Book Review

Sharon Reads: The Abominables by Eva Ibbotson

/ Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

The Abominables by Eva Ibbotson is a children’s chapter book. This is a previously unpublished work from a well known author, following a family of yetis who are forced to leave their home in the Himalayas and make their way across Europe to a possible new home. Siblings Con and Ellen shepherd the yetis along their eventful journey, with the help of Perry, a good-natured truck driver. Through a mountain rescue in the Alps and a bullfight in Spain, the yetis at last find their way to an ancestral estate in England—only to come upon a club of voracious hunters who have set their sights on the most exotic prey of all: the Abominable Snowmen.

The Abominables is a fun story full of crazy incidents that keep the reader turning pages. As a child, Abigail is stolen from her father’s tent while on an expedition. Her kidnapper means no harm, only needs some help raising his young adominables. This introduction to the world of the adominables brings readers to a place where what most consider imaginary monsters, to be very much like man. Abigail teaches the adominables that she lives with to read, speak, and have good manners. When tourism threatens their home, Abigail sends her ‘family’ to her original home in search of safety. The journey is much more exciting than the travelers were prepared for. Just think about a long trip in the back of a truck with four adominables and a very confused yak. The illustrations scattered throughout the book from Fiona Robinson add a level of humor and aid the imagination perfectly, without overwhelming the reader.

I would highly recommend The Abominables to readers that are fans of the late, great Eva Ibbotson. Readers that enjoy animal stories, humor, and adventure will greatly enjoy the story. I am a little unsure on my age recommendations as I think readers around 8 and older would be my best guess. However, there is quite a bit about animal rights and cruelty so some of the youngest set might be upset by. However, (spoiler) every character gets their happy ending so that might be enough to make the mild upset worth the big happy that is sure to follow. I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads.

Jenn Reads: Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

/ Jenn / Leave a comment

Hey there old friends. Been a while.

Sorry for leaving you for so long, but I’ve been caught up in DVD land for quite some time now, with little time to write a proper post. And I really haven’t read anything worth writing a review for, until the past week, when I’ve finished two books in a row. Yay me!

I must be one of the ten people in the reading world who has not yet read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I like to keep those super popular, everyone-and-their-grandmother-has-read-it-right-now books until the popularity has worn off. Since Gone Girl is still going strong, I’ll hold off.

However, Dark Places fell into my lap due to the mystery book club I belong to. Our youngest member selected it as her choice for January, and I was finally introduced into the twisted and weird world of Gillian Flynn.

I’ll start off right away by saying that I give this book 3.5 stars out of 5. It had the potential for 4 stars, but there were several serious flaws. I listened to DP,

Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn

Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn

which was masterfully read by a full cast, with voices for Libby Day, Patty Day, and Ben Day, it was easy to breeze through this book.

A brief premise: Libby Day is now in her early 30’s, but as a seven year old, her mother and two older sisters, Michelle and Debbie, were allegedly murdered by her 15 year old brother, Ben. Libby’s life is a mess- she’s never worked a day in her life and has no money left. Libby herself is a mess- she’s rude, snapping, surly, angry, and just nasty. She would never be your best friend, or a bridesmaid at your wedding.

Libby receives a letter from a college-aged guy named Lyle, requesting her to appear at a group he belongs to. The group is called The Kill Club, and they are intent on proving that Ben did not kill Patty and her two daughters. If that isn’t weird enough, they agree to pay Libby to talk with people from her past who may know more about the story and who was the actual murderer.

The story flashes between present day (2009) Libby and 1985 Patty and Ben, and the events that occurred that fateful January day. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that Ben is not the killer- but who is?

That to me, was the biggest flaw of the book. I’m not one of those mystery readers who sets out from the very beginning to figure out whodunnit. I’d rather take the journey along with the main character and discover with them who the culprit is. Unfortunately, from almost the very beginning, I had figured out who the killer was.

And that was a big bummer.

