What Stephany Read in 2010

The Foundling by Georgette Heyer

Regency Buck by Georgette Heyer

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

This is the most recent Newberry Winner.  If you liked A Wrinkle in Time, you will like this.  In fact, you should probably re-read A Wrinkle in Time before you read this.

The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer

All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot

I finally read Herriot's books after my grandmother passed away when I heard how much she had loved them and how her copies were dog-eared and worn out.  What took me so long?  So good.

All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

Not my favorite of the year.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: A Flavia de Luce Mystery by Alan Bradley

Recommended to me by my good friend Heather.

The Dante Club: A Novel by Matthew Pearl

Great literary mystery recommended to me by my Aunt I.B.  Fictionalized account of the process of Longfellow's translation of Dante's Inferno with Longfellow and other real historical figures as characters in the novel.

The Toll-Gate by Georgette Heyer

Katherine Wentworth by D.E. Stevenson

The Marriage of Katherine by D.E. Stevenson

Gerald and Elizabeth by D.E. Stevenson

The House Of The Deer by D.E. Stevenson

The English Air by D.E. Stevenson (no image available)

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

Lisbeth Salander has grrl power!

Cousin Kate by Georgette Heyer

Sizzling Sixteen (Stephanie Plum) by Janet Evanovich

Liked it, but didn't love it...#15 was so funny, that it must have been hard to follow it up with the next one.

Beauvallet by Georgette Heyer

Very romantic, swashbuckling story.

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

Disturbing, but eerily romantic.

Lady of Quality by Georgette Heyer

Charity Girl by Georgette Heyer

Among the Hidden (Shadow Children #1) by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Another dystopian novel, recommended to me by my son Quinn.  God bless teachers who read aloud to their classes.

The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer

One of Heyer's most delightful and engaging heroines.  

Sylvester: or The Wicked Uncle by Georgette Heyer   

Some say this is Heyer's novel that most closely resembles Pride and Prejudice.  I enjoyed it, but it is not a strict re-telling of P&P.

The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer   

Hilarious!  "Fool" as hero/smartest guy in the room...like Pudd'nhead Wilson or The Scarlet Pimpernel.  Pat and I love this motif in stories.

Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games) by Suzanne Collins. 

 I can't say enough good things about this series.

The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer

Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer

Linger (Wolves of Mercy Falls, Book 2) by Maggie Stiefvater

Beautiful prose, but somewhat disappointing story.  I thought she should have let the first one stand alone with no sequel.

Sprig Muslin by Georgette Heyer

Friday's Child by Georgette Heyer

Sweet story about two young people who get married too young (or at least immature) and for all the wrong reasons, but grow up together and into love.

The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer

Ape House: A Novel by Sara Gruen

Not as good as Water for Elephants, but worth reading.

A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer

Not as happy a book as the rest of the Regency romances, but I liked it.  I choose to think that although the hero and heroine do not share a strong romantic bond, they find something equally worthwhile in a deep affection and friendship that develops into love.

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (audiobook)

I had read this book several years ago (I found it before Oprah!) and liked it a lot, so it was fun to revisit it in audio form while I was driving my car.

Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (audiobook)

I got a great deal from iTunes on audio versions of The Chronicles of Narnia.  So far we (the boys and I when we are in the car) have listened to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; and are halfway through The Silver Chair.  Yes, I do think that you should read them in publication order, not in Narnian chronological order.

Gifts for Book Lovers, Part Two

I found a few more things that I thought would be good gifts for the readers in your life.


4. First, another journal.  I don't have this one, but it popped up on Amazon as a suggestion for something I might like, and I do!  I don't own it, but added it to my Amazon wish list.  It has many reading suggestions and book lists that the previously discussed journal has as well as several other lists like the Barnes and Noble, Borders, and Target lists, and book club suggestions.  It also has charts to track what you've read, what you want to read, and how much you liked what you've read.




