Random Friday: TRISH is coming edition!

Two boys, one outfit.

Big Exciting News of the Week: TRISH is coming to see me! Ok, she's coming to see Mt. Rushmore and the Sturgis Rally. I just happen to live here too. I. Am. So. Excited!!! (see Trish, I can have CAPS-LESS emphasis too!)

Today's Dead Horse: Partial feed blogs. Seriously, why? I am really asking. If I subscribe to one it immediately gets labeled "chopping block", which means you get very few chances to wow me, and since you only have about 3 sentences to try it, you better be good in those three sentences.

You can't have read many book blogs in the last week and not seen anything about the controversy over Justine Larbalestier's Liar cover. While I see the original point, that the cover is not representative of the book by not having a black girl on it and that the publisher is being a bit racist, I can't help but notice that I've heard a LOT more about Liar than I would have otherwise. A small part of me thinks that perhaps the whole thing is working in the author's favor now.

I was reading and enjoying Graceling quite a bit. Then Mike stole it to read and now it has vanished. I hope it shows up soon. Meanwhile, I moved on to Along for the Ride.

In the interest of full disclosure, I signed up for Amazon Associates. I won't be linking to random crap, just the things I would have been linking to anyway. I don't expect to make anything off it, but I figured that I send so many links Amazon's way that they could send some back my way. Maybe.

Garden Update: Some of the tomatoes are rotting at the end, but SOME of the tomatoes are turning yellow, hopefully on their way to red. A couple more zucchini this week. A TEENY little pumpkin.

Again? Srsly?

Every month or so the debate over the ethics of bloggers accepting books from the publisher raises its head. Because not all bloggers choose to participate in book tours there is a perceived disdain for those who do. Some bloggers who do choose to review ARCs feel a bit defensive for no good reason as most of them are only reading books they would have been interested in reading anyway. I tend to operate under the assumption that my fellow bloggers are honest and fair and aren't trading the promise of a free book for a glowing review. I believe it when bloggers promise to give their honest opinion.

Trish at Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'? posted a lengthy post about where she gets her books, and what percentage of them are from ARCs that addresses some of these issues. Before I made my way over to give my opinion, Amy @ My Friend Amy asked "what about a million reviews of Twilight? or the graveyard book?", which is where I had to open my mouth. If you read my comment there, you already know my opinion, but I felt that it was worthy of a post of it's own, so I am opening the discussion here. Here's what I said at Trish's (with some minor changes to spelling and grammer):

The difference is, Twilight has a million reviews because of word of mouth-
someone liked it so someone else picked it up and reviewed it. With the blog
tours you don’t know that all those people would have picked it up if it weren’t
free from the publisher. I’m not saying they asked for books they didn’t want to
read, but I am saying their reading choice is guided by what was offered to them
from someone with a monetary interest in seeing the book do well. It is not the
same thing as having a good friend offer a book they think you will enjoy, no
matter how honest and unbiased the blogger is. The publisher is paying, in
shipping costs and the cost of the book itself, for that book to appear on X
number of blogs.

I do believe that most* bloggers are sincere in their
review of whatever book it is, but if TRISH gives the book to Amy and AMY loves
it, I usually enjoy that review more, because I know that Trish didn’t have any
other motive for passing it along other than that it was a great book. (Not that
Trish has motives. Just using the two of them as examples since that’s
where I was in the comments.) I believe that bloggers are honest in their
reviews, and there is nothing unethical going on. I just prefer to see a million
reviews of a book that spread by word of mouth, not because the publisher handed
it out like candy. (Yummy candy, but still candy.)

