"The Dead and the Gone" by Susan Beth Pfeffer

The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Genre: fiction, young adult, dystopian
On my TBR list?: Yes, since April 2010

Summary from Goodreads:

Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Life as We Knew It enthralled and devastated readers with its brutal but hopeful look at an apocalyptic event--an asteroid hitting the moon, setting off a tailspin of horrific climate changes. Now this harrowing companion novel examines the same events as they unfold in New York City, revealed through the eyes of seventeen-year-old Puerto Rican Alex Morales. When Alex's parents disappear in the aftermath of tidal waves, he must care for his two younger sisters, even as Manhattan becomes a deadly wasteland, and food and aid dwindle. With haunting themes of family, faith, personal change, and courage, this powerful new novel explores how a young man takes on unimaginable responsibilities.


This book didn't work for me. I was surprised because I enjoyed Life As We Knew It, the first book in the series. At first I thought I was judging it unfairly because I wasn't in the mood for a novel set in a dystopian future, but I also had the third book on hand (This World We Live In) and immediately became engrossed in it. So what was my issue with this book?

I think that the the point of view was the problem for me. Unlike the other two books, the story in this one is told in the third person. That made the book depressing but still removed from my real life. However, when reading Life As We Knew It, the first-person diary point of view made me feel like the events were happening in my world NOW. There were times while reading taht book that I would have to remind myself when I woke up each morning that everything was normal. My teenage daughter had to put the book down because it affected her so strongly. I didn't get any of that with this installment of the series.

Although I am generally not a proponent of skipping books in a series, I would recommend that readers skip this one and head straight for the third book. It picks up shortly after the events in the first book and I didn't get the feeling that I was missing anything.



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"Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Genre: Christian romance
On my TBR list?: Yes


Synopsis, from Amazon:

The book opens with the Gold Rush of 1850 and its rough-and-tumble atmosphere of greed and desire. Angel, who was sold into prostitution as a child, has learned to distrust all men, who see her only as a way to satisfy their lust. When the virtuous and spiritual-minded Michael Hosea is told by God to marry this "soiled dove," he obeys, despite his misgivings. As Angel learns to love him, she begins to hope again but is soon overwhelmed by fear and returns to her old life.


Redeeming Love was better than I expected it to be. It had been on my TBR list for quite a while, but every time I got close to reading it I would be put off by the fact that it is a retelling of a Bible story. I thought it would be like a new version of Cinderella or some other familiar story -- OK as a movie, but skim-worthy at best as a book. I finally took the book off my list a few months ago, only to have a friend press her copy on me last week. To my surprise, I was able to push the story of Hosea to the back of mind and enjoy this tale without making frequent comparisons.

Another pleasant discovery was the richness of Rivers' writing. I've only been reading Christian fiction for five years or so, but I've run across a lot of simplistic prose. Like a lot of believers, I tolerated it because I wanted to read something with a Christan slant. This novel shows that a book doesn't have to be written on a 4th-grade level to be "clean". Rivers manages to introduce adult themes realistically without being graphic.

Critics of Christian romance (and romance novels in general) often say that these books set up an unrealistic expectation of how male-female relationships should be. As much as I enjoyed this book, it could serve as a perfect example for the argument. I don't know anyone who has a husband as perfect as Michael Hosea. Women would be better off treating this as an allegory with Michael representing God and His willingness to forgive rather than seeing how their own husbands measure up.


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Abandoned: "The Know-It-All" and "The Carbon Diaries 2015"

This week, I want to tell you about two books that didn't click with me. If I abandon a book, I usually don't post about it because it doesn't seem fair to write about a book that I didn't read all the way through. However, I thought it might be a good idea to start writing about these books so I can get reactions from others. Perhaps I abandoned them too soon, or maybe I'm not the only one who didn't enjoy them.

