Tuesday, February 14, 2012
It Looked Different On The Model: Epic Tales of Impending Shame and Infamy, by Laurie Notaro
Hilarious collection of essays, ranging from getting stuck while trying on a too small blouse in a boutique to a disastrous road trip with a 10 year old nephew. So funny.
Labels:
Adult,
Funny,
It Looked Different on the Model,
Non-fiction,
Notaro,
Wonderful
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From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant, by Alex Gilvarry
Very amusing story of
a Philipino fashion designer who gets stuck in Guantanamo accused of being part of a terrorist ring.
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The Fallback Plan, by Leigh Stein
Wildly depressing quarter-life crisis novel. Esther Kohler had a depressive breakdown during her last semester of college, and has since returned to live with her parents. She spends her days taking prescription pills and smoking pot with a pair of loser-type guys she's known all her life, and then takes a job as a nanny for a couple whose youngest daughter died of SIDS. Esther has an affair with the father, feels terrible for the mother, and at the end, has a bit of what seems to be a breakthrough, but the whole of it, despite being wonderfully written, was too glum for a bright yellow cover. Also, when writing about depressed women in their 20s named Esther, be careful- inviting comparisons with The Bell Jar is bold, but not wise.
Labels:
Adult,
Quarter-Life Crisis,
Stein,
The Fallback Plan
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Treasure Island!!!, by Sara Levine
Very funny,
off-kilter book about a slacker in a quarter-life crisis who decides to try to find the meaning of life in Treasure Island- she tries to adopt it's "core values" of
"boldness, resolution, independence and horn-blowing."
So random.
Made me want to read Treasure Island, actually.
So random.
Made me want to read Treasure Island, actually.
Labels:
Adult,
Funny,
Levine Sara,
Quarter-Life Crisis,
Treasure Island
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Exposed, by Kimberly Marcus
Pretty blah YA novel in verse. Photographer Liz is distressed when her lifelong best friend accuses Liz's brother of raping her.
In verse.
Blah.
In verse.
Blah.
Labels:
Exposed,
Marcus,
suburban melodrama,
verse novel,
YA
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Extra Virginity : The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil , by Tom Mueller
Interesting but slightly overwrought nonfiction about the "sublime and scandalous world of olive oil." As much as I do enjoy microhistories, a major potential problem is always the possibility of the author losing sight of the big picture, not to make a joke, and Mueller here lost the forest for the olive.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Falling for Hamlet, by Michelle Ray
Great modern day YA adaptation of Hamlet- with a twist.
Set in contemporary Denmark, the goings on inside the palace and especially Prince Hamlet's tumultuous relationship with Ophelia are tabloid fodder, and their lives are papparazzi stalked and every move is known. Getrude and Claudius are just as evil as always, now with better technology to do harm with, and the story is very faithful to the original, except for the major (and fantastic) change- Ophelia lives.
So well done.
Set in contemporary Denmark, the goings on inside the palace and especially Prince Hamlet's tumultuous relationship with Ophelia are tabloid fodder, and their lives are papparazzi stalked and every move is known. Getrude and Claudius are just as evil as always, now with better technology to do harm with, and the story is very faithful to the original, except for the major (and fantastic) change- Ophelia lives.
So well done.
Labels:
Falling for Hamlet,
Ray Michelle,
Wonderful,
YA
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Spin, by Catherine McKenzie
When Kate has an interview for her dream job as a music writer, she knows she should have a good early night and be fresh and ready for her interview in the morning, but instead, she ends up getting horribly drunk- so drunk that not only is she late to her interview, but she gets sick during it.
She doesn't expect to hear from them again.
When she does, though, the magazing offers to send her to rehab- if she will use the time to spy on and report about troubled starlet Amber Shepperd at the expensive, exclusive facility.
This was so well done as Kate begins to realize she did have a problem, and as she opens up to herself and the other people at rehab, she and Amber become friends, and Kate has to question all the decisions she's made to get to this point.
Well written, funny in parts, and surprisingly and impressively thought-provoking, this is a great read.