I don't read a lot of ARCs. This is in part because I can't promise to read something on anyone else's schedule (exactly how many challenges have I failed?) and in part because I missed the publisher sign up sheets when they went around (sour grapes? Not really. I'm not upset.) I do read a lot of books that other bloggers loved, including some that were part of blog tours. I feel a bit like a follower and I'm never part of the front line of reviews. I'm ok with this. I like to choose books that have been tested and found to have merit. It's comfortable and relaxing for me. I understand that some people get comfort from being scheduled on their reading, that they are happiest when they know what they are reading next. I don't like to be surprised by a book, I prefer it when someone else previews it for me. Yeah, there are exceptions- favorite authors, series, some plot lines I'll run to the front of the line for, but in general, I like to know it's good before I invest my time.

So why am I posting? Because I wanted to give the view point of someone who doesn't review ARCs. I wanted to try to explain why some reviews are received differently from others. I know I kinda rambled around a bit in that last paragraph, so perhaps my point got lost, but I think you get the idea.


* I say "most" because I DO believe some bloggers just want free books. I don't subscribe to the bloggers I feel this way about, so don't ask who they are.

Let's play Edward and Bella!

Tonight on the way home the Pirate and I were talking about our plans for Wednesday night. We're meeting another four year old, a little girl, from his daycare for a dinner of pizza in the park. The Pirate is very excited as this is our first playdate outside of Carol's (daycare) with this particular child.

He said to me, "I can't wait to play with M! Maybe we can play Edward and Bella!"

He did not learn this from me. I had no idea that a 4 year old would even know what Twilight was! From what he says, Edward is both the good guy AND the bad guy. Bella is "a girl."

Suddenly a trip to the park is much more entertaining.

Box Elder Creek camping

We had a nearly perfect camping spot this weekend. We chose a small campground that has a small little spur of three spots across a little creek from the other 10 or so spots. We ended up in a little half-circle spot bordered by tall grass, trees and bushes. The camper and the car mostly blocked the road. The campground itself is at the end of a 2 mile long gravel road and there were only about 5 other camp sites occupied, so very little traffic. The other two spots on our side of the creek were empty.

There was a little path to a bridge that you crossed to get to the outhouses (yeah, the biggest downfall of this campground) and a tiny little path to the creek. Once at the creek there was an area about 6 feet in diameter where the water was barely ankle deep, so the Pirate could mostly be trusted to play. Outside that circle it was no deeper than 2 feet deep, so still no real danger to Pirates.

We took the Pack 'n Play and plopped the Bug in it at bedtime, where he hollared loudly for about 10 minutes then went to sleep. This meant that for the first camping trip of the year we got to sit outside and enjoy the fire TOGETHER. We'd never taken the pack 'n play before because we didn't think it would fit in the camper. In the end we had to put it on top of the bed that the table made, but it still worked. The boys all went to bed before me and I got to sit fireside and have a little wine and read my book by my booklight before I went to bed.

Because of the creek there were a few more mosquitos than usual, but it wasn't bad at all. (We usually see very few bugs when we camp, one benefit of living in western South Dakota.) It was a spectacularly dirty experience, I think because they were wet a lot, but it was a pretty close to perfect camping experience- lack of a showerhouse and electricity were the only minuses. And we didn't really miss the electricity, just the running water and flush toliets.

So why don't I have any pictures of this beautiful, scenic, near-perfect camping experience?

I forgot the memory card to my camera.

Random Friday, view from Grace Coolidge Lookout tower

Nice view, huh? Imagine if I had a REAL camera! That's from the Grace Coolidge Lookout tower in Custer State Park.

I wasted about an hour last night playing with 20Q.net- it's addictive, go try it!

I've got to name these random Friday posts something more creative.

I'm vaguely considering backing up my hard drive someplace online. I have a little external drive, but if my house burns down this won't do me any good. Does anyone else use an online service? Can you recommend a particular service if I choose to do it?

I have started emailing myself reviews of Catching Fire because they all claim to have spoilers for The Hunger Games, which no, I still have not read (thanks for saying up front that you have spoilers, I appreciate it!).

Camping again this weekend, just us, just Saturday. It's almost time for the Sturgis Rally so we won't be able to go for several weeks. I want to get as much out of the camper as I can before it gets cold.

Unfortunately, I have to work tomorrow morning before we can go.

