Teen/YA Review: The Many Lives of John Stone

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Over Labor Day weekend, I managed to cram in one last Big Book of the Summer (my 5^th!), thanks to the Take Back Your Shelves Readathon. I read The Many Lives of John Stone by Linda Buckley-Archer, a teen/YA novel that had been on my shelf for far too long. I’m so glad I finally got to enjoy this unique and intriguing novel that combines modern fiction with historical fiction.

Seventeen-year old Stella Park, known as Spark to friends and family, is visiting her brother, Dan, in New York City. It’s the first time she’s been outside of the UK (except for a day trip across the English Channel), and she’s excited to visit Dan, who’s been enjoying his internship in NYC. While there, she is introduced to John Stone, Dan’s employer who also provided a charitable scholarship for him to attend private school. She feels an instant connection with this man she’s never met before, and he invites her to work at his home in the UK in a summer job, organizing old historical documents and journals for him. Spark accepts and heads to Suffolk at the start of summer break.

Spark’s chapters alternate with chapters about John. He is an enigma, both to Spark as she starts her unusual summer job and to the reader. He lives on a lovely but secluded estate called Stowney House with two other people, Martha and Jacob. At first, Martha seems to Spark to be John’s cook and housekeeper and Jacob appears to be the gardener, but Spark soon notices that the three seem more like close friends than employer and employees. They live a very isolated existence at the house with its beautiful gardens, though John travels for work. Stranger still, they live in a world completely removed from the 21^st century, with no electricity or phones.

Meanwhile, as Spark begins to work to clean and organize the shelves and shelves of dusty journals John has, the contents of one journal are also included in some chapters. It starts in 1685 in Versailles, with a fifteen-year old boy named Jean-Pierre, living with his father and brothers in the shadow of Louis XIV, known as the Sun King, and his extravagant home, gardens, and court. Jean-Pierre has a difficult time, as he is frequently bullied and beaten by his older brothers.

The novel continues in this way, with chapters alternating between Spark and John in the present day, and Jean-Pierre back in the court of the Sun King at Versailles in the 1600’s. Those chapters at Versailles bring the long-past decadent world to life, with its formal customs, elaborate clothing, and wealthy surroundings. Jean-Pierre loves to walk among the gardens and fountains in Versailles and pines after a beautiful girl named Isabelle, whose family is far above his in position.

In the present day, details of John Stone’s mysterious life are gradually revealed, as Spark begins to slowly piece together clues from what she sees around her at Stowney House, though the relationship between its residents continues to puzzle her. There are hidden secrets in this story that even John doesn’t know, so the characters are figuring out its mysteries along with the reader.

This original story was perfect for a readathon weekend because I was completely immersed in these worlds, both at Versailles in the past and at Stowney House in the present. The author weaves a compelling story that pulls the reader in deeper and deeper. Though I had an inkling of some of the secrets in the novel, there were still plenty of plot twists that surprised me. This novel took me on a journey to the past that I thoroughly enjoyed.

529 pages, Simon & Schuster

Middle-Grade/Teen Review: The Marvels

Brian Selznick won the hearts of readers and critics alike with his previous award-winning middle-grade novels, The Invention of Hugo Cabret (made into the movie Hugo) and Wonderstruck. Both books invented a whole new category of novel, combining gorgeous drawings with text to tell a story in unique ways. Selznick has done it again with The Marvels, a hefty brick of a novel that once again breaks new ground in storytelling.

The first half of The Marvels is a story told entirely in gray-scale pencil drawings. It opens in 1766, with two young brothers working on a ship. The two take part in a play called The Angel and the Dragon onboard where, with a crew of sailors, all of the parts are played by male shipmates. Older brother Marcus plays the angel, and younger brother Billy plays a young girl in distress who is saved by the angel. One night, in a terrible storm, disaster strikes the ship.

The story then follows Billy, back on land in London, where he discovers a new theater and finds a home there. We watch as Billy grows and has a family. Several generations of Billy’s family follow, all involved in the theater and some of them quite famous. The story-in-pictures ends abruptly with a cliffhanger, so that the reader isn’t quite sure how things turn out for the family.

