Book Reviews Archive - Page 40 of 79

Under the Jolly Roger by L. A. Meyer: Review

Jacky Faber finds herself working for the Royal Navy again after being mistakenly pressed into service. The ship she finds herself on is in bad shape, with a sick, evil captain who reigns with an iron fist and who has let his boat and his crew get into bad shape. Nothing can keep Jacky down for long though and she's soon making friends and plans in equal measure. I cannot express how much I love listening to Katherine Kellgren narrate this series. She doesn't hold anything back and narrates in a larger-than-life tone that is completely in keeping with Jacky's character. Kellgren sounds like she is having the time of her life reading these books and that makes me love them all the more. I would love them anyway because Jacky is such a great character. Why do we tend to love girls who dress up as boys and live the life they want? I probably just answered my own question. She's loyal and fierce and sly and intelligent and greedy and too big for her britches. She's a big mess of contradictions and that makes her feel so darn real. My one complaint about this book is that we have to travel down the road of an older man trying to prey on attractive young Jacky again. It's a different man, but, really. Teenage girls of any era do have things to worry about other than lecherous old men trying to have their way with them. It didn't take up as much of the book as I was afraid it would but as soon as it came up I rolled my eyes and thought, "Here we go again." Jaimy is starting to get on my nerves too. He's as fussy and as much of a stickler for the rules…

Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas: Book Review

Eighty-six-year-old Hennie Comfort meets 17-year-old Nit Spindle when she sees the young woman standing outside one day, contemplating an old sign hanging on her fence advertising "Prayers for Sale." Hennie takes the newly-arrived woman under her wing, showing her how to survive in a Colorado mining town in the '30s and passing on her vast collection of stories. At heart, this was a sweet story about the friendship between women, friendship between generations, forgiveness, aging, and a life well-lived. There were some very dark stories, but I finished with a smile on my face. Hennie was a great character and someone I would like to know in real life, but a few things bothered me. This was written with a bit of a dialect and it didn't ring true to me. Maybe it's because I'm used to reading a Southern dialect. Maybe because it's about two Southern women who live in Colorado, so their speech patterns have changed. But really I just think it got close enough to being right to really stand out as being wrong. There's a mystery running throughout the book, and I have to say that I was surprised when I found out what was going on. But we read Hennie's thoughts throughout the entire book, and whenever she got close to the big mystery it all of a sudden got vague. An example--NOT a quote: "Hennie thought she would put some some chili on the stove. She thought about how much Jake used to like chili. She thought she'd soon have to do something about that one last thing that was bothering her." What?!? I've seen that far into her thoughts, so it feels like a cheap trick to hide one thing to build some suspense throughout. Hennie thinks that she has a few problems…

The Wild Trees by Richard Preston: Book Review

I find it hard to describe this book without making it sound dull and boring. I've tried to tell my husband and he just looks at me blankly. "It's about trees?" "Well, yes, but it's interesting and it's about...trees." Sometime in the late '80's, a few people who didn't even know each other decided to start exploring the remaining stands of redwoods. Michael Taylor believed that the biggest redwood had yet to be found, despite a National Geographic statement to the contrary made decades earlier. Steve Sillett became the first biologist to really explore and attempt to describe the redwood canopy. They each had friends who helped them and they eventually met each other and joined forces as they attempted to understand these ancient living things. I was fascinated from the beginning. I do have that old biology degree that I mention every single time I read something even remotely scientific, but I am more interested in mammals than plants. I was so interested in the lives of these guys who were/are climbing 30 stories on some ropes in a freaking tree. I panic if I get above the second or third rung on a ladder. The descriptions of the canopy, their progress and trial and error as they tried to figure out how to do what no one really had done before, their personal setbacks and triumphs, I liked it all. The author starts climbing with them and adding his own perspective maybe two-thirds of the way through the book. I was a little turned off by this at first. I don't know if the part of me that had "Don't ever use I in an essay" drilled into her head was horrified that a published author was breaking that cardinal rule or if I had a little bit…