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Saturday, February 4, 2012
Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class, by Owen Jones
Wonderful and thought provoking book. Jones writes with both passion and scholarly precision, and the book examines how it is possible that is it acceptable, and even encouraged, to treat working class people with such disdain that politicians openly call them a "feral underclass" and fancy London gyms teach Chav-beating classes. Thatcherite policies are discussed clearly, and their impacts on once proud communities are shown with compassion, as Jones takes to task the national trend to blame the poor for their poverty, and demean them.
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The Rivals, by Daisy Whitney
Sequel to The Mockingbirds, last year's date rape blah blah blah. Set again at Themis Academy, Alex Patrick- DATE RAPE SURVIVOR - is now the head of the improbable Mockingbirds, the secret society that governs the school in the absence of any adult authority figures. This time, an escándalo de la droga threatens... something, I'm just not sure what though. ANYWAY, some of the students at this bizarre boarding school have become addicted to some kind of ADHD medication called Annies, and it makes them able to debate even better than before! and to dance! And Alex is asked to investigate the 'cheating ring' of drug using debaters. And when she gets her Julliard-hoping piano playing fingers broken by a bully, no one cares. (I didn't either).
I wanted to like Mockingbirds, but didn't. This I hoped would redeem Mockingbirds, but it only served to reinforce my original feeling that Daisy Whitney writes some of the worst and most pretentious YA around.
I wanted to like Mockingbirds, but didn't. This I hoped would redeem Mockingbirds, but it only served to reinforce my original feeling that Daisy Whitney writes some of the worst and most pretentious YA around.
Labels:
Awful,
The Rivals,
Whitney,
YA
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It's a Waverly Life, by Maria Murnane
UNBELIEVABLY bad. Blech. This was one of the worst patronizing condescening pieces of crap i have ever come across. this made me angry that it was published. plotless, soulless, absolutely pointless, pallid, putrid, and if it had a smell it would be cheap perfume. Waverly is an incredibly annoying writer of an advice column- you know what, just don't read it. Or do. I DON'T CARE. All I care about is that this piece of garbage ate like 2 hours of my life, and I WANT THEM BACK.
Labels:
Adult,
Awful,
Chick-Lit,
It's A Waverly Life,
Murnane
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When My Baby Dreams, by Adele Enerson
Fantastic picture book! This is so cute, and totally inspiring. I am not sure if my baby loves it as much as I do, but it was so much fun to try to replicate one of the pictures from the book- if she ever falls asleep again, I might try some others!
Labels:
Childrens,
Enerson,
Picture book,
When My Baby Dreams,
Wonderful
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Keep the Aspidistra Flying, by George Orwell
Wildly depressing but wonderfully written. Gordon Comstock is a failed poet, scraping by in a dingy bedsit, and although he claims to despice money, he is obsessed with it. He can't afford to take out his girlfriend, Rosemary, and they have one of the most depressing relationships I have ever read about. His wealthy friend Ravelston tries to do him favors, but Gordon seems determined to ruin himself. When Rosemary becomes pregnant, Gordon must return to work at an advertising agency, doing work he despises, and he throws away his unfinished manuscript for his magnum opus, London Pleasures. They get a small flat, and he buys an aspidistra. Freaking DEPRESSING.
Labels:
Adult,
Keep the Aspidistra Flying,
Orwell,
Wonderful
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Queen Lucia, by E. F. Benson
Very amusing but bitchy social satire. Lucia's vanities and pretenstions are skewed in this, but it had a really kind of deliciousness too it. Will look for more in the series, apparently there are a whole bunch.
Labels:
Adult,
Benson,
Queen Lucia,
Wonderful
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A Charitable Body, by Robert Barnard
Not very good mystery, set in and about a grand country house now open to the public. Plot too strained and muddled to relate.
