"Polly's Secret" Book Review

Polly's Secret by Harriet A. Nash
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Polly Jane Brooks is the youngest daughter of a landlord who owns a hotel in a little town. Polly dreams of bigger things in her life besides work. In particular, she doesn't like to miss the ball happening tonight, with her specially made silk dress and dance slippers sitting away in her room while she toils with her sister in the kitchen, making food for the guests. A sick and elderly traveler arrives at the hotel. Polly is ordered to bring him some gruel and it is there that she makes a solemn promise to keep the deeds to his house and property safe from greedy relatives until his son, William Train, should arrive back from India and claim them.

Since no one else has read this (I had to manually add the book), I feel obligated to provide an honest review. Here I go.

This is a growing-up tale about a young girl in a small town in Massachusetts. The ending is as happy as you would expect. The women get married and they all get rich, and the bad guys are shamed though not outright punished because that would be a bad trait to develop in a young woman.

It's cute and quaint in its way. It has a nice charm to it and it has all of the ideals from when it was written. It has aged considerably. The book does a good job of looking like it's neutral but it doesn't quite spare anyone. There is some anti-feminist and a few racist remarks that are subtle because this book strives to be a book written for young girls. I didn't mind that too much, but it did rankle my pc sensibilities a bit. There was one word that I didn't expect to see but wasn't surprised to see considering when it was written. To give a hint: It was published during the 1920's when the Ku Klux Klan was at its peak in membership and "Birth of a Nation" was a huge movie for its time. I'm sure you know what word I'm referring to now, but I will not state it here.

There's a scene where basically everyone pulls their daughters from the only school in town. Polly seems perturbed by this but is quickly quieted by the local old spinsters down the block. Although other women lament not being able to understand their husbands at times. And pretty much everyone gets married to the one they are "most suited" for even if it seems to be kind of against their will. But that's to be expected.

They didn't treat the older sister as well as the younger. She marries the richer husband, for most of the book anyway, but they keep saying how plain she is, how matronly, how dull, how dumb. Especially next to Polly, who is beautiful and smart and fun. But Deborah's work ethic is much better; all the more ironic that she gets a rich husband and doesn't have to do anything but have kids. She must be bored out of her mind.

The book's very into the idea of honest men doing honest work on the farm rather than becoming lawyers and doctors. The most intelligent person in the town is the schoolteacher and he's kind of nasty but makes a few good points. But he is chastised into retirement onto his farm and the only other teacher is a nonentity.

It was a cute, like I said. It has aged a bit, but its romanticism of the old way of life won't be lost on a few people. As far as I can tell, the author got the accent down right, but I'm not sure if all the poor people speak like that. The few illustrations it has are beautiful. Not sure if I should marker that word out or not. It does bother me that some young person will read it and wonder what the hell it is doing in this book.

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I give you 3.5 out of 5 yonder stars.

"Cruel Beauty" by Rosamund Hodge Book Review

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"Graceling" meets "Beauty and the Beast" in this sweeping fantasy about one girl's journey to fulfill her destiny and the monster who gets in her way-by stealing her heart.

Based on the classic fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast", "Cruel Beauty" is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

There are so many things to say about this book. I don't know where to start. My head is a little light with the pleasure of having read this wonderful book. I loved it. It was everything to me for about a day and a half. It was beautiful and fun and majestic.

It's an odd retelling of the classic tale Beauty and the Beast. It also had the ancient legends of the Greek gods to borrow from and a little bit of the horrific story of Bluebeard. I loved that there were keys in this story and that they always seemed to cause a sexy moment.

This is definitely going to be a case of book-hangover for me. Damn you, Hodge! May your next book be as awesome and wonderful as this one! And for the gods sake, don't ask the Kindly Ones for help!!!

It's funny, I know about the Kindly Ones via Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman" graphic novels, and they're just as horrible in there. I still have no idea why they have anything to do with the Greek gods. I guess I need to brush up on my ancient stories. I want a sparrow god. That's adorable. And it was so kind, too.

Oh my god, Ignifex/Shade! Ugh, I would like a man that is anything like either of those! Snarky, humorous, gorgeous, blue-eyed, red-eyed, can fly, bargains well - I would never get cheated by an old car salesman ever again! Also, the fact that he more or less fights demons makes him sound so incredibly sexy to me!

Nyx was pretty awesome. Strong but very bitter and that made her so much more real than most heroes. I would compare her to Katniss Everdeen, but less action and more sensual. This is not necessarily a book for very young, young adult readers.

I guess you could say that the ending is bittersweet, but I'm having trouble digesting all that it means. Maybe there's a sequel in the works? I'm not sure if that would ruin it for me or not. I definitely want more.

I have to link to the review that caused me to buy this wonderful book - it was written by Emily May, otherwise known as the Book Geek and you can find it here - A great review, I wish I could write half as well.

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5 out of 5 roses.

"Wolf Rider" by Avi Book Review

Wolf Rider by Avi

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

On an ordinary evening, just as he's about to leave for a party, 15-year-old Andy Zadinski receives a phone call from a stranger that changes his life. The caller, Zeke, confesses to the murder of a young woman named Nina Klemmer. Andy immediately calls the police, who shrug it off as a gag or a crank call. But Andy persists when he happens to meet Nina, who is just as Zeke described her. She takes his warnings as harassment, however, and everyone now thinks that Andy himself made up the call. His attempts to ferret out Zeke and protect Nina, while compromising his own safety, make for an exciting tale of the terror lurking beneath everyday surroundings and behind ordinary events.

I'm not sure what to think of this book. I know it was meant for a younger audience, so I feel I must give it some leeway.

