Beastly is an updated and contemporary twist on the well-known fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast. Instead of a prince and a castle, we have Kyle Kingsbury and his brownstone in Brooklyn. Kyle is a very good looking high school freshman, and of course he is spoiled rotten and is the biggest JERK alive. Thus, a witch turns him into the true beast that he is. And we all know that the spell can only be broken with true love’s first kiss! But who could learn to love a beast?

One of the things I liked about this book was the internet chat session with Mr. Anderson. There are other fairy tale creatures within the chat room that beast feels he can relate to. Like a mermaid and a prince-turned frog.

If you like the story of Beauty and the Beast, or even if you don’t, this is a very interesting rendition. I would suggest that you give it a chance. It is important to remember that beauty is only skin deep and the real beauty is what lies on the inside, sometimes I know I need to be reminded of that.

Add Beastly to your book pool

I just finished “The Thirteenth Tale” by Diane Setterfield and it is a worthy read. Imagine a plain brown sparrow dueling a gaudily plumed parrot: That’s what happens when Margaret Lea, biographer and daughter of a London bookseller, accepts a commission — or is it a challenge? — from Vida Winter, ”England’s best-loved writer,” to write her life story. But the flamboyant Winter has been embellishing her past for so long that it’s not entirely clear what’s true and what’s not.

As she stays at Angelfield, the author’s ghost-riddled Yorkshire estate, Lea carefully combs through the many strands of Winter’s history, trying to figure out exactly where the truth lies. Is Vida Winter — who long ago legally changed her name — really one of the infamously wild March twins whose upper-class parents teetered on the brink of ruin by the time the girls were born? And how much is Lea’s own infatuation with the project due to the fact that she too is a twin, a surviving conjoined twin whose sister died at their separation? (”My scar. My half-moon. Pale silver-pink, a nacreous translucence. The line that divides.”)

Diane Setterfield’s spooky, gloom-infused work lovingly invokes both Jane Eyre and Rebecca (indeed, the name Winter is clearly meant as an homage to Daphne du Maurier), but the mystery is very much her own. Pitch-perfect as it is, though, The Thirteenth Tale loses momentum in the last hundred pages, dragging out what should have been a swift knife thrust of a conclusion.

http://www.bookswim.com/book/The_Thirteenth_Tale_A_Novel-119187353946244.html

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union: A Novel
Michael Chabon

In his wildest dreams, Dr. Joel Fleischman — the culturally dislocated Jewish doctor in the lox-out-of-water dramedy Northern Exposure — couldn’t have imagined the Alaskan wonders conjured by Michael Chabon in his marvelous reverie The Yiddish Policemen’s Union. But Isaac Bashevis Singer would feel right at home.
In Chabon’s virtuoso imagining — an ample meditation on the contradictions of Jewishness, disguised as an outlandish detective novel — Israel as we know it never got off the ground in 1948. Instead, the destination of choice for Jews who survived the fires of World War II was a stretch of Alaska set aside by Franklin Roosevelt as a temporary catchment for those dispossessed millions, with Sitka as its teeming, slushy center. The Frozen Chosen, Chabon calls the parade of saints — criminals, cops, dreamers, losers, and schemers who people his raucous pages. And in the society they create, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay charts nothing less than a psychic world map of his own peeps. The alternate universe he plays in is jokier and cartoon-broader than usual, but Chabon the serious artist means business.
At its heart is a hard-boiled mystery. A guy — evidently a chess pro, a heroin addict, and a former ”black hat,” or ultra-Orthodox Hasid — turns up dead in a fleabag hotel, and Det. Meyer Landsman is left to figure out who, how, and why. Landsman’s got a drinking problem, an ex-wife who’s now his boss, and a cop partner who’s half Jewish, half Tlingit. He’s also got to race a ticking clock since the northern Promised Land was promised for only 60 years. After that, a Reversion will go into effect, stymieing police procedure and forcing the Frozen Chosen to roam the chessboard of statelessness once again. ”These are strange times to be a Jew,” one tribal philosopher observes.
With each unruly fool Chabon introduces, further intriguing strangeness is revealed. Also exposed: charlatan rabbis, radical plans to restore the holy temple in Jerusalem, American Jewish funding of terrorist Hasidic activities, and a thwarted messianic candidate. No sect is spared, no viewpoint is sacred — and no remedial tutoring is offered to any reader who doesn’t know his Yiddish.
In Chabon’s pulpy world, gray bureaucrats sparkle as ”men with the variegated surnames of doomed crewmen in a submarine movie,” and one chess player’s ”mother is calling him on the ultrasonic frequency reserved by the government for Jewish mothers in the event of lunch.” By the end, the plot bulges like a fatty pastrami sandwich. But in such an unholy land, what’s not to love?

http://www.bookswim.com/book/The_Yiddish_Policemens_Union_A_Novel-119186000647639.html

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Fifteen-year-old Clary Fray thinks she is just a normal teenager. I mean, of course she is a normal teenage, she lives in Brooklyn with her artist mom, and spends most of her time with her best friend, Simon. One night when Clary and Simon are at a club, Pandemonium, she figures out that she can see people that nobody else can. Wham! Not so normal, I guess. The people that she can see are called Shadowhunters. They go around killing demons and such, you know the bad guys.

