2008 Reading Resolution - Part II

Here we are for the second installment of my 2008 Reading Resolution! One note on the recommendations at the end of each summary/review: the age ranges listed are minimums, but that doesn't mean that I don't recommend that older people read the books. I'm a great example of an adult that still enjoys fiction aimed at the juvenile audience, as well as adult fiction. I'm an equal opportunity reader!

FICTION

Jane Austen:
Sense and Sensibility

Having recently re-read Pride and Prejudice (and enjoyed it more than I did in high school English), I thought I'd give Austen's other novels a try. Sense and Sensibility is very similar book - the family of daughters left with little inheritance, caught up in the drama of courting and marriage prospects while dishonorable men and scheming matrons inflict seeming tragedy. As is the case in Pride and Prejudice, one of the girls is sensible but the rest are fairly senseless, hence the title. This was a fun read, though I was rather annoyed at the girls' silliness at times. The language was not as witty as Pride nor was the story as original, but it was enjoyable anyhow. Recommended for fans of romance and classic fiction.

Frank Beddor:
The Looking Glass Wars

The Looking Glass Wars was another pick I made while browsing the library shelves. This book is a very liberal re-telling of the Alice in Wonderland tale that lacks the charm and wonder of the original story. While the world is fanciful and amazing, it also lacks consistency. Furthermore, the book is riddled with trite formulaic themes which aren't fully developed: they just hover around the story and occasionally land like flies at a barbecue. I was seriously disappointed with several of the plot developments (they were either horribly predictable or horribly wrong) and these, along with the inconsistencies, seemed to multiply the closer I got to finishing it. That's not to say everything was bad, but the overall story really missed its potential. The artwork inserted in the book is also hit and miss - why would the artist draw the triumphant protagonist slouching in her throne like a spoiled teenager? I have no idea. I don't recommend this book to anybody, unless you want a good reminder of why you don't like to read poorly written fiction.

Charlotte Brontë:
Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre was another stab at classic fiction. This was my first book by Brontë and I had a hard time putting it down. Though it has the elements of romance and impossible love that Austen writes about, the story focuses much more on the entire life of Jane, rather than just her marriagable years. Tragedy seems to strike again and again, but this tempers Jane into a very compassionate and generous woman. Things end up all right in the end, but it's not the gloriously perfect ending you might expect from a romance - as such it feels somewhat more real. I would recommend this book to fans of romance and classic fiction, especially those turned off by the silliness of some of Austen's characters.

John Grisham:
Playing for Pizza

I got this book from my mother, who recommended it highly - though having read it, I have no idea why. This book is about a crummy NFL quarterback, Rick Dockery, who goes to Italy to play in the leagues there. Rick's salary is quite small and the league lacks cheerleaders (a fact that he laments multiple times in the book); however, he ends up loving it because it's a league where he can be a hero and the food is fabulous. I disliked this book for several reasons, including the silly premise and a character I never felt I could identify with. It was also hard to suspend disbelief at some plot points - such as how quickly Rick takes to the opera. I guess this might a good book for fans of football or Italy.

Robin Hobb:
Farseer Trilogy
Assassin's Apprentice

Assassin's Apprentice was recommended to me by a two close friends; it is the first of a 3-part series by Robin Hobb, who continues following the character in another 3-part series known as the Tawny Man Trilogy. The series is classic fantasy with a hint of mystery, and Hobb does a good job of immersing the reader in the story and making the characters feel real. The classic fantasy elements of magic and court intrigue don't feel formulaic and the world overall is very original. The mystery elements kept me turning the pages to find out what happens next! The next two books in this series are definitely on my master list of books to read, and I'd recommend it to anybody who enjoys fantasy fiction.

