Alphabet Challenge Wrap Up

Challenge summary: I found this via a blog in BookCrossing, though I think it has quite a few incarnations. The goal was to read a book for each letter of the alphabet, times 2. New-to-you authors from A-Z and also titles from A-Z. I started in January 2006 and finished in September 2007. I'd hoped to complete it in a year, but I'm still pretty pleased with finishing it in under 2, given all the other things I was also reading.

My books: All 52 of them can be seen here.

The best book: Oh, there were some great ones... Off the top of my head, I'd say these are my top 12 (in no particular order; some have much literary merit, some are just very fun, some are both):

My Saucy Stuffed Ravioli by Cherry Whytock
Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Enthusiasm by Polly Shulman
Love, Cajun Style by Diane Les Becquets
Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
Scrambled Eggs at Midnight by Brad Barkley and Heather Hepler
Digging to America by Anne Tyler
Fleshmarket Close by Ian Rankin
A Year in the Merde by Stephen Clarke
Rococo by Adriana Trigiani
Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella
The Wives of Bath by Wendy Holden

Any new authors?: So many! All 26 of the A-Z Authors, of course, and quite a few in the Titles, too.

New-to-me authors that I hope to read more of include:
Joanna Trollope
Polly Shulman
Diane Les Becquets
Adriana Trigiani
Debra Galant

Authors that I've read more of already (and I thank them for writing second books so quickly!) are Catherine Gilbert Murdock and Brad Barkely/Heather Hepler.


Book I could have done without:
Screen Legends - Had some interesting parts, but I probably would've stopped reading if not for the fact that I was desperate for a Y author. I'd already tried 2 manga Y-authors and just couldn't get into the manga mindset. (Sorry, manga fans, I just don't get it.)

Home Sense - Nothing wrong with it, I just don't normally read decorating books and I picked it just because his name started with X.

The Xenocide Mission - I'd actually had this on my TBR list for a few years because I wanted to read some boy-centred YA sci fi. But I didn't enjoy it much - I just couldn't keep track of the planets, the different creatures, the history. Probably not a bad book, but not my style at all.

The Year of Magical Thinking - This was for my book club, so I had to read it, challenge or not. As well-written as it was and legendary as Joan Didion is, it was much too sad for me. I am not a reader of sad things, if I can help it.

Books not finished: I did get to the end of Screen Legends, but I did eventually resort to skipping sections on people I had never, ever even heard of and didn't care to learn about. Everything else I read from cover to cover.

What I learned from this challenge: To stretch my reading horizons. Even if I didn't enjoy all the books, it was a fun way to experience a lot of variety. I actually had lots of fun slotting them into the challenge and finding contenders for the tricky letters - as my husband will tell you, I love to make lists! And, best of all, it got me interested enough in challenges to sign up for so many this year!



(Thanks to Book Haven and Eva for the questions!)

Review: Screen Legends

Screen Legends by Bruce Yaccato

Summary: A collection of brief biographical essays on Canadian "legends" of the silver screen (and also stage and television). Seems to be based on a series of "Historica Minutes" produced for Canadian TV, but I've never seen one about film stars, so maybe I live in the wrong part of the country.

Now, I hesitate to write anything negative about books because more than likely it'll show up on the author's Google Alert. This is awesome when an author drops by to say thank you for liking a book (so please feel free, authors!), but not so much fun the other way. But this book just kind of bugged me. Here's why:

- It's hard to tell who the audience is meant to be. At first I thought maybe high school/college students, because the author feels the need to define, for example, Prohibition and Jim Morrison. And it probably would make a good book for a Canadian high school drama class. It would be good for assignments, too. But then he also, for example, devotes a large part of the Mike Myers entry to quoting the funny parts of the Austin Powers movies, which any young person is going to know.

- There's no introduction and no table of contents. There's also no order (that I could find) to the entries - not alphabetical, chronological or geopgraphical. There's also no mention of what "qualified" people for inclusion.

- There are a few proofreading mistakes, the largest being that Raymond Burr's death date is listed as 1933. Kind of hard to be Perry Mason if he died just as TV was being invented.

- I'm actually biased and find this a rather endearing Canadian quirk, but the author follows it to a T - you don't have to have been born in Canada, spent much time here, or retain your Canadian citizenship for us to claim you as our own.

- A not so endearing Canadian quirk, a mention of hockey is squeezed into about every other entry, whether it fits or not.

- The space given to different "legends" varies greatly. People you've never heard of from the Silent Era get detailed descriptions, Christopher Plummer's 60-year career gets less space than Jim Carrey. (And a chunk of Plummer's entry is devoted to describing the Sound of Music itself, another example of needing to define weird things - who hasn't heard of the Sound of Music?)

- "Legend" seems a bit of a stretch for some of the people featured. As talented as Sandra Oh may be, can she really be considered a legend at 36?

I did learn some interesting factoids, like that Norma Shearer's brother won 14 Oscars in technical categories and basically revolutionized motion picture sound. I enjoyed the entries on Colleen Dewhurst and Catherine O'Hara, in particular. It's not a bad book, but all of the above things just irked me throughout it. But if you are or you know a Canadian film buff, this could be worth a look.

