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First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen
4.0
This is the second book in the Waverley Family series by Sarah Addison Allen. I suggest you read Garden Spells before starting this book since many events from Garden Spells are referenced in this book.
Look at the cover. I seriously fell in love with that that before I cracked a page open on the book. I told myself to wait to start and finish this book but I needed a nice happy book after Dark Places and Cold Cold Heart. Little did I know there was going to be some dark subject matter in this book as well.
So I loved Garden Spells. I thought it was wonderfully written and it made me want to go out and investigate a tons of plants and flowers to see how I could include them in my cooking. This sequel I found though was pretty jumbled. There seemed to be a lot of things going on which were not really tied together like they were in Garden Spells.
We still touch about Claire and Sydney, but not enough for me.
Claire still has the ability to grow and cook things using the flowers in her garden. She has now changed careers from a caterer to making homemade candies though she feels lost now since she is no longer able to use the plants and flowers from her garden most.
Sydney is devastated that she can't get pregnant and wants to give Henry a child. Sydney is still able to style a woman or man's hair that seems to bring out something from inside them.
Bay is Sydney's 15 year old daughter who always know where things should go and is proud to embrace her Waverley heritage unlike her mother.
Things that I liked in this book.
One, the character of Bay. Two, the fact that we get to see how close Sydney and Claire have gotten in 10 years. And three, the introduction to other strange people in the town of Bascom.
I think if the book had just been focused on Bay that would have worked better. Bay and her entire plot really did work for me. Ms. Allen is able to write Bay very well and I wish she had more teenagers featured in her books. I really loved The Girl Who Chased the Moon and thought that she wrote the characters of Emily and Win. There were some shades of "Twilight" in there with those two characters, but thank goodness the other characters and plots in that book saved it from falling too deeply into that writing and storyline.
Instead we get a very weird side plot with a mysterious man that comes to town focused on Claire. That plot didn't work and it made the whole book feel off to me. I actually found myself getting annoyed by this guy and wish that he had not taken up so much room in this book. I really wish that Ms. Allen had left him mysterious instead of getting into his past. That's the part of the book that is pretty dark. It is never outright said but you find out this man was abused as a small boy.
Sydney's plot and ultimate resolution was so obvious it was almost painful.
We also don't get enough of the men in the Waverly women's lives at all. There are little asides to Henry and Tyler, but compared to the last book I wish we had got to see more into these characters' heads this time.
Look at the cover. I seriously fell in love with that that before I cracked a page open on the book. I told myself to wait to start and finish this book but I needed a nice happy book after Dark Places and Cold Cold Heart. Little did I know there was going to be some dark subject matter in this book as well.
So I loved Garden Spells. I thought it was wonderfully written and it made me want to go out and investigate a tons of plants and flowers to see how I could include them in my cooking. This sequel I found though was pretty jumbled. There seemed to be a lot of things going on which were not really tied together like they were in Garden Spells.
We still touch about Claire and Sydney, but not enough for me.
Claire still has the ability to grow and cook things using the flowers in her garden. She has now changed careers from a caterer to making homemade candies though she feels lost now since she is no longer able to use the plants and flowers from her garden most.
Sydney is devastated that she can't get pregnant and wants to give Henry a child. Sydney is still able to style a woman or man's hair that seems to bring out something from inside them.
Bay is Sydney's 15 year old daughter who always know where things should go and is proud to embrace her Waverley heritage unlike her mother.
Things that I liked in this book.
One, the character of Bay. Two, the fact that we get to see how close Sydney and Claire have gotten in 10 years. And three, the introduction to other strange people in the town of Bascom.
I think if the book had just been focused on Bay that would have worked better. Bay and her entire plot really did work for me. Ms. Allen is able to write Bay very well and I wish she had more teenagers featured in her books. I really loved The Girl Who Chased the Moon and thought that she wrote the characters of Emily and Win. There were some shades of "Twilight" in there with those two characters, but thank goodness the other characters and plots in that book saved it from falling too deeply into that writing and storyline.
Instead we get a very weird side plot with a mysterious man that comes to town focused on Claire. That plot didn't work and it made the whole book feel off to me. I actually found myself getting annoyed by this guy and wish that he had not taken up so much room in this book. I really wish that Ms. Allen had left him mysterious instead of getting into his past. That's the part of the book that is pretty dark. It is never outright said but you find out this man was abused as a small boy.
Sydney's plot and ultimate resolution was so obvious it was almost painful.
We also don't get enough of the men in the Waverly women's lives at all. There are little asides to Henry and Tyler, but compared to the last book I wish we had got to see more into these characters' heads this time.
Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie
4.0
I wish that I had liked this one more than I did (I gave it 3.5 stars but Goodreads only gives full stars so I rounded up to a 4). I think the main problem was that the story was told from Amy Leatheran's point of view.
Amy Leatheran speaks in an older voice during the course of this story though she was apparently a young nurse when this story takes place. The foreword was written by Doctor Giles Reilly (another character in the story) who mentions that it was four years ago when these events take place so she had to be in her early 30s or mid to late 30s by the time the story is told. However, she spoke as a woman in her late 50s in my opinion. She just seemed quite old in her mannerisms and thinking and how she spoke. Perhaps Ms. Christie should have aged the character. She can write younger female characters and has done so quite well before. Perhaps Ms. Leatheran was a stand in for a Miss Marple type character.
The flow of the novel through 1/4 of the story was quite slow. I found myself having trouble keeping everyone separate and trying to figure out how everyone was connected.
I was actually relieved when the actual murder took place since that meant that Poirot was soon to be on the scene.
I do always enjoy reading other character's points of view of Poirot. Ms. Leatheran talks about how short, old, and foreign Poirot is in her eyes. She even dislikes him through a good portion of the book until she realizes how smart he really is. We eventually have Ms. Leatheran stepping in for the missing Hastings and helping Poirot with his investigation of who killed Ms. Leidner. Once Poirot is on the scene the book flows much easier.
