Ok, so actually it's our blog that's back and not the Backstreet Boys, tragically. They did release a new album last month but that's besides the point. I saw them perform on America's Got Talent a couple weeks back...It took me back to 1998... ;) I have no doubt that you missed us, who on earth else can you get snarky, dissatisfied book reviews from on the internet? So here are our excuses for our wicked long an unannounced absences.
I got a job. Is it the best job ever? Yes, it probably is so feel free to be jealous. I get to work in the teen room of a fabulous library with hilarious and innovative coworkers doing crafts, creating displays, finding people books and answering reference questions. I actually just attended an 80s murder mystery dinner at which I was supposed to play a diva vampire, but ended up switching to a male alligator dundee. My outfit was very gender confused but I had so much fun. I especially liked that my character was a complete jerk, it was a good fit haha! But anyway, it has taken me a while to adjust to moving to a new city and working so many hours a day while still walking my dog, microwaving my dinners and fitting in reading. I really do not know how adults have managed this my whole life.
-Becky
Well, I'll have to disagree with Becky on having the best job ever (pretty sure *I* do!), though technically my "job" isn't really a job. Why? Because I'm student teaching! Mediocre list of reasons why I've been so absent on the blogosphere - things happened back in the spring & I had to deal with some personal stuff. But that's all good now! Then summer came and I went back to work as a seasonal employee at the factory where I met my husband six years ago. Which meant waking up at 3 AM every day and being exhausted by 7 PM every evening; I do NOT miss those hours! That's really my list of reasons. But I've missed Becky & blogging & talking books! This is going to be a busy semester, but I may as well get used to juggling multiple things while teaching, so let's call this a practice run to prepare me for real life as a teacher. Anyway, I spend my weekdays with 8th graders and a wonderful cooperating teacher; I couldn't be happier. I am right where I need to be! So here's to reading and sharing a love of books. (I've already begun collecting book recommendations from my students & hope to start reading them and likely reviewing them here soon!) I guess that's all for now, folks. Glad to be back and we hope you stop by to chat books with us soon!
-Randi
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Friday, September 6, 2013
Boarding school for criminal minds
This book was a great read alike for high-tension supspense books like Lockdown or The Maze Runner with a hint of Pirate Cinema. It has the same limited setting, sense of being trapped, and fight-to-the-death scenario.
I had mixed feelings about the actual quality of the writing, but it was a very engrossing story and I had a hard time putting it down. The characters could have been more complex, especially Joi, and the believability struggled in part because of the overly-simplified thought process and strange censoring of the grittiness that the setting and characters demanded. I would probably read a sequel, however, because of the likable main character and the psychological twist of Peter Pan.
I'd friend this book on Facebook because it is just so outrageous I can't say no. 3 stars
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Bloglovin' Claim
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Ignore post. We're claiming our blog on Bloglovin'. :)
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Twice-Baked Thursday (Review): Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's
Title: Look Me in the Eye
Author: John Elder Robison
Pages: 304
Publisher: Crown
Publishing Date: Sept. 25th, 2007 (Randi's library version)
Publisher: Crown
Publishing Date: Sept. 25th, 2007 (Randi's library version)
Audience: Adult
Source: Library (Randi & Becky)
Rating: 3 - I'd friend this book on Facebook (Randi) 3- I'd reluctantly friend this book on Facebook, knowing I'd need to hide their feed info.
Goodreads Summary:Ever since he was small, John Robison had longed to connect with other people, but by the time he was a teenager, his odd habits—an inclination to blurt out non sequiturs, avoid eye contact, dismantle radios, and dig five-foot holes (and stick his younger brother in them)—had earned him the label “social deviant.” No guidance came from his mother, who conversed with light fixtures, or his father, who spent evenings pickling himself in sherry. It was no wonder he gravitated to machines, which could, at least, be counted on.
After fleeing his parents and dropping out of high school, his savant-like ability to visualize electronic circuits landed him a gig with KISS, for whom he created their legendary fire-breathing guitars. Later, he drifted into a “real” job, as an engineer for a major toy company. But the higher Robison rose in the company, the more he had to pretend to be “normal” and do what he simply couldn’t: communicate. It wasn’t worth the paycheck.
It was not until he was forty that an insightful therapist told him he had the form of autism called Asperger’s syndrome. That understanding transformed the way Robison saw himself—and the world.
Our Thoughts
Randi in black. Becky in Grey
Hi there! Long time, no Twice-Baked Thursday! I'm glad the chaos that has been life these past few months has slowed enough to get back to the blog for a change. Agreed! Anyway, I have wanted to read John Elder Robison's memoir for awhile now. I'm not really into Non-fiction, but I gave it a few tries this month. I'm particularly interested in reading the point-of-view of a character with an autism-spectrum disorder such as Asperger's. My interest comes partially from the fact that I read Jodi Picoult's House Rules,(loved it) which features a male teen protagonist with AS (Asperger's Syndrome) and loved it, and also since I am also a teacher-in-training and clearly it is to my advantage (as well as my future students') to know as much as possible about autism-related disorders. In that respect, this memoir definitely provided me insight into some of the feelings and thought processes of an adolescent with AS (the book covers early childhood through adulthood, but I found the childhood & teen years the most interesting). I work at a public library where we do have patrons who have AS. We're actually doing an educational program about it soon. Awesome!! Apparently we moved the furniture once and our AS patron was very upset, yelled at several staff members and refused to come back for some time. That's unfortunate :( but I can understand how that might upset someone with AS or another autism-spectrum disorder. I thought it might be useful to understand someone with AS' thought process a little more for the future...although we will still shift furniture.
Overall, I appreciated this book. I think most of my issues with it were related to the writing style, which was primarily due to John Elder's different thought process. I just found it hard to relate to and often offensive, which isn't especially surprising. (Agreed on the difficult-to-relate-to-ness!) However, I found some parts mind-numbingly dull. Those parts tended to be the ones where John Elder talked a lot about machinery (YES) or technology matters because his knowledge is so advanced in those areas while mine is so not, that I just sort of spaced out and tried to get through them quickly. I just skimmed. I found myself thinking "I do not care I do not care" a lot when he wrote about his pyrotechnics and other electronic shenanigans." Right! I thought "Oh, that's interesting...but I don't need details." There were places where I wanted to (and did, at some points) want to put this book down and forget about it because of those dull areas. But I'm glad I finished it. The epilogue in particular was one of my favorite parts. The book made me think about how we as a society judge others and expect everyone to conform to a specific version of "normal." I don't like that. I dislike how so many of John Elder's tribulations throughout his life are because other people are unwilling to be flexible. That really bothers me. But I also was reminded (quite unexpectedly, actually) of how important it is to forgive others, even when they might not always particularly deserve that forgiveness. I'm not sure I agree, honestly. Even John Elder often stated how much his life improved when he began to train himself to act more like "the norm". I think society has evolved in certain ways for ease of communication and socialization. Obviously I don't believe in Stepford communities where there is a scripted dialog and way to live. However, if someone walks up to me and tells me I look fatter, I'm not going to like them regardless of any other factors. (LOL. You make a valid point! I just mean in a broader sense of having one set idea of what constitutes "normal" and sometimes shunning anyone that doesn't fit. I agree that society has evolved for important reasons, but I don't like the judgmental mentality in general.)
I'd recommend this with the caution that some parts will likely drag for most readers; however, if you can get through those parts (or skip them!), it's a worthwhile read. I came into this story interested mostly in John Elder's childhood, but most of this is about his adult years. Fair warning. I don't regret reading it, but I'm not sure it changed my views much. I found Elder's abusive home-life most disturbing, and I honestly feel it had a much greater impact on his struggle than his AS. I've already recommended this book to two people :).
Overall, I appreciated this book. I think most of my issues with it were related to the writing style, which was primarily due to John Elder's different thought process. I just found it hard to relate to and often offensive, which isn't especially surprising. (Agreed on the difficult-to-relate-to-ness!) However, I found some parts mind-numbingly dull. Those parts tended to be the ones where John Elder talked a lot about machinery (YES) or technology matters because his knowledge is so advanced in those areas while mine is so not, that I just sort of spaced out and tried to get through them quickly. I just skimmed. I found myself thinking "I do not care I do not care" a lot when he wrote about his pyrotechnics and other electronic shenanigans." Right! I thought "Oh, that's interesting...but I don't need details." There were places where I wanted to (and did, at some points) want to put this book down and forget about it because of those dull areas. But I'm glad I finished it. The epilogue in particular was one of my favorite parts. The book made me think about how we as a society judge others and expect everyone to conform to a specific version of "normal." I don't like that. I dislike how so many of John Elder's tribulations throughout his life are because other people are unwilling to be flexible. That really bothers me. But I also was reminded (quite unexpectedly, actually) of how important it is to forgive others, even when they might not always particularly deserve that forgiveness. I'm not sure I agree, honestly. Even John Elder often stated how much his life improved when he began to train himself to act more like "the norm". I think society has evolved in certain ways for ease of communication and socialization. Obviously I don't believe in Stepford communities where there is a scripted dialog and way to live. However, if someone walks up to me and tells me I look fatter, I'm not going to like them regardless of any other factors. (LOL. You make a valid point! I just mean in a broader sense of having one set idea of what constitutes "normal" and sometimes shunning anyone that doesn't fit. I agree that society has evolved for important reasons, but I don't like the judgmental mentality in general.)
