Double Feature: Waiting on Wednesday & WWW Wednesday 8/17

"Waiting on" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine to showcase upcoming releases that bloggers are eagerly waiting to get their hands on and their noses into. My pick this week is:

Suspense (Spencer Nye Trilogy #1)

by Jason Letts

Expected Release: September 9, 2011

I met Jason Letts in the twitterverse a little over a year ago. He's a good friend, a great writer, and I'm sure his latest young adult series - he's taking on the dystopia genre - will be just as engaging and entertaining as the Powerless series and the Inevitable trilogy. I'm excited to read Suspense! 

Here's an description of the book from Jason's blog:

To give you some idea about the future in which Spencer lives, imagine a world where everyone has enough. Food, things you need, things you want, they all come from a machine called a molecular synthesizer. If everyone has enough, crime would disappear, then police, then laws, then money, then war, then governments, and what would be left?

The answer is entertainment. The Culture Industry remains to provide people with movies, music, etc, and the focus of the world revolves around a group of mega-celebrities known as the Idols. These Idols compete for the only currency left that has any value, the currency of human affection, and they fight for popularity with more than just hit singles and blockbuster releases.

Spencer Nye is a diehard, more than just a fan or follower, and she's part of a small militant group that fights for an Idol named Cleary Mintz against diehards of the other Idols. Most people don't understand that the Idols are at war with one another, but Spencer does, and when she discovers a murder plot that threatens Cleary's life, she'll do whatever it takes to save the movie star she idolizes.

WWW Wednesday is a weekly event sponsored by Should Be Reading that asks readers three very important questions:

1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you'll read next? 

Here are my answers for the past week:

1. What are you currently reading?

• The Kitchen Shrink by Dee DeTarsio

 2. What did you recently finish reading?

• Repairing Rainbows: A True Story of Tragedy, Family, and Choices by Lynda Fishman
• Termination Orders Code Name Cobra by Leo Maloney (with Caio Carmargo)
• The Book of Lies: A Novel by Mary Horlock
• 1923: A Memoir by Harry Leslie Smith *Review coming soon*

 

 3. What do you think you'll read next?

• 365 and a Wake-Up: My Year in Vietnam by Frank Jollieff
• In Leah's Wake by Terri Guiliano Long
• Confessions of a Call Center Gal: A Novel by Lisa Lim
• Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

August is ARC Month here on Feeding My Book Addiction. My goal is to read and review 15 ARCs this month. Here's my stats to date:

ARCs Read: 9/15
ARCs in Progress: 1
ARC Reviews Posted: 8/15

Review: The Book of Lies

The Book of Lies 
By Mary Horlock
Published by Harper Perennial in July 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-206509-4
Advanced Reading Copy
What's it about? Courtesy of Goodreads:

Life on the tiny island of Guernsey has just become a whole lot harder for fifteen-year-old Cat Rozier. She’s gone from model pupil to murderer, but she swears it’s not her fault. Apparently it’s all the fault of history.

A new arrival at Cat’s high school in 1984, the beautiful and instantly popular Nicolette inexplicably takes Cat under her wing. The two become inseparable—going to parties together, checking out boys, and drinking whatever liquor they can shoplift. But a perceived betrayal sends them spinning apart, and Nic responds with cruel, over-the-top retribution.

Cat’s recently deceased father, Emile, dedicated his adult life to uncovering the truth about the Nazi occupation of Guernsey—from Churchill’s abandonment of the island to the stories of those who resisted—in hopes of repairing the reputation of his older brother, Charlie. Through Emile’s letters and Charlie’s words—recorded on tapes before his own death— a “confession” takes shape, revealing the secrets deeply woven into the fabric of the island . . . and into the Rozier family story.

My Review:

I thought this book was awful. There. I said it. I've been wracking my brain for hours trying to figure out just what to say about this book, a book I was looking forward to reading for its WWII connections and its intriguing split narrative, but I can't think of anything to say except that I'm so glad I finally finished it so I can move on to something else. Ouch, right? I feel horribly about typing that, but it needs to be said. I just couldn't stand this book. 

There are two separate narratives: the first is journal entries of 15 year old Catherine 'Cat' or 'Cathy' (although she says "please don't call me Cathy. If you do, I'll jump." in the first sentence of the book) and the second is transcripts of her Uncle Charlie's story of the German occupation of Guernsey Island during WWII and other documents amassed by Catherine's father, Emil. Catherine's prattling of lies and nonsense led me to despise her. I did not find her fascinating and I certainly couldn't empathize with her even though I, too, was once an awkward 15 year old girl trying to fit in. 

The only thing this novel had going for it was the transcripts of Charlie's story. The historical aspect of the story fascinated me and my love for history and historical fiction. I enjoyed the factoids Catherine awkwardly inserted into conversation. Author Mary Horlock's connection with Guernsey (she grew up there and was a teenager in the 1980s, when Catherine's part of the story takes place) is evident in these sections. Horlock does her best to present the facts of the occupation as truthfully as possible without sugarcoating or romanticizing them. If Horlock had written this book set solely during the German occupation of Guernsey during WWII, I probably would have liked it a lot more.

But she didn't. Sigh. Catherine Rozier and her journal full of lies and manipulations just didn't work for me as a reader. I get that she is an unreliable narrator trying to come to terms with her father's death, fit in with the 'in' crowd, guilt over killing her best friend, deal with self esteem issues and a mother who is too busy to spend time with her, all while trying to come of age on a tiny island where everyone knows her name and her business. Theoretically, these elements should have come together for one powerful book, but Horlock pushed too far with Catherine's lies and utter nonsense that I just couldn't stand her. I couldn't even muster up some pity. I walked away hating this book. It's a shame too because Mary Horlock is a beautiful writer with the ability to weave an intriguing story.

On a scale of one (I hated it!) to five (I loved it!), I give The Book of Lies a one.