I'm not convinced that most of what happened wasn't just coming out of Andy's own mind. (view spoiler)[ For one thing, the man who is apparently a vicious murderer, doesn't actually commit any murders. At least, not in this book. He just seems to want to live out horrible fantasies. Which isn't great, but totally better than killing people. There's no mention of past murder victims being found. Lucas could've just wanted to kill to hide from the embarrassment of being found out that he even has them. And I'm not entirely sure that he would've killed Andy. He did tie him up, but he wasn't exactly dressed for murder: he was running the risk of anyone seeing him in his usual clothes. And he had to have been a reasonably well-known personage around the town. Professors don't exactly make enough to have their initials put on their snazzy cufflinks with their salary.

And the ending didn't answer anything. Lucas was never found out and he died, but that part didn't bother me so much as the strained relationship between Andy and his father. Instead of thinking that his son might have been right the whole time with his finding of the fancy cufflink, he could easily assume that Andy might be a killer. For all he knows, he was stalking some woman (which is exactly what he did) and trying to put the blame on someone else. So now, with the finding of the cufflink, he could also think that his son succeeded in killing a beloved professor and making it look like a car crash. The sequel for this would probably have a lot of therapy and 'medicine' for Andy when he gets back from his Aunt's.  (hide spoiler)]

I don't know. It was certainly a fast read. But I'm so used to CSI and thorough investigations on TV, maybe this was a step too far down for me to enjoy.

I read another of Avi's books before, "Blue Heron" (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...), way back in middle school and I loved it. I'm wondering if I would like it now. It's a completely different story from this one, so possibly.

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3 out of 5 stars.

"Murder On the Orient Express" Book Review

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A Hercule Poirot Mystery

Snowbound in the Balkan hills, the passengers on the Orient Express awaken to the shocking news that one of their number had been viciously murdered in the night. With a business more grim than murder afoot, Poirot has not a moment to waste. For the killer is still at large on the train...

Holy fast read, Batman! This is my first Agatha Christie novel and the first time I ever read about Hercule Poirot. I feel like I should have gotten to her a lot quicker than I did.

When I found my current copy of this book, my friend was with me. She saw it and became very enthusiastic about it. I asked her and she told me how it ends! Which usually makes me not want to read the book. But I was actually more intrigued by it. How does the clever Belgian figure it all out? And will he compare to my beloved Holmes? Like apples to oranges as I soon found out.

There's not much else to say, except I enjoyed it thoroughly and plan to read more of Poirot and Christie at some later point. I also want to watch the movie; my book cover is covered in illustrations with fabulous actors and actresses: Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, Anthony Perkins, and the majestic Vanessa Redgrave! I bet that movie is spectacular! It must have been the easiest screenplay to write, ever! The whole book is witty dialogue - so, basically, a copy and paste job for Paul Dehn.

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4 out of 5 my dear Wat- uh, I mean, sil vois plais.

"The Complete Phantom of the Opera" Book Review

The Complete Phantom of the Opera by George Perry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"This is the lavishly illustrated, definitive account of 'The Phantom of the Opera', tracing the Phantom legend from its origins in historical fact through Gaston Leroux's heartrending classic novel and other artistic incarnations to the present day and Andrew Lloyd Webber's incredibly successful musical."

More of a 4.5 rating. This book offers a glimpse into the past of the Phantom. Mainly delving into the origins of the Paris Opera House and the mad genius of its architect Charles Garnier, the interesting life of the Phantom's maker, Gaston Leroux, and how the compelling story went from book to silver screen and to the theatre where it reins to this day.

I loved learning all of the little details about the most singular Opera House. Indeed, it doesn't hold the biggest auditorium and has limited seating, but it is the largest in the world. What a grand setting! How could Leroux go there and not create such a fantastic story. They shouldn't have replaced the ceiling covers though, the 'new' one looks out of place here.

I find Gaston Leroux a fascinating man in his own write. Not so much his career as a writer, since most start out as journalists. But more so for the little tidbits about him. Like the fact that he was born in an undertaker's business complete with his own dramatic quote about his birth: "There, where I sought a cradle, I found a coffin."

Some of the pictures were lovely. It was wonderful to see the makeup transformation up close and the sketches of the clothes and costumes and wigs. I would totally kill to have one of Maria Bjornson's models of the set. I could probably make one but damn they're beautiful!

It was also nice to find out more about the people who helped create the show behind the scenes. I was really surprised that so many people came from the opera, but I guess that should have been obvious. "Phantom of the ...oh, what was it?"

I really liked that the libretto was included. The differences between the stage version and recent movie version might confuse some other people, but I enjoyed reading it and looking for the differences. It was much easier to read this one than to stare at the one provided with the original cast recording. It's always fun to be able to read the correct lyrics or just to see what all of the characters have to say during the really big numbers. In the 2004 movie, some parts get drowned out.

Overall, a very enjoyable book and worthy of a phan's collection.

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4.5 out of 5 Angels of Music.

"The Patchwork Girl of Oz" Book Review

The Patchwork Girl Of Oz by L. Frank Baum

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"Ojo and Unk Nunkie visit a magician, who uses the Powder of Life to bring a Patchwork Girl to life. But then a terrible accident turns Unk Nunkie into a statue! Ojo must go on a quest to gather the strange ingredients needed to restore his uncle. Joined by Scraps the Patchwork Girl, Bungle the glass cat, and a host of other creatures, Ojo sets off on his travels around Oz."

This is the second book involving Baum's Oz book series that I've read so far, so needless to say, I am reading the books out of order. Not that that matters overmuch, since the plots of each of the books tie up nicely at the end of each and aren't mentioned in the next. If anything needs to be known, it is quickly summarized and then they move on. I wish more authors would do this - it would save me a lot of headaches.

