So long, Jacky!

I tried.  I really did.  But I'm sad to report that I did not finish reading the most recent Bloody Jack adventure,  Viva Jacquelina! I made it to the beginning of part 2 - about 92 pages in - before giving up.

While I enjoyed most of the previous titles (there are ten in the series), I wasn't nearly as impressed with the last one, The Mark of the Golden Dragon.  So my lack of interest in the new one isn't too surprising.

now hear this

Lately I've been having some issues finding an audiobook that I actually want to finish listening to.  Since I can barely stand to listen to the radio anymore (too many commercials), not having an audiobook in the car makes me feel a bit twitchy. Luckily I found at least one to get me through a recent work related road trip.

Savvy by Ingrid Law

In the Beaumont family, turning thirteen is a more magical than just becoming a teenager. At some point on that very special day the birthday child receives an abnormal power, or savvy. Days before her own thirteenth birthday, Mibs Beaumont’s beloved Poppa is in a bad car accident, leaving him in a coma. Momma and oldest Beaumont child Rocket head to be with Poppa in Salina, leaving the rest of the clan at home with their elderly grandfather.

With Momma and Poppa not home, the preacher’s wife, Miss Rosemary, decides to take matters into her own hands and plans a birthday party for Mibs, much to the family’s distress. It is at this event that Mibs’ savvy appears. Thinking that she can use her savvy to waken Poppa, Mibs and her brothers Fish and Samson – along with Miss Rosemary’s children Bobbi and Will Junior – hide out on a travelling bible salesman’s pink bus they think is heading to Salina. Thus begins a two day journey that reveals secrets, forges friendships and blossoms love.

Likes

With their varying savvies, the Beaumonts are far from a traditional family, but they are still very relatable. For instance, even though the siblings argue with one another, they are also the first to come to each other’s defense.

Such an imaginative story! True, some of the adventures are highly implausible, but then so are the various savvies.

Lots of humor. I often chuckled to myself as I listened to the book.

Other

Scumble is the sequel. I haven’t read it yet, but have the audiobook on hold.

Normally I wouldn’t post about a book that I didn’t finish reading. However, I feel the need to remark on one recent audiobook.

Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez follows the lives of two families: the Vermont dairy farming Paquette family and the Mexican Cruz family. The Cruz family is in the United States illegally, though the youngest two daughters are American by virtue of their births in North Carolina.

The story is told from the viewpoints of Tyler Paquette and Mari Cruz. This is a plus for the style of the story. Mari’s portions are told via first person letters, peppered with many Spanish words; Tyler’s via subjective third person prose. The difference is distracting.

Both children are the same age, which should mean they are on a similar maturity level, yet Mari seems years older.

I tried to get through the whole audiobook. I even listened to more than half of the discs. In the end, though, I couldn’t make myself continue. What could have been a wonderful story of two families and how illegal immigration affects their lives instead felt forced and extremely didactic.

Return to Sender won the 2010 Pura Belpré Author Award.

The Rule of 50

Recently my supervisor shared with our department Nancy Pearl’s revised Rule of 50. Having read through the article in which the esteemed Ms. Pearl shares her revised rule, I found myself nodding quite a bit.

Two examples: 

1. While I’ve always been a voracious reader, it wasn’t until recent years that I finally stopped feeling so very guilty when I didn’t finish reading a book. Why was I spending so much time on books that I didn’t like when there are so many more books I want to read? Is it a product of my upbringing? Just like I was told to clean my plate at dinner (i.e. eat everything on it), did I feel that I needed to read the entire book?
2. As stated in her essay, not finishing a book now doesn’t mean it can’t be attempted again later. This brings to mind The Lord of the Rings. Why? Because I read The Hobbit and started to read LOTR three times before I finally finished the books. Did I think they weren’t good? No. The story just didn’t hold my attention enough until the third try. On a side note, the three readings were in 7th, 9th, and finally, 12th grades. 

So, this brings us to the original Rule of 50. It is simple. Give a book 50 pages. If by page 50 you still feel that it isn’t for you, go ahead and set it aside for something else. If you just want to know how it ends, feel free to check the last few pages without reading through the middle chapters.
The revised rule? That I will share using the developer’s own words:

This rule of 50 worked exceedingly well until I entered my own 50s. As I wended my way toward 60, and beyond, I could no longer avoid the realization that, while the reading time remaining in my life was growing shorter, the world of books that I wanted to read was, if anything, growing larger. In a flash of, if I do say so myself, brilliance, I realized that my Rule of 50 was incomplete. It needed an addendum. And here it is: When you are 51 years of age or older, subtract your age from 100, and the resulting number (which, of course, gets smaller every year) is the number of pages you should read before you can guiltlessly give up on a book. As the saying goes, “Age has its privileges.”