I'd recommend this with the caution that some parts will likely drag for most readers; however, if you can get through those parts (or skip them!), it's a worthwhile read. I came into this story interested mostly in John Elder's childhood, but most of this is about his adult years. Fair warning. I don't regret reading it, but I'm not sure it changed my views much. I found Elder's abusive home-life most disturbing, and I honestly feel it had a much greater impact on his struggle than his AS. I've already recommended this book to two people :).
Friday, April 12, 2013
Review: The Snow Child
Title: The Snow Child
Author: Eowyn Ivey
Pages: 388
Audience: Adult
Source: Library (Becky)
Rating: 5-I'd move to Alaska for this book
Goodreads Summary:
Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone--but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees. This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.
Our Thoughts
Becky in black.Mabel and Faina were my favorites because we see most into Mabel's thoughts and feelings, and Faina is such a mystery but the easiest to picture. Her backstory is so chilling and unresolved. I also loved Jack. He seemed like such a "man's man" but in an honest and unpretentious way. Garrett...meh lol. The supporting characters were rarely seen but were well drawn despite it.
The overall effect of this was that it kind of made me want to move somewhere far away from civilization, and then I remembered I have no survival skills lol. Most of all I loved the hint of magic that laces the creeping, melancholy atmosphere. The language was simple yet artful, and I only noticed in the last fifty pages that there were no quotation marks.
A final aspect I loved was the survival story in harsh elements and the way the characters become self sustaining. As a child I was obsessed with stories like Hatchet and Little House in the Big Woods. This story has a lot of trapping and hard farming that holds its own kind of magic for a city kid like me. Overall it was a really great read, especially for winter. I need to own it, lol.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Review: Nothing
Title: Nothing
Author: Janne Teller
Pages: 227
Audience: Young Adult
Source: library (Becky)
Rating: 5 I'd marry this book if it wasn't so utterly disturbing
Goodreads Summary:
When Pierre-Anthon realizes there is no meaning to life, the seventh-grader leaves his classroom, climbs a tree, and stays there. His classmates cannot make him come down, not even by pelting him with rocks. So to prove to Pierre-Anthon that life has meaning, the children decide to give up things of importance. The pile starts with the superficial—a fishing rod, a new pair of shoes. But as the sacrifices become more extreme, the students grow increasingly desperate to get Pierre-Anthon down, to justify their belief in meaning. Sure to prompt intense thought and discussion, Nothing—already a treasured work overseas—is not to be missed.
My Thoughts
You'd be hard pressed to find a more disturbing book, particularly for teens. It begins innocently enough but things begin to get more and more horrific so that you're hard pressed to pinpoint just when it changed. There were several times that I could not believe what I was reading and my jaw just dropped. Although the characters in this story are in middle school, the content is barely suited for juniors and seniors in high school and will still probably be too horrific for most of them. Far from being disturbing solely for the sensationalism, this book has a core of horrific existentialism and truth that I think will resonate with most people, much as we don't want it to. Does life hold any meaning, and if so where and how. This would be an interesting book club book, although I think it would be difficult to get parents to sign off on it.
You'd be hard pressed to find a more disturbing book, particularly for teens. It begins innocently enough but things begin to get more and more horrific so that you're hard pressed to pinpoint just when it changed. There were several times that I could not believe what I was reading and my jaw just dropped. Although the characters in this story are in middle school, the content is barely suited for juniors and seniors in high school and will still probably be too horrific for most of them. Far from being disturbing solely for the sensationalism, this book has a core of horrific existentialism and truth that I think will resonate with most people, much as we don't want it to. Does life hold any meaning, and if so where and how. This would be an interesting book club book, although I think it would be difficult to get parents to sign off on it.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Review (Becky): Revolver
Goodreads Summary
1910. A cabin north of the Arctic Circle. Fifteen-year-old Sig Andersson is alone. Alone, except for the corpse of his father, who died earlier that day after falling through a weak spot on the ice-covered lake. His sister, Anna, and step-mother, Nadya, have gone to the local town for help. Then comes a knock at the door. It's a man, the flash of a revolver's butt at his hip, and a mean glare in his eyes. Sig has never seen him before but Wolff claims to have unfinished business with his father. As Sig gradually learns the awful truth about Wolff's connection to his father, Sig finds his thoughts drawn to a certain box hidden on a shelf in the storeroom, in which lies his father's prized possession - a revolver. When Anna returns alone, and Wolff begins to close in, Sigs choice is pulled into sharp focus. Should he use the gun, or not?
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