Muddy Puddle Musings

Compost Stew - Mary McKenna Siddals

2012-01-28T14:43:00.002-07:00

an A to Z Recipe for the Earth
Illustrated by Ashley Wolff
Triangle Press, Berkeley, 2010
32 pgs
$15.99
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Collaged, dark brown earth, other brown pieces, hand cut worms
Illustrations are cut paper with drawing added (the faces - all kids - are really nice. A + !!
http://www.ashleywolff.com/

A "rhyming recipe" on what to add into a stew of goodies to make rich compost

"Environmental chefs,
here's a recipe for you
to fix from scratch
to mix a batch
of Compost Stew."

From A (apple cores) to Z (zinnia heads) it's an unforced alphabet of all sorts of things you can put into compost.

AUTHOR'S NOTE at the beginning and CHEF'S NOTE at the end are full of info - and some is very cleverly funny.

MOVIE - The Artist

2012-01-27T05:58:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly delightful!
Limited Released 11-25-11
1-26-11 at ElCon with Sheila, Kate, Linda
PG-13 (1:40)
RT Critics: 97% Audience: 91%
Rating: 4/Loved it
Director: Michel Hazanavicius
The Weinstein Company
Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo

The whole film is about sound/s. A silent film superstar is ruined when "talkies" and the stock market crash happen simultaneously. Ah, but it was about so much more, too. It was about how the handsome star met a beautiful young ingenue as she was about to begin her career, how she revered him,love him, rocketed to stardom, stayed sane and grounded, and ultimately saved the handsome star. George Valentin and Peppy Miller.

Dujardin has a very ordinary face, but when he smiles, his whole face radiates happiness. It's gorgeous.
And Bejo, with her hip 20's haircut is a combination of ultra-cute and quite beautiful. What a great pairing!

The sounds of the movie were amazingly done throughout. Background silence...or no sound but the clink of a cup on a table surface...or the rise and fall of a great score...sometimes exactly like the old silent movies, sometimes very different. Fascinating.

This movie was a real delight.

9. The White Mary - Kira Salak

2012-01-25T19:31:00.000-07:00

audio read by Joyce Bean
2008, Brilliance Audio
10 cds, 12 hours
$36.95
368 pgs.
Written for adults
Rating: 4/Liked it a lot

Setting: Contemporary Boston and Papua New Guinea
OSS: A young, female journalist risks her life tramping through the tropical rainforest of Papua New Guinea following a tenuous clue about her dead hero.
1st Sentence: "The black waters of Elobi Creek show no sign of a current It is another dead waterway, Marika tells herself, one that will breed only mosquitoes and crocodiles. Another waterway that somehow reflects -- in the darkness of the water, in its stillness -- all of her failings."

I certainly had no idea the direction of the plot when I began this book. Marika Vecera, a talented 33-year old journalist who has seen horrible things - genocide, torture, rape, unbelievable despair - in all sorts of countries around the world, lives, herself, in despair, never allowing herself any happiness. When she becomes involved in writing a biography of journalist Robert Lewis, whom she has idolized her whole adult life, she begins a journey through the incredible, dense jungles of Papua New Guinea....a journey that helps her emerge from her despair to begin to understand and appreciate her own life.

8. I Am J - Cris Beam

2012-01-25T06:28:00.000-07:00

2011, Little Brown & Co.
340 pgs.
Written for YA
Excellent/4

Setting: Contemporary NYC
OSS: Being born male in a female body and dealing with that, silently, for your whole life....that's where we meet J at the beginning of his senior year.
1st sentence/s: "I could smell the hostility, the pretense, the utter fakeness of it all before they even climbed the last set of stairs."

What an intriguing, informative read! J, born Jenifer to a Puerto Rican mom and a Jewish dad, has always known that he was a boy, born with the wrong body. Now in his senior year, and never having discussed this with anyone, he is ready to become the person he feels he has always been. Dressing in layers of clothing to hide body parts that he feels shouldn't be there, speaking very little, so that his soft voice is not detected, have to be changed. But he has to figure out a way to tell his parents, and he's afraid of their reaction. Even though they've always seen the boy, they still consider him their daughter. He loves them. He so badly wants and needs their understanding.

His only friend is Melissa, who seems to understand him, but who he's never discussed his predicament with. Other than that he has no friends, and no one to talk to. Until now. He's studied up. He's learned about testosterone injections. And then he discovers a school that is FOR kids like him. He makes a friend, reluctantly talks to a counselor, joins a support group.....and finally makes friends. Friends that understand him, friends that he can talk.

This was an intriguing, thoughtful read. Cris Beam adds a wonderful afterward and a list of sites and books and information that would be helpful to any transgender teen. She's volunteered at a school similar to J's, she is foster mom to a transgender teen. She knows what she's talking about, which makes this even better.

7. Jellicoe Road - Melina Marchetta

2012-01-21T15:55:00.000-07:00

2006 Australia, 2008 USA, HarperTeen
419 pages
YA
Rating: Awesome/5
Michael L. Printz Award

There are reviews of this book all over the web, mine would never do it justice. It was everything I look for in a perfect novel. A seamless, well-plotted storyline; lovely writing; characters that become real, they're so well written, and a mystery.

Taylor Markham has little memory of her growing-up years with her drug-addicted mother, she only knows that she was abandoned at 11 and sent to a boarding school on the Jellicoe Road. The only adult in her life since that time has been a woman named Hannah, who works at the school but lives in a house on the riverside, quite close by. And now it is Taylor's last year, and for six weeks a school ritual is about to begin - "wars" between the townies, the school, and the Cadets who come each year to camp and live in the wild. From the lives and memories of five close friends 18 years previously, to the lives of five who will end up being close friends in the future, I am left to ponder love and family, grief and forgiveness, secrets and honesty. Wow. what a book.

The last line of the blurb on the jacket is what made me begin this book (finally): " If Taylor can put together the pieces of her past, she might just be able to change her future."

Oh, how many times I've taken this out of the library and returned it without beginning. And to think I almost didn't read it this time, either. What a shame. This book is bound to be a favorite. Incredible story-weaving, and gorgeous word-weaving.

6. No Ordinary Day - Deborah Ellis

2012-01-20T12:44:00.000-07:00

2011, Groundwork Books, House of Anansi Press
160 pages
Written for middle grades (however a small caution: although nothing is ever said outright, at one point Valli is almost sold to a house of prostitution, and she also sees boys disappearing with older men, never to return. It is subtle, but present. However, it must be a huge part of life on the streets in a city in India...or anywhere in the world. But would I share it with my fourth graders? Hmmmm.)
Rating: Liked it a lot/4

Setting: Contemporary Kolkata (Calcutta), India
OSS: A homeless, orphan Indian girl adapts to life in the streets until she meets...and ultimately trusts....a female doctor.
1st sentence: The best day in my life was the day I found out I was alone in the world.

Deborah Ellis is amazing. Valli is homeless and all alone in the world. She lives on the streets of Kolkata (Calcutta) begging, stealing (she calls it borrowing), practical joking, and finding safe places to sleep. She is afraid of "the monsters" that she occasionally sees, people who have leprosy, little knowing that she has it, too. Granted, it's in the beginning stages, but..... She meets a doctor, a female doctor, in a very believable way, a doctor who recognizes this kid as the smart young lady that she is, and teaches her to trust in a way that she's never understood before. Short, powerful book. Valli is so believable...smart and funny and full of amazing questions about everything.

Oh....every bit of royalty from this book goes to a leprosy foundation in Canada (Ellis is a Canadian writer).

5. May B. a Novel - Caroline Starr Rose

2012-01-19T21:11:00.001-07:00

a novel told in verse
2012, Schwartz & Wade Books, Random House
233 pgs.
Written for middle grades
Liked it
Historical Fiction
Lots of starred reviews **

Setting: Late 19th century Kansas prairie.
OSS: May B. is "lent" by her family to help out a new farmer and his young wife in their sod house...an unhappy proposition made even worse when she is abandoned with no way to leave the homestead.
1st sentence/s:

I won't go.

"It's for the best," Ma says,
yanking to braid my hair,
trying to make something of what's left.

Ma and Pa want me to leave
and live with strangers.

I won't go.

Loneliness, blizzards, wolves and dyslexia make this a looooong 6 months for May B.

Movie - Joyful Noise

2012-01-17T06:27:00.001-07:00

Lots of laughs, with every subplot having a happy ending
Released 1-13-12
1-14-12 at ElCon with Dede
PG-13 (1:57)
RT Critic: 38% RT Audience: 76%
Liked it
Directed by Todd Graff
Warner Brothers Pictures
Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton

The young, male lead, Jeremy Jordan, just stole the show. He was adorable, comfortable, and a wonderful singer. Great music. lots of fun. Hairstyles galore...they must have had a huge budget for hairstylistss alone. Every subplot had a happy ending, the entire movie ended with a "one year later" big bang. A poignant scene (one of my favorite) with a minor tear shed, and lots of great musical entertainment.

Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah live in a tiny town in Alabama, and have always sung in the church choir together. The choir competes in an area competition, but there's a choir from Detroit that always beats them. Once again they are on their way to compete against them, when their director dies and Queen Latifah is named as the new choir director. She and Parton have always been at odds, and since Parton had been married to the previous director, they are even more at odds now.

Parton's grandson, Randy, arrives and shakes things up...not only with Queen Latifah's 16-year old daughter, but with the choir. He relates really well to Queen Latifah's autistic son, too. Ups an downs (have to have conflict in a flic, right?) mixed in with some really nice music and you have two hours of excellent entertainment.

Substitute Creature - Chris Gall

2012-01-11T19:36:00.000-07:00

illustrated by the author
Little Brown & Co., 2011
HC $16.99
32 pages
Endpapers: Full double page illustrations of a street on Halloween - before and after the story. (Look for the changes!)
Title Page: The doors of the school with monster shadow - full page illustration
Illustrations: all encased with a border
1st sentence/s:

"On a windswept day in late October, the students of Ms. Jenkin's class arrived to a surprise at school.

"Substitute teacher today! announced Peyton.

Amanda giggled and scribbled on the chalkboard. Luke performed a circus act. Gavin laughed like a mad scientist.

Then, at precisely eight o'clock, the door to the classroom creaked open. The substitute teacher entered the room."

Mr. Creacher (a 5-eyed green monster with tentacles) tells his unruly class the tales of six different students who got into trouble in school and the unhappy results - with a twist at the end!

This has a Halloween aspect, but I wouldn't consider it a Halloween book at all.

Rock 'N' Roll Mole - Carolyn Crimi

2012-01-11T05:42:00.004-07:00

Illustrated by Lynn Munsinger
Dial Books for Young Readers (Penguin) 2011
HC $16.99
32 pages
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Violet-blue
Title Page: Mole being followed by the three chicks that adore him"
Illustrations: Big, bold, colorful, fun

1st sentence/s:

Mole had a rock-and-roll soul,
He woke up each morning yelling,
"Let's rock the house!"

Mole is ultra-cool -- his strut, his leather jacket, and his shades all prove it. And hi music is great. But...he can't perform in front of an audience. He gets stage fright.

Then his best friend, Raccoon, puts on a talent show and Mole has to come to his aid....

4. A Month of Sundays - Ruth White

2012-01-10T21:25:00.002-07:00

2011, Margaret Ferguson Books, Farrar Straus Giroux
168 pgs.
Written for middle grades
Hmph. Probably shouldn't rate it right now when I'm perturbed with the author. What's wrong with having a feel-good book once in awhile? It was like everything was turning out TOO well, so Ms. White decided to end it with a little tragedy. It was an entirely enjoyable read all the way through until the last 10 pages. I'm not happy.

Setting: 1957 Black River, Virgina.....Appalachia.
OSS: When Garnet's mother goes to Florida to make a better life for the two of them, she leaves Garnet with an aunt and uncle that she's never known, finding that having a loving family is pretty special.
The title: Garnet accompanies her Aunt June each Sunday to a different area church while her aunt "searches for God." Good, suitable title.
1st sentence/s: "Before I was born fourteen years ago, my dad, August Rose, left my mom, Betty Rose, for a carnival singer."

Garnet's unsuspecting aunt and uncle are kind to her, they are quite well off and Garnet has always been incredibly poor. The grandfather ("Poppy") who never knew she existed is thrilled that he has a granddaughter, and she even finds a good-looking beau. There's some good looks into what I've always considered "holy roller" churches, the laying of hands, speaking in tongues, tent revivals, baptism in the river, and even faith healing, but the reader is allowed to look and sample and think for themselves. There's preaching but it's not preachy.

There are also some lines from some old familiar hymns quoted. It's written so that I could, at times, put myself right into the kitchen with the rest of the family. I liked it a lot. Except for the last ten pages. If there was going to be a tragedy, I would have liked it not thrown in at the very last minute, more towards the middle perhaps???? Darn, darn, darn.

3. Breaking Silence - Linda Castillo

2012-01-10T06:34:00.001-07:00

3rd in Amish country police chief Kate Burkholder series
2011, Minotaur Books
302 pgs.
Written for adults
Awesome (5)
I think this was the best so far in her series.

Setting: Painters, Mil, Ohio contemporary wintertime
OSS: The murder of a family in a manure pit and a spree of hate crimes toward the Amish keep Chief Burkholder and her lover John Tomasetti busy.
The Title: Castillo is using "silence" as the backbone of each of her titles. In this installment, one of the aspects of Kate's investigation is that the Amish are incredibly silent and won't help the police with information that might helptheir investigation.
1st Sentence: " The dogs were going to be a problem."

I like Kate. She's interesting. She has flaws. She has a backstory that keeps creeping into her current life. She drinks waaaay too much, and knows it.

I also really like the way that Castillo creates her characters and allows her readers to really feel like they know them. This book is both character driven AND story driven. I found it very difficult to put down.

Two parents and an uncle are found dead in a manure pit - apparently the methane gas created can be quickly toxic. Throughout the book, we discover that things are not as they seem originally. We meet the four orphaned children and are drawn into their lives as Chief Kate Burkholder is. Ike, Sam, Salome, and Mose. Ages 10 to 17. Hmm.

At the same time, Amish are being targeted, buggies pushed into the ditch, barns set on fire, stock killed, members assaulted. These are hard to investigate, and it's interesting to see how clues are found and check out some of the possibilities.

King Hugo's Huge Ego - Chris VanDusen

2012-01-07T20:34:00.000-07:00

Illustrated by the author
Candlewick Press, 2011
HC, $16.99
40 pgs.
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: Yellow with darker yellow crest/shield with a slightly darker "H"
Title Pages: Full page illustration (a castle atop rolling green hills)

"Long ago, when people spoke
with words like "thou" and "thee,"
there lived a king named Hugo
who was only three foot three.

And though this mini monarch
stood no higher than an elf,
his ego was enormous --
he thought highly of himself."

Rhyming a b c b
Alliteration
Rhythm
Great vocabulary

Favorite illustration: Tessa (a sorceress), after being bumped into the river, is grubby, shoeless (a dog is sticking out from under her haystack), she has a bedraggled frog on her head and a turtle on her rear....

Incredibly haughty King Hugo is poxed by a farm girl and his head grows and grows...and grows each time he brags.

2. Lake Shore Limited - Sue Miller

2012-01-06T20:54:00.004-07:00

Audio read by the author
2010
8 disks
288 pages
written for adults
Didn't like it (1)
Lovely writing; boring, tedious story; unlikable characters for the most part - it was a pretty endless, repetitive story.

Setting: Post-9/11 Boston and rural Vermont.
OSS: Four people connected to a young man who died on 9/11 tell the story of their lives and regrets a few years later.
The title: The Lake Shore Limited is the title of the play that Billy writes, the catalyst for Billy meeting Sam, and the way that she is able to deal with the death of Gus and her feelings surrounding her own secret guilty feelings about Gus's death on 9/11.

The story weaves in, about, and around the lives of five people from the points-ov-view of four of them. Gus, raised by his 15-years-older sister, is killed on 9/11. So even though he is no longer alaive, he's definitely a huge part of the story.

Now, years later, Gus's girlfriend Billy, a playwright, has written a play abouit a husband whose wife might or might not have been killed in a train wreck. The husband is not filled with grief, he's been having an affair and is not sure how he feels. This is actually a mirror of how Billy feels, she'd been about to break up with Gus, although no one else knows this., Leslie, Gus's sister, has invited her friend Sam to the opening of the play to meet Billy, to perhaps fix them up. Sam had once been in love with Leslie. His first wife had died of cancer leaving him with three youngish sons, he had remarried and divorced after that. He's tall and good looking, Billy is extremely tiny and good looking. The fourth voice is of Rafe, the actor who played the husband in the play, who is going though his own heartache - his wife is dying of Lou Gehrig's Disease.