At that point, the second half of the book begins, in 1990, in a story told entirely through text. We meet thirteen-year old Joseph, who has run away from his boarding school to London, in search of an uncle he’s never met before. He eventually finds the house and meets his Uncle Albert, but the man seems quite eccentric.

Albert lives in an old Victorian house that has been lovingly restored. The strange part is that the inside of the house looks exactly like it might have originally, with candles and fireplaces instead of electricity. Stranger still is that each room looks as if its Victorian occupants have just left, even to the point of a half-eaten dinner still set on the table. Joseph can’t quite figure out what is going on or why his uncle lives like this, but he begins to piece together clues within the house.

The two parts of the story gradually come together, though in ways that will surprise you. This is similar to what Selznick did in Wonderstruck, with two stories set in different time periods, where the links between them are only gradually revealed. The book ends with another short section of drawings that tie together loose ends and provide a satisfying ending.

As always, Selznick’s drawings are astounding. Up close, these look like simple pencil sketches, with hatchmarked shading. Pull back a bit, though, and those simple-seeming drawings reveal incredible detail. His people, in particular, are filled with depth and life. I found myself lingering over the pages and their lifelike people, wanting to absorb every detail. There are a few bits of text here and there – partial newspaper clippings, postcards, playbills, etc. – to fill in names and dates, but Selznick tells an incredibly rich story almost entirely in pictures.

The two pieces of the book combine to form a fascinating, in-depth tale. It’s an intricate story of family and friendships, of love and loss, and of art in its many different forms. The book’s tagline, “You either see it or you don’t,” inspires readers to look deeper – into the pictures and the text (though you still won’t figure out how the two stories are linked until it is revealed!). Reading this book was pure pleasure, a magical journey into another world.

665 pages, Scholastic Press

NOTE: Scholastic says this is a book for teens, probably because its modern-day protagonist is 13 years old, but Library School Journal says it is best for grades 4 – 6. Both are probably true: this is a book that will be enjoyed by both middle-grade and teen readers…and adults, too!

Movie Monday: Fall 2016 Movies Based on Books

I was reading an article in the newspaper this week about upcoming fall movie releases, and I was struck by how many of them are book adaptations. This is a Hollywood trend that shows no signs of slowing...which is great for book lovers like me! I haven't read all related books yet, but I am excited to see so many familiar book titles coming to the big screen.

Here are some to watch for - better hurry up & read the books first! (note that where I have read the book already, I have linked to my review)

September 2 - The Light Between Oceans - A book that my book group and I all enjoyed, about an impossible moral decision faced by a kind husband and wife who rescue a baby.

September 16 - Bridget Jones's Baby - I admit I have not yet read any of the Bridget Jones novels (though I'd like to!), but I loved Renee Zellweger and Colin Firth in the first Bridget Jones movie. This one, the third, finds Bridget in her 40's and pregnant and unsure who the father is...and they've added Patrick Dempsey to the cast! I will go see it just for that.

September 23 - The Dressmaker - I haven't read this one, but the movie is adapted from a novel of the same name by Rosalie Ham, about a glamorous woman who returns to her small town in rural Australia and transforms the local women. The movie stars Kate Winslet and Liam Hemsworth.

September 30 - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - I just read this YA novel in June for one of my book groups & really enjoyed it, so I can't wait for the movie, directed by Tim Burton (so you know it's peculiar-ness will be extra-peculiar!) Fair warning, though: if you want to read the book, definitely read it FIRST, before seeing the movie, because even the movie trailer gives away some surprises that are gradually revealed in the book.

October 7 - The Girl on the Train - Both  my husband and I read and enjoyed this fast-paced thriller last summer, so we can't wait to see it on the big screen. Emily Blunt is starring as the messed-up unreliable narrator, Rachel.

October 7 - Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life - Based on a popular middle-grade series by the prolific James Patterson, the first book is coming to theaters, about a 6th grader. Starring Lauren Graham.

October 21 - American Pastoral - I am excited about this one! My book group read the Pulitzer Prize-winning modern classic by Philip Roth a couple of years ago, and I really enjoyed it. It's a very thoughtful novel, so it will be interesting to see how they adapted it. Ewan McGregor stars in the movie adaptation, along with Dakota Fanning and Jennifer Connelly. Might have to get some book group friends to go see this one with me!

