Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr

Sam Taylor isn’t sure she believes in God anymore. Her mom’s in rehab and her father doesn’t have time for her. She distances herself from her friends. She feels lost. And she needs to keep all of her feelings and worry inside because she’s the pastor’s daughter.

When a local girl goes missing, the entire town comes together. Sam’s father acts as the family’s spokesman, meaning he has even less time for Sam. He’s also getting scarily close to the pretty young youth group leader while his wife’s in rehab.

Zarr does a great job of understanding how teen girls think (or at least the less shallow ones.) Sam is realistic in her doubts. It’s completely believable that she would pull away from her friends, fellow church members, when her perfect family has become less than perfect. I love Zarr’s books and this is no exception.

Columbine by Dave Cullen

This is an extensively research play-by-play of the tragedy that was Columbine. Cullen tirelessly interviewed parents, teacher, police officers, FBI agents—anyone who could shed some light on what and how Columbine happened. So well written, I couldn’t put it down.

I was in college when the shooting at Columbine occurred, so I didn’t recall a lot of the details until I read this. The story is strung together with the timeline of April 20, 1999 interspersed with details of the killers’ lives. Amazing and disturbing.

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

Pearl and May Chin are Beautiful Girls. They model for advertising and portraits of these sisters appear all over Shanghai. The daughters of a wealthy rickshaw company owner, Shanghai is all theirs—their friends are wealthy foreigners and the Shanghai elite, they are fashionable and smart. They have it all. That is, until their father loses everything to a gambling debt and sells both sisters into marriage. At least they marry brothers, so they will always be together.

This is the gripping story of the sisters’ exodus from China, into their husbands’ family home in Los Angeles. Their story begins in 1937, just before the Japanese invade China. The escape reads like an adventure story and a family saga rolled into one beautifully written package. See did a great job of making you feel like you’re there, running for your life with them.

I read (listened) to this book for the China Challenge over at Biblio File. This book is great on audio! Janet Song is a wonderful narrator. The sisters were so alive to me that I found myself wanting to know more about their lives after the book ended. Great listen!

The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn

After losing her corporate job in London, Flinn decides to follow her dreams to Paris instead of returning to Seattle. Her dream: to graduate from Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. You know, the famous cooking school that Julia Child went to? Yeah, that one.

Flinn’s memoir of her time at Le Cordon Bleu is funny and charming. During her time at the school, she moves in with her friend-turned-boyfriend, gets engaged, and gets married. As if cooking school wasn’t stressful enough! Flinn doesn’t disguise the fact that Le Cordon Bleu is hard--especially for someone like Flinn—who has never worked in the food industry. She gets off to a rocky start, but eventually wins over even the toughest chefs and earns her diploma.

This book is great for anyone who likes food and food memoirs. I really like that she included recipes at the end of every chapter. The recipes are not typical French fare. Instead, she included recipes from her friends, family, and ones she made up sometimes incorporating French ingredients or themes.

The Hate List by Jennifer Brown

What happens when your boyfriend becomes a mass murderer? That’s what Valerie Leftman was left behind to deal with in The Hate List. Sure, she and Nick had made a “hate list”, but they didn’t really mean it. At least she didn’t.

This brilliant young adult novel deals frankly with the aftermath of a school shooting. Valerie stopped the shooting spree by jumping in front of the next potential victim. At this, her boyfriend turned the gun on himself. No one wants to believe that Valerie didn’t know about it. She’s wracked with guilt that she was somehow inadvertently responsible. But she’s also a hero.

This book explores the steps of grieving and the healing process in a compelling story that teens will totally get. Without it being preachy or sappy.

I loved this book! It seems weird to say that about a book that touches on something so tragic, but this is so well-written. Valerie is a completely believable and likeable character. Brown does an excellent job of telling Val’s side of the story.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrow

Before reading this, I didn’t realize that part of Great Britain was occupied by the Germans during World War II. Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands, was occupied, creating great hardships for everyone living there. No one could come in and no one could get out. The people of this small island were completely isolated.

After the war, writer Juliet Ashton receives several letters from inhabitants of Guernsey. In these letters there is mentioned the literary society that the people of Guernsey created to avoid conflict with the Germans.

