This is about the last few years of Twain's life (the author consistently uses "Mark Twain", even when others might have called him "Samuel Clemmens" This is about the last few years of Twain's life (the author consistently uses "Mark Twain", even when others might have called him "Samuel Clemmens" - for example, the New York Times). He's coming out of his grieving for his daughter Susy and making his presence known as "The Man in White", setting up the persona we'll remember after he's gone. Wit intact, finances restored, Twain is thinking about posterity and leaving his estate intact for his remaining daughters.
His concerns about copyright are interesting (he believed in perpetual copyright, which would have prevented The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the Undead from being written), but his family wouldn't have benefited for very long, as none of his heirs lived past the mid-1960s. As a business man he was a failure, allowing himself to be manipulated by his employees and investing in flawed companies and ideas. This isn't the image of the Twain we think we know, is it?
As biographies go, this one is well written, allowing the personality of the biographee to come through while pointing out the flaws (Twain could be a bit petty). If you want to know about Twain, however, this might not be the book for you as it only covers 1906-1910....more
Basically, this is review-proof: either you like the humor of the Daily Show crew, or you don't. I fall into the "mostly like, but sometimes they takeBasically, this is review-proof: either you like the humor of the Daily Show crew, or you don't. I fall into the "mostly like, but sometimes they take the joke too far" category and this book is, for the most part, taking the joke just far enough....more
I know this book has already been talked about as an award winner, and rightly so. Ms. Park's description of the walk of the Lost Boys and the determiI know this book has already been talked about as an award winner, and rightly so. Ms. Park's description of the walk of the Lost Boys and the determination of one, Salva Dut, to do something to help his country is stripped down so younger readers can get a feel for the horror and the hope, without the gory details. Combining his story with that of Nya's constant struggle to get enough water (let alone good, clear, uncontaminated water) will, I hope, raise awareness that Africa is a continent in need of help for the simple, basic things we Americans take for granted.
I can easily see this becoming the "go to" biography on Hamilton for younger readers - the narrative flow will help them get through some of the more I can easily see this becoming the "go to" biography on Hamilton for younger readers - the narrative flow will help them get through some of the more confusing parts (Hamilton's ideas about a federal bank, for example, or his activities during the Revolutionary War). Occasionally the jumps make the chronology a little confusing, or information is left out (eg, was Hamilton accepted to the College of New Jersey?) but that's a rare occurrence. There were times when I wished for more detail, for example what happened to Aaron Burr after the duel, but for the most part this introduction to Hamilton's life is filled with the depth of information that will satisfy readers and encourage some of them to go further.
The notes at the end were very welcome, as was the bibliography.
This belongs in the "girl with a problem and a talent somewhat overcomes the problem and gets the guy" genre, with the romance being very light (not eThis belongs in the "girl with a problem and a talent somewhat overcomes the problem and gets the guy" genre, with the romance being very light (not even a kiss). Foster's got two problems (three if you count her father being dead): her mother's former boyfriend was/is abusive, and Foster can't read. She can, however, bake incredible muffins and cupcakes.
After running away from Huck, Foster and her mother end up in Culpepper WV, where the town is slowly dying after the one business closed down and the new prison didn't hire as many locals as promised. The kindness of strangers helps them find a home and a job, while Foster wows Angry Wade with her cupcakes. Soon enough there are friends, and Foster is finally tackling learning to read with their help.
The plot is slight, and the genre is one that makes me wonder if the author didn't choose an issue (abuse and literacy) upon which to hang a story, rather than the other way 'round. When the book is published, I hope that some of the cupcake and muffin recipes are included!
This story about the Thompkins siblings (Finn, India and Mouse) has the same energy as the Al Capone books, and the same flair for dialog, but the ploThis story about the Thompkins siblings (Finn, India and Mouse) has the same energy as the Al Capone books, and the same flair for dialog, but the plot is - I think - too confusing for readers. We start with the usual sibling squabbling, interrupted by Mom informing the trio that they've lost their house and that while she finishes the school year in California (where they live, and where she teaches), they will be moving to Colorado to live with their Uncle Red. Needless to say, they're not happy about this news.
