The Measure by Nikki Erlick

Hello!  I know it's been a super long time since I've done a review, but it has been bonkers here in these parts, as most of you know.  I've been hard pressed to find the time to actually get this review typed. And, well, we know the connectivity issues have been multiplying exponentially.  Unrelated, I've decided to stop video reviews due to low viewership numbers.  

This novel is the Teachers and Friends Book Club choice for our wreath-making party in early December, chosen by Mrs. Tirollo who is over at Mackrille.  I find it very intriguing that both of my recent choices, (Verity and Tigers Not Daughters), Amy wasn't a fan.  And now I disliked her book.  Strange since we're actually quite alike!  

Now, this was readable for sure, but I struggled with the premise.  I felt I had read the overarching plot point before in Denton Little's Death Date: everyone now knows when they're going to die.  Unlike Denton, this is super serious (a reminder of my review of Denton: I nearly peed myself laughing).  Instead of a notification of a date, everyone gets a string with their life expectancy time.  Longer lives to be older and shorter dies younger.   

This book examines panic and mass hysteria on a global scale, and prejudice against those who are different (should short-string people be allowed to serve in the military? Adopt children? Etc.). Familial relationships are tested, internalized victimhood is explored, and there is way too much "six degrees of separation"-esque neatly tying up of everyone's story in a bow at the end.  There were glaring plot holes that I was angry were not addressed, and I found most of the characters whiny.  

Would this be a great choice from a psychology or philosophy perspective? Yes. A good companion read to The Crucible? Definitely. Even a medical ethics course could find this useful for discussion (example, age to start testing for the BRCA gene).

While I didn't hate it, it's not something I'd recommend widely.

A reminder than any opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. Woychowski.   

   

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin

Hello there!  Welcome to the first review of the 22-23 school year!  

This was the Teacher's Book Club selection for August, but due to all the crazy of back to school, we didn't meet until last night. 

Lenni is 17 and Margot is 83.  They are both terminal (cancer and heart respectively) and meet in a hospital art therapy class.  They decide to paint their collective 100 years to tell their lives stories.  If you've followed this blog for a bit, you know we try to match the restaurant to the setting or theme or characters.  So, we decided to do a paint night.  A BIG shout out to Picasso Paints in West Haven for hosting us.  Darcy created a painting that resembled the book cover and led us through creating our own.  It was a lot of fun and definitely not something I would've done on my own.  

This was also not a book I would have chosen on my own, which is part of the beauty of a book club.  It is a really beautiful story of friendship and explores history through Margot's life experiences and the realm of the childhood cancer patient through Lenni's.  Lenni does pass away, but the reader does not know Margot's fate after her heart surgery.  I like to think she survives, gets on a plane, and flies to find her true love.  

One of the discussion questions Mrs. Howland (who chose this book and moderated) asked was "if you were going to paint your life's most important moment, what would it be?"  For me, the birth of my son would of course be first followed by my wedding day.  

Find this on display with our new books (all donated by me or fundraised as our actual book order hasn't arrived yet) soon. 

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W. 

I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

I was a huge iCarly fan.  I absolutely loved Sam Puckett.  I cried when the series ended, and sadly hated the spinoff Sam and Cat.  I was surprised when Jennette McCurdy seemed to disappear off the face of the planet (apparently there was a short lived Netflix or Hulu or some other streaming service series I did not know about).  She deleted all her past tweets and other social media posts.  I figured she'd gone off to get married and have kids and lead a normal non-celebrity life like many former child stars.  Boy was I wrong... 

I pre-ordered this the first day I could.  McCurdy's mother died in 2013 and this wasn't published until this year.  I read previews it was a tough one, with a lot of trauma and revelations that were going to be difficult to hear, as both a mother and a former fan.  

These analyses were correct and then some.  I threw up reading this. 