October 28 - Inferno - Another of Dan Brown's popular novels comes to theaters this fall, with Tom Hanks once again starring as symbologist Robert Langdon. I read (and loved) The Da Vinci Code but haven't read this one yet (though I think we have it and my husband has probably read it).

November 11 - Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk - Yay!! This was an amazing novel that blew me away, about one day (a long and confusing day) in the life of a returning war hero who is really just a kid. It was hilarious, heartbreaking, and incredibly thought-provoking. The movie stars Vin Diesel, Kristen Stewart, and Steve Martin, among others - an odd collection! I hope they were able to capture the magic of the book.

Have you heard of any other book adaptations coming to theaters this fall? Which fall releases are you most excited to see?

It's Monday 9/5! What Are You Reading?

Happy Labor Day! Here in the U.S., this holiday marks the unofficial end of summer....which also means the official end of the 2016 Big Book Summer Challenge! Today is the last day to finish reading those big books, though you can continue to post Big Book reviews and/or wrap-ups (not required) on the linkup page until the end of the month.

That makes the Take Back Your Shelves Readathon this weekend perfect timing for me! I have been using it to finish my 5th Big Book of the Summer. My husband and son have joined in the reading fun this weekend with their own Big Books. The timing was also good for a readathon here because my husband has just recovered from a nasty 2-week long virus, and our college son has been home sick all week, too. So, a rough week for us in most ways, though reading was a bright spot!

Here's what we have all been reading:

• I finished reading my 4th Big Book of the Summer, The Marvels, a middle-grade novel by Brian Selznick. The highly esteemed author of Wonderstruck and The Invention of Hugo Cabret has done it again! This time, the first half of the book is told entirely in pictures and begins in 1766, and the second half of the book is a modern story starting in 1990 told through text. The two stories gradually come together in a surprising way. It was excellent, as his books always are!
• I am now reading (and hope to finish today!) my 5th Big Book of the Summer, The Many Lives of John Stone by Linda Buckley-Archer. This is a teen/YA novel with an intriguing concept. A modern-day British teen named Stella (but called Spark) gets a strange summer job, cataloging old journals going back to the days of Louis XIV in France. Her employer, John Stone, is an odd man who lives in a remote house with two other people. As Spark begins to unravel Stone's mysteries, she also begins to learn more about herself. It's a mix of historical fiction and modern fiction and has been perfect for immersing myself in for the readathon!
• I finished listening to Unbecoming by Jenny Downham, a teen/YA novel, on audio. It is set in the UK and focuses on three generations of women in one family who all carry secrets. Teen Katie's life changes dramatically when Mary, her previously unknown grandmother, comes into their lives unexpectedly. Mary has dementia and requires a lot of care, and Katie's mother, Caroline, doesn't talk much about the past. It was very, very good - engrossing and delving into issues as diverse as being gay, dementia, and mother-daughter relationships.
• Now, I am listening to The Summer Guest by Alison Anderson, an adult novel on audio. Part of the story is told through an old diary, of a summer in 1888 in the Ukraine, when a family rents a cottage to the Chekhov family for the summer. The middle son, Anton, develops a strong friendship with Zinaida, one of the daughters on the estate who has recently become blind due to illness. In modern day London, Katya finds the diary and hopes that it will save her and her husband's struggling small publishing house. They hire Ana, a translator in France, to translate the diary, and Ana soon becomes engrossed in Zinaida's story and the implications that Anton Chekhov, known for his short stories and plays, might have written a novel. It's an intricate and compelling story that I am really enjoying.
• My husband, Ken, finished The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin, the third and final book in the trilogy that started with The Passage (followed by The Twelve). This was a Father's Day gift that we are both eager to read! He flew through this Big Book this weekend, thanks to the readathon, and finished last night.
• Now, Ken has started Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel, another Father's Day gift from me that I want to read, too! (are you seeing a pattern here?) It's about the discovery of a giant metal hand found buried in South Dakota, and the investigation that follows to determine its origins and meaning. This was one of the hottest new releases of the spring.
• Jamie, 22, finished re-reading an old favorite series by Brandon Sanderson, the Mistborn trilogy. He finished book 3 this week, The Hero of Ages. 
• Now, Jamie is re-reading another favorite series! He just bought Book 3 of the Gentleman Bastards series, The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch. So, of course, he went back to re-read book 1, The Lies of Locke Lamora, which is one of his favorite books of all time! It's been a welcome distraction this weekend while he's been so sick.

