Stay by Allie Larkin

Stay by Allie Larkin
320 pages
Published June 2010 by Penguin Group
Source: the publisher and Pump Up Your Books Promotions

Savannah Leone is at a crossroads in her life.  Three years after her mother died of cancer, she is still trying to find a way to live with her grief.  And six years after literally falling head over heels in love with Peter Clarke on her first day of college, Savannah, "Van," is now standing up as the maid of honor at his wedding to her best friend, Janie.  So after the wedding, Van does what any of us would do in this situation - she anesthetizes herself with Kool-Aid and vodka and, inspired by a Rin-Tin-Tin marathon, she orders a German Shepherd puppy.  From Slovakia.  When the puppy arrives, Van finds she's gotten more than she bargained for; her puppy weighs in a 35-lbs already and only understands commands in Slovakian. 

When Van can't get "Joe" to stop tearing through her condominium, she assumes something must be wrong with him so she takes him to the vet.  Who, as it turns out, is one very attractive young vet who is more than willing to help Van learn how to care and train "Joe."

When Peter and Janie get back from their honeymoon, things get complicated.  Peter isn't sure he's cut out to be married and he misses his best friend.  Van isn't sure how she feels about Peter any more and her relationship with Janie is rocky.  When vet Alex catches Van trying to host a party she'd rather not be hosting for the newlyweds when she told him that she was sick, he turns his back on Van.  Finally Van decides it's time to grow up and make some changes.

"You were just overthinking it,"Alex said.  "Sometimes, you need to to let go to get everything to work."

As I so often do in books like this, I had a hard time buying into the instant relationship between Van and Alex.  I know these things have to be a bit rushed for the sake of the length of the book but it just never feels believable to me.  The shenanigans that ensued once Joe arrived were predictable and there were, perhaps, a few too many supporting characters, leaving some of them caricatures.

 I picked up this book expecting light fun but inside of thirty pages Larkin surprised me with the depth of the story.  Van's relationship with her mother and her grief over her mother's death are very touching.  Van's mother worked for Janie's mother, Diane, and Diane is having just as much trouble coming to grips with life without her best friend.  The interplay between Diane and Van is very well written.  Larkin's writing reminds me a lot of Katherine Center's and if you've been following this blog for very long, you know how much I enjoy her sense of humor.

Publisher's Weekly called "Stay" a "cute story, nicely told."  I'd have to say I agree; "Stay" is chick-lit with depth.

The Handmaid's Tale Readalong

This week those of us participating in the read along of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood read Sections XIII through XV and this was a greater than ever proof to me that the movie version of this book should never have been made.  It reminded me of most Stephen King adaptations to the big screen--there's no way to make the horror you feel when you read the book translate to the big screen.

I don't necessarily want a book to end with all of the issues settled and everything tied up neatly with a bow.  On the other hand, not doing that can feel very abrupt, as if the author just got tired of writing.  Atwood does not, by any means, give the reader all of the answers at the end of the book.  But she doesn't leave the reader hanging either; in fact, after all of the sadness and horror of the book, Atwood leaves the reader with the idea that there may be hope for Offred. Curiously, it's when the reader may start to feel better that Offred herself begins to feel badly about her actions and responses.  She begins to feel that she's the one committing a betrayal. 

If you haven't already read this book, read it.  Now more than ever, I think it's a really important piece of work that will make the reader think about the things that are happening in our own time.  To contemplate what happens in this book may just make you rethink your complacency.

Sunday Salon - September 19

This week, while many of us get geared up celebrate our right to read what ever we want during Banned Books Week (Sept 25-Oct 2), out there in Scaryville they're getting geared up to ban more books.  Laurie Halse Anderson, author of "Speak" and "Wintergirls," tweeted today about a man in Missouri trying to ban "Speak."

My daughter does not like to read.  I'm always trying to find books that will appeal to her and make her want to pick up more books. "Speak" was one of those books.  She read it in two days and couldn't wait to pick up "Wintergirls" when it came out.  I knew what the book was about, I knew that it depicted rape, and I didn't care.  No...that's not true.  I feel it's important for young people to read books that address things that happen in real life in a real way that speaks to them.

