C.C. Thomas's Blog, page 10

A Beautiful Gem of a Book: Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan Historical Fiction/Realistic Fiction

It isn't often that I give a book the full "5 star" review, because I can't often find books that deserve it.  For me, a "5 star" book is one that changes me in some way, a book that causes me to think of the world and myself differently, a book that grabs me and won't let me go until I've read the last page.  This is one of those rare books.

Mudbound is the story of a family of characters in the 1940's.  Each chapter is told from the point of view of one of the characters, and while the book starts off as the story of one character, it clearly and quickly becomes the story of a family and community coming to grips with a war at home and a war in their own community.  Laura is an aging spinster who feels her biological alarm ringing in full mode.  When she marries Henry, she is disturbed to discover her new wifely duties involve moving to a farm in the backwoods of Mississippi.  Soon, children follow and her in-laws invade.  Woven throughout is also the story of her neighbors, black sharecroppers who labor under the persecution of racism. 

The book was so beautifully written, each character so fully developed.  It seemed more as if I were watching their story unfold rather than reading a fiction account of one woman's imagination.  I can still hardly believe these people aren't, weren't, real.  It was a tragic story, as all good stories of the South are, and the ending will leave you both hopeless and hopeful.  A beautiful gem of a book!

Enough with This Woman!: A Catskill Eagle by Robert Parker

Spenser #12:  A Catskill Eagle by Robert Parker Mystery

This was my least favorite Spenser yet.

It wasn't that the writing was subpar (which occasionally happens when successful authors rest on their laurels).  As always, Parker is a master with words and plot twists and characterization.  It wasn't that the story was boring or uneventful.  This one had me on the edge of my seat, just like all the others.  My major problem with this book is that I am starting to really dislike a minor character.  Seems petty, I know.

Yet...where is the Spenser I know and love?  He's yearning and hankering after Susan, again.  Wasn't it enough he tried to commit suicide in the last book by being shot, intentionally?  I can forgive that--who hasn't had a terrible heartbreak?  But, come one.  This time, he sacrificed his morals, his own life, and the life of Hawk (and others) to rescue this whiny, self-absorbed love interest.  Seriously,  I hope Parker kills her off soon.  I was so distracted by my growing dislike of her that it distracted from the book.

Regardless, I am addicted to Spenser so I will carry on.  (But, seriously, does she die or dump Spenser soon because that would really motivate me to read the series faster??)

Color Me Purple with Embarrassment: Save the Cupcake by Lisa Papametriou

Confectionately Yours:  Save the Cupcake by Lisa PapametriouYoung adult/Coming of Age/Realistic Fiction

I really don't think of myself as a book snob but I did not have high expectations for this book.  Maybe because of the cover (adorable, but kind of juvenile and garishly purple)?  Maybe because I had acquired it so cheaply (a sale on Amazon for less than $3)?  Maybe because of the overall theme (while I am a foodie, really good foodie books are rare)?

Regardless, I was delighted to find that all of prejudices were wrong.  This was quite a good book, even for me, far outside the intended young teen audience.

The plot centers around, Hayley, a young girl whose life has been turned upside down recently.  After her parent's divorce, she has to move into her grandmother's apartment, which is just over the family tea room and bakery. Her mother is out of work; her father is dating a much younger woman; her friendship with her BFF's are crashing for various reasons.  What I really liked is that the author didn't handle these subjects in a condescending way, as some authors do with young adult fiction.  These problems were dealt with in a very realistic, but tender way.  I also loved how the ending just solved the major plot problem.  It didn't wrap all Hayley's problems up in a cute purple bow.  Certainly, there's enough left over for me to read book #2 in the series, which I already bought.  And, the chapters with recipes for cupcakes really didn't hurt.  I even plan on making some of them.

Overall, a good solid read.  Color me purple with embarrassment.

The Idea Doesn't Live Up to the Reality: The Ark by Boyd Morrison

The Ark by Boyd MorrisonThriller/Adventure

I've read Morrison before so I know not to expect a Pulitzer Prize winning performance.  Still, I am not a book snob and always up for a good read, not matter the genre, no matter the author, no matter the topic.  And, I've read Morrison before and really enjoyed the story.  He's an author I have no problem recommending to people who just want a fun vacation read.

But, this one just didn't meet my expectations, which weren't all that high to begin with. The premise of the story is fascinating and Morrison's plot idea is brilliant:  Noah's Ark of ancient lore wasn't actually a disaster by flood, but rather by plague.  An evil scientist (naturally, and my favorite villain) has discovered the plague and is out to destroy the world unless he can be stopped.  Doesn't that just sound amazing?  It's why I go the book.