 Blog posts from last week:

TV Tuesday: The Missing, a Starz-BBC production about a young boy who goes missing

Fiction Review: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell - WOW. One of the best books I've ever read!

Take Back Your Shelves Readathon

Saturday Snapshot - Black Hills, South Dakota - The Needles

What are you and your family reading this week?    

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

It's the last day of summer, so if you are participating in the Big Book Summer Reading Challenge, be sure to post your Big Book reviews on the challenge page! Enjoy the last of your Big Books!

Saturday Snapshot 9/3: The Needles - Black Hills, South Dakota

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. 

Today, I have another group of photos from our recent trip to South Dakota's Black Hills region - one of our favorite places in the world! Besides the fact that we have family there, we love to visit because there is so much incredible natural beauty...and our sons LOVE to climb on all the rocks! You can check out my previous Saturday Snapshots for additional photos: South Dakota Wildlife and some of our trip highlights in Black Hills of South Dakota.

Today's focus is on The Needles - huge granite spires that cover part of the region (and the northern part of Custer State Park) - we had a lot of fun, both admiring them from afar and climbing on them:

"The Eye of the Needle"

Clouds moving over a portion of The Needles

Some spires up close (those tiny figures on top are my sons!)

The Needles and those famed Black Hills pines

More climbing!

The Needles are part of what makes the Black Hills so unique!

Hope you are enjoying a good weekend! Back to the Readathon for me!

Take Back Your Shelves Readathon

Jenna at JMill Wanders is hosting the Take Back Your Shelves Readathon this holiday weekend! Since this coincides with the last few days of my own Big Book Summer Challenge, the timing is perfect! The Readathon runs from today through Monday (a holiday here in the U.S.).

Though its focus is on reducing that TBR pile, I will be reading just ONE book from my TBR shelves, The Many Lives of John Stone by Linda Buckley-Archer. I'm only about 80 pages into this 500+ page YA novel, so if I can just finish that, I will be very happy! I am also currently listening to The Summer Guest by Alison Anderson on my iPod, so I will work on that, too.

How much reading time I will actually get this weekend is anyone's guess! I pictured a quiet weekend with just my husband and I (he says he will participate in the readathon, too), but our older college-aged son has been home sick all week. That means the TV has been on a LOT, and we have been keeping him company watching our favorite shows together. We thought he had the flu (which, with his chronic immune disorder could be very serious), but we just heard today that he has strep throat. So, he's starting antibiotics, and we are hoping they will help to get him back on his feet. So, depending on how things go this weekend, the Readathon could be competing with either binge-watching TV or moving him back to college (or both).

Anyway, I'm going to try to read more than usual...and maybe even finish one last Big Book of the Summer!

Thanks for hosting, Jenna! Head over to the readathon sign-up page to join the fun yourself!

Fiction Review: Cloud Atlas

I’ve wanted to read Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell ever since its release in 2004. I didn’t know much about its plot, only that it was about connections and had received many accolades. I asked for it (and received it) for Christmas and finally made time to read it for my 2016 Big Book Summer Challenge. It was well worth the wait! I never wanted it to end and feel like starting over from the beginning now that I have finished it. This wholly original novel is a set of stories, from different times and places, that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. Reading Cloud Atlas is a thoroughly enjoyable journey of discovery, with surprises around every corner.

This is such a unique book that it is going to be challenging to describe. I really just want to shout, “YOU MUST READ THIS AMAZING BOOK!” but I will try to do it justice.

As I mentioned, the novel is actually a series of separate but ingeniously linked stories whose connections are not immediately obvious. Each story has its own style, its own characters, and its own method of storytelling. They each take place in a different time – starting in the 1800’s all the way through sometime into the far future – and in a different place. It is only as you read and progress through the book that the subtle connections between the stories gradually unfold into a cohesive whole.

