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The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman: Book Review

Jan and Antonina Żabiński were the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo when Germany invaded Poland. Between the bombing, Nazi cruelty, and the Nazi desire to keep all of the rare animals for themselves, there quickly wasn't much of a zoo to keep. But Jan was an ingenious thinker and he came up with various ideas to keep the zoo complex under his care. From community gardens to a pig farm to a fur farm, he always had the zoo under his control. He was deeply involved in the Polish Underground, and as part of his efforts, he moved hundreds of Jews through his zoo on the way to safer ground. This wasn't exactly what I was expecting, and that was both good and bad. Generally coming at WWII through the Holocaust, I mainly think of Poland as the home of Auschwitz and the worst of the concentration camps. That's as far as I take it. I've never given any thought to the fact that Germany invaded Poland first and kept the Poles brutally repressed throughout the duration. Diane Ackerman showed me how bad it was for the Poles. My problem was that I expected more of a narrative about life in the zoo, but the story was all over the place. There was actually very little about the zoo and the Jews in hiding there. A few who stayed for a while were written about, but that was about it. The rest of it bounced around a lot. There was a constant thread about the Żabiński family and how they made it through the war. But then there would be paragraphs about girl couriers helping the Underground, a pediatrician who refused to escape because he didn't want to leave the children in his orphanage, random people in the Underground and…

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen: Book Review

Twenty-three-year-old Jacob Jankowski has just lost his parents in a car crash. They had already lost everything in the Great Depression. In a devastating bout of grief, Jacob, a vet school student, walks out of his final exams at Cornell University. He ends up working for a circus as the vet. His boss, August, is an unstable man who treats the animals and his employees cruelly. Jacob feels helpless to assist those in his care in the face of August's unpredictable wrath. Despite all this, Jacob at the age of 93 (or is it 90?) looks back frequently to his time with the circus and the people and animals he met there. First of all, let me just say here that I love Rosie the elephant. She has more personality than most of the other characters combined. What a charming rogue! I'm ready to give her a home in my backyard! Okay, with that out of the way, I'll say that I was hooked from the first page of this book. I read it in one very nice 12-hour shift at work. I was pulling for Jacob and his friends and I just had to make sure that they came through okay. I got so engrossed that at one point I gasped and cried, "Oh no!" Then looked around to make sure no one had heard me. I lose myself in books frequently. I don't talk out loud to books much, if ever. Sara Gruen had caught me in her spell all right. Without getting into spoilers, I'll just say that there were a few things that I didn't quite buy that kept me from giving this five stars. But I did honestly enjoy it and I'm glad that I read it. In fact, I wish I hadn't fought so…

Jack of Kinrowan by Charles de Lint: Book Review

In Jack the Giant Killer, the first of two novels in this collection, Jacky Rowan has just realized that her life is not going where she wants it to go. She drifts along, refusing to take care of her life and just staying at home doing nothing. She decides to change her life after a nasty breakup. In a fit of pique, she goes out drinking alone. Staggering home, she sees a little man being chased by 9 men on motorcycles. She tries to help him, but the little man is killed. She runs to a nearby house to try to get help, but no one answers the door. She runs back to where the little man's body was, only to see it disappear, leaving behind only a red cap. The next day, she almost convinces herself that the alcohol was just making her see things that weren't there, but she can't explain where she got the cap from. She puts it on and starts to see people straight out of Faerie. She eventually finds out that the Unseelie Court has been getting stronger and stronger and has actually stolen the local Laird's daughter. The Seelie Court is so weak that everyone is afraid to go in search of the poor girl. Jacky decides to just go looking herself. With a hob's stitcheries giving her invisibility and swiftness, the help of her best friend Kate, and a whole heap of a Jack's luck, Jacky sets out to set the local Faerie courts to rights. I loved how Jack becomes Jacky in this story. Who says women can't be clever, lucky tricksters? She fills the role of Jack perfectly, coming up with ingenious solutions to problems and avoiding pitfalls in the tradition of the best fairy tales. I also loved how…