Billy and her dog are particularly unlikable, Sam has incredible snobbish tendencies raise their ugly heads, and Rafe almost seems an unneeded character, I'm not sure why he was included.

I almost stopped listening to this a dozen times, but each time I convinced myself that I'd already spent enough time with it to complete it. Yuck. Endless.

1. Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Lani Taylor

2012-01-04T17:54:00.001-07:00

#1 in a new trilogy
read on my phone through Kindle
2011, Little Brown & Co.
432 pages
Written for YA
Awesome (5)

Setting: Contemporary Prague as well as an otherworld called Eretz.
OSS: Karou, a human college student raised by chimaera (mixture of different animals), meets Akira, the hated enemy of the chimaera because he is a seraphim.
The title: As is discovered in the later part of the novel, smoke is a major part of the survival of the chimaera. And a wishbone, worn by Brimstone, is a huge link to the present and the past...and the truth for Karou.
1st line/s: "Walking to school over the snow-muffled cobbles, Karou had no sinister premonitions about the day."

This was a fascinating story. There were surprises along the way, and if you've not read the book, go no further, because I'm going to review this book with possible spoilers. Why? Because I can't wait to read the 2nd installment, which won't come out until September and I'll be foggy about the storyline. So here goes.

Karou speaks many languages and is an art student in Prague. She was raised by four chimaera, reptile heads, snake bodies, different animal body parts in different places, with the head-of-house a powerful being called Brimstone. Brimstone collects teeth. Thousands of teeth, teeth from any animal or human. Karou helps him out by traveling through portals to pick them up and messenger them back. Although she now lives on her own in an apartment in Prague, she fondly recalls her life with her "family," even though this life still leaves her with countless unanswered questions.

Then Karou "meets' Akira. Their immediate attraction to each other is marred by violence and antagonism, which quickly disappears. Karou doesn't understand this pull she has toward Akira. She soon discovers that he is a seraphim, that angels are the archest enemies of the chimaera...and that there's a terrifying war being fought in anotherworld, one that Brimstone has never let her enter.

That's all the first half of the book. In the second part, we meet Madrigal, the chimaera who was the absolutely forbidden love of Akira. Madrigal who was put to death because of their love, which was considered a betrayal by her kind. So the reader starts to wonder....how are Karou and Madrigal related? There has to be a relation.....

The secret to everything is behind the reason for Brimstone's obsessive collection and trafficking in teeth. Those teeth were used to create new "vessels" (bodies) for the souls of killed chimaera. Souls that were collected from the previous body by a stream of incensed smoke.....

Well, I don't know if this is enough to help me remember what went on in the book. Let's hope! Clever, different story. I look forward to the next in the series.

Mysteries for Kids

2012-01-04T06:15:00.000-07:00

I spend the beginning of the school year introducing mysteries. Using picture book read-alouds, literature circles, and an oral book report, the fourth graders immerse themselves in all sorts of books.

Picture Books

Grandpa's Teeth
Rod Clement, 1997

Clever and funny. After grandpa's teeth are stolen the police are called in and every possible solution is examined. Together the town comes togther to help set things right.

2012 TBR List

2012-01-02T22:01:00.008-07:00

Piled and stacked, here and there, all over the house, here's my current list of books - audio and actual - that need to be read (or part with them!!!):

100 Cupboards (Wilson) AUDIO
1222 (Holt)
Accidental Adventures of India McAllister (Agell)
Adventures in Africa (Berry)
All Alone in the Universe (Perkins)
American Fiji (Backer)
Atlantis Code (Brokaw)
Bad Business (Parker) AUDIO
Bad Day for Sorry, A (Littlefield)
Bastard of Istanbul (Shafak)
Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club (McNeil)
Bed of Red Flowers (Pazira)
Beneath My Mother's Feet (Qamar)
Between Two Deserts (Shames)
Bitsy's Bait & BBQ (Morsi)
Black Olives (Dudman)
Blue Jasmine (Sheth)
Blue Moon (Noel)
Broken Moon (Antieau)
Carved in Bone (Bass)
Case Histories (Atkinson) REREAD
Cathy's Key (Stewart)
Chasing the Jaguar (Greene)
City of Bones (Connelly)
Climbing the Stairs (Venkatraman)

Cold Dish (Johnson)
Confessions of a Closet Catholic (Littman)
Criminal Paradise (Thomas)
Dakota (Grimes) AUDIO
Darkness More than Night (Connelly) eBOOK
Daughter of War (Skrypuch)
Deadly Harvest (Graham) AUDIO
Dead Man's Blood (Hilton)
Dead Sea Codex (Wisseman)
Desert Waits, The (Falk)
Detachment Fault (Miller)
Disappeared, The (Whelan)
Distant Shores: A Novel (Hannah)
Dragonfly Bones (Cole)
Dreaming in English (Fitzgerald)
Eggs (Spinelli)
Elvina's Mirror (Weil)
Esperanza Means Hope (Harvey)
Field of Blood (Mina)
Fisherman's Bend (Greenlaw)
Flower in the Desert, A (Satterthwaite)
Forest Lover (Vreeland) AUDIO
Forgive the River, Forgive the Sky (Whelan)
~~Friend of the Devil (Robinson) AUDIO~~ DNF-after 1st disc just didn't interest me
Fruitbowl Project, the (Durkee)
Gabby (Giffords/Kelly)

Gardens of Water (Drew)
Girl of Kosovo )Mead)
Girl With a Skirt of Stars (Kitchell)
Going, Going (Nye)
Gone Tomorrow (Child)
Good Indian Wife, A (Cherlan)
Goodnight Irene (Burke)
Hard Way, The (Child) AUDIO
Hauntings and Heists (The Mysterious Four) (Poblocki)
Heat Lightning (Sandford)
Hermit's Peak (McGarrity)
He Who Fears the Wolf (Folsum)
I am Lavina Cumming (Lowell)
Illuminated (Bronleewe)
Impossible (Werlin)
In the Bleak Midwinter (Spencer-Fleming)
In the Name of Salome (Alvarez)
Irish Chain (Fowler)
Island, The (Hilderbrand) AUDIO
Janissary Tree, The (Goodwin)
Jimi and Me (Adoff)
Journey of Dreams (Pellegrino)
Keeping Fiath (Picoult)
Key to the Repository (Blue Bloods) (De La Cruz)
Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark (Pearson)
Lacemakers of Glenmara (Barbieri)
Lacuna, The (Kingsolver)
Lake of Dreams, The (Edwards)
Last Oracle (Rollins) AUDIO
Last Song Dogs (Browning)
Last Time I Saw You (Berg)
Lean Mean Thirteen (Evanovich) AUDIO
Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy (Schmidt)
London Eye Mystery (Dowd)
Lush (Friend)
Lying Awake (Salzman)
Map of Love (Soueif)
Map of True Places (Barry)
Masie Dobbs (Winspear)

Matisse on the Loose (Bragg)
Midnight Cactus (Pollen)
Milkweed (Spinelli)
Minaret (Aboulela)
Mogo, the Third Warthog (Napoli)
Monsoon Summer (Perkins)
Moon Over Manifest (Vanderpool)
Mortician's Daughter (Bloom)
Much Ado About Jessie Kaplan (Cohen)
Murder on the Rocks (MacInerney)
My Most Excellent Year (Kluger)
Naked Mole-Rat Letters (Amato)
Once Upon a Day (Tucker) AUDIO
On the Day of the Dead: Some Rivers End (Granfors)
Oracle Glass, The (Riley)
Other Side of Heaven, The (Groberg)
Paradise of Shadows (Whelan)
Patchwork Christmas (Demarco & Reece)
Persepolis (GRAPHIC) (Satrapi)
Postcard, The (Lewis)
Prayers for Sale (Dallas)
Presense, The (Graham)
Raven Black (Cleeves)
Realm of Possibilities (Levithan)
Ring, The (Molist)
Rosetta Key (Dietrich) AUDIO
Running on Eggs (Levine)
Sacrifice (Bolton)
Sea Glass (Shreve)
Season For the Dead, A (Hewson)
Season of Ice (MAINE) (Les Becquets)

Secret History of the Pink Carnation (Willig)
Secret Project Notebook (Reeder)
See What I See (Whelan)
September of Shiraz (Sofer)
Shadow of the Wind (Ruiz Zafon)
Shaman Sings, The (Doss)
Shooting Kabul (Senzai)
Shoot the Moon (Letts)
Skylight Confessions (Hoffman) AUDIO
Smile (GRAPHIC) (Telgemeier)
Smiles to Go (Spinelli)
Snow Angels (Thompson)
So B. It (Weeks)
Speak of the Devil (Hawke)
Spellman Files (Lutz)
Starvation Lake (Gruley)
Strange Case of Oigami Yoda (Angleberger)
Sugar Island, The (Lamazares)
Sugar Skull (Hamilton)
Surrender Tree, The (Engle)
Swan Thieves (Kostova)
Tail of the Scorpion (Graf)
Tensleep (Andrews)
They Did It With Love (Morgenroth)
This Means War (Wittlinger)
Three Wishes Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak (Ellis)
Trouble (Schmidt)
Turtle Feet (Gronzni)
U is for Undertow (Grafton) AUDIO
Venola in Love (Ware)
Virtuous Woman, A (Gibbons)
Walking Tour, The (Davis)
Way Life Should Be, The (Kline)
Web of Evil (Jance)
Wednesday Wars, The (Schmidt)
West of the Jordan (Halaby)
White Giraffe (St. John)
~~White Mary, The~~ ~~(Salak) AUDIO~~ Finished 1/25/12
Woman in Jerusalem, A (Yehoushua)
Woods, The (French)
Year of Pleasures (Berg)
Yellow Star (Roy)

2012 Movie List

2012-01-02T20:37:00.009-07:00

*6-Awesome*
5-Loved it
4-Liked it a lot
3-Liked it
2-It was okay
1-Didn't like it

The Artist (1-26-11) Loved it (5)
The Help (1-15-12) Liked it a lot (4), seen for the 2nd time
Joyful Noise (1-14-12) Liked it (3)

84th Academy Award
Nominations

Best Picture
The Artist (won 1 of 2 Golden Globes)
The Descendants (won 1 of 2 Golden Globes)
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Dangerous
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

Best Actor
Damian Bichar (A Better Life)
George Clooney (The Descendants) (won Golden Globes)
Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
Gary Oldman (Tinker, Tailor, Sailor, Spy)
Brad Pitt (Moneyball)

Best Actress
Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs)
Viola Davis (The Help)
Rooney Mara (Girl With the Dragon Tatoo)
Meryl Streep (Iron Lady) (won Golden Globes)
Michelle Williams (My Life with Marilyn)

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branaugh (My Life With Marilyn)
Johan Hill (Moneyball)
Nick Nolte (Warrior)
Christopher Plummer (Beginners) (won Golden Globes)
Max Von Syndow (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Dangerous

Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bujo (The Artist)
Jessica Chastain (The Help)
Octavia Spencer (The Help) (won Golden Globes)
Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)
Janet McTee (Albert Nobbs)

69th Annual Golden Globe
Nominations

Motion Picture/Drama
(5) The Descendants WINNER
.....Director (Alexander Payne)
.....Male lead (George Clooney) WINNER
.....Supporting actress (Shailene Woodley)
(5) The Help
.....Female lead (Viola Davis)
.....Supporting actress (Jessica Chastain)
.....Supporting actress (Octavia Spencer) WINNER
(3) Hugo
.....Director (Martin Scorsese)
(5) The Ides of March
.....Director (George Clooney)
.....Male lead (Ryan Gossling)
(5) Moneyball
.....Male lead (Brad Pritt)
.....Supporting actor (Jonah Hill)
(1) War Horse

Motion Picture/ Comedy or Musical
(2) 50/50
.....Male lead (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)
(6) The Artist WINNER
.....Direcor (Michael Hazanavicius)
.....Male lead (Jean Dujardin) WINNER
.....Supporting actress (Bernice Bejo)
(2) Bridesmaids
.....Lead female (Kristen Wiig)
(5) Midnight in Paris
.....Director (Woody Allen)
.....Male lead - Owen Wilson
(3) My Week With Marilyn
.....Lead actress (Michelle Williams) WINNER
.....Supporting actor (Kenneth Branagh)

Other
(3) Albert Nobbs
.....Female lead (Glenn Close)
.....Supporting actress (Jenet McTeer)
(2) Girl With the Dragon Tatoo
.....Lead female (Rooney Mara)
(1) Iron Lady
.....Female lead (Meryl Streep) WINNER
(1) J. Edgar
.....Male lead (Leonardo DiCaprio)
(1) Shame
.....Male lead (Michael Fassbender)
(2) Carnage
.....Female lead (Jodie Foster)
.....Female lead/supporting? (Kate Winslet)
(1) Young Adult
.....Female lead (Chaleze Theron)
(1) The Guard
.....Male lead (Brendan Gleeson)
(1) Crazy Stupid Love
.....Male lead (Ryan Gossling)
(1) Drive
.....Supporting actor (Albert Brooks)
(1) A Dangerous Method
.....Supporting actor (Viggo Mortensen)
(1) Beginners
.....Supporting Actor (Christopher Plummer) WINNER

MOVIE: Alvin and the Chipmunks, Chipwrecked

2012-01-02T19:03:00.001-07:00

Date night with Ella!
Wide release 12/16/11
Thursday night 12/29/11 with Ella in Carlisle
G (1:27)
RT: Critics 13% Audience: 53%
cag: Liked it (it was cute)
Director: Mike Mills
Focus Features

Dave takes Alvin, Theodore, and Simon, as well as the Chipettes, on a cruise. They live it up, but when parasailing without Dave's permission, go sailing off the ship, over the ocean, and landing on a a deserted island.

Ella's favorite part: When the Chipettes sing.

MOVIE: Beginners

2012-01-02T19:00:00.001-07:00

Super story about sadness...
Limited release 6/3/11
12/23/11 on the Delta flight from Phoenix to Detroit
R (1:44)
RT: Critics: 84% Audience: 79%
cag: Liked it a lot
Director: Mike Mills
Focus Features

Ian McGregor, Christopher Plummer

After McGregor's mother dies, his father (Plummer) tells him that he's always been gay...and that his mother knew it. As an elderly dude he begins to live the life that he's always dreamed of, only to find that he has stage 4 cancer. The story is played out as the son remembers bits and pieces of things that happened, to both his dad and himself..discovering love, too...at the same time.

2012 Reading Challenges

2011-12-26T12:52:00.023-07:00

12-12-12 Challenge

1. Written in 2012
1. May B. a Novel (Rose)

2. Written before 2000
1.

3. One-word titles
1.

4. Where in the world?
1. No Ordinary Day (Ellis) INDIA
2. Jellicoe Road (Marchetta) AUSTRALIA
3. The White Mary (Salak) PAPUA NEW GUINEA

5. Arizona or Maine!
1.

6. Historical Fiction
1. May B a Novel (Rose)

7. Memoir/Autobiography
1.

8. ebooks
1. Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Taylor)

9. Paranormal
1. Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Taylor)

10. From my TBR pile/shelf/corner
1. The White Mary (Salak)

11. YA
1. Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Taylor)
2. Jellicoe Road (Marchetta)
3. I Am J (Beam)

12. For middle grades (need to read more!)
1. A Month of Sundays (White)
2. May B. a Novel (Rose)
3. No Ordinary Day (Ellis)

New Author Challenge 2012
Original rules here on the "Literary Escapism" blog.
15 - 25 - or 50 new-to-you authors
1. Lani Taylor Daughter of Smoke and Bone
2. Sue Miller - Lakeshore Limited
3.
4. Melina Marchetta - Jellicoe Road
5.

2012 Picture Book Reading Challenge
Original rules here on "An Abundance of Books" blog
Level 1 - Read 12 picture books
Level 2 - Read 16 picture books
Level 3 - Read 24 picture books
1. King Hugo's Huge Ego (VanDusen) 2011
2. Rock 'N' Roll Mole (Crimi/Munsinger) 2011
3. Substitute Creature (Gall) 2011
4. Compost Stew (Siddals/Wolff) 2010
5.
6.
7.

Decade Reading Challenge
This one came from here on the Goodreads site.

Published in 2003 (3)
1.

Published in 2004 (4)
1.

Published in 2005 (5)
1.

Published in 2006 (6)
1. Jellicoe Road (Marchetta)

Published in 2007 (7)
1.

Published in 2008 (8)
1. The White Mary (Salak)

Published in 2009 (9)
1.

Published in 2010 (10)
1. Lakeshore Limited (Miller)

Published in 2011 (11)
1. Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Taylor)
2. Breaking Silence (Castillo)
3. A Month of Sundays (White)
4. No Ordinary Day (Ellis)
5. I Am J (Beam)

Published in 2012 (12)
1. May B. a Novel (Rose)

What's in a Name 5
This challenge can be found here on Beth Fish Reads.