Blogger's Note: While working on this post, I read other bloggers' reviews and viewed a youtube video of the author discussing the book. I noticed that my opinions seemed to be the exception, rather than the rule, on this book so I wanted to include some of the links I came across:

Review by Jen at Crazy for Books 

Review by Anna at Diary of an Eccentric 

Review by Jenn at Jenn's Bookshelves 

Review by Ms. Caboo at Bookalicious Babe

The Book of Lies by Mary Horlock on Youtube

Top Ten Tuesday: Freebie

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme organized by the bloggers at Broke and Bookish. This week's top ten is a freebie. My choice for Top Ten Tuesday is:

Top Ten Favorite Books I've Reviewed (So Far) This Year on Feeding My Book Addiction:

10. The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O'Connor McNees

9. 50 Jobs in 50 States: One Man's Journey of Discovery Across America by Daniel Seddiqui 

8. The Midwife's Confession by Diane Chamberlain

7. Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches From the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture by Peggy Orenstein

6. Living Large: From SUVs to Double Ds, Why Going Bigger Isn't Going Better by Sarah Z. Wexler

5. Losing Michael Malone by Nicholas Kasunic

4. Eutopia: A Novel of Terrible Optimism by David Nickle

3. Immortal by Gene Doucette

2. TIE: Pulled and Take This Regret by Amy Lichtenhan

1. TIE: The Eyre Affair, Lost In A Good Book, and The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde

It was hard to pick just ten (well, 13) of my favorite books of the year thus far. I left out some really awesome reads, but there will be room to include those left out today in my Top Ten Books at the end of the year when I have separate lists for each genre! 

What did you pick for this week's Top Ten Tuesday Freebie?

In My Mailbox Week of 8/9 - 8/15

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren that celebrates the great reads that come in our mailbox as well as through store purchases and library visits. Here is what was in my mailbox the week of August 9 - August 15:

In My Inbox:

• Domestic Violets by Matthew Norman
• The Dean's List by Jimmy Petrosino

In My Shopping Bag:
I was on vacation (well, a staycation) last week and spent a good deal of it in and out of various new and used bookshops.  

From Borders:

• The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
• Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
• Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde 
• Anne of Windy Poplars by L.M. Montgomery

 From The Bennington Bookshop in Bennington, VT:

• Persuasion by Jane Austen (I forgot I bought it last week...)
• Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

 From Tattered Pages Used Books in Glenmont, NY:

• Villette by Charlotte Bronte
• A Room With A View by E.M. Forster

 From Good Buy Books in East Greenbush, NY:

• Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott
• Middlemarch by George Eliot
• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

 From Autumn Leaves Used Books in Ithaca, NY

• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? By Philip K. Dick

Blog Tour! Repairing Rainbows by Lynda Fishman

Repairing Rainbows: A True Story of Family, Tragedy, and Choices
by Lynda Fishman 
Published by the author, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-9866074-0-0
Review copy courtesy of Tribute Books
What's it about?
At thirteen years old, Lynda's life comes to a disastrous halt when her mother and two younger sisters are killed in a plane crash. Her father, overcome by despair, simply continues to exist, in a state devoid of hope. After burying a wife and two young children at the age of 44, the overwhelming responsibility of raising a daughter alone completely immobilizes him.

Teetering on that tender brink between childhood and adolescence, Lynda faces the responsibility of a father in a complete state of shock, a house to take care of and hundreds of decisions about how to proceed with their shattered lives.

In Repairing Rainbows she candidly describes the agonizing memories, deafening silence and endless hardships that are the fallout of incredible loss. As we follow her through marriage, motherhood and her own spiritual journey, Lynda reveals her complex feelings of hope, anger, pity and determination. Most importantly, she learns the crucial difference between "truly living" and the existence that is so often mistaken for being alive.

A true story, written by a woman whose normal and abundant life hides a terrible past, Repairing Rainbows is loaded with important lessons to help others overcome struggles and obstacles, and fulfill their lives. It is a powerful, captivating, riveting and easy-to-read story that will undoubtedly touch the hearts of its readers. 

My Review:

Lynda Fishman's memoir, Repairing Rainbows: A True Story of Family, Tragedy, and Choices, is a heartbreaking yet life affirming memoir detailing what happens when you don't let the worst event to ever happen to you define your life. 

At the age of 13, Lynda Fishman loses her mother and two younger sisters in an Air Canada plane crash. She must face life without her mother just when she needs her the most. She must also face a life of being an 'only' child to a father who has practically forgotten her existence in his grief. Fishman chose to work through her grief by living her life as her mother would have wanted her to; she stayed close with her large extended family on both her mother's and father's sides and worked hard in school so she could make a future for herself. She never got caught up in the wild teenage party atmosphere of some of her friends. She was a good kid. Too bad her stepmother couldn't see that.

Just before college, Lynda meets Barry Fishman, a soon to be college student just like herself who works at her father's flooring store. They fall in love. Barry's life so far hasn't been the greatest either. He watched both of his parents die of heart problems: his mother passed when he was a toddler and his father when he was 17. His older brother, Mitchell, suffered from developmental disabilities and anger issues. They moved in with family while Barry worked and went to school to save up money for their own place. 

The remainder of the memoir focuses on Lynda and Barry's marriage and family. They remain close and devoted to their extended families. They try to maintain some semblance of a relationship with Lynda's father, but he is too devoted (or scared, maybe?) of his second wife to be able to give Lynda and her family much time and attendance. Lynda laments the absence of grandparents in their children's lives. Lynda even places an ad in a local newspaper looking for surrogate grandparents for her children. The effort is futile and only brings out the worst kinds of people, but it shows just how far Lynda will go for her children. 

Fishman's memoir is powerful in that it shows the raw emotions and her pent up grief and anger over losing her entire family, father included as he was never the same, in the plane crash. Yet, these emotions do not rule her life or dictate who she becomes. She is all about choices. There is always a choice and it's up to you to make the right one. She strives to do just that and it shows. She has a degree in social work, ran a children's camp for almost 20 years before opening her own, and was there to provide love and support to her family as they had given her when she needed it the most. 

