Turle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm

6 Stars

"Eleven-year-old Turtle is not one to suffer fools gladly. And she runs into a lot of fools, especially the no-goods her starry-eyed mother meets. So it's a tough little Turtle who arrives in Key West in June of 1935. She's been sent to Florida to stay with relatives because her mother's latest housekeeping job doesn't allow children. Unfortunately, Mama has neglected to tell Aunt Minnie she's coming, and Turtle gets the stink eye from cousins with monikers like Buddy and Beans. As Turtle soon learns, everything is different in Key West, from the fruit hanging on trees to the scorpions in nightgowns to the ways kids earn money. She can't be part of her cousins' Diaper Gang (no girls allowed), which takes care of fussy babies, but when she finds a treasure map, she hopes she'll be on Easy Street like Little Orphan Annie." (Taken from Amazon.com)

I'm not sure if this was Newberry material but I loved this book. It was a quick and humorous read but what I most liked about it was the setting. It is set in Key West and now I'm craving a trip to Florida. I loved the quirky characters and the cultural touches such as sponge fishing and "cut-ups." My mom lived in the Bahamas for a while when she was a little girl, and while she was not there during 1931, it still reminded me of what it must have felt like to be there. I love all the little quirks about the people and the town, such as the nicknames they were given, the freedom that kids had to wander about, the food they ate, and the way their lives depending on the marine life around them. I very much enjoyed this book though I'm not sure the issues and challenges the characters faced were quite Newberry material. I guess that is why it was an honor book and not a winner.

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

6 Stars

"It is 1968, and three black sisters from Brooklyn have been put on a California-bound plane by their father to spend a month with their mother, a poet who ran off years before and is living in Oakland. It's the summer after Black Panther founder Huey Newton was jailed and member Bobby Hutton was gunned down trying to surrender to the Oakland police, and there are men in berets shouting "Black Power" on the news. Delphine, 11, remembers her mother, but after years of separation she's more apt to believe what her grandmother has said about her, that Cecile is a selfish, crazy woman who sleeps on the street. At least Cecile lives in a real house, but she reacts to her daughters' arrival without warmth or even curiosity. Instead, she sends the girls to eat breakfast at a center run by the Black Panther Party and tells them to stay out as long as they can so that she can work on her poetry. Over the course of the next four weeks, Delphine and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, spend a lot of time learning about revolution and staying out of their mother's way."(taken from Amazon.com)

My Review: I made a goal to read all the Newberry Honor books for 2011 and this was the one I started with. This story was sad and funny and had me laughing and crying. I enjoyed it even though it deals with what some may consider an uncomfortable subject. When I was in school, we learned that the Black Panthers were bad and Martin Luther King Jr was good (at least that was the impression my teachers gave us). I never realized how much good the Black Panthers did in communities, although I'm not sure how I felt about how the characters changed at the end of the novel. All in all, I thought it was a great candidate for the Newberry.

Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts

7 stars

"A funny thing happens to Novalee Nation on her way to Bakersfield, California. Her ne'er-do-well boyfriend, Willie Jack Pickens, abandons her in an Oklahoma Wal-Mart and takes off on his own, leaving her with just 10 dollars and the clothes on her back. Not that hard luck is anything new to Novalee, who is "seventeen, seven months pregnant, thirty-seven pounds overweight--and superstitious about sevens.... For most people, sevens were lucky. But not for her," Billie Letts writes. "She'd had a bad history with them, starting with her seventh birthday, the day Momma Nell ran away with a baseball umpire named Fred..."

Still, finding herself alone and penniless in Sequoyah, Oklahoma is enough to make even someone as inured to ill fortune as Novalee want to give up and die. Fortunately, the Wal-Mart parking lot is the Sequoyah equivalent of a town square, and within hours Novalee has met three people who will change her life: Sister Thelma Husband, a kindly eccentric; Benny Goodluck, a young Native American boy; and Moses Whitecotton, an elderly African American photographer. For the next two months, Novalee surreptitiously makes her home in the Wal-Mart, sleeping there at night, exploring the town by day. When she goes into labor and delivers her baby there, however, Novalee learns that sometimes it's not so bad to depend on the kindness of strangers--especially if one of them happens to be Sam Walton, the superchain's founder." (taken from Amacon.com)

My Review: I gave this book 7 stars because I think it was well-written and a good story about overcoming one's mistakes and making a better future. In the end I enjoyed this book and was glad that I read it. However, I would strongly caution those that read it: it is a not for the feint-hearted. There are issues and situations in this book in which really terrible things happen to both good and bad people. There are also a few passages that are peppered with bad language. With that being said, I found this an inspiring story about how even someone can make something for themselves from nothing.

The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession by: David Grann

7 stars- 3 for language = 4 stars

This book is a collection of 12 truly unique articles by New Yorker staff writer David Grann. They are strange, creepy, interesting, and at times disturbing. Here is a sample of a few of the articles.

- A real life murder mystery involving a scholar who studied Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes.

-My personal favorite, a con man pretends to be a family's missing child. A suspicious personal investigator discovers that the family may have killed their 'missing' child and know full well the the con man isn't their child. Who has really been conned?

