Book Review: How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous

Georgia Bragg, author of "How They Croaked" offers this warning:

Book Review: "Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon"

For those who may have forgotten, by day I'm an elementary school librarian. This book was included in a packet of free books I got from Scholastic in a book order last month, and at first, I wasn't really interested in reading it. So many nonfiction books for children are, simply, boring. I don't know why that is, but that's my impression, and although this is an award-winning book, I figured it would just be dry facts and figures and not all that interesting.

Book Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman is known for creating unique fantasy worlds and deeply thoughtful characters and stories. I was excited to find a new book by him and equally happy that it was short. It's a book that can easily be read in a day, but the story is contemplative and layered and lovely.

You can read a synopsis here or here, and I don't like to fill reviews such, but if you only have time (or patience) to read what I've written, here's a quick summary: The main character tells a story, in flashback first person form, of magical, frightening and fantastical events that happened when he was 7 years old. The story includes magical phenomena, good versus evil (and the sometimes blurred lines between), creatures of death and darkness, and a trio of old-world good witches (for lack of a better word) who help him.

11/22/63 by Stephen King

I don't read a lot of Stephen King. Though I do enjoy a good scary story and fantasy novel, he always uses rough language. This book is no exception, but it is so unique and the story is so interesting that I mostly didn't care. Time travel is a tricky business, so the story of a modern-day high school teacher who goes back in time to try and stop the Kennedy assassination didn't really interest me at first, but my sister suggested it for our book club, so I gave it a go.

A few chapters in, I couldn't put it down. Even with the expected fictitious teacher cliches-- he corrects students' grammar, all the time-- whether in class or alumni; he is mild-mannered but tough; he catches kids drinking at a dance and lets them off the hook after a stern talking-to; and the one that seemed ripped out of so many other things (Glee, High School Musical, and I'm sure there are older references I'm forgetting) when he casts the High School football star in a play and everyone is astonished by the kid's depth and level of talent, the kid gets crap from his teammates and coach and nearly quits, blah blah blah...

In spite of that, though, the story really worked. The character development was believable and the adventure of him changing the future was intriguing. Above all else, Stephen King is a storyteller-- a really good storyteller.

I especially enjoyed the 1958-1963 stuff. My dad, who is coincidentally reading this book also, said it's been nostalgic for him. For me it's history brought to life. I haven't ever really pondered what the common public felt and experienced during the Cuban missile crisis, or the ongoing racism and anti-semitism of the time (though I am WELL aware of it, I hadn't really felt or "experienced" it, but through the pages of a good story, magic happens). I found those elements so much more educational than any history book I've ever slogged my way through for school.

I loved the mixture of the picture-perfect past (the root beer is full of flavor, people are very friendly and trusting, kids still say "sir", etc.) and the underbelly-- the cruelty of bookies and racists, the multitude of abusive husbands (though this book almost makes me think they were in the majority-- were they?), and the heat and stink and day-to-day happenings. I wonder, though, if so many people in the early '60's used the f-word so freely...

Would I recommend it? Well... mostly. If you don't mind some mild sexuality and a lot of cussing (as though everyone talks like that???), yes. It is a really good story.

Book Review: "Let's Pretend This Never Happened" by Jenny Lawson

Jenny Lawson, if you don't know, is a very well-known blogger called "The Bloggess". She is very well known because she is very, very funny. Her twisty view of the world makes for some hilarious misadventures, which she shares in this book. 

I would heartily recommend this to everyone I know except for one glaring problem: Jenny has an extremely foul mouth. And, by extension, writing voice. She unabashedly throws the f-word onto nearly every page, often multiple times. She talks without a hint of shyness or caution about... everything. EVERYTHING. At least that way, you know she's being honest and there is no confusion about what she might mean. No innuendo-- it's just all stark and in-your-face. Some of that made me a tad uncomfortable. I really don't like so much cussing and I normally don't read books with that much cussing, but she is just so dang funny that I kept going in spite of myself.

I found myself laughing out loud many times and when my kids wanted to know why I was laughing I couldn't tell them to read this book... 

She is very honest about her mental health, her former anorexia, her current RA, her heartbreaking miscarriages, and her very unusual childhood. Lawson has a talent for making almost anything funny. Her arguments with her husband (which tend to include death threats), the odd behavior of her dog, her former job in HR, and many of the basic things that happen in life are situated just right for humor and comedy. 

