Customer Comments

You'd think that after a smart novel like The Devil Wears Prada, one that made millions of dollars for everyone involved, the publishers would vigilantly edit whatever Weisberger came out with next. I can only imagine that either her publishers lazily retreated and let her reputation sell the book, or that her ego stood in the way of the editing process. Either way, somebody dropped the ball. Weisberger's tale involves three women seeking love and husbands as they approach their 30th birthdays. One is too promiscuous, one is too monogamous, and the third doesn't love the man she's with. Like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, one's too hot, one too cold and so on... The book is too long, too shallow, and it's crowded with too many plotlines, men and inexplicable plot meanderings--such as these beauties... p. 196-197: Two characters argue for 2 whole pages about one character's penchant for popular chick lit, detailing such works as Something Borrowed, Something Blue, Bridget Jones's Diary and The Nanny Diaries. p. 247: One character leaves her OB-GYN exam (which has NOTHING to do with the plot): "After dressing, Emmy jumped on the 4 train to Union Square. She figured on a brisk walk directly home to shower--something she always felt compelled to do after the K-Y-heavy exams--but as she exited the subway at Fourteenth and Broadway she found herself heading directly toward Leigh and Adriana's building. With Leigh's breakup only a week old and Adriana's newfound commitment to work, she figured at least one of them had to be home, sulking or writing or both, but the doorman shook his head [...] By the time she reached her building and trudged up the five flights of stairs, she was drenched from head to toe: her hair from the freezing rain, her feet from the filthy slush, and her ladyparts from the overzealous application of medical-grade lube." Isn't it terrible?-- the overuse of the word "directly," the fact that this does nothing to advance the plot and finally, it's not even well-written!

Book publishers did a study of devoted readers of the romance genre, seeing as how romance novels make up 50% of the American book market. They wanted to pinpoint what makes a good (to the readers) romance novel. The number one answer: the couple has to get together in a fairy-tale romance by the end. Most readers will actually skim the ending of a book before they buy it, in order to determine that there is indeed a happy ending. I feel like this book's first page is the ending of a romance novel. An air traffic controller goes on a vacation and gets married to the man sitting next to her on the plane. If I could get past the idea that they're already happily together and married by page one, I might be able to get through the remaining 403 pages. So far no luck.

Ooo, this was an embarassing cover to been seen with. And I knew that the plot was formulaic, but when I looked it up here, I found that it's number 33 of the series! What?? And now I'm reading the quote on the front cover--"'Sex and the City with more heart...a winner.' Publishers Weekly on Confessions of an Ex-Girlfriend." The positive review isn't even about the book whose cover it's gracing! I feel like I've been played in a major way. Throw this one back. There's better chick lit out there.

This book was good enough to win the Pulitzer Prize, but evidently I'm even pickier than the prize committee. I'm so close to finishing the thing, but only because I've been pushing myself to read just one more chapter, to renew one more time... Am I way too picky in my demands of an author's work? Perhaps I'm just reading Brooks at the wrong time in my life. In a nutshell, this is the history of a book, a Jewish text called a haggadah. Every other chapter concerns the rare books expert who is examining the codex in the present-day; the remaining chapters each concern themselves with a period in the book's history. Both the book's setup and the book's characters seemed predictable and shallow--I must be missing something big here. Maybe in a couple of years I'll revisit this one.

Not my style, and terribly written, even considering that it was churned out by a ghost writer. It could and should be at least 200 pages shorter. I did finish it, though, but resorted to judicious skimming. A tragedy that this happened, yes, but this muck doesn't help matters.

Elin Hilderbrand is a sure thing. Her books are always about Nantucket, women and love. It's like Keebler's Vienna Fingers cookies--they can taste so bland and cheap sometimes, but when you wake up in the middle of the night and you desperately crave them, it's hard to imagine a world without them... We want what we want. Three women arrive in Nantucket for what they hope will be a relaxing summer--Vicki comes with children and cancer, her sister Brenda comes with heartache and a legal scandal, and friend Melanie has just left her husband and realized that she's pregnant. They hire a handsome young Middlebury college kid to take care of the kids, but of course his role morphs over the course of the book. I thought this was alright, but my fave is still The Blue Bistro.

This is fantastic! I recommend this book wholeheartedly to anyone, really, anyone. It's a young adult book, but it's clever and unique and the main characters are really complex and lovable in their own messed-up ways. The main character, Thom Creed, is a teenager and an only child who is being raised by his father. His mother disappeared when he was younger, his father was publicly humiliated years ago and has never recovered his self-worth since. In this stunted household, he struggles with his awakening sexuality, desperately tries to earn his father's respect and his peers' acceptance, all while trying to get a handle his increasingly severe seizures. Plus, everyone who has tried Ulysses can admit that stream of consciousness writing can be hard to get through. But somehow, in a modified (just- happened- a- few- minutes- ago past tense) way, Moore makes it work. Example--this is right as our teen protagonist is packing to run away from home: "In my room I grabbed the Swiss Army knife my dad got me for Christmas. I stood there picking at a hangnail as I tried to think about what my life would be like once I left, where I'd live, where I'd work, how I'd finish school. I caught myself thinking about falling in love with someone who I hoped was out there right now thinking about the possibility of me, but I quickly banished the notion. It was that kind of thinking that landed me in this situation to begin with. Hope can ruin you" (50). Plus, his whole family are superheroes. Neat, huh?

Compelling. It's a little drawn out (the timeline for the book is over 15 years), but the characters are good, especially Mia. She and a handful of her fellow college students meet at the alternative-styled Graymount College in Northington, MA (By the end of the first chapter I was sure beyond a doubt that it's a fictional stand-in for Hampshire College near Northampton, MA. I went to another college in the Pioneer Valley, and there's way too many similarities for it to be merely coincidental.) The story follows two couples who meet in college as they grow up and forge their way through the next decade and a half of their lives.