And the ultimate privilege of age, of course, is that when you turn 100, you are authorized (by the Rule of 50) to judge a book by its cover.

Of course, as an avid audiobook “reader”, I wonder how to translate the original rule to the audio counterparts of books? Usually I give an audiobook one CD, which is approximately an hour of listening. Should I listen longer?

Bubble Bubble Toil and Trouble

Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and me, Elizabeth written and illustrated by E.L. Konigsburg.

On her way to school one Halloween, Elizabeth comes across Jennifer, a self proclaimed witch who goes to her school. Jennifer agrees to teach Elizabeth how to be a witch, assigning her many odd tasks.

This book was awarded a Newbery Honor the same year that Konigsburg won the Newbery award for From the mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

I’ve a confession to make. I didn’t actually finish the book. I tried. I really did, but I just couldn’t make myself read any more of the text. I thought it felt very dated and not at all appealing to most children in today’s society. As it is a shorter novel, I did read about ¾ of it before completely giving up.

Why I decided it was OK to not finish this book…

Numbers by Rachel Ward

It isn’t that I think the story is poorly told, or that the dialect it is written in is hard to understand. Rather, it is because of the main character’s affliction – the ability to see a person’s date of death – and her inability to stop from seeing those numbers.

If it was a movie, I’d likely not finish watching it either.

It makes me feel so very uncomfortable. I’m sure the ending won’t be so tragic, but I can’t bear to make myself read more of the book, even though I was sure it sounded like a great read. So, I’m returning it to the library. Maybe I’ll look for a synopsis online to see how the story ends.

Just say it...

Say the Word by Jeannine Garsee

Shawna seems to be the perfect teenaged daughter. Great grades. Planning to become a doctor. But, Shawna sees herself as three people in one. Perfect Shawna, who always does the right thing and what is asked of her. Pathetic Shawna, who doesn’t stand up for herself and what she wants. Evil Shawna, who whips out the mean spirited zingers at just the right time.

When her mother dies, Shawna must face the realities of the last ten years – her mother leaving the family and moving to NYC with her lesbian lover, Fran; her father’s selfish and controlling personality; her feelings for Fran and her sons. In her struggle to find herself, Shawna must make her three parts one whole person.

This is a compelling book. I started it at dinner on Wednesday and had it finished by bedtime. The characters and their reactions are real. The story is compelling. Well written, the tale stops short of going over the top with the action and plot twists. This will be one I’ll pass along to others.

There are several heavy topics in this novel: homosexuality, depression, and abuse top the list. This is a great read for high school aged teens.



Other books I’ve been reading…

Both of these are written for adults:

Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
I’ve decided to return this book unfinished. I did make it more than halfway to through it, but the writer’s style – which reminds me of a senior or college term paper – annoys me.

The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon (Outlander series)
I’m on the last disc of this audiobook! Yay! More on the story once I am completely finished.

i'm not a slacker. honest.

While I’ve been slacking in posting, I have been far from slacking in reading.

Ivy by Julie Hearn – One night I read about half of the book. Was bored by it, but didn’t feel like looking for something else in my house to read. I decided to not finish reading the book because Bloodfever arrived the next day. This is a teen novel.

Bloodfever by Karen Marie Moning – I finished this in one night. It was excellent! Mac is still in Dublin trying to find revenge for her sister’s murder. Things heat up as she battles Unseelie Fae, tries to figure out just who – and what – Barrons is, and learns more about her past and her gifts. This is an adult novel, but older teens may also enjoy.

Since I had to wait for the third book in the Fever series, I decided to start reading another series, and picked up Beyond the Highland Mist also by Karen Marie Moning – I read this over a day or two, but only because the husband was home (he’s gone most of the week). This is the first book in Moning’s Highlander series, and the first romance book I’ve read in nearly 15 years. While over the years I have read books that have romance in them, I haven’t read books that were specifically marketed as adult romance novels. This series is definitely marketed to adults.

Hawk was a man of legend, not only between the mortals, but also in the faerie realm. When the Seelie Queen remarks positively on his sexual prowess, her Consort and the Fool decide to get revenge.

Five hundred years in the future, Adrienne lives a life of fear. At the core of it is a fear of beautiful men. When the Seelie Fool hears her swear off all beautiful men, he transports her to sixteenth century Scotland to be used as pawn in revenge against the beautiful Hawk. Can Adrienne accept the love of Hawk, or will the faeries’ vengeance destroy the legendary laird?