Garden Update: I think we need to pick the last of the chard tonight if we want to eat it. The peppers all died. The cucumber is barely flowering, but then it grew late too. TONS of green tomatoes and I don't think I've ever seen such big tomato plants. There's a zucchini waiting out there for us tonight too. Got any recipes that have both chard AND zucchini?

1,2,3... 26, 27, 28...

Ever since I finished From Dead to Worse last week I've been slightly obsessed with obtaining a copy of the next one- Dead and Gone . There aren't many series that I'm completely caught up on, and the idea of being about to draw a (temporary) (mental) line through a series fills me with pleasure. (I also take great pleasure in using up all the ink in a pen. Does this make me wierd?)

Anyway, it got me to wondering- Do most people read an entire series at once? Do you feel compelled to finish the series before starting something else? What if you don't like the series? Can you ever offically quit it? What series have you officially given up on? What are your favorites? Do you have some that languish in the TBR until you get around to them? Also, do you consider a trilogy to be a series? For me there has to be more than three books to be considered a series.

I think right now my top series would be:

• Patricia Briggs's Mercedes Thompson


• Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse


• Jim Butcher's Dresden Files


• JD Robb's In Death Series


• Carrie Vaughn's Kitty Norville


• J. D. Rowling's Harry Potter
  

Of those, I'm current on the Briggs and Harry Potter. I'm one behind on Harris, 5 behind on Butcher, and 4 or 5 behind on Robb. They are consistently strong entries (except maybe JD Robb's.) They have well defined main characters and a highly developed world and background. What are your favorite series?

As you may be able to tell from this list, I don't read a lot of series that don't have a paranormal/futuristic element to them. I do read Janet Evanovich's and I'm all caught up except for Finger Lickin' Fifteen. Do you have a non-paranormal series that you can't get enough of? What about lesser known series? What do you buy the minute it comes out?

As for giving up- I officially quite Anita Blake after Obsidian Butterfly . I stopped Sue Graftonaround L. I only read the first Rachel Caine Morganville Vampiresbook, even though I love her Weather Wardens (ok, I've only finished 2, but I know I WILL love them when I finally get around to them!) What about you? What series got old before it ended? Are you done with Evanovich? (I almost am, but I keep hearing that she's almost done writing them.)

There are so many new series that I'd love to give a chance, but I keep thinking that I can't even keep up with the ones I know I like! And yet, I'm still asking you to give me more. It's ok, my TBR can take it.

From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris

From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris is the 8th book in the Sookie Stackhouse series. This is one of the best paranormal series out there right now, in my opinion. It manages to be funny without being ridiculous and intense without being graphic. It really makes me think of a cozy mystery in the vampire world, which makes sense as that is Harris's background.

So what's this one about? Does it matter? If you love the series you're going to want to read this one, regardless of the actual plot, but I'll try to sum it up anyway. The werewolves in Shreveport are still fighting, the Queen of Louisiana has never recovered from the bombing in the last book so her position is in jeopardy, Sookie's brother and his wife are on the outs, and Quinn, who was missing, is back. Sookie, of course, is in the middle of it all. Amelia (the witch) is still living with Sookie and Bob is still a cat.

What did I think, the short version: It was fun. Very fast paced and true to the characters. Barely a twinge of romance in this one, which was disappointing.

The long version: I thought the plot was a bit disjointed, but it did come together nicely in the end. It would have been a bit smoother if the werewolf portion hadn't ended exactly as the vampire portion began. It seemed a bit like this one was just set up for the next, but I can live with that. I still haven't seen any contradictions in her world, everyone seems to abide by the laws she has created and I haven't been completely disbelieving of any of it.

Sookie doesn't find romance in this one but Bill does try to redeem himself a bit. Eric is still hott and he seems to have found his memory. The vampires are still not above faking a relationship in order to further their causes but it doesn't have the same emotional impact as the last time they did it. I still love Sam and I can't wait to see what Niall brings to the table. All in all, a strong entry and leaves me wanting to read Dead and Gone which is the 9th and most recent entry in the series.

