Love, Ruby Lavender by Deborah Wiles | Audiobook Review

(The cover has a redhead reading a letter on a porch with a dictionary at her feet.  How could I not pick this up?)

This book in one (made up) word:  heartmelting.  (That's one joyous moment past heartwarming.)

This was a perfect summer read!  The story takes place over the course of one summer, and it's a light little Juv book, so I didn't have to concentrate hard on it.  

Nine year old Ruby Lavender is best friends with her grandmother, Miss Eula.  They write letters to each other nearly every day, and leave them in a knot in an oak tree.  Ruby Lavender spends her days hanging out at her grandmother's store, where her great aunt also works, or with her mom.  The book grabbed me right from the start!  The opening scene has Ruby Lavender "liberating" some chickens from a nearby egg farm with her grandmother.  Suddenly though, Ruby Lavender finds her routine upset:  Miss Eula is going to be spending the summer in Hawaii with her son, daughter-in-law, and their brand new baby.  As the summer unfolds, the reader hears all about Hallelujah, Mississippi through letters that Ruby Lavender sends to her grandma.

Good garden of peas!  Hallelujah, Mississippi could be Mitford, North Carolina!  ("Good garden of peas!" is the exclamatory used by Ruby Lavender and her grandmother.  I love it, and am considering adopting it myself.)  So this is totally unorthodox, but I would definitely say that At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon (an adult fiction) would be a readalike.

As I began listening to this gem, I found many scenarios to laugh along with.  As the book unfolded, I discovered a great depth to the story.  Slightly sobering, but not too heavy, the underlying plot surrounding Ruby Lavender's relationship to her grandmother, and one of the reasons that Miss Eula is traveling to Hawaii for the summer, is a bit more serious than one would initially assume.  

The writing in Love, Ruby Lavender is superb.  Mostly epistolary, with a bit of narrative thrown in to fill in the blanks, the reader really gets to know Ruby Lavender.  And if you're anything like me, you'll fall head over heels for this spunky redhead.

A note on narration (since I listened to this on CD):  the accent seemed just a tad overdone, but the pacing is good, as is the regularity of volume.  I see in other reviews that there is artwork in the book, which I missed seeing.  So I would maybe recommend this as a print or ebook rather than audio.

*I checked out my copy of Love, Ruby Lavender from my local library.

The Twistrose Key by Tone Almhjell | Book Review

(Gorgeous cover!)

Today I'm over at Tynga's Reviews, falling to pieces over how absolutely perfect this book was.  Click over to read my hopefully-not-incoherent review!

*I received my copy of The Twistrose Key from the publisher in exchange for my fair and honest review.  Thank you!

The New Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook: 150 Fresh Ideas for America's Favorite Pan by Ellen Brown | Cookbook Review

First impressions:

The author has serious cred:  founding food editor of USA Today in 1982, author of 40 cookbooks, current writer of a food column for Providence Journal.

Learned in prologue that cooking in a cast iron skillet is actually healthy for you!  Little bits of iron can leach into your food, and everyone needs a little iron in their diet.  Many people are anemic.  And it's good for pregnant ladies.

Food will stay warmer (and safer) longer when served in a cast iron skillet.

Learned in the introduction details on how to season a skillet for the first time, how to maintain the seasoning, and how to strip worn-down seasoning to start fresh.

About 4 pages on how to cook the perfect steak in a cast iron skillet.

Not every recipe pictured.  Bummer.

Clear instructions, not a lot of out-of-the-ordinary ingredients, margin notes on helpful tips and tricks for the various recipes, including how to store leftovers.

Chicken With Garlic and Lemon: 2 thumbs up! Yum!

Southern Cornbread:  Delicious, of course, but too unhealthy to make regularly.  (Contains all-purpose flour, sugar, AND can creamed corn.)

Oven-Roasted Ratatouille:  Delicious and colorful, but it calls for a slightly larger cast-iron skillet than I own, and it doesn't half neatly.

Pear and Gingerbread Upside-Down Cake:  Delicious!  And pretty.  Took to parents-in-law's house for Sunday dinner, and they gave it two thumbs up.

Peach and Blueberry Crumble:  Another delicious dessert!  And not difficult.  And it contains fruit, so I feel practically healthy eating it (with a scoop of vanilla ice cream).  Unfortunately, it contains too many ingredients that we don't keep on hand, like brown sugar, so I might not make it again.

*I checked out my copy of The New Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook from my local library.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a fun meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  For more information, or to join the fun yourself, check out their blog!

