Book Review: Seriously…I’m Kidding

Seriously…I’m Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Paperback Release Date: September 25, 2012
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Seriously…I’m Kidding is Ellen’s newest book. Some chapters are autobiographical but most are Ellen’s trademark random, sometimes absurd humor and observations on life. There were a few laugh out loud moments but it was mostly amusing, not hilarious. I think that it would be a lot funnier I were listening to Ellen herself read this book out loud. Her delivery is half of what makes what she says so funny.

This was a relatively short book and a really fast read because some chapters were just a paragraph or a list of things. I kind of felt like these short chapters were filler; the longer chapters were definitely the funnier ones. Ellen fans (so most everybody – who’s not a fan of Ellen??) will like this book but you might check it out on audio, it’s probably better in that format.

Buy this book at:
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Giveaway: Where We Belong

Yesterday I reviewed Where We Belong by Emily Giffin. Today, I am pleased to be able to offer a copy of the abridged audio book to one of my readers with a United States mailing address. Just fill out the form below before the giveaway closes on January 14, 2013 at 11:59 pm CST. Good luck!

Book Review: Where We Belong

Where We Belong by Emily Giffin
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Release Date: July 24, 2012
My Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Marian Caldwell is a thirty-six year old television producer, living her dream in New York City. With a fulfilling career and satisfying relationship, she has convinced everyone, including herself, that her life is just as she wants it to be. But one night, Marian answers a knock on the door . . . only to find Kirby Rose, an eighteen-year-old girl with a key to a past that Marian thought she had sealed off forever. From the moment Kirby appears on her doorstep, Marian’s perfectly constructed world—and her very identity—will be shaken to its core, resurrecting ghosts and memories of a passionate young love affair that threaten everything that has come to define her.

For the precocious and determined Kirby, the encounter will spur a process of discovery that ushers her across the threshold of adulthood, forcing her to re-evaluate her family and future in a wise and bittersweet light. As the two women embark on a journey to find the one thing missing in their lives, each will come to recognize that where we belong is often where we least expect to find ourselves—a place that we may have willed ourselves to forget, but that the heart remembers forever.

I really enjoyed reading about Marian and Kirby’s developing relationship. I thought it played out authentically. It was awkward at first and not without a few bumps in the road. As an adoptive mom, I cringed every time one of the characters said that Marian gave her baby away but I realize that not everyone knows that this isn’t considered correct terminology anymore. Most people probably do talk about birth moms giving their babies away in real life so it makes sense that that is what the characters would say. (It’s nicer to say that the baby was “placed for adoption.” It’s supposed to sound less like the adoptee was abandoned by the birth mother.)

As a Mizzou grad, I liked that Kirby’s parents were encouraging her to go to Mizzou. Go Tigers! Missouri doesn’t seem to be a popular setting for books so it was fun to actually recognize the landmarks Kirby talks about in St. Louis where she lives.

This book switches back and forth between Marian and Kirby’s first person perspectives. I think that worked well since it was important to get into both characters’ heads while their relationship was growing. It was a little confusing listening to the audio book because I didn’t feel like the narrator (Orlagh Cassidy) was always consistent with keeping the two voices distinct in the narration. However, I thought the dialogue was always great, with both Marian and Kirby as well as the other characters. I loved Orlagh’s voice for Kirby’s dad. He was quite a jolly character and her voice for him made him even more jolly.

I liked that the book had a somewhat ambiguous ending. Anything else would have been unrealistic and too neat and tidy. And I’m one who usually likes everything wrapped up with a bow at the end. This was a perfect “car book”. If I would have read the paper version, I know I would have blown through it – there were times I wanted to keep driving so I could listen to just a little more. This is the second book by Emily Giffin I’ve read and really liked so I think I can safely say that I’m a fan!

Come back tomorrow – I’ll be giving away an abridged copy of the audiobook to one lucky reader!

Buy this book at:
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(I received this audio book courtesy of the publisher.)

