Review: Goat Song

I just finished reading Brad Kessler's new memoir, Goat Song. It is beautiful: part memoir, part history, part personal reflection. It chronicles the first few years of Kessler's foray into raising goats in Vermont with his wife and the cheese that was the result. Lyrical, contemplative, mouthwatering, and enlightening, this book was an absolute treat to read. It touches all the senses: the smell of the meadow, the calling of the goats, the taste of the cheese, the mountain vistas, the feel of fresh curds over fingers. It touches the mind and the heart as well as Kessler explores our roots as herders and his own relationship to the world around him.

Mr. Kessler, author of the novel Birds in Fall as well, will be at Market Block Books in Troy, NY, this Friday at 7pm to sign his books. I highly recommend picking up a copy of Goat Song and then heading to Troy to discuss it!

Review: The Elegance of the Hedgehog (Audiobook)

I'm not usually an audiobook fan. My attention tends to wander, and I end up having to backtrack and listen to the same thing over and over before I actually hear it. Sometimes the narrators are bland, and sometimes they're a bit too overly dramatic. Just not my thing.

At BEA, however, I picked up an audiobook version of Muriel Barbery's The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and on my recent trip to Boston and back, I gave it a go.

Well, I must say, I am in love. Cassandra Morris and Barbara Rosenblat do such a fantastic job bringing the inner lives of their respective characters to life that what is a witty and profound novel becomes nothing short of an aural feast. I've been trying to find excuses to drive just so I can listen to this delightful recording.

And so I've been converted, though only selectively. I think what I like in an audiobook is when it's told in the first person, so that the character is speaking to me rather than an omniscient narrator. Next up, thanks to Stanley over at Market Block: Alan Bradley's The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie on audiobook. I can't wait!

Review: Fire

Whew, it's been busy! Last week I finished Fire, the prequel to Kristin Cashore's Graceling. The book officially comes out this fall. Set in a neighboring kingdom some 35 years before Graceling, Fire tells of a world where humans and monsters--startlingly beautiful creatures with the power to affect humans' minds--live side by side. The protagonist, a girl named Fire, is the last living human monster.

I didn't like Fire as much as Graceling, but keep in mind that I absolutely adored Graceling. Where Katsa is a doer, Fire is a thinker. Fire spends a lot of time thinking, about herself, her past, and the world around her, which got a bit slow at times. It wasn't the heart-pounding nonstop action that kept Graceling glued to my hands for its duration. That being said, it still only took me three days to read Fire, so it definitely wasn't boring!

I think I also liked the idea of Gracelings better than the idea of monsters. Monsters affect humans in pretty much the same way, whereas each Graceling has a different Grace that may or may not be accurately represented to the other characters and the reader.

One thing I especially loved is that we get a glimpse of one of Graceling's characters as a child!

Overall, Fire is a good book -- just don't expect another Graceling! Which, I suppose, is good. Another Graceling would not have been as original and interesting. And according to Kristin Cashore's website, Katsa and Po will appear in the third book, tentatively titled Bitterblue. So I guess I can wait!

Review: Graceling

Today, two days after I brought it home from the library, I finished Kristin Cashore's young adult novel, Graceling.  Tomorrow, when I get to work, I will most likely buy a copy for myself, while it's still out in hardcover, so I can add it to my collection of YA series I love.  Yes, it was that good.

Ever read a book that draws you so completely into its world, whose characters are so very real, that you find yourself in a sort of limbo, stuck between the book and reality, for a while after you put it down?  Graceling is absolutely that kind of book.  As I went about my daily tasks, I would suddenly realize I was thinking about Po and Katsa, wondering what they would do next or remembering a certain moment between them.  I found myself gripped by feelings they were experiencing: nail-biting fear, deep affection, overwhelming joy.  I had to force myself to slow down and savor the story, because though I desperately wanted to know how it unfolded, I knew I'd regret finishing it too quickly.

I finished Graceling this morning, but I've actually deliberately not picked up another book today (*gasp*), just so I can savor the book and let its effects sink in.  I'm not ready to replace Graceling's characters and landscape with those of another novel yet.

I cannot speak highly enough of this novel.  I adored it.

In other, slightly related news, Ann over at Books on the Nightstand has started an interesting discussion about "young adult" fiction.  Check it out!

Review: The Cupcake Queen

Well, I ended up abandoning Thrity Umrigar's memoir, First Darling of the Morning.  I got to about 50 pages, which is where, if a book isn't grabbing me, I'm allowed to put it down.  Not only was I not grabbed, I was also vaguely annoyed.  But hey, the coworker who lent it to me loved it, so to each her own!

Instead, I picked up Heather Hepler's forthcoming young adult novel, The Cupcake Queen, lent to me by a different coworker.  It was a quick read -- I finished it in two days -- but a good one too.

The novel is narrated by Penny Lane (her father was a Beatles fan), a fourteen-year-old who has just moved from New York City to the tiny town of Hog's Head with her mother while her father, as part of a trial separation, remains in NYC.  As Penny negotiates her new school and works in her mother's new cupcake bakery, she meets a cast of characters that are both quirky and familiar: the school bully, the outcast with crazy fashion sense, the cute boy, the spunky grandmother.  Along the way, she works through her own problems and those of her friends and ultimately reaches the choice: does she stay in Hog's Hollow with her mom, or does she return to New York and the life she loved with her dad?

The Cupcake Queen reminded me of Coleen Paratore's Willa Havisham books but for a slightly older age group, with a little of Ann Brashaers' Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series mixed in.  Overall, a good read with lots of warm moments, little triumphs, and positive lessons!

