snuck up on me

The Fireman's Wife by Jack Riggs

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction

Review: This is a book about choices and regrets. It's about not leaving things unsaid. I didn't realize how much I was into this book until about 3/4 of the way through, when the really dramatic thing happens (I'm definitely not going to give it away here). At that point, I realized that I really had developed a connection to the characters, to the point that I was almost in tears reading about their pain.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

the anti-character

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction, suspense

Review: Rebecca de Winter is dead when this story begins, and yet is its strongest character. She haunts the second Mrs. de Winter (whose first name we never learn) even before her arrival at Manderley. Convinced that Mr. de Winter is still in love with Rebecca, she allows herself to be completely undone by the prospect of stepping into Rebecca's shoes. She is scared witless by Mrs. Danvers, the overbearing and creepy housekeeper, who remains devoted to Rebecca and determined to keep everything at Manderly just the way it was before Rebecca died.

To be fair, Mr. de Winter seems to give absolutely no consideration of the fact that she might feel out of her league and doesn't seem to even notice her distress. However, even when the de Winters finally start communicating and things look like they might work out, she continues to act like a nitwit. It's very hard to sympathize which such a protagonist, but that aside, this is an excellent work of suspense.

2008 Challenges

I'm pleased to report that I successfully completed both challenges I took on for 2008.

The A-Z challenge was a lot of fun, and I definitely read some books I would never have read if I hadn't needed a certain letter. One author I was pleased to find was Eva Ibbotson. On the other hand, I could have lived with reading Zola's Nana! Find my completed list here.

The TBR (to-be-read) challenge was decidedly less fun. There's a reason some of those books sat on my list for so long! But I did read 11 from my original list, and only one from my alternates (I decided Stephen King's The Stand was just way too long). Check out my completed list.

I think I won't try to do either of these challenges again in 2009. I'm still doing the 1% percent challenge (though I haven't made much progress yet), and I welcome any suggestions for new challenges to take on!

fun little mystery

The X'ed Out X-Ray by Rob Roy

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Genre: children's, mystery

Challenge: A-Z (title)

Review: A fun little mystery for kids, where the thief is the one not suspected until the last minute. The kid-detectives use realistic methods to get clues, and are able to catch the culprit with the help of their policeman-friend.

both sides of the story

The Other Mother by Gwendolen Gross

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: This is the story of two women, two mothers. Thea lives in the house where she grew up and is the stay-at-home mom of 3 kids, including a toddler. Amanda, a children's book editor, moves in next door, pregnant, about to start her maternity leave. When circumstances force the two women uncomfortably close, each must face her own choices to stay home or continue to work.

The best thing about this book is that Gross alternates chapters between Thea and Amanda, allowing the reader to get both sides of the story. To each mother, the other is a monster, but both have moments of being able to put themselves in the other's shoes.

The worst thing about this book is that Gross chooses to use the events of September, 2001 to bring her story to a close. The story starts in September, 2000 when Amanda moves in to her new house. The book is divided into sections by the months that follow, with no mention of year, until the following September when the inclusion of 2001 is glaring and obvious. Without going into detail, Gross gets her characters home safely and ends her story quite abruptly.

Gross's decision to use September 11th in this way is a shame because up until the last section this was a very engaging book. I cared about the characters and wanted them to be friends or at least come to terms separately with their own decisions. But it feels as though Gross could not figure out how to make that happen and decided to take the easy way out.

not just about being safe

The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson

Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction, YA

Challenge: A-Z (author)

Summary/Review: The king of a Bergania (a fictional country, though one that seems a lot like Switzerland) refuses to allow Hitler's troops to march through his country. Seeing this on a newreel at the movies, Tally is struck by his courage, and also interested in the prince, who's face she can't really see, obscured as it is by the plumes from his helmet. When the headmaster of Delderton (her boarding school) brings up an invitation to go to Bergania to participate in a folk dancing festival, Tally jumps at the chance, even though neither she nor any of her friends have any experience with folk dancing. Little do they know that their arrival in Bergania will coincide with a Nazi plot to get rid of the king and kidnap the prince.

That Tally and her friends are able to smuggle the prince out of the country is really only half of this story. The other half is what happens to the prince once he's safely in England. Because he has family there, and as in other Ibbotson stories, his family is fairly horrible. They are convinced that they must continue his training so that he can assume his rightful place on the throne of Bergania after the war. Except that he doesn't really want to be king. He wants to join Tally and her friends at Delderton.

And that's what this book is really about. It's about finding your place in the world, or making your place in the world, if the one that's set out for you isn't right. It's also about friendship and family and justice. If you've read other books by Ibbotson, you may find her books to be a bit formulaic, but this book is none the less charming for being similar to others.

an accurate title

The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop: A Memoir, A History by Lewis Buzbee

Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: memoir, history

Challenge: A-Z (title) Review: I almost had to fight with Buzbee in the first chapter of this book. He describes bookstores as places to go to browse (no objection yet), even to sit down and read (no particular objection here either), and to look for particular pieces of information. Wait! Here I object: isn't that what the library is for? Of course, I have my biases (being a librarian) and he has his (being a bookseller).

Having moved on from the first chapter, I was glad I did. I found this a delightful book. It truly is both a history and a memoir. More than that, it is both a personal memoir, and a memoir of bookselling as a profession. He tells his own story alongside that of the history of bookselling, and makes both very interesting.

He includes one statistic that I find distressing, though. He tells us that at an average of one book a week (roughly my own pace, depending on the book, and the week) from the age of 5 to the age of 80, a person will read 3,900 books or a little over one-tenth of one percent of the books currently in print. Far too few, if you ask me.