Book bag for February 10 - February 16

1) 

 The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan / A / ***

This book made me realize how little I knew about the Dust Bowl.  I blame it on my history teachers.  It seems like in American History class we would always start with the discovery of America and no matter WHO the teacher was we NEVER got past WWI. Like EVER. 

I know I sound indignant here about my own lack of knowledge, but I can't help it.  I mean, I've read Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" and one of my favorite books is "Out of the Dust" by Karen Hesse.  I should have known that the Dust Bowl was not just caused by a drought in the mid-west.  Lack of rain doesn't make millions of tons of top soil up and BLOW AWAY.  I didn't know that it was because farmers had plowed up the entire freaking prairie to plant wheat in hopes of striking it rich during time of high demand due to WWI.  This book tells about the social and economic factors that went into play during that time period and also tells the experiences of several families.  It tells about FDR and his push to save the farmers when the rest of the nation really didn't care.  The more I read about Roosevelt the more he is a total hero in my eyes. 

The book itself was interesting but could have been half the length and still covered the same material.   It was meticulously researched but it seemed like there was a lot of reiteration of the same points. It also did not have the emotional depth I was hoping for when I checked out the book.  As one reviewer on goodreads.com said, "Instead, I mostly got dryness (no pun). I got less than compelling personal stories and no real emotional evocation or dramatic tension. It was the story of the dust storms as done by CNN when what I really wanted was a stellar, kick-ass miniseries by HBO."

 

2)

Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End by Manel Loureiro and Pamela Carmell (translator) / A / *1/2

Do NOT laugh that I read a Zombie Apocalypse novel.  I'm already beating myself up about it.  The only thing that makes me feel better is that I didn't pay any money for this book (although I have a few hours of my life I can't get back).  It's my own fault for checking this book out. It did have amazingly high reviews which I've recently decided doesn't necessarily mean diddley squat.  The whole reason I checked this book out is because one of the gushing reviewers wrote that after reading it he had to get rid of his "screamin' jeebies". How could I pass it up?   Who knew that "screamin' jeebies" did not mean it would be a novel with carefully crafted suspense  and thoughtful insight on what it means to be human but rather a poorly written and unimaginative plot full of characters I didn't care about?

The novel is set in Spain and tells the story of the collapse of society after a virus turns the population undead (think "I am Legend").  It is written in the style of a series of a blog posts.  All I can say that is if this was a real blog I would be hoping the Zombies would just eat the guy and put me out of my misery.  And these are harsh words considering the guy toted his CAT along with him the entire novel.  Yes... you read that right... his CAT.

I don't mind zombies.... in fact I think they are deliciously scary (although in retrospect that really is a bad choice of words).    I don't even mind that the main character miraculously escapes implausible situation after implausible situation.  But I do mind the number of times the writing style changed from first person to third person and back again in the same paragraph.  And not once was it heart-pounding-scary.  The worst part is that at the end of the novel this 30+ year old man who has experienced the horror of the death of everyone he knows and has escaped literally thousands of grotesque pitiful undead people who are trying to kill him miraculously stumbles across a female survivor and she is described as unbelievably beautiful with perky breasts.  Oh and I forgot to mention that she is only 17....

It's not the ZOMBIES that are freaky in this book, my friends.

 

 

3)

 Wool - Part One by Hugh Howey / A / ****

This book really doesn't count as a book to me but is more a short story. In just 60 pages it sets up a dystopian society living in an underground silo for hundreds of years due to the destruction of the planet.  Rule-breakers are forced outside to their certain death.  After excecuting this judgement on others, the Sheriff decides he too wants to leave the Silo.  The reader is allowed to know why he would decide this and the surpising ending of what happens when he steps outside....

I can't wait to read the next installments.

4)

Death Watch (Undertaken Trilogy) by Ari Berk / YA / **

Silas' world changes when his father doesn't come home from work one day.  His mothers lack of ability to cope leads them to lose even more as they are forced to move from their home back to the hometown of his parents.  His father did not get along with the uncle who takes them in, and his mother had been trying her whole life to escape from the very town where they now live. Silas soon finds that his father was more than he seemed to be, and that his disappearance may not have been accidental.  He finds that his father acted as a sort of undertaker, guiding lost souls to their final peace.  His father left him the "Death Watch" what allows Silas to see ghosts.  The town seems to expect him to take over his fathers' job, and hope he will do it soon as a backlog of malcontent spirits is building up.

 

I'm starting to despair here, people. This was another book I had to force myself to read.  I wanted so much to like it. It sounded so good.  The setting was well fleshed out, the characters were unique and memorable.   I am trying to figure out why I disliked it so much and I think it was just the pacing of the story was wrong. JK Rowling is a great example of how you can use little mini stories that introduce characters and setting then having the story start to build towards a final climax.  But Berk has not achieved this level.  There was no real sense of rhthym to the book.  It was bad enough I will not read the rest of the series.

(P.S. I read this book at the suggetion of my friend Tami who teaches English at South Sevier and said a lot of her students are reading it.  I saw her in the store Friday night and she asked if I'd like it and I had to embarrasedly (is that a word?) tell her no.  She wanted to know why.... I gave her details... and she then proceeded to tell me that I must have read the wrong book....  HAA)

5)

Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff / YA /*****

I love this book. LOVE IT.  I was so depressed after such a disappointing week of reading that Saturday afternoon when the kids all ran to Grandma's to play I pulled this old favorite off the shelf, laid in the sun in my front window, and read read read.    This story is powerful.  It is beautiful. It is touching.  I was thinking it would be on my to- 100 best books I've ever read list (and then I started thinking ohhhhh I want to make a list like that!!!... yes I'm strange like that but don't be surprised if a list shows up like that some time).