The novel begins with The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing, a first-person diary written by a man in the mid-1800’s who is on board a ship, sailing from remote islands off the coast of New Zealand, where he had business, through Hawaii, and back to his home in San Francisco. The next section, Letters from Zedelghem, is a series of letters from one friend, living in Belgium in 1931, to another. Next is The First Luisa Rey Mystery, a narrative about a journalist investigating a possible nuclear industry scandal and cover-up in the 1970’s in a fictional California city (which I just looked up and learned of yet another hidden connection in the book!). In the very first sentence of this story, we encounter a familiar name from a previous story.

The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish is next, which its author explains in the first pages is his hand-written memoir of events that took place in 1990’s England. The book then jumps ahead to an undetermined time in the future in Korea in An Orison of Sonmi-451, in which the world is both similar to and very different from our own today, and an interview with a criminal gradually reveals the details of that dystopian world. Finally, we get to the story Sloosha’s Crossin’ An’ Ev’rythin’ After, a verbal telling of a story by an old man about his childhood, on Hawaii very far into the future, after some sort of apocalypse has taken mankind back to its agrarian roots.

Each story links with the others in subtle and creative ways and is revisited twice in the book, in reverse order the second time (except the last one I mentioned which is a single story in the middle). I was a bit confused by the books’ shifting perspectives at first but soon settled into its unique rhythms and went along for the ride. And what a ride it is! As you start each new story, you don’t know how it will connect with the previous ones, but discovering those tiny connections between people of different times is one of this novel’s unique joys.

The writing in Cloud Atlas is nothing short of mind-blowing. Each story comes across as written (or spoken) by a different character, in a different style, and with a different way of narrating. David Mitchell is like the conductor of an orchestra, bringing these separate tunes together into a cohesive symphony. It’s a unique experience in fiction…and I’ve read a LOT of novels! In addition, Mitchell’s writing is so beautiful that I often tabbed quotes that I wanted to write down, like this one, that one friend writes to another in Letters from Zedelghem:

“Autumn is leaving its mellowness behind for its spiky, rotted stage. Don’t remember summer even saying good-bye.”

I love books that make me think, and Cloud Atlas also includes many thought-provoking lines that struck me. This one is from the interview in that dystopian future, but its insights apply remarkably well to our world today (and to all of the worlds depicted in the novel):

“…ignorance of the Other engenders fear; fear engenders hatred; hatred engenders violence; violence engenders further violence until the only “rights,” the only law, are whatever is willed by the most powerful.”

Cloud Atlas is one of the most clever, interesting, engaging books that I have ever read. Did I mention how clever it is? The more I read, the more I liked it, until I got to that point that arrives in all excellent novels, where I never wanted it to end. Two weeks later, I am still thinking about it and marveling at such an intricate, smart, unique approach to telling a story. This is a book that will stick with me for a long time and is definitely in my top 10 books of all time. I can’t wait to read some of Mitchell’s other novels.

Not convinced yet? “YOU MUST READ THIS AMAZING BOOK!”

509 pages, Random House

Random House Audio

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TV Tuesday: The Missing

In this sort of in-between seasons TV season, my husband and I were looking around for a new show to try on one of the streaming services. We settled on The Missing, a Starz show currently available on Amazon Prime (note that there is a different show also called The Missing available on Netflix or to rent on Amazon - the one we are watching aired in 2014 and is a joint Starz-BBC production).

In short, The Missing is a show that centers on a single mystery and is a suspense-thriller, though it is focused on the victims. British citizens Tony and Emily Hughes are enjoying a vacation in France with their five-year old son, Oliver, when the unthinkable happens. One evening, in a crowd of people, Oliver goes missing. One moment he's holding onto Tony's hand, and the next, he's gone. It's every parent's worst nightmare (and brought back my own nightmares of the time my 2-year old son slipped away from me at a shopping mall!).

As the show opens, it has been 8 years since Oliver's disappearance, and Tony is back in the small French town where it happened, following up on a new lead he thinks he found on social media. Tony has never stopped looking for his son and has become obsessed with the case, to the point that he and Emily are now divorced. Tony calls on the detective originally assigned to the case, Julien, who has since retired but also still thinks about Oliver. Together, the two men follow Tony's latest lead, slim though it may be.

The narrative moves back and forth between the past, when Oliver first disappeared, and the present day, with scenes in both England and France. Most of the action takes place in the small French town where Oliver went missing. As with any mystery or detective show, the details of the investigation unfold gradually, as the police follow one lead after another, chasing down a variety of suspects and clues. What is different here, though, is the focus on this one single case, as well as the perspective of Oliver's parents. Most of the story is told from Tony's point of view.

