Short and Sweet Book Review: Between Here and April

Between Here and April by Deborah Kogan (web site)
Genre: adult fiction
Publisher: Algonquin, Sept. 30, 2008
Hardcover 288 pages

From Goodreads:

When a deep-seated memory suddenly surfaces, Elizabeth Burns becomes obsessed with the long-ago disappearance of her childhood friend April Cassidy. Driven to investigate, Elizabeth discovers a thirty-five-year-old newspaper article revealing the details that had been hidden from her as a child-shocking revelations about April's mother, Adele.

Elizabeth, now herself a mother, seeks out anyone who might help piece together the final months, days, and hours of this troubled woman's life, but the answers yield only more questions. And those questions lead back to Elizabeth's own life: her own compromised marriage, her increasing self-doubt and dissatisfaction, and finally, a fearsome reckoning with what it means to be a wife and mother.

 Ever since Brook Shields went public about her postpartum depression, the world really learned how devastating this disorder can be (the world also learned what a jerk Tom Cruise is). If Brook had been a mother in the 1970s, it's likely her story might have ended up like Adele's. This book explores the disorder and sheds some light on the progression of mental illness and the link between depression and family history of depression. It also illustrates the lack of understanding of postpartum depression in the 1970s and thus the failure to treat it appropriately. The book started out good and kept me interested however it took a turn I didn't expect. I understand why the author chose the path she took but it didn't really work for me. This is a an adult fiction book and I wouldn't recommend it for young adults due to the sexual content.

Book Giveaway: Hidden Wives

Crazy For Books is having a book giveaway!

From Goodreads:

Fifteen-year-old Sara and her beautiful sister, Rachel, are too young to legally drive a car—but are approaching spinsterhood in Utah’s secret Blo...more Fifteen-year-old Sara and her beautiful sister, Rachel, are too young to legally drive a car—but are approaching spinsterhood in Utah’s secret Blood of the Lamb polygamist community. Having long since reached the “age of preparedness,” they will soon be married off to much older men selected by the hidden sect’s revered Prophet. As Sara, chosen to become her uncle’s fifth wife, grows more distraught over her impending incestuous marriage, she begins to scrutinize the faith she has followed blindly her entire life. But for Rachel, who will be married to one of the many powerful community leaders vying for her hand, disobeying the Prophet means eternal damnation. Her friendship with the newest member of the community, the young and handsome Luke, starts as an attempt to save his agnostic soul, but ends with the pair falling helplessly in love. When Rachel is forbidden to see him, her absolute faith in the Prophet is severely tested. When Rachel’s future husband is finally announced, violence erupts, and the girls must find the strength to escape the only life they have ever known…before it’s too late.

Hurry on over to Crazy For Books to enter this giveaway, it ends Aug. 1 and there will be three winners!

Short and Sweet Book Review: Crossing

Crossing by Andrew Fukuda (web site)
Genre: mystery/suspense, ya
Publisher: AmazonEncore, April 27, 2010
Paperback 217 pages

From Goodreads:

A loner in his all-white high school, Chinese-born Xing (pronounced “Shing”) is a wallflower longing for acceptance. His isolation is intensified by his increasingly awkward and undeniable crush on his only friend, the beautiful and brilliant Naomi Lee. Xing’s quiet adolescent existence is rattled when a series of disappearances rock his high school and fear ripples through the blue collar community in which he lives. Amidst the chaos surrounding him, only Xing, alone on the sidelines of life, takes notice of some peculiar sightings around town. He begins to investigate with the hope that if he can help put an end to the disappearances, he will finally win the acceptance for which he has longed. However, as Xing draws closer to unveiling the identity of the abductor, he senses a noose of suspicion tightening around his own neck. While Xing races to solve the mystery and clear his name, Crossing hurtles readers towards a chilling climax.

