Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris

Holidays on Ice is a collection of Holiday themed humorous short stories by David Sedaris. I’ve heard Sedaris previously on NPR.

The first story, “SantaLand Diaries,” is hilarious. It is Sedaris’ experience of being an elf at Macy’s in New York City. I laughed out loud several times as I read this story and read the highlights to my husband as we traveled home from Thanksgiving in Michigan. It is amazing the way that people treat their children and the way that they treat the people who work as Santa and the elves.

Unfortunately, after this first story, the book went downhill. The other Sedaris stories of holiday experiences during his life were pretty good, although none lived up to “SantaLand Diaries.” The stories where Sedaris veered off into fiction were quite terrible in my opinion. I understand that Sedaris was trying to be sarcastic about different human tendacies (such as greed at Christmas), but the death of children is never funny. And it kept popping up throughout the fictional stories. I found myself quite disgusted.

Overall, I really enjoyed the first story, but I could have skipped the middle section of the book and been quite happy.

This is the second book for the Christmas Reading Challenge and also the second book club selection for my FLICKS Book and Movie Club.

Book Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

The Perfect Christmas by Debbie Macomber

What is a “perfect Christmas?” Cassie Beaumont thinks that her perfect Christmas would be to meet her very own “Mr. Right,” get married, have adorable children and a future of perfect Christmases together. Cassie has tried everything to meet her perfect match, but it all has failed. She finally decides to take drastic measures and use a professional matchmaker to find him.

Simon Dodson is a very opinionated and very expensive matchmaker. Simon and Cassie clash as they get to know one another. Simon makes Cassie fulfill three tasks in order to prove that she is the correct chose for the perfect match he has selected for her. Hilarity ensues and there is a heartwarming ending.

While this book was a cheerful holiday story, it held no mystery. It was very obvious from the beginning of the book what was going to happen. It is a quick, happy story, but overall it was not fulfilling.

The Perfect Christmas is the first book for the Christmas Reading Challenge list and is also a book club selection for my FLICKS Book and Movie Club.

Book Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

Giveaway and Review: Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpan (Audiobook)

Say You’re One of Them is a book that lingers with you for some time well after the last page (or last CD) has been turned. Akpan writes very compelling stories about the lives and daily struggles of a variety of different types of families in Africa. The audiobook I listened to had unabridged story selections from the novel. I’m going to split up my review by story.

My Parent’s Bedroom (Read by Robin Miles)
My Parent’s Bedroom is narrated by a young girl in Rwanda. She relates her family’s history while trying to understand the rapidly changing world around them. I can’t say too much more without ruining the plot of this story. I can say that it has me sobbing like a baby by the end. It is an excellently written story of atrocities that have happened during the Rwandan genocide. It was very difficult to listen to, but I have been thinking about it ever since.

An Ex-mas Feast (Read by Dion Graham)
A street family in Nigeria plans an Ex-mas feast during this story. A young boy narrates and describes his love for his sister, who earns their feast as a young teenage prostitute. It is hard to imagine that people have to live in such conditions, but the people depicted in this story had the same hopes and dreams common to most people.

What Language is That? (Read by Robin Miles)
Two young girls in Ethiopia are best friends although one is Christian and the other is Muslim. Although their friendship is unlikely, they manage to make it work through hardship.

Overall the stories were striking tales of life, hardship, and struggles of humanity set in three distinct African nations. While they are at times difficult to listen to, they really made me think about what it means to be human, and to realize that the daily struggle of life is much different in a third world country.

I thought both Miles and Graham did a great job reading the stories. I also really liked the interview with Uwem Akpan at the end of the audiobook. This book was Oprah’s fall book selection, and I always like to check out her selections. I would love to learn more about Akpan, who is a Jesuit Priest. I hope I can find his interview on Oprah!

Audiobook Source: Review Copy from Hachette Book Group. Thanks Anna!

Giveaway Details:
Now for the details you are really looking for . . .Anna of the Hachette Book Group has been kind enough to offer three audiobook copies of Say You're One of Them for this giveaway. If you would like to enter this contest do any of the following:

1. Leave a comment on this post. You must include an email address. If I can't find a way to contact you I will draw another winner. (1 entry)

2. Blog about this giveaway or post about it on your sidebar. (1 entry)

3. Become a follower or leave a comment that you already are a follower of this blog. (1 entry)

There are three ways to enter, but you can put all three entries as one comment.

I will be using random.org to pick the winners from the comments.

This contest is only open to US and Canadian residents (Sorry!). No P.O. Boxes.

The deadline for entry is midnight, Friday December 11th. Good luck!