Pass on this one. It smacks of celebrity authorship (the trite stories of 'this is how I do it' and the complete absence of price as a factor in what people buy) and it should be half as long as it is. It's been done better elsewhere. Try Green-up Your Cleanup by Jill Potvin Schoff instead.

It's hard to find good thought-provoking essays these days, but I'm certainly not the first to come to this conclusion. Cristina Nehring's essay in August's Utne magazine, entitled "Why Essays are so Damned Boring," doesn't delve too far below the surface of this phenomenon, but her reasoning makes perfect sense. Basically, she says that essayists today are turning out (and editors are only printing) self-involved meditations on minor choices in life. The dramatic questions, the large-as-life issues are being passed over in favor of the documentation of small incidents (like a quiet evening spent at home). It's safer to print the petty things, it's easier to write about petty things and with Americans' shortened attention span, a quick essay recapping one's day is faster reading than an in-depth essay on the meaning of life. I like Sloane Crosley. I like the language she uses and the way she can twist words slyly to fit her needs. I think she will mature into an excellent novelist or science writer. She can capture feelings and explain theories clearly and with a light touch. For example, regarding volunteerism: "Of course I had considered volunteering. I think that once you know what something is, you have considered it. I'm far too solipsistic not to apply myself to every scenario that crosses my path. I remember the day I found out what an enema was, what spelunking was, that Asian women plucked their underarm hair, that the Golden Gate Bridge was an iconic springboard for suicides. I immediately considered jumping off it" (117). Unfortunately, in this collection all you can see is her harmless self-absorption and her shallow magazine-styled way of writing that has served her well in her career. I struggled to finish this, putting it down for weeks between essays.

I couldn't put this down for long, and it ended up being a wonderful read. It was very reminiscent of 1993 Jules Feiffer's The Man in the Ceiling (Such a good book; if you can track down a copy, you'll really like it and you'll never forget it). Both protagonists are boy misfits who draw cartoons to understand their worlds, surrounded by very few adults who understand what's really happening. ATDofaPTI seems perfect for a middle schooler, maybe seventh or eighth grade, but plenty of adults seem to be enthralled by it too, judging by the rave reviews it's gotten. I can't wait to start another of his books that's been on my shelf for a while: The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. Arnold Spirit goes only by Junior when he is on the Spokane reservation, but when he chooses to transfer to a white school off the rez, being called Arnold is only one of the many changes he has to get used to. Everyone wonders how could he betray his people and his best friend by hitchhiking 22 miles to the school everyday. Is it betrayal, or is it escape? This was well-written but very sad in parts--don't expect a happy-go-lucky kid with a dream in his heart setting off to face the world (and so on)... The tragedies of poverty, violence and alcohol abuse among the community are made real in Alexie's book.

When you need a love story, but you aren't willing to delve into the Avalon romance section of covers of big brawny men lustfully cradling their Playboy models in their laps, try this book. It's much more real, but still very sweet. British captain James Gould is assigned to Naples, Italy in World War II, where he is given the job of preventing British servicemen from becoming engaged to Italian prostitutes. And then he meets a beautiful widow... The best parts of the book are the descriptions of all the food--bufala mozzarella, fettuccine al limone and you can almost taste the fresh fruits described. Jamie Oliver even included a line on the back cover about how good everything sounded.

When you need a love story, but you aren't willing to delve into the Avalon romance section of covers of big brawny men lustfully cradling their Playboy models in their laps, try this book. It's much more real, but still very sweet. British captain James Gould is assigned to Naples, Italy in World War II, where he is given the job of preventing British servicemen from becoming engaged to Italian prostitutes. And then he meets a beautiful widow... The best parts of the book are the descriptions of all the food--bufala mozzarella, fettuccine al limone and you can almost taste the fresh fruits described. Jamie Oliver even included a line on the back cover about how good everything sounded.

Meri and her husband Nate are newlyweds on the hunt for a house. When they find a townhouse split with a dignified Washington senator, Nate jumps at the political connection and Meri finds herself entranced with the senator's beautiful wife. This was a fascinating read, just like all of Sue Miller's books. I really, really liked it, and I'll probably reread it within the next few months. I hesitate to explain more, because I think you'll enjoy it more if you aren't given as many clues as to what to expect. It's not a mystery, not a suspense thriller, but it does keep you turning the pages.

This is a new young adult novel that caught my eye a day or so ago. I started it last night before bed, and I got so wrapped up in it. I put it down halfway through the book and went to sleep, but I woke myself up at 2 in the morning--I must have been dreaming about it--and I just had to finish it. It's dark and truthful and hard to read, but it's very moving. On the first page, Iggy Corso tells us that he has been kicked out of high school, and he has decided that he will do something amazing that will change the world and convince the school to let him back in. In his world of abject poverty and drug abuse closing in on everyone around him, this vague and childish scheme becomes the one thing he's desperately trying to hold onto as things fall apart. You will cry, and not just for Iggy, but for everyone who is trapped in similar situations in the world.

