Mini Book Reviews: Eleanor Oliphant and Children of the Longhouse

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Published: May 9th, 2017 by (originally) Viking

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Format: Paperback, 336 Pages, Own

Rating: 4 stars

Publisher's Summary:

No one’s ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine

Meet Eleanor Oliphant: she struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding unnecessary human contact, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.

But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen, the three rescue one another from the lives of isolation that they had been living. Ultimately, it is Raymond’s big heart that will help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one. If she does, she'll learn that she, too, is capable of finding friendship—and even love—after all.

Smart, warm, uplifting, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is the story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . .

the only way to survive is to open your heart. 

My Thoughts:

I kept hearing how this was a great book to read for the quarantine. It had been sitting on my shelf for a while so I decided to finally pick it up and read it! But as with all my reading lately, I haven't been able to focus as much as I'd like to. So it took me a couple of weeks to get into this one. It started off a lot darker than I was expecting.

Eleanor is messed up. Her past is horrific and we only get bits and pieces at first. But she's also endearing and child-like. So we care and we hope, well, I hoped she could finally get rid of her mum. I loved seeing the friendship develop between her and Raymond. I was hoping they didn't try to bring a romance into it. Thanks the gods, no. So by the last third of the book I was hooked and finished it quickly because Eleanor needed a good ending and she got one! I'd love to see another book to see how she's getting on and finding her place in the world. 

Children of the Longhouse by Joseph Bruchac

Published: June 1st, 1996 by Dial Books

Genre: Juvenile, Historical Fiction

Format: Paperback, 160 Pages, Own

Rating: 5 stars

Publisher's Summary:

When Ohkwa'ri overhears a group of older boys planning a raid on a neighboring village, he immediately tells his Mohawk elders. He has done the right thing—but he has also made enemies. Grabber and his friends will do anything they can to hurt him, especially during the village-wide game of Tekwaarathon (lacrosse). Ohkwa'ri believes in the path of peace, but can peaceful ways work against Grabber's wrath?

My Thoughts:

I really really enjoyed reading this one a loud to G. We're doing a bit of history reading and learning and this is a great book. It's well-written. We learned a lot about the Mohawk people and other nations lived before white people invaded. I had no idea Lacrosse was invented that long ago and has been a great tradition. No clue. We got to watch a video on how a traditional stick is made. Even DH while working from home loved listening in on this book! 

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Goodreads Summary:

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met. 

My Thoughts:

Albertalli creates a genuine world where real-life teenagers could inhabit. There are not plot-twisting high school kids who are out to be the worst people ever. There are people who are teenagers navigating life. One happens to be Simon and his tight-knit group of friends, Leah, Nick, and Abby.

Simon is also gay but has not come out to anyone yet. It shouldn't be a big deal. No one comes out heterosexual so why should he come out gay? He knows his family and friends will probably be OK with it....but...

He begins writing another gay boy, code name Blue, at his high school anonymously. It's all going smoothly until Martin discovers their emails and blackmails him into helping him get with one of his best friends Abby. Along the way he begins to see that his family and friends have lives of their own, ones that he has never thought to ask about.

We also learn more about Martin. Why would he do such a thing? Albertalli is fantastic at making every character real and fleshed-out. It's an adorable look in Simon's love-life. Will he discover who Blue is? Will they get-together? How will the world react when it finds out he's gay? Even his parents and his sisters have active roles in the story with their thoughts and weaknesses.

It's a quick but important story. And I loved reading it.

I've heard great things about the movie too and would like to compare the movie to the book soon.

Fiction Mini Book Reviews

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White:

I read this one aloud with Gabe. He really enjoyed it. He asked questions and we had some good talks. Then we watched the movie.

It's an excellent book on friendship, love, life, and death and everything in between. A wonderful children's classic.

Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan:

This was a really funny read. Brennan is pretty humorous and I liked her witty female protagonist. But it wasn't a book that really stood out (paranormal young adult fiction). It was cliche all the way through and slighted other characters that didn't need slighting. It didn't hold my interest enough to finish the series but I enjoyed the few laugh-out-loud moments.

