“I do not tell lies. Mother used to say that this was because I was a good person. But it is not because I am a good person. It is because I do not tell lies.”
~Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night
When Christopher Boone’s neighbor’s dog is killed with a garden fork, Christopher is falsely accused of the crime. Christopher is 15 and autistic. Christopher knows he did not kill the dog and says so as he does not lie. And he does not joke, because he does not understand them, so he is telling the truth.
Christopher loves Sherlock Holmes and decides he is going to investigate what happened to the dog, just like Sherlock Holmes would do. Christopher’s investigation leads him to not only find out about the dog but some deep secrets about his own family.
Being autistic makes the investigation all the more difficult as Christopher calms himself by solving math problems in his head, will not eat any food that touches another food or is the colors yellow or brown, and screams if he is touched.
Many years ago, so many I do not recall the year (at least 5 years ago) but I do recall we were in Grizzley’s restaurant, my book club the Bookies reviewed this book. At the time, I was baffled by it. I loved the synopsis, but the book, told from Christopher’s perspective, was difficult to follow and the pages of math problems went right over my head (I have always said I am a word girl, not a number girl). 😛
Yet, many in my book club raved about this read. One girl in particular had so many great things to say about it, I felt I obviously had missed something and vowed to try it again some day. Since that time the book has sat, like new, on my book shelf… waiting on me.
Recently, I seen the audio version on audible.com on the sale list. I have said many times that audio can make the difference in a book that I may find difficult to read, so I thought I would give it this second try.
I am so glad I did! Christopher came alive for me through the narration of Jeff Woodman. Christopher’s character is brilliantly smart and remembers every detail. Suddenly I found myself longing to know more of this autistic boys story and I learned to love his dry humor as he did not get sarcasm and took everything someone said literally.
Author Mark Haddon writes an amazingly deep and loving story for his debut as an author. This was no easy task to take on and Mark handles the inner workings of Christopher’s autistic mind like a pro. The characters all felt real, at times painfully so, as you seen close up that we as human beings are flawed in so many ways.
Highly recommended in audio. Treat yourself to this one!
At fourteen years old, Jane Lynch had a dream of becoming an actress. She started sending out letters which, when anyone bothered to reply were kind rejections or advice giving such as, “get some professional training and look us up in five years or so…”
Jane however did not give up and as her book is titles, by a series of Happy Accidents, her dreams eventually did come true. Jane’s story however is not without hardships. Jane suffered from anxiety and a lack of self-worth. She felt unsure of herself and out-of-place in her own skin.
This audio is pretty funny as Jane pushes her book at a book store:
proximity -you do not have to throw people away, you can decide how close you want to keep them. Not everyone has to be a best friend some can be good friends, and some can be acquaintances.
~Jane Lynch
Confession: I have never watched Glee. Ok, I have seen maybe a partial episode, but I have never sat down and watched it. However, I did recognize and know Jane from other roles she had played… little roles that eventually led her to bigger roles. (I am pretty sure she is the nurse in a Gilmore Girls episode but I can not find a you tube slip to back up that statement…) She was for sure on Two and A Half Men, Julie and Julia, 40 Year Old Virgin, Criminal Minds, Boston Legal, Desperate Housewives, Friends, King of Queens, Gilmore Girls (Yes! I knew it!), and many more.
I wanted to listen to her book because 1. she is funny like a cross between Tina Fey and Ellen Degeneres and 2. I really wanted to know more about her story.
I enjoyed Jane’s story very much, it just was not as humorous as I thought it was going to be. While there are many funny moments (I do think I snorted at least once), it’s also a coming of age story, and a hard one at that as she worries about her sexuality, and an early fondness for alcohol.
I enjoyed hearing about Jane’s life and how she came to be casted for Glee, which turned out to be the career move she needed to go mega star. Her story interested me so much that now I think I need to start watching Glee. 😀
Christmas is in the air, and along with the smells of gingerbread, pine, and holly, there also seems to be something else… a feeling of…
magic.
Gaby Summerhill is filled with a sense of something big is about to happen and through a series of videos to her grown children, 54-year-old Gaby shares a special message:
She is getting married.
