Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls

I stumbled upon Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Stories of Extraordinary Women by Elena Favili at my local library and fell in love with it. Each "story" is a mini-biography of a different woman written in the style of a classic fairy tale - openers range from "once upon a time" to "a long time ago." Each story is written simply enough for a child to understand, yet simultaneously not dumbed down so as to be tedious for an adult reader and is accompanied by a picture of the subject, as well as an inspirational quote. This book is at the absolute top of my Christmas list for my daughter.

No Middle Name

I first discovered Lee Child sometime around 2010. At the time I was still working in Northern Virginia and living way out in northern central Virginia. My commute was around 100 miles round trip and, for those of you who have experienced that area's traffic, you know that means I had a loooooong commute. Like close to 4 hours a day in the car, 5 days a week. To keep from going insane, I listened to a LOT of audiobooks.

My local library had tons of books on CD and I went through them at a rate of 2-3 per week. I quickly went through their collection of authors I was already a fan of and books I had on my to-read list. I noticed The Killing Floor was a recommended listen one week when I was in picking up my latest stack and decided to give it a try. I loved it. I was totally sucked in to the world of Jack none Reacher. The books in the series quickly became favorites to listen to on my commute.

My life has changed a lot since those days. I moved to Oklahoma and stopped commuting so far - these days I'm a stay-at-home mom and Etsy-shopkeep and it takes me about a year to put the same number of miles on my car now that I used to accumulate in under a month and I rarely listen to audiobooks anymore. I still love Jack Reacher though and I still eagerly anticipate each year's newest installment in his world courtesy of Lee Child.

No Middle Name: The Complete Collected Jack Reacher Short Stories is a short story collection you can read at any point in the series - none of the stories are reliant on any of the books. I've read other short story collections tied in to book series before and I have to say, this one is, by far, the best I've read. Other authors have made the mistake of putting vital information into the stories that make subsequent novels difficult to follow or create collections that must be read in a specific order and in between specific books to be fully comprehensible. Not so with No Middle Name. Each story stands alone as either a mini Reacher adventure (Second Son, Too Much Time) or simply as character background filler (No Room at the Motel, Everyone Talks). Even the stories that are barely about Reacher (James Penney's New Identity) serve a purpose. I might even recommend this collection to anyone who hasn't yet picked up a Reacher novel as a quick intro to the character and to Child's writing style.

I really loved this collection. It almost makes the wait to the newest Reacher novel bearable. Almost.

Blame

Blame is the latest offering from one of my favorites, Jeff Abbott, and it does not disappoint. The last few years have been all about the Sam Capra series and, while I love Sam's ongoing adventures and escapades, I was so ready for a new standalone Abbott novel.

Nobody does suspense quite like Jeff Abbott. He has a way of sucking you in to the story and just refusing to let go. The only bad thing about this book was how long it took me to read it. If I'd had my way, I'd have probably read through it cover to cover in one sitting. Sadly, I have responsibilities so I found myself having to take my time with it.

Blame is the story of Jane Norton and her memory. Imagine you woke up one day and didn't know who you were. There are people all around telling you they're your family, they're your friends, but you don't remember anything. That's what happened to Jane. After a devastating car crash that killed David, the boy next door and put Jane into a coma, she wakes up with severe amnesia. Slowly she recovers the memories from the first 14 years of her life, but the last 3 are a blank. All she knows about the accident that nearly killed her is that everyone thinks it was her fault - that she tried to kill herself and David. Two years later, she gets a disturbing message - "I know what you claim you don't remember, Jane. I know what happened that night. And I'm going to tell. All will pay."

Jane resolves to find out what really happened that night. Did she try to commit suicide? Is she guilty of murdering her oldest friend? Or is something much more twisted going on?

I can't gush enough over how much I loved this one. If you're a fan of suspense, don't miss this book. It's fantastic.

The Cuban Affair

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Cuban Affair is the latest offering from Nelson DeMille. If you're a fan of DeMille's John Corey books, you'll almost certainly like this novel - the hero, Mac, is basically John Corey with a  different background. Honestly, the two characters are so similar in speech and personality that I found myself distracted throughout the entire book wondering why DeMille even created Mac when he could have just as easily had John retire to Key West and buy a boat.

At any rate, it's a solid story. Mac is a charter boat captain with a mortgaged boat he can't afford. Along comes Sarah, a Cuban-American beauty who offers him a few million dollars to help her out with a top secret fortune recovery mission in Cuba.

There's a lot of information about Cuba in this book but it never comes off as travelogue-y, which it might have in less experienced, less skilled hands. It's a slow build to the action, but once it gets going, you won't be able to put it down. I've got a hunch this is just the first installment in a new franchise from DeMille and, if I'm right, I'm definitely looking forward to the next in the series.

We Were 8 Years In Power

I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ta-Nehisi Coates first hit my radar a few years ago when his book, Between the World and Me was blowing up the bestseller lists. When I saw he had this new book coming out I immediately requested a copy from the publisher and crossed my fingers. Happily, my request was approved and I dove right in the same weekend the city of Charlotteville in my home state of Virginia was overrun by white supremacists.

We Were 8 Years in Power: An American Tragedy, takes its name from a speech given in 1895 by South Carolina congressman Thomas Miller. He stated,

"We were eight years in power. We had built schoolhouses, established charitable institutions, built and maintained the penitentiary system, provided for the education of the deaf and dumb, rebuilt the ferries. In short, we had reconstructed the State and place it upon the road to prosperity."

Coates takes this quote and ties his collection of essays together around it. The format is simple - a re-printing of 8 of his pieces from The Atlantic, one for each year of the Obama presidency, along with a reflective introduction to each. Coates is hard on himself when it comes to his earlier work and is unflinchingly honest about why he believes he's been a success. At times he gives himself too little credit and forgets (or is too humble to admit) that at least part of his success is due to his great talent for writing. There is a progression in skill to be seen here, but the raw talent for the written word shines through from even the earliest piece.  

I could actually write about this book for days. I loved it. I think everyone should read it with an open mind. I think it's going to be polarizing though because a lot of white people are going to hate it. Coates is unafraid of peeling back the mask and showing the ugly supremacist foundation our country has been built on and refuses to acknowledge. He tackles racism head on and doesn't sugar-coat his feelings in deference to white fragility. Some will find that hard to swallow. Sadly, those are the ones who need to absorb his message the most. 

I read that Coates is now working on an historical fiction novel. I can't wait to add it to my to-read stack as soon as the title and pre-order date are released.

We Were 8 Years In Power will be available at all booksellers on October 3, 2017.

Public Relations

                                        

Public Relations by Katie Heaney and Arianna Rebolini tells the story of  Rose Reed, an up and coming publicist at the fast paced fictional PR firm of Weaver-Girard. Desperate to impress her hard-to-read boss Joanna, Rose is an anxiety riddled mess who happens to be a bit of a genius when it comes to music PR. She gets the chance to sit in on a meeting with Archie Fox, an obvious Harry Styles stand-in, who is in serious need of a career boost and manages to impress him with her idea - a staged romance between Archie and too-cool-for-life new artist Raya. As time goes on though, Rose starts to feel like maybe a real romance is in order with her as the leading lady..

Public Relations is one of those books that needs to be a movie. It's a fast-paced, ridiculously over the top, full of cliches, romantic comedy that somehow just works. There are parts that I hated (for the love of god, don't base your hero on such an easily identifiable real-life guy!!!) but mostly I loved it.

I did have a few issues (of course). I would have been so much more impressed if Rose's issues had been dealt with more. Why is she so anxious? Why does she have so little self-confidence when she's clearly very gifted at what she does? As is too common in these sorts of books (spoiler alert!) the focus is mainly on the heroine getting her man by the end and less on the heroine becoming a complete, healthy, independent, successful human being. This book, like so many others out there, sends that tired old message that says you can't be complete unless you've landed yourself a man.

Also: Harry Styles? Really? The obviousness of the real-life counterpart took me out of the story a lot. A lot a lot. That aspect of the book made it less like a "real" novel and more like fanfic. And don't get me wrong - I like fanfic. Well-written fanfic has its place. Just not in a book you pay money for. At times I felt like I was intruding on the authors' private fantasies and it felt kind of squicky.

The writing is strong enough to overcome the books flaws in the end and I highly recommend this one. And I seriously do hope it gets picked up and becomes a movie. It would be an excellent addition to the genre of rom-coms that everyone loves to bitch about but also secretly watches every time they're on tv (I'm looking at you 27 Dresses).

