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Recent Reads, Twitter Style

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Here are a few of my recent reads, reviewed in short blurbs (not quite 140 or less, but close!)

Where We Belong by Emily Giffin: I really, really liked this one. For me, this was a return to form for Giffin after the slightly disappointing Heart of the Matter. Marian wasn’t the most likable protagonist, but the characters were deep, the relationships were spectacularly built, and the characters of Kirby and Conrad were amazing. It felt like a real world was created within this novel.

Spark (Sky Chasers #2) by Amy Kathleen Ryan: I loved Glow, the first book in this trilogy, and admired its careful handling of religion and its ability to shift between the three main characters’ points of view. Ryan accomplished a similar feat here, as the voices of Seth, Waverly, and Kieran are all distinct and the reader can somehow sympathize with all three, even as they all act in morally ambivalent ways. While this wasn’t as compelling as Glow, it was a decent middle book in a trilogy.

Real Mermaids Don’t Hold Their Breath by Helene Boudreau: I adored Real Mermaids Don’t Wear Toe Rings, and Boudreau delivered a solid sequel. This is a book that I would have loved in middle school. Jade is an endearing character: she’s literally a fish out of water, and her common worries (should she tell her best friend her secret, does her crush (and her first kiss!!!) really like her) are mixed with more….”interesting” concerns, such as: how can she find her Mom, who is in the process of transitioning from mermaid back to human? Boudreau writes winning dialogue and creates utterly real characters.

The Next Best Thing by Jennifer Weiner: This wasn’t my favorite of Weiner’s. While I usually love stories about Hollywood, especially about newcomers and outsiders in show business, the characters in this book felt slightly flat for me and the ending almost seemed like it just…ended, a bit too simply.

Mini-Reviews: A few of my recent reads

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A few of my recent reads, mini-review style:

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan: No one can deny that Rick Riordan can write. His scenes are humorous, his characters are vivid and flawed, and his research is impeccable. This book even featured the return of Percy Jackson, who finds himself at Camp Jupiter, Camp Half-Blood’s Roman counterpart, strangely without his memory. However, this book just seemed a bit too slow and bloated for me–too long by about 100 pages.

Habibi by Craig Thompson: A gorgeous melding of illustration, story, history, religion, identity, guilt, repentance, and love. Two refugee slaves are separated, then find their way back together, navigating their unique relationship in a world of corruption, desperation, and poverty. Stunning illustrations and a multi-layered tale. I’m looking forward to picking up Thompson’s Blankets soon.

Circle of Fire by Michelle Zink: A lush, beautifully written conclusion to the Prophecy of the Sisters trilogy. Zink has the ability to make both the assumed villains and the supposed heroes multi-layered, and her depiction of the Lia/Alice relationship is brought to a satisfying close. Zink’s prose is gorgeous and her words truly evoke the novel’s Gothic setting.

White Cat by Holly Black (narrated by Jesse Eisenberg): I first picked this up in print last year and couldn’t get into it. Yet Jesse Eisenberg’s narration truly pulled me into this original story of Cassel Sharpe, teenage con-man and the only member of his family who isn’t a curseworker (persecuted and feared members of society who can alter your emotions, luck, or even form with a single touch). Yet he does suffer from the guilt of knowing that he killed his childhood best friend, Lila. He can’t remember anything about the murder, but just recalls looking down at her body, at the blood. But when a white cat shows up, Cassel starts to suspect that he is part of something bigger than himself—that he is the one being conned. Eisenberg’s voice is the perfect mixture of knowing, awkward, and sheepish, and Black’s plot is original and inventive, with plenty of memorable characters, twists, and turns.

