Adult Archives - Page 27 of 55 - Introverted Reader

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides: Book Review

Calliope Stephanides is born to a family of Greek immigrants living in Detroit. She tells the story of how she came to be by starting with her grandparents in their isolated village. As the Turks and Greeks were fighting, they managed to flee to America and start a new life there. Calliope then moves on to her parents' courtship and then her own life, up into her teen years. What makes Calliope's story so different though, is that she's a hermaphrodite. Thanks to a less-than-thorough family doctor and parents with a bit of a "hands off" policy, no one realizes that Calliope is different for years and years. For her part, she's pretty happy as a girl until she hits her teens. Then her hormones start raging and her life changes forever. I wish I had reviewed this immediately after I read it. I really liked it, but I've forgotten a lot of details. For the purposes of simplicity, I'm mostly going to refer to Calliope as she throughout my review because she's living as a girl for the vast majority of the book. This is not a spoiler; the first sentence spells this out. "I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michgan, in August of 1974." I liked Calliope and her eccentric family. She's a great narrator, being almost painfully honest. She's never very judgmental of the choices her parents and grandparents made along the way. She just tells her story the best way that she knows how. I'm sure other people rattle on about gender identity, race relations, the callousness of medicine and serious stuff like that. All of that is definitely present…

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle: Book Review

Synopsis from GoodReads: In 1887, a young Arthur Conan Doyle published A Study in Scarlet, creating an international icon in the quick-witted sleuth Sherlock Holmes. In this very first Holmes mystery, the detective introduces himself to Dr. John H. Watson with the puzzling line “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive,” and so begins Watson’s, and the world’s, fascination with this enigmatic character. In A Study in Scarlet, Doyle presents two equally perplexing mysteries for Holmes to solve: one a murder that takes place in the shadowy outskirts of London, in a locked room where the haunting word Rache is written upon the wall, the other a kidnapping set in the American West. Picking up the “scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life,” Holmes demonstrates his uncanny knack for finding the truth, tapping into powers of deduction that still captivate readers today. I read a lot of Sherlock Holmes way back in high school one summer. When I ran out of library books, I occasionally delved into my parents' shelves and that's how I was first introduced to Mr. Holmes. I have a collection on my nook now and I decided to re-read this first--novella, I'll call it--for old times' sake. I really didn't like it. I enjoyed the setup with Sherlock Holmes and Mr. Watson and their meeting and all that. But the actual mystery? Improbable is not even the word for it. It just defied belief. Why wouldn't a British detective know all about the American West? Please. The whole murder and everything is just overly melodramatic. And then there was the way that the Mormons were portrayed. Unflattering to say the least. I am not Mormon and know shamefully little about the faith, but my goodness--I was offended on their behalf! I'm sure…

Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith: Book Review

Mma Ramotswe has just gotten engaged to Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni. But she's not going to let a little thing like that change her life too much. She's still running her business and solving mysteries with her unique blend of luck, insight, persistence, and wisdom. I'm missing something. I know I am. Too many people love these books for it to be a fluke. I just don't love them. I don't dislike them either. I don't really feel much either way. I like Mmma Ramotswe herself. She has a kind heart and I love her solutions to problems. I remember her being a little trickier in the first book, but it has been years since I read it, so maybe I'm wrong. Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni doesn't really know what he's gotten himself into. He has a kind heart as well, so I like him with Mma Ramotswe, but I think he's going to get trampled by her personality. Although I was shocked at one big thing he undertakes without first consulting with Mma Ramotswe! I tried this second book in the series on audio, thinking that the stories have a bit of a "spoken word" feel to them. It worked a bit better for me, but I'm still not left longing to read more. The bonus of the audio was that I wasn't constantly tripping over unfamiliar names. I feel perfectly confident saying them now. I thought Lisette Lecat's soft voice was a perfect accompaniment to these simple-on-the-surface tales. I think I'm going to give up on the series now, but if you're interested in them, definitely give them a try. I seem to be in the minority in not loving them. Read an excerpt. My review of the first book, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency…

