No Legality

I'll admit it; the cover of Emma Cole's Every Secret Thing put me off the book. It looks like a legal thriller, which is not my preferred reading, even if it is really by Susanna Kearsley writing under a pseudonym.

As I should've known, the cover has nothing really to do with the book. It's really just a mystery with lots of traveling.

Brief summary: "When an old man strikes up a conversation with Kate Murray and attempts to tell her the story of a murder that has not been brought to justice, journalist Kate Murray brushes him aside - until he mentions her beloved grandmother. Before she can reply, he walks away and she watches in horror as he is knocked down on the road and killed. That fateful moment unleashes a whirlwind of events that takes Kate back into her grandmother's war-time past and across the Atlantic, but every step she takes is tracked by an unknown and deadly enemy..."

The story is typical Kearsley with two timelines and two connected plots. With all of Kate's traveling around Europe and fear that she's being hunted, it reminded me of Mary Stewart (like Madam, Will You Talk?). That's not surprising, considering that Kearsley's work has often reminded me of Stewart.

As for the theme of the book, having grandfathers who served in WWII, I appreciated the focus on veterans and remembrance, as well as the idea that wrong is wrong and needs to be righted. All in all, not a bad read.

Rating: 7.5/10

Sort of book-related

Amazon is having an ama-zing sale today on the soundtrack for New Moon. It's only $4.99! Tons of great indie bands, plus my favorite band Muse. Sweet deal!

Amazon + Me = True Love

Quick Reviews

I haven't read anything lately that I've felt compelled to blog about but here's a few brief reviews.

I did read The Magician's Ward by Patricia C. Wrede and it was decent. The "romance" felt rushed, as did the overall story. And I noticed that the back cover copy was very misleading as to what the book was actually about. Here's a brief (and accurate) summary from Amazon:

"This sequel to Mairelon the Magician finds Kim, an apprentice magician and ward of Richard Merrill (Mairelon), in Regency England society. When Mairelon's magic powers are stolen, Kim must trust her magician's abilities to uncover the thief."

Rating: 6/10


Awhile back I also finished The Devil in Music, the last of Kate Ross' Julian Kestrel series.

It was long and took me awhile to get into--but at the end, I was so impressed by the complex weaving that went into the story as well as the twists and reasonings behind people's actions. It was a long read but dived into all sorts of secrets. Also, the title is fabulous--I don't want to ruin it but when the connection was finally revealed, I had to smile in delight at how perfectly named the book is.

All in all, Julian Kestrel's mysteries are definitely a series that's worth reading.

Shivery

When I was a teenager, I didn't read too many YA books. Call me a snob, but my attitude was: "I need to be challenged in my reading; forget these 'teen' books--give me Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, the classics. I AM ABOVE YA BOOKS." (Obviously I've done a complete turnaround now--I'm all about YA books now and as for the classics, I try to read one once a month.)


My stuck-up attitude was probably healthy for my emotional growth because dang, if I had read books like Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver when I was in high school, my whole concept of love could've been pretty romanticized and unrealistic.

First up: gorgeous cover, isn't it? The font inside the book matched the deep, dark blue from the cover. Lovely.

Shiver is rich in atmosphere: fall creeping into winter, girl and boy in love. Briefly, the story is about Grace, who was bitten by wolves as a child. But a wolf with yellow eyes saved her from being devoured. For six years, Grace sees her wolf. Then she meets a boy with yellow eyes--and you've got yourself a nice little angsty love story featuring werewolves.

Obviously, it's LOVE the first time they speak. That's one reason why I enjoy YA--people can fall in undying-I'll-do-anything-for-you love immediately. As that's generally not too realistic, it's probably better I read that sort of book as an adult than as an impressionable teen.

Regardless, I enjoyed this light fantasy, with all its high school angst and passion. I'm definitely reading more Maggie Stiefvater.

Rating: 8/10

YA Fantasy Galore

I'd feel remiss in my recording-what-I-read duty if I didn't mention that I read Mairelon the Magician by Patricia C. Wrede (author of one of my favorite books, Sorcery and Cecelia: or The Enchanted Coffee Pot) and Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith.


I'd like to post a pic of Mairelon but I couldn't find a cover I liked. My copy had a creepy, shadowy '80s vibe going. Let's just say I kept the cover face down when I wasn't reading it. Anyway, both books are YA fantasy, albeit set in totally different eras.

