For the Record: April 2010:

Only one of the books I read this month (Daughter of Fortune) will count towards my goal of reading more books-that-have-been-on-my-bookshelf-forever.  Not only that, but I stopped in Borders on a whim and accidentally came home with 5 more books from their super-sale.  I'm falling behind!  Need to read more, buy less! (right.  like that's going to happen.)  Okay, on with it...this is what I finished reading in April:

29. The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Beverly Cleary (3 stars) Simple and sweet, this book tells the fun story of a mouse and a boy that share a love for a motorcycle. It's written simply enough for a child to read, but is fun to read aloud as well. There were some things that definitely dated the book, but nothing that made it unapproachable. It rather lent to it's charm.

30. Daughter of Fortune, Isabel Allende (3 stars)  This story took place mostly in Chile and California around the time of the Gold Rush, which is one of the main reasons I held onto this book, intending to read it, for so long.  I enjoy Gold Rush history, but this book moved a little too slowly for me.  The writing was fluid, but the pace a little slow, and the topic focused a little too much on whorehouses for my taste.  The book wasn't bad by any means, but it never really grabbed me or spoke to me.

31. The Lightening Thief, Rick Riordan (4 stars) #1 in the Percy Jackson series
32. The Sea of Monsters, Rick Riordan (3 stars) #2 in the Percy Jackson series
33. The Titan's Curse, Rick Riordan (3 stars) #3 in the Percy Jackson series

The Percy Jackson series consists of 5 books which take a unique, action packed, and oftentimes humorous look at what it would be like if the mythology of the Greek Gods were actually real, not mythological.  They are quick and fun to read; I'll be reading the last two soon, I'm sure.

34. Precious Bane, Mary Webb (4 stars)  Recommended by a fellow book lover on the Sonlight forums, and received as a Christmas gift from a friend, I found this to be an interesting jaunt off the beaten path.  It was written in the 1920s, and set in the mid 19th century Great Britain (Wales, I think), it is full of tradition, superstition, culture and lyrical writing.  It is definitely a book to be read and reread, both for its language and its look on life.

35. Time Among the Dead, Thomas Rayfiel (3 stars)  A LibraryThing Early Reviewer book, you can see my full review here.

36. Detectives in Togas, Henry Winterfield (4 stars) A fun, rollicking adventure mystery taking place in Ancient Rome.  Fun to read aloud.

37. Mystery of the Roman Ransom, Henry Winterfield (3.5 stars) Sequel to Detectives in Togas, perhaps not quite as suspenseful but just as much fun.

38. Catching Their Talk in a Box, Betty M. Hockett (3 stars) A missionary story from Sonlight Core 2, this is a simple book about the initial attempts to record the bible in different languages.

39. And the Word Came with Power, Joanne Shetler (4 stars)  What makes this missionary story so great is how it makes obvious how real the spiritual world is, and shares the story of an amazing missionary while also showing that not everyone is called to be an overseas missionary.  I like the emphasis on becoming more like Christ, in whichever way he would have you do so, rather than emphasizing being a missionary.

Time Among the Dead

Title: Time Among the Dead
Author: Thomas Rayfiel
Pages: 158 in Bound Galley Print
Published: 2010 The Permanent Press
Read For: Library Thing Early Reviewers
My Rating: 3 out of 5 starts (somewhat below average execution mingled with somewhat above average premise)

Time Among the Dead is interesting and quick to read, although it feels unpolished. No doubt the plot device--an older gentlemen writing in a journal during his last days--has something to do with this, but one can't help feeling like there were parts of the book that had too great a contrast between practiced and amateurish writing to be convincing. To make a book seem as if it is written as a journal by someone who had never written anything before in their lives, while trying to accomplish some sort of background, plot, character, and setting development, and at the same time having as unstilted an air as possible--as to make it fluid and enjoyable to read--must be quite the challenge. It wasn't quite mastered in this piece, although some sentences were so good that I can't help but think that if the author had a little more time to spend revising the effect would have been much greater.

