The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

I. Love. Flavia. Seriously - what a great character! So many of you have raved about her and I am so very happy that I took the time to meet her.

11-year-old Flavia de Leuce lives in a great big mansion with her father and two older sisters. She doesn't really have many friends her own age and she spends most of her time in her very own chemistry lab. Chemistry is her life's passion and she knows a lot (like A LOT) about poisons and other chemical stuff (I use the word 'stuff' here so you can see how much I know). Her life is pretty boring until she discovers a dead body in the garden - and finds out that her father is somehow involved too! So Flavia does what any kid would do - she uses her immense intelligence and her knowledge of chemistry to solve the mystery.

I think what I loved most about Flavia is the way she observed the world, the things she could deduce by sheer observation. I also enjoyed how she could always think of some way to get her answer. And of course I loved her love of chemistry - I wish Flavia was a real little girl in my life. Without the murder-in-the-garden bit. :-)

I loved the bits about stamp collecting too - I learned things that I wouldn't have known otherwise and I love it when that happens. Interesting stuff too, who knew I'd find stamps interesting at any point? ;-)

Has anyone read the next book in the series? Is it as good?

Challenges: 2010 Countdown, Orbis Terrarum, What's in a Name

The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen

This is my second book by Sarah Addison Allen. I read Garden Spells last year and found it completely magical and beautiful. Kind of like Alice Hoffman and Joanne Harris, two of my favorite authors. Some of you recommended The Sugar Queen as well and I'm glad you did as I was afraid that the second book wouldn't measure up. It did.

The Sugar Queen is about a young woman racked by so much guilt and with such serious issues that she actually owns a secret closet she keeps full of chocolate, candy and romance novels. When she's in this closet reading and munching away is the only time she feels good. One day, she opens the closet to find a waitress she barely knew sitting there, dishing out love and life advice. Great beginning, right?

I loved the main characters, the transformation they underwent. It's amazing what can happen if you let you a little and open yourself up to the possibilities.

Fantastic book. Magical, yet real. I mean, I don't have a closet full of candy, but there are times when I would really, really like one. :-)

Definitely recommended, this author is great!

Challenges: 2010 Countdown Challenge, What's in a Name 3

Size 12 is not Fat by Meg Cabot

A very quick review, just to catch up. This was my first Meg Cabot book that didn't have a teenage heroine and I admit that I like the pure young adult ones better. Size 12 is not Fat is a mystery featuring Heather Wells, a teenage pop star who lost her career and her fiancee in one go and is trying to set her life on the right path. It's simple and entertaining enough, but I liked The Princess Diaries better. I doubt I'll be continuing with this series, unless you tell me that it's worth it!

I'm on holiday with my family in Poland at the moment and having a great time. My Mom and Dad keep baby Shane with them at night so I get to sleep in - I'm obviously happy to get some extra rest and they're happy to have the opportunity to take care of him. Everyone wins. :-)

Missing reviews

I want to tidy things up before the end of the year, so here are some quick thoughts on the last few books I read... and never reviewed.

Misconceptions: Truth, Lies and the Unexpected on the Journey to Motherhood by Naomi Woolf

I was looking for something about the misconceptions about pregnancy and early motherhood, since I was finding pregnancy so different from what I expected. This book is more about the American health industry though so, although interesting, didn't do that much for me. (***)

The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

This is ine of those books that I thank the blogosphere for - if I hadn't needed a U author for the A-Z challenge I would have never picked this up in the used bookstore and would have really missed out on a gem. It's a beautifully written heartbreaking story of the realities on life in India - many of you enjoy world literature, seriously, if you haven't read this, put it on your list for 2010. (*****)

Fables volume 1 - Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham

Between Nymeth and Kailana's raving, I couldn't not read this at some point. Charming and original, can't wait to continue the series. Have you watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit, by the way? :-) (*****)

A Break With Charity by Ann Rinaldi

A non-fiction book for teens, I picked this up when we were in Boston earlier this year. It's a story of the Salem witch trials - it had the same characters as The Crucible so I looked things up and it turns out that those characters actually existed! Fascinating. This book isn't exactly well-known and I recommend it for its simplicity and historical interest. (*****)

