The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Three Stars

Brian Selznick won the 2008 Caldecott Medal, the highest honor awarded to American picture books each year, for The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and he absolutely deserved it, it is an amazing style of storytelling.

This book does not fall into any standard book category. It is told through text and pictures so intertwined that you cannot understand the story without both. A basic picture book starts with the text, then is illustrated to enhance the story. Selznick tells half of his story in novel form and the other half as story board. It is amazing how seamlessly his story flows between text and picture, never missing a beat and always making perfect sense. It is a remarkable reading experience.

That said, the story itself wasn’t fabulous. It starts off interesting, slows down and begins to drag in the middle, then becomes a bit odd at the end.

I do recommend everyone read this book, not for the story, but for the experience of reading this noteworthy writing style.

The Physic Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

Three Stars

I have always had a little fascination with the Salem Witch Trials ever since I did my History Day project on them in 8th grade. I can still spout off some pretty random facts about it all if you’re ever curious.

Interesting fact about this book, the author is a descendant of two accused witches; one survived the trials, the other did not.

This is another multi-generational, dual-time period story. I have found in the past that I usually don’t like the present-time narrator in these stories and would much rather just read the past story. This time around I didn’t mind Connie, the current-time narrator, so much. She wasn’t exactly my favorite, and she did bug me at times, but what Katherine Howe got right is that she didn’t add in any unnecessary extras about her life. Connie’s story was mostly her search for Deliverance’s story.

And research she does. Katherine Howe is an American History academic, thus, so is Connie. There is a lot of specifics on how Connie conducts her research which could become tiresome and drag the story down. But I actually found it quite interesting. I’ve always loved history (it’s really just more stories, right?) and even research has been entertaining for me , so learning about different ways to track someone down through history was pretty fascinating for me.

I believe this book came about first as research, then a storyline was worked in to make it a novel and not another history book. Parts of the plot feel really forced, like Connie’s love interest. It starts off well then gets a little weird when it ties in to a historical storyline, ending in such a way that I was left thinking “Wait, that’s not how it goes …”

I also really, really did not like the climax. I really thought it was stupid and what she considered to be her ‘only option’ was unrealistic and dumb. I still think it was dumb, but am less angry at it now.

That said, I actually did enjoy the book. It’s a very nice mix of fiction and fact into a story that flows well and moves quickly. Dumb moment aside, I do recommend this as a fun interesting read.

Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse, #10)

Three Stars

I started reading the Sookie Stackhouse books, otherwise known as the Southern Vampire Mystery Series, by Charlaine Harris about a year and a half ago. I have been a fan ever since and I would like for it to stay that way, but man, Charlaine is starting to make it difficult.

Around book 7, the storyline becomes so crowded that almost nothing happens because there’s too many different topics to talk about. I have begun to feel lost in the nothingness of it all. I also felt that the first few books each had a strong individual storyline while the overall story arc developed nicely. Now it seems like stuff is happening, but nothing is really progressing. Overall everyone is still pretty much in the same place.

Not to mention that two of my favorite characters exited at the end of #9 and the beginning of #10.

Dead in the Family did have a few good times. Like the introduction of one Alexi Romanov and Sookie getting high to help the Weres. I am also happy that Sookie and Jason have patched things up. And I am just putting this out there, I would like to see more of Pam and I think I’m ready for Sookie and Sam to hook up. We all enjoy Eric but right now I’m voting for Team Sam.

And no, I don’t watch True Blood, mostly because I don’t get HBO. I’ve seen some clips online and I like some of their changes but just do not get others.

PS - I've got six more book reviews I will be posting in the next few days. Time to catch up!

An Assembly Such as This: A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman

Four Stars

Quite the title.

I heart Jane Austen novels, and I’m pretty sure all girls agree. There have been many ‘sequels’ to her works, “Pride and Prejudice” in particular. Most of these are crap. Especially the one Cori read. That was dirty crap. Because of this I generally ignore the whole fake sequel genre.

