About a Boy by Nick Hornby

About a Boy

By: Nick Hornby

Genre: adult fiction

Pages: 307

Published: 1998

Read: January

3 out of 5 stars

A single man, Will, decides that at his age pretending to be a single parent may get him more dates. He starts living his lie, but after getting caught he ends up becoming attached to a twelve-year old boy, Marcus. This novel is told in the voice of both Will and Markus, so you hear both sides of this hilarious story. Hornby incorporates many other minor characters and develops all of his characters very well. While a generation apart, Will and Markus help and teach each other the meaning of their lives and have loads of fun along the way. It is a funny and easy read. About a Boy is also a motion picture featuring Hugh Grant and Toni Collette.

You can visit Nick Hornby’s website at www.nicksbooks.com

The Secret Keeper

 By: Kate Morton

Genre: adult fiction

Pages: 481

Published: 2012

Read: January

4 out of 5 stars

I have always been a fan of Morton’s novels and this one is no exception. The Secret Keeper, similar to the rest of Morton’s novels, entwines family secrets and mysteries with so many twists and turns that you may just be reading well into the night.

Told in the voice of three different characters and over the span of 70 years, this novel will keep you guessing and changing your thoughts of the ending all the way until the end of the story. Morton has the unique ability of telling stories through the generations and yet the flow the story continues with no interruptions. If you are a fan of Morton’s this in a must read and if you have not read her yet, you will not be disappointed.

This is her fourth and most recent novel. Visit her website at www.katemorton.com

 

Book Review: The Lace Makers of Glenmara

The Lace Makers of Glenmara

By: Heather Barbieri

Genre: adult fiction

Pages: 268

Published: 2009

Read: January

4 out of 5 stars

A combination between the movie, Calendar Girls, and the Yada Yada Prayer Group book series this story will move the readers as they connect with the sisterhood of the lace makers of Glenmara. After a younger lady, Kate, moves to Ireland to escape her life in the States the sisterhood welcomes her in. Glenmara is a quaint town under the watchful eye of the town priest. So when this stranger suggests turning knickers into sexy lingerie the town doesn’t know how to react. The voice of Kate and warm friendship that Barbieri creates in this story will have the reader giggle, cry and simply enjoy the lace makers from Glemara.

You can visit Heather's website at www.heatherbarbieri.com

First audio book review for 2013 : Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

Wild : From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

By: Cheryl Strayed

Genre: nonfiction

Pages: 315

Published: 2011

Audio book: 11 CD's (13 hours 3 mins)

Read: January

5 out of 5 stars

This nonfiction story will have you wanting totake your own 2 month adventure through the Pacific Crest Trail. Feeling alone, after her mother passed and a divorce, Cheryl changes her last name and leaves her life. She hikes the PCT alone never having more then twenty bucks in her pocket. This adventure leaves her learning more about herself than she ever expecting and saddened when the trail through California and Oregon is finally over. She meets several hikers along the way and while she enjoys the time spent with them, she always went off again on her own. You cannot read (listen) to this book and not enjoy it. The audio was good, although I felt the voice sounded older than the age Cheryl was when she hiked the PCT.

Cheryl Strayed's website is www.cherylstrayed.com

Book Review: The Diviners - Book One

The Diviners

By: Libba Bray

Genre: YA fiction

Pages: 578

Published: 2012

Read: January

Stars: 3 out of 5

I have heard Libba Bray speak at the Austin Teen Book Festival in September 2012. I mention this fact because since the novel is written in 3rd person, I "heard" Bray’s voice narratoring the novel. While I wasn’t connecting enthusiastically with the story until over half way through I had felt Bray did a great job developing the characters and by the last half of the novel I felt I knew the characters and their voices. I was hoping to see more of Memphis and Theta in the story line, but perhaps that is part of book 2 in the trilogy. While the book’s main focus is the special and unique divining skills of the main characters there is a great mystery too. I look forward to the rest of the trilogy as now I feel connected with the characters and can’t wait to see the rest of their story unravel. 