A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin: Book Review

Picking up where the first book left off, the Seven Kingdoms are in chaos. There are now three claimants to the Iron Throne and the North has declared something of a war of independence on the rest of the country. This book has almost everything. Treachery, loyalty, conspiracies, conspiracies within conspiracies, turncoats, power plays, twists, turns, you name it. The only thing I find to be missing is a love story. I don't need much, but in a book this epic in scope, it feels like somebody should be in love with somebody else and want to talk about it. It's a small thing though, and I'm more than willing to overlook it since Martin does everything else so well. I found it a little daunting when I realized that there are 28 pages of characters at the end of the book. That's right. Twenty-eight. But I found the main characters very easy to keep track of. It probably helps that I'm not someone who needs to know exactly how each minor character fits into which family. I found the cast of characters to be very manageable, and I don't think I have a huge tolerance for books with too many characters. Speaking of characters, I loved watching how some of the characters grow throughout the book. As I recall, there wasn't a whole lot of character growth in the first book, but I guess the author was mostly worried about laying a good foundation for his story. So watching the sometimes surprising ways that some of my favorites developed was intriguing. And I was left with my heart aching for the path one character is forced to follow. I think causing that kind of emotional investment in your characters is one of the marks of a great author. Another…

The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee: Book Review

Lewis Buzbee has worked around books his entire life. He worked at the local bookstore through school, and then he worked as a publisher's rep, and I can't even remember what else. This slim, satisfying volume is almost a collection of essays about his thoughts on bookstores, books, readers, and publishing. I believe I was most excited by the first chapter of this book, "Alone Among Others." I might have things slightly confused, but I believe this was the chapter where the author spelled out the level of his book lust. I'm a voracious reader. I get it. I thought about marking the passages I liked and quickly realized I would be marking everything I was reading. The book lost me a little after that. I'm not particularly interested in the history of books or how we landed on the perfect shape for a bookstore. I did like the story of Shakespeare and Co. in Paris and how they came to publish Ulysses and the store's midnight move during WWII. At the end is a list of some of the author's favorite bookstores from various places. My own local indie, Malaprops, got a mention! It's always exciting to see local favorites mentioned in unexpected places. I love the size and shape of this book. It's a hardcover but it still fits my hands perfectly, and so I found myself just enjoying the feel of it. Also, I do love bookstores, but in my heart, I'm a library girl. My mom took my sister and me to the library as far back as I can remember. My first job was at the local library. Even now, when I have stacks upon stacks of books that I own and haven't read yet, the vast majority have come from library book sales and…

Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn: Book Review

Kitty Norville is a late-night DJ who stumbles upon a popular idea for a talk show--"The Midnight Hour" in which she and her listeners discuss any and all thing supernatural. And the girl knows what she's talking about. She's a werewolf. Unfortunately, her new-found success brings her some unwanted attention. Her Alpha and the master of the local vampire family want her off the air. Someone hires a werewolf hunter to take her out. And Kitty has just found out that there's a rogue wolf in town making everyone else look bad. This was good. It was. My issues with it were purely my own and don't even necessarily make sense. I admit it. First, I personally didn't care too much for the narration by Marguerite Gavin. It was very consciously cadenced and very staccato, even when that style didn't feel appropriate for what she was reading. It just felt like she was trying too hard. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to stick with this at first, but I did and it bothered me less as time went on. Now for the big thing, and the thing that makes the least sense. I didn't like the pack dynamics. My head knows that a pack of werewolves would interact in exactly this manner. There would be an alpha and his female, and they would punish and reward as they chose. Strength would be a big factor in status. There would be power struggles. My heart just doesn't like reading about any man slamming a woman around and then having sex with her as a reward. I just can't get past it. That part definitely improved as Kitty grew more confident, and that was one of the points of the book, but it really did push my…