-A firefighter loses his memory shortly after the events of 9/11and tries to retrace his steps, struggling to learn whether he was a hero or a coward when the towers fell.

-A man convicted in what seems to be a clear cut arson case is revealed to be innocent after certain advancements in science.

-The world's largest prison gang is investigated and disturbing insights are revealed.

-And more!

The stories range from real life mysteries to strange events to bios of obsessive people. All are nonfiction and all are very interesting. I must say that I enjoyed the articles in this book a great deal. Unfortunately, the language is simply terrible. The author himself doesn't use any bad language but he quotes many gangsters, criminals, and tough characters that can swear up a storm. Although I found it very interesting, I can't recommend it to anyone who dislikes bad language in books.

A Circle of Quiet by Madeleine L'Engle

9 Stars

"Every so often I need out--away from all these people I love most in the world--in order to regain a sense of proportion. My special place is a small brook in a green glade, a circle of quiet from which there is no visible sign of human beings. . . . [there] I move slowly into a kind of peace that is indeed marvelous, annihilating all that's made to a green thought in a green shade." (Taken from the text.)

I have a hard time classifying this as a biography--it is a series of sketches from Madeleine L'Engle's life. But, she explores so much more than her own life here that "biography" just doesn't quite cut it. She weaves in stories from all ages in a seemingly random pattern and then ties them all in to a gorgeous tapestry of words. A consummate author giving guidance and advice from her own world to the budding writer, the artist within. This is one of the best books I have read in a very long time.

Warning: "A Circle of Quiet" is not for the faint of heart. Though the cover looks placid, L'Engle runs through some fairly deep and turbulent topics. She writes about things that are not easy to talk and think about--things that often don't have cut and dry answers. And, while she covers all these topics with the same practical, everyday wisdom, they are only easy to bear reading about because you can feel the strength of her own humanity with you on your trip through them.

Violet Eyes by Debbie Viguié

6 Stars

A retelling of the story of the Princess and the Pea of the same ilk as the others in this series. (Yes, that is the only synopsis you get.)

Okay, so I know I swore you all off of Debbie Viguié's books for eternity but I take it back! A little. IF you are going to read any of the books in the "Once Upon a Time" series not written by Cameron Dokey, I highly recommend this one! There is still a lot of the "we're in love, though no one can really tell why" issue she seems to have in all of hers, but the way she follows the actual tale of the Princess and the Pea without making it horribly shallow is actually quite clever. She's added some depth to the tale so it doesn't fall so completely strange. Anyway. Won't blame you if you never read it, just thought you should know.

Apology

Ok, so this is not a book review but an apology. I'm sorry that I have not reviewed any books since September. That is mostly because I have not read any books since September. I have started several but because I haven't finished them I don't feel qualified to review them. However, I will mention them here:

Ok, so I probably read most of this to qualify for reviewing it. However, I haven't read too many birthing books so I can't really judge it against others. But I found it very informative and much easier to read that some others I've been browsing through.



Notice a trend here? This one was very interesting as well as informative. It started out with stories of women and their labor experiences then it went into more of a guide format. Some parts were a little foreign to me but I much enjoyed it.



I actually didn't get too far in to this one. It was recommended to me by a friend and I have heard elsewhere that it is a good read. I found it humorous in a sort of Jane Austin type way and I would like to finish it someday. However, I started reading it right when the holidays came around and that combined with the fact that it is almost 800 pages long. As a reader, I know this should not be daunting, but whatever. I have a life.

As to my last statement of having a life, I may counteract that by putting this book on here. I just got this over the weekend and I absolutely love it. As the title suggests, this is a book about the lands of the Book of Mormon. I realize that this can sometimes be a controversial topic as the geography is obviously not as important as the theology of this book of scripture. However, this is a subject that fascinates me and of which I am very passionate about. In fact, it is this very subject that inspired me to pursue a degree in archaeology in the first place. Therefore, I have found it to be a delightful read.

Like I said, I have not finished any of this books so these reviews are just partial. However, I have read one book cover to cover since September so I will be posting about that soon.

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder

Expert Rating: 9 stars

Newcomer Rating: 5 stars

"It is the winter of Warren's ninth year. Outside in the yard, he and his little sister, Bertie, are playing in the snow. Warren is catching snowflakes. One at a time at first. Then he is scooping them up by handfuls. He starts to pack them into a ball. As the snowball grows bigger, he places it on the ground. Slowly it begins to roll. He gives it a push, and it picks up more snow. He pushes the snowball across the lawn, piling snow on snow. Soon he reaches the edge of the yard. After a moment of hesitation, he heads off, rolling the snowball through the neighborhood. And from there, Warren continues onward, casting his eye on a whole world full of snow." (Taken from page inside book prior to Table of Contents)

The Newcomer Rating is so low, not because the book wouldn't interest lots of different people, but because it is 838 pages long. At that length, you have to be pretty interested to pick up the book.

The expert rating is not a 10 because the last few chapters are almost entirely about Susie Buffett's battle with cancer. Those chapters were pretty long and drawn out. Some of the other chapters were more detailed than they needed to be but they didn't seem as drawn out as the last few.