Have you read these? What do you think? Should I splurge and buy Dead and Gone or wait and get it when my turn comes up at the library? I'm #212 on paperbackswap, so it'll be a while there.

Charlaine Harris has a website and a blog, where she posts a weekly book review.

From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris

Ace Hardcover

2008

368 pages

Random Friday for July 17th

The Bug is a Bug.

Kailana (Kelly) at The Written World posted this great YouTube video- United
Breaks Guitars. So funny.

Jill at Fizzy Thoughts has started a new event called "Short
N'..." To kick it off she wants to know your ONE WORD reaction to Animal Farm.

I finished my book for TBR Day last night. Too bad TBR Day was on Wednesday.
Ooops.

I bought my first Christmas present today. It's still July!! How early do
you shop for presents? Are you one of those people who start on December
26th? I'd never be able to not give a present to someone if I started that
early.

My day today is packed full of appointments. I predict a very tired Lisa by
5:00. Fortunately, we're going camping tonight! We'll be back on Sunday.
(Note to potential thieves: My neighbors are watching you. And one of my
neighbors watches A LOT.) What are you doing this weekend?

Garden Update: We picked a bunch of swiss chard this week and had it for
dinner. While I wouldn't quite call it excellent, it was way cool to be
eating food from the garden. Even being something we grew wouldn't convince
the Pirate to taste it. The Bug was not a fan. Tons of green tomatoes,
zukes still not getting big before they shrivel up. Pumpkin is flowering,
but no fruit yet.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

I had to check If I Stay by Gayle Forman out of the library twice before I finally got it read. The first time I was overwhelmed by the great reviews I had read and I really wanted to devote time to read it. Then I went on vacation and had to return the book so it wouldn't be late. I immediately added my name back to the list and this time around read it right off the bat. I'm glad I choose to get to it instead of letting it linger, because (as expected) it turned out to be a great book.

What is it about? Mia is a 17 year old high school senior and cello player. She has everything- the perfect boyfriend (why weren't there guys like him at my high school??), the perfect family (but not in an annoyingly perfect way), and she's about to be accepted to Julliard to live her dream. One winter morning her family is in a car accident with a horrible outcome. Mia is in a coma and has to decide if she wants to stay or if she wants to die. This sounds like it would be a horribly depressing book but it's really not. It's about her life, not her possible death. The story is told in alternating flashbacks and the present and Mia is able to see and hear everyone around her and is able to think about what she really wants.

So what did I think? It doesn't quite live up to what I expected. It was a great book and I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys YA fiction, but it didn't pack the emotional punch that I thought it would.

The long version: The writing in If I Stay is excellent. The characters, all of them, felt true to who they were and not too much of a caricature. Her family is definitely too perfect to be real- fiery protective mom, ex-punk rock turned professor dad, adorable 7 year old brother who thought Mia hung the moon. Her boyfriend Adam is also great, and is potentially more swoon-worthy than Wes. He does have some flaws and their relationship isn't perfect, which I was happy to see. I adored her grandparents, every scene with Gramps made me tear up.

The musical references are great. Mia plays cello, which is the instrument I'd play if I had any musical talent at all. I love Yo Yo Ma and reading this made me pull out my cds for the first time in a long time. I would love to know what music Forman listened to as she was writing the book. Here's a link to Yo Yo Ma playing adante con poco e moto rubato, which is the last song mentioned in the book.

It would seem that a book about life and death would by default be a depressing book. Everyone who has read it cried and cried and I was prepared for that. I actually waited to read it until I could be alone because I expected to sob. I didn't. Oh, I teared up here and there, and the ending certainly made me cry, but it wasn't the sobfest I expected so if that's putting you off you can stop worrying. It was really a book about life itself and what would make a person choose to stay even if it would be painful.

