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Monthly Archives: June 2011

Review: The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer (guest post)

29 Jun

This is a guest post by my 13 year old daughter.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Dead and The Gone is not normally the type of book that I read. I am not that big a fan of the end of the world type of book.That being said, however, I did really enjoy this book as well as Life as We Knew It.

As is it did for Miranda in Life as We Knew it everything changes when the asteroid hits the moon. I found the fact that Alex was just a normal teen with parents and two younger sisters at the beginning of the book gave the story a creepy sense of realism. Now Alex is alone in New York City with no parents and two younger sisters relying on him.

I found the balance between the creepy and corpsey-ness of the outside world and the struggles that Alex, Bri, and Julie are facing as everything they knew disappears was very well thought out.

One of the best things about this book was the characters. I really felt like I got to know each of the them. I also felt like almost all of the people had a lot of developing to do. This helped me connect with the characters as well as making them seem more real.

I found the developing of Alex and Julie’s relationship from two siblings that took every chance they could to get at each other to being at uneasy truce to finally realizing that they needed other. I found Julie’s journey from being a “12 year old baby” to a mature teenager by the end of the book was interesting and realistic and made for a good sub plot.

On the other hand I found some of the descriptions disturbing and as my friend pointed out I now have a fear of elevators.

Overall I found that this book had a good plot and was well written.

Amelia is 13 years old, and will be entering 8th grade in the fall.  When she isn’t at school, dance or practicing rhythmic gymnastics, there’s a good chance she’ll be reading a book!

 
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Posted by on June 29, 2011 in books, Guest post, reviews

 

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Review: The Art of Saying Goodbye by Ellyn Bache

28 Jun

The Art of Saying Goodbye by Ellyn BacheMy rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

This book felt like it should have been a 4 star book, but it never quite lived up to the potential for me. There wasn’t anything really wrong with it, as such. There was quite a bit right with it. Still, I clearly enjoyed it, and am glad I read it.

Summary via Goodreads.com:

She was the thread that wove their tapestry together.

With a group of women as diverse as the ladies from Brightwood Trace, you might not think them to be close. There’s Julianne, a nurse with an unsettling psychic ability that allows her to literally feel what her patients feel, Andrea, a strong fortress sheltering a faltering core, Ginger, a mother torn between being a stay-at-home mom or following her career aspirations, and Iona, the oldest, whose feisty, no-nonsense attitude disarms even toughest of the tough. Not exactly the ingredients for the most cohesive cocktail . . . Until you add Paisely, the liveliest and friendliest of the clan, who breathed life into them all.

But when their glowing leader falls ill with cancer, it’s up to these women to do what Paisely has done for them since the beginning: lift her up. Overcoming and accepting the inevitability of loss, the women draw closer than ever; finding together the strength to embrace and cherish their lives with acceptance, gratitude and most importantly, love. Finally living with the vigor that Paisely has shown them from the start, they are able to see their lives in a new light, while learning to say goodbye to the brightest star they’ve ever known. Over the course of just three months, these four women will undergo a magnificent transformation that leaves nobody unchanged.

What was most interesting to me was the picture of the neighborhood, and the links between the women there, even more so than the women themselves.

The women each had her own story, and they all included Paisley at some point, at some time, to some degree. They included each other as well, but not as strongly.

Thinking back on the book, I’m a little puzzled as to why I didn’t feel more strongly about the characters, why they never came to life for me as individuals, not even Paisly.

On the other hand, the book really did feel honest and complete as these friends faced Paisly’s illness. The women don’t always know how to support each other when things get really rough– they are willing to pitch in to organize meals and prayer groups, but are unable to spend time with someone in crisis– human nature, but sad!  This experience causes the women to grow, individually and together.

I wish I was better able to express my thoughts about The Art of Saying Goodbye.  I appreciated the balance of the personalities of the characters, of the good and the bad in the lives of each one, and of the honest look at the reactions of good people to a terrible situation.  I just wish the characters had popped a little further off the page.

