Review: The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

Title: The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
Author: Katherine Howe
Source: Library
Rating: 9 out of 10

Summary: Connie is preparing to write her dissertation in colonial history when her mother asks her to take care of cleaning out her grandmother's home for sale. On her first night, Connie finds a key with a slip of paper inside that leads her on a chase to find the rarest of the rare: A real book of magic.


My Two Cents:


I loved this book. Like, a lot. I really enjoyed how Howe wove together the Salem witch trials and fiction to create a believable but fantastic story.  The moving back and forth between the distant past and 1991 was seamless and tied together with all the evidence Connie was finding at a given point in the story.

I generally liked Connie as a protagonist. The one thing I was how she was portrayed as never having a real interest in men until just the perfect one came along. Academic pursuits were more her style. I'm sure there are a lot of women in the world just like this, but I guess I seem to find a lot of them in literature.

Also, the whole ending of the book gets wrapped up in a really neat little bow, all in the last 30 pages or so. Everything just happens so quickly, then everything is over and then the book ends. Bam. I guess I just expected, since it took nearly 350 pages to get to the main climax of the story, that it would take more than 30 pages to resolve that problem. I would have liked to see more because the pace of the rest of the book was pitch-perfect.

All in all, this was a book I was very, very pleased with. I would recommend this to anyone who likes books about family mysteries (Like those by Kate Morton), anyone interested in the Salem witch trials or those who just like a good puzzle to put together in a book.

2012 reading: Catch-up (Part 4)

In an effort to catch up on my reading for this year, I'm posting short reviews of all the books I've read so far.

Title and author: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - J.K. Rowling
Source: Personal library
Rating: 10 out of 10

What can I say about this book besides I love this whole series? It had been a good decade since I first read this, though I watch the movie at least once a year. There's so much I forgot about this book that pops up later in the series. I now remember why this series became an international phenomenon: great characters, writing that's simple yet challenging to kids and a rich world that allows the reader to dive right in.

Title and author: O Pioneers! - Willa Cather
Source: Kindle
Rating: 9 out of 10

While I didn't like this novel as much as My Antonia (seems to be a pattern with me this year), I can see why this is considered an American classic. Cather obviously had a love for the prairies on which she was raised and for the hardy people who settled those areas. I loved Alexandra as a character, not only because she was a strong female protagonist who lived contrary to the social norms, but also because she seemed like she would have been a great person to know. Thinking that a character would make a great BFF is, to me, the hallmark of a well-written protagonist.

Title and author: Awakened - P.C. and Kristin Cast
Source: Library
Rating: 2 out of 10

I don't know why I've kept reading this series as long as I have. I wasn't too fond of the previous novel in this series for a lot of the same reasons: The characters are awful and stereotypical, the language is too contrived and the plot just doesn't really move along. I guess I figured, I'd invested in seven previous books, so why not try to finish things out and see what happens? Yeah. Not my brightest idea. Do yourself a favor and just skip this series altogether.

Title and author: The Gunslinger: The Dark Tower I - Stephen King
Source: Kindle
Rating: 9 out of 10

Would you believe this is my first Stephen King? I know, right? This is a great book, and I'm excited to see how the series develops over the rest of the parts. I think Roland is a great character based on a great poem, and a lot of the lore that King builds into his fantasy world is spot-on. Sure, there were times I got a little lost (Kind of happens trying to read this over a nursing baby's head), but I thought that it was a great accomplishment that King could make a world so bleak and deserted so rich with description and mystery.

2012 reading: Catch-up (Part 1)

I have been such a slacker with reviewing books since my son was born ... uh ... more than a year ago. I've actually managed to get a decent amount of reading done so far this year, partially thanks to my Christmas gift of a Kindle (Yes, I finally jumped on the digital train), so I'll try to catch up on reviewing what I've read in a series of short reviews.

Title and author: The Help - Kathryn Stockett
Source: Library
Rating: 7 out of 10

I put off reading this book for a long time because I just tend to not read really popular books, but I decided to read it after seeing the movie. I thought the book was really well-written and had a great concept. It showed a side of pre-civil rights life that not everyone thinks about. That being said, I think I would have liked this book more if I had read it before seeing the movie. I just didn't feel the connection with Skeeter that I felt I should have as she was the main protagonist.

