RABCK

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RABCK - Please let me know if you would like to rename this journal. Just send me the BCID and what you want to change it to.

What a fabulous surprise to find this, several other books, wonderful labels, and other goodies waiting for me in my mailbox when I got home from work. Thank you, shemchin, for the "Christmas is a feeling that lasts all year long" RABCK!

I have decided to use this lovely journal to keep track of books I've read, but can't register for one reason or another. Most often, I imagine they will be borrowed books from non-BookCrossers that I will have to return, rather than register and release.

The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown
My friend's father insisted I take this home with me the last time I visited their house. I had no intention of seeking out a copy to read, but since this one fell into my hands, I decided it would be polite to read it before giving it back. I'm not a big fan of Brown's Robert Langdon books. I like the concept of them, but I think the execution is clunky, due in great part to the fact that the Langdon character is a know-it-all pompous ass. Am I supposed to be hoping he meets his maker before the "bad guy" does? I did find the discussion of Washington, D.C.'s architecture interesting, but there were too many "how-could-this-be-hidden-in-plain-sight-in-the-nation's-capital-this-blows-my-mind" moments, repetitive explanations of symbology, and "the-Masons-are-just-misunderstood" (and maybe they are, but it gets really whiny after 700 pages) lectures for my taste. I'm sure the movie will make a mint.

The Hour I First Believed, by Wally Lamb
Borrowed from a friend in January 2010.

Sarah's Key, by Tatiana de Rosnay
Borrowed from a friend in May 2010. Finished reading 7 June, 2010.
It has been a long time since I couldn't put a book down. I started this book at lunchtime, worked for a few hours, got home and finished it shortly after 11 p.m. I found this story very engrossing—especially Sarah's part—and though I didn't care for the way it ended, I can appreciate the way it ended. Like the narrator, I was not familiar with the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup, though Irène Némirovsky's Suite Francaise showed me what it was like to live in France during the early years of WWII. I cannot understand the hatred, but I can understand how fear can make one do nothing, rather than do what is right. Definitely a thought-provoking book that will remain with me for quite some time.

Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyer
Borrowed from Niece No. 5 in July 2010. Finished reading in the wee hours of 16 July, 2010. Oh, Bella, Bella, Bella. What are you teaching girls today? I'm sure a lot of them really get you and your mopey, misfit, lack of self-esteem. And to have two perfect specimens fighting for you and willing to die for you—you, when you don't feel that you're even worth a second glance from either of them. What a dream come true! Is there a deeper message than the one that screams off the page: being beautiful solves all your problems. It makes you graceful, and desirable, and loved. It brings you happiness and peace. If there is, the 12- and 13-year-olds won't get it. They'll just take a hit to their own self-esteem. For kids who don't know any better and who are still figuring out how the world works, Meyer's books can be dangerous. For adults, Meyer's books are a guilty pleasure.

Sizzling Sixteen, by Janet Evanovich
Borrowed from Sister No. 3 in August 2010. Finished 21 March, 2011. When a book series gets to be in its mid- to late-teens, keeping the material fresh can be quite a challenge. If the characters don't evolve, if the plots don't move forward, aren't you actually reading the same book over and over? Several of the Plum books have felt this way, but this one was rather refreshing. Stephanie's bounty hunting and car issues take a back seat (no pun intended) to her attempts to rescue her cousin, Vinnie, from a series of bad, bad men. There are encounters with Morelli and Ranger, alligators and cows, and many trips to Cluck-in-a-Bucket, but by the end of the book, it seems every character is on the verge of a fresh start, which makes me look forward to "Smokin' Seventeen."

We Are In A Book, Can I Play Too?, and There Is A Bird On Your Head!, by Mo Willems
Bought for Niece No. 8 for her third birthday in November 2010. I think I fell a little bit in love with Elephant, Piggie, and Mo Willems when I read these three books. The stories and illustrations are charming, and there is just enough plot and humor to keep both kids and adults entertained. I would recommend these books to any and all 3–7 year olds.

Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins
Borrowed from the Amazon Prime lending library 16 November 2011. Finished reading 18 November 2011. I have to admit, one of the big reasons I finally bought a Kindle was because Amazon announced that Prime members could borrow Kindle books for free, once a month, and that meant I didn't have to wait for Catching Fire to come to me via paperbackswap.com. So, spend $200 for a Kindle Fire, or $8 for a paperback book? Yeah, logic hasn't always been my strong suit! But this is supposed to be a book review, rather than a life review, so on I go. I really enjoyed The Hunger Games, so I'm pleased to say that I liked Catching Fire even more. Life is not so happily-ever-after for the victors of The Hunger Games, as each struggles in his or her own way to come to terms with the choices they made in the arena, what they were forced to do to survive, and how those choices affected those who watched their every move—family, friends, politicians, and fellow citizens. I'm always grateful to a writer who is skillful enough not to bash her readers over the head with a clunky recap of what happened in the previous book—there was just enough prompting to force my brain to remember on its own. I'm up to No. 66 of 682 after nearly a year on the paperbackswap wish list for Mockingjay—I think I'm better off waiting for December 1 when I can borrow from the Amazon Prime lending library again!

Smokin' Seventeen, by Janet Evanovich
Borrowed from my local library 25 November, 2011. Finished reading 26 November, 2011. At the end of Sizzling Sixteen, it seemed every character was on the verge of a fresh start; at the beginning of Smokin' Seventeen, it seemed every character had fallen back into their predictable patterns. Love triangles, murders, skips, Cluck-in-a-Bucket visits, doughnuts, stun guns, vehicular problems—all still there, but with just enough new insanity (and satisfying encounters with Ranger) to make it a pretty good read. Grandma Bella may be my favorite character now.

Airman, by Eoin Colfer
Borrowed from my local library 26 November, 2011. Finished reading 30 November, 2011. I wish Eoin (it's pronounced Owen) Colfer had been writing books when I was a kid. He really has a way of creating this complete fantastical universe, interesting characters, and epic fairy-tale battles where good triumphs over evil, but often at a cost. It's difficult to describe how my brain feels after reading one of his books. The closest I can come is that moment after you finish climbing the highest hill on a roller coaster, and you're just about to drop over the other side. It's exhilarating.

Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins
Borrowed from the Amazon Prime lending library 1 December, 2011 since I only creeped up to number 64 on paperbackswap.com. Finished reading 2 December, 2011.

A. R. Bovey, a reviewer on amazon.com, says what I wish I could have come up with on my own:

"This was a brilliant conclusion to the trilogy. I can only compare it to "Ender's Game" - and that is extremely high praise, indeed.

When I first closed the book last night, I felt shattered, empty, and drained.

And that was the point, I think. I'm glad I waited to review the book because I'm not sure what my review would have been.

For the first two books, I think most of us readers have all been laboring under the assumption that Katniss Everdeen would eventually choose one of the two terrific men in her life: Gale, her childhood companion or Peeta, the one who accompanied her to the Hunger Games twice. She'd pick one of them and live happily ever after with him, surrounded by friends and family. Somehow, along the way, Katniss would get rid of the awful President Snow and stop the evil Hunger Games. How one teenage girl would do all that, we weren't too sure, but we all had faith and hope that she would.

"Mockingjay" relentlessly strips aside those feelings of faith and hope - much as District 13 must have done to Katniss. Katniss realizes that she is just as much a pawn for District 13 as she ever was for the Colony and that evil can exist in places outside of the Colony.

And that's when the reader realizes that this will be a very different journey. And that maybe the first two books were a setup for a very different ride. That, at its heart, this wasn't a story about Katniss making her romantic decisions set against a backdrop of war.

This is a story of war. And what it means to be a volunteer and yet still be a pawn. We have an entirely volunteer military now that is spread entirely too thin for the tasks we ask of it. The burden we place upon it is great. And at the end of the day, when the personal war is over for each of them, each is left alone to pick up the pieces as best he/she can.

For some, like Peeta, it means hanging onto the back of a chair until the voices in his head stop and he's safe to be around again. Each copes in the best way he can. We ask - no, demand - incredible things of our men and women in arms, and then relegate them to the sidelines afterwards because we don't want to be reminded of the things they did in battle. What do you do with people who are trained to kill when they come back home? And what if there's no real home to come back to - if, heaven forbid, the war is fought in your own home? We need our soldiers when we need them, but they make us uncomfortable when the fighting stops.