I read this book as part of a TLC Book Tour.  Thank you to TLC and William Morrow for arranging for me to receive a copy of The Art of Saying Goodbye to review. For other opinions, check out the other tour stops, most of which seemed to love the book!
TLC Book Tours

 
4 Comments

Posted by on June 28, 2011 in books, reviews

 

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Mailbox Monday

26 Jun

My mailbox looks a little like this one!Welcome to Mailbox Monday!

Mailbox Monday is a place to share all the wonderful books that have come to live in your home– including paper books, e-books and audio books.

Mailbox Monday was started by Marcia, who is now blogging at A girl and her books. When Marcia was ready to move on from being the weekly host, she was kind enough to set up the Mailbox Monday Blog Tour,

Bluestocking @ The Bluestocking Guide is the June host!  Thank you to Bluestocking for hosting! In July, we move to A Sea of Books.

As for my mailbox:

Books for review:

Things We Didn’t Say by Kristina Riggle

What goes unsaid can sometimes speak the loudest . . .

What makes up a family? For Casey it’s sharing a house with her fiancÉ, Michael, and his three children, whom she intends to nurture more than she ever took care of herself. But Casey’s plans have come undone. Michael’s silences have grown unfathomable and deep. His daughter Angel seethes as only a teenage girl can, while the wide-eyed youngest, Jewel, quietly takes it all in.

Then Michael’s son, Dylan, runs off, and the kids’ mother, a woman never afraid to say what she thinks, noisily barges into the home. That’s when Casey decides that the silences can no longer continue. She must begin speaking the words no one else can say. She’ll have to dig up secrets—including her own—uncovering the hurts, and begin the healing that is long overdue. And it all starts with just a few tentative words. . . .

I’m reading this for a TLC Books Tour.  I’ve read both of this author’s previous books, and liked one a lot, and the other with reservations.  I’ve been hearing really good things about this one, and I’m looking forward to reading it..

Deed to Death by D.B. Henson

AT TWENTY-NINE, TONI MATTHEWS IS ON THE CUSP OF HAVING IT ALL—a successful career as one of the top real estate agents in Nashville, great friends, and the partner and family she’d always longed for in her fiancé, architect Scott Chadwick.

But just days before their planned nuptials, Scott plummets to his death at one of his construction sites and Toni is forced to bury her fiancé on their wedding day. Now living all alone in their new, custom-made dream house, dealing with her loss becomes even harder when the police rule his death a suicide. Yet Toni refuses to believe that it could be anything other than a tragic accident.

When she learns that Scott’s estranged brother, Brian, is contesting the will, threatening to take away her home, Toni starts to suspect that it may not have been a mere accident but something more sinister. Without the cooperation of the police, and in spite of her friends’ growing concern that she’s in denial and not dealing with her grief, Toni begins investigating on her own. As she crisscrosses Nashville on a mission to prove to herself and the world that Scott wouldn’t try to escape this life, Toni can’t shake the sinking feeling that something is off, that she’s being followed—and that her search for truth may have deadly consequences.

This was an unexpected surprise in my mailbox.  It sounds intriguing!

Prizes won:

The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon

(audiobook)

It is 1968. Lynnie, a young white woman with a developmental disability, and Homan, an African American deaf man, are locked away in an institution, the School for the Incurable and Feebleminded, and have been left to languish, forgotten. Deeply in love, they escape, and find refuge in the farmhouse of Martha, a retired schoolteacher and widow. But the couple is not alone-Lynnie has just given birth to a baby girl. When the authorities catch up to them that same night, Homan escapes into the darkness, and Lynnie is caught. But before she is forced back into the institution, she whispers two words to Martha: “Hide her.” And so begins the 40-year epic journey of Lynnie, Homan, Martha, and baby Julia-lives divided by seemingly insurmountable obstacles, yet drawn together by a secret pact and extraordinary love.