To Tame a Highland Warrior by Karen Marie Moning – Does that title scream ROMANCE NOVEL or what? Another book I finished in one evening, this is the second book in Moning’s Highlander series. I enjoyed this one as well. There were even parts where I laughed out loud.

The letter was short and to the point. “Come for Jillian.” Grimm had longed for Jillian for many years, but knew he could not have her. But now here was his chance…if only he will allow his heart to show his love, and accept who he really is.

Jillian had sworn off marriage, but her parents have other plans. While they are off visiting a son and new grandchild, they request three strong Scottish men to come and woo their beautiful daughter, vowing that when they return, Jillian will have either chosen one, or have been chosen. When Jillian finds out their plan – and realizes that one of the men is her childhood love Grimm – a man she vowed to hate – she must devise a plan to escape her fate. Or will she?

I also listened to both Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little and Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Writing Thank You Notes by Peggy Gifford; read by Clea Lewis. This is a children’s series of books, geared for tweens. The two books are packaged in one audiobook set titled The Moxy Maxwell Collection. Both tales take place over one day. In the first story, it is the day before the school year begins, and Moxy, a born procrastinator who is great at telling people what to do, has yet to read the assigned book for the summer: Stuart Little. Moxy loves to read, but does not like being forced to read a book. Moxy’s mother send her to her room to read that book, while she runs errands before Moxy’s water ballet show. Moxy devises one reason after another to not start reading Stuart Little – even though she knows there will be consequences.

In the second tale, it is the day after Christmas. Moxy has promised her mother that she will finish all of her Christmas thank you notes before she and her twin brother leave to visit their dad in Hollywood. As usual, Moxy comes up with one crazy idea after another, including using her step-father’s Christmas copier, to keep from writing those notes just then.

Current reads:

• I’m currently listening to the children's book Kenny & the Dragon by Tony Diterlizzi; read by Alan Cumming. I’m not overly enthralled with Cumming’s narration, and am finding that I’m rather annoyed with the characters and how they sound. The story, however, is a fun one. I should finish listening to it tomorrow. It is only 2 discs.
• Faefever by Karen Marie Moning
• The Highlander’s Touch by Karen Marie Moning
• Ironside by Holly Black
  

Bitten

Spoiler Alert!
A warning – Don’t read this review if you are currently reading or plan to read Breaking Dawn.

Wow. I haven’t been a huge fan of this series. After finishing Breaking Dawn, I think I am even less so. As with the previous books, I listened to the book on CD.

It was predictable – Jacob showing up at the wedding reception. Bella getting pregnant. Jacob imprinting on Bella and Edward’s daughter…the list goes on.

It was annoying – because it was predicable. Because teenage vampires (and vampires to be) are even worse at naming children than most celebrities. I won’t even use the child’s name, it is so horrible. No wonder Jacob nicknames her Nessy. And I was still annoyed by the overuse of certain adjectives. Cold. Icy. Marble. Freezing. Yeah…got the picture 3 books ago. The vampires are not warm blooded people. Also annoying? The lack of action. Sex is glossed over, which is annoying with the buildup in the previous books. There isn’t any fighting, even though the vampire “law” enforcers pay the Cullens a visit. The bloodlust buildup fizzled out with no release. Boring.

One last annoying bite. Bella is too perfect. With all the talk about how newborn vampires act (wasn’t that a big part of Eclipse?), you would think that we would be treated to Bella’s struggle. Nope. Instead, she is reborn without all those nasty little newborn traits.

So, while there were a couple parts of the book that I liked, overall I thought it rather sucked. (Or should I say it bites? Ha.)

Continuing on the vampire theme…I was reading Suck it Up, which was a book group pick for this month. *yawn* not going to finish it. I was bored by it as well. So, I’m going to my group this month having not read the “assigned” reading. Ah, well. Won’t be the last time, I’m sure!

book update

I’m in a reading funk. Although I have three books that I’ve started, I’m just not into any of them.

I loved one of the stories in Prom Nights from Hell. I can’t seem to finish the last one in the book, though.

I’ve also been reading Free For All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library. *yawn* I’m barely amused at best. Mostly, I’m bored.

Lastly, I started another book club choice for May/June – Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen . I’ve read a few pages, and it is due back tomorrow. I just can’t be bothered to read more. Maybe I’ll put it on hold again. Maybe.

Before, After, and Somebody In Between by Jeannine Garsee

I've been trying to read this book. I just can't seem to get into it. Maybe I'll pick it up again sometime, but for now it is going into the "didn't finish" pile.

So, I've read 2 of the 3 picks for this month's book group. Not too shabby.