4 stars Archives - Page 32 of 39

A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle: Book Review

Peter Mayle and his wife finally decide to say goodbye to dreary British weather and move to sunny Provence in France. This book tells about their experiences living in Provence, from the colorful locals to the excellent food to the workmen who come and go like forces of nature. This book had me ready to go on vacation in Provence. Notice that I don't say "move to Provence." I would starve. All those lovingly written descriptions of French food left me cold. I could survive for a week or two though. Parts of this had me roaring with laughter. My favorite part was probably the goat race. Oh my gosh! I read this on one of my last nights at my old job, and let me tell you, I was doing my best to hold back my laughter while sitting around on my downtime in the emergency room, but little snickers and giggles were escaping, and I had tears rolling down my face. Not exactly the appropriate place for that, but luckily I was tucked away in my little corner, and I don't think anybody noticed. I hope. Another of my favorite parts was the translation of the French person's body language. I'm sure it's different, but I hope this gives me a place to start in translating my Cuban father-in-law's body language. He doesn't just tell a story, he enacts it, with hands flying everywhere. I think any homeowner can relate to the stories of the workmen. At least these guys did show up, but, wow, I don't know if that's good or bad. The Mayles did come up with an ingenious way to get them back to work though. I may have to give that a try sometime... So there's no big, earth-shattering plot here. This still felt…

A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore: Book Review

Charlie Asher is your average Beta Male. He owns a second-hand shop in San Francisco and rents out the apartments in the rest of the building to some kooky tenants. He has somehow managed to win the heart of beautiful Rachel and she has just given birth to their daughter Sophie when the book begins. Charlie can't believe his luck, and, with typical Beta Male imagination, believes that Sophie has eleven toes or a tail or something--good things just don't happen for Beta Males. After Sophie's birth, weird things start to happen to Charlie. People drop dead in front of him, objects glow with an eerie red light, and he hears evil voices coming from the sewer drains. Enter Mr. Minty Fresh. He explains what is going on to Charlie. Basically, they are Death Merchants. They collect objects from the dead and dying that are imbued with the dead person's soul. Then they hold onto the object until the soul's next owner comes along and buys it. If they screw up, or if they have contact with other Death Merchants, the Forces of Darkness will rise and the World As We Know It will end. No pressure. I think I had laughed out loud four times in the first four pages of this book. Moore's sense of humor is a perfect match for mine. I've been trying to think of the word to describe it. Not exactly crass or crude, it's more like the not-exactly-for-polite-company jokes that you make with your best friends and maybe even your family, but you probably wouldn't say in front of your in-laws or your boss. I had a few "I can't believe he had the nerve to write that!" moments in some of the funnier parts. Here are a couple of my favorite quotes:…

The Roar by Emma Clayton: Book Review

In the Earth of the future, an Animal Plague has led humans to destroy most of the planet. The entire population is now crowded behind a wall surrounding the top third of the world. There are no animals, there is very little sunlight unless you're rich, there isn't real food to eat, and everyone feels pretty hopeless and helpless. Ellie and Mika live in this world. Ellie was kidnapped about a year ago. She has learned to do fabulous things, but she still only wants to go home. Her parents believe she's dead, but her twin brother, Mika, feels that she's still alive somewhere. He's getting teased at school, frustrating his parents, and just generally being miserable. One day, his gray, damp, moldy classroom is lightened up with cupcakes and balloons. They are starting the Fit for Life program, sponsored by the Youth Development Foundation. Mika is suspicious of the program, but eventually goes along because he believes he might learn what happened to Ellie. As part of the program, the kids play a video game called Pod Fighter that can lead to fabulous prizes for them and their families. Everyone rushes to compete, but Mika has a feeling there's a lot they aren't being told. From the beginning with Ellie's heart-pumping race to freedom, to the ending where you can't believe there just aren't any more pages, the action is almost non-stop in this book. It's a pretty long middle-grade novel at 488 pages, but those pages fly by. I can't wait to read the next one! I like Ellie, Mika, and Audrey a lot. I'm curious to find out more about Leo and even to find out what's going on with the jerk, Ruben. But Mika really stood out for me. The story is told mostly from his…

