How I Created My Perfect Prom Date - Todd Strasser

So what do you think about dating your stepbrother? But what if you didn't know he WAS going to be your stepbrother when you started dating him? And besides, you only did it to get back at another boy and prove you could make him into someone everyone would be after. Kind of. Right?

This was another quick read, teen romance which I picked up over break. Beach books, I call them, although there was definitely no sign of the beach during this Arctic Blast winter vacation, was there?

I thought this book was funny and fun, and I liked how it had alternating chapters between the two main characters, a boy and a girl. If you're just looking for a light read, give this one a try.

P.S. this book is by the author of Give a Boy a Gun, and The Wave but it is WAY different than those books. I think it's pretty amazing how an author can write such divergent works, don't you?

The Geography of Girlhood - Kristen Smith

This book is a nice addition to the genre of books written for teens in verse instead of in prose. Verse writing is tricky because the writer has to tell the story completely, but they have so few words to flesh it out. Kristen Smith does a lovely job of that here.

It seems like the books I've read in verse (Stop Pretending, One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies, Shakespeare Bats Clean Up, Love that Dog) tend to focus on the feelings of the characters and leave lot of the action out. And it works beautifully, although it wouldn't work, I don't think, in prose. It's interesting.

Penny, whose mother abandoned her when she was six years old, is now trying to navigate the world of high school, which is hard enough WITH your mom there to help you. The voice is very strong, and I found myself really feeling for Penny as she struggles through her emotional pain.

A nicely written novel which I am happy to be able to recommend to mature readers looking for another novel in verse. I hope to read more from this author in the future.

Available at Multnomah County Library.

Gamma Glamma - Kim Flores

I really liked this funny book about a girl who undertakes a science project involving makeovers of real people to see if she could change their status in the world that is high school. Clearly, she hadn't read Frankenstein yet!

If you've read a lot of the entries on my blog, you'll know that character development is the main thing I enjoy in a book, and Luz is a wonderfully developed young woman. She is an admitted science geek, that's why she's at Gamma High, but when she realizes that the science fair competition is on the same nigh t as the Homecoming dance, she really doesn't want to do it. Unfortunately, the fish in the tank are dead and Luz is basically forced to do it. She comes up with a plan that she's SURE the science teacher could not possibly approve, but the fish are still dead and her plan is approved. Thus begins the circus that is Luz's science experiment. And the results are quite dramatic...although not necessarily good news for those involved, except maybe for Luz and Swen??

Luz's sense of humor, her smarts, and her inventiveness make her a really fun character to get to know in this creative novel which really captures the high school experience.

Sciencey types, those who like a laugh, and fans of a little romance will enjoy this great book by Kim Flores.

Available at the WOMS library.

How to Hook a Hottie - Tina Ferraro

This was a cute teen romance that was also pretty funny. Kate's parents have promised her that if she can make $5000 before the end of the school year she doesn't have to go to college and she can start on her plan to become a millionaire by age twenty right away. She has no idea that she will catapult to popularity and that her plan to earn money will get completely out of control when she starts up a matchmaking service. But of course, everything does go berserk, and Kate, who never thought she'd be in such a position, is not quite sure how to handle everything. A quick, fun read for fans of teen romance with some good lessons in it as well.

Available at Multnomah County Library.

Mr. Darcy Presents His Bride - Helen Halstead

This is one of those books in the "Pride and Prejudice Continued" genre (not actually a real genre, but you know what I mean) that I love to read because I so love P&P. I thought this one was pretty good, but a little slow for me. It was quite true to the original, so that was fun. I wonder how many times the authors of these types of books have read P&P. And how many other books of Austen's and the period have they also read. It would be interesting to know. Clearly, this woman was very familiar with the style because she did a good job of imitating it.

If you liked P&P and haven't read any of these sequels, this might be a nice choice to try. Available at Multnomah County Library.

In Her Shoes - Jennifer Weiner

This is a companion book to some of Jennifer Weiner's other fluff books that I've read, and I can't figure out exactly why I keep reading them. I mean, they're OK, but I have a zillion books on my shelf - have you SEEN my Shelfari list??? I think since I've read the other ones I sort of feel some sort of obligation to keep reading. Perhaps I should put this on my New Year's Resolutions list to stop doing that...

If you're just looking for an easy read about relationships, this one would be a good way to pass the time, but there are better books out there for doing that.

Christmas Book Blog Swap - WOW!