The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A. J. Jacobs: I was expecting to enjoy this book. Frequent readers of this blog know that I enjoy a good stunt memoir. I also enjoyed Jacobs' later book, The Year of Living Biblically, so I thought this would be a sure winner for me. Unfortunately, I couldn't get into it. While he was exploring the Old Testament, he was actually doing things. This book is full of reactions to what he read in the encyclopedia and the strange reactions he got from friends and family when he shared this knowledge. Jacobs said that he had trouble getting through the As; I had trouble getting through his description of reading the As. However, I am still looking forward to reading his next book due out in December, Healthiest Man in the World.

The Carbon Diaries 2015 by Saci Lloyd: This book suffered in comparison to Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, a book I read a little over a year ago. I tried to appreciate it on its own, but the settings were too similar: a teenage protagonist writes about how much her life has been altered after a natural disaster of international proportions. In the Pfeffer book, the characters felt like my neighbors and I got a chance to know them and go through the disaster with them. With this book, Lloyd starts at the point where the disaster has already occurred and the government is just starting to enforce rationing. It was difficult for me to understand what was going on or have any sympathy for the main character. I can't even remember her name. When an author creates a compelling world and arresting characters, I often find myself dreaming about that world when I go to bed at night. This book didn't invade my dreamscape or draw me back to it when I had a spare moment.

The good news is that marking off these books has made my TBR list a little shorter. Two books down, 220 books to go!

"My Life in Pink & Green" by Lisa Greenwald

My Life in Pink & Green by Lisa Greenwald

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Genre: middle-school fiction
On my TBR list? Yes, since Aug 2010



Summary, from Goodreads:

Twelve-year-old Lucy Desberg is a natural problem solver. After the local homecoming queen shows up at her family’s struggling drugstore with a beauty disaster that Lucy helps to fix, Lucy has a long line of makeover customers for every school dance and bat mitzvah. But all the makeup tips in the world won’t help save the pharmacy. If only she could find a way to make the pharmacy the center of town again—a place where people want to spend time, like in the old days. Lucy dreams up a solution that could resuscitate the family business and help the environment, too. But will Lucy’s family stop fighting long enough to listen to a seventh-grader?


This story, with its young heroine who knows more than the adults, could have been annoying. Many of us have grown up watching TV shows and movies with parents portrayed as morons and kids who have too much power and freedom. However, Lisa Greenwald gave it context that made it more believable. It was easy for me to see how a 12-year-old and her college-student sister could do the research needed to help save the family business, especially when the grown-ups are so close to the problem that they are frustrated and blinded to the possibilities. I remember reading a few stories like this when I was a teen and I found them inspiring. Even when the circumstances are bit unrealistic, the idea that you can at least try to do something to make things better -- no matter what age you are -- is uplifting.

C1, my 13-year-old daughter, had a few things to say about this book, as well:

My Life in Pink and Green was written for girls my age, but even so, I found it kind of hard to relate. I had a feeling of what she was going through with the money problems, but other than that, I found the book a little boring. In the description above, the book sounds like it is all about makeovers, but it took a long while to get to the makeover parts. When we finally got there, she didn't stay on the subject for too long. It seemed like doing makeup was a side thing, while the real issue was whether or not the mayor is going to give them the grant. There was a touch of romance in the book, but since she was only twelve it didn't go very far. I read books with main characters a lot older than me, so I'm used to people at least getting to the first date, before the book is over. All in all, I think this book is good for girls my age or younger, but I personally didn't like it that much.

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Sunday Salon: TBR List at an All-Time High

TBR LIST STATUS: My TBR list is up to 225 titles. When I saw that total, I was reminded of all the bookish folks who actually have their TBR books in their houses. Yikes! I think my husband would leave me if I owned that many books. Luckily, there is no chance of that because I would probably start hyperventilating before I got to that point!

Between reading and culling, my mini-list of books that have been on the TBR list since 2008 is down to five titles. One of them is a book I own, and two more are in my library stack. The last two books are a poetry anthology and Mere Christianity. I will probably check out the anthology this week, but C.S. Lewis is too heavy for my frame of mind right now. That title will probably stay on the list for a while.