All of that is bigger than a love story - than Peeta or Gale. And yet, Katniss' war does come to an end. And she does have to pick up the pieces of her life and figure out where to go at the end. So she does make a choice. But compared to the tragedy of everything that comes before it, it doesn't seem "enough". And I think that's the point. That once you've been to hell and lost so much, your life will never be the same. Katniss will never be the same. For a large part of this book, we see Katniss acting in a way that we can only see as being combat-stress or PTSD-related - running and hiding in closets. This isn't our Katniss, this isn't our warrior girl.

But this is what makes it so much more realistic, I think. Some may see this as a failing in plot - that Katniss is suddenly acting out of character. But as someone who has been around very strong soldiers returning home from deployments, this story, more than the other two, made Katniss come alive for me in a much more believable way.

I realize many out there will hate the epilogue and find it trite. At first, I did too. But in retrospect, it really was perfect. Katniss gave her life already - back when she volunteered for Prim in "The Hunger Games". It's just that she actually physically kept living.

The HBO miniseries, "Band of Brothers", has a quote that sums this up perfectly. When Captain Spiers says, "The only hope you have is to accept the fact that you're already dead. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll be able to function as a soldier is supposed to function: without mercy, without compassion, without remorse. All war depends upon it."

But how do you go from that, to living again in society? You really don't. So I'm not sure Katniss ever really did - live again. She just ... kept going. And there's not really much to celebrate in that. Seeing someone keep going, despite being asked - no, demanded - to do unconscionably horrifying things, and then being relegated to the fringes of society, and then to keep going - to pick up the pieces and keep on going, there is something fine and admirable and infinitely sad and pure and noble about that. But the fact is, it should never happen in the first place.

And that was the point, I think."

Plugged, by Eoin Colfer
Borrowed from my local library 3 December, 2011. Finished reading 15 December, 2011. After loving "Airman" so much, I was really looking forward to Eoin Colfer's "Plugged," which was written for grown-ups. I love the complete enchanted worlds that Colfer creates in his kids' books; in "Plugged," the world is still complete, just not so enchanting, which is what real life is like. Colfer still hits the jackpot with the trifecta of action, mystery, and humor. Though my feelings were mixed immediately after reaching the last page, the more I think about this book, the more I liked it.

Explosive Eighteen, by Janet Evanovich
Borrowed from my local library 25 December, 2011. Finished reading 27 December, 2011. I liked the way this story unfolded: Instead of blundering forward into the latest round of bond-skip captures and Morelli/Ranger encounters, it starts with Stephanie Plum on a plane coming back from Hawaii, having left who-knows-what mayhem behind her. Figuring and finding out just what happened was quite entertaining, as were the rest of the antics of the Vincent Plum Bail Bonds employees. Seems I just can't quit these books—looking forward to Number 19.

The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain
Borrowed from my local library 4 January, 2012. Finished reading 12 January, 2012. I knew relatively little about Ernest Hemingway's life before reading this book—just sketchy details here and there like a character in a book or movie, a myth, not a man. The Paris Wife was a fascinating look at how the man became a myth, immersing us in Ernest and Hadley's life in Chicago and Paris in the 1920s. I found it quite inspiring.

I Want It Now!, by Julie Dawn Cole
Got Kindle version free from amazon.com on 7 January, 2012. Finished reading 18 January, 2012. I remember liking "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" when I was a child, but it wasn't until I rewatched it as an adult that I fell in love with everything about it. Knowing the movie as well as I do, this memoir by Julie Dawn Cole, who portrayed Veruca Salt in the movie, was profoundly enjoyable. I enjoyed all the photos and behind-the-scenes shenanigans of the cast, the finagling to stay a few extra days on set because nobody wanted to go home, the tug of war between Veruca and Violet over Charlie. A quick, enjoyable read.

Hemingway's Ghost, by Layton Green
Borrowed from the Amazon Prime lending library in February 2012. Finished reading 20 February, 2012. This was a short, entertaining read, especially since "The Paris Wife" was still fresh in my mind. I loved the peek inside the world of Papa Hemingway impersonators in Key West, and the mystery held my attention.

Dead Until Dark, by Charlaine Harris
Borrowed this audiobook from my local library in February 2012. Finished reading 22 February, 2012. So this is how the "True Blood" saga begins. I have not seen the HBO series, so this was my introduction to Sookie Stackhouse, and I have to admit—I like her and her world. If my library has more of this series to borrow, I'll be revisiting Bon Temps, La., again.