Monday, November 5, 2012

Julie's Review: Girls' Poker Night

Summary: Dissatisfied both with writing a “Single Girl on the Edge/ Ledge/Verge” lifestyle column and with her boyfriend (who has a name for his car and compulsively collects plastic bread ties), Ruby Capote sends her best columns and a six-pack of beer to the editor of The New York News and lands herself a new job in a new city. In New York, Ruby undertakes the venerable tradition of Poker Night—a way (as men have always known) to eat, drink, smoke, analyze, interrupt one another, share stories, and, most of all, raise the stakes. There’s Skorka, model by profession, homewrecker by vocation; Jenn, willing to cross county lines for true love; Danielle, recently divorced, seducer of at least one father/son combo in her quest to make up for perceived “missed opportunities.” When Ruby falls for her boss, Michael, all bets are off. He’s a challenge. He’s her editor. And he wants her to stop being quippy and clever and become the writer—and the woman—he knows she can be. Adding to Ruby’s uncertainty is his amazing yet ambiguous kiss in the elevator, and the enjoyably torturous impasse of he-loves-me, he-loves-me-not. What happens when you realize that Mr. Right has his own unresolved past? Where does that leave the future you envisioned? Ruby knows that happy endings aren’t for cowards, and she hasn’t lost hope that there are risks worth taking. As smart as it is laugh-out-loud funny, Girls’ Poker Night is a twenty-first-century His Girl Friday and a re-freshingly upbeat look at friendship, work, and love. ~amazon.com

Review: You know how you want to like a book and you have high hopes for it but then it lets you down? That was my experience with Girls' Poker Night: A Novel of High Stakes. It just didn't do anything for me in the end. There were a couple of parts where I laughed and I did like Ruby. Although I wouldn't want to be Ruby's friend because she's the kind of friend who tries to make everything better by making a joke out of it. Sure, I like a friend who cracks jokes and makes me laugh but I also want a friend who I know will really listen to me. I'm not sure Rudy knows how to listen. She is a good hearer but listener is questionable. The " tell jokes to cover up my pain" got old for me quickly.

I get that her dad leaving and then dying scared her but I just felt that she kept people at arms length because she didn't want to have to open up. She settled for being less than her true self. When Michael pushed her to be better than she was, she fled by finding something that wasn't perfect about him. I will say that Michael's past was certainly not what I was expecting and happy it wasn't the typical chick-lit paths.

I liked her group of friends and I liked how they eventually went at her about opening herself up. You can't be in friendships and have your friends always confessing without giving up some of your own secrets.

I also didn't like the flow of the writing style. It seemed to choppy and jumped around a lot. I don't mind feeling like I'm in a character's head but it didn't suit this book.

This is the 2nd book I've read by Jill A. Davis and I can't say that I'd be real anxious to read another one.

Final Take: 3/5

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Sunday, November 4, 2012

Children's Corner: Warduff and the Corncob Caper

 Corncob Farm has a problem... there's a fox on the loose, he's coming for dinner and the animals are afraid that they are on the menu.  They call in Warduff the cat to help them out of their predicament.   Soon Warduff has a plan and Operation Corncob is underway...

Warduff's plan to save the animals and trick the fox is creative and fun to watch in action.  Oddly, it reminded me a little of an Aardman (Shaun the Sheep/Timmy Time/Wallace and Gromit) story in it's humor so it was not a huge surprise to find out the author is British -we love British humor!  This is an imaginative, fun, problem solving story with fabulous, richly colored illustrations.  ...and it's a bed time favorite in our house this week.  
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Monday, October 29, 2012

Jenn's Review: Howl's Moving Castle

 Summary:  In which a witch bewitched the hatter's daughter - and then some....

Sophie lived in the town of Market Chipping, which was in Ingary, a land in which anything could happen, and often did - especially when the Witch of the Waste got her dander up. Which was often.