I can say that for once I guessed at who the murderer was correctly. I just didn't understand how they possibly could have done it. Once the solution was laid out it seems perfectly understandable and I felt foolish for not putting it together.
Also though I guessed the murderer it still made no sense to me how a woman like Mrs. Leidner could be totally in the dark about the identity of her killer. I just had so many questions there. I don't want to spoil for those who haven't read, but my first thought was one of incredulity when I realized who the murderer is and who they could possibly be.
I then promptly watched David Suchet in Hercule Poirot's "Murder in Mesopotamia". This one had Hastings assisting Hercule and we once again get to the same murderer. However, the set up is different with Hercule in place before Mrs. Leidner is murdered.
I do want to say a good thing for me that I did watch "Murder in Mesopotamia" this weekend. Netflix then recommended to me "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries" and I promptly watched all of series 1 and 2. I am now in love with Essie Davis. I will have to pick up these books sometime in the future since they sound right up my alley. When I am done with Poirot it will be nice to read another novel with another female protagonist since I am now done with Miss Marple.
Amy Leatheran speaks in an older voice during the course of this story though she was apparently a young nurse when this story takes place. The foreword was written by Doctor Giles Reilly (another character in the story) who mentions that it was four years ago when these events take place so she had to be in her early 30s or mid to late 30s by the time the story is told. However, she spoke as a woman in her late 50s in my opinion. She just seemed quite old in her mannerisms and thinking and how she spoke. Perhaps Ms. Christie should have aged the character. She can write younger female characters and has done so quite well before. Perhaps Ms. Leatheran was a stand in for a Miss Marple type character.
The flow of the novel through 1/4 of the story was quite slow. I found myself having trouble keeping everyone separate and trying to figure out how everyone was connected.
I was actually relieved when the actual murder took place since that meant that Poirot was soon to be on the scene.
I do always enjoy reading other character's points of view of Poirot. Ms. Leatheran talks about how short, old, and foreign Poirot is in her eyes. She even dislikes him through a good portion of the book until she realizes how smart he really is. We eventually have Ms. Leatheran stepping in for the missing Hastings and helping Poirot with his investigation of who killed Ms. Leidner. Once Poirot is on the scene the book flows much easier.
I can say that for once I guessed at who the murderer was correctly. I just didn't understand how they possibly could have done it. Once the solution was laid out it seems perfectly understandable and I felt foolish for not putting it together.
Also though I guessed the murderer it still made no sense to me how a woman like Mrs. Leidner could be totally in the dark about the identity of her killer. I just had so many questions there. I don't want to spoil for those who haven't read, but my first thought was one of incredulity when I realized who the murderer is and who they could possibly be.
I then promptly watched David Suchet in Hercule Poirot's "Murder in Mesopotamia". This one had Hastings assisting Hercule and we once again get to the same murderer. However, the set up is different with Hercule in place before Mrs. Leidner is murdered.
I do want to say a good thing for me that I did watch "Murder in Mesopotamia" this weekend. Netflix then recommended to me "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries" and I promptly watched all of series 1 and 2. I am now in love with Essie Davis. I will have to pick up these books sometime in the future since they sound right up my alley. When I am done with Poirot it will be nice to read another novel with another female protagonist since I am now done with Miss Marple.
The Neighbor by Dean Koontz
5.0
It's been a while since I actually read and reviewed a Dean Koontz book that was not part of his Odd Thomas series. I used to love to read Dean Koontz when I was younger and devoured Strangers, Watchers, The Servants of Twilight, Ticktock (which was more adventure/funny than scary and I loved it), and a collection of short stories that I mentioned yesterday, Strange Highways.
Then I don't know what happened. I started to find myself not loving all of his more recent fare and then just outright not liking them. I finally stopped buying his books because I felt like I was reading the same plot over and over again with new character names. I was tired of reading about this super women that seemed to have no flaws and only existed to further along the hero's plot.
I decided to take a gamble on this short story since hey it was .99 cents and clocked in at 33 pages. I have to say. I am very glad that I did.
This short story really reminded me of old school Dean Koontz. What I mean by that is that you have the story building to a climax and there are no international organizations out to destroy the world, there are no aliens, and most importantly there are no dogs.
There is just a story of 12 year old Malcolm who loves his sister Amalia the most in this world since they were dealt a crappy hand and have two parents who treat them like slaves.
So what would be the worse thing to have happen to this boy? What do you think?
This short story explores that and more. We actually have an interesting tale of a neighbor who was just a man who also was more than he appeared. And this story reminded me again that sometimes people who are truly evil can live next door.
I highly recommend!
Then I don't know what happened. I started to find myself not loving all of his more recent fare and then just outright not liking them. I finally stopped buying his books because I felt like I was reading the same plot over and over again with new character names. I was tired of reading about this super women that seemed to have no flaws and only existed to further along the hero's plot.
I decided to take a gamble on this short story since hey it was .99 cents and clocked in at 33 pages. I have to say. I am very glad that I did.
This short story really reminded me of old school Dean Koontz. What I mean by that is that you have the story building to a climax and there are no international organizations out to destroy the world, there are no aliens, and most importantly there are no dogs.
There is just a story of 12 year old Malcolm who loves his sister Amalia the most in this world since they were dealt a crappy hand and have two parents who treat them like slaves.
So what would be the worse thing to have happen to this boy? What do you think?
This short story explores that and more. We actually have an interesting tale of a neighbor who was just a man who also was more than he appeared. And this story reminded me again that sometimes people who are truly evil can live next door.
I highly recommend!
Sylvester by Georgette Heyer
5.0
This is my January read from the Dead Writer's Society.
I have never read Georgette Heyer before but I am going to have to add this author to my must read list for 2016 I think. I don't have much free book time these days it feels like.
This book was snappy, funny, and the hero and heroine were wonderfully perfect for one another. I was surprised to see how much I liked Sylvester and adored the character of Phoebe.
