tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54466510260635940052024-03-12T17:32:25.999-07:00In Laurie's MindIf life is a collection of small pleasures, then mine are steaming cups of tea, engaging books, fragrant baths, beautiful aromas, and a bit of retail therapy. Here lie my random musings about these things, reviews thereof, and other random activities that bring me pleasure.Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.comBlogger404125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-2860758538116944762018-04-05T16:36:00.001-07:002018-04-05T16:36:55.060-07:00Monthly Keyword Challenge<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2017/11/monthly-key-word-challenge-2018.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="418" data-original-width="630" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZrEXMB0bYUlr6XAKxY6MQy3pzk9kRR0Q5MY-mf-NAGV0-lQiJ0mDkdo9RuN7-1o0hzeiOvPTnLYHB8xdqQLLaDbYGocTdd3O5Iz3p_K7ELuc8hqb9JQc_JamcqtLtl9rzXSBdUFkvU-4/s320/Monthly+Key+Word+Challenge.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Anything to organize my reading! To add a bit of fun and spice to my reading choices, I'm signing up for the Monthly Keyword Reading Challenge. This challenge is hosted by <a href="https://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2017/11/monthly-key-word-challenge-2018.html" target="_blank">My Reader's Block.</a> It involves finding a book that has one of the listed keywords in the title. Here's the monthly schedule:<br />
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<a href="https://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2017/11/monthly-key-word-challenge-2018.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="377" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdd0gm8LkL6Xdm-PxS-hHsrMyizk3uZNHKN-Csqtzxhn_G0Ku18Jk6SK1FVypoFjyFxihv4_xNvlHgGXytR8NQ-nTzrVfFZ-lig5pG7_qoyOTbZOmRDSpC_6umOdTQDjUAxB1OaCPO4jY/s320/2018+Monthly+Key+Words.png" width="188" /></a></div>
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Obviously I will need to catch up on January-March, but that shouldn't be a problem. Now, to go find a book for April...</div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-34063691582819531132018-04-05T16:24:00.003-07:002018-04-05T16:29:14.640-07:00What's in a Name Challenge 2018<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://wormhole.carnelianvalley.com/whats-in-a-name-2018-sign-up-post/" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="325" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIc9Q6dsnPRr3LqdQvNs_hQFWSs57evESmK5ZkPNnIEbGH4fCzW-o6ZX7HLVr2v4tOYjtUYz2OWM4cynkNE1yb9n_zsRG6kUwETVrczXojcpnPw0tr1iIQ3r8CZUOjBvf6zuZ11vYzQEk/s200/challenge_2018wian.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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This is a challenge I've enjoyed in the past, and I'm excited to give it a try in 2018. The requirements are simple, six categories, read one book with a title that fits each of the six categories. This challenge is hosted by <a href="http://wormhole.carnelianvalley.com/whats-in-a-name-2018-sign-up-post/" target="_blank">The Worm Hole.</a> The categories are as follows:<br />
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<li style="font-size: 14.44px; line-height: 23.104px;">The word ‘the’ used twice (The Secret By The Lake; The End Of The Day, The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time)</li>
<li style="font-size: 14.44px; line-height: 23.104px;">A fruit or vegetable (The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society; The Particular Sadness Of Lemon Cake)</li>
<li style="font-size: 14.44px; line-height: 23.104px;">A shape (The Ninth Circle, The Square Root Of Summer, Circle Of Friends)</li>
<li style="font-size: 14.44px; line-height: 23.104px;">A title that begins with Z – can be after ‘The’ or ‘A’ (Zen In The Art Of Writing; The Zookeeper’s Wife, Zelda)</li>
<li style="font-size: 14.44px; line-height: 23.104px;">A nationality (Anna And The French Kiss; How To Be A Kosovan Bride; Norwegian Wood)</li>
<li style="font-size: 14.44px; line-height: 23.104px;">A season (White Truffles In Winter; The Spring Of Kasper Meier; The Summer Queen; Before I Fall; The Autumn Throne)</li>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.44px;">Sadly, I've never managed to complete this challenge, even though I've attempted it several times (I know, I know, too many books, too little time). I'm going to give it a go again this year! Plus, it has a super-pretty challenge button. </span></span></div>
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Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-59903099767663056542018-04-05T16:13:00.000-07:002018-04-05T16:13:25.413-07:00Just the Facts, M'am Challenge 2018<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2017/11/vintage-mystery-challenge-2018-just.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="320" height="114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi53obPI_DaHtd31ZCAnKHQZQ5NCv2hoZRWsgKQJl2DU0HfBM5Y-vGH8ijLRBVMgb5Qtc_Pb7zTSHfEcRWj8MupXJAM0GTmMOySvasb6bRmLTHFYwJ6KhNg5FyXDGrrFC65rCySCliTqUs/s200/Just+the+facts+challenge.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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I adore vintage mysteries. They're not really a guilty pleasure (that would be cozy mysteries), but whenever I don't know what to read, or I want something comforting, I turn to vintage mysteries. So, this challenge is right up my street. It involves reading mysteries from the Golden Age (1900-1960) and the Silver Age (1960-1989). There are various levels, I'm going to attempt the second level, Detective Sargent, by reading twelve books, two from each category. Have I mentioned there are cool categories? The host, <a href="https://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2017/11/vintage-mystery-challenge-2018-just.html" target="_blank">My Reader's Block</a>, has come up with these fun Detective's Notebooks, to track categories of mysteries. Have a look!