Playing catch-up

Two weeks ago, my nice, loosely organized summer was seriously disrupted by the unexpectedly early arrival of my son, Oliver. We've both spent the last two weeks recovering from some trauma, which means, obviously, I've been neglecting writing for more important things. (Sometimes you just have to).

However, lots of down-time for/with the baby also means lots of reading time.

Books that I've read in the last two weeks (that I can remember, anyway):

Anne Tyler, The Accidental Tourist. When I initially started this book, I wasn't sure I wanted to keep going--it starts out in a fairly grim place, with a couple (Macon and Sarah Leary) whose marriage is falling apart following the tragic death of their son. However, I'd heard a lot of good things about the book (and my husband told me he'd liked the movie version), so I stuck with it and I'm glad I did. Macon encounters the much younger and delightfully quirky Muriel and her young son Alexander and they upset his ordered (maybe *too* ordered) existence. Tyler has a lovely, understated writing style, but what I liked most about this was Tyler's life-affirming philosophy. I think Macon sums it up best when he says (and I'm paraphrasing) that the amazing thing about people is that they try so hard, even under discouraging circumstances.

I read two Monica McInerney books--I picked them up mostly because I'd seen her described as an Australian Maeve Binchey. I'm not sure her books were quite as well written as Binchey's, but they were fun stories and perfect for my current frame of mind. I read Greetings from Somewhere, about a young woman who finds herself in Ireland for a year, trying to keep up her aunt's bed and breakfast, so that her family can inherit the property (per her aunt's will) and get the money they desperately need. While I liked the overall story and characters, the plot felt a little thin (there weren't a lot of subplots). I liked Family Baggage better, about a family that runs a small tourist agency. Harriet Turner is leading her first tour abroad after a disastrous meltdown a year earlier (following the death of her parents). Her foster sister, Lara, is supposed to join them, but she disappears unexpectedly the day before the tour starts. It was a pleasure to read about Harriet's gradual regaining of her confidence, and the secret that drives Lara away, while not entirely surprising, brought a couple of different plotlines together in interesting ways.

Mindy Kaling, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? I don't usually read comic memoirs like this one, but I like Mindy Kaling (even if her Office character frequently drives me crazy). The book was funny and light--no real depth, but entertaining.

Haven Kimmel, A Girl Named Zippy. I loved this one. I've read reviews that say this memoir reads more like a novel than a memoir, and I think that's right. I thought Zippy was an endearingly stubborn character, and I thought the author did a marvelous job treating her childhood sensitively but also intelligently.

Jaqueline West, The Shadows: Book of Elsewhere. I liked the premise of this one: a young girl who discovers a dark magic at work in the paintings in her home. It was just a little dark--and often lonely. (The girl has one friend, who may or may not be alive, and a couple of cats for company).

I also read Melanie Jacobsen's Not My Type and Twitterpated. I enjoyed both of them immensely. Her romances are smart, clean, and a lot of fun. They don't pretend to be particularly deep, but they don't insult the reader either. I think my favorite of her novels is still The List, but I really enjoyed these and wish that she'd hurry up and write more. (My only complaint of Twitterpated is that all the women's character names end in -y, -i, or -ie.)

More Books: June 10

I recently broke down and bought a Kindle (I know, for an avid reader I'm late jumping on the bandwagon), so I've read a couple of e-books this week. Mostly library copies, because somehow paying $10 for a *real* book seems like a worthwhile return, but paying the same amount for something digital is a bit much for me. So apparently I'm not a full digital convert yet.

I read Jennifer Holm's Turtle in Paradise, which is one of this year's Beehive nominees. I liked it, but I didn't love it. The story follows an 11-year-old girl with the unlikely name of Turtle, who gets shuttled off to Key West to live with relatives after her mom gets a job working as a housekeeper for a woman who doesn't like kids. Since this is set in the Great Depression and good jobs can be scarce, Turtle doesn't have much choice but to go. Turtle isn't initially impressed with Key West, which her mom calls "paradise" but which to Turtle seems crowded and dirty. Gradually, however, Turtle is won over by the people and the vivid scenery. I thought the book was well written--the voice was charming--but some parts of the plot I found just a little implausible.