The main characters in this book immediately reminded me of the Hamleys in Elizabeth Gaskell's Wives and Daughters, which made me connect with them somewhat. There was definitely a late Victorian air about it, and I liked how the estate itself felt like it was decaying right along with the Earl's physical and mental health.  All of the sordid and sundry details of the people's lives in this book, however, got to be a bit tiresome. It was an interesting premise, one that I wish had been developed further.

A bit from page 19:

     He is nervous.  He is...in love.  It came upon me in that slow breaking way the sun dismantles a cloud.  Reexamining the girl Kate, I could certainly see how even a callow oaf such as my grandson could seize on such a relatively unspoilt specimen as entrée to that world where all laws are altered and all colors shift.  My heart was flooded with an equal admixture of pity and envy.

For the Record: March 2010:

I had a pretty good month for reading.  I got a few books read that have been on my shelf for quite awhile (my goal for the year is to get through some of those!) and had a nice mix of different types of books.

 20. Prayers For Sale, Sandra Dallas (4.5)  Sandra Dallas is so much fun to read...she has a great balance of real, slightly historical and heartwarming, with a fluid writing style. This story is about an older lady in a small mining town in Colorado in the 1930s having to come to terms with moving out of her town to live with her daughter because of her age.

21. Mansfield Park, Jane Austen (5)  The last of Jane Austen's published novels I had yet to read.  It was great, much better than I expected to be honest.  I didn't find the main character to be overly pious or prissy as I have heard from other people.

22. The Return of the Plant That Ate Dirty Socks, Nancy McArthur (3) This was a read-aloud for my kids, because they rolled with laughter at the first book in the series.  This one wasn't quite as funny, but the kids loved it and want to read the rest.

23. Matilda, Roald Dahl (4.5) The more I read of Roald Dahl, the more impressed I am.  I wasn't exposed to him in my youth, and always held the preconceived notion that all of his books would be like the Gene Wilder version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (which I didn't like).  Matilda was great, magical in fact.  Makes me want to read more.

 24. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Jamie Ford (4) Read for my book club, see my review here.

25, 26. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll (3) The average rating was arrived at because I felt that the lasting quality, making this into a classic, had to balance out the fact that I really didn't like either book.  They got old fast and were difficult for me to get through.  Most likely, however, it just simply isn't my style.  I didn't like Peter Pan or Wizard of Oz either.

27. Sixteen Brides, Stephanie Grace Whitson (3.5) Read for LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program, see my review here.

28. The Double Bind, Chris Bohjalian (2.5) Borrowed from one of my book club cronies.  I'd read another book by this author (Midwives) and enjoyed it, so I thought I'd give this one a shot.  While I thought the plot/premise was great, and enjoyed the tie-in to The Great Gatsby and the major twist at the end, I just didn't think that it was well written at all.  There were parts that seemed to be focused on too much (especially considering they didn't factor into the ending at all) and most characters were pretty 2D.  Oh well.

Sixteen Brides

Title: Sixteen Brides
Author: Stephanie Grace Whitson
Pages: 243 in Advance Reading Copy
Published: 2010 Bethany House Publishers
Read For: Library Thing Early Reviewers
My Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 (somewhat above average)



Historically, this book covers the post Civil War era when many people's lives had changed dramatically, internally and externally, and were looking for a way to refocus and find hope again. I liked the bridge shown between the Eastern States involved in the Civil War, and the Mid-Western States being formed from people relocating. For the most part, the setting and little historical bits felt natural, if not altogether accurate (Harvard was founded in 1636, not 1650--a somewhat inconsequential yet puzzling mistake).

I enjoyed the personalities of the different characters and how their stories developed, even though I was initially a bit skeptical about how the author was going to be able to develop so many characters (don't worry, there weren't actually 16 brides to follow). I'm not really sure why "tiny waists" needed to be mentioned quite so many times, but as that was one of the very few things to distract me from the story, I can't complain much.

This is a very heartwarming book without too much romance or preaching (neither is something I'm very fond of in a book, but I think that the author achieved a nice balance). It was idealistic in that all of the major problems and conflict happened before the story even began and were all resolved perfectly in the end. Each chapter is prefaced with a brief scripture, reaffirming that the intent of the book is not only it's entertainment value.  Definitely a feel-good story, but for being heartwarming, encouraging, idealistic, romantic and easy to read I think it hit it's mark.

