Apologies and Judy Blume

Dear reader, I have been severely remiss in posting to this book review blog. My only defense is that of school and work. And family and friends and really  I'm just making excuses to you now. By way of apology, I present a new book review, this one of Judy Blume's iconic adult novel "Wifey."

Sandy Pressman is frustrated. In life, in marriage, in the bedroom. Her husband, Norman, wants her to join The Club and work on her tennis and golf skills. With the kids at camp, and a whole empty summer ahead of her, Sandy still dreads The Club. She's abysmally bad at golf, and her tennis game is laughable. But what else is a 1970s housewife to do with an empty house? Create sexual daydreams and fantasies of course. And once her hot, ex-boyfriend Shep comes back into the mix, Sandy can't help but throw herself into an affair she thinks she desperately needs.

As a child, I read and reread many many books by Judy Blume. My favorites were "Just as Long as We're Together" and "Here's to You Rachel Robinson" when I was a preteen and "Forever..." when I hit  my teen years. It was a shock when, at the tender age of 16, I discovered that Judy Blume wrote books for adults as well. I got to the first sexually explicit scene in "Wifey" and dropped it like a hot potato. Now, 15 years later and much less shockable, I sought it out again because of the release of Blume's newest book, "In the Unlikely Event." I wanted to know if her prose for adults stood up to her children's books. And I think it does. While published in 1978, "Wifey" still speaks to the "typical" married life today. And also serves as a reminder that America in 1970 was just as sexually charged as America in 2015. I would say it's more easily accessible today, but all of the new sex is really just the same sex with shinier labels on it. Some readers may not like to read such a charged book by a beloved children's book author, I absolutely love that about this novel. I love that Judy Blume wrote it. I love that she took many, many risks in a period when such risks were taboo. Despite Sandy's fantasies and extra-marital affair, the ending to "Wifey" is actually quite interesting and realistic. I won't say anymore. I wouldn't want to give it away. But I just love the realism Blume presents in all of her books, for children and adults alike. Read "Wifey" to see what I mean!

Abracadabra college!

Dear reader, I am so sorry about leaving you in the lurch for so long! I promised myself this would be a weekly blog, and here it's been almost a month since I've posted. My only excuse is that school is very intense this quarter. Having just completed midterms with mixed success, I decided to celebrate with a new post. About... you guessed it dear reader!... books about school. I'm going to reward your patience by posting three shorter reviews about some of my favorite, lesser known books centered around school (we all know the Boy Who Lived, so we'll just chalk those books up to fabulous reads that everyone should check out! and move along...) First up, dear reader, is A College of Magics by Caroline Stevermer!

At first glance, Greenlaw College appears to be nothing more than a finishing school for girls. But as Faris Nallaneen and her new friend Jane are about to find out, Greenlaw is more than it seems. Sent to the school by her uncle after inheriting a small duchy, Faris is surprised to find that she can major in magic at Greenlaw. As with many books about school, or magic, or both, hijinks ensue between students until the rivalry between Faris and another girl turns deadly. At the same time, Faris is convinced her uncle is trying to get her out of the way so that he can run the dukedom on his own.

Despite being compared with Harry Potter, and it would be easy as both characters attend a school that teaches magic, I would say that is where the similarity ends. It could have been very easy for Stevermer to take all of the elements of Harry Potter and spit them out in some "new" form for readers. But she does not, dear reader, instead engaging us in a new world, different magic, and fresh characters. Though I love Harry Potter, I also love Faris, Jane, and all of their trials and triumphs. I highly recommend picking up both this book and its companion novel, A Scholar of Magics, that follows the further adventures of Jane and American sharpshooter Samuel Lambert.

Our next book, dear reader, is a lovely reminder of favorite elementary school and its educators. Because of Mr. Terupt by Bob Buyea is a lovely middle grade book that will appeal to both children and adults - mostly for nostalgia reasons remembering that wonderful teacher who inspired and helped shape your elementary school years. Told through the eyes of his students, this awesome book follows a fifth grade class through a year with new teacher Mr. Terupt. There's Jessica, also new to Snow Hill Elementary; and Luke, the nerdy, brainy kid; Alexia, who likes to bully other students; and the school-hating Jeffrey. These students and others switch off chapters throughout which Mr. Terupt plays a pivotal part, becoming the main character through their eyes and narrative. Mr. Terupt can see all the cogs of his classroom and students, and takes steps - sometimes small, sometimes very large - to help his students realize how to solve their problems. This lovely book has generated two sequels, both of which are as equally wonderful as the first book. Bob Buyea is definitely an author to watch in the future.