Title includes a topographical feature (land formation)
1. Lakeshore Limited (Miller)

Something you'd see in the sky
1.

Something with a creepy crawly in the title
1.

Title includes a type of house
1.

Title includes something you'd carry in your pocket, purse, or backpack
1.

Something you'd find on a calendar
1. A Month of Sundays (White)
2. May B. a Novel (Rose)

50 States Challenge
Read a book that is set, at least partially, in one of the 50 states.
A list of possibilities can be found here on the Goodreads site.
KS - May B. a Novel (Rose)
MA - Lakeshore Limited (Miller) Boston area
..........The White Mary (Salak) Boston area
NYC - I Am J (Beam)
OH - Breaking Silence (Castillo)
VT - Lakeshore Limited (Miller)
VA - A Month of Sundays (White)

Criminal Plots II - The 2012 Reading Challenge
This challenge has its own website here.

1. Novel with a weapon in the title.
1.

2. Book published at least 10 years ago.
1.

3. Book written by an author from the state/provinence/etc. where you live.
1.

4. Book written by an author using a pen name.
1.

5. Crime novel whose protagonist is the opposite gender of the author.
1.

6. A stand-alone novel written by an author who writes at least one series
1.

Merely Mystery Reading Challenge
Original rules here on "Musings of a Bookish Kitty" blog

The focus of this challenge is to explore the different types of crime fiction out there.

Sub-Genres:
The Whodunit: The classic crime puzzle. The story generally revolves around determine who committed the crime, and potentially apprehending them. Some Whodunits, called "fair play mysteries", will include all of the clues available in the text so that a careful reader can solve the crime on his or her own.

Locked Room Mystery: Like the Whodunit, there is a puzzle (crime) to solve. However in this instance, the crime has taken place under impossible circumstances, such as in a locked room or on an island with no way to exit or enter.

Cozy: The nice person's mystery. Often the crime, particularly if it's violent, occurs off scene. Sex and language are on the cleaner side. Humor is a common feature of the cozy.

Hard-Boiled/Noir: Often cynical, bleak or realistic, hard-boiled and noir stories often focus more on the characters involved instead of the crime. Violence and sex are not downplayed.

The Inverted Detective Story: In this style of story, the person perpetrating the crime is known up front. The point of the story is to see how (or if) the detective goes about solving the crime and how the perpetrator reacts to the investigation.

The Historical Whodunnit: Simply put, this is a mystery set in a historical setting. Often the mystery has some historical significance and features detection methods that are appropriate for that era.

The Police Procedural: Instead of featuring a independent detective, the police are investigating the crime in these stories. They often focus on the actual methods that police officers use to solve crimes.
1. Breaking Silence (Castillo)

The Professional Thriller: This kind of mystery involves a professional who is not involved directly in law enforcement, such a lawyer or doctor, who nonetheless finds themselves investigating a crime.

The Spy Novel: Related to the other professional mysteries, spy novels focus on intelligence operatives as they work to prevent or avenge some criminal plot. Spy novels can feature either in fantastic or realistic settings.

Caper Stories: While other crime and mystery stories look at the aftermath of crimes, caper stories feature criminals as the lead characters. The story usually details the planning and commission of a crime.

The Psychological Suspense: In these stories, the detective story takes on a psychological component.

Spoofs and Parodies: Spoofs and parodies make light of crime fiction, often with the goal of commenting on the conventions of the genre. Many feature famous characters, e.g. Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, Philip Marlowe, or pastiches of those characters.
Down on Her/His Luck Gumshoe - Read two or more books falling into any of the above sub-genres. Each book can be from the same sub-genre or can be varied among the different sub-genres. You pick the combination and the number of books.

Shamus Who Has Seen It All - Read at least one book from each of the sub-genres for a total of 12 books. If you are feeling ambitious, read more than one book from each sub-genre.

Making a reading list ahead of time is not mandatory, but it's fun--not only for you, but also for your fellow readers. Even if you don't stick to the list, we'd love it if you could share a few of the titles you are considering reading.

2012 Audio Book Challenge
Hosted by Teresa's Reading Corner
Flirting-Listen to 6 Audio Books
Going Steady- Listen to 12 Audio Books
Lover- Listen to 25 Audio Books
Married-Listen to +++ Audio Books

1. Lake Shore Limited (Miller)
2. The White Mary (Salak)
3.
4.
5.
6.

2012 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
Original rules here on the Bookish Blog
The focus is simple - read some of those books in your to-be-read pile - you put them there because they looked good.....

Levels:1-10 - A Firm Handshake
11-20 - A Friendly Hug
21-30 - A Sweet Kiss
31-40 - Love At First Sight
41-50 - Married With Children

100+ Books
I've GOT TO DO THIS one of these years!

1. Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Taylor)
2. Lake Shore Limited (Miller)
3. Breaking Silence (Castillo)
4. A Month of Sundays (White)
5. May B. a Novel (Rose)
6. No Ordinary Day (Ellis)
7. Jellicoe Road (Marchetta)
8. I Am J (Beam)
9. The White Mary (Salak)

73. Unlucky in Law - Perri O'Shaughnessy

2011-12-16T19:00:00.000-07:00

Nina Reilly #10
audio read by Laural Merlington
2004, Brilliance Audio
10 discs, 12 hours
$38.95
464 pages
Liked it (3)

Setting: Contemporary Monterey Peninsula (Monterey, Carmel, Salinas)
OSS: Nina takes over the seemingly already-lost case of Stefan Wyatt, accused of murdering a Russian emigrants daughter and stealing his bones from his gravesite.

Nina Reilly is working for and with her elderly mentor, Claus Pohlman, who is "losing it," and she dares not say anything to him. Her lover, Paul, who is the PI working on the case, has asked her to marry him, but she is unsure of how to respond. She has relocated for the time being from Tahoe to Monterey/Carmel, and her son, Bob, hates it there.

The mystery is many-layered and unfolds in an extremely interesting way. It includes the story of the lost Russian Romanov csar, an long-dead Russian emigrant, and a case that seems to be cut and dried. It was interesting and kept me looking forward to the next sitting.

MOVIE - Footloose

2011-12-16T06:07:00.001-07:00

Fun to watch and compare to the 1984 version
Wide release 10-14-11
12-15-11 at Crossroads, alone with about 6 other single women scattered around the theater
PG-13 (1:53)
RT: critics and audience both 71%
cag: Liked it
Director: Craig Brewer
Paramount Studios

Dennis Quaid (Preacher), Andie McDowell (wife) Kenny Wormald (Ren) Julianne Hough (Ariel)

This movie followed its original, 27 year old version, quite a bit. (How can the original be 27 years old???) The one big difference, and one that really made sense, was the Ren's single mom had just died of leukemia, and he had been by her side throughout. He, too, knew firsthand what it was to lose a loved one. It also gave his character a depth that was missing in Kevin Bacon's role.

Kenny Wormald is adorable. The guy who played his best friend was just great. I loved the way the movie was cast, I totally enjoyed the music, and I loved that it began with the night, 3 years before, that had killed Ariel's brother - complete with the Kenny Loggins' version of the song, "Footloose." I love Blake Shelton, but I wish his version of "Footloose" sounded more Blake Shelton-y.

MOVIE - The Muppets

2011-12-14T06:04:00.000-07:00

Slow and boring
Wide release 11-23-11
12-13-11 at El Con with Rachel
PG (1:42)
RT critics: 97% audience: 91% (boy do I differ from them this time)
Director: James Bobin
Walt Disney Pictures

Jason Segel (who also cowrote and produced), Amy Adams, Jack Black
Lots of cameos: Emilyy Blunt, Jim Parsons, Neil Patrick Harris, Alan Arkin......

Preceded by five previews and a short film, we didn't walk out of the theater until two and a half hours after we walked in. And yawn. It was so slow, especially the scenes with good ol' Kermit. When the whole cast broke into dance, and Jason Segel broke into song I didn't know what to think. I love musicals, but this just didn't work for me. I was so looking forward to it....maybe that was the problem!

Gary's "brother," Walter, a muppet, is a huge fan of the original Muppets. So when Gary takes his girlfriend Mary (Adams) to LA for a 10-year dating anniversary, Walter accompanies them. They go to the falling-down Muppet Studio for a tour, and Walter overhears nasty Tex Richman planning to purchase the old property and tear it down to drill for oil. Thus the plot is hatched to track down the original Muppets, who have all gone their separate ways, for one big telethon show.

MOVIE - Tower Heist

2011-12-13T06:21:00.002-07:00

a fun flick!
Wide release 11-4-11
12-5-11 at El Con with Sheila
PG-13 (1:39)
RT critics: 68% RT audience: 61%
I liked it (3)
Director: Brett Ratner
Universal Pictures

Ben Stiller, Casey Affleck, Eddie Murphy, Alan Alda

Ben Stiller is the general manager at a high-class high-rise in Manhattan. The most important resident, played by Alan Alda, lives in the penthouse. Lives are shaken up when Alda is arrested by the FBI and it is discovered that all his riches have disappeared - including all the pensions of the employees of the building. When Stiller confronts Alda, he is fired....and the plan is hatched to try to recover some of the funds that they're sure Alda has hidden right there in his penthouse.

72. The Tale of Halcyon Crane - Wendy Webb

2011-12-13T06:02:00.000-07:00

read on my phone through Kindle
2010, Henry Holt & Co.
352 pages
written for adults
Rating: It was okay
Some reviewers called this an "eerie gothic mystery." It was a ghost story, but I didn't find it particularly eerie, or even too mysterious.

Setting: Contemporary Grand Manitou Island in Michigan
OSS: After receiving a letter from the mother Hallie has always thought was dead, she travels to her ancestral home to be accosted by a group of ghosts and memories of her NOW dead mother. Fast, implausbile love interest as well.

MOVIE - The Descendants

2011-12-10T07:46:00.000-07:00

Hawaii, George Clooney, an interesting, complex story, and wonderful acting - the whole deal!
Released Limited 11-18-11
12-9-11 at El Con with Fran
R (1:51)
RT: Critics 90% Audience 80%
cag Loved it!
Director: Alexander Payne
Searchlight Pictures

MOVIE - In Time

2011-12-10T07:28:00.003-07:00

2011 Movie List

2011-12-03T17:11:00.010-07:00

54 movies so far this year.....Four that were over-the-top awesome, and six more I absolutely loved!

Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (12-29-11) It was okay (cute) (2)
Beginners (12-23-11) Liked it a lot (4)
Footloose (12-15-11) Liked it (3)
The Muppets (12-13-11) Didn't like it (1)
The Descendants (12-9-11) Loved it (5)
Tower Heist (12-5-11) Liked it (3)
In Time (12-2-11) Liked it a lot (4)
Breaking Dawn Part 1 (11-24-11) Liked it a lot (4)
The Big Year (11-18-11) Liked it (3)
The Names of Love
Columbiana Liked it a lot (4)
The Three Musketeers (10-30-11) Didn't like it (1)
Mighty Macs Liked it a lot (4)
Cowboys and Aliens Liked it (3)
Horrible Bosses It was okay (2)
Friends with Benefits Liked it a lot (4)
Terri Liked it (3)
Nora's Will Liked it a lot (4)
The Debt It was okay (2)
Super 8 (8-26-11) It was okay(2)
Mr. Popper's Penguins (8-22-11) Liked it a lot (4)
The Help (8-16-11) Liked it (3)
Harry Potter & the Deathly Harrows (8-8-11) It was okay (2)
Crazy, Stupid, Love (8-7-11) Liked it a lot (4)
The Double Hour (7-30-11) Liked it a lot (4)
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (7-21-11) Didn't like it (1)
Queen to Play (Joueuse) (7-16-11) Liked it (3)
Larry Crowne (7-11-11) Liked it (3)
Midnight In Paris (6-18-11) Awesome, a favorite (6)
Amreeka (6-9-11) Liked it (4)
Source Code (6-8-11) Loved it (5)
Incendies (5-29-11) Awesome (6)
Thor Liked It (2)
The Beaver Loved it (5)
The Adjustment Bureau It was okay (2)
Bridesmaids (5-11) Loved it (5)
Jane Eyre (4-28-11) Liked it a lot (4)
Hanna (4-23-11) It was okay (2)
Lincoln Lawyer (4-21-11) Liked it (3)
Win Win (4-17-11) Liked it a lot (4)
Paul (3-20-11) Liked it (3)
No Strings Attached (3-26-11) Loved it (5)
Cedar Rapids (3-19-11) Liked it a lot (4)
Beastly (3-15-11) It was okay (2)
The Fighter (3-6-11) Awesome (6)
Gnomeo and Juliet (3-1-11) Didn't like it (1)
I am Number Four (2-22-211) It was okay (2)
The Unknown (2-21-11) Liked it a lot (4)
The Social Network (2-14-11) Awesome (6)
Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (2-13-11) It was okay (2)
True Grit (2-5-11) Loved it (5)
Tiny Furniture (2-4-11) Didn't like it (1)
Country Strong (1-12-11) Liked it (3)
The King's Speech (1-5-11) Awesome (6)

Here's my complete movie list back through August of 2008...... Click here......

MOVIE - Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

2011-12-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

Splendid scenery, set, and makeup
Wide release 11/18/11
viewed at El Con on Thanksgiving 11/24/11 by myself
PG-13 (1:57)
RT critics: 26% RT audience: 70% cag: 89%
Director: Bill Condon

The movie seemed to almost completely follow the book. The wedding scene was gorgeous. The island setting was gorgeous. The Cullen home in Washington is gorgeous. I didn't seem to mind Kristin Stewart's acting so much in this one, and the makeup and special effects used to make her look sicker and sicker were really well done. I very much enjoyed this.

Bella and Edward get married and, despite Edward being afraid he'd get too vampiric during lovemaking, he didn't kill her. But she did get pregnant - and of course, it would be an unusual pregnancy. The baby was fast growing and began killing Bella from the inside out because of it's vampiric needs. Watching how the wolves, the Cullen family, and Bella's family deal with everything that happens is actually quite enjoyable to watch. I wouldn't go to re-see any of the previous movies, but I would this one.

71. Wonderstruck - Brian Selznik

2011-12-03T13:26:00.001-07:00

A novel in words and pictures
Scholastic Press, 2011
640 pgs.
For: everyone
Rating: Liked it
A visual masterpiece!

There are two stories for the first 500-or-so pages, one of a boy in 1977 Minnesota who has just lost his single-parent mom, and one of a deaf girl in Hoboken, NJ in 1927. They connect as you near the end of the book. One of the stories is using words, only. The other is using pictures, only.

In his acknowledgements, Brian Selznick says he spent seven rainy weeks in a cabin in the woods in Peterorough, NH, working on the book. These illustrations must have taken a lot longer than that, though!

MOVIE - The Big Year

2011-11-17T06:22:00.002-07:00

"Obsessed birders with heart"
Fun to watch these three really good actors
Wide Release 10-14-11
11-16-11 at Kolb cheap theater, alone
PG (1:40)
RT: 39% cag: 86% (at least)
Director: David Frankel
20th Century Fox

Steve Martin, Owen Wilson, Jack Black
Stu Preissler (Steve Martin - a retiring business magnate with a very loving marriage)
Kenny Bostick (Owen Wilson - obsessed title-holding birder, ignores his beautiful, trying-to-get pregnant wife)
Brad Harris (Jack Black - 30-something divorced loner, close to his parents, who wants to achieve something great in his life)

Throw in a year of following the unusual birds all over North America so that they get the biggest amount of sitings and some beautiful sights across the country in all sorts of weather, a few good chuckles, and you have a very watchable, enjoyable movie. I very much enjoyed it. Having worked for a birding company (as the bookkeeper) for a number of years, I "get" the obsession.....

70. Sisterhood Everlasting - Ann Brashares

2011-11-17T06:02:00.001-07:00

read by Angela Goethals (excellently)
"Four friends, one sisterhood....ten years later"
Random House Audio, 2011
$4000 (TPPL)
8 unabridged cds
10 hrs.
368 pages
Rating: 1.5

Constant, nonstop depressing - not a good ending novel, a whole different feel.

Bee becomes a filthy, self-centered vagabond, Lena has spent ten years alone and out of the sunshine for some unknown reason, Carmen has become a somewhat shallow tv actress, and Tibby has dropped out-of-sight by moving to Australia and stopping communication with the foursome. So what happens in the six month time period that encompasses this book made me crazy. Hated the darkness, and hated what had happened to the personalities and closeness of these friends over the ten years.