As her younger sisters set out to seek their fortunes, Sophie stayed in her father's hat shop. Which proved most unadventurous, until the Witch of the Waste came in to buy a bonnet, but was not pleased. Which is why she turned Sophie into an old lady. Which was spiteful witchery.

Now Sophie must seek her own fortune. Which means striking a bargain with the lecherous Wizard Howl. Which means entering his ever-moving castle, taming a blue fire-demon, and meeting the Witch of the Waste head-on. Which was more than Sophie bargained for...


Review:  Two of my favorite all-time novels from my teen and pre-teen years were written by Diana Wynne Jones, Howl's Moving Castle and Fire and Hemlock.  I feel compelled to re-read them every few years and was shocked when I realized that not only have I never reviewed them, but I've never reviewed any of the late Ms. Jones' books.  These two books held the first protagonists I ever connected with on a personal level; I never knew books could do that. Diana Wynne Jones changed me from an avid reader into a voracious reader.


I suppose it might seem odd that I connected with a young girl who is turned into an old woman, but I was born an old soul and I understood her fear of failure and her resignation towards being too responsible to ever have an adventure. I love the way Sophie discovers that things aren't always as they appear, that your fortune is what you make of it, and adventure happens when you least expect it. I adore that she wrote a magical land that views our reality as strange and magical in itself. 

Though her prose were never overly complicated, her depth of meaning never ceases to amaze me.  With each reading I catch a new reference I didn't notice before or another layer of subtext. It's amazing how your perspective shifts as a book ages with you. What was a book about magic and coming of age has become a study in perspective, relationships, and ultimately love.  In a way it reminds me of the cleverness of Jim Henson in that there is that level of maturity that the reader can absorb or if not, still enjoy the story at face value.   

I have seen Hayao Miyazaki's film of Howl's Moving Castle, and while I appreciate the interpretation, I feel like the relationships were over simplified and that the story lost its edge.   There is something foreboding about a castle that hovers around which is lost when you make the artistic decision to give the castle legs. It's also why I prefer the original cover art... There is a delicious darkness about it. 

So perhaps I ascribe more to this than I ought to because it carries such fond memories, but to this day, it's one of my favorite reads.

Final Take:  5/5
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Sunday, October 28, 2012

Julie's Review: Plant a Kiss

Review: I grabbed this book off the bookshelf at the library and it has quickly been one of our gone to books at night. It is a simple, sweet and kind book. It is about a little girl who plants a kiss and instead of keeping it for herself, she shares it and by doing so discovers what how happiness comes from sharing.

The illustrations are simple but delightful and capture the essence of the story being told. It also has a touchable part weaved into the illustrations which my son discovered.

Now that we've read it so much, he knows the story by heart. I love hearing him "read" it to me and ask questions about what is going on in the story. He wants to know everything about why she's doing what she's doing and why the kids are asking her questions. It is so much fun to see his mind churning at understanding books.

While it is simple, it is a great story about sharing and understanding that happiness doesn't just exist in receiving but in giving as well. I think it's a great story for a child of any age.

As a sidenote for some reason I see Jenn's kidlet as the little girl in this book. I wonder if she'd think the same thing?

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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Julie's Review: Overseas

Summary: A passionate, sweeping novel of a love that transcends time. When twenty-something Wall Street analyst Kate Wilson attracts the notice of the legendary Julian Laurence at a business meeting, no one’s more surprised than she is. Julian’s relentless energy and his extraordinary intellect electrify her, but she’s baffled by his sudden interest. Why would this handsome British billionaire—Manhattan’s most eligible bachelor—pursue a pretty but bookish young banker who hasn’t had a boyfriend since college? The answer is beyond imagining . . . at least at first. Kate and Julian’s story may have begun not in the moneyed world of twenty-first-century Manhattan but in France during World War I, when a mysterious American woman emerged from the shadows of the Western Front to save the life of Captain Julian Laurence Ashford, a celebrated war poet and infantry officer. Now, in modern-day New York, Kate and Julian must protect themselves from the secrets of the past, and trust in a true love that transcends time and space. ~amazon.com

Review: You know how when everyone raves about a book you find yourself curious if it'll feel the same for you? Well, Overseas doesn't disappoint, at all. Ms. Williams has created quite the sweeping love story with a bit of time travel thrown in for good measure. Julian is dashing, debonair, funny, protective, smart and mysterious. Kate is a strong-willed, independent and smart young lady. Together, they are one of my favorite literary couples.