As for the characters, I liked Ojo from the start, even though he sorely needed a confidence booster. Apparently other characters needed to be made more humble. More on that later. The Woozy was kind of useless. The Patchwork Girl herself needed to grow on me, by the end of it I liked her the most and now I'm a Scarecrow/Patchwork shipper. (Does anyone get the feeling that the Tin Woodsman is gay? Oh, just me, nevermind.) One character wasn't explained though: What was with the Mysterious House with its disembodied voice and free bed-and-breakfast deal?

***SPOILER ALERT*** You have been warned (I didn't feel like blocking half of my review).

While I enjoyed this book, I can see how easy it was for Gregory Maguire to turn the rulers of Oz into despotic dictators. I mean, it's a fairyland but no one is allowed to use magic?! That's awful, I thought that was the point of living in a fairyland. And nearly all of Ozma's friends were produced by magical means, so I don't understand how she could hold such a grudge towards it, even with the awful witch who enslaved her and turned her into a boy.

(On that note: Why didn't she stay that way?! She could pee standing up - men will never know how much more free they are because of that slight advantage. I mean, think about it - they can go anywhere, they can make it fun by aiming at stuff, and they're done so quickly! Although they need to wash their hands more - don't think for a minute that no one noticed you guys don't wash your hands! Ewww!)

I'm glad they fixed the Crooked Magician's extreme Rheumatoid Arthritis, but they had to give him something after taking all of his magic away. And it wasn't like he was a bad man with it, or just crap at it, he was doing amazing stuff! Everyone liked his creations: the Patchwork Girl was some much needed sass next to Ojo's downtrodden behavior and the Glass Cat was pretty if not really useful and kind of annoying at times. He was dabbling with things like the Powder of Life! That has to be difficult to make, even for one who is used to practicing magic. Ozma could have used him is all I'm saying.

And then they took the Glass Cat's pink brains out so she would be more humble. How terrible! Instead of waiting for her to mature into a better person(cat?) or develop humility on her own, they took away a physical characteristic of hers to suit their own needs.

And since they went through the trouble of doing that, why didn't they 'fix' the poor Phonograph? His problem was easy, you just switch out his crappy record for a better one and everyone is happy. If I don't see him in the next book, then that means someone destroyed him for doing the one thing he was made to do and that was to try to entertain them, which is sad.

Also, I love how Ozma is slowly putting all of the people she needs to keep an eye on very close by. But since this is a children's book, I'll keep a few of my 'conspiracy theories' and 'observations' to myself.

And Glinda the Good is a bitch! She watched Ojo walk all over Oz to get all this stuff to fix his Uncle who he feared he wouldn't see alive again for at least six years, if ever, only to fail to get all of the items needed when she knew the whole time a simple way to fix his problem.... Oh, wait, that's how she rolls.

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Ozma of Oz says 5 out of 5 stars!

"Lion in the White House" Book Review

Lion in the White House: A Life of Theodore Roosevelt by Aida D. Donald
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"New York State Assemblyman, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, New York City Police Commissioner, Governor of New York, Vice President and, at forty-two, the youngest President ever-in his own words, Theodore Roosevelt "rose like a rocket." He was also a cowboy, a soldier, a historian, an intrepid explorer, and an unsurpassed environmentalist-all in all, perhaps the most accomplished Chief Executive in our nation’s history. In Lion in the White House: A Life of Theodore Roosevelt, historian Aida Donald masterfully chronicles the life of this first modern president. TR’s accomplishments in office were immense. As President, Roosevelt redesigned the office of Chief Executive and the workings of the Republican Party to meet the challenges of the new industrial economy. Believing that the emerging aristocracy of wealth represented a genuine threat to democracy, TR broke trusts to curb the rapacity of big business. He improved economic and social conditions for the average American. Roosevelt built the Panama Canal and engaged the country in world affairs, putting a temporary end to American isolationism. And he won the Nobel Peace Prize-the only sitting president ever so honored. Throughout his public career, TR fought valiantly to steer the GOP back to its noblest ideals as embodied by Abraham Lincoln. Alas, his hopes for his party were quashed by the GOP’s strong rightward turn in the years after he left office. But his vision for America lives on. In lapidary prose, this concise biography recounts the courageous life of one of the greatest leaders our nation has ever known."

At long last, I have finished this biography. I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't call it the definitive work on his life. Anyone can tell that by the short length of it alone.

I feel as if "The River of Doubt" was a better book if only about a very short period of his life. It captured the intensity of that journey and was very well-researched.

This book was also well-researched as the author herself stated in the Acknowledgements section. I got this at a bargain price and was looking forward to reading it. I like Theodore Roosevelt but I wanted to become more educated about him and his legendary status. This book should be used as an introduction to his character. I'm working myself up to his autobiographies. He is a whirlwind of a personality and I want to prepare more before facing it completely.

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I hereby declare thee book worthy of 4 out of 5 stars.

"A Fatal Likeness" Book Review

A Fatal Likeness by Lynn Shepherd
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"A mystery that explores the dark lives and unexplained secrets of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his wife Mary, author of Frankenstein.

"In the dying days of 1850 the young detective Charles Maddox takes on a new case. His client? The only surviving son of the long-dead poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his wife Mary, author of Frankenstein.

"Charles soon finds himself being drawn into the bitter battle being waged over the poet’s literary legacy, but then he makes a chance discovery that raises new doubts about the death of Shelley’s first wife, Harriet, and he starts to question whether she did indeed kill herself, or whether what really happened was far more sinister than suicide.

"As he’s drawn deeper into the tangled web of the past, Charles discovers darker and more disturbing secrets, until he comes face to face with the terrible possibility that his own great-uncle is implicated in a conspiracy to conceal the truth that stretches back more than thirty years.

"The story of the Shelleys is one of love and death, of loss and betrayal. In this follow-up to the acclaimed Tom-All-Alone’s, Lynn Shepherd offers her own fictional version of that story, which suggests new and shocking answers to mysteries that still persist to this day, and have never yet been fully explained."