I just started Kristin Cashore's Graceling last night.  The sequel, Fire is due in September.  So far, it's great!

New Year's Goal Update

Well, here we are five months into 2009. Back in January I posted about my book-related goal for the year. Even though I haven't been posting here, I have been slowly chipping away at my stash! I'll be moving again in a few months, and I do NOT want to bring all my unread literary baggage along.

Until a month or so ago, the way I purged books was to read the back, decide if it still sounded appealing, and then keep it or donate it depending on the answer. I recently picked up one of these interesting sounding books and started reading, only to realize that although the premise sounded great, the writing just didn't hold my attention. Inspired, I went through every one of my books, reading the first few pages. If I enjoyed reading it, it stayed; if not, into the donation box it went. I managed to cut my number of books in half!

I'm still plugging away. I started with the books I knew I wouldn't want to keep, which has helped. Now I'm working on the advanced reader copies I have from work, so I can stay at least somewhat up to date on the new titles coming out! (Side note: if you haven't read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins yet, do it soon...the sequel, Catching Fire, comes out in September and it is AWESOME!) The hardest part for me is not bringing new books home. I see so many great titles at work every day that I'm not always able to resist!

I just finished Thrity Umrigar's newest novel, The Weight of Heaven. Definitely not good as a pick-me-up, but extremely well written. If you liked Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things, I think you'd like The Weight of Heaven as well.

Currently I'm working on Thrity Umrigar's memoir, First Darling of the Morning, and Steven Galloway's novel The Cellist of Sarajevo. More as I get through them!

Keeping Track

I never kept track of what I read until I signed up for LibraryThing in late summer of 2007. (LibraryThing, for those of you who haven't discovered it yet, is an organized book person's dream: something of an online catalog of your own personal library that you can organize and edit as you please!) I quickly found and joined a group called 50 Book Challenge, where members keep a running tally of the books they read during the year. The goal, as you may have guessed, is to reach 50.

Well, I was pretty bad at remembering to log in and record everything I read, but I found I really liked having a record of what I'd read when. I tried keeping track of books in a plain lined journal, but it just wasn't organized enough for me.

After working at my current bookstore job for a few months, I stumbled upon my perfect solution: Moleskine's address book. This is not your typical address book! Instead of having boxes with places for name, address, phone number, email, blah blah blah, the Moleskine address book has simply one tab for each letter of the alphabet, followed by pages that contain nothing but those gloriously pale and closely spaced Moleskine lines!

I now list each book under the author's last name along with the date I finished reading it. I don't think I've missed a book yet, and it's so cool to be able to look back over what I've read over the past year and a half. I haven't even started a second page in any of the letters, so there's plenty of space for the books to come!

What about you? Do you keep a record of the books you read?

Review: The Prophecy of Sisters

Last week, a coworker asked me if I wanted to read any of the galleys she'd recently been given to review before her upcoming meeting with the company's sales rep.  I pawed through them and took two.  I started with The Prophecy of Sisters by Michelle Zink.

It's YA; a historical novel (late 1800s) with a touch of fantasy.  Twins Lia and Alice discover they play opposing roles in an ancient prophecy, and each must unravel its meaning and find her place within it on her own.  It actually kept me engrossed, and I finished it in a few days.  A touch overdramatic in places, but generally a good, quick story with enough history to keep it romantic (big house, sweeping gowns, and the like) and enough fantasy to keep it exciting (a spiritualist, mysterious marks appearing on wrists, and so forth).

My only complaint is that it's the first book in a series.  I'd be complaining less if I'd known that from the start; honestly, I probably would have passed it by.  Not that I have anything against series books.  It's just that it's so darn hard to wait for the next book to come out.  Heck, the one I just read won't even be published until August!  I had the same problem with Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games (although about 100 times worse...now that's a sequel worth waiting for!).  I'd rather wait and start the series right before the last book comes out.

What about you?  How do you feel about books in a series that's not yet complete?

Review: Made from Scratch

If there's anyone out there who's ever considered learning some homesteading skills but didn't know where to start, I have a book for you.

Made from Scratch by Jenna Woginrich hit bookstores at the end of 2008.  Part memoir, part empowering how-to guide, the book is truly an inspiration and a guide for anyone who wants to grow their own food, raise chickens, keep bees, spin wool, sew clothes, or just appreciate the simple things in life.

I read Made from Scratch in the fall as a galley.  So far Jenna has me spinning on a drop spindle and baking my own bread, with more to come with spring (a container garden!).  And someday, when I don't live in an urban apartment building anymore, I'll use the courage Made from Scratch has given me to start up my own flock of chickens!

For more about the book, check out the post I did for my store to advertise Jenna's signing later this month.  And if you're in the Albany area, come to the signing!  There may also be reading and music.  Definitely worth the trip!

Review: Blonde Roots

Well, I just finished Blonde Roots, a forthcoming novel from Bernardine Evaristo.  I can't say much about the plot without giving important twists away.  The novel follows the life of a slave in an alternate retelling of history, where "whytes" are enslaved by "blaks" and history as we have been taught it is turned upside down.

The novel comes out at the end of January.  Anyone who likes intriguing narratives or unique perspectives on history will enjoy it, and it provides plenty of food for thought as well as infinite details to pick out and mull over for those of us who like to analyze what we read.

I've not read anything like it that I can think of.  Check it out if the idea appeals to you; it's well written, absorbingly plotted, and full of very real characters.