Our final book about school in this education-centric blog post is Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. Anna Oliphant was looking forward to her senior year in Georgia, and is shocked and angry when her checked-out-of-reality author father transplants her in Paris at an American boarding school. Her best friend, her crush, all of the family and people she knows are in Atlanta for gosh darn sakes! Richard Castle her father is not, and that grates on Anna constantly. Once she gets to Paris, however, she discovers that making friends isn't so hard, developing a new crush pretty easy, and learning the French language practically impossible. Anna flounders, despite her group of friends, and tries not to spend too much time oogling Étienne St. Clair, who happens to have a girlfriend already. As the school year passes, Anna's life becomes easier and more complex. A fun, rom-com that's a perfect way to end the school year!

North of Beautiful

Dear reader, I know we've all felt down and depressed about the way we look, going so far as to body-shame ourselves. Media, movies, and television does such a number on both men and women as far as body shape, healthiness, diet fads, perfect skin, make-up, the works. First of all, it's just plain silly to try to fit into a shape/skin that's not truly and uniquely yours; but even more so for people (such as myself) who have no hope at all trying to fit in with the "regular" person displayed on screen. Which is possibly why I love Justina Chen's book North of Beautiful so very, very much.

At first glance, this book could be perceived as the standard coming-of-age-high-school-romance-chick-lit, but it is so much more than that. Chen's remarkable prose is able to take us deeper into the characters and story than just the standard, run of the mill YA chick-lit (of which, do not deny, I am a major fan of). It is always a treat to discover a book within this sometimes ridiculed genre that is so much more than the standard fair.

Terra Cooper struggles daily not just with an overbearing, controlling father and, at first glance, a weak-willed mother, she also bears the brunt of stares wherever she goes. Terra's face displays a port-wine stain birthmark that takes up a sizable amount of her right cheek. Since she was a child, Terra's mother has taken her to Seattle Children's Hospital for various treatments, some incredibly painful, to try to remove the stubborn splotch. And yet, it endures. After too many treatments to count, Terra's father put his foot down. No more treatments, no more money for treatments. When a new laser treatment becomes available, Terra's mother orchestrates a way for the money and Terra to get to Children's without her father knowing. It won't help anyway as Terra has found out over the years. Her birthmark is stubborn and refuses to lighten for anything. But she can't deny her mother, who has only the idea that Terra might be "normal someday" to cling to.

Enter Jacob, interesting Goth boy who Terra literally collides with on her way home from a treatment. Different and interesting, Jacob snags Terra's interest in spite of herself. As the two grow into friends, and beyond, their mothers also connect.

This whole wonderful novel culminates in a trip to China and, of course, empowerment of the best kind. But the real reason I love this book is that Terra changes so much inside, but her birthmark stays. It doesn't magically go away. The laser treatment doesn't work. She doesn't find a special concealer that makes it invisible. She begins to learn to live with it. As someone, among many millions of people who I'm sure feel the similar about their "shortcomings," learning to live with my limp and the male-patterned baldness (from radiation treatment years and years ago) has been the most trying experience of all of my vast experiences. And I'm still learning. Everyday, I learn something new about acceptance of myself. This, dear reader, is what Chen so amazingly illustrates in this novel. I think it is beyond important for all of us to read books just like this one, so that we might understand that, yes, we are all different. But we are also the same in our striving towards acceptance and a place in the world.

The mighty morphin' Animorphs!

I don't know if you can tell, dear reader, but I have kind of a thing for rereading. Not every serious reader (or casual reader for that matter) believes in rereading. Some see it as a waste of time, time they could be using to read new books. But I, dear reader, am a big fan of rereading. I think that I get something out of the book each time I read it. Whether I've waited 10 years to read it again (The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen or The China Garden by Liz Berry) or I read it every year (Harry Potter by JK Rowling or the Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix), I get something new and different out of every reread. So a year and a half ago, when I decided to reread a series that was one of my very favorites as a young teenager, I didn't realize it would take me a YEAR and a HALF to finish. This is because I decided to only read the Animorphs books before bed, so I could focus on a different/new book during the day.


Animorphs. Animal morphers. K.A. Applegate's wonderful science fiction vision (more that 60 books fill out this children's series) is an amazing mix of sci-fi, politics, adventure, horror, and coming-of-age. The basic premise is as follows: an alien Andalite crash lands on Earth. Right by a mall (of course an alien would crash land by a mall... this IS a series about five teenagers...), and Jake, Cassie, Rachel, Tobias, and Marco watch the crash and try to aid the alien afterwards. This Andalite, Elfangor, gives these five teens the power to morph, to turn into any animal they can touch and acquire the DNA of. He doesn't give them this power just for funsies though. Another alien race has already touched down on Earth and is taking hosts, quietly bent on devastating the human population. These aliens are Yeerks, and they are parasites that take over the brain by entering in through the ear canal and physically surrounding the brain. Creepy to the extreme. The Andalites and Yeerks have been fighting a bitter war for years, and the human race is the Yeerks' latest target. The Animorphs are quite possibly Earth's last hope at survival.

