Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.
Top Ten Books Nicole Hopes Santa Will Bring
Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. Those folks like lists and so do I. This week, it’s the Top Ten Books I Want To Give As Gifts (and to who). I am taking a rather abstract approach to the “who†part of this TTT. I’m not going to name names but rather, give you a general idea. I also linked to my reviews below.Â
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern : Give to someone who appreciated Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell by Suzanna Clarke. I loved it!
Women Work and the Art of Savoir Faire by Mareille Guiliano : Every professional female should read this.
Good Boss, Bad Boss by Robert Sutton : Give to all library directors.
Grandpa Green by Lane Smith: Give this to your dad (or grandpa)… I have a copy for my dad ready to go for Christmas.
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys : For anyone who has read and enjoyed Number the Stars and other emotionally moving, well-written war-time novels.
The Boss Baby as Himself by Marla Frazee : The perfect gift for a new parent.
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy : One of my favorite classics. It is perfect for fans of the latest Three Musketeers movie because it’s clever and action packed.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte : My favorite book. I would give a copy to everyone if I could.
Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai : Give this National Book Award winner to a any girl who has had to move to a completely new place. For a boy, go with All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan : Give to a 4th/5th/6th grade teacher because it is the perfect read-aloud.
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Since the Ramsey’s left their Barstow backwater on Route 66 in January, Belle had become graver and the adjustment period showed no signs of lifting (p 8).
In the early hours of morning in quaint Encinitas, California, Darlene is making love to her semi-conscious husband, Lance, when their ten-year-old daughter Belle walks in the room. Frightened by what she sees and already unhappy about the family’s recent move, Belle becomes even more distant from her mother. She clings to her stay-at-home father, a former weather-man turned caregiver who reflects on his role as father in flashbacks to his own childhood.
Eager to have another child, Lance and Darlene struggle to connect emotionally when getting physical. It doesn’t help that Lance has been engaging in frequent tantric sex with Wren, the wife of Darlene’s business partner nor that Darlene has been flirting with Alec, the aforementioned business partner and cuckold.
With a dry sort of humor, this novel moves ahead quickly, propelled by a sense of doom by fire foreshadowed at the start. While it lags in some areas, all comes to a head at the conclusion when everyone seems hell-bent on either sacking or disparaging Lance, the househusband who’s good at the house bit but lousy as a husband.
No one likes to think their spouse is fornicating or flirting with someone else. But let’s be realistic. It happens. A lot more often than your comfortable with, I’m sure. And I appreciated the blunt and sometimes humourous nature with which the issue was handled, though some of the dialog seemed like prepared campaign speeches. A unique book with a distinct feel.
Read other reviews:
BookNAround
Chronogram Magazine
Library copy | Thomas Dunne Books | January 18, 2011 | ISBN 978-0312656669 | Adult | 304 pages | $ 23.99
Since her mother’s adultry split her family, seventeen-year-old McLean has been moving from town to town, attending four different schools in two years as her father retools failing restaurants than moves on. With each move, McLean reinvents herself, giving herself a new version of middle name, Elizabeth, and a new persona. Now at her fifth school, McLean’s true name and, eventaully, true self emerges and she makes friends at school and at Luna Blue, the restaurant her father is attempting to save.
I’ve enjoyed every Dessen book I’ve ever read so maybe it was inevitable I’d meet one I didn’t enjoy. This story felt forced, the reader was not to my liking and the dialog was corny and cliché much of the time. And for once, it wasn’t about a boy swooping in to solve the heroine’s problems. I was so looking forward to that. Instead, it was soemtimes (ok, mostly) painful listening. I’m just going to move on and looking ahead to Dessen’s next.
Library copy | Penguin Audio | Unabridged | ISBN 978-0142429402 | 9 sound discs | Ages 15+
The town had emptied out because this was prize day at the fair. But when we went by The Coffee Pot Cafe, there were faces at the window, and a loafer or two paused on the sidewalk to see us pass. Grandma inclined her head slightly. Most people wouldn’t take their bows till after they’d won a blue ribbon, but Grandma wasn’t most people (p 67).