This is a powerful and inspiring coming of age and maturity memoir that will pull you in, take out your heart, and put it back inside your body by the time you turn the last page. This book is proof that life is what you make it. So make smart choices. Horrible things happen to everyone, but they do not have to define you or bring you down for life. Kudos to Lynda Fishman for having the courage to pen her tragic, yet uplifting life story and send it out into the world. On a scale of one (I hated it!) to five (I loved it!), I give Repairing Rainbows a four.


Looking for more information about Repairing Rainbows

Read an Excerpt
Read More Reviews  
Find out More about the Blog Tour  

Interested in buying a copy of Repairing Rainbows?
Amazon.com
Amazon.ca
Chapters/Indigo
Kindle

Author Bio

In 1970, when she was thirteen years old, Lynda’s life came to a disastrous halt when her mother and two younger sisters were killed in an Air Canada plane crash.

As a young teen, Lynda made a conscious decision to become happy and to lead a fulfilled life. Lynda chose to live. She was committed to learning, growing and making a difference. Determined to find meaning and purpose in her life, she managed to muster up the courage and strength to dream big, to be idealistic, to strive for more, and to live a meaningful life where she could make a difference in the lives of others.

Lynda Fishman is a trained clinical social worker who has spent over twenty years as a camp director. In the early 90s, Lynda was one of the first camp directors in the Toronto area to incorporate children with special needs into mainstream camp life. Lynda has devoted a lifetime to organized camping and is passionate about the positive role of camping in a person’s life. She is the owner and director of Adventure Valley Day Camp.

Lynda is a motivational and inspirational speaker and facilitator. She has published articles and training manuals on leadership, teamwork, bullying, trust, childhood health and wellness, communication and customer service.

Lynda’s husband, Barry Fishman, has his own amazing story to share, having been orphaned at age 17 and left alone to care for his brother with special needs. Lynda and Barry met as teenagers and have been together since then. They have three grown children, and the whole family is heavily involved in supporting children dealing with tragedy, cancer or other life-threatening diseases, fund-raising and charity events.

Barry has spent his entire career working in the health care and pharmaceutical industry. He is President and CEO of the Canadian operations for the world’s largest generic pharmaceutical company, Teva Pharmaceuticals. Barry serves on the Board of Directors of the Childhood Cancer Foundation.

Lynda is a woman of action. She has incredible enthusiasm for life. She is persistent, focused and faithful to her dreams and goals. She is willing to work for everything with patience, optimism and determination. She finds ways to be grateful and positive. Lynda goes out there and does what she has to do with a CAN DO attitude of gratitude, positivity, compassion, and honesty.

Bookish News 8/8 - 8/14

Bookish News is a weekly meme here at Feeding My Book Addiction that asks fellow book bloggers and avid readers to share the bookish news stories that interested them this week. There is so much going on in the various bookish communities that it is hard to keep up on everything. I read blogs, watch the news, and follow my twitter feed to round up some bookish news for you each week! All you have to do is post a link to your Bookish News post in the comments section so everyone else can check out your post. I post my bookish news on Sundays, but you can post yours any day of the week. If you don't have a blog, you can still participate. Just post links in a comment and provide your thoughts. Now, on to this week's bookish news!

New Additions to Feeding My Book Addiction!

At the request of a follower, I added a search bar and a 'Books Reviewed in 2011' page to the blog to help readers find reviews. I'm all about helping good people find good books and I think these two latest editions to Feeding My Book Addiction will definitely make finding new books to read as well as reading and catching up on past posts a lot easier for followers. Here is a link to the 'Books Reviewed in 2011' page.

The Hoopla About The Help
The film adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's best selling novel, The Help, hit theaters on Wednesday, August 10. I was at my local theater opening night, which is quite a feat for me since I've only been to the theater for a movie three times since June 2009. Here is the trailer:




Did you know that The Help was rejected 60 times before becoming published?(courtesy of Shine from Yahoo!) I didn't. 

Here's something else I didn't know until I discovered Reads4Pleasure's post The Movie Which Shall Not Be Named: There's actually a lot of backlash about The Help as a book and a movie. If I had stopped to think about it, I would have expected it. All I thought was "Hey! This beautifully written and powerful book that I loved is being made into a movie and I actually want to see it!" For more information about some of the negative feedback about the book and film, here is a statement entitled "An Open Statement to the Fans of The Help" I discovered in one of the comments on Reads4Pleasure's post from the Association of Black Women Historians.
 
Your Picks: Top 100 Science Fiction, Fantasy Books
Courtesy of NPR
Blogged about by: Jennifer at Book Den, Bev at My Reader's Block, Lit Addicted Brit at Lit Addicted Brit, and Becca at I Read That Once... 

It seems like there is always a new list coming out of the top (insert number here) favorite books/books that you should have read in high school/books of the year/etc. The last time I thoroughly perused a list like this was the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2010 list. I read ten before giving up because I found most of the books I had chosen to read to be mediocre at best. That's when I stopped paying attention to these types of lists. 

Until this list compiled by NPR based on 5000 nominations and 60,000 reader votes, that is. I'm not the only person who took notice of NPR's list. Between Friday evening and Saturday morning, four fellow book bloggers' posts about the list showed up in my Google Reader. The links to their posts are given above. 

Here's how my reading stacks up against NPRs Readers Pick List:

 Books I've Read:
(Books I own are in Blue)

• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
• 1984 by George Orwell 
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• The Princess Bride by William Goldman
• Animal Farm by George Orwell
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin
• Stardust by Neil Gaiman
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy
• The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffinger
• Wicked by Gregory Maguire
• The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Books To Read:

• The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien (I know. It seems impossible that I've never read these, right?)
• The Dune Chronicles by Frank Herbert (I tried this one in college and couldn't get make it past page 122.)
• The Song of Ice and Fire Series by George R. R. Martin
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? By Philip K. Dick (I just bought this book three days ago!)
• Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
• A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
• The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
• War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

How about you? What books have you read from this list and what books are on your to read pile?


