Something Missing

by Matthew Dicks
3 out of 5 stars

This was quirky and fun, but a little slow going at times. Definitely an interesting premise (a thief who only steals things people won't notice), and his relationships (even if they're in his own head) with his "clients," are more touching than creepy. I'd still recommend it for a light read as long as you're OK with not having a lot of page-turning suspense.

Snowflower and the Secret Fan

by Lisa See
4 out of 5 stars

If you were ever put into time out or even spanked as a kid, this book will make you grateful that something that was presumably "for your own good" didn't involve physical mutilation or selling you to the highest bidder. The degree of physical and emotional abuse that children, mostly girls, endure in the name of culture and tradition is tragic (I know...understatement of the year). It is almost a character unto itself in this story, but much less triumphant than the ways this little girl endures, survives and draws you into her world. And her relationship with her friend is sweet, touching, and delicately strong like piano wire. It's a really, really different and fascinating read that gets a little otherworldly and spiritual at times, but not so you'd roll your eyes. My mom gave this to me to read while I was recovering from knee surgery and trapped in a passive motion machine for 8 hours a day. I think she was trying to send me a subtle message to "suck it up, it could be worse." It worked.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post

by Emily Danforth

4 out of 5 stars

Another reviewer noted that this book reads more like an adult novel than YA, and I have to agree. Danforth did an amazing job of capturing the era, the mood of sun-drenched summer days, and the turmoil that goes along with that whole “coming of age” scene. Newly orphaned, newly awakened to “forbidden” feelings, and isolated in a small Montana town, it’s somewhat of a miracle that Cameron Post gets out of bed in the morning. In fact, the circumstances in Cameron’s life early on and how she truly felt were a bit underplayed, so I was left wondering how she was going to pull through. But she does, and the ensuing struggles to be “normal” when she’s feeling anything but make for a poignant story.

Danforth’s writing is a pleasure to read and at times beautiful without hitting you over the head with schmaltz. Cameron herself is the kind of kid I would have enjoyed as a best friend growing up. Relationships with her friends felt a little two dimensional at times, but then again, you could attribute that to her ongoing emotional turmoil. It’s kind of hard to forge connections when you’re constantly on guard and questioning your own soul, let alone being betrayed by someone you love. So, I take that back. I guess I was hoping for a little more introspection, given the book is written in the first person.

As the years go by, Cameron muddles through, and some of the people she meets later were among my favorites – particularly Jane Fonda, the wise, one-legged, pot growing, camera-toting camper at the “ex gay” camp that Cameron’s ridiculous Aunt Ruth sends Cameron to for “fixing.” As expected, there are more characters than Cameron who end up being fixed, or at least learning a lesson or two. And Cameron herself figures out that people who mean well can still be fucking idiots and that questioning authority is not only OK, sometimes it’s necessary. On the feel-good side, she also learns how to celebrate the nuances of love and its many forms and what it means to both give and receive friendship. Highly recommend.

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend

by Matthew Dicks
4 out of 5 stars

Imagine if your existence depended on the imagination of a child. Whether you talk, have ears, eyebrows, feet or hair – it's all up to the child who believes you are real. Until the child stops believing, and then you disappear.

This is Budo's world. His child, Max, is (presumably) autistic, so Budo had been around a lot longer than most imaginary friends (which range from kids to fairies to talking dogs and a spoon) and is pretty high functioning. Budo can read, imagine, and walk through walls. He doesn't need sleep or food, and he likes to go out at night when Max is sleeping. He loves Max unconditionally, and his top priority is helping Max navigate his day. Helping includes keeping Max company (because Max doesn’t like to interact with other kids or be touched), standing guard so Max can poop in private at school, watching for bullies, and helping Max when he gets "stuck" inside himself.

Budo's voice is that of a child, albeit an introspective one, and his story is clever, poignant, and at times hilarious. But wait, there's more. Something terrible happens to Max, and suddenly it's up to Budo and some of the other imaginary friends he knows to make things right. The suspense and at times frightening events that follow kept me up way past my bed time. And realizing along with Budo that helping Max survive and grow will ultimately lead to Budo's own demise as Max gradually needs him less was both heart wrenching and totally engrossing.

Budo's world, the "rules of order" for imaginary friends and what happens to them when they're no longer needed raises a lot of questions. At times I thought there were some creative opportunities missed, but then there were also ideas that I thought were brilliant. I think a concept like this is kind of like time travel – you have to leave a little wiggle room in your brain and just accept it for what it is. And then enjoy the ride.

