Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

From Goodreads:

1987. There’s only one person who has ever truly understood fourteen-year-old June Elbus, and that’s her uncle, the renowned painter Finn Weiss. Shy at school and distant from her older sister, June can only be herself in Finn’s company; he is her godfather, confidant, and best friend. So when he dies, far too young, of a mysterious illness her mother can barely speak about, June’s world is turned upside down. But Finn’s death brings a surprise acquaintance into June’s life—someone who will help her to heal, and to question what she thinks she knows about Finn, her family, and even her own heart.

At Finn’s funeral, June notices a strange man lingering just beyond the crowd. A few days later, she receives a package in the mail. Inside is a beautiful teapot she recognizes from Finn’s apartment, and a note from Toby, the stranger, asking for an opportunity to meet. As the two begin to spend time together, June realizes she’s not the only one who misses Finn, and if she can bring herself to trust this unexpected friend, he just might be the one she needs the most.

Oy. RA has mentioned Tell the Wolves I'm Home several times in blog posts and on Twitter so I knew I was in for something deep and difficult but wonderful, but I wasn't really prepared. There were some parallels in this book that made it deeply personal to me. I, too, have a gay uncle that I adore. He mercifully made it through the past 4 decades without contracting HIV or AIDS but he has lost friends to it and it's a subject I always associate with him because I think he's one of the few people I've ever even had an open conversation with about AIDS.

I also just happened to be reading this book while the Supreme Court put a pause on same-sex marriage in Utah. Knowing my wonderful uncle and then reading about Finn and Toby...I got really angry. I've called the state of Utah an asshole more times than I care to admit today. But seriously, if more people knew my uncle and people like Toby and Finn then we wouldn't be having this whole awful debate. There would be a lot more love and a lot less ignorance.

Politics aside, it's so hard to write about something that's this well done. It was such a wonderful coming-of-age story about love and loss and sisters and friends and family and gah, it's just so beautiful and also I feel like I've been punched in the face. So you should probably read it.

Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof & Sherul Wudunn

From Goodreads:

From two of our most fiercely moral voices, a passionate call to arms against our era’s most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women and girls in the developing world.

With Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn as our guides, we undertake an odyssey through Africa and Asia to meet the extraordinary women struggling there, among them a Cambodian teenager sold into sex slavery and an Ethiopian woman who suffered devastating injuries in childbirth. Drawing on the breadth of their combined reporting experience, Kristof and WuDunn depict our world with anger, sadness, clarity, and, ultimately, hope.

 
I asked Erica if she had read this one and she said she replied that she had finished it a few months ago. And then, "I was about to quit my job and go work abroad after reading that." And even though I was only 1/3 of the way through at that point I was like ME TOO. I had just finished telling Aaron that I need to go to back to college and then medical school so I could become a doctor and then move to Sub Saharan Africa in order to serve the poor women there.

So let's just say this book touches a nerve.

As I read snippets to Aaron he said, "WHY are you reading this book? It's awful!" The book itself isn't awful, but the realities it lays at your door are. The truth of the matter is that while I comfortably lay reading under the electric blanket of my clean, modern house with two healthy children there are women all over the world who CAN'T read, who are dying in child birth, being forced into marriages at absurdly young ages, being sold into the sex trade, being burned by their family as a punishment for something they may or may not have done, and worse. There are women suffering from lack of health care while I celebrate the 6th birthday of a son who survived only because I was being monitored twice a week after one of my many routine prenatal check-ups showed there was a problem.

The book frequently paints a very bleak picture but then, mercifully, talks about the people who are doing something about these horrific circumstances. And THAT'S why Erica and I suddenly felt called to move abroad. There are amazing people doing amazing things for the world's neediest and most under served populations. And those people make me feel like I'm not doing enough with my life. I'm probably going to have to add "Build a school in the developing world" to my bucket list.

The last chapter includes four things you can do to make a difference and you better believe as soon as I got my emotions under control I immediately jumped on my computer and did all of them.

Just...amazing.

Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan

From Goodreads:

In Dad is Fat, stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan, who’s best known for his legendary riffs on Hot Pockets, bacon, manatees, and McDonald's, expresses all the joys and horrors of life with five young children—everything from cousins ("celebrities for little kids") to toddlers’ communication skills (“they always sound like they have traveled by horseback for hours to deliver important news”), to the eating habits of four year olds (“there is no difference between a four year old eating a taco and throwing a taco on the floor”). Reminiscent of Bill Cosby’s Fatherhood, Dad is Fat is sharply observed, explosively funny, and a cry for help from a man who has realized he and his wife are outnumbered in their own home.

