New Videos for Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life

In February 2009, I posted a review of a unique memoir, Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.  I really enjoyed this funny, warm memoir written with encyclopedia-like entries.

Amy has just posted three new videos on YouTube that reflect the same quirky sense of fun that I loved in her book.  The first video is a sort of promo for her book, filled with fun little audience-participation hot spots, including opportunities to receive fresh pie in the mail or to appear in another video.

Within that video is a link to another one, a music video of a song about Amy and her book, written and performed by a musician friend (it's actually pretty good!)

Her third video, Standing in a Bookstore Looking at a Book, is an ode to choosing a book that all book-lovers will appreciate.

All of the videos are further proof of Amy's cleverness and creativity - hope you enjoy them as I did!

It's Monday 11/8! What Are You Reading?

Happy Monday!  Another busy week here.  Last week of the marking period for the kids, so they had a lot of work to do, my husband is traveling for business again, and I'm busy trying to be both mom and dad!  I don't think the kids had any time at all for reading last week, but I did:

• I finished Unwind by Neal Shusterman, a teen dystopian novel, and absolutely loved it!  I couldn't wait to tell you about it, so I posted a review on my kids' book blog the same day.
• Now, I'm in the middle of Beloved by Toni Morrison for our library book discussion this week.  It's a Classic Potluck - everyone reads a classic of their own choosing then tells the group about it.  I know some don't consider Beloved old enough to be a classic, but it was included on a list of classics from the library, and I've wanted to read a Toni Morrison book for a long time.  She's got an unusual writing style at times, but I'm enjoying this moving story very much so far. 
• My husband took his new mystery, New Orleans Mourning by Julie Smith, with him on his trip, along with Unwind, after Jamie and I raved about it!
• Jamie, 16, is still reading Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury for school (he says he's ahead of the class since he read a lot while he was sick recently) and The Stand by Stephen King for fun.
• Craig, 12, is still reading The Book of Time by by Guillaume Prevost, the first book in an exciting, fast-paced time-travel series, but I don't think he read at all last week!  We'll have to remedy that this week...

Besides the review of Unwind (you must read this book!), I also posted a summary of all the books I read in October.

And check out these details of the upcoming movie versions of The Hunger Games and The Help.  I can't wait to see both of them!

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Mondays is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey).

The Help, The Movie

Yeah!!!  One of my all-time favorite novels, The Help, is being made into a movie, to be released in August 2011. 

This update provides some details, and here are some stills from the movie (apparently, they've already begun filming).  It looks so good, doesn't it?  I can't wait!!

What do you think of the actresses they chose for the lead roles?  Will you go see the movie?

Books Read in October

I didn't read nearly as many books in October as I did in September, but that's a good thing - I tore through a bunch of book last month because I was sick for two weeks.  Healthier and busier this month, so I'm not complaining!

I read 2 adult books, and 3 teen/YA books (one of which was an audio) in October:

• Blind Descent by Nevada Barr, one of her classic Anna Pigeon thrillers, about a National Park ranger, this one set in Carlsbad Caverns.
• Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel, a warm, funny, and thought-provoking teen novel that I loved about a boy whose parents are raising a chimp as a human baby, teaching him sign language.
• Who Has Seen the Wind by W.O. Mitchell for my book group, a gentle coming-of-age story set in the Canadian prairie.
• The Deadly Sister by Eliot Schrefer, an enjoyable teen mystery/suspense novel.
• She's So Dead To Us by Kieran Scott, a teen audio novel with more depth than I expected.

All good reads in October!  Hope you had a good reading month, too.

It's Monday 11/1! What Are You Reading?

Eeek!  November already?  How on earth did that happen?  From here on out, time seems to go double-speed through January. 

Back to October for a moment.  We had a wonderful Halloween weekend, filled with pumpkins, cider, and fun costumes.  Our whole family dressed up as rock stars for Halloween (that's me in front), and the boys had a blast trick-or-treating.  We love our Halloween traditions - fun weekend, but tough to have Halloween on a Sunday night.  My son was getting ready for school this morning and said, "Mom, we have a problem!"  The insides of his ears were black from the spray-on hair dye!  I got him cleaned up before the bus came.  Personally, I had a terrible time washing off the black lipstick and eyeliner.