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5SQt5K67bSGuKCYSPqlQC6DuggfvmthTEDvktOjfIr6I4nktGYet5K6hnQ0MmLqY8lpFvR-vfWdNxLx58tyNdXoUPZzQGJzrWofv2oY1Xj3KWyQA2Ot1GHz3FhELk7vmR9h-3LLGEoKo/s1600/Just+the+Facts+Golden+Card.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="230" data-original-width="400" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5SQt5K67bSGuKCYSPqlQC6DuggfvmthTEDvktOjfIr6I4nktGYet5K6hnQ0MmLqY8lpFvR-vfWdNxLx58tyNdXoUPZzQGJzrWofv2oY1Xj3KWyQA2Ot1GHz3FhELk7vmR9h-3LLGEoKo/s320/Just+the+Facts+Golden+Card.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRABSaFRMUDgS9ebTsO9FdYK1qF7UDcbCVZSABM3x6yUh5bfPmRWkfOE3UzaqshCc76HQL0m1mCt6W0qms_YlDAQgf7KTPOemDoMzNZHy0mGr-SOi0jnyd7Iy2P2w_S_LJXFTYSUxcQF4/s1600/Just+the+Facts+Silver+Card.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="230" data-original-width="400" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRABSaFRMUDgS9ebTsO9FdYK1qF7UDcbCVZSABM3x6yUh5bfPmRWkfOE3UzaqshCc76HQL0m1mCt6W0qms_YlDAQgf7KTPOemDoMzNZHy0mGr-SOi0jnyd7Iy2P2w_S_LJXFTYSUxcQF4/s320/Just+the+Facts+Silver+Card.png" width="320" /></a></div>
To sign up, click on the challenge image above. See you there!</div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-2107185202597507432018-04-04T20:29:00.000-07:002018-04-04T20:29:17.478-07:00Reinvigorating the Blog<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
After a few years away from blogging I'm ready to get back into it. One thing I've really missed in my absence is reading challenges, and my reading has felt somewhat scattershot without challenges to organize it. When you have a TBR of a million and counting, any semblance of order helps. To that end, I'm about to join a bunch of reading challenges and dive in. Stay tuned, the reading challenge is back on!</div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-29577510450105046922015-10-22T10:37:00.000-07:002015-10-22T10:37:00.218-07:00Review: Hello from the Gillespies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYiVolMiKN0nD1pRLMe1YBP1k0hgyWQ7kicAPHv1iofrxDKUJDj6V8YzcivVOKO6VffYevkZrq1Lt3uPZifaT07yTaovdfeyWvmvSnlG_WV6WELk6kgom1bmq3lV0k5RagufvlbGlFC1o/s1600/0451466721.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYiVolMiKN0nD1pRLMe1YBP1k0hgyWQ7kicAPHv1iofrxDKUJDj6V8YzcivVOKO6VffYevkZrq1Lt3uPZifaT07yTaovdfeyWvmvSnlG_WV6WELk6kgom1bmq3lV0k5RagufvlbGlFC1o/s1600/0451466721.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;">One should not be put off by the 600+ pages of this book. Despite its heft, it is really quite a quick read. This book brings the reader into the lives of the Gillespies, an Australian family living on a remote sheep station in the outback. Matriarch Angela Gillespie is becoming increasingly dissatisfied with her life. Her husband is becoming more distant, her children are facing various minor disasters. All of Angela's thoughts are accidentally emailed to her friends and family in a brutally honest Christmas letter. How the family handles the fallout is part of the book, until a car accident leaves Angela with amnesia and without her identity. </span><br style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;">The second part of the book is surreal. Angela is living with her family but thinks they are strangers, and the doctors encourage the family to play along. </span><br style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;" /><br style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;">I was very into this book up until the amnesia. Once Angela got amnesia everything became quite predictable. We know that Angela isn't going to remain unaware of her identity forever, which means that there are only so many directions the book can go. The first half of the book was much stronger. I've heard McInerney compared to Maeve Binchy, and I can certainly see the resemblance in this book. McInerney can seamlessly enter the minds of numerous characters and weave their stories together into a broader saga. </span><br style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;" /><br style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;">My main complaint with this book? Someone needs to throw Lindy to the wolves (or the snakes, or the rabid kangaroos, or whatever). Is it possible for an adult to be that whiny? Seriously Lindy, nobody cares about cushions. Nobody. Shut up, and quit whining. </span><br style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;" /><br style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;">Those thoughts aside, this is a relaxing, feel-good sort of book. Definitely cozy.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;">Monica McInerney, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hello-Gillespies-Monica-McInerney/dp/0451466721/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1444325818&sr=1-1&keywords=hello+from+the+gillespies+by+monica+mcinerney" target="_blank">Hello from the Gillespies</a></i> (NAL, 2014).</span></div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-88274372023142778122015-10-12T20:55:00.001-07:002015-10-12T20:55:58.081-07:00Review: Double Mint (Davis Way, #4)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtA-DOlr2UmuHJetqnlEAztxHH7FCN7QwDXXCMzw9WgBG6hEXFWmdgXHmQFw0_SicUVogNMDX-MIYX9aETnIBwLMF-vO8r6hZTfvhZxkpxNkKBRxaNt-QZApeGt5O6JciWJbs0Ej3nZsQ/s1600/1941962777.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtA-DOlr2UmuHJetqnlEAztxHH7FCN7QwDXXCMzw9WgBG6hEXFWmdgXHmQFw0_SicUVogNMDX-MIYX9aETnIBwLMF-vO8r6hZTfvhZxkpxNkKBRxaNt-QZApeGt5O6JciWJbs0Ej3nZsQ/s1600/1941962777.