Austenland, Striped Pajames, Guernsey Literary

So I picked up Austenland by Shannon Hale with low expectations, having heard from my friend Mariann that it was a disappointment.

I hate it when my low expectations are met.

Hale can write. She has great characters, and she can do a great plot.

But she didn't.

Austenland started fine and then crashed in flames. Ashes were all that were left at the end.

Here's a list of just some of the problems with this book: too many make-out scenes. I skip these anyway (my husband is more fun to kiss than reading about someone else kissing their paramour), but there were a lot. The themes are good: what's real and what's illusion in the game of love, but there's no development. And the last scene when Jane leaves WITH a man was unnecessary. The point of the whole book was that she could learn to be a whole person by herself, in reality. So it would've been better had she left---whole---to find another whole person. Together they might've had a chance. But the Mr. Nobley shows up at the airport at the end thing---pointless. Mariann pointed out it would've been better had she found someone on the plane. At least he would've been a whole, real man who wore jeans instead of breeches.

So four thumbs down for Austenland, which is the two thumbs I have, and two more thumbs because Hale can do better than this.

But. The Boy in the Stried Pajamas by John Boyne was fabulous. Really honestly fabulous. Subtle. Powerful. Shook the plate techonics of my mind. It's about a nine year old boy and his experiences being the son of a Commandant of a concentration camp in WWII Poland.

And it's just plain good. So different from say, Elie Wiesel's Night, which I taught my 8th grade English class. My problem with Night was that it was so shocking and graphic. Something to read alone, painfully, but not something that I wanted to journey with 8th graders. But Striped Pajamas I would teach. All the meaning, all the power, all the message, all the atrocity, but gently.

Yes, Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Boyne is one of the best authors I've ever read, ever, who can speak in another person's point of view and make it authentic. I can't say enough good about this book. It should be required reading for everyone. (Wouldn't that be a concept---a Universal Required Reading List---Want your driver's license? Want to buy groceries? Not yet, you haven't done your reading.

But I digress.)

I also loved, loved, loved The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Peel Society by Shaffer and Barrows. It's been a while since I've been so charmed by a book. Completely and utterly mesmerized and charmed. I didn't read it---I inhaled it. S and B are fantastic writers and they are masters of character. Takes place in WWII London and thereabouts. Deals with the war, yes, but that's the backdrop. It's really about life and laughter and friendship and love. Go read it and then come talk to me about it. Or we can go play Dead Bride (That's from the book. If you don't read the book, you'll have to play Dead Bride with Charlie Ravioli.)

My only problem with Guernsey is that it ended.

I wish there were a sequel.

Shannon Hale, Red Scarf Girl, Daughter of Destiny

I didn't jump on the Harry Potter bandwagon until Book two (or three?) had already come out. I'd heard the hype and finally read one. And I was thrilled there were more in the series and they'd already been published! No waiting! Yes!  

This is how I'm feeling about my latest authorial discovery: Shannon Hale. Grand, grand, grand. YA writer and good at what she does. I wasn't too impressed with her first book, Princess Academy, even though it was a Newberry Honor book (what do they know?). But I adore her Bayern series. Goose Girl was great, River Secrets was fantastic, and I expect great things for Enna Burning and any other Bayern books. Hale also wrote Austenland for adults, and that's on my list.

So thumbs up for Shannon Hale. She writes for that hard-to-write-for tween audience. Old enough to cognitively understand "grown-up" writing, but too young for adult themes. I lean conservatively as to what I think it appropriate for tweens, and Hale does just fine. When I have a daughter, I'll buy her everything that Hale has written. I think my sons will like her work as well. And she is great for adults who want a good novel. (Anjanette and Liz, try this one. Start with Goose Girl. Then let me know what you think.) 

Thumbs down, on the other hand, for Red Scarf Girl by Ji Li Jiang. I was expecting great things from this book because it's one of the novels taught at a sister school in my previous school district. The English teachers there love it. Personal narrative about a young girl experiencing the cultural revolution of Mao Tse Tung in China. Fascinating topic. Good characters. 

But poor writing. Bland:

"Shut up," she said. 

Thank you very much. BOOORRRRING. 

Sad, because it had great plot potential. Fell flat. I think it would be fine taught in a history class, but as literature . . . no way. Just didn't have it. 

But speaking of historical narratives---I've also been perusing Benazir Bhutto's Daughter of Destiny. Bhutto was the first female prime minister in Pakistan and was assassinated in 2007. I know so little about Pakistan, but this is a compelling read. I have been skimming it, but I need to just settle down and read it from the start. She's a good writer. I like it. I'd recommend it. 

