Being Lara by Lola Jaye – Book Review

Mar 132012

Being Lara by Lola Jaye
Published by William Morrow Paperbacks, an imprint of HarperCollins

At 30, Lara is finally fairly comfortable with who she is. Sure, she’s still terrified of commitment, and of getting too close to anyone, but she is finally secure in her identity, as the adopted daughter of Trish and X Reid, as a daughter whose skin tone is vastly different from that of her parents. No longer is Lara particularly interested in knowing anything about her birth mother, and never has she been curious about her birth country, Nigeria. All of this changes, however, when Lara’s birth mother, Yomi, shows up unexpectedly at her 30th birthday party. Now, for the first time, Lara is forced to think about her past and who she really is.

Despite the name, Being Lara is not simply Lara’s story. Much of the book is actually from the perspective of Trish and Yomi, Lara’s adoptive and birth mothers. These sections with their alternate viewpoints may just save Jaye’s book, because Lara is, at the beginning of the book in particular, a bit difficult to take. Actually, she’s more than just a bit difficult to take, and if she had been the only focus of the book, chances are good that I would have abandoned it in frustration. Despite her happy family and the fact that she seems to be well-adjusted, she is incredibly immature and naive, overly stuck in her ways, and about as proficient at romantic relationships as a teenage boy. Obnoxious, and so flawed as to seem like a cliche instead of a living character. Luckily, her mothers’s stories – particularly Yomi’s story – add interest and give the reader something with which to sympathize.

Eventually Lara becomes more life-like and easier to relate to, but it does take time, making the reader exceptionally glad for the way that Yomi and Trish’s stories intersect hers. This is a book that is more concerned with plot than prose, and that does come through. Jaye’s writing is solid, but it fails to overcome any apathy the reader might feel towards the storyline or the characters. There is also – in the advance copy, a least – a continuity problem, wherein Lara and her best friend take a cab to her birthday party , and then Lara tears out of there in her own car after her birth mother surprises her. This may have been caught before the final, but as they took a cab for a very specific reason, it would have required some re-writing.

Although Being Lara is an interesting story with a satisfying conclusion, the first half in particular failed to impress me as much as I hoped it would.

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Divergent by Veronica Roth – Book Review

Feb 272012

Divergent by Veronica Roth
Published by Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins

Beatrice Prior – who will soon reinvent herself as Tris – has never really fit in with her faction. She is just not Abnegation material. Luckily, in just a couple of days she and all the other sixteen-year-olds in this dystopian future Chicago will have the opportunity to choose whether to stay in their factions or choose a new one from among the five in the city: Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, and Erudite. Leaving Abnegation would mean that Beatrice would have to leave her family behind forever, but staying would mean not being true to herself. Unfortunately, Beatrice isn’t any more sure about where it is that she does belong. Not Erudite, not after the lies they have spread about the people of Abnegation, and probably not Candor – only ever telling the truth isn’t particularly appealing – but where? Sixteen-year-olds are given a test to help them choose their placement, but Beatrice’s test is strangely inconclusive, a fact that she is warned to keep to herself.

Divergent is a much-raved about YA dystopian novel. I found it enjoyable, but perhaps not as fabulous as everyone else seems to think it is. Roth is an incredibly engaging writer, and Tris is a great character, surrounded by other great characters. My only real problem was with the premise. The factions seem to have no idea what is happening in the world around them, for all intents and purposes the universe is no bigger than the greater Chicago area. Less believable, though, is the idea of the factions in the first place.

Dystopian societies often have odd and somewhat unlikely governments and structures. The best novels, though give their odd structures a believable background. Either there needs to be a reasonable explanation for how they came to be, or they need to follow somewhat from the current state of the world. The factions of Divergent didn’t really do either. They provide a very interesting set-up to the story, yes, and they allow for great commentary on human nature, but I simply could not see where they came from.

All this being said, Divergent is highly engaging, enough so that I do plan on reading the sequel, Insurgent, which is out later this year, in order to see if the world building is further developed.

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Source: Library.
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Parents Need to Eat Too by Debbie Koenig – Book Review

Feb 212012

Parents Need to Eat Too: Nap-Friendly Recipes, One-Handed Meals, and Time-Saving Kitchen Tricks for New Parents by Debbie Koenig
Published by William Morrow Paperbacks

The time after a new baby enters the house is a tricky one for parents who want to eat something not originally from the freezer section of the grocery store. There’s so much to do with an infant in the house and so much uncertainty about how and when to do it. It seems that things should get easier as the baby gets a bit older, but it isn’t only infants who want to be held, to be able to see and touch whichever parent is attempting to prepare a meal. My son is 2.5, and it is really only recently that cooking has gotten fairly easy again, he’s happy to sit and play with something in the next room while I prepare food, until then it could only happen easily if someone else was home to distract him. As I contemplate adding two more little ones to our household this summer, the idea of what on earth we’re going to eat is in the forefront of my mind. I’m hoping to freeze a lot of things ahead of time, but that also requires us to get moved into a new house sooner rather than later and to get a large freezer that can hold all of these things. Plus, there are times when you just don’t want one of the same old dishes you made a giant batch of and have had on rotation for weeks.

