The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle

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by Christopher Healy
ages: 8+
First sentence: “A true hero plays the flute.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom

When we last left our Fair Heroes, they had just vanquished the witch and put the Bandit King into his place. Back home, though, everything is not all roses. Liam is still engaged to Briar, but he’d rather NOT marry her. Ella and Frederic are still engaged, but he’s quite concerned about the time she spends with Liam. Gustav is hiding from Rapunzel. It seems the only people who are happy are Snow and Duncan, who is currently writing the Hero’s Guide to Being a Hero. And even the popularity of the League of Princes, after about 15 minutes of (bard) fame, is waning.

What they need is a new adventure. That comes in the form of Briar Rose, determined to Have What She Wants. Specifically: Liam. She also has this diabolical plan to conquer and rule ALL of the thirteen kingdoms, and is using the League as a means to her ends. Of course she’s not the only “bad guy”: the Bandit King is back, as King of Rauberia and there’s an even badder guy in town: the Warlord of Dar. How will the League of Princes handle this?

Well, much like they do in the first book: with of silliness, laughs, luck, and heart. Yeah, sure, this is more of the same as the first book, but why mess with a good thing? I loved the characters (A has a soft spot for Duncan), and the situations were so over-the-top it was endearing rather than off-putting. The chapter titles were ridiculous, as were the “book” quotes underneath. (My favorite? “There is no I in League of Princes.”) I loved how the girls held their own with the guys, and how everyone (even Frederic!) found their strengths and used them to help them achieve their ends. It really was a team effort, and I appreciated that. Oh, and I should give a brief but heartfelt nod to the illustrations, which really are delightful.

The story’s not done, either. While the story wrapped up (yay!), Healy left us with a bit of a cliffhanger, which only serves to make me eager for the next installment of the League of Princes.

(And, as a quick follow up to my concern: I do think that this one is something both boys and girls are reading. Which makes me very happy.)

City of Glass

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by Cassandra Clare
ages: 14+
First sentence: “The cold snap of the previous week was over; the sun was shining brightly as Clary hurried across Luke’s dusty front yard, the hood of her jacket up to keep her hair from blowing across her face.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: City of Bones, City of Ashes

There will be spoilers for the first two books in the series. And possible for this one. So: if you haven’t read this trilogy, do. Know this: it’s smart, it’s fun, this one had awesome twists (even if I called one), and came to an acceptable conclusion.

We last left the little group recuperating after blowing up Valentine’s ship. They finally convinced the Clave that Valentine is a force to be reckoned with, especially now that he has both the Mortal Cup and the Mortal Sword. All that’s left is the glass, and he will be able to raise the angel Raziel.

As a result, Jace, the Weylands, and Clary are going to Alicante – the city of the Shadowhunters. The Weylands and Jace to meet with the Clave; Clary to find Ragnor Fell, who may have the key to waking her mother.

Of course, Jace pulls his “for your protection” move (infuriating! Seriously. Clary’s impulsive and headstrong, but STOP trying to protect her!) and leaves for Alicante without Clary. And of course, she has to be impulsive and follow. Once there, though, things get complicated. They meet a cousin of a friend of the Weylands, Sebastian, who ends up playing a major role, in spite of just being introduced. (Yes, I called this twist.)

While I enjoyed the book overall, it wasn’t perfect. Aside from Jace being infuriating (when is he not, though?), it kind of frustrated me that Clary’s mom just showed up halfway through the book. Sure, Clary got what was needed to wake her mom from the coma, but I kind of expected something… more …. satisfying. That she just showed up at one point and started acting like Jocelyn From Before was kind of anti-climatic. I know it’s not Jocelyn’s story, but I had hoped for something more dramatic there. And I kind of felt that Clare copped out with the deaths; she killed off a minor character, rather than going for the jugular and offing someone we actually cared about. Understandable, but wimpy.

There were parts I liked, mostly toward the end. In fact, I think I liked the whole end. There was enough tension there to make things intense, and both Isabelle and Clary got to shine in their own ways. And the ending was satisfying without wrapping everything up in a neat little bow.

I’m glad I finally got around to reading these.

State of the TBR PIle 17: July 2013

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I skipped last month (and I had to remember why: the 48 Hour Book Challenge!), but my TBR pile is still all sorts of out of control. No surprise there.

The Silver Star, by Jeannette Walls (actually, this one is no longer on my pile. I read it yesterday. Review forthcoming.)
Dodger, by Terry Pratchett (my choice for one of my book groups)
Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, by Laurie Viera Regler (I wanted to reread all the Jane Austen books this year.  I’ve read two. I wonder if reading this one will count?)
The Sasquatch Escape, by Suzanne Selfors (because I’ve liked all of Selfors’ other books)
The Dude and the Zen Master, by Jeff Bridges and Bernie Glassman (so the title of this one appealed to me.)
The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop, by Kate Saunders (actually, this one isn’t on my pile anymore, either….)
Wild Awake, by Hilary T. Smith (I really like the cover.)
Winger, by Andrew Smith (I read somewhere that this guy should be sitting at the “John Green table”. That’s enough for me.)
The Immortal Von B, by M. Scott Carter (a manager asked me to read this one. A couple months ago, actually. I’ve been procrastinating.)
Invisibility, by Andrea Cremer and David Levithan (I’m curious. Mostly because we got a bunch in, and it hasn’t sold. At all.)
Proxy, by Alex London (It seemed like an interesting — if dystopian; I’m getting tired of those — premise)
Cooked, by Michael Pollan (Hmmmm…. I ought to get to this sooner rather than later.)