M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman: Book Review

I'm trying out audio (again), this time during my commute to work. My commute isn't bad, about 30 minutes, so a collection of short stories, written and read by Neil Gaiman no less, seemed like a good place to start. I was right! I'll say first of all that I love Gaiman's voice. I could listen to the man all day. I don't really have any other narrators to compare him to, but just the fact that I actually finished this audio book should be a testament to his greatness! I've read a lot of these stories in print, but I have to say that hearing Gaiman read them himself added a little something to the story. For example, I would never have "heard" the troll speaking in such a gray, tired voice if I had read it on my own. Hearing Gaiman's take on that really paved the way for the ending of that one. There were more examples, but that's the most striking. "Four and Twenty Blackbirds" reminded me a lot of Jasper Fforde's Nursery Crime series. It's a very tangled, nursery rhyme noir PI story, which sounds like a big mess but was actually a lot of fun. "Troll Bridge" was a little eerie. I did not see the ending coming, but it made sense. It reminded me a little of another story of Gaiman's that I read in Fragile Things. I like this take on the theme better. "Don't Ask Jack" was probably my least favorite, just because there wasn't much story. It's a goose-bump-inducing little vignette though. "How to Sell the Ponti Bridge" was another I wasn't that crazy about. It was sort of a fantasy version of a ballsy scam. Not exactly my thing. "October in the Chair" is a story that I really…

The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney: Book Review

Laurent Jammett is a French trapper living in a little Canadian community in 1867. He mostly keeps to himself, so everyone is surprised when his neighbor, Mrs. Ross, finds him murdered. Since he worked for them occasionally, the Hudson Bay Company is called in to investigate. When the Hudson Bay officials find out that Mrs. Ross's teenage son vanished around the same time that Jammett was killed, they're naturally curious and start looking for him. Mrs. Ross is worried too and sets out to find her son first and prove his innocence. There is so much more to this book than I could write in the synopsis without spoiling anything. It's much more than just a murder mystery. In fact, the mystery felt sort of secondary to me. I was more interested in reading what I can only call the mini character studies. The story is told from many shifting points of view, but it works. I was never confused as to who I was following in each chapter. That's probably because the story only follows one character in the first person point of view--Mrs. Ross. So, in addition to furthering the mystery, we get to read a little about many different characters, how they think, what their lives have been like, etc. That was probably the most interesting part. I was left hungry for more backstory. I mostly mean that in a good way. Had every character's backstory been explored, the book would have been impossibly long. As it was, there were only a couple of loose ends that I really wish had been tied up that weren't. Not bad. There is such a strong sense of place in this book that the setting could almost be a character in itself. The Canadian winter is written about so well…

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins: Book Review

If you haven't read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, you shouldn't read this review. I have avoided Mockingjay spoilers. Katniss is living in District 13. The Capitol has sought revenge for the rebels' assault on the Hunger Games in a brutal, unbelievable way. The rebellion is gaining momentum, and the leaders are begging Katniss to become their figurehead--the living Mockingjay. This was still good, it just wasn't exactly what I expected, and I think the biggest reason I say that is because of Katniss. I felt like I'd lost her. She's so heartsick. She feels responsibility for so many deaths. She spends a large part of the book wandering around lost. There are flares of the Katniss that I love, but they aren't consistently there. Do I buy her reaction? Absolutely. Am I happy about it? Obviously not. Katniss's fire is what has drawn me to these books, and she's down to embers. Otherwise, the book twisted and turned and I had no idea what to expect or who to trust. I was thrilled to get to see more of Gale. I've always felt like he hasn't had a fair chance with Katniss, and he does get his chance here. There are so many losses, my heart just broke over and over again. There were losses in Catching Fire that I still hadn't reconciled myself to, so these new ones just felt terrible. That should say something about how lost I get in this world, shouldn't it? I'm still mourning. I still love the series, I still recommend it, I just want fiery Katniss back. Buy Mockingjay on IndieBound | Book Depository | Better World Books I have an affiliate relationship with IndieBound, Book Depository, and Better World Books and will receive a small commission at no cost to…

Fortune’s Fool by Mercedes Lackey: Book Review

Katya is the Sea King's youngest daughter--and his eyes and ears in trouble spots. Sasha is the seventh son of the King of Led Belarus, which makes him a Fortunate Fool. But his foolery is only an act to gently steer the Tradition in ways that lead to peace and prosperity for his kingdom. The Tradition is made up of all the tropes that are always found in fairy tales. A seventh son meets an old beggar woman on the road? If he's nice to her, she'll help him with his task. If not, she'll curse him in some way. You get the idea. Anyway, something evil has popped up just outside the border of Led Belarus. The Sea King is worried and sends Katya to investigate. Sasha is worried about Katya and this darkness this close to his happy kingdom's borders. Will they defeat whatever's there with the help of some very unlikely allies? First of all, this book starts off with a plot that has very little to do with where the novel is actually going. It sets up an element of the overall story, but it still felt like a hundred pages could have been trimmed off by just quickly explaining where Katya got this magic object. That aside, I did like the book. Sasha and Katya have such big hearts that you can't help but like them and root for them. Katya is very feisty and intelligent, and you know I love those kinds of female characters. Other females in the book might not start off very promising, but even they start to gain some self-confidence by the time everything ends. Sasha is a handsome, unassuming charmer. He loves to tease people, but he's always quietly looking out for everyone's best interest. He's very smart as…

