How to Buy a Love of Reading by Tanya Egan Gibson

To Carley Wells, words are the enemy. Her tutor's innumerable SAT flashcards. Here personal trainer's "fifty-seven pounds overweight" assessment. And the endless assignments from her English teacher, Mr. Nagel. When Nagel reports to her parents that she has answered the question "What is your favorite book?" with "Never met one I liked," they decide to fix what he calls her "intellectual impoverishment." They will commission a book to be written just for her--one she'll have to love--that will impress her teacher and the whole town of Fox Glen with their family's devotion to the arts. They will be patrons--the Medicis of Long Island. They will buy their daughter the love of reading.

Impossible though it is for Carley to imagine loving books, she is in love iwht a young bibliophile who cares about them more than anything. Anything, that is, but a good bottle of scotch. Hunter Cay, Carley's best friend and Fox Glen's resident golden boy, is becoming a stranger to her lately as he drowns himself in F. Scott Fitzgerald, booze, and Vicodin.

When the Wellses move writer Bree McEnroy--author of a failed meta-novel about Odysseus's journey home through the Internet--into their mansion to write Carley's book, Carley's sole interest in the project is to distract Hunter from drinking and give them something to share. But as Hunter's behavior becomes erratic and dangerous, she finds herself increasingly drawn into the fictional world Bree has created, and begins to understand for the first time the power of stories--those we read, those we want to believe in, and most of all, those we tell ourselves about ourselves. Stories powerful enough to destroy a person. Or save her.

This book is just--wow. The eloquence of the language, the syntax of the sentences, and the indirectness and honesty of the dialogue all come together to make is novel astounding and spectacular. Undeniably unique is this remarkable debut by Tanya Egan Gibson, who I'm sure to continue reading for her enchanting style, with and refreshing voice. She also has the ability to create a character, Mr. Nagel, who fully embodies wit, charm, and malignity all in one and creates, in his own, indirect way, Carley Wells herself. For, without Nagel, there would be no book and a change in character could not happen. He is never once present throughout the entire 389-page book, but his presence is overwhelming. Because this book is told in many points of view, the reader gains insight into nearly every important character's thoughts. When the story is told from Carley's point of view, you see how much Mr. Nagel has influenced her. She is constantly saying he did this, he said that, and questioning herself, believing she will always be wrong because she almost always is around him. This second-guessing girl is just trying to become what Hunter wants, and since he is an avid reader, she believes that literature and understanding Nagel will help her become that.

Gibson has the ability to become her characters (or, rather, her characters become her, according to the F. Scott Fitzgerald quote at the beginning of Part III: Devices) and write from their mind. When reading Carley's point of view, the reader understands her yearning and desire, and how much she truly doesn't understand or doesn't want to. When reading from Bree's point of view, the reader understands how out of place she feels and how she doesn't care to fit in if she has to be like these people. The best however, is Hunter's point of view. It resonates, it's poignant, and it reveals to the reader all the self-loathing he has felt throughout his life, his need for the drugs, and his worry about how he appears to others.

It is the characters that make this book, as the plot couldn't stand on its own. Not much really happens except for a change in the characters. And because of the change in them, their lives change. But mostly, Bree writes a book, Carley critiques it, Hunter drinks, and families have issues. I'm not saying this is bad. I actually liked this refreshing way of handling things. It's as if Gibson was trying to prove her own character, Bree, wrong by writing a book for the characters, not the plot or detail (which, actually, probably was her point. Funnily enough, you'll know why when you reach the end--which is really good, by the way).

It took longer than usual to finish How to Buy A Love of Reading and not only because I was busy. I was so immersed in every every section, every chapter, every sentence that I didn't want it to end. I could have sat in my room for hours, reading and rereading one page and constantly finding new meaning to some things and the same meaning to others and never get tired of it. I got half way through and wanted to slow down, not wanting it to end, but I wanted to keep reading--quickly, as if taking a long time would make it disappear.

This wasn't the best book I've ever read, and there were some issues I had with the fluidity of a few paragraphs, but mostly, this was thoroughly enjoyable, and it gives me an obsession with F. Scott Fitzgerald in quote form--he is a smart man. I'm ready for the next book by Tanya Egan Gibson.

4/5 cups of sobering coffee.

Heather

This is not really a review of Slipping--Cathleen Davitt Bell

I got this book in the mail a really long time ago. I didn't really know it was coming, so I hadn't promised anyone a review to come soon. So I put it near the end of my TBR list. This was a good decision on my part, as I read many books before it that were really great and amazing. This one, not so much.

Michael will be the first to tell you: he barely knew his grandpa Kimmel when he was alive. And he didn't know the details about the big fight between his dad and his grandpa that made the whole family stop visiting seven years ago. And if you never really knew someone, and nobody ever talks about him, then you probably won't miss him when he's gone, right?