Besides Halloween, we had a very busy week - my husband was out of town, my mom stayed with us most of the week, Jamie was sick for another 3 days, then had a mountain of make-up work...so, we had very little reading time.  Here's what we read:

• I finished The Deadly Sister by Eliot Shrefer and enjoyed it very much.  It's a murder thriller for teens/YA with some unexpected twists.  Review coming this week.
• I usually alternate kids/teen books with grown-up books, but I made an exception this week so I could read something spooky for Halloween.  So, I'm in the middle of Unwind by Neal Shusterman, a chilling book about a time in the future when abortion is illegal but parents can choose to "unwind" their kids when they're teens, sending them to a harvest camp where all of their organs are transplanted to donors so that life doesn't technically end.  I loved Shusterman's Everlost and Everwild, and Unwind is just as good.  A perfect Halloween read!
• My husband, Ken, worked long hours on his business trip, so he just finished Cover Her Face by P.D. James, which he said was a classic British mystery.
• Next, he's starting a book I gave him for his birthday, New Orleans Mourning by Julie Smith - I thought he'd enjoy a mystery set in our favorite city!
• Jamie, 16, is still reading Fahrenheit 451 by Rad Bradbury for school and The Stand by Stephen King for fun (he's on about page 500 of 1000!).
• I don't think Craig, 12, read much at all last week, but he's still working on The Book of Time by Guillaume Prevost, the first book in an exciting, fast-paced time-travel series.

I had a lot of fun last week posting my Top Ten Books to Read for Halloween, and I posted a review of Who Has Seen the Wind.  I also posted a review of a teen audio book at Great Books for Kids and Teens, She's So Dead To Us (which sounds a bit Halloween-y but really isn't).


What are you and your family reading this week?


(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey).

Fiction Review: Who Has Seen the Wind

I just read this novel for my neighborhood book group, and everyone enjoyed it. It's considered a Canadian classic (though I'd never heard of it before), originally published in 1947. 

It's a sweet coming-of-age story set in the Saskatchewan prairie in the early 1930's. Brian is only four years old when the novel opens, and it ends as he enters adolescence. In between are joys and sorrows, just like in real life, along with tender moments, plenty of humor, and some surprising insights from a young boy. It's not a fast-paced book but easily kept my interest, a "gentle story" as one of my neighbors put it, with a wonderful philosophical perspective that provided plenty of fodder for discussion.

Top Ten Books for Halloween

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  Today's seasonal topic is Top Ten Books To Read for Halloween.  This was sort of tough for me because I don't read many scary or supernatural books anymore.  When I was in my teens and twenties, I read a lot of horror - pretty much everything Stephen King wrote and a lot of Dean Koontz, too - but I haven't read much of that genre in years.  So, I dug back a ways for some of these and only came up with 8:

1. It by Stephen King (I could have made an entire list of Stephen King novels, but I remember this one being one of the scariest)
2. The Dark Half by Stephen King (another favorite because it's about a writer)
3. Shutter Island by Denise Lehare
4. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger (not really scary but a ghost story)
5. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (scariest Crichton book)
6. Wicked by Gregory Maguire (it's about a witch after all!)
7. The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent (more disturbing than scary but it is about the Salem witch trials)
8. The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult (truly frightening in much too real a way)

For my list of Top Ten Books to Read for Halloween for kids and teens/YA, check out Great Books for Kids and Teens.

What are your top picks for Halloween reading?

It's Monday 10/25! What Are You Reading?

Another Monday after another very busy week.  Soccer, school functions, and house guests this weekend.  My mom and her husband were visiting.  The guys all went to a Ravens-Bills football game, while my mom and I took the train to NYC to see a show on Broadway.  We saw Next to Normal which was stunningly good, with amazing music, great acting, and very powerful emotions.  So, lots of fun for all of us, but not a lot of reading time!  Things should start to slow down a bit, as the boys' soccer seasons begin to wind down.