Alphabet Challenge Completed!

It's amazing, it's finally done! It only took me a year and 8 1/2 months! :)

The list is in the original A.C. post, but here it is again, because I'm so proud of it!

Part 1 - Author (all new-to-me) A-Z
A Armstong, Lisa - Bad Manors
B Barker, Bradley (& Hepler, Heather) - Scrambled Eggs at Midnight
C Cox, Jennifer - Around the World in 80 Dates
D Didion, Joan - The Year of Magical Thinking
E Evanovich, Janet - One For The Money
F Fforde, Jasper - The Big Over Easy
G Galant, Debra - Rattled
H Harper, Karen - The Queene's Christmas
I Ireland, Liz - Three Bedrooms in Chelsea
J Jaffe, Rona - The Room-Mating Season
K King, Cassandra - The Same Sweet Girls
L Lowe, Steve (& MacArthur, Alan) - Is It Just Me or Is Everything Shit?
M Murdock, Catherine Gilbert - Dairy Queen
N Noble, Elizabeth - Alphabet Weekends
O Olson, Shannon - Welcome to my Planet
P Palmer, Liza - Conversations With The Fat Girl
Q Quick, Amanda - Wicked Widow
R Rankin, Ian - Fleshmarket Close
S Shulman, Polly - Enthusiasm
T Trollope, Joanna - The Girl From The South
U Urquhart, Jane - A Map of Glass
V Vail, Rachel - If We Kiss
W Wolitzer, Hilma - Summer Reading
X Xol, Eduardo - Home Sense
Y Yaccato, Bruce - Screen Legends
Z Zadoorian, Michael - Second Hand

Part 2 - Titles A-Z
A The Anglophile by Laurie Gwen Shapiro
B Bombshell by Lynda Curnyn
C Chloe Does Yale by Natalie Krinsky
D Digging to America by Anne Tyler
E Espresso Tales by Alexander McCall Smith
F Faking 19 by Alyson Noel
G Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner
H Hazing Meri Sugarman by M. Apostolina
I It's a Mod, Mod, Mod, Mod Murder by Rosemary Martin
J Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
K Kiss Me Quick by Julie Highmore
L Love, Cajun Style by Diane Les Becquets
M My Saucy Stuffed Ravioli by Cherry Whytock
N Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
O The Other Woman by Jane Green
P Playing James by Sara Mason
Q The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory
R Rococo by Adriana Trigiani
S The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith
T Tongue in Cheek by Fiona Walker
U Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella
V Valiant by Holly Black
W The Wives of Bath by Wendy Holden
X The Xenocide Mission by Benjamin Jeapes
Y A Year in the Merde by Stephen Clarke
Z Zara by Mary Hooper

(I haven't done reviews for them all, because I started this blog long after the challenge, but ones I have done can be found under the Alphabet Challenge label on the right-hand side. And if you're curious about a book for whatever reason, feel free to ask!)

Review: Home Sense

Home Sense: simple solutions to enhance where and how you live by Eduardo Xol

Hooray, I finally found an X author! I tried to read A Case of Two Cities: an Inspector Chen novel by Qiu Xiaolong, but I just couldn't get into it - it started with a totally juicy murder in a karaoke brothel, but it got bogged down (in my opinion) with too much about the hierarchy of the Communist Party.

This one wasn't nearly that tough a read and since I've just moved, I thought it might give me some decorating ideas - it's time to have a grown-up place without (too much!) Ikea furniture.

Mostly it has lots of pretty pictures of things I could never afford, but they were nice to look at and daydream about. Unfortunately, I found that a lot of the tips, such as things like (not a direct quote) "the pattern of the floor is subtle and therefore doesn't clash with the bold wallpaper" quite often didn't show in the pictures, as either the floor or the wallpaper wasn't shown. So that was a bit odd. And it could've done with one more proof-read to catch errors with apostrophes and homonyms (peak/peek, etc). A small thing, but there were quite a few.

But I like his overall philosophy of your home being a reflection of your own personality and that it should be welcoming.

Here are a few tips that I did glean from it (put here so I'll remember them in the months of organizing and decorating to come!):

• use an area rug for an easy way to get a new look in a room or to create a conversation area
  
• rotate your decorative objects so the room doesn't look stale
• you can get under-mount sinks that collect less gross bacteria (definitely looking into that when it comes time to do the kitchen!)
• placing chests of drawers inside closets gives you more space plus an extra flat surface
• give in to the luxury of high thread count bedding - it's worth it!
• the dining room is an often underutilized area for displaying collectibles and photos
• use cute, interesting drawer pulls for an quick, cheap update

And overall, one's home should be a sanctuary! That means it's time to stop being so messy so that I feel relaxed and not stressed about mess when I get home. Not quite sure how I'm going to manage that, but it's my goal for my new home.

Review: Fleshmarket Close

Fleshmarket Close by Ian Rankin

Nope, that's not the book cover. :) I read this one before going to Scotland last year and was nerdily delighted to be able to take a photo of the real Fleshmarket Close. It was very cool to be able to see the setting after reading so much about it.

