Category: 3 1/2 Star Books

Working Stiff, by Tori Carrington

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Cover ImageFinished 1-28-09, rating 3.5/5, fiction, pub. 2008

Book 4 of the Sophie Metropolis series

“I’d been so busy questioning the restraints on my life, I haven’t had a chance to focus on the possibilities. 

My parents’ fault?  Or my own?

The jury was still out on that one.  Although the verdict wouldn’t matter…

Now it was up to me to convince myself that there wasn’t a thing out there I couldn’t do.”

Chapter 27

Sophie Metropolis is turning into quite the successful private investigator.  She has a few big cases under her belt, but is far from esteemed in her Astoria, Queens community.  Now she is asked to find a dead body that has disappeared from her Aunt Sotiria’s funeral home and hired to prove an alleged murderer innocent.  Her assistant is as sassy as ever and her pseudo reformed cousin is proving helpful. 

While business is booming, her personal life is getting complicated.  Her dog, Muffy, is acting weird and when a stray black cat takes up residence in her apartment the high-jinks ensue.  Sexy Greek, Dino, is warming Sophie’s bed until a chance encounter leaves her questioning their relationship.  And when hot Aussie, Jake Porter, rolls back into town he knows just how to make Sophie forget about Dino.

Sophie seemed a little more introspective and perhaps a little depressed this time around.  Maybe is was her messed up romantic life and her fight with her sister, but Sophie was less irreverent in this book.  And I missed her nosy Greek family.  I did love that her relationship with Muffy is evolving.  Overall, I liked the book, but maybe not as much as the previous ones.

I’ve mentioned before that this series reminds  me of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, but with more heart.  The characters are comical without being cartoon characters and there are fewer (okay, none) outrageous shootouts.  This was my least favorite Sophie Metropolis mystery and I still prefer it over Stephanie Plum.

Why We Suck, by Denis Leary

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CD Audiobook CoverFinished audio 1-25-09, rating 3.5/5, humor, pub.2008

Let me start by noting that I listened to the abridged audio version read by author, Denis Leary.  I never listen to abridged books on tape and I didn’t know that’s what I had until I was halfway through.  That being said, I am not interested in reading this book in full.  Denis Leary has such a unique voice that it would not be the same if I read it.  His biting wit is better heard than read.  So, for the first time ever I am recommending an abridged cd over the actual book (gasp).  Another benefit of the cds?  The Irish music played between chapters.

My favorite aspect of this book were the endless stories of his Irish American childhood.  Stories of “when I was a kid…” were not annoying with Leary’s acid tongue.  My favorite story was one that involved Denis being shot in the head with an arrow by his brother and then running home with the arrow still sticking out of his noggin.  There is also an ongoing conversation with his mom which is funny and will probably remind you of at least one person you know (in a good way).

This book will offend you.  Somewhere, something will rub you the wrong way, but if you wait a few minutes you will probably be chuckling again.  I laughed out loud often, even though I never like jokes involving Jesus and I thought he went on a bit too much about having a mom home all the time.  There are plenty of things that will make you laugh- Dr.Phil, annoying children, his new love affair with Oprah, and the circus that is paparazzi.

Denis Leary received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, Emerson College.  So he’s DOCTOR Denis Leary to the masses 🙂

Garden of Beasts: A Novel of Berlin 1936, by Jeffery Deaver

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Cover ImageFinished audio 1-14-09, rating 3.5, fiction, pub. 2004

In this historical novel Paul Shumann is a hit man for the mob who gets caught red-handed and is offered the choice of the electric chair or traveling to Germany to kill one of Hitler’s power men, Reinhard Ernst.  The choice was an easy one and Paul travels to Germany with the Olympic team where cameos by real Olympians, including the hero of the games, Jesse Owens, add interest.  Once Paul reaches Germany he is almost immediately embroiled in a murder that has the Crypto searching Berlin and beyond for the hit man.