Not too soon after Clary makes her big discovery, her mom is kidnaped. Clary is entering this new world pretty much blind, except for the Shadowhunters which happen to be three teenagers. Jace, Isabelle and Alec must help Clary to find her mother. It seems that her mother is the only one who knows the whereabouts of the Mortal Cup, which can turn other people into Shadowhunters. But the man that kidnaped Clary’s mother plans to use to cup for evil purposes, of course. So Clary must help figure out where the cup is to rescue her mom, fight to keep her friendship with Simon and figure out the complicated feelings she has toward Jace.

Whew! This book was fast-paced and fantastic. I couldn’t stop myself from turning the pages to see what would happen next. There is a whole world not only of Shadowhunters but werewolves, vampires. demons, and faeries too! Although, not as to ruin the surprises in the book, I did have a couple things figured out way before they were revealed in the story. Overall, I would recommend this book and of course, I am eagerly awaiting the release of the sequel, City of Ashes!!

If you are interested in renting this book from bookswim, please add it to your pool

The plot of this book, a romance between a regular girl and a vampire, holds some definite possibilities. But while this series is wildly popular and said to be highly suspenseful, I was disappointed. Bella, the main character, doesn’t even start thinking ‘vampire’ until a quarter of the way through the book. After the idea is suggested to her, she’s more intrigued than fearful. It would have been more interesting if she’d felt some fear mixed with her love for Edward the vampire. Instead, she just goes along with whatever Edward says or does.

Once Bella and Edward get together, their romance progresses quickly, which is a nice change from the slow beginning. Their romance is intriguing, taking into account all the drawbacks in a human/vampire relationship. Stephanie Meyer’s powerful descriptions help bring the romance to life for the reader. While the romance is interesting, there still isn’t much action.

The action finally picks up after Bella meets Edward’s family and stays steady until the end of the book. Even now, Bella spends a lot of time waiting around. It feels for a while as if the action is taking place somewhere else and we’re hearing about it second hand.

I enjoyed reading this book, but it wasn’t one I couldn’t put down. If you’re looking for an interesting romance, this book has it. If you’re looking for action, look somewhere else.

As a young victim- no wait, SURVIVOR- of cancer, not only is it incredibly difficult to find something to inspire you, but it’s incredibly difficult to find something that just…speaks to you. Yes, we of a younger generation may have our ‘own’ language as my Nonna (Grandmother to those not of Italian descent) often reminds me, but we also have our own issues. Not to say that there aren’t a lot of great resources out there for survivors, but I have yet to stumble upon one that really speaks to the younger generation like ‘Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips‘ by Kris Carr does.

Kris Carr evokes a spirit of kick butt attitude, that even at your lowest moments, you can’t help but feel invigorated by. She inspires you, and sparks this desire that not only will you survive, but you will survive strong, beautiful and amazing because that’s exactly what you are. So, to some it may seem a bit contrived maybe, but not to those going through it. She knows how to light a spark under your butt without setting it on fire. Her posse of girlfriends, all cancer survivors, offer you words of encouragement while relating with stories of their highest moments, and their lowest moments and, one of my favorite parts, their ‘cancer card’ situations (the ‘cancer card’ is sometimes used much like a ‘get out of jail free’ card, and the hilarious tales of when it was used whether to be denied or accepted, definitely will make any ‘cancer cowgirl’ as Carr calls her fellow survivors, laugh until they are nothing but a pile of giggles).

This book isn’t all just fluff and games though, there is hard hitting facts, nutritional information, resources, and pretty much everything a young survivor needs to face the cancer world armed, prepared and ready for battle, complete with a powerful group of supportive females rallying behind you.

Kris Carr has created a network of survivors and this book is just the first step. Through her blog, tours, second book in the works (and set to release this Spring/Summer) and her documentary, she’s becoming the outlet for us all to relate to. No one’s pain is greater than the others, and no ones story is any less important. We’re all in this together and with the right tools (this book!) and the right mind set (again, can be found in this book!) we can all do pretty much anything.

Rent it now!

