Old Ladies’ Resistance Club

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So, Beth already wrote a real review of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. I also found it to be a beautiful novel. (And, I’m so impressed with us for reading an award-winning novel before it won its big award!) The Germans arrived in an undefended Paris on June 14th, 1940 and so I thought that today I’d say a little bit about my favorite part of this book.

Sort-of-spoilers ahead.

One of the main characters, Marie-Laure, is a little blind girl who flees Paris with her father and goes to Saint Malo on the coast where she is left with her Uncle and Madame Manec. Marie-Laure’s Uncle is a bit of a recluse and for all kinds of reasons is not interested in getting involved in anything or opposing the Nazis or anyone occupying the town. He just wants to be in his room and maybe spend some time with his niece. Maybe.

With the occupation there are rations (“‘And these ridiculous shoe ration coupons,’ says Madame Ruelle, the baker’s wife. ‘Theo has number 3,501 and they haven’t even called 400!'”) and neighbors turning on neighbors for more electricity or extra food. The women that complain about things are only inconvenienced by the war; they won’t ever be sent to a battle field (and are unlikely to be rounded up for sedition or other crimes). But, they are against the war and against the occupation. Madame Manec points out to them that women make the world run. They sort the mail and fix the shoes and bake the bread that people eat. They could do something. Madame Manec isn’t proposing they do anything crazy, like make shoe bombs, but rather that they do small things. She proposes that they inconvenience the occupiers. She proposes that they do things to constantly remind them just how unwelcome in France they are.

And, most of the things they do in general would seem like pranks. They change roadsigns, they leave dog poop on the brothel steps, they send flowers to which a commander is allergic to the headquarters. They paint a stray dog in the colors of the French flag. They write pro-French slogans on currency. Later in the book this network of trouble making old ladies becomes very important to the French resistance in the book. But, it starts out as a group of old ladies in the kitchen who want to something but don’t think they can do anything big or important.

I loved this part of the book immensely. I loved the reminder that little things can be courageous.

This book was a gorgeous read and it was little details like the Old Ladies’ Resistance Club that made it so wonderful.

Review: The Walls Between Us by Nova Ren Suma

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Featured imageThere are some authors that other authors just swoon over.  Nova Ren Suma is one of them and I really don’t get it.  Her prose is quite beautiful but I’ve always had a hard time getting into her books and they are not that memorable after I have read them. The only thing I remember about the other book I have read by her, Imaginary Girls was that it had a good ending and I think one of the girls died for the other.  The common thread of these books is that her characters are shrouded in mystery.  I’m not sure what I’m missing.  It’s not that I don’t like her books but I don’t find them to be as wonderful as I they are supposed to be.  Then again, reading is subjective.  What someone likes someone else might not.

The Walls Around Us is the story of three girls.  Amber is in a juvenile dentition center for girls, serving time for a crime she may or may not have committed with little chance of getting out anytime soon.  Violet is a ballet dancer, who is on the verge of getting everything she has ever wanted.  She just graduated high school and is about to start at Julliard for more training.  Orianna is the link between the two of them.  As the story unfolds, we discover who did what and who is innocent and who is guilty.

Major spoilers ahead Continue reading →

Pop Culture Homework Assignment for Beth

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Any basic analysis of this site will clue you into one fact: Beth reads (and reviews) way more than I do. For the past few years or so, she has been my go-to for book recommendations. First, because she has really good taste and knows how to sniff out hits (she recommended Hunger Games and Divergent to me before they were big. She also got me hooked on Bone Season and the Shades of London and countless other series that, ultimately, I’m thankful for even if I’m annoyed after I’ve finished a book and have to wait for the next one). And, second because she is honest and she will not sugar coat it that when a book doesn’t live up to expectations. I have read a lot of really fun books because of her suggestions so suggesting books to her is a real responsibility.

When we proposed this challenge, Beth and I asked each other about a number of different books and authors. I found out that Beth has never read one of my favorite travel memoirs, A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. This led me to a theme for my books: travel.

Bookending the assignment are two travel memoirs that feature hiking. Since we don’t come from a hiking kind of family, these will both probably feel like a way weird choice for her. But, hiking is the backdrop to the story in these narratives. Beth will be starting with Wild by Cheryl Strayed and ending with A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. Both of these books I enjoyed immensely but I am interested in her opinions on them. The middle two books are both from different genres (and don’t involve hiking). I picked Wild because I think it is a beautiful narrative about family and personal growth. Book 2 is Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott (travel as a metaphor for spiritual growth!). I picked this because I thought this book was full of essays that were funny and touching. Book 3 is 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson, a fictional tale of a young adult doing some traveling to say goodbye to a loved one. So, travel, family. This book is funny and touching and full of adventure. A great summer read! Finally, A Walk in the Woods is a fun story about two middle aged dudes walking the Appalachian Trail. It is funny, it is touching, and it is informative.

So, the list is:

Book 1: Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Book 2:Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott
Book 3: 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
Book 4: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.

There you go, Beth! I hope you love them as much I did! Or, not! Whatever! I can’t wait to hear what you think!