The Exile of Sara Stevenson by Darci Hannah: Book Review

Sara Stevenson has shamed her family and has been exiled to a remote Scottish island for months. Along with her lady's maid, Kate; Kate's husband; and the lightkeeper, William, she will have to weather a long winter, unsure of the fate of her lover. I thought this was pretty good. It's not exactly my typical read, but I still enjoyed it. My one real problem was that it was a bit too romance-y. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just not my thing. There are some supernatural elements that just took it over the top for me. Don't get me wrong--I love fantasy, it just felt too "Love transcends all" for me. Sara and her maid both irritated me at times. Sara is determined to do the exact opposite of what she's told, to the point that it's stupid and dangerous. "Don't go out today, Sara, a snowstorm is coming." So what does she do? She rides out. Of course. Because who doesn't want to get caught out on the moors or what have you in a snowstorm? She also jumps to some ridiculous conclusions about William and refuses to change her mind about him for an inordinate amount of time. The maid was a little holier-than-thou tattletale. But at least Sara was independent and spoke her mind. I ended up liking her. I liked William too. He's a tortured soul. He can be charming when he wants to be, but in the right mood, he's scary. I had an idea what his story was going to be from early on, but I still liked reading all about him. But then, I do like me a good Scottish man! I wish I could remember more details, but I don't. Fans of Susanna Kearsley should give this one a try. Read…

Mermaids in the Basement by Michael Lee West: Book Review

Renata DeChavannes is reeling from personal loss. She runs home to her grandmother in Alabama, seeking answers to questions about her mother. I don't have a lot to say except that I can't help but feel like this has been done before. Younger generation, digging in the past, looking for parents' secrets. Sound familiar? I'm thinking of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, and this book is nowhere near as good as that one. I liked most of the present-day characters. Renata was pretty funny, but apparently pretty dense, but Honora, Gladys, and Isabella were tons of fun. Unfortunately, they weren't really the focus of the story. The focus is on Renata's mother Shelby and her broken relationship with Renata's father, Louie. Everyone talks about Shelby like the only reason she didn't walk on water was because she didn't want to, but once the past starts coming out, I couldn't stand her. I really don't get what was up with Renata. She's about 30 years old, but you would think that she was five. She seems to know absolutely nothing about family history, even when she's directly involved. An explanation was given, but it was pretty weak. And everyone's supposed to be telling her these old family stories, but when they start talking, it's like Renata's not even there. Instead of, "You weren't a very pretty baby," it's "Renata wasn't a very pretty baby." What's up with that? The chapters float around between several of the present-day characters. Some of them are titled, "Honora says..." and that made it pretty clear who was talking. But sometimes that was left off and I would think Renata was telling a story only to find out that it was her father. Confusing. I'm making this sound bad, and it really wasn't. It was…

Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews: Book Review

Old friends Ellis, Julia, and Dorie have rented a beach house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a month. They've realized that their lives are moving along quickly and they want to spend some time together again. Ellis makes the arrangements and they all show up for a lazy vacation for the month of August. But they're all in tough places in their lives. Ellis was recently downsized, Julia's disenchanted with her modeling career, and Dorie's just not her normal perky self. With Ellis and Dorie worried about money, Dorie seizes on the opportunity to rent out the extra bedroom on the top floor of the house to a perfect stranger she meets in a diner one day, Madison. But Madison has troubles of her own. So this wasn't one of my favorite MKA novels (that would have to be one of the Savannah books), but it was still a fun little escape. It was wonderful to hear about August on the Outer Banks as I drove around in the last gray days of winter, wondering if there was really a sun up there somewhere. I loved Ellis, Julia, and Dorie--from a distance. Ellis is a control freak and she was pushing my buttons at the beginning. Julia is pushy in her own way and too nosy for her own good. Dorie is a sweetheart though. And Madison is so bristly and quiet that I even felt like she was pushing me away--and we find out her story very early on. But they felt like a real group of old friends in the way that they laughed and fought and told it to each other straight. Ty, the next-door neighbor, is a dreamboat of a man. He's not perfect either, being entirely too stubborn for his own good,…

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah: Book Review

Ishmael Beah was about 12 years old when Sierra Leone's civil war found him. He and his brother were visiting friends in a neighboring town and got cut off from their family. Their world descends into chaos and they are left trying to survive on their own. Oh my gosh. This was just heartbreaking. I started reading it one night, didn't even get to anything about him being a soldier, and had nightmares. I was afraid of what Ishmael was in for. In that respect, it was actually easier to read than I was afraid it would be. He tells about his time in the war pretty quickly. There are quite a few flashbacks, but he only tells enough to show what his life was really like. He doesn't relive every waking moment. It was still tough to read, but not as bad as it could have been. He and I are very close to the same age. He's almost exactly a year older than my sister. So when he gives a date for whenever something happened, it was easy for me to compare it to our lives. In 1997 he was on his way to speak to the UN about child soldiers. I was getting my heart broken in college. The war reached him in 1993. I was a freshman in high school, swimming along just fine in my niche. We were practically the same age but our lives were light years apart. It was somehow humbling. It's downright frightening to think this started when he was just a bit older than my youngest cousin is right now. I was frustrated that this group of boys were basically coerced into the army because they were hungry and wanted some sense of community. Oh, there was a lot more to…

