Stolen Life

Continuing my quest for not "happy happy" books (I think I'm going to try to incorporate this into my daily vocabulary), I finished Jaycee Dugard's "Stolen Life" today. You knew I would be all over this book, given my proclivity towards true crime. It was really, really sad and I could completely relate to a lot of the things she complained about, not like having control over her own life for so many years and feeling so alone all the time, although, obviously, not to the same degree that she suffered. She tells her story in her own words: straightforward and honest. It was a great read and I hope Phillip and Nancy Girrado enjoy their special place in Hell with Kenneth Parnell someday.

Lady Blue Eyes; The Kid

So reading Barbara Sinatra's biography about her life with Frank, "Lady Blue Eyes" made me a bit jealous, especially when she talked about how lucky she was and how great Frank was to her. They had some tumultuous times, but in the end it sounded wonderful. So yeah. Enough of the happy happy.
"The Kid" by Sapphire killed the "happy happy". A sequel to "Push", "The Kid" finds Precious's son Abdul orphaned at 9 when Precious dies of AIDS. Abdul is sent to a foster home and then a Catholic home for boys where of course the priests molest him. He runs away at 13 to live with his great grandmother, but that doesn't work out and he ends up being taken in by Roman, who uses him as a sex slave pet until he escapes from there at age 17 to try to be straight and live on his own as a dancer. I didn't like this book as well as "Push". It was hard to read because of all the abuse and general awfulness going on around Abdul, but Abdul makes a lot of dumb decisions that lands him where he ends up in his life, so I couldn't feel as sorry for him as I did for his mother, who just seemed to catch it no matter what she did and honestly tried to make a valiant effort to better herself. I think it would have broken her heart to see the boy she struggled for and loved so much turn out the way he did. Plus, Sapphire mentions Abdul using Google in 1997. Um...no, try again. While it was certainly around back then, it wasn't the powerhouse it is today. Plus, 9 year old Abdul had his own computer even though Precious was on welfare and trying to take classes at City College and whatnot. Somehow I think a computer would have been way, way down on her list of things to purchase.

Diverging Roads

I finished Rose Wilder Lane's semi-autobiographical novel "Diverging Roads" this morning. The first half felt very familiar because it was basically Roger Lea MacBride's "Bachelor Girl", just with some of the names changed. Helen (Rose) leaves her poor country farm girl life behind and travels out West to become a telegraph operator. Her sweetheart from back home, Paul, doesn't like the new crowd she's hanging out with, and in an act of defiance she marries the dashing Gilbert Kennedy (Gillette Lane). The second half of the book was new to me and quite interesting, about how Helen, after being deserted by Gilbert, went on to become a real estate salesperson and later a journalist. I need to actually read a biography about Rose (I read "Ghost in the Little House" about 20 years ago and don't remember much) to see how much of it was actually based on her own life. She really did lead an interesting and unconventional life for a woman at the time.

Let the Hurricane Roar; Sing You Home; Before Green Gables; Anne of Windy Poplars; Anne's House of Dreams; Anne of Ingleside; Rainbow Valley; Rilla of Ingleside; Artemis Fowl; Beauty Queens