How Dalia Put a Big Yellow Comforter Inside a Tiny Blue Box – Linda Heller

2011-11-14T06:23:00.000-07:00

(And Other Wonders of Tzedakah)
Illustrated by Stacey Dressen McQueen
Tricycle Press, 2011
HC $16.99
32 pgs.
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Bright yellow background, completely covered with a one-piece cut paper illustration
Acrylics and oil pastel. Very nice.
Afterword: An excellent history of tzedakah and tzedakah boxes.

First line/s: Dalia liked to learn things and make things, and she did just that at the community center.

Dalia teaches her younger brother, Yossi, about caring about others by teaching him about her tzedakah box. She adds money to hers from selling lemonade, her birthday, and weeding the garden. She has Yossi join her when she returns to the community center, and the children combine their tzedakah to purchase a warm comforter, a beautiful butterfly bush, and yummy banana cream pie, which they then give to an elderly, lonely shut-in.

69. The Weird Sisters - Eleanor Brown

2011-11-12T11:07:00.000-07:00

audio read by Kirsten Potter (she was great)
Penguin Audio, 2011
$39.95 TPPL
9 unabridged cds
10.5 hours
336 pgs.
Rating: 4
NYTimes Review (from 1/16/11) excellent plot summary
The Reading Lark book review - I love her format, and I agree with so much of her thinking!

First line/s: We came home because we were failures.

Setting: Contemporary rural Barnwell, Ohio, a small college town and hour from Columbus (I think)
OSS: Three very different sisters return home at the same time and show us, the reader, why they hate and love each other.

The three sisters told the story as "we," which I suppose was very clever and difficult to write, but which I didn't really like. The father, a Shakespearean scholar, professor, and fanatic, and his wife, a stay-at-home mother who was a free spirit in her own right, have raised three daughters in a home with lots and lots of books and no television. They go to a "hippie/granola" school, then to the small college where their father teaches. They are all bright, and all tainted in some way - as we all are. Named for Shakespeare heroines Rosalind (Rose), Bianca (Bean) and Cordelia (Cordy) love each other fiercely, but while comparing themselves to each other run amok.

I enjoyed the book without really liking any of the characters...well, I did like Cordelia. Everyone has flaws. They had lots...and they overcame them all so that the ending is a lovely, tidily wrapped up package. It's nice to know that you can like a book without really liking its characters. Lots to think about with that, alone!

68. Waiting for the Magic - Patricia MacLachlan

2011-11-04T08:20:00.000-07:00

Atheneum Books, 2011
HC $15.99
for: Middle grades
144 pgs. (quick read)
Rating: 5

First Line/s: It was early on a Saturday summer morning when my mother and father stopped arguing and Papa walked away. He is a teacher of literature at the college, so he could have said words when he left. He didn't. And this time he didn't slam the door. He shut it with a small soft sound that made me jump.

Setting: A small contemporary college town somewhere in America.
OSS: William and his little sister, Elinor, deal with the departure of their father and the withdrawal of their mother when a number of new family members are added to their life.

William and his comical four year old sister/princess are left with a grieving mom and a huge surprise. I think the surprise would be exciting for any kid....I was really excited at the idea, myself, and about how these two children would feel. So I'm about to add some major spoilers here....do NOT read on if you haven't read the book, because being surprised - and pleased - a tickled - and excited - is part of the delicious reading experience of this book.

SPOILERS: So Mama takes them to the animal shelter to get a dog. But they don't get a dog. Or two dogs. Or even three. And throw in a cat. And, near the end of the book throw in a new sibling. But the biggest surprise, is the way that the animals and the family communicate.

Lots of gentle humor, complex characters despite the simplicity of the book, I absolutely, 100% loved it - and I don't even like dogs!!!!!

Oh, this woman knows not only how to write beautifully, but how to spin a story. This one was spun. Elegantly.

53. Inside Out & Back Again - Thanhha Lai

2011-11-03T06:18:00.000-07:00

Harper, 2011
HC, $15.00
for: Middle Grades
264 pgs.
Rating: 5

First Line/s Today is Tet/ the first day/ of the lunar calendar

Every Tet/ we eat sugary lotus seeds/ and glutinous rice cakes./ We all wear new clothes,/ even underneath

Mother warns/ how we act today/ foretells the whole year.

Everyone must smile/ no matter how we feel.

No one can sweep,/ for why swap away hope?/ No one can splash water,/ for why splash away joy?

67. Shine - Lauren Myracle

2011-10-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

Amulet Books/Abrams, 2011
HC $16.95 (Lib)
For: YA
360 pgs.
Rating: 4

First line/s: Patrick's house was a ghost. Dust coated the windows, the petunias in the flower boxes bowed their heads, and spiderwebs clotted the eaves of the porch. Once I would have marveled at the webs -- how delicate they were, how intricate -- but today I saw ghastly silk ropes. Nooses for sawflies and katydids and anything guileless enough to be ensnared

Setting: Contemporary Appalachia, Black Creek, NC near Asheville.
OSS: 16-year-old Cat comes back to life after pulling her head into her shell for the past three years when her gay best friend, Patrick, is brutalized and left for dead.

Cat ells her story and discovers Patrick's in bits and pieces. Slowly events of the last three years and events of the last week are illuminated as she unrolls the mystery of Patrick's almost-killing. It's great to see her spirit come alive again. It's also true that not everything is ever exactly as it seems.

And big message: meth is deadly. And the way it can establish itself in a community - especially one in extreme poverty - is examined in this story.

Lots of good stuff to think about. It went fast. Good story and good storytelling.

66. Chime - Franny Billingsley

2011-10-24T06:01:00.000-07:00

Dial Book, 2011
HC $17.99
for: young adults
361 pgs.
Rating: 2.5

First line/s: I've confessed to everything and I'd like to be hanged.
Setting: Early 20th century in Swampsea, a swampy town on the moors in England
OSS: Briony Larkin feels responsible for her sister Rose's mental disabilities, her stepmother's crippling and death, and has to hide the fact that she's a witch and can talk to the spirits in the swamps.

Some part of this book I very much enjoyed - the humor and wordplay between Briony and Eldric for one, but some drove me crazy - the repetition of thoughts (purposely done) and the uncertainty in my mind that Briony wasn't the sister with a mental problem. There was too much that I couldn't understand, especially the Arm thingy that takes people hands and rips them off (this is something that arises from the swamps). People seem to accept some things, weird and unspoken things, but totally detest the idea of a witch. There was just too much that didn't make sense to me. And I enjoy fantasy -- look back at all the paranormal fantasies that I've read and adored. This one just didn't do it for me.

This is also about the growing inimacy between Briony and Eldric, the bonds between the two twins, and a town that has lived with witches and demons and swamp creatures for centuries.

The book has been nominated for a National Book Award (or something similar), that's why I drove all over town to find it and read it. The blurbs on the back of the book make it sound incredible. I wish I could agree.

MOVIE - Cowboys and Aliens

2011-10-21T09:45:00.000-07:00

There have always been aliens from afar...now or in the past....right? Great storytelling!
Released 7-29-11
PG-13 (1:58)
RT: cag:
Director: Jon Favreau
Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Keith Carradine

65. A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness

2011-10-21T09:13:00.001-07:00

Viking, 2011
43 chapters, 580 pgs.
HC $28.95
for: adults
Rating: 5 (I really don't want to give it a 5, but it was lovely writing, a hard-to-put-down plot and storyline, characters that were so well defined I felt as if I knew them, and a strong, smart, librarian/scholar protagonist. Everything I love in a book. And I loved this book.....)

First line/lines: The leather-bound volume was nothing remarkable. To an ordinary historian, it would have looked no different from hundreds of other manuscripts in Oxford's Bodleian Library, ancient and worn. But I knew there was something odd about it from the moment I collected it.

Setting: Contemporary Oxford, for the first third of the book; in the countryside near Lyon, France for the second third; and upstate New York for the third third.
OSS: Diana Bishop, a noted American historian and college professor who has always tried to ignore her roots as a witch, becomes involved with a vampire while trying to unravel the secret of an ancient book of alchemy.

I read the last page, was quite disappointed that I didn't know the final, "final," outcome, but decided to like the ending because of the hugely entertaining possibilities, and started to examine the fine print of the book. A DISCOVER OF WITCHES IS PART ONE IN THE ALL SOULS TRILOGY. LOOK FOR THE NEXT NOVEL IN 2012. NO NO NO NO NO !!!!!

How will I ever remember every character and their part in the story between now and when a sequel comes out?

Witches and vampires and daemons. All hate each other and have for millenniums. Humans factor very little in this book (if at all), all the main players are creatures - namely witches, vampires, and daemons. They are not supposed to mix, to fraternize, and a natural animosity usually even keeps them from being friends. Until Diana Bishop and Matthew Clairmont meet. KABOOM! Sparks fly. Literally.

Diana has always suppressed her witch tendencies. She wants to be ordinary. But a subhuman amount of adrenaline keep her running, rowing, and doing yoga whenever she's not researching. She has no close friends (oddly), and the two aunts that raised her after her parents' murder worry obsessively about her. Although she is very attractive and has had lovers before, there are no males in her life. She has kept herself aloof emotionally, which is the perfect for what is about to happen.

Diana is no wimp. She is no Bella - thankfully. She is more of a Hermione, with a touch more determination and spunk (though Hermione did gather those possessions as she matured.) Diana comes from a long line of Bishops, originating, she thinks, from Bridget Bishop who was killed during the Salem witch trials in the late 15th century.

I loved the first third of the book, the part that took place in Oxford. The French part was really interesting, the American third had so much change and new information to absorb that I didn't enjoy it quite as much. I can't believe that I decided to read an almost 600 page novel, but I'm really glad I did!

Walking in Tucson: JDRF Walkathon

2011-10-16T17:30:00.008-07:00

Can I do it in my Birks? I'm gonna try!

Wednesday I signed up to walk in the 5K (that's 3.1 miles!) JDRF Walkathon here in Tucson On October 29th. However, I am in mucho, MUCHO poor shape. So, I'm in training for the 17 days I have left. Scary. But not only do I want to do this, I WILL do this!

The link to my pledge page is here. There's a really annoying group of noises when you first sign on....the thermometer rises with a very racious sound, and then people cheer because I've already made my goal of $100. SO, so exciting...but the accompanying cacophony is a bit irritating! Apologies.

I'm going to estimate 2100 steps to a mile to figure my mileage. But I must remember, every step is...well....a step! ! ! My body feels it, especially mty lungs. And the intense heat and sunshine we're still feeling here in Tucson doesn't help.

Thursday, Oct. 13th: Brandi Fenton Park (700 steps, .333 miles) 102 degrees outside! A third of a mile doesn't seem like much, but it's a start!

Friday, Oct. 14th ooooooopsssss...

Saturday, Oct. 15th: Agua Caliente Park (1175 steps, .56 miles) late afternoon, still 95 degrees, lots of shade and a surreal oasis setting.

Sunday, Oct. 16th: Pantano River Walk & Lowes (1820 steps, .867 miles) a mere 93 degrees, mid afternoon, thank goodness half the walk was shaded by buildings and trees as the sun was in the west.

Monday, Oct. 17th: Reid Park: It's a flat, paved, 3 miles around the park - 'course I'm not ready for thant yet. Parked in the Randolph Way lot. (2240 steps, 1.07 miles) 94 degrees at 4:45 pm.

Tuesday, Oct. 18th: Part of the Rillito River Walk: Holy Cow, an unintentional 2700 steps (1.29 miles)! I parked in the lot on Swan and walked west, first 1350 steps on the "trail," then returning on the paved bikeway (there were oodles of bikes). Nice.

Wednesday, Oct. 19th: Palo Verde Park, just south of Broadway a block or so east of Wilmot. There's a sidewalk around the park, partial sun, some shade, that was 1850 steps around (.89 miles), so I added another 435 steps to ensure I walked over a mile. I did. (1.09 miles)

Thursday, Oct. 20th: TWO WALKS!
First: Tohono Chul Park. After viewing the Day of the Dead exhibit, I hit the trails...for 2175+ brisk steps through the blazing midday sunshine! (Just a tiny bit over a mile.)
Second: Out my front door, north to Fifth, east to Chalet, then home. About .8 miles

Friday, Oct. 21st: Pantano River Park (from Michael Perry Park) 2825 steps. Walked along the GARDENS OF THE ANCIENT SIGNS - pretty plantings, signs, and markers (and even under the Golf Links bridge!) 92 degrees on return, but it had gone down a lot since the beginning of my walk. 1.35 miles

Saturday, Oct. 22nd. Around the El Con Mall (through JC Penney, it was way too dark around the old Robinson's May end) just before going to the movies. Added steps in the parking lot to increase the walk to over a mile. 2350 steps, 1.12 miles.

Sunday, Oct. 23rd. Reid Park. From Randolph St. parking lot, along Broadway for a bit, and then back. Hot sunshine. 3133 stps, 1.49 miles (I should have taken a few more steps to hit that 1.5!!!)

Queen of the Falls – Chris Van Allsburg

2011-10-15T06:50:00.002-07:00

Illustrated by the author
Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2011
HC $18.99
40 pgs.
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: Silver-gray
Illustrations Brown & white, most of them squared off
Lots of text
Author’s note: full page at end of book
Title page: 3 X 5 illustrations of a barrel in foaming water

First line/s: Imagine being as small as a flea, standing on a sidewalk next to an open fire hydrant. This is how visitors to the waterfalls at Niagara feel. The water drops from a height that is as tall as a seventeen-story building, roaring like a locomotive and sending up an endless cloud of mist as it crashes onto the rocks and water below.

Setting: Niagara Falls, 1901
OSS: The true story of how Annie Edson Taylor was the first person to ride a wooden barrel over Niagara Falls and survive.

First of all, how cool to have found someone with such an interesting story that had never really been told – or heard – by most of the general public. Apparently this prim and proper senior citizen cooked up this scheme to earn herself enough money to live through her senior years. And , unfortunately, it never made her any money! So here’s the story. Very different from VanAllsburg’s usual tales of magic and wonder. Nice writing and still-magical trademark illustrations.

64. Twelve Sharp - Janet Evanovich

2011-10-08T10:17:00.000-07:00

Audio read by Lorelei King
Audio Renaissance, 2006
7 unabridged cds
7 hours
320 pages
Rating: 4

OSS: Stephanie Plum helps Ranger find his kidnapped daughter.

Yup, that's right. We learn a bit more about Ranger and his past in this book, and the antics are just great. Laugh out-loud funny in some places. Lula has started singing in a rock band and chooses outrageous outfits to wear (and Grandma Mazur joins the group for a bit....). A gay male couple now runs the funeral home. We are introduced to Melvin Pickle, a sad, shy, guy who is the most recent addition to Stephanie's conglomerations of weirdo friends.

Evanovich is so clever when it comes to some of the apprehensions that Stephanie attempts. How does she keep coming up with such ideas? Funny, silly, crazy...and sometimes, she really does get her man (or woman). This time the crew is looking for a new bounty hunter and the array of applicants they get is downright hilarious. But the kidnapping of Ranger's daughter and the daunting task of trying to find and catch the kidnapper - who is impersonating Ranger - gets pretty hairy. It helps to know that Stephanie will always overcome.

Ranger AND Joe are shown about 50/50 in this one. FFFFUUUUNNNNN!

63. The Dark Tide - Andrew Gross

2011-10-08T10:02:00.042-07:00

Audio read by Melissa Leo
Harper Audio, 2008
9 unabridged cds
11.5 hours
434 pages
Rating: 5 at the beginning, 1 after about the halfway point, so.....2.5 I guess.....
Setting: Contemporary Old Greenwich, Connecticut
OSS: When Karen Friedman's husband is killed in a terrorist train bombing, she meets Greenwich Investigator Ty Hauck, and together they try to unravel a mystery that ties Charlie Friendman's death and another death in the area.

First line: As the morning sun canted sharply through the bedroom window, Charles Friedman dropped the baton.

This is a very good story, which starts out tight and clear. But once the mystery begins full throttle and Ty and Karen begin to "like" each other, it slows down....a lot. But the really, really irritating thing for me is the way that whenever the characters have a dialogue with one another, they say each other's same repeatedly....over.....and over....and over again. Blech.

The bad guys are very bad. The good guys have flaws. The rich don't know how good they have it, or want more. High finances, hedge funds....if you're not on top of that sort of thing, you're more or less along for the ride, because the details went right over my head. I was excited about this author when I began reading, but don't think I'll be reading another of his for awhile, unless I forget.

61. State of Wonder - Ann Patchett

2011-09-25T23:18:00.001-07:00

Harper, 2011
HC $26.99, TPPL
for: adults
353 pgs.
Rating: 5

First Line/s: The news of Anders Eckman's death came by way of Aerogram, a piece of bright blue airmail paper that served as both the stationery and, when folded over and sealed along the edges, the envelope.

