Weekend Cooking 5/25

Each weekend, Beth Fish Reads hosts Weekend Cooking.  This is perfect for me since I love food and cooking almost as much as I love books!

I didn't cook a lot this week - I got worn out at the end of the week, so we went out twice and ditched our Paleo diet for a couple of meals!

But we did have a few good homemade meals this week. One night when my son had friends over, I made his favorite, pulled pork, in the crockpot. However, since we're trying to limit sugar, I left out the typical store-bought barbeque sauce and instead used a dry rub, from a recipe for Slow Cooker Pulled Pork in the summer issue of Low Sugar Living. It was delicious! And so flavorful that I never missed the sauce. Although I had regular kaiser rolls for the boys, I made Paleo Hamburger Buns from the Against All Grain cookbook for my husband and I. They were very good! Alongside the pulled pork sandwiches, we had homemade cole slaw (I used the recipe from the Cooking Light Slow Cooker Tonight! cookbook). All in all, a great meal.

Another night, I made one of my own recipes, Holubtsi in a Pot. Holubtsi is the Ukrainian word for cabbage rolls, staple of holidays in my family. This is a simple but delicious recipe that uses the same ingredients (minus the rice, to keep it Paleo). I've included it below.

Hope you are enjoying great food and fun cooking this holiday weekend!

Be sure to check out my Big Book Summer Challenge and join the fun!

 
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Holubtsi in a Pot

(Serves 4)

A simple, Paleo version of a traditional Ukrainian favorite

1 tsp olive oil

2 tsp butter or ghee

1 pound lean ground beef (grass-fed, organic if you are eating Paleo)

1 large onion, chopped

16 oz. chopped tomatoes (we like Pomi, with no BPA)

1/2 head of cabbage, chopped

sea salt & pepper to taste

Whole wheat egg noodles, cooked per instructions (optional)

In a large skillet, sauté onion in butter/ghee and olive oil until soft. Add ground beef to skillet and sauté until brown. Add tomatoes and cabbage, reduce heat to medium, and cover skillet. Continue cooking over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until cabbage is tender, about 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

If you are eating Paleo, serve as is. For family members who eat grains, serve over whole wheat egg noodles.

© Suzan L. Jackson 2014

(Do not reprint or publish without written permission from the author)

     

My 2014 Big Book Summer Challenge

I have just announced the third year of my challenge, Big Book Summer Challenge, so I guess I should be the first to sign up!

I really enjoyed tackling some big books the last few summers, and I'm looking forward to doing it again and finally reading some of these bricks that have been collecting dust on my shelf (NOTE: for this challenge, a Big Book is defined as anything with more than 400 pages).

I don't know if I will get to all of these, but I like to have some options to choose from.  These are all currently on my shelves, waiting patiently to be read (along with many others!). I actually chose 6 this year because none of them are 700-1000 pages long, as in previous years - these are all in the 400-550 page range:

• Emma by Jane Austen, 487 pages (I have never read a Jane Austen!)
• The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer, 538 pages
• Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver, 444 pages
• Good Fortune by Noni Carter, 482 pages
• Unsouled by Neal Schusterman, 404 pages
• Fly By Night by Frances Hardinge, 483 pages

I like to alternate between grown-up books and kids/teen/YA books, so I have three of each on this list.  Some of these, like Emma and Fly By Night, have been collecting dust on my shelf for many years! I also chose some books that will help me in other challenges this year, like Emma for my classics challenge, plus all but one of these qualifies for my TBR Challenge. I also chose a couple of summer-themed books this year - The Interestings and Prodigal Summer - just for added fun. This looks like a long list, but none of the books is over 538 pages, and I suspect the kids/YA ones will go pretty quickly.




I'm so excited for summer now! I still have two more book group books to read before I dig into these, but I am looking forward to it.

How about you?  Are you up for tackling a Big Book (or two or three) this summer?  Join me and sign up for the Big Book Summer Challenge!

2014 Big Book Summer Challenge

Image(s): FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A few years ago, I came up with the idea to use the relaxed freedom of summer to tackle some of the biggest books on my TBR shelf that I'd been wanting to read but never seemed to have the time for.  Both of my book groups take time off during the summer, so with no interfering commitments, I declared it The Summer of the Big Book and really enjoyed delving into some hefty tomes, like The Passage and Pillars of the Earth.

It was so much fun that two years ago, I created this challenge so that YOU can join me! Here is my post from last year's Big Book Summer Challenge. And here it is Memorial Day weekend again and the official start of summer 2014. So join in the fun!

The Details:
Hey, it's summer, so we'll keep this low-key and easy!

• Anything over 400 pages qualifies as a big book.
• The challenge will run from Memorial Day weekend (May 24-26 this year) through Labor Day weekend (Labor Day is September 1 this year).
  
