May was a busy month for us, but we still managed to get a ton of blogging done! We also saw some really, really long books posted this month, so what we lack in numbers, we make up for in pages!
Books/Pages
Kara: 7/2396
Annie: 14/3688
Patrick: 8/2570
Allison: 3/1388
Karen: 10/2355
Christa: 8/2404
Marilyn: 5/1373
Katheen: 1/142
Mercedes: 2/567
Linda: 5/1406
Totals: 63 books/18,289 pages
Patrick, Kara and Christa won a shot at the prize bag in this month's random drawing. Summer is upon us, so we should all have more time to read for the team! And don't forget audiobooks while you're out doing other activities.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Tripwire
Continuing the Reacher saga...late to the game with this as so many other things. I made some fun of the first two in this series and have to say that they are getting better. In the first book, Reacher had no problem killing 6 trained assassins with his bare hands...this time he has a little trouble taking out 3 mean guys who are killers but not so professional. He also takes a bullet and is actually injured and needs to recover. There are a few other details that are awesome but still so many things that make no sense. The "person of interest" in this saga is a Vietnam vet whose parent's want to know the truth about what happened to him 30 years ago. Well, it seems like he moved 50 miles away from them, became a complete bad ass but never bothered to change his name. Still, he remains a mystery and nobody can find him. Sure, this is 1999 and there was no google, but please, that does not make a person impossible to find. Anyway, overlook all those rather obvious things and the book is a lot of fun. Reacher is still amazing and the St. Louis military record center plays a roll as does the NY Public library. I will continue reading the series as I have time and I will continue to overlook the craziness of much of it.
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Wednesday, June 6, 2012
We the animals
A short little novel with amazing impact. Three brothers are living like boys do with their young parents in an unstable relationship. There are times of hunger and pain but mostly a lot of boy stories. The family is poor and yet very loving and seem close...but the youngest son doesn't quite fit in. The family as a whole has each other but they don't seem to fit in with many others so when you are the one that doesn't quite fit, you can end up being very lonely. I don't want to write too much about this book. I loved it but don't want to spoil the experience for anyone else. Kudos to Mr. Torres.
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Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Emma, v. 7/Kaoru Mori
Emma, v. 7, by Kaoru Mori; manga, historical fiction, romance; 280 pages
This book claims to be the conclusion to Emma and William's story--which is very confusing, as there are another three volumes after this one! Things do come to some sort of conclusion here, with Emma accepting William's proposal, and leaving service to the German family she's come to love. However, this volume is where the story started to fall apart for me. William and Hakim pursue a kidnapped Emma to what I assume is meant to be America, even though most of the people there speak with an English accent, and the trip seems to take a very, very short time (both there and back). Maybe it's just a seaside village in England? I couldn't really tell. It's sheer coincidence that reunites William and Emma--what are the odds of finding each other in a distant country, without even knowing where one party is??? When Emma returns home, she leaves service, but asks her former mistress to educate her in the ways of a lady--which she does (another thing I had trouble believing. Then again, Emma's employer is often portrayed as bored and fabulously wealthy, so maybe she has the time and resources to undertake something like this. I just had trouble believing shy, proper Emma would ask it of her!). I'm going to keep reading, because I've grown very attached to these characters. It looks like the next few volumes focus on supporting cast, so I'll be interested to see what Mori does with them.
12 Things to Do Before Your Crash and Burn
James Proimos has written several children's books but this is his first venture into Young Adult novels. Hercules Martino is the son of a recently deceased famous talk show psychologist. Herc and his father weren't on the best of terms, to say the least. He is sent to stay with his Uncle Anthony (his dad's brother) in Baltimore for a couple weeks in the summer. Anthony gives Herc a list of things he wants him to accomplish--a sort of "twelve labors of Hercules". Labor #1 is to find a mission. Herc's mission is to find a "Beautiful and Unattainable Woman" he meets on the train to Baltimore. In the process of completing his labors, Herc discovers that he does have some fond memories of his father and that Uncle Anthony has been harboring a secret for many years. This is a fun little book. It's entertaining and a very quick read.
Emma, v. 6/Kaoru Mori
In this volume, the story starts to take a melodramatic turn: William has made up his mind to marry Emma, but he must first break off his engagement to the daughter of a powerful viscount. Of course, this viscount doesn't take this lightly, and decides to remove William's temptation by targeting Emma.
