The Infernals and The Creeps by John Connolly

Nov13

When you read these books, as you should, I highly recommend starting with The Gates. Not only will the books make more sense, as books in series are wont to do when read in sequential order, but then when the author berates readers for reading out of order as he provides/reminds the reader of important details in the footnotes, you can giggle and smirk because you are not one of those readers yet still get the benefit of the reminder.

Brilliant.

Would I recommend them? Yes.

I did mention the footnotes and my love of them but I didn’t tell you about the chapter titles. Here is my favorite from The Creeps:

“In Which We Go on a Date – Well, Not “We” as in You and I, Because That Would Just Be Awkward, but We Go on a Date with Other People. No, Hang on, That’s Still Not Right. Oh, Never Mind Just Read the Chapter.”

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Nov7

I don’t usually like to say too much about the content of the book but on this one I’m just going to put it right out there from the get go.

The main character in this book is a seventeen year old girl diagnosed with a terminal cancer and most of her acquaintances- they have cancer too.

So yes, this book does require a box of Kleenex but I spent at least as much time laughing as I did crying. Unfortunately the red, puffy eyes tend to stick with me longer than the silly grin.

Would I recommend it? There are times when the young adult audience it’s written for is more apparent then some of us cynical adults would like but I’d still pass it on.

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Oct9

Things you should know.

1) Despite what the title may lead to you believe this book is not a book filled with flowers, fluff and happiness.

2) When my book club met after reading this book we had more book related discussion than we often do.

3) Some of the story is rather unbelievable.

5) Some of it is frighteningly believable.

6) You should never give someone a bouquet made of peony’s and yellow roses.

7) Would I recommend it? Yes.

The Gates by John Connolly

Sep30

So, you know, the gates of hell are opening and a small boy needs to save the world, same ol’ same ol’.

Except.

Except there are footnotes!

And I really do love footnotes.

These footnotes are not just any kind of footnotes, oh no.

These footnotes are the laugh out loud kind of footnotes.

And…

…get this.

It’s the first in a series.

I haven’t read them yet – but I’m going to.

I’m mean really, a humorous, young adult book with footnotes in a series.

It’s like John Connolly wrote it just for me.

Would I recommend it? Oh – The Large Hadron Collider is in it too. What more do you need out of a book?

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

Sep11

I laughed out loud – lots.

Then I sat and wondered if I was a bad person.

I’m not a bad person.

But this is just the sort of ridiculous book full of just the kind of dry, dark humor that I like.

Would I recommend it? I want to say yes, yes yes!

But I’m afraid that it may take a certain sort to love this book like I did.

So, perhaps you should find the book and a grain of salt, give it a try and let me know what you think.

Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown

Sep4

Pirate Queen captures chef.

I was thinking silly.

I was thinking lighthearted.

I was thinking mindless romantic fluff.

Now I’m thinking I need to apologize to Mr. Eli Brown – mindless fluff indeed.

Would I recommend it? Yes, it was so much more than I thought it would be in all the best ways.

The White Princess by Philippa Gregory

Aug28

At the very high risk of exposing the extent of my book nerdiness to the world I will tell you that when I discovered this book at the library I was so excited I got goosebumps. Then I quickly grabbed it off the shelf before anyone else could get it, ran to check it out and happily skipped home with it under my arm. (Figuratively speaking of course. I travel with three young girls in a truck with a bum starter but we don’t need to get into that.)

Would I recommend it? Yes.

You could read The Lady of the Rivers, The Red Queen , The White Queen and The Kingmakers Daughter* first if you wanted to be all proper in your historical timeline but it’s not necessary. Of course you’ll love this book so much that you’ll want to read them all when you are done anyway so you might as well start at the beginning!

*I read The Kingmakers Daughter as well and, unsurprisingly, I also loved it!

Consider The Fork by Bee Wilson

Jul30

Do you know how the shape of spoons relates to political history? Consider the Fork by Bee Wilson !
Have you heard the theory of knife use and how it relates to overbites?!
Did you know that there were 692 patents granted for egg beaters in a 64 year span?!
Have you heard all the different ways people came up with to turn spits?!

Ice boxes!!? Pots!!? Measuring cups!!? Forks!!?

I would be happy to tell you because I found it all completely fascinating.

You don’t even have to ask.

Just invite me into your kitchen and soon you’ll have me jumping up and down in front of you as I spout off with nerdy factoids that I remember the gist of but not enough of the details so that you will think it’s interesting as well.

It will be like the kitchen nerds version of forgetting the punch line of the joke.

Come to think of it perhaps that’s why I don’t tell jokes.

Perhaps it would be best just to read the book yourself…

Would I recommend it? Clearly!

The author does a fantastic job of relating ancient (and not so ancient) kitchen woe’s to current day practice. I loved it in a way that had me running off to bed to see what happened next, which is impressive in a book about the “History of How We Cook and Eat!”

Monkey Monkey Monkey by Cathy MacLennan (and Other Monkey Books)

Jul24

This is Jane:

She likes monkeys.

After reading Hug and Little Gorilla (yes, I know, they aren’t actually monkeys) 7,000 times we got a copy of Caps For Sale and read it 200,000 times. Then I got smart and asked my local librarian to help find some monkey books.

Sock Monkeys Do The Monkey Monkey sounds intriguing and Jane loved it. The problem is that it’s sock monkeys doing the hokey pokey. No offense to William B Windburn because his sock monkey photos are great, I just happen to hate the hokey pokey.

We both were satisfied with Busy Monkeys but it’s a two word a page board book which turns into a parental bored book awful quickly.

Then Monkey Monkey Monkey showed up.

She loved it.

The other girls liked it.

The illustrations are super cute.

I have never said nor heard the word monkey so often in my life.

It’s catchy.

It rings in your head after you are done.

I put it on the pile to return to the library.

I took it off and kept it an extra week.

I debated but put it on the pile the next week.

I debated more and took it back off.

I debated more and put it back on.

The kids took it off and we read it again.

Everyone wandered off saying “Monkey wants some monkey nuts. Monkey, monkey, monkey nuts.”

I decided we were all going insane, put it at the bottom of the pile and threw it in the book return as soon as possible.

Would I recommend it? If you’ve got a monkey loving child and a high tolerance for the word monkey it’s mostly perfect.

These are by no means all of the monkey books we’ve read in the last few weeks. Curious George has been a regular as well as a few terrible books I shall not mention here and many that had monkeys featuring as minor characters.

Any other favorite monkey (or gorilla she doesn’t seem to be too picky) books you can recommend?