The move will be happening the next day, and the kids will fly to Denver, where Uncle Red will meet them, or send a driver to get them to his home. The usual TSA stuff happens, and then we're on board the flight, which sets down somewhere that doesn't quite feel like Denver... it doesn't quite feel like anywhere they've ever experienced or heard about. Since the book is told in alternating chapters by all three, you get to hear how Mouse, Finn and India react to this change in their situation. I won't go further except to say that their reactions surprised me, until I figured out the plot twist (which, as I thought about it, was obvious in retrospect).
This is one of those "how I changed my life" books - and the way in which Kralik did it makes this a perfect holiday read. After coming close to hittiThis is one of those "how I changed my life" books - and the way in which Kralik did it makes this a perfect holiday read. After coming close to hitting rock bottom (there's no report of suicide attempts, which to me would be absolute bottom) he decides to play a version of Pollyanna's "glad game" and write thank-you notes to people, one a day.
Thank-you notes are one of those gracious acts we've gotten away from (I'm including thank-you e-mails in this, too) and I'm not sure why. There are times when I do write to someone's superior praising exceptional service, but it's rare that I thank the folks in the trenches in a meaningful way. Ditto friends when all they've done is be a friend. So this book reminds me to take up pen and paper and do so in the future.
Where the book lost me was the sometimes jumbled chronology and the stiffness of the earlier notes (I'm really hoping that he didn't actually address the notes to his children as "son" or "daughter" but used their names instead!). That and getting the Pollyanna story wrong: her parents were missionaries sent out of the country, not to some small town "out West". Ok, that's a pedantic grumble but still...
Overall, though, I'm grateful to have read the book in time to think about saying thanks to people during this holiday season.
**spoiler alert** Not being a huge fan of the whole bloodline conspiracy genre, I was pleased that The Winter Ghosts doesn't touch on that. Instead, t**spoiler alert** Not being a huge fan of the whole bloodline conspiracy genre, I was pleased that The Winter Ghosts doesn't touch on that. Instead, this story of loss and coming to grips with one's personal grief is solely about ghosts. Freddie's brother George is killed during World War I, part of the dead generation. As the second son, Freddie feels his loss greatly and on the day he turns 21 has a breakdown.
Ten years later, the grief hasn't lifted although Freddie seems to be able to deal with it a little better. Both parents are now dead and he's decided to take a trip through the Continent. A storm hits as he's heading towards some friends, his car crashes (deus ex machina, anyone?) and he is stranded in a tiny town, Nulle, on the eve of their great fête. He's also getting sick, so what happens next could be illness or visitation or... you figure it out.
At the fête he meets Fabrissa, a lovely girl with whom he strikes up a friendship and to whom he tells his tale of woe. In return, she tells him of the town's massacre, being walled up into a cave by the invading army; Freddie takes this to be the Germans, despite there being no German activity in that region. A feverish night or so later, he and two mechanics go to rescue his car - he also intends to search for the mountainside tomb. Of course he finds it, and the truth about Fabrissa's death sinks in: she was killed as part of the Cathar repression (Mosse's passion).
The pacing and the mixture of past and present work well, as does the message of overcoming grief by doing something to honor your dead. What didn't work, and what dropped this from a 4 to a 3, was her comparison of this to Masada. There's simply no comparison between a town being walled up into a cave and left to die and a group actively committing suicide rather than surrender. None.
"Once upon a time" is a truly magical way to start a book, isn't it? Once again, Ms. Funke explores the world just beyond our own: in the Inkspell ser"Once upon a time" is a truly magical way to start a book, isn't it? Once again, Ms. Funke explores the world just beyond our own: in the Inkspell series, it was through the pages of a book into a world we'd never seen before, but here it's through a mirror into a world that we've caught glimpses of in other stories. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Hansel & Gretel and many more are suggested here, not quite named outright. Even the names of our two brothers, Jacob and Will, are familiar.
