The Madwoman and the Roomba by Sandra Tsing Loh

Amazon recommended this memoir to me, and I added it to my "quarantine order".  Among the quoted reviews was "hilarious, snarky, insightful", "wildly funny", "funniest writer writing today".  I expected a hilarious view on every day life.  All the things that go wrong in our typical day that if we don't laugh about them, we'd cry.  I was really expecting something similar to South of the Etowah, which is on display as one of my faves.  Raymond Atkins made a washing machine funny.  So, I had high hopes here.

I did not laugh.  Not even once.  I smiled a few times.  This was really not funny at all.  White (Chinese-German), wealthy (Malibu, CA), and whiny (please just stop complaining) is a better tagline.  I kept reading just to see if the funny stuff came later.  It didn't. 

I'm also angry Amazon sent me one with a damaged bottom corner and cover.  Not wanting to deal with sending it back for a replacement, I said whatevs.  I now believe this was actually a returned and resold copy.  Likely because it's not worthy to be kept.  I don't plan to put this in the collection.  Instead it'll be on the free shelf. You know a new book has to be pretty bad for me to do that.

Sorry, but a no. 

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

Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know by Samira Ahmed

It's summer vacation!

I posted my summer reading list on my personal Facebook Monday.  This is book #1.

*Before I begin, please know this review refers to the Advanced Reading Copy edition.  This book is now available for purchase.

This was among the 70+ ARCs delivered to WHHS students by Ms. Kym, formerly of the WHPL and now at the State Library.  It looked fantastic, so I snagged it.  It'll be on the free shelf when...if...return to school.  It is already on our pending order for next school year.  Cross fingers the order is approved!

I actually read this in its entirety on Monday right after getting home from delivering the last of the senior Band gifts.  I read it in one sitting as I could not put it down.  

I am typically not a huge fan of alternating view points, but in this case it works.  

17 year old Khayyam is an American (specifically Chicagoan) of immigrant parents.  Her mother is Indian and Muslim and her father French.  Both are professors.  So although Khayyam is most definitely "other" in the checking of ethnic/racial/religious boxes (and is a strong female lead to boot), her life is quite comfortable.  She will go to college without question, one of prestige likely.  She wants to major in art history.  

Enter the summer before her senior year.  Khayyam has submitted a thesis, hoping for a scholarship to an art school, on the connections between Delacroix, Dumas, Byron, and a mystery woman of possible Indian or Muslim origins in their art and poetry. 

The alternating viewpoint is of Leila, an unfaithful harem, the mystery woman and her travels to France. 

While on summer holiday in France, specifically Paris, Khayyam meets the *cute/same age/male* descendant of Dumas, who is also on the hunt for Leila.  

In an almost Scooby Doo-ish (they actually say so) way, they set out to unravel the story in old letters, manuscripts, poems, and paintings.

Now, I know you might be thinking this sounds kinda silly and contrived, and yep, it is.  BUT, if you like any of the above, especially the secrets contained therein (hello, Da Vinci?), you will absolutely love this.  

Lighthearted, but also historically intriguing, I'd definitely recommend.

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

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

I pre-ordered this the first day I could. Thanks to Prime, it came the day it was released, which was last week. I read it in a day. It was just as good as I thought it would be.

That being said, I did not feel it appropriate to write/record/post a book review within the next few days.  It'd gotten even harder. I honestly had every intention of doing this yesterday, but after getting home from delivering the graduation signs and my adopted senior's gift, I was riding the proverbial high.  I have proofread numerous scholarship thank you notes and cried with pride.  I guess that makes the crash worse.

I see you.  I hear you.  I will try to understand you.  I just ask you see me too.

So, this review.  

Set 64 years before The Hunger Games, this is a prequel, the story of one of my favorite villains, Coriolanus Snow.  The equivalent of a high school senior in the Capital, the once weighty Snow name is fading fast.  Coriolanus lives with his cousin (that's TIGRIS, people) and their grandmother.  With little money, they are facing what we'd call foreclosure while wearing hand-me-downs and eating broth for dinner. 

It is the 10th anniversary of the Games, and it's a new idea to pair one of the seniors with a Tribute.  Coriolanus is paired with the District 12 girl, Lucy Gray Baird.

Now I don't want to spoil too much, but...

-It's pretty obvious this is the first book in a new series/duology/trilogy.

-"The Hanging Tree" writer/singer is Lucy Gray. Katniss learned the song from her father. Coincidence?  I would bet the farm not.

-There are several families that are legacy and who are either older adults or a younger generation in the original trilogy, which does get somewhat confusing.

And speaking just of Coriolanus, to quote the villain in another of my favorite trilogies, "the villain is always the hero, in his own story"....

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

 

Drive by Kelley Earnhardt Miller

"Believe it or not, there were times years ago when people referred to me as the best driver in the Earnhardt family, which is quite a compliment.  I definitely know how to handle a car at high speeds, and I know what it feels like to thrive on the rush of racing..."
"People are understandably curious about how I came to be a racing executive.  I don't have a dramatic story about breaking glass ceilings as a woman in a man's world...I was simply born into it, and it has been my world all my life."