Audiosynced: A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

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I’m not a big nonfiction reader.  I like it in theory, and I often bring stacks of interesting nonfiction titles home with the intention of reading them all, but I’m usually distracted by the latest dystopia or mystery or romance and then the nonfiction books are overdue and I need to return them to the library.
That’s why I’m especially glad I brought home Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything on audio.  This is most likely a book that would have languished in my “to read” pile if I had checked out the print version, but the audio proved a delightful way to keep myself entertained on a road trip I took earlier this month.
The basic concept of the book is this: Bill Bryson describes how the universe, and everything in it, came to be.  This is a pretty tall order, but it’s precisely because he covers so much in so little space that he manages to keep the lay reader (or listener) interested.  He covers the big bang, evolution, plate tectonics, ice ages, and volcanoes, among a dozen other subjects.  He also talks a lot about the people behind the major discoveries and includes a few funny stories that show just how odd (or just plain human, really) scientists can be.  The book is never dry or boring, but it also doesn’t give the reader a full picture on any one subject.  It’s a fascinating look at science for non-scientists.
One of the greatest joys of the audiobook experience was Bryson’s narration. The book is full of humor, and Bryson’s voice lets that shine through.  He speaks deliberately and with a very slight English accent (I may be imagining this, since I know he is American but spends a lot of time in England) that adds interest to the listening.  He also occasionally refers to himself in the text, which makes the fact that he’s narrating all the more real.  I also really appreciated that the book was tailored to the listener, not the reader.  By this I mean that whenever the text read “If you’re reading this,” it was changed to “If you’re listening to this.”  It’s a nice touch that iced the experience for me.
I should mention that I listened to the abridged version, which I normally try to avoid at all costs.  Abridgements are the bane of my audiobook existence and I’m baffled as to why they exist in the first place.  I think this book suffers from the abridgement.  The unabridged version is short in the first place, but abridged it’s simply too short (only five discs!).  Bryson skips from one topic to another with almost no transition in many places, and I needed more elaboration at certain points to really satisfy my curiosity.  Perhaps, though, that’s also a success of the book: it left me wanting more and feeling even more curious about the world in which we live.

Audiobook Review: Nation by Terry Pratchett

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Mau is thirteen-years old, in the midst of the boyhood ritual that will transform him into a man, according to the beliefs of his island nation. All he has to do is cross the ocean in a canoe, return to his own island, and undergo the ritual and tattooing that will mark him as a man. He has already shed his boyhood soul and just needs to make it home to be granted the soul of a man. But just as he sets off, a vicious tsunami hits, wiping out the population of Mau’s home, called the Nation, and devastating the surrounding islands. While Mau is lucky enough to make it home, he soon finds that he is the sole survivor of his people. Well, just Mau and a girl, the daughter of a British governer, whose ship, the Sweet Judy, was shipwrecked on the island. Ermintrude, or Daphne, as she prefers to call herself, as she despises her given name, and Mau soon form an alliance and a friendship, realizing that they have only each other (and a foul-mouthed parrot) for both company and any hopes of survival. And as trickles of other shipwrecked seagoers and island-folk arrive at the island, bit by bit, seeking salavation, somehow the Nation, a new Nation, is born again.

My brother-in-law is perhaps the biggest Terry Pratchett fan (perhaps the biggest fan of any author) that I have ever met. He has been dogging me for years to try Pratchett out, and I am so, so grateful that I finally did. Nation was an absolute marvel, well-deserved of all the honors and awards that it garnered. What seems on the surface a story about re-populating an island and finding a community is enhanced by Pratchett’s exploration of some key life questions: what happens when two (or many) cultures collide? And what is the role of religion in our lives, especially in a world where the gods can warn the birds and beasts about an impending tsunami, but neglect to alert the human who worship them so ardently?

Mau is a fully developed protagonist, one who is absolutely open with the reader about his hopes, fears, doubts, and anxieties about the future. We see his trepidation and casual arrogance as he goes about the ritual to become a man. Then witness his absolute disassociation as he goes about the necessary business of weighing down the dead bodies on the Nation (dead bodies who could easily be his family or friends) with coral, so that they will sink into the ocean for their final rest. We see his gratitude when he finally meets Daphne, gratitude for having someone, something, to give him a reason to stay alive. And then, in perhaps the most powerful scenes of the book, we witness Mau questioning his faith. Why are the grandfathers, the revered spirits of his ancestors, nagging at him to restore the god stones? Why should he, if worshiping in this way before only brought death and destruction?

As Mau and Daphne also begin to navigate this new society they are building, with the “soulless” Mau as its chief, they also have to navigate the nature of gender roles. Daphne, born into a civilized family, with a grandmother with rules and standards for every possible occasion, is soon called upon to help birth a baby, learns to make beer, and eventually, in the heat of the island, sheds the layers of clothing that have been stifling her for her entire life. Mau has to venture into the “women’s place,” previously forbidden to him, as he knows this is necessary to save his new people.

But Nation does not just involve the exploration of these theological and philosophical issues. Pratchett seamlessly weaves in these themes through a fairly fast-moving plot that includes a mutinous crew, a murder, hastily re-patched cannons, scientific discoveries, and a character coming back from the dead.

Narrator Stephen Briggs, who has also narrated a number of Terry Pratchett’s other books, was an ideal choice for this production. His deep commanding voice perfectly agreed with the heavy themes of faith, gods, and survival that Nation covers, and, in fact, it often seemed like he was issuing an edict from on high. The tribal music interspersed between scenes and chapters also helped greatly in establishing atmosphere. In fact, this production of Nation won ALA’s 2009 Odyssey Honor Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production.

I will definitely be seeking out more books by Sir Terry Pratchett in the future.

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd (audiobook)

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When Ted and Kat’s cousin Salim comes to visit them in London, Ted immediately wants to take Salim on his favorite London attraction, the London Eye, a large bicycle wheel-like contraption with tiny pods for people to ride in, towering high over the city of London. Salim and his mother, Ted and Kat’s Aunt Gloria, are visiting briefly, stopping over before their move from Manchester, England, to New York City. Ted, who struggles with a disorder on the autism spectrum (which is never labeled outright but is most likely Asperger’s Syndrome), is excited to share the experience of The London Eye with Salim, as Salim’s interest in him has immediately shot his cousin onto his list of friends, after his mom, dad, and his teacher. However, as the children are waiting in an excruciatingly long line to buy tickets, a man approaches them, claiming a case of claustrophobia and offering Salim his ticket for free. As Ted and Kat watch their cousin enter the London Eye and then track his pod throughout the precise thirty-minute ride, they are flummoxed when Salim doesn’t exit the ride. As the adults contact the police, Ted and Kat team up to investigate what happened. Could their cousin have actually vanished into thin air? Since Ted’s brain works differently than everyone’s around him, he may just have an edge on figuring out the truth of his cousin’s disappearance.

While I’ve been eying The London Eye Mystery ever since it came out in 2007, I often resisted picking it up, due to the recent publishing trend of protagonists with autism and Asperger’s Disease, in which the plots often failed to distinguish themselves from each other for me. However, I am thrilled that I finally picked this book up on audio. Narrator Alex Kalajzic masterfully brings the voice of Ted to life. Ted is a well-rounded character, who is never solely defined by his “syndrome,” as he calls it. He is 100% aware that he is different than other people, and often remarks upon the adjustments and observations that his teacher has instructed him to do: what different facial expressions denote, and when to smile at others. Yet he is still entirely himself, entirely focused on what makes him happy. Ted has an obsessive love for meteorology, listens to the shipping and weather forecast late at night to help him sleep, and thinks of weather patterns when he becomes anxious. Dowd often remarks upon the flapping motion that Ted’s hand makes when he is feeling heavy emotion, a small detail that broke my heart while reading. Yet regardless of Ted’s difficulty with emotions and physical contact, you can tell he still loves his family. He is excited to finally become ‘friends’ with Kat throughout their investigation, and he instantly bonds with Salim.

Besides Ted and Kat’s evolving relationship, the family dynamics in The London Eye Mystery are also stellar, all of which Ted views with a detached eye. Ted’s mom and Kat constantly clash, Aunt Gloria and her ex-husband Rashid have a typically antagonistic yet supportive relationship, and Ted’s father is exasperated with Aunt Gloria. I also have to say that I never guessed exactly how Salim disappeared, although I did predict an aspect that would be involved (yes, I’m being quite vague here!). Dowd’s mystery is compelling and smart, and the resolution is satisfying. It’s incredibly sad that this talented author won’t get the opportunity to provide us with more books.

While I’m sure I would have enjoyed The London Eye Mystery in print, narrator Alex Kalajzic’s matter-of-fact yet warm tone truly drew me in to Ted’s inner life. A wonderful listen!