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;">Davis Way is back to uncovering crime and engaging in hi-jinks at the Bellismo Casino. Employed as a special undercover agent at the Bellismo, Davis is expected to uncover and take down criminal operations at the casino. Those who have read the earlier volumes in this series will recall that Davis was hired by the Bellismo because she looks exactly like her boss's wife. She has married the resort's security chief, and they reside in an on-site penthouse apartment. As this volume opens Davis has been forced to take over the special events coordinator's job, after the incumbent walked out of the hotel, never to return. She has also discovered the equipment to print fake currency lodged deep in the walls of her apartment. Then there's the fridge: it doesn't work, and needs to be fixed, except it's a crazy, ugly behemoth no one has ever seen before. Then a group of security professionals show up for a conference, with entertainment consisting of high stakes slot tournaments, and platinum goes missing from the casino vault. </span><br style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;" /><br style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;">The story is a bit nuts, but it's also absolutely hilarious. It's high-energy, high-action, and high-humor. Davis offers significant snarky commentary about her apartment, decorated as if a Party City barfed up a New Orleans themed issue of a decorating magazine. Nothing in this book is expected. If you think you know where there plot is going, you probably don't. I'm excited to see where this series is going to go next. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;">Gretchen Archer, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Double-Mint-Davis-Crime-Caper/dp/1941962777/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444708504&sr=8-1&keywords=double+mint" target="_blank">Double Mint</a></i> (Henery Press, 2015) </span><br />
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;">I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley for purposes of review.</span></span></div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-16505952508423623052015-10-10T10:44:00.000-07:002015-10-10T10:44:00.295-07:00Review: Riding a Crocodile<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6cYO_9uKRlSIjLsq3PzYLo0v9R-nWIyW91krjb2nXJzinMvhZk-urBN0yn0oSZq8n6sOPD0Ugz_G1XeZQv3-0wtrEK7MB8m3A1R3-epGDcBLfWpxpWPhxPQHMo8hEakk22IjKIG1ce50/s1600/1938416503.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6cYO_9uKRlSIjLsq3PzYLo0v9R-nWIyW91krjb2nXJzinMvhZk-urBN0yn0oSZq8n6sOPD0Ugz_G1XeZQv3-0wtrEK7MB8m3A1R3-epGDcBLfWpxpWPhxPQHMo8hEakk22IjKIG1ce50/s1600/1938416503.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;">This book begins as a satire of the health care system and hospital administrators. It turns into a mystery, a shift which is not entirely welcome. Senior physician Abe Nevski returns to his job as a physician in a large Australian teaching hospital. While he has been gone the hospital administration has become more draconian in pushing a program that is meant to (according to the administrators) allocate resources in a utilitarian manner, younger patients and to clearing beds quickly. To Abe, this sounds a lot like withdrawing care and signing death warrants of older patients. The administrators claim that's not the case. Abe thinks otherwise. There have also been a series of unexpected deaths among seemingly stable older patients. Abe tries to figure out what is going on while mentoring his registrar, Rebecca, a young doctor who is becoming disillusioned with the lack of humanity in modern medicine and the hospital-industrial complex. This sets the stage for a showdown between Abe, a doctor who cares about patients and has an excellent bedside manner, with the hospital administration, which is a cold and smarmy as one would expect a hospital administration to be. </span><br style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;" /><br style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;" /><span style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;">As a social commentary on the modern healthcare system and cost-cutting measures, this is an excellent book. Komesaroff is a practicing physician. He clearly knows the medicine, the culture of the hospital, and the social issues facing healthcare. Dr. Nevski is a well-developed and believable character, and the hospital world is immersive. Where the book falls flat is as a novel. I found the book's ending to be completely ridiculous. This was such an uneven book. The beginning was excellent, but as the plot becomes more bizarre and more mysterious, it devolves. I utterly disliked where the relationship between Abe and Rebecca wound up (lawsuit!), and, as mentioned, the resolution to the mystery is unsatisfying. I think I would enjoy reading some of Komesaroff's non-fiction, as he clearly wants to address the inhumane elements of modern healthcare.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;">Paul A. Komesaroff, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Riding-Crocodile-Paul-Komesaroff/dp/1938416503/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444412601&sr=8-1&keywords=riding+a+crocodile" target="_blank">Riding a Crocodile</a></i> (River Grove Books, 2014).</span></div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-64090748024060020352015-10-09T10:00:00.000-07:002015-10-09T10:00:00.935-07:00Review: A Beautiful Blue Death (Charles Lenox, #1)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A young servant is poisoned with a terribly expensive and unusual poison: bella indigo, the beautiful blue. Charles Lenox, a minor gentleman and amateur sleuth is on the case- a case that will bring him to some of the worst neighborhoods and the most opulent social events in London. Lenox's relationship with the police is not always the best, but with a brother in Parliament, Lenox has good connections.<br />
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I really enjoyed this book. The mystery is more complicated than many I have read in this genre. Finch's writing is quite good. There are a number of English gentleman detectives. Charles Lenox is a worthy inheritor of the traditions of Albert Campion and Lord Peter Wimsey.<br />