I also read Meg Cabot's Teen Idol, which I think I've read before, because some of the plot seemed familiar. This book tells the story of Jen Greeley, a high school junior who's assigned the coveted role of "Ask Annie" for her high school newspaper because she's the "mayonnaise" of her school--the one who's able to smooth things over, keep everything together, and make people happy. However, when Jen is asked to show the new student Lucas (aka film star Luke Striker, under cover to research a new role) around the school, things start to change. Luke encourages her to stop trying to just smooth things over and actively make a change. When Jen does, the changes surprise even her. Like most of Cabot's books, this is a fun summer read; it's a light quick read. It's not particularly deep, but I didn't go into the story expecting depth or particularly vivid language.

I also read Laura Levine's Killing Bridezilla, one of a series about L.A. based amateur sleuth and freelance writer Jaine Austen. In this one, Jaine gets hired to write the vows for a former high school nemesis, Patti, who wants to redo the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, only with a happy ending this time. Unfortunately, working for Patti is horrific, involving not only detailed and sometimes contradictory directions, but bringing back flashbacks of life with Patti in high school. However, when someone kills Patti during the wedding ceremony and another former high school friend is accused, Jaine springs into action to solve the case. I have to say, I found this book shallow and silly. I get that it's supposed to be funny, and parts of it were, but so many of the events seemed improbable (including the murder itself). The mystery, too, was kind of blah--I didn't feel like there were enough clues to the real killer's identity until the killer was revealed. While I'm generally a fan of cozy mysteries (I love Donna Andrews stuff), I don't think I'll be reading the other books in this series.

Reading update: June 3rd

I haven't updated in a while, so I'm sure I'm missing a few books from this list, but, here are some of the books I've read recently:

Becca Wilhite's My Ridiculous Romantic Obsession. I had mixed feelings about this book--I related well to the main character, and the writing style. But I had a hard time with the fact that the MC so clearly didn't realize this boy liked her--even I could figure that out and I'm notoriously clueless about that kind of thing. (I also listened to Becca speak at LDStorymakers and she gave some great, funny, motivational tips on writing, so I'll probably keep checking out her books).

Melanie Jacobson's The List (another author who was at Storymakers). I read this on the plane to Philly last weekend and I really enjoyed it. I'm usually skeptical about LDS fiction, but I thought she did a great job in this romantic comedy. The basic premise is that the main character has watched her mom and her sisters struggle after getting married too young, so she comes up with a bucket list and doesn't want to get married until she's done all the items. She moves to Huntington Beach for the summer, thinking it will be the perfect place to check off several items from her list (learn to surf and have a summer fling among them), but when her summer fling ends up more serious than she'd intended, she has to reevaluate priorities. Predictable? A little--but most romances are. It was funny, well-written and a fun summer read.

Lindsay Leavitt's Princess for Hire and the Royal Treatment. I read Leavitt's Sean Griswold's Head some time ago for the Whitney awards and enjoyed it, so I've been watching my library for these books to be in stock. I think these books would appeal to a lot of teen/pre-teen girls. In them, Desi Bascomb is pretty sure her social life has hit rock bottom when her crush (and his snotty girlfriend) catch her at the mall wearing a gopher costume for the pet store where she works. However, she soon finds out that she has magic potential (MP) and she gets hired for a glamorous new job (she thinks) as a princess substitute, stepping in for all those royals who find being in the limelight all the time too exhausting. Only, the princesses Desi gets for her first few gigs aren't anything like she expected (doing a tribal dance for an African princess?). Both books are well-written, if not particularly deep (but you don't really expect depth from a pink book that sparkles). I would have loved these books when I was younger.

Kiera Cass, the Selection. Let's be honest here: I picked up this book because it had a beautiful cover. And the premise sounded fun: reality TV (think the Bachelor) meets dystopian world. The main character, America Singer, wants nothing to do with the contest to find a wife for the prince of her post-war U.S. (now reconstructed as a monarchy)--she'd rather focus on building a life with the man she loves. However, he (and her parents) convince her to at least turn in her application, but no one is more shocked than she is when she's actually chosen as one of 35 contestants. She's even more shocked to find that she actually likes the prince, Maxon--as a friend, of course. (Or maybe more). At the end, though, I'm not sure what to think. The writing was fine (nothing remarkable) and I liked America's interactions with Maxon. However, she made some choices near the end that drove me crazy (I won't say what they are because I don't want spoilers) and made me lose some respect for the MC. I'll probably read the other books when the come out, because I'm just curious enough, but I won't be waiting for them.