This is not a book for those who do not like reading books with violence against children, violence, unpleasant circumstances, or those who are easily scared. DP is a dirty, filthy, foul book, with a scenario that could happen in real life. I wasn’t bothered by the violence or foulness of this book, but rather by the lack of depth in the main character, Libby. Only after her life is threatened again (spoiler!) does she finally start to grow as an adult, and the potential to move out of the dark places is opened.

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

See you in the stacks,

Jenn

PS- DP is being made into a film, starring Charlize Theron as Libby Day.

Library Journal Reviewers List Their Top 10 Books of 2013

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Librarians rely on a lot of resources when deciding which books to purchase for their libraries. At the top of the list is Library Journal’s Book Review, which provides prepublication reviews for hundreds of books each month. When you read books for a living, so many will blur together, but every year there are standouts. Here are LJ’s picks for the best books of 2013:

Claire of the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat (fiction). Claire Limyè Lanmè (“Claire of the Sea Light”) goes missing on her seventh birthday, soon after her destitute fisherman father makes the wrenching decision to give her away so that she can have a better life. As townsfolk search for her, painful secrets, haunting memories, and startling truths are unearthed among the community.

The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan (fiction). Anais Hendricks, 15, is in the back of a police car. She is headed for the Panopticon, a home for chronic young offenders. She can’t remember what’s happened, but across town a policewoman lies in a coma and Anais’s school uniform is covered in blood.  Raised in foster care from birth, Anais has been let down by just about every adult she has ever met. Now a counter-culture outlaw, she knows that she can only rely on herself. And yet despite the parade of horrors visited upon her early life, she greets the world with the witty, fierce insight of a survivor.

Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink (non-fiction). Pulitzer Prize winner Sheri Fink’s landmark investigation of patient deaths at a New Orleans hospital ravaged by Hurricane Katrina — and her suspenseful portrayal of the quest for truth and justice.

The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend by Glenn Frankel (non-fiction). Explores the true-story-become-legend underpinning John Ford’s film, and the making of the film itself.

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill (fiction). Charles Talent Manx has a way with children. He likes to take them for rides in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the NOS4A2 vanity plate. With his old car, he can slip right out of the everyday world, and onto the hidden roads that transport them to an astonishing–and terrifying–playground of amusements he calls “Christmasland.” Now Vic McQueen, the only kid to ever escape Manx’s unmitigated evil, is all grown up and desperate to forget. But Charlie Manx never forgot. He’s on the road again and he’s picked up a new passenger: Vic’s own son.

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra (fiction). In a rural village in December 2004 Chechnya, a failed doctor Akhmed harbors the traumatized 8-year-old daughter of a father abducted by Russian forces and treats a series of wounded rebels and refugees while exploring the shared past that binds him to the child.

How To Create the Perfect Wife by Wendy Moore (non-fiction). Go back before the Regency and the romances it still inspires. Enter the Enlightenment, but don’t assume its adherents were all enlightened as we’d understand the term. Meet Thomas Day, an 18th-century aristocrat free to study and practice Enlightenment philosophies. Watch him go to an orphanage and adopt a girl for long-term training to be his wife. Twice.

Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation by Michael Pollan (non-fiction). Pollan’s latest details his adventures exploring the four elements of food preparation: fire, water, air, and earth. In the course of his journey, he discovers that the cook occupies a special place in the world, standing squarely between nature and culture.

Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon (fiction). New York City, 2001. Fraud investigator Maxine Tarnow starts looking into the finances of a computer-security firm and its billionaire geek CEO and discovers there’s no shortage of swindlers looking to grab a piece of what’s left of the tech bubble.

The Woman Who Lost Her Soul by Bob Shacochis (fiction). When the humanitarian lawyer Tom Harrington travels to Haiti to investigate the murder of a beautiful, seductive photojournalist, he is confronted with a dangerous landscape of poverty, corruption, and voodoo.

