Kindred- Butler [Book #4]

This is a science fiction book about slavery and time-travel. Yes, really. Dana travels back and forth through time when summoned by her great-grandfather Rufus, a white slaveowner's son to save his life. Each time he is near peril she is swept back into the era of slavery and each time she falls into peril there she is swept back to her life in the current contemporary world she lives in with her white husband. I found this to be a very jarring novel detailing what happened in the time of slavery, a topic I haven't really thought about since high school and for that I very much appreciated it. There were definitely things I didn't like about the novel such as character motivations, etc, but overall this is a great book that makes you think.

The Hate List-Brown (Book #17)

A powerful YA book about a girl who is living with the after effects of her boyfriend performing a "Columbine-like" massacre on the students that had picked on him and Valerie, his girlfriend, for years. Valerie and him had compiled a notebook with a list of people they hated. It was from this list that her boyfriend picked his victims. Though Valerie never knew he would use the list as anything more than a tool to vent with, she is looked at with suspicion when she returns to school not only from teachers and classmates, but from her own parents who also not-so-secretly blame her for what happened. This is a story about healing and forgiving oneself. I enjoyed it though it followed a very predictable format for me. Still, over all, a poignantly written novel.

The Age of Grief- Smiley (Book #87)

I enjoyed Jane Smiley's writing in this book. She deftly captures human emotion and my favorite in this short story collection was her novella, the namesake of this book which has been made into a major motion picture, "The secret lives of dentists."

How To Talk To a Widower- Tropper (Book #77)

I told you, when I find an author I start reading everything they write, and considering the last few books are Tropper books you should not be surprised that again I'm reviewing a book by the same guy. One interesting thing about reading an author's entire work is you begin seeing trends in their writing and the same has been true for Tropper. This novel is about a 29 year old widower grieving his wife's death and writing a monthly column about it. He also is being pushed into dating and dealing with his stepson, a 16 year old sullen kid who is a trouble make but deeply hurt. It's a book about love, and grief and family and he certainly can nail the topic of grief quite accurately.

Everything Changes- Tropper (Book #76)

When I find an author I like, I tend to stick with them for a little while so this is the second Tropper book I've read in the span of a few weeks. This one is about a 32 year old guy working at a nondescript job engaged to a beautiful young woman and who is afraid he might have cancer. The story follows as his estranged father shows up to possibly reconcile, he deals with the potential ramifications of cancer, a job he hates, and being in love with someone other than his fiancee. Though it all sounds ho hum run of the mill, the story is beautifully told and the man can write laugh out loud funny dialogue like few can.

The Blue Notebook- Levine (Book #73)

This is a haunting and disturbing novel written from the perspective of a young girl in India sold into prostitution. The author is a white male from the U.S. but reading it you can't believe anyone but the 15 year old Batuk is telling her story. Through her journal we learn how she was sold into slavery at the age of 9 by her father and we travel with her through the nine years of slavery she endured. The scenes towards the end get very ambiguous and I wish I knew more about what happened in the ending sequences but wow was it a gruesome horrific situation. I hope I can get the image out of my mind. Levine writes beautifully and heartbreakingly. All royalties the author gets from the US he is donating to the center for missing and exploited children.

The Weight of Silence- Gudenkauf (Book # 72)

I saw this book at Borders and felt intrigued by the title and the cover page. As I stood there a salesperson approached me and said this book was flying off the shelf like hotcakes. I assume this is a very good thing so I did what most people would do, I requested it from the library. This is a very easy read about a girl named Callie, a selective mute who has not spoken since the age of 4. She lives wit her mother, brother Ben, and an abusive alcoholic father, Griff. The story shows her being led into the woods by her father on a drunken angry rampage, and then we see that she does not come back. Neither does her neighbor's daughter and best friend Petra. The story focuses on what happened to each of these children told from each persons point of view. I enjoyed this suspenseful tale very much.

Lime Tree Can't Bear Orange- Smyth (Book #67)

This is a beautiful character driven novel set in Trinidad and Tabago about Celia, a young girl, raped by her uncle and forced to flee. On her way she meets a doctor who takes her in as a maid for his family and the novel follows her life at a steady pace. The author writes beautifully and I felt like each character was well drawn out and I could picture the scenes and settings in my mind. The story also has an interesting twist towards the end which helped this character novel end with a zing.

Frommer's Spain 2009 (Book #51)

I love Frommer's and I enjoyed it for Spain though I do like the Frommer's Guide to Costa Rica and a few other countries slightly better. We enjoyed all the hotels they recommended and I appreciate they include wii fii listings for reach hotel.

Odes To Common Things- Neruda (Book #35)

When I saw the title I thought it would be a silly book of poems about objects. No, Neruda is a simple but inherently deep poet. His lyrics flow, and I loved that this book had the Spanish version. Though I could not fully understand the Spanish, I loved the beautiful words. I long to read it in Spanish because I know that is where the fullest beauty of his poetry resides. I enjoyed these poems very much. Some of them, I know I will someday know by heart.

Leaving Tangier- Jelloun (Book #34)

A very new book, I'm surprised this novel ranks so low on Amazon. I found this simply browsing a library and I'm glad I read it. This is a story about immigration and the desperation that can cause someone to want to leave their homeland. This novel written by a Moroccan and translated into English, revolves around the immigration desires of Moroccans to Spain. The story focuses primarily on Azel, an educated Moroccan who cannot find a job and is taken in to be the personal everything to a rich Spaniard Miguel. The story also delves into his sister's life, and a few others along the way. The author alternates chapters with each of their stories. This is a somber novel but it helps me understand how universal the plight of desperate people are. What I mean is, it helps me understand why people are willing to take the risks to become illegal immigrants. This is not just a US thing. It's beyond our borders. The story shows how dark such immigration can be.

