The Housekeeper and the Professor

I am always deeply suspicious of translations not done by an author, but this was a Beautiful translation from the original Japanese! This is the story of a housekeeper called upon to care for a mathematician who, since an auto accident, only has 80 minutes of memory. The housekeeper and her son learn the beauty of numbers. Here is an example of the language:

"Eternal truths are ultimately invisible, and you won't find them in material things or natural phenomena, or even in human emotions. Mathematics, however, can illuminate them, can give them expression-in fact, nothing can prevent it from doing so."

Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List

By the same authors who brought us Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. This one is about two best friends, Naomi (straight) and Ely (gay), who have grown up across the hall from on another and can't imagine a future without one another. Then Ely kisses Naomi's boyfriend and it rocks their friendship to the core. Less of everything in this book compared to Nick and Norah, but oh the cleverness. (Also, many Buffy the Vampire Slayer references! In case you needed an extra reason to read it.)

The Hunger Games and Catching Fire

These pictures are out of order, but I'm too lazy to fix it right now. This series by Suzanne Collins is very well done! She takes us to a future time where each year there is a reality TV show in which 24 kids between the ages of 12-18 (2 from each of the 12 districts the land seems to be divided into) fight to the death. One cannot read these book without thinking about modern day television. Told from the perspective of a teenage girl but with enough action in them that my teenage son was equally hooked.

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

I am torn by this book (which I picked up right after I watched the movie.) Were it not for the EXCESSIVE use of the "f" word, I would probably give it top marks. It catches being a teen in the tri-state area Perfectly! It gets the music scene on the lower east side exactly right. It gets emotional trauma after exes just right. Honestly, it gets the language just right, too. New Jersey folk do tend to curse like sailors. There's just so much of said language. It's one case where I would say that even though the book does a far better job with character development, it might be better to just watch the movie. I wasn't comfortable having this book lying around where my kids could pick it up and glance at the verbal and for that matter sexual education within.

I recently listened to this. It has the following stories, including my MOST FAVORITE EVER!!! Listen to it, and laugh. A lot.

Yma Dream by Thomas Meehan (MY FAVORITE!!)
Gorilla, My Love by Toni Cade Bambara
The Fix by Percival Everett
The H Street Sledding Record by Ron Carlson (This would be my second favorite from this collection.)
The Third and Final Continent by Jhumpa Lahiri
Valor by Richard Bausch
Enough by Alice McDermott

Paper Towns

After a reading slump, I am back in the saddle.  I've been whipping through about one YA novel a day.  Up first is my beloved John Green.  Reading John Green is like hanging out with all my favorite guy friends from high school and college.   John's latest book "Paper Towns" is about Quentin "Q" Jacobsen and the adventures that follow after his next door neighbor Margo Roth Spiegelman climbs in his window one night.  John Green tells coming of age stories for the geeky, witty boy.  As those are my favorite types of boys, I love everything he writes.  He is crass.  But he is exactly as crass as all those high school and college boys I was hanging out with, so it works for me.  

My two favorite quotes from this book, (Although much of it had me laughing aloud last night.  After the fifth outburst, Todd gave up asking why I was laughing.):

"Getting you a prom date is so hard that the hypothetical idea itself is actually used to cut diamonds"

AND

Boys discussing how to kiss a girl- "As far as I can tell, there are two basic rules: 1. Don't bite anything without permission, and 2. The human tongue is like wasabi: it's very powerful, and should be used sparingly."

Oh, that John Green had been writing 15 years ago so some of my former boyfriends could have benefitted from such wisdom!

On a side note, the same themes keep popping up in John Green's books.  An idea that was underdeveloped in the last book becomes fully developed in the next one.   I just mention it because I could see being annoyed by that.  I think with Green the equation either works for you or doesn't.  I don't think you're likely to love one of his books and hate another.     

The House

I've spent the last few years trying to let go of author snobbery.  There are many authors who I considered too popular to read.  I've spent the last several years getting over it.

With this in mind at the library a few weeks ago, I picked up this book by Danielle Steel.  I've never read anything by her since I also have a thing about authors whose names are bigger than the title.  (I'm against it, in case you're wondering.)  But this story was about San Francisco and the restoration of a turn of the century home.  I am fans of both of those things, so I figured 'What the heck?'.

I think I may stick to my guns on my author snobbery from now on.  This book was awful.  A friend asked me if it was a trashy bodice ripper.  The answer is no.  There's nothing trashy in the story.  It's just poorly written.  Everything was said and said and said again.  She could have shaved off 75 pages by not repeating herself every other page.

Maybe she has better books, but I'm not sure I'm willing to try any more to find out.

Falling In Love

I listened to this collection of "Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story" while doing chores.  One story was about equal to one room.  When we were in NJ and devotees of WNYC, we listened to Selected Shorts every Sunday morning.  We just recently found it broadcast here in Columbus, and are so excited to have it again.  Check it out wherever you are and enjoy the readings.  

