Paperback Archives - Page 7 of 27

Dark Fire by C. J. Sansom: Book Review

Matthew Shardlake has been asked to defend a young woman accused of the terrible murder of a child. The problem is that the girl refuses to speak in her own defense and time is running out. Luckily, Thomas Cromwell intervenes and gains Shardlake two more weeks to prepare a defense. In exchange, Matthew must find the secret to the recently rediscovered Greek Fire, a technology that promises to place England firmly in control of her own destiny. For me, this was really as enjoyable a read as Dissolution. Shardlake is perhaps even more full of melancholy, doubt, and loneliness, but he hasn't quite lost his faith in either God or humanity. He sees innocence in the eyes of the accused murderess and sets out to prove it, despite the unpopularity of her case. She has already been tried and hanged in the court of public opinion, but Shardlake desperately wants to see justice done. The one weakness for me was in the two plotlines. This could easily have been two separate books, but instead one book had the two stories jammed together. The deadline given for both adds to the urgency of the story, but that felt a bit like an artificial device added by the author for that very reason. Overall, though, Sansom has created a great character in Matthew Shardlake and surrounded him with a few other characters that are more complex than meets the eye. Jack Barak is introduced in this book, and at first he appears to be a beautiful bully, but he quickly shows that he is much more than that. In reading the author's notes at the end, it sounds like he has stayed as true to the period and history as possible. At the same time, he has taken something that was a…

Sweet Nothings by Janis Thomas: Book Review

Ruby McMillan's husband announces out of the blue that he's leaving one morning. She has her initial meltdown, of course, but then she starts getting on with her life. Walter has left their finances in a shambles and Ruby has to scramble to hold everything together as he sails off into the sunset with his new lover. I had a blast reading this book. Even as I knew I should be feeling bad for Ruby, I would have to laugh as her neighbors kept her apprised of Walter's latest exploits via his Facebook poetry. Oh, it was bad. I wanted to slap his face just for the poetry! She tries her best, finds her new groove as a single woman, and has some encounters with some seriously steamy men. What's not to love? While I felt that Ruby moved on awfully fast, the author explains that by saying that Rational Ruby rationally chose Walter as her husband; she was never head-over-heels for him. It was still a little hard to buy. That aside, I enjoyed watching Ruby expand her limits and learn to believe in love. The one thing I felt was really missing from the book was a recipe section. Ruby is a fabulous baker and it's just not fair to describe all her mouth-watering creations without giving me a chance to try them for myself! If you're looking for a bit of escapism, Ruby and her kids and friends definitely fit the bill. Give this a try when you need a pick-me-up. Thanks to the publicist for sending me a copy for review. Read an excerpt. Find author Janis Thomas on her website, her blog, and Twitter. Buy Sweet Nothings at Malaprop’s | Better World Books I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop's, my local independent bookstore located…

I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak: Book Review

Ed Kennedy is an underage cab driver with no prospects. He's the very picture of your average young man. But someone has chosen him to carry out some tasks that require him to be anything but average. I was incredibly nervous about reading this book after reading The Book Thief. That book immediately became my favorite. I knew there was no way this one could live up to it. But after starting Messenger, I realized that the books are so very different that there was no way and no need to compare them. Basically, Zusak is telling us that we can all make a difference in other peoples' lives. If ordinary Ed Kennedy can do it, so can we. And he makes it clear that it doesn't really take a lot of effort to do so. Granted, Ed gets some huge assignments, but mostly they boiled down to taking the time to notice others and having the courage and the compassion to act on the needs he sees. "It's not a big thing, but I guess it's true--big things are often just small things that are noticed." While not as consistently beautiful as The Book Thief, (sorry, I can't help it), there were moments of aching clarity and beauty in here. Zusak seems to be reminding us to look for the beauty in small, everyday moments. "Sometimes people are beautiful. Not in looks. Not in what they say. Just in what they are." And that brings us to my biggest complaint. The short, one-sentence paragraphs drove me up the wall. There were passages like the one above every page or two, if not more often. I eventually overlooked it and saw it as Ed's style, but at the beginning, it was killing me. Overall, this was a quick read with…