Warren Buffett may be the only man to become a myth during his own lifetime. Even Elvis waited until he was dead. That is one of the reasons I love reading biographies. It is easy to forget how similar we all are as human beings. It is also easy to look at someone living a lifestyle like Warren Buffett's and forget the work (and craziness) it took to get to that point. Biographies give you a look into the thought process, the hidden actions, the overlooked details that make a person who they are.

This biography points out a lot of the small, cumulative, dedicated things that Buffett did that led to his success. The fascinating part of it, however, is looking into his personality. You get to see his relationships and how they affected him. It becomes apparent how Buffett became not only one of the wealthiest men in the world, but also one of the most respected. His extreme dedication to his pursuit of money caused him to hurt those closest to him without really meaning to. He spent many years recovering his relationship with Susie (his first wife) and their children. However, that same dedication made it so he built his life honestly and in such a way that no one could fault him for the incredible success he has had.

In the book he makes a comment about how he always read books about great people and tried to glean wisdom from their lives. He tried to learn from great men and women's lives so that he could be better. That is another reason I love biographies and one of the reasons I love this book. Warren Buffett's biography holds many little tidbits about life, business, money, relationships, dedication, and honesty. Some may read it and be motivated to pursue his ambitious goal of accumulating great wealth. Others will come out having learned lessons about "the business of life" and the things that really matter.

In Pursuit of the Common Good by Paul Newman and A.E. Hotchner

Expert Rating: 7

Newcomer Rating: 4

Soooo...I have a few comments before I begin my first official novelnovels blog book review. 1) I have to go back to September 3 to find an entry by anyone other than Anthony or Amanda. That's a little sad but I don't know that my being able to post will change the dynamics all that much. We'll see. 2) I'M ABLE TO POST! It's nice to no longer be the leprous one in the family. 3) Am I the only one who is kind of paranoid about posting lousy grammar or typos on a blog about reading? 4) I get the feeling that lots of my posts will use Anthony's "Expert v Newcomer" rating system. Prepare yourself for a bunch of nonfiction you've never wanted to read!

It was 1982 when Paul Newman and A. E. Hotchner made their foray into local gourmet shops with bottles of their homemade salad dressing. The venture was intended to be a lark, a way to poke fun at the traditional way the market operates. Hurdling obstacle after obstacle, they created the first company to mass-market all-natural products, eliminating the chemicals, gums, and preservatives that existed in food at the time. This picaresque saga is the inspiring story of how the two friends parlayed the joke into a multimillion-dollar company that gives all its profits to the less fortunate without spending money on galas, mailings, and other expensive outreaches. It also serves as a textbook for foundations and charitable organizations looking to do the most good they can with what they have.Told in alternating voices, Newman and Hotchner have written a zany tale that is a business model for entrepreneurs, an inspirational book, and just plain delightful reading. (Copied from the Google search...which is the back of the cover someone else so kindly typed for me).

I liked the idea of liking this book. And, in reality, I liked the book quite a bit for the first half or so. The biggest problem is it gets pretty repetitive. Newman and Hotchner are (or were) probably pretty funny guys but their quirky sense of humor comes across a little too well and a little too often throughout the book. The story behind the company is fantastic. The business model they created is one I've always admired. The fact that they were really stubborn and wouldn't change how they ran their business even when everyone told them it couldn't be done is amazing. The success they've had blows my mind. The good they've done and the lives they've impacted is admirable. All in all, the book was OK but needed more editing to make it more enjoyable and accessible to those looking for a good story. Right now, I could really only recommend it to those wanting to know more about Newman's Own business model. Off the top of my head I can think of two people who fit that criteria (counting myself...and the other one loaned me the book). That statement makes it seem pretty harsh but if you're not interested in business or how people create successful (if insane) business models you probably wouldn't enjoy much in the book...besides some of the comics.

Rebecca by Daphne duMaurier

8 Stars

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again..." 'With these words, the reader is ushered into an isolated gray stone mansion on the windswept Cornish coast, as the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter recalls the chilling events that transpired as she began her new life as the young bride of a husband she barely knew. ... With an eerie presentiment of evil tightening her heart, the second Mrs. de Winter walked in the shadow of her mysterious predecessor, determined to uncover the darkest secrets and shattering truths about Maxim's first wife--the late and hauntingly beautiful Rebecca.' (Taken from the back cover.)

This book is a classic read for a reason--and who knew there was a Gothic fiction out there I'd actually enjoy!? It is stunningly written, and the whole premise definitely draws you in. The main character is insecure throughout much of the book, and so she's not a comfortable person to follow; but I felt she was realistically insecure for her age and position. And that lack of confidence does drive the story a great deal. The only reason the book does not rank higher for me (and, in fact, I even considered giving it 7 Stars for this reason) is that there are lots of situations in the book that would have been frustratingly easy for the characters to resolve if they had only shown some common sense, initiative, or (not surprisingly) confidence. As I said, I think it was realistically written, but that doesn't make those "Dang it! --almost!" moments more enjoyable. Still a very worthy read that I would recommend to most!