Harriet Spies Again & Harriet the Spy, Double Agent

 not by Louis Fitzhugh
3 out of 5 stars

I feel a certain loyalty to Harriet, since the original Harriet the Spy was one of my favorite books as a kid. I had my doubts about the two sequels, each written by different authors after Louis Fitzhugh's too-soon death, but both did a fairly good job of staying true to the spirit of Harriet.

Harriet Spies Again feels a little empty, as there is very little spying, note taking or interaction with Harriet's friends, and the whole Ole Golly reunion falls kind of flat. Also, it may have been less obvious what was going on with Ole Golly to a younger reader, but to me it was pretty predictable.

The other sequel, Harriet the Spy Double Agent, is a bit better than Spies Again, because Harriet is more her old note-taking self and spends more time talking to Sport, who himself is going through his own turmoil what with his dad's new wife, being in love, and sprouting a few facial hairs. Double Agent also hints (maybe as a tribute to Fitzhugh?) at Harriet's budding sexuality as she discovers and ruminates about her own feelings about Sport, Ole Golly, and her new intriguing friend and spy partner, Annie Smith, who has created three names and personalities for herself and has a few secrets of her own.

Missing from both books is Fitzhugh's wry wit, but these sequels are worth a read if, as a now-grown adult fan, you can ignore that feeling that you're visiting a ghost. It's nice, but leaves you feeling a tiny bit empty.

The Memory of Running

by Ron McLarty
4 out of 5 stars

 I waited too long to write a review of this book, but I can still say, without hesitation, READ IT. Or listen to it (even better). It's just a sweet, touching story with great characters and interesting minor adventures as this likeable but somewhat pathetic fat guy rides his bike across the country to find his sister and, ultimately, himself. Really. I'm not just saying that.

Smithy Ide is kind of a Garp/Gump hybrid, and despite his downward spiral into a boozy loser, you can't help but root for the guy. Lest you think this is too cliche, it's worth noting that his sister, who no doubt suffered from schizophrenia, is dead but appears to Smithy regularly. He's also suffering from a little PTSD from Vietnam, but not so you'd notice. From the NY Times: "Smithy's actual bike trip is punctuated by encounters with people and books (his revived interest in reading provides a small, amusing subplot) that affirm its underlying faith in human nature. For all the hardships and wrong turns it describes, "The Memory of Running" amounts to a string of happy accidents. In this story, which has a dark side but no real shadows, even being hit by a pickup truck can turn out to be a life-affirming vignette."

Also, the audio book is read by the author, Ron McLarty, who is a sometimes actor and popular narrator among the audio book set. In fact, he wrote The Memory of Running to be read aloud, and it wasn't until it developed a bit of a following and subsequent notice by Stephen King that it was even printed. So that's kind of cool too.

The Beginner's Goodbye

by Anne Tyler
3 out of 5 stars

This was a languid read, but that's OK. Really, you can't go wrong with Anne Tyler, right? My only complaint is I found myself wishing for more satisfaction and closure for Aaron, the main character. He got this great opportunity to talk to his wife again, and it never really went anywhere.

I say again, because his wife is dead, and he misses her. So imagine his surprise when she appears at random times throughout the day. And, it would seem (though we never really get to experience), other people can see her too. "The strangest thing about my wife’s return from the dead was how other people reacted," Aaron observes, and then notes that many people seem to rationalize or "forget" that Dorothy is dead rather than admit they might be seeing a ghost.

Aaron is a fussy, somewhat aloof and intelligent man toiling away at his family's vanity publishing company. Their claim to fame is a long string of "Beginner's Guides" that range from finances to dog training to travel. Aaron met Dorothy, a radiation oncologist, while researching "The Beginner’s Cancer." He describes himself as "geeky and gimpy," because he walks with the aid of a cane and a brace, and he also stammers sometimes. Before Dorothy’s death, on a hot summer day in 2007, they had been "happily, unremarkably married" for 11 years.

Dorothy is, by contrast, a squat, pragmatic woman with, as Aarons's sister observed, "the social skills of a panda bear." Aaron accepts and even seems to enjoy the fact that Dorothy is oblivious to fashion, and that "Only I noticed the creases as fine as silk threads that encircled her wrists and her neck. Only I knew her dear, pudgy feet, with the nails like tiny seashells."