As a young teenager - suffering from many body images issues, and a fairly severe limp from a rare spinal birth defect - the idea of morphing into an animal, any animal, was the coolest thing I'd ever heard of. Who wouldn't want to morph a horse and thunder across a field? Or a cat, with the best balance and grace imaginable? This is probably the initial reason this series appealed to me. As an adult, however, this young adult series is wonderful for so many other reasons. First, all the kids in it are all different. They are not all white teenagers who like to shop (an assumption one could make as they ran into a dying alien by the mall). They come from a variety of backgrounds, ethnicities, and interests. But, Marco (Jake's best friend), Rachel (Jake's cousin and Cassie's best friends), Cassie, Jake, and Tobias (the bully-magnet new kid who sort of glommed onto Jake) just happened to be walking by Elfangor's crash site together at just the right moment in time to change the course of human history.

Applegate's Animorphs series does not gloss over the darker points of fighting a war. It does not shy away from the psychological effect of having an amazing power and having to use it to combat an enemy that was virtually unknown to the five teenagers who quickly take on the role of a guerilla force. And, for these reasons, I love it. So many children and teenagers battle their own psychological issues, whether caused by an event or just from their natural brain chemistry. Having a series of books talking plainly about such issues (depression, PTSD, insomnia, etc.) is so, so needed.

Tonight, before I go to sleep, I'll finish the final few pages of the final book, The Beginning. It might be another 15 years before I read the Animorphs series again, but it is so worth it to be reminded of what good children's literature is.

The best fantasy book you'll ever read. Ever.

I've been holding off, but really, I cannot hold back any more. I must, must, must tell you, dear reader, about Sabriel. Because Sabriel (by the lovely, wonderful, talented Garth Nix) is the best fantasy novel you'll ever read. Really and truly. It's one of the books I recommend the most at work for readers looking for new and different fantasy. This is one of the books that I hardly ever get in used. I think that really speaks to the book itself. Some people get rid of their books because they don't reread, but most readers discard books if they didn't like them.

Sabriel was born in the Old Kingdom to a man named Abhorsen. As a young girl, she was sent over the Wall to a country much like ours in the 1920s. In the Old Kingdom, magic is possible, necromancers are real, and dead things roam the land. Sabriel, having attended boarding school near the Wall in a country with none of these things, is summoned just after she turns 17 to find her father. An adept Charter Mage and possessing tools sent to her by her father - most importantly the bandolier of bells used to put the dead to rest - Sabriel sets out with all kinds of terrors behind her to discover what happened to her father. As she travels deeper into the Old Kingdom, and the knowledge that a deeper evil than any she could have imagined awaits her, Sabriel collects several allies to aid her on her quest.

I first found Sabriel as a young teenager. A copy popped up in the local used bookstore, and stayed there until I became an employee. It was one of the first books I purchased with my new earnings, and the only thing to endure it to me was the cover. The book itself had no synopsis on the jacket, just a girl with dark hair, a blue tunic, some odd looking bells, and a dark shadow with slits for eyes behind her. I couldn't leave it alone and finally read it straight through (staying up far too late to even manage school the next day). I was already well on my way to becoming a science fiction aficionado, having grown up on a healthy diet of Star Wars, Star Trek, Red Dwarf, and so many others. But Sabriel is the book that really launched me into fantasy. I have never been a fan of the epic, hundreds-of-pages-long fantasy series, so the fantasy I was familiar with was Alice in Wonderland and Narnia. Sabriel took that budding love and helped it bloom. At the age of 17, my lovely mother came home with a copy of Lirael and I cannot describe to you, dear read, the joy I felt at knowing that not only had Mr. Nix created a series with my beloved characters, it continued to be as different and wonderful as Sabriel first was to me.

Only a few months ago I was able to meet Mr. Nix when he came to America for a book tour for Clariel, the latest book in the Old Kingdom series. I couldn't contain myself, I actually wept tears of joy. I never thought I would ever meet him, as he lives literally on the other side of the planet from me. And he brought more exciting and wonderful news: he's continuing the Old Kingdom series. I can't wait to see what else he has planned for this world that has so shaped my own.

