Some reviews

It's been a long time since I actually made a blog post (2 months? really?). When I logged in, I saw the little box that says "Remember me" and read it as more "Remember me?" That seemed more appropriate.

I've been remiss with book reviews but have several to post about. I'm just going to do a review blast here and will hopefully get back into posting "real" reviews soon.

I try to fill in the "stopped" field in LibraryThing when I finish a book, but I forgot on a couple, so these may not be perfectly chronological.

All Other Nights by Dara Horn: I got this one from LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program. I'm a big fan of historical fiction, and I am fascinated with the period surrounding the Civil War, so this one was a perfect match. I very much enjoyed this book, although I did feel the ending was lacking. It's hard to write a review a couple of months after reading, so I'll just mention that I gave it 4.5 stars in LibraryThing. Highly recommended.

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway: Another LT Early Reviewer. This one was literarily very good and it was a quick read. It was, however, quite bleak. It is based on a true story of cellist who played for 22 days in the middle of war-torn Sarajevo in honor of 22 people killed in a market bombing. Told from the perspective for 4 different characters, Galloway brought to life the horror of living in a city under siege. I gave this one 4 stars.

Ringside, 1925: Views from the Scopes Trial by Jen Bryant: This children's book about the Scopes Trial regarding the teaching of evolution in a Tennessee classroom was written in verse. There were several narrators, and all had their own unique voice. This was a very quick, enjoyable read. I gave it 5 stars.

Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez: This book is more of a novella than a full-length novel. It was the first Garcia Marquez book I've finished (having started 100 Years of Solitude and putting it aside a while back) and I enjoyed it. The main character is an elderly man (approaching his 90th birthday, I believe) who has never married but has frequented "houses of ill repute" for most of his life. He falls in love with a young girl who he has hired, but cannot bring himself to actually touch. There is magical realism and the book is quite odd, but also rather sweet. I gave it 4 stars.

The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber: This one is a mix of historical fiction and contemporary fiction. An old manuscript, thought to lead to the hiding place of an undiscovered Shakespeare play, is found. Gangsters are after it, and a few people die. There is romance. There are chases. :-) I enjoyed the book, but it's just ok. I gave it 3 stars.

The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery: Sigh. I wanted to love this book, because I've heard such wonderful things. It just didn't do anything for me, unfortunately. I gave it a reluctant 3 stars.

Currently I'm reading (and am almost through with) Helen of Troy by Margaret George. I should finish it this weekend and will *hopefully* post a review. Also on the nightstand is (still) The Mists of Avalon, which I'm reading intermittently.

Goose Girl by Patrice Kindl

I needed a nice, quick read after Tamar, and this fit the bill perfectly. In this adapted fairy tale, a common goose girl, Alexandria Aurora Fortunata, has had a spell cast upon her so that whenever she combs her hair, gold dust falls out, and when she cries, she sheds diamonds instead of tears. This has grabbed the attention of both the King of Gilboa and the Prince of Dorloon, who have locked her in a tower until she chooses which one she will marry.

With the help of her beloved flock of geese, Alexandria escapes from the tower and, naturally, encounters all kinds of obstacles. While the ending may not be a complete surprise, it is entertaining, as is the book as a whole. Highly recommended for fans of the likes of Shannon Hale.

Tamar by Mal Peet

I can't decide if I liked Tamar or not. I liked the story, and I like the subject matter, but the book just seemed to drag. It took me a couple of weeks to read, and I didn't feel overly compelled to pick it up instead of, say, knitting. That's my current gauge. If I'm really enjoying the book, I will choose to read instead of knit. If the book is just so-so, I will often choose to knit instead. I got a lot of knitting/crocheting done while reading this book.

Tamar bounces back and forth between the present and 1944/1945 and between two characters with the name Tamar. One character is the narrator, a young woman recounting the story of her grandfather's death and the process of trying to figure out a puzzle he left her when he died. The other character was a resistance fighter in the Netherlands during World War II. The stories are intertwined, as the girl Tamar was named by her grandfather, in honor of his experiences in the war. Both story lines are compelling, and the mystery revealed wasn't a dead giveaway. Still, I felt there was something missing, something that could have made the book impossible to put down. I would definitely recommend it for someone interested in the Dutch resistance or WWII history, in general.

