Peaceful Reader

Let Them Eat Cake; Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

If you were only able to read one YA book this year, let it be this one.

Revolution

Jennifer Donnelly

2010

472 pages

Goodreads Synopsis:

BROOKLYN: Andi Alpers is on the edge. She’s angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and heartbroken by the loss of her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And she’s about to be expelled from Brooklyn Heights’ most prestigious private school when her father intervenes. Now Andi must accompany him to Paris for winter break.

PARIS: Alexandrine Paradis lived over two centuries ago. She dreamed of making her mark on the Paris stage, but a fateful encounter with a doomed prince of France cast her in a tragic role she didn’t want—and couldn’t escape.

Two girls, two centuries apart. One never knowing the other. But when Andi finds Alexandrine’s diary, she recognizes something in her words and is moved to the point of obsession. There’s comfort and distraction for Andi in the journal’s antique pages—until, on a midnight journey through the catacombs of Paris, Alexandrine’s words transcend paper and time, and the past becomes suddenly, terrifyingly present.

My Thoughts:

I gushed about reading the first 5 chapters via Amazon in this previous post and after I picked it up from my library I couldn’t wait to get back to it. It didn’t disappoint me either. Andi is suffering from her little brother Truman’s death and she thinks about suicide more than once. Her pain felt real as she trudges back and forth to school, going through the motions and living for her music. Music played a huge role in this story and it made me curious about the various bands that are mentioned. Modern bands mixed with dead composers make an interesting mix. It should come with a CD.

This would have been a strong story on its own but adding the detail of Alex’s diary, locked in a secret compartment of a guitar case, and the fact that Andi becomes obsessed with it brought such surprising twists. Reading about Alex’s daring adventures to save Louis-Charles, the would-be king of England, help Andi to work through her own grief and frustration. She heals as she is transformed by Alex’s words.

I liked Virgil, Andi’s new love interest, who helps her to talk about her pain and he doesn’t give up-he’s like a positive beacon for her, even when she messes up. There are some creepy parts towards the end that had the hair on the back of my neck bristling away. I was reading it alone, late at night, while my husband was out of town-I scared myself silly. This was solid writing with very memorable characters. I’m pretty sure I know more about the French Revolution than I did before I read this! Thank you, Jennifer Donnelly!

I checked out another Donnelly book, A Northern Light, from the library today.

Jennifer Donnelly’s website

Other reviews of Revolution:

Random Musings
Nancy at Tales from a Ravenous Reader
Swoontini
SIDEBAR: I messed around with the HTML; trying to make a dotted box and I didn’t get a dotted box, I got white! Why can’t I have a brain for HTML…

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Soon after reading Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver I picked up Forman’s If I Stay. I found both books had similar themes of resurrection and death. The most glaring difference, for me, was personalities; Sam Kingston was a follower and her focus was on popularity~she does grow as she tries to fix things in her life.

If I Stay’s main character, Mia was lovable just as she was~she grows as she learns to live without her family. Her life was lovely; she had funky and interested parents, she was a talented cello player and had a funny and supportive best friend. And the boyfriend, Adam, just as lovable as Mia but scruffier.

Synopsis:

Mia chose life in If I Stay and this second book, told through Adam’s perspective, tells us about his journey without her. The band he plays in, Shooting Star, has taken off and he and the band are playing big shows with groupies and fans trailing after them. He always wanted to make it big but it isn’t what he expected at all because now it’s not really about making music and getting their groove on; it’s a show and it’s bigger than them. His band has always been like a family and now they are broken pieces linked but not happily. He is popping pills and smoking cigarettes just to make it through the day.

One night in NYC Adam is out wandering the streets and passes by Carnegie Hall as people are going in for a performance. It just so happens that Mia is playing and he buys a ticket. Through word-of-mouth Mia learns that Adam (he is a major rock star now and recognizable) is in the audience and sends for him at the end. They meet and talk for a few minutes and it doesn’t go well. Adam has all these things he wants to say to her and they just don’t come out. He wants to know why she let him go, why she stopped answering his emails and taking his phone calls. Adam leaves Carnegie in frustration and Mia follows him and tries to talk more. The second half of the book recounts this night together as they argue and slowly come together over what happened when Mia’s family died.

My thoughts:

I liked this one but I missed Mia’s eclectic parents. In the first book you get a real sense of family from them; a coziness and in this one we meet Adam’s parents and while they are both there they are not as interesting as Mia’s were. I loved Adam’s interaction with her family and it added a lot to the characters. Listening to Adam and Mia’s dad talk about music helped us get to know Adam. He wasn’t just a guy playing in a band-he had potential.

