Lovely Little Shelf

Review: The Late Bloomer’s Revolution

January 10, 2012 – 8:52 am

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The Book: The Late Bloomer’s Revolution, by Amy Cohen

The Story: Amy is thirty years old and unmarried and has no children and she has been fired from her job and can’t ride a bike. She starts to think that she’s old and washed up and decides to better herself.

What I Thought: Here’s the thing: I am a sucker for memoirs. Last year, I’d say a good twenty five percent of the books I read were memoirs and I liked 98% of them. Do you think it is a coincidence that this one and Breakfast with Tiffany were the ones that I hated? They were so similar it was almost comical. Both people have media jobs in NYC, cushy lives and are just giant whiners.

You hear me? WHINERS.

I guess that it does all add up to a book deal: she lives in NYC, has a job in media, meets famous people, is hot, has “hilarious” friends, and has an epiphany that she needs to get her crap together. The problem is that it didn’t read like a memoir at all. It read like the fluffiest piece of chic lit I’ve ever gotten my hands on. There was not a bit of raw, real emotion and it made the whole thing seem even more #firstworldproblems than it really was…. (That’s right- I just used a hashtag in my blog. It’s my blog. I’ll do what I want ;) )

And the real bummer is that it didn’t have to be like that. Because she did have serious stuff come up- her fiancé dumped her totally unexpectedly and her mom died and she got fired and…. all these things that should bring out real emotion, real feeling from people. Not Amy. I mean, I’m sure she experienced real human emotions, real grief, but she didn’t write about them at all. The whole book was this “oh my God, I’m QUIRKY and ALONE!” and whine whine whine.

Barf.

That’s it. If you want to read a memoir, read something legit. If you want to read good chic lit, do your thing. This is neither.

Conclusion: Don’t read this. Don’t buy it for your single friends. Don’t even crack the cover. Yuck.

By Jacki | Posted in Review | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

January: To Be Read Shelf (aka Jacki’s Impulsive Decision)

January 9, 2012 – 8:01 am

So last month, I was proud of my TBR pile. I read a good chunk of books in December despite the holidays and ended up with a shelf looking like this:

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All contained to one shelf, which is great. I really felt like I started the year in a pretty good place… the problem? I was in a horrible book rut. Nearly all of the books I had were heavy non-fiction and literary fiction. And I’m not one to pull the pregnancy card, but for some reason in early pregnancy, reading becomes very hard for me. When I was early-pregnant with Izey, I had to start reading graphic novels. Seriously. Check my archives. December-January 2009. Graphic novels and chic lit and stuff. I don’t know if all of my brain cells have to focus on baby-making or if my mind is in other places or… I really don’t know, but books that I would normally enjoy were just falling flat and literally nothing on my TBR shelf looked readable.

So here’s what I did:
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Yup. That’s right. I kept four books, one of them (Great Gatsby) that I have read before and have on my TBR shelf so I remember to read it again before the movie and another, Bonhoeffer, which I only kept because someone loaned me and keeps trying to engage in conversation about.

Here is the pile that I made to donate to the library:
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Can I possibly tell you how good it felt not to have those books that I have no intention of reading off of my shelf? It is like they were mocking me and now they are just gone. Sheeeew. Feels so good.

Funny side story: I was sitting in front of my little shelf sorting these books into different piles and Izey watched me for a few minutes, went over to my big shelves and started making piles of his own. He was even flipping through the pages of each book like I was. It was the cutest thing ever.
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The library a few towns over that has a book sale every first Saturday was, of course, having their monthly sale, so I took my pile of books there with the intention of re-stocking. They always have such good books, and here is what I came back with:
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One of those (Thirteen Reasons Why) I have already read but had gotten from the library. I loved it and wanted to have it around to re-read. The rest are total unknowns to me. They are all novels with pretty basic story lines and I think that they will be a lot better for me in the next few months.

So! Yay for impulsive decisions! Have you ever read any of the books that I ended up with? Have you ever decided to ditch that many books (17!!) at one time? Am I crazy?

By Jacki | Posted in TBR | Comments (8)

Sunday Morning Comics

January 8, 2012 – 7:00 am

Shaun sent this to me forever ago and I’m just now remembering to share it with you. So funny!

xkcd, I love you.

By Jacki | Posted in Sunday Morning Comics | Comments (1)

Review: Thirteen Moons

January 7, 2012 – 9:14 am

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The Book: Thirteen Moons, by Charles Frazier

The Story: When he is young, Will Cooper is orphaned and sent to live with his aunt and uncle. They don’t have time money to take care of him so they get him hooked up with a job running a small trading post out in the middle of Indian country.