Title and author: Room - Emma Donoghue
Source: Library
Rating: 10 out of 10

This is one of those books you hate to love due to its subject matter. Kidnapping and imprisoning a woman, impregnating her and then keeping her and the child locked in a room for five years isn't exactly a feel-good, happy topic, but Donoghue's choice to tell the story through the eyes of Jack was a brilliant one because he had an innocence about the whole topic so the reader didn't feel beaten over the head by the negative subject. I adored Jack. He is probably on my list of Top 5 Favorite Protagonists Ever. I want a 5-year-old just like him (Minus the fact that he's been locked in one room his whole life). Donoghue manages a feat not often mastered: She employs a young, innocent narrator but his narration is not annoying or difficult to read, and I never felt talked-down-to. Jack is just Jack, and he absolutely makes this story. Highly, highly recommended book!

Title and author: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs
Source: Library
Rating: 8 out of 10

The thing that intrigued me the most about this book was the vintage photographs which inspired the story scattered throughout the text. I kept looking back at the photos! Though I didn't really feel a particular connection to any of the characters (I'm not sure why), I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It had a unique concept, it was well-written and made an easy, fun read.

Title and author: The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness in the Fair that Changed America - Erik Larson
Source: Kindle edition
Rating: 8 out of 10

I'm not usually one for non-fiction, but a serial killer during the World's Fair in Chicago? Sign me up! Larson actually helped me to like non-fiction because his writing isn't dry. This book read more like a novel than history. My usual Kindle-reading time is when putting my son to bed at night, and I found myself sitting long after he was asleep, reading this book because I wanted to find out what happened. I would recommend this to anyone who is wary of non-fiction. This may just be a gateway book!

Review: The Body Artist by Don Delillo

Title: The Body Artist

Author: Don Delillo

Pages: 124

Source: Personal library

Rating: 5/10

Summary (From book flap):

In this spare, seductive novel, he inhabits the muted world of Lauren Hartke, an artist whose work defies the limits of the body. Lauren is living on a lonely coast, in a rambling rented house, where she encounters a strange, ageless man, a man with uncanny knowledge of her own life. Together they begin a journey into the wilderness of time -- time, love and human perception.

My Two Cents:

I just need to learn to stay away from Don Delillo's books. I read White Noise in college and thought it was fabulous. So, I gave Underworld a try. I barely made it through that huge tome, and all I remember about it is that it was about baseball. I figured, though, that maybe that was a fluke of a book and I didn't take to it since I dislike baseball so much. That led me to giving The Body Artist a try.

I had the same issue with this book that I had with Franny and Zooey: Nothing happens. I know this is like the hallmark of all those esoteric modern novels that hipsters worship, but it just doesn't work for me. I found myself, even in just 124 pages, spacing out and wishing for it to be over. I know this sounds harsh, but there just wasn't much about this book that I liked.

The one saving grace of this novel is Delillo's writing. He certainly is one of the great craftsman of the English language currently alive. His sentences are varied and complex, and he has a knack for turning a phrase. But, really, that's about all I found to like about this book.

Review: Mr. Toppit by Charles Elton

Title: Mr. Toppit

Author: Charles Elton

Pages: 387 (I have an ARC, so page numbers in finished copies may differ)

Source: Publisher for review

Rating: 7/10

Summary (From back of book):

When Arthur Hayman, an unsuccessful screenwriter turned children's book author, is accidentally hit by a cement truck in London, his dying moments are spent with a passing American tourist, Laurie Clow, who is fated to bring posthumous fame to his obscure series, The Hayseed Chronicles, and the enigmatic and sinister Mr. Toppit who is at the center of the books. While Arthur doesn't live to reap the benefits of his books' success, his legacy falls to his widow, Martha, and their children -- the fragile Rachel, and Luke, reluctantly immortalized as the fictional Luke Hayseed, hero of his father's books. But others want their share of the Hayseed phenomenon, particularly Laurie, who has a mysterious agenda of her own that changes all their lives as Martha, Rachel, and Luke begin to crumble under the heavy burden of their inheritance.

My Two Cents:

I have very mixed feelings about this book. I thought Elton's writing had a great flow to it and made this book really easy to read. I also thought he created some really solid, vivid characters, especially Laurie and Rachel. Also, he created a really interesting concept with The Hayseed Chronicles. It was so intriguing that I actually found myself often wishing that the series really existed so I could read it.