The book reads just like her blog. It is not narrative in any way; it's more a jumble of stories and experiences put into mostly chronological order. Some chapters were taken right from her blog. 

If you can handle her language and her lack of reverence about religion, (particularly about Jesus), you will enjoy this book. (To be honest, I skipped the chapter where she used Jesus' name a lot, so I don't know if it was sacrilegious or not... I wouldn't be surprised, though.)

It is really, really funny.

Book Review: Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan

"Dad is Fat" is a funny book written by a very funny man. If you've never heard Gaffigan's standup comedy
routines, you need to check out "Beyond the Pale" or "Mr. Universe" or "King Baby". Great stuff. His Hot Pockets and cake stuff is hilarious.

So now he's written a book about fatherhood. Gaffigan and his wife, Jeannie, live in a 2-bedroom walk-up apartment in New York City with their five (5!) kids, all ages 8 and younger. They have all sorts of misadventures-- trips to the park, subway rides to preschool, cab rides to various other activities, bedtime shuffling routines, insane vacations and weekly Catholic church attendance, just to name a few. He touches on a variety of areas of parenthood and adulthood, on the struggles of raising a family in New York, on his own childhood as the youngest of six kids, and things like taking his brood "camping" in a tour bus, plus so much more. The book is varied and chapters are short, so it's easy, light reading, but still compelling enough that I found myself drawn back to it.

I liked this book a lot, it was funny enough that I laughed out loud quite a few times. There's a lot of typical Gaffigan-style self-deprecating commentary and a lot of crazy scenarios he and his family get into (I can only imagine living the way they do-- no yard, no car, downstairs neighbors... I shudder...) and it's all very entertaining.

The best thing about the book is how much of it is filled with genuine affection for and appreciation of his wife, Jeannie. She sounds like a saint. His praise and adoration of her is sweet and endearing, but in no way takes away from the humor of the book.

It's a fun read, perfect for summer.

Book Review: Gone Girl

This book gave me headaches. For four days. Headaches. And made me feel a little nauseous.

Why did I finish it?

I don't know the answer. 

In my defense, the mystery is compelling, and though the characters aren't remotely likeable, they are fascinating in the way road kill is fascinating. But... ugh.

You can read a full synopsis of the story here, I don't want to rehash it. Suffice it to say that the main character, Nick Dunne is accused of murdering his wife, Amy, but things aren't all what they seem to be. 

I appreciated the setup, the trading points-of-view, from Nick's first person to Amy's diary entries for the first half of the book, and I appreciated the half-expected, but still interesting twist right in the middle, but, again, I didn't like any of the characters.

And the foul language and lewd, nasty sexual chatter is just... beyond disgusting. 

Normally I put down a book with this much f-word in it. 

Why didn't I put it down?

And everyone in the book talks this way-- vulgar and curse-laden, as though everyone living in Nick and Amy's world are junior high boys in a locker room. Junior high boys who have only recently discovered the inner thrill of talking like gutter trash. 

Someone, please inform Gillian Flynn that:

1. Profuse swearing does not improve a story. Nor does it make you a better writer. If anything, it's a cheap, low, easy way to inject "passion" into dialogue-- expletives instead of expression or intelligence. Not pleasant.
2. Filling a book with sexual vulgarity does not make you a better writer. You are not a 13 year old, dirty-minded little boy. Don't assume that you will sell more books by pretending you are.
3. Most people living in America don't talk like we lick dumpsters for kicks, so writing ALL your characters that way doesn't make us want to read more of your books. Although, judging from the number of reviewers who didn't even comment on the vulgar dialogue, maybe more of America licks dumpsters for fun that I think... I don't know anyone who talks like these people do.

Ugh. I should have put it down. I feel like I need a shower, now. And that's only partly because of the trashy language-- the end of the story left me feeling sullied and disgusted. And dissatisfied. It was a weak, non-ending that, frankly, made no sense.

I won't read any more of her books. 

Ever.

Book Review:The Great Gatsby

Let me preface my review by saying that filmmakers are VERY good at making trailers. Sometimes. I keep seeing the trailers for the upcoming film version of "Gatsby" starring Leonardo DiCaprio (whom I really enjoyed in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" and "Catch Me If You Can") and it looks exciting and flashy and I began thinking I would like to see it. My son expressed an interest, too. I suggested we read the book beforehand so we can get a feeling for what to expect. I'm glad I did. 