Labels:
A Charitable Body,
Adult,
Barnard,
mystery
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Death in High Heels, by Christianna Brand
Labels:
Adult,
Brand,
Death in High Heels,
mystery
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Wolves in Chic Clothing, by Jill Kargman
Fun fluffy bitchy New York socialites Pygmalion thing. Julia Pearce is working in an exclusive jewelly shop, when she is noticed by the heiress for the company, Lell. Lell decides to make Julia the new It girl around town, but Julia's social successes cause trouble between them, especially when Lell's new husband gets into Julia. Bath book- I wouldn't recommend it, but it was a great bubble bath book.
Actually, I really think I've read something else by these two. Going to look that up now.
Actually, I really think I've read something else by these two. Going to look that up now.
Labels:
Adult,
Chick-Lit,
Karasyoy,
Kargman,
material girls,
NYC,
Wolves in Chic Clothing
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A Countess Below Stairs, by Eva Ibbotson
This was just wonderful. It has been SO LONG since I have just enjoyed a book this much- and it was such an unexpected treat. I usually don't read romance, and hardly ever read historical fiction, but this was just enchanting. Exiled Russian Countess Anna goes to work at an English country house, and to say much more would be plot spoiling, but I LOVED it, and want to read many more by Ibbotson. YA, but I think if she had spiced it up a bit, it would have been a HUGE adult read too. As is, it is just lovely.
Labels:
A Countess Below Stairs,
Historical Fiction,
Ibbotson,
Romance,
Wonderful,
YA
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150 Pounds, by Kate Rockland
This was a fun light read that was really enjoyable. Blog stars Alexis Allbright, of Skinny Girl fame, and Shoshanna Weiner, of Fat and Fabulous meet on Oprah, and face off about their opposing viewpoints on weight and health. After their appearance on tv, though, life changes lead to Alexis gaining weight and to Shoshanna losing weight, until they are both 150 pounds, and they meet again on Oprah. This was pretty predictable, but it was really nicely done for a genre I usually don't even pick up.
Labels:
150 Pounds,
Adult,
Chick-Lit,
Rockland
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Breakdown, by Sara Paretsky
I don't know how I never read Sara Paretsky before, but this was surprisingly good, I though. A group of teens attempting to reenact a ritual from a popular YA vampire series in a cemetary late at night come across a murder, and private investigator V.I. Warshawski uncovers a series of links going back to WWII... Well written, well plotted, and engrossing. Not the usual bestseller contemporary crime fiction, at all- yes, Patterson, I mean you.
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Level Up, by Gene Luen Yang
Excellent YA graphic novel. Dennis is an excellent gamer, but guilt over his dead father's ambitions for him make him force himself to deny videogames and to go to medical school to become a gastroenterologist- some magical realism in the form of angels from a greeting card added a surreal element, but this was a powerful and well drawn book.
Labels:
graphic novel,
Level Up,
Wonderful,
YA,
Yang
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Teenage Waistland, by Lynn Biederman and Lisa Pazer
Pretty bad YA about a group of teens who get lap band surgery in a clinical trial of using the weight loss technique on teens. The characters were well drawn, but too much trauma drama, and the great endings for everone felt very forced.
Labels:
Awful,
Biederman,
Teenage Waistland,
YA
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Lunatics, by Dave Barry
Freaking HILLARIOUS caper romp of a book- after a disagreement over a call on a girls soccer game, two men enter into a series of retaliations that escalates to truly ludicrous points, and they become international terrorists/freedom fighters, and accidentally heroes and canditates for President. This was so funny, I would love to read it again.
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Police at the Funeral, by Margery Allingham
Classic golden age mystery, good plot, and interestingly, in this one Albert Campion didn't anny me as much as he usually does.
Labels:
Adult,
Allingham,
mystery,
Police at the Funeral
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Sunday, January 15, 2012
Below Stairs: The Classic Kitchen Maid's Memoir That Inspired " Upstairs, Downstairs" and "Downton Abbey", by Margaret Powell
Fascinating social history. This wonderful memoir was so well written, and gave an incredible look into what being a kitchenmaid and then a cook in grand houses in between-the-wars England was really like. The humiliations and depravations were many, but Powell's clear writing gives a bigger picture of what it was like to see the end of an era of upstairs/downstairs, and her unusual clarity of thought and original ideas made her as interesting as the greater picture she painted.
