In the Country: Stories by Mia Alvar

One of my favorite books is Borderlands/La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldua.  In the collection of short stories and poems, Anzaldua gives a view into the world that is the gray area between American and Mexican, white and Latina, male and female.  This is common for many cultures and races.  It is a world many women and girls, including many of students, inhabit.  Where does one culture end and another begin?  What is life like in the middle?  Can a girl be one or the other?  Both?  Does she have to choose?  Should she?  Can someone "white" be a part of the borderland of another culture or race? 
In less than two weeks my sister will marry a Filipino-American with strong ties to Miami.  Does this make him sorta Latino?  He fought for our country in the Air Force.  Does that make him more "white"?  What happens to my sister?  She and I are mutts, American as they come: English, Irish, Scottish, Canadian, French, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Penobscot, and a bunch of other stuff thrown in.  Does she automatically join the Filipino culture?  Or does marrying her make him more white?  Does her eating Filipino food and speaking Tagalog mean she "identifies" a different way now? (For the record, she can speak French and Spanish, too).  But I can speak Italian and eat carbs, unlike her.  So, am I more Italian than she is?  Let's not forget we have a middle sister.  She married a Mexican.  And he's a Catholic.  Now what? 
I think you can see where I'm going with this.  Race and culture and self-identification are really at the forefront of our news and lives right now.  My son is lucky to be exposed to and accepted into so many different peoples, and I am blessed that he accepts others who are "different" than he is without question.  For those in Alvar's stories however, the battles are never easy.  Alvar's stories are of the Filipino, which is perhaps why I picked it up in the first place.  Class, culture, race, and religion collide.  It makes planning a cross-cultural wedding a first world problem indeed.  I hope reading this will help me in understanding my new brother-in-law's family's culture and heritage.   
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P.S. Thank you to everyone who called, emailed, texted, or FB messaged after Sienna's sudden passing.  XOXO 

   

The Loss of a Pet

This morning our Golden crossed the Rainbow Bridge. I will not be blogging any reviews in the near future. Thank you for understanding.

Dark Eden by Patrick Carman

I am not a fan of the werewolf-vampire-fairy subgenre of YA Lit.  In fact, if I know there are werewolves, vampires, or fairies in the story, I likely won't even start it.  With a title like Dark Eden, you figure one of those is probably going to appear.  That being said, there was no mention of them on the back cover, just a hint about a supernatural ending.  It was actually the front cover that caught my eye.  If I didn't know any better, I'd swear the young couple were young versions of my husband and I: tanned girl with dark brown eyes and super long almost black hair; fair skinned blonde guy with icy blue eyes.  We were 20 and 18 when we met.  Seriously, it's kinda freaky.

Eden refers to an abandoned military fort, but of course the name is symbolic, as in Garden of.  Where things end and begin, right?  Will is a psychiatric mess, being home-schooled because of anxiety.  His doctor has just about given up on him.  She proposes sending him on a week long retreat in the company of six other "cases" (kids of the same age with other psych issues, namely irrational fears) to her mentor.  Dr. Stevens convinces Will's parents and before he knows it, a van drops him and the other six teens at the old fort, now a country hideaway for her reclusive mentor Dr. Rainsford and the handywoman Mrs. Goring.  I liked the play on the classic horror movie handyman in turning her into a ferocious plunger wielding bad cook with a foul mouth!

But Will isn't about to play along with the doctors' mind games.  On the road from where the van drops them to the door, he takes off into the woods.  Later he will make himself a basecamp in the fort's bunker.  Little does he know, he's walking right into a trap.

This novel was a quick read, just a morning in the sunshine, but it did make me jump a few times with some creepy plot twists.  There is, in fact, a supernatural "ending", but it really paves the way for the sequel  Eve of Destruction.    

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Loot by Jude Watson

It's really pretty cool to have your child recommend a book to you.  My son is a big fan of the 39 Clues, also written by Jude Watson.  He bought this at the Scholastic warehouse sale and told me I should read it first.  How could I say no?

I'm very glad I didn't say no!  I really liked this book, as both a reader and a teacher-librarian.  First, it's a young young adult book, geared for grades 4-7 but definitely readable for younger grades (my son is going into 3rd) and totally appropriate for older but reluctant or struggling readers.  Second, the main character is a boy, also a good thing for our male teen readers who want to see themselves in the literature.  Last, it's just a good story!