What's great about Tyler, as always, is her comedic timing, her bluntness and her eye for the minutia that so often invade our thoughts at inappropriate times. Missing is any sense of true grief or loss that isn't a textbook cycle. But maybe that wasn't the point anyway.

The Toaster Project

by Thomas Thwaites
3 out of 5 stars

I heard about this guy from a friend and then on NPR and had to get the book. (There's also a blog.) It's not so much that he builds a toaster, from scratch, and takes nine months, many miles, and almost $1,900 to do it, it's the way he tells the story. As noted by Wired magazine, "It's art, and science, history and the future, all in one brilliant idea." Also, it's kind of interesting to learn that the seemingly innocuous toaster has around 400 parts yet costs as little as six bucks. So you in turn find yourself reflecting on the costs of our cheap, throw-away culture, the organization of our world, and other deep thoughts. Honestly, though, I had a hunch this would be a good read when I saw that Thwaites opens the book with this quote: "Left to his own devices he couldn’t build a toaster. He could just about make a sandwich and that was it." -- Mostly Harmless, Douglas Adams, 1992.

The Fault of Our Stars

by John Green
4 out of 5 stars

I had to wait a few days before even contemplating a review of this book. This is YA fiction, but the subject matter is not for the faint of heart.

Hazel is a plucky, funny, really likable teenage girl with blue fingernails, heartbroken but determined parents, and the capacity for sarcasm and zingers that made me laugh out loud. She’s also terminally ill and fights the kind of demons that no one should have to face, least of all not a kid. Anyone who’s experienced cancer or watched someone you love go through it knows that any lulls that come between the peaks and valleys carry their own brand of pain – because it’s always there, and every glimmer of hope comes with a shadow.

But Hazel marches on, her oxygen tank named Phillip in tow. Her observations about life, living with cancer (as opposed to dying from it, which, she acknowledges will probably happen soon), her friends, and what will happen when she’s gone are served unapologetically with a side of blunt. She’s not snarky, she’s just tired and been through more than anyone can fathom, and, quite frankly, doesn’t have time for bullshit.

When Gus, a former basketball star with bone cancer and a penchant for irony and metaphor arrives at her cancer kid support group, she finds an unlikely soul mate, and the book takes off on a roller coaster ride of really sweet, raw, irreverent commentary that leaves you a tiny bit drained emotionally, but really glad you did it.

Gus and Hazel are young enough to love life and each other desperately, and old enough to know that whatever they have is fleeting. And that “You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world … but you do have some say in who hurts you.” They choose each other knowing full well what’s to come, and somehow, this is OK – you get it, and you can only cheer for them…and then go get more Kleenex.

Like a lot of YA fiction I’ve read lately, Fault of Our Stars veers into the unbelievably clever and articulate – like author John Green just needs an outlet for all of his cleverness (and he is VERY clever), but forgets that not EVERY SINGLE character should be that way. But Green also captures the hilarious awkwardness and blunt honesty of teenagers really well. Somehow, this still works despite the fact that Gus and Hazel write each other's eulogies (with humor) instead of love letters and their Gift-of-the-Magi destiny is to not worry about who will die first, but who will be left behind. Suffice it to say that this is a very difficult book to read in public.

The Night Circus

by Erin Morgenstern
4 out of 5 stars

Really different, really engrossing; I highly recommend. I see that people seem to either love or hate this book. I loved it. I wonder if those who hated it were taking everything too literally. You have to be in the mood to suspend reality just a little -- no more than Harry Potter, though, so give it a go. If you enjoy metaphors and symbolism, all the better, but even if you're reading "lightly," this is still a good book.

The story is difficult to synopsise; it is about magic and how magic affects the human condition. Another reviewer wrote a fairly good summary, so I shall steal it: "As a young girl, Celia Bowen is delivered to the father she never knew, a world famous magician whose secret is that his show is genuine magic - not illusions. He teaches Celia to manipulate the world in the same way so that she can compete in a high-stakes game against Marco, an orphan similarly trained by her father's nemesis. The arena for this game is an elaborate, surreal circus. Neither Celia nor Marco knows the extent of the game, nor their opponent, until they have fallen in love with each other." Can't you just see the atsy film trailer already?!

I started out listening, which was great due to Jim Dale's wonderful narration; however, the plot skips around in time a LOT, and I found it really hard to follow...and, for some reason, I could NOT stop my mind from wandering. Maybe I was just distracted with other things in my life. At any rate, I started over with the book, and it was much easier on my brain.

