Books Read in July

Lake Ontario at sunset, from Selkirk Shores State Park, NY

 What a crazy month! We had a couple of short trips, sent the kids off for a week, and dealt with my husband's emergency eye surgery (which went very well - thanks for all the support!). So, I have not had much time for blogging and am behind on posting reviews, but I did read a lot. I finally got moving on my Big Book Summer Challenge with two books over 400 pages this month, and I managed more audios than usual:

• Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, an emotionally powerful novel by Ben Fountain (Texas)
• Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter, on audio (Italy)
• Game Changer by Margaret Peterson Haddix, a middle-grade/teen novel (no location specified)

• Defending Jacob by William Landay, a legal thriller and my 2nd Big Book of the summer (Massachusetts)
• The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, a teen/YA novel and another Big Book (other world)
• Not Exactly a Love Story by Audrey Couloumbis, a teen/YA audio book (New York)

• Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich, pure summer fluff! (New Jersey)
• The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, a classic, on audio (England)

Wow, I thought I'd read fewer books than usual this month, but all those audios really added up! I read 8 books total (a lot for me), all fiction. Three were audios, 5 were grown-up novels, and 3 were for kids/teens/YA. It was a nice mix this month, and I enjoyed all of them. Hard to choose a favorite this month - I think it's probably Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, with The Knife of Never Letting Go as a close second.


Update on 2013 Reading Challenges:
I added only one new state (Texas) and one new country (Italy) to my 2013 Where Are You Reading Challenge. I read two more books off my TBR shelves, bringing the total up to 11 so far this year for my 2013 TBR Pile Reading Challenge. I also added two audio books to my 2013 Audio Book Challenge. And The Time Machine counts as one more for Those Books I Should Have Read 2013 Challenge.

What did you most enjoy reading in July?

Fiction Review: Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk

 

Although I had a big stack of books waiting to be read at home, I grabbed yet another off my library’s recent paperback release shelf because I had heard it was unique and well-written. Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain didn’t disappoint; I was blown away by the emotional power of this unusual novel and engrossed by its rapid pace.

The entire novel covers just one single day in the life of Billy Lynn, a 19-year old serving in the Army in Iraq. The men of Bravo squad, including Billy, have become overnight heroes in the U.S. after a fierce battle of theirs was captured on video that quickly went viral. Yanked from their post in Iraq, without any time to come to grips with what happened or mourn their fallen comrade, the eight remaining, uninjured men of Bravo are on a whirlwind Victory Tour across the U.S., ostensibly to honor their bravery though the real purpose seems to be to drum up support for the continuing war.

On this particular day, Thanksgiving and the last day of their U.S. tour, Bravo is being hosted by the Dallas Cowboys for an NFL game. In 48 hours, they will be shipped back to Iraq and back to the insanity of the war. Throughout the day, Billy texts with his sister who wants him to go AWOL, listens to the continuous discussion of a possible movie of their experiences where Hilary Swank would play him, stands next to Beyonce during the halftime show, and even shares a moment of connection with a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. Most of the men, like Billy, are still teens or barely out of their teens, and their heads are spinning with their sudden fame and the incongruency of being treated like royalty one day and being sent back to their tents in the desert among falling mortar the next.

In fact, this novel is all about incongruency and the absurdity of their situation. As Billy muses about their fate during the long wait for the game to begin, we learn the details of their famous battle and of their past two surreal weeks touring the country. Countless people approach the soldiers in Cowboy stadium to express their gratitude and support, as the men struggle to make sense of it all. Billy’s scrambled thoughts at this overwhelming input are sometimes aptly expressed simply as a jumble of words swirling through his ears and mind. Somehow, in the space of this single day, the author manages to cover everything from politics to war to family to America’s obsession with football and celebrity.

That’s one of the surprises of this unique novel. It’s not just about war or Iraq or terrorism. It’s about America and as much about the civilians with whom the men interact as it is about the soldiers themselves. It’s often tongue-in-cheek, frequently crude, sometimes hilariously funny, and sometimes heart-breaking. The novel takes the reader through the same jumbled mix of emotions that Billy himself is experiencing. Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk is a powerful emotional journey, exploring issues both personal and universal, all in the space of a single, surreal day.

307 pages, Ecco, a HarperCollins imprint

 

It's Monday 7/29! What Are You Reading?

Things have changed dramatically at our house since this time last week. My husband lost the vision in one eye while away on business last week. Something similar happened a few years ago when he had a couple of retinal tears, so he went to the ER. After he got home, I took him to his own retinal specialist who decided he needed to do surgery to get to the bottom of this - there is still too much blood in the eye for him to clearly examine it visually. So, today is surgery day, tomorrow is a post-op appointment, and chances are good that we will be cancelling our vacation to Maine for which we are supposed to be leaving later this week. We've waited over a year for this trip!

So, it's been a rough week, and it looks like our summer will turn out much differently than we expected. We should know more after the post-op appointment tomorrow.