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi:

Now this is a fabulous young adult dystopia/sci-fi fiction. Rossi brings out her characters in this and that makes all the difference for me. She doesn't focus too heavily on the whys and hows of how this dystopia wasteland Earth came to be and I appreciated her even more for that.

I mean there are the few undertones of saving the environment but not too heavy-handed and I think that's important anyway. It's a character-driven novel without the teen love triangle drivel that permeates so many YA fiction nowadays. Love.

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman:

I really enjoyed Stedman's overall story. It's an ethical and moral one that is supposed to make us think. She mainly focuses on Tom and the ramifications his choices make in the future.

The main reason I didn't love it was I felt Stedman didn't appreciate Tom's wife enough. She made her a mad woman stereotype. I didn't identify with her at all and I wanted to. So it made the story a bit too breezy and settled than I feel it should have been.

But overall a really beautiful novel.

Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi:

This is the second book in the Never Sky trilogy. The first half was a bit slow. They had to set some plot up and break apart our two lovers. But once it got going it was as excellent as the first.




Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston:

I read this for my feminist book club. Hurston was a brilliant writer. She loved her characters and she loved her people and she treats them so real and tenderly in her story about Janie, a black woman living in Florida during the 30s. We follow her as she learns about who she is and how she finally learns to love. So much more to say. It's a classic and should be read by everyone.

Monster by Walter Dean Myers:

A 14-year-old black teenager is on trial for his life. He's been accused of being complicit in the murder of a store owner during a robbery.

We see all things through Steve Harmon's perspective. He decides to make a movie about his trial, so we read the trial as a script for a movie. We also get to see his journal notes that are spread throughout.

The title and thus the book, including our protagonist Steve want us to think about what constitutes a real monster. Is he one? Is he innocent? Is he still a monster even if he made some bad choices not knowing the results? It's a fascinating look at our criminal justice system and how it effects those who are just in the wrong circumstances.

We had a very fascinating discussion in our book club. I really enjoyed it.

The only problems I had with it were the miniscule details. It seems like there was also a few stereotypes that were played into in order to move the story line along.

But I think the main point was to provoke discussion and it does.

The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

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I wondered whether or not I should tackle this one. I'm going through my own intense grief right now and wasn't sure if I should read a book about death and grief.

The first 1/3 of the book, I just wasn't sure. The writing was scattered. The characters were odd and situations and her world were a bit unrealistic. Each chapter begins with Lennie's poetry fragments. They somehow fly around the city to be found by others...so odd.

Also, Lennie. She's a literary and music genius. I believe in geniuses, I do but her genius wasn't drawing me in. It confused me.

But it's raw and in your face grief. I get that. I'm getting it. And as the story progressed it all started to make sense. Len's little poetry fragments, her grief over the death of her sister. Her pulling away. Her making out with and almost sleeping with her dead sister's boyfriend...raw.

Lennie has hid behind her sister. She's been her shadow, her sidekick. Now Bailey is gone. Who is she? Who was Bailey? 

"But what if I'm a shell-less turtle now, demented and devastated in equal measure, an unfreakingbelievable mess of a girl, who wants to turn the air into colors with her clarinet, and what if somewhere inside I prefer this? What if as much as I fear having death as a shadow, I'm beginning to like how it quickens the pulse, not only mine, but the pulse of the whole world..."

"My sister will die over and over again for the rest of my life. Grief is forever. It doesn't go away; it becomes part of you, step for step, breath for breath. I will never stop grieving Bailey because I will never stop loving her. That's just how it is. Grief and love are conjoined, you don't get one without the other. All I can do is love her, and love the world, emulate her by living with daring and spirit and joy."

Yup, a millions time over. Not everyone's grief is the same nor should it be. No one person has the market of what's the proper grief for someone else. Some may get through it and not feel this way but I know so many who are this quote. Me. It's what makes life so precious knowing that it's so fleeting and comes eventually to everyone.

