Me and Mr. Booker

Me and Mr. Booker Cory Taylor 3/5	Published 2011 First Sentence "Everything I am about to tell you happened because I was waiting for it, or something like it."
Publisher's Description: Looking back, Martha could’ve said no when Mr. Booker first tried to kiss her. That would’ve been the sensible thing to do. But Martha is sixteen, she lives in a small dull town — a cemetery with lights — her father is mad, her home is stifling, and she’s waiting for the rest of her life to begin. Of course Martha would kiss the charming Englishman who brightened her world with style, adventure, whiskey, cigarettes and sex. But Martha didn’t count on the consequences. Me and Mr. Booker is a story about feeling old when you’re young and acting young when you’re not
Dear Reader, This was definitely a book. I'm not sure if I enjoyed it or what but I kept reading, so that's something. This has been compared to Lolita, and while I can definitely see why... I didn't have that same feeling of disgust. Martha, sixteen and bored with her small town life, meets the Bookers through one of her mother's parties. Lacking a father with any good qualities, it's hardly a surprise that Martha is taken with Mr. Booker. This couple is all glam (especially to a sixteen-year-old), with a keen interest in Martha, taking her out with them on a regular basis. I didn't exactly have anything to gripe about but I wasn't exactly wowed either. Cory Taylor writes a great page, and you definitely get a great feel of who the cast is. I just don't have much to say about anything else. It was a book. It was a book that I read start to finish. It was a book that kept my interest. It was a book.   Happy Reading, AmberBug

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All the Birds, Singing

All the Birds, Singing Evie Wyld 4/5	Published 2014 First Sentence "Another sheep, mangled and bled out, her innards not yet crusting and the vapours rising from her like a steamed pudding."
Publisher's Description: From one of Granta's Best Young British Novelists, a stunningly insightful, emotionally powerful new novel about an outsider haunted by an inescapable past: a story of loneliness and survival, guilt and loss, and the power of forgiveness. Jake Whyte is living on her own in an old farmhouse on a craggy British island, a place of ceaseless rains and battering winds. Her disobedient collie, Dog, and a flock of sheep are her sole companions, which is how she wanted it to be. But every few nights something—or someone—picks off one of the sheep and sets off a new deep pulse of terror. There are foxes in the woods, a strange boy and a strange man, rumors of an obscure, formidable beast. But there is also Jake's past—hidden thousands of miles away and years ago, held in the silences about her family and the scars that stripe her back—a past that threatens to break into the present. With exceptional artistry and empathy, All the Birds, Singing reveals an isolated life in all its struggles and stubborn hopes, unexpected beauty, and hard-won redemption.
Dear Reader, I decided to audiobook this one, which turned out to be pretty good. The narrator isn't that great with the male voices, but overall she fit pretty perfectly for the main character Jake Whyte (Jake is a female). This was another book that came across my lap because of the Tournament of Books, I highly suggest you check out this really cool event. This year I've decided to read as many TOB selections as possible. I'm glad this one landed into my hands because I really enjoyed it. Jake Whyte is a tortured sheep farmer with a tragic past, the story is told in two parts - following her present life and rewinding a tape into her past. Presently, she is taking care of her own sheep on a remote farm while she tries to figure out why her sheep keep dying. Each chapter is followed by one reflecting on her journey up until that point but played backward, the style is really interesting but takes a little time getting used to. The beauty of All the Birds, Singing is how the story unfolds. At first I was very taken aback by the story because we only see glimpses of the whole picture but as things rewind, we start to get the bigger picture and you can sit back and fully enjoy the ride. I was intrigued as to why Jake wanted to be isolated on this farm, what she had against men, and how she came to be the hardened woman we are first introduced to. Our first trip back into her past starts directly before her escape to the farm, and we already know she is running away from something. Little by little we see who and what she is running from and why her past is more complicated than you'd think. This story has many twists and turns, but the best part is you get scrambled because we have to ride backward to understand how things go forward. The writing is beautiful, the setting is new and interesting and you can't help but love Jake's unwelcomed companion Lloyd. Surprisingly, All the Birds, Singing has a large amount of comedic relief to the dark and meaty topics that come up. One minute you feel yourself pulling the covers up because Jake is facing something dark and menacing, and then Lloyd comes galloping in and changes the entire feel of the situation. I might not have loved this book as much as I did without Lloyd and ESPECIALLY not without Dog (yes, the dog's name is Dog). My favorite bits had everything to do with Lloyd interacting with Dog by trying to teach him tricks. There was something so charming about Lloyd and his nonchalant way of "sticking" around the farm, like a flea you couldn't get rid of. I'm really glad I was forced to pick up this book because I know I wouldn't have done otherwise, it's not a topic that screams out to me, "READ ME!", but maybe this review will help you decide to pick it up too. I think it deserves attention and more readers because this Author is one to watch, not many can switch tones at the drop of a pin, and she does it so darn well. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves a unique style but can also take or leave the mystery for good prose, if so... you won't be disappointed. Happy Reading, AmberBug