He has just twelve when they put him on a horse, give him a key to the trading post and send him off. He is initially, of course, terrified and not great at what he does. As he gets to know the Indians and starts to understand their customs, in a lot of ways he becomes part of their tribe.

He is wildly in love with Claire, the daughter of the feared and respected Featherstone. Their love ties all the parts of Will’s life together and spans over the course of his entire life.

Told looking back on his life at an old age, Will is able to connect dots and draw lessons from the unique and powerful things that he experienced.

What I Thought: In short, I thought that this book was amazing.

Charles Frazier is one of those authors that can just write his butt off. He makes gorgeous description and haunting detail seem easy. His writing ebbs and flows in a perfectly lyrical but not too over-the-top way. It’s hard to pull off and he does it like no one else out there today.

I really like books that are written from the perspective of an older person looking back on their life. Sometimes it can feel cheesy, but again- Charles Frazier hit the nail right on the head. I think that this voice of “This was my life and I’m not always proud of it, but this is how it happened” was perfectly, perfectly captured. His relationship with Claire was literally enough to bring tears to my eyes. So, so beautiful.

This book, however, is not super plot heavy. I was totally ok with this because I was enamored with the characters and mostly with the writing, but if you are a person that needs a plot that skips along, you should probably pass this one up.

After I finished reading, I Googled a bit to see what parts of this book were completely fiction and what was drawn from fact. I was really impressed to see actual historians discussing this book and how completely accurate it was. I even saw where someone had said that it was pretty much the perfect historical fiction because it is very accurate but blends in really well written characters as well. I have to agree. This book was totally magical to me.

Conclusion: I don’t think that this is for everyone, but if you love historical fiction and stunning detail, you will devour this.

By Jacki | Posted in Review | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

Friday Five (18)

January 6, 2012 – 8:04 am

1. Yesterday was my first day babysitting. The plan is that I’ll babysit Maria, my friend’s three month old baby, on Tuesdays & Thursdays 8:30-5:30. I was really excited when I offered to do it- it will be good practice and I’ll be bringing in a little bit of money each week- but as it got closer I got so nervous. But I survived. The morning was a tad rough (Maria is pretty scared of Izey because he’s so noisy), but both kids slept from 1-4 and were perfect angels after that. I can do this, right?

2. I’ve had several friends on Twitter and Facebook say something FINALLY about how stupid all of those “breast cancer awareness” things are. I’m so, so glad that it’s finally a thing to say “Oh, that’s very dumb and not spreading awareness in any way.” I have thought they were dumb since “What color is your bra,” but this latest pregnancy one not only made me mad, it made me think that my brother’s kind-of girlfriend was pregnant. Ew.

3. In regards to my last Friday Five about NYE- I MADE IT TO MIDNIGHT! Yeah. It’s worth all those caps. It was a New Year’s miracle.

4. I’m looking around my house for things to sell so that I can go see my book nerd friends in Savannah next month. Seriously.

5. Isaac got this for Christmas from my loving brother. Guys, it is the most annoying toy. Ever. He sings about 5 songs over and over and over and is all demanding with “I want to play drums!” Grrr. But Izey LOVES him. He calls him “momo” and dances around when Elmo sings, so I can’t just hide it or take the batteries out. Why do I even mention this? Oh, because right now I’m singing Rockin’ Elmo songs in my head. They are on a permanent loop through my brain. Ahhh.

By Jacki | Posted in default | Comments (3)

Review: The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

January 5, 2012 – 9:03 pm

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The Book: The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, by Catherine Howe

The Story: Connie is an academic who is challenged a bit by her academic advisor. He asks her to consider the possibility that the people accused in Salem in the 1690’s were actually just witches.

She kind of shoves his question to the back of her mind and goes about her life… which just so happens to include going through/cleaning out her deceased grandmother’s house. She finds a few clues that lead to more clues and pretty soon she is taking her advisor’s questions much, much more seriously.

What I Thought: I really wanted to like this. When I was in middle school, I took a trip to Boston and we visited Salem. I LOVED it. I was totally enamored with the history, the town, the stories, everything. The cover art for this book is what made me pick it up, but when I read that it was about the Salem Witch Trials, I bought it in about 3 seconds.

It had a lot of potential. It really did. But there were some serious, serious flaws. Allow me to make a list.

