Life's hard.

It's even harder when you're stupid.

John Wayne

Thursday, June 27, 2013

The Borrowers by Mary Norton ★★★★☆



A joyful foray into the world of possibilities.
Fiction – Juvenile - Fantasy
Age Range: 9 and up
180 pages
Publication Date: 1952
The Borrowers #1
Carnegie Medal in Literature 1952

The Borrowers (The Borrowers #1)Arriety is a Borrower, a race of miniscule people who live in the houses of human Beans and borrower from them to live.  Pod, Arriety’s father, wants to teach her the ways of survival, but Arriety rather see what the world outside is like.

I picked up this book with every intention of being delighted and I would have to say in the past sometimes these high expectations have led to crushing disappointment, but not in the case of The Borrowers.  Even after 50 years in print and dramatic shifts in our culture I found this book to be ageless.  The storytelling style is very homey and comfortable and the story just carries you along for joyful little foray into the world of possibilities.  And the idea of Borrower’s living in houses just lit up my imagination with a childlike wonderment.  I loved the delightful descriptions of the things they borrowed and how they used them with detailed illustrations to accompany.  I just adored it.



ISBN  0152099875 (ISBN13: 9780152099879)

Thursday, June 20, 2013

I am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert ★★★☆☆



I am America (And So Can You!)
Stephen Colbert for President!
Non Fiction – Humor
230 pages
Publication Date:  2007

Former Presidential candidate in South Carolina and the handsome(if he does say so himself) anchor of the Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert, endows his followers from the Colbert Nation with his hilarious, “enlightened” and in no way well-informed world views that he wasn’t able to elaborate enough on during his show.

Stephen Colbert is either a national treasure or bat crap crazy … or possibly both.  No matter what category he falls in I, as always, found him delightful.  As a fan of his show, I am well acquainted with his humor.  His writing is incredibly clever, witty, deliciously sarcastic and oh so wrong.  Colbert enjoys universally poking fun at pretty much everything and everyone.  Nothing is sacred in the Colbert Nations.  Taken with a good sense of humor, I found even the values I hold dear thrown on the chopping block for comic fodder to be pretty dang funny.  And as I finished this book I realized I would never be the same.  Stephen Colbert’s sage advice of, “Don’t Suck,” is something I will carry with me always.

ISBN  0446580503 (ISBN13: 9780446580502)

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Metro Girl by Janet Evanovich ★★☆☆☆



Metro Girl (Alex Barnaby, #1)
A chore to read.
Fiction – Mystery(Cozy)
384 pages
Publication Date:  2004
Alex Barnaby #1

Alexandra (Barney) Barnaby is in pursuit of her wayward brother, Bill, in Miami.  She hopes to find him and save him from whatever fresh catastrophe he has gotten himself into this time.  During her search she runs into Sam Hooker, a NASCAR driver who is pursuing Bill for the theft of his boat.  They learn that Bill is in pursuit of a sunken treasure, but he isn’t the only one.  Together Barney and Hooker race to the finish line to find Bill before the  “others” can get to him and the sunken treasure he has found.

Try as I might I could never find the rhythm of the story and slip into it.  While things did get a little better as the story progressed it never reached the point of redemption and in the end just trying to finish the book was a real chore.  I never warmed up to Barney and as a first person narrative from viewpoint that was a real problem.  Barney’s character just didn’t feel authentic to me for some reason.  I found Hooker unlikable and got sick of his constant NASCAR references really quickly.  The secondary characters were rather disappointing, especially since I know that is one of the areas Evanovich tends to shine in.  The mystery itself could have been incredibly interesting, but the characters were just too distracting to really get into it.  I regret the time I spent on this one!

ISBN  0060584025 (ISBN13: 9780060584023)

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

The crown has been passed on!




The year long reign of Whip It by Shauna Cross as most viewed post ever has come to an end with Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith taking over the crown.


Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter 


Long Live the new King!