I think every woman should read this book, regardless if she is in a relationship or is single. It has been peaceful reading before bed every night, and I find myself marking pages, rereading passages and I think I will even buy this title. The author explains the pressure society puts on women to identify as part of a relationship and the shame and fear that single women put upon themselves. Then she offers meditations and inspiring case studies of women--young, old, widowed, divorced, those cheated on, those abandoned, and those feeling alone even if they're in a relationship--handling their situation with aplomb and confidence. "The challenge for women alone is to learn how to sit with those disquieting feelings of loss and pain and the anxiety they are likely to engender, rather than find ways to escape. Fear and anxiety can grow particularly acute when we dare to enter the feeling of emptiness that is inside us. As one woman describes it, "That's when I feel like a bottomless pit of need." By sitting with these feelings, they start to lose their stranglehold over their lives. Solitude allows us to discover that we are more than the sum of our pain; it helps to shift our longings, so heavily invested in our own sense of neediness and dependency, toward meaningful and life-affirming pursuits. Gradually, we gain back our voice, and the self breathes free. Thus begins the "art" of being a woman alone." (79) "What women alone need to hear is the voice that refutes these assumptions, that implores us to honor ourselves, that reassures us that change is possible, that says we are fully capable of making our own choices. This voice is in each one of us. It's the voice of the young girl we once knew, exulted in, and then lost track of...the best friend we haven't seen in thirty years or more... Its words do not continue to divide us from ourselves but rather begin to make us feel whole. It is the voice of our authentic self, and, for most of us, its sound has been muffled for so long that when we do begin to hear it, it can sound too loud and rude: it says things a good girl doesn't say, even if we blush and try to tone it down. Many women sadly tell me their own authentic voice sounds "too large," "too overbearing," "too demanding," or "too powerful." Ironically, although we may feel great entitlement in our professional lives, have no qualms about spending a lot of money on clothes or taking a vacation, the decibel level of our voice is out of hearing range when it comes to the places deep inside us that wait to be awakened." (164)

This has been a wildly popular book, though some reviewers criticize the author for being too entertaining and the book reading almost like a screenplay for Jennifer Aniston. I disagree. Gilbert gets through a nasty divorce and then a tumultuous love affair in her early thirties. She escapes everything with the idea of healing herself through a year abroad--four months in Italy for its pleasures (language and pasta), four months in India for its spirituality (living on an ashram) and four months in Indonesia (for balance and love). I loved it; true, some parts are funny yet shallow, but her writing goes far deeper when the emotion calls for it. I laughed out loud at the way she describes herself and her great sense of dialogue, but I also cried and cried--all on interminable train rides through Canada.

This is a pretty kooky book all around--a strange but lovable protagonist, romances that fizzle out and male characters who disappear without a trace, and mysterious cameos of both Bigfoot and the thought-to-be-extinct ivory-billed woodpecker. Despite all these eccentricities, it does end up being an enjoyable quick read. The best part of the book is the main character, Cassandra. After the (welcome, yet accidental) death of her husband, she is seeking more from her narrow life of working at the wildlife rehabilitation center and socializing with her one best friend from middle school. She decides to forge a college degree in order to work in a local college office in southern California. She starts taking college classes and discovers classical literature throughout the course of the book, so there are growing numbers of literary references as the book continues. If you want an alternative to the sophistocated office chick lit set in New York City, try this down-home California high-school-educated nature-girl chick lit title.

Reviewers keep comparing the protagonist, James Sveck, to the next Holden Caulfield. Perhaps, but I think James is more puzzled than angered by his upscale urban world. A promising NY teen with an acceptance to Brown and a job in his mother's art gallery, he's looking instead for a "sanctuary," as the book's publisher says. He keeps trolling through the online real estate listings in Kansas, hoping to find the perfect place to get away from it all. It's a really smart book and should appeal to most teens--guys, especially. There's some discussion of homosexuality without that becoming the primary issue; it seems to be a sign that society (and the slow-moving world of children's publishing) is accepting that this is no longer a fringe issue with a niche audience.

First Harvard graduate student Lauren penned The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, an intriguing historical suspenseful and romantic novel (way to blend the genres!) in 2005. Then she came out with The Masque of the Black Tulip, continuing the early nineteenth century espionage storyline. It dragged in parts, but was otherwise well done. Thirdly was The Deception of the Emerald Ring--now the plotlines seemed a little transparent and I started to get frustrated. And finally, after reading her latest, I've decided to give up on the series. The series is all written from two perspectives; one is a modern-day Harvard graduate student named Eloise who is researching the secret identities of British spies just after the French Revolution. In her research, she comes across a descendant of one of her subjects, a handsome fellow who allows her access to his family's records. Though they meet in the first book, present-day time is so slowed down that it is only in the fourth book that they finally go on a date together. The second perspective is that of a woman from Napoleon's era; each book has a different narrator, because each focuses on a different spy's identity being revealed to the reader and to Eloise. Great concept, but the author's writing style hasn't matured over the years, and the modern-day plotline is absolutely maddening. Plus, with this cover in particular, this was a very embarrassing book to be seen reading--I was tucking it into magazines and trying not to taken for a bodice-ripping reader.

This is old-school teen fantasy book--it won the Newbery Honor in 1982. When I was growing up, this and McKinley's Hero and the Crown were touchstones of mine. Don't we all grow up wishing that we could wield swords and ride horses through the desert? Learn foreign languages and fall in love with handsome princes, all without relying on femininity and flirtation? Even if you're not a fantasy fan, please consider this one--it's a unique take on the archetype of a hero. Like dark chocolate with chili and cinnamon--wonderful plain, but with the addition of a few uncommon twists, it transcends to the amazing.

This is a short read--at just 146 pages and sized to fit in your car's glovebox, you could probably finish it in a day or two just reading it during stoplights. "More than anyone else, Manny DeLeon belongs here. As general manager it's his responsibility to open, a task he's come to enjoy. While Red Lobster doesn't license franchises, over the years he's come to consider this one his--or did until he received the letter from headquarters. He expected they'd be closed for renovations like the one in Newington...Instead, headquarters regretted to inform him, a company study had determined that the New Britain location wasn't meeting expectations and, effective December 20th, would be closing permanently." (3) This is documentation of the final hours of a Red Lobster at the quiet edge of a shopping mall parking lot. The manager, the last few customers, the employees he likes, the ones he doesn't, and the love of his life--a waitress who's dating someone else. It feels very final and nostalgic, but the characters don't make a deep enough impression to rise above the tired plot line. I did enjoy it, but at the same time it felt like it was a writing exercise undertaken by the author and only published as an afterthought. "Hey, this turned out ok and I've already got a name for myself with my ten novels--why not?"