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Girl Defective

Girl Defective Simmone Howell 3.5 / 5	Published 2014 First Sentence "The song 'Wishing Well' by the Millionaires (Decca, 1966) was as rare as it was weird, and my dad named his record shop after it."
Publisher's Description: In the tradition of High Fidelity and Empire Records, this is the literary soundtrack to Skylark Martin’s strange, mysterious, and extraordinary summer. This is the story of a wild girl and a ghost girl; a boy who knew nothing and a boy who thought he knew everything. It’s a story about Skylark Martin, who lives with her father and brother in a vintage record shop and is trying to find her place in the world. It’s about ten-year-old Super Agent Gully and his case of a lifetime. And about beautiful, reckless, sharp-as-knives Nancy. It’s about tragi-hot Luke, and just-plain-tragic Mia Casey. It’s about the dark underbelly of a curious neighborhood. It’s about summer, and weirdness, and mystery, and music. And it's about life and death and grief and romance. All the good stuff.
Dear Reader, This is definitely a case of me partially choosing a book by its cover - I loved the blend of record-bin vintage and cartoon drawings. Turns out this book was also nostalgic in another way, too: it felt like a more modern, Australian, novelized version of My So-Called Life in a lot of ways. Which of course I loved, MSCL being an old favorite. I could see the main character, Sky, as Angela Chase, and her tough and reckless friend Nancy as Rayanne. So that was pretty great. Plus, Sky's dad was a drunker version of Rob Fleming, which brings back another sort of nostalgia for me. Sans Championship Vinyl and top-ten lists. The book itself was enjoyable - another one I probably would have latched onto and loved were I still in high school (or anywhere NEAR high school age...hah!). As it was, it was an enjoyable story about misfits and family and friendship and love. And about finding yourself, and "your people" as Sky's mother puts it. I felt, though, like at times I was "out of the loop" because a lot of slang and local jargon was used in the book, and I have no familiarity with Australian-isms. So, that made the book a little rougher to read than it otherwise could have been. Not that I blame the author! I just wish I got more of the references... Overall, though, a fun and touching book about how everyone defines (and interacts with) family in different ways. Sky is "saddled" with the caretaking of her oddball younger brother because her father is usually too busy with running the record store - or too drunk. Luke wishes he had been able to take better care of his own sister. Nancy continually runs from whatever family she might have once had, opting instead to forge temporary (and often unhealthy) connections which she will forsake for the opportunity to "travel the world" (read: escape over & over again to other places). I did like the connections Howell built between Sky's father and his old friend, and how Sky's yearning for her estranged mother didn't become too cliched. Things didn't work out perfectly in this book; it wasn't intended to. But I like books where people figure out how they can find a way through. Ultimately, the entire Martin family is able to move forward in one way or another. No, this doesn't promise blue skies and rainbows forever. This isn't a sanitized Grimm tale. It's just a small slice of life, and one to learn from. A fun side note: the name of the record shop where the Martins live and work is the Wishing Well, named after the following (rare and elusive) tune: Yours, Arianna