• Choose one or two or however many big books you want as your goal.  Wait, did you get that?  You only need to read 1 book with over 400 pages this summer to participate! (though you are welcome to read more, if you want).
• Choose from what's on your shelves already or a big book you've been meaning to read for ages or anything that catches your eye in the library - whatever peaks your interest!
• Sign up on the links list below or on the 2014 Big Book Summer Challenge page.
• Write a post to kick things off - you can list the exact big books you plan to read or just publish your intent to participate, but be sure to include the Big Book Summer Challenge pic above, with a link back to this blog.
  
• Write a post to wrap up at the end, listing the big books you read during the summer.
• You can write progress posts if you want to and/or reviews of the big books you've read...but you don't have to!  There is a separate links list below for big book review posts.

That's it!  Go check out your shelves and your TBR list and sign up below!

(Don't have a blog?  No problem!  You can still participate in the challenge - just leave a comment in the Comment section, stating your goals for the Big Book Summer Challenge.)

Check out my own list of books to read for the challenge.

Be sure to include a link to your kick off blog post (not your homepage):







Come back to this page during the summer to add a link whenever you review a Big Book or post a progress report:

Teen/YA Review: The Dream Thieves

My 19-year old son and I both enjoyed The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater and couldn’t wait to read book two in the series, The Dream Thieves. Stiefvater didn’t disappoint – this second novel in the YA series The Raven Cycle was just as good as the first one.

I don’t want to give away too much for those who have not yet read the first book, Raven Boys (and if you are in that group, what are you waiting for?). In this second book, the quirky and lovable Blue is back, along with her group of unlikely friends, boys from the exclusive private school, Aglionby Academy. Blue is a teen girl who grew up among a family of psychics, though she has no special powers of her own, other than amplifying the psychic abilities of others in her presence.

In The Raven Boys, Blue met and became friends with the Raven Boys: Gansey, a privileged and handsome young man from a wealthy family; Adam, a boy who grew up amidst poverty and abuse and is working hard to earn enough money to stay at Aglionby since the tuition was raised past the amount of his scholarship; the kind but quiet Noah; and Ronan, who is full of anger and has no one left in the world for him except his two brothers and the other Raven Boys.

The boys – and now Blue, too – are on a quest to find a dead Welsh king named Glendower, who they think was hidden somewhere in the hills near their small Virginia town. Legend has it that whoever finds Glendower will have a wish granted. That quest continues in this book, though there are several new developments that were introduced in book one.

Ronan has a secret that explains the mysterious appearance of his pet raven, Chainsaw, in the first book. And there is a new character in this book, a secretive and dangerous man known only as the Gray Man at the start of the book, who seems bent on somehow harming the close group of friends.

Like The Raven Boys, The Dream Thieves is full of action and magic, with elements of romance, suspense, and mystery thrown in. Blue’s affections are torn between moody Adam, whose background is more like hers, and handsome, easy-going Gansey, but her lifelong curse – that if she kisses the boy she loves, he will die – hangs over her head. The quest for Glendower continues, but now there are other challenges the group of friends must deal with, including Ronan’s secret power and the mysterious Gray Man. This book is a bit darker and more suspenseful than the first, but it still has Stiefvater’s wonderful sense of humor to balance the tone and keep it fun. My son and I can’t wait to see what will happen in book three!

437 pages, Scholastic

 

It's Monday 5/19! What Are You Reading?

Quiet Monday morning...ahhh! We had a busy weekend but at least this one was both productive and fun. We got a lot of paperwork done - bills, medical insurance claims, FASFA, etc. Our younger son was at sleep-overs all weekend, so my husband and I went out to dinner twice. That's a wild weekend for me!

But I am glad it's Monday, with our kitchen counter all cleared off and a stack of bills/claims to go in the mail, and I'm ready to face a new week. I love fresh starts!

Last week was a good reading week for all of us:

• I finished Wild by Cheryl Strayed, a memoir about a young woman's hike on the Pacific Crest Trail and her emotional journey after the death of her mother. It was excellent, and I am so glad to have finally read it!
• Now I am reading Velva Jean Learns to Fly by Jennifer Niven, a historical novel about a young woman on her own for the first time, set during World War II. It's my neighborhood book group's selection for May, and I waited too long to start it. I am enjoying it, but I'm not sure I can finish it by Wednesday! We'll have to do a no-TV night.
• I am still listening to Popular by teen author Maya Van Wagenen on audio and loving it. It's a teen/YA memoir about following the advice of a 50's popularity guide in the modern world. Maya is an excellent writer and an amazingly mature young woman - her story is fascinating.
• My husband, Ken, finished The Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver Potzsch on his Kindle. It's a thriller set in Germany in 1660. He enjoyed it and was interested to read that the author is himself descended from a family of executioners.
• Now, Ken has just started reading Doctor Sleep by Stephen King, which my father lent him.
• Jamie, 19, finished Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch. He is loving this series that combines mystery and suspense with fantasy and loved that book 2 was set partly on a ship.
• Now, Jamie is reading The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham, the first book in The Dagger and the Coin fantasy series. He likes it so far. Finals start this week, and by the end of next week, he will have a lot more reading time!