Book Review: Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Memoirs of an Imaginary friend is narrated by Budo, imaginary friend to an eight year old boy named Max. Budo has been around for five years, which is a really long time for an imaginary friend, as they disappear once their human person stops believing in them. Max has kept Budo around for so long because he has some kind of high-functioning autism (I don’t believe it’s ever explicitly stated in the book but all the signs are definitely there) and needs some extra help functioning in the world.

I thought the premise to this book was so original. I loved the world of the imaginary friends. They can only do what their human person imagines that they can do and they can only communicate with their human person and other imaginary friends. Since Budo is only five-years old, he has a child-like outlook on the world, although he is more mature and knowledgeable than an average five year old because he watches TV with Max’s parents at night after Max goes to bed. He also sometimes takes walks to the hospital or all-night gas station after bedtime, where he witnesses all kinds of things, good and bad.

When something terrible happens to Max, Budo has to rally the other imaginary friends and figure out how to save him. I was stumped as to how they would manage this without being able to communicate with human people or move things around – it was really suspenseful and I was on the edge of my seat.

I listened to the audio book which was narrated by Matthew Brown. He did a great job. I loved how he made Budo sound innocent but not too childish.

Budo was a great storyteller and I loved his unique outlook on the world. This is an adult book but with the exception of a few expletives (including a couple of F words) it would be good for kids too. I highly recommend Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend.

Buy this book at:
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(I received this book courtesy of the publisher.)

Book Review: Love Anthony

Love Anthony by Lisa Genova
Narrator: Debra Messing
Length: 9 hours and 11 minutes
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Release Date: September 25, 2012

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

Two women, each cast adrift by unforeseen events in their lives, meet by accident on a Nantucket beach and are drawn into a friendship.

Olivia is a young mother whose eight-year-old severely autistic son has recently died. Her marriage badly frayed by years of stress, she comes to the island in a trial separation to try and make sense of the tragedy of her Anthony’s short life.

Beth, a stay-at-home mother of three, is also recently separated after discovering her husband’s long-term infidelity. In an attempt to recapture a sense of her pre-married life, she rekindles her passion for writing, determined to find her own voice again. But surprisingly, as she does so, Beth also find herself channeling the voice of an unknown boy, exuberant in his perceptions of the world around him if autistic in his expression—a voice she can share with Olivia—(is it Anthony?)—that brings comfort and meaning to them both.

The author creates a vivid portrait of how a marriage is affected by a child with profound special needs and then also by the death of a child. I found Olivia’s character to be authentic and heartbreaking. Beth’s marriage is also disintegrating because of her husband’s infidelity and she relies on a colorful cast of supporting characters to help her make it through.

I enjoyed both Beth and Olivia’s stories but I fell in love with Anthony. Ms. Genova does a fabulous job of getting inside of the mind of a non-verbal, autistic boy and interpreting the thought behind his behaviors. No doubt her Ph.D. in neuroscience has something to do with this. Even though Beth somehow channeling Anthony in her writing is unrealistic, I was so caught up in Anthony’s story that it didn’t bother me. I was crying by the end and books don’t usually make me cry.

This book was narrated by Debra Messing (of Will and Grace and Smash fame). She has the same voice for all of the characters and the narration, except for Anthony’s voice. That didn’t bother me though – she is such a great actress that she could convey the feelings and emotions of all of the characters without giving them different voices. One thing that did bother me was that she had a tendency to trail off at the end of a sentence. If I turned the volume up loud enough to hear the tail end of the sentence clearly, then it would be blaringly loud for the beginning of the next sentence.

I thought Love Anthony was a fantastic book and I look forward to reading more by Lisa Genova.

Buy this book at:
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(I received this audio book courtesy of the Solid Gold Reviewers program at Audio Jukebox.)

2012 Challenge Wrap-Up

Although I didn’t do a very good job checking in with my challenges over the course of the year, I did do a good job of completing them. That’s more happenstance than planning.

