ENDURANCE: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing / A / *** / AudiobookI listened to this one during my Manti travels. It was FASCINATING. I can't imagine living through an artic winter in a tent. It really is a miracle they all lived (sorry for the spoiler there).
ANGELA'S ASHES by Frank McCourt / A / **** / Hardcopy* This book was part of the Goodreads Challenge AND the Rory Gilmore Challenge
Wowza. This book told the story of a young boy growing up poor in New York and then Ireland. He was poor because he had a mother that let life happen to her instead of making things happen and a father that drank away every penny he got. This book made me sick and most of all angry. The father was never remorseful that his children were literally malnourished because he couldn't keep a job and when he had a job he drank away the money. I was just angry most of the book.
SILVER IN THE BLOOD by Jessica Day George / YA / ** / KindleDumb dumb dumb. Why do I read this crap? This is a story of two young cousins that are part of a magical family that helps keep the Dracula family in power. They come into their powers and help save the day in between worrying about their clothes, hair, social standing, and beau's. Garbage.
MIDDLESEX by Jeffery Eugenides / A / ***** / Hardcopy* This book was part of the Goodreads Challenge AND the Rory Gilmore Challenge
This is the story of a girl who really was a boy. Based on years of village/family inbreeding, Cal/Calliope was born with undecended testicles. She was raised as a girl, while her body eventually won out and revealed she was a boy (which explained a LOT to Calliope). It is an odd sounding story - what was interesting to me was the stories of the three generations of her family and what happened to them as they lived in Greece, made a new life in America, and added Cal/Calliope to the family. It was fantastic writing - although it was overly sexual for me.
ALMOST SISTERS by Joshilyn Jackson / A / **** / KindleWhile this one was not my favorite of Joshilyn Jackson's books, it was still great. Jackson is great at writing family relationships (both those by birth and those we make ourselves). She is also great at writing characters. I will never forget cute little Birchie and Wattie stealing the car. The main traumatic event of the story was a little unbelievable to me, but I enjoyed the book just the same.
MOSTLY VOID PARTIALLY STARS:Welcome to Night Vale Episodes Volume 1: by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor / A / *** / KindleMy daughter Elizabeth loves loves loves these podcasts. I couldn't find the podcasts easily so I just read the book - which I'm sure was no where near the same. These podcasts are based on a fictional town where the normal is horrifying the the supernatural is normal. It was worth reading this book in order to be able to write Elizabeth an email on her mission that was "Nightvale-esque". She said this was the best email she had ever received in her entire life. Mission accomplished.
Snow & Rose by Emily Winfield Martin / JF / *** / KindleThis was a juvenile fiction book that fleshes out the story of Snow and Rose. It was just okay - to me you shouldn't retell a story unless you are going to add to it or enhance it in some way.
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie / A / **** /Audio* This book was part of the Rory Gilmore Challenge
LOVED this one. Loved the narrator as well. He had the perfect voice for the story.
It tells the story of two friends that are placed in the rural areas of China to be "re-educated" under the new Communist regime. These educated boys work in the fields, care for animals, and labor in the communal mines in order to learn what it is like to be peasants.
Their friend in another village has smuggled some forbidden books with him. Most of the book is about the crazy things these boys do in order to have access to the books.
They befriend a seamstress in another village. She loves hearing the stories they tell from the books.
The end has a delightful twist.
Loved this book!
Flat Broke with Two Goats by Jennifer McGaha / ** / AudioThis book was chosen by Pioneer.utah.gov as the selection for a statewide book read. I don't know why. It was the most boring, awful story. I hated the narrator.
It tells the story of a family that lost their home due to stupid financial decisions. They move into a cabin in the woods to save money. I just had no respect for the narrator. She continually complained that her friend (whom they bought their house from in a sale-by-owner deal) no longer spoke to her after they stopped paying their payments. She didn't understand that this friend that they had traveled with the Disneyland and Spain and whose kids attended the same expensive private school would TREAT her like this. (Gee what a news flash - by living the life you lived you SCREWED OVER YOUR FRIEND. And then, after they stopped paying, they refused to leave the home until it was actually foreclosed on. And then left a bunch of trash and debris. It was ridiculous.) The wife (who narrates the story) refused to get work as nothing met her standards. Instead they spent outrageous amounts as she bought goats to save money on milk and cheese ( although the amounts spent far outweighed any monetary savings after the cost of the goats, the feed, the vet bills, etc). This book was a train wreck. Maybe that is why it was selected?
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath / A / **** / Audio* This book was part of the Goodreads Challenge AND the Rory Gilmore Challenge
This one was weird to me. I have true empathy for those with depression and mental illness. I'm sure one of the stereotypes that true sufferers face is people not believing that anything is really wrong with them. I experienced this with this book as I just wanted her to "snap out of it". It made no sense. It was interesting but I didn't love this one.
Dune by Frank Herbert / A / *** / Hardback* This book was part of the Goodreads Challenge
I like science fiction but this one was hard to read. It is a story of power and intrigue. Of supernatural abilities and the price they extract.
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