Alice at Heart by Deborah Smith: Book Review

Alice has always been the odd one in her small Appalachian community. She loves water, her hair grows incredibly fast, her feet are slightly webbed, and somehow her personality has just never "fit in." She's done her best all her life to blend into the background, but she gets quite a bit of publicity when she rescues someone. She hates being in the public eye, but ultimately it brings her to the attention of some women who can give her answers about her past and why she's so different. Let me say right up front that I won this book in a GR giveaway. I don't think that's affected my rating and review, but in the interest of full disclosure, there it is. The book started off a little disjointed for me because I wasn't very clear about what to expect. But by the time I was 20-30 pages in, it was all coming together and I was starting to enjoy the book. It only got better all the way through. I liked the characters and the mystery of what happened the night a boat sank, 40 years ago. I liked the family histories and legends of the characters. I particularly liked the way that the fantasy element was woven in like it was no big deal. Just make this one little leap of faith and all of a sudden you've got the real world with a little more magic in it. That's always fun. The book had a feel (but not a plot) a little like the movie Practical Magic and the book Garden Spells, with maybe just a little of the drama and mystery of The Pilot's Wife thrown in. Fans of these books would certainly enjoy this one. Reviewed October 24, 2008 Read an excerpt. Find author…

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer: Book Review

In 1996, Jon Krakauer attempted to climb Mt. Everest as part of a guided group for a writing assignment for Outside magazine. An experienced climber in the hands of a reputable group of guides, he didn't really foresee any problems. Go, climb the mountain, hope conditions allowed them to reach the summit, go home, write the article. But things are rarely that easy. A storm blows up, reminding everyone that nature laughs at our best-laid plans; some questionable decisions are made; and suddenly the entire group is fighting for their lives. I've decided to try reading a non-fiction book in bed at night, thinking that I won't be quite as interested in non-fiction, and so will find it easy to put those books down and get to bed at a decent hour. This is the first book I grabbed from the library with that in mind. Ha! I don't know if I could have picked a worse book for tame, before-bed reading! My poor husband has had to listen to me babble on and on about people he knows nothing about as I've made my way through this page-turner. Even if the climb had been fairly straight-forward, I found it interesting to read about what drove these people, how they acclimated to the altitude, and how exactly one manages to climb the highest peak on Earth. I know nothing about mountain-climbing, and, while I did find all this fascinating, I have to say that I'll be staying in my tame little Appalachians doing easy to moderate hikes. I'm not someone who likes to push myself beyond my limits, but it's always nice to step outside your comfort zone, even if it is through the pages of a book, and see what's going on with others who live differently than you.…

Bending Toward the Sun by Leslie Gilbert-Lurie: Book Review

Rita Lurie is a Holocaust survivor. Her story is remarkably similar to Anne Frank's. She hid in an attic in Poland for two years at the very end of WWII. Her family's hiding place was nowhere near as carefully-planned as the Frank family's though. They fled Nazi soldiers in the night and eventually found a family friend who let them stay with him. Imagine 15 people, including children and a baby, hiding in an attic for two years with no food supply mapped out. The children couldn't run around a make noise and be children. They had no heat source. They didn't even have much light. They lived on what the men could forage at night. Needless to say, they were very sick and malnourished when they finally emerged. Rita was five when they went into hiding, but the experience left a deep and lasting mark on her psyche. Now, where this memoir is different from others that I've read is that it doesn't stop with Liberation. That's only the beginning, in fact. How does such a horrific experience mark your life forever after? Also, how does it mark your children and their children? It's not like you come out of hiding and return to a perfectly normal life. I have to say that the first time I ever thought about these questions was when I read The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman. Spiegelman shows that his father was hard to live with, and sometimes it was because of his experiences as a Holocaust survivor. He's a hoarder and a control freak. Spiegelman's mom, also a survivor, was clinically depressed. That opened my eyes a little bit. So when I was offered this book for review, I jumped on it. I was surprised by the ways that the Holocaust affected…