I was traveling during audiobook week earlier this month, and didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to participate.  My limited posts were enough to get my name picked for a raffle prize, and I picked this book, which I’ve been interested in since I read about it at The Betty and Boo Chronicles.  I just wish my CD drive wasn’t broken at the moment…

Bought:

I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Prachett

It starts with whispers.

Then someone picks up a stone.

Finally, the fires begin.

When people turn on witches, the innocents suffer. . . .

Tiffany Aching has spent years studying with senior witches, and now she is on her own. As the witch of the Chalk, she performs the bits of witchcraft that aren t sparkly, aren t fun, don t involve any kind of wand, and that people seldom ever hear about: She does the unglamorous work of caring for the needy.

But someone or something is igniting fear, inculcating dark thoughts and angry murmurs against witches. Aided by her tiny blue allies, the Wee Free Men, Tiffany must find the source of this unrest and defeat the evil at its root before it takes her life. Because if Tiffany falls, the whole Chalk falls with her.

I can’t believe it took me this long to get this book, and I’m really looking forward to picking it up!

Your turn

What came in your mailbox this week? Let me know, then go to The Bluestocking Guide to check out others!

 
5 Comments

Posted by on June 26, 2011 in books, meme

 

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Review: Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn (Audiobook)

24 Jun

Just Like Heaven (Unabridged Audio CDs)My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

Honoria Smythe-Smith is:
A) a really bad violinist
B) still miffed at being nicknamed “Bug” as a child
C) NOT in love with her older brother’s best friend
D) all of the above

Marcus Holroyd is:
A) the Earl of Chatteris
B) regrettably prone to sprained ankles
C) NOT in love with his best friend’s younger sister
D) all of the above

Together They:
A) eat quite a bit of chocolate cake
B) survive a deadly fever AND the world’s worst musical performance
C) fall quite desperately in love
It’s Julia Quinn at her best, so you KNOW the answer is . . .
D) all of the above

Honaria is one of my favorite romance heroines in a while. Often, I feel this way because I feel some kinship with the character. In this case I like her quite simply for being herself.

She was a sweet, appropriately naive girl that cared about her family. She wasn’t perfect (which would be annoying!), but her flaws weren’t in my face, either.

The romance actually developed over time, which is my preference. It actually seemed to make sense for both of the parties involved! Their personalities complimented one another, and they had time to know that.

For most of the book, I thought this was going to be one of the most chaste romances I’d read in quite some time. That changed near the end, and if that scene wasn’t entirely in character, it was otherwise well done (brief but emotional and intense).

I’m having trouble identifying what made this book work so well for me, other that the vague comment “it was the writing”. Really, that’s what it is– a very well written book.

I haven’t read a lot of Julia Quinn’s books, but I’ve been very impressed by those I have. I look forward to reading more.

Audio Notes

Sound Bytes @ Devourer of Books

For more audiobook reviews, check out Sound Bytes

Narrator: I enjoyed listening to Rosalyn Landor narrating Just Like Heaven.

Production: No issues, no extras.

Audio vs. Print:  In general, I found listening to this book to be a very pleasant experience.  The one issue I had is one I frequently have listening to romance novels as audiobooks.  The, um, exciting scenes never seem to occur at convenient times.  I feel odd hanging out with my daughter while the hero and heroine are having passionate sex, so I have to pause the audiobook for awhile.  Even with that, I wouldn’t hesitate to listen to another Julia Quinn romance.
Check out other Audio Book Reviews at Sound Bytes at Devourer of Books!

I received Just Like Heaven for review from Harper Collins Audio.  Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book!

 
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Posted by on June 24, 2011 in books, reviews

 

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Are book bloggers responsible for the downfall of books, or merely a symptom of the problem?

23 Jun

Serena from Savvy Verse and Wit tweeted a link to an article on SantaCruz.com bemoaning the fate of Book Expo America and the state publishing in general.  The author stated:

This year’s BEA confirmed what most writers and book reviewers already knew: that the publication of serious literature, and particularly of literary fiction, has been abandoned by the big publishers to the small or medium-size independent presses.

