The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Boy Next Door is told entirely in emails between the characters. It's copy-written in 2002 so the characters all have dial-up and can't email and talk on the phone at the same time. It was pretty funny to realize how much technology has changed in just eight years. Anyway, having the story told entirely in emails made the story flow a little awkwardly at times. I definitely had to suspend reality when I found myself wondering if someone would really write an email with that much detail and just go with it.
The story is a combination romance and cozy mystery. Melissa Fuller is a single New York writer. The little old lady that lives next door to her is mysteriously attacked and a man claiming to be her nephew comes to live in his aunt's apartment to take care of her pets while she's in the hospital.
The mystery plot line of who attacked the aunt kept me guessing for most of the book. The romance plot line was lacking a little something for me. I think the email format kept the chemistry between Melissa and her boyfriend from coming across as well as it would have with a regular format.
I listened to the audio book version of this book. The format of this book made it awkward for an audio book because the narrator had to read the subject, sender's email address and recipient's email address for every email. Also, there is a gay character that the narrator voices in a completely over the top and very annoying manner. I think if I would have read the paper version of this book it would have gotten four stars.
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November 9th, 2010 in
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Specials by Scott Westerfeld
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This review assumes that you have read the first two books of the trilogy: Uglies and Pretties. If you haven't this review may spoil them for you.
At the beginning of Specials, Tally and her gang the Cutters have been turned into agents for Special Circumstances. They are still Cutters though and need to cut themselves into order to think clearly. (I was a little uncomfortable with the whole cutting aspect of Tally and her friends. I hope that it didn't glamorize cutting for teenagers and make them want to try it.) Their mission is to track down the New Smokies. The question is will Tally help destroy the Smokies or will she be able to think way out of her specialness in time to save them?
This book was a nice ending to the trilogy. (There is a fourth book, Extras, but from what I understand it's set in the same world but not a direct continuation of the series.) There was plenty of action, like in Pretties. A new city was introduced and I liked reading about the way that city did things compared to how Tally's city. I highly recommend this series to fans of dystopian science fiction.
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November 8th, 2010 in
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Travis's birthday was a couple of weeks ago. He was out of town for work on the actual day so we celebrated a few days later. The boys went shopping for the perfect gifts and the perfect party hat for Daddy. Travis was such a good sport – he even wore the hat to the restaurant!
The boys were very adament about the gifts that Daddy "needed". West chose a tea kettle and Cash chose a fondue pot. (No, Travis had not ever mentioned wanting either one.)
We wrapped up our celebration with birthday cheesecake:
November 7th, 2010 in
Travis |
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The Apothecary's Daughter by Julie Klassen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I normally don't read Christian fiction but this book was free for the Kindle and sounded intriguing so I thought I'd give it a try. (Incidentally, this was the first book I've read entirely on my new cell phone. It was fine in short doses – any longer than a half hour and my eyes would start to hurt from the backlight.)
The Apothecary's Daughter is the story of Lilly Haswell, a young lady growing up in a small English village at the turn of the 18th century. Her mother has abandoned the family and Lilly is left to care for her mentally disabled brother and help her father, the village apothecary, in his shop. Along the way she must also decide among several eligible suitors.
This book kept me guessing throughout which suitor she would end up with, although I didn't think she had that much chemistry with any of them. There was also a surprise twist at the end that came out of nowhere. I was pleasantly surprised that Christian aspect of the book was subtle. Prayer and church were mentioned a few times and that was about it.
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November 2nd, 2010 in
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Our Halloween weekend did not start off as planned. Around 10pm on Saturday night, Cash got out of bed and called to me from the top of the stairs, "Mommy, I have something to tell you." and then he barfed all over the staircase. Nice. Then at midnight, West ran into our bedroom screaming and covered in his own puke. Very nice.
The next morning, which was Halloween, the boys were both still a little shaky and each threw up at least one more time. They took a long nap in the afternoon and seemed to be feeling better. We decided to go ahead and try to go trick or treating. As soon as Cash finished putting his costume on, he barfed all over it and Travis's shoes. I quickly threw the costume in the wash and instructed Cash not to eat or drink anything else. After the costume was dry we went out to a few houses. Cash wanted to carry his puke bucket with him but I vetoed that idea. Although a knight carrying a bucket of puke would have been pretty scary!
I wish I could post pictures of the babies. You'll just have to trust me when I tell you that they were the cutest babies ever! Cute-Bomb was Winnie the Pooh and Chief was a peapod. They were adorable trick or treating in the double stroller.