Enter Debbie Koenig’s new cookbook: Parents Need to Eat Too.

Parents Need to Eat Too is a cookbook specifically designed for the parents of young children. There are extremely simple recipes, recipes already divided up for you for nap time prep, slow cooker recipes, meals you can easily eat with one hand, and recipes that promote lactation for mothers who are breastfeeding. Perhaps the most helpful aspects of the book, though, are Koenig’s list of essential ingredients in the beginning (someone may get sent to the store with the book right before the twins arrive) and the tips on turning each and every recipe into baby food. Yes, you read that right, every recipe can be used as baby/toddler food. This, to me, was almost revelatory. We made most of Daniel’s babyfood, but it was usually an all-day Saturday sort of thing, cooking and pureeing vegetable after vegetable and freezing them all. You know what is easier than that? FEEDING YOUR KID WHAT YOU ARE EATING. Not only does it simply involve a little extra prep time instead of getting something completely different, if you know you won’t finish your leftovers, guess what? You can turn them into baby food and freeze them for later.

Another thing I appreciated about Koenig’s book is the gustatory diversity. This is by no means a cookbook of casseroles. There are a number of Asian and Indian-inspired meals, such as the Chana Masala. Koenig freely admits that many of these recipes aren’t particularly authentic, particularly since she is aiming for things that are fast and easy to make, but they are delicious. I made her fried rice last weekend, and I must say that it simply knocked the socks off my own version (it seems the delicious secret is sesame oil, yum!).

I think Parents Need to Eat Too (and maybe some of the dry ingredients from Koenig’s list) would make a wonderful gift for a new parent, or really anyone with young children. Highly recommended.

If you need more convincing, here’s Koenig herself talking about the book:

I also have one copy for a lucky reader with a US mailing address. This copy will be sent out by HarperCollins. Please enter on the form below by noon Eastern on Tuesday, February 28.

FORMLoading…

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The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey – Book Review

Feb 132012

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesy
Published by Harper Books, an imprint of HarperCollins

For Gemma Hardy, life is full of tragedy. First her Scottish mother dies near their home in Iceland, then the sea claims her fisherman father. For many years after the death of her parents Gemma did find safety in her uncle’s home, but upon his untimely death her life truly falls apart. Suddenly Gemma is left with nothing more than a hostile aunt and disapproving cousins. Just when she thinks she can stand life at home no longer, Gemma is offered the opportunity to escape, to go off to boarding school as a working student.

Livesey makes no secret of the fact that The Flight of Gemma Hardy is a retelling of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. The first half of the book, in particular, stays very close to Bronte’s original. In fact, for the first two hundred pages are so, the only significant differences between The Flight of Gemma Hardy and Jane Eyre are the setting (Scotland), the time period (1950s), and the names of the characters.

Gemma’s story begins to diverge more from Jane’s when she is forced to leave school and make her way in the world. Finding a job as an au pair in the Orkneys seems to be a godsend for Gemma. She and her charge, Nell, get along suprisingly well, particularly as Nell ran off her previous nanny. With her employer away in London, Gemma is for the first time essentially the mistress of her own life – until Mr. Sinclair returns and sweeps her away.

Livesey is an incredibly talented writer, her prose flows beautifully and she has re-crafted Bronte’s story in a way that, in all honesty, makes far more sense than the original. The plot holes are fixed and the deus ex machina issues of Jane Eyre virtually eliminated. There are only two real problems in The Flight of Gemma Hardy. The first is Gemma’s reaction upon discovering Mr. Sinclair’s secret, which is not nearly bad enough to justify running away, although Gemma does it in a much more sensible way than Jane. The second is simply how closely The Flight of Gemma Hardy sticks to Jane Eyre for so much of the story. For a reader who has not read Jane Eyre, or who has not read it recently, The Flight of Gemma Hardy would likely be a smashing success, but for one who has read it either frequently or recently, the fact that what Livesey has created is more of a modernization than a retelling may very well remove some of the power of the book.

I truly wanted to love The Flight of Gemma Hardy, but having just read Jane Eyre approximately a year earlier it was difficult for the first half of the story to catch my attention. When Livesey’s plot diverged more completely from Jane Eyre I did truly enjoy it, and I’m not entirely sure that anyone but Livesey could have pulled that off. However, I wish her creativity could have been showcased a bit more in the way she retold Bronte’s original. Recommended, particularly if you are well removed from Jane Eyre.