Shadows in Bronze by Lindsey Davis

The second in the mystery series set in ancient Rome. I like the idea of this series but to be honest I thought that the first book was only mediocre and I couldn't even finish this one... I'm told that it starts getting really good by about book 4. Apparently the historical aspect of ancient Rome is really well-researched and that's very attractive to me so I think I'll persevere... (**)

A Study in Scarlet

I'd never read any of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle and when I saw that they were available on The Literature Network I figured it was high time. When I started to read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, however, there were immediate references to A Study in Scarlet, which is how I learned that this one actually came first. I love bits of information like this!

A Study in Scarlet was published in 1887 and is the first of the Sherlock Holmes stories. It is also the first of Arthur Conan Doyle's books to be published. It is the book where Holmes and Watson meet and describes the first crime that Watson witnesses Holmes solving.

I loved the detective part of the story as much as I loved the recent Agatha Christie I read. I loved following clue by clue and seeing how Sherlock Holmes solved the crime. But I got bored with the bit in the middle, where the story went to a Mormon community in the US and where we saw how the victim and the murderer met and what happened between them. I wanted more of Watson and Sherlock!

Nevertheless, I will certainly be following this up with The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Challenges: 999 Challenge, Classics Challenge, Decades Challenge, Suspense & Thriller Challenge

Sweethearts

After reading Sara Zarr's Story of a Girl, I immediately ordered Sweethearts, the other book by this author and bloggers are enjoying. I wasn't disappointed.

Sweethearts is about Jennifer, who was brought up by a hard-working single Mom and who spent all her time with her best (and only) friend Cameron. Then there was an 'incident' at Cameron's house and Jennifer started to understand that Cameron's family life was very different to her own. She didn't really get to find out more though, because soon after that Cameron disappeared. Jennifer transformed herself into popular and attractive Jenna, the girl that she 'should' be. She was able to keep up the pretense until Cameron showed up in her life again and reminded her that who she really is is deeply hidden somewhere within.

I loved the identity aspect of this book. Although it's for a different audience, it addressed some of the same issues as The Private Lives of Pippa Lee by Rebecca Miller, which I read recently and loved. It adressed who we think we are and why we sometimes act like people we're not. It showed the importance that we put on being/feeling accepted, but also on being/feeling understood and truly known. These aren't issues that are only for teens, I'm sure many of us struggle with them . Another recommended book!

I finished this a few days ago, still in May, and it brings my May total to 16, which is the highest number of books I've EVER read in one month. I'm very pleased with myself right now. :-)

Challenges: 2nds Challenge, 999 Challenge, Countdown Challenge, YA Romance Challenge, YA Challenge

Salem Falls

The answer I've been waiting for will arrive tomorrow night, so I am still distracted and not really into blogging and commenting... sorry about that and I hope to be back to my normal involved self real soon.

In the meantime, my thoughts about Jodi Picoult's Salem Falls. Basically, it was ok. This was my second book by this author, the first being My Sister's Keeper, which I thought was much, much better, probably because the subject matter was more original and therefore interesting.

Salem Falls are about residents of a small New England town and how a new arrival, Jack, a man who had been convicted of sexually assaulting a minor, changes their lives. A group of local teenage girls, who are witches by the way, accuse him of rape and he ends up the target of a witch hunt, which is what the author of course intended, as she wanted to write an updated version of The Crucible.

Jack's only support comes from newly-found love Addie, but even she finds it difficult at times. She certainly come through in the end though!

The book ends with a long court scene, which I enjoyed. It made me remember that I used to like reading courtroom dramas - maybe I should track some good ones down again.

The book reads like a soap opera, but nothing more. Pleasant no-brain reading, but that's pretty much it. I'm intrigued by some other Jodi Picoult books - are there any that you think are worth reading?

Challenges: 2nds Challenge, Celebrate the Author, Chick Lit 2, Countdown Challenge, Romance Reading Challenge,

Sleeping Beauty and Other Stories

This beautifully illustrated collection of fairy tales was given to me when I was 9 or 10 and I loved it. I haven't read it since, but recently found it again and here we are.