Summary: An illegal immigrant is found murdered at Knoxland, an Edinburgh housing development - was it a racist attack or something else? Rebus is drawn into the case, but has other problems: his old police station has closed for business, and the powers that be would rather he retire than stick around. But Rebus is stubborn and in the course of his investigation he must visit an asylum seekers' detention centre, deal with the sleazy Edinburgh underworld, and maybe even fall in love... His colleague Siobhan, however, has problems of her own. A teenager (the sister of a girl from another case) has disappeared and Siobhan is drawn into helping the family, which will mean travelling into the web of a convicted rapist. Then there's the small matter of the two skeletons - a woman and an infant - found buried beneath a concrete cellar floor in Fleshmarket Close. The scene begins to look like an elaborate stunt - but for what purpose and who did it? And how does it tie into the murder at Knoxland?

Thoughts: I hadn't read any of the other Inspector Rebus novels, but had always wondered about them, so I chose Rankin for my R author. I found I was able to follow things without knowing the Rebus backstory, which was good. I found Rebus' character really interesting - intelligent, sardonic, and stubborn and an amazing detective. I also liked Siobhan - a tough young woman but very caring. The skeleton subplot was an interesting twist, although I found some of the immigration stuff pretty hard going. It was a pretty dense book, but I can see why Rankin is so popular and the series is so large.

My favourite part was when Rebus and his team had to comandeer a local library for interviews and he was puzzled by the poster of Captain Underpants on the wall and later one of the officers in charge (can't remember his rank) looks like him and so earns an unfortunate nickname.

Review: The Sunday Philosophy Club

The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith

Summary: Scottish-American philosopher Isabel Dalhousie is a single, middle-aged, independently wealthy woman who edits the Review of Applied Ethics and presides over the club in the title (of which we don't actually see much). When she witnesses fund manager Mark Fraser fall from a balcony after a performance at the Edinburgh Concert Hall, she feels obligated to investigate the young man's death because she was the last person to see him alive. The more she thinks about Fraser's fall, the less accidental it seems and there are several suspects who might have pushed him - his shifty roommate, his colleague's scheming spouse and a disgruntled broker. Other characters include Isabel's beloved niece Cat who is constantly having man trouble and Grace, Isabel's housekeeper "who sizes up society's reprobates in two syllables or less."

Overall: Apparently it's Alexander McCall Smith week here in the reading room! I somehow ended up with 2 of his books on the Title list for the Alphabet Challenge. I actually read this one last year on our trip to Scotland as part of my plan to always try and travel with books from/about the places I'm going. As previously mentioned, I'd loved 44 Scotland Street, so I was looking forward to this new series. Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed.

On the plus side, his ability to portray Edinburgh vividly is still in evidence, as Isabel walks through the city a lot and visits many distinct places. One of the plot points is a painting by the artist Elizabeth Blackadder - imagine my delight to discover that the friends we were staying with went to school with "Lizzie" and the she played field hockey! And I just learned that the Really Terrible Orchestra does exist and that McCall Smith plays the bassoon in it, which I think is quite lovely. So he won me over there.

But Isabel and the mystery did not. I really didn't like Isabel at all. I found her to be a busybody and it kept running through my mind that it's very easy to be a philosopher judging everyone else's ethics when you have no husband or children to care for, a full-time housekeeper for your lovely home, and no need to work for a living - her journal doesn't have much of a circulation, it's not enough to keep her from poking her nose into Cat's love life and everyone else's business. I also thought that she took advantage of Cat's still-smitten ex-boyfriend by dragging him along on her "investigations."

And as for the mystery element, well, I just didn't really care much who pushed Fraser and when it finally came to light, it wasn't particularly surprising or dramatic.

But I do enjoy McCall Smith's writing, so I think I'll have a go at The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series and see if I like it any better.

Review: Espresso Tales

Espresso Tales by Alexander McCall Smith

Summary: The sequel to 44 Scotland Street, which continues to describe the ups and downs of the residents of that address. There's Pat, a college student who works in an art gallery. She rents a room from vain, pompous, recently fired Bruce, who now fancies himself a wine merchant. Bertie the unhappy, precocious 6 year-0ld and his parents - mild-mannered Stuart who leaves the parenting to his wife Irene (who wants her child to be gifted and gender-unbiased, hence Italian lessons and pink overalls). And Domenica - a widowed anthropologist who has lived in India and travelled the world. The book is made up of stories that the author wrote as a weekly column for the Scotsman newspaper.

Favourite quote: (Explanations: Pat has been invited to a nudist picnic in a posh part of town and is told to disrobe and, since she didn't bring her own, has been given a plastic bag in which to put her clothes. Jenners is a big. old department store, like the Harrod's of Edinburgh.)

"The sight of the plastic bag, stamped with the familiar Jenners sign, was a reassurance to Pat in these unfamiliar and challenging circumstances. There was something about the name Jenners that provided the comfort one needed in dubious situations. An occasion on which you were asked to take off your clothes and put them in a Jenners bag was inherently less threatening than an occasion in which one was asked to put them in any other bag."

