Wow, I thought this day would never come... being pain free enough (well, almost pain free) to finally write about some of the books I just finished reading! :-) This blog is about The Swan House by Elizabeth Musser. I believe I downloaded this as a free book through Amazon.com, but I'm not completely sure. I've looked up the second book for this series and it's way beyond what I can currently pay for in an ebook, so unfortunately I don't think I'll be reading that book anytime soon.
Well, let's get back to the book... now this is what I like in mystery type of books. This book was awesome. If you look up this book it will probably fall under religious fiction, but that was just a small part of the story for me. It was not a murder mystery, but a mystery still - and a very good one! The main character, Mary Swan, is a 16 year old high school junior that was chosen to solve a very important puzzle for her school. It would have been just a regular fun challenge if it did not relate to her recently deceased mother.
So, this is where the mystery part starts in the book... Mary Swan gets her riddle that she has 8 months to solve, she finds out that her mom has died in a horrible plane crash. The riddle is about 3 paintings that were supposed to be donated to a local museum and one was a painting from her mother... but just before the paintings were to be taken to the museum, they disappeared. So part of Mary Swan's healing and dealing with her mother's death is to try to find out what happened to these paintings.
During the time that she tries to find some kind of hint as to what happened to the paintings, Mary Swan finds out that her mother had some dark secrets. Not only does this eventually help her understand her own mother and the relationship that she had with her father, but it helps her find her own passion in painting. Plus, while she's on the hunt for more clues about these paintings, Mary Swan finds out how precious her friends are with their support.
So the mystery may have only been a minor part of the book, it was still really good. The other sub plots to do with Mary Swan finding a relationship with God, the civil rights movement in Atlanta (the book takes place in 1962 and 1963), and of course, boys. Mary Swan had a huge crush on a boy named Carl but because having a relationship with him would not be considered socially acceptable, they couldn't take their relationship any farther than friendship. But Mary Swan did go out with a boy that was socially acceptable - coming from a fine Atlanta family - but she only liked him as a friend and didn't want to take it any farther.
It was fun reading this story. I really liked Mary Swan and she is pretty naive about religion and race... and this is what made her so lovable. She's young, but what was so endearing about her is that she was pretty color blind and didn't understand why it was necessary to have segregation. She also didn't understand why so many people didn't think her best friend was good enough because she was Jewish. I'm sure that for 1962 Atlanta that Mary Swan was very unique her way of thinking... but I see it as something that he parents were doing right - they were not influencing their kids to think like they did... just because it was the way that they grew up.
There was just one little tid bit that I wish the writer would have done - and it's more of a problem with me because I get myself so involved with the characters.... I didn't feel any closure with what happened between Mary Swan and Carl or Robbie. What happened to Rachel? The story just sort of stopped, then the next thing I knew I turned the page and saw the epilogue. Maybe all of this is explained in the sequel, but I don't know and I may never find out. Oh well...
Monday, July 11, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
Ex-Boyfriends Handbook
So this was a book that I finished reading last week. But it is still worth writing about. :-) This book was so funny that I had to sober up and read a more serious natured book before writing about this one. I would have told you the whole story if I didn't distance myself a bit. :-) :-) :-)
So this book is called The Ex-Boyfriend's Handbook: Eddie will do whatever it takes to become her Mr. Right by Matt Dunn. The title pretty much says it all - Eddie will do whatever it takes to get his girlfriend back - and he does! But the journey to becoming Mr. Right is so funny! The writer must have really vivid memories of starting an exercises routine and what it feels like from getting sick to his stomach to the soreness the next morning. :-) I remember when I was in my mid 20's and tried to take an advance ballet class (after all, I had only taken a 3 year break) for the first time. Everything that Eddie went through on his first day of working out happened to me during that dance class - yes, even getting sick to my stomach. I laughed because I could relate to that pain - especially the soreness the day after - where it even hurts to blink your eyes! Yes, I've been there. But then I've also been there when it all starts to get a bit easier and Matt Dunn makes that funny as well.