But when his grandpa dies, Michael's gut tells him that the cold, detached way his dad is acting isn't normal. Just as Michael recognizes that his own bizarre cravings for things like oatmeal and creamed spinach and a nice big cigar aren't normal either. Michael suspects that his grandpa Kimmel might be reaching out to him--or through him. But figuring out what his grandpa wants is a scary though, since it will require getting to know a man who was impossible to talk to when he was alive. As Michael begins to slip with his grandpa into the mysterious river between the living and the dead, an even scarier thought occurs: if Michael can't get out again, will anyone miss him?

Well, I know I won't.

I barely even made it half-way through this book before I had to set it down and stop reading (this is why this is NOT REALLY A REVIEW). It was slightly unbearable. It wasn't that the writing itself was that awful, or that the story was an uninteresting concept--in fact, the premise alone intrigued me when I first read the summary on the cover flap. It was that there were many minor things wrong that really, in the long run, aren't minor and are the first things a writer should check when editing.

One of these things was that the setting was completely unclear. I assume Slipping is set in New York City, but there are many allusions made to it being set in London, possibly, and it is never specifically stated that it is set in New York, but I just came to assume that that is the city Bell writes of. But you know what they say when you assume. I could be completely wrong. Another thing is that the main character is not defined enough by the time he accepts oatmeal as a breakfast food for you to realize that this is a strange occurrence. All you know by that time is that he didn't know his grandpa Kimmel (alright, we get it! Stop telling us that!), he loves video games, and that his father is absent during the days and works late (And the last doesn't even have to do with Michael himself, just his father and the way his family behaves).

I can give Bell this: She knows how to withhold information. The only reason I got even as far as I did was because the one thing I was even remotely interested in learning about this situation was why Michael's father and grandpa didn't speak anymore. Of course, I didn't even learn that before I closed the book for good.

I'm not the fastest reader ever, sometimes I'm even a little slow because I want to pace myself, but it took me nearly two weeks to even get through eight chapters of this book, and that is less than 100 pages. That shows how uninterested I was in this short-lived novel that is soon to be erased from my memory. That is, if I can get it off my bookshelf without feeling terrible about peddling it off to some poor reader who will have to endure it like I tried to. Of course, some might enjoy this book. I just didn't.

Based on what I read, a single cup of coffee for this one, but that isn't an entirely educated rating, since I didn't finish. Because I didn't finish, you can completely ignore everything I just said and formulate your own opinion. This is just mine.

Heather

Read I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone? Looking for the newest by Stephanie Kuehnert?

Just three months from now, and you can get your copy of the latest by Stephanie Kuehnert: Ballads of Suburbia. Here's the summary:

There are so many ballads. Achy breaky country songs. Mournful pop songs. Then there’s the rare punk ballad, the ballad of suburbia: louder, faster, angrier . . . till it drowns out the silence.

Kara hasn’t been back to Oak Park since the end of junior year, when a heroin overdose nearly killed her and sirens heralded her exit. Four years later, she returns to face the music. Her life changed forever back in high school: her family disintegrated, she ran around with a whole new crowd of friends, she partied a little too hard, and she fell in love with gorgeous bad boy Adrian, who left her to die that day in Scoville Park. . . .

Amidst the music, the booze, the drugs, and the drama, her friends filled a notebook with heartbreakingly honest confessions of the moments that defined and shattered their young lives. Now, finally, Kara is ready to write her own.

Sounds good, doesn't it? I, personally, can't wait. Her debut novel, I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone was just fantastic. I don't think I've read any other novel as...well, if you want to know what I think, you can go to my review of it here. But anyway, I definitely think you should either run out the day it's released (July 21) or preorder now (this is actually better for the book biz, so go to any online retailer: Amazon, Books-A-Million (there's no cover there, but it's the right book, promise), Barnes and Noble, Borders, or from the nearest local indie store or I think you can actually go to the store--I've done so with BAM a few times before--and preorder it there. They'll usually give you a voucher, but they may not have one for this book).

To go ahead and get a look at the book, you can read the first chapter. And for other awesome stuff like a soundtrack, reviews, and all about the real-life setting, just hit up Stephanie's newly re-designed web site at http://www.stephaniekuehnert.com

Also, to keep getting updates on all the latest news with Stephanie, become a member of her street team. (And could you please let me know, either by comment or email if you join? Please and thank you!)

And here's a widget you can put on your blog or somewhere, if you like (there are more on her site):



Definitely, though, go out and get this book ASAP. It's sure to be spectacular!

Heather

p.s. review of Wake by Lisa McMann below. Comment please!