Wow. Check it out, especially "Fable containing a reflection the size of a match head in its pupil." It starts out: "Once there was a city where people did not look one another in the eye. It had been that way for as long as anyone could remember. Old married couples lowered their heads like swans as they sat on park benches together. Young mothers stared sweetly at the folds of their babies' necks. Whenever two people met in conversation, each would rest his gaze on the blank surface of the other's shirt, and though occasionally, in a fit of daring, the most intimate of lovers might go so far as to watch each other's lips move, to venture any higher was considered the gravest of social transgressions." The stories are all beautiful and haunting. I would reread this on a chilly fall night with an afghan over my feet and a cup of tea on the table. Or I would curl up in bed with a lover and read him one story a night before we laid down to sleep. However you read them, they each deserve a moment of quiet consideration before you allow your mind to gallop on to other matters.

Spring is the season of Shakespeare. I think most of us can remember fighting through 16th century language when the days were getting brighter and longer--don't you remember looking up from Mercutio's speech "Ah, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you" to look out the window at the yellow daffodils planted outside the high school? Right now the local tenth graders are finishing up their research projects on Julius Caesar and another batch of high schoolers are starting on Hamlet. This novel isn't about a high schooler, though. Holling Hoodhood is a seventh grader. And he thinks his teacher hates him because he's the only one in the class who doesn't leave early every Wednesday afternoon for Hebrew school or for Catholic school. And because every week his teacher puts him to work doing classroom chores or reading interminably long plays by Shakespeare. This was fun to read--there is a really good rhythym to the writing. Like the Robert Newton Peck books about the boy named Soup, the plot seems to jump from escapade to escapade, but the author is able to tie everything together deftly. While the events are not all entirely believable, they aren't so far-fetched as to arouse too much suspicion among younger readers. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud parts, especially for those who have read Shakespeare before and can recognize characters and plotlines and curses mentioned throughout the book. Enjoy!

Just the title and cover art--aren't you already hooked? I spotted it a few months ago on the new book shelf, and I finally checked it out last week. Quite good. Abeeda is a Muslim mother living in South Africa. Left by her husband years ago when she was pregnant with her fourth son, she has since learned to be tough, using her sharp wits and her culinary skills in order to support her family. Now that her children are grown, she has started to venture outside the domestic sphere and she soon ends up at the local casino. As her youngest son battles AIDS and Abeeda's sister struggles with breast cancer, Abeeda escapes into her gambling. Deeper and deeper into debt she gets until she has even borrowed from her household maid. Chapters in the book are devoted to the earlier history of Abeeda's greatest love and loss of her life, and the whole package is wrapped together in a tight plotline that reads quickly without becoming sloppy or cliched. It was developed into a movie last year with the author working both as the screenwriter and actress. Apparently the project was a letdown, which is unfortunate. As I was reading this, I could imagine it playing out well on the big screen.

For you girls out there who are ten or so (or can remember the excitement of being that age--that feeling of being totally immersed in a subject, a story and a life), this is something to check out. Mary is orphaned by the Black Plague by age 8, her entire family having been carted off after death to be sold as doctors' dissection models. For a few years she makes her way as part of a beggar's gang of children on the streets. When her best friend Charlie is found dead in a back alley, she takes his clothes and his knife and decides to try something different. A ship named the H.M.S. Dolphin is leaving port and Mary manages to gain a place on board due to her reading skills and her charade as a boy, "Jack." Along with the five other ship's boys, Jacky spends the next two years on board the ship as they travel around the North African coast and the Carribean coasts. There are plenty of pirates, bullying sailors, violent battles, and always the fight to keep her true identity undercover. For those who remember reading The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, this is similar, while a little formulaic. But it was a treat, and there are sequels!-- I plan to read every one.

A woman awakens in the hospital, only to be told that although the last thing she remembers is falling outside a bar the night before her father's funeral, three years have actually passed since that night. This blip in her memory comes with bigger changes--it turns out that in the last three years she has completely changed her life. From a Bridget Jones-type, office worker, funny frump...to a high-powered, coiffed, carbohydrate-free company manager, and married too. What happened? And that's the book. Cute, especially if you enjoyed her "Shopoholic" series.

And the third one. I really liked this one--she gets more clever with every book. You think, "Jacky Faber won't be able to pull herself out of this mess unscathed," and then she does in a way you'd never have guessed!

Here's the second one. A little slow and far-fetched.

Wanted for piracy in England, Jacky flees to the States to avoid detection. She goes back to school at Miss Pimm's and reunites with her old schoolmates. But the Crown is offering 250 pounds for her head, and it's only a matter of time before the word makes it to Boston. Unfortunately, before Jacky can be claimed by the British, she and nearly all her well-bred classmates are captured aboard a slaving ship, prisoners destined to be sold in Northern Africa. Still well done, but there is one chapter that involves the tired storyline of a dream sequence. Not okay, and the author should know better. I was thoroughly disgusted; when you read the book, skip the chapter that begins when they spot another ship on the horizon.

Giffin has such a lovely voice and a light touch, I really enjoy anything she writes. This one in particular was less chick-lit-y and more "real." A happy bride of ten months has her world turned upside-down when she passes her ex (the one everyone has--the one you can't forget, the love-of-your-life and the one who utterly tore apart your world) on the street one day. Two minutes after their eyes meet while crossing the street, he texts her and asks her to meet up with him. And thus it begins...