Here’s the list for 2012:
1. A book with a topographical feature (land formation) in the title – The Healer of Fox Hollow by Joann Rose Leonard
2. A book with something you’d see in the sky in the title – Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
3. A book with a creepy crawly in the title – Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell
4. A book with a type of house in the title – Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
5. A book with something you’d carry in your pocket, purse, or backpack in the title – Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
6. A book with something you’d find on a calendar in the title – Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell

One of my favorite challenges is S. Krishna’s Books South Asian Challenge. The year there aren’t different levels of number of books to read – everyone sets his or her own goal. I’m setting my goal at six books.
1. The Reluctant Matchmaker by Shobhan Bantwal
2. Tiger Hills by Sarita Mandanna
3. And Laughter Fell From the Sky by Jyotsna Sreenivasan
4. Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil
5. Mumbai Noir by Altaf Tyrewala
6. The World We Found by Thrity Umrigar
7. Jana Bibi’s Excellent Fortunes by Betsy Woodman

The Global Reading Challenge 2012 is a challenge to read one fiction book from each of the seven continents:
Africa – The Lower River by Paul Theroux
Asia – All the Flowers In Shanghai by Duncan Jepson
Australia
Europe – City of Women by David R. Gillham
North America – Practical Jean by Trevor Cole (Canada)
South America (please include Central America where it is most convenient for you)
The Seventh Continent (here you can either choose Antarctica or your own ´seventh´ setting, eg the sea, the space, a supernatural/paranormal world, history, the future – you name it). – How To Live Safely In a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu

The Off the Shelf 2012 challenge is to read books that are on your shelves as of December 31, 2011. I need this challenge in a major way – I have so many books in my TBR pile! I’m signing up for the Trying level which is 15 books.
1. Lover Awakened by JR Ward
2. My Life As a White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland
3. Poison Study by Maria Snyder
4. The Discovery of Jeanne Baret by Glynis Ridley
5. Come In and Cover Me by Gin Phillips
6. Modelland by Tyra Banks
7. All the Flowers In Shanghai by Duncan Jepson
8. The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff
9. River Town by Peter Hessler
10. If You Were Here by Jen Lancaster
11. Skipping a Beat by Sarah Pekkanen
12. Cybill Disobedience by Cybill Sheperd
13. “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together In the Cafeteria?” by Beverly Daniel Tatum
14.
15.

Amy Einhorn Books Perpetual Challenge

Read books published by the Amy Einhorn Imprint.

Read in 2010:
1. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
2. The Gendarme by Mark Mustian

Read in 2011:
1. The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
2.The Girl Who Would Speak For the Dead by Paul Elwork
3. What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
4. If Jack’s In Love by Stephen Wetta

Read in 2012:
1. City of Women by David Gillham
2. Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson

2012 – The Year In Books

I’ve done this meme that I first saw on The Boston Bibliophile’s blog for a few years now. It’s a fun way to wrap up the year and remember all that I read throughout the year.

How many books read in 2012?
I set a record again this year with 92 books! I think I’ll go for an even 100 in 2013.

How many fiction and non fiction?
I read 75 fiction and only 17 non-fiction. Last year my percentage of non-fiction was about 12 percent. This year it’s up to 18 percent. I’d like to see it around 25 percent next year.

Male/Female author ratio?
I read 66 female authors and 26 male authors. That’s 28 percent – just 2 percent up from 2011. Clearly I favor female authors.

Favorite book of 2012?
My favorite work of fiction was Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. My favorite non-fiction book was The Half-Life of Facts by Samuel Arbesman. My favorite memoir was Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson.

Least favorite?
My only one-star review this year was Big Miracle by Tom Rose.

Any that you simply couldn’t finish and why?
The only book I abandoned this year was The Cursing Mommy’s Book of Days by Ian Frazier. I’d never heard of The Cursing Mommy but Cynthia Nixon narrated the audiobook so I gave it a try. It just wasn’t funny to me at all – I gave up on it after disc one.

Oldest book read?
The oldest book I read was Little Women by Louisa May Alcott which was first published in 1868. The next oldest book after that was A Kiss Before Dying by Ira Levin which was first published in 1953. Next year, I’d like to read more than two books published before I was born (1974).

Newest?
That’s hard to say because I read a lot that were published in 2012 and I didn’t keep track of the exact day they came out.

