December Book Review

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@Barrie Summy

It's that time again.  And since I've read several good books this month, I'm going to share more than one review with you.

I should point out that last month I bought four of the books that were reviewed.  I've read two of them already and both of those will be reviewed here.

Okay.


Let's start with The Partner Track by Helen Wan.  Review that made me want the book can be found here.

I really liked this book.  A lot.  Ingrid Yung is a Senior Associate Attorney who is up for a partnership at the Manhattan Corporate Law firm she works for.  She works hard and feels she has earned a partnership but, like everyone else, she has to wait for the announcement comes down and hopes nothing happens to mess things up for her.

Many people think she's a shoo-in because she has a few things going for her.  For one thing she's a female. For another, she's Asian.  The firm has never appointed a minority female as a partner in Mergers & Acquisitions, where Ingrid works and the pressure is really on the partners to have diversity. With Ingrid they get a "two-fer".

What I like about Ingrid is she's every person who's fighting for position in the workforce.  She's very likeable and very relatable, even if you're not up for a partnership in a law firm.  :)  Plus, she doesn't want to be appointed based on giving the firm an appearance of diversity - she wants it based on merit, which she's earned.  She doesn't ever want that questioned either.

Ingrid is a good person and she cares about others and the author does a wonderful job of conveying that. The book was very well written - very moving.  You get a close up look at someone's vulnerability at working towards something but not knowing if you'll get the result you want - or for the reason you want it.  I highly recommend this book.

Okay, on to the next one.

The next I'm going to review is The Opportunist by Tarryn Fisher.  The review that made me want to read this book can be found here.

Let me first say that I have a totally different take on the book than the review that made me by this book.  In that review the reviewer said that Olivia was really horrible to Caleb but that she (the reviewer) was still pulling for Olivia (I'm going from memory here because I won't re-read the review until I've posted mine so sorry if I'm remembering wrong here).  I didn't see it that way at all. 

Yes, Olivia did some cruel things and Caleb was impacted by them BUT they weren't so much to him as to get others out of the way because she saw them as obstacles between her and Caleb.  The one thing she did purposefully to hurt Caleb, he more than deserved.  Plus, even as she did these things she knew they were wrong and was bothered by them - just not enough to take them back or stop doing them.

The other reviewer also has said that it doesn't end like you'd expect it to which had me guessing from the beginning. And while I didn't see the ending coming, I wasn't surprised by things either.

That all said, my take on the characters was different from the other reviewer's in that I saw Olivia as very vulnerable and afraid of loving anyone.  She desperately wanted to love and be loved, which is why she did the things she did, but it also scared the crap out of her.  I think the other review had said she was yelling at the characters.  I was too, only I think what I was yelling was different.  I felt the relationship between Olivia and Caleb was toxic.  I felt like Caleb was a manipulator and abusive towards Olivia.  I was yelling at her to dump him and move on but she wasn't listening.  I had a hard time understanding why she'd want him back.

Despite all that, I did like this book and can recommend it without hesitation.  But, what I will say is that there are two other books in this series, told from the perspectives of Caleb and Leah (Caleb's girlfriend when he gets amnesia . . . oh yeah, Caleb gets amnesia and Olivia takes the opportunity to win him back, even though he's been with Leah for a few years).  This book came to a satisfying conclusion for me so I see no need to read the other two books in the series.  Leah wasn't portrayed favorably in this book and I've already mentioned how I felt about Caleb so I don't want to read their versions of this story.  Having said that, I did break down and read the first couple of paragraphs of each of the books online, in case I wasn't being fair to the characters.  And well, I only read the first couple of paragraphs because that was all I could stomach - they did nothing to change my mind on reading the sequels. 

So that's my take, a big yes on The Opportunist and a big pass on the sequels . . . but that's just me.

Next up is Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich.

No previous review to look up with this one . . . it's all me.  I love this series.  I know there are some who stopped reading the series because Stephanie goes too much between Morelli and Ranger and while I don't always like what she does in the book, I love the series. 

Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter who brings in people (skips) who didn't show up to court when her sleazy cousin Vinnie posted bond for them.  Lulu (a former "ho") helps her track down and bring in the skips.