Women of the Revolution by Robert M. Dunkerly

I have realized that when it comes to non-fiction, what really floats my boat is history. I am also fascinated with Southern history (this is where the Mississippi girl in me shows her face), so it's no surprise that the subject matter of this book, Women of the Revolution: Bravery and Sacrifice on the Southern Battlefield, attracted me.

Unfortunately, I can't give a glowing review of the book. While, yes, the subject matter was interesting, the book was not well-written. To me, it read like a stack of notes that were thrown into book format. What bothered me the most about the book was that there were sections (sometimes even separated as entire chapters) where basically all it said was "I'm sure there were women involved in this part of the war, and this is the type of things they probably did, but we don't have any personal accounts to share." Interspersed with these sections, were some accounts of actual women and varying accounts of their stories, and I thought those were very interesting. I started the book assuming that it would be full of these actual accounts, and I was disappointed to find otherwise.

The author indicates that there is very little recorded about actual women involved in the Revolutionary War, which, of course, explains the lack of accounts in the book. But I wonder, if so little is available, why is it necessary to publish an entire book full of speculation? I noticed that there are other books on the topic; it seems that a chapter on the involvement of Southern women in a larger book might have worked better.

Another thing that bothered me a bit was the inclusion of photographs of reenactors portraying 17th century women. I would have preferred to see paintings or drawings. The photographs seemed (and were) staged; the women seemed too clean and tidy. Also, some of the photographs were repetitive - how many pictures of women sewing in camp do we really need to see? The one place in the book where I found the photographs to be a welcome addition was in the section devoted to clothing. I enjoyed seeing actual photographs of bedcoats, short gowns, etc. 

All in all, this book was disappointing. It, however, was very short, and I did learn a few things, so I don't feel that it was an overall waste of my time.

The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir

The Lady Elizabeth is a fictional account of Elizabeth I's life from a small child up until she is declared queen. Alison Weir, known primarily for her Tudor biographies, does an equally fabulous jobs with her fiction!

I almost gave up on The Lady Elizabeth several times, as the beginning moves at a fairly slow pace. I have also read or listened to several other books of the time period, and they were all starting to blur together. However, once I reached the point in the book where King Henry dies, the book's pace picked up, and I honestly had a hard time putting it down. I'm so glad I stuck with it!

Alison Weir will be appearing at my library in a few days, and I am looking forward to hearing her speak about Katherine Swynford, the subject of her newest book Mistress of the Monarchy. I am unfamiliar with Swynford, but I'm sure Ms. Weir will fill me in.

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

This is the second time I've read Hatchet. The first was about 2 years ago, when I was home with a sick kid. This time around, we read it for bedtime. We have gravitated towards more fantasy-esque books for bedtime, I think (I'll have to go back and look at that), and this was the first time we've read any kind of survivor fiction. I think it was a fantastic choice! Both kids were engrossed and last night, when we only had one more chapter to go, the entire family asked me to keep reading. I think we need to look at a variety of genres from now on.

If you've never read Hatchet, here's a brief synopsis. Brian is a 13-year-old boy who is traveling in a small plane to visit his father when the plane crashes. He (obviously) survives the crash and must find a way to live in the wilderness. The book is gritty in places and Paulsen doesn't skirt around some of the more gruesome details.

The only thing I didn't care for (especially as a read-aloud) was the choppy text. I think it worked when I read it the first time, but aloud it just sounded weird.

The Oracle Betrayed by Catherine Fisher

I hate when I wait a few days to write a review, especially of a book I really liked. I always forget what exactly I wanted to say. I'll do my best to do this book justice!

First off, let me say that this is the first book I've read in quite a while that I give 5 stars. It was absolutely fantastic! Mirany is a priestess in what appears to be ancient Egypt. As the Archon ("god on earth" - sort of a pharaoh-type character) dies, he passes a slip of papyrus to Mirany, describing a plot to choose an impostor as the next Archon. Mirany must put a stop to this plot.

The book is extremely fast-paced, and the characters are well-developed. I had a hard time putting this one down. The Oracle Betrayed is the first in a trilogy, and I plan to read the next two in the near future. 

