Best Boy by Eli Gottlieb

September 29, 2015September 29, 20154 Comments

Best Boy. Finished 9-25-15, rating 4.5/5, fiction, 246 pages, pub. 2015

Sent to a “therapeutic community” for autism at the age of eleven, Todd Aaron, now in his fifties, is the “Old Fox” of Payton LivingCenter. A joyous man who rereads the encyclopedia compulsively, he is unnerved by the sudden arrivals of a menacing new staffer and a disruptive, brain-injured roommate. His equilibrium is further worsened by Martine, a one-eyed new resident who has romantic intentions and convinces him to go off his meds to feel “normal” again. Undone by these pressures, Todd attempts an escape to return “home” to his younger brother and to a childhood that now inhabits only his dreams. from Goodreads

Okay, let’s start with the ways that this book was a difficult read for me. Autism communities, like the one in the book, are both reassuring and frightening for a parent. I know someone who works at a community home, similar but on a much smaller scale, and he said because of the pay the staff turnover was high and the quality of employees was sometimes so bad that the residents were robbed of the money their families sent. This is something I pray about every night, Gage’s independence. But the surprising thing for me was how hard I was hit by Todd’s love for his dead mother. Todd still needed his mother and she had been the only one who really looked out for his best interests, so I shed a few tears at those points of the book that I’m sure wouldn’t affect someone else the same way. I need to live forever, guys!

To the story, I love that this was told from Todd’s first person perspective. Todd is a higher functioning man in his 50’s and this is not a character I’ve seen before. Todd loves his routine, oldies music and to be helpful. He works around the center and even goes to the local school to help serve lunch. But Todd’s routine was disrupted by a hateful roommate, a girl who makes him ‘have wind in his pants’, and new staffer who uses Todd to cover for his extracurricular activities. Those three people leave Todd unsettled and wanting to return home to his brother so he does something drastic.

Gottlieb, whose autistic brother lives in a community not unlike Todd, gets the voice just right. Every person on the spectrum is different, with different abilities, but Todd is a fair representation of many of the commonalities of those on the spectrum. I enjoyed my time with Todd even it was tinged with apprehension. If you’ve never spent time with an adult on the autism spectrum then I think this book would give a great perspective with a great story too. The end was very satisfying and left Todd and the reader in a good place.

Thanks for sending me a copy Golda! I also enjoyed meeting the author when he was on tour last month and he wrote this article in the Washington Post about his real life experiences with his 57 year old brother. I highly recommend it.

The Homecoming of Samuel Lake by Jenny Wingfield

September 24, 201511 Comments

The Homecoming of Samuel Lake. Finished 9-3-15, rating 5/5, southern fiction,344 pages, pub. 2011

Unabridged audio read beautifully by Catherine Taber. 10 hours, 30 minutes

Every first Sunday in June, members of the Moses clan gather for an annual reunion at “the old home place,” a sprawling hundred-acre farm in Arkansas. And every year, Samuel Lake, a vibrant and committed young preacher, brings his beloved wife, Willadee Moses, and their three children back for the festivities. The children embrace the reunion as a welcome escape from the prying eyes of their father’s congregation; for Willadee it’s a precious opportunity to spend time with her mother and father, Calla and John.

Samuel and Willadee’s outspoken eleven-year-old daughter, Swan, is a bright light. Her high spirits and fearlessness have alternately seduced and bedeviled three generations of the family. But it is Blade Ballenger, a traumatized eight-year-old neighbor, who soon captures Swan’s undivided attention. Full of righteous anger, and innocent of the peril facing her and those she loves, Swan makes it her mission to keep the boy safe from his terrifying father. from Goodreads

In 2012 I won this book from the gushing Lisa at Southern Girl Reads and it finally made it to the top of my reading list. Why, oh why, do I wait so long to read the books I win because the blogger loves them so much? (take heart Lloyd, The Language of Flowers will be coming to the top of my reading pile soon :)) I started listening to this because that is how much of my reading happens these days, but there were times that I had to pick up the book and read ahead because I just couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. This is Southern fiction at its best and it’s a debut novel too.