McCurdy's mother was an abusive...I don't even have the words.  Verbal, physical, sexual abuse occurred until McCurdy was 17.  On top of that, and although she does not name him, it is clear McCurdy was also being sexually abused by iCarly's creator and at least one crew member.  She battles anorexia, bulimia, and alcoholism.  Her boyfriend has a break with reality and she learns the man she loved as a Dad is not her biological father.  After her mother's death from cancer, her grandmother takes over with verbal abuse.  This was heart (and gut) wrenching.

I loved Sam, but I never considered the actress portraying her.  I never considered what a child actor might be dealing with in order to earn and keep such a coveted role.  I hate McCurdy's mother for her.  It is clear now that when "Sam" talked about her mother with such hatred, Jennette McCurdy wasn't acting.

Hard to believe, but teachers head back next week!  I'll be in for set up probably Wednesday, PD Thursday, staff meetings Friday.  See all of you on the 29th!

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog and video/audio versions of it are solely those of Mrs. W. 

Sister of Mine by Sabra Waldfogel

Hello there!  I am just back from a wonderful week in Barbados!  It was amazing! 

This is the teachers and friends book club selection for this month.  It was chosen by a music teacher in our group, but not Ms. M. I took it as my reading material on the plane.  However, I STRUGGLED!  I was only able to get through three chapters on a five hour flight. On the return flight, I only got in another two.  This was a ROUGH start.  I texted Ms. M. and she too was on Chapter 6.  We did something I've never done before--read together and motivated each other by text.  We were able to talk through some points and keep each other going.  I have to say the book gets much better after section 1.  I felt like the author was trying to figure out exactly where she wanted to go and didn't have a clear idea until 7 or so chapters in.  From there, I was satisfied with the plot.  Until it just ended.  Like, THUD.  Turns out this is book 1 of a duology.  And it just, ends.  Lots of loose threads.  

The story centers around a Jewish immigrant plantation owner's two daughters: his proper societal lady Adelaide and her slave Rachel.  Adelaide's father Mordecai is a shrewd businessman who seems to forget his ancestors were slaves in Egypt in order to sell more cotton.  Adelaide learns she and Rachel are sisters, and she loves her as one, even teaching Rachel to read.  Rosa, Adelaide's mother hates Rachel as a constant reminder of her husband's unfaithfulness, but Mordecai will not sell her.  

Adelaide, a free spirit, ruins her engagement to the son of her father's business partner.  Her mother will only allow a Jewish marriage, so she is married off to a tailor with a hefty loan from Mordecai to start his own plantation.  Henry struggles with being a slave owner and business in general.  Henry and Rachel fall in love, and the terrible cycle repeats itself of a child born in slavery to a white father.  

Then The Civil War erupts.  

I don't want to spoil too much more, although I really don't know how the story ends, since the plot simply ends with much more to wrap up.  We will be discussing this tonight at Katz, as we continue to match plot/characters with restaurant.  Later, we're going to see the movie version of Where The Crawdads Sing. 

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog are solely mine. 

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia

Morning!  It is a beautiful but HOT start to the day; hearing we should get some strong thunderstorms later.  Being that I'm in a very old house in one of the oldest West Haven neighborhoods, our internet and TV usually go out in storms, so I want to get this done stat.

I ordered this last year for our collection.  When I did inventory this year (the first full inventory since our move, thanks to COVID and then being short-handed; shout outs to my Teaching Assistant Ayonnah and Work-Study Justin for their help!), I thought it looked interesting and added it to my summer reading pile.

Now, first off, this is horror.  It's really weird, occultish horror.  Think Stephen King, Amy Lukavics, Kim Liggett, Christopher Pike-esque.  There are some pretty gory scenes. Second, there is a LOT of Mexican history discussed, and I admit I am not knowledgeable on the topic.  I honestly don't think I ever had a unit on Canada or Mexico in school, come to think of it.  I had to Google some of the events and people mentioned to understand the plot.

On to the plot.  Noemi (I looked up the pronunciation as naw-em-ee) and her father receive a disjointed letter from her newly married cousin Catalina that suggests her new husband Virgil is trying to kill her.  Noemi heads to Catalina's new home, what was once a grand manor in the times of the silver mines, but now a dilapidated mess barely maintained by a staff of 3 and Virgil's family (his father, cousin, and cousin's son).  And Noemi agrees that SOMETHING is REALLY off with these people.  I was really reminded of Dark Shadows (the Depp movie, not the 70s series).     