I love this! I would never attend a nudist picnic, but I could completely understand Pat's feelings about the reassuring bag from a venerable institution.

Overall: I didn't like this one quite as much as 44 Scotland Street, which I found utterly charming several years ago, but it was still enjoyable. Having been to Edinburgh several times, I really like that McCall Smith knows it, loves it, and describes it and its people so well. I really enjoyed finding out what happened to some of the characters, particuarly the emancipation of Bertie and the comeuppance of Bruce. I really enjoy McCall Smith's writing style and for something written in little snippets, it's amazing how well it comes together and how well most of the characters are drawn.

But there was a whole arc of the memoirs of a lawyer called Ramsey Dunbarton that didn't seem connected to anything else. Part of the fun of the stories is that the characters are connected in some way, but unless I missed it, he wasn't connected to anyone. And his memoirs, which put his wife to sleep, were in danger of doing the same to me. I have a feeling that was the point, but they felt like filler, something that could be printed in the paper if the author didn't have a proper story ready that week. And there were a few of Domenica's ramblings (particularly the one about Cuba and a rather philosophical one near the end) that I could have done without.

But I definitely recommend 44 Scotland Street and, if you enjoy it as much as I did, you'll want to know what happens to the residents of the building.

Quickies

More Alphabet Challenge quickies...

Three Bedrooms in Chelsea by Liz Ireland - I believe I took this one on our trip to Minnesota last year - I seem to recall reading it on a plane. When actress/waitress Edie Amos's reporter boyfriend suddenly leaves on an extended trip to Uzbekistan, she doesn't know how she'll keep up the rent on their shared (but really his) Chelsea apartment. After all, she's just been fired from her only acting job as a dancing fava bean. The only thing to do is find a roommate. First she gets tall, blonde, and scary Greta Stolenbauer, who has a crazy ex-boyfriend yelling in the street for her and whose idea of exercise is smoking while watching the Yoga channel. Then a tiny bit of storage space becomes a third bedroom for Danielle Poitier (actually Porter, but she thought the extra i's sounded classier), a Texan princess who begs for the room because she's determined to make a go of a writing career without her daddy's money and influence. Goodbye privacy, hello club-hopping, dodging the landlord, and chasing dreams. I don't remember a lot about this one - it's fairly standard chick lit, especially Edie's approaching- 30-but-not-settled-with-a-guy-or-a-job problems. But Greta, with her sad German childhood and attempts to live a better life is interesting and silly Danielle grows up a lot. Typical Chick Lit with a misfit friends theme and some character development and humour.

The Bachelorette Party by Karen McCullah Lutz - More Minnesota memories - I picked this one up super cheap from Barnes and Noble at the Mall of America. Zadie Roberts is a high school teacher who finds herself fantasizing about the young Abercrombie model in her English class as the rest of her friends pair are getting hitched. Her last attempt at monogomy was with her now-famous soap opera star fiancee, who left her at the altar. When she learns her best friend Grey is going to marry her perfect cousin Helen, Zadie feels like her world is ending. To make matters worse, Zadie has to attend Helen's tea and yoga bachelorette party, planned by her equally dull friends. But when the party takes a naughty turn, and Helen sets out to prove that she uptight, Zadie doesn't know what to tell Grey about his bethrothed's behaviour. Will she save Grey from a future of unhappiness or ruin their friendship forever? Fluffy, girlie fun with big helpings of bitchiness, naughtiness, and laughs.

Review: Faking 19

Faking 19 by Alyson Noel
3 1/2 stars

Alex and M. (she started being called by only her first initial when she was little, since all of her clothes were monogrammed) are best friends trying to figure things out in their senior year. M. is beautiful and rich and seems to have it all, including a place at a posh university next year. Alex, the child of a single mom, is in different financial circumstances. Her deadbeat dad spends all of his time and money on his new girlfriend. Alex has always been a good student, but in her final year, she stops caring and instead drives into LA with M. to party with older guys.

This book has some Gossip Girl elements (as you'd probably deduce from the cover), but it's a bit more serious. There are some funny moments and I really liked the descriptions of Alex's thrift-shop chic style. But Alex really gets herself into some difficult situations and M.'s life isn't as rosy as it seems. A good choice for teen chick lit with some substance as well as style.

Quickies

The Alphabet Challenge has been going on so long that I'll never get each one fully reviewed. So here are some blurbs.

Bombshell by Lynda Curnyn - I read this one at the tail end of my Red Dress Ink phase, before they all started to seem like the same book. (I might go back to them, though. I just needed a break from all chick lit, all the time.) 34 year-old blonde bombshell Grace Noonan dumps her boyfriend Ethan after he reacts with horror to a pregnancy scare. And the cosmetic company she works for, whose motto used to be "beauty beyond 30," has decided to focus on the teen market, throwing her department into an uproar. Adding to the stress is the return of Michael, the founder's son and a former flame of Grace's - he's back in New York and is engaged to the teen campaign's project manager. It all has Grace wondering if it's time to give up on the single life and visit the sperm bank. I don't remember much about this one, but it was fairly good chick lit and Grace was an interesting character.