Before I get started, I will say that I found this book enjoyable and the writing well done. Otherwise, I wouldn't have finished it and this review would just be a list of exasperated complaints.

However, I do have some nit-picking to do.

I must say that I do not like when a narrative goes back and forth between time periods. Specifically, some time in the past and then the current state of affairs. Now, if that actually means a damn to the story, like it is a major part of the plot, then fine, do that, so long as it is sensible. What the author did here, and I don't know if she does it in all of her work, was irritating because it reminded me that she existed and it didn't move the story along. It seemed to always give information that wasn't necessary to be read and almost seemed like she was showing off her research skills in odd moments. I know there is a narrator and that guy knows everything because we're reading this story 200 years in the future, but having that show up slows the pacing of the story and must of it doesn't help me if the character doesn't know about it.

Also, the mentioning that we, the reader, probably know what happened to the main character because we may possibly have read the first book (I didn't), is annoying. Particularly when the narrator goes, "He did this (but YOU know that)". I know the author didn't want to repeat themselves, but there must have been a more elegant way of doing that.

I found the accents perfect, because I knew where they were from and could read them. I have read some characters with accents and had to have it translated like it was a different language (Dracula, anyone?).

I said it before in one of my updates, but I'll say it again: "I find it funny that the author of a British detective novel would mock the character of Sherlock Holmes - even though her detective wouldn't be able to hold a candle to him: he's both stupid (or at least among these particular clients - the only reason he is getting ahead is because some other detective has done the work for him by writing it down) and overemotionally involved in his cases." The movie about Holmes came out recently, you're British, you're writing about a detective that is logical and has scientific methods, and has a disdain for his appearance (unless it will help a case). Am I really supposed to think of someone other than Holmes? You brought this upon yourself, Ms. Shepherd!

It is interesting that she should choose such a famed and literary family to slander in this book. I'm sure there are Romantic fans out there getting their pitchforks and torches ready. I did love "Frankenstein" (the book); it is one of my all-time favorites. But even still, I only found it somewhat irksome that Mary Shelley's character is besmirched so much in this book. (view spoiler)[I always thought her to be a young woman in love with odd ideals not suited to her time, but not so much child-killing, murderous bitch. (hide spoiler)] She does mention after the epilogue that she made up most of it to make a more interesting story, but it is still plausible. After reading about Lord Byron, it wouldn't surprise me if any of them were just as bad. He was a monster, if not an outright sociopath.

It was a typical detective novel, you figured things out as you went. I was very satisfied with the ending - (view spoiler)[though what was up with that girl dying? You had to have a sad ending, didn't you? (hide spoiler)] Overall, a decent book. I enjoyed myself, but I'm not sure I would read more of Ms. Shepherd's work.

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I bequeath this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

"The School for Good And Evil" Book Review

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

New York Times Bestseller * Indie List Bestseller * Indie Next Pick * Barnes & Noble Best Book of 2013 * Soon to be a Major Film from Universal Pictures 

"The first kidnappings happened two hundred years before. Some years it was two boys taken, some years two girls, sometimes one of each. But if at first the choices seemed random, soon the pattern became clear. One was always beautiful and good, the child every parent wanted as their own. The other was homely and odd, an outcast from birth. An opposing pair, plucked from youth and spirited away.

"This year, best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to discover where all the lost children go: the fabled School for Good & Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. As the most beautiful girl in Gavaldon, Sophie has dreamed of being kidnapped into an enchanted world her whole life. With her pink dresses, glass slippers, and devotion to good deeds, she knows she’ll earn top marks at the School for Good and graduate a storybook princess. Meanwhile Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks, wicked pet cat, and dislike of nearly everyone, seems a natural fit for the School for Evil.

"But when the two girls are swept into the Endless Woods, they find their fortunes reversed—Sophie’s dumped in the School for Evil to take Uglification, Death Curses, and Henchmen Training, while Agatha finds herself in the School For Good, thrust amongst handsome princes and fair maidens for classes in Princess Etiquette and Animal Communication.. But what if the mistake is actually the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are…?

"The School for Good & Evil is an epic journey into a dazzling new world, where the only way out of a fairy tale is to live through one."

Oh my god! I cannot wait for the next book in the trilogy! I loved it! Everything! Poor Tedros! I don't have a clue what he is going to do!

While reading it I felt bad and sympathetic for all of the characters, but after reading and thinking about I feel much more sympathetic towards Agatha and not so much towards Sophie. She's quite horrible at many different stages throughout the book, but it's understandable.

It was a very clever take on witches and princesses and how fairy tales come about. To a certain degree everything is fairly sad. Just punishments and so forth. There were parts of this book that were downright disgustingly awful to read. They were horrible to each other. I'm not sure I would let a little kid read this, but I guess if video games happen, ehh...

It's a middle school age book so don't expect too much of a deeper reading into good and evil, but it is very enjoyable. I devoured it in a day and I didn't expect to do that.

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Five out of five stars.

My review for the second book, "The School for Good and Evil: A World Without Princes" can be found here.

My review for the third book is coming soon!

"The Man Who Rained" Book Review

The Man Who Rained by Ali Shaw
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"When Elsa's father is killed in a tornado, all she wants is to escape — from New York, her job, her boyfriend — to somewhere new, anonymous, set apart. For some years she has been haunted by a sight once seen from an aeroplane: a tiny, isolated settlement called Thunderstown.

"Thunderstown has received many a pilgrim, and young Elsa becomes its latest — drawn to this weather-ravaged backwater, this place rendered otherworldly by the superstitions of its denizens. In Thunderstown, they say, the weather can come to life and when Elsa meets Finn Munro, an outcast living in the mountains above the town, she wonders whether she has witnessed just that.