This is a ghost story, a murder mystery, and has a pretty big plot twist, so I don't want to spoil too much.  But, Noemi has to figure out who is telling the truth, who is lying, and who is not at all who they seem.  

Find this on display when we return.  

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog and the video version of it are solely those of Mrs. W.  

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Hi there!  Today's review is book #3 of my summer reading pile, video review #2.

First off though, I definitely want to encourage everyone to participate in the West Haven Public Library Summer Scavenger Hunt.  My son and I had a really fun time crossing West Haven looking for clues, starting at Forest in Allingtown, heading to Pagels in West Shore, stopping at the beach, and ending up in the Center.  We didn't find everything, but it was nice to spend some time together.  You could certainly do the route on bikes (not this gal) or even break it up into sections over a few days and walk each district.  

I actually finished this book Monday afternoon, but I needed some time to digest and figure out how to write this review without giving too much away in the plot twist.  Theo is a psychologist with a special interest in a six year old criminal case.  Alicia, a successful artisit, was found holding a gun, her photographer husband Gabriel shot dead at point blank range.  Since his death, she's been mute.  Committed to a mental hospital, she has not spoken a word, a confession of guilt in the public eye.  Theo decides to make it a career changing goal to get Alicia to talk again.

OK, seems simple enough.  Except it's not.  Theo is also need of mental health care.  He's got severe unresolved PTSD from childhood trauma and definitely parental-relationship issues.  He admits to getting into psychology to help himself first.  But as the novel progresses, it's sometimes really difficult for the reader to decipher if he's talking about himself or Alicia or both.  They have also crossed paths before, but again I was confused at times when the plot does flashbacks and flashforwards and then to the present.  I almost began to question if the entire story was actually inside Alicia or Theo's head, or possibly both since marijuana and psychosis medications seemed to be mixed frequently, like some sort of communal trip between them!

All in all, I wasn't a fan, but I can see someone interested in psychology, criminology, forensics, or art/fashion/photography being totally into this.  I am not sorry to have ordered this for our collection and/or read it myself, just not something I personally enjoyed. 

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog and video version of it are solely those of Mrs. W. (aka me).

Verity by Colleen Hoover

Alrighty, next review time.  I'll be recording this one, looking a hot mess because, well, it's hot.  Every frigid winter I insist I'm moving south when I retire.  Then it gets this warm and I nope right out of that idea.  So if you're watching the video version, know this is review #2 of the summer.  I didn't record one for 9 Perfect Strangers because I hated it!

This, in contrast...

I LOVED THIS BOOK!

This was recommended to me by Mrs. Memmott over at Mackrille.  She was literally posting "move this to the top of your 'to read' pile!"  So I did.  I finished it in roughly 3 hours awaiting word my sister and brother-in-law (both in our Air Force) had made it to CT from OH on leave for the 4th of July.  I. Could. Not. Put. It Down.

Here's the premise: a famous best selling author, Verity Crawford, is severely injured in a car accident.  She has 3 books left in a promised series.  Her greedy publishers don't want to wait for her to fully recover, lest her fame fizzle.  Instead, they convince Verity's husband Jeremy to allow them to hire a no-name shadow writer to finish the books under Verity's name.  Lowen has published a few books, but nothing blockbuster.  Her compensation is half a million dollars.

Jeremy allows Lowen to visit their home to peruse Verity's office for ideas for the next novel. There Lowen learns Verity is completely paralyzed and in a vegetative state.  Jeremy tells Lowen he and Verity have experienced terrible loss: one of their twin girls accidentally ate peanuts at a sleepover and died of an allergic reaction.  Their other twin girl fell out of the family canoe and drowned.  Now this accident.  Was Verity drunk or taking sleeping meds?  Did she try to kill herself after losing her girls?  No one knows.  Jeremy hired a full time nurse and stays in the home, rather than put Verity in long term care, so their littlest boy, Crew, can still be close to his mother.  