I was worried at first I wouldn't be very interested in it since the first chapter I found to be a bit slow. However, after the first chapter I found the book flow much easier. At first Sylvester seems distant and cold. I thought Ms. Heyer doing a very nice job showing the layers of Sylvester. And I did feel badly for him once you realize besides his anger at Phoebe of being rejected from a proposal he wasn't going to give, his feelings are also hurt. In his mind, what girl doesn't want to marry a duke.
But the discovery of Phoebe had decided he was not at all the sort of man she wished to marry had made Sylvester furious. While he believed her to be eloping with her true love he bore her no ill-will; but the case was now altered, and the more the thought of it the more did the wound to his self-esteem smart.
I initially felt that Phoebe was foolish and way too stubborn. However, once again Ms. Heyer was able to show the layers to this character. You feel for Phoebe being brought up by a woman she despises and who dislikes her just as much.
This book reminded me a bit of Catherine Coulter's Midsummer Magic with the two leads disliking each other at first sight. And in that case the heroine was also a great horsewoman who cared more for them than men.
Some people may be a bit put off by the writing. This reminded me of a lot of regency romance reads that my mother used to have hidden on her side of the bed. I actually prefer this writing and dialogue compared to many romances taking place in regency days and having the hero and heroine use modern slang. It drives me up the wall when they do.
The other characters in this book are quite well rounded and totally made me crack up at their pushing and pulling to get these two people together.
I was very happy to have read this book and definitely will check out more from this author in the future.
I have never read Georgette Heyer before but I am going to have to add this author to my must read list for 2016 I think. I don't have much free book time these days it feels like.
This book was snappy, funny, and the hero and heroine were wonderfully perfect for one another. I was surprised to see how much I liked Sylvester and adored the character of Phoebe.
I was worried at first I wouldn't be very interested in it since the first chapter I found to be a bit slow. However, after the first chapter I found the book flow much easier. At first Sylvester seems distant and cold. I thought Ms. Heyer doing a very nice job showing the layers of Sylvester. And I did feel badly for him once you realize besides his anger at Phoebe of being rejected from a proposal he wasn't going to give, his feelings are also hurt. In his mind, what girl doesn't want to marry a duke.
But the discovery of Phoebe had decided he was not at all the sort of man she wished to marry had made Sylvester furious. While he believed her to be eloping with her true love he bore her no ill-will; but the case was now altered, and the more the thought of it the more did the wound to his self-esteem smart.
I initially felt that Phoebe was foolish and way too stubborn. However, once again Ms. Heyer was able to show the layers to this character. You feel for Phoebe being brought up by a woman she despises and who dislikes her just as much.
This book reminded me a bit of Catherine Coulter's Midsummer Magic with the two leads disliking each other at first sight. And in that case the heroine was also a great horsewoman who cared more for them than men.
Some people may be a bit put off by the writing. This reminded me of a lot of regency romance reads that my mother used to have hidden on her side of the bed. I actually prefer this writing and dialogue compared to many romances taking place in regency days and having the hero and heroine use modern slang. It drives me up the wall when they do.
The other characters in this book are quite well rounded and totally made me crack up at their pushing and pulling to get these two people together.
I was very happy to have read this book and definitely will check out more from this author in the future.
Last Call by Alice Clayton
5.0
This is the final book in The Cocktail series by Alice Clayton. Though the other books in the series are full length novels this one is a novella clocking in at 177 pages. I was able to finish this in one day so if you are thinking of buying it know that it is going to be a really fast read. I can honestly say I was surprised that Ms. Clayton chose to end the series with a novella. I really did enjoy this book and wish that we had gotten a novel length ending to the story of Caroline and Simon. Maybe we will see them pop up in future books, which will be nice.
So all of my former comments/complaints about the previous books in this series have evaporated in this last book.
We have a mature and happy Caroline and Simon together. Caroline is dealing with the fact that many of her friends are married, engaged, and/or having a baby. She finds that though she is happy to be with Simon and living together, a part of her is hesitant to get married. And I really love the discussion between the character of Caroline with several other characters about that fact. She is happy in her career and her life. She wants to be with Simon always. Marriage still gives her pause (which is a perfectly natural state to be in) and so does having children.
We also have Ms. Clayton incorporating San Francisco into this book more than she has done in prior books. I really did feel as if this book was taking place there, and not Anywhere, USA.
There were also really hilarious and funny moments and dialogue which I chuckled out loud to a few times. Unlike with before when I thought Ms. Clayton relied too heavily on the text messages between characters, she employs that again here, but in this case, it worked, and made the scene even funnier.
The sex scenes unlike in previous novels did not feel like too much. Though I have to say that a man with Simon's staying power cannot be believed. It seems like they have sex pretty much everyday. I love that Simon and Caroline are really hot for each other though I think it's unrealistic to have sex everyday at least two to three times per day. Do these people ever do anything else?
Also the secondary characters like Sophia and Neil and others did not overwhelm the main story. We got looks at previous characters from the other books, Vi and Clark and Chloe and Lucas which was nice.
The writing flowed very naturally and the plot worked together very well. I even had a tear in my eye at a critical point in the story after reading this:
Hey and babe were now officially the most beautiful words in the English language.
I do think that the way this ended could lead to another book in the series or at least a novella which I think would be welcomed by many readers.
In sum, Last Call went out with a bang!
So all of my former comments/complaints about the previous books in this series have evaporated in this last book.
We have a mature and happy Caroline and Simon together. Caroline is dealing with the fact that many of her friends are married, engaged, and/or having a baby. She finds that though she is happy to be with Simon and living together, a part of her is hesitant to get married. And I really love the discussion between the character of Caroline with several other characters about that fact. She is happy in her career and her life. She wants to be with Simon always. Marriage still gives her pause (which is a perfectly natural state to be in) and so does having children.
We also have Ms. Clayton incorporating San Francisco into this book more than she has done in prior books. I really did feel as if this book was taking place there, and not Anywhere, USA.
There were also really hilarious and funny moments and dialogue which I chuckled out loud to a few times. Unlike with before when I thought Ms. Clayton relied too heavily on the text messages between characters, she employs that again here, but in this case, it worked, and made the scene even funnier.