I don't usually do a lot of romance books, but there was something about the description of the book that drew me in. Ms. Williams does an excellent job of weaving 1916 with 2008. She does it in such a way that when they two eventually collide, you aren't confused and it makes perfect sense. It is not all authors that can deftly handle time travel but Ms. Williams is one of them.

Overseas immediately reminded me of The Time Traveler's Wife, which is still one of my all-time favorites. There are obvious differences when you get into the novel but the power of love is evident in both of these stories.

I really don't want to say much about the book because of fear of ruining it. It is a magnificent debut novel, that makes you feel the power of true love that spans over time and is timeless. I can't recommend Overseas enough.

Final Take: 5/5


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Monday, October 22, 2012

Julie's Reviews: The Headmaster's Wager

Summary: A superbly crafted, highly suspenseful, and deeply affecting debut novel about one man’s loyalty to his country, his family and his heritage.    Percival Chen is the headmaster of the most respected English academy in 1960s Saigon, and he is well accustomed to bribing a forever-changing list of government officials in order to maintain the elite status of his school. Fiercely proud of his Chinese heritage, he is quick to spot the business opportunities rife in a divided country, though he also harbors a weakness for gambling haunts and the women who frequent them. He devotedly ignores all news of the fighting that swirls around him, but when his only son gets in trouble with the Vietnamese authorities, Percival faces the limits of his connections and wealth and is forced to send him away.  In the loneliness that follows, Percival finds solace in Jacqueline, a beautiful woman of mixed French and Vietnamese heritage whom he is able to confide in. But Percival's new-found happiness is precarious, and as the complexities of war encroach further into his world, he must confront the tragedy of all he has refused to see.  Graced with intriguingly flawed but wonderfully human characters moving through a richly drawn historical landscape, The Headmaster's Wager is an unforgettable story of love, betrayal and sacrifice. ~amazon.com

Review: I will say that the first 100 pages of this 400+ page novel had me riveted to it. I wanted to know what would happen to his son. I wanted to know if Percival would find away to get his son out and keep him safe. After that, I didn't really care much. I found that I wanted to like Percival but in the end I just couldn't care about him. He took too many risks when he should have been honoring his debts. He was a gambler with a craving for prostitues. I felt that he was a hypocrite to when it came to who he loved.

There were definitely things that I enjoyed about this book. I enjoyed learning about this time in history from a different perspective. It was even a bit of a geography lesson as well. I had no clue that Indochina and Vietnam were the same thing. These are the things that keep me coming back to historical ficiton overall.

Dr. Lam definitely has a passion for Chinese history and culture. This was evident in the way that he wrote Percival. I will say that the middle of the book dragged for me and I felt it probably could have been cut down by 100 pages or so.

Anyone who has a keen interest in Chinese history or the history of Vietnam would definitely find The Headmaster's Wagerengaging.

Final Take: 3/5

Thanks to TLC Book Tours and Hogwarth for my copy of the book.

TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:
Monday, September 10th:  The Bowed Bookshelf
Monday, September 17th:  Book Chase
Wednesday, September 19th:  Bibliophiliac
Monday, September 24th:  My Bookshelf
Wednesday, September 26th:  Lit and Life
Monday, October 1st:  BookNAround
Thursday, October 4th:  Mom in Love with Fiction
Monday, October 8th:  Paperback Princess
Wednesday, October 10th:  Susan’s Literary Cafe
Wednesday, October 10th:  Unabridged Chick
Monday, October 15th:  A Book Geek
Thursday, October 18th:  Bookish Habits
Monday, October 22nd:  Girls Just Reading
Thursday, November 1st:  A Novel Review

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