Sunday, February 28, 2010

February Reading

I felt like I was slacking off on my reading in February.  We had a week off due a huge snowstorm and I thought I might have done more reading but I got bogged down with The Girl Who Played With Fire and didn’t get through as many books.  I was quite surprised when I counted and discovered that I had read 7 books in February!  Not only that, but as long as I make it to 25 by the end of March I will  be on track for making 100! :-)

1. A Northern Light – Jennifer Donnelly 
2.  Time Bandit: Two Brothers, The Bering Sea, & The World’s Deadliest Job – Andy & Jonathan Hillstrand 
3.  Viola in Reel Life – Adriana Trigiani
4.  The Girl Who Played with Fire – Stieg Larsson
5.  The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder – Rebecca Wells
6.  Encore, Valentine – Adriani Trigiani
7.  Secrets of Eden – Chris Bohjalian

Secrets of Eden

Secrets of Eden: A Novel

Secrets of Eden – Chris Bohjalian

I have been looking forward to the book for a long time, but I was very disappointed by it.   It had all the makings of a classic Chris Bohjalian and I was looking forward diving in since I have now read everything he has written! 

The story centers around the murder of Alice Hayward and the apparent suicide of her abusive husband.   One of the main characters in the story is Stephen Drew, Alice’s pastor, and there is more than a little suspicion that he had a hand in the grisly events.   Another main character is Heather Laurant, an acclaimed author who had endured a similar tragedy in her life and had gone on to write novels about the presence of angels in her life.  This character made little sense to me and I felt that she took away from the story.   

The most interesting part of the story was told by the State’s Attorney – she’s the one who first began to suspect that things were not as they appeared and dug deeper.   This section of the book was gristly and graphic and set up a mystery that was not followed through in the other parts of the book.  

I did figure out what had happened about halfway though the book, and then the rest of the book I simply tried to get through as fast as I could so I could see if I was correct. 

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Friday, February 26, 2010

Valentine Part 2

Brava, Valentine: A Novel

Brava, Valentine – Adriana Trigiani

Last winter we met Valentine Roncalli and her big, wacky, fun, Italian family and it was the 1st book in a new trilogy and now a year later we get to catch up with them again! 

I really liked Very Valentine and was really looking forward to reading the next installment.   This book didn’t quite measure up to the 1st book, although there were part of it that I LOVED.  In fact,  it almost became my favorite book of the year and almost earned 4 stars on GoodReads.   That was before I read the last 15 pages.   I won’t give away what happens, but it knocked the book down from a big time favorite to a “good read”. 

One thing that I found a bit “odd” in both this book and the other Adriana Trigiani book I read this year, Viola in Reel Life, is that they were both set in 2010 and both books took place over the course of the whole year, since it is currently 2010 it was a little weird reading about “the future”. 

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Saturday, February 20, 2010

Calla Lilly Ponder

The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder: A Novel

The Crowning Glory of Calla Lilly Ponder – Rebecca Wells

After The Girl Who Played With Fire, I wanted a lighter, faster read and Calla Lily fit the bill!  I had read Rebecca Wells’ other books:  The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Little Altars Everywhere and Ya-Ya’s in Bloom years ago and enjoyed them so was really looking forward to reading another, that and I LOVED the title, it just had a great ring to it! 

The book started out great, I was very interested in Calla Lilly’s story and in all the her mom, M’Dear had taught her about life and kindness.  I was loving the quirky Southern touches like the “Shop N Skate” – grocery store roller skating rink combo!   As the book went on however, it started to get tedious.  It was a good, light read, but not an epic life changing story. 

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Wednesday, February 17, 2010

The Girl Who Played With Fire

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The Girl Who Played With Fire – Stieg Larsson

A few months ago I discovered and read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, this was the 1st book in a series of three about journalist  Mikael Blomkvist and computer hacker Lisbeth Salander.  

I really enjoyed The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo!  There was enough mystery and craziness that made it a great read.  I loved Lisabeth, she was a determined, sassy, misunderstood single gal who was not to be messed with.   She and Mikael made a great pair and they solved a mystery that many thought was un-solvable.   Violence against women was at the heart of book, I understand that it’s a big issue in Sweden. 

I had high hopes for The Girl Who Played with Fire.  Unfortunately it didn’t deliver the way I’d hoped.   It was good story in which we learned more about Lisbeth and her history, which isn’t pretty.  It lacked the story, mystery, and team work, of Dragon Tattoo though and I struggled to be motivated to read it. 

