Great Book for Adolescent Girls

Storm Mountain by Tom Birdseye

Adolescent Action/Adventure/Survival

Cat has slowly rebuilt her life after her father's death on nearby Storm Mountain.  She has a healthy respect for the environment and has devoted her time to learning everything she can about mountain climbing.  Her cousin Ty is the exact opposite, although he also lost his father, twin to Cat's, on the same mountain during the same storm.  Ty is a devil-may-care, hang by the seat of his pants kind of person and Cats knows how very dangerous this attitude can be while mountain climbing.  Ty gets the brilliant idea to release their fathers' ashes at the site of their deaths on the anniversary of that date.  Cat says no--she isn't ready to let go of her father yet.  Not to be deterred, Ty steals the ashes--and Cat's dog--in the middle of the night and heads to Storm Mountain and right into a blizzard.  With both their mothers gone and the storm getting worse, Cat has no choice but to swallow her fears, ignore reason, and plunge into the storm to save Ty and her beloved dog.

What I loved about this book was the strong female character.  There are so few action adventure books for adolescent girls.  The adventure story turns into one of survival as Cat struggles to keep them all alive during a blizzard and avalanche.  There are also great messages about grieving, knowing when to say goodbye, making a new start, and the important of family.

Hate Math, Loved This Book

Freakonomics:  A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dunbar

Nonfiction


I would never have thought that I would ever read an economics book.  And, if I did, I would never have guessed I could have stayed awake, much less found it fascinating. But, I did and I did.

Even if you abhor any scent of mathematics, as I do, this book is so eminently easy to read.  One of the authors is a journalist and crafts each chapter in a way I found to be interesting and relevant and eye-opening.

The focus of he book is with Steven Levitt, a guru of economics who doesn't write to think about boring, old statistics.  Well, actually he does but he presents them in a way that are too interesting to ignore.  Some examples:  why do real estate agents so eager to settle for less money on a sale when it means less money in their pocket? What do abortions and national crime rates have in common?  Why do drug dealers live with their mothers?  If you've ever thought any of these seemingly random thoughts, this is probably a book you would enjoy.

What I really like about it is that the authors don't shy away from controversial topics and just let the numbers speak for themselves.  And, while I don't like math, I know that numbers can only be manipulated so much; they just can't lie.  I'm a bit hooked on the topic now and am rushing to get the next book by the two, Superfreakonomics.  After reading this, you'll probably be a bit freakish about numbers too.

It's Always a Pleasure to Read a Brown

Inferno by Dan Brown

Fiction/History Mystery/Adventure/Thriller

I always wait with gleeful anticipation the next release of any of Dan Brown's books.  He can always be counted on to provide a solid, engaging read with unexpected plot twists and delicious historical mysteries.

This book was no exception.  In this latest installment of the adventures of Professor Langdon, he is suffering from amnesia and wakes up in a hospital being shot at. His rescuer, a young doctor, soon becomes involved in the chase and two try and backtrack to help Langdon discover why anyone would want to kill him.  Naturally, the reasons are long and convoluted and filled with both historical fiction and fact.  This book focuses on the real-life Dante and his work, "Inferno".  If you've never read, don't worry.  There is enough explanation in the book for even a casual literary lover.

I do love Brown's work, but, honestly I'm getting tired of him.  I mean, come on!  How can one guy have so many adventures?  It's starting to stretch believability a bit too much.  This book would have been much better if there were another main character and Langdon was relegated to an advisor of some sort.  I am also a bit perplexed by the ending. Talk about a cliffhanger!  I hope it means this book might just have a sequel.  There's definitely enough left undone that a complete other book could remedy.

Cute, Sweet Read

Friends:  Snake and Lizard by Joy Crowley

Elementary Fiction

Wen I first ordered this book, I went off the information provided that it was for "primary" readers.  This is most certainly not the case.  The book would be a great read-aloud for primary-aged children, in bits and chapters.  But an independent reader couldn't tackle the book until elementary school.  It's a fairly lengthy chapter book.

The stories inside deal with the friendship of Snake and Lizard, who live in a desert and have not-so-remarkable adventures, which is not to say the book is boring.  However, what is remarkable to a couple of cold-blooded desert dwellers is old hat to humans who have seen more of the world.  Their naiveté is charming and the stories are cute, filled with fun.  Many of them have valuable, but not preachy, lessons about friendship, how to treat others, lying, exaggeration, etc. 

I believe this is the second in a series, but you won't suffer from confusion if you start with this one first.  Overall, a sweet and funny read.

Excellent Gift Book

The Galapagos:  A Natural History by Henry Nicholls

Nonfiction/History

This book is one of those that are so delightful to own and to read.  It is a tactile pleasure for the true bibliophile, one of those rare breed who love the feel of a book as much as the words within.  The cover illustrations immediately draw the reader to the pages and are reminiscent of John James Audubon's best work.  The deckled edges, heavy paper, and cream tone make it feel like a gift book.  If you're thinking of purchasing, definitely buy the print version because the physical components are as important as the ideas.

The ideas, though, are quite fascinating, if you're into Darwin.  I had been reading a lot of Darwin and happened upon this book.  I wanted to read more of his theories without having to delve into his original works, parts of which I've read and found a bit boring.  This book did provide a bit more excitement, but it won't make you grit your teeth with thrills.  It is, instead, a fascinating and gentle historical read about natural selection as seen upon the Galapagos Islands.  I do not claim to be a naturalist and could only name about 15 birds by sight if I were hard-pressed.  However, the text and explanations were fascinating to me and I think even a casual reader of natural history would find something in this book to love.

Deep Waters

Jesse Stone #3:  Death in Paradise by Robert Parker

Mystery/Thriller

I so enjoy reading Jesse Stone books.  What I most like about them isn't necessarily the mystery (which is always superbly plotted), or the adventure (which is often knuckle-biting), it's the character of Jesse.

Jesse is a human with a lot of human mistakes.  He is an alcoholic, not recovering, and has real issues with his on-again, off-again ex-wife.  I love that Parker doesn't make any excuses for Jesse's behavior and that Jesse doesn't make any for himself.  Usually, in a book, the character is recovering from some addiction.  In this book, and the others in the series so far, Jesse isn't recovering.  He fights his demons in front of the reader and it's so refreshing to read about a "real" person with problems who isn't always successful in dealing with them.

In this series installment, Jesse is hot on the trail of a murder.  A local teenager is found floating in the lake and Jesse and his not-so-crackpot team of police dive in to the mystery only to discover the waters are a lot deeper than they look.  Soon, the tiny police force is mixed up in the gang, prostitution, and child molestation. As always, the plot is so tightly written.  It's a pleasure to see Jesse's mind at work and I love that he is changing man, book by book. Can't wait to read the next one!

Bizarre

Survivor by Chuck Palahnuik

Adult Fiction

I am becoming less and less a fan of Palahnuik.  I have read several of his books and think I must have peaked early on because they get worse and worse as I go.

This book is about a religious cult survivor who has become a maid or cleaning person who also, apparently, runs a suicide hotline advising people to commit suicide and has the hots for a girl who can tell the future.  Bizarre doesn't begin to cover it.

There are so many things to loathe about the book. Every character in it is dislikable and confusing.  The plot is confusing, especially since it doesn't really get going with a plot until about 75% in.  The formatting is so awful.  It is NOT worthy to abandon traditional forms of punctuation.  Punctuation has a purpose--it makes things readable.  When you don't use it, things become unreadable.  This is unreadable.  Although, even if it had formatting, everything else about it was so awful, I still wouldn't like it.