The book includes 10 stories, most of which are apparently by a Frenchman called Charles Perrault, who lived in the 17th century. His stories were published in the 1680s and 90s and have been translated, adapted and retold frequently since then.

The stories are retold here by Susie Saunders and the edition is illustrated by Monique Gorde.

I had one big shock when re-reading this collection - it concerned the ending to Sleeping Beauty. I remember the ending as the prince kissing the sleeping princess and her waking up. Have I been wrong all these years? I was very disturbed to read on and find that the prince's mother came from a family of ogres and that she'd go on to try and eat the princess and her children! Did anyone else know about this??

Aside from this, I greatly enjoyed getting a bedtime story again. :-)

Challenges: Centuries Challenge, Childhood Favorites, Once upon a Time III

Story of a Girl and The Stork Club

After a week of very difficult personal life stuff, here I am, back again, and with only two reviews! I am working on a couple other books - including The Book of Lost Things, which I'm finding quite slow... am I abnormal?

Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr is one of those young adult books that today's teenagers should be thankful are out there. I'm sure they're not, but they should be. I don't recall ever being able to read about such serious issues when I was an early teen. The book's heroine and narrator is Deanna, who makes some bad choices a few years ago (when she's thirteen) and is branded the school slut. No matter what she does, she can't get away from her reputation. Even her Dad can no longer look her in the eye. Deanna tries to cope but it's too hard for her when she feels that no one wants/loves her, that she doesn't belong to anyone - which are the same emotions that landed her in this mess in the first place.

Story of a Girl is very, very realistic. I could identify with a lot of Deanna's thoughts and feelings, I actually remember feeling that lost when I was her age. I hope that this book is of comfort to today's young women as they struggle with belonging, love and sexuality.

Challenges: 999 Challenge, A-Z Challenge, Countdown Challenge, New Authors, YA Challenge, Dewey's Books

And the other book I read this week - The Stork Club by Imogen Edwards-Jones. Another memoir of a woman with fertility problems trying to have a baby. It was honest and sometimes brutal, but I still preferred Waiting for Daisy by Peggy Orrenstein. It's worth reading if this is an area that interests you though!

Challenges: 999 Challenge, A-Z Challenge, Countdown Challenge, Every Month is a Holiday, In Their Shoes, Non-Fiction Five

Two more reviews for April

I can't believe that April is over! I don't where this year is going, time feels like it's going really fast...

I've been busy for the past few days, so no blogging, but I'm back with two reviews of great books I want to tell you about.

First - Waiting for Daisy by Peggy Orenstein. The subtitle is 'The True Story of One Couple's Quest to Have a Baby', but I think that it would interest those of you not really into fertility/motherhood issues. Anyone who likes reading memoirs would enjoy reading about Peggy's story. The author asks a lot of questions about the choices women make and whether you can say that they are right or wrong. She also asks a lot of questions about how much women are willing to sacrifice in order to have a biological child - I found a section on whether it was pregnancy or motherhood that was the goal especially thought-provoking.

It's not all about babies either - Peggy tries to go on with her life in the meantime, which, among other things includes some fascinating glimpses of 'parasite singles' in Tokyo and survivors of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima.

Aside from the ideas and questions, which I thought were fascinating and incredibly pertinent to today's world, I absolutely loved the author's writing and voice. So honest and thoughtful and real. I truly identified. Especially with sentences like: "I had just turned thirty-five. I was beginning to realize what it meant to be a grown-up." :-)

Seriously, I can't recommend this book enough - it's certainly not just fluff.

Since April is the month of the pre-Easter pagan holiday Ostara, which is all about fertility, this book is my April book for the Every Month is a Holiday challenge.

Challenges: 999 Challenge, A-Z Challenge, Countdown Challenge, Every Month is a Holiday, In their Shoes, New Authors, Themed Reading Challenge,

And speaking of fluff, the other book I finished yesterday is Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic and Baby. After finding Shopaholic and Sister only ok, I'm happy to report that I absolutely loved this. Becky is a great character - I know she bugs some people but I don't care because I'm very much like her. :-) If you're looking for some light reading that's a notch above most of the chick-lit that's on the market, give this series a try.