Yes, Gaby, widowed for three years now, is asking all her children to come back home to where they had all their family memories and join her as she marries….
well.. that’s the fun isn’t it?
Three men have asked for Gaby’s hand and she is thrilled with the asking, but nobody, including the groom himself knows who will be Gaby’s husband until the wedding on Christmas.
Gaby feels that by generating this excitement it will create an atmosphere worthy of coming home too, and that is what she wants most of all… her grown children, busy with their own lives and the chaos within, have grown apart from what Gaby knew was once a tight knit family. Perhaps they will come to be together for Christmas… for a wedding…
Hmph. Every December our book club (yay Bookies!) chose a Christmas style read for our December gathering. In past posts I have mentioned that I find these books almost impossible as they are usually too light and perfectly (gag me) fluffy to get a real good read out of them.
I really thought we were going to be safe with Patterson.
Personally, I liked Gaby’s grown kids… each dip we had into their lives made me wanting to know more, Claire and her abusive drug addicted husband and troubled teen son Gus, Emily the lawyer go getter who runs from one project to another and has an adoring handsome doctor husband, Lizzie who’s husband Mike is a sweetheart who also has cancer, and son Seth who is a writer and lives his wonderful girlfriend Andie. Each of their stories could have been a book in itself…
But no, the story was about Gaby who had three men on the hook and thought it to be fabulous. My thoughts and the thoughts of the majority of the Bookies was what a selfish woman. Gaby was a little too self-centered for my liking. While the book was meant to be a sweet Christmas read of family coming home, I never got the sense that coming home was hard on anyone. There was no conflict between the siblings or Gaby that made the pull of the mystery wedding a necessity. I got the feeling that they would have come home for Gaby’s if she was mailing the mailman while standing in the front yard (and seriously, I am surprised he also was not a contender…. 😛
Over all the book read like a rush. It felt hurried and pieced together, a dabble into this life, a dabble into that. In the end, while I have to admit it was a lot better than some of our Christmas reads we have had in the past, it was not a book I would recommend to others.
*To give you my true feelings… I actually went to Wal-Mart looking for a pinata that could represent Gaby… I thought it would be fun to smack “her” with a stick. Lucky for her, I could not find one that fit the character – however I do reserve to hold on to the pinata plan for a future read. 😛
Overall the Bookies rated this on a scale of 1 -5, a 2.8. Most of the ratings were low but a couple hit middle 3’s and we agreed that as a Christmas read – we have read a lot worse.
Brooke Madison Bowers. Everyone in St. Dennis, Maryland knew her name. After all she was the prettiest, most popular girl of her town. Star of the pageant and Prom Queen, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Brooke would go far. She married the man of her dreams and Brooke’s happily ever after seemed to all be falling into place…
but things can happen…
When her husband is killed while serving in Iraq, a very brokenhearted Brooke returns to her hometown along with her young son, to be close to those who love her.
When Jesse Enright moves to St. Dennis to run the family law firm, Brooke catches his eye and his heart in short time. But Brooke has no intention of putting her own heart on the line again and Jesse finds that if he wants any chance at all with Brooke he is going to have to wait for her to first come to him.
Ummmm…. so Sheila, I didn’t think you really enjoyed romance novels?
This is true… but every once in a while a book comes along that I am drawn to despite the genre. Honestly, reading that synopsis, doesn’t it remind you a bit of the movie Hope Floats? In both cases you have a popular, beautiful woman who returns to her home town after things go wrong in her marriage. She is afraid to love again but along comes a guy who seems to be so right… yet the woman is afraid to put herself out there… I love Hope Floats. I own the movie.
Ok.. I drifted…
Hometown Girl is part of a series called The Chesapeake Diaries. I admit, I have not read the previous books and I am curious about them. While I did not need the other books to get into this one, there are friendships around Brooke (especially in the beginning) that I feel had I read the previous books I would have felt more in the know.
While it is true romance stories are not my genre of choice, this is just a sweet read. Honestly, I rooted for Jesse. I love the fact that Brooke runs a cupcake shop, it just feels like a sweet story and a nice place to live. I liked the characters and am drawn to read the other books just to get to know them better. In fact, I enjoyed Mariah Stewarts way with words so much that I have been checking out some of the many other series she has written.