5. Pentel Automatic Crayon Pencil.  Don't let the word "crayon" throw you. This is an awesome dry highlighter, perfect for those of us who like to mark up our Bibles, first because you have eight colors all in one writing instrument which is handy if you have a system for highlighting in different colors and secondly, because this is a dry highlighter that doesn't bleed through thin Bible pages.  The texture of the leads falls somewhere between colored pencils and crayons.   My pastor's wife first told me about this, and I always carry one with my Bible now.  My three sons thought that my multi-colored highlighter was so cool that they each wanted one of their own and the two younger ones use theirs to do art projects.  You can buy refills at Amazon, and the leads are very easy to exchange so if you want to have more than the standard eight colors on hand, it is no problem.

6. Clothing.  I have enough shirts and sweatshirts about books that it could comprise my whole wardrobe if I wanted.  In other words, I could wear one every day of the week and not have to do laundry any more often than usual.  I love my book shirts.  Amazon has a few like the one pictured here, but there are other sites that have a better selection.  Check out Signals (I particularly like the Atlas Shrugged sweatshirt because I particularly like Atlas Shrugged) and its sister company Wireless.  I also really like the  Cafe Press site.  They not only have clothing, but many other gifts, decorations and trinkets to suit just about any interest.  Search "reading," "books," or even "Jane Austen" and you will come up with more gift ideas than you know what to do with.


7. Books!  No list of gifts for book lovers would be complete without actual books.  This year's best bets are two trilogies:  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (a Young Adult dystopian series, but good for adults too)
       and Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy (not a gentle read, my friends, but a nail-biting thriller featuring a tough-as-nails heroine that you love to love even though you probably would not be friends with her outside the pages of these books).

Happy shopping!

Gifts for Book Lovers

I love reading other people's lists about what to buy the book lover in your life during the Christmas season, so I thought I would do some checking around and find some things that I personally would recommend.  Here we go:

1. Reading Journals.  One day this past year the weirdest thing happened to me.  I received two reading journals from two completely different sets of people in my life, and it wasn't Christmas or my birthday.  Believe me, I felt loved.


This one is called Reading Journal:  For Book Lovers.  My two aunts, Amy and Susie (aside:  these are the wonderful women who introduced me to Jane Austen...I will be forever grateful), gave this to me because they know that reading is the passion of my life.  It is a nice little hardback with many pages to list individual books you have read.  It actually gives you two pages per book, including space for the title, author, rating, category, date started and finished, notes about the book and what subjects that book inspired you to learn about.  Then, randomly through the journal are pages for such things as favorite authors, books, children's books, places to read, and quotes from books.  There are also several other pages for various book trivia related specifically to you.  This includes such things as a page of literary superlatives (books that made me laugh the most, books that made me cry, characters I'd most want to be, places in books I would want to visit, etc.), a flow chart mapping how one book lead to others, literary face-offs (If I were an Austen heroine I'd be...; If I were a literary villain I'd be..., etc.), and several others.  My favorite aspect of this particular journal, though, is that there are several book lists in the back with boxes you can check off as you read the books.  These lists include several lists of awards like Pulitzer Prize Winners and Man Booker Prize Winners, as well as others; The Modern Library:  100 Best Novels; The Readers' List; BBC Top 100 Reads; Time Magazine Top 100 Novels; Oprah's Book Club Picks; and genre lists including Adventure favorites, Epic Novel favorites, Gothic/Horror favorites, Graphic Novel favorites, International favorites, Mystery/Detective favorites, as well as Romance, Science Fiction, and Spy Novels favorites.  Despite the length of this blog entry, I have not listed everything included.  I love this little book.

My Best-Friend-Since-Kindergarten gave me this journal.  I have used it so much.  It has three general sections:  Books to Read, Favorite Books and Passages, and Books Borrowed and Lent.  I constantly have books and DVD's lent out, and this journal has been invaluable in helping me keep track.  Thanks, Wendy!  I would recommend this journal for the person who is creative and needs a little less guidance in figuring out what to read and how to write about books, or who just wants to generally keep track.