Here's what we're reading:

• I finished Who Has Seen the Wind by W.O. Mitchell, a classic coming-of-age novel set in the Canadian prairie.  It was wonderful - warm and tender, funny, sad - just like real life.  My mom is reading it now; our book group meets Wednesday to discuss it.
• Now I'm reading a teen suspense novel/murder mystery, The Deadly Sister by Eliot Schrefer.  I'm only on chapter 9, but it's already a very compelling story about two sisters, one of whom may have been involved in a murder.  It's hard to put down!
• Jamie, 16, made a little more progress on The Stand by Stephen King, unfortunately because he was home sick for much of last week.  
• Jamie also finished Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer for his American Lit class.  He said the story was interesting, but he didn't like the way the book was written (he would have preferred to hear the story told from a first-person perspective, but, of course, that's impossible).  His class has now started Fahrenheit 451 by Rad Bradbury, an old favorite of mine.  When I was in high school, I read every Ray Bradbury book in our public library!
• Craig, 12, has started The Book of Time by Guillaume Prevost, the first book in an exciting, fast-paced time-travel series.  The real surprise is that Jamie and I both loved this series and have been trying to get Craig to read it for years.  He likes to be independent, so he rarely takes our advice on reading materials!  I think he'll really enjoy this book.
• My husband, Ken, is still working on his English mystery, Cover Her Face by P.D. James.  He had very little reading time last week!

Last week on Great Books for Kids and Teens, I posted a review of Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel, a wonderful teen novel about a boy who has a chimp for a baby brother.

What are you reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

It's Monday 10/18! What Are You Reading?

Rough Monday morning today.  I attended an all-day medical conference yesterday on my chronic illness along with two friends.  It was wonderful and interesting and very worthwhile...but a long, long day for me.  I'm pretty wiped out today.  Of course, both boys forgot assignments at home this morning, so I will be making a run to each school...Monday.

Thank goodness Monday also means What Are You Reading day!  Something to look forward to on a hectic morning.  None of us had a lot of reading time this week, but we squeezed in a little:

• I finished Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel - review to come this week at Great Books for Kids and Teens.  I loved this middle-grade novel about a boy whose scientist parents are bringing up a baby chimp as a human to try to teach him sign language.  The book is funny, touching, fascinating, and thought-provoking.
• I'm now reading a book for my neighborhood book group meeting next week, Who Has Seen the Wind by W.O. Mitchell, a coming-of-age story about a young boy growing up in a prairie town in Saskatchewan.  I'd never heard of it before, but apparently, it is considered a Canadian classic.  It's enjoyable so far.
• My husband, Ken, planned to take 2 paperbacks with him on his trip to Texas last week but forgot both at home!  So, he bought one at the airport by one of his favorite authors, Robert Crais: The Forgotten Man, a Elvis Cole novel.  He says it was very good.
• Now Ken is back to the novel he started last week, Cover Her Face, a mystery by P.D. James.  He was having trouble remembering all the characters last night as he tried to pick up where he left off!
• Jamie, 16, is still reading The Stand by Stephen King for fun, and Into the Wild by Job Krakauer for school.  He was pretty sick last week and struggling to keep up with homework, so he didn't have much time for any reading.
• Craig, 12, finished Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi for school and is looking forward to his class visit to the Renaissance Faire this week.  I don't think he's started a new book yet (that will probably require a little push from Mom!)

I had my hands full last week taking care of the kids and the house on my own while Ken was out of town, but I did manage to post reviews of a couple of old favorite animal middle-grade series, Warriors and Silverwing at Great Books for Kids and Teens.  Here, I posted a summary of all the books I read in September (better late than never!) and a short review of Blind Descent by Nevada Barr.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Mondays is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey).

P.S. Jamie just texted and said he doesn't need his assignment until tomorrow, and I e-mailed Craig's essay to his teacher...sigh...I love my couch (and my laptop!).

