Tiger's Curse, Colleen Houck

This book fit into the category of a "book that takes place over the summer". It also takes place partially in Oregon in places I've been (since I grew up in WA on the OR border) and it's always fun to hear places I've been to being described in a book :-)

A neighbor loaned me this book and it's gotten really great reviews and a lot of people I know really liked it. That being said, I really struggled with this book. It was clean, the plot was interesting, I enjoyed learning more about Indian myths, but Kelsey was just not very believable for me. The way she talked, the way she described things, just didn't jive with my idea of a typical 18 year old. Have you heard your average 18 year old use the word "diaphanous"? Kelsey does. I kept trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, I mean, maybe she really WAS just that nerdy. But we don't have enough backstory, she doesn't have any friends, and it was hard for me to connect with her. So it took me MUCH longer to finish this book than it should have. It also took me awhile to get used to the author's writing style. I appreciated the wordy descriptions of scenery, but felt they went overboard when describing details of surroundings and clothing. I think there's a magic level of imagery to be used where the reader has just enough to form a picture, but not quite down to every detail. I feel like I need to go back and read Harry Potter to get a feel for what that perfect level is, because my imagination was going crazy reading those books creating pictures! Now I'm curious to see just how much information my brain was supplied with to begin with. The other thing that got in the way of authenticity for me is that there was only one instance where I felt suspenseful, but I KNEW she wasn't going to kill off a main character because it's a SERIES. So it was a little predictable. I just realized another thing-there needs to be more minor, supporting characters. The other part that bothered me was that when Kelsey returns to Oregon from the summer adventure that her foster family thinks was a summer internship job for an archeologist, her payment includes: a HOUSE, a PORSCHE, her school PAID for, her BOOKS paid for, and a continued summer job each year. And her foster parents think it's super cool! They don't bat an eye. If MY daughter was "paid" in that fashion, I'd be hiring investigators to look into the legitimacy of this employer. Mr. Kadim was very careful to call her foster parents every few days to update them on what Kelsey was "doing" to keep the cover story going, but shouldn't they have been more careful about being a little more discreet or sensible with her "payment"?? Like a honda civic for a car and say that the home belongs to the business and they are allowing her to live there while she goes to school?

I'm not usually very critical of writing because I am *not* a writer. However, in all the reading I've been doing, I've come to expect certain things, I guess. In some ways, it was reminiscent of Percy Jackson, because he has yet to kill off a main character, just a few of the minor supporting cast and you know they are going to get out of every impossible-to-get-out-of situation (however, he builds a lot of suspense into those scenes that make you wonder if just maybe, this one time, he's actually going to off one of the mains). But with Percy Jackson, it made more sense to me, because the original intent of the stories was to be an epic bedtime story told by a dad, and it's exactly that.

I give this a 2.5 star rating (rounding up to be generous on Goodreads because it did pick up and get more interesting towards the end). There are more books in this series and I haven't decided if I want to read them or not....Tiger's Curse was the debut novel for the author, so it is possible that her writing will evolve to something that's more to my taste as she goes.

I just don't understand how a book like this can be a debut novel and make the NY Times Best Seller's list and my friend Renee Collins' book "Until We Meet Again" which was WAY more readable and WAY more authentic characters didn't. Oh well, she just sold another book, so there's another shot!

Apparently, it is becoming a movie as well, and I'm going to be honest that I think I'm going to enjoy it on the screen far more than I did the book.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Mary Roach

I listened to this as an audio book and is part of the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge. I couldn't find a way to fit it into the 2016 Reading Challenge, but oh well....

I think I give this book a 3 star rating. Morbidly fascinating. There were definitely times when it made me squirm and feel sick. I could have done without the chapter on cannibalism entirely. I felt like it was just thrown in for shock value and didn't really add to the material in the rest of the book. But I couldn't stop listening. I learned a LOT. There was quite a bit of history about medicine and surgery and all sorts of things. I learned a new alternative to burial vs. cremation, for which I would definitely be inclined to, were my religious beliefs different. So this "new" method (as of early 2000's) is to have the body dipped in liquid nitrogen, completely eliminated of all water content, the bones broken down into smaller pieces (nearly ash-like), and placed in a bio-degradable cornstarch box that can be planted with a memorial tree or shrubbery and will provide nourishment (in a compost like manner) to the memorial plant. I like that idea much better than liquifying inside a coffin, or being cremated. The pros to this newer method are that it's cheaper and more environmentally friendly in numerous ways: no air pollutants (including mercury from the deceased's dental fillings) did you know that crematoriums are not regulated like any other factory that releases pollutants and regulated by the EPA? They release really harmful chemicals, but to be regulated by the EPA, they'd have to be classified as solid waste disposal plants, and no one wants human remains be classified (and thus undignified) as solid waste. I did not know this. It's more cost effective ($20 vs $80) when you cost analyze the main ingredient for disposal. And then the idea is to have a memorial park instead of graveyard, which puts more plants on the earth. I'm not an environmentalist by any stretch of the imagination. But I do kind of like the slightly romanticized notion of returning to the dust of the earth in such a literal way. I'm pretty sure I don't want to donate my remains for science. Mostly because you cannot specify what you want to be used for. You could be used as a cadaver crash test dummy, or anatomy labs, or something entirely different. I am certainly an organ donor, and up to now, I have excluded my eyes from this, however I'm starting to wonder if I ought to reconsider since nothing-even embalming-lasts close to forever.