Borders Wins Court OK to Action Name, Leases
Courtesy of Reuters

Borders received approval from a bankruptcy judge to auction its "its trademarks, website, brand name, and customer lists." This means that the Borders name will live on long after the United States' second largest bookseller shuts its doors. I'm a little wary about the auctioning off of customer lists though. I'm a Borders Rewards key fob toting customer so I assume that I'm on the customer list. What is going to happen to my information? 


That's my bookish news for the week. Before I sign off, I want to give a shout out to Jennie at Life is Short, Read Fast for posting some great quotes on her post Bookish - Quotes. Check them out!

What bookish news did you find? Don't forget to share a link to your post in the comments below so everyone can check it out.

I Like Big Books

The Internet never ceases to amaze me. I came across two hilarious youtube videos on the blog Book Him Danno: music videos parodying Sir Mix A Lot's Baby Got Back called I Like Big Books. As a child born in the 1980s and a product of the 1990s, I know every word of Baby Got Back and I sing it often, at least twice a week, when I hear it on SiriusXM 90s on 9. Now, thanks to Book Him Danno, I will always think about books and butts when I hear this song. Here are the videos courtsey of Youtube:





And just in case you need a dose of the 90s, here is the video for Sir Mix A Lot's Baby Got Back:



I wonder if those middle schoolers realized where the tune for their 'I Like Big Books' song came from? Some of their parents had to have known...

Review: Termination Orders Code Name Cobra

Termination Orders Code Name Cobra
by Leo Maloney with Caio Camargo
Published by Independent Publishing House, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-615-41988-6
Review copy provided by the author
What's it about? Courtesy of Goodreads:
Termination Orders is based on the author's missions in Black Ops. Hero Dan Morgan is simultaneously hunted by a double-crossing CIA and Congress, vengeful foreign agents, a corporate drug ring, the Taliban, and narco-terrorists ... a you-are-there action thriller of torture, assassination, betrayals, and revenge, where nothing is as it seems.

My Review:

I admit that I was apprehensive about a mystery/suspense thriller that was only 249 pages. Most of the books I read in these genres are upwards of 400 pages or more because the author needs the length to work out the subplots, plot twists, and have a few fake endings before the book comes to a conclusion. It turns out that my apprehension was a bit unwarranted as former Black Ops contractor turned author Leo Maloney did quite a job packing as much action, espionage, and intrigue into the pages of this book. 

The reason why Termination Orders Code Name Cobra is able to wrap up in 249 pages is that the storyline is action driven, rather than character driven. Characters are developed enough that we see, believe, and understand their motivations, but they are not developed enough for any of them to become a favorite character or for hero Dan Morgan to lead another book, if the author has any intentions of making this into a series. Typically, I prefer books with more developed characters. I want to see how people live through, survive, and change because of the events in the book, but this lack of development or change in the characters didn't bother me because I was too caught up in the action. 

For what this book lacked in character development, it definitely made up for in action. The fast pacing of the story and the constant developments and plot twists kept me up until one o'clock in the morning so I could finish this book. I devoured it in just a few hours. Because the emphasis was more on the action than the characters, it wasn't so easy to figure out how the book would end. I enjoyed not knowing all along who did it and why until the last few pages.

Author Leo Maloney is a former Black Ops contractor and this book is loosely based on his experiences. Knowing that fact before beginning this novel, I took the experiences of Dan Morgan, code name Cobra, and his long time partner, Paul Conley, code name Cougar, without too many questions. Maloney lived this life. He definitely knows a lot more about government espionage and risking his life for his country than I do. If this book was written by someone without the experience, I'd have a lot more questions regarding their research and if the book was realistic. 

Overall, I really liked this book. It kept me engaged and entertained from start to finish. The book tackled a heavy topic in a way that didn't weigh me down as a reader so I could take the story for what it was, glean a little bit of insight into secretive government operations, and have strange covert mission like dreams that night. It's always fun to see what you read manifest itself in your dreams, right? If you are looking for a quick mystery/suspense thriller to get your hands on, maybe for a flight or train ride or a lazy summer afternoon, this book might be just what you are looking for. On a scale of one (I hated it!) to five (I loved it!), I give Termination Orders Code Name Cobra a four.

Review: South of Superior

South of Superior
by Ellen Airgood 
Published by Riverhead Books on June 9, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59448-793-4
Advanced Reading Copy
What's it about? Courtesy of Goodreads: 
A debut novel full of heart, in which love, friendship, and charity teach a young woman to live a bigger life.

When Madeline Stone walks away from Chicago and moves five hundred miles north to the coast of Lake Superior, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, she isn't prepared for how much her life will change.

Charged with caring for an aging family friend, Madeline finds herself in the middle of beautiful nowhere with Gladys and Arbutus, two octogenarian sisters-one sharp and stubborn, the other sweeter than sunshine. As Madeline begins to experience the ways of the small, tight-knit town, she is drawn into the lives and dramas of its residents. It's a place where times are tough and debts run deep, but friendship, community, and compassion run deeper. As the story hurtles along-featuring a lost child, a dashed love, a car accident, a wedding, a fire, and a romantic reunion-Gladys, Arbutus, and the rest of the town teach Madeline more about life, love, and goodwill than she's learned in a lifetime.

A heartwarming novel, South of Superior explores the deep reward in caring for others, and shows how one who is poor in pocket can be rich in so many other ways, and how little it often takes to make someone happy.

My Review:

Ellen Airgood's debut novel, South of Superior, is a beautifully written feel good story. As a reader, it's easy to identify and/or root for protagonist Madeline Stone as she leaves behind her life in Chicago to move in with two elderly women she hardly knows in a small town that harbors ghosts of her family, whom she has never met. Madeline is an easy character to like because the pain and confusion over her roots hasn't turned her into a bitter and hateful woman. She is still positive, still trying to make things better for herself.