So not only does our out-of-shape, abandoned by his girlfriend of 10 years, friend Eddie start to get back into shape, he gets new furniture, a new car, gets rid of the glasses and gets his teeth fixed. Oh yeah, he also spends a small fortune on a new wardrobe as well. He does it all for his ex-girlfriend and hopes that she will go back to him.
Well, it may have been sweet that he went through so much in order to get his girlfriend back, but as he starts to transform himself, he starts realizing other bits about himself. Like - is this ex really worth it? Did she really love him to begin with? If she did, it shouldn't have mattered that he gained a bit of weight and didn't care what he dressed in, did it? All of the usual questions that you'd expect to come from a transformation like this comes out - but the writer did such an awesome job at making it funny. I have to admit that I found myself laughing out loud - a lot! - while reading this book.
Now, on about some of the other stuff that I like to mention after reading a book - the story itself and the flow of the writing. Yes, all of that was good... the story itself was a bit predictable, but the writing made it worth sticking to it and getting to the end. The story flow was nice and smooth and at least I don't remember anything that got on my nerves. I was so curious to see if what I guessed was going to happen at the end that it didn't make a difference if it was choppy. Now that says something to me... if I didn't notice, the writing and story have to be good. I don't read funny stories like this very often so it was a lot of fun and I didn't pay much attention to much other than the characters and what antics they were up to.
This is going on my "must read again" list - and out of the hundreds of books that I read each year, not very many get on that list - but I know that I'll need some inspiration when I get this 40 year old fat body back at the gym to get back into some kind of shape that hopefully will not resemble a beached whale. :-) :-)
So this book is called The Ex-Boyfriend's Handbook: Eddie will do whatever it takes to become her Mr. Right by Matt Dunn. The title pretty much says it all - Eddie will do whatever it takes to get his girlfriend back - and he does! But the journey to becoming Mr. Right is so funny! The writer must have really vivid memories of starting an exercises routine and what it feels like from getting sick to his stomach to the soreness the next morning. :-) I remember when I was in my mid 20's and tried to take an advance ballet class (after all, I had only taken a 3 year break) for the first time. Everything that Eddie went through on his first day of working out happened to me during that dance class - yes, even getting sick to my stomach. I laughed because I could relate to that pain - especially the soreness the day after - where it even hurts to blink your eyes! Yes, I've been there. But then I've also been there when it all starts to get a bit easier and Matt Dunn makes that funny as well.
So not only does our out-of-shape, abandoned by his girlfriend of 10 years, friend Eddie start to get back into shape, he gets new furniture, a new car, gets rid of the glasses and gets his teeth fixed. Oh yeah, he also spends a small fortune on a new wardrobe as well. He does it all for his ex-girlfriend and hopes that she will go back to him.
Well, it may have been sweet that he went through so much in order to get his girlfriend back, but as he starts to transform himself, he starts realizing other bits about himself. Like - is this ex really worth it? Did she really love him to begin with? If she did, it shouldn't have mattered that he gained a bit of weight and didn't care what he dressed in, did it? All of the usual questions that you'd expect to come from a transformation like this comes out - but the writer did such an awesome job at making it funny. I have to admit that I found myself laughing out loud - a lot! - while reading this book.
Now, on about some of the other stuff that I like to mention after reading a book - the story itself and the flow of the writing. Yes, all of that was good... the story itself was a bit predictable, but the writing made it worth sticking to it and getting to the end. The story flow was nice and smooth and at least I don't remember anything that got on my nerves. I was so curious to see if what I guessed was going to happen at the end that it didn't make a difference if it was choppy. Now that says something to me... if I didn't notice, the writing and story have to be good. I don't read funny stories like this very often so it was a lot of fun and I didn't pay much attention to much other than the characters and what antics they were up to.