I love the journies Lennie, her sister's boyfriend Toby, her grandmother, and her uncle embark on. Grief shapes their lives; death has forever altered who they will be. Such a beautiful and poetic ending.

The thing that helped turn this around for me was the magical realism elements. She spliced fantasy elements throughout. The fateful notes. Her mother's spells and rituals; cooking and love and wine. It wasn't apparent at first which made me sputter a bit the first 1/3 but I got it in the end. 

Mini Book Reviews (3)

1.  The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Not my favorite of John Green's but it's still great and makes you keep a box of tissues nearby. A beautiful story on dying. What do we do when we have a disease that will inevitably kill us in a short amount of time? Lots of philosophy throughout this one and dealing with death is something we should always be aware of. It happens to us all and to all those we love.

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2. Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism by Susan Jacoby

Jacoby is a great writer and she is able to seamlessly combine history and mini-bios into one great book. There are so many great people that history seems to have forgotten--Ernestine Rose, Robert Ingersoll, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, all due to their outspoken views on patriarchal religion. I loved getting to know these beautiful people that all helped shape our great nation.

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3. Trapped by Kevin Hearne

This is the fifth installment of Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles. This time Atticus is trying to bind his new druid apprentice to Gaia but somehow the only place he can do it is in Greece near the Olympic Gods!

This one has funny pop-culture references, talking dog, hilarious gods, monsters, and goddesses he's always annoying and killing! Even a bit of romance! If you haven't read the first book go do it now!

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4. The Pirate's Wish by Cassandra Rose Clarke

This is the finishing sequel to Clarke's Assassin's Curse. Both are amazing kick-booty female-driven fantasies. Ananna and Naji are bound together because of a curse. She's a pirate and he's a blood assassin. He must keep her alive to live and if she actually wants to be a pirate captain she must find a way to break the impossible curse.

She's tough, smart, and gets things done. It's great to see female-centered books that don't only focus on romance and finding a man. One of the best adventure-fantasy series I've read in a long time!

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5. Treasury of Greek Mythology: Classic Stories of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes & Monsters by Donna Jo Napoli

I picked this one up to read with my son. It's beautifully illustrated and Napoli adds in some commentary that helps with discussion. She also has little info boxes about science, history, and geography to help put times and stories into context. My son is still little so I think I enjoyed the stories more than he did but he loved the pictures! I will be returning to this one again and again.

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Mini Book Reviews (2)

I have been epic failing when it comes to reviewing all the books I read, so if I get too far behind I am just going to do mini reviews and call it good!

Paranormality (nonfiction) by Richard Wiseman



I read this one for my skeptic book club.

Richard Wiseman is a psychologist in Britain who studies psychological nature of perceiving the paranormal. There are stories and even activities to help you develop your cold reading skills, magic trick skills, and even how to have out of body experiences, and freak yourself out in a low-light bathroom!

A Mango-shaped Space (young adult) by Wendy Mass



I read this one for another book club.

This story focuses on Mia, who's a teen with synesthesia. She sees colors when she hears sound and sees letters and numbers. She must come to terms with her synesthesia and the death of her grandfather. It's a heart-warming story about loving who you are and dealing with grief.

Your Inner Fish: A Journey Into the 3.5-billion-year History of the Human Body (nonfiction) by Neil Shubin



I read this for skeptic book club.

A fascinating read by a paleontologist into the history of where our human bodies come from. Fish! The chapters are easy to read and so fascinating. I recommend this one to all.

Coraline (young adult) by Neil Gaiman



I read this one with my 4-year-old son Gabe. He's still getting used to chapter books, but when he listened he really enjoyed it. I thought it might scare him a bit but so far no nightmares!

Coraline moves into a new house with her workaholic parents. She wishes she had homemade meals and more time with her parents and even the neighbors are weird. She soon finds a hidden doorway into a new world where there are doubles of her parents and all of the neighbors. Her other mother is very nice but Coraline is skeptical. When she decides she doesn't want to come back the other mother kidnaps her parents. It's up to Coraline to rescue her parents and release the souls of other trapped children.