Top Ten Characters Who are Fellow Book Nerds

1. Anne Shirley, of Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery.

2. Father Tim Kavanaugh, Cynthia Kavananaugh, and Hope Winchester, of the Mitford books by Jan Karon.

3. Madelyn Summers, of The Summer I Became a Nerd by Leah Rae Miller.

4. Hermione Granger, of the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling.

5. Celaena Sardothian, of Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas.

6. Sarah Grimke, of The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd.

7. Jane Hayes, of Austenland by Shannon Hale.

8. The Andreas sisters, of The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown.

9. Peter Byerly, of The Bookman's Tale by Charlie Lovett.

10. All the characters in The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows.

What about you?  What book-loving characters made your list?  I love visiting other TTTs; leave a link and I'll certainly stop by!

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer | Audiobook Review

(This cover design doesn't really make sense to me.  The cover to my audiobook, however, featured party balloons and streamers.  That makes sense.)

Today I'm over at Tynga's Reviews, talking about how I'm continuing to be pleasantly surprised with how good this series is!

*I checked out New Moon from my local library.

Letter to a Future Lover: Marginalia, Errata, Secrets, Inscriptions, and Other Ephemera Found in Libraries by Ander Monson | Book Review

(Isn't that a pretty cover ?  However, when you look at it much more closely, you notice that the marks don't mean anything.  It's not like you read the uncovered letters to get a different message.  Just random marks on a page.)

Letter to a Future Lover's cover promises marginalia, errata, secrets, inscriptions, and ephemera found in libraries.  I was totally expecting funny stories from librarians across the nation about the oddball things left in library books.  I've even heard tell that someone in my own library system found an honest-to-goodness cooked piece of bacon pressed in a library book.  Bacon.  As a bookmark.  Maybe it's urban legend, but that's the type of stuff I was expecting.

Instead, Letter to a Future Lover is a collection of essays by Ander Monson, each inspired by something that he found in a library somewhere.  Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention, but I don't think the premise was explained at the beginning of the book.  It is, however, explained at the end:  the author spent time visiting libraries, and he'd find some odd book or quote or periodical and would write an essay on a 6"x9" card and leave the essay in the book.  So he was, in effect, creating ephemera himself.

This might be an interesting premise, except that each essay was very personal to the author's experiences and style of writing.  Many of the essays had me shaking my head and wondering what the point was.  For example, there's an essay about an errata card that he found in a book.  I also think errata cards are interesting.  But then, randomly, there's a paragraph and a half (out of only six paragraphs total) on Saran Wrap.  I also enjoy "fun facts," so I might have enjoyed learning that Saran Wrap was originally developed for military use, except that I really wanted to learn about errata.

And this is not the only time this happens.  Take this paragraph from an essay about a book with worn binding, and pages falling free:  "The smell of milling barley comes from somewhere--not from here:  we don't grow it here, I'm sure--so from memory, maybe, a new grain dream like the sort I've been having on my low-carb, wheat-free "Primal Blueprint" diet in which I have increasingly come to want to be chain-fucked by varieties of Doritos I haven't ever seen before on earth:  Cheesegasm; Doppler Rush; Tastes Like Stacy, Maybe; Sudden Memory Extreme; Everything Will Now Taste Bland All Week; Evanescent Orange; Molesting Double Gloucester; Defibrillator for Your Cheating Heart; Recombination of Already Existing Flavors; Leftover Whatever; Extreme Squeal; Taco Chump/Champion; the American South; So Much for Your Mouth.  You know the kind.  It's new.  It's Huge.  It pairs--not well--with wine."  -"Dear Maggie, Unbinding"

I do apologize; I don't enjoy writing entirely downer reviews, but this book just takes the cake!  I really was trying hard to find some positives to balance the negatives until I got to this line in the second-to-last essay:

"It's true I stole this page from special collections."

Be still, my librarian heart.  *takes deep calming breaths*

*I checked out my copy of Letter to a Future Lover from my local library.  Then I returned it, without adding marginalia or ephemera, or stealing part or all of the book.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a fun meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  For more information, or to join the fun yourself, check out their blog!

Top Ten Fifteen Books That Celebrate Diversity With Diverse Characters

These are the top fifteen books that I've read that have a diverse character, in no particular order.  The diverse character might be the main character, or maybe a strong secondary character.  Diversity comes in many shapes.

1. The Micheal Vey books by Richard Paul Evans:  the main character, Micheal Vey, has Turrets.  He also has the ability to control and channel and produce electricity and uses that power to save the world, repeatedly.

2. She is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick:  the main character, Laureth, is blind.  Completely.  But she also travels from England to the US to save her dad.