Of course, we continued to read this week:

• I finished The Knife of Never Letting Go, Book 1 in the Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness, and loved it! It's hard to categorize this popular YA trilogy: it's somewhat post-apocalyptic, with some dystopian elements and overall a fast-paced suspense novel. I can't wait to read the next two books!
• I had a nice surprise last week. I turned in two brief book reviews for my local library's adult summer reading program and got to pick out two new books for myself! One of the books I picked was Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich, so I started that a few days ago. This is perfect reading for a stressful summer week - light and fun and fast-paced, with plenty of humor.
• I am still listening to the teen/YA audio book A Matter of Days by Amber Kizer, a post-apocalyptic story about a sister and brother making their way across the country after a devastating pandemic. It's very good, though I may not have as much time to listen now that the kids are back home!
• My husband and I had to drive back to Connecticut this weekend to pick up our kids after a week of sailing with their grandparents, so we listened to a new audio book release of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. I've never read this classic before and am really enjoying it. We'll probably finish it today and tomorrow going back and forth to the hospital and the doctor's office.
• My husband, Ken, was told not to read or look at screens for too long this week, so I helped him put a couple of audio books on his iPod. He has been listening to Fugitive by Phillip Margolin, a thriller. He's enjoying it and finding listening to audio before bed very relaxing.
• Jamie, 18, is still enjoying The Sorcerer's Path series by Brock Deskins on his Kindle. He finished Book 6: The Sorcerer's Abyss and also read Book 7: The Sorcerer's Return. While away on the boat, he said he also read 3 other free books on his Kindle that he enjoyed.
• Craig, 15, was thrilled to be on vacation and not have to read at all! Yes, they were brought up in the same household.

My husband gave me a Kindle for my birthday last week, so I will have to see what's available in e-books!

Very little time for writing last week, so I just managed two posts:

Weekend Cooking 7/27

Review of Game Changer by Margaret Peterson Haddix, a middle-grade/teen novel about an alternate universe.

There is still a month of summer left, so plenty of time to sign up for the Big Book Summer Challenge and squeeze in a Big Book this summer! It's super-easy and relaxed, as summer should be, and you only need to read one book of 400 pages or more to participate. There are still six weeks of summer left, so lots of time to read a big book (or two). Join the fun!

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 7/27

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 haven't written a Weekend Cooking post in a while because I've been so busy this summer. This week, my two sons were up at their grandparents' on their annual sailing vacation with their cousins, so my husband and I were on our own! I spent much of the week resting and recovering, but I also enjoyed cooking a few meals for the two of us, without worrying about picky eaters!

Coincidentally, our CSA haul this week included a wild mix of veggies my kids wouldn't touch, including beets, purple cabbage, okra, sorrel, dandelion greens, and cucumbers. So, I planned our meals around the veggies.

One night, we just had a simple dinner salad, with some Boston lettuce mixed with the sorrel (which is a bit bitter), and topped with cucumber, green beans, and roasted beets, plus some sliced steak, with a bit of blue cheese and a vinaigrette. Yum! It was delicious. I really like roasted beets, though they are a bit messy to prepare.

The okra had me stumped since the only thing I normally know to do with it is gumbo, and it was just too hot this week for soup. I searched on Cooking Light for summer okra recipes and found a great one: Corn and Summer Vegetable Saute. I used another recipe, Broiled Shrimp over Black Bean and Corn Salad, to marinate some large shrimp (I cooked ours on the grill) and served the shrimp on top of the Summer Veggie Saute. I even remembered to take a photo this time! It was delicious - perfect for a warm summer day.

And last night, I finally used that cabbage in Simmered Cabbage with Beef, Shan Style. I modified it a bit because I knew my husband wouldn't go for that "meat as flavoring" thing, so I used a half-pound of ground beef for the two of us (instead of the quarter-pound for four people the recipe calls for!). Anyway, it was delicious.

The kids come home this weekend, so it's back to more traditional meals, starting with our family's #1 favorite dinner, my own Red Beans and Rice recipe.

Hope you are enjoying your food and cooking this week!

It's Monday 7/22! What Are You Reading?

Wow, what a week! I was insanely busy last week...and insanely exhausted! I pushed way past the normal limits of my chronic illness, on my own with my husband away and getting my kids ready for their week of sailing with their grandparents - aka The Annual Grandchildren's Cruise! I took them to Connecticut on Friday, drove back (through awful traffic on the NJ Turnpike) Saturday, and then collapsed. I have been resting and recovering and am starting to feel a little better. The time alone has been such a huge relief, being responsible for no one but myself - bliss! My husband comes home tonight, so I am also looking forward to time alone with him.

Anyway, despite all that, we keep reading!