The Wolf Gift

by Anne Rice
2 out of 5 stars

I might give this 2.5 stars, because it did hold my interest OK, but overall, it was a bit...meh. I had a lot higher hopes for an Anne Rice werewolf; this was a letdown.

The whole book lacked conflict, and the characters felt pretty contrived. Definitely the physical prowess and Batman-like traits of of her “man-wolf” were fun to behold, but the whole situation of being a werewolf conflicted so little with his former/real life, that it was almost anticlimactic when the transformation unfolded.

Reuben is a golden boy with a cool job (and a trust fund) from a rich and relatively perfect family, and the events that led to his “infection” handily resulted in him being willed a spectacular (and staffed) secluded mansion that’s a stone’s throw from the moody cliffs of California’s coast and surrounded by redwood forest. Really? Also, what 23 year old uses the word "splendid"?

While I'm not a big fan of the drawn out, agonizing Being-Human*-style werewolf transformation (because that's just gross and about as appealing as menstruation every month), the rippling, orgasmic version Rice presents is kind of lame. And then the wolf-human sex? Um...ick. Seriously, his lover gets off on kissing his dog lips? Do dogs even have lips?

As with a lot of Rice’s stories, there’s a lot of supernatural fog floating about, and, in some ways, it’s almost an excuse to not have to explain things more fully, so it feels like more of a cop out than an element of the story. I could go on about the individual characters, but I’ll just say there was a lot of potential that went unrealized.

As always, Rice’s detailed and lush descriptions are enjoyable – whether she’s describing a dinner party or the gory end to a bad guy, and I’ve always liked that about her work. If you like Anne Rice’s style in general, I’d say give it a whirl if you like this kind of lore – it’s a fairly fast read and much less dark and cumbersome than some of her other books that wander (at times exhaustively) through history and have several story lines going at once.

*i.e., the BBC series

Ready Player One

by Ernest Cline
5 out of 5 stars

You would think that an almost-400-page book about video games and 80s culture might get a little tedious. But you would be wrong. Very, very wrong. I have not been sucked into a book and so sorry it ended since I was 7 and reading The Boxcar Children. (And yes, they are VERY different, I’m just sayin’.) Once I got over the fact that all the cultural references to my misspent youth were being referred to as “classic” and “vintage,” I really, really enjoyed Ready Player One. The story is intriguing, the dialogue is good, detail and description are delicious, and the characters are believable…even Wade’s sidekicks are unique, which is kind of ironic since we spend most of our time with them (like Wade) as avatars in a virtual world. Though one reviewer described this is “nostalgia porn” (in a good way), even if you weren’t into John Hughes, Monty Python, video games, D&D or the arcade scene in general, I think you’ll STILL get a kick out of this book. If you *were* a total geek and know what a hit points are, play a mean game of Joust or owned a Commodore 64 GS, this book will be very, VERY validating for you. :-)

The OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation) has changed the way people around the world live, because the real world in 2044, honestly, sucks. It’s going through everything we fear it will, including environmental, economic and social collapse; resource depletion; and political corruption. As one might expect, only the very rich are safe from that special kind of despair born of poverty and all loss of hope. Unless of course you can plug into the virtual existence known as the OASIS. Ahhhh… It’s aptly named, not just for its escape value, but because it’s the only way humans are able to cling to the things that make us human – individuality, creativity, and character, not to mention the ability to fantasize. And the OASIS is free! You can go to school there, party there, conduct business, hang glide or even get married to your avatar love interest there. Real estate, commerce, adventure, and more…it’s all waiting for you in the OASIS, which is how the company makes its money – selling property, avatar accessories, cars, weapons, spaceships, even planets, that are all nothing but zeros and ones. Brilliant.

However, the inventor of it all is dead, and he’s left his entire fortune as well as the future of his creation to the lucky player who can solve his three-tiered puzzle and find the ultimate Easter egg. The juxtaposition of the two worlds author Ernest Cline creates is really cool, and his attention to not just detail but the nuances of pop culture that give eras like the 80s their distinction is spot on. I have to say, I don’t even really *like* the 80s as a personal reference point, but because I grew up through them and did wear acid washed jeans (with pleats!), it’s hard not to feel a little nostalgic about a time when Rush 2112 was blasting out of my brother’s 8-track player, movies like War Games and Risky Business were hot, and Pac Man was a competitive sport. So an entire book set in the future with characters that have made it their life’s mission to know this time period better than those of us who lived through it? Really quite entertaining, frankly! Oh, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how despicable the villains are. Or how clever (spoiler alert?) our heroes are in prevailing. Oh come on, of course the good guys win! The fun is how they get there.