Three To Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich: Book Review

In bounty hunter Stephanie Plum's latest escapade, she's sent to bring in "Uncle Mo," the local candy store owner who has to appear in court for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit. Everybody in Trenton does it, Mo was just the one who got caught. But Uncle Mo doesn't want to come in. And whenever Stephanie finds him, she seems to get shot at or find a body soon afterward. What the heck has Uncle Mo gotten himself into? I think that you just have to love Stephanie Plum. She's funny, she's in over her head, and she's tormented by gorgeous smartass, Joe Morelli. And she says things like this: "Ranger declined the butterscotch pudding, not wanting to disrupt the consistency of his blood sugar level. I had two puddings and coffee, choosing to keep my pancreas at peak performance. Use it or lose it is my philosophy." " Ranger stripped off his sweatshirt. 'Adequate is being able to run five miles. How are you going to catch the bad guys if you can't outrun them?' 'Connie gives the bad guys who can run to you. I get the fat, out-of-shape bad guys.'" My soul sister! Morelli is sexy as ever, but he seems to be a little detached from Stephanie and she's not sure she likes it. I'm not sure I like it either. I like me some Morelli. But there is a little more Ranger. Ranger seems a bit...intense for me. But he is there to help Stephanie when she asks for it, and that counts for a lot. And then he threw out a random Carl Sandburg quote. Is there more to Ranger than meets the eye? I'm willing to find out! Lula and Grandma Mazur absolutely crack me up. Grandma is lying a little low in…

Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich: Book Review

Stephanie Plum is back and this time she's trying to hunt down Kenny Mancuso. Kenny shot one of his best friends in the knee and then returned later to finish the job. With the help of Morelli, Ranger, and the ever-loveable Grandma Mazur, maybe Stephanie can catch Kenny before Kenny catches her. This book is just as fun and funny as the first of the series. Stephanie isn't a perfect heroine, but that's what makes her so appealing. And Morelli...what is there to say about Morelli? What a smokin' bad boy! Grandma Mazur makes a lengthier appearance in this book, and she is on a roll. Who wouldn't love a grandmother who can take a potshot at a pickup truck with a .45 without blinking? And who has Dirty Harry's famous speech memorized? Oh my gosh, she is too funny. If you like your mysteries with a dash of humor and a whole lot of spunk, pick these up. Reviewed November 10, 2008 My review of One for the Money. Read an excerpt. Find author Janet Evanovich on her website, Facebook, and Twitter. Buy Two for the Dough at Malaprop’s | Better World Books Friday Flashback Reviews are a weekly feature here on The Introverted Reader. These are old reviews I wrote on GoodReads. Thanks to Angieville and her Retro Friday Reviews for the inspiration and encouragement!I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop's, my local independent bookstore, and Better World Books. I will receive a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase books through links on my site.

Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi: Book Review

4 Stars. I felt like I was sitting in this roomful of multi-generational women as they gossiped about themselves, each other, and friends they knew. I think all women have sat in a group like this, when there aren't any men around, and said just exactly what we really think. It's not all ladylike and demure. This is the chance [...]

Stiff by Mary Roach: Book Review

Chalk this up to a win for the GoodReads friends. I would never have picked this up on my own. A book about cadavers? How morbid can you be? Not to mention the heebie-jeebies that would be sure to haunt me throughout the book. But so many people have read this and raved about it that I decided to go ahead and give it a try. It's somehow hilarious. But not disrespectful. And odd. And hilarious. And hard to describe. With chapters ranging from human decay, to body snatching, live burial, and new ways to "dispose" of human remains, I never realized that there were so many aspects of death to think about. I can't say that I was completely comfortable with all the topics covered (I really don't need to know exactly what happens to a decomposing body), but neither did anything give me too bad a case of the heebie jeebies. I was surprised by how interesting I found most of the topics to be. There's a lot of history, anecdotes, trivia, and science crammed into this book. If you think you can handle it, and most people probably can, I recommend this for an upfront look at a topic most of us avoid. Read an excerpt. Find author Mary Roach on her website, her blog, and Twitter. I read this for my own Dewey Decimal Challenge. Buy Stiff at Malaprop’s | Better World Books I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop's, my local independent bookstore, and Better World Books. I will receive a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase books through links on my site.