They're both entirely unqualified for the job so it makes for some fun, light reading.  I read these books in a few hours time.  And if you're one of the people that has sworn off the books due to the Morelli/Ranger thing, they kind of address that in this book.  I mean I would've read the book anyway but I feel that maybe the author considered some of the negative feedback that was coming and addressed it - maybe not to some people's satisfaction but addressed nonetheless.  So, for me, this is another book to recommend.  :)

November Book Review

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@Barrie Summy

 

 

It's been a while since I've participated in the book club because, frankly, I haven't been reading a lot of books that I wanted to - or even felt right about - recommending.  Then a few weeks ago I picked up a book I'd ordered a while back based on another review I had read from a book club member.  The review had me ordering the book the instant after I posted a comment, it was that compelling to me.  Then, as I do some times, I didn't pick up the book for a while because I couldn't remember exactly what it was that made me want it.  After reading a series of very bad books, I figured I had nothing to lose and started reading the book I'm reviewing today.
 

 I'm reviewing The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate.

Ivan is a gorilla.  He lives in a mall where he is expected to bring in customers who will spend their hard earned money.  His home consists of three walls made of glass and one wall that is painted to resemble a jungle.  He's friends with Stella the elephant, who has to perform several times a day and Bob, a stray dog.  The story is told in first person narrative from the viewpoint of Ivan.

During the time that I was reading this book I got my flu shot from the medical department where I work.  We're required to wait for 20 minutes after we get our shot to ensure we don't have an adverse reaction.  I always take a book down with me to fill the time and so I had this book with me.  The nurse administering the shot asked what I was reading and asked if it was good.  I said that it was good and then compared Ivan to Eeyore from the Winnie the Pooh series.  They're both loveable characters but I think the difference is that Eeyore expects bad things to happen to him.  He takes the bad things in stride but they're still expected.  Ivan, on the other hand, is just reporting events.  He doesn't complain and he doesn't whine, it's just how things are.

He's also very loyal to his friends.  Where he accepts his lot in life, he takes actions to make things right or better for his friends.

I fell in love with Ivan.  I laughed and cried while reading this book.  I wanted to help Ivan and make things better for him.  The details were that well told by the author.  At the beginning of the book there are some definitions of things you will be reading.  A me-ball is "dried excrement thrown at observers".  The following passage from the book is one that I found meaningful and tugged at my heart.

Three visitors

Three visitors are here: a woman, a boy, a girl.
I strut across my domain for them.  I dangle from my tire swing.  I eat three banana peels in a row.
The boys spit at my window.  The girls throws a handful of pebbles.
Sometimes I'm glad the glass is there.

My visitors return

After the show, the spit-pebble children come back.
I display my impressive teeth. I splash in my filthy pool.  I grunt and hoot.  I eat and eat and eat some more.
The children pound their pathetic chests.  They toss more pebbles.
"Slimy chimps," I mutter.  I throw a me-ball at them.
Sometimes I wish the glass were not there.

I love kids and I know this is a work of fiction but I was upset by the kids and wished the me-ball had hit them.

Now, having said it was a work of fiction, it is inspired by a true story.  There really exists a gorilla who lived in a mall as entertainment.  I didn't know this until I finished the book and read the author's note.  Of course the events and thoughts of Ivan were created from the author's imagination but they made me care about a gorilla, two elephants and a dog named Bob.

Some may say it's cheating that I'm reviewing a book that was previously reviewed but I think it's reinforcing the original recommendation that this is a book that should be read.

 Edited to add:  After adding the link to the previous review, I went back and read it.  That review really captures the essence of the book so well.  If you haven't read it before, follow the link - it's worth the re-read.
 





June Book Review

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@Barrie Summy

It's time for more book reviews!  

 

This month I'm reviewing Easy Sexy Raw by Carol Alt.  A little over three years ago I gave up meat and dairy.  I bought several cookbooks and even started experimenting with some recipes.  Then about two years ago I heard about raw food for the first time. It was referred to as a "raw diet" by someone I knew was trying to lose some weight so I thought it was something like the Adkins diet, but with raw foods.

