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?

Sisters Grimm: The Problem Child

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I have to admit: this series is losing a bit of its charm for me. Sure, C’s still enjoying it (and Hubby’s even been listening in), but I’m feeling like it’s getting a bit stale: the same jokes, the same cuteness, the same story. It’s suffering from the “series syndrome”: Buckley’s trying to give someone who picks up this book enough back story so the book makes sense, but in the process completely bores those of us who’ve read books one and two. I skipped paragraphs, pages even, of information that we already knew (C would say, “We know that, already. Skip it.”).

But… the story picked up about two-thirds of the way through. When Sabrina and their newly “found” Uncle Jake finally (mostly) give up whining and complaining and actually start doing something: finding the pieces of the Vorpal Blade so they can kill the Jabberwocky, but more importantly, cut a hole in the barrier so they can take Puck to the faeries because he got his wings ripped off by the Jabberwocky while he was trying to save the Grimm sisters. (Whew.) The taking Puck to the faeries is the fourth book, but the adventures they had to put the Vorpal Blade together (okay, I did like the way Buckley utilized Lewis Carrol in this book) were fun. We met the not-so-Little Mermaid, Baba Yaga and figured out who The Blue Fairy is (from Pinocchio; she’s the most powerful Everafter because she has the power to give life). The ending was even okay, mostly because while it was a bit of a cliff-hanger, it wasn’t nearly as suspenseful or hate-inducing as the last two books.

So, we’re going to keep plugging on with the series (can’t give up in the middle). And I’m hoping that the next two books make me like the series as much as I did in the beginning.

Fueling an Old Interest

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I used to say that I had an abiding love and passion for anything Arthurian. I do, still, I think, but I haven’t really given into the pleasure that is a well-written Arthurian tale for quite a while. (Save Song of the Sparrow, which I really enjoyed.) I’m going to re-read Mary Stewart’s Merlin trilogy for the Once Upon a Time Challenge (which I haven’t forgotten; I just haven’t read anything yet…) but then Becky came up with a whole challenge devoted to Arthur and I figured I could come up with 6 books that I’d like to read.

Basic rules: read 6-12 books about Arthur (doesn’t matter what they are; fiction, non-fiction, YA and adult all acceptable) between April 2008 and May 2009. Easy peasy.

I think I’m going to count the Mary Stewart trilogy (Becky said it can count as three books…) — The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills and The Last Enchantment — and either T.A. Barron’s Great Tree of Avalon series (I liked the Merlin series well enough), or Rosemary Sutcliff’s trilogy: The Sword and the Circle, The Light Beyond the Forest, and Road to Camlann. If I’m really feeling ambitious, maybe I’ll even find a translation of Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory and read that. I’ve always kind of felt like I can’t really call myself an Arthurian devotee without having read it…

Sword of the Rightful King, Jane Yolen
Grail Prince, Nancy McKenzie
The Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights, John Steinbeck

The Willoughbys

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This is one book, I think, that you’ll either really really love… or just not get. It’s by Lois Lowry, known more for her thought-provoking Newbery winners, and I think many people just won’t know what to do with it. However, I am solidly in the former category: I grinned the whole way through, gratefully in on the joke (or parody), eating up the snide remarks and sarcasm. It’s like Lemony Snicket’s books, but better. Much better.

I’d write a long review myself, but Fuse #8 and Sarah Miller both wrote such eloquent reviews (and I can’t think of anything else to say that would add much), I think I’ll send you over there instead. Read them, be entertained, pick up the book. You won’t be sorry.

Oh, and I’m thinking that this one would make a fabulous read-aloud. I’m going to foist it upon C right after we finish our latest Sisters Grimm. Hopefully, she’ll love it as much as I did.

(Just for the record: because this is a Cybils nominee, I’ve been asked to make sure y’all know this is my opinion only, and not that of the panel. Thank you.)

Dairy Queen: A Novel

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This book has been flying around the kidlit blogs for a long time with statements along the lines of: if you haven’t read Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s Dairy Queen then you MUST go read it NOW.