I posted a lot last week - it's easier with just one book blog to keep track of!

My Summary of Books Read in April

Book By Book is now on Twitter! I know, I exchanged an extra blog for a new Twitter account, but I'm having fun with it! Come join me.

Teen/YA Review: Loud Awake and Lost by Adele Griffin

Weekend Cooking: about a new food magazine, Low Sugar Living

And come back later this week for the official start to my Big Book Summer Challenge, now in its third year! Come and join the fun this year and finally get to that big book (or two or three) on your shelf or TBR list. For a sneak peak at what's in store, check out last year's Big Book Summer page.

What are you and your family reading this week?    

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Unleashing Readers.    

Weekend Cooking 5/18

Each weekend, Beth Fish Reads hosts Weekend Cooking.  This is perfect for me since I love food and cooking almost as much as I love books!

As you may recall from earlier posts, our family switched to a Paleo/low-sugar diet earlier this year for medical reasons, to help with the chronic illness (an immune system disorder) that three of us have, and my husband happily went along with it for weight loss. It's become second-nature to us by now. We usually have simple dinners with meat or fish and two veggie sides, but I am always looking for new Paleo recipes, to break up the routine!

I recently picked up a copy of Low Sugar Living magazine at  Whole Foods (it is also sold at Wal-Mart and Barnes & Noble and other stores), so I thought I'd tell you a bit about that today. Whether you are eating Paleo, are diabetic, have yeast/candida problems, or just want to eat healthier and reduce sugar in your diet, this is a great magazine, chock-full of recipes.

Apparently, it is a brand-new magazine. The issue I picked up (their summer 2014 issue) is only their second. They don't even seem to have a website yet, so unfortunately, I couldn't find their recipes online to share with you. However, they do have  Low Sugar Living magazine Facebook page and a page from the publisher where you can order a subscription (only $8!).

Photo © Low Sugar Living magazine

We have tried three recipes from the magazine so far, and all have been delicious! What we've tried so far has been full of flavor, easy to make, and perfectly fitting for a Paleo diet, even though that's not their focus (many of their recipes are Paleo, though some contain some dairy or whole grains).

The first dish we tried was Sukuma Wiki, an East African dish that is super-easy to make and so tasty! We've already had it twice, and it is already a favorite. The main ingredients are lean ground beef, collard greens, onions, and grape tomatoes, with a mix of about a dozen spices that make the dish heaven for your taste buds! Our 16-year old son liked it, too. You can see from my photo that the magazine is already well-used.

Photo © Low Sugar Living magazine

This week, I tried two of the magazine's recipes for one dinner. I made Grilled Peach Chicken, a super-simple dish of grilled chicken breasts that have been marinated in sugar-free peach preserves (I used apricot since that's what we had) and some other simple ingredients.

Photo © Low Sugar Living magazine

On the side, I served roasted asparagus and Grilled Zucchini with Basil, Mint, and Lemon (I subbed cilantro for the herbs since that's what I had on hand). We have zucchini a lot, so I was thrilled to try a new recipe that added some extra flavor - the roasted hazelnuts on top also added a nice crunch. I will definitely make that one again, too.

So far, so good! If you are cooking for someone with diabetes or other health problems helped by a low-sugar diet, I recommend finding a copy of this magazine (or ordering a subscription) and giving it a try. We're really enjoying it so far!

Saturday Snapshot 5/17

Snapshot Saturday is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.

May Flowers! All the flowering trees in our neighborhood finally bloomed last week - it's so beautiful when they are all in flower at once. Now, everything is green, but they are at their peak:

A neighbor's weeping willow tree in bloom.

This tree reminds me of cotton candy when it blooms!

A close-up of the previous tree

Bright pops of pink all over the neighborhood from the cherry trees.

Our own contribution - daffodils and grape hyacinth - almost gone 1 week later!

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Note: Remember that Book By Book is now on Twitter!

You can also follow Book By Book on Facebook.

Teen/YA Review: Loud Awake and Lost

I listened to Loud Awake and Lost by Adele Griffin on audio and was spellbound by the quiet but emotionally powerful story of a young girl with a traumatic brain injury who is struggling to recover her memory.

As the novel opens, 17-year old Ember is finally leaving the rehab facility where she spent eight months after a horrible car crash. Not only does Ember not remember the accident itself, but she also has no memory of the six weeks leading up to it. She knows that her passenger – a boy her age named Anthony – died in the crash, but she has no idea who he is or why he was riding with her, a long way from home.