Then Carla recommended the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman series. Carla is a librarian and knows her stuff and it’s written by a lady from Idaho, so I picked it up.

This is the story of Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy told from his perspective. And I have to say, Pamela Aidan did an impressive job of getting into Darcy’s head and telling his story. She does a nice job of sticking to the true story while weaving in new scenes and characters to fill in the gaps. There is a lot of added history from the time period which slow the story down in places, but she presents them as Darcy keeping up on current events which fits his character so it makes sense, even if it does drag a little.

But here’s the kicker. It’s a TRILOGY! She took one novel and rewrote it as a TRILOGY! I want to believe it was done as an artistic choice, she simply could not do justice to the original in only one book, but part of me feels like it’s a ripoff way of making you buy more books. I am still on the library waiting list for numbers two and three. We’ll see if they’re worth it.

I guess I can say that 33% of the way in to this story, I am enjoying it. Ms. Aidan does capture a certain sense of Darcy and seems to have a solid grasp of his original motives as intended by Jane. Unless something really strange happens in the next two, I would recommend this series as an entertaining read and a fun way to revisit the P&P crowd.

hush, hush

“hush, hush”by Becca Fitzpatrick

Three Stars – I liked it.

If you loved Twilight … then you’ll probably think ‘hush, hush’ is alright.

Okay, first off, I actually read this book over a month ago and then loaned it to my friend, so I don’t have it readily available to fact check, but hopefully my memory will hold up well enough.

I do not understand the title to this book at all. I think they went with it mostly because “Fallen” was already taken by another novel about fallen angels, but why they picked ‘hush, hush’ I will never be able to guess. But they do get serious props for the cover art – love it.

Nora leads a fairly normal teenage life (except for the fact that her father was recently murdered) until the day that she gets a new, mysterious lab partner in biology (sound familiar?). She is instantly attracted to Patch and not sure if his bad boy rep is holding her back or just adding to his allure. Then weird, scary events start to happen, the only problem is that Nora’s not sure if they actually are happening or if she’s just loosing her mind, and she’s pretty sure she’s being followed. Add in the fact that her mom has a job that takes her away from home for days at a time, leaving Nora home alone in their secluded old farmhouse and the stage for disaster is set.

I don’t feel like I’m ruining any surprises by mentioning that Patch is a fallen angel, and not just any angel, an Arch Angel (I’m pretty sure the cover art gave it away). The angel mythology was my favorite part of the book. Towards the end, it started to go into how fallen angels first came to be, how and why they fall, and the different ranks and jobs of angels. I really got into this idea and hoped that the author would expand on this aspect of the story, but, it was not to be. I was really left hanging and wanting more on this topic.

The rest of the story was okay. It really was a bit juvenile, and a lot of the situations seemed forced and awkward. Like the author was just trying too hard to create romance and sexual tension. And once again, I just didn’t really bond with the main character. Everything about her and her situation just seemed forced. Especially how the author kept making a big deal of the fact that she was anemic and needed to pop iron pills all the time. I’m pretty sure this was included just to make her seem more ‘vulnerabe’with a medical problem and to allow for one scene in particular to work. She wasn’t exactly annoying per say, but she wasn’t very interesting either.

I was more interested in most of the minor characters, their relationships, and the subplots going on. They were far more interesting with much better background and motivation for the most part. You know, I’ve read several books lately with the same issue, maybe it’s me …

The book still scores three stars because it was a fun read, and because it has a sequel coming out later this year, “Crescendo”, on which I am pinning my hopes that the angel mythology will become a much larger part of some overall plot.

"The Forgotten Garden" by Kate Morton

Four Stars

An unidentified child found abandoned on an Australian dock sets off a multi-generational search for her identity that spans an ocean and an entire century.