My next goal will be to read or remove any titles that have been on my TBR list since 2009. As my most recent count, there are 70 books still on the list from the ones I added last year. This, of course, doesn't count any on my Goodreads "not at my library" list or my library's Wowbrary list; once I check those, the number may increase. I don't plan to wait until 2011 to start on my goal. I am going to start right in on it as soon as I finish the 2008 books. As a matter of fact, one of the books is in my library stack now.

CURRENT READING MOOD: I can't shake my craving for pioneer novels. Ever since I finished the last Lauraine Snelling novel I had on hand, I wake up each morning looking forward to jumping back into that universe. Then I remember that I finished the book already. When I get like this, it is difficult for me to jump into another book, especially another series. Hopefully, these standalone novels that I have on hand will shake things up.

"Love Soup" by Anna Thomas

Love Soup: 160 All-New Vegetarian Recipes from the Author of The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Genre: Cookbook
On my TBR List?: Yes, since Apr 2010


I have owned a copy of The Vegetarian Epicure since the mid-1980s. One of the recipes saved me from going hungry when I was living on my own and had my paycheck stolen -- but that is a story for another day. When I read in a Roger Ebert review that Anna Thomas had a new cookbook coming out and it was full of soup recipes, I couldn't wait for my library to get it in. As I wrote on my other blog, I always start craving soup this time of year.

Thomas paints lovely pictures of family and friends gathered at the table with warm bowls of soup and hunks of homemade bread. While Thomas' attitude inspired me to get in the kitchen, the recipes contained items that I never see in my local grocery store, like chard. Out of 160 recipes, I only found three that I appealed to my taste buds and fit my skill level. The collection is sectioned into warm-weather and cool-weather soups, so it would be great for someone who shops by the seasons. I would recommend this book to someone who has easy access to a farmer's market.



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"Dramarama" by E. Lockhart

Dramarama by E. Lockhart

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Genre: YA novel
On my TBR list?: Yes, since Dec 2008
Part of a series: No

Summary, from Goodreads:

Two theater-mad, self-invented, fabulositon Ohio teenagers.

One boy, one girl.
One gay, one straight.
One black, one white.

And SUMMER DRAMA CAMP.

It's a season of
hormones,
gold lamé,
hissy fits,
jazz hands,
song and dance,
true love,
and unitards

that will determine their future
and test their friendship.

My thoughts:

Dramarama is the story of Sadye and Demi, two high school juniors who live in a small town but don't fit in. They want to sing and dance and take the world by storm, but they are surrounded by workaday people who don't get them. So they apply to a summer drama camp to give themselves a break from the blandness, and the new environment tests their friendship.

It must be difficult to make the excitement and intrigue involved with putting on a show jump off the page, and this book is evidence of that. I love these sorts of stories but this book didn't have me holding my breath the way movies like "Fame" and "Camp" did or the way the TV show "Glee" does. This is one of E. Lockhart's earlier books that was published before the much-talked-about The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. It was a pleasant read, but it does make me wonder what all the fuss is about over this author. The prose seemed like standard YA fare to me. I'd set my DVR if it showed up as a movie on ABC Family, though.

I am willing to concede that my lukewarm reception of this book could be due to the fact that I am older than the target audience. C1, my 13-year-old daughter, enjoyed it and got a kick out of the fact that she knew all the musicals mentioned. Also, judging by how long I had to wait in the library queue for this book, there must be other teens in my area who identify with Sadye's feeling of being too big for life in a small town. This is one thing that Lockhart has done well; through Sadye she gives a perfect description of what it feels like to have an excitement inside that is waiting to burst out and no one around to appreciate it.

