in spirit, and their legend remains, but also important to remember is that Kingsbridge Priory is a central character in itself, which has remained relatively unchanged.

It took me a bit longer to get into World Without End, mostly because all the new personalities were a bit harder to keep straight.  Just as in Pillars, there is a deceptive villain, a shrewd female leader, power hungry and dangerous clergy, a genius builder, a forbidden love affair, and peasants struggling to find their way amongst it all.  But the story, plot, struggles — nothing is the same — not even close.  And dare I say it, I liked the content (perhaps as a product of the time period) a bit better?  Battle axes and gruesome hand to hand combat skeeve me out, but the plague?  Oh, I can handle the plague.

This time the events surround four children who witness a murder at a critical point in their adolescence, and the events of that day affect them and ensuretheir lives intertwine.  I actually preferred that the book only spanned 40 or so years, rather than the 80? (I’d have to look it up) with Pillars of the Earth.  Here, the plot is more centralized and the main characters to not switch or fade into the background depending on where you are in the storyline.

Really though (see, I’m having trouble articulating my thoughts), World Without End is a great following to Pillars of the Earth.  It can stand alone, is still as gripping, and makes you want to cry, scream, and as soon as you finish the 1000+ pages, turn it over and start again.   I don’t re-read books often, but both are on my list, and if you like Pillars, make time for World Without End.

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January 12, 2010

Teaser Tuesday — January 12, 2010

Miz B and Teaser Tuesdays asks you to:

  • Grab your current read.
  • Let the book fall open to a random page.
  • Share with us two (2) sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
  • You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!

_____

Today’s teaser comes from page 951 of Ken Follet’s World Without End.  Go figure — just as soon as I bash Haven Kimmel’s sequel, I go and get myself so wrapped up in one that I haven’t watched TV all week.

“He had not thought of anyone by the time he got home.  He found Caris in the parlor and was about to ask her when she preempted him.  Standing up, with a pale face and a frightened expression, she said: “Lolla’s gone again.”

And I’m now officially obsessed with the name Caris.

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January 11, 2010

Review – She Got Up Off the Couch

Are sequels ever as good as the original?  I loved Haven Kimmel’s A Girl Named Zippy but her follow-up to her life in small town Indiana was not as entertaining as her first memoir.

I don’t usually pay attention to global ratings on GoodReads unless I’ve been in a book slump and need a sure-fire way out of it.  I did happen to glance and see that She Got Up Off the Couch was rated higher than A Girl Named Zippy, which I thought was puzzling.  It contributed to me picking up the sequel much sooner than originally anticipated.

Overall, Kimmel’s second memoir seemed to lack the childhood innocence I learned to love and crave from her in Zippy.  Though the book is titled after her mother, who literally got up off the couch (leaving her precious pork rinds), got a college degree, and lost 100 pounds, the bulk of the book’s stories surround Haven herself.  I was confused for a long time just exactly what her mother had to do with any of it.

Kimmel provides more snippets of her life and some of her brother and sister (which I did wonder about from the first book) and there were more than a few pause and re-wind laugh out loud moments in the car, but I just didn’t get such a big kick out of She Got Up Off the Couch.

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January 1, 2010

Review – Answering 911: Life in the Hot Seat

I stumbled upon this book one day while browsing GoodReads, and was  immediately drawn to the cover.

It was a perfect quick weekend read, and let’s face it, I’m a sucker for memoirs detailing lives more interesting and fast-paced than my own.

Of course, I assumed like most people Burau describes when they hear she is a 911 dispatcher – “Oh, you must have interesting stories.”  I thought it would be neat to read a book about interesting stories, not realizing that the most “interesting” involved someone’s worst (and possibly last) day on earth.  ”Interesting” can also leave you jaded and color your view of humanity permanently.  So in that sense, it’s not a book with interesting stories at all.

But instead of depressing everyone like she could have, Burau unpacked calls and events to tell a larger story with an important theme — there is such a thing as free will, you can’t help everyone, and it’s ok to take a cry break if you need one.  I need to remember that last one more often.

I loved reading about Burau’s connection with her job, even if the job didn’t exactly connect with her right away.  As someone who gets frustrated if she’s not good at something the first time she tries, hers is a valuable lesson in persistence.  And the humorous irony of dropping out of nursing school for being afraid of blood was not lost on her, which makes her story all the more interesting and worthy of telling.  She’s also a former reporter, the prodding kind she grows to detest when sitting on the other side of the desk.  Not to mention, she is a recovering crack addict.  She’s an interesting story herself with a refreshing and frank book worth picking up.

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December 31, 2009

2010 ABC Author Challenge Preview

Here it is – my 2010 ABC Author Challenge list.  As with my 2009 Challenge, I reserve the right to switch out a letter or two.  My no audios rule remains in effect, however.

