Late Summer Blog

I have taken a hiatus from reading and writing my book blog due to morning sickness, but I thought I should jot down a few sentences about the books I finished last summer. I stopped reading in early August, and I read 60 books total this year. Since then, I haven’t been able to read without feeling like I’m on a rocking boat, so I’m catching up on my television shows like Enterprise!

(46) Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay

As usual, serial killer Dexter is getting himself in trouble. I think that’s what it was about. Apparently I either have selective amnesia, or the Dexter books are forgettable. These stories are fun to read while you’re in the middle of them, but I can’t for the life of me remember anything about this book I read about a month and a half ago. I remember something about leg dismemberment art? Well, this is the fourth book in the series, so if you’re into them, I recommend this as a fun diversion.

Content Rating: Language and violence

Length: 304 Pages

Format Read: Kindle Library Book

Genre: Fiction

(47) A Dog’s Purpose by Jeff Lindsay

Perfect for a dog lover, it demonstrates the many sides of a dog’s purpose in our lives as the protagonist pup is reincarnated through several vastly different lives. The only problem was I read it while on long train ride from Venice to Paris, which presented two serious problems. First, I was balling my eyes out in front of all the other passengers, who probably thought I was traveling to go to a funeral. Second, I wasn’t home with my dog. If you have a dog, you need to have him sit right next to you while reading the sad parts so he can comfort you.

Content Rating: Appropriate for young adults and adults

Length: 333 Pages

Format Read: Kindle Book (was only $3 for awhile; sadly the price has gone up)

Genre: Fiction

(48) The Stand by Stephen King

Finally, I finished it! This book is seriously long—longest I’ve ever read. This is not a horror book as you might expect from King, but a post-apocalyptic character driven story with some supernatural twists and turns integrated in the story. Part of the story I found most fascinating is the recreation of the government as the people begin to congregate together —because the severe length of the book, it left a lot of room to flush out the details of what happened to these characters before and after the disease that kills nearly every human on earth. Loved most of the book, except the climax of the story, which I thought that is was a bit too supernatural and silly. I kept expecting a war to occur, but the story is resolved in an odd way that I was not anticipating.

Content Rating: Strong language, graphic violence, sexuality

Length: 1472 Pages

Format Read: Kindle Book

Genre: Fiction

(49) Dexter is Delicious by Jeff Lindsay

I do remember more about the 5^th Dexter book than I do the 4^th: Dexter’s brother returns to meet his new family, and Dexter gets into some trouble with some blood-sucking human-flesh eating teenagers. Nothing new to say here; just some good bloody fun with Dex the serial killer.

Content Rating: Language and violence

Length: 384 Pages

Format Read: Library Kindle Book

Genre: Fiction

(50) Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

The fiftieth book I read this year is Fifty Shades of Grey! Wish I could say I was clever enough to have planned that, but it just happened naturally. I also wish I had some nice things to say about this book that seems to be the craze right now, but I don’t. It is mutated Twilight fan fiction. I noticed this when Christian, the “Edward” character, keeps telling Ana, the “Bella” character, to stop biting her lip. I kept thinking, this sounds so much like Twilight! And then I discovered there was a particular reason for that connection. Anyway, it is awful, nearly plot-free fiction with sex scenes that are so unrealistic that it’s difficult for me to understand why they are sexy to some readers instead of being laughable. I also didn’t feel like the content was as shocking as I had been led to believe—with her writing it is more about quantity than quality when it comes to the descriptions of their escapades.

Content Rating: Sexuality and language

Length: 528 Pages

Format Read: Library Book

Genre: Erotic Fiction

(51) In One Person by John Irving

Good ol’ Irving! Interesting fiction about cross-dressing and the impact of AIDS on the gay community in the 1980’s. May not a subject that would be interesting to everyone, but it’s Irving and I love him. Wouldn’t be an Irving book without some wrestling too!

Content Rating: Language & sexuality

Length: 448 Pages

Format Read: Library Book

Genre: Fiction

(52) A Dog’s Journey by W. Bruce Cameron

This is the sequel to “A Dog’s Purpose,” and continues with the next life of the dog spirit in the first book. It differs from the first novel, as his goal is to continually return to the same family as they grow old. I felt slightly less connected to his character as a result of his purpose being so narrow. Still, very fun to return to the character to see how he/she lives out the rest of the dog lives.

Content Rating: Young adult

Length: 336 Pages

Format Read: Library Book

Genre: Fiction

(53) Unholy Night by Seth Grahame-Smith

Yawn. This is a fictional tale about the “wise” men and how they really came about to help Jesus and his family travel to Egypt. The writing doesn’t flow like it did in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and I completely lost interest when they started to fight zombies.  Seriously, the wise men fight zombies.