Joey and his sister Mary Alice spend a week each summer at their Grandma Dowdel’s Illinois house, where their larger-than-life Grandma alternately ignores and instigates the townsfolk, cleverly outwitting them all. An excellent book whose humor I enjoyed. I highly recomend it.
At our last mock Newbery meeting, someone posed the question, “Will the committee select a funny book?â€Â Dead End in Norvelt is hilarious and it’s on our reading list for this weekend’s meeting but when was the last time a straight-up funny book won?
Turtle in Paradise had its laugh out loud moments. The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg was a riot! Oh, and The Wednesday Wars had me in stitches. But the most recent funny book to win the Newbery Award was 2000′s A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck (it also happened to be the year Gantos was awarded an honor for Joey Pigza Loses Control).
So does a funny book like Dead End in Norvelt (or The Adventures of Sir Gawain the True for that matter) have a chance at taking the prize? Like A Year Down Yonder, it is historical fiction and if the past awards are anything to judge by, the committee members love a good historical fiction!
Library copy | Dial Books for Young Readers | ISBN 0-8037-2290-7 |Â Ages 8-12 | $ 16.99
Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. Those folks like lists and so do I. This week, it’s my top ten favorite childhood books:
Matilda by Roald Dahl : I checked this out of my school’s little library more times than I can remember.
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli : I feel sadness for anyone who doesn’t read this as a child.
The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner : Who didn’t read and enjoy them?
The Babysitters Club by Ann M. Martin : Again, what girl didn’t read them?
The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone : This was a gift from my older brother – the only gift I can remember him giving me – and I treasured it at the time. Today, I love the app and share it with my brother’s 3-year-old son.
The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper : Another book turned app that I read over and over and over as a child.
Goosebumps by R.L. Stine : Kids read them then and read them as avidly now.
Space Cadets by R.L. Stine : Hilarous. I wept over the BLT sandwich (hold the bacon and lettuce) incident. I recently tracked down copies of this out-of-print series on ABE books because I had to have them in my personal library.
Wayside School is Falling Down by Louis Sachar : I was a good child but I stole from my dad’s coin jar to buy this book at the Scholastic Book Fair in elementary school. I still feel totally justified, as I did then, for my criminal action. I laughed until I cried as I read this.
Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel : My third grade teacher, Mrs. Weidle, read this to our class several times (at our insistence) and I have loved it ever since. Her animated storytelling brought it to life.
So what books did you love as a child?
King Arthur covered his eyes with his hands. Sometimes in those early days he wondered what it would take to prove to his knights that courtesy was as important as courage (p 10).
From the author of The Squire’s Tale (read my review) comes the third in the Kinghts’ Tales series of transitional readers. Morris takes Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and makes it highly accessable to an elementary school audience.
What appears at first to be a straightforward episodic tale quickly takes on depth and humor, making it one of the best I’ve read all year. After reading Jonathan Hunt’s comments on Heavy Medal, I’m convinced it needs a sticker (and wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a book for young readers win?)! I especially support his point on length and ecomony of language. If this book can manage to be concise, humorous and true to the spirit of the original, why can’t a book like Breadcrumbs?
Read other reviews:
Heavy Medal
Kidlit Reviews
There’s a Book
The Excelsior Files
If you enjoy this, I also recommend:
Usagi is a normal 14-year-old girl, albeit a little scatter-brained but a fun-loving, video game junkie and all around great friend nonetheless. Until she meets Luna, a black cat with a band-aid on her head. When Usagi (aka Bunny) rescues Luna from some tormentors and removes the band-aid, Luna recognizes her as Sailor Moon, the guardian of the Moon sworn to protect the Moon Princess and help retrieve the Legendary Silver Crystal. Yes, Luna is a talking cat. Dark forces are gathering in Tokyo and Sailor Moon must find the Legendary Silver Crystal before the bad guys do. She has help in the form of Sailor Mercury, aka Amy, a brilliant student and water manipulator.
