Top Ten Tuesday

This is a neat weekly feature over at a blog I really enjoy, The Broke and the Bookish.  They read books similar to some that I've been reviewing, and they're fun and they write well.  Totally worth checking out!

Top Ten Characters I'd Want on a Deserted Island With Me

1. Anne from Anne of Green Gables.  I just know we'd be buds, and you'd definitely want some friends with you on the deserted island.

2. Stephanie Plum from Janet Evanovich's "Stephanie Plum" books.  She seems fun, and she knows her way around a stun gun.  She's tough, but also fun.

3. Hayduke from The Monkey Wrench Gang.  He's tough; he regularly goes out in the desert and survives on nothing but his hunting skills, canned beans, and beer.  And listening to him talk about conspiracy theories could be entertaining.

4. Velva Jean from Jennifer Niven's "Velva Jean" series.  She can sing, so that's entertainment, and she's tough.  She once survived being a spy in Nazi-occupied France.  Oh!  And she can fly planes.  So if by any chance we had access to a plane, we'd be able to get off the island.

5. Father Tim and Cynthia from Jan Karon's "Mitford" series.  This might be cheating a little, but these two really should automatically come as a pair.  They balance each other so well!  With Father Tim, we'd have a priest and counselor and with Cynthia we'd have a storyteller and positive spirit.

6. Bedlam from Elizabeth Corrigan's "Earthbound Angels" series.  He can "teleport" all over the world, so he'd be able to go fetch us food and supplies and whatnot.  And he's entertaining.

7. Perry from Veronica Rossi's "Under the Never Sky" trilogy.  He's used to living off the land, so he could help us hunt food and build shelter.  And he has super-heightened senses that could come in handy if we needed to keep watch for passing ships or planes to signal for help.

8. Josh Hanagarne from The World's Strongest Librarian.  This one is a slight "cheat" also, as this is a nonfiction autobiography.  But I still want Josh on the island.  He's nearly 7' tall and a body builder and a fellow redhead and he loves literature like I do.  So he can help with all the heavy lifting (literally!) and I bet he squirreled away some books on the island.

9. Vianne from Joanne Harris' Chocolat.  Because we will need someone to make chocolate.

10. Last but not least, Zuzana from Laini Taylor's "Daughter of Smoke and Bone" trilogy, just for entertainment and positive attitude.  

Looking back over my list I see a strong trend toward character who I would find entertaining.  So if you want to come on my desert island vacay with me, you better bring talent to the table!  lol  Who would you bring with you?

Requiem by Lauren Oliver | Audiobook Review

(Cover: ugh.  Not as bad as Pandemonium, but worse than Delirium.  Lena spends pretty much this entire book filthy dirty living out in the woods.  So when did she get her hair all silky and her eyebrows all plucked?  Why is she doing sexy in the woods?  There's a revolution on, people!)

So I finally finished this yesterday, praise God.  GROOOOAAAANNNNN  What a long and difficult book to listen to.  I'm considering reading the book in physical form to give it another chance.  It was the narration.  I'm trying to think back to the narration of Pandemonium but I can't remember it much.  It was the same person, but I don't remember it grating my nerves like this.   Here's the problem:  Every.  Word.  Was.  Emphasized.  To The.  MAX.  For.  The.  ENTIRE.  BOOK.  The narrator made it seem like Lena lived two months of her life at a constant state of near panic/heart ache.  All the time.  Even if she was just discussing foraging or scouting with her group, it was a level of ferocity that put me off.

I gave myself overnight to cool down a little and gather my thoughts and I think that the book itself was decently well-done.  And it had a pretty good ending for a trilogy-ending book.  And I liked the set-up.  Hence the reason I'm considering picking up a physical copy to try again on.

Requiem is told in alternating chapters between Lena and Hana, which was a smart move on Lauren Oliver's part.  This way we still get all the main character's action outside the city, in the Wilds, but we also get to know what's going on inside the city, where Hana is.  Through Lena we see the atrocities foist upon the Invalids--the horrible conditions inside the Crypts where prisoners are kept and the hardscrabble subsistence of the people living in the Wilds.  As the government forces more Invalids out of the cities, things become denser and tenser in the Wilds, leading to fights and theft.  And through Hana we see the realities of life inside the city:  only a very few are privileged enough to have electricity 24 hours a day and many people are living on severe food rations.  There's now a solid concrete wall around the city, so the residents can't enjoy seeing the water or the trees anymore.  