Even though I liked Madeline, her tenacity, and her spirit, I didn't particularly care for the story she found herself in. As I was reading it, I felt like the author was following a formula: one female main character with childhood baggage + one elderly female with adult baggage concerning female with childhood baggage + hunky, brooding man who is blind to what's in front of him + a rousing mix of supporting characters that propel the plot forward and put obstacles in the way of female and hunky man's romance + the intervention of one small child = happy ending. 

Nothing came as as surprise in this book. Sometimes that's okay when you are expecting a fluffy feel good novel, but that wasn't quite what I was expecting when I picked up South of Superior. I expected more depth and breadth in the characters and their storylines. I expected to be pleasantly surprised by events, not shaking my head as I turned page after page lamenting about the predictability and totally cliched events of the book. I expected a happy ending, but not at the price of the story itself. 

Even though I found the story lacking, the prose was beautiful. I wanted to reiterate that this is a beautifully written book, even if I found it to be missing that spark or originality that would set it a part from the rest of the feel good books on the shelves. On a scale of one (I hated it!) to five (I loved it!), I give South of Superior a three.

Review: The Postmortal

The Postmortal: A Novel
By Drew Magary
Published by Penguin/August 30, 2011
ISBN: 9780143119821
Review Copy Courtesy of NetGalley 
What's it about? Courtesy of Goodreads:  

John Farrell is about to get "The Cure."

Old age can never kill him now.

The only problem is, everything else still can . . .

Imagine a near future where a cure for aging is discovered and-after much political and moral debate-made available to people worldwide. Immortality, however, comes with its own unique problems-including evil green people, government euthanasia programs, a disturbing new religious cult, and other horrors. Witty, eerie, and full of humanity, The Postmortal is an unforgettable thriller that envisions a pre-apocalyptic world so real that it is completely terrifying.

My Review:

Finally! There's a new dystopian novel coming out that isn't a young adult book and it's good! Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good YA dystopian novel, but I need a change. Drew Magary's The Postmortal is just the change I needed too.

Magary's novel has an intriguing premise: a scientist discovered the cure for aging and now the citizens of the world are clamoring to get it any way they can, but how will this scientific development impact society, civilization, and Planet Earth?

Protagonist John Farrell is a twenty something guy afraid of dying. He obtains the cure on the black market and watches his world fall a part a few weeks later when his best friend Katy dies at her first appointment for the cure when an pro-death group blows up the doctor's makeshift office in an apartment building.

As John tries to pull himself together, he's faced with an onslaught of problems never encountered by humans before because they've never been able to bypass the aging process. Marriages are falling apart or not even happening at all. People are opting for cycle marriages that have an end date. China bans the cure and begins tattooing birth dates on all of its citizens. The planet is suffering the strain of all the added people who are no longer dying. People who opt for the cure realize dozens of years later that they are ready and want to die, but they can't without an accident or cancer ravaging their body.

John is just a normal guy who has some not so normal things happen to him throughout his elongated life. He's trying to figure out what it means to be happy, what it means to love, and what it means to live in a world where it's not so easy to die. He tries to find a place in this new world for himself and ends up being an end specialist, helping those with the cure who are ready to die to do so. The thing about John though that made him such a powerful protagonist and character in this story is that he was kind of clueless, just like we all are in life, let alone in a life where we will never grow old and die. I could relate to him and want to smack him all on the same page. His good qualities and his flaws come together to create a dynamic character that carries this story so well.

The concept of a cure for aging sparks so many thoughts and emotions in me that I was instantly drawn into this book. I liked how the cure didn't make people invincible, although they felt like it sometimes. Yet, often times newly 'cured' characters thought they could live forever. They didn't give much thought to being hit by a bus, killed in a tragic car accident, or being murdered by the Greenies, a group of terrorists out to torture those who had obtained the cure. I wish that the book took a bit more time to develop this interesting dichotomy.

Overall, Drew Magary's The Postmortal is a fascinating and suspense filled novel that will make you think and rethink what you think about your reality and the reality of the postmortal world. It's well written and the prose is lyrical, melodious even, at times, although the story does get a bit slow moving at times toward the end. It's definitely a book worth checking out, especially if you enjoy a good dystopian novel like I do. On a scale of one (I hated it!) to five (I loved it!), I give The Postmortal a four.

WWW Wednesday 8/10

WWW Wednesday is a weekly event sponsored by Should Be Reading that asks readers three very important questions:

1. What are you currently reading?
2. What did you recently finish reading?
3. What do you think you'll read next? 


1. What are you currently reading?

• Repairing Rainbows: A True Story of Family, Tragedy, and Choices by Lynda Fishman *Blog Tour Stops here on Monday, 8/15!*

2. What did you recently finish reading?

• Unbelievable Adventures of a WWII German War Bride by Ingeborg M. Johnston
• Take This Regret by Amy Lichtenhan
• Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America by Jeff Ryan
• The Postmortal by Drew Magary *Review coming soon!*
• South of Superior by Ellen Airgood *Review coming soon!*

3. What do you think you'll read next?

• Termination Orders: Code Name Cobra by Leo Maloney with Caio Camargo
• The Book of Lies: A Novel by Mary Horlock
• 1923: A Memoir by Harry Leslie Smith
• The Kitchen Shrink by De DeTarsio
• In Leah's Wake by Terri Guiliano Long 

August is ARC Month here on Feeding My Book Addiction. My goal is to read and review 15 ARCs this month. Here's my stats to date:

ARCs Read: 5/15
ARCs in Progress: 1
ARC Reviews Posted: 3/15

Review: Super Mario How Nintendo Conquered America

Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America
By Jeff Ryan
Published by Portfolio on August 4, 2011
ISBN: 9781591844051
Review Copy Courtesy of NetGalley
What's it about? Courtesy of Goodreads: 
The story of Nintendo's rise and the beloved icon who made it possible.

