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Read more about the article The Arabian Nights: Book Review

The Arabian Nights: Book Review

For those 2 people who don't know, The Arabian Nights is sort of a collection of short stories told in Arabia (which seems to include India and parts of China) waaaaaay back in the day. The framework of the story is about a sultan who caught his wife cheating on him. After he has her killed, he decides to take out his revenge on the entire sex, so he marries a different wife every day and has her killed the next morning. Scheherazade is the Grand Vizier's beautiful, intelligent daughter. She realizes that this can't go on, so she comes up with a plan. She asks to be the next wife of the sultan, and she starts telling him a story on their wedding night. But buried within that story is another story. The sultan is so intrigued by the story that he decides to let her live so he can find out how the story ends. She keeps stringing him along like this, theoretically for 1000 nights, until he relents and gives her a full pardon and takes her for his real wife. But that's only a very small part of the book. The biggest part of the book is the stories Scheherazade tells the sultan. Included are Aladdin, Ali Baba, Sinbad, and others that we've probably all heard in one form or another. I just picked this up because I wanted to see what it was all about. This version was very readable. It was interesting to see a slice of Arabian life. I would catch myself thinking, "They treat women so badly over there" and then I would remember that when these stories were first told, women were treated badly pretty much everywhere. But then there would be some stories where the women had surprising freedom and…

Read more about the article The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot: Book Review

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot: Book Review

HeLa cells (named after the woman they came from, Henrietta Lacks) have been used for about 60 years by scientists all over the world for all kinds of cellular research. Yet very few scientists could tell you the real name of the woman the cells came from, much less anything about her. Yet somehow, Rebecca Skloot stumbled onto the cells in a high school biology class. The teacher even got Henrietta's name right. The lesson spawned a years-long fascination with HeLa cells, Henrietta Lacks herself, her family, and the ethical questions that arise from the story. This book is the product of that research. I would honestly never have picked this book up on my own, but I've heard so many good things about the audio version that I decided to give it a try. One can't listen to fluff alone! All the praise is well-deserved. There is so much to chew over here. Parts were pretty upsetting, for a lot of different reasons. Henrietta's children had a very hard life after she passed away, and as I told my husband just a bit about it, he cut me off and said, "Why do you always read books like that? Doesn't it depress you?" Yes, it does, but it also reminds me how good I have it in comparison. We all need a little attitude adjustment occasionally, and difficult books like this serve that purpose for me. Aside from the family's personal hardships, it was hard to hear about Henrietta's death. It was not by any means an easy one. And then, less personal but more relevant to most of us, there were the ethical questions raised by Henrietta's story. I know times have changed, but I was appalled by the complete disregard for the family. Privacy was barely a…

Read more about the article The Once and Future King by T.H. White: Book Review

The Once and Future King by T.H. White: Book Review

This is the story of King Arthur, Guenever and Lancelot. I think we all know how that goes. I've been reading this off and on for the past six months. I would start to read it, lose interest, and pick up something more interesting. I finally decided that it was time to either give up on it or finish it because I was tired of it taking up space in my nightstand. That was a good place for it because I couldn't read more than a chapter or two without falling asleep. That's not like me at all. The first part of the book is like the Disney movie, The Sword in the Stone. Should be pretty cool, right? I liked that movie. But this is terrible. The basic plot is the same, but the writing is pretty dense and dry. The author keeps referring to Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. I don't know if The Once and Future King is supposed to be a "good parts" translation of the first book, but I sort of got the feeling that's how it worked. Either way, it did feel like a long (677 pages in my edition, to be exact) book report. Can't you remember those book reports you wrote when you were a kid? "This happened, then this happened, then something else happened, The End." That's how this felt. The characters never felt real, the place never felt real, and I never really cared about any of it. Probably the best parts of the book didn't even involve the "real" story at all. T. H. White would occasionally go off on tangents about how people and politics really haven't changed so we shouldn't think that we're any better than what we may be tempted to look on as the…

Read more about the article Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor: Book Review

Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor: Book Review

Karou is a blue-haired high school art student, living a double life in Prague. By day she deals with her jerk of an ex-boyfriend and hangs out with her best friend Zuzana. By evening, or whenever duty calls, she does odd jobs for her secret family, a group that she calls the Chimera. They seem to exist only in their own little antechamber, accessed from portals all over our world, but not a part of it. They are all part beast and part human. Brimstone is her father figure. Karou doesn't know how she came to be with the Chimera and she doesn't remember any other family. Brimstone incessantly collects teeth from around the world. He trades wishes big and small for them. He often sends Karou out to collect for him. It's not an entirely easy job, so she has learned to watch her own back. And then one day, the angels come. What a crap ending! I have learned to hate cliffhangers! Argh! Seriously, if you're going to write a story for me, please make it a story, not just a fragment! The fact that I care should tell you that I really liked this otherwise. Hush, Hush left such a bad taste in my mouth that I had pretty much sworn off angel books. Seriously. But then one day I was browsing my library's digital catalog looking for my next audio book, and this gorgeous cover caught my eye. I'd heard good things about it in the book blog world. I went tearing over to GoodReads to see what my friends thought. Four- and five stars almost across the board! Okay, you guys haven't steered me wrong before, so I decided to break the angel ban and give this a try. I'm so glad I did! I…

