The Good House

The Good House: A Novel by Ann Leary
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was in the middle of several "My family was a toxic dump, yet I turned out amazing" books, and wanted a break from all the negativity and dysfunction. I desperately needed a book with normal and happy people. This book, indeed, was a fast and somewhat happy read, and the people was somewhat normal, as normal as the people in yours, or my neighborhood.

As a realtor of a quaint New England town near the North Shores, Hildy Good has been a top-seller for many years. She's 60, divorced, kids grown, lives comfortably alone and makes good money. People think she's a witch (which is not true), since she knows everything and everyone quite well, not to mention that she's also the descendant of a witch that was hung at the Salem's Witch Trial. She could just read people and houses very well by observing and noticing clues. Her friends and family also think she's an alcoholic (this might be true,) although she constantly denies it since she could function quite normally after a glass or two. She's a fun, humorous, witty, no-nonsense and likable narrator.

This book reminded me how much I enjoy reading character-driven books. The last few that I enjoyed were The Darlings, The World Without You, The Snow Child and The Death of Bees. There are the rich McCallisters, who just moved in. Brian is busy and so much older than his young, lonely and infertile wife, Rebecca. There's Frank, who is the town garbage man and fix-anything guy....whom Hilda had a special relationship with. There's Peter, who's a shrink with an office upstairs whom Hilda and her friends babysat when younger... There are Patch and Cassie with their special-need son, Jake. I wished the author had described their physical appearance a bit more. The image of Hildy in my visual mind is blurry, although I know her quite well now. However, somewhere in the book, we did learn that Frank looks like a gnome, and Rebecca is skinny and elegant. The author used the following poem to describe her:

"I knew a woman, lovely in her bones......(She moved in circles, and those circles moved)....

A quick and easy read, and the unexpected twist at the end was a surprise.

For those who are interested in my "My family was a toxic dump, yet I turned out amazing" books. I'm also in the middle of: "Wild" and "With or Without You." I just finished "The Death of Bees."

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The Death of Bees

The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Do not read this books if:

You hate bad language and have a weak stomach.
You love long, windy and beautiful prose.
You are looking for something happy and fluff.
You can't stand cruel acts against others, especially minors.
You need confirmation that life and beautiful, or
you believe that all human are capable of love.

If you belong to one of the above groups, you possibly shouldn't read a book that begins with two girls burying their parents in the back yard, should you? I think you should stop and walk away now. But, if you are an adventurous and open-minded type, and a serious reader who enjoy all sorts of delivering ideas and language, then this books would be a treat for you. Before you dive it, I'll have to alert you, every possible crime and unimaginable cruelty under the sky was committed by someone or to someone in this book.

I think I might have an affinity to child narrators, since I've loved and praised so many (except Room). Yet here's another wonderful book narrated by a child, the 15-year-old Marnie. Marnie has a sister, Nelly, who's 12. Both smart, precocious and understand life much better than you and I do. When both parents died under some unpreventable circumstances, the girls decided to bury them in the back yard, since their parents were not the loving/caring kind, the girls absolutely hated the foster system, and Marnie was not yet 16. They were hoping to hide the secret until Marnie turned 16 and be responsible of both herself and her sister, which she has been doing anyway.

The book is narrated by three voices: Marnie, Nelly and Lennie. Lennie is an older gay man who took the girls under his wings, hoping for some kind of redemption for a mistake he committed a while ago. Lennie's parts were written as if he was talking to his partner, whom he lost a while ago. Marnie's narratives were brutal, down-to-the-point, and lack of polish with a bit of humor. It took me a while to get used to, but then I fell for her hard and couldn't get her out of my mind. She was practically a baby but had to endure so much but acting tough, since there was no one to look after her.

"Our phone died. Just like that. We can't call the local constabulary and we can't call an ambulance. Have you ever heard of such a thing? A calamity and no mistake."

"I just don't get why anyone would want to ink their name or their secrets on the surface of their skin, why can't they just keep them inside like I do?....I'm never getting a tattoo. My secrets are etched safely on the inside and I intend to keep them there."

The book was a page-turner for me. I think the author did quite a good job in keeping the plot interesting and engaging. The characters were great. Each of them was deep and etched vividly in my mind no matter how unimportant they were in the story. I deliberately slowed down reading near the end just to enjoy Marnie and Nelly's voices a bit more. This author was successful in building a great plot as well as developing his characters, which I've only seen in a few authors. The ending was also quite satisfactory.



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Just One Day YA Review

Just One Day by Gayle Forman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Can one fall in love in just one day? When we were young, we believed we could...so did Allyson in this book.

"We are born in one day. We die in one day. We can change in one day. And we can fall in love in one day. Anything can happen in just one day."

Allyson was young, 18, a goody-two-shoes who followed her parents' every advice and was on her road to become a pre-med student. A trip to Europe, or more specifically, a day in Paris, changed everything...Did she see the truth on that day, or a big fat lie?