Ember is welcomed home by her loving but worried parents and her longtime best friend, Rachel. Even these people closest to her don’t seem to know much about what Ember was doing in the weeks before the crash or the circumstances of the accident itself. To add to the mystery, as Ember resumes her old life, she keeps encountering things that feel vaguely familiar and people who seem to know her that she has no memory of. There are girls who act as if Ember is a close friend, places she doesn’t remember that seem to have played a big role in her pre-crash life, and mysterious graffiti symbols all over the area that tug at her damaged brain.

Her family and old friends are glad to have Ember back, and even her old boyfriend is back in her life, but Ember knows she is missing some key pieces of information, parts of her old life that she can’t remember and no one else seems to know about. All of the characters here – Ember’s parents, her friends, her old boyfriend – feel real, as they struggle along with Ember. As Ember works hard to strengthen her physically damaged body, her lack of progress with her equally damaged brain frustrates her.

Ember’s story has some elements of suspense and mystery to it, though it is not an action-packed book. Instead, the action takes place in Ember’s head, as she tries desperately to remember what she’s lost and recover that part of her life again. I really enjoyed this engrossing, emotional novel. And when Ember finally makes an unexpected discovery about both her past and her present, I was taken entirely by surprise. The audio production was excellent, with reader Abby Craden doing a great job with all the different characters. Loud Awake and Lost is not just about recovery but also about growth and change, something that all teens (and adults, too!) can relate to.

Random House Audio/Listening Library

Listen to an excerpt: 

Book By Book is Now on Twitter!

About a month ago, I started using Twitter for my chronic illness blog (@livewithmecfs). I've been enjoying it but was really itching to Tweet (and follow) book-related stuff, too.

This is probably really stupid since I just merged my two book blogs into one to reduce my workload, but I started a new Twitter account just for books! I hope it will be fun and not too much extra work, though I already got confused and posted an illness-related Tweet to the book account. They should make it easier to manage two Twitter feeds with one account...but they don't.

I am looking forward to posting favorite quotes from books, bookish news, what I'm reading, and to follow favorite authors.

So, if you are on Twitter, you can follow me at @SueBookByBook - hope to see you there!

Books Read in April

Hey, it's only May 13, and I'm getting to my April summary. That's not too bad for me, compared to recent months! April seemed to go by in a flash, and our weather skipped from winter directly to summer, with only a few weeks of nice spring temperatures.

But it was a great reading month! Here's what I read:

• The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera (Czechoslovakia), fiction
• Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick (New Jersey), novel
• Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys (Louisiana), YA novel

• The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (India), novel
• Loud Awake and Lost by Adele Griffin (New York), YA audio book
• The Carpet People by Terry Pratchett, fantasy audio book - all ages

 

So, that's 6 books total, all fiction and two were audio books. My favorite book was Silver Linings Playbook, though Out of the Easy was a close runner-up.

Update on 2014 Reading Challenges:

I added just one state (New Jersey) and two new countries to my Where Are You Reading Challenge 2014 this month.  I didn't read a single book from my TBR shelves for my 2014 TBR Pile Reading Challenge, and I just added 5 new books from Mother;s Day plus another library book to my shelf today - they are piling up!  I listened to two more audio books for my 2014 Audio Book Challenge, so that one's going well so far. No more nonfiction books this month, but I am counting The Unbearable Lightness of Being as a modern classic for my Classics Reading Challenge 2014, so that makes a total of...ONE so far!

What was your favorite book read in April? 

It's Monday 5/12! What Are You Reading?

In case you missed the news last week, Great Books for Kids and Teens has merged with Book By Book, and now you can find content from both blogs right here! That includes book reviews of books for middle-grade readers through adults, all in one place. You can still visit Great Books for Kids and Teens to search the archives for great book recommendations for kids, teens, and YA.

Hope all the moms out there had a wonderful Mother’s Day yesterday! We spent the weekend at my mom’s house in Connecticut, to celebrate both her birthday and Mother’s Day, an annual tradition. It was good to see everyone, though a very tiring weekend for me. Now I am by my husband’s side, waiting for him to get eye surgery this morning (no WiFi at the hospital so posting will have to wait).

And today is International ME/CFS Awareness Day. ME/CFS is a debilitating immune disorder that I have had for the past 12 years, and both of my sons have it, too. It has dramatically changed our lives, so if you want to know more about it, head over to my CFS blog.