Good new teen/YA read. No one knows Danielle's name except her mother--the two are thieves continually on the run and under assumed names. That is, until they stop in a beach community (with the intention of robbing one of the homes) and Dani meets a really cute guy, tells him her real name and falls for him--but he happens to be a local cop. Problems abound, but the protagonist is smart and wily, and you'll enjoy her sarcastic sense of humor.

Margaret Hathaway used to manage the Magnolia Bakery in New York City. Her boyfriend Karl Schatz was the photo editor of the online version of Time magazine. But when these two successful city folks fell for goats, they fell hard. To make sure that they were not wrapped up in the romantic idea of raising goats and making cheese, the two decided to take a year out of their busy New York lives and try on the lifestyle for size. They lived in their van with their dog, Godfrey, and they went from farm to farm all across the US. Over the course of a year, every farm they visited served as an example and every farmer taught them lessons. Hathaway writes well, and it's relaxing and pleasant to breeze through the book, especially if you have an interest in small-scale farming.

Hedonistically, scandalously good. I was excited about this book back in January when the publishers released their review, and it didn't disappoint. It's the 1980s in northern California. Will Shakespeare Greenburg has been putting off writing his master's thesis for two years while enjoying the pleasures of drugs, inactivity and the company of women. It's also the 1580s and teenager Will Shakespeare is going through similar experiences in southern Britain--women, wine and trouble. Straightforward tale of parallels between two people and time periods, right? But there's more, and that's what makes this novel from the co-creator of the Reduced Shakespeare Company worth it. His command of Shakespeare's work results in wry plot details, clever quotes by other characters, and intriguing theories on the meanings behind parts of the plays and sonnets. And having lived in the Bay Area, it was a delight to know the backdrop against which he has set the characters--the UC Berkeley campus, the street intersections, the highways into the hills, etc. You think you know what this book has in store because you think you remember Shakespeare's biography, but Winfield surprises you when you least expect it. Dive in without scruples--it's a treat.

Doug Parker has a mantra: "I had a wife. Her name was Hailey. Now she's gone. And so am I." At this point, the pain of losing his wife in a plane accident is the only grounding force in his life; pot and alcohol haze over his days while he struggles to pull together the remnants of a slick suburban life. At the same time, Doug's 16-year old stepson is desperately reaching out for his love. And then there's Doug's twin sister's problems. And Doug's father's senility. This is raw. It's written well, but it hurts.

Doug Parker has a mantra: "I had a wife. Her name was Hailey. Now she's gone. And so am I." At this point, the pain of losing his wife in a plane accident is the only grounding force in his life; pot and alcohol haze over his days while he struggles to pull together the remnants of a slick suburban life. At the same time, Doug's 16-year old stepson is desperately reaching out for his love. And then there's Doug's twin sister's problems. And Doug's father's senility. This is raw. It's written well, but it hurts.

Here's a great picture book that's long been a favorite of mine and the children I know. It's the perfect way to introduce them to a familiar tale but with modern details. All the animals live in the city, and so the story unfolds amidst sidewalks, fire hydrants, and laundry hanging between the buildings. The little red hen treks to the hardware store, grocery store, and the delicatessen for everything she needs, but by the end of the story, her request for help with the dishes is met with unanimous "I will"s from the other animals. Very cute, and wonderful paper collage illustrations.

Angiers has taken every big idea of science and given it a chapter; most of the essentials are explained in a way that doesn't leave non-science people behind. From calibrations to chemistry to geology, she is able to cover the basics of a science education on one book. I have to admit that I learned a lot. But I learned a lot in spite of Angiers' flowery prose, with its run-on sentences and out-there metaphors. While some of the strange comparisons were appropriate, others were too obscure or just too distracting. In truth, sodium chloride, magnesium bromide, calcium chloride and the like are not molecules but ionic compounds, and though the hero here is still a bond, Sean Connery it is not. The ionic bond that brings us condiments, pebbles, eggshells, Alka-Seltzer, many household cleaning products, and a surprising selection of psychiatric drugs, is stiffer and more strait-laced than a covalent bond, less pliable, more predictable. A brick, a rock, the salt of the earth. An ionic bond is Roger Moore. Weird, huh? It's like you have to wrap your mind around what people use these substances for (table salt, rocks, etc.), then what the difference is between the two kinds of bonds, and then she throws in the sneaky metaphor about James Bond. It all works, but it's too much for very casual reading...

This one was an interesting read; the author, who suffers from MS, also wrote the acclaimed Waist-High in the World: a life among the non-disabled. She converted to Catholicism years ago, but has found herself drifting away from the papal religion and into a Catholicism that embraces equality and tolerance. I found her writing to be very similar to Madeleine L'Engle's journals--a crisp discussion of the authors' beliefs, punctuated by carefully selected anecdotes. As with L'Engle's work, I had to tread lightly, skimming several pages before I found a paragraph that really spoke to me. But she writes so beautifully that when you find something moving, it's worth it to write it down; it will be hard to find that same thought captured so well by another author.

A little more breadth than depth when dealing with most of the issues (immigrants' assimilation into American culture, international adoptions, women's friendships, women raising their children, etc.), but the main character's depth makes up for the skimming. Maryam is an Iranian widow who stands at the edge of the family. She is loved by all, but she just doesn't see how she ought to get too involved with her granddaughter's adoption from Korea, her daughter-in-law's involvement with an American family, and the love that an American widower wants to give her. But her loved ones never give up on her, thank goodness.

It's been slow at the library these past two days. Everyone's out doing last-minute shopping, the kids are at home recovering from the last week of school, and nobody's got any nagging reference questions on their mind right now. So I finished this at work today. Good but not great. Well-written but not too insightful. If you're outside the library profession you might be tickled by some of his musings, but for those in the industry it's pretty run-of-the-mill stuff. Wow. I just reread myself--I don't mean to be so tough on the poor guy. It's a quick read that was compelling enough to finish, with lots of cute anecdotes. Enjoy!

Roald Dahl never disappoints. No matter how old you are when you first discover him, you are always in for a good story when you pick up one of his works. I remember having this book read to me as a child, so it was a trip down memory lane when I read this to my preschool-aged niece a few weeks back. We had a lot of fun laughing at the three grotesque farmers who are trying so desperately to trap Mr. Fox and his family. Yet he keeps escaping them by the skin of his teeth, and then he hatches his brilliant plot that will crown him "Fantastic Mr. Fox." Enjoy it, and try to track down the edition illustrated by Donald Chaffin; the picture of the farmers on the first page is _just_ right.

Cynthia Rylant is the author of amazing children's books like the Henry and Mudge series and Dog Heaven. In 2003 she came out with this slim volume of poetry about God--His feelings, hobbies, and listening to the jukebox at Kenny's Tavern. It's lovely--for those moments when God feels too big, too imperial or too judgmental, just open this to a random page and feel comforted by humanism and caring.

This title jumped out at me, but I've never before read anything by Schoemperlen (Forms of Devotion, In the Language of Love, Hockey Night in Canada and Other Stories, The Man of My Dreams, Frogs and Other Stories, and Double Exposures). Like the author, the protagonist is a lady author living outside Toronto, Canada. The story begins when, after a few curious coincidences, Mary (the mother of God) comes to the woman's house and asks if she can stay there for the week. --I need a place to stay for a week, she said. --Here? I croaked. You want to stay here? --Yes, she said. I am so tired. I need a break. She brushed the stray curls back from her forehead and sighed...Her face faltered in the sunlight and I could see it then around her eyes, in the lines on her forehead and on either side of her mouth. I could see that fatigue all women of a certain age are prone to, that bone-deep weariness that can only be caused by life itself. The only promise she extorts from the author is that she not write about this experience as fact, but that she temper the book with the statement: "This is a work of fiction." Throughout the week, they go through the routines of making meals, washing dishes, reading the newspaper, and talking with each other. A large majority of the book is a recounting of the Mary sightings and miracles over two millennia, though it's hard to tell who has inserted them into the narrative, Mary or the author. While these are interesting, their placement in the story is only a distraction to the plot, not adding anything to the novel except pages. I would reread sections of this book again and again; some of it has echoes of Kathleen Norris's uplifting spirituality mixed with Ann Morrow Lindbergh-like practicalities of the everyday interactions with God. I like the details of the author's descriptions; I find myself folding down pages just because I like how she captures a time or a mood in a paragraph.

Incredible. I'm not a gigantic SFF (science fiction/fantasy) reader, but for Robin McKinley's work I'll make plenty of exceptions. She won the Newbery for The Hero and the Crown years ago, and her other books are just as good. It's not just the characters and the writing, it's that she is able to create an entire world in every book, a world that is so complete without being too otherworldly (no bizarre robots or spaceships here). Like Rowling has done with the Harry Potter books, she has been able to create a separate space for her characters, a space in which every detail has been thought out and imagined; even if the storyline doesn't revolve around those details, the depth is there. I can't tell you what it's about, and you shouldn't read the jacket of the book either. Just take me at my word and get it. Make yourself a gigantic cup of cinnamon tea and sit down with the book on your lap and work through it page by page. You'll be glad.

When I was a nanny for two years on the West Coast, this was "my" preschooler's favorite nighttime book. We read this at least twice a day for nearly five months during the height of its popularity. It's the perfect read-aloud--you find yourself slowing your narration so that you can focus on the illustrations' details, but you also find your voice falling into a light southern accent, further drawing out the story. Bubba is an adorable little baby, and Beau is his puppy companion. They go everywhere together, so when Mama Pearl waves goodbye from the front porch, they head off to town, buckled into their matching car seats in the pickup truck. They stop at the Feed & Seed, then the Post Office, pick out a watermelon at the farmstand and finally, Big Bubba rewards everyone with raspberry swirl ice cream cones. Later that night when everyone's ready for bed except the smallest two, Big Bubba again buckles them into the truck for a reprise of the day's adventures. By the time they drive past the Freezee Deluxe, Bubba and Beau are fast asleep. The details are the best: the dice hanging in the truck, Claudine's glossy acrylic nails, Mama Pearl's pink fuzzy slippers, and Big Bubba's expressions of love and amusement when he looks at his son. A possible caveat of this book was brought to my attention last night. A friend of a friend read it, and his only comment was, "Are they serious?" He felt that it was derogatory of those from the South, a thought had never crossed my mind. Every detail seems to delicately show that the book is set south of the Mason-Dixon Line, from the Cola sign at the Feed & Seed to the giant cowboy hats to the star of Texas on the truck bumper. The narrative slips in exclamations of "sister," as in "Sister, those napkins came in handy!" Let the reader make his/her own choice. It will always be close to my heart.

I just finished this last night--really nice plot and characters; I was sad to see it end. Annabel is starting another year in high school--she left school popular and carefree, but she returns in the fall shunned by all her friends. While the reader wonders why this is the case, Annabel explains the other troubles in her life--her mother's ability to overlook problems, her sister's eating disorder, and her own desire to quit modeling. Over the course of a few lonely months, she befriends Owen Armstrong, the school's version of Judd Nelson's Breakfast Club character. He introduces her to his passion for music (and some that seems far from being music). There is a little romance, but as the story progresses, the reader finds out a darker history of sexuality. The ending can be anticipated by adult readers, but I think that teens will not have as much experience putting together all the author's clues and foreshadowing. Dessen is skilled with words without being overwhelming to her readers, and her characters are fleshed out, yet still sweet. I was surprised and delighted to see how all the typical teenage dramas can come together in one book in a whole new way.