Allyson was a normal and average American girl who was not particular pretty nor witty. She was awkward in social situations, even, but she was a good thinker, and she did a lot of self-introspection throughout the course of the story. She made stupid mistakes and quick decisions that caused the Mom in me to wince with horror. She made friends, but also lost them. It was heartbreaking to observe Allyson to come of age in the hard way through every error and consequences of her decisions. This story begins when she made a decision to visit Paris for a day with a guy she barely knows, while she was in Europe for her high school graduation trip. The day changed everything in her life.

My bookish friend, Kathleen...once mentioned that she could not resist any YA novels that quote Shakespeare or mention his works. This book will definitely attract her attention. The Dutch boy in the book, Willem, and Allyson met when he was performing as Sebastian in Twelfth Night. Shakespeare's plays and works are subsequently mentioned in the second half of the book, and more intensively. They also sparked my interest in a few plays and I plan to read the original works a bit later. Part of the story also took place in Europe, yet the author described the places quite accurately, (view spoiler)[especially in the second trip. (hide spoiler)] For those of you who has never read Shakespeare, or has never been to Europe, you'll definitely add a few more things to your bucket list after reading this book.

This is another wonderful book from Gayle Forman, the author of two other books: If I Stay and Where She Went. Just like her the format of her previous two books, Just One Day is written in the girl's perspective, and the upcoming sequel will be in the boy's voice.

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Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend - a lovely story.

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend: A Novel by Matthew Green
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I haven't been writing reviews due to the lack of time, but this book deserves one. I just hope that my words do this wonderful story and author justice.

I constantly emphasize my idea of a good book - the ending is not that important, the characters do not have to be likable, the plot does not have to entwined, the writing does have to be complicated... As long as the book moves my heart, stirs up my feelings, makes me re-examine my life or/and my views, then it's a good book.

I've read so many books this year with a young narrative voice: The Age of Miracles, Under the Banyan Tree, Room, The Fault in Our Stars. Out of all these lovable voices, I love Budo's the best. Budo is not really a "human" child, although he looks, acts, thinks and talks like one. Budo is the imaginary friend of a human boy, Max, who's nine. Budo looks just like a human because Max has a wonderful imagination.

"I’m also lucky because I’m mobile. Lots of imaginary friends are stuck to their human friends. Some have leashes around their necks. Some are three inches tall and get stuffed into coat pockets. And some are nothing more than a spot on the wall, like Chomp. But thanks to Max, I can get around on my own. I can even leave Max behind if I want."

Imaginary friends can only be as good as their human friend imagine them to be. Some looks like robots, some are stick figures, yet others are combination of a dinosaur and a monster. They capabilities vary as well, some can fly, others go through doors, yet some unfortunate ones are stuck on a chair, since that's all their human owner imagine them to be...sitting along. So, Budo is lucky to be so human, so knowledgeable, so capable. Max teaches him and tells him everything, and Budo follows him to school. I love pondering about what Budo says in the book...

"It's strange how teachers can go off to college for all those years to learn to become teachers, but some of them never learn the easy stuff, like making kids laugh. And Making sure they know you love them. "

"There are two different kind of teachers in the world: there are teachers who play school and teachers who teach school."

From Budo's narration, we know early on, that Max is different. Max is unlike all other kids.

Max lives on the inside and the other kids live on the outside. That's what makes him so different. Max doesn't have an outside. Max is all inside."

"Max is brave.... But you have to be the bravest person in the world to go out every day being yourself when no one likes who you are...."

Budo has been around for a long time. Imaginary friends disappear once their creator no longer needs them. Many of Budo's friends disappear after a year, a few months or even a few days. Most disappear during Kindergarten year of their creator. Budo wonders where imaginary friends go once they disappear from this world, and he worries that one day Max would no long need him and he would disappear, too. He constantly worries that one day no one, not even Max, will ever remember him again.

"The whole world will go on without you. Like you were never here. And then someday everyone who knows you will be dead, too, and then it will be like you never, ever existed. Doesn't it make you sad?"

One day, something terrible happens, and Budo is the only one who can save the person he loves most. What if his decision threatens his own existence? Who is more important, himself, or Max? I never reveal the plot or ending in my reviews, and I won't do it on this review, either. All I can say is, the ending makes me cry...over and over. I will recommend this book to anyone who knows love, friendship and imagination. It's one of my top 2012 books.

This book is a tribute to all "teachers who teach" and "people who are all inside" out there.

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Making Money via the Internet, but...

Click Millionaires: Work Less, Live More with an Internet Business You Love by Scott Fox
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.
—Lily Tomlin, actress and comedienne

This is how this book begins… This book, very similar to The $100 Startup or the 4-Hour Work Week, but not quite as practical or useful. The author wanted to help you design a lifestyle business, something that works around your life style, instead of profit and growth. The kind of business, web-based, that works around you at your convenience, instead of inside a large corporation with a 9 to 5 schedule. He calls his model “Click Millionaire”, in which your business uses websites, e-commerce, digital publishing and social media to make money supporting your free life style.