My biggest disappointment was the ending. I won't give it away, but it was too real-life for me. I'm not ashamed to say that I read for pure escapism, and I pick YA books because I am more likely to get a happily-ever-after. Perhaps I am spoiled by reading series books, but I wanted to follow these characters a little while longer and get the satisfyingly tidy ending that I prefer.


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"The Little Lady Agency" by Hester Browne

The Little Lady Agency by Hester Browne

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Genre: chick lit
On my TBR list? Yes, since Jun 2010
Recommended by: Anastasia at Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

Book 1 of 3

Synopsis, from Goodreads:

Melissa Romney-Jones can bake a perfect sponge cake, type her little heart out, and plan a party blindfolded. But none of that has helped her get far in life or in love. When she gets fired -- again -- she decides to market her impeccable social skills to single men. To avoid embarrassing her father, a Member of Parliament, Melissa dons a blond wig and becomes Honey, a no-nonsense bombshell who helps clueless bachelors shop, entertain, and navigate social minefields. She even attends parties if a client needs a "date." But when a dashing American starts to request Honey's services on a regular basis, it's only a matter of time before Honey's and Melissa's worlds collide....

The Little Lady Agency is part of my new favorite subgenre: chick lit books set in England. I watch a lot of British TV shows, so I understand the differences in word usage and can almost hear the accent as I'm reading. These books satisfy my appetite for British stories between seasons of shows like Doctor Who.

This was a fun story where the main character Melissa takes advantage of her best assets early on. Browne does a good job of maintaining the suspense as far as which guy Melissa is going to end up with. I don't quite understand why Melissa puts up with her boorish father, but that is a failing of mine and not the author; I've never understood why people put up with mean relatives, even parents.

I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series and following more of Melissa's adventures.

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"Calamity Jack" by Shannon, Dean, & Nathan Hale

Calamity Jack by Shannon Hale

On the TBR list?: Yes, since Dec 2009
Genre: graphic novel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Shannon Hale is one talented dame. I am accustomed to reading work by authors who stick to one genre or age group, but she has written for adults, young adults, and middle schoolers. She's written romances, fantasies, and graphic novels. For all I know, she's working on a cookbook next!

Calamity Jack is a follow-up to the superb Rapunzel's Revenge and I found it just as delightful. It gives the reader some background on Jack before he joined up with Rapunzel in the first book. As you may have expected, the Hale trio take the "Jack and the Beanstalk" fairy tale and give it the action-hero treatment. As a bonus, they throw in some romance and a self-esteem lesson, too.

I say hand this to your 13-year-old, especially if she is a reluctant reader like mine, but don't forget to read it yourself when she's done. Just a warning: the gorgeous full-color panels may make it difficult to go back to reading the black-and-white graphic novels that are more common in this genre!

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"How to Knit a Love Song" by Rachael Herron

How to Knit a Love Song: A Cypress Hollow Yarn by Rachael Herron

Genre: romance, Novel+
On my TBR list? Yes

1st book of a possible series

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Synopsis, from Goodreads:

Abigail is more than ready for a change when she inherits a cottage from her beloved mentor, knitting guru Eliza Carpenter. Leaving the oppressive city for the greener pastures of a small California beach town, she intends to turn her cozy little windfall into a knitting shop and spend her days spinning, designing, and purling. But she's not going to be welcomed with open arms by her new neighbor. Eliza's disgruntled nephew, the gorgeous Cade, now owns everything surrounding Abigail's ramshackle new home, and he views this sexy city girl as an unwanted interloper.

From the start, I've felt a strange connection to this novel. I am a long-time reader of Rachael Herron's blog Yarn-A-Go-Go, dating back to the days when all she really talked about was her knitting. I've read about her wedding, her mother's funeral, her move into a new place, and all kinds of crazy things that have happened at her workplace. There is no illusion in my mind that we are friends, but I know more about her than I know about any other author whose work I've read.