"For Finn has an incredible secret: he has a thunderstorm inside of him. Not everyone in town wants happiness for Elsa and Finn. As events turn against them, can they weather the tempest - can they survive at all?

"The Man Who Rained is a work of lyrical, mercurial magic and imagination, a modern-day fable about the elements of love."

I really enjoyed this work. I liked it, but not as much as the first book by this author. I loved how the weather became animals - I almost said 'alive' but weather is kind of already alive in a way in this work. Shaw's creatures are always amazing. The only comparison I can come up with is Del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth". If you liked, i. e. loved, that movie read Ali Shaw. You won't be disappointed.

His female characters are unusually strong which I always like. It's only unusual because lately the really popular fiction that women tend to like involve women who can't do anything, like make a decision. Shaw's girls just up and go when things are going the way they don't want it to. Some would call that running away, I call it catharsis.

I realize Finn was a loner but he seemed to grow through that without it being shown too much. Unless you count that bulge in his pants that is finally explained to him as not being a bad thing.

I have read other reviews and agree that some passages in this book are beautiful and some characterizations could have been expanded upon: the city vs. some really small village in BumbleFuck, Nowhere. And I get that this place was supposed to be idyllic, but all it reminded me of was a horror movie set up: this small town with their crazy residents and horrible superstitions and boredom that lead them to enjoy killing things that are pretty harmless. I would've liked to have seen more of a turning point for Elsa. Although Daniel was pretty isolated and I liked how that was predicted by his actions for the woman he loved.

*SPOILERS*
I liked that the ending was happier than Mr. Shaw's first book (but I'll be the first to admit loving sad endings that make me cry like I just saw someone kill my dog in front of me), but I also thought it was stupid to have the strangest man ever walk through the town of crazy people, after having hid from them nearly all of his life, like it was no big deal. That part actually made me mentally slap my forehead.

But I did enjoy it and look forward to his next novel, which can't come out soon enough.

I also want to point out that I love the way these covers look.


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I give this book 4 out of 5 books.

"Sutton" Book Review

Sutton by J.R. Moehringer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
"Willie Sutton was born in the squalid Irish slums of Brooklyn, in the first year of the twentieth century, and came of age at a time when banks were out of control. If they weren't failing outright, causing countless Americans to lose their jobs and homes, they were being propped up with emergency bailouts. Trapped in a cycle of panics, depressions and soaring unemployment, Sutton saw only one way out, only one way to win the girl of his dreams.

"So began the career of America's most successful bank robber. Over three decades Sutton became so good at breaking into banks, and such a master at breaking out of prisons, police called him one of the most dangerous men in New York, and the FBI put him on its first-ever Most Wanted List.

"But the public rooted for Sutton. He never fired a shot, after all, and his victims were merely those bloodsucking banks. When he was finally caught for good in 1952, crowds surrounded the jail and chanted his name.

"Blending vast research with vivid imagination, Pulitzer Prize winner J.R. Moehringer brings Willie Sutton blazing back to life. In Moehringer's retelling, it was more than poverty or rage at society that drove Sutton. It was one unforgettable woman. In all Sutton's crimes and confinements, his first love (and first accomplice) was never far from his thoughts. And when Sutton finally walked free - a surprise pardon on Christmas Eve, 1969 - he immediately set out to find her.

"Poignant, comic, fast-paced and fact-studded, Sutton tells a story of economic pain that feels eerily modern, while unfolding a story of doomed love that is forever timeless."(overview via Barnes and Noble)

This is a beautifully written fictionalized biography of William Francis Sutton, a notorious figure known for his charm and nonviolent bank robberies and jewel heists. Though not as well known today as a few of his colleagues, Capone and Dillinger just to name a few, he was one of the most sought after criminals of his time. But also a sort of folk hero, like Robin Hood.

A product of his environment, the banks owned much while people starved and lived on the streets thereby developing a heavy dislike for the rich, he's also charismatic and highly intelligent, escaping prison multiple times and reading the great literary classics and becoming an avid gardener while stuck inside.

It was interesting to meet all of the real-life characters that made up his friends and associates. I would love to read a biography of that lawyer, Samuel Untermyer, he sounds absolutely fascinating.

I felt so bad for Sutton at times, though he was so intelligent and planned his crimes so well, his accomplices would usually screw something up or turn out to be a rat. He couldn't catch a break half of the time. And that had to be one of the worst cases of police brutality I have ever read.

Probably one of the better books I've read all year, I really enjoyed it and hope to read more from the author.

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"The Casual Vacancy" Book Review

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock.

"Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

"Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils...Pagford is not what it first seems.

"And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

"The Casual Vacancy is J.K. Rowling’s first novel for adults."

I'm just going to admit it: I got this just because J. K. Rowling wrote it and I loved the Harry Potter books. I'm also going to be completely honest and say I am not sure I would've picked this up otherwise.

Be that as it may....

I did read a few articles about this book beforehand and I remember Rowling stating that she thought it was a very British novel. But Pagford is a lot like any other small town that happens to be predominately white and full of itself whose inhabitants happen to speak with some British slang.

For some reason, the publishers never mentioned it was about a murder, just a death, but the way it sounded in the press made it seem like it was about a murder. But, no, Barry Fairbrother just dies. But for the first fifty pages or so, I did expect some evildoer to pull on his mustache and cackle with laughter about his having killed off the most interesting character I will never fully meet. Thanks, Rowling.

While the character development is very good, it does take up half of the book before the story really begins to move. And after that I couldn't get to the ending fast enough. Not because I disliked it, but because I was really interested in how these people were going to settle all of their problems. And also whether Rowling would let their problems be wrapped up all nice and tidy at the end. Maybe there wouldn't be an answer to all their problems. Because that's life, it just keeps going. And this book is very close to real life.