Fiction Review: Blind Descent

Before I discovered book groups and broadened my reading horizons, I read almost exclusively mysteries and suspense novels. I don't often read these mass market thrillers any more, but I do still enjoy a Nevada Barr book once in awhile. Her unique twist? All of her novels are set in National Parks and her main character, Anna Pigeon, is a park ranger. As an avid outdoors person and frequent visitor to National Parks, I really enjoy these books.

Blind Descent was somewhat unique, even within Barr's normal approach because it was set in Carlsbad Caverns National Park and much of it takes place underground. There were many passages describing how the "cavers" explored and traveled through dramatic and harrowing underground passages in a lesser-known cave within the Park that only a few people had ever seen.

Normally, Anna is a strictly above-ground person, since she has claustrophobia, but she agrees to go along on a rescue mission because the injured caver is a good friend of hers who has specifically requested her presence. It seems like a straightforward - if terrifying - mission, until whispers of murder start to circulate. A very enjoyable read. 

Books Read in September

I'm running a little late on this after a busy week and a weekend away.  September was a good reading month, in part because it was a rotten health month.  A nasty virus and bronchitis left me in bed for over a week...with nothing to do but read!  I read six books for kids or teens and three grown-up novels:

• Ruined, a teen ghost story set in New Orleans.
• Mockingjay, the fabulous end to the amazing teen/YA trilogy that began with The Hunger Games - highly recommended for teens and adults alike!
• George Washington's Socks, a time travel adventure novel for middle-grade kids.
• The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman's award-winning story of a boy who grows up in a graveyard, filled with his trademark wit and whimsy.
• Suspect, an original teen mystery
• The Limit, a fast-paced middle-grade techno-thriller set in the near future

• The 19th Wife, a fascinating historical novel mixed with a modern-day murder mystery
• The Shipping News, an award-winning novel set in Newfoundland and populated by quirky characters.
• A Soft Place to Land, a novel about the complex and changing relationship between two sisters who lost their parents.

Hope you had a good reading month, too!

It's Monday 10/11! What Are You Reading?

Another Monday morning.  We had a wonderful weekend, camping with good friends.  The weather was absolutely perfect - I love fall!

We had a busy week but managed to fit in some reading:

• I finished Blind Descent by Nevada Barr - a satisfying mystery by a favorite author who sets all her novels in National Parks (this one was set in Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico).
• My husband, Ken, finished Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel, a middle-grade novel about a family that raises a chimp as if he were a human baby in order to teach him sign language.  After he finished it, I picked it up!  I'm really enjoying it so far.  Oppel is an excellent writer (my oldest son was a huge fan of his Silverwing series) and the premise is fascinating.
• Ken is traveling this week, so his next book is a slim paperback, Cover Her Face, a mystery by P.D. James.  We've both enjoyed her books in the past.
• Jamie, 16, hasn't had much reading time because of so much homework, but he's still working on The Stand by Stephen King for fun and Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer for his American Lit class.  He says he'd enjoy Into the Wild more if he was reading it on his own and didn't have to think about underlining important passages!  I want to read it when he's finished.  I loved the movie.
• Craig, 12, is still reading Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi for his English class.  In conjunction with the book and their study of Medieval England, his class will be going to the Renaissance Faire next week.

Last week, I participated in a fun meme, posting my ten favorite authors of kids/teen books at my other blog and my ten favorite grown-up authors here.  I also posted a short review of the novel, A Soft Place to Land by Susan Rebecca White.

I also posted two new reviews at Great Books for Kids and Teens:  Suspect by Kristen Wolden Nitz, a teen mystery, and The Graveyard Book, a delightful middle-grade novel by Neil Gaiman about a boy brought up in a graveyard by ghosts.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Mondays is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey).

Top Ten Favorite Authors

My long-time readers may remember that I used to do a weekly meme, Ten for Tuesday, with a top ten list each week (you can check out my past Ten for Tuesday posts).  Well, someone else has started a very similar weekly meme, and I decided to jump in and participate!

The Broke and the Bookish has a weekly question for bloggers for its Top Ten Tuesday meme (see the similarities?).  This week's theme is Top Ten Favorite Authors.   Sounds like fun!