The article then turned to a discussion of Book Bloggers. According to the author, Book Bloggers

are mostly women between 20 and 50 years old, often known as “mommy bloggers” because they are housewives who blog about romance novels, horror/vampire stories and paranormal novels.

She goes on to state

The main difference between the new book bloggers and the old book reviewers is that the former don’t have any literary “prejudices.” They are children of pop culture and the mass media, and have transferred their interests onto the realm of books. Their electronic chatter will soon cover whatever is left of book reviewing.

Wow.

First of all, even it the situation at BEA was as dire as she stated (1/3 children’s books with garish colors, and 1/3 e-readers intending to replace print), that doesn’t mean the publishers have abandoned all other projects.  It just means they didn’t choose to feature them at BEA.  The death of print/literary fiction/etc. has been predicted before, and will be again.  I don’t think it is true, but that’s not what I want to talk about here.

I want to talk about who blogs, why, and what our impact is (and can be).

At a first glance, I fit the description given above.  I am between 20 and 50 (closer to 50 than the 20 year old “girls” the author says she met). I am a “housewife” (although I don’t usually use that word to describe myself).  I blog about romance novels, horror/vampire stories, and paranormal novels.  I also blog about cozy mysteries, hard-boiled mysteries, woman’s fiction, science fiction, historical fiction, general fiction, non-fiction, and even (gasp) literary fiction and translated works.  I’m even a “mommy” that mentions my daughter at times in my blog.

However, I will object to the label mommy-blogger.  Mommy doesn’t describe what I blog about.  It doesn’t describe my audience.  It doesn’t describe me, as it pertains to the work I do on my blog.  I dismiss it as irrelevant.

That dismissal is not just on my behalf, but on the behalf of all my fellow book bloggers.  (If any of the children’s book bloggers want to keep that title, they are welcome to.  It might make sense in some cases).  If the label doesn’t fit me, how much less does it fit the older/younger/employed-parents/non-parents/men/etc. that make up the book blogging community?

More relevant is the second quote above.  I’ll argue with the assertion that my interests (and those of most bloggers) were formed more by pop culture and mass media.  I’ve always been a reader.  I do enjoy pop culture as well, but it isn’t a primary influence.

On the other hand, I’m still struggling to figure out what it means to not have  any literary prejudices.

I think that’s probably true of me, or of my reviews.  My goal in reviewing a book is to discuss what I did and didn’t like about it, and hope that will help my readers make a decision about what books they are interested in reading  Honestly, literary merit isn’t what I’m looking for.  In many books I read, I am looking for mental stimulation of some sort.  In others, I’m looking for an emotional connection.  Sometimes I just want to relax and have a good laugh.

In other words, I’m just your average reader.

Sure, I read more books, and in a wider variety of genres.  But I’m not trying to be an expert, telling you what’s good for you.  I’d like to encourage you to read, maybe more than you would have otherwise, and maybe a wider variety.  I’d like to encourage you to talk books with me, and with your other friends, whether in book clubs, on-line, or in casual conversation.

Because that is how books will survive.  Not by experts that talk about the books that their “literary prejudices” say we should appreciate, but by every reader that picks up any kind of book.

I’m happy to be part of that future.

 
13 Comments

Posted by on June 23, 2011 in blogging

 

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Review: Folly Beach by Dorothea Benton Frank

22 Jun

Folly Beach: A Lowcountry TaleMy rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

This is the first Dorothea Benton Frank book I’ve read, but I don’t think it will be the last.

Summary via Goodreads:

With its sandy beaches and bohemian charms, surfers and suits alike consider Folly Beach to be one of South Carolina’s most historic and romantic spots. It is also the land of Cate Cooper’s childhood, the place where all the ghosts of her past roam freely. Cate never thought she’d wind up in this tiny cottage named the Porgy House on this breathtakingly lovely strip of coast. But circumstances have changed, thanks to her newly dead husband whose financial—and emotional—bull and mendacity have left Cate homeless, broke, and unmoored.

