sheelysmom

• Rated 3 stars

“To read The Mysterious Death of Miss Austen is to meet the illustrious Miss Austen before she has become a published author. Our narrator Miss Sharp, a lowly governess, comes into the acquaintance of Miss Austen through her employer (Jane's brother), and their acquaintance soon turns into a friendship. As Miss Sharp recounts all of her various interactions with Miss Austen and her family, she slowly begins to unravel the secrets and infidelities within the Austen family. From overheard conversations and personal interactions, she picks up and tries to piece together any clues that could help her understand whether or not Jane was murdered - and if so, by whom.

And there you have it.

I did not love it.

The writing was just not sharp or particularly amazing. I didn't love the character development - no one stood out as someone I was eager to read about, even our narrator felt mostly nosy and she honestly made me uncomfortable sometimes. I guess this could be a spoiler, but you figure it out in the first chapter: the crux of it is that Miss Sharp was completely infatuated with Jane. In love with her, in lust with her, however you want to say it. And so her deep desires to get at the root of what happened to Jane just fell flat for me, it felt very forced. Sometimes I just did not want to be in her head, frankly, and yet other times I did feel sympathetic for her plight. It know it would be hard to be a lesbian in a time period where there was absolutely no way to live that lifestyle without either being so rich you can get away with anything or being a complete outcast.

What did I like? The time period. A few of the minor characters were intriguing. I like the idea of it and the actual mystery itself was good, I think, I just didn't like the story. If it is possible to like one and not the other :)”

sheelysmom wrote this review 21 hours ago. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 5 stars

“A tragedy leads to the eighteen-month-old Bod Owens being raised in a graveyard. Yes. Raised by ghosts, the spirits of those who were buried in the tombs and under the earth of that fenced sanctuary. In this space, Bod is safe from those who would harm him - and so, for years, he stays. He learns and grows, taught by the ancient (and not so ancient) souls that were interred in his graveyard. Occasionally "alive" people stumble their way into his life, but generally his experience is with the dead, (and the more ghoulishly and frightening creatures of the underworld). What the dead have to teach him, and what he finds out for himself, will prove to be priceless as he grows older and realizes just how much the world has in store for him - both the good and the terrifying.

Having never read any Neil Gaiman before, I had absolutely no idea of what to expect from this book. What I had heard about it when it won the Newbery didn't sound appealing to me, so I was so pleasantly surprised by how much I really, really liked it. I kept thinking to myself, as the plot was laid out, "what a great idea for a story." I just liked the novelty of Bod's situation - my disbelief suspended itself without any effort at all and I enjoyed the ride of his experiences. It was clever, moved quickly, make me chuckle more than once, and ended well (my favorite kind of ending where all the random stuff throughout the book is wrapped up in a tricky way). Bod is a sympathetic character, with a great arc of growth and coming-into-his-own.

So, yeah. I really liked it. Enough to try more Gaiman. Other suggestions?”

sheelysmom wrote this review 7 days ago. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“What if, by accident, you found out that the man you called father wasn't actually your father - not actually the man who gave you life? And what if your mother refused to tell you the story? How far would you go to learn about a family you'd never met?

This was Maria Sutton's reality. Born in a Displaced Persons camp in Germany in the aftermath of World War II, she arrived in the United States when she was still very young. Beyond knowing that her mother was born in a tiny village in the Ukraine, the rest of her history was a secret. But Maria wanted to know - wanted her own history and needed the details of her own story. As you can imagine, such a search brings both heartache and joy, especially when your family has been the victims of a period of time like World War II. Her search takes her, literally, all across the globe as she tries to piece together her family tree.

Maria's story is a pretty amazing one. The things she is able to learn and the people she is able to meet are nothing short of miraculous. I think that this book would be very inspirational to family history buffs anywhere, especially because of all the different kinds of records she looks at to find clues in a part of the world that was absolutely ravaged by war.