Swanson has created a beautiful, chic cookbook, perfect for a Christmas gift this year. The recipes are geared for the intermediate cook--complicated enough to scare off a kitchen novice, but with an introduction to all the ingredients to explain the reasons behind choosing these unconventional flours, sweeteners and supplements. While I've been enjoying paging through this for the past few weeks, I haven't yet been inspired enough to try out a recipe. Therein lies its strongest asset and its problem--it's beautiful and invites browsing, yet the stylish format and artsy pictures (of patterns and people, less so of food) dissuade one from actually trying out the recipes. However, the introduction is incredibly useful, explaining the properties of and differences between conventional ingredients (such as high fructose corn syrup) and the natural ingredients (such as agave nectar). When I do get around to testing some recipes, I've marked such worthy dishes as the roasted tomato and paprika soup, the giant crusty and creamy white beans, the thin mint cookies and the spiced caramel corn. I hope they're as good as my imagination makes them out to be.

When my little garden went crazy this summer, I had the luxury of tomatoes and basil whenever I wanted. I did the classics--pesto, pizza, and tomatoes sauced, roasted and sauteed. I thoroughly enjoyed everything while it was in season. But looking at the new Alice Waters book, I selfishly wish that the publishers could have put this out in August so I wouldn't have to wait till next summer to try out some of the tomato recipes. I love cookbooks. Browsing for the perfect recipe that will match whatever flavor cravings you have with what's stacked in your fridge. And Alice Waters is one of the best foodies around. Put it all together in one package, and you get a classic cookbook that has enough details to answer any question you might have, a ton of good recipes, and enough commentary to keep you coming back when you're not that hungry but you want some food inspiration. And the end papers in this one are beautiful--marigold yellow with black line drawings and labels of kitchen herbs.

Annie Lark is trapped between her bed and a beam when an earthquake and flood strike her family's Missouri home. When she has given up hope of rescue, French trapper Jacques Ducharmer rescues and falls in love with her. This is the first of many marriages discussed in The River Wife. Though a story spanning generations could become more of a listing of family history and less so an interesting novel, there is little danger of that here. There are a lot of characters of which to keep track, but the crucial characters are absolutely unforgettable. From dogfighting to piracy to elaborate deceptions to death after death after death... The majority of the book is set up almost as a journal which the final wife in the tale, Hedi Rails Ducharme, is reading on the nights when her husband is gone on mysterious business. This organization was the only part of the book I found weak; I think I would have enjoyed it more without the flipping back and forth from the 1930s to the 1800's. Otherwise, very exciting book bordering on disturbing.

I was moving this book from the new shelf to the regular stacks this morning, and I wanted to put a few lines in about just how fascinating this book is before it's lost in the 338 section. The subtitle of the book is "The good, the bad, and the beautiful in the business of flowers"--heady stuff. She divides the book into three parts: Breeding, Growing and Selling. For example, the chapters on breeding cover the ways that flowers are genetically manipulated for scent, color, lasting power, and Stewart finds and interviews the family of the eccentric grower who developed the 'Star Gazer' Lily. In all likelihood, the only pink lilies you've ever seen were 'Star Gazers.' The book itself reads almost like a documentary--she's superb at setting the scene, describing the flower auction warehouse in Amsterdam with all the details that give you the sense that she has all the camera angles mapped out should PBS ever give this the green light. With all the characters and exotic locales, there is enough action to keep you page-turning in a subject most would not expect to find so enthralling.

I'm not normally a huge fan of mysteries--with my overanxious personality, I don't need any convincing that a dangerous felon lurks behind every tree. Once it's dark and I'm at least 100 feet away from my car or my house, my imagination goes to work, the whites of my eyes start to show, and it's all downhill from there. I picked up this book because the jacket doesn't explicitly label it as a mystery. It is a novel, but it's so suspenseful and there are deaths scattered throughout the story, so make your own decision... Katie Schottland is a modern New York mother and wife--her son Nicky is off at summer camp and her husband Adam is a pathologist at the Bronx Zoo. Fifteen years before, she was a low-level editor at the CIA before she was abruptly walked off the premises and told never to return. Without a good recommendation from them, it has been impossible for her to find work since. When an acquaintance from her Washington days calls her in an unexplained panic, Katie starts trying to unravel the reasons behind her firing. Of course, this leads her deeper and deeper into trouble, and soon lives are at stake. I liked this the way one likes toffee. Nice to have occasionally, but one piece always satisfies the craving. You'd make yourself sick if you ate it all the time. But a book like this every once in a while is good for diversifying the palate and keeping your imagination active. Enjoy!

So I've been spending the week at my parents', cozied up reading for hours a day in front of the gas "woodstove." It's been so relaxing, and Buchanan and Peskowitz's book has been perfect for flipping through these afternoons. It's brought back memories of friendship bracelets, daisy chains, and all the other childhood skills I had forgotten I knew how to do. How to make a cootie catcher, how to call up Bloody Mary, how to build a baking soda and vinegar volcano, and how to tell basic animal tracks. It also has all kinds of tidbits that I had never known, from a short biography of all the living princesses to card games to karate moves to all the basic first aid processes. This is a perfect Christmas gift for that seven to eleven year old girl you might be shopping for. Most libraries will have it, but it's better suited for browsing, folding over pages and being able to check it for ideas when one is absolutely bored. Checking it out of the library once won't capture the experience the authors were going for.