Rather than a taut biological and adventure thriller, I got a book long on escapism and short on actual plot twists.  The book could have been halved, easily, and still been just as good.  I've never read as many narrow escapes as in this book.  Truly, it bordered on ridiculous and I eventually didn't really care if the main character escaped or not.  The characters are little more than cardboard cutouts. 
Sigh.  It's a great disappointment from Morrison's other stories and not at all what I wanted.  The only thing that saves it from being a complete wash was the fascinating premise.

Get Off Your Laurels, Kenyon!: Unleash the Night: Dark-Hunters #9

Unleash the Night:  Dark-Hunters #9 by Sherrilyn Kenyon Paranormal Romance

This latest installment in the Dark-Hunters series was my least favorite yet. 

In it, Marguerite is a very sheltered young woman who is saved from a dangerous encounter by a mysterious and strong and incredibly good-looking man.  She falls in love with him and finds out he is not what he appears, because he is a shape-shifting tiger.  Against all odds, they fall in love and are determined to stay together.

Even the plot summary for that felt boring.  This one was just so trite and predictable.  I hate when that happens in a series!  For a series to continue to capture readers, it must continually instill some new element in the story.  This one didn't.  It just felt as if the author were resting on her laurels.  Get off your laurels, Kenyon!  You have the moxie for on-the-edge, so write that way!

Sigh.  I'll read the next one and hope this was just a fluke.  Otherwise, I'm going to need some other recommendations to feed my vampire fix.

Why Do Men Have Nipples? by Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg: Left Me with This Question, "Who Cares?"

Why Do Men Have Nipples?:  Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini by Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg Nonfiction/Humor

Normally, this is the kind of book I love.  Weird trivia, weird humor--what's not to love.  But, in the end it wasn't all that funny.  The trivia wasn't very fascinating.  That just leaves weird.

I absolutely hated the format of this book.  At the beginning of each chapter, the two co-authors have printed a transcript of their instant messaging.  I suppose that might be a good idea if they discussed writing the book or wrestling with which trivia to include but many of the transcripts read like this:  "You there?"  "I'm here. Let's name this chapter Sexpots and Despots"  "Did despots have sex a lot?"  Really fascinating stuff. NOT!

Also, the trivia here was not written about in a way to be interesting to the reader.  It's a collaboration between a doctor and a humor writer so it should be hilarious, but the medical mumbo jumbo was over my head a lot of time and then I found I didn't really care enough to look further into it.  And the humor writer was just about the unfunniest person I've ever read.

The only thing that saved the book from being a "one-star" read was the few bits and pieces of interesting and relevant trivia.  Still, it's like mining for gold in a big batch of dirt.  Skip this altogether if you only want to know the answer to the title--you can easily look it up on online.

Never Better Than Okay: Whisper by Chelsea Cameron

Whisper:  The Whisper Trilogy by Chelsea CameronYoung Adult Paranormal Romance

I picked up this book because I really enjoy reading Cameron's other series, The Noctalis Chronicles.  Unfortunately, that probably set me up for disappointment because this series/book isn't nearly as good.

At first, I had a huge problem with the problem....because it was so familiar.  This story is about a girl who is a "sensitive", or person who can see and communicate with ghosts.  It is her "job" to send them on their way through the light by helping them to send messages, settle old scores, say goodbye to family, etc.  She meets a ghostly presence whom she names Jack.  The two are attracted to one another, fall in love, and continue doing ghostly good deeds.  Anyone familiar with Meg Cabot's Mediator series will see right away how familiar this plot line is, and not nearly written as well.  There are also lots and lots and lots of grammatical and editing mistakes which really pulls away from the storyline as well as weak dialogue and formatting errors.

Still, by about halfway the book, I found that I was starting to enjoy it more. It rose to an "okay" level, but never higher than that.  I think I'll just stick with the other series by Cameron--it's quite addictive!

Should Be Required Reading: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Adult Fiction

Really, I should have expected strong emotion from this book.  The author's other book, The Kite Runner, is the only book I've been barred from reading.  I read that one during a long car trip and I was sobbing so hard, my husband took it away from me because I was distracting his driving.  He hid it until we returned from our trip.  (To be fair to him, I tend to have unnaturally strong reactions to books and can get riled up or depressed for days.)  This book was no different.  I loved it and hated it and can't get rid of it and can't bear to part with it.  It's a book everyone should read; some people more than others, perhaps.