Nintendo has continually set the standard for video-game innovation in America, starting in 1981 with a plucky hero who jumped over barrels to save a girl from an ape.

The saga of Mario, the portly plumber who became the most successful franchise in the history of gaming, has plot twists worthy of a video game. Jeff Ryan shares the story of how this quintessentially Japanese company found success in the American market. Lawsuits, Hollywood, die- hard fans, and face-offs with Sony and Microsoft are all part of the drama.

Find out about:

* Mario's eccentric yet brilliant creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, who was tapped for the job because was considered expendable.

* Minoru Arakawa, the son-in-law of Nintendo's imperious president, who bumbled his way to success. * The unexpected approach that allowed Nintendo to reinvent itself as the gaming system for the non-gamer, especially now with the Wii Even those who can't tell a Koopa from a Goomba will find this a fascinating story of striving, comeuppance, and redemption.

My Review:

I am not a gamer. That title in my house goes to my boyfriend who has several consoles hooked up at one time, world records on Twin Galaxies, and a cheat code tattooed to his foot. I picked up this book because it's about something that is of interest and importance to him. And, I was sure it would be full of fun facts I could dazzle him with over dinner. I'm always looking for tidbits of knowledge that I can use in lulls in conversation. 

Jeff Ryan's Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America didn't disappoint. This book is a labor of love for all things Nintendo, from Donkey Kong arcade machines to the Wii. His passion for games and Nintendo radiates from the pages of this easily accessible and completely entertaining book. It's not all about marketing plans and sales figures. Nintendo of America and its players, both real and created, jump off the page and into your cultural history, filling in the gaps and behind the scenes that you didn't or couldn't know at the time you first picked up a Nintendo controller and tried to rescue the Princess in Super Mario Bros.

This book kept me captivated from beginning to end, which is a testament to its well written and playful prose that is meant to engage the casual gamer (or the non gamers like me) as well as the hardcore gamers. I got so caught up in the spirit of gaming and Nintendo that I even asked my boyfriend if I could play his Nintendo. He inserted Super Mario Bros 3 into the NES, handed me a controller, and sat on the couch while I made my way through the first two worlds of the game. I also bought Pinball for NES, a childhood favorite, from a used game store called The Gamers Grotto in Bennington, VT the other day. It was only $2 and it was the first video game I bought for myself since I bought Mario Kart for (my boyfriend's) DS two years ago, which I still haven't played. 

If you are a fan of Mario, Nintendo, or just want to learn more about an icon of your youth, and you want a fun and engaging history to immerse yourself in, Jeff Ryan's Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered is the book for you. On a scale of one (I hated it!) to five (I loved it!), I give it a four.
 

Review: Take This Regret

Take This Regret
by Amy Lichtenhan 
Published by The Writers' Coffee Shop Publishing House, July 2011
ISBN: 9781612130507
Review copy provided by the author
What's it about? Courtesy of Goodreads:

There are some mistakes we make that we will regret for the rest of our lives. For Christian, it was the day he betrayed Elizabeth.

Christian Davison has a plan for his life. He is determined to become an attorney and to one day take his place as partner in his father’s law firm. Nothing will stand in his way, not even Elizabeth Ayers and their unborn child.

After Christian cuts her from his life, Elizabeth spends the next five years struggling to provide for her daughter and willing to sacrifice anything to give her child a safe, comfortable life.

For five years, Christian has regretted the day he walked away from his family and will do anything to win them back just as Elizabeth will do anything to protect her daughter from the certain heartache she believes Christian will bring upon them.

When Christian wrestles his way into their lives, Elizabeth is faced with asking herself if it is possible to forgive someone when they’ve committed the unforgivable and if it is possible to find a love after it has been buried in years of hate. Or are there some wounds that go so deep they can never heal?

They say everyone deserves a second chance.

My Review:

When I discovered that Amy Lichtenhan's second novel, Take This Regret, was scheduled to come out the end of July, it became my 'must read' book of the summer. It was a Waiting on Wednesday post at the end of June and I mentioned Amy's debut novel, Pulled, any time someone asked for a book recommendation, complete with a plug for this latest release. All my talk was for good reason. Amy Lichtenhan's novels are spectacular in their plot, storyline, conflicts, characters, and resolution.

Take this Regret follows the lives of Elizabeth and Christian; they are college sweethearts destined for law school until Elizabeth finds out she is pregnant their senior year. Elizabeth wants to keep the baby and expects Christian to be supportive. What she finds instead is a cold, selfish, and manipulative man who just can't see why Elizabeth would want to keep the baby when she could get rid of it, go to law school, and live the good life. Elizabeth walks out, drops out due to a difficult pregnancy, has the baby, and moves back to California to be closer to her family. Christian graduates college and law school before beginning his career in his father's firm in the new office in California.

Their paths collide in an unexpected way. Christian shares a connection with a small girl in a grocery store. He seems to know her somehow and she seems to know him too. This encounter gives Christian the push he needs to look Elizabeth up on the internet. He discovers that he is just miles away. His love for Elizabeth, the regret over his desertion, and the power that little girl in the grocery store has over his heart compel him to show up at Elizabeth's door.

The novel takes you on their journey of healing as Christian tries to take his place in their lives, the place he never should have given up in the first place. Elizabeth fights him every step of the way, petrified that he will hurt her again and devastate her daughter when Christian eventually walks out again.

Half way through reading Take This Regret, I sat up from my curled up position on the couch, wiped the tears from my face, and announced to my boyfriend, "This book is going to wreck me."

He responded, "It's that bad?"

"No! It's that good!"

That sums up my experience reading Take This Regret. This book will rip out your heart. The raw emotions of Elizabeth and Christian as they navigate this new terrain of being parents together while trying to piece themselves back together are so realistic that I felt their pain. The love and laughter of their daughter, Lizzie, made me want to fight to protect her like Elizabeth yet fight to love her and be a part of her life like Christian.

