Merry Christmas!
I hope everyone who celebrates Christmas had a great one yesterday and that everyone is having a great holiday season!
Book Review: A Redbird Christmas
A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Oswald T. Campbell’s doctor has told him that if he doesn’t spend the winter in a warmer climate then it may be his last. Oswald packs up and moves to the small town of Lost River, Alabama. Once he gets there he is greeted by a cast of colorful characters, including a store-owner and his little redbird named Jack.
A Redbird Christmas is classic Fannie Flagg. It’s filled with colorful, Southern characters with good hearts and intentions. It’s a little on the sappy side but it’s a Christmas story so I think it’s to be expected. And yes, everything is wrapped up neatly and tied with a bow at the end but would you want a Christmas story to end any other way? I wouldn’t want to read books like this all the time but it was the perfect choice to put me in the Christmas spirit and bring some joy to my heart.
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December 23rd, 2011 in
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Giveaway – The Discovery of Jeanne Baret
I am so pleased to be able to giveaway the paperback edition of The Discovery of Jeanne Baret by Glynis Ridley to two of my readers with US addresses. My review of this book will come out after the new year but I wanted to go ahead and do the giveaway now as a special holiday treat for my loyal readers! I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read of the book so far and I think you will too. To enter just fill out the form at the bottom of this post. I’ll take entries up until 11:59pm CST on January 2, 2011. Here is the publisher’s synopsis of the book:
The year was 1765. Eminent botanist Philibert Commerson had just been appointed to a grand new expedition: the first French circumnavigation of the world. As the ships’ official naturalist, Commerson would seek out resources—medicines, spices, timber, food—that could give the French an edge in the ever-accelerating race for empire.
Jeanne Baret, Commerson’s young mistress and collaborator, was desperate not to be left behind. She disguised herself as a teenage boy and signed on as his assistant. The journey made the twenty-six-year-old, known to her shipmates as “Jean” rather than “Jeanne,” the first woman to ever sail around the globe. Yet so little is known about this extraordinary woman, whose accomplishments were considered to be subversive, even impossible for someone of her sex and class.
When the ships made landfall and the secret lovers disembarked to explore, Baret carried heavy wooden field presses and bulky optical instruments over beaches and hills, impressing observers on the ships’ decks with her obvious strength and stamina. Less obvious were the strips of linen wound tight around her upper body and the months she had spent perfecting her masculine disguise in the streets and marketplaces of Paris.
Expedition commander Louis-Antoine de Bougainville recorded in his journal that curious Tahitian natives exposed Baret as a woman, eighteen months into the voyage. But the true story, it turns out, is more complicated.
In The Discovery of Jeanne Baret, Glynis Ridley unravels the conflicting accounts recorded by Baret’s crewmates to piece together the real story: how Baret’s identity was in fact widely suspected within just a couple of weeks of embarking, and the painful consequences of those suspicions; the newly discovered notebook, written in Baret’s own hand, that proves her scientific acumen; and the thousands of specimens she collected, most famously the showy vine bougainvillea.
Ridley also richly explores Baret’s awkward, sometimes dangerous interactions with the men on the ship, including Baret’s lover, the obsessive and sometimes prickly naturalist; a fashion-plate prince who, with his elaborate wigs and velvet garments, was often mistaken for a woman himself; the sour ship’s surgeon, who despised Baret and Commerson; even a Tahitian islander who joined the expedition and asked Baret to show him how to behave like a Frenchman.
But the central character of this true story is Jeanne Baret herself, a working-class woman whose scientific contributions were quietly dismissed and written out of history—until now. Anchored in impeccable original research and bursting with unforgettable characters and exotic settings, The Discovery of Jeanne Baret offers this forgotten heroine a chance to bloom at long last.
December 22nd, 2011 in
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Book Review: Girl With A Pearl Earring
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Girl With a Pearl Earring is the fictionalized story behind the girl in Johannes Vermeer’s famous painting with the same title. Very little is known about Vermeer’s real life and no one knows who the real Girl With a Pearl Earring is so most all of the plot is from Tracy Chevalier’s imagination.