It's creepy but oh so entertaining!

Stuart Little (children's fiction) by E.B. White



I also read this one with my son. But I didn't like this. I love Charlotte's Web! But this one left me scratching my head and wondering what in the world the point was? She expected me to buy Stuart Little as a person that just happened to be a mouse, but the rest of the world wasn't quite set up enough for me to do that. Then it ended very anti-climatically and with no real resolution. I felt that I only read half the book.

But maybe she just meant it for kids who wouldn't ask such questions? But I feel that the stories that stand the test of time are the ones that appeal to all. This one didn't.

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

Kingsolver opens her book with a delightful and imaginative first chapter. I was really drawn in. What did Dellarobia actually see? We finally find out that her "vision" was a completely natural, or at least one that shouldn't be natural. Butterflies have landed on her family's land when they're actually supposed to be hanging out in Mexico.




Kingsolver really combines the consequences of climate change with how it effects those who still make their living on the land. She gives us characters to love, who change, reflect, and think ahead. She mixes a story of faith and science and how the twain can meet. And for that reason alone, this is a book worth reading.

But alas, I only give it a 3ish star because it wasn't a page turner. It took me awhile to read the book and it dragged in the middle. So I didn't love it but I like it and it was worth reading because it's an important topic and needs to be addressed.

Some of my favorite quotes:

"Hester wasn't the only one living in fantasy land with righteousness on her side; people just did that, this family and maybe all others. They built their tidy houses of self-importance and special blessing and went inside and slammed the door, unaware the mountain behind them was aflame." p.22-23

"But being a stay-at-home mom was the loneliest kind of lonely, in which she was always and never by herself." p.59

"When she walked among these girls (ewes) they parted slowly like heavy water and looked up at her with an outlandish composure, their amber eyes eerily divided by horizontal pupils." p. 332

"...citizens of their own cheerful universe despite their full awareness of its unraveling." p. 341

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

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Amazon.com description: One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, Will Grayson crosses paths with . . . Will Grayson. Two teens with the same name, running in two very different circles, suddenly find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, and culminating in epic turns-of-heart and the most fabulous musical ever to grace the high school stage. Told in alternating voices from two YA superstars, this collaborative novel features a double helping of the heart and humor that have won them both legions of fans.

Funny, enlightening, exaggerated, painful, and full of heart. Those are my words to describe this excellent novel. You can't help but grow to love both Will Graysons and Tiny, the one who brings them all together.

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Here's another cover:

I think it might be from Australia due to the quote from Melina Marcheta, an Australian YA author. I think I like the U.S. cover better, though. It also fits the story better.

Taft 2012: A Novel By Jason Heller

William Howard Taft pulls a Rip Van Winkle and wakes up 100 years later just in time for the 2012 presidential election.

I really enjoyed the premise behind this. I learned a lot more about President Taft. It was fun to see our country and century through his early twentieth century eyes. I also would love to truly have a legitimate third party in America. I think it really would balance the political spectrum out more.

The one thing I had a hard time with was the flow of the story. It feels like the author had an idea he felt passionately about and then used the story to further this. Thus the characters felt a bit two-dimensional.

But overall, it was a fun read and had a lot of insight. Yeah to Quirk Books for offering another fun story to the mix.

*I received this book from the publisher.

For more information visit the Taft2012 website.

Room by Emma Donoghue

Genre: contemporary fiction,
FTC Disclosure: bought from Barnes and Noble
Published: 2010
Pages: 210
Content: abuse theme, psychological trauma


 There may be a spoiler or two in here! Sorry!

I went through a lot of emotions with this book, and I think that makes for a great book in the end. The whole story is told through the eyes of Jack, a five-year-old boy. His whole world is contained within a tiny room with only his mother for company. We soon learn that she was kidnapped at age 19 and has been held captive for seven years in this tiny room...after two years she had Jack.