Ms. Anderson has written a blog piece about the battle she is now waging to fight this attempt to ban her book.  But, she rightly points out, the author has a vested interest in seeing that her/his work is not banned and may not carry much weight in a fight.  What she needs is for other people to speak up and let school boards around the country know that we're perfectly capable of thinking for ourselves and raising our own children.

To learn more about Banned Books Week, please visit the American Library Association's site which explains what the week is about and provides a lot of links for even more information. You might be surprised to find out which books you've read and didn't think a thing about that someone else thought should be banned. And lest we jump to the conclusion that it's only those on the far right that are jumping to ban books, liberals are just as likely to want to ban books that they feel are politically incorrect.

This week and again next week during Banned Books Week, I plan to exercise my right to read whatever I want by reading "To Kill A Mockingbird" while Mini-me sits next to me reading "The Catcher In The Rye."

The Hypnotist (Reincarnationist Series #3 by M. J. Rose

The Hypnotist (Reincarnationist Series #3) by M.J. Rose
416 pages
Published May 2010 by Mira
Source: the publisher and Pump Up Your Book Promotions

Lucian Glass, a special agent with the FBI's Art Crimes Team, is haunted by the murder of his fiancee twenty years ago and obsessed with bring Malachai Samuels to justice.  Samuels is a man equally obsessed with obtaining mysterious Memory Tools which he believes will allow him to discover this past lives, something he is desperate to do before his father dies.  Farid Taghinia, an Iranian diplomat has an obsession of his own--his country wants a 4th century statue of the Greek god, Hypnos, god of sleep, returned to them and Taghinia will stop at nothing to make that happen.  The Iranian government is not alone in wanting the statue, currently in possessed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Darius Shabaz, highly successful movie director, threatens to destroy five prized paintings in an attempt to blackmail the museum into trading the statue for the paintings.

Samuels works for an organization called the Phoenix Foundation, an organization started by his great-uncle and dedicated to proving that reincarnation is real.  In order to get into the Foundation, Glass goes undercover and begins going in for therapy to help him figure out why he is waking up every morning needing to sketch faces of women his has never met but is sure he recognizes.  Although Glass tries to fight the hypnosis his therapist is using, he finds himself hypnotized and discovering that he has lived past lives directly related to the statue and the Memory Tools.

The case of the paintings being held hostage also brings Glass back into contact with the father of his murdered love, Andre Jacobs and her cousin.  It turns out that the first painting destroyed was a work that was stolen from Jacobs framing shop the night that his daughter was murdered.  Jacobs believes that his daughter's soul went into the body of his niece while she lay in a coma following a car accident that killed her family.  Seeing that painting show up again after twenty years and knowing that finding the man that destroyed it may lead to finding the killer of his love, gives Glass even more motivation to solve the case.

A lot of characters, a lot of plot lines, and a lot of shifts in setting make this story a bit of a trick to keep up with and the reader is well into the book before everything starts to come together and the pace really picks up.  I started taking notes, which helped me keep track of everything but eventually I just gave up and allowed myself to get caught up in the action. The writing is not great and the sheer number of  characters make it difficult to flesh out all of them.  But Rose does a fine job of keeping things moving even as she takes the reader from place to place and back and forth into history.

Although this is the third book in the Reincarnationist series, in reading the book I never felt like I was missing out on something by not having read the previous books.  The art aspect of this book was what drew me to it; the reincarnation theme was something I knew I would have to force myself to go along with.  I rarely read this type of book and I did have to make myself suspend disbelief but it ended up being a nice change of pace.  Thanks to Dorothy of Pump Up Your Book Promotions for offering me the chance to review this book.

BBAW Blogger Interview--Ramblings of a (Future) Librarian

Introducing Laura Ashlee of Ramblings of a (Future) Librarian, my BBAW interview partner!  Laura Ashlee is a college student, living in Alabama, who says she'll read just about anything.  Given that her favorite book is "Jane Eyre" but she also loves young adult books and mange, I'd say she's telling the truth.

Since I'm such a huge college football fan and she lives in Alabama, the first thing I had to ask Laura about was whether or not she was a fan.