This gothic novel has it all dark family secrets, vindictive relatives, a daunting garden maze, even the mysterious and huge old family estate in the English countryside. I love mysteries and I love England so how can this be anything less than awesome? I picked up this book on the recommendation of a friend who said it just might be her new favorite book. When someone gives a book that high of a recommendation how can you say no? That is a lot to live up to and it didn’t disappoint. I wouldn’t rate it as my new favorite, but it is definitely on that list.

The book spans five generations of women, actually six if you count a few comments in passing, starting with number three, mentioning number four, then focusing on five and working backwards. I think the author went a little too far including generations number four and five, not because it becomes too confusing, but because it detracts from the most interesting part of the story that includes generations one through three.

The book draws many similarities from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s “The Secret Garden”, even including a cameo appearance by the author and going so far to imply that this family provided the inspiration for the story.

This book earned four out of five stars because of the extra generations. If it had stuck just to those first three it very well may have earned all five stars. All-in-all I highly recommend it.

There are some SPOILERS after this so there you go, fair warning.

Nell is generation number three and the little girl who was found alone on an Australian dock, but the story is told mainly from the perspective of her granddaughter, Cassandra. She has only a child’s suitcase with a few random possessions as a clue to who she is and where she came from. It’s not until much later in life that she begins the search for her identity which takes her from Australia to England and her family’s estate.

Just as she begins to unravel the long-buried family secrets, her daughter unexpectedly shows up and basically abandons Nell’s granddaughter to her care, effectively ending Nell’s search. Nell raises her granddaughter and eventually dies without ever discovering the truth. It’s only after Nell’s death that Cassandra learns of the secret and decides to find the truth. And this is where it gets too diluted.

Cassandra uses the same clues Nell had and a soggy old notebook Nell kept as a journal during her initial search. Cassandra follows the same path and eventually finds the truth, but the most powerful discoveries are the ones Nell made herself because it is so much more personal to her and she gets answers from people who were there and directly involved. Adding the extra generation of Cassandra was just too detached from the actual story and I found myself almost hurrying through her parts to get to the more interesting parts.

The Help

The Help by Kathryn Stockett - Four Stars

This book has been on my radar for awhile and I’m a little embarrassed to admit it has taken me this long to read it. But I kept finding other things I wanted to read first. Then one of my good friends and book-recommenders said that this was the best audio book she has ever listened to and I absolutely had to hear it. I checked my local library and found that I would be in the high 80's on the waiting list for the audio book and decided that I would just go ahead and read the nice hardback that was waiting for me on my bookshelf instead.

The Help rates a solid 4 Stars. I was debating going 5, then decided that the fact that I was debating it meant it was a 4. A 5 star would not require any debate. But I really enjoyed the book. It’s about Mississippi in the 1960's and the relationships between white women and the black women who work for them, told from the perspective of two black women and one much younger white woman. The narrative hops between the three women and is very impressive with how each woman’s voice and language is distinct and identifiable. The plot is a little slow to develop but your interest is held by the stories and descriptions of what life was like during that place and time. Even when the plot did begin to develop I was still more interested in the stories and relationships between all of the women than in the actual plot events.

Each of the three women grow and experience character development to different extents. My favorite parts were the relationships between all of the women. The employers and the employees and other family members. These women would essentially let their help raise their children, some would become part of the family, others would feel as though they were less than the hired help, and in the end the kids who love their nannies so much, grow up to become their employers. The relationships between the hired women and the children were what got to me the most. There were several moments where I teared up, and one truly heart-wrenching scene where one of the women has to say goodbye to the two children she has essentially raised since birth.

While it is a fascinating glimpse into a world of change during that time in history, I think the true beauty of this book is its description and insights into the relationships of women. In identical circumstances some women grow together and form unbreakable bonds while others bring out the worst in each other and become lifelong enemies.

This is an amazing read for its historical aspect as well as its revelations of women’s behavior and relationships. I recommend it to everyone, particularly women.

I’m still waiting patiently for a copy of the audio book (I’m up to the low 40's!) and look forward to listening to possibly one of the best audio adaptations ever.