There were characters that I was supposed to hate: Simon and Obbo; there were characters I really disliked: Fats, Gavin, and Shirley; there were characters I either pitied or felt close to: Andrew, Gaia, Sukhvinder, Kay, Krystal, Terri, and Tessa. Ruth made me all sorts of frustrated (Goddamnit woman, just hit him first or at least hit him back, I know you have it in you!) I liked Howard and Miles, although I didn't like their view of things. I found it funny that Samantha thought the most romantic things about her shop closing ("It was strange how your brain could know what your heart refused to accept."), but detested her husband and his family.

It's a very good book, all 'round.

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"Byron in Love" Book Review

Byron in Love: A Short Daring Life by Edna O'Brien
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"From one of our greatest novelists comes this luminous portrait of the world’s first literary rock star. 

"Acclaimed biographer of James Joyce, Edna O’Brien has written an intimate biography that suits her fiery and charismatic subject. She follows Byron from the dissipations of Regency London to the wilds of Albania and the Socratic pleasures of Greece and Turkey, culminating in his meteoric rise to fame at the age of twenty-four on the publication of Childe Harold. With her prismatic eye and novelistic style, O’Brien eerily captures the spirit of the man and creates an indelible portrait of Byron that explodes the Romantic myth. From his escapades with John Edleston, the fourteen-year-old Cambridge choir boy, to those with a galaxy of women that included his half-sister, his wife of one year, and the Italian countess who forsook her satyr-like husband for “the peer of England and its greatest poet,” Byron scandalized the world and inspires “Byronmania” to this day. Byron, as brilliantly rendered by O’Brien, is the poet as rebel, imaginative and lawless, and defiantly immortal."

This was an interesting and brief biography. I grabbed it because I have a huge interest in this part of time: authors and the very important people in general are awesome.

I found that I don't like Byron the man at all. He was cowardly, abusive, incestuous, uncaring and unfeeling. He only realized what he should have done with a lot of the people in his life after they died, which makes it look like he really didn't care anyway.

The writer, Edna O'Brien, was kind of annoyingly snobbish with her unexplained French and Italian statements and the way she wrote wasn't very enjoyable. She kept changing tense which was informative at first and then became confusing because I couldn't remember what year it was supposed to be that he was in Italy then Greece. I would've liked more information, but I knew from just looking at the size of the book that there wouldn't be much. She doesn't list any sources at all, which annoys me to no end. Maybe she should just stick with writing fiction.

Ms. O'Brien obviously loved and admired Byron, but after reading this I cannot completely understand why. The only things from him that were any good, were his poetry, which I haven't read so I can't judge it, and his daughter Ada Lovelace (what a beautiful name), one of the first computer programmers I have ever heard of. In fact, "the computer language Ada, created on behalf of the United States Department of Defense, was named after Ada Lovelace. The reference manual for the language was approved on 10 December 1980, and the Department of Defense Military Standard for the language, "MIL-STD-1815", was given the number of the year of her birth. Since 1998, the British Computer Society has awarded a medal in her name[68] and in 2008 initiated an annual competition for women students of computer science." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Love...)

Interesting man, but if I ever read about him again, I'm going to get a better researched and more informed book about him.

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"Motherland" Book Review

Motherland by Amy Sohn
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

"With her trademark blend of “social satire, interpersonal drama, and urban glamour” (The New York Times), Amy Sohn delivers a candid, unsentimental look at modern marriage. In her acclaimed novels, Amy Sohn has beguiled us with her pinpoint observations of how we live and love, giving voice to our innermost thoughts and everyday anxieties. Now, in Motherland, her most diverting book to date, she introduces us to five mothers and fathers in Cape Cod, Park Slope, and Greenwich Village who find themselves adrift professionally and personally.

"Rebecca Rose, whose husband has been acting aloof, is tempted by the attentions of a former celebrity flame; Marco Goldstein, saddled with two kids when his husband, Todd, is away on business, turns to anonymous sex for comfort; Danny Gottlieb, a screenwriter on the cusp of a big break, leaves his wife and children to pitch a film (and meet young women) in Los Angeles; fallen sanctimommy Karen Bryan Shapiro, devastated by her husband’s infidelity and abandonment, attempts a fresh start with a hot single dad; and former A-list actress Melora Leigh plots a star turn on Broadway to revive her Hollywood career. As their stories intersect in surprising ways and their deceptions spiral out of control, they begin to question their beliefs about family, happiness, and themselves.

"Equal parts moving and richly entertaining, Motherland is a fresh take on modern marriage that confirms Amy Sohn as one of our most insightful commentators on relationships and parenting in America today."

I would like to start this review by saying thank you to Goodreads for allowing giveaways, as I won this book from one of them. Also, they may wish they had picked someone else. Also, I am going to be really picky when choosing which giveaways to participate in from now on.

Anyway, I put this book down and am loathe to bring myself to pick it up again. So, I am giving up on it, which I don't like to do, but life is short and there are a ton of other books I'd rather be reading right now.

There were too many characters in this book and I couldn't give a damn about nearly every one of them. There was one I almost liked (the one that almost started a restaurant?), but she was kind of passive. I hated that there were so many points of view with so many names, but it didn't matter because they were all basically the same character rehashed over and over again. Just soulless, uninteresting rich people with stupid problems that they tried fixing with unenjoyable and forced sex.

The author tried really hard being clever and interesting with all of the slang and stuff, but that was the problem: she tried too hard and it was pathetic to read. She could be an excellent author, or editor, but she should start by making up people that might have growth potential or the ability to have mental catharsis.

