The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale

You thought I'd forgotten, didn't you?

But I hadn't.

But I almost wish I had.

You'll note this review has no ratings. Because I don't know. I didn't finish it.

I wanted this to be a light, happy, funny tale. And in some ways it was... and then it also wasn't.

(And can I just say, the cover is really bugging me. Their heads are all cut off. Grr.)

Maybe I'm a shallow reader, but I didn't want to deal with the tensions in her marriage (which she was causing, though she didn't mean to) or the Bishop who just didn't come across as all that caring, or any of the rest of it.

***SPOILER ALERT***

And I sure as stinkin' heck didn't want to deal with her husband dying of cancer. (And yes, I actually wrote yesterday's post BEFORE reading this, but hello, way to illustrate my point.)

It's contrived. First his marriage breaks up then her husband dies, clearing the way for them to fall into each other's arms. (I did read the last chapter.)

Now, before I get flamed into obscurity, I'm sure it's not that simple. There were a good 150 pages I didn't really read, so clearly something else happened, but still.

And, frankly, it makes their whole friendship a bit... suspect.

I have mixed feelings on the subject of having close close friends of the opposite gender other than your spouse. I have always been one of those girls who gets along better with guys, and yes, there are still a couple I'm fairly close to, but not so close that it would threaten my husband or infringe upon our marriage in any way. As time passes, we talk less. Not because there's anything wrong with our friendships, but just because that's the way life is.

But at what point does a friendship become an emotional affair? Can you really have THAT much invested in another man emotionally? (I'm feeling flashbacks to the Jayson Wolfe books..... similar problem, but not quite the same. It's a little different if you were like siblings before your marriage. Heck, it's a little different if you KNEW each other before.)

Anyway, I'm bugged. And yes, I absolutely acknowledge that a) the dialogue was great and b) if I were in a different mood or had known it was more serious, I may have had a completely different opinion.

I'm sure this book totally works for a lot of people. If it sounds like your thing-- check it out. There are lots of laugh out loud moments. Overall, though... not working for me.

Month In Review-- July

Do you ever look at Amazon's recommendations? I find them interesting. This is what comes up first for me today... Clair Poulson's Lost and Found. Haven't read it, but it looks interesting.

Books read in July-- 11. Not quite by book-every-two-days rate, but it's July. July's a crazy month.

Breakdown-- 2 Reader's Choice, 3 Virtual Book Tour, 1 Newbery. Library books-- 8/11. (The other three were the VBT books.)

Outstanding Monthly Possibility reviews--
Shadow of the Wind from June-- Have it from the library, just haven't read it yet.
The Actor and the Housewife from July-- still on hold... # 381 or something.

Zero book club books read in July... I did start July's book (Mormon Scientist), but it's probably good that we pushed it into August.

Oh, and the book I got for my sister's birthday-- Fairest -- yeah, she has it already. Time for plan B. I just have to remember what plan B was.

So, leave your suggestions for August Possibilities! I'll post a poll next week sometime!

Edited to Add-- My Year to Date total-- 91 books!
*Oh, and a little correction. June was also 11 books read. I've got to keep better track!

July Possibilities-- Looks Like It's...

The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale!

I put it on hold.

I'm number 484.

You all are purposefully choosing books that will take forever to get to me, aren't you?

:D

July Possibilities

Okay so it's between..... {insert title here} and {insert title here}

Oh wait. I don't have any!

Leave me an idea for a good summer read and I'll post the poll in a couple of days!!

On the subject of the June Possibility-- I'm STILL waiting for the hold to come in. I'm number 6. Sigh.

June in Review

Yeah, I know, technically June isn't over. I am giving up on June, though. Not my best month.

10 books read.

One for Book Club, six Virtual Book Tour books, two graphic novels and a miscellaneous jf/yf.

Wow, that's a lot of VBT books. Interesting.

Between kids being sick and being sick myself.... I'm glad June's over.

The June Possibility is Shadow of the Wind which I don't have from the library yet. It's popular-- I'm hold #14. So I'll read it in July, but that's the way it goes, right? :D

Start leaving me suggestions for July-- I'll post a poll around the 10th or so!

Need More Votes!

Because it was a tie!!

So I extended the poll on the June Possibilities...

If you haven't voted yet, go do it today!!

June Possibility Poll

Totally totally late!!!

Poll is up, so go vote!

May in Review and a Look at June

Total read in May-- 15 1/2 books. (The half is Enter Jeeves since I haven't read the Reggie Pepper stories yet!)

One was a Reader's Choice that didn't get done before the end of April.... One sequel to a Reader's Choice...

One Virtual Book Tour!