I became interested in this book when I saw it advertised on Goodreads with the description-creepy. Oh how I love a creepy book! When I finished this book I was really left with the feeling of "how tragic!" Xing is truly an outsider in his own town. No one really knows him except his best friend, and fellow Chinese immigrant, Naomi. When it came right down to it, Naomi didn't really know Xing the way she thought she did. Most people who came in contact with Xing didn't even realize he could speak English. Throughout the story you could feel his contempt towards his town and school. At times you might even dislike him. It's hard enough to fit in when you're a teenager but for Xing this problem is even further complicated by his ethnicity. Another reviewer of this book commented that the prologue gave the impression that the ending would be different than the final outcome-I must agree. This is a dark story...the ending will leave you feeling distraught and pondering the whole mess. I recommend this book if you're in the mood for a brooding, dark mystery. Due to some crude language this book would be appropriate for an older teen.

Follow My Book Blog Friday

Today is Friday and you know what that means! Time to visit and discover new blogs. Please leave a comment and let me know if you are a new follower and I will do the same:-)

Follow My Book Blog Friday is hosted by Parajunkee's View.

This week I won Picture the Dead by Adele Griffin from Dark Faerie Tales!
I can't wait to read it.


To join the fun and make now book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee.com } and any one else you want to follow on the list
2. Follow our Featured Bloggers - toreadornottoread-vampangel.blogspot.com/
3. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.
4. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
5. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can
6. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
7. If you want to show the link list, just follow the link below the entries and copy and paste it within your post! 

Create- A- Cover

Activity #10 for the Summer Break Reading Challenge is to create a fake cover and write a short synopsis. I think is is my favorite activity to date! I've seen this done before on Karin's blog but this is the first time I've participated. For directions for this activity go here.

Modify by Wand J. Martin 

In a sport dominated by men, Cassie knows she has what it takes to be a world class motocross racer. So why is she dressed up as a Rockstar Girl passing out trophies to the likes of arrogant Shep Barnes, three time motocross national champion?

When Travis Pastrana comes to town a chance meeting sets the wheels in motion for Cassie to realize her dreams. But can they pull it off?

Everyone at the local dirt track will be in shock and awe when a mysterious new racer shows up out of the blue one day. None more so than Shep who, up until now, was the track's sensation. He makes it his personal mission to discover who the stranger is hiding behind the dark helmet.

Find out what happens when Cassie starts shifting gears and kicking rears!

For fun I'm posting the cover before my edits!

before edits

When I'm Not Reading

I just discovered this fun meme at The Unread Reader. The point of this meme is to spotlight something we do when we're not...ahem, reading.

About three years ago, I discovered the joys of Photoshop Elements. I already knew how to do the simple stuff like basic color correcting and cropping but that was pretty much it. Now I've taught myself to do minor photo restoration, digital scrapbook pages, and some cool photo effects. It's rather time consuming (like blogging) and tough to pull yourself away from the computer.lol

A photo restoration

Digital scrapbook page of my dog Harley

Another digital page of my son when he was a baby

Photo effect: day to night with fireworks

A great web site for learning Photoshop Elements is
 Adobe Photoshop Elements Techniques

What do you do when you're not reading?
To find out more about the When I'm Not Reading meme, check here!       

Short & Sweet Book Review: Going Bovine

Going Bovine by Libba Bray (web site)
Genre: young adult
Publisher: Delacorte Sept. 22, 2009
Hardcover 480 pages

From Goodreads:

Cameron Smith, 16, is slumming through high school, overshadowed by a sister “pre-majoring in perfection,” while working (ineptly) at the Buddha Burger. Then something happens to make him the focus of his family's attention: he contracts mad cow disease. What takes place after he is hospitalized is either that a gorgeous angel persuades him to search for a cure that will also save the world, or that he has a vivid hallucination brought on by the disease. Either way, what readers have is an absurdist comedy in which Cameron, Gonzo (a neurotic dwarf) and Balder (a Norse god cursed to appear as a yard gnome) go on a quixotic road trip during which they learn about string theory, wormholes and true love en route to Disney World. Bray's surreal humor may surprise fans of her historical fantasies about Gemma Doyle, as she trains her satirical eye on modern education, American materialism and religious cults (the smoothie-drinking members of the Church of Everlasting Satisfaction and Snack 'N' Bowl). Offer this to fans of Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy seeking more inspired lunacy.