Post Script: If you, dear reader, are at all interested in audio books, Tim Curry reads the audio versions of Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen. They are the best audio books I've ever listened to, and an experience unto themselves. I highly recommend them!

Ladies and gentlemen, the following post is not for the faint of heart!

I am completely inspired to tell you all about my very favorite circus novel. Which is hard, because I love circus books. I don't know what it is about them - possibly the idea of the incredibly unknown life of a circus performer - but I can't help myself. If said book looks even remotely striped tent-y, I must have it! Must! Have! It! Why am I inspired to bring this to your attention at this particular moment, dear reader? Well, on Friday, my darling husband and I went to Kurios, the newest Cirque de Soleil show, for our birthdays (which are five days apart).

And so, I present to you Ladies and Gentlemen! The best book on earth! You won't be able to put it down! Step right up, step right up and I'll tell you all about Rain Village by Carolyn Turgeon!

I think this is one of the first really amazing novels centered around the circus that I read. And it is really amazing. Tessa Riley was a tiny baby. And as she grew, it was apparent she was going to be a smaller than average person. And in the early 1900s, born to abusive parents who own a working farm, being small is no excuse for skipping out on work. Yet Tessa can hardly do any of the chores due to her diminutive stature. In ignorance and viciousness, her Bible obsessed mother forces Tessa to hang from a rod set into the kitchen doorway - in hopes that it will force Tessa's body to stretch to a normal size.

Then, one day in her 12th year, Tessa heads into the small nearby town of Oakley, Kansas, and discovers that a new librarian has moved into town. Mary Finn is everything Tessa wants to be - educated, beautiful, normal-sized. Tessa begins to visit the library as much as her overbearing parents will allow, and slowly learns how to read and write from Mary. She also discovers the new librarian harbors a secret: she was once Marionetta, a trapeze flyer for the Velasquez Circus. Mary regales Tessa with stories of her days as a performer, and a mythical place called Rain Village. Tessa begs Mary to teach her the art of trapeze. And Mary finally caves. Just months after Mary arrives in Oakley, Tessa's father becomes sexually abusive, and Tessa knows she needs to get out.

What follows is an beautifully written discovery of ones worth and place in the world. As Tessa ventures into the world of the circus, her enormous personality wins over first the other performers, and then the audiences she entertains. This glorious book incorporates the mystical adventure of the circus with the realness of life.

After seeing Kurios, I've pulled out all of my favorite books about the circus. Rain Village is at the top of the stack, and this will be my third time reading it. If you're like me, dear reader, and absolutely dazzled by contortionists and strong men, trapeze artists and clowns, do yourself a favor and get a copy of Rain Village!

Full of nostalgia: Books from our past

Not three hours ago I was talking with my lovely coworker about books that we read in our childhood, and then have gone back to as adults. Not all of them hold up to our rigorous, intelligent adult minds - those minds that have gone through various levels of education, that have been inflated from all of the reading we've been doing from our very earliest years - but a note of longing for the first read always enters a nostalgic reread for me. No matter the quality of writing nor the content of the book itself.

So today's post is dedicated to a book I read (and read and read and read) as a teenager: The China Garden by Liz Berry. First published in 1994, I came to it through a dear friend of mind who insisted I read it. At that point in our friendship (I was probably about 14) I was desperately trying to impress said friend and so I read this book in one sitting. I curled up in bed and turned on Loreena McKennitt, and blissed out completely. The Celtic tones of Mummer's Dance perfectly suited this delicious book filled with slow building magic.

When Clare Meredith is dragged to the country by her mother, she's distraught. Leaving behind friends and a fella, not to mention the possibility of working before attending university, Clare is furious at having to stay at Ravensmere, a country estate. Until the mystical English countryside starts to seep into her, along with a magic that has lain dormant for far too long. Clare finds a new freedom, and purpose, within Ravensmere and the handsome Mark who hangs around.

Full of romance and the powerful magic of being almost grown up - and all the future has to hold - The China Garden is bursting with lovely writing, beautiful scenery. I would say this is one of my top five coming of age stories. What better way to read about growing up than in a novel staged at a beautiful English country manor, full of the light touch of magic and nighttime wanderings. Not to mention a sweet little cat in the role of guide, taking Clare through the journey that awaits her at Ravensmere.  I read The China Garden just as I was starting to believe I was an adult, but I still possessed the feeling that fairies and magic are real (something I've never really grown out of, let's be real and honest here...). Even with all of the phenomenal young adult novels about growing up and the trials and tribulations, The China Garden remains at the top of my list for so very many reasons. Sadly, it's out of print now, but easily attainable from biblio.com here or from your local library.