My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira - Book Review

Aug 312011

My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira
Published by Penguin (Non-Classics)

The best midwife in Albany - better, even, than her mother - all Mary Sutter wants is to be a surgeon. Unfortunately, the local medical school wants nothing to do with a female surgeon. When war breaks out, suddenly one of the things that the Union needs most is medical personnel. Although even Civil War is not enough to make Mary suddenly accepted as a doctor, she does have the opportunity to work as a nurse, which she seems as a stepping stone. Leaving for DC to take care of wounded soldiers, also gives Mary the excuse to leave behind a painful personal matter at home.

Oliveira suffuses My Name is Mary Sutter with a great deal of fascinating historical detail. The mid-19th century birthing and surgery scenes are horrifically realistic. Unfortunately, Mary herself was not the most engaging of characters. She was strong, she was interesting, but she didn’t capture me. The writing was strong and it was always easy to pick the book up, but it was also just as easy to put it down, primarily due to a lack of feeling for Mary.

Although I failed to connect with My Name is Mary Sutter as deeply as I had hoped, it was still a strong debut novel, and worth reading for those interested in nursing and medical care during the Civil War.

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Source: personal copy.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Embassytown by China Mieville - Thoughts

Aug 302011

Embassytown by China Mieville
Published by Del Ray, an imprint of Random House

I struggled with Embassytown when reading, and I’ve struggled over the past months thinking about it for a review. In lieu of a formal review, I am simply going to add a few of the thoughts that linger after all this time. For some context, here is the description from Indiebound:

In the far future, humans have colonized a distant planet, home to the enigmatic Ariekei, sentient beings famed for a language unique in the universe, one that only a few altered human ambassadors can speak.

Avice Benner Cho, a human colonist, has returned to Embassytown after years of deep-space adventure. She cannot speak the Ariekei tongue, but she is an indelible part of it, having long ago been made a figure of speech, a living simile in their language.

When distant political machinations deliver a new ambassador to Arieka, the fragile equilibrium between humans and aliens is violently upset. Catastrophe looms, and Avice is torn between competing loyalties—to a husband she no longer loves, to a system she no longer trusts, and to her place in a language she cannot speak yet speaks through her.

The linguistics pieces were very interesting, perhaps the most intriguing part of the story. The interplay of language and truth, inability of the Ariekei to lie, or even express abstract concepts unless they had previously been made concrete was consistently interesting.
The descriptions of the more science fiction elements of the story, such as the complexities of space travel, the interstellar political systems, and the systems that kept humans alive on the Ariekei world fell flat for me. They seemed neither interesting, nor well enough explained. I am not sure if Mieville has other works set in this universe in which these things are better explained, but it didn’t work for me here.
I found Avice to be a thoroughly uninteresting and unsympathetic character. I didn’t care who she was with or what she did, and the rest of the plot was not compelling enough counteract that.
My other two experiences with Mieville have both been in audio, narrated by John Lee. I think that audio might be the best way for me to experience Mieville, because talented narrators like John Lee carry me on past these pieces that would otherwise bog me down.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: personal copy.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone - Audiobook Thoughts

Aug 122011

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, narrated by Jim Dale
Published in audio by Listening Library, published in print by Scholastic

Synopsis:

What more is there to say about Harry Potter, particularly the first book in the series? Harry is terribly mistreated by his relatives and has a generally miserable life, until he finds out he is a wizard. The discovery is slightly bittersweet when Harry finds out that his parents were brutally murdered by the now-disappeared evil wizard Voldemort.

Thoughts on the story:

It may be that I’ve finally just read this series too many times. I’m starting to see things that don’t quite line up throughout (I blame Michelle for pointing out inconsistencies in book 7 when we watched the movie). I was also struck on this reread at just how ridiculous the opening scene with the Dudleys really is. They might as well have been tying Harry to a railroad track and twirling their mustaches. Honestly, it sort of annoyed me a little. Eventually I was able to get back into the book, but it took longer than usual.

Thoughts on the audio production:

I’ve listened to the rest of the series in audio narrated by Jim Dale before and been impressed, but at times during Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone I distinctly heard Dale make mouth noises, such as lip smacking, which sort of disgusted me and turned me off.

Overall:

I was all excited about going through the series again, but now I’m feeling sort of blah about it. Anyone up for convincingme?

Buy this book from:
Powells: Audio | Print*
Indiebound: Audio | Print*

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And now from a brief word from our friends over at Audiobook Jukebox:

Are you a blogger who reviews audiobooks? Whether you review them regularly, occasionally, or exclusively, there’s a new place to find free review copies for your perusal. The site is called Audiobook Jukebox and we’ve recently started a new program called Solid Gold Reviewers.

The idea is to have a place where audiobook publishers can offer titles for review and reviewers can select those titles which interest them the most. At the beginning of this month, 9 publishers helped us get started by offering 42 titles and over 100 copies for review. I’d like to invite you to check out the guidelines and then take a look at the titles listed.

I hope you’ll see something interesting to listen to and review. If not, check back next month (we already have some additional publishers who’ve said they’ll contribute). If we all participate, more publishers will contribute more of the audio we love. In turn, we’ll have the chance to tell others about more great listens!