We have watched the first 5 episodes of 8 in season one (the fact that there is a season 2 doesn't bode well for the Hughes family!). It is engaging and intriguing, a good mystery that keeps surprising us. The subject matter gets a little difficult at times, as when the police suspect a pedophile. After watching episode 5 recently, I asked my husband if he wanted to watch another and he said, "How about something a little lighter?" (episode 5 is a tough one!). But we do want to watch more. It is suspenseful, the action moves along at a good pace, and we want to see what happens next.

The Missing is currently available free on Amazon Prime and on DVD.

It's Monday 8/29! What Are You Reading?

Whew, this past week has been a rollercoaster of highs and lows! First, an exciting (but exhausting!) week of shopping, laundry (endless loads of laundry), and packing to get our sons ready for college. Oh, yeah, and my husband had a nasty flu for the past 10 days. So, we got our son moved into his freshman dorm room on Saturday, then the other three of us collapsed at home!

Unfortunately, we are not yet experiencing the empty nest. Our older son came home from his college apartment this weekend with a fever. We're not sure yet, but he might have caught his dad's flu...which is very dangerous for him with his immune disorder (same as I have) - last time he got the flu, he was incapacitated for over two months. So, the house is not yet quiet, the TV is still on nonstop, and I'm taking my son to the doctor this afternoon. That sounded selfish...actually, my husband and I are both worried to death for our son since classes start tomorrow.

(And it's taking me forever to finish this post because my son has Bob's Burgers on the TV, which we are both totally addicted to!)

So, not a lot of time for reading last week, but here's what we've been working on:

• I struggled most of the week with a new review book for Publishers Weekly, Moor by Gunther Geltinger, a novel translated from German. The narrative style was difficult, with a stream-of consciousness approach, no quotation marks, second-person ("you") point of view, and...a narrator that I'm pretty sure is the pond in the backyard. Yeah. But I was struggling through it, until the mother in the story started having weird sexual fantasies involving her 13-year old son. At that point, exhausted from my week, I gave up. I don't know yet, but I am hoping my editor will pass the review off to another reviewer - I just don't think the mother of two sons is the right reviewer for this one.
• At that point, with great relief and a need for fun escape, I started reading my 4th Big Book of the Summer, The Marvels by Brian Selznick. The highly esteemed author of Wonderstruck and The Invention of Hugo Cabret has done it again! This time, the first half of the book is told entirely in pictures and begins in 1766, and the second half of the book is a modern story starting in 1990 told through text. I'm well into the second half, and the two stories are gradually coming together. As expected, it is excellent!
• I am still listening to Unbecoming by Jenny Downham, a teen/YA novel, on audio. It is set in the UK and focuses on three generations of women in one family who all carry secrets. Teen Katie's life changes dramatically when Mary, her previously unknown grandmother, comes into their lives unexpectedly. Mary has dementia and requires a lot of care, and Katie's mother, Caroline, doesn't talk much about the past. It's excellent so far - totally engrossing (and another nice escape).
• My husband, Ken, is reading The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin, the third and final book in the trilogy that started with The Passage (followed by The Twelve). This was a Father's Day gift that we are both eager to read! He is once again impressed with Cronin's writing talent.
• Jamie, 22, is re-reading an old favorite series by Brandon Sanderson, the Mistborn trilogy. He finished Mistborn and The Well of Ascension, and is reading book 3, The Hero of Ages. These few weeks between summer session and the start of fall semester are his reading time!

No time for writing or blogging last week, so just a couple of posts:

 TV Tuesday: Stranger Things, the hot show of the summer!

Saturday Snapshot: South Dakota Wildlife - more pics from our recent trip to Black Hills

What are you and your family reading this week?    

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

It's the last week of summer, so if you are participating in the Big Book Summer Reading Challenge, be sure to post your Big Book reviews on the challenge page! Enjoy the last of your Big Books!
  

Saturday Snapshot 8/27: South Dakota Wildlife

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. 

More photos from our short trip to South Dakota two weeks ago! The gorgeous, amazing Custer State Park in the Black Hills region is known for its wildlife (and its natural beauty, too). Here are some of our favorite photos of the park's many and varied residents:

Closest we got to the bison herd this time.