The Commitment by Dan Savage: Book Review

As the "gay marriage debate" was heating up back in oh, 2005, Dan Savage and his boyfriend (they dislike the word partner) were in the middle of their own debate. Should they or shouldn't they? They'd been together ten years, they'd adopted a son together, neither had any intention of leaving the relationship, they fully believed that gays and lesbians should have the right to get married, they just weren't sure that marriage was for them. They talk it over, going back and forth, receiving lots of input in favor of marriage from Dan's mom, and against marriage from their 5-year-old son. Honestly, I read this for a book challenge I'm trying to complete before the end of the year. I think I saw Dan Savage once on Real Time with Bill Maher but other than that he's not on my radar. I keep my political opinions to myself. Has anyone ever changed the mind of someone else in a political argument? I think not. So let's just say that I'm a happily-married heterosexual female who thinks that gay people should be allowed to get married. And that's all I'll say about that. Savage's memoir is, for the most part, hilarious, brutally honest, and straight to the point. He points out the fallacies in the tired old arguments trotted out against gay marriage, takes some potshots at its most vocal opponents, and chronicles his own personal debate within the debate. I laughed most of the way through it. It did irritate me that Savage has no compunction about casting people around him in broad stereotypes, but at least he admits that he's a close-minded liberal (or something like that anyway). Apparently the entire population of South Dakota is fat, wants to kick his butt simply because he's gay, and doesn't…

One Child by Torey Hayden: Book Review

Torey Hayden is what I can only call a special ed teacher. At some less-politically-correct point in her career, she agreed to teach the "garbage class" (her words, not mine) that consisted of the abused, unteachable, unreachable kids. The class of eight students, a teacher's aide who lacked even a high school diploma, a high school student volunteer, and Torey made it through the first semester in decent shape. But in January, little Sheila joined them. She seemed to be more troubled and harder to reach than most and she set the class on its ears. But Torey made the effort to try to help this six-year-old child. What a heart breaker. The five stars reflect the importance of the subject rather than the quality of the writing. The story is told in a straightforward manner and is very readable in and of itself, but it's really nothing special.* But this little girl. Oh my gosh, little Sheila. What a survivor. I work in a hospital that has one floor dedicated to psychiatric patients. It has always blown my mind that we have an area in there dedicated to pediatric (as in not-a-teenager) patients. The few times I've been called to do a test there, I've left wondering how such a young child can get so broken. Is it just a bad hand, genetically? Or has someone made the effort to break them? What could break these young children? I always stop my thinking there, not really wanting to know, wanting to stay safe in my middle-class sheltered existence. But One Child showed me what can happen to these kids. It was not by any means an emotionally easy read. It's left me quite disturbed. But it's so important. We're losing too many kids this way, and they all have…

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway: Book Review

A group of friends travel to Pamplona, Spain for the annual running of the bulls and subsequent bullfights and fiesta. I didn't like it. Not one bit. We read this for my book club because one of our members remembered loving it when she read it in an English class and had been wanting to re-read it. Even she said it was not at all what she remembered and it must have been made better by an awesome English teacher. Let's hear it for awesome English teachers! Left to struggle through on my own devices, however, I found nothing redeeming in any of these characters. Which was probably the point, but still. I like to read about characters that I actually like. The best one was the narrator, so that was a plus, but he couldn't keep his friends in line and I don't think he wanted to. They were all so very cynical and had seen everything and done everything that they got a little boring. I told one of my friends who hadn't quite finished by the time our meeting rolled around, "Let me save you some time. They go out, get drunk, Brett sleeps with someone who is not her fiance, the Jew (as he was mostly known) got mad that she wasn't sleeping with him and hit somebody, they all drank some more, and started over the next day." And that's what I took away from this book. Life is short and boring, you drink and argue, then you die. I did like Hemingway's style. He's very short and to the point and without seeming to waste a lot of time on description, he manages to put you firmly in a scene. I would occasionally get confused as to who was speaking because he didn't like…

Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison: Book Review

Georgia Nicolson is fourteen and full of typical fourteen-year-old girl drama. Through her hilarious diary entries, we learn about her disastrous attempt at plucking her eyebrows, her fantasies about a guy she calls the Sex God (even though she doesn't seem very clear about what sex actually involves), her fights with friends, and her triumphs at school. Oh my gosh. I giggled all the way through this, feeling about 14 myself. Georgia just cracked me up. My poor husband couldn't get me to put it down and had to listen to me laughing and snorting to myself as I read. Oh, Georgia, you did my poor downtrodden, immediately post-Grapes of Wrath heart good. I recognized Georgia, and I think most of us will. I know some girls bypass the giggly, boy-obsessed stage completely, but I was not one of them. I was quiet about it, horrified at the idea that a boy might actually think I liked him, even if it was true, but at home I had my magazines and my walls were pretty much wallpapered with photos I'd ripped out of them and pinned up. My poor parents had no idea what happened. And that's where Georgia is in life. She comes across as pretty fearless. I was first shocked by some of the things she did but then I would giggle away again. It's all pretty harmless though. I don't know if I would like Georgia in real life (she's the type who would immediately tell a boy that you liked him), but on the page, I adored her. She is irrepressible, funny, insecure, sarcastic, and a nightmare of a teenage girl. Teens and adults who can relate and who aren't afraid of Georgia's crude sense of humor should absolutely pick this up. It was just what…