From the back cover:

     Lured West by the promise of prime homesteads, sixteen Civil War Widows uproot and move to Plum Grove, Nebraska.  But more than land awaits their arrival...

     When the women finally stumble off the train, they are greeted eagerly by the local bachelors--with marriage proposals!  As the true motive behind the offered land is revealed, the women muster all the faith, courage, and cunning they can to survive their new circumstances.  Especially when they begin to discover that no one in their group is exactly who she appears to be...

The Story of Christianity: Volume One, Ch. 1-6

I'm finally doing something that I've long had the desire to do: read up on church history.  I received both volumes of The Story of Christianity by Justo L. Gonzalez for Christmas, and have found it very readable and interesting so far.  The first volume consists of 36 chapters cover the Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation.  Here are some main items of interest to me in the first sixth of the book:

(p. 15) "Rome had a vested interest in having her subjects from different lands believe that, although their gods had different names, they were ultimately the same gods...In that atmosphere, Jews and Christians were seen as unbending fanatics who insisted on the sole worship of their One God--an alien cyst that must be removed for the good of society."  (This, in combination with laws about emperor worship, was the reason for persecution.)

(p. 31-32) "Gentiles were invited to become children of Abraham by faith, since they could not be so by flesh.  This...was made possible because...Judaism had believed that through the advent of the Messiah all nations would be brought to Zion." (Early Christianity was not a rival religion, just another sect of Judaism.  Christians were initially persecuted by other Jews because they feared the Christian beliefs would incur the wrath of God for not being obedient enough. The distinction between Jews and Christians became clearer as more Gentiles converted and didn't want to be identified with the Jewish rebellion against Rome.)

(p. 35) "...all social activities [in Roman culture] --the theatre, the army, letters, sports--were so entwined with pagan worship that Christians often felt the need to abstain from them."  "Since Christians worshiped an invisible God, pagans often declared them to be atheists."

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Title: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Author: Jamie Ford

Pages: 285

Published: 2009 Ballantine Books
Read For: Monday Night Book Club

Chosen By: Tracy, March 2010

My Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)

I have been developing a bit of an aversion to New York Times Bestseller books, in part because I get frustrated with how certain topics get uber-popular (not much of a fad follower, myself) and partly because they can occasionally feel somewhat simple or formulaic.  In this sense Jamie Ford's book, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, is a standout, making me rethink my budding prejudice.

Taking place during "the war years" in Seattle, the main characters Henry and Keiko demonstrate a human bond that surpassed political and racial tension.  Lest this sound simple and sweet, let me assure you that it is nothing if not a difficult journey.  Misunderstood at home and at school, with disappointments and challenges left and right, Henry nevertheless strives to be faithful, respectful and honest.  The story filled me with so much compassion and sympathy--for the characters as well for the thousands and thousands (around 110,000) of Japanese Americans that were removed from their homes and placed in internment camps during WWII.  I loved the jazz culture that was woven throughout the story, and thought that the ending nicely balanced out the rest of the book.

For the story of hope, for experience in different cultures, for the glance into history, I would recommend this book.  Simple to read, yet touching and filling all the same.

A clip from page 12:

Young Henry Lee stopped talking to his parents when he was twelve years old.  Not because of some silly childhood tantrum, but because they asked him to.  That was how it felt anyway.  They asked--no, told--him to stop speaking their native Chinese.  It was 1942, and they were desperate for him to learn English.  Which only made Henry more confused when his father pinned a button to his school shirt that read, "I am Chinese."  The contrast seemed absurd.  This makes no sense, he thought.  My father's pride has finally got the better of him.

For the Record: February 2010

My goal this year is to get some books read that have been on my shelf for awhile, and so far this year I have been rather unsuccessful at reaching that goal.  This month only 1 of my books fell into that category.  Oh wel.  Better than none I guess.  I read a lot of Junior Fiction this month. (fun!)