• I finished Defending Jacob by William Landay. Very suspenseful with lots of twists and turns, pretty depressing, and definitely a surprise ending that I didn't see coming....and my second Big Book of the Summer!
• I am now reading another of my Big Books, The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, a YA post-apocalyptic novel. It is very good so far, and I'm enjoying it.
• With all that time in the car by myself, I've had lots of audio book time (for a change). I listened to Not Exactly a Love Story by Audrey Couloumbis, a teen/YA novel set in 1977 about a 15-year old boy with a crush on his gorgeous, popular neighbor who resorts to anonymous phone calls because he's afraid to approach her in person. It was very good and helped all those hours stuck in traffic pass pleasantly.
• Now I am listening to A Matter of Days, a teen/YA post-apocalyptic novel (yes, I've got kind of a dismal theme going at the moment!), about a teen girl and her younger brother making their way across the country by themselves after a pandemic wipes out most of the population. I just started it yesterday but it is good so far.
• My husband, Ken, has been reading Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, but he has had to put his reading aside for now. While away, he had a scary incident with his eye and can only see out of one eye right now. The doctor told him no reading or computer screens until his vision clears - I don't know what he's going to do during his long hours of traveling today. I can't imagine flying without reading. He has a history of retinal tears and will have to follow up with his doctor later this week. Scary stuff.
• Jamie, 18, finished Domes of Fire by David Eddings, Book 1 of The Tamuli series, one of his Dad's old favorites.
• Once back home from our trip, Jamie was able to download the rest of the The Sorcerer's Path series by Brock Deskins to his Kindle. He is currently reading Book 6: The Sorcerer's Abyss. He loves this series!
• Craig, 15, with much prodding on my part, finished The Lord of the Flies by William Golding before leaving for his trip. I asked him what he thought of it, and he said, "Really disturbing." Yup, that about sums that one up!

I was far too busy for reviews or other blog posts last week, but I hope to catch up while I'm alone this week.

Don't forget, there is still plenty of time to sign up for the Big Book Summer Challenge! It's super-easy and relaxed, as summer should be, and you only need to read one book of 400 pages or more to participate. There are still six weeks of summer left, so lots of time to read a big book (or two). Join the fun!

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.)

It's Monday 7/15! What Are You Reading?

Huh? What? Monday already? We just returned from a long weekend spent camping, so it feels like Sunday to me. We traveled up to the farthest reaches of northern New York for my college reunion (Clarkson University) and took our pop-up camper so we could enjoy camping along the way. The camping was wonderful - we haven't had a vacation together in over a year! - and the reunion was amazing. Dozens of my friends from several years in my sorority all came back this weekend, and we laughed so hard my face hurt! There's nothing like old friends. I'm so glad we went.

We had plenty of quiet downtime for reading, too:

• I FINALLY got moving again on my Big Book Summer Challenge and started reading Defending Jacob by William Landay this week. It's very good so far - gripping suspense about a DA whose son is accused of murder - and I have no idea how it's going to turn out.
• My husband, Ken, finished The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman. He liked the details of life at the lighthouse and the characters but found the outcome a bit of a downer. I think he's glad he read it.
• Now Ken is reading Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. He says the characters are a bit strange - that seems to be Flynn's thing!
• Jamie, 18, flew through Books 4 and 5 of The Sorcerer's Path series by Brock Deskins on his Kindle: The Sorcerer's Vengeance and The Sorcerer's Scourge. He loves this series that his friend recommended! Problem is that we got on the road - without WiFi - and he realized he hadn't downloaded the next book in the series yet! So, he had to switch to paper books for the weekend...
• Jamie read Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore, Book 3 in the Graceling trilogy, which has been sitting on his shelf for months. He said it was very good, but he liked the first two books better.
• Now, Jamie is reading Domes of Fire by David Eddings, Book 1 of The Tamuli series, one of his Dad's old favorites. I think he read this one before but is re-reading it before reading Book 2. He can read in the car, so he read a LOT this weekend!
• Craig, 15, is still making his way - very slowly! - through The Lord of the Flies by William Golding. I told him he needs to finish it before he leaves on a trip with his grandparents Friday, so he's going to have to pick up his pace dramatically!

Not much blogging time last week, but I managed to post a couple of reviews before we left town:

Arcadia by Lauren Groff, a novel about a boy who grows up on a 70's commune.

 Lucky for Good by Susan Patron, the final book in the fabulous middle-grade Hard Pan series.

Don't forget, there is still plenty of time to sign up for the Big Book Summer Challenge! It's super-easy and relaxed, as summer should be, and you only need to read one book of 400 pages or more to participate. So, join the fun!

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: Arcadia

I bought Arcadia by Lauren Groff for my mom for Christmas, and she enjoyed it so much that she lent it to me and recommended it to one of my book groups (my mom comes along when she is in town).  I enjoyed this novel set on a 70’s commune, and we had some great discussions about it.

Bit (short for the “Tiniest Bit of a Hippie Ever”) was born in the back of a van to mom Hannah and dad Abe. Their wandering band of idealists start a commune soon after, in the woods and fields of western New York, with dreams of a utopian society where all material goods are shared in their self-sustaining society, living “pure and truthful lives.” Bit grows up in this rural place, isolated from the rest of the world, running wild with the rest of the Kid Herd.

He lives with Hannah and Abe in a bread truck on the Arcadia land, until the group manages to renovate an old mansion on the grounds. Though his parents clearly love him and are his primary caretakers, Bit has lots of other caring people to turn to if he ever needs help. However, not everything is perfect in this erstwhile paradise. Hannah suffers from sometimes crippling depression - especially in winter, they are all often cold and hungry, and their plans to share wealth equally and be self-sustaining never seem to fully come to fruition. Not everyone shares the same vision as Handy, the commune’s charismatic but lazy leader.