Amy Lichtenhan is a master storyteller. Her ability to put flawed, yet likeable, characters into difficult situations and bring them through the trials of life and storyline in such a profoundly moving way is nothing short of amazing. I knew what Lichtenhan is capable of as a writer after reading Pulled, but even that couldn't prepare me for reading Take This Regret. This is a must read. On a scale of one (I hated it!) to five (I loved it!), I give Take This Regret a five.

In My Mailbox Week of 8/2 - 8/8

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren that celebrates the great reads that come in our mailbox as well as through store purchases and library visits. Here is what was in my mailbox the week of August 2 - August 8:

In My Mailbox:

• Abe's Lucky Day by Jill Warren
• Hey Kids, Want Some Chocolates? My Family's Journey to Freedom by Melitta Strandberg (co-authored with George E. Pfaustsch)

In My Shopping Bag:

(Courtesy of the Borders Going Out of Business Sale)

• The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde
•  Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
• The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde
• The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde
• Persuasion by Jane Austen
• Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick
• The Creation of the Media: Political Origins of Modern Communications by Paul Starr

What was in your mailbox last week?

Bookish News 8/1 - 8/7

Bookish News is a weekly meme here at Feeding My Book Addiction that asks fellow book bloggers and avid readers to share the bookish news stories that interested them this week. There is so much going on in the various bookish communities that it is hard to keep up on everything. I read blogs, watch the news, and follow my twitter feed to round up some bookish news for you each week! All you have to do is post a link to your Bookish News post in the comments section so everyone else can check out your post. I post my bookish news on Sundays, but you can post yours any day of the week. If you don't have a blog, you can still participate. Just post links in a comment and provide your thoughts. Now, on to this week's bookish news!

Kindlegraph Makes Autographs Digital, Requires Twitter Access 
Courtesy of Mediabistro

Courtesy of the article

One of my first thoughts when eBooks came onto the reading scene and the spike in the number of self published books and authors was: "How the hell can a reader get their eBook autographed?" Kindlegraph answers that question. Readers can request autographs from authors in the Kindlegraph library and they will be sent directly to the readers' eReaders. Interesting idea, right? There's a few caveats though. First, there are only approximately 200 authors in the Kindlegraph library right now and both the author and the reader must have and use their Twitter account to take advantage of the service. 

The article ends with the question, "Would you let a company make tweets from your Twitter account in exchange for a digital author's signature?" Me personally? I wouldn't and it has nothing to do with privacy concerns either. If I want an author's signature that much, I'm going to attend a book event, meet the author in person, and ask for his/her autograph in a paper copy of his/her book. 


Facebook Acquires Digital Book Publisher Push Pop Press
Courtesy of Publishers Weekly

I first came across this tidbit of bookish news while reading L. Diane Wolff's blog Spunk On A Stick. It seems like Facebook is getting their hands into everything these days, huh? The article provides a statement from Push Pop's website:"Facebook isn't planning to start publishing digital books, [but] the ideas and technology behind Push Pop Press will be integrated with Facebook, giving people even richer ways to share their stories."

I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. I love that it's a quick way to keep in touch with far flung friends and family through status updates and photographs. I hate how people use their status updates as a 'woe is me' platform, whining about their lives just to get the attention of their 'friends' to tell them it isn't all that bad. The thought of the perpetual whiners using a digital book publisher platform on Facebook to digitally publish their 'too much information' (TMI) and otherwise embarrassing posts makes me wish that a new social media platform will come along that's better than Facebook so we can all ditch it like we ditched MySpace. Maybe Google + is that platform... only time will tell.  


Brewster Kahle, Internet Archivist, Seeks One of Every Book Written
Courtesy of the Huffington Post

Brewster Kahle is on a mission to obtain one copy of every book ever written. To date, he has approximately 500,000 books that he has archived, barcoded, scanned, and then stored in shipping containers in a warehouse on a dead end street. 

Kahle's goal is to ensure that the printed word lasts for generations to come. It screams 'time capsule' to me and reminds me of this cheesy time capsule project my class did in the sixth grade, only this project is without the cheesiness and on a much grander scale. 

It's a daunting project. I wonder what provisions he has made to ensure the project continues after his death? 

Well, that's my bookish news for the week. What bookish news did you find this week? Don't forget to share!

Review: Unbelievable Adventures of a WWII German War Bride

Unbelievable Adventures of a WWII German War Bride
by Ingeborg M. Johnston
Published by the author, 2010
ISBN: 9781439268230
Review copy provided by the author
What's it about? Courtesy of Goodreads: 
Ingeborg M. Balendat's German youth was dramatically changed because of World War II. During the war she served as a teenage nurse in war-torn Berlin, administering to wounded German officers while planning to escape with her mother to the American front. In this heroic and compelling story, readers learn how Ingeborg M. Johnston, eighty-five and the last survivor of her immediate German family, escaped into and out of East Berlin, took on the president of Daimler-Benz to save her father's life, carried to America a Nobel laureate's scientific discoveries, won the first Mrs. Philadelphia contest, survived Hurricane David aboard her sailboat, and became a valuable member of the U.S. educational community. In Unbelievable Adventures of a WWII German War Bride, we are reminded of the generosity of strangers, the need to live every day to its fullest, and how one young woman lived to share her extraordinary story of survival, love, and American patriotism.

My Review: 

Eighty-something Ingeborg M. Johnston sure had some unbelievable adventures. She managed to keep herself out of the Hitler youth program, married an American GI, won a Mrs. Philadelphia contest, founded swimming programs for disabled children, learned to scuba dive, sail small boats and fly small planes, raise two successful daughters, get divorced, remarry, become a translator, and a plethora of other things during her active life thus far. 