The Other Mr. Darcy by Monica Fairview

The Other Mr. Darcy is a perfect follow-up to Pride and Prejudice. Monica Fairview has written a tale that perfectly captures Austen’s original characters, while managing to fill out and change our perceptions of the “villainous” Caroline Bingley.

The Other Mr. Darcy starts on the day of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet’s wedding. Caroline Bingley collapses in tears in what she thinks is an empty library, heartbroken over the lose of her love, Mr. Darcy. She is soon mortified to discover that she is not alone, but that Mr. Robert Darcy, Mr. Darcy’s American cousin, has witnessed her breakdown. This scene was very reminiscent to me of Gone with the Wind, when Rhett Butler secretly witnesses Scarlett’s declaration of love for Ashley Wilkes. I loved it!

Months later, Mr. Robert Darcy comes to the Bingleys’ residence at Netherfield to ask Jane to visit her ailing sister, Elizabeth Darcy. Jane and Charles quickly depart, while Caroline, Mrs. Hurst, Colonel Fitzwilliam, and Mr. Robert Darcy follow and are held up by a series of events. Much more intrigue ensues and I won’t ruin the plot by revealing more!

I loved Caroline and Robert Darcy’s verbal sparring, it was fantastic and very reminiscent of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth’s war of words in Pride and Prejudice. Although in this case, Caroline is full of pride as Mr. Darcy and Robert assumes Elizabeth’s role. I also loved seeing the Bennet family again and Ms. Fairview captured each of their personalities perfectly. Caroline was also soundly rounded out and had great growth throughout the course of the book.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel and I think it is one of the best follow-ups to Pride and Prejudice that I have ever read. This is my fourteenth item for the Everything Austen Challenge.

Source: I won this book on a very fun month-long contest on Monica Fairview’s blog.

New Moon (2009)

It was a girls’ night out in Kewaunee on Saturday night. I went with a couple of friends to see New Moon in Green Bay. Armed with our pre-purchased tickets, we only had to wait in line for 15 minutes or so before we were let into the theatre. It was a full house consisting of almost all women, but we luckily were able to get good seats. How awesome is it that New Moon was such a success largely due to women? Hopefully Hollywood starts to realize that if they make movies women would like to see, they will go to see them.

New Moon is the second movie and book in the Twilight saga. The story begins with Bella’s 18th birthday. The Cullens throw her a surprise party. Bella accidentally cuts her finger, causing Jasper to almost kill her. Afterwards, Edward decides to leave forever in hopes that Bella can live a normal and safe life. Bella sinks into depression and is only able to finally see her way out of it when she starts spending more time with her best friend Jacob. Jacob has secrets of his own. A series of dramatic events leaves Bella racing to save Edward’s life.

The highlight of the movie going experience for me was when the entire theatre gasped with Jacob ripped his shirt off. I have never experienced anything like that in my life, I laughed out loud for awhile. In Facebook conversations with my friends in different movie theatres, it seems that is was a nationwide phenomenon. Did this happen in your theatre? Sound off below!

I thought the movie did a good job of bringing the novel to the big screen. I especially liked how the movie managed to show the passage of time during Bella’s depression, but did not dwell on it as much as the book did. I also thought Taylor Lautner was hot as Jacob. He played the perfect part of being Bella’s best friend torn by his love for her and his new life. I also love Charlie, Bella’s dad. He always has some great lines, such as when he was telling Bella to move on and then realized he never really followed his own advice.

There was one scene with much cheese in it – Alice’s vision of Edward and Bella as happy vampires in the future. I laughed when it showed them frolicking in slow motion through the woods. The special effects were MUCH better in this movie. I especially liked how Edward now sparkles more as I imagined it would be by the book description. In the first movie, the sparkle was hardly there and I was confused on why Edward couldn’t go out in the sunlight if I was viewing the movie alone without the book. I liked the score and edgy direction of the first film better than this movie, but it was still a good movie.

There were two scenes I had issues with, but it has been a year and a half or so since I read the book so I need readers to comment on what they think. Did Bella ride on the back of some stranger’s motorcycle? I don’t remember this happening. Also, I don’t remember Edward proposing until Eclipse. Did they just put that in as the final moment of the movie to make it a cliffhanger until next summer?

Overall, it was a very enjoyable movie and movie going experience. It’s always fun to go to the theatre on opening weekend and see the crowd full of excitement. I can’t wait until Eclipse comes out next summer as that was my favorite novel of the saga.

