Another E-Reader In The Family?

We may be getting married soon, but sometimes it’s like I hardly know Andrew. He recently announced that he is in the market for an e-reader. Say what?

I had no idea he had any interest in the gadgets. But now that he does, I’m kind of excited.

While we are still far from being able to share books (something tells me Andrew isn’t interested in… well pretty much anything on my mom’s list), it’s nice to share a technology. We can bond over text size and percentage complete.

He’s looking into the Kindle, which is what I have, but the fancier version, the Touch. And if he buys it and ends up not liking it? New toy for me!

Next Up: Dark at the Roots

As the numbers on my mom’s list dwindle, the reasoning behind my choices also dwindles. After the fictionalized story of a true life story in My Sister, My Love, I decided to go for a real true life story in Dark at the Roots: A Memoir by Sarah Thyre. I picked it mostly because why not?

Also, I like the cover.

I judge books by their covers.

But in case you are actually curious as to what the book is about, here you go:

As a middle child raised middle class and stuck out in the middle of Louisiana, hilarious writer and actress Sarah Thyre often found her in-between existence far less than desirable. Even from a young age, Sarah found ways of shirking her own hated identity — whether by stealing someone else’s or lying about her own. She changed her name, claimed to be a great outdoorsman, and solicited donations for her favorite charity — which turned out to be, in fact, her. In addition, Sarah lived through the violent struggles between her parents and their often troubled finances, and the stories with which she emerged populate this charming memoir.

A Review of My Sister, My Love

There’s nothing like a family-centric holiday like Thanksgiving to read a book about the most dysfunctional of all families. My Sister, My Love by Joyce Carol Oates is a novel about a fictional family in which the six-year-old figure skating prodigy daughter is found murdered in her own house. If it sounds familiar it’s because it’s the fictionalized tale of JonBenet Ramsay.

The story is told from the perspective of the Rampike’s son Skyler. He is nine years old when his sister Bliss is killed and, while never formerly accused, there are those who believe Skyler had something to do with the murder. The book is written in the voice of a teenager and so can take some getting used to sort of like when I read Room. However, where I eventually found the narration of Room to be endearing, I never quite got passed the rambling, at times incoherent, narration of My Sister, My Love. One difficulty, which is not at all Oates’ fault, is that the book is full of footnotes. This just doesn’t work in an e-book. The footnotes came at the end of each chapter at which point I no longer remembered what they referred to and it wasn’t really possible to flip back and forth. Alas, a shortcoming in the e-book world.

Moving on… Now I didn’t expect this to be an uplifting read. The subject matter pretty much precludes any idea of warm fuzzy feelings. And yet, it was a bit hard to read at times. Not so much because of the murder, because that doesn’t come until well into the book, but just because life has always seemed to be tricky for the Rampike children despite growing up in an affluent family. I give Oates’ a lot of credit for making it so heartbreaking without being cheaply sentimental. Even as I knew what the outcome would be, I hoped it would somehow turn out differently.

And while I did read all of My Sister, My Love on the trip to Florida, it was long. And it felt long. While the way the book is written gives a lot of insight into the mind of the narrator, Skyler, I think it could have been streamlined and still pack the same emotional punch.  I wanted to know what would happen, but I wanted to know faster. I’m impatient.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

By the time you read this post, I’ll have (hopefully) already flown from New York to Florida, landed, gotten home, and started napping.

I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving. And if it involves a flight – happy reading! And if it involves a long drive – happy audiobooking! And no matter what it involves, happy eating and happy spending time with family!

During my travels, I’ll finally be starting Joyce Carol Oates’ My Sister, My Love. Nothing says heartwarming holiday like fictional family tragedy, am I right?

My Need To Read Tragic Stories

On Friday I alluded to my need to read all about sad, missing children stories. It’s part of the reason I decided on My Sister, My Love as my next book from my mom’s list. It’s a fictionalized story about the JonBenet murder. I find these stories heartbreaking, but I can’t stop reading them.

I’ve read way too many articles about the JonBenet case already. The Casey Anthony trial? I read all about it. Even when that child went missing in Portugal, I found myself Googling all the articles. I don’t know why. The articles always leave me outraged.

Of course, most controversial news items capture my attention. I read about the Amanda Knox case for days. And the same with Natalee Holloway. I’m going to chalk up this odd characteristic as curiosity. Yes, let’s go with curiosity and the need to be up to date on current events.

At least it makes me really interested in reading My Sister, My Love.

P.S. Please don’t judge me.