Setting: First 50 pages, Minnesota; remainder of book, the Amazon rainforest of Brazil, particularly west of Manaus, where the Lakashi tribe live. Contemporary.

Dr. Marina Singh: American mother, Indian father, born and raised in Minnesota with her mother, visiting, as a child upon occasion, her father in Calcutta. Trained until residency as a doctor - on obstetrician, then switching to pharmacology and working for Vogel Pharmaceutical. Now 42, she shares an office with fellow cholesterol researcher Anders Eckman and is seeing her boss, the head of Vogel, in secret, since that's how Mr. Fox wants it kept. As a secret.

But Anders, after being sent on a mission to find a Vogel researcher in the Amazon of South America, dies of a fever in the rainforest. And it's Marina that's sent to figure out what happened and how the vague research of Dr. Annick Swenson is progressing. It's not easy to find Dr. Swenson, who has made sure that her location in the jungle is a total secret. Dr. Swenson had been Marina's mentor in her med school days, and there's a mysterious connection between the two that we slowly discover. Marina's search for Dr. Swenson and what happened to her friend and coworker becomes quite a story.

Magnificent writing. Fascinating setting. A mystery to solve. A great amount of research. And a satisfying story, that I hated to end.

Marina thought of the crickets and the meadowlarks, the rabbits and the deer, the Disney book of wildlife that slept in the wide green meadows of her home state. "No bullet ants," she said. Her scalp was soaked, her underwear, the ground beneath her feet loosened as streams of water sluiced between the trees. The heard a high whistle piercing through the thunder and wondered if it was their imagination. Imagination played a major role in the jungle, especially during a storm.

What a wonderfully satisfying story, the perfect way to pass a weekend of laziness. I read her Magician's Assistant awhile ago, I've got to put some of her other's, particularly Bel Canto, on my upcoming radar.

60. Sweethearts - Sarah Zarr

2011-09-23T16:52:00.038-07:00

Little Brown & Co., 1988
paper $7.99
220 pgs.
for: YA
Rating: 3.5

First Line/s: A dripping faucet. Crumbs and a pink stain on the counter. Half of a skin-black banana that smells as old as it looks. If I look at these things and at nothing else, concentrate on them and stay still, and don't make any noise, this will be over soon and I can go home without Cameron's dad ever knowing I'm here.

OSS: When Cameron Quick reappears in Jennifer Harris' life after being the closest of friends as children, she is thrown for a loop.

Setting; A ruralish area in Salt Lake City, contemporary times.

Cameron and Jennifer were best - and only - friends when they were young and they were both outcasts and bullied and unhappy. They had each other, and that made their lives a lot better. But then Cameron and his family disappear without a word, and Jennifer is left unsettled and wondering...for years. She sheds weight, gains confidence, changes schools, and has a good life. And then Cameron reappears. Mysteriously. And keeps disappearing, then reappearing. Jen has a great boyfriend, lots of great friends, a stepfather that has helped stabilize her life, but with Cameron's reappearance she thinks, rethinks, remembers, and makes some interesting choices and decisions.

Some of those memories involve learning about and watching the abuse that Cameron's father inflicted upon his family, particularly his son, and once, on her. This was a very interesting book to read. I kept thinking I'd already read it, but it must have been some of the scenes reminded me of other stories, because I'm quite sure I haven't read this before. Okay. Checked and saw that I read it when it first came out. Guess it wasn't as memorable the first time around....

MOVIE - Horrible Bosses

2011-09-23T16:51:00.028-07:00

Sheila hated it and left early....that says a lot....
wide release 7-8-11
R (1:37)
at Crossroads with Sheila
RT 70 cag 74 (It wasn't THAT bad...)
Director: Seth Gordon
Warner Brothers
Jason Bateman, Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Spacey

Three employees are having terrible times with their bosses. Their plans to "off" them, of course, go awry, and there are quite a few laughs. For some reason, the Jennifer Aniston dentist really turned me off, I'm not sure why. And Kevin Spacey was great and justly hated. Colin Farrell was....well.... Colin Farrell!

Olivia's Birds: Saving the Gulf - Olivia Bouler

2011-09-17T12:51:00.001-07:00

illustrated by the author
Sterling Children's Books, 2011
HC $14.95
32 pgs.
endpapers - vertical lime green stripes zentangled

Olivia Bouler is 11 years. old. She loves birds and draws them simply and beautifully. An aspiring ornithologist, she was devastated by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and offered her help to the Audubon Society -- sending bird paintings to contributors.

So far, this young lady has earned $150,000 for the Save the Gulf campaign!

For the first 23 pages, Olivia describes, discusses, and shows different birds, including some weird birds, birds in their habitats, fierce birds, beautiful birds, and endangered and extinct birds. Though the information is certainly not complete, it is simply stated, written in a font that is fun to read, and is a great start for kids who are interested in helping the plight of our world.

Bravo, Olivia! You're an inspiration.

Beatrice's Dream - Karen Lynn Williams

2011-09-11T20:34:00.001-07:00

A Story of Kibera Slum
photos by Wendy Stone
HC $17.95
Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2011
24 pages
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Purple with vertical streaks

Kiberia is a huge slum in Nairobi, Kenya. There are no roads and almost no electricity, plumbing, or drinking water.

13-year old Beatrice lives here with her brother and his wife. Both her parents are dead. But she's lucky to go to school every day and dreams, even in her extreme poverty, of becoming a nurse.

This simple photo journal tells of her daily life. Well, the words are simple. It's the photos that show her life. A good one to share with my fourth graders when studying Africa and discussing poverty.

56. Divergent - Veronica Roth

2011-09-11T09:00:00.003-07:00

First in a new series
Katherine Tegen Books (Harper Collins) 2011
HC $17.99
for: Young Adults
487 pgs.
Rating: 4

First Line/s: There is one mirror in my house. It is behind a sliding panel in the hallway upstairs. Our faction allows me to stand in front of it on the second day of every third month, the day my mother cuts my hair.

Setting: Chicago, somewhere in the future.
OSS: Beatrice Prior has come to the vital point in every 16-year-old's life, when they must choose one of society's five factions in which to spend the remainder of their days.

Dauntless (the brave), Candor (the truthful), Abnegation (the selfless), Amity (the peaceful/happy), and the Erudite (the smart). Beatrice has been born and raised as an Abnegation. She loves her family - her parents and her brother, Caleb. But when the time comes to choose the faction in which she best fits, it's more than difficult. Because if she chooses anything other than Abnegation she will have to leave her family, her home, everything she knows.....forever.

In a story that intertwines a somewhat recognizable dystopia with rethinking the parameters of war and peace, we watch the initiation of Beatrice (who renames herself "Tris") into a new and exciting faction, where she finds new friends, new foes, (a boyfriend, of course), and a life that she could have never imagined.

I read this in one day....staying up late. Tris is a great character, brave, smart, loving....and really, quite real. I was quite drawn to her. You had your stereotypical nasty peers, lots of action and adventure, and the requisite layers of bad guy vs. good guy. It's left so that you know there will be sequels.

55. Pray for Silence - Linda Castillo

2011-09-09T21:06:00.001-07:00

Book No. 2 in a series set in Ohio's Amish Country
Minotaur Books, 2010
HC $24.99 TPPL
for: Adults
Rating: 4
First Line/s: Officer Chuck "Skid" Skidmore wished he hadn't indulged in that last cup of coffee. If it wasn't for the new waitress at the diner, he would have stopped at just one. But damn she was cute.

Setting: Contemporary Ohio Amish Country (a tourist town)
One sentence summary: Ex-Amish Police Chief Kate Burkholder,with the help of State Bureau Investigator John Tomasetti (with whom she has an off-again on-again relationship since her last big murder investigation), investigates the brutal murders of an entire Amish family.

This one is pretty gritty...a whole family tortured and murdered. Mother and father, a baby, two sons, 10 and 14, and two daughters, 15 and 16. The girls' murders have been particularly horrendous, and Chief Burkholder is reminded of her own past. She relates to Mary Plank, the 15-year old who appears to be the person whom the murder revolves most around. She finds Mary's diary that explains her affair, her drinking, and the unspeakable things that were done to her while she was under the influence. But she's very much in love. However, she never names her lover, or gives enough clues so that Kate and her crew can pinpoint him.

There are a number of suspects, and as they gather more clues, getting closer and closer to the killer, it's pretty hard to put the book down. I can remember being grossed out by the first book, although this one is pretty graphic and horrendous, it's a good...but sad....murder mystery. It's been over a year since this was published, so I'll have to check and see how prolific Linda Castillo has been!

54. Darkness Becomes Her - Kelly Keaton

2011-09-06T22:00:00.020-07:00

Simon Pulse, 2011
HC $16.99
274 pgs.
for: Young Adults
Rating: 4.5

First Line/s: Under the cafeteria table, my right knee bounced like a jackhammer possessed. Adrenaline snaked through my limbs, urging me to bolt, to hightail it out of Rocquemor House and never look back.

Setting: Over a decade after the 2009 hurricanes ruined New Orleans, now called New 2. It's no longer part of the USA, and it's home to people that are.....different.

One sentence summary: Ari, a 17 year-old searching for her mother and her roots, discovers the horrifying legacy that has been passed down to her through centuries of tormented women.

Yes, this one held my attention completely. I guess I enjoy these dystopian adventures. This one, of course, includes the smolderingly handsome love interest. Sebastian is the interestingly different part vampire whose family is one of the Novem, the ruling elite of the new New Orleans. However, Ari holds a power that she doesn't understand at all - many people that she encounters, the ones that know of her mother, show that they are ... afraid ... of her.

I slowly figured out the mystery before it was revealed, but it was fun doing so. Someone with more of an interest/background in Greek mythology would probably figure it out long before I did. But I'll read the sequel when it comes out, A Beautiful Evil, coming in February, 2012. It will continue the adventure, I'm sure.

If I knew New Orleans, the layout and the history, it would be even more enjoyable, because the description is excellent.

Yuvi's Candy Tree - Lesley Simpson

2011-09-05T11:55:00.000-07:00

illustrated by Janice Lee Porter
Kar-Ben Publishing, 2011
HC $17.95
32 pgs.
Rating: 3.5
Endpapers: Gold
Title page: all-over gold with painting of burro
Based on a true story from 1980's

Yuvi is traveling from Ethiopia to Jerusalem, stopping at a refugee camp and being flown from there to Israel. They have no food, drink muddy water, and are robbed many times. There is a donkey that she is able to ride for part of the way, but most of the way is on foot. She dreams of trees made of candy, and when she arrives in Israel, she finds her candy tree - a tree covered with juicy, sweet oranges.

This was a really nice story, but I wish it had a little more....I guess it's good for very young children, but might be even better with just a little more information, it needs to be a tiny bit grittier to see the hardships, distance traveled, and unease, I didnt' feel like it had that, it seemed more like a simple trip to go to Israel.

52. The Other Rembrandt - Alex Connor

2011-09-05T09:46:00.003-07:00

Silver Oak Publishing, 2011
Pap $14.95
for adults
392 pgs.
Rating: 4
First line: His body was bent over, his head submerged in the confines of the basin, his knees buckled, trousers pulled down.
Setting: London, Amsterdam, and New York
OSS: Marshall Zeigler, who has always avoided his family's interest and business in the art world, finds himself pulled into it when his father is brutally murdered.

The entire story revolves around letters that Rembrandt's mistress, Geertje Dircx (oh, how I wish I knew how that was pronounced) wrote while she was incarcerated in a prison/asylum. She tells of the Rembrandt, and of Rembrandt's students who, under Rembrandt's tutelage and instructions, painted portraits in his style and passed them off as the great master's. The letters have been secretly held by Marshall's father, Owen, and could change the whole world of Renaissance art.

Four murders take place surrounding these letters, and Marshall has to piece it all together. Woven into the fabric of the story are the letters that Geertze Dircx wrote. She had been treated horribly by Rembrandt, and had secrets to tell, of Rembrandt's cruelty, of an illegitimate son, also a painter, and of the art scams pulled off by Rembrandt. And, apparently, some of this is based on actual hints and facts that have been passed down through the years!

There are many characters, and we must decide who to trust, who is telling the truth, who has secrets of their own to hide. I figured out the culprit about 2/3 of the way through the book, but the surprise twist at the end surprised me, and keeps me wondering still. The book kept my attention and made me think. I liked it.

Passing the Music Down - Sarah Sullivan

2011-08-31T06:22:00.001-07:00

Illustrated by Barry Root
Candlewick Press, 2010
HC $16.99
32 pgs.
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Light blue
Title page: Small oval watercolor of a bridge over a river between two mountain/hills

Based on the true story of the friendship of an elderly fiddle player and a young boy who learns to carry on the tradition of mountain folk music. The original story takes place in West Virginia, this story takes place in Tennessee.

Come August, with corn strutting high in the fields
and tomatoes plumping out on the vine,
folks get to talking about tuning up and
heading over twisty mountain roads
to hear fiddle players and banjo pickers
make music under the stars.

They travel through the heartland,
past cold factories and drifty towns
to the old, old mountains
slumbering east of Tennessee.

Full page illustrations are just gorgeous.

Full of alliteration, metaphor, simile, personification, and snazzy, snazzy verbs, the eloquent text is a joy, and the story is quite interesting. I plan to look up some of the tunes mentioned, see if I can purchase or download them to share with my students when I share this beautiful book. "Peg 'n' Awl," "Bonaparte's Retreat," "Cold Frosty Morning," "Liza Jane," "Yew Piney Mountain."

Author's Note, Lengthy bibliography, and a note on the tunes are at the end of the book.

51. The Ice Queen - Alice Hoffman

2011-08-30T20:00:00.000-07:00

Audio read by Nancy Travis
Hachette Audible Audio, 2005
5 unabridged cds
6 hrs.
224 pgs.
Rating: 4
Publisher Weekly starred review

1st line: Be careful what you wish for. I know that for a fact."

Setting: a Florida college town, present
One-sentence summary: A woman who has led a self-imposed solitary, invisible life (an "ice queen"), gets struck by lightning, which leads to her allowing herself to slowly melt.

Wow. Incredible writing. The first half - at least - was terribly depressing. But mesmerizing, I couldn't stop listening. Then, the second half. Still beautifully written, sad, depressing, but mesmerizing. Nancy Travis was an exceptional reader for this book. What a picture these eloquent words painted.

Our unnamed protagonist, ever since making a child's self-absorbed wish when she was eight and then feeling it tragically came true, has become a self-made ice queen. She is unhappy, makes crazy-wrong choices, and seems to stumble through an uninteresting life. After any years as a librarian in a small New Jersey town, she moves to Florida to be near her brother, Ned, and his wife Nina.

And then she is struck by lightning. She loses the color red. She hears constant clicking in her head. She has to reteach her left side to move correctly. And she becomes even more entranced with death. She seeks Lazarus Jones, a man who was said to have been struck by lightning, died for 45 minutes, and then "come back."

So much happens in this somewhat short book. Sometimes our protagonist (I can't really believe that we never learn her name!) drives me crazy. She is self-absorbed and single-minded about it. The people she meets, pushes away, befriends, and loves without realizing she is loving, are well-flushed out and enticingly interesting. Her brother Ned and his wife, Nina. Her friend, Renny. Her New Jersey cop lover and her Florida orange-grower, lightning-survivor lover... even her cat, Giselle. Interesting twists and turns, paths and fairy tales, butterflies and rain, fire and ice.

50. Forever - Maggie Stiefvater

2011-08-28T21:40:00.000-07:00

Third - and final - book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls series
(after Shiver and Linger)
Scholastic Press, 2011
HC $17.99
for: YA
392 pages
Rating: 5

This book was mesmerizing, by far my favorite of the three. The font was the same deep cranberry color as the cover illustration. The story was, once again, told in four voices: Grace, the girl who now spends her winters as a wolf, Sam, her one-and-only, who has been "cured" of slipping from lupine to human, Isabel, reluctant friend to the wolves....cool...almost cold...and.daughter of the powerful lawyer that will do anything to kill the wolf pack, and Cole, the only one who chose to become wolf...brilliant, famous, beautiful, and cynical.

There are twists and turns as spring approaches and Grace returns, shifting back and forth between wolf and human at inopportune times. And Thomas Culpeper, Isabel's father, has finally gotten the Minnesota state government to allow a wolf massacre. The time is approaching, and the four friends must figure out how to save the rest of the pack. And with the help of a young police officer and Cole's scientific genius - they do! I've got to admit, I shed a few tears near the end of this story. That in itself surprised me, that I could feel such emotion for these characters and the relationships they had attained. Quite powerful, actually. Quite a story.