Content Rating: Honestly I can’t remember

Length: 352 Pages

Format Read: Library Book

Genre: Historical Fiction

(54) The Anatomist’s Apprentice by Tessa Harris

This is a fictional story about the first use of forensic science to solve a murder mystery in 1780.  Enjoyed this one very much and look forward to future books.

Content Rating: Can’t remember

Length: 304 Pages

Format Read: Kindle Library Book

Genre: Fiction

(55) Still Alice by Lisa Genova

This book is the telling of the onset of Alzheimer’s disease from the patient’s point of view. An absolutely heart breaking and life changing story. It’s a quick read; both my mom and I were able to finish it in a couple of hours. Recommend!

Content Rating: A little language

Length: 292 Pages

Format Read: Library Book

Genre: Fiction

(56) Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson

A hysterical memoir of Lawson’s upbringing and life with absurd stories: this book sparked my interest in collecting taxidermy rats in cute outfits. I literally cried due to laughing so much.

Content Rating: Heavy language

Length: 336 Pages

Format Read: Library Book

Genre: Memoir

(57) Emory’s Gift

A story about a boy and the bear he befriends that eventually ends up living in his garage, painting him notes about being a civil war veteran. Blah.

Content Rating: Young adult

Length: 368 Pages

Format Read: Library Book

Genre: Fiction

(58) Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

I can’t remember anything about this book. I think there is something about ice or water or something. I don’t think I liked it.

Content Rating: *shrug*

Length: 304 Pages

Format Read: Kindle Library Book

Genre: Fiction

(59) Replay by Ken Grimwood

This is one of my favorites of the year: what if you could relive your life over and over? Fantastic science fiction about dying and waking up again in your 16-year old body with all your memories intact. Loved it!

Content Rating: Adult

Length: 320 Pages

Format Read: Library Book

Genre: Science Fiction

(60) Penpal by Dathan Auerbach

This horror novel scared me to the core without being gruesome or violent. It’s about a little boy who puts a penpal letter on a balloon and releases it…and the impact of that connection he makes with his mysterious penpal. Only $5 on kindle. I really liked this one because it creeped me out.

Content Rating: Adult

Length: 252 Pages

Format Read: Kindle Book

Genre: Horror

May Books 2012

As I prepared to write my blog this month, I thought that I hadn’t read much this month due to a bunch of really busy last weeks of school. I was surprised to find that I had read eight; not exactly sure how I found the time, but here they are!

Next month should be a heavy reading month; with my upcoming trip to Europe, I think I’m just as excited about having 13 hours to read on the plane as I am to taste Italian gelato!

(38) The Messenger by Lois Lowry

With the 4^th book in the Giver series coming out in the fall (a timely publish date only 19 years after the 1^st book), I continued to read this series despite major disappointment with the 2^nd installment. The Messenger continues the story of the characters in the 2^nd book, Gathering Blue, and is a much more satisfying story, albeit still pales in comparison to the first book.

Content Rating: For Older Children

Length: 179 Pages

Format Read: Kindle Library Book

Genre: Children’s Dystopia

(39) Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5 Billion-Year History of the Human Body by Neil Shubin

Shubin, the discoverer of the famous fossil, Tiktaalik, uses this book as a vehicle to explain how our own body parts, cell structure and genes demonstrate our evolution from fish to our current physiology. Although he is a scientist and not a writer by trade, the writing in his short book is very good. Some might take issue with me there: to be a good scientist requires the skill in being very precise in your language (in graduate school I tortured my advisor with unintentional non-sequiturs; that type of writing takes a totally different skill set than story telling). I’m talking about writing that flows, and additionally, the ability to explain complex ideas to a wide audience. I look forward to finding more books like this to refresh my scientific memory; hopefully I’ll get my hands on a copy of the Blind Watchmaker soon (oddly, there isn’t a single copy in my local library system—thank goodness my dad has a copy).

Content Rating: Adult Level Reading

Length: 240 Pages

Format Read: Kindle Library Book

Genre: Non-fiction/Evolutionary Biology

(40) A Million Suns by Beth Revis

If you like science fiction or dystopian novels, read this series. I have already reviewed the first book in the series in last month’s blog entry, so I will just reiterate here what I have already said before: I love these books because they are edgy, atmospheric and imaginative young adult novels. My only warning to you is that the third novel is not due out until January 2013, so you are in for a wait for the final book if you read these soon.

Content Rating: Appropriate for Older Teens

Length: 386 Pages

Format Read: Library Book

Genre: Science Fiction/Dystopia Young Adult

(41) Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss

Thanks a lot Ms. Truss for making me paranoid that I’m making obvious and embarrassing punctuation mistakes; even as I’m writing my blog, I have become hyper aware of my punctuation and whether it is sending out the message: “I’m an idiot.” Truss’s witty little book can be summed up with this quote that made me want to stand up and cheer like those spectators did in the stands at the end of the film Babe:

“If you still persist in writing, ‘Good food at it’s best’, you deserve to be struck by lightening, hacked up on the spot and buried in an unmarked grave.”