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I’m launching a brand-new meme every Friday! I encourage you to review any audiobooks you review on Fridays and include the link here. If you have reviewed an audiobook earlier in the week, please feel free to link that review as well. Thanks to Pam for creating the button.

Source: library.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson – Book Review

Aug 042011

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
Published by HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollins

Ginny’s Aunt Peg has always been incredibly fun, so when Ginny receives 13 blue envelopes from Peg and instructions to fly to Europe, she knows there is something special in store for her. Made all the more special by the fact that Peg has recently died, and must have created all these instructions for Ginny before she passed away. If there is one thing that the envelopes guarantee, it is an adventure.

Maureen Johnson is just such a fun, engaging writer, and 13 Little Blue Envelopes is no exception. Ginny is an adorable, loveable heroine. She has doubts and flaws like any realistic human being, but she manages not to be an overly obnoxious teen, even while she was asserting her independence from the adults in her life. Ginny’s adventure, too, is great fun, and Johnson keeps the story rolling along, while at the same time allowing Ginny some introspection.

All in all, great fun, and I’m intrigued to check out The Last Little Blue Envelope for the conclusion of Ginny’s story.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Personal copy.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly – Book Review

Aug 032011

The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly
Published by St. Martin’s Griffin, an imprint of Macmillan

This is the first book in the Rose series.

Fiona Finnegan may be a poor Irish girl living in Whitechapel, but she has big plans with her sweetheart, Joe Bristow. Together, they are determined to save enough money to marry and open a shop of their own, something that can take them away from a neighborhood where Jack the Ripper roams the streets after dark. When Joe takes a better paying job, it pains them to be apart, but seems a means to an end, until three tragedies rip Fiona’s life asunder and she is forced to face life on her own, with only her young brother by her side.

The Tea Rose is not a short book, and it is just the first in a trilogy of equally long books. Thus it is only to be expected that there is quite a bit of initial set up and characterization. This resulted, however, in a slow first 100 pages or so. Fiona was engaging the entire time, but her poor-but-getting-by family and her dreams of a future with Joe went a bit longer than would be optimal. Around page 100, though, things begin happening, and Fiona really begins to show her mettle and the story takes flight. Fiona is a strong character, without being too overly modern. She is certainly bold and willing to break out of societal molds, but never comes across as anachronistic.

Once it gets going, The Tea Rose is completely engaging late 19th-century historical fiction, an epic that captures the imagination. I cannot wait to read the rest of the series.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

If you are already a fan of this series, the third book, The Wild Rose, was just released by Hyperion Books. Buy it from:

Powells | Indiebound*

Source: personal copy.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Soulless by Gail Carriger - Book Review

Aug 022011

Soulless by Gail Carriger
Published by Orbit Books, an imprint of Hachette

This is the first book in the Parasol Protectorate series.

Being a soulless, half-Italian spinster doesn’t exactly put Alexa Tarabotti at the top of the height of the Victorian social scene. Basically ignored and disdained by her mother and flouffy half sisters (think Cinderella’s evil stepsisters, but too stupid to be truly evil). Even though she isn’t exactly sought after, she still is not used to being attacked by vampires at dinner parties. A normal vampire would know better than to attack someone who is soulless, since the soulless negate the powers of the over-soulled paranormal creatures like vampires and werewolves. Next thing Alexa knows, she is working with the Lord Maccon to discover what is happening to the plethora of missing werewolves and vampires, as well as the strange new creatures which have been wandering around London.

Soulless is a highly entertaining, quite funny paranormal steampunk romance:

Her mama thought her a bluestocking, which was soulless enough as far as Mrs. Loontwill was concerned, and was terribly upset by her eldest daughter’s propensity for libraries. - p. 17

If the description of ‘paranormal steampunk romance’ makes it sound like Soulless suffers from an excess of genres, that may in fact be the case, but Carriger pulls all of them off quite well, neither taking them too seriously nor making them too ridiculous. Alexa Tarabotti is a strong-willed young woman who makes for a fantastic protagonist, but perhaps even more interesting than Alexa was Carriger’s alternate Victorian era, which was molded quite well from the world with which we are familiar:

Miss Tarabotti shook her head in sorrow. The narrowmindedness of it all! She knew her history. The puritans left Queen Elizabeth’s England for the New World because the queen sanctioned the supernatural presence in the British Isle. The Colonies had been entirely backward ever since: religious fingers in all their dealings with vampires, werewolves, and ghosts. It made America into a deeply superstitious place. Fates only knew what they’d think of someone like her! -p. 102

All in all it makes for a very enjoyable romp of a read. I definitely plan on continuing in this series.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Personal copy.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Curious George and the Pizza - Saturday Story Spotlight

Jul 302011

Welcome to Saturday Story Spotlight, my feature where I discuss books my husband and I are reading with our son, Daniel. These are books that he, we, or all of us particularly enjoy.