Sixteen year old Griet is from a poor Protestant family living in 1660s Holland. She goes to work as a housekeeper for the Vermeer family so she can help contribute to her family’s dire financial situation. The work is hard and the days are long. Because of her attention to detail, Griet is given the job of cleaning Vermeer’s studio and leaving everything in exactly the same place it was before she cleaned. This makes Vermeer’s wife jealous – she’s not even allowed in the studio because she is so clumsy.
I could not put this book down. Griet is a great character. She is strong but recognizes the limitations of being a woman in the 17th century. She’s smart enough to work with the social confines of her situation to survive and thrive. The relationship between Vermeer and Griet was complex, at times it seemed like a parent/child dynamic and other times it seemed to have more romantic tension. The author did a great job of putting the reader right in the middle of Delft, the town in Holland where the story takes place. I highly recommend this book.
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December 21st, 2011 in
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Book Review: How The Mistakes Were Made
How the Mistakes Were Made by Tyler McMahon
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Laura Loss was in her brother’s punk rock band, Second Class Citizens (SCC), in the early 1980s. Unfortunately, tragedy struck the band and they broke up. It’s now the early 1990s and Laura is living in Seattle working as a barista in a coffee shop and playing bass in a little band called Cooler Heads. She meets Nathan and Sean, two young aspiring musicians who live in Montana, at a Cooler Heads show. They are huge fans of SCC and Laura offers to help them if they ever find themselves in Seattle. Though Laura never dreams that they will actually take her up on her offer, sure enough they show up on her doorstep a few months later.
Sean turns out to be a gifted guitarist and Nathan is a brilliant songwriter. Laura agrees to play drums with them for their first show as The Mistakes, which turns out to be a huge success. One thing leads to another and before they can catch their breath, The Mistakes are one of the biggest bands the Seattle grunge scene has ever produced. When the band implodes, the world blames Laura. She tells her side of the story in How the Mistakes Were Made.
This book captured the feeling of the early 90s grunge movement perfectly. As someone who lived through that time while working at an alternative record store, it made me feel very nostalgic for those days. This is definitely not a feel good story. The three main characters are all flawed in some pretty major ways. At the same time, they are relatable and I found myself sympathizing with them even as they made some terrible choices. I could not put this book down – I was desperate to find out what exactly happened to cause the band’s breakup. I highly recommend this book.
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(I received this book courtesy of the publisher and the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.)
December 20th, 2011 in
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Book Review: Avalon High
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Avalon High is a modern retelling of the Legend of King Arthur. Ellie is new in town and to Avalon High. Her parents are both college professors who specialize in medieval times and they’ve moved with Ellie to Annapolis because they are both on sabbatical for a year. While out running, Ellie meets Will, one of the most popular boys at school. He tells her that he feels like he’s known her in another lifetime. Ellie doesn’t think much of it until more strange things begin to happen. She slowly puts the pieces together and realizes that the Arthurian Legend is playing out in her school. If you aren’t familiar with the Legend of King Arthur, don’t worry. Cabot works in detailed explanations of the legend throughout the book.
I enjoyed this book. It was a cute high school romance with elements of suspense. Ellie was a realistic, likeable character. So was Will – I would have loved to have had him as my boyfriend in high school!
I listened to the audio version of this book which was narrated by Debra Wiseman. I thought she did a great job with both the male and female voices. However, one of the characters has a British accent and I didn’t think her British accent was very good so that was distracting.
I didn’t find out until after I’d finished this book that the rest of the books in this series are graphic novels. I’m disappointed because I love listening to Meg Cabot’s books in the car and I’m assuming that there aren’t audio versions of the graphic novels. On the other hand, I’ve never read a graphic novel before so reading them could be a new and exciting experience for me.
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December 19th, 2011 in
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Book Review: Soulless
My rating: 4,5 of 5 stars
Alexia Tarabotti is a “preternatural”, that is she was born without a soul. This gives her a special power over those who have extra soul – namely vampires and werewolves. Their supernatural powers are deactivated whenever they come into bodily contact with Alexia. Naturally, if the supernatural beings found out what Alexia can do they would not be happy so Alexia keeps her being a preternatural a secret from most everyone. Soullessness is not Alexia’s only affliction. She’s also a spinster and Italian.