And that’s all the news – now onto the main subject: books! Here’s what we’ve been reading this week:

• I am reading Wild by Cheryl Strayed, though with our busy weekend, I haven’t had as much time for reading as I’d like. It’s a memoir about how the author hiked the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in an effort to heal after her mother died and she became self-destructive and lost. It’s excellent so far, a chronicle of both physical challenges and emotional pain and growth.
• I also started - and finished - a graphic novel last week – that’s the only kind of book I can read at the same time as another, since I can squeeze it into little bits of time. This One Summer by cousins Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki was wonderful, the story of two adolescent girls’ summer spent at their families’ cottages on a lake in Canada and all of the changes they are dealing with.
• I finished – yes, finally finished! – Time Management from the Inside Out by Julie Morganstern. I actually read it through twice and have been starting to implement some of her advice as I read. It’s been helpful so far.
• And I started listening to a new audio book, Popular, written by teen author Maya Van Wagenen. It’s wonderful so far – the true chronicle of a modern 8^th grader’s quest to become popular, with the help of a 1950’s popularity guide for girls. Hard to believe the author is just a teen!
• My husband is still reading The Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver Potzsch on his Kindle. It's a thriller set in Germany in 1660. He hasn’t had a lot of reading time lately, either.
• Jamie, 19, unbelievably finished The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (at over 700 pages) this week and started book 2, Red Seas Under Red Skies. He is loving this series that combines mystery and suspense with fantasy.
• Craig, 16, is officially finished with books in his Brit Lit class – unfortunately, they ran out of time to read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, as planned. I still hope to read it myself this year.

As I mentioned above, I merged my two book blogs into one blog (this one!) to save myself some duplicate effort. So, now all of my book reviews – for all ages – will be posted here. Here are the reviews I posted last week:

Review of Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys, a teen/YA novel

Reviewof The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, an adult novel set in India
What are you and your family reading this week?    

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Unleashing Readers.   

Snapshot Saturday 5/10

Snapshot Saturday is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.

Last weekend, I experienced a rare treat: 24 hours away at the beach with my two closest friends. We stayed at my friend's house which is right on a beautiful creek, went kayaking, took a walk on the beach, ate crabs, and talked and laughed nonstop! Here are some of the pictures of the gorgeous and rejuvenating scenery:

Kayaking on the creek behind the house.

My two friends kayaking and paddle-boarding

Geese and 5 fluffy little goslings (see them in the grass?)

Sunset over the creek

Perfectly still water reflects the trees in the early morning

The dock (and my friend sitting on the end of it)

Walking along Cape Henlopen beach

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend...and Happy Mother's Day!

Fiction Review: The God of Small Things

One of my book groups recently read The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. Unfortunately, I missed the discussion last night, but I read the book. It’s a well-written novel set in India, about a terrible family tragedy that affects all of its members for the rest of their lives.

Rahel and Esthappen are fraternal twins (“two-egg twins”) just eight years old in 1969, living on their family estate in Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India. Their family is a broken one. They live with their mother, Ammu, who is lovely but lonely; their uncle, Chacko, who is Oxford-educated but returned home after his divorce; their blind grandmother, Mammachi, who plays the violin and started a pickle factory; and their great-aunt, oddly named Baby Kochamma, who is an ex-nun.

The novel begins by telling you that it will end in tragedy. Within the first few pages, you find out that the twins’ British cousin, Sophie Mol, somehow dies during a Christmas visit to their home. The rest of the novel slowly moves back and forth between the present (when the twins are 31-years old) and the past, to fill in the details of exactly what happened on that fateful day and all the history that led up to it. That day forever changed every resident of the estate.

In case you can’t tell from that description, this is a very dark and depressing story. You know from the beginning that it ends in tragedy, and it keeps its promise: there is no happy ending here for any of the characters. There is plenty of foreshadowing, too, right from the very first pages, so there isn’t much suspense or mystery to the story.

Instead, it’s a story about a family and how this one tragic event shaped their lives forever. It’s about how, as the twins say, Everything Can Change in a Day. Despite knowing much about how it ends from the beginning, it is a convoluted story, as the author moves back and forth between present and past, gradually filling in details of each of the characters’ lives and history. Some people in our group didn’t like that moving back and forth and found it confusing (the author doesn’t really tell you when she is shifting to a different time period).

While it is tragic, this novel is also rich in imagery and detail, bringing the steamy jungle atmosphere of the estate to life and giving insight into a world very different from our own. The book also includes political and historical elements, with some detail of the dynamic history of that region, including British rule, independence, and communism - much of which I didn't know.  Many people in our book group enjoyed the descriptive writing, even if they weren’t thrilled with the story itself. It’s an interesting story, just one full of tragedy – there’s not much room for hope here. Personally, I prefer my novels with at least a bit of hope and an uplifting tone, though I am glad to have read it. It definitely left me wanting to know more about that region of India, its history and its customs. It’s always interesting when a novel carries you off to new places.