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"My Lobotomy" Book Review

My Lobotomy by Howard Dully
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"At twelve, Howard Dully was guilty of the same crimes as other boys his age: he was moody and messy, rambunctious with his brothers, contrary just to prove a point, and perpetually at odds with his parents. Yet somehow, this normal boy became one of the youngest people on whom Dr. Walter Freeman performed his barbaric transorbital—or ice pick—lobotomy.

"Abandoned by his family within a year of the surgery, Howard spent his teen years in mental institutions, his twenties in jail, and his thirties in a bottle. It wasn’t until he was in his forties that Howard began to pull his life together. But even as he began to live the “normal” life he had been denied, Howard struggled with one question: Why?

“ 'October 8, 1960. I gather that Mrs. Dully is perpetually talking, admonishing, correcting, and getting worked up into a spasm, whereas her husband is impatient, explosive, rather brutal, won’t let the boy speak for himself, and calls him numbskull, dimwit, and other uncomplimentary names.'

"There were only three people who would know the truth: Freeman, the man who performed the procedure; Lou, his cold and demanding stepmother who brought Howard to the doctor’s attention; and his father, Rodney. Of the three, only Rodney, the man who hadn’t intervened on his son’s behalf, was still living. Time was running out. Stable and happy for the first time in decades, Howard began to search for answers.

“ 'December 3, 1960. Mr. and Mrs. Dully have apparently decided to have Howard operated on. I suggested [they] not tell Howard anything about it.'

"Through his research, Howard met other lobotomy patients and their families, talked with one of Freeman’s sons about his father’s controversial life’s work, and confronted Rodney about his complicity. And, in the archive where the doctor’s files are stored, he finally came face to face with the truth.

"Revealing what happened to a child no one—not his father, not the medical community, not the state—was willing to protect, My Lobotomy exposes a shameful chapter in the history of the treatment of mental illness. Yet, ultimately, this is a powerful and moving chronicle of the life of one man. Without reticence, Howard Dully shares the story of a painfully dysfunctional childhood, a misspent youth, his struggle to claim the life that was taken from him, and his redemption."

This was an inspiring and fascinating account of the medical community's atrocious practice and how it affected one man's life for over forty years. It is scary to think that this type of 'medicine' is used on children today for nefarious reasons. It really sucks that his stepmother was the evil stepmother seen in fairy tales, that his brothers were too skittish to talk to their own brother for years afterward, and that his own father wasn't man enough to admit that he was a terrible protector of his own flesh and blood. The whole community was at fault there. But at the end, he found his way to be happy in life and that is the part that counts, for him anyway. As for the rest of us, we need to make sure this type of stuff doesn't happen to the following generations of children. Seriously recommend this book! Also: Hilary Mantel's "Giving Up the Ghost: A Memoir" is very similar and a good read, though sad.

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"Diva" Book Review

Diva by Jillian Larkin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"Parties, bad boys, speakeasies—life in Manhattan has become a woozy blur for Clara Knowles. If Marcus Eastman truly loved her, how could he have fallen for another girl so quickly? Their romance mustn't have been as magical as Clara thought. And if she has to be unhappy, she's going to drag everyone else down to the depths of despair right along with her.

"Being a Barnard girl is the stuff of Lorraine Dyer's dreams. Finding out that Marcus is marrying a gold digger who may or may not be named Anastasia? A nightmare. The old Lorraine would have sat by and let the chips fall where they may, but she's grown up a lot these past few months. She can't bear to see Marcus lose a chance for true love. But will anyone listen to her?

"Now that the charges against her have been dropped, Gloria Carmody is spending the last dizzying days of summer on Long Island, yachting on the sound and palling around with socialites at Forrest Hamilton's swanky villa. Beneath her smile, though, Gloria's keeping a secret. One that could have deadly consequences . . ."

I really enjoyed this one. I liked how all of the strings were pulled together in the end.

*SPOILERS* Read at own risk:

Lorraine gets redeemed and a new reliable love of her own. Clara and Marcus get back together. Jerome and Gloria find each other at long last. The right people get arrested.

The only thing I didn't like, which is to be expected, was Ruby and Forrest. I liked them as characters, I liked their story, I liked how they referenced Gloria and Jay Gatsby from Fitzgerald's little literary classic. But I had been hoping for a different ending for those two characters in this story. I even loved them to an extent, but it was never meant to be.

But an otherwise wonderful ending to an excellent series. I hope for more from Ms. Larkin in the near future.


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"Neverland" Book Review

Neverland: J.M. Barrie, the Du Mauriers, and the Dark Side of Peter Pan by Piers Dudgeon
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

"In his revelatory Neverland, Piers Dudgeon tells the tragic story of J. M. Barrie and the Du Maurier family. Driven by a need to fill the vacuum left by sexual impotence, Barrie sought out George du Maurier, Daphne du Maurier 's grandfather (author of the famed Trilby), who specialized in hypnosis. Barrie 's fascination and obsession with the Du Maurier family is a shocking study of greed and psychological abuse, as we observe Barrie as he applies these lessons in mind control to captivate George 's daughter Sylvia, his son Gerald, as well as their children who became the inspiration for the Darling family in Barrie 's immortal Peter Pan. Barrie later altered Sylvia 's will after her death so that he could become the boys legal guardian, while pushing several members of the family to nervous breakdown and suicide. Barrie 's compulsion to dominate was so apparent to those around him that D. H. Lawrence once wrote: J. M Barrie has a fatal touch for those he loves. They die."

 This felt a bit like in the last book of the Harry Potter series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", where Rita Skeeter writes an unauthorized biography of Albus Dumbledore. Yeah, it felt just as disgusting as that while I read this book, except it was in real life.