The Drowned Cities, by Paolo Bacigalupi
Wildly creative if depressing followup to Bacigalupi's Prinz-winning knockout Ship Breaker. This isn't a sequel- could totallly stand on its own- the only link between the books is the ravaged future America and the half-man called Tool. In this one, clearly set in and near a ruined Washington DC, war refugees Mahlia and Mouse are separated when he is kidnapped to become part of a troop of child soldiers, and Mahlia must choose whether to try to run or to try to save him. Brutal and very very dark, this was a haunting and brilliant book based on current events (child soldiers in Africa) that was drawn so clearly it seems inevitable.
Labels:
Bacigalupi,
Dystopia,
Post-Apocalyptic Fiction,
Sci-Fi,
The Drowned Cities,
Wonderful,
YA
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The List of Adrian Messenger, by Phillip MacDonald
Labels:
Adult,
MacDonald,
mystery,
The List of Adrian Messenger
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The Baker Street Letters, by Michael Robertson
Very clever and charming book! When lawyers and brothers Reggie and Nigel take over the lease to use a business space at 221B Baker Street, they unknowingly sign an agreement to handle mail that arrives for Sherlock Holmes. Nigel begins to get concerened about some letters, and the mystery leads them to Los Angeles to uncover a Chinatown kind of crime. Fun and really original and damned well done.
Labels:
Adult,
mystery,
Robertson,
The Baker Street Letters,
Wonderful
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Murder Never Forgets, by Diana O'Hehir
Pretty awful mystery- an Egyptologist with Alzheimer's and his marginally employed daughter solve a series of murders at his retirement home - ???? Yeah.
Labels:
Adult,
Awful,
Murder Never Forgets,
mystery,
O'Hehir
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An English Murder, by Cyril Hare
Pretty classic and well done English country house murder- champagne and snow and an inheritance plot. Me likey.
Labels:
Adult,
An English murder,
Hare,
mystery
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Holidays in Heck, by P.J. O'Rourke
Unpleasant book by the increasingly unlikeable P.J. O'Rourke. Holidays in Hell was a hell of a funny book, Holidays in Heck, he comes across and the right-wing asshat that he is. Oh well.
Labels:
Adult,
Awful,
Holidays in Heck,
Non-fiction,
O'Rourke,
Travel
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Past Perfect, by Leila Sales
Really fun YA with an unfathomably unrelated and awful cover. The book was pretty good actually, Chelsea is spending another summer working at a Colonial history re-enactment village, like Williamsburg, and the teen employees there are at war with the Civil War re-enactors across the street. Chelsea is torn between team loyalty, and her new feelings for Dan, one of the enemy.
Murder at the Villa Byzantine, by R.T. Raichev
Another well plotted classic style Country House mystery by the charming Bulgarian Raichev. I think his fantasy world is much like mine. Have a bit of an odd writer crush on him.
Labels:
Adult,
Murder at the Villa Byzantine,
mystery,
Raichev
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Queen of Heartrs, by Martha Brooks
Well crafted but very slow historical fiction set in a tuberculosis sanitorium in WWII Manitoba, Canada. When 15 year old Marie-Claire and her siblings become ill, she has no idea that she will spend the next 2 years of her life fighting for her life. This was good, but I don't think it has real teen appeal, and was pretty slow.
Labels:
Brooks Martha,
Historical Fiction,
Queen of Hearts,
YA
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Green for Danger, by Christianna Brand
FANTASTIC medical mystery set in a WWII hospital. Brand is an author I found in that Country House mystery anthology, and I am so glad. This was also apparently adapted into a successful movie, and I want to see that now. Will be looking for more books by her!
Labels:
Adult,
Brand,
Green for Danger,
mystery,
Wonderful
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Wild Abandon, by Joe Dunthorne
Well, I read this because of great reviews about it, but it didn't really work for me. A failed commune in Wales, troubled families, a child waiting for the end of the world, rampant drug use and paranoia sounds like my kind of book, but just wasn't.