Perhaps because she's German, the book is Grimmishly dark (just think about the ending to Grimm's Cinderella story, not the lighter Perrault, or worse yet, the Disney, ending). It's not nightmare-dark, just shivvery dark and YA readers like that sort of read. There's Rapunzel hair and Lark Water and shape-shifting and the Goyl (a race of stonemen) and love and jealousy and a quest - all adding up to the nearly perfect read. If you've read a great number of fantasy books, you'll end up trying to match the various things in those books with things in this book and I'm not sure that one truly can (didn't stop me from trying, even when I knew it wasn't a match!).
So, the quibbles? It's another series starter. Enough already. Also, there are some pacing issues, with scenes sometimes rushing by. Of course, as with any book in translation, that might not be the case in the original. I wish I could give this a 4.5, because it's better than a 4 but doesn't quite reach a 5.
**spoiler alert** The Gothic genre is perfect for YAs ready to move beyond conventional romance or horror-lite; this book is a good example of what I **spoiler alert** The Gothic genre is perfect for YAs ready to move beyond conventional romance or horror-lite; this book is a good example of what I mean. Tamara is, well, rich and spoiled is putting it mildly: there's the mansion, the villa, the chalet, minimal parental supervision blah blah blah. Dad, unfortunately, has lost all the money and decides to take the easy way out (Tamara finds the body).
All this leads Tamara and her mother, nearly catatonic with grief, to a remote village in the middle Ireland to live with her aunt and uncle. They live in the guardhouse of a ruined castle, where Arthur takes care of the grounds. Tamara's bratty behavior is understandable, given that she's grieving and she's been removed from her usual surroundings, although the joy she takes in being a mean girl feels wrong. Her aunt Rosaleen is a cleaning, cooking machine but also a control freak, not wanting Tamara to go anywhere or do anything; uncle Arthur is a laconic gardener. Mom, catatonic before, is now sleeping nearly all the time.
Into all this comes the bookmobile, where Tamara finds Marcus (the driver) and strikes up a friendship, and a strange padlocked book. Sister Ignatius, a nun living with three others in the castle grounds, adds to the mystery by insisting that Tamara is a year older than she is and dropping a few cryptic clues into the conversation. Who lives across the road - is it really Rosaleen's invalid mother? What happened to the castle? Why won't anyone get a real doctor in to take care of Mom? All these questions plague Tamara.
The gothic elements are really kept as a light touch, and the ending feels a little rushed given the earlier pace. Still, this will appeal to romance/suspense lovers.
This start to the "Keepers of the School" series ends a little abruptly, but not in the cliff-hanger style that is required. Benjamin is a student at This start to the "Keepers of the School" series ends a little abruptly, but not in the cliff-hanger style that is required. Benjamin is a student at the Oakes School, due to be torn down to make way for an amusement park at the end of the year. One day, late for class, he comes across the old, creepy, injured janitor and helps him - this help turns into a passing of the mantle of Keeping the School (there's a coin and an obscure rhyme involved). Benjamin enlists the help of Jill, and starts to solve the rhyme's meaning.
Where I got lost was not in the information about yachting and racing, but in the fact that the end ends a little with a whimper, not the "stay tuned" bang that series books of this nature need to keep readers looking for the next installment. However, this is Andrews Clements and he has quite the following already, so perhaps the ending isn't the drawback I think it is....more
I know I go on about how wonderful Iain Banks' fiction is, and this, his first novel is as wonderful as his later works. Shorter than the other books I know I go on about how wonderful Iain Banks' fiction is, and this, his first novel is as wonderful as his later works. Shorter than the other books I've read, The Wasp Factory also ups the creep factor; it's a little like We Have Always Lived in the Castle with a budding Hannibal Lector as hero.
Frank lives on a remote Scottish island, "hidden" from the real world by his father, who managed to forget to register him legally, so Frank has never been to school and has no National Registry number. That doesn't mean that Frank is stupid, just that his childhood schooling has focused on other things, like the exact length of items on the island. As a result he's also learned some odd crafts, like bomb building and making wasp-prison candles... and then there was his pre-teen "phase" where he killed two cousins and a younger brother. On the other hand, Frank is normal compared to his insane brother Eric, who set dogs on fire and fed maggots and worms to children. Eric's in an asylum, while Frank is free to go to the local bar on Saturday nights and get drunk with his friend, the dwarf Jamie.