Hope I punctuated that quote correctly.

I thought this was a great refresher course in proper usage of punctuation, and there were even some rules about commas and semi-colons that were news to me. It is a short and fun book that will make you feel just a little bit better than anyone who uses apostrophes incorrectly in their facebook status updates.

Content Rating: Maybe there was some language?

Length: 240 Pages

Format Read: Library Book

Genre: Non-fiction/Grammar

(42) Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay

I will agree with other reviews that this is the weakest of the six books in the Dexter series. Dexter “misplaces” his dark passenger and is left without direction. This novel had more of a supernatural component to it than the previous two books or any story in the television series. I don’t think I’m going to ever write a negative review about a Dexter book, so I’ll just say that while I felt that the pacing of this story was a bit off and I didn’t like the handicapped version of Dexter the serial killer, I still look forward to reading the remaining three novels in the series.

Content Rating: Adult for language and violence

Length: 320 Pages

Format Read: Kindle Library Book

Genre: Fiction

(43) My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier & Christopher Collier

I’m teaching social studies next year in addition to my science classes, so I need to bulk up on my knowledge of the American Revolution and World War II. My sister read this when she was in middle school, and recommended it as a starting point in my studies to learn not only the vital dates, people and places, but also understanding the motivations of the people involved in the conflict. This novel, meant for older children, characterizes the typical citizen living in the colonies, but does little to teach about the actual war itself. Most of this short book takes place within the village the protagonist lives in while he experiences the conflicts between his father, a loyalist and his brother, a patriot soldier. I felt the story was underdeveloped, and unfortunately didn’t feel like I understood the war much better than before I started it.

Content Rating: For older children; violent descriptions of war (I read that it had been banned in some libraries! That’s ludicrous.)

Length: 240 Pages

Format Read: Library Book

Genre: Historical Fiction

(44) Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt

Keturah and Lord Death is a beautiful fairy tale about a young girl who strikes a love deal with Lord Death after getting lost in the forest for three days. A superb page-turner with excellent romance, humor and an interesting cast of characters; this was a welcome breath of fresh air from most of the young adult books I’ve read this past year. Although the story is about a young girl in a medieval land, it isn’t an unrealistic story about how she defies tradition to force her backwards father to let her marry the young cutie that works in the stables rather than the old, hairy duke who paid for the honor. This is just an honest book about love, and lacks that fury of girl power that many historical fiction books are chalked full of. This isn’t historical fiction, though: this is a fairy tale. For that reason, I adored the story because she is allowed to love for the sake of love, and not to serve a feministic motif forced by the author. This book can be easily devoured in one sitting so make sure you start it when you have time to read the entirety of it.

If you like this book, please check out my friend’s endeavor to make this magical story into a movie: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1912874073/keturah-and-lord-death-the-movie

Content Rating: Appropriate for Young Teens

Length: 216 Pages

Format Read: Library Book

Genre: Fantasy

(45) The Pact by Jodi Picoult

What happens to best friends when tragedy strikes each simultaneously in different ways? This was an extreme page-turner and I read it in nearly one sitting, stopping just for dinner, and staying up past midnight for the final conclusion. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot in my review, so let me just list some of the issues dealt with in this story: the examination of fragile teenage love, the complexity of marriage relationships, the unimaginable pain a mother experiences when tragedy takes away a child, the horrors of prison life, and the lack of truth within our judicial system. I describe her writing as Wally Lamb crossed with Nicholas Sparks; it’s not quite literature, but is riveting, emotional and entertaining. I think the area that is weakest in her writing is her character development—in this story she has seven major characters, so perhaps there are just too many personalities to sufficiently develop each one. When I finished the story, I was left confused about one of the character’s motivations for the dramatic choice she made. I’m not sure if that was the intention of the writer or an omission due to being too close to her own material.

Content: Sexuality and some language

Length: 416 Pages

Format Read: Library Kindle Book

Genre: Fiction

April Books 2012

(27) My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult

In the first book I’ve read by Picoult, a young girl fights for her legal rights to her own body and organs after years of being used to keep her sister alive. Each chapter is told from one of the character’s points of view, and to mark the change in perspective, the font changes for each character. I’m not sure if that would come through on the kindle version—but it was a bonus that added some extra personality to the novel. Because the story comes at you from so many different angles, your emotions are constantly yanked around; do you agree or disagree with her choice to seek legal backing to withhold an organ that could save her sister? This novel is an extremely engaging reading experience--until the last 10 pages. In my opinion and imagination, I believe Picoult was lost about how to finish her novel, so she gave Nicholas Sparks a ring and he suggested the ending. The way this novel is finally wrapped up is so emotionally manipulative that I cannot recommend the book. I will say, if you choose to read this, stop right after the court case has ended and don’t go any further. (After talking to my sister, who has seen the film version, I discovered that the film is ended in a different way; even the filmmakers realized what an awful ending the book had.)

