Finished audio 11-8-11, rating 3/5, fiction, pub. 1984

Unabridged audio 12 hours.  Read by Kate Reading.

Alexandra, Sukie, and Jane are witches who don’t have the best reputations around their small Rhode Island town.  Alexandra is the one who harnesses the most power but she is also the one who can’t get over the feeling that she has cancer growing in her.  When the rich Darryl Van Horne moves into a mansion, the three women become fixtures there, on his tennis court and in his hot tub.  The four of them enjoy a special physical relationship, each woman thinking that she holds Van Horne’s affection.  When another woman steps into the hot tub the witches decide a hex is needed.

The three women weren’t all that likeable.  They killed pets who annoyed them, were terrible, absent mothers, were fine with sleeping with married men, and they weren’t even great friends to each other, even though they had no one else.

As I listened to this in the car I felt like I needed to tell Gage to cover his ears in a few parts!  The women’s physical relationship felt icky to me and I do think it’s because I pictured Updike in his office typing the scenes and it felt like I was looking into his fantasy or something.  I know this is my own prejudice and maybe I wouldn’t have had the same reaction if I’d been reading it.

The writing was excellent, but I just didn’t like the story.  Having said that I am curious about the movie.  I can see it being campy fun, considering the cast, so I’ll have to check it out.

I borrowed the audio from the library.

Finished 11- 8-11, rating 4/5, YA, 280 pages, pub. 2001

Book 1 Jessica Darling series

Jessica Darling is facing a crisis of major proportion.  Her best friend, Hope, has moved away and left her alone with the rest of their brainless clique.  Jessica herself is the top student in her junior class and is known as a goody-goody.  Jessica, can’t sleep or stop thinking of Marcus Flutie, the druggie she surprisingly kept from jail.  Jessica is a mess, but aren’t most teens at some point?

I don’t read many young adult books even though so many of them look good.  For the most part I usually feel removed from the teen experience and this book was no exception.  I liked Jessica and her snarky take on high school, but only to a point.  She captured the heartbreak of being a teen, but her obsession with losing Hope gave her an excuse to consider everyone else beneath her. I know feeling smarter than everyone else is a high school rite of passage, but Jessica put me off a little with her attitude.  The distance I felt from her character may be age related, but it may also be that I never hung around with a Jess in high school so I didn’t quite get her.

Anyway, I thought this book was good and I’d recommend it to older teens.  There was swearing, drugs, sex talk and masturbation so I can’t recommend it to younger teens or even older ones who are not mature, I don’t think Jessica is necessarily a good influence.

High school is a hard place to navigate and McCafferty does a great job if capturing that universal experience, which I appreciated even if I had some problems with Jessica.

This was from my personal library.  I picked it up (and way too many other books from my wish list) from Border’s for practically nothing.

Finished audio 11-2-11, rating 4/5, fiction, pub. 2010

Unabridged 10 hours.  Reader-Tavia Gilbert

Rose, a small Kansas town, was shocked when one of their most respected families endured a double tragedy.  When Jody Linder learns that her dad’s murderer, Billy Crosby, will be released from prison after 20 years she is in shock.  Jody has been protected and loved by her grandparents and three uncles all her life and the town, too, has treated her with respect and pity.

Bill was the drunken, animal  and wife abusing loser of Rose.  There were no tears shed when he was carted off to jail.  Even his son, Collin, disliked him.  But Collin still wanted justice done so he went to law school and then fought to have his father released.

Jody grew up without her parents.  She and everyone in her family believed that Billy is guilty.  Only a few in town harbored doubts and those few begin to make Jody wonder about what really happened the night her dad was murdered and her mom disappeared.

The story starts with Billy being released from prison and then the most of the majority of the book is step back in time to show the reader why we should care about Billy’s release.  Most of the time I only like this plot device if the flashback is only part of the book.  While I really liked the story itself I didn’t like the fact that the flashback was the majority of the book.  I kept waiting to move on and get to what was going on now, not past history.

I liked it.  Jody was the main character and yet she wasn’t.  The whole cast of characters had their moment in the spotlight as the story was re-told. There was one thing about the end that I hated, but it wasn’t the reveal of what had really happened, I thought that was nicely done.

Overall this was a nice story and my first experience using a Playaway from the library.  I loved the format and how easy it was to use.  I’ve already checked out several others.  It makes cleaning up the kitchen at night so much easier to bear 🙂

Finished Audio 10-23-11, rating 5/5, fiction, 729 pages, pub. 1976

Unabridged audio. 30 hours. Read by Avery Brooks

What is there left to say about this book that hasn’t already been said?  It still resonates today and is just as powerful as when it was first published.  Even before I touch on the story itself I want to heap praises on the narrator, Avery Brooks.  He was perfect and made the 30 hours just fly by (okay, maybe an exaggeration but I’m not taking it back).  I tried to reference the book here and there for clarification, but found when I went to the book it was jarring.  I just wanted to listen to Brooks!

I think everyone has heard of Kunta Kinte, the African boy who was kidnapped from his small village in the Gambia and sold into slavery in America.  I was so caught up in his village life that I was not only horrified by his kidnapping but also mad that the story had to leave that charming village full of people I wanted to spend more time with.

Kunta came to America, an African among American blacks, on the Virginia plantation.  He didn’t understand their ways just as they didn’t understand his even though they were all living the same enslaved experience.   Kunta eventually learned to make friends and even find love.  When his daughter Kizzy was born he and his wife were held in very high regard as was their daughter which made what happened next all the more awful.

This books follows many generations of Kunta Kinte (born in 1750), the most time being spent with Kunta, his daughter Kizzy and her son Chicken George.  The otherwise ordinary lives were made extraordinary in this family saga.  Not only are they important people because they represent whole generations but because their stories are the stories of this country, warts and all.  It’s as much a story of America’s history as any other novel I’ve read.  It made me laugh and made me sad, brought me to tears and left me disgusted, and it never failed to keep riveted.

This book is based on Alex Haley’s own ancestors and their stories.  It was first published as non-fiction, but some historical accuracies were discovered and it’s now marketed as fiction.  Haley also settled a plagiarism suit where he admitted to copying whole passages from another book.  I admit, that these charges made me look at the book differently when I read about it after the fact.  Should the plagiarism stop me from giving this book a 5 rating?  Probably, but after I gave it some thought I decided to just rate based on my reading/listening experience and it was powerful.

I hope to watch the mini-series soon.

This is from my personal library and was chosen by CeeCee, Staci, Jennifer, Sarah, and Angie.  Here’s what they had to say…

“Amazing historical novel about Africa and American slavery.”  Sarah

“You won’t regret reading this.”  Jennifer

“You have to read this because it is IMPORTANT!!!”  Staci

“Seen the series never read this book but it’s in my TBR pile too.”  Angie

Finished 10-22-11, rating 3.75/5, fiction, 353 pages, pub. 2002

One family, the McLeods, and three Junes, 1989,1995, 1999.  In 1989, we meet the patriarch, Paul, on a trip to Greece that he takes after his wife dies.  We learn about his life in Scotland through flashbacks.  In 1995 we meet his son, Fenno, after Paul has died.  Fenno is a gay man in New York who takes care of a neighbor and friend battling AIDS.  In 1999, we reconnect with Fern, from part 1, as she find herself pregnant and scared.

I liked Paul very much, but wasn’t really drawn into his story.  There wasn’t enough going on for me.  I loved the middle section told from Fenno’s perspective.  He wasn’t the most likeable character ever, but I thought the storyline was great.  The third section completely lost me.  I didn’t get it.  Fern was not nearly compelling enough for her own section.  I know it brought everything full circle, but it wasn’t enough for me.

The book was a mixed bag.  I liked the writing and the family drama.  I like the idea of what Glass was trying to do, but it felt like a gimmick that only half worked.  I would have liked the book a whole lot better if she’d just expanded the middle section to include the first part and then left the last third out altogether. 

I don’t know if I’m making any sense.  It’s a hard book to talk about even if I was willing to fill this post with lots of spoilers.  I’m glad I read it and will definitely give Glass another try.  This was her debut novel and is a National Book Award winner.

This was from my personal library and was chosen for me by Golda and Soft Drink.  Here’s what they had to say…

“I love this book.”  Soft Drink

“Not what I expected, but still good.”  Golda

Finished 10-22-11, rating 4/5, fiction, 200 pages, pub. 1977

My life has been a history of casting off encumbrances, paring down to the bare essentials, stripping for the journey.  Possessions makes me anxious.  When Saul gave me my engagement ring, I worried for months.  How would I hide it?  For surely I should take it with me; I could sell it for food.  But wouldn’t it tempt bandits as I lay sleeping by the roadside?  In their haste they might cut off my finger, and I carried no medical supplies.  I was glad when times got hard and we had to sell the ring back to Arkin’s Jeweler’s.

A husband is another encumbrance; I often thought that.  And children even more so.  (Not to mention their equipment: their sweaters, Band-Aids, stuffed animals, vitamins.)  How did I end up with so much when I had thrown so much away?

Chapter 3

Charlotte has lived a quiet existence in the small town of Clarion, Maryland.  We first meet her when she goes into the bank to withdraw money so that she can leave her husband.  Only she gets more than she’s bargained for as she’s taken hostage by Jake, a recent prison escapee.  They eventually end up in Florida after they’ve picked up Jake’s pregnant girlfriend up along the way.  The story goes back and forth between her life as a hostage and the life she’s led up until that point.

Okay, I usually start with what I liked about the book, but I must start with the part that gave me the most trouble.  The hostage plot device made me roll my eyes in annoyance for the first fourth of the book.  This book was published in 1977, before cell phones but certainly not before common sense.  It really isn’t until you get further into the book and had time to reflect that the things that annoyed me about her being a way-too-accomodating hostage were the same things that made her life story so interesting.

Charlotte is a woman who has never felt like she belonged anywhere and things seem to happen to her instead of her making any conscious decision herself.  She’s stuck in a life not of her choosing.  Her mom always told her that she believed that Charlotte had been switched with her real baby at the hospital and that was something that stuck with Charlotte, that she might have another life out there-her real life.  So, Charlotte spent her life always believing that one day her real life would show up and she’d be ready to go.

Charlotte is not a warm and fuzzy woman, really she’s not even sympathetic, but there is a realness to her that surprised me.  She is like a lot of people, stuck in a life they didn’t think they wanted.  Being taken hostage was the most exciting thing that ever happened to her.

I didn’t like this book as I read it.  It’s only 200 pages so it’s a quick read, and it wasn’t until after I’d finished and I’d had a little time to consider it that I realized how complex and great the story was.  Tyler has been hit or miss with me, but this one is a hit.

This was from my personal library.

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