Movie - Super 8

2011-08-27T13:34:00.000-07:00

A modern-day Goonies. Fun.
Released June 10, 2011
PG-13 (1:52)
Friday 8/26/11 at Crossroads - myself
RT: 82% cag: ditto: 82%
Director: J. J. Abrams
Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning, Ron Eldard

Five friends (let's say they're maybe in the 13-14 age range) are making a zombie movie. One is the director, Joe, our protagonist, is the make-up artist, some are actors. They enlist a cute classmate, Alice, who is too young to drive but who "borrows" her dad's car and drives them to an old railroad stations in the middle of the night to shoot a scene. They get really excited as they hear a train approach, since it will give reality to their movie. But what happens when the train gets right in front of them is unforeseen, and really scares them. It crashes and derails, but there's something really mysterious going on, too. It's unleashed some sort of mysterious presence that the Air Force is trying to cover up and recover, both. Joe's father (Chandler) is the sheriff, the mother has been killed in an accident at the local mill. It is 1979.

By the end of the film there was a lot of destruction of the small Ohio town where this is set, but most of the storyline is engaging and the cast of young actors is great fun to watch. I would ALMOST put this as a PG, but there is a lot of destructions, and one murder that makes me hesitate just a little. It certainly kept me entertained for two hours on a Friday night!

It was filmed in West Virginia, and the soundtrack is great.

49. The Mostly True Story of Jack - Kelly Barnhill

2011-08-27T10:51:00.003-07:00

Little Brown & Co., 2011
HC $
for: YA, or clever Middle-graders, I guess.... some recommendations say 9-12...
323 pgs.
Rating: Who knows? I wanted to quit....often....during the first half, but I kept on plugging, hearing myself say to my students, "You're not supposed to "get it", you're supposed to figure it out." Well, even at the end I couldn't figure it out. I've thought about it a lot since I finished, and I guess I sort of "get it," but not ALL of it. But, I must add, I've never been much of a FAIRY TALE fan. The last 20 pages helped. But I didn't really like it. I liked some of the ideas. But I guess ultimately I'd have to rate it a 2.

First Line/s: Frankie was the first to know. Frankie was the first to know most things -- but since he hadn't spoken since he was eight years old, it didn't matter what he knew. He couldn't tell anyone.

I'll add more of my own thoughts shortly.

Here are a few reviews from other places on the net. Most are shiny, sparkling manifestos:

The Book Element (this came close to some of the things I might have said)
GuysLitWire
Eva's Book Addiction
Publisher's Weekly (starred review)
School Library Journal FUSE8 (2012 Newbury prediction)

MOVIE - Mr. Popper's Penguins

2011-08-23T06:11:00.001-07:00

A surprising delight!
Released 6-17-11
PG (1:35) "Rude Humor"
Mon. 8-22-11 at Crossroads with Rachel
RT: 48% cag: 90%
Director: Mark S. Waters
Jim Carrey
Created from the book by the Atwaters - but it doesn't resemble the book AT ALL....which is okay....

I enjoyed every minute of this movie. It was funny and clever. I haven't read the book in ages, but Rachel just finished it and mentioned some of the extreme differences. Mr. Popper in the book was a house painter. They lived in a small town called Stillwater. In the movie Tom Popper is a wealthy businessman living in a high rise, two-floor, floor-to-ceiling-windowed penthouse in New York City. He receives the penguins as an unwanted gift from his late father, who Popper had idolized as a child, but who was physically missing from the boy's life. At first they are a ridiculous pain in the butt, but as they imprint on Popper, his feelings for them change....

His ex-wife and two children begin to see a new side to this previously driven businessman. There's one scene in his apartment, which has been turned into a snow and ice-filled winter wonderland, that is totally fun and cool. There are LOTS of parts of this movie that are fun and cool. I'd watch it again. I called it delightful before, and I'll stick with that. I loved it....and I can't believe that I did!

48. Where Do You Stay? - Andrea Cheng

2011-08-22T06:24:00.003-07:00

Boyds Mill Press, 2011
HC $17.95
for: Middle Grades
133 pgs.
Rating: 4

First line/s: "Mr. Willie pulls every last weed in the driveway cracks, then sweeps the concrete clean. Aunt Geneva comes out to pay him, but Mr. Willie doesn't want any money. 'A sandwich would be nice,' he says."

Setting: Contemporary Cincinnati, Ohio
One-Sentence Summary: After 11-year-old Jerome goes to live with his aunt and cousins after his mother dies of cancer, he has to learn to live without his precious piano.

Mr. Willie also played the piano, though he now is a squatter in the falling-down carriage house of the falling-down (and empty) big house across the street. His fifteen-year-old cousin Damon is mouthing off to his mother, disappearing, and possibly getting into trouble. His nine-year old Cousin Monte is afraid of everything. And his Aunt Geneva is determined to adopt him, as she feels was his mother's wish. The turning point in the story comes when a couple purchase the crumbling house across the street, not to tear it down, as everyone had thought, but to create a school.

Isn't this one of the homeliest/unappealing book covers you've ever seen? It certainly doesnt' say "pick me up!"I wasn't sure how to rate this book, 'cause I'm not sure how kids would like it. Throughout the book, Jerome is comparing everything that happens to him to his mother's last days and death. However, it's not particularly depressing, and it's a great way to worm yourself into Jerome's mind. And the storyline is engaging and proceeds in a believable manner. I discovered that I rather liked the whole package as I mulled it over after reading.

47. You'll Like It Here (Everybody Does) - Ruth White

2011-08-21T11:10:00.002-07:00

Delacorte Press, 2011
HC $16.99
for: middle grades
258 pgs.
Rating: 4

First Line: "When I was in the third grade on the California coast, a crazy man came into my classroom one day and started waving a knife around. He said he was an alien hunter."

Setting: North Carolina, then an alternate, somewhat identical, universe

One-sentence summary: The Blue family, Meggie, David, Mom, and Gramps, try to find a place where they can live a normal, happy family life (spoiler coming) since they had to flee from their own planet.

There's really no way to review this book without spoilers....I was glad I hadn't read the flap information too thoroughly so that I was somewhat surprised when I got to Chapter 4 for the big reveal. Sure there were hints, but they were delicious ones. The Blue family has to flee their much-loved home in North Carolina and end up in an alternate universe, in a town called Fashion City, which is heavily controlled and life is boring and there are no choices. People survive by taking "Lotus", which keeps them tranquil and laid-back, unquestioning and unable to revolt. "The Fathers" are responsible for everything - and they are to be unquestioned. However, when Gramps is forced to go to "Vacation 65," from which no one returns, the family has to take quick and immediate action to find another place to live.

Utopia. The Giver. Alternate universes. Not a setting or storyline you'd expect from Ruth White. I liked it.

Me...Jane - Patrick McDonnell

2011-08-21T10:51:00.000-07:00

illustrated by the author
Little Brown, 2011
HC $15.99
40 thick pages
Rating: 4
Endpapers: brown with shapes and graffiti
Title page has photo of young Jane Goodall holding her stuffed monkey

This is the story of how very much Jan Goodall enjoyed nature, the outdoors, growing things, from the time she was a very young child. It tells of her curiosity and her love of the idea of Africa, and jungles, and Tarzan, and living there to help the animals. It shows how her dreams came true.

The story is very simple and quite lovely. Three of the pages are actually her own drawings! There is a page at the end that gives more particulars about Jane Goodall, and a full-page message from her. She is the founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, a UN Messenger of Peace, and creator of Roots and Shoots (www.rootsandshoots.org) a program to educate kids about how to take action.

Cool book.

46. The Beach House - Jane Green

2011-08-20T09:56:00.002-07:00

Audio read by Cassandra Campbell
Penguin Audio, 2008
9 unabridged cds
11 hours
352 pgs.
Rating: 4

Setting: Nantucket

One-sentence summary: A small cast of characters rent rooms in Nan Powell's "Windemere" one summer, creating a family of sorts: Daniel, newly divorced and just out-of-the-closet; Daff and her13-year-old daughter, Jess, who is trying to deal with her parents' divorce; Michael, Nan's son, home to Nantucket from NYC and a troublesome affair with his boss.

This is a feel-good book with a happy ending. Everyone needs one of these once in awhile, and it was read so beautifully that I looked forward to just listening to the words wrapping around me. Cassandra Campbell has a lovely voice and puts just enough special inflection and personality into the voice of each character that you can tell them apart instantly.

You really get to know the characters, including the exes and dead . Green makes sure we get a sampling of every part of life and death, joy and sadness, euphoria and misery, uncertainty and despair. Yup, she's wrapped it all up in this one story. It was a good "listen."

Why Oh Why Are Deserts Dry? - Tish Rabe

2011-08-19T18:16:00.000-07:00

All About Deserts
Illustrated by Aristides Ruiz & Joe Mathieu
The Cat In the Hat's Learning Library, Random House, 2011
HC $8.99
45 pages
Rating: 3
Endpapers: orange

Not as good as trees or butterflies (the two I've read previously), but informative and fun. My two problems with it stand out strongly, though. Some of the rhythm seems off, some of the rhyming seems forced. And although it mentions and describes deserts - the Sonoran, the Namib, the Sahara, the Mojave, Antarctica, it jumps around giving facts. Some kids might think camels and kangaroos live in the Sonoran Desert! It never tells where anything's located. A map of the world showing these deserts' locations would be a great addition.

The glossary includes abdomen, burmoose, burrow, cell, differ,geologist, glare, habitat, mirage, nocturnal, oasis, and shimmering.

MOVIE - The Help

2011-08-17T14:32:00.048-07:00

Wish I'd read the book - the movie was very good.
Wide release 8-10-11
PG-13 (2:17)
Aug. 16, 2011 at ElCon with Sheila
2nd viewing January 14, 2012 at Crossroads with Dede
RT: 74% cag: 87%
DreamWorks Studios
Director: Tate Taylor

Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Sissy Spacek, Allison Janney

My favorite character: Minny, played brilliantly by Octavia Spencer. Emma Stone plays Skeeter, just returning home to Jackson, Mississippi in 1962/1963, with a degree from Ole Miss in journalism. She gets a job writing the cleaning help column in the Jackson newspaper. She knows nothing about her subject, so interviews a friend's reluctant black maid, Aibilene (Davis). The black maids of Jackson raise all the white children and are not even allowed to use the bathroom of the houses they clean and cook and raise the children in. The white women play bridge and belittle them. All except Skeeter, who decides to try to write a book from their perspective about their plight. It's not easy. All the women are scared to tell any of the white family's secrets, afraid of losing their jobs and afraid of retaliation.

Hilly is the viscious young white homemaker that harrassess the maids and demolishes Celia, the "white trash" bride of her former boyfriend, Johnny. Some of my favorite parts of the movie were the scenes with Celia and Minny, Hilly's former maid. Octavia Spencer (Minny) was just wonderful!

Throughout the movie I got outraged again and again at the inhumanity, the insensitivity, the absolute ridiculousness of racism. I just cannot imagine where it comes from and how some whites could (and can) possibly feel the way they do.

It was a period piece, and the set was wonderful. The cars (one Corvette, in particular, was breathtaking), the clothing and hairstyles, the home furnishings, Everyone I've spoken to that have read the book (and there have been many), simply loved it. Everyone encouraged me to read the book before seeing the movie, but I didn't have the opportunity. I still want to read the book. I wonder how different the book and movie are?

45. Will Grayson, Will Grayson - John Green & David Levithan

2011-08-11T07:54:00.014-07:00

Penguin, 2010
paper Speak $8.99
310 pgs.
for: YA
Rating: 5

First line: "When I was little, my dad used to tell me, 'Will, you can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose.'"

This is the story of two Will Graysons, written in back & forth chapters, in two different voices. That's because each of these two wonderful authors wrote one voice.

I have an eighth grade friend who read this book this summer. I'm going to ask him to write a brief review of the book for me! I'll include it soon.

44. Small Acts of Amazing Courage - Gloria Whelan

2011-08-09T14:55:00.001-07:00

A Paula Wiseman Book, Simon & Schuster, 2011
HC $15.99
for: Mid Grades
218 pgs.
Rating: 3.5

In 1919 India, being the daughter of a high-ranking British official gives you wealth, prestige, and power. In Small Acts of Amazing Courage, Gloria Whelan tells of such a daughter,15-year-old Rosalind James. Rosy's father has been away a lot, leaving her care to Rosy's mother and a huge household of various Indian servants. Rosy has grown up with her maid's daughter, loves the bazaar and all things related to India. Her father greatly forbids her to have anything with the native population. She's strong headed and disobeys him. And this leads him to send her to England - for the first time in her life - for a "proper" education, under the care of her two aunts.

The setting goes from privileged life in India to a steamship from Bombay to England, to life in England and back to India again. Along the way we meet Gandhi and many of his followers and sympathizers, learning about nonviolent protesting and the plight of the Indian people. We learn a bit about Hinduism, the caste system, and the colonials. It's an interesting taste, but it's just a taste. I would have liked a little deeper look into life of this girl. Where some books are just too long and involved, this one needed a little more. I love Gloria Whelan's work, and I was a bit disappointed with this one.

MOVIE - Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

2011-08-09T12:57:00.000-07:00

This is all Harry's movie - not enough of everyone else
Released 7-15-11
PG-13 (2:05)
Monday, 8-8-11 at El Con with Sheila
RT: 97% cag: 79%
Director: David Yates

This got fantastic reviews, so I was expecting to love it - I loved Part 1, a lot. But I didn't love it. I found some parts slow and almost boring. Hermione and Ron had bit parts, it was all Harry's story. I missed having more of the other characters. I'd read the book and I'd seen Part one, but it's been awhile, so some of what was going on took awhile to figure out. There were a couple of great scenes - the doubling riches in the vault at Gringots and when Harry finally sees the history of Snape's involvement in his life - but I was not enthralled. I know, I'm in the minority here.

Harry and his two cohorts are on a quest to destroy the final horcruxes that have allowed Voldemort immortality. They find one, a golden cup, in the vault at Gringot's, they find another, a tiara, at Hogworts. They know the snake is another. Much of this final movie takes place at Hogwort's, and it's really sad to see its demise. Many of Harry's friends and members of the Order are killed, but this is not emphasized.

One of the two YA girls behind us cried through the whole movie. Interesting. And her reaction to the end was, "oh, I love this part." From the book? I think she'd seen this movie before, and it still affected her greatly.

MOVIE - Win Win

2011-08-08T09:27:00.018-07:00

Why do the "Limited Release" movies seems so much better than those released widely?
Limited Release 3-18-11
on DVD 8-23-11
saw 4-17-11 alone
R (1:40)
RT: 95% cag 90%
Director: Tom McCarthy

Paul Giamatti

MOVIE - Lincoln Lawyer

2011-08-08T09:23:00.018-07:00

Michael Connelly & Matthew McConaughey - a winning combination!
Wide release 3-10-11
on DVD 7-12-11
viewed 4-21-11
R (1:59)
RT: 83% cag: 84% (hey, we agree for once!)
based on the book by Michael Connelly
Lionsgate Films
Director: Brad Furman
Matthew McConaughey

Matthew McConaughey is Mickey Haller, a lawyer whose office is his Lincoln Continental.

MOVIE - Jane Eyre

2011-08-08T09:22:00.009-07:00

a lovely film for a classic story
Limited release 3/11/11
on DVD 8/16/11
viewed 4/28/11 alone
PG-13 (2:01)
RT 84% cag 90%
Director: Cary Fukonaga

MOVIE - Hanna

2011-08-08T09:21:00.013-07:00

I expected something more, but I'm not sure what....
Wide release 4/8/11
on DVD 9/6/11
Viewed 4/23/11
PG-13 (1:51)
RT 72% cag 68%
Director: Joe Wright
Focus Features

MOVIE - Bridesmaids

2011-08-08T09:19:00.010-07:00

Rip Roarin' Funny!
Wide realease 5/13/11
on DVD 9/20/11
R (2:;04)
RT 90% cag 92%
Directed by Paul Feig
Written by (and starring) Kristen Wiig

MOVIE - Adjustment Bureau

2011-08-08T09:17:00.014-07:00

Clever entertainment
Released 3/4/11
on DVD 6/21/11
PG-13 (1:39)
RT: 71% cag: 83%
Director: George Nolfi
Matt Damon, Emily Blunt

26. Stranger in Paradise - Robert B. Parker

2011-08-08T09:03:00.032-07:00

Audio read by James Naughton
Random House Audio, 2008
$14.99
5 discs, 5 hrs.
Rating: 3.5

I'm writing this many months after I listened to it......This is not a Spenser, it's a Jesse Stone, who is the police chief of Paradise, Massachusetts, a town on or near the Cape, if I remember right. He is visited by someone that Jesse knows is wanted, an Apache hitman named "Crow." And although Crow is the "bad guy," it seems that Jesse has some respect for him. Crow's looking for a young girl who grew up in the area and is now hanging with gangs. He is working for her father, who wants her brought to him in Florida. And Jesse's ex-wife is investigating gang violence for the TV station she works for. The story winds around itself and is solved in Parker's ever-clever, no-holes-barred way.

