Feed by Mira Grant
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Feed is the first book in the Newsflesh trilogy. By 2014 scientists had cured both cancer and the common cold. Unfortunately this unintentionally led to the Rising, when a deadly virus called the Kellis-Amberlee virus started taking over human bodies and turning them into flesh eating zombies. Feed opens in 2039, around twenty years after the Rising. Georgia and Shaun Mason are a sister and brother blogging team who are picked to be the first bloggers to be allowed to embed with a presidential candidate on the campaign trail. Along the way, they uncover a huge conspiracy that will become the biggest story they have ever covered.
This book was so much more than a just a zombie horror novel. The author did a great job with very detailed, authentic world-building. The way she explained how the Kellis-Amberlee virus mutated almost had me convinced that we could actually have a zombie epidemic someday. I noticed some reviewers thought that she had too many information dumps in the book but I actually didn’t notice that. I really appreciated her attention to detail and consistency in the world-building.
This book also had some interesting commentary on the roles that both traditional news media and blogging might have in the future. Additionally, in a world where zombies could be hiding anywhere the issue of how much personal freedom should be limited to ensure the safety of society as a whole becomes very important.
This book also had snippets of sly and subtle humor that were nice mini-breaks from the drama. For example, Georgia is named after George Romero (director of the movie Night of the Living Dead) because he becomes something of a modern day prophet after the Rising happens and some of the events in his movies actually happen.
If you aren’t a zombie or paranormal being fan, please don’t let the fact that this book has zombies in it turn you off from reading it. It was such a fantastic book with twists and turns that took my breath away at times. I can’t wait to read Deadline, the next book in the trilogy.
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August 9th, 2011 in
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Room by Emma Donoghue
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Five year old Jack doesn’t know anything of the world but Room. He was born in the eleven by eleven foot space and has never set foot outside of it. His Ma was kidnapped by Old Nick seven years ago and has been held captive in Room ever since. Ma has worked hard to make sure that Jack doesn’t suspect that Room is a prison but she doesn’t know how much longer she can take being held hostage.
This book was wonderful for so many reasons. I will admit when my book club chose it for one of our monthly selections, I was not looking forward to reading it. Since having kids of my own, I don’t have much of a stomach for reading books in which bad things happen to children. Room pleasantly surprised me – as far as Jack is concerned being in Room is not all that bad. Because it’s all he’s ever known and Ma has carefully sheltered him from knowledge of the outside world, he’s actually a pretty happy child. There are definitely some parts of the book that are tough to read but it wasn’t as wrenching as I thought it would be.
I really appreciated the attention to detail the author had when writing this book. She actually had her brother-in-law design a scale CAD design of Room and all its furnishings so that she could get an accurate feel for what living in an eleven by eleven room would be like. You can find this design on her website. She did a great job of realizing the many aspects of Jack’s development that would be affected by growing up in Room – physical, emotional and intellectual. He was affected in ways I never would have considered myself but that made total sense.
I had the pleasure of hearing Ms. Donoghue speak at an event put on by my local independent bookstore, Rainy Day Books. I can’t really get into what she talked about too much because it would spoil the story but it definitely added to my enjoyment of the book to know why she made the choices she did with the direction the plot went and with the way characters were portrayed.
This book led to one of the most robust book club discussions my club has had. The story was so intriguing and thought-provoking; there were all kinds of issues to talk about. I highly recommend this book.
That’s me on the left and my bestie Nerdyapple on the right at Ms. Donoghue’s book signing.
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August 8th, 2011 in
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Size 14 Is Not Fat Either by Meg Cabot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is the second installment in the Heather Wells mystery series. Since I accidentally read the third book (Big Boned) first, reading Size 14 is Not Fat Either wraps up the series for me. The head of a girl who lives in Fisher Hall is found boiling in a pot on the stove in the cafeteria. Who killed this girl and why? Where is her body? Heather Wells, the assistant director of Fisher Hall, cannot resist the urge to find out the answers to these questions herself instead of waiting for the police to do their job.