Wake by Lisa McMann

For seventeen-year-old Janie, spending her nights in someone else's dream is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-in-public dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie has learned more than she wants to about her friends--and even people she barely knows and doesn't want to.

She knows that she can't really tell anyone--not even her best friend--about what she can do. They'd either not believe her or think she's a freak and she already has enough to worry about with her detached, alcoholic mother and trying to earn enough money from her job at the nursing home for college tuition. So instead, she tries to avoid sleepovers*, the rooms at the home in which the patients are asleep**, and overnight school field trips***.

When the dreams become worse and the nightmares keep her up all night, Janie tries to learn how to control the curse and use it to help people. The worst, though, is the gruesome nightmare she falls into while driving down a street in her neighborhood. This is the first time that she is more than just a witness to someone else's psyche. She is now a participant.

I may be a horrible friend (I don't really think so, though) for reading this book. You might wonder why and I guess I should say: I bought this book as a sweet sixteen present for one of my friends the night before her birthday and I hadn't read it yet. I really wanted to, though, so I decided to read it before I gave it to her. Does that make me a bad friend? I read all but 20 pages that night, and then went to bed, planning on finishing it in the morning. I had to hide it in my bag from her before school, but soon I finished it and didn't have to worry. The reason I was able to read this book so quickly was not only because it's so short; it is a fast-paced novel that seems to sweep you up into the action and leave you there long after it ends.

While it was kind of difficult to relate to Janie because she was a character that didn't let people in, I deeply enjoyed her style of narrative, especially Lisa McMann's decision to tell the story in present tense. This kept the pace at a heightened level and made the nightmares much more intense. The story came alive and seemed more realistic--despite its fantastic ideas and magical elements.

The major criticism I have for this book is Cabel's role in the story. Because the narrative offers scenes from Janie's past, the reader is shown the change in Cabel's personality from when he's a young teenager to the present, but despite this vantage point, it seems as if Cabel is just thrown into the story because he dreams at night. Not because he's in any way important, and not because Janie has feelings for him. He is and she does, but that doesn't seem to be the reason he's there. It feels like Janie is using his dreams to practice taking control because they are the most difficult to have control in. I like his character, so I hope that in Fade he'll have a larger personality and stronger presence.

Also, I'm not fond of the mother's role either. Is she just there to be mean, detached, and unaware? Is her only job to drink and not buy groceries? There has to be something more there and a reason why Janie lets her treat her the way she does. Janie has to be stronger than that. She goes through worse in other people's nightmares but she can't stand up to her mother? C'mon!

I liked this book a lot, but mostly for the plot, not the characters and some of you may know by now that I'm a character girl--I love the ones that are real but amazing, too. So that takes away a lot from Wake. Overall a 3.5 for this one, and holding out for a chance to get Fade soon to see if the character develop more.

Heather

*Yeah, after her first encounter with the disturbing dreams of her not-so-much-a-friend and her neighbor, she thinks she's done with these. Yet another thing that puts her on the fringe with just a single friend--as if poverty and freakish behavior wasn't enough to put her down on herself. It's okay, though. Who needs more than one best friend?
**She doesn't want to experience any more dreams about war, so lets keep those doors closed during naps, okay?
***Yet another thing she doesn't really manage to avoid. The bus ride up is the worst, though, with all those teenagers who had to wake up at five in the morning.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.

This improbable story of Christopher’s quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years.

I thought, while tiny, this description from the back of the book was okay to use, instead of creating my own. It's what caught my attention in the first place, so I figured it would catch yours. Well, that, and the cover and title. And I'm so thankful it did, because I really really really loved this book.

It doesn't blatantly tell you in the novel, but Christopher has Asperger's Syndrome, which is very similar to autism. This made the narrative unbelievably interesting, as he can't comprehend emotions. There aren't any unnecessary descriptions that many novels have. Everything was simple and plain as day written there on the page. I like the simplicity of the narrative and how there were tons of interesting facts throughout. Plus, Christopher, besides being a good narrator, is a great, dynamic character. At the beginning, he's never walked farther than the shop down the street by himself, and he's never really gone anywhere other than school, home, the shop, and France. And he hates strangers. But in his search to find Wellington's killer, he brings himself to question people he's never talked to, and when he discovers the truth, it pushes him to travelling all the way from Swindon to London. By himself. This change makes his character so strong, which is a great change. His character develops really well throughout the novel.

I also enjoyed the illustrations in the book, which make it really interesting. And there are aspects of it that make it almost like a mix of Looking for Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines (and not in a copyright suing kind of way. Just in the capitals of countries, and the maths parts), which, of course, is the opposite of a negative comment. There are footnotes, an aspect of some books that makes them clever, and an appendix (all about math, and that I surprisingly understood all of). It's a witty, charming novel that I won't forget until I'm old and have dementia and can't even remember if I put on my shoes.