I adore Sailor Moon. From the moment I saw it on USA Network back in 1996, I was hooked on this strange cartoon. The more I watched (and then read), the more I loved it. It has a complex backstory, endearing characters that mature, and some great romance! I was thrilled to learn it would be retranslated and reprinted in the US of A. And with gorgeous covers! Now, can we please see a more faithful dub of the anime and all 300 episodes subtitled. Please? Anyone? I believe the license is up for grabs!
Personal copy | Kodansha Comics | September 13, 2011 | Ages 9 + | 240 pages | ISBN 978-1935429746 | $ 10.99 |
“Don’t you know about the water trial?†Nat’s eyes deliberately taunted her. †‘Tis a sure test. I’ve seen it myself. A true witch will always float. The innocent ones just sink like a stone†(p 13).
It is 1687 and Kit Tyler has fled her home in sunny Barbados to escape an undesirable marriage. With her grandfather’s death, her only living relative is an aunt in colonial Connecticut. Kit books passage on the Dolphin with the last of her money, befriending the Captain’s son, Nat, on the journey.  Arriving unexpectedly, Kit disrupts his aunt’s household. Her Uncle Matthew is a strict Puritanical man who speaks out against the King, much to Kit’s dismay. Her cousin Judith resents the attention Kit attracts from the local boys and while Mercy is a quiet and comforting presence, Kit can’t deny she is another mouth to feed during tough times.
Then she meets Hannah Tupper, a widow believed to be a witch, living by Blackbird Pond. Through Hannah, Kit meets Nat again and a tenuous friendhsip begins. She also begins tutoring Prudence, a neglected girl who blossoms under Kit’s care, in secret at Hannah’s little house. It becomes a sanctuary for Kit until an illness takes hold of the townsfolk and they turn on Hannah and then Kit.
While there are tense, hair-raising moments and acts of cruelty based on fear, the resolution is of the happy variety. Though property is damaged and Kit spends an uncomfortable night in a cold shack, she find happiness with Nat, Hannah escapes to a more companionable situation, and both Mercy and Judith are paired with the perfect suitors. This cheery conclusion, however, does not diminish the horror mind-numbing religious fanaticism and the mob mentality threat to outliers.
Library copy | 1958 | Houghton Mifflin Company | Ages 9 + | 248 pages | ISBN 0-395-07114-3 | $ 16.00
I rose to stand, lifting my lantern, and I thought: as surely as one of these lanterns can light the next, so has the fire in him rekindled the fire in me. Where once I died down to nothing, I was alive again, and all was his doing. I was afire with him, and for once the thought was not terrible (p 197).
Stuck in a loveless marriage, Judy enters into a sensual affair with sixteen-year-old Zach, a new student at the Waldorf school where Judy teaches kindergarten. What begins as a mutually titillating experience soon becomes destructive.
The story begins in Germany when Judy is a ten-year-old child. She finds solace from her mentally ill mother and adulterous father in a neighbor’s barn. There she is befriended by an older farm boy, Rudy, with physical prowess. As they bond over sled rides and their mutual dislike of German fairy tales, a subtle sexual undertone emerges and the two share an overly friendly kiss.
But it isn’t until Judy’s self-medicated and disassociated husband, Russ, uncovers Judy’s dark passenger that the reader begins to understand Judy is malicious and unstable.
Coleman’s language, the novel’s pacing and alternating perspectives combine to make an engrossing read. There is a depth to Judy’s character that had me at turns commiserating then chastising then sympathizing all over again. Her logic, at the beginning, seems rational. When she pinpoints the moment she becomes a child molester (forcing an unwilling Zach), the reader is tempted to agree – forgetting she has been molesting him from the first.
While Zach’s persepctive was interesting, he really never rose about ‘horny teen’ in my estimation. Not to say his brutality didn’t give the book more dimension. But he was in a circumstance he had little control over and was every bit the victim. Altogether a fascinating, well-structured and evenly paced read.
School Library Journal’s blog “Adult Books 4 Teens†recommends it to high school students.
Read other reviews:
Jenn’s Bookshelf
Dreaming in Books
Good Books and Good Wine
Write Meg!
Library copy | MIRA | ISBN 978-0778312789 | Ages 18 + | 338 pages |Â $ 15.95
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