This novel is really Bit’s story: of his childhood, his adolescence among the ever-growing Arcadia, and his eventual adulthood and parenthood. His transition from the isolated world of the commune to the real world is fascinating, especially since Bit and his childhood pals seem to have different perceptions of their unusual childhood and different struggles in adapting to the outside world. Bit falls in love with one of his buddies from the Kid Herd and makes a life for himself, but eventually, events lead him back to what ‘s left of Arcadia.

Some people in our book group loved this novel (I was one of them) and a few people had some complaints with it, but everyone agreed it inspired a lot of good discussion! We talked about the pros and cons of the commune lifestyle, about the different parenting styles among its inhabitants and what it would have been like to grow up in that environment, and about the startling adjustment to the real world those kids had to eventually make. I don’t want to give away any plot points, but the last part of the book deals with some end-of-life issues that some of us found very moving. All in all, it is an engrossing story with some fascinating characters and a unique setting that I thoroughly enjoyed.

289 pages, Voice (Hyperion)

 

It's Monday 7/8! What Are You Reading?

Very hectic week last week, and another one starting today! I probably won't be online much this week. On the plus side, my oldest son finished his college summer class this weekend, and my youngest is off crutches and feeling great, so now our summer can really begin! We have a mini-vacation coming up - taking our camper along to my college reunion and camping along the way - our first road trip/vacation in over a year! I am sooo ready for that, even if it's just for a few days.

It has been horrifically hot and humid here lately which is extra-tough for me because of my chronic illness, so I have been hiding out indoors whenever I can (that's the other reason I can't wait to head north!). We managed lots of good reading this week:

• I finished Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain, and this novel about a team of young soldiers stationed in Iraq who are taken on a whirlwind Victory Tour of the US for acts heroism just blew me away. It was funny, emotionally powerful, and made me look at both the military and "normal" life in America in a whole new way.
• I decided to squeeze in one more short teen/YA book before jumping into the rest of my long books for my Big Book Summer Challenge. I am almost finished with Game Changer by Margaret Haddix Peterson, an alternate reality novel that's been very engaging.
• I finished Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter on audio and loved it - a great story of how seemingly minor events in the distant past affected a group of people decades later.
• My husband, Ken, is reading The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman on his Kindle, though he's not sure he's going to finish it. He's finding it interesting but can tell it's not going to end well - he's not a fan of sad books or movies! I think the characters are making him nervous as they make some questionable choices.
• Jamie, 18, continued to plow through The Sorcerer's Path series by Brock Deskins on his Kindle; he is thrilled that his friend bought the whole series, so he can borrow them! He read Book 2: The Sorcerer's Torment and Book 3: The Sorcerer's Legacy this week. Now that he is done with school and has a couple of months off, I'm sure his reading time will expand even further!
• Craig, 15, is reading The Lord of the Flies by William Golding - required reading for school - but is not making much progress so far! A few people commented here last week that they think required summer reading is a bad thing, but for my son, it is a very good thing! If he weren't required to read this summer, he would never pick up a book at all. He claims to hate reading, but often, if he starts a book for school, he ends up liking it. So, I am thrilled that he will at least read his two required novels this summer.

I did manage a few blog posts last week:

Review of The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, an excellent novel my entire book group enjoyed.

Review of The Silver Six by A.J. Lieberman and Darren Rawlings, an imaginative and action-packed middle-grade graphic novel.

And a summary of Books Read in June - it was a record-setting month for me!

Don't forget, it's only the first week of July, so there is still plenty of time to sign up for the Big Book Summer Challenge! It's super-easy and relaxed, as summer should be, and you only need to read one book of 400 pages or more to participate. So, join the fun!

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.)

Books Read in June

Wow, I can't believe it's July already - June went by in a flash, though it was an odd month here. School ended, but my youngest son had knee surgery and my oldest started a summer class in college. We normally spend June on a long, relaxing camping road trip together, so this June was very different! My youngest is now walking without crutches and going to PT, and my oldest has his final exam tomorrow, so now our REAL summer can begin!

In the meantime, I read a LOT last month and started my Big Book Summer Challenge. Here's what I read in June:

• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, a teen/YA novel, my first Big Book of the summer, and just as good the 2nd time! (Germany)
• Blue Asylum by Kathy Hepinstall, a novel set in Civil War times (Florida)
• The Silver Six by A.J. Lieberman and Darren Rawlins, a middle-grade graphic novel (Massachusetts)

• The Infinity Ring #1: A Mutiny in Time by James Dashner, middle-grade fiction (Pennsylvania)
• The Infinity Ring #2: Divide and Conquer by Carrie Ryan, middle-grade fiction (France)
• The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, novel (San Francisco, CA) 

• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne, fictional audio book (Germany)
• Arcadia by Lauren Groff, novel (New York)
• Lucky for Good by Susan Patron, middle-grade fiction (California)

Nine books in all! That's definitely a one-month record for me. It helped that several were quick middle-grade novels. This was a big book group month for me - I read The Book Thief, Blue Asylum, The Language of Flowers, and Arcadia all for book groups (and yes, my husband has already informed me I have an addiction!). The Book Thief is a long-time favorite of mine - I first read it several years ago - but of the books I read for the first time, I think The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is my favorite this month - it was just so unique and emotionally powerful.