Challenges: Chick Lit 2, Countdown Challenge

Suite Francaise

Suite Francaise is an account of France during the Second World War, written by Irene Nemirovsky. It is truly incredible that we even have the opportunity to read this book. Irene Nemirovsky was of Jewish descent and was deported to Auschwitz in 1942. She died there a couple of months after her arrival. Her husband spent several months trying to locate her and get her back, not understanding what deportation meant in the Nazi-occupied world. He drew too much attention to himself and was also deported to and died in Auschwitz, not long after his wife. Their two daughters were hidden by friends of the family for the remainder of the war - they were often moved from place to place and it is very fortunate for use that they took their mother's manuscripts with them every time, as something to remember their mother by.

We should be thankful, as Suite Francaise is a beautiful book. Nemirovsky completed two parts of the book, the rest only exists as notes and outlines. The first part is about Parisians fleeing the city before the Nazi invasion. The second is about a small French village under German occupation.

In both, the characters are vivid and real. They are central, as the book is definitely about the human side of war. About the rich trying to save their porcelain rather than helping other people, about trying to survive any way you can, about normal human feelings of loss and anger and love.

In the second part especially, this human aspect shines through as the French people in a small village try to live side-by-side with the Germans who are occupying the area. The German soldiers live in their houses and are part of their everyday life. They are not mean or horrible, they are just soldiers following orders. Some of them are liekable. Some of them are possible to fall in love with. I thought these issues were very interestingly portrayed, very thought-provoking.

This wasn't a page-turner and I found some sections difficult to get through. But it's a book worth reading because it shows part of history and it does so in a beautiful and human way.

Challenges: 1% Well-Read Challenge, 999 Challenge, A-Z Challenge, Banned Book Challenge, Countdown Challenge, Jewish Literature, Orbis Terrarum, War through the Generations

Slaughterhouse 5

I've always wondered what the title of Kurt Vonnegut's anti-war novella referred to, now I know that it's the address of where American prisoners-of-war were kept in Dresden towards the end of WWII. The book is in fact about Vonnegut's experience of the bombing of Dresden, although it doesn't really come up that often.

Slaughterhouse 5 reminded me of Catch-22 by Joseph Heller to which it's been compared many times. When I read Catch-22 last year, I thought it could have been shorter. Vonnegut got the length right, I think. Anyway, the main similarity is of course the topic of the absurdity of war - the story is about Billy, who (yes) is present at the bombing of Dresden, but who also time-travels, gets kidnapped by aliens and displayed in a zoo and is an optometrist by trade. The whole thing is absurd, but with very engaging language making it exceptionally witty.

There are a few things in particular that stayed with me. This passage:

She upset Billy simply by being his mother. She made him feel embarassed and ungrateful and weak because she had gone to so much trouble to give him life, and to keep that life going, and Billy didn't really like life at all.

Also, I enjoyed the way that the aliens that kidnapped Billy looked at life and death. Basically, when you died it was only in that moment and since time was not consecutive but happened all at the same time, there were still millions of moments in which you were alive. I liked all the talk of a fourth dimension too - that's where the vampires live, for example. :-)

And - a saying that went around by email thousand of times that I really like seems to have originated in this book. Although it could be taken from somewhere too, I guess:

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom always to tell the difference.

This is very pertinent to my current life situation so really struck a chord.

Definitely a book that deserves to be read. I wonder what else of Vonnegut's is interesting!

Challenges: A-Z Challenge, Numbers Challenge, 1% Well-read Challenge, 999 Challenge, Support your Local Library, War through the Generations

I'm back... and a couple quick reviews

I'm back! With internet access and everything! My life stuff is going smoothly so far, let's hope it continues like this. Thanks for your comments, they were so sweet and much appreciated!

As I said, I wasn't doing that much reading in March, but I did want to finish two last books and I managed so I'm happy.