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Crooked House by Agatha Christie

Feb 092012

Crooked House by Agatha Christie
Published by Harper Paperbacks

This post could alternately be titled: Why I Need to Take a Break from Agatha Christie

From the publisher:

The Leonides are one big happy family living in a sprawling, ramshackle mansion. That is until the head of the household, Aristide, is murdered with a fatal barbiturate injection.

Suspicion naturally falls on the old man’s young widow, fifty years his junior. But the murderer has reckoned without the tenacity of Charles Hayward, fiance of the late millionaire’s granddaughter.

Like most of my favorite Agatha Christie mysteries, this is one of the standalones, without either Poirot or Miss Marple to come in and discover the culprit. Crooked House is told from the perspective of Charles Hayward, whose father works for Scotland Yard, and who is determined to solve the mystery of Aristide’s death, because his fiance, Sophie Leonides, will not marry him until she is assured that her name, and that of her family, is cleared.

I actually thought this was a very enjoyable mystery from Christie, but the problem is that I solved it within a sentence of being introduced to the killer. Literally. That is not exaggeration. I don’t think this is actually a fault of the book, but of the fact that this was my 3rd Christie in as many weeks, and probably my 5th (at least) over 2 months. As much as I enjoy her, it is time for a break. It just isn’t the same when I don’t spend the entire book trying to match wits with her.

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Source: Publisher.
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The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie

Jan 102012

The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie
Published by Harper Paperbacks

From the publisher:

There’s a serial killer on the loose, working his way through the alphabet and the whole country is in a state of panic.

A is for Mrs. Ascher in Andover, B is for Betty Barnard in Bexhill, C is for Sir Carmichael Clarke in Churston. With each murder, the killer is getting more confident—but leaving a trail of deliberate clues to taunt the proud Hercule Poirot might just prove to be the first, and fatal, mistake.

For the first time EVER while reading a Christie mystery I figured out the identity of the murderer, and quite a way before the end of the book, at that. What I can’t figure out is whether this is a great accomplishment on my part, or a failing on Christie’s. To me, the murderer was obvious from a great way off, and the very serious red herring she threw in the reader’s path not at all convincing – until nearly the end of the book when it very nearly was, but even then it was too obvious to be the real answer. If pressed for a decision, I would say that perhaps The A.B.C. Murders is not Christie’s most strongly constructed book, but I have also read a great many of her books this year, and in other circumstances might not have guessed the culprit so quickly.

For all the Christie I’ve read, this was only my second experience with Poirot, the first being Three Act Tragedy, which, coincidentally, shared some essential plot similarities with The A.B.C. Murders, despite the visible differences. I do think this is a better example of a Poirot mystery, in Three Act Tragedy he took a much smaller role, compared with the persons most directly affected by the crime. In The A.B.C. Murders Poirot is right in the thick of the action. As much as I typically read the standalones, I did enjoy this experience with Poirot.

The A.B.C. Murders is a solid book from Agatha Christie, and a good example of a Poirot book, but if you’ve spent too much time immersed in her work, you’re likely to guess the identity of the murderer disturbingly early.

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The Night Before Christmas – Saturday Story Spotlight

Dec 172011

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 Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore, illustrated by Ted Rand
Published by North-South Books

Sometimes I underestimate Daniel. I would have thought that the length and the often complex and old-fashioned language of The Night Before Christmas would have had him squirming in his chair after just a few pages.

I was so far off, it isn’t even funny; Daniel LOVES The Night Before Christmas. We have read this so many times, now, that he knows the end of every line, and can recite the first few stanzas – not that he gets every word, of course, but most of it makes sense. I’m not sure exactly what it is, sure the Santa part is neat, but that actually seems to be his least favorite. I think it is just the whole Christmas excitement, since he is much more aware of it than he has been in the past.

Don’t be afraid to try this classic with your young children, you may just find that they love it!

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Source: Personal copy
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Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire

Dec 122011

Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire
Published by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins

Out of Oz is the final volume in the Wicked Years series. I have previously reviewed the 3rd book, A Lion Among Men.

From the publisher:

Once peaceful and prosperous, the spectacular Land of Oz is knotted with social unrest: The Emerald City is mounting an invasion of Munchkinland, Glinda is under house arrest, and the Cowardly Lion is on the run from the law. And look who’s knocking at the door. It’s none other than Dorothy. Yes. That Dorothy.

Yet amidst all this chaos, Elphaba’s granddaughter, the tiny green baby born at the close of Son of a Witch, has come of age. Now it is up to Rain to take up her broom—and her legacy—in an Oz wracked by war.

I approached Out of Oz with no small measure of trepidation. I absolutely adore Wicked, although it is slow at times, but I have had unending trouble with Maguire’s other books, both in and out of the Wicked Years series. I am not a particular fan of either Mirror Mirror or Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. Of the other books within the series, I was disappointed by Son of a Witch and really very much disliked A Lion Among Men. Why, then, did I bother reading Out of Oz?