All this starts falling apart when Eric escapes from the asylum and starts heading home, calling Frank from the road and being both menacing and increasingly deranged. Then there's the killer buck rabbit, the fire predicted by the wasp factory, his father's locked study and, well, dealing with the long-term effects of his childhood "accident". The richness with which Frank's world is drawn leaves the reader feeling let down when the ending arrives - it feels abrupt, with too many questions left unanswered....more
As with Kate Atkinson's mysteries, there are several stories going on here that eventually intertwine; unfortunately by halfway through the book I gotAs with Kate Atkinson's mysteries, there are several stories going on here that eventually intertwine; unfortunately by halfway through the book I got the sense of how they would do so and the surprise (or shock?) of the reveal was lost. Because this is told through three sets of eyes (Rudy, Miles and Lucy), the other characters are understandably little flat. However, I never got the sense that we really got a good grasp of these three either.
All three are 'lost souls' in many ways: Miles thanks to his mentally ill(?) brother Hayden's disappearance, Lucy due to her parents' death, and Rudy because of his "parents" lies. Their roads toward a normal life take an incredibly wrong turn, yet one senses that they find this better than What Was... until the end, at least, for Rudy and Lucy. The end of Miles' story is not quite clear, which is a little unsatisfying....more
A semi-mash-up of dystopian books like The Children of Man and The Handmaid's Tale as well as The Hunger Games and Matched with a hint of "Big Love", A semi-mash-up of dystopian books like The Children of Man and The Handmaid's Tale as well as The Hunger Games and Matched with a hint of "Big Love", Wither takes place in a proximate future when we've cured cancer (among other things) but it's cost us our longevity. Men die at 25, women at 20, but that's newer generations. First generations, however, have normal lifelines, provide they aren't killed by other means.
Rhine's parents, scientists, were killed in an accident so now she and her twin brother Rowan are hiding in and protecting their family home, but one day Rhine is kidnapped and brought with a number of other women elsewhere. There's a culling and she and two others end up in a mansion, replacement/successor wives for Lady Rose, who has reached 20 and is now dying. Their husband, Linden, is a rather ineffectual boy, under his doctor/scientist father Vaughn's thumb, in addition to just being 20 with all the maturity that brings. Held captive in Florida, Rhine plots and plans to get home - or at least away - as she tries to care for her sister wives and falls in love with Gabriel, one of the house servants.
The Hunger Games tie-in comes from the stated fact that there was some sort of war and everything except North America has been destroyed. Not just bombed, but missing. Think "Waterworld" with one continent. District 13, anyone? And, of course, this is the first in a trilogy, so the plot stretches a bit at times so as to fill space until the next installment.
If you're looking for a PD James read-alike, Susan Hill's Simon Serrallier series might fit the bill. Adam Dalgliesh is a poet with a deeply private sIf you're looking for a PD James read-alike, Susan Hill's Simon Serrallier series might fit the bill. Adam Dalgliesh is a poet with a deeply private streak, Serrallier is an artist with a deeply private streak. The books are dark procedurals with many well-drawn characters, with Hill's Lafferton providing the same rich lode for stories as London does for James. The biggest difference is that we do get glimpses of Serrallier's personal life, meeting his mother, father, stepmother, triplet sister and her family, throughout the course of the series.
As a cathedral town, Lafferton would appear to be peaceful but there is a red light district; the girls there mostly know each other and (to some extent) look after each other. Loopy Les brings hot drinks and sandwiches some nights, Damien and the Baptists have a van that does the same on other nights. In other town news, there's a new Dean bent on dragging the congregation from the 1622 service to "happy-clappy" modern services, and his wife is making friends and influencing people all over. Thank God for Miles Hurley, the Dean's best friend and second-in-command, who helps smooth over Ruth's excesses (in this case, her decision to form the Magdalene Refuge, for "those poor girls, who, like Mary...."). There's also the murder of two of the prostitutes and attempted murder of a third.