Yet Folly Beach holds more than just memories. Once upon a time another woman found unexpected bliss and comfort within its welcoming arms. An artist, writer, and colleague of the revered George Gershwin, Dorothy Heyward enjoyed the greatest moments of her life at Folly with her beloved husband, DuBose. And though the Heywards are long gone, their passion and spirit lingers in every mango sunset and gentle ocean breeze.

And for Cate, Folly, too, holds the promise of unexpected fulfillment when she is forced to look at her life and the zany characters that are her family anew. To her surprise, she will discover that you can go home again. Folly Beach doesn’t just hold the girl she once was . . . it also holds the promise of the woman she’s always wanted—and is finally ready—to become.

This is just the kind of book I like to use to kick back and relax. It is comfortable, with characters I enjoyed getting to know.

I admit, the beginning was a bit of a stretch for me. The book alternates between scenes from a script for a one-woman play and Cate’s life.

I had a hard time with the voice of the character in the play. As I got into Folly Beach, I grew to appreciate the play and the woman in it, but it was never as appealing to me as the rest of the book.

Then, I had a little trouble connecting with Cate as she and her situation were introduced. She knew there were problems in her life, but she didn’t realize how total they were until absolutely everything collapsed.

However, once the initial shock passed, Cate became a character I very much enjoyed knowing. She had enough strength to keep going and build a new life, enough humility to let friends and family help her get started, and was real enough that she didn’t get through the whole ordeal pain free.

What I enjoyed most about Folly Beach was the relationships between the characters– between Cate and her sister, between Cate and her (grown) children, between Cate and the Aunt that raised her. Each allowed a glimpse into a side of Cate that she wouldn’t show on her own.

Cate’s finding of her own path made for interesting reading as well, as her past theater career took a new path.    Her mentor here is a new acquaintance, one that starts to play a large role in her life.

I’d be remiss in not mentioning the South Carolina setting, which was almost a character into itself. It isn’t an area of the country I have any real familiarity with, either in person or through fiction, and I liked this introduction to it.

The historical aspect of the story (and the play that grew out of it) took longer to grow on me, and I never had the same enjoyment for Dorothy as I did for Cate.

There was one other aspect of the book that felt clunky to me at times. The book had Something To Say about and Important Subject– race in South Carolina, historically and today. To this end, many of the characters weren’t described physically, I think to introduce one “surprise” at the end. I appreciated the general reflections on what has and hasn’t changed, but it didn’t always flow smoothly with the story.

The strengths of Folly Beach outweigh the weaknesses, and I look forward to reading other books by this author.

I read Folly Beach for a TLC Book Tour.  Thank you to TLC and William Morrow for providing me a copy of this book to review. For other opinions on the book, check out the other tour stops:
TLC Book Tours

 
5 Comments

Posted by on June 22, 2011 in books, reviews

 

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Review: The Case for the Only Child by Susan Newman

21 Jun

The Case for the Only Child: Your Essential GuideThis really wasn’t the book I was hoping for. It may well be the book someone else needs.

Book description via Goodreads.com:

What’s really wrong with having one child? Is one enough for you? For your partner? What constitutes a complete, happy family? Will your only child be lonely, spoiled, bossy, selfish? Read this book and find out.

Despite the personal distress and pressure to have a second baby, the number of women having an only child has more than doubled in the last two decades. What most people don’t realize is that one-child families outnumber families with two children and have for more than two decades. In major metropolitan areas like New York, 30 percent of families have a singleton. Throughout the country people are following suit. And it’s no wonder why:

  • The worrisome biological clock (secondary infertility; older mothers)
  • Downtrodden job markets
  • How mothers working affects everyone in the family
  • Finances and housing and costs of education

These are only the few things that parents today (and parents to be) contend with when deciding to start a family and determining whether or not to stop after one. The time is right for a book that addresses the emerging type of nuclear family, one that consists of a solo child.