I am glad that I stuck through this to the end.  I liked the way in which the author brought the girls together one last time.  It was very natural and felt right.  I wanted to cheer at the ending.  It's not perfect; there aren't happily-ever-afters handed out to each and every character; but it's right.  It's a good ending.  I know I'll continue to recommend Delirium for a while yet, but I'm not sure I'll really push Pandemonium and Requiem.  Still, I don't consider my time "wasted" for having read them.

Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Team Tynga's Reviews.  You can find their blog here:  www.tyngasreviews.com.  This weekly meme, which Tynga's team posts on Saturdays, is all about sharing the books that you received or purchased over the previous week.  Feel free to leave a comment with a link to your own Stack!  This week my stack is tiny; I'm trying to cut back on how many books I order through NetGalley and the library as I catch up my TBR pile!

Library
(Who doesn't love free books?  Go use your library!)

Drink the Harvest: Making and Preserving Juices, Wines, Meads, Teas, and Ciders by Nan K. Chase with DeNeice C. Guest--have already read this one and written the review, so look for that very soon!  I loved the book.

The Best Homemade Kids' Lunches on the Planet: Make Lunches Your Kids Will Love With More Than 200 Deliciously Nutritious Meal Ideas by Laura Fuentes

The Book of Not So Common Prayer: A New Way to Pray, a New Way to Live by Linda McCullough Moore--love love love the cover!

Book Art: Creative Ideas to Transform Your Books-Decorations, Stationary, Display Scenes, and More by Claire Youngs | Book Review

I can never resist checking out book art books whenever I come across them!  My job is to provide lots of programs for teens in a library, and I love doing book art with them.  Also, I love doing book art in my own home-I'm just nerdy like that.  And what else are you going to do with all the books you weed from work or home libraries?*

Book Art contained tons of great craft ideas, and almost all of them use a pretty short and standard list of supplies, like a craft knife and tracing paper and glue sticks.  I love when there's not a lot of front-end investment in crafting!  The author does a great job with the instructions for the various projects--they're not overly long or complicated, and very clear.  And she provides templates in the back for all of the projects!  

Doesn't the little street scene on the front cover of the book look gorgeous?  I might try something like that at Christmas time.  Could you picture a few books with street scenes cut out of them lined up on the mantel over the fireplace, with a little faux snow underneath?

But right now it's the middle of summer, so the first project I attempted were the greeting cards.  They're a combination of drawing/design and cut-out, and I must say I'm really pleased with the result.  Here's a picture of two of my greeting cards:

I made 14 cards over the course of three days!  I'm going to give a set of 12 to someone for a gift.  Not pictured: a snail design with a flower cut-out.  I used all different brightly colored cardstock for the cards.

I give this book 5 of 5 stars.  It's got easily approachable projects and read well and had lots of photographs.

*Actually, there's lots to do with weeded books.  Writing projects, like black-out or ransom note poetry.  Upcycling, like discussed in this review.  Sell them, if they're in good condition, to a local used-book store.  Donate them, again-if they're in good condition, to your local library or school.  Have a book giveaway on your book review blog.  Recycle them, if they're in poor condition.  Give them away.  Or use them for BookCrossing.com funtivities.  Did I forget any?  Please comment and let me know!

*I received my copy of Book Art from my public library.

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver | Audiobook Review

(Nope.  Not digging this cover.)

Throwback Review!

I originally listened to Pandemonium in June 2013... so just over a year ago.  I ended up giving it 4 of 5 stars on Goodreads, but I didn't write a review and I really can't remember why I gave it so many stars.  My lasting impression a year later is that I didn't care very much for this book.  I think if I were rating it now I'd give it 3 of 5 stars.  It's not the world's worst book by any stretch, but I did some struggles.  Maybe I gave it 4 stars out of peer pressure?  This whole trilogy was just completely blowing up the YA book blogosphere at the time.  And yeah, I can see a lot a lot of teen girls loving these books.  So that's probably it.

The first issue was completely my fault:  There were six months and dozens of books between finishing Delirium and starting Pandemonium and I didn't go back and reread the last chapter or read any book reviews of Delirium before I started.  Turns out there were a few details I wasn't clear enough on before we started.