When I learned Going Bovine won the Printz award I decided I needed to read it to see what all the fuss was about.This book is one of the most quote-worthy books I've ever read...I was laughing out loud throughout the story!

The revolution at CESSNAB:

"My Happiness wants your happiness to go to hell"

Gonzo's tattoo in the shape of a Buddha cow:

"How now mad cow?"

Balder's justification for taking a frat boys drug money:

"His wealth is ill-gotten. And once he dressed me as a "Hootchie Mama" and posted Internet pictures on a fetish site called Naughty Gnomes. I cannot adequately convey the trauma of it."

Knowing Cameron had a terminal disease and that the closer I got to the end of the book meant the closer I got to his death was difficult. I liked this kid and wanted to see a different outcome for him. I'm a mom to a 16 year old boy and can't even imagine such a young life being cut so short. With that said, I think every parent of a teenage boy (and every teenage boy) should read this book. It offers insight for a parent who might wonder "what the heck is going on in my kid's head", and it's full of teenage mayhem that every teenage boy would love. Simply put, it's the road-trip of a lifetime:-)

I highly recommend this book and think that you will fall in love with the characters! It's difficult to pick just one but if I had to I would chose Balder the noble gnome:-)

p.s. Check out my post "My Book in Pictures" of Going Bovine

My Book in Pictures: Going Bovine by Libba Bray

For the Summer Break Reading Challenge activity #9 our task was to create a blog post using pictures to tell the story we are currently reading or have recently read. I knew I had to use Going Bovine as I just finished listening to it on an audio book. This was by far my favorite book to listen to. I actually started out reading it and then downloaded the free audio version from my library's web site. I know I won't be able to do this book justice (you should read this book), but here goes...

Sixteen year old Cameron Smith is kind of a Slacker. His motto is "No expectations equals no failed expectations equals no hurt feelings. Everything's cool." Everything changes when he learns he has Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, the human form of Mad Cow Disease. 

Cameron is visited in the hospital by a punk angel named Dulcie. She tells him there's a cure for his disease but he has to find Dr. X...oh and he has to save the universe too.

Cameron sets off on a wild road trip with his sidekick Gonzo to find Dr. X. Along the way he they must battle the forces of evil.

"Who's your Caddy"
A side note here- this book is filled with "udder" teenage mayhem and hilarious laugh out loud quotes. Every parent of a teenage boy (and every teenage boy) should read this book!

Enter Balder, the Viking god (yard gnome). He's had a rough go of it...being toted around and humiliated by some frat boys. He joins up with Gonzo and Cameron and offers his great Norse wisdom too.

Cameron's adventures are actually the result of his diseased brain however his trip (no pun intended) is significant in finding out who he really is. The message spoke loud and clear to me that it's never too late to become the person you were meant to be...


Going Bovine was the 2010 Printz award winner.

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is a fun meme hosted at The Story Siren where we share what books we received this week.

Here's what I got...

 Crossing by Andrew Xia Fukuda  (Web Site)

From Goodreads:

A loner in his all-white high school, Chinese-born Xing (pronounced “Shing”) is a wallflower longing for acceptance. His isolation is intensified by his increasingly awkward and undeniable crush on his only friend, the beautiful and brilliant Naomi Lee. Xing’s quiet adolescent existence is rattled when a series of disappearances rock his high school and fear ripples through the blue collar community in which he lives. Amidst the chaos surrounding him, only Xing, alone on the sidelines of life, takes notice of some peculiar sightings around town. He begins to investigate with the hope that if he can help put an end to the disappearances, he will finally win the acceptance for which he has longed. However, as Xing draws closer to unveiling the identity of the abductor, he senses a noose of suspicion tightening around his own neck. While Xing races to solve the mystery and clear his name, Crossing hurtles readers towards a chilling climax.