Giveaway and Review - The Rose of York: Love and War (Book One) by Sandra Worth

History is always written by the victor. What if Richard III was not the hunch-backed, evil killer as depicted by his enemies the Tudors and the man who could not displease them, Shakespeare? What if he was just a man caught in a power struggle, that most of all wanted to marry his true love Anne and find justice for the common man? If you want to see Richard III from another point of view, I invite you discover the wonderful novel The Rose of York: Love and War.

The Rose of York: Love and War is the first novel of a trilogy written by Sandra Worth. Love and War follows Richard as a young boy escaping England with his brother George and Cousin Warwick (the Kingmaker) through his growth to a wise young man in his 20’s. Richard is a man caught in the terrible turmoil of the War of the Roses, which was literary of war of brother against brother and cousin against cousin.

As a young boy, Richard learns to become a knight while staying at his cousin Warwick’s. There he meets two important people in this life. The first is his beautiful cousin Anne, who will become the love of his life. The second is his cousin John Neville (Warwick’s brother), who is his mentor and like a surrogate father and brother.

I loved the vivid description throughout this book. From the storm at sea at the beginning, to the nail-biting Battle of Barnet, I was riveted and couldn’t wait to find out what would happen next. I loved the historical detail. I am fascinated by this period of history and the book really brought the history alive. I am always a fan of a good love story and Richard and Anne’s love has elements of Cinderella and Romeo & Juliet. I loved it!

I think my secret favorite part of the novel though was John Neville’s story. I first learned of Sandra Worth through J. Kaye’s book blog. I read Lady of the Roses and The King’s Daughter and loved them both. Lady of the Roses was the love story of John and Isobel Neville through Isobel’s point of view. In Love and War, it was great to read the story from John’s point of view. John was a great romantic character and hero. The King’s Daughter is the story of Elizabeth of York, the Queen of Henry VII (and Richard III's niece). The Rose of York trilogy contains two other novels, The Crown of Destiny and Fall from Grace. I can’t wait to read them and find out the rest of Richard’s story.

The novel contains a great foreword at the beginning of the novel by Roxane C. Murph that gives you the details of the Wars of the Roses. There is also a great family tree that I referred to a lot during the story. Ms. Worth also has an author’s note at the end with more details. I liked all of this additional information and thought it was very helpful.

Overall, if you are a fan of historical fiction, or of a good story full of adventure, love, and heartbreak, you will love this novel! The latest reprint of this novel with the beautiful cover shown above, will be up for sale on amazon.com in January.

Book Source: Author Sandra Worth sent me a review copy. Thank-you very much. I loved it!

Giveaway Details:

Now for the details you are really looking for . . . Sandra Worth has been kind enough to send me two autographed copies of The Rose of York: Love and War as a giveaway. If you would like to enter this contest do any of the following:

1. Leave a comment on this post. You must include an email address. If I can't find a way to contact you I will draw another winner. (1 entry)

2. Blog about this giveaway or post about it on your sidebar. (1 entry)

3. Become a follower or leave a comment that you already are a follower of this blog. (1 entry)

There are three ways to enter, but you can put all three entries as one comment.

I will be using random.org to pick the winners from the comments.

This contest is only open to US and Canadian residents (Sorry!).

The deadline for entry is midnight, Friday December 18th (just in time for Christmas). Good luck!

The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White (Audio)

The Sword in the Stone is a hilarious look at King Arthur’s youth. He is nicknamed Wart and lives as a foster child to Sir Kay. He meets Merlin in the forest while chasing his hawk. Merlin is aging backwards and has come to be Kay (Wart’s foster brother) and Wart’s tutor. Wart learns wonderful lessons from Merlin, many through being changed into a fish, a merlin (bird), and a badger. Wart also meets up with Robin Hood and his gang.

After the death of the king Uther Pendragon (who seems to be taking the place of William the Conqueror), a mysterious stone is found with a sword in it with an inscription that whoever pulls the sword will be king of England. Kay wants to be a part of the tournament and the group sets out for London. There Wart accidentally takes the sword from the stone while searching for one for Kay, and finds himself the new King of England.

This book is a very unique Arthurian tale. The language is very “modern” British (the book was first published in 1939), and funny. I enjoyed the humor and imagery. This is the book that the Disney cartoon, The Sword in the Stone, is based upon. Kay is not as bad in the book as he is in the cartoon.

This audiobook version was read by Neville Jason. He did a fantastic job with all of the voices and accents. I also loved how the audiobook had classical music selections between chapters. The music was beautiful and really seemed to set the story.

This is my first book selection for the Arthurian Challenge. I was looking through my nightstand and discovered a copy of The Once and Future King by T.H. White. I had read about three-quarters of the book and had really enjoyed it. Then I was struck down with the most horrible case of morning sickness for four months and the book was forgotten. Years later, I thought I had finished it, until I saw the bookmark only three-quarters of the way through. The Once and Future King is made up of four novellas, the first of which is The Sword in the Stone. I listened to this audiobook to remind me of what I had read four and a half years ago.