I know that the synopsis from Goodreads focuses on Swan, but I fell in love with this entire family. Set in 1950’s Arkansas it brings to life a simpler, yet harsher time. A time when playing in the woods with your siblings filled the days and men being able to put food on the table made them worry at night. It was a coming of age summer for Swan, her brothers, and neighbor Blade, but even the adults went through a metamorphoses. Swan will win your heart with her spirit, but so will Toy, probably my favorite character. He was the solid and intimidating uncle who was known for killing a man and getting away with it and the kids loved him. Samuel, the preacher without a church, spent much of the book as peripheral character for me, one I didn’t understand much until he too became as sympathetic as Toy.

There was not a false word in this book. It was honesty infused in warmth and it made me smile and it broke my heart. If you like Southern fiction you cannot go wrong with this book. This is not the type of story I usually pass on to my husband, but I did because it is sure to be a favorite at the end of the year and he loved it too. One night he even quoted from it while making a joke. That alone should be recommendation enough 🙂

The Stranger by Harlan Coben

September 9, 201511 Comments

The Stranger. Finished 8-25-15, rating 3.5/5, thriller, pub. 2015

Unabridged audio read by George Newbern. 10 hours.

The Stranger appears out of nowhere, perhaps in a bar, or a parking lot, or at the grocery store. His identity is unknown. His motives are unclear. His information is undeniable. Then he whispers a few words in your ear and disappears, leaving you picking up the pieces of your shattered world.

Adam Price has a lot to lose: a comfortable marriage to a beautiful woman, two wonderful sons, and all the trappings of the American Dream: a big house, a good job, a seemingly perfect life.

Then he runs into the Stranger. When he learns a devastating secret about his wife, Corinne, he confronts her, and the mirage of perfection disappears as if it never existed at all. Soon Adam finds himself tangled in something far darker than even Corinne’s deception, and realizes that if he doesn’t make exactly the right moves, the conspiracy he’s stumbled into will not only ruin lives—it will end them from Goodreads

It’s no secret that I’m a huge Harlan Coben fan. He is a master of fast paced thrillers filled with quick wit and sharp dialogue. The storylines always seem to have an element ripped from the headlines; in this case the ruse of the Stranger and his band of merry tech (wo)men seems to mirror the hilarity/debacle of the recent Ashley Madison hack. Coben always has a relatable hero and a common entry into the cat and mouse game his stories share. This was not a favorite of mine for reasons I’ll go into next, but it’s solid and satisfying which is something I can always count on with Coben.

How frightening would t be if someone showed up out of nowhere and revealed a terrible secret held by someone you love? Depending on the nature of the secret it would probably be devastating. The Stranger has a small group who use the internet to track down secrets people didn’t even know were there and then they blackmail them. Pay up or a loved one hears the news. When Adam confronts his wife with what he found out she mysteriously disappears, leaving Adam to ask the wrong questions and make a few missteps. His perfect life in the ‘burbs is threatened but he fears there’s more at stake.

I liked the idea of this one, but it went in so many different directions that it really felt pretty flimsy when it all came together. Even Adam felt flimsy to me and he was supposed to be a sympathetic character! The end was a surprise that I mostly liked so that helped end on a high note. With all of the possibilities of the Stranger I was expecting more.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

September 1, 20158 Comments

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Finished 7-27-15, rating 4.75/5, thriller, 590 pages, pub. 2005

I both listened and read this one. The audio was expertly read by Simon Vance, 16 hours and 30 minutes.

Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption. from Goodreads

When I first started listening to this one I found myself lost in a sea of unfamiliar names and it made the beginning a slow start. The set up of the Vanger history and all of the players, big and small, was something to get through not really to relish. That came later. Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist and magazine publisher, was convicted of libel and looking at jail time when Henrik, the head of the Vanger family, makes him an offer he can’t refuse. Henrik also tapped the troubled and enigmatic Lisbeth Salander to check him out and what she found made her more than curious about Mikael.

All three, the Vangers, Mikael and Lisbeth, had their own stories and then came together for one big revelation. Just as one storyline came to a close there was still plenty more story to tell and what a story it was. For me, it was the way everything was expertly woven together that made the characters so rich and vibrant. These were characters that I had never met before and I was intrigued. All three were unapologetic and totally at home in their own skin and I loved it.