Alexia lives in a Victorian England where werewolves, vampires and ghosts live openly alongside ordinary human beings. When a vampire rudely attacks her at a party, Alexia starts to uncover a larger problem brewing in the supernatural community. The investigation brings her closer to Lord Maccon, an Alpha werewolf.
I loved the stylized manner in which this book was written. I felt transported back to Victorian times as I was reading and Alexia has a dry wit that kept me chuckling to myself. The chemistry between Alexia and Lord Maccon was great – I wasn’t expecting the love scenes to be as steamy as they were. There were also so many fantastic supporting characters in this book that were vividly written and really fun.
This book has elements of a few genres, it’s hard pin it down to just one. If I had to, I would say steampunk. It also fits into paranormal romance, mystery and comedy of manners. I think this book would appeal to almost everyone in some way. I highly recommend it.
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December 16th, 2011 in
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Thank You Secret Santa!
A very nice surprise that I came home to after a week at the Mayo Clinic was a package from my Holiday Swap Secret Santa. My Secret Santa is Nicole from The Book Bandit. Boy, did she spoil me – look at all this:
She gave me not one, not two, but count ’em THREE books. They all look right up my alley and really good. They are: Dark Song
December 15th, 2011 in
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I’m Back!
I’m back from my “vacation” to the Mayo Clinic. I drove up last Sunday night and stayed in Rochester all last week having tons of tests. The plan was to have my final consultation with the Mayo GI doctor on Friday afternoon and then drive to Des Moines Friday night and the rest of the way to Kansas City on Saturday morning. Well, at my appointment on Friday, the GI doctor said that the MRI showed an abscess in my colon and he really wanted me to have surgery at Mayo as soon as possible. He said that if I could do it on Monday, then the chief of colo-rectal surgery would be the one performing it. That was an offer too good to pass up – a chief surgeon at Mayo is practically a celebrity in the medical world. BUT I missed my boys terribly so I still drove back this past weekend, saw them for a bit and then my husband drove back up to Rochester with me Sunday afternoon.
Our arrival time for surgery Monday morning was 5:45am. That is just rude! Luckily our hotel was right across the street so our commute time was minimal. To make a long story short – the surgeon looked and looked all over my gut and found nothing. No abscess. That’s good in that I didn’t have to have a drain put in but that means we still aren’t any closer to figuring out what is causing the fever that I’ve had since July. The GI did start me on a couple of new medications for my Crohn’s disease. If the inflammation from the Crohn’s is causing the fever, then hopefully these new meds will do the trick.
Enough about me – back to bookish things tomorrow!
Book Review: Around the World in Stilettos
Around the World in Stilettos by Natalie-Jane Revell
Narrator: Cori Samuel
Length: 6 hours and 12 minutes
Publisher: Iambik Audio Inc
Release Date: October 13, 2011
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Sophie is a 23 year-old travel writer who loves shoes. She’s also extremely clumsy and flighty. She has a secret crush on her writing and traveling partner Dan. Unfortunately, he has a serious girlfriend even though it seems at times that he is interested in Sophie. Things get complicated for Sophie when she meets James. Should she wait for Dan to come to his senses and leave his girlfriend for her or should she pursue a relationship with James?
This book is written by a British author and set in England. I felt like it was trying too hard to be like Bridget Jones’s Diary or the Shopaholic books. Sophie was charming and I found her antics mildly amusing but the humor seemed forced at times. I was confused because Dan kept telling Sophie that James was a jerk and she was too good for him in a manner that suggested he knew something about James that Sophie didn’t. Sophie’s roommate also acted like she knew something about James. Nothing about James was ever revealed though.
I listened to the audio version of this book which was narrated by Cori Samuel. She did a great job even with the voices of the male characters. This was a good book to listen to in the car because it didn’t require a lot of concentration.
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(I received this audio book courtesy of the Solid Gold Reviewers program at Audio Jukebox.)
December 1st, 2011 in
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