We do get to hear all about Shooting Stars rise, crash and rise to fame again after Adam has a writing epiphany. We get to understand why he’s been in crisis and I was a bit bummed his band didn’t understand this more. His story was interesting but it got much more exciting once Mia and he were talking-even if at times I found it frustrating and wanted to talk for them!

Both these books are worthy and I like that it is a two-book set and I haven’t heard anything about another one. I felt the ends were tied up nicely and I could let them go. And they made me weep!

Read my review of Lauren Oliver’s Before i Fall.
Reading Rants reviews Where She Went.

Here’s a trailer but I wanted Adam’s voice to sound different.

My Day

It’s been my birthday (all day) and it has been an interesting day. Three sweet children, all under the age of 10, made me breakfast. I had scrambled eggs and biscuits. I “helped” by taking the biscuits out of the oven and by making the scrambled eggs last night so Groovy Girl and her two cousins could just reheat the eggs. For her, it was extremely important to serve me breakfast in bed and that I could only take the biscuits out of the oven and pop back into bed. We did not have juice so I had Limeade mixed with seltzer-all served on a tray by 3 smiling children. We all ate the eggs from one plate-4 forks. It was wonderful.

I met a friend for coffee/tea and all 3 children played The Amazing Labyrinth while they ate their cookies and Orangina drinks.

I thought I should look up some facts about my sun sign and refresh my memory of what it means to be a Leo. I found some interesting stuff worth sharing.

“There’s an unmistakably regal air to Solar Leos. These are dignified—even noble—folk. Leos have a reputation for being conceited, but think again. Leos do feel important, but this generally takes the form of wanting to change the world in some way—to make the world a better place. They are generally motivated by affection for people, and often have big dreams and plans to make people happy.”
From Cafe Astrology website.

Those lines hit it exactly. It is change that I seek, for me and for the world.

My husband sent gifts from afar. I got a Bonsai tree in the mail and a toaster oven from my children. Some school clothes from my mother-in-law and a pair of one-of-a-kind knitting needles from my friend, V. My mom gave me a book yesterday and bought me lunch and a big waffle cone of Hansen’s ice cream. 30 of my friends wished Birthday greetings on Facebook and a few sent me texts or called. My older brother sang to my mail box-very sweet.

I was taken to dinner by old family friends-they’ve known me almost my entire life and happened to be driving from Colorado through Iowa, heading home to Wisconsin. They brought me a rice mix from WI. It was very special for them to think of me in the midst of their busy travel schedule.
My other favorite August birthday is on Jerry Garcia was on the 1st.
I hope everyone has had a blissful day!
Another Leo website!

July Recap

Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Library)
Changing Heart by Jodi Piccoult (my own shelf)
If I Stay by Gayle Forman (Library)
Fire by Kristin Cashore (library)
Babymouse by Jennifer L. Holm (library)
Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf by Jennifer L. Holm (library)
Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm (library)
Sisters Grimm (4) by Michael Buckley (Library/g.g.)
Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm (library)
Forever (Mercy Falls Book 3) by Maggie Stiefvater
One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus (my own shelf)

I’m happy when I’ve read more than a handful of good books in a month; even during summer when I should have plenty of free time. July’s been a good and joyful month with lots of cooking and friends but with enough leftover spare moments to read.

Groovy Girl’s 45 minute swim lesson have provided me with lots of quiet time to read. The graduate class I complained about gave me the opportunity to read a bunch of Jennifer L. Holm’s books and I have a post planned to share those. I finished off Stiefvater’s Mercy Falls series which I loved and hated to see end. I read two of Cashore’s Seven Kingdoms series and look forward to where she takes these interesting characters.

I can’t pick a favorite. They’ve all provided me with a different experience, even the titles by the same authors. Where did your July reading take you?

I’m off to a good start for August as I finished Where She Went by Gayle Forman last night with a free flow of tears and several tissues. Now I’m working my way through Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly. I have three more weeks before school begins. Bliss.

Upcoming Posts:

The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley

Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

and a

Jennifer L. Holm discussion

One Thousand White Women; The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus

A friend gave me this book and said “You’ve got to read this; it’s the best book I’ve ever read.”