This volume has all the hallmarks of a Victorian penny dreadful: midnight rendezvous, kidnapping, false letters, and rebellions (the latter mostly on William's part). Mori really starts ramping up to a climax here, so it will be interesting to see where the story goes from here.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Dawn Land
This is a graphic novel version of Bruchac's novel by the same name. It is based on an Abenaki legend about the people fighting a race of giants. A boy named Weasel Tail watches his mother and others killed by the giants. A giant scratches him with his claw and tells him he will be their slave when they call for him. Weasel Tail develops an uncontrollable temper and is banished. Young Hunter, another young man in the tribe, is given an important task of carrying the "Long Thrower" to another village to help them fight against the giants. The "Long Thrower" is a bow and Young Hunter learns to make arrows and shoot with deadly accuracy before going on his mission to help defeat the giants. The black and white artwork in this book is striking but frequently the lack of text leaves the story a bit confusing. I'm sure I missed some important details in the story because of it.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure
In the summer of 1953, the newly former President Harry S. Truman and his wife, Bess did something that is unthinkable today. They got in their car, a brand new Chrysler New Yorker, and took off on a trip across the country from their home in Independence, Missouri to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City. They had no Secret Service protection since it wasn't given to former Presidents at that time. In fact, the only protection they had on the road was Bess keeping Harry from driving too fast. The cost of the trip was paid for by the Trumans from the small military pension he received since former Presidents did not receive a pension at that time. The author retraced the Trumans' route, visiting many of the same places and talking to a few people who met them while on that trip. Even though Harry and Bess tried to remain incognito during their trip, they were generally recognized every time they stopped for a meal or to stay at a hotel. There were only a couple times they managed to get completely 'off the radar.' Some of the stories are quite amusing. They were always gracious, even when interrupted during dinner by autograph seekers, although they asked photographers to wait until after the meal to take photos. Harry insisted on loading his own luggage into the car trunk in spite of the insistence of bellhops. However, he was not against taking advantage of free meals, hotel rooms, and tanks of gas when business proprietors offered them. This fun book gives a charming look at a bygone era and the President who was just a regular guy from Missouri.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
The Girl is Murder by Kathryn Miller Haines 342 pages
Which girl is murder? It is 1942 and Iris is experiencing life upheaval. Her father lost his leg at Pearl Harbor. Her mother committed suicide in a hotel room. Her father takes her from her comfy life with her Aunt and Uncle to live with him in a room in a rooming house. She has to leave her private school and go to public school where there are BOYS! Money is very tight and she would like to help her father at his new career as a private detective. Her first helpful efforts are rejected by him although she has great instincts for the business. When a classmate who robbed her locker on the first day of school goes missing, she decides to go "undercover" with the guy's ex-girlfriends. The language is fun -- very jivey and period specific -- one almost needs a glossary to keep up with the slang. Iris is plucky and sympathetic although her father seems to be a bit of a cold fish.Very entertaining historical fiction set in New York City, with an emphasis on mystery.
Turing's Cathedral
I have to admit that while I thought this was a very interesting albeit tedious book, there were sections of it that I didn't understand at all. George Dyson documents the development of the computers that we now can't seem to live without, from the early mathematical theories, through the first early machines that only did simple calculations, on through the development of the ENIAC, MANIAC, and early IBM computers. The government's use of the computers for bomb calculations during World War II and the Cold War nuclear buildup helped spur on the development of new and better systems. The book focuses on many of the people who were instrumental in this work and the contributions they made. Alan Turing, John Von Neumann, Stan Ulam, Jule Charney, Julian Bigelow, Robert Oppenheimer, the author's father, and others are featured in this book. The objections of the "pure" mathematics people to the inclusion of engineers to the Institute of Advanced Studies at Princeton was amusing to me as was Bigelow's penchant for driving old cars that were always breaking down and Von Neumann's insistence on staying only at fancy hotels when traveling while Turing stayed in hostels. An Amazon reviewer said the inclusion of a timeline would have been helpful and I agree. The book is not presented in a linear fashion but jumps back and forward in time is rather confusing. The title is misleading also, as Alan Turing is only featured in a section of the book. Von Neumann is the main focus.
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