Oldie But a Goodie Review: The Saturdays

Book: The Saturdays
Author(s):Elizabeth Enright
Length: 192 pages
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Publication Date: 1941 originally and 2002 republished
Why I Picked it Up: A coworker recommended it to me when I was whining about waiting for the next Penderwicks book.

I am a modern girl in many ways. I like my trashy reality television, am semi-addicted to my iPhone, spend more time on social media than is probably healthy for my actual social life, and love to read the newest ficiton popping up on the NYT best sellers list.

But there is another part of me, a part of me that I think most voracious readers have that loves to fall into older fiction. Where even the worst acts are portrayed in a softer, more polite way than is seen in our hard-edged, HD focus modern world. There's something about these kind of books that are deeply soothing and allows characters to be much more real and sympathetic to me than they may be in modern fiction, where they tend to remain just characters on the page for the most part.

Within the realm of older fiction, I have a particular soft spot for older children's literature. Some of the reading I do of these types of book is definitely nostalgic and by rereading Anne of Green Gables and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn every few years, I am recapturing a piece of myself that is 11 years old and spending long summers in the public library and on sunny beaches with a stack of books. These books also remind me that I can never be 11 again, and I'll never get to climb in Gilbert Blythe's row boat with Anne Shirley for the first time. So I seek out new children's fiction to give me both that softer old fashioned feel and the feeling of being 11 and discovering a new fictional friend all at once. The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright was one of those books that satisfied these two very particular desires.

The Goodreads description:

Meet the Melendys! Mona, the eldest, is thirteen. She has decided to become an actress and can recite poetry at the drop of a hat. Rush is twelve and a bit mischievous. Miranda is ten and a half. She loves dancing and painting pictures. Oliver is the youngest. At six, he is a calm and thoughful person. They all live with their father, who is a writer, and Cuffy, their beloved housekeeper, who takes on the many roles of nurse, cook, substitute mother, grandmother, and aunt. 

If you were only allowed to use one word to describe this book that word would absolutely have to be charming. The relationships between the children and their father and nanny-housekeeper, Cuffy are warm and simple in a way that relationships only ever are in older fiction, with the main focus being on how the children relate to each other. I will admit that as a child this type of book and the idealized sibling relationships within it made me bemoan my relationship with my siblings as deeply flawed and unrepairable, while in fact we fought no more than any other set of siblings. This very reason, however, is why we read books like this; for the idealized world they contain, as the author felt no need to portray the gritty side of reality.

Although a particular year is not mentioned (in fairness I could have missed it or am just not recalling it), the books seems to take place in the years leading up to WWII, with mentions of Hilter and Mussolini, as well as very poignant reference by one of the children who wonders what it would be like to live in a peaceful world. Other old-fashioned touches occur when the children mention how they spend their allowance on visits to Broadway shows, the Opera, the circus, and  to the beauty salon for a haircut and manicure, all for less than $1.50 per activity. The children also enjoy an extraordinary level of freedom almost unimaginable for a child today as they are allowed to wander in Central Park and rent a rowboat there, without adult supervision. 

In general I would say pick this book up. It's a fast read, but utterly charming and will definitely leave you smiling.

Review: The Selection

Book: The Selection
Author(s): Kiera Cass
Length: 327 pages
Publisher: HarperTeenPublication Date: April 24, 2012
Why I Picked It Up: To me the premise was really interesting and although I was really put off by the bad reviews I finally decided to pick it up.

I have never claimed to have good taste. I love a trashy bodice ripper, more of my reading selections are of the YA genre than I possibly care to admit, and sometimes when reading something of actual literary value, I get bored before the end and skim the last quarter of the book. So the idea that I may have enjoyed something a book that others hated is not outside the realm of possible or even probable  Enter The Selection of Kiera Cass. Prior to its release in April 2012 there was a huge amount of hype around this book, after The CW picked it up for a series. When people started actually reading it, however, it just didn't live up. As I said the bad reviews out me off for a while, but then my library got a copy and I decided "Why not?".

And then it happened- I actually enjoyed it. Was it my Favorite. Book. EVER! No. It wasn't even something I would go out of my way to recommend to others. And goodness knows I love to recommend. Either way I liked it, and will probably read the rest of the series. But there it is, I liked something that everyone else hated. And that's sort of a weird place to be. Here is the Goodreads description:

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself--and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined. 