I've seen the reviews for this one and it looks awesome!

Book Review: The Passage

The Passage by Justin Cronin (web site)
Genre: horror, apcocalyptic
Publisher: Ballantine, June 8, 2010
Hardcover 766 pages

From Goodreads:

"It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born."

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

With The Passage, award-winning author Justin Cronin has written both a relentlessly suspenseful adventure and an epic chronicle of human endurance in the face of unprecedented catastrophe and unimaginable danger. Its inventive storytelling, masterful prose, and depth of human insight mark it as a crucial and transcendent work of modern fiction.
From the Publisher (Random House)

So my first thoughts on this novel are what a great read this was! It's the first time in awhile that I've lost myself in a story. I found myself caring deeply for the characters and praying for their salvation (though you know some of them are gonna die along the way). This book has frequently been compared to Stephen King's The Stand and I'm going to have to strongly agree here. Two comparisons that immediately come to mind are...shared dreams/visions and a wise, old, woman. The Passage's Auntie reminded me so much of Mother Abigail ("I'm 106 years old, and I still makes my own bread."). Like other great apocalyptic reads, there is that desire to know what is still left of the world. In the case of Mary (The Forest of Hands and Teeth) and Peter (The Passage), they want to know about the ocean. Their desire to discover the unknown, even at the risk of losing their lives, is all consuming.


I like the way Cronin drops clues along the journey. I have my own theories of the significance of Amy's Peter the Rabbit...it can't be coincidence.

My only true complaint with The Passage is the confusion I felt when the book jumps ahead about 100 years into the future and describes life in the survivor's colony.  The book goes into a lot of detail on the rules of the new society and the roles of the inhabitants. It was the one time I wished I hadn't been reading it on a Kindle, as I would have been flipping back and forth trying to refresh my memory on who was who and from what family they came from.


Another awesome novel that ranks right up there with The Passage and The Stand is Robert McCammon's The Swan Song. What sets this book apart from the other two is that the world ends with a nuclear disaster ...the world is a wasteland. If you've read The Road by Cormac McCarthy then you know what I mean.

I've been reading on the internet that The Passage is the first book in a trilogy-wow, that's pretty ambitious considering the whopping size of this one! With that said, the book ends with somewhat of a cliff-hanger but it's still a satisfying conclusion. I'm really looking forward to his second installment.

"Waiting On" Wednesday:Banished

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week I'm waiting on....

Banished by Sophie Littlefield
Genre: Fiction, Young Adult
Publisher: Delacorte, Oct. 12 2010

From Goodreads:

Sixteen-year-old Hailey Tarbell can’t wait for the day she’ll leave Gypsum, Missouri, far behind, taking only four-year-old Chub, the developmentally-delayed little boy her cruel drug-dealing grandmother fosters for the state money. But when a freak accident in gym class leaves a girl in critical condition, Hailey feels drawn to lay her hands on the injured girl and an astonishing healing takes place. Before Hailey can understand her new powers, a beautiful stranger shows up…just in time to save her and Chub from hired killers. A desperate race begins, with Hailey as the ultimate prize: there are those who will stop at nothing to harness her gifts to create an undefeatable army of the undead. Now it is up to Hailey and a small but determined family of healers to stand up to the unbelievable and face the unthinkable.

I love to read about "the undead"...this should be a good one:-)

Apocalyptic Read A-likes

"It's the end of the world as we know it"-REM

For the Summer Break Reading Challenge activity #8 we were to make a Read A-Like list. Ever since reading Stephen King's The Stand I've been captivated by tales of the apocalypse. Currently I'm reading Justin Cronin's The Passage which is fast becoming my second favorite.

From Goodreads, The Passage by Justin Cronin:

"It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born."