The next issue:  in the audiobook you can't see differences in type to have any kind of visual clue as to who is talking when.  In Pandemonium the chapters alternate between being in the here-and-now and being in the not-so-distant past.  Yes, the narrator would announce chapter headings.  But I listened to this during my work commute.  I can't sit in my car and listen to books until it's conveniently between chapters!  I have to turn off my car now and go into work and just hope that 8 hours later I'll remember which time period we're in.

The next issue:  I don't know if it was the narrator's style of reading or the way the character was written, but I started to not really like Lena much anymore.  She's this weird mix of whiny and naive and adventurous.  

The last issue:  This is an in-between book.  It has an abrupt beginning and a cliffhanger ending.  This doesn't have to be, ya'll.  Go read Victoria Schwab's Archived books.  Or Elizabeth Wein's Code Name Verity and Rose Under Fire books.  They have great beginnings, middles, and ends all on their own.  

I'm not going to say that this book isn't worth reading, but I would like to encourage you to read a physical book or ebook version of it so that you can see the type and see the time period changes.  And you'll definitely need to read it if you intend to go on to read Requiem.

The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book by Peter Finn with Petra Couvee | Book Review

(Love love love this cover design!  Conveys the espionage feeling perfectly.)

What a fantastic and fascinating read! It blew my mind. I am so fortunate to live in a time and place where anyone can write anything they like. From the little reviews I write here to the great American novels to.... Fifty Shades. Ha, ha, ha. It all has an equal chance at publication and sale!

The title says it all, with the intrigue and all: The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book. Not only was Doctor Zhivago banned by the USSR, but Boris Pasternak and his family were threatened, followed by KGB agents, and ostracized. Some could almost say that the KGB killed Pasternak: because he was expelled from the writers' union, he couldn't work. He was very cash-strapped at the end. He couldn't go to the hospital, because he was "non-party." (Their words.) But he did not die alone. The CIA made sure that the world knew of him, and of his novel. Millions of copies were sold in the Western world. Hundreds of thousands of copies were covertly smuggled into and distributed throughout the Eastern bloc and Russia.

How cool is that? So many independent groups and people all working together to try to achieve recognition for Pasternak. He was even awarded the Nobel Prize, but the KGB forced him to decline. How sad is that?!?

Reasons I loved this book: for an adult history nonfiction book, it was really readable. Not too dense, but didn't skimp on details either. The author's prose was spot-on. No paragraph-length sentences. Also: the balance between biography and history. This book has a great balance throughout the book and within individual chapters between telling the reader about Pasternak and his life and family, and the CIA/Kremlin activities. I like that personal touch; I like knowing how particular government actions affected him and his loved ones. I really felt for him.


I'm going to sum up with a blurb from the back of the book, because I agree with it: "With groundbreaking reporting and character-rich storytelling, Peter Finn and Petra Couvee uncover the high-stakes drama behind one of the Cold War's strangest turning points. Passionately written and acutely aware of the historical context, The Zhivago Affair almost makes one nostalgic for a time when novels were so important that even the CIA cared about them." ~Ken Kalfus

Top Ten Tuesday

This is a neat weekly feature over at a blog I really enjoy, The Broke and the Bookish.  They read books similar to some that I've been reviewing, and they're fun and they write well.  Totally worth checking out!

Top Ten Favorite Movies & TV Shows

1. The Big Lebowski--This is actually hubby's all-time favorite movie, and we watch it about every 5-6 weeks.  It's become a favorite of mine, too, because I love him (hubby).

2. The History of Future Folk--we LOVE LOVE LOVE this movie!  You MUST go watch it!  That's an imperative.  It's an indie flick; a hidden gem of cinema.

3. BBC's Top Gear-must differentiate!  We tried the American one and just couldn't get into it.  But we love the British one!  We've already watched everything Netflix has, and we're on a re-watch.

4. The Walking Dead-We only "discovered" this one two weeks ago and we've already watched everything Netflix has to offer!

5. Dexter-We love this one too!  What does it say about us that I have two violent TV shows on my list?

6. Pretty Little Liars--this one is just me.  The hubby won't touch it with a 10' pole.  But I watch it while I work out or while I cook.  I'm fascinated by the train wreck, I guess.

7. Battlestar Galactica-I didn't expect to like this one, and I did!  So the surprise in that made it even better.  And now I walk around using "frak" as a mild expletive.

8. White Collar--This was a recommendation from my sister-in-love and we love it.  Art, heists, history, NYC...

9. Burn Notice-I want to be Fiona.  She's awesome.

10. Lilyhammer-I love stuff about the mob.