There are many other journals about books out there, and almost any would be good for the reader in your life.  I linked to these two because I happen to be familiar with them and like them both a lot.

2. Books about books.  I have so many books about books, that I could not begin to list them all, so I thought I would highlight my two favorites, Book Lust and More Book Lust, both by Nancy Pearl.  (I want to assure those of you that know me personally that these books are not about lustful books.  They are about lust for books).  These books are permanent residents of my night stand.  Nancy Pearl is a librarian-cum-NPR commentator-cum-literature professor who authored/compiled these charming little books organized into categories you will never see anywhere else.  If there is a genre within genre within genre that you read, you will find it in her tables of contents.  Some examples of her categories of books include American History (a list of fiction and a list of nonfiction); A Dickens of a Tale; First Novels; Humor; I Love a Mystery; 100 Good Reads, Decade by Decade; Fiction for Foodies; Winston Churchill (various biographies); Florida Fiction; You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover; Russian Heavies; King Arthur; A...My Name is Alice; and I could go on and on.  Between the two books she has over 200 categories, so if you are casting about for your next read, if you have these two books handy, you will be able to find something that interests you.  Amongst the categories of books, she also lists various authors that are "Too Good to Miss."  When you turn to one of these sections in her books, you will find a brief description of the author's writing, as well as a list of his or her works.  Examples of authors that are too good to miss are P.G. Wodehouse, Lee Child, Ian McEwan, Carol Shields, and Iris Murcoch, among many others.

3. Kindle or NOOK (or iPad).  I'll let you do your research...WiFi or 3G, Color or E Ink...so many choices.

I actually just bought a NOOK color and  I am mostly happy with it, although, I can certainly see the advantages of going with a Kindle.  I bought the NOOK Color because of the color touch screen and because so far this is the only eReader that is backlit.  I have found several disadvantages, though.  Since it is a color screen, it does not have the amazing eInk and will be very difficult to read outside.  It is also only WiFi...no 3G model yet, so I can only get my books instantly if I am in a WiFi Hotspot, and since we don't have WiFi at our house yet, this is a problem.  When I bought it I thought I would be able to sync it to the computer with the included USB cable, but so far this is not possible.  The USB cable is only for adding pictures, music, and I think short videos to the NOOK.  I am hoping that they have a software update that allows you to sync from the website, as I'm told by a friend this is possible on the regular NOOK.

This is the wave of the future, folks, and even though I will never be completely without books with paper pages (Heaven forbid!), I am excited that I will be able to store so many books without taking up so much space in the house.  Do you think they will ever be able to invent a NOOK or Kindle with that new book smell, though?

By the way, don't buy the NOOK products through these Amazon links.  Buy them from Barnes and Noble.  Amazon has these prices jacked up way higher than they are at B&N because NOOK is the Kindle's biggest competitor.


More to come soon...

Book Review: Ape House by Sara Gruen

I just finished Ape House, the much anticipated follow up to Water for Elephants, which was a book that I highly enjoyed and is one of the first things I recommend when friends or family ask me what they should read.  Unfortunately, almost everyone I know has now read Water for Elephants, so I pretty much can't suggest it anymore.  All my friends to whom I lent it or at least suggested it ("all save one," to borrow from Shakespeare in Love) delighted in the book as much as me and thought it was one of the cleverest "murder mysteries" to come along in a long time.

Alas, as is the case with so many authors' works, the follow up (not a sequel in this case), does not compare favorably with the "masterpiece" that came before it.  The plot is not as intricate nor as gripping in Ape House, and it was hard for me to get very emotionally involved in the story.

In a nutshell, the plot revolves around Isabel Duncan, a scientist who works with bonobo apes in an ape language lab set at the University of Kansas (Go Jayhawks!) and John Thigpen (yes, the name is klunky, but there is humor in the book addressing this awkwardness), a journalist who interviews both Isabel and the apes right before the language lab is blown up, thereby "freeing" the apes.  Isabel is severely injured, and the apes mysteriously disappear, then suddenly reappear on a "reality" television show.  Together, John and Isabel investigate the mystery of the explosion and try to discover who is behind the exploitative television series.