Well, other than my love for Wicked, three factors conspired to make me read Out of Oz: 1) It showed up at my door, if it hadn’t, I would have been unlikely to seek it out; 2) It is the final book in a series I had until now read in its entirety; 3) Maguire was at Unabridged Bookstore in Chicago, and was absolutely charming during the event, talking about the book in a way that intrigued me.

So, was it worth it?

Out of Oz is a worthy finale to the Wicked Years series. Here, the story is brought back more closely to Elphaba’s family, and the plot provides a rough parallel to Dorothy’s original trip to Oz. Here, as in the first time Dorothy appeared in Oz, a group held together by some rather odd bonds must discover their own strengths, braving both the Emerald City and certain forces out in the wild. By tying more closely into the initial story, it becomes a more interesting story, less like something simply attempting to milk the success of Wicked.

If you’ve read the rest of the series, you definitely should pick up Out of Oz. If you’ve only read Wicked, skip right past Son of a Witch and A Lion Among Men and receive closure on the story with Out of Oz.

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Source: Publisher.
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Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making by John Curran – Book Review

Nov 222011

Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making by John Curran
Published by Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins

Agatha Christie is one of the most prolific, best-selling authors in the world. More than 3o years after her death, she is still read and beloved by millions. The question of however she came up with so many plots, and with such frequency continues to fascinate writers and readers alike. For everyone who has ever marveled at Christie’s immense output, John Curran’s dive into her private notebooks in Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making is fascinating and occasionally revelatory.

In many ways, Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making is a partial biography of Christie’s body of work. Curran progresses through each decade of Christie’s work, highlighting some of the more significant and representative works from each period. Not content just to discuss her books based on his own research, Curran actually combs though Christie’s less-than-organized notebooks to show the reader her own initial jottings on the various titles.

It is important to note that Curran’s primary audience is inveterate Christie fans, not those of us who have read a handful of titles. Because he is discussing the intricacies of Christie’s work, there is no room to be shy about spoilers, often the most important aspect of a given novel is the ending, rather than the beginning, and to attempt to account for everyone’s sensibilities and skirt around the issue would be prohibitively difficult. In order to protect those who may be worried about spoilers for the books they have yet to read, Curran does include at the beginning of each chapter a list of the books which will be spoiled, which they then are to greater or lesser extent.

Although Christie’s own writings in her notebooks lend Curran’s work an air of authority, they are often the most challenging part of Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making. They are often staccato and vague, which makes them particularly difficult to parse if one hasn’t read the work in question. Luckily, Curran excels at pointing out both the significance of the work and the significance of Agatha’s notes. He is comprehensive enough that one can skim or even skip many of Christie’s notes and still receive a firm grounding in her oeuvre.

Fascinating, but don’t pick it up yet if you have a great deal of Christie’s work in front of you and are concerned with spoilers.

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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 Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie – Book Review

Nov 212011

The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
Published by Harper Paperbacks

When the widely disliked Colonel Protheroe is found dead in the vicarage, there is almost nobody in the village who is not a suspect. The vicar himself had remarked earlier the same day that “Anyone who murdered Colonel Protheroe would be doing the world at large a favor!” Still, he knows he did not do it; as vicar he should be beyond suspicion – and of course he has an airtight alibi. The problem is, the most likely murderers also seem to have confirmed alibis, leading to a mystery which only the ever-watchful Miss Marple can solve.

You guys, EVERY SINGLE TIME I read Agatha Christie I think I know who the murderer is. EVERY TIME. I have yet to be right even once. There was this one time that I more or less pegged the motive, but chose the wrong person, but I have yet to catch a killer. The Murder at the Vicarage is no exception. Suspects crop up left and right from the very beginning, but the only thing obvious is who the victim will be (and where he will be killed – it is called The Murder at the Vicarage, after all).

This was my first Miss Marple mystery, and it was interesting to me how she could be such a secondary character, but still so influential. While the vicar is doing a great deal of investigation on his own, many of his most important discoveries are made with Miss Marple’s guidance, and she is the one who is ultimately able to solve the mystery. She does add an interesting twist, and it is nice to change it up a bit from my standard fare of Christie standalones.

A fun and engaging mystery, but really, most of Agatha Christie’s are.

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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.

Older Entries Newer Entries

Devourer of Books

Being Lara by Lola Jaye – Book Review

Divergent by Veronica Roth – Book Review

Parents Need to Eat Too by Debbie Koenig – Book Review

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey – Book Review

Crooked House by Agatha Christie

The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie

The Night Before Christmas – Saturday Story Spotlight

Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire

Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making by John Curran – Book Review

The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie – Book Review

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