So, last week, I had a little health scare and went to the ER. This was a big deal for me, because I have no health insurance, and I'm still don't want to think about how to pay for it.
Anyway, I have a kidney stone. Lucky me, it's 7mm, and according to the doctor, too big to pass naturally. Yay?
I've also decided that I read way too many books to review each and every one here. So, I might include what else I've read in a review, but I'm only going to actually write reviews where I want to say something about that book, unless it's one where I'm supposed to write a review, such as for bloggingforbooks or one of the other free books in exchange for review sites.
Also, I'm on G+, if you want to find me.
Showing posts with label bloggingforbooks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bloggingforbooks. Show all posts
Friday, July 22, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Don't Waste Your Money! The Dumpster: One Woman's Search for Love
I scanned through other reviews of this book before applying to review it. I just knew I'd like it. Yet, I'm so underwhelmed by this book, I'm not sure where to start. I'll do my best to provide a coherent review.
The book starts out with Nicole preparing for a Valentine's Day party where her latest boyfriend (sex-buddy) will finally (after two whole weeks) meet her friends.
The writing and characterization both seemed more suited to a teen or tween storyline, and even then, I would have been disappointed. I pushed on, continuing the story, even when I would have preferred to just dump this book in the story's literal dumpster. Nicole actually meets her One True Love early in the book, and his status is telegraphed so strongly, the author could have just said, "And they lived happily ever after. The end." The chapters are short and sentences are shorter. The ideas behind the writing are good, but the writing itself is choppy and the story is poorly-paced.
Nicole's lack of self-esteem, her chunky physical body and her search for Mr Right all combine to create what should have been a great story. It's an uncommon and pretty close look at what characters are really thinking and feeling.
Unfortunately, Nicole's emotional age is far less than her chronological age (early 20's), and her friends are right there with her. One friend, during a little slightly drunken raid on the no-show guest of honor's car, sat on the pavement and peed herself. More than one of Nicole's friends walk to the bathroom with her hand over her crotch in public restaurants and other places, because she "has to go." Grown women. Uh-huh. Nicole has indiscriminate sex with a merry-go-round of "boyfriends" and has shallow and unfulfilling relationships with her female friends. Yes, this could have been the story of my life.
I was reaching the close of the story, and wondered when, exactly, Nicole would begin showing growth and change. One of her friends was married to a nice man, and the other had a fiance, and yet Nicole was still stuck in her destructive personal habits. Nicole had started sleeping with Rick (in chapter 12 of 28), her parents had decided to reboot their relationship (this particular storyline was the most impressive, character-wise), and she had started walking for exercise. I reached the last chapter.
In less than three pages, twelve paragraphs, Nicole suddenly and magically resolved her self-esteem issues, lost a significant amount of weight, understood the symbolism of the "garden" Rick created for her where the dumpster used to be, and determined that Rick was the guy for her. The final words of the book are "She knew Rick was the one."
I cannot recommend reading this book, whether you are looking for a light summer read, or looking for insight into the behavior of a sex addict. It's just not worth your time.
I received a PDF copy of this book from the author's representative, for the purposes of reviewing this book. I'm truly sorry I couldn't give a more positive review. The ideas behind the book really deserve a great book to convey them.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Book Review: The Shape of Mercy
Search Amazon.com for shape of mercy by susan meissner
I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.
It took me a while to get to this book, because I found a box of more interesting books while I was waiting for this one to come in the mail.
Lauren, a college co-ed with a trust fund (or two), decides to support herself through college, starting this semester. She finds a handwritten job notice about a transcription job, and after following up with the employer, Abigail, becomes intrigued.
Abigail wants a journal transcribed, and is very particular about how the work is done.
Lauren reads, transcribes and imagines, all while getting to know Abigail, one tiny droplet of information at a time.
The journal in The Shape of Mercy belonged to Mercy Hayworth, a young woman accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials. The journal is written as a first-person account of Mercy's life, in a small town quite near Salem, as the accusations of witchcraft began and gained momentum. Though this account is fictional, it reads as if Mercy Hayworth actually lived, and left me wanting to delve into some history or read more first-person accounts.
I enjoyed the book, and can recommend it to anyone who enjoys a little bit of history, very tame romance, or journals/diaries from historical figures. And though the backbone of the book is the journal and its entries, there was sufficient current storyline to keep me interested in the main characters who were living, as well.
I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.
It took me a while to get to this book, because I found a box of more interesting books while I was waiting for this one to come in the mail.
Lauren, a college co-ed with a trust fund (or two), decides to support herself through college, starting this semester. She finds a handwritten job notice about a transcription job, and after following up with the employer, Abigail, becomes intrigued.
Abigail wants a journal transcribed, and is very particular about how the work is done.
Lauren reads, transcribes and imagines, all while getting to know Abigail, one tiny droplet of information at a time.
The journal in The Shape of Mercy belonged to Mercy Hayworth, a young woman accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials. The journal is written as a first-person account of Mercy's life, in a small town quite near Salem, as the accusations of witchcraft began and gained momentum. Though this account is fictional, it reads as if Mercy Hayworth actually lived, and left me wanting to delve into some history or read more first-person accounts.
I enjoyed the book, and can recommend it to anyone who enjoys a little bit of history, very tame romance, or journals/diaries from historical figures. And though the backbone of the book is the journal and its entries, there was sufficient current storyline to keep me interested in the main characters who were living, as well.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Book Review: The Miracle of Mercy Land
The Miracle of Mercy Land by River Jordan.
The author's name makes me giggle, just so you know.
Like the author, River Jordan, Mercy Land is a person, not a place.