Two pronghorn antelope taking it easy

Prairie dog - they are so much fun to watch!

Moon over bison!

This fellow took a drink from a muddy puddle right near the road

Hope you are enjoying a great weekend! We are recovering from our son's dorm move-in day!

TV Tuesday: Stranger Things

Over the past two weeks, since my last TV Tuesday post (and even with a vacation in the middle), my family tried, became obsessed with, and finished a new TV show that I have been dying to tell you about! You've probably already heard about it because everyone seems to be raving about it, so I will add my enthusiasm to the noise. My husband, son, and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of season 1 of Stranger Things, a new Netflix show, and can't wait for the next season!

Before I get into the details of plot and character, you should know that one of the most enticing things about Stranger Things is that it takes the best, most beloved 80's movies, puts them in a blender, and spits out an original, compelling TV show. One of my favorite podcasts, Pop Culture Happy Hour, described it like "taking a Stephen King book starring kids and having Steven Spielberg produce the movie," and that is a pretty apt description (the link will take you directly to their Stranger Things episode, which I highly recommend). The three of us spotted references, similarities, and homages to ET, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Stand by Me, and The Goonies, just for starters.

The set-up goes like this: it's 1983 in suburban Indiana, and four nerdy pre-pubescent best friends ride their bikes, sleep over at each other's houses, and obsessively play Dungeons & Dragons in one boy's basement for hours. Mike is the boy with the afore-mentioned basement rec room (complete with shag carpeting), Lucas is his best friend who lives next door as part of the only black family in town, Dustin is an adorable chubby-cheeked boy with a medical condition that means he is still missing baby teeth (for which he gets teased relentlessly by the bullies at school), and Will completes the foursome. In the first episode, Will goes missing while riding his bike home one night.

Will's mother, played by Winona Rider (another wink to the 80's), is frantic. She is raising Will and his teen brother, Jonathan, on her own. Police Chief Jim Hopper, played by David Harbour, is an old friend and immediately begins a search for Will, but the boys set off on their own investigation. Meanwhile, a mysterious girl of about the same age, with a shaved head and wearing a hospital gown, shows up suddenly in a local diner after dark, having escaped from a super-creepy secret government facility in town (under the guise of the Department of Energy). The girl, known as El, doesn't talk much, but the boys find her in the woods and keep her safe.

That is all in the first episode, and I won't say more because this is a show that relies on unfolding secrets and mysteries. Some very strange things are going on in this town, and they are going to get worse before they get better. There are three main plotlines: the adults looking for Will, the kids doing their own investigation and search, and eventually, Jonathan and Mike's teen sister also getting involved (plus flashbacks to what is going on at the secret facility). Over the course of 8 episodes, some questions are answered and some mysteries solved, but others remain unclear, paving the way for a suspenseful second season.

Have I mentioned that we all LOVE this show? It is just so addictingly good in so many ways. The tone and feel will remind you of your favorite 80's movies, even though the plot is unique. The kids are all great actors, especially the mysterious El, played by Millie Bobby Brown. Winona Rider and David Harbour are excellent in the main adult roles. The music, pop culture references, and settings all lovingly recreate the 80's. Too young to remember the 80's movies I mentioned? You'll still love this show. Fortunately, we gave our son a solid education in the "modern classics" of the 80's! And if you've enjoyed any of Stephen King's novels that feature kids (his best writing, in my opinion), like IT or The Body (the novella on which the movie Stand By Me was based - not horror), then you will also feel right at home.

Stranger Things takes the best of the movies and stories of the 80's and recreates them for a modern audience, with a nice sense of nostalgia. It's a very suspenseful, action-packed mystery/sci fi combination that will have you saying at the end of each episode (like we did), "We have to watch the next one!"

Stranger Things is a Netflix Original program, so it is available only on the streaming service.

It's Monday 8/22! What Are You Reading?

I missed my Monday post last week while we were in South Dakota on vacation (you can check out the first of my photos), so I have a lot to update! Vacation last week was brief but fun, and now we are busy, busy, busy getting our sons ready to move to college at the end of the week (first time for our youngest).