Pop Culture Homework Assignment for Kate

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So Kate,

I’ve thought long and hard about what your assignment was going to be.  At first I thought I would assign you a series that I’ve recommended to you.  I know over the years I have given you books that you haven’t read or finished but I’ve sort of lost track of what you have read and what you haven’t.  So then I thought maybe I would assign you to a new series I have read that you would like but I wanted to assign you a series that has been completed.  Which narrows things down quite a bit.  I’ve gone all over the pros and cons of each series and couldn’t come up with a clear favorite.  So, then I thought maybe I would assign you to finish a series that I know you haven’t finished like the Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare but I think it’s only the last book in both of those series left for you to read and that’s not enough for summer.  Plus, that might be kind of mean, since I know why you haven’t finished the Mortal Instruments and I respect your decision not to.  It wouldn’t be right for me to force you to do so that idea was brushed aside.  Then I got a brilliant idea, thanks to twitter.  Well, a tweet from Rainbow Rowell.  Now, I don’t actually remember what she actually said or what it was about but she is usually thoughtful and clever. It made me think, have you read any of her books? I didn’t think so and well that needs to be corrected.

So, Kate your Pop Culture Homework Assignment is to read all four of her books in order of them being published (if possible).  All of her books are standalone with the only thing common with all of them is the state of Nebraska.  What I like about them is that even though they are in the most romances, they never feature your classic beauties.  All her leads are curvy, tall, have big foreheads and such.  They are very much set in reality with characters who are dealing with the same issues as you and I that they seem so real and well, since most take place in the Nebraska there are a lot of Midwestern humor that only those of us who grew up here could really appreciate.  You’ll  start with Attachments and get to know Lincoln and Beth (what a lovely name!) then go on to Eleanor and Park and probably cry over both of them and then laugh and cry with Levi and Cath in Fangirl and then end your summer with Landline with Georgie and Neal.  I know you will love all of them and I can’t wait to read and hear all your observations.

There you go, get to work.

Highs and Lows of Fandoms by Cassandra Clare and Maggie Stiefvater

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I’ve actually never really been apart of a fandom per se.  There are a lot of books, movies, TV shows that I love and care about.  Despite my love for Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Magnus Bane, Katniss Everdeen and more, I’ve never signed up to any message boards or read fan fictions.  I may have time to time read other fans blogs and theories about why a certain character did this or what they think will happen next but never really participated in it personally.  Once upon a time, I was very involved in a i guess you could call a  fandom for tennis player, Andy Roddick.  Do athletes have fandoms?  I started posting on a fan site called Roddickrocks.com.  Soon, I was a board moderator and then I started writing recaps of Andy’s matches and got more involved from there.  I spent a lot of time on Roddickrocks.  It was the first site I checked in the morning and the last before I went to bed.  It was almost a job, keeping up with the demands.  After a year though, the site splintered.  I have forgotten the exact details but some of us wanted to take the site in one direction and others wanted to keep as is.  Feelings were hurt and relationships severed.  A few of us started a new fan site but it didn’t last very long.  I think the official reason in most of our minds was that we all got too busy. Most of us were in school or had real jobs and that started to take priority but really, as much as we tried, we could never recreate what we used to have.

Now that I think about it, this might be why I’m not much of a joiner online but really just a lurker.  It’s not how I want to spend majority of my time online, these days but also it can get rather negative pretty quickly.  I follow many authors on twitter and tumblr and there I get the gist of what is going on in the fandoms they created.  I can see the other creative things my fellow readers are making and read thoughts and theories without have to truly have to participate.  I’m not sure what that says about me but I do think it has lessens some of my online stress . Fandoms are great at uniting  people from all over the world with like interests but it can also be toxic.  I don’t regret the time I spent on Roddickrocks because it introduced me to some of the best people in the world that I still am friends with but I definitely do miss the negativity that surrounded the ending.

So why am I bringing this up?  An author I follow, Cassandra Clare, decided to take a break from social media after the fandom she inspired sort of turned on her.  Her books, The Mortal Instruments have been turned into a movie and now is being turned into a show.  There was apparently a rift between fans who loved the old cast and fans who love the new cast.  Clare decided not to take sides and was threatened by fans for it.  Recently, she with another favorite author of mine, Maggie Stiefvater did an interview about the good and bad of fandoms and it’s a great read.  They talk about how fandoms have changed.  How twitter and tumblr help and hamper them.  How they both want to accessible to fans but being too assessable comes with a price.  How they are now treated by fans.  They also talk about how that women in general are treated.  It’s a well thought out discussion that I think is very valuable to read.

So please read it here and leave comment below about what you think?  What are experiences in being apart of a fandom?  Are like me and just lurk on the outside or do you actively participate?  Sound off below.

Review: Penryn and the End of Days by Susan Ee

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I was first turned onto Angelfall by our friend Stephanie back in 2012.  Like her, I was immediately taken with Penryn and Raffe and their struggle to keep their families together litereally and figurely.  Her mother schizophrenic and her sister is in a wheelchair.  After her father left them, it’s been up to Penryn to take care of them.  It was hard enough before Angels descended on the earth an caused a massive breakdown of civilization.  For Raffe, he just wants to stop his people from an all out Civil War.  Raffe and Penryn team up as they help each other and discovered that the Angel’s appearance of Earth may not be divine intervention after all. Spoilers Ahead! Continue reading →