Book Review: The Last Days of Ptolemy Gray

The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey by Walter Mosley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ptolemy Grey is a ninety-one year old black man in the early stages of dementia. He's taken care of by his nephew Reggie until Reggie is killed in a drive-by shooting. Then seventeen year old friend of the family Robyn comes in to his life. She cleans up his apartment and shows him unconditional love for the first time in a long time. With a new lease on life, Ptolemy visits a mysterious doctor who offers him an experimental drug that will restore his mind and help him remember things he is desperate to remember but there's a catch – he won't live to see ninety-two.

This was a wonderful story. Race issues are insightfully intertwined in both Ptolemy's flashbacks to his life as the child of a sharecropper at the turn of the century and the present day story. Throughout the book, Ptolemy remembers the wisdom of his childhood best friend and mentor, Coydog McCann. (I'll admit that I didn't understand all what Coydog was trying to say but he was still a great character.) The author does a great job of getting into Ptolemy's mind and showing the reader what it must be like to be suffering from dementia and the indignities that elderly people suffer.

(I received this book courtesy of the publisher and the Goodreads FirstReads program.)

Book Review: Being Nikki

Being Nikki by Meg Cabot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Being Nikki is the second book in Meg Cabot's Airhead series. This review assumes that you have read the first book, Airhead and may spoil that book for you if you haven't.

In Being Nikki, Em is learning to live her life as Nikki Howard. Modeling is a lot harder than she thought it would be and balancing that and school is more than Em bargained for. When Nikki Howard's brother Stephen shows up looking for their mother, Em discovers that the mysterious Stark Corporation has more secrets than she thought.

It's hard to write any more about this book without giving too much away but I will say that I thought it was even better than Airhead. I can't wait to read the next book (and I believe last) book in the series and find out how it all ends.

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Book Review: The Twentieth Wife

The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Twentieth Wife a historical novel set in India under the Mughal Empire in the 17th century. It chronicles the love between Mehrunnisa and Prince Salim. The author has stated that she based the story in factual information and took artistic license to fill in gaps where information was not available. This book had a list of main characters at the front, which was very helpful. I wish that it had listed all of the characters though – so many of them had similar names that it could get confusing at times.

This is not only a love story but a story of women’s roles in the Empire and how they were able to influence and shape history even though they didn’t have any official power or really any rights at all. Learning about 17th century Indian/Muslim culture was fascinating, especially since I was so ignorant of it prior to reading this book.

I loved this book and I’m looking forward to reading the sequel, The Feast of Roses.

This book completes the South Asian Author Challenge for me. Yay! Now I need to sign up for the 2011 South Asian Author Challenge.

Book Review: Dingoes at Dinnertime

Magic Tree House #20: Dingoes at Dinnertime

Cash’s review:

What did you think of this book? It was good.

Who was your favorite character and why? Teddy because he did things real dogs can’t do.

What was your favorite part of the book and why? When the kangaroo jumped in speed from the wild dogs because I like speed.

Mommy’s review:

This was our first Magic Tree House book. I chose it because many of Cash’s friends love the Magic Tree House series. Even though we started with a book from the middle of the series, we didn’t have any trouble following the story. There is a short recap of the previous books in the prologue of this book.

In Dingoes at Dinnertime, Annie and Jack head to Australia in search of a gift from a kangaroo.  This book is packed with educational information about Australia and Australian animals. Whenever Jack and Annie encounter something new, Jack looks it up in a book and reads information about whatever it is out loud to Annie. I found this method of incorporating educational facts into the story really dry and boring but my sons (six and four years old) didn’t seem to mind. Because of that, I’ll try and let Cash read the rest of the Magic Tree House books when he can read independently and try to find books for us to read together that we can both enjoy.

(Every Saturday, Booking Mama hosts a feature called Kid Konnection — a regular weekend feature about anything related to children's books.)

2010 Golden Globes

The 2010 movie award season is upon us! Movie award season is my football season with the Academy Awards being the Superbowl. First up is the 2010 Golden Globes which airs on January 16 and is hosted by the funniest man IN.THE.WORLD – Ricky Gervais. Even if you don't like award shows, he will make watching worth your while.

The Golden Globes are a pretty good predictor of which films will be nominated for Oscars so I try to see as many Golden Globe nominated films as I can. Here are the major nominations (I've bolded the films that I've already seen.):

Best Motion Picture – Drama

Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama

Halle Berry – Frankie and Alice
Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence – Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman – Black Swan
Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine

I really don't want to see Rabbit Hole – I can't stomach films in which bad things happen to children – so I'll be saving that one for last.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama

Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network
Colin Firth – The King's Speech
James Franco – 127 Hours
Ryan Gosling – Blue Valentine
Mark Wahlberg – The Fighter

I'm also not looking forward to seeing 127 Hours after hearing that people are fainting during it – yikes! Although, hopefully I would have the good sense to just look away from the screen before I actually fainted. I do love James Franco though. I think it's hilarious that he will be both nominated for an Oscar and appearing on General Hospital in the same year. He is no snob. And also he and I share a birthday!

Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical

Alice In Wonderland
Burlesque
The Kids Are All Right
Red
The Tourist

Interesting that The Tourist is in this category. I haven't seen it but it certainly doesn't look like a comedy or musical.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical

Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right
Anne Hathaway – Love And Other Drugs
Angelina Jolie – The Tourist
Julianne Moore – The Kids Are All Right
Emma Stone – Easy A

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical

Johnny Depp – Alice in Wonderland
Johnny Depp – The Tourist
Paul Giamatti – Barney's Version
Jake Gyllenhaal – Love And Other Drugs
Kevin Spacey – Casino Jack

Best Animated Feature Film

Despicable Me
How To Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Tangled
Toy Story 3

Okay, so this isn't really a major award category. I just included it because I've actually seen three of the five films! Yep, that's the place I am in my life right now.

The Golden Globes also include awards for TV shows and TV movies and mini-series but since I don't watch a lot of TV I don't focus on the television side. The only show nominated this year that I watch is Mad Men.  Why isn't hot Vampire Erik from True Blood nominated? Such a shame!

Book Review: Big Boned

Big Boned by Meg Cabot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the third book in the Heather Wells mystery series. I actually read it first but I don't feel like I was missing anything.

Heather Wells is former teen pop star who is now working as an assistant resident hall director. When her boss turns up murdered, Heather uses her amateur sleuthing skills to help find the killer. At the same time Heather's boyfriend Tad tells her he has an important question to ask her. Since Heather is secretly in love with her landlord, Cooper, she's not sure she's ready to hear Tad's question.

This book was fun and lighthearted, even though it's a murder mystery. There were so many great, colorful characters. I'm looking forward to going back and reading the first two books in the series.

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Book Review: Extras

Extras by Scott Westerfeld
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Extras is the fourth and final book in Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series. This review assumes that you have read the first three books in the series and may have spoilers if you haven't.

Extras takes place a few years after Tally Youngblood brought down the Ugly, Pretty and Special way of life. Aya Fuse lives in a Japanese city that runs on a "reputation economy". The higher your popularity rank, the more merits and special treatment you get.

In today's world of blogging and viral videos, it actually doesn't seem too far-fetched that a world like Aya's could come into existence some day. I think this book will raise important issues for teens to think about – what deeds are really worth making someone famous and should the more famous/popular people in society get special treatment just because they're popular? But don't worry, this book has just as much action and fun as the first three books in the series. This book was a great capstone to the Uglies series.

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Book Review: Ape House

Ape House: A Novel by Sara Gruen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ape House is the story of Isabel Duncan, a scientist at the Great Ape Language Lab and John Thigpen, a reporter who visits the Lab to write a piece on Isabel's work teaching bonobos sign language. When a mysterious explosion blows up the lab the apes go missing, only to pop up on a reality TV show a few weeks later.

Ever since reading about KoKo, the signing gorilla, in The Weekly Reader in elementary school, I have been intrigued by communication between apes and man. Sara Gruen did extensive research with real life signing bonobos so even though this is a work of fiction, the way the bonobos communicate in it is based on fact.

I loved this book – the storyline was original and fast-paced and it was filled with colorful characters. I know in general critics didn't like this book as much as Gruen's previous book, Water For Elephants. I would agree this book is not a work of great literary fiction but I'm just taking for what it is: a fun adventure/mystery.

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Book Review: Ramona the Pest

Cash’s review:

What did you think of this book? It was good.

Who was your favorite character and why? Ramona because she reminds me of West [his four-year old brother].

What was your favorite part of the book and why? When Ramona hid behind the trash cans because it was silly. Also, when Beezus took Ramona to the principal’s office.

Mommy’s review:

In Ramona the Pest, Ramona starts kindergarten. She loves school and her teacher but still manages to get herself in quite a bit of trouble.

Beverly Cleary gets little kids. There is a scene where Ramona is throwing a tantrum in her room in which Ms. Cleary does a wonderful job of explaining the (irrational) thought process that is going on in Ramona’s mind during the tantrum. I think little kids will find comfort in knowing that they are not the only ones who feel out of control at times. She also understands that children can be very literal and this often leads to misunderstandings and embarrassment for them. This whole book serves to help young readers know that they are not the only ones overwhelmed by the world and new experiences.

Cash and I loved this book and we’re looking forward to the next Ramona book in the series.

(Every Saturday, Booking Mama hosts a feature called Kid Konnection — a regular weekend feature about anything related to children's books.)

Thankfully Reading Weekend Wrap-Up

Another Thankfully Reading Weekend has come to end. I read one book over the weekend – Extras by Scott Westerfeld. I really enjoyed it – a review will be coming soon.

Also this weekend Travis redid the boys closet and painted their room. (Which meant I spent much of the weekend corralling the boys to keep them out of his way.) I'm so happy with the closet – it has so much more space for clothes now. I don't have their room totally put back together yet but here's a couple pictures of their closet: