I just got back from a lovely trip to Carlisle, Pennsylvania! One of my best friends from high school got married and I was lucky enough to be a bridesmaid. The maid of honor was my other best friend from high school, so we all had an amazing time catching up, as well as meeting some new people. It’s always wonderful to see old friends!
Me and my husband at the rehearsal dinner
The maid of honor (Leslie) and me (just in case you are wondering, I didn’t get a hair cut between the first picture and the second – the front layer of my hair is just really short.)
This week was a huge one for me reading-wise – I crossed the 200 book mark for 2009! So far, I have read 201 books in 2009. That puts me well on my way to my unofficial goal of 400 books this year, even if I don’t end up reading much in July because I will be at Oxford.
I’m still running my two giveaways, but today is the last day to enter! You can enter one book giveaway here and the other here.
Title: Audrey, Wait! Author: Robin Benway ISBN: 9781595141927 Pages: 320 Release Date: April 10, 2008 Publisher: Razorbill Genre: Teen Rating: 4.5 out of 5
From the back cover:
When funny, charming, absolutely-normal Audrey Cuttler dumps her boyfriend Evan, he writes a song about her that becomes a number-one hit—and rockets Audrey to stardom!
I’ve heard so much about Audrey, Wait!since its release last year. When I found out it was coming out in paperback, I knew I wanted to review it and see what the big deal was about – why did so many people rave about this book?
After reading it, I can understand what all the fuss is about. Audrey, Wait!contains everything that makes a book good – a captivating storyline, a main character that you both sympathize with and root for, a great sense of humor, and a lot (but not too many) obstacles between our heroine and her shot at happiness.
Audrey is a wonderful main character. She is smart and very independent. I absolutely loved her sense of integrity – too often in books such as this, one of the central plotlines is the main character abandoning her true friends to hang out with the “cool” kids. The friends get mad at her, and then when she’s (a) burned by the popular kids or (b) realizes they are worthless, she has to try to re-establish her original friendships. While that is a completely believable storyline, I loved that Audrey didn’t succumb to that. She was happy with who she was, and thus is a great female character for teens to read about. (Her declaration that she actually likes her parents is another plus for her in my book).
The secondary characters were just as well-written as Audrey. Each had their own distinct personality, even the very minor characters. It’s difficult to believe that this is Robin Benway’s first book – it was so well written and the characters were so well developed and defined.
I just loved how unique Audrey, Wait!was. The book itself is like Audrey – its not afraid to stand on its own two feet and show the world its true colors. It’s a refreshing change from a lot of young adult books today.
The storyline of Audrey, Wait!is completely entertaining. Though it is a bit difficult to believe that the subject of a song would get that much attention and recognition, if you can put that disbelief aside for the duration of this book then you are in for a real treat. I highly recommend Audrey, Wait!– pick this one up immediately, now that it’s out in paperback! It’s just as good as everyone says it is!
Thank you to the publisher for sending me this book to review.
In Part 4 of my Book Trading Series, I’m profiling Swaptree, a relative newcomer to the book swapping world with a bit of a twist. In the interest of full disclosure, I just joined Swaptree a few weeks ago, so I may miss some of the details about it.
Swaptree is different than other book swapping sites in that there is no credit system. You post a list of everything you own that you want to give away (books, video games, CD’s and DVD’s). You then create a “want” list of everything you want. Swaptree will find items you want that you can exchange for items you have. Sometimes, their system sets up three-way trades, which vastly increases the possibilities for trade.
Pros
No worry of building up credits – you send out an item in exchange for one you want. Very simple.
Can post ARC’s
High volume of trading – in less than 3 weeks, I’ve set up 5 trades
Can trade one type of item (DVD) for another (a book)
Will not suggest trading “high value items” (video games) for lower value items (mass market paperback book)
Can specify the condition of the item you are trading.
Has a postage printing system so you can print your postage and labels directly from Swaptree. It does charge a small premium, plus $1 per month if you use it.
Has discussion forum and groups if you want to create a special swap or get more involved in the community.
Amazing customer service – more on this below!