I actually don't attend UA right now. I go to Samford University in Birmingham. But I will go to UA for my master's next year. I guess my statement in my "about me" is a little misleading. I'll have to change it. But back to the original question! I've never been a big football fan, but this year I've actually started watching the games. My boyfriend is a huge football fan and he's been explaining the rules to me and I'm starting to like it.

Ramblings of a (Future) Librarian is a fairly new blog so I asked Laura Ashlee what made her want to start blogging about books.

I've actually had some sort of blog since I was about 15. All of my friends and I made personal blogs (which is silly since we saw each other all day, every day). I'm much more private now and there's just not much I want to broadcast to the world about my life. Books are the exception. I love to talk about books and write reviews. It's just fun!

Laura Ashlee has recently read The Time Traveler's Wife and seen the movie.  I wanted to know if there were any movie adaptations of books that she thought really did the book justice.

Hmm.. that's hard. I always watch movie adaptations (if there is one) after reading books, so I've seen a lot of them. The Lord of the Rings is probably the most well-done adaptation I've ever seen. I also really love Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It's such a cute movie and it's just like the book! I'm pretty good at separating book and movie so I don't get too picky unless it's completely butchered.

I was curious what kind of librarian Laura Ashlee wanted to be when she was done earning her master's degree.

I wouldn't mind working in a public or college library. I don't want to be a law or medical librarian because that sounds incredibly boring. I think I'm going to focus on administration and management, so hopefully I can be in charge of a library one day!

Manga books show up frequently on Ramblings of a (Future) Librarian and I wondered what it was about manga that L.A. enjoyed and if she might have any recommendations for someone new to the genre.

I just got into manga this year so I'm not familiar with all of series. I also tend to read shoujo manga, which is targeted to teen girls so it can get dramatic or silly at times. I just think it's adorable and fun, and I really like the artwork. I really loved Sand Chronicles. It's more serious than any of the others and the story is very touching. I also really like Fruits Basket, though it's incredibly silly. I just think Tohru is so cute!

Does someone who lives in the South have any favorite Southern literature books or authors, I asked.

  

You know, I haven't read that much Southern Literature. I did like Breakfast at Tiffany's  by Truman Capote, but I have yet to read anymore of his stuff. Obviously, here in Alabama, Harper Lee is a big deal. I mean, I understand why To Kill a Mockingbird is important, I just didn't get into the way other people did. I might have to ponder reading more lit about the south.
LA. told me that she's a musician and I wanted to know more about that.

I'm actually a vocal performance major right now (I was originally going to go into musicology). I only have a few more classes to take, then it's off to grad school for library science! I grew up in a musical family so I've been singing since I was little, but I didn't start taking lessons until I got to college. I really love singing midieval and baroque music, and I love love love to sing in French and German. I also played the clarinet in high school and in my first few years of college.

Which, of course, brought up the question of what kind of music she listens to and if she had any recommendations.

As far as listening to music goes, I'm all over the board. Obviously, I love classical music. I'm a HUGE Mozart fan. I also like J.S. Bach, Debussy, Chopin, Stravinsky, John Dowland, some of Schubert's lied, and only recently a few Beethoven symphonies (I used to hate him). I listen to a lot of "indie" music, I guess. My favorite is Neko Case, who I would recommend to anyone. She's has a wonderful voice and amazing lyrics. My favorite find within the past year is a band called Buildings Breeding. They're great.

Since L.A. lives in the South and mentioned that she likes to cook, I asked her if there was anything in particular she would make if I dropped by for dinner.

I think I would go for the good southern chicken and dumplings (home made dumpling of course) with fried potatoes. I haven't made that in a year, but it's so good. Then, my favorite dessert in the world... lemon squares. 


Lemon squares?  I'm booking my plane reservation right now!  Desserts are my favorite food group.  Which lead me to wonder what L.A.'s guilty pleasure might be.

I read vampire books like it's going out of style. I don't know what it is about vampires, but I just seem to gravitate toward books with them. That's how I started read YA novels in the first place. Lately, I've been making myself read other things because I don't want to get stuck in a genre. Plus, how much brain stimulation can you really get out of paranormal books?

 Please stop by Ramlings of a (Future) Librarian and welcome Laura Ashlee to the book blogosphere!  It's always great to meet another young person with a passion for reading.