3. Laughing at My Nightmare by Shane Burcaw.  Does this count?  It's a memoir, not fiction, but the guy writing it is a teen with spinal muscular atrophy.  He's also got a fantastic sense of humor.

4. Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina:  not only are the main characters Latinas, the book also addresses bullying.  Fantastic and engaging writing too!

5. 45 Pounds (More or Less) by K.A. Barson:  main character is overweight, and struggling with that.  Bonus points for making her so darn likable, for showing healthy diet/lifestyle changes, and for showing the equally negative opposite to overweightness:  anorexia.

6. Al Capone books by Gennifer Choldenko:  the main character's sister is living with autism, and she plays a part in the plot of all three books.  And it's 1930s group of kids living on Alcatraz Island while their parents work in the prison.  I was hooked from the start!

7. Hemingway's Girl by Erika Robuck:  the main character is a mulatto.  And a secondary character is the famous (infamous?) author Ernest Hemingway, who I love.

8. Red by Allison Cherry:  a vast majority of the characters in this book are redheads, and only about 2% of the world's population is redheaded.  We're like rare sparkly unicorns, yo.

9. The Secret Life of Bees and The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd:  both feature main characters of color.  Bonus points for POC characters in historic fiction, and then making them strong and admirable women.  (The books are both standalone, but I had to put them together in order to avoid exceeding ten books on my list!)

10. The Running Dream by Wendelin van Draanen:  the main character is an amputee.  She is also a track star and then marathoner and a caring friend.

11. Wonder by R.J. Palacio:  the main character has an undefined facial deformity.  This little J book nearly had me in tears.  I would hedge a bet that this gem ends up on lots of TTT lists this week.

12. The False Prince (and it's sequels) by Jennifer A. Nielsen; Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson and Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery; The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens; the WondLa books by Tony DiTerlizzi:  all feature plucky orphaned main characters.

13. The Butterfly Clues by Kate Ellison:  the main character has OCD and hoarding tendencies, and also a big heart.

14. Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper: the main character has a disability that greatly restricts her ability to move or communicate, and she's also super smart.  A very heartwarming J book.

15. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie:  the main character has hydrocephaly, causing his head to be larger than the norm.  Bonus points:  he's the only Native American at his school.  Bonus bonus points:  he's got a fantastic dry sense of humor.  Bonus bonus bonus points:  the audiobook is narrated by the author himself, and it's top notch.

And I know I'm missing some, but I've got to stop myself while I've only got 15 and not 50 on my list!  I love seeing others' lists too; leave your link and I'll be sure to visit!

The Big Book of Sides: More Than 450 Recipes for the Best Vegetables, Grains, Salads, Breads, Sauces, and More by Rick Rodgers | Book Review

This cookbook, as the subtitle states, is CHOCK FULL of recipes.  Over 450!  So I found quite a few to try.

The good:  most recipes called for 10 or less ingredients.  I don't want to sink a lot of time & money into sides, and this cookbook fit that profile.  Also, each recipe has a few sentences about the provenance and what dishes it might pair well with, whether or not it can be prepped ahead of time, and also how long it should expect to keep in the fridge as leftovers.  Also, the author does a lot of holiday/special occasion catering (according to his short bio in the front of the book), so he offers sample menus for major events like Christmas or New Years at the beginning.

The downers:  a few of the recipes called for ingredients I don't usually stock in my pantry, like anchovy paste.  But hey- it could be me.  Maybe I should be stocking anchovy paste.  And it was only about 10-15%, not a majority.  Also, a major deficit in pictures.  While my food never looks as awesome as the pictures in cookbooks, I like to have something to aim for!  This cookbook only has a select few of the recipes photographed, and all the photographs are concentrated in two glossy sections near the middle of the book.  Last little downside:  the book is quite thick, with standard blinding.  So it doesn't want to lay open flatly unless you break the spine.  I checked out my copy from the library, so I wasn't about to go breaking the spine!  For a small charge, FedEx will turn any standard binding into a spiral binding, so this isn't a make-or-break factor (for me).

Here are some of the recipes I tried:

Boiled Corn with BBQ Butter:  Super easy and super delicious.

Sweet Potato & Pecan Dinner Rolls:  Super labor intensive and super super super delicious.  I think the hubby ate 4 in a day.

Jalapeno, Bacon, and Corn Muffins:  Delicious, not too hard, BACON.

Couscous With Garbanzos and Herbs:  Delicious and easy.

Irish Soda Bread:  Ok.  Pretty easy.  Too dense for our taste.