This is going on my "must read again" list - and out of the hundreds of books that I read each year, not very many get on that list - but I know that I'll need some inspiration when I get this 40 year old fat body back at the gym to get back into some kind of shape that hopefully will not resemble a beached whale. :-) :-)
Solitary: A Novel by Travis Thrasher
Okay, so I've been a little lazy about writing about the books I've been reading or listening to lately... but then, a couple of the many books that I''ve finished reading the past week have been... oh, how can I say this nicely... well, not worth mentioning. :-) One was called The Journey by Wanda E. Brunstetter. The next one was The Cat Who Killed Lilian Jackson Braun: A Parody by Robert Kaplow. If you've read either one of these and would like to talk about it, please email me! :-) I'm not going to say more about these books other than that I've read them to completion.
Okay, on to the good stuff. I finished reading Solitary: A Novel by Travis Thrasher this morning. The past couple of nights have been bad ones for my arm and the pain has been keeping me up - so it was a good excuse to spend a couple sleepless nights reading this book. :-)
What can I say about this book other than it was such a breath of fresh air to some of the teenage angst books that are so popular today! Yes, you may already have guessed that I'm am in no way a fan of the Twilight series - as a matter of fact, those books are an insult to anyone with average intelligence... okay, maybe I shouldn't be that nasty about those stories, but I really didn't care for them personally. But then, I'm no one important, so my opinion doesn't matter anyway. :-) :-)
This story on the other hand... yeah, it still has some of that typical teenage angst - that moodiness that some teenagers reek of because of their insecurity and confusion. But this also has something that I haven't seen very much in a teen type book - a type of innocence that I haven't really seen much currently or in past books that so many modern-day teens have at one point. But the main character, Chris, shows so much of this. Maybe because the book is written in the first person, maybe because Chris is a bit more honest than some other stories I've read, but at 16 years old, he still has such an innocent view on life. Okay, I'm not doing a very good job here at describing Chris at the beginning of this book, but he doesn't have that conceit that know-it-all attitude that so many teenagers have at this age. Is there a single word that can describe that? When teenagers suddenly think they their parents are stupid and they have all the answers? Oh, my brain has too much Tylenol in it to think straight... but let's move on.
Okay, I know I'm not making sense here... so here is an example. Chris and his mother move to his mom's former home town and move into his uncle's cabin. Chris is not totally naive about the world, he has to take care of him mom when she has her nightmares or is passed out drunk, but he still thinks that he can get answers to his questions just by asking "Why?". My own 7 year old still thinks he can get any answer he wants with that simple question and I get pelted with that one word a few hundred times a day! :-) Chris still hasn't figured out that sometimes you just can't keep asking so many questions. So, in his curiosity, he starts to stir up a bit of trouble.
I was quite impressed with the ability of this writer to dive into memory (or maybe he has teens of his own to be inspired by) and really be able to write from a teenager's viewpoint. It's been a while since I was a teenager, but having my niece move in with us when she was 15 years old certainly brought back so many of those memories. So I was able to relate to what Chris was going through - his confused thoughts, his reckless decisions, his desire to be secretive... heck, even as an adult, if I were to find out that some of the stuff he discovers was going on in my town, I'd be secretive, confused and reckless to an extent too! But the point I'm trying to make here is that I can see that in his innocence of asking why, he starts to uncover what is so strange in this town and uncover some of their secrets. He also has to find a way to protect the girl that he's so enamored with - Joscelyn.
The story may have started a little slow, but I'm glad that it did. It gave me a good sense of the characters and the town before all of the action starts. But once Chris starts getting some of his answers, this is when the books really starts to pick up. Even the few hours of sleep that I was able to get, I found myself dreaming how this book was going to end. I was glad that it didn't have a fairly tale ending, but it does leave a pretty good cliff hanger (which I personally don't like - but that's because I'm not the most patient type of readers...).
There is a second book to this series available on for the Kindle... but it's at a price level that I can't afford... so I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed that I'll be able to find the book at my local library. I will have to look for more titles by this author because I really liked the way he writes... the flow is just right and the story is nice and smooth from the start. If you've read any of my previous thoughts of books, you'll know that I really dislike what I call choppy stories. This is why I like reading over watching movies... movies are hacked and chopped into bits of story here and there and doesn't have the flow in story like books do. So, this author is definitely worth my time to read more of. I'll be really sad if my library doesn't have any of his titles though... but I'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out. :-) No, I'm not a patient person at all.....