I have an only child. I’ve long since accepted this as fine for our family. I never worried about most of the things the author gives as concerns. Most of the reasons she discusses for having an only child weren’t really part of out decision making either, although I have thought of some as advantages after the fact.

Beyond that, my biggest disappointment is that Susan Newman only refers to the research fleetingly, with much more space being taken up by anecdotes from people she’s interviewed and commenters on her blog. I appreciated these, but really was looking for a more scholarly work– one that described the studies and spent a paragraph (rather than a single sentence) on the results.

But it wasn’t at all a bad book, just not the one I was looking for. If you are debating whether to have a second child, whether for personal, professional or logistical reasons, this book might help you make up your mind. If circumstances have determined you will only have one child, even if that wasn’t your choice, this may put your mind at ease. If you have an only child, and people are telling you your child will be spoiled, lonely, and generally unhappy, this book will address your concerns.

For me?  I didn’t take into account my career or family finances in making the choice– I left a successful career to become a stay at home mom to my one, and I know we would have made another child work financially. I always saw my daughter’s imaginary friends as signs of an active imagination, not loneliness to be cured by a sibling.  Instead of seeing her as spoiled, I saw her as happy to share since resources were plentiful.  My daughter decided early on she didn’t want to have siblings, just to borrow them sometimes, and even now she delights in the company of older and younger children.

For you?  I wish you happiness, whatever your family looks like.  Consider this book as a potential resource in getting to that point.

I read The Case for the Only Child for a TLC Book Tour.  Thank you to TLC and to the Publisher for the opportunity to review this book.  For more by/about the author, visit her website at www.susannewmanphd.com and her Singletons blog for Psychology Today.

For other opinions on the book, check out the other tour stops:

 
7 Comments

Posted by on June 21, 2011 in books, reviews

 

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Mailbox Monday

19 Jun

My mailbox looks a little like this one!Welcome to Mailbox Monday!

Mailbox Monday is a place to share all the wonderful books that have come to live in your home– including paper books, e-books and audio books.

Mailbox Monday was started by Marcia, who is now blogging at A girl and her books. When Marcia was ready to move on from being the weekly host, she was kind enough to set up the Mailbox Monday Blog Tour,

Bluestocking @ The Bluestocking Guide is the June host!

As for my mailbox:

Books for review:

Money Can't Buy LoveMoney Can’t Buy Love by Connie Briscoe

Lena needs something exciting in her life. Her job is draining her, she and her best friend can’t seem to get invitations to an exclusive women’s social group, and her boyfriend of three years, won’t marry her. When Lena thinks things can’t get worse, she wins several million dollars in the Maryland lottery.

After overcoming the shock of her win, things finally begin to turn around for Lena. She’s able to quit her job, buy all the things that couldn’t get for herself and her daughter, not to mention, Gerald has proposed and the women’s group won’t leave her alone. As her life begins to come together, Lena notices that the things she held dear are beginning to fall apart and she wonders if her life really changed for the better, or if things are actually worse than they were before.

I’m reading this one for a TLC Book Tour– the description caught my fancy!

The Revisionists by Thomas MullenThe Revisionists by Thomas Mullen

Would you kill to make the world a peaceful place?

Zed is an agent from the future. A place where all of the world’s problems have been solved. No hunger. No war. No despair.

His mission is to keep that way. Even if it means ensuring every cataclysm throughout history runs its course, especially one just on the horizon.

Zed’s mission will ensnare the lives of a disgraced former spy named Leo; a young lawyer, Tasha, grieving over the loss of her brother; Sari, the oppressed employee of a foreign diplomat; and countless others. But will he finish his final mission before the present takes precedence over a perfect future? One that may have more cracks than he realizes?

This one sounds very intriguinging.

Triple Crossing by Sebastian RotellaTriple Crossing by Sebastian Rotella

Valentine Pescatore, a volatile rookie Border Patrol agent, is trying to survive the trenches of The Line in San Diego. He gets in trouble and finds himself recruited as an informant by Isabel Puente, a beautiful U.S. agent investigating a powerful Mexican crime family.