Labels:
Adult,
Dunthorne,
Wild Abandon
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All About Roasting: A New Approach to a Classic Art, by Molly Stevens
Labels:
Adult,
All About Roasting,
Cookbook,
Non-fiction,
Stevens Molly
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The Future of Us, by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler
Pretty terrible YA. Set in 1996, the book is based on the ludicrous premise that annoying character Emma's new computer can access Facebook 15 years in the future. Not liking what she sees for herself and her best friend Josh, she blithy proceeds to screw with the future in a way that Doc Brown would seriously disapprove of. This is because she is a selfish and thoughtless bitch. Josh is kind of dumb. The book was bad.
This is how Doc Brown would look at these chuckleheads.
This is how Doc Brown would look at these chuckleheads.
Labels:
Asher,
Awful,
Mackler,
The Future of Us,
YA
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Fairieality, by the House of Elward
Pretty but silly coffee-table book about fairy couture. I had hoped it would be much more like Fairy Houses Everywhere, which was beautiful and whimsical and inspiring, but this was just beautiful and whimsical. However, as Meatloaf will always remind us, 2 out of 3 ain't bad.
Labels:
Art Book,
Elward,
Faireality,
Non-fiction
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The Burglar in the Closet, by Lawrence Block
Ok Bernie Rhodenbarr mystery. Not nearly as enjoyable as The Burglar in the Rye, with it's charming nod to Salinger's privacy, but still a fun read.
Labels:
Adult,
Block,
Funny,
mystery,
The Burglar in the Closet
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Thursday, January 12, 2012
The Burglar in the Rye, by Lawrence Block
Wildly charming mystery. It is hard to make a criminal a sympathetic protagonist, but Bernie is just so funny, and I LOVED the whole tribute to Salinger thing and the smacks at Joyce Carol Oates. Great fun read.
Labels:
Adult,
Block,
Funny,
mystery,
The Burglar in the Rye
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Monday, January 2, 2012
English Country House Murders, edited by Thomas Godfrey
This was a fantastic collection of short stories spanning the decades of the great English Country House Mystery genre, with contributions from just about all of the greats. So well edited, the choices from the obvious authors were unusual ones, and real treats, but for me ther great finds were the authors I was unfamiliar with. Country House Mysteries are one of my greatest escapist treats, so this whole book was for me like having a wonderful box of chocolates.
My favorite stories are starred below.
Labels:
Adult,
English Country House Murders,
mystery,
Real-Estate Porn,
Short Stories,
United Kingdom
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Saturday, December 31, 2011
Best of 2011
Best Adult Fiction (novel) - The Lover's Dictionary, by David Levithan
Also Awesome
Ed King, by David Guterson
The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides
Zone One, by Colson Whitehead
The Leftovers, by Tom Perrotta
Best Adult Fiction (short stories) - Blueprints for Building Better Girls, by Elissa Schappell
Best Adult Fiction (mystery or thriller) - Wicked Autumn, by G.M. Malliet
Also Awesome
Rogue Island, by Bruce DeSilva
Best Adult Fiction (sci-fi or fantasy) - When She Woke, by Hillary Jordan
Best Adult Fiction (Historical Fiction) - American Heiress, by Daisy Goodwin
Best Graphic Novel - Lost and Found, by Shaun Tan
Also Awesome
The Scrapbook of Francie Pratt, by Caroline Preston
Best Adult Non-Fiction - Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World, by Michael Lewis
Also Awesome
Sex, Death and Oysters: A Half-Shell Lover's World Tour, by Robb Walsh
Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks, by Ken Jennings
Few Eggs and No Oranges, by Vere Hodgson
Best YA Fiction - Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor
Also Awesome
All These Things I've Done, by Gabrielle Zevin
Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick, by Joe Schreiber
Cinder, by Marissa Meyer
Best Childrens' Book - The Grimm Legacy, by Polly Shulman
Best Picture Book - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, by Jerry Pinkney
Best Documentary - Exit Through The Gift Shop
Best Feature Film - The Social Network
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