Okay, on to the good stuff. I finished reading Solitary: A Novel by Travis Thrasher this morning. The past couple of nights have been bad ones for my arm and the pain has been keeping me up - so it was a good excuse to spend a couple sleepless nights reading this book. :-)
What can I say about this book other than it was such a breath of fresh air to some of the teenage angst books that are so popular today! Yes, you may already have guessed that I'm am in no way a fan of the Twilight series - as a matter of fact, those books are an insult to anyone with average intelligence... okay, maybe I shouldn't be that nasty about those stories, but I really didn't care for them personally. But then, I'm no one important, so my opinion doesn't matter anyway. :-) :-)
This story on the other hand... yeah, it still has some of that typical teenage angst - that moodiness that some teenagers reek of because of their insecurity and confusion. But this also has something that I haven't seen very much in a teen type book - a type of innocence that I haven't really seen much currently or in past books that so many modern-day teens have at one point. But the main character, Chris, shows so much of this. Maybe because the book is written in the first person, maybe because Chris is a bit more honest than some other stories I've read, but at 16 years old, he still has such an innocent view on life. Okay, I'm not doing a very good job here at describing Chris at the beginning of this book, but he doesn't have that conceit that know-it-all attitude that so many teenagers have at this age. Is there a single word that can describe that? When teenagers suddenly think they their parents are stupid and they have all the answers? Oh, my brain has too much Tylenol in it to think straight... but let's move on.
Okay, I know I'm not making sense here... so here is an example. Chris and his mother move to his mom's former home town and move into his uncle's cabin. Chris is not totally naive about the world, he has to take care of him mom when she has her nightmares or is passed out drunk, but he still thinks that he can get answers to his questions just by asking "Why?". My own 7 year old still thinks he can get any answer he wants with that simple question and I get pelted with that one word a few hundred times a day! :-) Chris still hasn't figured out that sometimes you just can't keep asking so many questions. So, in his curiosity, he starts to stir up a bit of trouble.
I was quite impressed with the ability of this writer to dive into memory (or maybe he has teens of his own to be inspired by) and really be able to write from a teenager's viewpoint. It's been a while since I was a teenager, but having my niece move in with us when she was 15 years old certainly brought back so many of those memories. So I was able to relate to what Chris was going through - his confused thoughts, his reckless decisions, his desire to be secretive... heck, even as an adult, if I were to find out that some of the stuff he discovers was going on in my town, I'd be secretive, confused and reckless to an extent too! But the point I'm trying to make here is that I can see that in his innocence of asking why, he starts to uncover what is so strange in this town and uncover some of their secrets. He also has to find a way to protect the girl that he's so enamored with - Joscelyn.
The story may have started a little slow, but I'm glad that it did. It gave me a good sense of the characters and the town before all of the action starts. But once Chris starts getting some of his answers, this is when the books really starts to pick up. Even the few hours of sleep that I was able to get, I found myself dreaming how this book was going to end. I was glad that it didn't have a fairly tale ending, but it does leave a pretty good cliff hanger (which I personally don't like - but that's because I'm not the most patient type of readers...).
There is a second book to this series available on for the Kindle... but it's at a price level that I can't afford... so I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed that I'll be able to find the book at my local library. I will have to look for more titles by this author because I really liked the way he writes... the flow is just right and the story is nice and smooth from the start. If you've read any of my previous thoughts of books, you'll know that I really dislike what I call choppy stories. This is why I like reading over watching movies... movies are hacked and chopped into bits of story here and there and doesn't have the flow in story like books do. So, this author is definitely worth my time to read more of. I'll be really sad if my library doesn't have any of his titles though... but I'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out. :-) No, I'm not a patient person at all.....
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