This is also a book that I've been waiting to read for a long time. Usually when I am looking forward to the publication of a book, it is part of a series so I have a good reason; I'm already invested in the universe and the story line from previous books. In this case, I was looking forward to How to Knit a Love Song based only on the reading of a single chapter. Herron entered the chapter in a contest on Gather called First Chapters back in 2007 under the name Love Spun. She didn't win, but her entry got the attention of an agent and now she's got a published book under her belt.

So what did I think of the book? One thing that struck me is how sexy it is. It's not soft-core porn or anything, but it is sexier than one would expect from a book with a basket of yarn on the cover. However, all the love scenes are written in such way that the reader will get an inner glow without having her face turn red while reading this in the doctor's office.

This is what I like to call a "novel+", a genre of novels where a recipe or pattern is included. Usually with these books the crafting bit feels tacked on like "OK, we're talking about knitting now for all the knitting fans. See, we know all the cool lingo!" Perhaps it is just my bias because I encountered Herron as a knitter first and then found out that she earned an MFA in Creative Writing, but the knitting talk felt more natural to me. I especially enjoyed the way she had her characters acknowledge that the knitting world can be an insular community with events that mean very little to the world at large. At the end of the book, there is just a pattern -- no book club questions or instructions for the beginning knitter. Brava for keeping it brief!

The other elements of the book rang true, as well. In my mind, the mark of a bad romance novel is when the guy and gal are kept apart by ridiculous circumstances. When I read these books, I find myself yelling at the pages, "Go talk to him already!" because it is evident that a five-minute conversation would clear up the whole situation. Luckily, Herron avoided this trap. I could easily imagine myself in Abigail's or Cade's place and understand why it took so long for them to get together.

My only quibble with the book, and it is a minor one, is that the author went for what I have come to think of as the "Lori Wick epilogue" (I've learned that other romance authors use it, too, but I've encountered it over and over in Wick's books). I won't give away what is in the epilogue, but if you read a lot of romances, then you probably know. I can't be too mad at Herron for including it, though. I should have known better than to read the epilogue.

The subtitle on the cover says "A Cypress Hollow Yarn", which usually indicates that it is the first of a series. This book did not end in a cliffhanger, so I can only imagine that if there is another book it will follow other characters in the community. I would definitely add the next book to my TBR list.

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"A Woman's Place" by Lynn Austin

A Woman's Place: A Novel by Lynn Austin

Genre: Christan fiction
On my TBR list?: Yes

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Synopsis:

As America rises to meet the challenge of World War II, the call for defense workers unites four women at Seneca Shipyards in Michigan. As their lives intersect, this unlikely gathering of women will encourage, shape, and influence one another as they learn valuable lessons about themselves and about life, love, and faith.

This book, while not unpleasant to read, is a reminder of why I usually don't like to read modern books set in the recent past. Since I often seek out books that were actually written in the 1940s, modern texts set in that period can suffer in comparison. That was the case with this book. The attitudes of the characters about things like racism and women in the workplace seemed to be too modern for the time period. All the main characters are so enlightened and forward-thinking that it doesn't seem realistic.

Other than that, I liked Austin's writing style. She fleshed out the four female characters at the center of the story in such a way that they weren't just types to fill an ensemble quota like the quiet one and the bossy one. I think the most fully-realized character was Helen, the older school teacher. Austin gave plenty of good reasons in Helen's background to explain why she reacted the way she did, instead of pinning it all on one factor like a failed romance.

The Christian aspect of the novel is not as prominent as I expected. There is barely a mention of God in the first half of the book, and it is unclear until the end whether one of the women is a Christian, at all. This book definitely isn't as preachy as a Lori Wick romance. I enjoyed the book as a general work of fiction but as Christian fiction it doesn't offer any weighty issues for a long-time believer to mull over. Strangely, this is the one area where the book does emulate the 1940s well. In most movies I've watched from that era, God is mentioned without shame but without much discussion, either.

All in all, A Woman's Place is a quick read about four women and how they affect each other's lives. It's not on the top of my recommendations list, but I wouldn't shoo anyone away from it.