The book goes through so many themes/ideas. One that struck me was this woman's relationship with her son Jack. She worked really hard to make his life as normal as possible given the circumstances...I kept thinking what I would have done in a situation like that. She said that Jack was her miracle. I think it was her way of being able to hold on and keep her own sanity. But that also got me thinking about what that really means...she had Jack for purely selfish reasons...and it shows after they escape and start to integrate into the real world. But that's what makes this book so intriguing. There are just so many emotions that run. I have no idea what I would really do in a situation like that, but I can tell you what I'd think I do. And isn't that what we always do when we here about other people's experiences and situations?

One thing I didn't like was the perspective of Jack. The storytelling was distracting from his point of view even though it also made it different. There were some inconsistencies as well in his dialogue...like he'd know a word at one time and then not know it later on. It was kind of weird. Also a few plot holes, too.

I thought the last half of the book really picked up after they try and reintegrate. We see how Jack's mother completely loses it after having kept it together soley for her son during their captivity. I liked how Jack was able to slowly start opening up to his other family aka grandparents, uncle, aunt, cousin. I'll admit, though, it was brutal to see how Jack's mother treats him after their escape. That's where the selfish part of her comes in. Since the book was written from Jack's perspective, he is the one character I truly care about. So I found myself really getting angry with his mother when she starts shutting down and not paying attention to him for a bit...but then I would think about what she went through...yeah, it's understandable.

Whew. Basically, this book made me think. I got really mad at times and then wondered why I was mad. I had to think from so many different perspectives...mine, mother, Jack, his grandparents. It's a journey that tears you down and then builds you back up.

Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg

Genre: young adult, romance, Austen-inspired
FTC Disclosure: borrowed from library.
Published: 2011
Pages: 231
Content: Nothing offensive.

This is a super fast, light, and fun read. I breezed through it in a couple of hours.

Pros: It was short and sweet.
Cons: It was short. It could have used a bit more, not much, just a tiny bit more with character development and story. The relationship between Lizzie and Darcy felt a bit forced. The language was also a bit cheesy. But it's not supposed to be a masterpiece. I think if someone hasn't read Pride and Prejudice before this would be a fun way to get them introduced and onto the real thing.

Rating: 3/5 Stars 


Image Source: Goodreads

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

Genre: contemporary fiction, social commentary
FTC Disclosure: bought from Target
Published: 2008
Pages: 266
Content: There is some language, violence, and sexual situations.

In a Line: I liked it! I really liked it!

I just really enjoyed how Cleave was able to tell the story by using two completely different women. I loved each woman's perspective. They each had something to learn and something to share.

Little Bee is a refugee from Nigeria fleeing for her life. Sarah is a magazine editor who has just lost her husband. Little Bee seeks out Sarah since she is the only person she knows in England after she leaves the refugee center. Sarah struggles with mourning her husband, raising her son Charlie, and figuring out how to deal with the skeletons in her closet. Little Bee has secrets too...But they both learn how to forgive, to move on, and to love.

Sarah isn't perfect, far from it...but it made her more real, a deeply flawed and human character but one that can rise above it all and live. Little Bee is young and yet so wise beyond her years. She is able to sense what is needed and provide it. The bond that forms is truly remarkable.

The story is horrific and beautiful and I really enjoyed being along for the ride. This is an important story to be told on immigration and refugee centers as well as commentary on how Africa continues to be forgotten. It's a beautiful wake-up and I recommend it for everyone.

Quote: I felt my heart take off lightly like a butterfly and I though, yes, this is it, something has survived in me, something that does not need to run anymore, because it is worth more than all the money in the world and its currency, its true home, is the living. And not just the living in this particular country or in that particular country, but the secret, irresistible heart of the living. I smiled back at Charlie and I knew that the hopes of this whole human world could fit inside one soul.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Genre: youth fiction,
FTC Disclosure: borrowed from library
Published: 2007
Pages: 288
Content: PG-13

In a Line:  Powerful commentary on how our lives touch others in so many ways for the good and for the worst.