What’s on your TBR pile?

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library

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by Christ Grabenstein
ages: 10+ (or a very bookish 9-year-old)
First sentence: “This is how Kyle Keeley got grounded for a week.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Ever since I turned the last page of this book, part of me has just wanted to sit down and write this: “What you’d get if you crossed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with The Westing Game and threw in a bunch of book references. Not perfect, but really good.”

That really does sum it up. But I suppose you want a plot, yes?

Mr. Lemoncello, of the title fame,  is world-renowned, slightly eccentric, game maker. (Both of the board and electronic kind). He’s one of those self-made billionaires who want to give back to the community, which in this case, is Alexandriaville, Ohio (another one of those “everywhere” states, like Kansas). The community’s library closed down 12 years ago, so some kids have gone their entire lives without a library (which really is sad). Mr. Lemoncello’s designed and paid for a new state-of-the-art (read: really cool technology integrated with the books; one of my favorite things was the floating elevator/ladder thing in the fiction section) library. And made a contest out of the grand opening.

Kyle Keeley is a seventh grader in Alexandriaville, and a huge fan of Mr. Lemoncello. So, of course he had to get in to the contest (which is only open to seventh graders). And he does, along with 11 other 12-year-olds. The contest itself is twofold: the first part is to get in. The second part — and the bulk of the book — is getting out. There is a puzzle that the contestants need to solve in order to get out, and the winner gets something… big.

This is where those comparisons I mentioned at first come in. The characters are very Charlie-esque, fitting into their stereotypes (Sierra as the Bookish Girl, Andrew as the Jerk, Charles as the Entitled One, Kyle as Charlie, and so on) in order for the story to unfold as it should. I would complain about the use of stereotypes, but it worked in this setting. I rooted for the kids I was supposed to and cheered when the ones I loathed got booted.

But the GAME. The game was clever and fun and fantastic. I tried to figure it out as I went along, but I’m not as observant as some readers, and so didn’t get it before the characters did. No matter: I enjoyed being along for the ride. And the LIBRARY — with it’s holo windows on the ceiling and it’s holographic displays– is a 21st century dream. I so want someone to build this.

And the book references were amazing. I’m sure I didn’t get them all, but the ones that I did get, I loved. It’s the perfect mix for me: bookish, fun, and whimsical.

I just hope there are kids out there who will enjoy it as much as I do.

Mama Makes Up Her Mind

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And Other Dangers of Southern Living

by Bailey White

ages: adult
First sentence: “The other day Mama made up her mind she wanted some smoked mullet.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
This one, generally speaking, has everything I want in a book: short, personal essays with Southern flavor. But, perhaps for the same problem I have with David Sedaris, I didn’t find it funny.
I  wanted to: Bailey White, first grade teacher and unmarried woman living with her eccentric mother, is a good writer, and the stories she tells were pretty outrageous. The sort of rural crazy that you really only see down South. But, while I enjoyed some of the stories the — the bit about the wildflower garden was my favorite, as was her stories about cleaning out her mother’s house — I never really laughed.
Maybe I was expecting too much, hoping for hilarious when all I got was amusing. I’m not sorry I read it, but it’s also not something I’d want to read again. 

Interworld

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by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves
ages: 11+ (It’s actually upper MG)
First sentence: “Once I got lost in my own house.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy is a publisher complimentary copy for my bookstore 6-8th grade book group.

Joey Harker is pretty much your average every-day boring tenth grader. Nothing special. Until one day, he’s out on a field trip with his social studies class (quick aside: no 10th grader has social studies, do they??), and he finds himself in a different… world. Fighting for his life, though he has no idea what was going on.

It’s a desperate fight, and the man sent to find Joey — Jay– doesn’t fare well. However, he does explain a couple of things: the Earth is only one of millions of possible earths, all along a continuum that spans from highly scientific to highly magical. There are two entities — HEX and the Binary who are vying for domination and control of all the earths. Joey, and all the alternate versions of himself, have banded together to form Interworld: they walk between worlds and attempt to stop the nefarious powers from universe domination.

I picked this one for the book group partially because I thought the idea had merit. And I wanted to attract some boys to the group. I don’t know if the second one worked (yet), but the first one, well… let’s just say the idea was a good one. But something was lost in the execution: I didn’t connect with Joey, or I didn’t really care about the fate of the worlds. And the bad guys — HEX– were kind of laughable caricatures. And definitely posers. I didn’t care for the Old Man — the head of Interworld — and his arbitrary methods with Joey (that whole memory-erasing bit didn’t make much sense). And aside from the creative variations of  “Joey”, I didn’t particularly like Joey’s team.

And the lesson learned here? A good idea does not a good book make.

First Sunday Daughter Reviews: July 2013

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And now, for an update on the girls’ summer reading….

M must miss school…. she picked up Paradise Lost, by John Milton. She says it’s because of (you guessed it) Supernatural, but has found that she’s really enjoying it. She’s even taking notes and doing research about it. I’ve never read it, and now I kind of want to tackle the poem as well.

C read Wintergirls, and said it was very creepy and more than slightly disturbing. Mostly because she could never understand why a person would want to be anorexic after their best friend died of the same disease. As she said,”Um, NO.”

A got “brave” and read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. She was affected most by (spoilers!) Hedwig’s death, but there were a lot of feels that M had to help A process. She did finish it, devouring both movies in one afternoon. Her verdict? “It was the most horrible good book I’ve ever read.”

After finishing The Lightning Thief, K dove headlong into The Sea of Monsters (I discovered she’s having her dad read these to her, because she doesn’t want to be left out of the movie experience in August). She loved Tyson, the chariot races, and the whole ending. They’re planning on starting The Titan’s Curse tonight.

They’re also participating in the summer reading program at the library this year. K’s already read 22 books (nominally out loud to an adult), finishing her goal. A and K both had 12 chapter books as a goal, and are nearly there (though A insists that Deathly Hallows should count for two!). I’m so glad our library has a good summer reading program to help keep them reading!

Wednesdays in the Tower

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by Jessica Day George

ages: 9+
First sentence: “There are a lot of things that can hatch out of an egg.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: Tuesdays at the Castle
Our fair heroine Celie has adjusted back to regular life after the events of the last summer, when she was forced to defend her castle against evil forces. She’s almost finished her almanac of the castle, which is something that makes her feel extremely proud. And she thinks she’s pretty much figured out all the castle secrets. Then, one Wednesday — a day when the Castle isn’t supposed to change — the Castle deposits a huge egg in a tower off of Celie’s room. And in the egg? A baby griffin.
That starts a chain of events that leads Celie (and her family) into a discovery of the true nature of the Castle. 
This is one of the most delightful follow ups to one of the most delightful books. I still adore Celie and her family (it’s not often you get a good family in a kids’ book). And I love how George managed to work both with the good family and around it. I thoroughly enjoy Celie as a heroine, as well, mostly because she’s not out kicking butt or saving the world, but rather just solving problems and defending the things that mean the most to her. 
And the griffin is pretty dang cute, too. 
It does end on a wee bit of a cliff hanger, which makes me wonder two things: 1) where the story will go next, and 2) if the title will be Thursdays in/at something….
I’m looking forward to it. 

Audiobook: Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls

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by David Sedaris
read by the author
ages: adult
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

A long, long time ago my frend Wendy dragged me (literally; I had no idea what was going on) to see David Sedaris live. I had a blast; he was hilarious, and I couldn’t wait to read some of his writing.

Except. I didn’t laugh when I read his essays. Which lead me to believe one thing: Sedaris is better when he reads his writing than when I do.

And I was right.

I picked up the audio book of his latest group of essays, and I actually found them funny. Some more so (Obama!!!!! or The Cold Case) than others (the stories on the last disc were pretty weird; though there’s satire about the “slippery slope” of having gay marriage legalized that’s pretty topical). I think I laughed the hardest on the ones where he recorded before a live audience; something about other people laughing made me laugh as well.

I don’t really have much else to say about this one. It’s quintessential Sedaris, with his trademark irony and dead-pan humor. Which means, if you like that kind of thing, you’ll like this. I’d just recommend listening to it.

Blankets

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by Craig Thompson
ages: adult
First sentence: “When we were young, my little brother Phil and I shared the same bed.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

I’ve been curious about this one for quite some time. Possibly because I enjoyed Persepolis quite a bit, and this is a similar idea: a graphic novel memoir (even though this one says that it’s fictionalized). It’s basically the story of Thompson’s
childhood and his first love.

I’ve been telling myself that I’ve been wanting to read it just to see what the fuss is about.

And…

I was kind of underwhelmed. While there were elements I did like — like Thmpson’s forced Christianity, that he eventually left; and I appreciated that the True Love didn’t last — mostly I was left unsatisfied in the end. Perhaps it was the fault of the medium, but I didn’t feel connected to anything that was going on; I was more a distant observer of events.  Which means: while it was enjoyable, it lacked the power I wanted from it. (Perhaps, also, it was a case of too high expectations.)

And even though I enjoyed the artwork — it was quite lovely in spots, and I thought it served the story well — it wasn’t enough for me to be truly enthusiastic about the story.

Which is kind of too bad.