The sex scenes unlike in previous novels did not feel like too much. Though I have to say that a man with Simon's staying power cannot be believed. It seems like they have sex pretty much everyday. I love that Simon and Caroline are really hot for each other though I think it's unrealistic to have sex everyday at least two to three times per day. Do these people ever do anything else?
Also the secondary characters like Sophia and Neil and others did not overwhelm the main story. We got looks at previous characters from the other books, Vi and Clark and Chloe and Lucas which was nice.
The writing flowed very naturally and the plot worked together very well. I even had a tear in my eye at a critical point in the story after reading this:
Hey and babe were now officially the most beautiful words in the English language.
I do think that the way this ended could lead to another book in the series or at least a novella which I think would be welcomed by many readers.
In sum, Last Call went out with a bang!
Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie
5.0
This book did start off really slow. The first few pages were setting the scene so to speak and it was good to set up all of the characters.
However, this story was told from Hercule Poirot's friend Mr. Satterthwaite third person point of view. I realize that I really don't care for most of the Poirot stories unless they are told from Captain Hasting's points of view. Probably because Hastings is an excellent stand in for the reader and his mind goes to where most readers go to when trying to solve the murders. Satterthwaite is no Hastings.
We have three murders for Poirot and when you see how the things tied together you go to yourself, aha. Of course this makes sense. Honestly I am curious about how Agatha Christie wrote. Did she write the endings to her books and work her way back? I always think that things make such sense when you get to the end but I am always wrong about who the murderer is and she does such a great job of showing you plenty of other potential suspects.
I thought this book though I rated it five stars was a bit stiff in certain places. The writing didn't flow as naturally as it did for Lord Edgware Dies. I thought they had a more interesting cast of characters in that one too.
Of course in the final denouement we have Poirot revealing all to the assembled and I thought it was very clever how the murder set everything into motion. I will admit I didn't even try to figure out who the murderer was in this one and just sat back and enjoyed it.
However, this story was told from Hercule Poirot's friend Mr. Satterthwaite third person point of view. I realize that I really don't care for most of the Poirot stories unless they are told from Captain Hasting's points of view. Probably because Hastings is an excellent stand in for the reader and his mind goes to where most readers go to when trying to solve the murders. Satterthwaite is no Hastings.
We have three murders for Poirot and when you see how the things tied together you go to yourself, aha. Of course this makes sense. Honestly I am curious about how Agatha Christie wrote. Did she write the endings to her books and work her way back? I always think that things make such sense when you get to the end but I am always wrong about who the murderer is and she does such a great job of showing you plenty of other potential suspects.
I thought this book though I rated it five stars was a bit stiff in certain places. The writing didn't flow as naturally as it did for Lord Edgware Dies. I thought they had a more interesting cast of characters in that one too.
Of course in the final denouement we have Poirot revealing all to the assembled and I thought it was very clever how the murder set everything into motion. I will admit I didn't even try to figure out who the murderer was in this one and just sat back and enjoyed it.
Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie
5.0
Lord Edgware started off a bit bumpy for me due to some of the racial slurs and stereotypes that were being thrown around by some of the characters. I really did have a hard time going on with the book after the "n" word was said. I literally closed it and said the hell with this. What disturbs me is that this isn't the first time I started to see the casual racism in Agatha Christie's works. The Big Four and it's racism towards Asians. There was also the calling out of young women who claimed rape to get money or married and how women falling in love with one another was not what they really wanted, they really do just want to get married to a man and live happily ever after in Nemesis. I do still love Agatha Christie's works but am starting to realize that if she and I ever met we probably wouldn't get on so to speak.
The story is once again told from the perspective of Captain Hastings who is back in England from his home in Argentina. He remarks that the people involved are long gone and many did not realize that Poirot had a hand with the murderer being captured.
This was a really quick read for me and I loved how there were so many viable suspects for who could have killed Lord Edgware. What really got me was that I was so smug halfway through by thinking I knew who killed Lord Edgware. I literally had my mouth hanging open when at the final denouement Hercule Poirot explains who the real murderer is and why they did. In the end, we have Hastings as the narrator including a letter the murder sent to Hercule Poirot prior to them being hanged. I can say that all signs points to the murder being a total narcissist and sociopath. I honestly didn't see it and I can say that no matter how smart I think I am, Agatha Christie is always one upping me.
Still very glad that I read this and now onward to Three Act Tragedy.
The story is once again told from the perspective of Captain Hastings who is back in England from his home in Argentina. He remarks that the people involved are long gone and many did not realize that Poirot had a hand with the murderer being captured.
This was a really quick read for me and I loved how there were so many viable suspects for who could have killed Lord Edgware. What really got me was that I was so smug halfway through by thinking I knew who killed Lord Edgware. I literally had my mouth hanging open when at the final denouement Hercule Poirot explains who the real murderer is and why they did. In the end, we have Hastings as the narrator including a letter the murder sent to Hercule Poirot prior to them being hanged. I can say that all signs points to the murder being a total narcissist and sociopath. I honestly didn't see it and I can say that no matter how smart I think I am, Agatha Christie is always one upping me.
Still very glad that I read this and now onward to Three Act Tragedy.
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
5.0
So I previously read Tina Fey's memoir Bossypants and thought it was interesting to get her perspective on being a woman in comedy. There were parts of her memoir that I wished that she had shared more personal details with me as a reader. I think the goal of a good memoir is that it is about opening yourself up to the faceless reader and letting them know about events and people that shaped you. It helps if you have something to share or some experience that makes a reader feel a certain kinship with you. The worst memoirs I have read through the years are the ones were the author doesn't seem to learn a blessed thing and blames everything on outside parties. Or the book feels scattered because they are telling you point blank there are other details that would explain things but they are not going to explain them because they are private. I dislike memoirs like that because all I want to ask is "well why did you write this?"