Chloe Does Yale by Natalie Krinsky - Natalie Krinsky writes a sex column for the Yale Daily News and so does her fictional counterpart,Chloe Carrington. It amuses some people and disgusts others. One of her critics is the mysterious YaleMale05, who sends her e-mails about the column and she embarks on an e-mail flirtation with him. He's not overly mysterious, however - his identity is actually pretty predictable once you're partway into the book. I think the audience for this book would be the same as the one for her column - college students. I felt a bit old for it. But it wasn't a bad bit of fluff. Again, I don't remember much of it, but I recall that some of the columns were pretty funny, including one where Chloe has to walk home from a party wrapped in a garbage bag.

It's a Mod, Mod, Mod, Mod Murder by Rosemary Martin - My friend Cassie recommended this one and it was one of the first ones I read for the challenge, over my winter holiday in 2006. It's the first in a series called Murder-A-Go-Go, which I think is a fab title! Elizabeth "Bebe" Bennett, formerly of Richmond, Virginia, loves everything about 1960's New York, from the Peppermint Lounge to her pink sectional couch (I'd love a pink sectional couch!). She particuarly loves her sophisticated stewardess room-mate Darlene, and her job as secretary to the dreamy Bradley Williams at Rip-City Records. Unfortunately, when Philip Royal, lead singer of a Beatles-like band that Rip City wants to sign, turns up dead in his hotel bathroom (electrocuted by his own guitar) Darlene is a suspect, having become "intimately acquainted" with him on her recent flight to England. The scandal also puts Bradley's job on the line, so Bebe knows she must solve the murder to save her 2 favourite people. Southern Bebe is sweetly naive (she doesn't understand why womanizing Bradley has had so many secretaries leave) and she's so enthusiastic about her swinging New York life (and her clothes, in particular). The 60's details are lots of fun and, as I mentioned in my review of The Room-Mating Season, I love me a 60's setting. A light, groovy mystery.

Review: The Room-Mating Season

The Room-Mating Season by Rona Jaffe
2 stars

Summary: The novel follows three women - Leigh, Cady, and Vanessa - who start out as room-mates in New York City in 1963. There was a fourth room-mate - mousy, annoying Susan, but on the weekend she was supposed to move out (the disgusting case of warts on her feet was the last straw), she dies from an apparent suicidal fall from the roof. Her death casts an intermittent pall over the next 40 years as Cady and Leigh have relationships with married men while Vanessa's unplanned pregnancy finds her heading unwillingly to the altar.

Why'd I pick it up? I'd read something about it and it sounded chick-litty and fun. So it was on my TBR list when I needed a J author for the Alphabet Challenge.

Overall: It wasn't really the light chick-lit romp I expected. Apart from Leigh, the women weren't very likeable and their lives seemed awful. Leigh was the only one who managed to have what I'd consider a happy life - her married man married her (so even her happy life has a stain on it) and she was able to have a career as a casting agent and be a mother, too. Vanessa loves her children but not her husband - she spends her marriage cheating, just so she can keep feeling desirable, which gets harder as she gets older. Cady spends 40 years trying to get her older, married lover Paul to marry her. I found her truly pathetic - she basically gave up her entire life for Paul. She also spent most of her life being bitter about Leigh's happy life, despite their friendship. And their male friend Charlie carries a torch for Vanessa for 40 years, so he's not happy, either. I enjoyed the 60's part at the beginning, the single-gals-in-New-York stuff. But these characters seemed to bring a lot of misery on themselves and not a lot else happened, apart from a semi-surprising twist at the end. Vanessa, Charlie, and Cady each get a little bit of happiness at the very end, but it took them 40 years to get there.

Review: Zara

Zara by Mary Hooper
Rating 2 1/2 stars

Zara and Ella are best friends because they were both 2 weeks late starting school and everyone had already found their groups. Ella comes from a fairly normal 2-parent family, even if her dad is a bit strict and embarrassing, while Zara's mother is a drunk. When Zara decides that she's a psychic, she convinces Ella to join her in a quest to fool the other girls at school by doing things like guessing their star signs and reading tarot cards. But soon Zara's taking her newfound medium-hood too seriously and exploiting people's secrets to get attention.

This was a pretty good book, though not one of my YA favourites. I think teen girls who are interested in astrology and tarot cards would find it interesting. It also showed how shallow teen friendships can be (the weak basis for Zara and Ella's and the fact that they don't actually seem to like each other much, plus the way rumors ruin another friendship in the book).

Review: Goodnight Nobody

Title: Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner
Rating: 3 stars

I was so looking forward to this book and I'm sad to say I was a bit disappointed. I still love Jennifer Weiner, but this is the second book by a fave author this year that has unpleasantly surprised me by being a mystery (the first being Size 12 is Not Fat by the fab Meg Cabot, also a bit disappointing). I don't really like mysteries (with a few exceptions) and I wasn't expecting this to be one, so I was kind of let down.