As he infiltrates the mafia, Pescatore falls in love with Puente. But he clashes with her ally Leo Mendez, chief of a Tijuana anti-corruption unit. Politically charged violence escalates, plunging Pescatore into the lawless “triple border” region of South America and a showdown full of bloodshed and betrayal.

Writing with rapid-fire intensity, Sebastian Rotella captures the despair and intrigue of the borderlands, where enforcing the law has become an act of subversion. TRIPLE CROSSING is an explosive and riveting debut.

As well as more brilliant audio books from Brilliance Audio

Purchased

My daughter and I went to the Scholastic Warehouse sale and escaped with only about 20 books.  10 were for her, 2 were for me, the rest were for gifts.  My finds were Everlost (Skinjacker, #1) and Everwild (Skinjacker, #2) by Neal Shusterman.  I don’t have the energy to list hers :-) .

Your turn

What came in your mailbox this week? Let me know, then go to The Bluestocking Guide to check out others!

 
13 Comments

Posted by on June 19, 2011 in books, meme

 

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Review: Every Last One by Anna Quindlen (With Audio & book club notes)

17 Jun

Every Last OneMy rating: 4 of 5 stars

It took a while for me to get into this one, but I’m not sure if that was the book or that was me. I was somewhat impatient with the time spent building the characters and their life, even though I normally appreciate this in a book.

Summary via Goodreads:

Mary Beth Latham has built her life around her family, around caring for her three teenage children and preserving the rituals of their daily life. When one of her sons becomes depressed, Mary Beth focuses on him, only to be blindsided by a shocking act of violence. What happens afterward is a testament to the power of a woman’s love and determination, and to the invisible lines of hope and healing that connect one human being to another. Ultimately, as rendered in Anna Quindlen’s mesmerizing prose, Every Last One is a novel about facing every last one of the things we fear the most, about finding ways to navigate a road we never intended to travel.

The strength of the first half of the book is the portrait of a family I could relate to.  I don’t know that family, but I can imagine them living on a street nearby (although of course my daughter and her friends aren’t going to get involved with anything like Ruby and her friends did– drinking and teen sex eating disorders and so on.  La La La.  My fingers are in my ears, I can’t hear you!).

I think the problem (such as it is) was that I knew Something was Going to Happen, just from reading the description on the back of the book. That’s part of the experience here– trying to guess what is going to happen and when. Which hints in the text are going to be built on? Or is it going to come completely out of the blue?

Once It happens, the book just grabbed me, and I couldn’t stop listening. All in all, I liked the characters, particularly Mary Beth. This isn’t to say she was perfect– far from it. She was human, with strengths and flaws. The kids were also fairly well fleshed out. In the family, only her husband never really came alive for me.

Particularly interesting were the snapshots of Mary Beth’s friends, as they would come into focus over the course of the book. One would be highlighted at a key moment, a different one at another time.  Some are faithful to her throughout the story, some come and go, and we see small (and not so small) glimpses into their lives.

All in all, this is a book about characters, and these are worth spending the time with.

 

Book Club notes

We had a great time discussing Every Last One.  We all liked the book, although everyone found it extremely intense.  We all thought the characters were very well done, and discussed the strengths and weaknesses.  We talked about their relationships with each other, and the ways we did and didn’t relate to the characters.  We talked about whether key events could have been avoided, and what aspects of the past contributed to the path that was taken.

I’d recommend this for book clubs that enjoy character driven discussions.

Audio Notes

Sound Bytes @ Devourer of Books

For more audiobook reviews, check out Sound Bytes

Narrator: Hope Davis was seamless in this book.  She was the voice of Mary Beth, and I didn’t stop to consider her as an independent entity.

Production:  No issues, no extras.

Audio or Print?  Audio worked fine for me overall.  There were two reasons (not major ones) that push me a little toward thinking print might have been even better.