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield:

This genre of book, not my normal literary fare by any means, surprised me completely. I chose it for my Bookswim “pool” because I decided to taste a different type of literary “meal” from my usual menu of thrillers, who-dunits and murders extraordinaire…nothing could have surprised me more than to find myself thoroughly engrossed in this author’s almost “Dickensonian” tale.

At times I felt like shaking the main character, Margaret Lea, to get her attention as the suspense of this author’s gothic suspense debut snarled me in the story. This is by no means a fault of the author, but instead kudos to her ability to make me, usually a skeptic and critic of most gothic suspense styled novels until now, become entrapped in the story of Margaret, Angelfield and the mysterious Vida Winter.

Ms. Setterfield’s style of text and personification are both charming and simple to consume…but in a way that has you wanting more and more as you continue through the book. When she describes the ruins of Angelfield and the sense of foreboding often found in the gothic genre, it came across as accurate and actual…not contrived or counterfeit. Again, I applaud you Ms. Setterfield! Her characters are flesh and bone…spirit and dust…light and mirrors…all rolled into one but given a life, in words, that pulls you into them to feel them as they “live.”

The most amazing aspect – and I say this with a bit of chagrin, mind you – is that the plot twist (oh yes, there is definitely one!) caught me fully unprepared! I’ve always considered myself adept at figuring out, long before I get to a book’s end, who did the murder, who is the culprit or what twist transpired to make the book worth reading – The Thirteenth Tale ended with my being humbled at not figuring it out before I read it. Again, I applaud you Ms. Setterfield!

So, as I leave the table of The Thirteenth Tale, I’m fully satisfied, replete and ready for another course of this author’s work!

Reading Scott Smith is like having a rope tied firmly round your middle, as you’re pulled on protesting tiptoes toward a door marked DOOM. The horror is in plain sight; there is no doubt things will end badly — the signs are everywhere. In Smith’s 1993 clockwork-perfect debut, A Simple Plan, hundreds of crows guard the crash site of a loot-filled plane. In The Ruins, Smith’s first novel since, six partying vacationers leave their Cancun hotel to explore an archaeological dig in the jungle. It’s meant to be a lark, but the day trip is immediately ruffled by small, unsettling events: The group ends up sharing a truck ride with a vicious little dog; the pathway to the site is illogically camouflaged; the Mayans whose village rests near the site pointedly ignore them, as if willing away a car crash.

Smith is a master of the ”if only” scenario, that most foolish and pungent form of regret: Here, a series of triggers, innocent or avoidable, ultimately traps the hapless twentysomethings on the ruins’ sun-blasted hillside, an ominously beautiful place covered entirely by vines pocked with blood-red flowers. It becomes apparent that they are meant to die up there; a malevolent organism is stalking them, a being sentient enough to plot.

But this is no Crichton-esque thriller — readers who demand careful scientific, biological explanations in their storytelling will, in fact, be infuriated. Smith’s forte is the psychological realm. Strong and passive personalities play their roles with frightening predictability: Eagle Scout Jeff throws himself into survival mode while childish Stacy daydreams and Amy, Jeff’s pessimistic girlfriend, pouts. Neither of these female characters is nearly as compelling as Simple Plan’s murderously pragmatic Sarah, but then Smith’s interest here lies in group dynamics. The vacationers aren’t just physically trapped on a cursed hillside, they’re mentally trapped in the roles they’ve played all their lives, and the resulting actions and reactions (particularly the yo-yo between assertive Jeff and heel-dragging Amy) are as dangerous as the flesh-craving being that surrounds them.

At its heart, The Ruins is an old-fashioned horror story (Ben Stiller’s company has snapped up the movie rights), and it’s the invasive, intuitive killer that provides the ice-water dread. Indeed, when one character becomes convinced the thing has gotten inside of him, the book’s most nauseating, unsettling scenes are unleashed. It’s Thomas Harris meets Poe in a decidedly timely story: Smith has tapped into our anxieties about global warming, lethal weather, supergerms — our collective fear that nature is finally battling back — and given us a decidedly organic nightmare.

I loved it–can’t wait for the movie.

http://www.bookswim.com/book/The_Ruins-119188016145384.html

I’ve wondered for a long time if I have what it takes to kill a man. Part of me has always believed that it is innate in our nature to kill for our own survival, but I’ve always been fascinated by stories of Quakers who were so anti-violence that they would let themselves be murdered rather than strike back. This does not seem natural; in fact it seems downright ludicrous. A Long Way Gone tells Ishmael Beah’s own story of his life in a war torn country, and he seems to answer this question for me. It would seem that depending on what horrors you have seen, what lies you have been told and what hope for escape you have, just about anyone can become apathetically ruthless. Except Quakers, of course.