Now, it's not a bad book. It's just not as great as her previous ones (In Her Shoes is my fave). From the brand-new moms of Little Earthquakes, who I loved and really empathized with even though I'm not a mom, she's moved to the (in my opinion) overdone theme of the bored suburban housewife/mother. Kate Klein has given up her career as an NYC reporter to become a mother of 3 preschoolers in Upchurch, a posh Connecticut suburb. All of the other mommies are like Bree from Desperate Housewives and she just doesn't fit in. She's bored, her husband's hardly ever home, the same old, same old. When Kate is invited over by Kitty Cavanaugh, the most perfect of the mommies but also the one with the best friendship potential, to discuss a mysterious mutual friend, Kate arrives to find Kitty dead on the kitchen floor.

So, because she's so bored and can't be a reporter anymore, Kate sets out to find the killer. One of the best parts of the book is her best friend, Janie, who fabulous, rich, and truly a wonderful friend. Janie is still a reporter and she uses both her connections and feminine wiles to help Kate investigate and also to look after the kids while she's off playing Nancy Drew. The mutual friend turns out to be the former love of Kate's life, Evan McKenna, a private eye. He helps out, too, but the subplot of will she-won't she have an affair with him is out of place. And, of course, add in the requisite husband (Ben) who just doesn't understand and tells Kate to get a hobby and lose some weight. The other best part is 5 year-old Sophie, who is very sophisticated for her age and insists on bringing her Uglydoll from Janie everywhere she goes, dressed in costumes, each with its own backstory.

Of course, Kate discovers the killer in the eleventh hour and there's a dramatic scence where she's almost killed herself. The denoument finds Kate, her semi-estranged mother, Janie and the kids staying at a house on Cape Cod, with the Evan vs. Ben dilemma and her apparent unhappiness with her life unresolved.

Again, it's not a bad book. It's still got lots of Weiner-ness in it, especially in Janie and Sophie and the stories about Janie and Kate's life in New York before Ben. And If you like mysteries, you'll probably enjoy it a lot more than I did. I just didn't think it was in the same league as her earlier books.

(As a side note, I'm ashamed to say that children's librarian me didn't get the Goodnight Nobody title unti Kate was reading Goodnight Moon to Sophie and even then I'd forgotten the blank "Goodnight nobody" page until I came across our copy while weeding. Bad, TLL, bad. But isn't Goodnight Moon one of the most soothing books ever? I sat and happily read it in my office and felt much less stressed at the end.)

Review: Second Hand

Second Hand by Michael Zadoorian Rating: 3 stars

I chose this book solely for the Alphabet Challenge - not too many Z authors out there! And I'm glad I did.

Hipster Richard (aka "Junk") owns a junk shop in Detroit and he's obsessed with obtaining more and more of it. We follow him to estate sales, Salvation Army stores, and yard sales in pursuit of the perfect items. The descriptions of the items are some of the best parts of the books - a bowling-ball shaped liquer dispenser, 50's Formica dining sets, a lighter shaped like a tiny camera, just to name a few.

But when his mother dies from cancer, Richard is in charge of getting the "junk" out of his childhood home (while his "normal" responsible sister Linda arranges for the actual disposal of the house) but he finds that it's different when it's his own dead mother's stuff and not someone else's. After years of (involuntary) celibacy, Theresa, a "junk goddess" with a horrific job at an animal shelter, a tempestuous personality, and a thing for skeletons, walks into his store and Junk is smitten. But both of them are facing life crises (Richard finds himself overwhelmed by junk and Theresa's job is getting to be too much to bear) and they can't make the relationship work.

After much drama over their breakup and a drastic cry for help from Theresa, Richard decides to make her dream of attending the Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico come true. There, in a very touching scene that I won't give away, they both find themselves healed.

A note of warning, if you're a big animal-lover, the descriptions of Theresa's job might be too much for you - Zadoorian doesn't pussy-foot (pardon the pun) around the horrors of how some people treat animals. And Theresa and Richard's spirals into despair were almost a bit too much, but that part was redeemed by the trip to Mexico. But overall, I found it a quick, quirky read with both humour and heartache. And it made me want to go out and buy some junk! :-)

Review: The Wives of Bath

The Wives of Bath by Wendy Holden
Rating 3 1/2 stars

The original chick litters seem to be moving into Mommy Lit these days, and Wendy Holden is no exception.

Alice is a British lawyer for a magazine who returns from America after being fired because of insane, libellous celeb journalist Amanda. Alice is swept off her feet by Jake, a hunky yet super-zealous eco-warrior with whom she has a one-night stand that leads to pregnancy. Amanda, also back in England, has decided that she and her husband Hugo need to have a baby because it's the latest fashionable accessory. The four end up in the same prenatal class, where Jake speaks for Alice about how perfect and ecologically sound their little family will be, while Hugo can't quite believe he's in this situation. After the babies are born (a comedy of errors by itself), things quickly get out of control and very over-the-top. Jake's environmentalism gets worse by the day and he forces their new family to live in a disgusting shack while he lives off her savings and refuses to use anything that isn't recycled (including human waste fertilizer). Amanda discovers that babies are really quite messy and noisy and not at all glamorous and basically abandons Hugo with their newborn son while she goes off to "have it all" and re-kindle her career. Jake and Amanda are pretty unbelievable, but entertaining. Hugo is probably the best-drawn character - he actually evolves into a loving father. There are a few unexpected twists and, of course, all ends well and very neatly. Which is what I want in a fluffy novel, really.