If I Stay is definitely in the same catagory as Wintergirls for me. It's serious and it's topic has the potential to be depressing, but in the end it feels good to have read the book. I'd recommend this to anyone who liked Wintergirls, or Speak, or 13 Reasons Why. It's harder to read than the two Sarah Dessens I've read- This Lullaby and The Truth About Forever. You wouldn't go wrong to buy it in hardback (Amazon has it for 11.55 ) if you're the type of person who rereads books. I'll probably reread the end before I return mine to the library.

I'm going to try to rate my reviews again but haven't decided on a scale. If I end up with a 10 point scale, this one gets an 8.

Have you read it? What did you think? Did it make you cry like a baby?

Here's some other reviews, if you need more urging.

Everyday Reading

Fluttering Butterflies

Abby (the) Librarian

Life in the Thumb

And the author has a blog, here.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Dutton Juvenile

2009

208 pages

One for the baby book!

"I keep eating bogeys and it makes me cough all the time, so I'm sick. Please will you give me some medicine." -The Pirate, age 4.

Random Friday for July 10th

I do not understand the obsession with Persephone books that some bloggers have. Please, explain this. I do not get why they are so cool.

Brandie at A journey of 1000 stitches gave me TWO lovely awards this week- the Kreativ Blogger Award and the One Lovely Blog Award. Thanks!

I am considering going to back rating my books. Last time I tried a 5 star rating system. I think I'd like to go to a 10 point system because there is such a difference between 4 and 5. What does everyone else think of ratings? Do you do it? When a review has them do you just skim the review looking for a rating before reading the actual review?

I save reviews that I think I'm going to enjoy reading (the review or the book) as unread in Google Reader until I have time to sit and read them carefully. Sometimes this means that a particular blog will have 4 or 5 unread posts so that that one post I am interested in remains unread. Do you do this?

Amanda at A Patchwork of Books is giving away a copy of Twenty Boy Summer. I'd tell you go to go enter, but then there'd be less chance of me winning. So go over, say hello, be nice, but don't enter, k?

I am still undecided on which signature to use.

BBQ at our house tonight for some of Mike's work guys. Camping this weekend.

Garden Update: We have about 2 dozen finger sized zucchini, but they don't seem to be getting any bigger. Any ideas? We have about 2 dozen small green tomatoes as well. There are blooms on the pumpkins. The Pirate says the garden is his "jungle" and likes to hide in it.

Quick question for ya!

Trish showed me how to make a signature. The obvious choice would be to use "lisa" (duh) but my little shop is Made by Lisah because I love the pretty cursive H at the end. (I'm not so pretentious that I use it all the time, just for the artsy side of things, I liked the H.) If I started using "lisah" as my signature both places, would that be weird and confusing? Do I need to use the same thing both places? Tell me what you would do.




or

Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James

So last night I did something I haven't done in a long time. (Well, since the Read-a-Thon, but that doesn't count!) I read an entire book in one sitting. Ok, I read the first 30 pages earlier in the day, but close to one sitting. It wasn't a book on the list, it wasn't something Janssen made me read, and it wasn't from the library. It was a romance novel- Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James (blog). When I left for work yesterday I threw it in my bag because it was on the top of the stack I have just gotten in from Paperbackswap. The opening chapters had promise, but weren't great, but when I sat down after the Bug went to bed it hooked me. Shortly after midnight (!!) I finished the book and went to bed happy.

So what's the book about? Payton and JD are lawyers in a big Chicago law firm. They have been rivals for the entire 8 years that they have worked together and they both work hard. They are up for partner in a few short weeks and have both been working under the assumption that they will both make it. However, weeks before the announcement the firm decides they will only promote one of them. To make matters worse, they have been assigned to work together on a big public case. Now they have to figure out how to outwit each other, keep their job, and deal with the fact that they are slowly starting to realize how they really feel.

The short review: I loved it. Great tension, great dialogue (after the opening few chapters), terrific homage to Pride and Prejudice.