Update on 2013 Reading Challenges:
I added only 1 new state (Florida) to my Where Are You Reading 2013 Challenge, but I also added 2 new countries (as usual, the titles are piling up for California and New York). Of these 9 books, only 1 (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas) came from my TBR pile - yikes, I better quit taking more books out of the library! - so my 2013 TBR Pile Reading Challenge is up to 9 books now. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas was also my 5th audio book for the 2013 Audio Book Challenge.

What was your favorite book read in June?

Fiction Review: The Language of Flowers

I recently read The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh for my neighborhood book group, and it was one of those books that I never would have read on my own but was so glad that I did. It’s a compelling, moving novel about a young woman who grew up in the foster care system and is trying to learn how to survive out on her own. Her knowledge of flowers and their meanings (from Victorian times) saves her life, both figuratively and quite literally.

As the novel opens, Victoria is turning 18 and officially “aging out” of the foster care system in San Francisco. Her social worker picks her up from her latest group home (with her one cardboard box of possessions) and takes her to a transitional home, where she has just three months to find a job and become self-sufficient. Victoria was abandoned by her mother at birth and has been shuffled from one foster family to another for her entire childhood. As a result of the continual abandonment and lack of love, Victoria doesn’t know how to connect with people. Labeled a problem child early on, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy, as she came to believe that she was worthless, unloved, and unlovable.

Right from the start, the reader has hints that there was one person in her past who did love Victoria, a woman named Elizabeth with whom she bonded, but it is apparent that something horrible happened to break that bond. With her lack of self-confidence and no sense at all of self-worth, Victoria is lost out in the world by herself and paralyzed by doubts and fear. She is kicked out of the transitional home after three months and ends up sleeping in the park and wandering the city searching for scraps of food. She is drawn to a local flower shop, where her unique knowledge of the meaning of flowers gets her a job and starts her down a rocky path of making a life for herself.

The chapters alternate between the present and the past, where Victoria first met the only person who ever had any positive impact on her life. As readers, we know there is some terrible secret hidden in her past and that her idyllic time back when she was 10 somehow ended in tragedy. Those secrets are slowly revealed as the past and the present come together, and Victoria struggles to learn how to connect with someone and build a life for herself.

Everyone in our book group enjoyed this engrossing novel, and we had plenty to discuss. Like me, some of our members would not have read it on our own because the topic – the language of flowers – didn’t seem all that interesting to us. But the real topics here are foster care, love, life, survival, and rebirth. While Victoria’s actions are sometimes frustrating as she continually thwarts her own chances for success, the author provides enough detail of her past history that you can understand why she is acting this way, even if you don’t agree with it. It’s a compelling story filled with emotional highs and lows and is highly recommended, even if you aren’t interested in flowers. And if you are interested, there is a glossary in the back of different varieties of flowers and their meanings.

308 pages, Ballantine Books

P.S. If you are interested in a true-life story of surviving (and overcoming) the foster care system, I highly recommend Ashley Rhodes-Courter's YA memoir, Three Little Words.

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

 

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Or you can order The Language of Flowers from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

It's Monday 7/1! What Are You Reading?

Yikes! How can it be July already? The year is officially half over - and there is so much I meant to do that I haven't gotten to yet! June flew by, but the good news is that my son is back on his feet after his knee surgery in early June. He started walking without crutches last week, started PT on Saturday, and is feeling great. Even better news? I no longer need to wait on him! Of course, now that he is able to get up and around, our schedule is filled with doctor's appointments, haircuts, PT, etc.

So, it was another busy week, but we enjoyed plenty of reading:

• I finished Arcadia by Lauren Groff in plenty of time for my book group on Wednesday. It was a bit slow to start, but I ended up thoroughly enjoying this novel about a boy who grows up on a hippie commune in the 60's. There was lots of good discussion, too.
• Next, I read a short middle-grade novel, Lucky for Good by Susan Patron, the last book in the Lucky Hard Pan trilogy. This one was just as fabulous as the first two - warm, intelligent, and surprisingly sophisticated for a middle-grade novel. I will miss Lucky!
• I am now reading Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain, an impulse pick-up from the library's New Paperbacks shelf, even though I have a stack of books waiting to be read for my Big Book Summer Challenge! I had heard such great things about this novel that I couldn't resist it. I'm only on chapter 3, but it's good so far.
• I am still listening to Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter on audio and enjoying it very much. I think things are building to the end, and I can't wait to hear what happens!
• My husband, Ken, finished Gone for Good by Harlen Coben and enjoyed the light suspense read.
• Now, he has started The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman, a novel I purchased on his Kindle earlier this year for one of my book groups (and loved!).
• Jamie, 18, continued to tear through fantasy novels on his Kindle, starting with The Weight of Blood by David Daglish. 
• He is now reading The Sorcerer's Ascension, Book 1 in The Sorcerer's Path series by Brock Deskins.
• And Craig, 15, has finally started his required summer reading for school with The Lord of the Flies by William Golding. He's not too impressed so far, but he's not even through chapter one yet! I think he'll like it once he gets into it.