Curious George and the Pizza by Margret Ray and H.A. Ray
Published by HMH Books

When George and his friend go to a pizza parlor, George is absolutely fascinated by the tossing of the pizza dough and the making of the pizzas. When he tries to make some pizzas on his own, though, a huge mess ensues. The owner of the pizza parlor is pretty angry, until he has to deliver a pizza to a factory which is already closed, at which point George’s monkey skills save the day.

A monkey and pizza! What more could Daniel want?

Really, there’s nothing particularly special about Curious George and the Pizza, but it is a crowd-pleaser in this house. My favorite reason to read it with Daniel is for the identification of facial expressions. When the pizza parlor owner is frustrated to the point of tears, Daniel points at him and yells “crying!” Between this and just the joy of reading, Curious George and the Pizza is a frequent visitor to our storytimes.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Personal copy
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Words by Heart by Ouida Sebestyen - Book Review

Jul 272011

Words by Heart by Ouida Sebestyen
Published by Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House

Lena is determined that she is going to win the school’s Bible verse recitation. As the only African American student in the school, a member of the only non-white family in town, she knows that, as much as most members of the town are not hostile towards her and her family, they only see her skin color and not her mind. Getting what you wish for is not always a good thing, though. Between Lena’s success over the white male student who everyone thought was a shoe-in and her father rising in the estimation of his employer, racial tensions begin to surface in their small town. Now, Lena must decide whether she believes in vengeance or forgiveness.

Words by Heart is a great look at faith and racism for young readers. Sebestyen walks a line very well of not shying away from the realities of hatred and the negative consequences, without writing a book too overwhelming for middle grade readers. Largely this is done by the strong message of faith and forgiveness. Lena’s father, in particular, is a proponent of forgiveness and attempts to teach her to forgive as he tries to do.

This is the sort of book I wish I had found when I was younger. While I could definitely appreciate both the story and the message, I know it would have meant quite a bit more to me if I had approached it as a pre-teen. I’m glad I read it, though, if for no other reason than that now I know about it to read with my own children when they are at an age to learn about the horrors of hatred and freedom of forgiveness.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

The Alphabet Book - Saturday Story Spotlight

Jul 022011

Welcome to Saturday Story Spotlight, my feature where I discuss books my husband and I are reading with our son, Daniel. These are books that he, we, or all of us particularly enjoy.

The Alphabet Book by P. D. Eastman
Published by Random House Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House

Thanks to Daniel’s letter obsession, we’re always looking for good alphabet books, and The Alphabet Book by P. D. Eastman is a a classic. Unlike A to Z, The Alphabet Book tends to stick to more conventional (and real) words, providing enrichment by having at least two words beginning with each letter (a bird on a bike, a cow in a car, an octopus with oars). Because it was written in the 1970s, there are some entries that are a bit dated, but I’m just going to consider them cultural history, because chances are decent that the turtle with typewriter is the among the only exposure Daniel will even ever have to typewriters.

This book is perfect for Daniel because each entry has at least one thing that he can correctly identify with the name beginning with the relevant letter, but it pushes him to expand his sentences and add the extra word as well.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Personal copy
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

Where’s Baby’s Birthday Cake? - Saturday Story Spotlight

Jun 252011

Welcome to Saturday Story Spotlight, my feature where I discuss books my husband and I are reading with our son, Daniel. These are books that he, we, or all of us particularly enjoy.

Where is Baby’s Birthday Cake? by Karen Katz
Published by Little Simon, an imprint of Simon & Schuster

It occurred to me recently that I haven’t shared any Karen Katz for Saturday Story Spotlight, and I’m not exactly sure how I committed such an oversight.

Daniel loves Karen Katz’s books featuring ‘Baby.’ In most of them, Baby (not always the same baby, by the way) is looking for something, looking behind, under, and inside things to find it. This is accomplished by the reader lifting the flaps and looking at the shiny things beneath them. In Where is Baby’s Birthday Cake? Baby looks under the bed and finds presents, behind a chair and finds balloons, and in the refrigerator and finds ice cream.

Karen Katz’s books are basically 100% guaranteed to captivate Daniel. He loves anything with flaps to list, and Katz’s books are extra good because of all of the shiny elements. I appreciate that the babies alternate gender from book to book, but always are sort of nondescript, other than a pronoun here or there. I do wish, however, that she had more diverse babies. Looking through the covers of her books, I can see that Katz has a few babies of African descent, and certainly some of the babies have slightly darker skin than others, but the vast majority of her babies appear to be Caucasian.

We enjoy Karen Katz and Daniel has been particularly enjoying reading Where is Baby’s Birthday Cake? in preparation for his own birthday today; if only she would start publishing a greater diversity of babies in her books I would be an undying fan.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound.

Source: Personal copy
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

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Devourer of Books

My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira - Book Review

Embassytown by China Mieville - Thoughts

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone - Audiobook Thoughts

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson – Book Review

The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly – Book Review

Soulless by Gail Carriger - Book Review

Curious George and the Pizza - Saturday Story Spotlight

Words by Heart by Ouida Sebestyen - Book Review

The Alphabet Book - Saturday Story Spotlight

Where’s Baby’s Birthday Cake? - Saturday Story Spotlight

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