This is kind of tough, though, because I don't read a lot of authors repeatedly - I spend much of my reading time on new books by authors I haven't read before.  But I guess some stand out as repeat favorites.  I'll limit this list to grown-up books, but you can read my list of favorite authors for kids/teen/YA books at my other blog, Great Books for Kids and Teens.

So, here we go, in no particular order:

1. Geraldine Brooks
2. Jodi Picoult
3. Orson Scott Card
4. Jennifer Haigh
5. Janet Evanovich (pure escapist fun, but I've read every Stephanie Plum novel!)
6. Khaled Hosseini
7. Barbara Kingsolver
8. Wally Lamb
9. Harper Lee
10. Rebecca Wells

This was a tough, and I probably forgot a bunch.  With a few of these authors, I've only read one book of theirs, but I loved it so much, they became an instant favorite!   On the other hand, I left out a few where I loved one book but didn't enjoy another of theirs much. 

Who are your ten favorite authors?

Fiction Review: A Soft Place to Land

I had never heard of this author, Susan Rebecca White, before but picked up A Soft Place to Land on the Buy 1, get 1 Free table at Borders this summer because it sounded interesting.  I ended up enjoying it very much.

It's the story of two sisters and their relationship from childhood to adulthood.  When I started it, I worried it would be one of those idealized portraits of sisters, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was a well-rounded, realistic view of both the closeness of sisters and the conflicts that can tear them apart.

The novel begins with the two girls' parents being killed in a plane crash.  The sisters, who are four years' apart, deal with this disaster in very different ways.  Over the years, various circumstances and conflicts pull them apart.  Although they love each other, they often don't understand each other.  I thought the characters, dialogue, and situations were very real and sometimes reminded me of the complex relationship I have with my own sister.  Overall, it was an engrossing and enjoyable book.

352 pages, Touchstone Books

Banned Books Week

As usual, I'm a bit late on this since Banned Book Week officially ended yesterday, but it still feels like the same week to me until Monday arrives!

I just wanted to share a wonderful podcast called Books on the Nightstand.  I absolutely love this podcast all about books and listen to it every week while I'm cooking Sunday dinner.  I highly recommend the podcast in general and hope you'll check it out.  You can listen online, download it from their blog, or download it from iTunes.


But, for this week in particular, Books on the Nightstand did an excellent podcast on Banned Books Week (as usual I just listened to it while making Sunday dinner which is why I'm a bit late with this post!).  If you have any interest in banned books, you'll enjoy this wonderful podcast.

Better late than never, right?

Mini Review: The 19th Wife

My neighborhood book group read The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff for our 100th book and met at a restaurant last week to celebrate and discuss it. This is one of those books I never would have read if it wasn't for my book group, but I'm glad I did.

This novel is really two interwoven stories: the story of Brigham Young's so-called 19th wife who divorced him in the late 1800's and helped to outlaw polygamy and a modern murder mystery set in an isolated religious compound where polygamy is still practiced today.

The novel goes back and forth between the two stories and relies heavily on historical fact. In fact, about a quarter of the way through, I skipped ahead to the Afterword to read about how much of it was fact and how much was fiction. The historical context is fascinating (much more so than I expected) and the modern mystery is filled with unexpected twists. After I described the book to my husband, he started reading it himself!

This must be a hot topic because on the Today show last week, I saw an interview with a modern-day polygamist and his four wives who are starring in a new reality series on TLC, Sister Wives.

Mini Review: The Shipping News

Even though I don't have the time or energy to write full reviews here right now, I decided to post the mini reviews that I write on Goodreads for the adult books I read.  I post full reviews of kids' and teens' books at my other blog, Great Books for Kids and Teens.  So, my mini review of The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx:

I just finished this award-winning novel (it won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award) for one of my book groups. I saw the movie starring Kevin Spacey years ago and have wanted to read the book for a long time.

The author has a strange writing style, filled with odd little sentence fragments, but it grew on me after a while. It's a quirky novel, about a misfit man who's been through some terrible tragedies and moves to his ancestors' home in cold, barren Newfoundland with his two young daughters. Life there is challenging, but he slowly finds his way and feels like he belongs for the first time in his life. It's a warm, tender story, filled with unusual characters.