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The Light Between Oceans

The Light Between Oceans M.L. Stedman 4.5 / 5	Published 2012 First Sentence "On the day of the miracle, Isabel was kneeling at the cliff's edge, tending the small, newly made driftwood cross."
Publisher's Description: The debut of a stunning new voice in fiction--a novel both heartbreaking and transcendent  After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day's journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby's cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.  Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom's judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.  M. L. Stedman's mesmerizing, beautifully written novel seduces us into accommodating Isabel's decision to keep this "gift from God." And we are swept into a story about extraordinarily compelling characters seeking to find their North Star in a world where there is no right answer, where justice for one person is another's tragic loss.  The Light Between Oceans is exquisite and unforgettable, a deeply moving novel.
Dear Reader, I adore creative works which impel me to ask, "What would I do in the same situation?"  This books was certainly one of those, and I think that's a large part of why I loved it so much.  Granted, the writing was also beautiful and haunting, which made this move from a really good book to a great one.  I can see why it is beloved by many. Tom begins his postwar career as the lighthouse keeper in a remote southwestern Australia outpost, and he is lucky to make the acquaintance of Isabel, the love of his life.  She is willing to move to the island to live with him in isolation, and everything goes beautifully until the couple begins to experience miscarriages.  Isabel is broken from the experience of losing her babies (three times, no less!), and therefore it seems almost to make sense when she wants to keep a strange infant who washes up on shore one day.  Against his best judgment, Tom grudgingly agrees to this, even while he worries that the baby might have family that is waiting for her return.  Since the couple is so very separated from society and visits the mainland only every few years, it is easy for them to pass off the newborn as their own. Yet Tom's conscience begins to sink its teeth in and not let go, even while Isabel continues to fight to keep the child that they have both grown to love so much.  Izzy can internally rationalize her own situation so well that when there is the threat of Lucy being taken away from her, Isabel feels the righteous anger of a birth mother.  So while the reader can really sympathize with Tom's situation (he feels the need to do what is right, and not make the baby's true family suffer a loss they don't have to), Isabel's situation is also oddly understandable, particularly in light of her having lost so many babies.  It makes sense that she is so wracked with grief that she grasps at the first chance at a happy family.  In a strange way, anyway.  I'm lucky never to have experienced either the loss of a baby or the terror of being a mother losing her beloved child, but I could still understand Izzy's feelings (even if I couldn't condone them). The story just feels so real, and I think that is what I loved most about it.  It was also great exposure to a post-WWI Australia, which I had only been vaguely aware of.  The country was suffering just as much as Europe and America after the war; they'd lost innumerable young men to the fight, too.  It's not something I've encountered much in my exposure to WWI, so it was good to be reminded. I also loved how the lighthouse played a central role in the story, being both a beacon of love and light and hope, but also a warning to ships (and perhaps people) to stay away - DANGER!  After all, that is its job.  I loved the "light between oceans" concept, as Tom's light was located at the dividing line between the Indian and Antarctic Oceans.  The baby girl, though, also played a role as a "light" which both united and divided many people (unintentionally, as she was so young when everything happened). I want to talk and talk and talk about this novel, but I'll shush for now.  If anyone would like to discuss further, though, I'd be glad to in the comments!  For now, I'll leave the readers with some images from The Write Life which show one of the lighthouses that Stedman based Janus Rock upon: by Carol Warner of The Write Life by Carol Warner of The Write Life Beautiful, huh?   Read the book for more beauty.  Seriously.  Humanity written perfectly. Yours, Arianna