Content Rating: Language & Sexuality

Length: 432 Pages

Format Read: Library Book

Genre: Adult Fiction

(28) Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

This first novel in the Dexter book series follows the case that is also featured in the first season of Showtime’s Dexter television series. It was fun to read the original descriptions of characters that I now feel I know so well after six seasons of the television show. Although there were some plot differences between the series and the story, it was very fun to revisit the ice truck killer case and get deeper inside the mind of Dexter. The writing is simple and the story is short, but it was a great escape. I do feel the television series does a better job telling a truly engaging story. Unlike a two-hour film version of a book, television gives a story much more time to develop and they did a great job enhancing this story through the medium.

Content Rating: Everything—it’s about a serial killer.

Length: 288 Pages

Format Read: Kindle Library Book

Genre: Adult Fiction

(29) The Death Cure by James Dashner

Although I wasn’t a fan of the second book in this trilogy, I had to finish the series to see what happened to the characters in a world that was falling apart. The characters decide whether or not to get back their memories, and finally leave the tests of the mazes and visit actual cities of their world. This book was an improvement, but still struggled to match the suspense and mystery that was so successful in the first novel. The ending was extremely satisfying, I approved of the way it finally ended and for that it was worth finishing the series. I wouldn’t say that these books are bad; it is just that they have many long action scenes and although that may be exciting to most readers, I don’t find those scenes personally engaging.

Content Rating: Young Adult

Length: 336 Pages

Format Read: Kindle Library Book

Genre: Young Adult Fiction

(30) Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

A young girl in a culture far different from our own faces death due to her mother’s passing. This is book is labeled as a sequel to The Giver, but it does not follow the original society or characters followed in the original book. I did enjoy the characters, but the mystery of this civilization was too transparent (although not to the characters). For a short book meant for older children, I felt that more could have happened in the story. The middle of the book focuses on our female protagonist’s quest to learn how to properly dye thread. Not exactly the most compelling topic, especially since the original book of the series is accessible for both boys and girls. I think a kid who got swept up in imaginative world of The Giver would be disappointed and unlikely to finish.

Content Rating: Older Children

Length: 244 Pages

Format Read: Kindle Library Book

Genre: Children’s Dystopia

(31) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Yeah, I’ve never read the Harry Potter books. Not because I hadn’t gotten around to it, I had avoiding reading them because the hype annoyed me. I was just watching a SNL rerun with Daniel Radcliffe, and he made a joke in the opening monologue to adults, saying something like, “You know they were books for kids?” Anyway when the books were getting really popular, I was in college and I wasn’t interested in kid’s books. After finishing the wonderful Fablehaven series last year, I began to question my choice to avoid the Harry Potter series and wonder if I was really missing out on something amazing. 

So what are my thoughts about the first book? I realize it is a kid’s book. I don’t think that all its faults can be forgiven for that fact. Is it okay to say, the story and writing aren’t that great, but that’s okay, we’ll just give it to our children to read? I realize that they probably get better, but I’m not concerned with the series as a whole, I’m reviewing this one individual and beloved novel. I felt that the “main” story was too far in the background, and instead the story was told through a series of B-stories. It jumped around too much. I didn’t feel the world was too imaginative; how hard is it to describe witches and wizards and funny stylish wands? I did enjoy the beginning of the story when Harry was living with his awful aunt and uncle, but as soon as the story shifted to his schooling, Zzzzzz.

Will I read anymore? I don’t know. Not anytime soon.

Content Rating: Kids

Length: 320 Pages

Format Read: Kindle Library Book

Genre: Children’s Fantasy

(32) The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

I love the story—two real magicians raise two children to eventually battle in an ultimate magic duel. Beautifully written, an original premise, and fully immersive in the late 1800’s setting. The vivid descriptions of the night circus itself are enough to make it well worth the read. But, the story moves at a snail’s pace. Maybe slower than a snail’s pace. In a race, a snail would destroy the pace of this story. I was okay with that because I was fully invested in the circus, characters and the outcome of this duel. Yet, I think many readers might find this too slowly developing.

Content Rating: Adult (there is one f-bomb 10 pages in, and then it is oddly nearly devoid of all strong language. So if you are bothered by language and are upset by that first instance—don’t worry it does not occur throughout.)