The long version: After a slow start, James really gets into the groove and turns out a great book. The dialogue is witty, the main characters are both terrific. It's full of humor, almost veering into slapstick at one point, but stopping before it's ridiculous. Payton and JD consider sabotaging each other in their quest to win, but do the adult thing and don't, which I loved. I think if they have gotten nasty in the quest to be partner that I would have put the book down. It is very much about two people coming to realize their true feelings.

There is a good bit of tension between them but only one sex scene, and it's not at all graphic. In fact, despite the clear heat between them, all you really "see" is some kissing. Very well done, for those who don't like it to get graphic. There is a bit of swearing, but it didn't seem overboard at all.

I picked up this book because of reviews at Babbling about Books, and More and The Book Smugglers (love this line from her review, "reading Practice Makes Perfect is akin to watching one of the best Ally McBeal’s episodes but with Joss Whedon’s dialogue.") I just re-read those reviews, and I skimmed all the reviews at Amazon and I can't believe that every one of them missed the VERY BEST PART of the book- it's a retelling of Pride and Prejudice. Maybe it's not intentional, but it IS. Some of the reviews mention that it references P&P, and it does, but no one clues in to the fact that JD is Mr. Darcy. Payton isn't looking for a husband, but she is witty and smart. The banter, the dialogue, the hating each other until they don't. JD is too proud to tell her how he feels. There is a misunderstanding. There is a big gesture. The entire structure is there. It is beautifully done- it wasn't until the actual P&P reference that it all clicked for me. Even the ending mirrors it, and it's perfect. This is what pushed the book over from "good book" to "excellent." There is a great interview with the Julie James here and she doesn't mention this- I can't believe that it isn't intentional. If you're at all interested in the book, check out the interview for some snippets of the dialogue, she choose some great moments.

The final verdict: If you're a fan of contemporary romance pick this one up, you won't be disappointed. I'll be looking for her first book- Just the Sexiest Man Alive.

Aside to Julie James: when do we get Tyler's story?

Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James

Berkeley

2009

304 pages

TBR list update for June

Remember when I said I was going to keep a list of books I wanted to read that YOU recommended to me? This is what I added to the list in June. The links go to the review that pushed me over the edge, so be sure to click through and read them.

Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier - raych at books i done read
A Not So Perfect Past by Beth Andrews- Wendy the Super Librarian
Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson- Janssen at Everyday Reading
Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan- Nymeth at things mean a lot The Wednesday Wars by Gary D Schmidt- Janssen at Everyday Reading
The Sky Always Hears Me and the Hills Don't Mind by Kirstin Cronn-Mills- Kristin at Books for Breakfast
Holly's Inbox by Holly Denham- Bookfoolery and Babble
The Non-Runner's Marathon Guide for Women by Dawn Dais- Bookfoolery and Babble
The Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose - Reading Rants!
Coffee With .... the Buddha by Joan Oliver Duncan- Rebecca :) at Lost in Books
Boy's Life by Robert McCammon- Trish at Trish's Reading Nook (my review)
The Luxe by Anna Godberson- Janssen at Everyday Reading
Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler- Abby (the) Librarian
No Angel by Jay Dobyns and Nils Johnson-Shelton- Stephanie at Open Mind, Insert Book Columbine by Dave Cullen- Liz at A Chair, A Fireplace & a Tea Cozy

Have you read any of these? What did you think? Did you read a great book in June that I should add to my list? What did you add to your list in June?

Newsweek's Top 100 Books. For now.

There's another top 100 list in town.

Newsweek says they crunched all the other lists together to make this master list. What do ya'll think? I didn't do so well on it, only 13.

I couldn't find that anyone else on my blog list has taken the time to type them all in, so I went ahead and did it for you. You're welcome. I marked the ones I'd read with a star instead of highlighting or bolding or anything funky that would be hard for you to remove on your own blog, should you want to repost it. I can never make other people's formatting go away.