I read this on a trip to Scotland last year. My best friend had just had my honourary niece, who I was in love with already, so I could sort of relate to the pre and post-natal dilemmas faced by the characters, especially the description of the different types of people in the pre-natal class - it seems like there's always at least one of those know-it-all couples. All in all, this is a fun one - a good beach read.

Review: Summer Reading

I'm stealing this book reviewing format (with permission!) from Dewey over at The Hidden Side of a Leaf. I have such a hard time knowing what to say, I thought having a format might help.


Summer Reading by Hilma Wolitzer
Rating: 3 1/2 stars

What led you to pick up this book? I think I read a blurb about it in Shelf Awareness. But basically, I liked the title - it is summer, after all!

Summarize the plot, but don’t give away the ending! It revolves around a "summer reading book club" (I didn't know there were such things) in the Hamptons called the Page Turners. Trophy second wife Lissy Snyder longs to be part of the glamourous crowd and is delighted to be invited to join the book club (even though she's dyslexic). Retired English professor Angela Graves supplements her pension leading such groups. And local girl Michelle Cutty cooks for, cleans up after, and resents the "weekenders". Each woman is struggling with something - Lissy is now the unwilling stepmother of her husband’s hostile children; Michelle can’t get her fisherman boyfriend to commit, and Angela still carries the shameful memory of a long-ago, disastrous love affair.

What did you like most about the book? I liked the "bookishness" of it. I enjoyed that it was three stories in one. I also enjoyed the Hamptons setting. Though I haven't made it there yet, I've been intrigued by the Hamptons since I read Further Lane by James Brady.

What did you like least? Even though they're important parts of the story, I didn't really like shallowness of Lissy or Angela's attitude towards her past behaviour. While it's not the author's fault at all, I also didn't like that I hadn't read any of the books mentioned. Maybe it will spur me on to read Villette.

Who would enjoy this book? Why? I think former literature majors would enjoy it, especially if they've read the books. And also people in book clubs. As a book clubber, I always get a kick out of books about book clubs.

Share a favourite scene from the book. I enjoyed Angela's attempts to teach the Page Turners about literature, such as the importance of "seeing oneself in the fictional other." It reminded me I need to be a more careful reader. And I was amused when, after being told by Angela that literature teaches us how to live, rich, shallow Lissy thinks all about her pretty, equally shallow friends and her beautiful home and decides "she didn't need anything else from literature, she already knew how to live."

Another scene that stands out is the very terrible play Angela attends and how she's so kind to the young actors afterwards.

What about the ending? Did it make you want to throw the book across the room? No, it was fine. But while I like happy endings, I do I agree with one review that noted all three characters got quick, happy endings to wrap everything up nicely. But then, that's what you want in summer reading, really. :-).

Review: Scrambled Eggs at Midnight

Scrambled Eggs at Midnight by Brad Barker and Heather Hepler
Rating: 4 stars

(Note: I'm particularly partial to this one because Husband and I often visit the Minnesota Renaissance Festival when we go to visit his family.)

Last year I enjoyed the recent trend towards alternating boy-girl point of view books written by a male and a female author. Calliope has been following her drifter mother around Renaissance Faires and other short-term jobs for years. Every few months she has to pack fewer of her belongings into their hatchback and leave another town. She hasn't seen her father in years. Eliot's dad found religion a few years ago and it turned out that cashing in on Jesus allowed him to make even more money. He moved Eliot and his mom to a Christian fat camp for teens in the woods outside the small town that hosts the Faire. At the camp, Eliot's dad insists that his family devote their lives to God, fitness, and the pursuit of money. Cal and Eliot spot each other as she and her mom drive into town and run into each other later at the used bookstore. It's love at first sight, but Cal's mom doesn't want her to make any ties and Eliot's dad doesn't approve of "those people." Despite these objections, Cal and Eliot fall more and more in love over the summer, until one day Cal's mom makes her usual announcement - they're leaving, just when Cal's finally found somewhere and someone that feels like home.

This was a lovely love story and I enjoyed getting the male and female perspectives. The settings of the Renaissance Faire and the fat camp provide also lots of amusing details - encounters with wenches and jousters and "inspirational" messages like the 10 commandments of healthy eating. But it's also really touching. Cal's sadness over having to leave Eliot is heightened because she feels such a sense of futility - she can't make her mother understand how unhappy she is and she thinks there's no point in even trying. Eliot and his mom are really unhappy at the camp, but his dad doesn't seem to notice. But with the help of a Ren Fest rib chef, a special apartment, and the power of love, things might just work out.

Jousters, fireworks, recipes, love, sadness, paddleboats....this book has it all!

Review: Love, Cajun Style

Love, Cajun Style by Diane Les Becquets
5 stars

It's the summer before their senior year of high school and Lucy and her best friends Mary Jordan and Evie are hot and bothered. In fact, everyone in their small Louisiana town of Sweetbay seems enflamed by secrets and passions.