Rose Wilder Lane's "Let the Hurricane Roar" was a fictionalized account of her grandparent's struggle that she wrote before Laura put pen to paper and told her version of the events. It was an interesting, adult perspective of some of the events of "On the Banks of Plum Creek".
Jodi Picoult does it again in "Sing You Home", setting out to prove that there is never a situation that is completely black and white, there are always shades of grey. Max and Zoe Baxter have been married for ten years and are desperate to have a baby. Zoe is nearly forty and when she becomes pregnant she knows it may be her last chance. Unfortunately, the baby is stillborn. Zoe is determined to try again, but Max is tired and scared Zoe might die. They end up separating and eventually divorcing. Max turns to alcohol to relieve the pain and ends up heading down a bad path, but thanks to the love of his brother he is saved and becomes a born again Christian. Zoe, meanwhile, becomes friends with Vanessa, and they realize that they have more than just a friendship--it's love. They marry, and Vanessa puts forth the idea of her carrying one of the three embryos that Zoe and Max still had frozen. Zoe loves the idea but Max does not. He would rather give the frozen embryos to his brother and sister in law, who are also having fertility issues. Since technically Zoe and Max each contributed 50% of the DNA to the embryos, who gets them? She definitely makes you think about both sides of an issue, that's for sure.
Budge Wilson wrote a prequel to "Anne of Green Gables" with the blessing of L. M. Montgomery's heirs. I didn't really care for "Before Green Gables". She ignored most of the history of the books that Montgomery so lovingly crafted and tried to give Anne a much nicer childhood than I think Montgomery intended. Sure, Anne suffered before going to Green Gables, but not that much, if you believe Wilson's claims. It just rubbed me the wrong way, like she couldn't bear to make Anne go through horrible things.
I finished rereading Montgomery's series: "Anne of Windy Poplars", which is mostly Anne's correspondence to Gilbert during the three years they were separated while he was studying medicine. She was a principal at a high school and boarded with two lovely widows and their maid, Rebecca Dew. I remember not liking this one much when I was a kid, because of course I was just anxious for Anne and Gilbert to get married, but I enjoyed the wonderful cast of characters in it this time around. "Anne's House of Dreams" follows Gilbert and Anne during their first years of marriage when they move to Four Winds Harbor. "Anne of Ingleside" paints a lovely picture of a house full of children and a happy Anne. My bitterness knew no bounds during this one. I remember the last time I reread "Rainbow Valley" being very depressed by it, but this time around I saw the humor and it made me laugh again like it used to when I was a kid. And finally, "Rilla of Ingleside", the saddest one of all. Poor Walter. And Dog Monday. All I have to do is think about Dog Monday and I burst into tears.
I've been wanting to read Eoin Colfer's "Artemis Fowl" series for quite a while now, and I finally got around to reading the first one. Artemis is a twelve year old genius, out to get a piece of fairy fortune to fortify his family's dwindling riches. It was funny and clever and I rather like young Artemis. I think I'm going to enjoy the rest.
And finally (finally!) "Beauty Queens" by Libby Bray. It was a hilarious farce about a group of beauty pageant contestants who end up stranding on a seemingly deserted island after their plane crashes. The girls learn to become self sufficient even as evil forces behind the scenes are plotting their demise. Throw in a pirate ship full of hot reality star pirates and an evil Corporation straight out of "The Hunger Games", and you had some funny, irreverent romps.

The Borrower

"The Borrower" by Rebecca Makkai was disappointing. It was just kind of dumb. It had a good premise: a children's librarian named Lucy Hull comes into work one morning and finds ten year old Ian Drake, one of her favorite little readers, camped out in the library after having run away from home. Even though he is only 10, Ian's parents think he might be gay so they have been sending him to an extremist preacher to "fix" him, and it's making Ian unhappy. Rather than take him back to his parents or calling the police, Lucy packs Ian in the car and takes off, letting Ian lead the way by giving her directions. They spend 10 days on the road, not doing much of anything. She lost me after she decided to take off with Ian. Look, I understand if you don't agree with the way someone is raising their kids but really, it's not your call. Call social services to investigate if you think the kid is being injured or abused, but don't kidnap them. Lucy's character just made all librarians look like illogical morons. Moral of the story: much like how not all fiction set in Las Vegas is awesome, I must remember that not all books featuring librarians will be awesome, either.

