Category Archives: book review

The Dirty Streets of Heaven by Tad Williams

The otherness of this book totally caught me.

In all of my reading I have never, ever, come across a foul mouthed, gun toting, angel who acts as an advocate for new souls in their trail between heaven and hell.

Never.

Would I recommend it? I doubt it’s for everyone but I was certainly caught up in it! I read it too late into the night, got a nightmare… the whole nine yards. Now, as it is first in a trilogy, I just need the next one to come out!

The Sister Queens by Sophie Perinot

I’m not sure if it’s the elaborate feasts and celebrations, the crazy dresses, the scandalous going-ons, the hands off approach of raising children or the treasonous intrigue but whatever it is I love a good historical fiction full of kings and queens.

Would I recommend it? Even with it’s alternating view points between the two sisters I don’t think it’s quite as good as say something by Phillipa Gregory. But, if you have run out of Gregory’s works this one fits the bill!

The Cow That Laid An Egg by Andy Cutbill and Russell Ayto

I have admitted before that I always judge a book by it’s cover, and it’s even more true with children’s books. I mean really, the illustrations are at least half the package right? These books are practically begging you to judge by their covers, you woudn’t want to ignore an illistators best efforts now would you?

But sometimes those old sayings turn out to be true.

If you were like me a judged by the cover you would have left passed this book over and sighed when your kids dragged it home from the library the first time.

Then after  having brought it home from the library multiple times and read it 5,789 times you would also have to admit to being completely and totally wrong.

The illustrations may not be exactly what I’m drawn to but there are bicycle riding cows, not to mention an egg laying one…

…the phrase “…an almighty commotion in the barnyard…” which is a good phrase if I’ve ever heard it.

And there are “crafty chickens” I personally have never met a crafty chicken but I like the idea of them anyway.

A super fun book and clearly one of Clara’s favorites!

The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Once upon a time things were much different around here. I had one dog who liked to sleep all day, no job, a new husband who worked first shift and on this particular day a good book.  I woke up early to kiss my hard working husband goodbye, layed down on the couch ( we don’t have one of those anymore either) and started reading The Time Travelers Wife. Many hours later he got home from work and I was still laying on the couch saying “shhh don’t talk I only have a few pages left!” Ever since when ever this book comes up John tells about how he went to work with my reading it on the couch and how I was still there when he came home.  Which is clearly ridiculous, I’m sure I got up to eat and pee at least once while he was gone.

I just re-read this book and while circumstances have changed (two crazy dogs, three kids, husband on second shift and no couch) it took me two days to read this time and I still loved it.

Clara is sleeping on the chair downstairs tonight because the thunder keeps getting in her ears.

Would I recommend it? For certain. I know there is a movie out there. I’m never watching it. The book is perfect. Don’t see the movie, read the book.

I Am Too Absolutely Small For School by Lauren Child

Ivy has made a very slow transition to crying at the thought of going to school to hesitant excitement about her first day next week. I can’t give this book all the credit for the turn around but it certainly didn’t hurt.

The voice of Lola the little sister who is too small to go to school is so absolutely perfect nothing I say will do her justice. Unfortunately that means that Charlie, her older brother who is the brains of the outfit, gets second billing which is quite unfair, as he’s pretty fantastic too.

Lola has also helped start a few good conversations between Ivy and I about school. For instance tonight after we read about Lola’s invisible friend Soren Lorensen I found out that Ivy’s invisible friend Belle is also going to school next week.  Apparently Belle has been there lots before and knows lots of things already like reading and chemistry. Ivy thinks Belle will be good company on the bus on the way to school but when I asked if Belle could help her remember where her classroom was since she’s been in school before I got the look. The look that says “Uh Mom. Belle is pretend, why would I ask her things?” Which I find to be quite convenient because Belle has a tenancy to encourage Ivy to do all sorts of naughty things.  Ivy’s defense of “But Belle TOLD me to.” never crumbles to the “Uh Ivy. Belle is pretend why are you listening to her” look I give Ivy. Apparently I’ve got to work on my “looks.”

Would I recommend this? Absolutely! It makes it into the catagory of books I make my adult friends read even if there are no kids around because I think it is so great!

The Third Witch by Rebecca Reisert

This is a story set within Shakespeare’s Macbeth and while you don’t have to be all dorky like me and re-read the play before you read the book, (it’ll stand alone) I’m glad I did.

Would I recommend it?   I’d rate this book as intriguing but perhaps not for general consumption. It was good, but it was also hard to like the main character. I love the idea and how the plot is woven through Macbeth, but I’m not sure it would hold the same appeal if I hadn’t re-read the play and enjoyed Shakespeare to begin with. Yeah, I have no idea….

So how about you? Have you read Macbeth, does the book catch your eye like it did mine because of that? How do you feel about Shakespeare?

 

As for me I own The Yale Shakespeare, it’s so large that when I read anything out of it I end up laying on the floor- I love it!

Moose’s Loose Tooth by Jacqueline A Clarke and Bruce McNally

Most everybody has a thing. A thing that gives them the heebie jeebies, the shivers, the get-me-out-of-heres, the gag reflex, the I-can’t-even-look-at-it-I’m-running-the-other-ways.  For some it’s spiders. (Personally my live and let live philosophy on spiders maxes out when they reach half dollar size and they are crawling on my leg and then my girly reaction kicks in and I squeal and fling in off and then stomp it to death with a bathmat – other than that sort of scenario (which happened last week if anyone wants to know) I let them live in the corners of the house, check out cool webs outside and visit the tarantulas at the zoo.)  Other people can’t stand to look at snakes, worms, maggots and a certain notable person, *cough* John *cough* , has a major issue with brown, slimy, lettuce.  For me it’s teeth. I don’t like teeth. I don’t like my teeth, I don’t like your teeth, the dentist touches my teeth, I hate him. Teeth are my heebie jebbie inducer.  So please tell me what on earth my husband was thinking when he brought this home from the library:

And, as if that isn’t bad enough, the moose asks an ostrich to pull his tooth out…

Then, leaving aside the fact that I can think of no good scenario where a moose, ostrich, tiger, zebra, giraffe and elephant all live together, I really, really never wanted to see them pulling a tooth out together. Ever.

And then.

And THEN.

The elephant swallows the tooth.

AAAHHHHH!!!

Which brings me to my long winded point.

I hate this book.

Which brings me to me really long winded point and a household rule we have.

Mom only has to read a library book once. (Sometimes I love making the rules.)

If they bring a book home from the library I’ll read it once. If it is a good mutually acceptable book I’ll read it 37 more times during the course of the week before we return it but if it’s bad – once. This is something that people have harassed me about, saying that if my kids want to read I should be reading whatever they want. I disagree.  There are plenty of books out there that we would both like to read so when they do manage to sneak a book like Moose’s Loose Tooth or anything involving Dora home, I’m only reading it once.  Because sometimes once is more than enough.

Now, I’m looking for a children’s book that has brown, slimy, lettuce in it, maggots would be nice bonus material, anybody have any ideas?

To be fair, if it weren’t for my whole teeth hating thing this book would be just fine. It’s got the kind of repetition and humor that kids like, Ivy has been asking about when her teeth will fall out and I’ve had to reject it as a possible read almost every time we’ve sat down in the last week!

Fisherman’s Luck, and Some Other Uncertain Things by Henry Van Dyke

Written in 1899 this collection of essays on fishing and life was a bit different from your typical fish story – but in all the good ways. Here are a few lines from some of my favorites:

A Wild Strawberry

” I tasted the odour of a hundred blossoms and the green shimmering of innumerable leaves and the sparkle of sifted sunbeams and the breath of highland breezes and the song of many birds and the murmur of flowing streams, – all in a wild strawberry.”

Talkability

“The inventor of the familiar maxim that “fishermen must not talk’ is lost in the mists of antiquity, and well deserves his fate. … Why  in the name of all that is genial, should anglers go about their harmless sport in stealthy silence like conspirators, or sit together in a boat, dumb, glum, and penitential, like naughty schoolboys on the bench of disgrace?”

A Fatal Success

“It is just a kind of a defect, due to her education, of course. In everything else she’s magnificent. But she doesn’t care for fishing.”

A Lazy, Idle Brook

“Indolence is a virtue. It comes from two Latin words, which mean freedom from anxiety or grief. And that is a wholesome state of mind.”

The Open Fire

“Wood is the fuel for it. Out-of-doors is the place for it. A furnace is an underground prison for a toiling slave. A stove is a cage for a tame bird. Even a broad hearthstone and a pair of glittering andirons – the best ornament of a room – must be accepted as an imitation of the real thing. The veritable open fire is built in the open, with the whole earth for a fireplace and the sky for a chimney.”

Finally my personal favorite:

The Thrilling Moment

“Such is the absurd disposition of some anglers. They never see a fish without believing that they can catch him; but if they see no fish, they are inclined to think that the river is empty and the world hollow.”

Unfortunately having been written in 1899 it’s not any easy book to find at the library but Amazon does sell it and I see that you can get it free on your Kindle.

Would I recommend it? Even difficult to find I’d still recommend it to all my fishing friends and relations.