With so much running around last week, I didn't have much time for writing but managed just a couple of blog posts:

I posted my review of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas on both book blogs (Book By Book and Great Books for Kids and Teens) because it was marketed for adults but is just as good for teens and YAs. The audio book just blew me away.

And I wrote my Weekend Cooking post, with a couple of recipes using the bountiful summer produce available now.

Don't forget, it's only the first week of July, so there is still plenty of time to sign up for the Big Book Summer Challenge! It's super-easy and relaxed, as summer should be, and you only need to read one book of 400 pages or more to participate. So, join the fun!

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 6/30

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!

 Summer is definitely here now. Our CSA pick-up this week was even bigger than it has been with kale, Boston lettuce, zucchini, broccoli, potatoes, spring onions, and bok choy with the summer crops starting to come in next week. Can't wait for those amazing tomatoes and green beans! Has anyone else noticed that green beans in the grocery store are just pathetic lately? They are one of our favorite vegetables, but I rarely buy them anymore because they never look good.

My teen sons have been complaining about too many new recipes and "weird stuff," so I went back to basics this week and made a lot of the simple kinds of meat-based dinners they like. So, we had things like BBQ chicken thighs, mini meat loaves, and grilled teriyaki pork chops. I did throw in a couple of weird things, too!

Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking post last week inspired me! I made the Sausage, White Bean, and Kale recipe she included in last week's post. Serving my kids kale is a risky move, but I used their favorite spicy Andouille sausage (Trader Joe's brand chicken sausage), told them the green stuff was spinach, and made it when my older son's girlfriend was here for dinner. She loves all kinds of foods - including kale! - so I had someone on my side. The dish was delicious and will definitely be added to our regular repertoire. I added some sauteed spring onions to it.

And on Friday, I made Asian Lettuce Cups. I cut the recipe out of a magazine years ago, so I can't link to it, but I modified it anyway, so here is a quick recap:

• Brown ground chicken or turkey, with some minced garlic and fresh ginger.
• Add Asian-style veggies (I used spring onions, finely chopped bok choy, shredded carrot, and shiitake mushrooms) and saute until tender.
• Make sauce with soy sauce, hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, and Sirachi sauce.
• Spoon meat and veggie mixture into clean Boston Bibb lettuce leaves and add sauce.

Super easy and very tasty! And great for those on a low-carb diet. We had some Trader Joe's Chinese dumplings on the side.

And best of all this week, our health food store had locally grown, unsprayed black raspberries - fabulous! I made Black Raspberry Shortcake for dessert one night (using this recipe for the shortcake, with white whole wheat flour instead of white flour, and topped with real whipped cream) and cooked the rest of the berries down for waffle topping this morning....mmmm!

Hope you are enjoying your own summer produce this week!

Fiction Review: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

I normally only post a review on one of my book blogs, depending on whether it is for adults or for kids/teens/YA, but I am making an exception for The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne because it is an engrossing, moving story perfect for both adults and teens/YA. I listened to this unique historical novel on audio and thought it was a teen book all along; I was surprised to get to the end and listen to a note from the author where he explained that the publisher had decided to market it to adults. Whether they’ve intended it for teens and YAs or not, it has become very popular with that age group, ranking as #6 in Historical Fiction for Teens on amazon.com.

It seems like every other book is set in World War II, but this one takes on a wholly unique perspective of the Holocaust: that of a young German boy whose father is in a high-level position within the Nazi party. Bruno is only nine years old, and author Boyne captures his point of view perfectly. He’s not a Nazi child during World War II; he is simply a child like any child in any other time and place in history. Bruno goes to school, enjoys playing with his friends, can’t understand why his older sister is acting differently lately, loves his parents, and is unaware of the larger world of politics and war.

When Bruno comes home from school one day to find that his family is moving from their big house in Berlin, he is upset, as any child would be, to leave his friends and his beloved home for someplace unknown. Their new home is far away, with no other houses near by, and Bruno complains about it to his mother, who tells him he must not complain because this move is important for his father’s career. There is a huge fence bordering Bruno’s new house, and through it, he can see hundreds of men, women, and children, all dressed alike in striped pajamas. Desperate for some company, Bruno sets off on a hike along the fence where he finally meets another boy, Schmuel. Though they are separated by the fence, the two nine-year old boys discover they have a lot in common and become friends.

The child’s voice in this novel is completely authentic and pulls you right into his world. He truly has no idea what is going on in the larger world. He thinks that the new place where they live is called Out-With and that his father’s important boss is nicknamed the Fury. Bruno’s innocence and naivety allow us a different kind of perspective on this horrific part of history. The audio production was excellent, with the narrator’s slight German accent  and childlike tone making Bruno’s perspective believable.

