Finished audio 8-4-11, rating 4/5, fiction, pub. 2005

Unabridged audio read by the author.  14 hours.

Book  2 of the Oz series.

I loved Wicked, the first book about Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West.  I was less in love with the musical, but it was still good.  The book had it all.  Here is a link to the review I wrote for another book review site before I started my blog.  I thought the book stood on its own brilliantly and was not all that excited to read a sequel, Elphaba was dead, the story was told.

Liir might be Elphaba’s son, no one is sure.  He was raised by her but without maternal actions he was left to feel more like ward than a son.  Liir was just a boy when Elphaba died and the story begins when he is found left for dead on the side of the road.  He is nursed back to health at the cloister by the quadling girl, Candle.  In alternating chapters we read about his recovery and what he did on the ten years between Elphaba’s death and his being found.

I felt a detachment from Liir that I didn’t feel to Elphaba, so the story, while good, did not touch me in the same way.  I loved revisiting Oz and the Scarecrow and Glinda, the good witch.  Maguire is a genius at creating an alternate reality.  You will never watch the movie The Wizard of Oz in quite the same away again.  This Oz has a dark underbelly full of political intrigue, revolution, animal rights, and an army of dragons trained to kill.

With all of the spectacle that is Oz this is still Liir’s story.  His quest to find himself and discover his purpose.  The journey was full of love, pitfalls, rediscovery, and disillusionment.

I would recommend this only for those who loved Wicked.

Maguire did a great job narrating his own novel, but I wonder if the distance that I felt from Liir was because that is how he chose to read him.  It’s hard to say.

This is from my personal library and was chosen by Shanyn, JoJo, Laura, Donna, and Lisa-Marie.  Here’s what they had to say…

“Son of a Witch is REALLY good! I think you’d really enjoy it!”  Lisa-Marie

“Absolutely one of the books everyone should read. Well actually they should read all 3 in the series – Wicked, Son of a Witch and A Lion Among Men. There is so much more to these books than them being loosely based odd the Wizard of Oz.”  Donna

“I have that in my stack and would like to know what someone else thinks of it.”  Shanyn

Take a guess at this week’s Who’s Older Quiz.  For every participant the winner will receive $1 B&N gift card.

Finished 6-14-11, rating 4/5, horror, 245 pages, pub. 1974

“You’re bleeding!” Sue yelled suddenly, furiously.  “You’re bleeding, you big dumb pudding!”

Carrie looked down at herself.

She shrieked.

The sound was very loud in the humid locker room.

A tampon suddenly struck her in the chest and fell with a plop at her feet.  A red flower stained the absorbent cotton and spread.

Then the laughter, disgusted, contemptuous, horrified, seemed to rise and bloom into something jagged and ugly, and the girls were bombarding her with tampons and sanitary napkins, some from purses, some from the broken dispenser on the wall.  They flew like snow and the chant became: “Plug it up, plug it up, plug it up, plug it–“

page 8

Carrie is an often maligned high school student who is treated poorly by her overly zealous mother and by fellow students who see her as a freak.  When she gets he first period in the school shower and has no idea what is happening to her something broke in her.  Or maybe it’s better to say that something awoke in her.  She started using her powers to move things and later for acts of utter devastation.

I’m sure a lot of people know this story, either from the book or movie, or maybe even from pop culture references.  I haven’t seen the movie, but thought I’d give the book a try and I wasn’t disappointed.  I wasn’t completely wowed either, but I did think it was good.  The characters were well-drawn and I was as disgusted with the hateful Chris as with any other character I’ve recently encountered.  I steered clear of girls like her in school, but I’m not sure anyone I knew was as awful as she was.

I wasn’t sympathetic to Carrie much.  A little in the middle and I guess at the end for a moment or two, but for the most part she started strange and ended strange and vengeful.  Not a combo to have me rooting for her.

I liked the way the story was told, from lots of different viewpoints.  Sometimes we read Carrie’s perspective or another student, like Sue, and these were intermingled with reports that happened after the fact, after the prom from hell.

Not my usual genre but as a pop culture reference I’m glad I read it.  I wasn’t bored and I was alternately disgusted and disapproving.  Not two emotions that endear me to a book, but it was still an entertaining read.

This was from my personal library.

Finished audio 6-30-11, rating 4/5, YA, pub. 2007

Unabridged audio 6 hours, 25 minutes.  Read by Joel Johnstone and Debra Wiseman

High School good guy, Clay, received a box of cassette tapes.  On these tapes was the voice of Hannah Baker who had just recently committed suicide and she was telling the 13 people who had a hand in her decision her reasons why.  Clay was horrified that this girl, who he’d had a crush on for years could somehow think he’d had a hand in ruining her life and he spent the rest of the day and night listening and visiting the places she talked about, forever changing the way he looked at his classmates and himself.

This book has such a great premise and the story goes back and forth between Clay’s thoughts and Hannah’s words and it is really powerful.  I listened to the audio and I think it was the perfect way to experience this book.  The book made me think about how we don’t know what effect our actions, big or small, might have on someone else.  A kind word might be something that a person thinks about for days or changes the way she views herself and it was nice to be reminded of that.

I think the topic of teen suicide is important and I’m glad that this book has become so popular.  Teens need to know how suicide may affect those left behind and they need to know that people are there for you even when don’t notice right away. I think this is a must read for teens.

I don’t read a lot of YA.  No particular reason, maybe I’m a little too far removed from it.  But everything I read about this one intrigued me so I finally checked it out and was impressed.  My few problems with the book stemmed from how far removed I am, I think.  I do remember my teen years, when everything was SO IMPORTANT and NOTHING COULD WAIT.  Being a teen is no picnic, but neither is it so hard that some things cannot be overlooked as trivial.  Hannah listed 13 people on her tapes, but a few of the middle stories left me feeling like Hannah needed to get a grip.  But that’s coming from a 39 year woman, so take that for what it’s worth.  Even with that I’d still recommend this book.

I checked this audio out of the library.

Finished 6-26-11, rating 5/5, fiction, 342 pages, pub. 2004

My name is Sophie Stanton and I’ve joined the grief group because…well, because I sort of did a crazy thing.  I drove  my Honda through our garage door.  I was coming home from work one night and-even though my husband has been dead for three months-I honestly thought I would run inside and tell him to turn on the radio because they were playing an old recording of Flip Wilson, whom he just loves.  Loved.  Ethan had been trying to find a copy of this skit for years, and now here it was on the radio.  If I hurried, we could tape it.  Then I had the sudden realization that my husband was gone, dead, and the next thing I knew the car was lurching through the door.

Chapter 1

Sophie is 36 years old, childless, newly widowed, and unhappily employed.  She had only been married for three years when her husband died of Hodgkin’s disease and she wasn’t dealing with it very well.  She went to work in a bathrobe, wanted to sleep with her grief counselor and had the police come to her house when she started throwing her dish set against the house late at night.  She needed a change and when her job forced a leave of absence on her a move up to Oregon to live with her best friend from college and daughter seemed like a good idea.

Sophie is a mess, but an honest and charming one.  She is not superwoman and she falls and fails at many turns, but she never stays down (well, down for very long at least).  She picks herself up and muddles her way through another day until she has put together enough good days to make a real life for herself.  And as sad as some of this book was it was always tinged with enough humor and wit to make it immensely enjoyable.  At the end I was sad to say goodbye to Sophie and her friends.  I really wanted to continue hanging out with them.

I’m giving this a 4.75 rating, only my second one since starting the blog.  It was so close to being perfect for me.  I wasn’t sure until I started typing where my rating would land, but there it is.  I love Winston’s voice (I also enjoyed her second book) and am amazed that she had the guts to write such a poignant book about being a widow when she’s not one.

I highly recommend this one.  Oh, but don’t read it expecting it to be a grief workbook.  It is still a work of fiction and meant to entertain.

This is from my personal library and chosen by Staci, Jenners, and Margie.  Here’s what Jenners had to say… “I love this author and she only has two books but this one is wonderful. I’m anxiously awaiting her next book!!!”

Finished 6-9-11, rating 4/5, fiction, 292 pages, pub. 2001

Long before Will Combray came along, Michael was there.  Always, there had been Michael.  And if Casey felt as though she’d known him forever, it was only because she had.

Chapter 2 

Casey had known Michael all of her life.  They were next door neighbors and best friends.  When they started a romantic relationship, she felt like it was the thing to do to make everyone happy, but she still felt like there was more out there for her.  She was looking beyond the life she’d lived so far into a future that held more excitement.  And that excitement came in the form of Will.  Older, worldly Will charmed Casey into loving him.  It does not end well.  Now it’s 20 years later and Will has come back, days before her anniversary party, celebrating the life she’s made with Michael.

This story felt familiar, in a good way.  Who hasn’t thought of the road not taken?  It felt more like that than a cheesy romance novel which also uses this plot line often.  Casey wasn’t necessarily a sympathetic character, but there was a genuineness to her that made the story work.  If she’d been nicer this story would have been boring.  As it was I read through this one fast because I wanted to know what she would choose-her comfortable life with Michael or the great unknown with Will.

It was a quick read and one that drew me in and surprised me along the way.  Grayson’s writing felt like I was listening to a friend and I look forward to checking out more of her work.

This was from my personal library.