Audiobook Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

The Proposal (2009)

The Proposal was the best romantic comedy that I have seen in quite awhile. I don’t watch too many movies these days. With the two boys and work, it seems that the only movies I see are Bob the Builder or Thomas the Tank Engine. I watched this movie in pieces over a period of several days. It is always fantastic when you take the time to watch a movie and it is vastly entertaining.

Margaret (Sandra Bullock) is an uptight editor similar to many uptight editors we’ve seen in books and movies in recent years. Her assistant Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds) dreams of being an editor in his own right or a novelist, but is stuck fetching Margaret’s coffee. Suddenly facing deportation to Canada and the loss of her job, Margaret forces Andrew to marry her to get a green card. Andrew takes Margaret back to his hometown in Alaska to meet his family and much hilarity ensues.

I really loved how the gender roles were reversed in this movie. Margaret was the boss and Andrew was her personal assistant. I think my favorite character was Andrew’s grandmother, Gammy (Betty White). She was hilarious. I also loved how Ramone (played by Oscar Nunez from The Office) worked everywhere in the Alaskan town.

Overall, it was a good romantic comedy and well worth watching. I liked Margaret’s character development throughout the movie and Andrew Paxton was good to look at!

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Olive Kitteridge is a beautifully written novel about the complexities of perception and human existence. It won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was our November Kewaunee Library Book Club pick.

Olive Kitteridge is made up of thirteen short stories about various people who live in the small town of Crosby, Maine. They are all interlinked by the appearance of Olive Kitteridge. Olive is sometimes a main character, sometimes a strong secondary, and other times just a person that is only briefly seen or mentioned. Overall, this makes a very compelling portrait of Olive Kitteridge. Olive is a wife, mother, and teacher. She is viewed differently from all angles.

I thought it was a very interesting study on perception. You are viewed as someone completely different by those who know you throughout your life in different capacities. The most compelling portrait in the book to me was how Olive viewed her son and the way she raised him as compared to how in turn he viewed her and his upbringing. It was tragic to see Olive’s perceptions shattered in a confrontation with her son.

The descriptions, characters, and writing were wonderful. I at times had a hard time with the character of Olive. She is quite the character and not always a woman you can love. A lot of the stories are rather depressing, but overall I enjoyed the book. I’ve thought about it a lot since I finished reading it on Friday. It is a deep book and rather hard to describe in a review!

I had many favorite quotes, but I picked out two to share.

“God, I love young people, “Harmon said. “They get griped about enough. People like to think the younger generation’s job is to steer the world to hell. But it’s never true, is it? They’re hopeful and good – and that’s how it should be.”

I can agree with that. I get tired of people always thinking the generation younger than them is more evil than before!

“People mostly did not know enough when they were living life that they were living it.”

That is certainly true. People, myself included, tend to think about the future and not just enjoy the now. This book also seemed to have a theme of enjoying and living life now and not taking it and your loved ones for granted.

Overall, this book is a must read.

Book Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

My All About the Brontes List

I am having a difficult time narrowing my list down of Bronte related items for the All About the Brontes Challenge. My goal is to read/watch/listen to six Bronte related items from January 1 to June 30th, 2010. My list of items includes the following.

Audiobooks

1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

2. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte

I have really enjoyed listening to Jane Austen on audiobook and want to discover how the Bronte novels sound on audiobook. It's time to reread these novels, so I'm going to spice it up by listening to them this time around.

Books

1. The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte by Syrie James (I've been meaning to read this since I first heard about it and can't wait to read it!)

2. The Wide Sargasso Sea by by Jean Rhys (I've been meaning to read this for years and a friend just passed me a copy . . . I think it is meant to be!)

3. Emily's Ghost: A Novel of the Bronte Sisters by Denise Giardina

4. Jillian Dare by Melanie M. Jeschke

5. The Infernal World of Branwell Bronte by Daphne Du Maurier (I've had this book for at least a decade and Du Maurier is one of my favorite authors. Now is a good time to finally read it!)

Movies

1. Jane Eyre (BBC - 1970)

2. Wuthering Heights (1970 - starring Timothy Dalton)

I have never seen either of these disco era classics and my library system has them both. It's time to watch a new version!

I know this is more than six items . . . but if this is anything like the Everything Austen Challenge, I tend to go a bit overboard:-) I will add probably add to the list as the challenge goes on!

I look forward to the start of the Challenge in January!