A big build up. It sat for about 6 months on my to-read shelf by my bed and every time I ran into my friend, Rocky, he would say…”Have you read it yet?” and I’d have to say “not yet, but I’m going to get to it soon.” I put a limit on it for myself; I needed to finish it by July.

I finished it last night at 11:57, (July 31). It only took me four days (in between single mother duties as the male half of my family is off on a mission trip to W.Va.) and I liked the book. I don’t think it is the best book I’ve ever ready but I liked it. Mostly it points out human frailty and that it has been with us since the beginning of time.

The book is a bit of historical fiction, according to the author, but not completely. He’s mixed true factual events and real people with a whole lot of fiction. The book begins with a peace meeting between Little Wolf, the Sweet Medicine chief, addressing the President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant, Little Wolf’s request was that if 1,000 white women joined them, became brides of Native men and had babies this would be a clear path to assimilation between the races. The idea made perfect sense to the Cheyenne but the peace meeting collapsed and all went home. This book interjects to change the outcome…What if 1,000 white women did marry into the Cheyenne tribe? What then?

May Dodd is a fictitious character who reads like a real person so well is she created. She’s a woman of means from Chicago who had the misfortune of falling in love with, Harry, a foreman with her father’s company. They live scandalously, unmarried, and have two beautiful babies together. One night while Harry is off drinking, men come and take May and the babies away. The babies end up with May’s parents and she ends up in a lunatic asylum-her illness is reported as “moral perversity.”

She is approached one day by special permission as she’s not allowed to be near men at all during her “confinement” due to her “condition.” She and several other women are given the opportunity to volunteer for the Brides for Indians Program. May signs on immediately as this, in an odd way, is her ticket to freedom. As these women travel west on the train we get to know them and it is these women and the friendships that make this book worth reading. My favorite character was Phemie, a strong African escaped slave who made her way to Canada and then signed up for the program to become truly a free woman. I understood her motivation and her need to connect with the Cheyenne.

There are many interesting themes in this book but the idea of humanity came to me over and over. I wanted May to grandly discover how beautiful Native culture was-and she does to some extent-but every time she feels that way something negative happens and she is thrown backwards. Toward the end of the book my mind kept thinking about our current situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, in a no-win situation bullying another culture, just as we did with the Native Americans.

Life keeps circling and humans do terrible things to each other in the name of religion and assimilation. The book made me think, question some preconceived notions and, especially, appreciate the strong women this book introduced me to. The image of Phemie on horseback, May writing, Helen painting and the Kelly twins will stay with me for a long time. This would make a wonderful book club choice as there are so many elements to discuss.

Jim Fergus website

Weekend Cooking without the cooking; Food For the Soul

It is blisteringly hot here. We just rode our bikes to the library. It was Groovy Girl’s idea…oh, it was hot, hot, hot especially for a little girl to pedal a bike without gears. We did pick up quite a few tasty nuggets while we were there though so I present to you today a combination Library Loot and Weekend Cooking; a mixed bag of ~~greens~~ books!

Food for the Soul:

1. In The Green Kitchen; Techniques to learn by heart by Alice Waters (2010).

Alice is a food queen, to me! I’ve briefly paged through this handy book and know I’m going to enjoy it. She highlights chefs known for their love of local food and each shares a cooking tip and a recipe. As I open the book at a random page, David Chang is the featured chef , and his tip is “Pickling Vegetables” (81) where he writes about using salt and sugar for quick pickling to serve watermelon, radishes, daikon radishes and cucumbers as appetizers. Right now this sounds like an excellent idea as it doesn’t involve turning on the oven. I may have to request this for my birthday which is just around the corner (Aug. 3rd).

2. Mama Panya’s Pancakes; A Village Tale from Kenya by Mary and Rich Chamberlain; ill. by Julia Cairns (2005).

This is a delightful book from one of my favorite publishing companies, Barefoot Books. Adika and his mother head to the market. As they travel Adika, always one step ahead of his mother, invites all the friends they meet to join them for his mother’s delicious pancakes. He brags and she worries! Mama knows she only has two coins in her pocket to buy flour and a hot pepper. Adika keeps telling his mother it will all work out and as their friend’s arrive for the pancake feast they each have something to share.

The watercolor illustrations are filled with the bold colors of Africa and the end pages have tons of related information including a map of Kenya! I love when a book about a country does that; it makes it so much easier to share that information quickly with students as you read the story. Great choice. Of course, the pancake recipe is included. According to the notes pancakes are eaten around the world and it shares the names-Scotland-bannocks, France-crepes, Mexico-tortillas, Indonesia-dadar gutung and China-bao bing. Now I’ll know how to order one of my favorite foods.

