Author: booknutgirls

booknutgirls http://thebooknutdotcom.wordpress.com I read. I blog. I sell books. I chauffeur my kids. What more do you need to know?

A Man Called Ove

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by Fredrik Backman
First sentence:”Ove is fifty-nine.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There’s swearing, including some f-bombs. It’s in the adult fiction section of the bookstore.

Ove’s beloved wife died six months ago. And he’s been at a loss ever since. He’s gone to work, but since he was terminated, he’s really lost all purpose. So, he’s decided to kill himself. That is, until his new neighbors — Parvanah and her husband and children — decide to nose their way into Ove’s life.

It’s a simple plot, but it’s not the plot that makes this this book a good one. I have one HUGE quibble with it though: Ove is NOT fifty-nine. I know it says that in the first sentence, but he doesn’t act like a 59-year-old. he acts like mt grandpa did when he was 85 or so. So, once I aged Ove up about 20 years in mt mind, I was able to sit back and enjoy the story. I loved Parvanah, and her big heart and stubborn refusal to leave Ove alone. Ove reminded me of my grandpa, and so I knew there was a good heart under his crusty exterior, but I enjoyed the unfolding of the story, and the way those in his life included him. It was heart-warming and a lovely reminder that there are good people out there.

A very good story.

Audiobook: Paddle Your Own Canoe

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by Nick Offerman
Read by the author
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: Oh, this is sweary. Lots and lots of all stripes and shades, including many f-bombs. He admits he swears like a sailor. Also, he’s pretty frank about sex. It’s in the humor section of the bookstore.

After finishing Good Clean Fun, I thought I’d branch out and read something more narrative from Offerman, especially since I really enjoyed listening to him read. So, I started with his first book, which (as was eventually revealed) was born out of his standup (“humorist”) routine, American Ham.  It’s basically a memoir of his growing up in a small Illinois town, doing theater in Chicago, moving to LA and meeting his wife, and just how he “made it”. The short answer? A lot of hard work and a little bit of luck. And some good teachers.

It was interesting to listen to; Offerman is a delightful reader (and has a great laugh), and so I was thoroughly entertained. I suppose I expected something more… useful… from a book with the subtitle “One Man’s Fundamentals for Delicious Living”, but mostly it was just entertaining. He did, in the last chapter, have some good advice for anyone who’s auditioning in the acting business, which I shared with C. But other than that, this was just fun.

And that’s not a bad thing at all.

Real Friends

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by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham
First sentence:
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: It’s a pretty frank look at friendship and anxiety, and there are some uncomfortable parts. That said, it’s pretty great for 4-6th graders. It’s in the middle grade graphic novel section of the bookstore.

I knew, before I even read this, that this was going to be good. It’s Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham, after all. It’s not that they can do no wrong, just varying shades of right.

So, even though this is Shannon’s story (of sorts) of her elementary school years, of trying to figure out friendships and make a space for her in this world, of the ups and downs of anxiety and bullying (both an older sister who was somewhat abusive and with girls at school), this is a story for everyone, really. As the oldest in the family, I found myself focusing in on the older sister character, wondering how my younger siblings saw me. The mother in me wanted to give Shannon a hug and protect her from the awful, even though I know that I can’t. And, yeah, I cried.

Part of the reason I read this (I would have anyway!) is because I had school visits (and a small author event) scheduled with Shannon and LeUyen. And at the small author luncheon, they said something interesting: how this story, maybe because it’s so specific to Shannon, is universal. LeUyen found herself in it, even though her family were Vietnamese immigrants in California and not white Mormons in Utah. And there is a lot of truth to that. Shannon also mentioned that there’s a built-in happy ending: she, obviously, has turned out okay. She is happy, she is healthy, she has friends and a successful career. And, she said, that’s a message of hope to kids: you can, in fact, make it through.

I’ve passed it on to K, who loved it. And to C, who has been going through a rough patch of her own. And I do want to give this to every 4-6th grader I know.