Amy Poehler's Yes Please ultimately clicked for me in a way that Tina Fey's memoir never did. Amy Poehler draws you in and tells you about proud moments and not so proud moments of things she has done. I felt like I was unwinding with a good friend while drinking some wine and she was just shooting the shit (so to speak) with me.
The memoir does jump around a bit and it is not told in a straight orderly line, but I was able to follow everything and loved this book to bits.
Probably for the first time ever I would recommend people buy this book in hardcover. I borrowed this from my local library (which I was only allowed a 14 day borrowing period) and it was so sparkly, vibrant, and beautiful. I know another post I took pictures to show everyone but it was just lit up with color. Also one of the sections was pretty cool since she set aside space for the reader to write down the story of their birth as told to them by their parents. I honestly teared up a bit at that point because I know the story of my birth, but my parents are no longer around. She tells everyone to go and call their mom and dad and tell them that you love them and boy do I echo that one. Even if you are having a fight right now because your mother asked you why are you still alone or criticized something you said, wore, or did, just get over it. Parents mean well. And just think their mom and dad did the same thing to them.
This entire memoir was such a fast read. I actually had trouble putting it down since I was trying to finish up A Game of Thrones before the end of the year and I sneak peeked at this book.
I was so happy that the first book I read in 2015 was such a great one and that it really resonated with me.
Amy Poehler's Yes Please ultimately clicked for me in a way that Tina Fey's memoir never did. Amy Poehler draws you in and tells you about proud moments and not so proud moments of things she has done. I felt like I was unwinding with a good friend while drinking some wine and she was just shooting the shit (so to speak) with me.
The memoir does jump around a bit and it is not told in a straight orderly line, but I was able to follow everything and loved this book to bits.
Probably for the first time ever I would recommend people buy this book in hardcover. I borrowed this from my local library (which I was only allowed a 14 day borrowing period) and it was so sparkly, vibrant, and beautiful. I know another post I took pictures to show everyone but it was just lit up with color. Also one of the sections was pretty cool since she set aside space for the reader to write down the story of their birth as told to them by their parents. I honestly teared up a bit at that point because I know the story of my birth, but my parents are no longer around. She tells everyone to go and call their mom and dad and tell them that you love them and boy do I echo that one. Even if you are having a fight right now because your mother asked you why are you still alone or criticized something you said, wore, or did, just get over it. Parents mean well. And just think their mom and dad did the same thing to them.
This entire memoir was such a fast read. I actually had trouble putting it down since I was trying to finish up A Game of Thrones before the end of the year and I sneak peeked at this book.
I was so happy that the first book I read in 2015 was such a great one and that it really resonated with me.
Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans
5.0
This book has a collection of 8 short stories. These are the following: "Virgins," "Snakes," "Harvest," "Someone Ought to Tell Her There's Nowhere to Go," "The King of a Vast Empire," "Jellyfish," "Wherever You Go, There You Are," and "Robert E. Lee is Dead."
If I have to pick my favorite short story I think I am going to have to go with "Robert E. Lee is Dead." That's because the main protagonist of that story reminded me of my school days as the "smart one" in my high school. It was tricky for me, and just like the character of Crystal though I was seen as a sort of anomaly. I was smart (straight As for all subjects, except math which was usually around a B+ depending) but since I played volleyball and did track and field so was also considered a jock and so wasn't teased for being a nerd. Believe me I got called a nerd a lot since I liked to read and most of the time I had a book in my hands. I also started looking into Wicca culture and for a time thought I would run off and be a pagan living in the woods with nothing but books. My mother was not impressed with my plan.
"Virgins" deals with a young woman who is in that awkward stage of almost being an adult who realizes that there are degrees of being truly safe with a man. This story really made me sad. Reading about this young girl and her best friend Jasmine, who is so fired up to be grown up and fall in love reminded me of my best friends when I was growing up. I think we thought that when you fell in love or had sex for the first time with someone that automatically meant that you were grown up. Instead having sex brought it's own problems, especially when you realized that the person that you thought loved you and was going to be with you forever. (5/5 stars)
"Snakes" is about a young mixed race girl Tara who goes to stay with her maternal grandmother in Tallahassee. "Snakes" actually broke my heart a little bit. You have Tara dealing with the fact that her parents are away for the summer and she is being forced to stay with her grandmother who is trying to force her to be white. Tara's hair comes up constantly in this story and her grandmother treats Tara as if she's beneath her when she compares her to her cousin Allison (also staying for the summer) and uses the threat of snakes in a nearby body of water to get Tara to behave as she wants her to. Reading the story as Tara recollects that summer and having it go back to the present day where Tara is about to graduate from law school was really good.
I think I liked "Snakes" the second best out of the short stories because it reminded me a lot of some divides I dealt with while growing up. Though both of my parents were African American, both sides of my family had mixed races as well. We had Native American, Chinese, Caucasian, and even we found out later that some of the Caucasian branches of the family tree were Jewish. Though I am light skinned, there were still day to day harassment I had to deal with from school kids and even members of my own family for being too light. I used to lay out all summer to get darker so I would fit in better. In my brain, it was not good to be light skinned and I used to envy all of my family members who were darker since they fit. The number of times I got told I looked and talked too white are numerous, and I did my best by trying to blend in as well as could be expected. Is it any wonder that I started to lose myself in books? (5/5 stars)
"Harvest" is about a college student named Angel. This story for me didn't work as well as the other ones. There seemed to be two different story-lines going on. We have Angel talking about a suite mate named Laura who ends up making a ton of money by donating her eggs to wealthy couples who want to have a baby. Then we have Angel talking about her other suite mates as well and you find out a lot about them. I think that the main premise of this story was that Laura and Angel were not that different since Laura we find grew up poor. Her latest foray into expensive clothes was new to her. I also didn't like Angel that much since she seemed to take perverse pleasure out of being mean to people. (3.5/5 stars).