Find other food-related posts at Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking post.

What else did find at the library, you ask?

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly (read yesterday’s post and find out why I was happy to find this one on the shelf.

Where She Went by Gayle Forman-It was on the hold shelf for me and it will be my next read after I finish One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus.

A Brief History of Montmaray by Michelle Cooper-This one just practically jumped off the shelf at me as I perused the YA new shelves.

Now I’m grabbing my book and I’m off to the local water-~~ing hole~~ park to join Groovy Girl and her friend.
Have a blissful weekend whether you’re cooking or not!

ps. I found this great blog, Sweet Mama Jane while perusing for a photo of Alice’s book. Click there to read a full review of In The Green Kitchen.

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly and Pink Floyd

You know how when you are working on something intently but then you get distracted…

That happened to me yesterday while working on my last homework project. I stopped and checked my
emails (this is not the distraction, I do this all the time) but an email from Any New Books? for YA/children’s books and I clicked on it (first mistake) and scrolled down where Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly caught my eye and I clicked on it (second mistake) and it took me right to an Amazon page that told me to click (YES!) one more time to read the first chapter. Of course, I hesitated for a second, okay, maybe half a second and then clicked to read (third mistake)!

But then I was swept away. I was able to read five chapters in and am hooked!
Got to find the book so I can keep reading…
Need to know more about Andi.

Also I love it when a book takes me to music which it did by mentioning David Gilmour. I had to stop and google him (distracted from a distraction!?) to see if he was real and yes, yes he is real and happens to be the guitarist for Pink Floyd (my husband would be a bit embarrased that I had to google this fact…) but the song is good maybe even great. I listened to it while I read the fifth chapter, which I must now, well you know, find because it wouldn’t give me anymore chapters. Just checked on-line and my local library says it’s available-I’m in luck. Never mind that I already have four books checked out-this is how distractions work.

I’m off to the library after I proofread my paper and electronically submit it!
Click here for the synopsis from GoodReads of Revolution, NOT my paper…

P.S. Groovy Girl just looked over at me as I was typing and said “Mommy, I thought you were supposed to be finishing your homework NOT a blog post…hmmm”
She even said it a little snarky with emphasis~ and she raised her eyebrows at me!

Which led to a little discussion about distractions…
and the cycle continues.

What’s distracting you today?

Winning Recipe of the Week

(Food Network Image)

Menu planning has been chaotic this summer but I’m still working at it. My friend, Verda, sent me this recipe to try. One week I purchased some of the ingredients at the farmer’s market but then that week I didn’t have time to make an actual recipe-it was a lot of noodle soup and cold sandwiches. Yesterday I had the time and my ingredients were still good. Oh, and the results were so delicious and luckily there are leftovers.
Thank you for sharing Verda!

Lemon Rice and Eggplant-Chickpea Curry

3 T. olive oil, divided
1/1/2 cups basmati rice
4 cups chicken stock, divided (I used veggie stock)
1 bay leaf
1 lemon, zested
1 tsp ground tumeric
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground cardamon, optional (i didn’t have this)

1 T. butter

1 med. onion, thinly sliced

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 medium eggplant, peeled and chopped (I used two baby eggplants and didn’t peel)
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 14-oz can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, drained
1 15-oz can of chick peas, drained
salt and pepper
2 rounded T. mild or hot curry paste
2 scallions, chopped
1/4 cup chopped roasted cashews (I used sliced almonds because they were already in my cupboard, begging to be used)

Directions:
Heat a med. pot over med. heat with extra virgin olive oil. Add rice and toast for 1-2 minutes. Add 3 cups stock and the bay leaf, lemon zest, tumeric, coriander, cumin and dardamon. Cover pot and bring rice to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer rice for 18 minutes. Fluff rice with a fork, remove bay leaf and add butter. Toss to coat the rice evenly.

While the rice cooks, make the vegetables. Heat a deep non-stick skillet over med. heat with 2 T olive oil. Add onion, garlic, eggplant and bell pepper. Cover and cook stirring occasionally 7-8 minutes. Uncover and add the tomatoes, chick peas, salt, pepper, curry paste and remaining 1 cup stock. Simmer 6-7 minutes longer. MIx scallions into rice and top with vegetable mixture. Garnish with roasted cashews (or almonds in my case).