I found this book to be a lot more plausible than the first book. The police are not portrayed as bumbling idiots this time and the mystery of “who done it” was more mysterious. Heather is charming and funny and there is a lot less of the annoying dorm/residence hall thing than there was in the first book.
I’ve listened to all three books in this series on audio and the first (Size 12 is Not Fat) and third are both narrated by Justine Eyre and this one was narrated by Kristin Karios. It was strange listening to another voice read Heather and all her friends at first – I had just assumed that Justine would narrate since she narrated the other two in the series. Also, Kristin had some trouble with some of the foreign accents which was distracting when listening to a character with an accent speak.
Overall this series is light and fun – I’m glad I read it.
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Here are my reviews for the other books in the series:
Size 12 is Not Fat
Big Boned
August 3rd, 2011 in
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Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I don’t think I can come up with a better summary of what this crazy book is about than the Amazon.com description:
Teen beauty queens. A Lost-like island. Mysteries and dangers. No access to email. And the spirit of fierce, feral competition that lives underground in girls, a savage brutality that can only be revealed by a journey into the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. Oh, the horror, the horror! Only funnier. With evening gowns. And a body count.
I chose this book because Jen Lancaster wrote on her blog that it was Arrested Development-level good and I loved Arrested Development. After reading it, I wholeheartedly agree with her assessment. This book was full of hilarious and scathing satire regarding consumerism and the value placed on beauty in our society. At the same time, there were some touching and sweet parts – kind of like dramatic relief.
I was really impressed with the amount of research that the author did for this book. This added a real authenticity to the book that made the satire so much more thought-provoking than it would have been otherwise. I was especially impressed with the research she did to make sure that the beauty queens of color’s experiences were grounded in reality and not stereotypes.
This book is marketed as young adult for ages 13-18 and has great moral lessons for this age group. However, it’s a very smart book that adults will love too. The author’s sense of humor reminded me a lot of the Christopher Moore books I’ve read. I think fans of his would particularly enjoy this book although I highly recommend it for everyone.
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(I received this book courtesy of the Amazon Vine program.)
August 2nd, 2011 in
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My Fair Lazy: One Reality Television Addict’s Attempt to Discover If Not Being A Dumb Ass Is the New Black; Or, A Culture-Up Manifesto by Jen Lancaster
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
My Fair Lazy, Jen Lancaster’s fifth memoir, is about her attempt to curb her reality TV addiction and learn more about more intellectual cultural pursuits. Her JENaissance includes going to the opera, reading classic literature, trying new foods and learning more about wine.
Reading this book was like catching up with an old friend. I didn’t think this book was as sarcastic and bitingly funny as her first two books but it was still a fun read. Some of the dialogue between Jen and her friends was stilted and sounded more like Jen lecturing her friends on the new things she was learning. That said, it was really interesting learning right along with Jen. After I finished the book I was inspired to learn more about (and drink more!) wine. Which reminds me – do not read this book if you are hungry. Jen tries all kinds of yummy sounding ethic food and her descriptions of it had me craving it. I actually had to order Indian food one night after reading about Jen trying Indian food!
If you haven’t read any of Jen’s previous books, I would recommend starting with Bitter is the New Black and then reading Bright Lights, Big Ass so you can get to know Jen first. I feel like Jen is an old friend of mine and I enjoyed catching up with her through this latest book.
(Like Jen’s other books, this book has a ton of footnotes so I wouldn’t recommend reading it on an e-reader.)
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July 28th, 2011 in
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Can you believe this sweet baby turns seven years old today and is starting FIRST GRADE in the fall?
Miss New India by Bharati Mukherjee
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Nineteen year old Anjali Bose lives with her lower middle class family in a small village in India. Her father’s dream is to arrange a marriage for her with a suitable boy but Anjali has bigger dreams than that. With the help of her English teacher, Anjali moves to Bangalore with the hopes of becoming a customer support specialist at a call center. She quickly learns that big-city life is not as easy and carefree as she thought it would be.