Mairelon does feature a magician, like in Sorcery. Mairelon takes in a street urchin named Kim and they solve a mystery. While there isn't any romance really in this book, I'm hoping for some in book two--Mairelon is in his 20s and Kim is 16, so nothing too illegal going on, at least back in those days. Also, I had a hard time with her name (but not because I don't like the name--I do! One of my best friends is named Kim! Hi Kim!). But this girl, well, I kept on wanting to call her Kat. And were there really Kims back in the early 1800s? I don't know. Her name just didn't suit her personality.

Anyway, the book was a rollicking read. Not as much fun as Sorcery but enough to keep me entertained. I think it was Kim's street slang that threw me off. I can only handle so much guttersnipe talk before I want to throw down the book.

Rating: 7.5/10

Crown Duel is a fantasy set sometime in past-that-never-was. After the death of her father, Countess Meliara and her brother are forced into defending their people. There's a whole bunch of tricky battles and entanglements and kidnappings and alliances and lots and lots of traveling. Has anyone else ever noticed that some books have huge portions of the story dedicated to descriptions of the characters traveling places (Graceling, anyone?). Those stories also make me thankful for my bed. And the fact that no one has ever forced me to go camping--at least since I was 7 or so (thanks a lot, parents).

All in all, I liked Crown Duel ok, but Meliara's ignorance grated on me. WHY IS SHE SO OBTUSE??? Gaaah. At least she admitted she was ignorant--but then she fled the situation so she could go home and "learn." Oh well. And there was a lot of political discussion, which honestly bores me. For me, politics = snooze. Regardless, I'll read the second book but still, not my favorite book ever.

Rating: 7/10

Oooh yeah

Who's pumped about Dollhouse returning on Friday night? Ooooh yeah, better believe I am. I think this season is going to be fabulous.

YA Fantasy Classic....But....

I actually read Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game a week or two back but have been thinking about what I want to write about it. On one hand, I can completely see why it's a classic; on the other, I'm not completely enthralled with it.

Ender's Game is a classic YA fantasy novel about an incredibly intelligent (and basically grown-up) little boy who has been chosen as the person who can save mankind from the buggers, an alien race that mankind fought nearly a century ago. Ender isn't exactly aware of this and is forced to become a leader and overcome all sorts of miserable obstacles. He's a child that is and was never truly a child.

I read an interview with Card in which he describes his style as American Plain (or something along those lines) and that is a fabulous way to explain how he writes: plain and simple. I don't really enjoy that style and I think that's where my issue with the book lay: I generally remembered I was reading a book instead of being completely sucked into the story with more descriptions and emotions, etc. I love forgetting that I'm reading but Card didn't really achieve that for me with this work.

A few years ago, I did read another fantasy book by him, Enchantment, which I liked, so I'm not ruling him out by any means.

Rating: 7/10

Re-Reads

When I want a comforting read that I know I'll enjoy, Lauren Willig is a sure bet. In the last week, I've re-read The Temptation of the Night Jasmine and The Seduction of the Crimson Rose. Both are lovely, spy-filled reads. With romance, mystery, history and a bit of adventure, the whole Pink Carnation series is one of my favorites.

Side note: although the books may appear to be just fluff, Willig is very intelligent and knows her history--she has several master's degrees and was (still is?) going after her Ph.D. But she makes history fun to read about it.

SO GOOD

Suzanne Collins' Catching Fire did not disappoint. At all. I started it Thursday night, finished it Friday. Then I re-started it on Sunday and finished it Monday. So yeah, I liked it. A LOT. (It's a rare book that garners an immediate re-read.)

I love where Collins has gone with the series--the Districts are starting to rebel against the Capital. Katniss is struggling to find where she belongs in the uprising when she and Peeta are forced to face their worst nightmare. The title is perfect (and so's the cover! beautiful!). AND THE ENDING....GAAAHH. I can't wait for book three.

I loved the plotting, the characters, the setting and basically everything about the book. All the elements that made The Hunger Games a success are back.

If you can't tell, I highly recommend this series. It's adventure and action with a bit of dsytopia and some love thrown in. And, in honor of Muse's new CD released today, here's the perfect theme song for the book: Uprising.