The spices were wonderful and Groovy Girl walked through the kitchen at one point and said “something smells really good!”

This recipe is from Rachel Ray and the Food Network.
Linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme-anyone can play along with a food-related post.

The Talented Maggie Stiefvater

I was casually doing homework; researching Jennifer L. Holm for my author study and I was on her website and watched a video for Squish, her new comic series. It’s cute and will appeal to boys like Babymouse appeals to girls but anyway after the video ended several other video clips were advertised and one of them was by Maggie Stiefvater.

It was for Shiver and then I found this one for Forever which I am reading right now (in between homework). I am amazed at Stiefvater’s talent in creating this art and the music that goes with it. I’m going to miss Mercy Falls so I’m not in a hurry to finish the book. Enjoy the video and search for the others on You Tube. More on Jennifer L. Holm and my author study later…

Book Morsels

A morsel is a tasty bite of something…teasing you to try more or to say “no thanks” but it gives you an idea of what it’s all about. I have a backlog of books to review and the task is overwhelming what with homework, drama camps, and all the other fun things of summer getting in the way I thought this would be a perfect way to share the last four books I’ve read.

Tasty morsels-all delicious in their own way! They are in order as to how I read them not by my enjoyment level.

A Summer Affair by Elin Hildebrand (2008) 478 pages

I read this one on the beach-my first Elin Hilderbrand and I enjoyed her writing very much. This is a quick read about Claire, a young married woman, trying to keep it altogether on the Island of Nantucket. She has a nice home, a handsome husband and several terrific kids. She is asked to cochair an annual charity event which puts her in constant contact with the wealthy Lock Dixon and they have an heated affair. I liked Claire and her friend and sister-in-law, Siobhan, a caterer with her own marital problems. I enjoyed the back story of Claire’s life before she married Jason, which comes up as her first love, Matthew Westfield, is a huge rock star and has agreed to come back and play the Gala to help Claire out. Claire is an artist-a glass blower-and that was a very intricate part of the story and was interesting to learn about the delicacy of her art. I now have more Hildebrand on my to-read shelf!

Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult (2008) 447 pages

My dear friend Jess in Little Rock introduced my to Picoult a few years ago and I’ve enjoyed most of her collection. This one is about a mother, June, whose husband dies unexpectantly leaving her alone with their young daughter, Elizabeth. June later marries Kurt, the police officer, who helped her out of the car wreck that killed her husband. And one day 5 years into the future June and Kurt are expecting a second daughter when Shay Bourne arrives to help them out of a construction mess. Picoult’s tales are complex and I’m not going to give you much more but the story is told through alternating voices; June’s, Michael’s, a young priest, Maggie’s, a ACLU lawyer-(my favorite character) and Lucius, a vibrant man with a few regrets. I thought the death penalty issues were well done and the whole mystical idea that Shay Bourne may or may not be Jesus was an interesting concept. This one was predictable though-I could see Kurt’s flaw pretty quickly but not a bad read.

If I Stay by Gayle Forman (2009) 196 pages

I loved this little book and sat right on my comfy sofa and read almost the whole thing in one sitting. Cried quite a lot. Has some similar themes to Before I Fall without all the mean girl stuff. This one has a cast of characters to love: Mia, her rock and roll family and Adam, the to-die-for-boyfriend. Mia plays the cello and loves classical music contrasting with her father who played drums in a hipster band and her boyfriend who plays in an alternative band. It has lots of musical references and I enjoyed Mia’s non-traditional family. This one is really well-written and I could easily read it all over again. Now I need to get my hands on the second one, Where She Went.

Fire by Krisine Cashore (2009) 461 pages

I am pretty darn excited to cross both of Fire and Graceling off my to-read list and I’m liked them both. Fire is about the Seven Kingdoms of which Cashore refers to in Graceling but does not continue Katsa and Poe’s story. That was a bit of shock to me but once I got past it I liked Fire just fine. After all it does say “companion to Graceling” not sequel to Graceling. Fire is a vibrant colored monster in the Dells born from a human mother and a monster (and cruel) father, Cansrel. Both parents have died and Fire lives in a small house on the estate of Lord Brocker and his son, Archer. There are some unrest issues in the kingdom and Fire is asked to come to King City to meet with Nash, the king and Brigan, his brother and commander of the king’s army. I like the world that Cashore has created. This one was very good. Click on the title to read my review of Graceling.

The Smarty Owl has a great full-length review on Fire that is worth reading.

I hope your week has been blissful and full of reading!