Spotlight: Author Kristan Higgins

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Kristan Higgins

Kristan Higgins

Kristan Higgins is a New York Times and USA Today best selling author and two-time winner of the Romance Writers of America RITA Award.   She’s a Connecticut girl, living in Durham.  She is married to a firefighter(who also happens to be a fantastic cook) and has two children, a cat and a dog.  In addition to being an award winning author, she is an award winning baker.  Previously a copywriter, Kristan took her lifelong love of romance novels and began writing when her kids were little and napping.  Her stories are infused with humor, focused on relationships and her characters are just regular, everyday people.

Her latest book is The Pefect Match.  Honor Holland has just been unceremoniously rejected by her lifelong crush. And now—a mere three weeks later—Mr. Perfect is engaged to her best friend. But resilient, reliable Honor is going to pick herself up, dust herself off and get back out there.

Charming, handsome British professor Tom Barlow just wants to do right by his unofficial stepson, Charlie, but his visa is about to expire. Now Tom must either get a green card or leave the States—and leave Charlie behind.

In a moment of impulsiveness, Honor agrees to help Tom with a marriage of convenience—and make her ex jealous in the process. But juggling a fiancé, hiding out from her former best friend and managing her job at the family vineyard isn’t easy. And as sparks start to fly between Honor and Tom, they might discover that their pretend relationship is far too perfect to be anything but true love….

The Cheshire Library has a wonderful collection of Ms. Higgins’ books.  You can find them in our catalog.

 

Sharon Reads: The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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The Naturals

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes is a young adult novel. Cassie is seventeen and living with her father’s extended family. Her mother was a stage psychic, before being murdered. Thanks to her mother’s lessons Cassie excels at reading the body language and little details about the people around her. Cassie is approached by the FBI to join a special team of other teens with natural abilities. Joining the team would mean moving to Washington D.C. and helping to solve cold case files. Cassie cannot pass up the chance to solve her mother’s murder. However, no one on the team is quite what they seem and danger is close to home. Cassie and the unique team need to solve this case before one of them becomes the next victim.

The Naturals has just about everything you could want from a young adult novel. There is a cast of quirky and well fleshed out characters that still defy categorization, a mystery or two to solve, action scenes with life and death scenario, teenage ‘I do not fit in’ angst, and romance (a triangle of course). There are strong characters that while flawed hold true to their values and an ending that had resolution but still left me wanting more.  Cassie is an independent, caring, and strong character. She is willing to risk herself to help others, but does not take foolish risks. Michael is snarky and seems overconfident but seems to be wearing that personality as a mask to protect himself, he is naturally skilled at reading emotions. Dean, a profiler like Cassie, is the strong silent type who isolates himself and tries to control his temper. Lia is a vain, pretty teen who can tell when others are lying and the ability to lie to anyone. Sloane is a statistical genius and is more than a bit quirky. The team work with the FBI agents and are under the watchful eye of a caretaker while in the house. Of course, you throw this many teens in the house and there will be power struggles and romantic entanglements- however for the most part this is secondary to the set up of the plot and the mysteries that need solving. Cassie does spend a significant amount of time over-thinking everything, but that is part of being a sixteen year old girl.

The Naturals is at its heart a teen drama and a thriller. The danger is slow to evolve, and I was completely surprised by the final answer, even though I  had the ‘bad guy’ narrowed down to just three people by the time the full story was revealed. While readers might need to suspend their disbelief as they deal with the idea of people with the innate abilities or the idea of the FBI working with a teen of talented teens, others will just be able to shrug and move on.

The Naturals is a good start to a new series and I gave it four stars on Goodreads. I really enjoy Barnes’ writing style, and everything I loved about the characters in the Raised by Wolves series is here as well. Readers that like Cold Case, Criminal Minds, or any of the shows with a psychological look at crime solving will see something that they like in this series. I have not seen anything about the sequel to this book yet, but I will definitely be reading it when it is released.

This review was originally published on Sharon the Librarian.