Raw, to me, meant completely uncooked so in my head we were talking raw fruits and vegetables. The subject came up again about six months later when my doctor prescribed (yes, prescribed!) Pringles as a means to an end for an issue I was having at the time.  This same doctor had prescribed Pringles to a friend of mine and her sister had sent her an article entitled "Pringles Causes Cancer". The article went on to talk about what raw cooking is.  Essentially it comes down to not heating anything over a certain temperature.

 

So fast forward to a couple of months ago when I went on a cookbook buying binge.  The idea of raw cooking came back up and I found myself at Barnes and Nobles checking out some raw cookbooks.  I selected several and took them to a table to see which ones might best fit my self-imposed dietary restrictions.  This book was the standout for me.

 

Since buying the book, I've also invested in a dehydrator and a mandoline. I've made several of the recipes and so far have not found one I didn't like.  Among my favorite recipes is the Vegan Bay Crab Cakes.  I wasn't sure what to expect because, truth told, I've never had crab cakes so I didn't know if I would like this recipe, assuming it tasted like real crab cakes.  Among the ingredients are zucchini, celery, bell peppers, cashews, pine nuts (for the tartar sauce), almonds and macadamia nuts (which I've discovered I love on their own!).  So it's healthy.  And so scrumptious!  But it's not a quick recipe to make.  The almonds have to soak for 8-12 hours and then, once everything is prepared, it "cooks" in the dehydrator for a total of 4 hours so it's not something that you come home from work and say "I'd like to have raw, vegan crab cakes for dinner tonight."  It takes some planning - but I promise it's worth it.  And I'm fully aware that when I heat up my leftovers in the microwave, the meal is no longer raw.

 

Another good recipe is the Avocado/Kale Salad (actual recipe name may be different).  It's something that is truly raw and can be made in 15-20 minutes.  It's not quite as appetizing to look at but it's delicious.

 

For me, those two recipes alone were worth the price of the book.  Oh, and it's not a vegan cookbook - there are recipes involving meat included as well.  I won't be trying the meat or fish recipes in the book but that doesn't mean I won't maybe substitute ingredients for those with meat.

 

And something I did to test out what I call a theory in the book is I baked some cookies using the dehydrator.  Carol states that cookies put in the dehydrator to cook taste exactly the same as their baked counterparts.  I used recipes from other cookbooks I have - recipes that are tried and proven hits.  I split the batches evenly and baked half in the oven and half in the dehydrator.  There was absolutely zero difference in the taste.  The only differences were 1) dehydrated cookies do not spread out when cooked so the size/shape you put into the dehydrator is the same size/shape you get out; and 2) length of time to cook (10 minutes in the oven vs. 13 hours in the dehydrator).  The oatmeal chocolate chip cookies did stick a little in the dehydrator (peanut butter cookies did not) but I'm going to test that some more to see if there's a fix for that.

 

This book was an interesting discovery for me and I highly recommend it for anyone looking to experiment with raw cooking.  The thing to remember though is that raw doesn't necessarily mean fast.

May Book Review

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@Barrie Summy

It's time to review another book!

This month I'm reviewing Jessica Brody's latest release Unremembered.  As Ms. Brody is an auto-buy author for me, I didn't have a lot of information about the book.  I knew someone had lost their memory and was under the impression that getting it back would be a bad thing and that bad guys were after that person.  I knew it would be good and I knew it would be well written.  Beyond that I had no pre-conceived ideas or thoughts on the book.

I started this book a few weeks ago when I didn't have a lot of time to read.  I was pulled in immediately and was frustrated that I wasn't able to do a lot of reading at the time.  Then, this past Saturday I was out taking care of some business and I took the book with me so I could read while I waited.  First stop I was only allowed 15 minutes of reading time (if that).  Second stop the guy in front of me stormed out because he'd been told it'd be about an hour and a half wait.  When they told me that I said that was fine because I had a book.  They got me out in 45 minutes.  :(

At the third stop I was told it would be 45 minutes and I was there over two hours, and I didn't care one bit.  In fact, I didn't even realize that much time had passed because I was so into the book.