Gail Carson Levine:
Fairest

Fairest is a liberal re-telling of the classic Snow White fairy tale; but instead of being the 'fairest' in the land, the Snow White-like protagonist, Aza, is considered ugly in a world inhabited mostly by very petite, pale blondes. In fact, she is so ugly that she was abandoned as a baby and some consider her to have questionable heritage: possibly ogre blood! Aza's looks are offset by her beautiful singing voice, and singing is considered a prime talent in the kingdom; but it's not enough to help her overcome poor self-image issues. The vain and manipulative (but not evil) queen who follows the terrible advice of a sentient mirror nearly ruins Aza's life by taking advantage of her considerable talents. I found the reading very entertaining, especially when I stumbled across references to the original tale spun in a completely new way. I would recommend this book to pre-teens.

George Macdonald:
The Light Princess
The Princess and the Goblin
The Princess and Curdie

George Macdonald (1824-1905) is an author and minister who predates most of the books I've discussed here. He was recommended to me by a friend who knew I enjoyed C.S. Lewis well enough to recognize references to his sci-fi space trilogy. Lewis and his contemporaries were heavily influenced by Macdonald, which you can quickly see when you read his works. All three of the books listed here are fantasy-based, and all are heavy on the moral references - but not so heavy as to overcome the story. Although the works are all old enough to be public domain and are available online for free, I'd suggest buying an illustrated copy (if you can find one - his works seem to be mostly out of print). I would recommend these books for families to read together or as bed-time stories to their children (à la Chronicles of Narnia).

Stephenie Meyer:
Twilight Series
Twilight
New Moon
Eclipse
Breaking Dawn

The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer has received quite a bit of press recently, and for good cause: the first three books spent a combined total of 143 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list. The series has garnered additional popularity in Utah, as Meyer is LDS and a graduate of BYU. The first time this book was recommended to me was at girls' camp with my church group, and I was shocked that these girls were reading vampire fiction. In my experience, vampire romance in fiction has always been a short step from erotic literature (if a step at all). The girls assured me there was *no* sex, but even then, it took several more recommendations before I ventured to read the first book - which took all of one day well into the evening to finish, as I refused to put it down for such mundane activities as sleeping. The sequels are just as enthralling, and as my girls said, the first three books contain a lot of sexual tension, but not a bit of inappropriate activity. (Unless you consider snuggling an 'inappropriate activity'). A warning: the final book does in fact contain sex - it is set after the main characters are married. My only real gripe with these books is that sometimes the teenage female protagonist behaves so much like a teenager I wanted to strangle her. That's not really a gripe though, it just means the character was well-written and the story made me think of her as real. I would highly recommend this series to teenagers, and please note that I have discussed this book with guys who also enjoyed it thoroughly.

An Na:
A Step From Heaven

A Step From Heaven is a JV fiction novel about a young korean girl whose family immigrates to America when she is four years old. The story revolves around her parent's sincere desire to make a life in America that will be better for their children than their lives as poor fisherman in Korea. This sincere desire is challenged by the difficulties of working and succeeding in a foreign country, and the inevitable culture clash between the very rigid male-dominated Korean culture and the less formal and more opportunistic American culture. Overall the book reads like an Amy Tan novel written for a teenage audience, complete with the focus on the mother-daughter relationship. This book is a great one to help teach kids about different cultures. Although the book does include some heavy material, including domestic abuse and alcoholism, I'd recommend this book to preteens.

Audrey Niffenegger:
The Time Traveler's Wife

This was another book I picked up at the library, attracted by the cover and the description. The story is essentially a romance with a twist of mystery - a story told primarily from the perspective of a girl, Clare, who grows into a woman and marries a time traveler, Henry, whom she has been seeing since she was a girl as he has traveled to the past as a man. The novel unwinds in a rather disjointed fashion as you might expect, given that sometimes Henry travels forward in time and sometimes backwards, sometimes farther and sometimes not so far. This formula has the potential to be very creepy, but it works well the way it is written. This book also discusses some very heavy subjects, including teenage abuse, suicide, and infertility in a realistic and yet sensitive way. Overall I enjoyed this book, and I'd recommend it to adults.