Read more about the article Four to Score by Janet Evanovich: Book Review

Four to Score by Janet Evanovich: Book Review

Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has been given the task of bringing in Maxine Nowicki. It should be a straightforward job. Maxine has a clean record and she only "stole" her boyfriend's car. But Maxine proves strangely elusive. Stephanie's job gets harder when Joyce Barnhardt, a new bounty hunter, starts tracking Maxine as well. Stephanie and Joyce have been rivals before, when Joyce was banging Stephanie's husband. Stephanie is determined that she's not going to lose this time. With the help of Lula the giant ex-prostitute; Sally the drag queen; Morelli, everyone's favorite Italian cop; and Ranger, everyone's favorite Cuban bounty hunter extraordinaire, Stephanie just might be able to get her woman. I always remember that I love this series, but somehow in between books, I forget exactly how much I love them. It doesn't take me long to remember. This is how this one played out. My husband was cooking something for me (he's great that way), and I cracked this book open just to take a quick glance. And I started reading. And grinning. On the first page. My husband said my name (I think only once, but I can't be sure), and when I looked up at him, he asked, "Wow, what is that grin all about?" Me: "I forgot how much I love Stephanie Plum!" and with a giggle and a little wiggle of glee, I dove back into the book, at least until my grilled cheese was ready. I am a giggler, but I'm not a wiggler. Stephanie brings it out in me. Or should I say Morelli? *winkwinknudgenudge* My giggles and wiggles continued throughout the book. I've enjoyed the entire series so far, but I did like this one a little more than Three to Get Deadly. Grandma Mazur doesn't have as large a role…

Read more about the article So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Leif Enger: Book Review

So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Leif Enger: Book Review

Monte Becket is a postman in Minnesota in 1915. In his spare time, he wrote a swash-buckling adventure that somehow becomes something of a bestseller. No one is more surprised than Monte. As these things do, the success goes to Monte’s head and he quits his day job to become a fulltime author. And he hits a wall. There’s nothing there. He has written all the stories he has in him in this one story. We first encounter Monte when he has been fighting this writer’s block for about five years. He is sitting at his window one day, trying to meet his daily quota of 1000 words, when he glimpses a boatman row into view through the fog. The boatman is rowing standing up and facing forward as he laughs to himself like he has a delightful little secret. Who could resist that particular allure? Monte runs outside and invites the boatman in for coffee. The man just keeps rowing and laughing, but responds, “Some other time.” Eventually, Monte and his wife and young son have the opportunity to become friends with the boatman, whose name is Glendon Hale. As they become closer to Glen, they feel certain that the man has a past he is hiding. One day, Glen confesses to Monte that he was married to a young Mexican girl a long time ago. He left her for reasons of his own, but now he feels like he should find Blue, as he affectionately calls her, and apologize for leaving her the way that he did. He invites Monte to accompany him on his search. Upon his wife’s urging, Monte eventually agrees to go with Glen, and their adventure begins. Okay, let’s just get it out there. This is not Peace Like a River. It’s just not.…

Read more about the article Character Connection: Jem Finch
Introverted Reader Features

Character Connection: Jem Finch

So we already know that I love Scout and Atticus. After my most recent re-read of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, I realized that I've never fully appreciated Jem. The book covers a pivotal few years in Jem's life, between the ages of roughly 10 and 13. Those are some pretty formative years for anyone, but the things that Jem sees set the course for the rest of his life. At the beginning of the book, Jem is a pretty typical 10-year-old. He likes to play and he's curious about Boo Radley, the neighbor who never comes out of his house. He's not aware enough of the outside world yet to realize that some of his actions, like playing about Boo's life, might hurt Boo's feelings if he realized what was going on. That slowly changes though. He's always pretty patient with Scout, a precocious younger sister who would try almost anyone's patience.  He gets frustrated with her at times, but overall, they play well together and she looks up to him.  He generally explains things so that she can understand them.  As he gets older, he starts to condescend to her a little bit, which she resents, but even then he seems to be genuinely trying to teach her what he's learned about life. Jem at first takes his father for granted. He's just Atticus, and he doesn't really do anything, like play sports or hunt or fish. But after one pivotal scene, Atticus gains Jem's everlasting respect. It's not really his actions, it's his explanation for why he chooses not to use his talent for shooting. He explains it in a way that Jem can understand, and Jem begins to emulate his father. ***SPOILERS (highlight the section below to read them)*** By the summer and fall…

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May 3, 2012
Read more about the article When I Found You by Catherine Ryan Hyde: Book Review

When I Found You by Catherine Ryan Hyde: Book Review

Nathan is in the woods early one October morning, heading out with his faithful dog to go duck hunting. Sadie bounds away from him and starts scratching at the leaves on the forest floor. Sadie is a good dog and this is totally unlike her, so Nathan goes to check out what she's found. It's a newborn, obviously abandoned to die in the woods. Nathan realizes the infant is actually still alive and rushes him to the hospital. He feels compelled to adopt the child, but a grandmother comes forward to take him in instead. Fifteen years later, Nat (named for the man who found him) has become more trouble than his grandmother can handle. He just seems angry at the world. Nathan steps in to care for the teen, who is puzzled by this stranger who does so much for him. I find Catherine Ryan Hyde's books refreshing in that they are ultimately about hope and the innate goodness we humans do have. There is some darkness in the story, but I love that she chooses to portray people at their best. And she does this without getting all sappy. I love me some hope; I gag over sugary sweetness. Nat is a little a lot difficult to like for the most part. He is so angry and defensive. He has reason to be. Just look at his entrance to the world. But he just keeps lashing out, over and over again. Luckily, he does have a softer side, and it shows up just often enough that I didn't wash my hands of him. He's not someone who learns his lessons easily. He does everything the hardest way possible, making his own life more difficult than it has to be. I loved Nathan. He's quiet and reserved and probably…