Book Review: Uglies

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Uglies is a dystopian YA science ficiton novel set several hundred years in the future. The Rusties (us) have destroyed themselves. Now society is divided into the Uglies and the Pretties. Everyone is an Ugly and lives in Uglyville until they turn 16 years old. Then they have a plastic surgery that makes them pretty and move to New Pretty Town.

Tally Youngblood is about to turn 16 and can't wait to be pretty. She becomes friends with Shay who is also about to turn 16 and is involved with a rebel group of people who live outside of civilization in the Smoke and don't want to become pretty. When Shay runs away to live in the Smoke, Tally learns more about the pretty world than she ever wanted to know.

This novel raises familiar concepts about appearance versus substance in unique and interesting ways. Personally, I think the middle school and high school audience that this book was written for need to hear this message over and over again. Scott Westerfeld has built a fun, futuristic world in this book, which is the first of a trilogy. I'm looking forward to reading the second book, Pretties.
View all my reviews >>

2010 Oscar Update

Since my last Academy Award post, I've seen Up In the Air and The Hurt Locker.

I give Up in the Air five stars. I loved that it didn't follow the typical romantic comedy formula and kept you guessing right up until the end. The montages of people reacting to getting laid off were real people who had recently been laid off in real life – that added a real and heart-breaking touch. I'm not sure that Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick really had Oscar worthy performance though. They were both great but were they that great? I'll need to see the movies their competition are in to know for sure.

I give The Hurt Locker four stars. It was a great action movie and I found myself on pins and needles the entire time. The anxiety of the bomb squad soldiers was palpable in almost every scene. I didn't understand a lot of the military jargon and subtext but I still really enjoyed this movie.

BEST PICTURE

Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Up in the Air
Inglourious Basterds
Up
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
A Serious Man

BEST ACTOR

George Clooney – Up in the Air
Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
Colin Firth – A Single Man
Morgan Freeman – Invictus
Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker

BEST ACTRESS

Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia
Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
Gabourey Sidibe – Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Helen Mirren – The Last Station
Carey Mulligan – An Education

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Matt Damon – Invictus
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Christopher Plummer – The Last Station
Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air
Mo'Nique – Precious
Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air
Penelope Cruz – Nine
Maggie Gyllenhaal – Crazy Heart

DIRECTOR

Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
James Cameron – Avatar
Lee Daniels – Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Jason Reitman – Up in the Air

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Up
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Up

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

District 9
An Education
In the Loop
Precious
Up in the Air

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Ajami
El Secreto de Sus Ojos
The Milk of Sorrow
Un Prophete
The White Ribbon

BEST FILM EDITING

Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Burma VJ
The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home

ART DIRECTION

Avatar
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

Valentine’s Day Parties

Cash's school Valentine's Day party was this morning. They had an ice cream sundae bar. Cash actually got a little crazy and let Miss Sunni put chocolate sprinkles on his ice cream – usually he's a purist about this sort of thing.

They made cute picture frames for their craft:

Cash said this is the picture he wants to put in his picture frame:

West's Valentine's Day party was yesterday. Their craft was decorating graham crackers with frosting and conversation hearts (and eating them) and then they ate cupcakes. They were all just a little sugared up by the end of it.

West wanted me to make strawberry cupcakes for his party. My mom makes a strawberry cake for me every year on my birthday so I called her Wednesday morning and asked her to send me the recipe when she got home from work. I told her we were headed to the store and asked her if I needed anything besides strawberries that I wouldn't have on hand. She said no. That night I got the recipe and it called for a white cake mix and strawberry jello! Travis was out of town and the boys were in bed so I had to improvise. I cut and paste a couple of recipes together and hoped for the best. They turned out really good – all the moms at the party were raving over them. Whew!*

*They weren't as good as my mom's though. My mom's cake is very sweet, as cake should be. These tasted more like strawberry quick bread. The frosting was very sweet though.

Book Review: This I Believe

This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women by Jay Allison

From book jacket: Based on the National Public Radio series of the same name, This I Believe features eighty essayists – from the famous to the unknown – completing the thought that begins the books title. Each piece compels readers to rethink not only how they have arrived at their own personal beliefs but also the extent to which they share them with others.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The essays in this book were from both the 1950s version of the This I Believe radio show and the current day version of the show. Both famous and everyday people are included and they run the gamut from liberal, conservative, spiritual and secular. The best part – the essays are only three pages long, not long to suffer if you don't agree with the writer's views. My favorite essays were from a woman who wrote one for the 1950s show when she was 16 years old. The producers of the current show asked her, now a woman in her 50s, to write another one. It was interesting to see how a person's views change over that length of time.
View all my reviews >>

Book Review: The Little Giant of Aberdeen County

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker

Synopsis from book jacket: Since she was born, Truly has paid a price for her enormity. Her father blamed her for her mother's death in childbirth and he was ill-equipped to raise either this giant child or her sister, Serena Jane, the epitome of feminine perfection. When their father died, the sisters were separated, Serena Jane to live a life of privilege and Truly to live on the outskirts of town, subject to abuse and humiliation from her peers. 