Aprilyne Pike:
Wings

I was lucky enough to read Wings as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) this past holiday. I'll admit, it wasn't my ARC, but it was laying around at my parent's house and my curiosity overcame me. I felt a little like I was cheating, reading the ARC that wasn't meant for me, so I told myself I'd only read the first chapter. At the end of chapter 1 I decided that it was too short and I could feel okay about reading the first 3 chapters. Then 5. Then 10. Craig finally forced me to stop at chapter 12 so we could go home. I later finished it (with permission) and though I was impressed with the first half of the book, the second half really pulled me in: I couldn't put it down! The book is about a teenage girl, Laurel, who discovers she is a changeling: a faerie planted in the human world, now maturing into full faeriehood - a somewhat traumatic experience for her. In addition to the difficulties of faerie development and cross-racial tensions, Laurel also deals with budding romance and family tragedy. I would highly recommend this book to preteens: look for it's release in bookstores on May 5, 2009!

Kristine Kathryn Rusch:
Buried Deep
Extremes

I spend a lot of time at the library these days, and while I was there I bumped into an old friend; He heard all about my reading resolution, and highly recommended Kristine Rusch. Buried Deep and Extremes are both futuristic science fiction-based mystery novels from Rusch's Retrieval Artist set - a group of books with some of the same characters and similar settings, but not necessarily direct sequels per se. I enjoyed these enough that I've requested several more of her books from my library. It's been a while since I really enjoyed such good mystery novels!

Shel Silverstein:
Runny Babbit

Runny Babbit was a recommendation I picked off of BYU's 100-hour board - where students ask questions and other students and professors have 100 hours to post answers. I love Shel Silverstein's works so I was intrigued by this book, which I'd never heard of; turns out it was published posthumously. It's a great book in classic Silverstein style, and I'd recommend it for all ages. Although very young children might not 'get' it all, they'll still giggle at the ridiculousness of the words. Young children will enjoy deciphering the code, and slightly older children will enjoy the story.

Ysabeau S. Wilce:
Flora Segunda

This was a fun book, if slightly disturbing. It is a coming-of-age story that is part fantasy, part silliness, part military, and part pirate novel. The story is told in first person narrative by the protagonist, a 13 (turning 14) year old girl who is everything you'd expect from a teenager: rebellious, adventurous, independent and willful, weak, possibly insane, and maybe a little lazy. The writing itself is quite enjoyable; the book has a very unique voice. I would recommend this book to preteens (or advanced younger readers.)


NONFICTION

John Bayley:
Elegy for Iris

This book is two things: first, it is a memoir of the lives and marriage of John Bayley, an English literary critic, to his wife Iris Murdoch, an author. Second, it is a chronicle of Iris's descent into dementia after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease on 1994. This book was recommended to the BYU student body by author and celebrated neurologist Oliver Sacks (see below) as a great example of patience, love, and humor given to a woman afflicted with this horrible disease. I enjoyed it, but I'll admit that never having had a loved one deal with this kind of deteriorating illness, I did find it hard to relate at times. I would recommend this book to anybody who has a loved one suffering from dementia.

George S. Clayson:
Richest Man in Babylon

This book was recommended to me by several people when they learned that my husband and I were interested in investing and money management tips. This book is written as a fiction novel, but the goal and premise is to educate the reader on how to become wealthy. As such, it covers all the typical topics from getting out of debt, living beneath your means, saving substantially, and making your savings work for you (by investing). The book is much more inspirational than educational, however, and the short stories which demonstrate each point are incredibly repetitive. For the average American in debt and looking for a way out, it might be very helpful, but Craig and I felt like the choir listening to the preacher. Furthermore, it stops at the investment advice after insisting that to become wealthy you should make your money work for you, and gives no practical advice about how exactly to do that. Having said that, I did take away a few gems from this book, and have read it nearly three times in the last six months. I would recommend it to anybody looking to better understand finances and wealth in general, and especially to those who are struggling to get out of debt.

Brian Clegg:
Getting Science

I picked up Getting Science from the BYU library when I was looking for books to help teach my nephew and his friends learn how to do a little science and chemistry at home. This book is not intended for children, but primarily for educators of school-age children who must teach science as part of the curriculum. Clegg's purpose is to help re-instill that sense of fun, excitement, and fascination with science into the readers so they can help communicate the same to their students. The book includes some very key suggestions on how to put science in to context, make it hands-on, and make it fun. As a popular science author, Clegg not only makes the science subject matter accessible; he also makes it interesting - which is, of course, the point. I'd recommend this book for grade-school educators as well as homeschooling parents who feel that science is a weak area for them.