MOVIE - The Beaver

2011-08-08T09:02:00.015-07:00

Oddly endearing
Released 5/6/11 Limited
DVD 8/23/11
PG-13 (1:31)
RT: 63 cag: 92
Director: Jodie Foster
Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster

This is a drama, NOT a comedy!

33. - Piper Reed, Navy Brat- Kimberly Willis Holt

2011-08-08T08:53:00.021-07:00

MOVIE - Thor

2011-08-08T08:53:00.016-07:00

Just plain fun
Released 5-6-11 wide
PG-13 (1:55)
DVD 9-13-11
RT: 77 cag: 87
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Chris Hemmsworth, Natalie Portman

MOVIE - Crazy, Stupid, Love

2011-08-08T08:23:00.000-07:00

Funny and thought-provoking and sometimes even sad....
Released 7-29-11
PG-13 (1:57)
Sunday 8-7-11 at El Con alone
RT: 75% cag: 86%
Director: John Requa & Glenn Ficarra
Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, Marissa Tomei, Kevin Bacon

I saw this last night and found myself waking up during the night thinking about it - that doesn't often happen. I really enjoyed the movie and would have rated it higher, but it contained one of my very biggest pet peeves when it comes to movies. Usually coming at or near the end (it did) the protagonist stops a large gathering (he did) and makes an announcement or speech (yup) that would never, ever happen in "real life." It helped the movie cruise into an excellent adieu, they'd set it up by showcasing some of the 13-year-old son's antics, but still had me rolling my eyes.

Cal Weaver (Carrell), a happily married 40-something, is told by his wife that she's slept with a co-worker and wants a divorce. He moves into an apartment and spends his evenings drinking and sulking in a high-end bar where he is observed by swathe man-about-town Jacob (Ryan Gossling), who takes him under his wing and gives him a complete (and much needed) makeover. Voila!

Marissa Tomei steals the show in the two and a half scenes that she's in. What a terrific actress!

Of course all comes out right in the end and there's a wonderful twist that has been kept secret in the trailers and reviews of the movie (YAY!!!) Ryan Gossling is super hunky (Steve Carrell's not so bad, himself!) and Emma Stone is ADORABLE...as usual...she's become one of my very favorite actresses. Lots and lots of cool male attire to drool over. Fun....but sad, too.....

Bay Area Knit Shop Hop August 2011

2011-08-07T15:06:00.003-07:00

OOOO-EEEEE, What fun. Three days of leisurely browsing in a number of yarn shops in the Santa Rosa/Sebastapol and South Bay areas of northern(ish) California. Beautiful weather, really nice people, the best sidekick ever, and wonderful privately-owned yarn shops.

First stop:
Balls and Yarns
899 Gravenstein Hwy South
Sepastopol, CA 95472
Service & Friendliness: 5
Yarn Quality: 5
Yarn Variety: 5
Knit Samples: 4

There was a cozy sitting/ knitting area and the owner/ proprietor was super friendly, helpful, and encourag- ing. There was some frilly black yarn that I didn't get and now wish I had. I did get some really cool slippery lime & cranberry rayon ribbon yarn (Gelato made by Fiesta Yarns) to make a long, horizontally-knit scarf. Wonderful shop. Will happily return.

The next stop, also in Sebastopol was an unfriendly, unforgettable shop, so I won't even mention it here.

Shop #3: Cast Away
Santa Rosa, CA
Service & Friendliness: 4
Yarn Quality: 5
Yarn Variety: 5
Knit Samples: 4

On a quiet, tree-lined main street sits this inviting yarn shop with a seafaring decor. The windows have white paper-mache birds wearing brightly knit scarves, and as you enter the shop you're greeted by an old wooden dinghy heaped with colorful yarn. There was lots to drool over and lots of beautiful project ideas. I tried on a beautiful, draping scarf that I would have never picked for myself in a zillion years...and it looked really, really good on me. The pattern was designed by one of the employees, Ramona Gaynor, so I splurged and bought not only the pattern ("Ruffle Scarf"), but the yarn to go with it, Rowan's "Kidsilk Haze" in a deep aqua color. What a beautiful sheen it has!

Next stop,
Knitterly
#1 Fourth St.
Petaluma, CA 94952
Service & Friendliness: 4.5
Yarn Quality: 5
Yarn Variety: 5
Knit Samples: 5

I've been here before, it's a really special shop. It's on a great side street with a tree-lined parking lot across from it. The store is older, dark wood, comfy sofa, huge oak table to knit at. Great books and patterns....and they even sell stuff that comes in the packages separately. In other words, if you want one stitch holder instead of the 20-in-a-package, it's yours! Now that's customer service!

She had samples of an "Improv Scarf", where you hold two yarns together, gartering and putting in a couple of lacy/eyelet stitches in any way that you desire to create a pattern. I loved it....so of course I went hog wild and bought enough yarn for three scarves! One of the yarns was Koigu KPPPM by Koigu Wool Designs. It's 100% Merino Wool. I got a cranberry with touches of orange, an aqua/green with touches of orange, and a beige with touches of aqua and pink. Debbie Bliss' "Angel" Super Kid Mohair & Silk yarn is the second yarn in each sweater. Delightful, huh?

I also bought some Denim Blue Cascade 220 worsted weight yarn to felt myself a belt - I'm tired of my capris falling down after I've worn them for a couple of hours. This was her suggestion. She's says that after it's felted you can even cut it! Sounds like the felting shrinks it about in half....can't wait to get this one done!

The next morning we headed west from Novato to
Black Mountain Weavers
in Point Reyes, CA
11245 Main Street
Point Reyes Station, California 94956

Although they have a small amount of gorgeous hand-dyed and locally spun yarns, needles, and pattern books, this is a coop of knit and fiber artists, who show and sell their crafts. It was ultra-inspiring, the creativity, the elegance, the, the, the.....glory! ! of the beautiful works in this shop. I wish I'd taken some photos of some of the items. It was a very small shop, and the woman who was holding down the fort was just lovely.

(We ate lunch just down the street at the Station House Cafe -- I'd LOVE to go back there, mmmmm.) and also did a bit of Christmas shopping next door in ,which carries handmade goods from all over the world...for incredibly reasonable (inexpensive) prices!

Yarn Bombing! I've finally seen it with my own eyes! In the middle of Point Reyes Station, on Main Street! I've GOT TO DO THIS MYSELF! ! !

After leaving Point Reyes, we headed to south Marin Country and
Bluebird Yarn & Fiber Crafts
328A Pine Street
Sausalito, CA 94965
Service & Friendliness: 5
Yarn Quality: 5
Yarn Variety: 4
Knit Samples: 5

What a darling shop! It's just off the main street and a little half-door greets you, allowing the clean ocean air to flow in with you. The shop has a little entry way with displays of yarn and samples to greet you, then goes quite a ways back. There are overstuffed chairs to sit in while reading the pattern books, and dark shelves filled with all sorts of yarns. The lovely girl working today, Chiaki, was helpful and so very nice. She had designed the felted clutch pattern that I couldn't leave without. She has her own website, chiakiknit.com. Both Dede and I bought yarns to make a beautiful cowl that was on display, it looked terrific on both of us. (We both started on the knitting of it that night -- Maggi's Mist Slub (100% Viscose) was a very frustrating yarn to work with. The colors Dede chose....blues....made a beautiful cowl. I'm not so crazy about mine, but I couldn't get the second yarn with a sparkle in it, like Dede did, so mine was without sparkle and is probably why I like it less than hers.

Still in Marin County, we headed a little north to
Atelier Marin
217 San Anselmo Ave.
San Anselmo, CA 94960
Service & Friendliness: 5
Yarn Quality: 5
Yarn Variety: 5
Knit Samples: 5

Dede's taken lots of classes here, and I've been here before, too. The gal that owns and runs the store has terrific taste and has set up the quite-large shop in a very appealing way, putting all the baby yarns, fingering yarns, sport-weight yarns, aran-weight yarns, worsted, bulky, chunky...all together with their like kinds along the perimeter of the room. In the middle are samples, yarn displays, needle racks, chairs, and a big table in the front. Wonderful shop (she has one in San Francisco, too, although the floor space is smaller, the shop is crammed with yarns of every type and variety...been there before, too.) I didn't buy anything at Atelier today.

MOVIE - The Double Hour

2011-08-07T11:59:00.000-07:00

Good movie. Good mystery. Great storytelling.
in Italian, with subtitles
limited release 4-15-11
Unrated (1:35)
July 30 at the Loft, alone
RT 82% cag 91%
Director: Giuseppe Capatondi

Guido, a handsome guy in Turin, Italy, has been part of the speed dating scene for awhile, hooking up for one-night stands. But then he meets Sonia, a conscientious hotel chambermaid, and they instantly hit it off. He takes her to his security job in the country, and while there, the huge country estate he guards is robbed and neither Guido or Sonia come out of it unscathed. The rest of the movie is a mystery, billed as a psychological thriller, I would definitely agree. As an onlooker you're trying to figure out what's going on and just as you have a glimmer, a real twist is added , and then another, to keep you just enough off balance ..... in a great way. A good one.

43. Ruby Red - Kerstin Gier

2011-08-02T06:52:00.002-07:00

Translated from German by Anthea Bell
1st in a Trilogy
Henry Holt & Co., 2011 (2009 in Germany)
HC $16.99
330 pgs.
Rating: 4

Another vampire-less story in the genre of paranormal fiction for young adults. Alchemy and science seem to be the basis of a gene that only passes through the years to twelve people, and although Gwyneth's snobby cousin, Charlotte, has been trained for the time traveling ability that the gene produces, it's the unsuspecting Gwyneth that got it.

An average teenager in upper class contemporary London, after the first unexpected time-traveling episode Gwen's life will never be the same. Although it's all supposed to be top-top secret, she's share the secret with her best friend, who loves the mystery of it all, and researches every kind of clue that Gwen can give her on the internet. This adds a really fun element - and there's quite a bit of subtle humor throughout. And, OF COURSE, there's the irresistibly handsome young man that is her time-traveling sidekick/companion. Gideon deVilliers is two years older than Gwyneth, and, unlike her, has been trained in manners, habits, and skills of the centuries they will be visiting.

I read all 330 pages in one afternoon/evening. My one complaint is that throughout the first half of the story, the protagonist truly seems like a younger girl, a middle-schooler instead of a high-schooler. She starts thinking a little older as the story progresses, but I had to change my thinking and attitude toward her,'cause she really did appear to be very young. And it's not really a Twilight clone!

(HIGHLIGHT THE INVISIBLE FOR SECRETS) The prologue and epilogue totally give away one of the secrets (that the runaway Lucy and Paul are her parents), but that's okay. And you figure out immediately that the Count Saint-Germaine is evil, manipulative, power-hungry. The book stops abruptly, making you wait for the further adventures of Gwyneth and Gabriel.

I found it interesting once in awhile to flip back to the male and female lines of descent, which can be found on pages 141 and 203.

42. Evermore - Alyson Noel

2011-08-01T15:37:00.001-07:00

#1 in Immortal series
for: YA
St. Martin's Griffin, 2009
paper, $9.95
306 pgs.
Rating: 3

I'm almost ashamed of myself for reading this book in one gulp, I couldn't put it down. I spent the whole time comparing it to Twilight, which was a great higher skill on Bloom's Taxonomy for me to use, right? There are so many similarities, but MINUS THE VAMPIRES, yippee! Although Immortals seem pretty similar, with an almost-more-plausible beginning. There's the super hunky immortal (Damon), the nasty, hurtful immortal (Drina), the innocent young girl (our protagonist, Ever (Ever Bloom, get it???), and the loving but clueless guardian (Sabine). We also have the two best friends - a goth girl (Haven) and a gay boy (Miles). Throw in an exotic setting - southern California. Another YA paranormal fantasy.

But wait - I liked the protagonist! She beats Bella by a long shot, at least in this first installment. She has a head of her own, a will of her own. She may become a "can't live without him clone" in the second installment, but so far, so good. One of these days I might even read Blue Moon. (Hmmm...how similar can titles be?????)

41. The Girls of Riyadh - Rajaa Alsanea

2011-08-01T08:59:00.001-07:00

translated by Rajaa Alsanea and Marilyn Booth
for: Adults (and YA's too)
Penguin Books, 2007 (originally published in Arabic in 2005)
paper $14.00
286 pgs.
Rating: 4

This is the story of four upper class Saudi girls and the customs and foibles they live with when it comes to dating (huh!), men, and marriage. Even though I had some background, some pre-established knowledge, there were many eye-opening new facts to learn. It was written in an interesting way. Supposedly, every week for a year or so, a "friend" of the four girls writes an email to a list of subscribers to uncover more and more of the girls' story. She gets quite a backlash - both good and bad - from different Saudis. The book itself was very controversial in Saudi Arabia and other Arabic, Islamic countries.

Read no further unless you want spoilers. The four friends:

Gamrah - first married, to a man who takes her to Chicago and goes out of his way to show his distaste for her. Come to find out, he's had a loving relationship, but his parents would not allow him to marry her. He continues this relationship, Gamrah gets purposely pregnant, and they divorce. She is left bitter and angry.

Sadeem - becomes engaged to Wahleed, it seems to be a love match until she gives herself fully to him shortly before the actual marriage and he dumps her. Then she meets Faras, an older-than-her politician and they are practically glued at the hip....until his family refuses to let him marry a "divorced" woman and forces him to marry another.

Michelle - half American, but fully a Saudi, since she's lived there through adolescence. She falls in love with Faisal, but his parents have someone else in mind for him. She eventually goes to the United Arab Emirates and becomes a producer.

Lamees - the most playful, flirtatious of the four, she knows how to have fun and finally, in medical school, sees the man she desires as a husband, plays her cards right, and follows the traditional path without too much glamour and fireworks. She was also the character that interested me the least.

40. Sullivan's Law - Nancy Taylor Rosenberg

2011-07-22T18:05:00.000-07:00

Carolyn Sullivan #1
audio read by Sandra Burr
Brilliance Audio, 2004
10 cds
384 pgs.
Rating: 1.5

Carolyn Sullivan is a probation officer in Ventura, California. She is also a single mother and part-time law student. Daniel Metroix is being let out of jail after spending over 20 years in jail for a murder, Carolyn discovers, he didn't commit. He is a schizophrenic, a brilliant unschooled physicist, and an innocent. Before long Carolyn is trying to protect her two teenaged kids, Daniel, and herself from people that want them dead. She is befriended by a physicist professor and relies heavily on her physics-loving son. There seems to be a trend going here......

There were two things I didn't enjoy about this book. The protagonist...I just couldn't like her, no matter how hard I tried. And the reader, I couldn't stand the way she read the different voices. She made Daniel sound like a low-IQ'd mental deficient. She made Carolyn sound incredibly goody-goody, which may have exacerbated that attribute even more than it should have in my mind, which may definitely add to the reason I didn't like her.

The story dragged on and on....and on, then the ending was neatly tied up in a few short pages. WHY do some authors do this? When compared to the writers of this genre that I really love, Connelly, Crais, Coben, Grafton, etc., there is simply no comparison. Perhaps if I read the book instead of listening to it I wouldn't feel quite so strongly, but I can't imagine reading it unless I have a true book emergency. It was a long couple of weeks listening to this...but I never gave up. I wish I had.

Movie - Transformers DARK OF THE MOON

2011-07-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

"If you like fighting and lying, you'll like this movie." (Brendan G, age 6)
Released 6-28-11
PG-13 (2:37)
7-21-11 at Ellsworth Movie Theater
RT: 36% ... Okay, I'll go along with that.....cag 36%
Director: Michael Bay
Shia LaBeouf (Sam Witwicky - what a great name.)

Brendan was afraid this movie would be scary, but he was happy to say it wasn't. The theater was really "refrigerated," which prompted him to ask several times when them movie was going to be over. He was freezing. It was a really looooooong movie. But he was completely enthralled. I was not.

I couldn't believe the actors...Patrick Dempsey, Frances McDormand, John Turturro, John Malkovith, Josh Duhamel. Gorgeous puffy-lipped female star that I've never seen before. But this was a story about huge vehicles that turn into machine-monsters. A handful are the good guys, and there are a lot of bad guys. The bad guys crash landed on the dark side of the moon in the early 1960's, and NASA found out about them then, but information about it all is just coming to light. There are some comical parts, some clever repartee, but other than that.....