The Dry Grass of August by Anna Jean Mayhew: Book Review

June Bentley "Jubie" Watts is 13 years old in 1954 when her mother decides to take all four of her children to visit her brother in Pensacola, Florida. As any affluent housewife of the time would do, she asks the maid to come along on the trip to help take care of them. Jubie does a lot of growing up on this trip and her eyes are opened to pervasive, ugly prejudice. I liked Jubie, I really did. She had spunk and she questioned the attitudes that everyone else accepted and made their own. She still has the heart of a child and she questions why her kind, intelligent maid should be treated as inferior because of the color of her skin. But I didn't entirely trust her as a narrator and I'm not sure if I was supposed to. I guess everyone feels like their parents were harder on them than on their siblings, but it's taken to an extreme here. One part in particular was devastating to read. Jubie's dad is an alcoholic who apparently only takes his temper out on her. It didn't seem entirely realistic to me that Jubie's story would be told almost completely through the filter of race. There is very good reason that she would have become hyper-aware of the issue through the lens of time but I didn't feel like she was looking back on these events from far in the future. They felt pretty immediate. I just felt that a 13-year-old girl would have had more distractions, I guess. I did appreciate that the author tackled the actual violence of the times. Other books set around the Civil Rights era hint at it but then either nothing terribly bad happens or the brutality is in the background. The violence is the…

Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol: Book Review

Anya falls into an abandoned well one day and finds herself alone with a skeleton. Needless to say, she is terrified. Especially after the ghost of a girl about her own age shows up. Anya is rescued fairly quickly and tries to put the whole experience behind her. But she's brought something back out into the daylight with her--the ghost. And Emily has no intention of going back into the darkness. I was okay in high school. I really was. I had a group of awesome friends and we had a good time just doing our band geek thing. Still. I wouldn't want to be a teenager again. So books that bring those years so painfully to life just don't do much for me. And Anya's teenage years are painful to see. She's a second-generation Russian (I'm 99% sure) immigrant. She's so ashamed of it. She hates being around her family and seeing the ways that they're different from other families. She hates being around a boy her age who has only recently left Russia and so has a heavy accent. She's ashamed of the food they eat and the clothes she wears and even her sturdy Russian body. She's got issues. But Emily helps her to see exactly how ridiculous those feelings are. And not at all in the way that I expected. Emily just got freakier and freakier until she was downright scary by the end! She shows Anya exactly where her attitude could lead her and it is a dark, lonely, and psychotic place. I truly liked the artwork and I wish I had liked the story more than I did. It's just that teen angst thing. If you are more forgiving of it than I am, pick this up. It is a creepy little book that…

White Indian by Donald Clayton Porter: Book Review

The Great Sachem of the Seneca tribe has lost his infant son. In grief, he joins an alliance of tribes in making war on other tribes and an English settlement. In the settlement, he finds a baby boy, only a few days old, who looks at him fearlessly even though the mother has just been killed. The Sachem decides that this brave boy will become his son, so he takes the child home and raises him to become the best fighter and the wisest man of his generation. His name is Renno. As the Seneca and the settlers encounter each other more and more over the years, it becomes apparent to both that their individual needs can best be met by an alliance. Who better to form the basis of that alliance than Renno, a man with ties to both worlds? Obvious thing first: the book wasn't very politically correct. Just look at the title: White Indian. What should it be? Caucasian Native American? I don't know. But that was the first thing to jump out at me. Overall though, I enjoyed the book. I liked the characters and the descriptions of their ways of life, both settlers and Native Americans. The pace was good overall, only occasionally getting bogged down in description. I could have used more dialog. The book was based more on description of action than dialog, and I really do like dialog more. Fans of westerns will like this one, even though it's not a true western (I think more of the settlers in California or New Mexico when I think of westerns). I'll keep reading the series. Reviewed October 14, 2008 Friday Flashback Reviews are a weekly feature here on The Introverted Reader. These are old reviews I wrote on GoodReads. Thanks to Angieville and…

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand: Book Review

Louie Zamperini was a little bit of a punk as a young teen, staying in trouble all the time. But then he discovered running and pretty much turned his life around. People were taking notice of his times and the Olympics were in his future. He made it to the Berlin Olympics in a distance that was not his specialty. He didn't medal but at least he gained some experience. He started training in earnest for the next Olympics but then WWII broke out. He was soon flying in bombers over the Pacific Ocean. And then his plane went down. Wow. I am in awe Louie's survival instincts. I read this on vacation in Jamaica and I have to say that I was not paying attention to the beautiful beach around me; I was fully present with Louie in his life boat. I periodically read bits from the book to my husband and at one point I looked up and said, "If I'm ever in a life boat in the middle of the ocean, I want this man to be with me. You won't believe what he just did!" and launched into that story. I won't spoil it for you but I remember it vividly. I was thinking that this would make a good gift for my dad but by the time I finished, I wasn't so sure. Louie just goes through so stinking much. I got so frustated! "Why can't this guy get a break?!?!" was on a constant repeat in my head. It was one thing after the other and just when I thought he was going to be okay, things actually got worse. And worse. And worse. I'm not so sure that my dad would handle it all that well. I thought I would like this because…