First (and irrelevant for many), the print version has a Reader’s Guide that might have been useful for Book Club.

Second, in the first half, the book sometimes felt a bit slow, and might have felt less so, since I can read print faster.  In the second half, I wanted to go faster at times, because I was so wrapped up in what was happening!

Both of these are minor.

I really did enjoy getting to know Mary Beth, and I wouldn’t hesitate to listen to another one of Anna Quidlen’s books.

 
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Posted by on June 17, 2011 in Book Club, books, M, reviews

 

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Review: The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely

16 Jun

The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at HomeThe Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Summary via Goodreads:

  • Why can large bonuses make CEOs less productive?
  • How can confusing directions actually help us?
  • Why is revenge so important to us?
  • Why is there such a big difference between what we think will make us happy and what really makes us happy?

In his groundbreaking book Predictably Irrational, social scientist Dan Ariely revealed the multiple biases that lead us into making unwise decisions. Now, in The Upside of Irrationality, he exposes the surprising negative and positive effects irrationality can have on our lives. Focusing on our behaviors at work and in relationships, he offers new insights and eye-opening truths about what really motivates us on the job, how one unwise action can become a long-term habit, how we learn to love the ones we’re with, and more.

Drawing on the same experimental methods that made Predictably Irrational one of the most talked-about bestsellers of the past few years, Ariely uses data from his own original and entertaining experiments to draw arresting conclusions about how—and why—we behave the way we do. From our office attitudes, to our romantic relationships, to our search for purpose in life, Ariely explains how to break through our negative patterns of thought and behavior to make better decisions. The Upside of Irrationality will change the way we see ourselves at work and at home—and cast our irrational behaviors in a more nuanced light.

I haven’t read Dan Ariely before, although I’ve heard a lot about Predictably Irrational from my husband, who really liked the book.

I enjoyed The Upside of Irrationality, although I wasn’t always sure what kind of book it was trying to be. The author was very clear that this book was much more personal than Predictably Irrational, giving a book that was a mixture of notes on research and what it tells us and of personal stories and anecdotes with a curious balance between them.  Was it a memoir of sorts, with the studies to support his personal thoughts?  Was the meat in the studies, with the personal stories meant simply as a supplement?  It was hard to tell at times.

Anything that looks into how we think, and why we behave the way we do is bound to be interesting, and this is an excellent example of that.

Certainly, Dan Ariely’s looks into the research were fascinating, particularly as he and his colleagues designed the studies to test certain hypotheses. I didn’t always agree with the conclusions they came to based on the results as explained in the book, but I also acknowledge that the actual analysis was much more complex than what was presented.  I was impressed with the thought that went into the studies, and I found them thought provoking.

On the other hand, I had more mixed opinions on his personal stories. Some of them gave interesting perspective to the studies he described. Some of them were an inspiring look at someone that really has overcome a lot.

And some of it made him sound like kind of a shallow guy. I admire his honesty, I guess, as he talks about how unfair it is that his accident lowers the expected hotness he could expect to find and date– after all he’s the same person inside as he was before. Evidently, this doesn’t carry through to the opposite sex– they should look past his exterior to his interior, but he shouldn’t be expected to do the same. Luckily, he found someone that was willing to do so, leaving him happy with his attractive spouse, and me with somewhat less respect for him. Luckily for both of us, our paths are unlikely to cross, and it should prove entirely irrelevant!

The really unfortunate thing is how much that tiny piece of the book stuck with me. I think of it far more than the studies on how to motivate people (which tied in nicely with Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, which I read recently as well), more than the thoughts on how we value our own efforts, and those on the need for (and value of) revenge. The book spent more time on these issues than the ones of attractiveness, and they are the more interesting to me in an abstract sense.

There’s a lot of great reading here. I’m guessing there is even more in Predictably Irrational, which I still plan to read some day.

Thank you to Harper Perennial for sending me a copy to review!

 
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Posted by on June 16, 2011 in books, reviews

 

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