I enjoyed Thor, Avatar, and Iron Man. I can't say the same for Transformers. Not my cup of tea at all. But Brendan loved it, and it was a pleasure to watch him loving it. It was the last day showing at this theater (Captain American started the next day), so he gave Brendan the poster he took down from out front. Needless to say, Brendan was thrilled. That WAS pretty cool.....

The only other people in the theatre (it was a matinee on a beautiful day, everyone else, if not at work or camp were at the beach)were a dad and his 6 or 7 year old son. The young man seemed to enjoy it, too. I wonder what it cost to make this movie?

39. Pink -Lili Wilkinson

2011-07-19T21:59:00.000-07:00

Harper Teen, 2009 Australia, 2011 US
310 pgs.
HC $16.99
YA
Rating: 4

This book has a bit of a different premise than the norm - a highschooler who dresses all in black, including her dyed hair, and has a "cool" girlfriend---happily accepted by her parents---decides she wants to go to a tough school, study hard, and try to discover her real self. Her parents love it that she has "come out", and they like Ava to be as nontraditional as she possibly can be. But Ava isn't so sure...she wants to be "normal," and isn't even sure if she is, indeed, a lesbian. She's never given boys a chance. She has to fight her parents to go to this tougher school. And she can't wait.

So she somehow gets her hair back to it normal color and dresses for her first day at the new school in a pink sweater, a sweater that she loves. So begins a comedy of errors as Ava traverses the halls of popularity, geekdom, boys, and difficult schoolwork.

The majority of the book is about the musical that the school puts on. It's ultra-cool to be a singer/actor, and you're a pariah if you work on the sets and backstage. Because of a horrible audition, Ava has to balance herself between both groups of kids. And, she has told no one about Chloe, hoping she doesn't run into her when she's with her new friends.

Cute story. I enjoyed it a lot.

38. The Last Little Blue Envelope - Maureen Johnson

2011-07-18T08:56:00.000-07:00

Sequel to 13 Little Blue Envelopes
for: YA
Harper Teen, 2011
HC $16.99
282 pgs.
Rating: 5

What's not to like about a teenager that gets to travel through Europe with plenty of money and on her own? I loved the descriptions of the cities that Ginny traveled through....London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Paris.....I loved the wacky adventure that she encountered and the message that by not freaking out, things WORK out. I loved the mystery of where the story....and her relationships with the other characters....was going to end. That's what good stories do. Keep you guessing, keep you interested, teach you a little along the way, and make you think.

Ginny has returned to London from New Jersey to complete the tasks that her dead aunt had set out for her before her death. But this time there is a mysterious, very tall, young man accompanying her, along with Keith, the "love interest" from 13 Little Blue Envelopes. Oliver is an interesting, multi-faceted character that added greatly to the story. And Ginny's infatuation with Keith, and her liking for Ellis, are real. They are palpable, these feelings, as well as those for her dead aunt and her Uncle Richard. I have purposely left plot details hazy, because I totally enjoyed not having a clue about what was happening or what was about to happen. It was a good story, totally captivating the 18-year-old adventurer in me --- it's the sort of story that I'd love be part of myself, whether as an 18 year old, a 38 year old, or a 58 year old.

37. Biting the Moon - Martha Grimes

2011-07-17T18:20:00.000-07:00

Adult Mystery
An Onyx Book, Penguin Publishing, 1999
paper,$12.00
301 pgs.
Rating: 2.5

First line: "The girl's hair was white below the scarf, now a scarf of snow, and there was a fine rime of ice on her eyebrows."

The story starts with Andi Olivier out in the wilds of the Sandia Mountains near Santa Fe, NM, rescuing trapped coyotes and healing them. Andi Olivier is the name she gave herself when she saw the initials AO on her backpack. She has no memory of her past, only that she woke up one morning in a B & B in Santa Fe with a man who was supposedly her "Daddy." She knew this wasn't true. But she had no idea at all about her background, her name or even her age, which she guesses to be about 17.

Then she meets Mary, and lonely 14 year old, and together they set out to figure out Andi's backstory. They become close friends immediately, the fearless, clever, implacable Andi and the questioning, not-so-sure -of-herself, Mary. And what an adventure they set out on...following the clues to Idaho and rescuing dogs, intimidating bad guys, making friends with unlikely characters, white-water rafting, witnessing dog-fighting and illegal big-game hunting, murdering.... about as unlikely a story as any two teenagers could be a part of. But...well.....not exactly silly, or even ridiculous, but....improbable.

There was some great writing included, like:

"Yet Mary, who had not been violated, felt her own life to be a tangle of conflicting needs. Her sister, Angela, had always talked about "centering," finding one's "center." Mary felt she had no center. She was the Scrabble letters spilled across the table, letters she could not put together to spell anything sensible. Andi, on the other hand, had mastered the game; as if magnetized, the letters flew together."

MOVIE - Queen to Play (Joueuse)

2011-07-17T09:44:00.000-07:00

Wonderful lead actress!
in French with subtitles
Limited release 4-1-11 (made in 2008/2009)
unrated (1:41)
7-16-11 at The Loft by myself (not a seat left in the upstairs theater!)
RT: 67% cag 79%
Director: Caroline Bottaro
Sandrine Bonnaire, Kevin Kline, Jennifer Beals

This was a very lovely movie. The setting was the island of Corsica, and it was a bout a mom who discovers the game of chess. She's a house cleaner, and she sees Jennifer Beals playing chess while sitting on the balcony of a b & b that overlooks the ocean. It's a lovely, somewhat sexy scene, and Helene is mesmerized by the memory of it. So much so that she buys her husband an electronic chess set for his birthday, even though neither of them have in any way encountered the game before.

Now...although the movie does not really focus on the actual game of chess, most of the rest of the movie revolves around learning it and playing it. Got a little too much chess-y for me. Kevin Kline plays the reclusive chess player that teachers her how to play - and who gives her the confidence in herself to go farther. This is another movie about a woman who breaks free of her long-standing cocoon and emerges as a butterfly. Sandrine Bonnaire plays the protagonist beautifully. What a lovely smile she has!

Movie - Larry Crowne

2011-07-17T09:00:00.001-07:00

reviewed as "bland and conventional," I'll call it "light and entertaining"
Released 7-1-11
PG-13 (1:38)
Monday, 7-11-11 at Orleans 18 (Las Vegas) by myself
RT: 36% cag: 83%
Director: Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Wilmer Valderrama & Gugu Mbatha-Raw

This movie is about a makeover, the makeover of a man. This is Tom Hanks’s show. Julia Roberts did her part really well (disdain and boredom were acted superbly!), but it is ultimately the trip Hanks takes changing himself – both mentally and physically – after 20 years as a Navy cook and a handful of years at the local “big mart” employee-of-the-month. After reading the reviews I was looking forward to a ho-hum movie, but I found this fun to watch and really quite thought-povoking.

The Julia Roberts part could have been played by any pretty womanl Two parts that really stole the show were the two young, hip scooter enthusiasts who take Larry Crowne under their wing and teach him how to live in the current era...including his choice of clothing. I think this movie had a lot to say and said it well, and the reviewer that panned it are way out in left field. It may not be the best movie of the year, but it's linkable, enjoyable, and just plain fun.

36. A Million Miles from Boston - Karen Day

2011-07-11T13:21:00.000-07:00

Wendy Lamb Books, Random House, 2011
HC $15.99
for: kids
genre: CRF
218 pgs.
Rating: 4 (as a kid I would have loved this story)

Setting: Southern coast of Maine, contemporary summertime

One Sentence Summary: Lucy can't wait to spend her summer at the family cottage on the southern Maine coast, but is chagrined to discover a disliked (male!) classmate is also going to summer there, and her widowed father wants his girlfriend to visit.

The story centers on Lucy, the longing she feels for her dead mother, the responsibility she feels for her family, the unsettled feelings she has both toward her father's girlfriend, who's really very nice, and Ian Richards, a schoolmate who she's caught lying and who has gotten her in trouble more than once. She helps take care of her younger brother, Buster, and is always accompanied by her dog, Superior. She loves her connection to all the families on Pierson Point, babysitting and even preparing a morning summer camp for a handful of the younger kids. However, of all the families on the point, there' no one else her age, until Ian arrives.

Most of the story is very believable. Lucy is particularly mean to her dad's girlfriend. Makes sense. She's super nice to everyone else. She figures out how other people think and expects fairness from everyone. She's trustworthy - all believable. There's one place where she apologizes to the girlfriend (darn but I can't remember her name) that I can't quite picture a kid doing, but this is a really good kid, so I shouldn't be such a doubting Thomas. Everyone - except one person, Ian's sister Allison - is almost a little too nice. There are a lot of nice people in this book. A few too man? Well this is MAINE after all!!

The setting is written so that I get a good feel for the place. However, summertime in Maine (even on the coast) would have more discussion about bugs (mosquitoes especially) than just the fireflies that are mentioned. That I know for a fact! Black Flies- the Maine state bird.......

Trainstop - Barbara Lehman

2011-07-11T12:43:00.000-07:00

Houghton Mifflin, 2008
HC $16.00
32 pgs.
Rating: 34
Endpapers: bright green
A wordless story

A young girl is taking a subway/train home with her parents. As they progress through the city they pass through a tunnel and when they come out on the other side...they are out in the countryside!? The train is stopped by a boy waving a flag. Everyone else appears to be dozing, so the girl steps off the train, to be greeted by a hoard of....LITTLE....umm....SMALL....umm....MINIATURE kids. Their airplane has gotten stuck high up in a tree. Together they figure out how to get it down, a warning comes from the train that it's about to leave, she says goodbye to her new friends, and returns to the train. It enters another tunnel only to re-emerge back into the midst of the bustling city. After she gets home, in flies the plane she helped save, loaded with two of her new friends and a tiny potted tree, which she plants in the yard.

Barbara Lehman has done another great piece of storytelling without uttering a single word.

It's Okay to Be Different - Todd Parr

2011-07-08T12:12:00.002-07:00

Illustrated by the author
Megan Tingley Books, Little Brown & Co., 2001
HC $9.99
32 pgs
For: kids
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Solid purple

I think I'm going to use this book to introduce "Owning Up" this year. Each of the pages highlights a way that people can be different and opens up all sort of conversation about differences which could lead easily into teasing and bullying. I have lesson plans bouncing around my brain right now....

It's okay to be missing a tooth (or two or three)
It's okay to need some help (blind girl with seeing-eye dog)
It's okay to have a different nose (pink elephant with a long trunk)
It's okay to be a different color (normal zebra & colorfully striped zebra)

.....and many more......

Questions to ask PRE and/or POST reading (I think I'm going to do both.)::

How are you different?
Have you ever been teased or bullied about something? What?
Be honest - have YOU ever teased or bullied someone about anything? Explain.

R/A the book page by page, not quickly from beginning to end. Perhaps have students respond in someway after each page, thinking about things they relate to, or what is he REALLY talking about....

After the reading and responses, I'd have kids brainstorm and pair up to come up with their OWN "It's okay to..." ideas.

Create a class book adding pages for Parr's words that they illustrate differently and/or adding their own "it's okay" statements and illustrations. OH! And then I could coordinate with the kid's Hebrew class and write each line in Hebrew. Brilliant!

32. The Lock Artist - Steve Hamilton

2011-07-08T10:49:00.002-07:00

Minotaur Books, 2009
paper $14.99
305 pgs. ( and then Ch. 1 of upcoming Misery Bay)
Genre: Mystery
Rating: 4

Setting: Back and forth between 1991 and 2000, Michigan, then short stints in NYC and LA.

One-sentence summary: Mike, a mute young man ending a ten-year prison sentence, tells the story of how he became a safecracker and ended up in prison.

When I began this book I had my doubts about whether I'd enjoy the format - each chapter going backward or forward, telling two continuous parts of the story simultaneously. But it really worked - I didn't get lost or confused and I couldn't put the book down.

Some unknown incident in Mike's life so traumatized him that he lost his ability to speak at age 8. Part of the mystery is to discover more about this incident. And the rest is to watch his journey from inquisitive, sad youth to safecracker and thief. He is an "innocent"...and I cheered for him all along the way.

This is a story of how life can overwhelmingly control you until you become strong enough - or care enough - to take control yourself.

Super story, formatted cleverly.

The Secret Box - Barbara Lehman

2011-07-08T10:06:00.000-07:00

Illustrated by the author
Houghton Miffline Books for Children, 2011
$15.99
40 pgs.
For: Thinkers ages 4 and up
Rating: 4
Endpapers: a look into the secret box, open inside cover on left, pile of items on right (you're looking down into the box....)

A boy puts some mementos and a map into a "Seahorse Pier Saltwater Taffy" candy box and hides it away under the floorboards in the top-floor dormitory room of some sort of haven for boys. This is some time ago, because the story continues to show the area and neighborhood as they progress from spread-out farmland to eventual full-throttle inner city. However, the house stays there, cramped now among huge buildings. The house still is home to boys, and one day three modern-era boys find the box. They follow the map to see where it leads. Cool. At the end, time has passed again, and two even more modern boys find the box.....

Oh yes, another great book to create story from images...perfect....PERFECT for fourth grade boys!

35. Dogtag Summer - Elizabeth Partridge

2011-07-08T08:51:00.003-07:00

Bloomsbury, 2011
215 pgs. plus 11-page q & a appendix
$16.99
For: middle grades
Genre: historical fiction
Rating: 4.5

Setting: Northern California coastline between Ukiah and Santa Rosa,: 1980, with flashbacks to 1975 Vietnam.

One-Sentence Summary: Tracy, an adopted Vietnam War baby with an "unknown" American father, spends the summer before entering junior high remembering the events leading up to her emigration to northern California.

This story begins on the first day of summer vacation for two best friends, Tracy and Stargazer. Tracy is the adopted, half-Vietnamese orphan of a Vietnam vet and his wife. Stargazer is the son of a pair of hippie parents who were very anti-war, who happily live off the land in a tiny cramped trailer with their two kids (with another on the way). So we get two very clear points-of-view about the Vietnam War.

Tracy was adopted as a 6-year-old, five years before. She has suppressed memories of her life in Vietnam. When she and Stargazer find an ammo box in her dad's workshop and break into it, her memories, her feelings, her life itself, gets tilted and questioned.

The beginning of each new chapter is a page or so continuing the newfound memories of her life in Vietnam. Two point-s-of-view about the Vietnam War, painful memories of those who were forced to fight, and some really beautiful writing, all work together to create a lovely, much-needed, well-researched story.

(Note: The one weakness for me is that there was no mention of Tracy's English language development in the five years since arriving in America. That would have been so interesting - she is a fluent English speaker in the story, and I wondered greatly about that.)

I literally grabbed this book off the shelf at the library when I saw that Elizabeth Partridge had written a piece of fiction. I'm familiar with her nonfiction, which is award-winning. I also have a fond memory of her and her close friend, Anna Grossnickle Hines, who befriended me at a CLNE conference in Cambridge, England, when I was lonely and homesick. I spent the evening in Elizabeth's dorm room, chatting and discussing kid's books. This was just before her first book, the one on Dorothea Lange, was published, and she told me the background surrounding it. These two close friends greatly impressed me, meeting each year at CNLE no matter where the conference took place. Since then they have BOTH become celebrated writers. Two gracious, lovely women.

31. The Jasmine Trade - Denise Hamilton

2011-07-02T18:14:00.001-07:00

Eve Diamond, LA Investigative Reporter, Book 1
Pinnacle Books, Kensington Publishing, 2001
pap $6.99
328 pgs (with about 20 more following the story, the first of book number 2, The Sugar Skull.)
For : Adults
Rating: 5

Eve Diamond is 29, smart, quick, and little bit dare-devilish. She writes for the LA Times, particularly in the San Gabriel Valley. Her JOB is to horn her way into people's lives so she can get the down and dirty. And she does her job well.

The whole suburban area around LA is the setting, and Denise Hamilton uses it well. The descriptions became so real that I found a suburban LA map and spent a good hour pouring over it, glad to have it handy when I encountered a new place that Eve had to cover. She describes her home in Silverlake so well, I can hear it, see it, smell it.

The book begins when she is asked to write a story about a 17 year old Chinese-American girl that was murdered during a car jacking. The girl was rich and pretty, but only Eve sensed that there was more to the story than a simple car jacking. Along the way I learned so much, about "parachute kids", kids whose parents have moved them to southern California to go to good schools to get into good colleges, ensconcing them in huge, fancy, homes....and then going back to China or Hong Kong or Malaysia and being a long-distant parent. I learned about Asian gangs, brothels, and the kidnapping sex trade......as bad as the slave trade from Africa. It was well written, and every single one of my questions was answered by the end of the book. Nothing was left hanging. Characters became real, hearing Eve's thoughts were an added bonus.

This was a great story, truly interesting, informative, well-written, and suspenseful. I can't wait to read number two!