This is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz: Book Review

Yunior has cheated one too many times. The smartass Dominican narrator of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is just not in a good place. In a series of short stories set around different events in his life, he reflects on how he has arrived at this point. This is so hard for me to rate! I was not happy through most of these stories. I really, really, really liked Yunior in Oscar Wao. Would I ever date him? Absolutely not. Did I like him? Yes. He was a screw-up at best but he seemed to have his life together by the end of that book. At least from what I remember. But this shows us that he doesn't. He can't seem to change his ways. He relates affairs, his relationships with his brother and his father, his friends' affairs.... This is not a happy romcom by any stretch of the imagination. I still loved Yunior's voice, I just wanted to smack him around until he became the person I knew he could be. And then. And then I read the last page and a half. Yes. That close to the freaking end of a book that was at best three stars, Junot Díaz rocked my world. I understood where Yunior was coming from and what he was trying to do. I understood what he was saying. And I loved it. I had goosebumps, it was so perfect. I am not lying. I started seeing what was going on and I got more and more excited and then I read the last sentence and I was in love. It was perfection. Seriously. I immediately wanted to flip to the front and start over and see how my perspective shifted now that I got it. But the library book is…

The House at the End of Hope Street by Menna van Praag: Book Review

Alba Ashby is mortified. On the cusp of a brilliant career as a historian, she's lost everything, including her hope. Then she finds herself at the house at the end of Hope Street. Peggy, the eccentric caretaker of the home, invites Alba in and starts to regale her with stories of the house's more famous residents. It seems that every woman who has ever been anyone has stayed at the house at a time in their lives when they desperately needed hope as well. Peggy invites Alba to stay, but she only has 99 nights to resolve her issues and leave the house. With a comparison to Jasper Fforde, Lev Grossman, and Sarah Addison Allen in the book blurb, I had high hopes for this. I don't know exactly how all of those authors fit in, but I thoroughly enjoyed the book anyway. The book mostly centers around Alba but it's also the story of Peggy and two other women staying at the house, Greer and Carmen. There were aspects of each woman that I think will resonate with all of us. I couldn't help but root for them, hope they worked out their problems, and wish them all their happily-ever-afters. I want to live in this house, let me tell you. It readily dispatches advice (asked-for or not), has a knack for supplying exactly what you need, and giving you the tools you need to succeed. The walls are lined with photos of past residents who also form a sort of Greek chorus, commenting on events and offering their opinions. When Dorothy Parker, Agatha Christie, or Vita Sackville-West speak up, a wise woman listens. There's also a resident ghost but the only person who sees her is Alba. They form an instant friendship, something sadly lacking in young Alba's…

Oral History by Lee Smith: Book Review

The Cantrell family has lived in Hoot Owl Holler in the mountains of Virginia for as long as anyone can remember. They love hard, play hard, and suffer deeply. There doesn't seem to be any in-between for them. Oral History follows...let's call it three...generations of Cantrells, starting with handsome Almarine and his run-in with a witch and going on down to his grandchildren. I loved this. I was thinking that it was my second-favorite book by Lee Smith (Fair and Tender Ladies is far and away my very favorite), but then I remembered On Agate Hill. We'll call it a tie. I say this every time, but I love the rhythm of Smith's writing. She writes in a way that is as familiar to me as an old worn quilt. The words, the syntax, the pronunciation, I just hear every word as if a family member were telling me a story. I loved the way the family events passed into legends in the hollers where they lived. From Almarine and his witch (was she really?) to a family curse to mysterious deaths. Smith never tells more than she should and leaves it up to the reader to decide what is "fact" and what is myth in this fictional family. The story passes from person to person as the years roll by, but the events are never told by those living them. That helps to keep the "reality or legend?" question going. The narrators aren't always sure themselves. I followed along with it just fine but readers who dislike multiple points of view might want to steer clear. There is a streak of something dark in some families in these mountains and I think Smith caught that feeling perfectly. I can't explain it any better that. Maybe it's just that we've…