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The Forgotten Garden

The Forgotten Garden Kate Morton 5 / 5	Published 2008 First Sentences "It was dark where she was crouched but the little girl did as she'd been told.  The lady had said to wait, it wasn't safe yet, they had to be as quiet as larder mice.  It was a game, just like hide-and-seek."
Publisher's Description: A foundling, an old book of dark fairy tales, a secret garden, an aristocratic family, a love denied, and a mystery. The Forgotten Garden is a captivating, atmospheric and compulsively readable story of the past, secrets, family and memory from the international best-selling author Kate Morton.  Cassandra is lost, alone and grieving. Her much loved grandmother, Nell, has just died and Cassandra, her life already shaken by a tragic accident ten years ago, feels like she has lost everything dear to her. But an unexpected and mysterious bequest from Nell turns Cassandra's life upside down and ends up challenging everything she thought she knew about herself and her family.  Inheriting a book of dark and intriguing fairytales written by Eliza Makepeace - the Victorian authoress who disappeared mysteriously in the early twentieth century - Cassandra takes her courage in both hands to follow in the footsteps of Nell on a quest to find out the truth about their history, their family and their past; little knowing that in the process, she will also discover a new life for herself.
Dear Reader, Wow.  I just LOVED this book.  I can't think of anything that was wrong with it.  It was an adventure story, a mystery, a family saga, and much more, all rolled into one.  Oh, and I can't forget: it was also a fairy tale of sorts, and fairy tales play a very large part in this book.  The premise is that there is a very young girl who is found on the docks of a port in Australia in 1913.  She has no memory of her past, and no idea who or where her parents are.  The things she carries with her lend no clues to her identity.  Therefore, the harbormaster takes her in and eventually he and his wife adopt the child as their own.  Over the years, Nell grows up believing she is their daughter.  When she is finally told the truth of her origins - or rather, her lack of them - her world is turned upside down.  She begins a quest to learn the truth of her heritage.   The book jumps back and forth between a turn-of-the-century story about a destitute young girl trying to survive in a corrupt London, daily life in a lord's manor house at around that same time, a 1975 trip which Nell takes to the England town where she believes she has roots, and another 2005 trip which her granddaughter Cass makes to dig deeper into the mystery.  I love all of the layers and the wonderful writing style which Morton employs.  Her characters are real, very multi-dimensional, and truly sympathetic - even when some of them become corrupted, that just makes them more human.  The whole book feels like something of a fairy tale, and very magical, even though the entire book is at the same time totally realistic.  I think it's more the way the book is framed, and how the tale unfolds.  It's as if Morton has written something of a modern-day fairy tale.  I don't know if I've mentioned how I do things regarding my bookshelves, but my general rule is that if I truly love a book, I want to own a copy for myself.  That way, I can return to it (although I rarely reread) or lend it, or simply see it and smile at an old and happy friend.  I definitely plan to aquire for myself a copy of this book.  One of the best I've read in a while.  Beautiful and enchanting.  I didn't want it to end. Yours, Arianna

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Glitter and Glue

Glitter and Glue: A Memoir Kelly Corrigan 3.5 / 5	To Be Published 2014 First Sentence "Growing up, my mom was guided by the strong belief that to befriend me was to deny me the one thing a kid really needed in order to survive childhood: a mother."
Publisher's Description: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Middle Place comes a new memoir that examines the bond—sometimes nourishing, sometimes exasperating, occasionally divine—between mothers and daughters. When Kelly Corrigan was in high school, her mother neatly summarized the family dynamic as “Your father’s the glitter but I’m the glue.” This meant nothing to Kelly, who left childhood sure that her mom—with her inviolable commandments and proud stoicism—would be nothing more than background chatter for the rest of Kelly’s life, which she was carefully orienting toward adventure. After college, armed with a backpack, her personal mission statement, and a wad of traveler’s checks, she took off for Australia to see things and do things and Become Interesting. But it didn’t turn out the way she pictured it. In a matter of months, her fanny pack full of savings had dwindled and she realized she needed a job. That’s how Kelly met John Tanner, a newly widowed father of two looking for a live-in nanny. They chatted for an hour, discussed timing and pay, and a week later, Kelly moved in. And there, in that house in a suburb north of Sydney, her mother’s voice was suddenly everywhere, nudging and advising, cautioning and directing, escorting her through a terrain as foreign as any she had ever trekked. Every day she spent with the Tanner kids was a day spent reconsidering her relationship with her mother, turning it over in her hands like a shell, straining to hear whatever messages might be trapped in its spiral. This is a book about the difference between travel and life experience, stepping out and stepping up, fathers and mothers. But mostly it’s about who you admire and why, and how that changes over time.
Dear Reader, I read this book in 3 days.  I suppose that says something about both its accessibility and its engagement level.  This book was, however, nothing like I'd expected.  Having never read anything by this author before, I wasn't prepared by her other works.  Amber and I got this book as an ARC at BEA 2013, and we'd both been eager to get to it, especially having met the author and gotten our books signed.  I think the title appealed to me most of all: it evoked memories of crafting - making paper crowns and wands with which to become a princess - with my own mother when I was little. So, I guess in one way, I was (completely unexpectedly) prepared for this book: it was ultimately about the relationship between a mother and daughter, reflected upon by a daughter who has reached womanhood and her own motherhood, and therefore is trying to sort out her complicated and often frustrating relationship with her mom.  I think Kelly and her mother had an especially interesting relationship because Kelly was the only daughter in the family; having a sister to talk to and relate to might have helped her immensely during her adolesence. They definitely did have an often-at-odds relationship, which I found fascinating to watch unfold throughout the book.  But, in the long run, I wasn't quite sure this book "gave" me anything.  There wasn't much of a resolution to the whole thing, besides that Kelly had come to the realization that she did, in fact, really need her mother. It was interesting the way the author explained her coming to terms with this through the story of her experiences in Australia over a three-month period, when she was in her early twenties.   She nannied for a recent widower's children, and while they came to understand and manage life without their mother, Kelly simultaneously began to understand the connection she and her mother had.  While essentially child-rearing for the first time, she began to watch herself adopt many of her own mother's mannerisms. I feel like maybe if I'd read a few others of Corrigan's memoirs, perhaps I would have felt as if this were a more complete story, one that fit in neatly with her other works to form a whole portrait of a person.  As it stood alone, though, I didn't feel like it was ... quite substantial enough.  I enjoyed the narrative, but in the end felt as if I'd just finished an article reflecting in detail on one part of one woman's life, not an entire book.  That's not a bad thing, though - just an observation. I'd recommend this to women who struggle with the mother-daugther relationship, either with their mothers or their daugthers.  I think it was a heartwarming and entertaining book, which hit upon some good moments and did draw some great parallels between the author's situation in Australia and her situation at home.  Certainly a fun and light-hearted little read.  (Especially the relationship with her father; that was always adorable to watch.) Yours, Arianna