Very readable, The Night Sky sometimes waxed a bit redundant. The writing wasn't super polished and I'm not a big fan of extensive foreshadowing, but for the kind of story she had to tell, the narrative flowed quite well. I appreciated that she didn't make excuses for her own behavior or anyone else's and when she didn't know the details about a particular event, she gave solid historical information to flesh things out. It was also interesting to hear about people who were persecuted by the Germans who were not Jewish - their experiences during the war don't seem to be quite as well documented although as many of them were slaughtered. A solid 4 stars, not only for a book that kept my attention (all the pictures helped) but for the sheer amount of knowledge that this one woman was able to find out about a family that was lost to her.”

sheelysmom wrote this review 11 days ago. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“Well. I finished it. If you haven't attempted reading this book, then you may not appreciate what an accomplishment this is.

Imagine the world of knights and maidens, Robin Hood and the bratty Prince John, an England that is not yet the unified blend of Norman and Saxon that it is today. A contentious time, where allegiances guide lives, battles and the tide of a country. As much as this book is a story, it also plays at being a sort of history of the period.

Ivanhoe is a disinherited son, a distinguished soldier and an honorable friend to King Richard. He loves the beautiful Saxon Rowena, whom he is unable to wed. There are all kinds of villains, jousting (of course), a fierce and bloody battle, woodland warriors, as well as all kinds of wicked church-men. Either you are for the defeated Saxons, you fear John enough to support him or you are holding out for King Richard. Whichever you choose, you'd better be ready to die for that loyalty or be ready to get out of the country quick.

Really, only about three major interesting things happen, unfortunately. And even those things are so drawn-out and so heavily-laden with bigotry, anti-semitism and just plain egocentrism that sometimes it was all I could do to keep reading. I get that Scott was trying to be true to the time period, but caricature without depth is just annoying to read. On the other hand, though, the Jewess Rebecca is a very interesting and sympathetic character. Her beauty and conviction just weren't enough to carry all the boring parts. Also, Scott just tended to use twenty words when five would have sufficed and when you have to read that for 400+ pages, it gets exhausting.

I just didn't appreciate it. Maybe if I hadn't already read and absolutely loved The Once and Future King, I might have appreciated it more. I can absolutely tell TOaFK looks to Ivanhoe as its forefather - I thought of it often, especially with both novels' present-and-commenting-narrator style (which I like). I DID like that in Ivanhoe I found so much familiar lore - this book and its portrayal of that period of time is truly something that's become a part of our English culture's fabric, and that's SOMETHING. However, If you have to pick one of these really long medieval books to read, I personally would recommend The Once and Future King instead.”

sheelysmom wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“Well. I finished it. If you haven't attempted reading this book, then you may not appreciate what an accomplishment this is.

Imagine the world of knights and maidens, Robin Hood and the bratty Prince John, an England that is not yet the unified blend of Norman and Saxon that it is today. A contentious time, where allegiances guide lives, battles and the tide of a country. As much as this book is a story, it also plays at being a sort of history of the period.

Ivanhoe is a disinherited son, a distinguished soldier and an honorable friend to King Richard. He loves the beautiful Saxon Rowena, whom he is unable to wed. There are all kinds of villains, jousting (of course), a fierce and bloody battle, woodland warriors, as well as all kinds of wicked church-men. Either you are for the defeated Saxons, you fear John enough to support him or you are holding out for King Richard. Whichever you choose, you'd better be ready to die for that loyalty or be ready to get out of the country quick.

Really, only about three major interesting things happen, unfortunately. And even those things are so drawn-out and so heavily-laden with bigotry, anti-semitism and just plain egocentrism that sometimes it was all I could do to keep reading. I get that Scott was trying to be true to the time period, but caricature without depth is just annoying to read. On the other hand, though, the Jewess Rebecca is a very interesting and sympathetic character. Her beauty and conviction just weren't enough to carry all the boring parts. Also, Scott just tended to use twenty words when five would have sufficed and when you have to read that for 400+ pages, it gets exhausting.