As an aside: Shannon and LeUyen are as fantastic and delightful as I thought they would be.  It was wonderful being able to share them with kids and adults here.

First Sunday Daughter Reviews: May 2017

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April got away from me. No excuses. It was just one of those months that fell into the black hole. However, people have been reading….

C decided, a bit ago, that she needed to reread Percy Jackson. She worked her way through the first series (she said she was a bit afraid at how violent Percy was as as 13 year old! And that Titan’s Curse was a LOT more angsty than she remembered) and is nearly done with the second.

This one has been the biggest surprise. Maybe it’s because M and A have dogged on it for YEARS (it being the weakest in the series), and maybe it’s because C just skipped it the first time around (because of M and A’s bad opinion), but she’s rather enjoyed the book. She says it’s not the best book she’s ever read, but that it’s not as awful as her sisters have made it out to be.

A, of course, is already done with the newest Rick Riordan (yes, we do love him around here).

Since I’m a no spoiler sort of person, all I’m letting her tell me is that it’s good.

And K has had a report to do on King Arthur for the school wax museum, so she’s been reading a LOT of books on the legends. She’s become quite a font of knowledge about King Arthur. This one was the most useful, I think:

She’s really enjoyed learning more about him.

What are your kids reading?

A Conjuring of Light

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by V. E. Schwab
First sentence: “Delilah Bard – always a thief, recently a magician, and one day, hopefully, a pirate — was running as fast as she could.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: A Darker Shade of Magic, A Gathering of Shadows
Content: Swearing (including f-bombs) and violence mostly. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Spoilers for the other two, obviously.

When I finished the second book, I told one of my co-workers, who is also in love with this series, that I wasn’t as happy with the second book. But, I said, it’s a middle book in a trilogy. I bet (I hope!) the third will be great.

And it is.

One of the Antari (those are blood magicians, of which there are only three… now…), Holland, has unleashed a bit of sentient magic on the Londons. It came from Black London (and it’s Kell’s fault as well, thinking Holland was dead and pushing him into Black London), and it’s possessed Holland and taken over White London. And now it — Osaran is its name — has it’s sights on Red London. And maybe even Gray. And it’s up to Kell, Lilah, Rhy, and everyone, really, to stop it. If it CAN be stopped.

It’s a long book — 600 pages — but it flies by, and Schwab spares no one. It’s vicious and emotional and heartbreaking and exciting. It’s just a sweeping epic story, (mostly) well-told, and definitely one I’d recommend.

 

The Light We Lost

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by Jill Santopolo
First sentence: “We’ve known each other for almost half our lives.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Release date: May 9, 2017
Content: There’s a lot of swearing, including a bunch of f-bombs. Plus sexytimes, though tasteful. It’s in the adult fiction section of the bookstore.

When she was 21, on 9/11, Lucy met the person she thought would be her True Love. Her one and only. The person she would spend the rest of her life with. And for a while, she and Gabe were happy. They were together, enjoying each other, being in love. And then their interests diverged: Lucy was working on a children’s TV show based in New York, and Gabe got a job with the Associated Press to travel the world into war zones and take pictures. And suddenly, their lives weren’t headed in the same direction.

Lucy was heartbroken.

But then she met Darren, someone who she realized she could build a life with. She’s moved on. Until, Gabe shows up again in her life. And something drastic happens, and she has to make a life-altering decision.

I’ve had a difficult time writing this one. Partially because it left me without words. It’s well-written, but it’s not brilliant, partially because it’s cut through with New York-ness, which wore on me after a bit. It does hit all my buttons, and Santopolo does know how to write about heartbreak and loss and captured the excitement of first love, and how difficult it is to let that go.

But even so, it’s not something that will stay with me.