People of the Book

People of the Book Geraldine Brooks 4/5	Published 2008 First Sentence "I might as well say, right from the jump: it wasn't my usual kind of job."
Publisher's Description: From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March, the journey of a rare illuminated prayer book through centuries of war, destruction, theft, loss, and love.
Dear Reader, This book was just beautiful. I wasn’t sure what to expect from it (I hadn’t read any of the publisher’s blurb; this was another serendipitous library Overdrive discovery), but it surprised me in such a lovely way. I audiobooked it, and of course the first thing I noticed was the heavy Australian accent of the reader (Edwina Wren) - it was very enjoyable to listen to, I thought! And her later voices -- accents from Serbian to British to American -- were also very impressive, at least to my untrained ear. In any case, the book itself was this gorgeous narration which wove back and forth between Hannah’s (a book restorer) and the book itself’s story, intermingling like the rich plaits of a thick braid. Hannah has been hired to work on the Sarajevo Haggadah, which is a real book, and is truly surrounded in mystery and intrigue: both regarding its survival through the ages (through numerous Jewish persecutions) and its contents. However, it is important to remember that Brooks’ story is only a fiction she has crafted around the questions which the book raises. Still, she devises a very clever explanation of the book’s travels and experiences, and it is a joy to listen to her storytelling. Brooks knows her history, particularly that of Eastern Europe, and I found it fascinating to learn more about the histories of the people who lived in the area from the mid-fifteenth century all the way up to the present day. While keeping in mind it is a novel, it was still chock full of historically-specific details. Brooks’ characters truly came to life for me. One of the main surprises in the book is the truth about Hannah’s own past, which she discovers as she follows the trail of the book’s history through several countries. While I certainly didn’t see the twist coming, I also thought it interesting that the revelation didn’t change the way Hannah interacted with the book, or make her quest for the truth more dear. I thought it improbable that things didn’t change more significantly for her. One truly lovely thing about this book was how its point wasn’t simply to explain the Haggadah’s origins, but also to build bridges between nationalities, religions, and backgrounds of all sorts. I felt that the Haggadah’s story represented peacefulness and connection, both in its flashback stories as well as in Hannah’s present story. Books are, at their heart, about communicating between people, even if those two people live in a very different time and place. Thus, the novel did a great job of that, as did the religious tome within. This was truly another book for book-lovers. I’ve been devouring a lot of those recently; some recommended favorites are Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore (Robin Sloan) and A Novel Bookstore (Laurence Cossé). My most favorite part of the book, though, might have been the dedication: “For the librarians”! Hurray! Best, Arianna