Hunger Games Trailer Reassures Skeptics

I’m going to blame jet lag for not sharing the official Hunger Games trailer with you the day it came out. Especially since I posted the Hunger Games parody video. But it’s never to late too make up for past mistakes, so here it is.

I feel like when the cast was first released and information about the movie was leaking, fans of the series grew skeptical. The film didn’t sound like it could live up to the greatness of the books. While a trailer doesn’t necessarily prove anything, I’m guessing this one made a lot of people feel better. It looks great! It reminded me that I should probably get on that whole reading book #2 thing. Sounds like the perfect Christmas break read.

In the meantime, I’ll just watch the trailer a few more times.

 

Next Up: My Sister, My Love

While I wade my way through work manuscripts, I’ve come up for air long enough to consider my next pick from my mom’s list. (The number sure is dwindling, eh?) And the winner is…

My Sister, My Love by Joyce Carol Oates.

I almost brushed it aside because it’s long… really long. And I’ve got a million other books to read. But when do I not?

Then I saw what it was about. It’s more or less a fictional retelling of the JonBenet Ramsay murder (featuring the Rampikes family) told from the perspective of the older brother. I hate to admit, but the true life version of these kinds of cases grab my attention. They’re so horribly sad and yet I can’t look away. More on that later… I have to stretch this into more than one blog post, okay?

Much like with other novels based on real life events (ahem, American Wife), I can’t wait to see what is accurate, what has been changed, and whether there might be some interesting new information revealed. Let’s get to it.

Book Club Minus The Book

Hi, my name is Samantha and I’m a book club delinquent. For the first time since book club started three years ago, I did not read the book. I didn’t even start it. I just went from reading group goody goody to reading group rebel.

But it’s not really my fault though. I had every intention of reading the book. The pick was True Confections and I bought the e-book prior to my trip in Europe. However, for it to actually make it to my Kindle I needed to turn on the wireless. I forgot to do that, but I figured it would still work in Europe. It did not. Thus no True Confections for me.

Turns out, I wasn’t the only one who didn’t finish the book this month. In fact, only two people did. And from what I heard, I didn’t miss much. With so few people having actually completed True Confections, the book discussion was short lived. And yet it was a really good book club!

It was held at Erica’s apartment and she has a great round dining room table. Apparently round tables are a favorite of ours. We spent the evening eating bagels, noodle kugel, and candy, and catching up around the table. It was just book club minus the book!

A Review of Deeper Than The Dead

I started Tami Hoag’s Deeper Than The Dead in the wee hours of the morning while standing alone without a phone in a foreign train station while watching the drunks go by and waiting for Andrew to meet me. Not the best time to start a mystery featuring brutal murders of women. Fortunately the only danger was of the fictional variety.

Deeper Than The Dead begins with a few children stumbling upon the body of a partially buried woman who has been viciously killed and had her eyes and mouth superglued shut. The murder is linked to two previous deaths and another woman is now missing. FBI agent Vince Leone comes to town to aid the investigation and mingle with locals.

At first, I was skeptical of Deeper Than The Dead. As a previously avid reader of mysteries, I thought “been there, done that.” At only 25% of the way into the book, I was convinced I knew who the killer was and could see how the whole thing would play out. It turns out I was right on the killer but I was not right about how the whole thing played out. In fact, for a while in the middle there, Hoag had me second guessing my pick. She even managed to remind me why I liked (like?) mysteries so much. They keep me on the edge of my seat!

Deeper Than The Dead kept me hooked through a five hour train ride. Sure, there were gruesome parts I wish I could have skipped over. This book is not necessarily for the weak. But it was a nice change of pace (as much as grisly murders can be considered “nice”) from other books on my mom’s list and a sign that I shouldn’t ignore mysteries. Middle school me who was obsessed with Mary Higgins Clark would be so proud.

Back… And Only a Little Jetlagged

I returned from my European adventure on Sunday night and have been busy recovering (oh, and reading 400 work emails). I think I’m almost caught up on sleep.

I had a great time hitting the highlights of Copenhagen, Budapest, Vienna and Prague with Andrew’s family. It was exhausting but a lot of fun. I saw lots of castles, palaces, and parliaments, ate fried cheese and goulash, took a dip in a Hungarian bath, and much more.

With all the flights and trains involved I also managed to squeeze in a little reading. I finished two and a half manuscripts for work and a book from my mom’s list. Not bad for a week… especially a week so jam packed with sightseeing.

I’ll tell you all most about Deeper Than The Dead and what books are on the horizon later in the week. For now, it’s back to the real world.