Tuesday, August 16, 2011
No Turning Back, A Witness to Mercy, by Donald H. Calloway, MIC
I'm having trouble writing about this book, and I don't know why. Maybe because this amazing story speaks for itself. Just know this: If your child is a drop-out/stoner/criminal, there is hope. They may not go from drop-out/stoner/criminal to Marian Priest, but don't give up. And that's all I have to say about that!
Monday, August 15, 2011
The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins was not really on my book radar until my daughter asked me if I'd read it. Apparently all of her friends LOVED it. Fast forward to a few days later at Lindbergh Field, where we were getting ready fly to Ohio to visit some friends. Well, there it was, just waiting for me in the airport bookstore, so I bought it. Have I mentioned that I love airport bookstores?! Anyway...I read it all the way to Atlanta. Then I read it while waiting in Atlanta. Then I read it all the way to the Akron/Canton Airport and finished it before we arrived. Needless to say, I LOVED it!
This is not the type of book I normally enjoy. It takes place in the future, in what used to be the United States. The people in charge are cruel despots, and their sport is watching the children of their subjects kill each other in the annual Hunger Games. Think of the Olympics, but with only 1 boy and 1 girl from each country, and the winner is the one who manages not to die. (Sounds awful, doesn't it? Just try to put it down once you've started.) As soon as we got home I raced on over to Barnes and Noble and picked up the next installment in the series, Catching Fire. Unfortunately I haven't started it, because I know I won't want to put that one down, and then I'll have to go get the third book in the trilogy and nothing will get done around here.
So, if you haven't read The Hunger Games, do so SOON! I'll get back to you on the 2nd and 3rd books, but I have a daughter that needs to get to college first. Bye for now!
This is not the type of book I normally enjoy. It takes place in the future, in what used to be the United States. The people in charge are cruel despots, and their sport is watching the children of their subjects kill each other in the annual Hunger Games. Think of the Olympics, but with only 1 boy and 1 girl from each country, and the winner is the one who manages not to die. (Sounds awful, doesn't it? Just try to put it down once you've started.) As soon as we got home I raced on over to Barnes and Noble and picked up the next installment in the series, Catching Fire. Unfortunately I haven't started it, because I know I won't want to put that one down, and then I'll have to go get the third book in the trilogy and nothing will get done around here.
So, if you haven't read The Hunger Games, do so SOON! I'll get back to you on the 2nd and 3rd books, but I have a daughter that needs to get to college first. Bye for now!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
And Now for Something Completely Different
After plowing through Undaunted Courage I felt the need for something light and fluffy. Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich fit the bill!
Smokin' Seventeen is the, and I'm not trying to state the obvious here, 17th book in the Stephanie Plum series. Stephanie is a reluctant bounty hunter in the city of Trenton, NJ, a place where pot-roast-making mothers, Tony Soprano wannabes, and crazy curse-wielding grannies all meet to gossip at the local deli. Which means that EVERYONE knows your business in Trenton, which can be helpful when trying to track down FTA's. (That's "failure to appear" in bounty hunter-ease.) The trouble with Stephanie is that she attracts trouble. And explosions. And really psychotic perps. Not to mention TWO gorgeous but complicated men.
So if you are looking for a light read and a good laugh, try Smokin' Seventeen. Then go back and start at the beginning...One for the Money, Two for the Dough...etc., etc. Enjoy!
PS: Thank you to Monty Python for the title of this post!
Smokin' Seventeen is the, and I'm not trying to state the obvious here, 17th book in the Stephanie Plum series. Stephanie is a reluctant bounty hunter in the city of Trenton, NJ, a place where pot-roast-making mothers, Tony Soprano wannabes, and crazy curse-wielding grannies all meet to gossip at the local deli. Which means that EVERYONE knows your business in Trenton, which can be helpful when trying to track down FTA's. (That's "failure to appear" in bounty hunter-ease.) The trouble with Stephanie is that she attracts trouble. And explosions. And really psychotic perps. Not to mention TWO gorgeous but complicated men.
So if you are looking for a light read and a good laugh, try Smokin' Seventeen. Then go back and start at the beginning...One for the Money, Two for the Dough...etc., etc. Enjoy!
PS: Thank you to Monty Python for the title of this post!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Kind of a Daunting Book
I just finished Undaunted Courage by Stephn E. Ambrose. Phew. THAT was a haul. Don't get me wrong, I love history. I was a history major. I also like long books. This was a long book. Not as long as Lewis and Clark's journey, it just seemed like it. Sometimes even vaunted historians can be a little....well, stuck in the minutiae.
Not that the details of the Lewis and Clark Expedition weren't interesting, it's just there were so many of them. I think my problem is that I USUALLY prefer history written as fiction, or through the eyes of the participants. I have read many of the Shaara books, starting with Michael Shaara's Pulitzer Prize winning Killer Angels, the riveting story of Gettysburg as told through the Civil War generals. His son Jeffrey went on to write the prequel and sequel to Killer Angels, but to date my favorite of his books is Rise to Rebellion, which is about the Revolutionary War. It will make you proud to be an American. I also enjoyed No Less than Victory. This is part of Jeffrey Shaara's WWII series, telling the story of the Battle of the Bulge through the eyes of the soldiers who took part. He researched real letters and correspondence, photographs and reports, but his most interesting sources were the live interviews he did with veterans of that brutal battle. Now THAT is living history. And for me, a much more interesting read.
I will say that I learned a TON about Lewis and Clark that had not been taught to me in school. Or that I'd been taught, learned for the test and promptly forgot. (For instance, did you know that only 1 man died, and it was from appendicitis?) So if you love Lewis and Clark, read this book! Or, just check them out on Google.
