July Status Report

Eight books last month = right on target. I'm surprised I was able to read so many. I've been working on a freelance project, as well as hosted a couple parties and had a family "staycation." But the books were too good to put down, no matter how busy I was!

Now, I need to set up my queue for August. Time to hit my ever-growing "to read" list!

BOOK 57: The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd

Rating: 5 stars

Cover synopsis: Set in 1964, Lily's life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When her black "stand-in-mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily springs them both free. They escape to a town that holds the secret to her mother's past and are taken in by a trio of black beekeeping sisters.

This was a beautiful story about family and where you can find it. Sometimes it's not who lives under your roof, but somewhere else entirely.

I appreciated that the author didn't take the easy way out and say that Lily wasn't actually responsible for her mother's death. This made her character much deeper, and made for much more interesting first-person monologue. I really enjoyed the characters in here, especially May, the eccentric beekeeping sister who feels everything everyone else feels as if it is happening to her.

This story was heartbreaking and liberating at the same time. Enjoyed it thoroughly.

BOOK 56: Funny in Farsi, by Firoozeh Dumas

Rating: 5 stars

Cover synopsis: In 1972, when she was 7, the author and her family moved from Iran to Southern California, arriving with no firsthand knowledge of this country.

This was a funny, engaging look at life as an immigrant in America. The author shares poignant and hilarious stories about her family growing up, from her engineer father's dreams of striking it rich in Las Vegas, to her mother's unwillingness to master the English language, to her own trials as a teenager with a whole new level of awkwardness (imagine being the only Iranian in Newport Beach).

Funny in Farsi was well-written and humorous without condescending or belittling her subjects. I really enjoyed it!

BOOK 55: 100 Essential American Poems, Edited by Leslie M. Pockell

Rating: 3 stars

Cover synopsis: The way we view our nation -- its history, its traditions, even our distinctly American voice -- is largely determined by our literature. The immortal poems and songs included here will remind every reader of the richness and variety of the poetry of America and its people.

I know I'm supposed to like poetry. And I do like some of it. But even though I know the poems in this book were essential to the making of America, I felt like I had to slog through a good portion of them (Walt Whitman, Vachel Lindsay and others) to get to the good stuff.

Poetry is best read aloud, so I sat on the couch mumbling the words to myself. As I did, I fell in love with several works in this book: Edgar Allen Poe (wow, I loved The Bells!), Emily Dickensen and Hugh Antoine D'Arcy (Face on the Barroom Floor), Robert W. Service (Cremation of Sam McGee) and Allen Ginsberg (A Supermarket in California), among others.

BOOK 54: All About Sam, by Lowis Lowry

Rating: 4 stars

Cover synopsis: Sam Krupnik is Anastasia's pesky but lovable younger brother. He has his own ideas about hair cuts, nursery school, getting shots, and not eating broccoli.

I picked up this book from the library to read with my 6-year-old. She giggled and laughed her way through Sam's adventures. It was fun for her to read a book from a toddler's perspective. In fact, we only read the first 50 pages together. Then she snuck off with it and finished reading it on her own. That's a winner!

I had to sneak it off her bookshelf to finish it myself. :)

BOOK 53: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, by Stephenie Meyer

Rating: 3 stars

Cover synopsis: Bree can barely remember her life before she became a vampire. Living with her fellow newborns has few certainties and even fewer rules: watch your back, don't draw attention to yourself, and above all, make it home by sunrise or die. What she doesn't know: Her time as an immortal is quickly running out.

This is the story of a minor character we meet in Eclipse, the third book in the Twilight series. She's a newborn vampire who surrenders during battle with the Cullens -- who are willing to teach her the ways of the world -- but that the Volturi eliminate anyway.

It was interesting seeing the story from Bree's perspective. But there was a lot of overlap with what we already read in Eclipse. I was hoping for something a little more revealing. The gist: Newborns fight a lot, they don't trust their maker, and they don't form friendships easily (except, of course for Bree -- I felt Meyer took the easy road and wrote about her as another potentially moral vampire instead of trying to write about a different kind of character).

The only revealing thing we learn -- which is something we suspect after reading Eclipse -- is that the Volturi are in cahoots with Victoria, asking her to take out the Cullens.

Still, it was entertaining enough, so I give it 3 stars.

BOOK 52: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, by Helen Simonson

Rating: 4 stars

Cover synopsis: The Major leads a quiet life of valuing the proper things that Englishmen have lived by for generations: honor, duty, decorum, and a properly brewed cup of tea. But then he sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Can their relationship survive the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in teh face of culture and tradition?

This was a refreshing change of pace from the action-packed books I've read recently. This is a book about a romance blossoming between two older people -- one in his 60s and the other in her late 50s. It's also an examination not only of the clash of cultures between Brits and foreigners, but also between the young and elderly and the rich and less-priviledged.

My only complaint is that this insightful, slowly simmering tale ended in a blaze of dramatic events, disrupting the pace. In the last 50 pages or so, there is a dramatic runaway, an attempted murder, a suicide attempt, a called-off wedding and a dangling cliff-hanging rescue. Seemed like a desperate attempt on the part of the author to spice things up at the last minute -- which was quite unnecessary. The witty dialogue and examination of relationships and social norms were quite adequate by themselves.

BOOK 51: These is My Words, by Nancy E. Turner

Rating: 5 stars

Cover synopsis: The adventure of one courageous woman's life and struggles in the Arizona Territories in the last ninetheenth century.

This is a fairly substantial book, but once I started it I couldn't put it down. I was deeply moved by what I read. It's written in a diary format, by Sarah Prine. It begins when she's a 17-year-old girl details the adventures that molded her into the strong, driven and loving woman she is.

Her story is full of tragedy and triumph, sadness and joy. I can't imagine going through half the things she has -- and with the humor and wit she carries off. And her relationship with cavalry officer Captian Jack Elliot is stuff of legend. Enough said.

BOOK 50: A Year Down Yonder, by Richard Peck

Rating: 5 stars

Cover synopsis: Mary Alices's summer days in Grandma Dowdel's hick town had been packed with enough surprises and drama to fill the double bill of any picture show. But now she is fifteen and facing a whole year with Grandma, a woman well known for shaking up the local populace.

This is Peck's sequel to A Long Way From Chicago. And he doesn't disappoint. The storytelling is just as strong, the characters as vivid and the situations as wacky as in the first book. It's got plenty of humor and heart.

In A Year Down Yonder, Mary Alice's family has been hard hit by the Great Depression. Her father has lost his job, her brother Joey has gone to work for the CCC, and her parents can't afford to keep her around. So they send her to live with Grandma Dowdel in the country. It's a tough adjustment for the city girl, but she soon finds her place. She even starts making her own adventures -- escapades that'd do Grandma proud.