Johnston is a big proponent of 'random acts of kindness' and dedicates a portion of her book to her efforts to help those in need at Christmas and to offer hugs to strangers. She calls on readers to adopt her one act of kindness a day policy because it will make the world a better place. That was a red flag for me as a reader. I thought I was reading about her unbelievable adventures, not about her social agenda, even it is is an agenda that I agree with. 

Interesting as it was, Johnston's Unbelievable Adventures of a WWII German War Bride fell short. The major flaws in structure, editing, and writing style turned what could have been a powerful memoir of hope, resilience, and kindness into a shallow and sometimes repetitious account of her life thus far. Yes, her stories are interesting and definitely should be told, but not in this manner. Her short chapters, sweeping overviews and generalizations, and her failure to dig deep into the rich history she lived and the emotions she felt left this memoir lacking. 

A strong and seasoned editor could have helped Johnston turn her short chapters into a gripping narrative that showed her love for random acts of kindness without her having to tell us about it at random intervals. An editor would have picked up on all the repetitions in the book, especially over explaining the members of her family. An editor also could have worked with her to bring forth the raw emotions that are sadly absent from this memoir and would have made it a much more compelling read. And an editor would have been able to point out the plot holes she left in her own life story. 

This is one of those books that depresses me because I know it could have been so much more. I enjoyed her 'unbelievable adventures,' but her short and shallow chapters left me wanting more. On a scale of one (I hated it!) to five (I loved it!), I give Unbelievable Adventures of a WWII German War Bride a two.

 

Book Blogger Hop: 8/5 - 8/8

 

The Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Jennifer at her Crazy-For-Books book blog. The hop takes place every weekend and features a new topic or question for book bloggers to discuss or answer. It's a great way to meet other book bloggers and find new books to add to the 'to read' list! This week's question is:

What is the one ARC you would love to get your hands on right now?

Great question! If I had to pick just one ARC that I'd love to get my hands on right now, I'd pick...

The Future of Us

By Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

Expected Publication Date: November 21,2011
Published by Razorbill
What's it about? Courtesy of Goodreads:
It's 1996, and less than half of all American high school students have ever used the Internet.

Emma just got her first computer and an America Online CD-ROM.

Josh is her best friend. They power up and log on--and discover themselves on Facebook, fifteen years in the future.

Everybody wonders what their Destiny will be. Josh and Emma are about to find out.

It's an intriguing premise. Think about it: what would you do if you tied up your phone line to dial up AOL in 1996 only to discover your adult self's Facebook page? In 1996, I would have never dreamed of the technological advances and all of the social media applications we take for granted today, let alone what I would be like as an adult. I'm excited to see how the authors play this out. 

What about you? Is there any ARC you just can't wait to get your hands on? Join this week's blog hop and tell us about it!

Review: The Well of Lost Plots (Thursday Next #3)

The Well of Lost Plots (Thursday Next #3)
by Jasper Fforde
Published by Penguin Books, 2003
ISBN: 0-14-303435-9
Copy borrowed from the library
What's it about? Courtesy of Goodreads:
Jasper Fforde has done it again in this genre-bending blend of crime fiction, fantasy, and top-drawer literary entertainment. After two rollicking New York Times bestselling adventures through Western literature, resourceful literary detective Thursday Next definitely needs some downtime. And what better place for a respite than in the hidden depths of the Well of Lost Plots, where all unpublished books reside? But peace and quiet remain elusive for Thursday, who soon discovers that the Well is a veritable linguistic free-for-all, where grammasites run rampant, plot devices are hawked on the black market, and lousy books-like the one she has taken up residence in-are scrapped for salvage. To make matters worse, a murderer is stalking the personnel of Jurisfiction and it's up to Thursday to save the day. A brilliant feat of literary showmanship filled with wit, fantasy, and effervescent originality, this Ffordian tour de force is the most exciting Thursday Next adventure yet. 

My Review: 

If you are just joining me here at Feeding My Book Addiction, I must warn you that Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series is my current bookish obsession. If you've never heard of the series, I suggest you stop reading this review immediately and get to your local library or bookstore to get your hands on a copy of The Eyre Affair and Lost In A Good Book.  

The Well of Lost Plot picks up right where Lost in a Good Book left off, protagonist/heroine Thursday Next is hiding out in a crappy book that's about to be salvaged in Book World while Goliath searches frantically to find her. They eradicated her husband and she has yet to figure out how to bring him back. She is apprenticed to Miss Havisham of Great Expectations as a Jurisfiction Officer. She is learning to book jump, catch Pagerunners, and even has a terrifying encounter with grammasites! There's a new way of reading about to be released and a murderer prowling around Book World. In addition to trying to figure out the whole Jurisfiction thing and keeping herself alive, Thursday is also battling Hades' sister, Aornis, who wants revenge. 

I cannot say enough about how awesome this series is. If you are a fan of literature, the Thursday Next series is a must read. I'm still in awe at the depths of author Jasper Fforde's imagination. Book World is so well developed that it's scary. In the back of my mind where I allow myself to think fanciful and fictional thoughts, I think this world exists. It makes the whole concept of reading that much more entertaining to me. I want to go there. I think I want to be a jurisfiction agent. I want to attend the Bookies and see which of my favorite literary characters win each year. I want to read the next installment, but I must wait for a copy from my local library. 

If you haven't started the Thursday Next series, do so immediately. I'm not kidding. This series is full of books that will change you as a reader. On a scale of one (I hated it!) to five (I loved it!), I give The Well of Lost Plots at five.

Here's a passage I wanted to share:

"Write is only the word we use to describe the recording process," replied Snell as we walked along. "The Well of Lost Plots is where we interface the writer's imagination with the characters and plots so that it will make sense in the reader's mind. After all, reading is arguably a far more creative and imaginative process than writing; when the reader creates emotion in their head, or the colors of the sky during the setting sun, or the smell of a warm summer's breeze on their face, they should reserve as much praise for themselves as they do for the writer--perhaps more." page 48

Didn't I tell you this was an awesome book? :)