Not that the details of the Lewis and Clark Expedition weren't interesting, it's just there were so many of them. I think my problem is that I USUALLY prefer history written as fiction, or through the eyes of the participants. I have read many of the Shaara books, starting with Michael Shaara's Pulitzer Prize winning Killer Angels, the riveting story of Gettysburg as told through the Civil War generals. His son Jeffrey went on to write the prequel and sequel to Killer Angels, but to date my favorite of his books is Rise to Rebellion, which is about the Revolutionary War. It will make you proud to be an American. I also enjoyed No Less than Victory. This is part of Jeffrey Shaara's WWII series, telling the story of the Battle of the Bulge through the eyes of the soldiers who took part. He researched real letters and correspondence, photographs and reports, but his most interesting sources were the live interviews he did with veterans of that brutal battle. Now THAT is living history. And for me, a much more interesting read.
I will say that I learned a TON about Lewis and Clark that had not been taught to me in school. Or that I'd been taught, learned for the test and promptly forgot. (For instance, did you know that only 1 man died, and it was from appendicitis?) So if you love Lewis and Clark, read this book! Or, just check them out on Google.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
The Dog Who Came in from the Cold
Alexander McCall Smith continues to astound me. With this latest installment of the Corduroy Mansion series, he has written 33 books since 1998! That doesn't include the 25 children's books and 3 short story collections, (since 1980), OR the 12 academic texts. (He has a Ph.D. in law.) His mind is just BURSTING with great ideas.
One of his greatest has to be Freddie de la Hay. Freddie is an immensely interesting character. He is also a dog. A Pimlico Terrier to be precise, which is a happy coincidence, because he and his master live in the Pimlico neighborhood of London in the slightly-worse-for-wear mansion block nicknamed "Corduroy Mansions". Many other characters abound in the converted flats, but Freddie is the star of this book. Why? Because Freddie becomes a spy for MI6. Does he save the world? Does he get involved with a svelt female Pimlico Terrier double agent? Do they call him "F"? You'll have to read it to find out.
The Corduroy Mansion series which Freddie inhabits is written and originally published as a serial, so part of the charm is that each chapter can stand on its own as a little story within the bigger picture. (One of my other FAVORITE McCall book series is 44 Scotland Street, which is also written as a serial.) So, I hope you get to know Pimlico and Freddie in The Dog Who Came in from the Cold, and I hope you'll be glad you did.
Cheerio!
One of his greatest has to be Freddie de la Hay. Freddie is an immensely interesting character. He is also a dog. A Pimlico Terrier to be precise, which is a happy coincidence, because he and his master live in the Pimlico neighborhood of London in the slightly-worse-for-wear mansion block nicknamed "Corduroy Mansions". Many other characters abound in the converted flats, but Freddie is the star of this book. Why? Because Freddie becomes a spy for MI6. Does he save the world? Does he get involved with a svelt female Pimlico Terrier double agent? Do they call him "F"? You'll have to read it to find out.
The Corduroy Mansion series which Freddie inhabits is written and originally published as a serial, so part of the charm is that each chapter can stand on its own as a little story within the bigger picture. (One of my other FAVORITE McCall book series is 44 Scotland Street, which is also written as a serial.) So, I hope you get to know Pimlico and Freddie in The Dog Who Came in from the Cold, and I hope you'll be glad you did.
Cheerio!
Monday, July 11, 2011
A Little House Marathon
I just finished reading the above.
I still love them!
If you've never read Laura Ingalls Wilder's books, start now.
No butter churning required.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Looking for Laura
When I heard about The Wilder Life, My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie, By Wendy McClure, I ran to Barnes and Noble like a Sooner racing into Oklahoma to stake a homestead claim. (Too much? Possibly.) Well, I did order it on Amazon without a second thought to what it was about. After all, I LOVED Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Little House books, and when it arrived and I saw its Tiffany blue cover with the first page of Little House in the Big Woods open to a Garth Williams original illustration I KNEW I would love this, too. So much for judging a book by its cover.
OK, I didn't NOT like this book. In fact, the first chapter is hilarious, bringing back memories of my own childhood days of Laura re-enactments. At that point I could really relate to Wendy McClure and her obsession with all things LHOTP. But somewhere on her road trip to see all of the "real" sights in the nine Little House books, she got a little too wordy and introspective. In the end, her journey makes sense, as does her tendency to ramble, but she often took the long way around the barn.
Am I glad I read The Wilder Life? Yes! Am I going to buy a butter churn? NO. If I happen to be in De Smet, SD, will I be excited to see the real Little Town on the Prairie? Probably! Anyway, I definitely am going to reread my 1971 boxed set of the series, and perhaps I'll find my own inner Laura.
As Ma would say, "All's well that ends well!"
Mary Kay
OK, I didn't NOT like this book. In fact, the first chapter is hilarious, bringing back memories of my own childhood days of Laura re-enactments. At that point I could really relate to Wendy McClure and her obsession with all things LHOTP. But somewhere on her road trip to see all of the "real" sights in the nine Little House books, she got a little too wordy and introspective. In the end, her journey makes sense, as does her tendency to ramble, but she often took the long way around the barn.
Am I glad I read The Wilder Life? Yes! Am I going to buy a butter churn? NO. If I happen to be in De Smet, SD, will I be excited to see the real Little Town on the Prairie? Probably! Anyway, I definitely am going to reread my 1971 boxed set of the series, and perhaps I'll find my own inner Laura.
As Ma would say, "All's well that ends well!"
Mary Kay
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