Length: 400 Pages

Genre: Adult Fiction

(33) Matched by Allie Condie

People love this book. Multiple people recommended it. I don’t think those people had ever read The Giver, because this rips off so many elements from that story it is pathetic. What is more original here is that the characters are too stupid to see what is really happening in their dystopian world. Grandpa is going to die at midnight! But don’t eat his food! Why? Who knows! I’m just told it’s forbidden! I read the final 30% in anger due to the awful, unoriginal and boring writing. You see a flash of another boy’s picture for one brief moment, and you instantly fall in love? Really? Please spend the book reminding us 3,000 times that you are inexplicably in love with the unattainable boy. I do love the repetition. Not. Actually, if you go to the goodreads.com page for this book, and scroll down--find Ghiradelli’s expletive and sarcasm filled loathing of this book; it matches my feelings exactly.

Content Rating: Young Adult

Length: 400 Pages (of agony)

Format Read: Kindle Library Book

Genre: Young Adult Dystopia

(34) Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

I wanted to read this because it seemed to be the quintessential vampire book; I had seen portions of the film version and the graphic scenes intrigued me. The entirety of the book is the vampire, Louis, telling his life story to a boy (a reporter—he’s referred to as “the boy”). His narration does successfully immerse the reader in the tales of his vampire trials and tribulations. The initial beginning of the book (I’d say 20% or so) is quite engaging; I was swept up in wanting to understand his adjustment to a vampire life and how he deals with his murderous guilt. His companion vampire is one-dimensionally evil, yet Louis maintains some of his human emotions towards the value of life for most of the story. As more characters are introduced, my interest continued to grow, as I wanted to know more about what it would be like to be a child vampire. While much interest was created at the front end of the story, the story stagnated for me as Louis and his counterparts search Europe for other vampires. Unfortunately, I was left disappointed and regretful that I had read it by the end; gave it a rating of one star on goodreads.

Content Rating: Language, violence, sexuality

Length: 352 Pages

Format Read: Kindle Library Book

Genre: Adult Fiction

(35) Beyonders: Seeds of Rebellion by Brandon Mull

From the author of the Fablehaven series, this Beyonders novel is the second in the trilogy. Jason returns to Lyrian to continue the battle to overthrow the evil emperor. For a book meant for older children, I am impressed with the maturity of his writing. Mull doesn’t shy away from using challenging vocabulary to enrich his story, and that makes this fantasy story a delight for an adult reader. A lot of the book ends up being a travelogue for the characters, which is not especially interesting, but Mull’s settings and characters are inventive and interesting enough to keep you reading. I did enjoy this sequel more than the first book.

Content Rating: Older Children or Young Adult

Length: 512 Pages

Format Read: Library Book

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

(36) Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

The second book in the series explores another gruesome case faced by serial killer and blood analyst for the Miami Police department, Dexter Morgan. These books are fluffy macabre, and I’m looking forward to reading more. This story was not used in the television series, so reading this and the remaining books in the series is like entering a separate parallel universe of these characters.

Content Rating: Everything, not for the faint of heart.

Length: 320 Pages

Format Read: Kindle Library Book

Genre: Adult Fiction

(37) Across the Universe by Beth Revis

After having a minor mental breakdown after reading Matched, I swore I’d never read another young adult book. And then, a few days later I found myself starting this novel—a story marketed as a young adult romance. I am so happy I didn’t give up completely on this genre! This was a satisfying dystopia. Unlike many of these futuristic worlds, Revis actually is successful in fully explaining why the people have changed their culture and traditions so drastically. By the end, you understood whom to blame for these losses of freedoms, and something is dramatically done to change things.

The opening scene is riveting. A young woman watches her parents get frozen alive to begin their 300-year journey across space. And then, it is her turn. Oddly though, she is woken from her frozen sleep much too early to find a strange civilization living on this massive space ship.

This is dystopia in space. There is a really fun sci-fi living on a space ship aspect to this story. It is claustrophobic. It is also extremely edgy for a young adult book. The teenagers here don’t live in a world where truly awful things don’t happen just because it might be too much for a young adult reader to digest. I think this book respects young adults by dealing with serious issues. I think this is better suited for a high school student because it does have some fairly graphic scenes.

Content Rating: Older Young Adults for Sexuality (15 & up)

Length: 416 Pages

Format Read: Kindle Library Book

Genre: Sci-Fi/Dystopia Fiction

March Books

Spring Break gave me lots of free time to read some great books this month!

(15) Unwind by Neal Shusterman

To appease escalations of war between the pro-life and pro-choice sides of the country, the military offers an option: retroactive abortion of children between the ages of 13-18. Essentially, abortion of the unborn is illegal, but children who are still unwanted or have difficulties with their families or communities by acting out are sent to a facility to “unwind” their bodies where all of their tissues are reused in individuals who pay for their new body parts. This story follows three children who have been designated for unwinding, and follows their attempt for escape from certain doom.