321 pages, Random House

 

Teen/YA Review: Out of the Easy

Last year, I read Ruta Sepetys’ first novel, Between Shades of Gray, and was so blown away by the powerful historical novel that I gave it to me 14-year old cousin for her birthday. She was blown away, too, and we had a great time talking about that amazing book and its horrifying historical context. When I heard that Sepetys’ second novel takes place in New Orleans, where I used to live, I knew I had to read it. Although completely different than her first novel, Sepetys has written another winner with Out of the Easy.

Seventeen-year old Josie Moraine lives in the French Quarter in 1950, but this isn’t the New Orleans of tourists. Josie lives in the real New Orleans, where her mother works as a prostitute in a local brothel. Josie moved out of the brothel when she was just eleven years old, and has been living by herself in a small room on the second floor of a bookstore in the Quarter. She works in the bookstore and also as a maid at the brothel, going there early each morning to clear away the detritus of the night before.

Although Josie’s mother is horribly neglectful of her daughter, the brothel’s madam, Willie Woodley, has taken Josie under her wing and treats her like a daughter. Willie shares Josie’s dream that she will go to college next year, though Willie wants her to stay in New Orleans, and Josie wants to get as far away as possible. To do that, she needs money – a lot of it – and a plan. Josie has a lot of challenges to face, but things get even more complicated when she and her mother get entangled in a police investigation of a murder in the French Quarter. All she wants is to escape and be a part of respectable society, but New Orleans’ wealthy and powerful residents look down on her.

As with Lina in her first novel, Sepetys has created an endearing, real heroine in Josie. As a reader, I was rooting for her right from the first chapter. Josie loves books, has a fierce thirst for knowledge, and a fervent desire to escape the life she’s been trapped in. I got pulled into her story immediately and read the book very quickly, wanting to know if Josie would succeed in her quest. The action here is fast-paced and compelling.

The city of New Orleans – and especially the French Quarter – is like another character in this novel, and Sepetys does a wonderful job of bringing it to life: the good, the bad, and the ugly. There are also plenty of other fully formed characters here, both friends and foes of Josie. Obviously, the subject matter – with a brothel at the center of the story – may be a bit sensitive for younger readers. When I read the first sentence, “My mother’s a prostitute,” I realized my conservative aunt might not want me sharing this novel with my young cousin! Although there is nothing graphic here, the story does include both sex and violence, with Josie put in a very difficult and potentially devastating position at one point.

But for older teens, young adults, and adults, this is a wonderful novel with a strong sense of place and time about an intelligent and strong young woman trying to find a way to a better future for herself without giving up on her ideals. I loved every moment of it.

368 pages, Philomel (imprint of Penguin)

Listening Library

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

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Or you can order Out of the Easy from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Great Books for Kids and Teens Moving Here!

I have decided to merge my two book blogs into one, so from now on, you can find reviews of great books for kids, teens, and YA - as well as adult book reviews - all right here in one place at Book By Book!

This change will eliminate some duplicate work I've been doing to maintain two different book blogs
so that I will have more time to focus on content - reviews, book news, and more fun stuff!

Great Books for Kids and Teens will remain in place because it contains hundreds of archived reviews of books for middle-grade, teen, and YA readers, so if you are looking for a good book for those age groups, head over there and use the keyword search or the categories list to find what you are looking for...or you can always ask me for recommendations!

And, remember, you can follow Book By Book on Facebook, too!

It's Monday 5/5! What Are You Reading?

Happy Cinco de Mayo! I really can't believe it is May already...April went by in a flash!

I spent a lovely, relaxing weekend at the beach with my two closest friends. We went kayaking out on a quiet, peaceful creek, walked on the beach, played games, and talked and laughed nonstop!

So, I am feeling refreshed and rejuvenated this morning, ready to start a new week! Here's what my family and I have been reading this past week:

• I am almost finished with The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater, book 2 of the Raven Boys series. It's been wonderful, just as good as the first book, and I should finish it today.
• I am also almost finished with Time Management from the Inside Out by Julie Morganstern. This one has taken me a long time to get through because partway through I decided to return the library's copy and get my own copy and then I reread parts of it. I have also been implementing some of her advice as I read. Last week, I did her Quick Sort to get rid of all the paper piles on my kitchen counter, and it worked wonderfully!
• My husband, Ken, is reading The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Potzsch on his Kindle. It's a thriller set in Germany in 1660.
• Jamie, 19, is reading The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, one of the new purchases he made with a gift card last week that he's very excited to read! It's a medieval fantasy with "the suspense and wit of a crime caper," pretty much combining all of my son's favorite things.
• Craig, 16, finished MacBeth for his Brit Lit class (and did very well on the exam for it!). Unfortunately, his teacher ran out of time and is going to have to skip their last planned book, Frankenstein. I told my son I was sorry he wouldn't get to read that one, but he said, "That's OK - MacBeth was actually pretty good." Music to my ears from my son who normally claims he doesn't like reading!