We meet Clay as he receives a box of cassette tapes...they are from a girl Hannah who recently committed suicide. He listens hauntingly as her voice explains why she she has done this...She gives 13 reasons why she decided to commit suicide and Clay desperately wants to find out why she did what she did and why he is on the tapes.

This was a really clever idea. We get into Hannah's head and find out who she is and what led her to the unthinkable act of taking her own life. We slowly learn how Clay fits into all of it and how Hannah has affected his life. Everyone on the tape starts connecting to each other....At first I wondered what would be so horrible to tip her over the edge but as time went on I realized that it's not necessarily big stuff. Everyone is different. We each have our hangups and problems. I think Asher's main point was that you never know how your actions can affect others. The things that happened to Hannah...well, probably most teens would learn to deal somehow, graduate, and move on...but sometimes that's not the case. I think it's a good wakeup call to really think about how we treat people and the effect it can have, good or bad. So sometimes it is the little things. And yeah, it is really messed up what Hannah does by making and sending those tapes...which is why I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't just a cliche reason...there is no real rhyme or reason to why people decide to take their own lives; that's the point. People's lives will forever be changed by Hannah's actions, her suicide, and now her tapes. What are those people going to do? Give up or move forward?

Asher wrote a very compelling and complex novel and it opens up dialogue, another reason for read this book.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Other cover...

I think I actually like this version better. It feels more to the point for me. This must be the UK cover.

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Genre: youth fiction
FTC Disclosure: borrowed from library
Published: 2006
Pages: 419
Content: PG-13 for language and dealing with suicide, death, and other issues.


In a sentence: A disjointed start but ended with a complex and beautiful story.

I will admit that the first 180 pages or so were a struggle to get through. The story jumped all over the place. I couldn't tell if was dreams or flashbacks being told. I couldn't wrap my head around territory wars in a small town in Australia with rival schools. I didn't understand why I was supposed to care. So I was debating whether or not to keep reading at 150 pages...I checked out a few reviews that said to hang in there. So I did. I'm really glad I did. Within 30-40 pages the story starts to unravel and you see who is who, why, and how.

Taylor was abandoned by her mother at a 7-11 at the age of eleven. She was picked up by Hannah who counsels at the local charity boarding school Jellicoe Road. We learn bits and pieces about what's going on...Taylor looked for her mom a few years before with a local Cadet named Jonah Griggs; Jellicoe Road, the Townies (local high school), and the Cadets are in territorial wars during the school year. This one didn't make much since till later....Hannah, Taylor's one mother figure, takes off one weekend without a word and leaves behind a manuscript describing five people and their lives here on Jellicoe Road...is it fiction or is Taylor somehow connected? Confused? I was....

That's my one main complaint with this one. It took too long to get into and bring the story together. I can understand why she did it, to a point. But I think Marchetta could have simplified and gotten to the point a bit early on. Some of the negative reviews said they couldn't even finish it and get past those first 200 pages. 200 pages is a lot to ask a reader. I stuck around because I'd read her earlier novel Saving Francesca, which was marvelous. And by the time it ended and the pieces were put together, I found I didn't care as much as I wanted to.

But overall, the last half of the book is excellent. She really brings the characters around and into focus. She has a way with building these intricate relationships all together. I loved all of the characters. Taylor was vulnerable but independent and a wonderful mind. Jonah is the bad boy but never too bad and had a big romantic heart and a complicated history. He was real. Even the supporting characters really supported (I know that sounds dumb, but true). Even though I can't fathom why Taylor's mom gave her up, etc, I at least can sympathize with what she's gone through. I also love how she weaves the topic of death. (That sounds weird...). How does death affect us? How does it affect a group of kids that experience its aftermath together? How does it continue to haunt us throughout the rest of our lives?

It's a great discussion book and gets you thinking. Stick with it for the first 200 pages and you will be glad you did.