Despite my overall opinion that it is not as well-written as Water for Elephants, I wonder what I would have thought had I never read that first book, because there are things I truly like about Ape House and I do think it is worth the time to read it.  It wasn't one that I "couldn't put down," but it was very sweet in parts.

Except for the villains, of course, I truly liked the characters.  John's marriage is troubled, and at first I thought his wife was going to be a vain, shallow, one-dimensional character, but the author surprised me.  Despite her flaws, I truly was rooting for Amanda in her struggle to find her identity and self-worth.  I was also rooting for John, even though at times he and Amanda were at cross-purposes.  It takes a skillful writer, in my opinion, to write about a stressful marriage and make neither partner the villain and further, create sympathy for both in the mind of the reader.

The apes are also characters, maybe even more so than the elephant in WFE.  We come to know and love the bonobos who have learned to communicate through American Sign Language.  These include Bonzi, the alpha female; her baby Lola; Mbongo, who teaches John that apes can get offended/have their feelings hurt; and the pregnant Makena, as well as several others.  At one point in the book, Isabel says they are her family.  We get hints that Isabel grew up in a less than ideal human family as a girl, but I wish the author had fleshed her backstory out a little more.

Other intriguing characters include Celia (Isabel's assistant or secret radical activist?); Peter, Isabel's fiance who may not be what he appears on the surface; and the green-haired boy who takes strong exception whenever he sees someone eating meat and who has a surname that is eerily familiar to John.  Not to mention the aging porn star bent on revenge and determined to make a life for herself.

The author also cleverly works in the Fred Phelps cult (I refuse to call them a church) by having them protesting at the Ape House reality show as the "Eastborough Baptist Church" (Ha!)  Since the show turns into a media circus, I know Sara Gruen is right and that his clan would be there in all its ridiculous glory.

Overall, I did like this book and I would recommend it.  When I was finished, I was sad, not so much that I was done with the book, but that I was done with the characters and would not find out what happened next in their lives.

Give me some feedback and let me know what you think, both about Ape House and my review.  Happy Reading!

P.S.  This is a fairly clean read.

One Happy Mom

I am so happy for my son Quinn right now.  He is reading The Hunger Games  and can't put it down.  Nothing pleases me more as a mother and a reader than to see one of my boys walking around with his nose in a book, oblivious to the world around him.  At this moment in time, Quinn wold rather be reading this book than playing the Wii, his Nintendo DS, or sitting in front of any other kind of screen.  Oh, joy!  And last night, when I told him it was time to turn out his light, it was music to my ears when he replied, "But Mom, I only have six more chapters!"

Books transport us to other times and other places and allow us to meet, even become new people.  I know some characters in books better than I know my friends.  I have visited Pemberly in England even though I have never physically been in Europe.  Right now Quinn is in Panem having the adventure of his life, hanging out with Katniss, Rue, Peeta and Gale, and there is nowhere I'd rather have him be.

Dad

LYNDON - Gilliland, Delton M., 70, passed away on Wednesday, September 29, 2010, at a Wichita hospital. He was born on June 21, 1940, on the family farm north of Lyndon, the son of Frank and Lucille Parker Gilliland. 

Delton earned a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from K.U. in 1964 and worked for Boeing in Wichita for 3 years. He attended K.U. for his law degree, was on the University of Kansas Law Review from 1968-70 and was admitted to the bar in 1970. He was Law Clerk for the Idaho State Supreme Court, 1970-71 and was Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for Ada County, Idaho from 1972-74. He then moved back to Lyndon where he joined the firm of Coffman, Jones & Hederstedt, which later became Coffman, Jones & Gilliland. 

Delton was a member of the Osage County and Kansas Bar Associations. He became Osage County Counselor in 1989 and County Administrator in 2002. He had served as Past Master of the Euclid Lodge #101 in Lyndon and the Ridgeway Lodge #62 at Overbrook. He served as District Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Kansas and was a Scottish Rite Mason in Topeka. He was a member of the Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War and the Sons of the American Revolution. 

