Book #20: No Mercy

Ah, my first Kindle book. If you know anything about me at all, you know that I can pinch a penny better than anyone in the world. I would guess that 90% or more of the books I own are used, and you all remember how I raved about Big Lots' fifty cent book sale. You obviously can't buy used books on the Kindle, but they do have a selection of books for around $1 and many for free (especially classics). This was one of the cheap ones. It was decent, but I'm glad I didn't pay much for it.

No Mercy centers around Jonathan Grave, the owner and main employee of a company that essentially exists to do illegal things. Not bad illegal things, but illegal things. Jonathan is a former army specialist with experience doing rescue missions in just about every environment. So, naturally, he now makes his living as a hired vigilante. If your kid gets kidnapped by thugs who warn you not to get the police involved, you call Jonathan Grave.

And that's exactly what happens in No Mercy. The book opens with Jonathan rescuing a college student named Thomas Hughes, who is being held captive on a large property in rural Indiana. Jonathan doesn't know why Thomas was captured in the first place, but he finds out soon enough. It turns out to be a long, twisted, complicated story that involves some of Jonathan's own friends, homeland terrorists, and a lot of other things. I'm not quite sure exactly what was going on, to be honest. Matters are complicated even further when local police have to clean up the mess Jonathan left when he rescued Thomas. As far as the sheriff is concerned, even though Jonathan was a hero and saved the victim, he still has to be punished for taking the law into his own hands. So, the books takes us through Jonathan running from the Indiana police, all while trying to solve the problem that got Thomas kidnapped in the first place.

It took me forever to read this, considering the pace at which I usually read. I juuuust wasn't into it. Parts of it were really good, but then it would get boring and weird again. I felt like the logistics of the whole situation were really complicated, but I think part of it was that it just wasn't that interesting to me. I don't have trouble following a complicated conspiracy plotline (I mean, hello, Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy), but only if they're interesting. Maybe this particular plot just wasn't my thing, because I don't think Gilstrap is a bad author. The situation just didn't really grab me.

Apparently he's written an entire series of books with Jonathan Grave and his crew, which is cool. I liked Jonathan. He wasn't afraid of anything, and he had very clear definitions of right and wrong. He didn't care that he had no authority to kill bad guys. He did it anyway, because they were bad guys. Makes sense to me, but to a lot of characters in the book (and probably a lot of people in the world), you let the cops or the FBI or the military worry about bad guys. Your job is to report them, not kill them. So, there's a lot of line-blurring when it comes to good and evil in this book. I liked that. I also liked that Jonathan's sidekick, Boxers, referred to their Hummer as the Batmobile. That was awesome.

Here are two of my favorite quotes from the book, which I marked with my handy "Clippings" gadget on the Kindle:

"Protesting others' decisions is always easier than making your own."
"A career is a poker game. You can't expect to win every hand. Sometimes you have to fold to preserve resources for the future."

All in all, I didn't love this book, but I still don't think it was bad. Just, you know, not generally my thing. If you like, say, Tom Clancy or any kind of crime thriller, then pick this up for sure.


Read from July 7, 2010 to July 25, 2010.

2.5/5 stars.

--C

Special Post: EXCITEMENT!!! (Part II)

Last time I got really excited about something book-related, I made a special post about it I think I should do it again today.

I unexpectedly received a graduation present from my brother and sister-in-law in the mail today. Lo and behold, the Amazon Kindle!

I am beyond excited. I've been fiddling with it for the last hour. Truth be told, I've only read a chapter or two in the book I started a few days ago, so I thinking pretty seriously about scrapping it so I can read something on the Kindle.

Book #19: Petropolis

The story at the heart of Petropolis begins in Siberia shortly after the end of the Soviet Union. This book has a lot to do with post-Soviet life, Russian immigrants in America, and the stereotypes that go along with all of that. I notice that on Amazon, many of the whopping nineteen people who have reviewed this book mention how well Anya Ulinich captures the feelings of a Russian immigrant in America. The fact that there are untranslated Russian words and some "in" jokes and references throughout the book tells me that perhaps Ulinich meant for her audience to have Russian ancestry, but my all-American self still enjoyed it.