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Charles Finch, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Death-Charles-Lenox-Mysteries/dp/0312359772/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1444323703&sr=1-1" target="_blank">A Beautiful Blue Death</a> (</i>St. Martin's Minotaur, 2008).</div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-28414275641615135932015-10-08T09:57:00.001-07:002015-10-08T09:57:32.675-07:00Review: The World's Strongest Librarian<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;">Josh Hanagarne has a great sense of humor and a deep love of books and libraries. That is enough to predispose me to like this book, and like this book I did. In this memoir Hanagarne tells his story of growing up with Tourette Syndrome and living in a Mormon family. From the time he was a small child Hanagarne was severely affected by Tourette tics. It took years for him to be diagnosed, and his family was somewhat in denial about his condition. As an adult, Hanagarne finally found some relief from his symptoms by training as a strong man, taking up extreme weightlifting. He funnels his love of books into a career as a librarian. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;">This is a fine example of the fact that a reasonably happy story can make for a good memoir. Hanagarne certainly suffered from his Tourette Syndrome, but he has many positives in his life. He grew up in a functional and close-knit family, he has a rewarding career, and a unique and impressive hobby. This memoir is a story of Tourette Syndrome, but it is also a meditation on the importance of libraries, and a story of a man's struggle to make sense of his faith. Hanagarne is heavily invested in the importance of libraries. At one point Hanagarne notes that every time someone walks into a library there is the potential for their mind to be expanded. That idea has stuck with me ever since I finished the book. I also learned quite a bit about Tourette Syndrome from this book. I had never really considered the issue of repetitive stress injuries- having the same tics over and over isn't just socially awkward, it's hard on the body. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;">This was a really engaging memoir. I wasn't all that interested in the technical stuff about weightlifting (and there's a section of the book that gets pretty deeply into strongman training), but overall this was a really interesting read. Hanagarne seems like a great guy, with an interesting story.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.8px;">Josh Hanagarne:<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DEK9HYS?keywords=world%27s%20strongest%20librarian&qid=1444322976&ref_=sr_1_cc_2&s=aps&sr=1-2-catcorr" target="_blank"> <i>The World's Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette's, Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family</i> </a>(Gotham, 2013)</span></div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-89848209825440359672014-03-20T23:42:00.000-07:002014-03-20T23:42:43.180-07:00Review: The Murder Room (Adam Dalgliesh, #12) <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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P.D James creates a world around her mysteries, probably better than any other mystery writer I know. Such is the case here, when rocks the DuPayne Museum. A small, eccentric museum dedicated to the history of the interwar period, the DuPayne's showpiece is a gallery dedicated to period murders. Full of macabre displays and artifacts, "The Murder Room" appears to have provided inspiration for a serial killer. People in and around the museum are being killed in the same manner as the most notable murders displayed in the gallery. Dalgliesh and his team try to discover the killer as the body count rises.<br />
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This is a mystery with a complex plot. It has many moving parts, and numerous richly drawn characters. Set in the waning fall, the atmosphere is appropriately dark and gloomy. I figured out who the murderer was, and I suspected why, which is unusual for me with James's books. There were more direct clues to murderer and motive in this one. In sum, an excellent mystery with a richly-drawn atmosphere.<br />
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P.D. James, <i>The Murder Room</i> (Vintage, 2003) ISBN: 1400076099 </div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-28588319625324632732014-03-19T17:31:00.000-07:002014-03-19T17:31:00.243-07:00Review: All Good Things<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This book chronicles the author's move from Paris to French Polynesia When her husband is transferred to Tahiti, the couple moved to the island of Mo'orea, a real-world tropical paradise. Much of the culture shock that Turnbull experiences is the sort that one might expect: life is more colorful, time is looser. Turnbull's descriptions are vivid, and I learned a great deal about French Polynesia. Many islands comprise the country, and Turnbull travels quite a bit, exploring the various island groups. I found myself looking at maps and researching the places she visited on the internet, to see photos of the places she described. Some of the Polynesian islands are exceedingly remote- essentially skinny coral rings surrounding large lagoons. The geography is fascinating, and throughout the book I thought quite a bit about what it must be like to live on a small island, out in the middle of the ocean, so far away from large land masses.<br />
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Turnbull's time in Polynesia is heavily shaped by her desire to have children and her difficulties conceiving. Even before her move the author had been undergoing fertility treatments. Living on a island blooming with life and color and approaching her fortieth birthday, the desire to conceive looms large.<br />
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Location is everything in this book. While it covers three different places (Paris, Polynesia, and Australia), the most interesting parts were most definitely those on the islands. By the time the family had moved to Australia, I found myself getting somewhat bored. The descriptions of Tahiti and the surrounding islands are delightful. That's the reason to read this book.<br />