1. Connie is supposed to be an academic. She is an idiot. She had supposedly been studying the colonial time period for the entirety of her academic career and she couldn’t make simple, simple connections (like “bottel” being an older, phonetic spelling for… well… “bottle”). One or two little slip ups would have been alright, but at a certain point her ignorance became annoying.

2. The whole book was written in a way that a middle schooler could have read it. In fact, had I read this during my middle school trip to Salem, I probably would have loved it. They should take out the crappy love story and just market this to kids.

3. The love story really is crappy. The predictability is off the charts and Sam just fell totally flat for me. Gag.

4. There are maybe 1,000,000 stereotypes represented in this book and each one annoyed me more than the last.

5. The past storyline (about Deliverance Dane) was actually pretty interesting. Unfortunately, these parts were few and far between and most of the time we were stuck with stupid Connie.

I honestly could keep going, but I’ll spare you.

Conclusion: This book is gross and awful. Please don’t read it.

By Jacki | Posted in Review | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

2012 Goals

January 3, 2012 – 9:37 pm

Last year was the first time that I set real reading and blog related goals for myself. It was so fun to chip away at them and to see, in the end, that I really did accomplish them.

For the most part, my goals this year are fairly similar to my goals from last year, with a couple added on!

Goal 1 Read 100 books.

Goal 2 Continue my Presidential Challenge by reading 1 presidential biography every month.

Goal 3 Maintain a small TBR pile. Weed out books that I’ve had for a long time and will likely not read.

Goal 4 Continue to make blogging a priority. Post regularly but don’t let non-posting days stress me out.

Goal 5 Catch up on reviews by May and keep my “need to review” list at less than ten books.

Goals 3 & 5 are the ones that I think are going to be the hardest for me, but they just need to be done. I sat a fairly low (for me) reading goal because in August, I’ll start life with two little ones instead of just one. I want to leave myself some wiggle room.

But these seem totally do-able right? Right.

What are you reading-related goals this year?

By Jacki | Posted in Thoughts | Comments (3)

Best of 2011

January 2, 2012 – 4:09 pm

You guys know that I love a good list, so after seeing so many great “Best of 2011″ lists, I couldn’t resist making one of my own. I wanted to wait until 2011 was officially over just in case I read a great one at the tail end, and here we are- 2012.

Without further ado, here is my list in no particular order:

(If you click on the book cover, it will take you to my review of the book!)


The Wise Man’s Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss
This sequel to one of my favorite books from last year absolutely, absolutely blew me away. The story was stunning, the writing was amazing and going to a Patrick Rothfuss signing was one of the best parts of my year. This dude is an amazingly nice guy and he writes like nothing else I’ve ever read. I can’t wait until ol’ #3 is in my hands, but I imagine that that is a long, long way off.


Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer
Jonathan Safran Foer also made an appearance on my “best of” list last year with Everything is Illuminated, but I’m including this book on its own merit. I may have even liked this one better. It just has a real magical quality to it. Can’t wait to see the movie!


Two Kisses for Maddy, by Matt Logelin
After reading his blog since just about day one, I wondered if there would be much in the book for me. Oh my lands. This is a warm, honest look at his life with his wife and then that heartbreaking year after she died. It is amazingly well done and I knew as I was reading it that it would be one of my favorites.


Stones from the River, by Ursla Hegi
A beautifully written historical fiction book about misfits and family binding together during WWII? This one has “Jacki” written all over it. My loving this was no surprise to anyone, so I’ll move on.


Cane River, by Lalita Tademy
Another really well done piece of historical (kind of) fiction. I love genealogy and finding more out about my family’s history and I just love that Lalita Tademy did this and then used her incredible writing skills to fill in the blanks and give her ancestors real life and personality. The result was something really beautiful that I still think about all the time.


American Lion, by Jon Meachem
I made myself only pick one of my Presidential Challenge books, even though I really loved reading all of them. It was a toss up between this and John Adams, and while I liked John Adams, I think that American Lion made a more lasting impression on me. As I’ve read a lot of the other biographies, I can really recall a lot of the stuff that was talked about in American Lion and for that reason alone (not to mention the fact that I have a little history-crush on Andrew Jackson) I chose this as one of my favorites.


Lover’s Dictionary, by David Levithan
I posted about this book several times throughout the year because it was just absolutely amazing. This is the only book this year that I flipped over and read it again right after I finished. It was that good. Love it.


Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door, both by Stephanie Perkins
These books are both a bit out of my usual-reading-line-up, but oh my word am I glad I gave them a go. They are the most lovable, huggable, warm, cozy books that I’ve read in a long, long time. Not to mention that Decatur Book Festival and meeting Stephanie Perkins was one of the greatest parts of the whole year for me.


Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson
I’ve been on a memoir-and-biography kick this year and this one really stood out. We are, admittedly, part of the Apple Cult, but even beyond loving the subject I thought that the writing was amazing. This was just a well done, unbiased biography AND one of the only books that Shaun read this year, so that’s a pretty big deal!


The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Of all the books I read this year, this is probably the one that I’ve recommended to the most people. My copy is totally dog-eared and loved because I’ve loaned it out to no fewer than five people since reading it in August. It’s just that good.

So there ya go. My top ten (well 11….) of 2011. Did any of these make your list too?

By Jacki | Posted in Thoughts | Comments (4)

2011 Goals: Accomplished!

December 31, 2011 – 2:52 pm

This is the first year that I set more goals for myself than just a number goal and I was so excited to look back and see that I’vc come really close to accomplishing all of them!

Goal 1: Read 111 books.

I did it! I ended the year having read exactly 125 books. I’ll share some more stats with you later today or tomorrow, but I was an overachiever with this one!

Goal 2: Read 1 Presidential Biography a month.

Also completed! I recently posted my Zachary Taylor review, and with that accomplished this goal. Here is a list of my presidential bio reviews (and all the other participants!) for the year: Presidential Challenge.

Goal 3: Get my TBR pile to a manageable size before buying any more books… even if they are only a dollar.

This, I guess, is debatable. Looking back on the pictures, I see that I have a few books on my TBR shelf that were there last year (eek!) but right now, my TBR shelf is occupying less than a full shelf and is actually looking pretty good. So, while I did get my pile to a manageable size, I did end up passing over the same books a lot of times. I will have to work this coming year on sifting through and taking out books that I never plan on reading.

Goal 4: Continue to blog regularly.

I was nervous about this one- while I figured that I would be able to continue reading with a new baby, sitting down to compose thoughtful blog posts is a whole different thing. I feel like I did really good this year with posting regularly. If my calculations are correct (and it’s pretty likely they aren’t ;) ), I posted 354 times this year. Not to shabby, right? Right.

So there ya go! 3.5 out of 4 isn’t bad at all!

How did you do with your book-related goals this year?

By Jacki | Posted in default | Comments (3)

Friday Five (17)

December 30, 2011 – 10:43 am

1. So we’ve been home for three days and our house still looks like Santa’s workshop exploded in our living room. Izey maybe has the greatest grandparents ever and when I say that they took care of him at Christmas I am not kidding. He got so much stuff that we had to leave things behind because our car was too full. I’m just putting about 3/4ths of them up and will ration them out. This kid is going to be getting new toys until about June.

2. We finally got a little teeny bit of snow here in NorthEastern Ohio! Usually by now, we’ve had a foot of snow on the ground for a month, so I’ve actually started to miss it a little bit. It’s nice to see the white stuff everywhere.

3. I got some pretty awesome book-related Christmas presents. I got a new book light, a new book, a NOOK, and a bookbook iPhone cover! The iPhone cover is maybe the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my life and I love that either my mom has been reading my blog OR just knows me well enough to pick it out. I’m absolutely in love. I just started the book I got (11/22/63 by Stephen King) and so far I love it. Pretty exciting stuff.

4. Two NYEs ago I was newly pregnant and couldn’t stay up until midnight. Last year, I had a 4 month old baby and again couldn’t manage to stay up until midnight. This year, I am (again) newly pregnant and will most likely not be able to stay up until midnight. Because of my inability to stay up until 12, our NYE routine is for me to fall asleep at like 10, for Shaun to find a live feed of the ball drop on the computer somewhere and then wake me up at midnight to drink sparkling grape juice and then fall promptly back to sleep. I’m not kidding when I say that this is just about as wild as we get. Here is what is a TEENY bit sad about that: The first year we were together, Shaun and I decided the day before that we wanted to go to Time’s Square to see the ball drop, so we just threw some crap in the car and went. We had never been to NYC before and had no idea what we were doing, but we had so much fun. You would think we were 30 years older now. Nope. 4. My how times have changed… Do you have fun NYE plans?

5. I’m really excited about a few posts I have planned for this coming week: my favorites of the year, my goals for last year, my goals for next year, and a year-end wrap up. I love reading everyone else’s favorites and am excited about picking out mine!

By Jacki | Posted in default | Comments (3)