When Ella Eagle discovers that the flowers in God’s Secret Garden have wilted, she alerts Mayor Benny Bunny. The main suspect in the case is evil Count Slime, who is jealous of the joy the animals have in the garden. Mayor Benny calls in Oliver Owl, the captain of the Owl Force Wisdom Watchers, but the owls have not seen Count Slime during their patrols of the garden. Mayor Benny suggests the animals pray for an answer. God hears their prayer and sends Marietta the angel to help them solve the mystery.
Author Bio
Laura Allen
Nonemaker
Laura Allen Nonemaker’s desire to write took root as a child in Bermuda. Since then, Laura has written in a variety of genres and her work has appeared in EssenceTreasury: Celebrating the Season, Alive! and Kentucky Monthly Magazine.
Laura has been involved in short-term missions, including trips to Russia, Poland, and the University of the Nations in Kailua Kona, Hawaii. Three years ago, her interest in the arts motivated her to join the planning team for Artful Missions, which conducts juried art shows and donates to outreaches in the U.S. and India to rescue women and children from human trafficking.
This book was sent to me as part of a tour with KCWC Blog Tour. While this book is short and sweet, it packs within its pages a powerful message about our joy and how we are in control of the way we respond when things go wrong.
I remember when my boys were growing up and they would come home all upset about what someone had said to them. Maybe it was name calling, or maybe it was a comment about how they played a game or answered a question. I always told my boys that they had the power to choose how they responded, a kind response or none at all can really take the power away from the offender, after all – they are fueled by the reaction. The same goes for the message within this book, while Count Slime wanted to see the animals of the garden have sorrow and feel scared, when that reaction was missing – the Count goes about his way… defeated.
I think even as an adult I need to remind myself sometimes that I choose how I respond to situations that may be difficult or painful. Knowing that, somehow makes me feel better.
This book would make a wonderful addition to a Christmas stocking. The book also includes a code for a free download of the audio version of the book. What fun to play the audio version while paging through the colorful illustrations that go along with this story.
When Author Kathleen Grissom and her husband restored a plantation tavern in Virginia. While researching the history behind the area, Kathleen found an old map where a notation had been made on it…
Negro Hill.
When asking around about this, Kathleen found no answers other than that perhaps this marked a place of great tragedy.
What could Negro Hill have been? What had once happened on this very soil? What secrets were left like whispers in the wind that time had absorbed?
This… was the beginning of the idea behind The Kitchen House.
Lavina is seven years old, white, and orphaned when she comes to live on the tobacco plantation owned by Captain Pyke, in Tidewater Virginia. The year is 1791, and Lavina works alongside the African-American servants in the Kitchen House day after day. Belle, who is the illegitimate half white daughter of the captain soon becomes good friends with Lavina.
Lavina becomes close with all the African-American servants who work in the Kitchen House, referring to them as family and never understanding the privileges and status of white people over her friends. Throughout the years of the Kitchen House, Lavina is witness to abuse, rape, racism, and eventually.. murder.
As Lavina grows into a beautiful young woman, she agrees to marry the Captains son Marshall, but Lavina being only 17 when she marries is not yet wise to the ways of power-hungry men and soon discovers that Marshall will stop at nothing of for anyone to get what he wants, destroying lives in his wake…
In the end Lavina needs to figure out how to save the only family she has ever known from impending disaster.
The Kitchen House is a book I have had my eye on for a while now. I liked the look of it, the synopsis, and had heard good reviews, yet I never seemed to pick it up. When I seen it on audible.com for a sale price I could not resist, I moved on it.
The audio is told in alternating voices from the point of view of Lavina, and then Belle. This made for a delectable story as Lavina was a young white girl who did not always see things as they truly were. Belle could give a retelling of what was happening from an African-American slaves perspective. By the book bring told in this way, as readers we are allowed to see things unfold from all angles.
