tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10323082521233192472024-03-13T07:43:58.118-05:00Bookish HabitsCathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comBlogger137125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-57217035155484587922014-09-04T22:43:00.000-05:002014-09-04T22:43:15.056-05:00Whiskey Tango Foxtrot by David Shafer: Read This If<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Whiskey Tango Foxtrot</i> by David Shafer is an audacious but
ultimately successful worst-case-scenario novel a la The Circle - though
darker and funnier and more complex. It's really not genre-able, but it
is a great deal of fun. Techno-dystopia-lite? Ish? It <i>is</i> a book that lives up to its title. <br />
<br />
We've
got corporate conspiracies at the highest level; global corruption;
awkward 30-somethings, each lost in their own way; secret rebel groups
with crazy protocols; government infiltration; and, of course, unlikely
heroes. Also: no one seemed to have chosen the moniker Lee K. Bottoms. Or Claire Voyant. Maybe in the sequel? <br />
<br />
I think I'm having trouble writing about this one because I'm afraid to give anything away. I <i>really</i> want to write about the end, but that would just be cruel, wouldn't it? It also reminded me somehow of <i>Infinite Jest</i>, at least the first 300 pages, which is all I managed to read before wandering off into another novel. It might have been all the addiction stuff. <br />
<br />
Either way, you should make this your next read. Or, well, read this if:<br />
<ul>
<li>You're looking for a novel that is both character and plot driven. </li>
<li>You like fiction that can't be easily classified. </li>
<li>You don't entirely trust all this information "sharing" and wonder how it might play out. </li>
<li>You like wordy, evenly paced thrillers. </li>
<li>You've had "Airstream Driver" stuck in your head lately. </li>
<li>And really, you can't go wrong with a title like <i>Whiskey Tango Foxtrot</i>. Can you? </li>
</ul>
Don't ready this if:<br />
<ul>
<li>You are absolutely no fun. </li>
<li>You fully trust every site and technology to which you "give" your information. Wait, scratch that. That's a reason <i>to</i> read this.</li>
<li>You believe the government/aliens/they/the bats is/are out to get you. This will only fuel that fire.</li>
<li>You
are looking for a very fast, very easy read. This one's complicated -
you should probably pay attention or you'll be easily lost.</li>
<li>You need everything explained to you fully, and all threads tied together neatly at the end, which is not open-ended.</li>
</ul>
<br />
*Thanks
to Netgalley and Mulholland Books for my ebook copy, though I also
enjoyed the audio. And the physical copy I checked out of the library.
Apparently I need to read in all formats. Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-47526885050806504462014-08-11T09:52:00.000-05:002014-08-11T09:52:14.729-05:00The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith: Read This If<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There is no doubt about it: <i>The Cuckoo's Calling</i> by Robert Galbraith, AKA JK Rowling, is a tightly written piece of detective fiction. While lengthy, the tone and pace were just right to keep me engaged. I did switch back between the text and the audio versions - on that note, the narrator, Robert Glenister, is fantastic.<br />
<br />
Cormoran Strike is your typical disillusioned detective in many ways - he's gruff, smart, down-on-his-luck, and walks just this side of the moral line. But he's also a one-legged, giant veteran, unhealthy and as such not terribly attractive. His accidental side-kick, Robin, is your typical 25-year old beautiful smart blonde. Not classically beautiful, but girl-next-door pretty. She comes complete with a jealous fiance. (I may have felt something more could have been done to make her character interesting, but...alas. Maybe later. I did have to quell the eye-rolling the juxtaposed duo induced, but I did grow to appreciate both characters in the end, despite the stereotypical implications).<br />
<br />
Whatever your opinion on pretty girls and not pretty boys, you should read this if:<br />
<ul>
<li>You can't get enough of Tana French novels - this isn't as gritty, maybe, but it was similarly compelling.</li>
<li>You're looking for a good cold-weather novel - either because it's winter, or because you need to cool off from the heat wave through which you're currently suffering.</li>
<li>You're an Anglophile, and admire London, specifically.</li>
<li>You've been on a Hall & Oates kick lately, with "Private Eyes" being one of your go-to songs.</li>
<li>You loathe the Paparazzi despite never having been famous yourself. </li>
</ul>
Don't read this if:<br />
<ul>
<li>You don't read books over 300 pages. </li>
<li>You are in a lighter, more whimsical mood. </li>
<li>You're looking for an adult version of Harry Potter.</li>
<li>You expect your mysteries to double as thrillers, moving at an unpleasantly neck-breaking speed.</li>
</ul>
*Disclaimer: While I enjoyed the first 3 Harry Potter books that I read, I never made it to book 4 because it was in hard cover at the time, and it was the size of a law text book. I did not want to lug it all over the city on the subway. So. Too bad there were no books back then. Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-27161837571658220602014-07-28T22:45:00.000-05:002014-07-28T22:45:04.654-05:00The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh: Read This If<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
I admit, I requested <i>The Weight of Blood</i> purely based on its title. Well, okay, not purely - its title coupled with the fact that it's set in the Ozarks, a nearby region that's always intrigued me. What do people <i>do</i> out there, anyway?<br />
<br />
Apparently, a whole lot of nothing good. That's not to say it's all bad, but the meth and other trafficking are rampant among those that have too much control in the communities. <i>The Weight of Blood</i> is a powerful debut novel by Laura McHugh, a self-described insider-outsider. Those from the Ozarks don't like outsiders, and outsiders can never understand native Ozarkians, not really. Lucy, the main character is also a little bit of an insider-outsider herself, having been born to a mother from Iowa (might as well be France) and a father native to Henbane, the small town in which Lucy grows up after her mother disappears mysteriously when Lucy is only a year old.<br />
<br />
The novel opens with another mystery, the murder of one of Lucy's high school friend/acquaintances, a girl that had disappeared a year earlier. What follows is intense like a hot, humid Midwestern summer - slow, lurid and burning. <br />
<br />
You should pick up this novel this summer if:<br />
<ul>
<li>You're looking for an atypical read perfect for the waning heat of summer.</li>
<li>You like well-paced and -plotted reads. </li>
<li>You like mysteries but are not necessarily a fan of the crime fiction genre. </li>
<li>Your have been listening to "Cruel Summer" on repeat for days. </li>
</ul>
You may want to skip this if:<br />
<ul>
<li>You have some trigger issues (trigger warning). </li>
<li>You can only be pulled in by Dan Brown pacing.</li>
<li>You prefer to remain blissfully unaware of what might be happening outside your urban fortress.</li>
<li>Your soundtrack to Grease is stuck on "Summer Nights."</li>
</ul>
*Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for a complimentary ebook in exchange for an honest review.Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-9924552837913935082014-07-08T20:26:00.000-05:002014-07-08T20:28:20.858-05:00The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell: Read This If<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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If you've been having a little <i>Gatsby</i> withdrawal this summer, <i>The Other Typist</i> by Suzanne Rindell may be just the novel to quell your roaring 20s thirst. We've got speakeasies, bobbed hair and self-entitled young adults with a dash of murder, and (here's where the similarities depart) possibly a side of <i>Fight Club</i>, but that's up for debate. (Any takers?) </div>
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Rose is a self-righteous, uptight and rather clueless young woman working as a typist in a New York City police precinct. As such, she's privvy to gruesome details of all sorts of heinous crimes. Life continues along, until the glamorous Odelie joins the complacent group of typists, raising havoc with her mysterious, confident, modern nature. Rose, despite herself, is easily drawn into Odelie's bootlegging, back alleyed, money-is-no-object world, and gets to know a side of herself she can barely admit to having.</div>
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Overall, it's a quick, captivating read, even if ambiguous in the end - but that can be half the fun, right? </div>
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You should read <i>The Other Typist</i> without further ado if: </div>
<ul>
<li>You feel you should have been born a century earlier.</li>
<li>You're looking for something that resembles noir but isn't quite.</li>
<li>You like unique takes on familiar subject matter. </li>
<li>You don't mind strong, possibly amoral, female characters. </li>
<li>You prefer <i>The Third Man</i> to <i>The Thin Man</i>. Or not. Perhaps your in a <i>The Third Man </i>kind of mood.</li>
</ul>
You should not read this if:<br />
<ul>
<li>You prefer your novels to be lighthearted and wrapped up with a neat little bow at the end.</li>
<li>Your misogyny has got you down.</li>
<li>"Moody" should describe your cantankerous coworker but never novels or films.</li>
<li>You just can't imagine a world without the internet. </li>
<li>You've never even heard of <i>The Third Man</i> or <i>The Thin Man</i>. </li>
</ul>
I did have the pleasure of meeting Ms. Rindell at a lovely event in, as luck would have it, an old city police station, and she's just delightful. I'll be looking for her next book, which is rumored (by her) to take place in the village during the beatnik era. Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-73605314145084377082014-04-08T20:08:00.000-05:002014-04-08T20:08:39.466-05:00Half Marathon: Run this if<div style="text-align: center;">
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You may have noticed I've been a little MIA and sporadic with the posting. (One day, every post will not start with a similar sentence, I swear!) Well, it's been a rough winter, and when I wasn't working (or whining about work or snow or ice), I was mostly training for this half marathon thing I just did, and then too tired to concentrate much on reading or blogging. (Lame, I know.) A year ago I could barely run a 5K - what on earth made me sign up for a half marathon?? I have no idea. Probably just to see if I could really do it. (The answer is: Yes, I can. Woohoo!) Or maybe just to have a goal to work toward. Or maybe because it seemed like a worthier goal for raising money for the wonderful <a href="http://www.strayrescue.org/">Stray Rescue</a>. (If you are a softie for rescue critters, you can <a href="http://www.crowdrise.com/TeamRunningBuddies2014/fundraiser/celz">still donate</a> even just a small amount over to the right! It'll be live until the end of April. No pressure at all; it's the place that united us with our ridiculous canines and they are really a fantastic organization.) Or maybe just so that I could officially be "a runner." (I now proclaim myself "officially" a runner.) </div>
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I was not very fast, but I was much faster than my what now seems pitiful 5K last year, and this was more than 4 times as far, and with wonderful IT band issues to boot! I say that as if it's a good thing... it's not. Now for the stretching and foam rolling and exercising to get the leg back into form so I can... keep running. I'm already planning my next half. </div>
<br />
So, should you, dear reader, sign up for a half marathon as well? I don't know. Ask your doctor, as they say. And stuff.<br />
<br />
Run a half marathon if:<br />
<div>
</div>
<ul>
<li>You're looking for some good 'me' time or some social time - it's great to train both alone and with groups. Note: Long runs can be easier with a group. </li>
<li>You need another 'r' to fight having the body of a heavy reader - that is, the idea of an R&R weekend appeals to you in the reading & running sense.</li>
<li>You've a playlist already geared to 170-190 bpm to get your cadence just where it should be. </li>
<li>You like listening to audiobooks while exercising. You'll have plenty of time to listen while training. </li>
<li>You just need something to keep you sane. </li>
<li>You want to see what all the fuss is about. </li>
<li>You are not totally and completely repelled by the possibility of removing your shoes to discover that your toes have been bleeding and some toenails may not be sticking around for the summer. (Ladies, apparently you just paint the nail bed, and voila! Sandals anyway.)</li>
</ul>
<div>
Do not run a half marathon if: </div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Your doctor said no, don't do it. </li>
<li>You think you can just grab any pair of sneakers and go with no plan. You're likely going to injure yourself. </li>
<li>You are afraid of dogs and pedestrians.</li>
<li>You are not willing to risk, ahem, runner's trots. </li>
<li>You don't want to get addicted to races. The entrance fees really start to add up after a while... it might eat into your book budget!</li>
<li>Your doctor said no, absolutely under no circumstance are you to do any amount of running.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br />
At any rate, go me! Ha. Kidding. But really, I never thought I'd ever run that far, continuously. And no, I am not (currently) thinking about a full. That just seems completely insane. </div>
</div>
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Hope all is well, and I'll be back w/ more reads shortly! </div>
Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-46097453232147734862014-04-01T11:58:00.000-05:002014-04-01T11:58:46.850-05:00For Immediate Release: Books to Remain Closed Until Further Notice<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, NEW MEXICO: A terrifying phenomenon is sweeping the nation: books everywhere, when opened, spill their guts - literally. That is, literature-ally - after a book is opened, the words actually float off the pages and scatter into the air, never to be retrieved again. </div>
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The anomalous book behavior seems to have begun sometime in waning hours yesterday evening. "I didn't know what was happening!" said 9-year-old Timothy Sassypants of Big Stone Gap, Virginia. "I opened my history text book, and nearly choked on the words as they sprang into my mouth and everywhere!" </div>
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Sassypants eventually managed to spit out the offending words, but, tragically, they were gonners. Chapters of his history reader were left completely blank. "I don't think Mr. Sideeye is going to believe me when I tell him why I couldn't finish my homework." Until, that is, Mr. Sideeye opens a book for himself. </div>
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Everything from classics to trashy fodder to dictionaries is susceptible to this text loss disease - except, interestingly, user manuals and the Bible. Textualists and librarians have begun experimentation to see how they might replicate this immunity and inject it into susceptible books. </div>
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Librarian Ms. N. O. Sinabuk of Cripple Creek, Colorado, has locked the doors of the town's library in an effort to save the books from the curious and the devious. "They'll not have the chance to witness the text-floaty-craze from our precious books," she said. "Someone's got to protect the books until they can get this thing under control."</div>
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Some theorize that this text-annihilation book disease was developed by an underground book-banning organization. Others speculate a higher power is at the heart of this "letter flood." </div>
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Whatever the cause, dear readers, if you care about books, keep them closed for now. "Experts" hope to have this issue resolved in the near future. Some even say it is likely similar to the 24-hour flu, and we can expect book life to return to normal by tomorrow. </div>
Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-25668584216552486712014-02-25T07:00:00.000-06:002014-02-26T13:15:14.802-06:00Giveaway! THE UNCHANGEABLE SPOTS OF LEOPARDS by Kristopher Jansma<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last year, I wrote about the wonderful novel <i>The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards</i>. This year, I have the opportunity of offering you the chance to win a copy! If you have not yet read the book, you should. I am re-posting <a href="http://www.bookishhabits.org/2013/04/the-unchangeable-spots-of-leopards-by.html">last year's review</a> below. Please enter by 11:59pm Monday, March 3rd. Only those with a US street address are eligible. Winner will be notified by March 5, 2014.<br />
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<a id="rc-6471551" class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/6471551/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
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Originally posted April 11, 2013:<br />
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Kristopher Jansma's debut novel,<i> The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards</i>, is anything but unchangeable. The chameleonic narrator is about as unreliable and changeable as they come, or, at least, that's what he'd have you believe. He insists that he is a liar, a teller of tall tales, and someone other than himself. He'll never tell you his *real* name (or will he), or the names of his trio of friends - which keep changing from one chapter or story within a story to the next. He seemingly seamlessly (say that ten times fast) slides in and out of various characters, from student to writer to journalism professor to plagiarizer for hire to editor, but always he is a writer, or he would be if only he could write something he recognizes as real, and good, and true. Although, he does believe there is an art to - and a hunger for - lying:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The truth is that I actually have the greatest respect for those fantastic liars. Someday I'd like to teach a class entirely about them. "Late Great American Fakes." My humble thesis will be that America no longer desires truth, only the reasonable facsimile thereof. Like battered lovers, we're willing to settle. Our sense of values still holds us to dismiss that which we know, outright, to be blatant lies, but we avoid the truth with equal intensity. We wish to remain in the gray interregnum of half believe, when at all possible. </blockquote>
Of course, as he later admits, most of his lying is really to himself, and he wonders how much he can change, and how much he has changed, if at all. He muses about such capabilities when he comes across the son of his former lover, his to-date lifelong obsession. The boy is the same age as the narrator when he wrote - and lost - his first book.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Someday he'll see that he can't have one without the other. He can't know he is the same unless everything around him has changed. It's like black spots on black fur - you can't see them, but they're there, all the same. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
He'll think he's moving in zigzags, getting anywhere but where he meant to go. But there are edges to the board, and someday he will reach one, and it is only then that life will place a true crown onto his head. It's only then that he'll be able to turn around and see for the first time a glorious path back from where he came. </blockquote>
The leopard and chess motifs pepper the novel, and this quote nicely brings them all together.<br />
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I'd definitely recommend reading this if:<br />
<ul>
<li>You enjoy contemporary novels that play with form. </li>
<li>You don't mind it when your narrators might be lying to you. </li>
<li>You covet explorations of the hazy lines between perception, truth, fiction, and lies. </li>
<li>Your current theme song could be "You Can't Always Get What You Want." </li>
</ul>
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Don't read this if: </div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>You are easily confused and believe everything the media tells you.</li>
<li>You like your plots and characters to be pretty straight-forward. </li>
<li>You don't like novels that make you think about stuff.</li>
<li>You love <i>How I Met Your Mother</i> and hate <i>Mad Men</i>.</li>
</ul>
</div>Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-8478279173226288292014-01-19T21:28:00.000-06:002014-01-19T21:31:04.642-06:00Night Film by Marisha Pessl: Read This If<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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What a trip! I just finished <i>Night Film</i> by Marisha Pessl, and it was a fantastic novel with which to start the year - a good fall/winter read. I read <i>Special Topics in Calamity Physics</i> last year, and I thoroughly enjoyed that novel, too, but this is a much different type of mystery.<br />
<br />
Without further ado, read this if:<br />
<ul>
<li>You are looking for a unique and compelling page-turner with intellect and some depth. </li>
<li>You enjoy novels in which a city, here, New York, is a major character. </li>
<li>You are looking for a read that matches the weather, and you live where it is winter now, and winter where you are is cold and grey or brown. </li>
<li>You are a fan of quirky characters and caricatures and intricate plot lines. </li>
<li>You've had Prufrock whispering in the back of your head somewhere since that fateful day in high school.</li>
<li>Sometimes your theme song is "A Night Like This" by The Cure. </li>
</ul>
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Pass on this for now if: </div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>You are looking for a slow-paced saga about quilting. </li>
<li>You can't read yet another story centering on a <i>stunningly beautiful</i> genius misunderstood girl because without the whole beauty thing no one would give a damn. In fact, most of the women with multiple appearances are apparently drop dead gorgeous. Except the ones that are cartoonishly ugly. There really is no in-between. </li>
<li>You can't help but think New York needs to get over itself already. Or the people that live there need to stop acting as if it's a badge of honor to 'survive' New York. It's a city. It's 'survivable.' People come and go. Talking of Michelangelo. </li>
<li>You would just die if the smartphone app doesn't work seamlessly. </li>
<li>You need everything wrapped up and tied neatly with a bow at the end. </li>
<li>Your current theme song is "Walking on Sunshine."</li>
</ul>
<div>
Despite my few misgivings, I would completely recommend reading this novel as soon as you have the chance. It might even make a good book club read, honestly. There is plenty of fodder for discussion. </div>
</div>
Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-25393841583022019062014-01-12T18:38:00.000-06:002014-01-12T18:38:13.614-06:00The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert: Read This If<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I admit this freely: sometimes I look back on the time in my life when I devoured <i>Eat, Pray, Love</i> with a cozy, amber-tinged nostalgia. A particularly touchy feely, kum ba yah (in a very sweet, good way) friend gave it to me with flushed READ THIS IMMEDIATELY instructions, and I did. I was insanely jealous of this Elizabeth woman who managed to convince someone to fund her year of travel-the-world self-discovery, which, yes, can seem totally self-indulgent, but do NOT tell me you wouldn't seize the chance to explore different modes of being and living, given fully-funded the option. And Gilbert managed to produce a book that was raw, honest, and fully relatable. </div>
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<i>The Signature of All Things</i> is a completely different animal, but in an amazingly good way - 500 sweeping pages covering the long, unlikely life of one Alma Whitaker. Told in a style that befits the time period during which it is set (the 1800s), this historical tale takes us through the age of great geographical and scientific discoveries, when the entire world seemed new and ferociously beautiful, with newly found peoples (non-white peoples, of course, who managed to exist just fine without the meddling patronizing whiteys came along with their ugly diseases and 'civilized' ways, but, well, 'discovery' happened) and newly discovered (by white people) species of plants and animals finding their way into the modern world. </div>
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Gilbert does subtly tackle the issues of race and conquering, though they are not issues at the forefront of the novel. Its heroine, Alma, is a large (6 feet tall!), uncomely woman with a brain and education to more than match any man's, and one can imagine the issues that can be expounded upon with such a character, during such a time period, when a good marriage was supposed to be the main goal of all women. Alma was a woman obsessed with botany, and, eventually, with mosses specifically. She was privileged beyond measure, especially for the time, but she was not haughty, and was only somewhat clueless. She made quite an interesting character. I could keep rambling, but I've already broken my keep-it-short-and-sweet rule, so: </div>
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Read this if: </div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li>You highly enjoy or are not offended by well-researched, well-written historical novels.</li>
<li>You wonder if women did much of anything besides marry and/or take direction from men in the 1800s (they did).</li>
<li>You're looking for an atypical read with an atypical story arc. </li>
<li>You want to go on a fantastical adventure all from the safety of your cozy couch. </li>
<li>You are looking for a departure from the plight of the beautiful, misunderstood woman. </li>
<li>For you audiobook junkies, the audio is highly recommended. </li>
</ul>
<div>
Don't read this just now if: </div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>You are looking for a fast-paced, highly suspenseful read. This is epic-esque, not high-adrenaline. </li>
<li>You are a misogynist. You would only enjoy a small portion, and would miss the point entirely of many descriptions. </li>
<li>You are at a highly distractible point in your life - I seem to always be in such a state, and it took me a few weeks to finish this one. </li>
<li>You are stodgily religious - you might find some of the presentation and subject matter offensive. </li>
<li>You are looking for a a cookie-cutter, predictable plot. </li>
</ul>
<div>
Oh, and full disclosure: I received this book courtesy of Penguin and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. </div>
</div>
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Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-51743654725325310482013-10-28T18:42:00.000-05:002013-10-28T18:42:00.761-05:00My Education by Susan Choi: Read This If<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<i>My Education</i> by Susan Choi was my favorite read this summer, and possibly one of my favorites for the year so far...<br />
<br />
...And I started writing this in AUGUST so it was still going to be summer when I posted this, but now it's nearly WINTER (WHAT? WHAT?) and I thus prove my bum-ness in book blogging in 2013. Apologies. Between the co-conspirator's workaholicness and my semipromotion that involves a whole lot more talking to people (sucking out all my introverted energy reserves) and the needy critter posse at the home, I just haven't had the time & inclination simultaneously.<br />
<br />
Still, despite the dropping temperatures, you should pick up this book. Probably. Well:<br />
<br />
Get thee to a book store or library and pick up a copy to read if:<br />
<ul>
<li>You can relate to the passion of young, obsessive love but have attained enough distance from it that gives you maturity and clarity.</li>
<li>You don't mind (or possibly are looking for) a little sexiness in your literature, but in a well-written, non gray-shaded sort of way.</li>
<li>You're looking for some smart, mostly likable but tragically flawed intellectual characters to befriend in your imagination.</li>
<li>You find yourself nostalgic for your university days & want to relive a little of your experience without the hardship, or you want to feel better about not totally destroying your life while you were at it.</li>
<li>You just want to read something contemporary, frank and smart, pre-social networking.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Perhaps avoid this one if: </div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>You are looking for a high-stakes espionage thriller. This is not that.</li>
<li>Gay marriage makes you queasy. Which likely means gay makes you queasy. Which probably also means</li>
<li>You're really prudish, or maybe you're trying to maintain your prudish image despite the fact that you're actually human. </li>
<li>You prefer your plots like some people prefer their whiskey: neat and to the point.</li>
<li>You hate intellectuals.</li>
</ul><div>
<br />
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ebook copy to review, though I enjoyed it so much I did go out and buy it. Because I have a book-owning sickness. </div>
</div>Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-1296129721980002712013-08-12T07:00:00.000-05:002013-08-12T07:00:02.615-05:00Late Lights by Kara Weiss: Read This If<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<i>Late Lights</i> by <a href="http://www.karaweiss.com/">Kara Weiss</a> is a novella of interwoven stories following the lives of three teenagers, Monty, Erin and B.J., with three very different backgrounds. It's set in the Brookline neighborhood of Boston. A little background: Monty is an only child with an abusive father, and finds himself in and out of juvie. B.J.'s brothers are also trouble-makers, with her oldest having served time in prison, where her other brother will undoubtedly end up one day as well. Erin is the only daughter of a well-to-do attorney couple, and grows up best friends with B.J. and Monty, until they inevitably drift apart during adolescence. Still, their underlying bond is never fully broken, and each is fully capable of making some serious mistakes.<br />
<br />
I found B.J. to be the least fleshed out and most perplexing character for me, perhaps because she was only the focus of one story, while the other two characters each get two - I would have liked to have had a little more insight into how she dealt with the issues brought up in her story.<br />
<br />
Overall, <i>Late Lights</i> is very tightly written, its vivid descriptions fully bringing the reader into the lives of the three characters. It is not a pretty world, and nothing is sugar-coated, but it is a realistic world not without hope for the future.<br />
<br />
I'd recommend reading this if:<br />
<div>
</div>
<ul>
<li>You have a 2-3 hour plane ride and want something you can read start to finish - this will engage you from the beginning.</li>
<li>You enjoy stories told in snapshots. </li>
<li>You like characters you can imagine as real people. </li>
<li>You appreciate books that are not afraid to talk about the baser aspects of life, and that are explicit in a realistic way - not for shock value.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Don't read this if: </div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>The slightest bit of violence or sex offends you.</li>
<li>You'd rather not know what your teenager might be up to.</li>
<li>You're looking for a light and fluffy read.</li>
<li>You have triggers to do with rape - there's one small scene that could bring things up.</li>
</ul>
<br />
*I received this book courtesy of the author and TLC Book Tours in exchange for my honest review. See <a href="http://tlcbooktours.com/2013/05/kara-weiss-author-of-late-lights-on-tour-june-2013/">what others have to say</a>.</div>
Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-34918113650135473312013-08-09T09:27:00.000-05:002013-08-09T09:27:40.367-05:00Happy Book Lover's day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ghergich.com/illustrations/book-lovers-day/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank" title="Book Lovers Day"><img alt="Book Lovers Day" height="400" src="http://ghergich.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/book-lovers-day.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://ghergich.com/illustrations/book-lovers-day/" target="_blank" title="Book Lovers Day">Illustration by Ghergich & Co.</a></div>
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I may not have time to grab a great book, a cup of coffee and relax into a fantastic story, but hopefully you do! Happy reading.Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-66347103891512059412013-08-04T20:37:00.000-05:002013-08-04T20:37:55.794-05:00Bookstore Loot & Oh By The Way I'm Still Alive<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Why, hello! It's been quite some time since we've visited, has it not? Rest assured, I have not disappeared into the oblivion. At least, not quite yet. Or, not entirely. I make no promises for the future - that pesky oblivion - just like The Nothing - threatens to swallow me whole, or in parts, at any instant, but, as of this writing, it has not yet happened. That sounds much more depressing and dark than I meant it to be. Apologies.<br />
<br />
So! Just what <i>have</i> I been up to, you ask? Or maybe you don't. Either way: it's been One Crazy Summer, and not in a Moore-Cusack kind of way (alas). The Spouse, aka The Coconspirator, has been working 2 jobs this summer (he's just so sought after!), so not only do I never see him, I have to pick up all the domestic slack as well. I am not good at domesticity. At all. It's a bit like living with a ghost roommate that leaves messes while I sleep. We also have 2 dogs, one of them quite new, who are untrained, unruly, and more than a handful. But super sweet and fun, when they're not trying to kill me.<br />
<br />
Speaking of dogs trying to kill me, I was attacked just this morning, whilst on my run. Poor thing was afraid of me and his claw punctured my abdomen. It was a little shocking, to say the least. H2O2 & Neosporin to the rescue! I also did not manage to finish my run, which was really the worst part. Oh, and that: I've kind of picked up this running habit, quite regularly in the morning. Nothing crazy. Just 20-30 minutes in the mornings, mostly, as I'm just not that fit yet. I'm still waiting for that runner's high to strike. Any day now.<br />
<br />
Remember how I mentioned the disappearing Spouse and his 2 jobs? Well, a couple weeks ago, I seem to have ended up with 2-3 jobs of my own, due to strange comings and goings at the company at which I work. That's still working itself out. It might mean a promotion and a raise. It also might mean the oblivion will swallow me up completely. Or not. Stay tuned.<br />
<br />
Despite the craziness, I have still been reading. In fact, the book club I started has had 3 whole meetings already. Also, I just finished this absolutely exquisite book called <i>My Education</i> by Susan Choi, which I hope to have featured here shortly (possibly with a giveaway - again, stay tuned). Hot <i>and</i> well-written? Yes, please. Especially this summer. I also managed to use my birthday bookstore gift certificate finally, results above. I <i>may </i>have contributed a few of my own dollars. Just a few.<br />
<br />
Oh, and, I finally got a proper camera, with interchangeable lenses and everything. I love it. But my "hobby" list is growing too much. Running, photos, reading, dogs, etc? That's quite a bit to do, with errands and work too. Let's just hope I win that amazing powerball this Wednesday. Of course, I'll have to remember to buy a ticket.<br />
<br />
I hope you've had a more relaxing summer than I, and I'd love to hear about it, should you have the time!Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-75530980854372332302013-06-13T18:46:00.000-05:002013-06-13T18:46:00.300-05:00Fake Bookish Neurosis: Schizobibliosis<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/redbeansandrice/6797072983/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yC1kMkvzOFg/UboiNLb_2iI/AAAAAAAAAes/4Bvr0_D1Suw/s320/too+many+books.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;">So Many Books (by </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/redbeansandrice/6797072983/" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #4ea3d0; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 1px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">~Minnea~</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; text-align: left;">)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Lately, you may have noticed, I've mostly disappeared. Where did I go? You see, I got stuck. I'm buried under ALL THE BOOKS. (And other stuff. Like work, and dogs, and cats, and running, and spouses (well, just the one), and chores, and errands, and family, and, you know, stuff.)<br />
<br />
How did this happen? Well, I accepted too many books to review, for one, so, that needs to change, or slow down, or something. The pressure to read the small pile on the review shelf is tying some seriously painful knots under my shoulder blades. I also started a book club in which we have a set day and time to meet every month, and, gasp, actually read and discuss the book,* and we had our first meeting, and it was grand. But since I started the thing, I actually have to be prepared! What? Add to this the fact that there are just so many interesting-sounding books out there. Lying in wait. To be read. By me. At some point. Maybe. Optimistically. Tragically?<br />
<br />
All of which has resulted in me being in the middle of about 5 books at once. That's 2-3 too many, for me, really, which leads me to suffer from the dreaded, dreadful schizobibliosis. Too much jumping back and forth between plots and characters and comedy and tragedy and add to <i>that</i> that one of these is <i>Infinite Jest</i>, which is about 170 plot lines rolled up into one complicated, verbose novel that is often awesome and sometimes boring (sorry die-hards), and sometimes both at the same time. I mean, I couldn't pass up this whole <a href="http://www.summerofjest.org/">Summer of Jest</a> thing, even though I did miss the first call in, and am already behind the proposed schedule. But that's okay. I'm not terribly worried about that. It's The Spouse's favorite book ever, so, I guess it's time. (Although, I've said that before. Ha.)<br />
<br />
See? I can't even stay on topic. What's the topic? Oh. Wait, what?<br />
<br />
Luckily, schizobibliosis, unlike it's phrenetic (he he, see what I did there?) cousin, has a cure: I just need to finish some of these books before I start the rest of them. That's totally doable, yes? Don't you think? Yes. I think so. Probably. Most likely. We'll see. Or will we...<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*The other book club that I'm casually, occasionally still attending can't seem to meet regularly or set a reasonable time to meet, every meeting scheduling shenanigan beginning with an email thread to check schedules and trailing off until a time is suddenly decided upon often less than a week ahead of time, 2 if we're lucky. This leads to the book often not being read (even by me, with such little notice), and discussions that tend to go off subject. Add to that, the off-subject subjects of discussion more often than not are topics that disallow my participation almost completely as a childless, non-Catholic non-teacher, since said discussions tend to revolve around (you guessed it) teaching, teaching politics, birthing, parenting, child behavior generally, and the goings on in a parish of which I am not a part and of which I have no desire to be a part, not being Catholic and all. The members are all smart, lovely ladies, but sometimes the prevalence of cliquey estrogeny teachiness can be a little overwhelming. So I call that my Wine-Drinking Catholic Teaching Moms That Occasionally Read and Might Discuss a Book, a Little, Sometimes Club, of which I am only an honorary member, my only qualifications for membership being that I can read and drink wine. </span>Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-62971043885581095332013-06-04T20:18:00.001-05:002013-06-04T20:21:32.133-05:00Appointment In Samarra by John O'Hara: Read This If<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In a break from form, I'm going to introduce this novel (one that I can't believe I'd never heard of let alone read) with the description on the inside cover:<br />
<blockquote>
In December 1930, just before Christmas, the Gibbsville, PA, social circuit is electrified with parties and dances. At the center of the social elite stand Julian and Caroline English. But in one rash moment born inside a highball glass, Julian breaks with polite society and begins a rapid descent toward self-destruction. Brimming with wealth and privilege, jealousy and infidelity, O'Hara's iconic first novel is an unflinching look at the dark side of the American dream--and a lasting testament to the keen social intelligence of a major American writer. </blockquote>
<i>Appointment in Samarra</i> is a more frank, less stylized novel touching on the same themes as Fitzgerald's <i>The Great Gatsby</i> - not that <i>The Great Gatsby</i> isn't fantastic - it is - this novel just presents its characters with more raw humanity than a novel as tight and stylized as TGG could possibly allow. The title, too, is quite clever - as a member of my book club pointed out, it's not only a metaphor for Julian's own fast demise, but, as the novel is set in 1930, a year after the crash of '29 that set off the Great Depression, it's also a metaphor for the rapid disintegration of a particular way of life. (Luckily O'Hara changed it from it's original - <i>The Infernal Grove</i>.)<br />
<br />
You should definitely read this if: <br />
<ul>
<li>You enjoyed <i>The Great Gatsby</i> and are looking for something set in a similar time period following a similar crowd.</li>
<li>You love realistic dialogue. (O'Hara was apparently accused of writing his dialogue TOO realistically.)</li>
<li>You want to know what the inside of an alcoholic's mind looks like. (I'm told it's quite realistic, so, beware.)</li>
<li>You wondered what the Jane Austen style of marrying off upper class men and women might look like in 1930s small town America.</li>
<li>You're looking for a short, fast read.</li>
<li>You have always wondered what might happen if you acted on some of your lesser impulses. (Answer: Nothing good.)</li>
</ul>
You might want to steer clear of this novel if: <br />
<ul>
<li>Straight forward writing about sex and sexuality offends you.</li>
<li>You require happy endings. (If you know the story of the appointment in Samarra as retold by W. Somerset Maugham, which serves as an epigraph to this novel, I'm not giving anything away here.)</li>
<li>The crazed haze of alcoholism hits too close to home for you at this particular moment.</li>
<li>You are easily depressed.</li>
<li>You can't stand novels in which you're often silently pleading with the main character to make better choices.</li>
</ul>
Make better choices, all. Read this novel. <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. (I'm so glad I did - I wouldn't have known to read this otherwise.)</span><br />
Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-65171359545342501182013-05-31T12:22:00.000-05:002013-05-31T14:19:47.293-05:00Glow by Jessica Maria Tuccelli: Read This If<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Glow</i> by Jessica Maria Tuccelli is a beautifully crafted novel that I'm surprised I haven't heard much about. At all. It's compared to <i>The Help</i> on its paperback cover, but it's really nothing like <i>The Help</i>, except that it takes place in the South and deals with issues of race and class. That's where the similarities end. (Not to knock <i>The Help</i>, which I also thoroughly enjoyed - they are just two very different novels.)<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Glow</i> follows the lives of a few interconnected families in Hopewell County, GA, over the course of more than a century, from about 1834 to 1941, which covers slavery to freedom and all the fraught issues before and after the Civil War, including the rise of of the Ku Klux Klan. Not only does the novel deftly explore the race relations between blacks and whites, but also Native Americans, who were basically considered savage non-persons, especially after being kicked off their land in Georgia. The characters' tales are full of horror and humanity and authenticity and soul with a dash of ghostly haunting and redemption. The language captures the lilting dialect of the time and place (or so I imagine). (I listened to a good deal of the audio version, and it is superb.) I may even have shed a tear or two. That doesn't often happen these days. That's not to say it's sentimental - it's not.<br />
<br />
You should read this novel. Seriously. This is a book I'm going to be running around telling everyone to read. I'm not saying it's the best book ever written, but the magic and vividness of the stories make them well worth reading. It's more like a novel of intertwined novellas, and be aware that it does not follow traditional or formulaic plot lines. It's more of a meandering, lilting set of tales, told with poise and heart.<br />
<br />
Okay, you should read this novel if:
<br />
<ul>
<li>You are human. </li>
<li>You can read. </li>
<li>You think you've heard all angles of all tales of the south and slavery and racism and class (you haven't). </li>
<li>You appreciate good prose and storytelling and strong characters.</li>
<li>You also appreciate stories that show the depth of our flawed human characters. </li>
</ul>
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Don't read this if: </div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>You can't read (in which case, learn to read, or listen to the audio). </li>
<li>You hate books. (In which case, what are you doing here?)</li>
<li>You need formulaic, fast-moving, straight forward plots. </li>
<li>Your soul is a crispy, burnt thing. </li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">*I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. </span></div>
</div>
Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-89577751583492864512013-05-08T07:00:00.000-05:002013-05-08T07:00:03.689-05:00The Burning Air by Erin Kelly: Read This If<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hello, dear readers, it's been some weeks since my last post. I finished <i>The Burning Air</i> by Erin Kelly some weeks ago, and just haven't been able to disseminate my thoughts on the novel adequately. The novel certainly builds suspense with a slow, steadily growing heat. It grows on the reader in the same way - what seems like a reluctant, meandering plot jumps into focus after a change in perspective. The characters are all normal, average English people who happen to cross paths with a boy who anything but normal or average, and who refuses to accept his shortcomings.<br />
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This is not a formulaic story arch. The MacBrides, the central family in the story, are actually the flattest characters of the bunch - it's the villains of the story that have a fair amount of life to them, to the point that you might find yourself rooting both for and against the main scoundrel at the same time - though in the end, you will definitely pick a side. His revenge plotting is so all-consuming that he cannot see anything beyond its realization. That alone lends the novel its most disturbing quality.<br />
<br />
<i>The Burning Air </i>was a different sort of thriller for me - its pacing was much slower than the Tana French novels I managed to fly through in the earlier part of this year. It's a gradual build, but its psychological mind games and its haunting, creepy atmosphere is sure to stick with you long after you fini<br />
<br />
You should pick up <i>The Burning Air</i> if:
<br />
<div>
<ul>
<li>You like seeing your story from the perspective of the villain. </li>
<li>You crave psychological suspense in your novels. </li>
<li>Your life has just seemed too sunny and happy lately, and you need some creepiness to shake it up. </li>
<li>You can't get the song Private Eyes out of your head. (Ha! NOW you can't! You're welcome.)</li>
</ul>
<div>
You should skip this if: </div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>You just had a child and might be suffering from post partum depression. You're probably not reading much at all if that's the case, so I'm not too worried.</li>
<li>You are prone to anxiety and paranoia and already find most people creepy. This will just feed al</li>
<li>You are in the market for a light read akin to Bridget Jones Diary (I'd suggest <a href="http://www.bookishhabits.org/2012/08/wife-22-by-melanie-gideon-impressions.html"><i>Wife 22</i></a> or <i>Domestic Violets</i> to satisfy such a mood). </li>
<li>You're looking for a more traditional fast-paced mystery.</li>
</ul>
<div>
*I received this book from the Penguin Viking in exchange for my honest review.</div>
</div>
</div>
Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-62144315300796124392013-04-11T12:56:00.000-05:002013-04-11T12:56:00.718-05:00The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards by Kristopher Jansma: Read This If<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Kristopher Jansma's debut novel,<i> The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards</i>, is anything but unchangeable. The chameleonic narrator is about as unreliable and changeable as they come, or, at least, that's what he'd have you believe. He insists that he is a liar, a teller of tall tales, and someone other than himself. He'll never tell you his *real* name (or will he), or the names of his trio of friends - which keep changing from one chapter or story within a story to the next. He seemingly seamlessly (say that ten times fast) slides in and out of various characters, from student to writer to journalism professor to plagiarizer for hire to editor, but always he is a writer, or he would be if only he could write something he recognizes as real, and good, and true. Although, he does believe there is an art to - and a hunger for - lying:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The truth is that I actually have the greatest respect for those fantastic liars. Someday I'd like to teach a class entirely about them. "Late Great American Fakes." My humble thesis will be that America no longer desires truth, only the reasonable facsimile thereof. Like battered lovers, we're willing to settle. Our sense of values still holds us to dismiss that which we know, outright, to be blatant lies, but we avoid the truth with equal intensity. We wish to remain in the gray interregnum of half believe, when at all possible. </blockquote>
Of course, as he later admits, most of his lying is really to himself, and he wonders how much he can change, and how much he has changed, if at all. He muses about such capabilities when he comes across the son of his former lover, his to-date lifelong obsession. The boy is the same age as the narrator when he wrote - and lost - his first book.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Someday he'll see that he can't have one without the other. He can't know he is the same unless everything around him has changed. It's like black spots on black fur - you can't see them, but they're there, all the same. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
He'll think he's moving in zigzags, getting anywhere but where he meant to go. But there are edges to the board, and someday he will reach one, and it is only then that life will place a true crown onto his head. It's only then that he'll be able to turn around and see for the first time a glorious path back from where he came. </blockquote>
The leopard and chess motifs pepper the novel, and this quote nicely brings them all together.<br />
<br />
I'd definitely recommend reading this if: <br />
<ul>
<li>You enjoy contemporary novels that play with form. </li>
<li>You don't mind it when your narrators might be lying to you. </li>
<li>You covet explorations of the hazy lines between perception, truth, fiction, and lies. </li>
<li>Your current theme song could be "You Can't Always Get What You Want." </li>
</ul>
<div>
Don't read this if: </div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>You are easily confused and believe everything the media tells you.</li>
<li>You like your plots and characters to be pretty straight-forward. </li>
<li>You don't like novels that make you think about stuff.</li>
<li>You love <i>How I Met Your Mother</i> and hate <i>Mad Men</i>.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<br />
A little fun bit from Viking Penguin: pictures and metions of the book in instagram, twitter and the like with the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23leopardspotting&src=hash">#leopardspotting</a>. It's silly book fun! My editions:<br />
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You can see Mr. Jansma's own instagram <a href="http://instagram.com/kristopherjansma">here</a>.</div>
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*I received this book in exchange for my honest review from <a href="http://netgalley.com/">NetGalley</a> courtesy of <a href="http://www.us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/publishers/adult/viking.html">Viking Penguin</a>.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.themorningnews.org/images/made/images/dystopian_dioramas/07_890_636.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="285" src="http://www.themorningnews.org/images/made/images/dystopian_dioramas/07_890_636.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.themorningnews.org/gallery/dystopian-dioramas">"Botanical Garden" by Lori Nix</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Last week I mentioned <a href="http://www.bookishhabits.org/2013/03/fake-bookish-neurosis-dystoparanoia.html">my ever growing dystoparanoid tendencies</a> and posted a lovely picture of a dilapidated library diorama by Lori Nix. The above, from the <a href="http://www.themorningnews.org/gallery/dystopian-dioramas">same gallery of photographs</a>, was another of my favorites, one that easily brings to mind the Talking Heads song "Nothing But Flowers" (embedded below for your listening pleasure).<br />
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For the record, dear totalitarian overlords of the near future, I'm mostly okay with the sort of dystopia (utopia? eye of the beholder, I'm sure) lamented in the song, though winter probably would beg me to differ, unless I turned out to have some sort of mad tepee-iglooing skills (unlikely). And as long as there are still books and stuff. (Also sounds unlikely.) Never mind then. As you were.<br />
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Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-62346930258801972462013-04-02T07:00:00.000-05:002013-04-02T10:26:39.743-05:00Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight: Read this if<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Well, <i>that</i> was something of an unputdownable. <i>Reconstructing Amelia</i>'s premise may be one you'd want to keep at arm's length (busy, successful attorney mom whose teenage daughter takes a deadly fall off the roof of her fancy private school under mysterious circumstances), but once you start reading Kimberly McCreight's debut novel (but <a href="http://www.kimberlymccreight.com/biography.php">not her first</a>!), you might not be able to do much else until you finish.<br />
<br />
Kate Baron is your typical (but not stereotypical) high-powered, workaholic single mom, trying to juggle job responsibilities with parenting Amelia, an athletic, nerdy teenager not so popular with the cool kids. Because of her mom's job, Amelia is left to fend for herself much of the time, and Kate, like most parents, feels incredibly guilty about the time she doesn't have for her daughter and has very little idea of the crazy turn Amelia's life takes at the beginning of her sophomore year. Both Amelia and Kate come across as very real, both fully fleshed out and completely believable - people you'd probably want to know in real life. Well, if you're me, anyway.<br />
<br />
Also, just because Amelia dies at the beginning does not mean we don't get to know her - the narrative mostly jumps between Amelia's first-person experience in the immediate past and Kate's third-person impressions of the present, all set in motion by an anonymous text to Kate: <i>she didn't jump. </i>The bullying Amelia suffers is absolutely heart-wrenching, making me beyond glad that texting and facebook and the internet weren't around when I was in high school - with so many tools at their disposal, kids have too many more means to a vicious end - it's just horrifying, and this book really brings that new avenue for teenage humiliation to life. The novel manages to cover all the confusion that goes along with being a teenager and discovering who you are and who you want to be as well as all the inner conflicts of trying to be everything as a parent and knowing you're just setting yourself up to fail, complete with <i>Gossip Girl</i> like setting. But it's not without hope, or redemption.<br />
<br />
You should definitely read this if:<br />
<ul>
<li>You're looking for a fast, gripping, unputdownable novel.</li>
<li>You can follow novels that jump around on a timeline.</li>
<li>You're a recovering bully.</li>
<li>You've been wondering what would happen on a darker version of <i>The Gilmore Girls</i>.</li>
<li>You want to see how a novel could seamlessly combine a mystery with the intricacies of female relationships with one another, with a little law firm & private school politics thrown in. </li>
</ul>
<div>
<br />
Don't read this if: </div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>You're a very recent bullying victim.</li>
<li>Anything that discusses sex or sexuality makes you queasy.</li>
<li>You find minor mistakes in timelines hopelessly distracting (--> I read an uncorrected proof, and am hoping that has been resolved in the final edition or that I just read something wrong). </li>
<li>You prefer to remain blissfully ignorant of what your teenager is doing. </li>
<li>You don't like starting at the end and working your way backwards (sort of). </li>
</ul>
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<a href="http://tlcbooktours.com/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PpKk7zlz-Vg/UUjamxwtydI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/8JMYsdlK5KI/s1600/tlc+logo.png" /></a></div>
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*I received this book through of TLC Book Tours in exchange for my honest review. I'm not the last word - see <a href="http://tlcbooktours.com/2013/03/kimberly-mccreight-author-of-reconstructing-amelia-on-tour-april-2013/">what others had to say</a>.<br />
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Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-55291121693154505322013-03-27T12:36:00.000-05:002013-03-28T08:30:55.312-05:00Fake Bookish Neurosis: Dystoparanoia<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.themorningnews.org/images/made/images/dystopian_dioramas/02_890_707.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="316" src="http://www.themorningnews.org/images/made/images/dystopian_dioramas/02_890_707.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.themorningnews.org/gallery/dystopian-dioramas">Dystopian Dioramas by Lori Nix</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I'm currently listening to Claire Danes' narration (fantastic, btw,) of Margaret Atwood's classic <i>The Handmaid's Tale</i>, which I've read a few times already & am re-reading in preparation for <a href="http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/">World Book Night</a>. If you are not familiar, a) how is this possible and b) it's about a near-future society in which a right-wing religious "cult" has overthrown the US government and re-ordered society into biblically "traditional" roles, which basically means women have been re-relegated to property, on this earth solely to procreate and serve men. <a href="http://i712.photobucket.com/albums/ww123/Ladogaboy/IndependentThought.png">Independent thought</a> police abound. It's not so great for the men, either - they're held to strict moral codes as well. Sounds fun, right?<br />
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The most terrifying thing about speculative fiction such as <i>The Handmaid's Tale</i> is the relative ease with which such a society could just... well, happen. Already paranoid about all this information sharing that we do, either wittingly or <a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2058205,00.html">unwittingly</a>, such dystopian novels - especially this one, which shows how easily the cylons/right-wing-nuts/borgs/alien invaders basically could flip a switch and take over - only heighten this dystoparanoia. I find myself thinking, with every post I make on Facebook or Twitter or Tumblr or the internet at large, "Oh, here's further evidence for the future religious dictator-oppressors to use against me! But it's not like I haven't given them enough already, so what the hell." <br />
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I have created quite the case against myself. That thing I just posted making fun of young anti-marriage equality people for their intolerance and lack of spelling ability? Yeah. The New Genesian Republic won't stand for such positions in a person's history. (That is, assuming I still have the status of "person.") The stuff I post speaking out against rape culture and for women's bodily autonomy? I'm sure I've violated several somethings in the Book of Leviticus, which would no doubt used against me at my "trial." I mean, maybe they wouldn't even go to such efforts, since merely being a woman will be a crime of some kind. Or women wouldn't have any rights to violate anyway. That video of the sneezing panda? Evidence of my lack of proscribed compassion, obviously. Raising money for rescue animals? Not a counter to the hilarious cat antics posts, no. Clearly I should have been focusing on human needs instead.<br />
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After that, my dystoparanoia takes a lovely turn, nightmaring about the future in which not only are we ruled by alien/cylon/borg/extremist-nut-job overlords, but, of course, the devastation we have wreaked upon the planet will be no longer deniable, except that it will be interpreted as some god's way of punishing human deviance and immorality, further supporting the authoritarian cause, instead of as what is the obvious, inevitable result of previous generations of consumerism and corporate greed.<br />
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Ironically, I slept quite well last night.<br />
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Anyone else suffer from this side-effect of dystopian fiction?Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-74083188832187958902013-03-19T12:52:00.000-05:002013-03-20T15:14:19.329-05:00THE TALE OF LUCIA GRANDI: THE EARLY YEARS - Read This If<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The premise of <i>The Tale of Lucia Grandi: The Early Years</i> by Susan Speranza sounded incredibly promising: a 110-year-old centenarian recounts the details of her life to a biographer. The book begins with an eager, young graduate student wanting to record a biography of Lucia's life - excellent, I thought, that could be interesting, a biographer's insights and observations, but the story is told in Lucia's first person, not the biographer's. In fact, the biographer disappears completely after the prologue. Lucia also warns us at the very beginning that maybe she'll "just make it all up," which made me wonder if unreliable narrator issues would come into play - but no, that is dropped as well. Also, Lucia is 110 at the beginning of the novel, but was born in 1951. Why is she so old? Why are we getting her story from 2061? How does that color her perception of the 1950s and 60s? What's the world like 5o years from now? What does that add to the story? It seems to have no bearing on the rest of the novel, though, so the choice seems a little arbitrary, unless it is to become evident in later volumes of Lucia's life.<br />
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What the reader is left with is a somewhat disjointed telling of all Lucia's sufferings, and sometimes the sufferings of older family members whose sad stories are recounted incompletely before they disappear completely from the narrative. Pretty much everyone in the novel is horrible and/or is made to suffer horribly. The victimy mentality was a little much to take - I mean, I get it. Lots of people have super horrible lives. Suburbia was and is no idyllic land of merriment. But I need a reason to keep reading, and more awful things happening isn't a compelling one for me.<br />
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Lucia did remind me a little of Sally Draper on <i>Mad Men</i>, if her father was a police officer instead of an ad exec, and if they lived out on Long Island instead of in Westchester. I kept longing for a similar tone or narrative flow, but it was not to be. Where <i>Mad Men</i> succeeds in its melancholic disenchantment, with flawed, searching characters and glimmers of hope and growth, <i>Lucia Grandi</i> fails. Many of the characters (with, of course, the exception of Lucia, and the few people she likes), particularly the parents, are not merely flawed, they're just awful. Their humanity is missing.<br />
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This book is still not without potential. Despite her inability to find much joy, Lucia's life was interesting, and I did want to know what happened to her, and if she'd ever overcome all her hardships. I think the novel might have worked a little better if it had been told in the third person - no 5-year-old does that much naval-gazing on her own, but we all can find reasons for things we did as children once we have the perspective and experience as adults - or perhaps as a conversation between biographer and subject, similar to <i>The Thirteenth Tale</i> - where the reliability of the narrator can be toyed with. I was disappointed that that little kernel never reappeared.<br />
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To sum up, you should read <i>Lucia Grandi</i> if:<br />
<ul>
<li>You love the literary realists and enjoyed <i>Jennie Gerhardt</i> by Theodore Dreiser. </li>
<li>You like your characters to suffer. It's character-building.</li>
<li>You've been missing your time spent with the strict nuns in Catholic school.</li>
<li>You don't mind a few caricatures for characters. </li>
</ul>
<div>
Don't read <i>Lucia Grandi</i> if:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>You're looking for a fast, light read. </li>
<li>You like a little hope and redemption in your novels. </li>
<li>You like all reasons for narrative choices to be self-evident.</li>
<li>You believe every character should contribute to the overall narrative in some way.</li>
</ul>
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*I received this book through of TLC Book Tours in exchange for my honest review. I'm not the last word - see <a href="http://tlcbooktours.com/2012/12/susan-speranza-author-of-the-tale-of-lucia-grandi-on-tour-march-2013/">what others had to say</a>. </div>