Megan Whalen Turner wrote this way back in 1997, when it earned a Newbery Honor. Unfortunately, like the human body slowly replacing every cell over a seven year period, libraries tend to do the same with their collections. I remember loving this book in high school (there, now I've dated myself...) but on this trip back to the western New York area, there was only one area library that still had a copy. The story opens with the unnamed narrator being released from prison into the custody of a royal magus who wants him to steal a stone from a faraway temple for the kingdom. With little background information, the story unfolds beautifully and mysteriously--the thief accompanies the magus, two young men and an older soldier as they journey closer to where this strange stone is said to be kept. Along the way, members of the group recount tales of the local gods from generations past, and the reader slowly is able to piece elements of the story together. Even with these pieces, nobody would be able to foresee the dramatic and clever ending Turner has so artfully crafted. I would love to recommend this to preteen and teen readers of fantasy--close to Lloyd Alexander and Robin McKinley. The content is all appropriate for a class reading, just for teachers out there to keep in mind.

With all the baby boomers still a huge force in society and the markets, this book is right on target. The author is a high-powered New York City mother and previous executive at Nickelodeon; she knows how others' perceptions can harm those who allow aging to show its signs. Kreamer uses this book as both a memoir to document her own journey into gray, and as an analytical look at America's avoidance of going gray. With research, interviews, stories and observations from around the United States, she weaves a lighthearted and interesting book.

While I thought this book was fun and well-written, it brought back every feeling of teenage angst that one could imagine. Even more squirmily uncomfortable than Doug Crandall's The Flawless Skin of Ugly People, and that's saying quite a bit. Denis Cooverman, valedictorian of Buffalo Grove, uses his graduation speech to announce his six year-long crush on the head cheerleader. What happens to him over to the next twenty four hours changes the way he thinks about his high school career, his identity as the school's number one geek, his strange movie-quoting defiantly straight best friend, and his perceptions of Beth Cooper herself. For those who enjoy comic books and command a knowledge of movie quotes like no one else, this book is for you. For those who don't have those interests, well, maybe you'd better move on. That's what I did.

I loved this book. Loved it the way that you love a croissant when you're biting into its warm crispy outer layers--you fully enjoy the moment, but it's not meant to satisfy you in the long run. A high-powered corporate journalist with two children is getting fed up. For as many hours as she works, her lawyer husband is around even less. Her girls are handling everything ok, but her son is retreating further into his shell every day. To her staff of housekeeper, drivers and nanny, she adds a young graduate student to act as her son's "manny." It's totally unrealistic except in its descriptions of the insane lifestyles led by the rich in America. The draw of the book is observing the differences between "them" and "us," so the lack of real emotion is not too noticeable.

Sydney has been hired to tutor the Edwards' daughter with her schoolwork over the summer at their luxurious beachside cottage. When the Edwards' two older sons arrive for a visit, they begin furiously flirting and competing for her attention. While she enjoys this, it's unsettling in that it seems to be indicative of older mysterious problems between the brothers. Meanwhile, Sydney nurtures her tutee in her secret talent for art and watches her grow up, and away, from her troubled family. It took me about a hundred pages or so to get into the story, but then I couldn't put it down.

Paulina Porizkova began her modeling career as a teen in the 1980s, and she uses her experience to illuminate the industry in this quasi-memoir of a novel. The protagonist, Jirina, is just fifteen when she is "discovered" and is sent to Paris for a summer of high fashion modeling. Though she is so young, she is treated as an adult--she discovers the underbelly of modeling, with its drugs, sex as a bargaining chip and eating disorders. Because Jirina is also the narrator, the reader is reassured with her smart assessment of situations and her ability to get by--the reader can get wrapped up in the delicious gossip-y nature of it all without having to worry that this teen is in over her head.

Elin Hilderbrand is always writing about life on Nantucket in her books. In this look at the lucrative restaurant business, she has crafted a smart, well-rounded and lovable character who has recently picked up her life as a hotel concierge in Aspen and moved to Nantucket to make a new start after a bad breakup. Acting upon the advice of a fellow passenger on the ferry to the island, she bicycles to the fancy French restaurant The Blue Bistro the next morning in search of a job. Miraculously, the red-headed owner offers her the job as floor manager, provided that she not mention anything to the press about the talented but elusive chef. I loved the descriptions of the food in this book--makes you hungry just reading about the lamb lollipops and homemade crackers. The characters are lovely and complicated and hungry for love--just perfect for the beach.

I really like writers' first novels--like an addict, I'm always on the lookout for the next first-published author. Ann Packer's The Dive from Clausen's Pier, Danielle Ganek's Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him, and this one--all tops. These people have been nurturing a single plot and set of characters through all their writers' groups for years, and it shows. The characters are fresh--light and without too much tortured introspection. The plot usually twists in a way that I can't see it coming more than 50 pages off. Roopa Farooki has created the story of three generations of a Bangladesh/London family, but she's managed to avoid the Thornbirds saga feeling, thank goodness. There's enough lying and betrayal to make the story interesting without the characters starting to hate each other because of it. Some of the loose ends were tied up a little TOO nicely, though I can't give away any more details about that.

The subtitle of this book is: "One woman's journey into manhood and back again." Hmmm. I went to a women's college, and so I've been in my fair share of fascinating, yet endless, discussions on the importance of gender and how much it is dictated by society or by biology. The experience of dressing as a man for over a year must have been incredibly eye-opening and scary, but the majority of the book reads as plainly (and uninterestingly) as a food diary. For someone who really wants to delve into the differences between men and women's behavior and perceptions of each other, I'd recommend that you skip over the majority of the book and just read the chapter entitled "Dating."