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Sarah Turnbull, <i>All Good Things: From Paris to Tahiti, Life and Longing</i> (Gotham, 2013) ISBN: 1592408680 </div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-88543610353272366152014-03-18T15:08:00.000-07:002014-03-18T15:08:00.047-07:00Review: Death of Yesterday (Hamish Macbeth, #29)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAUJnSYToh5juuAVzHqEWDIhyphenhyphenQNarUBlidpt8wSExYjXpifzG9md5NpWdzehsLfvqMYUOBh-CGTBzA0EHHk6fqIDfFl8Lsi6vO3_oPDVKG-fnkTKUzHdJ9uxYfhWicqUrVjajjmyGI4Zs/s1600/1455504769.01._SX140_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAUJnSYToh5juuAVzHqEWDIhyphenhyphenQNarUBlidpt8wSExYjXpifzG9md5NpWdzehsLfvqMYUOBh-CGTBzA0EHHk6fqIDfFl8Lsi6vO3_oPDVKG-fnkTKUzHdJ9uxYfhWicqUrVjajjmyGI4Zs/s1600/1455504769.01._SX140_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /></a>Although I seem to be in a minority in this opinion, I like the direction that Beaton is taking this series. It's moving towards longer mysteries, that is, those that take more than a week to solve. These aren't necessarily "closed" mysteries, the way the earlier ones in the series were- they don't involve a specific group of suspects in a particular location, such as guests at a hotel. I appreciate that some signs of modern technology have entered Lochdubh. At least now characters have laptops and mobile phones. The total isolation was skirting the boundaries of the absurd.<br />
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In this case Hamish investigates a woman's claim of rape, only to find her body turn up weeks later. Investigating the case takes him to the continent and back. I'm not entirely sure why this book is called Death of Yesterday. I can come up with a few very tangential metaphorical possibilities, but usually the titles in this series are obvious. I'm getting sick of Hamish's women problems. Really, Beaton needs to to do something about this. I'm sick of watching Hamish treat women badly and then whine about being single. There needs to be movement on this front! The mysteries in this series have developed, but Hamish's personal life has not. <br />
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M.C. Beaton, <i>Death of Yesterday</i> (Grand Central, 2013) ISBN: 145552252X </div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-75670183950980959262014-03-17T15:02:00.000-07:002014-03-17T15:02:00.256-07:00Review: Riding the Bus with My Sister<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I expected to like this book much better than I did. This is the story of Rachel Simon and her developmentally-disabled sister, Beth. Beth spends her days riding city transit buses. In an effort to become closer to her sister Rachel decides to spend time with her, riding the bus. Doing so forces Rachel to come to terms with all of her complicated emotions regarding her sister and the rest of the family. The Simon family certainly has a troubled past. The girls were abandoned by their mother. Really, though, the book is mostly about the adult relationship between the two. And at the end of the day, I didn't find that relationship as interesting as I expected to. Basically, Rachel discovers that having intellectual disabilities didn't prevent her sister from having a full range of feelings and behaviors. A big part of this book seems to be Rachel coming to terms with the fact that it's okay if her relationship with Beth is not all sunshine and rainbows. More interesting was Rachel's effort to come to terms with the philosophy of self-determination, which guides the care of Beth and others like her. Beth is allowed to make her own decisions, even if they aren't very good ones. The ethical issues surrounding this are interesting, even if they aren't the main purpose of this book. And that ended up being the main flaw of the book for me. The issues became more interesting than the people living them.<br />
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Rachel Simon, <i>Riding the Bus with My Sisiter: A True Life Journey</i> (Plume, 2003) ISBN: 0452284554 </div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-11394357834175541502014-03-16T14:50:00.000-07:002014-03-16T14:50:00.764-07:00Review: From a Sealed Room<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This book was so very dull- nearly 400 pages of small print of people whining and having FEELINGS. The book focuses on three women living in Jerusalem: Tami- an unhappy, emotionally unavailable housewife, Maya, her American niece, and Shifra, an elderly Holocaust survivor. Everyone has issues. Tami's relationship with her son is deteriorating. Shifra has never really found her place in Jerusalem. Maya is concurrently running away from and trying repair her poor relationship with her mother. There's not very very much plot in this book. Maya travels from New York to study abroad in the hopes of finally proving her worth to her mother. She falls in mad, youthful love with Gil, a miserable, abusive, self-important artist. Maya drifts away from her friends and university and gets wrapped up in Gil's wants and needs. Shifra suffers from dementia and lives downstairs from Gil and Maya. She begins to hallucinate and think that Maya has arrived to bring her redemption. Meanwhile, Maya also meets her long-lost Israeli family members, including Tami. Honestly, that's about it. The story has little resolution, and there's not enough plot to sustain more than 300 pages. What the book does do well is describe Israel- it's environment and problems. The reader can really feel the sun, the grit, the sand of the Israeli desert. Kadish also illustrates the divergent desires of fundamentalists and moderates. Ultimately, while Kadish can write beautiful prose, there's too many tangents and not enough story here.<br />