I alternated between reading and listening to RPO, and both experiences were grand. Reader Wil Wheaton does a bang-up job.

Going Bovine

by Libba Bray
4 out of 5 stars

Overall, this book is difficult to explain. The Goodreads synopsis doesn't do it justice. So I'll steal a better one: "The heart of the story is a hallucinatory (or is it?) quest with many parallels to the hopeless but inspirational efforts of Don Quixote, about whom Cameron had been reading before his illness. Just like the crazy (or was he?) Spaniard, Cam is motivated to go on a journey by a sort of Dulcinea." Only his is a pink-haired angel...and his Sancho is a Mexican-American dwarf game-master hypochondriac. Also there's a Norse god disguised as a garden gnome.

See? Kind of hard to describe, because this is just the tip of the windmill. Just read it -- I think even if you don't love it, you'll get something out of it. Certainly (like a lot of YA fiction) parts were a little predictable (like the ending), but there’s also plenty of weirdness, snarky dialogue, funny characters (including aforementioned yard gnome) and fun randomness, which I always enjoy.

The main character doesn’t start off as terribly likeable, but he grows on you. Some readers have complained about missing details (like how he caught mad cow disease), but I’m not sure that’s really the point. Overall, it seems the message is that you should live life to the fullest and embrace adventure now and then. Even if you're not sure what your purpose is, don't be a slacker, and don't think that you'll be doing anyone any favors if you just coast through life. Not to state the obvious, but I don’t think all the circumstances are meant to be taken literally.

The Host

by Stephenie Mayer
3.5 out of 5 stars

Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy that is taking over. Humans become hosts for these invaders, meaning their minds (and souls?) are taken over while their bodies remain intact and continue their lives apparently unchanged. Most of humanity has succumbed, but there are a few colonies of "wild ones" left. Melanie is sure her life is over when she's captured, but her invader, Wanderer, was ill prepared for Melanie's unwillingness to relinquish her mind, the ensuing flood of emotions, and (wait for it)...undying love for Jared. Outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, and the rest is page-turning drama at its finest with a nice amount of survivalist action thrown in for good measure.

While the writing quality is similar to the Twilight Series, this premise totally held my interest. It's no classic, but I listen to a lot of books while driving or working out, so, ya know, it works. And, since this is a book for grownups, it's a good story minus all the teen drama and angst, which is of course a huge bonus. I don't understand why "Stephenie" spells her name that way though.

If I Stay

by Gayle Forman
3 out of 5 stars

At times the writing felt a little forced and the characters somewhat affected, but the premise of the story is compelling. Mia's experience is heart wrenching, but I was still able to walk away feeling hope for her future, should she choose to accept it. I felt Forman was best when writing about music and what it means to be a gifted musician -- and that these people have no choice but to play. I also enjoyed the way she wove Mia's flashback's into the narrative. Overall, I recommend this book, though if your eyes tear up easily, maybe don't listen while driving! I would have given it four stars, but I did find the affectation a bit distracting.

Son of Stone

by Stuart Woods
2 out of 5 stars

OK, I think I may be officially done with Stuart Woods now. Once again (spoiler alert), he killed off another love interest of Stone's, but not before giving her ovarian cancer, an abusive ex lover and an illegitimate son. Nice. Seriously, this guy really seems to hate women and has a very hard time creating believable characters. The "son" (who turns out to be Stone's) is a genius, handsome, sweet, unspoiled by wealth or his movie-star upbringing, and seems not to notice or mind that his mom is not only loose, but kind of an idiot. In other words, like father like son, he's ridiculously perfect, and he agrees with every saccharine "life lesson" lecture Stone imparts. For some reason, the dialogue in this book struck me as more forced and affected than usual, but then again, the guy sells a lot of books, so who am I to say? I think good old Herbie Fisher is becoming my favorite character, but even he's on a path that's pointing to straight and narrow. (sigh) I will say the book held my interest enough to finish it, but it was definitely a let down, and when I was done, I was left wondering, "Well what the hell was that all about?" Whatever formula Woods is using needs a tune up. Even James Bond is more human than Stone Barrington. But let me tell you how I really feel...