But Serena Jane's beauty turns out to be as much of curse as a blessing, as it attracts the interest of the ruthless Bob Bob Morgan. When Serena Jane flees town, it is Truly who must become a mother to her eight-year old nephew while facing relentless cruelty from her brother-in-law. But when Truly finds her calling as a naturopathic healer, she finds some control over her life, as well as the possibility of love in unexpected places.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I listened to this book in the car and I found myself looking forward to my next drive because I was so engrossed in the story. Tiffany Baker's writing style is beautiful, packed full of creative metaphors and incredibly descriptive. Although there were a few metaphors that had me scratching my head because they seemed over the top or didn't make a lot of sense to me.

I loved that we were introduced to the main character Truly at birth and got to follow her life, tragic as it often was, well through adulthood. I really enjoy books about small town life that immerse the reader in the town for several decades. If you liked Fannie Flagg's Standing in the Rainbow, I think you will enjoy this book.

Carrington MacDuffie does an excellent job narrating the audio book – she has a really wide vocal range. She gave every character a unique, believable voice.
View all my reviews >>

Teaser Tuesday: February 9

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"It was the Chicagoans, however, who did all the marching. At Root's house the next day Harriet Monroe met the eastern architects and came away shaken."

-Location 1670-78 The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Kindle edition)

Super Sunday Salon

When the boys and I were at Target the other day they noticed that there were a lot of football decorations all around the store. They asked why and I told them about the Super Bowl – that people liked to have a party to watch a special football game. I had them at "party." They decided we needed to have a Super Bowl party. It would have to be a small party of just the four of us because I unwittingly scheduled our quarterly visit with our licensing social worker for bright and early Monday morning. Meaning that at our Super Bowl party we would also be frantically cleaning the house in preparation for her visit.

After church, we braved Hy-Vee to get hotdogs, beans, fries and of course Rotel. That place was packed! People should plan ahead so that when my family goes shopping at the last minute we don't have to navigate massive crowds. Jeez.

After spending the afternoon cleaning, it was time for the game:

Look at those two – they've never watched a football game in their lives, yet they are entranced. Natural born couch potatoes.

Christmas 2009 Photo Shoot

I realized yesterday that I never posted photos from our Christmas photo shoot:

2010 Academy Award Nominations

The 2010 Oscar nominations were announced yesterday morning. This year there are TEN best picture nominations so I have my work cut out for me. AMC Theaters has a Best Picture Showcase every year where you can see all five nominees in one day. According to their Facebook page, they will be revealing this year's showcase plans by the end of the week. I'm anxious to see when they will do – I'm thinking they'll spread it over two days.

This list doesn't have every category, just the ones I consider to be the major ones. The movies I've already seen are in bold:

BEST PICTURE

Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Up in the Air
Inglourious Basterds
Up
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
A Serious Man

BEST ACTOR

George Clooney – Up in the Air
Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
Colin Firth – A Single Man
Morgan Freeman – Invictus
Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker

BEST ACTRESS

Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia
Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
Gabourey Sidibe – Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Helen Mirren – The Last Station
Carey Mulligan – An Education

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Matt Damon – Invictus
Woody Harrelson – The Messenger
Christopher Plummer – The Last Station
Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air
Mo'Nique – Precious
Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air
Penelope Cruz – Nine
Maggie Gyllenhaal – Crazy Heart

DIRECTOR

Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
James Cameron – Avatar
Lee Daniels – Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Jason Reitman – Up in the Air

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Up
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Up

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

District 9
An Education
In the Loop
Precious
Up in the Air

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Ajami
El Secreto de Sus Ojos
The Milk of Sorrow
Un Prophete
The White Ribbon

BEST FILM EDITING

Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Burma VJ
The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home

ART DIRECTION

Avatar
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

Teaser Tuesday: February 2

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"I believed it was my duty to place motherhood on a higher level than enslavement and accident. I was convinced we must care about people; we must reach out to help them in their despair."

-p. 212 Margaret Sanger's essay in This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman