Stories are the stuff of life….

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Character

Lillian’s is a fantastic restaurant, but one Monday night each month, Lillian offers a cooking class, and each class lasts for several months giving the students and teacher an opportunity to really know one another.  While this cooking class is about food, it is about much more than food simply tasting good: it is about food evoking memories and dreams.  Interspersed between each class, each character takes center stage as we come to know the memories and dreams of a lifetime.

Initially, I was a little hesitant about this book, but as I began to really understand and connect to the characters, I began to see how truly beautiful this book is.  As cheesy as it sounds, I really did laugh and cry with these characters as I got glimpses of their lives and loves.  With essentially no traditional plot, the entire focus is on the memories and dreams of the beautiful characters.

Rating: 4/5

As per usual, the end of school has me reading mostly mindless, fun, engaging novels.  This year, I’ve turned to Sookie Stackhouse to fill the void.  So far, I’ve read the first four novels and have mostly enjoyed the quirky main character and the crazy predicaments she seems to get herself into.

Dead until Dark, Living Dead in Dallas, Club Dead, and Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

Genre: Fantasy

Each of the novels is based on the life of Sookie Stackhouse, a barmaid at a local bar in Bon Temps, Louisiana.  While some might think the life of a simple barmaid would be pretty ordinary, Sookie’s life is anything but ordinary.  To begin, Sookie can read the minds of other humans which has always made others keep their distance.  Add to that Sookie’s entrance into the world of Vampires and other supernaturals, and you get some crazy adventures. From murders in her small town, to a missing vampire in TX, the disappearance of her vampire boyfriend, to an amnesiac vampire running down her road, you never really know what will happen in Sookie’s life next.

I’ve enjoyed these books.  They are very engaging and light which is exactly what I need right now as my brain is so fried from finishing up end of the year things at school.  At points they are predictable, but I find I don’t even mind that as there are definite moment of surprise as well.  The character of Sookie is fantastic.  She’s a strong, independent woman who sometimes wishes she didn’t have to be so strong and independent; in that, she is very real.   I’ve enjoyed these and will continue to enjoy them.

Rating: 3.5/5

I seem to always fall sadly behind in posting about the books I’m reading.  I’m pleased with the progress I’ve made on my reading challenges and really have been happily reading away. Below are my thoughts on some of the books I’ve read so far this year.

Wake, Fade, and Gone by Lisa McMann

Genre: Teen Fiction, Fantasy

This trilogy is about Janie, a high school student, who falls into other people’s dreams.  Through her life, Janie has had much to deal with: an alcoholic mother and absent father are just the beginning.  Add to that Janie’s constant trips into others’ dreams, and we have an interesting main character who is simply trying to have a normal life.  As Janie learns to control her ability, she must make difficult decisions which will affect her and Cabel, her boyfriend and partner, for the rest of their lives.

I enjoyed this series.  It was a really quick read with an interesting premise.  However, were the books much longer, I’m not sure I would have made it through as I didn’t find the writing to be great or the story/characters to be all that complex.  Of course, the target audience is pre-teens.

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

The Betrayal of the Blood Lily by Lauren Willig

Genre: Historical Romance

Miss Penelope Deveraux has ignored everyone’s warnings about keeping her honor intact and has, therefore, had to become Lady Frederick Staines and move to India with her new husband.  Like all of Willig’s fantastic heroines, Lady Staines has a mind of her own and uncovers treachery at the station while dealing with the insufferable Alex Reid.

Although this book was quite different from the rest of Willig’s Pink Carnation books, I enjoyed it.  I found Penelope a fascinating and fun character, and Willig’s storyline and details definitely kept me guessing.  As I’ve been reading the Pink Carnation series since the beginning, I’ve also really enjoyed seeing Willig’s writing style grow.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

The Goose Girl,  Princess Academy, Book of a Thousand Days, and Enna Burning by Shannon Hale

Genre: Teen Fiction, Fairytale/Fantasy

All about princesses, these books combine problems princesses have with a bit of fantasy as each of the princesses have a different ability: talking to animals and wind and fire, healing through song, communicating through memory.  In each book, the princess finds love and saves the day with her ability.

I first heard of Shannon Hale when I read Austenland. Since I enjoyed that, I decided to pick up some of her other works. I enjoyed these, especially as books to listen to.  The stories are unique, yet familiar as they follow a fairytale type structure with some unique elements like the abilities each of the girls have.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Vanity and Vexation by Kate Fenton

Genre: Romance

Following the shooting of a new Pride and Prejudice miniseries, this story takes place in a small, undisturbed town in England.  As the star of the show falls in love with a local and the director tries not to fall in love with his best friend, a story similar to Pride and Prejudice ensues.

Generally, I really like stories that take their inspiration from Pride and Prejudice. However, I found this one to be flat.  I didn’t ever really get into the characters and I found lots of gaps in the story.

Rating: 1/5 stars

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

A story about women in the South in the 1960s, this isn’t a typical book about racial prejudice and intolerance.  It is a book that deals with these topics in more everyday ways: not with organized protests but with a view of the women who worked in the houses of the “Southern women” with the power.

This was an amazing book, partly because it’s written well, but mostly because it deals with very serious themes in unique ways. I think we often think of Civil Rights in terms of the big events, but there were also amazing women dealing with these issues every day as they were working in the homes of some powerful Southern women.

Rating: 5/5

The Sugar Queen and Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Genre: Fantasy Romance

Both romances with a splash of fantasy, these books deal with strong women who must find themselves before they can find love.  The Sugar Queen is about  a woman who replaces real relationships with sugar until a woman shows up in her closet who need help.  By looking outside herself and helping this woman, the main character finds her own strength to live her own life.  Garden Spells is about two sisters who must overcome their own issues to reach out to each other and to others.  Their garden is something of a town mystery with its magical apples and edible flowers that encourage specific actions.

I really liked these books.  They were well-written, sweet, and magical.  I enjoyed reading the characters’ journeys as they overcame their issues and found themselves and love.  I found I wanted each of these stories to continue much longer than they did.

Rating: 4/5

Prada and Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard

Genre: Teen Fiction

Always an outcast among those at her high school, the main character decided to take a school trip to London.  While there, she buys a pair of Prada shoes which are sure to change her status.  When she trips on the way out of the store, she finds herself in Jane Austen’s England.  While there, she finds love and learns what is really important in life, and it isn’t the opinion of the popular kids back home.

I like this book.  It was a quick, fun read as it transported the main character and the reader back to a very different time in London’s history.  It’s interesting to see the main character’s modern sensibilities and habits in light of Victorian conventions, and it’s interesting to see the main character learn some lessons that transcend time.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Murder at Longbourn by Tracy Kiely

Having just found her boyfriend cheating, the main character, Elizabeth, decides to go to visit her favorite Aunt and help with Aunt Winnie’s New Year’s Eve party.  When the New Year’s Eve Murder Mystery dinner turns deadly for one guest, Elizabeth sets out to find the murderer and clear her Aunt’s name.

I loved this book.  It was absolutely one of my favorite Jane Austen adaptations.  Rather than follow the story of Pride and Prejudice, the author takes the characters from the story and weaves each character into this story in a new and unique way.  Add to that a great mystery which kept me guessing to the very end as well as a smidge of romance and some wonderful wit and allusion to other literature, and you’ve got a great read.

Rating: 4.5/5

Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford

What if Jane Austen, Lord Byron, and Charlotte Bronte had never died?  In that question, you have the premise of this book.  Jane, a bookshop owner and vampire, has finally gotten her latest manuscript published after only 116 rejections over the last century.  Jane finds that publishing a book this time is a bit different than it was in the 1800s, especially with Lord Byron and Charlotte Bronte to complicate matters.

While not a real deep read, this was engaging and definitely fun.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Soulless: An Alexia Tarabotti Novel by Gail Carrige

Genre: Fantasy, Historical, Romance

Alexia has never been a typical young woman.  In fact, with her dark skin, independent mind, and soulless existence all inherited from her Italian father, Alexia isn’t anything like her sisters or any other single in society.  With some scientists experimenting on roving vampires, Alexia and Lord Maccon, alpha of the local werewolf pack, find themselves in some interesting predicaments as they get to the bottom of the experiments.

An interesting view of what life might be like if vampires and werewolves were simply part of society, I enjoyed the mystery and uniqueness of the story as well as the characters.  However, I did find it a bit predictable in places.

Rating: 3/5 stars

What’s your earliest memory of a library? What was it like for you? Were you more likely to hang out in the gym or the library when you were in school?

How’s the health of the library system in your community? How do you support your local library? How often do you check out books from the library vs. buying books? Tell us what your favorite library is like and include some photos if you can.

When I was a little girl, my mom was the head librarian at our small town library.  While my older brother would go off to school, I would go to the library and play under my mother’s desk or in the stacks, or at the amazing tables that were just my size. I also loved “helping” which involved me being more in the way, I’m sure, but mom and the other librarians always let me feel like I was part of things.

As I grew up, mom quit working, but the library was still a huge part of my life.  I would jump on my bike and wander through the stacks looking for books that looked interesting and then fill my bike basket full of books that I would read and exchange in under a week.  When we came to Colorado to visit family on the farm, we would go to the bookmobile and check out a big box of books to keep us busy when we weren’t helping move pipe or feed the calves.  In high school, I still loved the library and would wander the stacks (this time the adult fiction) looking for books to transport me to new worlds, but it also became a place where I could sit for hours and find all I needed to become an “expert” to write that dratted research paper.

After college, I started buying more and more books rather than frequenting the library.  However, in the last few years, I’ve returned to the joy of libraries.  While I don’t have the time to browse through the stacks as I once did, I do almost always have something checked out from the library and have, for the last few years, been an active part of my library’s adult reading program.

I am so grateful for libraries and the education and entertainment they offer for so little, and each time I read a book from the library, I can’t help but think about the stories and circumstances of the other readings of the book.

My reading goals for this year are to 1. structure my reading more through the Reading Challenges, and 2. be better about blogging about my reading.  While I’ve still got room to improve, I think I’m getting better at both: I’ve been good about logging what books I’ve read, and so far each has fit into a challenge AND I semi-blogged in January which is already better than last year.

Today, I find myself sitting in an adorable house in New Mexico.  I’ve brought no papers to grade, no planning to do; I’ve only brought books to read, and it’s wonderful!  I just finished Vanity and Vexation by Kate Fenton–a cute modern day adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.  While it took me more than half the book to decide if I really liked it, I, ultimately, came around in the end.  Now, I’m off to start The Help by Kathryn Stockett which my mother recommended.

I’ll do more blogging before my reading time in Santa Fe is over, but for now let me say that everyone should get to do a reading vacation at least once a year.  This is my first, and I’m pretty sure I’ll need another one next week.

So, I took the plunge and signed up for some challenges this year, and the good news is that I’m still really excited about them.  I’ve been posting my progress with the challenges on my 2010 Reading Challenges page and have been listing the books, pages, and hours, but I haven’t blogged on many of them so far, so I figured I’d take a minute for a quick update.

Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

This is the second in Riordan’s Percy Jackson series which follows Jackson, son of Poseidon and, thus, a demi-god, through various adventures of fighting monsters and surviving heroic quests.

I’ve enjoyed these books so far.  I find them to be engaging stories and find myself laughing at the clever ways Riordan alludes to many aspects of Greek mythology.

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

More than 200 years ago, the builders created a city underground and populated it for the purpose of ensuring the survival of mankind.  Now, the infrastructure of the city is beginning to fail.  While the builders planned for the inhabitants to re-enter the world, the instructions to leave Ember had been lost years ago.  However, two children find the lost instructions and the way out.

While I’m usually a big fan of fantasy rooted in reality, I found this to be a bit too simplistic in both writing and storyline for my taste.  To be fair, it was written for an audience much younger than myself, but it wasn’t my favorite.