My big hang-up with this book, though, is that it just didn't seem to feel very cohesive. Sure, all the scenes orbited around Luke and the fame of his father's books, along with the downfall of his family, but it just seemed as if there were episodes thrown in for shock factor alone. The section where Luke is visiting Laurie in Los Angeles is full of these non sequiturs, and the whole portion just kind of hangs together limply. I think maybe it's because we really don't get to know Luke outside of the fact that he really dislikes all the attention paid to him because he is the iconic main character of his father's books. I couldn't tell if things that he did and said while at Laurie's house really were in or out of character for him, so they all just kind of seemed to come out of nowhere.

Generally, though, I did enjoy this book. 

Review: The Hours by Michael Cunningham

Title: The Hours

Author: Michael Cunningham

Pages: 226

Source: Personal library

Rating: 9/10

Summary (From back of book):

Passionate, profound, and deeply moving, The Hours is the story of three women: Clarissa Vaughan, who one New York morning goes about planning a party in honor of a beloved friend; Laura Brown, who in a 1950s Los Angeles suburb slowly begins to feel the constraints of a perfect family and home; and Virginia Woolf, recuperating with her husband in a London suburb, and beginning to write Mrs. Dalloway. By the end of the novel, the stories have intertwined, and finally come together in an act of subtle and haunting grace, demonstrating Michael Cunningham's deep empathy for his characters as well as the extraordinary resonance of his prose.

My Two Cents:

I saw the movie based on this book during a college course several years ago, and immediately put the book on my "To-read" list. I adore Virginia Woolf, so this book appealed to me for a lot of reasons.

This is definitely a case in which I would recommend reading the book before seeing the movie (Although I always recommend that). The movie and the book are so similar, there were points where I caught myself skimming because I "knew what happened." Not exactly the way I want to read the book.

Cunningham's prose is just gorgeous. One word flows into the next and, before you know it, you've read 30 pages. I love when books completely sweep me away and make me lose track of time. It's easy to see why he won the Pulitzer Prize for this work.

He also does a fabulous job of accurately rendering three really complex female characters without stooping to stereotypes. And it's especially commendable when you consider he even included one major stereotype: A 1950s housewife unhappy with her place in life. I never felt as if I was reading flat characters. I wanted to get to know these women more deeply, especially Virginia Woolf.

Review: Next by James Hynes

Title: Next

Author: James Hynes

Pages: 308

Source: Twitter win from Little Brown

Rating: 9/10

Summary (From book flap):

Descending on a plane into Austin, Texas, Kevin Quinn is worried about his stifling job, the younger girlfriend he's lucky to have by can't commit to, his rapidly encroaching late middle age, and the terrorist attacks in Europe that rocked the world just days ago. But as the tarmac looms closer, he's really thinking about only one thing: the beautiful young woman in the seat next to him.


Though he should be focused on the job interview that's brought him to Texas in the first place, Kevin can't quite let his luminous seatmate go. He impulsively takes off after her through the city streets in a quixotic and nostalgic journey that evokes scenes from his past: his dodgy love life, recollected in hilariously mortifying detail; the tragicomedy of his youthful idealism; the dysfunctional family he has only ever wanted to escape.

It's a day both common in its anxieties and singular for the fresh possibilities the girl and the interview represent. Then, on the fifty-second floor of an Austin office tower, as he takes the first steps toward what he hopes might be a late-in-life second chance, Kevin is suddenly confronted with a shocking reality about himself, and the age we live in. Perhaps, in the nick of time, he will understand just what happens next.

My Two Cents:

This is one of those books that I went into with interest, but also trepidation. I was worried Kevin would turn into another Rabbit Angstrom, and I didn't know if I could take that. I think it's the fact that the protagonist is so far from my own experience (Male, middle-aged, etc.). But, I was pleasantly surprised.

Hynes' writing had me laughing from the get-go. Kevin's internal monologue as he's sitting on the plane, ruminating about nearly everything under the sun, including the "other Kevin" who perpetrated a terrorist attack in Europe, is solid. It's focused but still has that stream-of-consciousness feel to it, but it's easy enough to follow that you don't feel as if you're reading Joyce or Woolf.

Kevin is just pathetic enough to be a sympathetic character -- He can't find it in himself to settle down with one woman, he hates his current job, he dwells on his past -- but he isn't pathetic enough to be a completely boring character. He's actually really interesting to watch as he moves through an unusual city, wondering why he's doing what he's doing but still continuing on his journey anyway. I liked him more and more as the book progressed, and especially identified with his sense of humor.

While this isn't a big action-packed book, or really a book about a person changing drastically (Until the very end, during a crucial moment), it's still a really interesting read that I'd recommend to anyone who's a fan of modern fiction. I finished it in just a couple days' time because I kept wanting to know what happened.