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Rachel Kadish, <i>From a Sealed Room</i> (Berkley Trade, 2000) ISBN: 042517641X </div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-72442261060282654942014-03-15T14:44:00.000-07:002014-03-15T14:44:24.018-07:00Review: Colour Scheme<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A rather suspicious and unbelievable set of circumstances finds Inspector Alleyn in New Zealand. In the midst of the thermal springs of northern New Zealand, a rather unpleasant character meets his death by drowning in a pool of boiling mud. The blundering Claire family owns the local resort, and they are well in debt to Maurice Questing, the unfortunate victim. Many wanted Questing dead.<br />
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At first I found the setting of this mystery to be quite interesting. The landscape is dramatic. That said, the solution to the mystery, the how, is deceptively simple. The who is rather unsatisfying, as the killer's character is not as developed as it could be. The side-plot about WWII spies operated at such a level of simplicity as to be somewhat absurd. A significant part of this mystery is figuring out how, exactly, Alleyn will come to be involved. I had that part figured about well before the end. This is not the best of Marsh's work. Her New Zealand mysteries never are.<br />
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Ngaio Marsh, <i>Colour Scheme</i> (orig. 1943) ISBN: 1937384551 </div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-88427550243854929312013-09-26T21:05:00.001-07:002013-09-26T21:05:52.163-07:00Review: What to Look for in Winter<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Ugh, this book took forever to get through. It sounds like it should be fascinating. McWilliam suffers from a rare condition that produces functional blindness-- her eyes can see but her eyelids are unable to open. This condition arrived in middle age, a particularly cruel affliction for a person who lived her life in the world of books. Sudden blindness is a painful blow for a writer and reader.<br />
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I expected this to be a memoir about dealing with blindness, but it really is not. This is a memoir that seems to be simultaneously about everything and nothing at all. McWilliam covers the entirety of her life, and jumps around throughout. The memoir is written in stream-of-consciousness format, and the tone is depressing. Certainly McWilliam has experienced difficult and tragedy. Her mother committed suicide, and McWilliam is a recovering alcoholic. Still, the tone is terribly woeful. I've read plenty of memoirs about horrible things, and this one is particularly depressing. Much of the author's time is spent analyzing her relationships with her ex-husbands.<br />
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All of this said, McWilliam is quite a writer. She has some beautiful turns of phrase. Her technical writing ability is quite amazing. But this memoir is completely inaccessible. The writer seems to have little awareness of the benefits she reaped from growing up among the intelligentsia. I love the literary world in which McWilliam lives, but I found this memoir to be dull, slow going.<br />
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Candia McWilliam, <i>What to Look for in Winter: A Memoir in Blindness</i> (Harper, 2012) ISBN: 0062094505 </div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-68030851299560652392013-09-23T20:32:00.000-07:002013-09-23T20:32:00.415-07:00Review: Beyond the Narrow Gate<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This book is the story of the author's mother and three of her classmates. Leslie Chang's mother and her family fled to Taiwan during the Cultural Revolution. There she attended Taipei's most elite girls' school. These schoolgirls dreamed of winning scholarships to study in the United States. Four of them managed to do so, but found that life in the United States was not what they had hoped. Marginal colleges were more like finishing schools than serious universities, and none of the women were ever particularly comfortable in their lives in the United States.<br />
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Normally I enjoy this sort of book, but I found this one lacking. I felt like the author had difficulty treating her mother as objectively as her other subjects. I found the writing to be, for lack of a better term, tiresome. The author regularly puts thoughts into the heads of her subjects. The book is long-winded, and the chapters seem to ramble on without organization. Some more serious editing might have made this book better. In any case, there are much better books about the immigrant experience and about Asian-American identity. <br />
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Leslie Chang, <i>Beyond the Narrow Gate: The Journey of Four Chinese Women from the Middle Kingdom to Middle America</i> (Plume, 2000) ISBN: 0452277612 </div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-76293949833325483652013-09-22T20:20:00.000-07:002013-09-22T20:20:02.110-07:00Review: Pyongyang<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAV5DxqhlCXGX9ZdKYRuufcaFj0P0OGKM1UWrxYTYOFMiQMPZPN11S1DpF_tO_FfG-aFn2kKiRkp3rAMrqr8s9-xcjqNOmU0mcVwXBn0OcFn-O-3zA33hnycoO-mXDjashj-81ys1x6nc/s1600/1897299214.01._SX140_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAV5DxqhlCXGX9ZdKYRuufcaFj0P0OGKM1UWrxYTYOFMiQMPZPN11S1DpF_tO_FfG-aFn2kKiRkp3rAMrqr8s9-xcjqNOmU0mcVwXBn0OcFn-O-3zA33hnycoO-mXDjashj-81ys1x6nc/s1600/1897299214.01._SX140_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /></a>This is an odd book. It brings together the graphic novel and North Korean austerity. Canadian animator Guy Delisle spent time in North Korea, which has apparently become the new favored source for cheap animation labor. In this book Delisle captures the absurdities of life in Pyongyang, more through pictures than through words. Only one floor of Delisle's massive hotel has electricity, there's bizarre and uninspired food, and minimal recreation activities. Delisle brings a copy of 1984 with him, and North Korea is certainly an Orwellian society.<br />