Boyne so perfectly captures Bruno’s simple little-boy world that at first, I actually thought this was a book for middle-grade readers. But there are some heart-rending developments in the story that would be distressing to younger readers, and in light of Bruno’s complete ignorance, it is necessary for the reader to have some basic understanding of what was happening in that part of the world in 1942 in order to fully grasp the events of the novel. It is a compelling, powerful, and haunting story that will stay with you long after you close the book or turn off your iPod.

Listening Library
Listen to an excerpt:

    AUDIO:  

It's Monday 6/24! What Are You Reading?

Whew, summer has definitely arrived in Delaware. It is supposed to be in the 90's all week, and the humidity is sky-high already - you step outside and it feels like you've run into a brick wall. Not my favorite kind of weather. But it's a perfect day to stay in the air conditioning and read!

I had a busy week, taking care of my son who is recovering from knee surgery, hosting my mom for a few days, and going to my neighborhood book group, so I am running a bit behind on reviews. I am declaring this week catch-up week! Here's what we read last week:

• I finished The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh in plenty of time for book group. Like everyone else in my group, I loved this novel about a young woman who has grown up in the foster care system, with no love or support, and how she builds herself a life as an adult.
• Now I am reading Arcadia by Lauren Groff for my other book group which meets this week. This is a novel about a boy who grows up on a commune in the 70's. It is engrossing so far, and I am looking forward to discussing it.
• I am still listening to Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter on audio, though I didn't have much time for it last week with all that was going on. It's an engaging story that goes back and forth between 1960's Italy and modern-day Hollywood. Loving it so far!
• I also squeezed in a middle-grade graphic novel last week, The Silver Six by A.J. Lieberman and Darren Rawlings. Graphic novels are a good choice when time is limited! I really liked this one and will try to write a review this week.
• My husband finished The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson this weekend and agreed it was a compelling and fascinating book. Some of the second half of this novel set in North Korea is a bit confusing, but we enjoyed discussing it. The details of daily life in North Korea are horrifying.
• Now, Ken is reading Gone for Good by Harlen Coben, a nice, small paperback for his business trip this week!
• Jamie, 18, continues to enjoy his summer reading time and fly through books! He finished ALTDORF, a Historical Novel of Switzerland, by J.K. Swift (The Forest Knights, Book 1).
• Now, he has moved onto another freebie on his Kindle, City of Rogues by Ty Johnston, Book 1 of The Kobalos Trilogy (The Ursian Chronicles). He's been on a major Medieval fantasy kick.

I didn't write any reviews last week - just a couple of posts:

 Gender Bias in Book Reviews - based on a fascinating study, with a look at my own reading habits.

Weekend Cooking, with a couple of our favorite summer recipes.

Don't forget, it's only the first week of summer, so there is still plenty of time to sign up for the Big Book Summer Challenge! It's super-easy and relaxed, as summer should be, and you only need to read one book of 400 pages or more to participate. So, join the fun!

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 Teach Mentor Texts.)    

Weekend Cooking 6/23

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!

Well, now summer is in full swing, as was obvious from the size of our CSA pick-up this week! There were almost twice as many veggies as last week: several types of lettuce, spring onions, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, swiss chard, radishes, and sugar snap peas. Yum!

With all that fabulous, fresh lettuce, I tried another taco salad recipe this week, Southwestern-style Shrimp Taco Salad. I think I liked this one even better than the one we had last week with chicken. My mom was visiting and loved it! One of my sons liked it better than the other one (because he loves all seafood), and the other said he likes the more traditional one better. Both of them, of course, groaned, "Salad for dinner again?" but everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Since they've been complaining about me trying too many new things lately (they prefer my winter style of cooking with soups, stews, roasts, etc.), I reverted to a few old favorites the rest of the week, with some of our lovely CSA veggies on the side. We had Spicy Crusted Chicken one night (a very simple baked crunchy chicken recipe) with orzo. My mother was very impressed with the orzo side dish, though all I did was add a can of chopped tomatoes and a quarter cup of jarred pesto!

And one night, we had plain old spaghetti with meat sauce, a kid favorite.

We went to a potluck dinner last night at a friend's house. I kept it super simple. We brought a bowl of watermelon chunks and blueberries and a Black and White Bean Salad, a classic Cooking Light recipe (so old that it's not online!). It's very easy - one can each of black beans and white beans, chopped red and yellow bell peppers, chopped fresh tomatoes, sliced scallions, 1/2 cup salsa, 1/4 cup red vinegar, salt, pepper, and chopped cilantro. It looks very colorful and tastes delicious! It's my go-to summer potluck recipe.

Hope you are enjoying food and cooking this week, too!

(P.S. Summer has just begun so there is still plenty of time to join my Big Book Summer Challenge! It is as easy-going as summer itself: you only need to read one big book (400 pages or more) by September to qualify...so join the fun!)

Snapshot Saturday 6/22

Snapshot Saturday is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.

Happy First Day of Summer! (yesterday)

There is still plenty of time to sign up for the Big Book Summer Challenge! It is super easy-going, as summer should be - you only need to read 1 big book (400 or more pages) between now and September to participate, so join in the fun!

I haven't had any time for taking photos lately, so I thought I'd share a few classic summer shots from the past. This is how we do summer:

My sons on the beach in Wildwood, NJ - August 2003

...And in the same spot in 2012!