Longest and shortest book titles?
Longest: The longest book title was The Discovery of Jeanne Baret: A Story of Science, the High Seas, and the Woman to Circumnavigate the Globe
Shortest: Legend by Marie Lu (It was also the shortest author last name.)

Longest and shortest books?
I don’t keep track of page numbers but I think the longest was Blackout by Mira Grant with 672 pages and the shortest book was Countdown by Mira Grant with 75 pages. How funny that they were books by the same author in the same series!

How many books from the library?
14 books from the library. That’s a lot less than last year. Probably because I am starting to get more and more ARCs since attending BEA in June.

Any translated books?
No translated books this year.

Most read author of the year, and how many books by that author?
This was the year of doubles – I read two books by each of the following authors: Emily Giffin, Mira Grant, Carolyn Jessop, Jeff Kinney, and Jennifer Weiner.

Any re-reads?
I re-read the second half of Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer in preparation for the release of the movie Breaking Dawn Part 2. A Kiss Before Dying and Little Women were also re-reads – I think I read of both of them in middle or high school. Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward was a re-read too.

Favorite character of the year?
My favorite character was Amy from Gone Girl. I didn’t necessarily like her the most but she was one of the smartest and most complex characters of this year.

Which countries did you go to through the page in your year of reading?
I went to India, China, Romania, Germany, Canada, England, France, Malawi, Modelland, and Panem. (Those last two may be fictional countries.)

Which book wouldn’t you have read without someone’s specific recommendation?
I wouldn’t have read Diary of a Wimpy Kid if my eight year old son wouldn’t have recommended it to me.

Which author was new to you in 2011 that you now want to read the entire works of?
I would like to read all of the works of Shobhan Bantwal, Gillian Flynn, and Thrity Umrigar.

Which books are you annoyed you didn’t read?
My TBR list is too long – there aren’t any I can think of that I want to read more than any other.

Did you read any books you have always been meaning to read?
Not really. Most of the books I read were newer books that I read fairly soon after I heard about them.

Book Review: Love Times Three

Love Times Three: Our True Story of a Polygamous Marriage by Joe Darger
Publisher: HarperOne
Release Date: September 13, 2011
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Love Times Three is the true story of the Darger family. They are Independent Fundamentalist Mormons living in plural marriage. Yes, another polygamy book! The Dargers are unique even among polygamists in that Joe Darger married his first two wives, Vicki and her cousin Alina, at the same time. Usually polygamists wait at least a year after their first marriage before they take a second wife. Then, even more unusual, Joe married Vicki’s identical twin Valerie ten years later. All together the Darger’s have 24 children, which includes Val’s five from a previous marriage. (One child died in infancy so 23 children are living.)

I first heard of the Dargers when they appeared on the TV show Sister Wives a couple of weeks ago in an episode where they take a vacation with the Brown family. (Of course I immediately Googled them and that’s how I found out they have a book out.) Apparently, they’ve been friends with the Browns for a couple of years. Like the Browns, they are trying to take the stigma out of being polygamists by going public with their lifestyle.

I appreciated that this book went more in depth on the religious reasoning behind polygamy. Joe and his wives quote Mormon scripture as well as other important church documents like the Doctrine and Covenants when explaining the Principle of polygamy and why they have chosen the live the Principle. (Polygamy is also referred to as the Principle, plural marriage, or celestial marriage.) Also, in the back of the book, the different Fundamentalist Mormon communities are listed with a brief description that includes where they are located and what makes them different from each other.

I don’t want this review to turn into a theological debate but I feel I have to point out one inconsistency I found with the Principle as I understand it: People who live the Principle will achieve the highest level of heaven and live together as a family for all eternity. The Principle helps women to become more Christ-like, and thus deserving of the highest level of heaven, because sharing their husbands will help them overcome petty emotions like jealousy and ultimately make them more selfless people. It’s a daily sacrifice. However, even though this is the sixth book on polygamy I’ve read, I can’t figure out how living the Principle makes men more Christ-like. The only thing this book said was that Joe didn’t have any time for hobbies or outside interests because he had so many wives and kids that he needed to spend time with. It seems imbalanced to me.

