A video about NaNoWriMo

Review of Before I Fall and The Postmistress

The Postmistress
by Sarah Blake
Adult Historical Fiction
Due February 2010

I wasn't so sure about this one when I read the flap copy. I'm not a huge fan of WWII fiction, but I loved GUERNSEY LITERARY so I decided to give it a shot. This is a novel about three women: Iris, a small-town postmaster on Cape Cod; Emma, the new wife of the town doctor; and Frankie, an American reporter who is reporting from London. All three women experience the war in different ways. I liked this book because it walked the line between light and thought-provoking. It was very well-written, and the characters were completely believable as women who were living in a different time and place. Watch for this in February.

Before I Fall
by Lauren Oliver
Young Adult Fiction
Due February 2010

This is Groundhog Day (or Replay) for teenaged girls. Sam Kingston lives the last day of her life, February 12th, and dies in a horrific car accident. She wakes up in her own bed--on February 12th again. Sam relives her last day 6 times, each new time trying to change the factors that are making her repeat the 12th of February. What starts out as a Mean Girls-esque trashy novel becomes unbelievably deep and compelling. Lauren Oliver's depiction of teenage relationships is dead-on (pun intended), and you will find this novel un-put-down-able.

Incarceron

by Catherine Fisher

Young Adult Science Fiction

Due February 2010

I love that lately there's been a trend toward steampunk, which is kind of a fusion between futuristic machine fiction and Victorian history. This book isn't technically steampunk, but it takes place in the future, in a world where a terrible war has led society to return to a medieval way of life. Anything non-Era is banned, and technology is hidden within the depths of nobles' households. Modern medicine is illegal, wildlife is full of steel and wire--and that's just aboveground.

Claudia's father is the warden of Incarceron, the self-sustaining prison where half the world's population was forced after the war. In Claudia's world it is believed to be a utopia, but inmates know the truth. It is a cruel, harsh place where survival depends on terrible acts and unusual skills. This is Finn's world.

When Claudia and Finn find a way to communicate with one another, it changes both of their lives. Neither one is who they thought they were. Together they could change the trajectory of the world--but only if they survive.

Fans of The Maze Runner will love this book. Claudia is everything that a medieval heroine should be, and Finn is an urban survivor. I can't wait for the next book, Sapphique, which I think has just been released in the United Kingdom.

Review by Sydney

The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet

by Erin Dionne

Young Adult Fiction

Due February 2010

Review by Sydney McGillis

The book I read is called 'The Total tragedy of a Girl named Hamlet' and the Author is Erin Dionne. This book is about a girl named Hamlet who just started 8th grade and all she wants to be is normal. Unfortunately for Hamlet she is anything but normal, having two parents who both live and act like they are in the 1600's and are huge Shakespeare fans, and a seven year old sister who is just about ready to go to college. When Hamlet's sister starts going to her school and her English class starts learning about Shakespeare, Hamlet just about loses it. The only thing that keeps Hamlet looking forward to school are the mysterious origami pigs that are accumulating in her locker. Will Hamlet survive middle school? You'll have to read to find out!

This book was really interesting and it was not the usual story about a teenager's life.

Note from Jake: I read this book as well, and I loved it! Hamlet's little sister Dezzie is a central character in the novel, and I've never met anyone like her. She's smart, spunky, and seven years old. Erin Dionne really brings the characters to life, as usual. : )

Yikes, I know it's been forever since my last post. I have another one written, but for some reason my computer isn't letting me upload photos so I haven't posted it yet. I'm sorry I've been so lame! While you're waiting, please enjoy this interview with Michael Gyulai, memoirist extraordinaire. (This is not the same interview as the one I posted last time. Check it out...or else!)

Jake-the-Girl Interview with Michael J. Gyulai: Part 2 from Michael Gyulai on Vimeo.

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. Things have been CRA-ZAY around here. I've been cooking a little less, and reading for pleasure a LOT less, but here's a food update:

A couple weeks ago I went to the farmer's market and got fresh corn to make Ina Garten's Sagaponack Corn Pudding. It sounded good and the corn season is almost over, so I thought I'd give it a try. I knew that there was a distinct possibility that Casey and I wouldn't like it, or that I would somehow screw it up and it wouldn't taste right. However. It is pretty much the best thing I've ever eaten. I ate it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a couple days and I've been craving it ever since. The best part is that Ina claims it can be made with frozen corn, so we can eat it year round. Compared to her other recipes it has a lot of ingredients, including basil, cornmeal, fresh corn, and 2 kinds of cheese, but putting it together is really simple and it seems like the recipe would be hard to screw up.