March McQuin is the son of a jewel thief.  One night a heist goes terribly wrong and March's father is killed.  He lives just long enough to give March veiled instructions for another quest.  Little does March know just how big the heist his father had planned is...

Along the way, March will find a long-lost twin sister, an aunt he never knew he had (and might not want to know), a network of friends of his father's in the criminal world, and two new (his first real) friends from the social services department.

Totally a good read!

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The Martian by Andy Weir

“…every human being has a basic instinct to help each other out.  It might not seem that way sometimes, but it’s true.

If a hiker gets lost in the mountains, people will coordinate a search.  If a train crashes, people will line up to give blood.  If an earthquake levels a city, people all over the world will send emergency supplies.  This is so fundamentally human that it’s found in every culture without exception.  Yes, there are assholes who just don’t care, but they’re massively outnumbered by the people who do.”   

--Mark Watney, The Martian (Andy Weir)

That quote is central to the theme of this novel.  It’s also a tagline on the upcoming movie poster and a voice over in the trailer that’s currently accompanying Jurassic World.  I saw said preview and nudged my husband that we would be going to see it come October.  That being said, I have a rule for my son and I: you have to read the book before you watch the movie!  And, so I did.

I am so glad I did!  This was a GREAT book.  I read it in one sitting while my son was at EcoCamp at the beach.  There is just enough science for the space geeks but not enough to make chem haters close the cover.  There’s math and real world (well, not really since we are on Mars…more on that in a sec) word problems.  There’s a whole lot of profanity and telling the government to go scratch.  It reads like a 100% true memoir, and if manned travel to Mars already existed, I’d really believe this to be an autobiographical account.  I laughed, I wanted to punch a character, and I cried.  That makes an awesome book right there.

As for the plot, the movie trailer does a pretty good summation and that was my hook into reading this.  Mark Watney is an American astronaut.  He’s part of a manned mission to Mars, the Ares 3.  A dust storm blows up in which Watney is injured and believed dead.  His crew takes off, not knowing he is very much alive.  He knows the next manned mission will not reach him for another 4 years, but he only has supplies for 1.  He deals with all sorts of renderings of Murphy’s Law the red planet tries to chuck at him (and there is some serious sarcastic wit; my kinda man!). 

When the Ares 3 crew members find out Watney is alive, they face a choice: leave him for NASA to deal with in a much safer manner (knowing they will not reach him until 15 days after he runs out of supplies) or make a daring, and ordered against by everyone up to the President, rescue mission that could kill them all. 

Definitely read this one!

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Reading is Reading...

Even when you don't want to be reading something, you're still reading it.

That's kinda where I've been over the past few days.  Reading what I don't wanna!

You see, a year and a half ago I bought a cheap used boat.  I never buy anything for myself.  I'll spend crazy money on my husband and son, but I'd rather buy my own clothes at Walmart to save.  It was totally an impulse thing, fueled by my insomnia.  I named it RANDOM, in honor of my mother, who passed away after a long fight with cancer in 2013.  If you knew her, you'd understand the moniker.

Anyway, RANDOM is my first boat.  I've worked on cars pretty much all my life, thanks to having an auto mechanic for a Dad.  He never treated me different because I'm girl.  I changed my first set of spark plugs at 5 years old, standing on a (stolen, yes) milk crate.  So, two weekends ago RANDOM had some trouble starting.  Then a LOT of trouble starting.  Then not starting at all.  So off it went back to the marina I bought it from.  $561 later.... Yeah, you read that right.  Five (expletive) hundred and sixty (bleeping) one dollars!  For a starter!  That I seriously could've changed myself (done it on a car, TWICE)!

And so...

Today's review is of the 1992-00 Mercruiser Stern Drives Repair Manual published by SELOC Marine.

No, I'm not actually going to do a review of the book (it's a repair manual, for Mercruiser stern drives made between 1992 and 2000; the title fits it well).  But, if anyone out there in the book review world is wondering why I haven't reviewed anything this weekend, well, here's the answer.

Should RANDOM decide to have any more issues, I'll be ready.    

Denton Little's Death Date by Lance Rubin

In the future, we are DNA tested for our death date.  It is mandatory.  Everyone knows the day they will die.

Imagine finding out your death happens when you are still in high school.

The night of the prom.