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Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-46339113899916419622013-03-13T12:28:00.000-05:002014-01-21T12:27:26.269-06:00WHERE'D YOU GO, BERNADETTE by Maria Semple: Read This If<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Where'd You Go, Bernadette</i> by Maria Semple has been popping up everywhere I look for the past several months. When I read a little about the author and discovered that she used to write for <i>Arrested Development</i> (and <i>Mad About You</i> and <i>Ellen), </i>well, I knew I had to read this immediately.<br />
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This book is hilarious. And slightly sad, and definitely heartfelt, and, well, <i>real</i>, despite the absurdities and caricature nature of the characters. I'm no McArthur genius, but I could definitely relate to Bernadette's antisocial tendencies (minus giving all my banking info to a virtual assistant) and sarcasm and sense of failure. Her daughter Bee's adorableness shines through the pages as well. In a family of quirky smartypants (her dad Elgin is a Microsoft guru), she's probably the most down-to-earth and adult character in the book, though her dad has many words of wisdom, such as:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
It's for survival. You need to be prepared for novel experiences because often they signal danger. If you live in a jungle full of fragrant flowers, you have to stop being so overwhelmed by the lovely smell because otherwise you couldn't smell a predator. That's why your brain is considered a discounting mechanism. It's literally a matter of survival. </blockquote>
and<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
When your eyes are softly focused on the horizon for sustained periods, your brain releases endorphins. It's the same as a runner's high. These days, we all spend our lives staring at screens twelve inches in front of us. It's a nice change. </blockquote>
Bernadette had a bit of a breakdown after a scoundrel neighbor destroyed one of her greatest accomplishments. That's why she's a little loony seizing on all the bad and seeing obstacles where there really are none. She moved her family (before Bee was born) to Seattle to escape her failure, in a sense, but she continuously finds reasons to distance and disassociate herself with anyone around her:<br />
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People are born here, they grow up here, they go to the University of Washington, they work here, they die here. Nobody has any desire to leave. You ask them, "What is it again that you love so much about Seattle?" and they answer, "We have everything. The mountains and the water." This is their explanation, mountains and water.</blockquote>
She is so snobby it's painful, but in a funny, clueless way, not in a snide, mean way. She feels superior because she <i>is</i> superior, but no one knows she's a genius because of her refusal to engage with anyone. She calls all the moms from her daughters school 'gnats' because they are constantly pestering her to get involved in school community stuff. Because she's a <i>mom</i> and that's what <i>moms</i> do. She's Chandler, Monica and Phoebe all wrapped into one, with a super high IQ on top, or, bottom, really, since it might be hard to find that bit.<br />
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Anyway, you should totally read this if:<br />
<ul>
<li>You found <i>Arrested Development</i> hilarious (though this isn't nearly as absurd as many of the plotlines in AD). </li>
<li>You have a child in school and have sometimes found dealing with other parents...challenging. </li>
<li>You've ever felt like a failure but seen the absurdity of identifying with it.</li>
<li>You're looking for a quick, funny read with a lot of substance. </li>
<li>You appreciate character development - this is definitely character driven. </li>
</ul>
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Don't read this if: </div>
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<ul>
<li>You are humorless and many would describe you as "no fun."</li>
<li>You truly believe yourself to be faultless parent of the year. You will just find this book offensive.</li>
<li>You're looking for a dark and gloomy read.</li>
<li>You're totally clueless. But then, if you were totally clueless, you'd probably lack the self awareness to know so. </li>
<li>You hate Antarctica. And you can't stand penguins.</li>
</ul>
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Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-86805822990981853272013-03-08T12:32:00.000-06:002013-03-08T12:32:00.855-06:00SPECIAL TOPICS IN CALAMITY PHYSICS by Marisha Pessl: Read This If<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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How could you not be compelled to pick up a novel entitled <i>Special Topics in Calamity Physics</i>? That's definitely what first peaked my interest. STCP (I seem to have a strong penchant for acronymizing all long titles lately, for brevity's sake, of which, of course, I've just defeated the purpose with this wickedly long parenthetical) by Marisha Pessl is one of the cleverest books I've read in a while, which both bolstered and hindered my overall enjoyment of the story. Sometimes the cleverness just took on a life - and trajectory - of its own, wandering through mazes of tangential paths of wit and whimsy without a a mere thought of finding its way back to a narrative flow.<br />
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It must be noted that I listened to the audio for this one, which was delightfully performed by Emily Janice Card - she managed to breathe much life into the (often annotated) asides and clever comparisons that conspicuously peppered the narrative, but obviously, that makes it hard to skim over the (what some might consider) somewhat superfluous text, and even if I had been reading with my eyes and not my ears, such skimming would lead to confusion because sandwiched in the middle of the random book titles and oddball similes, an important plot point inevitably could be found.<br />
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This is not to say that I did not enjoy the story - I did, in fact, in the end, appreciate much of what amused me in the beginning and annoyed me in the middle. Blue van Meer made for quite the quirky, smartypants heroine, with an equally quirky upbringing and smartypants father. After moving around the country every semester or two, they settle - for a whole 8 months - in a small town in North Carolina for Blue's senior year, where she is thrust unwittingly and unwillingly into a strange group of misfits (she - or the entire population of the school - calls them the Bluebloods) by an idiosyncratic teacher she meets in the grocery store. Many of the eccentricities later come into play after a series of mysterious events culminate in Part 3 - the partial wrapping together of these elements without tying them together with a neat little bow more than made up for the meandering nature of Parts 1 and 2.<br />
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You really should check out STCP if:</div>
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<ul>
<li>You've been longing for a story of the high school experience told with the nuance and insight of a John Hughes movie.</li>
<li>You like a little mystery to go with your high school shenanigans.</li>
<li>You don't mind a book that sticks the song "Somebody's Watching Me" in your head on autorepeat.</li>
<li>You like clever. No, you lurvvve clever.</li>
<li>You like big books and you cannot lie.</li>
<li>You want to torture or confound (or spark much discussion in) your book club.</li>
</ul>
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You should take a pass on STCP if:</div>
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<ul>
<li>You're not a fan of lots of references you may or may not get.</li>
<li>You like your plots to move quickly, without fluff.</li>
<li>You really do need your plots wrapped together in the end with a shiny bow, no crinkles or loose threads to speak of. </li>
<li>You value brevity over feats of literary (and often long-winded) wit.</li>
<li>You have the attention span of a gnat.</li>
</ul>
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If anyone's read this & feels like discussing at all, let me know. It's definitely a discussion-worthy one. </div>
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Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1032308252123319247.post-54603575633862511932013-03-06T10:00:00.000-06:002013-03-06T10:13:24.945-06:00FLPM Giveaway Winner<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://distilleryimage6.s3.amazonaws.com/a31758807b9411e2a9d822000a9e29af_7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://distilleryimage6.s3.amazonaws.com/a31758807b9411e2a9d822000a9e29af_7.jpg" width="200" /></a>Congratulations to Heather from <a href="http://btweenthecovers.com/">Between the Covers</a>, winner of her very own autographed copy of Flimsy Little Plastic Miracles by Ron Currie, Jr! I hope you enjoy it, Heather, and can't wait to hear what you think! If you didn't win, please find yourself a copy, and enjoy - and remember, it's a book best read in a short period of time. Thanks to all who entered the <a href="http://www.bookishhabits.org/2013/02/flimsy-little-plastic-miracles-read.html">giveaway</a>, and a special thanks to <a href="http://www.us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780670025343,00.html">Viking Penguin</a> for generously providing the extra copy. </div>
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<br />Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02741247801580934137noreply@blogger.com