The many storylines are compelling.  You get to meet Hitler and other real characters like Himmler and Goring.  The Cryptos search for Paul is a cat and mouse game that forces Paul into the shadows.  There are a few there to help Paul complete his heady task of killing Ernst.  And the men pulling the strings back in New York are not exactly what they seem.  There is also love and national loyalty at play.

This novel has plenty going on and there were many things I really liked about it.  I thought the first two-thirds of the book was a great set-up full of wonderful characters and storylines.  It was interesting to see that some of the police were not Hitler supporters and it added real depth to the real story being enacted Hitler.  Paul’s sense of duty to his job and his interest in righting injustice made him a compelling main character.

As much as I enjoyed the first part of the book I equally did not find the end satisfying.  The wrap up had plenty of twist and turns, which was good, but at the end there still seemed to be a few things left incomplete. 

If this time period intrigues you or you are a Jeffery Deaver fan you should give this book a try.

Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer

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TwilightFinished 1-10-09, rating 3.5/5, YA fiction, pub. 2005

Bella is a normal teenager with divorced parents and low self-esteem.  She moves up to Washington state to live with her father and becomes very popular with the boys of the small town.  One boy in particular, Edward, makes her heart jump and the two begin a relationship.  Of course, she does find out that he is a vampire, but that is of no real concern, they are young and in love.

I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, so I placed my name on the waiting list at the library and finally it was my turn!   It is a nice story about young love and vampires, but nothing more and nothing less.  I used to devour teen romances back in my own teen years and this feels the same.  It is fluffy, shallow, and not really challenging in any way.  The fact that Bella is your average girl and suddenly every boy around her seems lost in love, including a vampire who has not fallen in love in his 100+ years, seems like overkill.

On the positive side it was interesting and about halfway through the pace picked up and became more of a page turner.  The first half may have been a little slow, but once the vampires began fighting each other it gained some momentum.  The game of baseball the vampire clan, the Cullens, played in the woods during thunderstorms was original and fun.

I was expecting something great from all of the hype surrounding the book and the movie and I was a little disappointed.  I can see why teen girls love it but, I am probably not going to finish the series.  There are just too many really good books out there!

More reviews-

Heather @ Book Addiction

Small Town Girl, by Lavyrle Spencer

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Cover ImageFinished 1-9-09, rating 3.5, romance, pub.1997

“One-way traffic crawlin’ round a small town square

Eighteen years’ve passed since she’s been there

Been around the world, now she’s coming back

Wider-eyed  and noting what this small town lacks” 

Beginning of the song, Small Town Girl

Tess has a voice and a face that the whole world knows.  She left her small town roots behind when she was eighteen to become a country star and a millionaire many times over.  Tess puts her life in Nashville on hold to drive back to Missouri when her oldest sister demands that she come home to take care of their mother after surgery.

Although Tess’ life may have changed, nothing in her childhood home has and she quickly becomes frustrated by her mother’s stubbornness.  Almost immediately she butts heads with an old schoolmate, Kenny, who had a crush on her in school and now lives next to her mother.  Kenny is divorced with a teen-aged daughter and a long time girlfriend, but sparks fly between he and Tess and his adolescent crush threatens to capture his heart again.

This romance is a great down home family drama.  Tess, after being gone so long, has to readjust her attitude and her relationships and I was drawn in to her struggle to reconcile her two lives.  And Kenny’s daughter, Casey, was a big part of that and it was easy to love her exuberance and its impact on Tess.

All of the problems of  Tess’ life aren’t tied up and served like a gift at the end of the story and this made me like it that much more.  It felt real.  There was also quite a lot of detail about the music business that anyone interested in the industry would learn from. 

I really enjoyed this romance and I think anyone who is from a small town or who has an interest in the world of country music will too.

Sundays at Tiffany’s, by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet

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Cover ImageFinished 12-1-08, fiction, rating 3.5/5, pub. 2008

“Please don’t leave me, Michael.  I’m begging you.  You can’t – not now, not ever!  You don’t know how important you are to me!”

“You’ll see, Jane,” he promised her.  “You’ll forget me, and it won’t hurt tomorrow.  Besides, you said it yourself: Love means you can never be apart.  So we’ll never be apart, Jane, because Iove you so much.  I’ll always, always love you.”

And with those words, Michael began to fade out of the room, in imaginary friend-style…”     -Chapter 7

Jane was a lonely child with a successful but neglectful mother.  Jane’s imaginary friend, Michael, gave her friendship and love before he had to leave her on her 9th birthday.  Fast forward 23 years and Jane has never forgotten Michael, achieving her own success by putting their story on the Broadway stage.  Even with this success she is still a lonely girl who never feels good enough.  Michael is between assignments and sees Jane on the New York streets and decides to follow her.  Michael is shocked to find out that Jane remembers him, something that has never happened before.

This is a fast read (I finished it in a day) and one that will open your imagination.  Who doesn’t want to have an imaginary friend whose sole purpose is to make them happy?  I was prepared to put my disbelief out in the snow while I cozied up to a lighthearted read.  It did tickle my imagination in a light, if not superficial way.  Michael was the perfect man and Jane was a normal girl who had never stopped loving him.  I even got past the fact that somehow Michael never aged, so when he was friends with an 8 year old girl he was the same age as when he fell in love with the same girl 23 years later.

The ending ruined much of the magic, for me at least.  I won’t ruin it for you, but I was disappointed because it felt lazy.  It could have been powerful or poignant, but it was…boring and short on explanation.  I liked the book and maybe not everyone will have a problem with the ending.  Total romantics will love it.  I consider myself more of a romantic realist, so I was a bit disappointed.  Overall it was a fun read with lots of potential, but one I’ve already rewritten in my head a half dozen ways and liked better!

 

A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway

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Cover ImageFinished listening to on 11-17-08, rating 3.5/5, fiction, pub. 1929

“When I saw her I was in love with her. Everything turned over inside of me. She looked toward the door, saw there was no one, then she sat on the side of the bed and leaned over and kissed me. I pulled her down and kissed her and felt her heart beating.”

Lieutenant Frederic Henry is an American serving as an ambulance driver in the Italian army during World War I.  Catherine Barkley is a nurse who meets and flirts with Frederic before he is wounded on the war front. He recovers in a hospital in Milan with Catherine as his nurse and the two begin a love affair.  Before Frederic is sent back into duty Catherine finds out she is pregnant.  I’m not going to say more because I don’t want to give too much away. 

I’ve read that this is one of the best war novels ever written and that it is one of the best love stories ever penned.  I don’t agree with either of these, although I do think it does a great job of bringing the war to life and it is a grand love story.  Some of the problem may be that the character of Catherine felt very flat to me.  She felt like she was written by a man and, well, not all that sympathetic.  Surprisingly, I did enjoy the aspects of the war Hemingway chose to share.

This is an American classic, but because it is a war story I avoided it.  And somehow I earned my degree in English Education without ever having read a Hemingway novel.  I decided to listen to it and was pleased with the reader, John Slattery.  He did an excellent job.  Some of you may know him from his current job on the tv show Mad Men.

How I Found the Perfect Dress, by Maryrose Wood

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Book CoverFinished 10-13-08, rating 3.5/5, young adult, pub. 2008

This is the sequel to Why I Let My Hair Grow Out.

I won this book last month over at Writerspace after being entered into a drawing with 200 books to be given away.  I had no idea that Writerspace authors included young adult writers, so, when I received the book I was intrigued by the funky cover, but not sure about reading it.  But, Maryrose wrote a nice note to me the front page and I felt enough guilt to give it a shot.

Morgan is also half-goddess Morganne and is still in love with Colin, the 20 year old boy she met last summer in Ireland.  Morgan is just a normal 16 year old girl with fighting parents, a kid sister, and a relationship to repair with her best friend, while also being Morganne who pals around with faeries and has seen the Tooth Fairy.  It’s been six months since she’s seen Colin and his emails have become almost nonexistent.  Morgan is ecstatic when she learns that Colin will be coming to Connecticut for a few weeks in March, but will soon learn that being loved by a half-goddess is doing harm to Colin.

I have not read a young adult romance since I was a teen and I was surprisingly enchanted with this whimsical tale of magic and love.  I would recommend this book and the rest of the series about Morgan for teen girls.  I’m tempted to read the rest of them myself!

SeinLanguage, by Jerry Seinfeld

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Book CoverFinished 10-9-08, rating 3.5/5, humor, pub. 1993

“There are many things you can point to as the proof that the human is not smart.  But my personal favorite would have to be that we needed to invent the helmet.  What was happening, apparently, was that we were involved in a lot of activities that were cracking our heads.  We chose not to avoid doing these activities but, instead, to come up with some sort of device to help us continue enjoying our head-cracking lifestyles.  The helmet.  And even that didn’t work because not enough people were wearing them so we had to come up with the helmet law.  Which is even stupider, the idea behind the helmet law being to preserve a brain whose judgement is so poor, it does not even try to stop the cracking of the head it’s in.”  -The Thing is the Thing chapter

Jerry Seinfeld makes me laugh.  I loved his tv show.  I am amazed at how many times I catch myself or my husband referencing that show.  We’ve seen every episode more than once because it’s on all the time now and when I’m aimlessly flipping through channels I’ll always stop at Seinfeld.

This is a book of full of his observations, sometimes witty, sometimes sarcastic, but usually entertaining.  If you’ve ever seen his stand up then you have heard some of these nuggets of wisdom before.  It’s been in the family room for a month now and every few days when I needed the lighten my mood I’d read a few pages and it worked.  It’s 15 years old, but still capable of being relevant.  I loved it.

American Pastoral, by Philip Roth

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Book CoverFinished 9-23-08, rating 3.5/5, fiction, pub. 1997

“Was everyone’s brain as unreliable as his?  Was he the only one unable to see what people were up to?  Did everyone slip around the way he did, in and out, in and out, a hundred different times a day go from being smart to being smart enough, to being as dumb as the next guy, to being the dumbest bastard who ever lived?  Was it stupidity deforming him, the simpleton son of a simpleton father, or was life just one big deception that everyone was on to except him?”           Chapter 8

This multigenerational story encompasses the social upheaval of the 1960’s and the issue of Jewish assimilation with authority and skill.  Nathan Zuckerman, a writer and fan of Seymour (Swede) Levov, the Jewish golden boy of New Jersey, is asked to to dinner by Swede and is excited at the prospect of helping a childhood hero.  After a disappointing dinner Zuckerman learns of Swede’s death at a class reunion and feels compelled to tell Swede’s story as he sees it.

Swede is the pride of the Jewish community, the blond, confident, athletic boy bridges the gap between cultures.  He marries a Catholic beauty queen and they have a daughter, Merry.  He takes over his father’s successful glove business and the family moves to the country and enjoy a nice house with land.  Swede’s life is good and he has everything he has ever wanted.  Then America goes into Vietnam and ignites a storm of violence and protest in the United States.  A teen-aged Merry becomes embroiled in the cause and does the unthinkable, changing not only her life, but the lives of everyone around her.

I liked the story, although heartbreaking.  It was an up close and personal view of the unraveling of a life which in turn causes destruction of everyone involved.  I cannot say that I am a fan of Roth or his convoluted writing style.  There comes a point when the self-examination and constant questioning just becomes too much to make the book truly enjoyable.  If I hadn’t been taking a class I may not have made it past page 50, but I’m glad I did.  The book was worthwhile.  I’ll find out as the class continues onto the next book whether Philip Roth is an acquired taste.