I did read this book some 20-plus years ago when I was in High School, but memory being what it is, I didn't remember much about it. So I went into reading it a mostly blank slate. Be aware there are spoilers in this review. I'm assuming you also had to read it for school. 

The book moves along quickly and is compelling enough, I suppose. It's told from the point of view of Nick Carraway, a neighbor-by chance- of the title character. I was struck early on in the story by how bland Carraway's character is. His storytelling is without passion, without emotion and flat.

Book Review: "Ruins"

I jumped right into this second book in the "Pathfinder" books by Orson Scott Card, after only a couple of days had passed since I finished the first book. I still think Card is an incredible author, but this one wasn't as good as the first. Good, not great. The story moves forward slowly, as Rigg and his companions travel to a couple of new "wallfolds" on their planet, and there was an awful lot of whining and complaining and speculating and just a lot of blah-blah-blah about their feelings and their worries and their thoughts. The first book had some such, but not quite to the extent of this one. I will read the next one, and I do still think this is a compelling series-- in spite of my criticisms, I couldn't put it down-- but I am hopeful the next one will have more action and less bickering and useless chatter.

Book Review: Pathfinder

Oh man, is my mind blown. Again. By Orson Scott Card. Again. Writer of the innovative modern classic "Ender's Game", Card has written some very good books over the years. I love a good WOW book, and Card certainly delivers!

Book Review: December's Thorn

A giant pet peeve of mine is reading books out of order. When I stumble upon an author who is new to me, whose work I enjoy, I like to go to the beginning and start with their first book and read them in order from there. Many books stand alone and can be read in any order and still be entertaining, but reading all the books by an author, especially those with a recurring character, builds layers of comprehension and enjoyment that is missed if you go in random order.

Book Review: A Killer in the Wind

I first became aware of author Andrew Klavan when I randomly chose his "Homelanders" series from the YA section of the library for my teenage son. He loved those books, so when I saw "A Killer in the Wind" on the new adult fiction shelves, I thought it might be one both my son and I would enjoy.

The story is compelling, and the character of Dan Champion is likeable, honest, courageous and moral, and just crazy enough to be sympathetic. The story centers on Champion's years-long hunt for the kingpin of a large child sex slave and torture/murder business. This is not subject matter I would want to pass on to my teenage son, however, so I'm glad I read it first.

Klavan's writing style is direct, honest and clear, and he managed the subject material well, walking that fine line of facing the brutality of the crimes while avoiding being too graphic about children kidnapped, locked up and sold to perverts. I appreciate the balance. I was nervous as I realized that was what the book was about, but it wasn't horrifying like it could have been.

Book Review: "Feedback"

The second book in Robison Wells' "Variant" series (trilogy? quad?), "Feedback", is... better than the first. The writing still feels a little unpolished and sometimes I felt like bits of the plot slipped through unnoticed and I had to go back a page or two and try to find what I had missed. I found "Feedback" compelling, just not amazing. Wells pushes the story even deeper into the Sci-Fi genre, so that's interesting, but I'm not a great fan of Sci-Fi, so that didn't make me like it more.

I guess I'm spoiled to want all the books I read to be amazing, but... it would be nice. :)

Though I wasn't totally sold on this book, my two teenage sons loved it. They loved the first, "Variant", as well. SO, I guess the good news for Robison is that his target audience is enjoying the books he wrote for them.

I do look forward to seeing what else Robison comes up with in the future- he is a decent writer, and often the first few books by an author are their weakest, so there is definitely hope for improvement. I sincerely wish him luck with that. 

To sum up: I liked, but didn't love these books. I would recommend these books for teens-- they would probably like them better than I did. Adults who normally only read YA will probably like them, too. 

Book Review: The Great Unexpected

Sharon Creech is a very talented author-- I say that having only read a few of her books: the picture book "A Fine, Fine School", and two quirky poetry-laced books "Love that Dog" and my personal favorite, "Hate that Cat". 

I picked up "The Great Unexpected" quite by accident, randomly seeing it on the New Titles shelf at my local library. I actually got it for my 10-year-old daughter, but I ended up reading it first.  I adored this story.

Book Review: Variant

I started out thinking "Variant" by Robison Wells is yet another teens-in-peril at the hands of unknown, unseen, wicked-evil adults YA novel. Which, to be fair, it is. It's the first of... I don't know... a trilogy? Maybe. And the sole reason I gave this book a look is because Robison's brother, Dan, is among my favorite authors. His John Cleaver books are soooo good.