Green Beans With Hot-and-Sweet Almonds:  Delicious, not too hard, DEFINITELY making again!

Broccoli With Easy Lemon-Butter Sauce:  Easy & tasty- my sorta-picky hubby enjoyed it.

Whole Wheat, Cheddar, and Sage Drop Biscuits:  Easy, delicious, will make again.  However, recipe calls for a mixture of all-purpose and whole-wheat flours; I subbed in whole-wheat for the all-purpose.  Still worked, but was maybe a little denser.

Tomato-Stuffed Bell Peppers:  Tasty, but the level of enjoyment didn't match the level of prep time.  Could be a good "impress" piece.

Sauteed Mushrooms With Garlic and Rosemary:  Loved it!  As did the hubby.  Came together quickly, too.  I used the optional tbsp of butter and the sauce was approaching decadent; prob would leave it out in the future and let the mushrooms "speak" for themselves.

Boiled Baby Potatoes With Green Beans and Pesto:  Delicious & not very labor intensive, but we're trying to only eat "real" food, and pre-prepared pesto has additives.  Also expensive.  And I don't have enough recipes calling for pesto to justify the time & energy to make it myself.

Tomato, Grilled Corn, and Basil Salad:  Delicious and perfect for summer.

Sweet Potato and Pear Casserole With Bourbon, Bacon, and Maple Syrup:  Pretty labor-intensive, but so worth it.  Absolutely delicious!  But what recipe containing bacon isn't?  Hubby doesn't care for cooked fruit, but he ate the sweet potato part with gusto.

Italian Rice, Cherry Tomato, and Basil Salad:  Simple and delicious; cold salad, so perfect for summer.

Overall, I'm wavering around 4 out of 5 stars on this cookbook.  Especially since I was able to look at it for free through my library.

*I checked out my copy of The Big Book of Sides from my local library.

Stacking the Shelves

Today I'm over at Tynga's Reviews, stacking the shelves!  Click on the picture above to see what books I brought home in the last two weeks, and to join in the fun yourself!

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel | Book Review

(This is the cover of my copy; I like it much better than the "updated" movie tie-in cover.)

Like Water for Chocolate is primarily a family saga.  The novel tells the stories of the de Garda ladies:  their relationships with each other and their family history and their family recipes.  Beyond that, it's also the tale of love found and lost and found again.  Above all else, it's the story of Tita de Garda, one of the strongest female protagonists I've come across in a while.

As the cover states, Like Water for Chocolate is a story told in monthly installments with recipes.  There are twelve chapters, one for each month of the year, and each starts as a recipe.  The ingredients are given, and then the author begins to tell of the preparation, and the story spins out from there.  As we all know, food features quite prominently in North American traditions.  We cook and eat not only to live, but also to physically nurture those who we love.  We eat at celebrations such as weddings and baptisms.  We eat at more grave family gatherings such as funerals.  We associate certain people with the smells of their signature dishes.  It was pure genius for Laura Esquivel to intertwine the family's stories with their food.

Right from the start of the story, the magical realism is evident.  There is a liberty taken in describing certain events, but not enough of a liberty to make one believe in the actual existence of fantasy-level magic.  For instance, Tita is described as having been born on the kitchen table.  Her mother was crying so hard chopping onions that it brought on the labor and before anyone could do anything, Tita slipped right out onto the kitchen table, crying herself.  We all know that babies don't simply "slip out" onto tables, but it totally works in the story.

Not only is the story told interlaced with recipes and magical realism, the prose also has an almost poetic cadence to it.  It was very fluid slipping from sentence to sentence and page to page.  If it hadn't been broken into months, I might have read through the whole book in one sitting without noticing!

I also loved Tita:  she drew the short stick in life, but she doesn't give up.  She's angry and sad, but continues to try to please those around her.  She realizes that there is still life to be lived, but she doesn't ignore or invalidate her feelings; she embraces them and moves forward instead of getting mired down in them.  I'm sure I'm not alone in cheering for Tita throughout the book!

Set in the Mexican countryside with very 3D characters, this novel-with-recipes is definitely a good read.

*I own my copy of Like Water for Chocolate.

The Golem's Eye by Jonathan Stroud | Audiobook Review

(A very dark cover, eh?)

Today I'm over at Tynga's Reviews, talking about all my thoughs on The Golem's Eye, including whether it's J or YA.  See you there!

*I checked out my copy of The Golem's Eye from my local library.

Dear Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese American Incarceration During World War II and a Librarian Who Made a Difference by Joanne Oppenheimer | Book Review

(Love this cover!  So many great little details on it, without being overwhelming; perfectly put together!)

