The Monogram Murders

Confession:

I bought Sophie Hannah's book The Monogram Murders last year, but it just sits longingly on my bookshelf.

Why? Because it feels wrong for me to read it when I haven't finished Agatha Christie's original Hercule Poirot series yet.

Is this weird?

Somehow it just feels highly blasphemous.

Worse even, I'm not even reading the original series in order! I tried at first but then started skipping around when I received installments as gifts. Granted, the books don't have to be read in order so what is my problem?

I adore Hercule Poirot, but I feel like I need to read all the original books in their entirety before seeing how he's been resurrected by someone new.

Do you have a difficult time reading a book series out of order? Have you read this one yet?

Book Review - The BFG by Roald Dahl

The BFG

by Roald Dahl

"A whizzpopper!" cried the BFG, beaming at her. "Us giants is making whizzpoppers all the time! Whizzpopping is a sign of happiness. It is music in our ears! You surely is not telling me that a little whizzpopping if forbidden among human beans?"

Without question, my favorite Roald Dahl books growing up were The BFG and Danny, Champion of the World. While I devotedly read all of his books, I read and reread these two the most by far. How could I help but love books about a dream-bestowing, odd-talking giant and a young boy who grew up in a gypsy wagon? A couple of months ago when I found out The BFG is hitting the big screen later this year, I reread it once again.

You read that correctly. In case you were not aware, Steven Spielberg is adapting the children's story to film and it's set for release July 1, 2016. Yay! Mark Rylance will voice the Big Friendly Giant, and other actors include Tom Hardy, Bill Hader, and Jemaine Clement--quite the cast! You can watch the teaser-trailer here.

The BFG is the story of a young, orphaned English girl named Sophie. Life in the orphanage is lonely until one night Sophie spies a very thin, large-eared giant moving from window to window. He carries a suitcase full of glass jars and at each window selects one, pours the sweet-smelling, multi-colored contents into a long trumpet he uses to disperse the ethereal matter into these bedrooms. When the BFG realizes he's been seen, he snatches up Sophie, places her in his shirt pocket, and runs away with her to the land of giants.

Lucky for Sophie, her kidnapper turns out to be her new best friend, a hilarious, kind, and backwards giant who confesses it's dreams he sends into children's nighttime fantasies. The more we learn about the BFG, the funnier the story grows. Just like Sophie in the orphanage, the BFG sticks out of his own community because he refuses to eat humans. Instead, he gobbles "repulsant" snozzcumbers and guzzles delicious frobscottle that cause the drinker to emit hilariously loud whizzpoppers. If you didn't catch all of that, the BFG's vocabulary gets a little mixed up which adds to the fun. As he says, "What I mean and what I say are two different things."

Life in giant country is dangerous. The BFG tells Sophie about the child-eating giants Bloodbottler, Bonecruncher, Fleshlumpeater, and others. When they learn the giants are going to gobble up children all across the country, Sophie and the BFG devise a plan to save the world.

The story is at its best when it's at its silliest. Like all Roald Dahl stories, it stands the test of time and invites readers to embrace the fun. I'm excited for the movie to come out because I hope it prompts kids and parents alike to pick up the book and enjoy its magic.

Rest in Peace, Harper Lee.

Rest in Peace, Harper Lee.

Thank you for Scout and Atticus Finch.

To Kill a Mockingbird will live on forever.

You can read the review of Go Set a Watchman here.

Book Review - Four Seasons in Rome by Anthony Doerr

Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World

by Anthony Doerr

I first became a fan of author Anthony Doerr when I read his short story collection The Shell Collector some nine or ten years ago while working on my master's degree. His prose was beautiful and each story seemed to carry great emotional significance. Last year I read his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel All the Light We Cannot See and like so many others, I found the story of a young, blind French girl and her relationship with her grandfather living in occupied Paris during WWII to be truly moving. The story ran alongside a dual narrative of an orphaned boy growing up in Germany during the same era and the crossing of their paths makes for a great story. If you haven't read it yet, do so!