This particular collection was called "Falling in Love" and included:

"Fires" by Rick Bass

"The Winnowing of Mrs. Schuping" by Padgett Powell

"The Lone Pilgrim" by Laurie Colwin

"Melisande" by E. Nesbit (and read by Jane Curtain.  My boys listened to and really enjoyed this one with me.)

"Violets" by Edna O'Brien

"Travis, B."  by Maile Maloy

Selected Shorts is an award-winning series of classic and contemporary short fiction read by acclaimed actors.  The readings are recorded live at Peter Norton Symphony Space in New York City.  The Selected Shorts radio series is a co-production of Symphony Space and WNYC, New York Public Radio, and is heard on public radion stations nationwide.

Thanksgiving

Like every other Evanovich story I've read: girl meets boy under slightly zany circumstances. Boy is instantly attracted to her but scared of committment. Further zany circumstances draw them together until they are in love but are too afraid to admit it. Silly fight. Zany circumstances bring them back together where love is declared and committment made.

This particular one takes place in Williamsburg.

Utterly ridiculous. And perfect for listening to while hiding in one's room folding laundry to escape the "whole house light saber battles" which my four sons currently stage.

The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday

This is book 5 in the Isabel Dalhousie Series. I love these books. I love most of what Alexander McCall Smith writes. ("The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series, and "44 Scotland Street" series.) Most books I attack with voraciousness and gorge myself on. These books I can appreciate at my lesiure. They seem to be written to simultaneously calm and entertain me.

Montana Sky

I've never read a book by Nora Roberts before. Upon admitting this, one of my guy friends was appalled. I was informed that Nora Roberts is as requisite for women as John Grisham/Michael Chrichton/whomever else is writing books to be read on an airplane flight these days.

I was unaware that there were gender requirements for these authors, but I'll take the comparison.

"Montana Sky" is the story of three sisters who meet for the first time at the funeral of their father. He married and divorced their mothers before the daughters ever knew him. Now these three very different women are required to spend one year on his ranch in Montana to receive any inheritance. I will admit that I had low expectations when the three beautiful sisters all had three gorgeous cowboys to spend time with, but honestly the story was very suspenseful and enjoyable.

My largest complaint is that I listened to this story. Why is it that every actor believes that people in the west speak with southern accents? It was extremely irritating to listen to the reader make everyone sound like they were from the deep south. And frankly, even people in the deep south don't really talk like that. People in Montana have an accent. I've never heard anyone correctly immitate it, though.

Let It Snow

When one is faced with amazing amounts of stress, what should one do?

In my opinion, one should read light and fluffy books. If I want intense, I will kindly check back into my own life, thank you very much.

In that vein, I thoroughly enjoyed "Let It Snow". It's a series of short stories written by three different YA authors. The stories have a few things in common and should be read in order since they are sort of connected. (I read the one by John Green first, because he is my favorite. I was confused by a few wierd references until I went back and read the first story...um, first.) The three stories take place when a huge blizzard hits a small town in North Carolina.

Yes, I read it while it was snowing outside.

And, yes, it made me happy inside.

I Heart John Green!

It started with the book "Looking for Alaska". People have compared it to "Catcher in the Rye" and I kind of agree, except I didn't hate it. So that's new. It was a boy coming of age story that was just enough angsty/witty/over the top/fabulous that I loved loved loved it.

And besides, John Green is hot in that geeky, skinny, witty way. (Which we all know is my favorite way.) Here is a picture of said hot guy:

"Hello, John. Will you anagram my name, please?" (This is only funny if you've read the next book.)

"An Abundance of Katherines" is the story of child prodigy, Colin, who at age eighteen is convinced that life is over for him because he's never had a Eureka moment. And he knows that child prodigies never go on to be geniuses. He also has dated and been dumped by nineteen girls named Katherine. (Catherines and Kathryns need not apply.) He and his best friend go off on a road trip the summer after their senior year to cheer Colin up after K-19 (or Katherine XIX) dumps him. It is while staying in a pink mansion in Gutshot, TN, Colin begins work on a theorem that may explain why it's all gone wrong with all of the Katherines. There are footnotes and mathematical equations on nearly every page. There is obsessive anagraming and ridiculous random facts inserted everywhere. I love this character! (Mostly because he reminds me of people I've hung out with over the years.) If by some chance, you don't adore Colin, you will most certainly love his best friend and fellow traveller, Hassan. They make me happy.

Go forth and read!!

A Wind in the Door

The summer after I completed the  third grade, we spent a week at a resort in Vermont where my Dad had a business trip.  A co-worker of his discovered that I enjoyed reading and started listing all her most favorite books that she had read as a child.  At the time, I was more interested in going back to play in the pool some more, but one suggestion stuck with me.  "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle.  It was years later that I finally picked it up, but I was in the mood to reread it last year.  It's a different book to me now than it was then, and a part of me wonders that I got anything out of it when I was younger.