Miracle sounded interesting when I chose it at booksforblogging.org, but once I got it, I had second thoughts. I spent the first few chapters of this book wondering if I would be able to finish it. The writing style is very talky, and not one I generally like in my reading material. For most of the first half of the book, the story is told from the perspective of Mercy Land, a young woman from Alabama. Alternating throughout the book are journal entries by her boss at the paper, Doc Philiips, with one or two as John (another character) thinking. These alternating points of view are easily identifiable and are in no way confusing. A couple of them are used as venues for exposition, and I guess by now, you know I fail completely to be a fan of tell-not-show. I did finish the book, though, and while I wasn't wowed by it like some others seem to be, I did enjoy the read.
Mercy Land is born on a riverbank (literally), during a freak thunderstorm in not-even small-town Alabama. Though she relates some of her childhood, the story actually takes place during her adult life, after she has moved to Bay City, Alabama, which is big enough for a Woolworth's and a couple of restaurants, but definitely not Mobile or Atlanta, Georgia. The sequence of events she relates occurs during her tenure at the Banner, the local newspaper, in the mid to late 1930s.
While I don't generally enjoy talky books, Mercy is a unique enough individual that I got a kick out of her. She was born to parents on the upper side of the riverbank, as opposed to the lower classes who lived on the other side of the Bittersweet River. She talks to herself some in the book, and sometimes lapses into her country-speak while giving herself pep talks, and this is sort of entertaining. Mercy is also unique in that her childhood, while not one of plenty, is a happy one. She is a grown woman, and a smart one, not necessarily naive, and without an ugly bone in her body. I'm talking about pretty-is-as-pretty-does, not physical beauty.
The heart of the story is that a few years into her work with Doc at the Banner, Doc magically (again, literally) comes into possession of a miraculous book of light that contains people's lives - the choices they made, the paths they did take and the ones they might have taken. Doc entrusts Mercy with the safekeeping of the key to this book, and as a team they protect it from others who might use the information in the book for harm. In reaction to the book, Doc pretends to plan for retirement and invites a strange man to town allegedly to take over the paper. Mercy picks this man up at the train, and knows almost right away that he's not here for the newspaper, though she continues to be confused as to why he IS there.
The remainder of the book is the story of connections: to past, to present, to Bay City, to Bittersweet, and how those connections create and destroy trust between the characters, most notably between Mercy and her "family" of people.
In the end, I'm still not sure why the book came to Doc Phillips, what purpose it served other than to be the center of the story. I enjoyed Miracle enough to finish reading it, and I will probably not be searching out another by River Jordan anytime soon.
You can read the first chapter free by clicking on the image of the book and clicking on "read first chapter free" to the right of the page.
FTC Disclaimer: Thanks to WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, who shipped this book to me at no charge for the purpose of reviewing it for my blog and for their website.
The author's name makes me giggle, just so you know.
Like the author, River Jordan, Mercy Land is a person, not a place.
Miracle sounded interesting when I chose it at booksforblogging.org, but once I got it, I had second thoughts. I spent the first few chapters of this book wondering if I would be able to finish it. The writing style is very talky, and not one I generally like in my reading material. For most of the first half of the book, the story is told from the perspective of Mercy Land, a young woman from Alabama. Alternating throughout the book are journal entries by her boss at the paper, Doc Philiips, with one or two as John (another character) thinking. These alternating points of view are easily identifiable and are in no way confusing. A couple of them are used as venues for exposition, and I guess by now, you know I fail completely to be a fan of tell-not-show. I did finish the book, though, and while I wasn't wowed by it like some others seem to be, I did enjoy the read.
Mercy Land is born on a riverbank (literally), during a freak thunderstorm in not-even small-town Alabama. Though she relates some of her childhood, the story actually takes place during her adult life, after she has moved to Bay City, Alabama, which is big enough for a Woolworth's and a couple of restaurants, but definitely not Mobile or Atlanta, Georgia. The sequence of events she relates occurs during her tenure at the Banner, the local newspaper, in the mid to late 1930s.
While I don't generally enjoy talky books, Mercy is a unique enough individual that I got a kick out of her. She was born to parents on the upper side of the riverbank, as opposed to the lower classes who lived on the other side of the Bittersweet River. She talks to herself some in the book, and sometimes lapses into her country-speak while giving herself pep talks, and this is sort of entertaining. Mercy is also unique in that her childhood, while not one of plenty, is a happy one. She is a grown woman, and a smart one, not necessarily naive, and without an ugly bone in her body. I'm talking about pretty-is-as-pretty-does, not physical beauty.
The heart of the story is that a few years into her work with Doc at the Banner, Doc magically (again, literally) comes into possession of a miraculous book of light that contains people's lives - the choices they made, the paths they did take and the ones they might have taken. Doc entrusts Mercy with the safekeeping of the key to this book, and as a team they protect it from others who might use the information in the book for harm. In reaction to the book, Doc pretends to plan for retirement and invites a strange man to town allegedly to take over the paper. Mercy picks this man up at the train, and knows almost right away that he's not here for the newspaper, though she continues to be confused as to why he IS there.
The remainder of the book is the story of connections: to past, to present, to Bay City, to Bittersweet, and how those connections create and destroy trust between the characters, most notably between Mercy and her "family" of people.
In the end, I'm still not sure why the book came to Doc Phillips, what purpose it served other than to be the center of the story. I enjoyed Miracle enough to finish reading it, and I will probably not be searching out another by River Jordan anytime soon.
You can read the first chapter free by clicking on the image of the book and clicking on "read first chapter free" to the right of the page.
FTC Disclaimer: Thanks to WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, who shipped this book to me at no charge for the purpose of reviewing it for my blog and for their website.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)