Anjali was a hard character to like. She floats through her life depending on her “award winning smile” to get her though tough situations. For some reason, the other characters are captivated by her and misread her vapidness as depth. I never quite understood why. Some of Anjali’s decisions were just downright stupid and instead of sympathizing with her, I wanted to shake her.
I enjoyed reading about how India today is quite modern in some ways, yet still very traditional in others. I wish this book would have a had a glossary because the author uses quite a few words from different languages that I didn’t know.
From what I understand, the author’s previous books have gotten very good reviews. I look forward to reading one of her older books. This particular book was just okay.
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(I received this book courtesy of the Amazon Vine program.)
July 19th, 2011 in
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Queen of Babble in the Big City by Meg Cabot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Queen of Babble in the Big City is book two of Meg Cabot’s Queen of Babble series. This review assumes that you have read the first book, Queen of Babble, and may have spoilers for it if you haven’t.
The beginning of this book finds Lizzie moving to New York City to pursue her dream of becoming a certified wedding dress restorer. Luke is also in New York City pursuing his dream of becoming a doctor. The two of them move into Luke’s mother’s apartment together while she is living in France with Luke’s father.
Lizzie is still a bumbling but likable heroine that has trouble keeping her mouth shut. Luke isn’t as charming as he was in France, perhaps the honeymoon is coming to an end? This book had a couple of pretty big plot twists that surprised me. Before I started this book I thought I knew where it was going generally but I was wrong. Several colorful and amusing supporting characters are introduced – Lizzie’s new friend Tiffany had me laughing out loud a few times.
I listened to the audio version of this book which was narrated by Justine Eyre who also narrated the first Queen of Babble book. She did a great job as usual. Her voice for Tiffany was particularly fabulous.
This book ended with a doozy of a cliffhanger. I can’t wait to read the third book which I believe wraps up the series.
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July 11th, 2011 in
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I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Eliza Benedict has the distinction of being “the one that got away”. She was kidnapped by serial killer Walter Bowman in 1985 when she was fifteen years old and was held hostage for six weeks. She’s always wondered why she was the only girl that Walter left alive. Eliza is now married with two children. One day she receives a letter out of the blue from Walter, who is now on death row for his crimes. Will she finally find out why Walter spared her? Or is Walter still manipulating her all these years later?
This was a fascinating crime drama. I thought the author did a great job of showing how Eliza’s kidnapping affected not only her but the people around her. Even Eliza’s two children were deeply affected despite the fact that Eliza hid the crime from them and they had no idea their mother was a kidnapping victim. I found the story unpredictable yet authentic. I was bothered by one thing – Lippman’s author’s note at the back of the book states that this book was inspired by a true crime but she’s not going to say which one. Of course that makes me want to know even more! If anyone happens to know what crime Lippman is referring to, please put me out of my misery.
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July 5th, 2011 in
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The Summer Without Men by Siri Hustvedt
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
One day Mia Fredrickson’s husband Boris tells her that he wants to take a “pause” after thirty years of marriage. This sends Mia into a tailspin and she ends up in a psychiatric hospital. After her release, she moves into a rented house for the summer in the same town where her mother lives in a retirement home. She spends time with her mother and her friends, her neighbor and her two small children and the seven teenage girls who are taking the poetry workshop she teaches.
This novel had a unique style that took some getting used to. Much of it is Mia’s internal rambling and musings that are tangential to the plot. As the book goes on, Mia gets funnier and becomes friendlier with the reader, addressing us as Dear Reader and asking for our patience with her ramblings. Mia’s internal thoughts are so realistic and intimate that I had to keep reminding myself that this was fiction and not a memoir.
Mia is a poet and an intellectual and the book is full of literary references that went over my head. Even so it was still an enjoyable read once I got used to the different style.
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(I received this book courtesy of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.)
June 29th, 2011 in
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