Aaron and I saw Jim Gaffigan a few months ago with some friends and my face hurt so bad afterward from smiling and laughing that hard for so long.

I didn't find myself laughing quite so much while reading Dad is Fat but, more frequently, made a "true that!" face while nodding my head. The humor is definitely still there but it felt more like sharp, clever observation than the stand-up comedy I'm used to from him. He also had a lot of surprisingly sweet moments in talking about how much he loves his children and how amazing he thinks his wife, Jeannie, is. Absolutely worth listening to (especially because he reads the audiobook himself)!

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

From Goodreads:

It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

I listened to the audiobook version over two days while cleaning and cooking and that sort of nonsense. It made the brainless housework infinitely more enjoyable. I loved the narrators (lovely accents) and didn't get hung up on the mythology like I know some readers did.

The one thing I kept getting hung up on, though, was Puck's reasoning for entering the race in the first place. Her brother says he's going to leave the island so, to buy MINIMAL EXTRA TIME, she enters a deadly horse race. Yeah, I'm not buying it. The rest of the time she had a much better head on her shoulders and I don't see her making such an illogical decision. When losing the house came into play it made much more sense but it still bothered me.

Unbelievable character decision aside, I thought this book was well written with excellent characters and a fun bit of magical realism.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

From GoodReads:

Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.
Elisa is the chosen one.

But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can't see how she ever will.

Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.

And he's not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people's savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.

Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.

Most of the chosen do.

I read this directly on the heels of Obsidian which made it difficult not to compare the two. Both are YA novels with female protagonists and some elements of the supernatural. However, while Obsidian was much like a shallow play pool, The Girl of Fire and Thorns is more like a great lake complete with character growth, strong female characters and depth of plot.

Elisa, the heroine, goes from a soft, naive princess to a queenly, confident leader of her country. And she does it by saving herself and others time and again, not by relying on the arm of a flawless love interest to save her. There ARE love interests, of course (3 of them!) but they are imperfect, human and more of a side note to Elisa's story rather than the focus of it. I realized halfway through that I didn't particularly care who she does or doesn't end up with. I'm just on Team Elisa and that's what matters.

Also, I appreciated that this book didn't end on a cliffhanger. Series authors so often feel the need to leave readers hanging on the edge of their seats by their fingernails but this one wrapped up nicely so that you could easily read just the one and feel happy with the story. If, however, you fell in love with the characters and the world that Rae Carson created, you may continue onward.

I'm third in line at the library for Book 2. READ FASTER PEOPLE.

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Lux #1)

From GoodReads:

Starting over sucks.

When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring.... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.

And then he opened his mouth.

Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something...unexpected happens.

The hot alien living next door marks me.

You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades.

If I don't kill him first, that is.

My sister has mentioned this one to me several times but we both ended up confused because I thought she was talking about the LUXE series and had never heard of the LUX series. They are quite different, as it turns out.

As far as YA novels go this one fits right in. Superhuman super-hot boy in love with a normal oh-gee-what-does-he-see-in-me girl. Despite the fact that I've read some version of this book approximately 18 million times already that didn't stop me from devouring it in one day. This is a sad commentary on the triteness of my brain, I'm sure.

The story is fine, the alien element is new, the protagonist mercifully has a brain of her own despite the fact that she is in CONSTANT need of saving.

Here's my big beef: the author wrote in a fantastic extraterrestrial female friend for the protagonist but then made her weak and borderline useless while her brother is almost godlike in his strength and abilities. I would have LOVED this book to be about two girl friends working together to overcome their individual weaknesses and prejudices to fight evil. The romance could have been a delicious little footnote (because I do need SOME romance). Instead we have yet another YA novel teaching girls that they are nothing (possibly even RAPED AND DEAD) without a guy to love and protect them. My inner feminist is shaking her head in sad disappointment. This book would not pass the Bechdel test even though the author laid a kind of groundwork that should have gotten it there. 

Feminist annoyance aside, I will probably finish out the series. Because of my trite, sappy, unfeministy brain. Curse you, Brain.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

This was my first book read on my new e-reader! It made it kind of novel (pun intended).

Had I read it in a more traditional format I'm not sure I would have stuck with it. There were some lovely bits of fancy and fantasy but I was surprised to find myself yawning rather frequently.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who occasionally got lost. Alice takes to doing recitation from time to time to prove how things are just slightly off. But if you are unfamiliar with the recitations (I assume they were fairly standard when the book was written) then you're going to miss the point.


I get that it's just supposed to be fun and nonsense but for me it was just a little TOO much nonsense and not quite enough fun. Generally enjoyable but nothing particularly memorable.