The Great American Read

I recently heard about The Great American Read, a new, 8-episode series PBS has planned for next summer. The first episode is set to cover America's 100 favorite book and I'm looking forward to watching the show, if only to see what books are mentioned. Plus I'm always looking for new book recommendations.

I think we can all guess that the favorite book in episode 1 will be To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Let's not even try to pretend it won't be. And I could write a whole damned separate blog about the absurdity of this country choosing that book as a favorite set against the backdrop of the events that took place in Charlottesville, VA this past weekend and the subsequent "both sides are to blame" aftermath that I'm starting to hear, but I'll try to restrain myself.

Instead, the question I ask is this: why are we all so pretentious about our favorite book? You see it over and over again. When asked what book is their favorite, people will automatically say something like To Kill a Mockingbird or Pride and Prejudice or The Great Gatsby. And don't get me wrong, they're all great books. Well, ok, full disclosure? I have issues with To Kill a Mockingbird that only became stronger when Go Set A Watchman came out.  And if I'm being truly, 100% honest? Outside of a few truly fantastic lines, I didn't care for The Great Gatsby either. It just... it left me cold for reasons I've never been able to quite put my finger on.

And if we do all have to claim classics or literary fiction for favorite books, why not Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns, or The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood? Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe? Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan (warning - you will cry. A lot.)? There are so many fantastic books out there and it makes me so mad to see the same 4 or 5 mentioned all the time while the rest drift into obscurity or are dismissed as commercial trash.

That's not to say I don't love the classics or that I'm like a dedicated YA and chick lit reader. Great Expectations really is one of my favorites - really anything by Dickens is good. And I do love Jane Austen. I can get down with a heavy, serious, weighty book. The classics are classics for a reason, for the most part.

I just have a hard time believing that, in a country where so many people are addicted to celebrity culture and reality tv, where libraries are constantly struggling to get funding, and where something like a third of the population freely and unashamedly admits they haven't read a single book since finishing high school, the proclaimed favorite books are classics. Sure.

So I propose that we all start telling the truth. I'll start.

While I don't really have a favorite book, per se, I have read Jemima J by Jane Green more than 10 times. I love that book. It's simple and unrealistic and silly and I love the damned thing.

I've recommended Ernest Cline's Ready Player One more times than I can count and I've read it three times already myself. I think anyone who has even a slight memory of the 80s or who just likes that era of pop culture will adore it and that it's not to be missed.

I love anything Stephen King puts out (except for Gerald's Game and Rose Madder - those two were awful, sorry SK - I hated them and I'm not even going to link them here) even though he's technically a genre writer. I proudly proclaim here and now that he is the modern Charles Dickens.

My Legendary Girlfriend, by Mike Gayle is another chick lit (but with the twist that it's writtten by a guy!) fluff book that I'm not ashamed to call it a favorite. I read it in my first apartment while my life was still very much an unformed messy thing and I think that for that reason, it stuck with me.

I read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn two times in a row in the space of one week and was obsessed with getting everyone I knew to read it afterwards. I would definitely count it as a favorite.

All of the Jack Reacher books by Lee Child are my favorites. They are the best books to devour on a rainy afternoon. Jack Reacher is a badass whose methods I would 100% condemn in reality but in book form? More please! Along the same lines: Nelson DeMille's John Corey books.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon is problematic for various reasons, but I love it anyway. It's just a good book. Unburdened by the excessive detail and repetition of her later books, it's a really great romance and I would absolutely put it in my top ten.

I could go on, but I think I've made my point. A favorite book doesn't have to be serious. It doesn't have to be a classic, it doesn't have to impress. What it has to do is make you feel something - happy, sad, frustrated, anything. After all, isn't that how art is defined? I was always taught that art is anything that makes you feel something. Even if you hate it, if it provokes a feeling in you, it's art. And what are books but art?

I challenge all my readers to tell me your real favorite book. And if it is a classic, no shame in that. I mean, Pride and Prejudice really is a good book. And so are a lot of other really serious, important books. For instance, Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimimanda Ngozie Adichie is brilliant I truly hope to eventually see it gaining classic status. It made me cry and it sparked an interest in modern African history and I highly recommend it to all. The author also has a couple of amazing TED Talks out there that everyone should check out.

Just don't say a book is your favorite because you think your favorite has to be important. Say it's your favorite because it's the book you would want on a desert island or that you recommend to everyone you know.