Two Monthly Possibilities!

Zero Book Club books... sorry, ladies. Actually it's just because I'd already read Dragon Slippers. :D In June it's my turn to pick!

Only 1 nonfiction. That's normal, though.

So-- looking at June.

I've got... 4? Virtual Book Tours coming up...

June Possibilities? I've got one suggestion so far-- The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon suggested by Pam.

Leave a comment if you've got a suggestion... I'll put up a poll on the 10th or so! :D

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt (May Possibility)

5 stars



So, I actually managed to read the May Possibility IN MAY! Go figure. (Yeah, I know, it's now June. What can I say?)

I loved it. Lots of fun! The voice was FABULOUS! And it's a great story. Highly recommended for... well, anyone, really.

As a matter of fact, I need to give you some quotes. Because there were lots of great ones.

There was only my sister left. To ask your big sister to be your ally is like asking Nova Scotia to go into battle with you.

Is that not hilarious?

So all the rooms on the third floor where the seventh grade was had Coat Rooms. That's where we put our stuff-- even though it was 1967 already, and we should have had hall lockers, like every other seventh grade in the civilized world.

That just makes me giggle. (I didn't have a locker OR a coat room in seventh grade.)

Love and hate in seventh grade are not far apart, let me tell you.

So true.

RE: Romeo and Juliet:

Let me tell you, these two wouldn't make it very far in Camillo Junior High. Never mind that Romeo wers tights-- at least according to the pictures-- but he just isn't very smart. And Juliet isn't too strong in that department, either. I mean, a potion to almost kill you? She drinks a potion to almost kill you? Who would drink a potion to almost kill you? Then Romeo goes ahead and drinks a potion that will kill you because he can't figure out that she's only had a potion that almost kills you? And then Juliet, who at least is smart enough to figure out that Romeo really is dead, makes sure that she uses a knife this time, which is not almost going to kill you, but really will kill you?
Doesn't this sound like something that two people who can't find their way around the block would get themselves into?
Of course it does.

I have to admit, I have very similar feelings about Romeo and Juliet. Can I appreciate the tragedy and the beauty of the writing? Sure, but that doesn't mean they weren't idiots.

I have only one little issue with this book-- why/how was the Doug kid involved in the whole Mickey Mantle thing? Seriously, what am I missing? He's not mentioned in that whole episode and yet he's included when they get the balls and gloves? I'm so confused.

Was Mickey Mantle really that big of a jerk? Yikes. And did anyone else think Holling's parents had some serious issues? Living in the Perfect House.... how's that for irony.

Anyway, really great book! (But can someone, anyone, PLEASE explain what Doug had to do with Mickey Mantle???)

May Possibilities

The poll is up-- now you just have to vote!

You have until 11:59 PM Saturday. :D

MY FIRST GIVEAWAY!!

Here it is. I told you it was coming.

This week makes 6 months since I started this little blog!

So I'm celebrating.

With a giveaway of course!!

Well, more than one, really, but you'll have to be patient... :D



"A modern mystery of Emily Dickinson."

This was a fun mystery I read a while back. Karen Pelletier is obsessed with Emily Dickinson, as is her colleague Randy Astin-Berger. Or was. But once Randy is found strangled with his own necktie (and who of us hasn't wanted to do THAT to a colleague) Karen has to figure it out before the police decide it was likely her. And to do THAT she has to find the truth behind Randy's latest research...

So, here's how it works-- you get 1 entry for commenting.
You get 2 more for subscribing/following (new or current).
You get 2 more for mentioning this on your own blog.
You get 2 MORE for checking out Arri and Keish's NEW site and leaving a comment either there or here about it.
AND you get THREE MORE for leaving me another choice for May Possibilities-- but you have to do it today.

So, that's a possible... what? TEN entries!? AND if you don't win, you'll automatically get one entry in the giveaway coming later this week.

I'll be picking a winner FRIDAY, so you have some time... but the May Possibility MUST BE POSTED TODAY.

Have fun!

April Possibilities-- The 13th Reality

The Journal of Curious Letters by James Dashner
5 Stars
R-0
JF

Think Harry Potter only Quantum Physics instead of magic.

I LOVED this book. Lots of fun. I'm sooooo looking forward to reading the next one. THANKS to Cari from Bookscoops for suggesting it!

Tick (yes, he knows it's an insect, but it's better than Atticus) is just your normal 13-year-old nerd... until he gets a mysterious letter postmarked Macadamia, Alaska.

A series of clues, misadventures, mysterious meetings and new friends follows. Tick has a few short months to figure out the clues and save the world. Or help save the world. Or start saving the world-- it is a series, after all.