That said, how consenting adults choose to live is with me as long as no one gets hurt. The Dargers make a good point that many of the abuses that occur in polygamist communities may occur because of the secretive life polygamists are forced to live. If they could live openly, perhaps the abuse would be harder to cover up.

I liked that three of the Dargers’ older children (one from each mom) contributed to the book. Most accounts I’ve seen from children who grew up in polygamy are negative ones where the children suffered abuse. The Dargers’ children seem happy and well-adjusted.

Like the Browns, the Dargers seem to be on the more liberal side of Fundamentalist Mormonism. As I am still quite intrigued with the polygamist lifestyle, I enjoyed this peek into the Dargers lives. Recommended for Nosy Rosies like me.

Buy this book at:
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Book Review: Wild About You

Wild About You by Kerrelyn Sparks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher: Avon
Release Date: November 27, 2012

Publisher’s Description:

It’s not every day that Elsa Bjornberg feels delicate, not when she hosts a home renovation show where she can effortlessly demolish a kitchen. But from the moment she meets Howard Barr, this bear of a man makes her feel like a woman. And the way he looks at her, as if she were a pot of honey he’d like to lick . . .

Howard is not like most men. For one thing, he’s a shapeshifter. And he always thought his celebrity crush would never amount to anything more than drooling at Elsa on TV. When his meddling vampire employer gets involved, the star is suddenly within his grasp—and within a hair of her life. For an ancient curse forbids their new found love, and Howard is suddenly torn between his desire for her and his desire to keep her alive.

This book is the thirteenth book in the Love At Stake series. I haven’t read any of the other books in the series but I didn’t have any trouble following the story in this book. Ms. Sparks does a great job of concisely summarizing past events so that a new reader knows the history of various characters.

There was great chemistry between Howard and Elsa. I don’t want to spoil anything but I thought the ancient curse that kept Howard and Elsa apart was original and creative. There was also plenty of humor. Whenever Elsa thinks about Howard, she only thinks of him in terms of adjectives that start with “H”. Kind of like a grown up Sesame Street! Even though some of the adjectives were cheesy – e.g. hunky – I thought it was great and added to the overall campiness of the book. Her aunts are funny characters as well. The loves scenes were not campy however – they were hot and steamy, as they should be.

Wild About You is fabulous brain candy – perfect for the beach or bathtub. I liked it enough that I want to go back and read the other books in the series.

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book. Check out the other tour stops:

Tuesday, November 27th: Let Them Read Books
Wednesday, November 28th: Eclectic/Eccentric
Thursday, November 29th: Hopelessly Devoted Bibiophile
Wednesday, December 5th: Book Reviews by Molly
Monday, December 10th: Mom in Love With Fiction
Wednesday, December 12th: StephTheBookworm
Friday, December 14th: Books, Thoughts And a Few Adventures
Tuesday, December 18th: Romancing the Book
Thursday, December 20th: Book Spark
TBD: Sara’s Organized Chaos

Buy this book at:
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Reviewing Philosophy

I just updated the Book Reviews tab to further clarify my reviewing philosophy. I thought I’d bring your attention to it here as well.

*****

I rate books using a five-star scale:

5 stars = Wonderful, you MUST read this! 4 stars = Great, would recommend 3 stars = I’m glad I read it but I would not necessarily recommend others read it 2 stars = I’m NOT glad I read it and wouldn’t recommend it to others 1 star = Absolutely horrible

When I review a book, I hold it up the standards of it’s genre. While I expect books that are considered “literary fiction” to be well-written and plotted, I am not going to compare a trashy paranormal romance novel to Shakespeare. I’m of the opinion that it’s okay to read books just for fun and not every book I read needs to be a candidate for the next great American novel. My reviewing philosophy for books is similar to Roger Ebert’s reviewing policy for movies:

“What it means is that the star rating system is relative, not absolute. When you ask a friend if Hellboy is any good, you’re not asking if it’s any good compared to Mystic River, you’re asking if it’s any good compared to The Punisher. And my answer would be, on a scale of one to four, if Superman (1978) is four, then Hellboy is three and The Punisher is two. In the same way, if American Beauty gets four stars, then Leland clocks in at about two.”