On January 21, 1967, Delton married Janet Mustard in Wichita. Delton is survived by his wife, Jan of the home; his two daughters, Stephany Hughes (Pat) of Leon and Lindy May (Karl) of Clearwater; his son, Josh Gilliland of San Diego, CA.; three brothers, Darrel Gilliland (Susan) of Topeka, Frank Gilliland (Betsy) of Holton, Milton Gilliland (Becky) of Topeka; three sisters, Ina Beth Jordan (Jim) of Centennial, CO., Amy Feitel (Tom) of Tulsa, OK., and Susan King (Mike) of Republic, MO.; five grandsons, Ian Hughes, Quinn Hughes, Parker May, Colin Hughes and Brody May. 

Funeral services for Delton will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, October 4, 2010 at the Feltner Funeral Chapel in Lyndon. Burial will be in the Lyndon Cemetery. Delton will lie in state from 3-5 p.m. on Sunday at the funeral chapel where the family will recieve friends from 3:30-5:0pm. Memorial cotributions may be made payable to The ARC of Sedgwick County, for the Y.E.S.S. Preogram which serves children with special needs, and sent in care of Feltner Funeral Home, 818 Topeka Ave., Lyndon, KS. 66451.

Abstinence

The subtitle to my blog says it is about my faith, family and books.  As it turns out, I have mostly written about the books I am reading, but my faith is far and away the most important thing in my life.  As a Christian, I really liked this article about abstinence by Steven Crowder called Why NOT Having Sex Might Be Good For You and it really moved me.  Mr. Crowder, who apparently is in a long-term relationship and is abstinent, does not concentrate on the health reasons for abstinence (although he does mention them in passing), but rather focuses on the bond of trust that is fostered between two people who choose to remain chaste while in a relationship.  When you show your partner that you are able to control yourself and postpone gratification now, that partner knows that you are trustworthy and will make a good spouse because you will be able to control yourself and remain faithful later.  It was beautifully written and gave a logical and loving reason for choosing abstinence before marriage.  I encourage you to read it if you are interested.

Book Review: Shiver and Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

"Most people had an acquired kind of beauty--they became better looking the longer you knew them and the better you loved them."  This is the sentence that most struck me as I read Linger and is the most likely to stick with me.  I have long held this sentiment, but had never managed to put it into such beautiful language as Maggie Stiefvater uses in this sequel to Shiver.  And this lovely prose is the strength of both books.  A reader could open either book to any random page and find an exquisite passage to roll around on the brain and the tongue.  I remember that Oprah once described a certain book club pick as "liquid poetry."  That is what kept coming to my mind as I read Linger, and I do recommend reading both Shiver and Linger for the sheer pleasure of exulting in Stiefvater's bewitching prose.

Despite my delight in this aspect of Linger, I did not care for the story.  To me, Shiver was a near-perfect book that stood on its own and needed no sequel.  I will admit that it has been quite some time since I read Shiver, but I remember it as complete...everything resolved, no threads left hanging.  When I read Linger, it seemed to me that perhaps Stiefvater's publisher had put pressure on her to come up with a sequel because the first book had been such a success.  I know nothing of the sort; that is only conjecture on my part because the plot in Linger seemed contrived.  The author had to (in some sense) "change the rules" of the werewolf phenomenon that affects the main characters.  So,  we went from book #1, in which the plot and conflicts are laid out and then resolved in a clear and rational way, within the confines of a fantasy story, to Linger, where what we thought we knew, especially regarding the "cure," is turned on its head and a new set of much more nebulous rules regarding the "disease" and "cure" are laid out.  Shiver felt like a complete book with a satisfying conclusion, while Linger felt inadequate and left me restless, but not in the same way a good cliffhanger, such as Suzanne Collins's Catching Fire, leaves us breathlessly awaiting the next installment in a series.  Stiefvater may be setting us up for the next in a series, and I am sure I will read it, but in my mind, I would prefer to leave Sam and Grace in Shiver and be satisfied with their fates, rather than move on with them to Linger where they are in that nebulous ever-after.