Rating: 10/10

Finally!

My brother actually CALLED me the other day to tell me how good Catching Fire was. (But let's just remember who introduced him to the series, hmmm?) I was jealous he'd already read it but my copy is FINALLY ready at the library. Definitely going to start reading it today!

So Freakin' Cute

Not too long ago, I read a review by Angie on Jennifer Echols' Going Too Far. She suggested that it'd be a good fit for fans of Simone Elkeles' Perfect Chemistry. Seeing as I adored Perfect Chemistry, I immediately added Going Too Far to my TBR list.

Well, she was right--I loved Going Too Far as well. I couldn't put it down. I started reading it around 9:45 p.m. last night (big mistake). An hour later, I had to force myself to put it down so I could go to bed. Today I thought about it on and off all day, excited to finish it.

The plot is fairly simple: bad teen girl gets in trouble and as punishment, is forced to spend her spring break with a cop during his night shift, driving around their small town and doing police-y work. And they just might end up falling for each other...

But what takes the work above the standard plot is the writing and the characters themselves. I literally laughed out loud at some parts and smiled out of sheer enjoyment at others. Meg and the police officer both have their own issues to work through, but they do and don't let a Big Misunderstanding keep them apart. And did I mention that the book is so freakin' cute? The characters aren't cutesy in themselves but the writing makes the story adorable. Sometimes all you want is a happy, funny story and this fit the bill perfectly.

Rating: 10/10

Fluff

Every now and then I need a fluffy read--one that doesn't stretch my mind but is instead pure enjoyment. Hester Browne's The Finishing Touches is just that--enjoyable, light-hearted fluff.

Lovely cover! Browne does seem to luck out in her covers--they've been classy so far. Anyway, the story: Betsy was abandoned as a baby on the doorstep of a posh finishing school in London. (Quick side note: I really like the word posh--and of course, I'm a fan of Posh from Spice Girls--so I think I'm going to try and use that word in my vocabulary more.) It just happens that the couple that run the finishing couple don't have any children and are thrilled to adopt her. Betsy is very happy growing up at the finishing school, but after the death of her adopted mother, Betsy is asked to help run the school.

The school needs quite a bit of updating, so Betsy's got her work cut out for her. There may also be a bit of romance and who's-my-real-mother-searchin sprinkled in, too. There's also quite a few cute little tips on being a lady spread in throughout the book, which made it a charming read.

All in all, it was a light read and didn't make me mad like her last book.

Rating: 7.5/10

More Like Art Lectures

I didn't go into The Art Thief by Noah Charney with any sort of great expectation other than it'd be about art. And it certainly was.


The book is about three main works of art (I think? I've already forgotten)--all of which get stolen. It is also a story FULL of characters. So many that I was lost nearly immediately. The book is also full of theft. Several pieces of art are stolen in Europe; people work separately to find the art and at the end, everything pulls together--and actually in a way that rather surprised me. Looking back, I still don't really get how it all worked but whatever.

My first bit of advice, if you're going to read this book, is to not expect to read a "novel." Think of it as more like people lecturing about art. I enjoyed learning more about art but really, this isn't a true story. Characters aren't fleshed out at all and stuff just seems to happen to further along the plot. And the ending is so sudden, with no lead up to it, that I was taken aback and almost didn't want to accept it. In my mind, the title (The Art Thief) was more about art thieves in general and not a specific person. Any ending can be believable and acceptable to the reader--if there is enough preparation. Charney failed on that front.

The reviewers on Amazon hated this book--out of 54 reviews, 26 of them are one star. Reviewers talked about ripping up the book after reading. Many mentioned laughing out loud at parts that weren't even supposed to be funny. While I don't think it was quite a one star read, it was actually pretty bad for a novel. But I did enjoy reading more about art!

Rating: 5/10

Thin Slices

I haven't been able to get into a good book all the past week. For now, I've been reading Billy Collins' Sailing Alone Around the Room. Lovely poetry in it, although I think I like the first book I read by him better. In this one, he seems a bit obsessed with death.

It's a gloomy, fall-ish day here in my town...just the sort of day to enjoy a poem or two. So here's two of my favorites from Sailing. "Marginalia" and "Victoria's Secret." Witty, twisty and lovely word imagery.

No Mountains, Ever!