Jennifer Nielsen, The False Prince. Of the books I've read recently, this is probably my favorite. This story follows Sage, a 14-year-old orphan, who's been recruited for a dangerous (and potentially deadly plot). Connor, one of the regents for Carthys, is trying to keep his kingdom from civil war by "resurrecting" a prince who was believed to have been killed by pirates four years ago. Sage tries to resist the plan, but Connor makes it clear that he's not above using violence against those who resist him, so Sage follows along, but just barely. I had the chance to listen to the author talk about the book, and she said that the book sold on the strength of the MC, which I would agree. Sage is a fascinating character--confrontational, troublesome, strong-willed. He talks back to Connor when playing along would save him a beating, he defies orders whenever he can, and, not surprisingly, ends up in a lot of trouble. In fact, he reminds me a lot of Megan Whalen Turner's Eugenides (from the Thief), whom I loved. The writing is tight, the characterization strong, and although the ending didn't particularly surprise me, I think young readers in particular would really enjoy this.

I also read a book on Natural Hospital Birth, which I found personally helpful in thinking through delivery options, but I don't imagine very many of my (few) readers are interested in it!

Reading recap 5/13

Since I try to post weekly, you'd think I'd have an easier time remembering what I read from one week to the next, but it always seems to be a struggle! (I'm blaming it on pregnancy brain . . . for now.)

I found--and devoured--Ida B. by Katherine Hannigan. This was another great middle grade book (why did I  not know there were so many amazing middle grade writers out there?). I didn't like it quite as much as True (Sort of), but it was a lovely story about Ida B., who lives an idyllic life on a farm with her parents until her mom gets sick, Ida B. has to go to public school (instead of being homeschooled) and she generally thinks her world is falling apart. But Ida B. has a plan to save everything . . . maybe. The writing was sharp and the characters were interesting--I was amazed at how Hannigan managed to keep things interesting even when it was only Ida B. rambling around the woods on her own.

I also read Eve Marie Mont's A Breath of Eyre. I'm still mulling over what I think about this one. I liked the basic premise--a 16-year-old girl named Emma finds herself living out Jane Eyre's storyline after getting struck by lightning. For once, an adaptation author seemed not only familiar with the original story but capable of thinking and writing critically about it (I suspect that Mont has some kind of literature background). Emma flips back and forth between her own story and Jane's, and makes some important discoveries about herself along the way. While I really wanted to love this book, ultimately I didn't. I thought there were some great intense scenes between Emma and her love interest, but I also found some of the points the book made a little extreme/dramatic and at times contradictory. (Possibly I'm also influenced by the fact that Mont is ultimately critical of Rochester, and I had a huge crush on him in high school and am apparently not quite over a residual fondness for the character. That, and the fact that I know a fair amount about 19th century British Women's literature.) For instance, after coming across critical of Rochester's actions, Mont still paves the way for a parallel romance in Emma's real life. However, I liked it enough that I'd probably read the sequel (which picks up Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter).

I started, but couldn't finish, Kevin Wilson's The Family Fang (the family was ultimately a little too dysfunctional for me--it was painful to read. I'm pretty sure that was the point, but it still didn't hook me).

Reading Update 5/8

I spent the weekend at the LDStorymaker's conference in Provo, so of course I didn't update my reading list. Let's see if I can even remember what I read!

I've been reading several books off the state's Beehive Award List, and, for the most part, they've been great.

I read Kiersten Gier's Ruby Red (the first in a trilogy) about a girl from a time-traveling family. Everyone thought her cousin was the pre-destined time-traveler (she's the one who's been getting all the training), and everyone (except of course the reader) is surprised when Gwyn discovers it was really her all along. I liked the main character, and the snobby boy Gideon, who's assigned to be her time-traveling partner. This first story introduced several mysteries that I'm curious to figure out, and I'll likely keep reading. The only issue for me with this book was the writing--this is a translation from German, and sometimes that shows in odd syntactical expressions.