Another thing that I don't like about the books is the author's treatment of parents.  All the parents in the books are one-dimensional and range from outright cruel (Sam's) to merely neglectful and disinterested (Grace's in Shiver).  I won't say much else except to say that the only good parents are the parental figures (i.e., Beck) and none of the natural parents show any kind of love for their own children nor even any common sense.

So, my conclusion is that I recommend Shiver, especially to "Team Jacob" readers of the Twilight series. It is richer and more skillfully written than Meyer's books (although some may think Stiefvater borrowed certain elements, such as otherworldly boy sneaking up to girl's room every night), but parents should read it first and be prepared to discuss any negative elements and decide on age-appropriateness.  As for Linger, as I said above, if you are a lover of language for its own sake, I think you should read it because Ms. Stiefvater writes so beautifully that it might make your eyes sting with tears at times, but if you are more interested in a satisfying werewolf story, read Shiver and don't go on.

Check back with me if a third book in this series ever comes out.  I may have changed my mind completely.

Book Review: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Not since the final Harry Potter have I so anticipated a book release.  I loved, loved, loved The Hunger Games and Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) and could not wait to read Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games).  When it finally arrived, the first thing I did was open it to the middle and inhale, and it smelled wonderful.  I think the smell of a new, highly anticipated book gives me more pleasure than a bouquet of a dozen roses.

I am honestly still not sure what I think of Mockingjay.  Did it blow my socks off, as foreseen?  Yes!  Did I like it?  Not sure.  Do I recommend reading it?  Yes, I think so, with one caveat:  the audience for this book, at least as far as content, should be a little older than the first two.  While both THG and CF include heavy themes that require the reader to really engage and contemplate such issues as freedom, totalitarianism, and self- sacrifice, and certainly contain violence, Mockingjay ups the ante.  There is scene after scene of bizarre and grisly violence and [spoiler alert] several beloved characters die difficult (to say the least) deaths.  The author has said that she wishes to give a clear view of the realities and consequences of war and violence.  So, while some parts are difficult to read, I am encouraging my 9th-grade son to read it, but will probably have my Middle School son (who has a vivid imagination) to hold off for a year or two.

Mockingjay opens with our Katniss a broken girl.  She is given to avoidance and isolation and has taken to hiding out in various nooks around the District 13 underground.  Again, I believe the author is trying to illustrate war's effects by giving Katniss some form of PTSD.  But, the resistance needs its Mockingjay, so Katniss must rise to the occasion, and rise she does.  She will never again be the same (nearly) innocent girl we met in THG, so she must learn to change and grow under the horrific conditions of the totalitarian government of Panem and now the war between the government and the rebels.

I am not sure that I would call Mockingjay a satisfying conclusion to the series, but it is definitely a conclusion, and while I do not feel it measures up to the first two in the series, it is very much worth reading to find out what happens to Panem and the characters we have come to love such as Katniss, Gale and Peeta.  And speaking of Gale and Peeta, I will not say how this love triangle is resolved, but I will say that I was disappointed by how the author dealt with the man that was not chosen by Katniss.  Both Gale and Peeta were deep and rich characters and the one not chosen was written off with what I thought was a perfunctory sentence dismissing what he had meant to Katniss and the connection they shared throughout the books.

My conclusion is that Suzanne Collins is an amazingly gifted author.  Though I was disappointed with aspects of Mockingjay, this series overall is fantastic and I love how the books stretch the mind and make  the reader think about our relationship to our government, our responsibility for our own destiny, self-sacrifice, and the difficult choices we may have to make for the ones we love.


If you want to read another perspective, see Jen Robinson's review here.  Jen Robinson is a book blogger whose opinion I highly respect and if you are a teacher or have children still living at home, you should follow her blog.  I was glad to see that her views about the age-appropriateness of Mockingjay were pretty much the same as mine.