Well, Jon Krakauer, I already had a fear of mountains. (I'm a Midwest girl. I like flat land and water. Mountains scare me. Even the hills of Pennsylvania, where I went to college, frightened me a little bit.) But thanks to your Into Thin Air, I will never climb a mountain. EVER.

Into Thin Air is Krakauer's account of a deadly storm that hit Mt. Everest in May 1996. He barely survived but others climbing with him didn't.

Before I read this book, I never realized how dangerous climbing truly was (or how cold!). It raises interesting thoughts on what compels people to try something so deadly.

The read was intense, organized and didn't dwell too long on "afterwards." I highly recommend it.

Rating: 10/10

Remembering who is the central character

A few summers ago I had an Elinor Lipman summer. I read everything she wrote (except her short stories). She just published her latest book, The Family Man, so of course I had to read it.

Here's a summary from the cover copy:

"A hysterical phone call from Henry Archer's ex-wife and a familiar face in a photograph upend his well-ordered life and bring him back into contact with the child he adored, a short-term stepdaughter from a misbegotten marriage long ago. Henry is a lawyer, an old-fashioned man, gay, successful, lonely. Thalia is now 28, an actress-hopeful, estranged from her newly widowed crackpot mother -- Denise, Henry's ex. Hoping it will lead to better things for her career, Thalia agrees to pose as the girlfriend of a former child star and current horror-movie luminary who is down on his romantic luck. When Thalia and her complicated social life move into the basement of Henry's Upper West Side townhouse, she finds a champion in her long-lost father, and he finds new life -- and maybe even new love -- in the commotion."

Yep, that sums up the book. I enjoyed it, although it was almost a bit slap-happy for me. I don't remember her other books being that way....although it fit with the whole showmanship aspects of Thalia and the "horror-movie luminary."

I had trouble remembering that Henry is the central character and that Thalia wasn't the main focus. If I had, I would've been more content in her story being more of a periphery one.

Rating: 7.5/10

Not so tasty after all

Confession: I've tried to read Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen (by Julie Powell) twice--a few years apart, too--and just could not make it through either time.

I wanted to see the movie (actually just saw it last night and Meryl Streep was amazing in it; Amy Adams' haircut was awful) and of course, wanted to read the book first. But I just couldn't force myself beyond page 50.

Powell swears up a storm--I can handle a few words sprinkled in but her usage was sooo unnecessary and constant. And she keeps on bashing Republicans constantly. I'm pretty darn non-political but I'm not a Democrat, so her continual blame on that political party got old quickly.

Probably my biggest issue is the simple fact that the book is more of a memoir about her life and not really about her cooking. I don't care about your crappy apartment, Julie, or the fact that you're not-really-ok-maybe-slightly interested in guys other than your husband. It's marketed as a food book; I want it to be about food.

Rating: 2/10

Scandinavian Thriller

Dang. Stieg Larsson knocked me over with The Girl Who Played With Fire.

The book left me in awe. Larsson tied his last book into this one and yet diverged it in a fabulous way. So good.

Lisbeth Salander ("the girl") is accused of murdering three people. Mikael Blomkvist doesn't believe she did it and starts investigating to find the truth. What actually happened--and what is being hidden--is much deeper and darker than he could know...

The pace starts out slower, with police procedural work becoming part of the story, yet Larsson manages to make it interesting and then bumps up the story to compelling. His commentary on Sweden's society is subtle yet condemning. The twists and turns in the plot were completely unexpected and surprising and made perfect sense. And Lisbeth Salander is one of the most interesting characters I've ever read about.

I dreamed about the first one and yes, dreamed about this one, too. Now I want to re-read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. And thank the Lord there's a third book, coming out sometime soon (I hope!).

Rating: 10/10

A Roman Book I Like

Years and years ago I read A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers. I loved it. Generally I don't care for books set in Rome, but this one was so well-done and fascinating that I actually liked it. After talking about the book with a friend, I realized I couldn't remember most of it and decided to re-read it.

Voice is about a Jewish (and Christian) slave girl who is captured during the fall of Jerusalem and ends up a slave for a Roman family. She ends up caring deeply for the family (especially the son!) but faces dire consequences for her faith. Tied in with her story is another slave-forced-to-be-a-gladiator. Rivers weaves numerous storylines together so well--it's definitely an epic story.