That's reason enough to give his brother a chance, yes? The beginning of "Variant" reminded me a lot of James Dashner's "The Maze Runner", featuring a group of teens isolated from the world in a compound of some kind, unable to leave and forced to comply with strange rules and activities without any real explanations. "Variant" is set in a school in New Mexico, and the first-person character of Benson is likeable, if not loveable. He's incredibly well adjusted, intelligent and self-aware, considering he's spent most of his life bouncing from one foster family to another, and he copes better than the average teen would with what happens.

Book Review Copy & Paste: I am Not a Serial Killer

I just realized I never posted a review of one of my favorite books on this blog, so I'm dropping it in here before my next post goes up today. Copied and pasted from my review on Goodreads:

I liked this book even better the second time. Creepy, thrilling, exciting, enthralling and addicting. I can't wait to start the second book tomorrow!! Wells is a great author. I sympathized with John, even though he has tendencies toward violent thoughts and thinks he could, potentially, become a killer. His honest, brutal self-analysis is fascinating and heartbreaking. I especially loved his character's development at the end of the story.

While I don't have murderous tendencies, the heartfelt winding of John's story helped me to really understand him and to feel a connection to him that I didn't expect. His relationships with his mother, aunt, sister and lone friend are fascinating, and the way he solves the whodonit in town and, ultimately, triumphs over his inner demons and the one killing townsfolk is a unique story, mixing a little sci-fi or fantasy (or whatever genre has such things as demons) with mystery and thriller-style storytelling. I loved that the author told us very early on who the killer was, and the remaining story delved into psychology and the adventure of John setting out to stop him. Good stuff.

I increased my rating, and that's saying something. This is a fantastic book, maybe not for the faint-hearted, but the language is clean and there is no "adult" material. It is gruesome and downright creepy, though.

Book Review: A Wise Man's Fear

This is the second book in the "Kingkiller Chronicles" trilogy by Patrick Rothfuss
 
It's a crying shame to have such a charming and intriguing character as Kvothe wasting as much time as he did in this book. The editors should have cut most of the Fae scene (sexual content alert!) and there were a few chapters later on that I skipped. SKIPPED! Not skimmed, not passed sections of, but I skipped them. It was after some potentially important stuff happened with the Ademre people, and Kvothe was just traveling along and the story stopped being interesting. I got bored. I wanted to get back to the good stuff... so I skipped ahead.

It is worth reading this one so you can finish the trilogy (assuming the final book is worth the trouble), and there are some very good scenes here, some character development, and some new people worth knowing, but mostly... it's just a tease. We've gotten attached to Kvothe (though I still can't pronounce his name comfortably...) and we want to see how he gets his vengeance on the Chandrian, so we keep reading... even the over-written parts.

I'm ranting a tad, eh?

It's good. My recommendation is moderate. If you liked the first book, you'll probably read this one and maybe you can let me know what you thought.

Book Review: The Hollow City by Dan Wells

"The Hollow City" is about a man named Michael Shipman who has schizophrenia and finds himself in a mental hospital being treated with various drugs to help control hallucinations, having lost two weeks of recent memory, (which coincide with the gory murders of members of a nearby cult-- whom he believes kidnapped and murdered his mother right after his birth). As if that's not enough to wrap your head around, along with hallucinations of "faceless" men, he sees other things, hears voices and believes there is a massive conspiracy and a Plan that has something to do with him and is very dangerous.

As the story moves along, we are just as unsure as Michael about which people and events in his life are real or imagined, and the deeper aspects of mental illness, and its treatment, are explored through his first-person present-tense narration. They psychosomatic drugs he is treated with cause uncontrollable physical reactions: his teeth click, his head bobs and his left arm involuntarily and compulsively swings. The matter-of-fact way he narrates these things makes him so relatable. Don't we all try to hold back if our body tries to shake or twitch or fidget? Wouldn't it make you frustrated if you couldn't control your own body? I feel like I totally understand this, even though I don't have anything in my life quite like what Michael has. Which brings me to my next point:

Dan Wells is very good at planting readers right into the minds of his protagonists, and not only do you become deeply sympathetic to them, but his compassionate and honest storytelling make you love them. In his John Cleaver books, the protagonist is a sociopath, and I quickly found myself caring about, sympathizing with and, on some level, really understanding him-- his motivations, his feelings (and lack thereof) and how his mind worked. I connected with a sociopath, causing some pondering about how my own brain is wired. I love a book that makes me think, without overwhelming my puny brain.