I was able to catch up on some reviews last week:

Review of The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, a modern classic.

Review of The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick, which I loved!

Review of The Carpet People, written by famed author Terry Pratchett when he was just 17.

What are you and your family reading this week?    

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Unleashing Readers.     

Fiction Review: The Silver Linings Playbook

I really liked the movie adaptation of The Silver Linings Playbook and had heard all the rave reviews of the book, so my expectations were high when my library book group recently read the popular novel by Matthew Quick. That can sometimes ruin a perfectly decent book, but in this case, the novel about mental illness exceeded my high expectations.

Pat, a volatile man in his early 30’s, has spent several years in a mental health facility and finally comes home to live with his parents in New Jersey, just outside of Philadelphia. Pat is in a difficult place, but he is determined to get back in shape, both physically and mentally, so that his wife Nikki will come back to him and end Apart Time. He sticks to a daily fitness routine of working out and running that would leave a professional athlete exhausted, he is meeting with a local therapist named Cliff, and he embarks on a mission to read all of the literary works that Nikki teaches to her high school English students in order to prove how devoted he is to her.

Pat has a volatile temper, but he is also an eternal optimist, believing whole-heartedly in happy endings and silver linings, even when everything around him indicates otherwise. His whole life is focused on getting Nikki back, but he has trouble adjusting to his old world. His mother cries often, his father won’t speak to him, and all of his family and friends refuse to talk to him about Nikki. He is glad to be reunited with his brother and his lifelong best friend, Ronnie. Ronnie’s wife, Veronica, has a sister named Tiffany who has plenty of problems herself. Tiffany’s a little odd, but she and Pat begin to spend time together – often silently – and to slowly become friends.

That’s the basic set-up, but there is so much depth to this novel, both in its plot and its emotions. A deep, abiding love for the Philadelphia Eagles football team is a bonding agent for Pat and his family and friends; a win could even mean that Pat’s dad will speak to him briefly. Their avid fandom (such an understatement!) provides a lot of the humor in the book. Anyone not from this area will probably think the author used a lot of hyperbole in those passages, but having moved here 25 years ago (and having made the mistake of going to an Eagles game in our Saints shirts), I can tell you firsthand that none of that is exaggerated!

Cliff the therapist is also a source of both humor and warmth, as he shares Pat’s fervor for the Eagles and tries to gently guide him back to real life. Pat’s – and Tiffany’s – journey back to a form of mental health that is acceptable to the rest of the world is at the heart of this novel, and it is heartwarming and also heartbreaking at times. And as an avid reader, I absolutely loved Pat’s honest critiques of the works of literature he reads!

The entire novel is told in Pat’s voice, and it is a unique and unforgettable voice. You root for him as he fights his demons and struggles to regain control over his life. Sometimes, he seems rather childlike, but I found that endearing – I think it makes him seem very authentic, as he learns to be true to himself. I absolutely love his focus on silver linings and this oft-repeated line which I think I will adopt as my own life motto: “I am practicing being kind instead of right.” He is one of the most memorable characters I have ever met in a book.

This novel was like a rollercoaster ride for me – I laughed out loud at many passages and teared up at others. I should note that not everyone in the book group agreed – a few were disappointed in the novel – but others, like me, were enchanted and delighted with it. Having already seen the movie did not in any way ruin the book for me because the two share many qualities but are different expressions of the same story. There was so much depth to the novel that wasn’t possible to fit into the movie, though I still highly recommend the movie – the dance scene alone is worth the price!

The Silver Linings Playbook is a moving, warm, and often hilarious story about mental illness and life that is ultimately uplifting and positive. The characters felt like friends to me, and I read the novel greedily, never wanting it to end. I am now very eager to read all of Matthew Quick’s other novels…and to watch the movie again!

289 pages, Sarah Chrichton Books (imprint of Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Blackstone Audio

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Fiction Review: The Unbearable Lightness of Being

I was excited when my neighborhood book group chose the modern classic The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera because I vaguely remembered seeing the movie in the 80’s and had never read the famous novel. I am glad to have read it, but it turned out to be a somewhat difficult novel to read, a unique mixture of philosophy, politics, relationships, and love.

Summarizing the plot succinctly is a challenge because it’s a bit convoluted. The story of several interrelated characters is set in Czechoslovakia in the 1960’s. Tomas is a divorced man and a serial womanizer who suddenly falls in love with Tereza, a woman who visits him in the Prague shortly after they meet for the first time. Tereza becomes ill, and Tomas nurses her back to health and develops the kind of connection with her that he normally avoids with his frequent female conquests. Their relationship is rocky, mainly due to Tomas’ continued casual dalliances with a lot of other women.