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Sunday Salon: Book-stealing Child

To wrap up National Poetry Month, I checked out another anthology called Best Loved Poems of the American People. I found out about this book when Dana Gioia mentioned it in his review of Garrison Keillor's Good Poems. I would love to tell you about it, but I haven't even seen the cover of it yet. Why? As soon as my husband picked it up from the library for me, my eldest daughter M confiscated it. Considering that the book was published in 1936, I didn't expect her to even look twice at it. To my surprise, she has been alternately giggling and sighing over the tome ever since. She even took it on a long bus trip she took with the school band on Friday. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to pry it out of her hands before National Poetry Month is over!

UPCOMING: I read two novels while waiting for M to give me my poetry back. My impressions of Laced with Magic and A Woman's Place: A Novel will show up on the blog soon. Reading choices for this week will be limited because I don't have anything on hold at the library. It's been three weeks and my library request schedule is still off-kilter from ABM changing his work schedule. We've finally decided to stick with Mondays as our pick-up day, so hopefully I'll have more books to talk about in two weeks' time.

TBR LIST: My current total is 183 titles, up from my last count of 176. My mini-list of books added in 2008 is down to 21 from the original 25 titles. I also have a title from my mini-list in hand to read this week. Most of the titles left on that list are YA books or light romances so I should be able to run through it quickly. That is, if I can get in the mood to read them. I looked at some of those titles today and said to myself, "What was I thinking when I added THAT to the list?" Perhaps another culling is in order.

Sunday Salon: National Poetry Month; True Blood

There once was a site called Poetry Thursday. The site owners gave prompts every week and then others would write poems and share them. Sadly, the owners shut it down in 2007. I only got to participate in it for a few months but I really enjoyed it. Below are a few links to posts I made during that time:

Sundays are for Mary Travers and Meditation
The Transformation
Inspired by Another
Because I Couldn't Resist

Last week, I did a search to see if a similar site had sprung up, and that is when I ran across several reminders that April is National Poetry Month. It must have been all the NPM vibes that made me feel nostalgic for Poetry Thursday! Perhaps I'll check out a few poetry books this month to celebrate.

I finally broke down and started watching the first season of True Blood, the HBO series based on Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse books. So far it has followed the first book enough to feel familiar, yet they've added some subplots that can hold the interest of someone who already read the books. I know that a lot of times readers are disappointed when they finally see the movie or TV show adaptation of a favorite series, but in this instance I have no complaints.

UP NEXT: I mismanaged my library list and ended up with nothing to read this weekend. Also, my husband's new promotion (huzzah!) may shift my library pick-up day to Friday so I may not have anything to read for the rest of the week as we make the adjustment (sob!).

If I do manage to get to the library this week, I will probably be reading romances. Two of the books I've requested are Laced with Magic and A Promise for Ellie. The former is the second book in Barbara Bretton's series about knitting, romance, and magic. The latter is the first book in a Christian fiction series called The Daughters of Blessing. Unless I misunderstood the description, it is set in an Amish community. I hope so, because I have been craving a good "bonnet book"!

TBR List: Three months have passed so I thought I should share an update on the state of my TBR list. Right now it seems to be working as a "to be remembered" list more than a "to be read" list. If I hear an interview on the radio and find out that the interviewee has written a book, I add it to the list. If I am watching CBS Sunday Morning and they speak to an author as part of a segment, I add it to the list. Right now, my TBR total stands at 176 titles. That is a lot, but I fully intend to start weeding out the list soon.

As for my goal to go through the books that have been on the TBR list since 2008, I still have 23 of them on my list (starting total was 25). One of them got moved over from my "not at my library" list, one of them was a book I skimmed but added back to the list to read later, and one of them has been requested from the library. I also have two poetry anthologies that I intend to check out soon since this is National Poetry Month.