Monthly Round-Up: April 2017

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So, I know it doesn’t look like it when you see the books below, but my reading actually ground to  a halt for a bit this month. (Most of these were read in March, believe it or not.) Which means, next month’s posting may be kind of light. We’ll see. I pulled an old favorite off the shelf a week or so ago and am slowly working through it, and I read the third in a series that I love, so maybe I can find books to read.

That said, my favorite last month (no surprise here):


Strange the Dreamer

M had some valid criticisms of it, but overall, I thought it was gorgeous.

Middle Grade:

Amina’s Voice
Funny Girl
The Star Thief

YA:

The Thief (reread)
Thick as Thieves
I Shall Wear Midnight (reread)

Graphic Novel:


5 Worlds: The Sand Warrior

Non-Fiction:

Good Clean Fun (audio)

Adult:

Small Gods
Homegoing

What was your favorite this month?

5 Worlds: The Sand Warrior

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by Mark Siegel, Alexis Siegel, Xanthe Bouma, Matt Rockefeller, Boya Sun
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Release date: May 2, 2017
Content: There’s some intense action moments. It will be in the middle grade graphic novel section of the bookstore.

This came into the store, and I passed it off to K, since she’s the graphic novel aficionado in the house. She took it, read it, and came home raving about it. Made me sit down and read it (while she read it again over my shoulder!) pretty much right then.

And she’s right: this one’s a winner.

Oona is a sand dancer on one of the five worlds. She’s learning to control the sands, and perhaps see the Chosen One, the one who will fill the prophecy and light the beacons. (Though lighting the beacons is a source of contention: not everyone in the worlds thinks that will save the dying worlds…) Oona’s not a star student by any means; she finds she can’t control the sands. And so when Oona receives a letter from her sister who left a year earlier, she decides, on the eve of Beacon Day (when they choose the Chosen One), to ditch everything and see her sister.

And that’s where the adventure starts. Through a series of accidents, she meets An Tzu, a boy from the slums who has a knack for getting out of tough situations and Jax Amboy, a famous starball player who has a couple  of secrets. Together, the three of them set out to figure out the prophecy and find someone to light the beacons.

That doesn’t do it justice, really. It’s fun, it’s packed full of suspense and adventure, and I love the mythology and lore that the authors have created. I also really liked the different worlds and creatures they’ve created. It’s a inventive story while retaining a sense of familiarity (I mean, how many times have we read a Chosen One story, after all?).

It’s really one of the best graphic novels I’ve read in a while, though.

Thick as Thieves

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thickasthievesby Megan Whalen Turner
First sentence: “It was midday and the passageway quiet and cool.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia, A Conspiracy of Kings
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: It’s a bit slow, and the main character is an adult. There is also some (not very graphic) violence. It will be in the YA section ( grades 6-8) of the bookstore.

Turner writes in the introduction to the ARC that you really don’t have to read the other books in the series in order to enjoy this one. It does help, of course, but this one holds its own on its own. And she’s right: it’s been years since I’ve visited these characters, and it didn’t matter that I can’t quite remember exactly what The Thief was about. (Which means I need to reread it.)

Kamet is a slave of one of the high officials in the Mede empire. He’s happy, pretty much, because he’s his master’s right  hand man, which means he has a certain amount of privilege and power. And then, in the course of a single day he is offered freedom from a strange Attolian soldiear, and he is told that his master was poisoned. He doesn’t want to be blamed (and killed) for the murder, so he takes the Attolian up on his offer and leaves.

Most of the book is Kamet and “the Attolian” (you’re not given a name until the end, but if you’ve read the others, you’ll guess who it is) making their escape. It’s not a straightforward thing: they have difficulties, they’re chased by the emperor’s guard, they meet friends and foes alike. It’s not a fast book, it’s not an intense book, but it is an intriguing journey, and the developing friendship between Kamet (who is not always the most reliable narrator) is a delight.

There are some nice twists at the end as well, ones I kind of saw coming but was still delighted by. And Turner helpfully left the door open for another book. Which is always good, because I’ll happily visit this world anytime she decides to set a story there.