Well, I’m not surprised that this YA novel got a lot of press when it came out for it’s “controversial material” (a.k.a., sex and violence). But I don’t think that should keep it out of school libraries and kids’ hands. The sex and violence does not come from a place intending to titillate — instead, Alexie uses it to tell the truth about a society that a lot of people know little to nothing about. “Life is a constant struggle between being an individual and being a […]
Falling in the “3.5 stars, rounded up to 4” camp
Well, I tried to finish this in time for the book club discussion (which I plan to read through today if possible!), but life and m’fing Peacock Emporium got in the way. Nevertheless, I did enjoy it, and while I can see why some people dinged it for certain things, I still felt it was a pretty good read overall. “I wanted to come, and if I hadn’t, they would have been all alone, and nobody would have ever known how frightened and brave and irreplaceable they were.” […]
“If you think I’m going to apologize for being drugged and raped, you have another thing coming.”
This book was incredible. It was well-written, with an incredibly compelling story and characters that I felt I could reach out and touch. I devoured it, and it’s stuck with me for the last few days and probably will for years to come. “There’s a moment when I know that I should scream. But screaming would be hard. And blackness would be easy. Black picks me.” Hermione Winters is captain of her cheerleading team in a small town where cheerleading means more than the actual sports cheered […]
The Last Deb
I have finished at least half of the Jojo Moyes’s books that I’ve read in under 48 hours. This one took me six days. That probably tells you everything you need to know. In the 1960s, wild child Athene Forster was called the “Last Deb” — the last of the young, monied women expected to present themselves to society and marry well. Athene selects Douglas Fairley-Hulme — which comes at quite a blow to Vivian, who’s head over heels in love with him — gets married, and […]
Any number of Sundays would never be enough
I really love Billy Crystal — his movies, yes, but he also just seems like a wonderful man. I read his autobiography a few months ago and loved it. 700 Sundays is much shorter, and feels more like stand up — I can’t remember if he based his HBO stand up special on the book, or vice versa — but it’s just as enjoyable and gives the reader an even better picture of a wonderful man. “Consider the rose…The rose is the sweetest smelling flower of all, […]
Big skies, big animals, big threats
By the time I started reading Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, I had forgotten what it was about, and I’m glad I had because otherwise, I would have had my defensives up. I added it to my library queue after reading badkittyuno’s review last month. Cannonball Read: the system works. There’s not much I can add here. badkittyuno did a killer job summarizing the experience of the read, and the broad strokes of the story that Alexander Fuller tells. It’s a memoir of […]
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