  

Visit Libby at www.LibbyBray.com

First book review of 2013: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

By: Rebecca Skloot

Genre: nonfiction

Pages: 370

Published: 2010

Read: January

Stars: 4 out of 5

This nonfiction novel is truly eye-opening with an amazing personal touch. The reader doesn't need to be a biology enthusiast to enjoy the impact of this book. The story is focused on the opinions of Henrietta’s children and how they discovered that doctors have been keeping their mother’s cells alive for 20 years before her own children discovered this very fact. You will be enthralled with the voice of Deborah, Henrietta’s daughter. Henrietta had another daughter, but she was institutionalized. Skloot entwined the facts of the scientific methods developed and the illnesses the HeLa cells cured with the personal facts of Henrietta and her family’s story of their growing up, mostly without the present of their mother due to her early death. While Skloot has written many works of literature this is her first and only novel thus far. I would love to see more from her in the future.

Rebecca Skloot's website is www.rebeccaskloot.com

New Year's Resolution

This may seem like a weird one, but my fellow book lovers will understand. I have set a goal to read 50 books this year. Besides that goal, I am going to write reviews on all 50 (or more books) I read this year. I will post those reviews both on my blog and on Goodreads.com.

Now a word about the reviews I will write:

A professional review, in which, you would find in literary magazines and/or websites have to be only 100 to 150 words. As I have been working on earning my Masters in Information and Library Science I have had to follow these guides, therefore I will be writing my reviews this year in this manner. Furthermore, professional reviews are to a critical critique of the literature rather then a summary of the material. I will probably on most of my reviews this year include a short summary due to the fact that on my blog there is not a link to a summary of the novel.

I hope you all will enjoy my reviews and please feel free to make comments or questions on my reviews and I will try to answer them. Also, please note I also offer FREE reviews of any books. This can either be drafts or final copies, or self-published or not. I would just need some format of the book emailed to me. Just comment here and I will send you my email address.

I will also take ANY suggestions of books you would like to see me review. Now I have read and finished 2 books in 2013 so I will write those up. Got to stay on task J Hopefully, from time to time, I will be able to write blogs on my life other than book reviews. This is also my last semester of school and I hope to graduate in May. Then I’m getting married this upcoming September.

BOOK REVIEW: The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger

TITLE: The Night Bookmobile

 

BY: Audrey Niffenegger

GENRE: Adult graphic novel

PUBLISHED: 2010

PAGES: 40

STARS: 1 out of 5

                                                 **THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS**

             This book was a MAJOR disappointment for me. I honestly can't believe an author would write such a book - Where a person can be so obsessed with books that she kills herself. To back up, I LOVE Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife - It is one of my all-time favorite books and I highly recommend it. I also enjoyed, but not nearly as much her other novel, The Fearful Symmetry. HOWEVER, I can't believe she wrote The Night Bookmobile AND the book had so much promise at the beginning.

It is the first half of the book that I even gave it 1 stars, It had such good promise. I was LOVING the premise of the story - A mysterious bookmobile that only shows up sporadically and when you least expect it from dusk to dawn. This book houses all the materials that the patron has very read, including personal diaries. It was mysterious, fun and she wanted to work at the bookmobile. It was so inspiration and really felt like my own story - she ends up going to library school and being a real library, but still seeks at the mysterious night bookmobile.

THEN the story crashes - she becomes so obsessed she kills herself (she does end a relationship early in book because of obsession, but I was able to forgive that) - THEN, AND only THEN  is she able to be the librarian for the Night Bookmobile - see only the decreased can run the bookmobile and they are assigned there own patrons.

On top of all this, the graphic are horrible and poorly drawn. The second time she sees the night bookmobile the story states it's in a McDonald's parking lot in Chicago (of the fact that it took place in Chicago was kind of cool); however the picture showed it in front of Wrigley Stadium and NO McDee's any where to be found.

 SO....morals of story - DON'T BECOME SO OBSESSED WITH BOOKS THAT YOU KILL YOURSELF

                                  - BOOK OBSESSION CAN OVERCOME YOUR LIFE AND YOU WILL HAVE NOTHING BUT YOUR BOOKS

                                  - ACHIEVING ONES GOAL OF BECOMING A LIBRARIAN ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH - YOU MUST BE THE ULTIMATE LIBRARIAN

                                   - BOOK LOVERS CAN NOT HOLD RELATIONSHIPS OR JOBS BECAUSE OF THEIR OBSESSION - LET'S TALK ABOUT CRAZY BOOK LADY

Sorry, Niffenegger - I'm not buying it !!