I read--and adored--True (Sort of) by Katherine Hannigan. (Now I need to go find her Ida B.) This book follows Delly (short for Delaware), a good hearted little girl who can't help but get in trouble all the time. When she's threatened with suspension if she misbehaves one more time--and when her mother threatens to cry (and break Delly's heart) if she's suspended--Delly decides it's time to make a change. Trouble is, she doesn't know how. She finds herself intrigued by the new girl at school, Ferris Boyd, and befriends her, even though Ferris won't talk and communicates only through writing. I thought the book was lovely--the writing was strong, the characters were interesting and unexpected and Delly had a vivid, well-drawn family. Although the secret at the center of the novel is fairly dark (most adult readers will see it coming), it was dealt with sensitively.

Finally, I read Georgette Heyer's Footsteps in the Dark. Oddly enough, I think this was the first time I've read this one, although I own most of her books (except the histories, which I don't like). This one was okay--I never really connected to the characters like I'd hoped.

Reading list 4/29

I realize I've missed a week or so, so I'm probably also missing some books. (I read a lot; I also forget a lot of what I read, which is why I can happily re-read books I've already read. Of course, some books, I simply love and rereading them is like having a nice, satisfying gab session with an old friend.)

Lauren Barnholdt, Fake Me a Match. I thought this was a cute story--if not really substantive. In this book, 13-year-old Avery LaDuke has high hopes for her new step-sister (who's exactly her age), since her current BFF has been acting strange. When Avery gets put in charge of a school fundraiser--a matchmaking project--she knows just what to do: she'll fix the results so Blake gets matched with Sam, her current crush. Only, something goes wrong and Avery gets matched with Sam instead--and worse still, she discovers that he might not be the stuck-up jerk she's always thought he was. Instead, she might actually like him. I thought the writing here was fun--Barnholdt has a great MG voice, the characters were relatable, and the plot situations were familiar to anyone who lived through junior high.

Julie Cross, Tempest. I picked up this book because it's been getting a fair amount of buzz, but I wasn't in love with it. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is happy with his life, his girlfriend Holly, and his occasional time traveling. But when strangers who seem to know about his secret burst in and shoot Holly, Jackson gets flung back to his past (as a 17-year-old) and can't seem to get out. He has to figure out what's going on with his life and try to save Holly. I thought the premise here was cool, and Cross certainly has spent a lot of time envisioning the rules for time travel so that they are logical. But I never really connected with the characters. Jackson and Holly are supposed to have this cosmic romance (like a younger version of the Time Traveler's Wife), but neither of them ever seemed distinct enough for me to really love them. Of course, this could just be personal preference in characters--aside from that, the writing was fast-paced and the plot was intriguing.

Julianne Donaldson, Edenbrooke. This is the first book for Shadow Mountain's new line of "clean" romances, and I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised. I'm a long-time fan of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer--and this is the first regency I've read in years to come close to Heyer's deftness with language and characterization of regency era life (of course, Austen remains pretty inimitable). In this story, Marianne Daventry has been living with her grandmother in Bath ever since her mother's death, and she's tired of the confined city life. She longs for the country life that she loves--which is why she jumps at the chance to spend a couple of weeks in the country with her twin sister at the estate of a woman who was their mother's childhood friend. However, the visit doesn't unfold quite as Marianne expected--she finds herself falling for someone she's not entirely sure she can trust and she struggles with feeling unusually estranged from her sister. I thought the romance here was delightful and would recommend this to anyone who likes a good romance, particularly Regency era romances.

Frances O'Rourke Dowell, Ten Miles Past Normal. I've been lucky in that I've been reading a slew of books recently that I enjoyed. This was also charming, the story of Janie Gorman, who lives on a small farm just outside the city limits. Farm life seemed cool in elementary school, but now that she's in high school, she's been labelled "Skunk Girl" for unthinkingly climbing on the school bus without checking to see that she'd removed the goat poop from her shoes. She spends her lunch periods hiding in the library and the rest of her life longing for something better, something bigger. An invitation to "Jam Band" leads her to meet a boy named Monster, who teaches her to play the bass--and a school assignment with her best friend leads to some discoveries about the civil rights history of her town and the role some of the older residents played in the Freedom Schools. The story really seems to be about Janie's coming of age, of coming into her own and realizing that it's okay not to be normal--especially when you can be something bigger.