Now, that's all I'm giving you.  Know this: Lowen definitely finds the beginnings of another book in Verity's office.  But it's not book 7. It's something completely different.  

But what is truth, and what is fiction?

Find this on display when we head back to school!

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W. 

9 Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

Good Morning and Happy Summer!

This is book #1 in my Summer Reading pile, and it is the teacher's book club selection for June.  We're meeting tomorrow at Bad Sons, so I figured I should get the review done too.  I am moderating although I didn't choose this book.  Ms. Marcella did, but she forgot she had Dave Matthews Band tickets.

Ms. M. picked this because it's a Netflix series, and she wanted to read the book before watching the movie.  

The premise is that nine strangers meet at a health resort/spa retreat.  However they're not all strangers, which put me off to start with.  There is a family of 3 (Dad, Mom, daughter) and a young couple.  Then the rest are strangers.  Some there for weight loss, some for meditation, some, like the young couple, are there for therapy. We also have the director of the resort, her two assistants, and a massage therapist.  

I thought this would be a whodunit in a Clue style story, kinda like The Guest List maybe?  

Instead I found everyone and everything annoying, nothing believable, and the ending atrocious.  There I said it; I hated this book.  I am so disappointed, and have no idea how I'm going to lead a discussion on it!  I'm actually quite dismayed I paid for the hardcover version.  Bleh!

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W. 

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Recently I cleaned out my mail holder in the kitchen.  This ceramic box usually holds anything but mail. My husband and I stash receipts we might need for a return, stamps, and gift cards in it more than mail actually.  I found a $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble in there.  I also had a $5 e-coupon to use.  So, I purchased 3 books I'd heard some good things about.  This book was recommended by one of the newest Library roommates, Ms. Shell Callahan. 

I absolutely LOVED this book. I could NOT put it down.  

An elderly Hollywood actress of a bygone era, Evelyn Hugo (born Herrera) is ready to her life story and write her memoir, focusing on her seven former husbands.  She chooses a relatively unknown reporter, Monique Grant, to write the book.  Monique's only claim to fame is a short but well reviewed article on assisted suicide or "dying with dignity".  

As Evelyn tells her story, beginning as a poor girl in the slums of New York to the show business IT GIRL of the 50s and 60s then through heartbreak and loss, I found myself picturing the movie greats of the time--Evelyn as Marilyn Monroe first and foremost.  

I don't want to spoil too much, as this does have two major plot twists I didn't see coming at all. But, you will be shocked.

I'll be adding this to the collection soon!

Reminder that all opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.         

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

Morning!  I did not do a written review of the last book I attempted to read (To Sleep in a Sea of Stars).  I only did a video review because that novel was so bad!  So I know it seems like a while since my last blog post.  

This, however, was awesome!  I could not put it down.  The weather was pretty blah Saturday evening into Sunday afternoon, and I was able to finish it in that time.  I had it out on my desk while I'm typing and Ms. Callahan said she loved it too!  So....

Owen and Hannah are happy newlyweds, adjusting to sharing a home with Owen's 16 year old daughter Bailey.  Owen is a widower, having lost Bailey's mother in a car crash years ago.  Hannah is a woodworker, and Owen is involved in a tech company developing online privacy software.  As news breaks that Owen and his partner have been defrauding investors, Owen disappears with a note "protect her".  

All kinds of law enforcement descend on Hannah, Bailey is taunted at school, and friends refuse to speak to them.  The only clue Hannah has is Owen's aversion to Austin, Texas, where the first US Marshall looking for Owen shows up from. 

I don't want to spoil too much, as this is really a crime drama whodunit.  But I promise you, you will not want to stop reading until you find out the truth!  

I will be adding this to our collection very soon!

A friendly reminder that all opinions expressed on this blog and the video version of it are solely those of Mrs. W. 

Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Manisalco

I am really angry at this book.  The book is 369 pages, and for the first 362 I really loved it.  But as the last chapter approached, it became clear there was no way this could end in just 7 more pages.  Sure enough, this is book 1 in a trilogy, and it left as a cliff hanger to boot!  And the 3rd book hasn't been published yet!

