by Kazu Kibuishi
personal copy paperback 213 pages
genre: YA graphic novel fantasy
So glad this finally came out! I was so excited to get my copy! Love this series and can hardly wait for number seven. Emily and Navin are fighting in different arenas now, but their sibling love and sense of right and wrong is holding true. The shadow creatures are taking over more people and areas.
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Monday, September 15, 2014
The Invention of Wings
by Sue Monk Kidd
Hennepin County Library hardcover 359 pages
genre: historical fiction (based on real people)
This book has been getting a lot of buzz and I was interested. There were things I loved about the author's Secret Life of Bees and things that frustrated me as a reader. This book is absolutely wonderful!
Told from the points of view of Sarah Grimke' and "her" slave Hetty / Handful, the story takes us from their earliest childhood memories in 1803 Charleston to their "wings" in 1838.
It's 5am and I have to hurry, so this review will not be well-done.
page 145 - When young Sarah asserts that the slaves should not only be free but also equal to the white people, she realizes that she has her thoughts about this topic and "could only attribute it to God, with whom I'd lately taken up and who was proving to be more insurrectionary than law-abiding." I love that! The slave owners were using Scripture to "prove" their right to own slaves and to keep the slaves in line, but she was learning something different about God's intentions.
page 115 - When Sarah catches Handful bathing in the copper tub in her room, she is shocked. "I saw then what I hadn't seen before, that I was very good at despising slavery in the abstract, in the removed and anonymous masses, but in the concrete intimate flesh of the girl beside me, I'd lost the ability to be repulsed by it. I'd grown comfortable with the particulars of evil. There's a frightful muteness that dwells at the center of all unspeakable things, and I had found my way into it."
page 207 - When Thomas (her beloved brother) draws Sarah out of her depression by sharing news of Jefferson's writing and the possibility of the country being split by slavery . . . When she responds, "If the Union dies, as our old president says, it will be from lack of imagination . . . It will be from Southern hubris and our love of wealth, and the brutality of our hearts!" I love when he says, "There she is. That's my sister." It's sad that women of that era had such a narrowly defined range of options. Sarah had wanted to study law like her brothers, but was soundly discouraged when she stated her wish. Her father even forbade her entrance to his library which he had previously allowed.
page 291 - I love when Handful takes Sky to see Denmark Vesey's house. "He would've called you daughter if he'd had the chance." Handful is such a deep and amazing character. I love that her mother hadn't taken the money. It was in the story quilt all along! I love the quilting throughout the story and the meaning it had for these women who were never supposed to read or write (though I'm glad Sarah taught Handful).
page 297 - Sarah writes to her sister Nina, "It has come as a great revelation to me that abolition is different from the desire for racial equality. Color prejudice is at the bottom of everything. If it's not fixed, the plight of the Negro will continue long after abolition." How true!
Author's notes - when I first encountered Lucretia Mott's name in the story, I was a bit surprised because she really lived and worked in women's rights . . . and then I discovered that the story of the Grimke' sisters is based on women of that name who lived and worked in the abolition and women's rights movements. They were truly ahead of their time! They were speaking out well before Seneca Falls . . . how have I not heard of them before?!?! This makes me want to do some research. Kidd has a great bibliography and these are a few titles she highlights:
Hennepin County Library hardcover 359 pages
genre: historical fiction (based on real people)
This book has been getting a lot of buzz and I was interested. There were things I loved about the author's Secret Life of Bees and things that frustrated me as a reader. This book is absolutely wonderful!
Told from the points of view of Sarah Grimke' and "her" slave Hetty / Handful, the story takes us from their earliest childhood memories in 1803 Charleston to their "wings" in 1838.
It's 5am and I have to hurry, so this review will not be well-done.
page 145 - When young Sarah asserts that the slaves should not only be free but also equal to the white people, she realizes that she has her thoughts about this topic and "could only attribute it to God, with whom I'd lately taken up and who was proving to be more insurrectionary than law-abiding." I love that! The slave owners were using Scripture to "prove" their right to own slaves and to keep the slaves in line, but she was learning something different about God's intentions.
page 115 - When Sarah catches Handful bathing in the copper tub in her room, she is shocked. "I saw then what I hadn't seen before, that I was very good at despising slavery in the abstract, in the removed and anonymous masses, but in the concrete intimate flesh of the girl beside me, I'd lost the ability to be repulsed by it. I'd grown comfortable with the particulars of evil. There's a frightful muteness that dwells at the center of all unspeakable things, and I had found my way into it."