I just didn't appreciate it. Maybe if I hadn't already read and absolutely loved The Once and Future King, I might have appreciated it more. I can absolutely tell TOaFK looks to Ivanhoe as its forefather - I thought of it often, especially with both novels' present-and-commenting-narrator style (which I like). I DID like that in Ivanhoe I found so much familiar lore - this book and its portrayal of that period of time is truly something that's become a part of our English culture's fabric, and that's SOMETHING. However, If you have to pick one of these really long medieval books to read, I personally would recommend The Once and Future King instead.”

sheelysmom wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“When I sat down to read this book to my nine year old, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I was hopeful that it wouldn’t be TOO graphic for my boy, and I was also hopeful that it wouldn’t bore me. I lucked out on both accounts.

War Horse is the story of Joey, a beautiful and unique creature who becomes completely attached to a British boy named Albert. As Albert comes of age with Joey by his side, they create a wonderfully reciprocal relationship, a relationship whose course is drastically changed by the advent of The Great War.

What I particularly liked about this story is that it is told from the point of view of our horse, Joey. It’s Joey’s journey that we follow as he becomes a cog in the wheel of the great British War Machine. His experiences throughout the war in France give us as readers the unique opportunity to learn about the war from the point of view of a creature without political or cultural views. All our narrator wants is a warm place to stay, some good food to eat, and a job that he is able to do without pain – and anyone who treats him kindly is a character to be appreciated.

Rarely do we get to read about “the bad guys” and feel sympathy for them, but I loved that this book shows us that there are good and kind people on both sides of any conflict – and that war makes no judgments about who gets killed. Reading War Horse really made me think about how, horse or human, a life is a life is a life, the loss of which is always a tragedy.

Yes, there is wartime violence. Yes, there is death and mean dads and barbed wire. This book is not for people who will be upset by bad things happening to good people (note that there are a few curse words that I edited out in my read-aloud). But there are these beautiful and touching moments, where Morpurgo really captures the amazing ability of animals to be a peaceful influence and a common denominator. I was brought to tears more than once. My darling boy begged for more at the end of every single chapter, and we read the last pages with me on the floor, leaning against his bed with his head on my shoulder. When we finished, he asked me, "has this author written anything else??"

That’s a winner for me.
”

sheelysmom wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“If you haven't already read Starcrossed, you should. Then come back and read this review of its sequel, which I liked just as much.

Digger is back in the city and in a heartbeat, she's in back in the thick of things - this time, she's been roped into helping her old friend Durrell. He's been imprisoned for killing his wife. Only, he says he didn't. And Digger believes him. So with the help of friends old and new, Digger starts to do what she does best - dig. Dig for information, clues, and not a little trouble. Soon enough the Durrell's murder case turns into something even bigger and involving way more than just one dead woman. Why is there traces of magic around Durrell's house? What sort of work was Durrell's wife INTO, anyway? The things Digger learns not only bring her closer to helping Durrell but reveal to her how high the stakes really are in a city on the brink of war, where magic is a death sentence.

I am not generally a mystery fan, but this blend of mystery and fantasy really hit the spot for me. I liked how I never even knew who to believe or what lead to follow. Digger is still a great and complicated character and Durrell is a charmer, that's for sure. I really do like this fantasy world Bunce has created, all the different moons and their gods - the culture of the city adds to the depth of the story. I think a few things at the end tidied themselves up a BIT too quickly and nicely - I expected the war to be a bit more a part of it, but I didn't actually MIND that I was wrong. And wow, if there was ever an ending to make you want to read more! I'll be following Digger wherever her story takes her.”

sheelysmom wrote this review Wednesday, January 11, 2012. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Digger is a thief. A pickpocket. A young woman that can satisfy any of your thieving needs - for a price. But when she is horribly separated from her partner, she has to flee the city before she gets caught by those who are willing to kill for the packet of letters she managed to hold on to. Quickly making up a new name and a new past, she manages to connect herself to a noble family as a companion for their daughter - but Digger's secret skill, combined with her sticky fingers, gets her embroiled in far more dangerous exploits at the castle than she'd bargained for. In a world where the use of magic leads to a sure beheading, Digger knows how high the risks are. She just has to decide if she really can care enough about these "nobs" to want to help them.