With a charming cast of characters, this epistolary novel is great. I love books written in letter form in general, but I loved this one. I loved it almost as much as Fair and Tender Ladies by Lee Smith. And if you know me, that’s saying something. The only disappointment is that there won’t be another novel from Shaffer. This novel was published after her death by her niece Annie Barrow.

Stitches by David Small

This graphic memoir by children’s book illustrator David Small is the horrifying re-telling of his early childhood. The text is sparse but the author does a wonderful job of portraying his fear, anguish, and heartbreak through illustrations. I can’t imagine what it must be like to live with parents who see you as an annoyance or an after-thought. What is must have been like to wake up in a hospital bed after having a so-called simple surgery and not be able to speak. Small does an excellent job of giving the reader emotions on the page rather than words. Everyone should read this!

This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

Judd Foxman catches his wife in bed with his boss. Then his father dies of cancer. To say things aren’t going so well for him is an understatement. This is Where I Leave You follows Judd throughout the week he--and his completely dysfunctional family--sit Shiva for his non-religious father.

Tropper’s books are most known for the main character’s humor in the face of adversity, and this is no exception. His mother is a world-renowned child psychologist and parenting expert. Her books have sold millions of copies, paying for her fake boobs and mini-skirts. Judd’s older brother Paul runs the family sporting goods stores and can’t get over the dog attack that ended his baseball scholarship almost twenty years ago. Wendy’s husband ignores their kids and is surgically attached to his Blackberry. The youngest is Phillip. Refusing to grow up, Phillip is constantly getting in trouble with the law or losing his job. A week of uncomfortable togetherness ensues.

I liked this book but I didn’t like it as much as Tropper’s previous works. I would recommend The Book of Joe or How to Talk to a Widower over this one. It wasn’t as funny and it dragged in the middle. There are some notable moments of hilarity that make it worthwhile to Tropper fans, but it’s not for first-timers. It had memorable characters. And I didn’t dislike it so much that I didn’t finish, it’s just not as good as his old stuff.

The Principles of Uncertainty by Maira Kalman

This graphic novel documents a year in this celebrated illustrator’s life. Random thoughts on philosophers and people she sees on the street. The artwork is wonderful--colorful and imaginative. This is a must-read for anyone who loves graphic memoirs. I especially liked the chapter near the end with real photos the author took while walking behind people. She intersperses them with illustrations painted from the author’s perspective, as if she were walking behind a person or thing.

Darling Jim by Christian Moerk

When Niall finds the diary of a dead girl in the dead letter bin, he becomes immersed in the sordid tale of the Walsh sisters. The Walsh sisters don’t know what hits them when Jim Quick comes to County Cork. A handsome storyteller, Jim mesmerizes the women of Castletownbere. But when jilted Fiona uncovers the truth about Jim’s past, it turns deadly.

This book is really good on audio. The male reader telling Niall’s side of the story isn’t as good as the woman who reads Fiona’s and Roisin’s diaries, but it was still entertaining. I wish that the wolf legend storyline had been shorter because it would sometimes lose my attention. Overall, a good murder mystery that is fast-paced and unexpected.

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

Anna has always been best friends with Matt and Frankie--they live next door, their parents are best friends. But over the last few years, Anna’s feelings for Matt have morphed into something more. On her fifteenth birthday, Matt lets her know that he feels the same way. For the next few weeks, Anna and Matt enjoy many secret late night meetings in the backyard. Matt wants to tell Frankie, his baby sister, and makes Anna promise not to tell. The night before leaving for their yearly trip to California, Matt dies.

Fast forward to a year later: Frankie still doesn’t know about Anna and Matt’s relationship. Frankie has become a boy-obsessed glamour girl--someone that Anna doesn’t recognize. They are still best friends, connected in their tragedy, but without all that much in common. It’s Frankie’s idea for them to meet a boy a day for their entire California vacation and Anna goes along with it, since she hates disappointing Frankie. What Anna didn’t bargain for is that she would meet someone who would actually mean something to her.

I really liked this. While it had the summer vacation lightness that I love, it also has some weight. Much like Sarah Dessen, Ockler does a wonderful job of making chick lit more than just fun and fluffy. Anna and Frankie are dealing with some serious emotional issues. The story is well written and the characters are all well-rounded. A coming-of-age story that doesn’t feel as heavy as most. Great read! This is Ockler’s first novel and I’m looking forward to more work from her in the future.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

When the Man Jack murders his family, Nobody is raised by the Owens’ ghosts in the graveyard. Growing up he is taught all the things that a young boy should know: how to fade and dreamwalk, open Ghoul Gates. These tricks allow Bod to get out of all sorts of trouble. But will he escape the mysterious Man Jack for a second time?