There are some groups of people for whom reading this book should be required:

1.  All young women and men in modern, industrialized countries.  Truly, it should be required reading for seniors in high school and freshmen entering high school for two reasons.  First, while we might feel that the glass ceiling in America is unfair and antiquated, our feminist struggle, in no way, equates to what women around the world have to endure.  While I had read stories and seen news documentaries, this book showed how clearly that being born a woman in Afghanistan equates to being born a lower class of citizen, or gender.  To have no power over who you marry or how your children are treated--I've never read a book that shows how powerless women are, still, in modern society.  And, while we have all seen and heard about the war "over there", to read such an account of how the war affected every citizen and his and her hopes and dreams was so powerful.

2.  This book should be required for all women and men who think the feminist movement is over-rated.  I often hear women who say it is their duty of obey their husband follow them, or that women have achieved enough.  It's one thing to disagree with your husband and give in to his opinion, and entirely another thing to have no say in who you marry, where you live, what happens to your children--too read so vividly about women who have no rights puts the women's liberation movement into such clearer perspective for me.  It is an issue that is dire around the world and to rest after we've come so far isn't good enough.  We shouldn't rest until the treatment men and women receive are equal and just and fair.  Because the alternative is unthinkable.

3.  Finally, this should be required reading for those who are opposed to our involvement in wars around the world.  While I am certainly not pro-war in any way, I do see the vital importance in standing up for a group of people who are powerless to stand up for themselves.  The acts that are perpetrated on the powerless in other societies and our own must be stopped.  Albert Einstein said, "The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything."  There might not have been weapons of mass destruction, but the heinous massacre of citizens by zealous extremists was enough of a reason to intervene.

I love books like this--books that fire me up, get me righteously angry, make me cry and scream and rage. This is a that will stay with you forever, one you can read again and again and find something beautiful in every reading.

More Questions Than Answers: What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang

What's Left of Me by Kat ZhangYoung Adult Dystopian Fiction


I'm always up for a good dystopian novel and this one was definitely unique in this genre. 

Eva and Addie are two souls sharing the same body.  When they hit puberty, one soul (the dominant soul) was supposed to overtake and the other soul would just vanish.  A really unique idea--two different and strong personalities inhabiting one body.  I really like the inner exchange between the two main characters and had no idea how the major plot problem would be solved.  The writing is solid and each character in the book was really fleshed out.  Overall, I enjoyed the story.

However, what stopped the book from becoming a really solid read for me was my initial confusion about the "why"....Why, in the future, are there two souls inhabiting one body? This question led to a host of others that were never answered.   Was this some of scientific experiment?  Was it a religious epiphany?  Why was there a war to stop this?  Why is having two souls bad?  Why would the government care how many people could squeeze into a body?.......one question led to another and another and these never got answered throughout the body.  I see the book is part of a series so maybe these issues will get dealt with later.....but, if not, I don't think I can reading a series that leaves unanswered so many important questions.

James Patterson Wrote This? Really?: Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson

Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson Adult Sentimental Fiction

James Patterson wrote this?  Really?

While I could never prove it, I feel certain saying this was another farmed-out novel of his, with him just selling his name so he could sell some books.  You would think, by now, I would have learned my lesson with Patterson, but no--I just keep coming back for more.

The story is a story within a story.  Kate has fallen in love with Matt, who has something of a secret past.  When he dumps her, he gives her a diary written by his wife, Suzanne, to his son, Nicholas, hence the title.  Yada yada yada.  You can guess the ending, which I did by the first chapter so I won't belabor your time any longer.  Think predictable, trite, overly-dramatic, and drippingly sentimental. 
I shall give two reviews:  if Patterson wrote the book (which he did not) and if someone else wrote the book and put Patterson's name on it (which they most certainly did). 

If Patterson wrote the book:  Dude, stick with crime novels.  Seriously, this is far from your best work.  I have been a fan of yours for decades and recently reread some of your very first books.  While they were amateurish compared to your masterful later works, they were still authentic and respectable to the reader.  This was borderline ridiculous for you--I kept waiting for one real moment in the book, one moment where I knew it wasn't a book, knew it wasn't a story.  I kept waiting for one surprise, one thrill.  Those things never happened.  This felt like one of those "factory reads"--another book to plug out with cardboard characters, stilted conversations, and ridiculous plot twists.  Go back to what you know and do best because, at that, there is none better than you.

If someone else wrote the book:  Dump Patterson's name and write for yourself.  If I hadn't been expecting "Patterson", I probably would have liked the story.  Your writing is tight and grammatically correct and you obviously have some interesting ideas.  There were a lot of loose ends in the book (why two Matt's, for instance?  Why did Suzanne act so recklessly with her son after pages and pages of her careful love?)  Hire an editor and make your own magic.  Or, consider writing for the Lifetime channel--this would fit in well with their other movies and you would have an audience that loves you.