Anyhow, it was quite enlightening and made me think. Which I do like. The narrator's voice was just sardonic enough to make it really work. However, I think I might have been more comfortable with a written copy so I could gloss over certain sections that I didn't really care to know about in such detail.

Blackmoore, Julianne Donaldson

Ok, the only way this one will fit into the 2016 Reading Challenge is a "Book from the library". Overdrive to be specific for my kindle :-) I tried to convince myself that it had a blue cover, but it's just not really blue...more sea green.

Anyhow, this was a fun read. Like Edenbrooke, it is a faster paced Victorian era (aka Jane Austin period) piece. Based on a real location, the descriptions are beautiful. I give it 4 stars because I feel the outcome, while hopelessly romantic (and I knew the outcome would be that way), was highly improbable of the time period. At least, to the miniscule knowledge I have of the time period. And it was quite predictable. Although there were some twists and turns that I couldn't have foreseen, the outcome was exactly as I knew it would be from the very first chapters.

But I do like the idea of women being strong and independent and balking at the traditions that were expected of them. The contrast of the women who rose to their station in a way that seemed eloquent and noble (almost theatrically so), embraced their role in society and actively pursued a match that was more in the interest of their station than their heart (even if that meant marrying a man who was as old-or older-than their own father), to the few women who were genuine and wanted nothing to do with the fakeness of high society. I don't want to seem pious, but I have always felt a little on the outskirts of "society" because I find it exhausting and pointless to play the games necessary to be in the "right" social graces of the "right" people. So I don't even want to think about trying. I was a little like Kate in this book, I truly wanted to be educated so I could have educated conversations about things-deep and meaningful conversations-but I later found out that a vast majority of people are not looking for this type of conversation at parties....but I get so disinterested in small talk. Oh well. Anyhow, I definitely identified with Kate, but I also wonder if that makes her too modern for the time period she was written into. I do however, admire her for making the decision that she felt severed her ties for a "happily ever after". Even though it is apparent to the reader that there will be a happy ending, Kate, in the moment does not, and chooses her fate based upon what is right, not what she wants. Which is admirable in any era. Much the same way I admired the character of America Singer in the Selection series.

Number the Stars, Lois Lowry

I know I said on Goodreads I started reading this book a long time ago, but in all honesty, I only read the introduction by the author when my daughter finished Sword of the Summer and that one was due back at the library first so I quickly switched. So I updated that in Goodreads too, started today, finished today.

This book fits into the 2016 Challenge as: read a book you can finish in a day

I'm not sure if I'll read any others in a single day! I LOVED this perspective and historically accurate depiction of how the Danish reacted to the Nazi occupation. Though the characters are fictitious, nearly all of the occurrences are accurate to history. I know that some feel that WWII is overdone and I'll be the first to admit I know a lot more about WWII than I do about WWI, but I also know that part of that is because of have Jewish ancestry. But I like how in this story, it is from the perspective of a 10 year old girl. My older daughter is almost 11 now. She has been reading all about Malala Yousafzai. She got a book about her from a book order and then in the next book order, she got the Youth Edition of her autobiography. I have been steering her towards literature that teaches about bravery and doing the right thing, and how even in the face of danger, doing what's right is ALWAYS the best choice.

In the afterward, Lois Lowry includes this quote from a boy who was part of the Resistence to help the nearly 7,000 Jewish population of Denmark be smuggled across the sea to Sweden. This quote is from a letter he wrote to his family the night before he was executed after being caught. "...and I want you all to remember-that you must not dream yourselves back to the times before the war, but the dream for you all, young and old, must be to create and ideal of human decency, and not a narrow-minded and prejudiced one. That is the great gift our country hungers for, something every little peasant boy can look forward to, and with the pleasure feel he is a part of-something he can work and fight for. Surely that gift-the gift of a world of human decency-is the one that all countries hunger for still. I hope that this story of Denmark, and its people, will remind us all that such a world is possible."

5 stars from me

The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien

I was looking for an audio book on Overdrive and found The Hobbit. Believe it or not, I've never read it. I had a friend in high school who LOVE the Hobbit. He even could write using its language or something like that, and asked me to learn it so we pass letters to each other in it. I tried, but honestly, Morse Code made more sense to me!

I LOVED this audio production! There were several different narrators for different voices and even music in the background during several spots!

The Hobbit is a true fun adventure story. I kept wondering if there was a "point" or why Gandalf had chosen Bilbo when he didn't even want an adventure to begin with.....but maybe it's just the adventures and enjoying the cunning ability of his mind as he helped to outsmart so many. As with nearly everyone else who has read the Hobbit, I really wonder why the movie has to be a trilogy when it's so short, but it's obviously for money sake and not the sake of the story.

I say 4.5 stars, but I'll round up for the audio production being so well done.

Stars Above, Marissa Meyer

This was a great collection of novella's dealing with the Lunar Chronicles.

It fits under the category in the 2016 Reading Challenge as a book published in 2016

I'd give it a solid 4.5 (I think I'll round up for goodreads)

I loved reading the back stories of everyone, especially Michelle Benoit. I always wished I had known more about her. I also appreciated learning more about Cinder's early years in New Beijing, however, I was VERY disappointed in the character of Garan. I had such high expectations of him and the reality (fictional reality...) did not live up to those expectations even in the slightest.

The only story I was confused by was The Little Andriod. It really had absolutely nothing to do with Cinder or her friends. Come to find out on further research, it was a story based on one of the Little Mermaid tales, which makes it make so much more sense, but still, it seemed a little awkward in this collection because it didn't really fit. But then, it wouldn't have really fit ANYWHERE, so then again, why NOT just throw it in the mix?

I still have some unanswered questions about Lunar's and their ability to have a democratic type society. If they can be manipulative still, who's to say they wouldn't be swayed to vote in a particular way? Do they have safeguards in place so that voting can be private enough not to be manipulated? Are speeches all required to be aired over a broadcast where glamours cannot have an effect? I know, I'm probably weird in this and the target audience of teenagers probably would NOT be thinking this way or worrying about those things. *sigh* 

All in all, a fast, fun, clean, delightful collection of more stories about our favorite characters, and who doesn't like that?

The Husband's Secret, Liane Moriarty

I listened to this as an audio book. I'm not sure I can fit it into any category for the 2016 challenge, but this is the same author as "What Alice Forgot" and I'd heard good things about this one too.

I didn't like this one as much. Too much preoccupation with sex. And quite a bit more swearing than I am happy with. I think when I read the book with my eyes, I can skim over more of that stuff, but when you're listening to it, it's just there-and with expression too!

Aside from that, though, there were many things that make you think, which is what I liked about What Alice Forgot, but this one wasn't quite as compelling. There were 3 different narrators going on and their lives sort of intertwined and sort of didn't. It was slightly predictable in some ways but not in other ways. One question that was raised was, if you do something horribly wrong, but then live the rest of your life as close to being a Saint as you can, does that absolve you of your wrong doing? Are all your good deeds done afterwards invalid because you once did something bad? How do you weigh your good decisions against your bad ones? Can you choose your own penance if you "get away with it"? Or will Karma come to get you in the end? And if you stumble upon someone else's secret, what is your role in keeping it or encouraging the person to confess? What if confession means dissolving everything you know in your life and ruining everything-and you don't feel you deserve that because you didn't know about the secret until you were way too far along with the rest of life? Can people be forgiven? Can people change? What is the price of that? Is harboring ill feelings a benefit in any way? Does it ever end well when you sit and stew on a wrong someone has done you?

She also deals with the concept of love and how we love people based on the knowledge we have of them and how new knowledge, even unpleasant knowledge sometimes doesn't change the fact that we still love them. And the difference between new, exciting love and married for over 10 years love. She explores why we feel this comfortable love is boring and lacking, but how you can change your perception and it becomes something that is different, but not lacking. That just because you've lost that newlywed spark of excitement doesn't mean that you've fallen out of love. And how easy it is to fall in love with someone-but it's the STAYING in love that takes a conscious effort.

Then the epilogue. I don't know if it makes things better or worse! She points out, rightfully so, that we don't know all the parts of the story. We don't know the what if's of life. There are many things, that had we had full disclosure earlier in life, would have completely changed the course of our lives and the way we look at things. I think that is an interesting concept to ponder on its own, but presented as an epilogue with information that only the reader gets, but the characters don't (for the most part), seems rather unfair to those poor fictional characters who have been tormented by their fictional lives.

As for the performance of the narrator, she was absolutely WONDERFUL. Beautiful light Australian accent (I feel I could have picked up a little authenticity for my own future impressions), and she did a delightfully convincing job with the little girl, Esther's, speech impediment.

I think I give this one a solid 3.