While I'm not a national racing executive and I never actually won a race as a driver, I WAS the girl at the track.  Me and Jackie (who coincidentally both went to WHHS and are still very close friends) were a force little girls looked up to at the track.  We were dirty, covered in track dust and oil and smoke and heaven knows what else coming off that toxic stream in the back.  Our long hair in braids, wearing pink Mechanix gloves, we were actually opponents at Waterford.  And I loved every minute.

Although my track days are long over, I still try to go once a year at least.  It's fun to run into the guys who once feared you and the cars you could set up.  I get comments every now and then on FB on memories "you were one of the best", "your Dad taught you so well", "you could make a Fedex truck run on rails". I reply with "retired" usually.  However, the thought of putting my son in a Strictly has crossed my mind on occasion.  I could fling tires and bench press a full-weight jack a lifetime ago.  Not so much now.  Jackie's old team has a young man driving a Modified today.  He won a track championship at 16.  Johnny P. is going places, you watch. And funny enough, his Dad became a teacher too.

Anyway, enough reminiscing.  I think it's plainly obvious why I chose to order this as a quarantine read.  WHEN we go back, find it with the athlete memoirs.

Follow me on Twitter @RamblingsLMS

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

From Crook to Cook by Snoop Dogg

I love Snoop's old music.
I love to cook.
I love Martha and Snoop's cooking show.
So of course I bought myself this.

What's really awesome about Snoop is that he's, for lack of a better word, NORMAL.  I know that wasn't always the case, but really he's a devoted Dad and doting Grandpa.  Although he and his wife had issues in the past, they're still together.  Their kitchen has HEINZ KETCHUP and AUNT JEMIMA SYRUP in the pantry! I mean, really?  Billions of dollars, and they still cook for themselves and their grandson using what us everyday people can buy at Walmart.

What was supposed to be a novelty in Martha and Snoop's Pajama Party (a reference to both of their pasts as inmates) became an absolute hit. 

I had no expectations about this cookbook.  I knew there were stories interwoven from Snoop's past and present, but I did not think there'd be soooo many amazing recipes.  And some of these are very intricate.  Jilly Mae is absolutely going to try some soon!  That Jamaican Jerk Yardie Yardbird might be first!

The photography is gorgeous, and the random tidbits thrown in are a good laugh (best cereal at midnight?, best candy for the munchies?).

Definitely recommend!

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

Rust by Eliese C.Goldbach

I hope this review finds you and your family safe and well. 
I could write a book here about my emotions right now, but I will simply say I miss my kids and my colleagues!!!

So, on to this review.

I really, really wanted to like this.  "A memoir of steel and grit" is the subtitle.  I expected a kick-butt story about a woman in a male-dominated trade working her tail off to support herself through school.

This was so incredibly hard to follow.  Goldbach bounces between events, without really much of an indication that time or location is changing.  She seems to be OK being a conservative, then goes on a Trump bashing rant.  She's proud to be a union worker, then condemns the industry.  What would be comedic events, such as trying to get a squirrel out of her apartment, are all tied to her mental break--what?  It seemed like Goldbach was grasping at straws to find her a cause for her instability, which, please do not misunderstand me; it certainly it may have felt like to her at the time.  But it comes across as whiny, woe is me, all the world and its creatures are out to get me!  It grated on my nerves.  Girl, get up, dust yourself off, and get back on the horse.  I rolled my eyes more than a few times.  Coupled with the lack of continuity, and I just slogged through. 

A no from me.

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

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill

Let's get this out of the way first. Joe Hill's real last name is King. He wanted to make his own name without being linked to his father.  It was pointless, since he looks JUST LIKE STEPHEN KING. Hill continues to write under the pseudonym, but no longer hides who his parents are (Tabitha King writes too).

I normally steer clear of anything involving kids, especially kids being molested.  I can't tolerate it.  So I was really worried about this, however NONE of the kids involved are touched in any way.  In fact, the main vampire-like villain Charles Manx makes it very clear there is a special place in Hell for those who do.  So, if you were afraid of that, know it is not something happening in this book.

OK then.  IF you were worried about it, why did you even try to read this, Mrs. W.?  Because a student, a PACE student, a young lady who would be placed in the dreaded "reluctant reader" category (seriously, can we just erase that label out of existence?!?!?!) recommended it to me.  She loved Kim Liggett and Amy Lukavics.  She told me I should read this after I had her read them.  I take that kind of discussion VERY seriously and to heart. 

Hill writes horror, and this definitely is.  It's also on the Hardinge level of weird in some places.  For example:
Shusterman's Full Tilt meets New Hampshire's Santa's Village
Nosferatu
Allusions to the book that would become Nov. 22, 1963 by King
A fortune telling Librarian named Maggie in nowhere but Here, Iowa
Scrabble tiles that talk and ghosts that speak backwards
Magic New England covered bridges
An escape room book for little kids
Bikes and motorcycles and antique cars with healing abilities
Cosplay
Geek culture

Yeah, this was an acid trip, but in a good way.  I did like it, in an I Like King way, if that makes any sense. Which it might not, considering.

Follow me on Twitter @RamblingsLMS

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