I am looking forward to the final novel in the Trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest*, if only to complete the story. 

*Note: The review is in Swedish, I don’t think the book has been translated to English yet.

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Friday, February 5, 2010

Viola in Reel Life

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Viola in Reel Life by Adriana Trigiani

Adrianna Trigiani is one of my favorite authors.  I have read every one of her adult novels and have her latest on reserve at the library so I can read it just as soon as it’s available. 

Viola in Reel Life is her 1st venture in the world of Young Adult literature and I say it was a huge success!  I’m wondering if Trigiani will become like Alice Hoffman, another one of my favorite authors, who’s young adult novels are almost better than her adult novels. 

Viola is a 15 year old with a passion for making films.  Her parents, who film documentaries, are going on assignment to Afghanistan and Viola must go to boarding school.   During the course of her year she learns more than she ever imagined and truly grew up and became a young woman.

As I was reading this book I had a hard time remembering that the characters were only 14.  It seemed that many of their experiences, thoughts and discoveries about life were mature beyond 14 years.  It reminded me strongly of my own experiences going away to college at age 18.  

Definitely and enjoyable, quick read.  I’m looking forward to seeing more Adriana Trigiani YA novels in the future!

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On The Crab!

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Time Bandit: Two Brothers, The Bering Sea, and the World’s Deadliest Job by Jonathan & Andy Hillstrand

I LOVE the TV show Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel.  I have no idea why I love it so much, but I do.  All they do is catch crab.  They launch pots.  They haul pots.  They measure crabs.  They get hurt.  The deal with weather that would send even the hardiest running for cover.   And every season, every episode it’s exactly the same. 

I think part of the appeal is the adventure, the danger, the romance of the sea.  I also really like the captains – they are these rough and tumble, abrasive, harsh guys who are not afraid of anything.  Yet under that tough exterior, they are good guys, on the show you can see that.  Another part of the appeal is the sheer reality of it.  They don’t stage things, it’s never gotten “Hollywooded” up like other reality TV shows.   I do not enjoy fishing, never will.  I have no desire to ever go out on a crab boat in summer let alone January!  But when the new season comes on, you can believe that I won’t miss an episode. 

I wasn’t sure about this book.  I have learned that actors/TV stars aren’t always the best writers.   That’s not a bad thing, it’s just what is.  They do a great job acting, but writing maybe not so much.   I also though the book would be an ad for the show.  Despite my low expectations, I knew this was a book I had to read.  It’s February and the new season doesn’t start till April and I have seen all the re-runs multiple times.  I needed my “fix”. 

This book surprised me on many fronts.  First of all, I thought it was very well written.  Going back and forth between a real life predicament and flashbacks kept it exciting and interesting.  It also gave a great format for allowing both brothers to contribute seamlessly and tell their stories.

The book did not mention the show until the epilogue!  It started out with Andy and Jonathan’s childhood and how they raised hell on the Homer Spit and laid the foundation for the strong relationship they have now.  It moved on to telling about their family, and their life outside of crab fishing.  They did relate many stories that had appeared on the show, but it was great to see the missing pieces and back story that didn’t  make it to the show. 

The book definitely confirmed my feeling that these rough and tough fishermen are really great people working hard to make a living.  When you see the abrasiveness on the show, you might think them mean, but their anger is usually very justified! 

I totally enjoyed getting to know the Hillstrand Brothers better and can’t wait to see them in action on the upcoming season!  I think  The Time Bandit is now tied with Sig Hansen and the guys on The Northwestern as my favorite crab boat!

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Wednesday, February 3, 2010

A Northern Light

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A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

When I was in grad school I took a children’s literature class and we had to read at least one Young Adult novel that won the Printz award.  A Northern Light was one of the books on the list to choose from but I didn’t read it then.   The day we discussed the books in class a lot of people were talking about it and I was intrigued and added it to my TBR list.   When I saw it at Riverby’s in Fredericksburg back in December I had to pick it up.

This book reminded me of a sophisticated Laura Ingalls story.  It was set on the frontier in the North Woods of New York state in the early 1900’s.  In many places I was picturing the Gokey family farm to look like the Ingalls’ farm from the TV show until they referred to the “parlor” and that threw my image a bit!

The story is of Mattie Gokey trying to find her place amid many influences, both pushing her to the traditional farm wife role and pushing her to a more liberal path for women of her time – college and a career in writing.  In the end Mattie makes her own decision and does what’s best for her.

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