1. War and Peace by Tolstoy
2. 1984 by Orwell
3. Ulysses by Joyce
4. Lolita by Nabokov
5. The Sound and The Fury by Faulkner
6. Invisible Man by Ellison
7. To The Lighthouse by Woolf
8. The Illiad and the Odyssey by Homer*
9. Pride and Prejudice by Austen*
10. Divine Comedy by Alighieri
11. Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
12. Gulliver's Travels by Swift
13. Middlemarch by Eliot
14. Things Fall Abart by Achebe*
15. The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger*
16. Gone with the Wind by Mitchell*
17. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Marquez
18. The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald
19. Catch-22 by Heller
20. Beloved by Morrison
21. The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck
22. Midnight's Children by Rushdie
23. Brave New World by Huxley*
24. Mrs. Dalloway by Woolf
25. Native Son by Wright
26. Democracy in America by Tocqueville
27. On the Origin of Species by Darwin
28. The Histories by Herodotus
29. The Social Contract by Rousseau
30. Das Kapital by Marx
31. The Prince by Machiavelli
32. Confessions by St. Augustine
33. Leviathan by Hobbes
34. The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides
35. The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien*
36. Winnie-the-Pooh by Milne
37. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by Lewis*
38. A Passage to India by Forster
39. On the Road by Kerouac
40. To Kill a Mockingbird by Lee*
41. The Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version
42. A Clockwork Orange by Burgess
43. Light in August by Faulkner
44. The Souls of Black Folk by Du Bois
45. Wide Sargasso Sea by Rhys
46. Madame Bovary by Flaubert
47. Paradise Lost by Milton
48. Anna Karenina by Tolstoy
49. Hamlet by Shakespeare
50. King Lear by Shakespeare
51. Othello by Shakespeare
52. Sonnets by Shakespeare
53. Leaves of Grass by Whitman
54. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Twain
55. Kim by Kipling
56. Frankenstein by Shelley
57. Song of Soloman by Morrison
58. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Kesey
59. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Hemingway
60. Slaugherhouse-Five by Vonnegut
61. Animal Farm by Orwell
62. Lord of the Flies by Golding
63. In Cold Blood by Capote
64. The Golden Notebook by Lessing
65. Remembrance of Things Past by Proust
66. The Big Sleep by Chandler
67. As I Lay Dying by Faulkner
68. The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway
69. I, Claudius by Graves
70. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by McCullers
71. Sons and Lovers by Lawrence
72. All the King's Men by Warren
73. Go Tell it on the Mountain by Warren
74. Charlotte's Web by White*
75. Heart of Darkness by Conrad*
76. Night by Wiesel*
77. Rabbit, Run by Updike
78. The Age of Innocence by Wharton
79. Portney's Complaint by Roth
80. An American Tragedy by Dreiser
81. The Day of the Locust by West
82. Tropic of Cancer by Miller
83. The Maltese Falcon by Hammett
84. His Dark Materials by Pullman
85. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Cather
86. The Interpretation of Dreams by Freud
87. The Education of Henry Adams by Adams
88. Quotations from Chairman Mao by Mao Zedong
89. The Varieties of Religious Experience by James
90. Brideshead Revisted by Waugh
91. Silent Spring by Carson
92. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money by Keynes
93. Lord Jim by Conrad
94. Goodbye to All That by Graves
95. The Affluent Society by Galbraith
96. The Wind in the Willows by Grahame*
97. The Autobiograhy of Malcom X
98. Eminent Victorians by Strachey
99. The Color Purple by Walker*
100. The Second World War by Churchill

Boy's Life by Robert R McCammon

A month of so ago Trish reviewed Boy's Life by Robert R McCammon. We were just about to leave for vacation and despite my misgivings on the size of it, I picked up a copy and took it with me. It's not very often that a review makes me pick something up immediately and then actually read it, but I'm glad I did. It's a huge book and there are a lot of things going on. For much of the book I was wondering how McCammon was possibly going to tie it all together, but I think he managed. I'm about to get very thinky with this review, so if your brain doesn't already hurt you might want to skip the long version.