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck: Book Review

Tom Joad, just released from prison, heads back to his parents' farm only to find that they have been evicted from their land and are on their way to California in search of a fresh start. Thousands of families are in a similar situation and there are many ruthless people along the way who take advantage of them, mistreat them, and make their lives harder than they have to be. Is there another version of this book floating around out there somewhere? Because this is not the book I remember reading in high school. Yes, I'm joking. Sort of. I deeply disliked this when I had to read it for class. All I could remember was how depressing it was and the very, very last scene. It made an impression on my 16-year-old self. Now firmly in my 30s, I don't know if 16-year-old me was an idiot or if current me is just old and jaded, because I just about loved this. I'd give it 4.5 stars if I could. It's still dark and depressing, there's just no way around that. Everything that can go wrong for the Joads, does. From before they even hit the road, and I'm sure continuing on well after the last page is turned, they just can't catch a break. It was infuriating, even more so because I knew that this was firmly based on the reality of the Dust Bowl and the Depression. But this time around, I saw some hope. The Joads are not beaten. They have taken a beating and they are down, but I don't think they're out. They're still out there struggling along, doing the best they can, for themselves and others. Do you see that? And others. They have practically nothing, but they still give what they have…

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak: Book Review

Set in the early days of the USSR, Doctor Zhivago is the story of the doctor and the sweeping changes he bears witness to. Oh, I had a hard time with this one. It was sheer stubbornness that got me through. I didn't particularly like Doctor Zhivago, I thought Lara was crazy, and I couldn't keep up with the politics. I kept thinking that I should look up the Russian Revolution (or whatever it's called) and try to make some sense out of what was going on, but I didn't care enough to even do that. There were philosophical discussions planted smack in the middle of conversations. Of course I didn't believe anyone has ever actually talked that way. I couldn't follow the philosophy and then I lost the thread of the conversation by the time the characters got back to talking about something I was interested in. The doctor was the epitome of "not to decide is a decision." He just went with whatever situation he found himself in. He had some ideals when he was young that he fought for, but then he became jaded and seemed not to really believe in anything. But I could be wrong about that. As his family life changed, he never fought for anyone. He just took the easiest path before him. Lara was at least passionate but I felt she was inconsistent. Who did she really want to be with? I'm not entirely sure. She said one thing but did another. What I did take away from the book is how confusing it must have been to live through a time like this. I have a feeling the confusion about who was fighting whom and why was done deliberately. I can't imagine living through a war and never being sure who…

Trader by Charles de Lint: Book Review

Max Trader is a luthier who wakes up one morning in a body not his own. After the initial panic and a little further investigation, Trader finds out that charming, womanizing rake, Johnny Devlin, has wished for a different life and somehow they have traded bodies. Devlin has no intention of trying to switch back. He gets a fresh start while Trader tries to navigate his way through the wreckage of Johnny's life. While learning about Johnny, though, Devlin learns a few things about his own life and how he needs to start living as large as trees, to paraphrase. Characters, characters, characters. What draws me to Charles de Lint are his characters, and he did not disappoint with this one. Trader is a mild-mannered kind of guy, mostly forgettable except for his talent, but he's willing to learn from this unbelievable experience he has. He learns to live his life to the fullest and not take a single day for granted. So that one's obvious. What makes this a de Lint book is that even the secondary characters grow and learn and change. Trader and Devlin's switch is like a stone thrown into a still pond: the effects ripple out in ways that you don't see coming. Even minor characters learn self-acceptance, the value of having your own life outside of a relationship, acceptance of others, forgiveness, open-mindedness and all kinds of Important Life Lessons. I've loaned out my copy already or I would throw out a couple of quotes that sum all of this up much better than I can. Expect to see a revised version of this review when I get my copy back. Finally got it back! "The thing to do is to be happy with yourself, with what's in your own life; then if a…