South Beach Diet Guide (Book #31)- Agatston

I've done South Beach in the past and it does work though the effects do not always say, however I do not blame the diet for this because I typically do phase I with the rapid weight loss and ignore the other phases meant to ease you into incorporating fruits, sugars back into your daily life. This is a nice concise book letting you know what you can and cannot eat with South Beach. The internet just had so much conflicting information on phase I so if you know the basics of South Beach already and are just looking for a food guide and other basic information, this is a good book for you.

Runaway- Munro (Book #28)

I like short stories to a certain extent but what I often don't appreciate is the lack of closure most provide. These stories are no different, yet I liked them just the same. There are about seven stories in this collection. Three stories focus on different times in one woman's life and I loved those the most. I wish I had read these stories with a book club because there is so much to talk about and discuss. There is a great degree of depth and symbolism, etc that just makes you wish you could share the reading with someone. I liked reading these very much.

Caramelo- Cisenros (Book #21)

Considering my goal is to read 100 books in 2009 I'm not sure why I'm latching on to novels that are over 400 pages in length equivalent to two books, but I'm glad I made it through this one. This is a sprawling novel told from the eyes of young Celaya. She describes her journeys to Mexico from Chicago with her large family and weaves in stories of her grandmother's past, and her own current life and struggles. The story is told very pretty, and reads almost like a poem instead of a novel. At times this threw me off and could get disconcerting, but on the whole I got over it. She has some beautiful insights into life, and what amazed me the most about her novel is that though Mexico is pretty much as far from Pakistan/India as you can get, the similiarties in culture and values was unbelievable. Her book illustrates how similar human beings are.

The Bean Trees- Kingsolver (Book #20)

It took me a little while to get into this book due to the very particular dialect of Kentucky and slang the narrator used, but overtime I grew to accept it as part of her personality and ultimately found her way of phrasing things charming. This is a novel about a fiesty girl traveling the country in a beat up car hoping for bigger pastures ahead. On the way she is given a little Indian girl to take care of by a random stranger, who she takes along with her to her final resting spot in Arizona. The premise didn't sound that great to me but the novel is lovely and heart wrenching. Kingsolver can write very well, and I have found in her a writer whose work I will continue to read for some time to come.

Last Night at the Lobster- O'Nan (Book #13)

A beautifully written slim novel trailing the last night of work for Manny the manager of a Red Lobsters shutting its doors for good. The book is literally about this last night as Manny deals with a staff that is quitting by the hour (why stay when they are being laid off anyways), a love conflict he's struggling to resolve, and customers who range from mildly amusing to vile and nightmarish. I really enjoyed reading this book, an exploration of a character who is struggling to make it through the day, trying to be a good person, and figuring out his life. I like the subtlety of the book, how small details that give insight. An example: While Manny would never admit this since [Eddy] and him are friends, Eddie, being eager to please, is that much easier to boss around. This could have been written as a simple cliche, yet he said an age old saying of "teaching people how to treat you" but in a way that makes you pause and reflect just a bit. I liked it. Worth a read!

The Whore's Child- Russo (Book #11)

I love Russo's books. This is a short story collection and I loved it just as I love Lahiri's short stories in "Interpreter of Maladies". He has a way with insight and introspection and character development that makes each character come alive and real to us as they must be in his mind's eye. This is my third Russo book and I'm beginning to see a lot of patterns in his novels and stories. In fact, in this collection, one story is almost identical to a longer novel of his that I recently read, "Straight Man". Because of the themes and patterns I saw recurring I felt that not only was I learning stories by a writer, but I was learning a bit of Russo the man and the life that he lives, the past that seems to seep into his words. The thing I love most about Russo's writing is that he writes about the truth of our world and he even faces us to certain horrors inherent in our lives, yet somehow we leave his stories thoughtful, perhaps inspired, but never fully desolate as such stories may inherently suggest. Beautifully written.

78 reasons why your book will never be published and 14 reasons why it might (Book #8)

Reason #1: You haven't written it yet. When I read this book about six years ago I read that paragraph and set the book down in the Border's book shelf, because he was right, it will never be published if I have not written it. Now that I have written it I found his words of wisdom useful, slightly discouraging but strangely motivating as well. Some of his advice is repetitive, but overall the messages contained in the book are important for aspiring writers.

Martha Stewart's Cookies- Stewart (Book #7)

I've always wanted to bake cookies from scratch, though I spend time on learning more complicated desserts, somehow I never got around to making cookies from scratch which is why I checked this book out from the library. I liked the tips on how to prepare your ingredients such as making sure butter and eggs are at room temperature before stirring. I will be copying quite a few recipes to make for later, if you invite me to your home for dinner, be prepared you may be getting cookies soon!

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- Fitzgerald (Book #3)

This is a short story now a major motion picture that I read via daily lit. I would not normally consider a short story as a "book" but this particular book (TCCBB) was actually sold separately like a book instead of within a volume of short stories, so a book it is, and I shall count it as such. The movie from what I see of its trailers seems very serious and haunting. The book was more light and slightly funny. The book I dont think was ever meant to be taken literally, its basically a story about a man who was born old and died and infant. He lived his life in reverse. Its a story worthy of a few re-reads to get more out of it each time, and with its short length that probably won't be a problem.