Simon's in Taransay, a very remote Scottish island, recovering from his last case. Returning to Lafferton, he also has to deal with his sister's ongoing grief over her husband's death and reaching a place of emotional ease with his new stepmother and his father's remarriage. But wait! There's more... Sounds complicated? The author is more than capable of handling all this, and more....more
This historical mystery is, like most of the genre, not particularly gory or dark, although the goings-on of the Holy Ghost Club do take a rather siniThis historical mystery is, like most of the genre, not particularly gory or dark, although the goings-on of the Holy Ghost Club do take a rather sinister, creepy turn. Set mostly in 18th century Cambridge (UK, not US), in a college, the story of a young man's madness and the question of whether or not he did, indeed, see a ghost one evening in the college grounds is one of the more interesting examples of the genre I've read.
There are several different levels of mystery here, some of which are resolved and some of which are presumed solved but perhaps weren't: what killed Tabitha? who killed Sylvia? did Soresby steal the book? did Frank see Sylvia's ghost? etc.. I liked the fact that for some, there appears to be a solution or explanation but it's not absolutely clear and there could, possibly, be another answer. The bigger question, to me, is whether or not there will be a second book (my hope is not, simply because this is so intricate that in the rush to publish a series something good might be lost).
The author has done a lot of research into the era that you can almost smell Tom Turdman coming. This isn't a cleaned-up peek at the past, nor is it set in the upper-class world where things always look and feel relatively comfortable. Only the speech is modern (not anachronistically so), but writing in an "accent" would distract from the narrative flow.
The intertwining of the story behind the murder of Brenda Lafferty and her daughter with the history of the Mormon church is interesting, as it lends The intertwining of the story behind the murder of Brenda Lafferty and her daughter with the history of the Mormon church is interesting, as it lends context to the murder. However, the "bone-chilling" atmosphere that others have mentioned is lessened because of this continued flipping between modern and historic reporting.
Krakauer's mission seems to be to explain (and condemn) the so-called fundamental movements, those adhering to Joseph Smith's Principle 132 encouraging polygamy. As a result, mainstream Mormon leaders have taken fault with the book and there's a lengthy response/rebuttal at the end of the edition I read. By merely recounting the more sensational and troubling aspects of the religion, he does a disservice to the reader by not giving us a background on their beliefs, customs and practices. I'm still a little unclear about the wards, stakes and other divisions, while I'm quite clear on the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
This isn't to say that I approve of the breakaway sects like the UEP, but that this isn't a balanced view of the religion as a whole. If you're looking for a book the murders and the thinking that leads to a Warren Jeffs compound (or the compound on "Big Love"), this is a good resource, but if you're looking to understand who and what the Mormons are, not so much....more
I guess younger readers really like that slightly snarky, tongue-in-cheek tone because there are so many books that utilize it, including this one. NoI guess younger readers really like that slightly snarky, tongue-in-cheek tone because there are so many books that utilize it, including this one. Not quite An Unfortunate Event (or Adventure), this book is in the same family as Mysterious Benedict Society or the Blue Baillet mysteries.
Of course there are double-crosses and people who aren't quite what they seem, impossible escapes, interesting locales vaguely based in reality - all the elements we now expect from this genre (although the television series names would be funnier if I didn't suspect that we'll see similar shows in the near future!). And equally of course the ending leads directly into the next in the series.
The number of plot threads introduced and kept going here should overwhelm the reader and the author, but that's simply not the case. All the Jackson The number of plot threads introduced and kept going here should overwhelm the reader and the author, but that's simply not the case. All the Jackson Brodie mysteries are complex and it is to Ms. Atkinson's credit that she makes it look simple.
We're a year (or so) after the events in When Will There Be Good News? and the characters there are referred to only tangentially. Jackson is working as a private detective trying to find out who Hope McAllister really is (she's an adoptee looking for her parents). This thread intermingles with that of Tracy, a recently retired police Superintendent, Tilly, an old and going slightly senile actress, and the events of 1975. There's also a new killer on the loose (three victims), the mystery of Courtney and the other Jackson. Not every thread is followed through to completion, and it'll be interesting to see if any of them are picked up in future books.
This is not a "cozy", but there's no physical violence....more
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