Atwood, Margaret – The Handmaid’s Tale

Blume, Judy – Summer Sisters

Collins, Suzanne – Catching Fire

Diamant, Anita – The Red Tent

Evans, Richard Paul – The Gift

Follet, Ken – World Without End

Gabaldon, Diana – Outlander

Horan, Nancy - Loving Frank

Inness-Brown, Elizabeth – Burning Marguerite

James, Syrie – The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte

Kent, Kathleen – The Heretic’s Daughter

Lipinski, Maureen - A Bump in the Road

Miles, Jonathan - Dear American Airlines: A Novel

Niffenegger, Audrey - Her Fearful Symmetry

Ogawa, Yoko - The Housekeeper and the Professor

Picoult, Jodi – Nineteen Minutes

Qamar, Amjed – Beneath My Mother’s Feet

Rosnay, Tatiana de – Sarah’s Key

Sapphire – Push

Tolkien, JRR – The Fellowship of the Ring

Updike, John – The Witches of Eastwick

Vonnegut, Laureen – Oasis: A Novel

Whitehouse, Lucie - The House at Midnight

Saint-Exupery, Antione de – Wind, Sand, and Stars

Yates, Richard – Revolutionary Road

Zusak, Mark – The Book Thief

As usual with my book lists, it’s  a pretty mixed bag.  Some of these I’m terribly excited for as they’ve been on my list for what seems like forever, such as The Book Thief, Loving Frank, and The Handmaid’s Tale.  Others, such as Revolutionary Road and Push (Precious) have been creeping up my Netflix queue and I want to give the books a shot first.  A few are much anticipated sequels, like Catching Fire and World Without End.  I’m also giving the Lord of the Rings trilogy a second change, as I failed miserably trying to read The Hobbit some years ago.  And still others are born of necessity for a certain letter of author’s last name.

Most importantly, I know some surprises await.

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December 30, 2009

Review – The Pioneer Woman Cooks

My name is Amanda.  And I love The Pioneer Woman.

Ree Drummond is hilarious and spunky and I love her blog, thepioneerwoman.com.

I really don’t read cookbooks, mostly because I don’t cook much (my husband is most certainly the chef of the two of us) but I love that her personality jumps out from the page just like her recipes do.

All of the photography is her own, and as a non-cook, I appreciate the step-by-step photos and stories on each page about why she loves each recipe.

Ree Drummond would never be accused of taking life too seriously and for this I love her.  One particular picture on the Sangria recipe page illustrates this perfectly.  You see her pouring the wine on top of the fruit into a gorgeous glass carafe with a spigot.  There is very clearly red wine draining from the open spigot and the next caption says “And generally, if you’re pouring wine into a container with a spigot, it helps to close the spigot first.”  The caption and illustration could very easily have been omitted, but Drummond chooses to include it and uses it as a way to tell her readers “Hey, it’s ok if you screw up in the kitchen.  I do it too [despite my lovely photographs and general appearance of having it all together with abundant grace and style].”  So not only did she let the spigot drain to laugh at herself a minute, but she also took a picture BEFORE she closed it and then published it.  Leaving the spigot open is no doubt something I’d do, and for Ree’s ability to prevent me from feeling badly about something like that I am grateful.

The food is no doubt country and makes you (yes, even me, the non-cook) crave a quiet Sunday afternoon at home to get lost in the kitchen.

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December 29, 2009

2009 Year In Review

I wanted to highlight some other books I’ve read this year that weren’t a part of my 2009 ABC Challenge.  My twitter reviews are below, as well as a link where applicable.

Book Club

Bitter is the New Black – Jen Lancaster – Hilarious and surprising

Crazy Love – Leslie Morgan Steiner – Eye-opining, heartbreaking, and empowering

Wicked – Gregory Maguire – Horrid

Limbo: A Memoir – A. Manette Ansay – Strange and frustrating

What We Keep – Elizabeth Berg – Beautiful and easy to relate to

Rabbit, Run – John Updike – Maddening but one of the best discussion starters

Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis de Bernieres – Artistic and sad

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County – Tiffany Baker – Breath of fresh air, unique

The House at Riverton – Kate Morton – 300 pages too long

Three Cups of Tea – Greg Mortenson – Great idea, poor execution

Epileptic – David B – Gorgeous and thoughtful

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane – Katherine Howe – Salem witchcraft turned on its head

The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins – Best Young Adult book this year

Others

Pillars of the Earth – Ken Follet – Read it.  Now.  Amazing.

Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey through his Son’s Meth Addiction – David Sheff – Depressing and frustrating but realistic

Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science – Atul Gawande – Insightful, especially considering this years news

The Year of Magical Thinking – Joan Didion – A must read for anyone grieving a loss

Merle’s Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog – Ted Kerasote – Not your typical dog book

Love in Condition Yellow – Sophia Raday – Amazing memoir on marriage

After You – Julie Buxbaum – Better than average “chick lit”

Columbine – David Cullen – Best non-fiction work of 2009

The Longest Trip Home – John Grogan – A love letter to parents

Lottery – Patricia Wood – Innocent and wonderful

Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp – Stephanie Klein – Frank and painfully honest

Of the 87 total I read, I did not finish 5 – You Suck, The Hope of Refuge, Wicked, Emotional Intelligence, and The World is Flat.  If you generally side with me in terms of book taste, don’t read those.  :)

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