false 14 243 132 true 5650640 read 1 true 1400951 currently-reading 110 true 1400950 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78467126 Little Women (Paperback) by Louisa May Alcott
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78466277 to: The Help (Hardcover) by Kathryn Stockett
I read this at the urging of a friend who loaned me the book. I had a hard time engaging with it, for about the first 1/3. Not that it wasn't interesting...it just wasn't interesting ME. I kept at it, though, because I knew my friend would want to talk about it and I'm glad I did. Somewhere, well before the first half, the gears all meshed up tight and I found it really engrossing. The characters fleshed out beautifully, and I really started to care about what happened to them ALL, even the peripheral ones and the icky ones. When it was finished, I kept wondering, "What happened to Mae Mobley? What happened to Aibileen? What about Skeeter's indomitable mother?" Good grief -- I hope Stockett writes a sequel.

]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78464919 to: The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children (Paperback) by Ross W. Greene
I think this book holds sound parenting advice for any parent, not just those blessed with what Greene calls "explosive children." The gist of it is: 1) Empathy and Reassurance, 2) Define the problem, and 3) Invitation. Personally, I thought #2 was the most interesting. Greene points out that often times parents think they know what the problem is, but they are totally wrong. For example, your child has a temper tantrum because she wants to wear the yellow dress which is in the laundry. You think the problem is that she wants to wear a dress which is unavailable but the real problem is that she doesn't like wearing the blue sandals that she usually wears with the blue dress..... Number three, invitation, is just asking the child to participate in the problem solving, such as "I understand that you don't like the blue sandals. What can we do about that?" This is also good advice which I will try to incorporate more. What better way than to teach your children to solve their own problems? ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76766884 to: The Invention of Hugo Cabret (Hardcover) by Brian Selznick
This is a children's book (yes, really, at 500+ pages) and Thomas and I read it together for his latest book report. It was really enjoyable. An engaging story, historical fiction that seems well-researched, and a unique presentation. If you have a 3rd grader who doesn't like reading, give this one a try. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75320585 to: An Echo in the Bone (Outlander, #7) by Diana Gabaldon
Ooooh-kay. Well, this is a disappointment. Not exactly boring per se, but...meh.

Most of you know that I'm a huge fan of these books and have gone to bat for Outlander many times, at great risk of personal humiliation by friend and family who are literary snobs. (Yes, you -- you know who you are.) I have waited FOUR YEARS for this installment and I'm not happy. I usually clear the decks for a week because I literally cannot put down these books but it's taken me almost a month to get through this one because it was so easy to put down.

There are four separate story lines intertwined in this novel and the reading is choppy and disconcerting. Once you finally get invested in a storyline, it changes, and takes a while to settle into the new scene. Plus the story lines dealing with Lord John and William are a snore. I don't care for Gabaldon's "Lord John" series and I felt that there were a lot of references in this novel that I wasn't getting because I don't read those novels. Loads of plotting and intrigue which made my eyes glaze AND, in the end, don't really amount to much of anything. Jamie and Claire are all wrapped up in the Revolutionary War (which felt contrived since they were so determined NOT to actively fight), plus a few sea battles, and even that was a bit of a snore. (How to you make the Revolutionary War boring??? Unbelievable.)

On the plus side, the last 150+ pages are insane. I've been reading non-stop for the past three hours. It finally becomes the roller-coaster ride I had hoped for, even if implausible plot lines made me roll my eyes across the room. Then, BAM, several thoroughly crazy cliff-hanger endings, and BAM. End of book.

Now I get to wait another four years. Gabaldon, you're going to be the death of me. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/50023746 to: The Hunger Games (Hunger Games, #1) by Suzanne Collins
Well, I lucked out and found a friend who has a copy of this so now I don't have to languish on my library's "hold" list any longer.

This deserves all the accolades it has gotten. I read it in a single day -- I wasn't expecting to -- but that's how absorbing it is (and how fast a read it is.) It is set in a post-apocalypse, dystopian USA. Now each district (12) has to send one boy and one girl to participate in "The Hunger Games" at Capital City. The "game" is a fight to the death -- the winner is lavishly rewarded; the losers...well...die. The "Games" are punishment for the 12 districts to remind them about what happened the last time they rebelled against the capital.

None of this matters much -- the characters are all strong and well-written. I bought into the whole premise from the beginning. Interestingly enough, it’s a love story (on multiple levels) and an action story, and instead of being one ghastly death after another, it reads much more like a survival story. The tension ratchets up one notch at a time, and quickly, so by page 17 I was hooked. Hooked and nervous.

I hear there is a sequel in the works, which I am really looking forward to.
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75319876 to: Catching Fire (Hunger Games, #2) by Suzanne Collins
Excellent! I completely recommend this one. Go get it! Go! Go! (Only read The Hunger Games first.) My only problem with the books is where it ended -- agh! Another cliffhanger. Suzanne Collins is going to kill me with these.

Why are you still here? Go to the library and check it out. It reads super quick and you'll enjoy it. Really! ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75318676 to: The World to Come: A Novel (Paperback) by Dara Horn
I liked it. It's ... hum...Yiddish folklore, and loosly based historical fiction that goes from modern time to 1920's Russia, post-pogrom, and back, it was an interesting and beautiful read. At the center of the novel is a painting by Marc Chagall, and an art theft from a Jewish museum. I think it was worth reading if just for the fascinating ideas Horn presents about our pre- and post-moral existance.

One quibble -- I thought the ending was tacked on. Like an essay or short story that the author wrote a while back, then dug up again and felt it had the chops to be a full-length novel, which she wrote, and then couldn't resist adding the essay to the end.

Another quibble -- I think I totally mis-read the ending. My friend, who recommended this one, had a different interpretation which I think is not only nicer, and better, but accurate as well. Glad I talked to her about it! ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75318603 Gentlemen (Hardcover) by Michael Northrop
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/72551601 to: Blood Memory (Paperback) by Greg Iles
I forgot to write this one up too. It's the 2nd Iles book and now I see that he doesn't really write the same characters, he writes the same place -- Natchez, Miss. There are two main mysteries here. One is a serial murderer in New Orleans. The second mystery is our protagonist. She is a forensic odentologist and her personal life is a complete disaster. We meet her as her personal life starts to disintegrate with such force that it crashes into her professional life and both are destroyed.

I figured out almost from the beginning why Cat's life is a mess. I don't know why -- it was like a flash of insight -- but I was right, and remained sure I was right all along every McGuffin and red herring thrown into the plot. I didn't care nearly as much about who the serial killer was, and didn't guess it early. Nonetheless, it was a good, entertaining read, even though it was about very difficult subject matter. I'm sure I'll be picking up another Greg Iles again. ]]>