It's two days away.  What would you do?

Get slobbering, puking drunk?

Get slobbering, puking drunk and lose your virginity?

Get slobbering, puking drunk and lose your virginity to your best friend's sister?

Get slobbering, puking drunk and lose your virginity to your best friend's sister, then remember you have a girlfriend and have sex with her the next day to make up for it?

Get slobbering, puking drunk and lose your virginity to your best friend's sister, then remember you have a girlfriend and have sex with her the next day to make up for it, and then get wicked stoned and head off to the prom?

What if you did all that then realized you had a terrible rash?  A terrible rash that is now all over BOTH girls?  And both of those girls are in the same room, mourning you since you're about to die, while your stoned-off-his-rocker best friend laughs about it....

Orrrrrrrrrr.....would you try to find a way NOT to die???

I laughed so hard reading this I nearly peed myself.  People were actually looking at me funny.  STAY AWAY FROM THE KILLY THINGS!

Obviously, there is mention of sex, consumption of alcohol, and the smoking of illegal substances.

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Dewey by Vicki Myron

It took me nearly a day to compose myself enough to write this review...

I started reading this around 7:30 p.m. last night while the NASCAR race was in a rain delay.  I put on the US-Japan soccer game in the background and flipped back to the race every once in a while to see if it had started.  Pretty soon I had stopped flipping and completely tuned out the game too.  At 10:35, when I finished this book, I was crying.  I was so moved by this story!  I started writing the review this morning, but got choked up again and had to quit.  Then I watched the replay of the end of the race (I couldn't stay awake).  How Austin Dillon walked away from that car, I just don't know.  I think maybe another #3 driver mighta been riding alongside to make sure he got out OK.  And so, crying again (the night Dale Sr. died was my first real date with my now husband), I couldn't write.

Now, several hours later, I've got it together enough to talk about this amazing cat.  Yes, a cat.  Dewey is a cat.  I know those of you who frequent the WHHS LMC are saying, wait, isn't Dewey the collective name of the mice?  Yep.  Coincidence though.

Dewey Readmore Books was the resident cat of the Spencer Public Library in Iowa.  One cold night, someone stuffed a newborn kitten into the book drop.  The director adopted him, lobbied the City Council and Library Board to keep him, and brought a library, and a whole town, back to life.  His 19 years in Spencer healed a woman, a library, and a town. 

Like libraries?  Read this.  Like cats?  Read this.  Like happy stories that make you feel all gooey inside?  Read this. 

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At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen

I have an unnatural obsession with the Loch Ness Monster (and Bigfoot, the Mayans, and Oak Island, among others...).  One of my favorite quotes of all time: Is Loch Ness the window or the mirror to a man's soul?  Deep stuff right there.  

At the Water's Edge was a recommendation from Amazon (because of previous orders of books on the Loch Ness Monster or something else, I don't really know).

I have mixed feelings about this book.  Several historical facts were altered to fit the author's story, much like the movie The Water Horse.  The famous so-called surgeon's photo (which may have once adorned my living room...) was attributed to one of the main character's father.  This didn't sit well with me.  I think I know too much about the historical setting to be able to "suspend disbelief" in reading this piece of historical ficiton.

High society couple Maddie and Ellis get slobbering drunk at a New Year's Eve party.  Ellis and his best friend Hank are already looked down upon as they cannot enlist to fight in World War II (Ellis is colorblind while Hank is flat footed).  After the shenanigans, Ellis's parents, who disapprove of his wife, cut him off financially. Ellis and Hank hatch a plot to make themselves famous and rich by finishing what Ellis's father could not: capture bona fide proof of the existence of the Loch Ness Monster.  Taking themselves and Maddie across the sea to Scotland in the midst of a war is a rather poor idea indeed.

The two men disappear for weeks on the hunt (I won't spoil what they are really up to), leaving Maddie with the locals, who truly hate the rich and spoiled American.  Maddie begins to make friends with the women who work in the little inn and help out with daily chores.  When Ellis and Hank return, things have changed too much and there is too much distance between Ellis and Maddie to truly reconcile.  Maddie no longer fits into their plan.  Nor does she want to.

The story was very enlightening--a real waking up and realizing what life really means kind of story.  It is about personal growth and true friendship among women.  I think I would have liked the book much more if the setting was different or if facts had not been altered to fit the author's needs.

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