The book opens with Sera waking up in the ocean amongst a bunch of dead people.  When she's retrieved she has the distinct impression that no one expected to find her - at least not alive.  She's taken to a local hospital where she's asked a lot of questions she can't answer . . . like what her name is.  She's told she's the sole survivor of a plane crash and not only does she not know why she would be on the plane, she doesn't even know what a plane is.

In an effort to help relax her, one of the nurses gives her a sedative via her IV drip.  As she's going under a boy appears in her room.  There's something familiar about him and he's trying to get her to wake up and remember him.   He tells her he's going to get her out of there and then everything goes dark as the drugs kick in.  She wakes up in the morning and thinks it was all a dream.

Zen (the boy) shows up several more times but until someone asks her "who was that boy?", she  wonders if he's real or not.  Is he someone she can trust?  Why does she feel this connection when she's around him?  Who is he to her?  These are the questions she has as she tries to remember who she is and how she got to where she is.

One of the quotes on the cover said they'd loved the twist at the end so for the entire book I kept trying to guess what the twist would be.  I can't say a lot without giving too much away but the ending wasn't what I expected . . . for a lot of reasons.  But it seemed to perfectly fit the rest of the story.

Then, after I finished the book (after I got home from all of my Saturday appointments), I read the book blurb, which included "From popular young adult author Jessica Brody comes a compelling and suspenseful new series . . . "  I hadn't known this was part of a series.  That's exciting to me because there's a lot of places this story can go and I'm glad it doesn't end here - and not just because I could still be right about the surprise twist at the end.  ;)

Ms. Brody was among the authors that generously donated their books for the auction at work benefitting the American Cancer Society.  So, if you believe in supporting those that would generously give to help others, you should buy your book.  Or, if you don't care about that but just want a good book to read, then you should buy this book.  Bottom line, I think you should buy this book.  :)

The title is  Unremembered, but I promise you, you'll remember this book.  I highly recommend it.

April Book Review

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@Barrie Summy

So, it's been a while since I've participated in The Book Review Club.  Part of that has been because even though I've read some books I really liked, there was always something that made me feel not quite able to highly recommend the book.  I could recommend it but I felt I'd want to announce a disclaimer like "I really loved the book, well, except the part where . . . " and that's not the kind of recommendation I want to give at our monthly get togethers.

That said, I will be reviewing Jennifer R Hubbard's The Secret Year.  Now, before I get into the review, I want to share how I came to be reading the book first because I think that story is also worth sharing.

The company I work for likes to have a presence in the community, supporting charities, etc.  To that end, every year there's a Relay for Life campaign where we have events to raise money for the American Cancer Society.  And every year we have an online auction.  A few years back I asked a couple of authors if they'd be willing to donate books for the auction and they did.  It went over big with bidders.  The next year I asked a few more authors to participate with success.  Several years went by where I meant to solicit authors but never got around to it.  Then one Friday night in late January, early February of this year, I just started sending emails to any author I could think of that I knew I could recommend their books to anyone bidding in the auction.  Something like 30 authors responded that they'd be happy to donate books.  Eileen Cook not only responded that she'd be happy to donate a book, she offered to hit up her author friends for books as well.  And if you're wondering how that plays into my review, well, Jennifer R Hubbard is one of Eileen's author friends that responded they'd be happy to donate a book as well.  See, I had never heard of Ms. Hubbard before then.

Ms. Hubbard sent me an email offering one of two books and she provided a synopsis of both and asked which one I'd prefer.  I told her we'd be happy with whatever she chose to send and that I'd leave the choice to her.  What I didn't say is that my interest was piqued on her synopsis of The Secret Year.  She sent the other book (Try Not To Breathe) and I went online and purchased The Secret Year.

So that's how I came to be reviewing this book.  And one last thing before I get to the review, I thought I'd mention that our gracious host, Barrie Summy, donated her entire backlist to the auction - in hardcover no less.  The auction ended Wednesday and the books were a huge success.

Now to the review.   