To start here's what I liked:

1. The story- It's actually a pretty good premise. In early press this was described this was described as The Hunger Games meets The Bachelorette. I absolutely see The Bachelorette connection, but not so much The Hunger Games, as these girls are not fighting for their life. Either way, it's an interesting idea of being thrown into a situation in which you have to choose your spouse from a set group. And of course I could just watch trashy reality TV (and I do), but on those shows there is very belief that contestants are actually trying to build a lasting relationship. 
2. The relationships between America and the other girls- Throw 35 teenage girls in a room and you expect fighting, back stabbing, and other activities that result in overwrought tears and hysterics. And you get all of that. And America is not above all of that, but she does at times combat that stereotype by being loyal to her friends, steadfast in her beliefs, and generally more mature than expected.

And here's what I didn't:

1. America. She's a whiny pain in the @ss. Sorry I had to say it.
2. The writing is just not my favorite. It's not that it's bad, it's completely competent, it's just not all that exciting.
3. The way the story is told. It's just such a good premise and the finished project is just not all that good.

 So give it the old 50 pages try. Maybe you won't like it, maybe you will. 

** So because I am oh so negligent about updating, this review is actually like 10 months old. The second book in the series The Elite has come out and I actually finished it last week. Unclear if I'll review or not.

Review: Ashen Winter

Book: Ashen Winter
Author(s): Mike Mullin
Length: 576 pages
Publisher: Tanglewood PressPublication Date: October 14, 2012
Why I Picked It Up: I really enjoyed the first book in this new series, Ashfall, and was lucky enough to receive a digital ARC of Ashen Winter.

I got into a discussion with a colleague recently about fads in YA fiction and more specifically about how publishers seem to be latching onto a premise and beating it to death. We saw this with vampires in the wake of the Twilight craze, which extended to other paranormal creatures and romantic relationships with humans. And while there were plenty of YA vampire and other paranormal novels and series that I really enjoyed, at a certain point I would just have to roll my eyes at some of these books because obviously a werewolf showed up.

Dystopian/apocalyptic YA fiction is starting  to feel a bit like that for me. Again, not that there aren't plenty of titles that I enjoy, I just am finding it harder to be surprised by the unraveling of the fabric of society. Which is why I was so pleasantly surprised by Mullin's first book Ashfall and this sequel Ashen Winter.  Although there were elements of the story I felt I had seen in this genre previously I never had that 'of course' feeling I previously mentioned. It's incredibly exciting with excellent pacing, with enough tension and surprises to keep the reader interested, but not so over the top that it feels ridiculous (though it does skirt the line at times).Here is the Goodreads description:



It’s been over six months since the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. Alex and Darla have been staying with Alex’s relatives, trying to cope with the new reality of the primitive world so vividly portrayed in Ashfall, the first book in this series. It’s also been six months of waiting for Alex’s parents to return from Iowa. Alex and Darla decide they can wait no longer and must retrace their journey into Iowa to find and bring back Alex’s parents to the tenuous safety of Illinois. But the landscape they cross is even more perilous than before, with life-and-death battles for food and power between the remaining communities. When the unthinkable happens, Alex must find new reserves of strength and determination to survive.
As I said I really enjoyed this book for several reasons. First of all the main character, Alex, is male, making this book appealing to both boys and girls, something eminently appealing to a librarian who at times struggles with recommending books for boys. In all honesty, male characters really tend to get the shaft in dystopian YA fiction, as they all seem to be a bit weak and completely dependent on the strong female main charaner for survival. What this is a function of, I couldn't really explain, but I did appreciate that I felt Alex was a powerful individual on his own, with or without his girlfriend Darla. At the same time Alex is shown as having a much softer side than is generally expected in a teenaged boy, making him much more 3 dimensional that male teenaged characters are generally portrayed.

What I appreciated most about Ashen Winter, was the addition of a couple new characters, not that I don't love Alex and Darla, but there were times when I was a little tired of reading how in love there were, how clever mechanically Darla was, and finally how they managed to figure out a way of yet another sticky situation, but more on that in a bit. The addition of Ben, an autistic teenager with an obsession for all things military was in particular very welcome in that it seemed like a plans and knowledge actually had a source rather than being just a lucky break for Alex and Darla. I also particularly like the portrayal of Ben as an autistic person, as his character and personality came out in bits and pieces, an enforced the reminder that although someone with autism may appear to not function as expected socially, there is a very real personality and point of view there, with definite value to the workings of society.

Another thing I would like to emphasis is that Ashen Winter does not seem to fall into the trap that second books in series so often do, in that at no point did I feel the entire purpose of the second book was to get between the first and third books. That's not to say that Ashen Winter could  completely stand on its own or that it isn't very obviously part of a series, but it is an excellent book in its own right and not just a piece of a series. I attribute this to the action and plot still being very much the forefront of the novel and not slipping into the pattern of letting the main character become to heavily introspective of the changing world and his or her place in that. That sort of introspection is not absent, not should it be, as it allows the character to grow and take a firmer place in the circumstance of the novel, but I didn't feel like I spent this whole book gazing at Alex's navel.