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I think I would have found this book more effective if I didn't really know anything about North Korea. There's nothing really surprising here. I enjoyed Delisle's drawings, but I felt like there was too much drawing and not enough narrative. I think I'd have preferred an art exhibit to a book. Ultimately the book lacks depth, and the illustrations don't make up for what the writing lacks.<br />
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Guy Delisle, <i>Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea</i> (Drawn and Quarterly, 2007) ISBN: 1897299214 </div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-58786523418391695122013-09-02T11:15:00.000-07:002013-09-02T11:15:00.555-07:00Review: Speaking from among the Bones<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The Flavia de Luce series keeps getting better and better. This book was the best yet in the series, and it finds Flavia investigating the death of the parish organist. St. Tancred's parish is digging up the remains of their patron saint, and an old corpse is right up Flavia's street (literally and figuratively). When a much newer dead body turns up in the old tomb Flavia is on the case, with her chemistry lab at her service. Flavia spends plenty of time mucking around in the grave dirt to find the killer.<br />
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Like other books in the series this one is fast-moving with quirky characters. Bradley continues to develop the de Luce family, and Flavia continues to try and be accepted as a mature colleague by the vicar and the police. Bradley drops a huge bomb at the end of the book. The cliffhanger ending is tremendous. With one final line Bradley has basically ensured that I will go out and buy the next book immediately upon its publication. Well played, Mr. Bradley. I can't wait to see where this is going.<br />
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Alan Bradley, <i>Speaking from among the Bones</i> (Delacorte, 2013) ISBN: 0385344031 </div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-46216304131870467232013-09-01T10:56:00.000-07:002013-09-01T10:56:00.554-07:00Review: Smilla's Sense of Snow<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Smilla Jaspersen, daughter of a Greenlandic mother and a Danish father, has never quite adjusted to life in Copenhagen. Raised in the skills of Arctic hunting and survival by her mother, Smilla spends her youth in North Greenland. At twelve she is moved to Copenhagen by her father, a wealthy and famous doctor. While Smilla has become a scientist, she has always longed for Greenland.<br />
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When a young neighbor dies from a fall off the apartment building's roof, Smilla knows that something is amiss. The boy is also a Greenlander. Smilla's investigations take her to sea and to the land of her youth. They uncover a conspiracy and secrets of great magnitude.<br />
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This is a complex novel with a deeply-hidden mystery. Smilla digs into events that show Danish willingness to exploit the resources of Greenland and Greenlanders. The fallen boy, Isaiah, becomes a symbol of the expendability of Greenlanders. Smilla is able to investigate the case because of her scientific training, but it will be the skills she learned in her youth that will be her salvation. Hoeg's world is a world filled with violence. Smilla's suspicion that she can't trust anyone is fulfilled. The faults of colonialism are laid bare.<br />
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Peter Hoeg, <i>Smilla's Sense of Snow </i>(Delta, 1995) ISBN: 0385315147 </div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-76140428867810382072013-08-31T10:45:00.001-07:002013-08-31T10:45:11.167-07:00Review: Wasted<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Marya Hornbacher was severely anorexic and bulimic from the age of nine into her college years. In this memoir she attempts to explain the experience of having an eating disorder. The picture is grim. Hornbacher cannot locate a single cause for her eating disorder. Certainly there are plenty of the regularly-accepted influences: a family that's weird about food, a society in which women are rewarded for being quiet and skinny, and so on. While living at boarding school Hornbacher was surrounded by girls with eating disorders, hers, too, was already formed. By the time she was in college Hornbacher was nearly dead.<br />
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The portrait of eating disorders that emerges from this memoir is complex and frightening. There are no simple causes and no simple answers. It is scary how easy it is for Hornbacher, as a desperately ill girl, to fall under the radar of anyone's ability to help, even parents and doctors. Hornbacher's analysis of her disease is thoughtful. She makes interesting points, and argues that anorexia in not, necessarily, an effort to remain a child. Light reading this is not, but essential for those who would like to understand more about eating disorders.<br />
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Marya Hornbacher, <i>Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia</i> (Harper, 2006) ISBN: 0060858796 </div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-834897487713653882013-08-18T10:28:00.000-07:002013-08-18T10:28:00.535-07:00Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I'd heard a great deal about this book, and visually it is quite exciting. The book is full of bizarre vintage photographs. Unfortunately, the story doesn't live ups to the photographs. Angsty teenager Jacob Portman goes to Wales to try and find out about his grandfather's past. A refugee from the Nazis, Abe Portman grew up in a children's home in Wales presided over by the enigmatic Miss Peregrine. A mysterious abandoned manse, time travel, and a new girlfriend will all help Jacob unravel the truth about his grandfather and himself.