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

With The Passage, award-winning author Justin Cronin has written both a relentlessly suspenseful adventure and an epic chronicle of human endurance in the face of unprecedented catastrophe and unimaginable danger. Its inventive storytelling, masterful prose, and depth of human insight mark it as a crucial and transcendent work of modern fiction.
From the Publisher (Random House)

From Goodreads, Swan Song by Robert McCammon:

Swan Song is rich with such characters as an ex-wrestler named Black Frankenstein, a New York City bag lady who feels power coursing from a weird glass ring, a boy who claws his way out of a destroyed survivalist compound. They gather their followers and travel toward each other, all bent on saving a blonde girl named Swan from the Man of Many Faces. Swan Song is often compared to Stephen King's The Stand, and for the most part, readers who enjoy one of the two novels, will enjoy the other. Like The Stand, it's an end-of-the-world novel, with epic sweep, apocalyptic drama, and a cast of vividly realized characters. But the tone is somewhat different: The good is sweeter, the evil is more sadistic, and the setting is harsher, because it's the world after a nuclear holocaust. Swan Song won a 1988 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel. It's a monster of a horror book, brimming over with stories and violence and terrific imagery--God and the Devil, the whole works.

From Goodreads, Into the Forest by Jean Hegland:

Set in the near-future, Into the Forest is a powerfully imagined novel that focuses on the relationship between two teenage sisters living alone in their Northern California forest home.

Over 30 miles from the nearest town, and several miles away from their nearest neighbor, Nell and Eva struggle to survive as society begins to decay and collapse around them. No single event precedes society's fall. There is talk of a war overseas and upheaval in Congress, but it still comes as a shock when the electricity runs out and gas is nowhere to be found. The sisters consume the resources left in the house, waiting for the power to return. Their arrival into adulthood, however, forces them to reexamine their place in the world and their relationship to the land and each other.

Reminiscent of Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale, Into the Forest is a mesmerizing and thought-provoking novel of hope and despair set in a frighteningly plausible near-future America.

From Goodreads, The Things That Keep us Here by Carla Buckley:

How far would you go to protect your family?

Ann Brooks never thought she’d have to answer that question. Then she found her limits tested by a crisis no one could prevent. Now, as her neighborhood descends into panic, she must make tough choices to protect everyone she loves from a threat she cannot even see. In this chillingly urgent novel, Carla Buckley confronts us with the terrifying decisions we are forced to make when ordinary life changes overnight.

A year ago, Ann and Peter Brooks were just another unhappily married couple trying–and failing–to keep their relationship together while they raised two young daughters. Now the world around them is about to be shaken as Peter, a university researcher, comes to a startling realization: A virulent pandemic has made the terrible leap across the ocean to America’s heartland.

And it is killing fifty out of every hundred people it touches.

As their town goes into lockdown, Peter is forced to return home–with his beautiful graduate assistant. But the Brookses’ safe suburban world is no longer the refuge it once was. Food grows scarce, and neighbor turns against neighbor in grocery stores and at gas pumps. And then a winter storm strikes, and the community is left huddling in the dark.

Trapped inside the house she once called home, Ann Brooks must make life-or-death decisions in an environment where opening a door to a neighbor could threaten all the things she holds dear.

Carla Buckley’s poignant debut raises important questions to which there are no easy answers, in an emotionally riveting tale of one family facing unimaginable stress.

From Goodreads, The Stand by Stephen King:

This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death.

And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides -- or are chosen. A world in which good rides on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abigail -- and the worst nightmares of evil are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the dark man.

From Goodreads, Life as We Knew it by Beth Pfeffer:

It's almost the end of Miranda's sophomore year in high school, and her journal reflects the busy life of a typical teenager: conversations with friends, fights with mom, and fervent hopes for a driver's license. When Miranda first begins hearing the reports of a meteor on a collision course with the moon, it hardly seems worth a mention in her diary. But after the meteor hits, pushing the moon off its axis and causing worldwide earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes, all the things Miranda used to take for granted begin to disappear. Food and gas shortages, along with extreme weather changes, come to her small Pennsylvania town; and Miranda's voice is by turns petulant, angry, and finally resigned, as her family is forced to make tough choices while they consider their increasingly limited options. Yet even as suspicious neighbors stockpile food in anticipation of a looming winter without heat or electricity, Miranda knows that that her future is still hers to decide even if life as she knew it is over.