page 207 - When Thomas (her beloved brother) draws Sarah out of her depression by sharing news of Jefferson's writing and the possibility of the country being split by slavery . . . When she responds, "If the Union dies, as our old president says, it will be from lack of imagination . . . It will be from Southern hubris and our love of wealth, and the brutality of our hearts!" I love when he says, "There she is. That's my sister." It's sad that women of that era had such a narrowly defined range of options. Sarah had wanted to study law like her brothers, but was soundly discouraged when she stated her wish. Her father even forbade her entrance to his library which he had previously allowed.
page 291 - I love when Handful takes Sky to see Denmark Vesey's house. "He would've called you daughter if he'd had the chance." Handful is such a deep and amazing character. I love that her mother hadn't taken the money. It was in the story quilt all along! I love the quilting throughout the story and the meaning it had for these women who were never supposed to read or write (though I'm glad Sarah taught Handful).
page 297 - Sarah writes to her sister Nina, "It has come as a great revelation to me that abolition is different from the desire for racial equality. Color prejudice is at the bottom of everything. If it's not fixed, the plight of the Negro will continue long after abolition." How true!
Author's notes - when I first encountered Lucretia Mott's name in the story, I was a bit surprised because she really lived and worked in women's rights . . . and then I discovered that the story of the Grimke' sisters is based on women of that name who lived and worked in the abolition and women's rights movements. They were truly ahead of their time! They were speaking out well before Seneca Falls . . . how have I not heard of them before?!?! This makes me want to do some research. Kidd has a great bibliography and these are a few titles she highlights:
Sunday, September 07, 2014
Baby, Come Home
by Stephanie Bond
Hennepin County Library audiobook 7 discs
read by Cassandra Campbell
genre: romance
Yep. I "read" another dumb romance novel. Amy Bradshaw. Kendall Armstrong. The town of Sweetness, Georgia. Re-building the covered bridge. I actually yelled at the characters while listening and driving. Idiots. I must resist the urge to check out any more of these.
Hennepin County Library audiobook 7 discs
read by Cassandra Campbell
genre: romance
Yep. I "read" another dumb romance novel. Amy Bradshaw. Kendall Armstrong. The town of Sweetness, Georgia. Re-building the covered bridge. I actually yelled at the characters while listening and driving. Idiots. I must resist the urge to check out any more of these.
Scat
by Carl Hiaasen
Hennepin County Library, audiobook 8 discs
read by Ed Asner
genre: YA realistic fiction, humor
At first I was excited that Asner was the reader . . . then I decided that while I enjoy his acting, I don't think he's a wonderful reader. The women sounded terrible and much of the text was flat. Oh well.
It's another fun environmental story set in Florida. The kids (Nick, Marta, and Smoke) are delightful! The educators are all horrid - what an embarrassment to the profession! When cruel Mrs. Starch takes the grade level to the Black Vine Swamp for a science field trip, a fire sends them leaving early. Only Mrs. Starch is missing. Mystery ensues.
At least now I've read it and can booktalk it better to kids.
(Above written 9/7/14. Below written 5/8/17.)
I got this because Louie and I had enjoyed Chomp so much (and I didn't immediately remember that I had already "read" it. Again, we did NOT like Asner's vocal work. Here's my ordering of Hiiasen's YA books from favorite to least (yes, I know there are others I've not yet read):
Chomp
Flush
Hoot
Scat
Hennepin County Library, audiobook 8 discs
read by Ed Asner
genre: YA realistic fiction, humor
At first I was excited that Asner was the reader . . . then I decided that while I enjoy his acting, I don't think he's a wonderful reader. The women sounded terrible and much of the text was flat. Oh well.
It's another fun environmental story set in Florida. The kids (Nick, Marta, and Smoke) are delightful! The educators are all horrid - what an embarrassment to the profession! When cruel Mrs. Starch takes the grade level to the Black Vine Swamp for a science field trip, a fire sends them leaving early. Only Mrs. Starch is missing. Mystery ensues.
At least now I've read it and can booktalk it better to kids.
(Above written 9/7/14. Below written 5/8/17.)
I got this because Louie and I had enjoyed Chomp so much (and I didn't immediately remember that I had already "read" it. Again, we did NOT like Asner's vocal work. Here's my ordering of Hiiasen's YA books from favorite to least (yes, I know there are others I've not yet read):
Chomp
Flush
Hoot
Scat
Passing Strangers
by Angela Hunt
Scott County Library paperback 341 pages
genre: Christian fiction, relationships
This was the July book club title, but I was out of town and waiting a long time for the libraries to get a copy . . . I enjoyed this story (and thought I had already blogged about it) but thought that the resolutions were a little too pat.
There are three interwoven story lines. Andie Crystal (aka Christie Huggins) has worked to distance herself from her family fame as a singing sensation in a reality show (a la The Partridges, but "real."). She has thrown herself into her work, changed her name, and kept to herself.