Don’t Know Much About Mythology by Kenneth C. Davis: Book Review

Author Kenneth C. Davis sets out to fill in the gaps of the average reader's knowledge of mythology. Don't expect a book of stories about Zeus and Hera; they're here but so are gods from Egypt, Celtic lands, Africa, the Americas, Asia, India, and just about every culture you can think of. This was not what I expected. I thought I was getting something along the lines of Edith Hamilton's Mythology--the actual myths in one big collection. I should have paid more attention to the subtitle, "Everything You Need to Know About the Greatest Stories in Human History but Never Learned" (emphasis mine). Davis definitely took a historical approach to all these legends and myths. It was interesting and I learned a lot, but it wasn't necessarily what I was looking for. Each part began with a timeline of important events for a specific culture or country and then there were a series of questions about the mythology. Most of the answers were framed in history. It makes sense, but it didn't make for very riveting reading for me. There were also little sections called "Mythic Voices" that did excerpt as directly as possible from the original sources. A list of the important gods/spirits/tricksters/etc. and a brief synopsis of each god's most significant stories was at the end of each part. These were my favorite bits but they felt like afterthoughts. I was pleased when I realized that lesser-known cultures were included, but they were necessarily vague. I'm specifically thinking about the sections on Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific Islands. There are a lot of different peoples living across a big area and they didn't necessarily have the same beliefs. Davis did what he could to draw out their commonalities and focus on those. He was hampered by the…

Tithe by Holly Black: Book Review

Kaye Fierch's mom is a wannabe rocker. When her latest boyfriend attacks her, Kaye and her mom are left with no choice but to move back in with Kaye's grandmother, who lives on the shore. When Kaye was younger and they lived there, she had a lot of faerie friends. Now she's looking for them again and she can't find them. Then she finds an injured knight of the Unseelie Court in the woods and assists him. Now it seems like everyone in faerie needs something from her. Some even want to put her in danger. First of all, I am no longer a young adult, so I'm not exactly the target audience for this. I do usually enjoy YA books though. This one was just okay. For some reason, the underage drinking and partying that goes on in just a few scenes bothered me. Also, the characters and the story weren't fleshed out all that well. I feel like the author was onto a good story, but she could have done more with it. I'm left trying to decide if she did it on purpose. This could be aimed at much younger readers than I think. And it is a faerie tale. Traditional faerie tales seem to be pretty simple, from what I remember. So that could be the case. But really, I was left a little dissatisfied that the book felt like it was lacking something. I won't be reading the next one. Reviewed November 17, 2008 Read an excerpt. Find author Holly Black on her website, her blog, and Twitter. Buy Tithe 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…

Curse of the Blue Tattoo by L. A. Meyer: Book Review

Synopsis from GoodReads: After being forced to leave HMS Dolphin and Jaimy, her true love, Jacky Faber is making a new start at the elite Lawson Peabody School for Young Girls in Boston. But growing up on the streets of London and fighting pirates never prepared Jacky for her toughest battle yet: learning how to be a fine lady. Everything she does is wrong. Her embroidery is deplorable, her French is atrocious, and her table manners--disgusting! Then there's the small matter of her blue anchor tattoo. . . . Despite her best efforts, Jacky can't seem to stay out of trouble long enough to dedicate herself to being ladylike. But what fun would that be, anyway? I loved Jacky Faber when I read the first book in the series, Bloody Jack. Then I listened to the second book on audio. Holy cow! I'd heard these audiobooks were awesome but I really didn't understand until I picked one up for myself. Katherine Kellgren brought Jacky to life for me. Narrating in a Cockney accent that I loved, she crowed in triumph, cried in sadness, and took her with me on every emotion in between. It was amazing and a joy to listen to. I already felt this was a strong start to a series, but I will definitely be continuing in the audio format. I can't imagine separating Kellgren and Jacky now! I've waited too long to review this book, but from what I can remember, this second entry is darker than the first. Yeah, the more I think about it, parts got downright dark and creepy. I was seriously worried for Jacky. It was huge fun to see her in a group of proper young Boston schoolgirls. They don't know what hits them when Jacky walks in! We can all…