In Four Seasons in Rome, Doerr presents a memoir of just that: a year of his life in Italy. Doerr learns he has received the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Rome Prize, a prestigious grant that supplies a stipend and year-long writing studio in Rome. One can only imagine the dream such an opportunity would be for a full-time writer, but irony sets in as readers learn Doerr received the much sought-after award the day after he and his wife left the hospital with their newborn twins. I greatly admire Anthony and Shauna's sense of adventure as they boarded the transatlantic plane with their babies and dove headfirst into living abroad, diapers, babies, language-barriers and all.

My favorite aspect of the memoir is its complicated honesty: Rome is beautiful--Doerr openly admits his sense of wonder, gratitude, and awe walking its streets--but their lives are messy. Caring for their newborns is exhausting, the couple struggles with conversing in Italian and the frustrations that can arise from trying to accomplish the simplest of tasks such as grocery shopping, and while Anthony tries to write, he finds himself suffering from writer's block and incurable insomnia.

It's the conflation between these two worlds that makes the book so enjoyable because it's so relatable--it's the the dynamic of the human condition. At times, Doerr's life seems to be crumbling around him and at others he's caught breathless by the history and culture that surrounds him. My heart broke for him when his wife collapses and Anthony finds himself trying to juggle caring for his babies and literally running the city streets to get Shauna admitted to the hospital.

Anthony travels the country, contemplates the ancient ruins of temples, and participates in the massive crowds keeping vigil for the dying Pope John Paul II. Upon his death, millions of people flood Rome's streets and Doerr's description of the mourning, sense of community, and profound depth of his emotional investment for his wife, his children, and the art of writing culminates in a beautifully rendered story of how our seemingly everyday lives are fascinatingly extraordinary.

30 Classic Love Stories for Valentine's Day

Even though I love novels from the Romantic Period, I have never enjoyed reading pure romance novels. That being said, I adore many books about love, just not those featuring Fabio on the cover, torn shirt, wind machine and all (ewww).

In the spirit of Valentine's Day, I've put together a list of thirty classic books for readers wanting an enjoyable love story. I've included books that portray love five various categories: romance, passion, friendship, unrequited, and deliciously complicated. In limiting myself to thirty titles, I forced myself turn away some beloved stories and characters. Shame on me.

In no particular order other than major category, here they are.

Romance 

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Emma by Jane Austen
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery

Passion

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes

Friendship

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

Unrequited Love

Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Lord Tennyson
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

Deliciously Complicated 

Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

A Valentine's Gift Guide for Bookworms

It's only a few days until Valentine's Day, but don't worry: each of these gifts for your beloved bookworm is under $20 and most can be ordered for speedy delivery.

Don't resort to getting your significant other just flowers or chocolate, get them something special related to their favorite hobby (but get them the flowers and chocolate too, because CHOCOLATE!).

If you're flying solo this year, then get yourself all the things. Treat yo' self!

Here's a list of ten last-minute but totally spot-on and affordable gift ideas to check out.

(1) Dotty spiral notebook ($14). My friend Shannon over at Plum Street Prints knocks it out of the park with her beautiful hand-painted designs for notebooks, journals, phone cases, and more. I love this fun 50-page notebook perfect for jotting down ideas or keeping track of your to-do lists.

(2) Pride and Prejudice 12"x16" matted text poster ($19). Litographs makes posters, totes, and t-shirts with designs created from the text of beloved novels. I've ordered a number of these before and given them as gifts. They have designs for Peter Pan, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and so many more.

(3) Thermal mug with bookshelf design ($18). This Kate Spade insulated thermal mug is great for sipping a warm drink while reading your favorite book. Bonus: the mug is BPA, lead, and phthalate free.

(4) Personal library kit ($11.90). The Knock Knock library kit is designed to help you keep track of your books, particularly if you're a frequent lender to your friends.