In the midst of…

Currently, I’m reading The Betrayal of the Blood Lily by Lauren Willig, the latest in her Pink Carnation series; I love this series and have been enjoying the trouble her characters always seem to get themselves into.

Show Me 5 Saturday

1 Book you read and/or reviewed this week: Wake and Fade by Lisa McMann
2 Words that describe these books: teen fic, series, dreams, crime, undercover
3 Settings where it took place or characters you met: Janie (dream catcher), Cabel (bad boy), Carrie (tortured best friend)
4 Things you liked and/or disliked about it:
LIKE: Plot-driven, but not in a typical way as it’s organized as a timeline
DISLIKE: A bit too simple–read them both in just a few hours
5 Stars or less for your rating?  3 Stars–engaging but not great

The last year has been an interesting one for me.  I’ve been consumed by many different things which interfered with my reading plans, so to begin anew in 2010, I’m joining a few challenges to get the ball rolling.  There are so many out there, but these three will be a great place to start!

For the To Be Read Challenge 2010, I’ve chosen books already on my shelves that I’ve meant to read for some time.  I think I’ve chosen the ones I’ll stick with, but just in case I’ve listed my full slot of alternates.

1. Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner
2. Dracula by Stoker
3. Avalon by Lawhead
4. Mansfield Park by Austen
5. The Secret Garden by Burnett
6. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Dillard
7. The Magicians and Mrs. Quent
8. The Poisonwood Bible by Kingsolver
9. The Last of the Mohicans by Cooper
10. Traveling Mercies by Lamott
11. Three Cups of Tea by Mortenson and Relin
12. Dynamo by Dougan

Alternates:
1. My Name is Asher Lev by Potok
2. Ender in Exile by Card
3. We by Zamyatin
4. Birdsong by Faulks
5. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Lewycka
6. The Archivist by Cooley
7. The Historian by Kostova
8. Princes of Ireland by Rutherfurd
9. Northanger Abbey by Austen
10. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Nafisi
11. The Big Burn by Egan
12. Everything Bad is Good for you by Johnson

The 2010 Challenge requires the reader to read 20 books in 10 different categories during 2010.  I’m excited about this one as the categories are such that I will be pushed to expand my reading horizons.

I’m really excited about the 2010 Mixology Challenge! I really wanted to challenge myself to read more nonfiction and short stories this year, and this challenge allows me to set my own goals for the year.  My goals and categories for the year are as follows:

52 books total
Categories:
1. YA Fiction: 10 books
2. TBR: 12 books
3. Short Story Collections: 3 books
4. Nonfiction: 10 books
5. New in 2010 (books published or new to me authors): 10 books
6. Fantasy: 6 books
7. Historical Fiction: 6 books

I don’t know if you are like this, but I tend to have the best plans and intentions as I venture into a new project or experience or year, but inevitably, life gets in the way.  As a teacher, I end up spending lots of time reading some pretty bad writing rather than the great literature I’d rather be reading.  Fortunately, seeing my kids improve makes it worth it, usually.  :-)  All that to say that I didn’t get through as many books as I would have liked, but I did enjoy some great reads.  Below is my year in review.

2008 TOTALS: 7012 Pages, 237.75 Hours

Favorite Reads:
*When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin
*Wrapped in Rain by Charles Martin
     -One of my favorite modern authors!  He is a masterful storyteller who can unfold a story as well as some of the greats!
Read more

I got this from Maggie Reads. It’s fun to see what I’ve read from lists like this.  However, I have to say that it does tend to depress me a bit as I realize how many books out there I haven’t read! The good news is that I’ve read a fair number of classics and off the beaten path books, so I don’t feel too bad.   Which have you read?

Here are the rules: Bold what you’ve read, italicize what you own, star* books on your TBR list!

1 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – J.K. Rowling
2 Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution – Robert C. Atkins
3 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
4 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling
5 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – J.K. Rowling
6 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling
7 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – J.K. Rowling
8 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – J.K. Rowling
9 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – J.K. Rowling
10 Who Moved My Cheese? – Spencer Johnson Read more