That night I also made the Parmesan Roasted Asparagus. It was good, but it was totally upstaged by the corn pudding.

This delicious-looking drink is Herbal Iced Tea. It's apple juice, Red Zinger tea, and Lemon Zinger tea. Sadly, it was not delicious-tasting. In fact, Casey and I both had a few sips and then I dumped it all down the drain. It was just too sweet, and the tea lent this kind of dusty flavor that didn't go well with the intense sweetness of the apple juice and the tanginess of the fruit. Very disappointing.

Last weekend we had some people over for brunch. In the foreground is the Challah French Toast--or, as our guests renamed it, Challah Back French Toast. It's made with challah, milk, and egg, plus the secret ingredients: honey, orange zest and vanilla. SO good. That little bit of orange makes a huge difference. This french toast is light and delicious and easy to make.

In the clear cup you can see the Fresh Fruit with Honey Vanilla Yogurt. Yum! You can't really go wrong with fresh berries and yogurt. The yogurt is mixed with a little honey and vanilla, and it adds just the right touch. I substituted organic nectarines for papayas, and I'm glad I did.

Last but not least, here we have Ina's Arugula with Parmesan and the Mashed Butternut Squash. Both excellent. In the first recipe, Ina has stuck with her tried and true method of adding lemon juice, olive oil, and parmesan to something green. Very simple and very good. The butternut squash was a little more involved: roasted squash, brown sugar, salt and pepper, and some butter and half and half. You can probably see that it was more of a puree than a mash, earning it the nickname "The Slop," but it tasted great. Just the right balance of sweet and salty, and not too hard to make.

Reviews!

Replay

by Ken Grimwood

Adult Science Fiction

Available now in paperback

People LOVE this book. My fiance's mom, Diana, is one of those people, and she lent REPLAY to me almost a year ago. Because I'm the worst future-daughter-in-law ever, I put the book on a bookshelf and forgot about it for eleven months, but this week I finally read it.

Jeff dies at the beginning of the novel, only to wake up 25 years earlier in his eighteen-year-old body. He relives his life with every memory intact and dies on the same day as before, replaying those 25 years again and again. Each time he makes new choices and a different impact, but it all disappears in October 1988 when he dies and returns to 1963.

I can see why people love this book. The author, Ken Grimwood, was obviously profoundly affected by the events of the 1960's and 70's. The timeline from 1963-1988 is almost a main character in the novel, with the kind of vibrancy and nuance that all the best literary characters have. Jeff keeps living this period of time, and each replay has a different flavor. I can imagine that, if I had been alive during those years, the setting would have been an incredibly nostalgic and compelling aspect of the novel. But unfortunately (and/or fortunately) I wasn't born until 1985, and I feel like I was missing something. I didn't know much about the 60's and 70's, so there was none of the suspense of knowing that a really huge event was about to happen.

Despite my historical ignorance, I enjoyed REPLAY. Jeff has a lot of interesting relationships with women, sometimes more than once with the same woman under a different set of circumstances. There's also an interesting set of physical and philosophical questions as Jeff attempts to try to figure out why this is happening to him.

I would definitely recommend this book to others--though probably not anyone younger than me.

Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions

by Ben Mezrich

Adult non-fiction

Available now in paperback

Lately I've been reading a ton of nonfiction, but this one takes the cake. I've been special ordering it for people for over a year, but a book about Vegas and blackjack didn't really appeal to me until I saw the movie. The story is so exciting and dramatic that I HAD TO KNOW which parts were true and which were artistic license. When I read the book, I wasn't disappointed--the story of these six MIT kids is at least as awesome as the movie implies, if not more so.

The MIT blackjack team led double lives for years: by day they were college students, businessmen, and nerdy Asian-Americans. By night (or, actually, on the weekends) they were Vegas high-rollers with all manner of disguises, alter egos, and impressive connections. They won tens of thousands of dollars every night. And they did it all with math.

You can't really believe this stuff until you've read it. Mezrich's writing is the perfect blend of narrative, interviews, and personal experience. I can't wait to read his new one, Accidental Billionaires, about the guys who invented Facebook.