Plus, I'm very partial to British novels, because I love the style of writing and the language. I enjoyed Mark Haddon's writing and hope to be able to buy his other novel, A Spot of Bother.

Definitely 5 out of 5 delicious steaming cups of coffee. In little red mugs.

Heather

Pay it Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde

After quickly finishing off Chasing Windmills las year, I knew I had to find as many copies of Catherine Ryan Hyde's books as possible. Unfortunately, this was a hard thing to do, as Books-A-Million only ever has Pay it Forward, if even that, and Barnes and Noble never seems to have a single one in stock, and if so, it is only one copy of Pay it Forward. But I didn't want to read this one, because I had already seen the movie when I was a lot younger. I vaguely remembered details, but distinctly recalled the plot of the story, and didn't think I would enjoy reading it after already knowing it. I was wrong.

It all started with the social studies teacher's extra-credit assignment: "Think of an idea for world change, and put it into action." Twelve-year-old Trevor McKinney just knew he liked this man, and just knew he would do a great job on the assignment. He began by doing something good for three people. The first he helped was a random stranger, the second a lovely neighbor he would sit and talk with on his paper routes, and the third someone inside his own life, someone who needed help not in any measurable way, but in a way that is infinite and can never be pinned down to a point. But instead of paying him back, he asked them to "pay it forward" by doing a favor for three more people, and those nine would each help three others, and those twenty-seven would help three each, and so on, each act a link in a chain of human kindness.

And no one--not his teacher, his mom, or anyone else in his small California town--could ever have dreamed of how far Trevor's plan would go. Not even Trevor thought that it made it outside the three people he helped. When so many things went wrong, Trevor didn't know if he should even try anymore, but he knew he could change the world, so he gave it all he had. On the day the assignment was due, Trevor walked up to the front of the class to tell them all it hadn't worked, hadn't made it past the first few, and that his idea had failed.

What he didn't know, was that it had gone farther than he thought, spanning across the country unseen, spread by many who didn't even know why they did it.

All I can say about this books is...wow. I lost it, just shortly after starting to read it, and feared I left it on a plane, or in an airport, on in a different state, and completely freaked out. I had gotten about sixty pages in, and was so deep into the characters that the thought of losing the entire book shook my insides outside and my outsides inside. I was so mixed up and sad. But by some incredible miracle, the tiny little yellow book fell out of the sky and onto my bed one day. When I asked my mom if she had put it there she said, "Well, no. But I saw it somewhere the other day and thought it was yours. I made it halfway to your room, but never got to your bed with it. I wonder how it got there..."

Now, I'm not saying I believe her. I think she may have sneaked a look at it, and secretly horded it from me for weeks. Even though she doesn't really read. And it would have taken her longer than that to read it. But I still believe it was a miracle it ended up on my bed (or, well, that's a lie. It was on my bed, but I came home late-ish one night and was too tired to turn on the light so I just went and fell asleep and sometime between awake and sleep, I kicked it off of my bed and it landed near my bookshelf). But I was unbelievably ecstatic to see it the next morning.

So I went deeper into the characters and came out wanting more. Trevor's belief in the world is astonishing, as he has little belief in his own father, but still completely true and real. Reuben and Arlene make the perfect pair as two people that fit so well into each others personality frames that they feel like a puzzle--so hard to figure out at first, but once it's all solved, it feels like one whole instead of tiny little pieces of fragmented images. And for once, I loved that the movie was drastically different in some ways, because it allowed me to picture the scenes and characters on my own, as I so love to do. The images of every single one of these fictional people are etched into my mind as if they're real memories of people standing before me. Catherine Ryan Hyde can just do that--just make the words become real events and real people right before your eyes.

Once again, she does not fail to astonish, and I one-hundred-percent suggest this novel--even if you've seen the movie, even if you haven't. I think the Mr. Coffee made 5/5 cups for this one. Can't wait to buy some of her others--probably off Amazon.

Heather

GIRL WEEK

Over at Reviewer X's most amazing blog, she is doing something SUPER-
AWESOME!! As she usually is. Right now, she is doing this thing called Girl Week, which is basically a whirlwind of reviews and author interviews and guest blogs and contests, all relating to feminism. I think this rocks. A lot.

Girl Week also features some really really incredible contests. Such as two of my very favorite series(es? what is the plural of series? any grammer nazis out there?), complete, and SIGNED. Yes. SIGNED.

Go! GO! I direct you to the nifty table of contents.
http://reviewerx.blogspot.com/2008/12/girl-week-table-of-contents.html

I'm off to read an interview with Megan McCafferty.
:)))