Book Review - Curious George

I wish we could return to a simpler time in children literature. It seems that every book nowadays has to be screened over and over to make sure we don't expose our young ones to something that might influence them and the result, to me, is a bland pablum of happy books with nothing to really laugh at. If we look at the older books we get the menage of mischievous characters dealing with exotic situations that are funny and interesting to children because they are not perfect and politically correct.

One of their favorites is Curious George, a perennial classic. But Curious George is not the innocent storybook character that he would appear to be. Some may think that George is simply a curious little monkey, but did you realize that George is a pawn of Philip Morris? GASP. Yes, in the original classic, George displays his loyalties on his first day in the Man with the Yellow Hat's home. He has dinner and then he smokes a pipe, complete with illustrations to show my impressionable children exactly what transpired, just in case they weren't listening closely enough. But, George, in spite of your foibles, I still love you. I will still read your many adventures to my children who manage to overlook your follies. But maybe we should consider a new book, Curious George and the nicorette patch.

Then we have the Man with the Yellow Hat. Dear Man, you're not exactly being an environmentally friendly partner with the Earth. After all, you removed a little monkey from his home with no thought of the consequence. Perhaps George was an endangered species, or maybe he had a family he left behind. Surely he would have been better off in his home territory. For all we know, he never would have gotten into so much trouble had he stayed at home. In the jungle he would have had normal monkey diversions. Hanging from tree limbs, and swinging from vines would have occupied his time as opposed to eating puzzle pieces, and soaring over the city on the tail of a kite, although then we would never have had his adventures to entertain our children.

Book Review - Abhorsen

Abhorsen was the third book in the Old Kingdom trilogy. This was my favorite of the bunch simply because it has an ending that kept me spell bound like no other since The Deathly Hallows. In this book justice is served to Nick Sayre, but I didn't like his return from death as I don't think he learned anything from his experience.

Book Review - Lirael

The direct sequel to Sabriel by Garth Nix. This book is about Lirael of the Clayr, a young woman who is seeking something, she knows not what. She was born to the people of glacier, but she is not really one of them as she finds out. I found Liraels obsession with death, her own death in particular, distress, but it becomes apparent why at the end of the book. This book ends rather abruptly. Apparently, it was never meant to stand alone as Sabriel can, but has a sequel, Abhorsen that will finish the story.

Book Review - Sabriel

Sabriel, by Garth Nix - I recently finished this book, and have been reading the entire series. To me, this appeared to have been a typical fantasy novel about returning a king to his throne with the added delights of an undead leader and his minions. The undead are the salvation of this novel, giving it a more original swing than had they not been present. I do not anticipate rereading this book, but I enjoyed it immensely.

I try to read the books that Pat reads so we can talk about them together. This goes both ways however, as he reads what I reads, but he doesn't always enjoy that reading material.

Book Review - Reagan and Thatcher

I'm a conservative, which is a daring statement to make nowadays. I have been since I my father explained Democrats and Republicans to me during the 1984 presidential race. No he did not influence me. My brother, who got the talk at the same time, is more liberal than Kruschev.

While Reagan is not my pick for number one president of all time (ask and you'll be shocked) He is in my top 5. So I wanted to read this book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Reagan and Thatcher, A Political Marriage was a survey of their relationship during their respective times in power as well as providing a background of their lives before they came to power. The information is taken from speeches, documents, events of the time, and phone conversation records between the two leaders. While their relationship was mainly political, they shared a close personal bond as well that was broken only by Reagan's diagnosis with Alzheimer's disease. This book engaged me, but I don't think I'd buy a copy for my personal library.

Book Review - Shopaholic

I don't know why I wanted to Confessions of a Shopaholic. I admit that I do - GASP - read "chick-lit". Still, this book didn't seem to be in my normal reading area. All I know is that it's popular. Well I was right, it wasn't my book. The main character is Becky Bloomwood, a shopaholic. Bex keeps me from identifying with this book. She would rather shop than work, and cannot accept the consequences of her actions in the form of credit card bills from hell. Her bank manager keeps trying to contact her regarding her outstanding balance and she keeps avoiding him. When her neighbors are treated poorly in a business deal, she writes an article for a tabloid exposing the insurance companies scam. This leads to a television appearance which leads to a job which will get her out of debt. No, Becky doesn't have to learn her lesson and she gets a boy friend out of it as well. This book seemed too fantastic, even for escape literature. I won't be reading it again.

Book Review - Baby Proof

Emily Giffin's novel, Baby Proof, is a very distant sequel to her duology Something Borrowed and Something Blue. How ever, I read it first before the other two. It is the story of Claudia Parr, an editor who does not want children and never has. She was married to Ben who originally agreed with her on children, then grew to change his mind which led to her divorce. Through the course of the book she deals with one sister's infertilty, the indiscretions of her brother-in-law, a new relationship and the resurrection of an older one. On Christmas Day she realizes that there are a lot of things she does not know, but she knows who she wants to learn about them with. This is a good book for escape reading. I checked it out of the library to preview it and finished by buying a copy for my library.

Book Review - The Amateur Gourmet

This is a book by Adam Roberts that evolved from a blog that turned into a book deal. It is about learning how to cook, in one way, and in another it is about developing a better relationship with different types of cuisines and ingredients. It ends with an enormous feast using all that Adam learned in the course of his blog and subsequent book preparation. It's an okay book. I much preferred the blog. I did get a great spaghetti sauce recipe out of it however.

Book Review - Ender's Game

I like science fiction. However, I like it better when it's set in familiar settings. Normally I tend to enjoy the works of Ben Bova. When I need to stray out into the stars I prefer Star Trek and Robert Heinlin. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card was an incredible book. It is the story of Andrew (Ender) Wiggin a boy whose parents were allowed to conceive him in the hope that, in Ender, the world might find salvation from the overlurking fear of the "Buggers", an alien race that had twice attempted to take over Earth. Ender and his family are unaware of this as we follow Ender through Battle School and onto his final battle with the Buggers and their queens. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book.

This book was written more for teen agers than adults. But, unlike some people, I don't have a problem reading fiction for young adults. After all, wasn't that what Harry Potter was originally set for? A good read is a good read. All that is important for me in a book is that I find it entertaining.