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

This cover is the Australian one. The title is originally On the Jellicoe Road...which I find more fitting for the overall theme of the book. I also like the original cover best. I find I'm more interested in the novel and would want to read it. Go Australia on this one!

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Genre: young adult
FTC Disclosure: received via Goodreads.com Swap
Published: 2010
Pages: 472
Content: PG-13 for language and teen drama.

Yeah, I loved this book. I read this in two days and it's over 400 pages. Kid? What kid for two days? Yeah, I'm terrible. But I couldn't put this one down. It was so unique and telling and interesting.

Samantha Kingston is pretty and popular and beeyotch with her three friends. They rule the school and everyone knows it. After a harrowing incident at a party, Sam and three friends lose control of the car...Sam soon finds herself repeating the same day over and over again. She learns new things each day, what's important, and starts to put the pieces together about why she's repeating this day and how she can break the cycle.

Each day is the same and yet completely different. Oliver really knows how to make the characters come alive. Even though Sam and her friends are so mean, you find out what really makes them tick and why they are who they are...we're all just human and trying to cope with life.

This is such an important novel for anyone to read. I hope it really resonates with teens and gets them thinking about why they act the way they do. I love books that make me think and this one does. Read it; it's that good.

Rating: 5/5 Stars

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Genre: audiobook, young adult, death
FTC Disclosure: library
Published: 2009
Pages: NA, audiobook
Content: PG-13 for language
Reading Challenges: 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge

Wow! This was an amazing book. I loved it...I'd give it a 4.5 if they let me.

Gayle Forman combines wit, love, humor, anger, fun etc into her short book. Mia looks back upon her life, in an out-of-body experience, deciding whether or not to stay with her friends and family or to leave and be with her parents and her younger brother...they were all tragically killed in a car accident. She watches her own body, bruised and beaten and lifeless while her boyfriend, best friend, and grandparents talk to her and let her know how much they love her. She reflects upon her life with her parents and brother, how they have changed her life, her boyfriend Adam, her friend Kim.

Forman weaves it all together fantastically. It's an amazing story and one that will stay with me for a long time.

The audiobook was excellent. The voice of Mia was an wonderful actress. The only thing I didn't like about the setup were the long disc chapters, not conducive to remembering where you're at/bookmarking.

Rating: 4/5

Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta

Genre: young adult, Australian fiction
FTC Disclosure: borrowed from library
Published: 2003
Pages: audiobook
Content: PG-13 for language and adult themes


This is the first Australian fiction I've ever read and it was wonderful! I listened to the audio book and it made the story jump out for me. The narrator did a great job and really pulled me into Australia. Since it was an audio book that I usually listened to in the car and I wasn't able to write down some things...like a lot of Australian words and phrases. So nothing specific, but it was fun to listen to!

Francesca is heading off to an all boy's school that has just allowed girls in for the first time. She's struggling with her mother's mental breakdown and struggling with trying to figure life out. It's an amazing coming of age story. Marchetta really knows how to weave a beautiful story together. I really cared about all of the characters. The language never felt forced or contrived, which was really refreshing.

The only thing I would I would say I didn't like was the light treatment of mental illness. It's still a huge stigma everywhere and it would've been nice had the author chosen to make it less of one...

But other than that I absolutely loved this book! Read it!

Rating: 5/5

North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley

Genre: young adult
FTC Disclosure: borrowed from library
Published: 2009
Pages: 373
Content: PG-13 for language and thematic elements
Reading Challenges: 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge

This was an amazing book on overcoming life's adversities! It was a touching and thought-provoking story.

Terra Rose Cooper was born with a port-wine stain birthmark along her entire cheek and spends her days trying to cover it up with heavy make-up and long hair...she also spends her time avoiding her verbally and emotionally abusive father. She thinks she's so lucky, though, to have found her boyfriend Erik, that he somehow thinks she's worth his time...though, he doesn't have a clue who she really is or what she really needs.

Taking a trip to Seattle with her mother they literally run into Jacob and his mother. And Terra and her mother's lives change forever.