There is a lot of front information before the book really gets moving. In the beginning you are witness to the fondness that not only Lavina has for the people of the kitchen house, but the love they have for her as well. Through Belle’s telling, we see some of the white people for who they truly are, in full color descriptions, where Lavina may see things in more gray shades. As the story gets moving, these shades of gray burst into full color as Lavina grows, marries, and starts to see how things really are.
While I found the first half of this audio interesting, it was not until the second half that the story really takes off and you get a full understanding of all the details laid out in the earlier part of the book. As events began to topple over one another I felt the story click together like a Rubik’s Cube and I loved the way it did!
Author Kathleen Grissom offers up a recipe for a Molasses Cake that Belle makes frequently in the book. While I have not made this myself, I believe I will soon as even mentioning it here is bring up scents of mouth-watering molasses baking in the kitchen… (Offered up for Weekend Cooking at Beth Fish Reads)
Simple Molasses Cake
½ cup butter 1/3 cup packed brown sugar 1 egg ½ cup milk 1 cup molasses 2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1 teaspoon cinnamon 2 dashes ground cloves ¼ teaspoon salt
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg. In a separate bowl, combine the milk and the molasses. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Add each of these alternately to the butter mixture, beating well between additions. Spoon batter into the prepared pan. Bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.
One family to a home is unheard of. In fact, even homes are rare as most people have apartments. Most people live in vertical trailer parks or “Stacks”, where old trailer homes have been stacked on top of one another. Wade Watts lives with his aunt who does not want him there and lets him know it every chance she gets. Like most of humanity, Wade escapes into a virtual world called the Oasis every chance he gets. In this sprawling 10 world utopia Wade can be his avatar Parzival, with other virtual friends where you can live and play and even… fall in love.
The oasis was created by James Halliday, a big time gamer and lover of all things 80’s. Halliday made billions creating the Oasis and having never married or had children – he left his billions and full control of the Oasis to one lucky person… the one who could crack the clues he left in his will and within the worlds of the Oasis find Hallidays last gift to the world… his hidden “Easter Egg”.
Halliday admits himself that he may have made the clues a little too hard, but from his death-bed, it’s a little late to make changes now. And it is true, that in this starving world with millions of people looking for Hallidays treasure… five years go by and no one has cracked the first clue.
All of Hallidays riddles are hidden within the pop culture he loved – 80’s movies such as War Games, Ferris Buelers Day Off, Monty Python, Better Off Dead, Indiana Jones, Star Wars… and thats just the movies, lets not forget the games such as Joust, Miss Pac Man, Burger Time…
And when you are a kid who finds the real world almost unbearable… you sink all your time into the Oasis… rewatching the 80’s movies until you can recite them almost by heart, playing the video games to the point you know them inside and out including manufacturer dates, glitches int he games, recalls and more… you become almost one with the Oasis… racking up points…. practicing battles….
And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.
Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt—among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life—and love—in the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.
A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Ready Player One?
First of all to those of you said I must must MUST (little Max Headroom there…) listen to this one audio. I thank you, this was the best audio I have listened to this year.
For those of you who read me often, you may be aware that I usually am listening to three audio at one time (one in my bedroom for when I get ready in the mornings, one in the kitchen for cooking and cleaning time, and one in my car for every time I am on the go). RARELY will an audio engross me to the point that it earns the sole right to follow me from bedroom, to kitchen, to car…
however…Ready Player One did.
Where to begin?
Well… I think I will start with Narrator Will Wheaton. How do you know that name? Will starred in the 80’s film Stand By Me, on Star Trek he was the Romulan voice. And even more fun, Will is actually mentioned within this book/audio. Will… has the perfect voice for the audio and I knew within the first minute I was in for something special. Will even does Max Headroom’s voice (as seen above) and that is no easy feat! (Believe, me I tried to do the Max Headroom voice here at home… lets just say it wasn’t pretty).
Of course, while a great narrator on audio is important… it does not make the book complete if the book is not also amazing. No worries… I am sure you can already tell by this early gushing that it is…. FANTASTIC.