One of the great successes of this dystopian novel is that the pacing and mystery about this society continues throughout the entire book. I’ve noticed some dystopians, especially “Divergent,” that aren’t paced well enough to allow the reader to continue to be interested; not enough tantalizing details about this strange new world sprinkled throughout. In “Divergent,” the author lays out most of the details about the society in the first 30-50 pages, and the rest of the novel turns into a coming of age story and then oddly and abruptly, the tone shifts into a violent war story. In “Unwind” Shusterman maintained my attention even through the action scenes (which typically bore me) because he kept revealing more details about this society in which life is undervalued. It is difficult to gage whether the intention of this book is to be a pro-life or pro-choice message; I think his primary goal is to make the reader think about how we feel about children and teenagers. This was a satisfying young adult book! (Finally!)

Content Rating: Appropriate for young adults; deals with pro-life & pro-choice issues

Length: 352 Pages

Format Read: Library Book

Genre: Young Adult Dystopia

(16) I Want It Now! By Julie Dawn Cole

This short memoir is about the life of Ms. Cole, who as a young actress was cast as Veruca Salt in the classic film: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. As a huge fan of Willy Wonka, I was massively interested to read about the secrets and stories of the set of Willy Wonka. And certainly, the middle part of this memoir, devoted to retelling her experiences on set, were fascinating to an avid fan of the film. However, this book was short, and I’d say only about 30% of the length of the book was spent telling stories about the experiences on the set. About 25% of the length of the book was an index/reference section (unsure why that needed to be included), and the rest of the book talked about her life prior to and after the film. She is has lived an interesting life with her film and television career and humble beginnings, sure, but I wanted more about Willy Wonka--not about her television and fitness career. Unfortunately, the memoir seems focused on glazing over the part of the story that most people who picked up this little book would be curious to read about, and I felt disappointed that there wasn’t more funny stories and insights about the making of the film. Luckily, I didn’t pay for this novel as I got it as my free book through Amazon Prime, but I’m surprised that the publisher has the audacity for charge $10 for the kindle version and a tidy $22 for the book with a index that makes up 25% of the novel. There are many full color photographs and scans of letters and mementos from cast members, so I chose to read this on my kindle fire rather than my kindle.

Happily, I was amused that the “Snozzberry” wallpaper had been flavored with jam. I’d always wondered what the actors tasted as they licked that wallpaper.

Content Rating: Nothing

Length: 252 Pages

Format Read: Kindle Version (Amazon Prime Free Book)

Genre: Non-fiction film memoir

(17) The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht



A young woman’s reflection on the life of her recently deceased grandfather is told here through her work dispensing vaccines to orphaned children. She retells two tall-tale stories that were told to her by her grandfather about the tiger’s wife and the deathless man. My interest in this novel stemmed from the fact it was on some of the “Best of 2011” lists and Amazon kept recommending it to me. The cover looked interesting enough, reminded me a little of “Life of Pi” so I waited two and a half months for my kindle library version to be delivered to me. The writing in this novel by a very young author is absolutely exquisite; the story is painfully dull. I kept on reading through ten percent, twenty percent, thirty percent, thinking “The writing is so good, the story has got to get better. I just need to give it more time. It’s on all these best of lists, what am I missing?” By the time I was at seventy percent, reading it was like an high school exercise with a book you’ve been assigned but have no interest in finishing. I figured, I’ve come all this way, I better finish it. Can’t comment on it negatively if I don’t finish it. So I finished it, and now I can tell you, the story here is sluggish, lacks interesting characters, and I do not recommend. Such a huge disappointment.

Content Rating: Language
Length: 352 Pages
Format Read: Library Kindle Book
Genre: Family Saga Fiction

(18) The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist

This book is an adult version of “Unwind.” Instead of teenagers being harvested for organs, childless adults who reach age 50 (women) and age 60 (men) are declared “dispensable individuals” and are sent to the Unit where they begin to donate kidneys, corneas, and participate in supposedly humane scientific studies until it is their turn to submit to the “final donation.” This book is about friendship, relationships, and the value of life. The tone of this story is achingly haunting and sad, and it was one that I kept thinking about days after I finished it. I think one of the most striking themes of this book is undervaluing of the single person or the non-parent. In this society, having children is the epitome of life, and if you never have the opportunity to be a parent, you have no choice but to meet your fate at the Unit. The short length of this novel was also great for proper pacing with this simple and effective story. Also, even though it is a translation from Swedish, the writing has a nice and easy to read flow to it, unlike some translations I’ve encountered. Recommend to adults.