Jacob was born with a cleft lip and has a scar to show for it...they soon find strength in each other's struggles. Jacob's mother also helps Terra's mother find her voice and her own strength as well.

It's a beautiful story, one that can inspire anyone who reads it and especially with the teen books out these days I feel this is a great one for young teens.

It was a little slow at the beginning and it was really hard to read about her jerk of a father and how they weren't dealing with it, but that has nothing to do with the awesome writing and the way Headley eventually wraps you up into the lives of Terra, Jacob and their mothers and how they all learn and grow and find their own beauty within.

Here are some quotes I found amazing:

"[beauty] it seeps into you. It doesn't make you forget yourself; it connects you with everything and fills you with awe that you share the same space with something that glorious...and then suddenly...you have this epiphany that there's more to the world than just you and what you want or even who you are."

"I didn't have the language to communicate...to this little girl--or to communicate that beauty--the real everlasting beauty--lives not on our faces, but in our attitude and our actions. It lives in what we do for ourselves and for others."

"Let the glossy spreads have their heart-stopping, head-turning kind of beauty. Give me the heart-filling beauty inside. Flawed, we're truly interesting, truly memorable, and yes, truly beautiful."

Rating: 5/5

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

Genre: contemporary fiction, Japanese
FTC Disclosure: Borrowed from library
Published: 2003 
Pages: 180
Content: PG for adult themes.
Reading Challenge: A to Z (by author O)

A housekeeper goes to work for an elderly man whose memory resets to 1975 after 80 minutes. The professor has a gazillion notes on his suit to help him remember or at least know about things that have happened, such as the most important note he sees every morning: Memory lasts only 80 minutes.

He's a professor of mathematics and as such he only relates to the world through numbers. The housekeeper tries to relate to the professor by learning about his world of numbers and Ogawa lets us begin our own math journey along with the housekeeper, complete with equations and real world connections.

How does the housekeeper and her son form a relationship with the professor when he can never remember them the next day? Ogawa explores what it really means to love others and how we hold onto those relationships even when it seems impossible to do so.

There are so many layers to this novel and many will find their own treasures here.

Rating: 4/5

According to Jane by Marilyn Brant

Paperback: 352 pages 
Publisher: Kensington (October 1, 2009)
Genre: Austen-inspired, romance
FTC Disclosure: Own, from Barnes and Noble

Reading Challenge: A to Z Reading Challenge (A Title)

I really, really wanted to love this book. I'd heard such awesome things with this one....but, I was sorely disappointed. What started with a great premise ended with great disappointment.

We follow Ellie back and forth through her years from a sophomore in high school to her early thirties and all her love disappoints in between and all with Jane Austen in her head.

I really didn't like Ellie. I just wanted to hit her over the head so many times. I also wanted to hit the author Ms. Brant over the head as well. Her heroine was too goo-goo over guys always wanting to find someone to marry...like to get married for the sake of marrying...her relationships were lust and that was it, though, she played as if it were love. I was really shocked ....spoiler....

when she portrayed her first time with a boy at seventeen as normal when she was pretty much raped or all but...it was icky and yet was made to seem as just a bad sexual experience...um, no.

Also underage drinking was portrayed as no big deal...now I understand that underage drinking happens, but I don't know I feel like authors need to have some semblance of responsibility when it comes to things like this...there was way too much language for my liking...the f-bombs thrown around, even when they weren't really necessary...and the sex scenes were a bit too graphic for my taste especially when the guys she was dating were absolute creeps.

Then there's her "Mr. Darcy" Sam...I have no idea why she even found this guy remotely attractive...when we're first introduced to him he's sexually harassing her...flipping her bra, saying crude things to her...basically a creep. So we're supposed to understand that he changes over the years, but I never saw the change.

So great premise, just really poor delivery.

Yikes, I'm sorry this is such a harsh review; I don't like doing that. But there are just too many anti-women themes in this one that I can't get passed and I just have to vent... 


Rating: 1/5

Part of the A to Z Challenge Title starting with an A!