Reading list: April 15

I'm going to give up on the week count, since I can't keep track of the weeks now anyway.

Here's my book list for the last two weeks:

1. Seeing Cinderella, by Jenny Lundquist (also edited by Alyson Heller, whom I met last spring at WIFYR and who I would love, someday, to work with). This was a charming book--it just came out and I've seen nothing but good reviews for it. In the story, Calliope (goes by Callie) dreads eighth grade, particularly after her optometrist gives her a particularly ugly pair of glasses to wear while she waits for her real glasses to come in. Only, the glasses aren't normal glasses. Not only do they help her see, but they let her see what people are actually thinking. As the weeks progress, Callie begins to learn that few people (her best friend, her crush, her nasty locker partner) are exactly what they seem. This was the kind of MG book I love: relatable characters and a fun plot, but an ultimately realistic view of junior high life.

2. May B., by Caroline Starr Rose. I'd seen reviews of this book some time ago, so when I finally saw it on the shelf at the library, I snatched it up. And read it in about an hour. This particular novel is a novel in verse, which I wasn't initially sure about (sometimes novels in verse feel too cryptic for me). However, it didn't take long to get drawn into the story of May B., a twelve-year old girl who gets sent to live with a newlywed family to earn some extra money for her own family. The move sends her to the edge of the Kansas prairie, farther than she's ever been before. She soon realizes that her new mistress is depressed, but she does the best she can to keep her head down and do her job. That is, until the wife disappears, the husband goes after her, and May B. finds herself abandoned in a sod house on the edge of the prairie, a good fifteen miles from home. She doesn't worry particularly until summer edges into fall, and then the first snow falls. Somehow, May B. has to find the resources within herself to survive the winter and make it back to her family. I was surprised at how gripping the story was, since for much of the book May B. is alone with her memories. But her voice is so vivid that it was impossible not to care what happened to her.

3. Kathryn Lasky, Daughters of the Sea: Lucy. To be fair, I didn't realize when I picked this up that it was the third book of a series (although I didn't have any trouble picking up the story line, as these books seem to be essentially companion books to a point). In this story, Lucy chafes against the social restraints of her upper-class life and her parents' relentless ambitions (her father is a clergyman who'd like to become bishop; both her parents would like to see her married into a wealthy family). When her father's work takes them to Maine for the summer, Lucy falls in love with the sea, begins to fall for a totally unsuitable shipbuilder, and discovers that she's not entirely human, but mer. I had a hard time getting into this book, although the writing was fine. The characters felt a little shallow to me, and towards the end the plot takes a twist that struck me as, frankly, a little silly and over-dramatic.

4. Timeless, Gail Carriger. This was the fifth installment of the Parasol Protectorate and felt like a fitting conclusion to the series. In it, Alexia and her daughter Prudence (the former "infant inconvenience") are bidden to Egypt by the oldest vampire queen in the world. Since Alexia is nothing if not curious, she follows the summons, hoping at the same time to get to the bottom of the God-Breaker Plague. To disguise the purpose of her trip, she brings along her best friend Ivy Tunstell and Ivy's acting troupe. Of course, various disasters ensue, but Alexia manages everything just fine. I think the appeal of this series is not necessarily in the mysteries of the plots (although this one managed a few twists I didn't quite anticipate), but just in the sheer fun of being part of Alexia's paranormal/Victorian world.

5. Spell Bound, by Rachel Hawkins. This is the final book of Hawkins' delightful Hex Hall series. While I've enjoyed the series as a whole, this one wasn't quite as much, well, fun as the other books, although Sophie Mercer retains much of her spunk. I suppose that's natural, since the conclusion of this kind of trilogy usually involves some kind of great and final battle, and it's not quite as much fun to prepare for that as it is to spend a summer near London (book #2) or find yourself in a boarding school for students with magical abilities (#1). The book does a good job of resolving some of the loose ends of the series, but I suppose my main issue with it is a personal problem: I always seem to root for the wrong side of a love trilogy, so of course I was disappointed in the way Hawkins ended the book here (and no, I'm not going to spoil the book by saying who).