11. (4)  The Underneath, Kathy Appelt.  Wow, this book was totally unexpected. I picked it up at the bookstore, looking for a nice animal story to read aloud to the kids--Newbery Honor meant it should be good, right? It is not a nice happy animal story, but it was amazing to read aloud. It was heavy. There is exposure to Native American spiritual myths, animal mistreatment by a character with a drinking problem, and much suspense. I typically will not continue reading books with such stuff, but this was different. My kids were hooked, we all loved it, though my youngest couldn't listen to some of it. Not for the tenderhearted. If I'd preread it, I probably wouldn't have read it aloud to them yet because of the heavy content, but the writing was lovely. Reminded me of The Fox and the Hound.

12. (2) Gentlemen of the Road, Michael Chabon. This book was terrible. Really, a score of 2 out of 5 is too generous.  The story could have been interesting, but it just wasn't told well. The writing was an odd mix of styles, as if writing an adventure story didn't come naturally to the author (the afterword was much more cohesive and well-written than the book itself). The first chapter was so heavily hit by the thesaurus that it was comical. See my full review here.

13, 14, 15. (4.5) Dragon Slippers, Dragon Flight, and Dragon Spear by Jessica Day George. This series was just great...especially the first book.  My 11yo ds agreed--he couldn't stop reading them either.  I found them while browsing Amazon for fantasy/adventure books for my boys, and they had great reviews.  They are exciting and suspenseful without being frightening, they span genders and ages, they involve magic without getting into mysticism, and are surprisingly moral. I am really not a fantasy fan, but these books may have changed my mind.

16. Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, or Add, Charles J. Sykes (4) This was the book I finally got off my shelf! It was good, still applicable even though it was written 15 years ago, amazingly enough. The info was great, helped to put things into perspective.

17. The Friday Night Knitting Club, Kate Jacobs (3) felt oh-so-very-average in plot and writing style. I thought it'd be a nice happy feel-good story...and it was until about page 300 of 350 when it totally changed tracks. hmpf.  I am willing to admit, however, that my disappointment is only partially due to the hasty, ill-fitting happy ending.  The other part was probably because I had preconceived notions and expectations.

18. Black Ships Before Troy, Rosemary Sutcliff (3.5-4) A good retelling of the Iliad, read aloud to my kiddos.  It would have even been better if I'd had the illustrated version.

19. Al Capone Does My Shirts, Gennifer Choldenko (3.5-4) Really good, for the older side of JF readers I think. I liked the Alcatraz/1930/autism focus. The main character was really easy to identify with, and I felt so bad for him that it was kind of depressing...thus my thoughts that it's better for someone with some emotional maturity.

Gentlemen of the Road

Title: Gentlemen of the Road
Author: Michael Chabon
Pages: 196
Published: 2007 in serial form in The New York Times
2008 in book form by Del Rey (Ballantine) Books
Read For: Monday Night Book Club
Chosen By: Suzanne, February 2010
My Rating: 2 stars (below average, sorry)

I don't like disliking books. As silly as that may sound, I say it because I want to make the point that I am typically an optimistic person, and like to find the good things about everyone and everything, I like to broaden my horizons and I try to be open minded. One of the reasons I really enjoy my book club is because it forces me to branch out and read things that I would not otherwise choose. Every once in a while, however, I need to be honest and admit that I am simply not a fan.

Gentlemen of the Road is my first experience with Michael Chabon's writing, and I have to say that I enjoyed reading the Afterword far more than I did the novel itself. Because of that, I'm going to guess that this was not the best novel with which to begin reading his works, especially considering that another of his novels won a Pulitzer Prize, an honor much easier to imagine after reading the Afterword. Unfortunately, my dislike of how the novel was written may prevent me from reading anything else of his for quite a while.

The premise of the story is interesting, as was the actual story itself, when it could be found. An old fashioned adventure tale taking place in the 10th century, the story centered around two men trying to earn a living, one gig at a time, and inadvertently get caught up in the fight for a kingdom. The style of writing, however, did not match the style of the story and resulted in something that felt amateurish. The style of writing itself was disjointed, the dialogue having a very different feel from the narrative. Ideally, it would have been Charles Dickens (complex sentences and descriptions) meets Alexander Dumas (swashbuckling adventure) but poor execution resulted in that remaining the ideal, not the reality. The first chapter, especially, seemed stilted and uninviting, and felt very strongly of thesaurus overuse. At only 196 pages it didn't take too long to read, for which I'm grateful. Have you read it? Leave me a comment, I'd love to be proven wrong.