This book was so incredibly fun. I think it's been a long time since I read a real fantasy - where it takes a long time to remember all the strange names and places and there is a whole history you get to learn. It took a while to get into this one, I'll be honest, but about 50 or 75 pages in, I was completely hooked. I thought the characters were fresh and interesting, the political intrigue had me completely going and I liked all the little mysteries throughout. In fact, I liked it so much that I put this one down and immediately began the sequel. 4.5 stars, only because it took me a little long to get into it.
”

sheelysmom wrote this review Sunday, January 8, 2012. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“Don't touch Juliette. Bad things happen when you touch her. Things so bad that she's thrown into prison, alone in a cell until the day that Adam arrives. Adam who looks shockingly familiar. Adam who is going to play a big part in her story as she suddenly has to choose if and how to use her own strangely-X-men-type powers. In a world we've destroyed where survival depends on listening to orders and not making any ways, Juliette has to find someone she can trust before she doesn't have any options left.



So. I didn't love it. The plot is interesting enough that I read it in a day (although, at the end I had a slap-the-forehead-COME ON kind of moment) but the writing style pretty much drove me crazy. The author does all these "strikeouts" that are supposed to tell us Juliette's inner thoughts but WOW I was not a fan. There are a lot of textual things that just grated on me - the repetition of thoughts, the CONSTANT, and I mean every page, discussion about some point of Juliette's body - her heart, her lungs, her mind, how overwhelmed it is or how terrified or pounding with love - and maybe the author is trying to point out that because Juliette has never touched people that she's super body-aware but it got really annoying.



For a young adult novel, it is steamy, for sure. I liked the romantic plot line, in that the development of their relationship felt authentic and I liked Adam as a sensitive bad-guy/good-guy, but Juliette. The juxtaposition of her amazing strengths and her serious weaknesses just fell flat for me most of the time. Surely there will be a sequel and I'm actually on the fence as to whether or not I'll try it. The ending felt like she was really shoving so much at us in a super short time so that the sequel could start where she wanted it to. We'll see.”

sheelysmom wrote this review Friday, January 6, 2012. ( reply | permalink )

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 4 stars

“The subtitle of this book is Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity. I find that term, Undercity, an interesting one, since this book is about a community of people who literally live under the shadow of the wealth and power that resides in this financial capital of India, but also the fact that those who live there are the underneath of society, those whose earning capacity and material wealth are at the bottom of the heap.

Annawadi is the name of the slum where Katherine Boo attempts, for us Westerners, to breathe some life into what people, right now, are living through. She is a completely omniscient narrator - the fact that she is THERE, either watching or hearing the story from someone who was, must be assumed by the mind of the reader because this book reads like a fictional narrative. There are several main characters that we get to know and at the end of the book, the author gives a bit of discussion as to why she chose to focus on these people (and I had to keep telling myself, these are REAL PEOPLE, who could live on my street if life had dealt them a different hand).

I shall be honest: this is a harsh book. It hurt my heart. It made me want to pretend it wasn't real. Sometimes I was so frustrated that I had a hard time believing people could be THAT corrupt, that false, that desperate - I almost became cynical. But then there were these moments when you could see that these people wanted so much more than they were able to procure for themselves - that to be absolutely poor in a sense that I cannot even fathom, will do things to you that until we've experienced it, we can't understand. There IS hope there, but it is hope that has to be fought for so hard, against forces so beyond your control, that the fact that there is any at all is a miracle.

The complete lack of sanitation, medical care and basic necessities can lead to unfortunate choices - theft, prostitution, bribery, embezzlement, suicide, you name it. People will do amazing and horrible things to survive. You might have a job sorting through stolen trash to find things you can sell to a recycler. Or you might steal the trash yourself. We get a hands-on look at the justice system among these lowest of the low - and I guarantee you'll want to hit your head against the wall just reading it.

It's hard to give any kind of rating to a book like this. Is it well-written, cohesive? Yes. Does the author include relevant factual information when appropriate to flesh out the story? Yes. Was it fun to read? No. Do you feel good when you're done reading? No. Am I glad I did? Yes. Am I still thinking about it? Absolutely”

sheelysmom wrote this review Thursday, January 5, 2012. ( reply | permalink )