The funny thing is that I almost passed this one up. My mom bought this for the kids over a year ago, and I had picked up and it put it in my to-read-next stack. When it was time to start it, I picked it up and thought "I don't know if I want to read this." Luckily, I checked reviews and saw all the rave reviews it had gotten and gave it a chance. I sure am glad I did! I was not disappointed!

Gladiatrix by Russell Whitfield

Lysandra is a priestess of Athene, trained in the military arts just as a man of her time. She has been captured and enslaved by the owner of a training camp for women gladiators. As you might imagine, this is not a book for anyone averse to a little violence. In fact, the reader should be prepared for A LOT of violence. Reader beware. I, luckily, generally don't mind the violence as long as it has a place, and I knew when I requested this book from LibraryThing that it would be violent. 

I enjoyed Gladiatrix quite a bit, although there were a few things that I didn't care for. Lysandra was not a terribly sympathetic character - her arrogance was downright laughable at times. Also (spoiler ahead - highlight to read) the battle that the gladiatrices were preparing for for a good portion of the 2nd half of the book never happened, and the fight with Sorina was anticlimactic (although I wasn't surprised - I thought either they would both live or they would both die). 

That said, I liked the book from the moment I started reading it, and I had a hard time putting it down when I neared the end. I will definitely watch for other books by Russell Whitfield!

The Killing Sea by Richard Lewis

After starting and stopping two books (A Prayer for Owen Meany and Alice's Tulips), I finally finished a book!

The Killing Sea is "a novel about the tsunami that stunned the world" (from the cover). The author, Richard Lewis, is the son of American missionaries who lives in Bali, Indonesia and helped out in Aceh after the 2004 tsunami. His firsthand experience really shows in this novel.

This book is intended for readers ages 12 and up, and the difficulty level reflects that. It is not a challenging book in that way, but Lewis doesn't hold back on the subject matter. Emotionally, there are some challenges in this book, but they were handled with care. The book is a very quick read and short, at just under 200 pages. The story is gripping and characterization is well done.

Oh yes. The story. Ruslan is an Indonesian teenager whose father is the local mechanic. On Christmas Day in 2004, a Western family approaches him for help fixing their yacht. Ruslan is immediately fascinated with Sarah, the blond-haired, blue-eyed American girl. Fast forward to the next morning, when an earthquake shakes the area, and, minutes later, the land is swept by a monstrous wave. Sarah's family was anchored on an island off shore, and, while trying to get away, her father breaks his leg. Sarah's mother tells her to run for high ground with her brother, and, Sarah and Peter are separated from their parents. Meanwhile, Ruslan's father was meant to be repairing a tanker offshore, and Ruslan assumes he was lost, until he finds a note from his father saying that he had gone to Ie Mameh to talk with Ruslan's late mother's rebel family, and he hadn't wanted to tell him. Ruslan is relieved to learn that his father could still be safe and sets out towards the other village. Naturally, along the way Ruslan's and Sarah's paths cross and they travel together. I won't say anymore, except (and this could be considered a small spoiler) the ending was one of the most satisfying endings I've read in a long time. Very well done!

A Thousand Veils by D. J Murphy

A fellow Library Thing user passed this book, which she received from the author, on to me. I really appreciate the opportunity to read this book!

Fatima Shihabi had a happy childhood in Kassim, Iraq. She was educated in the same way her brothers were, and she was encouraged by her father to indulge in her love of writing. As an adult, after her abusive husband divorced her for not bearing him sons, Fatima is hired as a journalist for Babel, an Iraqi newspaper directed by Uday Hussein, son of Saddam Hussein. When Fatima's writing begins to disclose too much about the plights of her fellow Iraqis after 9/11, she becomes a target of Saddam's Mukhabarat (secret police) and must escape from Iraq if she is to survive.

Meanwhile, in the United States, Charles Sherman, a corporate lawyer with former dealings with Saudi Arabia, gets drafted to assist Fatima in her quest to get to America and her older brother, a professor at Columbia. In the midst of a major deal with important clients, this is the last thing Charles needs, but the humanitarian side of him wins out and he tries to help Fatima.

A Thousand Veils is fast-paced and exciting, with a bit of romance thrown in for good measure. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. The only beef I have with it is that the dialogue just didn't seem realistic. I thought the narrative portions of the book were very well written, but the conversational parts seemed stilted.

A Thousand Veils is the first book for D. J. Murphy, a former international lawyer, and he is obviously quite talented. I definitely recommend this one and look forward to future books.

Truckers by Terry Pratchett

Truckers is the first book in Terry Pratchett's Bromeliad Trilogy, which is geared towards a children's/YA audience. This was only the 2nd Pratchett book I've read, and I enjoyed it just as much as I did Going Postal. 

The book begins with a group of nomes who decide to abandon their Outside habitat in favor of something safer. They hitch a ride on one of the trucks that they have watched and end up inside the Store (Arnold Bros. (est 1905)). What ensues is basically a parody of the early Church, and it is delightful. I need to obtain a copy of Diggers, the next in the trilogy. Perhaps I'll luck out on my trip to Half Price Books this morning.

This will fulfill my "P" author in the A-Z challenge (the completion of which is looking quite grim...)

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

I don't know what I can say about The Graveyard Book that hasn't been said already. Bod (short for Nobody) is taken in by a local graveyard after his parents and sister are murdered and raised by the "locals" - a la Mowgli in the jungle book. Bod is granted the Freedom of the Graveyard and thus is able to do things like pass through walls and "fade" so that he is not easily noticed. As Bod learns what happened to his parents, he decides he will one day exact revenge. Does he succeed? It's Gaiman, what do you think?

Another winner from Neil Gaiman. And a bonus book for me for the RIP III challenge!

100 Cupboards by N. D. Wilson

I finished 100 Cupboards last week, but never got around to writing my thoughts. (I hesitate to call what I write "reviews.") I read this for the RIP III Challenge, and it definitely fits. It, however, was not nearly as creepy as I expected based on other reviews I had read. Mysterious, yes. Exciting, yes. Scary - only sometimes.

Henry finds himself living with his aunt and uncle in Henry, Kansas after his parents are abducted in South America. After settling into his attic bedroom, he notices the plaster on the walls starting to chip and a knob sticking out of the wall. After a bit of chipping away, Henry discovers that his whole wall is covered in cupboards of various sizes - a total of 99 cupboards. When he peers into one to find that it leads to another world, he is puzzled (well, obviously!) and begins to investigate, along with his cousin Henrietta. And he discovers more than just the cupboards.

This is a quick read, and it is the first in a series. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series eventually!

This was my (official) final book for the RIP III Challenge - although I did get one more read before the deadline! Another review to come today, hopefully.

Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin

This was just such a fantastic book! I had read wonderful reviews, and I was not disappointed in the least. I used to be a huge Patricia Cornwell fan (back in Kay Scarpetta's good ol' days), and I love historical fiction. This was a combination of both. Best of both worlds!

Someone is killing children in Cambridge, and the Jews are being blamed. As this is inconvenient for Henry II (who depends on the Jew's money), he asks the King of Sicily to send an expert from Salerno, the hotbed of medical knowledge at the time. The King sends Simon of Naples, a renowned investigator and a Jew, and Adelia, a "doctor to the dead," along with their Saracen companion, Mansur, to England to help. 

This book is not for the weakhearted (or weakstomached), but if you enjoy forensic mysteries and/or historical fiction, you are bound to enjoy this book!

This is book 3 of 4 for the RIP III challenge!

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

I guess the best way to describe how Heart-Shaped Box made me feel is to put it into the context of the hurricane. I started the book several days before Ike showed up, so I was fully aware of the scare-factor. Friday evening, as Ike was moving in and the wind was picking up, I tried to curl up with the book to "relax." Bad move. I had to put it down, because I was already scared enough with the gusting winds that I couldn't handle the anxiety of the book on top of that.

If you're in the mood for a good chill, Heart-Shaped Box is perfect. Hill doesn't dilly-dally. The book starts getting creepy within the first few chapters. There were parts that had my eyes wide with fear. That said, I feel that the first half of the book is scarier than the second half.

What impressed me most about the book is how real the characters were. The main characters are not the type I would normally choose to read about; the main character was the aging lead singer of a Black Sabbath-type band and his girlfriends tend to be on the young side and were typically groupy, stripper-type girls. They're gritty. But by the end of the book, I really, really cared what happened to Jude and Marybeth (aka Georgia). The book nearly brought me to tears several times (but maybe that was the stressful month I've had...).

I thought this book was great and give it 4 stars.

This counts as book 2 for the RIP III challenge.

Weekly Geeks #16

This week for Weekly Geeks, I interviewed Bart from Bart's Bookshelf about The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and he interviewed me about Tithe. Here are both interviews.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Somer: Do you think the storyline in The Invention of Hugo Cabret could have effectively stood on its own, or do you think its success was wholly a product of the illustrations?

Bart: Hmm... Good question! There's no doubt that there would need to be some work added to the story as, so much of it is conveyed in the images, and despite the size of the book, it is actually quite a slim story (and I don't mean that in a derisory manner as it is only intended to be a short story, not an epic!) even with added text though, I think it would suffer, as the story itself is about a visual medium (film). It'd be a bit like a recipe book without pictures, it'd work, but...

Somer: Do you think that your impression of the book as an adult is different than that of, say, a 10-year-old boy?

Bart: Yes, I don't think (at least I know I would not have at 10!) a ten year old would appreciate the detail in the artwork, and the cleverness of it's execution in quite the same way ;) However I think that as an adult, in that appreciation, I miss out on the simple "Cor! this is cool"-ness (or whatever phrase the hip-kids are using) of it all.

Somer: Avoiding spoilers, as I have yet to read the book, what was your favorite part?

Bart: The art-work, easilly the art-work, you really do have to sit down and 'read' the book to appreciate it fully, you can stand in the bookshop and look at it, and ooh and ahh, all you like, but the moment you sit down to read and see it working properly, it takes it to a whole other level of brilliance.

Somer: This book is huge, and the size could be intimidating to a reluctant reader. How would you convince a young reader to pick it up?

Bart: I don't know, after Harry Potter and Twilight, are big books as intimidating as they used to be? Even if they are, it's not an intimidating book when you start to flip through it, the vast majority of pages have no text on and those that do have nice large print and lots of 'white-space'. I'd probably ask them to just have a look at the pictures on the first few pages, honestly if you can get them to do that, you won't need to do anything else.

Somer: Have you read anything else by Brian Selznick (or illustrated by Selznick), and, if so, how does Hugo Cabret compare?

Bart: No, I've not read anything else he has been involved in. 

Tithe by Holly Black

Bart: What made you read Tithe? Was it the book itself or had you read some Spiderwick stuff?

Somer: I don't actually remember how Tithe originally made it onto my TBR stack. I think the cover must have caught my attention at some point, and I added it to my Amazon wishlist. I got the book as a Christmas gift in 2006 (thank you, LibraryThing tags!). Libba Bray (author of A Great and Terrible Beauty and sequels) has raved a lot on her blog about Holly Black, which also influenced my decision to read Tithe. Even though I realized Holly Black co-authored Spiderwick, it really didn't have anything to do with my decision to read the book at all.

Bart: How would you describe the atmoshere of the book? (Scary, disquietning, moody etc.)

Somer: Overall, Tithe is very dark. The main character, Kaye, is a high-school dropout with a troubling homelife. That sort of sets the tone for the whole book. 

Bart: What was your favourite bit and why?

Somer: I always have a hard time with this type of question. I really enjoyed the entire book. I think my favorite parts were any of the parts set in the faery realm because I like the departure from reality.

Bart: And what as your least favourite bit and why? (I'm thinking here not so much of something that was wrong or did not work, but more of something did exactly what the author wanted it to and either scared you or squicked you out etc. :o) )

Somer: Well, I don't want to give spoilers, so I'll do the best I can. To tell you the truth, my least favorite aspect of the book is the switching of the princes in the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. This is an important part of the book, but I had a really hard time keeping track of which courth Nephamael and Roiben actually belonged to and which queen they were serving. But that may have just been me. 

Bart: And finally, who would you recommend read this book to and why? And/or who would you not recommend the book, and why?

Somer: Anyone who enjoys urban fantasy would likely enjoy this book. Fans of Libba Bray, who haven't already discovered this would probably like it. Kids who have outgrown Spiderwick. I wouldn't recommend this for tweens, as it's just a bit too gritty (speaking as the mom of an almost-12-year-old). Teens, yes, but I would probably want my daughter to wait until she was 13 or 14. Mainly because there are some mature themes (a mom that parties a lot, some sexual content (though no actual sex that I can remember)).

The Myth of You and Me by Leah Stewart

I enjoyed this book by Leah Stewart. Sonia and Cameron became friends when they were 14 years old and quickly became inseparable - in fact, they often referred to themselves collectively as "Cameronia." In the beginning of the book, Cameron is living in Oxford, Mississippi where she is the assistant for an aging historian. A letter from Sonia sparks the curiosity of Oliver, Cameron's boss, and, when Oliver dies, she finds herself charged with the task of delivering a wedding gift to Sonia from Oliver. Over the rest of the book, we learn all about Sonia and Cameron and the downfall of their friendship. Stewart does a fantastic job of recreating the love between two closer-than-close teenage girls, as well as the love between the girls and various other characters. I felt like I knew both Cameron and Sonia by the end of the book.

I listened to this on my commute, so this is my impression of the audiobook. The narrator was ok, but at times, the book felt a bit slow, and I think this was a product of the narration. I also didn't think the narrator's Southern accents were particularly convincing, but this was a minor complaint.

The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Horror by Christopher Moore

I think my tags for this book in Library Thing say it all: Christmas, humor, fiction, Santa Claus, zombies

How can you not love any book that matches Santa Claus with zombies???

This is only the 2nd book I've read by Christopher Moore, but I have every one on my wish list on Amazon, and I can't wait to read them all. Moore is brilliant.

In this book, the Angel Raziel comes to Earth to perform a Christmas miracle and sort of flubs it up a bit. A little boy's wish that Santa, who he saw killed, be brought back to life. This, of course, leads to mayhem.

I particularly liked the fruit bat named Roberto.

Here is one of my favorite passages from the book:

Sour Nerds? Cinnamon Geeks? Or Gummy Boogers? Sam Applebaum's mom was picking out a "nice" reasonably priced Cabernet, and Sam was allowed one item of candy from the rack at Brine's Bait, Tackle, and Fine Wines. Of course the Boogers would last the longest, but they were all mundane green-apple finish, while the Nerds proffered a fruity variety and an impudent little top note of tang. Cinnamon Geeks had a rich nose and a bit of a bite up front, but their tiny certified-public-accountant shape betrayed their bourgeois origins.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Unlike most of the reviews I've read (which I admit are few), I actually like Kite Runner better than this one. It's been a few years since I read that one, so I can't really pinpoint why this is, but there ya go. I think Kite Runner was more plot-driven, while A Thousand Splendid Suns was more character-driven, and while reading this one, I just kept waiting for something to happen.

That said, I really enjoyed this book. I thought Hosseini (a man, if you don't know), did a remarkable job writing as two separate women, with two separate voices. If you've read my blog long enough, you probably know I don't like to give away too much of the book in my "reviews," so I won't go into much detail here. If you don't much about this book, here's a brief synopsis. The book is set in Afghanistan and focuses on two main characters, Mariam and Laila, whose lives intersect. The book opens while one of the main characters, Mariam, is still a child, in the 1960s, but it covers the period from then up until almost-present-day. As you can imagine, the book is wrought with the horrors of the war-torn Middle East, and it isn't always easy to read. It is, however, a quick read and very well-written. I do highly recommend this one.

This book will fill the "T" title slot in the A-Z Challenge.

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

I listened to How I Live Now on my commute this week, and I have to say it wasn't really my cup of tea. Parts of it reminded me a bit of Life As We Knew It, but I liked Life As We Knew It much better. The basic plot is that Daisy, a 15-year-old American girl, is sent to live with cousins in England, due to family problems at home. While she is in England, war breaks out, and she and her cousins have to survive. The book starts out pretty well, but it becomes bleaker and bleaker as it goes on. This is the nature of the story, not a flaw with the book. There were a couple of very violent scenes, which I find harder to deal with in an audiobook than in print, because in print you can sort of skim over them. Not so easy with audio. Another major theme in the book was Daisy's eating disorder, which while it was important (it is used as a plot device in a couple of places) I sort of felt that it was shoved in in places that weren't necessary. Overall, I just didn't care much for this book.

If you've reviewed this one, let me know in the comments, and I'll link to your review.