As the subtitle states, Dear Miss Breed is the story of one San Diego children's librarian who went the extra mile (and beyond!) to serve young people incarcerated in the Japanese American incarceration camps during WWII.  Clara Breed was young herself, very newly graduated from the Masters of Library and Information Science program when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred.  As the only children's librarian in her county, and stationed at a branch in the primarily Japanese neighborhood of San Diego, she had many interactions with Japanese American youth.  When the executive orders starting coming in to move Japanese Americans into the camps, she was just as heartbroken to see "her children" go as they were to go.  Her first grand act of service to them was to visit the train station from which they were departing, handing out pre-addressed post cards and candy and wishing them all well.  Thanks to her quick thinking, the children were able to write to Clara and let her know where they were and how to mail them things and how they were doing.  She in turn was able to send them books and little surprises.

I don't know about you, but I don't remember learning much about the Japanese American incarceration camps in school.  It wasn't ignored or glossed over, but we definitely didn't linger on the subject.  I had no idea the scope!  Reading in this book about the sheer number of Japanese and Japanese Americans incarcerated was mind-blowing.  Also, the timeline.  Maybe I just wasn't paying attention in school, but I don't remember learning that most of these people spent two or more years in the camps.  They had very little or no information about the future when they were ordered to evacuate, so most sold their entire life's collection of belongings and property.  When they were released finally, they were released with $25.  That's it!  To rebuild their lives!  And for those 2+ years, most of the women and children were incarcerated in separate camps from the male heads of household.  This is just the tip of the iceberg of information contained in this relatively slender tome.

Dear Miss Breed is laid out in such a way that excerpts from actual letters written to Miss Breed from the children are interspersed among passages with information on the events referenced, pictures of the children and the camps, and excerpts from testimony given at a Congressional hearing in 1981.  This makes it very readable; the reader is never bogged down in long passages.  And everything is laid out in consecutive order, supporting each other, making it very clear and easy to follow the progression of events.  I never found it difficult to pick the book back up after putting it down for the night.

The linking of historical events with personal interest stories makes this a very approachable nonfiction.  The "characters" leap off the page and into your hearts.  A book that I can definitely see recommending, especially with the institution of Common Core in my state (NC).

*I checked out my copy of Dear Miss Breed from my local library.  How appropriate!

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a fun meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  For more information, or to join the fun yourself, check out their blog!

Last Ten Books That Came Into My Possession

Listed in no particular order (because I can't remember which came before which)!

1. The Wrath & the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh--purchased--she came and spoke at my library and I got so excited about her book, hearing her talk about it.  So I bought a copy then & there & got it autographed!  Haven't read it yet.

2. The Fireflies Book by Brett Ortler--gift--I went camping with my family and some family friends in June to see a cool firefly event in the Great Smoky Mountains.  Books with further info are my fave souvenirs.  I might be an adult, but I don't turn down souvenir gifts from my fam!  Haven't read it yet.

3. Mug Meals by Dina Cheney--library--got this one not only for myself, but also for potential inspiration for programs for teen programs at the library.  Haven't read it yet.

4. Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton--library--it's my church's book club reading for July.  If I go, the discussion is this evening.  I'm writing this post on Sat. night, and I still haven't started the book so... might not happen.

5. The Nightingale by Kristen Higgins--library--as you know, I'm doing the PopSugar Reading Challenge.  My SIL recommended this as a potential for "book that made you cry."  We'll see!  Haven't read it yet.

6. Red: A History of the Redhead by Jacky Collis Harvey--library--don't need to explain this one, do I?  :)  Haven't read it yet.

7. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer--library--got this one on CD for the commute, and I just started it this weekend.  I really enjoyed the narration on the first book in the series, despite a few plot points making me feel squeevy, so I'm surprisingly looking forward to this one.

8. Daughter of Deep Silence by Carrie Ryan--library--Carrie Ryan was at the same author event with Renee Ahdieh, and I want to try her book too!  Haven't read it yet, though.

9. Nimona by Noelle Stevenson--library--a coworker highly recommended this one, and one of the front cover characters is a redhead!  Haven't read it yet.  Shameful; I also have Lumberjanes still sitting by my chair waiting to be read too.

10. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era by James McPherson--bought by hubby--I totally "count" books the hubby buys because I end up reading them too!  I do let him read them first, though, so I haven't started this yet.

What about you?  What were the last ten books you brought into your home?  I love seeing everyone's lists; leave a link and I'll be sure to visit!