Somewhere in my blog trollings in November I saw a post about a Secret Santa Swap between book bloggers, so I thought I'd participate, and what fun it turned out to be. Dawn from Concord, queen of She Is Too Fond of Books, was my Secret Santa, and it was like she KNEW me. She sent me a whole bunch of goodies that were all prefect choices for me. I got YUMMY chocolate truffles - hand-made in Concord, a calendar of great books which I'm afraid is going to be running my library hold list up quite high, a great mix CD for yoga (which I just recently stated doing) and some of my favorite Burt's Bees lip balm. I also got a great new blog to read through this swap, and that just might be the best gift of all - it's certainly a gift that keeps on giving! Thanks, Dawn!




And then, as if the cosmos were linking us together or something, my mother-in-law sent me this fun hanging ornament which I am planning to put in my own library! How cool (and random!) is that?


I'm super glad someone decided to organize this, and I hope that Christine, who has a very cool blog (Between Concrete and Sky) about books and photography, two things I love, received her gift from me - it was scheduled to arrive on Christmas Eve - nothing like waiting until the last minute to mail a Chrismtas gift...

Hope you are all enjoying a fun and relaxing holiday season like I am :)

Change of Heart - Jodi Picoult

I fell in love with Jodi Picoult's writing when I read My Sister's Keeper, and I am afraid that book was SO amazing, that the other books of hers I've read just haven't been as good. this one in particular, I kept wanting to quit reading, but I needed to know what was going to happen. I guess that means something...

I think the main problem with this story was that I did not feel empathy for the main character who is a prisoner on death row. I want to say more, but I can't without giving things away. Jodi Picoult certainly gets readers thinking about things, and this is another of her books where I wonder what I'd think if I were a mom and I read this book. If you like Jodi Picoult's other books, you'll probably want to read this one.

Available at Multnomah County Library.

The President's Daughter books 1,2,3,4 - Ellen Emerson White

I really enjoyed this series which I started around the time of the elections. the main character is Meghan Powers, whose mother decides she's going to run for President, and she wins! Sounds pretty exciting, right? Well not to Meghan. She never wanted her mom to even run much less win! The series begins when the family still lives in Massachusetts, runs through the election, and carries on to the White House. There are many moments of suspense, some WAY too unbelievable, but of course FICTION is often about suspending disbelief, and if you can do that, I think you'll enjoy these books a lot, especially if you're interested in politics or what it's like to live in the White House.

Available at the Multnomah County Library.

Call Me Hope - Gretchen Olson

How would you feel if your parents named you Hope and then your dad left and your mom called you Hopeless all the time? It's not something anyone would wish for, and certainly not something the main character of this story enjoys. Her mother is quite verbally abusive to her, calling her names, belittling her, and generally just being mean. Hope tries so hard to be good, but it seems like she can never meet the mark. Even though you know this story is fiction, it's really hard to read some parts because you know that this really is the way some parents treat their children.

When she reads the Diary of Anne Frank in school, Hope makes a connection with Anne and the difficulties Anne's facing that help her to find ways of coping. The counselor at her school also gives her some great strategies she can use. The other thing that helps Hope through is finding people that show her they care about her, like the two women who run the resale shop where Hope gets a part time job.

This story is an intense read, but Hope's power of spirit and her constant attempts to overcome her difficulties make it an excellent piece o literature for middle grades and will hopefully open up some avenues of discussion for children in situations of verbal abuse.

Sea Otter Resuce - Roland Smith

This is one of the non-fiction Battle of the Books titles for this year, and it was a quick read and super interesting. It's about the Exxon Valdez oil spill that happened up in Alaska in 1989. I spent some time up in Alaska (even Valdez) this summer, so I was really interested in this story. Roland Smith used to be a veterinarian, so when the oil spill happened he was asked to go up and help. His first hand knowledge of the animals and of the rescue effort made this a really great piece. Plus there are awesome photos of the rescue efforts. Those little sea otters are sooooo cute. But only when they're not covered with oil.

The Exxon Valdez oil spill was one of the worst ever and caused the deaths of thousands and thousands of animals, including the sea otters, birds, seals, some whales, and many other animals. It was a devestating event that no one was properly prepared for. Luckily, as a result of the spill, people learned a lot about how to do a better job of containment and clean-up in the event of a spill, and new rules were created which will require all oil tankers in the future to have basically two hulls to help prevent spills in the case of an accident.

I'd definitely recommend this book for lovers of animals and the envirnonment.