Content Rating: Sexuality, language, adult themes
Length: 272 Pages
Format Read: Library Kindle Book
Genre: Adult Dystopia




(19) The Maze Runner by James Dashner

A 16-year old boy wakes up in a box, his only memory is his name. He finds himself living among a group of boys with the goal of finding a way out of the area they appear to be stuck in. The only apparent exit is a giant maze whose walls shift and change every night, guarded by strange robotic creatures. This book will easily become classic dystopia along with The Hunger Games. Students warned me, and I agree, that the very beginning is a little slow. Rather than using traditional swear words, Dashner develops his own euphemistic swear words which I felt brought authenticity to the speech of teenage boys. However, it takes a little getting used to, but after awhile you realize, oh, that word is supposed to be THAT, and then the dialogue flows better. It reminds me of the use “frack” in Battlestar Galactica, which at first sounded silly, but now that I’m four seasons in, I do think it does give more edge to the series without actually having to listen to real language. This book is mostly fast paced, dynamic characters (reminds me of Lord of the Flies, slightly) with an interesting cliff-hanger ending. My only complaint I really have is that I felt the only female character is the book is under-utilized in the story, but I definitely got the feeling that this book was written for a male audience. Another great young adult dystopia I feel I can actually recommend!

Content Rating: Appropriate for young adults, euphemistic language
Length: 400 Pages
Format Read: Library Kindle Book
Genre: Young Adult Dystopia

(20) The Road by Cormac McCarthy

With a curious writing style, this is a story about the desperate survival of a father and son set within a muted horror novel. Little explanation is provided about how the country fell apart and why most of the human population has died, but this isn’t a dystopian novel trying to warn its audience about where we could be headed to if we don’t watch ourselves and values; the post-apocalyptic world is merely a vehicle to tell a story about father and son. This is mostly a survival tale in a land that is falling apart. Most of this dismal story is about the father and boy’s search for food and warmth. Some parts are slow, but the pacing allows you feel their hunger, fear and their frostbitten, bloody and mangled feet. I recommend, but there are some graphically violent images conjured up by the text that may be bothersome to some people.

Content Rating: Violent images, small amount of language
Length: 287 Pages
Format Read: Library Kindle Book
Genre: Adult dystopia/survival story



(21) The City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau

The City of Ember is meant for 5th-7th graders, so I had low expectations when I started. It was found on best dystopian novels lists on GoodReads, so I requested it from Overdrive. I was surprised at how good the story development was--fast paced, immersive setting, quick and to the point storytelling. Unlike some books for kids, I felt the story was easily accessible by adults; they wouldn’t feel that it was too juvenile. I do think the character development was a little shallow; but for a short kids chapter book that was okay. There are several sequels, and although I had both the second and third checked out, I never got to them before they were due.

Content Rating: Appropriate for children
Length: 270 Pages
Format Read: Library Kindle Book
Genre: Children’s Dystopian



(22) Matilda by Roald Dahl

Matilda is one of my favorite children’s books, and I look forward to reading it to Lotte one day. I kept having a craving for re-reading this story, so I revisited it this month. I remember being a ten year old, laying on my parent’s couch and devouring this book over and over in one sitting. As an adult, I was extremely impressed with the humor; I kept giggling aloud and reading parts to Greg that were especially absurd. The artwork adds so much to the story as well; the story would not be the same without Quentin Blake’s silly drawings. I do feel it starts stronger than it ends--the beginning part that tells the story of Matilda traveling by herself to the library and loving the classics (as a four year old) is the strongest part of the story. If you had an awful childhood because you missed out on reading Matilda, then it is one you should pick up.

Content Rating: Appropriate for children
Length: 240 Pages
Format Read: Library Book
Genre: Children’s Fiction




(23) The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

I waited so long on the library hold list for this book! Having read (and loved) the Virgin Suicides and Middlesex by Eugenides, I was excited to see his new book on the “Best of 2011” book lists. The protagonist is a graduating college student trying to navigate her love life and future after college. I felt she was very relatable; took me back to being a college student at Scripps. Some reviews I read stated that they felt the book was pretentious due to the frequent literary references, but I wonder if those reviewers had been in a rigorous humanities or core program in college where you do read those types of works.  Following her graduation, the story takes a turn to examine mental health and relationships. Examines questions like: When do you walk away from a relationship when your partner is not healthy? Do you sacrifice yourself for others? For me, this was an immersive, engaging and enjoyable read. It was also great to read something that wasn’t a young adult book!