There were a few things I didn't like. First, the fact that so many different situations seemed to arise was a little distracting. Obviously I have not lived through a volcanic winter featuring cannibals, slavers, and corrupt government contractors, but towards the end I did really just want things to stop happening and just wrap it up, because really what could possibly happen now! Also, the relationship between Darla and Alex felt a little intense at points for people who have only know each other a few months. Yes, teenaged relationships are intense and I'm sure a life or death situation would exaggerate that, but for me it's not necessarily believable that a 16 year old who is not completely emotionally developed would be willing to put himself in so much danger. In addition, may I repeat these two are only 16 and 18 respectively, another point I feel is a bit far fetched of just how mature they often behaved as well as how much knowledge they seemed to possess about really random things.  Those few things were my only complaints and in comparison to how much I enjoyed the rest of the book, thy were really minor and honestly not even really distraction to the experience of reading Ashen Winter. 

My rating: Although I'm getting a bit tired of society falling apart in YA fiction this is still a great first series and definitely worth a look

Book: Jeneration X
Author(s): Jen Lancaster
Length: 368 pages
Publisher: NAL Hardcover
Publication Date: May 2012
Why I Picked It Up: I love me some Jen Lancaster.


I'm a longtime Jen Lancaster fan. I first read Bitter is the New Black and quickly tore through Bright Lights, Big Ass which is the only other book she had out at the time. I have really enjoyed all her subsequent books, and have also become a regular reader of her blog. Before she was a writer of memoirs and one piece of fiction, she was a blogger, an endeavor she started during an extended period of unemployment. I have to say there is not one book that I think I like more than any other, though if I had to I pick one I liked least I would have to say I enjoyed her one work of fiction, If You Were Here, less than any of her memoirs. This has absolutely nothing to do with the novel,  and everything to do with that I just like her so much!


Jen Lancaster has the most valuable of skills for the memoir writer in that she is completely honest and absolutely fearless in the possibility of looking silly. Also, apart from her writing, which is tight, full of humor, and very intelligent, I can absolutely picture myself turning into her in that I too have very little patience for stupidity and being uncomfortable, have a deep attachment to wine, and am, at times, a little creepy about my pets. Basically, I'm a total fan girl, specifically have avoided her Washington, DC signings as I would make a super fool of myself, and possibly want her to adopt me. Before this turns into (more of) a love letter to Jen Lancaster lets turn to her newest book.


Lancaster's latest memoir is a collection of stories/essays which highlight different lessons she sees as essential to adulthood, as well as a pay homage to her own generation, which she feels is the one that is 'working' in today's world, with boomers sinking their money into nonsensical business ventures and the younger generation laying in their parent's darkened basements, playing Words with Friends on their iPods, and waiting for an employer to walk through the door and beg them to work. As a member of the younger working generation who may or may not be having a non-sexual affair with her various iProducts I feel I should possibly take offense at this description, but truly I get it. I would love to discount myself from this group and point to my 13 years of official work life (I'll be 28 at the end of May) or my current 2 jobs, but really can't as I too have found myself whining about what  to anyone older than me is just paying dues in the working world. And therein is the charm of Lancaster as such blunt honesty presented in such a humorous way forces the reader to not only accept their own flaws, but also to laugh at themselves. I also really enjoyed this book as someone who has recently landed in the first position that I consider a Career rather than just a job and because of that have begun to think about 'growing up'. This book reminds me that I don't have to figure it out immediately (Lancaster recounts several 'backslides'), nor do I have completely give up my antics (Lancaster gets hammered in her college stomping grounds), trashy television (Lancaster enjoys much of the same terrible reality TV and sitcoms I do), or childish loves (Lancaster collects Mad Men Barbies). It's actually pretty comforting.


My rating: Definitely pick it up sooner rather than later!


*Image from Goodreads.