Cons
Must ship within 2 business days of accepting a trade. However, you have about 3 days to actually accept a trade.
Does not currently accept Blu-ray discs for trading
If you reject too many potential trades, Swaptree claims it will find less trades for you. However, I don’t know if that is an idle threat or is actually true.
At the beginning, your number of concurrent trades are limited in order to affirm that you are trustworthy. The first round, you are limited to 2 concurrent trades, and after those two are completed, you are limited to 4 concurrent trades. This can be frustrating if you have a lot of potential trades and want to grab books. You can enter your credit card information if you want to increase your number of concurrent trades.
If a book is marked as “not received,” your account will automatically be suspended unless you used a Swaptree shipping label. If you used some sort of tracking method, then Swaptree will take your account off hold and work with the recipient to contact the shipping service. If you do not use tracking, you might find yourself in a bit of a bind!
Because it is a straight swapping site, rather than based on a credit system, the number of trades will probably be lower than on other swapping sites. However, I am impressed with the number of swaps that I have been able to set up in just a few weeks, as well as the sheer number of items available.
Customer Service: Before I finalized this post, I tweeted about Swaptree, asking if anyone had any thoughts before I finished writing it. Jenn from Jenn’s Bookshelf (the person who introduced me to Swaptree) and I got into a conversation about (1) the shipping window (we both thought it was 24 hours) and (2) the penalty for a book being “not received” (we thought that Swaptree would keep your account suspended, even if you did use some method of item tracking). A few hours later, I got an e-mail from Jack, an employee at Swaptree who wanted to let me know about Swaptree’s policies. He encouraged me to e-mail him back with any questions, and I did so.
I have to say, this speaks volumes to me about Swaptree. Good and responsive customer service is KEY in a site like this. Jenn and I were having our conversation on Twitter, yet the employee saw it and took the time to go to my Twitter page, click through to my website, and find my e-mail address in order to contact me and let me know the information I was asking about.
Additionally, Jack told me that every three to four months, the number of users and items available has been doubling – that is how popular book swapping is getting!
Though I am new to Swaptree, I have to say that I really enjoy it. I love the idea of getting books I want, rather than random credits that I am not even 100% sure I’ll be able to spend. I think it’s a great site, whether you want to use it primarily, or secondarily. Additionally, the great customer service, as well as the knowledge that I have had a lot of success with it in only the past few weeks makes me think I will be sticking with Swaptree for the long run.
Comments? Questions? Did I miss anything? Let me know below. My next entry in the Book Trading series will be for Frugal Reader.
Title: I Was Told There'd Be Cake Author: Sloane Crosley ISBN: 9781594483066 Pages: 240 Release Date: April 1, 2008 Publisher: Riverhead Trade Genre: Non-Fiction, Essays Rating: 3 out of 5
From Amazon.com:
Wry, hilarious, and profoundly genuine, this debut collection of literary essays is a celebration of fallibility and haplessness in all their glory. From despoiling an exhibit at the Natural History Museum to provoking the ire of her first boss to siccing the cops on her mysterious neighbor, Crosley can do no right despite the best of intentions-or perhaps because of them. Together, these essays create a startlingly funny and revealing portrait of a complex and utterly recognizable character that's aiming for the stars but hits the ceiling, and the inimitable city that has helped shape who she is. I Was Told There'd Be CakeI Was Told There'd Be Cake introduces a strikingly original voice, chronicling the struggles and unexpected beauty of modern urban life.
I'd heard good things about I Was Told There'd Be Cake and to be honest, I had high expectations simply based on the incredibly amusing title. Often, essays like this are best read one at a time, so I decided to tackle this book during the 24 Hour Read-A-Thon. I read individual essays between each of the books I read; by the time I turned in, I had finished the entire book.
Sloane Crosley is very witty and her stories definitely have a sense of humor contained within them. Generally speaking, the stories are creatively told, even if the subject matter isn't 100% unique.
However, these stories didn't really sit well with me. My biggest issue with them is that they weren't well told. A lot of these stories didn't really have a point; they would meander along and end at a completely different place than they began. More than once, I wondered where an essay was going because I couldn't understand the logic behind the thought processes.
Additionally, I really felt like Crosley was complaining about nothing, or was telling a story that had already been told multiple times. For example, she discussed the ridiculous responsibilities of being in someone else's wedding – how many chick lit books have been written on this? She didn't really have anything new to contribute on the topic. Also, her sense of humor is somewhat immature at times and can leave the reader a bit embarrassed for her.
I think that Sloane Crosley definitely has promise, and with some time she might develop into a really talented and humorous writer. In the meantime, though, I would pass on I Was Told There'd Be Cake and wait until her next offering.
Title: Hedge Fund Wives Author: Tatiana Boncompagni ISBN: 9780061765261 Pages: 304 Release Date: May 5, 2009 Publisher: Avon A Genre: Chick Lit Rating: 4 out of 5
From the back cover:
In this amazingly timely story about what the wealthy do when Wall Street lays an egg, the author of Gilding Lily once again delivers a witty and insightful treatment of today's woman, as she explores the sacrifices they make, the bargains they strike, the rules they follow, and what happens when it all starts to fall apart.
Who could have guessed that Wall Street would go south just as Marcy Emerson and her husband moved east? Down to earth Marcy relocated from Chicago to New York when her husband was offered a big time job as a hedge fund manager.
She gives up her own job—after all, hedge fund wives don't work! And while at first it's fun to shop all day and party all night, Marcy quickly learns that life among the rich can be anything but easy and that behind every smile can be a stab in the back.
Still, it's not until her husband leaves her for his thinner, blonder mistress—a woman who is higher up the social ladder than the original Mrs. Emerson will ever be—that Marcy decides to stand on her own two feet once again, and fight for the things that are far more important than money.
I really enjoyed Tatiana Boncompagni’s novel Gilding Lily [review], so when she released her second novel Hedge Fund Wives, I immediately knew I wanted to read it. I loved the dishy nature of Gilding Lily as well as the introduction to characters you love to hate. I was looking forward to more of this in Hedge Fund Wives, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Boncompagni manages to put a sympathetic and well-drawn character in the middle of a viper’s nest of catty hedge fund wives. Marcy is a great character who is very easy to identify with. She is lost in this brand new world of excess wealth and gross indulgences, yet she still manages to find a few good friends who aren’t caricatures of the wealthy. I liked how Marcy stayed true to herself even in the most desperate of situations. Though she was shallow at times, she never allowed herself to be seduced by the world she entered into.
I appreciated that Boncompagni chose the backdrop of Hedge Fund Wives as the current economic recession. She points out the ridiculousness of these people’s wealth and spending, and shows it can disappear overnight. What is important is what you have left, after the money. There is also a lot of intelligent discussion about investing and hedge funds; I don’t know much about this, and it was nice to learn something from this book.
I have mixed feelings about one of the overarching messages of Hedge Fund Wives, as presented in the novel and discussed in an interview with the author contained at the end of the book. On one hand, I really appreciated Boncompagni’s desire to communicate with women and inspire them to have a sense of independence. It’s important to do things for yourself, and I certainly agree with her on this point. However, there seems to be an emphasis on material wealth and making your own money, despite the fact that the book pokes fun at the hedge fund wife culture. I think it’s very important to have a sense of self within a marriage, but I don’t think it’s critical for a woman to make a lot of money. If they can and want to, that’s great, but it isn’t necessary.
I enjoyed Hedge Fund Wives and am glad I got the chance to read it! Tatiana Boncompagni is a talented author and I look forward to seeing what she comes up with next!
Thank you to TJ for sending me a copy of this book to review!
Title: The Glassblower of Murano Author: Marina Fiorato ISBN: 9780312386986 Pages: 368 Release Date: May 26, 2009 Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin Genre: Historical Fiction Review: LibraryThing Early Reviewers Rating: 2.5 out of 5
From the publisher's website:
Venice, 1681. Glassblowing is the lifeblood of the Republic, and Venetian mirrors are more precious than gold. Jealously guarded by the murderous Council of Ten, the glassblowers of Murano are virtually imprisoned on their island in the lagoon. But the greatest of the artists, Corradino Manin, sells his methods and his soul to the Sun King, Louis XIV of France, to protect his secret daughter. In the present day his descendant, Leonora Manin, leaves an unhappy life in London to begin a new one as a glassblower in Venice. As she finds new life and love in her adoptive city, her fate becomes inextricably linked with that of her ancestor and the treacherous secrets of his life begin to come to light.
The Glassblower of Murano is one of those books I really wish I could give a higher rating to. The concept was intriguing – the first female glassblower in Venetian history, who has an ancestor who was one of Venice's most famous glassblowers. There is a mystery surrounding this ancestor; specifically, whether he may have been a traitor to his people. I thought the conception of the plot was great and I was in for a richly textured and detailed historical fiction read. However, the execution was flawed at best.
I enjoyed getting lost in the city of Venice, past and present, though I wished more details about glassmaking had been included in The Glassblower of Murano. Leonara herself is an interesting character. After suffering heartbreak in her native London, she decides to try her hand at glassmaking in Venice. After all, she is the descendent of the great Corradino Marin; the glassblowing gene is in her blood. I enjoyed reading about her exploration of her family history, though much of it was on the surface.
And therein lies the problem with The Glassblower of Murano – everything is on the surface. It is a light and fluffy novel, which is completely fine, except it is difficult to accomplish that in the historical fiction genre and still write a solid book. The only really developed characters in the book are Corradino and Leonara. There are other extremely interesting people in the book who are completely flat – it would have been nice if Fiorato had developed the characters of Alessandro and Vittoria. There could have been a very interesting storyline there. Unfortunately, Vittoria ends up being a completely peripheral character because her personality isn't really explored. And it's difficult to understand why Leonara falls for Alessandro because he isn't given a personality in the novel.
The glassblowing campaign that Leonara finds herself in the middle of could also have been a really great sub-plot. Unfortunately, again, the execution is just not there. All I could see in this book was potential – the execution was poor. As for the history, I can't say I learned much that was new with this book. Everything just seemed to be on the surface.
If you are looking for a chick lit-type historical fiction read, then definitely give The Glassblower of Murano a try; its on-the-surface quality will allow for a relaxing read. After all, some of the reviews I've read of this book are much more positive than mine. However, if you are looking for a rigorous historical fiction read on Venetian glassblowing with meticulous research and fully developed characters, I would skip this one.
Welcome to the Thursday Tunes! Each week, I will showcase music, whether new or old. Hopefully you will find something that interests you here!
I’m sure many of you did a double take when you saw today’s Thursday Tunes artist. After all, Mandy Moore was a Britney/Christina era teeny bopper pop artist. She achieved moderate success, and then moved onto film. Since then, many have likely forgotten that she ever was a singer. However, she returned to her roots put out an album in 2007 that brought a more folk sound to her music. Wild Hope is much more mellow, an adult alternative album that really is very enjoyable.
My favorite songs off this album are “Extraordinary” and “Nothing That You Are.” Wild Hope can be purchased from the Amazon MP3 Store for $9.49.
Title: Mating Rituals of the North American WASP Author: Lauren Lipton ISBN: 9780446197977 Pages: 368 Release Date: May 29, 2009 Publisher: 5 Spot Genre: Chick Lit Rating: 4 out of 5
From the publisher’s website:
After arguing with her live-in boyfriend about his inability to commit, Peggy Adams flies to a friend's bachelorette party in Las Vegas, and wakes up next to a man she can't remember. Hung-over and miserable, she sneaks out of the sleeping man's hotel room and returns home to New York, where her boyfriend apologizes for the fight and gives her a Tiffany box containing a pre-engagement ring. Not what she expected, but close enough! The next day she receives a phone call from the Las Vegas one-night stand, Luke, claiming she's already married to him¬-and he faxes her the license for proof! Both are ready for an annulment, until Peggy arrives in quaint New Nineveh, CT, where Luke cares for his Great Aunt, and the old woman makes Peggy an offer she can't refuse.
The characters in Mating Rituals of the North American WASP are the best aspect of the book. Peggy is thoughtful and very nice, but is also insecure about her boyfriend Brock. After all they have been dating seven years and all she gets from him is a lousy promise ring? On the other hand, Luke comes across as cold and completely unfeeling at the beginning. However, underneath he is struggling to maintain his family’s estate, burdened with the knowledge that his aunt can no longer afford the house she lives in. These are complicated and well-written characters that the reader can’t help but feel attached to.
The plot of the novel is believable, which is more than I can say about a lot of chick lit novels such as this. The reader can feel Peggy’s desperation to save her business and understand Luke’s wish to simply be rid of his family’s crumbling home and to care for his aunt. The story is interesting enough and the ending is happy, though predictable. The book takes a little too long to come to its conclusion – in some cases, it seems that drama is created for the sake of drama. Still, the pace of the novel is brisk and the plot advances are satisfying. The commentary on WASPs is also very amusing.
I enjoyed Mating Rituals of the North American WASP. It would make a great beach read – light, fun, and and very sweet. I recommend this one to any fans of chick lit.
Thank you to Miriam at Hachette for organizing this blog tour and sending me this book to review!
I am THRILLED that I have just completed my 200th book of this year! I won’t be reading much in July because of Oxford, but completing 200 books in less than 5 months means I might actually get to 400 books this year – that just seems crazy!
In Part 3 of my Book Trading series, I’m profiling BookMooch, another online book swapping site.
BookMooch is the only international book swapping site that I use, which makes it very appealing for some people. It’s a very simple site because the owner maintains BookMooch as a hobby, rather than as his day job. Therefore, there aren’t a ton of extra features, which can be a positive or negative depending on the way you look at it.
BookMooch has a simple trading system: if you are mooching domestically, you spend 1 credit per book. If you are mooching internationally, you spend 2 credits per book. If you are willing to mail internationally (not a requirement), you get 3 credits per book sent (2 credits from the receiver and 1 credit from the BookMooch system.)
Pros:
No waiting list for books, which means the first person who sees an available book can get it. This means there is a high likelihood of getting new release books.
You get the credit as soon as someone mooches from you, rather than having to wait for them to mark the book as received.
You get .1 credits for listing a book and .1 credits for marking a book as received, so it’s relatively easy to build up credits if you trade a high volume.
It’s easy to get books from other countries that haven’t been published in the United States.
Amount of time you have to send a book is very flexible, you just have to communicate with the receiver (this is handy if you have a limited number of books you want to mail out per month, allows you to start a queue)
Has Condition Notes, so you can see the condition of others’ books before mooching, though this feature isn’t mandatory
Can trade ARC’s (just make sure you note it in the Condition Notes)
No (apparent) limit to the number of books on your Wishlist
Ability to look at “related editions” (other editions) of the books on your Wishlist
If you want to mooch a book, but don’t have enough points, there is something called the BookMooch bank in which you can “loan” credits, and then pay them back when you have the credits.
If you want to mooch from an international person, but they won’t send to your country, you can use the BookMooch Angel Network. This is a group of generous people who are willing to mooch the book for you and send it to you. It doesn’t cost you anything but time.
Can mooch used padded envelopes (6 for 1 credit), in case you don’t want to buy new ones
Has its own forums, as well as a forum on LibraryThing, through which you can connect to other BookMooch members
Cons:
By the time the wishlist e-mails go out, a book usually has already been mooched. Therefore, to get full use out of this site, you must be able to check your wishlist relatively often.
There are a lot of bugs within the BookMooch system. Usually they aren’t anything serious, but are minor annoyances.
The volume of books on BookMooch isn’t nearly as high as on some other sites. Therefore, this is definitely a secondary swapping site for me. I’ve also noticed that the number of books being posted has declined recently.
Search function is a bit clunky
Not a lot of books immediately available
Because of the laid back nature of Book Mooch, the rate of people who sign up, list books, and then disappear is high. You might mooch a book and then never hear back from the sender. Fortunately, it’s easy to cancel the mooch and get your point back.
More and more often, books being posted are limited to “friends'” – which means you can’t mooch it until 7 days have elapsed, and even then only if it hasn’t been mooched by someone else
Mailing Internationally: So is it worth it to mail internationally? It definitely is from the U.S. to Canada. It’s not much more expensive (maybe $1) to mail a book to Canada, which makes the extra two credits very worth it. For Canadians, I’ve heard it’s actually cheaper to mail to the U.S. than it is to mail within Canada. In order to mail internationally, all you have to do is fill out a customs form which you can get at the post office. If you put “used books” as the item with a total value of “$0.00” (generally, used items have no value with regards to customs), the recipient won’t have to pay any customs fees on the shipment. In order to calculate postage costs to other countries, the USPS has an online postage calculator.
Bottom Line: BookMooch is a great swapping site, but I would use it as a secondary trading site. Because it is a free for all, there is no guarantee of eventually getting the books you want. However, I have gotten a lot of brand new releases from BookMooch and have generally been very happy with it. The ability to get international books definitely adds to its appeal. However, I wouldn’t rack up a ton of credits at BookMooch because the number of books being posted seems to have dwindled lately. This is one of those sites I’d only post a few books at a time to, get 5 credits or so, and see if you find books to spend them on. It’s a great site though, I’ve gotten a lot of very good books from it!
Questions? Thoughts? Did I forget something? Let me know below, and don’t forget to check back for the next Book Trading post!
Title: One Lonely Degree Author: C.K. Kelly Martin ISBN: 9780375851636 Pages: 256 Release Date: May 26, 2009 Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers Genre: Teen Rating: 4 out of 5
From the publisher's website:
Finn has always felt out of place, but suddenly her world is unraveling. It started with The Party. And Adam Porter. And the night in September that changed everything. The only person who knows about that night is Audrey—Finn’s best friend, her witness to everything, and the one person Finn trusts implicitly. So when Finn’s childhood friend Jersy moves back to town—reckless, beautiful Jersy, all lips and eyes and hair so soft you’d want to dip your fingers into it if you weren’t careful—Finn gives her blessing for Audrey to date him. How could she possibly say no to Audrey? With Audrey gone for the summer, though, Finn finds herself spending more and more time with Jersy, and for the first time in her life, something feels right. But Finn can’t be the girl who does this to her best friend . . . can she?
I have been really impressed with the YA fiction I have been reading lately. It used to be that books featuring teens were either super cheesy or true fantasy novels which, while well-written, didn't really appeal to most readers. In the last few years, however, there has been a change in the world of teen fiction, a trend towards dealing with the many issues teens must face in a daily basis. These novels are directed at many age groups and have very deservedly found a solid following among adults. One Lonely Degree is one of these exceptionally well-written novels.
I really enjoyed C.K. Kelly Martin's I Know It's Over [review], so when I heard she had a new book coming out, I was really eager to read it. While I have to say I found I Know It's Over more compelling, One Lonely Degree is still a solid read that any fan of YA fiction will enjoy.
Finn is a great character, and a very sympathetic one at that. I loved the relationship between her and Jersy. From the beginning, there was something so innocent and sweet about it. They were kindred spirits that needed to find one another. I didn't really get the whole Jersy and Audrey thing, though I think that was the point. They weren't supposed to fit together well because of Finn.
I also liked that Martin worked in multiple serious issues into One Lonely Degree without making them the focal point of the book. It makes it seem as though Finn is a real person, and the reader is just getting a glimpse into part of her life. She behaved very realistically in reaction to these events; I only wish she hadn't had to face them.
One Lonely Degree is a great read that any lover of YA fiction will love. Additionally, if you are looking to read something in this genre but aren't really familiar it, One Lonely Degree is a great place to start!
A huge thank you to the publisher for sending me this book to review!
Title: A Boy Named Shel: The Life and Times of Shel Silverstein Author: Lisa Rogak ISBN: 9780312539313 Pages: 256 Release Date: November 13, 2007 Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin Genre: Non-Fiction, Biography Rating: 3.5 out of 5
From the back cover:
Few authors are as beloved as Shel Silverstein. His inimitable drawings and comic poems have become the bedtime staples of millions of children and their parents, but few readers know much about the man behind that wild-eyed, bearded face peering out from the backs of dust jackets.
In A Boy Named Shel, Lisa Rogak tells the full story of a life as antic and adventurous as any of his creations. A man with an incurable case of wanderlust, Shel kept homes on both coasts and many places in between---and enjoyed regular stays in the Playboy Mansion. Everywhere he went he charmed neighbors, made countless friends, and romanced almost as many women with his unstoppable energy and never-ending wit.
When I received A Boy Named Shel as a surprise in the mail, I was very curious. I adored Shel Silverstein when I was young. I have fond memories of his books and poems. I didn’t know much of anything about his life, so I decided to give this book a chance, and am glad I did. I learned a lot about Shel Silverstein, most of which was very surprising!
After reading A Boy Named Shel, I am convinced of one thing: Shel Silverstein was a genius. I couldn’t believe how prolific he was, how he worked, and how much he accomplished. Rogak portrays Silverstein very well, through those that knew him best. As a result, his genius is very evident on these pages.
I have to commend Lisa Rogak on her amazing research. She seems to have mined every source of information on Shel Silverstein that is available. Since he was very private and refused to give interviews during the latter half of his life, Rogak had a lot of work cut out for her. She accomplished it well, giving us a solid biography of this enigmatic genius.
Admittedly, A Boy Named Shel can be slow, and a bit dry at times. It’s a traditional biography, and Rogak incorporated as much information as possible within the pages of this text. Additionally, since most of her sources were interviews, there are a lot of quotes interspersed throughout the book. It makes the book have much more of an editorial feel, rather than an engaging biography. As a result, the book is difficult to get through in places.
If you are at all interested in Shel Silverstein, you will probably find this book interesting. I was so surprised and intrigued by what I learned about him. It made me want to go out and buy his books all over again. In reading A Boy Named Shel, I feel like I understood Shel Silverstein and his sense of humor much better.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me this book to review!
Well, this is the best reading week I have had in a really long time! I managed to read 13 books this week. I finally feel like I am getting caught up on my massive TBR pile/review copy pile.
Last week was a little difficult for me. While I had a great time hosting my friend’s bachelorette party last weekend, I was sick all week! I couldn’t figure out what was wrong, and finally went to the doctor on Friday. They set me up with some antibiotics and now I’m starting to feel much better! I’ve been laying low this weekend and have been resting up as much as possible.
I’ll be in Pennsylvania for the last half of next week for my very close friend’s wedding! While I sadly won’t be at BEA, I will be thinking of all of you that are – I can’t wait to hear about it!
Interested in my current giveaways? I’ve got two going on right now here and here. They both run until the end of the month!
This week, I started my Book Trading series, which will discuss the merits of online book swapping sites and profile the most popular ones. I started with an overview and then moved on to a discussion of PaperbackSwap. I also participated in a Weekly Link Round-Up and Wordless Wednesdays. My Thursday Tunes for this week was the heavy metal acoustic duo Rodrigo y Gabriela.
Books I’ve read this week:
The Love of Her Life – Harriet Evans
Bad Girls Don’t Die – Katie Alender
The Queen’s Man – Sharon Kay Penman
Vision in White – Nora Roberts
Hedge Fund Wives – Tatania Boncompagni
The Chosen One – Carol Lynch Williams
Morning and Evening Talk – Naguib Mahfouz
The Post-Birthday World – Lionel Shriver
Death by Cashmere – Sally Goldenbaum
Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress – Susan Jane Gilman
Serendipity – Louise Shaffer
The Way Home – George Pelecanos
Along for the Ride – Sarah Dessen
Reviews posted this week from books read previously:
Welcome! I’m Swapna Krishna, and this is where you’ll find my book reviews. Feel free to look through my review database. I also host the South Asian Review Database and run the South Asian Challenge, which promote the authors and literature of the region.
I do accept books for review, but please take a look at myreview policy before pitching me a book. If you have any questions, please contact me.
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