(5) Reading journal ($6.49). If you're not on the Goodreads app (and if you are, follow me at http://goodreads.com/jactionary) or if you like keeping handwritten records as well, check out this very affordable 160-page reading journal for keeping track of your book reviews.

(6) Magnetic owl page-marker clips ($2.07). I didn't get my first magnetic page-marker (aka bookmarker) until I was in graduate school. I absolutely loved it and use it all the time. I like these cute owl designs from i-Clip as well as their woodland friends set. Each package comes with a set of eight so you can share them with others or if you're like me and can't help reading more than a handful of books at once, they've got you covered.

(7) Forest friends book plates ($4.62). Speaking of animal friends, these bookplates are really bright and fun. The come in packages of 80, so if you own way too many books you'll appreciate the low price so you can purchase them in bulk.

(8) Customized book embosser ($19.95). This is all the things: a customized book embosser for imprinting the first page of your books with your name or company. I love it so much. At less than $20 it's a steal ant you can specialize the imprint before giving it away as a gift.

(9) Dramatic bookend ($14.71). I adore silhouettes (thus why I've dedicated an entire Pinterest board to the subject--oh, and I've got one just for bookends too). This Fred & Friends bookend caught my eye pretty quickly. It's a clever way to stack some of your most chilling reads on your bookshelf. If you're a teacher and feeling overwhelmed by stacks and stacks of grading, this would be a humorous addition to your work space.

(10) Sherlock and Watson illustration ($14.87). I've written before about Carl Batterbee's illustrations when I ordered three custom literary prints for my office (I chose Harry Potter and Agatha Christie designs). This Sherlock and Watson illustration is great as are so many of his other literary designs.

Book Review - The Martian by Andy Weir

The Martian

by Andy Weir

"Every human being has a basic instinct to help each other out. It might not seem that way sometimes, but it's true."

I know I'm a bit late posting on this one, but wow! It is so entertaining!

In The Martian, Andy Weir tells the story of botanist/engineer/astronaut Mark Whatney and his mission on Mars. The story begins in medias res as Whatney and his fellow crew members gather soil collections and other data on the surface of the red planet. A windstorm becomes unexpectedly intense and during their evacuation back to the ship, Whatney is struck by a loose piece of metal and presumed dead when his computer system is non-responsive. The crew rockets back to space and hours later, Whatney awakes, impaled and abandoned--the only human on Mars.

With no means of communicating with the crew or contacting NASA back on Earth, Whatney gives himself medical attention while surviving in the Hab (the astronaut's surface habitation). He has enough remaining food to survive for a period of months, but he has to find a way to create water on a waterless planet, invent a way to grow food on a planet on which nothing grows, and devise a way to communicate that he is alive and in desperate need of rescue, a venture that would take Earth several years to accomplish.

The genius of Weir's novel is quickly evidenced in the scientific expertise behind each detail of the novel. His ability via Whatney's character to explain to readers the reasoning behind each engineering feat makes the novel read like the possible future, not a science fiction fantasy. Furthermore, these scientific facts are crafted so as to not overwhelm nor act in a condescending manner to the reader. Even though Weir has to navigate complicated astrodynamic theories to make his story plausible, there is evident method to the madness.

The narrative progresses by alternating between Whatney's diary on Mars (days are marked in SOL's) and the large team of NASA members who discover he's still alive and have to figure out how he can be rescued.

Undoubtedly, the best aspect to the novel is Mark Whatney's sense of humor and science-nerd-turned-world-hero charm. Whatney's never been very popular with women, is admittedly awkward and geeky, but his dry humor and disgust at having to watch 70's TV reruns and listen to disco (much of the only entertainment his crew left behind) is hilarious. A couple of readers most-beloved quotes are below:

“Yes, of course duct tape works in a near-vacuum. Duct tape works anywhere. Duct tape is magic and should be worshiped.”

and...