The book is divided into 7 parts. The first 1/3 is basically all the reasons to get you out of your present “rat race”. The chapters were a bit redundant and full of fillers, but the theme was to tell you that you are now working to help other people, aka “your boss” to make money, which is a waste of your time and effort, so your life needs a big make-over. It’s a bit ironic that every chapter of the book ends with a link to the author’s “Click Millionaire” website, so indirectly, all readers of this book are making money for the author’s online business.

The rest of the book is a bit more useful. The author talked about creating websites, writing blogs, advertising, increasing traffic, as well as freelancing. According to his logic. People with special skills can achieve the lifestyle easier by serving a niche of the market, but normal people who know nothing do not need to despair, either. Everything you need is on his Click Millionaire website. You just have to have the right mentality and a good plan.

I’ll say this book is a bit more bluff than practical, but for desperate people who needs to make money utilizing the web. It might not hurt to give this a look, just be prepared that you’ll need the author's consultation service to proceed further…

(Thanks to AMACOM for providing a free copy through NetGalley for my review)

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Shadow of Night (A Discovery of Witches, book 2)

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Every so often, a book comes along. It’s everything you imagine a great fiction to be. It evokes the tremendous joy of just being able to read, to immerse yourself in a book so fully, to jump into a journey where every sense in your body is heightened, and your mind stimulated. Then the last page is turned, you sigh with sadness since you know you will not be able to find another book like this for a long, long time.

Shadow of Night is such a book.

I wrote these in my review of the first book of the trilogy:

“The author has in depth knowledge not only about history, but also science, architecture, Europe, culinary delights and wine… The book immediately reminded me of "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova, since both story took me to places in Europe that I've never been and historical periods that were so enlightening…..The story will be a delight for people who actually enjoy accurate scientific, historical, culinary and geographical information. The author has a wealth of knowledge and a unique style of writing and she's willing to share.”

The review still rings true for the second installment, and more so. For readers who disliked the first installment of the series due to the slowness of the beginning, you’ll be delighted to hear that this book started right at the part where the first book dropped off, and is a thrill ride all the way to the end. You can also find satisfactory answers to most, if not all the burning questions that you had after reading A Discovery of Witches. I know it’s a gruesome wait for the second book in the series, but the wait is well worth it…this book surpassed everything I had imagined it to be.

The story begins right where the first book left off, Matthew and Diana landed in Elizabethan England, 1590, hoping to find the enchanted Ashmole 782, as well as someone to help the spellbound Diana to learn her abilities. You’ll be surprised to encounter real historical characters that came alive under Harkness’ pen. Harkness’ take on Christopher Marlowe, Elizabeth I, Walter Raleigh and others were unique and creative, yet totally believable. I wrote in my review of ADoW how I fell in love with all the characters in the first book, yet I’m equally invested in all the new characters in Shadow of Night, both historical and fictional. It’s heartbroken to realize that these characters live in another space and time, and the only way I could reconnect with them is through the re-reading of this book.

If you loved A Discovery of Witches because of Harkness’ extensive and detailed descriptions of everything, you’re in for another treat. Harkness bought Elizabethan England to life using her professional knowledge and her unique writing voice: fashion, writing, architecture, food, music, writing, cooking, art, jewelries, home decors, smell of spices, and even the sound of church bells…. Be prepared to be immersed into 1600 Europe, from England to France and Prague, whether if you’re prepared or not. I recommend you to drop or finish every other book in your list to get ready for the most sensual ride in your life.

I also love how Harkness incorporated a short chapter of the present after each part of the book. It shows how Diana and Matthew’s interference with the past affects the future. Everything that we do or not do has an impact in future, especially in our loved one and family’s life. Hopefully, history is valued and lessons learned. These chapters showed us how important it is to seize the moment and live your life, because there’s no going back. A few tender moments bought tears to my eyes. Compared to ADoW, the second book is much more emotional.

Romance. Matthew and Diana in the 1600s were not without their problems. Matthew in Elizabethan era was a much more complex and dark character. The society was also less friendly for females, especially a witch with a weird accent. However, fans looking forward to more romance between them will not be disappointed. There are lots and lots of tender moments and love. It made up for what was lacking in A Discovery of Witches.

If I write anymore here, this review will become a book! I do have a few recommendations before you jump in for the journey of your life: 1) Read A Discovery of Witches first. There’s no way you could understand the plot and all the complexity of this book if you don’t know the history of the characters. 2) Many new characters are introduced in this book. Use the appendix/Guide at the end of the book to familiar yourself with them. They are divided by location, quite clever. 3) If you are going to look for a simple, easy read for entertainment, this book is not for you; but if you love history, science, Europe, art, literature, geography, religion, philosophy, (food and wine for ADoW)…then, get this book (and the first).

(Thanks for Penguin Group for allowing me to access an advance ebook for review through NetGalley. This book will be published on July 10, 2012)

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