Colt Morrissey of the flats had been having a secret relationship with Julia Vernon of Black Mountain for a year when he got the news she'd been killed in a car accident.  No one knew of their relationship, not even his closest friends, so he was silently grieving his loss.  Until Julia's brother gave him a journal Julia had been keeping, writing letters to Colt about their relationship and her public boyfriend, Austin Chadwick.

You see Colt and Julia were from different sides of the track, so to speak.  Black Mountain was for the rich and the flats were for the poor.  In public they didn't acknowledge each other's existence but in private, they shared their thoughts and dreams.  But they didn't talk about their future so Colt never really knew what Julia thought about him.  Not for sure anyway.  So Colt was a bit hesitant to read the journal and read parts of it when he needed to feel close to Julia or felt ready to deal with whatever she may have said.

Over the course of the next few months, Colt came to terms with his relationship with Julia and its sudden end.  I felt comfortable with the characters and realized it was because I felt like I was reading a modern day version of The Outsiders by  S.E. Hinton.   Cherry had liked Ponyboy and Julia's journal was a unique way to get inside her head. 

I read this book in one sitting and really liked it.  So my recommendation is this: I could recommend it because Ms. Hubbard was so generous as to donate a book to someone she didn't know, trusting that it would be used to raise money for a good cause.  But the fact that it was a well written, good story is the reason I'm recommending this book  I don't think you'll be disappointed. 

Mission Statement

Last summer I attended a training class, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. One of my bosses came on board when I was sick in 2010 so her first impression of me as a worker wasn't a good one. The fact that I was sick throughout 2010 - and remained sick into the first half of 2012 (yes all of 2011 was a blur to me) did nothing to improve her opinion. Which, in a roundabout way, is why I was in the class to begin with.

So, I'm in this class - which I enjoyed by the way . . . and learned a lot - and we had all these exercises we had to do. We had these booklets and we'd do something and have to write stuff in these booklets. Well, I was reluctant to write things in the booklet because I figured since my company paid for the class that it was subject to review by my bosses, right?

Well, we came to this point where we were told we'd have to write for five minutes after we saw a video. I, in my head, kind of scoffed and thought 'yeah right'.  Then we watched the video and were told to start writing and for some reason I just went to town writing and had more stuff I wanted to say when we were told time was up. No one was more surprised than me - seriously!

I can't remember if we shared anything from what we wrote (although I'm sure if we did it was on a voluntary basis) but we were told we should go back to it later and trim it down to a nice, concise mission statement for our lives.  It was a while before I went back to it but when I did I decided my mission statement was LIVE LAUGH LOVE and I decided I wanted to live that way.

In the meantime I was having computer issues to the point that I rarely logged on from home. Gone were the days that I blog hopped everyday to stay in touch with what my friends were doing, nevermind keeping up with my own blog.

For a while I had used school as an excuse for my lack of blog posts. And then I got sick, which really was a valid excuse because I struggled with getting out of bed most days for roughly two years, so blogging was a big event in my life - seriously.

But, in my head, I would've said my mission statement was a dream, or a goal, that I needed to aspire to. Then today I had some time and was reading some of my old blogposts and realized I had been living my mission statement prior to my making excuses as to why it wasn't a reality. I mean I was posting regularly when I first started taking classes so that doesn't work as a valid excuse later - at least in my opinion. Being sick I'm going to give myself a pass on (sorry).

Plus there's the fact that I have these documented memories that I would've otherwise forgotten about. I mean there are stories about my dogs that I'd forgotten about. Funny dreams (and some kind of scary ones too) that I posted. Workplace situations that, to be honest, I needed to recall about now. In short, reading some of my old posts was like reconnecting with an old friend that I'd lost touch with and was so glad to see again. I was recalling a side of me that I'd forgotten was there and really want to get back to.

When I created this blog it was, in part, a way to inspire me write . . . not just blogposts but books. I had a lot of enthusiasm for it then but lost it somewhere along the way. I want that back.

I've been reluctant in the past to commit to regularly blogging again but I want to regain that enthusiasm. I want to live my mission statement again. And, I want to go back to documenting things so that when I'm not having my best I'd days I can look back and think (as I did today) 'I remember that and it was FUN!'

So, here's to living the dream and becoming the blogger I once was. :)