So what's it about? The narrator of the story is 11 (12?) year old Cory Mackenson, resident of Zephyr, Alabama in 1964. As the story opens, Cory and his father witness the cover up to a murder. The murderer isn't found and the identity of the victim remains a mystery. Cory is, understandably, very curious about what happened and as the story progresses there are tiny little clues that start to add up to the big finale. In between there are four friends, a summer vacation, a ceremony for a river beast, a flood, some voodoo, a naked man, some deaths, a monkey, the Beach Boys, some ghosts, a story writing contests, a little girl named "The Demon", some Nazis, racism and a shiny new bike, among other things. It's a big book.

The short verdict? I enjoyed it. I didn't love it, but I very much want to talk about it, so go read it.

The long version: Did I like it? Did it work for me? I'd say it mostly worked. There are a few moments that are either magical realism or the fantasy of a 12 year old and if it's the former then no, but if it's the later then yeah, it worked. It's hard to say which it was because it's all told like fact, but I like to think that it's how a 12 year old remembered it when writing the story as an adult. There is a strong theme of not growing up too fast, and as a fictional adult writing from his perspective as a child, adding those elements would make sense. Cory is definitely writing a story. He wants to be a writer and he addresses the reader directly on occasion, both as an adult and as a child. For most of the book you can forget this (and are supposed to), but there are moments where you have to wonder if it "really happened" or not. (Ok, yeah, this is a hard thing to explain. Of course it didn't happen, this is fiction. But it's hard to tell if it really happened to Cory Mackenson, the writer of the story in the story. Follow?)

The writing is excellent. If he didn't write such large books, I'd probably read another McCammon to see if the voice is McCammon's or Cory's. The scenes are drawn well and I can easily put myself into Zephyr, Alabama and see it all happen (ok, almost all of it.) There were some events that didn't really affect the story that could have been left out, but in hindsight perhaps they are events that were important to the 12 year old narrator? It's hard to tell. There are moments of perfect description and moments of heart-stopping terror. There is even a little bit of romance, if you count The Lady and the Moon Man.

One of the plot lines in it is a bit about a local writer and how publishers, and by extension readers, didn't want books about local towns, they wanted something fantastic to happen in them and I wonder if the whole book isn't really that same thing? A great book with Southern flavor with a heavier murder plot to make the reader interested, but the book is really just about the town and growing up in it. This is all getting very meta, but are we really supposed to believe it all? The small Southern town part is very well done. The other parts are much more heavy handed, like maybe a 12 year old inserted them. But, intentionally heavy handed. I am REALLY bad at explaining myself here. Maybe this isn't how everyone else who reads it sees it. An example of this, for those of you who've read it, is the thing from the carnival. While still very well written, it seems an obvious departure from say, the description of his last day of school and his old teacher.

If you're at all interested in it, be sure to check Trish's review, as her's is much more about the book and not so much about my tired brain seeing things that probably aren't there. You could also read CJ's review at My Years of Reading Seriously. Neither of them got all thinky like I did, so perhaps I am seeing things.

Boy's Life by Robert A McCammon
Thorndike Press
1991
837 pages
Large Print

Random Friday for July 3rd

Not a lot of random this week. It's been a long week and I don't have a whole lot to say. I wish I were back poolside. See Frances? She loved poolside. See the Bug? He was trying to escape.

We are going out of town with the family for the fourth and I am completely not ready. I am not *quite* this maniacal though.

I am starting to realize that I am overwhelmed trying to do everything. I don't know what I wouldn't do unless I gave up some hobbies and I'm not willing to do that. If I could just find a way to not need sleep...

Still reading the same two books since we left for Tennessee on June 13th. They really are both really good, I just haven't had the time to sit down with them.

(My brother Ryan showing off. Even I was impressed.)

Do you have big plans for the fourth? Fireworks? Watermelon? BBQ? Swimming? I am hoping for all of the above.