For the Every Month is a Holiday challenge, I read Seek the Fair Land by Walter Macken. It's a book about Ireland in the 1600s and I thought it would be appropraite since St. Patrick's Day was in March. The book is the first in a trilogy that is standard reading for Irish pre-teens, from what I've been told. It does indeed read like a 'classic' school-assigned kind of book. It deals with the English occupation of Ireland and how people coped with the horrors of it. Very depressing. I enjoyed the historical aspect of it, but I didn't care for the characters much. I thought they were slightly two-dimensional... I definitely preferred Joseph O'Connor's Star of the Sea and would recommend it over this one in a second.

Challenges: Every Month is a Holiday, 999 Challenge, 1st in a series, Orbis Terrarum

The other book I wanted to finish in March was The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, which I was reading for the Celebrate the Author challenge, since the author's birthday was on March 8. It was a cute book about a group of animals who become friends and help each other through tough times. I liked all the characters and really liked how 'human' they were. The writing was very English - dry and witty. I enjoyed it, but I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more if I'd known it in childhood?

Challenges: 999 Challenge, A-Z Challenge, Celebrate the Author, Decades 2009

Sorry for the very short reviews (if you can even call them that) but this is what happens when you play catch-up and I want to finish March, finally!!

SeinLanguage

I needed a happy book, so my friend Elaine brought me SeinLanguage by Jerry Seinfeld. It's a short book, but it sure made me laugh! I really needed that while I was waiting in our cold apartment for someone to come and fix the heating!

I love Jerry Seinfeld - I've recently started renting Seinfeld on DVD and it's still SO funny. His books reads very easily - you can picture him actually saying everything live, my brain was doing accents on certain words and everything.

Here are a few passages that cracked me up:

Or, you ever move a TV set in the back of your car? Then you've got to leave the car in the street for a couple of minutes, you put a sweater over the TV. "It's a couple of sweaters, that's all. One of them happens to be square with an antenna coming out of it."

This one is also great:

According to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that seem right? That means to the average person, if you have to go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy."

And this one totally cracked me up, probably because I'm preparing to move and this is exactly how I feel!

When you're moving, your whole world is boxes. That's all you think about. "Boxes, where are the boxes?" You just wander down the street going in and out of stores, "Are there any boxes here? Have you seen any boxes?" It's all you think about. You can't even talk to people, you can't concentrate. "Will you shut up? I'm looking for boxes!"

If you don't know Jerry Seinfeld, you should really check him out, he's one of my favorite comedians.

Challenges: 999 Challenge, A-Z Challenge

My holiday reading

I'm back! Boston was amazing, I loved it! I bought loads of books of course, a post just on that is coming up. For now I just wanted to get a couple of reviews in. I didn't get to do a lot of reading, which is good because it means I was actually doing Boston-stuff. I thought I'd read a lot on the plane, but with the personalised entertainment that they have now being pretty cool, I watched movies instead. :-)

I read two girly books during my trip - Shopaholic and Sister by Sophie Kinsella and The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot. I'm also about a quarter into On Beauty by Zadie Smith. I'm not sure I like it yet... so far I seem to be avoiding it, which is why it didn't get read on holiday.

Shopaholic and Sister by Sophie Kinsella was fun. Becky is now married to Luke and trying to get used to post-honeymoon married life. Which is nothing like what she thought it would be. When she finds out she has a long-lost sister, she's determined to become best friends with her. Only it turns out that her sister is nothing like her and getting along is very difficult.

I really like the Shopaholic series. It's fun but not brainless. I love Becky - perhaps because I'm kind of like her. But with less money. :-) She makes me cringe sometimes, also because I'm kind of like her. Especially her logic resembles mine, it's funny. Some of her thought processes are exactly like mine, which is pretty scary since she's a character created to make people laugh. :-)

Challenges: A-Z, Chick Lit 2, What's in a Name 2

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot was also really fun. I've been wanting to read it since I saw the movie, which I really liked. Plus I bought parts 2 and 3 in by mistake when I was in Dublin in November, so when I saw the first part in a great bookstore in Salem, I had to take it! I think most of you know the story so I won't repeat it. If you like girly YA fiction then this one's for you! It was perfect for airports, because it didn't reaquire much thinking or concentration...