The Wednesday Wars

I just finished The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt.

It's great. I laughed and laughed during the book and cried at the end. Not that an emotional response is the best way to judge a book, but this one I enjoyed.

Schmidt is a good writer to start with, but when he writes about something that I know---7th grade English class, for instance, it's a winning combination of reader and author.

The plot is, basically, a student spends Wednesday afternoons with his 7th grade English teacher while the rest of his classmates attend out-of-school religious instruction. And the teacher (can you imagine) uses the time to teach him Shakespeare.

But the book really is a classic coming-of-age novel. Usually these bore me (think Julie of the Wolves) just a little, but this one is choice. And Schmidt can really tell a story and come up with a good plot.

I was destined to love this book. It starts slow, but it doesn't take long to pick up speed. I read it in two days. Two thumbs up.

Tale of Desperaux

Finally, I am back to reading. Finally! And I'm armed with lists from well-reading friends. The Tale of Desperaux was on my list from my sister Liz. Disclaimer: I heard about it long before the movie came out. 

So yesterday I breezed through The Tale of Desperaux. Not that it's light-weight reading, it's just that it was a pleasure and so the time flew.

This is my new "Can you recommend a good book?" pick. Good writing. Nice plot. Written so that children can understand it, but so that adults appreciate it. Heroes. Villians. Rats. Princesses. Brave servant girls. Unlikely heroes. Castles. Betrayal. Kings who cry. Fathers, mothers, daughters, friends. You'll like it. Worth the read. Worth the time.

Santa brought me a copy.

That Santa.

He's so clever. 

Book Slump

I'm in one.

Anyone have a book that will get me out?

The Rainmaker by John Grisham

I skimmed half of The Rainmaker by John Grisham. Got what was coming to me.

At the beginning, there's a young lawyer who befriends a grandma, meets a girl, and files a case against a big insurance firm.

By the end, he's helped the grandma be loved by her family, gets the girl, and wins the case.

Tada.

The end.

Mom says that movie is good.

Hope so.

Book was boring.

Grisham is Grisham. The writing is what you'd expect.

This is a perfect poolside book. If you dose and skip a few pages, you'll be able to figure out what's going on. If you spill lemonade on a section, you won't miss it.

Low/moderate sketch. But I didn't read it all.

Book Reviews

I have a stack of books that I'm returning to various places, so here's a smattering review of them.

1. Duty by Bob Greene.

Excellent. Non-fiction account of Bob Greene, who examines the men and women of the WWII generation. Greene interviews, among others, Paul Tibbets, who dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. The book is well written, the subject matter intriguing. Worth your time.

2. Proof by Dick Francis and The Blessing Way by Tony Hillerman.

Pocket fiction. Mystery. Good. Not mind boggling or earth shattering. The kind of thing you want if you aren't asking much from a book. Not difficult reading. Just plot. Hillerman has some interesting Native American content. Might be the kind of series (both of them) that would be a good suggestion for a teenager who was looking for a summer book. I can't remember questionable content.

3. A Light in the Window by Jan Karon, the second in the At Home in Mitford Series.

Quaint fiction about small town. Charming really. If books were comfort food, this would be homemade chicken pot pie. Someday I will read the entire series in one, long, contented swoop. Worth reading. Worth recommending. Squeaky clean.

4. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri.

Fiction. Standard structure---boy is born, grows up, tries to find his identity, loves, loses, gains, grows, his parents age, he learns. But the writing is superb. Artistic word choice that could make you weep if you got weepy over that sort of thing. Wonderful insight into Bengali culture, which I knew virtually nothing about at the onset of my reading. Written in the present tense---the only novel I've read that could carry that off. Some adult content. I wouldn't recommend this for a church book group, but if you don't get offended easily, give this one a try. (Final note: When I started this book, I wasn't really into it by the first thirty pages, so I skimmed to the end. It was good enough to read the whole thing, so I did.)

5. Animal, Vegetable, Mineral by Barbara Kingsolver.

Anyone who gardens, buys local, or has ever canned should read this book. Kingsolver and her family live off the produce and animals that they can grow on their farm or buy locally. Kingsolver wrote The Poisonwood Bible, which I didn't care for (too oppressive-man-
oppressed-women for me), but she is one doozy of a writer; the prose is delicious. This book will go on my recommended for all list. Liz, have you read this yet? You'll love it.

6. Anne Frank, the Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.

I should've read this this a long time ago. So good. I wouldn't recommend it for teenagers necessarily, which is the audience this book is marketed to in the schools. I think you need to be an adult, and removed from adolescence, to understand the themes that Frank addresses. Another book for everyone. I need to buy it and own a copy.