An excerpt from page 6:

The Frankish scarecrow slipped out from under his impaled hat and unfolded himself one limb at a time, running his fingers along the parting in his yellow hair. He looked from the African to the hat and back. His cloak, trousers, hose and boots were all black, in sharp contrast with the pallor of his soft hands and the glints of golden whisker on his chin and cheeks, and if he was not a priest, the he must, thought the mahout, for whom a knowledge of men was a necessary corollary to an understanding of elephants, be a physician or an exegete of moldering texts. The Frank folded his arms over his bony chest and stood taking the African's measure along the rule of his bony nose. He wore an arch smile and held his head at an angle meant to signify a weary half-amusement like that which plagued a philosophical man when he contemplated this vain human show.

For the Record: January 2010

I can't believe it's already a new year of reading! My goal this year is to make a major dent in the books on my bookshelf that still need to be read. I got to cross 2 of those off my list this month. Not enough! I tend to choose books by my mood, so it's definitely a challenge for me to read books that have been staring at me for years.

1. (3.5) The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Sixties, Jonathan Leaf. We just moved into a mid-century modern house in remarkably original condition, so I was inspired to know more about the '60s. This went quick, was definitely biased, (it had the obligation to contradict all the assumptions about the 1960s,) but very interesting all the same.

2. (4) The Help, Kathryn Stockett. I have to admit that I was surprised by how much I liked this book...I thought that with all the hype about it, I'd be let down. But I wasn't! I enjoyed the characters, and being plopped down in a different time and place.

3. (3) The Piano Teacher, Janice Y. K. Lee. This book was just average for me. Average writing style--pretty easy to read. The subject/storyline had real potential to be captivating and different, but fell a little flat for me. It took place in Hong Kong in WWII. There was a character with my name, which is unusual, so that was kind of fun.

4. (2.5) The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom. This was one of those books that has been on my shelf forever. I don't know where I got it, but I didn't really like it...I'm glad I got it done with though. It felt contrived, and I really don't like emotional manipulation or too much romance/feely stuff, so that may be part of the reason.

5. (3) Developing a Supernatural Lifestyle, Kris Vallotton. I'd started to read this a while back and then set it down, so it didn't take me real long to finish it. I don't often read Christian "self-help" type books, because there seems to be so little actual substance. This book really wasn't any different for me. There were some good things he said, but they weren't substantiated/developed quite enough for me. And he really needed a better editor (if he had one at all) really REALLY badly. There were quite often sentences that were repeated--word for word--one directly after another. You might be able to do that while preaching (for emphasis or some such) but it does not work in a book.

6. (4) The Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook, Joyce Lankester Brisely. What a sweet storybook! Nice stories from a simpler time, and well written too. We all loved it, thank you Sonlight!

7. (3.5) Rabbit Hill, Robert Lawson. I'm on a little Newbery Medal kick, and so picked up this book. It had delightful drawings and anthropomorphism, a really sweet story. If you like to imagine that all those wild animals out there have personalities and relationships, then you'll probably enjoy this book. It's quick to read, exciting and heartwarming, simple yet thoughtful.

8. (3.5) Criss Cross, Lynne Rae Perkins. Another Newbery book: fun, funny, interesting mix of writing styles in the different chapters...a bit surprised it's a Newbery book though. It didn't have much of a storyline, more of a peek into the humor and wonderings of young teens.

9. (4) Abel's Island, William Steig. Yet another Newbery book. This one really captured me. The drawings added to a wonderfully told heartwarming story.

10. (3.5) When the Elephants Dance, Tess Uriza Holthe. I liked parts of this book, disliked other parts. It took place in the Philippines during WWII and contained many "the-moral-of-my-life-story" tales. Those tales I liked, but the story that was supposed to tie the whole thing together was tedious and unengaging.