Sort of like the movie 2 Days in New York that I watched last week, I am not sure if I admired or hated this book. The writing is good, I guess. It's sophisticated, but not showy, but the characters might be a little hard to love.
It's weird when a book takes place in a neighborhood you know incredibly well, but is in a universe you've heard about but don't recognize, populated by alcoholic, bigoted police officers. Buried on Avenue B has a second location, Sarasota, Florida, which is not far from Tampa, where I went to grad school. The people in the Publix grocery stores in Sarasota are depicted as nicer than the ones I encountered in Tampa, but there was one commonality--old men bagging groceries. De Jonge assumes they're doing it for the minimum wage. In my naivete, I want to believe it is for something to do.
I like this Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge idea some friend posted to Facebook. (Sorry I can't remember who!) I like this list because it's quirky and somewhat less dude-centric than a lot of you-should-have-read-these-100-books-to-be-worthy types of lists. It is pretty white, though. The person I snagged the list from, snagged it from The Book Club Forum. I fixed a few obvious typos. I wish whoever compiled the list included only things that were actually read, preferably by Rory, not stuff like random movies titles or characters Lorelei blurts out.
The ones I haven't read are in bold, and I've added commentary to a few.
Amish teen Katie is looking forward to going on Rumspringa with her boyfriend Elijah. Instead she finds herself fighting evil, as well Elijah and the community elders. If the premise sounds ridiculous, unfortunately its execution kind of is. Unless it's meant to be silly, like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and books of that ilk?
I've now read the material in this book three times, once as a series of blog posts, the second time in manuscript and now as a gen-u-ine book. Three times, and each time I was dazzled by Laura's honesty, insight, generosity, kindness, love, snark and beautiful writing.
The title pretty much tells you what it's about, the non-LC subject headings give you a few more clues:
Crossett, Laura--Confessions.
Pregnant women--Mental Health.
Christian biography--United States.
Pregnancy, Unplanned--United States. [Extra fun: search your favorite library catalog for "unplanned pregnanc*" and see what subject headings your results yield.]
Wayward spinsters--Iowa--Iowa City.
Intrauterine contraceptives--FAIL.
(Disclaimer: I am friends with Laura, and I helped with the subject headings.)
Highlights from the May 2013 SACO editorial meeting and new LCSH from April 2013.
Yes, I'm three books in to Pretty Little Liars. I don't even like it anymore, but I'm not sure I can stop.
I was really looking forward to reading this graphic memoir of growing up in 1980s Poland. Sowa and Savoia depict lots of surprising realities--the privations of life behind the Iron Curtain, like chewing window putty for want of gum--and life-shaking historical moments, like Solidarnosc, but maybe because Sowa was so young during the time period she's telling us about, there isn't enough nuance or engagement to make her story as compelling as I wanted it to be.
You know I love the Sookie Stackhouse series, right?, but like with so many endings to television series, the finale was a bit of a disappointment. I'm okay with who Sookie ended up with, but the whole book was a set-up for it, and there were lots of loose ends unnecessarily tied up.
One thing I appreciate is that the series doesn't attempt to drag one secret out for the entire gazillion books. In the beginning of the second Pretty Little Liars book, you find out the big deal from book one.