Being a die-hard 80’s chick I absolutely adored the constant 80’s references to great movies
80's move: War Games
such as Back To The Future, War Games, Real Genius, Better Off Dead, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Monty Python… and that’s not even mentioning the great arcade references: Miss Pacman, Joust, Burger Time…
and the beauty of the combination in the Oasis was the mixture of the two… you could watch the 80’s movies and play the games in the Oasis. In fact as our protagonist says, many of the movies he has watched hundreds of times. (And you will learn – thank goodness for that!)
I think what really sucked me into this read *80’s flashbacks aside) is that the story is good…. real good… It also is a little scary as I thought about Social media today and how fast it has grown in my lifetime, and found Ernest Cline’s stony not unbelievable. I can imagine a time when the world may be such a mess that people would rather stick themselves into an alternate reality (shoot it’s already happening!) then deal with the emotional drain of reality.
Dont worry – the story never bogs down with doomsday like themes. In fact I am quite sure two things will happen here: 1. I will at some point listen to this audio again and 2. I will own the book to add to my favorites collection.
I also never found being inside the game world boring… instead, I was fascinated… it was as real feeling to me as my own life. I also enjoyed being reminded of movies I once loved and insight to games I had once played (like a glitch in Miss Pacman arcade where you can hide for up to 15 minutes without being attacked)
Treat yourself with this one soon… you will not be sorry. While I have heard the book is just as incredible, I am going to recommend if you listen to audio – this is the way to go.
Warner Brothers bought the rights to the movie almost a year before this book was released to the public.
In the spring of 1865, after a long day of meetings, Abraham Lincoln alongside his wife Mary, took to the theater. While Lincoln knew that he had a lot of enemies and had even thought there was a good chance he would be assassinated, he had no idea that his life was about to end.
John Wilkes Booth was an anchor and charismatic ladies man as well as an impenitent racist. His hatred for Lincoln burned so strong it was obsession. He stressed over the details for months… working out accomplices in the mission. It started as a kidnapping plan… and lead to a much deadlier conclusion.
The theater box where Lincoln was shot
Ok… here’s my thing about Lincoln. He is my all time favorite president. And here was my uneducated reasons why:
1. freeing of the slaves
2. He was the 16th president and 16 in my favorite number
3. He was honest
After listening to this audio I realize – I did not know him at all. He was only 56 when he died. More surprisingly to me… Booth was 26.
I did not know about all the background of Booth and the Lincoln conspiracy. Out of their three sons, I had not realized that 3 had died by the age of 18. And while I suspected the toll this took on Mary (Todd) Lincoln I did not to the point that after her third child’s death their remaining son put her in a home.
What I am saying here is I found this audio to be very informative and interesting. I learned much about Lincoln’s life, General Grant, and John Wilkes Booth.
I leave this audio feeling like I now know more about the president I adored from afar.
Somewhere in Britain, a man known only as “Jack” kills an unsuspecting family…
all but one of the family dies. The youngest, a toddler, slips away into the night and into a nearby graveyard where he is adopted by the ghostly inhabitants. The toddler is named Nobody Owens, raised up by Mr. and Mrs. Owens, and a mentor named Silas.
As the weeks turn to years, Nobody, “Bod”, learns the way of the graveyard. By visiting the local inhabitants, he learns to make himself fade, how to call ghouls, and even meets a real live girl! But as Bod gets older, he longs for the chance to be among the living – to experience school, and friendships. What Bod doesn’t understand is that the graveyard is where he is safe. Reluctantly, Silas helps Bod made his dreams come true, all the while knowing that “Jack” is still out there…
looking for the boy that crawled away….
all those years ago.
I started listening to this audio while in a van in La Esperanza, Honduras. When I put my ear buds in and the start-up music (above) began…. I swear my whole body tingled! The music is entitled Danse Macabre and this music actually inspires a chapter in the book where the characters both living and dead dance the Macabre. This was my first experience with Neil Gaiman and it was going to be on audio… read by none other than… Neil Gaiman.
Danse Macabre:
According to legend, “Death” appears at midnight every year on Halloween. Death calls forth the dead from their graves to dance their dance of death for him while he plays his fiddle (here represented by a solo violin). His skeletons dance for him until the rooster crows at dawn, when they must return to their graves until the next year.