The Convenient Marriage; Kiss Her Goodbye; Red

Oh Georgette Heyer, how I love your sparkling wittiness. It was really out and on display in "The Convenient Marriage". I liked this one almost as much as "Cotillion". Elizabeth Winwood's mother arranges for her to marry the wealthy Earl of Rule, much to Elizabeth's dismay, as she is in love with another man. Her brother has racked up enormous gambling debts, and they need the Earl's money to pay off creditors. Her younger sister, Horatia, commonly known as "Horry", goes to the Earl and proposes that they marry instead so her sister can be happy. The Earl agrees, and he and Horry marry (that's pretty much the last we see of Elizabeth, too). The Earl's cousin is not pleased with the match because he stands to inherit everything if the Earl doesn't have an heir, now a possibility since he is married. So he sets out to destroy Horry's reputation, and a serious of hilarious misunderstandings ensue, with the requisite happy ending.
Mickey Spillane was the man. Before he died in 2006, he wrote a bunch of great Mike Hammer novels. I guess I should say Mike Hammer is the man. Before he died, Mickey bequeathed his unfinished manuscripts to Max Allan Collins, and he finished "Kiss Her Goodbye". As is typical with Hammer novels, there's a lot of drinking, fighting, beautiful women, and murder. The body count piles up in this book, and I loved all the gun fighting action. Oh, and Velda!! Who doesn't love Velda? It made me want to go back and reread "I, the Jury" (which I will have to borrow from the library since I lent my copy to a friend years ago and never got it back).
And finally, Sammy Hagar's autobiography "Red". I'm not a Van Halen fan (I have family members that will literally kill me for saying that), but it's true. It's not that I don't like Van Halen, I'm just completely indifferent. I wanted to read Sammy's book because he grew up in Fontana, just fifteen minutes away from where I grew up in Alta Loma (hello Inland Empire!!). It was a quick read, and good. Sammy realizes how incredibly lucky he is to have the fame and fortune from doing something he loves and he lives life to the absolute fullest, so good for him.

Fall to Pieces; Nerd Do Well; My Wilder Life

Okay, so a couple of weeks ago I was complaining about Scott Weiland's pseudo-autobiography, and decided to read his ex-wife's to see how it compared. Mary Forsberg Weiland's "Fall to Pieces" was very good, honest and illuminating. While I don't agree with the whole "addiction is a disease" theory I can totally understand that people with mental imbalances like bipolar disorder, which both Mary and Scott suffer from, are more susceptible to addictions. She and Scott went down a crazy path together, but in the end I still found myself envying her because she met a man, fell in love, and *knew* they were going to end up together, and lo and behold they did. It never quite works out the same way for me and I don't think it's fair. But enough whining down that road.
Simon Pegg is a funny guy, and his book "Nerd Do Well" was pretty amusing but I thought he spent way too much time talking about his childhood as opposed to his adult years. Plus, he's way into "Star Wars", and I've never seen any of them, so I was a bit lost at times. Still, it was quirky and original, exactly what I expected from Pegg.
I think if Wendy McClure and I ever met in real life we could be great friends. Reading her book was like reading about my own mind. "My Wilder Life" chronicles her love of Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" series and how she wanted to go and visit all the places where Laura lived. I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO THAT TOO!!! And she talked about how as a kid she always imagined Laura as a real friend that through the miracle of time travel she would show around the modern world. I DID THAT TOO!!! I found myself gasping a lot while reading it, going "oh, wow, I'm not the *only* one who thinks that way?! Awesome!". It was a great read, highly enjoyable, plus I learned about this awesome blog which is going to keep me entertained for quite a while. Win!

Anne of the Island; Before I Go to Sleep

As a kid I was very frustrated with "Anne of the Island" by L. M. Montgomery. I, like everyone else in Avonlea, thought it was totally *obvious* that Anne belonged with Gilbert Blythe and didn't understand why she was wasting her time with that Roy Gardner guy and running the risk of losing Gilbert. As an adult, rereading it this time around, I sort of wondered why she didn't stick with Roy, he seemed pretty awesome. And hey, how is it the girl racks up marriage proposals every freaking day? I'm honking jealous, I've never even had one. Jeez, way to make a girl feel inadequate over here, Anne :) Anyway, it's actually a pretty good book and I enjoyed the camaraderie between Anne and her friends while living together at Patty's Place.
"Before I Go to Sleep" by S. J. Watson was very good, quite fast paced and hard to put down. Christine Lucas has a severe form of amnesia: every morning when she wakes up she has no idea who she is or where she is at. Every morning her devoted husband, Ben, patiently explains that she had a bad accident nearly 20 years earlier and lost her memory. She has no memories at all of the days before and only sketchy memories of her childhood. After Ben leaves for work every day her doctor, Dr. Nash, calls to tell her to get her journal out of its hiding place and read it so she'll remember the days before. Every day she can't believe Dr. Nash until she finds the journal where he tells her to look and reads it. She gives it to Dr. Nash to read and when he returns it, she goes to read it the next day after he calls to remind her where she's hiding it and sees she has written in the front "Don't trust Ben". Oooh...why not, why not? Of course there is nothing in the journal that explains this. Watson did a great job of capturing how disorientating it must be to wake up every day and not know who you are.