The book is about a young promising artist, Sasha, who is of mixed Russian-Jewish-African heritage. She's dark-skinned with wiry hair, which makes it impossible for her to fit in with her pale classmates in frigid Siberia. Normalcy is even harder for Sasha to achieve thanks to her neurotic mother and absent father (who emigrated to America without his wife and child). As Sasha becomes a teenager, she makes some poor decisions, and her mother sends her away to an art school in Moscow. Sasha is completely unhappy there, and she holds on to a gnawing need to find her father in America. Still a teenager, she sees an advertisement for a mail-order bride company, and soon, she's in the good ol' U.S. of A.

Once she gets to America, Sasha's life becomes even harder. She's not only looking for her father, but also the happiness that she thought would come with life in America. The book takes you through all the stops along Sasha's journey to happiness, but I had a bit of a hard time sympathizing with her sometimes. Even when things were looking up, she seems to always find a way to be miserable about something. Sasha (and so, obviously, the author as well) realizes this about herself. A lot of the characters in the book are this way. I can't think of a single couple in the book that actually liked each other. They all seemed to just co-exist until they absolutely couldn't stand it anymore. It bothered me as I was reading it, but now that I'm looking back on it, I think that was part of the bigger picture of the book -- the way people just "settle" for things instead of finding what makes them truly happy.

Hmm. Heavy.

It's a good book, and Ulunich is a talented young author. This is her first book, and I would be interested to see if she continues to write about Russian/Soviet characters or takes a new path.

Read from June 25, 2010 to June 28, 2010

3/5 stars

--C

Book #18: Here Today

From about 3rd grade - 6th grade, I was all about some Babysitter's Club books. I had a zillion of them, including the "journals" from after Dawn moved away, and the BSC Super Specials, and The Complete Guide to the BSC, which was basically an encyclopedia about all things BSC. I even had a necklace and ring with BSC engraved on it that I got from a book order in the 4th grade.

I think it's safe to say I think Ann M. Martin is a genius. Imagine my joy when I found her award-winning book Here Today at Big Lots for $0.50. I told you, I love that Big Lots book sale. Since I'm on a young adult kick for some reason, I think this is appropriate.

Here Today is set in 1963, and the narrator is Ellie, whose full name is Eleanore Roosevelt Dingman. Her younger siblings' names are Albert Einstein Dingman and Marie Curie Dingman. As you might have guessed by their awesome names, the kids' mother (Doris) is a bit of a ditz. She's vain, domestically challenged, and flighty. The worst of Doris' problems, though, is that she has big, fat stars in her eyes. She's constantly looking for her "big break" into show business, which is hard to come by in the small town where the Dingmans live. Their father is a construction worker who is often away for days at a time, leaving Doris at home with children that she has very little interest in raising.

As the oldest child, Ellie has to pick up her mother's slack -- cooking, cleaning, taking care of Albert and Marie, and practically everything else that requires a person to be responsible. On top of that, she has to deal with ridicule from her classmates because of who she is and where she lives (the "outcast" neighborhood of Witch Tree Lane). A group of girls at school terrorizes Ellie and her friends daily. The book explains how Ellie copes with being forced to grow up too fast at home and feeling like she's two inches tall at school.

Here Today is written for grades 5-8, but I think there's something for everyone in this book. Ann M. Martin is fabulous (duh), and Ellie's strength is enough to hook anyone into the story. You just want to strangle her mother for doing this to her. Also, I adored the fact that it was set in 1963. What a year. I wrote an entire research paper on 1963 my junior year of college. Most notably, JFK was assassinated and MLK gave the famous "I Have a Dream" speech. The death of JFK is played out beautifully in the book. I loved reading about through the eyes of a 6th grader who had no idea how to deal with it. My mom was 13 years and 1 day old when it happened -- it made me think of how she must have felt.

This book is up there on my childrens/young adult recommendation list. I definitely think you should pick it up. Perhaps at Big Lots, for $0.50! Now maybe I should read something meant for, you know, a grown up.

Read from June 23, 2010 to June 24, 2010

5/5 stars

-- C

Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (10)

I need to preface this review by saying that I am an exorbitant Vonnegut fan.  I started Vonnegut my senior year of high school with Breakfast of Champions and have since read almost all of Vonnegut's ample catalog.  When I was working for my local paper, I actually wrote a Vonnegut review which he signed and is now hanging on the wall of my classroom.  I just thought you needed to know that I may be a bit biased in this review, but, at the same time, that dedication to one author should tell you a lot about Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s ability to enrapture an audience by revealing the missteps of our society while making you laugh along the way.

