Pictures of Hollis Woods

by Patricia Reilly Giff
Carver County Library audioCDs
genre: YA coming-of-age

This is a re-read to prepare for sixth grade book club. Wonderful story. Hollis Woods has bounced from foster home to foster home, running away when she's had enough. Then she's placed with the Regan family for the summer and she has found a true home. Until she goes up the mountain and Steven comes for her . . . Told in flashback form after she is placed with the elderly Josie, Hollis Woods is the work of an artist! Beautiful. Made me cry. I love the Regan family.

Columbine

by Dave Cullen
Carver County Library, hard cover, 388 pages
genre: NF, school shooting

Hard-hitting. Powerful. There are so many things I could say about this book. We had a good book club discussion on this title at PRMS. Some of the things that came up were:
- how much did the parents know ahead of time? Could they have done things differently?
- have we had students who were psychopathic? How can one know?
- why did the sheriff not listen to his staff?

There was more, of course, but too much to blog about when I'm not in a writing mood. Absolutely incredible, well-researched book.

The Jane Austen Book Club

by Karen Joy Fowler
Hennepin County Library, audioCDs
read by Kimberly Schraf

Hmmm. I really want to see the movie, which I'd heard great things about. This book didn't connect strongly for me. The book club format was an interesting way to get to know Jocelyn, Sylvia, Allegra, Bernadette, Prudie, and Grigg. But just as I was getting to know a character well, the story switched to a different line. It was kind of disconcerting. And I thought the women were a little snotty. Anyhow, it did make me want to re-read Austen's works, though I'm definitely not in love with them the way these characters are!

From my notes:
Jocelyn - dogs
Sylvia - Daniel
Allegra - Corrine
Prudie - French
Grigg - SciFi
Bernadette - talker

Speak

by Laurie Halse Anderson
PRMS paperback 198 pages
genre: YA coming-of-age

This is a re-read to prep for 8th grade book club. It made me cry again. What a powerful book about one person's private pain. Being able to confide is powerful. Melinda Sordino goes through too much emotional tragedy in her ninth grade year. I love the author's notes at the end of this edition.

Children of Alcatraz: Growing Up on the Rock

by Claire Rudolf Murphy
PRMS, hard cover, 60 pages
genre: Non-fiction history

Very quick & cool read about the children who lived on Alcatraz Island over the years. Lots of awesome photos! This island and its history fascinate me. There's not a lot of info here, but it's well-organized and easy to follow.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More

by Roald Dahl
Mary Verbick's copy, paperback, 225 pages
genre: short story collection, life

Mary recommended "The Swan," which she uses with her students. It disturbed me, but Dahl's work sometimes does. Reactions:

The Boy Who Talked With Animals - mob mentality, arrogance of the rich, poor tortoise, glad the boy rescued him and he rescued the boy!

The Hitchhiker - funny, but I can't believe the driver took the taunt to speed. Love how it ends.

The Treasure of Mildenhall - cool message at the end, though when Gordon Butcher went to get Ford, I thought "NO!" Interesting how greed can warp people. Silver vs. pewter . . . nice.

The Swan - I hate bullies and senseless violence.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar - long and involved. Interesting. I didn't expect the ending. Again, themes of greed, wealth, and manipulation play here.

Lucky Break - How I Became a Writer - my favorite!!! Very cool autobiographical story of Dahl's young life and unexpected start as an author. Love it!

A Piece of Cake - first story Dahl penned for Forrester to write up as a piece for the Saturday Evening Post. Very cool how this changed his life!

Little Bee

by Chris Cleave
Hennepin County Library, hardcover 271 pages
genre: modern day refugee fiction, relationships

Beautiful. Painful. Haunting. Mary V recommended this last spring. I got on the reserve list in June or July. I got this copy three weeks ago and it's due back tomorrow (waiting list). Read it over the last few days.

Little Bee is a Nigerian girl and Sarah is a British woman. They met once on a beach in Nigeria. Two years later, they meet again. The front flap of the book says, "Once you have read it, you'll want to tell your friends about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens. The magic is in how the story unfolds."

I'll just say that it is very worth reading, but very challenging, too. (Emotionally, mostly. Intellectually, it made me curious to know more. How close to reality is this fiction?)

I'm dying to discuss this with book club, but it's not one of our book club titles! We might have to put it there for next year.



I started to listen to the audiobook about a month ago. I remembered loving this book, but wasn't enjoying some of it as I started "reading" it this time around. I checked this blog entry and pressed on. Alas, it was due back at the library and I had a stack of other books to read. Here are my notes from the first two discs:

- scene where Andrew and Sarah O'Rourke are having sex and little Charlie shows up with poop everywhere . . . why?!
- Yvette from Jamaica, girl with documents, girl in yellow sari, and Bee from Nigeria . . . I wish I could learn more about the other women's stories. So fascinating to look at immigrants and what is happening nowadays . . .

That's it. Too many books and too little time. So I returned it to the library and wen with some other books piled up in my room.

Phineas Gage

by John Fleischman
PRMS Mary's collection audioCDs 1.5 hours
read by Kevin Orton

Fascinating! I have been meaning to read this for years. It's much more about the brain and developing theories (in the 1800s) about how the brain works. Amazing and bizarre that Phineas survived this crazy accident.

Odd thing, though . . . the photo of his skull shows a hole in the *right* side of his face, but the book definitely talked about the spike going through the left side. Unless by "left" side, they mean as one was looking AT him . . . odd, though. I always though that when one talks about a body part, it is from the perspective of the one in the body!

Lady in Waiting

by Susan Meissner
Hennepin County Library audioCDs 10 hours
read by Donna Rawlins and Samantha Eggar

A dual story of Jane Lindsay, whose husband walks away from their marriage, and Lady Jane Grey, told from her seamstress Lucy's perspective, this book was not fun for me. The genuine surprise when Brad says he's not sure he loves his wife any more bothered me. The historical aspect of the tragic Jane of middle ages was more to my liking. Interesting stuff, the intrigue and power plays of those closest to power. I really liked the letters at the end, telling the story of the ring that the modern-day Jane could never know.

Our discussion was lively, as usual, with Kim E and I seeing much of it the same way. Women and choices . . .

4/8/13
I did a re-listen (it's been two years - I didn't really remember when I grabbed it at the library).
Dislike: modern Jane's wishy-washy personality and overbearing mother
Like: the story of the ring and the historical fiction that makes me want to know more about the Tudors.
Both vocal performers were great!