Emilia and Vittoria are twin Sicilian sisters who are secretly witches.  Their identity is known to other families with witches in the area, but to the run of the mill people, they are just the latest amazing cooks in their family's restaurant.  As they reach adulthood, Vittoria is violently murdered in a monastery.  Emilia of course sets herself to find the murderer and reason for her sister's death. 

Enter Wicked, a dashing demon from Hell, one of 7 brothers tied to a deadly sin.  Seems like Hell has a pretty strong battle going on for control.

More young adult female good witches are murdered.  Wicked and Emilia make a shaky pact to find the murderer, likely 1 of his brothers.  

Now, to be honest, there are a few trashy beach read romance novel scenes that are, in my view, eye roll worthy.  Nothing is overly graphic, but there's a "no one actually talks or acts that way" scene I almost laughed at.  

Combining all this I think makes the book very likable for many genre and topic fans--Italian heritage, white witchcraft, mythology, romance, supernatural romance, sisterhood, strong women (their grandmother is FIERCE!), and battles/fights.  

Then the ending.  Or lack thereof.  I put book #2 on our wishlist.  *Sigh*  Any way, find this on display next week!

All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.        

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

This is the 2nd review for today.

Transcendent Kingdom is the Adult level selection for All CT Reads, spearheaded by "our" Kym Powe.  You can read more about this event here: https://sites.google.com/view/allctreads/home

Although this is listed as "adult", I find it absolutely high school/YA appropriate.  

I LOVED this book!  Sunday morning I had a rare house to myself.  My husband and son were out, the laundry was going, and it was drizzly.  I read this in that one morning.  I could not put it down.

Gifty is a PhD candidate at Stanford in California.  Now a quick side note, I just got back from Christmas in California, so many of the places mentioned I recognized. She is experimenting on risk-reward behavior in mice, a cause near to her as her star high school basketball player brother died from an overdose after an injury left him addicted to painkillers.  

We flash back and forth to Gifty's childhood as the very dark daughter of a single mother who immigrated from Ghana in rural Alabama.  Gifty's mother is Christian and finds her place in the church.  Faith is very important to the family.  

As Gifty grows, she finds science to be her calling, which is often in direct challenge to her faith.  Her classmates in undergrad call Christianity a dangerous cult.  On the West Coast, she finds open sexuality at odds with her Southeastern upbringing.  

This really was an amazing examination of the intersections of race, gender, culture, religion, and education.  Just like it is difficult for me to be a pro 2nd Amendment teacher sometimes, Gifty has to decide between sharing about herself or smiling and nodding.

Find this on display soon.

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.       

 

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Today I'll be doing two reviews, and this is the first.

The Guest List was the teachers' book club selection for February, but it looks like we will be pushing it to March, as our January meeting is being postponed due to the increase in Covid cases. I read this on the flight out to California over our Christmas break.

If you've followed this blog for a while, you know I am not a fan of alternating viewpoints.  I think it's a trend in literature that needs to go away for a while, as it is way too common.  This story is told in the alternating viewpoints of 5 people attending a very exclusive wedding on a remote island off Ireland (our meeting is going to be at Duffy's when we finally have it...).

Those telling the story are:

The bride Jules, a spoiled brat

The plus one Hannah, wife of Jules' best friend

The best man Johnno, a jerk

The wedding planner Aoife, who owns the island and has family buried there

The bridesmaid Olivia, Jules' half-sister via their mother     

We know at the outset one person is going to die, but we do not know who.  We also know the weather is turning bad and help cannot reach the island.  

I have really mixed feelings on this.  I had to go back often to re-read who was telling the particular scene, and there were a LOT of side characters--the rest of the groomsmen, college friends, family, etc.--that need to be kept straight.  It also felt that even though these are adults, they acted like high school students, made worse by alcohol and drugs.  It was very One Of Us Is Lying and Clue like.  

A meh for me, but maybe a yes for you.  Find this on display soon.

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.