Summer Break Reading Challenge #7

This challenge is to give a "reading update" on our progress so far.

I've been a slow reader due to a busy summer. Here's what I got so far...
-I'm currently reading The Passage by Justin Cronin...love it
-I'm currently listening to on audio book Going Bovine by Libba Bray
-Next I am planning on reading Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins for the Dystopian Challenge
-So far I've read the following books

1. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
2. House Rules by Rachael Sontag
3.Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by by Randy O. Frost and Gail Steketee
4.The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf

-I'm eagerly awaiting Kiss Me Deadly: 13 Tales of Paranormal Romance (July 25)

Follow My Book Blog Friday

Follow My Book Blog Friday is hosted by Parajunkee's View. This is my first one so let me introduce myself....

I started this book blog (this summer) when our school district had to make cuts and relocate people (thanks to the state of Illinois's budget crisis). Previously I worked in our middle school library and loved it! I enjoyed talking with my students about the books they loved and was reintroduced to the world of young adult literature. This blog is a way of staying connected to some of my former students and to stay current on the latest ya books. I'm meeting a lot of people and having fun developing my blog. If you haven't heard of Karin the Librarians Summer Break Reading Challenge...head over to the site and join in on the fun!

Summer Break Reading Challenge # 6

Heart Throbs!

Activity # 6 for the Summer Break Reading challenge is to write about our literary heart throbs.

Stu Redman (East Texas)- Stu is a simple unassuming man in Stephen Kings's The Stand. He's the kind of guy you want on your side when a deadly plague hits your town. What impressed me most about his character was how gentle and loving he was to Frannie. I can almost hear that wonderful southern drawl....

Sam Roth from Shiver- What I liked about Sam was his sweet caring disposition. He wasn't controlling or overly "macho". He recognized Grace for the strong female character she was. Who couldn't fall in love with those gorgeous, intense eyes?!?!?



Peeta from The Hunger Games- A guy who can cook...enough said:-)

Now post about your literary heart throbs and add your link to Mr. Linky!

Review: House Rules

House Rules by Rachel Sontag
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Bond Street Books, April 1 2008
304 pages

From Goodreads:

A compelling, at times horrifying work that is impossible to put down, House Rules will stand beside Running With Scissors and The Glass Castle as a memoir that cracks open the shell of a desperately dysfunctional family with impressive grace and humour.
Rachel Sontag grew up the daughter of a well-liked doctor in an upper middle class suburb of Chicago. The view from outside couldn't have been more perfect. But within the walls of the family home, Rachel's life was controlled and indeed terrorized by her father's serious depression. In prose that is both precise and rich, Rachel's childhood experience unfolds in a chronological recounting that shows how her father became more and more disturbed as Rachel grew up.
A visceral and wrenching exploration of the impact of a damaged psyche on those nearest to him, House Rules will keep you reading even when you most wish you could look away.

When I saw this book in the young adult section of Barnes and Noble it caught my interest. Many of my students in the library often request A child Called It. I was expecting this to be similar but with more of a focus on mental/emotional abuse. Rachel Sontag's father was a sick man who regularly subjected his daughter to mental cruelty. What I found most interesting about this memoir was Rachel's mother's role in the dysfunctional home. Mrs. Sontag clearly saw what was going on in her house and the fact that Rachel was her husband's regular target of abuse. Her mother wasn't just a bystander watching the train wreck that was her daughter and husband's relationship. Rachel's mother lashed out at her daughter too. A memorable moment in the book was when divorce papers arrived in the mail and Rachel's mother attacked her brutally when she arrived home. Rachael often relied on her quick wit when in the midst of her father's abuse...if the situation hadn't been so sickening you would have laughed at the things she said. I wouldn't consider this memoir a young adult book...there was too much language and sexual content. I think it would be appropriate for an older high school student. After reading this book I've decided I would like to read Because I am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas. It's a fiction, young adult book about a girl who lives in a physically abusive house by isn't the one to receive the physical abuse. It should be an interesting perspective.