Rivers is a great writer....for proof of this, my younger sister, who didn't like reading (how are we even related???), read Rivers' Redeeming Love and suddenly discovered she liked reading!

This series is from the early 1990s but it's remained in print since then--clearly people like it. It's book one in a trilogy, so I'll post reviews about books two and three in the months to come.

Rating: 9.5/10

Another week goes by...

Last week I re-read one of my all-time favorites: The Stars for a Light, book one in the Cheney Duvall, M.D. series by Lynn Morris and Gilbert Morris. I love this series....so good. It's about a female doctor in the 1860s.

Rating: 10/10

Also, thanks to Angie's recommendation, I also read Emily Gee's The Laurentine Spy. It's a nicely-done piece of fantasy work...more serious than I prefer, but still enjoyable. Go read her lovely review if you want more details about it...

Rating: 7.5/10

Swedish time, baby

My copy of The Girl Who Played With Fire came into the library today. YESSSSSSSS.

Now to finish what I'm currently reading as quickly as possible.

Pie time

I just finished reading Alan Bradley's The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. It's sunny and warm and I can combine reading with tanning. Yay for weekends.

Fun cover, huh? And it's a perfect representation of what happens in the first chapter.

Here's Amazon's description:
It's the beginning of a lazy summer in 1950 at the sleepy English village of Bishop's Lacey. Up at the great house of Buckshaw, aspiring chemist Flavia de Luce passes the time tinkering in the laboratory she's inherited from her deceased mother and an eccentric great uncle. When Flavia discovers a murdered stranger in the cucumber patch outside her bedroom window early one morning, she decides to leave aside her flasks and Bunsen burners to solve the crime herself, much to the chagrin of the local authorities.

With her widowed father and two older sisters far too preoccupied with their own pursuits and passions—stamp collecting, adventure novels, and boys respectively—Flavia takes off on her trusty bicycle Gladys to catch a murderer. In Alan Bradley's critically acclaimed debut mystery, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, adult readers will be totally charmed by this fearless, funny, and unflappable kid sleuth. But don't be fooled: this carefully plotted detective novel (the first in a new series) features plenty of unexpected twists and turns and loads of tasty period detail.

Yep, that review sums up my feelings. Lovely period setting, good plotting, detailed characters, amusing, etc. I guess the sun took away my desire to write any more details. Oh well.

Rating: 8/10

I think I need to stop reading about child detectives, though....first Harriet, then Flavia. I'm in the mood to read something totally different.

In which I make a mess of the series

I adore Susan Howatch's writing. Okay, so I haven't read any of her early works but from her Starbridge series on, I've been a fan.

Back in January 2008, I read The Wonder Worker (which utterly horrifies me; I literally thought I had just read within the last six or eight months....not 17 months ago). It is the first book in a three-part series about Nicholas Darrow's healing center, but back in 2006, I read the third book in the series, The Heart Breaker. So I guess it's fitting that I finally read the second book, The High Flyer. And dang, I wish I had read them in order. I'm going to have to re-read Heart Breaker to fully get the entire story because characters from the first two books have subplots in it.

So for this book, the plot is this: Carter Graham is a "high flyer" aka big business woman. She marries a guy named Kim (I think his real name is Joachim) and then is hit with a series of revelations from him. Basically, he's a liar and involved in some baaaaad stuff. But Carter gets involved with Nicholas Darrow and good things come about...

I enjoyed The High Flyer but it was certainly filled with dialogue and analyzing situations, people, etc. While it was good, it didn't blow me away like other of her works. All in all, not bad but I like some of her other writing better.

Rating: 7/10

Why, Donna, WHY?

I'm not going to post the cover of The Little Friend by Donna Tartt. It's CREEPY. So creepy that after I bought the book at a library book sale, I couldn't bring myself to read it for months because of the cover: all black, with a cutout of a baby doll's eyes. And there isn't even really a doll mentioned in the book! When I finally did read it, I kept it face down at all times when I wasn't reading it.

The Little Friend is a Southern gothic novel that takes place over a summer. (In that respect, I was thrilled to read it; I love reading books set in the same season.) I have to admire how completely Tartt switched from the New England/ivy league college setting of her first book, The Secret History, to the completely rural, class-conscious atmosphere of a small town in Mississippi. And her narrators switched gender, age and worldviews.