“He’s stuck out there. He thinks he’s totally alone and that we all gave up on him. What kind of effect does that have on a man’s psychology?” He turned back to Venkat. “I wonder what he’s thinking right now.” LOG ENTRY: SOL 61 How come Aquaman can control whales? They’re mammals! Makes no sense.”

Whatney's distinct character was what made me wary of the recent blockbuster hit starring Matt Damon. I read Weir's novel in two days and absolutely loved it, but in my mind, Whatney was no Matt Damon, the handsome action-movie hero. Having recently seen the film, I found it very entertaining and certainly Damon's portrayal was very well done, but I still prefer the version of Whatney Weir painted in my mind. The film's cast and crew were excellent (I really enjoyed the diversity), though the plot does simplify many narrative elements and completely eliminates one of the huge dramatic turn of events that occurs two-thirds into the book.

 

That being said, read it first and then see it later. Both are well worth it.

Upcoming Jungle Book Trailer

In case you weren't aware, Disney is releasing a live-action version of The Jungle Book this April 15th. I think most everyone who grew up watching the 1967 animated film or read the original book by Rudyard Kipling is totally stoked. I'm interested to see in what direction they take the film. Purportedly, it's a remake of the animated film, not an adaptation of the book (if you catch the difference). I'm excited to see it either way.

If you haven't read the books or seen the movie, here are a few reasons to get excited:

(1) Jon Favreau is directing.

That's right, the director of the much-beloved Christmas classic Elf is at the helm. He's also the one who directed both Iron Man films, Cowboys & Aliens, and oh yeah, he was Monica's short-term ultimate-fighter-wannabe/billionaire-boyfriend on Friends.

(2) It's a great story.

 In Rudyard Kipling's 1894 children's books The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book, Mowgli is a young boy who has been raised by animals within the Indian jungle. The moral tales feature characters both good and evil: Baloo (bear), Bagheera (panther), Shere Khan (tiger), Kaa (python), Rikki-Tikki (mongoose), plus monkeys, wolves, bears, elephants, cobras, you name it.

(3) It has an amazing cast.

Newcomer Neel Sethi will be playing Mowgli, but the voice actors who'll be portraying the CGI animals is pretty spectacular: Lupita Nyong'o (as Raksha), Idris Elba (Shere Khan), Ben Kingsley (Bagheera), Christopher Walken (King Louie), Scarlett Johansson (Kaa), and...

(4) Bill Murray.

Yep, Bill Murray is the voice of Baloo.

(5) The trailer will be shown during the Super Bowl.

If Disney's willing to shell out mucho dinero to feature the film during the most expensive commercial timeslot of the year, they're betting on it being a winner.

Are you planning on watching?

Book Review - Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Oliver Twist

by Charles Dickens

I am a complete Dickens nerd, a Dickensian through and through. In my opinion, he is without question one of the greatest authors of all time. If you have never a Dickens novel, please pick one up. While I have not yet read all of them (and how exciting to think I still have new stories to enjoy), I have read quite a few, loved each, and would recommend any.

I have even participated in perhaps the grandest yearly event of all Dickens-lover culture, the annual week-long Dickens Universe conference held at the University of California, Santa-Cruz. I posted about this before when I attended the 2014 session. Each year the conference selects one or two Dickens' novels and the entire week is full of classes, lectures, presentations, and sessions focused entirely on discussing that particular work (2014 was Our Mutual Friend). This may sound like a nightmare to non-readers, but for a geek like myself it was perhaps the coolest extended literary conversation in which I've ever participated. Not to mention that the week is capped off with a true nineteenth-century style ball--ridiculous, hilarious, and so much fun. In 2015, I also attended the follow-up grad student conference. You can read more about Dickens Universe here (this summer they're discussing Dombey and Son). P.S. If you're a Harry Potter fan, Professor Sprout is often in attendance. Yep, totally true.

Anyway, back to the book.