Wonderful read. Over 300 pages and yet I read it in a day. Go, read it. Really.

So, it's a new month, which means we need a new batch of possibilities. Leave me a comment with an idea of what I should read!! (Come on, I know you have an idea....)

I'll put up a poll with the choices on the 12th, so you've got a couple of days to leave me a title!

The Long-Awaited Review-- Lost Boys

Lost Boys by Orson Scott Card
5 Stars
R-3
Some language, violence against children.

Wow. This really was amazing.

From IndieBound: "For Step Fletcher, his pregnant wife DeAnne, and their three children, the move to tiny Steuben, North Carolina, offers new hope and a new beginning. But from the first, eight-year-old Stevie's life there is an unending parade of misery and disaster.
Cruelly ostracized at his school, Stevie retreats further and further into himself -- and into a strange computer game and a group of imaginary friends.
But there is something eerie about his loyal, invisible new playmates: each shares the name of a child who has recently vanished from the sleepy Southern town. And terror grows for Step and DeAnne as the truth slowly unfolds. For their son has found something savagely evil ... and it's coming for Stevie next."

I'd never read anything by Card before-- this was my first. The tone was different than I expected. Okay, it was entirely different than I expected. For some reason (I have no idea what that reason is) I thought this was a Lord of the Flies type thing.

It's not. It is really, in essence, an LDS mystery.

Parts of it were ridiculous. I think there were at least 10 straight pages about the prestige of various church callings. I kid you not. And while, yes, I know there are people who actually think this way... it was ridiculous. And the way each chapter starts-- "This is why" "This is where" etc.-- drove me BATTY.

But I sobbed at the end. (Briefly, anyway. I've mentioned I'm not really a crier, right?)

I knew exactly what was coming, and I still sobbed.

I totally recommend this book-- with just two little... I can't think of the word I want. This is what happens when you get so wrapped up in a book that you don't go to bed until nearly 3... reservations? I guess... or maybe disclaimers. Anyway:

1. Don't read this book late at night. (Obviously I know this from experience.) It is just creepy enough that passing dark windows going to bed is not good for the psyche.
2. DO NOT read this book pregnant. I'm serious. Very serious. If you've ever been pregnant, you probably know what I mean. If you're already a hormonal mommy mess, wait a while to read this. I will not be held responsible for the results otherwise.

Many, many thanks to Mrs. B Roth for recommending it.

Oh, I mentioned that the library is ordering more copies, right? It's a good thing, 'cause this one is old and falling apart.

(Sorry about the IndieBound link-- I was going to put the picture link on, but it's a much creepier cover than the copy I read... Just so you know before clicking it.)

Last Call

Last call for other options for April Possibilities!

Thus far we have The Journal of Curious Letters by James Dashner, which I hope is not mid-series ;), against... well, itself, apparently.\


On a completely unrelated note:
I have a tag cloud now! Isn't it cool?

A Library Victory

The library system is now ordering two more copies of Orson Scott Card's Lost Boys.

I feel utterly responsible and I'm very pleased with myself.

(Okay, so I'm probably not responsible, but since I had to wait WEEKS for it to come in, I feel justified in my being pleased with myself.)

General Updates

1- Nobody has given me anything for the April Possibilities, so I suppose I'll give you a couple more days to ruminate before I put up a poll. I PROMISE I'll read whatever wins. I'm reading Lost Boys this week.

2- The Ides of March Madness is still going on! If you haven't checked it out, go do it!

3- Um... I forget. Oh yeah! New layout, new colors, etc etc. Whatcha' think?

It's That Time Again

While I technically still have not read March's book for my Possibilities, it is now April.

So... What shall I read in April? You can offer suggestions until Monday (April 6?) and then I'll take a poll with what suggestions I've got.

What do I just HAVE to read?

March Possibilities- Voting Closed

So, thanks to THIS POST, Lost Boys won 8 to 3. Off I go to the library website to put it on hold.

Those who were rooting for Dragon Slippers, don't despair. You can nominate it again next month.

:D

ETA-- wouldn't you know, there's only one copy of it in the whole blasted county system. So be patient.... I have to get hold of it before I can read it.

Only One Day Left to Vote!!

As it stands, I'll be reading Lost Boys probably, 'cause it's got the only vote... Unless I count the vote for Dragon Slippers that I got in a comment before putting up the poll....

In which case there will be a tie if you forget to vote. So please, come vote.

March Possibilities

So I guess it's between Lost Boys by Orson Scott Card and Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George.
Which shall I read?
I'm going to make a poll to put in the side bar.... assuming I can figure out how.
Voting will end Thursday evening.

:D