Content Rating: Sexuality and language
Length: 416 Pages
Format Read: Library Book
Genre: Adult Fiction

(24) The Scorch Trials by James Dashner


This is the second novel in the Maze Runner trilogy, and for all the reasons I liked the Maze Runner, this book unfortunately lacked. The Maze Runner’s story focused on mystery and decoding the maze, so as a reader your interest is high because you want to know how these boys are going to find their way out of their puzzling enigma. The second installment does not have the same level of mystery, and so it ends up being a book about boys walking across the desert, running into predicaments. There is an underdeveloped and strange love triangle mixed in the story, which felt out of place. No more questions are answered, and are left for the third book. I suppose I’ll read the third book to get my questions answered, but I was disappointed with this one.

Content Rating: Appropriate for Young Adults
Length: 384 Pages
Format Read: Kindle Library Book
Genre: Young Adult Dystopia


(25) When the Killing’s Done by T.C. Boyle

Oooo, a book about dueling ecologists, sign me up! The obsessed PETA activist fights against the killing of invasive species on islands off the coast of California. A Ph.D. works hard to protect the native species and certainly destructive from rats and pigs that have been delivered by previous sailors and visitors to the islands. This book was custom made for me. T.C. Boyle is the author of “Tortilla Curtain,” a politically charged novel about immigration, and one of my favorite books. I also read T.C. Boyle’s “Friend of the Earth,” but was disappointed with the story within that one (probably my expectations were too high). Boyle is an amazing writer--awesome with symbolism and dealing with difficult topics in an honest, frank and fair way. I recommend this one if you have an interest in ecology, animal rights or environmental issues--and not necessarily on one side of the fence or the other. I think a carnivore might enjoy this one more than a vegetarian.

Content Rating: Language & Sexuality
Length: 384 Pages
Format Read: Kindle Library Book
Genre: Adult Fiction


(26) Amazing Grace: A Dog's Tale by Dan Dye and Mark Beckloff

Amazing Grace is a short non-fiction story about Dye's relationship with his deaf dog Grace, and how her finicky eating habits lead him to create the Three Dog Bakery with Beckloff. I thoroughly enjoyed the stories of Gracie growing up and learning about the world with a doggy disability. I cried through the ending (it's a dog book--you know what HAS to happen in the end). I got it as the kindle special of the day for .99 cents, which was a super deal! Right now it is only $1.99 at amazon and it is well worth more than that. 


Content Rating: Nothing 
Length: 248 Pages
Format Read: Kindle Book
Genre: Non-fiction

Some Favorite Children's Books

Lotte has more books than I can count since my mom kept all my children’s books. Here are some of my old and new favorites:

What Happened to Patrick’s Dinosaurs?

By Carol Carrick

Illustrated by Donald Carrick

Published 1986

Ever want an easy answer to explain the disappearance of the dinosaurs without all those creation/evolution bothersome details getting in the way? This book is your solution! This is a sequel to “Patrick’s Dinosaurs,” but this one has always been my favorite of the two. I love the silliness of the this story, but the certainty of Patrick’s explanation makes you wonder, maybe the dinosaurs really did pack their belongings and take off on a space ship because people were too bossy.

A Woggle of Witches

By Adrienne Adams

Published 1971

An essential Halloween children’s book, this tells the story of the party habits of witches on this night of celebration. The best parts of this book are the delightful illustrations and yelling “Wheee!!!!!” and “Zoooooom!” when read aloud. Although the colors used in the pictures are very dark, and the witches look very much like scary (smiling) witches, this book is whimsical and fun.

Say Hello To Zorro!

By Carter Goodrich

Published 2011

I don’t care if you have children. If you like dogs, you must own this book. This perfectly captures a dog’s approach to life, and is cute, clever and charming. I read it at Barnes and Noble and knew I’d have to own it about 2 pages into it. I’ve read it to Lotte so many times that I nearly have it memorized. “Shift position, and nap some more time!”

By the way, the second book, "Zorro Gets an Outfit," will be out this May. That will definitely be on Pre-Order from Amazon for me.

Little Bear’s Trousers

By Jane Hissey

Published in 1987

This is a story about a little stuffed bear’s quest to find his lost pants. I love Hissey’s books for their enchanting and realistic illustrations of animated stuffed animals. I have an art print from one of the Old Bear books framed in Lotte’s room. The story is a little long, but I love flipping through it just to look at cute Little Bear and his friends.

Benjy’s Dog House

By Margaret Bloy Graham

Published 1973

Graham illustrated “Harry the Dirty Dog,” but I prefer this story. Poor Benjy gets banished to his ugly barrel dog house, and decides to explore the village he lives in. A run in with a scary cat and a binge-on-meat-pies induced nightmare teaches his family a valuable lesson about not leaving your dog outside. This books stirs up a lot of nostalgia for me, and I think that’s why I love it so much.

Go Dog Go

By P.D. Eastman

Published 1961

Best children’s book of all time, without question. Nothing else to say.

Found this when doing a google search...thought it was appropriate: