Gone Fishin'

See you in a few weeks!!

Shutter - Courtney Alameda

Summary: Micheline Helsing is a tetrachromat—a girl who sees the auras of the undead in a prismatic spectrum. As one of the last descendants of the Van Helsing lineage, she has trained since childhood to destroy monsters both corporeal and spiritual: the corporeal undead go down by the bullet, the spiritual undead by the lens. With an analog SLR camera as her best weapon, Micheline exorcises ghosts by capturing their spiritual energy on film. She's aided by her crew: Oliver, a techno-whiz and the boy who developed her camera's technology; Jude, who can predict death; and Ryder, the boy Micheline has known and loved forever.

When a routine ghost hunt goes awry, Micheline and the boys are infected with a curse known as a soulchain. As the ghostly chains spread through their bodies, Micheline learns that if she doesn't exorcise her entity in seven days or less, she and her friends will die. Now pursued as a renegade agent by her monster-hunting father, Leonard Helsing, she must track and destroy an entity more powerful than anything she's faced before . . . or die trying.

Lock, stock, and lens, she’s in for one hell of a week. (Summary and pic from goodreads.com)

My Review: The first thing that caught me about this book is that it’s scary. It’s not scary like many YA paranormal novels that tend toward the dystopian—ya know, that your whole life is gonna end in one big catastrophic event, i.e. sun spots, nuclear war, zombies, or everyone’s personal favorite, the totalitarian government. No, this book is more scary in the ghostly and creatures from other realms scary. And I liked that, actually. I liked that in this alternate world, these things were accepted and it was normal that ghosts and other entities were around. Other books from this same genre often start out with the assumption that paranormal happenings are rare and not accepted and that part of the struggle is convincing people they exist. I’m still questioning sparkling vampires. It’s not like that in this book. The population at large is well aware of ghosts and otherworldly entities and they understand that there is a special group of people who fight them, both by training and by lineage. And this really was a game changer, actually. The book operated within a realm of “this was already normal.” You have to accept it as the reader because that’s just the way it is. It added an extra layer of complexity that I liked. When civilians or government entities are working with the Special Forces team, they are operating within the law and within the normal society and that just makes everything different.

This book was written by a children’s librarian, and she’s competent in her writing. It isn’t the sometimes-typical drivel of other paranormal teen books (cause hey, let’s just whip those babies out like nuthin’ and start raking in some cold hard cash) and her writing has a proficiency that I really appreciated. The main character is snarky and a little rough, but it’s handled well, and I thought it made her believable. There is some language (because let’s face it, most teens have a little language), but there is no unnecessarily dropped f-bombs or crassness that is just used by lesser writers. And I loved the geeky name dropping throughout the book, even beyond the cool premise that these were the descendents of the original Dracula hunters. I found other paranormal names in there, not necessarily even used in a paranormal sense, and I felt like I was part of the cool kids when I did (Hello Mulder and Scully!).

My one complaint about this book is that there is a steep learning curve in the acronyms and language. Because you are immediately immersed in a society where this organization and ghosts are the norm, Alameda has invented a complete lexicon to go with that. As that is what it would be like to step into that slice of life, those of us living in this paltry existence take a little while to catch up. And I did catch up, although sometimes I still was a little confused about stuff. It didn’t take away from the book, though, I just had to pay attention and refer back a few times as necessary.

So if you’re in the market for a fun paranormal read, this is definitely a good one to check out. I’m hoping she writes another one because there was definitely room for more in this fun world she’s created.

My Rating: 4 stars

For the Sensitive Reader: There is some language and mild sexual content, but it is on par with other books in the genre.

The Winter People - Jennifer McMahon

Summary: The small village of West Hall, Vermont, has experienced a number of disappearances over the years. It has also seen its share of tragedies including that of Sara Harrison Shea who was found savagely murdered in her field in 1908.

In present day, nineteen-year-old Ruthie lives in Sara’s farmhouse with her mother and younger sister. She wakes up one morning to find her mother missing. While searching for clues, she finds Sara’s diary hidden under a floorboard in her mother’s room.

As she searches for her mother, Ruthie worries that history might repeat itself as she reads Sara’s diary. (Image from goodreads.com)

My Review:  Who are the Winter People? They are the loved ones more commonly known as ghosts who walk in the shadows. This book attempts to answer the question: Would you bring a loved one back if you could?  It answers the question but also delves into the results of that answer in a horrifying manner.

Winter People combines elements of mystery, suspense, and horror. In the present day, Ruthie is searching for her missing mother while in 1908. Sara is dealing with the disappearance of her daughter. Ruthie lives in the farmhouse where Sara was found murdered and finds Sara’s diary. McMahon tells both their stories, alternating viewpoints and chapters. She brings elements of suspicion and suspense to both parts.

While I found the concept interesting, I did not find it as readable as McMahon’s other novels. She captures the characters voices well. Overall, McMahon does a great job capturing both voices. She also delivers some unexpected plot twists along the way. There was something unsettling in the story, however, it seemed as if there were many contrived elements that overlapped. For me, it was a matter of too many coincidences overlapping so as to make it unbelievable. This unbelievability pulled me out of the story.

The resolution at the end seemed rushed, and not in a good way. There were some unanswered questions and the final resolution made me uncomfortable.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

For the Sensitive Reader:  Elements of violence, gore and savagery. 

The Golem and the Jinni - Helene Wecker

Summary:  Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic. When her master, the husband who commissioned her, dies at sea on the voyage from Poland, she is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York in 1899. 

Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire, born in the ancient Syrian desert. Trapped in an old copper flask by a Bedouin wizard centuries ago, he is released accidentally by a tinsmith in a Lower Manhattan shop. Though he is no longer imprisoned, Ahmad is not entirely free – an unbreakable band of iron binds him to the physical world.

The Golem and the Jinni is their magical, unforgettable story; unlikely friends whose tenuous attachment challenges their opposing natures – until the night a terrifying incident drives them back into their separate worlds. But a powerful threat will soon bring Chava and Ahmad together again, challenging their existence and forcing them to make a fateful choice. (Summary and image from goodreads.com)

Review:  Warning; writing a book review months after reading the book is tricky.

So why then did I just not review the book?  Because I found it beautiful.  I loved Wecker's style of writing, and reading after the fact that she chose the heroes she did, a golem and a jinni, to bring to life and to entwine her and her husband's histories further endeared me to the book.

The story feels effortlessly crafted.  It was easy to lose myself in the story, knowing that the golem wasn't ever quite a woman, that the jinni wasn't ever a man.  The threat, which was more layered and complicated than I anticipated, never felt forced.  So many books introduce a threat because the author needs there to be one, but the whole book was so well-crafted, I felt like it had organically sprung from the ground and had been plucked, prepared, and served up by Wecker.  I love books like that.

This wasn't a heart-racing, drop-everything-and-read book, but I would confidently classify it as a perfect rainy day book.

Rating:   Four stars

For the Sensitive reader:  There is a brutal beating of a woman, and as Chava comes to her friend's defense, her attacker is left unconscious and clinging to life.  The jinni seduces a socialite.  The disgraced rabbi, a larger threat than initially perceived, is an overall icky guy.

Gone Reading Summer Sale!

If I had my way, summer would be nothing but this:

And with my kids out of school, and all three burgeoning bookworms, we're doing a LOT of reading around here!

A few weeks ago, gonereading.com contacted me to see if I wanted to review any of their products to recommend to our readers.  I browsed their site, and refrained from asking for ALL THE THINGS!  But to my delight, they had the cutest shirt with that picture available!  (Image is a screenshot of the site.)  I contacted GoneReading, and they sent me two different shirts to try out.  

Seriously, guys, there's not a better shirt for lounging in.  They fit well, mine has only gotten softer and more comfy every time I've washed it, and who wouldn't want a constant reminder to just read and sleep?! Especially in the summer!

I've loved this shirt, and guess what?!  It's on sale right now, with a ton of other incredible finds!  Go check it out at gonereading.com, and then come back and tell me what you've found!

I received the tshirts in exchange for an honest review.  And trust me, if I didn't like them, I'd have told you.  My biggest issue is hiding it from my kids!

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory - Caitlin Doughty

Summary: A young mortician goes behind the scenes, unafraid of the gruesome (and fascinating) details of her curious profession.

Most people want to avoid thinking about death, but Caitlin Doughty—a twenty-something with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre—took a job at a crematory, turning morbid curiosity into her life’s work. Thrown into a profession of gallows humor and vivid characters (both living and very dead), Doughty learned to navigate the secretive culture of those who care for the deceased.

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes tells an unusual coming-of-age story full of bizarre encounters and unforgettable scenes. Caring for dead bodies of every color, shape, and affliction, Doughty soon becomes an intrepid explorer in the world of the dead. She describes how she swept ashes from the machines (and sometimes onto her clothes) and reveals the strange history of cremation and undertaking, marveling at bizarre and wonderful funeral practices from different cultures.

Her eye-opening, candid, and often hilarious story is like going on a journey with your bravest friend to the cemetery at midnight. She demystifies death, leading us behind the black curtain of her unique profession. And she answers questions you didn’t know you had: Can you catch a disease from a corpse? How many dead bodies can you fit in a Dodge van? What exactly does a flaming skull look like?

Honest and heartfelt, self-deprecating and ironic, Doughty's engaging style makes this otherwise taboo topic both approachable and engrossing. Now a licensed mortician with an alternative funeral practice, Doughty argues that our fear of dying warps our culture and society, and she calls for better ways of dealing with death (and our dead). (Summary and pic from goodreads.com)

My Review: I fully expected this book to be similar to something Mary Roach had written. In fact, I thought it would be the crematory version of Stiff. I was…wait for it…wrong. It did have some background and history of cremations and death practices, but it was nothing like the usually very in-depth look at whatever topic Mary Roach was explaining. This was more of a memoir of Doughty’s work in a crematorium, with a large and healthy dose of her beliefs in death practices and the treatment of death in American society. Since she is now a licensed mortician, she definitely knows a lot about it and isn’t just pontificating.

I think this is a good addition to other books about death. I really like how she addresses death in our society, as well as exploring other societies and their death practices. It is obvious she has an agenda, but it isn’t like it’s one that has some serious opposing views, more like most people are unaware of their choices in regards to death. I felt like she did a good job of exposing the almost charlatan-like practices of mortuaries today in a manner that was not overbearing. While I probably won’t bury my loved ones in my backyard when they’ve passed, I did find it interesting to read about the natural death practices movement that I had no idea about.

And the thing that made this book even better? It’s funny. Like really funny. Doughty has a great sense of humor. It’s sometimes shocking—this book is about crematories and death, ya know—but it does make for a good read. Her writing is easy and it makes a topic that is sometimes hard to read about palatable.

One of my favorite things, though, was reading through the websites she referenced. I waited until the book was over (because I like to build up to this kind of thing) and then explored her Order of the Good Death site, as well as other sites that were linked to it or referenced in it. I love doing that kind of thing. Just when you think you have pretty much seen or heard everything, the internet reveals a small microcosm of culture to which I am just not exposed.  If you read this book, and I think you should, I highly recommend reading her recommended websites that go with it as well. Plus, it isn’t very often that you get to look at pictures of skeletons and mummies and death scenes and be all legit about it.

My Review: 4 stars

For the sensitive reader: This book has a lot of discussion of death and burial of adults, children, and babies, and for that reason is could be startling or offensive to some readers.

Dead Wake - Erik Larson

Summary:  From the bestselling author and master of narrative nonfiction comes the enthralling story of the sinking of the Lusitania

On May 1, 1915, with WWI entering its tenth month, a luxury ocean liner as richly appointed as an English country house sailed out of New York, bound for Liverpool, carrying a record number of children and infants. The passengers were surprisingly at ease, even though Germany had declared the seas around Britain to be a war zone. For months, German U-boats had brought terror to the North Atlantic. But the Lusitania was one of the era’s great transatlantic “Greyhounds”—the fastest liner then in service—and her captain, William Thomas Turner, placed tremendous faith in the gentlemanly strictures of warfare that for a century had kept civilian ships safe from attack. 

Germany, however, was determined to change the rules of the game, and Walther Schwieger, the captain of Unterseeboot-20, was happy to oblige. Meanwhile, an ultra-secret British intelligence unit tracked Schwieger’s U-boat, but told no one. As U-20 and the Lusitania made their way toward Liverpool, an array of forces both grand and achingly small—hubris, a chance fog, a closely guarded secret, and more—all converged to produce one of the great disasters of history.

It is a story that many of us think we know but don’t, and Erik Larson tells it thrillingly, switching between hunter and hunted while painting a larger portrait of America at the height of the Progressive Era. Full of glamour and suspense, Dead Wake brings to life a cast of evocative characters, from famed Boston bookseller Charles Lauriat to pioneering female architect Theodate Pope to President Woodrow Wilson, a man lost to grief, dreading the widening war but also captivated by the prospect of new love. 

Gripping and important, Dead Wake captures the sheer drama and emotional power of a disaster whose intimate details and true meaning have long been obscured by history.  (Summary and image from goodreads.com)

My Review: Nonfiction books have a reputation.  They're wonderful, as a whole, but don't you find them rather dry?  I've found myself plodding through some books, not because the subject is dull, but because the book itself is written like a college report.  There's so very little life to the words on the page that they seem as dusty and antiquated as items from the actual event being related.

Erik Larson doesn't have that problem.  If an author can so vividly describe a scene with so much vitality and life that I not once, but repeatedly, call my husband to see if we could go to the event (which ended years ago), I call that talent.  (I may or may not have asked my husband on multiple occasions to take me to the Chicago World's Fair.)  I also excitedly await new books.  This one certainly lived up to my expectation.

I am a reader, my husband is not.  He tolerates my reading, and sometimes, even lets me pull him along in a story.  The poor man is also claustrophobic, and this book is full of submarine life.   I was fascinated.  I was so caught up I kept reading him passages, only to glance up and see him turning a little green with the thought of  experiencing German Submarine Life.  I feel kind of bad, but at the same time, what amazing talent!

The sinking of the Lusitania is tragic and terrible and fascinating and influenced so much more than I had realized.  Larson's research is impeccable, his delivery so engaging that it's impossible to put the book down.  His ability to breathe life into history is so incredible, even nonreaders or non-fiction antireaders (Is that a thing?  People who just won't read nonfic? It seems like it would be a thing.) will find themselves swept away in the story - the lives, the tragedies. and the humor is all so wonderfully encapsulated.

If you find yourself wanting to venture into nonfiction and are intimidated, or if you're already a fan of the genre, this is definitely a must read.

My Rating: Four and a half stars

For the Sensitive Reader:  Claustrophobia-inducing passages, absolute tragic deaths of children, women, and men who were either unable or thrown from lifeboats (not deliberately, but many of the lifeboats were unable to be launched properly, upending and dumping the passengers into the sea), talk of decomposing bodies, and massive loss of life.

As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust (Flavia de Luce #7) - Alan Bradley

Summary: Hard on the heels of the return of her mother’s body from the frozen reaches of the Himalayas, Flavia, for her indiscretions, is banished from her home at Buckshaw and shipped across the ocean to Miss Bodycote’s Female Academy in Toronto, her mother’s alma mater, there to be inducted into a mysterious organization known as the Nide.

No sooner does she arrive, however, than a body comes crashing down out of the chimney and into her room, setting off a series of investigations into mysterious disappearances of girls from the school. (Summary and Pic from goodreads,com)

My Review: I feel like I’ve been telling you this for awhile now, and I wasn’t even so subtle when I added this series to my top 15 faves list, but if you haven’t read the Flavia de Luce Series, you really should. It’s hilarious. It’s hilarious all the time, but this book. Well. It took it to another level.

I’ve thought about this a lot, and I can’t decide if I would actually like to know Flavia or just really enjoy reading her inner thoughts. On the outside, I know she’s hilarious. She doesn’t necessarily think she is—she thinks she’s got everybody hoodwinked, and for that she is a completely unreliable narrator. I guess that’s to be expected from a 12-year-old. Some characters in the books find her charming—and many more find her annoying. Suffice it to say that most people really see through her.  This makes for a most humorous read, in which Flavia is constantly doing things that are just…well. Haven’t I told you its hilarious? Seriously, so funny. So would I like to know her? I don’t know. Not if it would be at the expense of not actually reading her thoughts because peeps, she is hilarious. It’s the best kind of humor, too. Smart, sarcastic, intelligent, well-timed, sometimes subtle. We’re not talking SNL. We’re talking 12-year-old schoolgirl/amateur chemist/wannabe detective funny. Maybe that’s not selling it. But trust me.

You may find it strange that the author—an older man—would have such insight into a 12-year-old British girl from the 50’s. I’m here to tell you that he does. He has nailed Flavia. She is funny, she is smart, she is dramatic, and sometimes she is just 12, and I totally love her. She is one of my favorite characters in any series. If I’m not selling this series to you by now I just don’t know what to say.

This book was a fun addition to the series. All of the other books take place in the ramshackle ancestral home of the de Luces, but in this one Flavia has been sent to Ms. Bodycote’s Female Academy, a boarding school in Canada. She is completely out of her element. Whereas in today’s world, Canada is just one Siri chat away from knowing all things, Canada to a British girl in the fifties who has never traveled far away from home would be utterly disconcerting. Flavia handles it with the kind of, er, grace you would expect, and all kinds of shenanigans ensue.

As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust is a great addition to this series. It introduces new characters and places and new situations that Buckshaw just couldn’t, but there is a fair amount of hearkening back to Flave’s family and home so that it still has that feel that I know and love. It is able to preserve the original charm of the books while adding to its normal line-up.

I think this is the funniest of the series so far. Bradley has really hit his stride and developed a character that is real and tangible. I am so glad the series is continuing. If you haven’t read the series, you can still read this book without the commitment of the other six. It doesn’t leave you wondering or lost. However, I promise that the series is a worthwhile read.

My Rating: 5 stars

For the sensitive reader: This book does discuss murder, but it is not graphic or shocking. There is some mild language and teenagers smoking.

Whiskey & Charlie - Annabel Smith

 Summary:  It is less than twenty-four hours since Charlie received the phone call from his mother and in those hours his only thought has been that Whisky must not die. He must not die because he, Charlie, needs more time. He and Whisky have not been friends, have not talked or laughed together for months, years. But he has never thought it will end like this. He has always thought there will be time. Whisky and Charlie are identical twins. But everything about them is poles apart. It's got so bad that Charlie can't even bear to talk to his brother anymore - until a freak accident steals Whisky from his family, and Charlie has to face the fact he may never speak to his brother again.

(Summary and pic from goodreads.com)

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

My Review:  This book was hard to read. The writing was good, the story was good, the characters were realistic—some more likeable than others, just as in real life—it’s just that the story was heartbreaking. I mean, it’s not like you can’t see it coming as the book starts right off with the one of the twins in a coma from a car wreck, and it just all seems so real. I think that’s what made it hard. And good. I mean, any time you feel like you’re actually emotionally invested in a book because you care about the characters and what happens (even if you don’t like them), it’s the sign of a good book.

I think one of the things that surprised me about this book is how much I actually really didn’t like the main characters, especially Charlie, the brother who was not in a coma. He is, for all intents and purposes, a rude jerk who blames his brother for everything. And Whiskey, the other brother, is not innocent, either. I didn’t like him, either. It was hard to decide who to side with in this. They weren’t necessarily horrible people, just unlikeable in their behavior and actions and because of that it was hard to know what to think. I don’t think I actually really liked either of them very much at all, even by the end. I liked the people around them—the wives and significant others in particular were strong and very likeable. The strength of the book really was that these seemed like real people. They had real emotions and real flaws, but also real strengths. No one was above any of the normal human fallibility, but there were some that were stronger or more capable than others. In the end it really was a realistic family, and I cared about them as a whole.

I felt like the story was, like all good stories, a vehicle in which to have you challenge your own beliefs and feelings about what you would do in certain situations. It is easy to be an armchair quarterback, per se, when you hear of families dealing with really hard situations (and there are some really hard situations in this book) but it’s another when you are actually faced with that situation. People have different beliefs and different ideas, even within a family, and this can make it really hard to come to a consensus and overcome the hurt and drama that comes, simply, with a lifetime of living.

This is the kind of fiction book that isn’t large and sweeping and seriously epic at the end, and I wouldn’t necessarily take it as a fluffy beach/vacation read, but it is a good book about a microcosm of life—the complexities of relationships, family love, and the inevitable loss and tragedy that comes from just living in this world.

My Rating: 4 stars

For the sensitive reader: There is some language and sexual discussion, but I would not consider it offensive and is on par with others in the genre.                                  

Find Momo: Coast to Coast - Andrew Knapp

Summary:  Momo loves to hide—and you’ll love looking for him! In this follow-up toFind Momo, the canine Instagram superstar (and his best buddy, Andrew Knapp) travel across the United States and Canada, visiting iconic landmarks and unique off-the-map marvels. Look for Momo hiding in Grand Central Station, in front of the White House, and in the French Quarter of New Orleans . . . as well as at diners, bookstores, museums, and other locales that only a seasoned road-tripper like Andrew could find. It’s part game, part photography book, and a whole lot of fun. (Summary and image from goodreads.com.  I was provided a copy in exchange for an honest review.)

Review:  Sometimes taking a road trip is exhausting, especially with kids in tow.  And, taking it from one who knows, road tripping with a dog takes either nerves of steel, or a dog in a class of its own.   Andrew and Momo, the Instagram-famous duo of photographer and hide-and-seek mastery, return documenting their own road trip from Eastern Canada, down the Atlantic coastline, across the South, up the Pacific Coast, and home.  Not only did their sojourn take months, they stopped to play hide-and-seek along the way, make new friends, and enjoy the land.  Andrew shares snippets of memories and travel tidbits, but again, the main attraction of this book is the incredible photography.

I am blown away by the photographs Knapp has included.  Pair that with the obvious training he's accomplished with Momo, and this was a book I thoroughly enjoyed, before it was hijacked by my daughter.  Not only does she love trying to find Momo in the photographs, she loses herself in the colors, textures, and stories of each one.  She's read the book more times than I can count, carrying it around the house, outside, in the car ... wherever she can, she's diving in.  I love watching her imagination take wing as she appreciates these photographs.  

There are a lot of articles floating around the interwebs about the benefits of wordless or word-few books.  They allow children to create a story of their own, flex those imaginative muscles, and expand their understanding.  They promote dialog between parent and child.  Books like Find Momo: Coast to Coast facilitate that so well, especially since the vignettes featured are recognizable, if not well-known.

Rating:  Four and a half stars.  As an adult, I wish there was just a little more detail about the locations and the route Knapp chose.