My sons at Devil's Lake State Park, WI - 2005

Our traditional way to start the summer, playing in the creek (2005)

 

Every summer, we take a 3-week road trip out west (this one was 2006)...

 

...And we bring our camper (Shenandoah Natl Park, 2006)

One of our favorite places - Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park, SD (2008)

...And Sylvan Lake in 2012!

Enjoy your weekend and your summer!

Gender Bias in Book Reviews

A few months ago, I was listening to my favorite book podcast, Books on the Nightstand, and was intrigued when they talked about an annual survey conducted by an organization called VIDA on gender bias in book publishing and reviewing. The results of their 2012 annual count are interesting. They looked at different publications that review books and counted how many reviewers are female and how many male, as well as the gender of the authors they reviewed (and sometimes other data, depending on the publication).

Although a quick glance at the results might lead you to the conclusion that there is a significant gender bias in publishing, I noticed that in almost every case, the gender of the reviewers matches up pretty closely with the gender of the authors of books reviewed. In other words, female reviewers review more books written by women, and male reviewers tend to review more books written by men. This wouldn't be much of a problem, then, except that in the highest echelons of book reviews (The NYT, Harper, The Atlantic, etc.), the reviewers are almost always overwhelmingly male! That's the part of the survey I found interesting...and discouraging since I am a woman who writes book reviews and would love to be published in some of these prestigious publications. Also, I find it interesting that the vast majority of book bloggers are women. That means that, once again, the men are earning all the money and prestige in the field, while the women often work for peanuts (or nothing). No offense, guys - the data doesn't lie!

Books On the Nightstand took a look at the survey and at their own reviews and found they were pretty even between male and female authors. So, I decided to do my own count, with my list of books read in 2012. The results?

In 2012, I read 33 books written by female authors (52%) and 28 (44%) written by male authors (2 were uncertain due to initials or foreign names), lending credence to my theory that we tend to read more authors of our own gender. I also counted up the genders of the narrators or main characters of the books I read in 2012: 27 were female (43%), 19 were male (30%), and 17 (27%) had multiple points of view, with both male and female characters. So, again, my reading skewed slightly toward the female side. Though I was intrigued by how many books now present multiple points of view.

What do you think of all this? Do the most prestigious publications need to review more books by female authors? Hire more female reviewers?  Do you read more of one gender than another? Let me know what you think!

It's Monday 6/17! What Are You Reading?

Ah...I love the peace and quiet of Monday mornings, after the hectic weekend! I am out on the deck right now with my laptop, and all I can hear are birds. A little bunny just hopped through the backyard, enjoying a buffet breakfast on our lawn!

My older son just left for his college class, and my younger son is still asleep, so all is quiet for the moment. We had a nice family weekend together. And we read a lot last week:

• I finished Book Two in the middle-grade series Infinity Ring, Divide and Conquer by Carrie Ryan. I am really enjoying this fast-paced middle-grade time travel series.
• Now I am reading The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh for my neighborhood book group this week. Despite all the rave reviews, I wasn't sure I'd like it just because the topic didn't sound interesting to me, but it is a wonderful novel. I have been reading much too late every night!
• I started a new audio book, Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter. I don't usually have much time for audio books during the summer because I'm never alone, but I put this one on my iPod and have been listening to it a lot (while walking, cooking, weeding, etc.) I'm completely hooked on this novel, too!
• My husband, Ken, set aside Gone for Good by Harlen Coben (saving that small paperback for an upcoming trip) when The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson came back in at the library for us. Now, he can finish it.
• My 18-year old son, Jamie, is having a blast finally having some time for pleasure reading! He flew through several books last week on his Kindle. He is on a Medieval kick at the moment. First, he read A Quest of Heroes, Book One in the Sorcerer's Ring series by Morgan Rice, and enjoyed it very much.
• Next, he read A Circle of Iron by Greg Benage (Eldernost, Book 1), a free e-book he downloaded last winter (he loves the idea of free books!), and he liked that, too.
• And now, he is reading another Medieval e-book, ALTDORF, a Historical Novel of Switzerland, by J.K. Swift (The Forest Knights, Book 1) - looks like kind of a Robin Hood type story.
• Craig, 15, is recovering from knee surgery and playing Xbox games all day long! He does have some required summer reading, but for now, he is just enjoying no stress and no responsibilities. He's actually feeling pretty good (other than knee pain) and recovering more quickly than we'd anticipated.

Being home all last week taking care of my son gave me plenty of time for blogging (for a change!). I wrote the following posts:

Review of Blue Asylum, a unique historical novel by Kathy Hepinstall.

Review of Infinity Ring, Books 1 and 2, a middle-grade time travel series by multiple authors.

Books Read in May monthly summary.

Weekend Cooking post - CSA season has begun!

Young Book Bloggers, including a fun article from BEA, plus links to the highlighted blogs.

 Don't forget, it's only mid-June, so there is still plenty of time to sign up for the Big Book Summer Challenge! It's super-easy and relaxed, as summer should be, and you only need to read one book of 400 pages or more to participate. So, join the fun!

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 Teach Mentor Texts.)