If the story started a bit bogged down it certainly didn’t suffer from that by the middle when the investigation and personal relationship between Mikael and Lisbeth became heated. This was when listening to the audio in the car wasn’t enough and I had to pick up the book. There was abuse, horrific abuse and violence, but it only made me in more of a hurry to see what would happen next, how redemption might come. As for Mikael, he seemed to have no problem loving the ladies and I was struck by the very civil way the women sharing him acted. I’ve never seen anything like it in real life, but hey, maybe I need to visit Sweden to see if that’s the way it works over there 😉

I already have the next one ready to go!

Mailbox Monday – I’m back!

August 24, 201511 Comments

mmb-300x282 Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

I’m back! It’s Gage’s first day of Pre-K and I have six hours to myself! Woo Hoo 🙂

Here’s what’s shown up at the house in the past month.

The kids books, movie (Big Sur) and The Language of Hoofbeats by Catherine Ryan Hyde arrived from the generous Vicki (I’d Rather Be At the Beach). Thank you Vicki!!

PokerGeist by Michael Phillip Cash arrived with a deck of cards and a poker chip key chain arrived from Red Feather Productions.

Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave arrived from a Good Reads win!

Epitaph by Mary Doria Russell and Doc by Mary Doria Russell I picked up at the author signing last month.

Son-Rise:The Miracle Continues by Barry Neil Kaufman and Let Me Hear Your Voice by Catherin Maurice are both autism books that I bought used at the library.

Did anything fun arrive in your mailbox?

The Tenth Justice by Brad Meltzer

August 4, 20158 Comments

The Tenth Justice. Finished 7-15-15, 4/5, thriller, 389 pages, pub. 1997

Unabridged audio read by Scott Brick. 14 hours.

Fresh from Yale Law, Ben Addison is a new clerk for one of the Supreme Court’s most respected justices. Along with his co-clerk, Lisa, Ben represents the best of the fledgling legal community: sharp, perfectionistic, and painstakingly conscientious – but just as green. So when he inadvertently reveals the confidential outcome of an upcoming Court decision, and one of the parties to the case makes millions, Ben starts to sweat. Big time. Ben confides in Lisa and turns to his D.C. housemates for help. They offer their coveted insiders’ access – Nathan works at the State Department, Eric reports for a Washington daily, and Ober is an assistant to a leading senator – to help outsnake the blackmailer who holds Ben’s once-golden future hostage. But it’s not long before these inseparable pals discover how dangerous their misuse of power can be, even when accompanied by the very best of intentions.

from Goodreads

For much of this book I didn’t understand how Ben, a supposedly brilliant Yale grad and newly touted Supreme Court clerk, could do and say so many dumb things. He was likeable enough, but not the brightest star in the sky (a star’s a star though, I guess) and he frustrated me. He and his three best friends had a lot of confidence in his brilliance but I wasn’t convinced.

Aside with how doltish Ben seemed for much of the book, I really liked it. The Supreme Court is always a draw for me, as is the Washington DC setting, although there was little political intrigue for a DC thriller. What there was though were enough secrets and behind the scenes negotiations, crosses and double-crosses to keep me riveted.

I liked the relationship Ben and his three best friends from high school shared and was sad when one of their fates was less than happy. It added a little bit of reality to an otherwise outlandish story.

This is my second Meltzer book but the first one he wrote and I was impressed with his debut into the novel publishing business. Have any of you read any of his newer books that you’d recommend?

Lookbook Cookbook:Simple, Delicious, Gluten-Free & Vegan Dishes for Fashion-Loving Foodies by Jessica Milan

July 28, 2015July 27, 20155 Comments

Lookbook Cookbook. Read 7-15-15, rating 3.75/5, cooking, 192 pages, pub. 2015

Who says fashionistas can’t enjoy delicious food? Jessica Milan, a model-turned-photographer and health-conscious foodie, brings you a lookbook of unique style and a cookbook of tasty vegan and gluten-free meals.

Flip through and you will find super simple recipes for smoothies, apps, snacks, mains and treats paired with photos of real girls indulging in the finished products. You will love looking through the photos as much as you enjoy preparing and eating these amazing recipes, like Tex-Mex Potato Skins, Veggie Pad Thai, Quinoa Yam Patties and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta Pesto. All of the recipes are vegan and completely soy- and gluten-free, using only fresh, all natural, good-for-the-body-and-the-mind ingredients, so you can savor every bite with no guilt.
The heart of Lookbook Cookbook is in the clean, delicious and easy-to-make recipes, but also the soul is in its message: all girls deserve to have their pancakes and eat them too. So, whether you follow a strict vegan, vegetarian or gluten-free diet, or you simply want to incorporate more healthy meals into your week, Lookbook Cookbook is your must-have source of inspiration!

from Goodreads

I am always looking for great gluten free-dairy free recipes to try for Gage and I saw this fun book on the shelf at the library so I brought it home. And I totally appreciate that these recipes are also soy free. Soy is bad, people 🙂 Anyway, the girls featured with each recipe are young, attractive and very modern. I love that these girls are showing that healthy recipes are the way of the future.

The recipes themselves were easy to follow, many very basic, and a few that I plan to try in the next few weeks (once I get Gage through this period of acid reflux 😦 ). Here are a few that I’m anxious to try.

Isn’t it an attractive presentation? I really enjoyed this fashionista take on healthy cooking. This book was based on a website by Jessica Milan, Lookbook Cookbook, if you want to take a look there first. It was refreshing to find a book making special diets seem so on trend and hip 🙂

The Mask by Taylor Stevens

July 7, 201513 Comments

The Mask. Finished 7-2-15, 4/5stars, thriller, 352 pages, pub. 2015

Book 5 of the Vanessa Michael Munroe series (1-Informationist) (2- The Innocent) (3- The Doll) (3.5- TheVessel) (4-The Catch)

Vanessa Michael Munroe, chameleon and information hunter, has a reputation for getting things done: dangerous and not quite legal things that have taken her undercover into some of the world’s deadliest places. Still healing from a Somali hijacking gone wrong and a brutal attack that left her near death, Munroe joins her lover, Miles Bradford, in Japan where he’s working as a security consultant protecting high-value technology from industrial espionage. In the domesticity of their routine she finds long sought-after peace—until Bradford is arrested for murder, and the same interests who targeted him come after her, too.
Searching for answers and fighting to stay alive, Munroe will soon discover how far she’ll go to save Bradford from spending the next twenty years in locked-up isolation; how many laws she’ll break when the truth seems worse than his lies; and who to trust and who she must kill. Because she’s a strategist and hunter with a predator’s instincts, and the man she loves has just stabbed her in the back.

from Goodreads

I have been a fan of Michael’s since her first book and suggest that you start there or maybe the second if you are a newbie to the series. I know these books can be read as standalones but I really don’t think you’d get Michael without the other books. This latest entry to the series was a lot different from the others, in a way that I can appreciate as a fan, but if I had only read this one I’m not sure if I would have been as invested.

Michael is still recovering emotionally from her last job in Africa and she takes the peace that living with Miles, a man who loves her and her complicated ways, offers her. She relocates to Japan and sits idle while he works. This is a recipe for unhappiness for the fiery and capable Michael, normally the one who gets paid handsomely to acquire information. She is in the passenger seat and only when the wheels come off and land Miles in a Japanese prison is she able to get back to what makes her tick, her work.

I loved learning about the Japanese culture, the work culture especially since the corporate world is where most of the story took place. For me, this was the best part of the book. Actually, it’s always one of my favorite parts of each of the books in the series. Stevens, who grew up travelling around the world in a cult, knows how to really immerse the reader in a foreign place. I loved learning more about what life looks like in Japan.

Michael was healing and there was enough kick-assery to show her core strength but not as much as we’ve seen in previous novels. I liked this as a part of the series, almost like Michael’s pause for healing, and am looking forward to more of her story and Miles too since he is one awesome dude to love a woman as tough as Michael.

This book was sent to me by the publisher.

Book vs. Movie – The Fault in Our Stars

June 25, 2015September 13, 202438 Comments

(2012) VS The Fault in Our Stars (2014)

I was surprised to find out last week that so many of my blogger friends still haven’t read this book or seen the movie. I thought I was all kinds of deficient in waiting as long as I did to read it. But I listened to the excellent audio and then watched the movie with my ‘no, that’s just the sun in my eyes and that’s not me wiping tears away with my sleeve’ husband. (hmm, sometimes he actually reads this blog…) We both had the same assessment.

The Story/Plot They both told the cancer-ridden story of two teens who fall in love against all odds and they were both spot on in that aspect. There were differences though. In the book there was more of an understanding of Hazel than in the movie. In the book we see her go to college classes, meet a friend at the mall, visit Isaac in the hospital, discover that Augustus had and ex-girlfriend (I will spoil no more about that), have more conversations with her parents. As for Augustus we missed a lot of his struggle at the end of the book (no more spoilers). The movie focused primarily on the love story, which it is at it’s heart, but it lacked the nuance and depth of the book. And I missed one of the more lighthearted scenes of the book about the swingset as it was left out of the movie. Thumbs Up- Book

The Visual I’ll give the props to the movie on this one. For one, I loved the visit to Amsterdam and want to visit someday. Also, in the book there was always Hazel with her oxygen tank and it was surprising how by the end of the movie I didn’t even notice it. It became a permanent part of Hazel and it wasn’t distracting and that illustrated that the beauty within a person shines through even if physical ailments exist. Thumbs Up- Movie

Characters vs. Actors I read the book well after the movie came out, so I was already picturing Shailene Woodley as Hazel and Ansel Elgort as Augustus. I was more familiar with Shailene’s work and she felt right in this role. She was a great Hazel. I loved the casting of Laura Dern and and Sam Trammell as the parents, I thought they were perfect. As for Augustus, well Ansel came so close that I won’t hold it against him. I think Augustus is such a difficult character because he was so everything, so perfect teen girl fantasy, so witty, so smart, so romantic. That is a hard role to fill. I think Ansel got about 80% of the way there for me and that’s saying a lot! Thumbs Up- Book, but barely

The Ending There were a few differences toward the end of the movie but the one that bothered me most was one I mentioned earlier, we missed some of Augustus and his struggle. I think the movie would have been better for showing it. Thumbs Up – Book

And the winner is…the book!!!!

Did you realize that John Green hasn’t written a book since? This article is from entertainment Weekly this month.

Other book vs. movie polls you can still vote on: (It Ends With Us) (Perfume: The Story of a Murderer) (The Sun is Also a Star) (We Have Always Lived in the Castle) (Good Morning, Midnight/The Midnight Sky) (Before I Go To Sleep) (The Little Prince) (Charlie St. Cloud) (Far From the Madding Crowd) (The Girl on the Train) (Tuck Everlasting) (Northanger Abbey) (Me Before You) (And Then There Were None) (Still Alice) (The Blind Side) (The Fault in Our Stars) (The Hound of the Baskervilles) (Gone Girl) (Jack Reacher) (Ender’s Game) (Carrie, the original) (Under the Tuscan Sun) (The Secret Life of Bees) (The Shining, the original)

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

June 16, 2015June 16, 201535 Comments

The Fault in Our Stars. Finished 5-19-15, 5/5, Young Adult, pub.

Unabridged audio read by Kate Rudd. 7 hours:19 minutes

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

from Goodreads

What can I say about a book most of the bookish world has already read? You were right to fall in love with this bittersweet YA book that was worth every tear because for every tear there was a chuckle or smile or life affirming lesson. This book had everything that I’d been missing in the few John Green books I’ve read. The same connection that Hazel Grace and Augustus had to each other was the one that I felt to them and their story.

Hazel Grace with her Stage IV thyroid cancer and oxygen tank met her match in Augustus with his osteosarcoma and one leg. Their witty conversations were perfection. Augustus had a fear of leaving the world without ever leaving his mark and Hazel was afraid of being the grenade that blew up everyone who loved her when she died. These two teens were able to convey more about the fears of dying better than any other book I can think of right now. But their fears did not get in the way of living. They were both just trying to live the life they were given the best way they knew how, with a lot of strength and humor. A word about Hazel’s relationship with her parents. I loved this relationship and felt that it was so real. As an only child like Hazel, I understood the sometimes desperate responsibility she felt for her parents happiness. Perfectly told in every way.

I loved it and am only sorry it took me so long to read it, tears and all!

GIVEAWAY over

Claimed by Vicki

I listened to the audio on my drive to Chicago and had to keep stopping it so I could wipe away the tears that might have caused a wreck. The narration was perfection and I have an unopened MP3-CD that I won from my library for the first person who tells me they want it. Just let me know in a comment with a way to contact you for an address. I’ll ship it anywhere just because I love this book so much!

Stacy's Books

books, movies, and boy

Tag: Books