Matt Scofield (?) is a high-powered attorney who let his children be raised almost entirely by his wife until she died. Then the nanny took care of them. Now he's running through babysitters like a hot knife through butter. He hopes to have his mother raise them for a few years.
Janette Turlington is at wit's end (though we don't know why until the end of the book) and needs to get away to think.
All three of these characters buy a ticket to ride the train to ten different southern cities. All three of them get incredibly involved in one another's lives.
page 161 - I like it when Andie is in her mother's hospital room and remembers Janette's words of wisdom. "Some people are simply blind. They only see what they want to see, and they're not going to change just because life hands them a tragedy. But they don't have to make us suffer. We can accept them, forgive them, and move forward." Amen!
pages 252-3 - I was so glad when Matthew's mom chewed him out! She told him what he needed to hear. Then in his dream he sees his wife who tells him, "You are the foundation of this family and our children's father. Nothing you do is as important as raising them." Love it!
page 275 - When Janette is spilling everything to a stranger on the bus, she thinks that "good mothers and loyal wives don't run away. When the going got tough, tough women stepped up to the challenge." So heart-breaking on either extreme - when people try to be strong enough to handle it all, and when people absolve themselves of any responsibility . . .
page 292-5 - I liked that Janette realized that her appearance wasn't important. Relationships are important. The random angel-type guy seemed out-of-place for the story. He was a divine appointment, but it just felt forced (especially when he also showed up later in the hospital in a different city).
Overall, an enjoyable story. But definitely not my favorite Angela Hunt book. Each character's dramatic change in attitude and life situation seemed unlikely.
added 10/1/14 with notes from 8/30/14:
- Pet peeve - at least four major errors! (Don't they hire proof readers any more?) read from page 39 . . .
-Andie Crystal (aka Christy Huggins), Janette Turlington, and Matt Scofield (lawyer, lost wife Inga a year ago, lost Irish nanny Nessa a month ago to go back home to boyfriend) - Kids are Roman and Emilia
- unrealistic "neat" ending / major life changes for Andie & Matt w/ minimal impetus
- page 326 - Annalisa talking about her struggle
Scott County Library paperback 341 pages
genre: Christian fiction, relationships
This was the July book club title, but I was out of town and waiting a long time for the libraries to get a copy . . . I enjoyed this story (and thought I had already blogged about it) but thought that the resolutions were a little too pat.
There are three interwoven story lines. Andie Crystal (aka Christie Huggins) has worked to distance herself from her family fame as a singing sensation in a reality show (a la The Partridges, but "real."). She has thrown herself into her work, changed her name, and kept to herself.
Matt Scofield (?) is a high-powered attorney who let his children be raised almost entirely by his wife until she died. Then the nanny took care of them. Now he's running through babysitters like a hot knife through butter. He hopes to have his mother raise them for a few years.
Janette Turlington is at wit's end (though we don't know why until the end of the book) and needs to get away to think.
All three of these characters buy a ticket to ride the train to ten different southern cities. All three of them get incredibly involved in one another's lives.
page 161 - I like it when Andie is in her mother's hospital room and remembers Janette's words of wisdom. "Some people are simply blind. They only see what they want to see, and they're not going to change just because life hands them a tragedy. But they don't have to make us suffer. We can accept them, forgive them, and move forward." Amen!
pages 252-3 - I was so glad when Matthew's mom chewed him out! She told him what he needed to hear. Then in his dream he sees his wife who tells him, "You are the foundation of this family and our children's father. Nothing you do is as important as raising them." Love it!
page 275 - When Janette is spilling everything to a stranger on the bus, she thinks that "good mothers and loyal wives don't run away. When the going got tough, tough women stepped up to the challenge." So heart-breaking on either extreme - when people try to be strong enough to handle it all, and when people absolve themselves of any responsibility . . .
page 292-5 - I liked that Janette realized that her appearance wasn't important. Relationships are important. The random angel-type guy seemed out-of-place for the story. He was a divine appointment, but it just felt forced (especially when he also showed up later in the hospital in a different city).
Overall, an enjoyable story. But definitely not my favorite Angela Hunt book. Each character's dramatic change in attitude and life situation seemed unlikely.
added 10/1/14 with notes from 8/30/14:
- Pet peeve - at least four major errors! (Don't they hire proof readers any more?) read from page 39 . . .
-Andie Crystal (aka Christy Huggins), Janette Turlington, and Matt Scofield (lawyer, lost wife Inga a year ago, lost Irish nanny Nessa a month ago to go back home to boyfriend) - Kids are Roman and Emilia
- unrealistic "neat" ending / major life changes for Andie & Matt w/ minimal impetus
- page 326 - Annalisa talking about her struggle
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