Welcome to the Monkey House is a collection of short stories, much like his other collection, Bagombo Snuff Box.  It does a nice job of showing how Vonnegut and his writing matured over the years, and how he became one of the preeminent satirist and humanists in literature.  His ability to build a world where humanity's, society's, and government's faults are highlighted with humor is unparalleled.

Some of the more memorable stories include:

"Harrison Bergeron," the story of a society in the year 2081 where people are handicapped according to their abilities by a government agency.

The namesake, "Welcome to the Monkey House," where people are forbidden to reproduce and are required by law to take a drug that numbs them from the waist down and a group that struggles to free society from this law.

"Report on the Barnhouse Effect," which is the story of one man who has learned to control an unseen "force" that turns him into a human weapon and his fight against government control.

"EPICAC," the story of a computer that learns to love.

"Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow," which tells the story of a family that can never die.

And much, much more.  With 25 stories spread over 300 pages, Vonnegut lays bare all of society's ills with his trademark humor.  If you're looking to get into Vonnegut, Welcome to the Monkey House isn't a bad place to start.

5/5 Stars

--D

Book #17: Between Mom and Jo

I picked up Between Mom and Jo by Julie Anne Peters during one of my several trips to various Big Lots in North Alabama in the last few weeks. (They must've bought out the stock of some bookstore that went out of business or something, because they have a ton of books which they were selling 2/$1.00.) I had never heard of her, but the book was a National Book Award Finalist, so why not?

Apparently, Peters has written quite a few young adult books that have been critically acclaimed, and this wasn't her first National Book Award finalist, either. I looked her up and found out that most of her books are for children or young adults and deal with gay/lesbian/transgender issues.

Between Mom and Jo fits right in with Peters' other books, as it's about a kid named Nick who is growing up with two moms. Erin, who Nick calls "Mom," gave birth to Nick after being artificially inseminated. Jo is Nick's "other" mom and Erin's long-time partner. As you can probably imagine, it's not easy growing up as the kid of two lesbians. Nick is tormented at school because everyone knows about his non-traditional family. Although the family has their share of problems, including Jo's struggle with alcoholism, Nick is happy. Then, his happiness is ruined when their family is broken apart. Nick finds out that life without two moms is even harder than life with two moms.

Peters is a very talented author who manages to capture the attitude of a "tween"-age boy perfectly. Nick goes through various emotions, -- from elation to misery -- and you can feel each one of them as you read. Your heart breaks when his does. It's a very touching story, and a great piece about "non-traditional" families. I can certainly see this book reaching out to a kid in Nick's position and giving him/her hope. I will definitely be reading more of Peters' books. Adding her to my (ever-growing) list of authors I look for when I'm at the bookstore.

4/5 stars

Read from June 20, 2010 to June 23, 2010

-- C

Book #16: How to Eat Fried Worms

Alright, so somehow this book escaped me during my elementary school career. I'm working in a summer program at an elementary school right now, and next week is "How to Eat Fried Worms Week." Naturally, I had to read the book to prepare. I know it's not quite the same caliber of the other books I've reviewed, but let me be completely straight with you: My goal for 2010 is 40 books. Technically that means I should have read half of that by the end of June to be on target. Most of the other books I've read this year have been over 400 pages long, so I think I deserve to count a 100-page children's book if I want to. So there.

The problem is that I'm not really sure how to review a children's book. I mean, what do you want me to say? It's cute? I don't know. In the book, four best friends make a bet that one of the boys, Billy, can't eat fifteen worms in fifteen days. If he does, he gets $50 from Alan, another boy in the group. It quickly becomes clear that Alan and Joe will do everything they can to make Billy lose the bet, while Tom will do anything to help him win. The book details each of the fifteen worms, how Alan and Joe try to trick Billy into losing, and how, eventually, Billy learns to enjoy eating worms.

It's cute. It's funny. Kids should like it. Um...? What else can I say? There's no undertone or social commentary to analyze, so I guess that's it. I will say that I think everyone should read a good children's book every now and then. I've read and review several young adult books this year (the Twilight "saga," the Hunger Games series, Stargirl, etc.), but this is my first children's book. It was a good one. Go for it. I knocked it out on the drive from Florence to Cullman.

Read on June 20, 2010

5/5 stars for a kids' book

--C