I listened to the audio version of this book. I hear that there are lovely illustrations in the print version of this Newberry Award winner, but I don’t feel like I missed anything by listening to it. Neil Gaiman does a great job reading it. Bela Fleck wrote and performed the musical interludes. I have to say that, while I enjoyed it, I definitely didn’t like it as much as Coraline. The Graveyard Book was a little slow moving at times, while Coraline was action-packed from beginning to end. A good read for middle graders that like books with adventure and a touch of creepiness.

My Life in France by Julia Child

After listening to Julie & Julia on a car trip and not really liking it, I decided to go to the source: Julia herself. This memoir is a wonderful account of Julia’s move to France in the late 1940s with her husband Paul and head-long fall into love with her adopted country. A six foot tall American sticks out in Paris, but she doesn’t let it stop her from making friends with the market sellers and forcing her way into Le Cordon Bleu. We follow her life into the cookbook writing business with her friend Simca and the subsequent success with Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Mastering led to the television career that she is most known for. Her larger than life personality and her way of breaking down even the most complicated meal for the lay chef endeared her to many American home cooks. Julia’s personality really comes through in My Life in France. Her love of France and French food is obvious from the first page to the last.

Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella

Lara is a failure in love and career. At least she thinks so. After a particularly rough break-up and her business partner’s flaking off to India, Lara is at the end of her rope. When her Great Aunt Sadie dies at the age of 105, the last thing she feels like doing is seeing her family: her rich Uncle Bill is owner and founder of an internationally successful coffee chain and self-help guru and her cousin Diamante is at 17 an aspiring fashion designer with her own label. When Aunt Sadie’s 23-year-old ghost appears to Lara in the middle of the funeral everyone, including Lara, thinks she’s bonkers.

Sadie’s ghost acts like a guide for Lara’s life, showing her who she is and why she is special. While Sadie helps Lara figure her life out, Lara uncovers some secrets that Sadie had been keeping for a very long time. A little bit of a mystery unfolds, a little action happens, and everyone comes out winning in the end. I would expect nothing less from a Sophie Kinsella novel. The problem is that Twenties Girl really needed an editor. The first half dragged and some of the storyline could have been cut completely. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it. I couldn’t help but compare it to Remember Me?, Kinsella’s last novel. Yes, it was about amnesia, but I liked it just the same.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by C. Alan Bradley

11-year-old Flavia de Luce loves chemistry and spends a lot of time alone. She’s charming and curious but a bit rough around the edges. In 1950 at Buckshaw, the manor house she shares with her father and two sisters, Flavia witnesses the death of a mysterious man in the garden. Who killed him? How was he killed? These questions lead Flavia on a quest to solve the mystery and exonerate her father.

I don’t normally read mysteries, but Flavia’s voice drew me in. She’s sassy and funny and wickedly smart. I listened to this book on CD. Jayne Entwistle expertly captures Flavia and makes her come alive. I’m really looking forward to the next book in this five book series.

Heart of a Shepherd by Rosanne Parry

Ignatius, nicknamed Brother, is the youngest of five boys on a ranch in Eastern Oregon. While his brothers are away at school and the army, Brother's father gets orders to deploy to Iraq. Brother is left to run the ranch with just his elderly Grandparents.

A coming of age tale told in short chapters, some middle grade readers might find this interesting. My interest in ranching and farming made this appealing for me, but I can only imagine that most kids would find this a bit too introspective. Overall, it was heartwarming and thoughtful, I just wish it had more action to pull in the reluctant readers of this age group.

China Challenge

I've decided to participate in the China Challenge from Biblio File. It seems like a great introduction to China and it has several commitment options, in case you don't have a lot of time. I chose the Fast Train to Shanghai option: Read 5 books about China (1 has to be a translation and 1 must be nonfiction.) The challenge starts September 1st and runs until September 1, 2010.

The Beginning

I've been meaning to create a reading blog for some time, but just didn't. With all of the reading challenges out there, I think now is the time. I plan to review all of the books that I read here. Good or bad.