"Casting Spells" by Barbara Bretton

Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton

Genre: supernatural romance
On my TBR list? Yes

Book 1 of a series

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Book synopsis from Goodreads:

Sugar Maple looks like any Vermont town, but it’s inhabited with warlocks, sprites, vampires, witches—and an ancient secret. And Chloe Hobbs, owner of Sticks & String, a popular knitting shop, has a big secret too. She’s a sorcerer’s daughter in search of Mr. Right—and she’s found him in Luke MacKenzie, a cop investigating Sugar Maple’s very first murder. Bad news is he’s 100% human, which could spell disaster for a normal future with a paranormal woman like her.

When I picked up this novel, I expected something along the lines of the Sookie Stackhouse series: a mystery in a magical world with a little sex and romance thrown in. Instead, I found it to be a vanilla romance. There was a drizzle of supernatural chocolate syrup and a knitting cherry on top, but it was still vanilla ice cream underneath. Luckily, I like vanilla so this was a quick enjoyable read for me, even if it was a little predictable.

Despite the fact that I am a knitter, the knitting component was my least favorite part. The name-dropping of various yarn brands and knitting terms didn't feel organic; it was as if the author was trying to earn her "knit cred" by giving a few shout-outs to other knitters. I know from reading the blogs that she's contributed to that Barbara Bretton is a real knitter and not a poser, so I'm surprised that the knitting didn't mesh with the story more thoroughly.

I'm hoping that the second book in the series, Laced with Magic, has a little more depth to it. With this book, I felt like I knew from the beginning how everything was going to work out -- not just "girl gets boy" part but even the supernatural subplot was rather predictable. Now that the heroine has her man, I'm curious to see what Bretton focuses on.

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"Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream" by

Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream by Adam Shepard

Genre: part stunt memoir, part inspirational book
On my TBR list?: yes


My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I enjoy a good stunt memoir, so I was looking forward to reading this book. The premise sounded intriguing: a recent college graduate hits the road with $25, a sleeping bag, and a change of clothes to see if he can work his way up to a job, a savings account, and an apartment at the end of a year. I thought I would learn something new about the struggles of the working poor, but I was wrong.

There is nothing revolutionary about this book. The author stayed close to his hometown of Raleigh, NC because both of his parents were ill and he wanted to be able to get back to them quickly. That is admirable, but the "search" in the title made me imagine that Shepard went on a cross-country jaunt checking out the minimum-wage lifestyle in different areas. Instead, he took the train to Charleston and stayed there. This is more of a story about getting on your feet after college without your parents' help. He wasn't weighed down with two kids or a drug addiction or both. Since he knew he only had to pretend to be uneducated and down-and-out for a year, Shepard had the willpower to deprive himself of a lot of tiny luxuries like cable TV and trips to McDonald's. Yes, he stayed in a shelter for a while but he made it sound like a sleepaway camp.

After reading Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed (a book that incensed Shepard), this book sounds trite and PollyAnna-ish. Shepard's view is that the right attitude will take you anywhere you want to go. That may be true, but he writes as if he is the first person to discover that. The best compliment I can give this book is that it isn't weighed down by a lot of statistics, so you could possibly hand this to a recent high-school graduate as an inspirational book. However, even an 18-year-old knows people who have pulled themselves out of rougher circumstances that what were portrayed in this book.


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Sunday Salon: Don't Pit TV and Books Against Each Other

A friend recently told me that she wanted to start reading again and avoid the "evil box" -- TV. I'm glad that she wants to read more because I would like to discuss books with more people in my real life and not just online. However, it aggravates me when people call TV evil. There are plenty of true evils in the world but I don't think that TV is one of them. The effect of TV has a lot to do with what you choose to watch.

In the 50+ years that TV has been in existence, the quality has changed. Yes, there is still a lot of questionable material on the air, but I've also watched a lot of shows that have made me think and sparked deep discussions between me and my husband. Also, I've read books that weren't any better than a poorly-written sitcom, and I'm pretty sure they didn't enrich me intellectually as much as an episode of "CBS Sunday Morning News" or "Breakfast with the Arts".