The Host - Stephenie Meyer

I have to say it took me about 200 pages to get into this book (it's over 600 pages long), and that isn't really like me. I did grow to like the story, although it's not really my kind of book. This is a sci-fi futuristic book, and although I enjoy most sci-fi, I realize now that I don't really enjoy alien sci-fi. That's just a little too weird for me. Sort of like I only like fantsy that has real people in it, I guess I also only like sci-fi that has people in it, not aliens. I think that's what saved this book for me. It did have real people in it, and now that I think about it, I think they came in around page 200...coincidence? I think not. Honestly, had it not been our book club book for this month, I probably wouldn't have finished it, but I'm glad I did.

Recommended for lovers of alien sci-fi stories middle school aged and up.

A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula LeGuin

If you've ever heard me a do a book talk, you undoubtedly know that fantasy is not really my genre, so you will probably not be surprised to hear me say that a book with the words wizard and earthsea (not even a word!) was not my favorite I've read this year. It's a Battle of the Books title, so I forced my self to read it (I listened, actually), but it was just a little too wizardy for me.

Having said that, if you LIKE fantasy, I think you will really enjoy this book. It's got a good mystery, pleny of adventure, lots of magic, and a good plot going. It's the first in the Tombs of Atuan series, and I'd definitely recommend it to fantasy fans or those who are interested in exploring this genre. It's well written and has been around for quite some time, written by Oregon's own Ursula LeGuin.

Copies of this title are available on the OBOB spinner rack in the WOMS library.

Barack Obama - Son of Promise, Child of Hope - Nikki Grimes

I read this recently published children's book just before the election. It's a good book, and I did like the illustrations a lot, but I didn't love it. I thought it could have had a little more information in it than it did. Picture books aren't my specialty, of course, but I have read quite a lot of them, and this one just didn't WOW me. It's a nice place to start, though, for young children who don't know anything about our 44th President.

Recommended.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist - Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

It is really too bad this book has so much bad language in it that I could NEVER have it in my library, because I really did enjoy the plot of this novel. Nick has just gone through a terrible break-up, and when he sees his ex at a concert, he does the only thing he can think of, he turns to the girl next to him (who he's never seen before) and asks her if she'll be his girlfriend for just five minutes. For her own reasons, Norah agrees with a whopper of a kiss. And this begins not just five minutes but a whole night of young love.

This story was written by two authors, one male and one female, and they tell the story in alternating chapters. One chapter's Nick, then the next is Norah. Sometimes this can be difficult to read, but these authors pull it off marvelously. The character development is outstanding, and these two characters, while they do have potty mouths, also have some great boundaries and don't just act without thought. In fact, they're quite thoughtful as evidenced by many of their discussions.

I'm curious to see the movie of this book which has just recently come out to see if the characters match my vision of them. It rarely happens, so I kinda doubt it. This book is only appropriate for mature high schoolers.

Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts

This was fascinating book, but I think it's the book hat's taken me the longest to finish of any book I've ever read. It took me over 6 months. Of course, if you look at teh last six months of this blog, you'll see that I have read just a couple of other things as well, but still it's quite unlike me to spend so long on one book. And then again, I don't often read 936 page books...

One reason I don't spend forever reading books generally is that I tend to forget hat was happening if I leave a book and then come back after a while. This did not, interestingly, happen at all with Shantaram. No matter how long I stepped away from it, it was always clear when I came back. I thought that was interesting.

This book had action, suspense, character development, philosophy, crime, romance, pretty much everything. I guess when you write such a long book you have room to write about everything! but the secret is in being able do it well and not have your reader feel like it was just dragging on and on. I never really felt like that with this book, which was great.

The story is about a man who got into drugs, was thrown in prison, escaped and went off to India where he ended up working for a mafia type group there. In real life, the author himself ended up in prison and escaped, went to India and opened a health clinic (also a part of the story). It was fascinating to wonder how much of this story was true, and how much completely made up. I felt like the main character's descriptions of his feelings as an escapee on the run must have been more accurate than anyone else would have been able to write them, along with some other things, like treatment of people in prisons (super difficult to read about sometimes).

I really, really enjoyed this novel and would recommend it to adults with staying power or a bunch of spare time on their hands.

The Last Chinese Chef - Nicole Mones

This was my most recent book for my grown up book club, and I totally loved it. I think it's the second best book we've done in book club (The Thirteenth Tale was my very favorite). It was beautifully done by local Portland author, Nicole Mones. At first I struggled with the ancient Chinese history part, but by the end I really enjoyed how she wove that in. It was a book that made me feel peaceful when I read it. It was totally fantabulous. I'd recommend it to other grown-ups reading this blog.