One of those women is Sabina, who serves as the sole connection between one set of characters and the other. Sabina is an artist who, in addition to her trysts with Tomas, is also having an affair with Franz, a married man living in Geneva, where Sabina moves when Russia takes over Czechoslovakia in order to preserve her artistic freedom. Franz is in love with Sabina and is even willing to leave his wife for her, but Sabina prefers to remain a free spirit.

Confused yet? This story of interconnected relationships takes place against a fascinating historical backdrop as Russia invades Czechoslovakia, and its residents try to find a way to live their lives amidst drastic changes in politics, work, and culture. The action moves from Czechoslovakia to Switzerland to France and back again. And against all of those political and personal goings-on, the author muses on deep philosophical issues, like the meaning of life, the effects of choices and fortuitous events, and what love really means.

My book group had some very mixed reactions to the novel. Some really hated it and didn’t finish it, many found it confusing, and a few of us stuck with it and enjoyed it, despite its difficulties. We wondered whether the translation affected the clarity of the writing or whether it was entirely the consequence of the author’s philosophical musings. Sometimes, the author even departs from the story-telling to talk directly to the reader. To give you an example of the author’s style, this is the opening sentence/paragraph of the novel:

“The idea of eternal return is a mysterious one, and Nietzsche has often perplexed other philosophers with it: to think that everything recurs as we once experienced it, and that the recurrence itself recurs ad infinitum! What does this mad myth signify?”

I read that passage aloud to my husband, as I was starting the book on the first day of a family vacation and said, “uh-oh.” It’s not exactly beach reading.

But if you like thoughtful and thought-provoking novels, then there is some pay-off here if you stick with it. I ended up tagging many pages with quotes that I wanted to write down. For instance, in one passage toward the end, Tereza is musing about the nature of love and how the completely selfless love for a pet differs from love between two humans:

“…Perhaps all the questions we ask of love, to measure, test, probe, and save it, have the additional effect of cutting it short. Perhaps the reason we are unable to love is that we yearn to be loved, that is, we demand something (love) from our partner instead of delivering ourselves up to him demand-free and asking for nothing but his company.”

That passage really made me think about all the expectations and demands I place on those I care for most deeply.

I wasn’t thrilled with all of the cheating male characters in the novel and struggled a bit to wade through some of the complicated prose (sometimes you just read a sentence and think, “huh?”), but ultimately, I am glad I stuck with it and read it. We certainly had a lot to talk about (for those who had finished the book anyway!) Now, I am curious to watch the movie again because I don’t remember it very well. I am interested to hear what others thought about this highly regarded modern classic.

314 pages, Perennial Library

It's Monday 4/28! What Are You Reading?

Ah, the quiet solitude of a Monday morning! I really need this today, after a hectic weekend. My husband is visiting his dad in Oklahoma, so it was just me and my sons this weekend, doing all the running around, errands, cooking, cleaning, etc. I am feeling exhausted and also overwhelmed by all I need to do so am hoping to have some quiet catch-up time this week.

I didn't write any reviews at all last week because we took a mini-vacation since it was my son's spring break. We went camping for a couple of days near the gorgeous Chesapeake Bay. It was wonderful to be outdoors and surrounded by so much natural beauty for a couple of days, even if all the usual mess and to-do lists were still waiting when we got back home! I posted a few pictures of the trip on Snapshot Saturday.

So, with our camping trip, we had plenty of reading time last week:

• I finished The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy for one of my book groups. It was well-written though a bit confusing at times and quite depressing. You know from the beginning that it ends in tragedy, so it was a bit heavy for my tastes, though I look forward to discussing it.
• I needed something light, fun, and easy after that, so I am reading The Dream Thieves, Book 2 of The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater. I loved the first book, The Raven Boys, and my son recently enjoyed this one, so I am glad to get to it before I forget everything that happened in the first book!
• I just realized I haven't started a new audiobook yet since I didn't really have any time alone last week - I'll have to pick one out today. I did enjoy some of my favorite book podcasts this weekend.
• My husband, Ken, is reading Faithful Place by Tana French and may have finished it by now. He loves her books and was enjoying the Irish slang in this one! When he finishes it, he'll be reading something on his Kindle during the rest of his trip.
• Jamie, 19, is still reading The White Tree by Edward W. Robertson on his Kindle. This is book one of the Cycle of Arawn series. He said it's very long, and he had a lot of quizzes and tests last week in college so not much reading time. He recently cashed in a $75 gift card, so packages from Amazon have been arriving at the house daily - he is so happy to have so many great books lined up!
• I think that Craig, 15, must be finished or close to finishing MacBeth by now for his Brit Lit class. This week is state testing.

Like I said, no time for writing reviews last week, so my only post was:

Snapshot Saturday, with photos from our camping trip near the Chesapeake Bay.

I hope to catch up on reviews this week.

What are you and your family reading this week?    

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, with a kid/teen version hosted by Unleashing Readers.