I think of reading and TV as entertainment choices without one being any better than the other. There are some kinds of information that you can only get through reading, but I also think it is difficult to keep up with society without watching at least a little TV. I look at people who say they don't watch TV and people who say they don't read the same way -- as if they are missing a vital part of American culture.

CURRENTLY READING:



I started "The Life of Pi" by Yann Martel this morning. This is a book that my reading buddy Maestra picked as part of our goal to read more books from the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list. So far, there is very little dialogue and not much action, which makes it difficult reading for me. Frankly, I wouldn't be pushing through it at all if I didn't have a partner. I'm beginning to think that literary fiction is not my thing. The only book I've enjoyed out of the ones Maestra and I have read together was "Main Street" by Sinclair Lewis. I have a feeling that "The Life of Pi" is going to be one of those books that I won't necessarily enjoy but will be proud to check off my list.



I'm also reading "Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream". I actually started reading this book before "Life of Pi", but it hasn't grabbed me yet. I read a page while waiting for water to boil or something, then put it down for the rest of the day. The concept is intriguing; a guy strikes out after college graduation to see if he can get a job and improve his lot in life without using his education or any of his college or familial connections. The writing style is definitely easier to read than my other book. I don't know why I haven't sped through this book yet.

TBR LIST: As I said at the beginning of the year, my only goal is to either read or eliminate all the books that I added to my TBR list in 2008. I started with 25 titles at the beginning of the year and I am down to 24 now. It has only gone down by one because even though I've removed several 2008 books from the list, I've also moved some books from my "not at my library" list to my TBR list because my library has gotten them in. Goodreads counts them as added in 2008 because of when I added them to the first list, so I'll go with that. I have high hopes of zipping through this small subsection of my TBR list quickly because several of the books are light Christian romances. The only snag I can foresee is that some of these same romances are first books of a series, and I may get sidetracked into reading all the series books first!

"The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

Genre: epistolary fiction
On my TBR list?: yes

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Description from Goodreads:

January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb….

This book had the book bloggers all abuzz when I added it to my TBR list in October 2008. I didn't read it then because at that time I was attempting to review all books that I read, and I didn't want to join the throngs of bloggers who were already writing about this title. So I waited. I didn't mean to wait two years, but lots of other books got in the way!

The authors managed to capture the 1940s style in their writing, which I enjoyed. The letters and telegrams had a light, conversational tone for the most part. The accounts of abuses that the island residents suffered during the war were detailed enough to make me sad without grossing me out. I'm not a scholar of WWII history, but I got the sense that the authors really did their research on the period. The ending was a bit of a letdown; from other reviews, I'd gotten the impression that there was a surprise twist so I kept waiting for it. Other than that, the book was a satisfying diversion.

I usually like to mention who I would recommend a book to, but with this one I have no idea. My kids would probably find it dull, and the romance element wasn't developed enough to satisfy a true fan of that genre. Perhaps a fan of the gentle books of Louisa May Alcott might like this.

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"Dead to the World" by Charlaine Harris

Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

Genre: vampire fiction
On my TBR list?: Yes

Book 4 of an ongoing series (

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This fourth book in the Sookie Stackhouse series picks up shortly after the events in Living Dead in Dallas. Sookie is introduced to even more supernatural beings that she thought were part of late-night movies up until now. Bill, the vampire who introduced Sookie to all of this, doesn't figure prominently in this book. There was so much going on, however, that I didn't really miss him.

I like the way Harris continues to branch out and show that there is more to the underworld of Sookie's community than we saw in the first book. The author shows us the qualms that Sookie has about some of the tasks she has to perform, as well; she doesn't just get used to all the crazy situations she gets thrown into. I don't think that a fan of the first three books will be disappointed.

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