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is a fun meme hosted at The Story Siren where we share what books we received this week.

Here's what I got...

The Passage by Justin Cronin
Genre: fiction, horror
Publisher: Ballantine, June 8, 2010
Hardcover, 766 pages

From Goodreads:

"It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born."

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

With The Passage, award-winning author Justin Cronin has written both a relentlessly suspenseful adventure and an epic chronicle of human endurance in the face of unprecedented catastrophe and unimaginable danger. Its inventive storytelling, masterful prose, and depth of human insight mark it as a crucial and transcendent work of modern fiction.

I bought this one on my Kindle due to the behemoth size. I wanted to be able to tote it around without spraining my wrist. I am officially 50% through and can't put it down! I would recommend this book to fans of Stephen King's The Stand. Another great book like this one is Robert McCammon's Swan Song...love it!

Contest at Dark Faerie Tales

I just found this contest at Dark Faerie Tales! The book looks awesome:-) Ever since I watched the movie The Others, with Nicole Kidman, I have been fascinated with post-mortem photography (weird huh). If you would like to read more on that topic the check out the post at Dark Faerie Tales. This contest ends on July 13th...so hurry over for a chance to win this book.

Another book I've been wanting to read is We Hear the Dead by Dianne Salerni.

From Goodreads:

It started out as a harmless prank. But soon enough, spiritualism was the fastest growing movement of the nineteenth century, and Maggie Fox was trapped in a life of deceit.

Meticulously researched by the author, We Hear the Dead reveals the secret of how the Fox sisters faked their rapping sounds and their motives for inventing the séance and founding spiritualism.

Maggie:
I began the deception when I was too young to know right from wrong. No one suspected us of any trick, because we were such young children. We were led on by my sister purposely and by my mother unintentionally. Only with the passing of time did I come to understand the consequences of my actions. As Doctor wrote to me: "Weary, weary is the life by cold deceit oppressed."

Kate:
My sister has used the word "deception." I object to her use of that word, for I do not believe that I have ever intentionally deceived anyone. Maggie has a different understanding of all the events that have happened since that night in Hydesville forty years ago. To her the spirits were always a game. For my sister Leah, they were a means to an end. For my mother, a miracle. And for me, they were my life's calling. I have no regrets.

Review: Water for Elephants

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Algonquin Books, April 9 2006
Paperback 335 pages

From Goodreads:

"Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski's ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger and passion; a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own way of life, and its own way of death. The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell." Jacob was there because his luck had run out - orphaned and penniless, he had no direction until he landed on this locomotive "ship of fools." It was the early part of the Great Depression, and everyone in this third-rate circus was lucky to have any job at all. Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, was there because she fell in love with the wrong man, a handsome circus boss with a wide mean streak. And Rosie the elephant was there because she was the great gray hope, the new act that was going to be the salvation of the circus; the only problem was, Rosie didn't have an act - in fact, she couldn't even follow instructions. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.

I really loved this story. It's about an elderly man who is living in a nursing home. When the circus comes to town, it triggers his memories of working for the Benzini Brothers circus, memories both good and bad. There are flashbacks between Jacob living in the nursing home and the circus, which I enjoyed. You'll fall in love with Rosie, the elephant! She's a real survivor and a character you won't soon forget. I hear there may be a movie in the works. Guess I'll Google that:-)

Last summer my son and I went on a fun vacation to the Wisconsin Dells. One of my favorite attractions was the Circus World Museum in Baraboo Wisconsin. For the admission fee of just $14.95, we enjoyed a large part of our day taking in a magic show, exploring the many exhibits, and marveling at the huge collection of circus wagons. Baraboo is the former winter quarters of the Ringling Brothers Circus. Many of the original buildings are still there. If we had time, we could have watched a one ring circus show and the Tiger Show. I highly recommend a visit to this historic site.