So the basic plot is this: 9-year-old Robin was found hung in his backyard; no one knows who did it. Twelve years later, Robin's sister Harriet decides she's going to find his murderer. And then she becomes involved with a certain trashy family and snakes and wow, Harriet's life is crazy and odd and gothic.

Tartt is a detailed writer and this book is certainly character-driven. (In my opinion, too character-driven. You get to know SOOO many people far too well.) Harriet is a fascinating character that's not entirely sympathetic. But that's okay, because otherwise she wouldn't have accomplished what she did. As for plot, well, random things happen. Like poisonous snakes nearly killing people. Looking back on it all, my main problem is that I didn't end the book feeling resolved on anything.

Here's my main issue and it's a bit of a spoiler: THE ENDING IS AWFUL. There's no resolution. None. Every single plot line is left open: Harriet's parents, what will happen to Danny and Harriet, the murder.....GAHHHH. Donna, you strung me along for 600+ pages; I WANT ANSWERS. I know, I know; life isn't pretty and full of answers but fiction isn't real life.

I just want to talk to someone else who read this book. Help me move on and resolve my issues...

Rating: 6/10 (more like a 8.5 for writing but a 5 for plot because I'm still so bitter)

Fun Fun

Ally Carter's Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover is sheer fun. I'm always up for the Gallagher Girls and their adventures.

Here's the gist of the series: there's a super-secret school, Gallagher Academy, that trains girl spies (they're not spies now; just learning everything they'll need to know). Cammie Morgan is a pavement artist--skilled at following people, seeing what others don't. She'll need those skills to help protect one of her best friends, whose father is running for vice president.

The story ties in nicely to the previous books in the series, so you should really read those first. (On that note, who reads just one book in a series or skips around? And as I typed that sentence, I realized that I DO. Currently, I'm reading the second book in a loose series where I read book three first, followed by book one and now I'm on book two. Shame on me. But more on that later...)

Cammie is growing as a character and overall maturing, so that's nice to see. And yay for a certain character from book two making a few surprise appearances.

Anything, I like this series....it's fun, full of spies and is still somehow believable.

Rating: 8/10

You're not better than the pros!

I don't remember why I wanted to read Fake I.D. by Walter Sorrells, other than it featured a mom and a daughter living on the run. It seemed like an intriguing YA story.

And it could've been a good story, except for so many gaping plotlines and holes. Chasity Pureheart doesn't know her real name; her current name was plucked from a romance novel. Her and her mom have been running for 16 years but "Chass" doesn't know why. Her mom goes missing and then Chass' life falls apart....or finally comes together? Well, thanks to the preview of book two at the end, you learn neither happens. It's Sorrells decided he wanted to write more about the series, so he totally writes off what happened in book one.

But here's my biggest issue with the book: the secret could've easily been turned over to the police. It should've been immediately turned over! I truly do not understand why Chass' mom has decided to keep them on the run, other than she says something like she's been working on finding solid evidence on this one bad guy for the last 16 years. Honey, clearly you suck at it. Let the pros do their job. Oh! Here's another thing--spoiler alert--at the end, you get a preview of the next book and even though they revealed the secret, the same people are still after them. I DON'T GET IT. The secret should've been in police custody, etc.

There's a few issues, too, with continuity. Chass leaves a guitar and all her clothing in a certain car, which she has to ditch, leaving it all behind. Yet somehow later she still has it. What? Aah, and so much gets resolved in a page or two, it killed me. Really, this book just killed me. (And you think a few other characters, but nope, book two brings them back.)

It certainly was action-packed and an engrossing read but the reason for it all annoyed me so much, as did little continuity issues.

Rating: 6/10

Weekend/Monday Reads

I wasn't really in the mood to read much this weekend (a rare event for me). Still, I managed to finish off Mad About the Boy? by Dolores Gordon-Smith and Edna Lewis' The Taste of Country Cooking.

I love the cover on this one; it's actually what drew me into the series. The cover is evocative of the atmosphere of the novel--very 1920s.

The series feature Jack Haldean, a former Royal Flying Corps pilot turned mystery writer. While Jack is visiting relatives at their grand estate, a guest kills himself--but Jack isn't convinced. As he delves into the mystery, new complications keep on popping up, involving everyone in the family.