In "The Hollow City", Dan has done the same thing with the schizophrenic patient. The story is so well written that as the reader experiences Michael's story, we feel his fear, love, hate, anger, frustration, confusion, sadness, and sometimes clarity right along with him. I've never known much about schizophrenia beyond the fact that people with it generally hear voices and hallucinate. I feel like I have a little more sympathy and a tiny bit more understanding of the disease now, and imagine that- gained from a work of fiction. As he said at the book signing,  (and I'm paraphrasing from my faulty memory, forgive me if I get it wrong) Dan didn't want to "demonize" or "canonize" mental illness, as so many fictional stories do. He wanted to make it real and relatable. He did just that.

The story is very good, the resolution satisfying and exciting, and the very last scene is AWESOME! I said it before, I think Dan Wells is a serious smarty-pants. I can't wait to see what he does next.

I blew through this book in about a day and a half (and had I not a full-time job, it would have only been a matter of hours); now what the heck should I read next? Suggestions?

Book Review: Dick and Jane and Vampires

I really find "Dick and Jane and Vampires!" by Laura Marchesani, a surprisingly entertaining little book.


It's hard to explain why I like this book. Every time I check it in or out for someone at the library, it makes me smile. When I flip through it and see the vampire pop up in various poses with the classic early reader characters of "Dick and Jane" it just makes me chuckle. Maybe I have a morbid sense of humor. Maybe it's the author's treatment of the scenes of the children and the parents and the vampire. I just know I get a real kick out of this book and its simple, amusing, tongue-in-cheek humor. I love how gentle it feels, just like the original books, but the sly satire is perfect.

It probably helps that I actually DID read Dick and Jane books when I was learning to read. I must have gone to some ancient elementary schools, because I think I'm too young to really have "grown up" on Dick and Jane, but maybe I was learning to read during the waning years of these classic Basal Readers, because I do remember reading them.


And, like many of you, I've had about enough of the shelf-filling teenage-girl vampire "romance" books. I have very little interest in reading most of the current ocean of vampire and werewolf and ghost books. I don't even really care to read things like "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies". I like books about such things, but I feel like if it's been overdone, it's probably not being done well.


"Dick and Jane and Vampires", though, is done well. It's definitely a funny take on the vampire infestation in our public libraries. If it's available in yours, then you have a pretty cool library. Go check it out.

Book Review: The Fires of Heaven

This is not the first time I've read this book, but I still enjoyed it very much. I'm still not sure what the title refers to... sometimes I miss the obvious. And sometimes I think authors toss words into a hat and draw some out to create titles of fantasy fiction novels. 

The climactic scene with Nynaeve and Moghedien is one of my favorite scenes in the entire series. The first time I read it, I SO didn't see what happens coming, and the surprise and cleverness was a thrill to read. I also like the stuff with Rand and Aviendha-- I think she's my favorite of his girlfriends. I did miss Perrin, though. This is the first book where one of our main characters doesn't have a story, I think, and it's too bad.

I also like many of the other scenes, but this time through I was struck by how repetitive some of the characters' inner dialogues feel. Maybe it's because I'm listening to them, so the pace is much slower than when I read the book version, or maybe it's just that Rand is in the early stages of his whiny-depressed-I-gotta-be-hard-as-stone phase. I look forward to the next few books, and hopefully there is less repetition. I've read them so many times that every time the characters describe how the One Power works, or what an Angreal is, I want to pull out my hair. And since I'm listening to the audio versions, I can't just skim through those paragraphs. I'm also thinking that if I had a nickel for every time a woman "folded her arms under her breasts", I'd have many a nickel. ;)

The story does move forward here in book 5, with Rand becoming more and more the leader he wants to be, the Aiel doing some cool stuff, and Siuan & Leane and Nynaeve and Elayne regrouping with the outcast Aes Sedai. I personally don't like the storyline with Morgase, and I almost wish she had been killed, or just faded into the background, because (SEMI-SPOILER) she seems to go nowhere for the remainder of the series, and I don't much care what she does next. And, in spite of all these years of reading and talking about the WOT series, I still don't know who killed a certain Forsaken at the end of this book, even though Robert Jordan said it should be obvious. Obtuse=Me.

Otherwise, though, a good, necessary installment in the series. Now on to book 6!