This is book two.  I am reading through the rest of the series because that's what I do.  But, also because they are different than anything else that I read as a child.  I wonder how kids today would perceive them...  Anybody know any kids reading this series?

Ink Exchange

This is the sequel to "Wicked Lovely". 

This book still involves the original characters, but the focus is shifted to people who were peripheral in the first book.  Instead of so many piercings, this time we heard all about tattoos.  Which is fine.  But not my thing.  Although, the main character made one comment about ink that I found very interesting.  She had been a victim of assault and was almost obsessed with getting a tattoo because it was something that she could do to make her body her own and nobody else's.  I had never considered that angle before.

This book felt a little like a second album from a new popular band.  Said band takes years to amass and perfect the songs for their fabulous first album.  Then they make it big, the album sells, and they are pressured to put out a second album quickly.  And it kinda sucks.  Fans are disappointed, but hold out high hopes for the third album when the band will have had time to regroup and get back to their roots.  Ms. Marr are you hearing me? 

Most of us read it and enjoyed it, but found this one was a lot easier to put down.  

Wicked Lovely

A young woman who has the ability to see fairies finds herself sought after by one of their Kings.  This was the first book in a long time that sucked me in.  I read it in one day, which used to happen all the time, but lately hasn't.  It was nice to realize that I can still do that.  I read on another blog (sorry, I can't remember which one)  that "Wicked Lovely" is kind of like "Twilight" for Goth girls.  I would agree with that.  For instance, the main love interest is a guy with multiple piercings.  Marr describes these piercings (which seem never ending) in detail.  Frankly, that doesn't really do it for me, so I sort of winced through physical descriptions of him.  That being said, I enjoyed the story and the day long escape from reality it provided.

We also did this as a book group book, and while everyone had complaints, it seemed to be enjoyed overall.

The Graveyard Book

Neil Gaiman is a little wacky.  Which is why I like him so much.  This is the story of a young boy whose family is murdered, but he manages to escape to a graveyard and is raised by the ghosts who live there.  Gaiman's stories take delightful twists and turns which keep the reader guessing until the end.  

Honeybee

Naomi Shihab Nye is the author of my favorite YA novel, "Habibi".  The novel read like poetry in many places, so I was excited to see this book of poems.  One of my favorite poems in "Honeybee" is one that I came upon several months ago on a poetry blog.

Consolation

This morning the newspaper

was too terrible to deliver

so the newsboy just pitched out

a little sheaf

of Kleenex.

Another one that I really love is:

Don't Say

God said.

You made it up

then put it in God's pocket.

God may have thrown it out already.

Much of Nye's poetry is centered on peace.  She has little use for the Bush administration, as evidenced in this poem:

Culture of Life

George W. Bush believes

in a "culture of life."

This is very interesting to those

who have recently died

because of his decisions.

They discuss it regularly.

What could they have done

  differently?

to be alive?

If only they had been born

  in another country

or lived in a different neighborhood,

the culture might have included them too.

Actually they liked life a lot.

They can't stop thinking about 

their teacups and blankets.

The scent of sheep wool

in a warm room.

Click of almond shells

in a bowl.

That simple coming-home feeling

when someone happy to see you 

greets you.

Never could they have imagined

being dead and thinking about teacups.

There are also poems of little things in life that having nothing to do with war or politics.  This one made me smile.

While You Were Out

A crow

with a yellow Post-it note

stuck to its beak

paused on the feeder

beyond the window

looked around twice

nodded its head

then flew away.

Big Day

at the office.

Like most poetry, this book was very nice to sit and read for a few quiet minutes every day, and not all at once.

Also, I feel like I should disclose that I was not a huge fan of the poems about Honeybees.  

Kissing Tennessee by Kathi Appelt

 I love this book!  It's a series of short stories all about one dance at a middle school in East Texas.  I felt like it perfectly captured the essence of self-involvement that we all have at that age.  Every person is the main character in their own story and the whole world is watching them.  Anybody remember that feeling?  It's beautifully written and appropriate for 7th and 8th graders on up.

(Oh, and I believe that's a dress on the cover...NOT a tunic, Joan!  Although there are also pants.  This could be a whole new thing for us, ladies!)

Melting Stones

This book begins what I hope is another Quartet for Pierce.  I love that Pierce sticks with characters for so long, and that they make appearances in some of her other books as well.  This particular book is about Evvy, a young stone mage who has been asked to accompany two adult plant and water mages to an island to discover why everything is dying.  

Evvy was rescued from the streets and also has memories of war which make trusting those around her particularly difficult and lead to a number of problems throughout this story.  She does begin to thaw a little, but not so much that we are left with a tidy happily-ever-after ending.

It's been so long since last Evvy was in a book that I wished I had reread "Street Magic" before picking this one up.  There were holes in my memory of her story.  Still, it was enjoyable and I look forward to the rest of the quartet.

(AND it shows a girl wearing a dress on the cover.  I just mention it...)