Gordon-Smith, as I've said before, is a good writer; it's easy to read and engrossing. I'll be reading book three, As If By Magic (and again, beautiful cover!).

Rating: 8.5/10

Another book I've been reading in bits and pieces is The Taste of Country Cooking (30th anniversary edition). I wouldn't call it a cookbook for general use but rather a look at what cooking used to be like--and I am SO GLAD that I don't have to butcher my meals. It's fascinating how much food preparation has changed in less than 100 years but also in what remains the same. Also, I was intrigued by how Lewis is a strong champion for local and organic eating--30+ years before it became a major movement.

Overall, it reminded me of Little House on the Prairie and how so much of those books involved gathering/preparing/eating food. And I loved them for that fact. But, as in those books, I don't love Edna's descriptions of slaughtered pigs with "glistening" white skin. Eww. I'm not a vegetarian nor will I ever be, but let's not test how deep my love for meat goes, okay?

Still, slaughtering descriptions aside, it was an excellent read and I do recommend it for any fan of cooking.

Wandering with maps aplenty

Reif Larsen's The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet is certainly ambitious and in some ways, charming.

The book is about 12-year-old T. S. Spivet, a genius cartographer. T. S. maps everything--from the corn he and his sister husk to bugs to yeah, everything.

T. S. lives with his rancher father, his scientist mother and his normal pop-obsessed sister. In this family, no one quite fits. T. S. is certainly no cowboy but instead more of a scientist like his mother. Anyway, a professor friend nominates T. S. for a Smithsonian award, which he wins--but the committee doesn't know he's only 12. Too scared to tell his family about the award, T. S. runs away to Washington, D.C. and has many adventures, etc. (Just a side note on that: in Chicago, T. S. has a rather, um, surprising/violent encounter. It threw off the book for me; it was realistic but just didn't fit with the rest of the novel.)

The book rather meandered. Unless there's a sequel in the works, then we're left with so many open-ended questions: Does his mother discover her species of beetle? What happens to the book his mom is writing? Is T. S. and his father's relationship repaired--but his parents' relationship is now ruined? There's also a bit of magic realism thrown in, which again, is a bit odd for a book so solidly founded on science.

My one big complaint was the lack of resolution on so many fronts. It was one of those endings where I involuntarily spoke out loud "Are you kidding me? THAT'S the end? GAHHH."

Selected Works is different--a bit of a plodding work--definitely not a beach read. But it is beautifully illustrated with maps and sketches, which add to the writing but slow it down. It's worth taking a peek at to see if you'd want to read it. Just be prepared for some randomness scattered in.

Rating: 7/10

Happy July

So my three best friends came up for a loooong "weekend" visit. It was incredibly fun and fabulous and I'm sad they're gone. Sometimes I really miss college--mainly the social aspects.

Anyway, that means I did practically no reading--instead we watched movies, like Step Up 2. I LOVE that movie (ok, well, really just the lead guy, actor Robert Hoffman, and all the dancing). So good!

I'm about to finish up a book that's taken me all week to plow through, so I'm looking forward to finishing it and moving onto something new.

Plants galore

First of all, I really like Franz Ferdinand. Their latest CD makes me want to have a party--or workout (seriously, they make working out and running so much better).

Anyway, I've been reading everywhere about Margot Berwin's Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire. Is the hype justified?

Hmm, well, isn't that a pretty cover? No, just kidding, the book was interesting and I really enjoyed the focus on tropical plants, along with their mystical qualities. It's probably just so different (a bit of magic realism combined with plant lore) that it stands out.

Here's the plot: Lila is a recently divorced, youngish, NY advertising executive. She meets a hottttttt plant man who sells her a tropical plant. She discovers that she loves plants, which leads her to this random laundromat filled with plants--including the nine plants of desire. A few mistakes later, the plants are stolen and Lila must make it up to the laundromat owner, Armand. So they travel to Mexico to locate replacements and Lila learns more about the plants and realizes how full her life can be.

I liked the book; however, I think you can see where plotting and symbols tighter. Still, Berwin shows a lot of promise and definitely offered up a unique twist with her focus on tropical plants.

On a side note, it's been pretty darn hot here and I don't have air conditioning (by choice--I love being warm!), so I could really feel her descriptions of the jungle and heat.

Rating: 6.5/10