Here's what we've been reading:

• I just yesterday finished my third Big Book of the Summer, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, a novel I have been wanting to read ever since its release and that's been sitting on my bookcase since Christmas. WOW. What an amazing, completely original book! I've never read another novel like it. It's a series of separate stories that link together in unexpected ways, like a jigsaw puzzle you put together without knowing what the final picture will be. I will attempt to write a cohesive review this week, though I really just want to shout, "You must read this amazing book!" to everyone.
• I just started a new review book for Publishers Weekly last night, Moor by Gunther Geltinger, a novel translated from German. I'm a bit cautious because the word "experimental" was used on the back cover blurb! It sounds intriguing, though, about a teen boy with a severe stutter who lives with his mother, with a heavy focus on nature. I'll let you know!
• On the audio front, I finished listening to Dreamology by Lucy Keating, a teen/YA audio book that was far more intriguing and engrossing than I expected. It explores the line between dreaming and reality when a teen girl starts at a new school and meets face-to-face with the boy she's been dreaming about for years. 
• Now, I am listening to Unbecoming by Jenny Downham, another teen/YA novel. This one is set in the UK and focuses on three generations of women in one family who all carry secrets. Teen Katie's life changes dramatically when Mary, her previously unknown grandmother, comes into their lives unexpectedly. Mary has dementia and requires a lot of care, and Katie's mother, Caroline, doesn't talk much about the past. It's excellent so far.
• My husband, Ken, finished Shift by Hugh Howey, book 2 in the Wool series. He and I both LOVED Wool (review at the link), which several friends had said, "you must read!" They were right! I gave Ken the second book for Father's Day, and I can't wait to read it, too!
• Now, Ken is reading The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin, the third and final book in the trilogy that started with The Passage (followed by The Twelve). This was another Father's Day gift that we are both eager to read! 
• Jamie, 22, got a new Kindle Paperwhite for his birthday last week and re-read Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings, book 1 in the Stormlight Archive and then read book 2, Words of Radiance. The first one was 1200 pages long, and the second one was 1300 pages, so he is definitely in the Big Book Summer groove! Good fodder for very long days of air travel.
• Now, Jamie is re-reading an old favorite series, another one by Brandon Sanderson, the Mistborn trilogy. Has has finished Mistborn and The Well of Ascension, and is reading book 3, The Hero of Ages. These few weeks between summer session and the start of fall semester are his reading time!
• Craig, 18, has been reading his All-Freshman summer reading book, When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka. Ironically, he read this same book for his summer reading assignment when he was entering his freshman year of high school. He doesn't enjoy reading much but is so excited to start college that he doesn't seem to mind re-reading this one! I think he's finished it...?

A few posts from the past two weeks, in between trips:

Movie Monday: Star Trek Beyond, a great addition to the canon!

TV Tuesday: What We're Watching This Summer, a summary of our favorite shows this season

Summary of Books Read in July - a good reading month for me!

Fiction Review: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, a classic journey into the unknown

Teen/YA Review: Dreamology by Lucy Keating, a romance that explores the line between dreaming and reality

6 Amazing Hikes in Shenandoah National Park, my first article on My Itchy Travel Feet website

Saturday Snapshot: Black Hills of South Dakota, Part 1 - highlights from our recent trip

What are you and your family reading this week?    

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

Just two week of summer left, so if you are participating in the Big Book Summer Reading Challenge, be sure to post your Big Book reviews on the challenge page!
 

My family and I at Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park, SD

Saturday Snapshot 8/20: Black Hills of South Dakota

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. 

We just returned from a short vacation to one of our favorite places on earth: the Black Hills region of South Dakota. Besides the fact that we have family there, it is an amazingly beautiful place with so much to see and do. It's a bit out of the way but well-worth the trouble to get there! I'll share some of my photos over the next few Saturdays. First, a few from traveling there and back, the famed Mount Rushmore (though that is far from the only attraction in the area!), and other highlights:

Sunset from plane over OK/NE

Mount Rushmore, as seen through a tunnel

The beautiful Sylvan Lake - one of our favorite spots!

Mt. Rushmore framed by Black Hills pines

The view from our breakfast table - Legion Lake

More wildlife pics to come - this big guy was right near our cabin!

Hazy view of Chicago from the plane

Hope you are enjoying this late summer weekend!