Challenges: A-Z, Young Adult Challenge, 999 Challenge, 1st in a series, 2nds Challenge




And here's a photo of the boookstore in Salem I mentioned. Heaven.

The Story Girl

I've been putting off reading L.M. Montgomery's The Story Girl because I didn't want to cheat on Anne. :-) Seriously though, I just didn't think that anything could be better than the Anne books, so it didn't seem worth reading. But since I did already own it and since I was looking for a simple and innocent book to read for a change, I picked it up and I'm glad I did, of course.

The Story Girl is a charming book. That really is the best word to describe it. Like the Anne books, it takes place on Prince Edward Island - which by the way is my dream holiday destination. Except that going there would scare me too because I would expect it to look like it does in the Anne books and I'm sure it won't!

Anyway, it is the story of a group of children who spend a few months together - playing, arguing, discovering the world and each other and basically growing up. What makes the book charming is the innocence of childhood that is conveyed through the language. I don't know how Montgomery manages it but she does.

My edition had an afterword that explained that Montgomery liked The Story Girl most out of all her books. Apparently there are many autobiographical elements in it. It made me want to read her journals, which I hear are published. Have you read them?

Challenges: 888 Challenge, Classics Challenge, Decades Challenge, Initials Reading Challenge

Read-A-Thon - Hour 22

Title of book(s) read since last update: finished Speak by Laurie Halse Andersen
Number of books finished since you started: 3 (one of which I started before the read-a-thon)
Pages read since last update: 73
Running total of pages read since you started: 556
Amount of time spent reading since last update: 55 minutes
Running total of time spent reading since you started: (keep track of this one to be eligible for a prize!) 7 hours 25 minutes
Mini-challenges completed: Intro Meme, Sarah's Foreign Language Mini-challenge, Grains of rice
Other participants you’ve visited: Nymeth, Alessandra, Lezlie, Sarah, Joanne, Valentina, J.C. Montgomery, Tammy, Iliana
Prize you’ve won: 0

Speak was amazing. A YA book about issues that teenagers (and many adults too) are too afraid and embarassed to talk about. Like rape. It also highlights ways of dealing with traumatic incidents. And shows how our family and friends can influence which way we choose. My edition had a short interview with the author included, where I found out that there is another book called Catalyst that is set in the same high school and deals with pressure to get good grades and get into good colleges. I can't wait to read it.

The Stolen Child

A quick few words about Keith Donahue's The Stolen Child, which I finished this week. It's a very orginal concept - 7-year-old Henry Day is kidnapped by hobgoblins and a changeling is put in his place. So in effect the two switch lives forever. The book is about both of their stories and their quests for identity. It's a pretty good book - there was something about it that I didn't really like but I couldn't put my finger on it. I think it's something to do with the writing style. Still good though, worth picking up if you're into this sort of thing.

Challenges: Mythopoeic Challenge

The Secret Garden

Frances Hodgson Burnett's 1909 classic is a magical and charming children's book. There isn't really much to say apart from that... The story is primarily about Mary, a sour-faced orphan girl who hates everyone and everything, and Colin, a sickly boy who thinks he's going to die. They are saved by their childhood innocence and belief in the power of positive thinking. It was a pleasure to read, if you haven't done so already, I'd definitely recommend it.

Challenges: 888 Challenge, Book to Movie Challenge, Lit Flicks Challenge, Classics Challenge, Decades Challenge

Stardust

I LOVE this book. And Neil Gaiman. He's a genius. I don't like all fantasy books, but his writing is superb and his storylines a great - read American Gods, if you don't believe me.

Young Tristran Thorne promises to bring a fallen star to the woman he loves. Thing is, the fallen star landed in Fairie, on the other side of the wall. So Tristran goes on an adventure and finds that the star is not a piece of rock but a person. Together they travel through Fairie - through a strange and dangerous world - and come out of the journey different people.

It's a fairytale for adults - Not for kids as there are some scary things that happen and because of "one rude word in incredibly small type"- these are Neil Gaiman's own words, there is an interview with him at the end of the book. :-)

I give it 5 stars and can't wait to read something of his again.