Larry Gonick and Craig Criddle:
The Cartoon Guide to Chemistry

I received this book as a gift from a good friend, and laughed quite a bit while reading it. Cartoons make everything more funny! Unfortunately the target audience who would appreciate this book is rather slim, and in some cases the chemistry is a little weak and oversimplified. It would be great if illustrations in this book were usable by teachers, but the title page clearly reserves all rights and instructs educators to write a letter to the HarperCollins 'Special Markets' department if they want to purchase a copy for educational purposes; this makes quite clear that any educator wishing to use copies of the material in-class via 'Fair Use' rules is out of luck. I'll be honest, I can't remember the last time I composed an actual physical letter and sent it via snail mail for anything, nor can I see a educators paying a lot of money for the rights to use a few photocopies purely for the purposes of helping keep the class entertained and engaged (as the material is a bit weak to actually help teach a normal chemistry class). Ah well, that's Harper's choice I guess! I would recommend this book to anybody who is geeky enough to enjoy an 'intro to chemistry' book done in cartoon-style.

Barbara Kingsolver:
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Anybody who's been watching my blog for the last year knows how profoundly this book has affected my life. A good friend and colleague recommended it to me and I picked it up from the library as a bit of airplane reading last March. It was powerful enough to motivate me to make significant changes in my food buying and consumption habits, as well as humorous enough to be enjoyable reading. When I got back from my trip, I purchased a copy for my mother as a Mother's Day gift. Then, because I didn't want to wait three weeks to give it to her, I delivered it early anyways! She also loved it, and since then I've recommended it to about everybody I know. It's still near the top of my recommendation list for anybody interested in learning more about food in our nation.

Oliver Sacks:
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
Musicophilia

Oliver Sacks, as discussed above in relation to John Bayley's Elegy for Iris, visited the BYU campus and spoke to the student body in a Tuesday devotional. I was inspired by his compassion and humor, and decided to read a few of his books. Both The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat and Musicophilia are fascinating compilations of short descriptions of actual clinical patients and afflictions Sacks has worked with as a neurologist during his career. The stories are informative as well as humorous, and Sacks's care for each of the patients described is clear. He makes a clarion call for medicine with compassion during this age where medicine is seen as a dispassionate scientific field. While The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat focuses more on a broad range of often poorly understood neurological issues, Musicophilia focuses on those neurological issues which are involved exclusively with music. I recommend these books to anybody with an interest in science or medicine.

Phil Town:
Rule #1 Investing

This book was recommended to me by a relative who heard me ranting about The Richest Man in Babylon (see above). He indicated it was the natural next step to any individual interested in learning about how exactly to invest. In this book, Phil Town instructs the reader, step by step, on the whys and hows of do-it-yourself investing, including very detailed instructions on why it's better to do it yourself, how to find a good company to invest in, how to know when the right time to invest has come, and how to set up an IRA or 401(k) to do the trading yourself. While the instructions are extremely helpful, this book suffers from Town's overly 'motivational speaker' style - which, to me, is an instant red flag for exaggeration and 'too-good-to-be-truisms'. It is unfortunate that the book contains that tone, because from the actual data included I really think this is something which can work for me and others who are natural skeptics. I recommend this book for anybody who is interested in learning about how to manage money for retirement.

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That's it for this last year: nearly 50 books in total. I had thought by this time I'd be booked-out, but I just want to read more! I've already put in a hold list for a number of books at my library I haven't been able to get, and for the first time in my life I've found the local library lacking: several of the recommendations I've received recently aren't available. I'll have to get creative in my search if this keeps up.

In the future, I'll keep blogging about the books I read; but I'll post a more manageable 10 books at a time instead of 25. I'm still taking recommendations, though; so don't be shy about letting me know what good books you guys stumble across!