Too many choices

I'm in a pickle. I have too many things I want to pick up and read, and it's making my brain hurt. I'm still working my way through the Experiment in Terror books -- but they're dark and creepy and twisted. I need to break up all that grittiness with something else a little LESS. So what do I choose? Romance? Fantasy? The book that's been languishing on my kindle or the ARC that's already come out? Sigh. Someone just put a book in my hand already!


Oh, and I'm fully aware that this is not a bad problem to have. :)

Reading -- The Silver Linings Playbook

The Silver Linings Playbook  by Matthew Quick is the story of a man who is recovering from what appears to be a pretty severe mental breakdown. We don't get all the details spelled out to us until the end of the book, although the forshadowing gave me a pretty good idea of what had happened. Pat Peoples is trying his best to be kind, not right. To figure out how to relate once again to friends and family who are clearly not telling him everything about his situation and his slippery memories. And to figure out how to win back his wife. It's the story of two broken and dysfunctional people becoming friends -- and becoming better because of it. It's about the Philedelphia Eagles and that team's obsessed fans. It's about Pat's parents and their complicated and somewhat dysfunctional relationship. But, the title really sums it up best -- it's a story about finding the silver lining. About how life can beat the crap out of you, but it can also be really great too. I also appreciated that this book could have been cheesy but wasn't. There was some nice resolution, but not every story or relationship was fully resolved. For example, Pat's dad -- easily the most emotionally dysfunctional person in the book -- was still kind of a jerk at the end of the book. But the book was realistic in that it read like a snapshot of a person's life. Life doesn't play out in succinct little vignettes where every single loose end wraps up at one time.

Bottom line: read it if you like realistic fiction that recognizes the existence of silver linings. (no one said I wasn't cheesy!)

I heart romance

As read in the book summary:

"...when Mac, who can heal physical injuries with sex,...."

[face palm] the beauties of paranormal romance.

a funny

I was reading a review on GoodReads and came across this gem:

"The worst book I couldn't put down; the best book I've ever wanted to set on fire."

I think we've all read a book or two like that, no?

Fun at the reference desk

My primary duty at the public library where I work is adult outreach -- I provide readers advisory services and deliver library materials to homebound adults and residents of various retirement, assisted living, and nursing facilities. In addition to the activities surrounding that work, I also periodicaly work at our general reference and local history reference desks.

I really enjoy working the reference desks. Sure, some days are more challenging than others and some patrons are more challenging than others. But what I love are the fun questions -- the phone call from a lady asking me about beschemel sauce, polenta and hericort vert. And how to pronounce "that word that means fiscal cliff? The one they use on C-span and in the Huffington Post?" (for the record: the word is sequestration). I also live being able to help people do simple things like post an add for a car on craigslist. A car that "runs like a sewing machine, with a booming sound system and good tires."

Not every reference interaction is positive, so it's nice to notice the ones that are.

Reading Nikolas & Company

Nikolas & Co.: The Merman and the Moon Forgotten, by Kevin McGill

This first book in the Nikolas & Company adventures is science fiction/fantasy/adventure, but most important: it's a lot of fun. The book plunks you right in the middle of the action: you're not exactly sure where or when you are, but a stage coach driver is being chased by magical and terrifying creatures who are after his mermen passengers....an archeologist in South America unearths the oldest artifact on earth, while his foreman mumbles about traveling to the past in order to find his grandson the steward of Huron... a homesick science-boy in Colorado works on another less-than-successful technological experiment then starts hearing voices in his head...

Exactly.

If you like your books with a lot of set-up, this isn't the one for you. But if you enjoy being plunked down into the middle of a fully developed and detailed magical world, then you should definitely check it out. In addition to the fun premise and the spot-on, action-packed execution, Nikolas and Company features the classic hero-and-his-misfit-friends. A reader who regularly picks up sci-fi/fantasy books will recognise many of the archetypes, but in a way that seems like welcoming an old friend. Although this first installment is rather short, McGill already begins to establish dimension to his farmiliar characters. Nik and his friends are dissatisfied and outcast -- homesick (Nik), picked on (his brother Tim), refugees (the friends). They are all smart and skilled and are loyal friends, so when faced with the possibility of another world and another time and lots of magic -- they more than willing to put doubt behind them and take the leap. My only minor issue with the book is the ending. I know the author originally wrote Nikolas and Company as one longer book, then decided to break it up into multiple; and it makes for a jarring ending-that's-not-really-an-ending.

The tone of this middle grade to early YA book is similar to the Percy Jackson books, and it's worth checking out or -- if it's not your kind of book -- passing along to your sci-fi/fantasy/adventure reading son/daughter/niece/nephew/student  Full disclosure: it was recommended to me by a friend of the author, and I'm glad I took him up on the recommendation. Bottom line: a light, fun and fast-paced read.

Summer reading

Froi of the Exiles/Melina Marchetta

If you've never read a book by Melina Marchetta, do not pass go, do not collect $200, go straight to the library/bookstore/internet and get yourself one of her books. Marchetta started out writing contemporary young adult books, but has branched out to fantasy as well and does each beautifully. I think the key is in the skillful way she creates characters and her ability to make me feel all the emotions ever. When I recommneded Froi of the Exiles to a fellow fantasy-reading friend (i heart aliteration!), I described it as a fantasy book that just punches you straight in the gut in the best possible way. There is darkness and sadness, but there is also hope and joy.


The Spellman Files/Lisa Lutz

I've also started the second book in this series, and it truly makes me laugh out loud repeatedly. The Spellman family runs a private investigation business, but that's just the framework for this crazy, hilarious family. You've got a "perfect" older brother who left the family business for law school, the-classic-rebel-is-my-middle-name middle child who is a born private eye, and the "surprise" baby sister who has negotiation down to a fine science. Only in the Spellman family do you learn how to tail someone before you graduate high school, and only in the Spellman family do you hone your investigative skills by spying on each other. But despite it's craziness, the books manage to not be cliche, cheesy, or slapstick.



44 Scotland St./Alexander McCall-Smith

In the interest of full disclosure, I should say that Edinburgh is one of my favorite places, hands down. I've been meaning to read Alexander McCall-Smith for years, so naturally when I saw this book (and subsequent series) set in Edinburgh I snatched it off the library shelf. It's a book that was originally written as a serial in a Scottish newspaper. McCall-Smith mentions in the forward that the challenge was writing each chapter with enough content to be read alone, but enough momentum to move the story along without too much of an episodic feel. I think he accomplished this beautifully. In addition to the excellent pacing and sence of place, the major strength of the book is the characters: unique, yet familiar; people you want to get to know, or at least get to know more about. This book was lovely and comfortable and the kind of book you want to savor.


The Paris Wife/Paula McLain

The Paris Wife tells the story of Ernest Hemingway, his first wife Hadley and their years together living in Paris. Told from Hadley's perspective, the novel begins when the two meet in Chicago and ends almost five years later with their divorce (although there is a bittersweet epilogue that fasts forward to the time around the end of Hemingway's life). This was a book club selection, and I must admit that I wasn't looking forward to reading it. Books about adultery, distructive relationships, and people who just keep on making terrible decisions really aren't my thing. However, kudos to Ms. McLain for bringing heart and humanity and empathy to what could be a sordid and seedy story. So, it's a mixed bag for me. I really enjoyed the first two-thirds of the book, even if I don't see the glamour in getting drunk or living the bohemian Parisian lifestyle. But during the last third of the book all I could think about were the stupid decisions being made, the complete and utter selifishness displayed by Ernest Hemingway, and how it would have been so easy for things to have turned out differently (see: Ernest Hemingway behaved like a [insert bad word here]. I'm definitely looking forward to our book club discussion!