"Someone Ought to Tell Her There's Nowhere to Go" is about a young man named Georgie returning from his tour in Iraq. We find out that Georgie had a bad experience in Iraq that has stayed with him. He comes back to Alexandria, VA hoping that he can re-connect with his ex who has moved on. Georgie starts to tell white lies which unfortunately cause a bigger problem than he wanted. I felt badly for Georgie in this story. I know tons of my friends' who returned from deployment and expected things to go back to the way that they were before they left. All signs are shown to Georgie that his ex, Lanae has moved on. However, he refuses to believe it, and I think the act he does is to show that he is somehow better than the man that Lanae chooses to be with now. (5/5 stars).
"The King of a Vast Empire" is about a college student named Terrence and his dysfunctional family. I feel the same way about this story that I do "Harvest." I don't know what I was supposed to take away from it. I did find that Terrence and his sister Liddie were kind of horrible to their parents. Liddie's disdain comes from a car accident that the whole family was in when she was younger. Terrence just seems to be floating through life with no clear aim. There is another plot interwoven into this, but I don't want to give too much away. (3.5/5 stars).
"Jellyfish" is about a father and daughter who are both thinking the other one has a sad and lonely life. What I found sad is that the father, William, realizes that his daughter, Eva, is on the same life path he is and will end up alone with no one in the end if she doesn't change her ways. I thought the whole story was bittersweet and sad in the end because you realize that not much is going to change for either of them. (5/5 stars).
"Wherever You Go, There You Are" is about a woman who finds herself on a road trip with her younger cousin, visiting her ex-lover and his new fiancee. I really did feel sorry for the main character whose name I don't recall is ever said. She is dealing with a break-up and trying to figure out what she is going to do with her life. Without realizing it, I think she's on the same sort of trajectory her mother is on, though unlike her mother, she has an in-between man she always runs back to you when her other relationships end. The ending of the story really did leave me with the same feeling I got when I read, Frank Stockton's short story, The Lady or the Tiger when I was younger. The story has two potential endings I think. I won't spoil them for you. (5/5 stars)
"Robert E. Lee is Dead" is about a teenager named Crystal dealing with being smart and black in the south. Crystal, due to her being friends with one of the more popular girls at her school named Geena finds herself for the first time ever not looking in at what the cool kids so. Due to Geena, Crystal who becomes known as 'CeeCee' ends up straddling two worlds. Being in the honors/gifted classes as well as being popular. When an opportunity emerges for Crystal there is a temporary estrangement from Geena who Crystal starts to realize is on a different path in her life than she is. (5/5 stars)
I have to say that all of these short stories were so very well done. I think I have written before that those writers who can create a story with fully realized characters and manage to create a story around them is very much an art form. Not all writers that I have read are able to right short stories. I am always thrilled when I can find one that writes short stories that I enjoy to read. Ms. Evans actually reminds me a lot of Maeve Binchy. Only in Ms. Evans case, she is writing stories about African-Americans and mixed race protagonists. In Ms. Binchy's case she wrote short stories about the Irish in Ireland, or living in London or in the U.S. somewhere. I was so sad to get to the end of this collection and hope that Ms. Evans continues to write stories like these.
In the end though I rated two stories 3.5 stars, I gave the whole book 5 stars. I can see myself reading this for years to come.
If I have to pick my favorite short story I think I am going to have to go with "Robert E. Lee is Dead." That's because the main protagonist of that story reminded me of my school days as the "smart one" in my high school. It was tricky for me, and just like the character of Crystal though I was seen as a sort of anomaly. I was smart (straight As for all subjects, except math which was usually around a B+ depending) but since I played volleyball and did track and field so was also considered a jock and so wasn't teased for being a nerd. Believe me I got called a nerd a lot since I liked to read and most of the time I had a book in my hands. I also started looking into Wicca culture and for a time thought I would run off and be a pagan living in the woods with nothing but books. My mother was not impressed with my plan.
"Virgins" deals with a young woman who is in that awkward stage of almost being an adult who realizes that there are degrees of being truly safe with a man. This story really made me sad. Reading about this young girl and her best friend Jasmine, who is so fired up to be grown up and fall in love reminded me of my best friends when I was growing up. I think we thought that when you fell in love or had sex for the first time with someone that automatically meant that you were grown up. Instead having sex brought it's own problems, especially when you realized that the person that you thought loved you and was going to be with you forever. (5/5 stars)
"Snakes" is about a young mixed race girl Tara who goes to stay with her maternal grandmother in Tallahassee. "Snakes" actually broke my heart a little bit. You have Tara dealing with the fact that her parents are away for the summer and she is being forced to stay with her grandmother who is trying to force her to be white. Tara's hair comes up constantly in this story and her grandmother treats Tara as if she's beneath her when she compares her to her cousin Allison (also staying for the summer) and uses the threat of snakes in a nearby body of water to get Tara to behave as she wants her to. Reading the story as Tara recollects that summer and having it go back to the present day where Tara is about to graduate from law school was really good.
I think I liked "Snakes" the second best out of the short stories because it reminded me a lot of some divides I dealt with while growing up. Though both of my parents were African American, both sides of my family had mixed races as well. We had Native American, Chinese, Caucasian, and even we found out later that some of the Caucasian branches of the family tree were Jewish. Though I am light skinned, there were still day to day harassment I had to deal with from school kids and even members of my own family for being too light. I used to lay out all summer to get darker so I would fit in better. In my brain, it was not good to be light skinned and I used to envy all of my family members who were darker since they fit. The number of times I got told I looked and talked too white are numerous, and I did my best by trying to blend in as well as could be expected. Is it any wonder that I started to lose myself in books? (5/5 stars)
"Harvest" is about a college student named Angel. This story for me didn't work as well as the other ones. There seemed to be two different story-lines going on. We have Angel talking about a suite mate named Laura who ends up making a ton of money by donating her eggs to wealthy couples who want to have a baby. Then we have Angel talking about her other suite mates as well and you find out a lot about them. I think that the main premise of this story was that Laura and Angel were not that different since Laura we find grew up poor. Her latest foray into expensive clothes was new to her. I also didn't like Angel that much since she seemed to take perverse pleasure out of being mean to people. (3.5/5 stars).