Review: Lucky Fools

Book: Lucky Fools
Author(s): Coert Voorhees
Length: 292 pages
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Publication Date: July 2012
Why I Picked It Up: I received an ARC copy via NetGalley.com and had been in no rush to read it until I noticed a blogger I really like had read it on Goodreads.com

There's not much to say about Lucky Fools by Coert Voorhees other than it was fine. The characters were not particularly likable, but never gave me any real reason to dislike them wither. The main point in the book- that of the struggle and the nerves a high school senior experiences while waiting for college acceptance was relatable only in that I have lived through this myself. The book is set in a very wealthy community, were children drive their own BMWs and have no concern as to how they'll pay for college, two things I absolutely cannot relate to in the slightest, still having never owned a new car and sitting on a moutain of debt from bother undergraduate and graduate school as I am at the age of 27. I think my inability to not relate to this part of the novel is much more the standard reaction. I do also feel the characters (and I'm dating myself in this description) were a little "Dawson's Creek", in that they just sounded a little too much like sitcom characters in their late 20s and not real teenagers for me.

Here is the Goodreads description:

David Ellison dreams of acting at Juilliard, but he's expected to attend nearby Stanford University, just like all of his classmates at hard-driving Oak Fields Prep. As if wasting his private school education weren't enough, David is also on track to destroy his relationship with his girlfriend, Ellen, when he finds himself falling for his new co-star, Vanessa.

With David's Juilliard audition approaching, and his relationship teetering on the brink of disaster, Oak Fields is thrown into chaos as a mysterious prankster begins attacking the school's highest achievers, determined to sabotage their college aspirations. Anyone who excels is a potential target, and David, the star of every play, could be next.

From the author of the highly praised The Brothers Torres comes a dangerously insightful book about enduring the pressures of high school, surviving the ins and outs of love, and fighting for your dreams, no matter what.

 Minor complaints aside, I'm certainly not sorry I read this book. It did make me remember with fondness the absurdity of high school love/lust, as well as the completely warped and positively the most fun you'll ever have environment that is high school theater. Additionally, for as much as the characters did not sound like teenagers they were very witty and I laughed several times throughout reading this book. Related to the characters sounding too old was the fact that although their phrasing and vocabulary was too sophisticated, their reactions, motivations, ideas, plans, and emotions were delightfully sophomoric and everything an adult could want in a novel set in high school


My rating: If you come across it, there are worse ways to spend a Saturday afternoon.


*Image from Goodreads.

Review: Same Sun Here

Book: Same Sun Here
Author(s): Silas House & Neela Vaswani
Length: 288 pages
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Publication Date: February 2012
Why I Picked It Up: Given to me by the Children's Librarian at the library where I work and I also knew one of the author's would be coming to speak at my library.

You know those books you read and just a few pages in you realize that you're immersing yourself in a story that is just something special. Same Sun Here by Silas House and Neela Vaswani was one of those books for me. Generally a very fast reader, it took me three days to finish this (for me) tiny little book.  I kept picking up other books, magazines, newspapers and even watched much more television than I normally do. I just didn't want me experience with Meena and River (the two main characters) to end.

Here is the Goodreads description:

Meena and River have a lot in common: fathers forced to work away from home to make ends meet, grandmothers who mean the world to them, and faithful dogs. But Meena is an Indian immigrant girl living in New York City’s Chinatown, while River is a Kentucky coal miner’s son. As Meena’s family studies for citizenship exams and River's town faces devastating mountaintop removal, this unlikely pair become pen pals, sharing thoughts and, as their camaraderie deepens, discovering common ground in their disparate experiences. With honesty and humor, Meena and River bridge the miles between them, creating a friendship that inspires bravery and defeats cultural misconceptions. Narrated in two voices, each voice distinctly articulated by a separate gifted author, this chronicle of two lives powerfully conveys the great value of being and having a friend and the joys of opening our lives to others who live beneath the same sun.

This is spot on and I truly couldn't do this books anymore justice than this did. The decision by the authors to each write a separate character was a great one, giving them both a distinctive voice and very clear world view. The related decision to write the book in a series of letters between two characters gave the reader an added dimension of intimacy and camaraderie with the characters that I think is especially important in a children's book. I have sometimes found that books written in letters can a times feel a bit stiff and self-conscious, but Mr. House and Ms. Vaswani completely avoided this and both characters felt real and very natural.

I was doubly lucky that after reading this book I was able to meet Ms. Vaswani in person as she addressed a group of children from a local elementary school and even take a very small part in her presentation and do an introduction to my library and its program prior to her speaking. I was completely star struck and clearly behaved like a huge nerd, but I'm happy to say that both she and her husband (who I also met and whose name I can't remember for the life of me due to all the book fangirl action described here) are incredibly nice and gracious in person and I actually had a hard time not calling her Meena and asking if she wanted to be best friends. Despite my obvious inability to behave like a normal person in social situations, as I said she was incredibly gracious and actually complimented and took a picture of a small display of books I had arranged.

My rating: READ IT ASAP!

*Image from Goodreads.