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While there are elements of fancy added to the characters, the basic story is, rather, basic. There's lots of reviews that compare this book to X-Men, and yes, that's pretty much it. More problematically, this reads like a child's story. The book is classified as young adult, and that appears to be the one constituency that is not served. The pictures are not as integral to the story as their volume might have one believe. It seems like Riggs often wrote the plot around the pictures, and that doesn't necessarily make for the best plot choices.<br />
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Ransom Riggs, <i>Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children</i> (Quirk, 2011) ISBN: 1594746036 </div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-84521115641134175162013-08-17T10:26:00.000-07:002013-08-17T10:26:00.385-07:00Review: The Bride's Kimono<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Rei Shimura is back solving antiques-based mysteries. This time she is a courier for antique kimono from a Tokyo museum to an exhibition in Washington. Rei discovers that the collection includes Kimono belonging to a courtier's wife and mistress. One of the kimono is stolen, a Japanese woman goes missing, and Rei has to try and preserve her reputation in the antiques community. The appearance of an ex-boyfriend adds to the drama.<br />
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I really enjoy this series. It is smart and enmeshed in the Tokyo art world. That said, that fact that the police are not involved in this fiasco is absolutely unbelievable. So too was the interaction on the airplane that puts Rei in contact with the murder victim.<br />
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Sujata Massey, <i>The Bride's Kimono</i> (Harper, 2001) ISBN: 0060199334 </div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-61775654068855902202013-08-16T10:02:00.000-07:002013-08-16T10:02:02.527-07:00Review: Inside Edge<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This is Brennan's expose on figure skating, the figure skating of the 1990s, that is. Basically, Brennan finds all sorts of corruption in the highest levels of the sport. Judges trade support for skaters from each others' factions. The Cold War may be over but it was still alive and well in 1990s figure skating, as formerly communist countries aligned as did the US, Canada, and western Europe.<br />
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Of all the things to say about this book, the most important is that it is out of date. Michelle Kwan was an up-and-coming teenager when this was written. This book was written pre-IJS, and that's only one of the many things that has changed in the sport. While I don't deny that there are still problems and accusations of favoritism, IJS has solved, or at least greatly lessened the kinds of judging problems Brennan illustrates. For the figure skating fan of 2013 this book reads more like a historical document.<br />
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My main issue was a much more esoteric one. For all the time that she spent researching and reporting on figure skating, I never really felt like Brennan had a deep, emotional connection to the sport. While she recognizes the difficulty of the sport, Brennan just never seemed to have the spiritual attachment that is evident among figure skaters and many fans. I really think this book could have been written more effectively by someone with that emotional attachment. That's why people do this crazy thing, where they whiz around a slippery surface on quarter-inch blades. There's something in the body movements and the music that makes the moment transcendent.<br />
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Christine Brennan, <i>Inside Edge: A Revealing Journey into the Secret World of Figure Skating</i> (Anchor, 1997) ISBN: 0385486073 </div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5446651026063594005.post-73194891715955994132013-08-13T04:06:00.000-07:002013-08-13T04:06:00.333-07:00Review: The Sisters<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This is an epic family saga, covering three generations of women. Early in the twentieth century sisters Mabel and Bertie fight poverty and their stepfather's sexual advances in rural Kentucky. Elder sister Mabel makes a daring plan for the sisters' escape from their stepfather's violence. An accidentally missed message creates disastrous consequences, consequences that will reshape life for generations of women.<br />
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The story of Mabel and Bertie, their daughters and their granddaughters, sucked me in and kept me interested to the end. Jensen provides an interesting and fast-moving plot. I did find it sometimes difficult to understand Bertie's absolutely refusal to communicate with her sister. Her obstinacy has grave consequences, and it's hard for me to imagine behaving in the same way. At the end I found Bertie and Mabel and their generation to be the most interesting. All in all, an engaging book and well worth reading. <br />
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Nancy Jensen, <i>The Sisters</i> (St. Martins, 2011) ISBN: 0312542704 </div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09997422474037368373noreply@blogger.com0