"Someone Ought to Tell Her There's Nowhere to Go" is about a young man named Georgie returning from his tour in Iraq. We find out that Georgie had a bad experience in Iraq that has stayed with him. He comes back to Alexandria, VA hoping that he can re-connect with his ex who has moved on. Georgie starts to tell white lies which unfortunately cause a bigger problem than he wanted. I felt badly for Georgie in this story. I know tons of my friends' who returned from deployment and expected things to go back to the way that they were before they left. All signs are shown to Georgie that his ex, Lanae has moved on. However, he refuses to believe it, and I think the act he does is to show that he is somehow better than the man that Lanae chooses to be with now. (5/5 stars).
"The King of a Vast Empire" is about a college student named Terrence and his dysfunctional family. I feel the same way about this story that I do "Harvest." I don't know what I was supposed to take away from it. I did find that Terrence and his sister Liddie were kind of horrible to their parents. Liddie's disdain comes from a car accident that the whole family was in when she was younger. Terrence just seems to be floating through life with no clear aim. There is another plot interwoven into this, but I don't want to give too much away. (3.5/5 stars).
"Jellyfish" is about a father and daughter who are both thinking the other one has a sad and lonely life. What I found sad is that the father, William, realizes that his daughter, Eva, is on the same life path he is and will end up alone with no one in the end if she doesn't change her ways. I thought the whole story was bittersweet and sad in the end because you realize that not much is going to change for either of them. (5/5 stars).
"Wherever You Go, There You Are" is about a woman who finds herself on a road trip with her younger cousin, visiting her ex-lover and his new fiancee. I really did feel sorry for the main character whose name I don't recall is ever said. She is dealing with a break-up and trying to figure out what she is going to do with her life. Without realizing it, I think she's on the same sort of trajectory her mother is on, though unlike her mother, she has an in-between man she always runs back to you when her other relationships end. The ending of the story really did leave me with the same feeling I got when I read, Frank Stockton's short story, The Lady or the Tiger when I was younger. The story has two potential endings I think. I won't spoil them for you. (5/5 stars)
"Robert E. Lee is Dead" is about a teenager named Crystal dealing with being smart and black in the south. Crystal, due to her being friends with one of the more popular girls at her school named Geena finds herself for the first time ever not looking in at what the cool kids so. Due to Geena, Crystal who becomes known as 'CeeCee' ends up straddling two worlds. Being in the honors/gifted classes as well as being popular. When an opportunity emerges for Crystal there is a temporary estrangement from Geena who Crystal starts to realize is on a different path in her life than she is. (5/5 stars)
I have to say that all of these short stories were so very well done. I think I have written before that those writers who can create a story with fully realized characters and manage to create a story around them is very much an art form. Not all writers that I have read are able to right short stories. I am always thrilled when I can find one that writes short stories that I enjoy to read. Ms. Evans actually reminds me a lot of Maeve Binchy. Only in Ms. Evans case, she is writing stories about African-Americans and mixed race protagonists. In Ms. Binchy's case she wrote short stories about the Irish in Ireland, or living in London or in the U.S. somewhere. I was so sad to get to the end of this collection and hope that Ms. Evans continues to write stories like these.
In the end though I rated two stories 3.5 stars, I gave the whole book 5 stars. I can see myself reading this for years to come.
Pride and Prejudice by Tony Tanner
5.0
This was a long read, but that was mainly due to the edition of the book I borrowed from my local library. This edition contained beautiful colored illustrations and a glossary explaining some words or phrases that were common back In Ms. Austen's time that most readers may be unfamiliar with. There is also a really cool timeline in the front of the book that shows the beginning of the relationship between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.
This book also included two page explanations throughout the book about the classes, courtship, education, etc. I really enjoyed reading about that as well. One thing to note is that when I checked back on Amazon.com, I saw that this book is available via the Kindle. However, most of the Kindle reviews mention there being an issue with reading the footnotes at the bottom of the pages, and the illustrations not coming through clearly. I plan on buying this book and making it a permanent part of my bookshelves at home.
I did love reading this story in it's entirety and it was wonderful to watch Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy start to fall in love with one another though they both did their best to avoid it. This book is called Pride and Prejudice referencing the 'pride' of Elizabeth and the 'prejudice' of Mr. Darcy. However, I think that both characters show pride and prejudice throughout the story.
For example, we see Elizabeth's pride when she continues to overlook how nice Mr. Darcy is being to her just because she overheard him refusing to dance with her when they first met. Her prejudice comes into play when you see how unfavorably she looked upon Charlotte for marrying Mr. Collins when she had to realize that she really had no other options. Additionally, she was prideful and prejudiced towards Bigley's sister Caroline and it dismayed her to see that Jane thought well of her.
We get to see Mr. Darcy's pride too when it comes to him not willing to divulge to all when he should have about Wickham's character. When we read on how Wickham left debts that Mr. Darcy had to take care of, that right there would have been enough for me to warn others. We also see his prejudice towards the people of Longbourn and thinking them his inferior.
Mrs. Bennet as a character was maddening to me. I can sympathize with her though since in that time and place having nothing but daughters meant that when her husband died, the land, house, etc. would all go to the nearest male heir. That said, she had no sense of decorum about anything and I silently cringed anytime the woman said anything to someone outside her own family circle.
I was disappointed with Mr. Bennet too. It's pretty obvious except for Jane and Elizabeth he treats the other children with indifference. And you can see at times how much he loathes his wife. Frankly, if that's what I was raised with, like Elizabeth I would not be so keen on marrying a man unless it was for love.
The initial part of the book did drag a bit until we get to Jane going to visit Netherfield Park (where Bingley is residing) and becoming ill. We get to some excellent sparring between Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy, and Bingley's sister Caroline.
