Getting Rid of Books! 2013

Well, we've finally started to actually get rid of some of our books. Since getting rid of my dad's books was so hard for me, I started with my own books. Kevin and I have both gone through all the nonfiction books we keep in our living room. We still haven't gone through all the fiction upstairs though, and there's been woefully few dad-books that have left the house. But we've now donated about 23 boxes of books so we're definitely making progress.

Also, even though there haven't been as many reviews as I would like, I have actually started and not-finished countless books that aren't on here, so I'm going to try to wrap some of those up in the near future.

The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin, Nicola Kraus

The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin, Nicola Kraus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is pretty well-written for the genre. I first read this when I was in my 20s and the moms were just low-grade villains. But as a mom now, whatever, I want to have this nanny come work for me, and run out of the room whenever my kids get awful. LOL. True though.

The book is still really funny (and anger-inducing) on a reread though.

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Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott

Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This one is the worst of the bunch. It seems mostly occupied with telling you what became of an endless list of characters from the last book, Little Men. They were all children back then and at least had actual personalities. As adults, we just see small snippets of their lives mostly as they meet their significant others. The scenes mostly lack any real depth.

A large portion of the book is about stalking. Tom is obsessed with Nan, and she makes it really clear that she is not interested. He doesn't give up and tries to become a doctor just to please her even though he's worried he might kill patients because he doesn't really care about medicine. Jo is hiding from fans and reporters because apparently back then writers were the Kardashians of the world. Josie stalks an actress, who rewards Josie by offering to train her. Then Tom inexplicably gets engaged to a woman Dora that's primary good quality is that she is not Nan. Is this healthy? I don't think so.

And then Emil, whoever he is, gets shipwrecked. EYE ROLL. More mini-romances follow. And then Alcott's favorite move, the big tragedy.

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this last super exciting installation of the Harry Potter series. There are some powerfully courageous parts, wonderfully romantic parts, and devastatingly sad parts in this book.

I was perpetually counting the Horcruxes though, trying to remember what had or hadn't been destroyed. At the time, I was also a little confused by the subplot of the Deathly Hallows (though ultimately it makes sense). And slight spoiler (but it's been over a decade since publication): I was also confused by the fact that technically there wasn't a Gryffindor Horcrux and there were technically 2-3 Slytherin Horcruxes. I also thought Harry Potter jumped to some crazy conclusions sometimes, some that weren't even necessary to further the plot. This last one could have been slightly edited down and the plot could have proceeded a little bit more logically. None of that matters.

I loved it. I loved it just as much on a reread.

P.S. It might be my favorite of the 7 books. Here's my 7 books ranking: 7, 5, 4, 1, 3, 6, 2.

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The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I haven't read this book in decades and it gave me chills how well this book captured real evil and real love. Well worth rereading as an adult.

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Galaxies Like Grains of Sand by Brian W. Aldiss

Galaxies Like Grains of Sand by Brian W. Aldiss
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is from my Dad's collection. Before I get to the substance of the book, I think it's worth mentioning that my Dad's copy is from 1960 and it has a cigarette ad insert right in the middle of the book. Wow. Anyway, the novel is about the history of the Earth and our Galaxy in the very distant future. It reminds me a lot of Cloud Atlas, even though it was written so long before Cloud Atlas. I enjoyed it a great deal, and the story felt cohesive though I just noticed when examining the book that many of the chapters were published as short stories before being combined into novel form. Because of this short story format, and because the the story spans millions of years, there isn't a central character, but many small under-developed characters. The story is more central than the characters.

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Brooklyn Book Festival 2013

Last Sunday, Kevin and I went to the Brooklyn Book Festival. Our first stop is was the Black Balloon Publishing booth, which is Kevin's publisher for his short story collection! For those of you that we haven't told yet, his short story collection is coming out on May 15, 2014. I will be updating you guys with more information as it becomes available.

So many people at the Brooklyn Book Festival this year!

Black Balloon Publishing Booth was hopping!

We talked with the Managing Director, Publicists, and another author Paul Kwiatkowski. Afterwards, we walked around checking out all the different booths for publishers and organizations. Kevin spotted a bunch of authors I don't know walking around. 

Random House- Penguin ("Random Penguin") had a food truck filled with books

Nick and Emily met up with us, and after a little more walking around we went to a bar to grab some drinks and snacks before a reading that we were checking out. Jon, Becky, and Ben stopped by to say hello as well, but they couldn't stay.

Kevin and me

Emily and Nick

Then we waited on a long long line to attend "The Fantastic and The Strange" reading by Karen Russell and A.M. Homes. I didn't previously know anything about A.M. Homes, but she's funny and kind of badass. Now I want to read all her books.

"The Fantastic and The Strange": (l-r) faciliatator, Karen Russell, and A.M. Homes

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this book a few times as a kid, but I think the first time I was 11. I remember the garden and the children and the magical quality of the book, but I also remember feeling like something was missing.

My sixth grade journal says I rated it 9+/10 so maybe that's 5 stars?

I reread it recently as an adult, and I think that because I read more quickly now, the pacing is better for me now and I appreciate it even more. And because I have more sympathy for Mr. Craven as an adult, the book seems even more beautiful now.

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Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don't know what to say about this. It was really well-written and I had all the feelings.

It reminds me of Pride and Prejudice and Pygmalion.

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Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George

Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a wonderful book! Julie is a young teen escaping a forced marriage, and she just joins up with a wolf pack. The wolves all have names and different personalities. This book deserved all the awards it got.

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