The piece opens with a harp playing a single note, D, twelve times (the twelve strokes of midnight) which is accompanied by soft chords from the string section. The solo violin enters playing the tritone (or “Devil’s chord”) consisting of an A and an E-flat—in an example of scordatura tuning, the violinist’s E string has actually been tuned down to an E-flat to make this chord more biting. The main theme is heard on a solo flute, followed by a descending scale on the solo violin which is accompanied by soft chords from the string section, particularly the lower instruments of the string section, followed by the full orchestra who then joins in on the descending scale. The main theme and the scale is then heard throughout the various sections of the orchestra until it breaks to the solo violin and the harp playing the scale. The piece becomes more energetic and climaxes with the full orchestra playing very strong dynamics. Towards the end of the piece, there is another violin solo, now in modulation, which is then joined by the rest of the orchestra. The final section represents the dawn breaking (a cockerel’s crow, represented by the oboe) and the skeletons returning to their graves.
The Graveyard book is one of mystery and fantasy, dreams, and nightmares. Neil reads it in a fantastic tone that fits everything I just said in the previous sentence. Listening to this book was like living it. While it is a story about a murder, and then subsequently, a graveyard… it is a middle grade book. While that may surprise (or concern) you… don’t let it. The book is never graphic or gory… handled well as just an old-fashioned spooky story with a great paranormal twist.
My thoughts in the end… it was actually a fun experience. I will definitely look for more from Neil Gaiman.
Molly Birnbaum had a mission. She wanted to be a chef. Che spent her days working in Boston alongside a well-known chef, and her nights reading cookbooks ans studying food in preparation for her entrance to the Culinary Institute of America.
While taking a quick morning jog, all her dreams came to an end when she was hit by a car. The accident broke her pelvis, fractured her skull, tore her knee up, and destroyed her sense of taste and smell.
Her bones would heal in time… but her sense of smell and taste? That was another story. How could Molly become the chef she wanted to be if she did not have her sense of taste and smell? Molly quickly sank into a depression.
Then Molly made a choice not to sit back and let this destroy her. By researching and working with experts, Season To Taste is a story of triumph and overcoming enormous obstacles.
I read and reviewed this book as part of Weekend Cooking, found at Beth Fish Reads.
Molly Birnbaun: Recipient of the Politzer Traveling Fellowship In Arts and Culture from Columbia's Graduation School of Journalism. Her work also appeared in the New York Times and Art News Magazine.
I read a couple of reviews on this book a while back and loved the sound of it. Being a foodie, and finding myself more and more fascinated with non fiction… I was sold on knowing more.
Molly tells an amazing story of a dream to be a chef and how in the blink of an eye, that dream was shattered. Most of us would probably have given up there and moved on to something more doable, but not Molly. Molly instead works hard to find out why she has lost her sense of smell and taste and that is really what makes this book a page turner.
As Molly describes food attached to memory, even my mouth watered at her descriptions of dark chocolate and bean scents wafting from coffee shops, sweet pastry’s and good seasoned spaghetti. I could not imagine putting these items into my mouth and sensing nothing but texture…
The research of smell and taste also intrigued me. On page 89 it was discussed how if we are eating something and we become sick our brain is programmed to remember that, making that taste and smell associate with the sickness. I can personally account for that. As a teen, I loved coconut… all things coconut. Then one eventing I remember clearly that I was babysitting and eating coconut right out of the bag (like you buy for baking). I had a flu bug that night and wound up throwing up … well… coconut. To this day – I can’t eat anything with coconut in it.
Molly’s journey from the accident to her strong desire to cook and bake causing her to learn all she can about scent and taste was an amazing one. Not only did I learn through this book much about how our senses work… but also about food, food that made me long to try some of Molly’s specialties this coming week.
Molly had a way about talking about food (as I think all good chefs do) that make you long for what they are describing…. I soon found myself making mental notes to pick up asparagus and fresh Parisian, longing for baked sweet potatoes, and lightly sautéed chicken breasts with mushrooms and wine.
Foodies beware… this book will make you hungry. You want to know about Molly Birnbaum? Check her out at her popular food blog: My Madeleine.
Book Journey 