Book Title Meme

I saw this over at The Little Bookworm, and I loved it!

What To Do: Using only books you have read this year (2010), answer these questions. Try not to repeat a book title. It’s a lot harder than you think!

(I limited my answers here to just the adult books I read this year so far - to see my answers for the kids' and teen/YA  books I've read, hop over to Great Books for Kids and Teens.  I found it was a lot harder with the adult titles!)

If you could go anywhere, where would you go?  Shutter Island (yikes, not really!)

Your favorite form of transportation: Sea Trails

Your best friend is: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

You and your friends are: Her Fearful Symmetry

What’s the weather like:  Mudbound

You fear:  The Sweet Hereafter

What is the best advice you have to give:  Let the Great World Spin

Thought for the day:  How To Be Sick

How I would like to die: The Soloist

My soul’s present condition:  Love Walked In

 

What I Read In August

I read some great books in August, so I thought I'd give you a quick summary.  I've linked to reviews, where I wrote one, or included my mini review from Goodreads.  And I finally figured out how to add my Goodreads links to my blog (I'm slow with this techie stuff!), so you can find that in the right-hand column. This month, I read and enjoyed:

Memoirs of a Geisha:
This book is a great example of why I love book groups so much. Of course, I read all the great reviews of this best-seller and heard friends recommend it, but it just didn't sound interesting to me. I finally read it this week for my library's book discussion, and I'm so glad I did! Within the first few pages, I was hooked.

This is one of those books that transports you to a faraway time and place. It is amazingly well-written (especially since the male author does such an incredible job of writing from the perspective of a girl and woman) and so compelling. Besides the intricate setting and descriptions of a culture far different than ours, I was fascinated by the moral complexities presented. The world of the geishas is one of contradictions - where orphans are basically sold into a form of slavery but also where prominent families may choose to train their daughters as geisha from a very early age. The geishas are thoroughly trained in the arts, respected, and even honored, yet they have almost no control over their own lives.

It's a fascinating, absorbing book. I can't believe I waited so long to read it!

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest:
I very much enjoyed this third and final book in Stieg Larsson's popular series. It was a bit slow at the start, with lots of details on Swedish politics and history, but I was pulled in right from the first page because I couldn't wait to find out what happened to my favorite characters.

This was a satisfying end to an excellent series!  

Elvis & Olive by Stephanie Watson, a sweet middle-grade novel about friendship.

First Light by Rebecca Stead, a middle-grade audio book set in Antarctica.

The Little Book:
I never know how to categorize books with a time-travel theme...I suppose the theme alone makes it science fiction, but that never seems to fit quite right in a book like this.

I really enjoyed this novel about a well-known rock star in 1988 who suddenly finds himself in 1897 Vienna. As with all great time travel stories, it is very thought-provoking, as the man encounters both famous people - like Sigmund Freud and Mark Twain - as well as his own family members as young adults. I find the questions these encounters provoke endlessly fascinating: Can he change the future? If he interferes with his own ancestors, could he affect his own modern life? And in this book...if you could alter history for the better, should you? What unforeseen effects could result?

In addition to these fascinating plot elements, the story's setting in turn-of-the-century Vienna is interesting - I had no idea this time and place had such a profound effect on so many aspects of our modern life.

All in all, a very satisfying read.

Boom! by Mark Haddon, a hilarious British middle-grade audio book.


And now it's September - hard to believe!  I hope you all had a great summer!

Authors Featured on NPR Today

NPR's Radio Times featured a book lover's double-header today! 

The first hour was devoted to a discussion of the phenomenon of Stieg Larsson's wildly popular trilogy, starting with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.   The guests were the editor of the American editions and a mystery/thriller columnist and blogger.  I enjoyed the show so much that I sat in my car in the shopping center parking lot for a half hour!

The second hour of Radio Times featured an interview with Anna Quindlen, author (most recently) of the novel Every Last One.  This was a rebroadcast, and I had heard most of it before, but it's an excellent show.

From the links I've included here you can either download a podcast or listen on your computer.