When Mr. Wickham is introduced to the story we then have a slow down again in the story. I can understand it though because Ms. Austen had to build him up so to speak to make him seem to be the complete opposite of Mr. Darcy. If I was a true cold reader not knowing anything I do about this story, I would have thought to myself, ahh this is the man that Elizabeth should be with and not that nasty Mr.. Darcy. Watching Elizabeth start to think romantically about Mr. Wickham made me cringe (this could have totally went the way of Marianne with Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility) have this charming man who seems to be the total opposite of Mr. Darcy that you have Elizabeth starting to think about romantically. Her conversations about Mr. Darcy with Wickham and others was not well done of her, and seemed like something her mother would have done. We have Elizabeth in my opinion acting like a brat based on the say-so of one person.
When we get to Elizabeth rejection the proposal of Mr. Darcy and then finding out all about what part he played in persuading Mr. Bingley that Jane did not care for him and how Mr. Wickham was 'disinherited' the story once again moves quite quickly.
Elizabeth had her eyes opened by what Mr. Darcy told her and she finally realizes that he father has done somewhat a disservice to his family for ignoring the shenanigans of his daughters and allowing her mother to constantly throw her daughters at men.
Then we have Elizabeth traveling with the Gardiners (her aunt and uncle) and coming across Pemberly. I loved how Ms. Austen describes the place and it was great to see Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy coming across one another again. Seeing Elizabeth wrong-footed and not knowing how to act with her now realizing she is starting to fall for Mr. Darcy was great.
We eventually get to the end with both Elizabeth and Jane happily married and even even tempered Mr. Bingley realizing that he and Jane need to move to be away from her mother which caused me to laugh. I would have moved somewhere where I would only see her once a year if that, but that's just me.
Probably the only thing I could quibble with is that we don't get a chance to get into the heads of some of the secondary characters and some we do. For example, we get to see why Charlotte Lucas was okay with marrying Mister Collins. However, the second couple in this story, Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley we don't get much information on except for here and there. I wonder if there is a version out there of this story told from their points of view? I would love to read it.
This book also included two page explanations throughout the book about the classes, courtship, education, etc. I really enjoyed reading about that as well. One thing to note is that when I checked back on Amazon.com, I saw that this book is available via the Kindle. However, most of the Kindle reviews mention there being an issue with reading the footnotes at the bottom of the pages, and the illustrations not coming through clearly. I plan on buying this book and making it a permanent part of my bookshelves at home.
I did love reading this story in it's entirety and it was wonderful to watch Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy start to fall in love with one another though they both did their best to avoid it. This book is called Pride and Prejudice referencing the 'pride' of Elizabeth and the 'prejudice' of Mr. Darcy. However, I think that both characters show pride and prejudice throughout the story.
For example, we see Elizabeth's pride when she continues to overlook how nice Mr. Darcy is being to her just because she overheard him refusing to dance with her when they first met. Her prejudice comes into play when you see how unfavorably she looked upon Charlotte for marrying Mr. Collins when she had to realize that she really had no other options. Additionally, she was prideful and prejudiced towards Bigley's sister Caroline and it dismayed her to see that Jane thought well of her.
We get to see Mr. Darcy's pride too when it comes to him not willing to divulge to all when he should have about Wickham's character. When we read on how Wickham left debts that Mr. Darcy had to take care of, that right there would have been enough for me to warn others. We also see his prejudice towards the people of Longbourn and thinking them his inferior.
Mrs. Bennet as a character was maddening to me. I can sympathize with her though since in that time and place having nothing but daughters meant that when her husband died, the land, house, etc. would all go to the nearest male heir. That said, she had no sense of decorum about anything and I silently cringed anytime the woman said anything to someone outside her own family circle.
I was disappointed with Mr. Bennet too. It's pretty obvious except for Jane and Elizabeth he treats the other children with indifference. And you can see at times how much he loathes his wife. Frankly, if that's what I was raised with, like Elizabeth I would not be so keen on marrying a man unless it was for love.
The initial part of the book did drag a bit until we get to Jane going to visit Netherfield Park (where Bingley is residing) and becoming ill. We get to some excellent sparring between Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy, and Bingley's sister Caroline.
When Mr. Wickham is introduced to the story we then have a slow down again in the story. I can understand it though because Ms. Austen had to build him up so to speak to make him seem to be the complete opposite of Mr. Darcy. If I was a true cold reader not knowing anything I do about this story, I would have thought to myself, ahh this is the man that Elizabeth should be with and not that nasty Mr.. Darcy. Watching Elizabeth start to think romantically about Mr. Wickham made me cringe (this could have totally went the way of Marianne with Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility) have this charming man who seems to be the total opposite of Mr. Darcy that you have Elizabeth starting to think about romantically. Her conversations about Mr. Darcy with Wickham and others was not well done of her, and seemed like something her mother would have done. We have Elizabeth in my opinion acting like a brat based on the say-so of one person.
When we get to Elizabeth rejection the proposal of Mr. Darcy and then finding out all about what part he played in persuading Mr. Bingley that Jane did not care for him and how Mr. Wickham was 'disinherited' the story once again moves quite quickly.
Elizabeth had her eyes opened by what Mr. Darcy told her and she finally realizes that he father has done somewhat a disservice to his family for ignoring the shenanigans of his daughters and allowing her mother to constantly throw her daughters at men.
Then we have Elizabeth traveling with the Gardiners (her aunt and uncle) and coming across Pemberly. I loved how Ms. Austen describes the place and it was great to see Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy coming across one another again. Seeing Elizabeth wrong-footed and not knowing how to act with her now realizing she is starting to fall for Mr. Darcy was great.
We eventually get to the end with both Elizabeth and Jane happily married and even even tempered Mr. Bingley realizing that he and Jane need to move to be away from her mother which caused me to laugh. I would have moved somewhere where I would only see her once a year if that, but that's just me.
Probably the only thing I could quibble with is that we don't get a chance to get into the heads of some of the secondary characters and some we do. For example, we get to see why Charlotte Lucas was okay with marrying Mister Collins. However, the second couple in this story, Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley we don't get much information on except for here and there. I wonder if there is a version out there of this story told from their points of view? I would love to read it.