Lucy's sweltering is caused by two men - the new, married drama teacher who keeps making inappropriate advances and the new, sweet boy in town, Dewey, who just wants to get to know her. Mary Jordan is having problems with her boyfriend Doug and Evie's looking at an old friend in a new way. Lucy's parents aren't seeing eye-to-eye and her Tante Pearl is acting awfully secretive. What's going on in Sweetbay?

As you can tell from the Southern Challenge, I really enjoy Southern lit and I loved this book. Les Becquets has the best descripitive powers I've come across in a YA novel in ages - you can almost feel the sultry heat, sea the view from the beach, smell the flowers in the air, hear the fiddle music, and taste the Creole shrimp. There is some mature subject matter in this one (hard to have a sultry summer without some sex), but it's handled well - one of the girls' decision to have sex is shown to have actual emotional consequences, not something I've seen too often lately. This is really a coming-of-age novel - Lucy recognizes that it's happening and she's actually not all that happy about the changes, she realizes things will never be the same as they were in childhood. Lucy, Mary Jordan, and Evie's wonderful friendship can weather the growing-up storm, though. And to top it off, there are some great funny parts, including a nude bike ride and some improvising during a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

(Just realized this could be a good one for Southern Challengers who are looking for an extra, quick read!)

Review: Valiant

Valiant: a modern tale of faerie by Holly Black
4 stars

When Valerie Russell discovers she's been betrayed by two of the most important people in her life, she runs away to New York City. Emotionally and physically exhausted, she meets Dave and Lolli in a coffee shop. They take her back to the subway tunnel where they live. There she meets Luis, Dave's one-eyed brother who apparently has The Sight.

After spending the night in the tunnel, Val tags along with Dave as he delivers a mysterious bottle to a woman with goat hooves instead of feet. Intrigued, Val makes Lolli show her the secret lair of the creature they're delivering for - a troll named Ravus. When Lolli tries to steal from him, Val trades Lolli's life for a month of service to Ravus. As Val delivers more bottles, it becomes apparent that faerie folk are dying throughout the city and rumour has it that Ravus is responsible.

The tunnel gang has discovered something about the strange liquid - while it's a medicine for faeries, it can be smoked or shot up by humans, giving them the ability to make things change shape and to make people agree to their every demand. They've named it Never (as in Never Never Land) and Val becomes addicted to it. In the scenes where the kids are roaming around the city hopped up on it, you can really see why it's addictive - they can get anything they want and be anything they want.

Val also finds herself growing increasingly attracted to Ravus, who, after she saves his life, agrees to teach her the art of sword-fighting. The works its way up to a faerie-human struggle for the truth and for Ravus' life. Only Val, if she can clear her mind of Never, can save herself, her friends and Ravus.

I loved Holly Black's first novel, Tithe: a modern faerie tale, and this one didn't disappoint. Valiant is almost a sequel, with a few characters and events mentioned, but you don't need to read the first one for this one to be great. There are no Disney, Tinkerbellish faeries here - they're almost all amoral and cruel (and hardly any of them are cute). Black has clearly spent a lot of time thinking about faeries. Her descriptions of the different creatures - including faeries, a tree spirit, and a mermaid - are really vivid.

Review: Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm by Polly Shulman
5 stars

Enthusiasm sums up the way I feel about this book! It's a rooted-in-Jane-Austen one. Julie's best friend Ashleigh is "The Enthusiast" - when she takes an interest in something (whether it's candy making, a new band, or King Arthur), she becomes obsessed - living and breathing (and talking, dressing, and acting) it. When Julie introduces her to the novels of Miss Austen, Ashleigh is convinced that a) they shouldn't be showing their Lower Limbs and b) they need to find their own versions of Pride and Prejudice's Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley. Fortunately, the local boys' private school, Forefield, is having a ball - surely they can find some gowns and crash the party!

They manage to get into the dance with the help of vintage dresses from Julie's mom's shop and because two young gentlemen, Grandison Parr and Ned Downing, rescue them from the turkey-faced staff member guarding the door. After that, the boys are part of Julie and Ashleigh's lives, especially when the try out for the girls' parts in the upcoming Forefield play. But some miscommunications make Julie wonder who Ashleigh thinks is her Mr. Darcy - the divine Parr or friendly Ned. Ashleigh pines for Parr, but is convinced that he likes Ashleigh and vice versa, so she stays silent because she wants to be a good friend.

Enthusiasm is lovely, charming and old-fashioned. It was so nice to read a YA novel that wasn't full of drugs and raunch (it's just become so prevalent that it's getting tiresome). Kissing - just kissing - is a huge deal in this one. The boys are also well-mannered and courtly (except for one sleazy playboy who is regarded with disgust) - Parr even writes poetry!

Ashleigh is a wonderful character, so full of energy and zest. And she and Julie have such a wonderful friendship - there's no backstabbing or mean girlness. Just the thought of hurting the other, even if it's not the case, upsets each girl terribly. And I loved that they visited each other by climbing the tree between their houses and entering through their bedroom windows. Highly recommended.