This book hit home for me in many ways. It enforced my belief that the scariest thing in the world is a teenage boy with a gun in his hands and a belief that he is entitled to something. What that something is differs among countries and cultures, but that sense of entitlement allows them to justify the means for the ends. As this terrifying mentality seems to be popping up in more and more countries through out the world, including our own, I think this book is crucial to read. It illustrates the struggle to maintain one’s humanity in the worst of circumstances and how easy it is to let it slip away. However, it also demonstrates that one man can make a difference and that aid organizations can help to solve the problem one child at a time. We risk our humanity if we do not at least consider our own reaction in these situations and how we can work to ease the problem now. As a result, I think the book is a must read.

That said the book was not the easiest thing for me to read. I often felt that while the country was war torn that the story lagged. Of course, at points it had to in order to tell the more introspective side of things. The author seemed hesitant to delve into the acts which he had committed as a boy soldier. While this is understandable, I felt it made the book somewhat less effective without more of a first-person look at the psychology of how you bring yourself to committing those deeds. Do you steel yourself every time? Does it ever register that something might be wrong now that you are so comfortable taking lives? It reads as though the author felt that his body was on auto-pilot, committing acts that his brain would not allow him to think about, and that definitely shows in the writing. The entire section of the book where Beah is actively involved in the war feels as though it is told on auto-pilot, which was difficult for me to reconcile with what I imagine had occurred. I wished thoroughly through out the book that I felt like things were moving more. Things were always happening, and yet they did not seem real or like a development. I can see how some could make an argument for the book being written in this manner, but it was extremely difficult for me to continue listening to such atrocities in such a passive voice.

Additionally, there are characters who are with us for a large portion of the book, yet we are constantly being reminded of who they are: the oldest, the quiet one, etc. This began to grate on my nerves. Being introduced to them once or twice would have been fine since we meet several at once. Being reminded nearly every time they are brought up again becomes tedious.

Ultimately, I do think this book is a necessary read and sheds some light on issues that many of us have not previously considered. However, one should be very aware of what they’re renting when they take this book out. It is not action-packed; it is merely heart-breaking.

Rent A Long Way Gone on Bookswim

The title of Jane Hamilton’s novel, When Madeline Was Young, suggests a focus on the woman mentioned therein, the first Mrs. Maciver. The work, however, focuses on the Maciver family that only came to be after Madeline’s tragic accident. The narrator, Timothy “Mac” Maciver, introduces us to his parents Aaron and Julia Maciver who are brought together while Julia, a nurse, cares for Aaron’s first wife Madeline, after she suffers a traumatic brain injury in a bicycle accident. The Maciver parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and neighbors all play heavily in this novel set primarily in 1960s Illinois , narrated by an adult Mac who now is married and has children of his own.

Hamilton gives us plenty of details about Mac’s childhood, including summers spent in the family vacation compound, holiday dinners at Mac’s parents home, the African-American housekeeper named Russia who cares for three generations of Macivers, and the life on the street where the family lives. A number of issues are illuminated in the light of the 1960s family—from the racial tensions regarding Russia’s place in the Maciver clan to disagreements about the Vietnam War which create a schism in the family when Mac’s cousin Buddy enlists in the Army and Mac doesn’t. Hamilton not only paints a portrait of an atypical family, but puts that family in a context of a changing world.

My biggest criticism of the book is the treatment of Madeline both by the characters and the author. After the traumatic brain injury leaves Madeline at the cognitive level of a seven year old, Mac’s parents relegate her to child status for the rest of her life. Raised as a sibling to Buddy and his sister Louise, Madeline shares her dolls with the neighborhood children and sleeps in a pink canopy bed. Thankfully, Buddy’s aunt Figgy articulates what the reader is thinking when she speaks about the births of Mac and Louise, “(T)hen wasn’t Julia sorry she’d infantilized Madeline? Not that Madeline had ever had the capacity to be a brain surgeon, but they might have treated her like an adult instead of insisting she play the part of the child.” The question of why Aaron and Julia treat Madeline as they do is not resolved by the characters or the author. Is it pity? Do they feel indebted to her for bringing them together? Does Julia, as Figgy suggests, like the martyr role? There are a number of possibilities considered by Mac but there is no resolution. The question seems as though it should be a central one but Hamilton reduces it to a supporting issue rather than those at the fore of the novel—like racism and the war.

Hamilton creates interesting characters, introduces us to a unique family situation, and creates a specific time and place as a backdrop for the action. What she doesn’t do is tell us enough about Madeline. What did Madeline think about her child status? How did she feel about the second Mrs. Maciver taking her place? How much did she remember about her life before the accident? The book left me with so many questions about Madeline. I wish Hamilton had shed more light on what things were like “When Madeline Was Young” but I did enjoy reading about the Maciver clan and do recommend the book with the caveat that it is not about Madeline, as the title suggests.