Streams of Babel - Carol Plum-Ucci

I thought this was a terrific page-turner of a book. I actually read it a little more slowly than I might have otherwise because I didn't want it to end. The events are a little unbelievable, but I found myself not really caring about that because it was a compelling story and focused a lot on character, which if you've been reading my blog for long, you'll know is really important to me. Like Plum-Ucci's other books, this is a mystery novel. Unlike her others, it's also a bioterrorism story. Those who have read her other books or who read and enjoyed Code Orange will likely enjoy this book quite a lot.

This story is told from multiple points of view - called a "split narrative. This has the effect of keeping readers in suspense - just as one character's situation comes to a head, she moves on to the next character's plight, and readers are left hanging for several more (short) chapters before they get back to Cora or Scott or Owen. This certainly works well in this novel to develop tension.

The characters are primarily teenagers - some here in the States, and one in Pakistan. The Pakistani boy, Shahzad, unlike some other terrorism novels is NOT one of the terrorists, but rather a hero working first from Pakistan then from the US to help try and find the roots of the Red Vinegar threat he's uncovered on the Internet.
Shazad is a computer genius at 16! Each of the characters in the story has his or her own quirks, and yet through this experience they all find other people who befriend them in spite of their issues. I think this is a powerful lesson for kids who often think that if someone isn't just like me, I can't hang around with them. It also shows that we all have weaknesses, and that those don't have to define us even though they're part of us.

I do worry that this type of book feeds into what I feel is sometimes an over-hyping of terrorist threats. Sure, we need to be prepared, and yes, obviously some people don't like the way our country does business and might want to hurt us. However, I don't want kids to begin to think that everyone's out to get us, and that they need to be afraid of doing normal things. For that reason, I'd recommend this book for 8th graders and up.

The Mother Daughter Book Club AND Much Ado About Anne - Heather Vogel Frederick

These two books are by local author Heather Vogel Frederick, and I loved both of them. I loved them for their strong character development, for their honest portrayal of teenage girls and their relationships with their mothers and with one another, and for their literary references to two of my most favorite books - Little Women and Anne of Green Gables.

The four main characters in these novels are Megan, who would definitely rather be at the mall than at the library; Cassidy, whose over-protective mother thinks hockey is NOT the sport for her at all, even though Cassidy thinks it's her life; Emma is the Mrs. FB of the group - she's read EVERYthing; and Jess is so busy missing her mother who went off to New York for an acting job, that she can hardly think of much else.
But whether they like it or not, these four girls are going to spend one evening a month discussing books in the Mother Daughter Book Club organized by Emma's mom!

Over the course of the first book the club reads Little Women, and over the course of the second book they read Anne of Green Gables. In both books the author does a nice job of tying together things that are happening in the girls' lives with things that are happening in the novels they're reading, but you don't have to have read Little Women to understand the reference.

I thought these books were really thoughtful without being preachy, and lots of fun to read. I would definitely recommend them to middle school girls. I am hoping to use the first one as our first WOMS Book Club book. If you're interested in joining our book club, please be sure to take the SHORT survey that's on the library webpage.

Boy in the Striped Pajamas: A Fable - David Boyne

I listened to this on audio and I totally loved this book! It is a Holocaust novel, so it's not for everyone, and it would be a good idea to have someone to talk with about this novel after reading.

Bruno, the nine year old narrator of this story, is the son of a Nazi officer who moves his family from Berlin to "Out-With" where he is to be the new commandant at the concentration camp. Bruno knows nothing of what's really happening in the camp, which he can see from his bedroom window. All he knows is that many people live there behind the fence, and they all wear striped pajamas and hats and have shaved heads. As Bruno has no friends at Out-with, only a sister who he calls quite frequently, "a hopeless case," he's terribly lonely. He imagines that the people living behind the fence are all happy families who get to run and play and he's sort of jealous of them.

Then one day he meets a boy wearing striped pajamas who lives behind the fence. His name is Schmuel. Bruno and the boy become friends, with Bruno going to see Schmuel nearly every day, even though his father has expressly forbidden going anywhere near the fence. He really wants to go visit Schmuel, and Schmuel wants him to visit, but they both know it's not a good idea. One day, however, after Bruno has told Schmuel his family is moving back to Berlin, they hatch a plan for Bruno to sneak in under the fence which will lift up juuust enough.

What follows is a tense and terrifying conclusion which readers with some knowledge of the Holocaust are sure to understand although it is never spelled out.

This is an incredible piece of writing for mature readers with some understanding of the Holocaust.