I recently reread Oliver Twist in an informal book club with my dad. He's always loved the musical Oliver! but had surprisingly never read the novel. I bought him a copy, grabbed my own well-worn edition, and dove in.

Oliver Twist is a forlorn orphan, trying to survive in the cruel, underfed workhouse conditions of nineteenth-century England. Having never known his father and lost his mother shortly after his birth, Oliver has never known love, acceptance, or friendship. 

Oliver survives the workhouse, narrowly escapes a would-be death sentence if sent to be a chimney sweep, and spends some time as an undertaker's apprentice. Exhausted from mistreatment and abuse, Oliver runs away, determined to walk to London and make his way on his own. Faint and famished, he finds food and shelter when he crosses paths with odd child named Jack Dawson, also known as the Artful Dodger.

Dodger brings Oliver to meet his boss, an elderly, shifty man named Fagin. Their dwelling is dirty, Fagin seems to be hiding something, and Oliver soon learns that Fagin and his band of boys are thieves. They teach Oliver their trade and he meets Fagin's ominous associate Bill Sikes and Sikes' girlfriend Nancy. Oliver's first day back out on the streets he's mistakenly fingered for his friends' crimes and ends up facing a courtroom sentence. While a kind gentleman named Mr. Brownlow has taken pity on Oliver and offers him a home and a refuge, Bill Sikes cannot let the young boy walk free. Convinced that Oliver will soon spill their secrets to the authorities, a war begins over Oliver's safety, freedom, and life.

The scenes where Oliver lies near death after running away from his past always breaks my heart and remind me of Jane Eyre's plight and homelessness after running from Mr. Rochester. The character of Nancy--a poor street woman who experiences a change of heart but is convinced she can only save others because it's too late to save herself--is one of the most moving portrayals of abused women in Victorian literature.

Oliver Twist is a powerful narrative of poverty and child labor conditions in nineteenth-century England, a story that holds the test of time and continues to motivate readers to fight to protect our innocent.

Book Review - In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

by Nathaniel Philbrick

Having read Moby Dick, I thought I knew what I was in for when I picked up Philbrick's book on the nineteenth-century whaleship Essex: I was very, very wrong. I thought Philbrick's account would be another fictional rendition of man versus the sea. Instead, Philbrick picks up where the climactic conclusion of Moby Dick left off to account for what truly happened when the captain and crew of the Essex were bested by an infamously vengeful eighty-ton sperm whale.

If you've never read accounts of whaling (whether fictional or not), the industry maintained an unquenchable thirst for the fuel derived from whale blubber. As my friend said of the book, it "[j]ust proves how humans have always paid the ultimate price for energy." Philbrick details what happened to the crew, how most died, and how very few were able to survive. Spoiler alert: be prepared for a graphic account of cannibalism.

I have to admit, that last part took me by surprise. While yes, it is well recorded that many sailors lost at sea resorted to cannibalism in order to survive, there are also accounts of others who plotted differently in order to survive (instead of eating one another, one famed crew waited until the first person died of starvation and used his body as bait for fishing for sharks).

Nevertheless, when the crew of the Essex left Nantucket in 1819, they were soon attacked by the infamous sperm whale who was likely tired of being prey and turned the tables to become predator. The ship sank, the crew survived, and thus began a multi-thousand mile journey across the sea to what they believed were "safer" areas away from purported cannibalistic tribes. Very ironic, is it not?

Philbrick's well-researched account of how a group of men reacted to (and in part, survived) a devastating shipwreck earned him a National Book Award. Philbrick brings up many interesting issues, including how race-relations played a role in which men did not survive, the life of these men on isles and on the sea, and the emotional and physical aftermath of their journeys.

The book is stomach-churning and there are definitely graphic parts where you'll either need to set it down, brace your stomach, or race through descriptions of thirst, hunger, and cannibalism. In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex is compelling, fraught with controversy, issues for debate, and recounts a true-life story well worth reading.