November 1st, 2010 in
Cash,
West |
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This year the boys drew the faces they wanted on their pumpkins on a piece of paper and then Travis traced them onto the pumpkins and cut them out.
West is trying to make a scary face like his pumpkin but I think he actually looks more constipated than scary:
The finished results (Cash designed the first two and West designed the last one):
November 1st, 2010 in
Cash,
West |
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Little Bee by Chris Cleave
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Little Bee is the story of two women. Sarah is a married mother who works for a magazine and lives in the British suburbs. Little Bee is a Nigerian refugee seeking asylum in the UK. Their lives first cross paths in an unexpected way that slowly unfolds in flashbacks throughout the present day story of the two women meeting again two years after that first fateful encounter. The author alternates between Sarah's voice and Little Bee's voice chapter by chapter and does a superb job of making each voice authentic and unique. I kept forgetting that the author is a man because he did such a great job of writing these two female characters.
This story is heartbreakingly beautiful but there is some humor interspersed as well. Little Bee's character has some very funny observations about life in a First World country that had me laughing out loud.
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November 1st, 2010 in
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We received another foster placement last Thursday (the 21st). A sweet two-day old baby boy who I will call Chief (just online, not in real life). We still have Cute-Bomb (formerly Bullfrog) so our house and van are busting at the seams with four children. I love it!
Chief is only going to be with us for a couple more weeks and then he is going to live with his grandma so I'm soaking up every minute that he's here – holding him and smelling his head whenever I get the chance. I really don't even mind that he only sleeps about an hour and half at a time at night because he's so darn sweet.
Chief looks a lot like my biological children – same eye and hair color – so whenever I take him out in public passersby assume that he's mine. Strangers are constantly stopping me to tell me that I look great for someone who just had a baby. I just smile and say thank you!
I've had a lot of people ask me if I would mind answering questions about foster parenting. I am ALWAYS happy to answer questions about it so if you have any fire away. The world can always use more foster parents – unfortunely.
October 30th, 2010 in
Foster parenting |
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West: I'm good at school and naughty at home.
Me: Why is that West?
West (grumpily): Because I'm an opposite person!
*****
Cash's front tooth is on the bottom of Lake Quivera. West accidentally kicked it out while they were swimming (it was already very loose.) Now both his top front teeth are gone!
*****
Cash: I get to go to kindergarten tomorrow!
West: Stop talking about kindergaren Cash – you're going to miss me!
*****
So West made his own dinner tonight – he called it "Dinner Pie". It was as digusting as the name implies – he took a whole wheat tortilla, spread it with Catalina dressing, honey and butter, then he added cut up chicken nuggets and topped it with cheddar cheese. Travis cooked it for him on the skillet til the cheese melted. And then West ate it up!
*****
West tried to kiss me like Ken kisses Barbie on Toy Story. In the middle of Sam's Club.
*****
West is a baby hoarder. He has one tupperware container for his fingernail clippings, one for feathers from his pillow and one for used popsicle sticks.
*****
West: Mommy, what's a mo-hog? Me: I don't know. West: It's a mohawk for a pig!
*****
West decided that he's going to grow his hair out "long like mommy hair" so he can have a baby in his tummy someday. I tried to explain that this is not possible but he's going to try it anyway.
*****
Went to a wedding tonight. Cash spent the entire 20 minute ride home telling us all about the husband and husband wedding he and West were going to have. He said since it was two boys getting married, West would be the "bride" and he would be the "ide".
*****
West: "A bra is like overalls for your breasts right?"
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is both the story of how HeLa cells revolutionized medical research and the story of the woman those cells came from – Henrietta Lacks.
I liked how the author alternated between the scientific HeLa story and the story of Henrietta Lacks and her descendants every other chapter. The author does a great job of explaining things in terms that non-scientists can understand – I don’t have a mind for science at all and I actually understood the scientific part of the story.
This book was a selection for my book club Conversati-Ohm and I thought it was a great book club pick. There are so many discussion points – the club had one of our liveliest discussions. The topic we talked about the most was the ethical issues surrounding the taking of and sometimes profiting from tissues samples from patients without their knowledge and/or consent. Also, Henrietta’s descendents, especially her daughter Deborah, were very interesting and complex people and that lead to a lot of discussion as well.
This is a great non-fiction book about science for non-scientific people.
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October 15th, 2010 in
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