It isn't exactly new to suggest writers have problematic lives: many are drunks or drug-addicts (Hunter Thompson, Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, Edgar Allan Poe, F. Scott Fitzgerald, etc.), many kill themselves (Hunter Thompson, Ernest Hemmingway, Virginia Woolf, John Berryman, Sylvia Plath, Jerzy Kosinski, Richard Brautigan, etc.), because they're loners and odd they usually face constant rejection in real life and even the literary world (Madeline L'Engle, C. S. Lewis, Margaret Mitchell, Rudyard Kipling, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dr. Suess, George Orwell, Stephen King, etc. I could probably go on forever.). Methinks they're going to have issues. Also, many don't feel comfortable with people their own age, they hang out with children, who are more accepting (Lewis Carroll, alias Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, J. K. Rowling, and Beatrix Potter). J. M. Barrie is among that last group.

While interesting, this book seems filled to the brim with answers to situations that were pulled together by stretching any facts that were found and using fictional works as honest sources to fill in the rest. It can be said that writers base their work on real life; you can go through the facts of their lives, piece together what they may have been feeling at the time, and then read their work as they supposed wrote them and see if a bit of themselves shine through the writing. But I doubt anyone should take the fictional work as fact. I hope this Dudgeon fellow never attempts a biography of Stephen King, Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman or Shakespeare, for that matter: he might try to convince readers that they had been to the world of fairies and haunted meat locker trains based solely on their writings.

While plausible, I doubt anyone will fully know what happened to Barrie's brother, David. The fact that the author of this book dares to insinuate that his death wasn't an accident, but seems to have been a premeditated murder on the part of Barrie so that his mother would love him more, seems like a stretch.

The author worked with Daphne du Maurier and seemed to have been a friend of hers. But the minute she wanted to keep something secret, he pounced on it, like a vulture. Now it seems that everyone and their dog has written a biography of Ms. du Mauriers, but this guy seems to have gone too far with his 'research' and assumptions. But, also, if this is how this guy treats his recently deceased friends, I hope to God I'm never one of them.

While there are a lot of tragic circumstances surrounding the du Mauriers and Mr. Barrie, I don't think he meant them to be unhappy, much less kill themselves. He kept watch over them and paid for their schooling after their parents died. That doesn't sound like an uncaring Svengali. I think he was an odd, little man who was very lonely. Tragedy happens and life sucks.

If the author had really wanted to state that the boys had had their lives drained from them, I find it odd that the Llewelyn Davies boys that killed themselves were either really young (Michael) where hormones were raging so feelings were muddled and confused as many psychologists would say and he was away from home and he had someone else doing it with him so as to ease the tension and fear and not go it alone, and the other one (Peter) waited until 23 years after Barrie's death to throw himself under a moving train. This theory just doesn't hold muster for me.

In the end, I couldn't finish this book. I got about a fourth of the way through the mire of this muckraker's 'biography'. Maybe some people find trashing a dead man's reputation fun and titillating, but I'm still of the opinion that you have to have actual source material instead of hearsay before you can be published.

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"I, Coriander" Book Review

I, Coriander by Sally Gardner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"In this exceptionally well-crafted tale, Coriander tells the story of her childhood in seventeenth-century London, and of her discovery that she has inherited magical powers from her mother, who was a fairy princess. But her mother's sudden death brings on a dark time for Coriander, and after mourning her beloved mother and dealing with the disappearance of her father and the wrath of her evil stepmother, Coriander finds herself locked in a chest with no hope of escape and no will to survive. But when a bright light beckons to her, it is then that Coriander's journey truly begins. Beautifully written, this magical and luminous story is destined to become a children's classic."

I found this book very enjoyable. It was also well-researched. I really liked the way Coriander narrated her story. That was really interesting.

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"The Midnight Palace" Book Review

The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"In the heart of Calcutta lurks a dark mystery. . . .

"Set in Calcutta in the 1930s, The Midnight Palace begins on a dark night when an English lieutenant fights to save newborn twins Ben and Sheere from an unthinkable threat. Despite monsoon-force rains and terrible danger lurking around every street corner, the young lieutenant manages to get them to safety, but not without losing his own life. . . .

"Years later, on the eve of Ben and Sheere’s sixteenth birthday, the mysterious threat reenters their lives. This time, it may be impossible to escape. With the help of their brave friends, the twins will have to take a stand against the terror that watches them in the shadows of the night—and face the most frightening creature in the history of the City of Palaces."

This was good, but "The Prince of Mist" was better as far as Mr. Carlos Ruiz Zafon's young adult fiction is concerned.

*SPOILERS* Read at your own discretion.

I feel as if the characters had different traits at each end of the book. Take for instance, Ian: in the beginning of the story he's regarded as a scared and wimpy person, the last person to take a risk "and therefore more likely to survive". But by the end of the book, he's the first to try to suck snake venom out of someone's arm, the one the group of friends (called the Chowdar Society) calls upon to talk to Ben, and the one who is trying to become a doctor, which is not for the weak of heart or stomach. And then the Aryami Bose character was the most cowardly of all. She's mentioned at the beginning of the book as this powerful sorcerous in the heart of the Black City part of Calcutta, but when it came time to prove her worth against this monster, she runs, leaving one twin all by himself at an orphanage.

Another problem I had, was when Jawahal wants to take over his own daughter's body to keep existing. "Your lips will be my lips." Ewwww. That whole part was very incestuous. And then in the beginning of the book, Ben is flirting with Sheere. I realize he didn't know that they were twins, but still kind of disturbing on the part of the author. About as bad as George Lucas, come to think of it.

I feel like some parts could have been explained better. Like the part about how Jawahal couldn't kill Ben outright and had to trick him into doing it. And why Jawahal was so powerful. He was like an insane ghost that attached itself to a machine???

Very confused. But I know this one is for kids. I still enjoyed it, just not as fond of it as his other work. Looking forward to more "Cemetery of Forgotten Books" stories and "The Watcher in the Shadows" which comes out in Spring 2013. It looks good!


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