Add my voice to the throng. You must go read this now. (Or, as soon as possible.)

D.J. Schwenk, from Red Bend, Wisconsin, is many things: 15 (almost 16), single-handily holding down/running the family dairy farm, from a family who loves and lives for football, someone who flunked English, and someone who’s just trying to figure life out. So, when the coach of the Hawley High team (you have to understand that Red Bend and Hawley just don’t hate, they loathe each other) asks D.J. if she’d train the quarterback, Brian Nelson, she just about flips. But… she says yes. And he comes. And they realize it’s a good thing. Which opens up a huge can of worms (kind of like Pandora), and turns D.J.’s summer into one of the worst (and best) ones she’s ever had.

It’s not a complicated book, but it’s got sass. I loved the tone of the book, and because I loved the way it was written, I loved D.J. There is a intimacy to it: because it’s D.J.’s words, thoughts and feelings, you get the flavor of D.J. through her faults and worries, but also you glimpse her strengths, hopes and accomplishments. I was constantly laughing at her spot-on observations, especially about cows and people, and she had me spellbound with her storytelling. She’s got a normal, yet somehow messed up, family and she’s just trying to make sense of her place in it (what 16-year-old isn’t?) and in high school. Even though it’s got a bit of buildingsroman in it — D.J. trying to figure out how to grow up and make sense of the world and her desires — it never feels maudlin. Perhaps because it’s a bit chatty, for a novel, but I found it forgiveable, because I loved D.J.’s voice and passion so much.

It’s also a love song to football. Everyone in D.J.’s family has a passion for playing and living the game, and it came through loud and clear: football was not just a game, it was a way of life. I was a bit of a fan back before I married a guy who didn’t know a quarterback from a halfback, and I still follow “my” team through the newspapers, though I don’t watch much any more. (They’re not my team, but how about those Jayhawks?!) I felt like this book was accessible and enjoyable to those who know football, but it also is one that anyone who has a passion for anything could also relate to. D.J. has an immense love — passion — for the game, and that was only strengthened by her love for her family — especially her father and older brothers.

Really, my only complaint about the book was the cover. I mean cows with tiaras are okay enough, but someone must not have read the book before doing that. The paperback cover has it better:

And there you have it: a girl, a boy, a summer, a game and a really great book.

Djinn in the Nightengale’s Eye

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A couple years ago, when I read Possession (also by A. S. Byatt), my friend Julie recommended this collection of fairy stories, saying that I would LOVE it. She’s almost right: I liked it, but it fell short of LOVE. (Sorry, Julie.)

I really liked the first three stories: “The Glass Coffin”, which was a Snow White-esque story with a tailor instead of a prince waking up the imprisoned princess; “Gode’s Story,” a somewhat complex story about a man who wanted a woman, cursed her to wait for him, dumped her when she became haunted, married another and then became haunted when the first woman killed herself; and, my favorite,”The Story of the Eldest Princess,” where she goes off on a quest, but because she’s read so many stories, ends up opting out of the whole quest thing and instead hooks up with an old healer woman.

The other two stories — “Dragon’s Breath” and the title one — were okay, but not nearly as enjoyable. My complaints with Djinn, especially, are similar to the ones I had about Possession: too much extra stuff, but not enough plot. When it finally got around to the plot, I really enjoyed it: what would you do if you had access to a personal djinn? (And, what is it that a woman most desires? They never answer that one.)

It really was a collection of stories about stories. Sometimes, it worked — like in “The Eldest Princess”; sometimes, not so much, like in “Dragon’s Breath”. But when it worked, it worked really well, and I was captivated by the writing — Byatt is a really descriptive writer; I just wish she’d be a tighter writer. Perhaps that’s why the shorter stories appealed to me more: the writing was tighter, the stories more linear and less circular. They worked better for me.

Maybe sometimes I do “get” short stories. Funny.

48 Hour Book Challenge

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I’ve been wanting to do this for two years. (I think I caught the tail end of the first one, and I wanted to do it last year, but my in-laws were in town, and it wouldn’t have been fair to them if I spent the weekend they were here reading…) Anyway, I think — I hope — that there’s nothing going on that weekend, and I’d love to spend it reading! Here are the rules:

  1. The weekend is June 6–8, 2008. Read and blog for any 48-hour period within the Friday-to-Monday-morning window. Start no sooner than 7:00 a.m. on Friday the sixth and end no later than 7:00 a.m. Monday. So, go from 7:00 p.m. Friday to 7:00 p.m. on Sunday… or maybe 7:00 a.m. Saturday to 7:00 a.m. Monday works better for you. But the 48 hours do need to be in a row.

  2. The books should be about fifth-grade level and up. Adult books are fine, especially if any adult book bloggers want to play. If you are generally a picture book blogger, consider this a good time to get caught up on all those wonderful books you’ve been hearing about. No graphic novels. I’m not trying to discriminate, I’m just trying to make sure that the number of books and page counts mean the same thing to everyone.

  3. It’s your call as to how much you want to put into it. If you want to skip sleep and showers to do this, go for it. If you want to be a bit more laid back, fine. But you have to put something into it or it’s not a challenge.

  4. The length of the reviews are not an issue. You can write a sentence, paragraph, or a full-length review. The time spend reviewing counts in your total time.

  5. For promotion/solidarity purposes, let your readers know when you are starting the challenge with a specific entry on that day. Write your final summary on Monday, and for one day, we’ll all be on the same page, so to speak.

  6. Your final summary needs to clearly include the number of books read, the approximate hours you spent reading/reviewing, and any other comments you want to make on the experience. It needs to be posted no later than noon on Monday, June 9th.

  7. Sign up in today’s comments. You’re welcome to post the challenge on your site. Point them to today’s post to sign up. On Friday, June 6, I’ll have a starting-line post where you can sign in to say you’re officially starting the challenge.

Head over to Mother Reader to sign up. Hope to see you there!

The Life and Crimes of Bernetta Wallflower

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This one — by Lisa Graff, whose group blog, The Longstockings, I’ve followed for a while — had me on the edge of my seat. Not really out of suspense, though; it was mostly because I was anxious. Anxious for Bernetta, anxious because the story is pretty over-the-top, anxious because the situations made me anxious. I had to put down the book every once in a while and just get up and walk around (or go do something else), just so I could get away from the story. But I would find myself thinking about it, almost instantly, and end up back in a chair with the book until I got too anxious again.

I’m not even sure if anxious is the right word. Concerned? Worried? Stressed? Nope… it’s anxious.

The plot is simple: Bernetta Wallflower, at the end of her sixth-grade year, is framed by her ex-best friend Ashley, for running a school-wide cheating ring. Bernetta is grounded (for life or until her tonsils grow back), suspended, and has her scholarship to Mt. Olive private school revoked. Which means, she has the summer to come up with the tuition: $9000. It seems impossible until she meets Gabe, who uses Bernetta’s talent for doing magic tricks to help with his plan to “raise” money.

In spite of my anxiousness, I really liked this book. It was very funny — never talking down, always smart — and the while the plot is way over-the-top (I mean really, is this even plausible? Really?), I was happy to go along for the ride. Bernetta is a charming character, one that I could easily identify (who hasn’t been framed for something they didn’t do, even if it isn’t a cheating ring?) and sympathize with. I loved her family — including her very nice older sister Elsa to her silly younger brother Colin — and even enjoyed the relationship Bernetta formed with Gabe.

And even the ending fit the book, which I wasn’t expecting. I was expecting either a grand set up with a grand fall, or something more out of the movies. What I got was a simple, effective ending that was true to Bernetta’s character without losing anything from the tone of the book. Graff found a way to make the whole con business just reasonable enough without making it too appealing, which isn’t an easy task.

Now, if I could just shake the anxious feeling….

(Just for the record: because this is a Cybils nominee, I’ve been asked to make sure y’all know this is my opinion only, and not that of the panel. Thank you.)

Interpreter of Maladies

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I was supposed to read Mistress for my last Expanding Horizons Challenge book. But I’ve had it on hold at the library for two months, and I just don’t think it’s coming (mostly because it’s currently listed as in the display case). So, I cast about looking for a last book to fill the Indian requirement, and my friend Sarah lent me this book.

For those of you (like me) not in the know: it’s a series of short stories written by Jhumpa Lahiri, an Indian-American. The stories feature people in various situations — dealing with death, with affairs, with tourists, with life — and places. Some are in America, some in India, some in England. One of the things that bothered me is that I kept trying to come up with some overarching theme, some reason why these stories were supposed to be together in a book. That was foolish of me (I don’t read enough short story collections): each story was meant to stand on it’s own, a little snapshot into the lives of the characters.

On the one hand, I loved this book. The prose is very eloquent (I can see why it won the Pulitzer Prize; it seems to be that sort of book), the images very picturesque. And yet, I felt on some level like it was calculated. It bothered me the same sort of way poetry bothers me — it’s beautiful, but I feel like I’m missing something. It’s like seeing a snapshot of an event versus experiencing the whole event. And, when I read at least, I often prefer the whole event to a little slice. I felt like I wanted more, needed more, and just when it was getting interesting, the story ended. That’s not to say I didn’t like the stories. “Mrs. Sen’s” was a very touching look at being an immigrant and adjusting to a new life in a new country. “This Blessed House” was amusing — a newly married couple kept finding Christian iconography (for lack of a better word) around their newly bought house — and an interesting look at the compromises people have to make when they get married. And, my favorite, ” The Third and Final Continent” was a nice portrait of a man’s immigrant journey and the people he encountered before and after arriving in the U.S. to settle. It’s also a glimpse into what the second immigrant generation loses.

Even though I wasn’t ultimately satisfied by it, it was a good read, something that I’m not sorry to spend my time on. Maybe one of these days, I’ll even “get” it.

The Other Boleyn Girl

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I tried, a few years back (almost exactly), to read this one by Philippa Gregory, to no avail; I had read a couple other fiction books on Anne Boleyn and the Tudors (albeit YA fiction), and I was Tudored out. I went on and enjoyed two others by her, but this one was always lurking in the background; I figured I’d get around to it someday. The release of the movie prompted me to pick it up again. But, 230 pages into it, I realized something: I really don’t like these characters. In fact, I loathe them. I don’t mind naked ambition so much, but combine naked ambition with wantonly using people and loose morals, and you’ve got a bunch of people I’d rather not be reading about.

So, I bailed. Sometime after Mary Boleyn was pushed aside as King Henry VIII’s lover and Anne was squirming her way in, I decided that I’ve had enough of the Boleyn and Howard family. I mean, really: it’s one thing to be an object of the king’s desire, and to have him literally lust after you in front of his wife, the Queen. It’s entirely another to be practically pushed on him by your family (father and uncle specifically) and told to go have sex with Henry because it’s good for the family, while your poor husband (which your family arranged for you to marry in the first place) is shunted to the sidelines. Ugh. And so, since I know how the book ends anyway (everyone knows how the book ends; that’ s not the point), why bother spending time with such disagreeable people?

It’s not Philippa Gregory; as I said, I enjoyed both The Queen’s Fool and The Virgin’s Lover (though I remember liking the former better). Rather, it’s the Tudors, Howards and Boleyns. They were just despicable people (well, in historical fiction, anyway, they’re made out to be despicable people). And I think I’d rather not read about them. (Though I do have to admit, I’m intrigued enough by the time period that I’m rather curious about HBO’s The Tudors. I don’t know if I’ll ever get around to getting the DVDs, though… maybe after I forget how annoying and amoral these people were…)

This does mean, however, that I’m not going to count this one for the Once Upon a Time Challenge. I think I’ll substitute American Gods by Neil Gaiman, instead. I’ve been meaning to read another Gaiman. It’s got to be better than the Tudors, anyway.